Brimsley & Reynolds

1

Brimsley stood in the middle of the wide open room surrounded by objects that had travelled further than he ever had. Sunlight gleamed in and made all the objects made of gold shine, which was about a quarter of the room. Buckingham Palace was truly made for royalty so even coming from one of the wealthiest families of London he still felt out of place.

"Now, as the Queen's man, you have one of the most important jobs in this palace," Lady Calder said sternly. "You must stay with the queen at all times, get everything she wants when she wants it, and-" she was cut off by the opening of the carved, gold-trimmed, ten-foot-tall door opening. "Good, you are here. Brimsley, here is the king's man who is going to be training you over the next several weeks until the queen arrives."

The man stood tall across the room from the both of them. He had golden hair catching rays of mid-morning sunlight, eyes as blue as jewels, and the figure of a god. Brimsley stood there, petrified as he was unable to understand what kind of being he was in the presence of. "My name is Reynolds," he introduced himself, breaking Brimsley out of his trance.

"Brimsley," he uttered.

"Good. Good. Off with you two now, I have other business to attend to," she shooed them away.

The massive doors shut behind them and now Brimsley was faced with this godly man before him standing a foot taller. He had expected the king's man to be older and grey but he was very wrong. "For about the next week, I am to show you around the castle and make sure you know where everything is. After that, I will explain to you everything you need to know when you are on duty with the queen. Then, you are to accompany me when I am on duty with the king." Brimsley nodded not knowing what to say. Reynolds started off and Brimsley followed right beside him. "First we will start our tour of the palace in the kitchens."

"Is the tour really going to take a whole week?" Brimsley asked, finally able to find his words.

"A week or longer," Reynolds said, keeping his head straight, not looking down at Brimsley. "You will come to know the vastness of this Palace. It takes far longer than a day to map out," he said, still walking at the same pace.

When they had made it to the kitchens, Brimsley felt like he was drowning in heat. The muggy weather of the day mixed with the running oven was not pleasant in the slightest. Perhaps Reynolds could see the uncomfortableness of Brimsley's face, "You need not be so formal when you are off duty." Reynolds slid off his royal blue blazer and draped it over his arm. He unbuttoned his gold vest and unbuttoned his white linen shirt underneath almost halfway down. Brismley felt starstruck looking at Reynolds exposed. skin, so soft and pure. "Are you quite alright, Brimsley?" Reynolds asked, noticing Brimsley.

"Yes," he managed to snap out, "the heat...it is quite hot." It took everything in his power to take his mind away from such strange thoughts and do the same as Reynolds, but unbuttoning his shirt a quarter of the way. He took his white gloves off, folded them, and put them neatly in the pocket of his crimson blazer.

They set off on their tour, first with the kitchen, then leading into the servants' area, and then down a few corridors to see more rooms Brimsley could not even remember the importance of. "That concludes our tour for today. I shall meet you in front of the gardens outside at eight o'clock tomorrow morning," Reynolds concluded.

"Thank you very much," Brimsley smiled. Reynolds nodded and walked in the other direction.

Brimsley headed to his quarters, which would be near the queen's quarters. He went to the room on the left side of the hallways where he found a dining table and a few other higher-ranked soon-to-be queen's servants. He walked over to one of the empty seats in the middle and sat down on the softest red cushion. Almost all the seats in the palace were covered with velvet and almost all doors were trimmed with gold.

"Ah, good evening, Brimsley," said one of the servants, Mr Lincoln.

"Good evening," Brimsley responded.

"Getting a good look at the palace did you?" asked Mr Lane.

"Yes, I will continue touring the palace for the next week."

"Bit overwhelming at first I'd say, but twenty-three years working here helps the memory a little," laughed Mr Bristol. The others laughed along with him.

Brimsley smiled slightly, not knowing how to make conversation with the man who seemed to be almost twice his age. His dinner was placed in front of him and he immediately could feel his mouth start to water looking down at his plate of cod, mashed potatoes and asparagus. Remembering his manners, he unfolded his cloth napkin and placed it on his thigh.

After dinner, all of the servants wished each other a good night and set off for their bed chambers. Brimsley set off to bathe so he went to the room down the hallway with the bath. He made sure the water was slightly above room temperature, no more no less, before stepping in. I let his muscles un-tense as he soaked in the pristine water and tried to clear his mind. He was usually good at this but for some strange reason, he could not stop thinking about one person in particular, Reynolds. He decided that getting out of the bathtub would have his thoughts about the blonde man leave him so he dressed and set off for his bedroom.

Brimsley's room was right next to the queen's but as the queen had not arrived yet, hers was empty. Brimsleys room had a bed in the middle, simply made and enough to fit almost two people, a small round table with a chair by the window in which he put all his stationary supplies, a shelf above his bed which he adorned with fresh flowers from the garden and two books, a chest by the foot of his bed where he stored all of his belongings and a rug that had been there when he moved in, it could have been from Eastern Europe for all he knew.

He blew out the candles that provided light until there was only the moon's light that illuminated his room. He slipped into his bed and closed his eyes.

He reposed the day in his mind, what he had seen, heard, learned, the people he had met...no, it was wrong. He could not be thinking of another man in a way he should think about a woman. However, he never felt anything for women in the way he should. He had always thought that there was something wrong with him for not fancying women. That is why he was so glad to miss this year's season where he could escape all the hungry mamas wanting to find men to court their daughters. Brimsley's family was especially popular as his father had been knighted by the past king after winning a battle in the French and Indian War. Brimsley's father had been able to get him a job as the Queen's man in the Palace due to his reputation with the royal family. Brimsley, of course, was grateful as this gave his life meaning and purpose. All he needed to do was suppress his impure thoughts about Reynolds.

His tiredness finally overtook his mind and was replaced with dreams. Dreams about a certain blonde-haired man that he had met that very day.