The air in the room stood still as the silence stretched longer and longer. Standing in a corner, sandwiched between a bookshelf and a ingredients rack, it stood motionless, watching its mistress read an old, dusty grimoire under the dim light of a magical lantern. It had been doing so for what could have very well been hours, or even a whole day.
It didn't mind at all, as it was its mistress's orders: "Wait here until I need you". And so it stood, its head turned toward the young grey vixen sitting in a cushioned chair. Wearing a blue wizard robe, she was slowly studying each page before going to the next, only stopping to take a few notes on parchment scraps from time to time.
It had finished counting the specks of dust falling on the old wooden desk, prepared for its nightly duties. Thus, its eyes had nothing left to do but to wandered on its mistress. On her fluffy tail slowly going left and right. How her brow furrowed when reading a damaged passage, or when her yellow eyes glimmered before writing down something. How her paws sometimes stretched to combat immobility...
It knew it shouldn't peek like this. It probably shouldn't even feel the passage of time, as fleeting as that perception was. It was a golem, made to do menial tasks and provide physical strength to a magician who lacked such capacity. Yet it felt, it remembered. It always did, as early as its construction.
And something inside it felt for its mistress plight, and wanted to do something to ease it. Something more than blindly serving as it did for the few months it had been aware, to try and distract her from the recent events that befell her. Something inside was stirring against the order constraining it, and it felt that one day, it could have acted on this... sensation.
"I'm hungry. Fetch me my favourites."
But not today. The orders interrupted its thoughts, and obediently followed, exiting the room without a sound.
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"I'm going to sleep. Make sure everything is in order before I wake up."
The mistress then closed the door, leaving it alone in the hall. Yet, it didn't move immediately. It wasn't needed, as there was almost nothing to order during the night. Its mistress abode, magical as it was, was mostly unused as of late, the sole living occupant going back and forth from her study to her chamber, sending her golem to fetch anything she needed from the kitchen and library. It had been a while since the workroom was used in any capacity.
Standing before the door, bathed in the dim moonlight piercing through the small windows next to the entryway, it listened to its mistress. Once again, she did the same ritual before sleep overcame her: dropping herself on her bed, whimpering and moaning for a few minutes, then crying until she felt silent. She acted like this ever since she received that letter...
Something inside it wanted to make it stop, for her sake. So, it waited for everything to go quiet before making way for the study. Time seemed to be a blur when the mistress was not here to give orders, but day after day, it started to get a grip on its flow, being able to stay in control and to explore around. Maybe it was able to because it was still obeying orders... in spirit if not in letter.
Its chores were done in a blink: its clayish hands soaked both dust and crumbs, and it shoved it down the garbage chute in the wall, letting the soft magical flames there destroy it all. All the while, it stared at itself in the tiny mirror on the wooden desk. Normally used to converse with fellow wizards over long distances, it was nowadays as silent as the night, only used to help a golem reflect upon itself.
Standing at two meters tall, a head and a half more than its mistress, it was mostly a barely symmetrical bipedal body made of magically animated grey clay, thanks to a green crystal shining through its chest. Only its head was more detailed, sculpted to resemble the one of a female spotted hyena with green eyes. Apart from a few black spots, it was as colourless as the rest... but something inside still took some pride in that.
It still recalled how it happened, how it first attained awareness. The mistress was in her workroom, carefully forming its appearance using a painting as a model to shape its lumpy form. Then a letter magically appeared next to her. Something in her snapped when she read it, her face contorting in rage as she broke the painting on its back, switching to her fists when the canvas gave up, before finally running away. All the while, tears stained her face as she cursed the name "Justine" over and over.
Its body didn't fell a thing. There was only one person in the room capable of feeling anything, after all. But seeing this unfold awakened something inside it, something small at first that kept growing and growing. Today, it moved beyond its assigned tasks when mistress wasn't around. Tomorrow, it would have been able to help her.
Filled with purpose, it finally left alone the garbage chute and went for the library. It was unable to read or speak, but it didn't mind. It understood pictures and numbers very well. And it might have found the book it desperately sook to do its self-imposed duty.
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Back in the corner of the study once more, as the mistress continued her work on the dusty book. The day was no different from the others on the surface, as pages turned and notes were taken. Yet the golem now noticed something on the vixen, thanks to its nightly lectures.
She was tense, scarily so.
It had been instructed to "Stay here in case I need you", and had been doing so for a while. Enough to understand that her shoulders were practically begging for something to appease them, to untie the knots building inside. It started to go toward the young wizard, not making a sound on the tiled floor. It knew it would only a few seconds to work before any orders, and needed to make a quick and striking first impression.
The steps followed in rapid successions, until it was standing right behind the mistress. Slowly, it raised its hands above her. It couldn't feel, yet it stayed in place for a while, something questioning its plan. It wasn't too late yet to turn back, maybe wait for a more favourable time. But it knew what needed to be done, and finally tis hands went down, gently landing on the vixen's shoulders.
"What the..." she hiccupped.
It quickly started massaging her, fearing the next words to come out of her mouth. Yet to its surprise, none came. Without even looking back, she started to lean more into her seat, inching her head backward as her tail started to wiggle.
So it continued, sensing every bit of the tension melt under its featureless palms. The minutes passed by, punctuated from time to time by relaxed sighs coming from the wizard. It grew bolder, and it decided to go lower, pressing its thumbs at the base of her neck. Immediately, she yelped like she never did before, and covered her mouth right after. She then jumped on the paws, eying her creation's hands with a jittery gaze.
"You... that was... wait at my door."
She then hurried out of the study, going straight to her chamber, and it followed. As it waited, it wondered what would happen next. So far, the reaction had only been positive.
"Come inside."
It took a second to obey. It was never allowed inside before, the mistress taking care of her private abode by herself, probably using her magic. The interior was rather small, with an enormous double bed with messy sheets and an antique wardrobe taking most of the space, both big enough to fit the both of them standing side by side. A bathroom took the empty space that was left.
Only then did it notice her laying in the middle of the bed, face down, wearing only a pair of black panties.
"Keep doing... that. Please."
It cautiously approached the bed. Thanks to its wide frame, it could barely reach the mistress with its arms fully extended.
"Hop in." she ordered while patting the mattress next to her hips.
It did as ordered after a few seconds. Something inside it was stirring, wanting nothing less than to act fast and jump on the bed, but it fought this anomalous urge. Such moves would scare her, and possibly even hurt her. With slow and meticulous moves, it crawled on the bed until its mishappened knees sat around her mistress's lower back, and resumed its care.
It felt... content as it listened to her steadying breaths, barely interrupted by sighs of pleasure and little shifts when it massaged especially tender spots. As if it was finally fulfilling a long forgotten purpose by seeing her dreamy look and the large smile now adorning her soft face.
