Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog (Magic Carpet Books) by Ysabeau S. Wilce Page A

lavender lips and did a little dance.
    “What was that with the Elevator, Valefor? It almost dropped us straight into the Abyss.”
    “That Elevator may go many places, Flora Segunda, but the Abyss is not one of them. I am sorry about the Elevator, but really you must take your complaints to darling Buck, for she is the one who has unstabilized me—Hey! Nice hat!”
    This last was directed not at me, who was not wearing a hat, but at Udo, who was still sitting by the Elevator, looking slightly green. At the compliment, he grinned weakly and staggered to his feet, then made the courtesy that signifies Graciously Submitting before an Equal, which involved a bow so low that I was surprised his nose didn’t touch the ground. Udo, like his hero the Dainty Pirate, is a fine one for manners.
    “Thank you, sieur denizen.”
    “I love the bird wing, so beautifully cruel, and your kilt, what a divine shade of green. I do adore green, the color of jade and jaguar blood.” To me: “He could teach you a few things about dressing, Flora Segunda. He’s got style and flash.”
    Now Udo was grinning and I could practically hear the sound of his head inflating. “You do me a great honor with your compliments, sieur.”
    “Your manners are very nice, too,” Valefor answered. “Much better than Flora’s, here, who has forgotten to introduce us.”
    “You have not given me a chance, Val, for heaven’s sake. Udo Moxley Landaðon ov Sorrel, Valefor, denizen—
    “Valefor Fyrdraaca ov Fyrdraaca,” Valefor interrupted, returning Udo’s courtesy with Deference to an Equal, an even deeper bow. “I have the right to the name as much as you do, Flora Segunda, maybe more. I am very pleased to meet someone with such exquisite taste, Sieur Landaðon, and glad to see that Flora has some friends with style. Surprised, but well-pleased. Tell me, sieur—where are hems these days? Are they ankle or knee—I am so out of touch, and Flora is useless.”
    “Knee for day, and calf for night,” said Udo, “unless you are super-ultra-formal, when they—”
    I interrupted. “Do you want to discuss fashion, Valefor, or your restoration? We don’t have time to do both. Udo has to get to babysitting, and Mamma is coming home tonight.”
    “Restoration, then fashion,” Valefor pronounced. “I shall have an entire new wardrobe, then, of shimmering samite! How bliss to get out of this rag!”
    So we sat down in front of the fireplace to discuss. Valefor ignited a warming coldfire glow on the hearth and produced a lovely little snack with tiny sandwies, double bergamot tea, and lime meltaways.
    “So, according to
The Eschata,
to create a servitor—,” I said. I had read the chapter on denizens in
The Eschatanomicon
three times, but sometimes it is good to think out loud.
    “I’m a denizen!” Val protested.
    “A denizen is a kind of servitor, Valefor. You know that. A servitor is a magickal entity created for a general purpose. A denizen is a servitor attached to a particular place. A domicilic denizen is attached to a House.”
    Val said snobbily, “Still, a denizen is better than a plain old servitor—”
    “That’s true. A denizen can act completely independently as long as its actions are in accordance with the parameters laid down by the adept—”
    “Who was?” Udo asked.
    I was annoyed at being interrupted. “Who was what?”
    “Who created you, Valefor? Was it Buck?”
    Valefor answered, quite loftily, “Of course it wasn’t Buck. She is only fifty-two years old. I out-age her by far. I was created by Azucar Fyrdraaca—”
    “Which in Val's case,”
I said loudly, to get them back on track, “the parameters laid down by the adept were to take care of the House of Fyrdraaca. And these parameters were laid into the fetish that is Valefor’s center. This fetish is the source of all Valefor’s power, and now he’s been disconnected from it, and that’s why he is reduced and weakened.”
    “What’s a fetish?” asked