Dignity Before Dignitaries
Sebastian stood in the kitchen, expertly piping delicate macrons onto a tray with deft precision. The French Ambassador to England and his family were coming for high tea, and the young Earl had ordered Sebastian to treat them with the utmost of the infamous Phantomhive hospitality. To Sebastian, that meant making doubly sure to do nearly everything himself, to avoid the bumbling servants of the manor making any costly mistakes.
With the decadent cookies in the oven, the finger sandwiches assembled, the lemon torte chilling, and the tea selected and simply in need of brewing, it was time to assemble the servants to go over their instructions for the coming weekend once more. Sebastian gathered each one into the kitchen, his smile polite but his voice stern.
“As I told you last night, the French Ambassador and his family will be visiting for the weekend, perhaps a bit longer. The young master wishes us to maintain the highest quality of care for them, that is, the Phantomhive hospitality. And as always, you are to protect this Manor, and it’s guests. Mey-rin, see to it that all of the linens in the guest rooms are freshly changed. Finny, remove the roses from the greenhouse and trim the hedges. Bardroy, follow me. I need you to move some things from the pantry into the kitchen. Tanaka... you are fine as you are. Come on now. Get to work!”
With that, Mey-rin and Finny scurried off to their duties, and Tanaka excused himself to tea. Sebastian turned to remove his macaron shells from the oven and allow them to begin cooling. “Bardroy, about those things I need retrieved from the pantry. I’ll be needing another satchel of almonds, and a fair amount of sugar as well.”