Julia approached the large, reinforced door with a pensive expression. Today was her first official day on the job, and she was more than a little nervous about working with the Vex. Master Randell had explained in detail her responsibilities quite thoroughly, but it had done hardly anything to soothe her nerves.

  She looked down and checked her uniform once again. It felt odd wearing something so formal and well-made compared to her usual attire, but at least she didn't stick out so much in this place. She felt somewhat comforted seeing her coworkers in similar outfits. She had worn it under her raggedy cloak that morning during her approach to avoid drawing any attention to the poorer side of the city but had quickly stuffed the cloak in her bag as she got close to the mansion. It hadn't even taken a full day to have the outfit prepared, they had just refit an existing dress for her while Randell walked her through the basics of how to take care of the young Vex.

  She took a deep breath as she opened the door to the enclosure observation room, centering herself.

  The observation area was rather plain, with only a few chairs, a table, and some basic shelves and lanterns for lighting. The vitresteel viewing window was the most remarkable thing in the room. It took up a large portion of the wall, showing the Vex enclosure in full. Vitresteel was a unique material that had the physical properties of steel while being as transparent as high-quality glass. It wasn't a cheap metal, of course, but it worked remarkably for situations like this.

  She instantly spotted the young Vex within. Apparently, Rythica had spotted her as well, as the girl immediately turned into a blur, diving under her raggedy bedding to hide. Julia watched for a moment before a tiny head popped out from under the cloth, staring at her in trepidation. She could see the small creature trembling even from across the room and felt a bit bad for scaring her so much.

  "Hey, hey, calm down little one. I'm not going to hurt you." She spoke in a soothing voice, crouching slightly to make herself seem smaller and less intimidating.

  Rythica's eyes narrowed but made no other moves.

  "I brought some food for you. I heard you like fresh meat, right?"

  In the corner of the room, there was a smaller extension area connected to the main enclosure. It had a door leading into the main enclosure, and another leading back into the observation room. Both doors could be opened and closed from the outside. These served as a way to safely pass food to Rythica without having to enter the enclosure directly and risk being attacked.

  Julia approached this feeding area and placed the plate of food within before closing the main door. She then opened the door that led into the enclosure, and took a step back, waiting.

  Rythica instantly noticed the meal, of course, and her head snapped towards it, antennae flicking around wildly as the smell hit her. Her lips parted and her mandibles clicked softly as she stared longingly at the meat across from her. Her eyes kept flicking back towards Julia as if suspecting that the woman might attack as soon as she left the safety of her impenetrable blanket fortress.

  The fact that there was a solid wall and a thick, vitresteel window between them wasn't something the Vex understood, nor cared about.

  The indecision played on her expression for several moments. Julia waited patiently, a calm smile on her face as she watched the girl teeter between approaching the food and remaining hidden. Eventually, the Vex's hunger won out, and she cautiously stepped forward. She was still obviously tense as she made her way across the room, keeping her eyes on Julia with every step. She walked along the far wall, keeping as much distance between them as physically possible.

  As soon as she passed through the doorway into the feeding area, Rythica eagerly dug into the food, her caution falling away as she focused entirely on the meal. She chewed noisily, her mandibles crunching into bones as she tore at the bloody flesh.

  Julia watched, her stomach twisting slightly at the grotesque sight. She was already aware of the Vex's rather... primal dietary needs, but it was still somewhat shocking to witness firsthand. She quickly shook off her discomfort, moving on to the next task.

  Rythica seemed to be enjoying her meal very much, her antennae twitching rapidly and her tongue lapping at the juices of the meat as she devoured it. Her limited attention span didn't quite have the space to focus on both eating and keeping track of her present company, so she failed to notice Julia's approach.

  The nanny stepped forward and clicked the latch closed on the doorway leading back into the enclosure, sealing Rythica in the smaller feeding area for the moment.

  The Vex didn't react at first, still too focused on the meal to notice. But after a few seconds, her antennae flicked around, and she looked up with an inquisitive chirp. Upon noticing Julia standing so close, and seeing her path of escape was no longer available, she panicked. Her body froze up, and her mandibles twitched erratically. Her eyes darted around the tiny extended room as she frantically searched for another exit, her wings buzzing behind her. But both doors were sealed, and she was trapped inside.

  Julia instantly tried in vain to comfort the girl, taking a few steps backward. "It's okay, it's okay. Calm down sweetie, I didn't mean to scare you. I just need to clean your enclosure, okay?"

  It didn't matter that the Vex didn't understand her, she just kept speaking in a soft, comforting tone like she did to her own children when they were babies. Body language and tone mattered more than the words themselves.

  Despite this, however, Rythica was having none of it. Her emotions were already too high, and she let loose a shrill screech as she threw herself against the door leading back into the enclosure. She bounced back from the impact and fell to the floor. Dazed, the young Vex scrambled to her feet and proceeded to frantically throw herself against the door once again. She clawed at the metal door, the grinding sound of her sharpened chitin claws against the metal made Julia wince, but there was little she could do. It was abundantly clear that the Vex needed far more time to adjust to her presence before she would be comfortable enough to not panic at her every move.

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  When it became clear to Rythica that escape was impossible, fear turned to anger as the instincts of a cornered animal took over. Her mandibles clacked and her antennae shook with fury. With a sharp hiss, Rythica leaped towards Julia, slamming into the transparent barrier separating the two. The vitresteel didn't even budge, of course. The small Vex, no matter how hard she tried, could never hope to break through.

  This didn't stop her from trying, however. She slammed into the wall repeatedly, scratching and clawing at it in a rage, hisses and angry shrieks coming from her mouth.

  Julia tried to keep spouting calming reassurances, but the display chilled her. She couldn't help but take a step back in fear at the sight. And that small sign of weakness ignited the predatory instincts in the terrified Vex.

  Rythica let out a deafening screech, increasing in volume again, before throwing her full strength into a single strike, slamming her shoulder into the window.

  Julia yelped in surprise, stumbling backward and falling onto her backside. She stared across the room at the much smaller creature, her eyes filled with a hint of genuine fear. Despite knowing full well that the feeding area was just as well reinforced at the main enclosure, and even knowing rationally she could easily overpower the small, feral monster, she couldn't help but feel a sense of unease at the display. She had to forcefully remind herself that she was in no real danger. Julia had grown up in a city, having never seen a wild animal in her life, so she was completely unprepared for the sight.

  The show of force went on for a few moments before Rythica finally lost some of her steam. The tiny Vex panted heavily, her eyes still focused on Julia. Her expression faded as she quickly wore herself out. Her tiny body was unprepared for the burst of exertion. She was still only a month old, after all. Magical creature or not, her body had limits. She rested against the far wall, her anger fading as her head drooped down, exhausted.

  Julia was able to relax a little as the hatchling's anger dissipated into exhaustion. There was silence for a time as the adrenaline crash hit the Vex like a mountain. In the span of minutes, the vestige of the screeching, blood-splattered beast was gone, and the figure of a scared little girl was in its place. Overwhelmed, trapped, and helpless, Julia understood that expression clearly in her eyes, even if they weren't human.

  Julia slowly, very slowly, climbed to her feet. She made sure not to make any sudden moves to further startle the poor girl. She spoke again, as softly as possible.

  "Hey... Are you alright? I promise I won't hurt you. You're safe, here. I'm sorry I had to trap you in there, but I just want to help. You need your room cleaned up, and you need a nice, safe place to sleep. Okay? But your bed is all dirty and needs to be cleaned, so I need to take it out, okay?"

  Rythica didn't respond, of course. She didn't even seem to hear Julia. She simply curled into a little ball in the corner of the room, rocking back and forth, her antennae twitching sporadically. Her mandibles clicked softly, and it was clear the girl wanted nothing more in the world than to be left alone at that moment.

  With a sigh, Julia got to work. She opened the large doorway into the main enclosure and stepped in.

  Instantly the smell hit her. It was a mix of dried blood, excrement, and other foul smells. The stench wasn't that bad compared to some of the streets she frequently traveled, but it definitely wasn't pleasant. The floor was littered with torn-up bedding, bits of chew toys, and stuffing from her destroyed animal plushies. There were tiny specks of blood she had tracked around the room from her messy eating habits. There were also bits of bone scattered around the floor. They had been cracked open to get to the marrow inside and then abandoned on the ground. The bedding, torn up to the point of near uselessness, was all piled up in the corner, where Rythica had turned it into a makeshift nest. The walls had some slight scratches from where the Vex had tried to climb them, and her sharp, chitinous claws had scraped the steel sheets slightly.

  Well, it wasn't the worst cleaning job she ever had. She stepped back out of the room and grabbed her cleaning supplies and an apron, getting to work.

  It took over an hour to clean the room up to her liking. She thought she might even be the first person to attempt to clean the enclosure since it became occupied. It took extensive scrubbing to get the smell of waste out of the room. For the bedding, it was simply too far gone, so she opted to replace the old blankets with new ones, arranging them roughly back in the same shape Rythica had them in previously.

  The bits of bone and scraps of toys too small to be played with were cleaned up and likewise discarded. The room felt a lot emptier without all the debris everywhere, and she had notably fewer toys left to play with, so Julia made a mental note to request a few more toys. Perhaps ones made out of sturdier materials like ironwood.

  The Vex had fallen asleep at some point, so she kept the cleaning as quiet as possible to avoid awakening the skittish child. Thankfully, the position of the feeding area meant that Rythica didn't have a direct line of sight with Julia as she cleaned the enclosure, which helped the Vex relax quite a bit. Her antennae continued to flick and her mandibles twitched as she slept. It was rather cute, and Julia couldn't help but smile at the sight.

  She felt sorry for the girl. She thought not being able to go outside and play, or having any friends must have been difficult, she instantly tried to dismiss the thought. Rythica was a monster, not a human, and wouldn't see things the same way. She was a hive queen, right? She didn't know much about them, but from what she heard, they never left their hive their entire life, or something like that. She didn't really remember. Still, she trusted Randell knew what he was doing.

  Well, maybe. She trusted Randell knew how to handle monsters. Julia tried, but simply couldn't bring herself to see Rythica as anything other than a small, lost child at this point, despite the rather terrifying display earlier. There was a spark in her eyes that she didn't see in animals like pigs or sheep.

  What did little monster children dream about, anyway?

  Julia finished the cleaning, and stood in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips, satisfied with her work. She had made the room much more presentable. She still needed to clean the feeding area, but she could do that after sending Rythica back into the main enclosure.

  The caretaker grimaced as she imagined the Vex, still messy from eating, tracking blood back all over the floor of the enclosure. She wanted to give her a good cleaning, but she was tactful enough to realize it was far too soon for that. Master Randell had made it clear that she did not like bathing, and trying to do so now would only make things far worse.

  It was better to let things play out naturally. She'd have to clean the room a bit more frequently than she'd like, but she would wait until Rythica became less wary around her before taking those steps.

  By the end of the day, Julia had high hopes that she could encourage the little Vex princess to trust her a bit more in the coming weeks.