"It's this way. Father beats me," he adds as he leads her out of his little suite and across the hall to a ladder behind a little door. "And the servants when he's angry - he'll make his secretary do it if he doesn't care, but he always complains Teio doesn't hit hard enough. So when I tell you it's a bad idea to get in the way of his moods, I'm speaking from experience."

There's a lantern at the bottom of the ladder; he lights it and brings it with him.

The attic is, indeed, full of things. Many of the things are packed away in chests or trunks, but some are just sitting loose on the floor, or piled on shelves. Little to no organization can be observed in the mess. Clothes, musical instruments, what seems to be a set of watercolour paints next to a case of brushes and a large roll of paper, a dusty stack of wooden decorative masks, small ornate boxes of various materials, piles of appropriately masculine jewelry, fancy pens and coloured inks... things.