Madam Saidin

Madam Saidin is the major domo of the staff at her lord’s apartment in Bujavid, where Cajeiri and his guests are lodged under a continuing security alert. Kind, proper, and quietly formidable, she turns an awkward household arrival into an orderly operation—and recognizes that protecting the young heir requires more than keeping him uninformed.

Identity and Household Service

Cajeiri already knows Madam Saidin from an earlier stay: she had looked after Bren when her lord lent him the apartment. Cajeiri remembers her as tall, thin, graying, and solemn, with a smile that appears unexpectedly. Her personal gentleness sits alongside unmistakable competence; she is very good at running a staff and can issue orders without making unusual circumstances seem disruptive.

That competence is tested when Cajeiri arrives with three human guests and a large Parid’ja cage. Madam Saidin quickly asks privately about the humans’ sleeping arrangements, nightclothes, and bathing customs. Once Cajeiri explains how the group had arranged things at Tirnamardi, she gives quiet instructions and sets the household staff to work. The high security alert does not prevent her from accommodating the guests; she folds their needs into the household’s response as if the combination were perfectly manageable.

Reading the Danger

Madam Saidin is herself Guild, and Cajeiri regards her as discreet and capable of being “very sneaky if she had to be.” When he worries about two Dojisigi Assassins and the Kadagidi lord being housed near Ilisidi, he seeks Madam Saidin’s judgment. Her first response is measured reassurance: she says Ilisidi and her lord are taking proper precautions and urges Cajeiri to trust his great-grandmother rather than let worry spread to his guests.

When Cajeiri presses her, he explains that the children had already encountered danger on the journey: they had been together on the train and at Tirnamardi, where a mecheita ran past their windows and the bus had to be cleaned before they could board. He also assures her that Boji will not again be left with only his harness after escaping at Tirnamardi by chewing through his leash while a window was open. Madam Saidin listens rather than dismissing his concerns as childish. She clarifies that the Assassins and Lord Aseida are not simply being left unprotected in Ilisidi’s apartment: servant passages and storerooms can be made both comfortable and secure, Lord Aseida is reputed to be indolent and self-indulgent, and the Assassins are indebted to Ilisidi and securely guarded.

Trust and the Emergency Plan

Cajeiri argues that he and his guests should be told about threats because they understand the danger and will not act against the household if they know what is happening. He adds that his guests’ man’chi is to him and that they will not tell their parents. Madam Saidin then gives him information her lord had instructed her to withhold, treating his argument as evidence that he can be trusted with responsibility.

She tells him the alert remains in force and that his lord has gone to speak with Ilisidi; together they will prepare a report for Cajeiri’s father about the matters he raised. Guards are posted around the floor, including in the servant corridors below. If an attack within Bujavid targets the floor, the servant entrances are to be barred and Cajeiri and his guests contained in the apartment. If an outside threat reaches the floor, staff are to gather them in the sitting room and carry out further specified actions. Madam Saidin asks Cajeiri to make that gathering possible at once during any alarm, while noting that Boji need not be included in the plan because Assassins pose no particular danger to him.

Her disclosure changes Cajeiri’s position from anxious observer to an informed participant in the household’s precautions. She acknowledges that she has violated her lord’s instruction, but also asks Cajeiri to honor her confidence. His deep bow recognizes the seriousness of the trust she has placed in him. Madam Saidin’s role is therefore both practical and protective: she manages the household’s immediate needs while giving the young heir enough knowledge to help keep his guests safe.