Work Text:
It was the middle of the day, but the room was dark. The curtains were drawn, the shutters were closed. The door wasn't locked but ajar. It didn't creak. Through the daytime darkness, it was possible to make out an ungraceful mound of black upon the bed, the angles of which suggested a large umbrella had imploded.
"My lord?" Drumknott said cautiously from the doorway, trying to block as much light from the corridor as possible.
In the knowledge it was being perceived, the black mound shifted. Its angles morphed into ones more conceivably within the range of human motion.
"I have the most horrific headache," Vetinari said, muffled as he spoke into the bedclothes.
Drumknott gently closed the door at his back and squinted into the room, but the shadows didn't allow him to distinguish the man.
"Would you like this afternoon's appointments cancelled, sir?" he asked quietly.
There was a deep sigh that didn't quite locate itself from where it might have been expected, and the angles relaxed by several inches.
"Please."
"Yes, sir. Might I suggest--"
He was interrupted.
"I have taken appropriate medication. I have been attempting to sleep. Neither has been effective."
Vetinari's voice was dry and weary, with the tone of someone who has spent a long time explaining why a method does not work.
"I was going to suggest water, sir."
Vetinari rolled onto his back. Drumknott's eyes adapted in time to see him become inherently human-shaped. He had his hand over his eyes.
"Water," he said.
"Yes, sir. Would you like some?"
"Yes, of course..."
The response was more internal than an answer to the question. Drumknott took it as one anyway.
"I will bring you water shortly, sir."
"Thank you."
The hand covering his eyes came down to rub his jaw. Drumknott studied him.
"I shouldn't wish to impose, sir, but I do wonder if you have eaten today?"
Vetinari's brow furrowed and he sighed.
"Water shall suffice, thank you Mr Drumknott."
"Yes, sir. My apologies."
"Do not knock upon your return."
"I will not, sir."
"Good man," Vetinari said vaguely, melding somewhat with the darkness once again.
Drumknott watched him for a moment.
"Sir, I must ask..."
"Yes?" Vetinari's voice came from further away than it should have.
"Was your prior positioning... comfortable at all?"
"Not in the slightest."
In the darkness and with his employer's eyes firmly closed, Drumknott nodded privately as he reached behind himself to open the door.
"I will return shortly, sir."