Bedridden, Lyrica is propped into her bed by Ruben who was carrying her back to the orphanage and tucked her in. "Stay here, I'll bring your breakfast."

"Oh dear, are ya alright?" Aunt Bifa asked worried.

"Bwah..." Lyrica mumbled lost in thought. That was gross... Her clothes were wet and she stuffed my face into them while hugging me... In actuality, she was just shocked because of how dirty the supposedly wholesome reunion had been. Ruben's hands were also dirty while carrying me now my clothes are dirty... I don't want to eat food made by him...

"Oh dear, lemme fetch some water for ya." Bifa said turning her back.

"Wait no!" Lyrica stepped out of her bed, planting her feet to the floor which puffed out a cloud of dust which made her uncomfortable. I... didn't realize how dirty this place was before... "I'll go get my own water! I'm okay!"

"A-aight."

Going downstairs, Lyrica bumps into Ruben heading up the stairs which made Ruben sigh. "Just can't stay still can't you?"

"E-eh?" Lyrica sounded.

"GO BACK TO YOUR BED AND EAT!!" Lyrica's confused tone only made Ruben angrier as he released his thunder.

"O-okay!" Lyrica was forced to reply. Forced to submit, Lyrica climbed back to her bed.

Ruben handed Lyrica her bowl and placed the bread on her bed sheets. "Wait no! The crumbs!" Lyrica shouted?

"Hm?" Ruben hummed in a confused tone.

"You'll dirty my bed!" Lyrica replied.

"Sigh, fine just eat."

Looking at the bowl in her hands, it had a milky white sauce in it that smelled faintly sweet. There were also a few vegetables strewn around, mainly being the yellow potatops. The carrops and celerits gave the stew a tinge of color however, making it palatable. And then some bits of dried fish meat was floating around, giving the stew a salty scent. Something was missing however.

"Where's my spoon...?" Lyrica asked, confused.

""Spoon?"" Ruben and Bifa asked, dumbfounded.

"Cutlery." Lyrica then motioned grabbing something in mid air, and putting it to her mouth.

"Ah! Those things that merchants use to eat? Just use your hands." Lyrica looked at Ruben's hands and cringed, disgusted by how dirty they were. She then looked at her hands, they got dirty from holding the bowl that Ruben was holding. She cringed.

"Ah fine," Ruben sighed. "I'll show you how it's done," Ruben took Lyrica's bowl away from her and took a sip bringing it to his mouth.

"Wait, that's—."

"And then you rip a piece from this bread and dip it into the stew," Ruben said, dipping the bread into the sweet liquid and brought it to his mouth.

"...Mine." Lyrica said, hushing her voice tinged with sadness.

The man had taken a bite and a sip from her, he didn't mean anything bad about it but it still hurt Lyrica's feelings not used to getting her stuff being stolen away from her. She was just shocked, that's all.

"Well, I'll leave both of you to it," Ruben said, probably heading down to get his own meal as well.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Wind at yer back sonny, you too girl," Bifa replied, heading out.

"Wind at your back," Ruben replied as he headed out as well.

Wind at your... back?

Lyrica then observed the bowl, looking at it from all angles. The rim of the bowl was mostly clean. This was good since she didn't want to put her lips in something dirty, but how she'd hold it was the problem. She tried placing her palm beneath the bowl, but it was too hot so she wrapped her hand in a blanket and propped it under the bowl and with her other hand she held the dirty rim of the bowl and strategically pointed a clean rim to her lips. She took slow gulps, the stew was hot.

It's bland... And the veggies aren't even peeled...

She blew on the stew, her awkward hand placement getting in the way. Then she took long slow gulps. The taste was a bit bland, maybe having a tinge of the milky taste and a salty aftertaste. Then, she saw the potatops. Oh!

She placed down the bowl and then wiped her dirty hands with the mattress, she couldn't find anything else. Noticing that she didn't have a fork to stab the potatops with she tried to grab it with her hand but immediately stopped herself. Anastasia would scold me if I acted bad like this... She proceeded to revert to her previous awkward bowl holding ritual and with the use of gravity, she strategically propped the potatop to fall into her mouth. Yay! I didn't use my hands to eat... And I didn't get dirt all over me... And I managed to keep my... dig...nee...tea? Digniti! I need to act Dignitied like Rudz and Royce!

Lyrica thought to herself, not realizing that what she had been doing was an awful attempt to preserve her dignity. She looked like a fool from any angle that you see it.

Finishing her stew, she immediately remembered the bread. She looked at it, dumbfounded. What am I supposed to do with that...?

Ruben headed back upstairs. "Are you done? I need to clean the bowls."

"...I'm done ...I think?"

Ruben headed upstairs, a vein pulsing in his forehead. He sighed. "Why didn't you eat the bread?" He asked calmly.

"Well... I..."

"Well?"

"I forgot about it... I was too focused with the stew," Lyrica said meekly, drooping her shoulders.

Ruben sighed. "It's fine, I'll just bring it back to storage." Ruben said picking up the bread. "Anyways, the others are gonna go out foraging and you're not coming yet. Stay. Here. Got it?"

"Y-yes!" Lyrica replied, she managed to prevent Ruben's thunder for now but if she acted as rashly as she did again.

Ruben promptly left, bowl and bread on both hands. This place needs some cleaning... She looked around the room trying to find a broom. The second floor was spacious, it was mostly living space with beds covering the majority of the room. But there was a single closet and a drawer. She opened the drawer and found a pouch with some copper metal circles with faces stamped into them.

Coins! I don't know which currency this is though... Oh wait... That funny face reminds me of the Levia Kingdom! These are Lyes! No idea where I am though... The Levia Kingdom has a big territory that spans over tw-twelve duchies... I think...? Lyrica was the daughter of a peddler, so she was familiar with currency. She was however not that good at geography or politics, only having a somewhat good memory.

Mm... these aren't useful to me, I'll put them back... I need to clean this place!

She opened another drawer and found crudely sculpted sticks with balls at the top and some other things like wooden boards, and a few of some kind of long white stone. What's this? She thought before promptly putting it back in. Ah... a broom wouldn't fit in these small drawers anyway.

She opened the closet which promptly caused a dust cloud as soon as it was opened. Lyrica coughed and winced, not expecting the dust. Filthy... But there was a broom inside. Ah!

The broom was made of some wood, and thin straws were wrapped into it's base with some kind of leather knot. As soon as she grabbed the broom however her hand was stained with dust. Wa...

She began dusting the place, picking up clouds of dust where she goes. She then gathered all of the dust and made swept them down the stairs. She crouched down, looking for Ruben. He's not here! Then she proceeded to sweep all of the ground floor, and swept them all outside.

Then with broom in hand, she went up the stairs, proud of herself, it was the first time she actually got to clean a house. She's only ever cleaned their cart which they sold to afford the voyage on the ship.

She looked down at the floor. The floors were practically gleaming with joy, they've never been this clean before. All of the corners were clean, under the beds too. But when she looked up... The beds!! The beds were stained with speckles of dust, probably because of her wild sweeps, creating dust clouds.

She tried to wipe them away with her hand, but the damage was already done, the blankets and mattresses were dirty.

"Whoah! What happened to this place, it's so clean!" Ruben exclaimed, going up the stairs. "Did you do all of this? I mean, it's not necessary but I do feel proud of y—." Ruben noticed the dirtied beds.