On the way home, John asks, "How's your leg feeling?"

"Better," I answer. "Now that I've actually been off of it for a few days, I think it's mostly better." As long as I don't do anything I really shouldn't to put way too much strain on it, it should finally be back to normal after another day or two, I think.

"Good, always good to hear that you're feeling better." And he ruffles my hair a little.

"Yeah. Thanks, John."

The rest of the trip continues in comfortable silence.

When John drops me off at home, my mouth falls open a little. It's... it's so clean. The floor doesn't have an entire layer of dirt over it like before. The caretakers really have gotten things cleaned up, haven't they? I check my shoes before going inside. They're mostly clean since I've been at the refinery all day, but they do still have some dirt on the bottoms from walking through the house this morning. I don't want to track it back in, so I kick my feet against the side of the house to knock some off before heading inside.

Walking around the house, there are a handful of kids home already, even though it's still a bit before the ninth bell. A few are talking quietly, but for the most part, they seem kind of confused and maybe a little uncomfortable. Did they stay home today, just to see if they could? I don't see any of the caretakers when I circle through the first floor, so I guess they're upstairs, probably still cleaning.

I head upstairs to my room, sit down, and start on my homework. It's kind of exciting, since it's new math. Looks like... I shuffle through the papers a bit. I think it has to do with algebra. I start to read and like Claire said, some of it is kind of tricky. All about how you can manipulate equations without changing their values. Commutative property... transitive property...

Grabbing my blackboard, I write out equations as I read to get it all to work in my head, like she told me to. Yes, I'm sure this will all be useful too...

I'm pretty much finished with my homework, just scrawling equations to combine the different things I learned, when the door opens up and it's Kerra. She's holding a broom in one hand when she looks down at me. Wow, she really is tall close up... "I'm cleaning out your rooms, could you get your things up off the floor?"

"Sure," I answer immediately. She may have asked, but her tone always has this serious note to it that makes it not really sound like a question. Setting down my paper and blackboard, I neatly pile them to one side, then carefully pull up all the stuff under my bed and set it on top, on the other side so I don't mess up my homework or anything.

One thing I'm very careful of is the bag that I know holds my rail unit robe and the two arrows recovered from Avara. They're stuffed inside layers of bags and bandages, but I still shove that up against the wall, then dump the rest of the bandages on top of it.

"That is... a frightening amount of bandages," Kerra comments. I turn back to see her moving everything up from underneath Mary's bed and can't stop myself from flinching. No, she's a housekeeper, that's fine. "What's wrong?" she asks, clearly seeing my reaction.

"Uhh, sorry, it's nothing," I say. I don't think it's a lie exactly, but she definitely doesn't believe me.

Of course, she sets her hands on her hips and says, "It isn't good to lie, little one."

"Ah, no, I'm not lying," I try to correct her. I scratch my cheek, not really knowing how to put it, before I decide to just explain things so she'll understand. "Well, it's just, we were never supposed to touch each other's things because people might steal things. I didn't know about that and got beaten really badly for it one time... But you're an adult," I tack on quickly so I don't have to think about that too much. "So you wouldn't have to follow rules like that anyway, and Mister Fredricson's gone, so none of that even matters anymore."

"Mm..." she gives me a complicated look I don't really get, then returns to cleaning for a while. Once I'm done moving my stuff, I sit on the edge of my bed. I don't think I could relax enough with Kerra here to meditate right now, so I spend a little time watching her pulling stuff up from under Helen's bed instead.

She's clearly not being careful enough to put everything back right where she found it. If she's been doing this in everyone's rooms, they'll probably freak out when they realize someone touched their stuff... "H-hey..." I speak up without really meaning to. When she looks, I ask, "Can I help?" Wait, why am I asking that? So I can put the other girls' stuff back without messing it up?

"Sure," she chuckles with a weirdly soothing smile, without even pausing in her work. So I hop off my bed and start helping with Eve's bed. Just reaching underneath is making my heart race and my hands shake, but Mister Fredricson is gone, and Eve already told me she trusts me. This is fine. It's fine.

I quickly move her things up, only really needing a glance to memorize where everything was, since Eve's stuff is pretty spread out all under her bed. There's quite a bit of stuff though, so it takes me some time. As I'm going, I finally speak up about what I actually wanted to mention earlier.

"So, umm, everyone is going to notice their stuff got moved, and they'll probably sort of freak out. Especially since it looks like there were some kids home today who might have done it. I think you should mention that you cleaned all the rooms so they don't worry so much..."

Kerra shrugs, not even looking at me. "That sounds reasonable." I let out a shallow breath when she agrees so easily like that. Shortly after, she finishes up with Helen's things and starts to move to Emily's bed, but... I glance over to Jannette's, automatically tensing at the thought.

"H-hey, uhh, could you, umm... do that one?" I point to Jannette's bed nervously, getting a raised eyebrow from the caretaker, but she must be reading something from my expression, because she agrees easily enough. I quickly finish up with Eve's, then go to Emily's bed. I already know where most of her stuff is since we share so much all the time, so I actually finish with it before Kerra's even done with Jannette's bed.

"Alright," the tall woman says as she straightens up, swiping her dirty hands together. "Would you be a dear and get a bucket of water while I sweep?" Then, "Can you do that?" she adds a moment later, looking me up and down uncertainly.

"Yes, I can do it," I reply stiffly. Before she can doubt me any more, I leave the room. I already know I'm small... Pouting down the stairs, I grumble at the way I still need to be careful climbing down each and every one. I'm eating noble food now, shouldn't I be getting bigger...?

After a quick stop in the storeroom, I pass by lots of kids since it's already after the tenth bell, and head out to the well. "Oh." The blond one is there. It takes me a moment, thinking back to dig out her name from that whole cluster of introductions the other day. Ella, that's what it was. Right, she was the... iffy one, with the clothes and hair that seemed like they didn't get enough attention.

Looking her over now as she works to draw water from the well, she looks the same, so it wasn't even a fluke or anything. While I wait for her to work, I shift my weight to my good leg, and lean against the bucket. Ugh, I didn't think about that. With a quick check, I see that I have some earth mana, so just carrying a bucket of water shouldn't be too much weight for my leg.

When Ella finishes drawing up a bucket of water, she sets it on the ground and finally notices me standing behind her, with a little jump. "Woah! How long have you been there?" she gasps at me.

"Mm, a while?" I answer. Three point seven ticks, but she wouldn't know what that means.

"Well, I didn't hear you at all," she sighs, quickly calming down. When she sees the bucket I'm holding, she goes on to ask, "Are you here for water? Can you even do it by yourself?"

"Yes, I can do it by myself." I try not to sound too annoyed, but I don't think it works because she frowns at me. She doesn't say anything though, and just passes me the rope. I fumble with the knot a little, but manage to get it the way Emily taught me then swing it over the side.

Ella's standing to watch, no small amount of doubt in her expression as I take the crank and begin spinning it. Even under the bandages, gripping it burns against my bandaged hand, but I'm still kind of mad, so I quickly spin it to lower the bucket, waiting to hear the splash, before reversing to pull it back up again. The surprise that slowly pushes out the doubt gives me this... odd feeling. A lot like spite, but less mean. Sort of more victorious. I can't think of a word for it though...

That is, right up until I get the bucket back to the top of the well. Oh right, this part... I consider getting it like I did before, but I know climbing up on the edge of the well is a bad idea. Even if I succeeded, Ella's right there watching. She'd definitely scold me.

Reluctantly, I turn to her. "I... I can do this myself!" Even saying that defiantly, I lower my eyes to the ground at her feet. "But it's dangerous when I do it because I'm too short, so... can you help please?"

To my surprise, she doesn't laugh at me or anything. She just walks over with a faint sigh, and grabs the rope for me. Once she pulls the bucket over and sets it on the ground, I mumble out a thanks. Ella raises a hand, hesitating in the middle like she's going to pat me on the head, before turning on a heel and going back inside. What was that about...?

I'm still working my way up to the second floor when Kerra appears at the top of the staircase. "Oh, there you are. I was wondering where you disappeared to."

"Sorry, getting this up the stairs is kind of hard..." I mumble.

"That's perfectly fine," she waves it off like it's nothing. "Just this much is exceptional for a girl your age."

"I'm seven," I remind her. Tears are starting to form in my eyes, but I quickly wipe them away. Stupid water mana.

"A-ahh, that's right. Sorry, I forgot. You're just so small and cute, you know?" She says it endearingly as she comes down the stairs and gives me a gentle pat on the head, but it isn't making me feel any better. "Come, come," she chirps, taking the bucket and heading back upstairs again.

I grumble a little, but follow her up anyway. Even with my burden lifted, I still have trouble keeping up with the tall woman's long strides as she circles through the second floor, and lose her completely on the way up to the third floor. She is already mopping by the time I get to my room, so I sit up on top of my bed to stay out of the way while she works.

"So, your name was Aria, right?" Kerra eventually asks as she cleans.

"Yeah." Why is she asking me that? Just trying to remember me? I don't know, so I keep sitting awkwardly for a bit longer when she doesn't go on. But then I catch a look of her face and it's clear she's thinking about something. I have no idea what, and start getting kind of nervous about it by the time she finally speaks up again.

"This business with Karl Liffan, you said it was something you aren't supposed to talk about, right?"

"Nn," I nod.

"Not to pry, but you're safe, right?"

"Safe?" I mean, not as a rail unit, but as a 'person' I am. "Yeah, I'm not in danger or anything." Wait, but what about Quint Varish? He cut me pretty badly the one time we met and I might end up in his house... "Mmm..." I mumble as I consider that. No, I only let him cut me because I knew he didn't want to kill me, so it wasn't a problem, but still... "Well, at least for now," is what I settle for. "I probably have at least a few years before the possibility of running into any issues, so I'd still say yes."

To my surprise, Kerra tilts her head in confusion. "That is... not the kind of response I'd expect from a girl your age. You look like a baby, but you almost speak like an adult..."

I shrug. "I had to grow up fast." Besides, I should be an adult already, if I wasn't broken... Instead, I'm like this.

"I've been getting that impression from the others too. The old caretaker really put you all through a lot, didn't he?"

"Nn."

She doesn't say much more as she continues to clean. It feels like she wants to once in a while, but she doesn't anyway. Once she's finished mopping up, we move everything back under the beds, and she waves before heading off to clean more rooms. I sigh, still just... not in a great mood after all that, and try to ignore it by meditating instead.

That night, Emily drags an aff into town, the giant spider as large as she is. It's not all that heavy with its thin, spiky legs though. She sells it for another small pile of money. Especially now that we aren't splitting half with the orphanage, it's going to start to pile up fast...

When she finally gets home, I wrap her in a tight hug, and as always, she can tell something's wrong right away. "I hate being small," I mumble into her chest.

"I know," she sighs. There's nothing else to say, so she just lets me hug her tighter and cry until I calm down. After that, the rest of the night isn't too bad, and I mostly just meditate until dinner. I kind of miss seeing John every night, but at least he doesn't have to walk all the way across town just to feed me now.

Thankfully, Kerra takes my advice and tells everyone about moving their stuff to clean, which cuts short the clear tension that was building up around the kids as they all mentioned it to each other. She goes on to explain that they'll be cleaning regularly, and they'll let us know in the future when they want our stuff up off the floor. That's... a pretty good idea, actually.

Once everyone else is done, Marrianne makes my dinner. It looks like she's starting to experiment with some of the ingredients, with some of the hard ones I think I've seen a couple times crushed up rather than just cut into bite size pieces. She doesn't do much beyond that, but it still tastes amazing anyway.

Unfortunately, the healthy food reminds me how small I am again, so I end up sulking when I go upstairs to bed and Emily has to comfort me again before we finally go to sleep.