After the fall

Chapter 12

"That's... quite the story." Lapisa said, fascinated. "Oh it's not just a story, it's history. The history of these lands that we inhabit"."So my cape is from the other kingdom then? But why were you so surprised when you saw it?" Lapisa asked after a short silence between the two. "Well you see... People from the other kingdom don't come here and we don't really go there so I was just surprised to see the symbol of *name of other kingdom* here.", "Is it not possible to go from one kingdom to the other? Is that what you mean?". A sigh left Matilda's mouth, "No that's not what I mean sweetheart, we... we just don't go from one kingdom to the other. It's almost like a written rule here. The only people that go back and forth are those who trade with *name of other kingdom*". "Oh...okay" Lapisa answered not exactly knowing how to respond, Matilda then stood up "I have to go back to the kitchen, when you've finished the tea just leave the cup on the counter. Oh could you be a dear and sweep the floor afterwards? Usually Lan does it but he's out as you know and the floor is starting to get dirty". "I'll do that" Lapisa said as Matilda left the room. While Lapisa continued sipping on her tea she thought about all the information she had gotten, her curiosity about the Luminescence Kingdom slowly but surely started creeping in.

Trying to shake off her growing curiosity Lapisa stood up, left her now empty cup on the counter, grabbed the wooden broom that stood alone in the corner and put her dark hair in a ponytail before she started thoroughly sweeping the floor like Matilda had asked. Lapisa started sweeping the dining room on the first floor, she swept along the cracks of the floorboards making sure to get every dust and dirt particle, no matter how big or small, out of them. Lapisa swept her way to the staircase leading to the second floor, extremely focused on completing her task to perfection. She swept the staircase with such focus and force that she didn't pick up on someone coming towards her, trying to walk down the stairs. Lapisa suddenly felt the tip of the brush hitting something, but thought that it was simply a nail that had started coming out of its place. The wooden staircase was in fact quite old and slightly crooked so a nail sticking up would not be weird. However when Lapisa saw a pair of shoes underneath the brush she realized that the thing she had been hitting hadn't been a nail rather an actual living and breathing human being. She quickly looked up at the owner of the shoes, her eyes met the same emotionless hazel eyes she had locked eyes with previously during the day. Lapisa slightly jumped in surprise as her eyes widened, accidentally smacking the person with the broom. The owner of the hazel eyes caught the shaft of the broom, raising an eyebrow at Lapisa's antics.

As Lapisa realized her mistake she tried swallowing in an attempt to give her now dry mouth some moisture, "Theron!?" she exclaimed loudly, feeling heat on her cheeks building up, causing them to go red, out of embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you the-" before Lapisa is able to finish Theron interrupts. "I see this is normal for you, huh?" he said while letting go of the broom, forcing Lapisa to catch it so that it wouldn't hit the floor. Tilting her head in slight confusion, Lapisa leaned on the shaft of the broom "what?", "bumping into people seems to be your hobby". Before she even had time to defend herself, "to your apology, it's fine" Theron said with a somewhat cold expression on his face before he just took a step around her and continued his way down the stairs. Lapisa was left dumbfounded by his behavior for a while before she shook her head and went back to sweeping the inn.

Lapisa pulled a piece of her dark hair, that had fallen out of her loose ponytail, behind her ear as she let out a sigh. She had finally finished sweeping both floors of the inn, now that she wasn't as focused on thoroughly cleaning Lapisa finally felt the exhaustion eating her up. By the time she came back to the first floor to leave the broom in the corner she had picked it up from, the bar that had been almost full when she started cleaning, now looked empty with only one person sitting by the counter. However, too tired to care, Lapisa didn't register who that person was and simply turned to go to her room. "Ah, wait! Don't forget your clothes dear" Matilda called out to her, holding Lapisa's clean and folded clothes with a warm smile on her face. With sluggish movements Lapisa walked up to Matilda and took her clothes as she thanked the middle-aged woman with a tired but genuine smile present on her face. On top of Lapisa's folded clothes were the midnight blue cape, its golden embroidery shimmering in the light.

Lapisa could feel someone's eyes staring at her from the counter, with a quick glance she noticed that it was Theron who looked at her with a sharp gaze. With his elbow on the counter he was leaning his somewhat tilted head in his hand, raising his eyebrows the moment Lapisa's eyes landed on his face. Attempting to ignore him, Lapisa started taking slow and sluggish steps, almost as if she was dragging her body, towards the door leading to the staircase connected to the staff's room. "Why do you have my cape?" Theron's sudden question caused Lapisa to come to a halt. "Huh? What did you say?" Lapisa answered with a tired voice, having not exactly managed to register the words that came out of Theron's mouth. A "nevermind" and a pair of shrugging shoulders was all he responded with before he turned his attention back to his drink. Still awaiting some kind of explanation, Lapisa stood still for a while, however Theron only continued sipping his pint of beer by the counter having lost interest in her and her matters the moment he diverted his attention. Not having the energy to ask him again, Lapisa dragged herself up to her room without much thought of the weird interaction she had just had with Theron. The moment the door closed behind her Lapisa threw herself on her bed and quickly fell into a deep slumber.