UnEarthing Toroid

Part 6

When Lily woke up, she was also expecting something to have gone horribly wrong with her new visitors. Letting strangers stay in your house overnight was generally not a good idea, even if they were beautiful teenage girls. But when she opened her eyes and sat up, everything was fine. 

The sun was shining and birds were chirping. Her bed was soft and clean like always, and the bright light was a warm welcome into another beautiful new day. She could hear something going on outside her door, though. A light clattering, some footsteps, some sweeping and bumping noises. Nothing that sounded bad, or like there was some kind of trouble, but it was obvious that her guests were awake. She should probably go deal with—

Her mother! With a start, Lily jumped out of bed and ran out of her room. She had forgotten about her mother being there. She was probably annoying Lily's guests to death! Talking their ears off, even if they couldn't understand English. How embarrassing! Her mother always smothered any friends Lily brought over. And Lily always tried to prevent that, but this time, with everything else going on, she'd totally forgotten about it.

Much to her relief, when she reached the living room, her mother was nowhere to be seen. In fact, it didn't really look like the household was totally awake yet. The lights in the living room were still off; the ones in the kitchen were on, but turned to the dimmest setting. The hallway was bright, though, and that's where the faint thumping and bumping was coming from. So that's where Lily went. 

She was greeted by the sight of Lanijata, moving gracefully around the hall like a dancer. But she wasn't dancing. She had a bundle of laundry at one side of her feet, and her hands were full of bedsheets, tucked under her chin as she folded them with precise and practiced movements. Even Lily's mom couldn't fold a sheet like that. Lanijata's hair was pulled up in a neat bun, and she had what looked like an apron tied around her waist. As Lily watched, Lanijata snapped the sheets into a perfect fold, then placed them gently into a laundry basket. She went to grab a blanket from the pile of unfolded clothes at her feet, and that's when she caught sight of Lily.

She didn't jump, but her eyes widened a little bit, for half a second before she recognized her hostess. She gave a slightly guilty smile, glancing down at the laundry all around her. "Ah..." She started, then spoke in Common. "I was just cleaning a bit..."

Lily held up one finger, then fished out her phone and turned it back to the translator. She gave it over to Lanijata.

This time, Lanijata spoke in Estonian, letting the translator spin it back to English. "I just thought I might get some cleaning done." She shrugged, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. Then she started folding the blanket. "Since no one was awake yet. I swept the hall, dusted the living room, and washed the windows. Though I couldn't get to the dishes, since Amalies is still sleeping."

"You...cleaned?" Lily looked around the hallway, which was noticeably spotless. "That was really nice of you."

"Bah. It's nothing." Lanijata shook her head. "I don't like to be idle, and nothing looks good when it's dirty." She finished with the blanket and set it in the basket.

"Amalies is still asleep?" Lily tiled her head, glancing behind her into the living room. Sure enough, Amalies was lying stretched out on the couch, in the same place where Lily had left her last night. Although at some point, she'd taken her shoes and her corset off, leaving her in just a black slip.

"Yes. So I've been trying to be quiet." Lanijata nodded, picking up a pillow case now.

"Oh." Lily glanced back and forth between Lanijata and Amalies, putting a finger to her chin thoughtfully. "Is my mom awake yet?" It would be strange if she wasn't, considering Lily had gone to bed well after her.