Retrace bxbxb

Punishment

(Thanks for your patience :3 I had to get another story out of my mind before I could get my focus back on here. If you have a moment, please check it out. It's called Mimic and already has three chapters on it ^^. Happy holidays!)

The next morning was a bit of a blur. He thought that because he had a broken foot and several burns, that he'd be able to relax for at least a day or two. He was wrong. There was evidently a lot of things a crippled person could do to help out around the house. 

His first task was to fold laundry. You'd think that with only three people living in the home, that there wouldn't be too many garments to deal with, but it would appear that they had, for some reason, been saving up folding the items until they could find someone else to do it. 

Lucky me. 

Thankfully, he didn't have to retrieve the piles or put them away, but it took him a good two hours to get everything done well. His next task was helping prepare lunch. He was given a wooden board and a knife, along with two onions, carrots and apples to chop.

He cut the apples and carrots first, but the entire time he was dreading the onions. Also, he couldn't figure out a single dish that required all three ingredients together. 

Still, he didn't want to cause any problems and if he was staying with them without doing any of the important chores, he wanted to at least complete the simple things he was asked to do. 

The onions, for some reason, were the worst he'd ever had the displeasure to be around. His eyes were watering before he even got halfway through the first one and by the time he started the second, they were stinging pretty badly. 

"Could you maybe cut those a bit smaller, hun? Kirin doesn't like them much so I have to hide them in his food out of spite." Lady Lelynn said as she came inside and checked his work, having taken a stroll through the garden. 

This is torture. 

"Of course, ma'am." He said, returning his attention to the diced onions. He wasn't very quick with the knife, so cutting them even smaller took nearly twenty more minutes, and by the time he was done, he desperately needed to wash his eyes out. 

As soon as Lady Lelynn came and took the tray, Harper hopped up onto his good foot and hurried to the washroom. The water he pumped from the bathing tub was still freezing, but he didn't even consider it as he splashed it on his burning eyes until the sting slowly diminished.

Breathing out a relieved sigh, he finally stopped pumping water and slid down against the wall near the tub, closing his eyes to let himself relax for a few minutes. 

"Harper?" Kirin called a short while later, drawing him from his rest. 

Rubbing at his left eye, he used the wall to help himself stand, then hopped out of the bathroom. "Here, sir." He said, earning a raised eyebrow from Kirin before the man blew out a breath and looked toward the kitchen. 

"My lady, if you are mad at someone, you could always use actual words to express yourself, instead of attacking them with a cane, yanking their chairs out from under them, or forcing them to cut onions you have no intention of using because you think they are as vile as I am." 

Wait. What?

Lady Lelynn came around the corner a few moments later with Abel trailing her, carrying a large bowl of mixed greens. 

"Ma'am, why are you upset with me?" Harper asked, unsure of what he did to offend her. 

Kirin helped him to the table as Abel finished setting it and Lady Lelynn took a seat. When everything was done and they were ready to eat, she crossed her hands over one another on the old wood before her and turned her attention to him with eyes that felt closer to that of a predator's as opposed to a sweet old grandma.