Seren jolted upright. They’d blinked and somehow that second stretched on forever. Seren stared at Pandora and Iekika. Talking quietly to each other while putting the ice in the ice chest for the milk brought home from town. Seren was holding a basket of collected eggs from the chicken house and listening to the quiet banter.

“You aren’t talking much,” Pandora said. Seren jolted again and looked up at Pandora in shock.

“Huh?” Seren asked while offering the basket of eggs.

“I said you were being quiet,” Pandora said slower.

“You look a little pale,” Iekika said with a wince. Trying not to offend.

“ ‘M just a little tired,” Seren was struggling to get their face to work.

“Do you need to go lay down?” Pandora walked over and gently took the basket from Seren.

“Nah, it’s fine. I can still help,” Seren resisted rubbing their eyes. Shutting their eyes tight and opening them wide to try and keep them open.

“Did you gather the eggs on your own?” Iekika asked as Pandora handed the basket to her.

“Oh no, Aurora helped.” Seren said with a sheepish cough. Iekika nodded and took the basket of eggs. Placing it on the counter to put them in their place on the shelf. Seren strode forward to help with the ice.

“Oh, uh.” Iekika looked at Pandora for help.

“Why don’t you and I go to the garden? I think there might be some things ready to be picked.” Pandora redirected Seren out the back door. Seren sighed as they were led out into the large gardens out front of the house.

“It’s nothing against you,” Pandora started but Seren shoved her off.

“Don’t even with that,” They said. “You’ve all been shuffling me off from one to the next all day.”

“Well if you weren’t walking around more dead than alive, maybe you’d be more useful.” Pandora said. She curled a bit of her hair back behind her ear.

“Useful? My entire life just fell apart yesterday!” Seren didn’t want to be yelling, but they couldn’t help being loud.

“Everyone’s lives fell apart here, you’re not special!” Pandora’s sharp tone tried to shut them down but Seren had too much momentum.

“Excuse me for taking the time to try and process what’s happened,” Now they were yelling. Lucero and Mykolas peeked out of the stable at the sound.

“What? You think it’s any worse than anyone else here?” Pandora’s tone lost its sharpness but ignited instead.

“I don’t know! I don’t know any of you!” Seren stepped back but Pandora moved forward. Aurora and Kyi at the front window mouthed inaudible words and Aurora vanished.

“You haven’t said anything to anyone!” Pandora took another step forward. Her hands out accusingly.

“Everyone keeps pawning me off on the next person!” Seren took a step forward. Slapping Pandora’s hand away. That made her face go bright red with more rage.

“Oh so special we should all just beware of your poor feelings?” Pandora took another step forward. The two raised their hands.

“What the hell do you want from me!” Seren stepped forward, their faces were nearly touching.

“Pandora!” Eoin yelled as he flew out the front door. Kyi and Aurora ran out after him. Lucero and Mykolas ran from the stables. The five of them pushed in between Pandora and Seren. Eoin grabbed Pandora and started pulling them back. Kyi shoved Seren’s shoulder around and started pushing them towards the trees.

“Let’s just go cool down a little,” Aurora said gently. Seren tried to turn back but Kyi would turn them around again and kept pushing them on.

“Yup, we’re gonna take a second to chill out.” Kyi grabbed Seren’s shoulders and held them still. Seren didn’t look up at Kyi or Aurora, crossing their arms and sneering at the ground.

“You wanna talk about it?” Aurora asked in a sickly sweet tone.

“Don’t you fucking talk down to me!” Seren snapped.

“Hey!” Kyi snapped at them like the crack of a whip. “You need to take a step back right now.” Seren bit the inside of their lip and glared at Kyi. Kyi looked at Aurora and motioned her back. Then they turned back to Seren.

“I understand you’re going through something, and I sympathize. But you are out of line here.” Kyi said sternly but softly. “Pandora shouldn’t have yelled at you, and you shouldn’t have yelled at her. You see where you went wrong too, right?” Seren crossed their arms and stared at an uneven patch of grass.

“Yeah,” Seren covered their eyes. It felt like their eyes were trying to pop out. They rubbed at their temples with a tired sigh. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Pandora is a little rough, but she means well.” Aurora stepped forward again and placed a hand on Kyi’s arm. Kyi turned a sour sneer toward her and Aurora removed her hand quickly with a small apology.

“Yeah,” Kyi’s face changed back to neutral as they turned to Seren. “We’re all just making the best of a bad situation. Pandora is the one who bares the weight of all the house’s expenses and has to look out for all of us.” Seren didn’t have anything to say. They looked up as Eoin walked up.

“All right, I’m going to have you and Pandora working in the garden. I want you two to make an effort to patch things up okay?” Eoin asked. Seren nodded mutely. “Okay, good.” Eoin led Seren into the garden where Pandora was standing. Her eyes were down and she had her arms crossed. Similar to the pose Seren had.

“The garden needs to be weeded and watered.” She said with a hard ending. She left no room for discussion. Seren stared at the leaves of the tomato plant. There was no opening but Seren felt the words on their tongue.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you,” Seren looked up at Pandora. “I’m going through some stuff right now and am a little sensitive.” Pandora looked up suspiciously. She stared hard into Seren’s eyes. Seren focused hard on Pandora’s eyes. Trying to show their dedication to their apology.

“You can start weeding on that end,” She said. Seren nodded and went to the far end with the peppers. They knelt to the ground and started with the weeds. Their cheeks were tinted at the entire house watching them. Mykolas and Lucero headed back to the stables with Iekika behind them. Aurora and Kyi headed back inside the house and only Eoin was left. He was giving the back of Pandora’s head a stare like a knife. Seren stared at the dandelions and dug their hands into the dirt to get all the roots out. Tossing the pulled weeds outside of the garden.

Seren tried to keep their mind empty, focusing on what the weeds looked like or what the produce smelled like. Not letting their eyes water, or their nose itch. They kept with the weeds and out of their peripherals they saw Pandora kneel down beside them.

“I accept your apology,” Pandora said quietly. Seren felt a stab of white hot rage flash through their feelings. They apologized, now aren’t they owed an apology? Seren swallowed it down and nodded. Keeping their eyes on the weeds they were pulling. The garden was well tended. There were few weeds between the intentionally grown plants.

"And, maybe. I was a little short with you." Pandora said quietly through clenched teeth. "I'm sorry, I should give you space if you ask for it."

"I'll try to remember to ask for it," Seren said. Pandora nodded. Seren nodded. The two moved along to the next section of the garden. Seren looked up through their lashes at Pandora. Her face was stone, with a curled sneer and furrowed brow. Seren looked back down to the weeds. As they pulled up and threw they looked at the green tangles and coils Seren was weeding.

“So, what kinda plants are these?” Seren asked. “I don’t recognize them. Are they vegetables?” Pandora looked up, startled. She looked at the plants.

“Oh, no. These are a type of medicine. Helps with fevers.” Pandora sat back on her knees and held one of the coils in her hand. Pointing out the different parts of the plant and what they could be used for. “These flower in the fall. With tiny little white flowers that are amazing for teas. We have a little supply of what we call Winter’s blend, in the kitchen. It’s good for things like fevers, colds and nausea… In fact. You said you were tired right?” Seren nodded. Their head was syrupy again, despite it they were fighting the yawns and keeping an intense attention on what Pandora was saying.

Pandora jumped to her feet and left the plant beds. Running along the length of them to another section. She vanished among tall stalks with yellow flowers. Seren watched, when Pandora wasn’t looking they hastily covered their mouth for a yawn that opened their mouth so wide their jaw clicked.

“Here,”

Seren jumped out of their skin as Pandora appeared beside them again. She held out a handful of leaves.

“Hold one on your tongue until the sweet flavor goes away,” Pandora placed the pile into Seren’s hand. Seren took one of the leaves and put it on their tongue.

“These leaves are filled with caffeine. We harvest them and have three tea blends with them. “The morning blend, the rise and shine blend and my favorite; the get the fuck up blend.” Seren nodded, the sweet taste had filled their mouth and they were finding it easier to keep their eyes open.

“Maybe when we’re done here we’ll take a break and I’ll make you a cup of tea,” Pandora said. “I can make a kick-ass cup of tea.”

“Sounds great,” Seren took the leaf out of their mouth to speak. Pandora nodded excitedly.

“Let’s hurry with the weeds then!” She jumped to her feet and went to the neighboring section and started weeding. Seren turned back to their own patch. A little smile on their face. Eoin, still leaning on the house, smiled slightly and went back inside with a nod. Seren frowned thoughtfully and took the leaf out of their mouth again.

“Hey Pandora?” They asked.

“Yeah?”

“How did you end up here?”

Pandora paused, she swallowed visibly and looked over at Seren. The steel-hard look back in her eyes.

“You don’t have to tell me, I was just curious.” Seren held up their hands to show they meant no harm. “You said everyone here had their lives fall apart and I was just wondering how it happened to you. I get it if it's too personal though." Pandora went back to the weeds.

"It's complicated," she said slowly. "Eoin and I escaped here together. We built this place."

"It's beautiful," Seren said. Looking up at the worn but well loved house.

"I'm sure it doesn't compare to a castle," Pandora said. It was Seren's turn to pause. Staring dead eyed at the house. They smiled politely and moved to another section.

"Right," Pandora cleared her throat. "We had to leave home after Eoin broke off his engagement."

"Liked you better?" Seren asked with a cheeky smile.

"Loved me," Pandora blushed. Hiding her rosy cheeks on her shoulder.

"So why did you say 'escaped'?" Seren sat up, putting the used leaf among the pulled weeds.

"Because the woman he was engaged to was fucking crazy," Pandora rolled her eyes. "She bought this potion from the local apothecary. It caused her to have these nasty seizures. Which she blamed on Eoin and I bring witches. Our town didn't care much for witches. Not like this place. Your kingdom is really cool with witches. Almost too cool really. Anyway when the town built the burn pile we knew we had to go."

"They were going to burn you?" Seren asked open mouthed.

"Yeah, the crazy bitch has started poisoning others. Threw occult nonsense onto our land. Killed a baby."

"Killed?!"

"Yeah, little two year old. Sweet thing. Dead in the crib with no known cause. Nothing but a pentagram drawn in charcoal on the wall." Pandora's eyes were vacant and wide. Her face pale as death's grip. She drew a shaky breath and shook the images away.

"So we left. Found a nice little place to make our own.” Pandora wiped her face with the back of her hand leaving a trail of dirt along her cheek. “And I guess our house is a little cursed.” She forced a smile and moved onto the next patch.

“Our house just keeps accumulating the lost like a beacon.” She scoffed playfully. Seren allowed themself a small laugh as well.

“Is it the house or the people in it?” Seren asked. Then faked a cough. “Excuse me, person” A surprised laugh burst out from Pandora and she covered her mouth with her fist. She shook her head to hold back the laughter.

“Maybe,” She said.

The conversation died for a bit and Seren put another leaf onto their tongue. Exhaustion was trying to claw into Seren’s consciousness. They spent a few minutes just coasting on the bare minimum of consciousness. Humming a little to themself as they worked. It wasn’t steady or even on key, any key. But it was something.

“Hey, what do you do when you’re bored?” Pandora asked suddenly. Seren paused in their work.

“I don’t really know,” Seren took the leaf out of their mouth and sat back. “The queen always kept me busy cleaning or doing some kind of chore.”

“Oh yeah?” Pandora crawled closer to grab some of the weeds Seren stopped grabbing. “Eoin was telling me you didn’t really look like nobility when he first saw you,” Seren’s cheeks flushed a little.

“I… I guess only the employed in the castle actually knew I wasn’t one of them.” Seren said quietly. Pandora’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Not treated much like nobility?” Pandora asked. Seren shrugged.

“What’s nobility normally treated like?” They asked. Pandora sat back and looked up toward the treetops.

“I imagine they have grand bedrooms with beds big enough for an entire family. The finest clothes made with jewels inlaid. When you want to wear a certain color or fashion you can make everyone drop everything to get you exactly what you want. Any food of any kind if you’re craving it you can have it. Always having others to do the chores so you can just do the things you want to do all day. Never having to worry about if there’s enough to eat or enough money to go around.” Pandora breathed dreamily. Seren folded their hands in their lap.

“That sounds nice,” Seren nodded. “I don’t know about the dresses or the jewels. But I had the entire basement level to myself. Used to be part of the dungeon but then got renovated when the queen was little.” Pandora turned and looked at Seren blankly.

“The… basement?”

“Yeah, I had this whole floor. It was made of stone and didn’t have any windows… but there were twelve rooms that were mine. With big heavy doors and all of them could lock.” Seren said. “They were a little small but I could put whatever I wanted into them.”

“Uh, aren’t dungeons normally wet and dank?” Pandora asked with a wince.

“There were a few rooms that had a leak and kinda bad mold,” Seren nodded. They looked down at their fingers sheepishly. Pandora reached over and pat Seren’s hand.

“There’s no mold in our house,” She said. “And we have lots of windows for lots of light to come in.”

“That is indeed true,” Seren nodded. “It’s also filled with nicer people.” Pandora lightly smacked Seren’s arm.

“Shut up,” She laughed. Seren snickered and moved to the last garden bed. Pandora stood up and brushed off her pants.

“I’ll fill up the water can and once the garden’s taken care of I’ll turn you loose to whatever you want to do,” Pandora said.

“Okay,” Seren waved. They stared at the weeds they’d already pulled, the day had only begun and they were ready for bed.