I took my time on the chores, Malanda said I looked pale again so when I finished I went to bed and slept in for a little. Until Vel came to me for dinner.

A strange dream had plagued me, some cat I had never seen turning skeletal, suddenly purring loudly, then Vel picked it up and walked away with it I couldn't move as they disappeared into the distance. I looked up a woman without a face held me laying me down.

This was the moment Vel came out of her room, I quit contemplating the dream. She probably noticed I was thinking, or being a little absent. 'Are you feeling better, Jacob?' As I nodded I told her I had had a strange dream. She smiled a bit 'You weren't dreaming about me right?' it was silly to say I did, so I said 'You wish.' But She did appear so I looked away.

'Wait why are you acting so strange. You have, haven’t you? You are such an awful boy.'

She knocked me on my head softly as we were walking downstairs. 'Not in that way, you are being weird Vel.' And I blushed. She looked at me, her face questioning what I just said. 'What do you mean.' Quickly after she said that her eyes went wide and her face turned red as well. We walked into the kitchen together, Malanda was already sitting there. 'What are you two so flustered about?'

I quickly said. 'Nothing! don't worry about it.' She looked at us with a suspicious gaze. She went on 'Sorry, but I'm a little distracting after what happened with the guards.' Vel looked away from her food, her face wrinkled with anger. 'We know Malanda! we are sorry, but I didn't have another choice!’ Malanda leaned back 'Vel that's no way to speak for you, don't raise your voice to me.' I put my hand on vel’s shoulder. 'We know Vel, I know.' it didn’t help. She quickly shoved her food into her mouth, finishing it within seconds. Almost running upstairs after she had. I looked at the door opening vel had disappeared through, then at Malanda and said 'I should probably go after her.' She shook her head, 'No Jacob, I will. You have dodged too many chores already. Go clean the kitchen and do the dishes.' She left her food and went upstairs. I took a couple more bites of my food but it tasted like nothing. Time to go to work. While I was cleaning I heard the knock on Vel's door. She must have gone inside because I didn't hear it again.

When I was doing the dishes I noticed a spot on the bottom of one of the plates. deciding This would be my enemy for today. The water was hot, I knew this, but I didn't really feel it. First I used my trusted brush and tackled it head-on, it didn't butch or gave away. 'Ah, so that's how you want to do it.' This stain must have gone unnoticed for years, almost becoming one with the plate. I won't allow it. I took more soap and went on to brush for dear life. My heart started to beat faster, my movements seemed to go slower. I knew a battle when I saw one and this is how it was supposed to go. The stain got smaller it was giving in. I got fiercer like an animal ripping into its prey, I went wild with my brush. And then...

The plate broke in my grip falling into a hundred pieces. Some of its remains in my hand.

Ow holy..... I didn’t expect that. It was a last-stand suicide.

Of course, I knew it was my grip strength, but it was part of the drama. Being a servant isn't as much fun as it might look. Now I stood there with a bleeding hand. Trying to remove the splinters a bit and put a towel around it. After that I went upstairs, they were still talking. I knocked, 'hey, I've got a little problem.'

'What is it?' Vel said.

I went inside and even in the dim light, it was clear the towel had a little more blood on it than it normally should. Malanda jumped up. 'What happened!?'

I thought it would be dumb to say I went to war with a veteran stain, but I did. 'I got a little too excited while doing the dishes, one of the plates I held shattered because I used to much force...'

She looked at me with disbelief. 'You shattered a plate by squeezing it?'

Vel just facepalmed. Like she was saying "this idiot".

I smiled an awkward smile 'Yes, that's about what happened.'

She was already with me trying to peek under the towel 'Just let me see.' She removed it and the amount of blood on my hand combined with the darkness of the room made it hard to see what was really going on. Still, she said 'That looks awful Jacob we should clean it.' I just shook my head like it wasn’t necessary, saying 'No, I already did a bandage should be enough.' She gave me a look doubting me to the core, 'Well then you did awfully, I still see halve of the plate in your hand.' We cleaned my wound again and strangely I felt quite a bit of it. When it was clean the wounds appeared to be small except for a cut in my thumb which went really deep. The bleeding lessened and Malanda bandaged it for me while Vel was watching. Malanda’s motherly voice came up 'So you're all okay again, promise me you’ll be more careful next time' I nodded and She padded me on the head.

Then she looked at Vel. 'Luckily we were just done talking, I'll be in the living room if you need anything.' Vel said okay Malanda and quickly referred her eyes to me. 'this might be a golden opportunity for your magic.'