Demesne Patron EX SS 11 - House Cleaning With Umu and Mikon (Patreon)

It was slightly annoying how quickly a house no one was living in needed to be cleaned.

"It's the windows," Mikon said as she wiped dust off the stone table that looked like the kind of altar heretical Dungeon worshippers used to sacrifice people to the core. "They're open all the time, so the dust just keeps coming in." Outside, wind gusted, and the pink-haired weaver sighed. "And Binder Lori put the house in a windy place where they ground is very dusty, so of course a lot of dust gets blown in." She glanced out the door. "That's not even counting the smoke and ash from the bonfires sometimes."

Umu remained silent as she continued to sweep. The hard bristles from beast feathers made for a poor broom, but were the best they had at the moment, and it did well enough once one got used to them.

"Maybe we can surprise Rian by asking Lori to have some shutters made for him? They're already making shutters for the other houses," Mikon continued, not perturbed by the lack of reply. "What do you think?"

Umu grunted.

"I don't know what that means," Mikon said, her voice teasing. "Come on. If there were shutters, we wouldn't have to clean so much."

Umu sighed, even though other weaver did have a point. If they could close the windows with shutters, they certainly wouldn't have so many bugs getting inside and trying to nest in random corners, like under the bed or in the fireplace chimney…

"Aha! I heard that!" Mikon declared as she finished wiping the table and moved on to the shelf. "You agree with me! Come on, just say so!"

Umu grunted. No, she wasn't going to give the woman the satisfaction of talking to her! Rian was away, sailing back to Covehold Demesne to get medicines and things, they didn't have any reason to have anything to do with each other… beyond cleaning his house together! She focused on her sweeping, which she actually needed to do since the stiff bristles of the broom meant she needed to be deliberate when she swept, since it was easy to not get all the dust on the floor—

She jumped as a breath blew on her ear, letting out a yelp of surprise. "Stop that!" she snapped.

"Well, you were ignoring me," Mikon said. She actually had the nerve to sound hurt! "And when I'm helping you clean house. That's just cruel. I'll feel like I'm being taken advantage of."

"You volunteered to do this," Umu reminded her. "In fact, you volunteered me to do this!"

"Ah, if you don't want to, I'll understand. Give me the broom, I'll clean everything by myself, I don’t want you to feel forced to do this…"

Umu really wanted to slap that smile off Mikon's face as she said that. "Don't touch my broom," she snapped.

Mikon stepped back and shrugged. "Well, if you don't talk to me, I can't help but think you might be resentful about doing this for Rian. You don't have to, you know. I can take care of it myself."

Oh, this… "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Umu accused.

"Honestly, no, cleaning would take forever, I'd end up have to clean in the dark, and I'll be late for dinner," Mikon said with a shrug. "So I'm very glad there's two of us to do this."

Ugh, that smile. That stupid, cheerful smile… just what was it about the situation that she felt like smiling about? Umu just sighed, turning her back to the woman so she didn’t have to look at her, bending down to try to sweep under the bed. Fortunately, Mikon stopped talking and went back to work, humming something in her throat. Umu was glad of that, as she was able to sweep under the bed without distraction.

Silence descended, save for the sound of her broom, the swish of their skirts, and their footsteps as they moved back and forth. She heard Mikon coming up behind her as the woman started wiping the bed. In her opinion it didn't need it, but if Mikon wanted to do it, then she wasn't going to stop her.

"Are you sure you don't want me to call Riz to help lift the bed?" Mikon said, sounding like she was right behind Umu.

"I'm fine," Umu said. "It can get all the dust—" She let out a shriek and stumbled back as a bug suddenly fell from behind the plank right next to her head. Since she was bent down, she fell down on her side as the bug, buzzing loudly as flew and landed on the ground.

A cloth was thrown at the bug, and while it didn't really hurt the thing, it covered it up and tangled it as Umu scrambled to her feet, not objection as Mikon helped pull her upright. Umu grasped at the broom, holding it up and keeping it between her and the bug.

"Don't kill it," Mikon said urgently. "It would make a mess."

"I know, I know," Umu said. "Come on, let's get it out."

They worked together and managed to get the bug out of the house by waving the broom and, once it she could get at it, the cloth Mikon had been using to wipe surfaces with. It took a while, the twilit sky outside getting slowly darker as people finished quick baths or just washing their hands before heading for the dining halls. After that, they had to hurry with cleaning the rest of the house, eventually stopping when it was do dark to see if they were actually managing to clean anything.

"We really should just ask for Riz's help to lift the bed again," Mikon commented as they closed the door of the house, for all the good that did. No one would steal the furniture, and all of Rian's things were in Binder Lori's care, but with the wide open windows, the closed door wasn't exactly an impediment to entry. "We'd get done a lot faster."

"She didn't volunteer to keep the house clean," Umu said. She needed to get the broom back home before she went to dinner.

"So? She'd be willing to help anyway, I'm sure. Riz is a very nice person, I'm sure you two would get along very well. You both have a lot of things in common."

Umu gave her a sarcastic look that she was willing to admit she'd learned by watching Binder Lori when she talked to Rian. "Yes, like how we're interested in the same man."

"Yes, exactly," Mikon said cheerfully, the look working as well on her as it usually did with Rian. "Just like you and I. Because of our shared interest, we spend a lot of time together cleaning a house… which would be easier to do if we had help for things like lifting the bed. It wouldn't have to be anything else, just help with lifting the bed would be enough. Bugs keep hiding under the bed."

Umu tried not to be tempted, especially since the other woman was right, today wasn't the first time they'd found a bug under the bed. It wasn't even the first time a bug under the bed had flown at her face.

"I don't need any more help keeping Rian's house clean," Umu said stubbornly as they reached her house. It was empty, with everyone either washing their hands and face or already waiting in the dining hall. She resigned herself to the fact the other weaver had followed her to the house, though thankfully the woman didn’t actually go inside with her as she put the broom back in its corner.

"And you're amazing for it," Mikon said brightly. "I, however, am not so amazing, and would like a little help."

Umu sighed, as she stepped out of the house. "What do you care? I'm the one who does the sweeping."

"I'm perfectly willing to switch if you want," Mikon offered. "Be the one bent over with her backside hanging out trying to reach under the bed."

"Fine, you can do it tomorrow, I'll wipe," Umu said.

"All right. In that case, I'm asking Riz for help lifting up the bed so I can sweep under it."

Umu let out an exasperated huff as she reluctantly followed the pink-haired woman towards the laundry area, which was full of people too impatient to wait for a place in the baths or showers for them to wash. After all, Mikon had kept her company putting away the broom. The least Umu could do was keep her company as she rinsed off the dust cloth. "If you were going to do it anyway, then why ask me?"

"I wasn't going to do it anyway, since you didn't want to, but I'm the one sweeping under the bed now, and I don't want to bother with trying to reach under it while bent over," Mikon said as she rolled up her sleeves and used her hands to scoop up some water from the central basin, wetting the dust cloth. She began to pass it back and forth over the bumps Binder Lori had made on the stone to get the dust off.

"Well, then I'll do the sweeping," Umu said. "Then I can say I don't need help."

"But you swept so much faster when I asked Riz to help me lift up the bed," Mikon said. "We'd get done so much sooner!"

She had, but it was aggravating enough to put up with one woman she was rivals with when she didn't have to. And it was the one who was always strangely nice and friendly and acted like they weren't rivals. Putting up with the other one who definitely saw Umu as a rival and blatantly interfered when she could wasn't her idea of a good time. "I don't care. You and I are cleaning Rian's house by ourselves and that's final. No Riz!"

Mikon laughed. Why had she found that funny? "Fine, fine, our time alone together remains our time alone together," she said with a smile. She twisted the cloth in her hands, and the excess water in it was squeezed out, and she used it to wipe her hands of the wash water before walking towards the array of washing line, pulling a wooden clothespin from her belt pouch to stick the cloth in place so it wouldn't fall off. The small ropeweed cloth, woven as a test when they had first started using the fiber, was folded over the line and pinned. "Do you want to sit with us tonight? I'm getting better at chatrang, its taking longer for Binder Lori to crush my utterly."

Umu sighed as they began walking back towards the dining hall. "Stop inviting me. If Rian's not there, there's no point in me sitting there."

Mikon sighed. "Fine, fine… but I really do miss you." A hand reached up and patted Umu on the shoulder.

Umu rolled her eyes, wiggling her shoulder until Mikon got the message and took off the hand. "We see each other every day. Our looms are right next to each other. You help me set it up every morning. How can you miss me?" Why did she insist on treating Umu like a friend instead of a rival? It was very annoying.

"You're very missable. I'm sure Rian is missing you too."

Umu hoped he was, especially since she had finally gotten his attention properly. He'd even called her beautiful… beautiful, skilled, accomplished… well, he'd called them all that, but…

She felt a hand on her shoulder again. "I know…" Mikon said, sound wistful. "I miss him too."

Umu looked at the hand on her shoulder, but let it stay there for a moment.

Eventually, she sighed. "Thanks for helping me clean the house again today."

On her shoulder she felt a pat and a gentle squeeze. "Thank you for helping me clean the house as well," Mikon said.

They reached the dining hall.

"Well, see you later," Mikon said. "Same pool as usual?"

"Yes, yes," Umu said, turning to head towards the table her family sat at. It was a tight fit, since there was so many of them, and she tried not to think about how she wouldn't have to crowd with anyone if she went back to the Binder's table… "I'll help you wash your back. Just don't make me wait again."

"I can't predict if I'll manage to last against her Bindership! If I'm having a winning streak, I have to keep at it!"

"If you make me wait, I'm going home," Umu warned her again.

Mikon sighed. "Yes, Umu…"

Umu nodded in satisfaction, heading for the table her family sat at. It was crowded as always, and not for the first time, she considered going back to sitting at the usual, familiar table…

No, no. She had no friends there…

No friends at all.

But… maybe… someday…