-Sarphi's POV-

After a very cosy and cramped night, with Prin, Onyx, and I all cuddled up on one bed, The sun rose once again. I really didn't want to get out of bed, I was warm and comfortable, more so than I think that I had ever been. Sure, our mother had been rich, and we lived in a large house, but the beds weren't made for comfort like this one was. The beds in the inn weren't' too bad either, but it was different knowing that we actually owned this bed.

"Wakey wakey!" Prins aid happily as she slid off the bed, landing on the floor with a soft thud and a laugh. "We have a whole new day ahead of us. Probably full of hard work and meeting new people."

I groggily opened my eyes and stared at her with a frown. I felt like I was embodying Aknon in his absence. I didn't want to get up, and her optimism and energy was irking me somewhat. I wondered if this was how he felt about me and Acer. "Or we could ignore it all and stay here?"

Prin laughed at me and reached down to pull the sheets away, causing me to groan and argue. IU used my tail to poke at her legs and try to push her away, sliding it under her fingers to loosen them from the blanket.

"That's cheating," she claimed as she slapped my tail just below the point.

I found myself blushing lightly, but it was hidden by the blanket. "It's not." I shook my head and sat up. "How come he gets to sleep in?" I pouted and gestured towards Onyx, who was resting on the bed peacefully.

"Onyx doesn't know how to make bread or cake," Prin spoke quietly, as though she didn't want to insult him. She moved back towards the screen in the room where we kept the water. I assumed that she was beginning to get a wash.

"I don't know how to make bread or cake either," I pointed out, hoping that I'd made a very good point. I remained lying in the bed until she came back out again, the littlest bits of water dripping down her face as she dabbed at it with a cloth.

"No, but you can learn." She took my hand and pulled me up and out of the bed. "Now get ready, before I wash you myself."

"Is that a promise?" I asked with a cheeky grin before I ducked behind the screen quickly to avoid being hit by the cloth. After a lot of thinking last night, I had decided to make the most of my situation. I knew that Onyx would be able to help us and Aknon. I knew that he'd stay in touch with us somehow, and that we have a powerful being on our back. Acer would be fine, they could handle themself, and they would get really annoyed at me if they found out that I was worrying so much that I forgot to live this strange new life.

Getting washed was quick, and I put on a new dress which we had bargained for yesterday. We had a lot of work to do in order to repay the people who have been kind to us so far here. Luckily, there were cookbooks and notes scattered around the building for us to reference. Hopefully, we'd be able to replicate the baked goods just like the old baker used to make them.

I stepped out of our room and into the living room and kitchen, which wasn't the biggest space, but it would be perfect for us. I smiled as I saw Prin by the fire, looking very beautiful in the glow which illuminated from it.

"Do I look okay?" I asked quietly, stepping forward and into view, giving a small twirl as I held the sides of the dress. I felt very self-conscious, as it was far more modest and lighter than the things I usually wore. I didn't think that it suited my overall style at all, but it suited the aesthetic of the wandering village and the bakery extremely well.

She turned her head to look at me and grinned. "You look beautiful, Sarphi." Her voice made me blush some more, which I hoped to hide with my hair. "But You need to have braids, or some kind of bun in your hair. That'll probably make a good impression and show we don't want our customers finding black threads in their goods."

I nodded and looked at the pan which was in the fire, noticing some eggs and sausages cooking together. "I will. I think that a bun would be more appropriate for a bakery." I tried to joke, but it was pretty weak.

"Can you fetch the plates please?" Prin asked politely, moving the food around the pan with a spatula. "We better hurry and eat up so that we can start. We have four large cakes to bake, and then decorate, and then we have three loaves of bread to make whilst doing that."

"And that's before getting around to our actual job," I said pointedly and grabbed the plates from the cupboard, bringing them over to the fire and holding them whilst she placed the cooked food. "I don't think that people are in a huge hurry right now. They've gone this long without a baker; I'm sure a few hours won't hurt." At least I hoped not, thinking about it put a lot of pressure on my shoulders. I never thought I'd actually be able to get such a mundane job like this. I always thought that I would be a thief, or assassin, or at most a dancer.

Prin gave a small nod and put the pan down, following me over to the table. She sat down and moved her hair out of her face, something I wanted to comment on, but I decided not to today. "I know, but it's a lot of pressure when you're the only ones in the village."

I hummed and furrowed my eyebrows, picking up the utensils. "Why didn't anyone else take over the role anyway? Did the baker not have any relatives?" I hadn't gathered that much information whilst I had been here, which was very unlike me. But I was aware that Prin had quite a few more conversations than I had when we were shopping last night.

"Actually, they did." Prin began eating, the sound of the utensils on the plate loud through the otherwise quiet space. "They don't live in the village anymore. They didn't like the repetitive lifestyle, so their son and daughter-in-law moved out. I do believe that we might be seeing them at some point soon, or we won't meet them for as long as we live."

I hummed and began to get lost in thought. The baker had just passed away, but I wasn't aware of where their body was. I didn't know if a funeral had already been held, or what the traditions of the wandering village were when it came to deaths. I took it that Prin meant we'd be seeing them if it did come to a funeral, and if not then they would stay far away from the village. It led me to think more about the positives and negatives of being here.

We would travel across the world, making sure that we were not really in the same place twice. It would be nearly impossible to track us down or know where we were going next. I figured that there must be some kind of spell stopping us from drowning in the ocean, so maybe the ground knew where to go. The people would be the same, which I suppose was quite normal when you lived in a small village. We'd be able to make friends, and I doubted it would get boring.

But I think I would miss the trouble I used to get up to. I would miss stealing little pieces of change from pockets and flirting with people to get out of being thrown in jail. I wouldn't miss hurting others, but I would miss the closeness and freedom which came with travelling the world with my siblings.

Before I knew it, I had completely finished my breakfast, my fork scraping against an empty plate.

I blinked out of my thoughts to see that Prin had an amused look on her face. "Welcome back," she joked softly before standing.

"I'll do it," I offered as I took the dishes to the sink. "Do you have the books we need?"

She nodded and held up three books. They all had pieces of paper slid through the pages like bookmarks. The baker didn't have the neatest of handwriting, nor did I have the best reading ability. So, Prin and I decided to start our own cookbook so we could transfer the notes and make them easier for us to access.

"Right, let's get started."

It took us half an hour to write down two recipes. Luckily, that was all we needed for the day. Onyx came into the kitchen a few hours after we started writing, so we had to take a small break to feed him and fill up his water. But he then joined us at the table, lying next to our feet, ears twitching every time one of us spoke.

The actual baking process took around six hours. There was no exaggeration when I say we underestimated how bad we were. But nothing went to waste. We ate whatever we messed up, knowing that it was still safe to consume either way. We kept the failures in our personal kitchen as we attempted to use the bigger one.

We ended up with far too much, some of which would have to be given away as thanks, mostly to Cade and Niko if they would actually take it. But we ended up walking around the village at five in the evening stopping at all the market stalls we were at yesterday. The seamstress was incredibly kind to us, saying that we really didn't need to put so much effort into getting the goods done straight away. I had a feeling that she felt sorry for our flour-covered and dishevelled appearances. I didn't care what I looked like at that moment. I was skipping with joy, as we'd actually managed to do something right.

But all that joy vanished when a snooty voice came from the shadows. "So, you're the newcomers?"