"Ashenella! Where have you been? You know that mother does not like it when you are late. What do you have to say for yourself?" The boy that called out to me was about fifteen or sixteen years old. He was tall, thin, and mean looking. I don't know what my relationship with him was, but I could tell that he didn't like me that much.
Well, that could make it a few different fairy tales, though there was mostly just one that I knew of where people hated on a girl. Let's meet the rest of the family and see if I am right. I can't make assumptions just on the off chance that I am wrong here.
"I am sorry. I somehow ended up getting lost in the woods." I was hoping that I was not some child in this world. I didn't even know what I looked like right now. Was I a kid? Was I an adult? Was I related to this person? Was I a servant or employee of his? Dammit! Why couldn't I know this right off the bat.
"I don't want to hear it. You know those woods as well as anyone. You knew where you were. I know that there is no one in town that knows those woods as well as you do. You were simply trying to get out of doing your work. You are going to get home right now so that mother and father can punish you for your lies."
With that, this man that I didn't know at all just grabbed my arm and started to drag me toward the houses in the distance. His grip was tight and he didn't seem to care if I was able to stay up right.
Dammit! There was one thing for certain about my character in this story. I was about the same height. Perfectly average in height and body size. I was able to ascertain that right away. That or this man was just a lot taller than I thought. Or perhaps I was shorter than I thought. It truly was hard to tell without something else to compare myself to.
I thought about fighting back, about making him regret what he was doing to me. The only problem with that was that I might somehow alter whatever story I was in before I even knew which one I was living. How could I satisfy the tale if I didn't even know which one it was? And on top of that, if I fundamentally changed something in the story, then how would I be able to figure it out at all? There was just too much to worry about and think about at the moment. But there was one thing that I knew, and that was that I couldn't fight back until I knew who I was and where I was.
Apparently, grabbing onto this character's arm and dragging her around seemed to be normal for this young man. Whoever he was to me, he was used to treating me like shit. And if I suddenly stopped taking it, he might get angry. Or it might scare the shit out of him. Both of those options were bad before I figured out what I was supposed to do here.
The man didn't let up on my arm at all. While I was having my intense inner turmoil and the debate on what to do next, he dragged me to the house closest to the woods. He pulled me around the back of the house and threw the door open. It led me into the kitchen of the home, and I was actually quite surprised.
I didn't expect this world to have something that looked so much like a recognizable stove. It had a place at the bottom for firewood and there was a door for the oven above that. A second place for firewood was above the oven and below the burners. If I had to guess, I would say it was like something more out of the eighteen hundreds or the early nineteen hundreds. Compared to a lot of other things that I was seeing in here, it was the most modern thing in here.
There was no refrigerator in the room, that would have been too easy. However, I was guessing that one of the doors that led off of this room went to a storage room. It was most likely partially or fully underground and it would be used to keep things cold in the hotter weather.
"Don't just stand there and look around, start making our breakfast. I don't know what's gotten into you lately, but you're being very stupid this morning. You had better get it done soon, or mother will punish you again."
"And what should I make for breakfast?" I asked him in as polite of a voice as I could. All the while I felt like my soul was slowly dying. I was letting this man tell me what to do, and on top of that it was turning me into someone like Suzy Homemaker. This was horrible.
"Shut your trap and make the food. Mother and Father will take their breakfast in the parlor today. I will have mine in my room. You can serve Jilly and Tilly in the dining room. They are waiting for their suitors to arrive. So that is a good indicator that you need to not take that long." After giving me my orders, the angry young man turned and stomped out of the room. I still didn't even know what his name was. In truth, I only knew who two of the people here were named. Jilly and Tilly, they must have been his sisters.
Well, I had a kitchen full of ingredients and not a lot of knowledge on how to cook. Wasn't that a shame. I mean, I can cook no problem, in a modern world that is. Here though, I didn't know what I was doing. What was I going to make? How could I manage it with little time at my disposal? It was all way too hard for me. But I had to do it. I had no other choice but to make this food.
I started trying to look around the room. I needed to find where everything was. Maybe, just maybe, I would remember something that this character knew. Maybe I could magically know how to make pancakes or something. That would be helpful. Then again, did they have syrup here? Or would I need to serve it with honey?
I found the cold storage room, and just like I thought it would be, it was fully under the ground. I had to take the stairs down there. Thankfully, there was a lamp at the top of the stairs that I could light, otherwise I wouldn't be able to see in there at all. I lit it though and took it down there with me.
I grabbed some milk, eggs, and what looked like bacon from the shelves and made my way back up the stairs. I mixed flour, baking soda, sugar, a pinch of salt, milk, and eggs all in a bowl. Thankfully, all of the ingredient jars were clearly labeled. That made it easier. And it was funny, I had gotten my wish of magically knowing how to cook. Let's hope this knowledge comes back to my real life with me, then I could make a lot more food for myself and my dad.
I scrambled up some eggs, fried up the bacon, and made some golden brown pancakes. I thought that it was a really good looking meal, if I do say so myself. I plated up enough for five people, drinks included, and loaded it onto what looked like a serving cart. Now it was time for me to try and find my way around this house. That was going to be fun.
I managed to find the dining room right away. It was just on the other side of the kitchen. I had the plates, silverware, and drinks set and ready for the sisters by the time that they made it into the room. I didn't care about meeting them just yet, so I left as they came in. All I noticed about them was that they were twins. Other than that, I didn't care at all.
Now, it was time for me to go off in search of the parlor. I had to deliver the boy's mother and father their breakfast.
I guess this wasn't so bad. I mean, at the very least I was learning how to cook and serve so I could work in a restaurant if I had to. It would be a valuable life skill for me to have.
When I walked into another room, pushing my cart ahead of me, I saw a man and a woman working at a desk. These must be the parents that the boy had mentioned. That was good. There was one less obstacle in front of me.