Winnie's Woe's

Bree left the bathhouse trying to forget everything that had transpired within it.

"I think I'll be taking my baths at mid-day from now on," she decided as she made her way past the stairs once again and to the right side of the first floor. Past the door that separated it from the entrance hall, the entire right half of the first floor was split into a kitchen and a dining area.

Manfred and Boris were already hard at work preparing Dinner, sitting in wait for her meal she spotted Winnie, and off near the back Minerva and Sheepy sitting with Inky, who was happily using his nubs to tap on the arm Minerva was cradling him in. The final NPC present in the dining hall was Orion, who was waiting at the counter, presumably to deliver food to Silver while he was on guard duty.

Not wanting to sit alone and not wanting to disturb the family dinner, Bree walked over to Winnie and sat next to her. Winnie was nose-deep in a book and gave a disinterested glance at who had taken the seat before going wide-eyed and dropping the book as she looked down at Bree.

"Mistress Bree," She said in shock "What a lovely surprise, is there something I can assist you with Ma'am?"

"Oh, no worries, Winnie; I have simply decided that since so much has changed in one day, I might as well keep up the changes, so starting today, I'll be eating dinner with you all," There was a moment of Winnie looking at her with a blank expression before she got up.

"Pardon me one moment, My Lady, I'm going to ask if I could have a drink,"

"Do grab one for me two, won't you?" Bree replied as she leaned over and picked up Winnie's book. She looked at the cover, and the only label on it was the number seven. Upon looking inside, she could not come up with a proper reaction when she found it was simply a logbook filled with everything Bree had achieved in the game world, but warped so that any mentions of it being a game were gone.

Interested to see what her time in the game had looked like for her NPC's she began reading about the time she had been betrayed by her in game clan after a raid battle, only for them to realize to late she had looted the boss and taken all the best loot with her after being kicked out.

With Bree enjoying a warped trip down memory lane, Winnie rushed to the front counter and quickly obtained Boris's attention once he handed off the last of Orion's food order.

"Something wrong?" he asked as Orion bounded out of the dining hall. Winnie simply pointed with her wing, and Boris followed it, instantly spotting Bree, who was casually flipping a page with her default mellowed-out expression of smiling with half-open eyes. "Mistress Bree!?" he demanded, barely managing to keep his voice down.

"Our Lady has just decreed she plans to start eating meals with us starting today,"

"Wha...why?" Boris demanded in justified confusion, a question Winnie had often heard that day. Since saving them all from the end of days, their master had been acting odd.

In the old days, she might say a passing word or two in their general direction to open a door, harvest the fields, or do simple mundane tasks like gathering materials. In this one day alone, Bree spoke to them more than she probably had in years and issued orders unlike any Winnie had heard before. And Winnie was confident she knew why.

"She's looking for something," Winnie declared without a hint of doubt in her heart or mind, "Clearly, she suspects one of us, intentional or not, to be the reason her transportation spell failed, resulting in her glorious home being bound to the earth instead of soaring in the heavens where it belongs,"

"She does?" Boris asked in shock.

"Of course, I am confident that none of us would ever do something like that, and I am also confident she feels the same, but she must be thorough before she moves her investigation to the creatures of this world. After all, it could have just been an accident,"

Winnie readjusted her glasses before she spoke again. "Also, I will need two drinks, one for me, one for Mistress Bree. It matters not what I receive ensure Mistress Bree receives the finest drink we have in stock,"

As Boris rushed to inform Manfred that whatever he was cooking would be eaten by Bree, Winnie turned her attention to Bree and pondered about her.

"She probably doesn't suspect anyone who is presently in the room, otherwise she would be so casually looking at her own exploits, and would instead be watching them closely," Winnie looked to the door and thought about who was absent, "Her Maids are clear too, she handed them guarding during for the day, a reward I couldn't even imagine being given, Silver and Orion are clear otherwise she'd have removed them from the guard,"

Winnie shook her head as she tried desperately to understand the overwhelming brilliance that was her master. If she only knew how her beloved master had saved them, she might have been able to examine the spell and question the others on what they had been doing before the jump to see if they might have done something to throw off their master's aim.

"Leafolio, maybe?" she thought on it for a moment before shaking her head. "No, before she summoned them after the jump I wasn't even aware Leafolio could actually move, but if that's true, then—" Winnie pulled back in horror. "My original assessment was wrong! Her prime suspect must be in the room!"

"Winnie," Boris said, getting her attention as he passed her a tray with two drinks, one in a large decorative tankard and the other in a plain red cup.

"Thank you, Boris," Winnie replied as she delivered the tankard to Bree and sat beside her in silent contemplation, knowing without a doubt that only one person in the room could be the suspect.

"She tasked Minerva and Sheepy with guard duty, so they're both cleared. Inky, Manfred, and Boris lack the power even to be considered, meaning-" Winnie felt horror crawl across her body as she came to her conclusion, "-I am the only one present that makes any sense, It must be why she had me set up the barrier and then sit on the side-lines! I have to clear my name. I was in my tower for several weeks before the jump. Once my name has been cleared she can focus her efforts and find who in this world dared interrupt her divine spell,"

"Oh this is delicious," Bree said as she drank some of her drink, "Thank you, Winnie," Bree closed the book and returned it to Winnie as she drank, Winnie still deep in thought, was interrupted when Bree made a spur of the moment decision.

"I think tomorrow I'll go investigate the road near the Axol-light's old village. It's just on the edge of the map," Bree said, lost in thought. Winnie looked down at her, hoping she could try to grasp even a tiny fraction of her wisdom.

"Of course," Winnie said aloud. We must find out all we can about this new world as soon as we can, my lady." Bree smiled, having only been thinking of looking for a place to buy meats and spices since the food supply they had wasn't long for this world.

"Indeed," Bree agreed. "First, I'll have to see what kind of food is readily available since our own storehouses will only last so long, and we're going to have to map out the area between us and the nearest town," Bree thought for a moment "Winnie you will be accompanying me tomorrow, fly above and do your best to map out the area," 

Winnie did her best not to cry, the honor of going out with her Mistress settling without a shadow of a doubt that Bree had, somehow, found her innocent with her last simple statement. Winnie practically threw herself to the floor as she groveled before Bree.

"I humbly accept this task, my lady. If I am so bold, may I be permitted to suggest something?" Winnie looked up at Bree hopefully and was given a simple nod to speak, "We should bring Orion with us, my Lord. His eyes and ears will help us locate the best areas where we might find creatures worthy of being eaten. As for plant life that could be harvested for use we could bring Boris or Manfred. Being chefs, they would be best suited to spotting what could be used in the kitchen."

"Wonderful idea, Winnie," Bree praised, patting her atop her head. Winnie failed to keep her tears in as her Mistress praised her. "I'll go tell Orion the news. I'll leave it up to you to pick Boris or Manfred." Bree got up from the table, and Winnie continued groveling until she left the room. She readjusted her spectacles and wiped her face clean with her wing.

"A map," She said to herself. "Mistress Bree would never need such a thing. It must be a cover for something," Winnie fell yet again into deep thought, once again trying to unravel the new mystery her master was obviously using to test her.