"You're not controlling the wagon on your own." Hange said as Evelyn jumped onto the front of a covered wagon. "Look at what happened last time you were in control of a horse."
"Then how am I supposed to get at a safe distance from the driver?" Evelyn protested.
Hange shrugged. "Sit in the back with your bags if you're that worried."
"I'm more annoyed that you're not worried." Evelyn called out as she climbed over barrels and crates of supplies.
"Call it a gut feeling."
"I'll call it reckless." Evelyn mumbled lowly as she tried to find something to use as a cushion near her things in the back of the covered wagon.
"So, who gets the pleasure of being my chauffeur then?" Evelyn yelled.
"Your what?" Moblit asked as he climbed onto the wagon bench.
"The driver, but I guess that's your job."
"You sure you don't want company?" Hange had mounted her horse and positioned herself close to the back of the wagon. "You mentioned having some questions of your own about our history."
"For the love of," Evelyn grumbled. "Hange! Please, just give me some space. I'm trying to save both of us here. Besides, Commander Erwin would kill us if we discuss these things in the open. I'll just read some more from this history book for now."
"Alright." Hange shoulders slumped slightly as she rode off.
As Evelyn managed to find a somewhat comfortable position to settle down, she opened the history book she borrowed from her previous room.
"What's the point of this? We have better things to do." A male voice next to the wagon said loudly.
"We'll just be training and doing what we normally do anyway," a female voice chimed in.
"But why do we have to spend more than two weeks..."
Both parties' voices faded into the distance as they walked past the cart. Evelyn couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt build up inside her.
"Hey," Moblit called out over his shoulder. He turned his body the best he could to face Evelyn. "We all know about disease and the horrors it can bring. It's just a little difficult to believe without seeing any signs of you showing one."
Evelyn closed the book in her lap and looked up. "It's so much more complicated than that though. I'd explain it here but I can't put the highest-ranking officers at risk by having them ride in the wagon with me."
"The section commander wouldn't mind, as long as she can learn more about it. I had to talk her into taking you seriously and staying away."
Evelyn chuckled, "Didn't really help much did it?"
Moblit let out an exhausted sigh, "It never does."
"Well, since we have the time, want to help me figure out the best way to explain this to them?"
"Sure, although, wait until we head out."
The ride to the castle took the entire morning and when they arrived the calls for lunch came from all around.
"Hi-ya!" Hange rode around the back of the stopped wagon as Evelyn tried to sling her backpack on her left shoulder. "Need a hand?"
"Cute." Evelyn stared at the woman unamused. "What's the plan?"
"First, we need people to cook lunch, Captain Levi will want everyone to work on cleaning after and/or during that, rooms need to be assigned, oh and the horses will need to be taken care of as well."
"If you don't mind, I'll cook for myself." Evelyn slung the strap of her smaller backpack around her shoulder.
"I wouldn't move anything until we have a plan." Hange said. "If you want to help cook, I'll see who else wants to..."
"No," Evelyn interrupted. "I'm only going to make my food. I know it sounds mean but it's really just a precaution."
"Because you don't want to infect anyone." Hange sighed.
Evelyn nodded. "Just let me know what supplies I can use. I'll stay as far away from the others as I can."
"I presume you won't eat with us either then." Hange stated.
"Only if we're outside and far apart."
"You know that the other soldiers will complain about special treatment, don't you? While you don't want to infect everyone, I must insist on you eating what everyone else does before any complaints arise." Evelyn narrowed her eyes at the thought of the bland food she'd have to eat but without salt and other spices, there wasn't much she could do to improve it herself.
"Fine," Evelyn sighed. "I get it, what should I do then?"
"Why don't you double check the supplies for now? Cleaning and cooking could be difficult with your injury."
"She can still dust." Levi said as he rode up to Hange. "The storage room needs to be cleaned before we unload the carts."
"Oh, don't be so harsh, I'll find something for her." Hange said looking between him and Evelyn.
"I won't tolerate dead weight."
Taken aback, Evelyn asked, "What, exactly, did I do to ruffle your feathers?"
Levi regarded the woman before looking elsewhere and riding off.
Caught off guard, Evelyn fought to find any words to respond before stomping the ground, balling her hands into fists and letting out a low, wordless frustrated growl.
Hange placed her hand lightly on Evelyn's shoulder. "Don't worry about him, here's the supply list. It should be worked out first."
Glad for the distraction, Evelyn quickly scanned the list. "Is this the variety of food you normally have? There's little to no meat."
"With the fall of Wall Maria, we've lost most of the farm land and land dedicated to raising livestock. Meat has become a rarity."
"Where do you get your protein from? If you can't raise cattle, do you have enough supplies for chickens? Eggs would be a staple of anyone's diet who wants to build muscle."
"Chickens may require less room but they still take up resources. We're already facing food shortages; we can't waste it on feeding more mouths."
"Yeah, but chickens can be used for eggs and meat. Both things that you need and they'll eat damn near everything, even scraps. I really don't see why they're not more common."
Hange shrugged.
"While we're on the topic of food, mind if we go for a jog later?" Evelyn suggested.
"You sure you want me running next to you?" Hange asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No, I want us to maintain a good distance from each other. But, I also want to check the forest for food."
"We brought food." Hange tapped the list.
"Yes, but if you really do have a food shortage, we should look into growing more. I will at least; the last thing I want is a lack of wild berries or herbs because you lot don't know about potted plants. Now, do you know if anyone here knows the local fauna? I don't plan on death by berries."
"If we could grow more, we would. It's easy to say these things, but it's not like we haven't tried to...wait, potted plants?" Hange looked at Evelyn skeptically. "Wouldn't the plant run out of nutrients?"
"Not if it's given the nutrients back through fertilization, and you could grow more crops for a longer period of time than if they were outside."
"What do you mean? Bringing the plants under shelter will extend their life? They wouldn't get enough sunlight."
"Uh, that's what greenhouses are for." Evelyn stated in a condescending manner.
"You seem to forget yourself." Hange said in a serious tone with a slight glare, her features seeming to sharpen.
Evelyn managed to hide the pang of fear that built in her stomach from showing in her features. "Right, sorry. Greenhouses are buildings with windows as walls, basically. It helps to build a warm environment for the plants. They're used to grow crops year-round in my world but I don't know how helpful they'll be here. But it should allow you to grow more food than usual."
"I'll have to discuss this with the Commander when he checks in later in the week." Hange mused.
"Either way, we have more important things to focus on than finding more food at the moment. I have to go help Levi make a plan with getting everything else set up. Moblit and some others will help to move the food out of the wagon, you just need to find the right crates." Hange waved as she took a step backwards before fully turning around to bring her horse to the nearby stable.
Help soon came to unload more crates from her wagon and others parked close by. Evelyn focused on the food first and politely directed the soldiers. At first, she questioned why they followed her directions but soon saw that they would look toward Moblit who would nod at them in response.
"How's it going?" Hange asked no one in particular as she looked around.
"The cooks for today already took what they needed, but the rest needs to be brought to the cellar." Moblit picked up one of the last crates on a nearby wagon.
"Did you need something else?" Evelyn asked.
"You're in luck." Hange said excitedly. "I managed to talk Levi into leaving us off the cleaning roster but you'll still have to clean the room assigned to you yourself. I don't know if anyone knows their way around the plants in the forest. We'll check it out after lunch. Until then, I can show you around. The others already know the layout."
"That would be great," Evelyn went to grab what she could of her things and handed the supply list off to Moblit.
Levi glanced into a room as he walked up to an open door in the hallway before stopping in the doorway. Evelyn had climbed a wooden chair and was seemingly examining the wall. "Get those boots off the chair." A strong scent seemed to permeate the room. "And what is that smell?"
"I mixed some citrus fruit we found in the woods with the cleaning solution. Gives it that clean smell." Evelyn said loudly to compensate for her not breaking her concentration on the wall.
"It overpowers the room and hides other scents."
"That's kind of the point." Evelyn shrugged, her back still turned to him.
"Redo the room; that smell needs to go."
"Ex-cuse you!" Evelyn felt her cheeks redden and she turned to jump down from the chair. Nearly forgetting to keep her distance, she stopped herself from towering over the man. "This is my room; I'll clean it how I want to. I'm the only one who'll deal with it. I want the smell and it'll stay right where it is."
"Your room? This was an official Scouts headquarters, not your home. Follow orders." Levi looked at her arm in the sling and paused for a moment in consideration. "Laundry duty for a week, without help." Looking her in the eyes, he continued, "Talk back and I'll make it two."
Evelyn couldn't keep her nose from twitching in anger. Her face twisted in a snarl, she turned around and grabbed a dust rag.
"I didn't hear a 'yes sir'."
Turning back to the door Evelyn motioned for the man to move aside. "Don't push it, we both know this is all a charade. Please step aside so I can get more cleaning supplies sir." Her tongue dripped with malice.
"Two weeks," Levi turned to leave before stopping to look over his shoulder. "And, my handkerchief will be returned tonight. Clean."
As Levi walked down the hall, the memory of the unfamiliar scent lingered. He had always used the neutral scent of a clean room to help gauge how his subordinates cleaned. If she had waited for him to inspect the room before using it, he would have called it pleasant.
A loud bang trembled through the hall behind him as he calmly continued on.
Evelyn let out a frustrated shriek after throwing all her might into slamming the door.
I could just go to Hange, talk with her about this. It's ridiculous!
She'll just tell you that he's a superior officer. You'll waste time and when he comes to see that his task hasn't been completed or isn't being worked on, he'll come up with something worse.
Evelyn punched what she was sure the others thought was a good excuse for a mattress sloppily with her non-dominant arm.
Just get it done and talk with Hange later. Maybe if I can convince her it's fine if I hang up the hammock, Shorty won't have room to complain.
Evelyn took a few deep breaths to center herself before leaving to find untainted cleaning supplies.
Returning to her room with the supplies, anger still permeated every part of her being.
Looking for a distraction, she instinctively took out her phone and sighed. She turned it on and looked at the battery level. 37%.
With the supplies leaning against the wall, Evelyn sat on the edge of the bed with her phone in hand. Pictures, games, music, she had all the distractions she could want at her fingertips. And yet, she couldn't will her fingers to move.
The battery level dropped by a percent before Evelyn forced herself to open the music app. She hit shuffle and skipped through songs at random. Evaluating each one and finding that they were not special enough or that they simply didn't feel right. Deciding on a song, she laid the phone on the nightstand and began to work towards cleaning the room a second time.
"Do you hear something?" Petra asked.
Oulo stopped polishing the outside of a large intricate glass window and looked toward her.
"Petra, my dear, you have such an active imagination. Try not to let it distract you."
Petra narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Stop calling me that. Just listen."
Oulo tilted his head and looked upwards out of the corner of his eyes. After a second, he returned to cleaning the window.
"There's nothing there, let's finish this up."
"In a second, I want to know what that sound is."
"There is no..."
Petra descended down the side of the tower with the help of her OMD gear before Oulo could finish. The noise began to grow louder along with a second voice that sang along. She moved around the side of the building before stopping in an open window.
Evelyn had her back turned to the window while scrubbing a desk and singing along with music that came from seemingly nowhere. She turned around and jumped at the sight of Petra. Her good arm brought her hand to cover her heart.
"Jesus lady!" Evelyn cried. "Knock first, would ya?"
"Sorry," Petra cringed slightly in embarrassment, "I was just following the sound of the music."
Evelyn looked at her phone and Petra followed her gaze.
"Is it coming from that black box?"
"Yeah." Evelyn starred at the woman hanging in her window. After a moment of silence she raised her eyebrows and tilted her head down. "Can I help you somehow?"
Petra shook her head and moved her gaze from the item to Evelyn.
"No, sorry. It's simply interesting."
"The phone or the music?" Evelyn chuckled at Petra's facial expression.
"Both." As the song ended and another began, Petra's eye lit up in wonder. "It can play more than one song?"
"Oh hun," Evelyn couldn't help but feel entertained and welcomed the interruption. "It can play a lot more than that."
"Petra," Oulo called before appearing next to her in the window. "What is that racket?"
"It's music." Petra glared at him for a second before returning to listening to the music.
"It's noise." Oluo scoffed.
Evelyn rolled her eyes. "You guys going to hang out there all day?"
"Evelyn?" Hange's voice called from the hallway. "I wanted to discuss, oh, hello." Hange stopped in the door way. "I didn't know you were having a party."
Hange moved to enter the room before Evelyn held her left hand out. "Hange, out."
"Why are you letting them in but not me?" Hange crossed her arms.
Evelyn groaned. "I didn't let anyone in, they're crowding the window. And I have a job to do. Would you all mind giving me some space?"
Petra nodded and grabbed Oulo by the arm, pulling him to the side before they both disappeared.
"I wanted to discuss this week's plans with you," Hange said while leaning against the door and crossing her arms.
Evelyn laughed robotically, "I've already managed to get a big job."
"Really?" Hange raised an eyebrow.
"Yup, I get to do the laundry for two weeks. All on my own." Evelyn finished in a sing song voice before her face morphed into an unamused frown.
Hange narrowed her eyes, "and how did you manage to get that job?"
Evelyn threw her left hand in the arm while her right forearm moved upward slightly before she grimaced and let it back down gently. "I wanted my room to smell clean."
"Did you get Levi mad?"
"Is there a time when he's not mad?"
Hange chuckled and shook her head. "I'll see if I can talk him down. I wanted to make a plan with you and Petra about your training and when we can discuss other matters."
Evelyn sighed, "I need to get started on the laundry part here soon if I want to get my job for today done. Can we talk over dinner?" A sly smile spread across her face. "Oh, by the way. Would you have anything against me hanging up my hammock in here?"
Hange seemed to instantly come to life. "Of course not. Can I help? You still haven't told me what it is."
"How about I show you later then? Since I have your permission after all. By the way, you out rank a Captain as a Section Commander, right?"
Hange tapped her nose mischievously. "My, my, you are quite the sneak aren't you?"
Evelyn rolled her eyes playfully and shrugged.
Hange grinned, "Like I said, I'll talk with him. Moblit's still in the courtyard, he can show you where to go. I'll check up on you later."
"Oh Levi!" Hange called out in a delighted tone. She peeked her head into the room they decided was to be his office.
The man had wrapped a white cloth around his face as he cleaned the room.
"What do you want four-eyes?" Levi asked without looking up.
"I heard someone volunteered to do the laundry." Hange examined her fingernails. "And, all on her own."
Levi scoffed, "She needs to learn to take orders. You're not getting her out of it."
"Oh, that wasn't my plan. Although, I seem to remember another cadet who wasn't particularly fond of taking orders."
"And now he follows them."
Only from Erwin.
Hange pushed the thought aside and continued, "While I agree she needs to be broken in a bit, you can't seriously expect her to do it all on her own. Not in her condition."
Levi turned to look at Hange. "If I assign someone to help the brat, they'll do the work themselves. That's not a punishment."
"Then I'll help her." Hange suggested.
"So you two can gossip all day? No, that won't come across as a punishment either."
"Then what do you suggest?" Hange crossed her arms.
"Sorry, I know it's hard to keep some distance while teaching you this." Moblit said while grabbing a washboard from the wall.
Evelyn sighed. "I'm starting to think I should just let you all do what you want. No one seems to care anyway."
The pair walked toward a wooden tub. Moblit placed the washboard inside before looking at Evelyn sympathetically.
"Just remember what we talked about, Hange may still not heed your advice but the others might. Now we just need some water. I asked Keiji to unload a barrel and bring it here. In the meantime, Levi squad brought most of the bedding down already. That's going to be your priority."
"Um, one second," Evelyn interrupted. "I never used a washboard before. Is there anything I need to know or is it really just scrubbing the life out of whatever I'm washing?"
Moblit froze for a second before smiling, "It's a washboard, you just scrub."
Evelyn laughed, "I think you just understood the feeling I've been struggling with since I got here."
"Tea time is over. Berner, stop helping her. This is her job." A deep voice said from behind Evelyn. She felt her shoulders sink in response.
Moblit saluted. "Yessir."
"He's just showing me how things work around here." Evelyn turned to face the one person she dreaded seeing the most.
Levi had his arms crossed and stood to the side of the door allowing Moblit to leave.
"You'll do fine, it's easy. I'll go check on that water." Moblit waved before leaving.
Avoiding any form of contact, Evelyn moved to examine a wicker basket with bed sheets messily thrown in. The sheets didn't seem that dirty, just a bit dusty. She lightly tapped the basket with her foot. It moved across the stone floor with little resistance. She planned to lead the basket to the wooden tub with the washboard this way but after moving it twice and having the basket make unpleasant scrapping sounds, she heard a scoff behind her.
"Move."
Evelyn jumped slightly to the side and turned to see Levi pick up the basket and place it to the side of the tub.
Seeing Evelyn hesitate, he raised an eyebrow and nodded to the tub.
Evelyn shook her head, "I still need water and soap."
Levi let out an annoyed breath through his nose before turning and grabbing a package on a nearby table and holding it out to her.
"How much do I use?" Evelyn asked sheepishly. Her anger at the man could not overshadow the self-doubt of being able to complete the task before her.
"As much as it takes."
"Well duh, but how many bubbles does that soap make? How strong is it?"
"It's soap, just use it." Levi shook the package lightly.
Frustrated, Evelyn grabbed it from him and dumped some in the tub along with some of the bed sheets.
Levi raised an eyebrow looking into the tub but said nothing.
Before Evelyn could ask what was wrong, a voice called out from the door.
"Water delivery, sir."
Moblit and another man had rolled in a large barrel.
"Where do you want it?"
Levi motioned to the side of the tub. The men set the barrel upright and handed Evelyn a tankard before opening the barrel and leaving.
Evelyn began moving water into the tub as Levi stood nearby with his arms crossed. She sat on a stool near the tub and awkwardly held the washboard against her waist with her bad arm. Her knees closed around the sides for support as she leaned over the tub.
After scrubbing sloppily with her left arm for some time, she heard a scoff.
"Are you always this useless?"
"Are you always micromanaging?"
"You've never worked a day in your life, have you? Drop it." Levi rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows.
Stunned, Evelyn let go of the washboard. Levi pushed her aside and scrubbed the sheet before holding it out in front of him.
"This is how it's supposed to look."
"Oh, I'm sorry the cripple can't scrub well with her non-dominant arm. And for your information I worked tougher jobs than this."
"Doubtful. Get another washboard and start scrubbing. I'll finish what you can't handle."
A mix of shame and anger brewed in Evelyn's stomach. "Why are you even here? Don't you have something more important to do?"
"Are you saying laundry isn't important?"
Evelyn ignored his dodge, "I'm just surprised an officer would get his hands dirty."
"Everyone pulls their weight here. Welcome to the real world."
Sorry, it's taken me so long to update. I'm at a point where I write fragments of what I plan on happening and try to piece the puzzle together believably and naturally.
I'll also be honest and say that if I'm not in the mood to write, I do not write well and I didn't want to publish something I wasn't at least pleased with. I actually wrote the next chapter before finishing this one so that one should be coming soon. It just needs some finishing touches.
Hope you're all being safe out there and thanks for checking in on my story again.
