Golden light drains off the kitchen windows as Hunter and Sarah step in from the porch. Joy is already at the table, chin bent over her coloring book, a box of crayons spread like treasure.
Hunter sets down the last of Sarah's things by the counter and eases a chair out with his foot. The house settles around them, warm with the smell of supper and paper wax.
Joy
Look, Daddy, I made the barn red again.
Joy turns the page around with serious pride. Her curls bounce as she points at the blocky drawing, then up at Sarah as if asking for official approval.
Sarah
That's a very good barn. You picked the right red.
Sarah crouches beside the table, reading the room as much as the picture. Hunter stays near the counter, listening while the easy rhythm of the house pulls the edges off the day's talk.
Sarah
If I'm staying, I should learn the routine. Mornings, chores, where things go.
Hunter McCready
The kitchen feels calmer with everybody in it.
Joy offers Sarah a blue crayon without looking away from her page. Hunter glances between them, and the conversation softens into something practical, familiar, and welcome.
✓ Quest Accepted
Learn Sarah's morning routine
“I pull a chair up to the table and ask Sarah what time she usually starts her day.”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled +2)
Hunter slides a chair out and settles in beside the table, close enough to join the circle without crowding it. The scrape of wood on the floor is soft under the supper smell and the rustle of Joy’s paper.
Hunter McCready
What time do you usually start your day?
Sarah
Usually before the sun is fully up. I like the quiet first, before anybody needs anything from me.
Sarah
I make coffee, check the stove, and look at the list I leave myself the night before.
Joy leans in, tracing a lazy line with her blue crayon while Sarah talks, her attention shifting from the page to the adults and back again.
Sarah
Then I’d help with breakfast, if that fits here. I can carry water, start vegetables, whatever needs doing.
Sarah
I also want to learn where things live, so I’m not asking you every five minutes.
She glances around the kitchen as she says it, taking in the shelves, the counter, the path between table and stove, like she is already memorizing the room.
Sarah
If you want, tomorrow morning I can show you how I do it, and you can tell me what needs changing here.
Quest Complete
Learn Sarah's morning routine