Karin looked guilty, opening the door wide for the queen and her mother. "It wasn't always that bad," she protested a bit lamely. "The house was just so neat. It was fun to pretend that whoever lived there before the Calamity would be back and we just had to keep the place lived in and cleaned up so it was ready when he came back."
Then her eyes widened. "And in a way, that's what happened! It wasn't the same guy, but people who fought the Calamity came home to it!"
Boy, didn't she look proud of herself.
Clavia looked at her a moment, letting the queen step out ahead of her, then at the queen, then back at her daughter, smiling slightly. "Fate has a strange way of things, doesn't it?"