Unknown L (Book 1)

~~ Explain Yourself ~~

Matilda tilted her head for a moment, and she smiled meekly, "I want to stay. I'll cheer up now that I know you're not hurt. Do you want me to make you something to eat while you shower?"

L would rather have been left alone, but she couldn't say that to Matilda, even if she wasn't the best cook. "Yeah, if you want... I won't be long."

Matilda grinned at her, then skipped off into the kitchen, and L grabbed her bag from the floor. It was covered in muck and dust from the journey. As were all of the clothes L was wearing, her cloak wasn't too bad though, nothing a good shake wouldn't clean up. L was glad because she had no clue how to wash one, and she really didn't want to ruin it by trying.

The shower felt nice after travelling for so long. Her hair wasn't really affected, but L noticed that it could do with a trim. She wondered if anyone in the forest might have the skills to do it properly, but if not, she'd go back to doing it herself.

As soon as she finished eating, she planned to go see how Robbie was. Nobody had come to update her about him, so she hoped that meant good news. She changed into the Keepers trousers and blouse and headed back downstairs to find a strange scent wafting up to her.

The moment she entered the kitchen, she saw the reason for it- an ordinary salad with something rubbery-looking sitting on top. Matilda looked over from the table with a huge smile on her face. She appeared to be back to her usual self.

"I made tofu salad and orange juice, I hope you like it."

L tried not to grimace at the sound of it, "Yeah, I'm not really a fan of tofu, sorry Matilda, but it was nice of you to make it. I'll have a bit, but then I need to go out."

Matilda looked a little downtrodden, but it didn't last. She waved it off and grinned. "That's alright, and you're welcome."

L was about to take a bite just to show her gratitude when she was saved by a knock on the door. L was happy to put the fork down and go see who it was. She peered through the window to find Maeve's face looking back. L wondered if she was about to get another lecture. She opened the door to let Maeve in and got a smile in return.

Maeve was carrying a large, brown paper bag, and she walked through to the kitchen while she spoke.

"I'm sorry I didn't stop to chat last night, but I had to keep up pretences in front of the Council. Hello Matilda." Maeve greeted her once they entered the kitchen, and she set the bag down on the table. "There's a lot of tension in there at the moment... but we don't need to talk about that."

She sighed and turned to L, "I'm really glad you got back safely. I disagree with how you dealt with these things, but I would have most likely done the same, given a similar situation." She nodded as though that was the end of it and gestured to the bags. "After everything that happened, I knew you'd be famished, so I asked one of the Werewolves to go out and get burgers for you."

L eyed the bag hungrily and she actually felt like squeezing Maeve into a hug, but she knew she'd upset Matilda. Instead, she grinned at her and thanked her profusely, walking over and opening the bag to see at least six burgers and three portions of chips.

L's stomach growled, and she dove into it. "Sorry Matilda, this is just more my cup of tea." She said after seeing the look on Matilda's face when she thought nobody was looking.

She waved off L's apology, but the look didn't disappear, and Maeve grinned. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to, Matilda."

Matilda seemed to think about it for a moment and watched L take another bite of her burger and her face scrunched.

"I think I'll catch up with you later when you're a little less... carnivorous."

She giggled to herself, and L shrugged. "Alright, see you later."