"Can you please do some work?"
"Why, what's the point?"
"To earn some money, it gives you something to do… to be a productive member of society."
The only response was a sigh. The girl who responded was near enough lying on the floor as she folded clothes with the speed of a snail using just one hand.
Just to her side was her coworker, actually unpegging clothes and folding them with efficiency.
"Look, the quicker we deal with the laundry, the quicker we can leave."
"You always say that, but no matter what, we just end up with some other chore until we reach the final working hour."
"Not-not every time."
"Oh, are you referring to when Elder Brindleheim set fire to the kitchen, and so after we finished the laundry, we had to leave for safety reasons."
"…no."
"Well, that's a shame…as that day was the only good day since I got this job."
Standing up as she finally finished folding the last item of clothing, the woman, Oriana, looked over the nearby fence at the village that surrounded them.
The still, frozen and lifeless village.
It wasn't actually lifeless, but to Oriana it felt like it. Everything was just stagnant. Dull.
Ever since the heroes saved the day.
Hours later, the workday finally ended for Oriana, and she couldn't help but sigh in relief. She didn't even care that Elder Brindleheim had seen her do it.
"You're going to get in trouble for that."
"Oh no. What's he going to make me do? Fold Laundry. Clean up his mess. It sounds almost as bad as the job."
"Look, I don't know what your problem is, but you need to figure it out. Now, I need to get back home. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, of course. Where else would I want to be instead of doing chores for a pittance?"
Oriana watched as her coworker dashed off deep into the village, shaking her head at Oriana's comment, heading home to spend the afternoon with her husband and kids.
Not having a family like that to deal with, Oriana dragged her feet as she headed back to her home in the world.
She had tried the family life… the dating side of it at least.
But of the four dates she had, none of them did anything for her.
They all wanted either a commitment or to settle down…a few even expected her to remain in the kitchen to be the housewife for the rest of her life. One even talked about his love of the miracle of childbirth and brought up the idea of having tons of children.
As soon as those cropped up, she dropped them quicker than their jaws could drop from the shock of hearing her break up with them.
"It's just not me. The monotony of it all. To just stay in one place and do…basically nothing for the rest of my life. It's just wrong."
That's not to say she didn't want some sort of partner. Be it a boyfriend or a girlfriend, she was open to it. As long as they didn't act like a lump of lead holding down her balloon.
Walking through the village, Oriana looked at everyone going about their day.
They looked exactly as they had the day before, and the day before that.
Ms Kitlebridge was snipping away at the plants in her front lawn.
Mr Greenusburn was just entering the door to his home, coming back from his day in the office.
Miss Hearthbriar was waving goodbye to her next-door neighbour so both of them could get to work, starting on the meal for tonight.
"Same old, same old."
She shook her head at it all, hating the fact that she was doing the same thing as them.
Wake up, get ready, head to work, get home, eat and sleep…then repeat.
She had hoped that maybe it was the job that made her feel this melancholy, but after working at five different jobs, all very divergent from each other, the feeling never passed.
It also did nothing to deal with the routine.
Wake up, get ready, head to work, get home, eat and sleep…then repeat.
It just didn't change, and it felt like she just wasn't doing anything. And neither was anyone else.
Not far from her home now, she saw a few people still walking by heading back to their homes.
They saw her. Smiled. And waved.
Just like every day.
But to Oriana, when she saw that smile, she could see it was fake.
Not just because they hardly knew her, or because it was obligatory, for when you pass someone by in this village.
What the smile did hide was the same tired and stagnant feeling that Oriana felt.
Pretty much everyone in the village has the same feeling, she was sure of it.
Or at least that is what she convinced herself of.
The way they did the same thing every day, they had to be feeling the same melancholy she felt. She couldn't be alone in the feeling that nothing was happening.
Shaking her head, she stopped that train of thought as she reached her front door.
"Well, time for dinner, sleep and then start the same day all over again."
"Can you please do some work?"
"You know, we had this conversation yesterday."
"Seriously…what is your problem?"
"Why would you care what my so-called problem is?"
"I don't, but your problem is creating a problem for me, making my job harder."
"My problem is…I don't know. Nothing is moving; it's just stagnant. Everything just seems… wrong. The same. I don't know." Oriana said as she looked around, trying to see if anything could tell her why she felt this way.
The laundry, however, declined to help her on this one.
"Nothing is wrong. We are in a time of peace. There are no wars, no rebellions, no dictators or corrupt kings and queens. Peace treaties exist between all of the kingdoms, even the small ones, even with the demons."
"Yes, I know that. The heroes saved the day, bringing peace to the land, securing our world for the future, blah, blah, blah." Oriana said as she mimed a mouth opening and closing with her hand.
"Exactly, no dark lords, no liches or necromancers. No massive criminal organisations causing trouble."
"That anyone knows of." Oriana quickly added.
A comment that made her coworker roll her eyes.
"Maybe, but it's been four years since they brought peace to the world, nearly five-"
"That's not many years."
"-and no one has caused any problems. As far as I am concerned, there are no more bad guys in the world," her coworker said, just ignoring Oriana's interruption.
It was at that moment that a strong gust of wind blew the laundry in front of Oriana's face.
Not that it was a sign or anything, the wind had just been pretty bad all day.
But in that moment, the final sentence that her coworker had said resonated with her.
Leading Oriana to reply almost automatically.
"Maybe there should be."