"France," she murmured, "Not that it matters." And then she took his bowl and emptied it out almost as quickly as the last bowl, or at least about halfway into eating it. Then the thing that happens to hungry people once they finally do get a good meal, they grow sleepy. She was no exception. She began to grow sleepy before his eyes. Whatever had happened to make her this way would remain her secret, she was closed off as tightly as a locked diary.

The man came back and peaked in through the kitchen door. Cerise nodded off just as he did so. He moved to catch her just as she would have face planted into the bowl. "Good gracious, the poor dear. She needed to eat though. Thank you for taking that task into hand. She's a stubborn one." But now what? He wasn't sure he trusted the stranger enough to put her in her bed, he eyed him, then the girl who he was quickly growing fond of as he would his own kin. But he needed to make sure his daughter was alright. He glanced over to the stranger then and said seriously, "I have to find a place for her to stay. I don't mind her sleeping here but... she's been sleeping in the basement on the cot I usually keep for myself on nights when I need to stay around late."