Aurora stood in the middle of the cave, gripping her newly crafted broom, and took one slow look around.
Then she exhaled.
"Let's start with damage control."
Before anything else, she turned toward the pile of hides scattered near the wall.
If she was going to survive even temporarily, she needed usable materials.
She crouched down, ignoring the immediate protest from her knees, and began inspecting them one by one.
The first hide was torn. The second one was stiff, stained, and smelled faintly of something she didn't want to know about. The third one was in even worse condition.
She paused, holding up a particularly tragic piece of fur between two fingers and muttered, "Indeed impressive. It takes dedication to ruin everything this thoroughly."
She glanced down at the hide currently wrapped around her own body. Then back at the pile.
For a brief moment, she considered throwing all of them out. But then logic intervened. These were all she had for now. She couldn't throw them away until or unless she found their replacement.
She placed the least offensive ones aside carefully, separating them from the truly unsalvageable pieces.
Then she stood and started with dusting the cave walls which turned out to be a really terrible experience. Because the moment she lifted the broom and struck the first section of stone, a cloud of dust exploded into the air.
She froze and started coughing as both the smell and the dust attacked her nose. It was so bad even her eyes started watering slightly.
She stepped back and gave the dust a moment to settle before trying again, and this time with more controlled movements, yet dust kept flying everywhere.
Her lungs protested, her body complained, but her patience remained intact.
She moved methodically, section by section, forcing herself to ignore the discomfort. Her arms grew heavy quickly, her breathing uneven, and her muscles strained in ways they clearly weren't used to.
"This body," she muttered under her breath, "is a liability."
Still she didn't stop as minutes stretched.
As she cleaned, she noticed that at the very back there was a small, almost circular section of the cave that lay partially hidden behind a thin natural stone wall.
And when she peered inside, she found it was left undisturbed and completely untouched by the original owner.
Her eyes sharpened slightly as ideas began forming instantly. She was already picturing using this part either as a bedroom or storage.
But the cave turned out to be even more full of surprises as it also had a second level. It was a raised section carved naturally into the stone, overlooking the ground floor.
Aurora studied it for a moment, then looked at herself before looking back at it. Even if she built a ladder, which she could, there was no guarantee this body could climb it.
At least not without risking a fall. And she had no interest in testing gravity with her current mass.
So she had to wait until she's in shape to investigate that upper section. For now, she had the ground level to deal with.
So she continued cleaning every corner of the place.
When her lungs weren't burning, her arms were. When her arms weren't aching, her back was. And when her back wasn't protesting, her legs were.
Aurora ignored all of it and continued sweeping, clearing, pushing, until finally, the floor was visible.
She straightened slowly and rested the broom against the wall before looking around. The place looked much cleaner than it had minutes ago, but it was still barely acceptable.
Her gaze shifted to the piles of debris she had gathered - bones, scraps, decayed remains.
She needed to handle that, so she headed outside the cave again. The fresh and cool night air felt like a reward.
She took a deep breath once before getting to work again.
Using a broken branch with a sharpened edge, she began digging into the ground a short distance from the cave entrance.
It was not efficient or fast, but it worked. The soil was loose enough to give way under consistent effort, and she kept going, ignoring the strain in her arms until the hole was deep enough.
Then, using a piece of hide she had planned to throw away, she gathered all the waste from cave in it and carried it out. She dumped everything in the hole before covering it with soil.
She dusted her hands lightly and headed back inside the cave.
Despite the cleaning, the smell remained. Though it was less overwhelming now, but still very much present.
Aurora exhaled slowly and shook her head, "This is not enough."
Her gaze shifted toward the cave entrance again.
According to the original owner's memories, there was a stream nearby.
Aurora stepped outside once more, following the faint path through the greenery. It took barely a minute before she found the narrow stream. Clear water was flowing steadily over smooth stones, reflecting the soft glow of the twin moons above.
Aurora crouched slightly, dipping her fingers into the water and found it cool and soothing.
But now that she had water, she had no container to bring it back to the cave. Which meant she needed to make one.