"I will take scrubbing!  You don't have to help you know, I can handle it.  Unless you," he shot her a look, "just enjoy being around me."  He picked a dish and dunked it into the water, scrubbing at it furiously to remove the tiniest spots.  He remembered being younger when he and his sister used to clean together.  He always preferred drying then but felt like scrubbing the dishes would somehow scrub away the earlier events of the day.  He remembered the pouch of coin at his pocket.  "Does your town have a courier that goes to the other surrounding towns??"