When he returned the next day, Lovino was already there with his hands elbow deep in snow and a bag lying forgotten next to him with his hat on top of it. The sun shone off his polished chestnut hair and a small, relaxed smile pulled on Lovino's lips. Arthur had never seen such natural beauty in his world of icy white, but this man of Summer hovered between the border of their two lands, showing him the radiance of a world unknown to him.
"What are you doing?" He watched in amusement as Lovino looked up and flushed in embarrassment. The smile from before was gone, but the blush on Lovino's tanned cheeks made up for its disappearance.
"N...Nothing!" Lovino sat back and pouted slightly. The brunet put his hat on and let it hide his face.
"Yes, that looked like completely nothing," he muttered sarcastically and rolled his eyes. Arthur sat down and set his satchel to the side. "What's in your bag?"
"Cotton." The child of Summer rubbed his hands together to warm them.
"What is that?"
"It's a plant that, when it dies, blooms into a fluffy puff." Lovino took a small ball from the bag and handed it to him. "We process it to make cloth."
The cotton was extremely soft and nothing tainted its pure whiteness. "How can you make cloth from from something so small?"
"You're a scribe, yet you ask fucking stupid questions." Lovino opened the bag to show him it was full of the small puff balls. "It takes quite a bit to make enough thread for cloth."
He flushed slightly, embarrassed by the ignorant question. "Sorry. Your clothes are made out of cotton, right? Can I keep this sample?"
"Yes." Lovino stuck his hands back into the snow, letting out a soft breath. "Don't ask me how it goes from cotton to fabric. I'm not a weaver."
"That's fine. I'm aware of how weaving works." He wrote in his notebook and watched Lovino curiously. The brunet was wearing his large hat again and he looked almost tired. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm just exhausted. I've been in the fields all day."
"You're not in them now."
"That's because it's the fucking hottest part of the day. If I work when the sun is at its highest point, I might faint of heat stroke." Lovino blinked at him sleepily. "Pickers usually work from dawn to when it is hottest, then they take a break until it cools down some and go back to work until the sun set again."
"That sounds like such hard work. Is it safe to work like that?" Arthur frowned slightly.
"Am I dead yet?" Lovino waved a hand carelessly, and he caught sight of cuts on his slim fingers.
"What are those?" Arthur grabbed Lovino's hand and gently ran his fingers over the shallow cuts. Lovino's hand was warm in his and rough from days of hard work. "You're hurt."
"It doesn't hurt that much. Cotton plants have thorns to protect their seeds inside the fluff. A few scratches are just part of the job." Lovino pulled his hand away and stuck it back in the snow. "But, damn, this snow really soothes the sting. I've never been very good at picking cotton. My bastard friend, Antonio, can pick without getting a single cut."
"What else do you pick?" He found speaking with Lovino interesting, the brunet's way of splattering his dialogue with profanity as if it meant nothing. Arthur dug around in his bag.
"Oh, you know."
"Actually, I don't." He found a small jar. "Give me your hands."
Lovino eyed his warily, but let him take his hands. "There's so many things to pick, I'll just tell you my favorites. Strawberries, grapes, blackberries, lavender and saffron."
"You realize I have no clue what any of those are." Arthur opened the jar and rubbed the salve into the cuts on Lovino's hands.
"Strawberries, grapes, and blackberries are all edible and delicious, unless the grapes are meant for wine, but that's just as good. Lavender smells good, and saffron has pretty flowers." Lovino winced at the stinging in his hands and drew them away when Arthur was finished. "Your food must be tasteless over there."
"I wouldn't consider it tasteless. Of course, I've never had anything else." Arthur wrote quickly in his book, wanting to capture everything. "What exactly does it mean to be a picker?"
"Well, usually you only pick in the fields your family watches over. Each family usually has at least two fields that they alternate growing crops in. Some families stick to growing one type of crop, while others change out crops each cycle."
"What's unusual?"
"Me. I help multiple people with their fields."
"Why don't you work your family's land?"
"My family is dead."
He looked up quickly, but Lovino didn't seem upset. The child of Summer even seemed completely indifferent. "I'm sorry... Didn't you say you had a brother, though?"
"I do, but he has a family. A kind-hearted girl took him in when he was young."
"What about you?"
Lovino just shook his head. "Antonio's family tried taking me in and I did live with them for a while, but they thought I was going to be like my brother. I ended up living in the forest, which is far better than with people who don't want you."
"Weren't there others who could have taken you in?" He frowned. Why did Lovino's brother get a home when he didn't?
"There were people who could, but didn't want to. I'm an extra mouth to feed and put up with. I'm actually a bit useless and clumsy. Antonio is really the only one that willingly gives me work, because he's too nice and actually cares if I starve to death or not. It's just easier to live on my own and take half of whatever I pick." Lovino let his large hat hide his face from view as he ran his fingers through the grass. "Trees are much better company than idiots."
"But isn't it lonely?" Arthur wasn't much better than Lovino. He lived in a small house all by himself and that's how he liked it. No one bother him and his brothers rarely came through the woods to harass him that way.
"The trees are quite talkative, so I'm never truly alone." Lovino glanced up at him. "What?"
"I didn't know trees can talk," he said, trying not to laugh.
"Don't be an ass! I'm not crazy, so stop looking at me like I am!" Lovino crossed his arms and glared at him. The brunet looked like a sullen child, who didn't want to eat his dinner.
"Well, I've never heard trees talk." Arthur couldn't believe he was even allowing himself to entertain the notion. It was absurd.
"And you've never seen cotton until now. You don't know everything, bastard."
"True, but we have trees over here and I've never heard them speak." He gestured to the snow covered pines behind him.
"It's not like they actually speak—not like us, anyway. I mean, they don't have fucking mouths." The brunet stared curiously at the trees behind him and stood up.
"What are you doing?" Arthur watched in alarm as Lovino stepped over the border. "You can't cross over!"
"Who's going to stop me?" Lovino stepped fully over the border, his open-toed shoes sinking into the snow. "Fuck, it's cold."
"Of course, it's cold! It's blood Winter!" He jumped up and tore off his cloak, throwing it around Lovino's shoulders. "You can't just come over the border, it's not safe for you."
"So?" Lovino fingered the lining of his cloak, rubbing it against his cheek. "Wow, this is soft."
"It's rabbit fur. Bloody hell, your toes are going to freeze off." Arthur quickly unlaced his boots and stripped off his wool socks.
"How'd you get it off the rabbit?"
"The rabbit was killed and skinned it." He put his boots back on, shoving his socks at Lovino. "Put those on."
Lovino stared at him in a mixture of horror, fascination, and confusion. "Killed?"
"Yes, now put on the bloody socks."
"I'm not sure how." Lovino sat down and took off his shoes, putting them on the other side of the border.
Arthur grabbed the socks from Lovino and shoved them on his feet. "Take my mittens too." He pulled off his mittens and helped Lovino put his hands into them.
"Won't you get cold?" Lovino wiggled his hands. His bright hazel eyes were shinning with awe as he looked around him.
"I grew up in Winter. The cold doesn't bother me much, but I doubt you have the same resistance." Lovino's childish amazement made him want to laugh, but that would be too inappropriate. The child of Summer looked so out of place in Winter. His clothes were too bright, his hair too dark, and his skin had seen too much of the sun to ever fit in the everlasting white of Winter. Arthur knew, just by looking at him, Lovino would never be able to live in Winter.
"Oh." Lovino glanced back to his side of the border, as if to check that it was still there. "Arthur, what does kill mean?"
"You don't know...? Don't you kill things over in Summer?"
"I don't know what kill means. How should I know if we do it or not?" Lovino scowled at him.
"Well..." He frowned unhappily. "It means to cause the death of something. Don't animals eat each other over in Summer?"
"Yes..."
"That animal killed the other animal for food. Do you understand?"
"Yes...but why did you do that to the rabbit for its fur? That's so...savage..." Lovino looked at him in confusion and wary suspicion. "No one ever...kills animals in Summer."
"Winter is a hard, unforgiving land. Killing is necessary for survival. We can't live off plants, because nothing grows here. The only resource that can sustain people are animals."
"I understand, but I don't like it." Lovino frowned at him. "Animals are never killed in Summer, not by humans."
"You're not going to hold it against me, are you?" He offered Lovino a smile. He'd be disappointed if the brunet would avoid him because of how he lived.
"No, I don't like it, but that won't stop me from seeing what I want to see." Lovino stood up and marched through the snow.
He scrambled to follow. "Why did you cross, anyway?"
"I wanted to see the trees. I wanted to see if they really don't speak or you just don't hear." The brunet went to the nearest tree and pressed his hand against it, pausing to take off his mitten. Lovino blinked in surprise and pressed his ear to the frost covered bark. "It's asleep."
"This is silly, Lovino. Go back to your side before something bad happens." Arthur glanced around nervously. Bears and wolves roamed these woods freely and were always hungry, but that was the least of their problems. He didn't even want to think of what would happened if one of his countrymen found them. If given the choice of being found by a bear or a man, he'd always choose the bear when Lovino was involved.
"Would you rather I do this when you're not around? I'm not afraid and you're not going to fucking stop me. So, you can either help me understand or fuck off." Lovino moved to the next tree: A tall, ever-green pine. The brunet gave the same treatment to the pine as he had on the tree before.
Arthur stared at Lovino's back in surprise. He couldn't decide whether to think Lovino courageous for ignoring the danger of crossing over or just plain stupid. Then again, he dreamed of sleeping under leafy trees, but he couldn't ignore the warnings in his books. "You can't stay here long, it might kill you."
"I know. This tree is awake," Lovino said, distracted by making contact with the pine.
"Are you listening? You could die!"
"Shut the fuck up and stop worrying." Lovino grabbed his hand and pulled him to the tree. "Do you hear it?"
He listened closely, but only the soft rustle of branches met his ears. "I don't hear anything. I doubt I'll ever be able to."
"Why?" Lovino pouted and pressed his hand to the cold bark. "How about now?"
"I'm not in touch with plants as you are. You shouldn't expect me to understand trees, if they really do speak, just as I don't expect you to make frost."
"I know, but... Fine, you ass." Lovino patted the tree trunk and stepped around it.
"Where are you going? Get back here!"
"I want to see more."
"No, No! I cannot allow that!" Arthur moved in front of Lovino and blocked his way.
"Why not?" Lovino glared at him.
"Look at you! Your clothes are too thin for this. Even with my cloak, you're shivering. You have to go back."
"I don't want to, now move." The brunet crossed his arms stubbornly.
"Are you not going to go back on your own?"
"No."
He sighed. "Then I'll apologize before hand." Arthur wrapped his arms around Lovino's middle and hauled him over his shoulder. Chopping wood for his fire left him well muscled and Lovino was lighter than he expected.
"What the fuck are you doing? Put me down!" Lovino kicked and beat on his back, yelling out curses.
"I'm not going to let your damn curiosity cause you to kill yourself. I can feel you shaking, Lovino. It's obviously not safe for you to go across the border." He kept a tight grip on the struggling man, dropping him unceremoniously on his side of the border.
Lovino glared up at him darkly. "I'll just come back when you're not here." Despite his persistence to go into the cold, Lovino rubbed his arms vigorously to warm them.
"Bloody hell, you are stubborn. If you're not going to let this go, I'll make you a deal." He glared back at Lovino, noticing how the brunet still shivered. Arthur couldn't let himself stay idle while Lovino seemed set on killing himself in Winter. Already the brunet's lilting voice and alien grace were influencing him into doing something he'd probably regret.
"What kind of deal?" Lovino eyed him warily.
"I will provide warm clothes for you and take you through Winter myself, if you promise to never cross the border alone. Ever."
"Why would you do that for me?" Lovino stared at him and he forced himself to continue breathing under the intense gaze.
"Because I don't want you to die! You'll kill yourself if you act recklessly! Winter is not something to be toyed with, Lovino," he warned, giving the brunet a stern stare.
"Deal, I'll come back tomorrow morning. You promise you'll show me around?"
"I give you my word."
"Cheh, words are easily spoken and broken." Lovino eyed him up and down slowly. "But I'll trust you."
"Thanks," Arthur said dryly. "It's nice to know I'm worthy of your trust."
Lovino smiled smugly and handed his cloak, socks, and mittens to him. "I'll see you tomorrow," the brunet said, putting on his shoes and grabbing his bag. Lovino melted into the forest, leaving Arthur to regret offering the child of Summer such a deal.
Lovino's already causing trouble for poor Arthur. Sorry, it's taken so long to write this, I've been busy with other things, other stories. I hope you enjoy.
-Windy