Sunday, Fall 14
Abigail finds herself being gently shaken awake. Her brow twitches into a momentary frown as she stirs, then rolls over, inhaling deeply and stretching her arms out, arching her back. Her amethyst eyes open to immediately look into the sparkling emerald eyes of Kyron, who is smiling at her, his hand resting gently on her shoulder. He gives her shoulder a squeeze and then steps back, giving Abigail a view of the bedside table. She sees a steaming mug throwing tendrils of steam into the air, and the sweet scent of Kyron's hot chocolate wafts its way up her nose. She breathes in deeply, hungrily taking in the scent and smiles happily, sitting herself upright, ensuring the bedclothes keep her chest covered.
"I could get used to this." Abigail purrs happily at Kyron, whose smile hasn't diminished. Abigail collects the mug, holding the very hot mug carefully. She blows on the drink to cool it and takes a sip of near scalding, but oh so sweet hot chocolate. She flinches and her eyes water from the heat of the beverage, but she smiles and puts it down gently, waiting for it to cool naturally.
Abigail glances her the clock on her bedside table, and jumps.
"It's half 6 in the morning!" Abigail exclaims, shocked at being woken so early. She turns to Kyron, who nods.
"Yep. Farmer's life means early rises and sometimes late finishes, depending on how much there is to do." he says, "And if you want to help around the farm and keep out of your father's hair..." he pokes his tongue out to show he is teasing. Abigail sticks hers out in return with a friendly snarl on her face, then smiles and says,
"What will I be doing around the farm?"
"I'll start you slow." Kyron explains, "You'll just be watering crops to start with. A fair bit of work, but it's easy enough, just make sure the watering can stays full. It's a heavy shift from whatever work you did at home, as you'll be walking around carrying a heavy watering can, but it's an easy enough start here."
"Doesn't sound too hard." Abigail says, "What do you do when you've finished your farm chores? You had them done by almost lunch time yesterday. What do you do when you're not farming?" Kyron shrugs.
"It depends on various things." he answers, "If there's a festival or something going on in town, I'll check I have nothing else to do and then go to it. If there isn't, I'll probably go fishing or foraging or mining."
"Mining?" Abigail perks up with interest and Kyron smiles deeply at her, almost sorrowfully. He knows of her immense interest in the mines and her desire to one day go there.
"The next time I come, would you like to come with me?" he offers. Abigail's features light up, and then fall. She is conflicted and Kyron sees that.
"Well, think on it." he smiles at her, and she beams back. Kyron inclines his head towards Abigail's drink.
"That may be cool enough to drink now." he says, "Take your time. I'll get started and you just come out when you're ready."
Kyron gets to his feet and leans over to Abigail. She closes her eyes and her body tingles as he kisses her forehead tenderly and leaves the room. Abigail enjoys some more hot chocolate, feeling it warm her insides. Her smile is gone though, as she thinks about how down she's been recently. She hopes her problems won't spread to Kyron also and bring him down as well.
The sound of a tree trunk snapping makes her jump, as it had yesterday morning, and Abigail knows Kyron must be attacking more of the trees on the farm. She finishes her hot chocolate after a few minutes and uses the bathroom, before rushing back and pulling her clothes on. As she approaches the door, she notices a brand-new pair of rubber boots, large enough that they reach up to her knees. The soles are thick for walking on the uneven terrain of farmland. She sees her name penned in felt tip on the side of both boots. She pulls them on and steps outside.
A warm ray of sunlight strikes her as she enters the outside world, and she closes her eyes, temporarily blinded. Her eyes adjust after a moment or so and she looks out onto the open field of Kyron's farm. Directly in front of the house lays a large, fenced of area for crops. Off to her right, she sees a broken-down greenhouse and a large barn next to it. Over in the far corner of the farm she sees what looks like a small shrine, with a cave entrance slightly closer to her from the temple. A fenced off area in front of the barn filled with grass provides the animals inside with food and safety and helps Kyron keep tabs on the creatures so they don't wander off. Abigail feels something brush against her shin and looks down to see Kyron's cat, Billy, saying good morning. Abigail smiles, and leans down to stroke the cat. Billy purrs with delight, rubbing himself all over her legs and into her hand. She giggles while cuddling his ears before heading over to Kyron.
The powerful farmer is attacking another tree, slamming the axe deep into the wood. Abigail's father has chopped wood down before, and she'd seen Robin collecting lumber for her projects also. But neither could compare their strength to Kyron, who easily hacks into the trees with precision and power. The second tree falls and Kyron notices Abigail. He smiles and rests the axe, blade facing the sky, over his shoulder.
"You ready to begin?" he asks. She nods.
"Alright." Kyron grins. He swings the axe forward so he's holding it correctly again and slams the blade into a third tree. It buries a third of the way into the trunk, approximately, and stays there. Kyron leans down and reaches from something behind the tree, and pulls out a metal watering can. He walks over to Abigail.
"Take this." he says kindly, "Use both hands." She takes the watering can and her arm muscles strain under the weight. She remains on her feet, but her muscles scream to keep her upright whilst holding the heavy watering can. Her breathing intensifies with her effort.
"I-it's heavy!" she cries out and yelps as her arms give way under the weight and she drops the watering can. She darts out of the way to avoid crushing her toes and it crashes to the ground, upending the can and spilling water everywhere, drenching the unseeded soil around them.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Abigail cries to Kyron, who places a hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay, I didn't realise it would be that heavy for you." he smiles kindly, "I apologise for giving you more than you could handle."
"But now I just feel weak." Abigail sighs. Kyron catches her arm and looks her dead in the eyes, his intense green burning into her purple.
"You're one of the strongest people I know." he says firmly, "Everyone has their physical limits Abigail, even me. You forget I've been doing this since I moved here whereas you've never done anything like this in your entire life. You're bound to not be able to handle the same amount I can. That doesn't make you weak though. You just need to break into the job a bit. Give you a month, and you'll be stronger than you ever thought possible."
Kyron's pep talk supports Abigail in more ways than she can explain to herself. She steels herself and nods at Kyron with a fierce look in her eyes and a renewed smile. She picks up the almost empty watering can and Kyron shows her to the small pond where they can refill it.
Abigail fills the can to a manageable amount for her physical limit and Kyron shows her where to water and how to water each crop. She gets to work quickly, relishing the change and the fact that she is helping Kyron with his daily work. They'd get done faster once she's gotten the hang of this, Abigail thinks to herself, which would leave Kyron more time to do the things he enjoys doing. Farm work is hard, and Kyron often spends more time working than anyone else in Pelican Town.
The sun beats down on Abigail as she waters the crops. None of them are ready for harvest yet, so when she finally waters all of them, she pauses for a rest. She sees Kyron, having already tended to the animals, and is currently processing animal produce into Cheese and Mayonnaise using hand built machines by the house. Kyron has acquired a great many blueprints for building useful things for the farm and he's taken full advantage of them, building a great number of machines and devices to help him. He leaves the machines to process the Milk and Eggs he's placed in them and returns to attacking the trees on the edge of his farm. He gathers his strength and, to Abigail's amazement, cleaves a tree in half with a single, mighty swing of his axe.
Abigail gets to her feet, an idea coming to mind. She isn't as physically durable as her new partner, but she certainly can provide refreshment for Kyron and herself when Kyron would previously have gone without to continue working. She enters the house, pleasantly cooler than the warmth of the outside, and goes to Kyron's fridge. Abigail smiles as she sees several bottles of fresh milk and takes two normal sized ones. She takes them out to where Kyron is slamming his pickaxe into a stubbornly large and resilient boulder. His brow is knotted with concentration, muscles rippling in the sun as he lifts the pickaxe and brings it down again. The spike of the pickaxe buries itself into the boulder only an inch or so despite Kyron's strength, causing the farmer to frown.
"Hey, take a few minutes with me." Abigail calls to him, holding up the milk. Kyron smiles and leaves the pickaxe in the boulder, walking over to Abigail as she perches herself on another boulder and opens her milk.
"How you getting on?" Kyron asks, joining her on the boulder.
"Crops are all watered but I got tired in this heat so I had to stop." Abigail explains, "I'm sorry I couldn't do more."
The farmer chuckles and wraps an arm around Abigail, pulling her close to him. The overwhelming scent of body heat, sweat and Kyron's natural scent makes Abigail shudder and bury her face into his shoulder, wrapping her own arm around the front of Kyron's body, hugging his chest.
"You've done plenty, and you did really well for your first day." Kyron murmurs, "And thanks for the milk. You've helped more today than you've realising, just helping with the crops, you've saved me a lot of time. You'll be taking 30 per cent of the earnings from harvests. It'll be completely pocket money for you, since you'll earn your keep tending the farm with me. It would be more, but I have things to pay for and such." he smiles.
"That sounds wonderful." Abigail says, "I'm surprised you're paying me, to me, it's payment enough to be able to live with you and spend more time with you."
Kyron chuckles again and Abigail feels his lips press tenderly into her head. The two sit in silence a while, enjoying a light breeze in the air, drinking their milk.
"What else needs doing today?" Abigail asks after a while.
"We're all done on the farm." Kyron says, "Taking these trees and rocks out is just to kill the time. We can do whatever you like."
Abigail pulls out of Kyron's embrace and turns to face him on the boulder. The farmer faces her in return. Abigail looks as if she's bursting with a question, but is also too nervous to ask it. Kyron gives her an encouraging smile, but otherwise does not attempt to push her to speak. The wind picks up slightly, casting Abigail's purple locks into the breeze. Kyron's hair quivers but isn't as affected by the wind as Abigail's.
"Do you need any ore?" Abigail asks timidly, speaking so quietly Kyron would have missed her words had he not been listening intently. Catching on instantly, Kyron's smile widens and he blinks slowly in understanding.
