Lily couldn't take two steps towards Malroth and the dog before the small animal yipped at them and took off. "H-Hey! Wait up!" She jumped down from the structure she had built and started running after the dog.
"Lily! You can't take off like that!" Malroth threw a glance back at Rosie who was laughing as he took off after Lily and the dog. "Stupid mutt!"
Lily dodged around trees as she ran after the dog, slipping between tight crevasses and between thorny vines. She came skidding to a halt when the path opened up to a bog, her eyes taking everything in around her. "What… in the world?"
"Dammit, Lily! What the hell was that? You just felt like taking off without me?!" Malroth snarled as he fought his way through the vines, his tall form making it harder to get through the tight spaces. "Damn dog. Damn builder." He growled, nearly toppling over Lily when she was stopped at the edge. "Hey!" He grabbed her shoulders, giving her a quick shake. "What were you thinking?!"
Lily brushed Malroth off and slowly walked towards the dog. "Is there something here?"
The dog barked and turned tail, running deep into the bog. Malroth let out a groan but followed after Lily when she took off again. "I swear, I'm not going with you to the next destination." He watched as Lily rounded a corner with the dog, a surprised gasp coming from her. "Lily?!" He sprinted after her, worried she was being attacked, but then he looked down into the hole and saw two girls with Lily and the dog. "What in the…? Seriously? More people?"
"I shared my lunch with her, maybe she led you to us as thanks!" The smaller female sat petting the dog, a grin on her small face. She glanced at the older girl who was crying helplessly next to her. "Sis…"
"I thought these dogs were supposed to find seeds. Not scruffy-looking girls." Malroth grumbled as he made his way down to stand next to Lily.
"I beg your pardon! I think you'll find we're ladies, not 'girls'. And rather lovely ladies too, if I do say so myself!" The small girl snapped at Malroth; her dark eyes narrowed on the male. "The Children threw us into this ghastly hole. They told us we had to reflect on our sins. But that was days ago – and we've been stuck here ever since." Her shoulders slumped and she made a face like she too was about to cry. "I know cooking is wrong. I know I shouldn't have done it… but I was ever so hungry…"
"Well, I'm Lily and I'm a builder. This is my friend Malroth. We're building a friend with some other friends of ours." Lily explained, watching as the older girl went wide-eyed and gawked at her. "I know, I know. Heresy. I've heard that word more times than I can count on my fingers."
Malroth threw his head back in laughter, holding his gut while he tried to calm himself down. "Looks like we've got another couple of true believers on our hands! Let's take them back to the farm and turn them into builders like Timmyploughsalot."
Lily rolled her eyes at Malroth but smiled at the two girls. "What do you say?"
"Oh, now that sounds like fun! My name is Lillian, and this is my sister, Saffron. We'd be more than delighted to follow you back to your farm!" The younger girl gave Lily a big grin.
"L-Lillian!" Saffron gasped, her eyes wide. "That's heresy! She- she's a…!" Saffron let out a scream as she thought about the trouble she and Lillian would get into when it came to the farm.
The dog barked and stuck its' head in Lily's pouch, pulling out a rolled piece of paper. Lily grabbed it and opened the roll, staring at the map in her hands. "How did you know I had this?" She stared at the dog, frowning for a moment. Lily watched as the dog put its' nose to the spot where Furrowfield Farm was located. "Yeah, that's great and all but-"
In the blink of an eye, the group was standing before the Deitree. "what is this going to… do…?" Lily slowly glanced around, her jaw going slack. "Are… are you saying I could have…"
"Oh, you found the map I put in your pouch." Pastor Al walked up to them, a smile in the tone of his voice. "I embedded it with magic. You touch a spot that you've been to before and it'll take you there."
"THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE TO KNOW SOONER, AL!" Lily gasped, nearly dropping her map on Lillian's head as the small child started cheering.
"No need to shout." Al used his pinky to clear his ear. "What fun is it to tell you everything, child?"
A wheezing noise had Lily turning her attention to Malroth who was sitting behind her. She looked down, seeing he was sitting on Clayton. "Mal…?"
"That was the worst feeling in the world. Can you give me some sort of heads up, so I don't vomit? Probably a good thing I didn't have breakfast this morning. Clayton would be covered if I had." Malroth shrugged but made no move to get up.
"My life…" Clayton wheezed beneath Malroth, his face slowly turning from red to purple. "Fading… need air…"
Lily raised her brows at Malroth, waiting for him to get up but he still didn't. "Mal…"
With a groan and a roll of his eyes, Malroth got up. "If he can talk, he can breathe."
Clayton lay limp on the ground as the others came up to see what all of the commotion was. Rosie smiled at Lilian and Saffron. "Welcome to Furrowfield Farm!"
Lily leaned back, wiping the sweat from her brow as she examined the barren room she built. She smiled as she looked down at the dog who sat next to her, its' tail wagging. "What do you think, Harvest?"
The small dog gave a yip, glancing back as Malroth came up and stared down at her. "You named her Harvest? Why not Deathbringer? Hell Hound?" The dark male frowned when the dog whined at him. "You're right. I guess Harvest isn't all the bad. Could have named you Spot." He walked into the room, looking around. "You said this will be the bathhouse?"
"Yup. I just need to furnish it and it'll be done." Lily gave Malroth a grin as he started to turn away. Her grin faded quickly when Clayton came in, his hands tucked between his thighs as he trembled. "Lily. I need a favor. I need you to build a uh… tiny room with a pot in it. For when uh… for well… if you catch my meaning."
Lily crossed her arms over her chest, frowning at Clayton. "What in the hell are you talking about? You want another bathhouse?"
"N-No! Just a tiny room for us to use." Clayton cried out before running away and to some place that Lily couldn't see him.
Malroth glanced to Lily, a brow raised in question. "He's an odd little duck, isn't he?"
"Something like that." Lily shrugged and dusted her hands off on the bottom of her dress. "Guess I'll make one and attach it to the bathhouse to make him happy." She slipped outside of her build and went to her crafting table.
Clayton bit into a cabbage as he walked his bundle over to the barn, Perry close behind him. He had seen Lily working hard on that dreaded building she had dubbed her project for the week, but he hadn't seen her working on the thing he had asked for. He happened to glance over, seeing Rosie walk out of a door on the side of the project building. "Rosie. Dear Rosie! What is that?"
Rosie glanced over, her face turning bright red at the sight of Clayton. "Lily made us a place to go to the bathroom." Her eyes turned dark as she glared down her nose at him. "That way people aren't caught out in the trees with their pants down."
Clayton's face turned red as well as he gawked at Rosie. "I've said I'm sorry a million times for that, Rosie!" He shoved his bundle of crops onto Perry who let out a small cry for help. Clayton marched over to the small building that Rosie walked out of, his eyes going wide at the sight inside. "A… A pot… and she even gave us a small place to wash our hands?!" He darted out of the room, looking around the immediate area but not seeing her twin tails bouncing around the farm.
Then he heard humming coming from behind him, from inside the project Lily had been working on. Clayton whirled around and pushed the cloth door open, his jaw dropping to the floor as he stared at the scene before him, a strangled noise leaving him.
Lily was standing at the far end of the room, water pouring from the bucket in her hands and over her head and down her bare skin. His dark eyes were locked on the way her back arched; the way one hip was cocked up with a knee slightly bent. Her long blond hair cascaded down her back and over her chest in wet waves. And she was completely oblivious to what was going on around her.
A barking noise was slowly bringing Clayton back to reality, but what really had him jumping was the sound of knuckles cracking behind him. He turned his head, seeing Malroth looming over him. Clayton could feel malice dripping from the taller male. "Malroth… I can explain."
Lily froze when she heard voices, her eyes slowly opened and turned in time to see Malroth punch Clayton in the nose, sending the other male skidding into the bathhouse. Lily couldn't stop the scream that left her, which drew the attention to the others on the farm. Malroth walked over to Lily, keeping his eyes locked on the crown of her head. He turned around, hiding her behind his larger frame as Clayton foamed from the mouth about how unfair life was being to him. "P-Peeper!" Lily clung to the back of Malroth's jacket as others slowly trickled in.
Perry and one of the other farmers started to lean, as if trying to get a peek at Lily who was still screaming about how Clayton was a pervert. Rosie came in and ran over to Lily, wrapping a towel around the builder. "I never would have thought you could do something so horrible, Clayton. We invited you to join our farm and look at what you've done." Rosie frowned at the other farmer; her dark eyes narrowed on him.
Clayton didn't dare get up from where he lay, his eyes narrowing on Rosie and Malroth. "I did nothing wrong! I came in to thank Lily for building a toilet! How was I supposed to know that she was done building the damn place and was using it?!"
"By knocking." The words growled from Malroth's throat as he cast a look at Clayton, his red eyes almost seeming to glow in the firelight in the building. "I know I've heard Britney running around the last few days singing about how she's getting a bathhouse. So, unless you're deaf, you know Lily has been working on this."
Britney was the next to pipe up, her attention on Clayton. "Gosh, guys. No one is at fault here, like, for real. Clayton should have, like knocked 'n shit, but Lily didn't let anyone know she was done and was gonna use the bathhouse. But, if all of us don't leave in like, two seconds, Malroth is gonna like, kill us all."
The group turned their attention off of Clayton and onto Malroth who was trembling with the need to knock some heads. "What Britney said." He hissed through clenched teeth as he tried to steady his breathing.
Lily leaned around Malroth, watching the others leave after helping Clayton up to his feet. She looked up at Malroth, pulling back when she noticed that his cheeks were lightly dusted with pink. She started to say something when Malroth turned on her, pinning her against the wall behind her. "M-Malroth!"
"Next time you take a bath, let me know. I'll stand guard so that doesn't happen again."
Lily stood there, frozen like an idiot, as her friend turned and walked out of the bathhouse, leaving her alone once more. She pressed her hand to her chest, trying to convince her heart to not burst from her ribs.
Lilian sat on one of the fence posts at the edge of the farm, slowly munching on her bread as she watched the others. Everyone was still on edge after the events a few nights ago. Lily and Malroth had gone out with Harvest to find some new crops and had come back with tomatoes and new knowledge on something called fertilizer. She watched the two carefully, seeing how nervous Lily got around Malroth now, the builder almost seemed flustered while the angry fighter seemed more standoff-ish. She smirked, life around the farm was about to get a lot more interesting.
