Salad Days (Hwyn)

[Dove Brown]

63 Spring 516

Dove eyed her narrow strip of garden and smiled. The cabbages were still small and closed and wouldn't be ready for a while, and the onions also needed a bit longer, as did the beans - but the peas were almost ripe and she was on a second round of cutting mustard and collard greens already as the inner leaves grew bigger to replace the outer leaves she'd taken a handful of days back. In the back corner, the two rose plants that had actually germinated from the many seeds she'd planted, filled the air with scent as the first pale buds opened to Syna's warmth. The mint bush was sprawing in the corner beside the roses, not quite trying to take over the garden yet, but any gardener more experienced than Dove would have seen that it was trying to.

Dove just enjoyed the rampant growth and the smell - and the promise of tea that she wouldn't have to pay coin for this winter. She wandered inside to get the shallow basket and sharp knife that she needed to cut the ripe plants and gather them together, then returned to the garden. She knelt and probed around the turnips and collards, finding the soil dry and light. The earliest turnips were about the right sizeto harvest too, and the dry soil would make it easier to pull them up. She would have to water the soil this evening, but for now, she began cutting the outside leaves and piling them into her basket. As she worked she sang softly, not entirely in tune, a long song about the stages a farm crop went though.

[Hwyn]

Salad Days

The Mythrin outpost, a rural bastion that supplied Syliras with all sorts of produce and some would be knights that thought the farming life beneath them. After spending the night in the city after delivering some parcels Hwyn decided he would spend the two days he had in the outpost before heading back to Syliras exploring and seeing what their was to do.

Standing in the morning sun Hwyn stretched and sighed lazily enjoying the warmth and the lack of sound, strolling aimlessly down the main path that made up the center of the town Hwyn mused himself about how lack of sound was something that he could enjoy so much. But in Syliras the sound was omnipresent and he hadn't noticed how used to it was until he was finally somewhere that sound wasn't.

Smiling Hwyn Strolled his outfit today was one of his more masculine numbers. Black breaches and boots with a smart fitted brown tunic, his long hair was tied back in a neat ponytail, as he didn't want to wear anything superflous while he was traveling away from the city. As He walked Hwyn realized an issue he had come across, with all the Serinity he found that beyond admiring the peacefulness he had very little to actually do.

Looking around Hwyn couldn't really even spot anyone of his age or anyone that didn't look particularly hard at work. Looking about Hwyn say someone hidden behind some foliage. A girl that was around his age, perhaps a little older with tawny skin and dark hair. Watching her work Hwyn found himself admiring the way the girl worked with the plants harvesting and weeding with an focus that made the boring task look more intriguing than Hwyn had previously considered it. Then realizing he was staring Hwyn paused embarrassed.

"I.. I Uh think that you must be a uhm a very good gardener..."

Mentally Kicking himself Hwyn didn't know why he announced his presence in such a way, he really needed to learn to talk to people.

"Oh Uhm, sorry... I'm new here, I don't mean to bother you... Oh uhm, I'm Hwyn, uh Hi! Hello!"

Stumbling over his words he remembered to at the very least introduce his name properly. With that he gave a quick bow to be polite.

Credit to Shimoje, the bestest buddy

[Dove Brown]

Movement caught Dove's eye throught the plants and she looked up, the song dying on her lips, to see a kid - boy? girl? - about her own age, who seemed even shyer than she was. The kid stammered out a greeting, and introduced themselves as Hwyn, and then bowed. Dove blinked and stared for a moment. Nobody ever bowed to her, that was something for respected people, not for her. "Uh, hi. I'm Dove," she responded eventually. "I, um, I'm still learning to garden. Lots to learn..." she dropped a handful of salad leaves into the basket, and swallowed. Hwyn didn't look like a knight, and was apparently new here. "I farm, mostly. Born here, in a farming family. Can I, uh, help you at all? Are you lost?"

Mithryn was tight-packed and the streets picked their way between the buildings. It was possible to get lost here, but not that easy - at least to her - but she had the advantage of growing up here. She dusted her hands on her knees and climbed warily to her feet, dressed in a light brown shirt, darker brown trousers, and sturdy boots. She eyed Hwyn's long blond hair, brown and black clothes. The kid had a build like hers, small and thin, and was paler than her. Dove flipped the long black braid of her hair back over her shoulder, and then remembered to set the harvest knife down in the basket beside her, before anyone got the idea she was threatening Hwyn with it. Last time she'd reached out to try and help someone, only a score of days ago, he'd forced his way into her house and threatened and yelled at her. Her body tensed at the too fresh memory, and she swallowed. "You like my garden?" she asked, after an awkward moment of silence. "I, uh, can show you it if you like..."

[Hwyn]

Title and Date

Hwyn smiled when it appeared that the girl was of a friendly disposition, Replying in kind Hwyn learned that the girls name was Dove. While she talked she continued working, harvesting more greens from her garden with practiced movements that came from a lifetime of experience. She proceeded to inquire as to if He was lost or not. Thinking on the question Hwyn pondered if he could refer to his situation as being lost, lost in boredom or lost on thought perhaps but he had a fairly good idea as to where he was.

Shaking his head in response Hwyn smiled ruefully.

"No, I don't think Lost quite describes my situation, I'm a courier and have a couple days to stay here before making a trek back to Syliras. I was more or less looking for something to learn or do with myself." Shrugging sheepishly Hwyn realized he wasn't making too much of a case for himself, He wasn't to particularly great with communicating with other humans, a skill he hadn't developed as much as he likely should have.

"But uhm yeah.. I'd love to learn more about your garden... If you really don't mind, I'd hate to cause you any trouble."

Smiling Sheepishly Hwyn liked the idea of socializing with the girl, he felt a certain kinship with her, she had the same sort of shy demureness that he saw in himself, a fear of the proud people who ran the world maybe, though then again he could just be projecting his own feelings onto her, Hwyn reminded himself that it was dangerous to trust anyone a fact an sunberthian born should know.

"I'd be a liar if I told you I knew anything about plants or growing food, I uh never thought about it but.. I think living in a city may have spoiled me a little bit"

Then it dawned on him that he wasn't doing anything for her and he was inadvertently asking a favor with offering nothing in return.

"oh and uh..."

He realized that beyond his coins he didn't have anything to offer the girl in return, he'd have to find a way to repay her kindness given the chance to do so. However he'd drop it for the moment as he was drawing blanks on anything he could do for her at the moment.

"thank you"

Credit to Shimoje, the bestest buddy

[Dove Brown]

Dove swallowed for a moment. She was far more used to being the one being taught, the one who knew least, than being the teacher. Though... she'd managed with Rosa, and this kid's hesitance reminded her of the young girl. And this kid wanted to learn too. She sighed and stood up. "Come on round then," she said. "Mind the roses, and the mint." She pointed to the bushes and plants in question, and tried not to be envious that Hwyn's clothes were better than anything she'd ever owned. Or at least, not to let her envy show on her face. "You should probably expect to get grubby," she warned instead. "If you work with plants you have to deal with the soil they grow in, and well, um, soil is dirt." She brushed fruitlessly at her knees.

"Gardening is kind of like farming, only it isn't. Farming is a much bigger thing..." Dove looked over her shoulder towards where the fields were. "But, uh, you said you don't know anything about that either." She didn't know enough about this, she was sure. She'd coped so far by pretending it was a really small farm, because she knew about farming, but if Hwyn didn't, what could she compare it to? "Um, the mint is for tea. I like the taste. So are the roses, but they aren't ready. These," she pointed out the collards and the mustard greens, "are leafy, for salad. I just take the outside ring of leaves now, and then I can have more later when the leaves grow again. You can make salad from the turnip greens too, but the turnips are also good and they keep for winter." She knelt to brush the leaves the nearest sprouting turnip. It was ready for harvest, so she dug her fingers into the soil around it, eased it out and showed it to Hwyn.