Pursuit of Diligence part 5

Rubi had long awaited this day from deep within his brimstone heart. It was the day of harvest, finally the fruits, or flowers, of his labor had come full circle. The many tasks he’d undergone for this project were starting to wear on him, and frankly some were just chores Primrose wanted to get done and felt less pertinent. Still Rubicon was a stubborn bun, and he hadn’t fulfilled his original desire of seeing what made this embassy so special.

Wanting a leg up on this next task, Rubi took an early ride up to the cloudy island and was ready to seize the day. The embassy was much quieter than usual, and it was never very loud to begin with. The first batches at Beanny’s were just now brewing, and the dew collectors had just begun their job. In fact, it was so early that the gates to the garden were not yet open. This was a bump in his whole early bird strategy, so Rubi looked around for another way in.

“Well I won’t break anything, so it can’t be breaking and entering. Just entering.” Rubi thought to himself.

Rubi wasn’t alone on his mission this time, as he had brought a friend. A virtue of charity he met after donating food he had cooked to other buns had begun following him around, so he let it stay at his place. He named the virtue Jenny Rositi after his favorite type of noodle that he didn’t know how to spell correctly. Jenny was a good pet who would bring gifts to Rubi of assorted doodads and paperclips, and he wanted to give her a chance to visit the heavenly embassy and see her natural habitat.

“Hey Jenny, how about you do me a kindness and fly over the fence to get me the key to the gate?”

The virtue looked sad at his attempt to twist its generous nature towards stealing, so Rubi had to think of something better. He looked through his pack and found some rope.

“Hey if I ‘give’ you this rope will you tie it to the top.”

Jenny seemed much more open to this idea dn floated on up to the top of the fence and did thusly. It took Rubi some time, but he climbed atop the fence and then pulled the rope over to slide down. The virtue worried this might not be his first time doing such clandestine activities.

Now free to roam the inside of the gardens, Rubi was about to head straight to his patch of flowers when he heard something moving in one of the bigger greenhouses. Curiously, he peeked through the window and saw a familiar face. It was Primrose polishing a gilded vase with a cloth by hand. There must have been fifty of those fancy things in this greenhouse alone, and Rubi marveled that Primrose was up this early just to care for them. He wondered if the cherubun ever slept with how much finery there was in the embassy, and suddenly all of those errands he was sent on made sense to him.

Rubi saw fit to leave Prim to it and went out towards the flower field. Red and purple petals formed a circle around the spiky seed heads atop each tall stem. These cone flowers looked gorgeous in the morning crystal light, and Rubi took a long moment to appreciate it all and then snapped a quick photo on his phone.

Once he was ready he noticed that the tools for harvest had been placed out already, surely Primrose’s preparedness at work. Rubi took his doll form in order to reach the tall blooms and cut off the flowers. He remembered the cherubun’s long talks about how each part of the plant can be used for different recipes, so he was careful to separate each part. It was slow work, but Jenny was there and helping to carry what Rubi had collected.

After a while, Primrose approached from inside. He looked a little perplexed to see Rubi having beaten him to it.

“Good morning. You’re here unusually early.” Primrose pointed out.

“Just couldn’t help myself. Figured I could handle this easily enough.”

“Yes, I can see that.”

Primrose seemed oddly confident that Rubi had things handled. He only gave the harvest a quick glance rather than a big thorough inspection. Rubi felt some pride in this and came over to Primrose.

“You know, I thought of another use for this flower.” He said with a smile.

“Truly? I thought their medicinal uses were well documented.”

Primrose began to start a tirade and list what they both already know, but Rubi slips the flower behind Primrose’s ear and into his hair.

“There, it makes a beautiful accessory in a golden head of hair too.”

Primrose began to blush heavily and was at a loss for words. Rubi was ready to say more when a call came on Primrose’s phone. He eagerly took the distraction and then looked concerned.

“I have to go, Rubicon.” He hung up swiftly.

“There was a rope tied to the fence. Someone might have broken into the gardens.” His voice said with a cold seriousness.

Rubi and Jenny silently exchanged a look and decided not to say a word. The heavenly hare marched off and Rubi was back to harvesting. He was disappointed that it was now a more lonesome task, but even without his supervisor he worked hard and long to gather all that he could. Even Jenny got bored and wandered off with her head in the clouds a few times. The day had grown long before Primrose returned with a suspicious rope and the flower still adorning his hair.

“Any luck on the perp?” Rubi asked, sweating nervously behind his mask.

“None, and we couldn’t find hide or hare of any buns not supposed to be here.” Primrose said with a sigh.

“Maybe I can take the rope off of your hands and try to find where the crook got it.”

“I doubt that would bring up many clues, but I appreciate the offer. I’ve had enough of the matter for now however.”

Primrose looked at the baskets full of flowers organized neatly with a smile and a nod.

“I can finish from here. You’ve earned your break.” He offered.

“Not a chance. I’m so close, and now I get some company to go with it.” Rubi replied with a grin.

Primrose has never been one to be easily impressed, but today it seemed to Rubicon that this bar had been met. It wasn’t long before the task had been done and the flowers were brought over to the greenhouse to be dried and taken care of, but that was work for another day.