Pursuit of Diligence Pt. 3

“Well you certainly took your time to return,” Primrose chided with a click of his tongue, arms crossed in a most unhappy manner. It had been some time since Harrow had come here, mostly due to his work-life balance not aligning in a manner allowing him free time to help out.

“I was busy,” Harrow commented, keeping his tone out of the spoken words.

“We’re all busy,” Primrose bit back, as if challenging Harrow to argue with him. Harrow didn’t take the bait, pursing his lips behind his mask as he stared at Primrose, silently judging him.

“Well,” the cherubun sniffed, looking into the air as if in disdain, “since you’re here already… you can help me collect the dew to grow the flowers we cherubuns need.”

“Of course,” Harrow replied, walking over to stand next to Primrose, awaiting his direction. He glanced to the side, seeing Primrose tense as the succubun stood close to him, so Harrow took a half step to the side to give the other some breathing room.

“My apologies. I did not intend to crowd your space. I was merely curious how this is done.”

“It’s… fine.” Primrose looked away, eyes narrowing as his cheeks puffed out. Harrow wasn’t quite sure what to make of this, but he rolled his shoulders in a halfhearted shrug and waited for the other’s instructions.

“The watering cans are to your left. They should be full from the cloud’s filtered water. Make sure you have a full can before you start to water, as one of those will cover an entire row. Don’t waste it.” He swallowed, glancing at Harrow for just a moment before looking away once again. “I’ll meet you in the middle.”

Bowing his head slightly in acknowledgement, Harrow moved to pick up the watering can, nearly spilling it; he hadn’t expected it to feel so light. Primrose had said these were filled with water, right?

After regaining his balance, Harrow peered inside and saw that the water rippled on the surface near the lip of the watering can, proving that it was, in fact, full. What was most surprising was that the water felt lighter than water normally should have. Did it gain a different consistency when it filtered through the clouds? How curious.

Resisting the urge yet again to take some to experiment with, Harrow heaved a deep sigh, knowing that the cherubuns needed it more than he did. He glanced up to see where Primrose started, the other bun lost in his own world as he focused on pouring out water and… began talking to the plants?

Harrow stared incredulously at his own row. Was he supposed to talk to them too? He was used to talking to his remils (and having them ‘answer’ back with their own squeaks), but not to plants themselves. How did one even converse with plants? He was no good with plants; dead ones, yes, because they could be made into potions. But live ones?

The bun breathed in, then exhaled for a long, long moment. The more he thought about it, the more complicated things became in his head. He didn’t like complicated—not unless it was a problem he could solve.

This wasn’t something he could solve right now, so Harrow forced the thoughts to the back of his mind and began to water the plants, taking care to start at one end and move to the other. His steps were slow and precise as he made sure each plant had an equal amount of water, taking pride in seeing that the little sproutlings were growing so well thanks to his help.

Harrow knew he most likely wasn’t the only one helping, but he couldn’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment in knowing that his former assistance had brought this whole thing to life.

And now, Primrose couldn’t even argue against his presence anymore—the proof was in the plants themselves. (It helped that Harrow tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, especially since the other bun just seemed so nervous about him being near. It was probably his mask—he got that reaction a lot.)

Finishing with his row, Harrow couldn’t help but smile as he watched the last droplet fall from the garden can, and moved to replace it where it had been before so it could collect more dew for any future buns that wanted to help Primrose with his duties.

Standing up and brushing his hands off, Harrow glanced over to see Primrose returning his own can to its resting place, staring at him with an expression that he hadn’t quite seen from the cherubun before.

“Are you all right, Primrose?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” he snapped, cheeks glowing a rosy pink. “You did the job adequately, so I suppose your duty is done for today.”

“I appreciate the compliment,” Harrow said, trying very hard to keep the mirth out of his tone. The last thing he wanted to do was set Primrose off when he was trying his hardest to butter up the other bun and get on his good side. It wasn’t easy, but Harrow was doing his best.

“I’ll expect to see you in a month?” Primrose asked, raising an eyebrow at the bun, skepticism written all over his face.

“Sooner, I hope. My schedule’s cleared up quite a bit, so I’ll try to make an effort to be here more often, and in a timely fashion.” Harrow bowed low, arms stretching out in a kind of grand gesture as he bowed, head tilting in an amused fashion.

Primrose sputtered, his entire face red as he stared at Harrow. “Why in heaven are you doing that!?”

“Just taking my leave, and giving respect.” Harrow couldn’t keep the amused tone from his voice anymore. “Thank you for showing me the best way to help you. I hope to continue this partnership in the future, should you be willing.” Without waiting for an answer, Harrow stood up and turned to take his leave, hearing nothing but strangled, embarrassed noises echoing behind him.

Well, he hoped that impression would last for quite some time. It wasn’t often that he got to have a little fun.