“We’re lucky to have another set of hands to help out around here. With you pulling your disappearing act all the time it’s a miracle we get anything done.” Pyo snorted and brushed past Minio.
“Yes well, I can’t imagine someone so small would be useful on a farm.” Minio examined her with a dismissive flick of his snout.
“Big words from you. You’re a male in his prime and somehow manage to be mostly useless.” Pyo dismounted. “I’ll be getting Eleri a basket. She’s about the right size for pickingywesberries.”
“I suppose. Well, it’s your farm, do whatever you like.” Minio didn’t seem convinced. “Do you need me to stay then? I was hoping to head to Indras for some personal business.”
“You’ll work and earn your keep same as the rest of us.” Pyo’s normally light tone darkened. “Don’t make me regret the kindness I offered you. I didn’t have to let you settle here even with your sister’s begging.”
“Wasn’t much of a kindness,” Minio scoffed. “Fine then, get her a basket. I’ll show the human how to keep herself busy.”
“Don’t think I’m not watching you,karano. Make yourself useful and stay out of trouble.” Pyo flicked his wings open once to their full length and then snapped them back together with alarming speed. The movement was enough to make Minio flinch and Eleri step back several paces.
“You’re lucky my sister isn’t here to hear you call me that.” Minio snapped his own wings open and shut, but the movement lacked the crisp, threatening quality of Pyo’s gesture. Pyo lifted his snout and made a shrill series of clicks. Minio retreated another step.
“And you’re lucky I’ve got patience for days.” Pyo moved toward the shed, diffusing the rising temperature of the interaction. “Show Eleri to theywesberry bushes.”
Minio seemed ready to either retaliate or storm off, but instead he just stalked toward the far edge of the property and gestured for Eleri to follow him. “He’s only twenty standard years older than me and he feels like he has the right to act like my sire.” Minio spat out the complaintwith vitriol. “Imagine being treated like a useless pup at my age. I guess you and I are a sorry pair, aren’t we?”
“I guess,” Eleri kept her voice soft, level. It was a reflex at this point, developed after years of trying to make herself seem small and unthreatening. She wasn’t sure how he’d respond to her interjection and wasn’t entirely sure why she’d been grouped alongside him. No one was treating her like a child.
“Well, I know you vomited all over that ravik S’samph’s boots last night. Can’t say I don’t think he deserved it, but it’s a rather inelegant way to behave.”
Eleri let the insult wash over her. It was hardly the worst she’d ever heard. “I was unwell from portal sickness. I wasn’t planning to vomit on him.”
“Don’t be so shocked,” Minio chuckled. “News travels fast in Laurus. One of the perils of living in a town this size. Besides, my sister isn’t one to keep a good story quiet for long. I’m only sorry I didn’t get to see his face. He’s usually such a stoic bastard.”
“Stars, that’s embarrassing.” She shouldn’t have been surprised, and she wasn’t really, but it didn’t quell the hot sting of shame crawling across her skin. It had been less than a day in Laurus and already people were talking about her failed mating. They strode past the tall waves of sweet-smelling grain. The stalks were soft as they brushed along Eleri’s shoulder. Even though she warred with shame and dismay at her encounters with S’samph, nothing could convince her this was worse than staying on Gaia.
“Well, you’re likely to find other males who are interested now that S’samph is no longer competition. I wouldn’t feel too embarrassed.” Minio made a clicking noise deep in his throat.
“I’d like to move on from it.” Eleri shrugged in an effort to keep the remains of her pride intact. Minio wasn’t exactly a kind ear for conversation, and she’d rather make herself useful. “What did Pyo want me to do?” Better to throw herself into work. There was nothing she could do about waggling tongues.
Minio sized her up for a moment. “You’re too small to operate any of our heavy machinery, which means you’re really only suited for hand-held tasks.”
Instinctively Eleri held out her fingers and wiggled. “That seems easy enough.”
“Excellent. One less thing for me to do.” Minio handed her a wide, flat basket and then tilted hishead for a moment in thought before removing the hat from his head and plonking it down over her staticky braid. “It would be bad for you to burn your skin again. My sister asked me to keep an eye out for you, because stars know Pyo isn’t going to.”
She kept her disagreement to herself. “Thanks.” She adjusted the over-sized brim to sit higher on her forehead and then followed Minio to a patch of thistly bushes that were bursting with prismatic berries. As the light caught them, they glowed from one end of the color spectrum to the other.
“So just grab as many of these as I can?”
“It’s rudimentary. Take the berries and stick them in the basket. Mind the thorns. And don’t smash them if you can help it. They’re popular on Brasnia Prime and we can charge a high price.”
Minio hummed a low note, scanned back over his shoulder to where Pyo had emerged from the shed seated on a heavy piece of machinery, and then sidled away deep into the waves of grain. Eleri faced the bush and set to work plucking the berries free and settling them in the basket. Although he’d described it as ‘rudimentary’, the task was more difficult than it seemed at face value. The berries liked to bounce with unexpected buoyancy when she set them down with any amount of force, and despite her best efforts, it was impossible to avoid getting scratched by the thorns entirely. Each berry had to be settled in the basket with cautious precision to avoid knocking them all out.
As she gathered the berries, the heat from the day settled deep into her IA-issued body suit and it wasn’t long before she had to take breaks specifically to wipe sweat away from her brow and the back of her neck. Eventually, she settled into a steady rhythm. From her vantage at the edge of the field, she could look out onto a flock of cooing pichari birds and a few of their chicks. She flicked a line of what they called ‘diesel ants’ back on Gaia off the thigh of her bodysuit, taking care not to use too much force to remove them. The living insects were harmless enough but would dissolve into an incredibly flammable puddle of goo if crushed.
By the time it was sun-high she felt she’d barely made any progress, but Pyo showed up with an impressed warble at her results. “Would you look at that? Too bad you’ll only be staying here until you finish your training. If we had known you would be here at the beginning of the season I would have planted twice as many bushes.”
“I’ll stick to this then.” Eleri rocked back on her heels, unsure about the praise. It hadn’t seemed like a great feat to her, but she was happy to make herself useful.
“Well come on then, we’ll have Minio give you a ride down to the clinic. I’m sure Aglao is itching to put you to work.”
“I can’t wait.” Eleri stretched and noticed the stiffness in her shoulders. No doubt she’d feel it more the next day. After the mindless work of the morning, she was anticipating her work at the clinic with both excitement and worry. It had been less than two standard years since she’d had to take a hiatus from her IA healer training program back on Gaia, but she feared most of her knowledge had evaporated.
“Is Minio still here?” Eleri asked. She’d watched him vanish into the plumes of grain and hadn’t seen him emerge since.
