[PRP] A favor owed (Qarah, Salbei)

[prolixity]

It had traded a promise of work for a good rug to put in its nest, and Qarah had not forgotten that it was in debt. Perhaps it had taken some time to return, but it took its obligations seriously. So it was that it tracked Salbei down to where the other was currently working, and squatted down nearby but within sight, waiting in a patient bundle of robes to be noticed.

Enoh Love

so I said I'd make a thread

 

[Enoh Love]

Poor Qarah would find itself waiting quite a while; if there was one thing Sal did, it was get lost in his own work. Today, his work seemed to be meticulously rebuilding a shattered egg for reasons unknown. But he remained hunched over his work bench with a magnifying glass, tweezers and tooth picks for some time before an alarm went off next to him.

It was the only way to remind him that the outside world existed.

The alarm didn't seem to startle him, though he leaned back, popping several vertebrae as he did, and reached out a long, skinny arm to silence the jarring noise. Now momentarily freed from his strange work, he took a moment to look around at his surroundings as if reminding himself that they even existed; then, finally, he noticed Qarah there, lurking patiently as ever.

"Ah, a ray of welcome sunshine." An overly sweet smile formed on Sal's lips at his little jest. "How long have you been there?" He asked, almost worrying it had been too long.

Prolixity

 

[prolixity]

Qarah waited quietly, still as a statue, watching the sage at his work. It did not see the point of rebuilding a broken egg, but it assumed that there was one. While it was curious, it made no interruption. It could see that this was a delicate and exacting task.

It jerked a little at the sound of the alarm, startling several beetles out from under its robes, and hastily gathered them back up as Salbei turned the alarm off and returned to the world outside his head. Being called a ray of sunshine earned Salbei a dour, lemon-faced look; at the question, though, it shrugged. "A time," it said dismissively, not particularly concerned about the length of the wait. Everything one did involved waiting in one way or another, and counting up the precise length of the wait was only worth doing when one expected a precise amount of time to pass. The initial pleasantries concluded, it got straight to the point. "I owe you a task," it stated. "I have cleared all of my day. If you have a task for me to perform, I am ready. If you do not, I politely request you inform me of when I should return to do my work." The slightest of stresses on politely, not quite enough to pin the descriptor down as sarcastic.

Enoh Love

 

[Enoh Love]

Sal continued to smile away as Qarah's face pinched sourly, finding the reaction as fun as teasing the young always was. Qarah was quickly making its way to the top of his list of those who were fun to tease. Then again, the list contained a good seventy percent of creatures he had the pleasure of meeting, but the point was, he had a list, and Qarah was on it.

He smiled though the dismissive comment as well, and didn't say anything more. There was no offer to interrupt next time, because he didn't often appreciate it happening. It did, and always would, but if he didn't invite it, he was sure that meant it wouldn't happen as frequently as he knew it could. Either way, Qarah got down to business, and realization dawned on the old horseman.

"Ah, of course." He had almost forgotten about the exchange; a good rug for work. The promise was enough to make Sal give up one of his rugs, figuring that in that moment, or the week, month or even year to follow - there would always be a need for the help. "I appreciate you clearing your day." And with a decent chunk of it left, Sal knew exactly what to occupy the younger horseman with.

"I do indeed have a task for you; I need you to acquire some things for me." With that he put his back to Qarah, and pulled a piece of parchment from a nearby pile, along with his ink well, and a thinned bone he had been using as a writing utensil. He hummed along to himself as he jotted down the things that needed done, and besides a few of them, took a moment to draw something. It didn't take him long to do, and soon he was holding the parchment out to Qarah.

"I would like you to harvest these from my garden." It was a short list of plants, wth small drawings of their leaves and identifying marks. Once the list was out of his thin fingers, he turned to collect a few things; a basket, some small tools, and, oddly enough, a couple of very drugged, tiny minipets in a cage.

"To distract the more...carnivorous ones." He explained, and that was all he was going to say.

prolixity

 

[prolixity]

Qarah's head tilted a little at the request, and it waited with its hands folded as Salbei wrote down a list. It allowed itself one more lemon face before Salbei turned back around, because gathering a list of things was not the sort of work it had expected to be doing, but it had traded a task and not put any limitations as to the sort of task it would do and therefore complaining would be rude. Had Sal been its own age or thereabouts, it would have complained loudly and extensively, but it had more respect for its elders than that.

It accepted the list and the tools when they were handed over. Ah, harvesting from a garden -- maybe the work was more like what it had expected after all. The cage with its torpid inhabitants got a slightly wide-eyed look. That sort of garden, then. It nodded respectfully. Hesitated. Was it supposed to know where to go? It didn't know where to go, and it didn't know if it was supposed to ask. It could probably find out from others if it asked around, but that would cut into its harvesting time and possibly make it look quite stupid to a number of others. "Which garden is yours?" it asked. "Are there any wards I must look out for?"

Enoh Love

 

[Enoh Love]

Qarah's very good questions had him sighing in very quiet disappointment. He had been hoping, deep down, that it would forget to ask these very important things; today would have been so much more interesting then. Sigh.

"I have a map, and there are, indeed." said Sal, as if he had totally meant to give this information all along. Turning back to his bench, the older Horseman gathered a few more items; a small map with an 'X' - made as a reminder to himself, for he lacked most directional senses - and a small cloth parcel wrapped in old animal hide strips. "As long as you keep that packet on you, you will be fine."

From most of them, anyway. The only one not warded against was one annoyingly curious minipet who liked to get in the way more than it liked to help.

He still had to have a little fun.

Prolixity