Chapter Text
I absent-mindedly tap my feet against the floor, tapping out an off-beat rythm. My thoughts are wandering as I gaze out the window, half-watching the passers-by while also looking off to an unseen distance, daydreaming. The thought crosses my mind that it's around time when Asra should be returning, and I look forward to when he will- until my smile quickly shifts into a frown as I'm reminded that the whole reason he's been out all day is to make sure that he has food for his travels, and that I have food for staying here, at the shop.
The tapping sound of my shoes against the floor stops as I lean against the countertop with a sigh, bringing my gaze downwards as my vision focuses back to the reality in front of me. Nobody but me stands in the shop. I kick the side of the counter in frustration; frustration that I can't go with Asra and frustration that he's going in the first place. He's always going off places these days, never telling me where he leaves to-
I'm startled out of my thoughts as the jar nearby on the counter wobbles, realizing too late that it's awfully close to the edge. I desperately scramble to catch the tilting jar. But my flailing is to no avail and the jar falls past my fingertips. I wince, stumbling to the side, as it crashes to the floor with the sound of cracking ceramic. An explosion of powdered bat milk poofs from the jar that now spins on the floor as the lid rolls a few feet to the side. I inhale sharply through my teeth, cringing at the mess by my feet.
I lean down to inspect the damage. We'd been running low on powdered bat milk, so there's not too much of the white powder sprawled accross the floor. Just as well, though, because the jar is in pieces with only the lid remaining intact. I pick up the lid carefully, mentally chastizing myself for my clumsliness as I place it into the trash bin. For the shards of the jar, I figure it's best to avoid having Asra arrive to find me with cuts across my hands, so I use a levitation spell for them. Unfortunately, I'm not so confident in levitating particles, after an unfortunate accident that resulted in powdered herbs coating nearly every inch of the shop, taking days to properly cleanse. So, in old-fashioned style, I take the broom and dustpan with a sigh and get to cleaning up the mess that remains on the floor. As I begin to sweep, the familiar ringing of the bell hanging above the door catches my attention and I glance to the door, about to announce my welcomes to a customer when I realize who's just entered.
"Asra! Welcome back!" I exclaim. His hands occupied with his bag, stuffed to the brim with the day's findings, he shuts the door behind him with his foot.
"Rowan~! Wait till you see what the woods had to offer today!" he calls. "How'd everything go running the shop?" Immediately after he says that, he notices that I'm sweeping, and spots the powdery mess on the floor. He tilts an eyebrow upwards with a questioning look to me and I give him an embarassed smile.
"Things were going well... until I knocked the bat milk to the floor," I say with a sigh and a rueful smile. Asra chuckles, peering down at the mess at my feet, as he places his overfilled bag on the countertop.
"Ah, no worries. We were due to restock it anyway," he says, waving it off. "Anyway, what do you think of today's haul? Enough to last you while I'm gone?" As he speaks, Asra opens up the bag on the countertop, and several vegetables come tumbling out. He leans his elbows on the counter with his chin rested on his hands and looks over the abundance of edible plants sat before him, looking at me with delight as I take in the pile of goods on the counter.
"Oh! So much..! Honestly, Asra, this is more than I'll need, even with you taking your portion along on your journey," I say, staring at the quantity of the mushrooms, fruits, vegetables, and roots that lay on the countertop as well as in his bag. Asra shrugs in a nonchalant manner, smiling.
"I thought it'd be better to have plenty. After all, I don't want to leave you with nothing to eat but pumpkin bread," he says.
I nod, but for some reason I can't understand, the thought of Asra leaving tonight leaves me with an ache in my chest. I turn back to sweeping up the last remnants of bat milk in an attempt to distract myself. From the other side of the countertop, Asra searches through his assorted finds from the forest, seeming to look for something specific. With a grin, he picks out an amber-colored berry from the pile.
"The goldenberry bushes have started to ripen," he says with excitement as he presents the berry to me, his violet eyes twinkling in triumph at my expression of joy. He offers me the goldenberry, held loosely between his fingertips. I stand still for a moment, glancing between the broom in my hands and the berry, attempting to calculate some way to take the berry without dropping anything. Unable to figure out a more dignified way, I give in and tilt my head towards the goldenberry between Asra's fingers and he slips the berry into my mouth.
I chew the fruit softly, savoring the juicy sweetness, until I look up to see Asra smiling warmly at my delight. He hides a soft chuckle behind his hand, and I glance aside, feeling my face flush. "I made sure to grab plenty of goldberries; I know how much you love them," he says, offering another berry towards me. This time, I decide to just set the broom aside in order to take the berry from his hand, the work almost done anyway.
"Thank you," I say with a smile and bite into the berry. Asra picks out a goldenberry for himself and pops it into his mouth. He then resumes to sorting the fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, and roots from the bag. As I watch him, I'm once again left with the same feeling of sadness from earlier. A whole wave of mixed emotions swirls in my mind, with no sense of what they even are or why they're suddenly hitting me. All I know is that I don't want Asra to leave. I just want to join him on his mysterious journey when he leaves.
I just want to be with him, to not be apart from his warm, familiar energy. But I say nothing. Time and time again, I've begged to be allowed to go along with Asra on his journeys, and every time he tells me it's too dangerous, too far, too difficult for me. He never even tells me where he goes when he leaves like this. At this point, I've just learned not to even ask anymore.
I let the sadness and aching settle down into a dull, heavy feeling at the bottom of my heart and try to ignore it. Putting a smile on my face, I discard of the powdered bat milk in the dustpan and set forth to helping Asra sort through his findings.
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