Chapter 39 Chapter Thirty Nine - Wanting the Bes (1/2)

The sun was drifting along the horizon, staining the sky in a myriad of crimson and orange shades. The air was cooling in the sun's wake, but the heat that had formed to great extent within the greenhouse of windows had yet to disperse. Within the green house, which was alight by the glowing of several solar garden lights, Nathan hovered over the tender plants in one of the large patches. Potatoes meant for winter and spring consumption were growing here. However, now that there were new people to feed, he wondered if there would be enough.

Although he had grown plentiful vegetables for the main house before, at that time, the servants meals were supplemented with plentiful packages of meat, grain, milk and eggs. His contribution was welcome, as the taste of his garden vegetables was delicious, but wasn't totally necessary. And now, the plants in his garden were to become the main source of peoples food. He was happy, of course, that this was so, he wanted his plants' worth to be appreciated, but...

Regarding the people themselves, he didn't have too much opinion. Well, the thin girl with the sandy brown-coloured hair was loud and her voice reached decibels that hurt his ears, so he didn't like her and one of the men had snapped the leafy limb of a plant in his rush to eat a plump, ripe tomato, so he disliked him as well. The girl had apologised though and the man had been reprimanded, but it took him a while to calm the ivies upon the wall and bush vines as they wanted to remove them from his sight. A small smile appeared upon Nathan's lips. True enough, his plants understood him most.

As did Ren Zexian.

Lucy had discovered three sheep within the bushes and Nathan had had to coax the vines to let them go. The animals, which happened to be smaller in stature than Aslan, were clearly exhausted and terrified, their sweaty bodies shaking and foaming at the mouth. Aslan had appeared in a foggy gust of air with his bowl in his mouth and Nathan had filled it with his water. The sheep had gulped mouthfuls down once they had calmed and sought more only shortly afterwards. Lucy had giggled, clapping her hands and wanted to pet the 'white, fat puppies', but Aslan had tugged her by the waistband of her shorts pulling her away from them.

It was then that the shrieking squeal of the thin woman had pierced through the air. ”Look, baby! It's our sheep! We can eat lamb tonight!”

Nathan, whose hands had been half filled with more water, had automatically reached for his ears, the clear liquid falling to the ground and splashing the animals as well as his boots. Ren Zexian had immediately reached for him, his long, warm fingers reaching for the hands clasped at his head, but worrying over Nathan's dislike of being touched. So Nathan had leaned into him instead, pressing his forehead against the man's firm shoulder and finding solace in his presence. Still with hands pressed against his ears, the noises had became muffled, but he had caught a word or two.

”...sensitive to loud noises...”

”Landlord...”

”Oops... really sorry!”

As things quietened a little, he had slowly withdrawn his hands and turned to look at the new people, but continued to press close against Ren Zexian's body. The steady beat of his heart was soothing.

”Aw, but baby, can't at least kill one of the three?” These were the words of the thin woman, she had been pointing at the sheep which were huddled together. Ren Zexian told him later that these creatures had some ability over the wind, making them faster than normal and likely they could hurt people with the wind should they choose. But at the time they had stumbled into his garden, the energy inside them that they needed to produce the wind was spent, making them helpless and at the mercy of others.