Working for Lavender (2)
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Aaron, Heather
Date Posted: 10th March 2021
Series: Lavender Run
Characters: Brennault, Zavek
Description: Brennault and Zavek make a friendly wager.
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 8, day 21 of Turn 10
"Sleep okay last night?" Zavek asked Brennault as the runner entered the kitchen area for breakfast.
The woman that Zavek paid to be cook and maid had already made breakfast and left them to dish out their own plates.
"I always sleep like a stone after a day of good, hard work!" Brennault said cheerfully. "Thank you. Ooh, this looks amazing!" Most definitely better than he could have expected at the waystation down the road.
"And that's why I hire someone to do the cooking. Otherwise you would be treated to some burnt porcine strips and chewy eggs." Zavek said with a self-deprecating laugh as he heaped a pile of food onto his plate and took it to the breakfast table.
"It's always better to trade what we can do best for what someone else can do best instead of trying to be good at everything." That was one of Brennault's father's favorite things to say – especially to justify spending marks. He served up his own plate and then followed after Zavek to sit with him.
The beastcrafter's eyes narrowed a bit as he heard the saying.. it felt like something someone had told him before... Unable to think of where he might have heard it, Zavek put it out of mind and tucked into his breakfast, shoveling in hotcakes, fried porcine, and scrambled eggs. Although he ate large quantities, he knew it would all be burned off through hard physical labor by lunch time.
"I'm going to have you out with the harvester's in the lavender field today," he told Brennault.
"You can have me wherever you'd like me, of course!" said Brennault, the picture of innocence. "That will be a bit new – I've never helped with harvesting herbs on a large scale before."
Zavek mused for a moment over Brennault's choice of words, but showed no indication that he thought an innuendo had been made. "It's back breaking, I won't lie. Lots of bending over," a little amused gleam lit the farmer's blue-grey eyes. "But it will give you better appreciation for why the lavender oil is so costly."
"Then it's perfect," Brennault agreed. He smiled back at the gleam. "You think I'm going to give up, don't you?" He looked amused at the thought, but still determined.
"I guess we'll see... Maybe there should be a friendly wager involved?"
"I love friendly wagers." Brennault grinned mischievously. "What did you have in mind?"
"Hm, loser has to scrub the others back? It's been a while since I've had someone besides cook scrub my back in a bath. It's just not quite the same." Zavek's mouth tipped into that bone-melting grin again.
Brennault certainly felt like his bones might melt. This man was something special, for sure. Brennault was hardly ever one to let someone take his breath away, but Zavek was well on his way.
"Still so sure I'll lose, hm? Well, when I win, at least your cook will still have your back." It was easy to get a back scrub at the weyr, but the smaller waystations never had much of a bath. Usually just a wash basin. And if you got far enough out on the road, not even that much.
--
After breakfast the two men went their separate ways, Brennault to the lavender fields with Zavek's workers, and Zavek to the corral to work with runners. He was training up a mount to be worthy of the Lord Holder himself, and if successful, it would pay a handsome amount of marks.
Zavek ate lunch sitting on the top rung of the fence, as he usually did, surveying his farm as he did so. Today, as his eyes studied the slight bend of the trees in the breeze, he thought about his house guest. Brennault. There was something about the name that triggered a little wiggle in the back of his mind, but he couldn't figure out what it was, and the closer he got, the more the information seemed to elude him.
There was one thing that Zavek felt fairly certain of - Brennault would be open to his advances, if he made any. It had been long, too long, since Zavek had enjoyed a male partner, mostly because it was difficult to find someone who could be discreet. Zavek didn't believe, even for a second, that the workers on his farm could be trusted. Without a doubt, if one of them saw him intimately with a man, they would send word back to his father and then his farm would be pulled out from under him.
Finishing off his sandwich, Zavek hopped back down to the ground and continued his work with the runner, pushing aside the problem of Brennault for later.
Last updated on the July 21st 2021
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