Sokeefe AU: The Farmer's Daughter

Part Eight

Lunch ended way too soon.

At least, that was what it felt like to Keefe. He was certain that the meal had only lasted a few minutes, but when he checked the time, almost an hour had passed.

An hour! How could he possibly have spent a whole hour with the Ruewens?

He had just . . . been enjoying himself. With his parents, every second spent with them felt like a minute, and every minute felt like an eternity. But with the Vackers, or the Ruewens, time felt . . . not so pressing. Like it didn't really matter what else he had to do. Like he could simply enjoy the moment for what it was, he could simply enjoy who he was.

For a moment.

It was nice, in a way, and he grappled onto the feeling until finally lunch was considered done, and he was about to help clear the plates when Edaline snapped her fingers and they all disappeared.

He smiled sheepishly, about to apologize, but she only grinned in return.

"It was nice eating with you," Sophie said, grabbing Keefe's attention.

He turned to her and smiled, bowing like he was addressing the council and not some girl on a farm. "And I, you," he said in his best impression of the Vacker accent.

Sophie stifled a giggle with her hand, and even Grady and Edaline were trying to smile.

Keefe was actually feeling pretty good about it all, even though he knew it had to end, and when he had made sure that there was no more work to be done inside, he went back out without having to be told to.

He worked for a long time, fixing fences and delaying feeding the animals as much as he could. He focused on helping the gnomes harvest more food, carrying sacks filled with seeds from one place to another, basically anything he could think of to avoid the larger responsibility hanging over his head.

Still, he knew he had to feed them eventually, and even though he didn't necessarily want to, he decided it would be better to do it when they were just hungry, and not angry, too.

His heart beat rapidly as he cautiously approached the first pen. He tried to swallow around the lump forming in his throat, but it was hard, and he felt terribly cold and hot all at once at he stared the creature down.

He didn't exactly know what the animal was. It was dark green, with scales, and black and white spikes lined its enormous back. Two sets of yellow wings jutted out from the body, and at the end of its arms, large, razor sharp claws glinted in the afternoon lighting.

Basically, she was terrifying.

Keefe took a slow step forward, inching closer and closer. He tried to communicate through his eyes that he meant no harm, only wanted to give food.

When he was near enough to begin his job, he held his hands out as a way to show his calmness, even though he didn't feel very calm at all. His palms were sweating, and his insides felt all squished together, like mud pressed into a pie shape.

Reaching down to grab the food, which was resting by his feet, he tried to keep his eyes on the animal's. He was attempting to look as friendly and non-hostile as possible, while still appearing like he knew what he was doing.

The creature cocked it's head and licked it's lips. It didn't seem to understand.

Keefe swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to steady his panicked nerves and utterly failing. He slowly grabbed a small handful of the slimy green plants that he didn't know the name of.

Stupid, he told himself, gritting his teeth, as he watched his hands tremble, the leaves shaking. Stupid.

He straightened back up, and, with fake confidence and a small flick of his wrist, sent the food into the enclosure.