Adalinda Hates to Garden

How does one get into this mess? It's not a job for someone who's supposedly powerful, right? How does one get dragged from a city, to the outskirts to a farm like it was nothing. There were no monsters to fight. Adalinda was grumbling to herself as she hangs her head. She got lured in because a farm hand came to her and asked her to fill in. And for what? Because one of their hands was leaving them, and they needed help getting off their feet this year for the harvest, Adalinda got dragged in to this 'mess,' as she would call it. She had felt bad for them, and they offered to pay her.

Her ice blue eyes glowered at the fairly large field as her shoulders slump. She REALLY hated plants after dealing with enchanted ones. "Do it for the jewels, Ada... do it for the jewels..." She hangs her head and takes a deep breath. She gets behind the plough. This was her go to tool for the time being. This was going to be hard work. She pulled her hair back and used a bent iron strip she molded to be able to make a hair tie for herself. Grabbing the bars of the old plough, she starts to shove the little non-magical machine over the land to break up the soil for planting the different seeds she'll have to plant. Adalinda looks back and notices there was a bunch of them stacked in a box near the front of the fields, closest to the house. This was going to take a while. And it was still morning.

There were purple eyes a good distance away, just watching Adalinda as she worked away in the hot sun. Adalinda perked her head up and turned to see what was spying her, having the feeling that one was watching her. "Who's there?!" She barks out as she stands up straight, readying her hand to throw a spell at the one surveying her. There was a bush of sorts near the house of the farm, and out popped a purple cat's head. Adalinda raised an eyebrow and dropped her hand. "A cat? Seriously? Got to be kidding me..." She groans and turns her head to go back to work. Just what she needed, to see a cat there to bother her. She was surprised it didn't run away at the sight of her hand readying a spell. Adalinda pushes her plough along to finish the first row finally. "Save me! Some god out there! Or make it so that I don't have anymore plants to work with!"

She had turned the plough around to work on the second row, and spies the cat again. It was... wearing a dress? Adalinda jerks her head back in confusion, before shaking her head. "Just work... just work... just work..." She mutters to herself and starts to shove the machine once more. She was glad she didn't wear sleeves, it would have restricted her some. More thoughts of what this could be for her. It could help with her exercise to keep fit for her magic! All this pushing of the bloody machine seemed like it was at least, if anything, get her sore from it all.

Adalinda kept on seeing the cat staying by the house, just watching her as she worked. She had gotten a good bit done, and it was nearing noon when she finally stopped and went over to the cat. "Okay you! What are you doing just watching me? I don't think you're a normal cat. And if you say 'meow', I'm gonna punt you away from here." She puts her hands on her hips as she stares down at the little thing on two legs.

The little purple cat looks up in awe. "I'm Tamaria. I'm not a cat... I'm an exceed." She quickly flutters her wings out and huffs a bit. Adalinda pauses and takes a step back. An exceed. The very thing she wished she had some days. Could she really have encountered one without even trying?! Smacking her face, Adalinda stares at the creature to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Tamaria sighs as she goes over to the house and grabs a pinky sun hat, managing to find a smaller version for herself under it too. She uses her wings and sticks the hat on Adalinda's head while she put hers on her own. "If you keep your jaw hanging like that, I'm pretty sure the flies from the manure are gonna get in and down your throat." She comments before Adalinda shakes her head and scratches the back of her head. "You want my help? You seem like you don't like to plant."

"Yeah... wha- the hell are you helping me for?" Adalinda adjusted the hat on her head to make sure her black and blue streaked hair. Pink wasn't her color, but the hat was already proving useful to her. The exceed was flying in front of the mage and was tapping her chin, making Adalinda raise an eyebrow while she put a hand on her hip. "If you're offering to help, might as well start with the seeds while I plough. Makes my work easier. I'm not touching the tomatoes though..." She shivers as she shakes her head.

Tamaria smiles as she grins to the mage and nods her head. "You seem like you're someone who is reliable! I want to stick with you. And you seem strong since you're pushing that plough like it's nothing. That, and I don't know where else to go..."

Adalinda snickers to the cat and nods as she was turning around to go back to the plough. "Get back to work then, kitty!" She calls over her shoulder before she continues her work.

A few hours pass and Adalinda manages to not ruin the crops on the other side of the rectangle that she was told to work in, and takes a deep breath as she goes and helps Tamaria with the left over seeds. Adalinda had told her to go sit after a while, giving the little cat a break as she seemed like she was being delicate about her work. The cat had even proven helpful by getting a good one-third of the field Adalinda plowed, sowed with seeds. The mage was surprised when the exceed even came over to her with something to drink and something to eat for a quick break out in the sun. Adalinda was sure she was bound to have a sunburn after this. The two worked tirelessly after the lunch break to finish getting the rest of the seeds planted in the ground, and eventually their hard work would pay off.

As Adalinda had set the last seed in the ground, one of the other farm hands came over and looked at the field in amazement. "I never expected you to do so good of a job... You don't seem like the type to even have set food in a flower box." Adalinda becomes irritated at that, and stands up. "I just busted my ass doing this... I may not like gardening... but I know how to do it. It's my least favorite thing in the world..." She glowers and the man holds up his hand for a moment. "Sorry! Sorry! Just most people tend to be terrible at it. Here's your pay, as expected. And thank you for not harming the other plants." He says before he starts to walk off.

Adalinda looks down at the Exceed sitting on the ground, looking tired. Adalinda grabs the little thing, and puts her on her shoulder. "C'mon... You're my kitty now. You're sticking with me. And you'll probably need better clothes, so lets get you to a tailor." She smirks softly to herself as she walks off with her bag of jewels to the nearest city or town. The purple exceed looks at Adalinda while on her shoulder with wide eyes and awe. She let up a squeal and hugs the mage's head, making her lose her balance for a moment before Tamaria let go and snuggled into her shoulder. No one was going to hear about how she let her exceed snuggle her and make her seem like a big softy.

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