Gardenscapes

Aliannah had only begun to plan the local garden that she would hopefully help put into place at the orphanage. They had earn quite a bit of money from the last function and seeing as it was a bit of a hassle for the guardians and other adults at the orphanage to run into town nearly every week if not twice a week to get supplies such as fresh fruits and vegetables, what better way to spend it than building a garden in the sanctuary.

She had been propped up in her office for a couple days planning the layout for the garden, calculating cost, time, manual labor, space. She could do it on her own, building the garden, but a couple of hands would be of much help, maybe she would be able to ask for help from her guild. Her pen scratched across the paper as she made notes, of course the kids would be able to help, in fact as she mentioned the garden to them there had been a loud agreement from the children. A soft smile spread across her face as the girl moved from writing notes to sketching something that could have possibly passed for a flower on her page.

Everything else was done, she had designed the garden with the children in mind, knowing that they would want to help, she had made the orders for dirt and wood and stone to build the space up. Now, the only thing left would be to fetch it and begin the building. The girl could only hope for rain overnight so that the ground would be soft in the morning.

-*-

And rain there was.

The blonde looked fondly at the moistened ground, before lifting her head. The garden wouldn't be a one day thing if it was just her and the sanctuary working on it, she would have to reach out to the guild if she wanted most of the work done in a day.

Which is why when she came across a new guild member, Vasco, one who seemed eager to help, she immediately took him up on his offer.

She took a little farther behind the man himself, a bright smile on her face as she watched him interacting with the children of the orphanage. It wasn't often that they got to see people from outside. Of course they travelled with some of the adults when they went into town and they got to see others when they hosted events for fundraising, but it was never enough. "The kids are always eager to help. Though I'm sure because they've never seen you before they're more interested." The female couldn't help but snicker as one of the boys fell trying to replicate the movement from her guildmate.

In one practiced move, the girl picked the boy up from the ground and hoisted him into her arms, her thumb already brushing the dirt from his cheeks before setting him back down so that he could run off.

Light indigo eyes flickered to the man as she spoke of the seeds that she ordered, attempting to wiping the dirt from his face, but only making it worse. The smile that graced her face never faded as she reached into the small bag she had on her waist and pulled out a handkerchief before handing it to the blue haired male. "There's a couple more things of wood that I've ordered to help make the garden beds if you wouldn't mind, there's some stone but I can grab that, the biggest part will be building the beds so that they aren't laying on the ground, and in stomping range of little feet."

After all, this wasn't the first time they had tried to start a garden, but of course with excited children and everything at ground level, well... everything was soon levelled.

"It's really kind of you to help out, it would have taken several days if it were just us working," the blonde smiled brightly up at the man before a kid likely no older than four years of age stumbled up and snagged onto Aliannah's jacket. "Ms. Ali, what's for snack time?"

Aliannah shifted her gaze and knelt down to the boy, pushing his bangs back lightly with her fingers and wiping some dirk off his nose with her other hand. "It is about that time, isn't it." There was a small nod from the boy. "Well, let me go ask. I'm sure everyone wouldn't mind a small break, after all you all deserve it, working so hard." She lightly pinched the boys cheek and he giggled as he ran off.

The blonde sighed contently as she stood back up and looked back at Vasco. "Well, what do you say about a break, huh? I'm sure that the ladies in the kitchen have prepared something for us all."

At the comment of washing and returning her handkerchief the blonde couldn't help but take a bit more of a liking to Vasco, while he seemed a bit wild and rough around the edges, he seemed to have a gentlemanly side. She smiled brightly as the man interacted with the children, it was always had to come by someone who loved to interact with kids. Most people would try to baby them and cater to them, which was often not what kids needed. They needed a playmate, someone to rough and tumble, but look after them when they fell. You can't always prevent the injuries, so it is best for kids to learn from them then help patch things up after.

The blonde couldn't help but snicker at the thumbs up she received from the other and waved them on to to the snacks, staying behind a bit to round up the rest of the children. She wasn't sure what was prepared today, but considering that there was a guest and they were all doing a bit of manual work there would be something a bit more for snack time.

As the kids filed in, Aliannah watched as Vasco set the standard by being a role model for the kids, washing his hands and helping the youngins' wash theirs, all while making sure that there wasn't a bubble disaster to clean up afterwards. She flashed him a look of appreciation as she moved to help the even younger kids, who couldn't wash their hands on their own. That bit was always a bit of a disaster as she usually managed in one way or another to get a bit wet from the water.

After making sure everyone, or most everyone, was seated the girl moved to help some of the kids with the snacks, not worrying too much about eating herself. Afterall, she didn't need to. Well, it wasn't like she didn't completely need to, she would have to eventually if not just to replenish some energy, but it wasn't something that Aliannah deemed absolutely necessary.

Hearing Vasco from beside her, the female mage turned to look at him. Hearing of the rewards of volunteering the blonde couldn't help but smile and laugh a little bit. Rewards for volunteering weren't always that great, but Aliannah always made sure to help supply the orphanage, money, food, supplies, whatever was needed. "I don't know much about other places, but I try to make sure everyone who lives here and visits is treated well." She looked back down at the child that she had placed on her lap, cleaning their cheek with a napkin as they stuffed their face with some of the fruit that had been placed on the table. "But, if you ever think on coming back I'm sure everyone would love it. The kids are always so excited to hear the stories of adventures and the land outside of the sanctuary and orphanage."

Snack time passed in the blink of an eye, some kids were ushered to go take naps and some ran outside to go play around on some of the structures that had been set up for them. Aliannah on the other hand slowly got up and brushed off some of the crumbs that had gotten on herself, her clothes were still a bit damp, but she supposed it wouldn't matter too much later as they build the garden and got even more dirtier.

Humming softly the blonde cleared away several dishes, bringing them to the counter at the back of the hall so that the main caretakers wouldn't have to do all of the work. She glanced back at the blue haired mage and smiled. "You ready to get back to work? We can start up on bringing over the wood and making the beds. It seems like it'll rain again tonight so I'd like to get the dirt in place so that the rain will settle it a little bit, but it's okay if we don't get to it." The girl wiped her hands on a towel that was perched on the edge of the counter. "Although I don't think we'll be getting much help now, most of the kids will be knocked out for naptime in about 30 minutes, so I hope you're okay with just me."

It took them several hours to get everything done and sorted. They had managed to get to filling the garden boxes with soil and at the end of their hard work they were covered in dirt and compost that they had used to fill the garden.

The blonde recalled the struggle that the two had when cutting the wood, making sure that it was the fight length, laughing every time the measuring tape moved and messed up their calculations. The fact that she had run to get work gloves after Vasco had gone and gotten a splinter in his hand which she carefully removed with a safety pin and healed up the skin. no more injuries on her watch.

It was nice to spend time with someone working at the orphanage, as much as she liked the children and the adults it just wasn't the same, because while the kids meant to help it often ended up a bigger mess or they would get distracted and run off, leaving Aliannah to do the work herself. She could never hold it against them, they were children after all. The adults were not quite the same, while they did their work, it never quite held the excitement that she was looking for. They were several years older than her and were talking about their families and things that they did with the kids in the orphanage. Things that she wish she could relate to, but couldn't really.

That is why working with Vasco in helping the kids was refreshing and a lively experience.

A couple times throughout the work a few kids came out to see what was going on before heading back inside to nap a little bit more or go to eat for snack time.

but, their timing was right on point. As they were dusting the rest of the dirt off their hand several droplets of rain began to litter the ground. It was coming. A delightful laughter escaped the blondes lips and she smiled brightly at Vasco. "Called it!"

It was a great day, something that she had been planning for a while and it was a relief for it to finally be done. The kids would be able to benefit from it; there would be fresh produce for everyone, kids would be able to learn to garden, there would be a sense of responsibility that grew among the kids, and it would also lower some of the need for money for produce during the fall.

The girl smiled at their work and smiled at the opportunities that the orphanage now had.