It isn’t too long before the boy appears once more
with the buckets filled with water, setting them down
before her as if to ask if there were anything else that
she needed him to do. sometimes he thought buttercup
just ordered him around for fun rather than need, but
he would do what she asked anyway.
▒ ℬ ▒ Going into the little cottage, the flaxen young woman set
about readying a meal, starting the fire as he went to
fetch the water just as she had asked. Starting on the
dough for a meat pie, her deft fingers kneaded and she
hummed. Softly. And to herself, looking up only when
he walked through the door and set the buckets before
her. Eyes drifting over his smudged face, she reached
in the bucket with her thumb then swiped some dirt
away. "Thank you.“ Clearing her throat, she looked out
the door and licked her lips. "Now shine my saddle, I’d
like to see my face in it by morning.”