Quick drabble I wrote down after thinking it up in the shower and wrote instead of cooking and eating food before my next online class. Based on a line Sophie says.
It was almost 2pm and Aadit still wasn’t home yet. Aadit had made lunch today, and while they were eating he noted that they were out of flour. Ayla had been busy working with the Council Guards for those ruins commissions, so Aadit had been baking a lot of snakeberry muffins for her to eat and grab on her way out. It made sense, and he’d left as soon as they’d finished up lunch.
Lunch had been one of her favorites too today, so Ayla ate way more than she should’ve and took a little siesta. However, when she woke up he wasn’t anywhere to be found despite the new bag of flour and some other groceries having been put away. Ayla stepped out of the house and looked around a bit. He wasn’t at the chicken coop, although their demands for an early noon snack slowed her down a little. He had no reason to be in the factory, and she’s fairly certain she locked it this morning anyways Looping around back to the front of the workshop, she sighed and leaned against the gate. Where’d he wander off to? They’re just outside of town, and the groceries were already put away. He’d been given the day off by Dawa so they could spend some time together—the latest commission needed parts that take time to process, so her day was freed up compared to usual She looked around and spotted a clue. Aadit’s sweater was hanging in the clothesline over at Granny Sophie’s ranch. That was odd.
Aadit rarely ever took off his sweater. She’d fussed at him to hell and back about wearing it during the summer, but he’d still only roll his sleeves up while working. He’d only take it off whenever it was just Dawa, and eventually her, around. She walked over to the front of their little ranch home and waved at granny Sophie, who was knitting away at her rocking chair “Hi Granny Sophie,” Ayla greeted the lil ol’ lady, hands knitting astonishingly quickly for her age. “Have you seen Aadit? I haven’t seen him since I woke up from a nap, and I noticed his sweater is hanging on the clothesline.” “Is that so, dearie?” Sophie looked up, her head slightly bobbing in the process. “I’m sorry to have worried you then—I bumped into Aadit on my way out of town and he offered to help me carry the bag of powdered sugar I’d gotten from Martha as thanks for some eggs. He’d gone inside to drop off his groceries, so I thought he would’ve told you then. I suppose you were sleeping like a baby.” “Ah, that explains where he went though, but wh—“
“Did you want the logs over here Mrs. Sophie?” Ayla looked over and saw Aadit carrying a bundle of logs over his shoulder. He’d tied his hair back into a short ponytail, and without his sweater she could see the well-defined muscles in his arms clearly. Mmmmm, biceps.
“Oh, hello Angel,” Aadit greeted her as he set the logs down. “Sorry I didn’t wake you up to let you know where I’d be earlier. You were sleeping so soundly I didn’t have the heart to.” “Thank you dearie, right there is fine. If it isn’t any trouble, could you split at least a few of those logs? Emily is busy, and I’d like to throw some wood in the stove to cook a pie later.”
Granny Sophie continued rocking and knitting away, but Ayla could’ve sworn something seemed different about the look in her eyes. “And just Sophie or Granny is fine dear.” “Ah, sure thing Sophie.” Aadit said before grabbing an axe and taking a log over to the nearest stump to start chopping. Without either of them taking their eyes off Aadit, Ayla continued.
“So why is his sweater hanging on the clothesline, Granny?” “I accidentally spilled a glass of water on him.” Granny Sophie said while giving Ayla a knowing look. “I’d offered him some after he was kind enough to set the bags away and offered to help with anything else while he was here.” Ayla looked from the position of the rocking chair, to the pile of logs, to the stump where Aadit was chopping wood and raised an eyebrow. “You know that Dawa sells the logs chopped as well, and he’s happy to drop them off since he’s right next door.” Granny Sophie had a mischievous gleam in her eyes, one that Ayla had never seen before.
“I may be an old lady, but I do still enjoy my worldly pleasures like knitting and such. Would you like to pull up a chair and I can teach you how to knit as well?” Ayla glanced over at her husband. Sweat was starting to build on his brow and his arms glistened as he brought down the axe, over and over again. “I would love to learn, Granny Sophie.”
And the three spent the rest of the afternoon together.