Waltz of the Gardener

Chap II: Unkept Gardens

They could see him from the window in the kitchen, lounging on a tree branch in the guardian. The day is clear and sunny, a perfect day for work, if Joxter ever worked. It has been a few weeks since that scruffy man showed up in the middle of the night, and you might expect that everyone and everything has been settled to a sort of back to normal, yet it hasn't.

"He's just- laying there." Laila, one of the house cooks said in a hushed voice over to Eliina beside her. It annoyed her that Joxter was just lazing around, wearing the hat they gifted him over his face to block the sun to sleep rather than to work.

"I don't understand why lady Mymble hired him.. I mean, sure, he has done some work.. but the gardens would look so much better if he worked diligently like he was supposed to!" Eliina sighed, leaning down against the window sill as she gazed out at their new gardener with loathing. "And I'm sure Master Mymble only keeps him around because he keeps their brat children occupi-"

"JOXTER!" Yells of many excited children chimed from down the hall until a swarm ran by the two working women and out the back door. 8 of the Mymbles daughters flew past, all wearing their hair tightly pulled up in a bun, a bow in their hair matching the pattern on their dress, their lace aprons all heavily stained from miscellaneous activities. They seemed to all be identical, but it was quite obvious who was older then the others, and individuality can be easily be picked out once you get close enough to the pack of rowdy girls.

"Speak of the devils," Laila murmured with a chuckle as the two watched the girls run to the tree where Joxter was taking his rest.

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The branch, unlike most branches I've rested on, is quite comfortable. The cool breeze is also ideal, as well as the little specks of sun shining through the trees canopy, leaving warm little spots on my arms and bare feet. Even the filtered sunlight through the hat onto my face was nice; I'm not one to enjoy when you see bright red  phosphenes when you close your eyes in direct sunlight, but the soft waves of yellow and orange I get from when the leaves rustle above me makes it a much more beautiful moment.

"JOXTER!!" And the moment is gone.. I'm brought back to reality. Who knows, maybe if I just ignore them they'll go away; can't they see I'm busy doing absolutely nothing?

"are you sleeping!? Wake up!!" A shadow falls over my hat, then in the next moment my hat is removed from my face and I am bombarded with sunlight from above, making my eyes reflexively close tight in a wince.

"Joxter we're bored and you look free so you can play with us!" Finally, my eyes seem to adjust to the light. I turn my head and open my eyes to see a wild pack of feral aristocratic daughters, just what I expected. In front of all of them, the littlest, the most annoying, wearing her pink dress and her over-apron that is way more stained then the rest.

"Look, Me, can't you see I'm bui-"

"It's My, not Me. And don't you use that excuse on me, no sir! I can see perfectly well that you're doing absolutely nothing!" She is truly impossible. Despite her being one of the youngest, and one of the smallest, it seems she has made herself known to be the leader of the pack. I didn't sign up for this. She got this expression on her face like she had won when I sat up and hopped off the branch, grabbing my hat from her older sister and sitting it back on my head.

"Alright, we can play! How about hide and seek, I'll be the seeker" I suggest, having a plan in mind.

"No! Because we'll run off and you'll go right back to sleep!"

"I'll have you know I was not sleeping! But- you're right I would've-" fuck she saw right through me. I thought little children were supposed to be easy to trick! Either the people who told me are wrong, or My is an unfair exception. "Yeah, sure. What do you want to play."