Enjoined By The Fates | ✔️

Nurture

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On a farm, there are many jobs to be done on a day to day basis. As if being a farmhand wasn't tough enough, being a milkmaid, in particular, required a special aptitude. She wasn't just a young woman who milked the cows and used the milk to create butter, cream, and cheese. Justice was a considerate young woman with patience and leadership. It was thanks to her mother for those attributes, who taught her that every being has a soul, no matter how big or how small.

"We must be kind even to those who don't show us kindness." To do good things without a second thought.

That is why the cows loved to be around her. Although she loved all the animals on the farm, the cows stood first on that list. 
They, the cattle, taught her a couple of lessons growing up while she cared for them. Besides patience, they taught her to explore boundaries. Test boundaries and never stay in the center of one environment. The lesson, to live in harmony with others, similarly to never eating alone. They shared that secret of eating with anyone no matter what they look like because they are all part of the same herd.

It was with all that knowledge that she came to see the world differently. She thought herself intelligent enough to care for a young calf on her own. To be the guardian that she, the sugar brown calf, lost one night in early December. She chose to name her sugar for the innocent little calf. Sugar became the sugar to her spice, constantly wanting to be near her.

As hard a worker as any she did have other things she enjoyed doing on the farm. Bird watching was her pastime alongside talking to Sugar about her life problems. She didn't have friends, though people were much more civil now that she had grown. They were subtle with the whispers and indirect comments when she and her mother went into town to sell. Once in a while, they received rude words as they stopped to buy necessities for the farm.

A specific day trip into town, a wild animal caught her attention as it feebly walked towards her. She knew that feeding strays on the sidewalk was a cause for trouble, but she did it anyway. The poor dog was as skinny as a twig. It saddened her too much to ignore it. She used some of her leftover earnings from the market sales each week to buy treats and leave them by the alleyways of the shops. It became a habit after some time.