forget me || sokeefe

chapter 41

"So what exactly do you feed the animals?" Daryl asked.

Sophie chuckled. "Well, I'm going to show you."

A few moments later, she was pulling open the door to the shed where they kept the food.

Daryl whistled. "That's a lot of food."

"Yeah, well we've got a lot of animals." Sophie pulled out a few large buckets from under the counter, she started to scoop green mulch into them.

"This stuff stinks." Keefe remarked, wiping a bit off of Sophie's arm.

"It's a mixture of a bunch of different gnomish plants." Sophie told them. "Live around here for a while and you learn how to block out smells."

"Hey Gigantor, how do you block out scents with your heightened goblin-y senses?" Keefe asked.

Bo snorted. "I doubt that he has to do anything, goblin senses are almost as bad as elvin senses."

"That's one thing he has said that I agree with." Ro said.

"Goblin senses are more than adequate." Sandor scoffed in his squeaky voice. "But I imagine it would take longer for elves to get used to it. We can block out certain smells and focus on others easier, it's part of our training."

"How long did it take you?"

"Not long." Sophie expected Sandor to go on, but he didn't.

"What about you, Tarina?"

"I took much less time than these two oafs if that's what you're asking." Tarina joked.

They didn't even bother asking Flori. She was a gnome and probably grew up smelling it, it probably wasn't ever a problem for her. Also, she worked at Havenfield prior to becoming Sophie's bodyguard.

"How long did it take you, Sophie?"

"Well," Sophie started, thinking back. "I spent most of my time up in my room so I didn't smell it much. But when I came down to the pastures, it probably took around a month."

"It's a good thing I'm going to be here for a while, then." Daryl said, smiling brightly.

Keefe raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you are?" Sophie asked, not noticing Keefe's look.

"Yeah, as long as your parents are okay with it."

"Great." Keefe scoffed.

Sophie elbowed him in the side. "What's the matter with you?"

Keefe grumbled a few incoherent words.

Sophie rolled her eyes at his antics. She gave both the boys gloves and handed them both a single bucket full of green mush. She held two herself, which both Keefe and Daryl offered to hold one for her.

"Believe it or not, I can carry buckets, boys." Sophie told them. "I also have more experience with this than you."

Keefe raised his hands in a surrender position.

"I think we're going to start small today, so we're going to go feed some of the smaller animals." Sophie told them. Keefe dropped to her side and Daryl walked out in front of them.

Keefe leaned down and before Sophie knew what he was doing, he pecked her on the lips. "You're amazing, you know that?"

Sophie rolled her eyes, but a blush crept onto her cheeks.

"You two okay back there?"

"They're doing great!" Ro called back to him, snickering. Sophie and Keefe jumped, having forgotten (again) that their bodyguards were still following them.