“Honestly, I’m -” he began. He would’ve shrugged about the ice, but he didn’t trust himself to shrug just yet, so he barely had time to tell her not to worry before the young woman was up and off towards the house. Enjoy the plants, she had said. Elias smiled to himself as she left. He didn’t move, though he hoped he was not crushing these pumpkin vines too badly by sitting here.

While she was gone he let the smile fade a little, attempting the massage the worst out of the muscle just below his neck; but as he did so he also spent a while letting his gaze drift around the garden. It was quite the spectacular scene, larger than most ordinary gardens here but a Padmore Park in miniature, complete even with its own pond. Well-tended, too. Just as he squinted over to see which patch of the garden she had been working on, the young woman returned with a whole assortment of things.

Elias pulled an impressed face, leaning back a little on his hands. “Hanging in very well, thank you,” he said with a smile to prove it, though his head was aching a little more with every minute. “I’ve been enjoying the plants as instructed,” he added, teasing a little, but only because she seemed so affable about this whole thing (when she could have equally been raving about intrusions and destruction of property, probably). “But I am sorry if I’ve ruined any of it.”

---