The Harvest

Darwin's point of view

He liked hard work it kept his mind off the dark thoughts that have been like a pot of boiling grul bubbling away. Dark thoughts that was like a massive weight that weighed him down, trying to crush him alive. This scared him. So he worked the land. Making his work his only focus. Work the land, turn the soil, water the fields. Take care of the animals; cow fed, goats fed. Keep my mind busy, Darwin kept telling himself.

The season was a good crop. First the potatoes needed to be harvested first so they could cure in the root cellar he had dug with his father last season. The sweet potatoes were nice and big and gave off a sweet aroma. As he pulled up each plant with his digging fork making sure to not to pierce the potatoes. He had only done had a row and his first crate was full. Taking the full crate to the root cellar he spaced them out a bit on some shelves. They looked good enough to eat but he would have to wait a couple more weeks till he tasted his new crop. Darwin picked up the now empty crate and walked back to the field. His father was walking towards him with a crate in his hands full of sweet potatoes. 'Looks like we might have a really good season this year.' His father smiled,'Thanks to that little girl.' This statement made Darwin blush. 'Yes, Shandra did help with the land. She warmed it up so we could turn and till the field and this year she also did a blessing on our fields.'

White potatoes were next. Their harvest was the same as the sweet potatoes. Back breaking work under the sun that was high in the sky beating down on them as they worked. Darwin would place the digging fork in the ground moving it around a bit to loosen up the dirt and potatoes, pulling the fork up revealing some beautiful white potatoes. Picking one off the ground he brushed of the dirt, but making sure not to wipe too hard so that he did not hurt the skin. Just like the sweet potatoes the white verity needed to cure down in the root cellar. By the end of the day and the sky started to change colors. First blues to yellows, yellows to oranges, oranges to deep reds. They got all of the potatoes out of the grown into the root cellar. 'Not to bad' Darwin thought to himself. 'I think we might need a bigger root cellar next year if our crops are as plentiful as this year is' chuckled Jay, Darwin's father, as he placed a hand on his shoulder. They went into their house to eat some food and test tomorrow would be another full day of harvesting, this is not the next many days went. Get up. Eat breakfast. Go to the fields to harvest. Eat lunch. Go back to the fields and harvest some more. Go home. Eat dinner. Go to sleep.

There was not much room for what Darwin likes to do. He usually would go hunting, work on his sword forging and fighting techniques, and finally go and spend time with Shandra. The latter was not happening much as of lately. She has been busy.

As the week ended and so did the harvesting. The root cellar was packed to the brim. Crates were stacked everywhere. As Darwin looked at all the vegetables packed. They looked like they were waiting for the long trip.

Dawn of the next day he planes to meet Shandra in the forest to get her herbs. He was still not sure what was going on in her head lately. Ever sense she became a high priestess she became more distant, more in her own world and us getting lost there. Today he was going to ask her what was going on. Did he do something wrong?

There was still a bit of water left in the basin from the day before. So he made sure to wash his face. Working the fields he always felt that he could not come truly clean till the harvest was completely finished. But today he was going to see Shandra.