Eventually, Aife came to the conclusion that she’d been hoodwinked. “Wait, you didn’t answer my question. Ignore the… baby making or lack there off for now. What do you think about the fact that we are together, in such a relationship, ignoring all the biological stuff?”

“Well in that case I think nothing” said Sui

Aife turned her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. Silence reined as Sui simply continued to jog alongside Aife’s… well it was more like a power walk. Sui seemed content with the silence, but Aife sure wasn’t. They continued in silence, knocking loose the small amount of dew that was already building on the grass as they ‘ran’ along the property line.

When they finally reached their next turn, Aife finally gave up and asked. “Ok why did you just say nothing?”

“Well, we are ultimately biological beings are we not? Thus, without including biology. I can think of nothing” said Sui with a slight smile, which let Aife know that Sui was experiencing one of her rare bouts of real humour.

“Fine, you know what I mean. How do you feel about it, if you ignore our species need for children? Is that a better way of phrasing it for you?” asked Aife.

“Well, better is a matter of perspective. I’d say the phrasing is actually a little more confusing and with less charm, but because of the previous sentence the additional context makes it very clear to the listener” said Sui succinctly.

Aife just groaned. “Are you avoiding the question Sui? I know you know what I meant”

Sui sighed. “No, I’m not Aife, but I’m really not sure what you want me to say? I mean, I believe I’m supposed to give something called the ‘shovel talk’ because I consider you both my sisters, and I don’t actually know what that is, and I think you aren’t supposed to get it because you act like the older sister or something?

“But I really have no problem with it all anyway. I mean, I’ve basically said my piece that I just don’t care. Who you date is none of my business, until they make you unhappy, then I just need to find them and tear off their skin and turn it into a lovely new dress for hurting either of you. Of course,… with you dating each other, it does mean I have to shelve that idea, but I can trust you not to be horrible to each other so… all round I consider it a positive. I never really wanted to work with leather anyway” said Sui in the same tone of voice you’d use to describe the weather.

Aife swallowed. “Pretty sure that is the shovel talk Sui… and… would you really have done that?”

“No, of course not” said Sui “Granny would be mad at me. Plus, it would take so much extra work. I’d just sew, ‘I am a horrible person’ into their arm probably. Really Aife, do you think so little of me that I’d actually willingly work with leather?!”

Aife rolled her eyes. She didn’t wonder if Sui would do it or not, for that way led madness. She also didn’t dwell, on if Sui would have done it, had she been willing to work with leather, for that too lay madness. As these thoughts were being soundly ignored, the pair found themselves at the stream. “Want to take a quick dip?” asked Aife

Sui just curved slightly walking straight into the water and submerging herself. Sui felt the cold-water seeping into her clothes and onto her skin, causing goosebumps to rise up across her arms and legs. Kicking lightly in an attempt to go back to the surface after her dip… Sui realised an issue.

Shit. I didn’t think this through. I’m so used to this outfit I forgot the fact that it’s so water absorbent and that I really should have taken it off. I mean… it wouldn’t have let me keep it away for long but at least I wouldn’t be drowning. Sui thought to herself as she finished floating to the bottom of the river.

Well, this is more than a little awkward. Aw well, at least Aife will save me. I just have to keep calm until then. Perhaps I can think on my mistakes and why not to wear clothes or shoes into the river. I bet that will be a valuable lesson for the future.

Aife, for her part, was laying against the rocks, and waiting for Sui’s reappearance. When thirty seconds past, she started to look more serious. Eyeing the softly moving lake water, Aife scanned for any sign of Sui, and managed to spot her black hair floating underwater. The fact it was being pulled back by the current and spread out so much is what really helped Aife spot her.

Another thirty seconds past and Aife was starting to get worried. Sui was clearly fine, Aife could see that she was sitting calmly on the bottom of the lake, but her instincts were telling her something was wrong. It took another thirty seconds for Aife to figure it out. Slapping herself in the face for not realising Sui still had her full outfit on, Aife dove in after her.

Sui, seeing Aife coming to her rescue, calmly put a hand up towards Aife for easier access, getting swept off her feet and pulled along for the ride. For Aife and her increased strength, it wasn’t even a challenge to make it to the river bank with Sui. As soon as her head left the water, Sui took a massive gulp of air, and then started panting to circulate the oxygen back through her blood.

“What the HELL Sui!” shouted Aife at her still panting companion. “Surely you have more brains then that! Why were you just sitting there!?”

Sui held up a hand, signalling Aife to wait, which was promptly slapped out of the air, perhaps a might too hard, as Sui felt her hand impact the side of the back alongside a loud thud and felt some pain spreading out to said hand. I’d be more upset about that if I still needed my hands to sew. Well… that and if Aife had less of a valid reason to be angry. But mainly the sewing I swear.

Sui was of course, fooling nobody, not even herself, with that justification. It was a stupid mistake, and while she was normally more than willing to ignore Aife, when the time suited her, it this was an extremely risky situation she didn’t need to be in. Taking a few extra seconds to think about it would have saved everyone a significant amount of trouble. Well, Aife a significant amount of worry, and a bit of trouble for me. It was no issue for Aife to swim with a person along for the ride.

“Sorry Aife. I wasn’t really thinking” said Sui genuinely apologetic.

Aife just sighed. The fact Sui was apologising properly was enough for her. Those were rare things when you weren’t her grandmother. “You understand why I’m upset though right? You just jumped right in!” said Aife

“I do” said Sui

“I’m tempted to ban you from sewing for the day as punishment” said Aife

Sui whipped her head around and stared at Aife opened mouthed. “B-b-but you… you can’t do that?” said Sui somewhat as a question, hoping the answer was no.

“Well, I’m not your mother… but…” Aife stopped speaking to slowly bring her hands away from each other before slamming them together. When Aife’s hands met each other, the air compressed and exploded out of Aife’s hands, creating a small shockwave and plenty of sound.

Sui felt her ears ringing as the shock passed through her, and paled. Oh, shit she can. “Maybe… maybe you don’t do that…” said Sui

Aife raised an eyebrow “Well, of course I won’t do anything if you don’t sew today”

Sui sighed. I… I guess I’ll let her have this one. Having Aife injure me will make it harder to sew in the future, so I should avoid forcing her hand in this instance. Sui told herself, only half believing what she was saying, already preparing herself to just go along with punishment.