They’d finished up their patrol of the property and Asher felt confident that he was familiar with the layout of the farm

“That ‘bout sums up what you’re workin’ with, land wise anyways.” Tom said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead with a kerchief that he seemed to pull out of nowhere. He then gestured the rag towards Asher.

“Need a wipe?”

Asher looked at the very newly used rag and made a bit of a stink face. He knew the man meant well, but couldn’t help but feel a little grossed out at the idea of wiping another man’s sweat on his face.

“Thank you, but no thanks. I’m good. Didn’t really sweat too much during our walk.”

This was something that Asher had begun to notice over the weeks and months. They were very small details most people would fail to realize, especially since Asher had the gift of hindsight and knew how his body would have reacted in similar situations in his old world. Once he’d finally adjusted to his smaller stature, he had realized very quickly that he was faster and more athletic than he’d ever been. He doubted many people could beat him in a sprint now, and his dexterity and agility was better than the best olympians from Earth’s history. He also noticed that he wasn’t as tired during these periods of exertion and this manifested in different ways. He didn’t sweat as much, he needed less time to recover, he felt healthier than he’d ever felt, and despite living in basically the sewers for a huge bulk of his time here, he didn’t so much as feel the hint of getting sick. He couldn’t say the same for some of the other kids in his age group that he’d seen out and about with their parents in Benetia. He chalked all of this up to him and his ridiculous stat block of all eighteens.

“Suit yourself. Anyways we got a few options to choose from here.” Tom said as he placed his hands on his hips and leaned back to stretch his back out with a satisfied groan. “Damn that hits the spot.”

“Lay it on me Tom, what're the options?” Asher replied candidly. “Also, can I get some more lemonade?”

“No more lemonade, ya had your limit for the day. Don’t need ya turning into a damn rot mouth.” Tom replied with a bit of disgust as he sucked on his teeth. His body seemed to rattle just at the thought of something. “Anyways, I misspoke when I said we got options. What I meant to say is we got a lot of stuff to do this week, I forgot that it’s just you keeping me and mine company this week. It’s usually a group of ya.”

Asher nodded his head, ready to start his workload and finish up this assignment. Honestly, being a farmhand for a few days seemed like it’d be a cakewalk.

“I’m sure I can manage, just tell me what needs to be done.”

Tom scratched his chin as he looked up in the air as if he were staring at some floating ‘To-Do’ list. Slightly nodding his head as he began to mumble some things off.

“Plant the rice. Check.” He mumbled to himself a bit, low enough that even Asher’s keen hearing failed to pick up what Tom was saying to himself.

“Well ya got a little lucky, the rice planting is kinda the hardest part. We’ll be exclusively dealing with the harvest this week, and hell I already started that process as you saw, with the field burning.”

Asher nodded his head in agreement. “Well just tell me what to do and it’ll get done, Tom.”

They both exited the house and made their way towards the back of the property. The Ember Fields were living up to their name, the raging inferno had died down almost completely and little twinkles of fire could be seen falling off of the sugar cane stalks or floating off on a current of air. The sight would be a beautiful one to behold at night, which made Asher a bit excited to see the property during his stay. His thinking was abruptly jolted back to the present moment by Tom pushing a pair of boots into his chest. The boots were a few sizes too big for him at the moment.

“Sorry about that, Syndicate tends to send in kids a little bit older than you to do this work so you’ll just have to deal with it, best you can.” Tom said as he slipped on his pair of boots.

[Thick Leather Boots]

“A pair of thick leather boots. Helps with mild fire resistance and keeps your feet dry in water, as long as the water doesn’t get into the boot.”

“Neat. Are these magical?” Asher asked as he practically jumped into the oversized boots. He took a few clown steps towards Tom before ultimately settling on basically dragging his feet on the ground.

“Nah, no need to be. Just some good leather boots that're thick enough to get the job done.” Tom said as he lifted his foot up revealing tons of pock-marks covering his boots. “Eventually they get a little worn out and you know they’re done once you start feeling a burn or your foot gets wet.”

Tom and Asher walked to the fields, and where an ocean of fire once was, only skinny stalks of sugarcane remained jutting out of the ground. Tom crouched down and grabbed a large leaf that was in the final stages of burning up.

“This is how the nutrients in the ground get replenished.” Tom said, his gaze still on the leaf in his hands. He crumbled it up and spread the ashes on the dirt where he’d originally pulled the leaf from. He then proceeded to grab a sickle, one that Asher hadn’t noticed Tom had on his person, and proceeded to cut the stalk as close to the ground as possible. He tossed that stalk and proceeded to cut four more stalks down in the same row, making a small pile of them on the dirt path they had taken to get to the Ember Fields in the first place. Asher watched the sweat start at Tom’s forehead and make its way down his nose and finally land in the dirt where it sizzled and evaporated.

It was at that point that Asher had begun to notice the warmth engulfing his feet and surrounding his body. The heat waves just a few inches from his face. The top layer of dirt was the softest he’d ever walked on since it was just a fresh layer of ash. He felt like a piece of meat that was being slow cooked in an oven, he looked back at Tom and wondered how he was withstanding it for as long as he was. Tom stood up, turned around and handed the sickle to Asher.

“Welp, that’s bout as much as I can do. You seen what to do and how to do it, so time for you to get to it.” Tom said with a big smile as he began to exit the field and head back to the house. “Make sure to drink water, even more so than you normally would. The heat’ll sneak up on ya. We also only need this one row of cane for today, I’ll show you why later.”

Tom continued walking towards the house and Asher looked at the sickle in his hands.

*

“How long do ya think he’ll be at it hon?” Mary Sue said as she looked out towards the field, Jim Jim bouncing on her hip. She could periodically see the sunlight reflect off the sickle, the silhouette of a small body working the field in the distance.

“Not too long, that dang field saps your energy quicker than anyone realizes. The other boys they send usually don’t even finish the first row on the first day of harvest…takes ‘em a bit to acclimate.” Tom rubbed his chin. “I think he’ll get a decent ways into it, but he’ll be too tired to keep working past dinner.”

“Well he didn’t seem like a normal kid. Just make sure you keep an eye on him, I like him and I think y’all get along well. I’ll ring y’all in for dinner, same as normal.”

“Yes ma’am. I’ll be checking the field up front. I’ll keep an eye on him no worries.”

“Okay, I’ll see y’all in a few hours then, be safe.”

The loving couple parted ways, Mary Sue going into the house with Jim Jim, Tom checking the flooded rice fields up front, and the flash of metal coming from the Ember Fields.

As Asher got to work he noticed a couple things immediately. One, the fields are an energy drainer. Two, Tom made it look a lot easier than it was. Using Tom’s initial harvests as a reference, Asher tried to copy it completely. The way it was done, the angle of the cut, and how far from the ground to cut it. A process he thought he’d be able to get done quickly, he barely managed to match Tom’s pace, if that. That pace was approximately one stalk harvested every few minutes. Asher could harvest maybe five or six stalks before needing to take a break. When he needed to take a break, he’d go to the dirt path and use the pile of stalks as a back rest.

He’d been resting with his eyes shut when he was greeted with a surprise. For some reason, his spidey sense tingled, he could feel that someone or something was approaching. He opened his eyes and was met with the sight of Mary Sue Jim carrying a large pitcher of water from the house. Asher jumped up and sprinted towards the woman, who seemed to be taken off guard by the speed of his approach.

“What are you doing? Let me take that off your hands.” Asher said as he grabbed the pitcher of ice water from Mary Sue. The pitcher was heavier than he expected it to be, but the coolness of the pitcher felt refreshing in his hands. The container began to sweat even more with the increased heat of the fields.

“Figure I’d just bring you some water. You haven’t been to the house since my husband sent ya out here earlier. Usually the other boys tend to be in and out of the house, grabbing water and taking breaks.” Mary said with a smile and a voice that seemed to be laced with honey. From what Asher could see, she seemed to carry herself with the confidence and elegance of the perfect lady.

“Where’s the baby? I can’t imagine he’d ever be too far from you.” Asher said as he swallowed down a huge gulp of ice water.

“I just put him down for a nap, which was the perfect chance to bring ya some refreshments. Anyways, thank you for helping us out, you’re doing a great job from what I can see.”

“No, thank you for the water and letting me stay here for the next few days. I appreciate the concern.” Asher said as he felt a genuine smile form on his face. “You should probably head back to the house, the baby might wake up soon and I don’t think Tom would want you out near the fields.

“That is true, plus I don’t want little Jim Jim making a fuss if I’m not around to calm him down.”

The two had begun to go their separate ways, Mary Sue to the house and Asher back to the field with the sickle in his hand.

A bloodcurdling scream and a voice that was unmistakably Tom’s came from the front of the property. Mary Sue looked back at Asher, her eyes filled with terror.

“Help! Please!” She said before immediately sprinting towards the sound of her husband’s yelling.

Skill: Shadow Step