Cultivating Plants

"Are you sure about this, Aloe?" Lulu asked her for the umpteenth time.

"Yes, Lulu. My answer will not change no matter how many times you inquire about it." Yet Aloe's smile didn't falter. "It is just a short trek. I will be fine. And you will be accompanying me, will you not?"

"Yes, of course!" The maid replied with passion. "But… these stairs are scary."

Lulu looked at the staircase leading downwards to the city up from the hill that the palace of Sadina was placed on. Today, for the first time, Aloe was going to visit the city in her frail state. The audiences were already over, and the days had passed by without much trouble, so she considered this her best opportunity to 'walk' around Sadina. If Naila were to do something – as nothing had happened since their little meeting – then she guessed it was best to get this over with or she wouldn't have the chance to do so later.

"The sentiment is shared, but that is why we have brought the palanquin." Jamal and his men had left the palanquin in the palace though Aloe had yet to give it a usage. "Now, stop prattling. We are wasting these fine guards' time. Nesrine, could you help me?"

It would be wrong to say that the female guard who assisted her the day she arrived in the palace had become her personal escort, but the truth was, that Aloe needed the help of people to do some tasks. Namely, bathing. Maids could bathe her alright but carrying her around the many pools of the palace baths was too rough of a task for women who hadn't lifted anything heavier than laundry basket in their lives, especially rough on her health. Any time Lulu and her required brute force, they turned by default to Nesrine. That was why she was here today alongside three other guards.

The female guard carefully grabbed her from the wheelchair – a motion that she had become proficient at during these days – and placed her on the palanquin. Aloe dearly clutched a bag in her hands, not letting it fall. With a countdown, the guards lifted the palanquin with ease and started carrying the scribe of commoners to the city. Lulu followed behind with the rattling wheelchair, and even if Aloe couldn't see her face, she knew the only one nervous here was the maid by her heartbeat alone. I should change to toughness though; these bumps are starting to hurt. Aloe planned to only activate the internal infusion if something went wrong as she wholly believed she had the reaction time, but her body was feebler than she thought.

In a couple of minutes, they were already at the feet of the stairs. The guards left the palanquin down and Nesrine picked up the scribe.

"See, Lulu?" Aloe said between Nesrine's thick arms. "There was no need for such fanfare, was there?"

"I would prefer if you worried more about your health, Aloe." The maid clutched her heart with one hand still holding the wheelchair in place.

"I do, do not fret." Otherwise, I would be puking each hour. It would have been easy for her to disregard her safety and focus her entire being on her smoldering hatred. Nesrine placed her in the wheelchair with absolute care as if she was made out of glass. Aloe knew better than to scold the guard for that, for the alternative would actually harm her health. "I intend to stroll a bit around the city and visit my house. Would you accompany us, Nesrine?"

"Are you sure about it, venerable scribe?" Nesrine questioned her choice.

"I know I cannot bribe you with any more baths than the ones I already provide you with, but I would feel more comfortable with your presence."

Much like when she was crossing the desert with Jamal and his men, Aloe constantly felt threatened. The palace, with its walls and guards, made her feel somewhat safe even if she was more likely to be in danger there with the two sultanzade. She wanted safety wherever she could get, whether it was her infusions or other people.

"If that is the case, I will accompany you." Nesrine pressed a fist against her chest. "I am to protect the emirate's palace and its inhabitants, after all."

"How fortunate that Lulu and I fill that criterion," Aloe responded with a smile.

Unlike her fellow scribes, she could afford to be genuine with them. She could see it in the guard's eyes, if she were to be ordered to dispose of Aloe, she would hesitate. Of course, she couldn't go against sultanzade orders, especially the emir's, but that lapse could make the difference at the right moment if the opportunity ever arose.

"Let us go forward then." The scribe commanded.

"Where to, Aloe?" Lulu asked behind her, already having started to push the wheelchair.

"Hmm, I was planning to first take a detour around the bazaar, but considering dear Nesrine is accompanying us, I would like to stop first by my house to free my hands and pay respects to my family." Having donned acuity again, the scribe noticed the brief lapse in the breathing patterns of her companions. As for her, she just patted the bag in her lap. "If it is not much of a problem, I would like you to stay at my home and clean it a bit. I expect it to be a deathtrap of dust and darkness after these many months. Would you mind doing me this favor, Lulu?"

"Not at all!" The maid announced chirpily. "I owe you that much."

"Do not be silly, you do not owe me anything."

"I do." She reiterated. "If it was not because I was your personal maid, I would have much more work. And the other mistresses do not pay their servants."

Nesrine hummed for an instant but promptly fell into silence. If she had opened her mouth during the gesture, the scribe couldn't have seen it. "Would you like to say anything, Nesrine?" Aloe asked the guard about her lapse.

"I… ehm." The clinging of metal pointed out to Aloe that she had managed to destabilize her posture. "Nothing at all, no, venerable scribe."

"You can call me Aloe." The wheelchair-bound woman said. "And speak your mind. I will not bite. Not that I could catch you in my jaws in the first place."

"If you are so interested… I was just pondering about the pay Miss Lulu mentioned. Do you pay her?"

"I do not." Aloe chuckled, hiding her mouth behind her hand.

"Then why did she say that?"

"Because I let her keep the change of the errands she runs." The scribe stated matter-of-factly.

"It is more money than some jobs, to be fair," Lulu added.

"What job?" Aloe blew. "Beggar?"

"That is not a job, Aloe." The maid commented amusedly.

"You say that, but if you spend most waking hours doing that, and gain money from it, I would be inclined to say it is a work."

"I cannot argue against that logic. But being a beggar is still not a job."

"You just argued against that logic."

"Oops, I did not notice. My apologies."

Aloe blew again. "Anyways, you cannot have gotten enough money to estipulate a pay."

"Two drupnari." Lulu concreted.

"A bit, but certainly not enough to-"

"In two weeks." The maid interjected.

"Heavens I be damned." Aloe led her palm to her mouth and then turned to face the person pushing her. "Really?"

"Really," Lulu responded with a smile.

"I better watch out for my expenses then."

"Indeed." The maid stated amusedly with a professional expression.

Two drupnari was the weekly pay of some jobs, so Aloe had basically just given her a salary in two weeks for free. I'm not used to not using money. My spending vision is getting twisted. How long has it been since I did house finances? Three? Four months? And now the whole family savings are mine… I have too much money and I do not know where to even spend it. Crazy ideas flew across her mind, a ship being one of them, but alas, she doubted she could flee the country with Rani's sights upon her.

And she couldn't forget Fatima either. The cultivator wouldn't let her escape now after she benefited as much as she did from their deal. If she were to escape far away, she would wait before learning the remaining Nurture stances first.

The scribe's entourage gained quite a few gazes as they strolled across Sadina's main channel. Wheelchairs were already an uncommon sight even in hospitals, but to be escorted by a maid and a guard was a whole other deal. Whilst not as… revealing as the uniforms in Asina Palace – for the lack of a better word – Lulu's dress was still quite eye-catching as it highlighted her chest area. The guard in light plate armor also didn't contribute to the gazes, especially when it was as ornamented as Nesrine's. The golden accents – real gold at that – meant that her armor was probably more expensive than the lifetime savings of some commoners.

For better or worse, Aloe had grown used to the gazes. Unlike those of the palace – both Asina and Sadina – they weren't of pity or avoidance, but only simple curiosity. That she could live up with.

As they arrived at Aloe's home, the house's keys weighed on the wheelchair-bound woman. It took two deep breaths before she offered Nesrine to open the door for her. She told herself that it was because she had a bad angle from her seated position rather than herself avoiding the gesture.

The three women were met by an onslaught of dust once the guard opened the door.

"You were not lying." Nesrine coughed and directed her head outwards from the house drowned in penumbra. "It is q-quite," she coughed again, "the deathtrap."

"It seems we will need to air it up a bit before we can enter," Aloe said.

Lulu unlatched her hands from the handrails behind the wheelchair and laid a hand on the scribe's shoulders. Aloe turned to face her, and she noticed a handkerchief tied around the woman's fair visage.

"Let me open the windows then." Lulu offered and entered the house alone, neither Aloe nor Nesrine stopped her.

The two women stood outside for a bit, neither of them talked. Aloe was more than happy to keep the silence, and Nesrine had that look in her eyes, of someone fulfilling their duty. She's a guard to the city and the sultanzade, don't forget it. Aloe told herself. Nesrine couldn't be a friend – Aloe doubted if she was capable of having that kind of relationship – she only was an ally. And, by definition, only allies could betray you.

Lulu's progress could be seen from the outside as the windows of the façade slowly opened one by one. By the time the maid came out of the house, the entrance hall didn't appear as gloomy as before.

"I would recommend waiting a bit and allowing me to dust the place a bit before entering, Aloe," Lulu suggested.

"I am already growing rather tired, and I rather not need to come back if possible." It was not a lie. She may be sitting down on a chair like she did every working minute of her day, but the exhaustion was increased a hundredfold. "It is also quite late, perhaps you should leave the cleaning for another day, Lulu."

"Nonsense." The maid declined it. "I would not like to leave your house in such a state. Please, Aloe, take a stroll and relax, and when you come back, I will have made this house a home."

Aloe couldn't help but smile at Lulu's pressure. She was motivated to help, and no one could steal that from her.

"I understand," the scribe nodded, "but I would first like to remove myself from this load." Aloe patted the bag between her legs. "Could you carry me upstairs, Nesrine? And could you bring the wheelchair, Lulu?"

Neither of the women protested. The guard picked her up dexterously and the maid followed behind with the wheelchair. Such was the disparity of strength between the women that Nesrine hadn't even broken a sweat when she had carried the scribe a floor up, but Lulu had been panting once she was up with the wheelchair.

"I would like to be left alone for a moment." The women nodded at her.

Aloe pushed the wheelchair by herself into the house's office. Once it had been her father's. After Amid had perished, it had become her mother's. Then after the death of Shahrazad, it was now Aloe's. With some difficulty, Aloe stood from her wheelchair and slouched on top of the armchair behind the desk. The weak woman gazed upon the remains of her predecessors.

"It's been a while." Her voice was feebler than a whisper.

Not only because she didn't have the strength nor willpower to speak louder, but also because she could sense Nesrine behind the office's door. She wasn't eavesdropping, or at least that wasn't the sensation Aloe had, but even if she was only standing guard, she didn't want her to listen to anything.

"I… I don't have much to say." She had a lot to say. "Not at all." So much so that her throat bloated in pain from the words she didn't speak aloud.

The petite scribe gritted her teeth and grabbed the armrests of the armchair with viciousness. She had never felt this weak, not even in Asina. The prepotency as the ashes of the dead surrounded her threatened to end with her.

"I have been weak." It wasn't a confession, but a statement. "I…" The words died in her mouth as her eyes became teary. "Much like the wheelchair at my side, I feel like I have been pushed around all my life, that I have never had the opportunity to make the choices I wanted, regardless if I had such a thing or not." Aloe bit her underlip. She was confident that if she had been donning strength instead of acuity, she would have shed blood. "But I don't know how to make the choices of my own. There's no chance for that. I'm being swallowed by quicksand and the only help comes from a barbed branding pole." Her hands trembled, her jaws cluttered, and her eyes drowned. "W-what can I do, Mom? Dad?"

No answers came to her, only deafening silence.

Painfully loud silence.

She was surrounded by family. And they were all dead.