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It was early spring. To many others it means that the winter snow has started to thaw, and the fields ripe for sowing seeds for the new year. Fallen Angels didn’t hibernate, not all anyway, but they were certainly more abundant when the first green buds poke through the melting blankets of snow. Food Souls aching for a fight in response to that heightened threat were more often happy to go out and do a little spring cleaning.
For a certain Food Soul with red hair, it was special in another way. Something a little more personal than a festival or some other public holiday nonsense he cared little about.
“What do you see in front of you, Spaghetti?”
His Master Attendant asked. Spaghetti found the question odd but unsurprising. His Master Attendant has always been such, for the years they’ve spent together. He looked towards the Food Souls sparring on the training grounds, then to the far back where the living quarters were. His gaze shifted to the groups hithering and dithering across the expanse of their compound within his line of sight with an observant and thoughtful look.
He crossed his arms and leaned sideways towards his Master Attendant. “I see toys that need to be regularly maintained. Hm, and some walking trash that I’ve told you time and again to throw away. One of which is particularly terrible with his block form today. As if he’s thinking of something else that happened seven nights ago.” Spaghetti spoke without a beat of hesitation, raising his voice with every word.
In the middle of blocking Steak’s overzealous downslash, Red Wine snapped his head around and glared in Spaghetti’s direction. “How dare you—!”
“Eyes on me, bastard! Not that fuck!” Steak interrupted with a well-aimed kick at the distracted Red Wine. Somewhere at the sidelines, Spaghetti heard Gingerbread and Toso hollering for more fuel to the fire.
Peixes made a noise in their throat at the chaos erupting between the two Food Souls. Then they turned to Spaghetti. “God— And nothing in between?” Their tone was almost exasperated, but fond in the way that was like indulging a rather bratty cat.
Spaghetti chuckled beneath his breath, because he didn’t want anyone else to hear him. He seemed to consider it before he shrugged and answered, “Maybe a few tools here and there. Rum is certainly formidable in terms of combat, despite her dislike of me.”
“You don’t make yourself lovable. I can count on one hand how many people actually like you.”
“Mmh— and have myself be walked all over? I can name certain individuals who would jump at that. I’m sure you know of them too.”
He indulged them, because it gave him reprieve as well. A little more time to wait for the signs that things were going as planned. The minutes ticked by, his Master Attendant’s attention was beginning to falter. The more heated spar between Steak and Red Wine was losing its temporary novelty. And there was still no sign of what he was anticipating.
“I think I should get going to the guildhouse before we have another backlog situation. Do you need me for anything else?”
Spaghetti wracked his brain for any reason to keep them here a while longer. Luckily, Rice had come to them with something in her dainty small hands that immediately caught both their attention. She held a bowl of something wrapped in banana leaf, a small mound of dark brown powder next to it.
“Oh good morning, Rice. What do you have there?”
“G… g-good morning… Master Attendant. Heh,” Rice beamed at them with rosy cheeks and a smile, “A small gift… Rice made it… the others in the kitchen helped too…” She called it ‘but-ong’, a glutinous rice treat cooked with coconut milk and wrapped in banana leaf. The dark brown powder was muscovado sugar, which Rice instructed their Master Attendant to dip the but-ong in before eating.
Spaghetti watched with some interest. He’ll let her have this, since it was a gift she made with great sincerity and she was his senior despite her small stature. Besides her excitement to have their Master Attendant try her gift as soon as it cooled benefited him well.
Just as they finished eating the gift and praising Rice for doing so well with it, Pizza came running in from outside the compound and beelined straight into Spaghetti. He caught himself and Pizza before they toppled to the ground, with a quick exasperated glare matching Pizza’s cheeky one.
“Noodel!”
“Keep your voice down. I can hear you.”
“Noodel.” Pizza repeated in a whispering tone. “I saw it. It survived the winter, Surströmming did super well maintaining it all so you can absolutely—”
“Yes, Pizza. I understand your concerns well. I’ll look into it.” Spaghetti said quickly, loud enough for his Master Attendant to hear. He gave Pizza a quick ruffle of his hair before twirling him around and pushing him in the direction of the main house, effectively shooing him away.
“Did something happen?” His Master Attendant asked, watching Pizza pout as he left them.
Spaghetti nodded and gestured for them to follow. “Yes and it requires our attention to look into it before more time passes. I’ll be needing your expertise on this one, my master.” He replied.
The Master Attendant bade goodbye to Rice and followed without question, trusting Spaghetti’s judgment but still curious about the problem at hand. They asked, “Well, is it a Fallen Angel? I doubt it since Pizza’s more than capable of taking care of them on his own now.”
They fell into step with each other as they exited through the compound gate that led off into the wilderness, rather than the one leading to the city road.
“No, it is a concern of a different matter. You’ll see when we get there.” Spaghetti said.
“You’re being cryptic again.”
“But isn’t it good? You do so love being surprised.”
“Not all the time when it comes to you.”
“But better than Whiskey or Bloody Mary… or Peking Duck or that Kaiserschmuck.”
“Okay, okay. You don’t have to be jealous.” The Master Attendant said, “It’s not like I prefer any of them above you.”
A smile crept into Spaghetti’s tone as he answered, “Your favoritism warms my heart, my master.”
“Don’t get it too into your head now.”
They walked the familiar path that branched off from the more commercial road, and into the wilder parts of the outskirts of Gloriville. Hills trailed across the gently sloping fields, with patches of snow yet to melt on the ground and on trees still waking up from their winter slumber. They took the road many of Peixes’ Food Souls took when they wanted to visit the river that divided the forests from the rest of human civilization. The land next to the river wasn’t theirs or anyone’s, but there was hardly anyone else who would use the place for their own leisure aside from the occasional Master Attendant and their companion passing through.
They climbed the hill and made it to the top when Peixes held a sight to behold.
“Whoa... This can’t be natural around here.”
“Not without some… human intervention as they say.” Spaghetti said, appreciating the large expanse of yellow flowers growing a few feet from them and down to the base of the hill. Surströmming and the others did splendid work to keep the place untrodden, and fed the soil with magic and natural care, however Spaghetti wouldn’t question the methods they used to do so. They agreed to do this for him, so he repaid them with a measure of ignorance and leniency in other areas.
His Master Attendant slowly made their way through the field of daffodils, looking around. Spaghetti felt himself preen at the wonder clear on their face.
“Do you like it?”
“It’s amazing, really. These can’t be wild, can they? Stuff like this is usually more common in Nevras.”
Spaghetti casually bent to select a handful of the best around him. “They are. I do have the common sense to not mix cultivated bulbs with the wild ones. It was a year long project with a lot of assistance, you could say. But why spend for flowers that come all the way from Nevras when you have a place that could grow them?” He responded without taking his eyes off his task.
“So much, though?”
“Then we’ll take a few. And leave the rest to continue painting this slope yellow for the rest of spring.” He took out a red ribbon and tied the flowers into a bouquet. He stood and approached his Master Attendant, presenting the bouquet held gently in both hands.
“For you, my master. For another year of us being together, and hopefully for many more.”