Gutter- Potatoes

       Loch, many years ago, had discovered that he was a morning person. This was to the dismay of his father, who, despite having to wake up early most mornings, had always been more partial to sleeping late. Loch had made it a habit of running to his father's bedroom and jumping onto his bed to wake him up as a morning ritual. At least, a ritual until his father ordered Opello to keep Loch occupied when he woke up in the mornings.

        Now, however, Loch knew that his perception of a morning person and Nemi's were entirely different. At least, he thought as he fumed into his pillow, I woke up with the sun, and not before. Nemi had woken him a few moments ago, reminding him cheerfully that he had offered to help Min this morning. Loch lay still for a few more moments, grumbling quietly to himself, before pushing himself up and swinging his feet off the bed, shivering a little when they touched the cold floor. Glancing blearily at the window near the far side of the room, he noticed that outside it was still dark, but with the promise of sun soon to come.

        He unconsciously began to throw on his clothes, pulling his pair of boots out from under the bed, where he supposed he had kicked them last night before going to sleep. He ran a hand through his hair, and, knowing that he wasn't going to look any more presentable than that, strode to the door and out into the hallway. He looked up and down the corridor, hearing faint noises from downstairs, but seeing no one upstairs. He made his way down, moving quietly so as to not wake anyone. Walking into the kitchen, he saw Min bustling around, holding a large pot in her hands, with Nemi trailing behind her. Her curly hair was thrown into a messy updo, and she clutched a large basket of what looked to be potatoes.

        "Aron! Darling, could you run out back and fill this up with water?" Min cried, seeing him walk in. Loch nodded and took the pot from her before going in the general direction she had told him to. Finding a back door, he pushed it open and walked into a small clearing with a well situated in the middle. Once he had filled the pot up, he took it back to Min, where he was soon set to work learning how to peel potatoes. He watched Nemi peel them beside him, and tried to copy her. Nemi looked over at him and grinned when she saw him hacking away at the potatoes, taking off more potato than actual peel.

        She reached over and grabbed the handle of the knife he was using, switching his grip around it and making him try again.

       "You're not supposed to hold it like you're about to attack someone," She said, smiling at him and glancing down at the table where evidence of his previous botched attempts lay.

       "I'm not sure," Loch murmured, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth as he tried to successfully peel the potato in his hand. "This potato looks quite deadly. I wouldn't want it to catch me off guard."

       "If you can't handle a potato, then we may have problems getting to the docks," Nemi told him, laughing when he looked up to glare at her.

       "Clearly you've never been in a fight against one before." He said, before letting out a small noise of triumph and holding up the potato that he had just peeled. With no expression whatsoever on her face, Nemi leaned forward and pretended to look at it intently, before leaning back and mockingly shaking her head.

       "I'm sorry, sir." She said, her face still emotionless, "But that's the sorriest potato peeling that I've ever seen." Her expressionless facade fell apart when she saw Loch's face, though, and she dissolved into giggles as he brandished the potato at her.

       "Watch what you say, girl." He replied, "I've got a deadly weapon here and I'm not afraid to use it!"

       "Psh," She snorted, picking up a- cleaner looking, Loch had to admit- potato of her own, and saying, "I've been training far longer than you, you've got no chance."

       Loch brandished his potato at her again, meaning to say more, but before he could, the potato slipped from his grasp and flopped onto the floor. He looked sadly at it for a moment before looking up at her.

       "...I dropped my potato." He said unnecessarily, his voice somber.

       Nemi couldn't help it anymore, she burst out laughing, Loch joining in soon after. Neither saw, however, Min walk into the room and stare at them curiously until she spoke softly.

       "I suppose I should be impressed by your ability to make peeling potatoes such a happy occasion." She teased, touching Nemi's shoulder as she passed by them and laughing softly at the blush that flooded Nemi's cheeks.

       "And I still don't know how to peel a potato," Loch said sadly, gazing at the knife he held in his hand with a forlorn expression. "No thanks to your teaching, I might add."

       "If I was trying to teach you, I would've done more than adjust your grip." She said, rolling her eyes and turning back to her own potato peeling, still smiling from her recent bout of laughter.  A few moments later, looking over and seeing no progress in Loch's potato peeling skills, she scooted her chair closer and grabbed his potato from him, raising an eyebrow at him as she began to cut the skin off. The rest of their time at Min's inn was spent, in Loch's case, learning how to peel potatoes and enjoying their handiwork once the food was cooked. When they finally had to leave, and Nemi had said her goodbyes to Min, Loch found himself regretting that they couldn't stay longer.

       "I'm going to go back there someday." He told Nemi on a whim, gesturing to the inn behind them. "And I'm going to go in and introduce myself properly. And after that's done, I'm going to pay her back double for every single potato I just ate."
"Your plan is sound up until that last part." Nemi said, "Considering how much you ate, I don't think you'll be able to afford it."

        He opened his mouth to snap something back at her, but then decided to laugh instead, congratulating her on her retort. He could not remember feeling so alive in a very long time. Every breath felt like it was building up into a laugh before he even released it, every step he took had the potential of spring-boarding him into a jump. He took a deep breath, laughed again for no reason other than the fact that he could, and because he wanted to, and smiled at Nemi some more.

         The rest of the day was a blur for Loch. Memorable moments stuck out in his mind of the day's events- teaching a boy in the market how to make a coin supposedly disappear when they stopped there for lunch, seeing a traveling merchant holding a cage with a monkey inside who could mimic anything you did- but for the life of him, the thing he would remember most when he looked back on the day was his feeling of happiness. He knew he had things he should be worried about, but he had, for that day, decided to forget them. In all honesty, it felt utterly fantastic.