Larkin knew he would have a long road ahead of him to earn forgiveness for attempting to sneak a peek into the ladies baths, but he never thought it would be quite this demanding. Today he was out in the hot desert sun, pruning and maintaining the plants at the Castle. Kone had dragged him out of bed first thing in the morning, declaring that it was time to start earning some of his penance.
Normally the druids do all of this work at night, but Kone has no intention of telling Larkin that. So instead, she's given him a filter net and he's cleaning the blown sand out of one of the many fish ponds, a task she herself could do in seconds, using magic. But that's not the point of a punishment.
Outside the castle walls there is another negotiation going on, the three sides meeting to negotiate yet another ceasefire after infiltrators attempted to attack the city of Montauk, but were caught by the security forces, and dealt with by the Guild members that were in town at the time.
The Guild Skill, [Benevolent Leader] that lets them call a pair of Epic Summons each has come in incredibly handy lately, allowing any roaming Guild member to deal with much larger threats than would normally be possible.
Outside the Beginners Valley, the lower levels don't travel alone, but nobody does these days, due to the threat of attacks and bandits, while the higher levels are always ready with a plan for what Dungeon Boss level summon they might need to save them should the worst come to pass. Very few are dumb enough to attack the Darklight Host and break whatever ceasefire number the region is currently on, but there's always the possibility.
Kone has her Turtles out patrolling the walls right now, while Su supervises Larkin at work. The Dragon has a soft spot for the awkward and unlucky Paladin, but Kone isn't sure he's not just an unlucky pervert. He's sweet, but some of his ideas are just too much.
[You could take him in hand and teach him to behave right. Maybe all he needs is a little motivation?] Su suggests in her thoughts.
Kone smiles, seeing that he's finally finished with one of the ponds, and the fish are happily swimming around, ducking under the lily pads that have been spread over the surface to add shade. Su said motivation would help, and she has just the thing for him.
Kone changes outfits into a pair of short shorts and a bikini top and heads over to where Su has Larkin working in the sun, cleaning sidewalks.
"Good work on the pond. The fish are very pleased." She tells the smitten boy, smiling at him. Larkin is so happy to hear her praise that he entirely loses his focus and trips over his broom, landing face down in a patch of cactus.
"Ah, feth, gah that hurts so much." he moans, leaning back to sit on the sidewalk and pick cactus spikes from his face.
"Sit still, I'll pull them out then heal you up." Kone tells him, trying not to laugh at his misfortune.
She takes a steady position, sitting on his legs to keep him from flinching away as she pulls the spikes from his face. She learned a while ago that they can be pushed out with healing magic, but that still hurts, and it does them all at once, which is even worse.
Larkin freezes at the feel of her skin touching him. His beloved Kone is really touching him, with her bare skin. The thought makes him so happy that he almost forgets she's about to rip the cactus spikes out of his face one at a time. The pain brings him back to reality in a hurry though, and he understands why she pinned him down. It doesn't take long and she's ready to heal him, standing up and patting his head in consolation.
"Finish up this sidewalk and we can have lunch." Kone tells Larkin, who happily gets back to work.
The healing prevented sunburn so he's good to go for at least a few more hours of punishment detail and she can leave him to Su while she checks on the situation outside. From the reports that the turtles are sending, it sounds as tense as usual, but they're likely going to get things sorted out in a few minutes.
Larkin puts himself into his punishment detail as Kone leaves, knowing Su will report if he slacks. But the Dragon is chatty, and might even be on his side, so he decides to ask her for advice.
"Su, other than the punishment, do you think there's anything I could do to show her how sorry I am? I don't want to mess it up again and make her even more mad."
The Forest Dragon, in her tiny wood nymph form thinks a moment before giving him an answer. "She's a druid at heart, maybe if you volunteered to help out with the castle's plant maintenance at night you might get time to spend with her alone?
Then you should be able to convince her you just had a lapse in judgement and will never, ever do something that stupid again. You won't do it again will you?"
"Definitely not, never again. Thank You, Su." Larkin declares with a smile.
He has his plan now, he will clean this path in the scorching sun, then come back tonight and volunteer to help her and the druids with the plants. They're still adding more life to the interior castle grounds, and a lot of it needs to be placed by hand, after the Druids and Earth Mages prepare the land. It's drudge work, but he actually enjoys being out here in the trees, at least when he's not cooking in the sun.
Kone was called away on business with the meeting and couldn't make it to lunch with him, but Larkin has high hopes for tonight. They're going to be planting a new variety of flowers and they need all the help they can get to finish before sunrise.
As the sun goes down, he joins the Earth Mages and Druids headed out to plant the flowers, chatting happily about the design of the new gardens that are going in. Once everyone is assembled, Kone comes out with a cart full of plants and a big smile that takes Larkin's breath away.
"Good news everyone, we got an extra shipment of the ground cover creepers in so we've got lots to do tonight. Everyone is in teams of three with the ones nearest to you. Now, let's get to work and get everything planted by morning."
Kone doesn't even wait until she's finished talking to start with the plant control abilities, preparing the ground in the area and digging the first holes for the flowers.
'This is not the plan' Larkin thinks to himself as the two dwarves nearest to him lead him away with a basket full of flowers to plant. He's about to start thinking of a way to get closer to Kone when she walks by again in her green leather work clothes and smiles at him.
"Good work with the sidewalks today Larkin, I'll see you in the morning for your next work detail." Kone tells him, thinking of how cute the Paladin was, working hard to impress her. Maybe she will give him a chance. Once she's done teaching him his lesson.
