Barn Raising
“I know, little friend. You just have to suffer through this. It’ll make you even stronger than you are now. Think of it as suffering for an upgrade.”
Xenia gently touched the mini moo’s nose as it let out a small noise of pain due to it’s sickness. She felt pity for the creature, no one liked being sick. Sniffles were the worst, took forever for you to be able to properly breathe out your nose again. This time she didn’t even need a lot of convincing to help as she knew the pains of the sniffles and wanted to help out on her own terms without a fight with the farm-keep.
“I know, little friend. You just have to suffer through this. It’ll make you even stronger than you are now. Think of it as suffering for an upgrade.” Xenia softly spoke as she pet the mini moo before slowly tiptoeing around in search of a blanket.
Thorn always said the best way to get rid of sickness was to try and boil it out of your body like a kettle. It made sense since you had to boil water to get it pure, it should work the same on a living creature.
A decent sized plaid blanket was all she could find in the corner of the large barn, hidden behind hay and scrap wood. It should fit along the back on the mini moo and keep them relatively warm. She grabbed the pile of blanket and walked carefully back to the sniffling and sneezing mini moo. Poor soul.
“Hopefully this should keep you warm. You should rest too, little dear. It will help you get through the worst of it and lessen the pain of it all.” It was rare for Xenia to speak with such warmth, she was a naturally cold soul due to her exploring nature and her semi-sister, Thorns, attitude rubbing off on her.
Xenia could spot Dahlia peaking in sometimes, it was her mini moo after all. She had a right to be worried. It still bugged her a bit as she hated being watched being so soft but now wasn’t the time to snap like during the planting lest she scare the mini moo into being unable to sleep.
“If you are so worried, георгин, take care of them yourself. You have other things to worry about, do you not?” Xenia couldn’t help being slightly cold to the one not sick, but Dahlia seemed to be able to tell it wasn’t with true malice and left Xenia alone once more. Good, would let her be able to be a true mother to the mini moo.
She approached and quick threw half the blanket upwards so that it would fall upon the mini moos back. It didn’t quite cover the entire body but it covered enough to be satisfactory for Xenia as she gave it a once over to make sure it wasn’t ruffled or displaced and not used to its full potential.
Startled out of her satisfactory pose by a sneeze, she looked over to see the pitiful face of the mini moo seeming to try and portray that they couldn’t sleep. Or that was all Xenia could see anyways.
“Fine. I’ll tell you a bedtime story, then you have to sleep or you’ll just get worse.” Xenia huffed and sat in front of the mini moo and put her paw on the mini moos snout again, “Thorn told me this one when we were exploring together, so you better listen. It’ll be like passing it down a generation so you better tell your other mini moo friends, got it? A family legacy is being born in this barn with you.”
With all the flourish an overly dramatic arborling can bring, Xenia started to tell the fairy tale that was passed to her. Using her full body to convey the story, faking sword fights and posing dramatically during the romantic scenes. Some things changed from what Thorn had told her but it was like a game of telephone really. Who knew if the mini moo even understood her at all anyways.
It took about an hour to finish the story what with all the sniffling and sneezing interrupting the story now and then. Xenia just took the noises as a comment on her story and tried to jokingly reply.
After it was all finished, Xenia yawned and moved to sit leaned against the mini moo’s side. The creature had fallen asleep near the end and watching their chest move up and down slowly made her beyond tired as well. It was at this time Dahlia came to check up once more, finished with whatever she needed to be doing previously during the day and wanting to know if she had to relieve Xenia of her duty.
“Oh! If you want to sleep here, you can. I don’t mind. You should probably sleep inside though, you might catch the sniffles too.. And then it’ll feel like you never get to leave” She expressed her concern while walking closer to the disgruntled arborling. It was like being mothered by the most busy body girl Xenia had ever met. Didn’t she ever just take a break?
“I’m immune.” was the only thing Xenia mumbled out. She wasn’t, but like hell she’d listen to Dahlia. Had to prove she was strong and all, you know. Prideful little brat.
“I don’t really believe you but, OK. You don’t get to blame me if you get sick!” Dahlia smiled and wandered off again as Xenia slowly drifted off.
--
Xenia awoke with a sneeze, as did the mini moo. They seemed a bit better but you could tell Xenia was getting all that sickness in turn. Wasn’t about to admit it though.
Dahlia was waiting by the entrance on the barn, seemingly a bit smug given the situation. Arms crossed and smiling a bit.
“I told you.” She sang as she came forward to hand Xenia breakfast. “Now I’ll have to take care of you and you aren’t allowed to complain. You did this to yourself.”
Xenia huffed and accepted the food. The mini moo let out a noise beside her and Dahlia skipped off to get the mini moo food as well.
“I suppose you and me are kin now. Both sick, both with a bone to pick with this barn.” She huffed and curled into a ball beside the mini moo. “Share that blanket, will you? I’ll cold.”