Drabble prompt: Mundane
This drabble prompt was to write about a mundane task or “day in the life” of your character. Featuring Anatalya and, of course, Thomas Zelling.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There were several freshwater streams that made their way down the rocky coast of Zuldazar to meet the sea, but only one was Anatalya’s favorite place to wash her clothing. It was dull work, to be sure, but necessary… and the view from this particular stream was more beautiful than the others.
She sat down the basket of clothing and opened her satchel. As she arranged a pannier of strong soap, a stiff-bristle brush, a bottle of mageroyal scented rinse solution, and a small sewing kit on a nearby flat rock, she saw Thomas Zelling walking along the shoreline in the distance.
She waved to him, and began dousing her clothing in the clear water.
In a few minutes, Thomas joined her.
“Laundry day?” he commented, sitting on the rock beside her. “Would you like some company?”
“Of course, Thomas.” Anatalya said. “As long as you don’t mind helping.” She reached into the basket of clothing and threw a blouse at him, laughing.
He held up the garment. “This… this is filthy.”
“Well that’s why I’m washing it.”
“I don’t mean it needs washed.” Zelling said indignantly. “I mean… it’s filthy! There’s hardly enough material here to cover… well, um… to cover anything!”
“I don’t recall you complaining when you saw me wearing it last week,” Anatalya replied matter-of-factly, scrubbing soap into some pants with the brush, and had Thomas still been able to blush, Anatalya was certain his face would have been bright red.
She laughed and tossed him the soap. “Are you going to wash it or not?”
“I don’t need that,” he said, waving his hand over the blouse, which became instantly spotless and fresh, although very damp. He spread it gently on the rock to dry, looking up at the sky as he did so. “It’s a sunny day already,” he commented, “although there were many times I called for the sun to dry our clothing when my wife needed it.”
He smiled at the memory.
“I’m surprised she didn’t put you in charge of all the laundry,” Anatalya said, nodding at the clean blouse on the rock.
“Oh, she tried,” Zelling replied, chuckling. “But I told her it was a far too mundane use of a Tidesage’s power.”
“Is it?”
“No, not really,” he said, gazing out over the water. “...but I loved watching her. I loved listening to her sing as she worked. I loved just being with her as she would do her tasks. I loved playing with the children… saying I was keeping them out of her way, of course, but…” he sighed. “…it was always such a happy time.”
Anatalya silently considered that while she pressed the scrubbed pants into the clear water to rinse them, and as she wrung them out, she saw Thomas watching her… rather wistfully, she thought.
“You know,” she said, smiling. “if you could keep the sun shining for a while longer, I’d appreciate it. I have another basket to get through after this one.”
“It will be my pleasure,” said Zelling.
To Be Continued…