Ezekial watched her for a moment and then moved forward. He didn't want to see her working like this and he was noticing that there was a nice shaded spot by the house.

"Why don't you sit in the shade," he commented. "I don't want you to get hurt or burned."

The work was hard sometimes and it was for the most part no trouble for him. The weeds were the tough kind that frequently grew in this area and the roots delved deeply. He threw them into a small bucket that Sebastian had supplied him with.

Frowning, Verona shook her head.

"Ezekiel, I maybe small, but I am not so weak that I cannot pull up a few weeds.."

Pulling up another weed, the force she had used upon it, threw her backwards onto Ezekiel's feet.

"Sorry," she said as she tossed it in the bucket.
Now she felt weak, and that maybe she should sit against the house, but no. She wouldn't give in that easily.

When she fell on his feet he took the opportunity to grab her. He would force her to sit in the shade if he had to.

"Please," Ezekiel said knowing forcing her wouldn't be a very good idea. "I'll tell Sebastian to let you water the plants if you'd like. If just pulling one weed out knocks you off your feet I would prefer you leave it to Sebastian and I."

His voice was sincere and his eyes pleading. If this didn't work he would most certainly force her into the shade and ask Helen to give her some work that required her to sit in the shade.

"Ezekiel," Verona whined as he helped her up.
"I want to help, okay? I am not going to be a burden, I will not sit in the shade and do nothing while you two get all sweaty without me. Now this is the first time I have ever worn anything with two leg holes in it, please let me help."

Giving him a pouty, puppy dog eyes look, she took his hands.

"Pleassssseeeee, at least let me pick things," she said in her wind chime voice.

"I won't fall anymore, I promise.."

Ezekiel grumbled slightly but kept a stern look. He would need to be tough on this subject but he wasn't sure how tough he could be.

"Verona," he said after a moment. "I'll let you work in the garden as long as you don't pull the weeds. Just pick the ripe vegetables and if you need to, wait for Sebastian to come back to tell you which ones those are."

Sebastian was almost back with the two barrels full of water. Some would be used for drinking water later and whatever was left over after the watering would most likely be used to dump on Ezekiel if he could get Verona's help in it.

Verona rolled her eyes, "I know what a ripe vegetable looks like Ezekiel."

Walking over to a patch of tomatoes, Verona began to search up and down the vines, bucket at hand, picking out only the ripest she could find.
Though she seemed inexperienced, she knew quite a lot about vegetation and such.

After a brief moment, Verona moved onto a patch of squash, and began sorting those, and then she moved onto the cucumbers.
She had yet to pick an un-ripened vegetable as she sat on the dusty floor.

Ezekiel just smiled slightly though he truly did wish she'd just sit in the shade. He figured a compromise would be better than she forcing her there. When he got inside he'd make sure that she had a job to do inside tomorrow.

When Sebastian returned he looked perplexed when he saw Verona picking the ripened vegetables. He glanced at Ezekiel who simply shrugged as he paused in his weed pulling.

"Verona," Sebastian said. "A lady shouldn't be picking vegetables in the garden."

It was such a blatant statement that he was sure he'd get hit over the head for it. He showed not change in his perplexed expression though.

"And why not," Verona shouted as she stood up.

Her arms were crossed as she glared at Sebastian.
"I suppose girls can't do any manual labor huh? All we are good for is breeding your sloppy little children, right?"
Smacking Sebastian in the side of the head, she scowled at him, and then went back to work.

Picking up a zucchini, Verona stuck her tongue out at Sebastian, and then picked another, "You know, not all women like to sit around and do nothing."

Humming to herself, she tried to get in a better mood as she picked the vegetables.

"Oh trust me," Sebastian said as he rubbed his head. "Women do a lot more than have children. They cook excellent food and frequently do laundry. Take Helen for instance, she brews many potions and its what gets us buy. So essentially I have a petty job that woman of such importance as yourself shouldn't have."

Ezekiel had glared at him for the sarcasm that was just resting on the ridge of his voice. He continued to pull weeds, though now he was silent. If he thought right, Helen would be out soon.

There was a sound that came from the front of the house and Helen had come towards the back. She was beaming slightly and when she saw Verona working she scowled at both Ezekiel and Sebastian.

"Why you little..." she began. "Verona should be learning how to sew so she can get garments that a bit more comfortable for her. Not picking vegetables!"

Smiling as Helen scolded the boys Verona stood up, "It's okay Helen, I wanted to. I couldn't let them do all the work."

Picking up her bucket, she bought Helen her work, "See."
Showing her the contents of the bucket, she proudly pointed to everything.
"So far, I've gotten the cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, and zucchini."

Glancing back towards Ezekiel and Sebastian, she glared, "If you'll give me a place to put these, I can work on the rest of the garden."

Now all Verona could do was wait, hopefully Helen would lighten up at the sight of what she'd done. Really, Verona didn't want to go inside.

Helen just shook her head slightly. She would have to guide Verona into the house and down to where she kept the food just to get her away from this busy outside work.

"Verona dear," Helen said calmly. "They go in the cellar and I'm the only one with the key to the entrance so why don't you follow me so you can put them away."

Ezekiel glanced at Helen for a moment and gave her a strange look before returning to his work. If she prevented Verona from just being close to him he'd go down and kick the door open if he had to.

Sebastian had started to pull the weeds with him at this point and they were both sweating by now, and no doubt smelled. Ezekiel was just starting to tan and he knew he'd burn before the end of the day, which was why he did not want Verona out here.

Sighing, Verona looked back at Ezekiel, and then followed Helen to the cellar.

It was much cooler, and darker, and quite a bit dustier as the two entered. There were rows of baskets lining the walls, filled with food no doubt.
And it did have a bit of a creepy aura to it..

"Where should I put them," Verona asked as she stood amidst the baskets holding her bucket, waiting.

For some reason, helping out in the garden, and then coming into the cellar reminded Verona of what life on a farm might have been like, and the idea seemed friendly to her.

Helen began to point out where each vegetable went and began to organize the cellar slightly herself. It was a bit too cluttered for her opinion and she needed to be able to find things quickly.

Ezekiel had watched Verona go and seemed almost tense when she was gone. They hurried up there pace and got almost half the weeds picked in half the time.

"We have to make sure she doesn't do too much work," Ezekiel said to Sebastian.

"Whatever you say," Sebastian said. "I'll get the vegetables now."

Sebastian started picking the vegetables at that point while Ezekiel continued to pull the weeds. They had more work to do after this but they'd be taking a break soon.

Verona had easily kept pace as Helen told her where to put each and every vegetable. So far, so good.
When she was finished, Verona smiled with he hands on her hips as she proudly surveyed the work she had done.

"Thats all of it," she said. "Now what? If it is okay, I would like to go help the boys.. It's getting hot out there, ad I don't want them to overwork themselves.."

Walking towards the exit if the cellar, Verona waited for Helen patiently, that was her strong point..
Being patient, but only with small things.
Now, when Ezekiel had to leave her that day, she would not have been able to stay patient for long.

Helen just smiled slightly as she too finished up her work. She went after Verona and locked the cellar behind them.

"Well dear," she said. "I think we should bring them some refreshments. Ezekiel might get a bit worked up if you overwork yourself. Don't worry about them."

Ezekiel was laughing slightly as he went down the rows pulling out the weeds. He could barely tell what time of the day it was and for once he didn't care. Occasionally someone passing by would notice him and wave since they had seen him before, it was that Singston kid that was banished they'd most likely tell themselves.

One woman actually had to approach the garden to be sure she was seeing the right thing. She was astonished and raced off as if she'd seen a monster.

"It's okay," Sebastian said after a moment. "Bet they're just shocked to see you working."

"That sound good," Verona remarked as they entered the house.
Refreshments would be good for the boys, or good for Ezekiel anyway. Verona didn't care much for Sebastian, and she knew that really he must not like her very much either, considering he wasn't very nice to her.

As they walked into the kitchen, Verona smiled, "So what are we going to make them? Maybe lemonade would be nice, although nothing hits the spot like water on a hot day."

Sitting down at the table, Verona watched Helen at work; Sebastian was unfortunately right..
Helen was a good woman, and a hard worker, she could certainly give new definition to the word house-wife.

Ezekiel by this time had tackled Sebastian for teasing him and they were wrestling for the most part in the dirt. They didn't really care but when Ezekiel was pinned he gave up.

"All right, all right, you win," Ezekiel said though he had a plan in mind.

After that little 'break' they went back to work pulling weeds and picking the vegetables. They were nearly done and both were a little exhausted.

"I don't think Verona likes me very much," Sebastian admitted.

"Well if you quit teasing her she might actually realize you can be a nice guy," Ezekiel said.

After a few additional moments, Verona emerged with a tray of three empty cups, and a pitcher of iced lemonade.

"Okay," she told them as she arrived. "I brought you two some ice cold lemonade, compliments of Helen."

Setting the tray down on a flat tree stump, Verona poured the three drinks, and then handed two of them off.
The third she kept, and sat down on a small patch of grass in the shade.
"Come on," she called to the two of them, patting the spaces beside her.
"Time for a good old fashioned break."

"Old fashioned?" Ezekiel asked with a slight grin on his face.

He drank the lemonade while keeping an eye on Sebastian who seemed slightly distracted at the moment. When Sebastian had finished his lemoned and just put the glass down Ezekiel tackled him.

Helen had followed Verona out and scowled as she saw the two wrestling in the dirt. They'd get dirty and she most certainly would not wash their clothes if they kept this up.

Ezekiel pinned Sebastian this time and grinned slightly. He got up after a moment and walked over to where Verona was in the shade.

Frowning at the two, Verona crossed her arms as Ezekiel came towards her.
"Was all of that really necessary," she asked him as he sat down.
"And see, I wanted to drink my lemonade with you, and then you go and attack Sebastian for no reason."

Taking a sip of her own drink, she closed her eyes as a gentle breeze blew across the dust.
Luckily where Verona was, the dust didn't quite make it, so she was able to savor the feeling of cool air around her, even in this heat..

At least fir a few seconds she would be able to keep cool, to feel good..
For everything to get a break from that harsh sunshine.

"That was necessary," Ezekiel said as he settled himself down.

He laid down rather than sat and let his eyes shut. He wouldn't sleep though since he'd been too active and he was flushed slightly from the activity.

Sebastian sat near them and seemed equally tired. He glanced at Verona every so often trying to judge whether or not she absolutely loathed him.

"Oh Verona," Ezekiel said after a moment. "Is it okay if Sebastian and I go take a dip in the river?"

He didn't know what she would say, but he thought she might say yes though she would be impatient.

"There is a river out here," she asked in sudden shock. And if you really thought about it, it was a wee bit absurd to have a river out in the middle of wasteland.
A river sounded nice though..

"Would it be alright if I went," she asked looking over to Sebastian. For some reason, to her it felt like he owned the river or something.
Maybe it was because he had been living there the longest, and technically he owned everything with Helen.

"I mean, I don't have to go, I just thought it would be nice.."

Looking down, Verona studied her pink-painted toenails, and her bare feet.
Never had she imagined herself in being in such a place, where things were so peaceful..

Ezekiel glanced at Sebastian who just shrugged slightly. He was wanting to know what Ezekiel's opinion was on the matter after all.

"Of course you can," Ezekiel said after a moment. "I'm not going to carry you if you get tired though because I probably smell absolutely repulsive."

Helen laughed at this comment before walking back inside. Sebastian just laughed, more out of a mocking agreement before stretching slightly and beginning to stand up.

The walk was about a mile and he wanted to get back sooner so urging them that they might need to leave now seemed to be the best idea.

Smiling, Verona hugged Ezekiel quickly, and then jerked away before too much sweat could get on her body.
Standing up, she stretched, "How far is it Sebastian?"

Pulling Ezekiel up as well, Verona smiled at the thought of some fresh and cool water.
And considering how sweaty and gross the two boys were, she had a feeling that most likely the water would be good for them too.

"Come on Ezekiel, get up," she said picking up his hand and tugging on it. "I want to go swim, it's too hot out here. Besides, I am pretty sure you could use a bath right about now.."

Ezekiel grumbled slightly at her comment and got up. He didn't want to wait for Sebastian's response so he started to walk towards where Sebastian had been heading before.

"It's about a mile to two miles, depending on the whether really. If there's a dust storm it takes longer and it's not recommended to go at that point." Sebastian said.

He started walking with Ezekiel at that point, making sure that Verona could keep up. He was worried about her considering she seemed so young.

"How old are you Verona?" Sebastian asked after a moment.