For the love of fruit

“So, if you want an in-depth lesson on all the different fruits and such in this world, you can go to Foteini or old lady Sofos.” Iro said as she sat Mina down beside a few baskets. “For now though, I’ll show you what we grow on our farm specifically.”

Iro then pulled out an apple, and Mina listened intently, curios as to how different apples would be in this world as opposed to her own.

“This thing is called an apple. Usually they’re red, but some kinds of apples can be green or even yellow. They’re usually sweet, but they can also get pretty sour. You can eat the skin, but not the core, and they make pretty good snacks when you’re on the go.” Iro explained, describing apples exactly like they were in her world.

‘Or they’ll be exactly the same. I guess names will all be the same huh?’ Mina thought as Iro placed the apple back and pulled out a lemon.

“And this is a citrus, a kind of kumquat.” She said. “You can’t eat the skin, and they’re really sour, so it’s usually used as an ingredient in something else rather than eaten alone. But it does make some good juice.”

‘Or not. This is going to get confusing isn’t it.’ Mina thought to herself as she tried to wrap her head around the idea of calling a lemon by a different name. Meanwhile, Iro returned the ‘citrus’ and pulled out one of the new fruits, a green bulbus looking fruit.

“And this is called a lemon.”

‘Yep, it got confusing. Is she actually just messing with me?’ Mina mentally questioned.

“They’re a pretty tough fruit, but they’re really sweet and healthy. You can pull one of the bulbs off and chew on it for a long time, or you can take the whole thing and turn it into a sweetener.” Iro explained. She then pulled the last fruit out, a mildly spiky sky-blue fruit.

“And lastly, we’ve got a kotos, the thing we grow the most of on the farm. The shell is a bit hard, but inside is a mellow fruit that’s really soft, almost like pudding. It’s one of those things you can do just about anything with, so it’s always in high demand.” Iro finished.

“Huh, interesting.” Mina said as she grabbed one of the fruits for herself, wincing slightly from the spines.

“Yeah, they’re pretty nice, but they do kinda hurt to pick. Now, let me show you how to wash them.”

And so, Iro guided Mina through washing all the different fruit, how to avoid accidentally tearing the bulbs off the ‘lemons’ and how to safely deal with the spines on the kotos. After Iro was done showing her how to do it, they fell into a system. Vasilis went around picking all the fruits off the trees and putting them into baskets which he’d leave at the bottom of the trees. Once there were a few baskets full, Iro would run around and pick up all the baskets and bring the fruit over to Mina to wash and bring the empty baskets back to Vasilis. Mina would naturally wash them and sort them into buckets, and once those buckets were full enough, Iro would run them over to the main hall. If there wasn’t anything to run, Iro would instead spend some time helping Mina wash.

It was good. Mina enjoyed the simple work, cleaning off all the fruit while she got to watch everyone else run around doing their own thing. Whenever she sat down, Iro would chat a bit with her, reminding her a lot of Danis as they chatted about nothing in particular. It was tedious and repetitive, sure, but it was relaxing. Washing the fruit quickly became mindless, and Mina was able to just enjoy taking it all in. She wouldn’t be able to tell you how long she’d washed fruit for, but it had to be a few hours, and yet it was still a surprise when Iro told her they were done.

“You did a pretty good job Mina. Nik always ruins at least a few fruits when he’s put on this job, but I don’t think you damaged a single one.” Iro said as she helped her stand back up. She then pulled out a small basket of various cut up fruit. “Now, I’m sure you want to try some of them, and I also remember you wanted to take some fruit to feed the birds too, so here you go.”

“Thanks Iro.” Mina said as she took the basket from her. “Um… where are the birds now?”

Iro simply pointed off to the side to a pen area, and Mina started making her way there. On her way, Mina looked down into the basket.

‘Well, Iro did imply that I could try some, so why not? I know what an apple and a lem-er, a citrus tastes like… that is going to be really confusing. Anyways, lets try this kotos thing.’

And so, Mina reached into the basket to grab a piece of what she assumed was the kotos, and quickly found that Iro wasn’t overselling how soft they were. The small piece practically melted in her hand even despite how softly she was holding it, and she quickly popped it into her mouth before it could fall apart.

‘Yeah, that’s a weird feeling. More like jello than pudding, but it tastes just like a bland fruit pudding.’ Mina thought to herself as she swallowed the fruit. She then reached down and grabbed a piece of ‘lemon’ and popped it into her mouth.

‘Wow, this is sweet. I think this is how they described sugar cane to taste and feel like.’ Mina thought to herself. She allowed herself to savor this particular piece of fruit all the way up until she reached the pen, where she quickly swallowed it before entering.

Stepping inside the pen, Mina found the place to be full of the myavgo all sitting in nests just like a chicken coop. Also in there was Natalia, who was reaching under the myavgo and pulling out eggs, just like chickens.

‘Ok, so these things are basically hawk chickens. That makes sense.’

“Hello, Miss Natalia, I’m here.” Mina called out.

“Ah, Mina, I figured you’d get here soon.” Natalia replied, turning to her. “I was just finishing up grabbing the day’s eggs. Wanna help me grab the last few?”

Mina eagerly nodded, and Natalia guided Mina through fetching the eggs. They used fruit to calm down and distract the rowdier myavgo, but otherwise things went pretty well.

“You’re really good with these guys Mina. Were you a farmer back home?” Natalia asked, but Mina shook her head.

“No, I grew up in the city, though I would have loved to live on a farm. My mom does take us to go spend time back in the towns where our grandparents and great grandparents used to live a lot though, and those are filled with all sorts of nature.” Mina explained happily.

“I see. Hey, we’re done with everything for now, but if you’re interested, I could show you the other kind of bird we have around here.” Natalia offered, and Mina happily nodded.

Natalia then lead Mina out of the myavgo pen and over to a different, much larger pen. Stepping inside, Mina saw that this was where all the much bigger birds were roosting.

“Here we are. These guys are called fiterolta.” Natalia declared. “These birds are the ones that we use to get around the kingdom, as well as what provides us with our milk.”

‘Interesting, so they’re like horse cows? Wait, they’re birds, don’t birds not produce milk? Whatever, other world logic.’

“*Whistle* Pekker! Over here Pekker!”

At Natalia’s call, one particular bird few down and landed beside them.

“And this here girl is my personal ride. Pekker. Wanna pet her?” Natalia offered, and Mina eagerly nodded. So, Natalia stepped aside, and Mina tentatively came up and started stroking the bird’s feathers. She kept an eye on Pekker’s head, but the bird seemed completely calm and fine with her, so she kept on petting.

‘This is interesting. These feathers are a lot firmer than the myavgo, and they feel stronger too. I can definitely see why they ride these.’ Mina thought.

“Looks like you like Pekker.” Natalia remarked, and Mina nodded. “Well, seeing as we’re here, do you wanna learn how to ride her?”

Mina’s face instantly snapped up to look at Natalia.

“REALLY!?” Mina asked excitedly, and Natalia nodded.

“Sure. We weren’t exactly planning on teaching you quite yet, but there’s nothing wrong with getting a head start. If you’re up for it.” She said.

“Yes please Miss Natalia!”