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Crouched down low to the ground, Kayde was carefully digging out a plant from the hard soil with a small shovel, his other hand cupping the roots delicately. Beside him was a small pot for the plant, which he quickly transported to once it was free of the dirt, covering it with lots of dirt and giving it a little sprinkle of water from a bottle he had taken with him just for that purpose.

"Yeah," he grunted out, standing up straight with the potted plant in his hands. He handed it to Elka before bending down to brush the dirt off the shovel to store it away inside his backpack. "Just odd jobs for others. Mostly collecting things." Brushing off his hands, the Leaf stood back up, stretching his arms above his head. "Some botanist wanted me to find a certain plant to study. Must have some kind of important properties." He glanced at the plant, seemingly ordinary. It just looked like a regular small green leafed plant, to him. But than he had never been into nature to this extent. "Job pays well enough and it's not like it was difficult." They weren't too far from Neued, luckily. Less chances of running into something dangerous close to a busy city. Still, this wasn't the only thing on his list and he was grateful to have the Ice woman here to help carry things back. "One more plant and we can go back."

"Um." Kayde paused mid-step, bringing the foot back to his side as he shouldered his bag off to root about in. In no time, he'd pulled out a book on the different known plants in Jauhar, a red bookmark stick out of the top. It was to this page he opened the book to, tilting it so that she could see the leafy plant on the left page. He felt the edge of her skirts brush his legs as Elka leaned in for a closer look. "She said it often grows around the roots of the trees." Whereas the other one, the one the Ice woman was holding, that one grew more out in the open, mostly in sunny spots to try and soak up as much of the sun's rays as it could. "So it might be a bit difficult to get out, if it's wrapped around a root."

Kayde closed the book with a smile, letting his fingers lightly brush her arm as she moved away, again. He was grateful she was there with him. At least for a day. Tomorrow she had to return to her own job. It would have been very lonely work, always looking through the forests for different things people asked him to find. Even for him. For that was most of what his work was, being told to fetch this or that from the forest by people who clearly didn't want to get their hands or clothes dirty. Why should they, when they had people like him eager to do all of it for them. And it wasn't like he minded. He wasn't accustomed to heavier jobs, hadn't the body strength for it. And he didn't want to get stuck at a day job. He had ideas for the future, ideas that required him to not be trapped anywhere with some work contract.

"I hope so, too. It's the last job of the day. Would be nice to spend the rest of your day off not doing more work."

"If my lady wishes," Kayde replied with an amused smile as he bent down at the base of a tree. He wasn't sure, but he thought the leaves on this one plant looked like the drawing in the book. He pulled it out, inspecting it for a few moments before concluding that, no, this wasn't the plant they were after. He stood back up, glancing at Elka as she stood patiently behind him, waiting for him to finish. No way was she going to crouch down in the dirt. Judging by the looks she was giving the bottoms of his pants, she wasn't thrilled with him doing it, either. He tried to brush it off as best he could.

"Which restaurant has caught your fancy?" Not one too expensive, he hoped. Past Elka would have suggested just the thing. Hopefully this present version who appeared much more responsible would be sensible. They had to save their money if they were going to have any sort of independence. He certainly didn't want to live in that small boarding house for long, renting a tiny room. And he was sure she'd love to get away from her equally tiny room at the inn. Not that he'd personally seen it, not since she'd been staying in it. That'd be way too forward so early in their newly reincarnated relationship.

Well. No surprise she'd suggest that one. He knew the place. Had just opened up last week, while he was still with Murie's troop. He'd past it only once when he'd gone into town looking for Elka the first time. From the outside, it didn't look like his sort of place. Very much hers, with an elegant front and nice tables when you looked through the big windows.

"Bit expensive, isn't it?" When he noticed her pouting, Kayde offered her his most charming of smiles until he saw her visibly soften. He was fine with most suggestions she gave. Didn't mind letting her have her way most times. But not this time. He wanted that money for his plans. Which she didn't know about. Maybe now was a good time to approach her with his ideas, instead of keeping her in the dark. After all, if the both of them worked towards this goal, they could reach it faster.

"You don't want to be living in that inn for your whole life, do you?"

So she wasn't thinking very far into the future. Also not a surprise. She probably expected to marry into another rich family and continue living an easy life. Until he came along. He should have stopped her back than from joining them, leaving everything she knew. Elka wasn't cut out for hard labor, not than and still not now. But he had been equally as selfish and wanted her with him, no matter the costs to her. Looking at her now, at the way she smiled at him and got embarrassed by whatever thoughts were going through her head, he didn't regret it. It was worth all the pain to him. He would make up for all the pain he had caused her.

"Jauhar isn't the only place in the world, you know. I've been thinking about somewhere else to live." That didn't have so many bad memories for the both of them. Somewhere they could start fresh. "With you," he added, knowing she would take what he was saying the wrong way, as if he'd be so bold as to admit he was going to leave her once more.

Kayde reacted quickly, watching the woman closely as she reacted in a way he hadn't expected. She looked like she was about to choke on air alone. When she stopped and doubled over, he started patting her back, rubbing it in intervals until she finally calmed down.

"Yes? I'd think that'd be obvious." Did she not like the idea? Was that why she'd reacted like that? He'd never seen her react like that. Like she really couldn't believe what she was hearing and forgot how to breath. Actually, it was pretty outrageous, wasn't it? Sometimes he forgot it'd been years since they'd last seen each other. They should be starting fresh, but he was treating this as if they'd only taken a little break from each other. Not had the traumatic parting that they had had for her. "No, I'm sorry for saying that. That was a bit too much too early..."