Forgotten; Worshipped (Imported from Ao3)

40

Aaron sat in the crafting room, the peaceful quiet and solitude embracing him with gentle caresses which he, in turn, embraced as well as he worked and spun the wool he needed to weave some fabric to then make it into a sort of patch for James' left half of his face. With diligent fingers he spun the wool by hand, making it look like a simple artform with the way he moved his fingers so expertly to spin the wool. He eyed the loom sitting next to him for a moment. He had never had to use it, really, had only used it once and he could not properly remember what for. But as he regarded the loom he noticed that it had worn with age, something that, or so he had thought, should not happen in Alexander's palace. Time simply didn't really pass. Then again, it also sort of did, just not in a way that was noticeable. He would need to make a new loom if he decided to make this a new hobby of his, it did prove to calm his nerves considerably, having something small to focus on that didn't require too much thinking, just memorised muscle movements and he could get lost in the task for hours, especially considering his nigh endless supply of wool. He kept on spinning the wool as the door to the crafting room opened quietly behind him, though the creak it gave echoed through the room as well as through the palace. Aaron stopped spinning the wool and turned his head, seeing whoever entered the room. He smiled as he found it was Hercules bringing him more wool to spin into yarn. Hercules carried the wool over to him and placed it beside him, adding onto the pile.

"How much more will you need?" he asked as Aaron resumed spinning the wool. Hercules took a moment to admire how Aaron looked and appeared so content doing this.

"That should be enough for now. Could you prepare the dyes for me? I should be done in a bit and I would need to repair and properly set up the loom before I may begin weaving. I do wonder how old the loom must be to be in such a state. It makes me wonder if Alexander has used it often..." he paused as his gaze hit the loom beside him with a sudden sadness overcoming him, the change in mood startling Hercules who looked at Aaron with sympathy.

"I don't know. I've never seen him at a loom or do anything like that. Who knows, maybe it was a secret hobby of his. Would it not be funny if the goddess of Fate had taught him how to?" he tried to lift the mood, however, it helped not as Aaron simply shrugged his shoulders and resumed the spinning of the wool.

"I don't quite suppose so. He told me she doesn't particularly like him, didn't when he was alive either. I don't suppose she would have taught him," Aaron replied drily and Hercules frowned, looking around for the dyes Aaron wanted, finding something that might look like what he was looking for in the far corner of the room placed on a high shelf. He took a chair and went over to the high shelf, placing the chair underneath and getting on it to grab the containers. As he grabbed them, he turned around and looked at Aaron with a thoughtful expression.

"Don't you have a spinning wheel? Wouldn't that be much faster?" he asked and Aaron nodded.

"There is a spinning wheel here, but I prefer it like this. I grew up without a spinning wheel in our household, we had to buy wool or yarn from the market, without sheep of our own, but one of the men who had sheep taught me how to spin wool by hand one day. My grandmother was much too impatient with me to teach me, you see. But after that man taught me, I could help her spin wool to yarn, making things much faster. We were able to build a spinning wheel at some point, but I was not allowed to use it, so I remained with spinning by hand and it had always been a very calming task. Perhaps a bit of a mindless task, no real thought given to it, but I prefer it like this," he explained, a smile on his lips at the memories. Hercules frowned in thought.

"What happened to your grandmother then? You told me about your parents, but did the same fate befall her as well?" he asked and Aaron shook his head and he kept on spinning the wool.