Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Within his tower, the wizard felt something shift. Initially he wasn’t certain what it was, but something made him believe but it had something to do with the Valley. Somehow it felt familiar; it took him awhile to figure out why. But the trace sense he felt, reminded him of someone he hadn’t seen in many years. His curiosity piqued, the wizard donned a spell of invisibility and worked his way through the village. What he discovered, was excitement. It appeared as though a long lost grandchild was returning to a place their ancestor had claimed as home.

Pelican Town was excited. Lewis, the Mayor, brought news that the great granddaughter of the farmer that have lived at Nightshade Farm wanted to return and reclaim her inheritance. Apparently the farm had been left to her, and now she wanted to claim it. Robin, the carpenter, was equally excited, as the news of the prodigal granddaughter’s return probably meant new business for her.

The farm was run down. While the former occupants had been loved, their son had been less appreciated. In fact it was the farmers granddaughter that had come to reclaim the former farmer, when he grew too old to run the farm himself. He had been missed, and his farm had been slowly reclaimed by the forest. It was a few years later that the residents of Pelican Town heard of his death.

For a few years, the land languished. It found another use, when the younger generation of townsfolk decided to use it as a secluded hideaway to party. Luckily, Robin was quite stern and ensured that her children made sure it was in good repair. She had liked the old farmer and his wife. When she was struggling with a young child, trying to get her business started, they had fed her and kept her going with produce from their garden. They helped her when her husband had left, and Luigi had adored Sebastian. In fact a few pictures could still be found of tiny toddlers, now grown, playing with him. He had been quite fond of children, his own and his neighbors.

The townsfolk had a space of two weeks before the great grandchild was going to arrive, and Robin made sure to pass the word around that all the young folk were responsible for cleaning the cabin and making a presentable for the new occupant, before she could even ensure it was presentable. She spoke to her daughter Maru, and her son Sebastian, who spread the word to Sam and Abigail, and the word found its way around town. Thus, on a Friday night about a week before the new citizen was supposed to arrive, the younger generation of townsfolk journeyed to the farm. They came with buckets and mops, brooms and cloths, ready to clean what may have been left from former escapades of theirs.

It was a small cabin, and having cleaned it, the youngsters of Pelican Town regarded it quietly.

“This is it?” asked Alex, a muscular young athlete with striking green eyes and ruffled brown hair. “This is what she’s going to live in?”

The group of eight young adults stared at the room. It was barren. As you entered the room, to your left was a tiny bathroom and laundry set. The back wall held some cabinets, a sink, a mini fridge, and a hot plate on a counter. A tiny window looked out over overgrown foliage. The adjoining living room was also tiny. A large brick hearth sat in the middle of the wall. The firewood holder was empty. It had been recently cleaned, and no ashes were in the fireplace. The old clock on the mantel had been stopped long ago. The room had an old television, a small banged up coffee table, and a couch that had seen better days. There was a table with two chairs. Rickety stairs squeaked to the right, and the second floor held two rooms. One was supposed to be the master, but it was empty except for the bed. There was a musty closet, and what would have been a nice view if you considered messy green a view. The bathroom was dingy and dated, and somewhere in the hall was a linen cupboard. Granted, the former part time tenants had left their speaker set up inside, figuring that everyone appreciated music, the interior was otherwise desolate.

Generally the house was empty, dust motes danced in the light. Apparently the son of the farmer wasn’t too pleased he hadn’t been willed the land. He and his wife had come back after the farmer had died, and removed anything they wanted. The only reason the house still had a few amenities was because those that had cleaned it had ensured it had been stocked for when they needed it.

But using it as a crash pad was one thing, looking at it as if you were going to live there made the emptiness desolate, and sad.

“From what moms told me, this girl is looking for a new start, and she’s alone. Coming into this with nothing, she’ll have to start from square one.” Maru, the daughter of the Carpenter, exclaimed.

“What you propose we do?” Penny tipped her head to the side, her auburn hair catching the last of the winter light as she regarded Maru questioningly.

“Well, we can’t let this be the first thing she sees. We’ve gotta have some furniture somewhere right? Stuff we don’t need? Stuff we don’t use? Even if it’s just temporary, just so that this doesn’t seem so sad.” Blond spiky hair quivered as Sam looked around at his compatriots.

“Lonely.” A well dressed gentleman with long wavy hair offered. His hands on his hips, Elliott stared at the room with a frown.

“Why should we care again?” a fashionably dressed blond asked as she looked between Sam and Alex.

“Because Haley, the family who lived here cared for us all.” Another figure said. Rifling through the pack she had brought, Emily drew out a picture and handed it to her sister. The picture showed a toddler in a high chair with a blond mop of hair, obviously using the weathered fingers of an old man to teeth on. The group crowded around to see.

“That was the guy who lived here?” asked Sam, as he peeked over Maru’s head. Emily smiled.

“That was the man I knew as Sho-sho. He was our adopted grandfather, and according to mom he loved children.”

“That aside,” another ginger said “we have been partying at his house, and if the man was as good to you guys as you say, do we not kinda owe it to his family to make sure they’re taken care of?” Leah scratched the back of her head as she looked around the room at her cohorts.

“I’m gonna go home and see what Gran and gramps might have that they aren’t using any more. Hopefully we might have a bed spread at least.” Alex started, gathering his cleaning supplies as he went for the door. Haley looked at Emily.

“Don’t we have few shelves in storage? Maybe a few plates and pans if nothing else.”

“Good idea, let’s go look.” Her sister agreed.

One by one the group went off into the sunset, while a few stayed to clean up some more. A little while later, most of those who had departed came back carrying goods. Others joined the parents of youngsters who had heard of the predicament and wanted to see what they could bring.

The bedroom suddenly had a night table, and a bookshelf. The downstairs had added to it, a desk, a full set of cutlery and plates, and another shelf. The pantry was cleaned out, although the fridge was still full of beer. The Mullners, Alex’s grandparents, gave the Alex a spare bedspread, with a warm comforter. Penny and Maru made the bed until it looked comfy enough to curl into. Robin sent her son Sebastian over with a wheelbarrow full of scrap wood for the fireplace. Sam helped him put it away outside, while Abigail went back for another load of the carpenter scraps. They didn’t have anything to decorate it with, but at the end of the evening the house looked like someone could move in. They all went home that night happy, hoping the new farmer would enjoy the touches they’d added, hoping that the new farmer might see it as a home.

A moving truck arrived that weekend, and dropped off boxes and some furniture. Not much, but obviously things that couldn’t be brought in a car. A desk or two, computer, some kitchen things, a few blankets and a few boxes of books and other items. Obviously this new arrival liked to read.

Robin and Lewis were there to meet it, and it turned out that the gentleman there was the new farmer’s father. His message was that their new arrival was on her way.

Within his tower, the Wizard pondered why this new arrival was being brought to his attention at all, another mortal in a town full of mortals was nothing new or different. But this mortal excited the land as well as the people, something Rasmodious had not felt in a long time.

He decided to wait and see what this meant.

Chapter Text

A black car pulled into the tiny parking lot that served Stardew Valley. It moved to the opposite end of the lot from the bus that sat in one space, hopefully closer to the farm the driver was seeking. Having backed into the space, the driver turned off the engine and sat back in her chair.

She was hot and sweaty, her tanktop clinging to her skin, but she just took a moment to breath.

“In 2.5 km, you will arrive at-“

“Shut up you miserable piece of technology.” She growled at the voice that interrupted the last piece of the lecture she had been busy ignoring for the past hour of driving. She turned off the navigation on her phone and the audiobook that she’d completely been ignoring for the better part of the past hour.

The landscape around her was green. Everything was in full gorgeous bloom of springtime, a delightful change from her hometown 6 hours away. But the doubt kept gnawing at her insides.

What was she doing here?

A banging on the top of her car roof brought her back to reality, and to a ginger haired woman grinned outside her door.

“Hi there, you must be Fáelán!” she said cheerily. Fáelán swallowed and returned the grin, pulling her keys from the ignition and getting out of the car.

“Robin I presume?” she asked, offering her hand.

“Yes indeed!” said Robin, returning the handshake with a firm grip. “Good to finally meet you!”

“Likewise Robin.” The carpenter peered into the car that was stuffed full of items and goods.

“Got a bit to move over then?” Fáelán shrugged.

“Not that much, considering my whole life is in my car.”

“As well as a moving truck.” Fáelán grinned.

“Met my Dad did you? Did he talk your ear off too?” Robin laughed.

“Nah, he’s good. I liked him.” Fáelán nodded. “Well, come on! Mayor Lewis sent me to fetch you and bring you to your new home. He’s out there now making sure things are good for your arrival.” Robin eyed her cargo. “Your Dad gave me a heads up that you’d be well loaded, so I brought my wheelbarrow and arms to help you unload!” Fáelán gave her a shy smile before replying.

“I’m grateful for the help, but maybe we should go see the mayor first? I’ll just grab these..” She went around to the passenger’s side door and obtained a small box full of green plants. “Just so they don’t burn.” Robin nodded and gestured to the path at the end of the parking lot.

“Follow me.”

The path to the farm wasn’t long, and Fáelán kept pace with Robin the entire way, trying to steel her nerves for seeing the old place again. It’d been years since she had been here, and now she was coming to a place she barely remembered to live. It was more than a little nerve wracking.

Robin paused at the corner of a veranda surrounding the smallish house she remembered from her youth.

“Well, this is it, Nightshade Farm.” She gestured at the land beyond the house. The land that she remembered to be in well ordered rows and sprawling gardens was quite overgrown. Rocks poked their heads out of the soil, while dropped pieces of wood were scattered in between verdant grasses. Fáelán tried not to lose her composure at the amount of work she’d not anticipated to get the place running, let alone smoothly. She blinked behind her sunglasses before setting down the box of plants to get a better look.

The forest had crept into the land she remembered. She remembered running through fields of green, and between towering trees, swimming in the pond that was within sight of the house, and finding warmth in the greenhouse a bit away from the house.

The greenhouse was in ruins, and trees grew so thickly that she barely knew where to start, let alone find the pond she’d learn to swim in. She closed her eyes under the glasses and took a deep breath. The carpenter seemed to sense her thoughts.

“Hey, don’t get discouraged. There’s still some good soil under these weeds.” At that, Fáelán gave a soft smile.

“Oh, that I remember. But I remember my Sho-sho could make anything grow in anything too. It makes the whole thing a bit more daunting if I think about my track record with plants.”

“Well, you’ve got these. They look healthy.” Robin indicated the box of brilliantly green plants and Fáelán smiled shyly.

“Good point, thanks for reminding me.” Robin nodded before she gestured towards the house.

“Viola, your new home.” She said cheerfully. The front door opened and a grey mustached gentleman in a newsboy cap came out.

“Ah, the new farmer!” he said before walking out and shaking her hand. “Welcome! I’m Lewis, the Mayor of Pelican Town.”

“Pleasure to meet you Sir.” Fáelán replied.

“Don’t call me Sir. Lewis or Mayor will do.” He replied.

“Yessir.” Was her automatic reply.

“Was that a joke?”

“Nosir.” Replied Fáelán. Behind him, Robin chuckled before they all turned and looked at the house.

“So you’re moving into your great grandfather’s old cottage then. It’s a good house, very rustic.”

“Its been recently cleaned out and turned into something more than a dusty shell.” Robin chimed in. Fáelán cocked her head at the carpenter before turning to look back at the cottage. The mayor and the carpenter shared a look behind her back as they noticed her lips press into a thin line.

“Its not exactly how I remember it.”

“Your grandfather wasn’t overly pleased that you were willed the deed to this place.”

“I’m… aware that my grandfather isn’t the most pleasant of people Mayor.” She responded.

“Well,” Robin nudged Fáelán gently. “If you need an upgrade you can get a hold of me to do the work!” Lewis spun round to stare angrily at the lady.

“Rude Robin! Let her get accustomed to the house before you start trying to sell her things!” Robin chuckled as Lewis fumed for a moment.

“I’m sure that in the future I may take you up on that Robin,” replied Fáelán, taking her sunglasses off to observe the place more closely. “I want to do well by my Sho-sho and Nona, and that may be a good way to take care of this place.” Lewis nodded, pleased that the new farmer appeared to have a healthy respect for the past.

“Everyone is excited to meet you, we don’t get new people often and your arrival has been much anticipated by the community.” The mayor segued into the subject change easily. “You should get some rest tonight and explore the town tomorrow.”

“What Lewis means is that you should start unpacking a bit first.” Robin grinned at her. “Maybe we should start by going inside?” she gestured to the door as Lewis handed the newcomer her key.

“Thank you Lewis and Robin. You’re right.” Lewis smiled as he tipped his hat to the women.

“I’m sure I’ll see you soon Fáelán. Let me know if you run into any trouble.” He started to walk away, but stopped before he got too far, indicating a wooden box beside the edge of the property. “Oh! If you have anything you wish to sell, just drop it in here. I’ll come by in the night and take it off to where it can be sold and I’ll leave you your earnings in the mail the next day.” Fáelán nodded.

“Thankyou Lewis. I appreciate the information.” The mayor left as the new occupant opened the door to her new home.

It had been spruced up a little, but in comparison to what she remembered, it was not the same place. She recognized the fireplace and the kitchen table, even the silly old TV and the ugly bathroom. All of her things from the moving truck were stacked up along the wall beside the door. A full wall of boxes, mostly of books.

She noticed her dad had set up a bookshelf against the wall beside the fireplace and had filled the shelves in the kitchen with a few cans of food. The wood box was full, something Robin pointed out with glee as something her children had done on her recommendation.

“Well, I hope your children are as incredibly kind as you are.” She said as she walked upstairs, Robin blushing behind her. The bedroom upstairs she didn’t remember much of, but she didn’t recognize the green comforter and comfy looking pillows. Tipping her head to the side, she observed them. Seeing her gaze, Robin spoke softly.

“When your grandparents stripped this place, the kids in town made it their crashpad. When I told them they needed to clean it before you moved in, they decided that if you were moving cross region for such a place that had been stripped, they all dipped into their storage spots and pulled out what you were missing to make it more of a home for you.”

The newcomer sniffed slightly, incredibly touched and doing her best to hide it, and failing. Robin gave her a pat on the shoulder before pulling the girl into a hug.

“We’re not as interesting as big city folk, but we take care of our own. You’re new here, but don’t ever think to not ask for help if you need it. We’ll do what we can.”

“Thank you.” Fáelán responded sincerely, too touched to really say anything else. Robin handed her a Kleenex and hooked a thumb in the direction of her car.

“Come on, I’ll help you unload and unpack a bit. Then I’ll let you get settled in.”

Between the two of them, Fáelán had her kitchen in somewhat functional manner before too long, and before leaving Robin gave her instructions on how she could be found as well as a map of the area. She took off up the pathway that lead north off the farm and left Fáelán to sit on the veranda in front of her front door.

Looking out over the land, she decided the best thing to do would be to start with the tools that Robin had found for her. She eyed the ax and the land around her new cottage. Lots of trees that would need to be cut, rocks to till out of the soil, so many things to do and she hadn’t even been there a full night yet.

She took a deep breath to help herself not get overwhelmed. Standing, she returned to the cottage to collect her thoughts and change. She and Robin had already hauled up all the boxes labeled books and clothes to the room overlooking the farm, and it was there she went to find some work clothes. She removed the yoga pants she was wearing and the belt with the pouches she wore when she didn’t have pockets to hold things.

She traded it for some decent shorts and a sturdy belt, from which she hung her knife and a gathering bag. Applying sunscreen, she slipped on heavy sandals and went outdoors again, pulling her long dark braided hair into a bun and securing it with a chopstick to keep it off the back of her neck, she selected the scythe and the ax, but leaned the ax against the veranda to start with the scythe. She just wanted to be able to see the land that she’d be working with before she even tried to figure out what to do next.

Clearing a path to the small pond to the side of the property wasn’t hard, but she tripped over old logs once or three times on her way there, another thing to fix.

Finally she made it to the small pond amongst the trees that she remembered so well. She’d learned to swim here when she was young, and the memories of this particular part of the farm were strong. Laying her scythe down, she planted her feet in the water and let the coolness work away the sweat on her skin.

She took a deep breath, taking in the scent of forest and water, feeling a sense of peace envelop her. It was good to be back, even if it was different, it was still the same place she’d dreamed of for all those years away.

She didn’t feel like going and seeing people, but decided that if she was going to get the best use out of the land, she’d better have an idea of how big it was and where everything was first.

Going back to the house, she fished out a small notebook and a pen before heading back out again; making sure her scythe was back with the rest of her tools before going any further.

She made a list of what she wanted to start with, and what she wanted in general, making a note to see Robin about what kind of structures were worth building out here and what she’d charge for them to be built.

According to her correspondence with the carpenter before she’d arrived, the land was still fertile, and the small ponds on her land were clean to swim in, so if she wanted animals that would be something to consider as well.

She also made a note to check out how she might get internet out here. She didn’t want to use data on her phone if she could help it. Also, how to make a compost bin would be helpful, it was another thing she jotted down in the book.

She was amused to see the fire pit her Sho-sho had put in for she and her siblings to have wiener roasts in was swept clean of ashes. Apparently Robin had put the fear of Gods into whoever had been responsible for cleaning this place.

She was grateful the carpenter was around, it felt good to have someone who she felt she could trust out here.

The sun was setting as she had finished wandering through the brush, and she desperately wanted food and a shower before she fell into bed, already thinking of the seeds she wanted to plant as spring got underway.

She managed an egg on toast before she prepped her tiny coffee pot for the next morning. Gods forbid she do much without coffee. People tended to be injured when she didn’t have coffee in the morning, or at least tea.

Managing a quick shower, she fell into bed with her hair in a towel before setting her alarm for the next morning. Her new life was ready to begin.

Her new life started the next day, with her alarm clock going off at 5:30 AM. The ring was ungodly sounding, but she had done that on purpose to ensure she got up. As a result she pulled herself out of bed, grumbling all the way, and went downstairs to make some food. She started her coffee, before sitting down at the table to quickly check the weather, and anything else that was interesting. While listing it to the TV, she made herself some breakfast, and finally managed to sit down with a cup of coffee. She found an interesting little show called “living off the land”, and perused that as she ate. It gave her some interesting tidbits to start with. Having eaten, she changed into work clothes, brushed her teeth, did her hair, and washed her face.

Droplets dripping from her nose, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was so dark as to almost be black, neatly braided. Her skin was pale, having a mild tint of olive. This morning, her eyes were cloudy blue. She was used to her eyes changing colors, or at least shades. Her mother had always called them her “dragon eyes”, like her father’s. Her ears were slightly pointed, and the piercing she wore in them only added to her appearance. She could’ve been said to have had an otherworldly beauty if she actually acknowledged it herself.

As it was, she looked it herself in the mirror, and repeated her mantra.

“You cannot fail. Let’s go.”

On her veranda, she found a package containing 15 parsnip seeds, an envelope full of money, and a note from Mayor Lewis, indicating that this money was to help get her started. Grabbing her tools, she started to clear away the detritus of years. Soon, her arms were aching, as was her back. Clearing old logs, and stones too big to throw into a bucket, was significantly harder then it looked. She kept them though, having played enough video games, she knew that everything could be useful, even if she didn’t yet know how. She was sure that when she was ready to expand her facilities, that the builders could probably use the material. Maybe it would even reduce the cost.

She wasn’t new to gardening, her Sho-sho had had a greenhouse in the city, and she recalled fondly helping him plant tomatoes. Having been a gardener during the summers, seed planting wasn’t new to her. The clearing was difficult, the gardening wasn’t. The parsnips planted, she decided to go into town to see what other seeds she could buy.

She washed her face clean of dirt, gathered a tote bag having remembered the suggestion from that show she’d seen, made sure she looked mostly presentable, and headed off to town. Along the way she gathered a few flowers, and mentally marked out where she saw a wild horse radish to gather later. She figured that she would be living a lot off forged foods, until she can afford something different. She had some experience with wild food, but had never really taken to eating dandelion greens, and figured there was no time like the present.

The town square was beautiful, rustic even. She liked it at once. Cobblestones paved the pathways under her feet, and as she walked it felt different than street concrete. It was a nice change and she let the pads of her feet get used to the new sensation.

The town square had some beautiful ancient trees surrounding it, and Fáelán was instantly captivated by them. The tiny flower boxes dotting the area made her face breakout in the smile. Flowers and greenery always made are happy. She saw the general store, and started making her way towards it. It was almost lunchtime, so she wasn’t sure she should anticipate seeing people. But the square was empty, and she paused outside the general store to observe a bulletin board. She was surprised to see a calendar marked with names of townsfolk she hadn’t met yet. This must be the community birthday calendar. Pulling out her phone, she snapped a few pictures of it to mark in her journal later.

It wouldn’t be a bad thing to keep on top of birthdays, that’s usually a good way to make friends.

Walking inside, the store owner waved at her.

“You must be the new farmer! I’m Pierre, owner of the local general store. If you’re looking for seeds or anything else, my store is the place to go. Let me know if you have any questions, or if I can help you with anything.” Fáelán bowed her head slightly, and smiled at him.

“Good to meet you, Pierre. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other through the year.” He gave her a winning smile, and nodded at her.

“The seeds are just over here.” He indicated a spinning shelf, and she was happy to browse. She compared what she knew about seeds and the vegetables they grew, to the instructions on the back the packages. Using her phone, she snapped a few pictures for reference, and pulled out a few to purchase and plant that day.

“Just these please.” She said politely, passing him the gold to pay. He grinned at her, winking a brown eyed behind glasses at her.

“See you soon!” he responded before turning to the next person in line behind her. A lady stepped up to the counter. She had dark bushy hair and a red jumper over green shirt. Her mouth was surrounded by smile lines, and she exuded warmth that made Fáelán feel at home.

“Hullo Miss Fáelán!” she greeted, “I’m Marnie, the local rancher. I live just down from your farm, and if you have any questions about animals you can come see me at any time!”

“Would I come see you are interested in buying any animals?” Fáelán asked. Marnie smiled.

“Oh yes, animals, anything to do with animals, I’m quite glad to be able to make them my business.” Her attention was taken by Pierre asking for payment, and Fáelán slipped away in the lull.

She noticed another person in the store, a girl of about her own age with brilliant purple hair. Fáelán was instantly jealous. As she approached, the girl waved her over.

“I heard that someone new was moving onto that old farm. It’s kind of a shame really; I always enjoyed exploring those overgrown fields by myself.” Despite herself, Fáelán found herself grinning.

“They’re still pretty overgrown if you wanted to keep coming by for exploration purposes. I may need someone to come dig me out from a moving bush or something.” The girl raised her eyebrow.

“You have moving bushes?” she asked. Fáelán shrugged.

“You never know, I’m half expecting the forest to try and eat me any time I wander into it.” The stranger laughed, and Fáelán was pleased her attempt at humour was working so far.

“I might do that then! I’m Abigail. You’re alright for a newcomer.”

“I hope to not disappoint.” Fáelán replied a little shyly.

“Nah, I think you’ll do fine.” Abigail grinned at her.

“I kind of need to get going, I need to plant these before the days up so they can get growing faster, but at some point I wouldn’t mind hanging out if you were open to it.” Fáelán offered, feeling her gut roil as she asked the question. To her mild surprise, Abigail was nodding enthusiastically.

“That sounds good actually, my friends Sebastian and Sam and I meet up on Fridays at the saloon. Do you know of it?”

“Saloon?” Fáelán cocked her head to the side, trying to recall if she had seen a saloon.

“The Stardrop Saloon. It’s basically our local bar, and it’s just across the way from here.”

“Oh that’s what that building is?”

“Yup! We usually meet there at about three, there’s a back room with an arcade and a pool table and stuff. We usually hang out there. Do you want to come this week?” Fáelán shrugged.

“Sounds like a good way to end a week to me.”

“Great! I look forward to seeing you there!”

“Abigail!” the girls heard Pierre call from the till.

“Oops, I’ll talk to you later, ok?”

“You bet. Have a good day Abigail.” Fáelán waved at her new acquaintance before walking out the door with her purchases, and back to work the farm.

The rest of the day was spent planting her remaining crops, and clearing as much of the land as she could. She started making a compost bin behind the cottage, so she would have somewhere to dispose of all the organic matter she couldn’t use. Before heading for supper, she ensured that all of her crops were watered, and that her tools were put away.

She barely remembered eating, or passing out. She did remember to set her alarm to be able to repeat the process the next day.

Chapter Text

5:30 AM dawned far too early for her taste. Fáelán repeated the routine from yesterday, but instead of finding a package from Lewis, she found a letter from a gentleman named Willy.

Fishing? She thought after reading the message. Then she shrugged. It couldn’t hurt to at least visit the guy. Besides, there was a beach. She never lived anywhere with a beach.

Her plan solidified, she set to work on watering and pulling any weeds she could find. Recognizing a few she set them aside to be washed and eaten later. Others, she set aside for processing into remedies. Standing up, she pressed a hand to her lower back. She pulled out a few more logs and a few rocks, setting them into their respective piles. Seeing that her farm work was basically completed, she watched her face with pond water, put away her tools, gathered her notebook and her satchel, and consulted a map she received that morning from Robin. The map showed Pelican Town, and on the back there was a list of names corresponding to addresses. Showing her who lived in which residence. She was quite grateful for it, and meant to send Robin a thank you note as soon as possible. Figuring out where this Willy lived, she made a note in her notebook about the thank you, and walked off for the beach.

Along the way ash was making her way down the beach, she saw a youngster in a red stripes shirt. He seemed to be making his way in a specific direction, but as he passed Fáelán waved to him, and the youngster came over to introduce himself.

“Hi!” he said excitedly. “My name’s Vincent.”

“Good to meet you Vincent,” she replied digging in her satchel for a flower she’d found, and offering it to him.

“Oh wow, for me? This is awesome!” he took the daffodil in his hand and grinned up at her. “Thanks Miss!”

“Fáelán please, don’t worry about miss.”

“OK Fáelán. I got to get to school now, I hope I’ll see you again” his brown eyes sparkled under a mess of spiky hair. Fáelán couldn’t help but smile.

“I’m sure you will.” She waved at the boy as he went one way and she continued towards the beach.

She continued down to where she could hear the ocean, and found a pier upon which a building of some sort sat. At the end of that pier was a man, smoking a pipe. He wore a fisherman’s cap, and workman's clothes. His skin was weathered and dark, and for some reason she was instantly reminded of her Sho-sho.

“Hullo?” she called as she approached him.

“Ahoy there Miss” he turned and tipped his hat to her, the smoke curling out of his pipe mingling with a signal of the salt in the air. “I heard there was a newcomer in town, good to finally meet ya.”

“Willy I presume?” she asked. He tipped his cap again and grinned that her.

“You’d be right.” he took the pipe out of his mouth as he turned to her. “I'm still trying to unwind from a month out on the salty seas. I got a lot of good fish! It was a good haul.” the fishermen observed her. “You're definitely Luigi’s blood.” she nodded in reply.

“I'm his great granddaughter.”

“Did your Sho-sho teach you how to fish?” she grimaced at his question.

“No, Sho-sho didn't fish. Not as far as I knew anyway. My grandpa took me fishing, but didn't teach me much.”

“Ah, I remember your grandfather. Despite my pappy being a fisherman, he tried to tell me my Pappy was wrong and how I could do a better.” he inhaled through his pipe as he watched her.

“I'm sorry about that. My grandfather is-” she trailed off, seeking the best way to describe him. She was going to say an “unpleasant person”, but she caught a glimpse of his bemused expression and changed her mind.

“No, my grandfather's just a dick.” Willie laughed at the statement.

“I like you girl! Do you know why your grandpa never taught you how to fish?” he asked.

“I'm pretty sure it's because I'm a girl. He was always so much more thrilled with my brothers.” Willie gave her a sympathetic glance.

“Well, in my experience woman or man to be great fishers. It's all in the practice. I got an old rod you can have. I like to see the art o’ fishing staying alive, and hey maybe you'll buy somethin’ from the shop once in a while.” he handed her an old bamboo rod, and she took it gratefully. “There’s good water here in the valley, all kinds o’ fish living in it.”

“How do I know what kind of fish I catch? Assuming I catch any at all.”

“Good question lass.” he handed her book. “This should tell you all of the fish in the valleys waters, so if you catch somethin just look it up.”

“Thank you so much Willy, I'm very grateful. Although, I still have no idea what I'm doing” she said ruefully. He chuckled at that.

“Com’ere then” he said gesturing to the edge of the pier. “I show you how to get started.”

Between the two of them Fáelán finally got the lessons that she'd been denied for so long, and by mid-afternoon, under Willy’s direction’s, she landed a sardine and a few sunfish. She also landed some trash, but she tucked it into her satchel as well, telling Will that if it was in her satchel then it wasn’t in the ocean. He firmly agreed. He got out his rod so he could continue his lessons with her. As they fished, he discovered that she knew a lot about marine ecosystems, and she explained that she did have a degree in science.

“Mostly environmental stuff, but I do love the ecosystems, and land, and how it all fits together.”

“I suppose they call you a tree hugger?” he asked. She gave the soft smile, mostly teeth.

“This depends on who we’re talking about.”

“Fair enough” he responded, and they fished silently for time. She finally left him, thinking him graciously. Stowing her catches and her new rod in her satchel, she headed back to her farm using the bottom route that she traced on the map. This route to occur past Marnie’s ranch, as well as other homes she hadn't seen. She dug a bit when she thought she saw something sparkling in the grass, and unearthed a dried starfish. Tucking it away, she figured she might as well hold onto it for bit and see if there were any archaeologists that could tell her more about it in the town. But that was another day's quest, for now she had projects to complete.

Those projects took a backseat when she caught sight of a pretty auburn haired girl who waved her over to the side of a large lake.

“Hey there” she called, “you must be the new farmer. I've been looking forward to meeting you. I'm Leah. You picked a good time to move here, the spring is lovely.”

“Yeah, I'm Fáelán,” Fáelán replied. “Spring is beautiful here. I'm enjoying it immensely.”

“That’s good to hear.” Leah caught sight of some greenery hanging from her satchel and asked about it. Fáelán explained about her foraging, and to her surprise Leah began excitedly detailing some of her own finds in the countryside. Soon the two were chatting like old friends about the flora and fauna of the area. Fáelán was surprised to find a kindred wild crafting spirit, someone who was equally enthusiastic about the diet of wild greens.

“I'll have to show you my medicine chest sometime, there's lots of remedies in the plants around us if we only know what to look for.” Leah replied in the affirmative and enthusiastically. Fáelán told her that she be welcome at any time. The two parted as friends, and promised to make plans soon.

Finally making it home for the evening, Fáelán sorted out her goods. She dumped the sardine into the shipping bin, and into the little ice chest within it.

“At least I finally figured out why that was there.” she chuckled to herself. She made a small fire in the fire pit outside, and skewered the sunfish she caught, putting it close to the embers. As it cooked, she made herself a salad and processed the herbs she wanted to use as medicines. The sunfish was flaky, and flavorful. It mixed well with the bitterness of the greens. Tossing the bones onto her new compost bin, she noted in her journal that she’d need to make a top for it. Bones were full of calcium, but it would do no good to her compost if they didn't have a chance to decompose. The fish skin she left out for the birds, hoping that they would leave her crops alone if they had this to eat. Full of food and content, she went inside to do some organizing.

Once inside, she started sorting out her living room. Between the donated desk, and the two she had herself she decided that this would be her work area. She set up her computer on one desk, and her tools and jewelry making supplies on another. A shelf stood beside them so she could organize her equipment. Looking over the pieces she made and had never sold, she gathered them all together and walked them outside to the shipping bin. She wondered how much they would go for, or if they would go for anything at all. Lewis had never said anything about personal items being sold. But he hadn't said not to, so she decided to take a chance.

Fatigue crept up on her and she found herself yawning. Taking that as a good time to head the bed, she found that when her head hit the pillow she couldn't remember anything else.

The next day was rainy, and Fáelán found this out when she rolled over and found that she had slept through her alarm by about 3 hours. Given that it was rainy, she figured the 3 hour extra sleep was probably not so bad. Mother Nature had taken care of watering for, so she had time to do other things. Deciding that it was probably better to go outside now, rather than later, she dug through her clothes and layered up. She felt ridiculous, but decided not to look into the mirror to confirm that. Pulling on work boots, she journeyed outside.

Her list of things to do outside was thankfully minimal. She had documented seeds she had found, and spend some time creating test plots, so she could see what the seeds turned into. That done, she grabbed her fishing rod, and decided that more time should be spent outside. At the moment, fishing was the only way she was going to get fresh food to eat beyond forging. Willey had also said that different fish came out when it rained, so better to get on that when it was raining.

She threw her line into the freshwater pond down past Marnie’s, and after ½ hour trying got nothing but trash. She settled down to the river, and got a few other things before adjourning to the beach and trying for a little longer. Altogether she found a few cool fish she hadn’t seen yet, and was able to unearth some clams and mussels that had washed up on the beach. Even if she didn’t eat all of her catches, this was still good to sell. Thoroughly soaked, she went back to the cottage and was overly grateful to Robin for dry wood on her hearth. Starting the fire, she peeled herself out of her clothing and hung it in front of the fire to dry. Looking around her living room, she decided to get started on her notebook, but before she forgot she called Robin to ask if she knew anything about Internet on the property.

“Hullo Robin, you have some time?”

“Of course I do Fáelán! What you need?”

“I was actually wondering if you knew if there had been Internet put into this house, or if there hadn’t who is there any way to get it?”

There was a pause for a minute as Robin thought.

“Well, Sebby is busy,” she began, “but I can ask Maru if she knows. Can I get her to text you about it?”

“Sure. I look forward to hearing from her. Also, thanks for the map Robin it’s really appreciated.”

She can almost hear the woman blushing over the phone.

“Oh don’t worry about it; I know how easy it is to get lost so I thought you’d like that.”

“I very much do. Thank you so much. I should let you get back to your day, but thank you again.”

“No problem hon! Talk to you soon!”

Robin hung up the phone, and Fáelán let out a long breath. Robin was a wonderful person, but very high energy. Fáelán hadn’t managed to gain her energy back yet, if she ever would. People were draining, or maybe Fáelán was just tired. Could’ve been both.

She spent the rest the afternoon cleaning, organizing, and seeing what she could find in her great grandparents storage rooms. She managed to go through some of her own things and separate thing she no longer wished to keep into a pile for selling or donation, and managed to find her Nona’s stew pot, that was supposed to hang from the fire. She also found her own stash of candles and lanterns. She put those aside to be used for decoration later.

Stretching her back out, after being on her knees for too long, she decided to tackle her journal.

She rode out the names and the birthdays of although she had met, and even though she hadn’t yet. She made her own little calendar with all of the villagers’ birthdays on it. Pinning that to her wall, she marked off the days she had been here already, and wondered as to the point of the festival’s that were upcoming. She’d never been to an Egg Festival before, and what was the flower dance? She let it go, figuring that this was simply a local set of spring events, probably only local to this region.

Sometime in the middle of her ponderings in her notebook, her phone buzzed and an unfamiliar number introduced itself as Maru’s phone. The conversation was short, and to the point. It turned out that a rather impressive modem had been installed in the house, and once she located it, it was a simple matter of plugging her computer into it. She saved the number in her phone, and hoped to meet this Maru soon.

She spent the next few days harvesting her parsnips, watering her crops, clearing out debris, and generally letting her OCD going nuts on a place she now considered hers. At home it hadn’t been such a big deal, nobody except her took care of the yard, nobody really cared about the garden, and after working all day in other people’s gardens, the last thing she wanted to do was get quack grass out of her yard. So her yard and her garden generally looked messy.

Now that she had a place that she could consider her own, now that she had a place that was her own, it was going to be clean. As clean as it could be, without manicuring everything. She fished a bit, mostly for supper. Forged a bit for salad to go with it, and found herself dozing off under a tree for the next two or three afternoons, or hopping into the pond after work was done.

It was nice to be free. It was nice to be making some form of income.

She got money of course, the catches she was putting in her shipping bin were selling, as well as her crops and other forged goods, but it was so satisfying to know that she was making money with her own hands.

Her parsnips ripened, white and full into the soil and Fáelán harvested them, admiring them before tossing them into the shipping bin. She actually did make it town once with her fishing earnings and was able to buy more seeds. She bought mostly more parsnips, but also potatoes and some kale. Apparently parsnips grew well, and it was time to see what else would.

She was pleased to not have to deal with too many people. Even Pierre was quiet when she entered his shop. Obviously he was a little preoccupied with something else, and she left into his work.

Slowly the farm started to look like it once had; and Fáelán bemoaned her lack of arm muscles as she took her ax to the trees that were in the way of more farming. She ached, but she worked. She fished when she was done, and fell into bed every night exhausted.

One morning she got a letter about some mines, and almost immediately threw away because it came from Joja mart. Having scanned it quickly, she committed the details to memory and tossed the paper into the flames. She didn’t need more of their baloney, or bullshit layered under pretty words. “Environmental stewardship” indeed.

Abigail sat on the couch in the back of the Stardrop saloon, watching as her friends Sam and Sebastian played pool. More appropriately, she was watching Sam be destroyed at pool by Sebastian. But that was how every Friday night was, Sam could still not play, and Sebastian had decided that if Sam couldn’t improve, he wouldn’t let him win.

She checked her watch and sipped her drink as she watched Sam scratch again.

“I wonder if the new farmer will come and hang out.” She began. Sam looked over at her.

“Have you met her yet? I’ve heard she exists but I haven’t seen her.”

“Yeah, she’s kind of shy. At least I think she is.” Abigail shrugged. “Maybe she just doesn’t like people.”

“That would make her your best friend Seb,” Sam nudged his friend. Sebastian looked up from the pool cue and table he was studying. His black bangs hiding the calculating dark gray eyes, and softening the sharpness of his annoyance that he directed at Sam.

“You and my mother, just because I’m not so good around people, does not immediately make me the best candidate to be her friend. “

“Oh, lighten up buddy. I didn’t mean anything by it.” Sam said. Sebastian ignored him, lining up his cue and taking his shot. The ball he was aiming for knocked Sam’s out of the way and bounced into another that hit the corner before the ball rolled into its own pocket. Sam immediately began wailing as Sebastian lined up for another play. “Come on man! How am I ever supposed to match that?”

“Obviously you’re not.” Abigail smirked at him. Sam shot her a dirty look. His bright blond spiky hair didn’t make him seem intimidating, and so the look simply made her giggle. Blue eyes glared at her, but we’re suddenly pulled back to the game as Sebastian sunk another ball. Instead of listening to Sam continuing to wail, Abigail stood.

“I’m going to grab some pizza, usual order?” she asked. She saw Sebastian nod, while Sam continued to complain at his friend. Rolling her blue eyes, Abby made her way down to the bar where Gus grinned at her as she asked for the usual.

“15 minutes, coming up!” the bartender exclaimed. Abigail smiled and made her way back to the boys.

Sam was finally able to try to hit the ball again, and was leaning over the table. Sebastian gave her a small grin.

“Nice earrings Abby, where did those come from?” he asked indicating the purple dangles at her ear. Touching them, Abigail smiled.

“My dad has actually got some jewelry in. When this came in with a local inventory, I snatched it up. I’m quite fond of them.” The earrings were simple; a purple star was topped by a silver disk bead, over which a clear faceted bead sat. A tiny silver bead at the top finished the piece before it was finished with the metal twisted into a loop.

“Wonder where those came from.” Sam muttered as he missed the cue ball again. “Damnit!” he spat.

Pizza appeared about 20 minutes later, and the three indulged.

“Do you even want to meet this farmer Seb?” Sam asked through a mouthful of pizza. Abigail frowned, being reminded of something.

“Did you even return the extra key you had?” Sebastian frowned.

“Not if I can help it and no.” he directed the first half of his statement to Sam, and the last part to Abigail.

“Why?” Sam garbled, his mouth so stuffed with pizza that it was only far too many years of having known him that Sebastian actually knew what he was trying to say. Sebastian rolled his eyes.

“Mom’s been on my case that she seems pretty lonely. I’m not interested in picking up stray cats, or taking care of feral people. I’ve got enough work to do already.” Abigail opened her mouth to repeat her question, but Sebastian answered her. “No, I haven’t, and I’m pretty sure I won’t have to. She seems to have made so much effort to get involved with the town, I don’t think shall last a month.” His sarcasm was practically dripping out of the air from his words. Abigail opened her mouth to say something, to defend the newcomer, but she realized that she didn’t really have anything to defend her with. How did she know that this girl would stay for any longer than a month?

“I hope you’re wrong.” She said finally, but knew Sebastian would only be convinced by actions.

Chapter Text

It took until Saturday for the birds to stop going after the fish innards she’d left them, and decided that her crops were far more edible, as she discovered when she turned from the mailbox at an ominous cawing. She resisted throwing the envelope she’d discovered in her mailbox at the crow. Instead she gritted her teeth, and decided to go look up on her new Internet how to make a scarecrow.

An hour later, lots of straw, some sticks, twine, burlap, and the ugliest oldest work clothes she had, she stuck the bottom end of the scarecrow into the soil and dusted her hands.

“I wonder if I need to have a sign as well.” She said to no one. “Maybe this sign should say ‘go away birds.’” She chuckled to herself, at the concept, knowing it was silly, but being amused by it anyway. She turned to the envelope that she had put down when she saw the crow, and opened it.

“D0000D.” it began, “you totally missed saloon night! I was looking forward to letting you meet my friends; you owe me of rain check on this! Xp. I don’t know if you have a phone, but this is my number. Love, Abigail.”

Below the message was a number. Fáelán quickly plugged it into her phone and sent an apology. Mentally tuning out her phone again, she finished her farming before heading to town for more seeds, to replace the plants the Crows had eaten.

Along the way she ran into Lewis, who showed her the old community center. It was pretty tattered, old and forgotten, but it looks like it had had many good days. He seemed really sad about it, as if he wanted to repair it and bring back all the good memories he had of it.

“Joja has been hounding me to sell them the land so they can turn it into a warehouse.”

Fáelán gagged and was distinctly displeased. Lewis turned to her. “We can use the money, probably more than we can use this old place, but something’s stopping me from selling it.”

“Might that be common sense mayor? Joja will always hound people. There’s something to be said about those who are able to resist.” She stared at the decrepit building. “This place looks like it had a purpose once. I’d hate to give Joja something with this much good memories attached. They wouldn’t appreciate it at all. To them, it’s just real estate, to you, its heritage.” He nodded, gesturing at the door.

“Shall we go inside?”

Inside was as desolate as outside, but Fáelán felt something odd. As soon as she entered the building, she could smell earth, freshly turned soil, potatoes from the back yard. But it wasn’t just soil; the earthy scent was mixed with something fragrant and sweet. Was that sweet peas? Or was it lilacs after the rain? It was difficult to pinpoint. Beyond the smell, Fáelán’s skin prickled. Something felt outside of regular reality, as if she’d walked into a passage full of static electricity. But it wasn’t painful; it almost felt like the electricity between people when they don’t touch, a way that your body recognizes the presence of another.

Lewis noticed a stone igloo type structure in the corner. He considered it to be a play fort of the youngsters in the town, but something told Fáelán that this wasn’t a human structure. The knowledge wasn’t terrifying, it wasn’t even something to be feared, it was just something new, different, and familiar?

As Lewis turned her, muttering something about how this place was worse than he recalled, Fáelán noticed something behind him pop into sight. She leaned around him to get a better look, but as he turned the tiny thing disappeared. Fáelán was puzzled, and Lewis followed her gaze only to mention something about rats.

Fáelán nodded as Lewis shrugged and said something about wanting some lunch. He mentioned on the way out that he’d leave the door open so she could come catch the rat if she had some time.

As the door shut behind the mayor, Fáelán followed her ears. Something here was chiming, and the wind never seemed to stop. Within another room, she saw something glowing. Walking in, she could’ve sworn she saw another small creature that was most certainly not a rat, disappear into nothing.

Were they tiny apples?

On the floor was a glowing scroll that she couldn’t read. Having some knowledge of things not of this earth or reality, Fáelán observed it, and let it be. Something told her this was not for her to touch, at least not now.

She left the community center, and its spirits, having a fairly good idea that’s pretty soon, she be back.

Something was troubling her about it though. Whatever was there and there was something there, was familiar. Like déjà vu, or an old old dream from when she was too young to know it was a dream. This was a mystery, but the real world was first. Mysteries wouldn’t put food on the table.

Gathering seeds from Pierre’s, she decided that after she planted them she go check out these mines. She packed her map, her pickax, some water, and some food. Leaving everything else behind, she strapped on the knife in the thigh holster, and decided that she should pull out one of the gifts from her friends before she left. Leaning beside the door was a pole arm, black shaft with a silver cap at the bottom. The top was covered in another black cap, but this one covered a blade. She nodded at it, silent satisfaction that it may finally find a use that wasn’t propping up the wall and being beautiful and deadly. She held it close as she walked out the door and towards the path she first saw Robin take towards her house. She did indeed pass the carpenter shop, but her mind and her feet were far more set towards the tiny bridge and the hole in the stone of the mountain. Making her way to the entrance, she uncapped the blade and stowed the cap in her backpack before moving into the darkness.

It wasn’t truly that dark, there were lanterns on the wall. She saw a man inside, white hair and mustache, his left eye covered by a patch. She stood off to the side, having approached him a little, and left a good deal of space should he prove to be dangerous. He looked at her.

“Your stance is a little weak, but you have a nice blade. Problem is, the mine isn’t a good place for pole arms. There’s no room to maneuver, between hauling a pickax to clear your path and the beasties that might be in your way, pole arms aren’t the best weapon for this. Are you looking to be an adventurer?” he asked her. Fáelán cocked her head to the side and said nothing.

“Well if you come down with me, I can lend you a sword, get you started. You may just be an explorer, but I prefer that nobody died in these mines.” He indicated a chest over by a set of rails. “If you leave your pretty blade around there no one will take it. Inside you should find an all right sword.” She complied, but gave him a confused look as she buckled on the blade. The man shrugged. “Swords are easiest; wide range of attack, not as quick as a dagger, but pretty good to start. You can always decide later if you wanted to change.” He indicated a hole with the ladder in the ground, and descended. Fáelán followed.

“Names Marlon by the way.” He said as he pulled out his own pickax and showed her how to start.

It took a few levels for her to understand why a pole arm was indeed not the weapon for the mines. The sword he had lent her came in useful before she even realized that it had.

At level 10, when they had fixed 2 elevator fuses, Marlon stretched and indicated the elevator.

“You can come back here and explore, if you slay a few slimes on your way, I can even offer you admittance to the adventurer’s guild, but I’ll tell you about that when you come and see me.” She tried to offer him the sword back, but he waved it away. “You clear out some slimes, and you can keep it. I have enough already, and I’d hate to see you and that pretty blade be hurt.” She grinned at him and wished him good evening.

The difference, she thought, between the exhaustion from farm work and the exhaustion for mining is how far you have to walk home to bed, and the fact that there are rocks in your backpack. The mining exhaustion made her sleep until seven, and she didn’t care.

Her mailbox had an odd letter in it. The stationary was weird, the calligraphy was familiar, and she smiled to herself that she recognized the particular script. That might be something else to get back into, calligraphy. Smiling ruefully, she scanned the letter before considering it weird, and putting it inside her door. That was something to be dealt with later.

She sold crops, and worked. Fished, and cooked quietly over a small fire for her evening meal. It was beginning to become routine, and she was glad to not have to deal with many people. Her insides felt queasy whenever she thought of dealing with people. She didn’t want to. People could backstab you, and hurt you in ways that her little dagger could only dream of. She felt a longing inside as if there was a hand reaching out for someone, wanting to be close to someone, but she forced the feeling away.

“We aren’t doing this again.” She told herself. “People are dangerous. We came to get away from people. You can get to know people, once you have a castle to hide in if anything goes wrong.”

Tuesday morning dawned hot and full of pollen. She sneezed as she came out of the front door. Last night hadn’t been very restful, and she could already feel a sun headache coming on.

At approximately 8:00 or something along those lines, she found but her attention arrested by the friendly face of Marnie. She waved Fáelán over to the veranda of the cottage.

“Good morning Fáelán! You really have been doing a lot of work here, this is quite incredible.” Her awe out of the way, Marnie gestured to the small Siamese looking kitty beside her. “This cat was wandering around the entrance to your farm. I think it’s a stray, poor thing.”

Fáelán observed the cat. She always loved cats, and she had quite a few fond memories of the two then lived with her family. Should always wanted a cat herself, maybe this was the opportunity?

The cat was a little round, a pretty chocolate point type Siamese. Her fur was almost a mocha color, except for her tail, face and paws, which were deep dark chocolate. She had beautiful clear blue eyes, and Fáelán fought to not fall in love with her at once. Bending down, she offered her fingers to the cat.

The kitty smelled them, before brushing up against her with her chin. Fáelán chuckled lightly.

“Do you think your farm could use a cat?” Maria asked. Fáelán smiled.

“Every home deserves a cat; they tend to be the spirit of the house.” Marnie smiled, understanding.

“What will you call her?” she asked. Fáelán considered.

“Mocha.” She looked down at the kitty. “Does that work? Are you a Mocha?” apparently Mocha appreciated her name, as the first thing she did was crawling to Fáelán’s lap and start purring. “Apparently so.” Fáelán said softly, scratching Mocha behind her ears.

“Well I’m glad that she found a home, and you found a friend. You must pardon me Fáelán, but I have to get going. Aerobics starts pretty soon and I don’t be late.” Marnie waived as she jogged away. She watched as Marnie disappeared around the corner, before turning her attention back to her new friend. Mocha stretched, before curling up into a ball. Her little feet stretched out as she yawned and tucked her feet over her nose. Fáelán started scratching under her chin and behind her ears, as best as she could given the feet that were in the way.

Mocha was adorable, exactly the sort of cat that she always wanted. Fáelán felt her whole heart melt as Mocha leaned her head down onto her hand as she was scratching. Smiling to herself, she pulled out her phone and added pet supplies to her shopping list. She had meant to go shopping later in the week, but better to get such things now. She had a reason to go shopping as it were. Gently urging the cat off her lap, Fáelán stood and watched as Mocha hopped onto the veranda swing before curling up again. Gathering her tote bags, Fáelán started off for Pierre’s. She noticed herself squinting as she walked.

“Apparently I should add a sun hat to my list, the squinting hurts my eyes.” She muttered under her breath as she walked into town.

Pierre’s was quiet, and when he saw her enter the store, he smiled at her.

“Good morning Fáelán, are we shopping for basics today or do you need something special?” he asked. She smiled tightly as she grabbed a basket.

“Actually looking for pet supplies to day Pierre, would you happen to have any?” He came out from behind the counter to show her the shelves.

“Right here Ms Fáelán. Please help yourself.” He indicated shelves of litter, food and other accoutrements. She smiled her thanks as he returned to the counter and she began to browse. She picked up some of the basics, litter, a box for it, a food and water dish, food, a cat door. Was there anything else she was missing? She mused on that as she wandered through the rest of the store collecting her essentials, which were mostly cooking thing she couldn’t farm. She waved to everybody she knew in the store, and smiled at the ones she didn’t, but they seemed intent on shopping and she was intent on finishing quickly. She set her basket down on the counter beside the spinning rack full of seeds and began to peruse them, wondering what she might be able to plant again, and what might be worth planting.

She heard the bell at the door go off as someone entered. In her peripheral vision, she saw Pierre stiffen, and watched the smile on his lips become a glower. In the glass display in front of her, she saw her own reflection. Dark hair in a bun, a few rings in her ears that were dark enough to be seen in the partially reflective surface, sunglasses, black tank top and the strap of her satchel. She could smell cheap aftershave in liberal amounts. In the display glass she saw a small man with small glasses perched on the end of his nose, black hair combed over and greasy. He had a giant red bow tie over a black suit. This man immediately set her on edge. She watched as Pierre’s glower turned into a glare as the man in the middle of the store cleared his throat loudly.

“Ahem.” He said, trying to be loud enough that everybody’s attention was on him. “Come and get it folks, coupons for 50% off your purchase at JojaMart!” his tone was smug, and Fáelán watched as the corner of Pierre’s eye started to twitch.

“50%!?” he whispered hoarsely, the panic evident to her in his voice. “I’ll be selling at a loss!” As much as Pierre feared it, and despite the man waving tickets in the air, no one seemed to be taking them.

“Go away Morris.” She heard somebody behind her mutter.

“Aw, come on,” he goaded, “Isn’t 50% off worth it?”

The scent of cheap aftershave and too much hair gel got stronger before a sweaty paternal arm curled around her shoulder as the coupons were waived in her face. Fáelán froze. The next instant was all instinct, fueled by anger and shock. Her left hand went to the wrist around her shoulder, grabbing hard and twisting the arm that went with it. In the same moment, she snatched the tickets from his hand. Pierre’s jaw dropped as Morris was suddenly reduced to pleading and pained wails in the grip of the new farmer, twisted arm up in her unrelenting grasp as he starred at the floor.

“JojaMart huh?” she examined the coupons as he whimpered. The townsfolk had never heard her voice be so strong, or so sharp. In all the time they’d known her, Fáelán was soft-spoken. This was not the Fáelán they knew. “I’m assuming that the 50% off comes after we pay an exorbitant price for membership?”

“Well, err, the membership is required yes..” Morris squeaked as he tried and failed to free himself from her grip.

“But you’d be happy to sell me one of those, something else I don’t need. I’m sure you’ll try and bring me in based on the price of your seeds, but I’m willing to bet that your seeds generally come from Monsanto, or are such poor quality which is the only way that the cost is justified. Not that it matters that Monsanto is evil, it’s whenever cheapest, right is?”

“Well, err…”

“Not to mention that when I shop that Pierre’s, I might pay more, but I’m certain that I’ll pay the full price and those along his economic chain of supply will be fairly reimbursed, with you in JojaMart I’m certain that only part of them will be reimbursed because to reimburse them fully cost too much.” Her voice had turned icy and contemptuous, dismissive of the sweaty diminutive sniveling creature she was holding in a grip of iron.

“Pierre knows all of his vendors by name I’m willing to bet, you couldn’t even name two producers by name. I’ll bet most of his food items are local and fresh instead of being stuffed full of preservatives. Do your people even make a living wage? Or do you expect them to get by on food stamps because you can’t afford to pay them a decent wage? To treat people like people would cut into your everyday low prices, and we can’t afford that.” She sneered, letting him drop to the floor clutching his wrist. She advanced deliberately, and he scuttled back on his hands away from her.

“What about the environmental cost of everyday low prices, but about the environmental impacts of those working with you? Do even consider the impacts that those who produce items for you have to go through? What kind of hoops that your producers have to jump through in order to meet your company’s demands? The fact that most of them have to go to China, so they can produce the volume you need at the price you are demanding? The only reason they go to China is because China has less restrictions on environmental pollutants, which pollutes the area for the people who live there, who have no protection. Have you thought of that? That’s the only place they can go to produce a profit, because of how much you demand, at the prices you demand? You can afford 50% off, he can’t.” she pointed at Pierre. “But that doesn’t matter to you, as you can just take your loss out of the producers who are starving while they feed your insatiable appetite for products nobody needs. What about those who are too poor to realize your everyday low prices are screwing them?! Have you thought about any of this, or are you just so arrogant to think that the world will just bow down to 50%?!”

She had advanced on him to the point where he was a good 6 feet from the door, he was pouring sweat, and his answer to her rant was a series of stutters. Her volume had started softly, but was now loud enough that the aerobics class that Caroline was running next door had stopped, and all of the women in the town were peaking through the doorway at the scene in the shop. It was obvious she was furious.

“Are people anything more than dollar signs to you? How much money you can steal from them, on products that don’t last? “She finally took a breath and stared down at him, her face a snarl. “You are arrogant, rude, and too full of yourself to realize how pathetic you are. No one with manners would try to steal customers in the middle of the store of a competitor. If you and your company had any class at all, or were actually worth dealing with, you would know that. Now get out.”

Morris pointed a shaking finger at her.

“You won’t survive without me!” he cried, his voice shaking. “Your farm won’t ever get off the ground!”

“I will build it back up, without you or your organization, and I will do it without having anything to do with you or yours, or I will die trying.” She growled at him. “Now go.” He took to his heels and ran. Fáelán closed her eyes and took a deep breath letting it out slowly. Turning back to the counter and Pierre’s gaping expression, she grabbed a bunch of kale seeds and a straw sun hat before setting them down with more force than required. She had noticed that everyone was staring at her, mostly with mouths open.

“How much for all of this?” she asked quietly.

“On the house.” He responded, still gaping at her.

“Thanks.” Her tone was gruff as she gathered everything haphazardly into her tote bags and almost ran out the door back to the farm. She didn’t look back; she didn’t want to know how many people followed her with their eyes or had watched the entire exchange. She had caught sight of a young lady and a whiskered nerdy looking man from next door poking their heads out to watch, so knowing she could be heard next door was bad enough.

Setting down the good she had bought, or been given, she went inside and plugged in the sound system that the younger generation of townsfolk had left her. There were few speakers outside, obviously having once been used for outdoor dance parties. She hooked to the sound system up to her phone, suddenly grateful for blue tooth technology. Moving frenetically, she set up Mocha’s new litter box inside the house, as well as the food and water dishes which she filled with their respective items, before finding some tools she knew she’d left on her desk and setting up the cat door. Satisfied that Mocha could go in and out as she pleased, Fáelán turned on her music, loudly.

“I went walking in the garden.” The song was loud, full of bass, and the voice that sang was low and rumbling. Grabbing a hold of her pickax and her ax, Fáelán decided that the best way of working out her anger was on stumps that refused to move.

Sam: Dooood. You’ll never guess what happened.

Abigail: What?

Sam: I got the rest of the day free is what! Morris came in looking panicked and shut the store down for the rest of the day! Told us all to go home!

Abigail: Yeah… I think I know why…

Sam: Why? Did something happen?

Abigail: Yeah. The new farmer happened.

At that point, Sebastian groaned under his breath and returned to the code he was working on and the blinking cursor. His fingers tented, his elbows on his desk, he rested his face in his hands before looking at the little blinking line on the screen. His phone flashed again as Abigail and Sam started talking back and forth, discussing what had happened earlier today and Sebastian flipped the phone over as the notification light signaled more messages that he hadn’t seen.

He was sick of hearing about this girl. His mom had done nothing but speak about her since she’d moved in less than 2 weeks ago. Granted, she was new in a tiny town that never had anyone new or different appearing, so she was going to be news even if she didn’t want to be, but that didn’t stop his irritation about the fact no one had shut up about her since she’d gotten here.

He rubbed his eyes as he stared at the white line on his screen. Her recalcitrance hadn’t helped the townsfolk get over her either. She was either shy as all hell, or didn’t want to get to know anyone in the town, in which case she was in the wrong damn place for this. Shaking his head viciously, he forced himself to focus on the project he was working on, stopping once to text his mom that he wouldn’t be up for supper and to not worry about him.

It was a few hours later that he stretched and got up from the desk, his project finished for the evening. Having sent it off to his client, he decided that a victory smoke was in order. Ascending the stairs with characteristic quiet, he peaked around the landing to see if anyone was around. Demitrius was in his lab, seemingly busy, and no one else was around. Sebastian climbed the remaining steps quickly and was out the door before anyone noticed him.

Safely outside, he moved to the side of the lake by his house and pulled out the pack of smokes he had stuffed in his hoodie pocket. Lighting one, he inhaled the smoke as he felt his body relax. Another day finished, another project completed, more money in the bank. That was a satisfying feeling.

Taking another breath, he listened to the stillness of the lake.

Except it wasn’t still. There was something, different today. He could hear bass, something loud and rumbling from somewhere. If he didn’t know better, he’d say that he was somewhere near a concert, but he knew of no venue close enough to be heard from this distance.

He cocked his head to the side and shrugged. He had nothing to do now, and he was curious about the music, if it was music. Where was it coming from?

He headed past his house and down the pathway that lead to the old abandoned farmhouse. He grimaced as he tapped the ash off his cigarette. Right, not abandoned anymore.

By the time he had walked close enough that he could hear words from the music, and it was music, he could hear that now, he’d finished the cigarette and was curious.

Obviously the new farmer had discovered the sound system that they had left in the old house, and put it to good use. He was surprised at the tone of the music he could hear. He was even more surprised that he could recognize some of the music that he thought he heard. Whoever she was, she apparently had good taste.

He’d reached the entrance to the old farm, and could see flickering light ahead through the trees. The pathway into the farm hadn’t been entirely cleared of bushes and trees, so he crept in the shadows until he could see what was going on on the land itself. He saw the house. It hadn’t been really changed since he’d been there last, but it looked like it was less abandoned now. It had lanterns on it. He could see blue, purple and green glass lanterns hanging from black chains from the second floor over the veranda. They were lit, but not providing much light.

The music changed, and he didn’t recognize the song. It started with a fret board screech, he knew that sound anywhere after trying to work with Sam when he was in an experimental mood, but it began a song that he didn’t know. The scratchy fret board appeared to be the only instance of guitar in the song before it transitioned to vocals that lead into something heavy and electronic. It wasn’t techno. Now he heard a sound he didn’t recognize and he found himself creeping further into the farm, still keeping to the fringe of shrubbery and trees, but enough that he had a better view of in front of the house.

The fire pit was lit and the flames were illuminating the entire front entrance and the farming area itself. A few chests stood against the house, but the general area in front of the veranda was clear, except for the red whirling dervish moving to the music. The sound he had heard against the music was the sound of whirling spinning fabric of some sort. The farmer moved relentlessly to the music, dancing with the fabric in perfect synchronicity.

Sebastian felt something like awe for what he was seeing.

Her song ended and a slight pause was audible between the songs. The silky fabrics dropped to the ground as she stopped moving them. He could hear her breathing heavily, and from his angle could see the sheen of her sweaty face. He took the opportunity to get a good look at her from his out of the way observation point.

Her ears were oddly pointed, and he got the impression of an elf. An elf with a few black rings threw the cartilage of one ear. She was wearing some sort of crop top slashed black sleeveless shirt, and short black shorts. She was barefoot. He blinked as he noticed this. She was pale as a ghost, and the firelight reflected off her skin due to the sheen of sweat. The red was the only colour on her monochrome pallet.

She waited for another song, or appeared too, swinging the silky things back and forth along the ground. They appeared to be longer than he had originally anticipated, and were they weighted? She held them in the middle of the short side of the rectangle, and one side of the fabric always dripped down, so he guessed that weighted was probably correct.

Her hair was tied in a bun, it was something else he noticed as she turned to approach the steps where it appeared she’d put her phone down. The fire reflected off of it, and he couldn’t make out a colour, settling on dark for now.

The song began, and she returned to where she had stood before. This one began with scratchy frets and what was obviously guitar. The bass kicked in suddenly and he could appreciate the raw feeling of the song.

She moved suddenly as the melody kicked up, a not so difficult guitar riff, but her movements were what took his attention.

“Can’t fight the temptation, when you get the vibration, won’t do you no good.” The lyrics were familiar, and he recognized No Good by Kaleo. The music took backstage to the details that stood out to him in sudden clear picturesque minuteness. The muscles in her calves, the half grin on her face as she moved, the fact that she never once came down to put her heels on the ground as she moved. The flags were the main event, but she was an incredible backdrop for them. They moved over her threw the air as she skillfully pulled them together, around or apart. He’d never seen anything like it.

Obviously she knew the song as well, for she punctuated the beats and changes in the song with sharp flinging of the silks, or tight curling spinning patterns. She was probably a practiced performer with these things.

He watched dumbfounded until he felt something touch his leg. Looking down, he saw a dark tail and luminous eyes of a feline. She mewed at him and he crouched down to let her sniff his hand. He barely heard her mew again, but knew that she wanted chin scratches by the way she was rubbing insistently at his fingers. He indulged her, scratching fine fur the colour of dark coffee as he felt her purr against his leg. The kitty with her intelligent eyes and the dancer in front of the fire kept his attention until the song ended. Sebastian found himself wanting to see more, but also to see if she looked the same away from the persona he saw during her dancing. Did she look the same when she was standing with her chest heaving? Did her muscles still catch the light of the flames? Did she still smile the same way she had before?

He didn’t have to wait long before the next song started. Its intro was like waiting for the cloudburst to happen, where the tension sits on your shoulders until the dam breaks and water falls. This song didn’t have her smiling. Between the whirling silks, he could see lines around her eyes, her brow furrowed as if in concentration. Something in the way she moved said that it wasn’t concentration.

“Leave the lost and dead behind, nows your chance to run for cover…”

She was mouthing the words, singing with her body and her lips, but not her voice.

Unlike her movements before, these weren’t so much the whirling dervish he’d first noticed, these were sharp movements, sweeping gestures as she brought the silks up to pull them down with the rise and fall of the music. He could just as easily see blades in her hands and the same movements would be applicable.

“I will not bow
I will not break
I will shut the world away
I will not fall
I will not fade
I will take your breath away

And I'll survive, paranoid
I have lost the will to change
And I'm not proud, cold-blooded fake
I will shut the world away…”

The firelight was catching sheen on her face, and with a start, Sebastian realized she was crying. He couldn’t hear anything beyond the sound of the flags, the slowly dying fire and the music, but knew it despite what his ears told him.

The song ended and he watched as she collapsed to her knees. He waited for more music to start but the playlist seemed to have ended.

She looked defeated, tired, worn out. She didn’t open her eyes; it took a while before she even moved. Was she ok? He chewed on the inside of his lip, wondering if he should go check on her or not.

His decision was made for him as he heard her click her tongue. The kitty, which had been happily sitting on his lap, rose and ran to her. Apparently the tongue click was a summons of some sort. As the Siamese kitty went over to her, he watched her rise and move to the house. Pushing open the door and shutting it behind the cat. He didn’t hear it lock.

He waited for a few minutes before the flames stopped and the area was pretty dark. He watched as inside a small light emerged before being borne away upstairs. Taking a deep breath, he inhaled the scent of fire, smoke, humidity and a light scent of sweat before creeping away to the pathway that lead home.

If that was the farmer, maybe she wasn’t as boring as he thought.

Chapter Text

The day of the Egg Festival dawned hot, and Sebastian wasn’t happy about it.

“Why couldn’t it be cool?” he muttered to himself as he came upstairs, pulling on his shoes as he got there. His mother was already making breakfast, but she knew that he really wasn’t interested in food first thing in the morning. Given that it was hitting almost time to leave, Sebastian called to his mom that he was leaving and that he’d see her at the Egg Festival.

He found Sam, and Abigail who greeted him happily, and he responded with a grunt.

“Aww, not feelin it Seb?” Sam asked. Abigail responded by handing Sebastian a to go cup full of coffee.

“It’s warm, it’s before noon and I’m outside.” He said, glaring at the cup before taking heavy slurp. He gave it a grateful look, and thanked Abigail with his eyes. She grinned and nodded

“I had a feeling you hadn’t had time to make a cup yet.”

“Well I wasn’t going to stay in the house with my mom and Demetrius making breakfast, the last thing I need is to give him an opportunity to come after me.” Sam gave his friend a sympathetic look.

“Has he been bad these last few days?”

“Just obnoxious.” Sebastian sighed as he took another gulp. Sam sneezed.

“Uh oh, allergies.” He said before reaching for a handkerchief.

“Hurricane Sam is on its way!” giggled Abigail as Sam blew his nose and shot her a death glare. Sebastian rolled his eyes at his friends and watched as his mom and family came into view. Robin immediately waved, and Sebastian raised a hand in greeting. He was watching as she was making her way across the square to say hello, when she stopped. Frowning, she took out her cell phone and answered it. Sebastian watched as she moved off to the side and was suddenly invested in her phone conversation. He frowned. No one usually called during festival’s, because everybody was already there and could to talk to her if they needed her.

“Hey,” he said, breaking up the conversation of Abigail and Sam. “Is there anyone not here that’s supposed to be?” they frowned and looked around.

“Not that I can see.” Wheezed Sam,

“What about the new farmer?” Abigail asked. “I don’t see her.”

“Yeah! Wasn’t she supposed to come today?” Sam asked, his excitement cutting through his sneezing.

“Doesn’t look like she’s here though.” Abigail responded.

By this time, Mayor Lewis had stepped up and called that the egg festival was about to begin, Abigail went over and took her place, but as Sebastian looked around, he noticed that Rabin and Marnie were gone. Pulling out his phone, he quickly texted Maru.

-Hey, do you know where mom went?

A few minutes later the reply came.

-Yeah, they went off to NightShade, apparently the new girl called for help.

-What about?

-Mom didn’t say. Oh, do you have 500 g you could spot me?

Sebastian frowned at this text.

-What for?

-Mom says the farmer is interested in some of the limited seeds Pierre has, and will pay me back, but something has come up and she isn’t going to be able to attend today.

Sebastian rolled his eyes as he walked up to Pierre’s stall.

“Good morning Sebastian, what can I do for you? You don’t usually make an appearance at my stall.” The shop keep was curious but Sebastian didn’t play into his hands.

“I’m looking for your limited seeds.”

“Taking up farming are you?” here chuckled as he showed Sebastian the seeds in question.

“I’m grabbing it for the new one; I’ve been told I’ll be reimbursed.” He deadpanned.

“How many do you want?”

“How much will 500 gold get me?”

“Five packages.” Pierre answered cheerfully.

“Fine.” Sebastian replied, handing over the 500 gold.

“Enjoy the festival!” Pierre answered as he handed Sebastian his seeds. Grumbling, Sebastian went to stand by Sam.

“What did you need from Pierre’s?” Sam asked

“Long story, don’t worry about it.” Sebastian grunted.

“All right.” Sam drew out the word as he eyed his partner in crime. “You’re not going to run and join the farmer are you?” Sebastian gave him a flat stare.

“Are you kidding me? That requires going outside. I’ve had enough of going outside just this week.”

“Good point.” Sam replied.

When the egg hunt did begin, Sebastian stood to the side. Both of his friends wanted to participate, Abigail because she loved finding things, and Sam to support his brother. He himself had no interest. He showed up in these things because it was required of him not because he wanted to. Besides that he didn’t relish the headache that his stepfather would give him if he didn’t show up.

Abigail won the egg hunt, because of course she did. She was the reigning champion, had been for the past three years. It was kind of a given that she would be the one who won. After the ceremonies were finished, Sebastian began walking up of the mountain road. His mother and Marnie hadn’t returned to the egg festival, and he did wonder why, but he figured that his mom would probably be willing to inform everybody when they got home.

The day of the egg festival dawned hot. Fáelán wasn’t super excited, but it was kind of nice to have something to look forward to. Her crops were watered quickly, and she rushed around the farm trying to get everything done. As she worked, she noted the lack of Mocha. Since the cat had arrived, she had proven herself to be Fáelán’s best friend, her feline shadow. Fáelán had laughed herself silly as Mocha had rolled around in the soil, only to find herself covered in soot, and hopping up looking absolutely indignant that anyone should see her as such. The cat had grown on her and she had been nothing less than a godsend. So she found it odd that her feline companion didn’t wish to accompany her this morning.

Her crops were finished with enough time that she could shower and change. As she gathered her things for her shower, she found Mocha sitting beside her bed on a small pillow she laid out for her. Mocha was normally fairly soft-spoken, but as the cat saw her come in she started to yowl. Fáelán frowned.

“What’s wrong? Something bothering you kitten?” she asked. In response, Mocha rolled on her tail and started to groom. Thinking nothing of it, Fáelán headed for the shower.

Under the hot steaming water she considered what she should wear today. It wasn’t as if she had too many nice clothes. She had indeed brought everything from her parents’ house, but 90% of her wardrobe was work clothes. There were only too many days the villagers can see her in ugly scrappy shorts, without beginning to consider her trashy. There really wasn’t what she wanted to convey. She’d gotten rid of most of her dresses, and after that the debacle at Joja, had dropped most of her pretty office clothing too. That left her with suspiciously little beyond work clothing.

Her thoughts of clothing were interrupted by the sound of Mocha’s yowling. It varied in pitch and tone, there were so many pitches that she had heard from the cat but these were not something she was familiar with, this pattern was different and it made her afraid. Quickly toweling off, she went back to her room. Mocha had rolled on her side, and was showing off her belly. Fáelán looked over at her and noticed that her nipples were very obvious and pink. All of her experience had been with older female cats, or male cats. She’d never seen their stomach this vibrantly pink before. As Mocha rolled back onto her stomach, Fáelán noticed a sudden wet spot under her tail. A light bulb went off in her head.

Her water just broke.

“You’re not sick, you’re pregnant, and you’re not yelling randomly, you’re going into labor. Those are contractions!” she was astounded it taken her this long to figure out that her cat was going to be a mother.

All thoughts of the egg festival had left her mind; she wasn’t going to that today. Instead, she had a queen kitty to help through labor.

Following this thought, she realized she had no experience with feline pregnancy whatsoever. So she did the next best thing, she texted Robin for help, and asked her to come over with Marnie as soon as they had some time.

Meanwhile, Mocha had gone into labor in earnest, and that she listens to her cat call, she dressed in semi decent clothing, in case she actually was able to go today.

A few hours later there was a knock at her door.

“Come in!” she called, watching with a faint smile on her lips as Mocha, purring, groomed the new arrivals. She had always known that Mocha wasn’t straight Siamese. Her kittens confirmed this. Apparently there was a Tomcat tortoiseshell around, as well as another Siamese ragdoll like Mocha. Four kittens, one tortoiseshell, three beautiful white Siamese ragdolls. Fáelán was overjoyed, and felt very much like a proxy mother. She coaxed her kitten through labor, and as Marnie was able to confirm, it was a healthy one. Mocha had passed the placentas, and thankfully Fáelán had no idea what she done with it. Probably ate it, but that was about as far as she wanted to think about things.

The two women were visibly impressed with the cat and her owner, for staying cool and calm despite having no idea what she was doing. Marnie assured her that Mocha was fine, but would need some rest. She also suggested that the next time the fact that she used was in town, that she should get Mocha fixed. Fáelán agreed.

Robin piped up.

“Oh, I got Maru to get you some of the seeds Pierre was selling today, he claims there limited edition, but even if they aren’t, I figured that was better safe than sorry for you.” Fáelán let the smile reach her eyes.

“Thank you.” She said sincerely. She looked out the front window at the setting sun. “I will ensure that I get you the money I tell you for that soon. I suppose the festivals ended?” she looked questioningly at the women. They shared a rueful smile.

“Sorry about that darlin’” Marnie apologized, “animals sometimes take priority over town events.”

“In this case they did!” Robin laughed. Mocha looked up at her, fixing the woman with the steady glance, as if she was scandalized that the carpenter was so loud around sleeping kittens. Robin immediately demurred, her voice going soft as she apologized to the cat. Fáelán shared a glance with Marnie, both of them covering their mouths to stop giggling.

Robin rose and stretched.

“While my dears, I have children to feed, so I should probably get going.” Marnie gave her a look.

“Can’t your husband deal with that?”

“There’s a reason I said that I had children to feed.” Robin deadpanned.

“Ah,” grinned Fáelán. “The husband is part of the children.” Robin gave her a knowing smile.

“Same in your family? “ Fáelán shrugged.

“If you ask my mom.” The ladies tittered before Robin and Marnie bid her a good evening and left.

Fáelán watched Mocha groom her newest arrivals, and was pleased that there hadn’t been much more laundry to do because of the birthing process. She was pleased also that her great grandparent’s house could still bring life to the world. That it wasn’t simply a house full of dust, and somebody who wanted to run away from her own memories. But that set of dour thoughts could wait, she chided herself as she slid off her bed and slipped downstairs, away from the now sleeping cuddle bundle of fur and new cat. She had a queen and her brood to feed, not to mention herself. She grabbed her fishing rod, satchel, black hoodie, and checking to ensure the dagger at her thigh was still there, padded out the door and to the backwoods path, and the lake beyond Robin’s shop.

The night was dark and happily quiet. Patting softly over dirt pathways, she avoided rocks and pinecones as she made her way to the lake up by the mines. The sun was setting, and she was quite sure that it would be lovely view if she’d find a place to observe it from. That was high enough to observe it from anyway. The lake basin was a little lower than Robin’s shop, so she wouldn’t get a chance to see Stardew Valley lit up and shining in the pinks, gold, and fiery reds of sunset.

That was alright, the lake reflected the setting sun from the sky and it was a fine view.

She found herself a place a little bit away, close to the side of the lake, but out of the way of the pathway down to town. She would be less easy to see here.

She pulled out her rod and cast her line out to find what she could catch.

Sebastian still had the seeds on him. He didn’t know why exactly, probably because Demitrius had sparked an argument over supper, and he had stormed out instead of getting into a fight with the man. This was a constant problem, but Demitrius never seemed to care. Instead of facing the pained looks on Maru and his mother’s faces, he had just opted to leave. It was easier than getting into a fight with his stepfather. So now instead of getting into a fight over whenever it is Demitrius wanted to get into a fight over, there would be a semi ongoing battle about the fact that Sebastian had no respect for him, displayed entirely by how he was willing to leave in the middle of whatever Demitrius was saying. It was a passive aggressive form of “fuck you,” one he could get away with.

He’d gone outside to smoke, just to get away.

The moon was rising off in the distance, and it bathed the area in white light. The lake was rather pretty in the early evening, and he reached for the lighter in his pocket. Once he’d found himself sufficiently far from the house that he felt comfortable, he flicked it on and lit the cigarette in his mouth.

Inhaling deeply, he let out the breath softly and slowly.

He heard a plop in the water beyond him. That itself wasn’t new, the lake was full of fish that sometimes surfaced for air, but this sound was followed by the further sound of a reel.

Silently, he made his way to the edge of the water to find out what had made the noise.

The pointed ears, and bare feet gave him the immediate impression of an elf. His jaw dropped. While somewhere in the back of his mind, in a place he really wasn’t willing to admit to himself, let alone anyone else, there was probably a fantasy or two that involved elves from Lord of the Rings, he was fairly certain he wasn’t fantasizing now. Also none of the fantasies he had entertained involved fishing. It took him a moment or two to determine that it wasn’t an elf, but instead the farmer.

She was sitting cross legged and fishing behind a bush, seemingly much focused on her fishing. She wore a black hoodie and her hair in a bun. He noticed details that he hadn’t been able to that night he saw her dancing. He noticed a blue bracelet around her wrist, the high cheekbones, and the lines of muscles in her calves. Things he’d honestly never noticed on a woman, or on any one. Things he’d never cared to notice at all. For some reason, this girl whose name he did not as yet know, intrigued him. He’d heard that she blew up at Morris, displaying an intensity that no one in Pelican Town had seen from her. From his own observations, she probably had more to her than met the eye, and somehow he was curious.

He heard a sigh.

“I know that I’m new, but do you mind not staring? It’s unnerving.” She said.

Busted. He felt his cheeks flare as heat crept across them. He froze, unsure what to say or do, and as result stayed stock still.

“I won’t bite.” He heard her say, gentler this time. “You can come out of the bushes.” He swallowed, flicked ash from the end of the cigarette, and pushed aside the branches of the bush he was hiding behind. She didn’t look up at him as she was suddenly involved in pulling a catch from the water. She was able to pull a large bass from the water and grinned widely as she unhooked it from her line, using the end of a blade he didn’t see appear to knock it out.

Apparently you could knock fish out. He watched as she did some other quick knife maneuvers, effectively cleaning the fish of its innards and dressing it before putting it aside. Finally, she turned to him.

Her eyes were teal blue. This was the first thing he noticed, and to cover the fact he had no idea what to say, he brought his smoke to his lips and pulled on it, his gaze never leaving hers.

“I didn’t know you smoked.” She said finally, softly.

“What did you know of me?” he asked, somewhat curious. She shrugged.

“Honestly, not a whole lot, or anything really.”

“Then how does this come as a surprise?” he asked as she turned back to the lake and cast out her line again.

“It doesn’t.” Her line bobbed and he smoked, both of them quiet in the moonlight. Finally, she spoke again.

“Who are you?”

“Sebastian. I’m Robin’s son”

“Ah, she told me she had two children. I’ve met Maru by proxy, I’m glad to make your acquaintance Sebastian.” He raised an eyebrow, but she wasn’t looking at him.

“I think you owe me money.” She frowned at the water, but didn’t look away from her rod.

“Oh? Did you buy seeds for me today?” Apparently she’d gotten a bite and began to reel it in as he nodded. Landing it on the ground, she turned to him and was greeted by a handful of seeds. She smiled as she took them from him, before fishing in her purse and pulling out 500 gold for him, and an envelope that he looked at dubiously. Noticing his look, her gaze found her toes.

“I … wrote a thank you to your mum for them, I intended to drop the note and the money in the mailbox for whoever had gotten them. “

He accepted both with a nod before lighting another cigarette as she turned back to the water and cast her line again.

They sat in silence, not having much to say, and enjoying the quiet of the night. It was cool without being cold, and Sebastian finally felt comfortable in the weather.

Abruptly, he noticed her getting up and dusting herself off.

“I should probably go, I still have a queen to feed tonight, and these to plant.” She said as she began packing her catches in the satchel.

He felt like he’d erred somehow and was about to say something when she swore violently.

“Ow! Vai a fanculo!” she spat angrily as she gingerly touched the end of the fishhook lodged in the meat of her palm. He blinked at the words, not a dialect he recognized.

She hissed threw her teeth as she touched the hook again, but he watched her jaw tighten as she eased the hook out of the wound, dropping it as she tried to staunch the blood from the cut. He started forward as she fell to her knees and with her good hand, threw open the satchel and started searching for something.

“Hey, are you alright?” She pulled out a vial full of something green and wrenched it open with her teeth, dumping the green leaves on the ground.

“Will be soon.” She grunted as she popped a few of the leaves in her mouth and chewed. He frowned as she pulled out the green mass and applied it to the bloody wound with an arrested whine. He watched her curiously. In the moonlight, the wound almost seemed to stop bleeding, but he put that down to the pressure she was also applying.

“What is that?” he finally asked, as she clenched her hand shut around the green leaves.

“A plant known as yarrow. It stops bleeding. Achillea millefolium .” She spoke in clipped tones as she somehow managed to pack up what she’d dropped open.

“Do you… want a bandage?” he finally asked. She looked down at her hand before up to him shyly.

“If that wouldn’t be too much trouble?” he nodded and walked towards his house, looking over his shoulder to see if she was following. She was, somehow arranging her catches and her tools to a semblance of neatness that belied the fact she was in pain.

She was lucky that Robin always kept a decent first aid kit under the desk of her shop, and Sebastian was able to quickly return to her from the inside of the shop.

He bound the green stuff to her hand, surprised that the wound had for the most part, stopped seeping blood.

“Do you always carry health potions in your bag?” he asked in a deadpan voice, trying to keep her mind off the wound. To his surprise, she grinned.

“It’s a bag of holding.” He looked up into her face and was surprised to catch her eyes.

They held each other’s gazes.

Her eyes were deep like the ocean, a pool so clear and intense that he couldn’t see the bottom.

She coughed, and the moment broke.

“Thank you for your first aid, and for the seeds.”

“Hey, umm...” he started. She cocked her head to the side as she held his eyes. “I know I’m not as talkative as Sam, I’m sorry if that drove you away.” Her head tipped the other way as she frowned at him.

“I don’t know this Sam, but why would I want you to be anyone that you aren’t?” He was stunned by that assertion and he stepped back as she smiled at him. “Have a good night Sebastian, I hope to see you again.”

Chapter Text

The next day was hot, and as she worked, Fáelán glared periodically at her hand in it’s glove. The hook had done a good job of messing her hand up; so much so that the glove was the safest option. Tetanus was not something she was willing to entertain, and that was generally found in the soil.

She scrubbed her hand across her forehead, wiping away the sweat. She looked longingly at the pond, but decided that the best thing you would be to finish harvesting the small amount of crops that she had. She leaned down to grip her watering can again, and kept going, dousing the soil with moisture and turning it a deep dark brown. It had a fairly good humus content, enriched by years of compost. When she had tested the soil herself, she was surprised to find an A horizon that was so fertile. Despite lacking knowledge of soil science her Sho-sho had managed to keep his farming knowledge for practical use, and it had paid off in the soil. Her parsnips were coming out bright, white and fat. Some of the potatoes were amazing, the kale was deep green and rich, and overall all of the vegetables she seemed to put into the soil appeared happy enough to produce volumes.

After she finished harvesting, watering, and replacing the plants she’d harvested with seeds, she tossed some of the nicest vegetables she picked into a basket. Dipping it in the small lake on her property, she managed to wash away most of the dirt.

She decided, to finally take Mayor Lewis’s suggestion to heart, and finally introduced herself to some of the residents of Pelican Town that she hadn’t yet met. She left the basket of goods on the veranda, and went inside to shower, change, make herself somewhat presentable, and check on the brood of fur balls.

Dropping her work clothes into the hamper as she walked past, she headed for the shower and felt her back crack as she let the heat undo some of the kinks in her system. Wrapping towels around herself and moving to her room, she checked in on the queen and her brood as she got considered what to wear that was slightly nicer than work clothes. For some reason, a mother with kittens was called a queen. She shrugged as she considered that; another of the oddities that went with humans naming nature. Mocha purred when she approached, but didn’t move from the little fuzz balls nursing. Fáelán had ensured that there was nearby food, water and the litter box so that mocha never needed to neglect herself or be far from her little ones. The remains of kibble and fish from the lake were in the bowl, and Fáelán removed the fish before it could start to smell. She’d go fishing for more later.

I wonder if she’d like smoked fish? Fáelán thought, and then an idea came to her. I should start smoking fish for me, for those night when I don’t want to cook. She threw a little note into her phone to transfer to her notebook later, but first she needed to get dressed.

She considered the box of clothing she called a wardrobe once she’d found underwear. Most of what she had was black; a defense mechanism of sorts. Black was indicative of darkness and night, two concepts the psyche had trouble with, which made people who wore them, intimidating. She’d gotten rid of so many of her coloured clothing after quitting Joja.

You should wear more colour! Black is so severe!

Most of what she had left was what hadn’t been touched by his influence, but most of that wasn’t for warm weather. What she did have left for coloured summer clothes was in such a state that she could barely call it clothing, as it tended to qualify more as "rags".

She sighed and sat back on her haunches, staring at the box of clothing in front of her that was in complete disarray. She sighed before she leaned over and grabbed a shirt at random. She kept her eyes shut until she managed to get it on, surprisingly without putting it on inside out, only backwards. The black V-neck tank was decent enough, and would do for a meet and greet.

Her braided hair she pinned into her customary bun; another defense mechanism that. Unbidden, images of people pawing at her back came into her head, and voices followed.

"Oh wow Fáelán ! I love your hair!"

"Girl, how do you get your hair so silky?"

"You should get it cut! It’d be so pretty with layers!

“Fáelán, Fáelán! Fáelán-“

"Enough!" She screamed, her voice ragged at the edges. The phantoms in her head that had been clawing at her hair and back disappeared, leaving only the sound of her beating heart, her heavy panting, and the sound of blood rushing threw her ears.

She was shaking; she could feel herself trembling within her rib cage. She groped for her bed and let herself down as gently as she could. Without anything to hold onto on her other side, she found herself landing on the solid floor with a thump once her legs gave out. She didn’t feel what would probably be a bruise later, only aware of her trembling and the sudden feeling of being cold.

Dimly, she heard mocha mewing at her as she pulled down the poncho she wore as a shawl from her bed and wrapped it around herself.

She shivered, feeling her breathing rate increase and her heart rate with it. Everything was fuzzy around the edges. She got up slowly and pulled down the giant king size blanket from her bed and her pillow. She arranged the blanket and the pillow beside Mocha and lay down beside the cat and her kittens, her head close to her cat. Immediately, Mocha started to groom the hair she had access too, as if she was a kitten herself. Fáelán’s hand drifted up to hold the back of her feline without disturbing her. Her last thought as she fell asleep, clutching her blanket close to her was that socializing could wait.

A few hours later, she rose from the floor. Mocha was sleeping, as were her kittens. She still felt tremors in her system, small ripples she could feel in her fingers and her chest, but they had lessened now. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, feeling her strength and her steadiness return.

She grew aware of a gnawing hunger in her stomach and made her way downstairs to cook an egg or something simple.
No sooner had she turned on her hotplate then it emitted a loud pop. She blinked. Examining it closer, she saw the old appliance had bitten the dust, the electricity having cracked the screen that informed the user of the current situation. She stared at it for a moment before turning on her kettle and reaching for a bowl and the stash of oats she kept on the shelf beside the counter.

Finally able to eat something, even if it was oats that were boiling hot or partially cooked, she decided that she seriously needed to talk to Robin.
She needed to get a root cellar, and start putting things away for the winter.

She wondered how much of the historical ways of storing food she knew to pull out of her past in order to ensure she could eat for as cheaply as possible. She remembered the root cellar, and the wine that used to ferment in there... could wine be something she did in order to make money? Would that be a viable option?

What about the clinic in town? Might that be a place that might be interested in natural remedies?

She considered for a moment, staring pensively at the hearth and the embers that still burned, casting shadows that were outlined in soft orange light. Wouldn’t hurt to try right? Unbidden, another voice slithered up to the top of her consciousness where it could hiss poison into her head.

Yeah, wouldn’t hurt to try.. like it didn’t hurt to try at home , where the thinking is progressive and the people might be more open to it. Worked like a charm, didn’t it? Wasn’t good enough there, why would these folks think some dirty greenery might work better than pills? You wont last 6 months out here, and you’ll be home sniveling before Winter Star. Like the failure you are...

She gritted her teeth so hard that her jaw started to ache, repeating the words that had become a mantra.

"You aren’t here, and you can’t hurt me anymore. I won’t fail. I cannot fail." Her bowl to the side, she tossed a log on the orange coals and returned to the couch with her notebook. The ink in her fountain pen was hesitant to coat the page in its colour, it took a few dips in the small cup of water she kept nearby to loosen the ink, before the mildly calligraphic script in ebony violet colour traced itself across the page. She wrote out her mantra at the top of the paper before referring to the list of buildings that Robin had offered to build and their details.

The map of the farm shed sketched the first night was fairly close to scale, and she spent some time contemplating what buildings she wanted where, how much they might grow when upgraded, and what the requirements of their occupants might be. Her pen lid against her lip, she considered what her plan of action should be, glancing around at the fire and the written mantra on her page to assure herself she was still in her Shoshos house in Pelican Town.

Finally she decided that after crops tomorrow, she’d visit and deliver her first thank you gift, spend some time with the occupants if they wished for it, check out the library for food preserving techniques, and go ask for advice from Robin. It was going to be a busy day, but it was doable. The trick to it all, she reminded herself as she pulled her legs up under the blanket, was to do one thing at a time.

She woke herself up yelling in fury from a dream of siblings who wouldn’t stop yelling at her for not being able to do the impossible. Pick up everything without a forklift, while her sister sat watching her from the seat of the forklift. Brothers yelling intermittently at each other and then her and her youngest brother yelling about perceived slights she had done him, intermingled with insults and blustering. The second oldest brother telling her to shut up whenever she tried to defend herself at all. Sister telling her she’s accident prone because whenever work needs be done, she sits and waits for someone else to do it, while Fáelán just does it, often getting hurt in the process.

Joja had been ugly before she worked there; presenting its own unique variety of the infernal abyss, but her siblings had tormented her to a place where even the hell she knew Joja to be, looked like a reprieve.

She found herself glaring at her coffee machine as it percolated. Her mind was back with her dream.
The anger didn’t go away as she sat and drank the black liquid and waited for her oats to be soft enough to eat. It sat in between her ribs, a burning hole that exuded pressure that wouldn’t release, no matter how many sighs she tried to use to free her lungs.

It was hard NOT to blame them for the hell she’d endured. They’d pushed her away from working with her parents, broken her will, sanity and steel core enough that Joja looked like a respite. What happened at Joja though... that they couldn’t be blamed for. Bur it was hard not to want too, to associate some of the blame with them despite her logical mind saying otherwise.

A growl from upstairs broke her train of thought and she frowned, taking the stairs two at a time. Mocha didn’t growl, had never in the time shed been at NightShade, growled, not even when she gave birth. So to hear her be growling now was more than disconcerting. Rounding the edge of her room, she saw Mocha advancing on something shed trapped in the corner. Fáelán looked at what it was, and frowned.

A tiny, bouncing... apple?

It was small, and green. Little arms waving in the air as it bounced. Fáelán shut her eyes. Great, now she was losing her marbles too. She pinched her arm, hard and took a deep breath. She heard the low lyrical chest noise that cats made when they’re telling something to back off, and decided that if it was still there when she opened her eyes, she’d rescue it and question her sanity later.

Opening her eyes, she saw Mocha advancing, and the tiny creature was still there. She swept in and grasped the thing gently, clicking her tongue softly as well.

"No Mocha, this isn’t food." Mocha sat down and started licking her paw innocently before accepting a few chin scritches and returning to her youngsters.

Carrying her tiny bundle down the stairs and back to breakfast, Fáelán stared at the tiny apple nestled in her hand. Green and round with sticks for arms and legs.

"I think, little friend, that next time you should probably find a better place to appear than beside mama kitty. Mocha is pretty protective of her family." She set it down gently in front of her bowl, staring at it.

"You are... real, aren’t you? I’m not hallucinating ?" It squeaked what she hoped was an affirmative. They stared at each other across her finally soft oats. "Would you.. Like some breakfast?" She asked. "I don’t have much, and I don’t know what you’d eat, but would you like some anyway?" She indicated the bowl of oats in front of her. It wasn’t exactly boring, but it was filling. It was filled with oats with hot water and coffee to flavor it; cinnamon, flax seed and honey for taste and sweetness. Once, in her school days, almonds would have been a common ingredient, but with growers in California and Turkey pulling up their orchards due to lack of water to grow them with, almonds were a luxury now. If you were pouring every penny into seeds that would hopefully bring enough money to feed yourself in winter, almonds could wait.
The little apple tried some of the food offered from her spoon. Apparently it was approved of as the apple began bouncing and emitting happy sounding squeaks. Fáelán found herself chuckling as she got a large spoon to serve as a bowl for her guest. She also found a small demitasse cup that had been left in the house that she poured some of her precious coffee into as well, stirring into it a small amount of the special hazelnut cream she loved and pinched pennies to afford for her tiny companion. She put both of her offerings before her guest and watched as it delicately consumed the oats. When it came to the coffee, it hesitated. "You don’t have too if you don’t like it." She began as it suddenly picked up the cup and drained it dry. "Alright then."

She offered the creature more, but it appeared to shake its head? Did this sort of creature have a head?  Instead, it appeared to have its own agenda. It hopped over to the leftover mail and paper shed pushed back to the end of her table and began hopping up and down on a page. Paf paf paf, the sound of the impact it made drew the corners of her mouth upwards. She sipped at her coffee, her gaze over the top of her cup still watching the little green creature. It appeared annoyed. Crossing little stick arms and tapping a foot, it strode over to her hand as she set it on the table, picked up a bead on her bracelet and trying to drag her hand to the letter it was bouncing on. The bracelet was fragile, and she frowned as she drew her hand back. The apple walked over and pointed at the letter.

She lifted it, and reread the letter from the Wizard.

A million thoughts went through her mind at once, and in her mind’s eye, she watched the processes overwhelm itself before she saw what once been a common sight when her browser of requirement was internet explorer. "This process has encountered an illegal error and will be shut down."

She scrubbed her hands across her eyes before leaning on her hands for a moment. Her alarm abruptly sounded, and she scrambled to silence it. The irritating noise usually brought her back to reality and she embraced the property now by keeping her eyes shut for a moment. She took a few deep breaths before she opened them again.

The apple was still there, its stick arms crossed and its little foot tapping. It appeared cross with her.

Abruptly she rose and gathered the dishes for washing. Coffee residue in her mug she didn’t care about, but oatmeal was a bitch to get off bowls once it had dried. Something normal to get her mind onto, something to prove to herself she wasn’t insane.

You insane bitch!

She gritted her teeth and paused, wrist deep in soapy water. This was in the past. It couldn’t affect her now. Here she was safe. But she couldn’t fail.

She turned back to the table and the apple, (which was most certainly still there) noticing her glance, began hopping on the letter again. Paf paf paf. She turned back to the dishes, washing with practiced automatic ease. She set the clean bowls aside, and wiped the demitasse cup gently before replacing it and the saucer in the cupboard. She drained he sink and turned back to the apple, which began to leap again. Ignoring it, she gathered what shed need for the day. Refocusing her mind on the events she had planned from the day before.

She strode outside, and walked over to her tools. Walking down the stairs of the veranda, she heard a loud chirp and turned back to the door.

The apple stood there, looking very cross and it peeped at her, letting out a series of noises that sounded like bells in the wind. Leveling a glare at it, her hand shot out cat quick and firmly but gently grasped the apple to bring it close to her.

“Look little apple, hallucination or not, I’ve got responsibilities today. I’ve people to thank, and food to gather if I want to eat. If I’m not careful I’ll be on the edge of starvation soon as I’ve no way to really store anything for long term, and no way to cook it for preservation anyway. I can’t fail. I’ve got a little family that’s relying on me." She took a few breaths, letting her fear go with each exhale before she fixed her gaze on the apple that sat still in her hand. "Can your request wait until tomorrow?" She asked. The apple appeared to consider before she watched it make the same motion as earlier. The one shed interpreted as a nod.

"Good." She set the little green thing down and went off to weed and water her crops.

Chapter Text

Her crops were watered; the weeds had been chucked into the compost pile, which needed to be turned. She added the note to her book as she considered what she wished to take with her.

She’d fished for the kittens, Mocha would have fillet when she wanted it. She was washed, and was considering her satchel. She had her blade, always so useful when she didn’t know what plants to expect, her notebook, the tote bag full of home grown veggies for the first house past Marnie’s, her map and the sandals if she needed them. She tried to think if there was anything else she would need. She tossed everything back into the old black leather shoulder bag and set it by the door before observing her own reflection, trying to see herself as an outsider might. She decided that she looked like a farmer might, and that was satisfying enough.

Walking back outside, she grabbed her tote bag of clean vegetables and reached for her satchel. Hefting it over her shoulder, she caught sight of a round green object in one of the disused pockets. She reached over and hauled the bag so that the pocket was level with her eyes.

"You can’t come with me, what if someone sees you?" The apple chirped and buried itself deeper in the leather. If she didn’t know better, it would have just looked like a green apple. But she still felt some misgivings.

"I will stuff you in my bag if I think you might be discovered, or in danger. Better your discomfort than being found out. ... Unless you want to be found out?" She shook her head and gave the apple a stern look from over her sunglasses. "Deal?" The little apple seemed to nod.

The day was warm and sunny. She picked her way carefully down the as of yet unused land at the base of her farm and found the pathway that lead down to the lake. A few birds twittered from the trees, but otherwise all she could hear was the sounds of nature and the padding of her feet over grass and hard earth.

It was peaceful, and she found herself staring over the lake as she stood from picking a stray daffodil. This lake wasn’t as full of memories as the small pond on the farm was, but she still remembered it. She decided to continue onward to the house past Marnie’s ranch. Marnie was still on the list of course, but she’d already been introduced to her, not the house that her map indicated housed Sam, Vincent, Jodi and Kent. She continued onward, smiling subtly at the sound of the river as it washed over rocks beside her. Ahead she saw a young lady with pinned back red hair. The blouse she wore was pretty but patched, and she knocked on the door that Fáelán was headed for. Fáelán swallowed and stopped, hanging back but still in sight of the door.

She knew she was going to meet people, that was kind of the point of this meet and greet thing, but people were scary. Hadn’t Joja taught her that? That those who you liked would toss you down when you didn’t fit the way they wanted you too, and even family could hardly be trusted more often than not? What made her think that Pelican Town was any different?

Without noticing, her knuckles had gone white and she was beginning to shake as she clutched the tote bag. A small peep caught her attention and she looked down at her bag. The little apple had poked out its head and was tapping her on the hand with its stick arm. She still didn’t speak apple, but imagined that it was trying to reassure her. She took a deep breath and gave it a half smile.

"Hello Miss Fáelán!" She heard, and despite herself her mood brightened. She stepped forward towards the gathering at the door.

"Good morning Vincent," she replied before she was immediately interrupted.

"Miss Penny, have you met Miss Fáelán?" The boy asked, and the pretty redhead looked up shyly. That was a look Fáelán recognized, and she felt a kinship with this lady.

"No, I haven’t yet." Vincent smiled as Fáelán approached tentatively, and as she watched, he squared his shoulders. She hid a smile, a young gentleman who saw an opportunity to conduct himself as one was always adorable to watch.

"Miss Penny, may I introduce Miss Fáelán, she likes flowers." Fáelán hid a smile behind her hand as Vincent turned to her. "Miss Penny is my teacher to me'n Jas! She’s my friend."

"Jas and I, Vincent" Penny corrected gently. Fáelán could see the caring way that this lady used to teach, and her anxiety eased some. Penny straightened and put out her hand. Fáelán shook it.

"You’re the new farmer?" Her grip was gentle but firm, her hands soft. Fáelán felt rough and tumble compared to this prim and proper professional teacher.

"In name so far, I’m not sure that id be considered much of a farmer yet."

"But you are the heir to the farm above Marnie’s?"

"Yes." Penny smiled at her answer, and it was like watching a small flower bloom. Fáelán found herself responding in kind.

"Then I suppose that makes you a farmer in some fashion, yes?" Fáelán arched a brow at her.

"I can understand why you’d be a good teacher."

"I like to hope." Penny answered shyly. They were interrupted by a flustered voice approaching beside them.

"Vincent, I’m coming dear, there’s no need to hurry me!" They both turned to see a strawberry blond lady in a pink cardigan approaching. Vincent broke away from where it appeared he’d been pulling her.

"See mom? It’s the new farmer, Miss Fáelán!"

"New farmer? She ventured off the farm finally?" Fáelán heard another voice from inside the house beside the lady who was probably Vincent’s mother and felt her cheeks flush. She clenched her jaw to give herself a sensation to steady herself. She could do this. She held out the bag of veggies in front of her to the lady who was now at the door.

"I wanted to thank you for whatever you donated to my house to make it livable and I wanted to give you these veggies as thanks." All the words tumbled out in a garble, and there was a slight pause as the lady digested what she had said, Fáelán felt her ears go pink as well. So much for presenting a decent first impression. She felt fingers open the bag and pull out a parsnip.

"These are lovely!" Vincent’s mother sounded genuinely pleased, and Fáelán lowered her arms a little. The lady was smiling at her. "Would you like to come in for some coffee while I wash these vegetables and you can have your bag back?"

"Yes!" Vincent answered for her and Penny shushed him. Fáelán swallowed.

"I’d like that." Vincent beamed at her and tried to follow them in but was stopped by Penny.

"We have to get to the library, Jas will be by soon and we’ve got studies to do today." Vincent’s shoulders fell.

"Yes Miss Penny." He grumbled. His mom had already taken the tote she’d brought inside, and Fáelán remembered what she had picked earlier. She handed him a daffodil as she wiped her feet on the doormat and grinned as his face split into a smile. "Thank you!" He said brightly as he ran off with the flower, leaving Penny to grab his backpack from just inside the door that Fáelán entered and closed, waving to Penny as she went after Vincent.

"How do you take your coffee dear?" Asked the lady that she assumed was Jodi, pulling out a generic mug.

"Just with some sugar please." She answered, standing awkwardly at the entrance to the kitchen. She felt something brush past her as a tall guy about her own age walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup as well. He headed to the fridge and topped it off with so much milk she was surprised there was any coffee left.

"Do you want some cream?" He asked before he put it away. She eyed the container dubiously. It didn’t appear very full.

"I’m not sure I’d like to finish your milk for you." The lady at the counter spun round to the fridge, her hands on her hips.

"Samson, did you finish the milk again?" The tall blond, Samson, looked at the milk container and sloshed the small amount in the bottom.

"Not all of it", He answered guiltily. She shook her head, a long suffering look on her face. Seeing Fáelán still at the door, she beckoned her in.

"Come in dear. My name is Jodi; I know you’ve met Vincent already, and my other son Samson." She gestured at the milk thief. He came toward her, hand outstretched.

"Sam when I’m not in trouble." He introduced himself.  She shook his hand and arched an eyebrow at him.

“Do you always find yourself in trouble?” he gave her a sheepish grin.

“Only when I finish the milk.” He said wryly.

“Is that the situation that happens often?”

“More than you know,” Jodi grumbled from the counter.  Sam shrugged.

“What can I say?  I like milk.”

They finally managed to get sitting down at the table, each of them with a cup of coffee.  Fáelán sat through them normal pleasantries, why she had come, why she had given up a life in the city for a small town life on a farm, how the farming was, what kind of difficulty she might be having, and other such things she had expected to be asked.  She didn’t give away much, but found herself relaxing in the company of Jodi and Sam.  Both of them were warm and inviting, and she suddenly understood why Vincent was so adorable. 

“I like your earrings Jodi,” she said suddenly, noticing the green rectangles hanging at her ears.  Jodi blushed, and put a hand to her lobes.

“I forgot I was wearing these, I found them at Pierre’s.” Fáelán grinned.

“They look good on you.”

“They’re good for everyday wear, I think there made of glass.” Fáelán looked closer and nodded.

“They are, a specific type of fire hardened glass, as well as some Indian glass.” Jodi frowned at the assertion.

“Are you familiar with theses beads?” Fáelán’s look was mischievous.

“I would think so, I made them.”

“You make jewelry?” Jodi asked, and then launched into a discussion about that.  She told Fáelán stories about some of the beautiful jewelry she had been given by her husband Kent, and was even kind enough to show her.  Sam rolled his eyes having heard many of the stories before, but was glad that his mother was so animated about the beautiful things she had.

Eventually with Fáelán’s fear of people not entirely abated, but having waned, she took her leave, meaning to go check out the library.

She made her way through the town, and across the bridge before she stopped dead in her tracks.  The building in front of her looked too familiar.  The blue coloring was enough to close her throat from the memories that surfaced.  Her lip twitched, wanting to curl back into a snarl, but she held her expression neutral.  Joja spread, a toxic growth on the land, even here it was infecting, and she wanted to burn it into ashes before it could spread further.  Fighting back a wave of nausea, she turned her back on the blue store and headed south to the library.

The inside of the building was cool, and smelled of old books.  Her muscles released their tension, and she found herself relaxing.  She nodded at the librarian, and made her way to a table beside Penny, Jas and Vincent.  Noticing her, the boy looked up and waived excitedly.  She grinned and waved back before setting down her satchel, and falling into the comfortable focus that accompanied research.

Her first forays into researching food preservation required far too much technology for what she had on hand.  A food dehydrator was ridiculously advanced when you didn’t even have a hotplate to boil water with.  Canning would be helpful as well, and while she was sure she probably had all the bottles for it, she didn’t know if her small campfire would be big enough to handle that.  Jams and jellies were always a good option, but the last time she had made jelly it hadn’t set.  Pectin was a substance she wasn’t familiar with.

Drying was still an option, as was smoking, and she scribbled down instructions on how this could be done in a notebook she brought for the occasion.  Her best bet, she decided, was still the root cellar that she was sure still existed and putting food in there.  That said, smoking and drying sounded like an excellent backup for anything she could get her hands on.  Collecting her notebook, and returning the books she had borrowed, she made her way out of the library and up towards Robins.

The sun was high in the sky, and the weather was pleasant.  She made her way across the bridge and up beside the dilapidated community center.  She skimmed over her notes as she walked, collaborating between both notebooks.  She was surprised that she didn’t knock into anyone as she made her way to Robin’s door and knocked.  An adult voice sounded from within, but it wasn’t the one she expected. Frowning, she opened the door to see Lewis in conversation with Robin.

“Good afternoon Fáelán!” he greeted her cheerfully. Robin gave him a sour look behind the desk that was her storefront.

“Lewis, she is my guest. Perhaps you would allow me to greet her?”  Fáelán expected the mayor to blush, but found that he did not. Instead, he just waved a hand at the carpenter before continuing. “I’m just checking in on the local businesses in town, so I should probably let you two get on with the day.” He made his way to the door.

“Have a good day ladies!” he said as he left.

“You too Sir” Fáelán responded without thinking. She took a breath, and then looked up to see Robin eyeing her narrowly.

“Are you going to start calling me ‘Ma’am’ then?” Fáelán blinked.

“I can’t call you ma’am, you don’t own a brothel.” she responded without thinking. Robin stared for a moment, and Fáelán sucked in a breath, suddenly aware of how rude that might sound. She was beginning to second guess and formulate an apology when Robin broke out in a full laugh.

“I like that! You’re a sharp wit Fáelán; that was good!” she was still chucking as Fáelán approached the counter looking hesitant, but sporting a small smile. “What can I do for you dear?”

“Actually, I need some advice if you had some time.” The lady considered her for a moment before nodding.

“Let’s go have some coffee and talk it over.” She gestured to the kitchen.

She hadn’t meant to let her fears take over, but as the coffee was poured she found herself relaxing in the atmosphere that Robin created around her. It was easy to keep her secrets, and Robin made it easy to talk about the world, and Pelican Town, things that were safe. Unfortunately, she was also perceptive.

“Alright girlie, spill.” She said, looking over at Fáelán who was midway through a sip of coffee. Fáelán set the cup down and tilted her head to the side. Robin’s piercing gaze didn’t soften, but it was still probing.

Reluctantly, Fáelán began. She explained the hotplate situation, the fact she didn’t have much to serve as food storage, and her fear that she’d end up starving before winter. She hid her fear, but the worry she had about the situation was fairly plain to see. Robin considered for a moment, her lips pursed.

“I don’t want any handouts,” she said suddenly. “Nothing I can’t pay back. But I want to be successful, and I might need to live off something more than just fish and greens over winter.”

“I can help with that.” Robin responded.

They scratched out a plan on a sheet of paper, brainstorming together what could be done and how she could manage to store and cook her food. They decided to meet tomorrow to see if Robin couldn’t lend her aid in finding the elusive root cellar that may or may not still be in the house.

A good hour of planning later, they both reclined in the chairs as Fáelán bundled up her notes into her satchel again.

“Would you like to stay for supper?” Robin asked. Fáelán barely managed to make the sudden rigidity of her spine appear normal. She gave a polite smile before she declined graciously, citing her feline family requiring of being checked on. Robin nodded; a slight grin to the corner of her mouth as she let the young lady leave.

Fáelán wandered down to the side pathway that led to the farm when a voice stopped her.

“How’s your hand?” the voice asked. Fáelán stopped and tried not to let on that she hadn’t heard the owner of the voice behind her.

“Sore.” She said, showing the still bandage wrapped palm. She hadn’t turned around yet, but did to show him the actually bandaged side of her hand. He didn’t touch her, but stepped forward to examine her bandaging.

“So your leafy stuff didn’t poison you.” Sebastian stated dryly. She gave him a slight frown as she observed him.

“I don’t normally use stuff that poisons me?”

“Most people don’t start to treat a wound with leaves.”

“Most people get wounded with decent sized bandages around.” He raised an eyebrow.

“I had bandages.”

“I didn’t know that when the hook grabbed my hand. I improvised.”

“So I noticed.”

They stared at each other. She cleared her throat surreptitiously.

“Thank you for your assistance with that.” He shrugged in response. They were silent for a moment or so, before she looked over at him and they tried to speak at the same time.

“Why were you-“

“I was just-“

They paused and gave each other shy smiles.

“What were you going to say?” she asked. Grey eyes met hers as he considered her a moment.

“What were you doing in this neck of the woods?”

“Visiting your mum actually, I wanted some advice.”

“Oh?” The eyebrow was raised again, and he regarded her curiously. She brushed the back of her neck shyly, like she was embarrassed to admit whatever summoned her to see his mother. She explained why, briefly. She distinctly left out that she was almost out of food, and didn’t know what to do when winter would come.

She wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not that he picked up on it anyway.

“So… do you want to come for supper?” he asked. She grinned.

“Your mum asked the same actually.”

“So why don’t you? We’re having steak.” He drew out the last word to see if it would entice her.

Fáelán’s stomach growled at the idea. She hadn’t had beef in ages. Putting aside her fear for the idea of a decent meal that didn’t involve fish, she took a breath and dived in head first.

“Alright.”

Chapter Text

Sebastian quietly slipped in the door and went to the kitchen. Robin was washing potatoes for supper and putting the tubers off to the side. She was humming to herself. He grabbed a wash towel and began drying off the spuds. Wondering how to broach the subject, he decided that the best idea would be to just dive in. Taking a deep breath, he began.

“We should add another potato for this evening, and a steak.” Robin turned to him with a roguish look to her eye as her smile grew.

“Managed to convince her did you?” she asked. Startled, Sebastian didn’t answer. The colour if his cheeks becoming the answer instead. “I thought someone might be able too, if it wasn’t me.” She answered, turning to the drawer that held the skewers they used to bake potatoes. As she did, Sebastian noticed that his mother had already washed the extra potatoes they’d need if they were expecting a guest. His mother didn’t miss a trick.

“How did you manage to convince her?”

“Convince who?” a new voice asked. Maru walked in carrying some trays of samples that she deposited gently on the table before sliding into a chair. Sebastian immediately clammed up, but Robin smiled.

“Sebby managed to convince the new farmer to come for supper with us.”

“Oh that’s great!” Maru exclaimed. “I’ve been waiting to meet her ever since the Egg Festival.”

“She seems to be pretty busy; otherwise I’m sure that she’d have come to visit already.”

“Well she is reclaiming that farm from the wilds, no wonder she’s busy.” Maru replied.

“How’s your father’s mood?” Robin asked a little apprehensively. Maru’s brow darkened.

“He’s in one.” She replied. Robin straightened before turning to the fridge with an air of a woman not interested in putting up with baloney.

“Well he’d better behave himself. I won’t have him putting off our guest when she gets here.”

“I’ve lived with my grandfather’s moods and my brother’s outbursts.” A new voice drawled. “I’m sure I can handle whatever the husband of my host throws at me.” All of the three occupants of the kitchen turned to see the farmer leaning against the wall with a bag. Their gazes appeared to melt whatever lazy confidence had been apparent, however and she suddenly turned cherry pink and started stuttering.

“I’m so sorry, the door was open and I didn’t think you’d mind because you said to come over whenever and no one was at the desk and I’m sorry and I didn’t mean to intrude and-“

“Fáelán! Calm down!” Robin chuckled, going to meet her guest who had begun to go from pink to red. “It’s fine, you did nothing wrong.”

It took her a few minutes to calm down, and once Robin had convinced herself that her guest wasn’t going to spontaneously combust, she busied herself with the tote bag of potatoes and parsnips that Fáelán had brought as a thank you and a contribution to supper. Maru waited until they had separated before she flashed the farmer a warm smile and stretched out a hand.

“I’m Maru; it’s great to finally meet you!” She said enthusiastically. Fáelán smiled and returned the handshake. She was a little surprised to find Maru’s hands calloused in the same way that hers were. She wondered what kind of stuff Maru did for work, but Robin was already explaining.

“Maru works for the doctor during the week, right hun?”

“Mom! I was just about to actually start to introduce myself!” Maru exclaimed with a small amount of frustration. Fáelán covered her mouth with her hand, shading the smile.

“It’s alright; it’s a Mom’s jobs to out your beginning points of interest to strangers before you have a chance too.”

“Yours does the same?” Fáelán shrugged.

“Doesn’t every mom?”

“Oh, good.” Robin interjected dryly. “I’m normal.” Quietly, Sebastian hid a smirk as Robin pulled out mushrooms from the fridge and started washing them.

“So what do you do other than being a nurse?” Fáelán asked Maru.

“Oh me?” she asked. “I work on experiments with Dad, I tinker and build things, and periodically I get bad burns with a soldering gun.” She said, showing off a nasty burn to the back of her hand. Fáelán frowned, pulling the hand gently towards her and probing at the burn.

“How long ago was this?”

“Yesterday.” Maru responded, wincing at the gentle touches of the other girl. Diving for her bag, she began rustling threw it, still asking Maru questions.

“Are you allergic to anything?” her voice was muffled around the sound of shuffling items and the clink of glassware. Maru now had a slight frown to her brow as Fáelán reappeared with a bottle that sloshed with some form of brown fluid inside. She had a handkerchief in the other hand. Looking up at Maru’s skeptical gaze, she nodded.

“I’m a bit of a herbalist in my spare time. I make remedies from what I gather and find in the landscape around me. This is a tincture of witch hazel and aloe vera. Both of which have been proven to help burned tissue heal about 20 times faster than when allowed to heal naturally. I use this for sun burns, but I’ve also used it for other burns that are a little scarier looking than sun burns. Are you ok if I apply some to you?” Maru held out her hand and Fáelán unscrewed the lid. Robin looked over her shoulder as she gently scrubbed the mushrooms clean.

“So how did you make it?” Fáelán didn’t look up as she answered. She was intensely focused on dabbing the brown liquid on Maru’s wound.

“Witch hazel bark and aloe that’s cut up, tossed in a jar and covered with ever clear. Let it sit for a few months, then drain it out, keep the liquid and rebottle. Use it for burns and things when it’s needed.”

“You use ever clear?”

“Highest proof alcohol I could find.” Maru flinched as the dabbing brushed over a very sensitive part of her burn, and Fáelán caught her eyes, waiting to see if she was alright for her to continue. Maru nodded.

“I can definitely smell the ever clear.” Maru said as she observed how the tincture coated the wound. It stung, but it didn’t hurt as bad as the initial burn had been. Like aloe cream, it also had a soothing effect. “Can I buy some of this from you?” Fáelán gave her a half grin as she put away the potion and her supplies.

“Planning on getting burned again?”

“Occupational hazard.” Maru shrugged. “May I?”

“Of course! I’ve got another batch being made now; can you wait a week or so?”

“Sure.” Robin peered over at the two.

“Have you got anything else that you make?”

“Yeah!” Fáelán said, diving again for her satchel. Sebastian tuned them out, taking over the washing and drying of the mushrooms as his mom wandered over to take a look and participate in the conversation. He began slicing them up as he distantly heard her explaining about a balm she made for “basically everything skin related”, and he focused on not chopping the tips of his fingers as he heard Maru and Fáelán start talking about an oppourtunity to bring her remedies and medicines to Harvey to potentially use for medicine in the community. Apparently herbal medicines might be easier to get than some of the regular meds that sometimes didn’t get shipped as commonly from the city, or something. His mom even appeared interested in the balm she made.

Then Maru mentioned Demitrius being an environmental researcher, and she almost fell over with the power of the enthusiasm that she suddenly displayed. She had questions for them because she wanted to gauge how much the man knew, and was overflowing with curiosity about what she might be able to glean from him. Sebastian scoffed silently, somehow having a feeling that Demitrius would probably be as scathing to her as he was to him, but he hoped for her sake that it worked out.

She and Maru had begun discussing titrations, and he watched her as he finished cleaning any dishes that were left over. She had a shimmering purple eye shadow on. It caught the light every time she moved her head and highlighted the blue green of her eyes to the point that he noticed it. He’d never seen her with makeup on, and wondered why she was wearing it. But the mystery of makeup on females was not usually one he considered, and he turned back to the dishes irritably, wondering why he even bothered to care. If some of the rumors he’d heard around town were any indication, she probably wouldn’t last too long in Pelican Town.

The potatoes were almost done, and the steaks were ready to go on the grill that was warmed and waiting when Robin finally glanced at her daughter.

“How long did your father say he’d be?” she asked. Maru glanced at the door, and Sebastian caught the mild apprehension written in the lines of her face.

“About an hour.” She replied.

Fáelán was mostly oblivious to the family’s growing discomfort, but she had caught on the current that ran under their interactions. He caught her observing him, obviously trying to see if he could give her some idea of what was going on, but he had no answers for her.

Maru finally got a text, and Robin threw the steaks on, while Sebastian melted some butter and browned some garlic before throwing in the mushrooms.

“Were you going to add anything to the mushrooms?” asked an unsure voice. Robin turned and fixed her with an amused glance.

“What would you suggest?” Fáelán cleared her throat.

“I like rosemary in my mushrooms. If you can add some of the drippings from the beef with a touch of salt, it really is a delicious side. My dad loves it.” Her cheeks were pink, he noticed. He wondered if the waver he’d heard in her voice was from fear, or something else? If it was from fear, what had caused her to become fearful of suggesting cooking ideas to people?

Obviously he was reading too much into it, enough that he just caught his mother’s enthusiastic answer of “Let’s try it then!” and knocked into her as she reached for the rosemary and he for the salt.

Behind them, a door opened and shut. Instinctively, he froze, and noticed his mum and Maru sharing a quick glance. Robin excused herself to go and greet what was presumably her husband. As he swung the mushrooms around the pan, he listened to the conversation that was happening in the hall. He could hear his mom’s serious tones and his step father’s bass ones over the quiet conversation between Fáelán and Maru. By the tone of his step father’s voice, he knew this would be an interesting visit, to say the least.

His mother returned to the kitchen first. Demitrius followed behind her. He looked like he had another migraine that made him able to be nasty without too many people complaining at him. The introductions went smoothly, as Demitrius immediately went for coffee, and his mother flipped the steaks and poked them. Maru and Fáelán had already set the table, and he noticed that she was apparently at ease with them. The lines in her face had been let go, and it was obvious that she felt comfortable with them. He wondered how long that would be, before the illusion of “happy family” was dispelled.

The greetings and introductions started off well. Maru started chatting immediately about some of the tests that had been done that day. Demitrius nodded quietly, apparently absorbing the information along with the caffeine in the lukewarm coffee from the pot. Robin plated the steaks so they could rest, and Maru informed him about her burn and how Fáelán had given her the burn remedy that had made it feel better. Demitrius started as if he’d been shocked before looking at Maru as if he hadn’t seen her, before looking at the farmer, who had been quiet since he’d arrived. She put on what he figured was a smile she used to greet people, gave him a nod.

“So, you’re the new farmer?”

“I am Sir.”

“Your name?”

“Fáelán. It’s a pleasure to meet you Demitrius.” He frowned at her, before looking at Robin who without looking up answered the question he had.

“I told her it was alright to use your name.” Demitrius opened his mouth, and Sebastian could see the sudden fear that flashed across her face.

“Should I call you something else that you’re more comfortable with?” she asked hurriedly. There was a pause as Sebastian put the casserole of mushrooms on the table and watched his stepfather chew on his lip.

“No, Demitrius will be fine.”

They sat to eat. Baked potatoes still steaming from the oven, steaks lovingly marinated by Robin, chives, sour cream, butter, salt and pepper, lightly fried mushrooms with garlic and rosemary, and Robin even pulled out a bottle of merlot from the last time they’d been in the city. Once they’d all managed to be served, and the wine poured, Robin offered a toast.

“To new friends.” She said, looking at Fáelán. Fáelán responded with her own toast, clinking glasses as she did.

“To new homes.” Despite the fact that he clinked glasses with the rest of his family and the farmer, internally, Sebastian scoffed. To new homes indeed, preferably as far away as he could get from Pelican Town.

“So why are you out here farming?” Demitrius asked suddenly. “You don’t look like you’re much of a farmer.”

“Needed a change of pace.” She responded effusively. Sebastian leveled his gaze at her from behind his bangs. She’d neatly dodged the question to them as well, never giving a real answer. “I doubt any farmer looks like a farmer when they begin. But I had some agricultural theory when I went to school, so I might have a slight leg up over some of the other city slickers who might do the same. ” Score one for Fáelán. He thought. Demitrius’s eyebrow rose.

“Agricultural theory? What did you do in school?” he asked as she took a sip of wine.

“This is really a lovely wine Robin, thank you for adding it to supper. It complements your marinade well.” She spoke to Robin, who beamed as Fáelán cut into her potato and answered Demitrius’s question. “Environmental Reclamation and a Bachelors of Science in Natural Science.” She chewed as he mulled it over.

“You learned reclamation in University?” he asked. She swallowed.

“No, I went to College first. Rose College, before I went to Medicine Rock University.”

“A science degree from a Liberal Arts University.” Demitrius responded, the tone of his voice displaying his distaste for what she’d said. Sebastian watched as her face grew still, and her eyes grew solid. She tipped her face just far enough down to be looking at him just from under her brow line. She’d realized that this might not be the supper she’d expected, and he heard her breathe out before she responded.

“Is that a problem?”

“No, not really.” Demitrius’s tone was light, but it was clear that this had become a bit of a power game, and he thought he’d scored a point.

“Well, next time I require schooling, I will request your suggestions for schools I should attend.” She responded lightly. Maru chuckled, and hid it behind her hand. Fáelán shuffled awkwardly, and Sebastian noticed that she’d been doing so for the past few minutes. She grimaced and reached down to her lap. They heard a click, before she brought up the dagger and the sheath that he had seen her knock a fish out with the other day. She set it beside her plate, and Robin raised an eyebrow.

“Are my knives not sharp enough?” she asked with mild amusement. Fáelán winced gently, before responding.

“Quite sharp Robin, I just am unused to sitting for long periods with it on. My apologies.”

“No worries dear.” Robin grinned at her.

“You carry a knife with you?” Demitrius asked, although it sounded like more of a statement. She turned to him, her grin going brittle at the edges.

“Dagger, for digging out weeds, gutting fish, and other such things I use it for.”

“Hmm.” He responded, his lips twisting in apparent displeasure. She ignored him and began complementing Sebastian on the mushrooms.

“These are really good Sebastian.”

“Robin, what is in these fungi?” Demitrius interjected, his distaste now appearing to be targeting the food. Robin rolled her eyes.

“Rosemary Demitrius. It’s something different, we’re trying it.”

“Who suggested this?” he asked incredulously.

Fáelán waved silently. Demitrius scowled before digging into his food without another word.

Robin, Maru and Fáelán continued talking, enjoying the food and the discussion and between carpentry stories from Robin, gadgetry and science stories from Maru, lab stories and work stories from Fáelán, Sebastian was amused to see them having such a good time, and was also amused to see how quiet Demitrius was. He enjoyed the meal; surprised himself by going through a glass and a half of the red merlot, given that he normally didn’t have much of a taste for wine.

He was amused that she kept trying to interact with all of them, even Demitrius. She attempted to get him to tell her about his research, but Demitrius brushed her off.

“I’m sure that a simple farmer such as yourself has other things to worry about, like weather your crops are ripe.” Sebastian watched her face fall, and disappointment show itself in her eyes, but she pressed on with Maru and Robin instead. He was surprised that she was taking it all in stride the way she was. But he knew there was trouble as soon as Maru suggested putting in a good word for her with Harvey about her remedies.

“Really Maru? I thought you’d know better than that.” Demitrius started. Maru looked at him, confused.

“What do you mean dad?” She asked.

“Why would you bring plants to Harvey for use in his practice? Herbs don’t have enough power to equal pharmaceutical medicines.” Maru frowned.

“That’s true, but we don’t always get all the medicines we need from the city. Fáelán and her knowledge might be-“

“You’re also expecting that a jumped up faith healer might be able to not inadvertently poison someone.” He interrupted her. Fáelán’s expression darkened.

“Excuse me sir, but I work very hard to ensure that I do not poison anyone, and that I have my identification correct of the plants, and that no one is taking anything that would interact badly with whatever prescription drugs they’re taking.”

“But you don’t have a degree in it, do you?” he asked victoriously. She deflated.

“No, I don’t. But I’ve-“

“Ah hah.” He said dryly, facing the rest of his family. “What we have here is an ill informed hippie spirit healer who probably spends too much time smoking her wares rather than being a productive member of society. She’ll probably end up poisoning people when she decides to work with something other than weed.” Sebastian watched as she turned to Demitrius with blazing eyes. The colour was gone from her face.

“You weren’t smart enough for a decent university and a real science degree, you weren’t good enough for a job in your field, and you only came to claim your inheritance when you realized you couldn’t survive in a corporate world. Instead you come to a small town to continue to spread your inability to succeed amongst decent honest people that do not need the influence of someone with no ambition. You couldn’t do anything else with any real success, what makes you think you’ll succeed at farming?”

There was silence as Demitrius’s family stared open mouthed at him,

After a moment, the sound of a chair sliding over Robin’s hardwood floor was heard, like nails on a chalkboard in a silent room.

“I owe you no explanations for the years of battling I had to do to get my degree, or the hell I’ve lived with before, during and since. I may not be good enough for you Mr. Perfect, but I worked for what I have, and I’ll succeed without your permission.” She nodded stiffly at Robin. “Thank you for supper. I’ll see myself out.” She grabbed her dagger and her satchel and walked stiffly out of the room.

The door slammed behind her and Sebastian winced.

As his parents started to argue, Robin absolutely mortified and Demitirus starting in about how she’d not paid Maru back for the seeds, (Maru exploded that she had paid Sebastian back because he had been the one to buy them) Sebastian looked over at her plate. It was still mostly full. She’d done so much talking that she’d barely touched her food.

Chapter Text

Dawn.

Fáelán ignored her alarm until the second one went off at 6. She was still furious about last night, and how badly the dinner had gone.

I KNEW I shouldn’t have accepted their invitation. I KNEW something would go off. Now they probably think I’m a nutcase who provokes responses.

But the alternative was staying in bed with her fury, and the idea of anyone coming by, not seeing a well kept farm, and it getting back to Demitrius, was more than she could stomach. So she rose and looked out the window to check the weather.

It was foggy, and the ground was wet. Maybe it had rained last night. Maybe that meant she didn’t need to water today. Better check to be sure.

Mocha raised her head to check her owner’s progress. She was surrounded by fur balls who whimpered as Mocha moved to brush against her leg before returning to her brood. Fáelán gave her a soft smile, grateful for the brief support. Leaning down to give Mocha a scratch under the chin, she also very gently gave the little ones a bit of a stroking too. She figured she would look up getting newborn kittens used to human touch, but that was later. She needed to go eat and check on her farm. Besides that, fishing brought in the dough, and foraging brought in the food. Maybe she could go hide in the forest all day and see what she could find.

She ate her oats plain, and her coffee black. Today was turtleneck weather, so she dressed in her work jeans and her black turtleneck. Her work boots were still caked in mud as she tied them to her feet, but she couldn’t bring herself to care as she stood at her front door and wondered if she should don a coat as well.

Fuck it. She thought, and reached for a black light velvet cloak she had on the rack beside the door. Fastening it at her neck, she pulled the hood up and checked her equipment. Her phone and dagger were in place. She grabbed some totes and went out the door. As the door opened, she felt her nose tickle, like the air was full of dust. Three sneezes later, she managed to step outside, only beginning to register the sense of her skin feeling as if it were in close proximity to mild electrical current.

"Took you long enough." A male voice said as she closed the door behind her. She blinked. At her feet, she heard chirping. Focusing on the source of the sound, she saw her apple friend from the day before.

Good. Still hallucinating, she thought dryly as the little thing began hopping towards the voice of her visitor.

"Sorry you have kept you waiting." She responded dryly. The sass was back in town today.

Then again, she didn’t recognize the voice of her visitor so he probably didn’t deserve her being rude to him. .. But also, this was a small insular community, so everyone had probably already heard of the disastrous supper. Her reputation was probably ruined here anyway, she might as well pack up and head back to her parents place.

You’ll be back before Winter Star!

She gritted her teeth, took a deep breath, resolved to be less rude, and turned to her visitor.

His hair was purple. So was his beard. She shouldn’t have put off, or considered it that shocking, given Abigail’s hair colour, but his was more vibrant. His facial hair was also the same shade of violet. He wore robes, and a wide brimmed hat of black.

He was sitting on a porch swing that up till just now, she’d never seen. It looked new, hanging from the veranda. He looked at her with amethyst eyes, studying her as she studied him. His gaze was intense, powerful. This man oozed old power.

"Now I understand their fascination with you.” He said simply, still studying her. She frowned, tipping her head to the side in puzzlement.

"Who is they?"  She asked. He gestured to the apple that began bouncing on the bench beside him. If the body language she was used too was the same for apple hallucinations, then this was bouncing for joy. "The apple?" She asked. "You can see them too?" Was everyone able to see them? Was Pelican town full of hallucinogenic gas or something?

"Of course I can. I could see them regardless of if they chose to make themselves visible to me or not." He replied haughtily, as if this was something she should know. She leaned into her hip and crossed her arms.

"Why exactly?" She asked. His response was a mysterious smile. She raised an eyebrow.

"I am a wizard, and I came here, partially because of these creatures." Her expression retained its suspicious look. "You do not believe me I see. But part of you wishes too."

"Here on my porch or here in Pelican Town?" His grin stayed fixed as he answered.

"Both." He responded.

They stared at each other, at a standoff. He kept looking at her with a Cheshire cat grin, she looked back, still suspicious, still unsure what to make of the guy on her porch. She stayed silent, wanting to ask questions, but unsure what to do. She figured if she stayed quiet, she retained some of her power in this situation. Maybe this guy was crazy and she was in danger.

He gave her the mysterious smile again.

"Like most of your city brethren, you probably require proof of my validity before we can actually talk freely." She cocked her head, her eyebrows rising. He held her gaze a moment longer. "But you would not be convinced by parlor tricks."

"If all you can do is parlor tricks, than you’d probably better leave."  She told him. He gave her an irritated glance as the apple at his side started squeaking.

"You left a message? She probably couldn’t read it. I will go and see it. Would you summon your brethren to show her you aren’t alone while I do so?" The man spoke to the apple as it peeped in response. He suddenly shimmered out of view and her head recoiled in confusion. He was gone?

Suddenly she heard popping and suddenly she was surrounded by various colours of bouncing apples with faces and limbs.

She tried not to leap back in surprise and shock, but it was difficult to curb her incredible surprise and worry for her mental health.

What was she seeing? Dozens of coloured apple beings, hopping around her, but not so close as to be under foot if she came down to see them closer, which she did. A loud peeping brought her attention to the green apple that was still sitting on the window seat. The rest of the apples fell silent as she let her knees buckle underneath her.

Obviously she was going insane. Furiously, she pinched her hands a few times knowing that there would be bruises when she finished. She did NOT come out here to go nuts. She’d come to heal and find her way, now she was seriously hallucinating.

Something moved at the edge of her knees, and she recognized her friend the green apple thing. It tapped her knee, almost trying to tell her something. Gently, she put her hand down to see if it wanted to be picked up. Hopping into her hand, she cupped it between her hands as she brought it closer to her eye level.

"Apple, you are seriously making me question my sanity." She said lightly to it. It peeped at her, its demeanor appearing to be shy or sorry or something. Apple body language wasn’t something she was very familiar with.

It was suddenly gesturing to the back of the hand shed pinched so viciously. Flexing it, she winced as she felt the bruises forming under her skin. She shouldn’t have done that. Turning her hand over for the apple, she watched as it tapped her skin gently. Gentle warmth bloomed under her skin, and the pain began to ease.

That had felt real. She examined her hand and wouldn’t see any discoloring, but knew from experience that bruises on her hands rarely showed up. Her eyes fell back on the apple that started bouncing in her hand again, apparently pleased with itself.

"Have they proven themselves true yet?" A voice from behind her asked. It took everything in her not to startle at the voice of the supposed wizard. He was coming up the pathway to her small cabin. "I found the note from the Junimos. It says that they will help you in return for gifts from the valley, also that you will be able to understand them if you are one with the forest magic." He looked the black clad figure over, and the green apple in her hand. "Somehow I imagined that you’d be able to understand them with your aura." Shock and fear suddenly took a backseat to frustration and curiosity, and she spun to face him.

"Alright, Mr. Wizard, start explaining. What’s a Junimo? Why are these apples appearing? What’s going on here? What do you mean one with the forest magic?" He gave her a Cheshire grin and shimmered from sight again. "Are you kidding me?! You can’t just say all that and then leave me hanging!” She yelled, grasping the apple in her hand and almost throwing it at where the man had disappeared from. A squeaking stopped her, and she brought the apple creature back down to safety. "Sorry little friend. I forgot."

Great, now she was seriously hallucinating and apologizing to one of the hallucinations. She should probably go talk to the doctor if it was going to be this bad.

"The creature you almost hurled at where I had been is a Junimo. They are the guardians of the forest and of this valley." The wizard’s voice said. She turned to see him sitting on the new porch swing again.

"Why haven’t I heard of them then?"

"You might know of them as fairies, Fay, or sprites."

"Not dryads?" She asked. He gave her a confused glance before his brow smoothed and he shook his head.

"They do not specifically guard just the trees. They guard the valley itself." She blinked at him and he continued. "They’re appearing to you because they’re curious about you. They feel great kinship with you and are curious why." He gave her a piercing look. "But that isn’t the only element you find kinship with, is it?" She didn’t respond and he fixed her with a piercing look. "If you were to name what you felt drawn to most in nature, what would it be?" She frowned, but thought for a moment.

"Nature itself." She answered.

"Specify further." He commanded and she scowled at his tone before closing her eyes and let her mind go blank. The first image that came into her mind’s eye wad green leaves and plants, the deep silence of the forest.  

"Earth." She replied softly, and the man nodded in satisfaction. But soon his eyes narrowed again and he peered at her curiously.

"But there’s more, something else that draws you beyond the earth itself. Give it a name." She closed her eyes again, letting her mind drift again and felt her way towards the other element that guided her.

As she opened her eyes again, the wizard stifled a gasp. Her eyes were pure black for a moment as she answered.

"Darkness and night." She answered, her eyes clearing back to the normal teal blue and white of normal eyes after a moment.

Odd.

"So the void then." She shrugged.

"I guess." The wizard took a moment to consider. An individual with dual affinities was rare in the first place. He’d heard of them, but hadn’t met many of them. One of his colleagues had once spoken of a girl with dual affinities for ocean and void, but never earth and void. He wondered if perhaps that meant this one had more than average power for one of seemingly mundane blood, but that was something to consider later.

"You have dual affinities for earth and void. I’ve never heard of this combination, as mundane don’t really have affinities that bring them to the attention of the local spirits." She raised an eyebrow at him. He returned her gaze before dropping his eyes and clearing his throat. “Usually.”

"So what does that mean?" She asked. He shrugged.

"I will need to consult my studies for answers about such things." She scowled at the ground but kept her biting retort under her tongue. She heard his joints crack as he rose from the swing and she wondered how old her visitor actually was. He didn’t appear very elderly, but looks could be deceiving.

"The Junimos have heard of your plight Adept, and they wish to help. They will help you find food today if you follow them. At the end of the day, they will lead you to my tower in the forest. I will have something that will help you understand them. I may have some other answers for you." He was already faded when she looked up from under the hooded cloak.

Except for the surrounding multicolored apples with limbs, she may have thought she was going insane. She stared at them. They appeared to be smiling.

"So you are Junimos?" She asked. There was a rousing chorus of peeps as they all leapt at once. Apparently that was a yes. "So you want me to gather food?" She asked. Another peep, but this time a group of red Junimos brought her tote bags to her from just inside the house.

Gathering was apparently what they wanted her to be doing. Alright.

Standing, she gathered the totes the Junimos has brought her and gave them a look as they all started chirping at each other. Bending down, she opened one of the totes to them. They looked at it and her. She turned pink.

"Sorry, I thought you’d want me out in the forest, and it might be a long way for you guys to walk.. Did you want to ride till were out in Cindersap forest?" Had she offended them? But her fears melted when the Junimos of all colours began piling into the bag. There were only enough to fit into one of the bags and the little green one decided to ride inside her hood. It hung onto one of the pieces of her hair. Ensuring her passengers were secure, she began the walk through the fog towards the forest she knew existed by having stared at her map.

The rest of the day was odd and amusing. The fog was pea soup thick, only breaking back to show visibility of objects 5 -10 ft in front of her. Once she and her cargo had gotten past Marnie’s ranch and Leah’s cabin, the Junimos had chirped at her, wanting to get out of the tote bags. Shed let them out, and before rising to her feet again had sneezed several times in a row again. Her skin tickled, electrical feeling; like static moving through arm hair, but not painful. When her eyesight cleared, she found most of the Junimos gone, except for a handful. They started pointing in differing directions, until it appeared some were arguing with each other about things, or something. Honestly she wasn’t sure. She moved carefully, mindful of the little creatures that didn’t have her leg span. Once the fae and she had developed a method of communication, she found berries everywhere, edible flowers and plants, horseradish that she dug for and dandelions aplenty. The Junimos even delighted in bringing her what she had missed.

Her totebags full, she suddenly wondered how she was going to store all this food. It wasn’t as if she had a freezer, and her fridge barely could handle a carton of milk and the few vegetables she’d managed to harvest and keep for eating. This was far more than she could eat before it went bad.

A pale blue Junimo brought her a bunch of salmonberries, and she gave it a sad look as it tucked the berry into her bag.

“How am I going to keep any of this before it goes bad? I can’t eat all this.” The Junimo stood still for a moment before it leaped up as her green companion had before. Paf paf paf. Leaning forward, it appeared to blow on her bags. She felt a cool breeze pass over her exposed skin, and watched as a slight layer of frost coat the outside of the vegetables she’d gathered, before it appeared to melt away. Perhaps it had sunk into the foraged items instead? Difficult to tell.

A short chorus of peeping and chirping brought her attention to point on the small gathering of bouncing apples that appeared to be emphasizing a direction in the distance. She grinned at the creatures and began walking in the direction they had indicated. She never knew how, but a few appeared on her shoulders, clutching her cloak, or in the tote bags amongst the vegetables she’d gathered as she walked.

Looming out of the fog beyond the trees was a shape that rose into the sky. The Junimos appeared to be indicating she continue towards it, so she did as she was told. Something within her was shaking awake as she approached the shape, she wasn’t sure what it was, but knew that she’d felt it stir in herself before.

The shape in the fog resolved itself into a tower. Within her, she felt something come to awareness, or perhaps it had just connected to something far larger than itself, a stream coming home to the ocean perhaps. It was difficult to articulate, even to herself.

She was so lost in her thoughts, that it wasn’t until a door of dark wood swung on rusty hinges with a creek, and the gravelly voice of the supposed Wizard spoke from within, that she became aware of her own surroundings.

Swallowing sudden fear, she pushed tentatively on the door and stepped inside.

The Wizard stood over a desk and looked up at her from between straggly violet bangs.

“They made sure you’re fed?” He asked, indicating the bulging tote bags.

“Yes. Assuming I can eat this all before it goes bad.” She responded, glancing at the bags before back at the man.

“I don’t think that will be an issue. The Junimos wouldn’t gift you this without ensuring that it could be used in the way they wish it to be.” She raised an eyebrow at him. He moved over to a cauldron on the other side of the room that was bubbling green. “Enter Adept, we still have much to discuss.”

“Who are you?” she asked, cautiously making her way towards the small fire and the cauldron atop it. He surveyed her across the bubbling brew.

“M. Rasmodious, you may refer to me by my surname.” He said shortly, before indicating the cauldron. “Leave your bags, this won’t take long.” He stirred the bubbling green as she left her foraged food beside the door. “In order to understand the Junimos, you need to be one with the forest; this is a potion of forest essence. Baby fern, moss grub, caramel-top toadstool. Can you smell it? “

Now that she was aware of the potion, she was aware of the smell of it as well. The room smelt of old books and paper, ink, and wood smoke. The potion smelt of grass and undergrowth after the rain, pine needles and humidity that bring mushrooms. Not entirely sure if she could smell the rest of the things he could, she just nodded. He filled a goblet from the liquid in the cauldron and handed it to her.

“Drink up. Let the essence of the forest permeate your body.” When she grasped it, he held on. “You will probably be far more aware of the power you have, and the world around you once you are more connected to the forest. It will take a few days before your awareness becomes something you are used to. Let me know if there are any other side effects.”

That didn’t sound ominous at all.

Before her common sense could stop her, she tipped the goblet to her lips and drank.

The potion had the consistency of muddy thick water, and tasted of grass, dandelions and violet flowers. As she swallowed, she could have sworn she felt slimy bark slide over her tongue and pinecone pieces at the back of her throat. She couldn’t taste the textures, for which she was grateful, but she barely managed to hand the goblet back to him before her vision clouded green at the edges. She felt her body swaying, and wondered if her stomach would reject whatever she had just drank. It certainly felt like nausea was going to ensure she didn’t keep this potion down. When everything she saw started going entirely green, she seriously considered that she might have just been poisoned and had probably done it to herself.

When she came too in the darkness, she was lying on the old couch in her cabin and the fire was throwing enough light to shed her cloak and manage the stairs to bed.

She wasn’t certain how she had gotten home, or what had happened. Maybe she was hallucinating, but before she went entirely upstairs, she noticed her tote bags back by the door with her satchel and dagger, and all the food she wouldn’t have been able to fit in the fridge, neatly arranged on the shelves on the wall. Had the Junimos done this? Had she?

Forest magic perhaps?

Whatever it was, she managed the stairs and fell into bed before she could consider it more heavily. Maybe the day would bring answers, or at least give her the knowledge that she was doing less hallucinating.

Chapter Text

The next few days were busy. Parsnips, kale, potatoes and more were being harvested, sold and replanted as fast as she could grab more seeds. Frantic dashes to Pierre’s and back meant she didn’t have much time to consider what had happened. She ignored the shapes of anything in her periphery, and kept her thoughts on crops and clearing the land. Robin came by and helped her scope out where the root cellar might be, and having found it, they managed to open it enough to see that only a small chunk was usable. The rest would have to be repaired, but Fáelán didn’t have the time or money for it at that time. So she cleared out the small area that looked like a root cellar and stashed some of the vegetables she grew in it. She worked herself to the bone, living off the foraged goods that the Junimos had found and helped her find, did a bit of fishing and planted everything she could find or buy.

She still heard echoes of her dream in the day. He was reminding her of how she would fail, of how nothing she did was good enough, of how this belief in magic, in things that couldn’t be seen, was ludicrous and made her all the more foolish for believing it.

What she had thought might be hallucinations became dark reminders of that conversation, of the reminder in her dream, and the hole in her being that had become ever present around him.

She had learned a form of healing, reiki. It was energy healing, with minor scientific results pointing towards it being helpful for stress relief if nothing else. (Her own anecdotal evidence had meant little to him.) She had offered it when he began fighting with something appearing autoimmune.

He had shut her down hard, telling her that the healing she felt in her hands was nothing and that she had better things to do elsewhere.

His commentary had hurt, and had carved out a piece of her that she felt in her being as the dream kept coming up in her mind.

Between dreams where his reproach of her healing was replayed in sharp detail, all the little piercing jabs he had ever made over the time they had been together, as well as all the snide comments he had made of her after they had broken up also being replayed in her sleep, she knew in her waking hours that she was running and trying hide in overwork. She was hoping that by working herself to exhaustion, her sleep would be peaceful, but shadows kept creeping into her days, which made her seriously begin to question if he might be right.

One afternoon maybe 3 days after the meeting with Rasmodius, she was clearing up wood and stone from what was obvious forest encroachment on the land. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she looked ahead into the clearing and saw a youngster speaking to a lady in green.

"Hey!" She yelled, approaching them. She had never seen these two. The youngster was a brunette with a willowy figure, and as she approached the lady, the green clothing became a set of clothing made of leaves. As she got closer, they turned in unison to her. She stopped dead.

She knew the face of the youngster. She had watched herself grow from the round faced youngster to the older form with obvious high cheekbones. The lady in a leaf green dress was also somewhat familiar. More than a little familiar, she realized as she looked into the ladies eyes. Sea foam green with a catlike pupil so thin that it almost couldn’t be seen, her hair was silver and white, hanging in braids behind pointed ears. She was a wild woman. She’d seen herself as that long ago.

Pointed canines could be seen in the woman’s mouth as she and the youngster spoke at the same time.

"You’re ignoring us", and they were gone. Fáelán barreled threw the trees to where they had been. No physical sign of them, except a sweeter scent of forest and mint. She had loved mints as a child, still did. She knelt to examine the ground. There were footprints, one smaller and had shoes on, the other was barefoot. She sat back on her haunches and stated, periodically feeling the imprint of the prints in the undergrowth.

Was this real?

Sunstroke, it had to be sunstroke. She decided, determined to take the night and sleep it off, she checked the sky only to discover it was twilight. A good enough time to stop. Finding her way back to the bucket of stones and her pick, she hefted one over her shoulder and grabbed the handle of the other. Hauling it back to where she had most of her supplies she headed indoors and showered, falling into bed without even thinking about food.

She stared at the open window for a while, feeling the heaviness in her limbs, but her mind was stuck on something. She was used to minor auditory hallucinations, but not hallucinations that were so blatantly visual. Not hallucinations that left a trace in the physical world.

Could this be real?

No. Her rational mind decided. Its sunstroke that caused those two to appear, you’ve been overworking.

Which was true, but the Junimos were real, weren’t they?

Hallucinations too. The practical side of her mind added.

A science degree in university and such an intense smashing of her confidence in what she saw in the corners of her eyes had done wonders on demolishing her self-assurance in such matters. It had even destroyed her wish to practice her own religion, as what was the point of being a witch if magick was all in her head?

Sleep did not come easy, but when she fell into a fitful sleep, she found herself facing herself in her living room.

"So I’m obviously dreaming." She broke the silence as her other self studied her nails.

"What makes you say that?"

"I’m talking to myself."

"But you do that often."

"True," she conceded, "but I don’t normally sit face to face with myself to do so." Her other self shrugged.

"Usually."

"So why am I talking to myself in a dream then?" She asked.

"Because you’re afraid, and maybe by talking to yourself you can work it out."

"What do I need to work our?" She asked herself.

"Your fears."  Fáelán rolled her eyes.

"So... everything?"

"No, something specific."

"Get to the point would you?" She finally growled at her counterpart. Her double obliged, her posture going from disinterest to attentive and stern.

"Why are you letting him win?" The question brought up the proverbial hackles, and the dreamer frowned.

"I’m not, I’m out here, I survived him, I’m-"

"But your letting him win in your head.”

"He’s not winning! I’m doing everything i can to hold him back!" She snarled. Her counterpart kept her pinned like a bug.

"But your letting him influence the way you think."

"No I’m-!"

"Hypothetically, if what you have been seeing for the past few days was real, what would that mean?" Her dream self was back to studying her nails again, but the question left Fáelán quiet. What if?

"If it was real?" She repeated softly. Some piece of her mind rebelled against the thought, but a deeper layer stirred up old memories and hope. "If magic were real?"

"If he was entirely wrong, like we know he is."

"He is wrong, he was always wrong." Her tone was unsure, but her counterpart was listening intently.

"If he’s wrong about this? If everything you’ve seen is real?"

The prompt left Fáelán silent.

"Then the apples are Fay, and Rasmodius is really a wizard. That maybe what I’ve been sensing is real?" A sincere smile she knew from candid snapshots began to appear on her mirrors face. "That this land is suffused with power that I can sense." Her next words were almost a whisper, but they held a note of determination that was lit with hope. "That he was wrong, more than he knew. I’m not insane, my healing is real, and I don’t need to question everything I see."

"He has no power over us, and he was always too blind to see what we could. We have waited so long to see what we knew could be, let’s find this magic that is in this valley, together."

If she dreamt more that evening, she didn’t remember. When she woke the next morning to sunshine, birdsong and a large crop of parsnips, the valley felt more alive than ever before, and she felt the stirrings in the soil of a presence she’d been ignoring. 

In retrospect, she thought wryly, as she set to working out the roots of chickweed before it became entrenched between kale plants, that as a witch already, she knew magic existed. But she wasn’t used to it being something that could be seen. The irony of a magic user in the regular sense being afraid of what magic that could be seen in everyday life was not lost on her, but a further realization of more intense irony brought her anger and head shaking confusion.

Her ex and she had met at the Pagan Club on campus, and he had been an ardent practitioner of Norse Paganism.

Letting out a deep breath, she tried to push as much of her annoyance with this fact out before she dumped her parsnips into the shipping bin and went back to check on her potatoes.

A flurry of mail happened in the next few days, which contrasted nicely to the discovery that she had attracted slugs with her kale plants. Willy, who had been amazed by the increase to his business due to her fishing so much, sent her a thank you note and a few crab pots. Someone named Andy sent his regards to “the other farmer”, and added some more strawberry seeds and a note about crows. Lastly, Mayor Lewis sent her a note about an upcoming event called “The Flower Dance”. In her confusion, she’d called Robin and asked about it. Apparently it was some sort of spring celebration that included a dance.

Despite Robin’s insistence that she think about finding a partner for the event, Fáelán was as polite as she could be about it, but not committing to anything.

“GET BACK HERE YOU BASTARD SON OF A BITCH!” she screamed into the microphone as the red outline of the offending opponent danced away and into a different hallway. “Hey Leia, he’s onto you!”

“Where is he?!”

“He’s-!”

“He got me.” The sullen response came in her ears before Fáelán watched the offending figure outlined in red collapse off the edge of the world.

“Got him.”

“Little late there Deimos.” Fáelán growled as she took up her mouse and keyboard as she watched her character drop down from infinity as she was resurrected.

“I’ve got a bunch of Fallen over here.”

“Where are you?” asked another voice.

“Over by the bulwark.”

“I’m en-route.” Fáelán responded, her eyes focused on the screen and as much of the battle as she could take in.

“We got a Primeval incoming.”  Someone else’s voice came in over the speakers on her ears.

“Goddamn them, I’m already going for the motes!” she spat, high on combat energy as she watched the long coated back of her character sprint across the map. A gong sounded from the screen and something white, black and spitting fire appeared as she dodged around it.

“Fallen Primeval” she intoned monotonously, her focus entirely on the sputtering white glow of tokens on the map.

The sound of bullets, war and alien sound effects continued for another few minutes as the Fireteam worked together to take out the enemy that the other team had sent their way.

“Primeval incoming!” the arena’s host exclaimed. “You’re almost out of time!”

“Fucking Drifter.” Someone else snarled.

“He doesn’t need to take such pleasure in our bad luck.” Fáelán responded as she riddled the enemies with virtual bullets.

“We aren’t going to win this one guys.” A resigned voice said to the main chat.

“We still have 30 seconds.” Leia responded. Fáelán just let out a guttural growl.

The 30 second timer came and went, and their characters were arranged on the screen looking annoyed as the game stats came up instead.

“’Nother round?” Fáelán asked, tipping back a tumbler of something strong smelling and amber coloured.

“I gotta get to bed though, Fae.” Said Leia.

“Its getting late for me too.” Alan agreed.

“Please?” Fáelán’s voice was small and fragile sounding over the game chat.

There was a pause.

“Fáelán, what’s up? You’ve been going hard all night, and not just at the game.” The username that lit up to show who was speaking was shown to be a long distance friend of hers, Deimos.

“Yeah, you’ve cleared quite a bit, its audible in your voice.” This time, the username was Novarious, one of her oldest friends.

“I’m getting out of cue at least. But honestly, spill Fae.” Alan said as his jumpship flew off the main screen. It was followed by all of them as they scattered to whatever they needed to do. She swallowed as she clicked a few buttons that sent her back to the main tower to drop off some of the bounties she’d completed that night. Leaning back in her chair, she swung her legs up onto her desk.

“There’s this event tomorrow called the Flower Dance. Apparently everyone whose young and unmarried takes part in it.” She began.

“So?” Leia asked. “You like dancing.”

“Yeah, but it’s a formal type dance. I don’t have any clothes, and I don’t know anyone. Not well enough to dance with anyone anyway.”

“So? Just go and have fun.” Deimos suggested.

“It’s also the first full event I’m going too, and it’s the first time I’ll see most of the town after that dinner I had with the carpenter’s family.”

“If he decides to behave badly in public, that’s not your fault, and if it’s in front of the town, then it just shows them what kind of a fool he is.” Alan was never good at suffering fools, and he had been quite annoyed by Demitrius’s actions at the supper with his family.

“Well yeah, but he’s also got a standing in this community, I don’t.” Fáelán explained.

“I don’t think that will matter over much Fáelán.” Dara said soothingly. The name Novarious flashed as he finished speaking.

“You just gotta go for it girl.” Leia encouraged. Fáelán returned to a sitting position as she looked at the chat window and the names that stood silent and unblinking. It was like being with her friends all over again. Well, close but not close enough. Most of them lived too far away to visit, and it wasn’t as if her place was really a guest friendly house at the moment.

“I’m honestly terrified guys.” Fáelán’s voice was small and fragile. “What if Demitrius has given everyone the opinion that I’m lazy and terrible? What if we’re supposed to dance with others and no one wants to dance with me? What if I’m dressed all wrong and all those I haven’t met decide I’m a complete idiot for not knowing anything about their customs? What if-“

“Whoa, Fáelán, calm down!” Deimos ordered her.

“Yeah,” Alan added. “You’re over thinking this.”

“Am I?” she asked bitterly.

“Yes you are.” Dara answered.

“Look, you can’t fix everyone else. You can only do your best and show people that you are someone worth having around. Besides that, your strawberry jam is delicious, so they should keep you around for that.” Leia’s admission made her smile despite her fear.

“My strawberry jam huh?”

“Well your ass is pretty good too, but I’m not sure you could market that in a way that’s suitable for work.” Alan added. Fáelán laughed.

“Still a letch huh?”

“He is.” Leila answered.

“What?! Her ass is still awesome!” Alan protested.

“Least I know I have some redeeming qualities.”

“Probably more than a few.” Leia commented. Fáelán took a deep breath.

“I’ll try, alright? That’s all I can do.”

“Exactly” agreed Alan.

“I send you hugs!” Deimos chimed in.

“Let us know how it goes ok Fae?” Dara added.

“I will. Wish me luck.”

Signing off the chat program and turning off her computer, Fáelán went to bed braced up by her friends belief in her, even if she didn’t feel much of it herself.

Chapter Text

The sunlight was dappling over the soft green grass as the wind blew through the trees and shifting the leaves around. The wind wasn’t overly enthusiastic, but it was enough that she was grateful for the scarf shawl thing she had wrapped around her shoulders. She looked down at her toes, snug in their kind of cute wedge heeled shoes and desperately wished she could run around barefoot here.

No, she told her toes uncomfortable with being contained in the leather. Good impression remember?  She stayed at what she thought was the entrance to where the Flower Dance was being held, chewing on the inside of her mouth.

How does one make a good impression again?

She felt sick. She wasn’t cut out for people anymore, this had been a mistake. It had been a mistake since she’d gotten up this morning. She should just return to the house before anyone saw her. Hadn’t her mother always told her that she tended to dress far too outside the scope for the conservative types to appreciate? This town was full of gossip and this was one of the first events she’d made an appearance at. This was a terrible idea, and she was not going to make a good impression and she should just run before everything went south.

“Hey, are you ok?” she heard a soft voice say behind her. She suppressed jumping out of her skin, but didn’t manage to hide the flinch. Turning, a shabbily dressed man was peering kindly at her. “I’m sorry to intrude, but you looked like you might be struggling.”

She swallowed, feeling her throat bob as her eyes were wide and her pupils dilated.

She could feel when that kind of thing happened; anxiety was a bitch like that.

“You look very pretty today, are you on your way to the Flower Dance?” he asked, treating her as if she wasn’t staring at him without speaking yet, her pulse throbbing in her throat. Swallowing again, she answered.

“That was my intended destination yes. I don’t believe we’ve met, am I wrong?” She managed, somehow to keep her voice level and not showing how out of her depth she was.

The man shook the white cloud of hair he had and smiled beneath his beard.

“I’m Linus. I live up behind the carpenter’s house.”  She forced herself to smile politely at the modern day Silvanus, feeling as though he could see through her act of being “normal”. Perhaps he could. Perhaps he was too polite to mention it. She took a breath as Linus gestured down the path. “Shall we?”

Steeling herself, she followed him into the clearing that served as the dance area for the Village.

Her war paint was still as perfect as she had been ablr to get it. Shed made it into the field where this dance was to be held, her posture sure and her poise perfect while inside she was dreading everything and overly mindful of everything around her. Every glance, every side eye, even a few full on stares, along with the whispers. She felt terribly underdressed in her professional cut black capris and a black tank top with some embellishment. Her jewelry might be considered along the lines of the finery some were wearing, but she felt out of place, and looked it too.

Her feeling of sticking out was magnified by the sniff that Hayley had given her when shed introduced herself. The girl was pretty and obviously took pride in the dance that most others hates, but the distance had hurt even if the mask hadn’t slipped where Emily’s younger sister had seen.

She had greeted the people she knew and introduced herself to the rest, filing away her first impressions for serious consideration later. Her senses were attuned to people already, but she felt that whatever potion Rasmodius had given her might have made her more acutely aware of the people here. Maybe she was reading into what her gut was telling her.

What she didn’t doubt was her impressions of people.

 Shy Sophia was in pain and hiding it badly, but trying very hard to pretend things were normal.

Grumpy Andy was an old school farmer but she still thanked him gratefully for the strawberry seeds that even now were beginning to flower in her land.

Granny Evelyn was adorable and bloomed in her own way when Fáelán asked about the flower displays she had organized around the event area. She had bloomed further when Fáelán had asked if there were any flowers she might be able to grow to help out her displays in future. Her husband George was grouchy and didn’t say much to her, but Fáelán watched as his eyes softened while he watched Evelyn rearrange a rogue bunch of flowers. That settled it. He may be a grump, but George still loves deeply, even if he wasn’t fond of either strangers or younger folk, that made him a good egg in her book.

Gus was an amazing cook, and his buffet proved it. When she told him so, he beamed at her and told her that her first meal at the Stardrop was on the house. Leah leaned over conspiratorially and suggested something with marinara; the artist swore that it was to die for. Elliot, who was dapper, elegant and would probably call a girl "milady" without it being patronizing or ironic, leaned over and added his suggestion of an excellent brew to ask for at the Stardrop. Gus was more than pleased and Emily laughed as she chided them to stop blowing up Gus's ego. Fáelán grinned, feeling her cheeks pull as she found herself grinning for real, rather than the polite smile that was part of her mask.

Shane liked hot peppers, she found out as he extolled Gus's hot pepper Chutney and she made a mental note of that for later. When the smile fell from his eyes, she noticed the shadows and despair that were more familiar than the smile. That was an uncomfortable look seeing in another’s eyes when shed seen it mirrored on her face so often.

Gus popped a cork on a bottle of champagne and disrupted that train of thought abruptly.

Nursing a mimosa she learned 3 things very quickly. Olivia was a formidable woman who liked to be in the know. She was also quite wealthy. Second, her son Victor may look like a snob, but it was fairly clear he wasn’t. As Olivia began quizzing Fáelán so much that she wondered if she should have brought her resume, Victor’s soft voice suggested food, and as his mother’s attention was diverted, he mouthed an apology at her. Winking back, she gave a chuckle at the sudden pink of his cheeks. Thirdly, she discovered that Maru was a doll as she appeared from nowhere, begged Olivia’s pardon to interrupt and steal Fáelán away, only to inquire how she was doing since the family supper shed exited a few weeks back.

Deciding that obviously the asshole gene had skipped Maru, Fáelán assured her she was fine about it all. While the lie made her tongue feel heavy, the relief that shone in Maru’s eyes made the guilt less. As Maru went off to find her own plate of food at her urging, Fáelán looked around for the rest of the family. If Maru was there, and she watched Demitrius walk past and ignore her, then where was -?

Oh. Robin was marching towards her with Sebastian in her shadow.

"Good morning Fáelán" she began, before stumbling over her initial compliment over her clothes. Inwardly Fáelán flinched. She had misstepped with the outfit, but she didn’t have much else to wear that wasn’t work related. Robin recovered quickly and began pursuing her real purpose, a partner for the dance.

Struggling to hold down the obvious wincing she wanted to do, she swallowed down the fear that rose up from inside to claw at her throat.

"No no, that’s alright. I don’t dance actually." She smiled ruefully.

Sebastian watched her, his first and only clear thought being that she was lying, but she didn’t know he knew.

Fáelán never thought she’d be grateful to Demetrius after that dinner, but he suddenly summoned Robin to eat, and Robin’s focus was no longer on her dancing. But she did finish the discussion with a request to think about it 

Sebastian gave her an apologetic glance that she returned as he followed his mum.

He found himself watching her curiously. She appeared to deflate a bit when his mother left before pulling her shoulders back and her eyes becoming lidded, watching the area and the townsfolk with what appeared to be a curious look. Something about her eyes made him think less of curiosity and more of a wall. Her cheeks became their normal pale shade again, even behind the blush he notices on her.

Actually, she was wearing makeup. He hadn’t noticed until he’d watched her blink and noticed the artful line at the corner of her eye. It wasn’t thickly applied, but it wasn’t her regular face. Dustings of silver white over dark purple on the eyes , nothing like what shed worn to supper that night. This wasn’t what he’d seen Abigail wear to the club, but elegant and enough without being overt. He could see this being shown at an office. Her lip colour was dark however, and in retrospect that should have been her first clue of paint. Her posture was odd though, and why would she lie about not being a dancer? Granted he didn’t want her to know about knowing that she could and did dance, but why the outright lie? Why would she-?

"Hey!" A voice interrupted his thoughts. He noticed Sam staring at him with Abigail. Both had concern on their faces.

He really wanted a cigarette.

"What?" He asked.

“We called you like 4 times bro, what’s up?” Sam asked. Raising an eyebrow, he thought about it for a moment.

“Lost in dislike of the dance?” Abigail offered. Sebastian shrugged. Better then letting them clue into what exactly he was thinking.

“Of course he is! Heck, we should all be kind of staring into space about our abject misery over this dance.” Sam declared. Abigail and Sebastian stared at him.

“Abject misery?” Abigail repeated, her eyebrows raised. Sam shrugged.

“What, you actually like it?”

“Well no, but I’ve never heard you use that phrase before.” Sam shrugged again.

“Vincent was practicing his reading and came to me with that phrase. I liked it and wanted to use it in something.”

“Oh great, now it will totally be in the next song.” Sebastian groaned. Sam’s eyes lit up in excitement, prompting another groan from Sebastian and a giggle from Abigail.

“That totally reminds me guys! I have a song I think we can totally do, and I’d love to have you guys hear it!”

“Alright, shoot.” Abigail said. Same shook his head.

“On our way out. I don’t want to give it away just yet in case anyone else knows the band!” Sharing a glance, Sebastian and Abigail rolled their eyes as the call for the dancers to get changed was sounded by Mayor Lewis.

Robin had been tuning in and out of the conversation. The “Mom Squad”, as they were somewhat lovingly called by the teenagers of the town (Robin wasn’t sure how much of that was out of love and how much was mockery) were discussing all manner of things, as they tended too when events such as this were happening.

They had discussed Victor’s graduation, and the small vacation Olivia had taken her son and Sophia on as a result. They discussed how Sophia was handling the death of her parents, and how she had bloomed into taking care of Blue Moon Vineyard as well. They had discussed Susan being trapped by Joja’s careless mine blast that had left her trapped on her farm until Joja managed to sort it out.

They hadn’t precisely discussed Fáelán and her endeavors to clean up NightShade and ingratiate herself into their community, but Robin knew that they all were keeping one eye on the newcomer as she attempted to make deals and get to know those she hadn’t yet met. She’d bought a scarecrow, managed to make Evelyn beam, and Gus apparently gave her a tab in return for fresh vegetables. As the dancing youngsters found themselves wearing the customary outfits for the dance, (really they’d have to talk to Lewis about updating them), Caroline leaned over to Robin.

“Do you think she’s faking it?”

“Faking what?” Robin asked, giving Caroline a curious look. Caroline shrugged as if it were obvious.

“Being put together as she appears, being so nice, being- I don’t know; so fake?” Robin turned to face her friend.

“What makes you think she’s faking being fake? What makes you think she’s fake?”

“No one can be that nice. What is she hiding? It’s got to be an act.”

Jodi looked over at Caroline as she assessed the situation and what was being said. Her eyebrows rose as she looked at Caroline.

“Leave her alone Caroline, she’s a nice girl who’s nervous about being here. She’s given up her home and her career for everything here and is allowed to be a little uncomfortable. She’s still amongst strangers.”

Caroline pursed her lips.

“Something seams off about her.”

Robin rolled her eyes. “Yeah, she’s in a community that’s very insular that has a very specific spring festival that she’s probably never seen and we’re all over here gossiping about her. That would put anyone off don’t you think?” Caroline had to back down, at least a little. But the other Moms of the Mom Squad knew that it might come up again, much as they wished it wouldn’t. Caroline had a nose for turnuptitude like a blood hound, and liked making drama. At that point, they’d deal with it, but as Lewis called out his usual summons for the dancers to begin changing for the dance, Robin watched as all the usual youngsters made their way over to the changing tents, some of the kids groaning, some of them shuffling, and Hayley flouncing over to put on her dress. Fáelán did not follow.

The dance went swimmingly, as it tended too with the participants knowing their parts so thoroughly. Even Elliot only looked a little lost until he got into the swing of things, but that was forgiven as this was only his second year participating in the dance.

Sebastian couldn’t get out of the stupid outfit fast enough. As soon as the dance was over, he booked it to the changing tent. The only one who was really excited about the damn festival was generally Hayley. He was joined quickly by the other former dancers who wanted to get out of the old outfits, but Sebastian didn’t really notice them.

Desperate to get somewhere safe enough for his nicotine fix, he found himself outside of the clearing that the town used for the dance and lighting a cigarette when Sam and Abigail caught up to him. Sam was beaming, holding his phone clutched in his fist. 

“Can I show you the band now? Please?” 

“I want to cover some Steven Universe songs.” Abigail interrupted. Sebastian took a drag on his cigarette as the trio started to move away from the well-used track back to town for some more private discussion. Sam raised an eyebrow, his band forgotten in the discussion for the moment. 

“What song do you want to do?” 

“What about Independent Together? Would you do that with me?” Abigail asked, looking at Sam. He looked dubious. 

“I don’t know if that’s the song that I could do.” 

“What about you Seb?”

“Nah.” He responded. Sam’s face split into a grin. 

“You know that won’t happen, Sebby doesn’t sing. Unless it’s the Muffin Song!” Abigail and Sam immediately started singing obnoxiously. 

“Hi, I’m a muffin
And its muffin time!
Who wants a muffin?
Please I just wanna die
Hey, somebody kill me
Please its muffin time!”

“Ooh! What about Got any Grapes?” Abigail suggested with a giant grin on her face. Sebastian took a drag and fixed her with a glare. 

“You probably play the goose game don’t you?” Abigail giggled. 

“Guilty.”

“Anyway!” Sam interrupted, pulling out his phone. “I found this band, and I think it could really fit our vibe.” He hit play, and Abigail and Sebastian dutifully sat and listened to some of the song he’d picked. 

“Can you hear me? Am I speaking clearly?
Are you starstrucked or just made of stone?
Do you need a savior? Some bad behavior?
Or you could cash it all in, I suppose”

“See, there’s good guitar, strong drum line, and a decent bit of piano that you could do Seb, they’ve also got a sharp edge that we could definitely work with here.” 

“So who is this band exactly?” Sebastian asked. 

“Shinedown, that song is Darkside from their Attention Attention album. I haven’t heard if they have a new one out, but I really fell in love with them when they did The Sound of Madness.” A new voice answered Sebastian’s question and the trio turned to see Fáelán standing against a tree off the path. “Sorry to interrupt, but I recognized the music and was curious where it was coming from.”

“You know this band?” Sam asked excitedly, even though she had basically answered his question already. Abigail interrupted before Sam could grill Fáelán further. 

“Sam, beyond the drums, there isn’t much I can do for some of this band. Also they like to use bass, we don’t have one. If I were to sing at all, then we’d need to modify some of this. If we were going to manage to do some Steven Universe songs, then I would love to do “Other Friends” if we could.” 

“We can’t do Other Friends, your voice is too high.” Sebastian responded. 

“Yeah I know.” Abigail responded sadly. 

Sam looked over at Fáelán, and the other two followed his glance. Responding to the trio looking at her, Fáelán did a double take and fell onto her back foot.

“What?”

“You could handle that song,” Sam pointed out. 

“Your voice is deeper!” Abigail said, catching Sam’s train of thought. Fáelán paused to consider before answering. 

“I mean, maybe? But why would that matter?”

“We need someone with a deeper voice who can handle more intense songs!” Sam responded.

“But it’s your band! I’m not that good at singing!” Fáelán retorted, and Sebastian could see that her eyes were getting wider and gaining the wild look of a cornered creature looking for an escape. Luckily Abigail saw it too.

“Hey Sam, calm down.” Sam deflated a bit, his excitement still under his skin, but far more pulled back.

“Think on it would you? Maybe? Please?” he asked Fáelán.

She let out the breath she was holding and studied his excited expression that looked like a puppy dog with the begging eyes.

“I will think on it, but please don’t get your hopes up. I’ve still got a farm to reclaim, and that’s a lot of work, which I do have to get back too I’m afraid.” She extricated herself as gracefully as she could, but wasn’t sure she’d done so with finesse. As soon as she was out of sight of the trio, she broke into a run to get back to the farm quicker.

That was not what she’d been expecting the day to end on.

Spring was ending soon. That had been made abundantly clear by the Dance the day before, and Fáelán really wanted to get one more crop of kale from the soil before making plans for the summer crops. No doubt that the spring crops would wither in the heat that the locals had promise would appear almost on the moment that the season changed. Granny Evelyn had been most kind in her descriptions of what kind of crops did well in the summer, but it still left Fáelán with a sense of wanting to get the best she could before everything changed.

She had some coin set aside for the crops, and was excited to see what she could plant, but first, the last of the kale and parsnips and things for the spring.

The kale was still being eaten by a horde of slugs that she’d finally decided to fix. To that end, she’d decided to post a request on the wanted board beside Pierre’s and see what came of it.

Digging some of her crops out the morning after the Dance, she was surprised to notice a figure standing at the entrance to the farm carrying a paper bag. Standing, she dusted off her hands and approached him.

“Good morning, can I help you?” She recognized Shane as he looked up at her from under the overgrown bangs.

“My Aunt Marnie told me to bring these to you.” He said gruffly, as he thrust the bag towards her. Taking it, she looked inside and noticed many broken egg shells. Instantly, she smiled.

“Thankyou! I completely forgot that I had posted that note, these are perfect!” Her excitement appeared to confuse him, and she immediately toned it down.

“Would you like to hang around while I apply these?” He didn’t say yes or no, but followed at a distance as she went inside to get a bowl and her mortar and pestle.

The egg shells were not fresh, so she didn’t have to deal with wet egg getting stuck to everything, but with two bowls and her mortar and pestle, she sat on the stoop of the cottage and began pulling out the shells and pulling them apart.

“Why do need these anyway?” Shane finally asked as he peered at her curiously.

“There are slugs that are eating the leaves of the kale and anything leafy they can find. I don’t have enough money yet for ducks or a stable water source for them, so I’m using eggshells instead.”

“What?” he asked, appearing to be even more confused.  She paused in her separation of eggshells, and looked at him.

“What is confusing you?”

“Well, ducks for one. Why do you need them, and how are slugs involved? But why egg shells? How does that help against slugs?”

“Slugs are soft on their underside, so they don’t like to go over things that have coarse surfaces. Egg shells crushed can be used as a barrier around the plants to keep them out. Basically it would rip them apart if they go over them.”

“O-kay” he drawled, sounding dubious. “What about ducks then?”

“Ducks happily eat slugs and snails, but leave the greens alone.”

“What about chickens?”

“Chickens will eat all the things that scurry or slither, which is not a bad thing until they eat the bugs that are helpful, and they also eat greens and gardens if allowed too. I’d be happy to let chickens free in the patches after they have been harvested, but I don’t have that yet.”

Shane looked over at the fenced off side of the farm that appeared like it had once been set up for animals.

“You have a nice looking set up for a coop, and a barn, couldn’t you just get some chicks?” he asked.

She looked pointedly at the barely standing building that she thought might have once been a coop, or a shed, or maybe a shack. Really, she hadn’t ventured in to check it out in detail, and was quite certain that Robin would have to tear it down before it could become anything.

“I don’t know how to raise chickens.” She finally answered.

“You know all these things about farming with ducks and how they can eat the pests of your plants, and how chickens can help enrich your soil, but you don’t know how to raise any of them?” Shane asked with a bit of incredulousness.

“Yup.” She returned to separating shells and crushing them into a coarse powder.

“Your weird.” He finally responded, giving her a side eyed look.

She smiled into the mortar.

“And I am aware of that.”

Shane, as it turned out, didn’t like to talk much, but he kept her company as she finished with crushing the shells, and accompanied her back to the farm to watch her apply the coarse ground shells in a beige and white line around the sprouting kale. She collected the slugs that she could see, putting them into a small container she used for the purpose, and he pointed a few out that she had missed. Once they were reasonably sure that all the slimy predators had been found, she looked at them writhing in the bowl and offered it to him.

Giving the bowl and then her, dubious look, he raised his eyes back to hers. She cleared her throat, suddenly unsure if this was at all a good idea.

“I got the sense from your questions about chickens, that you had some. I know you and your Aunt feed them well, but I’m not going to use these, and if they stay here they might try to come eat my plants. If I give them to you, your chickens can have some fresh meat to add to their premium feed. I thought you might appreciate that more than just a thank you for responding to my wanted note.”

His eyes brightened, and while it wasn’t a smile, Fáelán decided that it was a good thing.

“The chickens will like these I think, and if you ever get chickens, let me know. I can give you some pointers on how to raise them.”

“I will do that; I will definitely need all the help I can get with them. Thank you Shane.”

He left after that, and Fáelán felt that maybe her hopes to have animals might not be entirely in vain, or possibly an endeavor doomed to fail.

She managed to get another crop of everything, leaving the leafy tops on the ground of the parsnips to cover the soil until she could plant the summer crops. Fallow wasn’t the best thing for the soil, but covered was better than nothing. The heat was rising day by day, and she would have been able to sense the beginning of summer even without the calendar telling her of its arrival.

By day one of summer, she had enough to buy summer seeds, and she ran off to Pierre’s as soon as she knew it was open.

Ignoring most of the citizens who didn’t say hello to her, she bought as many seeds as she could, almost running her coin dry in buying hops, melons, blueberries, corn, tomatoes, hot peppers, radishes, and wheat. She bought a few sunflowers to plant along the side of the fence where she’d started a line of bee hives, but mostly bought the veggies she knew she could sell, and that the Junimos had indicated they wanted samples of.

She wore herself out the next few days, planting and watering and trying to keep everything from dying in the heat. It was harder than in the spring, as at least the weather had been milder, but the summer brought the option of heat stroke, and she found herself jumping in the pond threw the day just to try and keep that away.

She fished, and found her income increasing as she got better at fishing and was able to catch more interesting fish. It was nice to almost be stable, but Fáelán still worked like a woman possessed, somehow still terrified that everything would come crashing down around her if she didn’t keep working to make the farm work.

She turned the compost pile, was terribly sick of eating dandelion greens, even when she managed to mix it with chickweed and plantain, and sold every fish that was worth anything, leaving the cheap sunfish for her own food. She wasn’t sure which to work for, a house upgrade and the kitchen that came with it, or the barn and coop.

Taking a look at her tools one day as she mulled around which path to take first, she decided that first, her tools needed to be upgraded, which meant either spend a fortune at Clint’s for the ore, or head off to the mines to get it herself.

Setting her jaw and staring up at the mountain, she’d decided.

Mines first.

Chapter Text

The summer had heated up fast, and so it wasn’t so long before it rained in the way you knew that it wouldn’t stop for a few days. The weather station on the dated tv in the front room compounded her instinct that it wouldn’t stop for a few days, so Fáelán got ready for her mining trip.

It wasn’t as intense as she put on armor and set out with her massively large set of magic objects. It was as simple as she packed a decent amount of food and water in her bag, ensured that her boots were sturdy and tied tight, and buckled the sword that Marlon had given her onto her waist. Throwing a coat on to hold back the rain for a bit, she ensured she had her phone, her pick, and the dagger at her side in case of something interesting needing to be levered from the soil on her way there, before flipping her hood up and hunching against the weather.

It poured straight down, which was nice as she’d opted for shorts instead of pants. She knew from prior experience that once she got to work, it would be warm enough on her legs that she wouldn’t feel the mild chill that the rain brought her now.

By the time she’d found the mine entrance again, she was cold on the surface of her skin, and warm enough internally that she only felt the temperature of her skin a bit. She was grateful that she was smart enough to have brought a sweater in her bag, but knew that once she’d start the mining proper, she’d soon be too warm to need it.

Still, as she draped her coat over the mining cart to dry out, it was nice to have the warmth. She prepped for her trek below by sitting in her sweater for a moment or two as she ate a forage bar she’d whipped up. Better to have the protein before she started than not have it and need it mid work. Finally, she fixed her eyes on the elevator. Packing her sweater back into the bag, she made sure the sword was easily pulled and set off to the rickety elevator. She had the fuses for more of them tucked in the pocket to the side, and was ready to go find more floors to unlock.

The first few floors were boring. Rocks, some fibrous plants, lots of clay, a few pieces of copper were easy to find.

But sliding down the ladder to another floor, she found slimes again. Marlon had helped her figure out a strategy to deal with these, but it wasn’t as easy as before. Granted, before she’d had the master adventurer himself to give her a hand, and to cover her back, but this bought of battle brought bugs as well. Buzzing monster things with big enough proportions to be something between a fly too big to be real, and a moth that gave reason to why the “mothman” was a thing people worried about.

Her back hurt terribly as she figured out how to deal with the slimes that burned on touch, and the bugs that tore at her clothes and skin if she didn’t knock them out of the air before they got to her. She hoped she had enough astringent and disinfectant to take care of those wounds. She didn’t want to think about what kind of infection she could get from those bites.

Were those bugs descended from horseflies? Were horseflies descended from them?

Deciding to leave questions of taxonomy to when she wasn’t in danger, Fáelán continued to swat at flying things that tore pieces of flesh out, and slice apart slimes as they came near.

Clearing out the floor, she sat and tended her wounds. She wasn’t really bleeding, and deciding it could probably wait till later, she doused the wounds with some water, and took a break.

These were only the first few floors. What would the later floors bring?

She scooped monster remains into a container she’d thought to bring. As she knew that Marlon would probably want proof of slain creatures, and the only proof she had was the slime that the slimes left.

Besides that, she thought, desperately trying to justify to herself why she pushed the meat from the bugs into the container as well, knowing this place, all this stuff probably had some magical value that Rasmodious would find some use in. Maybe.

She felt like she was in a video game, gathering up shit from everywhere in the hope it would be useful. Looking at the chunks of bug meat, she considered it again. Maybe as bait? Would that be a reason to use it?

Did she really want to eat things that ate that?

Lewis could sell anything. No one cared what was in a stomach anyway.

Hiding away the container, she pulled the backpack straps tight on her shoulders, checked her laces and found the way down.

She decided that she should probably check if Gus had a license to sell bottles of liquor to anyone, or if she’d have to trek back to somewhere close for booze. After this subterranean mess, she figured she could use a drink, and probably some pain killers, and a bath. She kept listing things she wanted as she descended into further rock and more ore.

A few more levels descended deeper into the earth, and rocks were mined. Fáelán discovered what topaz looked like in its natural state, and happily dug it out with some amethyst. Tossing it into her backpack, she whipped out her sword as something shifted in the dark.

Passive perception 15? She thought as she held the sword at the ready, her muscles aching and ready to move despite not having a target to direct their energy towards.

Nothing moved, and Fáelán and her possible assailant were at a stalemate.

Pulling a stone out, she tossed it further into the cavern and waited to hear anything.

Still nothing.

She and the creatures were at a standstill.

She crouched in the dark, considering her options. Wishing, now that she’d thought of it, for glowsticks or something she could throw. A torch maybe. Considering her phone and the flashlight it could produce, she thought better of it. The snap of the case would attract attention. Not to mention the light of the screen would be a beacon before she’d even be able to use it for the intended purpose.

She considered another rock, but decided not too when she began to hear the sound of movement ahead.

Could she see? Her night vision was starting to get better in this darkness. Enough that she thought she could detect the slight glisten of slimes moving stealthily.

She could go back, come back better prepared but with what?

Night vision goggles? Not likely if food, preservation and surviving the winter was the priority. Where would the money for equipment like that come from?

To get any of that sort of thing, she needed upgraded tools. I need that ore damnit!

A sinister chuckle sounded in her head and she froze.

Coward. The voice said in her head.

Some self-reflection made her realize that it wasn’t truly sinister, just smug, self-righteous and cruel, which may as well be the same thing.

Too much of a coward to take a chance or do anything outside of your comfort zone. Another memory voice spat at her.

You’ve made your choice, and I have no say in it, so go live with your choices if they’re so well thought out. You’re an adult now.

You’ll be back before winter star!

Take your shit and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Coward.

Too much of a coward..

She needed the ore, and she stood, her tendons sore from the crouched position, but the rest of her muscles humming with rage, adrenaline, determination and if she was honest, desperation tinged with despair. She could feel her pupils dilating in the darkness as she took in the different lighting from this vantage point.

You cannot fail you cannot fail you cannot fail.

The ugly laughter sounded in her head again, like he was able to hear and respond to her thoughts.

Yeah you will, and you have no safety net. No home to go back too. Your beloved parents don’t want you now that you have a mind of your own. Once a coward, always a coward. Now you’re just a failure too.

Something snapped, and with a snarl, Fáelán dropped pulled her blades, and flung herself forward into the gloaming.

She wasn’t wrong, the floor was crawling with slimes, and she started the attack off strong, kicking one so hard it burst, sending its acidic insides all up her boot, and shin. The smell of corroding flesh wasn’t fun, but she barely felt the pain as she turned her attention to the slime that was trying to get to her other calf. Slicing down into it, she turned again to confront what was probably a slime that was most of her size. Flailing a sword at it didn’t work, as it’s inners gushed over her unprotected hands and arms, but dodging helped her keep away from the painful secretions.

Concentrating on the momma slime as she was, she missed the screeching bat dart past and rake its claw across her forehead.

Howling in pain, it became a roar as she lunged forward again at the big slime again. The assault seemed to take out what animation it had, and it sank into a pile of ooze.

She let out a roar again as she saw more bats stir and circle, and she felt the earth rumble lightly around her, but was too concentrated on the small swarm of bats flying out of the darkness at her.

If anyone had been able to see her then, she would have been unrecognizable. Her eyes were black as night, face in a terrible snarl that showed off canines more pointed than normal, blood trickling down from the cut above her left eye that crept into her hairline.

She swung at the bats as they circled and came back to rip into shoulders and some of the exposed flesh on her arms. She didn’t sustain too many more wounds before she’d knocked them out of the air enough that they squeaked pitifully on the ground.

Her battle lust still holding strong, she stabbed them into silence until the only sounds were the drip of water, and her heavy panting. Wiping the sticky stuff off her brow, she looked around. No ore. Useless. Fucking useless.

Spotting a ladder, she descended, feeling muscles shriek from the exertion. The next floor was littered with ore and rock, but it also contained an elevator.

Deciding to tackle the floor later, she searched her bag for one of the fuses Marlon had given her and powered up the elevator before getting on the lift and pressing the button for the surface.

The adrenaline was starting to fade now, and she could feel the exhaustion. She’d sheathed her dagger, but her sword was almost dragging on the ground. Her arms barely had the strength to lift it.

She was still dripping blood from the head wound and others, but she didn’t notice as she started from the cave towards home.

Behind her she heard something move and without thinking, she turned and growled at it, her lips raised in a feral snarl.

Seeing nothing, but with the adrenaline having spiked in her system, she turned again for home, stalking past Robin’s place and down the path for the Backwoods.

She didn’t even realize it when her exhausted body collapsed halfway there.

“Ras. Rasmodius. Hey Razzy!” roused from his deep meditation by the sound of his name, the wizard glowered as he picked up the communication stone. 

“Marlon. I thought I told you not to call me that.” He said by way of greeting. Rasmodius could almost see the shrug that accompanied the response from the old Adventurer. 

“I’ve been callin’ you for the past 20. Wanted to see what’d work.” 

“Right.” 

“The new girl, have you had a chance to work with her at all?” Rasmodius frowned. 

“Fáelán? A bit. She’s got the attention of the junimos, but hasn’t gotten ahold of her own power enough to determine if she’s worth training or not.” 

“She needs some sort of tutelage.” Marlon responded grimly. 

“Why?” 

“What are her affinities?” Marlon asked, ignoring the wizards query. 

“Dual affinity for earth and void, why?”

“Well that explains it.” 

“Explains what blast it!?”

“Didn’t you feel that tremor an hour or so back?” 

“Tremor? I was communing with the council.” 

“Huh, I guess she had enough control to make it localized then.”

“She set off an earthquake?” Rasmodius asked, a bit stunned. That amount of power wasn’t the norm for apprentices, let alone one he hadn’t even felt in his tower. Usually when first timers tried something of that magnitude, it was far far away from urban centers, as when they got the concept, it usually leveled buildings. 

“Yes! But that wasn’t all. She’s definitely got Nightstalker tendencies, but she doesn’t know it.” 

“Oh?” the wizard sounded doubtful and Marlon very much wanted to shake his friend. “Come on Marlon, Night stalkers are too rare. 2 weeks back she barely gave off a whiff of power, now you think she’s got battle mage skills?” 

“Ras, she changed. I saw it. If any of the norms had seen her, she’d have been run out of the town no matter whose granddaughter she is, or burnt.”

The wizard was silent for a moment, remembering how her eyes had changed when he asked her affinities. 

“How could you tell?” he finally asked. 

“Her eyes were black, her teeth were wrong, she had claws, and her veins were black. She didn’t see me, but she heard me. She was more feral than civilized. I don’t even think she realized she had changed.”

“Where is she now? Did she have a chance to realize what she was?”

“No, she collapsed on the way back to her place. I took her inside and got her a bit cleaned up. She’d been attacked, that’s what probably triggered her powers.”

“Great, just what we need, an untrained person going into the mines, getting into trouble and exhibiting powers she can’t control, and she’s probably going to do it again.” Rasmodius grumbled. He could hear Marlon’s shrug threw the link.

“She probably will. She needs the ore, you’ve seen her place, and her, she’s working herself overtime to make that place profitable. From what I’ve seen, if she can get the ores herself, she’s going to do it. She barely has the gold to feed herself, and you’ve seen that too.”

Rasmodius was silent as he considered. If what Marlon said was true, then she needed to get her powers under control and fast, which meant he had work to do. Assuming that she’d believe him.

But, she didn’t have to believe him if she started with some basic concepts that could help her get herself under control, and if he capped her power for her.

The idea had merit, but he also loathed to lie to someone even if it was for their own good.

But revealing the depth of her apparent power was out of the question at the moment. For now, she needed medical attention, probably, and she would be trying to still go about her farm work, which would be potentially hazardous for her. He trusted, (and then verified) that Marlon had sent for the doctor for her in the morning, but as he shut down the communication with his friend, he pondered how he was going to deal with his acolyte and her new powers.

She hurt. Her head hurt, her body ached, and her shins were burning. She wasn’t in her bed, and the next thing she was aware of was a bearded gentleman in her house, offering her a cup of something steaming.

“Good morning Fáelán, I am Dr Harvey. I was informed you were injured last night, and I came to check on you this morning. I apologize for my intrusion and my using of your kitchen, but I had a feeling you could use the assistance.”

She struggled to sit up and take stock of things, the good doctor giving her the space to feel herself out, but also being there to assist as she may need it. Managing to brace herself against the side of the sofa, she looked down at herself. Cuts and scrapes were normal, so that wasn’t new, but her head felt sticky and sore. Her legs were red and sore, her skin sensitive to the touch. It was like a sunburn, but stung too much. Flexing her feet, she gasped in pain.

“I was worried about that.” Dr Harvey said ruefully. “Marlon said you’d been in the mines, and the slimes are acidic when they burst. Given the damage to your boots, you must have kicked it. Your legs will heal, but you need to take it easy. Treat this a bit like a sun burn.”

“How long do I need to take it slower?” she asked, her voice hoarse. Harvey shrugged as he handed her the coffee.

“I’d say the first couple of days. You’ve also had a pretty decent head wound that I cleaned for you. You wont need stitches, but I did put on some steri strips. I don’t think you’ve a concussion, but I’ll probably check back on you in a day or two to make sure that you’re still alright.” Fáelán blinked at him, and Harvey pulled out a mirror. The laceration was to the top of her head over her eye, and she could see the little white strips along the claw marks in her scalp. Her hair still had some sticky blackened blood in it, but hopefully she could clean that out.

Her arms were aching and sensitive like her legs, which must have been from the big slime she’d met before the bats came after her. Sipping her coffee lightly, she tried to take stock, her eyes going to the windows to check the weather to see how her farm would fare today. It appeared misty and rainy, so at least today she wouldn’t need to water, but what of tomorrow? Would she be able to walk and work by then? Her crops would wilt without the water and the care, and she was so close to being able to build a coop. So close.

She could feel the colour drain from her face as she realized that all of her hard-earned gold was going to vanish in replacement seeds, or people to care for them while she recuperated, or just the cost of food that she couldn’t gather or prepare herself. Her lip began to tremble as she tried not to cry. All of her hard work gone, over 15 measly pieces of ore. Harvey smiled sadly, realizing at least part of her plight.

“I’m sorry I cannot assist you more Fáelán. I brought some crutches you can borrow until you’re able to move easier. If you can stand, we can get those set up for your size and I can show you how to use them.”

The distraction helped, and as the doctor got her set up and let her manage a few halting steps on her own, he spoke to her of Maru’s suggestion of her assistance with healing herbs to supplement anything his patients might need. They spoke for a bit about what he might need currently, and if she could provide anything. They exchanged numbers to keep in touch, and he gathered his bag of items to head back to town.

“Thankyou Dr Harvey. I’m sorry we had to meet officially under such circumstances.” She said as she leaned on her crutches by the door. He smiled at her, and she had to admit it was a nice smile.

“Don’t worry about it at all. I’m glad to have been able to help. I’ll be in touch about those tea mixes we spoke about, and keep you updated if I need anything you might be able to help with.”

“Likewise.” She replied as she waved him off the front porch. Watching him leave the farm, she used the crutch to push the door open before it banged into her leg as she tried to exit her house. Hissing with the pain, she hobbled her way over to the porch swing she’d set up.

It was raining, thank the Goddess, but as she looked over her trellises of hops, small stalks of peppers and corn, the melon vines that were just beginning to sprawl beyond their plots, she couldn’t help herself and burst into tears. All this work, gone, and she could barely do anything to stop it. How was she supposed to survive the winter now?

“Easy Acolyte.” Said a voice beside her. Shocked, she opened her eyes and looked to the source. Rasmodius handed her a handkerchief that she used to blow her nose.

“Just my luck, I’m trying to get things sorted here, manage to keep myself together until the Doctor leaves, only to have you see my weakness.” She rasped, her voice hoarse from the tears and the misery.

“This isn’t weakness. Crying can be healthy, and you’ve just suffered a setback.”

“I think I’ve suffered a setback I can’t fix. I was so close to a coop Magnus. So close to chickens and a harvest I could be proud of, and now it’ll wither away because I can’t keep it going. I’m not an expert in acid burns, but these sting so badly.” She hiccupped under her tears, still mired in despair.

“The Junimos will give you a hand. They like you as is, and I don’t think they’d let you starve.”

“I cant even get down to the hole in the ground I call a root cellar to gather some of the food they gave me. Assuming it doesn’t rot before I can eat it.”

“The Doctor gave you pain medication. That will help. You’ll get stronger by the day.”

“Isn’t there a spell you could use to help me out here?” The wizard smiled ruefully beneath his violet colored beard as he shook his head.

“I cant use magic to help in all situations. I still have my own responsibilities to attend too.”

“Thought that might be too easy.” She said quietly as she hiccupped again, tears still falling despite the evident annoyance at the fact.

“you will have some homework to at least keep you occupied as you convalesce.”

“Homework.” She spat sourly. “Something to keep me occupied while I watch my hard work wither under the sun. Wonderful.”

Sighing, Rasmodius pulled out a communication stone like Marlon had used to call him last night, and a book.

“You’re aware of your power now. So now you need to learn more control. This tome will help with some exercises to accomplish that. The stone will be your way to speak to me if you need too. Simply call my name into it, and I will answer. If you have questions, I will answer them.”

She was sulking, he could see that by the mulish expression she wore. But her eyes did soften as she looked over to thank him.

Parents! I might not be around for supper tomorrow night.

Sure Maru.

Why?

Harvey said that Fáelán got hurt, and probably wont be able to work on her farm a bit. I want to go and help her out.

Aww! That’s so sweet of you!

No, absolutely not.

Excuse me?

Why Dad?

I wont have you associating with that foolish girl more than we already have too. If she was stupid enough to get herself hurt, then you don’t need to help her try and fix her mistake.

Dad!

Demetrius! This is ridiculous!

Putting his phone away, Sebastian decided that his plans for the morning were set. Much as he disliked being outside, he could go help the farmer if it annoyed his step father to no end the way it appeared too.