The Harvest Goddess knew all. She was omnipotent in all matters, and the little town that she resided in knew that. She was benevolent, wanting nothing but the best for her gentle subjects and their lives. She made hard decisions; ones that she knew would only be good for the long haul. So, when the long time farmer of Mineral Town finally grew tired and old, his bones creaking and his body aching, she knew it would only serve good for her to gently guide him to the next life. He welcomed her as an old friend, and they walked together to the afterlife as friends.
The town mourned, for he was loved and appreciated by all, even though the last few years of his life he had let the farm land go, due to not really having anyone to take care of it in his stead. His wife had passed away and his children had moved on to bigger and better things. The Harvest Goddess knew he was sad, but held no resentment on them making lives of their own. It was only the course of life. They both knew that.
The land had sat forgotten for years, the soil over run with weeds and the buildings collecting dust and falling apart. The Harvest Goddess knew that the next stage of this would take a little time, for she knew the exact person that she wanted to be here and rebuild the farm to its original glory. A girl by the name of Claire. Sad and broken by the world, the Harvest Goddess knew that she would be here and would blossom into what this town needed, and the town would become what Claire needed as well.
Especially a certain blacksmith.
New love stories weren't something that the Harvest Goddess got to see often, most due to the children of this small town growing up together and falling into long predicted relationships. There was nothing wrong with that of course, but sometimes the Harvest Goddess wanted to see something new, something that burned in the confines of this little town. The Harvest Goddess is a romantic, and loved writing love stories for her people to live.
The love story of Gray and Claire is, and will always be one of her favorites.
They had been both broken and beaten, both of them thinking that they were damaged beyond repair. Gray by the absence of his parents, Claire by the burn of a former love. They were both so reserves, but in different ways. Gray shut himself off, Claire was a master in the way of pushing things down and forcing herself not to think about them. But, on the inside the felt the same way about life and about themselves. They were hurt and thought that they weren't going to be fixed by anyone.
Claire made the impulse move to Mineral Town after her boyfriend of a long time up and left without and reasoning whatsoever. No warning, no note. One day she came home from work and his stuff was going from their apartment and she was blocked on all of his social media platforms. He was gone without a trace and without any remorse for putting her through the emotional turmoil that he did. She couldn't stand the idea of living where they had built so much, the apartment a ghost of their former glory and what Claire thought was love. Upon seeing the newspaper ad, she didn't think twice before calling and buying the land without even seeing it first.
Her uncle had a farm when she was a child, and she remembered loving the animals and the whole idea of living on a farm so much. It was a secret dream of hers to move out of the city and live where the fresh air was. But, as she got older it took a backseat to everything else she wanted to do in life, and eventually she just forgot about moving away one day. When she was with her boyfriend, all she had thought about was building a life with him. She had lost herself in what she thought they were.
Gray on the other hand, never knew his parents. The had went on a ship out to sea, to go visit another country, and never came back. He knew he was missing something, and the constant degrading from Saibara always tore him and down, and in the end it made him cold. He never really understood what love was, or how a normal family functioned. In fact, when Mary the librarian confessed her affections to him, Gray didn't really know how to respond without hurting her. He had never seen the point of any of this, and acted accordingly. Of course, the Harvest Goddess had planned this to set up for Mary to meet Claire's cousin Jack, where the librarian would leave Mineral Town with him and go on to be a successful author in the city.
The first meeting between Gray and Claire would be one that they would think about for many years following. Gray could have sworn the world had stopped, everything growing dark and paling in comparison to her. He didn't quite understand why, but when he thought about it later, when everything had made sense, he knew that his heart had flown to her service and he was at her beckon call. Claire just remembers his explosive temper and how angry he was when she walked into the shop, and how surprised he looked when he turned and looked at her. She didn't understand why she was so nervous around him for the weeks following, or how she felt like she had to actually make herself looks more like a girl whenever she went to go get something from Saibara.
The Harvest Goddess remembered seeing the meeting in her omnipotence, and smiling at the meeting. Two damaged people would finally find what they had been needing for so long. Her story was going so well, and she knew that this coupling would only benefit the town. They would be a force to be reckoned, something that shined so bright and brought out the best in each other.
Their friendship blossomed, Claire coming in for stuff that she didn't even need at first to talk to him. Gray coming and buying corn off her directly as an excuse to go see her and talk to her without seeming weird. The would spend the firework festival together awkwardly, knowing that the entire town was watching and whispering about the new girl and the blacksmith's apprentice. Their bare feet dangling off the end of the dock and grazing the ocean water, Claire watching the sky and Gray watching her. He had seen this show so many times, but it felt like the first time when he was with her.
They continued to walk in circles around each other for a pretty long time in the eyes of Mineral Town. Gray wasn't sure if he was good enough for Claire, afraid to hurt her. Claire being afraid of being hurt again in the way she was so long ago. They skirted around the idea of being together romantically, not even sure if the other felt the same. This time was full of fleeting touches and butterflies. They slowly burned for each other, and everyone could see it but them. Slow burns are a favorite of the Harvest Goddess. The built up passion that they held for each other was something she loved to see.
They confided in each other, Gray about his parents and his problems with understand what family and love truly was, and Clair about her past hurts. Claire cried for Gray and Gray got so, so angry for Claire. He would never understand why that man would just up and leave her for no reason. Claire would always be so sad that Gray had to grow up without his parents and living a normal life. They had felt each other's pain, their baggage now being split between the both of them.
They had both hurt so badly for so long, and the Harvest Goddess knew that this was the perfect solution for both of them. They would find what they needed for each other and make a life that they knew was meant to happen in the first place. But, it wouldn't happen until they stopped skirting around each other and the idea of loving. The Harvest Goddess felt frustrated. She would set up situations and they wouldn't take them, still choosing to silently pine after each other in their own personal hells.
The starry night festival was the worst one. They had the cliff to themselves at a certain point and they were so close, but in the end they just sort of stared at each other and went home. That was the final straw for the Harvest Goddess, her amazing patience finally drawing short as she decided on a plan to make this happen.
So, one rainy night, their heads clashed due to the streak of stubbornness that they both carried. There was yelling and screaming that ended in Claire slamming the door to his room at the inn and storming off. Gray, of course, not wanting to let the argument go, following her in anger to the village square where she was trying to walk and calm down. Claire never really backed down from an argument that she knew she was right in, but this one in particular had her boiling angry to the point where she knew she had to leave.
It had been a situation building up for a while. Gray had been actively avoiding Claire and it hurt her so much. It felt like she was being left all over again, and this time it was worse because this was also her best friend. It was breaking her heart. Whenever she came to see him at work he would go in the back and hide, or when she was walking towards him he would turn around and walk in the opposite direction. Gray was hiding from her, and for no reason at all it seemed.
Claire had gone to confront him and was greeted with such anger and spite that it made her tear up slightly before her anger just flared up and she exploded. She was so angry that Gray and just made a one eighty turn for no reason at all, after all this time and friendship. Not even knowing that Gray was avoiding her to try to hold himself back from just grabbing her and spilling every emotion he had felt that had something to do with her generally since they had first met.
Gray had started to avoid her to try to avoid the emotions that he had that were building to a peak. He would look at her, and he would just felt like he was home. He wanted nothing more than to spend all of his time with her, telling her everything he loved about her and why. But, he was so scared of rejection. What if he had just read too far into what he thought was there? Gray knew that emotions weren't his strong suit and that he could easily be wrong. So he did was he was best at. Avoiding his problems and running away from them.
So, arriving to the square at watching Claire pace angrily, Gray realized that he had dropped her hard. He felt a sinking guilt in his gut, knowing her past and realizing what he did to her for the past couple of weeks. He stood for a moment, wondering if he should even try to talk to her. He would just make things worse. But, instead, he took a deep breath and walked to her and put a hand on her tense shoulders.
Claire turned angrily, her eyes angry and her entire body drenching wet. She glared up at Gray, glad that the rain his her angry tears as she shrugged his hand off her body. Now he wanted to talk to her. Now he decided that he wanted to be her friend again. She was so frustrated that he followed her, and frankly she just wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. Everything was so frustrating. Her feelings for him were borderline painful. Every time they were together her body filled with butterflies and she felt so warm and cold at the same time. She wanted nothing more than to be with him in the way she thought she was going to be with the man from her past. But right now, she was so angry with the games.
"What do you want!" Claire exclaimed, her voice filled with tears as she poked his chest angrily, "All you have been doing is hurting me. I never did anything to you. Why are you avoiding me? Just tell me if you don't want to be friends anymore. I'm not a baby, I can take it! Just tell me-"
Gray didn't know what had taken him over. But seeing the pure emotion on her face, something inside of him told him he didn't need to be afraid of his next actions. Claire was a girl that had been done wrong by so many, and he knew that she needed someone that would be able to understand that. Gray finally came to the terms that no one could love her like he did.
So he kissed her. Hard.
All of the anger that Claire had held washed away with the rain, irrelevant and meaningless. She finally understood that this was love. Love was here. Love was this moment, right now. Love was the most passionate of kisses and the most fleeting of touched. Love was something as strong as a lion and something a gentle as a butterfly fluttering by on a breezy spring afternoon. Love was Gray, and Gray was everything she needed in the moment.
So, in the end, the Harvest Goddess does believe in soulmates, and in love. There are people for each other that only build each other up from places that the other thought they would never get out of. The Harvest Goddess believes in love and that the idea that love can heal any wound from the past. But right now wasn't the time to think about all that. Right now, the Harvest Goddess sat in her place in the pond, watching the events fold on in the village square nearby in the pouring rain. Two people that thought that they would never be good for anyone or anything finding the love that they deserved in the first place. And she would smile.