Yuna Reed wouldn't arrive in Paradise until March. The moving process had gone by in a blur she struggled to remember, but the change was welcome regardless. Yuna was tired of life in the city, and the acres across the vacant land sounded much more alluring in the stories she'd heard from travelers. Green pastures, trees with fruit so heavy it weighed the branches down, beautiful insects and fish of all kinds, and beautiful flowers wherever one looked.

Yuna arrived at the station without her suitcases. An old travelling man told her she wouldn't need them, and it was considerably less for her to carry. It was strange to her, waiting at the beginning of her new life with nothing but the clothes on her back, but that was the exciting part, she supposed. After about ten minutes a sleek, if rickety, train pulled up to her station.

She sat down in a green leather seat a row behind the conductor and looked out the window. Yuna heard a relieved gasp beside her and turned to the cat cross walkway. A rather large cat, nearly Yuna's height and with a head big enough to topple him over.

"Just made it!" he said. He looked at her and smiled. "I'm Rover, by the way. I heard you were moving in, so I came to greet you. The first step in your new adventure is boarding the train."

"Nice to meet you," Yuna replied.

"So, um… Oh!" Rover exclaimed, eyes widening. "I was going to ask what your name was!"

"My name's Yuna."

"Ah, Yuna is it? That's a nice name."

Yuna laughed. "It's cute, isn't it?"

"So, Yuna, this town you're moving to-what's it called?" Rover asked.

Yuna quirked an eyebrow before answering. What was the name? "Paradise is the name, I think."

"Paradise, huh?"

"That's it!"

"Yeah, I hear that place is really lovely," Rover said. He smiled at her again and took a slow blink.

"I've heard the same thing."

"You must be really excited about your new life there," surmised Rover.

Yuna opened her mouth to reply when the bus driver, where a monkey announced "Next stop-please be ready to get off."

A twist of nerves and excitement arose in Yuna's belly. She turned back to Rover and beamed. "I'm so excited."

"I hear that," Rover agreed. "But, hey, do you know where your house is yet?"

Shit. "I'll find one," Yuna stuttered.

Rover frowned at her. "Well, that's not a great sign. Listen, since you still have to find a house, what about money?"

"It's covered," Yuna lied.

"Whoa, you scared me there!" Rover giggled. "So you do have some money after all. Anyways, the first thing you should do when you get to town is visit the town hall." He handed Yuna a small map, marked with blue house shapes and a few yellow symbols. Rover pointed to the purple building near the center of the map.

"That's where you'll want to go," Rover said. "Isabelle should be there to greet you, if not the mayor herself."

"'Herself?' I thought Tortimer was mayor there." Yuna had heard tall tales about an elderly turtle waiting in Paradise.

Rover chuckled and shook his head. "Tortimer retired a few months ago. The new mayor's name is Alice Straus."

Yuna frowned. She'd heard wonderful things about Tortimer; kind, wise, witty old man. Before she could ask where Tortimer had retired to, the train car squealed to a slow stop. Yuna whirled around to look out her window. A handful of animals-townsfolk, she presumed-were gathered around the steps, chatting with one another with bright smiles.

"They get excited about new neighbors here," Rover said. He rested a gentle paw on Yuna's shoulder. "You ready?"

Yuna nodded, not looking back. She slid out of her seat, waved goodbye to Rover, and stepped off of the train.

Come to think of it, she had never met animals that walked and talked in the fashion that her new neighbors did. The stranger thing was that it didn't shock or disturb her. She shook hands with the mayor's assistant, Isabelle, and with the other animals gathered there: Cheri, Spork, Gala, Elvis, Lopez, Frobert, Tutu. All nothing short of friendly and warm, even if a few were a little smug.

The crowd dispersed and Yuna was left alone with Isabelle. The latter smiled and extended a hand. "Would you like to meet the mayor?"

Yuna raised her eyebrows. "Oh, sure. Of course."

Isabelle lead Yuna to the town hall, which was halfway across town, while weaving around fruit trees of all sorts: cherries, apples, lemons, oranges, mangoes, and some Yuna didn't recognize. Isabelle was chatting the whole way about all of Alice's accomplishments in her short first year as mayor. The town museum was filled with fish and insects, rare flowers bloomed along the rivers and cliffs, the beautiful fountain and flower clock and the windmill, and every other thing Isabelle could possibly think of that the major put in their little village.

"Here we are," Isabelle announced. Yuna peered up to the top of the hall, where a simple, bold faced clock ticked away. Yuna's stomach turned a little when Isabelle opened the door.

"Oh, you came at a good time!" exclaimed Isabelle. "Alice is in her office. Usually she's running around all over the place."

Behind the front desk, sitting beneath a picture of Tortimer and a few plaques, was Alice. Red haired cut close to her head, wide brown eyes; when Alice looked up from her work to greet them, a shiver Yuna wasn't prepared for slithered down her spine. Alice's smile was warm, but something about her poise, or maybe it was her demeanor, Alice didn't know, emanated aloofness.

"You must be Yuna Reed," Alice said as she stood from her chair. "We've been waiting for you. New villagers always cause quite a stir."

Yuna shook Alice's hands, which were slender and calloused. "I'm very happy to be here."

"Now, Nook has sorted out your house payment," Alice turned a plucked a file off of her desk to give to Yuna. "Just cross over the train tracks and talk to him. He'll be overjoyed to build your house. Have you chosen a spot?"

"No," Yuna said quietly. "Uh, I don't really have money to pay for a house."

"I didn't either. Here," Alice pulled a sack marked with a star out of her pockets, "take this. It's 10,000 bells, just enough for your down payment. Otherwise you'll be sleeping in a tent for a week."

Yuna tittered and picked up the bag. Alice got up and lead Yuna to the door with a gentle hand on her back. "His shop is right next to the post office. You can't miss it. If you need anything, just come and find me. I live in the north east side of town. Feel free to stop by on the off chance I'm home."

"O-okay," Yuna stuttered. "Thank you. Uhh, wait, what are bells?"

"Mm, you're still used to dollars," Yuna chuckled. "They're our currency. Don't worry, you'll understand everything in due time. Go on and start your life."

Yuna gave a small bow in thanks and jogged back to the road. She could still feel the warmth from Alice's hand on her back pulsing at the base of her spine.

"Ah, Yuna, welcome! Alice called a few minutes ago and we've been waiting with baited breath."

Nook was a kind raccoon, with sleepy eyes and an endearing, sluggish demeanor. Models of mailboxes, roofs, and houses littered the tiny store behind him. She could feel another pair of eyes staring at her from her right, which she ignored. She wordlessly handed the down payment to Nook, who blinked in surprise before smiling.

"I see, you want to get right to it. You're already ahead of me, ho ho. Now, do you know where you want to build your house?"

"I didn't know I got to choose," said Yuna.

"Well, of course! What good is a home if you don't like the view."

Yuna glanced around the room, thinking. Then she looked back at Nook with a gleam in her eye. "Somewhere near the ocean would be wonderful."

Nook scurried past her to hold his front door open. "Lead the way, young lady."

They crossed over the railroad with a silence that discomforted Yuna, but Nook didn't seem to mind. Yuna, staring intently at her map, lead the way over a stone bridge crossing the river, down to the south of a cute pink store she had to take a moment to ogle at. She stopped in a forest clearing near a cliff's edge.

"This is the spot," Yuna said.

Nook paced around the area, mumbling numbers and figures. He turned back to Yuna and placed his hands triumphantly on his wide hips. "Yes, this is perfect. I'll get your space roped off and your home should be finished by tomorrow!"

Yuna's grin stretched wide. "Already tomorrow?"

"Of course, of course," Nook confirmed. "We pride ourselves on efficiency. Now, business numbers…"

Yuna's heart sank, landing in her stomach with a cold thump. When Nook came up with 39,800 bells, he went from giddy to concerned as Yuna's pallor shifted into white.

"Don't worry, don't worry!" Nook took Yuna's hands in his and rubbed them with paternal affection. "You don't have to pay it off all at once. How ever long it takes."

"You don't have to make an exception for me," Yuna whimpered. "I-I can do it." I need to be strong. I need to be independent. Don't cry, it's just money, you can probably sell shells or fruit-

"He's not making an exception, that's his policy." Alice emerged out of the trees with a large, silver net slung over her shoulder. She looked at Nook and smiled. "Don't worry about setting her up with a tent, she can stay with me-unless she has a problem with that, of course."

Yuna's face flushed. "I-I don't want to impose."

"I'm offering," countered Alice, with that alluring smile still plastered on her face. "I thought I'd save you from a night on the ground, not to mention Nook can get the work done faster that way."

Yuna looked at Nook, who nodded. She took a deep breath and, as proudly as she could, said "I would be honored to spend a nice in your home, Miss Mayor."

"Well alright," Alice laughed, making Yuna's face feel even warmer. "Go on and introduce yourself to Reese and Cyrus, who run ReTail just up the road. That'll be the source of most of your income. If you want you could go back to the mall and meet the other shopkeepers. Come on over when you get tired."

Alice turned and walked away before she finished talking. Yuna called after her, "alright!" and scrambled the other direction back to town.