Harvest Moon: Saving the Harvest Sprites
Part 1: Moon Island
.::. Chapter 1 ~ The Farmer's Story .::.
"Years ago, the Harvest Goddess protected a small island called Moon Island. In the center was an area full of buildings the residents called Tide Town, where they spent their time chatting or shopping. After a while, it became boring to the Harvest Goddess, though, as she memorized the routines of each individual villager. They needed something new, she thought. So she went to see the Harvest Lord, and surprisingly, he agreed. So one day, they used their powers to destroy a boulder blocking a large plot of land to see their reaction. The villagers explored it, and decided to make a farm there. But where would they find a farmer for this land? Finally they sent a letter to a former resident who had moved to a big city to offer him the job. Two weeks later they got a reply from his family that he had died of an illness. However, his son was willing to work on the farm so he could finally see where his father had lived and told him about.
Now, the Harvest Goddess and Harvest Lord were pleased by this idea, so they created a house in a corner of the land no one had checked yet. To make sure the villagers did not think it had a resident in it, they made it look old and empty, even adding dusty furniture. When the villagers came over to look for a good place to build a house, they were please to find it, and sent word to the villager's family that they would be ready for him in four weeks. Then they set to work on cleaning the house and building a barn. The Harvest Lord was especially pleased by this idea, but decided not to do anything else for them. After all, they were not supposed to let the villagers know they were actually there; the villagers knew they existed, but having that knowledge might make them overwhelm the two celestial beings with requests. So he sent the Harvest Goddess back to her pond until the new farmer arrived.
Finally the farm was ready. The villagers stood on the pier eagerly, but they realized it could hurt the boy's first impression of them, so some went home while others stayed. The Harvest Goddess was becoming more and more curious, too, so she hid by the pier to see his arrival. And when the boat arrived, what she saw she could not believe. A boy walked onto the pier and was greeted by the villagers warmly. He had an average human body, but his heart was the first thing she saw. There was no evil in it, only good. Sure, he was a little clumsy (he tripped walking off the pier, but he didn't act all embarrassed or something like that), and he wasn't too social. In his field on that first day he figured out he needed some practice with a hoe (and sickle, and axe, and watering can, and hammer, and fishing rod), but he didn't let that get him down. He was always optimistic, and it struck the Harvest Goddess with feelings she didn't understand, but she liked it.
One day after he got there, he took a break from the farm work to go look around. But before he reached Tide Town, he became worried. What would the villagers think of him for abandoning the farm so soon? Instead of going to the village, he followed a path that had caught his interest on the day he arrived so he wouldn't have to find out. Soon he reached a beautiful spring and felt enchanted by its power. He sat down to relax, and quickly fell asleep. When he woke up, he was filled with worry. What if one of the villagers had visited his farm while he was gone? They'd assume he was just lazy. (What he didn't know was that he'd only been asleep for less than five minutes, but again, he didn't know.) The more he thought about it, the more he worried. Should he return to the farm? Or should he just stay there? By now the idea no one knew he was gone felt preposterous. Either that or he forgot that was possible in his worrying.
Luckily, the spring was home to the Harvest Goddess. She couldn't let this boy worry like this, so she broke the rules and appeared to him. 'Why do you cry over nothing?' she asked. He looked up at her in surprise, and instantly remembered his father's stories about the beautiful goddess. 'The villagers do not know you are gone. They worry that you are working yourself too hard, and were thinking you should take a break anyway. Go to the town now to lift their worries while it is still light out. They will be glad, but you must not tell them of this meeting.' Before he could reply (or even remember he had a voice), she vanished. Unsure what he had seen was real, he decided to risk it anyway and went to the town like she suggested. There he found every word of it to be true, and was relieved the villagers didn't mind the break. When they asked why he'd decided to come, he remembered what the Harvest Goddess had said about their meeting, so he told them he was tired, which was half true.
Later the Harvest Lord agreed that what the Harvest Goddess had done was right, but he decided not to allow the boy to see her again. After that day the boy visited the springs daily in hopes of seeing her again, to confirm what had happened was real. As time went by, he did not see her again, making him sad. Finally on the last day of fall, he left a flower to see if she would accept it. He left it there and returned the next day to find the Harvest Goddess had not touched it, as advised by the Harvest Lord. The boy was heartbroken and stopped coming. At first the Harvest Goddess didn't mind, thinking he needed some time, but soon she realized something: she loved him, ever since he'd first almost tripped walking off the boat.
She went to the Harvest Lord about this right away. He told her to get over it and move on, but it was one of his failed suggestions. Finally he told the Harvest Goddess to take on the form of a human without wings or a glowing dress. In this form, she was allowed to see the boy. They got married (which the Harvest Lord allowed after reading the Celestial Beings Rule Book, which said every celestial being could make their own choices), and lived together happily without the boy knowing who she was. About one and a half years later they had twins—one boy and one girl—which terrified the Harvest Goddess. The boy still did not know she was the Harvest Goddess, and she could not care for them on her own. When the twins were one year old, she got up at dawn before her husband could wake up, kissed the twins on the cheeks, and left the house forever, thinking she would never see the twins again. But her husband woke up as she left and saw her change into the beautiful goddess he had seen when he'd first come to Moon Island, but said nothing as he watched her vanish, just like when they'd met."
The elderly farmer closed the book and smiled at the little children who had been listening. "Well kids, did you like the story?" he asked. The children nodded with smiles. "Well, good, because it's time for you to go home. Now get out of my house!" Everyone giggled as he shooed them out the door, just like usual. An elderly man walked in after they'd left, smiling at him. "What brings you here, Ernie?"
"I passed your daughter on the way to the shop, Walter," Ernie began with a smile. "She's becoming a real beauty. The boys were all flocking around her, givin' her gifts. And then your son came to stop them with his new hammer." Walter had to smile at his friend's exaggerations.
"Ernie, are your eyes alright?" he asked. "'Cause I saw only saw one boy with Aura, and Flare was carrying a stick with a rock attached he'd gotten from a little kid." Ernie looked surprised.
"Uh, I guess I forgot my glasses again," he said in embarrassment. Walter just shook his head sadly as the door opened again, this time by a handsome boy. He had blue-green hair and orange eyes, with a rusty-red top to go with his brown shorts. "Oh, hello Flare, how are you?"
"Fine, Ernie," Flare laughed. "Aura's really busy with her job, Dad, so she might be late. I'm going to my room now." Night walked through another door to his bedroom, leaving Walter and Ernie alone. Suddenly the door opened again, this time by a girl who looked like Night, but with longer hair and purple eyes. She wore a loose-fitting pale violet t-shirt with short black leggings under it.
"Hi Dad," she giggled. "Sorry if I'm late, my job held me up again. Working at an animal ranch is so fulfilling…" A dreamy look entered her eyes until Ernie snapped his fingers. "Oh, uh, sorry about that. I better go to my room." Aura skipped off to her room, and this time they were sure no one else would in after they heard her door close.
"I wonder how they'll take the news," Walter muttered sadly. Ernie looked at him in shock.
"You still haven't told them!?" he cried in a loud whisper. Walter shook his head, and the two were quiet. "I can't believe you never told them about their mother, and you won't even tell them about, well, you know…"
"It's just too hard, Ernie. I have no idea how they'd react, and they even look like their mother now. Besides, I don't want them to make a big fuss over me just for no reason." He knew he was lying about the no reason part, but he didn't want show his concern.
"Look, they'll have to find out sooner or later." Ernie looked Walter in the eye sadly. "Years ago we were both so young and active. I remember how you had brown hair and bright green eyes, and I had red hair and blue eyes. Our eyes are still so vibrant, but our hair is turning grey now, whether we like it or not. But you have two beautiful kids, probably the best ones in the world if you ask me. They love you and need you in their lives, yet you're not telling them what they need to know." Walter smiled sadly at Ernie.
"I don't want them to worry, okay?" He walked to the window and looked at the setting sun. "If they knew, their new goal in life would be to make me happy, while they could be doing so much more. They're old enough to care for themselves." Ernie shook his head sadly and started out the door.
"You can't hide it from them forever," he muttered. He felt a lump in his throat as he recalled all the times they'd had together, and when they'd first met their wives. At the time they got married everything seemed perfect. But soon disaster struck for both of them; Walter's wife left, while his dear Della… "I don't want to go through the same thing twice. See you later." Then he left.
Later that night Flare noticed something odd. The kitchen was quiet, and this was the time when their dad usually made himself dinner. Aura usually would object and argue with him after hearing sounds from the kitchen, but there was nothing. He opened his door a crack and looked into the kitchen. "Dad, you okay?" he asked. There was no reply. "Dad?" Pushing the door open more, his eyes grew wide in horror. "Aura, get the doctor!" Aura ran out of her room to see what was going on, and screamed. In the middle of the floor, their father lay with his eyes closed.
Two hours later, the village's doctor saw his first emergency in years. "This is not good," the light-haired man told Flare. "Walter's disease must have gotten worse." Aura's face was pale as she kneeled by her father's bed, tears stinging her eyes. She hated crying so much, almost like it hurt her, but right now she couldn't help it.
"What disease?" she asked softly. The doctor looked at her in surprise.
"He didn't tell you?" he said in disbelief. "A few months ago, he came here with a weird rash. It was early signs of 'Black Moon Syndrome,' a fatal disease only diagnosed around these islands."
"How much time is left?" Flare looked at his father's pale face grimly. The doctor frowned and turned his head away from Flare, looking out the window.
"I don't think he'll make it through the night." The words came out quietly, but even Aura could hear them. He was going to die tonight.
"Dad, please, no," she whispered. "Not without mom." She got up and looked at them. "I'm going to pray to the Harvest Goddess." Aura was a strict follower of the Harvest Goddess since she was a child. The prayers only worked at the spring, but she didn't care. She left the room quietly, looking at Walter one last time. Don't go while I'm away, she silently pleaded.