Prologue

"Whoa, girl," Lillian's gray eyes glinted with discomfort as her horse almost turned a shifty looking corner, roughly, and tightened her hold on the reigns. The carriage attached rocked tauntingly back and forth, creaking with every sudden movement, succeeding in making Lillian feel even more uneasy.

All her belongings were gathered in that carriage and if she were to lose it…She didn't even want to think about it and instead concentrated on the narrow path ahead. Her cheeks were flushed from the gust of wind that she and her horse, Fern, fought against relentlessly.

A glimpse of a tall roof could be seen vaguely. Lillian felt a relieved smile spread across her tired face but should have known that it was all too good to last.

Fern became startled at a thunderous bellow that emitted from the skies above and neighed her displeasure, guiding her rider off the path, and both toppling down the rocky edges of the mountainside. Lillian screamed until she couldn't see anything anymore.


She awoke, sometime later, bruised and bloody. It was obvious that somebody had found her and cleaned her up a little but she could still feel her wounds bleeding behind makeshift bandages. Her lips parted slightly but no words came out.

Her stormy eyes allowed her a once over of the bright room. Red curtains draped the window closest to her bedside and a few stuffed animals were placed neatly on a shelf. A joyful bear, a menacing tiger, a pony…

Fern!

"FERN!" Lillian screeched horrendously. What had happened to her horse? Was she okay? What if she…Lillian swallowed a fit of panic settling in her stomach, and assured herself that Fern couldn't die. If she did, life would become most unbearable.

Her frightened shout had alerted her rescuers. An older looking woman with straight blonde hair and worried blue eyes made her presence known, rushing through the doorway. She eyed Lillian with a motherly concern. "Is everything alright, dear?"

Lillian blinked owlishly at the woman who had hurried to her side. "U-Uh…"

The woman breathed a sigh of relief at her somewhat competence. "You're awake…We were all so worried!"

"W-We?" Lillian said slowly. "W-Where - ? "

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," the woman replied with a slight smile, her blue eyes crinkling with the motion. "I so hate to give you all this information as you've just woken up, but I'm Jessica, and I run a ranch here in Bluebell. My son and daughter were going out for a walk – both of them ignoring my warning of the oncoming storm, I might add – "Jessica said this sourly. "They were the ones to find you. Lucky they did, too. It was quite an awful fall you took there, dear."

Lillian froze. "M…My horse?"

Jessica smiled at her concern. "My son, Ash, is taking very good care of her in the barn as we speak. She's got a few injuries but should be fine in no more than a few days." Lillian could breathe again. As she did this, Jessica's smile fell slightly. "If you don't mind me asking, dear, what were you doing riding in such a terrible storm?"

"…I…I was looking to start up a farm," said Lillian quietly.

"In Bluebell?" Jessica asked with an air of unsuppressed surprise. Lillian gave her the sharpest look she could muster. "Oh, no, dear. Not that I don't think you capable, it's just… We've just had a farmer move in a few weeks ago."

Lillian rubbed a lingering scar on her arm that remained uncovered and looked back to Jessica, unimpressed at this knowledge. "I know…He's my brother."

"Oh! Really?" Jessica beamed. "He never mentioned – Oh! Would you like me to give him a call? Poor boy must be worried sick!"

"He…didn't know I was coming," Lillian remedied only to see Jessica's face fall ever so slightly. She shut her gray eyes and pursed her lips. "I'd prefer it that you didn't call him actually. He'll just overreact."

Jessica wasn't pleased. "But he'll worry…"

"He'll be fine," Lillian responded lightly and sat up slowly. "I'll just…" She swung her legs over the side of the bed and gripped the wooden headboard as if her life depended on it, trying to hoist herself to her feet. She trembled. "…Go and see him myself." Her stomach lurched and her weight crumpled the floor, clumsily, earning a disapproving look from Jessica. "See?" Lillian smiled weakly. "I'm fine…"

Jessica helped the girl up and back into bed. "No, that won't do. You'll stay here until you feel better, I insist." The woman's smile was so genuine that Lillian couldn't help but return it meekly. "I'll call your brother…Phillip, was it? Yes, yes. This way he'll be able to see that you're alright."

"Please don't," Lillian pleaded, her hands playing with the loose strings on the edge of the blanket that Jessica had tucked her in with. She lowered her gaze from Jessica's eyes, embarrassed. "…He'll just make me go back home. Please."

Jessica paused. "How old are you, dear?"

Lillian wanted to roll her eyes. "Nineteen…And no, I didn't run away from home if that's what you're thinking." She folded a strand of dirty blonde hair behind her ear, "I've always wanted to run a farm, Phillip just happened to be older…" And the favorite, she added silently.

Jessica eyed her warily. "So you don't want me to call…? Are you sure? It would only take just a minute…"

"He wouldn't care," Lillian didn't mean to say it so harshly, and she didn't mean to lie either. Of course Phillip would care. He wasn't completely heartless. Maybe it was the jealousy that she felt whenever her brother's success was expressed, or his independence, while she remained coddled under her parents' roof. She quickly amended this, "I mean…We haven't gotten along very well recently."

The older woman looked saddened at this. "Oh…I see. I'm terribly sorry, dear. I don't know what I'd do if Ash and Cheryl didn't get on so well. They're practically best friends."

Lillian nodded uncomfortably. She didn't know who they were but she decided to go along with it politely. "…And they've always gotten along?"

"Heavens no!" Jessica laughed a bit. "Cheryl can be a bit of a spitfire at times and Ash is a little too soft. Of course, they have their fights every now and then, but they always make up." She gave Lillian a knowing look. "Like all brothers and sisters."

Lillian tried her very hardest not to scowl at the implication and instead offered the woman a halfhearted smile.


"Lil?" Phillip gaped, sickle placed lazily over his shoulder, a boyish grin pulling at his lips. "But - How? – When?"

Lillian adjusted her bandana atop her head. The only survivor, which she knew of, in the aftermath of the 'crash' as the rest of Bluebell had deemed it. She caught sight of the house, barn, and chicken coop. Her cheeks reddened. "J…Just a few days ago. I've been, um, staying with Jessica – "

"Days!" Phillip repeated with disbelief. "How come you've been staying there?"

"…I…I was hurt and so was Fern…" Lillian flinched as her brother's bright sapphire eyes suddenly narrowed. She gripped onto Fern's reigns, the comfort of her horse companion lessening some of the tension. "It wasn't a big deal…"

"Hurt!" She wished that he would stop doing that. "How badly?" Phillip's face was red with anger; a habit that the siblings seemed to have in common.

Lillian lowered her eyes to examine her shoes. "U-Um. Fern was fine, really, just a few bruises…"

"I meant you!" Phillip rolled his eyes, though his anger didn't subside.

"Oh, well, I'm fine too…"

She steadily ignored Phillip's glare. "How come you didn't come here, then? How come Jessica didn't mention it whenever I stopped by the shop?"

"…I told her not to."

"Why?"

Lillian looked up to the sky with an empathetic expression. "Because…You would have overreacted."

Phillip scoffed.

She shifted her gaze back to meet his. "No, really…This is exactly what I was hoping to avoid…I guess I was being dumb in the assumption that you'd just be happy to see me."

Her brother dropped his sickle and allowed it to drop to the grass. His arms became outstretched and wide, rolling his eyes. "Well, since you're here and all."

Lillian smiled faintly, allowing herself to hug the brother that she'd always envied just a little.


"I can do that," Lillian offered, noting Phillip's short breathing pattern as he tried to heave his cow, Amelia, back into the barn.

He gave her a withering glance. "No. I've got it."

Lillian sighed and crossed her arms. Watching with unhidden amusement as her brother tried yet again, to coax the stubborn animal back into the barn. "Phillip…"

"I've got it," he repeated gruffly. "Why don't you go water the crops?"

"I've already done that," Lillian almost whined. He had barely allowed her to do anything on the farm besides tend to the crops. Phillip was naturally better with the animals while Lillian was a natural green thumb. Still, her brother only had two plots of land dedicated to crops and the girl became bored with nothing useful to do.

Phillip grunted as Amelia swiftly kicked him backwards. He glowered up at his snickering sister. "Something funny?" He groaned, rubbing his shin that would surely be bruised in the morning.

Lillian stifled her laughter. "Are you okay?"

"No."

"Want me to get her inside?"

"…No," he adjusted himself back up to his feet quickly. "I said I'll do it."

"Phillip."

"Shut up."

Lillian crossed her arms. "You're limping…"

"I'll do it. Go buy some seeds or something."

His sister sighed unhappily and went to retrieve Fern from the barn, off to go see if Cam's shop was still open…


Lillian blinked at the woman who stood in front of her, shoving a pamphlet in the dirty blonde girl's face, a wide smile stretched on her elegant face; out of place and arrogant. "Lillian, is it?"

The girl shook herself out of her stupor. "Um…Yeah." She gazed at the pamphlet sideways, catching a glimpse of the big and bold title: Konohana. Lillian nearly huffed at the amount of force in which the pamphlet was shoved into her unwilling hands.

The woman just smiled. Waiting. When Lillian didn't make any attempts at reading or sparing any interest in regards of the pamphlet, her smile dimmed in the slightest. "Lillian, then. I'm Ina. The Mayor of Konohana!"

Lillian nodded slowly, as if it made sense for the Mayor of Konohana to be seeking her out specifically. "Yes…?"

Ina didn't seem perturbed at the girl's hesitance and instead became bolder, eyes glinting with almost satisfaction. "Would you by any chance be interested in moving to Konohana?"

Lillian nearly stumbled backwards. She just wanted seeds… "E-Excuse me?" She caught Cam rolling his green eyes, leaning on his elbows, at his stand.

"You haven't got a place here, have you?" Ina asked almost suspiciously, eyeing the girl appraisingly. "Have you?" She repeated the question seeing that Lillian was still too stunned to speak.

"…Not quite," Lillian admitted sheepishly. "I'm staying with my brother on his farm…"

Ina's mouth twitched downwards. "Yes, Phillip. I remember him." This was said with such sharpness that it could've sliced through the present tension. "Anyway!" Ina smiled tightly. "We would be happy if you – "

"INA!" The Mayor of Konohana scowled at something behind Lillian's back. The girl turned to see Rutger, the Mayor of Bluebell, running towards them with fierceness. He finally caught up with them and glanced between the two, anxiously. "What have we here?" He glowered at Ina. "An attempt at stealing one of my citizens, I suspect!"

Lillian flushed. "Mayor Rutger – "

"Don't be stupid, Rutger," Ina sniffed indignantly. "Lola, here, was just curious about Konohana. I was merely answering her questions."

"It's Lillian," Lillian murmured, sure that she could hear Cam's soft laughter, and blushed even brighter when Ina turned to her, undisturbed.

"Oh, yes. That's what I said, wasn't it?"

Rutger snorted angrily. "Lillian is staying here in Bluebell! It's where her family is."

"She could make a new family in Konohana!" Ina shot back.

Lillian ignored the argument and watched as Cam placed a closed sign on his stand and walked back to the Café, giving her a cheeky grin over his shoulder as he went. She scrunched her nose up in distaste when she turned her attention back to the feuding mayors.

"Why don't we let her decide, then?" Ina suggested with confidence. As though it were obvious that Konohana were the better choice. "Stay here and suffer unpleasant food and the constant smell of manure – "

"Or move to Konohana, a place where she'd know no one – "

Lillian's head whirled.


A/N: I just got this game and decided that I should write about it. BECAUSE I'M ADDICTEEEEEEED. For reals. The last time I played something with such dedication, it was Animal Parade. Anyway. As I'm still a newbie to this game and the bachelors, the pairing is undecided thus far.

I do like Hiro, though... ^_^