Author's Notes: No, I do not own Harvest Moon or its characters. There you have it. As a forewarning, this story may be intense. I have it rated T for violence, character death, and some suggestive content, but I assure you that the last of the three is the rather minimal and you shouldn't keep from reading the story due to it. Characters may seems a bit OOC, but this a result of the story's main purpose. You'll understand why by the epilogue.

Determining the tense to write the story in was a difficult task. Past tense can kill the suspense while present tense can sound a bit awkward. Essentially, picture the time of writing somewhere shortly after the writing of the chapters. Actions are in past as well as brief thoughts, while lingering ideas and solid places and people are present.

I hope you enjoy the read (if you can call it "enjoyment") and please share your thoughts on the story! Thanks for at least considering reading.

The Place Where No One Weeps

Chapter 1- Life as I Know it

For this account to make much sense to the reader, it is necessary that some understanding of my home is shared.

I never knew life outside of the Sunshine Islands. My grandparents joined the Community at its founding around forty or fifty Mainland Years ago. We don't have a school on the Islands because we believe that compulsory education stifled individuality and creativity. Not surprisingly, I have little knowledge of the rest of the world.

Some twenty Mainland Years ago (I don't know exactly- the calendar wasn't actually used on the islands. I've been given some estimates though), I was born. My father died when I was young, leaving me with my mother and grandfather to raise me. I have an older brother named Elliot, though no one would guess that he is the elder between us. He is one of the easiest people on the island to push around. This is no small statement. According to the islands' principles, everyone is entitled to do what he wants and have his own opinion. Truth isn't a word used often. Thankfully for me, it allows me to be as bossy as I want and not get in a large amount of trouble.

Everyone on the island has his specific job. My family, for example, gathers up produce and resources. We keep records of the items and organize them for shipping off of the islands, a task performed by Vaughn and Kirk. My hair, as well as Elliot and my mother, is dyed pink to mark our assignment on the island. I've never seen my hair any other way, but my friend Pierre told me once that the coloring is far from being natural. He did tell that at least I don't have to wear my hair silver like Vaughn.

Every season, each person is given their "Quarterly Quota". What happened is this. It's our job to have items to sell on the Mainland for profit. As we primarily buy products made on the Islands, the money stays within the community to form a perfect balance of trade. All the earnings of all residents are gathered together in a collective pool called the Fund. This money is given to Regis, who acts as the Head of the Community over the Islands, who divides out resources equally to everyone. This occurs at a large feast that is held at Regis's house.

And it is on one of these days, during the Feast of Spring, that I begin my narrative.

I felt Elliot shaking me in my bed that morning. "Natalie!" he said calmly into my ear, "It's probably a good time to wake up!"

I groaned as I pushed his face away from my bed. "Why?" I protested. "We did plenty of work last night."

Elliot shook his head as I started pulling out clothes for the day. "It's not work! It's the Feast of Spring today! You didn't forget, did you?" I shrugged. I guess I had forgotten, but I didn't really want Elliot to know that.

After getting dressed, my family and I ate breakfast at Nick's diner. It wasn't that satisfying, but the food at the restaurants is never that good anyways. I wouldn't have realized how average it tasted if Pierre didn't cook for me when I went over to his house.

We had about two hours before we would begin preparations for the dinner. Elliot suggested that the two of us take a walk, but I told him I didn't feel like it. I stood outside of the café after finishing the meal until he had strolled away to Sprout Island, the other island where quite a bit of people live. I actually did want to go on a walk- just not with Elliot. Instead, I made the short trip to Mirabelle's animal shop, which is just down the street from my house. Her daughter Julia was a good friend of mine. Julia agreed that a short walk around would be refreshing. She was a tall pretty girl with blonde hair. I'm pretty sure it is her hair's natural color, though there isn't really a way of knowing. As we walked out the door to the shop to begin, though, a small figure named Charlie ran up, grabbed my sleeve, and repeatedly tugged on it. Charlie is one of the two children living on the Islands.

"Natalie, Natalie!"

"Yes, Charlie?"

"Eliza turned down that wool you had me get her! I had to spend a lot of money on that, too! I thought you said she liked wool!"

I couldn't help but smirk a little. Eliza is the other child of the Community. For some unexplainable reason, Charlie actually likes her. Of course Eliza doesn't like wool. She complains about its texture all the time. No, I'm not trying to torture the unfortunate boy. I'm trying to get Charlie to see that his ambitions simply won't work out. Now, do I get a little satisfaction from messing with his ridiculous crush? Well… Yeah, of course.

"Well Charlie, that means there are two options. One is that she is too shy to accept it and she really likes you." Eliza is anything but shy. "And the other option is that she simply has no interest in you."

Charlie thought about it for a couple seconds. "Well, in that case… I guess I better go try again and convince her that it is ok for her to take something from me! Thanks, Natalie! You're the best!"

All you can do is try, I guess.

With that distraction out of the way, I waved Julia to lead the way. I guess she didn't disagree with my strategies regarding Charlie and Eliza because she didn't say a word on the matter. We took the bridge which leads to the island with the farm run by brother and sister Mark and Chelsea.

"Well…" Julia began, "tonight should be fun. Did you have any surplus this season?"

I shook my head. "No… I ran out about a week ago."

Julia gave me a funny look. "I don't think it is best that you should be so wasteful."

"I wasn't being wasteful. Being wasteful is having surplus. The money goes right back into the Fund like it does every season."

"But that means you had to eat those peanut butter sandwiches."

I shrugged. "I spent my money helping set up all of the festivals. That's a good use, right?"

Julia nodded. "Yeah, I suppose so. Life might be a little monotonous without them."

My friend quickly shut her lips and reddened after her remark. We generally are accepting of criticism in personal matters, but criticizing the way of life on the islands isn't a good idea.

"Don't worry, Julia… I really don't care."

"I recommend that you do, Natalie. It was irresponsible of me to say that. This is a good place to live."

"And how would you know if it wasn't?" I could tell that I was making her uncomfortable. I have a habit of speaking my mind- not an overly good thing to do. Those who do usually get the Departure. "I'm sorry. I don't want to sound worse than I am. I was just being rhetorical when I said that. These islands are my home." I don't think my response completely redeemed me, though.

"Look… there's Mark and Chelsea out there in the fields planting a new batch of crops," remarked Julia, clearly trying to break the awkwardness. It was a stupid comment. That's what farmers typically do. But they did look like they were actually working pretty hard. I guess they weren't too different from myself. You'll get your Quarterly Quota every season, regardless of how much money you make. I still spend most of my time working, though- just for the sake of knowing I've done something useful. Unfortunately, not everyone else follows the same philosophy.

Our feeble conversation broke down and the two of us reluctantly returned to our homes. My mother always wants me in the gaudiest outfits on Feast days, and I didn't really look forward to the occasion.

For the Feast of Spring, she always forces me into a ridiculous light blue dress with gold lacing. Elliot laughed when he saw me in it after mother helped me put it on, though he backed away when I made a step towards him. I guess the dress wasn't entirely ugly… I just don't like bringing attention to myself.

Nathan, the priest who lives on Harvest Goddess Island along with his assistant Alisa, greeted the villagers as they entered Regis's house while Sabrina, the Head of the Community's daughter, recorded who was present. Elliot was slow getting ready- as usual- so we got there later than most.

Regis himself directed us to our chairs in his upstairs dining room. There were five tables set up in order to fit us all inside. Unfortunately, just as every year, he sat me down beside Elliot and my mother. For some reason, my brother always got to sit on the edge of the family instead of me, so he got to talk with Lanna. Well, I guess I wasn't missing out on much. Lanna is a very strange woman, to say the least.

I sat at the table with my face squarely located in the palm of my hand, beating the table gently with a silver fork. I wanted nothing more than the money and getting out of the place, but everyone else thought it was a good idea to talk, so we sat there for forty minutes doing nothing. Eventually, though, Regis got our attention as he stood at the head of his table.

"Friends! I welcome you here today for the Feast of Spring!" Everyone clapped. "Now, Nick, Haila, and Pierre will present the meal!" Regis snapped a finger, and the three people mentioned brought out trays.

We were each given a dish of scrambled eggs and a dish of deviled eggs with a small side of corn. Elliot said those strange deviled egg things were boiled, but it tasted more like it was the product of a microwave to me. I ate it all the same as, regardless of how well it tasted, it at least had a lot of calories. Elliot tried to act like it was actually good, but I could tell the food was really rather upsetting him. I came to the conclusion that Regis must have no taste buds, as he and some of the others at his table acted like they were actually enjoying the meal. Are vampires not able to taste food? That would certainly explain the mystery, considering he certainly looks like one.

As the last people neared finishing the meal, Charlie, who sat not far from me, complained about having a headache. His father nodded and said something to Regis, who stood up once again.

"Usually I would delay the giving of the quota, but at the request of Chen, we will finish early today. Come up as I call your name."

Sabrina unveiled a large box filled to the lid with little slips of green paper wrapped in bundles. The names were called out in alphabetical order, so I had to wait a little before it was my turn. After receiving the quota, everyone is expected to remain in his seat as Nathan and Alisa give a short prayer to the Harvest Goddess for blessing us. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention, as I didn't really understand the whole Goddess thing, but I stayed quiet out of respect for those who did.

When the ceremony was finally over, everyone stood up and began to file out of the building. Elliot nudged me on the shoulder. "Are you going home?" he asked.

I shook my head. "That food was terrible," I said into his ear. "I'm making a stop."

I'm sure he made some sort of… I don't know… stupid face because he's bound to know where my destination is. Elliot doesn't really like it when I'm around other guys. Probably because I'm the only girl he's spoken to in his entire life. But I don't really care what he thinks. Pierre's house is the only place I really feel at home.