Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or Rune Factory…

Life on the Mist Farm

First Week of Spring: First Impressions

It has only been a couple days since Raguna, someone who collapsed in front of Mist's house who lost his memory, started to work on her farm. Since then he's been the talk of the town and many of the conversations have been along the lines of 'Mist suckered him into working on the farm' but they knew in their hearts that she did what she thought was best for him… in her own, special way, emphasizing on 'special' a little bit. She was a good girl who always thought about really awkward things and tends not to connect the dots as fast as she probably should. And after spending some time with her, Raguna started to think the same thing.

Raguna seemed to be a generally nice guy as well as a very dependable person. But it seemed as though he pushes his body a bit further than he should. But he was very good at the job, in fact at times he really did seem like he was a farmer all of his life. Mist seemed to be right on the money when she decided to let Raguna work her farm. Well to be fair it wasn't "her" farm anymore, it was his. She loved to work on the farm before but she knew she wasn't much of a farmer so she was alright with him on the farm. She would check oh him everyday to see how he was doing often and at times would talk to him while he worked. She still remembered the time when he showed up too, how couldn't she, this was just a couple days ago.

It was a bright sunny day and Mist was outside her house eating. After she was done she went inside in order to wash up. Then something unexpected happened. A young man, close to her age, just walked in from the outside border of town and collapsed in front of her house. She came to check out what happened.

"Are you okay?" she seemed more intrigued though thinking, "Wow, I've never seen anyone actually on the verge collapse before…"

"Huh? Well… I've been walking… for days… with no food… no water…" Said the stranger

"Ooh, that's not healthy! Hold on a sec." so she went into her house only to return with a hoe, "Here, you can have my hoe!" He looked somewhat confused mostly because he didn't know what to do with a hoe of all things right now.

"Actually… I was hoping for some water…"

"Oh, right, water!" It seemed as though something clicked in her mind, "Okay, wait just one moment." She then came back with a watering can.

"Here you go, try this watering can!" once again looking a little awkward

"Umm…"

"Is there something else that you need?"

"I meant… some drinking water…"

"Oh, duh! Sorry, it's just that the way you look and all… I thought a hoe and watering can would be more your style!" She felt a bit embarrassed at this point. Okay, I'll be right back!" and so she finally came back with the appropriate food and water. "Here you go, some water and bread!"

After eating the food and drinking the water, he felt a bit of his energy coming back. "Thank you. You saved my life."

"Oh it's nothing! Say, you're not from this town , are you? Are you on a trip or something?"

"Well… to be honest… I don't really know myself."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I don't remember where I was before coming here. I don't even know who I am…"

"You mean…you have amnesia?"

"Maybe…"

"Do you remember your name?"

"No…"

"Well, everyone needs a name."

"That's true."

"Why don't you pick one right now?"

"Okay, well, what about Raguna?"

"Raguna, I like it!"

"You do? Thanks. By the way, what's your name?"

"Oh, my name's Mist! Say, Raguna, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm trying to find an inhabited town… I haven't thought past that part yet."

"In that case, I have an empty house and field you can use."

"I… I don't know what to say… But no, I couldn't possibly…"

"Don't be silly! I'm not using them anyway. Besides, I meant what I said before. I think you look like a farmer Raguna!"

"Do you really think I have what it takes to work a farm?"

"Um… well… I think you have talent!"

"Okay…" Mist looked very excited at this point.

She took his hand and decided to show him that farm. "oh, this is going to be so fun! Come on, the house and the field are to the north."

"This is my home and farm. What do you think? Not too bad eh?"

"Yeah, but I'm not asking you to let me work on the land here or anything."

"Don't worry about that. It's better for me to get all the help I can!"

"B… but…"

"This is the field. I haven't done any work on it for a while so it's overgrown." She walked forward a bit only to find a monster just teleported onto the field.

"Step back Mist, there's a monster there!" wanting to help her he took the hoe he was given and attacked the monster until it disappeared. "Phew… I managed to defeat it! Are you okay, Mist?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. What about you Raguna?"

"Yeah, I'm okay too, but I think I killed the monster."

"No, it's still alive!"

"Wait, what?" frantically looking around for the monster.

"Weapons and tools have a kind of magic called "Retornen", a kind of magic that sends monsters back to their original place."

Now he started to look at her kinda weirdly, "Original place?"

"Monsters are like a spirit, they came from a different world than ours called the "First Forest"!

"Oh really? Well… I'm glad that I didn't kill it!"

"Anyway, I was impressed by you there! Did you learn how to fight or perform swordsmanship somewhere?"

"I might have, but my memory…"

"Oh, yeah." She felt embarrassed again forgetting that fact. "But that's beside the point, I want to know what the monster was doing here…"

"Don't they usually appear above ground?"

"Well there are people called Earthmates who can summon monsters."

""Earthmates?"

"They are people who can hear the earth's voice. Some of them can communicate with the monsters. Some people in town live with monsters, but this is the first time a fighting monster was summoned."

"Really?"

"Well, anyway, you saved me! Thank you so much." She felt so relived and grateful that she ended up hugging him.

"Hey, it's nothing."

"Raguna, I really we you for this!"

"No, really it was nothing."

"As a token of my gratitude. I'm going to let you work on the fields here."

He really didn't know how to work a field but he thought that it wasn't right for him to just take her farm "No, I really couldn't…"

"You helped me out, and so I want to do something for you too." He really couldn't but she insisted so much that refusing her would feel kinda mean.

"Well if you insist, thank you very much!"

"You'll work here, I'm so happy!"

"But why are you doing this for me"

"I'm not really sure… but I feel that you have potential, that you understand the ways of the earth."

"Is that so?"

"I also feel that while working here, your memory may come back."

"In that case, I'll be happy to work here."

And so was the start of Raguna's new life. Mist was more than glad that he was here working on the farm. Soon she found that Raguna was getting hot and sweaty, and for the most part really tired so she ran into her house in order to get something for him. Raguna on the other hand sat on top of a boulder once again on the verge of collapse until Mist came running back with water and food.

"Raguna, hold on!"

"Mist..." She had given him the food and water and then helped him to the shade where she held him in her lap and started fanning him and cooling him off.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm alright."

"Good, I thought I had to bring you over to the hospital again like yesterday."

"I'm sorry for worrying you, I guess I'm still weak."

"No that's okay. When I was working on the farm before, I was like you sometimes. I used to pass out sometimes and sometimes I got really dizzy."

"That's not very healthy."

"And this isn't either, just remember that you're not the only one working out here."

"Same to you." They stared at each other for a while until Rosetta decided to come pick up the shipment.

"Hey you two! I didn't realize that you two were already like that!" The both of them blushed and looked at her, then looked at each other. Raguna was too embarrassed to speak, while Mist, probably just as embarrassed, spoke out.

"It's not like that… I just… we were just resting."

"I can see that! You know what, whatever the both of you do is none of my business!" Rosetta was just teasing them at this point.

"Rosetta!"