A/N: So, I've written a lot of Harvest Moon fanfiction before, but this is the first story I've ever written for Rune Factory! It was originally written as a gift for the tumblr Harvest Moon Harmony Day gift exchange, but I decided to post it here as well because I love Rune Factory 4, and thought more people who also love RF4 might read it here. By the way, Vishnal is the cutest thing ever, possibly my favorite bachelor in the game, haha.

Also, just as a note, this fic takes place much before Frey/Lest falls into Selphia, and Vishnal and Clorica haven't been in training for very long. Please enjoy; reviews are greatly appreciated, especially since this is my first time writing with these characters!

-Cotton Candy Mareep

Baking Cookies: A Tale of Two Butlers

On a warm autumn morning, as a light breeze swept red and orange leaves through the crisp air like a flock of colorful birds outside the stone walls of the castle of Selphia, a young man dressed in embellished butler's attire hummed to himself a carefree tune as he finally finished scrubbing the castle windows clean. With a contented sigh, he tucked the loose strands of his long blue hair behind one ear and smiled at his handiwork. The once-spotted glass had been wiped completely clean of its previous dirt and grime, revealing a now clear view to the courtyard outside.

This particular day was Valentine's Day, a special festival held in the town of Selphia every fall, but that certainly didn't mean that Vishnal could take off work. A butler's work was never done, after all, and a true butler would never shirk his very important duties.

Of course, he had finished cleaning up this particular room of the castle, but he still needed to sweep up Lady Ventuswill's quarters before the day was through. Without any further contemplation, Vishnal set off for the kitchen where the mops and brooms were normally kept.

He didn't expect to find anyone in the kitchen at this time of day, but to his surprise, a girl with braided violet hair was standing to one side of the room, her back toward him. Clorica – she wore the same sort of butler's uniform that he did, though hers was much more feminine in appearance.

"...Clorica?"

There was no response.

Training under the great butler Volkanon to the Native Dragon God Ventuswill, Vishnal had only been a butler's apprentice in Selphia for barely a month now, as he had arrived at about the same time Clorica herself had. And already, he knew there was something… distinctly unusual about the girl.

Upon closer inspection, Vishnal discovered that her eyes were closed, her head slightly lowered as she snored gently. Behind her, neat rows of baking ingredients and cooking utensils lined the countertop as if they had very recently been in use.

"Oh! - Clorica? What are you doing?"

The girl's eyes opened slowly, like the amber eyes of a cat, and she let out a yawn, stretching her arms over her head somewhat lazily in the process. Sleepily, she greeted her fellow butler. "Hello, Vishnal."

"Erm – What are you doing?" The blue-haired butler repeated, scanning the array of items on the counter before settling his sights upon the oven, which had just let out a shrill beeping sound.

"I'm… baking cookies. Oh – I think they're done!" She bent down to open the oven door, and promptly pulled out a steaming tray of a dozen or so chocolate cookies, molded in the shape of perfect little hearts. Vishnal's mouth began to water at the delectable scent, but he quickly regained his composure. Drooling was not befitting a proper butler.

"But… you were asleep!" He exclaimed, somewhat puzzled, as he observed her place the tray of cookies on the windowsill to cool in the warm autumn sunlight. "How do you bake cookies while you're sleeping?" It was hard enough baking them while awake!

Clorica shrugged as she began to stash her ingredients away, stifling another yawn with a delicate hand. "I don't know… It just happens. I didn't intend to fall asleep, but the cookies smelled so comforting, baking away in the oven, and the sunlight felt so nice and warm on my skin that I sort of just began to… doze off."

She turned back toward him. "Thank you for waking me up, though, Vishnal."

"Oh," Vishnal resisted the urge to bow as the girl stifled a giggle, "It's really no problem. No problem at all."

"Well then, I suppose I'll go back to my baking. As soon as these cookies cool, I need to add the finishing touches," she replied cheerily with a sly wink.

Vishnal nodded. "Well, I will see you around then, Clorica – I must go attend to Lady Ventuswill now."

He turned to leave, and then stopped in his tracks.

"Wait – Clorica?"

"Hmm?" The girl hummed as she stacked bowls into the sink to wash.

"Um… Well, I was just wondering…"

"Yes, Vishnal?" She turned to look him in the eyes, a small smile on her face.

"Well, you see, I hope you don't mind my asking," Vishnal blushed as he babbled on, "I don't mean to come across as intruding; I'm simply curious, is all… Who are the cookies for?"

Because, as everyone in Selphia knew, today was Valentine's Day. A day where, as per tradition, girls would hand out cookies to guys they liked… And so, there was only one possible reason for Clorica to be baking cookies on such a day, as far as Vishnal could tell. Especially chocolate cookies in the shape of meticulous little hearts.

"Oh…" Clorica giggled lightly, "Just a boy."

"A boy."

Clorica nodded, her expression giving away nothing. "Yes, a boy. A very courteous, handsome young man, at that."

"Oh… I see." Why did he suddenly feel so disappointed, as though a stone had been dropped into the pit of his stomach? Clorica obviously had her sights set on some young man in town; shouldn't he feel happy for his fellow butler? But Vishnal couldn't help but wonder just who that young man could possibly be… Kiel, perhaps? Or maybe it was Doug…

Shaking his head, he nodded a quick goodbye to Clorica and grabbed the broom from its place beside the door before heading out again. And he could have sworn the girl had fallen asleep once more as he exited the room, though he may have just imagined it. What a strange girl she was, though Vishnal wasn't one to judge.

But perhaps strange wasn't the right word; she was merely sleepy. All the time, at that. Even going so far as to fall asleep standing up, apparently.

Either way, Vishnal had to wonder just how she could possibly bake cookies while sleeping in such an odd manner.

Later that night, Vishnal sighed as he turned in to his bedroom, his butler's duties all finished for the evening. What an uneventful Valentine's Day it had been… spent cleaning and attending to Lady Ventuswill's demands.

Not that he minded, of course – no, he was more than proud to serve the great Native Dragon god, apprenticed under her very best butler (and only one, at that), and he held great respect for both Ventuswill and Volkanon. Sometimes it was just tiring work, especially when one was as clumsy as Vishnal could be at times.

Vishnal absentmindedly approached his bed as he began to shrug his butler's coat off his shoulders, and paused. Something was different…

Turning toward the small wooden table beside his bed, he noticed a neat brown bag of some sort perched on the polished surface. His eyebrows flicked upward in surprise – What could this be? Had Volkanon left something in his room, perhaps?

Curiously, Vishnal lifted the mystery parcel and dumped its contents into the palm of his hand. Three perfectly shaped chocolate cookies, like little hearts, fell into his palm, decorated with white icing and tiny, crystalline red sprinkles. A smile crossed his face… There was only one girl he could think of who had access to his room, and he would recognize those lovely little cookies anywhere…

Vishnal bit into one of the cookies, and couldn't help but feel exceptionally lighthearted at the very taste. It was absolutely delicious.

Weeks passed since Vishnal had received the lovely little cookies on Valentine's Day. It was now White Day – a sort of sister holiday to Valentine's Day in Selphia, where the young men in town handed out cookies or other treats in thanks for the gifts they had received from girls earlier in the season. Vishnal had never participated in such an event before, but now he had good reason to, and he wanted to do it right.

The young butler scanned the ingredients he had lined up on the kitchen countertop, feeling slightly overwhelmed. How did Clorica bake her cookies so well?

Surely it couldn't be too difficult, as she had baked them in her sleep, after all. Vishnal admitted that he wasn't the best cook, but as a butler, he had to try his best. Because what good was a butler that couldn't cook? He had to learn somehow.

But where to begin… Somewhat unsure of himself, Vishnal began ticking the ingredients off the list in his head, one by one. Flour… Eggs... Sugar…

It all seemed simple enough. So simple, in fact, that he probably didn't even need to follow a recipe! After all, he merely had to mix the ingredients together in a bowl, mold the dough into balls, and bake, right?

Feeling a sudden surge of confidence in his baking skill, Vishnal took the large mixing bowl in his hands and dumped in some flour and sugar. Lots and lots of sugar. After all, he wanted his cookies to be very sweet.

He threw in a couple eggs, trying his best to crack them over the bowl without dropping the shells into the mixture. And then he broke up a whole chocolate bar and tossed that in, too, along with a stick of butter. This was easy…

After mixing his concoction together, Vishnal molded bits of the dough into little balls, and set them on a pan to bake in the oven. He waited for thirty minutes, since that seemed like an appropriate time, and then opened the oven door, prepared for the delicious aroma of fresh-baked cookies to surround him.

Instead, he was assaulted by the acrid smell of burnt food. Coughing, Vishnal quickly grabbed the pan from within the oven, and realized within seconds that he had forgotten to put a pair of oven mitts on to protect his hands from the searing heat.

"Aaaaahhh!"

The butler yelled out in pain from the burn spreading over his fingers, and dropped the entire pan on the floor with a clatter. Burnt cookies, completely blackened on one side, rolled across the kitchen tiles in all directions as Vishnal ran his red-hot hand under the cold water from the sink.

"Oh, no!"

Why did it always seem, that when it came to cooking, he had to ruin everything?

"Vishnal…? What happened? I heard you call out… Are you all right?"

Of course, his savior had to be her, of all people.

"Umm…" Embarrassed, the blue-haired butler merely hung his head, and Clorica bent down to pick up one of the ruined cookies he had dropped. Upon closer examination, she found that, while the surface of the cookie was completely charred, the inside was still doughy and undercooked.

"Were you trying to bake?"

Vishnal nodded miserably as he stared down at his feet, still too ashamed to speak, his right hand smarting.

Clorica stared at him, then over the mess he had created in the kitchen. Flour and sugar dusted the countertop like the first thin layer of snow in winter, and one of the leftover eggs had cracked down the middle, dripping thick golden yolk down onto the floor. "Do you need help, Vishnal?"

Vishnal blushed, twisting his hair nervously with one hand. "Er… well, yes, I suppose do," he admitted.

"If you don't mind, of course," he added quickly.

Rather than laugh at him, Clorica merely smiled and beckoned him toward her. "Here..."

She bent down to collect the cookies from the floor and calmly tossed them in the trash bin. "If you're going to bake cookies for a special someone on White Day, you have to do it right."

"Oh…"

Clorica giggled. "But don't worry about it. I can teach you."

Purposefully, she began to tidy up the mess that Vishnal had created in his rush to bake, wiping the counter clean and righting any of the ingredients that had been upended. "You have to preheat the oven before you bake the cookies," she added to Vishnal as she set the oven's timer with a click. "Otherwise, the oven won't be warm enough for them to cook properly."

She then took the bowl from the counter and directed Vishnal in adding the appropriate ingredients.

"Oh… did you burn yourself?" She asked, concerned, as she caught a fleeting glimpse of Vishnal's burnt hand. Without waiting for a response, she hurried off to grab something from another cabinet at the other end of the room, and returned with some sort of medicinal salve, which she rubbed into his hurting fingers before he could protest. "This will help… and now we can get to baking."

"Oh… all right, then. And… thank you," Vishnal said somewhat awkwardly, wishing he could do more to show his appreciation.

But Clorica smiled at him. "You're welcome."

Not exactly sure where to begin now, Vishnal lifted an egg to the bowl, but Clorica quickly stopped him by putting one hand over his. "Wait… let me do that. You have to make sure you don't get any eggshells in the batter." She took the egg from Vishnal and cracked it cleanly against the edge of the bowl, stifling a yawn as the insides of the egg dripped into the mix without any unwanted shell pieces, more neatly than Vishnal could ever have done it himself.

"See how it's done? Now… you try the next one."

Vishnal nervously took another egg and tried to copy Clorica's motion in cracking it. Looking into the bowl, he smiled. "Look! No eggshells!"

Clorica nodded drowsily, her eyelids flickering slightly. "Um… oh yes, very good."

They continued on to add in flour, sugar, butter, and chocolate, Clorica directing Vishnal in the correct distribution of ingredients. Especially sugar, since Vishnal had seemed a little overeager to put that in, and Clorica had to explain to him how too much sugar, like anything else, was actually a bad thing in baking.

"Also, you need baking powder, and a little pinch of salt. Not too much!"

"Salt?" Vishnal repeated, confused. "But… salt isn't sweet. And the cookies are supposed to be sweet, not salty?"

"That's okay," Clorica explained, "Just a little will enhance the flavor of the cookies. Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

Vishnal nodded seriously. "Of course I trust you!" Adamantly, he dashed the tiniest pinch of salt into the mixture.

When the cookie dough was finished, the two butlers worked together to roll pieces of it into neat little balls, and then Vishnal placed the pan of them into the oven, feeling exceptionally proud of their work.

"Hey, Clorica, we did it!"

No response.

"Huh… Clorica?"

The violet-haired girl had slouched forward, her lilac-colored bangs covering her eyes as she let out a low whistle. Upon closer inspection, Vishnal found that Clorica had indeed fallen asleep again, standing up and snoring lightly through her nose, her eyes tightly pressed shut.

Vishnal couldn't help but smile. She looked… cute when she was asleep. But what should he do with her now? A true gentleman and proper butler really shouldn't just leave a lady to sleep in such a state.

Making a quick decision, Vishnal gently lifted the girl into his arms, careful not to wake her. He found himself pleasantly surprised by how light her body felt, as he had been afraid he wouldn't be able to carry her all the way to her room.

Vishnal entered Clorica's bedroom quietly, hoping Volkanon wouldn't catch him in there and think the worst of him. He had never been in this particular section of the butlers' quarters before, as he didn't want to invade on Clorica's privacy…

Trying not to take in too much, he softly set the girl down on top of her bedspread before silently making his way out of the room.

Back in the kitchen, Vishnal took the cookies out of the oven, and was happily surprised by how nice they looked, and how lovely they smelled. He didn't even drop them this time, or hurt himself, for that matter.

After waiting for them to cool as he swiftly cleaned up the extra ingredients and other cooking items, Vishnal quickly smeared some frosting over the cookies, and then stepped back to admire his creations. Sure, they weren't quite as nice-looking as Clorica's own cookies were on Valentine's Day, nor were they shaped in any special manner like hers had been, but they would do.

Quietly, he took a stack of them in his hand and returned to Clorica's bedroom, where the girl was still sleeping soundly, and set the cookies down on the table before retreating again, barely able to conceal his hopeful smile.

The violet-haired girl stirred, and her eyes slowly opened. Hmm…

She yawned and looked around the room. Was it nighttime yet? She couldn't remember going to bed, and she was still wearing her butler's uniform! Had she fallen asleep that quickly? She had also left the lamp on, which now cast shadows over every corner of the room. Still wondering exactly how she got there, Clorica glanced over at the bedside table beside her head, and suddenly it all dawned on her.

"Cookies?" She had helped Vishnal make these for White Day, she remembered. She must have fallen asleep then… though that didn't explain just how she ended up back in her bed.

Oh, well… she was here now, and that's all that really mattered. Clorica picked up the cookie at the top of the stack and took a thoughtful bite, giggling to herself as she recalled how much help Vishnal had needed in baking them. But he had been so eager to learn from her… It was endearing, in a way.

Somehow, these simple cookies were still much better tasting than the perfect ones she had baked on her own, Clorica decided as she drifted back off to sleep.