One night in the fall, the moon would rise: full, large and orange, on the summit of Mother's Hill. On this day, the people of Mineral Town would gather with their loved ones, and watch it rise. While eating moon dumplings together, kisses were stolen and little children would peer up at the moon, trying to see the goddess who lived on it. Anyone who lived in Mineral Town knew it was a truly magical time.
Of course, he wasn't from around here. He came here once, when he was so small he could barely lift a fishing pole without falling over. It was summer then, when the heat began to wear thin and the days were long and boring. It was one of those days that she found him, laying on his back and doing nothing but watching the slow-moving clouds. He was her only friend back then; and she shared him a song that he said he had never heard before.
The moon was high in the sky, now, growing paler as it ascended. Long ago, farmers planted and harvested according to the moon. They said that the fields were the most bountiful when the moon turned orange and hung low in the sky. It was always during autumn, and there was always food to be found in autumns of Mineral Town. They said it was a good omen, and in ancient times they prayed to this moon for luck and prosperity. You'd think beliefs like that didn't hold water anymore, but you never know with an old town like Mineral Town.
She used to think like that the old superstitions didn't mean anything…before he came. At first, he was very stressed out and awkward. She couldn't remember a time when he wasn't rushing from point A to point B in an attempt to make ends meet. But he was always nice to her. He always took the time to talk to her and, despite of the fact he always seemed to have something to do, actually listened to what she had to say.
She heard the mayor say something once, on how him coming to Mineral Town was a blessing. When she thought about it, she could understand. When the old man died and no one took up the farm, the changes weren't immediately noticeable but they were there. She didn't understand it very well, but the farm was an invaluable resource to them all. While it seemed like a little amount of time, a lot can happen in six months and things weren't going as well as it was when the old man was alive.
She sometimes wondered what brought him here. Did he really care about the last wish of an old man? Was he just curious? Could it had been that he was tired of city life, and was at a crossroads? Or was he wondering about a little girl, who said all those years ago, that she needed him?
One day, she would ask him. But for now, she would just let the moon shine on them and thank it for bringing him to her.