**DISCLAIMER** I do not own, nor have I ever owned, any of the characters, places, items, etc. etc. relating to the Harvest Moon or Rune Factory series.

Please review!!! I need to feel loved... -_- Ha! Just joking around! =P ......Review anyway.



Chapter 2: New Arrival

"I'll see you later then, Raguna!" Anette called back to the kindly farmer as she rocketed away toward the Beach Road, "I'll be at Mist's after I finish making the deliveries!" Darting along the well-worn dirt path, she flew even more rapidly than her typically swift pace. She had lingered just slightly longer than usual talking to Raguna, and hoped she wouldn't be late bringing everyone their mail. I'm really glad I spent the time to talk with him though, she thought, smiling longingly to herself… I'll bet that strawberry is going to taste delicious!

The next stop along her route would be Mist's home. Humming merrily to herself as she went, Anette eventually arrived in front of the flower-covered house and halted just next to Mist's mailbox. Seeing her friendly housemate outside in the garden, watering the flowers, Anette greeted her warmly. "Morning, Mist!" she called, "You got mail!"

Mist smiled and waved dreamily back to her. "Good morning, Anette. Say," she said, sudden excitement in her voice, "did you know that if you see a cat lick its face, it means it will rain soon!"

"Oh wow, really?" Anette replied with practiced enthusiasm, "That's, uh, great to know, Mist!" She didn't bother pointing out that there were no cats in the village. She had been sharing a house with Mist for a full season, and had learned that she was better off just humoring the well-meaning, albeit scatterbrained, young blonde. Instead, she placed an…unusually shaped package for Mist in the mailbox (mail was mail after all; she really shouldn't question things like that…right?), said a quick goodbye, and soared off to the Church District.

There was no mail addressed to Kanno or his granddaughters today. So, skipping the clock tower, Anette paused instead in front of Trampoli's grand church. "Stella, you got mail!" she called out as she slid the holy woman's letter into the mailbox. Before continuing on her way, however, Anette happened to glance down at her feet and spotted something small and shiny. "My wallet!" she exclaimed while reaching down to retrieve it, "I'll have to be more careful to keep track of my things."

After taking a brief moment to slip the gold-filled wallet back into the crimson pocket of her outfit, she flitted away once again, this time in the direction of the Rune Archives. Her feet moving rapidly as a humming bird's wings, she dashed up the stone steps to the library. Having reached their top, Anette hovered just outside the archives' front door as she searched through her mailbag for the correct package. "No…no…no," she said, pulling things out of the sack and placing them on the ground around her in her haste.

At last, she found what she was looking for. She lifted out a large, wrapped stack of books from her bag and hefted them into the mailbox. No doubt their book-loving recipient would be thrilled to get her hands on these. "Selphy," Anette shouted to her, "you have another package!" Breathing a sigh of relief at having gotten those heavy books out of her mailbag at last, she gathered up all of the letters and packages she had placed on the ground and took off for the Business District.

Comfortably within her familiar morning routine once again, Anette's mind began to drift off. She thought of how pleasant the gulps of warm spring air felt, filling her lungs as she ran. She reveled in the carefree tune of birds, singing from the flowering trees all around her. "Melody, you got mail!" She breathed in the delightful scent of freshly-blooming moon drop flowers, as a refreshing wind carried it to her nose. She stared up at the cotton-like clouds as they floated gracefully through the sky, and she found that she was reminded of…

"You're late today! Come on, Anette!" Danny's teasing voice startled Anette abruptly out of her daydreaming. Flustered, she blushed indignantly, and not merely out of annoyance at Danny's sad attempt to flirt with her.

"Here's your mail, Danny," she responded coldly and hurried on her way, but not before hearing him begin to mutter under his breath.

"Damn, I didn't even get a chance to ask…"

Now left to her own thoughts again, Anette reflected rather embarrassingly on what she had been thinking before Danny interrupted her. Looking up at the vast blue expanse of sky, she'd wondered at how it was exactly the same shade as Raguna's eyes. "Ganesha, you got an order from Kardia!" Those eyes that would brighten and gaze back into hers as she called out a greeting, while that strand of chestnut hair that fell perfectly between them danced playfully in the breeze.

W-wait, what?! Oh, no, no, no! What was she thinking? This was Raguna, her caring neighbor and close friend. They had known each other for just over a year now, and during that whole time that was all they'd been, friends and nothing else. Anette was perfectly happy just maintaining her simple, friendly relationship with Raguna, and she thought, no, she was sure he would agree. "Rita, you got a postcard!"

Besides, she thought, he and Mist already have something special. Mist was not exactly known for keeping her thoughts to herself, so, living in the same house as her, Anette had naturally heard all about her feelings for Raguna. "He's so dashing when he's out working in his fields," Mist would muse, "not to mention thoughtful. He always has a turnip just for me! And he listens to me whenever I want to tell him about a dream I had, like the one I had last night where he was working in his fields while dressed strangely. He had rabbit ears…" She had continued, but Anette managed to tune it out. It was an acquired skill essential to survival when you lived with Mist long enough.

Raguna never spoke quite so openly about things like that, but since he'd come all the way to Trampoli just to find Mist, Anette thought, his feelings for her were pretty obvious.

Standing in the Business District's center with her empty mailbag at her side, Anette yawned and stretched both arms toward the sky so that, for a moment, she almost doubled in height. Too bad it's only temporary, she thought as she reflected gloomily on her rather minute stature. Soon though, her stomach began to rumble and hunger chased all other thoughts out of her head.

"Mmmm," she said aloud to no one in particular "I feel like having that strawberry right now!" She placed her hand in her pocket and pulled out…her wallet. Suddenly panicked, she searched through her remaining pockets, but came up empty-handed.

Where had she put that strawberry from Raguna? In her mailbag! That was it! Relieved, she reached into the bag, but her fingers grasped at empty air. A look inside the bag only confirmed what her hand had told her. There was no strawberry to be found. Oh no, she thought, I must've dropped it! Then she remembered how, back at the library, she had been pulling things out of her mailbag so that she could find Selphy's package. She must have tossed the strawberry aside without realizing it.

Anette's stomach growled insistently. But she had nothing to eat, and she couldn't go to Erik's this early; he would still be working in his fields, and she didn't want to be a nuisance to her generous friend. "Ohhh," she groaned, "I knew I shouldn't have skipped breakfast. I'm so hungry."

"Excuse me, miss. Do you have a minute?"

"Huh? Who, me?" The unfamiliar voice had taken Anette by surprise. She realized that, until now, she had been totally oblivious of the stranger standing right in front of her.

Now that she noticed him though, she saw that he was a young man of about her age. He sported medium-length jet-black hair onto which the late morning sun now cast a single silver stripe. To say that Anette found his clothing slightly odd would have been an understatement. He wore a thin, hooded, cherry-red jacket zipped up to his neckline and with sleeves extending nearly to his pale fingertips, an unusual choice, considering the warm spring temperatures. The bottoms of faded-blue pant legs hung down over his shoes which were a vivid, leafy-green color.

But the most unusual and most amazing thing about him was his eyes! Two dark pupils, ringed by irises of the most vibrant, fiery orange she had ever seen. The closest things they resembled, she thought, were pumpkins…that is, if said pumpkins were ripened to perfection, crystallized, and then illuminated by several hundred high-intensity floodlights. The effect was wholly mesmerizing, and Anette found herself scarcely able to look away.

As she stood gawking, the boy spoke again, smiling modestly as he did so. "Yes, you. I was wondering if you knew where I could find an inn. I just arrived in the village and I need a place to stay for a while."

Anette said nothing. She was still entranced by this newcomer. His hair…his smile…his eyes! Oh, his eyes!

He frowned, raising a concerned eyebrow at Anette's spellbound state. "Um…hello? Are you okay?"

"Oh, y-yes! I'm fine, just fine!" she laughed nervously.

"Alright," the boy said skeptically, "if you say so. Anyway, about the inn…"

"Oh right, the inn!" Anette turned gratefully away from those dazzling eyes and pointed an eager finger at the building just to the left of her and the boy. "That's the Sunshine Inn right there. I'm sure Turner and Rita will be happy to get you a room. Just make sure you use the door on the right. The other door leads to the…to the…umm…" She had turned back to look at him as she spoke. Big mistake. Staring directly into his stunningly bright eyes again, her train of thought entirely derailed.

"Got it! Thank you very much," he said as he smiled with genuine gratitude. Then, seeming to remember something, he added, "Oh, you were saying that you were hungry, right?"

Anette had forgotten about just how hungry she was, but now her stomach rumbled in affirmation to the boy's question.

He reached inside a black pouch which was tied around his waist, pulling out a brown paper bag. He handed this to Anette saying, "Here, you can have this. It was going to be my lunch, but you sound like you need this more than I do." With a final smile, he walked past her towards the inn. As he reached the door though, he suddenly paused and turned to face her with those impossibly orange eyes. "By the way, what is your name?"

"A-Anette! It's Anette, my name I mean…"

"Well then, thank you again for the help, Anette." He closed the inn door lightly behind him as he passed through it, and Anette was left standing by herself in the middle of the Business District. By and by, Anette was roused from her stupor by the whistling of spring birds and the gentle warmth of the sun as it rose steadily higher over her head. She was suddenly embarrassed at having let herself freeze up like that. It just wasn't like her.

She looked down at the paper bag in her hands and remembered her hunger. She hurriedly opened the bag, and what she found inside made her jaw drop. A pumpkin tart! Anette absolutely LOVED pumpkin tarts! "Whooaaaaa…!" she exclaimed in drooling admiration, and in no time at all, she had devoured the sweet treat.

Her hunger satisfied. Anette's thoughts turned to the kind newcomer who had given it to her. Where had he come to Trampoli from? How long would he be staying? Would she get another chance to talk to him? (She really hoped so!) And then it hit her. His name! She had never even asked him for his name! What if he left without her ever finding out? The abrupt thought made Anette practically frantic. Barely hesitating, she followed after the boy toward the inn. Besides, she thought eagerly, this way I'm bound to see him at least one more time in case he leaves.

But Anette still held out hope that the boy wouldn't be leaving quite so soon. She imagined him as Trampoli's newest resident. She saw the two of them talking and laughing together happily as she delivered the mail. Alone together, the lively mail girl and the boy with the pumpkin eyes…


AN: Well, there you have it, folks, Chapter 2. I'll admit, I really enjoyed getting to write an Anette-centric chapter. She's just such a unique and adorable character. X3 I'm slightly sad now though, because FanFictions has decided not to recognize all of my heart and musical note symbols... T_T Ah well. Hopefully things are starting to get a bit more interesting plot-wise now. Let the drama commence! ...so to speak. And...it's late and I really have nothing else to say... Oh yeah! Pumpkins are awesome, and I don't care what you have to say about it, Mint! XD (Someone please get that reference...)

Innumerable thanks once again to my faithful betareaders: Shadows-of-Realm (First this time...happy? ;-P) & LovelyxxMelody. Don't know what I'd do without you guys. n_n

--Coming Soon-- Chapter 3, in which fruit is mistaken for fine literature... ;-)