Author's Note: Hi there everybody. I've returned with another chapter and I'm glad that people are reading. Thank you! Any Dirk or Kana fans out there? If so then here's your first chance to see them in the story!
There were lots of things I missed about living in the city. Television was a big one. My father was another. My mom had died when I was fifteen. My dad and I had a bit of a falling out after that which made my teenage years more turbulent. Everybody grieves in their own way and when dad got a girlfriend only months after my mom's death, I'd felt he was moving on too fast. And I highly disapproved. That was only made worse by the fact that he'd tried to get me to meet her when I was definitely not at a point where I could even consider such a thing. Even trying to consider it made me feel like I was betraying my mother. I was incredibly bitter for a couple of years.
One night when he thought I was asleep, I saw him looking at a picture of my mom and crying. I'd only ever seen him cry three times before in my whole life. The first time had been when he came to my school to tell me what happened to my mom. The second time was at the hospital. The third time was at her funeral. That was when I realized that he hadn't fully moved on. He was still grieving, actually. And he was trying to move forward despite all his inner turmoil. After I thought about it, I realized that mom would have wanted him to move forward and that he wasn't betraying her memory. Rather, he was trying to do what she would have wanted him to do and not be alone. When I came to terms with that, I'm ashamed to say I never apologized to him for how I acted. Still, though, I got with the program and stopped judging him. I gave him my approval, which he had actually been seeking all along, and let him know I loved him no matter what. Our relationship definitely improved from there.
I missed him. I'd never been away from him for more than a few days in all my life and now I was living in the middle of nowhere running a farm that was all my own. Therefore, we wrote letters to each other on a regular basis. He found it funny how I was so determined to improve my cooking for the cooking festivals. I hadn't been one of those girls who started cooking for their fathers in the absence of their mother. My dad had actually picked up the slack on that. Now I was attempting to make up for lost time by learning how to do something more than sticking a frozen meal in the microwave. Actually, learning was pretty necessary since we didn't have microwaves in Bluebell. . .So far Georgia had been my willing guinea pig and she was still alive so hey.
After I finished up my work on my Bluebell farm for the day, I sat down and took the time to write my father a letter. I then ventured into town to do a little socializing and to check on requests. It was still so early in the day that Cam hadn't opened up shop yet. He was behind the table doing preparations, though, and I spotted him from the town square. He glanced over in my direction, but when he spotted me he quickly glanced elsewhere. So when I had to go into Howard's Cafe to fulfill a request for Laney, I swept straight past him without so much as a look in his general direction. Admittedly, I glanced through the window at him once I was inside and was sure he couldn't see me, but. . .
When all of that was done, I felt like it was still early enough in the day for me to venture a trip over to Konohana. So I hitched my horse up to my cart and headed toward the mountain.
"Hey, Dirk!" I said, waving at him enthusiastically as he made his way up the mountain. Since I so frequently sent and received letters from my father, I'd seen quite a bit of Dirk and we'd become friends rather quickly because of that.
"Lillian, hi. How are you today?"
I climbed down from my horse and rubbed her affectionately before making my way over to Dirk. "I am great. I have another letter for you today, if you don't mind taking if off my hands," I practically sang. I always got so excited when I was sending to or receiving a letter from my father. My earlier non-encounter with Cam couldn't even put a damper on that.
He smiled in amusement as he held out his hand and accepted the mail. "Of course I don't. That's kinda my job, isn't it? Besides, how could I say no when you're smiling from ear to ear like that?"
"Thanks. Take good care of it. Oh, you accept packages, too, don't you? I mean, I'd like to send my dad something sometime."
Dirk gave me one of those 'don't be silly' looks before he smiled a little wider. "Yeah, I can do that. What will you be sending?"
He seemed to remember he had my mail in his hand still so he opened up his bag and put it inside, careful to keep it separate from the mail he was in the process of delivering. "Food. My dad's a better cook than me and I'd like to prove it to him that I'm improving."
I gave him my determined, victory shall be mine pose and that prompted him to laugh. "Alright. I've got you covered. Hey, maybe some time we can hang out together at Yun's Tea House and while we're there, she can give you a couple of pointers."
"Hey now, that's a great idea. Hiro did mention to me that he goes to Yun for pointers on cooking. I just haven't gotten around to doing that yet. Count me in."
"Good. Sounds like a plan, then." He suddenly remembered the time and gave me an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, but I still have a lot of mail to drop off so. . ."
I did a little shooing motion with my hand. "That's fine. I'll talk to you another time. I don't want to hold you up any more than I already have."
"You didn't hold me up," he called over his shoulder as he walked away. "You delayed me a little bit."
I rolled my eyes a little, but smiled as I made my way back over to Levi and continued on my way. I picked up a few weeds along the way and some poison mushrooms since I never knew when Ayame would post a request for such unusual things. I even collected some lavender and a couple of plums.
When I made it to Konohana, I stopped by to chat a little with Sheng. He assured me that he was going to post a request first thing next season to upgrade one of my tools. He also asked me how Eileen was doing. There was a mutual respect between the two of them. Eileen had even told me once that she hoped to marry a man just like Sheng someday. I wondered if a panda outfit was included in that wish of hers. I personally thought Sheng looked adorable, but. . .When I started laughing at my own thoughts, Sheng had stood there confused wondering what in the world caused me to dissolve into giggles so abruptly.
When I was done there, I made my way over to the Konohana farm I had lived at before. Even though I didn't live there, I did still plant crops there since there was hardly any room for such things back in Bluebell. Ina approved, so I made use of the land as I saw fit. I couldn't wait until my corn was ready. I loved corn and was already making plans for the ones I decided to keep rather than ship off.
I had a small patch of land in front of my house in Bluebell that was just big enough to plant a couple of crops. Perhaps I could plant some flowers there. There were flowers growing in the boxes in front of the windows of my house, but those were for decoration. Maybe I could grow some flowers and ship them off for money. . .How I jumped from corn to flowers in my mind, I didn't know. I shook my head and finished tending to my crops before heading over to Kana's.
"Kana, what's up?" I said as I breezed into his shop.
His face lit up when he saw me and he pushed away from the counter he'd been standing behind. "Nothing much, just the same as usual. What brings you to my neck of the woods?"
Kana was muscular with dark hair and eyes. His skin was this lovely golden shade and he had these cool looking tattoos. He was quite handsome in a definitely masculine way. In addition to that, he had this outgoing and warm personality that made him fun to be around. Essentially, he was the exact opposite of Cam. The same Cam who frustrated me to no end and I thought about way more often than I should. Therefore, Kana appealed to me.
"Oh you know, I had crops to tend to. And I thought I'd say hello to people in the village and take on some requests. So, basically the same as ever."
"How's the new horse?" he asked me.
I gasped, having forgotten I hadn't shown him Levi yet. "Oh! I haven't introduced the two of you yet. Do you want to meet her?"
"Are you joking? Of course I do," he told me as he followed me out the door. In fact, he nearly made it out the door before I did since he was moving so fast.
Levi was right where I left her, attached to my cart. Kana hurried over and let out a whistle. "She's a beauty," he told me as he rubbed her affectionately. Levi let out a happy little sound and nuzzled into his hand. I should have known she'd take to him immediately.
"Kana, meet Levi. Levi, this is Kana. The horse whisperer. Well, the other horse whisperer."
"The other horse whisperer?" he said with a laugh. "And wait, Levi? Isn't that a guy's name. . .?"
"Indeed it is. But when I saw her she just. . .I don't know, she just looked like a Levi to me. And she didn't object when I called her that so I don't think she minds having a guy's name."
Kana raised both his eyebrows in surprise and then finally shook his head. "Alright. I guess Levi is a good name."
"This coming from the man who named his horse Hayate," I mumbled.
"What was that?" Kana asked with an amused glint in his eyes, knowing full and well he'd heard exactly what I'd said.
"I brought you something." I told him as I went over to my cart and located what I was looking for. I handed over a horse treat.
He beamed at me instantly. "Whoa! For me? Seriously? Awesome! Thank you!"
He always got so excited whenever I brought him something. It made me happy to see somebody so pumped up over something like that. "Yeah. I know how Hayate likes the treats from Bluebell. I have to keep her supplied. I'm her," and with this I whispered conspiratorially, "supplier."
Kana threw his head back and laughed at that. "Yeah? Well we don't get too many. . .suppliers way out here."
"Well they're a dime a dozen back in the city," I told him with a nod. He sent me a look and I waved my hand back and forth dismissively. "Not that I've ever come across one myself."
Satisfied with my definitely truthful answer, he gave me a thoughtful look before talking again. "You wouldn't want to meet her, would you? Hayate, I mean."
I gave him a surprised look at that. We'd talked about Hayate before, but I hadn't actually seen her yet. I could tell she was Kana's pride and joy and I'd always figured he'd get around to it sooner or later. "Yeah. Of course I would. Kana, are you sure?"
He gave me this funny little look before nodding. "I'm sure."
"Okay," I said before turning back to Levi and telling her I'd be back in a couple of minutes.
Once I was on the other side of the fence, I nervously followed Kana into the barn. I didn't even understand why I was nervous. It felt like I was getting ready to meet my future mother-in-law or something. When I stepped inside, I saw a beautiful brown horse nibbling on some hay. Kana went over to her and stroked her affectionately. The horse nuzzled against his hand just as affectionately.
"Let me introduce you to my beloved horse, Hayate!"
"Hello Hayate," I said as I approached her. "I'm Lillian. It's nice to meet you!"
"Lillian is the one who's been bringing you all those tasty treats," Kana said as he held it out to her. At that, Hayate made a very happy sound and accepted the gift. Kana looked back at me with a big smile. "I should mention that Hayate and I are pretty close. But I'll bet you already figured that out."
I nodded and that was all he needed to continue on. "Hayate and I actually grew up together." He suddenly touched his chin and got a thoughtful, faraway look on his face. "She gave me a lot of trouble as a kid! She wouldn't let anyone ride her. But of course, I was too stubborn to quit trying. I fed her by hand every day until she trusted me enough to let me ride her."
"Well, they say that good things come to those who wait. I bet riding Hayate was worth the wait, huh?"
His expression shifted back to the here and now. "Yeah. Since then, her and I have never missed a chance to ride. But now that she's getting older, she gets leg pains sometimes. So I don't push her too hard these days."
"Awww," I said as I looked down at Hayate's legs, hoping that she didn't have too much pain to endure. "She's really like family to you, isn't she, Kana?"
"Yeah, exactly!" he said enthusiastically. "I've known her as long as I've known anyone. She's a part of my family. I can't imagine life without her." At that, Hayate made another happy sound. "Isn't that right, Hayate?" She responded with the same kind of enthusiasm he had and nuzzled against his chest. "Cut it out! That tickles!"
"You two are so adorable together," I said, taking it all in with a big smile. They really did have quite a bond.
Hearing me talk seemed to remind him that I was actually there. He'd gotten kind of wrapped up with Hayate for a minute there. "Hey, Lillian, I'm glad I got to introduce you to Hayate today."
"I'm glad, too. You're right, she's a beautiful horse," I told him earnestly. She really was everything he'd said she was whenever we'd talked about her before.
"Seems like Hayate likes you too." At that, Hayate made what could only be described as a sound of approval. "I hope you'll stop by sometime to see Hayate again. Thanks for coming today, Lillian."
"No, really, the pleasure was all mine," I assured him. "Although, I have left Levi out there by herself for a while now and I need to get into town."
"Okay, that's cool. I'll talk to you the next time you're in Konohana, alright?" Even though I went to Konohana to look after my crops, I didn't always get around to seeing everybody I wanted to.
"Sure. Next time. Bye now, Hayate."
I could have sworn she said goodbye to me in horse language before I left the barn and headed back to my own horse.
