Thursday morning started bright and early for Ella. Groaning, she slammed a hand down on the crowing Rooster-shaped alarm clock her mother had given her as a prank gift before she left. Where she had found the pesky thing on such short notice, Ella would never know. It was just one of the many superpowers mothers had.

"Goddesssss you're loud," she grumbled. Sitting up, she gave her back a good crack and slid her feet into the boots at her bedside, socks already folded inside. She had learned the hard way from one sliver too many that walking around barefoot was notgoing to fly in this rundown shack.

At the foot of her bed, a sleek black cat stretched and flipped over onto her back. The hungry little thing had come part and parcel with the farmland, Ella had discovered, and taken a liking to the blonde farmer. Having a huge soft spot for animals, and kitties in particular, she had welcomed the little creature into her home and tried as well as she could to feed her. She just hoped the cat didn't have fleas.

"Morning, Dusk," Ella said, giving the cat an affectionate rub on the chin. A wet nose, followed by a warm tongue, pressed against her shin, and she smiled down at her puppy, River, who demanded her attention now. "Hey, boy."

River's tail wagged so hard he nearly fell over. He was a comforting and familiar sight; he was one of her mother's dog's puppies and Ella had been able to bring him along to be her own farm dog. One day, she hoped to keep chickens, and she'd need something fast and toothy to chase away foxes or other wild dogs that might have an interest in them.

"Ready to get to work?" she asked him. River barked and raced towards the door, all energetic joy. Dusk rolled over and went back to sleep.

Ella knelt to lace up her boots and her stomach growled. "How does fish for breakfast sound?"

River barked again and ran back to lick her face. Ella grinned. She liked pretending he and the cat could understand her words. "Good boy."

The puppy followed her outside of the farmhouse and together they squinted in the early morning light. Beyond her property, Ella could hear her new neighbours shouting words of greeting to one another as they began their morning routines and commutes. It reminded her achingly of the familiarity of Mineral Town, but she ordered herself to straighten up and focus. Forget-Me-Not Valley could be home, too. One day she would be part of those daily greets.

Just…not today. It was easier to bury herself in work than to put on a brave face and socialize. Another big deterrent was knowing that the first questions on everyone's lips were going to be about why she moved to the Valley and where she had come from, and she just did not feel prepared to talk about any of that.

Fleetingly, Ella wondered if she was actually a coward. Then she shook her head and headed for her stable, where her pride and joy was kept: a gelding named Oakley.

"Good morning," she called, stepping into the single-stall shelter. A large chestnut horse snorted and looked up at her, then walked forward to nuzzle into her outstretched hands. "Hey, big handsome boy! How are you, huh? How did you sleep? Do you like your new stall?"

Oakley lipped at her hands and then her pockets, hoping for a treat. Ella rolled her eyes and gently pushed his head away. "Not right now, you goofball. Come on, let me put your halter on."

She led him out into the grassy field and unclipped him, letting him roam and graze. The sight of her horse at peace in her field made her heart swell, and reminded her that she was doing all this for a good reason, and she could be happy here.

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"Ella! Good morning," Carter called cheerfully. The lead archeologist dusted off his khaki slacks and stood to greet the farmer. In the far corner of the digsite, his assistant Flora waved shyly and went back to work – she was probably as shy as Ella but less interested in disguising it.

"Morning, Carter, Flora," Ella smiled. "So, you guys need any help today?"

The digsite was one of the first places Ella had visited on her brief tour of the Valley, and she had discovered very quickly that the archeologist team held the keys to a literal goldmine, just beyond their excavating site. She knew this was one way to possibly make a great profit in one day, and get free access to the minerals and metals that she would need to add upgrades to her farm and toolkit. She asked the duo if they needed help excavating, just as a courtesy, and hoped they would say no. As she expected, Carter shrugged off her offer and Ella delightedly turned to the mine.

And froze. "Gray?"

There, just inside the mine shaft, stood a lone figure in a beige jumpsuit. Hearing his name, he whirled around to face the blonde, and she watched as his jaw dropped.

"Ella? ELLA! What the hell! You're here? You're alive?" He moved towards her, wielding a formidable-looking hammer and a wide grin.

The apprentice blacksmith and Ella had been good friends back home, ever since he'd been sent to live with his ornery grandfather in an unfamiliar town. Gray could probably relate to her current situation better than any of her friends.

"Gray!" Ella closed the distance between them and hugged him, dropping her own hammer in the dirt. "You? Here? What are you doing here?"

"I come here all the time to prospect for Gramps! What the hell, who cares why I'm here? Why are you here?" he demanded. He held her at arms' length and narrowed his eyes. "Why didn't you tell anyone where you were going? You're not that far away, we could have helped with the move. What's going on? How long are you staying here?" Seeing her pinched expression, the apprentice blacksmith stopped himself. He hooked a thumb towards the mine entrance. "Let's check out the goods and we'll talk."

Ella was eager to follow her old friend, but less eager to answer all his questions. Maybe she could pick up a few tricks from him on finding the best rocks to split and obtaining the highest-quality ores. If she could become half the prospector Gray was, then funding her barns and coops would be a piece of cake. Still…as exciting as it was to see him, her stomach turned. He wanted answers, and that made her want to hide.

"So," Gray said, hefting up his hammer, "This is the place to be for you, huh? Forget-Me-Not Valley?" The hammer's head came down with great force on a rocky outcropping on the mine floor. It was clear the young blacksmith had many questions for his friend, but was trying to rein them in, sensing her discomfort. She could tell he was making an effort to not stare.

Ella watched him take another swing, studying his form. "Yeah. It's sort of hard to explain. That's kind of why I didn't tell anyone what I was doing."

"Well, that's insanely stupid. You just disappeared. We were all screwed up until we got your folks to give us some answers." Gray was not one to mince words.

"Really?" Ella mimicked his posture and aimed at a rock, trying to appear casual, but she was worried. "What'd they say?"

Gray leaned on the shaft of his hammer and regarded her sidelong. "They said you were following your dreams." There was an irony in his tone that Ella didn't fail to notice.

She smirked, unwilling to divulge any more information. "I suppose that's true enough." Taking a small step forward, she brought her hammer down heavily on the rock. It split open and something glittered within. Triumphantly, she knelt to collect it.

"That's junk ore. Worthless. Weak and soft. See how dull it is? Sometimes you might mistake it for iron, but iron has more of a sheen to it if you hold it in the light." He took it from her and scraped it against the metal of his steel-toed boots. "Though, interestingly enough, it can be used as flint if you're in a scrape." He tossed it at the wall and gestured at another rock. "Try that one. So, what, you're telling me you couldn't just wait for your mom to retire?"

"She never will!" Ella laughed, trying to joke; she assumed the rock-smashing stance again. "She'll be at the farm, lassoing cows around, when she's three hundred years old."

"Hmm," Gray said, watching her closely. "Probably."

"How's the old master?" Ella slammed her hammer into the rock, and it cracked. The metal within twinkled invitingly. She lined up her hammer to swing again.

Her friend rolled his eyes. "His fiery, asshole-y, stubborn usual self." He smashed open another rock with a single heavy swing, and what appeared to be gold shone up at him. "You keep changing the subject. Yeah, I saw through your brilliant scheme. Just – Ella. Why didn't you tell anyone what you were gonna do? Why didn't you tell me, or Ann? I couldn't believe that not even Ann knew you were gonna up and move away out of nowhere and not even tell anyone where you were going. Why the hell wouldn't you say anything?"

She flinched. "Gray, I'm sorry." Ella knew how hurtful her sudden disappearance must have been for her friends, but she felt she had no choice. She would have told a lie, if she could think of a satisfactory explanation for them that would make any form of sense at all. The hardest thing to explain would be why it had been so sudden, and secretive. And the truth, she decided, was out of the question.

"That's all you have to say?" Gray snapped. "Why are you being like this? Why is everything a secret with you all of a sudden? Why can't you talk to your friends about what's going on in your head?"

He shut up, realizing that the farmer looked like she might cry. Awkwardly – the apprentice was never very good at expressing comfort – Gray wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. "Sorry. You'll…tell us at some point, right? 'Cause we wanna know."

Ella nodded, biting down hard on the inside of her cheek.

"Well... I'll try to come as often as I can. And I'll see if any of the others want to come with me. I bet Ann will."

"That would be so great," Ella murmured, composing herself. "But you don't have to come so much. You've got your own lives too. I'll be fine. I'll make friends. I'm likeable, right?"

Gray released her. "Likeable, or really annoyingly stubborn. One way or another, you made me be your friend."

"Exactly. And if nobody likes me, at least I have my horse and my pets!" She took another few swings at the rock and beamed as it finally split open. Gray smirked.

"Hey, look at that. Silver ore."

"I'm rich! I'm rich!" Ella cackled, scooping it up. She could feel the mood lifting. "Nice knowing ya, Gray. I'm going to go make some higher-class friends now that I can afford them."

Gray caught her in a headlock and tousled her hair. "Yeah, right. No matter how rich you get, you'll never fit in with the high-class caviar-munchers, Eleanor Kelley. Country bumpkin runs through your veins."

"Hey!"

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Windows were always a distraction for Trent, but he couldn't imagine not having one in his office. It had been a busy day, the first-ever business day at his new position as the Mineral Town doctor, as townspeople came in to meet him and Elli and have their records updated. He'd even had a first official checkup with Jeff, the nervous-looking supermarket owner, whose wife Sasha had quietly warned Trent that he should get used to seeing him. (A lot.)

The day was winding down, and Trent was staring at a tree just outside his window, its leaves rustling in the breeze. He was thinking about all the points he wanted to make in his journal tonight. After spending years in university and placements and training, he was surprised at how proud he still felt about finally accomplishing his first day as an official town doctor. He wanted to be able to reread the details of this day forever; relive the feeling.

It was a bizarre feeling, though, he thought, the achievement of a lifetime goal. He somehow expected…more. Here he was, a licensed physician installed in a rustic little town, as he always dreamed he would someday be. Yet he still felt – restless.

What now? he wondered.

"Doctor?"

Elli poked her head into Trent's office, making him jump.

"Humm?"

"Claire and Cliff are here to see us. They're waiting."

Oh, right, Ella. "Right." He stood, slipping his lab coat on over his dress shirt. "You can bring them in. Thank you, Elli."

Elli returned, leading the anxious-looking couple, and directed them to the chairs in front of Trent's desk before sitting in a third beside it.

Trent leaned against his desk and quickly took them in. Claire looked more tired than the day before, and her husband (Cliff?) looked like he hadn't been sleeping much either. Cliff had graying hair tied back in a low ponytail and was chewing anxiously on the inside of his cheek. "So, about your daughter…" Trent began.

Claire gripped her bag nervously. "Is she doing okay? Did she look healthy?"

"She's doing just fine," Elli laughed. "Her farm's not in great shape, but she's working hard to improve it."

"She looked very healthy," Trent agreed. "I don't think you have anything to be worried about."

The farmer and her husband were obviously relieved. "You've lifted a real weight off our shoulders," Cliff said gratefully.

"We can't thank you enough," Claire gushed. She exchanged glances with Cliff. "But, we were talking last night and we wanted to ask…well, if you wouldn't mind…would it be possible for you to keep checking in on her? I'm so sorry, I know you're very busy people, but things on farms can change so quickly, and we're so worried about how she'll handle herself. I know her friend Gray visited the Valley today, but we know if we asked him about her, he'd make it sound like she was living in a…a fairy palace."

Trent reallydidn't want to include pestering the poor girl as part of his weekly routine. These people were taking helicopter parenting to a new level, and he had little patience for that. "She's truly doing very well, and people are surprisingly resilient," he said again, hoping to dissuade them.

"But of course, we won't mind looking after her one bit!" Elli exclaimed enthusiastically. "It sounds fun! And I like her!"

Trent rubbed his temples as the couple fell over themselves thanking them. Elli was an important friend to him, but Goddess, she could give him a headache like no one else.

"But, please," Claire was saying, "Be brutally honest with us, even if you don't think we'll like what you say. We have to know."

"We understand," Trent said resignedly.

"Fantastic," Claire said, beaming. "We'll get out of your hair now, then. Sorry for taking so much of your time. Thank you so very much, Elli, and Doctor Trent. Really, this means the whole world and the universe, too."

"Yes, thank you," Cliff said. He stood and leaned forward to clasp Trent's hand gratefully, as if sensing the young doctor's irritation. The physician immediately felt guilty. These two people were just worried parents who loved their baby and wanted to protect her.

Even if he didn't agree, he could understand. His own parents had taken a very hands-off approach, but that didn't make Ella and Cliff's concern wrong. Every family expressed care in a different way.

Trent smiled genuinely for the first time. "Don't worry about it. Take care."