A week in, she had quickly gotten back her enthusiasm and begun to cultivate the wide fields. She started with clearing the trees near her house, then all of the ones on her terraces. They naturally were the best place to start with her crops, she had done all the prep work and had run all the tests and found that the soil was a better quality there, as expected. The land at ground level it seemed still hadn't fully revived from the heavy degradation of the ancient and out of date farming techniques her ancestors used.

The terraces naturally protected some of the earth though, preventing the run-off of water that lead to some of the heavy nutrient deficiencies and salinity. Still, it would take at least another week of back-breaking work to somewhat fix the soil below and adding clays before she could start planting it those areas- at least if she wanted quality crops that was.

It was when she had finished fertilizing her last plant from the highest terrace that she spotted something large entering her farm from the path into town. She squinted but quickly realized it was a cow.

In confusion she headed down, keeping her eye on it the whole time wearily. "Hey!" She called in alarm as it started to graze on her little herb garden at the house's side.

Of course it didn't stop or respond.

She reached the animal and tried to tug it away with an enormous amount of effort, heaving with all of her strength, knuckles white with her grasp on its collar. Unfortunately her muscles had already reached their limit for the day with all the clearing and even her best efforts didn't have much effect. Her arms too sore to even fully straighten, screamed in pain. Finally, the cow stepped away casually in the direction of her pull as if feeling sorry for her pathetic display and Rio breathed out a sigh of relief. She tentatively reached out to pet it but refrained when she realized she didn't really know where cows liked and didn't like to be touched. Also did they charge? Or was that just bulls?

She winced as it stepped forward and was appalled when it promptly gave her face a good, long wet lick.

"Gwah!" She stepped back in surprise and then noticed someone else who had shown up behind the cow during this exchange. She froze, bovine slobber forgotten. For whatever reason the last person she had ever thought she'd see again was staring back at her with the slightest hint of annoyance.

"You…" She said in wonder and slight mortification. "You're the-"

"Animal dealer." He responded with an unreadable expression.

"Ah." She said blankly. It was the boy from the coffee shop, standing in front of her with his hands in his pockets and an ever present sharpness in his eyes. There didn't seem to be any recognition though on his blank face and she prayed maybe he didn't remember her although it was highly unlikely for many reasons, the first being that she had even told him she'd be the village's new farmer.

"Anyway, name's Neil. Dunhill sent me here to bring you this cow." He glared at her, "Don't misunderstand, this is all his doing not mine."

"Ah." She said again, still speechless.

"Anyway, I'll just take her to the barn and show you the basics and then hopefully we can stay out of each other's hair." He began to lead the cow off but turned to the petrified blonde in exasperation. "Come on fish-face!"

"Fish face?" She finally asked in indignation.

"'Cause that's the face you're making right now." He said plainly.

"W-wait!" She raced to catch up to him. "I specialize in plants and crops. I can't take care of animals!"

"Of course you do." He sighed. "Well what do you expect to do in the winter? Starve?"

"I can get by with the profits I made in the other seasons." She replied.

"But can the town?" He muttered.

"What?" She asked.

He turned back to her accusingly, an unreasonable amount of hatred in his burning eyes considering he barely knew her. "Didn't you say you were going to turn this town around?" She grimaced with the knowledge that he did remember her after all. At the same time she hadn't done much even back then to deserve this sort of hostility. Mostly she just embarrassed herself. "Well, the farm is supposed to be its main source of revenue." He explained.

She nodded, speechless after his sudden burst of anger. He led her to the barn and looked inside in disgust, "This is a mess." He said as if it was all her fault.

"Well of course!" She protested. "I didn't think it was my priority all things considered."

"I will not allow any animal I sell to live in conditions like this." He said.

"So you're going to take her back?" She asked making sure not to sound hopeful.

He walked inside and she followed as he grabbed a pitch fork, "What are you doing?!" She asked in alarm.

"Cleaning obviously." He grunted. "You do it too. It's your job after all."

In her twenty or so years, Rio Gold never snapped. Of course when she was younger she occasionally had a few fits here and there as all children do but as she matured she became skilled at holding back any venom. So when she finally lost her patience there and then- she was not proud of it.

"Look!" She said in a tone entirely foreign to her. The animal dealer complied, looking back coolly. "Have I unknowingly done something to deserve all this? Have I clobbered baby seals in my sleep or something? 'Cause that's how you're treating me! Your attitude is totally out of line- and actually, I know it's not just to me! Dunhill warned me about you a week ago, he knew you were going to be like this so I'm guessing this is your norm- but there's a little thing called professionalism and I suggest you look it up and get that stick out of your-" She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply finally catching herself. "I'm sorry." She apologized, "I really shouldn't be saying this to someone I'm going to be working with but stop sending me those accusing looks, I didn't know I'd be working with animals so of course I hadn't prepared."

He had just been watching her with an unreadable expression until this last part. "You think yourself quite the saint don't ya?" He asked coldly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips aggressively as her blood pressure began to rise again.

His eyes narrowed further and he gestured around and somehow she knew it was at more than the barn or even the farm, it was a gesture that encompassed the entire town, "You walk in here with this 'selfless' I-can-fix-everything and save-everyone attitude and it just makes me want to throw up."

"What's wrong with that?" She asked.

"You haven't even considered that all of this was the Gold family's fault in the first place!" The blood that had been feeling so hot under her skin just a moment ago froze. "Yeah, you really hadn't thought about that have you?"

"As I said, this town was built around the farm and dependant on it as its main money maker. At some point your family ran off to live the city life or something which was fine- we didn't need people half-assing it- but they could have at least sold the land to someone who would have kept it up! Instead they kept it under sentimentality or something and as it rotted away so did the village." He ranted on and she regretted that time way back in another life where she had actually yearned to hear his voice.

Fiery eyes set on her, "So don't you come here and make everyone else feel sorry and embarrassed for the state our town is in!"

She didn't say a word, she simply walked over and picked up a second pitch fork and began to shovel away at the mixture of rotting hay and grime. He made his first grunt of approval and began to work as well. Guilt at his words churned from deep within her stomach. The things he said had her thinking… and he wasn't exactly wrong. A total jerk-yes, but not wrong.

Surprisingly, they were done within an hour although with neither of them talking it certainly felt longer, the cow was let in from outside to examine its new digs and the man closed his eyes, swiping at his bangs irritably, "So where were we?" He asked.

"What?" Asked Rio.

His eyes opened, "Right, I run a stall Mondays-Thursdays where I sell animals and all the things you need to take care of them." He frowned, "Actually before that- you need to give this cow a name."

She turned to the cow thoughtfully. "Quickly." He urged growing impatient.

"Spots." She blurted and then shook her head, "No- Lait."

"Lait?" He asked.

"Yeah like milk in French." She defended.

"Whatever." He shook his head, "Be sure to feed, talk to and milk Lait every day- brush her too and if the weather's nice take her outside." He dropped a couple things in her arms non-too-gently. "Parting gift for the cow." She examined the stuff, a milker and a brush.

He began to leave and she quickly stopped him with a "Wait!"

He turned back, "I don't know how to take care of an animal!" She said in a panic.

"I just told you." He said in confusion.

She shook her head, "Like, how much do I feed her? What do I do if she shows unusual behaviour? How exactly do I milk a cow? When I pet her, where do I touch? Are there things that are unsafe to do around her?"

She winced after her barrage of questions expecting a snarky response but instead he simply came back in, "Okay, let's go over all this slowly."

"You're not mad?" She asked with some surprise and then berated herself for saying anything.

"You only want to take good care of her, I'd be more pissed if you didn't ask and she got sick or hurt." He responded simply. So he did have a reasonable side.

He thoroughly showed her the ropes this time and she listened attentively, grudging to admit that he was actually really good at his job and knew a lot about cattle care. When he was done she nodded in understanding. "If you're still confused or want to learn more I can lend you books but for now you should be fine."

She nodded, "Thanks Neil."

He just scowled, "Just don't come bothering me for unrelated stuff."

"Don't hold your breath." She huffed dryly.

So when the two parted, they were still not on the best of terms- or any sort of good terms for that matter. She simply shook it all off, if this was the worst the Harvest Goddess could throw at her at this point, then that was just fine. She simply put his presence in town on the ever growing list of things she wouldn't let bother her.

Wow Neil is a total jerk. In his defense though, the Gold's have been the direct reason for his lack of social skills- He didn't have a lot of people to talk to growing up because the village the dying.

CrimsonCrush- ...It seems thats going to take awhile- Believe me that whole coffee shop thing is going to hold a lot of weight in this story, you'll see :)

Cheetos Potato- I wonder too... Nah just joking, you'll see :)

Psycho Kay- Thanks!

SugarBlasTer- I would guess that she must of felt very disappointed, and embarrassed. Maybe also a little relieved deep down though. Imagine if she'd found out they did have chemistry on the last day she'd ever see him? (On the last day she'd ever thought she'd see him)

Ms. Butt3rNut- Oddly enough I can't write down your name without the space between the dot and B. Fanfiction just removes it after I press save. Anyway, Thanks! :33