Hello people and readers! Welcome to day sixth of "The Thousand Lumber Bet"! (Huh…it's been a long time since I've actually made a formal author's note.) Just wanted to thank you for reading thus far and I hope you like this next chapter! Though I've said this again and again (getting bored yet?), thank you for all of your glorious reviews; I perk up each time I see them! (dances around happily) YAY!

To anima syviette, I'm glad you like this so much! It's nice to know that people are happy to read my stories—an author's dream come true! And to answer your question: I am planning A LOT of gushy, swoony Molly&Luke moments, so I hope you'll be satisfied with them!

By the way, I more or less kept this chapter short and sweet, so tell me how you like it, okay? Thanks!

Disclaimer: Still don't own, never will own…thanks for reminding me…

Day Sixth

A pure light that seemed to radiate from heaven itself was shining behind a woman. The beautiful maiden was wearing an elegant gown, and had long, silken tresses that were braided in a circlet down her back. Soft, black lashes framed a pair of eyes that were the color of the deep ocean and shone with timeless wisdom. Her flawless features were so stunning, yet the tired expression she wore was heart-wrenching.

The woman's full lips parted to speak, but only the ghosts of words could be heard. Even so, the little sound that was audible was like angels singing from above. Her delicate mouth shaped the words, "Mol…wa…wake…"

Even that small effort seemed like a struggle for the ethereal woman, and her body seemed to tire. Her snowy eyelids were fluttering shut, but she fought to keep them open. The maiden managed to say one last thing before the light started to dim and the image began to fade. "Follow…the…"

She was gone.

Molly woke with a start. Her hand automatically clutched the blanket that covered her, and she sat up from the bed. Sweaty locks clung to the back of her neck as she peered around; it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. The inside of her house was covered in shadow, and the window's curtains swooshed open to reveal a full moon. Gentle snoring came from beside her.

The moon's pale light shone on Finn, her sprite guardian. His small head was pressed to the pillow that lay beside her, while his butt was straight in the air. Drops of drool slowly fell from his mouth, covering the pillow in minute pools. Molly smiled endearingly and softly pulled the crisp covers over the snoozing sprite.

Trying not to wake Finn, she quietly got out of bed and slipped on her pair of cow slippers. The tiny bells from the cows' collars made a tinny noise when she stretched her arms and legs. Once she was done stretching, her mind went back to the newest dream—or was it a vision? They had appeared to her before, and she knew that they meant more than just coincidental dreams. She wasn't lying to Luke when she said that the Harvest Goddess needed her.

A smirk pulled the corners of her mouth as the memory flooded back. The incredulous look on his face was just so priceless. What am I going to do with that silly boy? Molly thought, stifling a laugh. Speaking of the carpenter, she wondered what he was doing now. Probably fast asleep…like she should be.

Softly sighing, she looked at the alarm clock sitting on the bedside table. The glaring numbers read only a few minutes past four a.m. That made it the sixth night in a row that she had gotten up early—you would think that the work on the farm and the work in the forest would make her sleep better but nooo. Instead, she had been sleeping even worse for the past several nights. The stress from so many things at once impended on her, making it impossible to sleep past six—much less four. Of course, a certain carpenter didn't have anything to do with it at all—nope, definitely not.

Knowing that it was useless to try and go back to bed (especially since the sun would come up soon, anyways) Molly resigned herself to getting dressed and making a quick breakfast. She pointedly ignored the threatening white envelopes that sat on the table as she walked to the kitchen. Looking at the stupid bills first thing in the morning was the last activity that Molly wanted to do.

In only a few minutes, Molly was dressed and ready for the day. She quickly swallowed the last bite of her buttered toast and headed towards the door. Turning back, she left Finn to continue sleeping on the bed. Just because she had woken up early, didn't mean that he had to.

Once Molly set foot outside, the sun had just creeped past the horizon, dying the hazy clouds orange and pink. Dewdrops hung from the leaves of the crops out in the field, giving off a fresh feeling in the early morning. Her nostrils flared at the homey aroma of the farm and the wild berries nearby. The air was brisk and she pulled her baggy jacket tighter around herself.

Molly abruptly stopped short, blinking in disbelief. It hadn't taken her long to notice the thin trail that began at her doorway and disappeared to the other side of the house. The path was made up from differently colored papers; each was shaped to resemble a bug with rounded wings. One end of each paper bug was bulged and colored a bright yellow. Okay…not weird at all…

Nonetheless, Molly bent down and picked up the first folded paper that was by her feet. She carefully turned it around and took note of the delicately twined antennas that sprouted from its head. The logical part of her mind figured there was going to be two main results if she followed the mysterious path: either something very, very good could happen, or she could be butchered by a crazy killer with a chainsaw. The logical part of her mind screamed to go inside the house…but Molly never said she was very logical. Suddenly, the memory of last night's dream came back to her in an instant. What did the goddess say..?

Follow something…

Follow what, though?

Taking a deep breath, Molly prayed that she was doing the right thing (and silently swearing her stupidity), as she carefully stepped around the pieces of papers and followed the trail. Only when she was halfway through did she think of going back to wake up Finn—at least then she would've had a witness if the chainsaw-killer was to meet her. However, by then she was able to see what awaited her at the end of the path.

"Luke?"

He had just about to place the last of the paper bugs when his heartbeat suddenly skipped at the sound of her voice. His back was turned to her, but he could already sense her shock.

Luke tried to hide his grimace when he straightened and awkwardly turned to look at her. Yup, she was surprised alright: her eyes were widened in shock, and her mouth was parted in an 'o' shape. Even so, he tried to stop himself from wanting to smirk at the farmer's wild bed-hair. Seriously? I thought that girls were always supposed to look perfect—day or night, he thought.

While Molly finally realized her mouth was still agape, Luke sheepishly waved the paper bug that was still in his hand. "Sooo…funny coincidence that we're both here…at your house…at four a.m.…yeah." He watched as Molly clamped her mouth shut, and could almost visualize the gears in her head moving as she rationalized the current event.

"What are you doing here?" Molly numbly said.

"Eh…" There wasn't really a good answer to that. "I was…just…have you heard of the Firefly Festival?" he blurted out. You're not sticking to the plan, Luke! A part of his mind screeched. Quick! Say something awesome, already—she's still looking at you as if you're an axe-murderer…and the axe strapped to your belt isn't helping your case, either, buddy.

Molly shook her head, partly to answer his question and partly to clear the rest of the stupor she was under.

Great, Owen was right. Now you have to explain it to her, stupid! "It's a festival…where all the villagers come to make lanterns." At Molly's still puzzled look, he hurried on. "It's meant to celebrate everyone's ancestors…and stuff."

"And is it tradition to come to a person's house, setting a trail of paper bugs, at four in the morning?"

Luke swallowed, fidgeting with the piece of paper in hand. "Not usually..."

Molly raised an eyebrow, alertness already coming back. "Then why did you…?"

Oh Goddess, why me? "Well…the other part of the festival is to bring a—" he choked over the words—"a d-d-date."

The carpenter winced and closed his eyes, waiting to be yelled at or slapped—or both. Instead, he was shocked to hear chuckling. At the sound, Luke cautiously cracked one eyelid open and peered at the girl. Molly didn't look about ready to hit/shout at the carpenter—instead her hand was covering her mouth as she tried to stifle laughter. There was a twinkle of mirth in the farmer's eyes as she bent down to pick up one of the paper bugs.

Taking this as a good sign, Luke relaxed his body and asked warily, "Sooo…you're not mad at me?"

A befuddled look appeared in Molly's features. "Mad? At what? You making a trail of paper insects?"

"They're fireflies, actually…I thought it had fit the theme well."

"Did you make these?" she asked curiously, twirling the piece of paper between her fingers. A pair of buttoned eyes was glued to the head of the bug.

Luke nodded, pride shining through. "Yup. Bo had to help me out-I think it's called origame...origami, I mean. It took me all night, too."

Molly look surprised and a smile took form. "Well, thanks. These seem pretty well-made."

"Eh…you're welcome." His hand awkwardly crept up to the back of his head to rearrange his prized bandana. "Sooo…"

"So," Molly smirked at his obvious nervousness, "what was that about a date?"

"Oh! It doesn't have to be a date, if you don't want it to be—it can just be a friendly outing or something—I mean, not that you have to go—it's just a stupid tradition that the—"

He was benevolently silenced when Molly chuckled. "Sounds lovely," she said with a grin, tucking back a stray hair behind her ear.

Luke blinked. "Really? Uh, I mean, of course it sounds lovely! It's me we're talking about!"

The girl rolled her eyes and said in a teasing tone, "So are you going to tell me when we actually meet, or am I supposed to wander around, being utterly clueless?"

"Oh, right!" he sputtered, feeling rather stupid (poor, stupid lad). "The festival starts tomorrow night at Flute Fields. It's next to the windmill, in case you didn't know."

She nodded. "I know where that is."

"Okay, great. So wanna meet there at seven, then?"

"Sounds perfect."

"Awesome…"

"Yup…"

The two stood there awkwardly for a moment, not quite knowing what to say. "So…" Molly began, gesturing back to the house. "I got to go, you know…"

"Yeah, me too…"

"Right…"

"Uh…"

"Sooo…"

Luke coughed. "See you in the forest later?"

"Absolutely."

With that unique conversation, Molly headed back to do her farm chores while Luke started to walk towards the carpentry. Neither of them knew that the other person was giddily laughing to themselves as they parted ways. Dang, I was pretty smooth! Luke thought proudly, a skip in his step. I could do this more often!

Once Molly was safely indoors, a huge laugh started from her stomach and bubbled its way to her mouth. Molly may be new to the island, but she had always known what the Firefly Festival was—she was just waiting for the right moment (or the right guy) to properly broach the subject.

"What's so funny?" Finn asked groggily from her bed.

"Nothing," she shook her head. Finn, noticing the impish smile, didn't believe the girl for a second.

"Uh huh," he hummed doubtfully.

"Don't you have work you should be doing?" Molly snapped.

"Don't you?"

The girl paused for a moment, and then headed back outside without a word. Once outside, she carefully picked up each and every paper firefly and placed them safely in her rucksack.

Meanwhile, Finn went back to sleep, a knowing grin frozen on his face. Oh, young love…he thought dreamily. Now time for my own lovely dreams…

Hours it took Luke to come up with his plan: That guy needs some serious help…

Eh…That was definitely what I call a 'filler' chapter, but I just loved writing the conversations! I hope that you guys have enjoyed it, and rest assured: there shall be many more gushy parts to come! As always, thanks SO much for reading this far; your support is so greatly appreciated!

***Also, silly question to whoever wants to answer: For the next chapter, would you like me to cut to the chase and make the next chapter about the Firefly Festival, or do a part 2 of today (or to make the next chapter Part 1: Day, and the Firefly Festival a separate chapter Part 2: Night)—you know, to show Molly and Luke out in the Fugue Forest. If you want the Firefly Festival faster, I'll be happy to oblige, but you might get more scenes with the Fugue Forest (I just need to come up with them first…) Answer if you wish, and thanks in advance!

Lastly, if you happen to spot any mistakes (grammar or otherwise) in this chapter or the previous ones, please let me know (politely, please). Although I read everything I publish at least several times, I know I probably miss some mistakes. I would hate to let someone read a story that's riddled with errors, so if you spot something, just let me know and I'll fix it as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and help in advance!