Ed: I actually updated two days in a row! Yay me!
Ageha: Yeah, but they aren't exactly your longest chapters...
Ed: Who cares? It's up, right?
Heath: Aw, stop bugging her, Ageha. She's doing her best.
Ed: Thanks, Heath. Man, I didn't even create you and you're the nicest one here...besides Ace, of course. Speaking of which, disclaimer!
Ace: Miss Ed doesn't own Harvest Moon and never will. But I belong to her, as does Ageha.

Chapter 9: The Green Bell of Wind

After Ageha had hung the Green Bell back on its pedestal, Darren, the green Sprite, appeared. "Is everything alright?" Finn asked by way of greeting. "You look kind of green...no pun intended." In fact, the little Sprite did look kind of under the weather.

"I'm fine," he muttered, yawning. "But I can't ring the bell today, it's—"

"Cloudy, I know." Ageha rubbed her face. "It's getting kind of late anyway; we may as well go home, Finn. See you later, Darren. Get some sleep."

"I don't think he'll have any problem with that," Finn snickered. "Darren's such a sleepyhead! All he does is sleep. Day in and day out. It's kind of weird, actually."

"Maybe we should talk to the Harvest Goddess." Ageha felt kind of bad because she hadn't talked to the deity since she was first asked to ring the bells.

"No, that's just how Darren is," Finn laughed.

"I didn't mean that. He seemed sick. Like, really sick. And not just because the Tree is dying, either. He seems like he's caught a stomach bug or something."

"Well, I'm never one to protest against a trip to the Goddess Spring! Let's go!"

Ageha stopped off at the farm to grab her horse, and they galloped to the top of the mountain. "Wait here, Soph," she told her as she tied her reins to a tree. "I'll be right back." Sophie protested, as Sophie always did, but Ageha ignored her like usual and scurried into the brush.

"Miss Goddess," Ageha said when the formal greetings were over, "I think something's wrong with Darren."

The Goddess pursed her lips. "Does he seem ill, and more tired than usual?" Ageha nodded. "In that case, his power probably needs recharging."

"What, is he a battery or something?"

She laughed. "No, nothing like that. He just needs to have his power restored by moonlight. There are three places around Castanet that his bell needs to be bathed in to restore his powers. Unfortunately, I can't remember where they are. The bell needs to be bathed between 6pm and midnight for the restoration to work."

"Six and midnight. Got it. I'll get right on that. See you!" Ageha ran off, Finn trailing behind her.

"Come on, Sophie," Ageha said, untying her and mounting quickly. "It's five now. If we can find the spots now, we can restore Darren's powers tonight!"

"Hi, Ageha!"

The farmer looked up to see a certain green-haired adventurer sauntering towards her. Her heart fluttered a little. "Hi, Heath," she replied, forcing herself to calm down. "Sorry, I can't chat. I have to find three moonlight-catching stones by six."

"Moonlight-catching...? Oh, I know those!"

"Really?"

"Totally. There's one up by Ace's house, one on Horn Ranch, and one by the Lighthouse. If you take me with you, I can show you."

She pondered it for a couple of seconds, then nodded, patting the spot on the saddle behind her. "Hop on." He did, wrapping his arms around her so he wouldn't fall off. She blushed. "Watch where you keep those hands," she warned him, then nudged Sophie and they took off.

Making only a quick stop at Sonata Ranch again to find a separate mount for Heath ("Sophie can't carry you, me, and the bell," Ageha explained), they arrived at the Big Windmill with time to spare. Ageha carefully detached the bell so as not to awaken the Sprite and strapped it to her back. When she was done, she mounted Sophie and Heath tried not to fall off the ostrich she'd stuck him on, and they headed for the first stone.

"It's right there," Heath said, nodding to a white circle near the ranch exit.

Ageha dismounted and unstrapped the bell, holding it over the circle. "Heath, what time is it?"

He checked his watch. "Five fifty-nine...no, six!"

As soon as he said 'six,' the circle began to glow, and the bell regained a little bit of colour. It's working! she thought triumphantly. She turned back to Heath, who was staring.

"Whoa," he said. "That was cool."

"Okay, so where are the other two?" she asked, climbing back on Sophie, who grumbled about the extra weight of the bell.

"Let's see...I think it would be faster if we went to the lighthouse's circle first. Then, we can take the mine cart to the Garmon Mine district to get the last one."

"Perfect, let's go."

After dropping Sophie and Mike (the ostrich) back at the ranch, Ageha and Heath ran for the lighthouse. They repeated the process with the second circle, then hurried up the hill towards the Celesta Church Grounds. "Oof, this thing seems to get heavier whenever I move," Ageha complained, shifting the bell for the umpteenth time.

"Here, I'll carry it."

"No, that's—" But Heath already had the bell untied and balanced precariously in his arms. "I'm fine; give it back," she protested, reaching for it, but he danced out of her way.

"What kind of gentleman would I be if I let a pretty girl do something strenuous like carry a giant bell up a big hill?"

"You aren't a gentleman anyway," she quipped.

There was a pause. Then: "More of a gentleman than Roy." Heath spat 'Roy' like it was a curse.

Ageha stopped walking as her heart skipped a beat. "Wh-what?" How much does he know? she worried.

"Roy told me what happened. Apparently, he was coherent enough to remember what he'd done but still drunk enough to actually do it." He frowned, set the bell down, and leaned on it. "It was all I could do to stop myself from tearing him limb from limb."

"Stop, Heath," she whispered, covering her ears. "I don't want to talk about it!"

"Well, I do. Much as I hate to say it, Roy really likes you. Even if you don't like him, you can't break his heart like this. You have to..." He sighed. "Forgive him. To his face. He was really beating himself up yesterday when he told me." He pushed his hat back and ran his fingers through his hair. "Aarg, I can't believe I'm actually defending my rival!"

"I can't, I just can't..."

"You have to. It doesn't have to be right away. But you have to. Otherwise, you'll feel really bad for a long time."

Ageha stared at him. When did he get so smart? Wait...isn't this pretty much the same conversation I had with Witch this morning? Maybe I should start taking my own advice...

"And Ageha?" She looked over at him and he touched her face. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

Her face went redder than Roy's hair and she stumbled back before striding forward, away from the awkward situation. "W-well, I'll think about it. Let's get going; there's still one more spot to find."

Ace had been reading when he saw the sudden flash of light from outside his window. He stood up and ran to the window to see what was the matter. Outside, he saw his sister holding a green bell over the white circle he'd noticed outside his home. Next to her was Heath, watching intently. The bell was glowing, and suddenly it disappeared. Ace frowned—was Ageha talking to the empty air? Then the bell reappeared and she started to strap it onto her back, but Heath grabbed it. They squabbled over it, but Heath finally won and hefted it onto his shoulder.

Ace smiled. Well, well, well, he thought. So she did choose Heath. I may not know magic like her and Dad, but I think I know love when I see it.

Ageha's words came back to him. "Oh, what do you know? I had to bully you into asking Dakota on a date! And bribe you with food!" The smile dropped off his face and he sighed, resting his forehead against the cool glass of the window.

Well, Ageha, now you know kind of how I felt, he thought, watching them leave. Maybe Big Brother will have to play matchmaker for once.

"Well, thanks for helping me out and all."

They'd returned the bell to its pedestal, and Ageha was planning on ringing both it and the Blue Bell the next day, when the forecast promised sun. Heath had followed her home, claiming it was 'on the way' (which it was), but when Ageha gave him a 'look,' he crumpled and asked if he could walk her home. To her surprise, Ageha found herself agreeing to let him. As they walked, he reached out and took hold of her hand, and she clasped his tentatively. Now, they were standing just outside her house, saying their goodbyes.

She turned to go inside with a casual "See you later," but he took hold of her wrist, and, pulling her towards him, gave her a quick peck on the cheek before grinning his childish grin and running for the mountain path. Ageha touched her cheek where his lips had brushed, then quickly shook it off and rushed inside to make dinner.

"For crying out loud," she muttered, "I'm acting like some shojo Mary-Sue character! Stop it, Ageha! You aren't in love with Heath!"

"Someone's in denialཀྵ"

"Shut up, Finn! You aren't helping!"

Finn sat on the table and watched her bustle around to distract herself. Finally, he said, "Ageha, what's so wrong with falling in love with Heath?"

She paused. "I-it's just...he's...well, he's Heath. You know."

"No, I don't know. You'll have to tell me."

"For Pete's sake!" she snapped, slamming her frying pan down with such force that some of the rice spilled out. "Nothing's wrong with my being in love with Heath! It's just embarrassing, okay?"

"So you admit you are in love with Heath?"

"I never said that."

"Yes you did. Just now."

"I deny anything said under the influence of Fried Rice."

"You haven't eaten any yet."

"Would you leave me alone?"

"Tee-hee...you're so much fun to teaseཀྵ"

"Just shut up for a while, okay?"

Ed: I know, I know. The whole 'moonlight stones' thing was for the Yellow Bell. But I needed something interesting for the Green Bell, so there you go.
Ageha: No one was going to say anything.
Ed: Whatever. The next chapter should be posted next week, but after that I've had a teensy bit of writer's block so the eleventh chapter won't be up for a little while. Sorry! And thank you for reading! Please review!