I watched the sun rise the next morning from the shore of the beach, my legs dangling off the edge of dock. Toby had come out and sat beside me, without a word. I wondered if perhaps he had dozed off, sitting there so quietly with me as the sunrise reflected onto the ocean and lit up the underside of the clouds. The colors were like the cotton candy they sell at the circus or similar carnivals sometimes, the ocean and the sky were such a light blue but the bottoms of the clouds were a fluffy pink. The sight was quite dazzling really, a more beautiful sunrise than I'd seen in quite a while. Once the horizon had stopped changing colors Toby got up silently and went back into the Fishery. He seemed like a nice enough guy, very relaxed and kind, but I doubted that I'd ever be outgoing enough to have any true interaction with him.

As I sat and listened to the waves washing in and out of the little bay I allowed my mind to empty out for a little while. The pure energy and the sounds of the nature around me filled the empty spaces. The sounds of water washing across sand and slapped against the concrete and of the wind whispering between the buildings and brushing the clouds through the sky were almost speaking to me. Everything would be silent aside from nature for just a little longer. Even though the faint melodies of the bells could be heard again, I missed hearing the sounds of the gods in these noises. My spirits dropped ever so slightly at the pauses where the goddess's harmonies should have been and the powerful humming of the Harvest King. I wondered for a moment how much longer it would take for Angela to revive the Harvest Goddess. But I knew I shouldn't rush such a thing, since Angela was no doubt trying her hardest.

"How do you feel about Angela?" The wind whispered to me softly, prompting me to reflect on my emotions. I thought for a moment in an attempt to discern the mixture of emotions that related to her and came up with a rather convoluted answer to the question. I liked Angela certainly, more than I'd liked nearly any person ever. Something about her was simply enchanting, perhaps how nice she was and how concerned she was about everyone around her. She was a person with a kind heart and good intentions, even though she messed up from time to time. But she was more than that too; she also had the courage to go against horrible odds in her attempt to save the Goddess and the land and the tenacity to start a farm on her own when she had limited experience and help. Angela was unlike most other girls I'd ever had experience with, and that was charming to me. I realized that I just wanted her to be happy, because there was so much good in her. I also realized that nothing would make me happier than to be a reason for her happiness.

I smiled and felt I had found an appropriate answer to the question, which made me happy. It had been a long time since I'd had any feelings to think about anyway. I returned to my house, in order to avoid the inhabitants of the village before they began to stir, and busied myself by returning to my work with the concentration crystals. Things were going alright for the time being and I hoped that they would stay that way for a little while longer.

Angela came to visit me every day for the next week. It was always in the late afternoon and she always brought a small gift for me, either a fugue mushroom she was lucky enough to find or an herb she thought I might like. I don't think I'd ever really been happier than I was then, with the thought that she enjoyed my presence. But then, one day, she didn't show up.

I was worried, to say the least. Angela hadn't said anything about being busy. There were no events occurring that I could think of. It was an average day nearing the end of the summer so it wasn't as though she was spending time in her fields changing her crops over to those for the next season. I was fairly certain that it wasn't a harvesting day. Night fell and midnight approached, Angela still had not arrived. I went to my crystal ball and with the precise question "where is Angela?" and I called forth my magic in an attempt to find her. I could not.

How could this be happening? My thoughts were frantic as I struggled to reach out with my mind to find her aura. How could my magic be failing me? But most of all, where could she have gone to? Without another thought I went running out of my house, not even bothering to grab a cloak as I burst into the humid summer night. I waved a hand behind me to extinguish my candles and lock my doors and a small incantation muffled the loud snap of my boots against the cobblestone as I ran out of town towards Angela's home. The lights were off, but I could not sense her aura within the home. I felt as though my heart were beating at twice the normal speed as I struggled to find an answer to my predicament. Certainly she hadn't left the peninsula, she would have told me. I tried to find another solution but the only ideas that came into my head was the horrible possibility that something might have happened to her, and I didn't want to think of that.

Without a second thought I extended my hand to the doorknob and before I could whisper an incantation to unlock it I found that it wasn't locked to begin with. I burst into her home, a large one-room space, and there was no hint that she was there. I surveyed the space quickly, finding it made up as she would have left it that morning, and turned to leave the house. I stood on her porch for a few spare seconds and closed my eyes, trying to sort out the world and the energies around me, hoping desperately for some sort of hint. The wind was blowing ever so softly. I could hear the sounds of the river and the ocean not far from where I stood. The earth below me had a deep thrumming of health to it. Everything seemed right in the world, the people were healthy and nature was strong. I strained a little harder, trying to grasp something just out of my reach.

There it was, the melody of the bells ringing just below the surface of the elements all around me. Then, of even greater importance than that, the sounds of the goddess singing were weaving their way through the land. I nearly cried when I caught that thread, that tiny string of hope that meant Angela had succeeded in reviving her. I took off running again, up the mountain path behind Angela's house, racing for the Goddess and a hint about Angela's whereabouts. But, as I ran, another sound graced my ears, the powerful humming of the Harvest King and the earthy beat of his presence atop the mountaintop. As I passed the entrance to the Goddess' Spring I didn't even glance toward it, I had a pretty good idea where I would find Angela: atop the mountain.

I entered the darkness of the mine without any hesitation. Mines were dangerous places, and I knew that, but at this point I was very worried about where Angela could possibly be. I had visited with the Harvest King before and I had never known his power to overshadow my magic or block my ability to see auras. My worst fears were coming true as I allowed the suffocating force of the Harvest King's presence to pull me forward through the mine on the path to the top of the mountain, something must have happened to Angela. My lungs were starting to burn as I ran and ran, using magic to destroy rocks and crystals that blocked my way and climbing the stairs as fast as I could. In retrospect I could have used magic to ease my body's burden, but it did not occur to me in my state of panic. Suddenly I saw her, and I breathed a sigh of relief just before I realized that it wasn't appropriate to relax just yet.

Angela was crumpled on the ground, her hammer off to the side and a layer of sweat shining on her forehead. Her breathing was heavy and her eyes were closed, she seemed to be passed out. I ran to her and dropped down onto my knees at her side, feeling her forehead only to find that she had a very heavy fever. I shook Angela's shoulders and her eyes fluttered opened, she made a dazed expression at me before saying something in such a quiet, raspy voice that I couldn't understand her. Her eyes slid slowly back closed and she let out a pathetic cough. A panicked for a moment or two and had some trouble calming myself down enough to come up with a plan. I slide my arms underneath Angela and hoisted her up with me, a little rougher than I would have liked to, and took off in the direction of the Harvest King again.

As I felt Angela's limp body against me, her weight in more arms like a weight on my heart as I ran towards what I thought was my only chance for bringing her back to me, I was glad that I had worried. I was so very glad that I had wondered where she was so much that I went looking for her. I could not even imagine how broken I would have been to find out that she had been found, days later, in the mine by Owen when he was working or Phoebe while she explored. I was so incredibly glad that maybe, just maybe, things were going to work out alright.

Yet, at that very same moment, I was struck by a greater sadness than I had ever experienced before. It was greater than what I'd felt when I lost my family. It was greater than I'd felt when Vivi and I ruined our relationship. It was even greater than what I'd felt when Master had passed away. This feeling, a mixture of fear and sadness and hope, was a feeling so great because I knew, as I held Angela in my arms, that I loved her. I loved her with everything I had because she was a compassionate girl with legitimate interest in helping the world and the people in. She was a kind and honest girl who had legitimate interest in me. I had never before felt so involved with the fate of another person, another person I so desperately wanted to live a happy life.

I burst onto the mountaintop, covered in a thin sheen of sweat from the exertion of carrying the feverish Angela and the Harvest King looked to me with an expression of moderate surprise. I ran to him with my own face held into one of utter panic. "She could have died, you fool! After everything she's done for us!" I called out in a frustrated tone as I ran up the stairs to the King's platform.

He quirked his thick red eyebrows at me and looked me up and down. "I, a fool? Oh Wizard, you are such a special little creature." The Harvest King said in a voice that was pure and harmonious despite the booming power it held, echoing off the surround rock formations.

I frowned heavily and couldn't help but begin to cry as I kneeled down and gently set Angela onto the ground. "Harvest King…" I whispered in a choked voice as I tried my hardest to accept that at this point I was at a loss about what to do to help her. "Please… I don't know what's wrong with her… Her aura is weak and I'm lucky I found her in the mine… She called you and she revived the land and the goddess… Please help her…" I don't think I've ever begged for help like I begged right then. I was entirely at the mercy of the Harvest King as I knelt before him and asked him to sort out a problem I was far too panicked about to find a solution for myself, I was afraid Angela was too far gone. "Please…" I whispered even softer before, my old accent coming into my voice even more clearly than before. "Asv darashi tagha…" I love her…

"Wizard…" The Harvest King said in his booming voice. "She has more than earned her revival." He smiled down at me with a sad face, but one that acknowledged my words and understood my desperation. He held out one hand nonchalantly and his warm magic, the magic of nature and energy itself, poured from him into the struggling body of Angela. She roused slightly then, color coming to her face and her eyes opening slowly to the image of me leaning over her. "Take better care of her next time" the Harvest King said in a joke, that was far less than funny, before he turned away from us and went back to looking over the edge of the cliff and down onto the sleeping land below us. I lifted Angela in my arms and walked back down into the mine with her still looking into my face with the most confused expression.

"I was worried about you." I said softly, as I maneuvered us back down through the winding pathways and roadblocks of the mine. Angela reached up silently to wipe away the tears I forgot I had shed. I exhaled slowly, my first breath of relief since I had begun my panicked attempt to help her. "You never came by and I couldn't find your aura… I couldn't see you in my crystal ball... You weren't home when I went looking for you…"

"I'm sorry…" she interrupted me in a gentle whisper. "Things were going just fine until I tried to come back down from the mountaintop. I did a lot of things today and I was tired. I broke a lot of bad stones in a row, the kind with the poisonous gasses inside, and I'd already used all my medicine trying to come up here to call the Harvest King…" Angela seemed so genuinely sad at having caused me trouble that I nearly started to cry again. How dare her care so little about her own health.

"Angela… I just want you to be careful and safe… I'm glad I found you… And you're lucky the Harvest King healed your sickness…" I said, nearly choking up as I admitted my feelings of great relief. At that moment in time I lacked to words to really express the knotted net of emotions that were tied up around my heart, but I think that she got the gist of things.

I carried her the rest of the way to her farmhouse and right up through the door, it was around 2 am when we finally arrived. Without a word I pulled her boots from her feet, set her into her bed, and pulled the covers up around her. I kissed her on the forehead as I went to leave her for the night, safe in her bed at last. But she held me there, putting her hands up around my neck to hold me with her. She kissed me on the cheek and then pulled me down further, moving her hands to more around my waist. I wasn't sure what she wanted so I stood there, trying to take in the nuances of her movements. Angela pulled me all the way down to on top of her bed, she inside the sheets and me outside of them, and put her arms around me, holding me tight to her. "Thank you" she whispered into my shirt. Then She began to cry and I slid my arms around her shoulders, pressing her tightly into my chest as she slowly fell asleep in my embrace. We spent the night that way, curled up together and crying like frightened children.