Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon. But it's an awesome video game.
14: Followers, mining, and realizations
It was Monday.
A horrible, not Wednesday-or-Thursday day. But to pass the time, I'd decided I would head up the mountain this morning and look through the mine the Harvest Goddess had mentioned. I wondered if it really did contain rare and valuable jewels. I
f it did, that was bound to draw people to this Island. I shivered in the heavy snow on my way to the bridge – it seemed colder today than most. I wanted to ask someone about mines before I left, since I didn't really know much about them, but there was no one on the Island with that kind of knowledge.
I'd wanted to say hi to Natalie before I went, but Taro informed me that she was over at Pierre's. "Still?" I asked, assuming the worst.
He snorted. "She came home late last night, and went there again early this morning. By the way, little missy, how's that chicken of yours?"
"Good. Vaughn's bringing me another on Wednesday, and I got a little fence built," I said.
He nodded approvingly. "Good."
I crossed the bridge now, wondering why Natalie was interested in spending all this time at Pierre's house. As far as I knew, she didn't have a major interest in cooking . . . As I entered the thick forest, I saw a figure through the trees.
I shivered, thinking it might be Witch Princess. To be honest, the woman scared me half to death. So I'd stay away from the large pink house that was barely visible from where I now stood.
But as I got closer, it became apparent to me that the figure was Mirabelle. She moved briskly from one place to another – she appeared to be looking for something. I found it odd she wasn't back in Main Town, running the Animal Shop. I stepped into the little clearing she was in, calling her name.
She whirled, and looked greatly relieved. "Oh, Chelsea, thank goodness."
She walked up to me, shivered in her thin coat. "Have you been here recently?" She asked.
I shrugged. "I came over yesterday, right after Gannon built the bridge. Why?"
She looked distressed. "I came yesterday, too, and I noticed a scrawny little dog with a bandana kind of like yours. I've seen wild dogs before, but this one looked relatively tame, the poor dear. It ran away before I could try and bring it back with me, but I've been looking for it all morning. The weather is horrid – the poor thing must be frozen stiff."
The compassion in her voice touched me. "I'll help you look, Mirabelle," I offered.
She beamed, and then we began searching together. Unfortunately, we ran into Witch Princess; we'd gotten closer to her house than I'd realized.
"Hello, Witch Princess," I said a bit nervously.
She smirked at me and hid her hands beneath her black cape-thing. The skull emblem seemed to stare evilly. "Morning, Chelsea." She said, nodding.
She glanced at Mirabelle, but didn't ask about who she was. "Have you seen a dog pass by here?" I asked timidly.
She looked annoyed. "The only animals I care about are bears, and I rarely pay attention to the others. But if you must now, I believe I saw a rather skinny one go that way." She pointed north.
"Thank you," I said promptly.
I turned and half-pulled Mirabelle in my hurry. "Who was that, dear?" Mirabelle asked when we believed Witch Princess was out of earshot.
I shuddered. "No one we should get to know."
But it turned out she had been right.
We located the little dog at the base of a large tree, not far from the Harvest Goddess's pond. It growled lowly as we approached, but Mirabelle soothed it with soft, loving words and soon had it in her arms.
"The poor thing," she murmured again.
We carried it back to the Main Part of town and into the Animal Shop.
"How, how cute!" Julia exclaimed.
he and Elliot had been in the kitchen, but now she came out to pet the little dog. Elliot lingered behind, his expression a bit nervous. I refrained from rolling my eyes.
Mirabelle explained that we'd found it in the forest. Julia was just as sympathetic for it as her mother had been. "Elliot, come and say hello," Julia called.
Elliot stood behind her nervously. "No thanks," he mumbled, "That's . . . not my favorite animal."
Julia looked annoyed.
Mirabelle turned to me. "Julia, Vaughn and I have more than our fair share of animals to take care of in the back. You have more than enough room, don't you, Chelsea?" She asked sweetly.
Hesitantly, I petted the little animal. It licked my hand.
"See? It likes you already." Mirabelle handed me the dog.
"Alright," I agreed.
It would be nice to have a companion of sorts around. Perhaps it could be trained to chase El around. I smirked at the thought.
"Give it a name," Julia encouraged.
I stroked its light fur. "I'm not real creative. I named my chicken Nugget," I sighed.
Elliot chuckled. "But I think I'll call it Woody," I decided.
"Why Woody?" Julia asked.
I shrugged. "It was found in a forest. I don't know," I mumbled.
"Woody it is then," Mirabelle said, "I can sell pet food from now on, dear." She walked behind the counter and pulled out several bags of it. "On the house," she said nicely.
"That's really not necessary." I blushed.
"I insist," Mirabelle said.
Elliot and Julia walked me back to my land, the bags of feed in their arms while I carried Woody. The little dog seemed much happier now. Julia told me that a dog was supposed to be kept in the stable with a horse, but I insisted I wanted Woody to live with me in the farmhouse.
Julia shrugged and carried the feed in the house. Elliot and Julia stacked them neatly in the corner. "Thanks," I said politely. They said 'you're welcome' and left soon afterwards.
I took the little dog in the bathroom and cleaned it up, placed it in an old basket I had with a blanket, and Woody soon fell asleep.
I was getting fed up with Natalie not being around. Granted, it was nice to have privacy at night because she hadn't been coming over anymore. But I'd gotten used to it, and her being around had distracted me from thinking about Vaughn, about how long it was until he came back to the Island.
I'd taken a short nap when I'd gotten home, and when I woke up it was almost eleven. I went to Pierre's house, assuming she'd be there.
Again.
I knocked loudly three times, and sure enough, Natalie was the one to answer. A warm, mouth-watering aroma wafted out the door. "Hey, Chels," Nat said cheerfully, "Want to join us for breakfast?"
I rolled my eyes. "No, I want to talk to you, you ditcher."
She snickered and looked over her shoulder. "Pierre," she called, "I'm going for a walk with Chelsea."
"You'll be back, right?" I heard Pierre's voice call, presumably from the kitchen, "I made the most marvelous Eggs Benedict."
"Yeah, I won't be long." Natalie shut the door and we began walking north, past Lanna's house and trying to ignore the workers building the almost-done Diner. The Café was open now, so we went inside there.
"Chelsea," she whined when I tried to buy some toast, "Don't. Come back and eat with me and Pierre. It'll be great."
I rolled my eyes again. "I would, Nat, but I want to go explore the forest and the mountain today." I eyed her unhappily. "I'd ask you to come, but somehow I think you'll say no."
She didn't answer, and didn't comment again when I bought the toast and juice. I ate it quickly, planning to begin my interrogation afterwards. She was silent the whole time, deep in thought. Finally, after I returned the plate and glass, I turned to her in exasperation.
"Spill," I commanded.
She shrugged. "He's . . . nice. And he's a lot of fun."
"Fun? All he ever does is cook. And when he's not cooking, he's thinking about it, I'm sure," I grumbled, "What do you see in him?"
She sighed. "I'm not really sure, but there's something there. I like him. You know how I despise mushrooms? He made me an omelet yesterday, and it was awesome!"
"You're basing this off food?" I asked critically.
"No," she snapped, "I . . . you just don't understand."
"No," I admitted, "I don't."
Her eyes narrowed. "Well, I don't understand what you see in that cowboy. But I've kept my mouth shut."
"No, you haven't," I reminded her, "In fact, you couldn't stop making fun of me and cracking jokes."
She acted as thought I hadn't spoken. "Whatever. He's cool. You'll see."
We began walking back to Pierre's house. "Haven't you noticed that he looks like he's . . . twelve?" I asked tentatively.
She glowered. "He doesn't," she argued.
"He looks like he hasn't hit puberty," I laughed.
She fidgeted uncomfortably. "Fine, he does look a little young. Kind of. But if Pierre looks too young, Vaughn's looks, like, eighty."
I made a face at her. "He looks good with the silver hair," I said.
She rolled her eyes. "Sure he does."
I remembered a while ago; when I had wished Natalie had a boyfriend I could easily poke fun of. Now it seemed like it would only cause incessant bickering. Natalie walking into Pierre's house without saying goodbye, slamming the door in my face.
I still couldn't help but snicker a few times on my way to the forest, though. Taro said the weather would be nice tomorrow as I passed his house, so that was good. If for some reason I fell through a deep, dark hole in the mines and passed out, at least the weather would be good for trying again tomorrow. I snorted.
I had to admit that I was nervous about falling. I would have to be very, very careful. Fortunately, I didn't find Witch Princess wandering in the woods like before, and she wasn't visible standing right outside her house when I squinted at it through the tall trees.
She must be staying in today, doing who-knows-what. I hurried north. I had planned on heading straight up the mountain path I'd seen before without stopping (I was still annoyed with the Harvest Goddess for not revealing more about the 'complications'), but the beautifully built building stopped me in my tracks.
A tall, magnificent bell stood beside the structure, and the glass that made up the windows were red, gold, and all other deep, rich colors. The building was truly grand, and I stopped to stare and wonder. Gannon had not built this.
I hadn't even seen him come over into the forest. Just then, though, a girl, probably my age, came out in long, red and blue clothes. Her hair was short and red, and her eyes were just as bright and blue as mine were. She didn't see me at first; she walked over to the Harvest Goddess pond and stared in silence for several minutes.
I watched for a minute before approaching hesitantly. "Miss?" I asked.
She turned slowly, a smile on her lips. "Oh, hello. Who are you?" She asked in a melodic voice.
"I'm Chelsea, this Island's farmer," I said.
She nodded. "I am Alisa, a follower of the Harvest Goddess. I am under the guidance of Nathan." She gestured toward the building, which she told me was a church. "Come, let me introduce you."
The inside was just as pretty as the outside. I gawked in amazement. A short, brown-haired man in the same sort of clothes as Alisa looked up as we came in, smiling. "Hello," he said to me, "I am Nathan."
I complimented them on the grandeur of the church.
"Thank you. It is wonderful, isn't it?" Nathan asked.
"Yes. But I haven't paid or asked the Island's carpenter to build it. And it got here so fast . . . how?" I wanted to know.
Nathan smiled wider. "That Harvest Goddess can do many things," he said cryptically.
I decided not to question it. We made small talk for a few minutes, but then I excused myself, telling them about my plans.
"Do be careful," Alisa said, "It can be dangerous."
I nodded. "Yes, thank you."
"If you like," Nathan said, "You can come back here when you're through, so we know you're okay. If you don't come back, we'll alert the others and come looking for you."
I smiled at their kindness. "Sure. Uh . . . I'll be back before the sun sets," I told them.
They nodded in unison, and then I left. The climb up the mountain was rather steep, and I ran into a few wild animals along the way, like rabbits and squirrels and two wild dogs (which I stealthily avoided).
But as the climb got steeper, the sightings happened less and less often. There were forks in the path now and then, but when I switched course, I just ran into a dead end. I was fairly annoyed by the time I came to the third fork, but I went right anyway.
This time, at the end of this path, I was greeted by a large cave. It looked incredibly dark in the very back – the sunlight only illuminated about half of the 'room'. I'd brought a flashlight, thankfully, so I dug it out now. I also got out my hoe.
Perhaps I would find coins in the dirt. I had no idea how to get deeper into the mine until it occurred to me that the only way would be stairs. And those stairs were most likely buried. I groaned and stepped forward. As I got deeper inside, I tested each footstep I took by putting only a little bit of my weight on it.
If the ground seemed firm, I took another step. Only one time the ground seemed crumbly and weak. I uncovered the first layer of dirt with my hoe. Sure enough, a deep, dark hole waited below; it looked very deep when I looked down with my flashlight.
I shuddered at the thought of falling down it. I found the stairs fairly quickly, and descended to the second floor. There were a few rocks scattered around here, but not very many. I decided to go down one more floor to find more 'rocks'.
I uncovered two more pit falls before finding the second set of stairs, though they weren't as deep as the first had been. I went down to the third floor. Indeed, a lot more rocks were scattered around. I was very careful moving around again, but I got out my hammer and hit the rocks as hard as I was able.
I uncovered a lot of junk ores, which were virtually worthless. But I also found topaz some other pretty gems. I had about eight by the time I decided to go back up. I almost fell down one more pit fall in my hurry to get out of this dark place, but I saved myself in time and headed back out.
It was a relief to go outside and into the sun, a relief to walk around without fear of falling into some deep and scary pit. I made it down the mountain and went into the church to tell Nathan and Alisa I was fine.
I left soon afterwards and headed back to the bridge, relieved yet again when I didn't bump into Witch Princess. When I got to my farmhouse, I put all the jewels in the shipping bin and threw away the junk ores. It was almost four by then.
I was exhausted from all my work, so I crawled into bed. I must have fallen asleep, because when I woke up it was very dark. I heard snoring coming from the direction of the couch. I smiled fondly when I saw Natalie's sleeping form.
I pulled off my shoes and my bandana and got under the covers, much more comfortable this time.
***
A loud knocking awoke me the next day. Natalie groaned and rolled over; the movement dumped her onto the floor. I snickered and got up.
She sat up and grumbled unintelligible things.
"Come down to the beach with me," Taro barked professionally, "We've got some new arrivals."
"Why do all these new people arrive so early in the morning?" Natalie mumbled, standing up and coming to stand next to me.
"Because that's when the boat gets here," I explained.
She rolled her eyes. We followed the old man to the beach, Elliot and Felicia trailing behind.
"Is Gannon building a house for them?" I asked.
"He worked on it most of the night yesterday – poor guy's exhausted. But it should be done sometime tomorrow. You should see it – it's huge," Taro commented.
Huge? I wondered. Why would anyone need a huge house out here? The boat was just pulling away from the dock as we approached. I studied them both closely.
The man was very tall, and he was wearing a very long cape thing, much longer than Witch Princess's, and not as dark. His hair was black and short, his skin was pale and the collar of the cape thing stood straight up. I almost chuckled, thinking of Dracula.
The girl who stood next to him was much less . . . creepy, for lack of a better word. She had long black hair tied up in a light purple bow that matched her dress, and her skin was pale, too. She wore glasses much like Elliot's, and she was fidgeting nervously. All in all, she was very pretty.
"My, what a crude little home," the man said, his voice just as creepy as his appearance. He was looking at Denny's house with distaste in his eyes.
"That's where Denny lives. He's really nice," I said defensively. This man had been here for all of two minutes, and he was already irritating me.
He made a dismissive motion with his hands. "I see. Anyway, I am Regis." He paused for a second, as if he expected us to applaud or something. When we remained silent, he continued, "And this is my lovely daughter, Sabrina. We came here because we heard of a newly discovered mine. I own a very large, very respected mining company, and I expect this Island earn me a large profit," he said with satisfaction.
"Hello," Sabrina murmured shyly, "It's very good to meet you all."
We all exchanged customary greetings, and when I said I was the rancher, Regis raised one black brow. "Do you mine, Chelsea?" he asked.
I shrugged. "I did a little yesterday – I only just had the bridge built last Sunday."
He nodded. "Yes, well, I shall buy whatever jewel you mine."
"I'm sure there will be tourists coming here to mine as well," Taro interjected.
Regis nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. Now, please direct us to the nearest Inn until our home is complete. I hear the carpenter here is good at his job. I expect a marvelous house."
"It will be grand, I assure you," Felicia said.
They had a lot of bags, but we all took one or two and carried it with us to the Inn. Sabrina was very quiet on the way – she seemed very shy. I decided that I liked her. Regis got the most expensive room they had. I rolled my eyes.
"Father," Sabrina said quietly, "Perhaps we should go and meet the other Islanders?"
"Later, Sabrina, later. I'm quite exhausted from our trip." Regis said as we put the bags in the room.
"I could give you a little tour, Sabrina," I offered, "If you'd like."
Sabrina smiled at me. "That would be lovely, thank you."
Regis went into his room and Taro and his family went home. I took Sabrina around to meet everyone, and they all seemed to like her, as I did. Natalie came with us up until we came to Pierre's, and then she stayed behind. She smiled nicely at me before she went in, so I assumed she was over our little fight from before.
"This is a beautiful Island," Sabrina commented as we approached the Inn again.
"Yes, it really is," I agreed.
"And you're going to, um, revitalize it?" she asked, "and run a farm?"
"Yes. I think I'm off to a good start. I have a dog and a chicken. I'm going to build a barn soon," I told her.
She nodded thoughtfully. "I will come help you sometime if you wish, after my home is complete."
I nodded. "If you want."
I thought Sabrina was very nice and kind, from what I had witnessed just now. I would find her company pleasant in the future, I was sure. "So, mining, huh?" I asked, "That's cool."
She laughed softly. "Yes, it is. I love to collect interesting stones. It's a hobby of mine."
"Really? What do you have?" I didn't want to sound nosy, I but I was honestly curious.
"Oh, lots of things – emeralds, rubies, sapphires . . . Father buys a ton of jewels," she said, "But my favorite gems are the diamonds – they're so lovely, don't you think?"
"Yes. I've seen some, in jewelry stores," I mused, "I wish I had one. Perhaps I'll get deep enough in the mine someday."
She nodded. "Yes. The regular diamonds are beautiful, of course, but there is a specific type of diamond I think is the most spectacular."
"Oh? Which one?" I asked curiously.
When I looked back on this conversation deep in the future, I couldn't believe it wasn't obvious. I should have been anticipating what she would say next, should have remembered my dream.
But I didn't see it coming.
So, when she did say it, I was in no way prepared. But afterwards, my chest tightened and my heart hammered. She looked deep in thought.
"Pink diamonds, I think, are the best."
A/N: I heard somewhere that Sabrina doesn't like actual diamonds that aren't pink, but oh well.