July 8, Summer, year 20

I've been called at to judge the cows at the festival today! It's a little silly, but all over the island everyone's having the exact same festival, so there really aren't a lot of entries here. We've got a couple from Vesta's farm, and outside the Valley…

I keep thinking I should get more animals, but in this heat, my strength gets sapped so quick. I think I'll wait til Fall before I start getting the larger animals…

Which reminds me, I need to chain up Pup and Dakota before I let the birds out again. Better go do that before I leave.

Claire reluctantly chained both dogs to Honey's corral, scolding them as she did. She had the sneaking suspicion that Dakota had actually been chasing Puppy to get him to stop chasing the birds. Dakota was, after all, a long-time farm dog, who knew better than to mess with chickens and ducks out of doors.

But they'd both been caught tearing after an upset Nana, so she chained them both without remorse, before running down to the beach. In the back of her mind she was forgetting something, but couldn't recall what exactly.

Damien crept onto the farm after she'd left, and tested to front door. Unlocked. Well this would be the perfect opportunity to make her regret breaking up with him. Smirking, he stepped into the house, and began looking around for the things she valued the most.

Claire like the Cow Festival, if only for the fact that she could drink the fresh milk. Since selling her parents cows, she'd had next to none unless she joined Celia, Marlin and Vesta for breakfast. It happened rarely, even less with Claire was busy on her own farm.

And milk, especially chocolate milk, was her favorite thing to drink. She'd had to do without for a good while with no cows, something she was debating about changing.

"Hi Claire!" Rick greeted her as she skidded to a halt on the beach. "Thanks for coming, it's really great to see you."

"Hey Rick," and her greeting was a touch more genial than normal. "How could I say no to fresh milk?"

He chuckled, a little bit sheepishly, and rubbed the back of his neck almost nervously.

"What're you doing after this?" he asked abruptly.

Claire raised an eyebrow in his direction, making the glasses-wearing young man blush. She just shook her head lightly, patted him on the shoulder and wandered off to where the cows were being milked for samples.

He was sweet, she decided, sipping from one cup, but Rick just wasn't the right type of person, not for her.

After all, when Karen was around, they were practically glued at the hip, and Claire had a healthy respect for her Mineral Town cousin-and-best-friend. She didn't want to be accused of boy-stealing, even though it would likely never happen.

She continued to taste the milk, but her thoughts were slightly distracted, turning on a different point, that of a silver-haired thief. Sighing softly, Claire yanked her mind back to the present, and forced herself to focus on the cows.

Of them, the cow from Vesta's farm, Alinda, had the best coat, and the best milk. It was unanimous between the three judges (Rick, Claire and Popuri) and Claire presented the award herself.

"Not only the best vegetables, but the best animals," she chuckled. "Congrats Vesta."

"You need to give me more of a challenge!" the larger woman proclaimed, lightly thumping Claire on the shoulder. "Your old man always gave me a run for my money!"

"I'm getting there," the blond farmer winced a little. "Slowly. I'm… trying to get everything ready for them first, I wouldn't want to bring the cows and sheep in without a lot of prepared grass, you know?"

"So methodical," Celia smiled. "Well, I hope you get some animals soon, your farm seems a bit more lonely without the sound of cows and sheep."

Claire laughed as the festival broke up, and headed back home with her hands shoved into the pockets of the shorts. A breeze was starting to come up, and dark rain clouds could be seen on the horizon.

It looked as though a storm was finally building to rid the island of the oppressive heat of the summer. Claire hurried home to put away her animals. It took her a few seconds to realize what she was seeing when she hurried up the path, but when she realized what it was, she turned very pale. The open screen door smacked against the side of the house again.

"I forgot to lock the door…"

She pelted the rest of the way to her house, skidding to a halt in the doorway. All her hard work of the previous weeks had been undone, the house was practically torn apart. The vase that had held Skye's roses was shattered, her bed was torn apart, her clothes were scattered all of the floor, and several of her books were shredded.

"Tux?" Panic edged Claire's voice. "Clara? Kitty kitty kitty!"

Neither cat appeared at the call, and Claire began a frantic search of her house as the wind continued to pick up. Pages from her torn books were scattering around in the wind as she searched high and low for her cats… but they were nowhere to be found.

Torn between her head and her heart, Claire hurried shoved her animals indoors, this time locking the doors securely as she left.

Then, the hunt began in earnest. Neither cat had been outside since Claire had picked them out of Serri's litter almost five years ago, so she had no idea where to start looking, and couldn't help the fear that scurried through her.

She called until her voice was hoarse, evening moving to midnight, and raindrops began to splatter down. Still Claire refused to give up.

Skye had decided to travel down to the Valley that night, for reasons he couldn't quite identify. All he knew was that he really wanted to see Claire. Running into her literally hadn't been quite the plan, but he was willing to go with it until he saw the stricken look on her face. The girl was practically in tears!

"Claire?" his hands rested on her shoulders lightly as she tried to go around him. "Claire, what's wrong?"

"My cats!" she all but wailed. "Damien's got them somewhere, and I can't find them! I have to find them before the storm breaks, they won't understand what's going on!"

She rubbed at her eyes fiercely, desperately trying not to cry. Briefly Skye held her close, thinking. He had seen Damien pass on the way back to Mineral Town, a smirk on his face. But there had been nothing with the other male that might have held two cats.

Which meant they were somewhere in the Valley still. As Claire pulled away, he took her hands, and held them gently with his own.

"I'll help you," he promised. "Okay?"

The blond sniffed,, and freed one hand to wipe at her eyes.

"Really?"

"Of course! But…" and Skye looked a little sheepish, "I'll need something to track them with… any cat fur?"

Despite herself, Claire smiled weakly, making a motion to her clothes, a little bit embarrassed.

"There's a cat brush at home," she offered after a second. "Come on!"

He needed no encouragement, willing to do anything to make the blonde's face light up in a smile, even if it meant slogging back to Mineral Town in the rain. And her outfit was… adorable, if extremely revealing.

At the house, Claire had to fumble with the key for a few seconds, heart in her throat. She had utterly forgotten about the mess, and Skye's eyes widened slightly.

"He did this too?"

"Who else?" she asked bitterly, going over to the cabinet where she kept the cat brush.

Coconut, Serri, Dakota and Puppy were all hiding in various places. The dogs were under the bed, Coconut was under the table and Serri was sitting on top of the TV, seeming almost morose that she hadn't found her kittens.

Claire rattled around in the cabinet for a few minutes, then pushed a brush of cat hair into Skye's hands, blue eyes pleading. He gave the farmer a reassuring smile, and pressed a hand to the brush, the other lightly touching Claire's hand.

The thief knew many spells, and the spell for finding lost things had always been particularly useful both on and off the job. Now though, he was using it to placate a panicked girl, who was clearly on the verge of tears.

Amazing how priorities changed when the help was truly needed.

The brush glowed blue for a minute, and a picture began forming in the air. Claire let off a soft gasp, eyes going wide as she saw the bridge between the village and Vesta's farm.

A bag was tied underneath it, and the water was stating to rise as the rain began in earnest. The bag went transparent for several heart stopping seconds revealing both cats, alive, and well, if highly panicked.

Skye released her, and was forced to grab a chair for balance as the use of magic took its toll on him. Claire dropped the brush on the table and ran out of the house as fast as her legs could take her.

Part of her felt bad for leaving Skye in his weakened state, but her main concern was getting to her cats before the river rose too much. After all, with the pelting rain, she was already soaked, what would a little more water matter?

She kicked off her shoes as she hit the river bank, and didn't even pause to see how fast the current was running. Claire just jumped into the swift moving water, and grabbed a post of the bridge as she was carried past. Sure enough, there under the bridge was the bag, and now that she was so close she could just hear the panicked meowing of her two indoor kitties.

With one arm wrapped around the wooden post to keep her from being swept away, Claire began to struggle with the string tying the bag to the bridge. Unless she was careful, she'd end up being pulled along and her kitties would be in danger anyways, despite her effort.

The bridge at least shielded her from the driving rain…

In the end she wrapped both her legs around the post and pulled at the knots until they snapped, dropping the bag into her arms. Trying to keep it and herself above the water, Claire cast about for a way, any way, to get back to the shore without getting the bag any more wet than it already was.

And again, as if hearing her fear-filled pleas, Skye came to her rescue, reaching down to her from the bridge overhead. He was just as soaked as Claire was, thanks to the rain, and had slicked back his silver hair so that he could see her.

Relief so profound that it would have made her weak had she not still been in a life-threatening situation flooded through the blond as she reached up to grab his hand. Using the force of the water as something of a ballast, Claire managed to get up onto the boards of the bridge, bag of unhappy cats in her other arm. For a long moment they just stayed in a close huddle on the bridge, Claire shaking in reaction to almost losing her cats and her own recklessness, Skye worn from the fatigue of magic and then pulling Claire back onto solid ground.

The sharp flash of lightening finally recalled both to reality, and Claire looked up into Skye's sea-green eyes, wanting to express her gratitude in some fashion. He just smiled at her, and pulled her to her feet.

"Hurry home," he recommended. "This storm doesn't seem to be the forgiving sort."

Skye let her go carefully, making sure that both of them could stand without aid, then turned to go. Claire reached out and caught the edge of his sleeve, making him look back.

"You shouldn't go back to Mineral Town in this weather!" she protested. "You could get hurt!"

He chuckled, leaned forward and caressed her cheek ever so lightly.

"I'll be fine," he posed almost theatrically. "I'm the Prince of the Stars after all. Don't worry."

Reluctantly, she let her hand fall and the thief hurried away in the falling rain. Claire watched him for a long minute, then turned and pelted back to her house. Tux and Clara were so relieved to be out of the bag that they didn't even protest when Claire pulled them tightly to her, weeping in relief.

When I get my hands on that creep, I'm going to bludgeon him upside the head!