They made their way to the summit in silence, both of them thinking their own thoughts. When they finally reached the top, Mikhail let go of her hand and leaned down, gently brushing his lips against her cheek. "Lillian," he murmured into her skin, feeling her heat up as he brought her into a hug. The next thing she knew, she was on the ground, Mikhail leaning over her to kiss her. As his lips pressed into hers gently, she felt his hand slowly slide down to pull her waist close to his body and she blushed even harder. When he broke off for air, she said in a shaky voice, "Mikhail…I…" Mikhail smiled and kissed her again, this time lowering her body to the ground and pressing against her so that she could feel his body against hers. Breaking off again, he sat up and chuckled as he saw that she was red and that she was pulling her skirt down to cover more of her legs. "You're not ready for me, are you?" he said in his deep, satin voice. She looked up at him, confused at what he meant until he leaned down and kissed her stomach, causing her to squeak in surprise. That had him laughing again, and he looked at the setting sun. "We may have only known each other for a short time, but I was drawn to you nevertheless. However," and here he gave her a look that made her feel like a child, "You aren't quite ready to be with someone like me. Besides that…I would feel terribly guilty to push you into something without properly being a part of your life, and as I don't intend to stay here during the spring and summer I'm afraid I can't really make you commit to me. Nor can I commit to you, truth be told. While I would like to change for you…my heart still seeks music over companionship."

While Lillian sat up and tried to process what he'd told her, he leaned over and gave her one last kiss on the forehead. With a smile, he whispered in her ear huskily, "If you ever get bored with your husband or become unsatisfied, I'll be waiting." Pulling away to see her blush, he winked at her then stood up, heading back towards the town with a happy hum, seeming satisfied that he'd said what he wanted. Lillian was about to get up and go after him when the Harvest Goddess appeared. "Well, that's two down, one to go!" she said cheerfully, nearly causing Lillian to fall over. "Wha-what are you talking about?" she cried bashfully, and the Harvest Goddess snickered. "I mean your harem is dwindling, darling. Anyways, it's going splendidly; just like I planned." Lillian sat up at this and stared at her. "What do you mean, 'just as I planned'?" The Harvest Goddess gave an idle shrug and examined her nails once more. "You'll see. But that's not why I came to talk to you today. I wanted to tell you more about the tunnel." Giving the Goddess a suspicious look, Lillian stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Don't tell me there's some kind of wild beast I have to conquer in order to fully open the tunnel," she said, her heart sinking as an image of her beating off bats in the dark popped up into her mind. The Harvest Goddess rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a twit. I just wanted to warn you-you need to get the mayors to be friends before you open the tunnel. Otherwise they won't allow you to go through with it. The only reason that you've gotten as far as you have right now is because they've had other things on their plates, what with you and your brother settling into the towns and teaching you the ways. They've been busy trying to think of ways to convince you two that the feud does have a reason behind it-not that they'll succeed since they're both dolts if they think that fighting over COOKING is a good reason to have a life long argument." Lillian hit her head in frustration. "I have to make them friends first? Couldn't you have warned me sooner?" The Harvest Goddess giggled and shrugged like a teenage girl. "I forgot! I was too busy wrapped up in your little soap opera that it completely slipped my mind! There's your warning though, good luck!" Not giving Lillian a chance to say another thing, the Harvest Goddess left again, leaving the farmer to rack her brains and rethink her plan.

"We have to make them play NICE?" Philip whined, causing Lillian to smack him in order to quiet him. "Yeah. Now stop whining and promise you'll help." Her brother pouted, but nodded slowly. "I'll help, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. What's the plan anyways?" Giving her brother a mischevious grin, she held up a picnic basket. "What do you think?"

That morning, Lillian got up and walked to Town hall. "Rutger!" she waved cheerfully, and the old man waved back before making his way over to her. "Can I help you, my dear?" Lillian smiled and said, "Well, today is a nice day for a picnic in the snow, don't you think? Care to join me?" When he hesitated, Lillian cleared her throat and watched the statue saying, "I sure would like to learn more about the whole feud with Konohana." At that, Rutger straightened his hat and tapped his cane on the ground. "Knowledge is a wonderful thing to have!" he chuckled as the two began walking towards the summit. As she nodded to Rutger's babbling, Lillian walked past Jessica's store and found Ash staring at her. To her surprise, when she waved her hand in a half wave he did not wave back. Instead, he continued to stare at her, then he mouthed, "Can you meet me when you're done?" Lillian didn't hesitate, but instead smiled and mouthed back, "Sure! I'll meet you in my barn when I'm done with Rutger!" Ash smiled happily, and turned around at this. Earlier, when he'd seen her heading towards the far side of town with a picnic basket, he'd been ready to throw a fit. He had been so sure that it was for Cam that when he'd seen her and Rutger walking together, he felt nearly ashamed at how ready he'd been to accuse her of avoiding him. Watching her walk towards the mountain, the farm boy closed his eyes and envisioned his next move, knowing full well that this could be his last chance to impress Lillian.

Apologies for some of my chapters being shorter than others XD That's how you can tell I've been busy though! I added to my collection story, and while I did that I started thinking about how it's such a shame that Lillian can't end up with ALL the bachelors. I'm considering writing either stories of her married life with each bachelor and putting that into a collection, or writing a sort of crossover where she has a harem…so like, mixing it with Ouran highschool Host club. I think I could put her and the other characters in that situation and make things that much more epic XD Let me know in the reviews so I can start while the ideas are still fresh in my mind : ) thanks for reading, and expect more!