17 Fall, Year 2

The First Useful Reward

I didn't go to the Stardew Valley Fair last year – I didn't have anything to show off. This time things weren't much better, but at least I had a decent goat cheese, I had kept a few of my best pumpkins, a bunch of cranberries and a bushel of sunflowers.

I didn't win, but hey. Pierre's produce was honestly of better quality. I was interested to see that Willy actually showed off fish, and even Robin and Clint had their own grange displays. Marnie had this massive cheese wheel and I'm just not sure Lewis really appreciated just how much work that thing must've cost.

However, now I have a couple of pumpkins that I haven't sold. I have my second harvest growing on the field, and I made enough money with the first harvest that I'm not too worried about the coming winter. About half of my second harvest will end up in my own freezer boxes, my animals will go on producing through the winter, and I'll be gone for a week to visit my family – my family will probably help me get anything I might need that I can't get here in the village.

So at 6 am, when I can be fairly certain no one will be up yet to see me, I take the smallest of my pumpkins to the community center. It's the last thing on the list of fall crops in the pantry, I can't say it's going to be a very big loss all on its own, and I'm kind of curious what I'll get back.

I finished the fall forageables list on the third day of fall and got more of those mixed seeds, which have turned out to grow into the same things I picked out of the bushes and gave to the junimos: plums, hazelnuts, mushrooms and blackberries. Each type grew on a weird kind of plant that had nothing to do with the trees and bushes these fruits normally grew on, and the mushrooms just directly out of the ground. As about 30 of the things reached maturity, I basically got the four items I sacrificed back some 8 times over, and I was unable to give them back to the junimos, so the only conclusion I could reach was that I was supposed to keep these.

Also, after getting those seeds, another scroll appeared in the boiler room, and it requires more valuable stuff – starting with a bar each of copper, iron and gold. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this yet. I'm just going to complete the first room, the empty one – because everything it asks for is literally stuff I pick up off the ground – and I might as well do the pantry because it's not such a big deal for me to lose one individual fruit or vegetable. But if I finish those and they just keep popping out new scrolls all over the place, then that's gonna be it. I'm not going to give away a bloody bar of gold. I've never even held a whole bar of gold in my life.

I quickly make my way to the pantry – I still don't really know what I would tell any of the villagers if they spotted me going into the community center, let alone if they figured out I was taking my fresh produce inside and coming out without it. I watch closely as the pumpkin melts into the little golden scroll; I still find it amazing to watch. The word 'pumpkin' disappears from the scroll, leaving an empty space where that little list of four items used to be.

A few seconds later the air above the scroll starts to shimmer – and the weird effect reaches a much taller height than the first few times when all that appeared was a little bag of seeds. I step back just in case while four wooden legs start to take shape from the bottom up. I can't believe my eyes when I realize what's suddenly standing on the scroll after the shimmering has stopped. I slowly go over and lift up the lid to find twelve empty wooden frames hung vertically inside the wooden chest on legs.

"A beehive?"

I carefully lift the object and move it to the side so I can crouch and read the roll. A little star has appeared in the space left by the list of items I've completed, with 'bee house' next to it.

"It's a beehive. Wow."

Then I realize that a beehive is useless without bees, and I'm not interested in surprises. I lift out each of the frames in turn until I reach one, the center one, which is completely full of beeswax cells that are all full and closed with wax caps. I don't know a lot about bees, but I know they grow in cells like these. There's also two large... peanut-shaped things stuck to the sides of the frame, looking like they don't belong here.

I'm going to need to learn about bees. How can I find out what these peanut things are? Maybe my grandpa's notebooks. They're the only thing I can think about right now that might hold information. Otherwise... maybe I could send a letter to my parents and ask them to help me contact a beekeeper? Do these people put out ads in the phone book? I vaguely remember someone once came to pick up a swarm that had landed on a wall of my school building.

How am I going to explain to a beekeeper that I just randomly came by a swarm of bees but don't have anyone to explain to me how they work? I can't say I just found a swarm... it would have disappeared by the time the letter reached the city. Maybe I should just tell them I want to keep bees and keep it at that. I should at least get information. I was thinking about using the farm for beekeeping, maybe, at some point in the future, but I wasn't expecting a bee... family... to be thrust into my hands out of the blue. I hope I can get someone to sell me the protective clothing. I kind of feel out of my depth with these insects and their stingers. And what will they eat? It's fall, there's no flowers.

I quickly make my way back to the farm with my bee house before anyone gets outside and sees me. I write that letter before I do anything else – I really don't want these bees to die.