Gonna keep these notes or whatever shorter or not at all. So a reminder to all those reading: thank you! You are the real MVPs out there! And I truly hope ya'll enjoying this..
"You know today are the horse races, right?" a male voice came into Claire's earshot.
Claire was too busy staring off into her fields, contemplating her next steps to even notice the well-known figure arriving on her farm. She briefly looked at him then back at her fields, her expression not changing. "Not particularly in the mood, Andrew."
"Oh come now, sis. The horse races are particularly exciting." Andrew approached his sister and leaned against the shipping bin, half sitting on it.
"Ann, obviously, did not tell you about last time."
"Ah, but Fall's is a bit more exhilarating than Spring's," he countered as he adjusted a blue baseball cap he was wearing backwards. "The bets are higher making the tension all the greater."
"That may be so, but I don't particularly care. I'm not going to one till I decide to enter Alex. And that won't be awhile since I want to make sure he is trained well beforehand."
"I think it is weird you named the horse after our cousin."
"And I still think it is rather weird you forgot to mention that there was a valley filled with people," Claire countered. At that moment she knew what her next task would be.
"Touché."
The farmer started to check each individual crop of hers, starting with the ones closer to her and the shipping bin. Her plan was to ensure her crops were healthy and, of course, to rip up any difficult weeds. She had seen a significant reduction of those weeds that seemed to bleed from another dimension since utilizing all of her fields – a section for her animals and the rest for her crops. It was better for keeping up with her work but only if she was consistent about it.
Claire glanced at her brother, continuing the conversation, "If you're sticking around, I expect you to help out in some fashion. Otherwise, I rather be left alone."
"Fair enough," the chocolate-haired man joined his sister. She quickly explained and showed him what to do. "I still think you should come to the horse race. Gray's there, throwing more money at the races than he normally does."
"Good for him."
"What is with you two, anyways?" Finding a weed, Andrew gripped it and pulled with his full force. It surprisingly easily ripped out causing him to hit the dirt backwards. "It's bad enough you never told me what happened in the valley." He regained his kneeling posture, moving to the next plant while somewhat glancing at his sister. "But ever since you two were seen to be running up north, the two of you have been different." The blonde shrugged her shoulders while she examined the plant in front of her. "Let me reword that: both of you seem distant from everyone and each other."
"Nothing more than usual. I do have a lot to do on this farm still, Andrew."
"True, and we need to talk about how you need to slow down at times; but, but like I said, it is both of you. I don't know if you know this but Gray's been working longer with Saibara at the blacksmith."
"I'm not seeing how that is a bad thing."
"Normally, no, but before? I know he had been visiting you."
"What do you want me to say? Before, he visited. Now? He doesn't. That's his choice. Perhaps he is back visiting the library," Claire suggested, briefly stopping her task. She gritted her teeth.
"Definitely not, Claire. Don't forget, I share a room with the guy." Claire released a breath she did not realize she was holding in. Her brother continued, toying with the plant in front of him, "and have pretty decent chats with him. He would have mentioned that."
"Then take this up with him."
"Funny, he said that as well when I mentioned you."
"You guys talk about me?" the blonde raised her eyebrows as she focused more on her brother.
"Obviously. You're my sister and besides Ann, Gray is another person who you spend a lot of time with. It's only natural you would come up in our chats. And for the record," Andrew paused to stand and stretch in order to regain feeling to them. He was not used to this kind of work. "I did take it up with him and got nowhere. Can't really talk to him much these days anyhow, since he collapses into his bed when he returns to the inn."
"Again, Andrew, I don't know what you want me to say."
"Well, whatever happened on that day and since neither of you want to spill, I can only say this: talk to each other. I don't care about excuses, just talk. Or Ann will do her thing."
"She knows?" Claire stood up, tired from straining her neck in looking up at her brother. She wiped her dirt-ridden hands on her overalls. It was a habit she could not stop, even when she wore gloves.
"No, but I think she suspects something is off between you two. And with enough time, she does find out in the end."
The blonde tilted her head in agreement. The thought of Ann meddling, although with good intentions since this was Ann, Claire wanted to avoid. Who knew what the crazy ginger would end up doing.
Barks coming from the opposite end of her fields caught the siblings attention, switching gears in the conversation. "What is Akira doing? She gives the 'I'm in charge' kind of vibe to the other two."
Claire watched as Akira paced back and forth in front of the German Shepherd, Zeus, and the Border Collie, Zoey, both who seemed to be paying close attention to Akira and her barkings. The blonde giggled, "She's probably giving them rules or something. I really – Andrew, your guess as good as mine. I just go with it. As long as she protects this place and is a good girl, I don't mind. Same goes for the other two."
"Strange how you find not one but three dogs."
"Strange how work stops when anybody comes to visit."
"Except when Gray comes over, right?" he poked his sister. She tried bending away from the poke as he did.
Claire opened her mouth then quickly shut it. Gray, after all, was known to help her around the farm, much more than anyone else who would visit her. She then glared, crossing her arms over her chest. "Touché." Her brother laughed in response.
Weeks flew by as Claire continued to throw herself into her farm. Her fields were full and vibrant. She timed the plantings (if she needed to) accordingly to where nearly everyday she would be harvesting something. It was a lot of work, but it gave her a significant boost in income. Despite her initial doubts, she even decided to expand the number of her animals. It only seemed logical to do so given how she now housed three dogs on her farm; all three breeds she knew would be up to the task.
"Akira, you're in charge of ensuring the safety of the animals," she instructed her Australian Shepherd the day she ordered more cows and sheep. Chickens she held off on considering she had wanted to first have an outside pen built for just them somewhere on her farm. For now, Alice roamed around with the cows and sheep under close supervision usually by one of the dogs. "Looks like one day I'll need Gotz to expand my barn," she said to no one but herself.
Despite all this work she had given herself, she carved out time to figure out the next steps concerning the revelation of the north. She strictly told herself that, for the time being, no television was to be watched any time soon. There simply was no time for her to get lost in the worlds she had loved.
Her first step? To purchase the necessary parts and equipment she would need. Of course, ordering the items meant that it would take some time to get them delivered. So she utilized her time by drawing out plans and making a mental note to somehow borrow Ann's elaborate contraption. She also took a closer look at the small device she had been given. It was USB adaptable. So one late evening, she stuck it into her laptop. "Right, let's see what you do."
As soon as she did, it immediately darkened her laptop's screen. "What the..."
Then a chat window appeared. She furrowed her brow not entirely sure what to think about it. "Seems a bit excessive for a device such as this if it only loads some sort of chat window." Just as soon as she uttered the last word, a video of a red-haired man popped in the same window.
"Not exactly for the typing kind of chat, ma'am."
"Right, I knew that." Crossing her legs on the couch, she grabbed her laptop and continued, "And please, Morris, stop calling me 'ma'am.' It makes me feel old."
"Then use my nickname, Murrey, and you won't have to hear it ever again."
"Deal then. I still think the device is a bit excessive for something like this."
"I was told it is due to encryption or something. I'm no expect."
"Yeah, I'm gonna have to make some adjustments..." She started rapidly tapping on her keyboard, examining what exactly the hooked up device allowed her to do. "Anyways, tell me what the purpose of all this is," she continued while examining the device.
"So we won't be caught up a creek without a paddle. Also, from my recollection, the device gives you access to-"
"Your systems. Well, not complete access." She looked up from her laptop in thought then back, continuing the conversation, "But that's fixable once my order is here. And once I figure a few things. There is something – a file – which I can't seem to access on it though. It's encrypted like a bugger."
"Yeah, that is also a reason I gave you the device. You probably know there are no databanks on what is being done here. Just physical copies. So when that file was found, I had someone make a copy of it to throw on the device like a rancher throwing hay." He scratched his head bashfully then continued, "I do have to go, but if you could decode it, it could prove very valuable."
"Cause nobody has that kind of encryption on something that isn't juicy," the blonde squinted, the wheels in her head turning.
"Something like that," Morris chuckled. "Till next time." The picture of him disappeared, allowing normal operations on her laptop to resume.
"Huh," she exclaimed to herself, "guess it was programed like this for initial contact." She unplugged the device and examined the handy work. "Interesting little device. You should be fun to play with."
As time puttered forward, she continued with her schedule of working tirelessly on her farm all day then in the evenings furthering the development of her plans and studying the device. The device she especially spent most of her nights trying to thoroughly understand the in's and out's of it. And once she did, her focus turned to the infamous file. She knew it would take an unholy amount of time to decrypt. She expected and accepted this.
Many times as she cozied her way into one of her couches for the evenings wearing her PJs and with laptop on her lap, she would glance at her bookcase filled with her beloved DVDs of all her favourites. They beckoned to her, more days than others. And every time they did, it felt as if she were abandoning her children.
The only time she realized she truly was isolating herself from everyone was when either her brother came or Ann. Her brother gave up pretty quickly in coaxing her to venture around town. On the positive side, he knew exactly where to find her anytime he wanted to hang out. And he made sure he visited her much more than previously. He often times tried prying for information on why she insisted on being strictly on her farm, save for trips to Jeff's store, but he never was able to procure any ideas, nearly giving up in ever finding out. He knew though that whatever it was, he would be there and would make sure she knew that.
Ann was a bit more brash in her methods. She tried everything under the sun to get Claire to at the very least come to the inn, oftentimes laying on the guilt trips thick. She persisted in her quest in acquiring information, but the farmer would not budge. The ginger knew she would 'break her,' but frustration was definitely settling with her quicker than anticipated.
Other people from town also visited, now and then, but Claire never paid close attention. She wasn't rude though but rather concentrated (or at least tried to) on her work.
Zack came every day at his regular time of five in the evening. It was the one visit that was fairly useful to the farmer. Every five in the evening, she made sure to start wrapping up her farm work before switching gears to her research. This was especially useful on days where she had a lot to accomplish on her farm. The two never really talked much, but that was perfectly fine with the farmer.
But on a cold crisp fall evening, Claire's goods she had ordered decided to arrive. Zack pulled a trolley filled with brown boxes as he entered her property. "I swear, Claire, this is the most I've ever had to deliver here on the island. Probably more than I have ever delivered to Barley and Duke combined. And that's saying something."
At the mention of Duke, Claire randomly thought back to earlier in the fall, just after the Moon Festival. She remembered the morning where Duke appeared at her front door seconds after she had opened her door to start her chores. And even though she nearly had a heart attack at that moment, it wasn't the reason why the encounter stuck with her.
Now Mineral Town was a small town. Claire knew this. Everyone knew this. (Even the dogs knew this.) So when Duke had asked her if she could help out over at Aja Winery, naturally, she was more than willing to help out. "Anything for a neighbour," she had said. However, the next thing that had proceeded out of his mouth was that if she knew of anyone who could use the work, bring them along as well. She was baffled then and still was even now as she watched Zack head more towards her house. It was no secret Cliff had blown into town with not much money to him. Duke could have asked him directly, but no, apparently he had to dare ask her if she knew anyone. It just didn't make any sense to the blonde.
"Now I assume you want all these inside," Zack disrupted Claire's recollection of what she deemed a strange event.
"Uh, yeah, yeah. I'll show you which room."
As Zack unloaded the trolley, Claire examined the boxes noting that not everything she ordered weeks back had arrived. "Zack, I know this is a lot of boxes, goods, and all that." She closed a box she had opened. "But I'm afraid to inform you that... there is more coming."
"Okay!" Zack declared, getting a good rhythm in unloading.
"I am sorry if it is more than anything you've delivered."
"Think nothing of it. It's not often I deliver items to the island. Sure it is a lot but once you get going," he shrugged, "it isn't all that bad. It's work!" He smiled at Claire continuing with his task.
The blonde gave a small chuckle. It was hard not to since Zack's smiles were always infectious. She opened another box and only now fully realized she had no idea if the bedroom adjacent to hers would fit everything. It is gonna have to do. One thing she knew: that building she wanted built from scratch? It was going to have to be bumped up in the things she wanted to do, or at the very least, the main floor of it.
"Okay, girl, you can do this. You got this," Claire whispered to herself, playing around with the key around her neck. She was smack in front of the blacksmith's shop. Often times when she was required to shop for whatever she needed for her farm at Jeff's store, she paused every time she walked by thinking that one day she would have to enter. That was every time since the blacksmith was the first nearby building across the bridge that led to her farm.
This particular fall afternoon was the day she determined that she would enter. "Though am I really done my farm work for the day?" contemplated Claire, "No, I'm doing this." She had no excuses to fall back on. She gripped on the door handle and swung the door open. No turning back...
The once annoyingly hot air which always slapped the blonde any time she walked into the blacksmith was now welcomed by her. It was a stark contrast to the outside. Her eyes searched the room. To her surprise, Gray was nowhere to be seen. "Hello, Claire!" Saibara noticed the blonde's demeanour, "If you're looking for Gray, he should be back from the mines any time now."
"Oh, okay," she responded, her thoughts already drifting. "If any time, do you mind if I stick around till he does?"
"More than welcomed to."
The shop grew quiet from there. Saibara was looking things over which Claire presumed were some sort of paperwork – perhaps even an upcoming order. She did not know. While he did that, she began to not enjoy the quietness. She thought back to the end of summer of how she displayed her full-on crazy to the two blacksmiths. It was then she realized she never fully apologized to Saibara for her behaviour, even though she had tried her best to be as respectful as she could when she had given that speech. "Um, Saibara, sir," the elderly man looked up from some papers he had been examining, "I don't think I fully apologized on the outburst I had back on the last day of summer."
"Not necessary, Claire. If anything, it showed me you have gumption."
"But still. I don't want you to think that I was, I dunno, undermining your training process. Cause I understand the need for discipline when learning."
"It's okay, my dear," he paused to shuffle some papers then continued, "In fact, you seem to be very good for Gray. He still is useless with some of the concepts, but he's learning."
The blonde hesitated to say anything, hoping that her body language revealed nothing. Thankfully, her worry of what to say to what Saibara said disappeared as the blacksmith's door swung open. "Got the majority of the ores." Gray adjusted his grip on the bag he had resting on his shoulder.
Saibara stared at his grandson in anticipation.
Realizing his grandfather's demeanour, he quickly added, "Sir!" But at the same time he did, he noticed Claire's presence in the shop. He nodded at her, acknowledging her presence, then lugged the bag of ores to a corner of the shop.
Woooow. A nod.
He could be just tired from the mines...
Okay. You gotta say something, genius, otherwise we standing for no reason.
Claire unknowingly cleared her throat. Just as she was about to say something, the reason for her being there in the first place spoke up.
"Claire, what's up?" Gray inquired.
"Uh, well, you seem a bit busy," words came quickly to the blonde, "This is a bad time. I'll come back some other time." The blonde reached for the door handle.
"That's easily fixed," Saibara interjected, "Gray, you did enough for today. Go. Enjoy yourself. Next few weeks there will be enough work for you as it is. I expect hard work from you." The pair both stared at the old man each not believing he had said what he said. "Go on," Saibara waved his hand at them.
Claire was the first one out the door followed by Gray. Once outside, the two of them just stood around not really knowing what to do. Gray opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut his mouth.
"Whelp," the blonde began, "I did not expect that."
The young blacksmith slumped in his posture, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I'd be lying if I said I was. It isn't his first time dismissing me early either." The two of them stepped more away from the blacksmith.
"At least you have some free time now. Maybe we could hang out for a bit...?"
Smoooth.
Why now...
"Looks like I don't have much choice," Gray said without much thinking.
Claire gaped her mouth, her nose crinkling. "Wooow. Good to know I'm a last resort..."
"That's not what I meant at all..." he massaged the bridge of his nose. He peered through his hat at her. She impatiently waited for him to further elaborate, giving him a look which indicated that it had better be good. He took a deep breath and sighed as he released it. "I don't have much choice only because my only other option is going back to the inn for the day. Not really in the mood to do so."
"What about the library?" Claire mentally kicked herself for even bringing it up then wondered why she was allowing it to bug her. It was a legit question, after all. He had for quite some time visited Mary in the library till summer. She began spiralling in her thoughts, cursing herself for having such thoughts but at the same time encouraging herself to have those thoughts. Focus, girl. You want to talk to him for a specific reason, and it isn't to discuss the library.
Yeah, what were you thinking?
Shut it...
Gray shrugged his shoulders, his facial expressions matching it. He then locked eyes with the blonde. "Why did you drop by? That is to say, I don't mind that you did. But why?"
Claire began to slowly head back to her farm. Gray joined. "I sort of need, well, want to talk to you about... that day."
"What part?" he chortled.
"Any," she replied but knew that wasn't entirely true. She braced for what her conscious might remark. But when-
Liar.
Nope, it did. She regained her composure which she guessed was noticeable but was unsure since her companion said nothing. "I mean," she continued, wanting to further elaborate, "we never really talked about any of it on our way back to town or even when you dropped me off at my farm – which is understandable considering the trauma of everything." She immediately thought to herself whether 'trauma' was really the best word for the situation. By now, the two of them were in front of her house and were facing each other. "I mean, hell, I had troubles sleeping that night. Ended up crying myself to sleep, but I am fine to be clear..." She slightly shifted her eyes away from looking at him. It was very unclear to her why she even mentioned that to him.
When she did return her eyes on him, she saw a noticeable look of concern. "I was fine – I am fine," she tried convincing him. She was unsure whether she was convincing him or herself.
"Fine as in only working on your farm since fine?" he arched his eyebrows, still with concern etched on his face.
"You're one to talk. I'm not the only one throwing myself into my work."
"I see your brother has been talking. It is completely different, you know."
"I fail to see how. If you c-"
"I told my grandfather," Gray interrupted and surprisingly without much hesitation. He lightly kicked some invisible rock on the ground.
The blonde took a moment to process. "That you..." she looked at her chest quickly realizing she was not wearing it, "well, I forgot not today – but he knows now?" Claire rubbed her arms in an attempt to warm them. She might have been wearing a jacket over her overalls, but somehow, the cold managed to creep on her.
Gray nodded, "Yup." He glanced at her arms and quickly continued, "If you want, we can continue talking inside your house. It's not exactly the warmest out here."
"I was thinking the same thing," Claire quickly opened her front door, and the two of them entered.
Gray began as he closed the door behind him. He adjusted his hat,"You know, it is because of you that I did. I never would have myself, never mind thinking about increasing my hours."
"Glad to help with something," she quietly said, thinking of her next words. "Gray, I am sorry about my little outburst and that..."
"It's fine, Claire. I'm probably the one who should be apologizing. I should have checked on you – made the time for it or something, to see if you were alright – but I didn't."
"I am okay though..."
"Claire."
The tone of his voice rippled through her head, indicating to her that perhaps he did not believe her. His body language – him crossing his arms – however, convinced her on the matter. "Okay, maybe not really... it's overwhelming and..." she opened her mouth, trying to think of other words to say.
"You can't stop thinking of it," he helped finished her thought.
"Yeah... it's just with all the work I have to do on the farm plus other things which are on my mind, all this is just – is just..." She wanted to say everything and anything on her mind, but words were leaving her head faster than she could say them. It startled her.
But what startled her more was an unexpected invitation from the blacksmith. She knew from observation Gray was not particularly fond of hugging. So it puzzled her that he motioned her to do just that with him. She gladly accepted and wrapped her arms around him, sinking in his chest. Her emotions started to get the better of her, but she determined that she would not break down right there. She closed her eyes.
Not knowing exactly what to do with his arms, Gray lightly patted her back. "You know, sometimes things are out of our hands."
Claire said nothing. The weight of everything on her mind – from her farm to what in-progress plans she had concerning the situation up north (and there were many) – melted away. She wanted to dwell in the moment forever even if it was a nonsensical thing to even want. However, somebody had to start to pull away for the sake of avoiding potential awkwardness, and she recognized it had to be her.
She loosened her grip allowing the two to pull apart. The two of them slightly smiled at each other, both understanding that a hug was very much needed. Not wanting to just stand there, Claire sparked the conversation further, "There is one specific thing I want to talk about. It's, um," she twiddled with a stray piece from her tied up blonde hair, "it's about what happened in that room."
'Bout time. Bit vague, but I'll take it.
"That room?" the young blacksmith questioned. He peered through his hat, his face showing he knew exactly what she meant. Yet it went unnoticed by the blonde.
"You know..." she nodded, her head motioning towards him. "We never really talked about it." A small blush inched up her face. At that point, she cared not whether it was noticeable.
"No we, didn't." He paused, thinking carefully what to say next. At the same time the two of them began to speak to further the conversation. Claire motioned for Gray to go first. "Look, Claire, I just want to assure you that I understand. It was a difficult situation after all, and had it not been done, who knows what could have happened instead. It had its purpose."
"Yeah, purpose..." she slightly looked around as she went back to fidgeting with the strand of hair. Shock was slowly settling within her.
That said shock temporally halted when Gray suddenly cursed under his breath. She held her breath ever so slightly. Perhaps he realized what he said? "Claire, I just remembered I completely forgot a task I had to do today. And if I don't that old ma – I mean, my grandfather is going to skin me alive. I'm so sorry, Claire, but I have to go. Rest assured, I'll make time to come by." He paused slightly then went to quickly embrace the shell-shocked blonde. Regaining his composure, he tipped his hat and quickly exited her house.
Claire stared at her door, "What the actual... fork..." Her conscious, for once and to her relief, said nothing. She took a few steps to her door and placed one of her palms on the door. She slid her hand down then turned around, sliding her back against the door to a sitting position. She tried fighting back the tears that were rapidly filling her eyes but knew they had to come.
It did not matter to her that he had hugged her. It did not matter that he really did care for her well being. No, none of that was relevant. All she kept repeating in her head was that he brushed off the kiss in that room.
And that broke her heart more than anything.