The Nature of Gold
Robin had hardly finished unlocking the front door to open her carpentry shop for business that bright sunny Friday morning when Lewis burst in and slapped a sack of gold onto the counter. "This is for the house upgrade," he muttered miserably under his mustache. The Mayor was disheveled with his yellow tie crooked, his emerald green shirt buttons fastened in the wrong holes, and his suspenders sliding off his left shoulder. By the grave look on his face, someone had clearly put the fear of Yoba in him.
"Come again?" the ginger asked to clarify. "Isn't your mayoral mansion already upgraded to your liking?" Robin questioned sarcastically.
Lewis shook his head and thrust the sack of gold closer to the carpenter. "No, no, no," Lewis said in a hushed voice. "It's for Fairy Rose Farm. Get on the job immediately or that damn lawyer will sue!"
"Lawyer?" Robin repeated questioningly.
Lewis's eyes darted around like a wary mouse trying to take a piece of cheese off of a trap. "I've said too much," he replied. The old man's dark eyes urged her on. "Just get started right away, Robin. Hurry!"
The carpenter quickly took a count of the coins in the pouch and once she was satisfied she had been paid in full, Robin smiled sweetly at the Mayor. "Thank you for doing business, Lewis. The local economy appreciates your patronage."
"Oh, save it, Robin," the old man snapped. His beady eyes narrowed at the woman scornfully, "If it was you who put him up to this..."
"While I am always happy to upgrade a house in town," Robin responded, "I have no idea who this lawyer is, but I would love to get his contact information if he ruffled your feathers this easily."
The mustached man shot her a look, but said nothing as he exited the shop. Robin, quite pleased with this development, gathered up her tools and went to the lab to find her husband. The woman kissed her husband on his copper cheek and smiled, "I'm off on a job. I'll be back in time to go to The Stardrop Saloon."
Demetrius paused and looked away from his microscope. "Where's the job?" he asked curiously. Normally his wife did not start a project the same day it was ordered and as far as he was aware no business was drummed up the previous day.
"Fairy Rose Farm!" Robin informed the scientist with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Demetrius knew that look. By now he also learned not to ask questions or he might get answers regarding subjects he did not want to know.
"Enjoy yourself, Robin," he replied, giving his wife a little rub on the shoulder. "Can I make you any lunch to-go?"
The pale woman declined, "I've already got food packed, but thank you, love." She gave him another quick squeeze around his waist before she headed out. "See you tonight!" she called from the front door and the little bell chimed as Robin headed west down the mountain toward the old farmhouse.
Violet performed her morning routine as usual. The farmer watered her crops, harvested her kale and potatoes, washed and sorted them, and then packed most of them away to sell to Pierre later that day. She even tried to stick the mysterious green shoots she found in the mines the night before just to see what they would produce. Bruno seemed happy to have his human back on the farm overnight and Violet appreciated having her furry companion around while she had a slight emotional crisis throughout the night. Violet spent much of the previous evening snuggling her giant dog, stroking his soft fur, and mulling over how to handle the situation with Sebastian. Should she play ignorant? Or straight-up tell him that while the feelings were mutual, she did not want to pursue anything right now? Violet worried that if she went so far as to preemptively reject Sebastian, it would ruin their budding friendship. Besides, rejecting the feelings of someone you knew you liked back seemed... dishonest.
Thoughts of this nature kept Violet awake most of the night, and what stopped her from changing out of new favorite shirt once she discovered its origin. The floral-haired woman sighed deeply, unsure of what to do. Maybe Bex will know... she thought to herself. But her best friend would not be here until Sunday evening or Monday morning, depending on when she could get off work and get the truck from Violet's father.
The farmer knew she could not sit and wallow in her thoughts all day, however. So, as she got ready to head into town, Violet noticed the little red flag on her mailbox was up, indicating she had a letter. It was a request from Jodi for a cauliflower. It was a shame she had not received this request before she had harvested her previous batch of the white cruciferous vegetables. The young woman made note to set aside one for Jodi once the seeds she got from Gunther matured late next week. The 25th was going to be a busy harvest day, the new farmer thought to herself. Luckily, that was the day after the Flower Dance.
Oh, shit. The Flower Dance. What was she going to do about the Flower Dance? Everyone was going to get dressed up, looking their best. Violet knew she was weak to men in formal attire. Especially button-up shirts with their sleeves rolled up and the first few buttons from the collar undone. That was bound to happen as people wound down from a day of dancing.
"I just won't go!" she announced to the air, throwing up her arms in defeat. Violet started to reason with herself on why she should not attend the festival. "That way, I don't have to worry about getting all flustered and saying or doing something problematic that would lead anyone on..." But then the woman remembered that Bex was coming to visit her in Pelican Town because Violet had invited her to the Flower Dance. There was no way Rebecca was going to miss out on an opportunity to show off one of her natural talents. Her best friend would not let Violet avoid the situation, either. It was in Bex's nature to address things head-on and she was a firm believer in making sure Violet did the same "for her own good."
Violet resigned herself to awkward fumbling and embarrassment. There was no getting out of this, after all. The farmer could not let this stop her from getting things done today, though. Violet wanted to make things perfect for Bex's arrival, so she decided to do a bit more tidying up in her little farmhouse before going into town to sell her vegetables. About twenty minutes into her cleaning, Violet heard a hammering on the side of her house that made her nearly jump out of her skin.
The farmer quickly ran outside to see what in the world was going on. Turning the corner around her house, Violet found Robin starting to remove nails from the exterior of her home. "Robin! What are you doing?!" the young woman exclaimed in alarm.
A friendly smile flashed across the carpenter's face. "Working on your house upgrade, silly girl," she informed the house's occupant. "Didn't the Mayor tell you?"
The farmer was baffled and for a moment, could not think of what to say. "Wh-Why is Mayor Lewis upgrading my house?"
Robin chuckled, clearly amused by something Violet did not understand. "I was hoping you could tell me," the carpenter replied. "The old man came into my shop first thing this morning looking like he had seen a ghost and muttering curses at some lawyer."
Violet's face went ashen grey, but not from her lack of sleep. "Oh, no..."
The ginger paused, realizing that Violet seemed to comprehend the situation and was unhappy about it. "I assume you know which lawyer contacted Lewis, then?"
The new farmer buried her face in her hands, "He's my meddling older brother!" she shouted in annoyance. "I don't know what he did, but it can't be good."
Robin approached the young woman and patted her sympathetically on the shoulder. "Hey, if he got Lewis to act this quickly, maybe we can hire him to get the old man on board with infrastructure projects the town desperately needs."
Violet's hair whipped around as her head shot up to look at Robin in alarm. "NO!" she plead with the carpenter. "Do not hire my brother unless you want to sell your soul! There is a reason he's already so successful despite being in his early thirties..." The poor girl looked miserable but Robin could not help but laugh at the dramatic warning. "He's known as the Fairy King Oberon of the NuNu City district court system. He'll get you what you want, but you may not like the price you pay!"
"I'm sure your brother is not as bad as all that," Robin assured the despondent twenty-something, gathering up her tools again to get back to her work. "Either way, you get a bigger house and kitchen out of it and I get paid."
The young farmer perked up hearing this logic. "I get a kitchen?" she repeated, her tone that of someone not quite sure if they should allow themselves to hope.
Another nail came loose as she pried it gently from the side of the house so that Robin could expand the exterior. "That's right, in three days you'll have a fully functional kitchen." The shorter woman's face contorted in a series of expressions that suggested to Robin that Violet might be having a crisis of conscience. So the older woman added, "If it makes you feel any better, this will be good for the local economy in a lot of ways. Now you can focus on saving up for farming equipment upgrades in Clint's shop and the more efficient you become, the more local food is grown right here in the Valley for all the townsfolk to buy at Pierre's. I would not worry about it, sweetie."
Violet seemed to accept the carpenter's logic and nodded in agreement. "Okay," she finally relented. It would be nice to have somewhere to cook her friend some meals when Bex came to visit. She did miss cooking and once she had use of a kitchen again, the farmer could eat more healthy again. Not to mention she could invite others over to eat. That was always a great way to bond. People loved eating! "But I'll have to invite you over to dinner sometime as a thank you."
Robin's face stretched in a friendly smile, "I would love that, dear. Thank you."
"So..." Violet began, trying to start a casual conversation. "What got you into carpentry?"
The ginger sighed fondly. "Well, back in the day we had this thing called 'shop class' in public schools. A lot of them have done away with it now as more young people choose the college track, but I took it as a joke at first and fell in love with the trade," Robin confessed. "There's just something about making a structure all on your own from natural materials. Our houses all take shape from one Mother to another."
It did have a romanticized, poetic sound to it when Robin put it like that. "Demetrius said you are the one who built your family's house up on the mountain."
A bit of Robin's bangs fell into her face, but she did not seem to mind. "You bet I did. It's my finest work, if I do say so myself." Her dark eyes glanced at Violet, "That's not to say I'm going to slack on your house, though."
"Of course not," Violet agreed. "I never thought you meant it that way, don't worry." The young woman paused, unsure of how to broach the topic about which she truly wanted to speak to Robin. Violet cleared her throat, "Robin, about yesterday..." she started.
The older woman stopped her work for a moment and turned her body toward Violet. With a kind smile on her face, she gestured for Violet to come closer. "Don't worry, I did not tell my son what you said." Robin pulled her into a gentle hug, "As much as I love Sebastian and want him to be happy, I'm not going to throw a young lady under the bus. Your secret is safe with me unless you instruct me otherwise, got it?" She sighed and patted Violet's head in a motherly fashion. "We all have our reasons for not acting on our feelings right away. Sometimes we need to stop and think about what our actions do to other people."
Violet felt a few tears fall from her eyes from the unexpected hug. It felt like she had imagined a protective mother's embrace might feel and she was overwhelmed by Robin's sincerity. "Th-thank you," she wailed pitifully. The farmer was so relieved that Robin was in her corner on this. "I know it's silly to worry, but I don't want to hurt him or - or me..."
Robin unwrapped her arms from around Violet and put her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean to make you cry," the red-head said apologetically as she wiped the tears from Violet's face. "And as a mother who doesn't want her son's heart broken, I appreciate that you care to think about these sort of things ahead of time. I did a lot of things I regret with Jessie that dissolved the marriage. Not that he was completely innocent, but I can't paint him as the villain in our story, either. I try to make it a point to respect that we all have our own reasons for doing what we do."
"Jessie?" Violet parroted.
The carpenter bit her lip, then shook her head. "Sebastian's father," she revealed in a quiet voice. "I really should not say much else about it to you, Violet. It would not be fair to Sebastian. I... haven't explained everything to him yet."
The mother's words immediately sobered Violet. "Oh..." she replied, understanding that likely meant that Sebastian did not know how his parents' marriage ended in divorce, which corresponded with the things that Maru mentioned earlier that season. "Yeah, Sebastian should know about his dad before you go telling others," she agreed.
"You're a good girl, Violet." Robin said, patting the young woman's head again. Normally, Violet hated it when people touched her head because it always seemed like they were making fun of her lack of height, but Robin's touch felt different. The farmer supposed this time she would allow it. It felt nice, that kind of softness only a parent could provide.
"I don't think you'd say that if you knew all about me," the young woman said regretfully, scuffing the toe of her boot in the dirt and avoiding Robin's eyes.
Robin chuckled, "It doesn't matter what you did before, Violet. What matters is who you are now and your actions going forward." The carpenter picked up her hammer and used its back end to continue her work of removing nails from the side of Violet's farmhouse. "As long as you learn from your mistakes, you're a good kid in my book."
Violet cleared her throat again, trying to keep the lump she felt forming at bay. "Thank you again, Robin," the pastel-haired woman eked out, holding back tears. "I'll... keep that in mind for myself, too."
The carpenter glanced over as the farmer started to walk away. "Hey, I know you're busy, but would you do me a favor, Violet?"
The younger woman stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath to compose herself before responding. "Sure, what is it?"
"Have you met the woman in the traveling cart? I want to see if she has a lucky rabbit's foot, but I can't afford to lose any time to get your house upgrade done on time. I would reimburse you, of course."
The farmer looked at Robin quizzically. "Where can I find her?" she asked curiously. Violet could not recall ever seeing a travelling merchant.
Robin thought for a moment, "If you head south off your property and then head west on the path that leads deeper into the Cindersap Forest, you can find her cart there on Fridays and Sundays."
Violet had never gone that way on a Friday or Sunday, so it made sense that the farmer had never encountered her. "Alright, I'll check for you."
"If you don't come back right away, I'll know she did not have it," Robin called after her, "So don't feel the need to report back to me. I know you have things to do, after all!"
Nodding to acknowledge the statement, Violet left in search of this mysterious merchant in the Cindersap Forest.
Sebastian pondered for the last several days on how to contact Krobus and after some consideration he finally decided to try a method he remembered using as a child this morning. The man went out to find one of the shadow creature's known favorites: a horseradish. It took a while, but once he obtained the pungent root, the black-clad man set it by the entrance to the mines and a crudely drawn map to find Sebastian's window, and instructed his old friend to come find him tonight at midnight. He drew a little stick figure set of the two of them together, like he always did as a kid and hoped that Krobus would realize who left him the message.
After he set things up, Sebastian quickly returned to his computer to get some work done before it was time to head to The Stardrop Saloon to play pool with the gang. Much to his surprise, the coder had a breakthrough on a project with which he had been struggling and finished debugging the program when he got a message from Sam. *Hey, fam. Do you mind coming to The Stardrop a bit early tonight? I wanna hang out just the two of us for a bit.*
Sam did not usually ask to meet up so last-minute, so Sebastian figured something must be going on. His dark eyes glanced at the corner of his screen to look at the time. It was getting close to one o'clock. *Sure. Should I head out now?*
*Yeah. Let me know when you're getting close and I'll meet you in the arcade room*
Sebastian pocketed his phone and a few other smaller items, including the weird glowing ring that Maru confessed she borrowed from Violet without permission, into the pockets of his black-washed jeans. "I'm going to meet Sam early today," he called toward the lab since his mother was no where to be seen.
"I appreciate you keeping us informed of your social plans," Demetrius replied from the next room. Sebastian's step-father was trying his best to provide positive feedback like Robin and Maru suggested.
"Have fun, big bro!" Maru called back. "Tell everyone I say 'hi!'"
Her older brother rolled his eyes, "You could come tell them yourself one of these nights," he told her. "You might have fun hanging out with everyone."
The bespectacled sibling poked her head into the hallway, "I don't enjoy drinking, playing pool, or arcade games," she informed him. Maru glanced back at her papers on the counter in the lab, "Besides, I have other plans myself. I promised Alex he would receive his training regiment by today and I intend to meet the deadline."
Part of Sebastian still could not believe that his little sister had an actual interest in Alex's athletic aspirations, but whatever made her happy, he supposed. "Well, enjoy, then."
Maru smirked and push the ruby red rims of her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, "I have a feeling Alex will be disappointed to know he is slower than he anticipated, but I suppose that just means there's more room for improvement."
"Best of luck, Maru," Sebastian said. As the bell chimed to signal Sebastian's departure, Demetrius turned to his daughter.
"I was not aware that you were meeting Alex today," he stated. The man's lower lip stuck out in a slight pout. "Why would you keep that from me, Maru?"
The young scientist shook her head and returned to her notes. "That was not my intention. It simply had not come up in conversation," she assured her father.
There was a moment of silence before Demetrius spoke again. "Is he meeting you here while we are all out tonight?"
"No, I'm going to his house," she replied, crossing out an error she found in her data and correcting it in red pen. "He said granny Evelyn made too much for dinner and thought it would be a good way to efficiently use both of our time."
Demetrius began to sway back and forth, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Perhaps I should stop by beforehand and have a chat with the young man."
Maru, who had begun to nibble slightly on her pen cap in agitation, did not like the direction her dad's train of thought seemed to be heading. She glanced at her father, "Why ever would you do that?" she asked him.
"Just to chat." Her father cleared his throat and scratched his head, which alerted Maru that he was trying to dodge the question. It was one of his tells.
"If this is another one of your 'don't ruin my daughter's bright future' conversations, like the one you gave Penny when we just started to become friends, you will do no such thing!" Maru snapped firmly. "Penny was afraid to talk to me for weeks after that! I am allowed to have friends and social interaction is not a waste of time! Even you have mom."
Her father's shoulder slumped and Maru knew she had caught him. "I just want you to be happy, Maru."
"I am happy, dad," she told him, trying her best not to sound harsh. "Can't you just let me live my life how I like it? I know I still live with you and mom, but I'm an adult who can make my own informed decisions."
Demetrius sighed heavily. "I suppose your mother and I have taught you all that we can in that regard," he admitted in resignation. "But that does not mean I have to like that my little Maru is all grown up now."
"I know, dad." The scientist smiled at her father, "But I hope you'll come to terms with it someday," she teased, prodding him with the dull end of her pen.
"Maybe when you get as old as I am," he chuckled, nudging her in return with his elbow. "Until then, you'll have to give me some grace." Maru did not respond, but instead the two enjoyed each other's silent company as they worked for the rest of the afternoon.
Violet heard the woman in the traveling cart before she saw her. A hauntingly beautiful song rang out into the air in a language which the farmer could not understand. The tune itself sounded like a cross between a sea shanty and the mournful cries of loss and the singer was undoubtedly talented. If Robin had not alerted Violet of the woman's whereabouts, the young woman might have mistaken the sounds for the equivalent of a siren's call to the fairy realm. While she doubted the existence of actual fairies, Violet loved the idea of them and their natural magic. They were one of the main reasons that inspired her love of druidic characters in most of the RPG campaigns she played.
The floral-haired woman followed the overgrown path to the western edge of the forest and found a large wine-colored wagon with a sea-foam green roof. The adornments were beautifully carved and soft colorful lights twinkled under the rim of the roof, giving the cart a more festive appearance. As the woman saw Violet approached, she stopped singing and called a greeting in a heavy accent. "Hello, welcome to my shop!"
The farmer could not help but notice that the woman was gorgeous. She was a tall, curvaceous woman in a sapphire blue dress that covered her arms down to her wrists. Gold earrings and matching bangles made a soft twinkling sounds as she gracefully tilted her body toward her customer out the window of her cart. Her curly teal hair stopped just above her shoulders and cascaded off to the right side of her face, framing her cerulean eyes well. She had a warm, golden undertone to her skin that made Violet reminiscent of a sandy beach son a sunny day. "How can I be of help to you?" the woman asked, trying to get Violet's attention.
Violet blushed apologetically, caught off-guard by her own captivation. "I'm Violet, the new farmer in town. I heard you sell interesting items," she told the merchant.
The woman smiled, "That I do." After rummaging around in her cart for a while, she produced a large scroll of her current inventory. It included pictures and prices. After looking it over, Violet did not see anything that looked like Robin's desired rabbit's foot, but she was curious about several items. "What are these seeds?" the farmer asked the merchant.
The teal-haired woman beamed, "Ah, those are rare seeds," she told her customer. "They will take most of the autumn season to grow, but the fruit they produce is highly valued for its unparalleled sweetness."
With Mayor Lewis' free upgrade to her house, Violet did not have any immediate savings goals at the moment. "I'll take them both," she said. The merchant cupped her hands to accept payment from Violet and exchanged them with the seed packets. The seeds were larger than the farmer expected, and shaped like a Hersey's kiss.
"Does anything else catch your discerning eye?" the mysterious woman queried Violet. As the customer, she knew that the merchant was supposed to play to Violet's sense of importance, but she liked the compliments all the same.
Violet smiled sheepishly, "I'm afraid I cannot afford much else without making some money first," the farmer admitted. "But thank you for the seeds. May I ask where else you travel to do business?"
"I bring rare goods from Gotoro, it is my business to provide this service." The woman replied, her curls bobbed in a way that reminded Violet of the rolling waves of the open sea. "It is why I demand such a high price when I find something especially worthy."
The young woman was surprised by this answer. Not the wartime pricing, but that this woman was willing to travel between two countries at war with one another, presumably alone. Well, almost alone. There was a hog of unusual size and color loitering at the front of the cart, wearing goggles and a red fez. The farmer wondered if it was real, though that seemed to be the case from the noises and movements the creature made. "It sounds dangerous, miss..." Violet purposefully trailed off to encourage the merchant to introduce herself.
She curly-haired woman shook her head coyly, "Ah, I do not give out my name to those I have only just met. It is a matter of business practice in these times." Her light blue eyes scanned Violet, "But perhaps if we continue these profitable encounters in the future, we shall become close." The traveler winked at Violet, "But I will keep your name well-known in my mind, miss Violet. Your flower-kissed hair will help me remember well."
Violet laughed nervously, both from what she thought was a compliment on her choice of hair dye and a strange feeling in her gut that perhaps her instinct about a fairy abduction was not so far off-base if this woman was so reluctant to reveal her name. "What song were you singing before?" the farmer asked. "It sounded sad."
The gold earrings on the traveling merchant jingled slightly as she tilted her head, "Ah, it is sad at first. A woman's lover betrays her trust," she explained. Her lips stretched into a smiled that spanned her entire face, "But she prays to the goddesses and they curse him to become a fish. The scorned woman then feeds that same fish to a dolphin. The dolphin then becomes a man far more beautiful and steadfast than her former lover."
"So I guess the moral of the story is don't cheat or your girlfriend will get divine blessing to kill you and replace you with an improved model?"
The merchant let out a hearty laugh. "You are a funny girl," the teal-haired woman replied, clutching her hand to her neckline. "The song is meant to instill trust in the goddesses and teach sailors that the sea will punish the wicked." The beautiful woman continued to chuckled, "But I like your interpretation quite well." She extended her hand to shake with Violet, "You may call me Talla."
The farmer nodded, and shook her hand. "Tal-LAH..." she echoed back, making sure the emphasize the second syllable like the merchant woman had done.
"It means 'golden' where I am from," the woman explained proudly. "It is both a blessing for good fortune and a title if you become well-known among the trade."
"Then you must be excellent at what you do," Violet responded, hoping a little bit of flattery would keep her in the woman's good graces. "In that case, I'll be back on Sunday to see what you have for me," she said, bidding farewell to the mysterious woman.
"Farewell, little flower," the merchant said in parting, smoothing the skirt of her dress that concealed the scales beneath. "I hope to do good business again soon." As Violet turned her back, she began to hear Talla humming the haunting tune she had been singing before. While the local did not know the lyrics, now that she knew the underlying meaning, Violet thought she could hear the melody switch from mournful to giddy as the song progressed. The friend of the forest found herself catching on to the melody, and hummed along with the woman's voice as it was slowly swallowed up by the trees behind her.