Stardew Valley Fanfiction:

'The Farmer Witch'

Chapter 28:

The next morning, Alice headed out early to visit the Community Center. She had a bunch of fish and Fall crops to drop off. She was pretty sure she could finish a few of the lists the Junimo had left her. She cast some air breathing spells on her aquatic friends and gathered the seasonal forage and crops that the sprites had requested. She loaded her bag with extra pumpkins from her early harvest to bring to Caroline and Abigail. Thanks to some fertilizer and the magical soil of the valley, the witch already had pumpkins starting to grow to full size in her fields. It really was amazing.

Once she stepped inside the Community Center, she saw a single tiny Junimo peek from inside their makeshift hut. Once they knew it was her, a whole herd of brightly colored forest spirits came bouncing over from all sides of the room. They hid in the strangest places. Some came out of the small hut, while others rolled in from under the broken fish tank. Some came from the boards in the ceiling and even more came from the planks below her feet. They darted over to her, tiny stick arms raised high, begging for whatever she had in her bags. They chirped and shuffled over her boots. The Junimo from the ceiling simply dropped themselves down, flattening momentarily as they hit the floor and then popping back up again to full size. Alice noticed a few Junimo stuck in the fish tank that she had refilled the last time she was here. She walked over the swarms of Junimo to go fish them out of the tank. They were all just floating near the surface, seemingly unconcerned with their predicament. The witch assumed they could get themselves out if they really care. Junimo seemed to have the ability to teleport short distances after all.

She set the wet Junimos down on the floor with their kin before she went to find the list for the fish tank. She checked some of the specimen off the list while the nature spirits started to climb up her legs. They began to crawl curiously into the pockets of her hoody, some even making it up to her hood and snuggling together in a clump inside of it. Alice just ignored them. She didn't mind in the slightest. They were child-like and very playful by nature.

She carefully stepped over the group still on the floor and made her way to the lists within the other rooms. With the help of her animals, she was finally able to complete another list inside the pantry room. The tiny creatures erupted into a chorus of squeaks and chirps when she presented them with the last of the items. She grinned from ear to ear, happy because they were happy. Some of the Junimo seemed to go off and consume some of the items straight away, and Alice could see that it was causing their magic to increase. Theses Junimo started repairing broken shelves and wooden cupboards in the room. They had such strange ways of obtaining magic, but who was she to question them.

She played with the spirits for a little while longer, tossing them up into the air per their request, and watching them float back down to the grown. Some seemed unwilling or unable to float and simply flopped back onto the floor, squishing flat like they had previously, before popping back up and scurrying away again. They lined up, waiting for their turn to be tossed. After thirty minutes of chucking Junimo her arms were getting tired though, and she had to bid them farewell for now. She scooped the cute babies that had been napping in her pockets out and placed them back on the ground with their friends. She already noticed some of the sprites heading back into their hiding spaces, crawling up the ceilings or jumping back into the tank of water to bob along the surface…..

Whatever made them happy, right?

She waved goodbye and headed off into town. She still had a couple choice pumpkins to drop off at Pierre's house. She pulled the two orange squashes out of her enchanted bag before getting into town. She didn't want the residents to see her pull the giant pumpkins out of her teeny-tiny bag. Would kind of be a give away of her magical abilities.

It was already after 9:00am so she entered the shop, waving at Pierre.

"Just here to drop off some stuff for Abigail." She said, holding up the fall crops in each hand. The man waved her through to the back room.

Abigail and her mother were in the kitchen when Alice walked in. "Hey gals, got your pumpkins~" She set the two large pumpkins on the table, glad to be able to put them down even after such a short time carrying them.

Abigail squeaked and clapped her hands giddily. "You're the best! Oh my gosh, they're perfect!"

Alice gave a mock bow. "I live to please."

Caroline came around the table to give her a motherly hug. "Thank you, farmer. It's been years since we had pumpkins this good."

"No problem Caroline. I am assuming you're going to carve them and light them up for the season?"

Caroline nodded.

"Mom, show Alice your cool Jack-O-Lantern candles!" Abigail urged.

Caroline grinned and went over to a kitchen drawer. She dug around in the far back for a moment before finding a tiny match box. She pulled it out and slid it open in front of Alice, revealing, not matches, but thin candles.

"Can these really light up a lantern?" Alice asked. They were small candles, almost like birthday candles, and probably didn't give off enough light to illuminate a big pumpkin from within.

"They're enchanted." Caroline replied. "Abigail's father gave them to me. They are very precious." She held them to her chest as if the memory alone meant a lot to the woman. "They give off a lot of light and even change color throughout the day. They last for weeks if you let them too." She placed them back inside the drawer, but not before taking a single candle stick out and handing it to Alice.

The witch took it gingerly. "Wow, thanks. I've never heard of candles like these before."

Caroline just smiled. "They are very special. Every year Abigail and I make our Jack-O-Lanterns with them."

Alice was a bit surprised. She never knew Pierre was such a romantic. These must have cost him a fortune and the farm girl knew how cheap the man could be, so that must have made these even more special to Caroline and her daughter.

"I'll let you know once Sebastian and I have one carved up. We'll have to compare them to yours." She smiled over at Abigail who was already setting up the kitchen table for carving.

"How is all that going, by the way?" Caroline inquired. "You two doing okay?"

Alice nodded. "Yeah, we're fine. I had a lot of extra space I wasn't using and honestly, Seb keeps to himself most of the time so it's not a big difference compared to how I was living before." She shrugged.

"Seb must be the easiest housemate ever." Abigail commented from the table. "He barely leaves his room."

Caroline waved off her daughter's comment. "Yes, I know you're good friends, but that wasn't really what I meant." She gave Alice a look that held a touch of concern.

Alice nodded, understanding what the woman meant. "He's doing okay. I don't know if things will ever be the same between him and his family, but I know he wants to keep some kind of relationship with his mom." The witch knew the Caroline and Robin were good friends. The woman probably felt compelled to ask out of loyalty to Robin, trying to find out how her friend's son was doing. "He just needs time Caroline. Things were really bad for him before and there is still some bitterness there. He feels like no one took his depression and irritation seriously. It was bound to build up and explode at some point."

Caroline nodded sadly. "It's just disappointing how things turned out. I know he had problems with his stepfather, but I do hope he and Robin can mend things up soon?" It was phrased more as a question, asking the farmer if she thought that was a possibility.

Alice gave her a reassuring look. "I think they'll work things out soon. He cares about Robin too much to stay upset forever."

Caroline smiled, "I do hope so."

The farmer grabbed some seeds from Pierre for her second harvest on the way out. She spent the next few hours replanting seeds from the crop spots she had already harvested.

I love getting all the comments regarding peoples theories and impressions of the story thus far! Thanks so much for all the support! Still accepting suggestions on which townspeople to bring into the story next. Who is your favorite? Who would you like to see brought in? - Mystical Jelly