Stardew Valley Fanfiction:

'The Farmer Witch'

Chapter 47:


"I have some surprises for you guys~" Alice told the magical beings, pulling open her bag and starting to dig around inside.

One after another, the witch pulled out the requested items for the Junimo and handed them over. Happy chirping sprites jumped for them, hastily taking them away to store in separate rooms. Some of the tiny creatures grabbed fruits and vegetables, hiding them beneath the floorboards. Others grabbed fish and began to chuck them into the fish tank at the far end of the room.

"Is there a pattern to these gifts that I'm missing?" Sebastian inquired.

Alice shook her head. "I just bring them what they ask for", she admitted.

A few of the Junimo had remained with the group, continuing to crawl into Sebastian's hoodie or squeezing themselves into Damon's coat pockets. It was clear they were happy to have new visitors.

After the forest sprites had finished sorting through all the items the trio had brought them, the herd of Junimo returned to their friends, thanking them and promising to use the magic stored in the items to restore the Community Center further.

"Almost there! Almost there!" They chanted. "One more item! One more!"

Alice looked puzzled. "Really? Did I forget something?" She was sure that she'd brought them everything they had asked for.

"Cabbage!" The herd chirped back excitedly. "Cabbage! Cabbage!"

Alice examined the note that one of the Junimo held up to her. "A red cabbage, huh? I don't know if they sell seeds for that out here in the Valley…." She would have to special order it and wait for the proper season to grow some. "Sorry guys, you'll have to wait a while for this one." So close-

"We wait! We wait!" The Junimo agreed. The tiny creatures assured the witch that whatever magic they had left over they would use to help Pelican town and her farm in the mean time. They were just happy that someone was finally fulfilling their request for these items.

As they left the Community Center a little while later, Alice turned to Damon. "Any idea why they need a cabbage for their magic to work?"

Damon shrugged. "Probably for the same reason they need a cave carrot. The Junimo work in mysterious ways. I don't think even a grand Wizard like Rasmodius would be able to completely understand them. They draw magic out of ordinary objects, but that's about all I know."

The crew walked back home, thankful that the festival was still taking place so that no one was around. Once back on the farm, Alice left to start on dinner and the boys returned to work on the tower.

As the witch busied herself mashing pumpkins for the soup, she reflected on everything that had happened in the past year. She wondered if Grandpa knew just how much she needed the farm. If he knew just how much it would change her life. Grandpa must have known Damon would eventually come back to the valley too if Alice made her life there. Had giving her the deed to the farm been a gift to them both from the old farmer? She had no way of knowing, but she felt like maybe it was true. Grandpa was wise and kind and generous. He had led a simple life but a happy one. Alice owed him everything and would work extra hard to make him proud.

She looked out the window, just barely able to make out the boys on the south end of the farm, levitating stone to build the walls of the tower. Alice imagined that Grandpa would be happy to see Damon and his son living on the farm too. She wished that her grandfather had lived long enough to meet Sebastian. She wished he had lived long enough to see how much she'd grown the farm, or to meet the Junimo, or to tell her one more bedtime story.

It had been a long year. But it had been the best year of her life. She could only hope that Grandpa would approve if he could see her now….

An hour later and the witch had to put her thoughts aside. She brought a couple thermoses of soup down to her boys in the southern field. She was happily surprised to see Krobus had returned and was working with them once again.

"Dinner time already?" Damon asked.

"It's nearly dark." Alice reminded him, setting down the hot thermoses and lighting a few glowing orbs from her hands, letting them levitate up to illuminate the work the men were doing.

"I suppose it is.: Damon relented, taking a seat on a pile of stone and grabbing a thermos.

Sebastian joined him. "It's winter though. The days are shorter."

Alice rolled her eyes and turned to Krobus. "Staying for dinner Krobus? We're having pumpkin soup again." Sebastian and his father never seemed to tire of it, and they had so many pumpkins left that they needed to use up.

Krobus bounced excitedly, warbling a quick 'yes please' before joining the boys for a rest. Alice went to fetch some more soup, filling a thermos for herself and dumping the rest of the soup into a hallowed-out pumpkin for Krobus. She'd learned that this was the preferred way for Shadow Fiends to eat their soup. It must be sort of like a bread bowl, she surmised.

She levitated the pumpkin out to the other end of the fields, handing it over to the Shadow and sitting beside her friends.

Even though their winter days were somewhat repetitive up to this point, Alice was tired of them one bit. This past week of working on the tower and fixing up the farm during the off season had been almost relaxing.

The group worked well into the evening, only calling it a night around 1:00am when Alice declared she was about to pass out asleep soon.

The tower almost had an entire first floor completed. Sebastian stated that they could probably finish the ground floor tomorrow and then start work on the second floor on his birthday.

"No working on your birthday!" Alice scolded him.

"But this isn't work-work." Sebastian argued. "It's fun work~"

The witch was too tired to argue with him. She just headed for her room and collapsed into sleep as the clock hit 2:00am.


Sorry for more delays. Lately I've been working on my own independent original story, so I've dedicated less time to updating this one. I promise to still finish this one though, just might be a little slower~ Oops! - Mystical Jelly