Stardew Valley Fanfiction:

'The Farmer Witch'

Chapter 48:


The morning of Sebastian's birthday was a busy one. Damon was up early, baking his son's cake in the farmhouse kitchen. Alice was rushing to tend to the animals so she could get back inside to shower and change. They had company coming over to celebrate later and she didn't want to smell like her barn animals.

She was heading back to the main house when her phone started to ring. This was surprising to her. Sure, the town knew that her farm had a signal now after some Joja upgrades, but no one ever really called. Especially not this early.

She didn't have many numbers plugged into her cell phone, so she wasn't sure who exactly it was calling. She answered, thinking it might be coming from Abigail or Sam's houses to ask about when they could come over today. "Hello?"

"Alice? It's Robin… do you have a moment to talk?"

The farmer's stomach dropped. She hadn't considered that it could be the Carpenter. She didn't really know what to say. She retreated from the main house's porch steps, heading back towards the barn and out of earshot of anyone within the house.

"Um, sure… What's up?" Alice tried to sound casual, but she was certain that the discomfort was still there in her voice. Her feelings for Robin were mixed. She had grown to be good friends with her, but now she didn't know if that would be possible to regain. More than anything else, she wanted to support Sebastian and Damon and neither were on great speaking terms with her at the moment.

Robin paused for a minute on her end of the phone before replying. "I know Sebastian doesn't want to talk to me. I just want to know that he's doing alright." She paused again. Alice could hear the shakiness of her voice and her heart went out to the woman.

Alice took a breath before responding. "He's… good. He and Damon are happy getting to know each other… They have a lot in common."

She could hear Robin sniffling on the other end of the phone. "They do… I shouldn't have tried to keep them apart. I know that." The Carpenter sounded sincere, but Alice still felt uncomfortable talking about this with her. Sebastian was her boyfriend and Damon was like a second father to her. She didn't have it in her to sympathize too much with Robin at the moment.

"Then why did you?" Maybe she shouldn't have asked. It probably wasn't her place. But she just had to know.

"I don't know." Robin didn't seem surprised by this question at all. The farmer wouldn't even be surprised to learn if she wasn't the first villager to ask her this over the past few weeks. "I was young. We had just gotten married. Then he came out and told me about his magic and I couldn't handle it. I didn't know how to trust him after that."

Alice flinched. "He probably didn't think it would make a big difference to you." She responded, sounding a little colder than she meant to.

"And maybe it shouldn't have been such a big deal", Robin admitted, "But at the time it was. I felt like I couldn't trust him anymore. And after I found out that Sebastian was going to be born, I just thought that he shouldn't be raised around that sort of thing."

"Oh." Alice really didn't know what to say to that. It sounded like the woman truly thought of magic as something awful. The farmer couldn't really relate to that for obvious reasons.

"You know what I mean." Robin urged.

"No… not really." Alice murmured. There was an awkward silence on the phone.

"…Well… can you just tell him I called? And that I'm here to talk whenever he's ready? If he's ever ready…"

Alice agreed. But she probably would have said anything if it meant getting to end the phone call quickly. After hanging up, she trudged back to the farmhouse. Walking inside she was met with the smell of Damon's baking. It was glorious. The warlock was smiling and chatting with his son. A half-asleep Sebastian was climbing down the steps.

"Morning!~" Damon chimed, pushing a cup of coffee into his son's hands. The warlock was extremely excited to have his son on his birthday. He'd missed twenty of Sebastian's special days already, but he was going to make the most of this one.

Alice watched as the boys started up a conversation. She decided that the message could wait. Today she just wanted to enjoy her two warlocks and give Sebby the best birthday possible.

About an hour later the festivities started. Late morning, Sam and Abigail came walking down the farm road with a hooded figure. They had gotten some of Sam's dad's oversized clothes and wrapped Krobus up really good to protect him from the sun. When Alice had asked them for their help getting the Fiend to the farm yesterday, Sam had been a bit shocked to learn that the creature lived basically under his house. Abigail on the other hand had been stoked on the idea. She was a big monster fanatic and loved the idea of crawling down into the sewers to help a friendly fiend attend Sebastian's birthday extravaganza!

They got Krobus inside, drawing the blinds to keep him comfortable. Sam and Abigail went to drop some things off in the kitchen while the Shadow Brute presented Sebastian with the traditional birthday gift of his people – a large golden pumpkin. Apparently, pumpkins were a symbol of friendship in his culture. He had gotten some gold ore from the mines and pounded it into the odd shape.

Sebastian took the heavy golden paperweight, looking befuddled but grateful. He thanked Krobus for his generosity and promised to always treasure it.

"Are we doing presents already?" Abigail inquired, entering the living room area.

"Presents? Were we supposed to bring gifts?" Sam asked.

Abigail glared at him.

"Only joking Abs! Geez…. relax."

The two started to argue a bit as the trio set up the first movie on the television. Alice watched as Damon began to bring more and more snacks into the room to feed Sebastian and his friends. He might have been going a bit overboard… Alice counted doughnuts, sweet rolls, fruit, mini-omelets, and a variety of other breakfasty foods being brought out.

"Where on earth did you get all of these from?" She asked the warlock as he went back into the kitchen to check on his cake.

"I made them last night." He responded innocently.

"WHEN?" Alice found it hard to believe that all these snacks came from her tiny kitchen.

"After you went to bed." He explained sheepishly.

Alice rolled her eyes. Poor Damon was overcompensating to make today special for his son. She reminded the man to relax before joining her friends on the couch. She hopped into Krobus' lap, noticing his curious confusion, and began explaining the plot of the movie to him.


Chu~ - Mystical Jelly