Ah, Feast of the Winter Star… how you never fail to keep things interesting.
The 18th of Winter saw me standing outside by my mailbox, reading the letter I'd just gotten out of it, and feeling my blood run colder than the air.
There was no way the one in charge of "secret friends" wasn't cackling to themself when they made mine Sam.
The only thing I knew immediately was that a trip to the city was in order.
The next day, in fact, found me entering one of ZuZu's smaller music stores. You could fit four, maybe five customers in it.
"Hello," the guy behind the counter, an older man, said to me. "Looking for anything in particular?"
"A Winter Star gift for a guitarist," I answered. "I think he mainly plays electric."
"Ooh, an electric guitarist…" he pondered to himself.
While he thought, I looked up to the wall, at a shiny new white and maroon guitar. Or was it a bass? I couldn't tell.
"Can't go wrong with picks," he finally said. "We sell only the finest."
"Hmm… He was gifted a whole box of them last year," I recalled. "Do guitarists really lose them that easily?"
"How big was the box?" he asked.
"Yay high, yay wide," I answered, using my hands to demonstrate what the box looked like that Penny had given Sam last year.
"…He could probably use some more," the man nodded. "You can set one of those things down, look away for a second, and it'll be gone."
"…Still…" I said. "Is there anything else?"
"Hmm…" the man pondered again, looking at the wall behind him, which had shelves filled with boxed accessories. He then picked one off the shelf. "This is a clip-on tuner. You clip it on the headstock to help you tune your guitar, and it's really accurate."
Really, the only thing that could go wrong with that is if Sam already had one.
"I'll take it," I said, with renewed confidence.
Then, there was the matter of getting it to him.
When I arrived downtown on the 25th, gift tucked under my arm, things seemed mostly casual. Pierre and Lewis were standing by the former's shop and chatting, Sebastian and Abigail seemed to be standing by the river together and talking, and I spotted Vincent chasing Jas over by the saloon.
I looked over at the table where Sam and his folks had sat last year. His mom was talking to Abigail's mom… and Sam was sitting and playing a video game by himself. I was half surprised his mom wasn't scolding him for playing video games at the table.
I took a deep breath and muttered "Here goes" to myself before walking over to him.
Before I even got halfway to him, he looked up and saw me coming over, and immediately smiled. I noticed the smile and couldn't help but smile myself.
"Hey!" he said. "Merry Winter Star!"
"Merry Winter Star to you, too!" I replied. I then held the gift out to him, having felt all my anxiety go away. "So… you're my 'secret friend' this year."
"Oh, wow, really?" he said, taking the gift.
He immediately opened it, and to my great happiness, his smile only grew when he uncovered the tuner.
"Yoooo, I've wanted one of these things for forever!" he reacted. He then looked back up at me. "Thank you so much for this! This is going to make tuning so much faster!"
"You're absolutely welcome!" I smiled, feeling like I'd accomplished my mission and then some. If nothing else, that reaction made the entire day good.
"You've also just reminded me I still need to give Penny her gift," he then said, setting the tuner down and picking up a red gift that seemed about the size and shape of a book. "I don't know what kinds of books she likes, so I just picked out this sappy romance one called 'The Guardian.'"
"Ah," I nodded. "Interesting. I wonder what it's about."
I also noted that my stomach didn't do a flip over Sam's mentioning Penny. That was good. Maybe going to the bar earlier in the season had really been good for me.
I looked around and saw Penny and her mom talking to each other over by the clinic.
"She's over there," I said to Sam. "She seems to be in a conversation, though."
"Yeah, I'll wait until they're done," Sam replied. "…Have you gotten your gift yet? Who had you as their 'secret friend'?"
Somehow, that hadn't occurred to me.
"I dunno yet," I answered. "Well, it can't be you, at least."
"Hm," he said. "I think Mom said hers was George, and Vincent's was actually Jas, which was amusing. Mom made George some pie, and Vincent got Jas a flower."
"Aww, that's sweet," I reacted, more to Vincent's gift.
"Those two are inseparable," said Sam, looking around until he spotted Jas chasing Vincent past Pierre's shop.
"So I've noticed," I agreed.
He then looked over at Penny. Her mother had gone somewhere else, so she was now standing alone.
"I guess I'd better get Penny's gift to her while I have the chance," said Sam, standing up. "Talk to you later?"
"Yeah," I nodded. "See you later."
There was that little part of me that wanted to hide behind the tree and watch him give Penny the gift, but the rest of me didn't think that'd be the best idea.
I instead elected to do a 360 look at everyone here, so that I could look less sus while watching those two interact. It could also have killed two birds with one stone if I just so happened to make eye contact with my gift-giver and let them know I was available to talk now.
I didn't end up identifying my gift-giver, and by the time my eyes got back around to Sam and Penny, he was walking away from her and toward Sebastian, who was now alone by the river.
I had laid eyes on a beautifully-painted ornament on the tree, though, and once my 360 look was over, I decided to get a closer look at it. It was a translucent gold, with beautiful violet and white brushstrokes that looked like gusts of wind painted on it. It was simultaneously factory-produced and handcrafted, it seemed like. I wondered where the city got its ornaments.
As if to half-answer my question, I saw another ornament nearby that was clearly painted by a kid. Taking it in my hand, I spun it around to find "Vincent, 4" written on the bottom. I smiled at how wholesome that was.
When I looked back up, my eyes just so happened to land on Elliott, who had been standing on the bridge.
He just so happened to have been looking at me. Our eye contact seemed to be a cue, because once we saw each other, he started making his way over to me. I only then noticed he had a small box, wrapped in blue, in his hand.
"Hi!" I smiled. "Merry Winter Star!"
"Merry Winter Star to you as well!" he said once he approached me. He then handed out the box, a little shyly. "This is for you."
"Ah, thank you!" I said, taking it.
I then ripped off the wrapping paper, then opened the box to reveal a beautiful handmade bracelet, made from beads and what looked like fragments of a shell.
"I found that nautilus shell on the shores of the beach when I had first stepped foot in Stardew Valley," said Elliott. "I hadn't ever been sure what to do with it… until I got the notice that you were my secret friend this year. I'd intended to have the shell serve as a singular charm, but it shattered in my hands when I tried to drill a hole in it. The bracelet, as a result, is instead crafted from the pieces of what the shell once was… and some craft store beads."
"Elliott…" I replied, more touched than I'd felt in ages. "You didn't have to do this for me. You're too sweet."
"You deserve it, milady," he replied. "It was a pleasure to put together."
"Oh, thank you so much!" I said to him.
I then immediately put it on.
I wore that thing for the next week or so, only taking it off to bathe or sleep. I guess I was just that happy that someone took the time out of their day to make something for me with their own hands.
Even after that week, I wore the bracelet on most of my fishing days. The man who'd made this bracelet for me lived in the cabin only feet away from where I fished, and he'd made this bracelet out of part of the beach itself.
I didn't think a handmade gift would make me love the beach that much more, make it feel so much more like home.