CHAPTER 2: New Beginnings

You had to admit, you were nervous. You'd always been more of the shy type...so meeting the villagers was going to be tough. But, as Mayor Thomas had mentioned before, getting to know them could be very helpful in the long run. As much as you hated to admit it, you were going to need help at some point...the farm was so destroyed, there was no way you could possibly do it all on your own. You started by stopping at the forge, but you ended up walking in on a fight. An old man was very adamantly fighting with a younger man who looked about your age. The old man was telling the younger man to redo his work, but the young man didn't want to. Suddenly the young man noticed you were there, and became even more upset.

"What the HELL do you want?!" His voice boomed through the small forge, and you stood in the entryway, VERY nervous. You just wanted to say hello, and that had been a hard enough endeavor! Before you knew it, you were shaking in fear before the extremely pissed off young man. Suddenly, out of nowhere the old man whacks him upside the back of his head, enraged that he would speak in such a way to a potential new customer. Tenderly rubbing the quickly forming lump on his head, he quickly regained his composure and looked at you again, this time much more softly. "I...I'm really sorry...about that." You just nodded, still very nervous after that first encounter. "Hey...are you the new girl, Claire? Thomas told us you'd be coming. My name's Gray." Feeling a bit less nervous, you extended your hand for him to take. As he extended his hand in return, he let out a small smile and said "So...truce?" You let out a small giggle, and accepted.

The old man walked up to you and formally introduced himself. "The name's Saibara. If you ever need somethin' made, or your tools upgraded, I'm the one to ask about it. I'll get my work done quick, and I'll get it done good." The old man seemed very kind and prided himself on his metalworking skills. However, he seemed very strict with Gray, who you quickly learned was his apprentice and grandson. After answering a few questions about your tools, you showed yourself out of the forge and continued down the road. You quickly came upon your next destination, the poultry farm. The introductions were short and sweet, you briefly spoke to Miss Lillia and her daughter, Popuri, and you took the opportunity to go ahead and buy yourself a chicken and some feed. After naming the bird, you were surprised when they offered to deliver it to your farm for you, no worries, no extra charge. Another young man about your age walked in, and you heard Popuri speak up.

"Big brother, will you take a chicken down to...I'm sorry, what was the name of your farm, again?" You looked confused...a name for your farm? You hadn't thought about that at all. You thought it was just another farm. Popuri was shocked, and quickly asked "Wait...didn't Mayor Thomas ask you to name the farm while he was there with you? No? I can't believe he forgot that! Well, Claire, why don't you name it now?" You thought hard about your decision...this was your grandfather's old land, and to say it was dear to you would be a massive understatement. You thought about that good omen from earlier, and wondered if the land had been blessed by the Goddess herself. Suddenly, you knew what you wanted to name your farm.

"I'm going to name it...Goddess farm. Because I believe my land has been blessed."

"That's such a pretty name! I love it!" Popuri shouted, seeming very excited. "So, can you take that chicken and this feed down to Goddess Farm? Oh, by the way, this is my older brother, Rick." You shook his hand and he gave you a smile. He slung the feed bags over one shoulder and picked up the chicken with his other arm. Saying he would see you later, he headed off toward your farm. He seemed nice. You would definitely have to really talk to him soon. You wanted to make sure you knew everything about raising chickens. You headed off to your next destination, this time the cow ranch right next to the poultry farm. A small little girl was playing outside by herself, and she saw you coming. She quickly ran straight toward you, looking absolutely elated.

"Wow! You must be the new lady here! Is it true you're going to work on that old farm? That's so neat! Are you here to buy a cow? That would be so great! My name's Mei! What's your name? I bet it's something pretty!" You smiled brightly at the young girl. You loved children, they were so precious. And, for some reason, they always seemed to want to play with you. After introducing yourself to the little girl, she just got excited all over again. Of course. "Claire? That's such a pretty name! I love that name! Claire, will you be my new friend? Oh please, oh please, oh please!" You couldn't help but laugh as you nodded 'yes' to her friendship request. It didn't take long for you to notice a familiar face coming out of the farmhouse.

"Mei, dear? Where have you gotten to?" Mugi quickly saw you with Mei and hobbled over. "Mei, don't bother people. I hope she was no trouble for you, Claire. Mei is my granddaughter, and she can get a bit overexcited at times." After assuring him that she was no trouble at all, and that she was in fact your new friend, Mugi smiled and led his young granddaughter back inside. "Hope to see you here again soon, you'll be needing a good cow if you want to really get that old farm running again!" You nodded in agreement, and quickly set off for yet another location to meet even more locals. You'd only met a handful of people so far, and you were already starting to feel exhausted. But, you kept going. Normally your people skills were very low, but somehow the people here seemed different. You truly felt you could make real bonds with them. Maybe even find that special someone? You hoped so...you'd always been the black sheep of the herd, and nobody had even spared you a passing glance. You weren't even sure HOW to get a boyfriend in the first place! Putting those thoughts to the back of your mind, you continued through the town.

The inn had been the perfect place to stop when it was close to lunchtime. You introduced yourself to Dudley, the owner of the inn and his daughter, Ran. To say that they were kind to you would be a huge understatement, as they offered you a free homemade lunch on the house and even threw in dessert! Once you'd digested enough to move around again, you thanked them for everything and promised to be back again. Next-door was the Winery, and the owners, Duke and Manna, gave you a tour. On your way out they gifted you a free bottle of their wine to try sometime. At this point, you were pretty sure you were going to need it later! It was a quick in and out at the library, you met Marie and she mostly told you about different books she enjoyed. You also met Ellen, a kindly old woman who had lost the use of her legs, but she was happy to sit in her rocking chair and speak to the town's new arrival. You also met her young grandson, Yu. He was quite rambunctious and was very curious whether you'd ever ridden a cow before. At the general store you'd met Karen, another girl about your age, and her parents Sasha and Jeff, the owners of the shop. They gave you free seeds to get started, and as you left the store you thought you saw a man coming toward you. He quickly introduced himself as Carter, the local priest, and asked you to come with him to visit the church. There was a beautiful statue outside of the Harvest Goddess, it was a very pleasant little church. After promising to pray for you and your farm's success, there was only one place left to go...the clinic. You were a bit apprehensive, as clinics and doctors made you quite nervous.

Once you entered the clinic you saw a young nurse. You slowly walked further toward her to introduce yourself once again. She gave you a sweet smile and made small talk with you. "So, you're Claire! My name is Elly. Everyone in town has been very excited to meet you. I bet it's been difficult, going throughout the entire town and introducing yourself over and over again!" You sighed heavily, agreeing that it hadn't been easy. She seemed very nice, but you couldn't help but feel nervous. There was just something about clinics and hospitals that made you feel uneasy. It didn't take long for Elly to notice, as you had started sweating. She quickly felt your forehead, noting that you felt warm. She started leading you to the exam room, and when you resisted, she was adamant that you needed to let the Doctor look at you, that he'd know what to do. After sitting you in a chair, she called for him to examine you. "Doctor? Doctor, the new girl seems to be running a fever! Please have a look at her!" When the Doctor walked in, you couldn't believe your eyes.

He was tall, much more so than you, and his hair was pitch black, his bangs falling at the sides of his face. He seemed to have a more slender build, but you had a good guess that under that white lab coat he was sporting muscles. You felt your heart drop right into your stomach and suddenly, you weren't so nervous about someone of the opposite sex giving you a checkup. However, all these feelings flooding into you within seconds did not help your body's current condition. After checking your temperature, the doctor checked your heartrate (which only accelerated with his hand right at your breast) and blood pressure. It didn't take him long to deduce that your fever had been brought on not only from running all over the town all day, but from stress and nervousness from meeting so many new people. He suggested you go to bed early that night, and to come back tomorrow so he could make sure you were fine. "Okay, Claire, please be back here tomorrow sometime before 4 pm. It seems all you really need is a good night's rest, but I'd like to be sure. See you tomorrow, then." And with that, he was sending you out the door and back home.