Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon, Karen, or any related characters or
events; to the best of my knowledge, they're all owned by Natsume. Any
resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is purely
coincidental. This story is based primarily on the plot of Harvest Moon 64.
Wine Red no Kokoro
by flame mage
Part 4: Knockin' on Heaven's Gate
**********
The Flower Festival is not bad, as festivals go. Being the Goddess is a pain, though, because you have to dance with the king--who is old enough to be your father half the time, and who occasionally IS your father, which is really bad--and let's face it, the dress is annoying. So I usually vote for Ann if she wasn't the Goddess last year just because she's my best friend, and Popuri if Ann was it last year, because Popuri is the only one of the five of us who really cares about it. She lives for flowers.
Popuri was the Goddess again this year, which was fine with the rest of us. I handed out flowers and smiled politely through my teeth and thought about Veryberry wine. The Mayor gave one of his speeches (he says all the time "you all know that I don't like making speeches" when everyone knows it's his favorite thing. He never misses an opportunity to lecture at us), and then it was time for the dancing.
I love the dancing. My mother used to be one of the best dancers in the world. I can remember her teaching me when I was little, but she hadn't danced for years. She hovered by the stairs to my room all day, doing little things that didn't need doing, like straightening the things on the mantle as if it were life and death. She was constantly worrying, going through life with lines of pain on her face. My mother was beautiful once, but she had become old.
I dance at the festivals every year. I decided early on that dancing was one thing my father could never take from me. And I knew that I was going to be a dancer. Popuri had her family's dream of keeping alive the flower shop--well, I had family dreams to keep alive, too. What I never did at the Flower Festival was dance with anyone else. Sometimes Ann and I would swing each other around just for something to do, but mostly I stayed on the floor alone, twirling and leaping to break the patterns of the others.
I swept to the side of the square as usual, waiting until Popuri and the King--the Potion Shop owner this year, ugh--found each other, then the Mayor and his wife. I was leaning against the wall when I heard the Mayor say, "Go find someone to dance with!" and push Farm Boy in our direction.
Elli shrugged and stepped forward--the pity dance--but he walked past her and stopped next to me. "Will you dance with me?" he asked.
I darted a glance at Ann, who widened her eyes: your choice. Great. Thanks for the advice, my so-called best friend. Farm Boy stood there, waiting patiently, watching my eyes. I saw Kai behind him, also watching. Finally I gave up--I couldn't think of a good excuse. "Fine," I sighed.
We walked out to the center of the square, and he awkwardly put his arms around me. I sighed again. This was gonna take forever.
The music started, and we began to move. "Let me lead," I whispered, and he nodded slightly. I knew the steps perfectly--I'd seen them a thousand times, even though I'd never done them before. Farm Boy was better than I thought he'd be. I whirled around, feeling my hair fly, then stepping back in, watching him imitate the light, graceful leaps I was taking. My feet were moving on instinct, and by instinct, we were together almost perfectly. Glancing around at the birdlike hops of the two little old men in red and their partners, I realized we were the best ones there.
For an instant, I felt something familiar. There was something about his hands in mine, something about his eyes that I knew. He felt like an old friend, and for a second I flashed back to a summer when I was five years old...but there was no way. I dismissed the thought almost as soon as I'd come up with it. He was just the old man's grandson, a stranger who would be here and then gone.
In mid-spin, I caught his eyes. His face was flushed, but his eyes were bright. He gave me a quirky little grin, like, "So what do you think of me now?" and I had to stop myself from grinning back.
I worked too late the next night and woke up with nothing to show for it except a hangover and another headache. As soon as I came downstairs my father started bawling me out. I tuned it out until he got to "...being lazy and slacking off around here."
"What?" I asked. "Excuse me?"
He shot me a glare through eyes like slits. "What else am I supposed to think, Karen? The grapes aren't taking! There's no excuse for it except laziness!"
I dropped my dish on the table and ran outside. I knelt beside one of the grapevines and examined the roots. He was right. They weren't going down deep enough. The plants hadn't even grown yet and I knew that they would wither and die. Without roots, they never even had a chance.
I heard footsteps behind me and looked back to see Kai. He bent down beside me and fingered one of the vines.
"Why aren't they rooting, Kai? I've done everything right," I said.
Kai was silent for a minute or two, then he answered, "I don't know. They just can't grow in this environment. Maybe it rained too much this year, or maybe the crickets have been here. It could be anything."
I bent in closer to examine the vines. "Nothing's been eating them, and we haven't had rain in weeks. They just aren't growing."
He didn't say anything. I was starting to feel helpless. Was Dad right? Maybe I had been spending too much time at the bar and neglecting the vineyard. I didn't really want to know the answer, but I had to ask the question. "Is Dad right, Kai?"
"Right about what?" His gaze shifted from the plants to my face.
"...he said that the third generation was always the one to run a place into the ground."
"The third generation?" Kai's face was politely confused.
"I'm the fourth. My great-grandfather started it, but my grandmother was the one who got this vineyard off the ground in the first place," I explained. "It used to be really famous. Her specialty wine, Heaven's Gate, was listed as one of the best wines in the world."
"So what happened?" he wanted to know.
"She died." I looked back at the grapevine so I wouldn't have to see his face. "My dad took over the vineyard, and everything changed. My grandmother put everything she had into these vines. She and Grandpa...this vineyard was their life. But Dad..." I trailed off.
"But doesn't...doesn't the master care about the vineyard?" asked Kai.
I shrugged. "I think he cares about it, but he doesn't know how to show it. He does the work, but his soul just isn't in it."
"What happened to the Heaven's Gate? Can't you make any more?"
"No. We tried for years. But we could never get it right. It was never the way Grandma made it. The sommeliers stopped recommending it. It took only a year to go from the top of the best wine list to the top of the worst."
"Isn't there any more?" he asked.
I shook my head. "No. There isn't a single bottle left in the world. And since Grandma died, the grapes have been slowly getting smaller and smaller, more and more sour, harder to grow. But this is the first year they've just refused to root."
I stood and headed for the shed to get my tools. "What are you doing?" Kai called after me.
I turned and looked at him. "I don't know if anything I do can save the vines now, Kai. But if I give up on them now, I know for a fact they're going to die. I can't let that happen. If they die, we don't eat this winter. I have to try."
But I knew I was just going through the motions.
It went on like that all spring. I'd get up, work from dawn until five at the vineyard. At five I'd shower, change into clean clothes, and put in six hours at the bar. The only time I stopped working was Sunday nights, when I'd go down by the river and practice dancing. Sometimes in the afternoon the carpenters would ask me to come at lunch to practice so they could watch. I started to find potatoes on my doorstep in the mornings.
I got up early one morning and waited on the step one morning to catch whoever was leaving it. Farm Boy showed up at around six AM and did a sheepish double- take when he saw me.
"What is it with the potatoes?" I asked irritably. I'm not really a morning person.
He shot me that quirky grin. "Now that my farm's really getting off the ground, I thought you might like some fresh vegetables."
I crossed my arms and leaned back on the step. "Define 'off the ground.'"
Farm Boy rubbed the back of his head in a sweatdrop. "Ehh...well, I have most of the field cleared and planted, and I have two chickens now."
"Yeah." I picked up the potato and handed it to him. "Look, I appreciate it, but I really don't want potatoes, okay?"
He pressed it back into my hand. "Keep it. Give it to your mom or something."
I dropped it into his rucksack. "My mom doesn't like potatoes."
He set it on the step. "Someone around here has to eat them."
I lobbed it at his head. "I don't want the potato!"
Farm Boy stumbled backwards, his hands clasped to his skull. "Jeez. You're a bitch, you know that?"
"And you're a jerk!" I snapped back, too tired to play nice after that one. He turned to go, and I figured that was the last I'd see of him.
The next morning it was a turnip.
"Hey, Farm Boy, get it through your head. I don't need charity," I growled at him.
"Is there ANYTHING you do want?" he asked, sounding exasperated.
"Yeah. If you want to get me something I'll use, get me a bottle of Heaven's Gate," I tossed at him over my shoulder and started working.
I expected him to get lost after that, but he followed me and stood while I worked. "What's Heaven's Gate?" he asked.
I gave him a Look. "Heaven's Gate is probably the only thing that could save this dump now." He was looking blank. "It's a famous wine my grandmother used to make!"
"How would that save the vineyard?" Farm Boy asked.
"If I had some of that wine, I could pray to the grape spirit to revive the Kifu fairies," I muttered back sarcastically.
"Grape spirit?"
"It's just an old story." I sighed and perched on the fence next to him--I wasn't gonna get anything done until I explained. "Grandma used to say that if anything ever happened, you should take a bottle of that wine to the Goddess and pray for the grape spirit to return. The spirit was supposed to bring the Kifu fairies back to kiss the vines and bless them, and they would grow again. I only wish it were true."
Farm Boy was looking thoughtful, which I was starting to figure out was a dangerous thing. "Where do you get Heaven's Gate from?"
I laughed. "Nowhere. There isn't a single bottle left in the world. That wine died with my grandmother."
"You give up too easily." He hopped off the fence. "Well, I've got chickens to feed. See ya later."
"Bye, jerk!" I yelled after him, but he was already gone.
Wine Red no Kokoro
by flame mage
Part 4: Knockin' on Heaven's Gate
**********
The Flower Festival is not bad, as festivals go. Being the Goddess is a pain, though, because you have to dance with the king--who is old enough to be your father half the time, and who occasionally IS your father, which is really bad--and let's face it, the dress is annoying. So I usually vote for Ann if she wasn't the Goddess last year just because she's my best friend, and Popuri if Ann was it last year, because Popuri is the only one of the five of us who really cares about it. She lives for flowers.
Popuri was the Goddess again this year, which was fine with the rest of us. I handed out flowers and smiled politely through my teeth and thought about Veryberry wine. The Mayor gave one of his speeches (he says all the time "you all know that I don't like making speeches" when everyone knows it's his favorite thing. He never misses an opportunity to lecture at us), and then it was time for the dancing.
I love the dancing. My mother used to be one of the best dancers in the world. I can remember her teaching me when I was little, but she hadn't danced for years. She hovered by the stairs to my room all day, doing little things that didn't need doing, like straightening the things on the mantle as if it were life and death. She was constantly worrying, going through life with lines of pain on her face. My mother was beautiful once, but she had become old.
I dance at the festivals every year. I decided early on that dancing was one thing my father could never take from me. And I knew that I was going to be a dancer. Popuri had her family's dream of keeping alive the flower shop--well, I had family dreams to keep alive, too. What I never did at the Flower Festival was dance with anyone else. Sometimes Ann and I would swing each other around just for something to do, but mostly I stayed on the floor alone, twirling and leaping to break the patterns of the others.
I swept to the side of the square as usual, waiting until Popuri and the King--the Potion Shop owner this year, ugh--found each other, then the Mayor and his wife. I was leaning against the wall when I heard the Mayor say, "Go find someone to dance with!" and push Farm Boy in our direction.
Elli shrugged and stepped forward--the pity dance--but he walked past her and stopped next to me. "Will you dance with me?" he asked.
I darted a glance at Ann, who widened her eyes: your choice. Great. Thanks for the advice, my so-called best friend. Farm Boy stood there, waiting patiently, watching my eyes. I saw Kai behind him, also watching. Finally I gave up--I couldn't think of a good excuse. "Fine," I sighed.
We walked out to the center of the square, and he awkwardly put his arms around me. I sighed again. This was gonna take forever.
The music started, and we began to move. "Let me lead," I whispered, and he nodded slightly. I knew the steps perfectly--I'd seen them a thousand times, even though I'd never done them before. Farm Boy was better than I thought he'd be. I whirled around, feeling my hair fly, then stepping back in, watching him imitate the light, graceful leaps I was taking. My feet were moving on instinct, and by instinct, we were together almost perfectly. Glancing around at the birdlike hops of the two little old men in red and their partners, I realized we were the best ones there.
For an instant, I felt something familiar. There was something about his hands in mine, something about his eyes that I knew. He felt like an old friend, and for a second I flashed back to a summer when I was five years old...but there was no way. I dismissed the thought almost as soon as I'd come up with it. He was just the old man's grandson, a stranger who would be here and then gone.
In mid-spin, I caught his eyes. His face was flushed, but his eyes were bright. He gave me a quirky little grin, like, "So what do you think of me now?" and I had to stop myself from grinning back.
I worked too late the next night and woke up with nothing to show for it except a hangover and another headache. As soon as I came downstairs my father started bawling me out. I tuned it out until he got to "...being lazy and slacking off around here."
"What?" I asked. "Excuse me?"
He shot me a glare through eyes like slits. "What else am I supposed to think, Karen? The grapes aren't taking! There's no excuse for it except laziness!"
I dropped my dish on the table and ran outside. I knelt beside one of the grapevines and examined the roots. He was right. They weren't going down deep enough. The plants hadn't even grown yet and I knew that they would wither and die. Without roots, they never even had a chance.
I heard footsteps behind me and looked back to see Kai. He bent down beside me and fingered one of the vines.
"Why aren't they rooting, Kai? I've done everything right," I said.
Kai was silent for a minute or two, then he answered, "I don't know. They just can't grow in this environment. Maybe it rained too much this year, or maybe the crickets have been here. It could be anything."
I bent in closer to examine the vines. "Nothing's been eating them, and we haven't had rain in weeks. They just aren't growing."
He didn't say anything. I was starting to feel helpless. Was Dad right? Maybe I had been spending too much time at the bar and neglecting the vineyard. I didn't really want to know the answer, but I had to ask the question. "Is Dad right, Kai?"
"Right about what?" His gaze shifted from the plants to my face.
"...he said that the third generation was always the one to run a place into the ground."
"The third generation?" Kai's face was politely confused.
"I'm the fourth. My great-grandfather started it, but my grandmother was the one who got this vineyard off the ground in the first place," I explained. "It used to be really famous. Her specialty wine, Heaven's Gate, was listed as one of the best wines in the world."
"So what happened?" he wanted to know.
"She died." I looked back at the grapevine so I wouldn't have to see his face. "My dad took over the vineyard, and everything changed. My grandmother put everything she had into these vines. She and Grandpa...this vineyard was their life. But Dad..." I trailed off.
"But doesn't...doesn't the master care about the vineyard?" asked Kai.
I shrugged. "I think he cares about it, but he doesn't know how to show it. He does the work, but his soul just isn't in it."
"What happened to the Heaven's Gate? Can't you make any more?"
"No. We tried for years. But we could never get it right. It was never the way Grandma made it. The sommeliers stopped recommending it. It took only a year to go from the top of the best wine list to the top of the worst."
"Isn't there any more?" he asked.
I shook my head. "No. There isn't a single bottle left in the world. And since Grandma died, the grapes have been slowly getting smaller and smaller, more and more sour, harder to grow. But this is the first year they've just refused to root."
I stood and headed for the shed to get my tools. "What are you doing?" Kai called after me.
I turned and looked at him. "I don't know if anything I do can save the vines now, Kai. But if I give up on them now, I know for a fact they're going to die. I can't let that happen. If they die, we don't eat this winter. I have to try."
But I knew I was just going through the motions.
It went on like that all spring. I'd get up, work from dawn until five at the vineyard. At five I'd shower, change into clean clothes, and put in six hours at the bar. The only time I stopped working was Sunday nights, when I'd go down by the river and practice dancing. Sometimes in the afternoon the carpenters would ask me to come at lunch to practice so they could watch. I started to find potatoes on my doorstep in the mornings.
I got up early one morning and waited on the step one morning to catch whoever was leaving it. Farm Boy showed up at around six AM and did a sheepish double- take when he saw me.
"What is it with the potatoes?" I asked irritably. I'm not really a morning person.
He shot me that quirky grin. "Now that my farm's really getting off the ground, I thought you might like some fresh vegetables."
I crossed my arms and leaned back on the step. "Define 'off the ground.'"
Farm Boy rubbed the back of his head in a sweatdrop. "Ehh...well, I have most of the field cleared and planted, and I have two chickens now."
"Yeah." I picked up the potato and handed it to him. "Look, I appreciate it, but I really don't want potatoes, okay?"
He pressed it back into my hand. "Keep it. Give it to your mom or something."
I dropped it into his rucksack. "My mom doesn't like potatoes."
He set it on the step. "Someone around here has to eat them."
I lobbed it at his head. "I don't want the potato!"
Farm Boy stumbled backwards, his hands clasped to his skull. "Jeez. You're a bitch, you know that?"
"And you're a jerk!" I snapped back, too tired to play nice after that one. He turned to go, and I figured that was the last I'd see of him.
The next morning it was a turnip.
"Hey, Farm Boy, get it through your head. I don't need charity," I growled at him.
"Is there ANYTHING you do want?" he asked, sounding exasperated.
"Yeah. If you want to get me something I'll use, get me a bottle of Heaven's Gate," I tossed at him over my shoulder and started working.
I expected him to get lost after that, but he followed me and stood while I worked. "What's Heaven's Gate?" he asked.
I gave him a Look. "Heaven's Gate is probably the only thing that could save this dump now." He was looking blank. "It's a famous wine my grandmother used to make!"
"How would that save the vineyard?" Farm Boy asked.
"If I had some of that wine, I could pray to the grape spirit to revive the Kifu fairies," I muttered back sarcastically.
"Grape spirit?"
"It's just an old story." I sighed and perched on the fence next to him--I wasn't gonna get anything done until I explained. "Grandma used to say that if anything ever happened, you should take a bottle of that wine to the Goddess and pray for the grape spirit to return. The spirit was supposed to bring the Kifu fairies back to kiss the vines and bless them, and they would grow again. I only wish it were true."
Farm Boy was looking thoughtful, which I was starting to figure out was a dangerous thing. "Where do you get Heaven's Gate from?"
I laughed. "Nowhere. There isn't a single bottle left in the world. That wine died with my grandmother."
"You give up too easily." He hopped off the fence. "Well, I've got chickens to feed. See ya later."
"Bye, jerk!" I yelled after him, but he was already gone.