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 20: Blue Feather Blues
**********
I love the New Year's Festival. The last two days of Winter and the first day of Spring are the three best days of the year. Ann gets mad at me when I say that. And I'm not gonna lie; I feel kinda guilty that I'm happiest when I'm drinking. But let's face it: when you live on a tiny vineyard outside a tiny town on a tiny island with four TV channels and no phones or computers, there's not much to do except drink. And I was kinda brought up with it.
The way the New Year's Festival works is this: everyone gets together in the square and wanders around with tall glass mugs, the kind we serve beer in at the bar. You go around and greet people and wish them a happy new year. Every time you greet someone, you drink. Read: you drink the entire mug. And then you fill up and do it again. The last one conscious is the winner.
I always say hi to the pushovers first. I've known Maria all my life, and in that time I don't think she's stepped foot in the bar once. People like Elli and Rick are pretty easy to beat, too. Lillia and the Mayor's wife, the type who have a glass of wine occasionally, are only marginally tougher. Then you have people like Harris and Jeff, who are regulars in the bar and can hold themselves together pretty well. Ann can stand a couple mugs, but I usually try to be careful with her, because her brother gets really mad when she gets drunk.
My parents don't usually bother coming, so for the past five years it's come down to a standoff between me and Kai. I only lost once--his first year, when I was younger and the novelty of working at a vineyard hadn't worn off yet for him and he was drinking like there was no tomorrow.
This year was no different, except that we had Cliff and Jack to deal with. Cliff came in occasionally, and he had a great poker face, so he took me a couple of tries. Jack, who came in practically every night, managed to work his way through everyone else and finally came down to a six-drink standoff with Kai. It eventually ended with both of them passing out simultaneously, and since no one could remember who hit the ground first, we called it a tie and took them both home. I was declared the victor, as usual.
I had a killer hangover the next day, of course. Kai and I both spent Spring 2nd in bed, while my mother fussed over us and made us tea. Gradually my headache faded and my face wasn't flushed anymore, so the next day I declared myself cured and went down to the beach.
The weather was already warming up, and the cherry blossoms were floating in a pink haze down from the square. For a moment my thoughts drifted back to a wake a year earlier, and a slumped form in a baseball cap dragging toward the farm. And beyond that, a woman with long blonde hair, who had danced and laughed and shaped the vineyard and my dreams, a woman who I had seen only once but would always remember.
I started to dance.
I threw myself into it totally, dancing in the wind like the cherry blossoms.
When I stopped, I was aware of someone watching me and turned to see Jack, standing silently on the path to the ranch.
"Oh..." I said. We hadn't had a chance to talk since Moon Mountain.
"That was amazing," he said, coming slowly toward me.
I barely heard myself say "thank you." For the hundredth time, Kai's words rang through my head: "go after him."
"Jack?" I asked. "I have something to ask you."
He stopped enthusing about my dancing skills and grew more serious. "Yes?"
I took a deep breath. "Do you like me?"
He laughed and rubbed the back of his head through his baseball cap. "Karen, I've liked you since we were five years old."
I looked into his eyes. "Then...bring me a blue feather."
"What?" He looked like he was having it trouble taking it in. "You...you want to marry me?"
I glanced away, feeling my face grow hot. "What? Me? I thought you knew already."
He moved closer and took my hand, forcing me to look at him. "I have something to ask you as well."
My heart stuck halfway through a beat. "Yes?"
"Our promise...Karen, I love you. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you." As if in a dream, his arms came up again, and then the shining fragments of blue were raining down on me. "Will you marry me?" he asked.
"Huh?" I blurted out without thinking. "Are you serious?" He nodded. "What should I do?" I saw the sudden shift in his eyes to nervousness and doubt.
"Of course YES!" I cried. "Silly!"
We both laughed at the same time, and then we were kissing. The shards of blue and cherry blossoms drifted down toward the sea, and I felt a kind of warmth that was greater than anything I'd ever been able to get from a bottle. It was the feeling I'd had as a five-year-old, the feeling I'd caught flashes of inside the wine cellar and in his arms when he carried me home when I fell and on a rainy day when he'd given me the music box, the feeling that I had, totally raw and full, on the night we'd danced with the Kifu fairies and never understood until I'd told it to Kai.
This was love.
My mom was quiet when I told her that night, but I could see her eyes lighting up. "Oh, Karen, that's wonderful," she said. "I'm so happy for you."
I looked at her. "Really? I mean, after everything you've been through with Dad, you don't think I'm making a mistake?"
"Honey, is that really what you think?" She reached out to stroke my hair. "Listen to me. Marrying your father was never a mistake."
"But he yells all the time, and he's such a jerk sometimes!" I burst out.
"But he loves you, Karen," she said quietly. "I don't know if you realize that. Yes, he does yell too much sometimes, but he cares about you and he worries that he hasn't made that clear to you." I leaned back against her while her fingers worked the tangles out of my hair, feeling like a little girl again. "I can't tell you that there will never be rough times--Lord knows Lillia understands that, with her husband gone half the year-and I don't believe that 90% of a woman's happiness depends on finding a man like the Mayor's wife does. I believe that you make your own happiness in life, and maybe...lately...I've lost sight of that. But he loves you, Karen, and I think you'll be happy together."
Something in the way she'd spoken made me look up at her. "What are you going to do now, Mom?" I asked.
Mom smiled down at me. "I've been standing in that house far too long. I want to help your father and Kai more out there. And...I want to dance again. I could teach or even perform once in a while to help make ends meet."
I threw my arms around her. "Mom, that's great! That's your dream!"
She hugged me back, and for the first time in a while, I realized how beautiful she still was when she smiled. "I know."
Suddenly I heard footsteps on the stairs, and my father appeared at the end of my room. He just stood there for a moment, looking at me.
Then he said, "I want you to know that no matter what happens, there will always be a place for you here."
I nodded. "I know, Dad."
Slowly, he walked over, and there was something almost shy in his face. "I remember when you were a little girl..."
"...and we used to dance together..." I filled in, not even thinking about it.
"And then you grew up, and we didn't dance anymore. And I drank more and yelled more, and I never realized that I was wasting my life. You were the one who saved the vineyard, Karen."
I shook my head. "No, Dad. It was Jack. He was the one who brought the Kifu fairies back."
"No." He looked at me hard, his eyes staring straight into mine. "It was you, Karen. You were the one who worked so hard for this vineyard. It was your determination that really brought this place back. And you were the one who made me realize how important it was."
This was totally out of character for my dad. "Dad..." I began.
"Let me finish," he ordered, holding up a hand for silence. "I haven't always been a good father to you, and that's something I will always regret. But I love you, even if I haven't shown it."
He stopped, looking a little embarrassed. "There."
I stood up, and, unbelievably, I found myself giving him a hug for the first time in years. "I love you too, Dad," I said.
Then I turned back to smile at them both and went down the stairs to Kai's room.
The light was still on when I knocked. "Come in," Kai called. I stepped inside.
His room was sparsely decorated; the only furnishings were a bed, a chair, a small table, and a simple chest of drawers. A picture and a single orange sat on top of the chest. As I looked closer, I could see the five boys and the parents. The boys all had the same wide smile. Spots of orange stood out against the green background, and I realized that this was the orange grove.
"I'm writing to them now," Kai said behind me, and I jumped a little. He was bent over the table, a page and a half already written in his neat round handwriting.
"It's been five years since you've seen them," I realized.
He nodded. "Yep. I left for the city five years ago and never made it past this vineyard."
"Are you ever going to go back?" I asked.
He set the pencil down and motioned for me to have a seat on the bed. "I don't know," he sighed eventually. "You know it's a poor town. They need the money I'm sending, and they don't need another mouth to feed. And...I don't know if I'll ever get to the city."
"Why not?"
Kai shrugged. "I'm making money here. I guess the same as people like Cliff and Jack, I just found a place here and settled into it. And your parents have been good to me." I half-expected him to say, 'And you wouldn't come with me,' and it hung between us for an instant, but he didn't say anything else.
I ran my fingers through my hair. "About Jack..."
"I heard." His face was emotionless, his voice steady. I couldn't tell what he was thinking.
"I feel like I've been unfair to you."
"No," he said quickly. "No. I don't ever want you to feel guilty about what happened. I want you to be happy." He smiled, a little sadly, but I could feel the warmth. "People like us, Karen, we're survivors. I can't lie to you: I wish things had turned out differently. But I'll be okay, and I guess the best thing I can do for you is tell you I'll always be here, as your friend."
I wanted to say something, but the words stuck in my throat. I managed a "thank you" and gave him a fierce hug. He returned it, and somehow I felt a lot better.
"Aaaahhh, Karen, that's great news!" Ann threw her arms around me and gave me a bone-crunching hug. "Come in!" she commanded, dragging me into the house. Cliff sat up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "Whassamatta?" he asked, blinking in the sudden light.
"Ya moron, your cousin's getting married in two days and you're sitting there like a bump on a log! This is big news!" Ann bellowed.
"Can't it be big news in the morning?" he asked. Cain, on a perch near the bed, ruffled his feathers in agreement.
"NO!" she snapped cheerfully. "Now, we gotta plan for this! We need flowers, food, drinks, the works! We can use some of the same decorations, but...ooh, your outfit! Let's see, you have to have an all-new veil and shoes, and...a dress! I'll find the perfect dress! You're gonna be stunning!"
"I dunno, Ann," I said skeptically. "It seems like a lot of work."
"Hah-HAH!" Ann cried. She loves planning stuff like this. She LIVES for being the one who knows what to do and, therefore, gets to be in charge. "Not to worry! We'll get this all running perfectly! You'll see!"
Okay, so I could've told you it wouldn't run perfectly, but it was pretty smooth nonetheless. After working on Ann's wedding, the five of us girls were a little better at the routine. Since it was Spring, Popuri had more flowers to choose from, and Elli, Ellen, and Jeff got started the day before on the wedding cake and the rest of the food. My mom was pretty cool about everything too; she and Ann got my dress designed and sewn in record time, and she even had time to go down and help out with the cooking. Dad brought out a bunch of wines I didn't even know he had, and he offered to help serve. Ann and Maria were probably the reason it all came together, though: Ann's raw creativity and energy meshed perfectly with Maria's quiet ability to coordinate things and make them happen. And so everything was ready for the sixth of Spring.
Wine Red no Kokoro
by flame mage
Part 20: Blue Feather Blues
**********
I love the New Year's Festival. The last two days of Winter and the first day of Spring are the three best days of the year. Ann gets mad at me when I say that. And I'm not gonna lie; I feel kinda guilty that I'm happiest when I'm drinking. But let's face it: when you live on a tiny vineyard outside a tiny town on a tiny island with four TV channels and no phones or computers, there's not much to do except drink. And I was kinda brought up with it.
The way the New Year's Festival works is this: everyone gets together in the square and wanders around with tall glass mugs, the kind we serve beer in at the bar. You go around and greet people and wish them a happy new year. Every time you greet someone, you drink. Read: you drink the entire mug. And then you fill up and do it again. The last one conscious is the winner.
I always say hi to the pushovers first. I've known Maria all my life, and in that time I don't think she's stepped foot in the bar once. People like Elli and Rick are pretty easy to beat, too. Lillia and the Mayor's wife, the type who have a glass of wine occasionally, are only marginally tougher. Then you have people like Harris and Jeff, who are regulars in the bar and can hold themselves together pretty well. Ann can stand a couple mugs, but I usually try to be careful with her, because her brother gets really mad when she gets drunk.
My parents don't usually bother coming, so for the past five years it's come down to a standoff between me and Kai. I only lost once--his first year, when I was younger and the novelty of working at a vineyard hadn't worn off yet for him and he was drinking like there was no tomorrow.
This year was no different, except that we had Cliff and Jack to deal with. Cliff came in occasionally, and he had a great poker face, so he took me a couple of tries. Jack, who came in practically every night, managed to work his way through everyone else and finally came down to a six-drink standoff with Kai. It eventually ended with both of them passing out simultaneously, and since no one could remember who hit the ground first, we called it a tie and took them both home. I was declared the victor, as usual.
I had a killer hangover the next day, of course. Kai and I both spent Spring 2nd in bed, while my mother fussed over us and made us tea. Gradually my headache faded and my face wasn't flushed anymore, so the next day I declared myself cured and went down to the beach.
The weather was already warming up, and the cherry blossoms were floating in a pink haze down from the square. For a moment my thoughts drifted back to a wake a year earlier, and a slumped form in a baseball cap dragging toward the farm. And beyond that, a woman with long blonde hair, who had danced and laughed and shaped the vineyard and my dreams, a woman who I had seen only once but would always remember.
I started to dance.
I threw myself into it totally, dancing in the wind like the cherry blossoms.
When I stopped, I was aware of someone watching me and turned to see Jack, standing silently on the path to the ranch.
"Oh..." I said. We hadn't had a chance to talk since Moon Mountain.
"That was amazing," he said, coming slowly toward me.
I barely heard myself say "thank you." For the hundredth time, Kai's words rang through my head: "go after him."
"Jack?" I asked. "I have something to ask you."
He stopped enthusing about my dancing skills and grew more serious. "Yes?"
I took a deep breath. "Do you like me?"
He laughed and rubbed the back of his head through his baseball cap. "Karen, I've liked you since we were five years old."
I looked into his eyes. "Then...bring me a blue feather."
"What?" He looked like he was having it trouble taking it in. "You...you want to marry me?"
I glanced away, feeling my face grow hot. "What? Me? I thought you knew already."
He moved closer and took my hand, forcing me to look at him. "I have something to ask you as well."
My heart stuck halfway through a beat. "Yes?"
"Our promise...Karen, I love you. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you." As if in a dream, his arms came up again, and then the shining fragments of blue were raining down on me. "Will you marry me?" he asked.
"Huh?" I blurted out without thinking. "Are you serious?" He nodded. "What should I do?" I saw the sudden shift in his eyes to nervousness and doubt.
"Of course YES!" I cried. "Silly!"
We both laughed at the same time, and then we were kissing. The shards of blue and cherry blossoms drifted down toward the sea, and I felt a kind of warmth that was greater than anything I'd ever been able to get from a bottle. It was the feeling I'd had as a five-year-old, the feeling I'd caught flashes of inside the wine cellar and in his arms when he carried me home when I fell and on a rainy day when he'd given me the music box, the feeling that I had, totally raw and full, on the night we'd danced with the Kifu fairies and never understood until I'd told it to Kai.
This was love.
My mom was quiet when I told her that night, but I could see her eyes lighting up. "Oh, Karen, that's wonderful," she said. "I'm so happy for you."
I looked at her. "Really? I mean, after everything you've been through with Dad, you don't think I'm making a mistake?"
"Honey, is that really what you think?" She reached out to stroke my hair. "Listen to me. Marrying your father was never a mistake."
"But he yells all the time, and he's such a jerk sometimes!" I burst out.
"But he loves you, Karen," she said quietly. "I don't know if you realize that. Yes, he does yell too much sometimes, but he cares about you and he worries that he hasn't made that clear to you." I leaned back against her while her fingers worked the tangles out of my hair, feeling like a little girl again. "I can't tell you that there will never be rough times--Lord knows Lillia understands that, with her husband gone half the year-and I don't believe that 90% of a woman's happiness depends on finding a man like the Mayor's wife does. I believe that you make your own happiness in life, and maybe...lately...I've lost sight of that. But he loves you, Karen, and I think you'll be happy together."
Something in the way she'd spoken made me look up at her. "What are you going to do now, Mom?" I asked.
Mom smiled down at me. "I've been standing in that house far too long. I want to help your father and Kai more out there. And...I want to dance again. I could teach or even perform once in a while to help make ends meet."
I threw my arms around her. "Mom, that's great! That's your dream!"
She hugged me back, and for the first time in a while, I realized how beautiful she still was when she smiled. "I know."
Suddenly I heard footsteps on the stairs, and my father appeared at the end of my room. He just stood there for a moment, looking at me.
Then he said, "I want you to know that no matter what happens, there will always be a place for you here."
I nodded. "I know, Dad."
Slowly, he walked over, and there was something almost shy in his face. "I remember when you were a little girl..."
"...and we used to dance together..." I filled in, not even thinking about it.
"And then you grew up, and we didn't dance anymore. And I drank more and yelled more, and I never realized that I was wasting my life. You were the one who saved the vineyard, Karen."
I shook my head. "No, Dad. It was Jack. He was the one who brought the Kifu fairies back."
"No." He looked at me hard, his eyes staring straight into mine. "It was you, Karen. You were the one who worked so hard for this vineyard. It was your determination that really brought this place back. And you were the one who made me realize how important it was."
This was totally out of character for my dad. "Dad..." I began.
"Let me finish," he ordered, holding up a hand for silence. "I haven't always been a good father to you, and that's something I will always regret. But I love you, even if I haven't shown it."
He stopped, looking a little embarrassed. "There."
I stood up, and, unbelievably, I found myself giving him a hug for the first time in years. "I love you too, Dad," I said.
Then I turned back to smile at them both and went down the stairs to Kai's room.
The light was still on when I knocked. "Come in," Kai called. I stepped inside.
His room was sparsely decorated; the only furnishings were a bed, a chair, a small table, and a simple chest of drawers. A picture and a single orange sat on top of the chest. As I looked closer, I could see the five boys and the parents. The boys all had the same wide smile. Spots of orange stood out against the green background, and I realized that this was the orange grove.
"I'm writing to them now," Kai said behind me, and I jumped a little. He was bent over the table, a page and a half already written in his neat round handwriting.
"It's been five years since you've seen them," I realized.
He nodded. "Yep. I left for the city five years ago and never made it past this vineyard."
"Are you ever going to go back?" I asked.
He set the pencil down and motioned for me to have a seat on the bed. "I don't know," he sighed eventually. "You know it's a poor town. They need the money I'm sending, and they don't need another mouth to feed. And...I don't know if I'll ever get to the city."
"Why not?"
Kai shrugged. "I'm making money here. I guess the same as people like Cliff and Jack, I just found a place here and settled into it. And your parents have been good to me." I half-expected him to say, 'And you wouldn't come with me,' and it hung between us for an instant, but he didn't say anything else.
I ran my fingers through my hair. "About Jack..."
"I heard." His face was emotionless, his voice steady. I couldn't tell what he was thinking.
"I feel like I've been unfair to you."
"No," he said quickly. "No. I don't ever want you to feel guilty about what happened. I want you to be happy." He smiled, a little sadly, but I could feel the warmth. "People like us, Karen, we're survivors. I can't lie to you: I wish things had turned out differently. But I'll be okay, and I guess the best thing I can do for you is tell you I'll always be here, as your friend."
I wanted to say something, but the words stuck in my throat. I managed a "thank you" and gave him a fierce hug. He returned it, and somehow I felt a lot better.
"Aaaahhh, Karen, that's great news!" Ann threw her arms around me and gave me a bone-crunching hug. "Come in!" she commanded, dragging me into the house. Cliff sat up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. "Whassamatta?" he asked, blinking in the sudden light.
"Ya moron, your cousin's getting married in two days and you're sitting there like a bump on a log! This is big news!" Ann bellowed.
"Can't it be big news in the morning?" he asked. Cain, on a perch near the bed, ruffled his feathers in agreement.
"NO!" she snapped cheerfully. "Now, we gotta plan for this! We need flowers, food, drinks, the works! We can use some of the same decorations, but...ooh, your outfit! Let's see, you have to have an all-new veil and shoes, and...a dress! I'll find the perfect dress! You're gonna be stunning!"
"I dunno, Ann," I said skeptically. "It seems like a lot of work."
"Hah-HAH!" Ann cried. She loves planning stuff like this. She LIVES for being the one who knows what to do and, therefore, gets to be in charge. "Not to worry! We'll get this all running perfectly! You'll see!"
Okay, so I could've told you it wouldn't run perfectly, but it was pretty smooth nonetheless. After working on Ann's wedding, the five of us girls were a little better at the routine. Since it was Spring, Popuri had more flowers to choose from, and Elli, Ellen, and Jeff got started the day before on the wedding cake and the rest of the food. My mom was pretty cool about everything too; she and Ann got my dress designed and sewn in record time, and she even had time to go down and help out with the cooking. Dad brought out a bunch of wines I didn't even know he had, and he offered to help serve. Ann and Maria were probably the reason it all came together, though: Ann's raw creativity and energy meshed perfectly with Maria's quiet ability to coordinate things and make them happen. And so everything was ready for the sixth of Spring.