Chapter 6

They were married on a beautiful day in Spring. Ann was so nervous she felt she might be sick. Karen, as her best friend in the entire world, could do nothing but support her.

"Ann, honey, it's going to be okay," she told her, holding her by her arms and forcing her to look her in the eye.

"Oh, I don't know," Ann said, fidgeting in her seat. She was so beautiful in her dress, the one as white as the pearls strung around her neck, the one that fit her so perfectly. The blush in her cheeks lit a fire to her eyes as they danced about the room frantically. "If I'm so unsure..."

"What are you unsure about?" Karen asked. Everything, she begged quietly. Say it's everything. Say you don't think he's the right man for you.

"What if I don't make a good wife for him?" Ann's eyes faltered.

Karen's grip on her shoulders tightened ever so slightly. Ann loved him so much, and Karen knew it.

And nothing else mattered. Not even Karen's own feelings.

"No one could make a better wife," Karen told her softly.

Ann's words failed her. And, to Karen's surprise, she began to cry. Ann had never cried before, not once. But now involuntary tears spilled down her cheeks freely as ever, sweet, silent and beautiful, and Ann stifled a wail. She pulled Karen against her and hugged her close. Karen held her just as tightly.

"Are you ready?" Karen asked into her ear.

She heard Ann sniff. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Karen smiled gently and pressed her lips to Ann's forehead. "Then go on."

Ann dried her eyes and smiled, nodding. She gave Karen's hand a squeeze and turned away, smiling brightly. She turned her head before she left. "Wish me luck," she said, and then nearly ran from the room.

"Good luck," Karen said under her breath.

"It must be hard," said a voice from behind. Karen, startled, turned to find Kai, who was gazing at her sympathetically.

He saw the cruel look in Karen's eyes before adding, "I mean, watching your best friend go like that. It must be hard sharing her with a husband."

Karen blinked. "Oh, yeah. Right."

"Um, Miss Karen, I know this may be the wrong time, but..." Kai shuffled his feet.

"Just spit it out," she barked. She wasn't in the mood to talk.

Kai nodded obediently and took one hand out from behind his back. There in his hand rested a blue feather, identical to the one Jack had given Ann. Karen gaped at it disbelievingly.

"Will you marry me?"

The Firefly Festival was one of the quieter festivals, but unmistakably one of Sonya's favorites. The tradition was to pay respects to those who had passed on by lighting paper flowers and sending them out to sea. This is how the festival got its name: the glowing flowers were much like fireflies. The spirits take solace in seeing the flowers, they say.

There was a flower for each family, or for each person, or for each spirit – it depended on how the family decided to do it. This year, Mint and her grandmother Lillia would send one out together while Gray and Popuri planned on sending one themselves. Popuri smiled serenely as she set the luminous moonlight stone into her flower. "Rest in peace, Papa," she whispered.

Kai and Sonya never really had anyone close that they could pay respects to, but they usually came anyway. When she was very young, Sonya had once sent a flower off to her mother, but back then she didn't know that "those who are gone" meant "those who have died."

John placed his flower onto the shore, keeping a hold onto it as to make sure the waves didn't carry it away yet. His parents were beside him, waiting for everyone else to arrive so they could set their flower off to sea. Ann was gazing sympathetically at Elli and Rune as they set up their own flower. "Poor Elli," she said, and Jack and John turned to look at her. "First she loses her parents, then her grandmother, then her husband. Life has a way of being cruel to people."

Jack blinked at his wife. It was odd to see Ann sympathizing over someone whom she envied so greatly, but she was right.

"It's odd," she continued. "Elli isn't one of those people who deserve to have things like that happen to her."

John observed his flower. Life doesn't pick and choose those things, he thought. It's like a disease; it hits randomly, whomever it reaches first.

Once Sonya arrived, she took her own flower from the ones the Mayor was offering and set it on the shoreline. She saw Rune waving to her and nodded as he approached.

"Take this," he said, a dropped a tiny glowing bottle into Sonya's hands. She examined it. "What is it?" she asked him.

"Moondrop dew," he answered proudly, and Sonya gazed at the bottle again. The bottle contained a golden liquid, somehow alight. "My mom got some last year during the Fall. Go ahead, put it in your flower."

Sonya complied, removing the moonlight stone and instead put in the moondrop dew. It glowed just the same, only instead of emitting a silvery golden light, the color it radiated was closer to a copper hue that reminded her of the harvest moon.

"Thanks," said Sonya, and Rune grinned at her.

"Anytime." And with that, he was off. She could have sworn she saw Rune and John exchange secretive grins as he passed, but she excused the thought, thinking it unimportant.

Sonya slipped her sandals off and set her feet into the water, which was refreshingly cool. When the mayor gave the signal, she set off her flower, watching as the sea carried away the flood of golden lights.

That night, Sonya dreamed of the purple of the grapevines, the silver of fairy lights, and the gold of the harvest moon.

Just before the Swimming Festival, John, Mint and Rune had gathered at the beach. Mint had earlier objected for fear of the sun burning her delicate skin, but John and Rune wouldn't hear of it. They plucked her out of bed and nearly dragged her out to the ocean, claiming it was crucial that she came.

When Rune pulled out a bottle of wine from a bag, Mint looked from the bottle, to Rune, to the bottle, and said, "This is what was so important?"

John's hands were already on the bottle, and he snatched it from Rune's hands greedily. "Door to Heaven!" he proclaimed immediately. "Rune, where did you get this? I thought they didn't make this anymore!" He paused briefly, but went on before giving Rune a chance to answer. "This isn't one of the newer ones, is it? Those are supposed to be really bad..."

"No, check the date," said Rune.

John did so and nodded in approval. Once again, he asked, "Where did you get this?"

"Uncle Duke gave it to me," said Rune.

Mint, in the meantime, was parting her lengthy tresses, trying to make sense of the mess of hair John and Rune had made while dragging her here. "Well, I'm glad you two like it so much, but what does this have to do with me?"

"Well, I was going to ask you what I should do with it..."

Mint tugged at her hair. "Why me?"

Rune's expression tightened. "I want your opinion, that's why! I need to know what to do with it!"

Mint looked at him. "Why's it so important?"

Rune sighed, shrugging in defeat. "I don't know."

John, meanwhile, had been observing the bottle quietly. "Do you really think it could help with the vineyard?"

"What are you talking about?" Mint, for now, had chosen to ignore her hair.

Rune went on as though Mint had never spoken. "Honestly, I don't know. I think we should leave it with Kai, though."

"No..." John pressed the bottle into the sand. "He might, you know... drink it..."

"Sonya then," Rune said.

"She'd definitely drink it," John replied.

Mint placed her hand between the two of them. "Wait. What's this about this bottle helping with what?"

Rune eyed Mint. "Uncle Duke said that it may help with bringing the vineyard back into shape. How, I don't know."

"So... Drinking it is bad."

"Yes," said Rune and John simultaneously.

Mint touched the bottle gently, prodding it. She said nothing.

"Rune, you should just keep it for now." John looked at Rune seriously. "Just until we figure out what to do with it."

Mint interjected. "Are you sure? I think maybe we should give it to Sonya or her dad. They need it more than we do."

"No!" John glared at her, alarmed. "They don't know..."

"And how do you know?" Mint glared back intensely. "How do you know that Kai hasn't been searching for one of these? How do you know he doesn't know what to do with it?"

John's eyes rested on her, calm, even. "Okay, then why don't you ask?" Mint tilted her head. "Ask Kai what he knows," he continued. "Until you can say that he knows what to do with it, Rune will keep the bottle. Okay?"

Mint observed him, searching for any sign of uncertainty, but his expression was fixed. "Fine," she said. "Just keep in mind it's rightfully Kai's."

The swimming race went just as quickly as it came. None of the children were allowed to participate, though each of them came along with the rest of the villagers to cheer on their fathers. Stu won, and no one was surprised, as he had youth on his side.

The day after the Swimming Festival was the first day since mid-Spring that was actually cold. Fog had set in that morning, sucking away the heat from the sun and leaving the rest of the day refreshingly cold.

The first person Rune visited was Mia. In the library, he showed her the Door to Heaven eagerly, and she observed the bottle carefully.

"This was made when Eve was around," she said after checking the date, and Rune was surprised she knew that. "That means it's good wine."

"So what should I do with it?"

"Throw a party and drink it for all it's worth," she joked.

Rune let out an unenthusiastic "Haha," before continuing with, "Mia, listen. I think we could use this to help Kai out, you know?"

She arched an eyebrow. "So give it to him."

"No, but I think we should..."

Mia raised her glasses to her forehead. "He can take the wine and make more wine from it, using the same technique that Eve did just from studying it. The vineyard will be back in business."

But it wasn't like that. Rune of all people knew this. "It's not the recipe that's different, it's the grapes."

"You want a book on the vineyard, yes?" Mia smiled.

"Sort of... I want a book on the village folklore."

"Okay then," said Mia, and she turned back to her sketchbook. "It's in the history section."

"Thanks," he said, and began working his way through the shelves.

He had found the book he had in mind within five minutes. It wasn't drastically large in size, but it was decent enough, providing tales and background stories for the valley in which he resided. Most of the tales were centered on the Harvest Goddess, as he expected.

Maria, who had been at the counter, waved to him as he made his way out the door. "Make sure to return it within four weeks," she called.

"Will do!"