Now that you've all met Birdy, I think its time to start the actual story, shall we? This chapter

oOoOo

Stuck.

That was what Birdy was; stuck. Since her grandfather had passed away and he was her last relative, she had to either go live on her own (starting out almost completely broke) or, if her grandfather had said anything in his will, do what he wanted. Even though she was an adult, she was still entitled to do what he wanted, and usually she wanted to.

But this was that one time when she'd have been better off living on her own.

In his will, Birdy's grandaddy had begged that Birdy stay in Mineral Village. He said the country air was much cleaner than the smoggy city air, and that the people were "lovely, really lovely". Of course, she had the choice to leave and ignore his last wishes. But she loved him too much to refuse to do one last favor for him. Besides, where else would she go? She had very little money, and here was a house and furniture all ready for her here, even if they did belong to her grandfather. So she was truly stuck in the last place on Earth she wanted to be.

Sighing, Birdy rolled off her "new" bed and onto the floor. She walked to the window and peeked out. The grass all around the house was peeking out from underneath the piles of now melting snow, and Birdy thought she even saw a daffodil. This lifted her spirits a bit. Spring, her favorite season, was on its way!

Birdy slipped on the black dress and the stockings and one of the black boots. As she was rooting around for the other boot, she wished she had thought to bring her clothes. Now, she had to wear the horrible black outfit she had been forced to wear only two days prior. Not that it was ugly or anything; it actually was quite pretty. But beauty didn't make up for the horrible time she'd had in this outfit. She wished she had new clothes, even if they were a boy's T-shirt.

Finally she found her lost boot and shoved it on. She straighted and walked out to the door, her boots make thumping sounds on the worn wood floor. She needed to take her mind of the last two days, and exploring was the way to do it.

Not that she was going to talk to any people, she decided as she touched the tip of the daffodil she had seen. They would only make her feel worse, what with their apologies and sad faces and meaningless comforts. She'd just stay away from town; easy, since she now lived on Mother's Hill and town was far down past Jack's farm.

Birdy shivered a little as snow seeped slowly into her right boot, making her toes feel completely frozen. She wandered a little farther north, north, north... until she stopped abruptly.

A boy and an older man stood gazing out over the peak of the mountain, seeming transfixed, especially the older man. Birdy bit back a scream as she thought, They're going to jump off! She ran up to them and pulled each on the backs of their shirts. The boy collapsed next to her, but the old man was surprisingly strong. Her whirled around and glared grumpily at her. "D'ya mind?" he growled.

Slightly taken aback, Birdy took two steps back and tripped over they boy's leg, falling over next to him. The boy stood up and glared down at her, tugging at his cap so the brim covered even more of his icey bue eyes.

"S-sorry," she muttered inaudibly, standing up and brushing herself off. They didn't say anything more to her after that, so Birdy decided she wouldn't give them an explaination, either. Besides, she thought in embarrassment, maybe I over-reacted. They don't look like they're going to jump off after all. So she turned and walked down the mountain, her face still tinged pink.

Now she was all wet and covered with quickly melting snow. And she had no other clothes to wear, so she'd just have to deal with it. Birdy put on her best poker face and marched forward, trying with all her might to ignore the freezing water that clung to her clothes. She marched right past Jack's farm without noticing; she was in some kind of daze. She didn't even see the houses until someone called, "Hey! Heeeeeeey!"

Birdy blinked and looked around, stopping in her tracks. She saw snow, houses, more snow... wait, houses? She paled as she realized she was in town. And someone had called her; someone had seen her!

Looking around, Birdy's eye cought on to something candy-pink. It was hard to miss in a sea of white snow. As she studied the person, who turned out to be a girl, Birdy thought she recognized her... Ah. Pink hair, long red skirt, pale skin. She was the girl Birdy had seen sobbing openly at... at... a few days ago. As the girl walked nearer, Birdy noticed something even more peculiar than her hair-- her eyes were red. Birdy felt extremely stupid now; this girl's eyes hadn't been red from crying like hers had been; this girl's eyes were always red! It was her natural eye color.

Finally the girl stood next to her, smiling happily. "Hallo! You don't look too familiar. I'm Popuri, nice to meetcha and greetcha!" Weird hair, weirder eyes, and even weirder name. Popuri?

"I'm Birdy," Birdy replied quietly. "Just... just moved in..." It was true, but she didn't know how long exactly she'd stay.

Popuri squealed happily. "Oooh, ooooooooooh, so you're the old man's granddaughter!" she said in her bubbly voice. "I thought you'd be just a kid, but you look about my age! This is so exciting; I've got a new friend!"

Hold on just a sec, Birdy thought, slow down! I don't even know you! But she allowed herself another tiny smile. "Hello, I'm Roberta, but please just call me Birdy."

Popuri looked ecstatic. "Oooh, what a pretty name!" she exclaimed. "Birdy, birdy in the sky, flying, flying oh-so high..." she sang. "Why oh why, did you crap in my eye?"

Birdy bit back a laugh. "I can tell you truthfully that I have never and will never crap in someone's eye," Birdy promised, raising her right hand as if pledging.

Popuri giggled a bit too. "That's good. Oh," she added, seemingly remembering something, "if you're not busy with anything, do you wanna come meet my family? I'm sure they'll be excited to see a new face!" Popuri said with a smile bright as sunshine.

"Well... ... ..." Birdy pretended to think about it, but she smiled and said, "...of course. But I can only stay for a moment. I'm looking for a job, you see, so--"

"Say no more!" Popuri exclaimed. She grabbed Birdy's hand and half-dragged her to the nearest house.

It was a small, but tidy house. A fireplace burned cheerily in a corner, a boy standing in front of it, warming his hands. I recognized him from the other day. A teakettle whistled, spewing steam into the air, and Birdy jumped. The boy walked oiver to get the kettle, but saw Birdy and stopped.

"Popuri, who is this?" he demanded, not in a cruel way. He studied her all-black clothing and raised an eyebrow. Birdy blushed.

"Ah. Uhm. I know what you're thinking, and no, I'm not a goth. I just... don't have any other clothes..." She coughed, embarrassed. "You see, I just moved it, and--"

"Poppy? Is that you?" a soft voice called from upstairs. All eyes turned to the staircase, and the boy rushed over and climbed up the stairs. A few moments later he came down, this time leading... the pink-haired woman Birdy had seen at the funeral? She smiled as she seemed to see Birdy, which Birdy thought was odd-- she hadn't seen the lady's eyes open.

"Ah, hello dear," she said kindly. "You were... at the funeral, weren't you?" She walked steadly, yet slowly, towards a desk, her long, curly pink hair swishing behind her.

Birdy nodded. "Yes... I was," she whispered, as if words would shatter this fragile-looking woman to peices.

The woman smiled. "I'm Lillia; it's a pleasure to meet you. Now tell me, are you staying here for a few days...?"

"Nope!" Popuri piped up. "She told me she'll be staying here in her grandfather's mountain cottage!"

Lillia nodded. "Oh, so you're his granddaughter," she mused. "You seem so much like him already... you have the same... air about you. I can't quite put my finger on it. Hmmm..."

The boy came up to Popuri and Birdy and smiled. "Hello. I'm Rick. If what Mom says is true, that you are the old man's granddaughter--" Birdy winced. Old man? It sounded so... so common for a person like her grandaddy-- "and your name is Roberta...?"

"Birdy," she corrected. "Just Birdy, please."

"Birdy, birdy, in the skyyyyyyyyy!" Popuri began again, but Birdy wisely covered her mouth eith her hand. Popuri blinked, but stopped singing.

"Okay, Just Birdy," Rick said with a silly grin, "It was nice meeting you. Come back any time, okay? All our chickens lay really delicious eggs. Oh, by the way, you do like eggs, don't you?"

Birdy nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, eggs? I love them! Why?"

Rick nodded, his smile growing. "Ha! I knew it! I knew you were an egg-person!" He suddenly turned to the table behind him and grabbed something before turning back around and thrusting the object into Birdy's surprised hands. "It's a Spa-Boiled Egg," he explained. "There's a hot spring near the Goddess Pond; you just toss an egg in and-- voila!-- a Spa-Boiled Egg! They're delicious."

"Uh-uh-uh, but, I really couldn't--" Birdy began, trying to give the egg back. The family would have none of it.

"No," Popuri disagreed, "you're new, and, from what I here, broke. You need it more than we do."

"But--"

"We live on a chicken farm and eat eggs for almost every meal. We'll never run out of a supply of eggs and chickens, but you dear, don't have a single clucker," Lillia chimed in softly.

"I really couldn't--"

"C'mon, Birdy. It's one egg," Rick pointed out. "We're not going to starve just because we gave away one egg."

Birdy sighed, defeated. "Well... all right then, when you put it that way... Thank you. But I really have to go. I need to get a job, you see, and--"

"Say no more!" Popuri interrupted. "We understand!" Smiling like crazy, she grabbed Birdy's wrist and dragged her out the door. All three family members poked their heads outside to smile goodbye to a bewildered Birdy. "Come visit!" Popuri called cheerily as she closed the door.

Birdy found herself outside, confused, holding a still-warm egg (warm from the Spa...?), and devoloping a headache. That went by... quickly, she thought, placing the egg carefully into her backpack. Rubbing her temples, she walked away from the Poultry Farm property and, trying to sort out the conversation with Popuri and her family, was not looking where she was going. She ran right into someone, falling over on the ground more from surprise than anything.

"Watch it."

Birdy looked up into the icy blue eyes of the boy whom she had tackled earlier. He was scowling down at her, one eye half-covered by an odd hat that said "UMA" on the brim. He looked almost punk-rock with the light golden tie.

Unable to speak for embarrassment, Birdy gaped and blushed, hoping he'd go away so he wouldn't see her act like a drooling idiot.

The boy didn't go away as Birdy had hoped. Instead, his look softened a bit. "...Can you talk?" he said in an articulate voice.

Birdy nodded. "Uh-uh-uh-uh," she stammered quite intelligently, "uh..."

The boy rolled his eyes and held out his hand. Birdy stared at in bewilderment. Did he want her to shake it? Or was he trying to help her get up?

Birdy combined the two ideas; she grabbed his hand, which was calloused but warm, shook it, and then hauled herself up. "I'm B-Birdy," she managaed to say through her shivers-- her dress was now completely soaked.

The boy nodded and let go of her hand. "Gray," he answered.

Birdy blinked. Was that his name, or...?

"Welcome to the boonies," he continued. With a tug of his hat, he shoved past her and walked into a small, cozy-looking building with a brown sign by the door. Birdy walked up to it, curiosity getting the better of her. Was this where the gray-guy lived? As she read the sign, which stated that this house was blacksmith's, Birdy decided he must work here-- there was no room at all for a person to live there!

Walking away, Birdy clutched her shoulders protectively, shivering profusely. Her shivers racked her whole body feircly, and walking becamre difficult. Maybe I should go home... she decided, her teeth chattering loudly. She turned around and stumbled back towards the Poultry Farm and the blacksmiths. Okay... so I just have to... have to go by here and... and...? What next? Blinking again, she took a few shaky steps, her vision getting bleary. I need to hurry, Birdy thought, I need to hurry...

And then everything went black.