2 months of summer went by and I got nothing done. I should probably be disgusted with myself, but I just can't even muster that up. Yes, yes, I know! It took me way too long to do this update! To make up for it, this newest installation is so long that I'm splitting it into two chapters, so technically the next chapter is already done! I'll probably post it in maybe... 3 weeks or so? I wanna give myself time to write more.

Summer 29th

He was hidden away somewhere dark. And warm. It was comforting and safe; no one could reach him here. No one could hurt him here. Everything was calm and still and quiet and he loved it. He never wanted to leave here.

But where was here?

Slowly, a whiteness began to fill his senses, the space illuminated with a soft glow. The features of the area became clear, and it was so full of life, color, and light that Jamie almost didn't realize he was standing in the Goddess' Spring. Instead of the dank, dreary cavern he was used to, it was now like a portal to another world. Reaching up to the ceiling of the cave were giant Pink Cat Mint flowers, the petals emitting a soft rosy hue, bouncing lightly every now and then to send breezes of sweet-scented air through the cave. The grass, too, was dotted with small flowers of every pigment in the rainbow, and tiny golden, flickering lights (that may have been fireflies, he had no clue) flitted about him. A court of animals were in attendance as well, dashing here and there, rolling in the flora without a care in the world. The stream around the middle platform of the cave flowed strongly, bubbling like a joyous song, and the mystical crystals beneath the surface of the water of the stream glowed ethereally. But more amazing than anything, even the beautiful music that seemed to weave its way through the atmosphere, was the woman standing on the terrace before him.

"Jamie," she smiled, and her voice, though soft, struck his heart with the force of a lightning bolt.

He opened his mouth, a thousand thoughts clawing their way through his throat, but he could only gape. She was every bit as lovely as he'd remembered; those regal, amethyst eyes and glittering gossamer wings never ceased to captivate him. The divine gown she wore, which seemed to be made of magic and nature itself, perfectly alighted her radiant, peachy skin. Every inch of her seemed perfect and graceful, as cultured as porcelain and as precious as silk.

"I regret that this is the only way I can see you," she began, her smile now tinged with grief, "And I wish we could truly speak to one another, but I only have enough power in me for this. I am sorry, my dear."

He tried to speak again, to tell her that she didn't need to be sorry at all, that just seeing her and hearing her voice was far too great a blessing for him, but once again his voice failed him. Despite his struggles, no sound came from his mouth, and more frustrating was that he found himself unable to even move. As though he were trapped in his own body, paralyzed and unable to do anything. Powerless to help her. Just like always.

"Please do not fret," she said, as though sensing his distress.

He tried to offer her a reassuring smile, vainly hoping that at least his face was cooperating with what his mind was screaming to do, but his traitorous body wouldn't even allow him to feel his own muscles move. It was bliss to be in her presence after surviving for so long without her. The agony of being unable to reach out to her was equally strong. He wondered if this was how she'd felt all this time, endlessly trapped in a stone prison, a storm raging in her anguished heart.

"You mustn't let yourself fall prey to despair, for it will only take your strength," she continued.

Not despair? Not despair?! But how could he?! How could he, when she was right in front of him, suffering every single day, and no matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, none of it seemed to matter?! ...What good was he for her to waste words of comfort on?

"Jamie, I have faith in you. I have so much faith in you."

He could hardly believe his ears. She had faith in him. But why?! So far all he'd been was useless. He hadn't done anything worth praise.

"Thank you for trying so hard for me all this time. I know it is difficult for you. ...I am sorry."

Jamie could've screamed. 'No! Don't say that, please! You have nothing to apologize for! I'm the one who's failed you. It's my fault!'

Or so he wanted to say, but his lips remained frozen.

"But finally, I am at least able to tell you this. I am... not certain, but I think this may be the key to restoring me. Jamie. It was no coincidence that Tina came to Flower Bud."

The icy feeling spread from his lips, creeping through every inch of his skin. If he'd been breathing before, he wasn't now. So Tina was meant to be in Flower Bud. Predestined, in the Harvest Goddess' design. He knew it, he knew it all along! He was right after all!

"She is the key, Jamie. Or at least, part of it. Jamie, if you wish to save me—"

The image before him began to flicker suddenly; the colors and the lights gone, taking the smell of the flowers and the sound of her voice with them. Everything skipped into nothingness for a moment. If he hadn't realized his other senses were gone, he'd have thought he was blinking. The vision returned, the Harvest Goddess continuing on.

"—may be the only way. Jamie, can you hear me?"

Her expression grew frightful. "My time here is running out. This space—"

His senses flashed yet again.

"—after all. I do not know when I will be able to speak with you like this again. Remember; you must—Tina—the key— Do you understand?"

He didn't, not one bit, but the world kept glinting like a jewel in his hand.

"No matter what, you must—her."

"Wait!" he called, gulping in air like a drowning man. But his hazy eyes snapped open to the ceiling of his bedroom, sheets tangled around him. Twisting free, he sat up and numbly pulled his legs to the side of the bed. Before he could even try to stand, the reality of it all came crashing down. That was no simple dream; it was real. He'd been able to hear her before in his sleep, but this time he could see her. It had been so long since he'd witnessed her in the flesh he was scared of forgetting her face sometimes, but the way she looked in that dream was more genuine than anything his sleeping brain could've concocted. There was no doubt that that wasn't a simple fantasy. She came to tell him the thing he wanted to know more than anything: the key to saving her. His rival. He had to... to... A wave of nausea rocked his stomach and he doubled over. He didn't know! All that, and he still wasn't able to hear her!

"Damn it!" he cursed.

The only thing he did know was something he'd guessed all along; that Tina was an integral part of it all. But the Harvest Goddess had said something about her. He had to do something with Tina. Something like that. But what? Damn it, why was it that every time there was trouble it was always his stupid, idiot rival?! He raked a hand through his hair, sweat streaking in from his damp forehead. It was true, Tina had been sent by the Harvest Goddess.

Somehow, she was the "key" to everything.

The world started spinning. What did it mean? What if he couldn't figure it out? What was the Harvest Goddess trying to tell him? The reason Tina had been brought here... could another one of his predictions be true? Did the Goddess really design this rival specifically as an obstacle for him? 'Despair will take your strength,' she had said, in so many words. She wanted him to become stronger to save her. To not give in to a hopelessness that would sap his will to fight. So the real question was where Tina fit into the equation. If her being there had something to do with his strength, with not giving in... Then there was no other conclusion. His guess had been correct yet again. They key to saving the Harvest Goddess was to gain true strength by defeating his rival.

"No matter what, you must defeat her."

It fit perfectly. So perfectly that he could've kicked himself for doubting his intuition in the first place. So his mission was to prove himself against his rival. That must have been what she'd said! It had to have been! The clouds around his heart began to clear, and Jamie felt for the first time in a long while that everything would truly be okay. He let out a heavy sigh of relief and chuckled. For the first time, Jamie felt like the things in his life were under control. He could save the Harvest Goddess. This was good. No, this was wonderful! It was absolutely amazing! After all, he had to do was chase off his silly rival. Piece of cake! He could do this!

And today was a great place to start anew, because today was a festival day. And not just any old celebration for the passage of a season or a solstice to make a wish on, either; it was a competition. Today was the Sheep Festival, and Jamie was going to win if it was the last thing he did. Well, of course, he always resolved to win in the festival matches. But since today marked the true beginning of his mission, there was no way he wasn't going to start off ahead of the game. Hastily tugging his shoes on, Jamie flew out of his back door like he'd sprouted a pair of wings, eager to tackle his life's (sort of) newest challenge.

Pig, the newest member of his operation, seemed to have every intention of ruining his good mood, not that it was surprising when one considered her namesake. She'd warmed up to him rather quickly, and could frequently be found at his heels. So frequently, in fact, that Jamie often found himself close to tripping over her. It was starting to really grate on his nerves; sometimes Jamie swore the thing had confused him for her own mother somehow with the way she stuck to him. Like a duckling following the first creature it sees after hatching. He wondered if maybe her strange attachment to him was a show of gratefulness for saving her life. And, much like a certain someone, Pig had developed a habit of displaying her emotions in the most annoying fashion possible.

"For Goddess' sake, you stupid thing, stop it!" he hissed, swatting the calf away.

She simply stared at him, staunchly disobeying the command. Pig remained rooted at his side wherever he went. And what was more, seemed to almost find it amusing the more irate he became. The calf waggled her head in jest and, before Jamie could react, licked him on the back of the hand, leaving a generous trail of saliva.

"Auuuggh, disgusting! Absolutely disgusting, what is wrong with you?!"

Her chocolate eyes twinkled mischievously, familiarly, and she gave a brazen moo.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, I'm not taking any of your lip today! I've got a festival to win!"

When the Mayor dropped the ribbon reading "1ST PLACE" in his hands, he wasn't surprised at all. Blue scowled, but his uncle patted him on the back and murmured something about being a good sport. Jamie made sure to give him the smuggest grin he could manage just to rile him up even more. Infuriating the young man was a nice bonus to an already good day, it was easy and admittedly fun to do, but Jamie didn't enter the competition to engage in petty teasing matches. Scanning the crowd of onlookers for his real target was almost unnecessary, as she was currently jumping up and down, waving at him with a beaming smile plastered on her face.

"Jamie, Jamie, you did it! Congratulations!" she cheered.

She practically skipped to his side, and Jamie briefly considered turning around and ignoring her on the spot. He was so looking forward to seeing her face fall as it sunk in that her sworn enemy had won instead of her friend, but she just had to go and ruin it all with that sickeningly good nature of hers and genuinely be happy for him.

Damn her.

"I knew you would win! I was rooting for you!"

He rolled his eyes. As if her wishing for him to win did anything; he succeeded because he was the best and that was all there was to it.

"What kind of fool hopes for her rival to win a match? Shouldn't you want me to lose instead?"

Tina laughed, "But I want you to win because you're my rival! If someone's going to win, then it has to be either you or me. There's no point if it's anyone else! Right?"

Double damn her.

"What do you mean, "you or me"? It should just be me winning, period!" he scowled

"Oh come on, Jamie," she said, "You can't win all of them. Then it'd just be boring!"

"If not winning a festival is what makes it fun, I guess that must be why you always look like you're having the time of your life."

She had the audacity to laugh, like it was funny, like it was all a game. Of course she would forget why winning festivals and becoming a better rancher was important. It's not like there was a reason she needed to be here, like someone that might actually depend on her. No, it was always, "Let's work together!" and "Let's be friends!" and "The important thing is having fun!" It was making him sick now more than ever. Here the Harvest Goddess was coming to him in dreams, begging him to save her, and what about that idiot? Had the Harvest Goddess been in her dreams? No; she was probably so far out of touch that the Harvest Goddess couldn't even reach her thoughtless heart. Tina always just did whatever irresponsible thing she wanted, disregarding any obligations she might have in favor of entertaining her feeble little mind. This was the person that was devised especially for him to measure up against? It was insulting! Before she could open her careless mouth again, Jamie said his piece.

"You think being such a disgrace is just some joke, don't you? Not that I'm surprised; that's just the kind of sloppy, lazy attitude I'd expect from you!"

Her mouth hung open.

"Jamie—"

"I'm not finished! The whole time you've been here, all you do is run around and just have fun, like it's a vacation. And the last time we had this conversation you swore up and down that you really were trying. But what are you doing here? Enjoying yourself just because you don't have an animal to enter? Tell me, Tina, did you make any mental notes of anything me or the other contestants did with their sheep? Did you pay attention to what the judges were looking for, the difference between high-quality wool and low-quality wool, grooming techniques, anything? Did you, even once, consider that maybe you could get a Note from this festival if you ever won it?!"

"I... No..." she muttered sullenly.

"Exactly. You act like you know precisely what you're doing, like you're competent enough to run a ranch, but you're not. You're not serious about having a ranch, you're not serious about any of the competition, and therefore you're not being serious about new opportunities to get Notes. And you know what that means?"

She quirked an eyebrow at him quizzically, oblivious. Of course she had the gall to stand there and stare at him like she had no idea he was mad. As if she had no idea what the Notes were connected to. Oh sure, she'd always welcome his advice, and she seemed eager to learn. There seemed to be a small part of her that wanted to actually have a successful ranch and save the Harvest Goddess. But she approached everything with way too much senselessness. She needed to learn sooner or later that just wanting something wasn't enough if you weren't going to give it your all. That if you sat around and waited for something to happen, you were the only one responsible when the day was over and nothing had changed. And he wasn't going to spare her ego. Not after that dream he'd had.

"It means you're not serious about saving Her."

He didn't bother to look at her face before he walked away. Honestly, he was too sick to look at her.

I didn't really mean to, but I feel like with each chapter I write Jamie just slips further and further from reality lol. Which isn't entirely untrue, but he's almost a bit unhinged at some points.