"This is the mayor's house. Thomas is usually hanging around there. Apparently, he has a job, but I haven't really seen him do much; I guess he helps out a bit at the next town over because he lost a rock-paper-scissors match and we send him over to the Valley with shipments from the shop."
"The Valley?" Claire looked at her friend curiously.
"She means Forget-Me-Not Valley; it's the next town over," Cliff answered. "It's a beautiful place."
"Oh, I see..." She had never given much thought to other towns in the area; Mineral Town seemed so secluded.
"Anyway, Thomas does more over there than he does here. He apparently organizes the festivals here, but I haven't seen him even do much of that; he's a slacker," Karen giggled.
"Isn't that a little harsh?" Cliff ventured. He bit his lip thoughtfully. "Arranging festivals can be a lot of work... You have to make sure everyone knows their part, and then there's the music and food, not to mention the proper dances… You have to make sure that the offerings are done correctly…" He rattled all of this off rather quickly, and it took Claire by surprise; it almost sounded as if he was speaking from experience.
"What kinds of festivals are you going on about? Thomas doesn't do any of that!" Karen grinned mischievously. "You'll understand once you get used to living here. I'm sure Claire can tell you what a bum he is."
Claire stared at the ground. "I really don't hope to talk to him anytime soon."
Karen laughed. "So the rumors are true?! You really beat the snot out of Thomas?"
Cliff's jaw dropped as he stared at the reddening farmer. "Really?"
Did everyone know about this?! Claire wasn't sure how to word it without sounding like a bully. "H-he made fun of me when I had been tricked out of my entire savings for the farm… I was angry…" Claire hung her head.
"I-I'm glad that you moved here, Claire." Cliff said quietly.
"Me too!" Karen threw an arm around the young woman's shoulders. "Things will get better. Don't worry."
Claire thought of her cold bed, her bare house. She thought of her fields, sprinkled with mere sprouts. She wouldn't have crops for a long time. Claire would have to live off of that basket of apples until then. She wasn't hungry at the moment, but Claire knew what true hunger felt like. She remembered having nothing but a cluster of wild grapes for three days before she found where it grew. But Claire looked up at her friends and realized that Karen was right; things would get better.
"Thanks, guys," Claire blinked the mistiness out of her eyes.
"I wouldn't feel too proud about beating up a guy like Thomas," Karen laughed.
"I-I don't…" Claire frowned.
"Good!" Karen snorted. "Because it only means that you're just a little less of a weakling than he is!" Karen jogged off toward the south, laughing.
She couldn't remember the last time she was teased before today; she liked it. "Hey!" Claire grinned, taking off after her friend.
Not wanting to be left behind, Cliff chased after the two.
The farmer didn't stop running until she bumped into Karen, who had stopped abruptly ahead of her. Claire was surprised that Cliff didn't slam into her as well.
"So-sorry! I d-didn't see that you h-had stopped!" Their collision had knocked the wind out of Claire.
Karen turned around, strangely calm. "It's okay," She smiled. The three friends looked out over the water silently.
"What's wrong, Karen?" Claire noticed that the Karen seemed almost as if in a trance.
The brunette snapped out of her reverie. "Oh, sorry, guys. It's nothing. This is the Goddess Spring. This might sound dumb, but when I was little, I thought I saw a figure over the water here. People say that the Harvest Goddess shows up here, and if she appears for you, she will answer your prayers. It's a… special place for me," she finished quietly, transfixed on the ripples of the water.
"The Harvest Goddess is all around us," Cliff said gently.
"I know that, but… The fact that she actually appears here is pretty neat, huh?"
Claire stared at the water. It looked like a perfectly normal spring, yet there was definitely something unearthly about it.
"So how about we hop in the hot spring? All three of us?" Karen winked and roared with laughter by Cliff's startled reaction. "Seriously, though, if you haven't gotten the chance to go in the hot spring, you're missing out."
"Do you have to pay to use it?" Claire asked.
She was surprised when Cliff answered this question. "Nope. I use it all the time."
"Oh…" She had avoided using it because she thought that there was an entrance fee, and she had been washing in the spring beside it instead… Claire realized with horror that she had been bathing in the Harvest Goddess's spring. She would have to start using the hot spring.
"Claire, you coming?" Karen laughed.
"I-in the hot spring? N-now?"
"No, dummy! Back to town. I still gotta show you guys a bunch of places… like the winery, and the chicken farm, and the hospital, and the forge…"
Claire's ears perked up. "Okay, let's go."
0o0o0o0
"Here's my favorite shop! Besides home, that is," Karen winked at her friends. She waved at a middle aged man tending to the grape vines, and Claire was a little surprised Karen walked right up to him while he was working. The man didn't strike the farmer as a manual laborer. He wore a tailored vest and bowtie; he hardly looked dressed for tending to crops. Claire studied him. He had silver streaks in his dark hair and a strong chin; he had a very distinguished and genteel air about him.
"Hey, Duke!"
"Hi, Karen! Who did you bring along with you today? Some more customers, I hope?" He gave her a charming smile.
"Maybe. Fresh meat!" Karen chuckled.
"Nice to meet you both. My name is Duke Cava. Welcome to Aja Winery; I run it along with my wife, Manna."
"My name is Claire Dumont," the young woman nodded politely.
Duke reached out his hand to hers. "What a lovely name. You must be the new farmer to the south." He had a suave, pleasant voice and demeanor, and Claire half-expected him to kiss her hand in greeting.
The young woman nodded as she shook his hand politely.
Duke looked over to her male friend. "And you are…?"
"Cliff Yamamoto," the young man stammered, shaking Duke's hand.
A flicker of recognition registered in the winery owner's eyes. "I think I've seen your face around here. You stay at Doug's?"
Cliff nodded. "Yes. Since mid-winter."
"Welcome to Mineral Town, both of you. How would you two care for a sample of our product?" He gave them both a grin.
Everyone in this town was so generous it caught her off guard. "Oh, I couldn't possibly…" Claire felt her face redden.
"Oh. I assumed you were of age since Karen brought you here," Duke's smile faded a bit.
"I-I'm of age."
The man eyed up the farmer; he wasn't sure if he believed her. Claire looked young to begin with, and the baggy work clothes weren't helping her look any older. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-two."
"Oh, well, in that case, let's go to the wine cellar," He chuckled softly, leading the way. Karen bounced eagerly after him.
"I've n-never had wine before," Cliff admitted sheepishly to Claire when the other two were out of earshot. "Have you?"
The young woman shook her head. "I would think it probably tastes a lot like grape juice… Maybe sour? What if I drink it and I find out I hate it? I-I don't want to be rude… Maybe I'll just ask for juice if they have any."
"Oh, good idea. I'm sure he has juice." They walked down the stairs together.
Duke's demeanor had changed as if a switch had been flipped; the winery owner and Karen were pouring rather full glasses straight from the casks, laughing loudly.
"Alright, kids, what do you want to drink?"
"D-do you have any grape juice?" Claire asked timidly.
"Oh, Claire, don't be a baby!" Karen had already finished half of her glass already and was topping it off from one of the casks. "Live a little!"
"We have juice," Duke happily poured her a glass. "What do you want, young man?"
"I'd like juice as well."
Karen rolled her eyes. "You two are absolutely killing me! Duke, I'm still drinking for them!"
"Oh, no you're not!" Duke handed the pair their juice glasses and walked over to the cask. "I am!" He roared with laughter and took a huge swig from his glass.
"I've never had fresh juice like this before; this tastes nothing like the processed stuff in the city," Claire's eyes widened as she let the juice sit on her tongue for a moment. It was sweet and flavorful, and it was easily one of the most delectable things she had ever tasted.
"It is delicious…" Her friend murmured in agreement as he took a small step closer to her; he'd much rather stand with her than the noisy pair over by the wine barrels.
"Karen's at the bar a lot at night," Claire realized. She had seen the woman at the same bar stool nearly every night when she dropped off her copper offerings to Gray.
"Oh, yeah…" Cliff chuckled, taking a sip of juice. "She's there quite a bit. Ann always says she's their best customer, so she gets treated like royalty."
"Ann seems really nice."
The young man nodded. "She really is. I know I haven't really lived here that long, but she's kind of like a sister to me… A little pushy, though." He gave her a shy smile. "I guess my actual sister was, too…"
"I was never really close to my siblings," Claire admitted with a small frown.
"Oh… I was…" Cliff's voice got quiet and he stared down at his juice.
"So… This is where all of the wine is aged, kids!" Duke appeared behind them with an empty wine glass. "The grapes in the vineyard are used to make all of our wines. We have over twenty varieties of wine, and we also make juice. What do you think of the juice?"
"Amazing!"
"Delicious!"
The winery owner grinned at the pair. "Good to hear it! This winery is my pride and joy!"
"I thought I was your pride and joy!" A voice echoed down the stairs. A woman with dark hair and a long skirt hurried down the creaky stairs. "Oh, here are a couple new faces. So nice to meet you! I see you've met my husband, Duke. My name is Manna Cava; I run the wine shop next door. Aja Winery was supposed to be a three-person operation with our daughter, but I won't bother you with that whole long depressing story. I'm sure Duke has given you a sample of our products, yes? What do you think? We work hard at what we do! I am especially proud of this latest batch of moscato; I think it has the perfect finish. Karen, dearie, did you get a chance to try it? If not, have a glass, sweetie. We always value your opinion, Karen. Why don't you two try some as well? It really is quite delicious! Once you try our wine, you won't want to drink any other." She gave them a friendly nod.
"This is Claire. She's the farmer that just moved in a few weeks ago," Duke introduced her.
Manna's face lit up. "Oh, yes. What a pretty young lady! I have heard that the farm had been under new management. You have no idea what that means for this town! Most of our produce is shipped in from the next town over, so it can get a little pricey for us housewives who have hungry husbands to feed! Work hard, Claire, and I know that your farm will be a great success! We are all rooting for you!"
"Thank you," Claire's heart felt warm, and she was a little surprised when the woman gave her a friendly hug around the shoulders.
"And who is this handsome young man? I know I've seen your face around here somewhere. Are you new, or just shy?"
"That's Cliff. He's one of Doug's boys," Duke explained.
"Ah, that must be where I've seen you. So you live at Doug's. You won't find a nicer inn anywhere. We sell a lot of our wine to them, you know, we are business partners. So if you ever want a drink, stop by the inn and think of us. Or, even better, you can come here to visit me and buy it straight from our shop!" She gave the young man a flirty wink and patted his arm.
"I doubt they needed an entire sales pitch, honey," Duke laughed. "Karen said she's taking them to the bar later tonight."
"Oh, is Karen showing them around town? How sweet of her! If you really want the inside scoop on what is going on in town, feel free to ask me anything. I like to pride myself on my knowledge of the goings-on in town."
"Oh, Manna, you're nothing more than a gossip, just like Mom!" Karen giggled.
The woman mock-pouted. "You silly girl! There's a big difference between idle gossip and knowing the inner workings of a town. Why, just the other day, Anna told me that Won is selling false good luck charms! She said she bought one for her daughter to-"
"Manna," Duke interrupted her, "Why don't we head upstairs and show them the vineyard?"
"Oh, you haven't shown them yet? Come on, let's go upstairs and give them the grand tour!" She stumbled on a loose floorboard and Cliff swiftly caught her by the arm before she fell. "Oh! That gave me a start! Thank you, young man! What a sweetheart! Duke, I thought I told you to nail that board down!" She scowled at her husband.
"I did nail it down!" Duke insisted.
"Well, you didn't nail it down hard enough; I almost fell!" Manna frowned.
"Are you sure that's even the same floorboard?" He walked over and stepped on it. "This isn't the same one! I nailed down that one over there!"
"Well, why didn't you just go through and nail down all of the loose ones?"
"How was I supposed to know there was another one loose?" Duke raised his voice.
"Well, it's just common sense if you've already got the hammer out to go through and do all of them."
"Well, I didn't think to do that, now did I? I've been busy in the vineyard!"
"Well, we wouldn't be overwhelmed if Aja were still here, now would we?" Manna's voice was low and accusing.
"Well, we don't have that luxury, now do we?!" Duke roared.
Karen swiftly grabbed each of her friends by the arm. "Upstairs. Now." She shoved them ahead of her. "Thank you, Duke and Manna, for the yummy wine and juice! See you around!" She yelled over them.
"Wh-what was that all about?" Claire asked uncomfortably as Karen pulled the cellar door behind them.
"Eh, they argue quite a bit, but they don't mean any harm by it," her friend laughed nervously. "They're nice people, really."
Cliff was staring at the door with a frown on his face, listening to the yelling, which had rapidly increased in volume.
"Cliff, they bicker all the time; don't worry about it."
"They… miss their child terribly," His voice was soft.
"Yeah… But they always make up before dinner time," Karen gave him a friendly grin. "They're both just a little hot-blooded. Why don't we make a quick stop at my place? I bet I could talk Dad into giving us some free rice balls for lunch." She led the way.
Claire followed her female friend, but she noticed Cliff was falling behind, his eyes turning back to the winery several times. She sensed he had that gloomy aura she noticed he had when she first met him at the church. The farmer slowed down her walking pace so that she could match steps with him.
"Are you doing okay?" She asked softly.
Cliff jumped in surprise. "Huh? Oh, I'm fine!" He quickly shot her a small grin, but Claire could see him struggling to hide the ache in his eyes. Something about Duke and Manna's quarrel had really gotten to the young man.
She said nothing in response; she wasn't sure if she could say anything that would help. The grief that emanated from him permeated her own heart and she felt a lump form in her throat. Claire walked silently by his side.
0o0o0o0
"Here we are!" Karen led the way to the grocery store. "So, we've got your seeds and basic groceries, personal care items…" She turned around raised her eyebrows in concern. "Claire, are you alright? You look like you're going to cry."
The farmer swallowed; her throat felt tight. "I'm doing fine," she insisted and gave Karen a cheesy smile.
"Good; I'm going to get us some onigiri!" Karen walked over to her father behind the cash register.
"I'm sorry, Claire," Cliff murmured. "I'm okay, really…" He locked eyes with her. "I know I can put people off sometimes with my gloominess… Carter says that I… push people away…"
"I… I just want to be able to help you," she found herself saying, and her voice cracked.
"J-just hearing you say that already makes me feel a lot better," Claire could see the relief in the young man's eyes as he gave her a kind smile.
"R-really?" The young woman's throat relaxed. "I'm glad…"
Karen was looking at her two friends with interest. "Are you two going to come over here and get a rice ball or what?" She handed them each a wrapped bundle. "I've got them packed up. Eat them now or later, but take one either way."
"Oh, thank you very much!" Cliff stammered, and Claire nodded emphatically in agreement.
"No problem. Dad just asks that you guys look around the shop for a while and promise to buy something sometime."
The farmer tucked away her rice ball for later as she wandered the shop and noticed her friend had done the same. She had been to the grocery store a couple of times since moving into town, but there were quite a few things she didn't notice they sold before, such as stationary. She'd have to buy some for her next letter to her parents… It seemed the shop carried some fancy writing instruments as well.
Claire was staring at some lavish feathers locked up in a glass case. "Quills… They're all blue…" The young woman had never written with a quill, but these feathers looked too fancy to use for something as ordinary everyday writing utensils.
Karen laughed. "Three weeks in town and you're already eyeing up the blue feathers? You've got it bad, girl! Don't let the boys catch you looking at them already; you'll scare them all away!" She slapped Claire on the back.
Claire was caught by surprise and her head almost slammed into the glass case. "What are you talking about?"
Cliff peeked into the case. "I doubt I'll ever have to worry about receiving one of these…" He laughed nervously.
"What about giving one?" Karen teased.
"I… d-don't think so…" Cliff rolled his eyes, but his face had turned red.
"So they're given as gifts…" Claire pieced this much together.
"They had the blue feather tradition back in my home town, too," Cliff was saying to Karen. "It kind of feels nice to know the customs back at home weren't all completely unheard of."
"Okay… When do you give someone a blue feather?"
Her two friends looked at each other and Claire was surprised to see that Karen had turned pink. "You mean you don't know? Pah, city kid… Go on, tell her, Cliff." She nudged him.
The young man looked back at Karen and sighed. "Fine… Here's the way our village elder explained it to the children. When you finally find someone that truly makes your life complete, it is said that you are visited by the bluebird of happiness. Giving someone a blue feather represents your desire to share that happiness with them…" He recited, "It means that you want to share your life with them… How was that explanation, Karen?" Cliff looked over his shoulder.
Karen nodded in approval and slapped her friend on the back; the young man had loosened up considerably since this morning. "Your elder explained it in a much sweeter way than my mom did. Mom just said, 'Don't be passing those out to any boy!'" She mimicked her mother and laughed.
It's like an engagement ring… Claire admired the plumes. "So they're for marriage… Do men or women typically give them out?"
"Wow… You're a woman on a mission, huh? I'd say it's about fifty-fifty. My mom gave my dad a blue feather, and Rod gave Lillia one. But, hey, we've all got plenty of time to worry about that!" Karen laughed heartily. "You're only young once… Hey, I know where we can go next," she blushed, hurrying out the door.
Her friends shrugged at each other and followed.
0o0o0o0
Author's Note: I'm especially proud of the interactions between Duke and Manna in this chapter. They're my favorite married couple in Mineral Town – so wonderfully dysfunctional, yet hopelessly in love.
I debated a while before deciding to give the characters last names. They probably won't be used too often, but they'll pop up here and there. The last name I chose for Duke and Manna is Spanish/Italian in origin, meaning "cellar". Cliff Yamamoto's last name literally means "from the mountains". Claire Dumont just has a nice ring to it, no? But her last name's meaning is similar to Cliff's. Don't worry; they're not relatives, haha!
Please let me know what you think of the story so far!