3. Falling Leaves

Summer trickled into fall as the blue fall flowers grew overnight. The people of mineral town anxiously prepared for the music festival held on the 3rd. Ann and Elli would be playing the flute, accompanied by Mary on the piano. Karen would sing as usual and was preparing her voice by singing annoyingly loud at midnight. The air had cooled and the rains and hurricanes had arrived. With no equipment or televisions to warn the townspeople of when the hurricanes arrived they prayed to the goddess every night that no storm would hit. The only television in the village belonged to Jack so this year at least the townspeople would have a warning.

It was a cool, crisp fall evening as the people piled into the church and out of the cold. The mini-orchestra were waiting at the front for Jack to arrive, it was his first festival and he would be playing the ocarina. Finally he burst in and scurried to the front clutching his ocarina.

"Sorry, I'm late... stray chicken." He murmured. Mary frowned and counted Ann and Elli in. Soon the music was playing and all the villagers were listening peacefully. Everyone was happy at the music festival as they all greeted the fall together and silently prayed to the God and Goddess for a fall without hurricanes. All the villagers slept well that evening and started the fall well rested, ready for their own private adventures.

Karen was busy sweeping the shop floor as usual when Rick burst in looking angry.

"Ah, Rick. I've been expecting you, sit down." Karen said and put down her broom. Rick looked puzzled but went to sit on the counter.

"How did you know I was...?" He began but Karen interrupted.

"Popuri told me she expected you'd heard our conversation. I know you well enough to see that you would come to accuse me. So... go ahead tell me what you overheard." She said calmly, her voice was cooler than the autumn wind.

"...Why? I thought we were..." Rick said with a calmness that surprised Karen.

"Happy? I thought we were too. It wasn't until I met Jack that I realised I wasn't. You were always happy though, I suppose you had low expectations." She said coldly. Rick shuddered at the frostiness of her voice and shook his head.

"I never had low expectations. I was just crazy about you. It's sad you never felt the same way about me." He said and laughed nervously. Karen sighed and went to put another log on the fire.

"I suppose this is the break up talk we never had..." Karen said shuffling her feet. Rick nodded shyly and gave Karen a short hug.

"I guess this truly is goodbye. There's no point in accusing you of something that your heart chose. You were just...following your heart." Rick said sadly. Karen laughed remembering what Ann said.

"What is it about this village that makes the people so corny? If I hear anyone say that one more time I'll scream." She said. Rick laughed and hugged Karen one more time.

"Are we still friends?" Karen asked hopefully. Rick walked halfway to the door then turned back sadly.

"We'll see." He said doubtfully. Karen felt tears form in her eyes and saw Ricks eyes water too.

"Goodbye then Rick." She said as he turned away. He nodded and walked quickly out of the store. Karen felt tears trickle down her face as her old friend walked away no longer her friend.

Karen spent the beginning of fall hanging out at the inn with Popuri and Ann. Since the fireworks festival she had only seen brief glances of Jack, he'd been too busy to drop by the shop to visit her. He almost never visited the inn and so she went without talking to him for a long time. She was beginning to wonder whether it was meant to be at all. She knew that only the moon viewing festival would decide that, so she might as well have some fun before that. She, Ann and Popuri had decided to learn how to make their own wine. Popuri wanted to, only to take her mind off Kai as she wasn't much of a drinking girl.

"Okay, so once we make our own brand of wine what shall we call it?" Ann asked chewing on a pencil. Their brainstorming of ideas was not going well, as the only thing they knew about wine was how to drink it.

"How about Potpourri Wine?" Popuri asked playfully. Karen and Ann glared at her and Popuri shrunk.

"You only like that because it sounds like your name." Karen said accusingly.

"No, it also has a nice ring to it!" Popuri said. Karen and Ann shook their heads and continued to think.

"How about... Goddess wine?" Ann said chewing the pencil thoughtfully.

"Goddess wine, I quite like that." Karen said as Ann wrote it down on a piece of paper.

"Yeah, I like it too." Popuri said nodding happily. Ann smiled that her idea was a success.

"It screams girl power!" Karen exclaimed. Popuri nodded in agreement.

"Only one problem now though..." Ann said a worried expression appeared on her face. Karen and Popuri looked horror-struck knowing what would come next.

"How do we make wine?" They all moaned together. They thought for a few minutes as Ann's pencil got smaller and smaller.

"Oooooh, I have an idea, a great idea!" Popuri exclaimed leaping up and down.

"What?" Karen asked excitedly. A clever smile appeared on Popuri's face.

"We can look it up in the library!" She said knowledgeably.

"Yeah!" Karen and Ann exclaimed together. The three girls skipped to the library humming happily. They burst in giving Mary a huge shock.

"What are you girls doing here?" Mary asked angrily, she sounded violated.

"This is a public library right? We're here to like read and stuff." Popuri said twisting a lock of her hair absentmindedly.

"You know how to read?" Mary asked sarcastically. Karen and Ann looked offended but Popuri looked at Mary as if she were stupid.

"Mary, don't be silly. We learnt how to read with you, how could you forget?" Popuri asked sounding genuinely worried for Mary's health.

"Sarcasm is a foreign language to you, Popuri, isn't it?" Mary said raising her eyebrows. Popuri shook her head angrily and glared at Mary.

"Look, can we read you're bookish things or what?" Ann asked angrily. Mary sighed and stood up.

"Are you looking for picture books or actual books?" Mary asked gloatingly, as though the three girls were stupid.

"We need a textbook on wine-making." Karen said browsing through the bookshelves. Mary raised her eyebrows again and laughed triumphantly.

"We don't have any books on wine-making. Duke has all those books and I doubt he'd lend you one." She said looking at them as though they were pathetic. Ann's face glowed as an idea struck her like lightening.

"Duke wouldn't but Cliff would. Since Cliff works at the winery he has full access to the books! He'd definitely lend me the books, since he's my...boyfriend." Ann said blushing.

"Why didn't we go to Cliff in the first place?" Karen asked. The girls shrugged and headed out of the library.

"Neanderthals." Mary said to herself once they left. The girls hurried to the winery to find Cliff.

"Is it me or did Mary seem particularly moody today?" Karen asked glancing back at the library.

"Yeah, she so needs a boyfriend!" Popuri exclaimed, Karen and Ann laughed and nodded in agreement.

They arrived at the winery and Cliff gave them a book and winked at Ann. Ann grinned and turned a dark pink colour.

"Tell me if you guys need some grapes, we have more than enough, and Duke gives Barley the grapes we don't have room to store to feed his animals. So I'll give you some." He said kindly.

"Thanks Honey." Ann said sweetly, blushing. Cliff nodded and went back to work. They sat in the inn and Ann read the basic method from the book out loud.

"First add the grape juice to a bottle and then add 3 litres of water blah, blah, blah... Keep in a warm place until the fermentation is complete. Then put in a cool place to age. Then put the wine into bottles and you're done... that sounds easy!" She exclaimed. Popuri looked thoughtful for a minute looking at the book.

"We should have something to make our wine different from Duke's and Manna's wine. So what do you say we add strawberry and grape juice?" Popuri asked. Ann and Karen's eyes widened at Popuri's brilliant idea.

"That's brilliant... but where do we get strawberries from in fall?" Ann asked. Karen thought for a second.

"Jack has a greenhouse, why don't we ask him to grow some for us!" Karen suggested. "I could give him the seeds free!" The girls nodded happily as they went to ask Jack to grow them the strawberries. Jack accepted willingly, as long as he would get to try some of the wine once they were done. This was exactly what Karen wanted to hear as she happily handed him the seeds.

"So how many bottles do you think we should make?" Karen asked. They considered all the people who might want to try some and also how many grapes and strawberries they might need.

"How about fifteen, not everyone in town drinks and if we have a bottle each and let everyone else share we should have enough." Ann said counting the numbers on her fingers. They all nodded in agreement and collected their equipment.

By Fall 11th they had collected the strawberries and grapes and had begun to make their wine, they had fermented the wine and were ready to leave it in a cool place.

"How about our basement it's cool in there." Ann suggested and the girls agreed. They placed the 15 bottles in the basement and gazed at their work.

"It's... so beautiful." Popuri said as though the wine bottles were her children. They sighed happily.

"What happens now?" Karen asked mysteriously. Ann thought for a minute and then looked at the bottles.

"We wait." She said. They waited for five minutes then Popuri yawned.

"I'm bored." She whined and the others agreed.

"Waiting for wine to age is boring, you want to go to the hot springs?" Ann asked walking up the stairs of the basement. The girls nodded in agreement and headed to the hot springs, their work was done.

They oozed into the hot springs and sat happily in the waters. They enjoyed the wonderful warmth of the waters as they relaxed.

"Looking forward to the moon viewing?" Karen asked, her eyes closed in relaxation.

"Definitely, I'm going to watch it with Cliff and maybe enjoy it a bit after too." Ann said blushing. Karen and Popuri giggled and watched Ann blush.

"Well I'm not, Kai's never there. I'm probably just going to spend it at home scoffing chocolate and reading a romance novel in bed." Popuri said sighing.

"Well hopefully Jack will ask me and then we'll finally be a couple." Karen said sighing happily. They all closed their eyes and talked about the future enjoying the time they had together.

Finally the 13th had arrived and Jack still hadn't asked Karen to the moon viewing festival. She nervously awaited him at the shop, but soon it came to 2 o'clock and he hadn't asked her. "That's it. I'll just go to his farm so he can't avoid me." She thought angrily. She hurried over to his farm and rapped hard on the door, making her hand hurt. Jack answered the door looking slightly perturbed.

"Oh Karen, it's only you. What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Well, did you not know it was the moon viewing festival tonight?" She asked hinting as strongly as she could.

"Yeah, I did." He said boredly. Karen waited for him to ask her but he didn't.

"Well, aren't you going to ask me?" She said in frustration.

"No." He said shortly. Karen stared blankly at him. Her face turned the colour of a tomato.

"Well... why not?" She asked slightly put out. He chuckled and then sighed.

"Because every time I try to get close to you, you somehow shrug me off. So this time I'm not going to ask you and so you can't shrug me off." He said calmly. Karen's glared at him and turned to run off.

"Sorry Karen." Jack muttered to himself after she left.

Karen got dressed into the outfit she was going to wear with Jack. She felt the tears drip down her face as she smoothed some red lipstick onto her lips. She tasted the salt from her tears and hastily brushed her teeth. She decided that even though Jack wasn't going with her she might as well try to have fun. She headed out of the door and walked up mother's hill to watch the moon. She sat and watched, the moon was just about to rise, but she felt miserable. She just couldn't bear to stay so she turned to leave and she saw Jack walk towards her. She looked at him questioningly.

"I told you I wouldn't ask you, I never said I wouldn't come." He said softly. Karen breathed a sigh of relief and watched as he walked towards her. He put his hand on her neck and pulled her towards him. Soon his lips were upon hers and they were sharing their first kiss. He wrapped his arms around her gently, deepening the kiss as she ran her hand through his silky brown hair. The kiss lasted for the entire festival, it was the first time that Karen hadn't seen the moon on the 13th of Fall.

The next morning Karen hurried to tell Ann and Popuri all about her evening, knowing that they probably already knew. She hurried to the inn where Ann was cooking breakfast and Popuri was on the phone to Kai.

"Ann guess what!" She exclaimed happily. Ann flipped over the pancake she was cooking and smiled at Karen.

"I know, half the village saw you. Congratulations!" She said putting some fried eggs onto a plate. Just then Popuri finished her phone call looking her usual bouncy and happy self.

"Kai says hello. Ah I feel so much better for having talked to him, oh hey Karen." Popuri said spotting Karen.

"Hey. Did Ann tell you my news?" Karen asked excitedly. Popuri nodded and winked happily.

"Do you guys want breakfast?" Ann asked shovelling some eggs and sausages onto her plate.

"Yeah, sure." Popuri said helping herself to a plate. She piled on some sausages eggs and beans and licked her lips.

"Karen?" Ann asked offering her a plate. Karen shook her head and watched Popuri munch a sausage.

"No, I'm fine thank you. I'm going to go and talk to Jack... and ask him about last night." Karen said nervously. Ann looked grave and handed Karen two pieces of chocolate cake.

"Give one to him and eat one yourself first. Tell him you wanted to have breakfast with him... you know how guys are about 'the talk'. Start by asking him some questions then innocently ask what last night meant to you guys. Okay?" Ann said. Karen nodded and smiled then ran out of the inn.

"Urgghh, I remember the talk I had with Cliff, not fun. He started talking about how our relationship is like the universe..." Ann said frowning. Popuri giggled then furrowed her brow.

"How is it like the universe...?" She asked. Ann shrugged and took a bite of sausage.

"Something about it's always expanding but if it expands too fast it might end up like the big bang." She said. Popuri pulled a face and thought for a minute.

"What's the big bang?" She asked. Ann shrugged again.

"Cliff said that it was how the world was created or something with on huge bang that made the universe like explode... blah, blah, blah..." She said and began clearing up the plates.

"That's silly. Everyone knows God created the universe... didn't he...?" Popuri asked. Ann washed up the plates and sat down at the table looking confused.

"Yeah, of course. At least I think so... well I guess Cliff's is one theory and we have another... but ours is the right one. Isn't it?" Ann asked looking slightly worried. Popuri was equally as worried and confused.

"Let's go ask Carter... he'll know." Popuri said standing up. Ann smiled weakly and nodded as they headed over to see Carter.

Meanwhile Karen had sat down at Jacks table and was slowly nibbling at the chocolate cake. Jack seemed suspicious to her and so she was asking him more and more personal questions.

"How's the farm?" She said quickly looking around Jack's house. It was rather small with a small single bed and a television. It was getting bigger and he now had a fridge and cabinet. But Karen found herself thinking that it was too small to start a family in.

"Karen that's the fifth time you've asked me that. I told you its fine. What's the real reason you came to see me?" He asked and suspiciously swallowed the rest of the cake. Karen gulped and pushed her cake aside.

"Well... um... have you ever had a girlfriend... before me I mean... not saying I'm definitely your girlfriend. Unless you want me to be... but we don't have to rush into anything... shut up Karen." She said burying her head in her hands. She went bright red and took a bite of her cake. Jack looked at her understandingly and went to get a drink of water for her.

"So is this... the talk?" He asked chuckling. Karen nodded and sighed, she wondered if perhaps she should have asked him straight out.

"No! I'm talking about couple stuff, not babies!" She said, making Jack laugh.

"Never said you were talking about babies... geez." He said smiling at her mistake while she flushed a darker shade of red. He continued quickly to save her further embarrassment.

"Well honestly, after last night we've got to be more than just friends, right?" He asked. Karen nodded quickly turning slightly less red.

"So basically it's up to you... will you be my girlfriend?" He asked turning slightly red himself. Karen grinned and nodded violently.

"Of course I will! I'm relieved... I think I'm worse at the talk than you are." She said taking a gulp of water. He smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips. Karen smiled and looked very relieved.

"So um... how'd you like to show me around your farm...?" She asked peeking out of the window.

"Um... sure, you can even help me!" He said slyly. Karen raised her eyebrows and Jack laughed.

"Is that a maybe...?" He asked hopefully. Karen smiled and flicked back her blonde-brown hair.

"We'll see..." She said stepping outside the door. Jack laughed and led her around the farm introducing her to each of his animals. First she met Happy the dog, Happy by name and happy by nature. He ran around the farm like a lunatic barking at the chickens and the grass and the wind and the trees and the clouds and at Jack and basically anything that moved... or not. Then she met Bella the fat cow, who gave the best tasting milk. All she did was stand and chew grass and occasionally was active enough to turn her head to watch Happy bark at her. Next was Silver the horse, who was in fact brown. Jack said he just liked to ride him and shout "Hi ho Silver... away" which Karen considered a good enough reason for the name. She was then introduced to each of Jack's four chickens separately, even though they all looked the same.

"This is Hamlet... or is that Puck, maybe that's Oberon... or is that Bob..." Jack said looking at each chicken.

"You name all of your Chickens?" Karen asked looking at Jack with an amused expression on her face.

"Yeah... is that sad?" He asked scratching his head. Karen laughed and nodded.

"It's not as bad as what Rick does. He gives them all first second and last names. To be fair though their last names are all the same..." Karen said pulling a face.

"Oh right... because that's not crazy." Jack said rolling his eyes Karen laughed and left the chicken house.

"So is that all?" She asked boredly.

"Well unless you want a ride on Silver?" Jack asked pointing to his brown horse. Karen's face brightened up and she grinned.

"I thought you'd never ask." She said walking over to Silver. Jack saddled up his horse and gave Karen a boost on.

"Now, have you ridden before?" He asked looking slightly worried.

"Yes. I've been having riding lessons from Barley since I was four." She said kicking Silver onto a trot. She galloped around the field carefully avoiding Jacks crops which he was guarding with his life. After completely exhausting Silver and Happy, who had chased them all around the farm, Karen finally dismounted.

"Wow, Silver's pretty fast, I think you have a good chance for the horse races this fall. I'll bet on you!" Karen said winking. Jack grinned and fed Silver a carrot.

"You really think I have a chance of winning?" He asked patting Silver and taking off his saddle.

"Yeah, if you train him every day from now until then." She said. Jack thought for a moment and then shook his head.

"I can't, I don't have the time... I know! You could train him for me!" He exclaimed. Karen considered it and then shook her head.

"I can't, he needs you to ride him. Otherwise he'll get used to my riding style." She said looking annoyed.

"Tell you what, you train him for the next 3 days and I'll train him the last day... deal?" He asked holding out his hand. Karen thought for a moment and shook his hand.

"Deal." She agreed. She said goodbye to Jack, Silver and Happy then headed to the inn to tell the girls of her success.

When she walked into the inn a depressing scene greeted her. Both Ann and Popuri were collapsed on the desk looking glum.

"Whoa, who died in here?" Karen asked. The room seemed considerably darker than usual and Ann was not her cheery self.

"Not who, what." Ann said pouring herself a fifth beer. Popuri held out her mug for a fourth beer and Ann poured her one.

"Fine, what died? Nora's okay right?" She asked looking worried. Nora the inn cat, though overlooked in many cases was precious to all the townsfolk.

"Nora's fine." Ann said sighing. Popuri looked up as though only just realising that Karen had walked in.

"Our belief in God is gone... no heaven... just death." Popuri said, showing awareness for the first time since Karen had arrived.

"How?" Karen asked looking confused. Popuri took another gulp of beer and hiccupped.

"We were discussing the big bang and how it created the earth and the universe. But then we wondered how both it and God could have created the earth. So we went to ask Carter and he couldn't give us an exact answer only a maybe. He said both theories could be correct but we may never know which one." Ann said looking both angry and worried.

"So when we die, there may be no after life... just...um... nothing." Popuri said, tears forming in her big brown eyes. Karen looked slightly shocked then thought deeply.

"What about Mary, she's all sciency and catholic. She must believe both! Let's go and talk to her." Karen suggested. Ann and Popuri nodded and looked slightly better as they headed to the library. When they entered they saw Mary deeply entranced in a novel.

"Mary, sorry to interrupt but..." Karen began, but was interrupted by a jittery Popuri.

"We really, really need your help." Popuri said quickly, her eyes wide. Mary looked up and seemed genuinely worried for them.

"What's the matter?" She asked gently, she seemed unusually calm after being interrupted from her reading. Karen calmly explained the problem while Popuri nodded quickly and added "uh-huh" after every sentence. Mary looked sympathetic and she went to her shelf and picked up both the bible and a book about the big bang. She put them on the desk and opened each one to the first page.

"See these books, they both explain the theories. They are both fact, therefore they are both believed to be accurate and true." She said. They all looked at the books intrigued and waited for Mary's conclusion.

"So which theory is correct?" Popuri asked looking from the bible to the big bang book.

"It doesn't matter. If you believe in God then that theory works for you, if you believe in the big bang then that's true to you. It's up to you which you choose to believe. If you like you can think of it this way, the way I think of it. God created the big bang to create a hunk of rock that would one day be the earth, and then from that the story in genesis continues." She said. Popuri smiled and nodded, Ann looked relieved and accepted the theory.

"Thank you so much Mary!" They chimed smiling. Mary nodded and put the books back on the shelf.

"No problem, I went through the same thing at one point. But I read both the books and figured it out, it seems to work." She said. Popuri and Ann nodded.

"Oooh, we should tell Carter what we... Mary figured out." Popuri suggested and ran to tell Carter, thanking and waving goodbye to Mary. Karen lingered behind to thank Mary.

"Thank you for helping them Mary." Karen said grinning. Mary studied Karen through her glasses and smiled.

"So do you agree with my theory?" She asked closing her novel. Karen looked at the ceiling thinking.

"It seems to work and I think I will choose to believe that. But there are many theories of how the world was created and I guess if we tried to fit them all we'd get way too confused." Karen said. Mary sighed and looked at her books.

"That's the problem with knowledge. The more you know the more there is to learn." She said sounding slightly sad.

"Yeah and the more you know the less happy you become. Sure it's great to know stuff, but it makes the world seem like a far scarier place." Karen said. Mary nodded and breathed in the delicious smell of old books.

"You're right. The more things I learn about the world the sadder I get. This town is so happy because they don't know about the world outside our town. So we're happy, untainted people." Mary said sounding sad.

"But knowledge can also help you. So I suppose as long as you don't let what you learn affect you badly, then you can continue your life better off rather than worse." Karen said looking at the many books Mary had.

"I guess you're right. Karen you have a good mind. It's a shame you barely ever use it, you should visit me sometimes and read." Mary said. Karen thought for a moment, wondering if she would enjoy reading.

"Alright, I suppose I would like to learn more about life outside this town. When shall we meet? I've got some training to do this week so can we set a date after the race?" Karen asked, sounding rather keener than she had meant to. Mary grinned and giggled.

"Sure, how about the 20th?" Mary asked. Karen nodded and thanked Mary. She then hurried to find Ann and Popuri.

When she entered the inn, Ann was cooking a meal and Popuri was making a cake. They smiled as she entered and suggested she go get the drinks.

"So Karen, you didn't get to tell us how today went..." Ann hinted, showing she needed to hear some gossip. Karen described her day enthusiastically as Popuri and Ann made them dinner. Ann made them hot chicken sandwiches and chips while Popuri made some apple pie and custard.

"So now I'm training Jack's horse for the race, which should mean I get to spend more time with him!" Karen finished as Ann placed the plates on a table and they all sat down to eat.

"Wow, that's excellent!" Ann exclaimed spitting crumbs over Karen who hastily swept them off and nodded excitedly.

"So you're going to train Jacks horse and help him train it on the last day. Then if you win, I trust there will be a celebration dinner." Popuri said giggling. She waggled her eyebrows and looked slyly at Karen.

"Guys, is that all you think about... you are... sick and wrong." Karen said trying to hide a slight smile. They laughed and cleared their plates.

"But you would have a romantic dinner?" Ann asked. Karen nodded and imagined a romantic dinner with Jack. With beautiful candles and an expensive tablecloth. She watched in her mind as she stood up too fast knocking a candle onto the tablecloth and setting it alight. She frowned at the thought and saw Ann and Popuri staring at her inquiringly.

"I'm really not great at being romantic... seductive yes... but romantic... no." She said seeing Jack's angry face looking at his destroyed house in her imagination.

"I know you're imagining the worst but honestly you could easily pull it off. You can be romantic when you want to be... Rick told me." Popuri said. Karen smiled at her glad that her friends believed in her.

"Yeah, and maybe for dessert..." Ann said waggling her eyebrows. Karen snorted and Popuri giggled and began to choke on her custard. Karen and Ann watched with an amused expression as Popuri recovered.

"He would have to get me really drunk." Karen said seriously. Ann snorted and knocked over her water accidentally.

"Honey, it's not that hard." Ann said. Karen grinned and laughed poking Ann in the ribs.

"Trust me, Jack's a gentleman. He wouldn't do that." Karen said looking both proud and slightly disappointed.

"Rick would." Popuri said seriously. Karen nodded gravely and Ann sighed. They finished dessert and washed up the dishes. Then Karen and Popuri said goodnight and headed home. Karen had had a tiring day and was exhausted so she said goodnight to her parents and curled up in bed.

The day she headed down to the farm to train Silver. She spent the entire morning galloping around the farm and watching Jack finish his farm work. Finally she decided to break for lunch and decided to raid Jacks fridge.

"Hey Jack, what're we having for lunch?" She asked her stomach rumbling. Jack put down the hoe he was using and walked over to greet her.

"Ummm... lunch... right. See I don't really have lunch." He said looking slightly awkward as though Karen was about to shout at him.

"Seriously, no lunch?" Karen asked sounding surprised. Jack nodded looking rather sheepish.

"Well I normally don't have time to make lunch..." He said looking at his watch. Karen smiled.

"Well, you're in luck, today I'm going to make you lunch!" She said happily. Jack gulped. He had seen her cooking at the cooking festival and seen Sasha and Jeff at the clinic for food poisoning enough times to know that this was a bad idea. As well as being toxic, Karen's food usually tasted awful.

"That's okay I'm not hungry." Jack said. He knew that Karen was oblivious to how terrible her cooking was.

"It's no trouble, honestly. I'll make us a couple of cheese omelettes. Do you have any fresh eggs?" She asked. Jack nodded and reluctantly told her where to find her ingredients. When she had gone to make her... food, Jack silently prayed to the Goddess that Karen's food wouldn't kill him. When Karen finally called him inside she had placed two tasty looking omelettes on the table.

"Voila, Omelette a la Karen." She said pointing to the omelettes. Jack stared at them in disbelief, they actually looked edible.

"I know most people don't seem to want to eat my cooking for some reason, but omelette is the one thing that everyone likes of mine." She said. Jack smiled and gave a sigh of relief deciding that he could perhaps eat them. He ate his omelette and polished his plate. They had been light, fluffy and delicious and he had enjoyed every bite.

"Mmmm, Karen they were great. Can you make them everyday this week?" Jack asked grinning.

"Sure, but don't you want to try my other dishes?" She asked sounding a little hurt.

"No." Jack said quickly then saw the frown on her face. "I mean, I loved your omelette so much… I must have another." He said hoping that she would believe him. Karen smiled and nodded and gave Jack a quick kiss. Jack smiled and felt relieved as he watched Karen head out to resume training.

On the 15th was Karen's birthday which she spent most of training Silver and hanging out with Jack. Almost the entire village gave Karen wine, which she was used to. Only Popuri, Ann and Jack were different. Popuri gave her a pretty bracelet made from fall flowers. She had asked Saibara to dip it in glass to preserve the flowers and it now had a pretty shine, Saibara had done the glass dipping for free saying that it was part of his gift. Ann gave her a cook book hoping that it might make Karen a better cook. But Karen's best gift of all came from Jack, which was a ruby broach in the shape of a heart. She announced to her friends that it was the best birthday ever, and they agreed. The rest of the evening the spent helping Karen… clear away… some of the wine shifty eyes.

After 5 days of training Silver and helping Jack train Silver Karen was finally watching them in the race. She, Ann and Popuri watched and Karen silently prayed gripping her betting slip tightly in her delicate hand.

"Please, we trained so hard, please Goddess." She whispered. She heard the starting gun and watched intently as they galloped off.

"Wow, because Jacks a first time racer his odds are ninety-nine to one. If you win, that'd be a lot of tokens!" Ann said counting on her fingers. Karen felt her heart thudding in her chest as she watched Jack and Silver running neck and neck with a horse call Nero and his rider. She watched with a feeling of dread as Jack fell behind Nero.

"Go Jack, Go!" Karen shouted and Jack seemed to hear her as he picked up speed. He galloped in front of Nero and passed the finish line victorious.

"Yes! We won, we won!" Karen exclaimed dancing a victory dance. She hurried over to Jack to congratulate him.

"You did it Jack. You won." She said happily. Jack grinned and patted Silver.

"I couldn't have done it without my perfect trainer and girlfriend. You are wonderful!" He said happily. She blushed and patted Silver.

"Let's have a photo!" Mayor Thomas announced and beckoned a man with black hair carrying a large camera.

"Say cheese." The man said. Jack kissed Karen as he took the picture and the crowd "ooooohed" and "awwwwed".

"When the town was finished congratulating Jack and saying "in your face" to the other town Karen cashed in her betting slip and bought Jack a shining gold horse badge as congratulations. Jack then suggested that they had a congratulations dinner at his house and Karen agreed. Ann delivered them a meal and winked to Karen as they sat down to eat. The dinner went very well, no knocking down candles and setting the house on fire. They talked and discussed their pasts and Jack told Karen about the outside world. They talked until midnight and then Karen announced that she had to go. Jack kissed her goodnight and offered to walk her home. She said she'd be alright and headed home feeling light and tingly.

Finally her meeting with Mary had arrived. She had both dreaded and anticipated it, wondering what Mary wanted to discuss. Would they read books, or perhaps discuss other theories? Karen had no idea, but felt a little anxious as she entered the library. Mary greeted her with a nod and gestured for her to sit down. Karen sat on one of the worn red armchairs of the library, which had faded beyond belief and turned a strange blood red, she then looked at Mary intently.

"Yes… well… I thought tonight I would lend you a book to red for our next meeting and we can discuss it then… how about Lord of the Flies?" She asked handing Karen and old book.

"Wow, what's it about?" Karen asked flicking through the pages. Mary took the book off her and shut it.

"I'm not going to tell you that! It's for you to read, however you may find it rather disturbing, so if you can't stand the gruesomeness just tell me." Mary said handing Karen the book back.

"Okay, so when shall we have the next meeting?" Karen asked. Mary thought for a minute.

"Why don't you just come to the library when you've finished the book, it'll take you what, 3 days?" Mary said. Karen stared at her blankly.

"Erm… make that a month… or even a year." Karen said measuring the thickness of the book. Mary looked shocked and then nodded.

"Okay, well just try to get through it and come to me when you've finished." Mary said. Karen nodded and stood up. They said goodnight and Karen headed home, book in hand.

The rest of Fall Karen spent making up for the work she had missed while helping Jack as well as reading the book Mary had set her. She had to store away the seeds and sweep the store. She had also heard that her father was shipping in a blue feather and wondered who it was for. Whenever she asked him he told her it was customer business and he wouldn't tell the secret. Karen knew he would crack eventually, he always did. It was probably fear of Sasha scolding that had made him keep the secret that long. So she spent a lot of her day asking the customers if they knew anything about the blue feather, to no avail. Soon she gave up as autumn flowed into winter, the time of year when no seeds would grow and Jack would have more time for her.

Well hello my lovlies! Awww a romantic dinner... i'm hungry... never mind. So yesh, is it me or does this fanfic seem a little too happy? Yeah?