Hello, I'm back! (Does that mean anything? Of course not.) Anyways, on to the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or its characters. Only Mattand Sandy in this chapter are mine.

….

A Furry Friend

"Good morning Uncle Andrew," a soft voice said as its owner knocked on the door. Still yawning, the farmer lumbered up to the door and yanked it open.

"Why Elli! Up so early?" he enquired. Elli smiled shyly and nodded. A ruffled head peeked out behind Uncle Andrew's back.

"Who is it Uncle Andrew? Oh, good morning Elli," Matt greeted as he stretched himself. He clearly had just awakened from sleep.

"Good morning Matt. I heard that you're great fun to be with from Ann and Popuri, so I thought that you might like to play with me as well," she said softly.

Matt cringed when he heard this as his muscles were still sore from an entire day of cleaning. Then again, he would not like to hurt anyone's feelings, especially not a girl. Therefore, he nodded resignedly, fervently praying that today might just be better than the days before. Elli smiled gratefully.

"Why don't you eat breakfast first?" she suggested as she handed him a brown paper bag. Matt looked at it curiously.

"What is it?"

Elli shrugged. "Just some food I prepared for you. I thought you'd like it."

"Oh."

Matt stared at the package then accepted it, giving whatever it contained the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully it is edible….

"Why don't you come inside, Elli?" Andrew invited, throwing the door wide open. Elli went in gratefully. It was rather chilly standing outside in the biting morning wind.

Inside, Matt was debating whether to open the bag or not. Deciding on the latter, he hesitantly opened it, finding several sandwiches wrapped in plastic at the bottom. The brown edges had been neatly cut off. Fresh greens peeked out of the edges, along with scrambled eggs. He licked his lips in delight then stopped in doubt.

"Eat it, Matt," Elli begged. Matt did, after a moment of hesitation. Gingerly, he took a small bite of a sandwich after ripping the wrapper off. He chewed it slowly in his moth.

Elli watched him tentatively. "Well?" she prompted.

Matt's mouth widened into a grin. He swallowed his mouthful of sandwich and turned to face her.

"It's great Elli! Did you do it yourself?"

Elli nodded, embarrassed at being praised. Her face turned a light shade of pink. Andrew laughed loudly when he saw her. The two children stared at him in shock.

"Hey Elli! You look comical when you do that, you know!" he sputtered between laughs. Elli's face turned as red as a beetroot at this. Matt patted her back awkwardly.

"You said you wanted to play, right? Where do you want to go?" Matt asked the red-faced girl in an attempt to stop himself from laughing. He could barely restrain himself as it is.

"W-Why don't we go to the mountain? It will be cool there," she mumbled, her face still retaining its shade of red. Matt nodded and rushed out of the door, hotly followed by Elli, who was hindered somewhat by her dress. The old man followed them to the ancient oak door of the farmhouse, watching their antics from afar. Andrew chuckled some more before going back in to prepare a breakfast for himself.

….

Matt sat down thankfully on a rock, recalling the moments they had had during their ascent up Mother's Hill. Elli had proved to be a very bad mountain climber. She slipped countless times, making big rents in her blue clothes. He chuckled softly as he saw dismay written on her face every time a new tear appeared on her beloved dress.

Elli's brown head of hair appeared as she limbed the last piece of rock to sit by Matt's side. She looked down in dismay at the holes. How was she to mend them? She sighed sadly as she caressed each tear, shaking her head. A cool breeze rushed past. Both children's hair were ruffled by it. Matt enjoyed it immensely and hoped for it to last longer. Of course, being nothing but wind, it disappeared after a final puff that blew their hair everywhere, making them appear to be a pair of children who did not care for their appearance. Beside him, Elli laughed in delight, a sweet tinkling laugh that makes a heart joyful simply by hearing it.

Idly, Matt started picking the wild flowers scattered around the area. They were plentiful. Primroses here, a few moondrops there, as well as the occasional toy flower. Entwining them, he made them into a beautiful flower crown. Yellow, red, pink and white blended harmoniously with the green leaves. The wet dew that still clung onto the delicate petals in the peace of the morning shone brightly whenever placed under rays of sunlight. He gently set the beautiful crown on the girl's head. She looked at him in surprise and touched the garland of flowers on her head gingerly.

"For me?" she asked in surprise. Matt nodded shyly as he watched a butterfly flying around the flowers nearby. It was rather small, with beautiful blue wings patterned with red, a stark contrast to its background. Two dainty antennas stuck out of its head. Upon closer inspection, Matt realized that the butterfly's body was covered in short, fuzzy-looking hairs.

"Don't you like being up here?" Elli sighed contentedly as she lay back on the lush green grass, her crown still intact on her head. A single bird flew overhead, quickly followed by the rest of the flock. Suddenly, the mountain was alive with the noise of animals. The branches swished in rhythm with the blowing wind. All these sounds of Nature brought peace to Matt's heart, for the first time since he arrived in this quaint little village.

"It's so…nice," he gushed as he followed Elli's example and lay down with a soft 'THUMP' on the grass. Together, they spent a few hours gazing up at the sky, at the beautiful clouds that floated by.

"Look, there's one that's shaped like a swan!" Matt exclaimed, pointing at the swan-shaped cloud. Indeed, it was similar to one – the swan's fluffy head even had a realistic looking beak on one angle of its misty face. Two puffy extensions of the cloud resembled the swan's two wings, poised for landing.

Elli squealed in delight and reached out towards it, pretending to caress its fluffy sides. She giggled happily. Matt smiled softly at the girl's behaviour.

"You two! What are you doing there?" A rough voice bellowed. Matt and Elli jumped up in fright. A burly man with a wild beard and messy dark brown hair came up to them, frowning deeply. His eyebrows almost hid his angry eyes when he did so.

"Gotz!" Elli squeaked, standing up behind Matt.

"W-We were j-just enjoying t-the s-sights," Matt stammered. Elli nodded fervently beside him.

"You have to be careful when you're up in the mountains. No knowing when it will decide to take your lives," he growled. Matt shuddered, suddenly fearing the height of this beautiful mountain. Elli giggled nervously.

"You're joking right Gotz?"

Gotz was furious. "You may think I am joking, young lady, but you haven't lost your family members to this very mountain, have you?"

Elli shook her head, no.

"Well, I have," he said painfully. "So it is my job to warn others of the danger of these mountains. We can't have young children like you traipsing up here just to fall to your deaths."

Boy, doesn't he have a negative point of view, Matt thought to himself. This thought probably crossed Elli's mind as well, seeing the way she was sulking.

"And who are you, boy?" he thundered, making Matt take a step backwards.

"M-Matt. I'm new here. I live with Uncle Andrew in the farm," Matt blurted out, staring defiantly at him.

Gotz observed him for a moment, taking in his defiant stature and determined eyes approvingly. "So you're the boy the village have been abuzz about?" he finally said. Unsure of what to say, Matt nodded mutely.

"Why are you up here, Gotz? Don't you usually stay near your cabin?" Elli piped up.

"I heard laughter so I came up to investigate."

"Oh." Elli blushed slightly, realizing that Gotz had heard her laughter all the way from the foot of the mountain. Matt looked on blankly.

Suddenly, a high-pitched moan sounded a distance away from the trio. Matt was the first to reach the source of the noise. A small puppy lay on the hard ground, its golden-brown coloured fur matted with dried blood. Matt's heart immediately went out to it and he hastened to its side. The pitiful puppy uttered a soft moan.

"Move away, boy!" Gotz roared as he came along, stamping hard on the ground. Elli followed behind, hindered by her dress, as usual. She was getting pissed off at being left behind all the time.

"This mutt's been hurt. Goodness knows where its parents are," Gotz muttered. He lifted the puppy carefully in his two rough hands. "Don't worry, you'll be fine," he cooed in a soothing voice, unusual coming from him. Both Matt and Elli were too distressed to care at the moment.

The puppy groaned and whimpered, trying, and failing, to wag its tail. Matt came forwards.

"May I touch him?" he asked tentatively. Gotz grunted and held it out to him. Matt ran a hand over its head. The puppy raised its head feebly and licked his hand. Matt giggled softly as he felt the puppy's wet tongue on his fingers.

"Come now, we must bring him to my cabin. If the injury's too serious I'll bring him to the doctor," Gotz said firmly. Reluctantly, Matt ceased his patting and backed away a few steps. The puppy whined piteously and tried to reach out to Matt.

"Why, the mutt likes you!" Gotz exclaimed in surprise. "Come now, let's go to my cabin."

….

Gotz bathed the puppy gently in warm water as two children looked on anxiously. The puppy yelped a few times when Gotz ran his fingers over a part that hurt it. Matt had winced each time and tried to stop Gotz from hurting it any further.

Finally, the puppy was clean and dried with a towel. It appears that aside from a healing gash at its side, it was fine. It stood up weakly after a meal of crushed biscuits and a saucer of milk. Matt sighed in relief when he saw it stand on its own two legs. Rather shakily, it came over to him and started to lick his fingers. Gotz watched this thoughtfully.

"Why don't you keep her?" he suggested suddenly. "She's too young for me to keep, anyway."

Matt looked at him through wide eyes. "Really? I can keep it?" he stammered. The woodcutter nodded.

"Yep, and it's a she. What will her name be?"

"I think I'll call her Sandy."

"That's a nice name," Gotz congratulated as he patted the puppy gently. Elli came over and patted her, too. Sandy seemed to enjoy the attention showered on her and rubbed her head against Matt's legs, earning chuckles from Gotz and giggles from Elli.

"Aww…." She cooed, wishing that she had a pet too. Gotz looked on appraisingly at the way Matt was handling the puppy. The boy had patted the puppy and scratched the back of her ears, which Sandy had enjoyed. Without warning, she turned over onto her back, revealing her underside, which was snow-white. Matt tickled her, and she squirmed and barked happily.

My very first pet, Matt thought happily. He was going to like Mineral Town after all….

….

Umm, I don't know the exact colours of primroses, so forgive me if the colours I stated are wrong.