3. I Love You

It was fall now, and Nami was sitting by the waterfall calmly, eyeing the trees carefully. It was beautiful how the trees lost their velvety green cloaks after the summer and instead garbed shining gold ones. The weather was cooler again and the rains more frequent, but to weather was at its best this time of year in her opinion. She would have been perfectly content gazing at the rushing water but her mind was plagued with troubling thoughts. A day or so ago she had agreed to go home to her parents finally, after five years. But that meant leaving Forget-Me-Not valley behind. She had no reason to stay.

Yet she was still debating whether or not to tell Jack about the depth of her feelings for him. Their meetings had been infrequent and she'd always been cold towards him, yet she'd still found herself falling in love with him. But she knew he could never return her feelings, not after the way she'd treated him. He'd choose a wife like Muffy, sweet and outgoing but dumb as a post. "Stupid people are the happiest." She decided. They were blissfully ignorant to the pain in life and easily distracted, that was what made them happy.

Or maybe he'd choose a wife like Celia, kind hearted and down to earth yet dull and boring. He'd never marry her, someone as unpredictable as the autumn weather and as cold as the winter. She had as much chance of him falling in love with her as Romana, and that woman had been born the same time as the dinosaurs. "Tell him." Her mind whined at her. Nami sighed, maybe she should tell him, after all she was only going to leave.

Even if by some strange occurrence he felt the same, she couldn't stay. She'd been in the valley far too long already, she hadn't exactly outstayed her welcome, but she was bored. Besides, she had to return home, she couldn't run forever. But if she settled down with Jack, would she be running?

She stood up slowly and brushed the dead leaves from her shorts, it was only fair she told him. She sighed, she had to tell him. She moseyed on over to the farm as slowly as possible, dreading his reaction to her news. She spotted him by the small pond and wondered over. He spotted her immediately and as soon as he looked at her she felt her feet go cold. She couldn't tell him, she had to leave soon.

"Oh hey Nami." He said with a wave. She cursed under her breath, too late, she couldn't back out now.

"Hey." She said softly, looking at the floor as though it had something particularly interesting to say.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you." He said softly, taking a step towards her. She looked up inquiringly and nodded for him to continue.

"Well... I know we haven't known each other for long but... but." He stammered, Nami gazed at him in confusion. He'd never had trouble speaking to her before. "I don't know how to tell you this, but I think this will make it clear."

He pulled a shimmering blue feather from his pocket and held it out to her. She looked at it dumbly.

"It's a feather." She said with a shrug. He nodded, looking at her expectantly.

"It's the custom here, to propose with a blue feather." He informed her and her eyes widened. He was proposing to her. "Unless those sprites told me wrong." He added under his breath.

"What?" She asked in confusion.

"Oh... uh nothing." He assured her. He then watched her nervously, waiting for an answer.

"So... this is for?" Nami asked dumbly. This couldn't be right, he couldn't be proposing to her.

"Well the truth is... I love you. So erm... will you marry me?" He asked her unsurely. She began to chew her lip, she wanted to say yes, to tell him she loved him too. But the words evaded her. It would be simpler if she just went home.

"I can't." She told him softly, handing the feather back to him sadly. Jack looked completely broken, he took the feather and smoothed it.

"Oh... well... I guess that's okay..." He said softly, she could hear his voice beginning to grow weak and tears beginning to appear in his eyes.

"I... I..." She began, she wanted to apologise, to tell him that she loved him. Why did this have to be difficult, why couldn't she just tell him the words in her head? How she really felt.

"Don't." He whispered as he turned away. "It's not your fault."

She watched helplessly as he walked away from her, unable to force the words from her throat.

"Yes it is." She whispered as he left. She felt tears begin to trickle down her cheeks, burning her face. She fell to her knees and began to cry, why did she have to make everything so hard?