CHAPTER 2: New Beginnings

I had to admit, I was nervous. I'd always been more of the shy type...so meeting the villagers was going to be tough. But, as Mayor Thomas had mentioned before, getting to know them could be very helpful in the long run. As much as I hated to admit it, I was going to need help at some point...the farm was so destroyed, there was no way I could possibly do it all on my own. I started by stopping at the forge, but I ended up walking in on a fight. An old man was very adamantly fighting with a younger man who looked about my age. The old man was telling the younger man to redo his work, but the young man didn't want to. Suddenly the young man noticed I was there, and became even more upset.

"What the HELL do you want?!" His voice boomed through the small forge, and I stood in the entryway, VERY nervous. I just wanted to say hello, and that had been a hard enough endeavor! Before I knew it, I was shaking in fear before the extremely pissed off young man. Suddenly, out of nowhere the old man whacks him upside the back of his head, enraged that he would speak in such a way to a potential new customer. Tenderly rubbing the quickly forming lump on his head, he quickly regained his composure and looked at me again, this time much more softly. "I...I'm really sorry...about that." I just nodded, still very nervous after that first encounter. "Hey...are you the new girl, Claire? Thomas told us you'd be coming. My name's Gray." Feeling a bit less nervous, I extended my hand for him to take. As he extended his hand in return, he let out a small smile and said "So...truce?" I let out a small giggle, and accepted.

The old man walked up to me and formally introduced himself. "The name's Saibara. If you ever need somethin' made, or your tools upgraded, I'm the one to ask about it. I'll get my work done quick, and I'll get it done good." The old man seemed very kind and prided himself on his metalworking skills. However, he seemed very strict with Gray, who I quickly learned was his apprentice and grandson. After answering a few questions about my tools, I showed myself out of the forge and continued down the road. I quickly came upon my next destination, the poultry farm. The introductions were short and sweet, I briefly spoke to Miss Lillia and her daughter, Popuri, and I took the opportunity to go ahead and buy myself a chicken and some feed. After naming the bird, I was surprised when they offered to deliver it to my farm for me, no worries, no extra charge. Another young man about my age walked in, and I heard Popuri speak up.

"Big brother, will you take a chicken down to...I'm sorry, what was the name of your farm, again?" I looked confused...a name for my farm? I hadn't thought about that at all. I thought it was just another farm. Popuri was shocked, and quickly asked "Wait...didn't Mayor Thomas ask you to name the farm while he was there with you? No? I can't believe he forgot that! Well, Claire, why don't you name it now?" I thought hard about my decision...this was my grandfather's old land, and to say it was dear to me would be a massive understatement. I thought about that good omen from earlier, and wondered if the land had been blessed by the Goddess herself. Suddenly, I knew what I wanted to name my farm.

"I'm going to name it...Goddess farm. Because I believe my land has been blessed."

"That's such a pretty name! I love it!" Popuri shouted, seeming very excited. "So, can you take that chicken and this feed down to Goddess Farm? Oh, by the way, this is my older brother, Rick." I shook his hand and he gave me a smile. He slung the feed bags over one shoulder and picked up the chicken with his other arm. Saying he would see me later, he headed off toward my farm. He seemed nice. I would definitely have to really talk to him soon. I wanted to make sure I knew everything about raising chickens. I headed off to my next destination, this time the cow ranch right next to the poultry farm. A small little girl was playing outside by herself, and she saw me coming. She quickly ran straight toward me, looking absolutely elated.

"Wow! You must be the new lady here! Is it true you're going to work on that old farm? That's so neat! Are you here to buy a cow? That would be so great! My name's Mei! What's your name? I bet it's something pretty!" I smiled brightly at the young girl. I loved children, they were so precious. And, for some reason, they always seemed to want to play with me. After introducing myself to the little girl, she just got excited all over again. Of course. "Claire? That's such a pretty name! I love that name! Claire, will you be my new friend? Oh please, oh please, oh please!" I couldn't help but laugh as I nodded 'yes' to her friendship request. It didn't take long for me to notice a familiar face coming out of the farmhouse.

"Mei, dear? Where have you gotten to?" Mugi quickly saw me with Mei and hobbled over. "Mei, don't bother people. I hope she was no trouble for you, Claire. Mei is my granddaughter, and she can get a bit overexcited at times." After assuring him that she was no trouble at all, and that she was in fact my new friend, Mugi smiled and led his young granddaughter back inside. "Hope to see you here again soon, you'll be needing a good cow if you want to really get that old farm running again!" I nodded in agreement, and quickly set off for yet another location to meet even more locals. I'd only met a handful of people so far, and I was already starting to feel exhausted. But, I kept going. Normally my people skills were very low, but somehow the people here seemed different. I truly felt I could make real bonds with them. Maybe even find that special someone? I hoped so...I'd always been the black sheep of the herd, and nobody had even spared me a passing glance. I wasn't even sure HOW to get a boyfriend in the first place! Putting those thoughts to the back of my mind, I continued through the town.

The inn had been the perfect place to stop when it was close to lunchtime. I introduced myself to Dudley, the owner of the inn and his daughter, Ran. To say that they were kind to me would be a huge understatement, as they offered me a free homemade lunch on the house and even threw in dessert! Once I'd digested enough to move around again, I thanked them for everything and promised to be back again. Next-door was the Winery, and the owners, Duke and Manna, gave me a tour. On my way out they gifted me a free bottle of their wine to try sometime. At this point, I was pretty sure I was going to need it later! It was a quick in and out at the library, I met Marie and she mostly told me about different books she enjoyed. I also met Ellen, a kindly old woman who had lost the use of her legs, but she was happy to sit in her rocking chair and speak to the town's new arrival. I also met her young grandson, Yu. He was quite rambunctious and was very curious whether I'd ever ridden a cow before. At the general store I'd met Karen, another girl about my age, and her parents Sasha and Jeff, the owners of the shop. They gave me free seeds to get started, and as I left the store I thought I saw a man coming toward me. He quickly introduced himself as Carter, the local priest, and asked me to come with him to visit the church. There was a beautiful statue outside of the Harvest Goddess, it was a very pleasant little church. After promising to pray for me and my farm's success, there was only one place left to go...the clinic. I was a bit apprehensive, as clinics and doctors made me quite nervous.

Once I entered the clinic I saw a young nurse. I slowly walked further toward her to introduce myself once again. She gave me a sweet smile and made small talk with me. "So, you're Claire! My name is Elly. Everyone in town has been very excited to meet you. I bet it's been difficult, going throughout the entire town and introducing yourself over and over again!" I sighed heavily, agreeing that it hadn't been easy. She seemed very nice, but I couldn't help but feel nervous. There was just something about clinics and hospitals that made me feel uneasy. It didn't take long for Elly to notice, as I had started sweating. She quickly felt my forehead, noting that I felt warm. She started leading me to the exam room, and when I resisted, she was adamant that I needed to let the Doctor look at me, that he'd know what to do. After sitting me in a chair, she called for him to examine me. "Doctor? Doctor, the new girl seems to be running a fever! Please have a look at her!" When the Doctor walked in, I couldn't believe my eyes.

He was tall, much more so than me, and his hair was pitch black, his bangs falling at the sides of his face. He seemed to have a more slender build, but I had a good guess that under that white lab coat he was sporting muscles. I felt my heart drop right into my stomach and suddenly, I wasn't so nervous about someone of the opposite sex giving me a checkup. However, all these feelings flooding into me within seconds did not help my body's current condition. After checking my temperature, the doctor checked my heartrate (which only accelerated with his hand right at my breast) and blood pressure. It didn't take him long to deduce that my fever had been brought on not only from running all over the town all day, but from stress and nervousness from meeting so many new people. He suggested I go to bed early that night, and to come back tomorrow so he could make sure I was fine. "Okay, Claire, please be back here tomorrow sometime before 4 pm. It seems all you really need is a good night's rest, but I'd like to be sure. See you tomorrow, then." And with that, he was sending me out the door and back home.