3

"Unh! Damnit! C'mon! Come here you little…" I rounded the corner of the brush and found Leah looking up at a tree.

"Having trouble?"

She turned and pointed up. It was an apple tree, bearing plenty of green nubs and a single ruby red apple. "Look at that beauty!"

I nodded appreciatively. "It's just about perfect."

"Yeah, and perfectly frustrating! I'm *ach!* just short!" she hoped in vain, her fingers just sailing under the fruit.

I looked at her, then at the apple, and did some quick mental math. "Hmm. I can get that for you, if you trust me."

Leah put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? I don't see how, you're not much taller than me."

"Like I said, trust me."

She looked back up at the fruit and sighed. "All right, whatcha gonna try?"

I walked up behind her and bent my legs. "This, hang on." I tucked my hands around her middle and lifted her onto my shoulders.

"Wuuah! Oh! Hahahaha! You're stronger than you look!"

"Heheh, not too much stronger, I can't do this for long, grab it!"

Leah easily plucked the apple from its branch and I lowered her back to the ground. She spun around and held the fruit in triumph. "Hmhm! Many thanks mister farmer."

"Glad to be of service miss Leah."

"Hmm, if my art career flops, it's nice to know I've got someone to catch me." My heart jumped a mile and I blushed bright red. "As payment for services rendered, I insist you take half of this magnificent bounty. Got a knife?"

That sentence jogged me back to the present and I reached into my pack. "I've got something better, actually." I gripped my new prize and took a few steps back. "Now, when I say go, throw the apple at me."

"Huh?"

"Pitch it like a baseball, I'm ready." Leah studied me curiously, but readied the fruit all the same. "Ready? Now!" She tossed the fruit and in an instant, I drew my newfound sword and split it midair.

"Wow, nice! Did you get that from Marlon?"

"Believe it or not I found this one. It was in an old chest down in the mines," I replied, stooping to pick up the apple halves.

"Why's it black? Is it just old?"

"Here, take a look. Careful, it's very sharp." I held the blade out to show and it sparkled a faint green in the afternoon sun.

"Obsidian…" she said softly.

"Makes for an exquisitely fine apple slice," I said, holding out one half. She laughed and took a big bite. I sheathed the sword and bit into my own half, it tasted just as good as it looked.

"So, not just a farmer but a monster hunter?"

I shrugged. "Part time."

"Let's walk and talk, tell me all about it."

We wandered Cindersap Forest for a while and I told her about my excursions into the old mines. Once that had run out, I talked about the farm. The little patch of dirt had grown to a sizeable field, and now I had a pair of chickens.

"What are their names?" she asked.

"Budurk and Busy."

"I get Busy, but…?"

"Well, that's the noise she makes when we look at each other. 'Budurk?'"

Leah laughed. "Perfect."

Eventually we sat down on the edge of the dock by the pond to watch the sun set. "I can't believe summer's almost over," she lamented.

"Yeah, major bummer. Pumpkin season soon though!"

"And blackberry season!"

"Big blackberry fan?"

"You've got no idea. Don't wait up once they start getting ripe."

"I'll keep that in mind." We fell quiet for a while and listened to the birds and crickets.

"Hey, I've been thinking about that art show."

"And?"

She bit her lip and swung her legs over the side of the dock. "I'm thinking about it. Making a few theoretical lists of what I'd show."

"Let me know when it's happening."

She turned and looked into my eyes. "I will." A warm calloused hand curled around mine. I jumped a little and she giggled. "Is this okay?"

"Y-yeah, just a little unexpected." Our fingers curled together a little more comfortably.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

She shrugged. "For coming to Stardew Valley, for hanging out with me, for being really cute. Pick your favorite."

I was suddenly very grateful the setting sun gave everything a flushed appearance. "How about all three?"

"Hmhm! Sure. Man I could really go for some…"

"Coffee?" I said, digging a thermos from my pack.

"How do you always know?"

I shrugged and poured out a cap full. "Call it intuition."

She took the cap and looked back towards the setting sun. "I think that's what I'll name my next sculpture. 'Call it Intuition.'"

"What kind of sculpture is it gonna be?"

She drank and passed the cap back. "Not sure yet. I just know the feeling I want to make physical." She rested her head on my shoulder. "The one I always get when I'm around you."

4

Very soon it was autumn, harvest season. My field had swelled even more, and most of my savings had been poured into filling it out with a large variety of crops, and a few more chickens to make the coop a little livelier. I'd also installed sprinklers, no more morning watering duty for me. Of course it also got colder, which meant I had a certain surprise waiting for me every morning.

I woke to a mouthful of ginger fur and quickly sat up. Brutus tumbled further down the bed and let out an anguished yowl of surprise. "Ach, sorry buddy. That's what you get when you sleep on my face though."

"Moww," he replied accusingly.

I pulled myself out of bed and slid into my boots. "Time to make the mayo pal." I marched across the house and out the front door, directly into Leah who was about to knock. We stumbled, she started to fall and I reached out and caught her hand.

"Whu!? Oh! Hnhn! Nice catch!"

"Thanks, sorry! You all right?"

"I'm fine."

"What brings you out here?"

Leah tucked her hands behind her back and kicked her boots around. "I came to invite you in person."

"To what?"

Leah blinked her shining purple eyes at me, smiling away. "Can you gueeeess?" I wracked my brain, had I missed something? The fair wasn't for a few weeks, Spirit's Eve wasn't until the end of the month. I shook my head.

"I'm doing my art show in town!"

"Really!?"

"Yeah! I talked to Lewis and he helped me set things up! We're starting at 3:00!"

"That's awesome!"

"So you'll be there?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course I will!"

Leah beamed. "It wouldn't be nearly as fun without you." She started to turn on her heel. That moment took at least five seconds longer than it should have. I wanted to go after her, pull her back into a hug, tell her how happy I was for her. Hold her tight to me and inhale the smell of fresh air and sandalwood. But away she went, calling "See you there!" over her shoulder. I waved and let it go. There would be another time. There had to be. Brutus rubbed up against my leg, I realized I'd been standing there for a few minutes. Art show or no art show, chickens needed feeding, corn needed harvesting.

I could see town square packed as I came off the little dirt road from the farm and my heart soared. It looked like the whole town had showed up. They crowded around what could only be Leah's sculptures. Some smooth and elegant, some wild and weird, but all distinctly her. I said hello to whoever spotted me, but mostly just tried to make my way through to the center of the crowd. A familiar flash of green and orange caught my eye, Leah turned to face me. "Hey! You're here!"

"And I'm not alone, you really packed 'em in!"

"I know! It's crazy!" Her cheeks were bright with color as she turned every which way, barely containing her nerves.

"Hey, good work. You got this, okay?"

She took a deep breath and said "Okay…I guess I'd better introduce my pieces. Wish me luck!" I nodded and stepped back to let her have center stage. "Umm…Okay everyone!" the crowd settled and turned to face her. "Thanks for coming to my art show. As some of you know, I came to this town because I wanted to draw inspiration from the beautiful surroundings." I was probably imagining it, but it felt like she was looking at me when she said "This place really feels like home now." She turned and spread her arms. "Allow me to introduce my sculptures!"

First was a human figure, carved from stone. "I haven't named this one, yet. She started out as an exercise in human anatomy, but I ended up seeing her through to completion. Her expression is intentionally unclear…is she embarrassed, amused, pained? I'll leave that for you to decide." Then she crossed to a mishmash of purple. "This one's called 'Post-Dimensional Nullspace'. It represents the boundary of human imagination. The shape and color came to me vividly when I was in a trance state." Then over to a pair of dancing statues. "I've been calling this one "Egg Heads'. I wanted to create an animatronic humanoid statue to toy with the viewer's ability to properly attribute personhood to a physical entity." Then at last to a familiar looking carved log. "And the last on is called 'Wood Sculpture 3'. It's a celebration of my favorite sculpting material…wood."

She scratched her neck nervously and finished with "Well, those are my sculptures!" She paused and then said "Oh! One last thing!" She turned to face me, this time I couldn't have been imagining it. "I'd like to say thanks to our new farmer. He gave me the idea for this show and the courage to go through with it. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true." Mayor Lewis said he was proud, the crowd quickly went into doing the same praising this work or that one. Not the lame sort of praise you gave to a kid for a paper volcano science project, real praise. Her work was good, and all of us liked it.

Leah beamed and shook hands all around, playing with her braid and still flushed below the eyes. Mayor Lewis called for the bids to start and I swear it looked like she was going to faint. I stifled a laugh and watched her barely contain her joy as people started calling out for their favorite. I'd have bid myself, but my pockets were empty, I'd spent the last of my summer profits to have Clint build me a new watering can. Instead I busied myself with watching Leah glow with joy in the bright autumn sun.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something strange. There was one person in the crowd I didn't recognize, and he didn't look happy at all. I thought I'd met everyone in town, but his face was new. I knew it was just the emotions running high and my own very large crush, but I could have sworn he was scowling at Leah. As quickly as I'd seen him Sam blocked my view and I shook it off. Whoever he was didn't matter, Leah had gotten exactly what she needed, and now I had to figure out something even trickier than this art show. I had to tell her how I felt.