// Author's Note: Hey all. Sorry that the chapter is kind of short. I will try and make the next ones a bit longer! ;. I'm trying to alternate between this and Harvest High!, but it's not that easy. Anyway, a lot of the beginning chapters will include lots of foreshadowing, so if you feel lost, don't worry. You're mean to. This chapter might seem odd to you, but once Chapter 2 is released, some aspects of it will make a lot more sense. Others... well, you'll have to wait a while until all the story's secrets are revealed - End Author's Note //

- Chapter 1 -

A Fateful Morning

It was a dull day in the Valley. Winter was approaching awfully quickly, and thus the days were shorter and the nights longer. Looking outside a window on the second story of the manor - which had been my home for nearly eleven years now - I realized that the trees had almost lost all their leaves. The few that clung on swung violently in the wind. The sky was a dark grey.

"Is something the problem, Miss?" Sebastian asked me as he walked up the stairs.

"Nothing, Sebastian. But tell me - what day is it today?" I asked. I rarely kept track of the days.

"Sunday, miss." he replied, and began dusting the antique ornaments on the wall. Sunday. I repeated in my mind. Mary would be coming tomorrow.

Mary was my best - if not my only - friend. She lived and worked in Mineral Town, a small seaside town blessed with nature's bounty. Monday was the only day she had off from work, and she normally spent them visiting Forget-Me-Not Valley. Mary owned a library, and read a lot. That always gave us a lot to talk about. I went to get changed and put on my traditional yellow hairband, my favourite one.

As I walked down the stairs, a sweet smell attracted me. The smell of my favourite beverage - Relaxation Tea. Brewed with relaxation tea leaves, brown sugar, and honey, it was my preferred morning meal. I walked down the staircase, into the entrance hall of the manor, and walked into the Kitchen, where I saw my Aunty Romana already enjoying her own cup of Relax Tea and a warm bowl of porridge.

" 'Morning, dearie." she greeted. I pulled up a chair and sat down, yawning. Aunty poured me a cup of Relax tea and I took it from her.

"Thanks. This is just what I need." I said, drinking deeply. The warm liquid soothed me.

"Lumi, dear, can you do me a favour? I have an appointment with Dr. Hardy this morning, do you think you could tend to the garden for me?" my Aunty asked me, finishing her cup.

"Uh, sure." I said, dreading the coldness.

"Excellent! Just remember --"

"Stay away from the shed. Yes, I know, Aunty." I finished her sentence for her. I sighed. "Aunty," I said suddenly. "Did you... drink a lot when you were younger?" I asked, recalling what Sebastian had told me.

"If you must know, Miss...Madame Romana keeps the wine her husband had brewed especially for her. She never touches them, and requests that no one else does."

Romana stared at me for a moment. My expression was unwavering. I stared back at her, trying my best not to show any signs of weakness. She studied me and pondered a response.

"Yes..." she started slowly. "Yes, If you must know, I did drink. But only on social occasions... and only... the most carefully brewed wine." she said softly. I had a feeling I may have touched upon a subject I probably shouldn't have.

"I gave up drinking after your grand-father passed away, however." she told me. I nodded. "But I really must get ready for my appointment!" she left her cup by the sink for Sebastian, and hurried out of the kitchen. I wished I could've asked her more questions, but I didn't want to demand too much of her too soon. At moments I thought that maybe that's all there really was in the shed. Maybe Sebastian wasn't lying.

Then why do I feel otherwise?

---

"I'm making progress." Mistral said to herself as she flipped the pages of a thick text book. "I can feel it..." She stopped at a page and pulled out another hand-made doll from under her desk.

"Yes... I feel that maybe I can succeed this time." she said, her eyes glinting. Suddenly, the words of an annoying voice floated through her mind.

"You can't, because it is the will of the Goddess. My will. You were exiled from my land, and exiled you shall remain. I will not allow you to continue with your dark arts."

"... I may have been exiled, but that doesn't mean I can't use my magic to get what I want." Mistral thought to herself. Suddenly feeling reassured, she held the doll in the air, hovering above the book, with her mind.

"This time, it will work." she thought fiercely, eyes filled with passion. She looked around, making sure no one was watching. Especially that pesky goddess. She had thought that she heard the door open and close, but marked that off as her paranoid imagination. The door to the shed couldn't be opened, anyway. It was sealed. She read aloud the incantations enscribed in her spell book.

"Illuim, Dahn Carnas, Flithe, Keiarn..." The doll began to crackle, and magical power began to fly around it, as if orbitting the dool.

"The doll is my nucleus. My medium." Mistral said to herself. More magical energy surged around the doll, and Mistral felt that she may just succeed.

"Bring her to me. Bring me the heart, mind, and soul of --"
"NO!" shrieked a voice suddenly. Mistral turned around, and groaned in frustration as the Harvest Goddess herself appeared - fully materialised.

"I will not let you!" she shrieked, her long emerald green hair whirling around her. Her entrance was impressive, Mistral admitted. But damn her to hell for interrupting my spell.

The goddess held out her hand, and mystical sparkling magic shot out of it. The magic covered the doll, creating a light, transparent coccoon around it.

"Stay out of this, Cerelia!" Mistral shouted, about to attack the annoying goddess. Cerelia's eyes glowed a ghostly white for a moment, and with a thrust of her hand, Mistral went flying back into her shelf. Bottled components and potions fell and crashed. Mistral managed to deflect most of the bottles' contents with her magic, but she was too late to save the doll.

"No!" she yelled in desperation, as the shell of magic around her doll imploded and was reduced to nothing. Cerelia turned to her.

"You got exactly what you deserved, Mistral. I warned you time and time again that you are not to experiment with this kind of magic! I will not allow it." she said threateningly.

"So?" Mistral snarled. "See if I care. It's not like it breaks the laws of my banishment."

"That's not the point! This magic is highly dangerous, and I will not have you endanger any innocent being in the Valley!" Cerelia yelled at the witch.

"Hmph! You are in no position to decide what I may or may do!" Mistral said, without thinking.

"Yes I am! I'm the GODDESS!"

"...Well the point is! I'm not endangering her! It's her destiny to find me... her fate is not for you to decide. It is mine." Mistral said in a voice of forced calm.

"I don't know what your plans will be, but I will not let you succeed. Your kind do not share a good reputation, which has been proven seeing the kind of magic you're using!"

"What, our kind? What do you mean by that, Goddess?" Mistral said in a tone of mock-respect.

"I mean... you witches!" The goddess stuttered. But Mistral fully knew what the Goddess had meant to say.

"I don't regret the actions I took." Mistral said calmly.

"You don't, do you? What about Asina? What about Alistair? What about Lu--"

"SHUT UP!" Mistral yelled. Cerelia knew at once she may have gone too far in her fury.

"...I... I know what I'm doing." Mistral said quietly. Suddenly, Mistral felt as if she had a very bad head cold. Cerelia knew she had overstayed her visit.

"I took pity on you after what happened twenty years ago." Cerelia said. "As long as I allow you to stay in the Valley, you must stay away from the villagers. Especially her." With Cerelia's last word, she dissappeared.

"I... I was so close." Mistral muttered to herself, lying on the floor, potions spilt around her. She sobbed quietly. Then she heard it again - the sound of her door opening and closing. She looked up, and could have swore that for a moment she had seen the terrified face a girl with short brown hair, and a yellow hairband.