2. New friends

A few days passed and I got to know the people a little better, especially Cliff. We were close friends already; we were usually together at my farm, at the inn or at the church with Carter. Everyone in town were really nice to us even if we were from another place. It was a nice place to live except for a few problems in the farm. Today I went out and cleared the same place I cleared yesterday.

"Stupid weeds! Why do you keep coming out if nobody likes you?!" I yelled at those green sticks that usually stained my clothes green.

Bark! Bark!

I frowned as I heard my dog barking so loudly. "Shut up Goliat, I'm fighting with the weeds right now and I can't concentrate with all that noise!"

"Oh so you're busy..." Said a voice from the wodden gates of the farm. "I guess I should get going then"

I turned around as I realized that I kew that voice a little too well. "Huh? Oh hey Cliff, what's up?"

He smiled and walked to stand beside me. We watched the grass and the few free spacings in my fields. "Well, I wanted to show you around the woods and the mountain today but I can come back later if you want..."

"That won't be necessary, I'm already done in the field for today, let me just check the mailbox and then we can go." I said as I walked toward the mailbox. "Hum... a letter from Miguel! Oh, and one from Angelica!"

"Dear sis, hope your enjoying the life on the farm, were going to visit you on the 28th of spring so see ya' there! Here, I'm sure you need this more than me."

"Hello Leily, how are you? Hope the mosquitoes' haven got the best out of you! Don't worry I'll bring some bug spray with me when I go there! We all miss you!"

I stared at the letters for a long time. I can't believe I missed them already. It felt weird to be apart from your family for so long, especially if they were so close to you.

"So… Are we going?" He asked as he looked down at my hands.

"Sure, let me just open this package from Miguel. How do they fit so much things in this small thing?" I asked and smiled as he just shrugged. "5,000 gold! Man, his new job must really be paying off…"

"At least you have a family that helps you." He said as he saw the money.

I cocked my head and looked at his sad eyes. "What's wrong with your family?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now, it's a long story. So… can we go?" He asked as he held my hand.

"Sure thing! Now, promise me you won't go far... I don't want to get lost."

He nodded and pulled me toward the bridge on the south of the farm. We went out to the woods but everything was very quiet. We didn't talk since I asked him about his family, it must have been a really personal thing to talk about. It was a nice spring day and the sun was shining through the tree's leaves making pretty designs on the ground. He showed me the some of the colored grasses that grew around there and that I could sell. He started walking through a path going south and made a sign for me to follow him.

We got to a lake and he took out two fishing poles from his rucksack. It was weird, he told me that in this place, not many things had a logic explanation. We laughed and fished for a little while but stopped when he fell on the water. He pulled a towel out of his magical rucksack, which reminded me of Dora the explorer, and later we went to the mountain top.

"You know, it's getting late, the view is much prettier at night" He sighed dreamily.

"Cliff, it's still 11:00 o'clock." I laughed as he just blinked at this realization.

He frowned a little and smiled again with the same dreamy expression. "Oh really? Well the view is still prettier at night though…"

"Well, why don't we come later here then?" I asked simply making me blush.

"Ok then. Man today was great!" He said trying to hide his reddish cheeks with a fake yawn.

"Sure was, it's only noon and I'm tired already!"

"Want to go to the hot springs?" He offered lazily. "They are very refreshing."

"Ok, let's go!"

He went to the inn to change while I went home and threw on my favorite black bathing suit. I waited for him at the river side for a while. It was really hot and for that I thanked that there was a river there. I threw myself there head first but he came in less then a minute and then we went to the springs. The water was very hot, you could even see the smoke coming out of it.

We groaned as we got in it; it was soothing and relaxing in the end. It was really big and there was a waterfall behind it making calming sounds. It was said that the Goddess lived there but only appeared if you had a good reason to talk to her, she was really an anti-social kind of person, at least that's what I've been told. She'll come out if you give her a gift or something, not a very nice Goddess if you asked me. We stayed there for a couple of hours just talking about everything, but nothing in particular. It was getting late very quickly so he walked me home.

"Cliff, I thought that we were going to the mountain top to stargaze." I said feeling a little lightheaded.

"Opps! I guess I forgot all about it, well, how about we go now?" He asked smiling brightly.

"OK! But first…"

"Lets change." He laughed as he finished my sentence.

I poked my wrisk pretending to hold a watch and frowned playfully. "Fine. Meet you there in 15 minutes... in counting!"

"Okay! Let's go!" He said as he ran with me following behind.