August 9, Summer, year 20

The sky was lightening into dawn by the time she made it home. Claire had found Skye unconscious at the pond and couldn't bare to leave him like that, so she had managed—barely—to cart him back to the farm. She had been very careful not to touch the bracelet he had clenched in one fist, it was still glowing an eerie sea-green, and that had made getting him into her parent's bed a bit of a challenge.

Worriedly, she grabbed a chair from the dining room and dragged it into the bedroom, perching on it to keep an eye on him.

This wasn't her first strained all-nighter—in the city she'd had some spectacular ones while waiting for Damien—but it was the first in a long while, and inevitably her head drooped. Then she jerked back into awareness.

Determined to stay awake, she left briefly to fix herself a cup of strong tea, then settled in to read the journal that the Witch Princess had loaned her.

She couldn't focus very well, constantly looking up in hopes that Skye would wake up. Lost sleep, lost energy, and worry for the young man who was fast becoming a dear friend was straining her tenuous emotional control.

"Please wake up," she whispered. "Please!"

Full morning rolled around too quickly for the blond's taste, and reluctantly she left her post by the bed to go take care of her animals. Puppy was glad to be let out for his morning run around the farm, and the chickens and ducks were very loudly greeting the day—and her—with honks, clucks and crows.

Claire's smile was tired, but genuine as she studied her farm. Such a wonderful place she had… such a blessing.

Though it was only early morning, the heat was already getting to her. Since courting heatstroke was a very stupid idea when she needed to keep an eye on Skye, she hurried through the feeding of her animals, promising to give Honey a proper brushing after the sun had gone down, before rushing down into the town to water her multitudes of plants.

Celia met her at some of her corn patches near the Goddess pond, and gave the blond farmer a critical look.

"Are you okay Claire?" the brunette asked worriedly. "You don't look like you've been sleeping well recently."

"I had a long night," Claire replied truthfully. "So I just decided it would be easier to pull an all-nighter than get only two hours of sleep. I plan on going to bed soon, really."

"Well… maybe you should go talk to Dr. Hardy?" Celia suggested. "If you're having trouble sleeping, I'd bet he can give you something for that. Or… don't you have the relax tea leaf recipe? Those would probably help a lot!"

She was trying to be helpful, so Claire just smiled and let Celia continue on, until her friend had run out of ideas.

"You're supposed to be taking care of yourself," Celia finished up, scolding mildly. "Your parents wouldn't be too happy to see you doing this to yourself!"

"Doing what?" Claire asked, her smile becoming a little more forced. "Celia, it's just an all-nighter. I'll be fine, really."

She really adored her friend, but there were times when Celia's motherly-ness got on the blonde's nerves. Celia sighed, but smiled sweetly and even gave Claire a quick hug before moving over to make her usual prayers to the Harvest Goddess.

A pang of guilt passed through Claire as she watched this, making her want to work harder so that the Goddess could be there to hear the prayers of Celia for good crops. Vesta had lost more than a third to some nighttime animals—Claire was willing to bet a raccoon since there were several up at the Dig—and the summer storms. Not that the blond farmer was having any good luck of her own, even with the strong seeds her parents had left her.

Thanks to the heat, her general exhaustion, and her myriad of crops, it was almost noon by the time Claire made it back to her home. Her first stop was neither food nor drink, but the bedroom, to check on Skye. Who was sill unconscious.

Sighing her disappointment, she headed for the bathroom to clean up, cool off, and wake up a little more. The final bit only happened after she tossed a bucket of cold water over her head, and she had to stifle her usual yelp of complaint.

The cold water did help though, as did the sandwiches and soda. Since she didn't plan to go out—and had finally broken down and gotten a working air conditioner—Claire changed into her more comfortable ratty clothes and settled back on the chair to wait and read.

It was sundown when Skye was finally able to get himself untangled from the needs of the bracelet and drag his mind back into his body, where it belonged. He made a mental note to remove the energy stone from the bracelet before deciding what to do with it, then slowly opened his sea-green eyes.

And blinked. Repeatedly. He didn't recognize his surroundings… but there was a familiar head of blond hair in… oh wait, she was sleeping. Why did he keep running into her when she was…

Wait, why was she in a chair?

It was about then that Skye realized that Claire had brought him to her house. Without thinking. Part of him wanted to be angry. She could have been seriously injured if she'd come in contact with the bracelet!

Another part was touched. She cared for him enough to risk herself, even though he had only barely started to talk about himself. And certainly hadn't begun to tell her about his people.

"Why did you do this?" he wondered softly. "All for a misplaced thief that you hardly trust…"

She stirred slightly, blinking away sleep. At first, he saw her face go pale, and when her head came up, worry filled those blue eyes. Worry that changed to relief, and possibly a few tears, though they didn't fall.

"Oh thank goodness," she sighed, leaning back in the chair, and rubbing one hand across her eyes quickly. "I thought you were going to sleep forever or something! I was afraid I might have to go and get Doc Hardy…"

"Ahaha… no worries Claire," Skye chuckled, sitting up. "Though I must ask, did you find this?"

He lifted the hand that held the bracelet and saw her twitch away from it slightly. Good, she wasn't inclined to touch it. Even now he could feel it trying to call him back, even though it was fully charged, into memories of the past.

"Y-yeah… I though Win might be able to tell me what it was," Claire looked at him with a thoughtful, but obviously exhausted frown. "She said it was an artifact of the People of the Moon. And then degenerated into a rant about them saying how it's been a long time since they've set foot on the earth…"

Skye sighed, and gave her a crooked smile.

"My dear, on any other day I might be more inclined to tell you something extra, but you look about ready to drop, and it wouldn't be fair of me to try and tell you so much when it's obvious you need the sleep."

Claire set her chin stubbornly, opening her mouth to protest, why Skye lightly touched her shoulder.

"Tomorrow night," he said. "If you're awake enough, come down to the Goddess Pond."

He wasn't going to admit that he wanted someone to spend his birthday with, not with her looking the way she did. It was likely that she'd try making Finest Curry again, and she was already so short on sleep that he just wanted to tuck her into bed.

"And you'll tell me more about the bracelet? Promise?"

He nodded, and she sighed reluctantly.

"Okay… I guess I can't exactly argue with you," and she gave a crooked smile of her own. "But you might want to wait a couple more hours til full dark… I've gotta go put the animals away and take care of the crops, so I guess… well, I'll see you later."

She picked the chair up, carting it back to the dining room, and Skye found himself wondering if maybe he'd said something wrong. But then it was clear from the dark circles under her eyes that her sleep had been practically nonexistent, so perhaps that was the reason for the erratic moods.

There was also the fact that she'd been worried about him… He heard the door swing open, closed, then open again.

"Hey, when you leave, do you think you could lock the door?" she called. "Damien's still slinking around…"

"Certainly," he called back.

"Thanks!"

"Preventing him the chance to get hold of you again would be my pleasure," he finished softly as the door closed again, with an odd sort of finality. "My dear Claire."

Claire just let out a long sigh as she headed out to her fields. Some wild dogs had started coming around recently, and though Dakota was a good watch-dog, she would feel better if her animals were all locked up.

While she put them away, the sprinkler system was running out in the fields, soaking Dakota—who loved it—Puppy—who didn't—and Honey, who merely shook herself off once Claire was within reach. The blond farmer spluttered and laughter filled the air, a relief from the tension of the day. She took a long time to brush the horse, giving her the proper brushing she deserved, before leaving to water her crops.

By the time she was done with that, Skye had gone, slipping through the growing darkness back to Mineral Town. Though part of her was disgruntled over the fact that he'd told her nothing another part was excited. Would he confirm her theory on him tomorrow night?

Only time and patience would tell.

She was so weary, that after kicking off her shoes, she just fell into bed, swiftly succumbing to slumber and odd dreams about chasing multicolored butterflies through fields of blinding white roses.