Hi everyone! Here is another chapter for all of you! ^^ This is quite a short chapter, and initially I don't even know what should I put as the title... well, in any case, enjoy! ^^
Klaus walked towards the Trade Depot with Iris; Mistel decided to wait for Agate, so they needed to pick up a good spot first. Klaus was generally neutral towards the Harvest Festival, but today he seemed to be more eager to attend and Iris didn't miss that.
"I haven't seen Raelyn for a while," she said softly. "She doesn't go out much, does she?"
"I guess so…"
The memory of their last encounter played again in his head; he often thought of that these days. Although in the end he returned Yang to Eda's stable, he knew that she wasn't fooled. Truth to be told, he didn't know whether she would participate in this season's Harvest Festival; he heard from Marian that Eda's condition wasn't really good. However, today's weather was good, although one could already sense the advent of winter.
The first thing he noticed when they finally entered the Trade Depot was her pink hair. She stood together Otmar and Eda. He noticed that Eda was wearing a white scarf, perhaps so that she could stand today's breeze. Iris nudged at him, gesturing to him to greet her, but he wasn't going alone; they went together towards the trio and greeted them.
"Madam Eda, it's very nice to see you attending this festival," Iris said with a bright, but not less elegant smile.
"Ohohoho Raelyn is competing today so I want to give my support." Her voice was weak, but there was an unmistakable excitement in it.
"Oh, she is?" Iris glanced at Raelyn. "Good luck, Raelyn! I'll be rooting for you!"
The young woman blushed slightly and giggled. "Thank you, Miss Iris."
It was then his eyes met hers. Her initial demeanor suggested nothing of the turmoil she showed him two weeks ago that he began to wonder whether what had happened that day was a dream in its entirety. However, judging how guarded she seemed to be when he caught her gaze implied otherwise.
Their silence seemed to freeze others surrounding them, catching on the awkwardness that they emanated. Iris, ever the best friend, nudged Klaus to alert him. He gasped and quickly blurted out: "All the best, Raelyn."
"A-Ah, yes… thank you, Mr. Klaus."
"We'll be watching from the side."
She nodded. "Mm-hmm."
He muttered a quick 'see you later' to them and pulled Iris aside. "Hey, did you guys get into a fight or something?" Iris whispered. "Is there something between you guys you're not telling me?"
"It's not a fight, technically," he replied. "It's just…"
"Just?"
"Madam Eda gave a stallion to me," he said in a low voice. "…it seems that it's a prized possession of hers, so Raelyn…"
"Thought Madam Eda is starting to distribute her inheritance?"
"Yes."
Iris frowned. "Well… I can't blame either of them."
"Neither do I."
Veronica's announcement that the festival was starting cut their conversation off—not that they had much else to talk about in that matter, anyway. The guild master introduced the contestant; none of the local farmers except for Raelyn participated in the in Vegetables category; Elise and Giorgio competed in Flowers category while Fritz went for the Fruits category instead.
This was the first time Raelyn participated in the Harvest Festival; the last summer, she wasn't confident enough to make an entry and settled by simply being an audience. This season, it was clear that she was determined to win. Klaus didn't understand much about farming; how to distinguish excellent from mediocre crops, the difference between each type of fertilizer, and so on, but that didn't stop him to root for Raelyn.
Elise and Giorgio, both veteran in flowers cultivation (although Klaus preferred to take his samples from the latter since he specialized in flowers while Elise didn't), seemed to have best their competitors; the suspense was only who was the winner between the two of them.
On the other hand, Fritz was fired up to take the trophy home, as always. However, the judge didn't seem to be impressed by his entry—which wasn't entirely a new thing either.
There was a recess between the display and the announcement. It was usually the time for the villagers, who had been keeping their peace ever since the start of the festival, to mingle with the others—including the farmers. Raelyn went back to Eda and Otmar; Klaus couldn't hear what they were talking about, but it seemed that Eda and Otmas were reassuring her about her entry.
"Really can't take your eyes off her, huh?"
Klaus abruptly turned to see Iris smirking teasingly at him. "I'm just… worried," he told her honestly. His mind wandered back to what Eda had told him half a season ago.
"I know you will take a very good care of Raelyn… that's why I trust you with Yang."
Iris put a comforting hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. "There's nothing you can do about it…"
A short while later, Veronica came back on stage with the plump judge. "We will now announce the winner of each category," she said. "On Flower category, we have… Giorgio! Elise came in second, followed by Aida and Otto."
There was a round of applause and Giorgio walked up on stage. Veronica continued after the applause quieted down.
"On Fruits, we have Marcia! The runner up is Mia, followed by Fritz and Freddy." Marcia walked up on stage with another round of applause.
"Now, for Crops category, we have… Raelyn! Our runner up would be Johnny, followed by Leah and Chin."
Everyone looked at Raelyn, clapping at her, and Eda nudged the young farmer to move. Klaus watched as the pinkette made her way to the stage in disbelief that she had actually won as he clapped together with everyone else. Fritz actually whistled out loud when Raelyn took the steps towards the stage and she blushed. After the applause died down, Veronica announced the winner for the Miscellaneous category as well, which was won by someone from the neighboring town.
After the winners were gathered on stage, Veronica and Matsuba called them one by one to receive their respective prize. Giorgio received a package of high quality seeds and some specialized fertilizers for flowers, which greatly pleased him. The winner of the Fruits category received a cocoa tree seedling which was, according to Matsuba the judge, hard to get. Raelyn's prize for winning the Vegetable category was a package of Andes Potato seed.
When Raelyn was about to receive her prize from Matsuba, she glanced at Eda's direction. Suddenly, she held her breath and cried out: "Granny!"
Ignoring everyone on stage, Raelyn immediately jumped down from the stage and dashed towards Eda. Everyone looked at where she was heading; Eda had fainted. Marian, alerted by Raelyn's scream, ran towards the elderly woman as well.
Klaus could only froze at where he was.
Stay tuned for the next chapter!
Thanks for reading!
Please rate and review ^^