Friday, 5th of Summer

Alma woke up at the rooster crow and felt refreshed. She hopped out of bed and looked at the TV she had placed on the other side of the room. She suddenly remembered The Queen of Sauce and wondered if it was on today. There was weather, Welwick … but no cooking today. She told herself to remember to check it so she could learn more of what she could cook with the produce she was growing on the farm.

About then, Alma was surprised to hear a knock on her door. "Just a second!" she called. She quickly put on her overalls and cracked the door open. "Marnie! Good morning!"

"Good morning, Ms. Alma! I'm sorry it's so early, but I thought I would catch you before both of us got caught up in our work for today."

"Sure, what can I do for you?"

"I came by to ask you a favor, since you're such a kind neighbor."

"Oh, Marnie," she chuckled, "what are you buttering me up for?"

"You see," she started with a smile, "I'm trying to train my goats to say 'hello.'"

"Whoa! Really?! You can do that?!"

"Well, I'm not sure yet! I'm trying!" Marnie laughed. "But they simply won't pay attention to me unless I have their favorite treat, cave carrots!"

"Okay," Alma answered. "I think I see where this is going …?"

"So … I heard from others that you've been doing some exploring down there, and … well, since I'm scared of the mines … I thought, well, maybe you would bring me a cave carrot when you have the chance?"

Alma smiled and gave Marnie a dismissive wave. "Sure, I can keep an eye out the next time I'm in there!"

"There's no pressure … but if you want to, just swing by my house any day I'm home between nine and five with a cave carrot."

"I can do that!"

"Thank you, Alma. You'll make an old girl very happy."

"Now wait a minute," she laughed, "you're not that much older than me, remember? You must be referring to your goats?"

Marnie laughed and waved as she walked down the steps. "Bye, Alma."

"Bye, Marnie! Have a good one!"

She looked past Marnie as she walked south back to her home, and Alma saw her wheat was ready to harvest. There was one lonely pepper ready too. It must have been from some mixed seeds, she figured. She made her rounds, watering everything, taking care of Bisclavret, getting eggs, loving on the chickens, getting mushrooms, and doing a general walkthrough to see if everything else was all right. Things looked good, so she went down the road to Pierre's.

On the wall, she saw a Help Wanted ad from Mayor Lewis:

"Wanted: Slime hunter to slay 6 Green Slimes in the local mine. 360g reward."

Six slimes didn't seem too hard, and she wondered if thinking that alone made her a "slime hunter." She tore off the paper before heading inside. "Oh, hi, Ms. Alma!" Pierre called.

Harvey was there, doing his normal grocery shopping, and he turned and smiled when he heard Pierre call her name. "Hello, A-Alma."

"Good afternoon, Harvey. You reckon this stuff could be incorporated into a healthy diet?" she asked with a smirk.

He laughed. "Definitely. I guess I do sound a bit like a broken record, don't I?"

"Just a bit," she said. "And, listen, I wanted to let you know I haven't forgotten about that freshly cooked meal in my kitchen. It's just that the stove is gas, and I don't really know a lot of recipes to use to cook with some of this produce. But I'm keeping an eye out for some new recipes, and I promise I'll make you something good when I can."

"Don't worry so much about it. I've been learning some of my own recipes!" he said, holding up the shopping basket. "But I look forward to whatever y-you'd like to make."

"Are you satisfied with the quality of my summer seeds?" Pierre asked from the counter.

"Yes! In fact, I've brought you my first harvest of the summer!" She put her bag on the counter and pulled out the wheat.

"Wow! Looks great!" He took the bundles as well as her mushrooms and gave her the appropriate gold. "You know, you can mill this wheat and make flour. You just need to ask Robin to build a mill for you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, and if you want to do more cooking, flour is an essential ingredient! But otherwise, flour sells for more than just wheat anyway."

"Is that so? Hm … maybe I will talk to Robin about it soon. I'm still trying to get back on my feet from buying so many seeds to kick off the season!"

"Are you planning to replenish your wheat stock?"

"Yes, since those are so affordable. Let me have nine, please." He got the seeds for her, which she packed away in her bag. "You're such a great help, Pierre. Thank you so much."

"Thank you, Alma!"

She turned and made her way to the door, waving to Harvey on her way out. "Good luck on your cooking!" He nodded and smiled as she walked out. Alma went up the mountain path and to the community center to drop off the pepper, the first contribution she could make to the summer crop bundle. It was still so early in the day, this would be a great time to go ahead and try to get those slimes for Mayor Lewis. But her energy was already so drained from the work on the farm this morning. She remembered, though, about the bath house. She was sure a little dip would make her feel quite refreshed!

She went into the bath house and changed in the women's locker room. She seemed to have the whole place to herself. When she opened the door to the bath, she could feel the steamy heat weighing in the air. She breathed it in and already felt relaxed. She stepped into the hot bath, squealing a bit as she sank deeper into the hot water. But as she got deeper and deeper, she could feel the stress in her body start to melt away. She took a deep breath and relaxed, closing her eyes and feeling the heat loosen her tight muscles.

In the darkness behind her eyes, her mind went into its usual spiral. She saw Eric, heard the call center at Joja, saw the faces of women far more beautiful than her, heard her brother's angry voice over the phone, felt the scratching of the pen as she signed her name on divorce papers, felt unwelcome hands on her body, smelled the funeral home, tasted frozen dinner after frozen dinner, saw the faces of several ex boyfriends …. It was amazing how bombarded her brain was in just a few moments. She felt her body tense up, and she opened her eyes, trying to remember where she was. Alma looked around her. This was Stardew Valley, her new home. This was the place her grandparents loved, the place where her father was born. This was now where she had new friends. She felt the heat on her skin, the condensation from her hair dripping down her neck, and her feet on the rough bath floor. Those other things were in the past. This was the present. Be here. Let this fill your mind now.

Almost instantly, she saw Harvey's face. That smile she first saw at the Mullners' house, then again at his apartment, and again in the community center came to her mind and made her melt. She thought about what Evelyn said at the Flower Dance, what Gunther said in the library, and even what her mother said in her dream. Was she ready to get into a relationship with Harvey? She admitted she liked the attention, but she was surprised at how quickly she was falling. After Eric, she found it hard to imagine herself with anyone again. She opened herself so much to him - even after telling herself not to let that happen - and she got terribly hurt. Again. She never thought she'd love anyone after that. She began to think maybe what she really wanted was to know love without fear. Eric was passionate and sweet, but he was also manipulative and selfish. Alma had only known love that was hand in hand with toxicity, and she craved a loving partner who didn't have strings attached. The more she got to know Harvey, the more she saw that in him. He was gentle and sensitive, and he was loyal and caring. He made her laugh, and he was a wealth of information. She wanted to lean in, but she was also concerned about what he might do. If she loved Eric so much, and he damaged her so badly, could she really open herself up to someone else like that and risk going through that kind of pain again? It sounded so cliche in her mind, but … it was her reality now. Plus, there was the question of Maru. It certainly seemed like he was interested in her, but his comment the other day in the community center sounded like he was more interested in Alma. What if he told Maru something similar and was playing them both?

After all this thinking, she came back to the same feelings she had been having for weeks: an uncomfortable mix of doubt and excitement. She thought again about what he said: "I want to get to know you better … Let's put aside our patient-doctor relationship … and work more on our friendship." Friendship. That's what she knew was happening, so that's what she needed to focus on. If something more grew, fine. She would cross that bridge when she came to it. If not, nothing lost. It would be difficult to stop this crush, but she was certain it would go away eventually, if she needed to let it go. She has let go of several things in her life; she would be able to add this to the list.

Alma breathed in deep and decided she had spent enough time in the bath. She felt refreshed, clear - somewhat, anyway - and ready to go to the mines to hunt some slimes. She climbed out of the bath, changed back into her farming clothes in the locker room, and made her way out of the bath house and to the mines.

When she approached the elevator, she decided to go down to the tenth level and see if she could make it to the fifteenth. When the door opened on the tenth floor, she didn't hear or see any slimes, so she started mining at rocks. To her surprise, just after the first rock, she uncovered the ladder to the next level! On the eleventh level, she defeated two slimes and a relentless cave fly. Alma was relieved when she finally killed it. As she mined, she broke open a chest and found a ring inside. She slipped it on her finger and noticed a glow around her. It was like the ring was an ambient flashlight, and Alma was thankful to have such convenient lighting rather than just rely on torches. She continued mining away in the dark corners of the cave, and she found the ladder to the next level. There, two more slimes almost immediately came to attack her, and she swung her sword at them in defense. Fighting two at once was more difficult, and she could feel them nipping at her legs more and more. She started to feel in quite a bit of pain, so she took a bite of some grapes she found on her way from the bath house. After that snack, she went back to the slimes and defeated them no problem. Only two more to go. She continued mining and saw the ladder on the other side of the cavern. She went down to the thirteenth level and didn't see any monsters around. As she mined, another cave fly came to her, but she made short work of it, and it uncovered the ladder to the next level. "The spirits must be happy today!" Alma laughed to herself. She dropped down to the fourteenth level and fought the last of the six slimes. All she needed to do now was find the ladder, get to the next level, and ride the elevator up. She kept breaking up rocks, picking up a few geodes and copper ore on her way, and as she cleared some of the weeds in her path, she also found a cave carrot for Marnie! She kept working until she finally found the ladder. She slid down, heard the elevator ding, and rushed there. As she rode up to the surface, she checked the time. It was midnight now - perfect timing. She put her sword in the chest by the mine entrance, got her other tools, and hurried home.

Alma jumped down into the next level of the mines and right away started swinging her ax to break apart rocks. The musty cave air filled her lungs, and she could hear water dripping far off in the caverns. She chipped away, gathering rocks, coal, ore, and other resources until she found the ladder down to the next level. And down she went!

Here, the air was different, and she remembered it from a time before when she was exploring the mines. There was a dense fog, and she sensed that she was not alone. Soon, bats started flying at her, screeching and scratching at her head. She took her sword and waved it wildly above her head, trying to slice them out of the air. Cave flies buzzed around her and stung her on their swoops. She jabbed at them too, vainly attempting to cut them down. At the ground, slimes pounced at her, slicing and burning her legs. Rock crabs appeared out of nowhere, pinched at her, and then disappeared into their camouflage again. There were just too many monsters! She tried and tried as hard as she could to fight them off, but she became weaker, more injured, more tired … fading fast … until she dropped her sword and fell to the cave floor.