Several months later Gray was outside trying out a new magic trick Erza had taught him. He had just gathered the right ingredients and was about to speak the chant when he spotted a dove perched on a tree next to his house. He wanted a closer look a the bird so he tried to grab it. But it flew away from him, he followed it into the fields, and he was led right over to Hector Lockser's farm. The dove he was chasing went into a small cote and outside the cote was little Juvia feeding all the other doves.
Since the locusts had destroyed his crops, Hector could now afford very little. The only animals he could keep were two sheep and cote full of doves. His cattle, pigs, and chickens he had to sell in order to buy medicine for his wife when she was ill and to prevent his daughter from contracting the same illness. While his sacrifices were in vain for his wife Dianne, at least his daughter Juvia was healthy and strong. And because she was such a gentle child, he assigned her to be shepherdess to the sheep and to tend to the doves which she enjoyed greatly.
"Breakfast time, everybody up." She called cheerfully.
She began tossing dried corn and hay out for the doves and sheep to eat on.
"Now don't any of you be greedy." She said. "Make sure there's enough for everyone."
Gray quietly watched Juvia do her chores and did not make his presence known. He was fascinated with how happy she was. He didn't think anyone could recover from losing their mother if they had any memory of her. He knew for sure that if his mother were to pass away now, he would have spent years feeling sad. This girl on the other had a smile on her face and a light step to her.
Juvia then picked up a bucket and went to fetch water from the nearby well. Another girl stepped out from the farm house and she had a nasty smirk on her face. A smirk that Gray did not like, and as Juvia was walking back inside the house, the rotten girl tripped her. Juvia fell down and dropped the bucket which spilled all the water inside.
"Mother! Mother!" The other girl cried. "Juvia spilled the water!"
At once a woman who was just as nasty as her daughter came out of the house. Her very presence made Juvia tremble.
"You ungrateful wretch!" She screamed. "Here you poor sister is nearly dying for a cool drop of water and you can't even do that little thing!"
"I'm sorry." Juvia apologized. "I didn't mean to."
"You're such a blockhead!" The girl laughed.
"As punishment you'll spin the wool today." The woman declared.
"But I have never spun before." Juvia said. "Can you teach me?"
"You can learn it yourself, can't you? Or are you useless? If you can't work that you can stay here! Now go!"
Juvia did as the woman requested. She made no fuss or further objection. But Gray did not believe that mother and daughter should go unpunished for their behavior.
"Time to try out my new trick." He thought deviously.
With pollen in one hand and pebbles in another, he brought them together and whispered the words Erza had taught him to speak. Then he opened his firsts and blew, from his fingers came a swarm of honeybees. Erza had taught him this trick because bees had become scarce and the flowers were in desperate need of pollination. Although in that moment he thought, what harm in having the insects serve a little justice while they're saving the flowers?
"Bees!" The woman and her daughter screamed when the swarm surrounded them.
"Keep them away from me Mother!" The girl shrieked.
"Vile insects!" The woman screeched. "Get away!"
Gray laughed quietly as he watched the honeybees chase them around the farm until they ran away to jump into a lake. As soon as they were out of sight, he decided to check up on Juvia. Now of course, he knew better than to trespass on someone else's property but he wasn't going to do anything like steal or cause damage. He was only going to see if a little girl was feeling alright.
He found her inside a small barn trying to spin wool, but she had never done so before and no one how showed her how, so she wasn't exactly sure of what to do. Nevertheless still tried to accomplish the task assigned to her. She took a handful of wool and tried to thread it on to the bobbin. But she pricked her finger on the sharp spindle.
"Ouch!" She gasped.
Drops of blood came from her finger and she quickly tried to find something to stop the bleeding.
"If I stain the wool I'll be in a big trouble for sure." She thought.
That's when she felt something soft being pressed against her hand. It was a handkerchief that was being held by a young boy.
"Oh my!" Juvia gasped and stepped back.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said. "I saw you bleeding and you didn't really have anything on you to stop it. I thought I'd offer my handkerchief. My mother insists I always have one on me even though I think they're too girly."
Juvia gave him an unsure look but moved closer to him and held her hand out. He carefully took hold of it and once again, pressed the handkerchief to her fingers.
"Who are you?" She asked him.
"My name is Gray. We're neighbors, I live in the big house just up the hill from here."
"You live in that beautiful house?"
"Uh-huh."
"Oh it most be so lovely inside."
"It's alright but there's not much to do. Not much for me that is. All I have to do is learn which is so boring."
"There's plenty to do around here. I have to tend to the sheep and the doves, and get water from the well. But once my chores are all done I can pick wild flowers and blackberries, play in the river, read books, or go into town if my father will go with me."
"Where is your father anyway?"
"He's away trying to sell wool and buy better fertilizer for our crops. He's not home very often but when he is, he spends all his time with me."
"So you're left all alone here?"
"No. I'm left with my stepmother and stepsister. They're going to help out around the house and look after me when Papa is gone."
"They don't seem very nice."
"They probably just haven't adjusted yet."
Juvia smiled at Gray and she thought the boy to be very cute.
"Thank you for your handkerchief." She said.
"You can keep it if you like."
"But I have no money to pay you for it."
"Money isn't everything."
"Still I should give you something."
She thought for a moment and made a coy smile. Without warning, her lips placed a feather-like kiss on to his cheek. The young man jumped back and was red all over.
"What was that?" He asked her.
"That was a kiss." She replied.
"I know what a kiss is but why did you kiss me?"
"To say thank you." She said. "And because I like you."
The redness in his face increased ten-fold and he looked down at his feet bashfully.
"Juvia!" It was her stepmother.
"Oh no!" The girl said. "You better hide! If she finds you here she'll thrash you!"
Gray quickly hid behind a bail of hay. In walked her stepmother, who's face bore several bee stings. Gray had to bite his tongue to keep himself from laughing.
"Stepmother what happened to you?" Juvia asked.
"Never mind that!" She snapped. "Why haven't you gotten started on the spinning?"
"I pricked my finger and I didn't want my blood to stain the wool."
"Now don't you pretend that you weren't off daydreaming or something! There's too much spinning for you to do to be so lazy!"
"I was just trying to stop myself from bleeding."
She showed the woman her cut finger to prove her point.
"You can't pull the wool over my eyes! Just what have you been doing?!"
"I was trying to spin but you never showed me how so I cut myself."
"Stop all that back talk!" She grabbed Juvia roughly by the arm. "Now keep spinning! Do you hear me?"
"You're hurting me!"
"Don't pretend you're better than everyone else! You're no more valuable than those flithy sheep and don't you forget that!"
She threw the girl on to the ground. Gray couldn't stand for this.
"Hey what's the matter with you!" He called out angrily. "Leave her alone!"
He ran out from his hiding spot and helped Juvia to her feet.
"Where did this boy come from?!" The woman demanded. "You let him in, didn't you Juvia? How dare you let a strange boy come on to our property! I'll punish you good for this!"
"Ilse what in the world are you screaming about?"
Juvia's father had now entered the barn.
"Hector you're back sooner than I expected." Th woman called Ilse changed her demeanor instantly. "I apologize for being so cross but your daughter has naively allowed some dirty boy to intrude. I'm certain that he's a thief who would try to steal what little money we have."
"Nonsense." He spoke. "This boy is no thief. I know him, he is the landowner's son and he is as honest as his father."
Ilse appeared horrified by her behavior, and started to smile at Gray in a sweet manner that he could easily see through.
"My apologies young man. I truly meant no harm, as a poor wife and mother, I cannot help but be so protective of my children and wary of strangers."
"Although you are always welcome here Gray, what brings you by?" Hector asked.
"I saw that Juvia was bleeding and I wanted to help." He answered.
"Is that true dear?"
Juvia nodded and held up her wounded hand. Hector gently grabbed it.
"How did that happen?"
"I was trying to spin Papa." Juvia said.
"Spin? But you don't know how."
"Silly minded girl." Ilse said. "You could have hurt yourself way worse and ruined the wool with your blood."
"Come along Juvia, let's get this fixed up." Hector said. "And Gray, run along home now. Thank you for kindness toward my daughter but I can take it from here."
"Alright sir. Have a good day."
Gray left but he was very worried about Juvia. He wanted to make sure that she would be alright. So he made plans to check on her tomorrow when he visited Erza for his next magic lesson. He hoped that she would be okay.