At the end of the night, we make our way outside. The air is crisp, cool and light.

"Tonight ruled," I say, a little tipsy but earnest.

Sebastian, Sam and Abigail agree, and laugh a little. Sebastian pulls out cigarettes. Abigail helps herself to one.

"Do you want one?" He asks me.

"I'm good for now, but thanks."

"Yeah no problem. Sam, you?"

Sam looks at his shoes. "Maybe another time, my parents give me shit if they smell it on me, and my dad's probably still awake."

Sebastian nods and lights up, first himself, then Abigail.

"I smoke sometimes, but usually have to be a little more drunk than this," I break the silence and say for clarification purposes, but also so they know that I can hang.

Sam smiles. "I get that, a drunk cigarette is really the way sometimes." He lifts his head and exhales purposefully. It's so cold that we can see his breath plume out.

Sebastian and Abigail finish their cigarettes. We say our goodbyes and part ways.

"Come on," Sebastian says to Abigail, "I'll walk you home."

"You will? Do you know your way?" Abigail jokes. The general store is a stone's throw away from the saloon.

Sam looks at me. "Which way are you going home?"

I consider this question. "It's about the same distance both ways… it kind of loops."

"Here, come this way with me, it'll be way less creepy than walking alone" Sam offers, gesturing south.

I laugh a little. "Okay, sure, that sounds good."

We part ways with Sebastian and Abigail and head for Sam's, back the way I came.

"It's such a good night for walking," I say after taking a deep breath. "The air smells so good."

"Oh yeah, that mountain air really does it. Or maybe it's the ocean air."

"The lake air? The forest air?"

Sam laughs. "Stardew Valley really is a jack of all trades."

"I'll say."

Sam blows into his hands to warm them up. "So wait, where did you say you were from? What kind of air are you used to?"

"Oh, I'm from the city. Well, I grew up somewhere that was a little like Stardew Valley, in the woods. Then I moved to the city, got a big girl job, and an apartment and all that." I look up at him, afraid I was rambling, but he's looking back at me, listening intently. "Life was alright, but I felt really lonely and I was working this terrible desk job. I decided I wanted life to be more than just 'alright'. So I moved here– my grandpa gave me the farm in his will, and I learned about it years after he died. It's pretty crazy, I feel really lucky... So yeah, I'm used to some woods air mixed in with good, dirty city air. That's where I'm from."

Sam nodded. "Hm. It's cool you left and then came back to something that felt similar, but was entirely different."

"Thanks, yeah. I'm on a totally different adventure this time around, but it feels right."

Sam sighed. "An adventure sounds nice. I grew up in Stardew Valley and I've never left. Well, Sebastian and I go to the city pretty often. We play in a band, which you should totally come see, by the way. But to live in the city takes something else. I don't know if I could do it. Maybe if our band made it big!"

I smiled at him. "I'd love to see your band play! And yeah, I think you can cross that bridge when you come to it."

We arrived at Sam's front door. The outside light was on for his inevitable late return.

"Well, here's my stop. But it was cool hanging out with you tonight! I'll see you another time."

"Yeah for sure, thanks for the company. See ya!"

We waved goodbye and I watched as he quietly turned the knob and loped into his house. I wondered if his dad had been waiting up for him this whole time.

I followed the river to the Cindersap Forest, up to Marnie's, then arrived exhausted on my farm again. I showered, brushed my teeth, threw on a t-shirt and sleep shorts and dove into bed, stoked about the evening I had just had. There were so many cozy and fun festivals that were coming up, and I had finally started to feel like I had friends to attend them with.