Thursday, 11th of Winter
Though Alma felt there were fewer things to attend to on the farm in the winter, she somehow still managed to stay quite busy. Today, she harvested oak resin, maple syrup, and a lovely collection of mushrooms - including a nice, big, purple one! When she filled her bag and made her way to Pierre's, she decided she would buy another sapling: "A pomegranate one, please," she said, handing the gold over to Pierre.
He went to the collection of saplings and carried the small tree over to the counter. Alma held her bag open for him to place it inside. "Aren't you glad you bought this bag?" he said with a chuckle as he stood up and slapped his hands together to knock off the dirt.
"I am! It has certainly served me well."
"In the mood for a little more shopping?"
"Nah, I think that will do it for me today," she said, pulling the bag over her shoulders. "Thanks, Pierre." He saluted her as she walked out and went toward the museum.
"Come on in from the cold, Ms. Alma," Gunther greeted as she opened the door. "What can I do for you today?"
Alma reached around and put her bag on the ground, pulling out the artifacts. "I found this fossil," she said, placing the large beetle-looking creature on the counter, "and this scroll."
Gunther pulled up his gloves and examined each one. "This is a trilobite. It is a long extinct relative of the crab. And this, yes, is another dwarf scroll." He smiled and nodded as he said, "These will both make excellent additions to the collection, and I believe they deserve a reward." Whenever he went back to retrieve a reward for Alma, she hoped it wouldn't be another giant statue or something ridiculous. This time, he came with a large, strange-looking gray mouse stuffed with straw and placed on a stick.
"Gunther, what … in the world?"
He scoffed and said, "Oh, come now! This is a major award for twenty artifacts now donated to the museum. It is a rare scarecrow - a rarecrow, if you will."
"And it's a … mouse?"
He hesitated a moment and looked back over the rarecrow. "Yes, I suppose it is, now that you mention it."
"Well, what did you think it looked like?"
He smirked and said, "A wonderfully whimsical addition to any farm."
Alma reluctantly accepted the rarecrow and put it in her bag. "Fair enough. Thanks. Now, if you'll excuse me," she said, hoisting the bag back on her shoulders, "I'm going to go back into the mines to get you more goodies."
"And I will be forever grateful. Be careful down there!"
She waved on her way out then went north into the mountains. As she approached the small bridge to the entrance of the mines, she saw Willy standing there, examining where the boulder once was - but now was not. "Hey Willy! What's up?"
"Hi, Alma." He turned back to the cliff wall, scratching his head with his pipe. "It's odd … I'm not sure what caused this boulder to disappear."
Alma stood next to him on the bridge and looked to the cliff face too. "Did it open up anything?"
"Well, this stream is flowing from deep within the mountain. But now, hey! Do you see that glistening in the water?" He knelt down, scooping his hand into the flowing water.
"Is it … minerals from within the mountain?"
He rubbed his fingers together to feel the granules of stone. "Yes, that's quality ore!" He shook his hands dry and stood back up, showing the ore to Alma. "The flow of water must be carrying it out of the mountain. You know what this means, right?"
"Um … access to ore in less dangerous locations?"
"Yes, it means we can start panning for ore!"
"Oh! Okay!"
"Here," he said, reaching into the large satchel at his feet, "I've got an extra pan in my backpack. Why don't you take it?" He held the shallow copper bowl out to her.
"What? Are - Are you sure, Willy?"
"Aye, it's not a problem, miss. Do you know how to use it? Have you ever panned before?"
"Can't say I have," she chuckled, examining the pan.
"Well, it's easy. If you ever see ore glistening in the water, use that pan and see what you find."
"All right, I will. Thanks, Willy!"
"Anytime, miss." He put his pipe back in his mouth and lifted his bag onto one shoulder. "I'll go farther downstream to see what I can find! Good luck, lass!"
"You too!" He passed by her on the bridge and walked south again. Alma continued to the entrance of the mines, looking at the pan in her hand. When she entered the mines, she noticed another boulder to the right. She half expected it to be gone too. "It's not glittering, though," she thought. She remembered her newly upgraded pickaxe and thought back to the boulders on her farmland. "I wonder if I could …." She pulled out the pickaxe and swung at the boulder. A large chunk of it fell away, and she could see the rocks loosen. A few more swings, and it would surely be knocked down. And soon, that's exactly what happened. The boulder broke apart, revealing a dirt corridor that seemed to open to a larger cavern. Alma kept her pickaxe out as she carefully walked down the cavern. She heard some movement and carefully put her pickaxe away, getting her sword instead. "Is someone there?"
"Junna?"
Alma stopped in her tracks. None of the monsters so far had talked back to her. "Is someone there?"
"Fa'n hitn mu! E om lisn o pyoth." The voice sounded both tinny like a small child's and gravelly like an old man. She carefully rounded the corner and saw a small creature sitting at a small wooden table. It had a few empty seats around it and a gold treasure chest next to it. It wore a golden helmet, a red tunic, gloves, dark pants, and purple boots. Alma couldn't make out any features of its face; it just looked like darkness under the helmet, with two glowing golden eyes shining out. "Juol, olai'tu tunnol laap on meel, hat o himo. Din mooldu olai tainp in olait syatp oyool?"
"Are you a … dwarf?"
"Sattol, E pa'n suom himo," it said, cocking its head to the side and blinking its glowing eyes.
Alma put her sword away. "I'm sorry, I - I don't know what you're saying. But … you don't seem dangerous. Do you understand me?"
"Olus, en es dunnut yenhain doo syatp."
Alma sighed. "I don't think this is going to work very well, huh?" She looked at the treasure chest. "What do you have in there?" she asked, pointing to it.
The dwarf looked at the chest. "Olai yon na diol samunhel htam mol sha?"
"Can I see what's inside?" She reached to open the chest, but the dwarf exclaimed.
"Oh!" it cried, smacking her hand away.
"Ow!"
"Olai to'n lisn hoxu mol ntuositus! Olai uup na lexu mauol!"
"Sorry, sorry!" Alma said, backing up and putting up her hands. "Maybe I'll come back later? After I can learn how to communicate with you?"
"Vhon es telhn, dotm oyool himo."
"Okay, yeah, we'll try again later. Bye, little dwarf," she said, turning and going back into the corridor.
"Jimos," the dwarf scoffed as she walked away.
Alma entered the elevator, questioning what just happened. She pushed the button to enter on the seventieth level and wondered what else might be waiting for her. When the elevator doors opened, she remembered she was now entering into a new biome of the mines. This still looked frozen, but it was much more clean, almost like a castle. The walls were not dirt like they were before. They were manicured ice blocks, intentionally placed. She looked over them carefully as she made her way to the ladder. Then she took a deep breath and slowly climbed down.
When her feet hit the floor, she heard a strange sound, like cracking knuckles. She pulled out her sword and carefully walked around, looking for the source of the sound. When she rounded a corner, she gasped when she saw a skeleton walking right toward her. "Holy - " She didn't have time to think when a bone came flying at her. She swung her sword and knocked the bone out of the way, then continued swinging as the skeleton and her came closer. Soon the bones fell to the ground in a pile. Alma took a minute to catch her breath. She remembered Spirits' Eve, when Marlon had the skeletons on display in a cage, and now she understood that he must have gotten them from here. She kicked at the bones as she walked past them and continued looking for other enemies. She soon found the ladder and went down to the next level.
As she broke through ice and rocks, she gathered resources and fought more monsters. When one frost bat fell to the ground, it dropped something from its claws. Alma picked up the wings and looked over the object. It was a dark ring with red stones all over it. She felt a strange feeling of dread, like she desperately needed to keep moving. She put the disc in her bag and continued to the next ladder.
On the next level, as she broke up rocks, she happened across a beautiful stone that she believed was an aquamarine. "Oh nice!" she exclaimed, hearing her voice echo in the cavern. She knew she needed this for Emily's bundle in the community center, so she happily put it in her bag and kept going.
Soon, when she dropped down another ladder, she heard the ding of the elevator door. She was actually a bit surprised that she had made it down that quickly, and she debated if she wanted to keep going or not. "No, I've got other things to do," she told herself. So she went to the elevator and rode back up to the surface.
As she left the cave, Alma checked the time and saw it was about seven o'clock. She remembered Abigail's wish for her to come drop by after eight, so she thought maybe after dropping this aquamarine off, she could do that. She went first to the community center and made her way to the bulletin board in the right hallway. She pulled out the aquamarine stone from her bag and placed it in Emily's bundle, with all of her other things. The bundle disappeared, and instead, a present appeared. Alma opened it up and found a special machine. "What in the …?" There was a stout pipe at the top but a small opening in the front, like she could drop something inside and get something smaller after it had processed or something. She shrugged and put it in her bag, thinking that she would figure it out later. When Alma stepped out of the community center, she looked back at the big clock face and saw it was nearly eight o'clock. Perfect timing. By the time she would get down to Pierre's, it would be eight.
When Alma pulled on the front door to the store, she was surprised it was unlocked. The lights in the store were dimmed, and Alma walked to the back door, which was also open. She knocked on Abigail's door and could hear footsteps from inside the room. Abigail opened up with a big smile. "Hey! I was hoping you'd show up." She gave Alma a hug then stepped aside for her to come in.
"Yeah, I finally made it! So what's up?"
"I wanna show you something," she said, closing the door behind them. She led Alma to a small table in the corner of her room by her bed. "See this? It's called a spirit board."
Alma stepped closer and saw the ouija board on the table. "Ah, yeah. I'm familiar with these."
"Have you ever used one?"
"No, I actually haven't."
"Really? I know you're interested in spirits and monsters and stuff. You're adventurous and brave. I would have thought for sure you would have tried this out!"
Alma shrugged. "I just never really saw a need for it, I guess. It seemed kinda … gimmicky."
Abigail smirked and put her hands on the board. "C'mon. Put your hands on the planchette with me."
"Uh … okay. But I don't think - "
"Come on, it'll be fun. Just keep your mind open." Abigail closed her eyes and slightly lifted her head. "Now the spirits will guide us toward a …." Then her eyes shot open with a gasp. "Look! It's moving!"
Alma couldn't help but laugh a little. "I'm pretty sure that's us, Abby."
"The first letter is … I …" Alma and Abigail watched carefully as the planchette moved across the board "Next is … 3 ..." ️ … "
"I didn't even know a heart was part of a spirit board …?"
"Wow, look at it go!" Abigail laughed. "It's spelling out … A-L … 'I ️3 Al?'" Alma looked at Abigail through her brow. Abby's eyes met hers too, and she suddenly looked flustered. Her hands flew down and knocked the board off the table. "Oops, accidentally knocked over the board!" She nervously chuckled.
"Uh … Abigail?"
"It's just a silly game. It doesn't mean anything," she quickly said. She turned away to hide her embarrassed face.
"Abigail - "
"I, um, have something to do. You'll have to go … Sorry."
"Oh. Uh … okay." She started to walk away, then she turned and said, "If you want to talk or something, you know where to find me."
"Yeah. All right. See ya, Alma."
Alma left the building, again questioning what just happened. If they were moving the planchette, then … was Abigail confessing that she loved Alma? Did she mean it platonically or -? Was it just a joke? But Abigail seemed visibly embarrassed and ashamed. Or was what Abigail said true, that the spirits were moving the planchette? Could it have been Mona, or Grandpa, or the Junimo, or someone else speaking, saying that they loved Alma? In a weird way, that made more sense to Alma. If Abigail was indeed saying that she loved Alma, that raised more questions than answers for Alma. But if the spirits were saying they loved Alma, well … she kind of already knew that by now!
By the time Alma arrived back at the farm, she planted the pomegranate sapling in the greenhouse and set up the rarecrow outside where the winter seeds were planted. Alma looked at the mouse figure and remembered: "I didn't get to see the Hat Mouse today." She sighed and shook her head, wrapping her coat a little tighter around her as she walked toward the cabin. "Maybe the rarecrow will serve as a reminder."
Alma went inside and added a few logs on the dying fire to last through the night. She cuddled Bisclavret and got dressed in her pajamas, hugging Harvey's shirt close. She cuddled up into bed and read Mysteries of the Dwarves until she fell asleep. As her eyes grew heavy, she thought back to the dwarf in the cave and the new levels of the mines. Would she consider herself a miner or a geologist? It seemed pretty obvious to her: she was now a miner.
