Wednesday, 17th of Winter

When Alma woke up, she could hear Robin hammering on the barn outside. She quickly put on her work clothes and headed out to get to work. She first saw she had a letter from Clint in her mailbox:

"Alma,

Sorry to bother you again, but I need another favor. I got a new hammer and I want to try it on a variety of metals. Could you smelt an iron bar and bring it to me?

- Clint"

Alma wondered why Clint couldn't just do this himself; iron was pretty easy to come by, and he certainly had the resources to smelt a bar himself. Regardless, he asked for help, and she was able to do it. She looked in her chests and, sure enough, she had one bar already in there. So she grabbed it and put it in her bag before she forgot.

Besides Robin's work on the barn, the biggest news on the farm was in the greenhouse: the coffee beans that Alma had planted were ready! She picked the beans and kept them in her chest of produce to be able to make fresh coffee for Harvey sometime soon. She gathered up the rest of the goods on the farm, organized them in the chests, got what she needed for town, and went to the minecart to ride to Clint's smithy first.

"Good morning, Clint," she said as she came in, knocking her snowy boots on the door frame. "I took the cart here this morning. It will wake you up, that's for sure!" She chuckled a little and was hoping for more of a response from him, but besides a quick smirk, there was nothing. "Anyway, I've got a couple orders of business today. First, there's this for your hammer," she said, pulling out the iron bar.

"Hey, it's the iron bar I asked for. It looks strong," he said, taking a minute to look it over. "Perfect. Thanks, Alma. I appreciate this." He got out some gold to give to her, but she put her hand out to stop him.

"Actually, hold on to that a minute because I also need this processed." She pulled out a geode, and he took it over to his anvil, broke it apart, and brought the mineral back to her.

"How are your tools holding up?" he asked her.

"Funny you ask, because I was just thinking of upgrading my hoe. Would you mind?"

"Not at all, if you've got the stuff." She put the copper bars and the remainder of the gold for him on the counter. "Thanks. I'll get started on this as soon as I can. It should be ready in a couple days."

"Thanks, Clint. I think that's all for now. See you around!" Alma left the shop and went next to visit Gunther in the library. "I finally finished the book on dwarves!" she said, putting the book on the counter.

"And did you learn anything?"

"Oh, a lot, for sure. But still nothing about how to communicate with them. Rasmodius, the wizard, told me that you actually had a guide for translation. Is that true?"

"Yes and no," he answered. "I do have the guide, but it's incomplete. I need three other dwarf scrolls to replenish the missing text."

"Oh. I see."

"But you'll find them, I'm sure. You already found one. The others can't be far behind."

"I guess. I'll just have to keep looking. Oh, and speaking of," she said, pulling the book from yesterday out of her bag, "I found one more."

"Ah, excellent," he said, taking it from her.

"And I brought this for you too." She handed him the stone that Clint had broken from the geode.

"Ah, orpiment! This one requires special cleaning."

"Why is that?"

"It's highly toxic!"

"What?!"

"Yes, it contains arsenic. But don't worry; it's safe to handle, though it'd be a good idea for you to wash your hands. I have a sink back here, if you'd like to come use it." Alma held her hands out and walked around the counter to Gunther's back room. It was a crowded space with floor-to-ceiling shelves covered in all kinds of artifacts and books. A small sink was against the wall, and Alma thoroughly washed her hands. While she did, Gunther called from farther back, "I do think this deserves something, though." When he emerged from behind some of the shelves, he came with a large black vase with simple gold accents. "This beauty is made from obsidian, and I thought you might like it to go along with that sword of yours. You can put it in your house for some classy decor, don't you think?"

"I suppose," she said, drying off her hands. "Thanks, Gunther."

"Oh and, uh," Gunther said as she walked back out into the museum, "there are some new lost books cleaned up for you to read, if you'd like."

"Okay, sure, I'll check them out." Gunther gave her a little nod and then quickly retreated into the back room again. Alma went to the back wall of the library where the Lost Books collection was. The first thing she noticed was a note hanging from the shelf:

"Wow, this library has really become great, thanks to your help! Thanks a bunch!"

Alma smiled and figured this note from Gunther was primarily for her. Did anyone else even come back here to read these? She didn't think anyone else had donated any books anyway. The new book added to the collection was an unmarked, rather thick book. Alma took it off the shelf and opened the cover, but she was surprised to see there wasn't actually any text. She flipped a few pages and saw they were all blank. She used her thumb to skim through the entire book, entirely blank – except for one page:

"... Saw something weird in the tunnel leading out from Pelican Town. There's a little door hidden in the dark. Couldn't get it open, though.

- Gunther"

She read it over again, confused. "Gunther?!" She carried the open book with her to the counter. "Gunther, what is this? You planted a book for me to find? Why not just tell me about it?"

He shrugged, and he seemed strangely reserved. "I didn't know how long it would take you to find it. I buried it a long time ago. A lot has changed since then."

"So now I guess I need to go check out this little door in the tunnel?"

"It's up to you." Alma closed the book and put it on the counter. "But, Alma, I want you to listen to me about this." He put his gloved hand on hers and seemed quite serious. He looked her in the eye as he spoke. "Be careful. Okay?"

Alma wasn't sure what to make of this. She scanned his face, trying to see if she could gather his meaning that he clearly wasn't saying. "What are you talking about, Gunther?" she finally asked, still unable to decipher his expression.

"Just … be careful. That's all." He took his hand off hers and, without saying anything else, went back into the little back room. Alma was left there a bit stupefied. She gathered her bag and went back out into the snow, heading into town.

On the board in front of Pierre's shop, Alma saw that it was Rasmodius's birthday today. She wondered if he even celebrated. Still, she figured no one probably said anything to him about it. Maybe it would be a nice thing to drop by and say hello. One of her mushrooms from her cave today was a purple mushroom, and she thought maybe he might appreciate that as a gift. So as she pushed on the door, she made a mental note not to sell that one to Pierre.

"Well, look at this!" the shopkeeper said, feeling the coffee beans between his fingers. "Something new from Paradise, huh?"

"Yeah! They've been growing in my greenhouse."

"Right, you can't grow any crops in winter without that, so I have no seeds to offer you. It's really going to cut into our profits. The night market doesn't help much either."

"Oh yeah? Has that been affecting your sales?"

"A bit. Thankfully, our stock doesn't really overlap. But still, customers are more interested in shopping there than they are here, for this week anyway."

"Well, maybe next week, they'll come back here in droves. Keep your chin up." She threw her bag back over her shoulders, said her goodbyes, and went back out to work. She had a bit of time before the night market opened, so she thought maybe now would be a good time to go visit Rasmodius. She went through town and past the forest lake to his tower, and on her way, she happened to find a secret note in the midst of the tall trees, written in rather crude handwriting:

"If yoo can read dis … come to secrit wuds. Pleez bring may-pal serrup."

Alma's first guess was that this was from the hat mouse, but it didn't quite sound like his way of talking or writing. She was close to the secret woods now, but she didn't have any maple syrup on her, so she thought she'd have to fulfill this request another day. For now, she continued on to the wizard's tower.

She stood at the door and was surprised it didn't open for her this time. She pulled on the big knocker and called, "Rasmodius? It's Alma!"

After a moment, she heard locks moving on the door, and he poked his head out. "Yes, Alma, what is it?"

"I, uh, saw it was your birthday today. I brought you a present." She held out the purple mushroom.

He stared at the mushroom a moment. "You remembered my birthday? I'm impressed. Thanks." He took the mushroom from her then said, "If you have nothing important to tell me, leave me be. I have much work to do."

"Even on your birthday?"

"Especially on my birthday! Now go!" He closed the door, and she could hear the locks moving again.

"Well," Alma muttered to herself, "there's the answer to that question, I guess." She turned around and made her way back into town. While on the road in front of Jodi's house, she found another note trampled in the dirt. She picked it up:

"12 o'clock noon SHARP. Last day of the season. Check the bush above the playground."

The last day of the season was still a week and a half away, so she wouldn't be able to see what was hidden behind the playground until then. But she wondered who could have written this. Was it maybe Krobus again? That was around the area she saw him hide. Maybe he put something else back there. And who was this written to? Was it for her to find, or someone else? That was the question with all of these notes, she thought. When she put the note with the others, she remembered one other one: the one with the drawing about the bush by the beach bridge at night …. Maybe tonight would be a good time to check that out, since she'd be at the beach late for the night market. She checked the time on the note again: 12:40. She could probably make that happen.

As she walked through town, she passed by the saloon and remembered the squid she had for Willy. He would probably be in the saloon by now, and just as she thought, when she stepped inside, she saw him sitting at a table with a pint of ale. "Ahoy, lass," he greeted, lifting up his glass.

"Hi Willy, I have something I think you might want …." She pulled the squid out from her bag and placed it on the table.

"Hey, you did it!" He looked it over more carefully and nodded in approval. "Not bad. Not bad at all. I'm impressed. Winter's a good time to break out the old fishing rod, isn't it?" She didn't want to tell him that actually she had just bought it from the traveling saleswoman, so she just shrugged and awkwardly laughed. "Here, take this as a little reward," he said, reaching for his coin purse.

"Oh, no, Willy, you really don't have to - "

"I want to, lass. You're somethin' special. Go buy yourself something nice from the night market. Or save it up for something you need on that farm o'yours."

"Well … okay, if you insist. Thank you." She took the money, said goodbye, then went down to the beach to check out the night market tonight. As she approached the pier, she first saw Alex standing near the shoreline. "Hey, Alex! What do you think of the night market?"

"Oh, it's great, man. Have you seen the mermaid show? It's my favorite."

"Yeah, it was great! Their voices were mesmerizing!"

"Their voices? Oh, their voices! Yeah. Yeah, their voices were … something."

Alma got the sense they enjoyed the mermaid show for different reasons. They exchanged an awkward glance, then Alma promptly excused herself. "Hey! Jodi! How's it going?"

"Hi, Alma. Isn't this wonderful? I love the night market. It must be so thrilling to travel the world like they do …." She looked at the boats with a forlorn expression, and Alma could see that tug she had to get away from her life as a housekeeper.

"Maybe one day you'll be able to go exploring with them. Who knows!"

"Who knows," she sighed.

"Maybe if all else fails," Sam said from nearby, walking up to them, "I'll become a submarine captain. That might be cool. Then I'll take you anywhere you wanna go, Mom."

She gave him a loving look and pulled his head down to kiss him on the forehead. "My baby. Always thinking of his momma."

"Aw, cut it out, Mom!"

Alma laughed at the two of them and continued down the pier toward the coffee station. The Mullners were standing there at the end of the pier, looking over the dark ocean and sipping their coffee. Alma asked the turbaned merchant for a cup of coffee then came next to them. "Oh, hello, dear," Evelyn said. "Isn't this lovely? All the beautiful colors and glowing lanterns …. This is one of the newer traditions in Pelican Town …. But we've taken to it rather well, haven't we, George?"

"I'm just here for the free coffee."

Evelyn shook her head and patted his shoulder, and Alma chuckled. "I mean, it is good coffee. Can't say I blame him. So how long has this been around then?"

"Oh, what? Ten years now maybe? Has it been that long, George?" The elderly man just sipped his coffee. "Something like that, I believe. But it is something special. Now why don't you go buy yourself something nice, hm? Things like this don't come along every day!"

"All right, I think I will go see what the merchants are selling today. You two enjoy!" she said with a little squeeze around Evelyn's shoulders. She walked back across the pier and saw Elliott scanning over the boats. "How goes it, Elliott?"

"A fleet of exotic merchants, traveling the world in search of riches beyond imagination …. What an adventure!"

"Yes! And then they bring those riches here for li'l ole us! Have you found anything worth buying?"

"Oh, no, you've seen my modest abode, Alma. I prefer to keep it rather minimalist to help with my focus. Though it is nice to indulge in some of the foreign food and drink, don't get me wrong. And the mermaid show … what a work of art!"

"Yes, simply incredible. Like nothing I've seen before." She looked behind them to the traveling saleswoman, Lupini, and the mysterious shadow figure on his boat. "Well, I'd better go see what's for sale tonight." Elliott gave a little bow as she said goodbye. She went to see what the shopkeepers were selling, but nothing quite stood out to her. The Lupini painting was a beautiful landscape, but it was just simply more than she was willing to spend on a luxury like artwork for now.

She kept an eye on the time and walked around the pier until after midnight, then she remembered the secret note. She went up onto the beach and approached the bushes past the bridge around 12:30. She could hear some rustling and murmuring as she approached. "Hello? Is someone there?" There was no definite answer, but she thought maybe she heard some shushing. "I found your note. The one about meeting here?" She carefully stepped closer to the bush, and as she reached her hand out, there was a shriek! "Oh! Oh, I - I'm so sorry!" Alma clenched her eyes closed, and when she opened them, she saw Lewis running one way and Marnie running another. "Oh my - " Her face instantly became hot. Lewis ran all the way back to his house and slammed the door. Alma could see Marnie holding up her skirt as she rushed down the road to her farmhouse. She just stood there in disbelief. "I … I can't believe I …. I'm just gonna - yeah, I - " She immediately looked to the ground and rushed home as quick as her feet could take her. It wasn't until she was in the cabin with the door closed behind her that she looked up and slowed down. She leaned against the front door and stared ahead of her in shock. Then she just started laughing. Bisclavret came in to check on her, and she sank down to the floor in uncontrollable laughter. "Oh, Biz, I can't - I can't believe I did that!" She petted on him as she wiped her eyes and controlled her breathing again. "I was beginning to wonder if I'm more of a fighter or a scout, and I was going to say scout but now I - well, maybe I don't want to know what I might find as a scout!"