Casual far Ming

by Taylor and Laura

Farmer

8. Book 8

Chapter 1. First Day of Summer

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 1st day of Summer! 90 days until the Summer Festival! It's looking like a bright and full day today, folks, so get outside and enjoy it! Make sure to give a big, Summer Shandy welcome to anyone still passing through town!]

As Jason's eyes slowly flickered open, Tess rolled over and placed her lips against his cheek. She kissed him softly, and a strange warmth fluttered through his heart. "Good morning."

She whispered. "How are you feeling today?"

Jason yawned and slowly sat up, climbing out of bed and walking over to the window. As he gazed out across his farm, the warmth in his heart only increased.

Standing there in the yard was his positively enormous barn, just to the east of his eighty-acre field. On all sides of the farm was an immense prairie, rolling hills that concealed both the town of Summer Shandy itself, and a handful of other properties that Jason had purchased over the years.

It was now the start of his Eighth year here in Summer Shandy, and in so many ways, it felt like everything up until that point had simply been a blur. A crazy, wondrous, wild blur that he hoped would never come to an end. "I'm feeling good." He took a deep breath and stretched his arms. "You know, I always used to wake up exhausted on the day after a big festival, but now, I actually feel refreshed."

Tess laughed as she climbed out of bed and walked over to their wardrobe, where she changed into a lovely red dress fit for working on the farm. "That's because you've never had two children who needed to get to bed early."

"Fair." Jason soon changed into his overalls and walked up to the door. As he pulled it open, he found Fern standing there on the other side, rubbing her eyes while holding onto her rag doll named Cake. She smiled as she looked up at him, and he bent down and held out his arms.

"Can I get a hug and a kiss?" Fern threw herself into his arms, planting a big kiss on his cheek. He smiled as they pulled apart and he stood back up, and Tess scooped up their oldest daughter and started toward the girls' room.

"I'll get the little ones ready; you head out and get chores done."

"Help daddy!" Fern called out as her mother slowly took her away.

"You can help me in a little bit!" Jason waved at her, then started down the stairs. "I love you!"

"Wuv you!" Jason smiled as he reached the living room. His hound, Chance, leapt to his feet and ran around in circles, barking. Jason gave him a few pets before letting him out into the yard. Jason watched the hound race up to the edge of the fence and start chasing small monsters that were

crowding up onto the edge of the pickets, then laughed, pulled on his boots, and made his way over to the barn.

The smell of hay filled the air as he pulled aside the enormous doors and started inside. They still hadn't filled the barn to capacity, there was an entire lower floor that was still empty, but they were steadily making more use of the main floor. There, several pens were filled with sheep, pigs, a couple rather annoying llamas, and a few goats. Jason scooped up a trash can lid to use as a shield and raised it up in front of his face as a powerful hock-pew echoed through the air.

Thwack! The spitball, fired by the alpha llama, knocked him back a few inches, but Jason held his ground. He blocked a few more shots, then lowered the shield and started pouring feed and grain for the assorted creatures. The pigs snorted, the goats and sheep bleated, and a number of chickens and ducks quacked and clucked as they raced down out of their coop and into the main floor of the barn. Chance barked and started chasing a few of the birds, but didn't harm any of them.

"Good morning, Boss!" Milligan's voice echoed through the air, and the older man strode into the main entrance, dressed in work clothes, yet still somehow maintaining an air of elegance about him.

"How are you holding up?" Jason lifted an eyebrow. "I thought I told you to get some sleep this morning."

"A hired man's labors are never done." Milligan shrugged. "Here, I'll get the eggs for you, you just head inside and enjoy breakfast with your family." Jason frowned.

"If you're sure--"

"Sure I'm sure! I ate at my house, this morning." Milligan grinned. "I've been working on a new plant for you to grow. It's a real eye-catcher, I'll tell

you that. It'll be ready for fall, and you won't want to miss it. Tastes real good, I can vouch for that much."

Jason chuckled softly. "I'll take your word for it." He started toward the house. "Can you start getting things ready for planting? I'd like to get a crop in the ground today, preferably in as much of our land as possible." "You've got it, boss!" Milligan nodded. "What are you wanting to plant?" "Something... Fun." Jason shrugged. "You don't have anything crazy laying around left over from your work in the genetics company, do you? Something that's not destructive or anything, but something that'll... I don't know..."

"I've got just the thing, and I was hoping you'd ask for it!" Milligan beamed. "It'll all be ready by the time you get back out here!" Jason waved, then made his way back into the house.

By that time, Tess had a hearty meal of pancakes, bacon, sausage, and eggs on the table, and Jason sat down next to Fern. Across from him, Rachel sat in her highchair, where Tess was trying to get her to eat some eggs. Jason took a deep breath, then helped himself to some pancakes and some of the bacon.

"Mmm!" Jason grinned as he tucked into the meal. "This is yuuuuuumy!" Fern looked at Jason, then took a big bite of the bacon. "Wummy!" Several bits of bacon fell out of her mouth while she was talking, which Chance snapped up before it hit the floor. Tess scowled good-naturedly at her. "Sure, if daddy says that it's yummy, you'll eat it, but if mommy says it's yummy, you won't touch it."

"Like daddy." Fern declared, then took another bite of the bacon before leaning over and sampling some of Jason's pancake. "Help daddy work on farm?"

"I think we can work something out." Jason ruffled her hair, which elicited a sharp look from Tess, and he belatedly noticed a hairbrush lying on the counter nearby. "You know, Milligan has something worked up for me to plant this year, something really fun."

"Yay!" Fern clapped her hands.

"What it?"

"I don't know, but I'm about to find out." Jason finished eating, then slowly rose. "Come out once Mommy is done helping you get ready, and I'll see what we can find for you to do. Maybe you could use Alice and your little planter, if mommy's up for it!"

"I'll see." Tess nodded. "I do need to get the garden planted today, but I'm sure I can spare a bit of time to help her with one of her own projects." "And I'll help you over lunch, if mommy can't." Jason declared. "Bye, kiddos! I'll see you around!"

Fern waved as he walked out. Rachel, who was still only about six months old, only gurgled a bit and whacked the tray with her spoon. Jason laughed a bit more and came back out into the yard.

There, Milligan—true to his word, had everything ready. His own horse, Dusty, was hitched up to Jason's old planter, a rusty piece of junk that was really starting to fall apart at the seams. It had been one of the very first things that Jason had purchased when arriving on the farm, and while it had served him well for years, had slowly started to succumb to rust. Meanwhile, Angus, Jason's horse, had his shiny new planter hitched on behind. Well... Somewhat new planter. Newer, in any case. Milligan climbed up onto the old, rusty machine and took the reins, and Jason frowned. "You know, I can use that old thing."

"Nonsense!" Milligan laughed. "You're the owner, you'll not make yourself use this old thing!"

"If that's the way it's going to be, I'll find the money to buy a second one of these better ones." Jason muttered under his breath.

"Ahh, don't get ahead of yourself." Milligan waved his hand dismissively. "Now, let's get this seed in the ground!"

"Indeed." Jason climbed up onto his own planter and reached for the seed box. "Just what did you work up, here?"

"It's a sunflower variety!" Milligan grinned. "Do you remember those moonflower things we planted... was it last year? They were basically sunflowers that were blue and glowed in the dark?"

"Yeah, I do!" Jason laughed and took hold of the lid. "Do we have something sim--" His voice was cut off as he pulled the lid open, and a blast of pure color came shimmering out. Reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, purples, and every shade in between. It all came pouring out to explode over his eyes as if staring into the heart of the sun itself. He slammed the lid shut, blinking spots out of his eyes, and Milligan laughed.

"Trust me, they're going to be a dandy to look at!"

"I'll just have to take your word for it." Jason blinked a few more spots out of his eyes, then took up the reins of Angus. The mighty horse, which had once been Tess's old warhorse, was more than eager to pull the machine through the ground.

"Let's go!" With that, the two animals lumbered forward, and they entered the field with gusto. Jason started working on the northern side of the field, while Milligan worked on the southern, and they slowly moved inward as they made their way along. It was a lovely feeling there was no doubt about that.

The sun shone down overhead as it slowly rose through the sky, while a warm wind blew across the prairie. Grasses rustled wildly in the breeze, creating a proper symphony in harmony with the steady clop-clop of Angus's feet and the rattle of seeds flowing down into the ground. Yes, another year had started in Summer Shandy. Year eight! Importantly, the coming Spring Festival would mark five years that he had been married to Tess.

It was almost too much to think about, and he knew that he needed to have something planned to celebrate. He could worry about that later, though. Overhead, clouds blew past, and in the distance, some sort of magical creature let out a loud, cheerful call. Yes, he was home, and he had no intentions of ever leaving it. All he wanted to do was enjoy it, as much as he possibly could.

Chapter 2. Aggressive Monsters

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 10th day of Summer! 81 days until the Summer Festival! With the summer shower we had yesterday, it'll still be a little muddy outside today, folks, but that shouldn't stop anyone from staying as productive as always! Get your work done, and don't procrastinate! The end of summer will creep up on you faster than you think]

[Obadiah's Almanac: Update: No, I am not currently concerned about the safety of our village. Yes, I'm aware that more and more monsters are being seen in the surrounding hills, but as of the moment, they don't seem to be aggressive. So, I'm allowing them to just exist for the time being]

Jason smiled and rolled out of bed, slowly rising and walking up to the window. As he did so, Tess came up behind him and slowly wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and he sighed deeply.

Down below, the Rainflowers were in full bloom, though they weren't quite ready for harvest. Each one, like regular sunflowers, had a black center, but radiating out from that center came petals of all hues of the rainbow. As the

sun rose over the horizon and beams of light fell upon the flowers, they began to absorb and reflect the light back, showering the nearby farm in a great display of rainbows. It sorta hurt to look at, but it was pretty, and made people along the road stop and stare, that was for sure.

"What's the plan for today, mister farmer?" Tess asked as he looked down upon it all.

Jason shrugged. "You mentioned that you needed help shearing sheep, so I think that's my plan."

Tess nodded slowly. "And Milligan?"

"He's spending time on the Far Eighty." Jason nodded off toward the distant field. "I don't really need him around here today, and he's got some projects he's trying to hammer out before fall. I think he might also be fixing some fence. We had a herd of jackalope come through yesterday and damage a bit of it, but nothing too serious." He nodded and chuckled softly. "And, speaking of that sort of thing--"

He pointed off across the prairie, and Tess gasped softly. There, striding across the prairie, was a monster that looked rather like a giraffe. It was tall, probably nearly as tall as Jason's barn, and was covered in green spots on a brown coat. Suddenly, it froze, perhaps sensing that it was being watched, and large patches of fur rose out straight. A great deal of it fuzzed out around its head, making the monster appear to turn into a tree. Jason laughed and clapped his hands, and a moment later, the creature relaxed, allowed the hair to lay back down flat, and it strode away again.

"If I had known that blasting the dungeon core apart would cause this sort of thing, I'd have done it a long time ago." Jason laughed as he dressed and made his way downstairs. "See you in a few minutes!"

Tess started getting the two girls ready, while Jason went down to the barn. There, it didn't take him long to do the chores. Angus, Lady, and Alfred, their three horses, were all turned loose into the corral, and he started dragging down the sheep-shearing equipment from the second floor of the barn. As he got it all set up, Tess slowly came walking out with Rachel cradled in one arm, and a picnic basket in the other. Fern trotted along beside, holding up the blanket that they would use for the meal. Jason laughed at her, and she smiled up at him. A few minutes later, they sat down to a picnic breakfast on the floor of the barn. Several chickens came over to investigate, but Fern simply climbed to her feet and chased them away, waving her arms and yelling something in toddler-gibberish.

None of them really spoke during the meal. It was simply... lovely. Rachel was sitting up on her own now. She sat there and sorta stared at the others in a simple, happy, babyish confusion, while Fern alternated between taking bites of food and running rampant. As they finished eating, Jason slowly stood up and brushed his clothes off.

"Alright! Let's get this party star--"

Thwack!

A spitball caught him in the chest, right below his throat, knocking him backward. He gasped for air, then scowled and ran at the llama, waving his arms as he tried to assert dominance. It didn't work, but Fern laughed and clapped her hands, apparently finding the display to be quite entertaining. When he finished, he huffed and slowly walked back to the picnic, though Tess had it mostly cleaned up by that point.

"You get the girls situated, and I'll get things set up." Tess ordered as she started walking over to the assorted pile of things that Jason had hauled down.

"Will do." Jason clapped his hands, then knelt down next to Fern. "And what would you like to do today? Should I set you up out in the garden, or would you rather--"

"Play wainbows!"

Jason frowned, then shrugged. "I suppose that'll work."

"Yay!"

Fern ran out the southern side of the barn, then turned and raced toward the field. Jason picked up Rachel and followed, soon coming around to the sloped ground that separated the barn from the eighty-acre field. Light came down in what seemed to be liquid showers upon the grass there, and Fern began to laugh and race through it. Suddenly, she stopped, bent down, and stomped her foot.

A rather sickening squelch rose through the air, and Jason groaned.

"Mud! Daddy, I found mud!"

"So you did." Jason shook his head as he walked through the rainbows up to the small mud puddle. It wasn't large, perhaps two feet across, and a couple inches deep. Rachel stretched out her hands, and he carefully set her in the muck. She laughed and began to splash around, and Fern did a belly-flop into the mud. Bits of the mud flew up into the air, and Jason groaned.

"Fern, if your mother gets mad at me, I'm blaming you."

"Okay, daddy!" Fern sat up, then grabbed a handful of mud and plastered it into Rachel's thin hair. "Look! Ray muddy!"

"Yep. I'm dead." Jason chuckled and turned away, slowly walking back toward the barn. "Be safe, you two!"

It almost felt strange, leaving them to play by themselves, but he knew he would check on them every few minutes. In Illumitir, he never would have dreamed of such a thing. There were too many people, too... It was too

dark of a place, there was simply no other way of looking at it. Out here, though, in Summer Shandy... not only could he let his young children just play by themselves, it was actually encouraged. Kids could be kids, and they could do it without being cooped up inside a small house with toys just shoved in their faces to keep them entertained. Jason had seen Fern take a simple stick and use her imagination to turn it into just about everything, from a sword to a horse to a house to a gun to a plow, and everything in between.

As Jason came walking back up into the barn, Tess glanced over at him and smiled.

"The girls are settled?"

"Good to go." Jason smiled back. "Let's get these sheep sheared."

"And they'll be able to go into town this afternoon?" Tess asked. "I'd like to sell this wool today."

Jason grimaced, but, thankfully, Tess wasn't looking. With a bath, they'd be able to go into town just fine! And besides, while they wouldn't look the best, technically, mud wouldn't prevent them from heading into town. "Yeah, for sure!"

Tess smiled, then quickly walked up to the sheep pen, took out one of the animals, and led it over to the sheering stand. She had been working with the animals, and now, it was so tame that she hardly even had to touch it. When it climbed up the short ramp and onto the main platform, Tess tied its head in place and fed it a sugar cube. Jason picked up a large pair of shears. "Hold still, little sheep." Jason reached out and tapped the animal with the tool. There was a flash of light, and all the wool suddenly appeared on the floor beside him, leaving the sheep as a mostly-naked-looking creature. [Action used: Shear Sheep. Remaining actions: 41]

"Wonderful!" Tess untied the sheep and led it back to its pen, then pulled out the next one. "We'll be done with this in no time!"

Jason nodded, then scooped up the wool and tucked it into a large, burlap bag that Tess had brought down nearby. As he finished, Tess brought the next sheep just at the base of the ramp, and he picked up the shears once more.

The work indeed went quickly. Every three sheep or so, Jason would walk out of the barn to go check on the two girls. They were covered in so much mud that they were hardly recognizable, but they seemed to be having fun, and in any case, they weren't in any danger. The rainbows shining down from the Rainflowers made their muddy coating simply dazzle and dance, which both seemed to admire. Jason went down to them a few times, to ask them one question or another. Mostly, he just stayed up by the barn, to such an extent that neither of them really even knew that he was there.

They worked all through the morning. When they finished the last sheep, Tess had five bags of wool, which she stacked along the side of the barn. "That ought to fetch me almost a thousand Shandys." She crossed her arms and beamed. "I know it's a drop in the bucket compared to what the crops bring in, but it's still kinda nice. It's a fun hobby, and I'm getting more and more production out of it."

"Do you think you'll do anything else with it?" Jason asked. "Start producing your own thread or yarn?"

"Not yet, but the thought has crossed my mind." Tess nodded. "The first step is to clean the wool. I'm saving up, with the money I earn from selling the wool, to buy a cleaning machine, but--"

"Hi, mommy!" Fern stuck her head around the corner of the barn's door. "Jason Augustus Hunter!"

It wasn't often that Tess used all three of his names, and it rarely boded well for his longevity. A few minutes later, he was in the bathroom scrubbing down the two girls while Tess muttered and spluttered about an assortment of things. Jason simply laughed, as did Fern (and so did Tess, when she thought that Jason wasn't looking).

As he finished cleaning off the two girls, Tess called them for lunch, and he sighed deeply. It had been a busy morning, and a fun one. That afternoon, he had a handful of projects to work on while the girls ran off to town. He had originally thought about seeing if Fern could help him, but he suspected that Tess wasn't going to be terribly interested in allowing him to watch her again. Oh, well. He would have plenty of time to do more work with her in the future! He had a few ideas... He only hoped that Tess would allow him.

Chapter 3. What About Lunch

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 14th day of Summer! 77 days until the Summer Festival! It's another bright and sunny one today, folks! There's a pretty nasty storm coming through in about a week, though, so make sure you batten down the hatches for that. Otherwise... yeah! Just get outside and get your work done!]

Jason slowly rolled out of bed, a great feeling of excitement fluttering through his stomach as he did so. He walked up to the window and looked down at the field, and took a deep breath.

The field was breaking forth in full bloom, throwing rainbows here and there even though the sun hadn't quite risen yet. Down below, Milligan was already getting the horses ready, and Jason clapped his hands.

"Get moving." Tess nodded as she climbed out of bed. "I'll have food for you and Milligan brought out in a little bit, but you need to get going." She smiled softly. "I know how much you've been looking forward to this."

"You're the best!" Jason ran to the wardrobe, dressed, gave Tess a kiss, and then bolted for the door. He blew past Fern, who was toddling out of her room, and gave her a kiss as well before continuing on down to the yard. The best part of farming, far and away, was the harvest. There was simply nothing else that could delight him in quite the same way, and now, it was the day to harvest the Rainflowers. He didn't really have a clue how they were going to yield, how they were going to sell, anything, but he was eager to get started.

Not to mention the fact that since they had planted everything on the same day, they had to get everything harvested as quickly as possible—or they risked the crop spoiling, turning into a giant, rotten zombie-monster, and wrecking their farm. Jason had been able to avoid such a calamity since his first year on the farm, and was in no great hurry to have it happen all over again.

As he jogged out, Milligan looked up and gave a broad wave.

"Boss! You're just in time!" He climbed up onto the old, rusty harvester, once more giving Jason the much nicer, shiny steel-silver harvester. "Shall we get at this thing?"

"Let's do it." Jason smiled. "As soon as we're done, head out to the Far Eighty. I'd like to get as much done as possible today, though I don't think we'll be able to finish quite all three fields."

"You've got it!"

Milligan snapped the reins, and Dusty lugged the older machine toward the field. Jason snapped Angus's reins, and the old warhorse quickly followed. Blades, hooked up to the wheels of the machine, began to whir to life as they entered the patch of land and tore into the crop.

Most crops had some sort of effect that took place as they were being cut. Simpler crops like wheat or soybeans didn't, of course. Others, like sunflowers, would let off little bursts of sunlight, or would give off smells, or other such things. The Rainflowers, certainly, fell into the second category. As the blades chopped through the stalks and separated out the grain from the chaff, a great, shimmery noise seemed to erupt from underneath the harvester. A thick, metal shield prevented Jason from seeing the action of the blades (and also prevented him from falling into the blades, so the benefit really did outweigh the cons). But pure, almost liquid tie-dye light seemed to pour from the back of the machine, coating the ground. It may have been Jason's imagination (or possibly just color spots left on his eyes), but it almost seemed like the light was staining the ground and remaining stalks. It was a feast for the eyes, that much was for certain, though.

As the two of them lumbered back and forth through the field, the great light show began to attract nearby wild life. Oddly, the only exceptions perhaps, were the crabgrasses and thistles and other such things that ordinarily tried to eat his hard-earned crop. Instead, birds—hawks with brilliant feathers and eagles with positively fantastic wingspans, came swooping down to buzz over the field to look down at the work. Small, rodent-like creatures peered out of the grasses of the prairie, mesmerized, before turning and darting back into the safety of their holes. Jason laughed as he watched them, their inquisitiveness was entertaining, to say the least. He had made three passes down and back before Tess came out with a breakfast burrito filled with eggs and beans. He happily ate the morsel, and Milligan accepted one as well. The moment they were done, though, it was back to work, tearing through the field as quickly as they could.

They finished with the field around half an hour before Jason would have ordinarily eaten lunch. Perhaps anticipating his need, Tess came out with a picnic basket, handing it across to him. He thanked her before setting off across the prairie toward the Far Eighty.

All told, Jason owned three patches of property across the prairie. He had the Far Eighty, eighty acres that was mostly open field, along with a small cabin (currently being used by Milligan), and a small corral. Just next to it, to the north, was the New Eighty. It had a small greenhouse at the exact center, but was otherwise just another field. Finally, to the south of the Far Eighty was a large patch of trees surrounding a river. While Jason certainly didn't own the entire forest—which stretched out to a great distance—he did own a good chunk of it. In particular, the land immediately around an old dungeon and the ruins of the old town, Winter Shandy.

When Jason and Milligan arrived at the two fields, Jason took a deep breath. Both of them gazed at the planted Rainflowers, and without another word, the two of them set into the Far Eighty. Following much the same pattern as they had used at the farmstead itself, they worked for another hour or so, until both Dusty and Angus were clearly in need of a rest. Jason's stomach was growling loudly. They led their horses into the corral, then sat down in the shade of the cabin and opened up the basket.

"What do you think?" Jason asked as they tucked in. "Is it yielding well?" "It seems to be." Milligan nodded. "We'll have to put it all together in the farm's inventory to be sure, but I think it's yielding about thirty percent better than ordinary sunflowers. Now, selling it is going to be tricky. I talked to Cecilia at the item shop about getting this stuff sold. She's only going to be able to sell it as an ordinary sunflower, which we could do, of

course—but you're going to be able to get a much higher price if we sell to one of my old contacts, who--"

Jason quit listening to Milligan as a squirrel poked its head out of the grass, staring at the two of them. It was bright red, with a streak of black down its back. It was larger than most squirrels that Jason had seen before, about two feet long, all told. It slowly crept forward, and Jason frowned.

"What do you want, little one?"

"I think he wants your salad!"

The voice seemed to echo across the prairie out of nowhere, and Jason almost jumped out of his skin. Milligan drew a sword on impulse, and a laugh rang out.

"Oh, sorry! Just... just a moment here..."

There was a pause, and the air in front of Jason seemed to ripple. Suddenly, a woman appeared as she took off a cloak that mimicked the air itself. She clumsily folded up the garment in her arms, allowing Jason to recognize an invisibility cloak of some sort. Fancy gear, that was for sure.

The squirrel scampered back over to the woman and climbed back up onto her shoulder. Jason regarded the individual uneasily. She was tall, almost as tall as Daniel or Jeremiah, with long, blue hair that fell to her waist. She wore something that vaguely resembled a safari outfit. It was covered in all sorts of odds and ends that Jason didn't recognize.

"Hi!" She held out a hand, causing the invisibility cloak to tumble to the ground. She looked down at it, and then simply kept her hand held out. "Hello!"

"Hi." Jason slowly stood up and shook her hand, then shrugged. "Ahh... Can I help you?"

"Possibly!" She grinned, then gasped. "I should introduce myself! My name is Frances! I'm from Illumitir, the department of dungeon zoology." "You're a long way from the dungeon." Jason nodded back toward Summer Shandy.

"I know!" Frances squealed, then paused. "Sorry, it's just so weird to be out here under the open sun! Obadiah told me I could come down this way, if I wanted. There are... well, you must have noticed all the strange creatures running around, recently."

Behind her, a strange, cloud-like blob rose up from the prairie grass and began to drift away toward the trees.

"Yeah, I've noticed a few." Jason nodded.

"Well, then you'll never believe this." Frances lowered her voice. "Up in Illumitir, we think that all these monsters might have been spawned intentionally! And on top of that, they're all ancient monsters! Like... none of these creatures were allowed to spawn naturally in ages! And we don't know why! Better yet, they aren't really even any nasty ones, they're only the cute ones that can't hurt you!"

The cloud, which was drifting overhead, suddenly turned black and emitted a peal of thunder. A blast of rain came flashing down, drenching the trio. The squirrel began to chitter rapidly, shook itself off, and jumped off into the grass to race after the thing. Jason scowled down at his now-soggy sandwich, and Frances looked up at the cloud with awe.

"Like that! Anyway, I'm here to figure out what's going on, and to catch some samples if I can! I assume it's okay if I'm on your land?"

Jason shrugged. "Yeah, sure! Just be--"

"Great!" Frances raced off across the prairie, forgetting entirely about her invisibility cloak, which had now vanished entirely as it became the same

color as the grass and ground it had fallen upon.

"Careful!" Jason called out after her. "There's an old--" She vanished off through the grass, and he sighed. "Dungeon."

"Not to worry." Milligan climbed back to his feet. "Last year, Johan took it on himself to build a platform over the top of it, building off what the goblins had already built. She'll be fine." He paused. "Well, she won't fall into the dungeon, at least."

Jason chuckled and slowly opened up the picnic basket, fishing out what food was still edible. "I suppose a little excitement never hurt anyone, eh? Especially harmless excitement?"

"Indeed, boss!" Milligan laughed and climbed back to his feet as well. "Now, should we get back to work?"

"Probably." Jason nodded, then turned back toward the field, and a smile came across his face. "Let's get this

Chapter 4. The Good Life

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 20th day of Summer! 71 days until the Summer Festival! Remember that storm I mentioned? Well, it's coming in just a few hours, folks! I'd say that we'll start seeing drops start to fall around noon, so make sure you're inside by then!]

Jason yawned as he rose out of bed and slowly walked up to the window. The day was already bright as he looked across the farmstead, though he could see darkening clouds rolling across the horizon in the distance. It was hard to tell exactly how quickly they would come over to visit the farmstead, but it likely wasn't going to be a terribly long time.

"Fern's going to be disappointed." Tess remarked as she slowly climbed out of bed and stretched. "She was really hoping to pick apples today."

Jason pursed his lips and nodded slowly, then paused. "Is there any reason why we can't just go pick apples now?"

"I need help with the goats." Tess answered. "They picked up a parasite somewhere along the line, and while it's not serious, I do need to address it

before we take them to market next week. Plus, the sooner I get it taken care of, the heavier they'll be, and the better they'll sell."

"Right." Jason stroked his chin as he thought about the quandary. "We'll figure something out. I'll go get chores done, and catch you at breakfast." He dressed quickly in his overalls and slipped out into the hallway. Something clattered in the kitchen below. He frowned, then quickly scampered down the stairs as fast as he could. As he came to the bottom, he found Fern standing on a chair that she had pushed up against the stove. She had pulled a pot off the counter and had placed it on one of the burners. She turned and grinned at his appearance.

"I make bweakfast!"

"No, you're not." Jason scooped her up and gave her a kiss, then started back up the stairs, cradling her in his arms. "That said, you are awfully cute. I'll start giving you cooking lessons here in the next--"

"Pick apples!" Fern giggled. "Help daddy pick apples!"

Jason grimaced. As he reached the top of the stairs, he passed Fern off to Tess, then, without another word—bolted back down the stairs and through the house. His mind whirred as he walked across the farmyard toward the barn, desperately trying to figure out a way to solve the quandary.

Along the white picket fence that separated the yard from the road, a long row of apple and pear trees stood tall. Officially, they were Fern's own trees, and she loved them. Jason was absent-minded as he did the chores, pouring feed and all sorts of other things. The goats, in his opinion, looked just fine, but then, he knew a lot more about plants than he did about animals. He finished up with the chores and went back inside, where Tess had prepared a simple meal. Fern was already halfway done, and she looked up and grinned at Jason.

"Pick apples!"

Tess shot him a look, and Jason reached out and patted her head. "Ahh... about that..."

Fern's face started to fall, and Jason's stomach twisted. He looked up at Tess, who simply stared at him, as if daring him to counter her orders on what needed to be done that day.

"What exactly do you need to do with the goats?" He asked after a moment. "Just give them a shot, or?--"

"They need medicine." Tess shrugged. She placed a pile of eggs on Jason's plate, then started trying to feed Rachel a bit of mashed fruit. "I have a whole bunch of pills to give them, but... I've given them a few pills in the past, and it's not exactly the easiest thing in the world, trust me!"

Jason laughed at that thought, then paused. "Goats will eat just about anything, won't they?"

"Everything except pills." Tess nodded, snorting softly.

"In that case, I think I have the answer to our dilemma!"

A few minutes later, Jason and Fern went running out the front door, wide grins across their faces. He carried a large, woven bushel basket that he had pulled out of the basement, while Fern lugged along a much smaller, metal bucket that Jason thought had once been for milk. In any case, Fern was happy and excited, and that was the important bit. Tess came out a few moments later with Rachel on her hip and started walking up to the barn. "Don't be too long, you two!"

Jason waved at her, then started walking toward the trees. As he did so, thunder boomed off in the distance, but he ignored it, at least mostly. The clouds were creeping closer, but weren't yet so close as to bother him. He

and Fern came up to the trees, and Jason reached up to grab hold of an apple hanging right around his head's height.

"Wait, daddy!" Fern cried out. "Me! Me pick!"

Jason turned around and raised an eyebrow. "What do we say?"

Fern paused, then grinned. "Peas!"

Jason nodded, then set down his basket and picked her up. He set her on his shoulders, then began walking around the edges of the trees. He picked a few of them, but let Fern do the lion's share of the work. Several times, she grabbed hold of an apple, and yanked it free, only to drop it directly on the crown of his head.

"Sowwy daddy!" Fern cried as he winced in pain after a particularly large one whacked him directly on the nose. She bent down and kissed him on his hair, then reached out and grabbed hold of an apple that was still somewhat green. She gave it a pull, but it clung to its branch tightly, which, in turn, made her slip off his shoulders. He gasped and snatched her before she could fall, and she burst out crying.

"Want pick that one!"

Jason sighed, then nodded and held her up again. It took several tries, but eventually, he was able to help her get the apple down on her own accord. She beamed as she set it into the basket, and they moved on down the line. "Howdy, neighbor!"

Jason looked up as Jeremiah came trotting past on his horse. He was heading south, down toward the Lazy-H Ranch, and had his pet goblin, Gob, dressed up in a spiffy suit riding just behind him. Gob waved at Fern, who waved back at him eagerly.

"Howdy!" Jason picked a particularly red apple and tossed it up to his old neighbor. Gob caught it out of the air and tossed it into his toothy mouth,

crunching it up. "What's up with you these days?"

"Just heading on down to the ranch for a visit." Jeremiah shrugged. "Seems that Richard's having problems with both monsters, and trespassers who are trying to catch said monsters. Beats me, but we're going to sit down and hash out whatever we can."

"Best of luck!" Jason waved. Jeremiah tipped his hat and started to ride off. "Give my best to Tess!"

Jason waved again, then turned back to Fern. By that time, though, she was already heading back up toward the barn, lugging along her metal bucket full of apples. Jason chuckled and followed, grabbing a few more as he went along. Fern did a pretty good job of handling the bucket by herself, and soon, they came up into the barn.

There, Tess was sitting just outside the goat pen, with a clipboard and a fountain pen. Rachel was sitting in a highchair, which they had designed specifically for barn use. The toddler was playing with a few wooden animals that Richard, Tess's father, had carved.

"You two ready for the next stage of things?" Tess asked as they came walking up.

"Here, mommy!" Fern held out the bucket. "We picked apples!"

"Indeed you did." Tess reached in and picked up one of the apples, took a bite, and nodded approvingly. "And you picked it wonderfully!"

Fern grinned, and Tess took a large knife out of her inventory. With a flick of her wrist, she carved out a hole in the apple, coring it about halfway through, and then dropped a large pill inside. It was a perfect fit, and as Tess held up the morsel, the goats quickly rushed over to the side of the pen, eagerly eyeing Tess and the apple. She paused, then handed it to a particularly large one that had the number "7" on a tag clipped to its ear.

"And there we go." Tess nodded as the goat munched up the apple in a split second. "I'd say that it works!"

"Great!" Jason grinned down at Fern. "Let's go get some more apples!" Jason and Fern dumped out the apples they had gathered, then turned and ran back out into the yard, down the slope to the road, and began picking more apples just as quickly as they could. In the distance, the sky continued to darken, and the thunder rumbled a bit louder, but they didn't rightly care. Finally, right about lunchtime, as they helped Tess give the last of the medicine to the few goats that were hiding back in the corners of the pen, the storm reached them. Thick clouds rolled overhead, lightning flashed, and thick sheets of rain came pelting down just outside the barn's doors. The family slowly walked up to the liquid barricade of water separating them from the house—then, after a few moments of deliberation, simply took out an old horse blanket, spread it on the ground, and sat down to eat a meal of apples.

The thick timbers of the barn seemed to resonate with the steady drum of the rain, while the pitter-patter outside filled the air with a soothing noise. Jason finished eating and leaned back against Tess, while Fern lay down to take a nap nearby. The smell of damp ground rose around them, and he felt sleepy.

"Did we help enough?" He murmured as he felt himself beginning to slide off into a nap.

"I think so." Tess sighed in contentment and ran her fingers through his hair. "All told, I'd say it was just about the best time I've had yet working with the animals."

"Well, then you just wait." Jason promised her as he started to drift off. "We'll come up with even better times in the future."

Tess sighed deeply and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "I can't wait.

Chapter 5. Future Tamer

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 30th day of Summer! 61 days until the Summer Festival! One month of summer under our belts, folks! The weather today should be clear and warm, though not particularly hot or uncomfortable. I don't really expect anything crazy as far as weather goes for awhile, though I will say that Richard has officially opened up his farm pond for swimming if anyone feels like it's getting too hot!]

Jason slowly rolled out of bed, a feeling of warmth all around him. He slowly walked up to the window, where he looked down to find Milligan already out and about, getting things ready for planting the fields. They had just harvested the second crop of Rainflowers the day before, which meant it was time to get more seed in the ground.

"What are you guys planting today?" Tess asked as Jason started to get dressed. "More Rainflowers?"

"Actually, no." Jason shook his head. He pulled on his overall straps and shook his head. "I mean, yes, in a way. We're still planting at the New

Eighty for them, since they sell so well. But the Far Eighty and the homestead we're going to plant a variety of potato."

Tess raised an eyebrow. "Potato? Isn't that a garden crop?"

Jason chuckled. "That was my thought, too, but Milligan says that this is a flour potato. They actually use it to make flour, just like wheat, but that it produces way better. I dunno, he talked me into trying it. Even if we lose a crop, it's not like we'll be dropped into the poor house, you know?"

Tess nodded as she dressed as well. "Go have fun, then. I'll get the kids ready."

"Sounds like a plan." Jason frowned as he walked back up to the window, fully dressed now. Milligan was once again hitching the old, rusty planter on behind Dusty, and Jason promised himself that he would buy a better machine the moment that he was able to do so. With the sale of the new crop, he was quite certain that he had the money, the trick was finding the time to actually get into town, which wasn't always the easiest thing in the world to do.

Soon, he was down in the yard, striding across the grass as Chance barked and raced about him in circles. Milligan looked up from the two planters and smiled broadly.

"Boss! How goes it this morning?"

"Well enough, I suppose." Jason chuckled and nodded at the planters. "Seriously, Milligan, the next time we do anything, you give me the old one. That's an order."

"Sorry, Boss. Call me a rebellious worker if you must, but I'll not be seen driving something newer than my superior." Milligan chuckled as he climbed up onto the older planter and took up the reins. "You're a good man, Jason, you've done more for me than I ever would have deserved.

Pfft, we both know that if you hadn't hired me, I'd be on the streets of Illumitir right now just trying to find someone who would hire me for... Something. Working with plants has been my life for the better part of forty, almost fifty years now. This is the dream, and it's all because of you. Now let me show you some gratitude for that fact."

Jason flashed a small smile at him, and Milligan snapped the reins. Dusty took off toward the field, and Jason climbed up and took Angus's reins. Soon, they were off, tearing into the field with vigor.

Dust exploded up behind them as they went along, pulling the machines through the dry, summer ground. Jason kept an eye on the surrounding grasses as they went. It was well into high summer now, causing most of the damp, cool traces of spring to fade away. It wasn't hot, but the smell of drying grasses filled the air nonetheless as the warm winds blew across the prairie. Jason took a deep breath as they went along, sighing deeply in contentment.

It was good to be home, that was for sure.

Tess brought them out a breakfast perhaps an hour into their work, then took the two girls to play in the yard while she worked in the garden. Jason kept an eye on them as he went along as well, and laughed as he saw Fern trying to teach Rachel how to walk.

Suddenly, though, something else caught his eye. A massive squirrel creeping along the top of the fence, making its way toward the girls. Milligan seemed to notice it as well, and the two of them pulled the planters up out of the ground and made their way over to the entrance of the field. There, Jason hopped down and glanced at Milligan.

"You need help, boss?"

"I think I'm good." Jason murmured. "You want to come, or would you rather plant?"

"Personally, I'd rather stay in the field and leave the people stuff to you." Milligan laughed. "If that's okay."

"Go for it." Jason hopped down from the planter and started walking toward his wife and daughters. "Take Angus and the better planter, if you want." He was happy to see Milligan oblige him and take off across the field with the far better machine. A moment later, Jason walked up to the trio, where Fern was staring at the squirrel in rapt fascination.

"Mommy, look!" Fern giggled. "It's a kwiwwil!"

Tess glanced over and chuckled. "And a big one, too!" She frowned at Jason. "Everything okay?"

"Maybe." Jason crossed his arms. "Show yourself!"

There was no answer, except for the whistling of wind.

"I said, show yourself!"

There was still no answer. The squirrel sat on its hindquarters and placed its paws under its chin, then turned and darted back toward the open prairie at the rear of the property. A few moments later, Jason caught a flash of blue in that direction, and felt a bit of heat rise to his cheeks.

Soon enough, the familiar figure of Frances approached, a wide smile on her face. Tess rose, her hands muddy from working in the garden, while Fern stood by Jason's side. Rachel just clapped her hands at a bumblebee that was flitting from dandelion to dandelion. As Frances approached, Jason raised an eyebrow.

"I'm so sorry!" Frances held out her hand, and the squirrel scampered up onto her shoulder. "I didn't mean for him to bother you! I was just chasing down a fluff-bellied snake when I suddenly got a notification that he had

found [people, so I left straightaway and came here!" She looked up at the house. "So this is where you live? I thought you lived in that cabin way over there!"

Jason laughed softly at the oddness of it. "No, right here." He quickly introduced himself and his family, which Frances seemed to quite enjoy. "And your girls are just the cutest!" She knelt down and beamed at Fern. "Aren't they?" Suddenly, her smile grew even wider. "Fern, right? Do you want to see something cool?"

Jason glanced at Tess, who slowly flipped her garden spade around so she was holding it like a dagger.

"Yes!" Fern declared.

"Then look at this." Frances reached into her inventory and pulled out a small, crystal sphere. It was the size of a baseball, maybe a bit smaller, and was made of glass. Inside the glass, though, Jason could see a miniature creature, something that looked rather like a large rat with six legs. "This is a hexrat. They used to be super common, but now, they only live about three miles off that way, in a large burrow they dug! Just check this out." There was a flash of light, and blue smoke poured down out of the sphere. A moment later, the hexrat stood on the ground before them. It stood about a foot high at the shoulder, and was three feet long (not including the tail). Tess lifted her dagger to strike, but Frances screamed.

"No! It's friendly!"

As if to confirm, the hexrat stepped up and licked Fern in the face. Fern giggled, and Jason began trying to remember just how many diseases such creatures could carry.

"And he's had all his shots." Frances added. "I gave them to him yesterday, so he ought to be safe for the kiddos to be around."

"How did you tame him?" Tess murmured after a moment.

"It's simple, really! I'm a beast tamer." Frances crossed her arms. "There's not a beast in any of this land that I can't tame! As long as they're under Rank B, of course. This little feller is F-, which means that I could train him to stand on his head, if I wanted to."

Fern gave the hexrat a big hug. "Keep him?"

"No!" Jason and Tess answered in unison.

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but I have to take him back to Illumitir for study." Frances waved her hand, and the hexrat was sucked back into the sphere. After a moment, though, she grinned. "I've got some others I can show you, though!"

Jason crossed his arms as Frances took out another sphere, and a giant cat appeared in front of them. It was green with brown spots, and despite the long fangs coming down from its mouth, it actually nuzzled up to Fern quite calmly. Frances showed them a few other creatures as well, including the Thundering Cloud that had soaked them out in the prairie, and a puffball jellyfish that looked rather like a flying pom-pom. When Frances finished the display, she tucked all the spheres back into her inventory and grinned. "Anyway, that's all I've managed to catch so far. I'm not as concerned with the common stuff, just with the harder-to-find things, and there are a lot of them!" Frances turned to walk away. "Well, it's back to trying to find the fluff-bellied snake! Catch you around!"

As she slowly walked away, Tess just laughed and shook her head. "She seems like something else."

"Indeed." Jason murmured. "I wonder if she was the trespasser that Jeremiah was talking about."

"Very possibly." Tess shrugged. "She seems plenty harmless, in any case."

Jason nodded, then turned back toward the field, where Milligan had been making good progress without him. "I just hope she doesn't run into anything that could harm her; you know?"

"I met a few beast-tamers in my time as a guildmaster." Tess shrugged as Jason walked away. "She'll be fine!"

Jason nodded slowly, though he had to admit that he was worried. She seemed... flighty, and if she wasn't used to being outside a dungeon... well... A long time ago, he had seen what dungeon monsters outside a dungeon could do.

Oh, well. There wasn't anything else that could be done, except to do his farm work... And stand ready to lend a helping hand if it was ever needed.

Chapter 6. When Things Are Good

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 42nd day of Summer! 49 days until the Summer Festival! Let's see here... It's a windy one today, but nothing terribly bad. Expect some scattered showers later this evening and into tomorrow, but otherwise, I'd say you're in for a lovely few days!]

Jason smiled as he slowly rolled out of bed and stood up. He stretched the kinks out of his back, and groaned in delight as Tess rose up and began to massage his shoulders.

"Mmm. That feels incredible." Jason rolled his shoulders around several times. He had spent the previous day harvesting the crop of flour potatoes, which had left him more than a little sore. There was still a bit more work to be done, some of the Far Eighty hadn't quite gotten finished before they ran out of actions, but Milligan had promised to get it taken care of by lunchtime that day.

"Are you still planning on going into town?" Tess asked after a moment. She walked away and started to get dressed as footsteps echoed in the

hallway, Jason nodded. Still in his nightclothes, he walked up to the door, popped it open, and scooped up Fern in his arms to give her a kiss.

"That's the plan!" He nodded. "It's been a while since I've gotten to talk to anyone in there, and I have some purchases I need to make for the farm." "We'd better get moving, then." Tess finished buttoning up her dress, then took Fern from Jason's arms.

"Want daddy!" Fern protested.

"And you can have him in a minute." Tess bumped her nose against Fern's, then walked down the hall. "We'll eat on the road!"

Jason nodded, then changed into a town-appropriate tunic and made his way down the stairs and into the yard. There, Chance followed as he turned the horses loose, poured some feed for the assorted animals, dodged more than his fair share of spitballs from the llama, and got Lady hitched up to the carriage.

"Beats me why Tess wanted you." Jason muttered as he scowled at the guard llama. "This is Summer Shandy! It's not like we really have problems with thieves, or werewolves, or anything actually dangerous." He chuckled after a moment. "I ought to sell you to Richard. Tess could go visit you every now and again, and I'm sure Richard would love the extra protection for his herds. Which are all actually outside a protective barn and could use a bit of watching."

"Richard would absolutely not like anything of the sort!"

Jason turned to see his father-in-law standing just inside the entrance of the barn, a wide grin on his face. Worn leather chaps hung down his sides, and he held out a calloused hand. Jason shook it, then climbed up into the carriage while Richard swung back onto his enormous warhorse.

"And why exactly would you oppose such a lovely creature?" Jason snapped the reins and drove the carriage down to the porch. Tess poked her head out and waved, then ran back inside. Jason could hear her shouting Fern's name, and he hoped that everything was okay. "I'll sell him to you cheap! Pfft, I'll give him to you!"

"You couldn't pay me enough money to take that creature." Richard laughed as he joined Jason down by the porch. "About two decades ago, Tess's mother and I found an old dungeon up in the mountain lowlands, way out to the west. There was an old village of goblins down in the dungeon which had a bunch of undead warg-llamas. Their spitballs did acid, poison and necrotic damage, and I've just never really been able to spend any length of time around the creatures since."

"Fair enough." Jason hopped down from the carriage as Tess came back out, and he helped her get the two girls up onto the wagon box. Tess handed her father an egg burrito, then passed out food to Jason and Fern as they started off into town. "So how's it been going, down at the Lazy-H?"

"Same old, same old, really." Richard shrugged, chuckling softly. "We're expanding our range a bit further, trying to grow our herd of sheep a bit more, but otherwise, there hasn't been much new happening around our place." After a moment, he laughed. "Oh, and we caught that trespasser we were having problems with! She fell down a post-hole we were digging for a new line of fence. Said she thought it was the hole of a... I dunno, some species of worm or something."

Jason laughed out loud. "That sounds like Frances, at least the little I've seen of her."

"Frances! That's her name." Richard shook his head in amazement. "Beats me the people that'll come down this way out of Illumitir."

Tess snorted. "You're not exactly old blood around here."

"I've been here long enough, and I've always thought that Illumitir government folk could be a little bit off their rocker." Richard laughed softly. "In any case, it's good seeing you two again. You should come out my way for dinner sometime, Weatherhand and I would love to have you." "We'd love that!" Tess beamed. "Just give us the dates!"

They continued to chat as they rode up and into Summer Shandy. There, Richard parted ways to go speak to Jeremiah about buying or zoning some land, Jason didn't exactly understand what was happening there. Meanwhile he drove over to the item store. He helped Tess and the girls down, and Tess let out a long breath.

"Here, Jason, could you pick up these for me?" Tess handed him a small list, which Jason folded and tucked into his inventory. "I know you're going to be in there for a bit, and I'd like to go get caught up with Paulina, if that's okay."

"Go for it." Jason nodded and waved as Fern raced off across the road. "'Lina!"

She shouted a few other garbled words as well, which Jason thought was a reference to Paulina's oldest son, who Fern dearly loved. He watched them go, then chuckled and walked on into the store.

Shelves upon shelves of items stood at the ready. Everything from farming equipment to dungeon gear and food supplies—cloth to clothes, and everything in between. If Jason wasn't mistaken, Cecilia had started packing the store a bit tighter than she had done in the past, possibly even squeezing in entirely two extra shelves. The red-headed store owner looked up as Jason approached, and smiled at him.

"Jethro! How's it going?"

Jason chuckled softly. Names were not Cecilia's strong suit. "They're going! I have a bit of a list that Tess sent me over with, if you wouldn't mind." He lay the list on the counter, and Cecilia took it up and squinted down at the words.

"Hmm... yes... that's..." She paused for a moment and licked her lips. "Those would be--"

"I can go find them if you need me to." Jason chuckled, taking the list back. "If you wouldn't mind." Cecilia beamed at him in relief. "Paulina had a whole bunch of shortcut commands set up so she could pull up any item in the store on impulse. I'm working on getting those in place, but about the only one I can remember offhandedly is for watering cans."

Jason laughed. "Watering cans?"

"Yup! Don't know why, but that one's easy. Watch!" Cecilia closed her eyes, and with a flash, a carrot cake appeared on the counter. When she opened her eyes, her smile faded, and she crossed her arms in annoyance. "Huh. Alright, maybe I don't have that one down." She paused. "On another note, would you like a free carrot cake? Once it's been taken out of inventory, I can't legally put it back inside."

"Absolutely, the kids will love it." Jason smiled. He started off through the shelves, and soon picked out everything that Tess had left for him (he hoped). When he was done, he took it all up to the storefront, then nodded down at a pile of catalogues. "You mind if I look those over?"

"Go for it." Cecilia nodded. "Are you looking for something specific?" "Sorta." Jason nodded as he picked up the catalogue of machinery and began to thumb through it. He soon found the same models that he had purchased the year before, though he paused before actually making the purchase. After a moment's thought, he moved up and settled on the line

that was one generation newer. They could go about a hundred feet further per action, which, as Jason's farm expanded, was going to become a more and more valuable asset. "I'll take this whole line of equipment, along with everything else."

"Done!" Cecilia nodded. She rang him up (charging him for the carrot cake after all. Not that Jason minded, but he did think it was funny), and Jason collected his items. As he walked to the door, Cecilia called out after him. "I'll have it all delivered out your way as soon as I get the machines shipped here! You live at the E-C-Bar Ranch, right?"

"No, but if you send it that way, it'll get to me!" Jason smiled and waved. It was a true enough statement. Cecilia sent nearly every delivery to the wrong farmstead, but the farmers all knew each other, and would send it along to the right person as soon as they were able. Satisfied that Milligan would soon have better equipment to use, Jason made his way back out into the town square.

There, he found Tess standing near the town well, chatting with Obadiah and Paulina while Fern chased John around in circles. Rachel sat on the ground, clapping and giggling, while Paulina held baby Michael close. Jason paused for a moment, watching them, and sighed deeply.

It was strange, there was no doubt about it. When he had first come to Summer Shandy, Paulina had been the first girl he had tried to date, while Tess had been near the bottom of his list. Now, he was married to Tess and they had two daughters, while Paulina was married as well and had her own children...

It was odd to him how so much could change, and yet, in so many ways, it was still the same old Summer Shandy that it had ever been. As he walked

over to join his wife, Fern looked up at him and giggled, he raised his hands to mimic a bear.

"I'm going to get you!"

Fern screamed and ran, as did John, and Jason proceeded to chase them both merrily around the town square. Tess and Paulina laughed and watched. Obadiah (not to be outdone) tackled the big, mean, bear—pinned Jason's arms behind his back, and threatened to dunk him in the town well (a prospect that made Fern laugh almost uncontrollably).

Yes, things were good, and Jason wasn't at all concerned that they would change, except, possibly, for the better.

Chapter 7. Borrow & Transport

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 50th day of Summer! 41 days until the Summer Festival! It's looking cloudy and overcast today, folks, but I wouldn't really expect any precipitation to come from it. Otherwise, there's not much to report!]

"Sometimes, no news is good news." Jason yawned as he slowly stretched and climbed out of bed. "And, sometimes, no news means that the weather hasn't become objectively terrible, forcing us to stay home instead of hauling animals into market."

Tess laughed and threw a pillow at the back of his head. He snatched it out of the air, spun, and threw it back at her.

That was a mistake. Her dungeon-reflexes kicked in, and a moment later, Jason found himself pinned to the bedsheets with his arms pulled behind his back.

"And that'll teach you to try to get the drop on me, eh?" Tess laughed as she let him go, and he climbed back to his feet.

"We both know I'm a slow learner in that regard." He chuckled and walked over to the wardrobe, where he dressed in his standard overalls. "Alright, alright. How about today, I get the girls ready, and you go outside and get everything else together?"

"Deal!"

Tess quickly changed and strode out of the room and down the stairs, and Jason smiled. He watched her go, then went down to Fern's room. There, as he swung the door open, a flash of pure and utter horror exploded through him.

"Fern! No!"

Fern, who had climbed up the side of Rachel's crib, was in the process of dragging her younger sister over the upper railing. Jason rushed forward and caught hold of her, slowly lifting Rachel up and over the edge while Fern started crying.

"Want help Way get down!"

"And you'll be able to... In a few years." Jason patted Fern on the top of the head. She mostly ignored his comforts and continued to bawl. Jason set Rachel on the changing table and soon had her in a fresh diaper. He found a set of work clothes that could hold up to the baby crawling around through the dust and gravel. Rachel was just starting to crawl and was a great deal faster than Jason remembered Fern being. When he finished getting her dressed, he turned to Fern, and soon had her in a green dress with slightly darker green leggings underneath.

"Daddy." Fern crossed her arms. "This dress doesn't match these pants!" "Yes, it does." Jason scowled. "They're both green."

"Mommy said they don't!"

"Well, your mother isn't here." Jason picked up the two girls, one in each arm, and started down the stairs.

"Where is mommy?"

"Mommy is getting things ready for a big animal day." Jason gave Fern a kiss on the head, then matched it with one to Rachel. "We're going to go sell all our pigs, and goats, and--"

A moment later, Fern burst out wailing, and Jason had to spend several minutes calming her back down. By the time he finished, and had breakfast ready—he had pulled Rachel out from underneath the kitchen sink, and had calmed Fern down after she noticed that he had put too many pieces of ham on her sandwich. He then located Rachel trying to get into the closet in the dining room... Tess had long since finished getting the animals ready, and was sitting in the wagon by the porch, waiting for Jason to finish up and come along outside. He did so just as quickly as he could, and after a couple more meltdowns, everyone was up on the wagon box, and they rumbled off toward town.

They were still borrowing one of Richard's animal wagons for transporting the animals, though Jason hoped to change that fact by winter. The old wagon had a large bed, with high sides that rose almost six full feet from the bed itself. The sides were made of wooden slats, between which poked a large number of pink pig snouts as the curious beasts tried to figure out a way to escape their confinement. They squealed and banged loudly against the sides of the wagon as Angus pulled them down the road, and Jason stood to look down at the assembled herd.

"How many of them did you manage to get in here?" He asked, trying to count them all. They hit a bump, causing his foot to slip on the wagon bench, and Tess tugged him back down.

"Sit! You're being a bad example for the kids." Tess scolded him. "There are twenty in here right now, so it'll take us two loads, and then we'll have the goats after that."

Jason nodded, then grinned at Fern, who smiled back at him. She promptly stood up on the bench as well, and Jason snagged her quickly before she could fall or slip, too.

"Told you."

The rest of the ride into town was largely uneventful. As they came rumbling up into the square—the sounds of lowing cattle, bleating sheep and goats, snorting pigs—and a great deal of other hubbub rose about through the air. Obadiah was standing on the town well, craning his neck up into the sky, with Jeremiah standing right next to him, an unlit pipe hanging from his mouth.

"Howdy, neighbor!" Jason called out.

"Howdy." Jeremiah murmured, not looking away from the great blue yonder. "Sorry, Jason, we're in the midst of a bit of a--"

"Here it comes!"

The voice came from the warrior's guild, and Jason swung in that direction. Suddenly, a large, dragon-like creature swooped out of the sky, seeming to appear out of thin air, and dropped down toward the pens of animals out west of Summer Shandy. In response, guns boomed, lightning flashed, and the creature was driven back up into the sky, where it vanished once more into nothingness.

"What was that?" Jason frowned as they rumbled around to the animal pens. Rich-looking men in suits, from all the different guilds that bought and sold animals, marched back and forth. One of them directed Tess to come up to a

large pig pen, and several assistants started swinging gates around to take on the load.

"Beats me." Tess frowned. "It was a dragon-type creature, but I've never seen camouflage like that. I have a pretty high perception, and it just vanished, like it didn't even exist."

"That's because it doesn't exist anymore." Obadiah came walking over, concern on his face. "At least, that's what... What's that woman's name?" "Frances?" Jason offered.

"Yeah, her!" Obadiah snapped his fingers. "She said it's a rare find from an old dungeon out on an island that sunk a few hundred years ago. I don't know, she was in the middle of explaining how it would eat all our livestock if it had the chance, and then she got distracted by a rabbit with green fur and went running off across the prairie. Thus, I have absolutely no idea what she meant, and a host of angry and anxious guild-people who want to get their animals to safety before the thing comes back."

"I can help." Tess hopped down from the wagon box. "If Paulina can watch the kids, Jason can haul animals."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "I think I'd rather fight a vanishing dragon-thing." There was a loud roar, and the monster appeared again over the pig pens. It came flashing down, and Jason drew out his pistol at the same time that Obadiah raised his palm. An immense fireball exploded from the guildmaster's hand, the same time that Jason's gun fired, and the monster vanished once more. "Maybe it can eat our llama."

Tess, though, was no longer listening, and was jogging off toward the Guild Hall. Jason climbed down and took Fern and Rachel over to Paulina and Obadiah's home, where Paulina smiled graciously and gave Fern a cookie.

Jason then went back to the animal pens, climbed up into the wagon, and went rumbling back off toward the farmstead.

Behind him, he continued to hear the shrieks and roars of the dragon. Well, the dragon-type monster. He wasn't exactly sure what the difference was, but he supposed that he didn't need such information. It wasn't coming after him, and that was the important part.

He reloaded the gun while he drove, and soon came back down to the barn. There, he chocked the wagon in place, put up the ramps, and was walking over to the pig pen when Milligan came ambling in.

"Trouble, boss?"

Jason shrugged. "Dragon attacking the town."

"Ahh. Small business, then." Milligan stretched, then walked over to the pig pen to help Jason. The remaining pigs snorted and raced about the enclosure, squealing like mad and bouncing off the walls like pinballs. "You know, I've never seen a dragon attack before. Illumitir was attacked every now and again, but I was always out of town when it happened. Always wanted to see one."

"Then help me get these things on board, and you're welcome to come!" Jason grinned. "If you've got a gun, bring it along."

"Shall I bring the cannon?"

A wide grin spread across his face, and a moment later, Jason rumbled out of the driveway pulling the pigs, while Milligan came along behind with Dusty, towing the cannon. It was shiny and almost-new, having only been fired a handful of times.

As they came up and into town, Jason nodded to the side of the road, and had Milligan pull off into a shallow ditch. They quickly set up the cannon to

point at the air just above the item store, behind which were located all the different animal pens.

"You don't think Tess will yell at you for this, do you?" Milligan asked as they loaded a cannonball into the barrel and primed the ignition.

"Why would she?" Jason shrugged and knelt down, waiting. "I'm trying to kill a dragon this time, not summon one."

"You tried to summon a dragon?" Milligan laughed.

"First of all, it was Jeremiah. Second, he succeeded, and third--"

A sharp cry echoed from the air, and the twisting form of the monster appeared in their sights. Milligan yanked the trigger, and a resounding boom echoed across the town.

Now, in that moment, a great many things happened. Firstly, the cannonball, being rather poorly-aimed, struck the peak of the item store's warehouse, blasting a large hole in it. This, though, created a great deal of shrapnel which worked rather like a shotgun blast, knocking the dragon out of the sky. Jason, though, had no time to celebrate, as the blast also caused the pigs to go wild, smashing against the sides of the wagon with enough force to knock the panels aside. A tidal wave of twenty pigs leapt down into the prairie and went racing out into the distance, and Jason frowned.

"Jason Augustus Hunter!"

"Two times in a season." Jason slowly climbed to his feet as Tess, clad in armor, appeared in his field of view. "I think that might be a new record." "You know, I just remembered something I have to do back at the farmstead." Milligan coughed and climbed back up on Dusty. "Catch you around, boss! So long, Tess!"

As it turned out, though, Milligan was true to his employment, and rode out into the grasses to help herd the pigs back. He was aided by Frances, who

had just caught her Moss-Tufted Jackrabbit when the cannon went off. She used her animal trainer skills to calm the herd of pigs and lead them up to the market. Once there, she also used her skills to calm the dragon (which had been wounded, not killed), healed it, and sucked it into one of her magic specimen spheres. This gained her no little fame around the town, which slightly annoyed Jason. Though, he did appreciate the fact that she convinced Cecilia not to take Jason to court for shooting a hole through her warehouse roof. All in all, a few hours later when they dumped off the last load of goats, picked up the girls, and headed off back toward home—Jason imagined that it all could have gone much worse.

Tess leaned an armored head against his shoulder as the two girls settled in for an afternoon nap, and sighed deeply.

"Ever miss the warrior life?" Jason glanced over at her.

Tess paused, then shook her head. "Not really, no." She let out a long breath and flashed a smile. "I kinda like raising animals instead of killing them." Jason leaned over and gave her a kiss, then turned his attention back to the road. "And I hope you're able to raise a lot more."

"Even if it means getting more llamas?"

Jason knew she was joking, but he leaned over and gave her a hug around the shoulders nonetheless.

"As long as you stay by my side, you can raise all the llamas you want.

Chapter 8. Problems Coming

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 65th day of Summer! 26 days until the Summer Festival! It's looking like a scorcher today, folks! If you've got young'uns, stay inside!]

Jason felt himself sweating even as he swung out of bed. It was, indeed, hot. He shook himself a bit to get the cool air flowing around his skin, then slowly walked up to the window and looked out across the farm.

The sun was already up, as it tended to rise earlier and earlier later in summer, such that Jason could feel the heat radiating through the window even as he stood there. He slid the window open, hoping to get a bit of fresh air left over from the night, but this proved to be a fruitless task, and he slammed it shut again a moment later.

"Wow." Tess mumbled as she climbed up and began to get dressed as well. "Obadiah wasn't kidding! I wonder if he spawned in some sun monsters or something that are making it warmer?"

"I wouldn't put it past Jeremiah." Jason frowned, then turned to the wardrobe and shrugged on his overalls. "I was planning on planting the farm today, but if it gets any hotter, I might have to change that plan."

"Go get the chores done, see what it feels like out in the midst of it, and we can make that decision in a few minutes." Tess advised. "I'll have breakfast on the table in just a bit!"

Jason nodded, then slowly went down and out into the farmyard. As he walked up to the barn, Milligan came striding out, wiping a handkerchief across his brow as he did so.

"Morning, boss." Milligan tucked the handkerchief back into his pocket and shook his head. "Sorry, I know it's early, but I was too hot to sleep."

Jason shook his head. "Don't be sorry in the slightest." He nodded at the empty fields. "You think we can get anything in there today?"

Milligan let out a long breath. "Beats me. I'd sure like to try, we have enough time to get two crops in before fall if we can get it all planted today and tomorrow, but it's going to be downright... Dangerous..."

His voice trailed off, and a smile began to flicker across his face. Jason raised an eyebrow and felt a flash of hope inside of him.

"You've got an idea?"

"Yeah, I do." Milligan clapped his hands. "There was an experiment that we ran... well, it must have been... Do I still have any of that seed? You get everything set up, and I'll be back!"

Milligan went racing off, climbed up onto Dusty, and rode down the gravel path that led across the prairie toward the Far Eighty. Jason laughed, then went to the corrals, took out Angus, and started getting the machines ready. Soon, he had the two planters, shiny and new, sitting out in the yard just next to each other. He hitched Angus to the older of the two, knowing that

Milligan would give him a hard time about it, but also knowing that the two machines were so similar that it didn't really make that much of a difference anyway. By the time that Milligan returned, only about fifteen minutes after he left, the metal of the machines was already growing so hot that it felt painful to touch.

"Alright, boss! We're in business!" Milligan pulled up to the empty machine, scowled at Jason, and then started hitching up Dusty. "You just load up your seed boxes with Charlie-17 seed, you'll find it in the farm's inventory now."

Jason nodded, climbed up onto the machine, and soon had the seed boxes filled. Suddenly, to his amazement, the planter began to cool, even becoming positively cold to the touch. The air around it seemed to become a bit chillier, too. He jumped down and took a few steps back, feeling it warm up, and then walked closer again, confirming that it was no illusion. "They're called snow weeds!" Milligan laughed. "We developed them as a form of climate control for desert environments, with the added bonus that they produce loads of grain that's basically just wheat. Problem was that people in the desert like living in immense heat, and people in colder climates generally don't want to make it even colder. The project got canned, but we kept back the seed in a climate-controlled inventory slot." Jason nodded in approval. "And we'll be able to sell the crop?"

"Sure! I hope so, at least." Milligan shrugged. "If not, you'll have a solid ten days of cooler weather to enjoy, in any case."

"Then let's get to it!"

Jason took up the reins, and soon, he and Milligan rumbled out into the field. As soon as they were in position, Jason pulled the lever to drop the disks into the soil, and they began to rumble forward.

Jason wasn't sure exactly when he noticed the small bits of white powder drifting down through the air, probably on his second or third pass. But he certainly didn't notice that it was snow until a great deal later, around the time they finished planting the entire field. As the two machines rumbled out into the hot, dry farmyard, Chance rushed past them and into the field. A layer of white snow stood out in sharp contrast to the drying prairie grasses and lovely flowers growing around the edge of the farm.

"Alright." Jason chuckled. "Tess is going to have to see this!"

He started jogging toward the house, and Milligan called after him. "I'll go get started on the Far Eighty!"

"Not yet!" Jason waved his hands. "And that's an order!"

Several minutes later Jason brought Tess, Fern, and Rachel out into the yard, much to Tess's distress. Of course, her distress was increased by the fact that he made Fern dress up in her full winter gear, which, ordinarily, would have overheated the child in only a few minutes, given the air temperature. As they walked up to the field, though, Tess's jaw dropped, and Fern raced forward.

"Snow! Build snowman!"

Jason ran after Fern, passed her, and threw himself headlong into a growing snowdrift. Snow exploded up around him, and he yelped in sudden pain. He was, of course, merely wearing short sleeves, allowing his skin to get the full brunt of the frozen water. As he jumped up, Fern flopped down and began making snow angels, and he scooped up some snow to throw at Tess. "Jason, you'd best not--"

Given that she was holding Rachel, he changed targets, and threw the snowball at Milligan instead. Milligan, who looked dapper as ever, even in his work clothes, simply raised an eyebrow as the snowball passed the edge

of the field. It melted in the summer sun, and splashed across his outfit with a loud smack.

"Boss?" Milligan coughed. "Permission to engage in playful antics instead of working."

"Permission granted."

"Then you'd better run!"

Milligan rushed forward, and, quick as lightning, scooped up a snowball with his bare hands. He threw it straight into Jason's face. Jason stumbled and fell, laughing the whole time. A moment later, Fern came toddling over, scooped up a bit of snow with her mittens, and smashed it into Jason's face as well. Jason laughed and playfully tackled Fern, only to be tackled in turn by Milligan.

Tess set Rachel down in a lighter patch of snow, alternatively supervising the baby and throwing snowballs. She too joining in on the fun as well. Snow continued to drift down from the sky for quite some time, piling up in big heaps and drifts in the middle of the summer prairie. Jason allowed Fern and Milligan to bury him up to his neck, and later, helped Fern make a family of snowmen. Tess, naturally, built a snow dragon, and would have likely made a full snow dungeon if there had been enough accumulation. All told, it was a wonderful time, and ended only with the realization that they needed to get lunch ready, and that they really did need to get more work done that day. Tess brought the two men out a quick meal. Moving back into the heat, Jason and Milligan set off for the distant fields, ready to make their mark there as well.

It hadn't been how Jason expected the day to go, but it was a good enough day, as far as he was concerned. And... Milligan was right. Even if they couldn't find a place to sell the crop and it was a complete and utter failure,

he now had something even more precious than the grain or the money. He had a memory, a snowball fight in summer, and that wasn't something that he was going to forget anytime soon.

All he could do was treasure it, and look forward to the next time that such an opportunity presented itself.

Chapter 9. Summer Dreams

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 85th day of Summer! 6 days until the Summer Festival! We've got another hot one today, folks, so... If it's too intense for you, head down to Jason's farm! Otherwise, just get yourself ready for the Summer Festival, because that's in less than a week!]

Jason laughed as he rolled out of bed and slowly walked up to the window to look down at the farm. A handful of curious passers-by were lingering along the roadside, peering through the apple trees at the wide-open field. There, snow was continuing to drift down above the soft, pure-white flowers. By some odd trick of the flowers, the snow never accumulated above the level of the actual blooms, but it certainly did continue to fall. "Today's the day of the harvest, right?" Tess glanced over at him as he started to dress.

"That's the plan, at least." Jason nodded. "Admittedly, I don't really know how this is going to work, and I don't think Milligan really has that solid of a plan either, but we're going to give it a whirl."

"Just be safe." Tess walked up and gave him a kiss, then started getting herself dressed. "Do you want to eat beforehand, or should I bring out food for you guys?"

Jason thought for a moment. "We'll all eat together. I'll invite Milligan in, too."

About fifteen minutes later, with all the animals settled, the family, along with Milligan, sat down at the dining room table. Tess had made a large platter of biscuits along with a burbling cauldron of white gravy, and they quickly dug in. Tess focused her attention on Rachel, and Fern perked up next to Jason.

"Daddy, you cut up bisit?"

"Of course." Jason picked up his knife, split open her biscuit, and poured a bit of gravy onto it.

"No!" Fern screamed. She let her head fall back against the chair and began to wail. "I want pour gwavy!"

Jason smiled and leaned forward, planting a kiss on top of her head. "It's really hot, Fern. I don't want you to get burned."

Fern calmed down a bit, then sat up. "Hot?"

Jason nodded. "Hot."

Carefully, Fern reached out and stuck a finger into the gravy on her biscuit. With that, she screamed dramatically, and fell back against the chairs back once again. That time, she cracked her head on the wood, which made her actually start crying, and Jason scooped her up and held her close.

"Better watch yourself, Jason." Milligan chuckled around a mouthful of biscuit. "You're going to traumatize her, there!"

"Daddy twama-zize me!"

At that, everyone burst out laughing, save, of course, for Fern. It took several more minutes to get Fern calmed down, at which point, she declared that her now-cold food was still boiling hot. Jason ate it himself and gave her a new morsel (which actually was steaming from the heat), and that one seemed to be just about right, allowing life to move on.

In any event, they were all in good spirits as they made their way out and into the day's heat. It wasn't quite as hot as it had been, but it was still definitely quite warm, and the horses were snorting and stamping their feet with discomfort. Jason climbed up onto his harvester, while Milligan mounted the slightly older one.

"Milligan?" Jason glanced over at his hired man. "When you were running tests on these, how exactly did this step go?"

Milligan laughed. "Oh, we never got a proper harvest off these things!" "Then..." Jason sighed. "Alright, then. Onward!"

He snapped the reins, and Angus lumbered forward. Unlike the other harvester, this slightly newer one had blades that could be turned off and on, which was really quite a wondrous feature. As they reached the field, Jason pulled a lever that engaged the blades, and he felt the machine shudder as the whirling equipment came to life.

A cold, wintery blast swept across him as they entered the field. That much he had been expecting, but... well... The snowflowers seemed to have a mind of their own, and as Jason and Milligan lumbered forward, a great many things all began to happen simultaneously.

To start with, given that there was almost a foot of snow across the ground, the horses moved quite a bit slower than they ordinarily might have done. As the blades sliced through both stalk and snow, great gouts of powdered ice were blasted out the sides and rear of the harvesters, making them look

rather like some of the fancier snowplows that Jason had seen in his time. On top of that, though, a sharp cracking noise began to echo through the air —like the sound of breaking ice, and the wind began to howl a bit more powerfully across the prairie.

Suddenly, the snow, which fell simply out of the blue sky without a cloud in sight, suddenly began to fall faster and thicker. It whirled and whipped around the harvester so fiercely that Jason could hardly see two feet in front of him. He was lost in a blizzard, able to guide himself only by the trained footsteps of Angus, who knew the field well. Here and there, the ground would lurch underneath them in a manner that was familiar to him—at least in general. Although, he might as well have been lost on the prairie in the middle of winter.

The torrent lessened as he reached the end and came to a pause. As it died away, he caught a glimpse of Milligan on the far side of the field. The snow had formed a curtain around him, like a snowy tornado, but only extended half a dozen feet on any given side of the harvester. Meanwhile, behind Milligan (and in the section that Jason had harvested as well), the snow had ceased falling. In fact, it was already starting to melt in the intensity of the summer sun, and Jason took up the reins once more. A melting snow meant mud, and mud did not bode well for getting the harvest done.

He took off once again, and once more, the blizzard raged up around him. He couldn't see a thing, and the further he went along, the more he soon couldn't feel anything, either. The temperature dipped lower and lower, his arms and hands went numb, his legs became simple pillars of ice without a lick of sensation, and he shivered violently.

He made it down and back twice more before he gave in and came to a halt. Hopping down from the harvester, he ran past Tess and the girls (pausing

long enough to stick his ice-cold hands onto Tess's neck), up into the house, and donned thick winter gear. Walking back across the farmstead to the field was pure and utter misery, but as he picked up the reins and started off again, he soon became thankful for it.

With that, the job became not only a great deal easier, but actually quite pleasant. The stinging snowflakes would roar and pressure him while in the midst of the field, but would die away at either end. With his thick garments, he stayed nice and toasty, with a refreshing bit of chill to take off the heat of summer. It was an odd experience, like nothing he had ever had before, and would almost certainly be like nothing he would ever have again. At that moment, he had no intentions of planting the snowflowers ever again.

Milligan persevered a great deal longer than Jason, though he eventually had to depart and run back to his cabin for warmer clothes, too. When lunchtime came around, Tess brought out a small picnic, but both of them declined to eat until they had finished the field up.

It was around two o'clock in the afternoon before the two frozen horses staggered out of the field. Jason unhitched them and let both of them into the corral, where they lay down in the shade and started warming back up. Icicles thawed and dripped as the harvesters started to warm back up in the summer sun. Jason and Milligan shucked off their winter clothes and sat down on the blanket that Tess had laid out. Both girls were fast asleep on the blanket, sprawled amidst the remains of their lunch, and Jason tenderly gave Fern a kiss before starting in on his egg salad.

"You two look frozen solid." Tess chuckled as they both devoured the meal. Working in the cold, in Jason's opinion, made you a great deal hungrier than in the heat. "Is this something you'll be doing every summer now?"

"No!"

Both men spoke at the same time, and laughed heartily after the fact. Milligan sighed and shook his head. "Obviously, I don't speak for Jason, but if it's all the same to you, boss, I think there's a reason they never really took off." He paused. "I keep trying to come up with some way to make them useful, but I just can't think of anything. If they produced rain instead of snow, they'd just turn the field into a mess. Fog wouldn't do much, and hail or ice or anything like that... Well..."

"Is there any way that you could make them stronger?" Jason postulated after a moment. "To the point where you'd only need one or two to regulate the temperature on the farm? Maybe plant a couple flowerbeds along one side of things, and then they keep the farm a bit cooler over the summer?" "It's possible, at least in theory." Milligan nodded slowly. "I'll have to look at our research."

"While you're at it, if you could do the reverse, and make flowers that could keep the farm warm in the winter..." Jason laughed as he thought about it. "Now that sounds like something I'd enjoy. Or something that eats llamas." Tess whacked him upside the head, and he laughed. A few minutes later, as he finished the meal, he lay back on the blanket and sighed deeply.

His body was almost completely thawed out now, and as the sun beat down, he felt a great drowsiness settle over him. It had been an unusual day, but it had been another lovely one.

Now, he just had to go harvest two more fields of the stuff, and then settle in for the advent of the long, and cold, winter.

Chapter 10. Last Day of Summer

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 91st day of Summer! It's the day of the Summer Festival! Come on down to the town square for the party of the season, folks! Well, I suppose you all know the drill by now. The weather's going to be clear, the food will be hot, so get here as soon as you can!]

By the time Jason's eyes blinked open, Tess was already up and moving. She was dressed before his second blink, and was soon swishing out the door. He chuckled and sat up as well, then slowly swung his legs out of bed and walked up to the window to look out across the farmstead.

The fields were harvested and ready for planting on the first day of fall. The animals were all prepared for the upcoming season as well, everything was ready for the turning of the year and the next progression in the endless cycle. Down below, Milligan ambled back and forth, doing the chores and getting the carriage ready, and Jason sighed deeply.

He didn't stand there long. He knew that Tess was eager to get into town to socialize. Neither she nor Jason minded being a parent in the slightest. In

fact, Jason greatly preferred it to his earlier life, but it was a certainty that they had far less time to socialize than they had once enjoyed. He got himself dressed as well, and soon made his way down the stairs to the main floor.

There, Milligan was just walking inside as Tess spread out a wide array of festival breakfast foods. They sat down, and without a great deal of talking, dined on sausages, bacon, waffles, and a number of leftover biscuits. When they finished, they made their way outside, mounted up, and rode off for town.

Jason smiled and held Fern in his lap as he drove. He let her hold the reins for a good portion of the trip, only taking over when Lady started to veer to one side or the other. As they went, they started to hear music drifting down from the town square, and Milligan chuckled.

"Sounds like they're getting started early this time, boss." He shook his head in amazement. "You know, I still haven't been to many of these, but it absolutely amazes me that you guys are able to put this on every single season."

"You're one of us now, you know." Jason glanced over at Milligan, flashing a broad smile. "You can't really say that we do it, like you're just a bystander."

"Jason, my boy, I'll always be the outsider, but I don't mind that fact in the slightest." Milligan shook his head in amazement. "Let's just go have a good time!"

Jason couldn't have agreed more, and they soon came rumbling up into town. There, a long row of page boys working for the Warrior's Guild stood at the ready. They took the carriage from Jason so that he and his family could dismount. They took Dusty as well for Milligan, taking the horses

and carriages around to the town stables on the far side. There, Jason took a deep breath and cast his eyes around the town.

Tess quickly moved over to the Item Store, where Cecilia, Paulina, Theresa, and a handful of other women and children were standing. Rachel went with her, on account of the fact that Tess still had to hold her, but Fern reached up and took Jason's hand.

"Stay with daddy!"

"I think that's just fine, squirt." Jason started walking toward the town well, where Obadiah, Jeremiah, Richard, and a well-dressed man in a business suit who looked marginally familiar stood around, chatting. As Jason came walking up, they all turned to look at him, and the well-dressed man held out a hand.

"It's been a long time!"

The man's voice was familiar, and Jason's jaw dropped. The scraggly shadow had been shaved off, and he didn't walk with a slouch (and his clothes were actually neatly-pressed), but...

"Hank!" Jason shook Hank's hand firmly, beaming from ear to ear. "Hank, it's really you!"

"In the flesh!" Hank grinned broadly, then bent down. "And this is little Fern! You've grown a lot since the last time I was here!"

Fern drew back behind Jason's leg, and Jason laughed before shaking his head in amazement. "Hank Ironwood. How's it going? What brings you back here?"

"I'd be lying if I didn't say that it was the food." Hank chuckled, then crossed his arms. "If I could time my visit to correspond with a festival, I wasn't going to pass up that opportunity, you can bet your farm on it. That

said, I am actually here with some business, but I don't think it'll be anything too messy."

Something about Hank's tone made Jason frown. "Hank? What's going on?"

Hank sighed deeply. "Have you met Frances? She's with--"

At that, all the men burst out laughing. Hank blinked a few times, and Jason held up a hand.

"I don't know if the word met is the right one, but we've all encountered her." Jason responded when he was able to speak again. "Why, what's going on with her?"

"Nothing specifically. She's doing an excellent job, and seems to be enjoying her assignment." Hank answered. "That said, there are some things in her report that have us somewhat... Concerned. Obadiah, you used a dungeon core to break the drought over Illumitir, that right?"

Obadiah pointed at Jason. "He gave it to me."

"You confiscated it from me!" Jason scowled. "Didn't even pay me a fair price for it."

Hank chuckled. "Well, thankfully, none of my bosses know any of that, and since it doesn't directly involve the investigation, I don't have to tell them. Point is, an old dungeon core was used, and presumably, broke."

"Is that a problem?" Jason shrugged. "Everything that we've seen has been harmless. Mostly, at least."

"It's the mostly that we're concerned about." Hank grimaced. "In the reports she's been sending back, which have been sporadic at best, our experts in dungeonology have started noticing some descriptions that seem to match up with a number of... We'll say deadlier monsters. Things that aren't just

goofy and cute. The department is growing worried, both for the safety of the residents of Summer Shandy and for Frances's safety as well."

"Then why did they send you?" Jeremiah poked the stem of his pipe at Hank's chest. "You're not exactly a monster expert. You remember that time we accidentally spawned a swamp rat in the jail?"

"Dad." Obadiah snorted. "You intentionally commissioned an explorer, who was heading down to Portswain, to pick up enough swamp grass, mud, and other such things in order to spawn the thing in."

"Oh, yeah!" Jeremiah grinned. "Well, point is, Hank, you screamed like a little girl."

"I little girl!" Fern perked up. Jason bent down and picked her up, and she smiled at the group.

"Indeed you are." Jason kissed her on the cheek, then turned to Hank. "I do have to agree with Jeremiah, you're not exactly the monster-hunter type." Hank shrugged. "If Illumitir started sending monster-hunters galore, it would start a panic, and we'd rather like to avoid that contingency. I know the area, so I'm the one they're sending for the time being. I'll be around for the next little bit, doing some snooping. So, if you see me on your property, don't shoot me." He chuckled softly, then nodded. "Oh, and if you happen to see Frances anywhere, tell her to come to Summer Shandy and not to leave until I get there."

"You haven't seen her recently?" Jason asked.

Jeremiah shook his head. "It's been over a week since anyone's seen her. She might have been eaten, she might be stuck in a rabbit den, or she might have chased a butterfly out to the western mountains."

"Well, if I see her, I'll certainly say something." Jason nodded, then shook Hank's hand once more. "In any case, Hank, it really is good to have you

back, even if only for a short time."

Hank agreed, and with that, the group started to break apart. Jason stayed and talked to Richard about farm stuff, then talked to Jeremiah about family stuff. He then let Fern down to play with some of her friends, and got roped into playing tag with a group of about twenty children. That was all fine and dandy, at least until they decided to tackle him en masse. Some of them had sharp elbows and knees, but after a tussle, Jason just managed to escape with his life.

The day passed quickly, as festival days were always wont to do. Around noontime, a light lunch was brought out, and those who were there partook of a handful of salads, some bread, and an assortment of cheeses. It was all taken away by around one o'clock, and with that, things really began to switch into high gear.

Tables were brought out of storage and set across the expanse of the town square, filling the area wonderfully. Decorations, largely consisting of prairie flowers, were placed on top of all the tables, while the band played louder and longer. Games were brought out, including the ever-popular table tennis. There were a number of games that involved throwing an assortment of items (rocks, pillows, corn cobs, and so forth) through holes on boards that were set up at a distance from each other. Jason lost to everyone except Fern and Rachel (he didn't count the pity win that Tess gave him when she realized how poorly he was doing). When the sun finally began to set, great platters of ham, turkey, and roast beef were brought out, and the true festival began.

For Jason, as always, it became a swirl of lights, music and company that simply astounded and left him breathless. Rachel, by virtue of still being a baby, fell asleep within about half an hour after the sun slipped below the

horizon. Fern stayed awake a good bit longer, though, exhausted from the day, she couldn't hold off the inevitable march of sleep forever. Eventually, she wound up clinging to Jason's shoulder, and the family bade farewell to their friends and started back toward home.

It was the end of another wonderful, incredible season. Now, all that was left was to prepare for the next one, to face whatever joys and challenges it would bring.

And, as always, Jason simply couldn't wait.

Chapter 11. First Day of Fall

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 1st day of Fall! 90 days until the Fall Festival! It's going to be a lot chillier than the last few days, but we're still not going to see any tremendously cold weather for another couple weeks, I think! Get outside and enjoy the fresh air, folks! Oh, and if you see a woman with blue hair who looks like her brain is on another plane of existence, please alert Hank Ironwood]

Jason rolled out of bed and took a deep breath, then walked up to the window and slowly looked down at the farm. The leaves on the apple and pear trees had all turned a few shades more orange, and a number of dried leaves already blew across the farmyard. The prairie grasses had entirely turned brown, full with dried seed pods and waving tufts. Jason took a long and deep breath, then turned and started to get dressed.

"What are you planting this morning?" Tess asked as he started for the door. "Anything particularly exciting?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure." Jason shrugged. "I know Milligan has been working on something exciting, but I'm really quite clueless about what it actually is. He told me that it tastes good, though, so I suppose I'm about to find out."

"Good luck!"

Tess's voice faded as Jason clomped down the stairs and made his way out into the farmyard. There, the (comparatively) cool breeze rushed over his long-sleeve flannel and overalls, and he sighed in contentment. In so many ways, Fall was the perfect time of the year. The world, having blossomed in spring and grown through summer, was now winding down for a long rest. It was a time of preparation, but also a time to celebrate how much had been accomplished over the course of the year.

As Jason rolled aside the enormous barn door and walked in, he scooped up his trash-can-lid shield, deflected several spitballs, and started pouring out feed. Tess had filled the barn to the brim with more pigs and goats, and the sheep were full of wool and ready for another sheering. The llamas were also looking rather shaggy, but Jason wasn't about to help with shearing them. He glanced at the empty pens, as well as the stairwell that led to the lower (and still empty) lower level, wondering if Tess had plans to fill them up. He suspected that she did, based on some offhanded comments that she had made here and there, but he wasn't confident in that fact.

He also wasn't confident that he wanted her to get more animals, but that was another story altogether.

In any case, as he was finishing up, he heard the sound of hooves on the wooden floor, and turned to see Milligan slowly trotting inside on Dusty. "Sorry it took me so long, Boss." Milligan swung down from the horse and hitched the creature to a small hook hanging from a support beam. "I was

just getting everything ready."

"Your new variety of seed?" Jason flashed a smile.

"Indeed!" Milligan nodded with a grin. "Thanks for giving me this chance, boss. This is the first time one of my personal creations will have gone from drawing board all the way to full production."

"And you're sure we'll be able to sell them?" Jason raised an eyebrow. The snowflower seed, for all its similarities to wheat, had been almost impossible to sell. Cecilia had been unable to move the grain through her store, prompting the two of them to write to assorted companies across Illumitir. Finally, they had found a small, upstart flower company that was desperate for grain, but... well...

"Sure I'm sure!" Milligan nodded. "Just trust me, alright? Let's get the planters out, and load up experiment Meta-2."

Jason let out a long breath of apprehension, but nodded. A few minutes later, the horses had been hitched up to the planters, and Jason climbed up and took the reins. He opened up the farm's inventory and loaded the seed boxes, then, as Milligan started to rumble forward, he slowly leaned forward and popped the lid open.

As he did so, his jaw dropped in shock. Inside were tens of thousands of tiny little eggs. They were no bigger than soybeans, but the shape was unmistakable. Some were speckled, some were smooth, but... They were eggs.

"You weren't supposed to look, boss!" Milligan called backward. "Just trust me, alright?"

Jason sighed, then nodded and snapped the reins to move forward. As he lumbered into the field, he pulled the lever to lower the seed disks into the ground, and with that, they were off.

The rattle of the seed - eggs - was soon matched by another noise that flickered through the air like soft beams of sunshine. It was the sound of bird calls! He could hear sparrows, finches, cardinals, bluebirds, starlings, even a few falcons here and there. It was really quite wonderful, a delight for the ears, and as he came to the end of the first pass and paused, Milligan called across to him.

"They're egg-plants! Get it!"

Jason snorted at that. "How do they work, exactly?"

"You'll just have to see as they grow!" Milligan returned. "For now, just sit back and enjoy the ride!"

Jason did have to admit, as they continued to rumble through the field, that it was an extremely pleasant ride. Rarely had he ever heard a symphony so beautiful, and as they reached each other at midpoint of the field and paused for lunch, he realized that the noises weren't going away now that everything was in the ground. No, as they let the horses back into the corral for a break and started toward the house, birds swooped back and forth over the field, laughing and chittering amongst one another as if they were the greatest of old friends. The sky almost looked dark in some places, there were so many birds, and Jason frowned.

"Don't worry, boss, the attraction should wear off within a few hours." Milligan assured. "There will be more birds around, for sure, but it won't be anything this bad for long."

Tess came out onto the porch as the two of them came walking up, and Fern ran past her into the yard and pointed up at the sky.

"Wirds!"

Several of the birds came flashing down and whipped past her, eliciting both a scream and a giggle at the same time. When a hummingbird buzzed

over and darted around her head for several long moments, she seemed utterly mesmerized, and Jason had to admit that he was fascinated by it as well. Soon enough, though, the birds darted away, and they all went up into the house for lunch.

"Do you mind my asking just exactly how you managed to get that to work?" Jason asked as they sat down at the kitchen table. It was smaller than the dining room table, and in truth they barely fit around it, but they could see the whirling cloud of birds through the kitchen window.

"You can ask, and I can show you the paperwork, but I'm afraid it's a longer process than I could explain over a meal." Milligan answered around a mouthful of chicken. "The short version is that I started with sorghum, and then altered the seeds from there. It's a grain, not an actual egg, but it tastes just like egg, and has an almost identical chemical structure." Milligan tapped his fork against the plate. "This will revolutionize the food industry, you can be certain of it!"

"I'll take your word for it." Jason just shook his head and laughed. "And the place we'll be selling it to?"

"It's a startup called... Well, I don't know that it has a name yet." Milligan blushed. "It's new, but they know their work. They're processing a lot of different types of more... unique grains."

Jason frowned. "Are they going to be able to make it? I mean, are there really that many abnormal types of grain out there?"

"Since half a dozen genetics companies collapsed over the course of the Illumitir drought and their data was sucked up by independent farmers and ex-employees, it's actually a rapidly-growing industry." Milligan nodded. "When I contacted them, they were thrilled about the possibility. If we can deliver, they'll take as much of it as we can produce."

"Then I hope that your plan works!" Jason grinned and slowly climbed to his feet as he finished eating. "Well, Tess, Fern, Rachel, I bid you farewell! We're heading out to the Far Eighty, I'll be back around dinner."

Milligan wiped his mouth with a napkin as he stood. "I'll just stay there tonight, so don't worry about making me anything. Lunch was fantastic, Tess."

Tess beamed, and a moment later, the two men had wandered back out into the yard and started gathering their horses together. It didn't take them long to get them hitched back up to the planters, and they went rumbling off down the gravel road toward the Far Eighty. As they went, Jason kept glancing back at the immense cloud of birds that hovered over the field. It seemed to be growing, not diminishing, which he thought was... interesting, to say the least.

When they arrived at the Far Eighty and got to work, whatever else he thought he had seen before was quickly overshadowed by the flocks of birds that erupted from the forest. They formed a great, whirling vortex as they whipped in a great circle over the fields. He actually felt them generating wind from their movements as they spiraled lower and lower, and their calls echoed louder and louder. If it hadn't been so cool, it might have been somewhat creepy. As it was, several hummingbirds came up and perched on his arms, while a handful of cardinals landed on his shoulders to chirp merrily to him as he went along.

"Hey!"

The voice echoed from the side of the field, and Jason turned to see nothing but thin air. He drew to a stop nonetheless, and walked toward a tiny distortion in the air that might have been Frances.

"Sorry!" Jason held up a hand, hoping that he wasn't just talking to the air. "Didn't mean to disrupt you."

"No need to apologize!" It was definitely Frances, though she was still invisible. "This is amazing! I've never seen anything like it before. Like... Ever. Do you mind if I stay and watch?"

"Go for it." Jason chuckled. He started to turn back, then paused. "Oh, by the way, I've been told to tell you to go talk to Hank Ironwood up at Summer Shandy."

"I'll go as soon as I can!" The voice sounded pleased. "Also, I do hope you'll forgive me for keeping this cloak on. I keep losing them every time I take them off, and I've almost run out, so... Sorry. If you happen to trip on one, I'd sure appreciate it back!"

"I'll do that!" Jason laughed. He soon climbed back up onto the planter, took up the reins, and got back to work once more.

Every now and again, he thought he saw something invisible tromping through the nearby grasses, but he couldn't be certain, and mostly ignored the monster-tamer. The birds were distracting enough, and he really did need to get the seed in the ground.

It was about an hour past dinnertime when the two men finished up the Far Eighty. As Jason started back toward the farmstead, Milligan waved at him. "I'll get the New Eighty planted tomorrow; don't you worry your head about it! I know Tess wants your help with the animals."

Jason laughed. "I think I'd much rather come out here and let you work with the animals."

Milligan laughed as well. "Sorry, boss, but common curtsey says that only the boss works one-on-one with his wife. You just help her, and..." A

twinkle came into his eyes. "Show me the bruises from the llama when I see you on the day after!"

Jason laughed out loud, then snapped Angus's reins and went rumbling off toward the house. There were now two columns of birds swirling over the prairie, marking Milligan's new experiment. It was strange, but, as all things in Summer Shandy, it seemed simply... Magical.

He only hoped that the eggplants, as Milligan affirmed, turned out to be as profitable as they hoped. If not, he'd have to switch to something else, and he really didn't want to do that. No, he rather enjoyed the strange plants, and hoped that he'd be able to continue growing them for quite some time.

Chapter 12. Funnel Cakes

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 12th day of Fall! 80 days until the Fall Festival! It's a Sunday, folks, so get lots of rest! I've heard through the grapevine that there's a pumpkin patch being hosted by the Lazy-H Ranch today, so that would be a good place to go check out! The entry is free, no matter how many people you bring!]

Jason yawned and slowly climbed out of bed, finding that Tess wasn't in the room. That fact didn't surprise him terribly, as Rachel had woken up rather sick in the middle of the night, but he was concerned for her. He dressed quickly, then made his way out into the hallway and down to the girls' room.

There, Fern was eagerly running around the rocking chair, where a bleary- eyed Tess was holding a slumbering Rachel. Their baby's breath came in ragged snores, she was so congested, and Jason grimaced.

"Is she okay?"

"She will be, yeah." Tess answered softly. "She's just sick, but you know how that goes. We went through this with Fern, and I'm sure we'll go through it with any future kids we happen to have."

"True enough." Jason stroked his chin for a moment, then smiled. "What do you need from me? Can I bring you anything?"

"I don't think so." Tess shook her head slowly. "Some breakfast, maybe, but I think I'm just going to be spending the day here. I doubt she'll be able to lay down much, and since it's a Sunday and we won't be out working, I'm not going to worry too much about... Moving." Tess let out a long breath, then perked up. "Take Fern down to the Lazy-H. It's a giant promotional thing so my dad can get people to buy his stuff, but it'll be fun, and Fern will love it."

"You're sure you'll be okay?" Jason raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, for sure." Tess nodded. "Milligan is here if I run into any major issues, but I don't foresee that happening. Go have fun."

"Fun with daddy!" Fern clapped her hands, and Jason felt his heart swell. All told, it took them about thirty minutes to get on the road. Fern needed to be dressed, they all needed breakfast, the chores needed done, and Jason called Milligan up from his cabin to keep an eye on Tess. Milligan was more than happy to do it, and settled himself down at the writing desk in Jason's parlor to work on something or another, while Jason and Fern set out.

Jason rode on Lady, who was growing older, but was still a fine and sturdy horse. Fern, meanwhile, rode on Alice, the little pony that had served her so well. Jason had to strap her into the saddle, it was certainly nothing that would be safe for a long ride, but for the short jaunt down to the Lazy-H, it

was just fine. The two of them set off, with Fern laughing and giggling, and soon, they came into view of the old place.

The sight of the Lazy-H filled Jason with a sense of wonder. It too, had changed so much from when he first arrived. Jeremiah had been the very first person to introduce himself to Jason, and had supported Jason through those difficult first years. Now, though it was under new management, it was just as warm and welcoming as ever.

Weatherhand, the number-two of the ranch, stood at the gate, beaming and ushering people inside. He waved eagerly at Jason and Fern, who both waved back. Further inside, the wide and expansive driveway was filled with games, piles of square hay bales, food stalls, and more. The barn had its doors flung wide open, where a handful of hired hands stood at the ready to help stable all the horses that came up. Jason and Fern rode over there, dismounted, thanked the attendants, and then set out into the mayhem. People were already arriving in droves, almost half of the population of Summer Shandy was already there, by Jason's estimate. Jason and Fern got in line for a pit filled with corn kernels, with Fern bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Daddy! Hold me!"

Jason smiled and picked her up, and they just... Watched it all. Soon, they made it up to the front of the line, where a large tank (which Jason thought was typically used for watering cattle) sat at the ready. He set Fern down inside, the grain coming up to her waist, and she giggled.

"Look! Swimming in corn!"

She scooped up a bit of it and threw the golden kernels, then flopped down and started waving her arms about. Jason laughed merrily. Across from

him, Paulina placed John inside the tank as well, who began to scramble over to Fern.

The two children played together for a short time, at which point, Jason plucked Fern out and set her down on the ground again. Next, they went over to a massive slingshot that pointed out over one of Richard's pastures. A large bucket of gourds, squash, and small pumpkins sat nearby, with a price of 1 Shandy Scrit per projectile. Jason let Fern pick out five of them, at which point, they stepped up to the massive device. Jason took hold of the sling and pulled it down to the ground, and let Fern place the produce, one at a time, in a small cup there. When she stepped back out of the way, he let go, and laughed as the gourds were flung far out into the grass. "Jason!" Richard walked up and clapped a hand on his shoulder as they left the slingshot. They started walking toward a barrel of water that had a number of apples bobbing about inside. "I'm glad you could make it!"

"I'm glad I could come." Jason smiled back at his father-in-law. "Tess wanted to be here, too, but Rachel's a little sick."

"Poor girl." Richard sighed deeply. "Well, you guys live close! If she's feeling better over the next few days, just come on down, and I'll set you up with any of this you like! It'll be a week or so until I get it all torn down." "We'll do that!" Jason smiled as they got into the apple-bobbing line. "Thanks for putting this on, by the way."

"Pfft. Nothing to it." Richard smiled as he watched several small children run past, laughing and giggling as they held small swords made from corn cobs. "I wasn't there for Tess in her childhood. I figure I can make up for it, at least in some small way, if I can help other parents be there for their own kids, you know? My hope is to start doing more of this sort of thing. This is... I guess you'd call it a trial run."

"Well, it certainly seems to be working." Jason nodded.

"Indeed." Richard turned to walk away. "I have to get back to work, but if you need anything, just let me know!" He paused after a moment. "By the way, do you have any heart issues?"

Jason slowly shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of. Why?"

"Because the funnel cakes, over on the south side of the house, are incredible." Richard flashed a grin. "I can't recommend them enough, but Theresa stipulated that I had to provide a 'this-may-cause-your-arteries-to- clog' warning if I was going to sell them."

Jason laughed out loud, Richard waved and went back to walking around. Soon, Jason and Fern came to the front of the line, and Jason hefted his daughter up into the air. Fern spent several long moments splashing back and forth, trying to grab the apples, and just as Jason was about to give up and grab one for her, she managed to succeed.

Crunching on her hard-won prize, the two of them continued to make their way through the area. There was so much that Jason could hardly keep it all straight. Jason rode a bucking bronco, getting thrown off within a matter of half a second. Fern rode a sheep and did a great deal better. They shared an apple-fritter funnel cake for lunch (which Jason did, indeed, have to admit was incredible), then played ring-toss, hopscotch, and an assortment of other random things. Jason rather wanted to go on a guided tour of the farm that was being offered, but Fern seemed to think it was too boring, so he passed on that much, at least. Finally, as the afternoon began to draw on, the two of them made it over to the eponymous pumpkin patch.

A wide swath of land next to the house itself had been turned into a wide patch that was, at that moment, filled with hundreds of vines and ten times that many pumpkins. There were big ones and small ones, orange ones and

blue ones and even a few that were tie-dye. For that matter, there were even some that had been grown into shapes! Jason and Fern worked their way carefully through the patch, looking for the perfect pumpkin to take back home.

"Daddy!" Fern pointed sharply off to one side. "Daddy, I found one!"

Jason hurried over to her, where he found her pointing at the smallest little pumpkin he thought he had ever seen. It was so small that she could easily hold it in her two tiny hands, and they started working their way back to the front of the ranch, there, they paid for the object—then, as the sun started to crawl down through the sky, they rumbled off toward home.

This time, as Fern grew more and more sleepy, Jason held her tightly in front of him on Lady, and let Alice follow along behind as they made their way back to the farmstead. There, as they came inside, they found Tess fast asleep on the couch, and Rachel (finally) sleeping more contently in a basinet that Tess had set up in front of the fireplace. Milligan was nowhere to be seen, but a dinner had already been prepared on the table, and Jason made a mental note to give Milligan some sort of a bonus as a thank-you.

It had been a full day, and a lovely one. He always prized getting to spend time with Fern one-on-one, and this had been no exception.

His only regret, as the small family sat down around their table, was that he couldn't do it every single day.

Chapter 13. Windy Day

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 23rd day of Fall! 68 days until the Fall Festival! Today's looking like a colder one, folks! Light sprinkles of rain, and gusts of wind, so stay inside unless you have to go out!]

Jason shivered a bit as he rose and slowly walked to the window. The sun was nowhere to be seen, concealed behind a thick layer of clouds that drifted overhead like a great, grey ceiling. The wind made the dried grasses of the prairie wave about, while little spats of rain splattered against the window panes. Jason let out a long breath and turned slowly to the wardrobe.

"How bad is it?" Tess asked as she rolled out of bed. "Bad enough we can't work with the animals?"

"Nah." Jason shook his head. "If we get the doors shut and some lanterns lit, it'll be nice and cozy in that barn. I'll head on out and get things set up, you take care of things in the house. I'll be along in a few minutes."

Tess nodded, and soon, dressed in overalls and a warm flannel. Jason made his way down the stairs and out into the yard. Chance whimpered as he followed, slinking low to the ground as the spats of cold water battered and whipped at the two of them. Soon, they arrived at the barn, but before they went inside, Jason turned and went over to look at the field.

The egg plants were only a few days away from harvest, and Jason had to admit that he was impressed. The core of the plant was indeed a sorghum, with a single, broad head shooting out of a leafy base. Instead of ordinary, lovely red grains, though, the plants sported eggs. Loads of them. At the bottom of the seed heads, the eggs grew larger, some as big as a chicken or duck egg. The higher he looked, the smaller they became, all the way down to little bitty eggs the size of grains of rice. Overhead, a handful of birds darted through the clouds, but most of them were staying away given the weather. Jason was happy enough for that fact, and content that they would soon have a good harvest on their hands. He turned and made his way back into the barn.

Hock-pew!

The noise echoed through the air the moment that Jason set foot inside the barn. He winced and stepped back, but... a moment later, the loud smack of spit striking wood echoed through the barn.

Coming from the opposite side of the barn.

Jason froze. The great male llama spat again, this time hitting something high in the rafters overhead. Suddenly, he became aware that all the other animals in the barn were dead silent. He could hear them milling about, stamping their feet nervously, but they weren't in their usual morning uproar. There was only one conclusion that he could draw.

There was something in the barn.

In retrospect, common sense would have dictated that Jason turn around, walk back to the house, and get Tess, who was far more skilled in matters of unidentified creatures. At that moment, though, common sense had apparently gone on vacation, and Jason opened the door enough for Chance to slip inside. He entered and drew the door shut behind him.

As the door came shut with a loud clunk, he drew out his pistol, checked to make sure that it was loaded, and then pointed it up into the rafters. The interior of the barn was gloomy, due to the darker nature of the day, and he squinted as he tried to make out something, anything, that would show him what was amiss.

Claws scraped on wood, and he saw something dart across one of the windows, high above. It was long and thin, with lithe limbs. Nothing more could be determined, and Jason slowly started walking toward the stairs leading to the upper floor. From there, into the rafters themselves. As he set foot on the wide stair, though, the skittering came once more, and the thing came shooting down the wall and down a stairwell into the lower floor. Jason let out a long breath, then slowly walked over and went down. Chance scooted down the stairs as well, growling fiercely. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, Jason placed a hand against a lantern hanging from a nail.

"Activate light."

In response, lanterns across the lower floor of the barn came to life, revealing the hundreds upon hundreds of empty pens, as well as the intricate series of pathways and alleys that connected them. There, Jason could see that one of the lower doors was cracked slightly open, which was likely where the creature, whatever it was, had managed to slip inside.

Suddenly, Chance started barking, and went racing off down one of the alleys, aiming for the side of the barn opposite the open door. Something long and blue shot up out of one of the pens and went racing away from the dog. Jason took off in pursuit. The creature was fast, so much so that Jason could hardly see it, and soon dove into a large pen near the very back of the structure. Chance rose up as he arrived, placing his front paws on the top of the gate, and began to bark fiercely. Jason arrived a moment later, and pointed the pistol.

There, frozen by the sight of the dog, and backed into a corner, was one of the strangest creatures that Jason had yet seen. It was a cat, covered in blue fur, that had a body almost three feet long like that of a snake. Suddenly, it puffed itself up, and the long body expanded, rather like a pufferfish, to make the animal look more like a puffball than a cat. All its hair stood on end, and Chance whimpered and jumped away.

"Aww!" Jason lowered the pistol. "You're not so bad after all! You're actually kinda cu--"

His voice was cut off as the cat deflated and jumped at him, latching onto his face with its claws. He yelped and went crashing to the ground, feeling the razor-sharp claws raking over his skin. It flashed off into the distance, and Chance went after in hot pursuit, forgetting his former cowardice. Jason sighed and rose up, charging off after the thing once again. He didn't know if the animal was dangerous or not (animals with exaggerated defense mechanisms usually weren't that bad), but Hank's warning had him concerned about any new creatures that they encountered. He lifted the pistol and fired, knowing that he wouldn't hit the cat. He did, though, hope that the shot would scare it off, and maybe get Tess to come out.

The shot did have an effect, that was for sure. The cat seemed to levitate off the railing where it was running, spun in midair, and shot off toward a different corner of the barn. Jason raced after, jumping over fences and gates that the cat could simply run across. A moment later, he reached the pen that it jumped into, and came crashing into the barricade to see whatever was lurking therein.

As he came to a stop, gasping and panting for breath, his heart melted. The cat, long and lithe, had curled itself around and over a small nest, inside of which were a number of eggs. Even as Jason watched, one of the eggs began to crack, and a tiny paw shot out, fighting desperately for the daylight.

A moment later, Tess came pounding into the barn above his head. "Jason! I heard a shot! Is everything okay?"

"Yeah!" He called up. "I... I need you to bring me a pan of milk!"

Tess's rushed footsteps slowed. "Milk?"

"Or cream! Something along that line." Jason shrugged. "Just hurry!"

A few minutes later, a platter of milk had been placed out for the creatures. The mother cat eyed Jason warily, then slowly crept over and began to lap up the offering. Jason smiled in contentment, and Tess put her arms around his shoulders.

"I didn't figure you for an animal person."

"I'm not." Jason shrugged and started to turn away. "I just... I mean... We couldn't throw them out into the cold, you know? I'm not completely heartless!"

Tess just laughed and patted him on the shoulder. Suddenly, there was a soft ding, and a notification appeared.

[Notification: Azul Snake Feline has bonded with you]

Jason blinked, then glanced back at the pen. Before he could react, the cat leapt up and landed on his shoulders, then wrapped herself around Jason's neck like a scarf. The creature then began to purr, loudly—which consequently gave Jason a headache and seemed to calm him down, like a soothing massage.

"So... We have a new houseguest." Jason slowly reached up and pulled the cat off his neck and dropped it back down into the pen. "I hereby transfer his care to the women of the family."

The snake feline leapt up once more, wrapping itself around Jason's neck once more. Jason gasped as it tightened itself, and he sighed. Still, though, he couldn't be too upset. The thing was cute... and it was warm and cozy, and...

Suddenly, the cat jumped off his shoulders and darted through the door, vanishing up the slope and into the wilderness. Jason chuckled softly, and Tess walked away, returning to the house. He went back up to the main floor of the barn and began doing more chores, pouring feed and such things, when suddenly, he heard the soft clop-clop of hooves on the ground behind.

His blood froze, and, fearing that the goats had gotten out, he spun around. To his immense surprise, he found the snake feline standing there, with a... well, it did look rather like a goat, but it was a good bit taller, and was covered in thick wool that looked as soft as a cloud. It stepped forward and slowly stretched out its long neck, and Jason held out his hand. When it touched Jason's hands with its lip, a spark of lightning leapt from its muzzle and hit him, making every hair on Jason's body stand out on end. Importantly, it also made every hair on the creature's body stand out on end as well, suddenly increasing its size by a factor of 2, almost 3. Lightning

continued to flicker and spark across the ends of its hair for a long moment, until it slowly calmed down, and Jason let out a long breath.

[Notification: Azul Snake Feline has brought you a Static Caprine]

"Is this going to be a continual thing?" Jason puffed out his cheeks. In response, the snake cat leapt up onto his shoulders, gave his cheek a sandpapery lick, and then flashed off down into the belly of the barn. Jason watched it go, then shrugged and opened up an empty gate. The static caprine walked inside, allowing Jason to close it up, and he slowly poured it some feed.

This wasn't at all how he had expected the day to go... But, on the bright side, he imagined that it couldn't get a great deal stranger.

Chapter 14. A Brisk Plan

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 27th day of Fall! 64 days until the Fall Festival! Today's about as fall of a day as you could get, folks! Crisp, but not too crisp, with a light breeze, all the trappings you could possibly want!]

Jason took a deep breath as he rolled out of bed and slowly walked up to the windows. The leaves of the apple trees were now a lovely shade of orange, and were slowly blowing across the yard here and there, even as it continued to produce new apples for the consumption of anyone around. Jason stretched, then turned his gaze to the fields. There, the egg plants had reached full maturity, and were ripe and ready for the harvest. For that matter, their seed heads had grown so large that some of the stalks were beginning to bend under the weight. Jason clapped his hands, then turned to Tess.

"You get going." Tess assured him. "I've got the girls, just come back in for breakfast when you get all the chores done."

Jason chuckled as he changed clothes and started down the stairs. The chores, such as they were, now took a great deal longer than they once had. He pulled on his boots and started out into the cold, crisp air, making his way over the dry yard toward the enormous barn. Milligan was just riding up, and without a word, they both pulled the door open and stepped inside. There, a proper chorus of animal noises met them as a wide assortment of animals greeted them. There were, of course, all the ordinary ones, along with... well... Just about everything else that the cat had dragged in. The snake feline sprang up to rub itself against Jason's leg, and he gave it a few pets before moving out to start in on feeding everything. He fed the static caprines, of which there were now several. They seemed to always be shocking one another in a great electric storm. He fed the tamed wargs, giant, slobbery pig-dog-things. He scattered feed for a handful of birds, most of which he couldn't really name, but which certainly produced the widest array of eggs he had ever seen. Milligan gathered up larger eggs, smaller ones, white ones, green ones, even a few rainbow-speckled eggs. A phoenix flew down to peck at the grain, and as its feathers began to flicker with soft embers, Jason grabbed it and ran outside before it could explode— thus preventing his barn from burning down.

There were more creatures than Jason could name, that was for sure, and he shook his head in amazement. By the time that he and Milligan finished the chores, the smell of syrup and pancakes was drifting out of the house, and the two of them quickly made their way out of the barn and into the kitchen. "How's your little menagerie?" Tess asked as they tucked into a massive platter of buttermilk pancakes topped with blueberries, strawberries, and an assortment of other such fruits.

"My little menagerie?" Jason raised an eyebrow. "The animals are yours."

"Lying is a sin, boss." Milligan joked as he finished up the pancakes on his plate. "We all know you love them."

Jason scowled, but it was a good-natured sort of a glare. He did rather enjoy all the odd creatures, there was no doubt about that. When he finished eating, he and Milligan rose. Jason gave Fern a kiss (and got a big, syrupy kiss in return), and the two of them went back out onto the farmstead to get things ready for the harvest.

Thankfully, it didn't take them long, and they soon mounted up on their harvesters. Jason took the reins and let out a long breath, then snapped the reins. "Milligan! You have any idea how this is going to be to harvest?" "Not a clue, boss!"

"Then I'm blaming any injuries on you!"

Milligan only laughed. "Injuries, boss? I think that's a little--"

Overhead, the sky began to darken as birds of all shapes and sizes started to swirl around, even before they hit the field itself. Jason let out a long breath, then shrugged and pushed on into the field.

Almost instantly, the sound of cracking eggs and birdcalls echoed through the air, louder than it had been when they planted them. The birds came whooshing down from the sky into a great vortex around the field, their collective voices crying out in a wondrous chorus that shook the very air itself. It was marvelous, there was simply no other word for it, and Jason felt his mouth hanging open in simple wonder. After a moment, he pulled the harvester to a stop, hopped off, and ran back toward the house. He waved at Milligan, letting him know that nothing was the matter, and soon came pounding back up onto the porch.

Tess met him at the door, frowning softly. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah!" He beamed. "Where's Fern?"

Fern seemed to materialize around Tess's legs. "Here!"

Jason bent down and smiled at her. "Do you want to help daddy today?" "Yay!"

It took them a few minutes to get Fern set up on the harvester. In the end, they jury-rigged one of Tess's old baby-harnesses to serve as a way to tether Fern to Jason, preventing her from falling off and getting hurt. With that, they started back up again, and the flock of birds grew more and more intense around them.

"Bwirds!" Fern cried out, pointing all around them. "Lots of bwirds!" "Yeah, there are!" Jason laughed, giving Fern a kiss on the forehead.

"Help daddy!"

They continued to rumble through the field. As they reached the end of the first pass, a great eagle came down and landed on the harvester just in front of Fern, and then lowered its head as if bowing to her. Fern laughed and giggled, she held out her hand. It bent down and poked her hand with its beak, then flapped its wings and flew up into the air.

"It touched me!" Fern shrieked with laugher. She held up her hand and pointed to her palm. "It did!"

Jason could only smile and laugh. They rumbled on back down the field, and several more birds, mostly smaller ones like sparrows, chickadees, and other such things, came flapping over to do the same. It was marvelous, there was simply no other word for it. All of it came to a climax when a swarm of at least ten hummingbirds flew over and formed a wreath around Fern's head, which just tickled her pink. When they flew away, though, the other birds didn't seem to satisfy her so much. Nevertheless, she did love helping Jason, and stayed on the harvester for two more passes.

"Daddy?" Fern looked up at him. "Wuv you."

"I love you, too." Jason leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Thanks for riding with me."

"Help daddy!" Fern clapped her hands, then looked at the house. "Go play Ray?"

"You can go play with Rachel here in just a second." Jason nodded. "Let me get you to the edge of the field."

He finished the row he was on, then drove over to the fence and helped Fern over. His daughter raced off toward the house, waving her arms and giggling, and Jason got back to work.

They finished the field around noontime. The cloud of birds dispersed, with some of them flying to roost in Jason's barn, but most of them flying back across the prairie toward the distant trees. Jason and Milligan turned their horses back into the corral for a rest, and Jason started walking toward the house.

"You want some lunch, Milligan?"

"Be right there, boss." Milligan had pulled out a small notepad and was scratching away at it with a small fountain pen. "I just want to run some numbers here."

Jason walked up beside him, and Milligan tilted the pad toward him.

"Yield calculations?" Jason raised an eyebrow.

Milligan nodded. "It looks like we harvested... About ten million kernels of grain from the field."

Jason mulled it over in his head. "That seems about right, I think."

"It looks like, on average, they're weighing in at around an ounce and a half." Milligan nodded slowly. "The place we're selling it to is buying it based on weight, since they're just grinding up everything into a protein powder of sorts. That comes up to... and the rate of exchange..." Milligan

licked his lips. "If I'm running these calculations properly, this ought to net us around five million shandys."

At that, Jason winced. Of course, the number dwarfed anything that he had made in his early days of Summer Shandy, but it was a trifle compared to some of the hauls he had been pulling in. It would hardly be enough money to buy seed to plant the field over again.

"It could be a lot worse." Jason nodded after a few moments. "We knew it was a bit of a risk." After a moment, he smiled. "And, besides, I wouldn't have traded the experience of this for anything."

"It was pretty cool, and we still have the Far Eighty to get done." Milligan chuckled and put the notepad away. He clapped his hand on Jason's shoulder as they started walking toward the house. "Thanks for giving it a shot, in any case, boss. It means a lot."

Jason simply shrugged. "I haven't gotten to where I am by playing it safe." He laughed after a moment. "One time, just to try to earn a little more, the very first year I was here, I bought some cattle from Weatherhand and tried to manage them all on my own!"

Milligan laughed. "And how'd that go?"

"Well, I had a massive crush on Theresa at the time, and the injuries I sustained landed me in the hospital for something like a week, so..." Milligan laughed even louder, and soon; they walked inside. The smell of chicken enchiladas filled the air, and the two of them were soon seated at the dining room table. Fern was all smiles, and Jason sat down next to her and ruffled her hair.

"How did it go?" Tess asked as they all tucked in. "You'll be heading across the prairie after lunch, I assume?"

"That's the plan." Jason nodded. "We won't be able to get the New Eighty done today, but if we can get the Far Eighty done, that'll be good enough for me." He nodded for a moment, and his mind turned back to Tess's first question. He saw, as if for the first time, the birds flitting around Fern's head, and a smile came across his face. "But... Yes, it went really well, and I hope the afternoon goes even better.

Chapter 15. Porch Weather

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 30th day of Fall! 61 days until the Fall Festival! Alright, folks, we're one month into this! To commemorate the occasion, Paulina and Cecilia will be hosting an apple pie contest this afternoon! Bake up your favorite apple pies (or other types of pie, we're not going to turn anything away), and bring it on into town!]

"Now that sounds delicious." Jason rolled out of bed, smiling softly.

Tess laughed. "You do have a thing for pie. That's how you really made your mark on the town, if I remember correctly."

Jason could only nod in agreement. It had been a few years since he had really practiced the art, but there had been a time when he had been considered an expert, at least by himself. He stretched and started to get dressed, and Tess followed behind him.

"Do you want to go?" Tess asked after a moment. "I'm sure the kids would love it, at least Fern would."

Jason thought for a moment, slowly stroking his chin in thought. "It would be an absolute blast, don't get me wrong, but I do need to get the field re- planted, if possible. We just finished harvesting the New Eighty yesterday, and I can't really afford to waste the day."

Tess nodded in thought, then shrugged. "Well, what if I bake the pies and head into town this morning, and you and Milligan can shut down a little early for the day and come in around dinnertime?"

Jason nodded in approval. "That actually sounds like a great plan." He looked out the window, where Milligan was just riding up. "I'd better get moving, then. No time to waste."

He jogged down the stairs, pulled on his boots, and raced out into the yard just about as fast as he could go. Milligan looked up at him in surprise, and he quickly explained the plan. Milligan seemed to like the idea just as much as Jason did, and they quickly got the chores done, then hitched up Angus and Dusty to the planters.

Tess brought them out a quick breakfast, which they ate just before they took off. As they prepared to leave, Milligan glanced over at Jason.

"What are we planting today, boss?"

"I think we're going to do popcorn." Jason answered after a moment. "That's always been a pretty safe bet, and it's fun enough to take care of." "Then that's what I'll get loaded up." Milligan started poking at the air, selecting the grain, and Jason loaded up his own planter. When they were done, Jason took up the reins, and off they went.

Popcorn was one of the more pleasant crops that Jason had ever planted, that was for sure. It had been a few years since he had really tackled it, but as he did so, the memories came flooding back. A fresh, buttery smell filled the air as the seed disks were pulled through the ground, while the sound of

the seed rattling down the tubes into the soil rather sounded like the clatter of popping... popcorn. He took a deep breath as he went along, knowing that they would have to save back a bit of the crop once harvest time came. At Cecilia's store, he had seen a number of popcorn flavor mixes, which you could pour over homemade popcorn, and he had long since wanted to try them out.

When Jason reached the end of the field and turned back around, he caught sight of Tess walking out the front door and across the yard, carrying a large stack of pastry boxes in her arms. Pies could, like any other food, be safely stored in an inventory slot, but they sure held their flavor and essence a great deal better if they were carried normally. It looked like Fern and Rachel were sitting on the porch, watching, though, as Tess entered the barn. Rachel began to crawl down the steps and scampered off around the house, chasing something that Jason couldn't see.

Jason laughed at that, and laughed again as he watched Tess chasing after their daughter. When the same thing had happened with Fern, he had been worried about all the different things that she could get into. Now, with Rachel, he found that most of those concerns simply faded away. Fern had turned out okay, at least so far, which mitigated a great deal of the anxieties that he had once faced.

In any event, Tess was still getting things ready when he reached the end of the field closest to the house, and by the time he turned around at the far end of the field, she was gone. Though, he did catch sight of her, briefly, as the carriage rumbled down the road toward Summer Shandy.

The two men worked on through the morning, finishing up the field just a smidge before lunchtime. Jason pulled to a stop just outside the gates, and Milligan rumbled up next to him.

"If it's all the same to you, I'm going to go ahead and get started. You go get food, bring me something, and we'll pause when you get there."

Jason nodded. "Works for me!"

With that, Milligan rumbled off across the prairie, and Jason quickly went inside. To his delight, he found that Tess had thought through their lunchtime plans. She had left out a basket filled with far more food than the two of them would possibly be able to eat. Jason grabbed it, then went back out to the planter, mounted up, and set off after Milligan.

The rest of that afternoon passed simply and quickly. Their horses seemed to understand their urgency, or at least their need for relative haste, and allowed the two of them to only take a quick break for lunch before getting back into the swing of the workday. Moving as quickly as possible, they managed to finish up the Far Eighty around four o'clock in the afternoon. While not terribly early, it was a bit quicker than Jason had been hoping for. "Are you coming in, too?" Jason asked Milligan as they quit the fertile, now-seeded ground.

"Nah." Milligan shook his head. "Too many people. I'll come into town for the festivals, otherwise, I'm perfectly happy eating my own pie out here in the hills."

"If you change your mind, I'll save you a piece!" Jason waved, then rode off back for the homestead.

It took him another hour before he was able to leave, as he discovered a few loose bolts on the planter as he was putting it away. Soon enough he was able to ride out, this time on Alfred, as Angus was simply too tired, and Lady had already been taken by Tess. As such, by the time he actually rode up into Summer Shandy, it was well onto dinnertime, and the village was turning out like one of its festival days.

The town square was open, that much was different, and a handful of travelers and warriors made their way through the area. That said, the Guild Hall seemed to be a bustling hive of activity. Brilliant lights shining out through the windows, and a steady stream of people pouring in and out. Jason took Alfred around to the stables, then eagerly made his way inside. As always, the Guild Hall was a center of warmth and festivity. A long, low table down the middle of the room held a wide array of pies, pastries, cakes, and just about every other sort of dessert that Jason could imagine. At the end closest to the hearth were classic, lattice-striped apple pies. Moving down toward the far end—he counted blueberry pies, cherry pies, peach pies, lemon and lime meringue pies, apricot pies, mincemeat pies, apple fritters—and a host of other things that he couldn't even begin to name. The air was so laden with the scent of sugar that he felt he was gaining weight just by smelling it. That said... well... It was in honor of fall, and Jason felt that it would have been impossible to create a smell that was more quintessentially fall than that.

Tess and Rachel were standing on the far side of the room, chatting with Paulina, while Fern was chasing a host of village children around the table, again and again.

"Jason!" Tess cried and waved him over, and Jason quickly made his way over. "How did work go?"

"As well as could be." Jason answered with a smile. "How are things going here? Who won?"

"Judging is going to start in just a second." Paulina answered. "The judges are Delilah and Cecilia. Delilah because she's as honest as they come (and isn't going to choose anything that Jeremiah made), and Cecilia for the fact

that she won't remember who made what, or who anyone else is anyway, which makes her impartial."

At that, Jason laughed, and as his stomach grumbled, the two judges started in on the apple pies, and eating their way slowly toward the other end.

Now that was a sight to behold. The entire room fell silent, so silent that they could hear the two judges chewing over the soft crackling of the fire. Each of them only took the tiniest little bite out of each platter, but still, there was so much that Jason imagined that they would be stuffed beyond belief by the time they reached the end.

As it happened, over the course of almost twenty minutes, they ate and ate and ate. Debated amongst themselves, and finally settled upon an apple pie that had been baked by Paulina, and a blueberry pie that had been baked by Tess. The whole room exploded into cheers, and the two women were presented with crowns made out of corn cobs. Fern laughed and giggled at the display, and with that, the table was opened up for everyone.

Ordinarily, Jason really did try to eat at least somewhat healthy (and Tess was enough of a stickler about it that he rarely got away with eating too badly), but on that night, he feasted on nothing but dessert. Once in a blue moon wouldn't hurt him, after all, and it was a town event. The only regret came at the end of the evening, when Fern went on a sugar rush and started running circles around the two of them pell-mell. She wore herself out long before they made it home, at which point, she crashed, and was asleep before they got her in bed.

As Jason and Tess settled down for the night, Jason sighed deeply, even as his stomach sorta started to churn from the rather poor diet. Tess wrapped her arms around him, and he felt his heart grow warm.

"That was nice." He whispered in her ear. "I wish we could do it all the time, you know?"

"It's the fact that it only happens once or twice that really makes it special." Tess whispered back.

That much, Jason couldn't really disagree with. He stared up at the dark ceiling, then closed his eyes and let his mind drift back to that evening. It was true, but... In some ways, it seemed that Summer Shandy was always bringing up special things of that nature. It certainly made sure he was never bored!

Now, all there was to do was look forward to the next thing that would come his way.

Chapter 16. Going to Market

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 34th day of Fall! 57 days until the Fall Festival! It's a crisp one today, but nothing too terrible. Make sure you bundle up, folks, and I reckon that you'll get along just fine!]

Jason yawned as he rolled out of bed and slowly walked up to the window. The wind seemed calm that day, which was always nice. A stiff wind would make any day feel twice as cold as it really was, and a calm day could do quite a lot to mitigate chilly temperatures. Down below, Milligan was already walking around, managing the chores, and Jason crossed his arms. The field was slowly rising, shoots of corn rising up in height of around a foot, well on track for what they needed.

"Morning, Jason." Tess murmured as she rose up from bed and started changing. "Are you still good to help me with the animals today?"

Jason nodded. "That's my plan. You're hauling things into market today?" "A few things, yeah." Tess confirmed. "I'm still a little unsure of how to handle some of the new creatures, but I suppose we'll see how it goes. I

also want to sheer the sheep and some of the other woolier animals today, if we have the time."

"Right." Jason remembered. "You're buying the wool cleaner when you go into town today."

"That's the plan." Tess confirmed. "I don't know exactly how it's all going to work on the wild beasts, but... Like I said, we'll see!"

Given that they were going to be working with the animals anyway, Jason stayed in the house and helped Tess get the girls ready together. Milligan came inside once the chores were done, and the group of them all ate breakfast together while they planned out the day. When they were done, Jason and Milligan went out, and Milligan departed for the Lazy-H Ranch. "I'll be back in just a few!" He called out.

Jason nodded in return, then made his way up into the barn. He was greeted by an utter cacophony of chaos as the animals barked, howled, roared, and more. More and more creatures kept showing up, and Jason shook his head in amazement. He began pouring feed, and soon, Tess and the two girls came out.

"Help daddy!" Fern raced up to him. "Peas?"

"Of course you can help me!" Jason hoisted her up onto his shoulders, then slowly walked over to the nest of a thunderbird. It was high above his head, and he lifted her up into the air. "Can you grab that egg, there?"

The nest was made from sticks and mud. It harbored a few small eggs that Fern quickly and expertly took down. Jason added them into his inventory, then took Fern over to some of the coops. There, Fern helped him retrieve a number of the chicken eggs, along with a few others there. As they were finishing up, hooves rumbled in the driveway, and Richard came trotting up

into the barn riding on one of his livestock wagons. Several more came along behind, and Tess grinned.

"Thanks, dad!"

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world!" Richard called down. "It's not every day you get to see creatures like this get hauled into market." He paused after a moment. "What... what are you going to do if no one wants to buy it?"

"I called down an exotic pet dealer from Illumitir." Tess answered. "He ought to be able to buy anything that can't be sold for meat, or... I don't know, we have a ton of animals, and have to be able to turn a profit on them!"

Richard laughed, and several of his hired men walked into the barn. The wagons were set up, and soon, they had all the ordinary things, like the goats and pigs (and a few extra sheep that Tess didn't need for wool), loaded up. With that, they rumbled off, Tess riding along with them. Jason, meanwhile, along with Milligan, started setting up the shearing stand for the sheep.

"Alright, boss." Milligan scooped up Fern and set her on the mobile platform. "Should we get this one clipped up?"

Jason reached out and ran his fingers through Fern's hair. It was rapidly falling down her back, a smidge past her shoulders now. "Hmm. Looks a little thin, but I reckon we could get a half-decent price for it."

"No!" Fern shrieked and ran away. "Don't cut my hair! I tell mommy!" Both Jason and Milligan laughed. When the bout had passed, Milligan glanced over at Jason.

"Should we start with the sheep?"

Jason paused, then shook his head. "Nah. I'd actually like to start with the static caprines."

Milligan nodded, and they soon took the first one out of the pen and led it up. Fern, down below, reached up a hand to touch it. With a zap, both the hair of the caprine and Fern's hair all stood out on end. Jason laughed at the sight of his daughter, who giggled as well.

"It funny!"

"Yes, it is." Jason shook his head, still chuckling, and pulled out his shears. "Let's get this--"

He touched the shears to the caprine, and with a brilliant blast of static electricity, the shears turned into something of a lightning rod. Jason yelped as he was lifted from his feet and blasted backward into a nearby haystack, while the hair of the creature was all teleported into a nearby pile. Jason groaned and climbed back to his feet, shaking the lingering pain out of his body, and Milligan laughed softly.

"If that don't beat all." He took the much less wooly caprine and went back to the pen. "You want me to do the next one?"

Jason glanced at Fern, who was giggling wildly.

"Daddy fly!"

"Nah, I've got it." Jason answered. "I've got an audience I don't want to disappoint."

They only had three of the creatures, but by the time he picked himself up for the third time, he was rather regretting his decision to press forward. Still, though, he had a large pile of fur that was still sparking and rattling about—even after it had been parted from the creatures. Jason could see nothing but potential, though he didn't have the faintest idea what it might

be. He took out a burlap bag and transferred the contents inside, then turned his attention to the rest of the animals.

The sheep were next and took the rest of the time until Richard and Tess returned. All four wagons came rumbling up, empty, and Tess hopped down. Jason showed her the bags, and she told him that everything was ready in town. Next, they started loading up the more exotic creatures, and Jason held his breath.

They loaded up the domesticated wargs, all but six of them, which Tess hoped to use as breeding stock. They were as fat as pigs, and seemed to simply ripple with muscle, which Jason hoped meant that they were good for eating. Next, they loaded up some giant frog-things (frog legs were quite popular in Illumitir, so he expected those to sell well, too). After that, they moved on to a number of dwarf elephants, of all things, which stood about four feet high at the shoulder. These, thankfully, were anything but endangered, and were already multiplying like jackrabbits. So much so, that Jason wasn't sure if his barn would be able to hold them all by the time that the next livestock sale came around.

When that load of animals went out, Jason and Milligan turned to shearing the last of their newfound creatures. These... well... Jason wasn't exactly sure what to call them. They looked rather like ostriches, but had thick rolls of wool instead of feathers. They were tame as doves, that was for sure, and Milligan had no problems leading the six-foot-tall birds over to the shearing station. There, Jason didn't even have to strap them into anything, he simply tapped them with the shears, and that was that! Milligan then led them back to their nests, and Jason began bagging up all the wool and fur that they had gathered.

"Look, daddy!" Fern ran up to the bag of wool that contained the static hair, and poked it. With a zap, all her hair stood on end, and she giggled.

"Now you look like one of my animals!" Jason crouched down. "Should I put you into one of the pens with them?"

Fern shrieked. "Daddy, no!"

Jason ran toward her, and Fern turned and ran screaming across the barn. Jason came right along after her, eliciting a large number of startled grunts and snorts from the assorted creatures. He had almost caught up with her when the llama, apparently protective over the young child (which Jason supposed was a good thing) hit Jason right between the eyes. It was one of the most powerful spitballs that Jason had yet felt. He stumbled and went down hard, groaning in pain, and the llama fired three more shots into his gut, making sure he stayed down. Just like when he had been hit with the static electricity, Fern just thought that it was the funniest thing she had ever seen, and Jason soon made himself scarce. The rest of that day was filled with the nicest form of chaos.

Tess came home after a few hours in town, having sold off everything that she could. As she hopped down, Jason caught a glimpse of a large sort of device that had an inordinate number of hooks and pulleys, which he supposed was the wool cleaner.

"Mommy!" Fern ran across the barn floor, and Tess scooped up her daughter and held her close. "I miss you!"

"And I missed you!" Tess gave Fern a kiss on the nose, then set her down and nodded at the cleaning machine. "Jason, Milligan, would you mind helping me get that thing down?"

They both agreed, and soon, they had the machine down on the ground and pushed up against the rear of the barn. As they stood there, puffing and

panting, Milligan clapped Jason on the shoulder.

"My boy, I have greatly enjoyed this day, but if you get many more animals, you're going to have to get more help around here!" He paused. "Or if you buy any more land, or, just in general, find some other way to expand this farm."

Tess nodded in agreement. "Still, though, that's a good problem to have." She chuckled as she started walking toward the large bags of wool that they had gathered. "Maybe we'll even rival my dad's business, someday!" "Maybe." Jason was unconvinced. "Jeremiah had been building that place for thirty years before I arrived, and your dad is only pushing the pedal to the metal."

"That's fair." Tess touched the static sack, causing all of her hair to stand on end. Fern shrieked with delight, and Tess shrugged. "Still..." She sighed deeply. "I'm greatly enjoying this."

Jason glanced around the somewhat emptier barn, and he took a deep breath. Rachel giggled as Richard climbed down from another wagon box holding her tightly, and Milligan smiled.

"You know what?" Jason nodded. "I am, too.

Chapter 17. Always Possible

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 50th day of Fall! 41 days until the Fall Festival! It's looking like a real scorcher today, folks! I'm talking... It would be hot for summer, we'll put it that way! Get outside and enjoy it, if you can!]

As Jason rolled out of bed, he found himself sweating profusely, and he gasped as he slowly walked up to the window and looked out. Sure enough, it was a hot one, there was simply no other way about it. The night before, it had been so cold that they had bundled up as warm as they could, and now, as he pulled off his soggy nightclothes, he rather regretted the decision. "Whew!" Jason wiped his brow and pulled the window open. Warm air drifted in, and he shook his head. "What did Obadiah do, spawn in a herd of dragons or something?"

Tess laughed as she climbed out of bed behind him. "It's always possible, but I'd put my money on Jeremiah."

"If it was, Delilah will have already punished him well enough, then." Jason laughed and turned his attention down to the field of popcorn, which was

just a day or two away from harvest. "Well, what should we do today? Surely we have to do something with the girls, right?"

Tess nodded. "Fern has been asking me if we can grow a pumpkin, like Richard did at the pumpkin patch."

"Now that sounds like an excellent idea!" Jason beamed. "I wonder if Milligan has any experimental varieties we can use?"

"Nothing crazy." Tess held up a hand. "Maybe something multi-colored, or really big, or something, but Fern really does just want something simple." "Then simple, it shall be." Jason waved. "Let's have a picnic for breakfast, shall we?"

"I'll be right outside!"

A few moments later, Jason made his way down and into the yard. Milligan was just riding up on Dusty, and smiled as he swung down from the noble beast.

"How goes it, boss? What do you make of this weather?"

"Like nothing I've ever seen before, I can tell you that much." Jason shook his head in amazement. "I've seen it get warm in fall before, but I think this is a record."

"I'll go get the ventilation opened up in the barn, then." Milligan started marching up toward the enormous structure. "I got everything locked down tight last night, so I reckon they're roasting in there."

Jason nodded and followed, and they soon began opening up an assortment of air passageways that Johan, the architect, had built in. The animals (who seemed no worse for wear) began calling eagerly for their feed, so the moment that everything had been put into place, Jason went about the process of dumping some sort of feed into just about every animal's enclosure.

Figuring out what each individual beast ate had proven to be quite the task, that was for sure. Some of them were easy, and just ate the same thing as whatever they looked most closely like. For example, the static caprines simply ate goat feed. Others, though, had proven more difficult, but they had managed well enough, at least for the ones that couldn't just go out hunting on their own. The Azul Snake Feline helped out, too, catching crabgrasses and other such monsters to bring to some of its closest friends. All in all, it was an odd sort of situation, but one that Jason didn't mind.

By the time they finished the chores, Tess had come outside and spread out a blanket near the field. The five of them all sat down, and Tess pulled out an enormous spread of food, fit for a proper breakfast picnic. There were sausages, omelets (one for each person, cooked in exactly the manner they preferred), a great deal of bacon, and a number of biscuits to hold all of it together. Together, they all tucked in, with Fern sitting down on Jason's lap and largely nibbling his own food more than her own.

"So, what's the plan for today, boss?" Milligan finally asked, leaning back upon the ground. "If you ordered mandatory naps, I wouldn't fight you too hard, though I'm also open for just about anything."

Jason laughed. "You don't get too many days like today." He nodded. "We'll take it easy. I don't suppose you happen to have any form of experimental pumpkins?" A glimmer came into his eye. "Something really crazy?"

"I have a particular variety that carves itself into a jack-o-lantern and then detaches itself from the vine to eat small rodents that wander past." Milligan answered after a moment. "It digests them, and then uses the fuel from their bodies to generate the light, which then attracts more animals, and--"

"No!" Tess threw a paper plate at Jason's head. Her aim was impeccable, and Jason was left with a searing paper cut across his forehead. "Ahh! I'm so sorry Jason! But—no."

Jason laughed and dabbed at the paper cut for a few moments. It really wasn't too bad, not nearly as bad as the ones he sometimes got on his fingers. "How about something that's just really big?"

"That much, I can do!"

Pop!

A sharp crack echoed across the farmstead, and Jason jumped to his feet. Fern stood up as well, and both of them put their right hands over their eyes to help them squint as they looked around, trying to determine the cause of the noise. Milligan stood up as well, and he crossed his arms as they turned back and forth.

"Any idea what that was?" Jason asked after a moment. "I don't hear--" Pop!

A second one went off, followed by a third, then a fourth. Suddenly, the noise began to intensify, and Jason got a great deal more of a sense where it was coming from.

Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!

All across the field, the cornstalks began to shake as if a herd of pigs was running through them. On the edge, Jason could see the dried husks around the ears beginning to bulge up, and he grimaced.

"Duck!"

Everyone dropped to the ground, and a moment later, the field exploded into a cacophonous din. Popcorn exploded out of the ears of corn, blasting away like machine guns, sending light, fluffy kernels of corn flying left and right. A great deal of it, in the middle of the field, was blasted straight up

into the air, making it look rather like an inverted snowstorm. Meanwhile, on the edges of the field, popcorn erupted out in great arcs, showering down across the family, and the grasses, in a wonderful display.

All told, the corn continued to pop for the better part of a minute, at which point, it began to die away. There were still a few scattered pops here and there, but they were well over two seconds apart, which told Jason all he needed to know. He slowly stood back up, finding himself in the middle of a popcorn drift that came up to his waist. It sloped down to the ground as it got further away from the field, of course, but... Inside the field, it seemed piled up almost to his chest. For a moment, the group just stood there, staring.

"Daddy! Nacks!"

Fern raced through the popcorn, vanishing as she forged into a part of the drift that was well over her head. Jason could hear her munching and crunching on the treat and shook his head in amazement.

"Boss?" Milligan scratched behind his head after a moment. "Anything you want us to do?"

Jason shrugged. "Ahh... First things first, I need you to go check the paperwork on this stuff. See if there's a warranty. We didn't buy crop insurance, did we?"

Milligan shook his head. "In your words, it was 'the biggest scam since horse insurance'. I'll go check for a warranty." He started slogging through the popcorn. "I do think I remember seeing something in the buyer's agreement, which you signed, stating that there was a risk of it popping if the temperature got up over a certain amount."

"I never read those." Jason muttered. A moment passed, and he called after Milligan. "One more thing! Write a letter to Obadiah, and tell him that

there's free popcorn for anyone who wants to come get it! And have Cecilia bring down some of that flavor mix!"

"On it, boss!"

Milligan vanished into the house. Jason sighed, then, with a shrug, threw himself into the popcorn as if he were jumping into a pool. Popcorn exploded every which way, and he sighed deeply.

"Jason!" Tess scolded him. "You're going to teach Fern bad tricks!"

"Come on." Jason climbed back to his feet, shaking popcorn out of his overalls. "She's not watching, and besides, I won't get hurt!"

A moment later, after doing a perfect swan-dive into a particularly deep drift of popcorn, Jason whacked his head firmly on the fence, and he howled in pain. Fern (who had exited the popcorn and was watching) rushed over to kiss his wound, then scolded him for not listening to mommy. Jason laughed through it all—but didn't try to dive into the popcorn again.

The rest of that day was spent trying to dispose of the stuff. People came down in droves from Summer Shandy to haul it away, though, with eighty acres of the stuff to deal with, they weren't able to get much. Milligan came back out to inform Jason that there was a warranty in the event of a mass popping, but that it was voided if anyone ate, played in, or otherwise disturbed the food produced until after it could be inspected. Jason, head throbbing, wasn't tremendously surprised to hear that, and turned his menagerie of animals loose upon it.

In the end, the pigs were the ones who were truly able to clear away a significant chunk of the popcorn, though there was still a decent amount left over. By the end of the day, Jason was confused, but... well... It had been

yet another experience to be remembered, and for that fact alone, he was thankful.

Milligan bade them farewell and set off for his cabin, and Jason and his family went back inside. As he tucked Fern into bed, she grinned up at him. "Eat more nacks morrow?"

"We'll see." Jason chuckled softly. "Probably not, though." Fern puckered up her lips, and Jason smiled. "That said, I'm going to need a lot of help getting all that popcorn cleaned up."

"Help daddy?"

"Help daddy."

Fern went to sleep that night with a smile on her face. Jason, confused as he was about how to proceed... well... He did, too.

Chapter 18. Whatever Fallout

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 62nd day of Fall! 29 days until the Fall Festival! We've got a big storm coming through today, folks! Batten down the hatches, because it's going to be a nasty one! Also, as a side note, expect things to start getting a whole lot colder around here!]

Jason shivered as he climbed out of bed. He couldn't see his breath in the air, certainly, but it was chilly. He slowly walked up to the window, where thick, black clouds roiled overhead. Lightning flashed, and as he looked out across the prairie, he could see sheets of rain coming down from the clouds off in the distance. It would still be a little bit before it arrived, but it was coming.

"What's your plan today?" Tess asked as she started to get dressed.

"I was going to get out into the field." Jason stroked his chin. "The next crop of popcorn is coming along nicely, but it's showing some signs of insect damage, so I was planning on doing some treatments, but..." He

shrugged. "If it's storming as bad as it looks like, I'm not planning on spending any more time out in the storm than I have to."

"You want to spend a day around the house, then?" Tess beamed. "I could use a hand cleaning behind some of the couches, and your office looks like it hasn't been touched in a year."

Jason groaned softly, but nodded. "That sounds like a plan to me. Probably good to get it all cleaned out, I suppose. I--"

His voice trailed off, and his eyes narrowed. Out in the early morning light, the door of the barn had opened just a crack. He leaned forward, watching as something slipped inside and vanished into the darkness of the interior. "Something the matter?"

"Probably not." Jason shook his head, then started getting changed. "Most likely, just something else that the snake-cat-thing befriended, but I suppose we'll see." He finished getting dressed, then swept out of the room and down the stairs. Fern was already in the hall, with Rachel crawling along behind. Jason blinked, and Fern pointed down the stairs.

"Hungwy!"

"Tess! You've got people who need you!" Jason called back to his wife, then ruffled Fern on the head, gave Rachel a kiss, and started down the stairs.

"Help daddy?" Fern called down after him.

"In a minute!" Jason returned. "Just give daddy a few minutes to get chores done!"

Fern didn't seem to particularly like the idea of waiting but then, she was only three years old. Soon, Jason was out in the yard, with Chance bounding along just behind.

Overhead, the clouds were rolling thicker and faster, and the approaching sheets of rain seemed to grow by the second. Lightning flashed and rumbled, and a cold air whipped across the farmstead. Next to the house, a massive pumpkin vine covered a rather large portion of the yard, where a single pumpkin, still green, was rapidly swelling up. Milligan was estimating that it would be ready to harvest within just a few days, at which point, they would... well... do whatever Fern wanted to do, really.

Jason drew his coat a bit tighter about him and pushed forward, quickly arriving at the barn. There, he found that the barn door was, indeed, open. "Didn't I latch that last night?" Jason frowned, then sighed and stepped inside. Likely, he had just forgotten about it. The only problem was... What was waiting for him once he got inside?

As he stepped in the doors, Chance began to growl, and Jason felt his blood grow colder. Still, though, he kept his cool. If it was something that the cat had brought home, it would be tame enough. He reached out and pressed his hand against a nearby lantern, and with a flicker, dozens of lanterns sprang to life all across the upper floors of the barn.

Shadows sprang up with just as much ferocity as the light. The animals, who largely hadn't woken up since it was still so dark, all began rising up in confusion. There was an assortment of startled bleats, trumpets, squawks, and other noises, but none of them really started screaming or rampaging about—which Jason was thankful for. His eyes swept over the location, and slowly, he reached out and pulled the door shut behind him.

Whoosh.

Something moved overhead. He slowly looked upward, feeling a strange sense that he had been in this situation once before. Now, though,

something felt different. He couldn't tell exactly what was different, but something was off.

Very off.

Slowly, Jason reached into his inventory and pulled out his pistol. As he raised it up, though, he realized that he had never reloaded the thing after firing it at the cat, and since it was a flintlock muzzleloader, it wasn't the easiest thing to reload in a pinch. He put it back, then checked both his flintlock rifle and his blunderbuss.

Both were empty.

A dark form leapt from the rafters and into the upper loft, where all the assorted tools and equipment were placed. Jason's blood grew cold at the sight. It was humanoid, that much was for sure. He slowly bent down and picked up a pitchfork, then started up the stairs. It looked almost like a goblin, though perhaps a bit longer, and somewhat more fuzzy. As he came up to the loft, he gave the pitchfork a twirl, then drew it back like a trident, or a spear.

"Alright!" He called out. "Come out with your hands up, and I'll consider--" A clump of dirt - at least Jason hoped it was dirt - flashed out of the darkness and caught the pitchfork dead-on. It was ripped from Jason's rather unskilled hands and sent clattering into the darkness below. A moment later, a dark creature rushed forward, directly toward Jason.

At that moment, he was given a perfect view of the thing. It was a monkey, or maybe an ape, about as tall as Jason himself. It seemed to prefer walking on all fours, as it was rather hunched over, though in that rush, it had no problems running on its hind legs. Jason had a moment to try and brace himself, and with a loud whack, it struck him. He was sent flying out into the air, coming down on a bag of static caprine hair. Small bolts of lightning

flickered across him, and he yelped with pain and rolled away. The ape came down a few feet to the side, performing a perfect landing that didn't seem to injure it in the slightest. It rose up, its features still somewhat obscured in the gloom, and Jason stood up as well.

His eyes traced all over the strange creature. It seemed to have orangish- yellow fur, and wide cheeks that puffed out on either side of its face. Its eyes were small, but they seemed to hold a form of intelligence that made Jason wary. As it took a step toward Jason, though, something else drew his attention.

Its fist held something shiny. Red, which let off a glimmer of light in that darkness.

A fragment of the dungeon core.

It seemed to realize that Jason was staring at the fragment. It snorted and rushed forward. Jason tried to dive out of the way, but, as it turned out, he didn't need to bother himself.

Hock-pew!

The llama, finally coming to his rescue, fired off a barrage of spitballs that caught the ape utterly unawares. It staggered and fell to the side, then clambered back to its feet, lurched forward, and went crashing out through the barn doors. Jason ran up to the opening to look out as it raced away, flashed past the house, and jumped the fence to run off across the prairie. Jason briefly considered racing after it, but a moment later, the rain hit.

It wasn't a soft, soothing sort of a rain, but a blistering, blasting sort of rain. Overhead, liquid thundered against the barn's roof, and the air seemed to chill as a cold mist rose up from the strikes of the raindrops. Jason puffed out his cheeks, confused, then slowly turned around and walked back to start working on the chores.

He did the chores that day quite slowly, pouring feed for all the assorted animals while keeping an eye on the door. By the time he finished, almost thirty minutes had elapsed. He walked up to the llama and gave it a pat on the neck (and subsequently dodged a spitball that it fired at him), then made his way back to the barn door.

The rain was coming down even harder now. He pulled up the hood of his coat before forging out into the torrent, pulling the barn door shut, and braving the rain. In an instant, he was soaked to his skin, and as he latched the barn door, he felt himself beginning to shiver. Still though, he chuckled as he made his way down from the barn toward the house.

Sure, it was cold, but... How often did people get assaulted by prehistoric apes wielding dungeon core fragments? He turned toward his steadily growing field. The pumpkin was rapidly swelling up to the size of a small shed, and to the great farmhouse that would keep out all the rain, at least once he bothered to actually get inside.

Inside, Tess, Fern, and Rachel were waiting for him. Sure, they had a full day of work ahead of them, but was it really work when family was involved? The only work would be writing a letter to Hank to explain what had happened... And then, of course, dealing with whatever fallout came from that.

Chapter 19. Second Floor

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 80th day of Fall! 11 days until the Fall Festival! We're on the final stretch, folks! Almost to the festival! Let's see... All indications I'm seeing on paper are that the weather today should be pleasantly warm, but sticking my hand out the door, it feels really cold. I dunno, I guess we'll all find out!]

"It's cold." Tess murmured as Jason rolled out of bed. He found her sitting in a rocking chair next to the bed, rocking Rachel quietly while patting their daughter on the back. The little one snored deeply, a raspy sort of noise that made Jason wince, and Tess sighed. "On the bright side, I was able to get her back to sleep after steaming the room with a bath, and then taking her outside for a few minutes."

Jason leaned down and gave Rachel a kiss on the forehead. "Poor girl. Well, she's got a good Mama looking out for her."

Tess smiled softly. "If you wouldn't mind getting Fern ready, that good mama would sure appreciate being able to focus a bit more attention on this

one."

"You've got it." Jason nodded. "Actually, the plan for today is to carve up the big pumpkin anyway."

"Good!" Tess brightened. "Then I'll just stay in here, nice and warm with Rachel, and you can go out with Fern."

Jason gave both of them another kiss, then finished getting changed and made his way out into the hall. There, he found Fern standing in her nightgown, looking up at Jason with a confused sort of look.

"Where Ray?"

"Rachel's sick, but she's getting better." Jason patted Fern on the head. "Now, why don't we go get you dressed?"

Fern smiled. "Work daddy?"

"I think we can manage that." Jason nodded.

"Yay!"

All told, it was close to half an hour before they managed to get out of the house. Fern and Jason took quite some time before they were able to compromise on an outfit, and then it took a bit longer for them to decide on a proper breakfast. Jason made some chicken noodle soup and brought it up for Tess to eat, which his exhausted wife seemed to appreciate. After that, Jason got himself and Fern bundled up, and slowly made their way out into the farmyard.

There, Milligan was just finishing up the chores, though Fern asked to scatter feed for the chickens (and other assorted birds). Once all that was taken care of, the three of them slowly walked down to the pumpkin patch, where the positively enormous pumpkin was finally ready for the harvest. "Now this has turned into quite a whopper." Jason shook his head in amazement as they approached the vegetable. To be fair, it wasn't like... the

size of his house, or anything, but it was easily the size of his carriage. All they would need were a few wheels, and maybe something strong enough to pull it, and... well... it would make quite the spectacle at the Fall Festival. "You really outdid yourself, Milligan."

"Think nothing of it." Milligan waved his hand dismissively. "Making things gigantic is one of the easiest genetic modifications you can do to a plant. I have a friend who lives on one of the islands down south, and he managed to grow a watermelon that was a hundred feet long and at least twenty or thirty wide."

Jason whistled in amazement. "That's incredible."

"It took him almost eight full months from the time it was planted until it was ready for harvest." Milligan nodded. "Of course, they don't have winter out there, so..." He shrugged. "Have fun, boss."

"Do you want to help?" Jason glanced at his hired man.

"Nah." Milligan waved his hand. "This is a father-daughter thing. I'm not going to impose on that, mark my words. Besides, I've got to get ready for harvest tomorrow." He nodded at the field of popcorn. "It's likely to be even colder tomorrow, and I'd like to spend as little time out in the weather tightening bolts as possible."

"Fair enough." Jason waved as Milligan set off. "See you tomorrow, then!" As Milligan headed over to the lean-to where all the equipment was kept, Jason and Fern approached the pumpkin. Jason drew out his Winter Shandy sword, then took a deep breath and held it over the massively thick stem. "Why daddy cut it?" Fern asked. "Why not poof?"

Jason laughed at that. "Why don't I just use an action to harvest it?"

Fern nodded. "Yes!"

"Because it's way more fun to do it this way." Jason planted his left foot on the thick, dried vine, and lifted the sword above his head. "I can pretend I'm a great warrior, cutting the head from a mighty dragon!"

With that, he brought the sword down with all his might. The old, refurbished blade struck the stem with all due force, sending up a shower of chips. As Jason opened his eyes and took a deep breath, he found that the sword had penetrated about three inches in the almost three-foot-thick stem. "Daddy?" Fern tugged at his coat. "Dwagon still alive."

"I see that." Jason pulled out the sword, then raised it once more. "Hi-yaw!" His second attempt wasn't a great deal more successful than the first. Still, though, he didn't give up, and began steadily hacking at it, dealing blow after blow. He did switch over to a hatchet when it became obvious that it wasn't going to come quickly. He didn't really want to damage the elegant sword at all, and that sped the process up. Soon, he had severed the pumpkin from the stem, and dropped the hatchet back into his inventory. "There! Done!" He let out a long breath, then realized that, now that he had picked the pumpkin, he couldn't exactly move it, rather negating all the hard work he had just done. Fern giggled and clapped her hands, seeming not to care, and he drew out a large knife that would serve far better than the sword or the hatchet. "Now, what should we carve this into?"

Fern thought for a moment. "A house!"

"A house?" Jason laughed. "What about a big, scary jack o'lantern?"

"No!" Fern crossed her arms. "House!"

Jason saw that she wasn't going to be persuaded and nodded. "A house, then. Where do you want the door?"

Fern walked around the pumpkin a few times, then pointed. Jason walked over and drew a small line on the surface of the fruit, marking out where the

door would be, and once he was satisfied with the shape, plunged the knife through the thick flesh and began to carve it out, slowly and purposefully. Fern continued to clap her hands through all of it. When he reached the end, and the thick chunk of pumpkin fell out onto the ground, he crouched down and looked inside. There, as he held out a lantern that he took from his inventory, he let out a whistle.

The flesh of the pumpkin was about six inches thick, leaving the rest of the space as one enormous interior. Of course, said interior was filled with long strands of slimy pumpkin-gunk, all of which was laden with thousands upon thousands of seeds. Before Jason could stop her, Fern ran forward, flinging herself into the thick gunk.

"Yay!" Fern fell on her face on the floor of the pumpkin. When she picked herself up, she was dripping with orange goop, and held up her hands. "I dirty!"

"Indeed you are." Jason scooted through the entry, then looked around. "Well, let's get to work!"

He handed Fern a small trowel, then pulled a small hook out of his inventory and drove it through the wall of the pumpkin, just a bit above his head, from which he hung the lantern. That done, he took out his own trowel, and set to work.

As the two of them scraped down all the pumpkin goop, they shoveled it out through the main door, forming a great pile of gunk that they would likely have to crawl through when they went back out, but—Oh well. It was much warmer inside the pumpkin, that was for certain, and as they finished scraping the last of it out, Jason almost found it pleasantly so.

"Now windows!" Fern ran up to the wall of the pumpkin next to the door. "Wight here!"

Jason drew out his knife once more and began carving windows wherever Fern told him to carve. She cut out some triangular windows, some circular, but mostly a standard, rectangle shape. They went all around the lower portion of the pumpkin, making sure to leave enough hide in place to support the upper half of the pumpkin, and came to a stop as they made their way around.

"Now second floor!"

Jason smiled and shook his head. "I don't think we can do a second floor, Fern."

"Why?"

"Because..." Jason paused after a moment. "You know, I don't know exactly why not. You want a second floor?"

"Yes pease!"

"Then let me see what I can think up." Jason paused and closed his eyes, mulling things over for a moment, then nodded. "I think I've got something. Let me go grab something."

Fern clapped her hands, and Jason slipped back out through the door and made his way across the farmyard, up to the barn. There, after fishing around in the tool rooms for a few minutes, he came down with a supply of wooden pallets, some buckets, and an assortment of other things. Upon arriving back at the pumpkin, he set up some of the buckets to serve as pillars, then placed a wooden pallet across the top of them. That done, he took a handful of boards out of his inventory and began to hammer them across the open gaps in the pallet. When it was all said and done, he had a pretty solid second floor that didn't quite take up the whole space of the pumpkin (Jason needed room to stand up to work, after all), but it gave a pretty good coverage.

When that was done, Jason knelt down so he was under the floor, took some bricks out of his inventory, and stacked them up to form a set of stairs. Fern quickly climbed up to her new second story, and clapped her hands with glee.

"Windows!"

Jason had to crawl out of the pumpkin and work from the outside, but was soon enough able to carve out a handful of windows for her (windows that were a great deal smaller than below, largely to prevent her from falling out and hurting herself. When it was all said and done, Fern cheered and clapped her hands, then ran down to admire it from the outside.

"Get dolls?"

Jason thought for a moment. It was cold outside, but then... It was going to get a whole lot colder before the spring came and it started to warm up again, and he wanted to give her a chance to play in the new house. He nodded his assent, and took Fern back inside the real house. There, he got her cleaned up from all the pumpkin gunk, helped her gather up her dolls (including a small table and chair set), and they headed back out once more. Fern soon had her little house set up, though Jason disappointed her somewhat by refusing to allow her to bring out her own bed so she could sleep in the pumpkin overnight.

"Maybe we'll grow another pumpkin over the summer." Jason halfway- promised her. "I'll be a lot more willing to agree to let you sleep out here at that point."

"Summer!" Fern cheered. "Sleep pumpkin!"

Jason laughed, then crawled inside the pumpkin (and out of the wind), where he lay down next to Fern's table. She played around him for the next several hours, inviting him to tea half a dozen times, and baking him well

over a dozen dinners. It was a fantastic time, there was simply no other way to look at it.

When the day finally clicked around to noon, the father and daughter reluctantly bade farewell to the pumpkin, at least for a few hours, and made their way inside. There, Tess had a fire going, and food on the table. They settled down for lunch, and Jason sighed.

Some days, it was nice to get into the field and work. Other days... well... It was just fun to carve up a pumpkin with his daughter. Really, at the end of the day, could he ask for anything more precious than

Chapter 20. Last Day of Fall

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 91st day of Fall! It's the day of the Fall Festival! As is often the case during the Fall Festival, it's a cold one today, folks! Bundle up, because we're looking at rain (which will turn to snow as soon as midnight hits), high winds, and all sorts of other nasty weather! Thankfully, in the Guild Hall, we'll be nice and cozy warm!]

Jason smiled broadly as he climbed out of bed and stretched. Festival days... He simply never tired of them. As he walked up to the window, he found a steady drum of rain against the glass, pattering against the pane in a desperate attempt to batter its way inside. The wind hadn't arrived yet, but if Obadiah said it was coming, he wouldn't doubt it.

"Good morning, dear husband." Tess walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding him tight. He smiled and reached up, taking hold of her hands, and sighed deeply.

"Good morning, dear wife." Jason sighed deeply. "Ready to get rolling?"

"I think so, yes." Tess nodded. "Everything's good here on the farm, so... I say we go for it."

Jason turned and walked up to the wardrobe, where he changed into his best town tunic. As he headed out into the hall, he found Fern toddling down toward the stairs, Rachel close in tow, and he quickly scooped her up.

"Do you know what day it is today?" He nuzzled her nose with his own. "Food!" Fern giggled. "See John!"

"That's right!" Jason laughed, then set her back down. "Now off with you! Tess!"

Tess came bustling out, still tying up her dress in the back, and shooed the two girls back into their own bedroom. With that, Jason clomped down the stairs and into the living room, where Chance was eagerly awaiting his chance to head back outside. As Jason stepped onto the porch, Chance whimpered a bit, but he went out into the rain when Jason did.

Milligan was just walking up to the barn as Jason approached, and together, the two of them did the chores with relative ease. When they finished, Milligan helped Jason get the rain cover on the carriage, then mounted back up on Dusty.

"I'll catch you in town!" He waved. "I'm going to go ahead and get on in, about as quick as I can."

Jason nodded. "Anything in particular you're going for?"

Milligan shrugged. "I've got some shopping to do, and I'd rather get it done before everything gets crazy. I've also got to talk to Jeremiah about some things. Genetics stuff, you know how that goes."

"Not a clue, but I'll trust you." Jason waved. "Catch you in there!"

Milligan rode off, pulling a cloak tightly about his huddled form as he vanished into the growing storm. Jason drove the carriage down to the

porch, and soon, he had his small family huddled under the canopy. With that, they were off.

Tess had prepared a breakfast on the go, consisting of small cups of fresh fruit in some sort of fermented milk-culture-thing. It was actually pretty good, as far Jason was concerned, though as Tess extolled all its various health benefits, he made a mental note to at least pretend not to like it. They took the ride slow, splashing through the puddles at a lazy sort of pace, largely so that the rain was less likely to blow back underneath the canopy. Fern giggled and held out her hand into the dribbling liquid, which was entertaining to watch. Rachel stared out at the storm, growing more and more inquisitive, but still young enough to really be unable to do anything about it. After a time, they came rumbling up into Summer Shandy, where water was happily gurgling off the cobbles and into the prairie, while a general sense of liveliness pervaded the air.

People were bustling back and forth, holding platters of steaming food underneath umbrellas or silver covers. A few children laughed and splashed in the puddles, at least until their mothers caught them, but the majority of people seemed to be either staying in their homes or already in the Guild Hall. A soaked page boy came walking up at the ready and took charge of their carriage, allowing the small family to slip inside just as quickly as they could.

Jason let out a long sigh as he entered the Guild Hall. As always, it was simply a remarkable place. The roaring hearth at the end of the hall easily heated the whole place, while the long, central table was piled high with food. Interestingly, while about half of the table was covered with dishes obviously made by the people of Summer Shandy, the other half of the table was covered in roasted monsters of every shape and size. There were

trilobites, wyrms, dragon steaks, cooked phoenix eggs, and more. Jason whistled softly as he looked at it all, then at the assorted warriors that seemed to be taking part in the celebration. There were dozens of them, all in their full battle armor, simply chatting with the farmers and shopkeepers as if they were old friends. Obadiah came walking over, beaming from ear to ear, and held out his hand.

"Tess! Jason! Good to see you!"

He gave Tess a half-hug, then shook Jason's hand. As he opened his mouth to talk to Jason, Fern spoke up from below.

"John's daddy, is John here?"

Obadiah laughed and bent down. "He's right over there, down by the fire. You just be careful of the flames, okay?"

"Oh-tay!"

Fern vanished in a split second, and Jason sighed.

"How's it going?"

"It's going well." Obadiah smiled, and motioned for them to move to the side, out of the doorway. As they settled down again, he shrugged. "You remember that pie contest? I fed the leftovers to all the warriors, and they loved it. Word started spreading on the roads, and wouldn't you know? When this festival came around, warriors were begging me to allow them to take part. In the past, I've always told them to stay out of the way, but... I decided to allow it this time, and they're loving it. I think it might be a staple from here on out."

Jason nodded. "It sure looks like everyone's having a good time, that's for sure."

"Most people, at least." Obadiah chuckled. "Hank's still around, and he's fit to be tied. Actually, here he comes now!"

Jason glanced over as Hank approached, smiling broadly. They shook hands, and he gave Tess a side hug as well. Greetings aside, Hank sighed deeply and stuck his thumbs in his pocket.

"I don't suppose you've seen that Frances lady around, anywhere?"

Jason shook his head. "Last I saw her was... Pfft, it's actually been almost a full season. I told her to come talk to you, and she said she would, but I think we're starting to understand what that means."

"You're telling me." Hank ran his hand through his hair. "I've had three sightings of her in the last week, but if I can't get in contact with her, I'll just have to give up, head back to Illumitir, and let it be. I don't want to do that, but..." He shrugged. "At this point, it's a waste of my time to try and protect her. If she doesn't want protection, there's nothing I can do about it."

"True enough." Jason chuckled. After a moment, he nodded at Hank. "Actually, there's something I need to tell you. I saw a monster of some sort that had a fragment of the Dungeon Core. Meant to tell you earlier, but--" Instantly, Hank stepped forward. Obadiah did the same, and Hank lowered his voice.

"So, part of it did survive?"

"It sure seems that way." Jason nodded. "I haven't been able to touch the core to bring up its stats and confirm it or anything, but that does seem to be the implication."

"That's not good." Hank stroked his chin, then glanced at Obadiah. "If there's one shard, and in the possession of a monster, there could be a whole lot more."

"That's been my thought, too." Jason nodded. "It could explain all the weird monsters running around."

"Then we've got to find that... That Frances." Hank sighed. "Any ideas, Jason?"

"Not a one." Jason laughed and shook his head. "If I come up with one, I'll let you know, though."

"I appreciate it." Hank sighed deeply, then shrugged. "Well, if there's nothing else to it, I'm going to go try my hand at table tennis. Obadiah's been talking a big game, but I'd like to see if his skill holds up to mine." "You're on!"

Obadiah and Hank went walking off, and Tess went over to talk to Paulina (and to keep an eye on Fern). Jason leaned against the wall, watching everything, just... soaking it all in. Richard came walking in after some time and chatted with Jason for quite awhile, and later, Jeremiah and Milligan came walking inside. Both of them looked directly at Jason, and Jason had the distinct impression that something was going on between them, but he wasn't quite sure what it could be. In any event, Milligan went off to enjoy the food and games, and Jeremiah came sidling over to lean against the wall next to Jason.

"Howdy, neighbor." Jason raised an eyebrow.

"Howdy." Jeremiah tipped his hat, then sighed deeply. "How have things been with you?"

"I'm a whole lot more interested with how things are going with you." Jason nodded after Milligan. "Just what are the two of you up to, anyway?" "Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies." Jeremiah shrugged. "No, things have been good with me. Paperwork and big government, and all that sort of stuff." He puffed out his cheeks. "Obadiah has been having some legal trouble with the Dungeon Guild, that's been the biggest thing."

"Isn't Daniel in charge of the Dungeon Guild now?" Jason raised an eyebrow.

"Yup." Jeremiah nodded and chuckled. "The issue isn't with him, actually. I mean, he sorta started it, but only by accident. You remember when that old dungeon on your place went haywire, and our dungeon here suddenly started growing extra boss chambers and all sorts of other things?"

Jason nodded. "It's hard to forget."

"Well, it's against the law to build anything new onto your dungeon without the express permission of the Dungeon Guild." Jeremiah shrugged. "Obadiah never bothered to file anything about it, since we weren't the ones adding to it, and you never want to involve the government unless you have to, right? Anyway, Daniel happened to mention it offhandedly, and the wrong person heard it, and now..." He shrugged. "Here we are. Nothing much to be done about it, except to keep filing the paperwork they send to us, but you know how that goes. I'm not concerned about it. Worst comes to worst, I'll file everything that allows us to expand it, and then just chain together five years of backdate forms. It'll take me a month, but it can be done."

Jason laughed. "At least you have it figured out."

"Indeed." Jeremiah clapped Jason on the shoulder. "You're doing a fine job, Jason. The community wouldn't be the same without you, I'll have you know that. Keep up the good work."

With that, Jeremiah ambled away, putting his unlit pipe in his mouth, and Jason chuckled. He sighed and leaned back as the band started to play, just letting the chaos of the festival wash over him. It was a lovely time, there was simply no other way to look at the experience. The festivals seemed to get better, more full of friends and family, every single year. He knew he

would look forward to each and every one as long as he lived in Summer Shandy.

He only hoped that such a length of time would truly be a long time, indeed.

Chapter 21. First Day of Winter

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 1st day of Winter! 90 days until the Winter Festival! It's a cold one, folks! That rain from yesterday has become snow, so expect a cold start to this season! Don't be deceived, there's a pretty good layer of ice underneath the snow, so don't go out unless you need to!]

Jason smiled as he rolled out of bed. Tess hugged her arms around him, holding him close, and he sighed deeply in contentment. Finally, though, he did have to get out of bed, where he slowly stretched and walked up to the window.

Sure enough, the snow was coming down in thick, fat flakes, which were quickly piling up to form great drifts across the farmstead. It looked like they were going to be snowed in, no question about it. Thick, white walls were already piling up between the apple trees, and even the road back to the Far Eighty looked to be partly near impassable.

"Everything okay?" Tess asked as Jason continued to stand there, stroking his chin.

"Yeah, of course." Jason turned to the wardrobe and started getting dressed. "I'll be downstairs, and then head out to get chores done."

"Just let me know if you need any help!"

Jason changed quickly into his work clothes; a thick flannel shirt and insulated overalls, then made his way downstairs. He was already starting to sweat when he arrived at his writing desk, and quickly penned a letter to Milligan.

"Don't bother coming out to the farmstead today. Stay inside, stay warm, and stay safe! Jason."

He folded up the letter and dropped it into the mailbox, where it vanished with a flash. A few long moments later, as he was pulling on his thick work boots, a return letter appeared.

"I was actually just about to tell you I was going to be late. The stable up here has been drifted in so deep I can't get to Dusty. I reckon I'll have him free in half an hour or so, but it'll take a while. If you need anything today, you just holler, and I'll come running!"

Jason smiled, then dropped the letter onto the writing desk and grabbed the doorknob. Before he could get outside, though, he heard a telltale pitter- patter of feet on the ground behind him.

"Work daddy?"

Jason turned around and smiled down at Fern. "I'm sorry, Fern, but I don't know that you can today. All I'm doing are chores, and then I'm coming right back inside."

"Do chores!" Fern beamed. "Peas?"

Jason puffed out his cheeks. Tess stuck her head out through the kitchen door and shrugged.

"It'll be warmer in the barn than outside. I'm okay with it, if you are."

"Alright, then, little rancher." Jason bent down and started bundling Fern up. "Off we go, then!"

Jason had to carry Fern as they made their way down from the porch toward the barn. The snow had drifted to a height of about three feet, making it difficult, but not impossible. As Obadiah had indicated, there was a pretty good layer of ice underneath, but as it turned out, there was so much snow that there wasn't really any room for his feet to slip!

When he came up to the barn and pulled open the door, he found a warm, humid atmosphere that smelled of animal feed and damp hay. He set down Fern, lit the lanterns, and then pulled the door shut behind the two of them. All the animals looked up at him, making their wide assortment of noises, and Jason smiled.

"Alright, Fern, you know what do to?"

"Feed chickens!"

Fern quickly ran over to the sacks of chicken feed, picked up a small pail, and used a scoop to get out (more or less) the amount of food that the birds would eat. She then started scattering it all, at least as best she could, here and there around the barn floor. Jason watched her for a moment, then started opening bags of other types of feed, pouring it to their assorted menagerie that they kept there.

All around the barn, the snow continued to drift down, muffling all noises from outside. For that matter, even the animals inside seemed to be muffled, only making what sounds they absolutely had to make. When they finished pouring everything, only the sound of birds pecking, pigs chomping, goats chewing, and other such noises could be heard throughout the great structure. Jason let out a long sigh of contentment, then looked down as he felt something brush up against his leg.

The Azul Snake Feline stood there, arching its long back, then sprang up onto Jason's shoulders. It wrapped itself around his neck, forming a furry, living scarf, and Jason scratched it behind the ears. As he turned toward the exit, he paused, then glanced down at Fern.

"Want to have some fun?"

Fern beamed. "Fun! Yay!"

Jason turned toward the stairs that led up to the loft, and quickly clambered up to the storage rooms. There, he rummaged around for a few moments before finding what he was looking for: A small sled that he had made some time previous. He took off the long rope that had once been used to tie it to Angus, and replaced it with a shorter rope that could be more easily used by himself. That done, he went back down, opened up the door, and strode out into the winter wonderland.

All around, thick, fat flakes continued to spiral down, and both he and Fern stuck out their tongues in the hopes of catching some of them. Then, carefully, Jason propped up the sled on a particularly large drift just outside the barn door, put Fern on top of it, made sure she was secure, then took hold of the rope and ran back toward the house.

At least... He tried to. Given how deep the snow was, he floundered more than he ran, sending up a wide spray of snow that likely showered Fern rather fiercely, but she simply laughed and clapped through it all. They went down from the barn, across the yard, past the frozen pumpkin-house, and around the actual farmhouse. They flew out by the field, around the backside of the barn, down in front of the apple trees, and then up to the porch again. As they came to a halt, Jason gasped for air, but smiled through it back at Fern.

"Yay daddy!" Fern beamed. "More sled!"

"More sled?" Jason took a deep breath. Even with the cold, he was sweating profusely inside his work clothes, and his stomach growled for breakfast. Still, though... Could he pass on such a sweet request as that? "Oh... Alright."

"Tank you!"

Jason took off once more, going the opposite direction around the house, up by the road again, and then, on a whim, out through the gate and into the road itself. A small depression winding through the snow showed where something had forged their way through at some point or another, relatively recently since it hadn't been completely covered over yet—but, largely, the road was utterly abandoned.

"Yay! Go town, see John!"

"We're not going to go see baby John." Jason shook his head as he started pulling the sled in the opposite direction.

"See gwandpa?"

"Nope!" Jason laughed. "Just seeing the countryside!"

He essentially just followed the fence around the outside of the property, forging his way around the farmstead, up past the eighty-acre field, around the far side, and back down to the main entrance once again. There, utterly exhausted, he pulled the sled up onto the porch and helped Fern off. Together, then, they opened up the door and stepped back into the house. "You two certainly seem like you had a lot of fun outside." Tess reclined in a chair near the roaring fireplace, which filled the whole room with such warmth that Jason began quickly stripping off his outer layers about as quickly as he could. The snake-cat jumped off his shoulders and pattered over to the fireplace, where it stretched itself out. "It took you a long time to get chores done."

"This little slave driver just wouldn't let me off the hook." Jason patted Fern on the head as he took off her winter clothes.

"We got essersize!"

"You got exercise?" Tess laughed. "Did you get all worn out?"

"Yes! Sit down." Fern plopped down next to the fire, where Rachel was playing with a small doll. "Hungwy!"

"You know what?" Tess stood up, then bent down and picked up Rachel. "I'm hungry, too, and I imagine that your daddy is famished."

"I sure wouldn't turn down something." Jason chuckled.

Together, the family moved into the kitchen, where they sat down to a lovely, steaming meal. Jason took a deep breath, then cast a single glance toward the window, where snow was still drifting down, down, down.

It was a lovely start to the winter, a warm hearth juxtaposed against the soft snow outside. Winters were always interesting in Summer Shandy, but... they always kept that core principle, that warmth in the midst of chaos. Now, all he had to do was sit back and enjoy it.

Chapter 22. Thick Blankets

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 3rd day of Winter! 88 days until the Winter Festival! It's still mighty cold outside, folks, so don't go out if you don't have to! Constable Jeremiah is out working on clearing the roads, but with how much snow we got, it's a slow process, so just make sure you stay safe!] Jason felt nice and toasty warm under the covers, and he sighed deeply. Down below, the fire had likely burned low, but there was still a lively heat throughout the house, and there, under the blankets, he was warm. "Mowning daddy!"

Thud.

Sharp toddler knees slammed into his belly a moment later, driving every last ounce of breath out of his body. He gasped and sat up, where he found Fern sitting on his lap, giggling. Rachel was at the door, pulling herself up in the frame. A moment later, Chance burst past and leapt into the bed as well, licking Tess as his tail began to whir back and forth a million miles per hour.

Jason laughed, then tackled Fern to the bedsheets and began to tickle her. She laughed wildly, and Rachel took a few steps in their direction before dropping to the ground and crawling the rest of the way. Jason scooped her up onto the bed as well, and they spent several long minutes just laughing and playing.

When they finished, Tess took the girls down to their room to get them dressed, and Jason changed into light work clothes. He would go out to do chores after breakfast, but he wasn't going to get too eager about it until then. Idly, he walked up to the window to look down at the farmstead, which they had spent the previous day shoveling clean. Enormous piles of snow now lay in the corners, which would prove excellent for sledding later that day. As he watched, though, he caught sight of Milligan stepping out of the barn, a determined sort of look on his face. Jason blinked in surprise, then started down the stairs.

"Something the matter?" Tess called after him.

"Don't know! I'll tell you in a minute!"

Jason pulled on his boots and winter coat quickly, then slipped out into the frozen yard. Chance came with him and began to run circles around the area. Milligan glanced up from the lean-to as Jason approached, and he flashed a broad, if somewhat guilty, smile.

"Boss! How goes it?"

"It goes well enough." Jason frowned and crossed his head. "And what are you up to? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to take out some of the machinery, but it's... you know... Winter."

Milligan laughed, though Jason could tell it was forced, and nervous. "Does it, now? Well... I... Uh..."

Jason raised an eyebrow, and Milligan sighed.

"Alright, fine. I was going to borrow the planter and take it over to the Far Eighty."

"Whatever for?" Jason couldn't believe his ears. "The ground is frozen solid, there's no way Dusty will be able to put anything in the soil, and even if he could, it's out of season! Nothing grows in winter."

"And that's where you're wrong, my boy!" Milligan held up a finger, and Jason had the distinct impression that he was about to learn something that he had no particular care to learn. "There are plenty of plants that grow in winter! Around here, you have cedar trees. Further north, you have mistletoe, pine trees, and a host of others. It was a simple matter of getting the Winter genetics to cross over into--"

"What did you make?" Jason raised an eyebrow.

Milligan blinked a few times, then flashed a sheepish smile. "Winter wheat. Unoriginal, I know, but I wanted to start with the basics before I really got crazy. I grew a bit in a test plot last year, and then have been cultivating it in the greenhouse ever since."

"And how do you plan to get around the whole ground-being-frozen problem?"

Milligan opened his inventory, then pulled out several small stones. They glowed in the winter sun, and Jason felt the heat pouring off of them even at a distance. "I'll just affix these to the planter right in front of the disks. It'll work like magic." After a moment, he paused. "I mean, strictly speaking, these stones are magic, they were taken from a dungeon in--"

Jason puffed out his cheeks. "And there's a field that has a low enough amount of snow that we can actually plant things?"

Milligan nodded again. "The Far Eighty in particular, the trees shielded it from the brunt of the storm."

Jason let out a long sigh, then shrugged. "Alright, then. Come inside for breakfast, and then we'll get the horses hitched up."

Milligan's eyebrows raised. "You're coming with me?"

"I'm not going to make my hired man plant in sub-zero temperatures while I stay nice and cozy inside the house." Jason shrugged, then grinned. "Plus, if I'm being honest, it does just sound kinda fun."

Milligan smiled at that, and a few moments later, they had come up and into the house, where Tess had prepared a stellar breakfast. She was happy enough to see Milligan, though she was as shocked as Jason had been when they announced their plans to head out and plant. In the end, though, she didn't have any particular reason why they couldn't do it, and with that, once breakfast was over, they were off.

Jason pulled on warmer clothes before he left, as well as thick gloves. Angus was more than happy to get taken out of the corral, since he was usually pretty cooped up for the winter months, though he seemed confused as well when Jason hitched him up to the planter. They had to throw a blanket over top of him to keep him from getting too cold where the freezing metal would ordinary bump up against his skin from time to time, and did the same with Dusty. After that, it took them another few minutes to attach all the stones that Milligan had brought. When all that was done, they went off toward the Far Eighty.

As they rumbled along, Jason came along behind. They had cleared off the path between the two properties, but hadn't quite been able to get all the snow away. Thus, Jason was able to see, quite clearly, a series of stripes that ran through the snow as the stones melted away the snow beneath the planter. A glance behind revealed that his planter was making the same markings, which made him laugh, at least somewhat.

When they made it up to the Far Eighty, Jason paused and did a brief survey of the field. It was indeed covered in snow, perhaps drifting up to a height of two feet here and there, but it certainly did seem to have been less affected than some of the other areas. Milligan paused, and Jason rumbled up next to him.

"Alright, boss!" Milligan shouted, his voice muffled through a thick scarf that he was wearing. "I don't anticipate any problems, but if you do run into something, just holler!"

Jason nodded and waved, and with that, the two of them were off. Jason snapped Angus's reins and pulled the lever to lower the contraption, and with a thunk, the planter slid into thawed soil. They rumbled forward, Angus's mighty muscles straining to pull the machine through the snow, and Jason held his breath.

For a long moment, even with the stones, he wasn't sure if the venture would succeed. Suddenly, though, Angus seemed to find his footing, and practically charged forward through the field. He snorted and held his head high, steam rising from his coat. He seemed to enjoy the cold weather, frankly. Snow exploded up from the planter as they rumbled forward, rather like a plow, coming down in great sheets on either side. More than a bit splashed down on Jason himself, soaking him to the core in slush and ice. Jason and Milligan reached the far eastern end at about the same time, with Jason taking the north side, and Milligan on the south. They both paused and signaled to the other that all seemed to be well, and then started back. A smile grew across Jason's face as he watched the pristine rows forming through the snow. This was... Unlike anything that he had ever done before on the farm, there was simply no doubt about that. He had planted a lot of crops, he had chased a lot of animals, he had fought... well... Not a lot of

monsters, but the point was—he had done a whole lot of different things on the farm, but this seemed to take the cake. Planting in a time when everything was frozen solid, it just boggled his mind. The cold wind whipped past on all sides, stinging his face and chilling his skin. The spray of the snow soaked through his coat and froze his arms and legs, and his hands were soon numb even through the gloves. Still, though, onward he pressed.

Throughout the morning, the only problem they faced came when they encountered a low spot in the middle of the field, which had a bit more snow than they had initially expected. Here, they had to pause and use shovels to clear a bit of the area, but that didn't take them long, and they were soon back on track. Finally, about an hour after lunchtime, they met in the middle, and Jason pulled slowly out of the field and into the surrounding prairie. He hopped down and climbed up the fence, looking out over the field, and Milligan joined him.

"If this works, it could revolutionize agriculture, at least in more northern and frozen areas." Milligan whistled softly. "Just look at it, Jason."

Jason could only nod. Across the whole field were the steady, straight-as- an-arrow lines that always marked planting. Now, though, they stood out in stark contrast to the snow all around, and even to the snow in the field. "And you're sure they'll grow?"

Milligan nodded. "They produce an antifreeze of sorts that lets them keep growing through the soil. Compared to your other crops, they won't have the highest yields, since they don't get as much moisture. That said, I don't think they'll yield badly, and there will be a demand for fresh wheat once you go to sell."

"True enough." Jason agreed. After a moment, he clapped Milligan on the shoulder, then hopped down. "Well, let me know how it goes. I want to see all of this when it starts to sprout, and you're not harvesting it without me." "Fair enough, boss!" Milligan waved. "I'll catch you around!"

Soon, Jason was rumbling back off across the prairie, back toward the farmstead, up over the rolling hills and across the bridges that ran over small ravines. Now that the excitement of planting had worn off, he was really starting to feel the cold, but he didn't really mind. He had done something new, perhaps something that would become a new staple of the farm.

There would only be one way to find out, in any case... And that would be to see it through to the end.

Chapter 23. Open Door Option

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 10th day of Winter! 81 days until the Winter Festival! Today's going to be cold, but that's about it, folks! The warmer temperatures yesterday saw the last of the snow melting, so now... Now, it's just your average, everyday winter grunginess! So... If you have work to do, get out there and do your best to enjoy it!]

Jason chuckled as he read the message, then slowly stood up and stretched. Fern didn't come in to wake him up, which was both nice and rather disappointing, and he walked up to look down at the farm. Sure enough, everything outside was just... Brown. In the corners of the farm, there were still a few small piles of snow that had been too big to entirely melt the day before, but that was it. The sun was rising, bright and crisp, and Jason let out a long breath.

"Morning." Tess walked up behind him and gave him a kiss on the cheeks. "How are you doing this morning?"

"I'm doing well." He turned and gave her a kiss as well, then flashed a smile. "Want to go help me build fence today?"

At that, Tess laughed. "Not a chance! I'd let Fern go with you, but... It's just so cold."

"Yeah." Jason grimaced, then walked up to the wardrobe. Late the night before, Milligan had suddenly come up to the door to tell him about a particularly large snow golem that had come through, smashing up a bunch of fence on the New Eighty. It was fixable, and there wasn't a crop on the field to worry about, but Jason still wanted to get it fixed as soon as possible. "If you could get me some breakfast ready while I'm working on chores, I'd greatly appreciate it."

Tess nodded, and Jason was soon outside, working on feeding all their assorted animals. Milligan didn't show, having remained out on the Far Eighty to get things ready for their fence-fixing mission, so it took Jason a bit longer than it sometimes did. When he finished, he made his way up to the house, where Tess had a steaming platter of eggs, sausage, and a handful of other foods ready for him. He ate with relish, then gave Fern a kiss on the cheek, gave Rachel a kiss on the forehead, gave Tess a kiss on the lips, and then headed out for the cold, cruel world.

The sun shone down brilliantly as he rode down the gravel road to the Far Eighty. With how bright it was, it ought to have been plenty warm, which only added to the chill, in Jason's opinion. Soon, he came up to Milligan's cabin, and the older man came out and flashed a wide grin.

"Jason! You're here early."

Jason shrugged. "I'd rather get this over and done with."

"You and me, both." Milligan chuckled. Dusty had already been hitched up to a wagon loaded with supplies, and Milligan quickly mounted up. "I know

we can just pull whatever we need out of the inventory, but I find it a lot easier this way."

Jason couldn't argue with that, and the two men quickly set off across the frozen prairie. Milligan led Jason around to the far northern side of the New Eighty, which was near the top of a low hill from which Jason could see the very peak of Cecilia's Item Store. Sure enough, about thirty feet of fence had been utterly flattened, and the giant footprints in the frozen ground left no illusions about what had done it.

"I'm just glad it didn't go through the whole farm." Jason muttered as he dismounted and hitched Angus to a fence rail nearby. "If he came from the north, he could have gone through... The north and south fence of the New Eighty, the north and south fence of the Far Eighty, your giant greenhouse in the middle of the New Eighty--"

Milligan nodded. "He would have done it, too. Real brute of a creature, but I got him to move away."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "And how'd you manage that?"

"First, I fired off a few shots. That didn't do diddly-squat, so I threw some of the hot stones at him." Milligan laughed. "That, he was scared of, and he took off right quick. I meant to get one stuck in him so it would melt him down, but my arm isn't that great anymore."

Jason laughed. "Alright, then! Let's get to work."

The fence posts had been snapped off at the frozen ground, while the rails themselves had been twisted and broken far beyond the posts that had been shattered. Jason went in one direction, disconnecting the rails at the last place where they were still in good condition, while Milligan went in the other direction doing the same thing. That done, they came back to the middle, gathering up all the old scraps into a pile of scrap. Then, before

they went any further, Milligan pulled out more of the hot stones and dropped them onto the broken-off posts. The ground around them began to hiss and thaw, and he chuckled.

"That'll make digging them back out a good bit easier."

"Where'd you find those things, anyway?" Jason laughed. "I feel like they would have made my life in winter so much easier for so many years now." "You'd never believe it if I told you." Milligan sat down on the wagon while they continued to wait. "A few years back, I was visiting a client in a little town called Mount Cedar. There's a funny story about that name, too, but I can get to that later. Anyway, so I'm talking to this client, and all of a sudden--"

Milligan continued to talk, but Jason suddenly quit listening. A soft crunch- crunch was echoing across the frozen grasses, but a quick glance around didn't reveal anything. Milligan suddenly seemed to hear it too, and he rose and crossed his arms.

"Frances?" Jason asked. "Is that you?"

There was a pause, and Frances suddenly rippled and appeared, standing just a few feet from them. She appeared cold and flustered, but just as determined as ever.

"Yes, it's me!" She grinned. "Ooh, look at you guys! All dressed up for the cold. I would have done that, too, but I didn't know it was going to freeze like this! I mean, I knew it might get cold for a night or two, but it just isn't warming back up!"

Jason and Milligan exchanged glances. "That's because it's winter." Jason spoke slowly.

"Oh!" Frances blinked. Her long, blue hair was rather disheveled, but, somehow, six months of growth hadn't affected the color of the roots. Odd,

but so were many things about her. "Winter! That... that explains... Have I really been here that long?"

Jason nodded slowly. "Yes. Yes you have."

"Oh." Frances stroked her chin. "I haven't sent a report since... since..." Her voice trailed off, and she turned to the fence. "I'm tracking this snow golem! I take it that you guys saw it?"

"I did." Milligan raised a hand. "He went off that way, but he was moving fast, and that was... probably fifteen hours ago."

"Golems are slow, and they never leave a certain radius of their creation." Frances shrugged. "I'll get it! Thanks!"

She started to unfold the invisibility cloak, which she had hung on one arm, and Jason held up a hand.

"Wait!"

Frances froze. "What? Is there a five-fanged leaping cobra behind me?" Jason raised an eyebrow. "Do we have those around here?"

"I sure hope not." Frances shuddered. "What is it?"

"First, if you want some warm clothes, you can always come down to the house, and Tess will get you fixed up. You're a bit taller than she is, but I'm sure you could find something better." Jason shrugged. "I'd offer to just let you live there for a while, but I get the feeling that you'd rather be out here, and cold, than inside and warm."

"Right you are!" Frances beamed. "Though I might take you up on the clothes. It is mighty chilly."

She started to pull the invisibility cloak on once again, and Jason once again held up a hand.

"Wait! There was a second thing, too." Jason waited until he was sure that he had Frances's attention. "A few... pfft, it must have been a few months

ago at this point, there was a creature in my barn. Some sort of large monkey-thing. I didn't get a chance to scan it or anything, but when it escaped, I happened to notice that it had a dungeon core fragment it was carrying."

Frances's eyes snapped open. "Really? Like a piece of the core that was used to kickstart this whole infestation in the first place?"

"That would be the one." Jason nodded. "I don't know any more details than that, and I haven't seen it since, but I thought you ought to know." Frances quickly whipped out a sketchpad and started to ask for Jason's description of the strange creature. Her question were oddly specific, and Jason did his best to answer it all. When she was done, she flipped the sketchpad around, where Jason found himself surprised to be looking at a drawing so precise that she might as well have just looked at the creature herself.

"That's it." He nodded. "Do you know what it is?"

"Not offhandedly, but I can deduce a handful of behavior patterns from this image." Frances murmured. "It likes trees... probably prefers them to walking... Eats mostly plants and insects, but might dabble in fish from time to time... Ooh! Look at those eyes. It can see in the dark. This was a true dungeon monster, that's for sure. Ahh..."

She continued to murmur, and as Jason and Milligan continued to stand there, she started to wander away, vanishing off across the prairie as she studied the sketch. When she vanished over a rise, Milligan glanced at Jason.

"Do you think we ought to go after her?"

Jason shrugged. "She could get help at a moment's notice if she actually wanted it. She's just... Lost in the world of the animals she studies. She'll

be fine. That said, I will have Tess send out some warm clothes to the cabin, just in case she comes around." After a moment, he chuckled. "Is there any way we can make a fake monster? Something that'll catch her attention and get her to investigate, that we can load up with supplies?"

Milligan laughed, though Jason had the distinct impression that neither of them really considered it to be as far-fetched as they might have initially joked. In any case, the hot stones had finished thawing the ground, so they slowly went back to work.

Milligan went first, picking up the stones and dropping them back into his inventory, while Jason started using a shovel to dig out the old posts. Even with the ground thawed, it still took him three actions per post to free it. After that was done, a great deal of simple muscular labor to heft the post out to drop it into the pile.

When everything had been pulled out, they went about the process of dropping in the new fence posts, and then reattaching the rails. It was a long and slow process, though they didn't bother stopping for lunch, as the low temperatures made them both eager simply to get done and get inside. By the time they finished, Jason could hardly feel any part of his body, and he rather shakily climbed back up on Angus.

"And there we have it." Milligan dusted off his hands as he tossed the last of the tools into the wagon. "Good as new!"

"Indeed." Jason turned his frozen body back toward the distant farmstead. "I know you usually turn this invitation down, but do you want to come back to the house to get warm? I'm starving, and a good chair in front of the fire sounds lovely."

Milligan paused, then shrugged. "You know what? Since it's so cold, I'll take you up on it."

Jason smiled and nodded, and with that, they were off. The frozen ground went by underneath of him, but that distant home called him onward. It made him wonder, to no small extent, just what would possess a person to eschew all traces of human contact to live in the wilderness with the animals. He wasn't judging, he just... Didn't understand.

Oh, well. He didn't have to understand. All he had to do was be ready to open the door if she ever did decide it was too cold outside.

Chapter 24. Good Day With Friends

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 20th day of Winter! 71 days until the Winter Festival! Let's see, folks... I know you're sick of me saying this, but it's another cold one! If I had to wager a guess (which is technically illegal under Summer Shandy law Section 31.B) I'd say that the cold isn't likely to leave us for another two weeks. After that, though, we'll see some warmer weather again, maybe even get some good packing snow! For the time being, seriously, stay inside if at all you can.]

Jason puffed out his cheeks as he slowly sat up and slid out from under the covers. It was chilly in the room, though not terribly so, and he slowly walked up to the window. Down below, the farm looked just as good as ever. The sun was bright, the air was clear, and all the snow had faded away over time. That said, it was cold. Jason pressed his palm up against the glass, and had to yank it away after only a moment, as it was so frigid that it actually hurt. He shook his palm a couple times to remove the feeling of it, then turned and started getting dressed at the wardrobe.

"What's your plan for today?" Tess asked as Jason changed into a simple, around-the-house tunic. "You don't look terribly eager to get outside and do a whole lot."

Jason chuckled. "I can't say that I am. According to Milligan, the wheat is somehow still alive, but it's not quite ready to harvest, and all the other repairs and things have been done around the farm, so... You know what? I'd really rather just stay inside. I have some office work I could get done, or I could just play with the kids, or something of that nature."

Tess nodded as she climbed up as well. "You know what would be fun?" "What's that?" Jason asked as he opened up the door to find Fern and Rachel, as usual, waiting to be let inside. He scooped them up and spun in a circle, eliciting equal parts giggles and screams.

"It would be fun to host a dinner of some sort." Tess shrugged. "We could invite Richard and Weatherhand, and maybe Jeremiah and Obadiah. Milligan, of course, and Hank is still here. Oh, and Frances! If she could be found. And I'm sure there are others."

Jason blinked. "Our dining room can only hold like... Twenty people, and our family takes up a fifth of that."

"Then we'll only invite some of them." Tess waved her hand dismissively. "Come on, it'll be fun! Please?"

Jason shrugged after a moment. "Works by me. Do you mind if I do the cooking?"

"Help daddy!" Fern clapped her hands. "Peas?"

"You can either help me clean, or help me cook." Jason answered. "That part will be up to mommy."

"Daddy cook!" Fern declared, then turned to Tess. "Peas?"

About thirty minutes later, breakfast had been cleared, the chores had been done, and Jason was back in the house and ready to cook. He walked into the kitchen, Fern resting on his hip, and he addressed the old cookbook. It flapped its pages back and forth eagerly, and he smiled.

"It's been awhile since I've worked with you, hasn't it?"

The cookbook flapped its pages in agreement.

"Has Tess been treating you alright?"

The cookbook lifted a few pages on either side, seeming to signify a shrug. Jason laughed, and then let out a long breath.

"Alright, cookbook, what would you suggest for a dinner on a really cold day that we're cooking for lots of other people?"

There was a pause, and the pages began flapping wildly. They went forward, then back, then forward again, finally coming open to a section labeled "Soup." Jason blinked in surprise, then nodded.

"Soup! It's been awhile since I've made soup at all. What recipes do we have?"

The cookbook flipped a single page, and Jason leaned forward.

"Tomato Soup."

He leaned back and waited for the cookbook to show another page, but nothing happened.

"That's it?" Jason asked after a moment.

The cookbook seemed to nod in ascent.

"Alright, then!" Jason clapped his hands. "Then we're just going to have to freehand this!"

Tess poked her head in the door. "Are you sure that's a good idea, Jason?" "Sure I'm sure!" Jason nodded. "I'm a good cook, I used to freehand things all the time!"

"You literally blew up the kitchen once." Tess reminded him.

"Yeah, to stop your ex-boyfriend from killing me." Jason raised an eyebrow. "I'll be fine. Won't I, Fern?"

"Yay daddy! 'Plosions!"

Tess snorted and left, and Jason drew up a chair next to the stove for Fern to stand on. He then took down a large pot, put it on the fire, and started thinking.

"Alright... Soups are usually creamy. Let's start with some milk!"

He poured a bit of milk into a cup measure, then handed it to Fern. Fern poured (most) of it into the pot, at which point he started bustling about. Not really sure of what he was doing, he handed Fern some rice (she poured in several cups more than he had intended), some chicken (Chance wound up eating most of it), a few carrots and other vegetables, and then added some cheese and a bit more milk. As it started to bubble, he began to stir the pot, sniffing the odor that slowly drifted up.

It smelled... well... he wasn't going to say that it smelled amazing, but it was far from the worst thing he had ever made. He added a handful of spices, which made the kitchen smell amazing... Though as soon as he ate a bite to test it, he rather regretted putting in quite so much. Chance, though, seemed to enjoy it, and he moved on to another test.

Tess soon convinced him to use a smaller pot, and to work up test batches before trying them out full-scale. It was good enough advice, allowing him to make four soups at a time. Fern was utterly delighted by this, and dumped out ingredients just as fast as he could hand them to her. Now, more than a few of them went into the wrong pot, or just onto the floor, but it was fun.

The two of them worked all through the morning, creating all sorts of delicacies, all of which failed spectacularly on one point or another. Some of them burned because he was spending too much time focused on the other soups. Some of them were destroyed when he added too much binding agent, or when Fern added too much salt, or pepper, or a wide assortment of other issues that arose. Nevertheless, they had a wide pantry that was getting bogged down with ingredients anyway, some of which had been in there for years at this point.

When lunchtime came around, Tess ran Jason out of the kitchen and whipped up a number of roast beef sandwiches, which, while utterly spectacular, were nothing in comparison to the soups that Jason was rapidly dreaming up in his mind. Fern seemed to be of the same opinion, though it was hard to tell for sure.

Soon, though, lunchtime had ended. As Jason washed up the dishes and stepped up to the stove, Tess pressed a small packet of pages into his hands. "Here." She flashed a sympathetic smile at him. "Use these. It's not as much fun, I know, but we do have guests coming, do remember."

Jason looked down at the pages, which were recipes for a wide variety of soups. He scowled and crossed his arms, and Tess shrugged.

"You have your heart set on soup. I don't know why, since we've never really eaten it much before, but given that we are going to be serving people tonight, we need something edible." Tess raised an eyebrow. "Cecilia sent me those down from the store this morning, and she and Paulina are good friends, so make sure you make them well. Don't feel bad if you just have to have the cookbook make it all."

Jason snorted, but nodded. Soon, he and Fern were at the stove once more, and Jason bit his lip as he looked down at the first recipe.

"Alright..." He waved his hand, teleporting all the requisite ingredients out of the pantry and onto the countertop. "Fern, pass me the leeks. Ahh... Those long, skinny green things."

Fern grabbed a stick of celery.

"That'll work." Jason quickly chopped it up and dumped it into the pot, then pointed. "And now the cheese?"

Fern proved to be an adept helper, and actually seemed to enjoy it more than just randomly dumping things into random pots. Soon, the house was filled with the sumptuous smell of all sorts of different soups, which Jason carried out to the dining room table. Milligan arrived about that time, bringing with him some of the heat rocks, which they used to keep the soup warm while they were waiting on people to show up.

Toward the end, as Fern got tired, Jason cradled her in his arms as he added the last few ingredients. She sighed and snuggled her head into his shoulder, and he gave her a kiss on the ear. By now, the soft, bubbling noise of the pots filled the room, and he nodded in contentment. With that, he set Fern down on the couch, where she snuggled up under a blanket while they waited for their guests to arrive.

Outside, the air was frigid, so cold it was almost deadly. In here, in front of the roaring fire, in a home filled with food and laughter, it was everything but cold. Jason sighed deeply and sat down on the couch next to Tess, leaning into her, while Milligan played on the floor with Rachel. Yes, it had been a good day... And now, he would be able to enjoy the conclusion with all his friends.

Chapter 25. Warmer Snow

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 28th day of Winter! 63 days until the Winter Festival! We've got snow again today, folks! Thankfully, it's a smidge warmer than it's been, so that snow ought to be great for packing! Get outside and make a snow man, or a whole snow family, or a snow village, or a snow monster, or... Whatever!]

Jason yawned as he rolled out of bed, and slowly walked up to the window, rather hoping that he wouldn't be seeing snow outside. Quite unfortunately, that was just about the only thing he could see, as it came down both hard and fast. Down below, Milligan ambled about, doing the chores and pulling the harvesters out of the lean-to.

"Are you really going to go harvest today?" Tess asked softly as Jason turned toward the wardrobe.

"Milligan says that it's ready." Jason shrugged. "If we don't harvest today, we're going to wind up having to harvest in far deeper snow, and that's something I'd rather avoid."

"Fair enough." Tess nodded. "Alright, then, have fun with it! The kids and I will watch you from the house, at least until you get out of sight."

Jason chuckled. "Yeah, I don't blame you for not coming out. Love you." He gave Tess a kiss as he finished dressing, then left the room and pounded down the stairs. As he reached the kitchen, he paused to grab a bit of food, just a quick burrito to keep him going, and then pulled on his winter clothing and scampered outside to the farmyard.

"Howdy, boss!" Milligan turned and waved as Jason approached. "All the animals in the barn are taken care of, and as near as I can tell, the harvesters are all tuned up. If you'd like to double-check that fact, I'll go get the horses."

Jason nodded, then crouched down and began to examine the harvesters. One factor that he hadn't considered was the fact that all his equipment deteriorated rather quickly on the off-season. Admittedly, it broke down faster—the dirtier it was left at the start of winter, and he had cleaned them both quite extensively before putting them away, but... He still found a decent amount of rust that hadn't been there at the end of fall, as well as some bolts that had worked themselves loose. Milligan had, indeed, taken care of the lion's share of the work. Bearings had been greased, the blades had been sharpened, and so on, leaving only a few small things that Jason himself often missed.

When he was done with his inspection, he crawled out from underneath the machines and helped Milligan get the horses hooked up. It was strange to be doing such a task as snow was rapidly falling down around them, but then... well... It wasn't the first time he had done such a thing now, anyway. They soon had the horses attached, and the two of them mounted up and rode off toward the Far Eighty.

Milligan, riding high on the older machine, let out a massive blast of snow as he drove over the steadily-rising drifts. That particular harvester's blades whirred constantly, as they were connected directly to the axel, which caused the machine to act rather like a giant snowblower. Jason's harvester was a bit better on that front, as he could disengage the blades with the pull of a lever. That said, he did have to admit that the snow spray looked cool, and it did clear a path for him coming along behind.

When the two workers got to the field, the snow was falling down heavier and heavier. Milligan hopped down and opened up the gate, allowing Jason to go through first, and then Jason got down and shut the gate again after Milligan came on in. With that, Jason climbed back up and took a look at the field, a strange sense of foreboding coming over him.

The crop of wheat was tall and thick, a bit more so than an ordinary summer crop. It was golden-brown, the same as any old crop of wheat, though it stood out in less contrast than normal. In the summer, the golden- brown was set against a backdrop of greens and other colors. Now, it was only set against white, a white that came even through the field itself, for the ground below was covered in a layer of snow, and some even came to rest on the heads of the wheat itself. Jason puffed out his cheeks, uncertain of how it would work.

"Cheer up, boss!" Milligan beamed. "When you get done with this field, you'll be ready for me to come up with a dozen more varieties of things we can plant in the winter!"

Jason shrugged. "I hope you're right! Onward!"

They rumbled forward as quickly as they could. Jason engaged his blades, and with a whir, snow exploded every which way, blasting from underneath the powerful machine as if he were creating a blizzard. This had the effect

of knocking down the wheat to the sides of the harvester, flattening it to the ground as if it had been run over. Jason winced, but didn't really know what he could do about that fact.

As they continued to rumble along, reaching about the halfway point through the field, a second problem began to present itself. Jason rumbled through a small ravine, nothing to write home about, and usually something he went through without even thinking about. Now, though, as he entered the gap, he felt the wheels beginning to slip, and the whole machine began to drift down the slope off to his left.

Angus snorted and strained as the machine slid. He didn't seem to be particularly bothered by it, and as he reached the bottom, he simply dug in his hooves and pulled the machine back up the other side, straightening it out again. Jason let out a sigh of relief that he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and held the reins a bit more firmly as they continued to rumble onward through the field.

The one bright side was that the wheat seemed to be yielding well. Jason checked the numbers here and there as he went along, and just as Milligan had predicted, they were right about the same as an ordinary field of wheat. Maybe a tad lower, but nothing extraordinary, and the demand would certainly be higher now than in summer. When he reached the end of the field, he turned around and came back, now driving back over the wheat that had been flattened by his initial pass.

Now that was where things really started getting tricky. The flattened wheat, while it still did get picked up by the whirling blades (if the harvester could harvest even sugar beets, which grew underground, they'd be able to pick up downed wheat). It also served as a flat, icy sort of sheet that the wheels of the harvester began to slide on. Anytime there was even

the slightest hint of a slope, the harvester skewed first one way, and then the other. It was actually sorta fun, like riding a carnival ride or something, but it was also... well... Not how a field's harvest ought to be going.

Across the field, Milligan seemed to be having similar issues. His machine was a bit smaller, which meant that it had less weight and so didn't slide as far before Dusty corrected the error, but on the flip side, it usually started to slide earlier. They waved at each other more than once, though Jason wasn't exactly sure what they were signaling, other than the fact that they were both still alive. Still, though, they pressed onward, slawing back and forth across the field until they reached the middle. There, they usually rode side- by-side as they completed the final pass together, however, on that day— they elected to take turns, so they weren't in any danger of running into one another. As they came up to the gate once more, Jason hopped off and fed an exhausted Angus several apples, and Milligan came striding over.

"Boss, I am so sorry, I didn't have any clue that--"

"Milligan." Jason held out a hand, which Milligan shook. "That was one of the most memorable harvests I've ever had. Probably second to the egg plants, but... Regardless of whether or not it was easy, I'll never forget it, and you can bet a great deal upon that."

Milligan smiled softly. "Thank you, my dear boy. That means a lot to me, and regardless of whether or not you think it necessary, I really am sorry. I thought this would be a simple, fun sort of experience."

Jason shrugged. "Allow me to put it this way. While I have absolutely no desire to ever do this again, you're more than welcome to continue research on the side, and even to use the equipment to plant and harvest by yourself in the winter. Use any of the fields you like, and if you run into a pinch, I'll likely be willing to help."

Milligan beamed, and a tear traced its way down his cheek. "You mean it?" Jason shrugged. "You just grew a field of wheat in the middle of winter. That holds so many possibilities for frozen lands that can't grow their food otherwise. Most genetic engineering stuff is cool, but this could actually be extremely useful. Keep up the good work." Jason thumped Milligan on the shoulder, then climbed back up onto the harvester and started to drive away. As he did so, he called back one final word. "Just make sure to get the harvester cleaned really well!"

"Will do, boss!"

Jason smiled and shook his head as he rumbled off down the gravel road toward the farmstead. The snow fell ever-faster, erasing their tracks from when they came out earlier that morning, and he stuck out his tongue to catch a few of the flakes. It hadn't gone the way he had planned, but... That was just part of farming.

And, really, that was what made the job so exciting.

Chapter 26. No Reason For Anything Else

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 50th day of Winter! 41 days until the Winter Festival! Today, we've got sleet, and a lot of it, folks! I don't know the numbers, but I think this winter has almost set a few records for total precipitation. Can't tell for sure, but if it's possible, stay inside!]

Jason slowly rolled out of bed, shivering slightly. The fire far below must have burned down overnight, and he quickly wrapped one of Tess's shawls around him, scampered out of the bedroom, and ran downstairs to throw a few more logs into the hearth. As they crackled to life, he came back upstairs, where Tess was just getting dressed in a warm, red winter outfit. Rain pattered against the window, and, before getting dressed, Jason walked up to look out over the farm.

"Good morning." Tess came up and hugged him, then took her shawl back and draped it around her shoulders. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Jason nodded, then grinned and walked over to the wardrobe, where he started changing. "Just cold. Cold, and trying to figure out what to

do with the day."

"I was originally planning on heading outside to work with the animals a bit." Tess shrugged. "I need to do some sorting and cleaning and other things. Nothing too major, just general work. You're more than welcome to come help with it, if you want."

Jason thought for a moment. "Will the girls be able to handle coming out into that?"

"Why don't you run out and do chores, and you can let me know?" Tess flashed a small smile at him. "And then, depending on what you tell me, I'll know whether I want to go out in that weather, too?"

She grinned, and Jason chuckled. He nodded, though, and as Tess went to get the girls ready, he made his way downstairs and took Chance outside. There, as the rain thundered down around the porch, Jason wrapped his arms around himself and shivered again. The temperature was technically above freezing, but only just. The rain was mixed with little bits of ice, making it a bit of a slush. On the bright side, it wasn't sticking or building up in sheets. Chance whimpered and pointed his nose back at the house, and Jason shrugged.

"Sorry, buddy. We're in this together!"

With that, Jason took a deep breath and plunged out through the rain. It came down hard and fast around him, and sloshed around his ankles as he splashed through the little rivulets that traced here and there across the farm. As he came up to the barn door, he fumbled a moment with the latch, until he got it open just enough to slip inside and get the lantern lit.

There, inside, the smell of warm hay filled the air with a warm, lovely sort of smell, and he pulled the door shut behind him. At that moment, the sound of rain drumming on the rooftop high above made a quiet, rumbling sort of

background noise, and the warmth of hundreds of animal bodies began to radiate through his own body. He pulled back the hood of his coat and took a deep breath, and a smile came across his face.

Almost an hour later, after finishing the chores and eating a hearty breakfast, the family came splashing back out, with Fern and Rachel wrapped tightly under blankets. Jason set down Fern on the floor of the barn and unwrapped her, while Tess set down Rachel, and they pulled the door shut behind them. Fern immediately ran up to the goat pen, where the little animals raced over and began bleating in excitement.

"Look daddy! Eat me!" Fern laughed as one of the goats began to nibble at the corner of her cloak.

"Huh." Tess nodded after a moment. "You were right. It's really not bad out here."

"Nah, not at all." Jason watched as Rachel began toddling toward some of the chickens, who squawked and raced away. Rachel began to chase them faster, making Jason smile. "It's just like our home. Filled with love, which warms the heart no matter how cold the air really is."

Tess elbowed him and made a gagging noise, but Jason simply gave her a hug. Overhead, the rain began to drum even harder, and Jason clapped his hands.

"Alright, Tess! You tell me. What's the plan from here. What are we working on today?"

"Excellent question." Tess crossed her arms. "You remember when I sold the animals last time?"

Jason nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, I've started to get requests from people up in Illumitir. Animal trainers, circuses, that sort of thing. They're interested in a handful of our

animals, but particularly the miniature elephants. The ones I sold last time have apparently proven to be quite trainable, and the demand for them is growing." She laughed softly. "Apparently, though I haven't confirmed this, there are actually some farms specifically dedicated to them that are already springing up around Illumitir, who rented some of my stock from the trainers and are working on building up their own herds."

"Wow!" Jason shook his head. "Alright, then. Let's get to it!"

Tess walked over to a small workbench she had set up, and quickly began to sort a number of papers that she had set out. She pulled this and that, setting up a clipboard, and then went down the stairs. A few moments later, there was a rumble, and a number of the small elephants came running up a small ramp that connected the lower and upper floors.

About five of them came, each one just as plump as could be. Fern laughed and giggled, clapping her hands, while Rachel screamed with delight and climbed into one of the chicken coops. Jason pulled her out before she could eat anything inside, then went to go help Tess corral them inside a catch pen. Once inside, she handed the clipboard to Jason and grabbed a small kit filled with a wide assortment of tools.

"Write down what I tell you." Tess hopped over the fence into the pen with them. The creatures bumped around and jostled her a bit, but she simply held up a hand, and they calmed down almost instantly. It was incredible, really, and she stroked one of their long, tender trunks before setting the kit on a fence post and pulling out a handful of ear tags. She snapped a clip-on tag onto the ear of the closest animal, then started calling out information. "Number 7. Bull. One month, three days old. Strength: F-. Dexterity: E. Trainability: A."

She rattled off a handful of other statistics, then moved onto the next elephant.

"Number 8." She called as she snapped on another tag. "Heifer. One month, 12 days old. Strength: F. Dexterity: F. Trainability... A."

On it went, with Tess using a skill that she had apparently borrowed from Jeremiah (since he wasn't really using his old ranching skills anymore) to scan each particular animal. Jason wrote down everything she noted, and, when she was done, she turned the animals out and ran them back downstairs, then brought up the next pen.

So on it went, all through the morning, until they had processed every single one of the almost two hundred elephants that the barn contained. Fern and Rachel stayed entertained through all of it, Rachel by continuing to chase the chickens and other loose-running animals, and Fern by climbing up onto the fence and calling out her own, random statistics. "Numbwer million! Strong: Yes! Deswerisisisy: T!"

Jason and Tess both got a laugh out of it, and, when he could, Jason made notes of Fern's particular classifications on the sheet as well. In any case, when they had finished, Tess ran the last of the elephants down into the lower part of the barn once more, then went into the back of the barn to where the wool cleaner was.

"We're breaking out this thing?" Jason laughed as he put the clipboard back onto Tess's desk, out of reach of a goat that was sticking his head over the railing with every intention of nibbling to bits all their morning's work. "Yeah! I thought it would be fun. I've used it a few times, but only when you've been out doing other stuff." Tess beamed at the machine. Jason himself looked at all the assorted hooks and pulleys and other things, not really having any concept of how it worked. It was long, about twenty feet,

and seemed to have a conveyer belt at both ends. Tess walked over to a handful of bags piled against the wall, and took out some sheep wool, then placed it on the conveyer at the starting end. "Grab Rachel real quick. We don't really want the girls anywhere near this thing when it gets going." Jason nodded, located Rachel over by the sheep pen, and soon had her in his arms. That done, Tess walked over to the side of the machine and turned a crank, which got everything going.

The crank was large, and Tess turned it slowly and purposefully, but everything else seemed to whir impossibly fast. The wool was carried into what seemed to be a series of gears, where it was stretched and pulled apart, and then fed into a system of pulleys. There, it was stretched out, nearly into a thread, before being fed onto the whirling hooks.

The hooks, perhaps, were Jason's favorite parts. As the thread-like wool came spiraling out of the pulleys, it was caught by the hooks, where it was wound up tightly into a ball. Within only a matter of seconds, what had been a simple lump of grayish-white wool had suddenly become a collection of shaped balls of pure white. Jason did have to admit that he didn't really see any particular part of the machine that actually did the cleaning, but he suppose that if it worked, he couldn't really ask many questions.

"And there we have it." Tess pulled the hooks out of their fittings and dropped them, wool and all, into another nearby bag. She then took up a handful of other hooks and replaced them, then pulled out a bit more. "And just like that, I've almost tripled the value."

Jason whistled. "How many bags will it take to pay for itself?"

"Well, like I said, I bought this with savings from the wool sales, so technically, it already has." Tess shrugged. "That said, if you want to look at

it that way... Around 100 bags, I think, will do it."

Jason whistled in amazement. Tess quickly moved through the rest of the wool, in a process that was as mesmerizing as it was efficient. When she finished all the sheep's wool, she came to a particularly large bag of the static caprine wool, and flashed a grin at Jason.

"You ready to see something cool?"

Jason nodded slowly. "What's--"

Tess dumped out the bag, then started to turn the crank. Almost instantly, flickering lightning flashed across the gears and pulleys as the wool was strung out, and when it hit the hooks, the light show almost hurt his eyes. Fern laughed and clapped her hands, and he took a step back as lightning flickered and flared from hook to hook to hook. When it all finished, Tess laughed and dropped those hooks into a different bag, then turned to Jason. "I've actually found a startup in Illumitir willing to buy up all the static caprine wool, too." Tess explained. "They're working on something that they're calling batteries, it's apparently going to be revolutionary or something."

"And I'm happy my wife gets to have a part in that." Jason gave Tess a kiss, and his stomach grumbled. "Well, it's been a full morning, but I think we need to be getting back inside."

"I agree." Tess nodded. "And then, I think our two little ones may need a N- A-P."

"I'm not tired." Fern rubbed her eyes and stuck out her chin. Jason just laughed, then grabbed their cloaks to wrap up the girls as they prepared to head back out into the cold.

Just a short run through the rain, and then they would be back inside, around the fire. Jason considered taking a nap himself, just to stretch out on

the floor in front of the hearth and soak it all in. It sounded nice... And with the winter in full swing, and a lovely family to spend his time with, he really couldn't see any reason to do anything else.

Chapter 27. Forecast

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 60th day of Winter! 31 days until the Winter Festival! It looks like we've got another cold one today, folks! I know that's nothing new, not really, but it's going to be just fantastically cold today. Seriously, people, stay safe!]

"You know, I'm not sure I really needed that forecast today." Jason chuckled as he rolled out of bed. The air was chilly, and as he walked up to the window. He could feel the chill even before he touched the glass. He shivered just looking out across the farmyard, which had a layer of thin, white frost across the frozen landscape. "I do, however, think I'm going to stay inside as much as possible."

Tess agreed as she rolled out of bed and started to get changed. "Well, I've certainly got cleaning for you to take care of if you'd like to, or you can work in your office, or--"

Suddenly, they both froze. In the distance, down the stairs, a distinct rapping could be heard on the front door of their home. Jason glanced at

Tess in confusion, who shrugged, and he quickly jogged out of his room and down the stairs.

As he came up to the front door, he heard feet shuffling about on the porch. Quickly, he threw the door open, where a bedraggled-looking woman with blue hair was standing there, shaking in the cold. Her invisibility cloak was gone, and the squirrel on her shoulder seemed to be just as cold as she was. A blast of the frigid air came rolling inside, and Jason quickly motioned for her to enter.

"Quick! Come in, come in."

Frances nodded and stepped inside, just as Tess appeared on the stairs, poking her head around the corner.

"Frances! Are you okay?"

Frances nodded wordlessly.

"Would you like some breakfast?"

Another nod.

"Good." Jason ushered Frances over to the fire, where he tossed on another log and threw a blanket across her. The squirrel vanished underneath of it, and Frances drew it tightly around her shoulders. "You just stay right here and warm up, we'll be down and ready in a few minutes."

Frances nodded, and Jason swept back upstairs even as Tess brought the two girls downstairs. A few minutes later, they were all seated in the living room munching on a light breakfast (Fern in particular thought that eating in the living room was the best thing ever). Frances didn't say much for a long while, but simply sipped a cup of coffee and ate her toast while slowly relaxing. After the meal was over, she let out a long sigh, then glanced at Jason.

"Thank you, Jason, Tess. This means a lot, more than you know."

"Anytime." Tess smiled and rose, clearing away all the old plates and things. "How have you been? How are all the animals?"

"They're wonderful." Frances began to smile. "The last three days, I've been following a frost butterfly. They're terribly rare, even back in the olden days when they spawned naturally. Our records only indicate three — three — ever being captured when they once roamed over this land. I can't say that I've caught one yet, but I know where it lives, so... That's where I'll be headed later." She shivered. "You wouldn't even begin to imagine what the creatures are all like. They have their own world, their own... I'm terribly sorry, I know you don't need to know any of this." She blushed. "And, to be honest, that's not why I came."

"Didn't you come to get warmed up?" Jason asked.

"No, not really." Frances shook her head. "I was actually quite warm and snug. I made a nest, which I huddled down into, and it kept me quite nice and let me observe the passing wildlife. That, though... That's why I'm here. I saw it."

Jason frowned. "It?"

"The dwarf sasquatch." Frances answered. "The one with the dungeon core fragment."

At that, Jason blinked in surprise. "You did?"

"Yes! That was last night. I followed him, discretely, until I found his den. I considered trying to engage him myself, as I'd rather like to capture him, but I decided to come and ask for help before attempting it." Frances shrugged. "I think I can do it, in fact I'm sure I can, but my field notes on the species indicate that they're quite fast, which makes them hard to target with calming skills. Ordinarily, I would have attempted it anyway, and if I

failed, simply enjoyed the hunt that ensued, but... With the dungeon core fragment on the line, I'd rather not risk it."

Jason nodded slowly. That made sense to him. He had no idea what a fragment could do compared to the full thing, but... well... He had seen a dungeon core in action, and it wasn't something that he really wanted in the possession of a wild animal.

"What do we need to do?"

An hour later, Jason, Frances, and Milligan all rode out from the farmstead toward the forest. Jason rode on Angus, while Frances rode upon Lady. They were all bundled as tightly as they could be, but even still, Jason seemed to feel the cold just seeping through his clothes and sucking every last ounce of warmth out of his body. The little bit of skin that was exposed, mostly on his face, simply stung.

"This way." Frances pointed off to the south, her voice muffled through one of Tess's scarfs. "It's not far."

Jason nodded, and the horses thundered on, across the rolling hills of the prairie, over frozen grasses that soon enough would be vibrant and green once more. Soon, they came up to the edge of the forest, a bit further south than the Far Eighty, and dismounted.

"Alright." Frances whispered. "It's about fifty feet inside. You both have the plan?"

"I think so." Milligan nodded. "Jason and I block the sides so it can't go to the right or left, and you come down the middle so you have a clear shot at it."

"Exactly." Frances nodded. "Walk softly."

With that, she set off through the trees, indeed walking so softly that she seemed to float on the air. Behind her, Jason felt as though he was about as

quiet as a clumsy elephant, but he did his best. Frances led them through a few ravines, in a rather circumspect route, until they came to an old elm tree with enormous, knobby roots that stuck out of the side of a small rise. There was a hole that had been dug out within those roots, which seemed to be lined with fur, or something similar. Frances motioned for Jason and Milligan to spread out, and they did so, each taking one side.

Jason kept his eyes on that hole, watching and waiting for anything to emerge. The dwarf sasquatch was strong, there was no doubt about that, and he was in no particular rush to tangle with it again. Slowly, carefully, as he and Milligan reached the hole, they started to creep forward toward each other, narrowing the gap. Soon, they stood about ten feet apart, and Frances moved into position.

Frances kept her hands raised in front of her, fingers splayed. Her eyes were laser-focused with a determination that Jason thought was rather entertaining. Suddenly, from within the hole, Jason heard a scuffle. A moment later, a dark shadow seemed to appear, and Frances smiled.

"We've got him now!"

Her voice rang through the woods, certainly calculated to do so, and the beast sprang forward with a leap. It drew up short after a moment, rising to its full height. It looked just as Jason remembered it, and, indeed, still had the dungeon shard clutched in its hand. Frances continued to walk forward, and the creature snorted, then turned to glance at Jason and Milligan. There was a long, painful sort of a pause, and suddenly, it turned and bolted back into the den.

From inside, there was a terrible clatter, a crashing and thumping and scraping. A long moment passed, and Jason saw something shoot out through the top of the tree, leaping through the bare, frozen branches of the

forest. Jason blinked in surprise as he watched the thing go, leaping off into the distance with the grace of a true acrobat.

"It had an exit route." Frances crossed her arms. "Interesting! That wasn't in the notes. I'll have to write that down!"

"I'm really sorry." Jason apologized.

"No, I'm sorry." Frances began to walk toward the hole. "I'm the one who drug you two out here, in the cold, which I know you guys don't appreciate as much as I do, and I'm the--" She knelt down and began to crawl inside. "Fascinating! This insulation for its nest, I don't think it uses its own hair! It doesn't eat other creatures, so it must have some sort of a symbiotic relation where other monsters allow it to harvest some of... This is incredible! The find of a century! And look! I see a pot, and a hammer, and some scrap... It collects metal objects! This is truly fascinating, the find of a century! Thank you, Jason, thank you!"

Jason merely laughed and shook his head. Frances vanished entirely into the hole, and after waiting for a long moment for her to emerge, Jason and Milligan simply turned and walked away. Jason left a bag of food for her, hoping that she would actually find it. Soon, he was off toward home once more.

As he rode across the prairie, meandering back toward the farmstead, he shook his head in amazement. Frances was one of a kind, there was certainly nothing that could be disputed about that fact. She had failed in her intended goal, and quite soundly, but had still been excited to learn something. Jason supposed that there was a lesson to be found in that... And hoped that he would be able to apply it, if, indeed, something similar ever happened to him.

Chapter 28. Wrote a Letter

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 75th day of Winter! 16 days until the Winter Festival! We're on the downhill slope, folks! The weather today will be chilly, maybe some scattered flurries later this evening, but nothing too terrible. I am starting to get weather reports for the day of the Winter Festival, and it's looking like we're going to have snow, and a lot of it! I've been told to let you know that the party committee will be planning accordingly.]

Jason laughed softly as he rolled out of bed and slowly walked up to the wardrobe. "The party committee? Do you think that's mostly Jeremiah, or mostly Paulina?"

"I think it probably depends on just how crazy Jeremiah wants to get, and how inclined Obadiah is to listen to him." Tess snorted as she rolled out of bed as well. "If he's wanting to hold a snowman-making contest, I think it's pretty likely that he's allowed to do it. If he's wanting to have a snowball fight... I see a lot more eyeballs being directed his way."

"That's fair." Jason laughed as he started getting dressed. "I could see a Jeremiah-led snowball fight getting out of hand quickly." After a moment, he paused. "I could also see it using an inordinate number of cannons." "No." Tess held up a finger. "I don't know what you're thinking, but no." Jason merely laughed. For what it was worth, he had simply been wondering if it would even be possible to fire a snowball from a cannon, and knew of only one way to try. In any case, he was soon dressed, and made his way out into the chilly air to get all his assorted animals fed and ready for the day. By the time he got back inside, Tess had put together a lovely breakfast that consisted primarily of eggs and vegetables, which they dined on eagerly. As they finished, Jason rose and wiped his mouth. "Alright, then." He leaned over and gave Tess a kiss on the cheek. "You're still good if I take off?"

"Absolutely." Tess nodded. "Go have fun, you're really going to enjoy it, I know. I've got the girls, and I think we've got some fun crafts to work on." "Yay!" Fern clapped her hands. "Paint house!"

"No..." Tess leaned forward. "No painting house."

Fern blinked her eyes several times. "Peas?" "No."

"Pwetty peas?"

"No. But I will let you paint on paper." "Want paint walls!"

Jason laughed as he walked to the door and got ready. Fern came running over and gave him a hug and he hugged her back, then gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"I'll see you this afternoon!"

"See woow!"

Jason waved once more, then turned and walked out of the house. Soon, he had mounted up on Angus, and rode off across the prairie toward Milligan's cabin.

Several days earlier, Milligan had sent him a letter, asking if he wanted to come out to the greenhouse for a day, just to see what he had been working on. Jason had readily accepted (frankly, he had wanted to see it for some time now, but hadn't wanted to impose), and they had set up a proper tour. Now, as Jason rode over the rolling hills that lay between the two properties, he felt a smile grow across his face.

Milligan was already waiting outside when Jason came riding up. He waved merrily, and Jason waved back. Jason swung down out of the saddle, and Milligan quickly led Angus into the little stable where Dusty was living. That done, the two men shook hands, and started walking across the barren fields toward the greenhouse.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in... Weeks." Milligan chuckled as they climbed over one of the fences in their path. "You haven't called me down to the farm for anything, everything still going alright?"

Jason nodded and shrugged. "Yeah, everything's fine. Honestly, there's just not that much work to do right at this moment. Ever since the winter wheat... I mean, I'm not going to say that it failed, necessarily, but--"

"Nah. It was a failure." Milligan shrugged. "You don't have to sugar-coat it for me. It was a nightmare to plant, a nightmare to harvest, and it yielded terribly." He chuckled. "How much did you manage to sell it for, anyway?" Jason shook his head, trying to remember. It hadn't been a lot though, he was certain of that. In due fairness, a massive shipment of gain had apparently just arrived in Illumitir from Portswain, which drove the prices down, but... In any case, the experiment had been an utter failure on

multiple levels, though it had proven that crops could be grown in such an environment. "Not a clue. Anyway, point is, since we got done with all that, I just... Haven't really had much of a need for help. We've just been in the barn here and there, just working and doing stuff, and... That's really been about it."

Milligan nodded in understanding. "Well, I'll be the first to say that I've been rather enjoying the solitude, but it's also good to see you again." A grin spread across his face as they reached the greenhouse. "You ready to see some really cool stuff?"

"Let's do it!"

Milligan took hold of the door and swung it inward, and Jason slowly stepped inside the large, plexiglass building.

Now... Jason had a greenhouse attached to his house. It wasn't large, enough for a single table with about five seed beds, and that was about it. He hadn't done much with it that year, but in years past, he had spent a lot of his winter free time playing around with various experiments and crosses and things. Milligan's greenhouse, though, was something entirely different. A hundred feet long and fifty wide. It was a vast, sprawling structure filled with dozens upon dozens of tables all filled with seed beds. Growing out of said seed beds were the widest assortment of plants that Jason thought he had ever seen, and his jaw slowly dropped as he took it all in.

Some of them were crops, it was true. Wheat in all colors of the rainbow popped up out of one particular row, next to a crop of beans that had the oddest-shaped pods he had ever imagined. They looked rather like stars, instead of the standard... well... Pod shape. There were cornstalks that were only a couple feet tall, and sported ears that were just as long growing out of the top. There were sunflowers that emitted dazzling rays of all sorts

of light, a long row of sugar beets, and an assortment of multi-colored sorghum. Moving down from that, though, Jason's eyes fell upon a long row of flowers—and beyond that, an assortment of tropical plants, including what looked to be a miniature palm tree.

"What is all of this?" Jason breathed.

"Well, come along!" Milligan laughed and waved his hand. "Do you want to start with the crops, or the flowers?"

"Ahh... Crops?"

Milligan whisked Jason along. He pointed first at the sugar beets, and started talking a mile a minute.

"First off, I've got ordinary sugar beets that can be grown in any season. I know that's been a particular desire of yours. I've got brown sugar beets and maple sugar beets, you've done both of those. I've also started working on some fruit sugar beets, too. I've got apple, and cherry, and... Ooh! A cinnamon sugar beet, right over here! It's still pretty small, I'm still working out the kinks, but I ought to have it ready in a couple years." Milligan was like a kid in a candy store, showing Jason anything and everything he could think to show him. He whirred through the wide variety of crops he was in the process of producing, including corn that produced its own butter, sorghum that produced flowers as well as grain (potentially making it appealing for city gardeners, so it could serve a dual purpose in a windowsill), and so much more. The sunflowers in particular, Jason was excited for, though Milligan assured him that it would likely be at least two years before he was able to get any of those crops ready.

Moving onward from that, they went into the wide range of flowers. There were tulips, roses, lilies, poppies, orchids, and so much more. A wide- mouthed, blue flower hung slightly over the pathway, and when Jason

brushed up against it, a sweet-smelling nectar was dumped out all over his clothes. He gasped and stepped back, and Milligan laughed.

"Sorry about that! It does that intentionally, you know."

"Really?" Jason blinked. "Why?"

"It's carnivorous and doing that attracts bees!"

As if to confirm, several bees (Milligan had a small hive tucked away somewhere in the greenhouse) came flitting over. A long, tongue-like appendage shot out of the flower and snagged one of them, and Jason gulped.

He moved on quickly, but soon forgot the experience, as he saw roses where each individual petal was a slightly different color, bluebonnets that were pink (and waved their little appendages at him as he passed), crocuses that... well... In all reality, the crocuses didn't really have anything altering them, they were just so beautiful to begin with that he found himself enamored.

He slowly walked through it all, up one row and down the other, mesmerized, until he made it through the wide assortment of color and display. As he came around the far end, he found himself in for yet another shock. He found an assortment of miniature plants, grown in beds that seemed to be entire landscapes in and of themselves. One had several pine trees that topped out at about a foot, set amidst several elms and birch trees of only a slightly taller height. Meanwhile, next to it, there was a desert scene with tiny cacti only a few inches tall. Next to that was a beach scene with tiny palm and date trees, and the displays went on.

Jason whistled at it all. "This is something else."

"The sum of my life's work, really." Milligan shrugged. "And it's not done yet, I'll have you know it. I have big plans, no doubt about that, and--"

Suddenly, something scampered underneath one of the tables. Jason bent down, frowning, and, to his complete and utter horror, caught a glimpse of a monstertrap racing around on its spindly roots, darting its big head here and there as it looked for things to eat.

"Please tell me that you're not growing--"

Milligan laughed. "I've heard you tell stories of your little... Issue with the monstertraps! Don't worry! This one is tame. I've been working on making them docile, to sell them as pets to rich people who don't want to worry about animal hair."

Jason frowned as he looked at the thing. It snapped its jaws at him, though he supposed it could have been just trying to say hello. In any event, he sighed deeply and shrugged, then rose back up.

"Well, this is... This is incredible."

"Thanks." Milligan smiled, then paused. "And thank you, so much, for letting me do all of this. This has been a dream of mine for years, and... You've been letting me live it."

Jason clapped Milligan on the shoulder. "You're a good man, and a hard worker."

They shared a moment longer, then went back to looking at the plants. Jason stayed out there for several more hours, until they returned to Milligan's cabin for lunch. After that was done, Jason rode off for home once more, eager to see his family, and to tell Tess all about what Milligan was up to.

As he rode across the frozen prairie, a smile crept across his face... Tempered only by the thought of the monstertrap. He did his best to banish that thought, though. Milligan knew what he was doing, which meant... He was safe.

Chapter 29. No Word on the Weather

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 87th day of Winter! 4 days until the Winter Festival! I know we're almost there, just hang in for a few more days, folks! Keep it up, keep pushing, we've almost made it to spring!]

Jason chuckled as he rolled out of bed and slowly stood up and stretched. "Not a word about the weather?"

Tess shrugged as she climbed out of bed behind him. "In due fairness... It doesn't really take much brainpower to see what the weather is doing." "Fair." Jason slowly walked over to the window, where snow drifted past slowly and lazily. From what Obadiah had said the day before, it was likely to snow all the way until the festival, and it was possible that it would still be precipitating, albeit in a slightly less frozen form, once spring came around. Jason wasn't particularly thrilled about that possibility, given that he needed to be out in the field planting as soon as it was possible to do so, but... He supposed that he could cross such a bridge when he came to it. For the time being, everything he could think to do on the farm had been

done over the previous several weeks, which left him in the position of simply waiting for the wonderful springtime to arrive.

"Daddy!" Fern burst through the door, with Rachel in tow. "Mommy!" Jason spun to face his daughter, then bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Daughter! Daughter number two!" He gave Rachel a kiss as well. "You're going to number them?" Tess raised an eyebrow.

"One of them was born before the other." Jason shrugged.

"It sounds like you're playing favorites."

"Well, I'm not." Jason scooped up Rachel and raspberried her stomach, then passed the two girls off to Tess. She carried them off to their rooms, and Jason quickly got dressed in a light tunic.

The next hour or so were spent slowly getting ready for the day. They ate breakfast together, Jason threw another log on the fire, and he went outside to do chores. When he got back inside, Fern and Rachel were playing with their dolls on the floor in front of the fireplace, while Tess sat on a nearby couch with a pile of clothing, some thread, and a needle. Jason sat down on a chair across from her, and watched as she began to mend all the clothes (mostly Jason's) which had been torn or otherwise ruined. The needle flashed like lightning, he had to admit that she was getting utterly fantastic at the skill.

"Well." Jason slapped his thigh. "What should we do today? Clean the house?"

"I think everything's already clean." Tess shrugged.

"Alright... Desk work!"

"You got all your paperwork filed yesterday."

"Look through boxes in the basement?"

Tess shrugged again. "We finished that process a couple years ago."

"Really? Wow!" Jason clapped his hands and leaned back into his chair. "We're actually on top of our lives! What are we going to do?"

Fern stood up, a grin on her face. "We play tag?"

"Tag?" Jason leaned forward. "You want to play tag?"

"Yes!"

"Good!" Jason reached out and tapped her on the head. "Tag! You're it!" Before she could respond, Jason leapt to his feet and bolted for the kitchen. As he did so, his feet caught on the floor rug, and he tripped and fell sprawling across the threshold of the kitchen.

"Tag! You it!"

Fern ran over him, not really tagging so much as stepping on him, but Jason supposed that it counted. He leapt to his feet and raced after her, through the kitchen, and into the dining room.

There, Fern was giggling wildly as she ran around the far end of the table. Jason ran after her, holding out his hand, then spun and ran the opposite direction. Fern, too focused on the way she was already going, didn't notice until it was too late, and Jason planted his hand firmly on her head.

"Tag!"

Fern giggled, and Jason jumped backward to avoid being tagged immediately. He then turned and bolted back out of the dining room, then pounded up the stairs to the upper floor.

"Be careful!" Tess called up.

"Yes!" Jason agreed. "Fern, the stairs can be--"

"I was talking to you!"

Jason mock-scowled down at her. A moment later, Fern came pounding around the corner and started climbing the stairs as quickly as she could. Jason spun and ran for Fern's room, slipped inside, and then looked around.

Before she could step inside, he ducked into her closet and pulled the door shut, hiding amidst the clothes hanging on their nice, neat hangars.

"Got you, daddy!" Fern raced into her bedroom a moment later, then stopped. Jason could only see a tiny sliver of the room through a crack in the door, and saw her briefly pass by. "Daddy?"

A moment later, she walked out, and Jason slipped out of the closet and crept up to the hallway. There, he watched as Fern walked into his bedroom, and at that point, he crept through the hall and back down the stairs. He was almost at the bottom when a loud voice echoed through the air behind him.

"Found you daddy!"

Fern giggled wildly as she began racing down the stairs at top speed. Jason turned to run, then saw Fern trip and begin to fall. His fatherly reflexes kicked in, and he lunged forward to grab her before she could crash against the stairs and hurt herself. Carefully, he carried her down to the ground floor. Tess shot him a knowing look as he set Fern on the ground, and he winced.

"Tag!" Fern giggled. "Daddy tagged himself! Silly daddy!"

With that, she bolted off through the house once again, and Jason laughed. He chased after, racing around the living room half a dozen times, through the kitchen more than he could count, around the dining room table, and then back through it all again.

Through it all, it simply amazed him how something so simple as just running could fill the mind of a child. To him, they were just rooms, but to her, they were something entirely more. They raced around until he was too exhausted to take another step, and he dropped onto a couch, breathing heavily.

"I think... Fern... That you won."

"I win! Yay!" Fern clapped her hands and turned in a circle, then looked up at Jason. "Play 'nother game?"

"What do you want to play?"

"Umm..." Fern thought for a moment. "Horsey!"

Jason puffed out his cheeks. "Horsey?"

"Horsey!"

Jason groaned, but nodded as he slid off the couch and landed on all fours. "I need to teach you how to play chess." Fern giggled as she started to climb onto his back. "It's slow, it's thoughtful, and you get to sit, instead of... Bucking!"

Fern laughed and grabbed hold of his neck as he reared up onto his hind legs, pawing at the air with his arms. He let out the best "neigh!" that he could manage, then fell back to all fours and went charging off through the living room.

Fern laughed, and even Rachel seemed to take an interest in the proceedings, though she didn't seem to understand exactly what was happening. Jason ran a few circles around Rachel just for fun, which the baby seemed to love, then ran up next to the couch where Tess was sitting. Tess set aside her mending, and Jason reared up once more.

"And now it's time to... Buck you off!"

He gave a mighty heave of his back, and tossed Fern off of him onto Tess. Tess caught her and tickled her sides, making her laugh all the harder, and Jason set back. Suddenly, he felt something tugging at his back, and looked to see Rachel trying to pull herself up onto him.

"Alright!" He grinned and crouched down. Tess leaned over, picked up Rachel, and set her onto his back. That done, Jason slowly began to trot

around the room, very slowly, very carefully. He was almost back when Fern's grip loosened and she slid off, but he caught her long before she hit the ground. He gave her a tickle as well as he carried her over to Tess, and the sound of tiny baby laughter filled the large room.

As the two girls quieted down, Fern looked up at him, eyes wide.

"Play house?"

Inwardly, Jason groaned, but outwardly, he nodded. "We can play house." "Yay!"

Dolls were quickly brought out, and Jason sat down as different homes were drawn up. Tess went back to her work, and Jason simply smiled and started doing what Fern told him to do. It was a simple day, but it was a good one. He couldn't spend every day just playing with his kids... So, he was going to make the best of it when the opportunity presented itself.

Chapter 30. Last Day of Winter

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 91st day of Winter! It's the day of the Winter Festival! Snow, snow, and more snow, but that's not what you care about, is it, folks? No, you care about the Winter Festival! Come on out for games, food, warm cider, and more!]

Jason felt pure and utter excitement flow through him as he rose up out of bed. He jogged up to the window, where thick, fat flakes were pouring down at an extraordinary rate. He smiled broadly, then turned to the wardrobe, finally noticing that Tess was nowhere to be found. The smell of frying bacon drifted up through the air, and he quickly changed into his town tunic and made his way downstairs, where Tess and the girls were waiting on him.

"Daddy slow!" Fern declared as Jason dropped into his seat. Tess tossed him some pancakes and bacon, and he added a bit of syrup as he dug in. "No, daddy isn't slow, you three were really fast!" Jason grinned and poked Fern, making her squeal. "How's everything been?"

Tess shrugged. "About like you'd expect. Milligan came down and did the chores already, so we're all good to roll out as soon as you're done eating." Jason laughed. "You guys are really in a hurry to get out there, aren't you?" "Actually, we just want to get there in the first place." Tess answered. "Paulina sent me a letter, and it sounds like the snow is expected to keep piling up, to the point that travel will likely be impossible before much of the day passes. Milligan is staying home, as usual, but he wanted to make sure that we could go. He also told us that if we get stuck in town and can't get back home, he'll lock everything up for us before dark."

"Hopefully that isn't a problem." Jason laughed softly, then finished and rose. "Well, it sounds like we're burning daylight! Let's get moving!"

The four of them quickly made their way to the front of the house, where they dressed in their thick winter coats, boots, and gloves. All that done, they made their way outside, where Milligan stood next to Lady, who was hitched to their carriage.

"Step right up, ladies and gents!" Milligan boomed, smiling broadly as he helped Tess up, then handed the two girls up to her. "I do hope you have a great time today, boss."

"As do I." Jason accepted Milligan's help up into the carriage, where he seated himself on the wagon box next to Tess. Fern clambered into his lap, and he took up the reigns. "And you're sure there's no way I can convince you to come along?"

"Nah." Milligan waved his hand. "I've been to a few of them, you know. Not my cup of tea, I'm afraid. Maybe I'll come to the spring one, but... Someone's got to watch the farm."

"Well, have fun! Treat yourself to anything you like from our pantry." Jason gestured toward the house. "The cookbook can whip you up just about

anything. Make a pie, or a cake, or something to celebrate."

"That much, I can do!" Milligan tipped his hat, and Jason snapped the reins. With that, they were off, rumbling out through the apple trees and onto the road, where, indeed, the snow was rapidly piling up.

The sides of the roads had long since drifted up, over the previous several days of heavy snowfall. Now, though, those peaks were starting to drift over the edges of the road itself, and down in the lower points between hills. The snow was growing deep enough that forging the wagons through proved to be nigh-impossible. Lady kept her head high, and pushed forward with all the might of her stature, but she was certainly struggling. All around, the snow continued to pour down, drifting beneath the wagon cover to land on their heads, even as it continued to make the great heaps of snow all around higher and higher.

In any event, they made it through, and after a hearty journey, they came rumbling up into the town square. There, Obadiah and several of his warriors ran back and forth with shovels, clearing the snow away from the cobbles to allow more and more people to make their entrance. As seemed the usual now, a page boy came out to take over the carriage, driving it around to the stables through a narrow passage carved through the snow.

As the family climbed down and looked around, Jason had to admit that the scene was simply magical. Soft music drifted out from what seemed to be the upper floor of the item shop, a light, twinkling sort of fairy-music that floated down and seemed to infuse itself in with the falling snow. Meanwhile, large heaps of snow were piled alongside the outer wall of Jeremiah's office building, Jason counted about fifteen in all. Paulina and Cecilia walked along the row of them, carefully measuring and examining each one. John toddled along behind Paulina, and Fern went racing off after

him. The two children laughed and began to race around the winter wonderland, and Jason just shook his head.

"Howdy, neighbor." Richard came walking up from the direction of the inn, a grin on his face.

"Howdy!" Jason turned and grinned. "You stayed the night here?"

Richard nodded. "A lot of the people further-out made their way in last night. I mentioned it to Tess, but she seemed to think it would be easier to just stay home."

Jason nodded. "Yeah, probably so. I mean, Milligan would have happily done everything... For that matter, he pretty much did do everything, anyway, but... You know how that goes."

Richard laughed. "That I do." He puffed out his cheeks. "How do you like having a hired man?"

"Honestly, it hardly seems like he is a hired man." Jason shrugged. "He's just a good friend, and we work together, you know?"

"I feel the same about Weatherhand." Richard nodded. "They're good men, for sure." He whistled. "It takes a special sort of someone to be able to just hide in the background and not seek attention, you know? Or, more specifically, to be able to actively resist attention. Sorta humbling, after I spent my life as a warrior trying to gather up trophies and that sort of thing."

Jason could only nod, and the two of them stood together, watching the proceedings. Finally, Jason nodded toward the piles of snow.

"Any idea what they're working on, there?"

"Yeah! It's a snowman contest." Richard nodded. "Everyone starts with the same amount of snow, and then at the end, they're all judged, based on...

Oh, I can't remember, but Paulina drew up a bunch of categories, I think." He elbowed Jason. "You ought to come join me. We'll be a team!"

"I love it." Jason grinned. "When are they starting?"

"I think--"

"Everyone!" Obadiah quit shoveling, and climbed up onto the town well. "The morning's bracket of snowmen-making will now begin!"

That answered Jason's question, and a few minutes later, he and Richard had claimed a pile of snow near the door of the constable's office. Tess, Paulina, Fern, and John claimed the one just next to them, and Jason flashed a competitive sort of grin over at Tess. Tess returned the gesture, and they got ready. All up and down the row, men and women took their stances. Some of the teams were made up of children, some were made up of older folks. Some looked like they were just in it for the fun, while others certainly looked as though they were planning on doing some serious competition-crushing.

"Alright!" Obadiah called. "The rules are simple! You have exactly half an hour to build whatever you like out of snow! Categories are: People, animals, buildings! The winner of each category will get to eat first at the party tonight! Three, two, one, go!"

Jason glanced at Richard as the courtyard exploded into motion. Richard rubbed his hands together.

"What should we do?" He glanced at Jason. "What do you think will be the best?"

Jason thought for a moment. "Most people are going to make monsters or buildings, since people are unoriginal, and they're going to assume that most everyone else is just going to make a person."

"I was thinking the same thing." Richard winked. "Then who are we going to sculpt?"

Jason thought for a moment longer, then answered. "Tess. We both love her."

"Deal!" Richard grinned, then paused. "How should we sculpt her?" "Hmm." Jason paused, then let out a long breath. "I've got an idea."

The two of them quickly set in. Jason scooped up a good portion of snow, then packed it down into a much tighter pile just in front of the original pile. Richard helped, and they had soon made a pile about three feet tall. From that point, Jason opened up his inventory and drew out a trowel, while Richard drew out a sword. There, they began to carefully carve away bits and pieces, starting at the top, and slowly moving downward.

Jason was amazed how easy it was, really. All he had to do was picture Tess beneath the snow, and then cut away everything that wasn't her. Richard was able to do much the same, using a variety of magical stones and things he had collected in the dungeons to melt the snow away, or freeze it back into ice, or a variety of other things. On and on they worked, until, as Obadiah counted down the last few moments, they stepped back and crossed their arms.

Standing there, frozen in the softly-falling snow, was Tess as she had appeared on her wedding day. Her upper torso was set in plate armor, while a sweeping dress of chain mail fell down to the cobblestones, sweeping along behind in a great train. Her face was elegant, filled with love and hope, while a thin veil that Richard had made by melting and freezing the snow into icicles hung over it. Richard took a long, deep breath, and a tear trickled down his face.

"She looked just like that?"

Jason nodded, and he felt something well up in his own chest. "Just like if she'd posed for it that day."

Richard sighed, then shook his head. "You've no idea how much I regret not being there, Jason. I only hope that she forgives me for it, some day." "You know she does."

Richard nodded. "I know she says it, but... That sort of a wound cuts deep." He grimaced, then shrugged. "But, we can make it up now, and that's what I've been trying to do out here."

Jason simply agreed, then glanced over at Tess and Paulina's creation. Standing there in the snow was a similarly-constructed sculpture of Chance, his little nose pointing directly at a little snowy crabgrass. Jason laughed, and Tess came over and wrapped her arms around her father.

It didn't take long for the judging to begin. Obadiah, Elizabeth, and Jeremiah formed the council. They made their way down the line, past a wide assortment of buildings from Summer Shandy (including Jason's barn), a handful of monsters, and a number of simple, three-ball snowmen. They paused for some time at the sculptures of Chance and Tess, and Jeremiah wiped a tear from his eye before he moved on. Jason glanced over at Richard and grinned.

"We've got this in the bag."

When the judges reached the end, they stepped to the side and deliberated for a short time, then walked back to the town well. Obadiah climbed up and clapped his hands, smiling through the falling snow.

"It wasn't easy, but we've made our decision! First, our honerable mentions go to... The sculptures of Tess, as well as the dog!"

The courtyard cheered, and Jason scowled.

"In complete honesty, these likely would have been the winners, however, as magic was used, we have decided to disqualify them on technical grounds. Thus, the winners are... The papa snowman, the replica of the Warrior's Guild, and the snake!"

The three youngest teams, all made of schoolchildren, laughed and ran forward to celebrate. Jason had to laugh, too, and everyone around congratulated them. Then, stepping back, the whole group began to wander back and forth, examining the assorted sculptures, which were already growing distorted as snow continued to fall down. Obadiah announced another contest taking place once enough snow had accumulated that afternoon, and another cheer went up.

With that, Jason sighed deeply. There weren't many places where an entire town could come together for such a competition... Here, in Summer Shandy, he supposed that it wasn't only possible, but accepted. He glanced over at Richard and smiled.

"Want to try again after lunch?"

"Let's do it." Richard nodded. "You think we stand a chance?"

Jason glanced at the horde of young children racing back and forth across the area, pelting one another with snowballs. "No, not a single chance in a million." He laughed. "Still, though... I think it'd be fun to try.

Chapter 31. First Day of Spring

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 1st day of Spring! 90 days until the Spring Festival! Let's see... Pretty much everyone who gets these messages is already in the inn here in town, so you'll pretty much already know that it's wet, rainy, and terribly muddy. If you need any help getting out of town today, just let me know, folks!]

Jason's eyes flickered open just in time for him to see Fern's knees coming down on his face.

"Oomph!"

"Hi, daddy!" Fern grinned, then slid off of him. "Morning! Go play!"

Jason slowly sat up, finding himself in one of the rooms of Lily's inn. He yawned and shook his head, then glanced over at the trundle bed where the two girls had been sleeping. Rachel was already gone, and the door was cracked open. He suddenly found himself a great deal more awake, as as Tess murmured and slowly sat up, he leapt from the bed and raced out into the hall.

There, as his eyes adjusted to the light, he found the entire area in a state of assorted chaos. Famers staggered from their rooms, some drinking coffee, others not, while children raced pell-mell back and forth with their friends —in the greatest sleepover that any of them had ever experienced. Fern was just reaching the top of the stairs, and raced down after John, laughing and giggling as she went. Jason staggered forward, moving as quickly as possible, while trying to avoid trodding underfoot any of the youngsters.

As he reached the top of the stairs and looked out, he found Paulina down in the tavern portion of the building. She had set up a small sort of pen that held a wide assortment of toddlers and babies that had crawled out of the bedrooms without their parents' knowledge. Behind Jason came a steady stream of other parents, and a collective sigh of relief seemed to fill the room as everyone realized that their children were okay.

Jason waved at Paulina, then went back to their room, where he found Tess packing things up.

"Everything okay?" Tess glanced over at him.

"It is now." Jason nodded, and helped Tess finish packing. "Just... Bit of a panic attack, you know?"

"Quite well!" Tess laughed. "Paulina had everything under control, I assume?"

"Indeed." Jason puffed out his cheeks. "Shall we get rolling?"

"Oh, let's not move too fast." Tess shook her head. "We don't get out of the house much, let the kids enjoy this."

Jason reluctantly nodded, and he and Tess made their way out to the tavern. There, the elderly Lily, along with her staff, brought out a wide assortment of meats, eggs, pastries, and more.

"Eat up!" She called out. "Jeremiah is paying for everything from the town's funds, so if you've ever felt like your taxes were being mismanaged, here's your chance to get revenge!"

Everyone laughed and cheered, the parents because they enjoyed the joke, and the kids because there was a lot of sweet things on the menu. Jason started forward, then paused as he felt a tugging down at his leg.

"Daddy? I eat donut?" Fern blinked her wide eyes up at him.

Jason laughed. "Oh, I suppose so. It's a special occasion, after all."

"Yay!" Fern ran off toward the table. "Daddy say otay!"

Paulina, Fern's apparent destination, smiled, then handed Fern one of the largest donuts Jason had ever seen. It was covered in a thick layer of glaze, and he grimaced. Still, though... One unhealthy meal wouldn't kill anyone. Paulina was sitting a number of the children down around one of the tables near the center of the room, and Fern joined some of her friends there. Tess gathered up Rachel, who was still a bit too young to join in, and she and Tess soon sat down at their own table, not too far away from the kid table. There, they tucked into the meal, keeping a tangential eye on Fern, but largely just letting her be.

"This is... Nice." Tess spoke softly after a moment, and she smiled at Jason. "We ought to do something like this again, sometime. I know some folks will go on vacation every few months, and I don't think we need to do anything like that, but... We've never actually been on a vacation before." "Very true." Jason nodded. After a moment, he laughed. "I just love the farm so much, you know?"

"And I do, too." Tess answered. "Trust me, there was a time when I could hardly imagine living on a farm the way we do now. These days, I can't

imagine living any other way. My old life... It was fun, and I don't really regret any of it, but I do love our current life way more."

Jason nodded, then stuck a bit of bacon in Rachel's mouth. The little one happily crunched it up with her teeth, which were rapidly coming in now, and she giggled.

"Wum!"

Jason leaned over and gave her a kiss. "Let's say we went on a vacation. Where would you want to go?"

Tess shrugged after a moment. "I don't know. We could always go up to Illumitir to visit your family. There are some low-level dungeons that noobs can enter, which we could do together, and there's an assortment of tourist-y things that might be fun."

"Then let's do it sometime!" Jason declared. "I pronounce it!"

Tess raised an eyebrow. "And when, exactly, are we going to do something like that?"

"As soon as... we... um..." Jason floundered for a moment, then chuckled. "Exactly." Tess chuckled. "You're never going to want to leave the farm for that long. Frankly, neither do I." She leaned forward, a twinkle in her eye. "That said, I wouldn't be opposed to doing a few overnight trips into Summer Shandy every now and again. The kids would love it, and if we came in the night before a festival, it would make things easier than rushing to get out the door."

"Very true." Jason flashed a smile, then let out a long breath. "Let's do it." They continued to eat, slowly, chatting here and there with some other parents who wandered past now and again, keeping an eye on their own children. As the kids all finished eating, they leapt down and began racing around in a sugar-crazed game of some sort. It seemed to be a combination

of tag, hide and seek, red rover, and possibly tackle football. Jason wasn't sure that the kids knew the rules any more than he did, but they certainly had a lot of fun with it.

Several hours passed in the joy of that fellowship. In time, though, they had to leave, and Jason left Tess to gather up the children while he slipped outside to the stables. The rain was still coming down in sheets, drumming on the pavement while rivers of water washed over the landscape. Jason found himself soaked to the bone within seconds. Still, though, it was a warm rain, a far cry from the rains of fall and winter. When he brought the carriage around to the front, Tess loaded up their bags into the luggage compartment, handed the girls up to him, and away they went.

The trip back was quiet, mostly accompanied by the noise of rain drumming on the carriage's canopy. They drove slowly, so the rain didn't blow underneath the covering, allowing them to simply look across the prairie. Jason took it all in, sighing deeply and contently.

All over the gently-rolling hills, the dead grasses of winter had been replaced by the fresh, short, green grass of spring. Flowers were just starting to bloom, though, admittedly, there weren't nearly as many as there would be a bit later in the season. Animals cantered here and there, excited by the warmer weather. Jason thought he saw a rather tell-tale hole in the rain, roughly shaped like a person, that the water seemed to bend around, which was slowly creeping up behind a spotted deer, but he also could have been mistaken. In any case, the whole world felt like it was coming alive again, and his heart swelled within him.

As he came splashing back up to the farmstead, Milligan came down off the porch and swung the gate open. He then followed them to the porch, where he took their bags down, then helped Tess and the girls get down and into

the home. That done, he climbed up with Jason, and rode with him over to the barn.

"How was it, boss?" Milligan glanced over at him as they unhitched Lady and wheeled the carriage into its place.

"It was... Magical." Jason answered. "Really no other way to describe it." After a moment, he chuckled. "Well, possibly annoying. Richard and I got snubbed in three different snowmen contests."

Milligan laughed and clapped his hands. "I'd like to hear the story on that one, sometime."

"And you will." Jason walked up to the edge of the barn, just inside the door, and looked out at the pouring rain. "In the meantime, I don't think there's really all that much we can do today. I'm going to go get Tess and the kids settled, and then probably come out and service equipment. Feel free to stick around, or to head back up to your cabin, whatever you'd prefer."

Milligan nodded slowly. "I might take you up on the offer to head back out. I've got a bit of a project I'm working on that I'd like to finish up, and I need to get seed ready for planting whenever it does dry out."

"What are you thinking we ought to plant?" Jason was, admittedly, getting a bit nervous about trying Milligan's experiments.

"Sugar beets! That's how you always start the season." Milligan shrugged. "I'd like to try out some of my new varieties, sure, but if you'd like to just do the old ones, we know there's a solid market for it, you know?"

Jason nodded. "Do two new varieties, and plant the rest to ordinary sugar beets, brown sugar beets, and maple sugar beets."

"It'll be done." Milligan grinned. After a moment, he glanced sideways at Jason. "Did... did Jeremiah mention anything to you?"

"I actually hardly talked to Jeremiah at all." Jason admitted. "Not because I didn't want to, but circumstances and all that. Why? I know the two of you are working on something, but I've been trying to keep my nose out of it." Milligan chuckled. "You're going to love it, boss, if it winds up working out. Don't worry, it won't affect you at all, at least not negatively."

"Now that has me worried!" Jason laughed, then sighed. "I'll trust you, though, in any case." He smiled, and started out into the rain. "You're a good man! Now go do whatever you're going to do! Just don't blow up the farm, okay?"

"No explosions involved, I promise!"

Jason laughed and was soon up onto the porch of the house. Milligan really was a good man. Jason had been blessed to stumble upon him, that was for sure. He did, though, hope that Milligan could manage to make his experiments just a bit more profitable.

And, if not... well... Jason would continue to have more and more unique, odd experiences.

Chapter 32. Flower Festival Plans

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 3rd day of Spring! 88 days until the Spring Festival! It's bright and sunny today, folks! Everything should be at least mostly dried-up from that last storm, and we're not expecting any further rain for... Oh... I'd say at least a couple weeks at least. Get out there and enjoy it, and start growing your flowers for the second annual flower festival in town in... Well, we haven't set a date yet, but it'll come at some point!]

Jason chuckled as he rolled out of bed and slowly stood. "You think we should take anything in, this year?"

Tess shrugged as she stood up as well. "It's hard to tell. I might start trying to grow some flowers in the beds around the house, I do particularly like tulips, but you can't really grow flowers for a festival until you know when it is."

"You should grow some crocuses, too." Jason walked back to the wardrobe and started getting dressed. "I'd never heard of them, but Milligan's growing a bunch, and they're really pretty."

"I'll see if Paulina has some seed in stock the next time I head into town." Tess nodded. "Well, you head out and get things ready, and tell Milligan that I have breakfast for him when he's ready."

"Will do!"

Jason soon made his way downstairs, waved at Fern (who had made it all the way down to the living room, and was petting Chance), and pulled on his boots and strode out into the bright, vibrant morning.

The sun was just rising, casting its lovely rays across the great, green world. Birds flashed overhead, chirping and calling to one another, then whirled in a great, living tornado into the peak of Jason's barn. He laughed, then strode over to the barn where Milligan was just starting on the chores.

"Morning, boss!" Milligan waved as Jason came up. "You ready for planting?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Jason nodded and grinned. "Which varieties did you decide upon?"

"I... I actually decided to just do one." Milligan confessed after a moment. "I'm confident in my apple sugar variety. It's really simple, I used the exact same process as the maple sugar beets. Frankly, it should taste almost identical to an ordinary sugar beet, but I do want to see how the yield works out on a large scale. Everything else... I'm just not getting consistent enough results, and I don't want to do any more damage."

"Oh, you haven't done a lick of damage." Jason snorted and waved his hand. "Don't get me wrong, I think that's a smart idea, but I'm also not terribly worried about any of it." He puffed out his cheeks, and looked out across the prairie. "Why are we doing this, anyway? We love it out here. Unless it's something that'll root me up and send me packing... I don't know. Money only lasts until you spend it. Memories last a lifetime."

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Milligan laughed. "And I do mean that, because my little noggin just doesn't work that way!"

Jason smiled, and the two of them set into the chores. About the time they were finished, Tess brought them out some breakfast, some omelets wrapped up in tortilla shells (which made them easy to eat while they were walking around getting things ready), then went back inside with the girls. Jason brought out Angus while he ate, and soon had the great beast hooked up to the planter. Milligan hitched Dusty to the slightly older planter and did the same, and the two of them performed one last-minute checks on the machines.

Jason had serviced the two planters extensively over the previous several days, but... Something he hadn't told Milligan was the fact that the heat stones, used over the winter, had rather badly exacerbated the rust damage that winter always dealt to the machines, and that was on top of the extra rust that had come simply from using the machines in winter. If they decided to do something like that again, he would have to find some way to "winterize" the equipment, and that was the simple reality of it. He had been forced to enact some fairly extensive repairs, and while it hadn't been difficult, he did want to make sure that nothing broke while he was out and about.

When he was satisfied that everything was good to go, Milligan told him which inventory slot he had loaded the seed into, and with that, they were off. Jason saw Fern and Rachel watching from one of the fences as the two men lumbered into the field, and he waved. Fern waved back, then turned and ran away. Jason yanked the lever to drop the planter disks down into the soil, and sighed deeply as everything began to flow.

Planting was always a joy for him. The seed rattled down all the assorted tubes and into the furrows being made by the disks, clattering about loudly. Sugar beet seeds, in particular, were substantially larger than a lot of other seeds, which made that aspect a bit more pronounced. On top of that, though... Well, the first planting of spring, after a long and (usually) sterile winter, was just something to celebrate. On top of that, the ground was still soft from all the rain and snow, which caused a blast of warm, wet odors to rise up as they plodded along. It filled the air even further with the scent of life, and Jason couldn't help a smile spreading across his face.

When they reached the far end and turned around, he saw a small flash of color against the gate, and thought he glimpsed Fern waving her arms. He chuckled, then snapped the reins and started rumbling back. At that point, he was a bit ahead of Milligan, and started to gain a bit more ground as Milligan seemed to start struggling with something or another.

When Jason pulled up next to the fence, he found Fern with a fistful of dandelions, and drew to a stop. Hopping down, Fern presented him with the small bouquet.

"Give daddy fowers!"

"Thank you, daughter dear!" Jason beamed, then glanced over at Rachel, who was sitting on the ground with her back to him. "What's your sister doing?"

"Eat fowers!"

Jason blinked, then jumped over the fence and dug several dandelion heads out of her cheeks. Tess came running over and took Rachel back, and Jason soon started planting once more. As he took to the field again, he caught sight of Milligan, who had remained down near the end. He was stopped, and seemed to be off the machine. Jason frowned, then began planting back

toward his friend. He didn't hurry, just planted as usual, until he came rumbling up next to the stopped machine.

"What's wrong?" Jason hopped off to join Milligan, who had raised up the planter and climbed underneath.

"Can't tell, Boss." Milligan murmured. "Never seen anything like it before, really. The seed just isn't falling down."

"Are the apertures adjusted properly?"

"First thing I checked." Milligan confirmed. "The problem is that some seed is coming down, just not enough."

"Now that is odd." Jason frowned, then climbed up on top of the machine. He pulled open the seed box, where a wide bin of sugar beet seed looked up at him. "Have you checked the tubes visually?"

"Not yet. I was trying to see if the disks were calibrated properly, first." Jason bit his lip, then issued a command. "Transfer seed back into the inventory."

There was a flash as it was accomplished. As his eyes settled on the bottom of the seed box, he laughed, then called down to Milligan.

"I found the problem!"

Milligan poked his head up. "What is it?"

Jason simply pointed into the box. Milligan looked over, and turned rather red, even as he laughed at the sight. Built across the funnels were the ruins of several rodent nests, mice or something similar by Jason's guess. He bent down and started scooping it out, happy to see that the nest had apparently been abandoned at the start of spring when temperatures warmed up.

"Now I feel like a damn fool." Milligan snorted as they fished out the last of it. "I should have checked that first."

"I'm the fool, if anyone is." Jason shook his head. "I was the one who serviced these things. I checked all the settings, I should have at least looked inside. You did the right thing by, you know, assuming that I actually did my job, and started to look for the things I might have missed." They shared a laugh, and Jason climbed back up onto his own planter. "Catch you at lunch!"

They rumbled out once more, this time moving a bit faster. Jason had to laugh and shake his head at the event. It wasn't a big thing, certainly, but... Well, it was the first time it had ever happened to him in eight years on the farm, and that in and of itself made it humorous in his mind.

The rest of the field went by without incident, and soon, they had pulled up to the gates as noontime came around. Tess had laid out a red and white checkered blanket, which Fern and Rachel were running around as fast as they could go. Jason walked over and sat down as soon as he had Angus turned back out into the corral, and Milligan joined them a moment later. "Thank you, ma'am." Milligan doffed his hat as Tess handed him a plate of roast beef, pickles, eggs, and some other odds and ends.

"You're family now. It would be a crime if I didn't." Tess waved her hand. Milligan snorted. "Oh, I don't know about that."

"You are." Jason clapped him on the shoulder as he took his own plate from Tess. "Don't get me wrong, I know you like your space, we're not going to start pressing in on you at all, but..." He shrugged. "You always have a place at our table."

"Even if I do wind up blowing up the farm?" Milligan flashed a twinkly sort of smile at Fern. "I've got an idea for a nitroglycerin beet, for industrial use of course."

"'Plosions!" Fern clapped her hands.

Jason laughed as well. "First off, that honestly sounds like an absolute blast, pun... not intended, but fitting." He laughed again. "Just don't plant it in any of my main fields. Second, don't mention it to Jeremiah, because he'll buy up a plot of ground, have me plant it, and then blow it up just for the sake of it. Third, if you're joking, you should at least consider making some firecracker plants."

"Now that, I can do!" Milligan beamed. He seemed to relax a bit, and Jason relaxed as well. Yes, things were good... And, no matter what calamities befell them, he could honestly only see things getting better.

Chapter 33: Warm Sunny

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 15th day of Spring! 76 days until the Spring Festival! After that smattering of rain last night, I think we're all clear for a bright and warm day today! Expect the weather to remain clear, though we'll likely see the wind start to pick up this afternoon, with a high likelihood of partly cloudy skies tomorrow!]

Jason rolled slowly out of bed and sighed deeply in contentment. Tess was already up. She had slid open the window to allow the fresh air to roll inside. It was filled with moisture, the smell of life and growth and wonder. He rose up and stretched, then slowly walked over and poked his head out. "Daddy wake!" Fern pointed up at him from down below. She was striding across the yard, hand-in-hand with Milligan. "Hi daddy!"

"Hi Fern!" Jason called down. "I'll be along in just a minute!"

"Don't worry yourself!" Milligan called back. "We're just having fun! Take your time!"

Jason waved, then pulled his head back inside. He soon had changed into overalls and a short-sleeved flannel, and made his way downstairs. There, Tess had set out a small breakfast for him, which he ate quickly. He found his wife in the living room, getting Rachel dressed to head outside, and she looked up and smiled at him.

"Good morning!"

"Morning." Jason yawned. "Where's the fire? What am I missing here? Seems like everyone's out and about a whole lot quicker than me."

Tess shrugged. "Ahh, just one of those mornings. Kids don't wake up with alarms, and there's a bird nest underneath their window, which woke them up. I decided to just get them moving instead of keeping them down, and then Milligan showed up and Fern wanted to help with chores, so..."

Jason chuckled. "I get the picture. Well, I suppose I'd best get to it!"

He pulled on his boots, then slipped outside and wandered across the farmyard. Chickens were fluttering down out of the barn, scampering across the grass to look for insects and seeds. Fern followed along behind, holding a small bucket filled with cracked grains. She held up her hands, and Jason grabbed hold of her and lifted her up onto his shoulders.

"Rain food!" Fern started throwing fistfuls of the feed around, causing the chickens to cluck and race about madly in confusion. "Funny!"

Jason laughed as well as he watched the mad scramble. He wasn't sure if it was necessarily nice to the birds, but it wasn't hurting them, so he didn't think it was altogether too much of a problem. When Fern had emptied her bucket (accidentally dumping the last of it down Jason's shirt), Jason put her back on the ground, and the two of them went up into the barn.

Milligan was just dumping corn to the pigs, who stomped and snorted madly to try to be the first to get to it. Fern put her bucket back, and Jason went to grab a bag of nutrient pellets to give to the sheep and other such similarly-stomached animals. He poured a bit of the bag into several different buckets, filling them up to lines he had scratched on the inside, then pointed at the lightest one.

"Fern, you think you can grab that one?"

"Yes! I strong!"

Fern walked over, grabbed hold, and lifted with all her might. She was able to raise the bottom of the bucket a few inches off the ground, and began

waddling toward a pen holding several freshly-weaned lambs. The tiny, fluffy-white creatures poked their heads through the slats in the fence, and Jason grabbed hold of Fern and hefted her up on top. She expertly poured the feed down into the trough, and Jason took her down.

Next, they fed the sheep themselves. Jason grabbed hold of one side of the bucket handle, while Fern took the other, and together, they walked the bucket over to that pen. Once more, Jason lifted Fern up, and though he had to help guide the bucket a little bit, Fern still did quite a good job of pouring the feed herself.

They continued working their way through the rest of the buckets, five in all, with Jason pulling more and more of the weight with each successive one. On the final bucket, which went to the static caprines, Fern really only pulled against Jason and made his job harder, but he didn't rightly care. He was helping his daughter help him, and that wasn't going to be something he ever complained about.

When they finished up the chores, Milligan came walking over to join him, while Fern raced out of the barn and down to the garden bed, where Tess was doing something with a patch of potatoes. The two men watched the young girl's enthusiasm, and Milligan glanced at Jason.

"She'll be a good farmer someday."

Jason puffed out his cheeks. "She'll be good at whatever she does."

"Oh, I know that, and I know you won't force her to stay on the farm or to build one of her own or to marry a farmer or anything." Milligan waved his hand dismissively. "I'm just saying that she loves you, and if that continues, she'll follow in your footsteps."

"Leaving home at 24 years old to start a new life in a random community and just praying that everything works out?" Jason laughed. "Honestly, I

hope I can set her on a somewhat more solid path than that."

"Fair enough, fair enough." Milligan chuckled, then clapped his hands. "Well, boss, what's the plan for today? The fields are all planted, our equipment is in tip-top shape, the animals don't need processing for another several days, and that'll be Tess's job anyway. What's the work for us?" Jason shrugged and turned back toward the barn. "Honestly, I was thinking about doing some maintenance. There are some roof tiles on the barn that are starting to leak that could use a quick repair, and I saw some sections of fence while we were planting that had taken some damage, probably from monsters, over the winter. Nothing too serious, just try to shore up some of those things before they become actual problems."

"That sounds good to me, boss." Milligan turned back toward the barn. "I'll get the tools."

Milligan's feet scuffed on the wood, and Jason heard him stop moving. Confused, Jason slowly turned around as well, and he froze, too.

Standing in the middle of the barn was the dwarf sasquatch. It wasn't doing anything, it was just... Standing there, watching them. Its right hand was still clutched around the dungeon core fragment, and Jason wondered if it had ever let go of the thing. Red light pulsed from within the fist, and it curled up a lip and snarled.

"We need Tess." Jason murmured. "We need her now. Don't make any sudden movements, but--"

"On it, boss."

Milligan slowly began to back up, and the sasquatch snarled and took a step forward. Jason opened up his inventory and drew out his pistol, though he knew from experience that the monster moved far too fast for him to actually hit. It could, however, warn Tess. Without even bothering to aim,

Jason simply fired the gun into the ground, and pure and utter chaos broke loose.

All the animals of the barn exploded into motion, racing back and forth and making all their assorted bleats, neighs, grunts, snorts, and other calls at the top of their lungs. The sasquatch leapt forward at the two men, and Jason raised his hands to try and ward off the blow. The creature lunged at him, lifted its fist high, and brought it crashing down.

Before it could land, though, something flashed through the air before his eyes. Flesh connected with the sasquatch's face, and with a resounding boom, the monster was blown backward across the room, where it crashed into one of the mighty pillars supporting the barn's roof. The creature groaned and sank forward, and Tess, still clad in a standard blue work dress, charged forward at the monster.

She didn't have a single weapon in her hands, but... well... The sasquatch didn't stand a chance, that was for sure. She leapt forward, striking out with the heel of her foot, which smashed into the sasquatch's face and knocked it backward once more. With that, she spun, attempting a roundhouse kick, but the monster ducked backward too quickly, causing Tess to hit (and crack) the great wooden pillar. With that, the sasquatch turned and started to run away, fleeing for the opposite barn door, and Tess gave chase. She scooped up one of the buckets that Fern had dropped, and threw it as hard as she could at the fleeing beast. It hit the creature dead in the back, knocking it flat to the ground, and the light within its palm flared brilliantly. "Tess, look out!"Jason called loudly.

Tess somersaulted forward, diving underneath a great beam of light that erupted from the monster's fist. Pulsing energy exploded across the barn, rolling over the walls and floors, though not seeming to really do any harm.

Jason and Milligan, neither wanting to find out with certainty if the energy was deadly (or even simply harmful in a non-fatal sort of way) dodged outside the barn. They ran down toward Fern and Rachel, who were curiously toddling up to see what all the ruckus was about.

After a few seconds, the light died away, and Jason and Milligan returned. There, they found Tess standing there, breathing heavily, and no sign of the sasquatch. She turned to look at them, then flashed a small smile.

"It's gone, now. Your old farmwife still has it in her, I guess."

"Yay mommy!" Fern clapped and ran toward Tess. "What happened?" Jason glanced over at Milligan, and they shared a worried look. Tess shot them a glance that clearly spelled out the fact that they would talk about it later, when little ears weren't around, and Jason nodded.

Altogether, he wasn't too worried. The encounter, while admittedly terrifying, hadn't really been that dangerous. The worrisome part, in his mind—was the fact that while the sasquatch probably wouldn't be able to hurt himself—or Milligan, and certainly not Tess (and he wasn't even convinced that the monster wanted to hurt anyone, anyway)... He did have two very young girls that could be injured tripping over a stick. For that reason alone, he knew that they needed to figure out a solution to the problem, and to figure it out relatively quickly.

Chapter 34. Prepare For The

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 23rd day of Spring! 68 days until the Spring Festival! We've got a storm coming through today, folks! Ought to hit a smidge after noon, I think, and it's shaping up to be a big one!]

Jason awoke with a flutter in his stomach, and he leapt out of bed and rushed up to the window. There, as he looked across the landscape, his eyes caught upon the dark clouds just swirling over the horizon. Tess rose from bed behind him, and came up and gave him a hug.

"Get moving." She nodded. "I'll bring you out food as soon as I can, you just go get work done."

Jason nodded, then strode back to the wardrobe, dressed, and made his way downstairs just as quickly as he could. As he walked out into the yard, he found that Milligan still hadn't arrived yet, which he thought was odd. He supposed that it wasn't the biggest issue in the world by any stretch. Quickly, he made his way up to the barn, opened up the doors, and started feeding the animals.

Milligan still hadn't arrived by the time that Jason finished feeding everything, and, in confusion, Jason grabbed Angus and started pulling out the diggers. In the fields, the sugar beet tops were bursting from the ground, fresh and green, ready for the picking. With the storm coming in that afternoon, they couldn't waste a moment, that was for sure.

Jason soon had both diggers drawn out, and he started checking them over. Given the fact that they actually tore into the ground, they had a tendency to break down faster than the other equipment, and he hadn't used them since

the previous spring. Carefully, he started checking all the specific problem points, scraping off some rust here, tightening a few bolts there, and so on. He was just finishing up with the second one when Milligan appeared over the hill, trotting along on Dusty at a fresh pace. He hopped off Dusty's back long before the horse had come to a halt, and as Jason looked at his hired man—he found that the man's hair was wild and uncombed, and his clothes almost seemed tattered.

"Everything alright?" Jason raised an eyebrow. "You look like Jeremiah always did when his cattle would get out."

Milligan chuckled. "It does look like that, doesn't it?" He shrugged and sighed. "I had one of my plants decide to pull up its roots and take a walk. Still haven't figured out exactly how it happened, that'll be my job this afternoon, but I had a time trying to get it tracked down. Really am sorry, boss."

"Don't worry about it." Jason shrugged, and looked at the sky. "What's done is done, and it's not like I haven't had similar problems before. Let's get this crop out of the ground, at least as much as we can, and you can tell me all about it over lunch."

"You're on."

Milligan quickly hitched up Dusty to the digger, and Jason took the reins. The two horses quickly lumbered forward, and Jason braced himself as they entered the field. He yanked the chain that dropped the whirling scoops into the dirt, and with that, they rumbled forward.

Dust exploded up behind them as the ground was churned to bits. From what Jason could tell, the diggers actually tilled up the ground even better than his plows, and in a pinch, if he had a crop that really needed some fresh soil, they would be the way to go. Now, though, he felt a great anxiety

fill his heart, and he alternately swept his eyes between the field and the sky.

Overhead, the clouds continued to roll onward, covering the great blue expanse with a thick, dark, smoky sort of screen. Lightning flashed in the distance, but it was still a long way off. The clouds overhead were just the advance line, the rest would come later.

With that advancing force, though, came wind. It struck almost exactly as the clouds passed directly overhead and began passing downward toward the far horizon. Jason felt the breeze tugging at his clothes and snapping at his hair, and more than once, he was almost blown clean off the platform where he was standing. The temperature dropped as well, and goosebumps soon stood out all across his body. Dust was picked up from across the entire field, stinging Jason's eyes and battering his exposed skin. When he opened his mouth at all, he felt the dust getting stuck in his teeth, which was not pleasant by any stretch of the imagination.

In any event, though, he and Milligan continued to press on forward, and he soon reached the far end. There, as he turned around and started to come back, the pressure of the wind eased a bit, as it now came from behind him instead of in front. On the flip side, though, all he could see were the clouds steadily advancing for the horizon. Instead of watching for the rain and lightning, he glanced over his shoulders here and there—but, largely, tried to stay focused on the task at hand.

The one bright side, thankfully, was the fact that the diggers seemed to be working perfectly. He could hear the beets clanging about inside, thumping here and there on the assorted mechanisms. When they were first pulled from the ground, the scoops flung them upward, into a series of bars and chains that rattled the beets about—knocking off all remaining dirt, until

they were dumped into the farm's inventory. Jason glanced at the inventory every now and again, making note of the yield, and nodded. Most crops sold by the unit, were measured as such. His field could produce over a billion grains of wheat, for example. The beets, though, since each seed really only produced a single beet, were sold by weight. He watched closely as the weights began to tick upward in the different inventory slots, satisfied that they seemed to be making good progress.

When Jason reached the end of the field closest to the house, he found Tess waiting for himself and Milligan, and handed him a sandwich to munch on as he went along. He accepted the food gratefully, then leaned out and gave Tess a kiss before turning around and getting back to work. The sandwich proved to be particularly difficult to eat, as the wind kept catching on the slices of bread, but he persevered. Along with a good helping of dust, he managed to get the thing choked down by the time he reached the far end once more. While far from the most pleasant meal, it kept his stomach from rumbling, and sometimes, that was all that he needed.

He continued to move along, slowly and purposefully, throughout the whole of the morning. He urged Angus on as fast as the great beast could manage, but with the need to actually drag the machine through the ground, it went quite a bit slower than harvesting any of his other fields. The wind began to get colder and colder, until, around eleven o'clock, Tess brought himself and Milligan out some coats. The men eagerly accepted the offerings, and held a brief council by the gate of the fence.

"You think we're going to make it, boss?" Milligan glanced nervously at the clouds, which now covered the entire sky. Lightning flashed, far closer now than before, and thunder erupted about two seconds later. "It'd be better to

leave the beets in the ground for a couple days than to get the diggers stuck. I've seen farmers get things stuck before, and it's not usually pretty."

"I've only gotten something stuck once." Jason crossed his arms. "Tess's brother had to pull it out, and without him around, I agree, it's not something we want to encounter." A gust of near-freezing wind hit him, and he shuddered. "Still, though, I think we need to push through. If we have to abandon ship partway through, then that's what we do. Just watch for my signal."

"Will do, boss!"

They went back to the work, and Tess returned to the house. Jason eyed the land that stretched between the two men, as it slowly grew thinner and thinner as they worked their way inward. Finally, as the air was biting so hard that Jason thought he would need gloves as well as the coat, they met, and started one last pass down the very center of the field toward the gate. "I think we're going to make it!" Milligan called out. "I shouldn't have doubted you!"

Quite suddenly, a massive raindrop flashed down past Jason's shoulder and struck the metal of the digger. It was the size of a coin, and emitted a loud thunk upon impact. The second drop hit Jason in the back of his head, chilling him to the bone as the water splattered down his shirt. "Correction!" Milligan called. "I shouldn't have stood around talking to you so long! Haw!"

Jason snapped Angus's reins as well, urging the horse on faster. They cleared the halfway point, and the rain started falling faster. Drops were hitting Jason every few seconds now, though they were still on the very edge of the rain itself.

"We might make it!" Milligan gasped. "Should we stop?"

"No!" Jason shook his head. "Full speed ahead!"

"Aye, captain!"

The two horses grunted and groaned as they lugged along the diggers, and with that, the floodgates seemed to open. Water came pouring down all around, soaking Jason to the skin in a matter of seconds. Steam rose from Angus and Dusty, as well as some parts of the diggers. Ahead, the gap between themselves and the gate narrowed, even as the soil grew stickier and stickier.

[Warning: Field is too wet. Yield will drop in 5...]

30 feet left.

[4...]

20 feet.

[3...]

15 feet. Angus slipped in the growing mud, and Dusty lurched forward, desperately fighting for the exit.

[2...]

10 feet. Angus snorted, and his muscles rippled underneath his impeccable coat.

[1...]

With one final heave, Dusty and Angus both lurched forward, up and out of the field. Jason and Milligan both cheered, and behind them, the field turned to mud as the timer hit [0]. They looked back at the achievement, then climbed down and high-fived one another.

"That worked out just about right!" Milligan beamed. "How about that?" "Indeed!" Jason laughed. "Alright, then! Let's get these inside." He sighed. "We'll need to get them cleaned up from the mud before we can do the next

set of fields, but we're not going to be able to harvest tomorrow anyway, so I say that we do that then."

"That sounds like a plan to me, boss!" Milligan laughed.

They both continued to laugh, glad to have the tension released, as they got the diggers put away in the lean-to, got the horses to their stalls (and gave them a treat for their hard work), and then staggered up toward the house. There, the bright windows of the farmhouse gleamed brilliantly, calling them onward. As Jason trudged through the mud and the water up to the porch, he sighed. No matter how cold and wet things got outside—the house, his family—would always be there to welcome him home.

And that was just the way he wanted it.

Chapter 35. Bring Your

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 29th day of Spring! 62 days until the Spring Festival! Today's bright and clear. No particular inclement weather expected for the time being! As I'm sure you all know, the flower festival is being held today, so come on out with your best entries!]

When Jason rolled out of bed, as was becoming more and more common that spring, he found that Tess was already gone. He let out a long breath, then walked up to the window and looked out across the great, green world. Milligan was down doing the chores, though he didn't see Fern, Tess, or Rachel. Wondering a bit about that, he walked over to his wardrobe and changed into his standard overalls, then made his way downstairs.

There, he found Tess outside, working in the garden, digging up some of her best tulips to put into pots to take into the festival. She looked up at Jason, who smiled back down at her.

"How goes it?" Jason asked as he bent down and started helping her get things together. "Are the girls awake yet?"

"Not to my knowledge, no." Tess shook her head. "I just happened to be awake, and wanted to get things ready for the festival." She looked up at him. "You're sure it's okay if I go on into town without you? I know you have planting today that you're looking forward to, and--"

"I'll be fine." Jason waved his hand. "Go have fun. Spend time talking with other women about recipes and kids and all sorts of other boring things." Tess snorted. "You know just as well as I do that you'd happily go talk to people about that sort of thing, while I went and talked to the warriors about

all the latest developments in dungeon warfare."

At that, Jason laughed. "Very true, very true! In any case, have fun with your friends."

"I'll do that." Tess leaned over and gave him a kiss. "And I'll see you tonight! I expect a first-rate dinner, and I hope you know that."

"Of course." Jason bowed.

They soon rose and made their way back into the house, leaving the pots of tulips on the porch. Tess went and got the girls ready for the day, while Jason made up a fairly simply breakfast of eggs and an assortment of toppings. Milligan came inside and joined them for the meal, and the two menfolk soon waved goodbye to Tess and the girls as they rode off toward town.

"Alright, then." Jason dusted off his hands as the carriage, pulled by Lady, went off toward town. "Let's get this party started."

He turned and looked at the wide expanse of the field, which was lush and fertile since the sugar beets had been harvested. After the storm had passed, they had harvested the rear fields, and were now ready to begin the planting process once more. Jason walked up to the fence and leaned against the upper rail regarding the expanse.

"About that." Milligan came walking up and leaned against the railing next to Jason. "We might wind up having to change our plans, at least somewhat."

"Really?" Jason glanced over at Milligan in surprise. "What's going on?" "Angus." Milligan shrugged. "Come see for yourself."

Jason frowned, then walked over to the corral. There, Angus stood by himself, off in one corner of the pen, head down. He was holding his front- left hoof off the ground slightly, and Jason frowned.

"Angus! Come here!"

The great beast obeyed, limping so badly that it seemed he could hardly put a bit of pressure at all on the limb. Jason crossed his arms in confusion, then glanced at Milligan.

"Any idea what's going on?"

"I'm a plant guy, not an animal guy, so my opinion is worth about as much as the piece of paper you could write it on, but..." Milligan shrugged. "It looks to me like he got a nail or something in it, deep enough that it hit the flesh beneath the hard layer. I've seen such things happen with company horses, back when I still worked for the genetics corporation. It's nothing terribly serious, nothing you'll have to put him down for or anything, but it also means that he probably can't work today."

Jason grimaced. "Now I wish we hadn't sold Alfred, you know?"

Milligan nodded in understanding. Alfred, Lady and Angus's foal, had been a good horse, but once Milligan had been hired, they simply hadn't needed him. A passing warrior had needed a horse, so they had sold the great beast, and that had been that. Now, though, it looked to be a busy workday, and they were down a mount.

"For what it's worth, I did send a letter to the vet." Milligan offered. "Donald will be here as soon as he can, though it likely won't be until tonight or tomorrow. Until then, I'll do what I can with Dusty. You used to be able to get these fields done in a day, I'm sure I can do the same."

Jason snorted. "Yeah, but I'm the owner. It's my job to do things like that." "And it's my job, as hired man, to get done everything that you can't." Milligan shrugged. "Now, Dusty isn't going to trust anyone who isn't me, at least if I'm not around, which means that I'm the only one who can get this

done. You go find something else to do, and I'll get this field planted just as quick as you can blink."

Before Jason could really offer any resistance, Milligan turned and took Dusty over to the lean-to, where he started to hitch his steed up to one of the machines. Jason sighed and walked up to the barn, where he leaned against a post and watched as Milligan rumbled off into the field.

As he watched Milligan making his way across the field, Jason turned away and walked into the barn, where he tried to busy himself with assorted odds and ends. There was no shortage of cleaning and patch jobs that needed to be done, but as he started in on them, Jason's heart began to burn.

He wasn't jealous, to be certain. He liked planting, but he wasn't going to begrudge the opportunity to Milligan. No, he was just... He felt like he wasn't doing anything, and he didn't want to be one of those bosses who sat around all day and grew fat while their hired folks did all the work. Not that he necessarily thought he was someone like that, and he didn't think that Milligan thought it either, but... well... Something just didn't sit right with him.

Even as his brain told him to just focus on what he could do and not worry too much about what he couldn't do, his heart took over, and he found himself looking at all the assorted animal pens, wondering... Just wondering.

"Hey, there." Jason slowly approached one of the elephant pens, where a great bull, shorter than Angus, but a good bit stockier, stood. Nearly all the creatures had been claimed by various companies or wealthy aristocrats back in Illumitir, so Tess had been working to keep them nice and tame. "You look like a nice fellow. Want to get out and get some exercise?"

The bull didn't answer, and Jason took out a rope and slipped it over the dwarf elephant's head. It made no move to run, even as Jason pulled open the gate and led it out. He soon had the pen locked up behind it, and led the creature over to the barn door.

There, he peered out carefully, waiting until he saw Milligan heading in the opposite direction. Sure that he had enough time to do things undetected, he led the elephant out to the lean-to, positioned him in front of the planter, and started hitching him up. The beast remained even more still than Angus, giving Jason a great deal of amazement at how good Tess's training had truly been. As soon as the elephant was hitched up, Jason climbed up onto the platform, then took up the reins.

"Do you mind if I call you Angus Two?" Jason asked. "Alright, Angus Two! Show me what you've got! Haw!"

The reins snapped against the elephant's back. At that moment, something seemed to break within the creature, and Jason found that he suddenly reached the end of Tess's training, which, logically speaking, hadn't covered field work.

Angus Two bolted forward, rattling the planter back and forth as it bounced through ruts and over mounds. The fence loomed ahead, and Jason braced himself. This was going to hurt, he was sure of it.

As it turned out, he was absolutely right, though not in the way he had expected. The elephant crashed into the fence, shattering the wood into a thousand pieces. The planter lurched, and Jason fell forward, smashing into the seed box. He grabbed frantically for a handhold as Angus Two went rampaging through the smaller gap, and an instant later, the planter itself came crashing into what remained of the fence.

That jarred Jason even harder than the initial impact, and he was nearly tossed backward off the machine. He was battered cruelly against the metal, and it was everything he could do to keep from being thrown. Of course, a moment later, he suddenly found himself wondering why he bothered to hold on, as Angus Two went roaring off across the prairie. His last glance of the farmstead was Milligan, standing tall on his own planter, laughing hysterically at Jason's plight.

With that, the farmstead receded behind him, and Jason watched as prairie grasses whipped by on all sides. The elephant was deceptively fast, and as they crashed through ravines and up hills, Jason was battered against the metal again and again. He looked for any opportunity at all to leap free, but saw no particular opportunities to do so. Ahead, the forest loomed, and he had a sudden vision of the planter being slammed between great oaks, crumpled into a twisted ball, with his little, fleshy-self getting all squashed up in the midst of it.

Quite suddenly, the elephant drew to a halt, so quickly that Jason was thrown. He fell headlong into the prairie grass, and climbed to his feet as he caught a glimpse of Frances, her blue hair ever-more-disheveled, standing in front of the beast.

"There we go!" Frances slowly approached the elephant, patting its trunk. "You're a cute little feller, aren't you?"

"Not exactly the phrase I'd use, but I suppose from a certain point of view." Jason staggered toward Frances. "Would you... Ahh... Mind helping me get him back to the farm?"

"Anything for this little cutie!" Frances cooed. She took the beast by the trunk and started leading him, spinning around through the prairie grass,

and back toward the farm. As she did, Jason caught a glimpse of Milligan riding out across the prairie, and let out a long breath.

On the bright side, Tess hadn't been home to see the event happen. On the brighter side, Jason now had a fence repair job to work on that wouldn't make him feel guilty for not being in the field.

On the somewhat less bright side, given the look of utter mirth written across Milligan's face, there wasn't a chance in the world that Tess wasn't going to hear about it. When that happened, well... That was going to be an interesting time, indeed.

Chapter 36. Record

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 55th day of Spring! 36 days until the Spring Festival! Let me tell you, folks, you couldn't ask for a better day! It's... well... Just about the perfect day possible, and we'll have to leave it at that. On a side note, though, we're expecting a massive storm in about a week, possibly a record-setter, so prepare yourselves for that!]

"A record-setter?" Jason rolled out of bed and stretched. The window was wide open, allowing the fresh, alive smell of spring to roll inside. "Wonder what that means? I've seen some pretty bad ones in my time."

No one answered him, and he shrugged and soon changed into fresh overalls. With that, he trotted down the stairs, where he found Tess and the two girls already eating breakfast in the kitchen. Jason sat down, and Tess put a plate of sausage and biscuits in front of him.

"Daddy get up!" Fern laughed.

"Dada!" Rachel whacked her tray with a fork, and Jason smiled.

"They do love their daddy." Tess swept back and forth around the kitchen, doing this and that as she got ready for the day. "And Fern, today, Daddy's going to be going really high up!"

"Really high?"

"Really really high!" Jason leaned forward. "Today, I'm going to the roof of the barn."

"Whoa!" Fern put her hand over her mouth in an expression of awe, despite, of course, the fact that Jason was certain that she had no idea what they were really talking about. "Why daddy do that?"

"Because it's needed some minor repairs for a while now, and I'd like to get it done before this big storm." Jason shrugged. Truth be told, Obadiah had been warning them about the storm for several days now, though he added a few new details each day as they became available. "Milligan and I are going to climb way up on top to get lots of work done!"

"Just make sure you're being safe." Tess warned him. "That's a long way down, and it's a good thirty-minute ride in a bumpy wagon to Theresa's healing den."

"We'll be safe, don't you worry about a thing." Jason leaned over and kissed Fern on the nose, then Rachel on the forehead, and then Tess on the lips. "Well, I'm going to get out and at it, if that's okay."

"Go for it." Tess waved. "Love you!"

"Wuv you!"

"Dada!"

Jason rose, wiped his mouth, took a drink of water, and then made his way outside. There, he found Milligan happily working away on the chores. After dodging a few llama spitballs, he helped his hired man finish up the job. Once they got done, Milligan glanced over at Jason.

"You're sure you still want to do this?"

Jason nodded, then tipped his head backward. High above, the solid wood roof was a firm edifice, but, here and there, some small flecks of sunlight peeked through. "Yeah, I do. Johan knew what he was doing, you can't deny that, but anything is going to decay over enough time. I want to make sure the barn stays in good condition for as long as possible, long enough for my kids to use it when they're grown up, if they want."

"That's admirable, I suppose." Milligan sighed, then grimaced. "I hate heights. There, I said it! Can't stand them in the slightest."

"Really?" Jason laughed. "I didn't know that."

"I like plants, as I've often said. Plants grow in the ground, not in the air. Generally speaking." Milligan shrugged as they made their way up to the loft, where Jason gathered together a handful of nails, some extra wooden boards, and some buckets. He tucked it all into their inventories, and then started climbing up the ladder that led up the immense, flat, eastern wall of the barn. "Have you ever heard of the giant bluewoods?"

Jason shook his head. "Doesn't sound familiar. Where do they grow?" "Way out west, across the wild lands and the mountains. Real crazy place, I can assure you of that." Milligan chuckled as he climbed. "I went out there once, on a business trip to get some seeds. They actually have places out there that stay open all night! There are entire businesses that just... They sleep during the day, and then come out as soon as the sun goes down! And they're always going to stage plays. Or writing stage plays, or acting in them. Hardly an ounce of real work in the lot. I'll admit, they had some good fruit trees, but I'll also have you know, I got those seeds and got out of there just as fast as I could."

"Oh, I'm sure they're not that bad." Jason reached the peak of the barn, where, in the immense rafters, a wide plank led from the wall through the air to the middle, where a ladder led up into a small cupola on the very peak. Jason did have to admit that his stomach churned as he walked that plank (wide as it was, it sure felt as though it might have been a string), but he made it easily enough, and soon, the two of them had climbed up onto the rooftop.

As Jason climbed out through the trapdoor into the cupola, he felt the wind whistling through the narrow slats. Carefully, he twisted aside several of the

latches, and opened up one side, stepping out onto the peak of the broad, wide roof.

From so high up, he could see for miles upon miles. The town of Summer Shandy sat nestled amidst the prairie, just to the north, where he could just see little people going about their business. Several horses trundled down the road that went off to the west, where he could see the thick trees that encompassed the town of Nightford. Off to the south, he could see the Lazy-H, as well as the assorted farms and ranches down south of that. The great forest around the river could be seen almost in its entirety, while he could even catch a glimpse of the continuing prairie on the far opposite side of the trees. Down below, the farmstead itself looked rather like a toy set, and Jason gulped. Seeing it from below, it never looked quite so high. Of course, the possibility of suddenly falling from the ground to his death on the barn roof was substantially lower than the reverse possibility, but... "Anyhow, boss?" Milligan choked out as he joined Jason on the roof. "Where I was going with that conversation was that there are these trees. Bluewoods. Terribly tall, and people live in them! I climbed up one for a meeting, and the whole building swayed back and forth in the wind, and... I..."

He shuddered again. Jason grimaced. "I'm really sorry for that. You can go back inside, if you want."

"Nope. If my boss is going to hitch an elephant to a planter so he doesn't get left out, I'm not going to back down from fixing a few shingles."

"Fair enough." Jason took a length of rope out of his inventory and tied it to his waist, then to a small ring just above the door where they had crawled out of the barn. Milligan did the same, and with that, they started to work.

Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as hard as they had initially thought. Johan, anticipating that repairs would need to be done, had built a series of handles into the rooftop that they were able to use for balance. The second factor was that the roof was really only sloped at about a 30-degree angle, which, while not pleasant, wasn't steep enough to send them straightaway plummeting to their doom.

They initially started down in the same direction, so they would be next to one another if trouble hit, but after Milligan got tangled in Jason's rope (and vice versa), they decided to take opposite sides. Milligan went down the side facing Summer Shandy, while Jason took the side closest to the house. Carefully, he moved all the way down to the eves, then started working his way along the bottom, looking for any and all cracks or issues.

He had made it almost the whole way before he came across a shingle that looked a bit loose. Thankfully, it was an easy fix, as one of the nails had come loose, and the other had popped free. Jason hammered in the loose nail, then added a second one just next to the original hole, and that seemed to clear things up just about perfectly. Moving along, he finished that pass, moved up to the next row of handholds, and started working his way back. The two men worked all through the morning, each making it about halfway up to the top of the barn before lunchtime came around. Jason repaired about a dozen shingles in that time, several of which were so loose that he was amazed that they hadn't come off yet. A few had taken damage from... well... Likely birds, but it was hard to know for certain, and had to be pulled off and replaced wholesale. The rest took only a little bit of touching up here and there. In a lot of ways, it was actually sorta fun, like a game of some sort, and Jason only came to a stop when he heard Tess calling from up above in the cupola.

"Food! Come and get it!"

Jason frowned, then climbed up. There, Tess had perched a picnic basket on the inside of the cupola, and she waved at them as they approached.

"You look about as green as pickle relish." Tess nodded to Milligan as the older man took his seat on the roof. Jason sat down just next to the cupola, and passed Milligan a sandwich as Tess lingered a few moments. "You okay?"

"I will be, once I feel solid land underneath my feet." Milligan shuddered. After a moments though, as he took a bite of the sandwich, he sighed and seemed to let himself relax a bit. "Wonderful meal, Tess."

"Glad to help." Tess gave Jason a kiss, then climbed back down the ladder. Jason watched her go, then grabbed a sandwich for himself and tucked in. As he sat there, he looked out across the landscape, across the land that he called home, and felt himself... well... It was a feeling that was almost impossible to describe. In some ways, he felt like he was flying above it all, looking down upon a beloved area, relishing every moment. In other ways he simply felt a longing, a longing to come down from that peak to actually get into that landscape once more. He didn't know which opinion really won out... The only thing he did know was that he certainly did love this land, and that he would continue to fix up that barn, continue to make his claim upon it, for as long as he possibly could.

Chapter 37. Booming

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 62nd day of Spring! 29 days until the Spring Festival! You remember that storm I told you all about? Well, folks, it's here! Batten down any hatches that you haven't already battened, and get ready to ride this thing out!]

Thunder boomed through the bedroom an instant later, and Jason jumped. He gasped for a moment, then climbed out of bed and slowly walked up to the window. Behind him, Tess, Rachel, and Fern all poked their heads out from underneath the covers. The girls had been woken up partway through the night, Jason honestly wasn't sure when, and since then... well... None of them had really slept well.

As Jason looked out across the dark landscape, now brightening slightly as the unseen sun cast at least a bit of light through the thick clouds, Jason whistled. Rain was pattering down loudly, and brilliant streaks of lightning tore across the sky, rattling the windows and shaking the floorboards with every clap of thunder. Rachel started to cry, and Fern held out her arms.

"I see?"

"Sure, honey." Jason walked back over and picked Fern up, then carried her up to the window. There, they looked down upon the flickering landscape, appearing only for brief moments of time as the lightning flashed overhead, which gave Jason a bit of a headache. Fern watched for a long moment, then turned away, and Jason carried her back to the bed.

"What's the plan for today?" Tess asked as Jason put Fern back into the bed. She crawled under the blankets, and Jason joined his family. "Should

we be going to get breakfast, or--"

"Ahh, not yet." Jason waved his hand dismissively. "We're nice and comfy cozy under here, right girls?" Fern nodded, though Rachel still just looked scared. "We'll get up and move here in a bit, once we're all a little more awake."

As it happened, it took almost another hour before they got hungry enough for the girls to decide to risk venturing out of bed. Jason had told Milligan to stay put, and hide in the root cellar if anything got bad, and they certainly hadn't been planning for any farm work. Jason let Tess take the girls to get dressed, and once they were out, he changed into a simple tunic and went down the stairs.

The cookbook flapped its pages in excitement as he appeared, and he flashed a smile.

"I need something warm and cozy for a cold, thundery sort of a day." Outside, the wind gave a shriek that almost seemed to rival the lightning, and Jason shuddered. With a flash, a large pot of gravy appeared alongside a platter of biscuits, and Jason nodded.

"That'll work."

The three women came down a few minutes later, all dressed in warm, cozy pajamas of some sort. They took a seat, and all tucked into the meal. None of them really said much, they just ate and looked out the small window. As soon as they were done, Tess started tidying up the dishes, while the two children went into the living room to play. Jason glanced over, and saw their noses pressed up against the large window, looking out.

"What do you think?" Jason asked as Tess continued washing things up. "You know storms better than I do. Is this weather that we need to be worried about?"

"I don't know." Tess shrugged. "The last few messages, Obadiah's seemed to be hiding something, but I can't tell exactly what. You go play with the girls, I'm going to go downstairs and get the basement ready, just in case." Jason nodded in understanding, and made his way out to the living room. He joined the girls in looking out at the road, only to blink in surprise as he caught a glimpse of a rider making his way along through the storm. He had his head down, and seemed to be fighting through the rain, and Jason rushed to the door.

"Stay at the window." He ordered the girls, then opened up the door and stepped out. To his surprise, the rider was actually in the process of riding into his yard anyway, and he walked up to the edge of the porch, where rain poured out over the eves.

"Howdy, neighbor!" A waterlogged, but still good-spirited, Jeremiah came trudging up as he climbed down off his horse. He was a sight to behold, that was for certain, and Jason stepped back.

"Come inside, come inside!" Jason waved at the open door, but Jeremiah shook his head.

"Afraid I can't, not right now." Jeremiah opened up his inventory and pulled out his pipe, which, in stark contrast to the water dripping down off the man's hat, had a soft glow in the bowl and a steady stream of smoke rising up. Jeremiah put the stem of the pipe in his mouth and took a deep draw, then let the breath out. "I'm out riding to spread the word. Obadiah wanted to let all the outlying folks know, without bothering the people who are pretty much guaranteed safety in town."

Jason frowned. "What's going on?"

"The storm's getting really nasty." Jeremiah paused as a clap of thunder shook the porch beneath their feet. "It's already produced over a dozen

tornadoes over the last two days, some of which have done some pretty serious damage."

"How serious?" Jason asked, instantly concerned.

"There's a little town, southwest of here, I think." Jeremiah answered. "Goes by the name of Jamesburg. They're even smaller than us, if you'll believe it. In storms, they usually contract warriors from some of the nearby towns, but those were all already under attack, so no one came. Town got leveled nearly to the ground."

"Was anyone hurt."

Jeremiah shrugged, and took another draw on the pipe. "Don't know for sure. Theresa left as soon as she heard. Leaves us up a creek, so to speak, but that's why I'm here. Obadiah's got his warriors arrayed in full battle formation around Summer Shandy, and will be sending people as he can to protect the outlying farms. You've got Tess, and the Lazy-H has Richard, so I'm afraid you'll be a bit neglected."

"I'll tell Tess to suit up." Jason nodded. "Anything else I can do to help?"

A particularly bright flash of lightning out east of them, the direction that the porch faced, backlit a massive funnel slowly rumbling across the prairie. The general noise of the storm was so loud that Jason couldn't even hear the roar of the great monster, and he lifted his eyebrows.

"Get your girls to safety, and don't stand here on the porch gawking at it like I know you want to do."

"Fair enough." Jason nodded and turned around. "Safe riding."

Jeremiah tipped his hat, then stuck his pipe back inside his (far drier) inventory. He strode out into the rain, climbed up onto his horse, and slowly rode out once more. Jason watched him clopping down the road, vanishing into the distance, then turned and walked back inside.

Tess had entered the living room, where she looked at him curiously. "Anything wrong?"

"I'm taking the girls downstairs." Jason answered simply. "You might want to go see if your old armor fits."

Tess nodded in understanding, and she darted back upstairs. Jason picked up Fern and Rachel, and headed down into the basement. There, as he came out into the cool room, he found that Tess had gone even further than he initially thought. The secret door leading into the tunnel beneath the farmstead was open, and inside, Tess had spread out a blanket, thrown down a bunch of their toys, and even set up a lunch basket.

Fern laughed and clapped as Jason set the girls down inside the tunnel, then climbed in himself. Candles set around the area lit up the smooth walls, and with that, Jason closed the door behind them. Concrete rumbled softly against concrete, and the noise of the storm faded almost altogether. "Where's mommy?" Fern asked as she started playing with her dolls. "Mommy's keeping us safe and sound." Jason leaned over and gave her a kiss. "And that's all you need to worry about."

"Is she wet?"

Jason laughed. "Probably."

"Then mommy not safe."

Jason laughed, though, admittedly, his stomach did churn a bit at the thought. Fern simply put safety on an equal level with being dry, but... well... It had been a long time since Tess had really put on her armor for anything official. A goblin raid here, a date night there, but... well... Fighting tornados was the epitome of a true battle, at least as far as most warriors were concerned. The monsters had an infinite amount of health, so they couldn't be killed, only bounced back and forth like great, whirling,

deadly pinballs until they ran out of time and retracted back up into the clouds. If Jason had still possessed the dungeon core, he could have simply turned the tornados into something less deadly, but... That ship had sailed a long time ago, which left simple, hand-to-hand combat.

Even as he thought about it, he forced himself to breathe slower, and closed his eyes. Tess was competent, and would call for help if she really needed it. They would stay safe and sound, and would reunite when it was all over. And, for the meantime, Jason would simply enjoy the time that he got to spend with his daughters, tucked away in the peace and safety of their little storm shelter.

Chapter 38. Is It A

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 72nd day of Spring! 19 days until the Spring Festival! Today's going to be windy, folks, but that's about the only thing really of note. Unimportant, but you'll probably start to see some of the flowers around starting to close up as spring winds down. If this starts to happen, no, there's no plague, and there certainly isn't some sort of flower-eating monster running amok.]

"Can we really say that there aren't any such animals around?" Jason asked as he climbed out of bed and slowly walked up to the window. Tess, who was bustling around the room with an armload of laundry, simply chuckled. "Sure seems like there are strange things about, that's for sure." Tess laughed. "On that note, Frances is downstairs, she got in a bit early." "Good." Jason poked his head out through the open window, gazing across the prairie. Just to the east, there was a long patch of grass that had been torn up by a tornado, but it was already healed to the point that Jason could hardly tell it had happened in the first place. "Has she said much?"

"Only that she's ready to get things in motion."

"Works for me." Jason stretched and yawned, then walked back to the wardrobe and changed into his overalls. "I'll head down and get things together with her."

Tess nodded, finished folding several blouses, then swept out into the hall and down to the girls' room. Jason tromped out and down the stairs, where he found Frances sitting in the kitchen. There was an empty plate sitting in

front of her, while she was idly eating off a half-empty plate in front of Jason's chair. Jason raised an eyebrow, and Frances lit up with excitement. "Perfect! You're ready to get this thing captured?"

"Indeed." Jason nodded and walked down to the cookbook. "You mind if I eat some breakfast first?"

"Not at all! I saved some for you." Frances gestured at Jason's plate, which had about half a pancake left.

"I'll just get my own." Jason shrugged. "Feel free to take that one, though." "Don't mind if I do!" Frances gobbled it down as if she had inhaled it. "Mmm, that's good! It's been... well... This is so much better than berries, roots, and grubs, I'll say that much."

Jason laughed softly, and had the cookbook make him up another platter of pancakes. He sat down at the table as Frances started detailing her plan, and did his best to focus.

After the dwarf sasquatch had showed up at the farm again, Jason and Milligan had redoubled their efforts to locate Frances. Eventually, just a couple days earlier, they had succeeded, and when they mentioned that they were planning on catching the monster no matter what the cost, Frances had eagerly agreed to help. Now, they were ready, they just had to wait on all the help to arrive from town.

"Alright, this is going to be a fairly simple process." Frances pursed her lips. "We're going to head out to the hollow you picked, and--"

"Howdy, neighbor!" Richard came striding in through the front door. "Have I missed the party? I saw Jeremiah's horse outside, looks like people are starting to arrive?"

Jason spun. "What? No, I haven't seen Jeremiah." "He's down in the basement." Frances spoke up.

"What's he doing down in the--"

"Howdy, neighbor!" Jeremiah came striding up from the stairwell. "I was just checking on something. Nothing important, you know."

"What's--" Jason started to stammer, but was cut off again as the front door swung once more.

"I smell food!" Hank came walking in, dressed in his old constable's outfit, followed closely by several other figures.

"Howdy, neighbor!" Obadiah and Paulina came walking into the living room as well, beaming from ear to ear. "Are we ready to go?"

"John!" Fern came pounding down the stairs and rushed toward her friend, who held out his arms and ran toward her as well. They both cracked heads as they met, and their mothers rushed to comfort them.

At that moment, the house exploded more or less into utter chaos as everyone began greeting one another. Milligan poked his head in the front door, confusion written on his face, and Jason took the opportunity to scamper out to join him. There, the two of them sat down on the porch railing until everyone else figured out that the object of the day was outside, and they soon made their way out to join.

"Alright!" Jason clapped his hands as soon as everyone had assembled. "You all know why we're here. We're going to catch the dwarf sasquatch, to rid its influence upon our land. The thing is fast, and it's agile, so we're going to need as much speed as possible. We'll be going out to the ruins of that micro-dungeon from a few years back, where Frances will use her companion to lure out the creature. When it appears, wait until it gets into the box, and then charge. Any questions?"

"I brought a cannon." Jeremiah held up his hand.

Jason blinked. "That's not a question, and... We want it alive."

"It will be alive!" Jeremiah crossed his arms. "There isn't a problem you can't solve without a cannon, trust me."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Bring it if you want, but--"

"Great!"

The group continued to chat and argue about strategies for quite some time, until Jason and Milligan finally just saddled up their horses and started riding off across the prairie. Tess and the girls waved to him from an upper room, and he waved back, before he vanished into the great swaths of grass. The rest of the posse followed him, marching forth to capture the monster. In all due reality, Jason, Frances, and maybe Hank were the only people in the group who had any vested interested in getting rid of the creature. But, any chance to get together was always welcome, and getting together to catch a monster was something that none of them could pass up. Soon, they came up to the small depression in the hills, and Jason let out a long sigh of memory.

Sitting at the end of the furrow was a pile of crumbling stones, the only thing that remained of a rather pesky micro-dungeon. He still remembered the rather anti-climatic battle that had brought an end to its tyranny, which, if nothing else, had been an enormous amount of fun. Now, their work was somewhat less serious and a great deal more difficult.

Jason, Jeremiah, and Hank took the eastern flank of the hollow, while Obadiah, Milligan, and Richard took the western side. Frances walked down to the pile of stones itself, vanishing beneath her invisibility cloak a moment later. The large pet squirrel climbed up on top of the stones, then, as the men all climbed down from their horses and crouched down in the tall grasses to watch, began making a squealing, crying sort of noise.

All things considered, Jason could only assume that it was attempting to sound as though it were injured, though having never encountered a dying squirrel, he couldn't be confident in that fact. In any event, it wasn't long before wolves, coyotes, and a handful of overland slimes started converging on the hollow. The men picked them off as best they could, firing their rifles here and there as necessary. Thankfully, it didn't seem to affect the predators too much, as more kept coming. Jason held his breath, watching... Waiting.

Time ticked by, first minutes, then hours. The sun crested at noon, and started down the far side. Still, though, they waited. Jason was starting to give up hope when he caught a glimpse of something brownish-orange striding through the prairie grass, making its way from the forest.

They had it now.

The sasquatch was slow and careful, taking a few steps at a time, listening, watching. Jason crouched down even further, keeping an eye on the beast as it reached the mouth of the hollow, then slowly, carefully, crept down toward the squirrel. Jason could hear his heart thumping, and he slowly reached down and took hold of the lasso at his side.

"Get it! Now!"

Frances's voice echoed across the hollow, and all six men rose and threw their lassos. Now, in Jason's head, it was a simple sort of thing, where the sasquatch would suddenly find itself with six ropes fast around it, allowing the posse to hold it tightly.

In reality, every single one of the men missed. Though, in all due fairness, Jeremiah, Obadiah, and Richard were all spot-on, but their ropes collided in the air. The sasquatch turned and raced across the prairie, and everyone ran for their horse.

The reason they had chosen that location for the ambush was so, if it did run, they had plenty of time to catch it before it hit the trees. Now, as Jason saw it blurring toward the distant forest, he suddenly realized that it might not have been enough time after all. He swung up onto Angus and tapped his heels against the great beast, and they shot forward as if they had been launched from Jeremiah's cannon. Hooves pounded against the grass, and Jason felt his heart rising into his chest. Richard and Obadiah drew up next to him, and they all made for their next attempts.

Ropes fell all around the monster as they took turns trying to hit the sasquatch. Nothing managed to land, though, and it continued to leap ever- onward toward freedom and safety. Jason watched the trees getting closer and closer, and threw his rope once more. It wasn't even close, and he began to despair.

And then, quite loudly, Jeremiah's voice rang out.

"Fire in the hole!"

Rather on instinct, all the riders swerved out of the way, and a resounding ka-boom shook the prairie. A net flashed through the air an instant later, wrapping itself around the sasquatch in the blink of an eye. It fell head over heels, and within seconds, was surrounded. Jason leapt down and helped Richard tie the creature up tighter, and he grinned.

"Told you I could solve anything with a cannon." Jeremiah declared as he came riding up. "I'll send you my fee later."

Obadiah hopped down from his horse and leaned forward. The sasquatch stared out at him with dull, unintelligent eyes, and the guildmaster slowly reached down and plucked the dungeon core shard out of the sasquatch's hand. "I'll take that, if you please."

All at once, the same light that had once flared from the hand of the monster began to flare up from Obadiah's hand. There was a pause, and then it erupted high into the sky, a great beam of light almost identical to the one that formed when Obadiah used the original core to break the drought.

At that moment, a great many things seemed to happen. Lesser beams of light began to flare up from across the prairie, and Jason saw glimmering forms flashing up to the sky. He saw birds, lizards, one of the raincloud- monsters, and more. Suddenly, a particularly brilliant beam of light rose up from his barn, and Jason glanced over to see what seemed to be hundreds of beams of energy flashing up, through the open doors, and away. There was a long moment where the energy crackled and fizzled, and then... slowly... It all died away.

"What just happened?" Hank asked as Obadiah looked down at the shard. "I have a notification. It says... Despawn complete. Monster saturation has returned to manageable levels."

Frances held out her hand. "Can I see that?"

Obadiah passed it to her. As she touched it, her hair began to glow, and she gasped.

"I... I'm connected to... I can see... I can see all the animals around here!" Her hair stopped glowing a moment later, and she frowned. "Well, I could." "Can you spawn in anything new?" Obadiah asked.

Frances frowned, then shook her head. "Don't think so."

"Then, if you'd like, you can keep it."

Hank and Jason both made exasperated noises.

"You didn't let me keep it!"

"Do you have any idea how much paperwork I'll have to--"

Frances, though, didn't seem to be listening, and a moment later, she had vanished as she forgot all about the humans and simply walked off across the prairie after whatever monsters she sought after next. Jason watched the grasses swishing, then puffed out his cheeks and sighed.

"Well, that's that, I suppose." Jason shrugged. "What now?"

"Looks like I got me a new deputy." Jeremiah bent down and grabbed hold of the net, which still held the dwarf sasquatch. "Gob has been getting lonely, he could use a friend."

Obadiah's jaw set, but Hank laughed, and Richard seemed to join in the fun. Slowly, the group started making their way back across the prairie, and Jason sighed deeply.

That was one more problem solved, one less thing he had to worry about. Sure, he didn't have much to worry about in Summer Shandy anyway, but... well... It was nice to know that one more thing had been taken care of.

Chapter 39.

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 80th day of Spring! 11 days until the Spring Festival! Let's see... Looks like today's going to be a bit rainy, but nothing too bad! Scattered showers here and there, enough to keep you out of the fields, but not much more than that!]

As Jason awoke and rolled out of bed, he found Tess in bed next to him, and she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him back for a brief moment. He sighed in contentment, then hugged her back and rose up.

"Slow morning?" He raised an eyebrow as he dressed and slowly walked over to the window to look down across the farmstead.

Tess shrugged. "Dreary morning. I've been getting up earlier, and I thought I'd sleep in for a day, just for a change."

"Well, it was a nice change." Jason looked out at the landscape, where rain pattered down gently beneath a layer of grey clouds. The door to the barn was cracked open, and Jason thought he could see Dusty inside, which likely meant that Milligan had decided to get eager about doing chores. He stretched, then slowly walked toward the hall. "I'll go out and help Milligan, and then we'll eat breakfast and get things under control for the day?"

"Works for me."

Jason strode out into the hall, then down the stairs and out into the farmyard. There, as he walked up to the great barn, Milligan appeared and waved.

"Hey, boss!" Milligan smiled. "I was hoping you'd sleep in this morning."

"My wife did." Jason chuckled. "Just one of those days, I suppose."

"Yeah, seems like." Milligan scratched his neck for a moment. "Well, the chores are done, and it'll be too wet to head out into the fields."

"Seems like." Jason nodded. "Go take the day off, work on your genetics and all that sort of fun stuff. Things will get into higher gear once summer comes, so go enjoy the last little bit of springtime."

"Actually, boss, if you're up for it, I'd like to talk through some things with you." Milligan shrugged. "You know by now that I've been talking with Jeremiah about some things--"

"Hard to miss it." Jason nodded and laughed. "Do I finally get to learn what that's all about?"

"I think so! We signed the last of the papers last night." Milligan gestured at the farm house. "Don't worry, it's nothing that'll affect you all that much." "Then why keep me in the dark?" Jason snorted as he began walking toward the house. Milligan followed, not answering, until they came up into the house. Tess already had the dining room table set, either anticipating their extra guest or simply glimpsing them through the window. Jason's mind burned as he sought for any explanation, but nothing came, and Milligan remained stoic and silent throughout the course of the meal. When they had finished with breakfast, Rachel and Fern ran off to the living room to play, and Milligan and Jason headed up to Jason's office.

The office was a nice sort of a room, lined with bookshelves, and with a set of armor in each of the four corners, one from Summer Shandy, one from Spring Shandy, one from Autumn Shandy, and one from Winter Shandy. Jason soon sat down behind his desk (and just in front of the secret door that led to the back office, which his uncle had used for... well... Jason still wasn't sure exactly what), and Milligan sat down just across from him.

"Alright, Jason." Milligan grinned. "Are you ready for this?"

"I sure hope so." Jason chuckled. "Spill the beans, lay it on me!"

"Alright." Milligan puffed out his cheeks. "So, you heard about the debacle surrounding the Summer Shandy dungeon?"

Jason nodded. "Yeah. Daniel accidentally mentioned it to the wrong person up in Illumitir, and we were charged with expanding our dungeon without prior authorization."

"Exactly." Milligan nodded. "Well, believe it or not, through a convoluted series of events and paperwork that Hank and Jeremiah untangled, all of that mess was sorted out, and, on top of it, Obadiah received permission to expand and edit the dungeon as he pleases."

"Jeremiah will enjoy that!" Jason laughed. "I bet he's already trying to convince Obadiah to set up cannons inside the place, and all sorts of other things like that."

"From what I've heard, he's lobbying for it awful hard, but Obadiah's holding firm." Milligan folded his hand. "Now, the important bit is that they are going to start a new expansion... well... More like an entirely new dungeon, really. They're going to be building it right next to the main dungeon, but instead of populating it with traditional monsters, they're going to be populating it with... Plants."

Jason's eyebrows crawled up his forehead. "Plants?"

"Yeah!" Milligan grinned. "That's where you and I come in."

"Me?"

"Yes." Milligan nodded. "They're not putting in ordinary plants, they want it filled with... well... You remember that monstertrap I had skittering around? I've been taking the mobile aspect of the monstertraps and transposing them into other species."

"Monstertraps were already pretty adaptable." Jason nodded in thought. "At least from what I remember, they could absorb the genetics of just about anything that they ate."

"Exactly." Milligan nodded. "I've been able to produce just... Dozens of samples, and that's just for the start. Last night, Jeremiah officially broke ground on the project, and he signed a deal with me to supply the crops, at least the initial genetics, and to re-create anything that the dungeon-crawlers happen to hunt to extinction."

"How does this involve me?" Jason raised an eyebrow.

"You'll be helping mass-produce the plants. If you're interested, of course." Milligan shrugged. "We both agreed that it should be offered to you before anyone else."

Jason let out a long sigh, and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know, Milligan. I understand that the dungeons are necessary for our economy, but I just don't know if I can, in good conscience, produce plants that will be injuring or even killing people, regardless of whether or not they know the risks."

Milligan stared at Jason a moment longer, then burst out laughing. Jason laughed along with him, nervously, until Milligan calmed down.

"I'm sorry! Don't mean to laugh, but I forgot to mention the best part! These plants aren't deadly!" Milligan laughed again, then explained. "This is going to be a family dungeon, more like a circus than an actual dungeon, really. I'm talking... The most dangerous thing that will happen is a plant spraying you with pollen. If you have allergies, I suppose it might be dangerous, but... Seriously, Jason, this is just something else to grow the community of Summer Shandy."

With that, Jason relaxed, and a smile began spreading across his face. "That actually sounds like a ton of fun."

"Right?" Milligan held up his hands. "Jeremiah was the one who thought up the idea. Obadiah still hasn't let him go inside the main dungeon, and he's been dying to go on grandpa-grandson dates with John. It's the calmest dungeon you could ever imagine, and it's being done with the full cooperation of the dungeon guild, which means we could actually see Daniel and Johan around here next year. I think they're hoping for a winter opening."

Jason let out a long breath, then held out a hand. "Tell me what I need to do."

Milligan beamed, and shook Jason's hand with enthusiasm. "You won't regret this, boss!"

"Oh, I'm sure I will at one point or another, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it." Jason slowly rose and shrugged. "That's the nice thing about being here in Summer Shandy. The things you regret usually also turn into things you don't regret, so... I dunno. I'm on board, however it turns out." Milligan's grin split his face, and Jason had to admit that the idea sounded wonderful to him as well. He'd never been inside a dungeon, not even a low-level one, and the idea of taking Fern on a daddy-daughter date, doing something that Tess had once loved (and was still probably quite good at)... It just sounded like an absolute blast.

The only question was how it would all come together. If he had to guess, there would be more than a few mishaps, and the fact that he was growing the plants would certainly throw at least a few wrinkles into the equation, but... That was a problem for the next year.

For now, they had a plan, and that was all he cared about for that moment.

Chapter 40. Last Day of

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 42 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 91st day of Spring! It's the day of the Spring Festival! It's a bright and clear day, a bit on the warmer side, making for an excellent transition into summer right at midnight! Come out and enjoy the fun!] Jason's eyes slowly flickered open, coming to rest on the wooden slats that formed the ceiling of the inn. Something creaked at the end of the bed, and he braced himself. A moment later, Fern's knees slammed into his chest, and he groaned.

"Daddy wake up!"

"I'm awake, I'm awake." Jason groaned and slowly rolled out of bed. Rachel stood by the bed, looking up at him, and he bent down and picked her up. "Can I have a kiss from two of my three favorite girls?"

Fern and Rachel both gave him big kisses, and he set them down. "Alright, then! Run along, go find your friends."

"Yay!"

Both of them turned and shot through the door as fast as they could go, and Jason chuckled and sat down on the bed. Tess rolled over and raised herself up, giving him a kiss before crawling out of bed herself. Jason shut the door, and the two of them were soon dressed in their tunics.

As it had turned out, a great number of farmers had decided that they had greatly enjoyed sleeping over in the inn, and the rooms were packed. As Jason opened the door once more and stuck his head out, he found children racing back and forth, up and down the hallway in an immense herd of laughter and joy. It wasn't quite as many as before, but it was still quite a

number, and he laughed as John shot through his legs and bounced off the wall before continuing on down the hall.

Tess came out after him, and sighed deeply. She wrapped her arms around him from behind, and he sighed.

"This is nice." She whispered.

"I agree."

"Do you know what else would be nice?"

Jason frowned and glanced over his shoulder. "No?"

"A piggyback ride."

Before he could process the words, Tess jumped up into the air, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist. Utterly unprepared, Jason fell over backward, and the two of them hit the floor with a mighty crash that shook the inn. A few other folks stuck their heads out through the doors, but only laughed and went back to whatever they were doing. Jason climbed back to his feet, rubbing his back, and groaned as he staggered toward the entrance.

"What, in all our lives together, made you think that I would be able to handle that?"

Tess laughed. "Not a thing."

At that, Jason scowled. "Hey."

Tess laughed again, and Jason had to admit himself a smile as well. It was a joyous day, there was simply no doubt about that, and the two of them held hands as they descended the stairs to the main lobby. There, a wide array of food had been set out (no longer being paid for by the town), and Jason scooped up Fern and Rachel and soon had them set down at a table not far from the hearth. Tess gathered up their food and sat down with Jason, and the family tucked into the start of a long, but exciting, day.

None of them spoke much as they ate, and as soon as they were done, Fern and Rachel leapt down to run off with their friends once more. Jason watched them go, then leaned against the table with a feeling of joy in his heart.

"What are you thinking about?" Tess asked after a moment.

"I don't know." Jason admitted as he watched the two girls racing back and forth, tagging a wide assortment of children without any thought of who they were, or even if the other kids were playing the game. "It's just... The innocence of a child is incredible, you know? They have absolutely no concept of so many things that plague our world today."

Tess nodded, then chuckled. "And here in Summer Shandy, even we adults hardly have any concept of it, either."

"True enough." Jason rose after a moment, then walked toward the door. "Ready to face the day?"

"Let's do it."

They walked out of the inn, still hand-in-hand, and leaned against the wall of the building as carriages and wagons began to rumble up. Obadiah and Hank, from their perches on the town well, waved at the couple, along with everyone else arriving at that time. Richard soon rode up, several of his hired men in tow, and swung down next to Jason and Tess before handing his horse to one of Obadiah's page boys.

"And how are my kids doing today?" He hugged both of them, first Tess, and then Jason. "Or my grandkids, or anyone?"

Jason laughed. "We're doing fine. Just living life, and all that."

"Yeah." Richard took a deep breath, then grinned. "I heard you agreed to grow plants for the new dungeon?"

"Yeah!" Jason nodded. "How'd you hear about that?"

"Jeremiah roped me into breeding some animals for it." Richard shrugged. "They're putting some petting zoos inside the thing, from what I hear. It's really turning into quite the ordeal."

"Petting zoos in a dungeon." Jason chuckled. "I wonder what they'll think up next?"

"With Jeremiah, it's almost impossible to tell." Richard snorted, then shook his head. "Oh yeah! Keep meaning to ask, but I keep forgetting. How'd your animals fare in the despawn event?"

Jason shrugged. "We lost pretty much everything. The cat-snake is gone, all the elephants vanished, most of the birds were lost... The static caprines are still there, along with a small handful of others, but it really did a number on us."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Richard apologized.

"Don't be." Tess broke into the conversation. "They were all starting to take more time than they were worth. I've got a few animals left, just the basics, and my wool production, but... I've got two kids to take care of. I don't need anything more than that."

"True enough." Richard winked as he started to walk away. "Especially if the number of kids in your house grows at all."

"That... Strictly speaking, that is true." Jason blinked, then shrugged. He turned to Tess and leaned forward to give her a kiss, then started wandering out into the town square.

A warm, gentle wind blew over the cobbles, bringing with it a warmth that was simply... Wonderful. Flowers grew out of dozens of pots, filling the air with a sweet and gentle fragrance. A few of them were knocked over by the children, and one or two shattered, but no one really seemed to care about

it. They were simply happy to see the kids having so much fun, simply happy to see so much life in the town.

It wasn't long before games were brought out. Obadiah set up something called croquet, which proved to be quite successful (at least until Gob snuck over and ate all the balls), and Hank organized a "guess that flower" game, where a wide assortment of flowers were placed underneath crates, with tiny holes cut in them for people to smell through. They could then record their guesses on scoresheets, which were then taken into Jeremiah's office to compare for accuracy. Jason went through the course, but didn't have the faintest idea on the vast majority of them.

All through that morning, they played, they chatted, and they simply lived. At noon, as was the custom, a light lunch was prepared, and then they went back to hanging out through the afternoon. Finally, though, the time of the banquet came, and... well... As seemed the case every year, Jason had to slot it up there as one of the most memorable of his time in Summer Shandy.

The spring festivals always held a special place in his heart. They were when weddings took place, when the world came back alive. The band got up and began to play upbeat, lively music that seemed to celebrate the flowers, the rain, and the wind. There were even a few songs that may have represented the storms and tornados, but Jason wasn't positive about that. Long tables were brought out, piled high with eggs, roasted lamb and ham, more rolls and pastries than Jason could count, and a great deal more. He sighed deeply as he gathered his family around him, and they all sat down to dig into the helpings. Both girls had to be coaxed to eat, as they were growing tired and worn from the day, but they still did well enough.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Obadiah tapped his armored finger against a glass as he climbed up onto the town well. "As is the custom here, it becomes my duty to give a speech, telling everyone... well... Pretty much whatever they want to hear."

A light ripple of laughter rolled through the audience, and Obadiah paused. "Anyhow, this time, I just wanted to tell you how truly special it is to be here. The spring, the summer, the fall, the winter—over and over, again and again, every time it happens, things improve. You all learn from your mistakes, you grow, you get better, you come together as a tighter and tighter community."

He paused for a moment, and Jason raised a glass to him. Obadiah nodded in his direction, then went back to the crowd.

"I don't have anything revolutionary to say to you. I'm not going to tell you that I'm moving, because I'm not. I'm not going to tell you that our town's about to change, because it isn't. I'm not going to tell you that we're in for any sort of a crazy year, one way or another, because... Well, frankly I just don't know." Obadiah pursed his lips. "What I can say is that this spring festival, today, marks five years that I've lived here. Five years that I've come to know you, that I've grown with you, and while I'd love nothing more than to sit here and give you a recap of those five years, I have something a bit more important, because... That makes it the five-year anniversary of something else, too."

Jason felt a sudden thump in his heart, and he turned to look at Tess, who was looking back at him with the same expression.

"Jason, Tess, come up here now!"

Jason blinked, then slowly rose and made his way over to the town well. Tess followed, as did Fern and Rachel. As they stood next to that well,

Milligan and Jeremiah rose up, and both of them whistled.

There was a pause, and suddenly, several sunflowers skittered into the town square. They were every color of the rainbow, their petals shimmering in the final glimmers of the sunset, and, perfectly trained, came running right up to Tess and Jason before bowing down before them.

"As most of you know, we're building a new dungeon. I can now officially announce that, in honor of these five years, it will be called the Hunter dungeon, in honor of Jason and Tess, and everything that they've both done for their community."

The crowd began to cheer, and Milligan came walking up.

"Alright, so my meetings with Jeremiah weren't just about providing crops. I put two and two together, and... well... Now we're here." Milligan clapped Jason on the shoulder. "And here's to another five years, even better than this one."

Tears filled Jason's eyes, and he pulled Tess into a hug. Suddenly, the sunflowers straightened up, and their petals seemed to burst into flame. Fireworks suddenly erupted upward, zinging high into the sky, where they exploded into fantastic displays of red, white, green, and a great deal more colors. Jason felt a lump in his throat, and he slowly lifted up Fern and Rachel to join him. The small family stood there, stunned, as the display slowly wore itself out, and the festivities soon went back to normal. Sometimes things didn't always go as planned, and it seemed that there was always something new lurking around the corner, but... well... Now more than ever, Jason knew that he had absolutely no plans of ever leaving Summer Shandy again.

This was his home, and as far as he was concerned, that was never, ever, going to change.