Casual far Ming

by Taylor and Laura

Farmer

10. Book 10

Chapter One: 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! Get outside and enjoy the day, folks! The sun is bright, the air is cool, the conditions are just about perfect for getting loads of things done!] Jason yawned as he sat up in bed. He was tired, but that was par for the course on days following the Festivals. He and Tess had gotten back as quickly as they could, largely for the sake of their two girls, but it had still been a later night than he had anticipated.

"Good morning!" Tess beamed as she walked into the room. She had a tray in her hands, upon which was piled pancakes, bacon, sausage, and a saucer of syrup. Fern and Rachel followed, scrambling up onto the bed as she set the tray down on his lap. "And... Happy Anniversary!"

"What anniversary?" Jason frowned as he picked up his fork. Rachel reached past him and grabbed a slice of bacon, while Fern snatched up two of his sausages. "Not that I'm complaining. This looks incredible. Like a heart attack on a plate." He chuckled a bit at his joke, then shrugged. "Just a bit confused."

"Ten years ago today was your very first day in Summer Shandy!" Tess beamed. She sat down on the bed and sighed deeply, then picked up his last piece of bacon. "How the world has changed, eh?"

"You're not joking." Jason puffed out his cheeks, then cut into his pancake. Fern leaned over and ate it right off his fork, and he chuckled and took another. He paused, fork halfway up to his mouth, and Rachel leaned over and nabbed that bite. "I have an odd question."

"Then I have an odd answer." Tess stood up and walked over to the window, sliding it up to allow the warm, fresh summer air to drift into the bedroom. "Shoot."

"When I first came here, think I had 36 actions, or something like that." Jason frowned. "It started ticking upward for all sorts of things. Relationships, getting married, and so on, but I don't think it's gone up in a few years."

"You probably hit the action cap." Tess frowned. "It's determined by a handful of different factors, but..." She held up her hand. "I have a scanning skill I can still use from back when I was Guildmaster. And... Yup. You've just maxed out the number of actions you have available." "Huh." Jason shrugged, then slowly slid out of bed. Fern and Rachel gobbled up the last of his food, and he pulled some clothes out of the wardrobe. "Any idea how to increase it?"

"Do you need to increase it?" Tess held up her hands. "You haven't exactly ran out of actions in quite awhile. Not since we got the farm to peak capacity, anyway."

"Fair." Jason frowned, then shrugged. "I dunno. Just seems like it would be good to increase it a bit."

"Well, if you want to, you're more than welcome to it. I think you can buy more slots from the item store, or you can increase your base Dexterity stat." Tess shrugged. "There are lots of different ways of doing that."

"How do you increase your dexterity?"

"Exercise."

Jason made a face. "Maybe I'll just buy some."

Tess laughed, then picked up the girls (who had a decent amount of syrup smeared across their faces). "Well, you get dressed, and then I assume

you're off to work!" She rubbed Fern's head. "The girls and I are going to start on some school today! If they do well, I'll bring them outside after lunch to help."

"Sounds like a plan!" Jason waved at the girls as Tess shooed them into the hall, and the door slowly swung shut behind them. He pulled on his overalls and a short-sleeved flannel shirt, then made his way downstairs. Tess was in the dining room, where she had a large assortment of chalkboards, notepads, and teacher manuals spread about. Jason laughed at the display, and Tess shrugged.

"We're going to try a handful of different things to see what works."

"Well, have fun with it, I suppose!" Jason shrugged. "When I get a break from the farm, I'd like to see more of this, but I do need to get moving. Thanks for breakfast!"

"Love you, daddy!" Fern cried out as Jason turned and walked through the house.

"Wuv you!"

"I love you, too! Both of you!"

"I'm daddy's favorite!" Jason heard Fern talking to Rachel as he pulled on his boots at the front door.

"No, I daddy favowit!"

"Mommy is my favorite!" Jason called back. A round of giggles was his only response, and he laughed as he walked out onto the farm.

As he entered the farmyard, he looked up at the immense, red barn. The pasture on the opposite side was brilliant and green in the light of the summer sun, and deep lowing filled the air as Tess's herd of cattle meandered along the fence, grazing the grass and flowers that grew there. Milligan, Jason's hired man, stood on one of the rails pitching mineral

down into a bucket. He hopped down as Jason approached, and the two of them shook hands.

"I hear it's a big day for you."

"Something like that." Jason chuckled. He stretched, then turned to the field, which was empty and rich, ready for whatever he wanted to put in the ground. Dusty and Angus, their two work horses, were already hitched up to the planters, ready to get to work and get the crop planted. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Just as spry as ever, I suppose." Milligan shrugged. He followed Jason over to the planters and climbed up onto the machine behind Dusty. Jason took the planter behind Angus, and Jason took up the reins. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know." Jason frowned. His mind returned to the festival the night before, and he shrugged. "Just feels like things are changing around Summer Shandy. Jeremiah is looking to step down from the position of Constable. Pfft, I can remember when he first took the position of constable, and I thought that was a change. Daniel is leaving the Dungeon Guild, there's just... there's a lot that's changing."

"Maybe so, boss, but I reckon everything stays the same even through it all." Milligan shrugged. "Your farm has grown a bit since I came on board, but it's still the same farm. Now, whatever they're doing, unless you get tired of me and give me the boot, I don't have any aims to move along, so we'd best stop jawing and get this field planted. We're burning daylight just standing here."

"Fair enough!" Jason laughed, then opened up his inventory. "In that case, we're going to be planting... Rice."

"Rice?" Milligan frowned. "Can we do that here?"

Jason shrugged. "I've been here ten years now, and I've grown every variety of wheat and sunflower they have for sale, and a good number they don't."

"Didn't Cecilia warn you that rice doesn't grow well in this area?" Milligan scratched his head. "Back when I was still with the genetics company, we worked on some low-water rice varieties, but they all failed miserably." "Cecilia's exact words were, if I remember correctly, that I was insane if I thought I could possibly grow a successful crop of rice." Jason shrugged. "I asked her why she had it for sale, if that was really the case, and she didn't have much of an answer for that. I decided to give it a whirl."

Milligan shrugged. "Well, you're the boss, so I'll follow if that's your decision. Shall we?"

"Let's go!"

Jason dumped the rice seed into the seed box of his planter, and smiled as the whole thing filled up with long, white grains. He slammed the lid shut when it was full, took up Angus's reins, and with that, they were off.

Angus was a good horse. He had to be pushing fifteen years old, but he was a strong horse, built for war, and adapted wonderfully to life on the farm. As they entered the field, Jason yanked the lever that lowered the contraption into the ground. Seed disks bit into the soil, forming narrow chasms, and the tubes began to rattle as grains of rice flowed down into the ground. Pressure wheels came along behind, closing up the chasms over the top of the grains of rice, readying them for their new life in Jason's field. Jason inhaled deeply as they rumbled along, sending up plumes of dust behind their two planters. There were few things on the farm he loved more than planting. It was a time of potential, a time of hope. He had no guarantee that the rice would grow at all, or that any crop would grow at all,

but he planted it nonetheless. Then, several weeks later, he would have the joy of harvesting it all, and then starting the process again.

Off to his right, prairie grasses swished in the wind as cattle lumbered along, lowing and chewing their cud. He threw them some sugar cubes, which they all seemed to enjoy, though once he reached the end of the field, turned around, and started moving toward the middle of the field, his arm was unable to quite get the reach that he needed. Still, though, the herd followed along closely, hoping for more, and continued to do so for almost the next half-hour.

As he stood there, tall and strong, letting the wind and the dust whisk around him, he sighed in contentment. Another year had begun in Summer Shandy, another set of adventures had begun. He didn't know for sure what the year would bring, though he was certain that it would be filled with joy —perhaps some danger and turmoil, but, ultimately, the love of his family and the warmth of his community.

All he had to do was live through it, and enjoy every moment along the way.

Chapter Two: Thunder

[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: 4th day of Summer! 87 days until the Summer Festival! It looks like today's a rainy one, folks! I know, it's a bit early in the season for it, but that's how things go sometimes. Anyway, if you have work you have to do, go do your best, but I'd sure advise staying inside if you can!]

Thunder clapped loudly, and Jason sat bolt upright in bed. As he walked over to the window to look out across the farmstead, he found the sky so thick with clouds that it was almost black. Tess and Milligan, both clad in long, yellow raincoats, raced back and forth in their attempts to get the cattle into the barn. Rain came lashing down in thick sheets, so intense was it that Jason could hardly even see the barn, or the field, at all.

[Obadiah's Almanac: Update: Yeah, stay inside if you can. The chances of rain are going up exponentially, and the likelihood of severe weather is increasing as well.]

"You don't say." Jason laughed, then stepped back away from the window. Another clap of thunder shook the house, and he changed into a warm tunic and opened up the door. As he did so, Fern and Rachel shot inside, diving into his bed in a frantic flurry of arms, legs and nightgowns.

"It's scary!" Fern tunneled underneath the blankets.

"Yeah! Wightning!"

"It's very... Frightening?" Jason held up his arms and roared. "I'm scary?" Fern stuck her head out. "Not you, daddy!"

"Then I'd best start trying harder! The daddy monster is going to eat you!" Jason sprang forward, kissing and tickling the two girls while he continued

to make roaring noises. They laughed and giggled hysterically as he pulled them out of the bed, then threw one over each shoulder as he marched out through the door of the bedroom and down the stairs. "Now, what do you two want for breakfast?"

"Don't want breakfast?"

"Oh." Jason frowned. "Then should I just eat you for breakfast?"

"No, daddy!"

"Then should I go eat mommy for breakfast?"

"NO!" Rachel wriggled down from his arms as he reached the kitchen. "Want tookies."

"Cookies!" Fern grinned widely. "Please? Please, daddy, may we have cookies for breakfast?"

She gave him a great big kiss, then batted her eyes. Jason sighed, then shrugged.

"Don't let your mother find out."

Fifteen minutes later, Tess came walking back inside, soaked to the skin. Jason and the two girls sat at the table. Each of them had a fried egg on their plates, neither of which had been eaten. Tess eyed the cookie crumbs scattered across the table and chairs, then nodded to Jason.

"Neither of them wanted breakfast?"

"Didn't even touch their eggs." Jason answered, making both girls giggle. Fern reached up and poked her egg with her finger. "Alright, one of them touched it."

"Touch!" Rachel grabbed the egg and smashed it into her face, and Jason sighed.

"Anyway, that's my morning. How are things out in the monsoon?"

Tess snorted. "Wet, but all the animals are safe inside. Milligan thinks he saw a tornado out by the forest. Just a small one, F1, but still."

"Do you need to send a report to Obadiah?" Jason frowned.

"Nah. F1's are so scared of human civilization that they wouldn't come near us even if we tried to bait them with a trailer park." Tess took off the raincoat, then started wringing her clothes out into the sink. "It's just not usual for this much rain to come so early in the season."

"I'm sure it'll all be okay." Jason shrugged and gestured for her to sit down. "What should we do today, then?"

"Play!" Rachel threw her egg up into the air. It splashed down in Jason's orange juice, showering him in a sticky, orange rain. "Sowy daddy! Bye!" She hopped down and raced off, and Fern followed close behind. Jason grabbed a towel and wiped himself clean, and Tess laughed.

"Just remember that it was your idea to fill them full of sugar on a day that we're stuck inside."

"I'll admit that I've had better plans." Jason rose and began clearing off the table. "What is the plan, though?"

"Actually, I think I'm going to keep doing more school with Fern, at least a little bit." Tess answered as she started in on some eggs of her own. "You want to watch?"

"I'd love to." Jason glanced into the dining room, where the long table was utterly unusable for any sort of dinner activity. "Just let me know when we're starting."

Ten minutes later, the small family was seated at the long table. Tess had a pile of cards in front of her, while Fern sat just to one side. Rachel was racing in circles around the table. Jason, meanwhile, settled into a chair in front of a massive pile of manuals.

"Alright." Tess slowly flipped up the first card. "Tell me what this letter is." Fern squinted her eyes, then grinned. "T!"

"Exactly! And what sound does it make?"

"Ta!"

"Very good." Tess set the card aside, then picked up the next one. "And this letter?"

"M!"

"And it's sound?"

"Mmm! Like when you eat something yummmmmmmy!"

Jason chuckled and shook his head. "She's pretty good."

Tess nodded, then picked up a third card.

"Z! Like when you sleep!" Fern lay her head on the table, and made a pretend snoring sound. She sat up and giggled, and Tess nodded.

"She won't be able to keep learning things this fast, of course, but she's doing a really good job." Tess nodded.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but this isn't how they used to teach things." Jason frowned as he picked up one of the manuals. "What is this? This math looks harder than what I learned in high school!"

Tess glanced over his shoulder. "That's how they're teaching basic addition. That page right there shows how to multiply the number 5."

Jason squinted and turned the book sideways. "You just take half of ten. I had a chart I memorized."

"Yes, but you don't learn how to do it if you just learn it by memory." Tess reached over and pushed the book back down to the table.

"I don't need to know how it's done. What I need to know on the farm is if I have five cattle, and I need to give each of them two bags of feed, I get ten bags. Who cares how I get to the number?"

"Well." Tess's voice took on an authoritative tone. "If you would like to take on Fern's schooling, you're more than welcome."

Jason scowled, then shrugged. "Alright. Do things the hard way, if you really want."

"I do." Tess turned back to Fern and started running through the letters one more time. "Alright, Fern, we're going to add a new one." She put the original three to the side once Fern had gone through them each half a dozen times. "Look at this letter. Do you know what it is?"

Fern squinted, then reached out and tilted the letter to the side. "Grandpa's ranch!"

Jason glanced at the card, and laughed as he saw the letter H. Richard owned the Lazy-H Ranch, which meant that his cattle brand was the letter H laid on its side.

"That is Grandpa's ranch." Tess tilted it back upright. "But it should look like this. It's called the H, and it says huh."

Fern made the sound several times, then grinned. "It's the same sound Grandpa makes when he's mad at something the government is doing!" Jason and Tess both burst out laughing. Indeed, Richard (and most of the farmers) had a tendency to hmph when the government (which, of course, was now headed up by Jeremiah) handed down assorted regulations about what they could or couldn't do.

In any event, Jason leaned back in his chair as Tess had Fern go through all four letters again, and then added a fifth. By that time, Fern was starting to get a bit squirmy, so Tess gave her leave to hop down and go run a few laps around the house. Fern and Rachel streaked off, racing to the front door and back, and Jason sighed in contentment.

"You're really doing a good job, you know." He murmured softly. "Most kids her age, out here, wouldn't even begin to know how to do things like this."

"It's going to take some time." Tess answered modestly. "I still have a long way to go, for sure. In the midst of teaching her how to read and write and all that sort of stuff, I'm also going to need to teach her to sew, cook, clean, take care of animals..."

"But isn't that what being a parent is all about?" Jason chuckled. "Teaching them how to just... do life?"

"That's sure what it's supposed to be about." Tess sighed, then slowly stood up. "Alright, girls, back to school!" Fern came charging back in, and Tess quickly seated her at the table once more. "Now, we're going to do math!" Math, as it turned out, was simply a matter of counting the number of dots on different cards, one through five. Fern struggled a bit as they got to four, and five was quite difficult, but she managed well enough. Tess beamed with delight as she suddenly held up her hand and splayed her fingers wide. "Mommy! I have five fingers on my hand!"

"That's right!" Tess patted her on the head.

"That means I can count any time I want!" Fern used the pointer finger of her other hand, and started bouncing it across her digits. "One, two, three, four..." She paused, and her face scrunched up. "Four... Three..."

"Wrong direction." Tess smiled and shook her head. "F..."

"Five!" Fern grinned. She turned to Rachel and held out her hand. "Look! Five fingers!"

"Fi!" Rachel clapped her hands.

Fern turned back and held out her hand toward Jason, then suddenly froze. Slowly, she lifted up her other hand, putting it next to her first hand.

"Whoa! What number is bigger than five?"

Tess and Jason burst out laughing, and Tess lowered her voice and leaned in close.

"Ten." She whispered.

"Ten! I have ten fingers!" Fern jumped down and ran away from the table. "I can't wait to learn how to count all the way to ten! One, two, three, four, five..." She paused. "One-one, two-two, three-three, four-four, ten!"

"She's got the basic idea." Jason laughed, then shook his head. "Well, I'll leave you to it, I suppose. I have some office work I could stand to get done."

"Ahh, that'll probably be all I do." Tess shrugged. "She's still only four. She'll be five at the end of the season, but I'm going to take it slow. No four-year-old can focus for more than a few minutes at a time, anyway." "Unless they're playing with things." Jason paused as Fern streaked through the door of the room once more, bounced off the wall, and kept running. Rachel was hot on her heels. "That," he pointed at them chasing each other, "they can focus on for hours at a time."

"Play." Tess frowned. "Hmm..."

"I see those wheels spinning." Jason smiled as he started walking up the stairs. "Good luck with whatever you're scheming!"

"It's not considered scheming if I'm doing something productive!"

"Yes, it totally is!"

A few moments later, Jason had settled into his office, pulled up a great deal of paperwork that he had been dreading and putting off for a great deal of time, and started in. While he worked, though, he could hear laughter from below as Tess started playing something with the kids.

There was something truly magical about being able to work at home with his kids around, and it felt like there was something even more magical in the air as Tess started in on this new venture with the kids. It was hard to know where exactly it would go, but he was certain he would enjoy the ride.

Chapter Three: Not The Worst 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: 14th day of Summer! 77 days until the Summer Festival! It's a hot one today, folks! With that first storm past us, I don't really foresee any relief on the horizon for quite some time, so just be aware that that's a good possibility.]

Jason yawned and rolled out of bed, his feet hitting the floor with a dull thunk. He stretched and walked up to the window, where he looked across a strangely-silent barnyard. Tess had taken their herd of cattle into Summer Shandy to sell to the Cattle Guild just the day before, which meant that they would be getting more cattle into the farm that very day. He smiled as a hot breeze blew across the prairie, already giving a foretaste of the day, and then turned to look at his field.

There, sadly, his smile vanished. The rice wasn't doing well. At all. By this point, it should have been bursting and ready for harvest. Instead, it was a rather sickly sort of yellow, and was more shriveled than full. He wasn't disappointed, really. A crop failure in the early years of his farm would have meant utter disaster. A crop failure now was more of an annoyance. That said, it was annoying. He didn't have time to deal with it today, but he made a mental note to discuss things with Milligan once they were done with the cattle.

He pushed himself away from the view and walked over to the wardrobe, then changed into overalls and made his way downstairs. There, he found Tess just finishing up breakfast, with the two girls eagerly munching away on sausage, bacon, and eggs. He leaned over and nabbed a sausage from Fern, eliciting a sharp "Hey!"

"Just returning the favor." Jason chuckled, then gave Tess a kiss and started getting together his own plate. "How are things looking for today?"

"Good so far. Richard will be up here with the herd in just a few minutes, so I'm going to run." Tess smiled. "Love you! See you... Realistically at the end of the day when the chaos has settled down a bit!"

Jason waved as she turned and jogged to the door, pulled on her boots underneath a bright red dress, then jogged out into the farmyard. He sat down and helped the girls finish breakfast, and Fern grinned.

"I'm going to help out with the cattle today!"

"Oh, you are?" Jason chuckled and leaned toward her. "And just what job are you going to do?"

"Ride them!"

Jason laughed. "That's not exactly a job that we do with the cattle." "Hmm." Fern scrunched up her face as she tried to think.

"Bwand them!" Rachel spoke up. "I want bwand them!"

"You're way too young for that, I think." Jason shook his head. Rachel and Fern both pouted, then Fern grinned.

"We'll steal them! Cattle rustlers!"

"Also not a job." Jason held up a finger, then paused. "Well... I suppose technically cattle rustling could be an occupation, but it's my job to raise you up to obey and uphold the law, not break it." He grinned, then leaned over and tickled them. "Isn't that right? Otherwise Jeremiah would have to lock you up in jail with Gob!"

The girls squealed and jumped out of their chairs, and Jason rose, laughing. He made his way to the front door, where he pulled boots onto the feet of the girls, then shrugged on his own boots. The three of them made their way out into the barnyard just as the first of the cattle were walking up. Tess

swung the gate wide open, allowing the beasts to walk right inside, and several of Richard's hired hands began directing them over to the barn. These cattle were slightly different than the ones Jason had seen Tess buy in the past. Previously, she had only done Angus cattle, massive black beasts. These, though, were red-and-white, and seemed to be just a bit larger. He wasn't certain what breed they were (and to his knowledge, there were dozens of different types of cattle breeds), but he was certain at a glance that Tess was experimenting with something. Not that he cared (he certainly did enough of it himself, with the crops), but it was interesting to watch. Cattle were unique, at least among the animals that Jason had dealt with, in that they could pretty much be allowed to walk about without restraints. Pigs? Those things would head for the hills the moment they saw a crack in the gate. Goats? Same thing. Sheep? Pfft, they'd be eaten by wolves by the time you could catch up with them. Cattle, though, could be herded quite easily, almost as if they were tame. Jason held the girls back by the porch while one hundred of the massive beasts lumbered through and up into the barn, and then, as the last one entered, he took their hands and led them across the yard.

They went eagerly up and into the barn, where Tess, Milligan, and a handful of Lazy-H Hired hands were sorting the cattle into pens. They lowed and stamped their feet, and a few of them started eating the grain that Tess had poured out, but most of them just stuck their heads into the air and looked around.

"Howdy, neighbor!" Richard rode into the barn on his horse and swung down out of the saddle. He shook Jason's hands, then bent down and gave each of the girls a kiss on the forehead. "Sorry I'm late. Minor issue on the ranch, but that's all settled now. Where can I be of assistance?"

Tess walked up as well, where she gave her father a large hug. "We're just going to run the cattle out through the chute into the pasture, branding and tagging as they go along. Jump in anywhere you want."

"I'll run the gates." Richard hopped into the narrow alley that ran out from the barn and out to the pasture. It was filled with gates, allowing them to control the flow of bovine traffic with relative ease. "Let 'em through whenever you're ready!"

"I want to see!" Fern cried out. "Please, daddy!"

Jason smiled, then walked over to the head of the chute. Tess had a small station set up just to the side of it, where she could reach through the wooden slats to get to the cattle. There, protected from the large animals, Jason set up several crates, getting the girls high enough that they could see with relative ease. He set Fern up first, and once she was settled, put Rachel in place as well. Both girls clapped eagerly, and with that, they began. Milligan worked the cattle, opening the gates and directing the beasts to the chute. Lured by some nutrition pellets that Tess tossed into the alley, they came easily, and when they stopped, Tess carefully drew up the branding iron, reached through the gate, and pressed the item to their sides.

From what Jason had heard, at one time, branding cattle had actually been painful. Ranchers had actually heated up irons and burned images into the skin of the animals! It was awful to think about, and the newer version was much better, in Jason's opinion. She held the iron to their body for a few long moments, and a low beep rang out. After a few seconds, she withdrew the tool, and the Circle-S brand appeared in the air above the cattle. It hung there, displayed on a small screen, for a few seconds before vanishing. With that, Richard swung the gates open, the cattle lumbered on through, and the process continued.

It was utterly painless for the animal, and simply ensured that cattle were a great deal harder to steal. It was technically possible, from what Jason had heard, to replace a brand (or at least to alter it enough that it seemed to be a different brand altogether), but such things had become much more rare in modern times. In any event, it was quite fun to watch the progression of the great beasts, and Jason leaned against the fence as the procession continued. All told, it took almost until lunchtime to brand all one hundred cattle. As the last one lumbered through, Jason picked up the two girls and set them down (they had been remarkably patient through the whole process, simply watching and asking questions here and there), then turned to Tess.

"Is that everything?"

"Almost." Tess nodded. "I need to go make sure we have mineral poured out, and then I want to ride around the fence once just to make sure that there aren't any breaks or anything. With cattle, if they do happen to find a weakness and get out... It's not like they'll run away or anything, but they just sorta wander, and can destroy quite a bit of property if they wander into the wrong places."

"Go for it." Jason nodded. "I'll go take the girls inside and get started on lunch. Anything in particular you want?"

"Surprise me."

Jason turned to Milligan. "You?"

"I'll just eat up at my cabin, but thanks!"

Richard and his hired hands also turned down the offer, and Jason quickly took the girls back up and into the house. As they walked inside, he let them go run off to play, while he walked into the kitchen and started making some roast beef sandwiches. As he did so, he cast a look out the window, where he sighed deeply in contentment.

Tess shot around the vast pasture on Angus, her hair streaming out behind her in the wind. She sat tall and confident, and the cattle seemed to notice it, following her as she whipped out across the pasture.

How had he gotten so lucky? He didn't have the faintest idea. When he finished making the lunches, he quickly gathered together a blanket, and by the time Tess got back, he had set up a picnic in the shade of the house, looking out across the field and the pasture, and up at the enormous bulk of the barn. Tess put Angus in the corral, then walked over, a wide smile on her face.

"What's the special occasion for a picnic?"

"I don't know." Jason shrugged. "Just... Us. You. The girls. The cattle." He sighed deeply. "Yeah."

"Well, whatever you've got into your head, I'll take it!" Tess laughed. They all sat down and tucked in, and Jason sighed.

The wind blew across the prairie as always, hot and dusty, but he didn't mind one bit. Even with the heat, there in the shade, it was a more lovely experience than he could have imagined, and he certainly didn't want to be anywhere else.

Chapter Four: Bad

[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: 16th day of Summer! 75 days until the Summer Festival! It's another hot one! I don't necessarily think we're in for a drought, but based on what I can see, I don't think we're likely to see any rain for another month, at least. If you're looking to plant new crops, make sure you aren't planting anything that needs lots of water!]

Jason scowled at the message as he rose. He stretched, then slowly walked up to the window to look out. Down below, the cattle lowed and wandered back and forth, still settling into their new home, while Milligan walked about. He scattered some feed for the chickens, then made his way up into the barn and vanished. Jason pulled his head back inside, then slowly walked over to the wardrobe and got dressed. It was already hot enough he was almost sweating, and he stalked down the stairs quickly.

It was a bit cooler on the lower floor, but it still felt a good bit warmer than he was used to. As he sat down, Tess passed him a plate of biscuits and gravy, and he inhaled deeply. Fern and Rachel already looked to be mostly done with their meal, and he chuckled.

"And how long have the two little tornados been awake?"

"Daddy!" Fern and Rachel both burst out laughing. "We're not tornados?" "Are you sure?" Jason leaned forward and squinted. "It sure looks like you sucked up that food about as fast as mommy put it on your plate, and I've seen how messy the house is in the evening. You sure act like tornados." "Daddy, do I spin?" Fern crossed her arms.

"Sometimes." Jason crossed his own arms.

Fern scowled, then laughed and jumped out of the chair, held out her arms, and started spinning. She fell on her backside a moment later, laughing wildly, and Jason laughed as well as he tucked into his food.

"In answer, the two little tornados have been awake for almost an hour." Tess answered. She yawned, and Jason chuckled. "It gets bright at about five o'clock, and it's so hot that they just popped out and came and woke me up."

"At least they seem to be doing good." Jason finished eating, then rose. "How are the cattle settling in?"

"Good." Tess nodded. "They seem to have adjusted to the pasture well, and they're on track to be ready to sell in... Two months?"

Jason nodded as he walked to the front door. "Well, just let me know if you need anything! I'm heading out about as quick as I can this morning, I think."

"You're going to be working with Milligan today on your... rice?" Tess stifled a laugh.

"Hey." Jason held up a finger. "I said I was going to make it work, and I'm going to make it work."

"Just make sure you don't bankrupt us along with it!"

Jason waved his hand dismissively. As he walked out into the farmyard, he found Milligan standing by the fence, leaning against the rails as he looked out across the dry field. Jason walked up and leaned against the fence as well, and Milligan gave a nod of his head.

"Howdy, boss."

"Hey, Milligan." Jason puffed out his cheeks. "This should have been ready to harvest today, right?"

"Something like that." Milligan gave a small nod of his head. "I'm... not sure it's going to be worth it, though."

Jason couldn't argue with that fact. The rice stalks were twisting in the wind. None of them stood more than a few inches tall, most of them had broken off and now lay as shriveled little husks in the dust.

"Anyway, I brought this." Milligan opened up his inventory and pulled out a book, which he passed to Jason. "It's a guide to all the crops that can be grown on this continent. Might give you a somewhat more dry-weather option, you know?"

Jason nodded, then opened up the volume. It was alphabetized, and he quickly found the section labeled "Rice."

"Brown Rice... Grey Rice... Sticky Rice... White Rice." Jason found the entry, then started reading. "Cultivation of rice is usually only done in very wet climates. Rice grows best in at least six inches of standing water–Wait. What?" Jason blinked in surprise. "Six inches of standing water?"

"Yup." Milligan nodded. "That's what I was trying to tell you earlier. We tried to develop dryland rice, but even then, we still couldn't really get it to work unless they were getting rain every couple days. Rice just isn't a crop you can grow well around here."

"Yeah, but if I could grow it, it would be worth a fortune." Jason countered. "Rice is expensive. I remember seeing it in restaurants up in Illumitir. You have to import it from the eastern islands, so only the rich and wealthy get to experience it."

"Right." Milligan nodded. "And trust me, loads of farmers throughout the years have realized that fact, and have tried desperately to make it grow here. None of them have succeeded."

"Then I'll be the first!" Jason slammed the book shut. "The first thing we need is more rice seed. Which variety sells the best?"

"That would probably be long-grain." Milligan sighed. "Jason..."

"Great! In that case, I need enough to plant eighty acres." Jason rolled his eyes as Milligan continued to protest. "We'll leave the other two fields as drought-resistant wheat."

"That's progress, I suppose, but..."

"We're also going to need some new equipment." Jason stroked his chin. "How exactly are we going to get six inches of standing water?"

Milligan groaned, then slowly reached over and opened the book up. "Tess is going to kill me if I enable you to do this, but you are my boss, so..."

He flipped back to the rice page, then pointed down to instructions on how to create a rice paddy. It actually wasn't all that difficult to put together, and Jason beamed.

"Perfect! Then all I need is a water buffalo, and we'll be good to go!" "You're still going to need water to put in the rice paddy even after you dredge this field." Milligan held up a hand. "How exactly do you plan on doing that?"

"We have a well." Jason pointed at the small pump not far away. "Problem solved!"

"You're determined to do this, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Then..." Milligan puffed out his own cheeks. "You might as well get me a list so I can go buy everything we need from town."

"You won't regret this, Milligan!"

"I already am!" Milligan shot back. "Trust me! I don't exactly know why, and I don't know what sort of chaos this is going to unleash, but I know it's

a problem!"

Jason chuckled, then leaned against the rails and thumbed through the book. There was all sorts of good information, not to mention all sorts of interesting things that could be done with a rice paddy other than just growing rice. He pulled out a scrap of paper and jotted down a handful of things, then passed it to Milligan as he came riding up on Dusty. Milligan simply rolled his eyes and rode away.

Jason caught a glimpse of Tess walking out of the porch and rolling her eyes as well, but he did his best to ignore it. Haters could hate all they wanted. He was going to plant what he was going to plant, and farm what he was going to farm. If it took a little bit of elbow grease, well... He'd been wanting a challenge for some time now. The fact that he was more or less inventing his own challenge just meant that it would be all the more rewarding when he finally succeeded.

Chapter Five: New

[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! Still hot, folks! At this point, I'd say that you really shouldn't be outside unless you have to be, and if you do have to go outside, make sure you're drinking lots of water! As an aside, we did just get that fancy new cooling device from Illumitir, so feel free to come up to the Guild Hall to cool down!]

Jason was sweating as he woke up, and the only thing on him was a sheet. All the blankets, most of which were lovely (and by extension, heavy) quilts, lay on a heap at the end of the bed. He sighed and slid out of bed, making his night clothes swirl about him, then walked up to the window and glanced out into the farmyard.

Milligan walked past, wiping his brow as he carried mineral to the cattle. The door burst open behind him, and he turned as Fern and Rachel came dashing inside. He scooped them up into his arms, giving them both kisses before setting them back down.

"Good morning, my favorite kiddos." Jason knelt down. They were both dressed in dapper flower-pattern dresses, and he smiled. "You two look like you're going into town."

"That's the plan, if they'll just hold still long enough for me to get their bonnets on." Tess rushed into the room. She, too, was in a flower-pattern dress ready for town, and wore a drooping bonnet covered in daisies. Fern laughed and ducked out the way, then bolted, pounding across the wooden floor with gusto. "Come back here, little girl!"

"I'm not a little girl! I'm a bird!" Fern jumped off the bed and flapped her arms. "Flap, flap, flap! Zoom!"

She shot out the door and into the hallway, and Rachel followed.

"And I a snake! Hiss!"

Both girls ran down the stairs, laughing hysterically, and Tess groaned. "Any help?"

"I'm afraid I'm busy today." Jason shrugged. He pulled on his overalls, though he had a smile on his face. "Can't help in the slightest."

"You're goofing around. That's not busy." Tess swept out the room. "Girls! I'm going to count to three!"

"One, two, three!" Fern cried from down below. "Zoom!"

More giggling followed, and Jason laughed as he walked out beside Tess. "You're the one who taught them to count."

"Don't remind me."

Jason grinned, then spread his arms. "Well, maybe you're all little girls, and maybe you're animals, but I'm the great big bear, and the bear will eat anything he can get his claws on!"

"Ahh!"

"Hide!"

"Quick, in here!"

Jason stomped down the stairs, where he could very clearly hear giggling coming out of the pantry. Carefully, he tiptoed up to the door, then threw it open and scooped them both up in his arms. They thrashed and laughed, but he held them still, and Tess quickly ran up and put their bonnets on, tying them under the chin to keep them from blowing about. Thus tamed, the two girl-turned-animals settled down and allowed themselves to be led out into

the yard—where the hot, dusty wind was already blowing stronger across the farmstead.

"Any particular reason you're heading into town today?" Jason glanced at Tess as they walked up toward the barn.

"Not really." Tess shrugged. "Paulina was asking me some questions about the curriculum I'm using to teach Fern. I figured it would be good to spread the word, since baby John will be turning five just next year, and she'd like to get a jump start on his education."

"Baby John is almost five." Jason shook his head in amazement. "Time flies, you know that?"

Tess blinked. "Jason, Fern is almost five."

"Very true." Jason shrugged. "Well, in any case, best of luck! Teach her lots! Have fun with the kids."

"Will do." Tess chuckled, then paused. "I'll also admit that it's just really hot, and I'd like to try out that fancy new cooler Obadiah mentioned." "Well, have fun!"

Jason soon had the three women up into the carriage, and had hitched Lady to the front. With that, Tess started off down the road, and he waved to them as they slowly drew away and rumbled down into the distance. As they vanished down the road, he turned to the field, where Milligan was leaning against the fence.

"Alright, boss." Milligan glanced up at him as Jason approached. "Everything good to go?"

"I think so." Jason nodded. He stretched a bit, then groaned. "I have to admit, I'm still a little sore from getting the other two fields planted."

"You and me both, boss." Milligan chuckled. Though the previous day had been a Sunday, the several days prior to that had been spent tearing out the

rice and planting the New Eighty and the Far Eighty to wheat. If Jason hadn't been given the day to rest, he wasn't sure he would have been able to go ahead with the plan for that day. "You know you're starting to get old when you're complaining about all the aches and pains. Pretty soon, you're going to be finding grey hairs."

Jason laughed. He was only 34, hardly elderly, though he certainly did feel a bit more weathered than he had once felt. "Well, then, why don't the old men get to work?"

"After you, boss." Milligan shrugged. "I'll admit that I still don't think this is a good idea, but if you've got your heart set on it, I won't stop you."

"Just you wait and see!" Jason grinned. "We're going to be trend-setters!" Milligan just snorted, but he smiled through it. Jason and Milligan quickly took their horses and got the mighty beasts hitched up to their plows, then slowly rumbled off toward the field. As they entered the gates, Jason pulled the lever to lower the soil wedges into the earth, and with that, they rumbled forward.

The last bits of rice left over from the previous crop still clung to the soil, withered and crumbling away in the wind, but there. That fact was quickly changed as the two plows tore through the ground, flinging dirt up into the air as the crust was broken open, and soil from below the surface was churned to the top.

From what Jason had read, there were several benefits to tilling the ground regularly. For starters, nutrients tended to sink lower into the ground over time, so tilling brought that nutrition back to the surface, making it better to plant new crops into. It also broke up dried soil structures that had formed on the surface, structures that could make it difficult, or even impossible, for new seeds to get started. On the flip side, you lost a lot of moisture by

churning up the soil, which made it better to avoid tilling, at least as much as some people liked to do. In any case, beneficial or not, they didn't really have any options. The system wouldn't let him plant anything else until the rice had been torn away, so that was just what he would have to do.

As he rumbled down, the plow bounced around quite a lot, as it was prone to do. Every rock, every tree root, anything he ran into made the machine lurch back and forth, nearly knocking him from his perch more than once. Still, though, he made it down to the far end without too many troubles. The cattle followed along closely, though they didn't stay nearly as close as they did when he was on the planter. Instead, every time something clanged or rattled, they spooked and ran off, only to be drawn back by curiosity.

Jason and Milligan worked on the field until noontime, and as they came rumbling back to the close, Jason was down to 20 actions, and Angus was covered in a thick, foamy layer of sweat. Dusty looked not too much better, and they quickly turned the horses out into the corral before walking over to sit down in the shade of the barn. There, a picnic basket had been left by Tess, and the two of them leaned against the wall of the barn while they ate. "Well, that's part one, done." Jason flashed a smile at Milligan. "Ready for part two?"

"I suppose." Milligan shook his head. "If you manage to pull this off, you'll be the best farmer I ever saw."

"Then prepare to shower me with accolades." Jason laughed. "I kid, I kid." "I know." Milligan snorted. He opened up a jar of pickled eggs and fished two of them out with a fork, then nodded at Jason as he started munching on the first one. "You mind if I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Why are you so set on this?" Milligan shrugged. "It's not like the farm is hurting for money. No one challenged your pride, and even if they did, you don't seem like the type of person to let a challenge like that get under your skin."

"I know." Jason shrugged, then frowned. "I think... I don't know. It's been ten years since I got here, and probably a solid six or seven years since I really had any sort of a challenge, excepting the oddball thing every now and again."

Milligan nodded slowly. "I see. You're looking to rekindle that same excitement you felt at the beginning?"

"Something like that, I suppose." Jason nodded. He fished out one of the pickled eggs as well. It was excellent, and he sighed in contentment before continuing. "Not rekindle, per se. I don't miss those old days. They were hard. I didn't have Tess—or the girls, or you, or Richard—or anyone else except for maybe Jeremiah every now and again. These days are a whole lot better, and that's just the simple reality." He shrugged. "I just... I dunno. There's a reason why so many people in this world are warriors. Sometimes it's just fun to walk into a dungeon and start punching things. Except I'm not a warrior, and thanks to the kids, I've made this entire area utterly safe from monsters."

"Very true!" Milligan laughed. "In that case, as long as you're not going through some sort of a mid-life crisis, and will be responsible enough that your family doesn't suffer for it, I'll help with a bit less complaining." "Perfect!" Jason beamed and finished up his meal. "Then let's get back to work! Enough sitting around! We're men! We don't need rest!" He took a step, then grimaced as his back sent a rather sharp pain up to his skull. "Well... Maybe a couple extra minutes. And regarding the mid-life crisis, I

don't think you're really allowed to have one of those until you're forty. I've still got a good six years! That can be my Year 16 project."

"Then I'll make sure I'm long gone by then." Milligan slapped his thighs and leaned back against the barn. "Let me know when you're ready to roll again."

Several minutes later, Jason and Milligan rose once more, packed up the picnic basket, and headed once more into the field. This time, instead of hitching the plow on behind the horses, they hitched up a new piece of equipment that Jason had just purchased late the previous week.

It was called a Dredger, and really only had one purpose: Dredging out large trenches and that sort of thing. It had a blade that was three feet wide and three feet deep, though it did go at a slant, so you weren't necessarily trying to remove nine square feet of dirt at a time. They only had one, but it had to be hooked up to both horses, and with that, they started off.

Working together (it really needed two of them to hold the thing steady in the ground), they took off around the field, cutting a trench into the soil around the fence line. The extra soil that was removed was tossed up against the fence itself, forming a barrier about two feet tall. It was this barrier that Jason really needed, more so than the trench. Given that both of them were working together, it used an action from each of them for every stretch, and Jason steadily watched his available actions dwindling. Finally, with only fifty or so feet left in the field, his actions hit zero, and the dredger came to a halt, unwilling to go a moment further.

"How many more actions do you have?" Jason glanced over at Milligan. "I'm afraid I'm out, too." Milligan apologized. "I guess that's just the way it goes sometimes, boss."

Jason crossed his arms, then shrugged. "Do you have any idea how much it costs to buy a new action slot? I haven't priced them since the first couple years I was in town, when they were way outside my price range."

"I want to say that they're 10,000 Shandy Scrit, but I honestly don't know that for sure." Milligan shrugged. "You going to stock up on them?"

"I'm thinking about it." Jason crossed his arms. "What's the other way? Increasing your dexterity? How do you do that?"

In answer, a small message appeared in front of him.

[Dexterity may be increased by completing an Exercise Quest once in a set number of days. This is equal to the next available stat you wish to increase to.]

[Current Dexterity: 3]

[Days to Exercise: 4]

[Would you like to accept?]

Jason sighed. He was already so exhausted from working on the farm that he didn't particularly want to take on a whole new regiment... Then again, he had just been telling Milligan that he wanted a challenge.

"Accept."

[Exercise Today: 0/1000 m run, 0/10 sit ups, 0/10 push-ups]

[Note: Missing a day will cause the exercise counter to reset. Exception: Taking rest on Sundays will have no effect.]

"Alright." Jason puffed out his cheeks. "I guess I'm off for a run. You want to come with me?"

"Not on your life!" Milligan laughed. He started walking away, snorting as he went. "Me, a running buddy? I don't think so."

Jason watched him go, then shrugged, laughed, and turned toward the road. He knew most people would change into special running clothes, but he

only had to run a single kilometer, and he didn't want to go through the work of changing out of sweaty clothes into clean clothes, just to get them all sweaty so he could change into clean clothes again.

In any event, he had a goal to work toward, which was good enough for him.

Now, all he had to do was stick with it, and see where it led him.

Chapter Six: Low

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 43 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 30th day of Summer! 61 days until the Summer Festival! Alright, folks, I know you're getting tired of hearing me say this, but it still happens to be quite hot out there! Not as bad today, admittedly, but it's still dry, and that fact isn't likely to change.]

Jason scowled good-naturedly as he rolled out of bed and slowly walked up to the window. There, as he looked out across the farmyard, a long tube running from the well to the field burbled merrily as water was discharged into the basin. Unfortunately, due to the extreme heat, and the relatively low yield of the well, the wet area only extended about halfway across the field. Thus far, it had prevented Jason from actually getting around to planting his rice. He had a few ideas to remedy the issue, but hadn't had a chance to actually try any of them out yet.

"Morning, Jason!" Tess breezed into the room. "And how is my dearest husband this morning?"

"Thoughtful." Jason stretched, feeling the ache in his back. "I think Milligan and I will harvest the wheat on the Far Eighty and New Eighty tomorrow, and then I have some plans for tackling the rice paddy."

"Your little mud puddle?" Tess winked at him.

"Something like that." He chuckled as he turned away and walked up to the wardrobe. There, he changed out of his nightclothes and into his overalls, then started doing his stretches. "Now, on the bright side, this whole exercise business has actually been going along quite well. I just increased my dexterity all the way to a five!"

"Not bad." Tess nodded in approval. After a moment, though, she chuckled. "How high are you going to try to get it?"

"All the way to 100!" Jason nodded. He bent over and touched his toes, then straightened up. "Might even try to beat Daniel."

"Do you know how long that will take?" Tess raised an eyebrow.

"Can't be that long." Jason shrugged. "I did four days to raise it to a four, then five days to a five, and now I'm working on six. That goes pretty fast." "Until you start getting up there." Tess winked. "There's a formula that can be used to calculate how long it will take."

"Which you learned from all that school stuff you're teaching Fern?" "Exactly."

"Alright, then." Jason stretched. "Lay it on me! How long to increase my dexterity all the way to 100?"

"About fourteen years."

Jason's jaw dropped. "Fourteen years? I'll be... Almost fifty years old!" "And I'm pretty sure Jeremiah put in the work and achieved it." Tess winked at him again. "Are you going to stick with it? Try to get there just like he did? Then retire and become the constable of Summer Shandy yourself?"

Jason sighed and ran his hands through his hair, then nodded. "I'm going to do it."

"Then I wish you the best of luck!" Tess laughed. "Anyway, the reason I came up here instead of waiting for you to come downstairs is because I need you to watch the girls for the day."

Jason frowned as Tess started changing into town clothes. "Watch the girls? Not that I mind it at all, but why?"

"There was an accident in the kiddy dungeon late last night." Tess fastened a bonnet around her chin, then straightened up. "Paulina took John through it, but slipped on some slime and broke her ankle. As it happens, Obadiah is swamped with tours coming down from Illumitir, and Jeremiah and Delilah are both off down in Portswain for a constable convention of some sort, so I'm going to head up to help her get back on her feet. Just do some basic cooking and cleaning, and help get her house set up so she's able to manage things with a broken ankle."

"That works for me." Jason shrugged. "Anything in particular you need me to do with them?"

"If you wouldn't mind handling their school, I'd greatly appreciate it." Tess leaned over and gave him a kiss before walking out of the room.

"Their school?" Jason followed Tess as she ran down the stairs. "I thought Fern was the only one doing school right now."

"Rachel thought it looked fun, so I started designing my own curriculum for her." Tess shrugged. "I'm trying to come up with a name for it. Early School, or... maybe pre-school, or... I don't know. Prep school?"

"I like prep school." Jason nodded. "Go with that one. Anyway, just show me what to do, and I'll--"

"Everything's already been laid out on the dining room table!" Tess called as she reached the front door. "Sorry, but I really do need to get going! I love you! Bye!"

"Bye, mommy!" Fern and Rachel both raced past Jason, climbed up onto the windowsill at the front of the house, and pressed their noses to the window as Tess rode out on Angus a moment later. They cheered as she simply jumped the fence instead of riding through the gate, then tore off toward town.

"Alright, girls!" Jason clapped his hands. "Did mommy tell you why she had to leave?"

"No." Fern shook her head. "I bet she's going to have another baby and is rushing to the doctor!"

"No." Jason held up a finger. "She's--"

"Fighting a monster!" Rachel declared. "Roar!"

"Ahhhhhhh!" Fern turned and ran away, screaming at the top of her lungs. Rachel stomped after her, arms raised, continuing to roar, and Jason laughed and followed.

"Ouch!" Rachel screamed a moment later, and Jason rushed into the dining room to find Rachel lying on the ground, rather dramatically cradling her head. Fern, meanwhile, stood astride her fallen sister with a stick from one of the apple trees in her hand.

"I defeated the monster!" Fern thrust the sword up into the air.

"No sticks in the house." Jason plucked the stick out of her hand, then laid it on the table. "Rachel, that stick only does like a quarter of a point of base damage, and your natural damage threshold is 100."

"Weally?" Rachel sat up, immediately interested.

"Yup." Jason sat down at the head of the table, looking at all the assorted papers that Tess had left. "It drops down to 15 once you get older, but little kids can take quite a whopping. Now both of you, come!"

Fern and Rachel both raced over to the table and looked up at him eagerly. Jason slowly looked over the paper, trying to figure out for sure what he was supposed to be teaching, then picked up some cards.

"Alright. We're going to start with Fern."

"Mommy always starts with Rachel."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Alright, then. Rachel..." He picked up a different set of cards. "I need you to tell me what color this is."

"Wed!"

Jason glanced at the card, which was clearly blue. "Nope! This is Blue, like the sky."

"Bwue, like sky." Rachel nodded. "Got it!"

"Good." Jason drew out a green card. "And this?"

"Wed!"

"Nope. Green like grass."

Fern held up a finger. "But not dead grass. Dead grass is brown."

"Yes." Jason nodded, then flipped the cards.

"Like daddy's rice!"

Jason rolled his eyes. "Yes, my rice was also dead and brown." He held up a red card. "Now what's this?"

Rachel squinted at the card. "Yellow like the sun?"

Fern burst out laughing. "No! Does the sun look like that?"

"It does at night!" Rachel defended herself. "Mommy won't let me look at the sun any other time!"

"Fair." Jason looked at the words on the back of the card. "This is red like... Blood." He rolled his eyes. "Of course Tess would use that as an analogy."

"Daddy, do I have any scrapes?" Fern looked down at her arms and legs. "Doesn't look like it." Jason set the color cards aside. "Alright, Fern, let's switch over to you."

"Shapes!" Rachel cried out. "You didn't do shapes!"

"I'm going to do Fern's counting right now." Jason nodded down at his daughter. "It'll be okay."

Rachel responded by falling flat on her face and wailing into the carpet. Jason sighed, but Fern shrugged.

"She does that a lot."

"Apparently so." Jason turned to Fern and held up a card with three dots on it. "Alright. Now... This says to tell me how many dots are on this card, and then run around the table that many times."

Fern counted slowly, then grinned. "Three!"

"Good! Go run!"

Fern raced forward, rounded Jason's chair, and immediately tripped on Rachel. She fell headlong across the floor, whacked her head on a chair leg, and started bawling. Jason couldn't help but chuckle, and he bent down and lifted them both upright.

"Alright, alright. You both are strong girls. Good warriors!" He brushed off their shoulders. "Now Fern, go run!"

Rachel stepped to the side, where she continued to pout, as Fern raced around the table. One lap... Two laps... Three laps... Four laps...

Jason held up a hand. "Fern? Are you counting?"

"Yes! Five!" Fern grinned as she rounded the table again. "I ran three laps, then I kept going!"

"Fair enough." Jason held out a hand to stop her, and she slowly paused, gasping and panting. He pulled out a card that had nine dots on it, and held it out. "Go for this one, then."

Fern's mouth moved as she counted it up. "Nine!" She looked up, then paused. "I'm too tired to run that many laps. Do I have to?"

Jason couldn't help himself as he burst out laughing. That, of course, only made Fern self-conscious, and she backed into a corner and hid her face. Rachel walked up and tugged on Jason's arm.

"Daddy? Do shapes now?"

"We can do shapes." Jason nodded. He slowly picked up the next set of cards, then flipped the first one toward Rachel. "Here you go."

"Dat's a heart! Like what you stab!"

Jason groaned as Fern reanimated, snatched the stick off the table, and began to sword-fight an imaginary dragon. It was certainly a unique sort of schooling method, but it did seem to be working, and he shook his head in amazement.

If Tess could somehow pull it together, he had little doubt that it could really do a lot of good for a lot of people. That said... well... He did hope that she wouldn't train the girls to be hardened monster-slayers in the

Chapter Seven: Helpful

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 45 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 42nd day of Summer! 49 days until the Summer Festival! We're coming up on the halfway point through summer, and it sure feels to me like we're just tearing through it crazy fast! Make sure to get all your projects done before the season ends! Oh! And I think we have some rain on the horizon, so that's a positive, too!]

Jason woke up slowly, his legs aching. He slowly rolled out of bed and climbed shakily to his feet, and let out a long sigh. Rather without warning, his exercise quest had increased from requiring one kilometer to requiring three kilometers per day. He had run the extended distance for the first time the night before, and he was feeling it. That said, he had little time to rest, as he was working on a way to finally get the rice paddy to work out.

As he walked up to the window to look out across the farm, he frowned at the dry field. They had disconnected the tube that ran from the well (no use wasting all that water if it wasn't going to do anything, after all), but a massive pile of dirt toward the western side of the farm clearly showed where they were in the process of drilling a brand-new well. Over the previous week or so, they had drilled down almost thirty feet, and were getting close to the water table, as Jeremiah had described it.

No one came rushing up to greet him, so he changed and headed down to the breakfast table. As he took his seat, Fern, her face still sporting a good deal of syrup, bounced up next to him.

"Can I help you work today, daddy?"

Jason reached over and wiped off the syrup with his chin. "Help me work? It's hard labor, you know."

"I can watch!"

"Fair enough." Jason laughed, then shrugged. "We haven't gotten a chance to work together much this year. If mommy is okay with it, I suppose I am." "Yay!"

"You have to finish school first!" Tess called out from the other room. She poked her head into the kitchen and smiled down at Jason. "Hey."

"Hey." Jason yawned and stretched. "How's it going?'

"About the same as any morning." Tess shrugged. "Mmm! I thought you should know. Richard came by this morning; he said that the cattle drive got moved up from... It was set for Saturday, right? Anyway, it'll be taking place on Thursday, now. Day 44, if I remember right."

"Mm-kay." Jason nodded. He started in on a boiled egg. "Any particular reason?"

"Something about the lack of rain." She nodded. "Typically, they herd the cattle up from Summer Shandy to Illumitir, but with the drought, several of the watering holes are going dry, and there's a lot less grass in the area, so they're having to herd them from Summer Shandy out west to Nightford, and then from there take them north, I think through Gold Rapids." "Interesting." Jason shook his head. "How bad is the drought in the Illumitir Province, anyway? Seems like they've been getting hit left and right with droughts."

"Illumitir is actually doing really well. This time, the drought is further south." Tess shrugged. "And, strictly speaking, we're not in a drought yet. You have to go something like—three seasons without a drop of rain before it qualifies, and Obadiah thinks that the trend will break before that. It's just a bit drier than usual."

"Huh." Jason slowly stood up, then stretched again and headed for the front door. "See you in a few minutes, Fern!"

"I want help daddy, too!" Rachel shouted.

"Then you have to finish school, too!"

"Orange-gween-wed-bwue-ciwcle!"

"Get back here, young lady!"

Jason laughed as he walked out into the farmyard, where he found Milligan just finishing up the chores. His hired hand waved at him as he started walking over, and Jason waved back.

"Alright, boss. Are you ready to hit the water table today?"

"More than ready." Jason grinned. "You think we'll do it?"

"If we don't, I'm afraid we'll be digging until we both grow long beards." Milligan shrugged. As the two men started walking out to the work site, he chuckled. "I have to say, this might be about the oddest project I've ever joined with, but I sure am enjoying it."

"Me, too. If nothing else, we'll end the project with a satisfying new well." Jason stretched as they reached the top of the new well. It dropped straight down to the dirt below. Along the sides of the wall could be seen all the layers of soil that they had drilled through. First had been the soil, then a layer of limestone—then a layer of sandstone, then granite—and then more dirt. At present, they were chugging through a reddish layer of soil, which, according to Jeremiah's official documents from the Geologist Guild, had once been part of an old desert or something. All told, it was about ten feet across, which gave them plenty of room to work down in the bottom. A rope ladder hung down the side of the thing, and they both started climbing down.

"Either that, or we'll just have a giant hole in the ground." Milligan shrugged. "I can't imagine that Tess is going to be overly thrilled to have such a dangerous location on the farm where the girls can trip and fall inside, but..."

"We'll build a rock wall around it or something." Jason shrugged. "Besides, I think this is going to be good. According to Jeremiah, the production of a well is directly related to the diameter, right? Something about the area of the cross-section multiplied by length, and I think there was something about a fruitcake."

"Pi." Milligan corrected. "And I'm still not sure exactly how that will all work, but I'm trusting that you ran the numbers right."

"I did." Jason reached the bottom, where he found all their tools. They had several shovels, a pick for breaking up stone, and of course, the aforementioned drill. It was an odd sort of device, about three feet long, with a screw-like thing that spun when you turned a crank. Jason picked up the device, then carefully propped it up against the red dirt. "Do you want to go first, or me?"

"Go for it." Milligan leaned against the wall. "I'll save my actions, if you don't mind."

Jason gave him a nod, then started turning the crank. Due to the gears stacked up inside, the drill bit began whirling around rapidly, and sank easily into the dirt. As it sank all the way in to the hilt, Jason paused, and with a whump, all the dirt in a two-foot radius around the drill was teleported up to the top. It left him with a single hole protruding about three feet deeper, and he slowly pulled the drill back to the surface.

[Action Used: Drill Well. Remaining Actions: 44]

"There we go!" Jason took a few steps to the left, then drilled down once more. Just like before, the drill sank down to the hilt, and another section of dirt was sucked out. Carefully, Jason moved around the hole, and with half a dozen actions, he was able to clear out pretty much the whole floor. A few bits and pieces were left that the drill hadn't been able to get to, which Milligan scooped up with his shovel. Just like that, the floor was about three feet deeper, and the soil was changing to a deeper, darker color once more. "I think this is just about it." Jason knelt down and ran his fingers along the soil at the bottom. "Yeah! Feel how moist that dirt is."

"In that case, should we wait for your little ones to get here?" Milligan asked. "I imagine that they would love nothing more than to be part of that grand reveal, and they will be crushed if they aren't able to help at all." "Good idea." Jason leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, hoping he wouldn't have to wait long. Thankfully, both girls seemed fully intent on getting out to help just as quickly as possible, and two little heads appeared at the top of the well a moment later.

"Can you climb down yourselves?" Jason called up.

"No!" Fern shook her head. "That looks too scary!"

"Don't want to fall!" Rachel turned and ran away. Jason chuckled, then climbed up the rope ladder. At the top, Fern grabbed hold of him and swung onto his back, clinging like a koala as he slowly climbed back down to the bottom. There, he set her onto the moist ground, and took up the shovel. "Alright, Fern, grab hold of this."

Fern raced up and took hold of the shovel, and, carefully, Jason tapped the ground with the tool. There was a flash of light, and a hole about a foot deep and equally wide appeared. Fern looked down inside and giggled.

"I see water!"

"I'm sure you do— Whoa!" Jason peered over the edge, where, indeed, water was beginning to bubble upward. "We've hit gold! Quick, let's dig the rest of this out!"

"Play in water!" Fern jumped down into the hole, splashing as the water slowly started to rise. Milligan used his shovel and started digging as Jason used the drill to deepen the well, clearing out one more layer.

Each new hole he opened up created a new spring, and soon, the floor of the well was covered in liquid. Fern, now soaking wet, splashed about with a wide grin on her face. Jason laughed at her, splashed a bit of water on her, and quickly drilled out the last of the hole. Milligan had to put Fern on his back, as the water was now deeper than she was tall, and the two men pulled up their equipment and started slogging back to the top.

Up on the ground, Tess and Rachel were both waiting, and the three soaking-wet individuals tumbled out onto the ground. They sat up, laughing wildly, and Jason looked down into the well, dangling his legs over the edge of the immense pit.

"Alright." He rubbed his hands together. "Now, if I ran those calculations correctly, since we dug it so wide, the water ought to come shooting up out of there at something like ten gallons a minute!"

There was a long pause, and everyone stared down into the well with expectation. After a long moment, Milligan held up a finger.

"I don't mean to be picky, but that ten gallons per minute is spread across an area of... almost fifty square feet. Plus, I don't think water in a well can go up over the level of the water table anyway."

"What?" Jason scowled. "Why is that?"

"Because basic physics necessitate it." Tess crossed her arms. "Otherwise, water would just keep flowing up out of every single well ever dug, until

the land was flooded and we were all drowned."

"Physics." Jason scowled, then shrugged. "Alright, then! Plan B."

"Isn't this plan B?" Milligan asked.

"Alright. C or D or E, or whatever we're at." Jason shrugged. He didn't know exactly what that plan would be, but... well... He would figure it out. He had to.

And, in the meantime... He did have a really cool new well on the property.

Chapter Eight: Harvest

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 46 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 65th day of Summer! 26 days until the Summer Festival! Alright, folks, we've got rain on the way! Not a huge storm by any stretch of the imagination, but it'll be enough to keep you out of the fields, I'm pretty certain of that!]

Jason frowned as he rolled out of bed and walked up to the window. Slowly, he looked out across the farm, drawing a deep breath as he did so. The air was cool, and smelled of moisture. On the horizon, he could see dark clouds drifting about, but they seemed distant, and not likely to arrive until later that day.

"Good morning, husband dearest." Tess swept into the room, her red dress swirling about her. "How'd you sleep last night?"

"Alright." Jason yawned. "I have a very vague memory of Rachel coming into the room. Did that actually happen, or was that a dream?"

"No, it happened." Tess shrugged. "She had a nightmare about a monster eating all the cattle."

"Poor girl." Jason frowned. "Is she okay now?"

"Yeah. We invented a story where the monster was defeated, and then she decided she wanted a glass of water. And then a story. And then a snack." Tess chuckled. "On the bright side, she's still asleep. On the less bright side..."

"Daddy!" Fern shot through the door, beaming. "I love you!"

"I love you, too." Jason scooped her up and spun her around a few times, giving her a big kiss on the cheek before setting her back down. "Now, what sort of school do you think you'll be doing today?"

"I actually don't have any school prepped for the day." Tess answered, grimacing. "Not by choice, mind you, but yesterday was so crazy that I just didn't have a chance to get everything together."

"Can I come help you, daddy?" Fern blinked up at Jason with wide, open eyes.

"I suppose so, if your mother is okay with it." Jason shrugged. "It's going to be a big day, though. We're heading out to harvest the far fields."

"Yay!"

"If you get bored, you're not going to be able to come home and play." Jason warned. "You'll either have to play in the horse corral, or in Milligan's house, all by yourself."

"I won't get bored!" Fern declared. "Please?"

Jason glanced up at Tess, who shrugged. "I'll get a lunch packed."

"Then I'll see my little farm hand outside in just a few minutes." Jason patted Fern on the head, rose, and walked over to the wardrobe. Tess rushed Fern out of the room, and Jason had soon changed himself into overalls and a flannel. That done, he stretched, then headed out and down the stairs. Tess had a small breakfast on the table, and he joined Fern for a lovely omelet. As soon as that was done, he pulled on his boots and headed outside, where the morning was as fresh and crisp as ever.

Milligan was already there, and was just finishing up the chores. He turned and waved at Jason, and Jason nodded.

"You ready for the harvest?"

"I think so, boss." Milligan gave a nod. "I've already gone over both harvesters up at the Far Eighty. Had to tighten down a few loose screws, and the gasket on one of the wheels went out, but I got that fixed up pretty easily."

"You're the best, Milligan." Jason gave a nod. When they had started trying to convert the Homestead Eighty into a rice paddy, they had moved all their equipment to the backside of the farm, so they wouldn't have to haul it as far every time they wanted to use it. "I think I'm going to have a little helper, so if everything's good here, feel free to head back."

"And miss seeing off our help for the day? Wouldn't think of it!" Milligan laughed and shook his head, then doffed his hat as the front door blew open. "And there comes the little miss right now, I do believe."

"Hi, daddy!" Fern tore across the yard. She wore a brown dress, one that could get covered with dust and mud and not be too badly affected. "I'm ready when you are!"

"Then let's get going!"

They soon swung Fern up onto Angus's back, just in front of Jason, and rode off with all the pomp and circumstance that they could muster under the conditions. Fern loved all of it, from the exaggerated bows of the men to Milligan's constant hat-doffing. By the time they had the horses hitched up to the harvesters, she was giggling hysterically.

"What now, daddy?"

"Now..." Jason climbed up and took the reins. "Hang on!"

Fern giggled, Jason gave a snap, and Angus lumbered forward into the field.

Now, the Far Eighty and the New Eighty (he still gave it the title of "new" since that was what he called it when it was purchased, despite the fact that it was no longer the newest property he owned) were located far across a number of hills and ravines, about half a mile from the homestead. The gravel road that led back to the location ran alongside Tess's pasture, which

formed a large, elongated rectangle that connected the homestead to the back fields.

The Far Eighty itself sat just to the north of a large forest, which itself had grown up along a river that wound its way through the landscape at that point. Jason owned a great deal of the forest, as well as an old dungeon hidden within, and had once had fairly grandiose plans for what he would do with it, but those plans had faded over time. He still wanted to do something with it at some point, but he was no longer in such a hurry.

In any event, the field had been planted to wheat, creating a vast, sweeping array of amber grain that swished and swayed in the summer sun. The wind blew gently, making the whole thing sway like the waves of the ocean, and Jason took a deep breath. This was by far his favorite part of the job, bar none. As Angus lumbered into the field, the heads of the wheat brushing against his lower chest, Jason yanked the lever that engaged the great blades.

Beneath the harvester, blades whirred to life, connected by a system of gears to the wheels themselves. All at once, the machine began to rattle, and Fern grinned widely. You could hear the sharp whisk of the blades carving through the stalks, the rattle of the chains that threshed out the grain, and the whoosh of the grain pouring out the back of the thresher into the farm's inventory. Dust exploded up behind them as they rumbled through the field, and Fern giggled and clapped her hands.

Milligan took the south side of the field, Jason the north. They began working toward each other as they reached the end and turned back around, carving wide swaths through the field. Several rabbits raced out of the grain in front of the machine, and they stopped and stared up at them as they rumbled past.

"Daddy! Why are they doing that?" Fern called out over the roar of the machine.

Jason shrugged. "Animals that aren't harmful to the crops are allowed to come through the fences. Rabbits and other animals like that will make their homes in the fields, since it keeps them safe from predators."

"Are we destroying their home?" Fern seemed aghast.

Jason shook his head. "Not at all. They live underground! They might be a little scared when we drive over them, and they'll run outside to see what's going on, but..." He chuckled. "We run outside our home when tornados come rumbling by, don't we?"

"Well... You do." Fern commented. "Mommy won't let me do it."

"And that's probably for the best."

Fern held tightly to the machine, not growing bored in the slightest as they continued through the vast field. When noontime came around, the men turned their horses out into the small corral there for a rest, while the three workers walked over and sat down in the shade of Milligan's cabin. "Whew!" Fern sat down and wiped her brow. "I'm pooped!"

Jason and Milligan both laughed, and Jason rubbed her head. "Well, shall we see what mommy packed?"

"Yes!"

"And it looks like... Peanut butter and jelly for you." Jason pulled out a sandwich and passed it to Fern. "Ham and cheese for me, and ham and no cheese for Milligan."

"Your wife knows us so well." Milligan accepted the sandwich gladly. "Never been much of a cheese person, though I do know that most people love it."

"Any type?" Jason queried.

"Any type." Milligan confirmed, then paused. "I do like cottage cheese, I suppose."

"What's that?" Jason frowned.

"It's a softer cheese." Milligan chuckled. "They carve it into funny little shapes. I think it started out because they made them look like cottages, but not anymore. You can find them carved to look like trees, or people, or animals, or monsters—or just about anything. Still don't like the taste or texture, but they're so cute that I'll sometimes eat them just to give credit to the people who put so much time into making them."

Jason chuckled. "Now that's something I've never seen before."

"I'll see if I can order some through Cecilia's item store." Milligan finished off his sandwich, then opened up the picnic basket and pulled out a jar of pickles. "Mmm! Fern, do you like pickles?"

"Love them!"

Jason smiled, and leaned back in the shade of the house, just enjoying the moment. It wasn't altogether too much longer before they finished eating, packed up the lunch, and moved back into the fields. The horses had been refreshed from their own rest and fare, and the two men hitched the great steeds back up to the harvesters. From there, they rumbled over to the New Eighty, which was also planted to wheat.

Built up on the top of the hill overlooking the Far Eighty, as well as the forest, the view from the New Eighty was vastly superior to any of the other fields. From the highest point, you could see all the way across the rolling hills to Summer Shandy itself—that little cluster of houses amidst the vast expanse of the prairie. Jason sighed deeply, and Fern lifted her hand to point.

"That's the town! It's really far away!"

"Indeed." Jason chuckled. "You know, the summer festival is coming up pretty soon."

"That's my birthday!"

"Yes, indeed." Jason chuckled. "And you'll be five years old!"

"Which means I can help you lots more, 'cause I'll be even bigger than I am now!"

"We'll see." Jason chuckled softly, but he had a broad smile on his face. "I look forward to it, in any case! What do you think you'll do?"

"Whatever you do!"

Jason smiled, and a great warmth seemed to fill his heart. "In that case, I can't wait.

Chapter Nine: Last

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 46 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 70th day of Summer! 21 days until the Summer Festival! We're on the home stretch, folks! Today's going to be a rainy, drizzly sort of a day, but... It looks like there's a cattle drive on the schedule, so it doesn't look like it'll be enough to stop anyone from doing anything!]

Jason yawned as he slowly rolled out of bed. He stretched and walked up to the window where, indeed, rain was softly pattering down. It wasn't a hard rain by any stretch of the imagination, and he opened up his window and stuck out a hand. It wasn't a terribly cold rain either. In fact, it was almost pleasant, like a warmish sort of shower. He smiled, then closed the window, walked over to the wardrobe, and changed into work clothes.

As he came out into the hall, he was met by both girls, who were still very much in their night clothes. He knelt down and gave them both big hugs and kisses, then rose.

"Have either of you seen mommy this morning?"

"Uh, huh!" Fern raced into the guest bedroom, where she pointed out through the window. Jason followed, and found himself looking at a wet- looking Tess slogging around in the mud and the muck. Milligan wasn't far away, and as Jason watched, his hired man slipped and fell face-first in the mud. "Ahh! He's hurt!"

"He's not hurt." Jason chuckled. He gave Fern a kiss, then steered both her and Rachel back to their own room. "Now come on. We need to get you dressed for the day."

"Don't want get dressed." Rachel crossed her arms. "Cattle don't get dressed."

"That's because they're animals." Jason picked her up and walked into the room. As he set her down on the floor, she raced off, vanishing into the hallway.

"I'se an amimal!"

"Stampede!" Fern yelled, and raced off after her sister.

"Stampede right back to this room right now!" Jason crossed his arms. "If you don't, there won't be any desert for lunch!"

There was a long pause, and he seemed to feel the floor shuddering. A moment later, Fern and Rachel charged inside, stamping their feet as they ran.

"Stampede daddy!"

"Yah!"

They both jumped on Jason, knocking him backward, and he fell to the ground, laughing. As he forced himself upright, chuckling, they started to run off again. This time, thinking quickly, he kicked the door shut, sealing them inside.

"And now the cattle are trapped with the big, bad wolf!" Jason held up his hands like claws. "But this wolf won't eat the cattle! He's going to put them in clothes!"

"Then I'se not a cattle! I'se a bear!" Rachel snarled and charged at Jason. "Bear eat wolf! Eat, eat, eat!"

Jason gasped and put his hand over his heart, then fell across the floor with a crash. Rachel jumped up onto his chest, and he grinned. Seizing the opportunity, he sat up, took hold of the little girl, and whipped off her nightclothes. A few moments later, he had wrangled her into a red work

dress, then sent her on her way. She went racing down the stairs, and he turned to Fern.

Who was nowhere to be found.

"Hmm..." Jason started sniffing the air. "The big, bad wolf smells a little girl!"

"Cattle! Little cattle!" The voice came from underneath Fern's bed. Jason chuckled, then slowly started walking closer.

"Alright, then. The big, bad wolf smells a little cattle!" He reached underneath and grabbed a leg, then pulled. Fern slid out, laughing and giggling and covered with dust bunnies. Jason coughed, and Fern wriggled out of his grasp. As she raced for the now-open door, Jason performed a flying tackle that brought her to the ground, and she laughed wildly.

All told, it took another half-hour before both girls had been changed, cleaned, breakfasted, cleaned again, changed again, put in their boots, run out onto the porch, taken back inside to go to the bathroom, and then taken out again. As Jason stood there on the porch, a long train of cattle rumbled past the house down the road, the Lazy-H Ranch herd. Weatherhand rode by, waving at Jason, and Jason waved back before turning to the barn. He and the girls slipped down off the porch, splashing through puddles as they made their way over to the cattle pens.

Jason spared only a single glance at his well, and the rice paddy. He had tried a handful of things to get the paddy to flood, but thus far, nothing had worked. He had bought a pump, but it had only been able to pump out a small amount, not because there wasn't water in the well, but because it could only physically handle so much. Tess had roundly banned him from buying the industrial-sized pump, which still left him with the conundrum of how to get the water where it needed to go. Of course, at that exact

moment, it was filling up rather well, but that was only because of the rainfall, which would go away.

He put it out of his mind, though, and turned, focusing on the cattle. He and the girls slogged up inside, already soaked to the skin, where a great deal of general hubbub ensued. Tess stood on one of the fences, shouting out instructions to Milligan. As Jason approached, she turned and grinned, then hopped down and jogged over to him.

"Good morning, dearest husband of mine." Tess gave Jason a quick kiss, then crouched down and kissed both of the girls as well. "And how are you all doing this morning?"

"Wild and ready for whatever the day brings." Jason chuckled. "They're being something else, this morning."

"We were being cattle." Fern explained. "And a bear!"

"And a moose!"

"And a walrus!"

Tess laughed, then shrugged. "Well, in that case, I'd say you're all ready for drive. How do you want to run things? Follow in the carriage as usual?" "Help mommy!" Fern declared. "Can I please ride with mommy?"

Tess glanced over at Jason, who shrugged.

"I don't know why not, really." He answered. "She's old enough, I'd say. Honestly, Rachel is probably old enough to ride with one of us at this point, too."

"Then is that what we should do?" Tess knelt down. "Should Fern ride with me, and Rachel ride with daddy?"

"Yes!" Fern nodded, then pouted. "But I don't have a cowboy hat."

"Maybe we can buy you one in town." Tess shrugged. "Until then, you can pretend that you lost your hat in a big fight when you were defending your herd of cattle from a wild--"

"Slime!" Fern declared. "I went pew, pew, pew, with my gun, but it just went glurk, so I had to jump off and fight it with my bare hands!"

"That works!" Jason patted Fern on the head, then slowly stood up. "Alright then, Tess. Just tell me where you want me!"

A few minutes later, as the Lazy-H herd started to dwindle off, the Circle-S riders prepared to depart. Jason and Rachel took the lead, riding alongside the front cattle to urge them on and keep them to the path. Tess and Fern came along the middle, with Milligan following up at the end. With that, they started out, through the rain and the muck, trotting onward toward Summer Shandy. Rachel clung to the saddle horn as Lady slowly plodded alongside the cattle, though she had a wide grin on her face.

"Is this fun?" Jason leaned forward and gave Rachel a kiss on the top of her head.

"Yes, daddy." Fern nodded. "Vewy fun!"

Jason smiled.

"I want do more of dis with you." Rachel spoke up again. "Fewn always gets do tings. I always tay home. Pease daddy?"

Jason felt his heart swell within him. "I think we can manage that. I'm sorry you feel like you get left out. You're just really small, still. Fern didn't get to do a whole lot at your age, either." He paused, then shrugged. "Though I'm sure we can start fitting in some jobs for you."

"Tank you, daddy."

Rachel straightened up in the saddle, and Jason took a deep breath. Thankfully, with the rain, no one could tell that he was crying. He had never

imagined that having children could be quite so rewarding, but... There was just nothing quite like having a child begging to do things with you.

When they came rumbling up into town, the cattle lowed at the assorted passers-by. A few women, who had been impatiently waiting to cross the town square ever since the Lazy-H herd came through, darted through in front of the bovines, but most of them just sat back to wait a bit longer. Jason chuckled, tipping his hat to several people he knew. Obadiah came out, water trickling off his black armor, and the two men waved at each other. Jeremiah stood under the awning of the constable's office, smoking his pipe, and a handful of children played in some mud puddles scattered about the area.

Soon, they had the cattle taken around to the large, temporary catch pens that the Cattle Guild always set up. The well-dressed men marched back and forth, looking at all the stock being loaded into their pens, and approached Jason as the last one slipped inside.

"You're the Circle-S?"

"That's us." Jason nodded.

"Well, you've got some mighty good help there." The man held out his hand, which Rachel shook after a moment's hesitation. "Give us just a few minutes, and we'll have your herd all processed. Cattle prices are going up for the time being, which you'll enjoy on this end of things!"

Jason laughed. "Yeah, but we've got to turn around and buy more cattle here in just a few days."

"Indeed. The ever-perpetual ebb and flow of the markets is always an issue." The man chuckled. "But that's half the fun, I always say!"

"Yeah, because you get the profits no matter which way it swings." Jason raised an eyebrow.

The man laughed again. They both knew the order of things, but Jason didn't begrudge the man his profits. Working for the cattle guild was a surefire route to immense wealth, but it also sounded so boring.

Soon, the transaction had been completed, and the family rode out for home once more. They were soaking wet, and they all had more than a bit of mud splattered across them, but... They were still happy. Joyful. It had been a good sale, a good day, and Jason couldn't wait for the next day just like it.

Chapter Ten: 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 48 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 91st day of Summer! It's the day of the Summer Festival! It looks like a lovely day for a festival, folks! Bright and sunny, but not too hot, get out here and enjoy it! We've got games, activities, the whole kit and caboodle!]

As Jason's eyes flickered open, he inhaled deeply, finding the smell of coffee, donuts, and a great deal of sugar filling the small hotel room. At first, he smiled at the odor... Then the implications of it hit him, and he sat bolt upright.

Next to him, Tess stirred and started to wake up. Festival days, when they stayed the night in town, were one of the few times that she allowed herself to sleep in. Now, of course, Jason found himself equally pleased and horrified at the full spread of food that had been carted into the room while they had still been sleeping.

Two trays sat at the end of the bed, with Fern standing behind one, and Rachel behind the other. They were piled high with pastries and donuts, and a steaming cup of coffee sat on their end table. Both girls had a great deal of chocolate smeared across their cheeks, giving no doubt that they had been ample partakers in the repast.

"Good morning." Jason yawned. "You brought all that in here yourself?" "Grandpa helped!" Fern declared. "He didn't want to help wake you up, though."

"I do have to say that I'm appreciative of that fact." Jason muttered. He swung out of bed, picked up one of the donuts, and started munching on it. "Any particular reason you're bringing this in?"

"Bweakfast in bed!" Rachel declared. "Fewn biwthday!"

"Happy birthday!" Tess beamed as she sat up in bed. She held out her arms, and the two girls raced around and threw themselves into her embrace. She pulled them tight, giving them good, solid squeezes, then sighed. "It's good to be here, you know that?"

"Yeah." Fern looked down at the ground, then grinned. "Go play?"

"Sure." Jason nodded. "Ask grandpa to clean you up, since he helped get you messy!"

Both girls flashed out through the door, leaving it wide open, and Jason chuckled. He slowly swung out of bed and closed the door, then walked back over to Tess.

They got themselves ready slowly, knowing that the girls would be alright. Once they had eaten and gotten dressed, Jason packed the trunk while Tess went out to track down their children. Once Jason was done, he followed, a smile spreading across his face as he joined the general hubbub.

The inn was packed full of people. Children raced back and forth, united with their friends as they played all sorts of different games. Fern raced along after John, who seemed to be chasing Rachel. Jason laughed at it all, and he soon came to the main lobby, where Lily, the elderly innkeeper, bustled about bringing out more food for the massive assortment of guests. Richard and Tess sat at a table near the door, and Jason walked over and sat down with them.

"Howdy, neighbor." Richard held out a hand, which Jason shook. "How are things with the rice farmer?"

Jason chuckled and shrugged. "You rode past my farm to get here. Still can't figure out a way to get enough water out of that well into the field, but I'll think of something."

Tess just shook her head. "He'll be thinking for the rest of his life, but I don't think he's giving up."

"Ahh, nothing wrong with a bit of determination!" Richard thumped the armrest of the chair. "You know, once, I was trapped inside the Dungeon of Infinite Darkness—without a lantern, glow crystal, fire stone—or even a match. Not a thing to produce a scrap of light, and with monsters galore about me! Did I give up and succumb to my fate? Not by a long shot!" "Dad, in due fairness, there's a big difference between getting trapped in a dungeon and trying to make a successful rice paddy in the middle of the Illumitir Plains." Tess raised an eyebrow.

"Still! I got out, and he might succeed, too." Richard shrugged. "Have you ever heard of a windmill?"

Jason frowned. "No, what's that?"

"It's a big, tall, whirly thing that catches the wind and turns a pump." Richard answered. "Might be something to look into. I saw a few when I was up in the north-eastern lands. They used them for watering fields of... I think they must have been poppies, but I'm not confident in that. Anyway, they could churn out a lot of water."

"I'll see if Cecilia has anything." Jason nodded.

"You're not buying anything over two thousand shandys!" Tess cried out as Jason stood up. "Just so we're clear!"

"Got it. Twenty thousand."

"Two!"

"Two hundred?"

Jason grinned, and Tess threw a pastry at him. He caught it, thanks to his improved dexterity, and turned and marched out into the town square.

There, people bustled back and forth as they made their preparations for the day. Games had been set up both on the square and in the surrounding prairie. Stalls had been set up as house wives brought out samples of their cooking for people to try ahead of time. Jeremiah and Obadiah both stood at the town well, chatting with the women who came up to draw water, as well as the menfolk wanting to jaw with fellow men. As Jason came striding up, Jeremiah grinned and held out his hand.

"Put 'er there, rice farmer!"

Jason snorted as he shook the constable's hand. "You know, ten years ago, I was the Pie Farmer. I can't decide which name I like better or worse."

"And that's the beauty of name-calling." Jeremiah grinned. "It's a compliment and a joke all at the same time." He sighed and gave Jason a nod. "How's it been, anyway?"

"I guess you already know most of it." Jason shrugged. "Trying to get things to grow, succeeding in some places. What's new around town? Anything interesting?"

Jeremiah and Obadiah both glanced at each other, and Jeremiah shrugged. "Well, I suppose I already talked to you about it, but I'm formally stepping down as constable. I'm going to try to find a replacement, but whether or not I do, I'm stepping down at the Spring Festival." He chuckled and rubbed the small of his back. "Just a few days ago we had some speedsters come down from Illumitir on these black mustang chariots. They went speeding through town, tried to rob the item store, and then lit out for Darkwater. They were faster than me, but old Gob was able to sniff them out well enough."

The goblin deputy raced out from where he had been hiding behind the well, cackling and grinning from ear to ear. Jeremiah patted his head, then

shrugged. "Too much for my old bones."

Jason grimaced. "Well, if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know."

"Will do." Jeremiah clapped Jason on the shoulder, then gave a nod. "Sorry, I'd like to go catch your father-in-law real fast. See you around!"

Jeremiah wandered away, and Obadiah gave a satisfied nod.

"It'll be good to see him step back a bit. The guy has loads of energy, but he just wants to be a grandpa more."

"He's a good grandpa, from the little I've seen." Jason commented.

"Oh, he's a great grandpa!" Obadiah confirmed. "Best in the business. Problem is, he's also good at paperwork, and I don't know anyone else who's going to be as good at handling the myriad of legal forms that are coming out from Illumitir these days."

"Is it going up?" Jason frowned.

"In droves." Obadiah nodded. "Hank has been on government corruption up there like white on... well... rice. Anyway, all the government agencies have been issuing more paperwork as a result. Some of them are trying to cover up loopholes he managed to dig up, and others are trying to work up new loopholes so they can keep skirting around him. I think some agencies are doing both!" Obadiah laughed. "He's good, he is."

"Sure isn't anyone else I know who can hound you quite as well as he does." Jason chuckled, then shrugged. "I'm not up for the job myself, but if there's anything I can do to help with the transition, you just let me know." "Will do, will do." Obadiah smiled. "I'm afraid I have to step away, too. I've got a representative from the Dungeon Guild coming into town I need to schmooze. Or, if he proves to be un-schmooze-able, throw into the dungeon where no one will ever find him again."

Jason laughed, though, given the reputation of the Dungeon Guild, it was always possible that he was being serious. As Obadiah walked away, Tess and the sugar-amped girls came out of the inn. Rachel and Fern raced up to Jason and started running in circles around him, and he laughed. "Alright..." Jason clapped his hands. "Now, what do two of my favorite three girls want to do for the rest of the day?"

"Play games!"

"Play tag!"

"Baby John!"

Fern streaked off again a moment later, chasing after John, who was being taken by Paulina back over toward their house. Tess laughed, then clapped him on the shoulder.

"I'll go chase them down. You keep being manly."

"I really can watch them if you'd like to go chat with... I don't know." Jason frowned. "Your friends?"

"The other moms?" Tess raised an eyebrow. "Who will all be watching their kids?"

"Yes." Jason nodded. "Them."

Tess broke out laughing, then shook her head. "I've got them. Besides, Paulina was wanting me to show her how I do some of Rachel's schooling, and is interested in Fern's, too. I figured I don't know a ton, but I can go show them what I do know."

Jason just laughed and shook his head. "You and your school."

"It's important!"

"And I'm not saying that it isn't." Jason stepped back. "Go teach other people all about teaching other people things."

"Will do!" Tess flashed a salute, then chased off after the girls, who were in the process of begging Paulina for a cookie.

The rest of that day was a blur, as the festival days often were, but it was a good one. There was food and fellowship, games and conversation. They played corn-hole, table tennis, and simply tried to see who could throw rocks the furthest out into the prairie. Toward the afternoon, Obadiah set up some old, dried pumpkins out on some stumps, and everyone got out their guns to see who the better shot was. Eventually, for the grand finale, Jeremiah rolled out one of his cannons, which utterly missed the pumpkin, but which carved a rather nice-looking trench through a field of wildflowers. Jason did step into Cecilia's item store and bought a small windmill, but that was the only business he indulged in.

In any case, the whole thing just oozed with the festivity of Summer Shandy. It was a wonderful time, one that Jason wouldn't have missed for anything. That night, stuffed with food and holding both slumbering girls in their arms, they rumbled on downward toward their farm once more.

The season had ended, and now, a new one would begin. Time continued to turn... And with it would come all sorts of new adventures.

And, hopefully, a rice paddy.

Chapter Eleven: First Day of

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 48 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 1st day of Fall! 90 days until the Fall Festival! The weather is cool and fresh, just like a wonderful fall day should be. Get out there and get to work, and don't forget that Paulina is planning to have a pie contest around the middle of the season!]

Jason's eyes flickered open, he yawned and sat up quickly. Tess was still in bed, and he leaned over and gave her a kiss before rising and slowly walking up to the window. As he gazed out onto the farm, he slid the window open and poked his head out, sighing deeply in contentment.

The air was cool, with a slight nip that felt pleasant after the heat of summer. The air was filled with the smell of dried prairie grass, of a ripeness that called for him to get outside and get on with the planting and harvesting. It was a feeling that brought to mind pumpkins, and shocks of corn, and a great many other such things.

"Daddy!" The door burst open, and Fern came racing inside, followed closely by Rachel. "Daddy! We're not in town anymore!"

Jason chuckled, turned, and knelt down. Both girls jumped into his arms, and he gave them a squeeze as he stood up.

"Nope. You two fell asleep before we even got you into the carriage." He turned and tossed them carefully onto the bed, where they landed on and around Tess. She sat up and hugged them as well, and Jason walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out a long-sleeve flannel and overalls. "Alright, Tess, I'm heading out to get things done. Holler when breakfast is ready?" "I'll bring something out to you." Tess yawned and stretched. "I'm going to do gardening today, I think, so I'm mostly just going to turn the girls loose

once they're ready."

"Sounds like a plan!" Jason grinned as he turned and walked away. "See you all out there!"

He clomped down the stairs, through the living room, and paused at the front door just long enough to pull on his boots. Chance came bounding up, and he gave the dog a few scratches behind the ears before opening up the door and heading out into the yard.

Milligan, no surprise, had already finished with the chores, and was walking up to the house. They shook hands, and he chuckled. "I was about to head inside to make sure you hadn't had a heart attack and died or something. Sun's almost at forty degrees above the horizon."

Jason snorted. "I'll have you know..." He glanced up at the sun, then shrugged. "Well, I'm up now, anyway."

"Indeed!" Milligan clapped his hands. "Alright, then. What's the plan for today? Get things planted?"

Jason nodded in confirmation. "I think we're going to do corn, at least to start with."

"Anything fun?" Milligan's eyes glimmered.

"We're going to put normal field corn into the Far Eighty." Jason pulled out a small notebook. He had purchased a bit of seed at the item store the day before, at the same time he purchased the windmill. "For the New Eighty, I think we're going to put in blue corn."

"Blue corn?" Milligan raised an eyebrow. "What's that?'

"Honestly, nothing nearly as exciting as some of the things we've done in the past." Jason admitted. "It's an ancient variety of corn, something that apparently dates back to when this place was in the Southern Illis province instead of Illumitir. A bunch of wandering tribes developed it, it was corn

that was just blue. It was lost over time, but in recent years, someone at the historical society managed to dig up some old samples."

"You really like working with them, don't you?" Milligan snorted.

Jason shrugged. "It's sorta cool to see what people used to grow compared to what's grown now. Anyway, this is only sorta from the Historian's Guild. It originally came from them, but it's actually become sort of a fad up in Illumitir. We ought to be able to turn quite a profit on it."

"Wonderful." Milligan clapped his hands. "Should we start heading out, then?"

"Not just yet." Jason shook his head and started walking toward the well. "Before we leave, Tess is bringing us breakfast, and I think the girls will probably want to come with us, if I had to guess. Until they all come out, I'd like to start working on this windmill."

"What?" Milligan blinked. "What's a windmill?"

"This thing!" Jason pulled a blueprint out of his inventory and passed it to Milligan. "Behold!"

Milligan held up the design, and Jason walked over to the open well. Far below, the water sloshed gently against the sides, and he smiled. Quickly, he opened up his inventory and pulled out all the pieces of the windmill, which appeared and came down with an enormous crash in a heap not far away. They were mostly long, flat pieces of metal, along with a bunch of bolts to hold it together, cables for support, a handful of pipes and things for the pump, and, of course, the titular blades that would sit at the top and spin. Jason smiled, then started pacing out around the edge of the well.

"You're sure this will work, boss?" Milligan asked as he continued to pace. "Positive!" Jason nodded. "It's the answer to all our problems!"

"More than just filling in the field and planting it to something useful?"

"Daddy!"

Jason was saved from having to answer his critics yet again as Rachel and Fern came charging out of the house. They carried a large picnic basket between the two of them, while Tess came along behind holding a much smaller basket. Jason smiled at the display, and as they approached, he took the larger basket and tucked it into his inventory while Tess opened the larger basket and passed Jason and Milligan some tortillas for breakfast. "Much appreciated." Milligan nodded as he finished his food up. "And now, while you talk with all the womenfolk, I'm going to go get the planters ready."

He turned and walked away, and Jason bent down. "Alright girls, do either of you want to come planting with me and Milligan?"

"I do!"

"Me!"

Tess chuckled and put her hand on Rachel's head. "Fern can go if she wants, but I think you ought to stay here, little one."

Rachel stuck out her bottom lip. "Pease?"

Tess sighed. "I'm sorry, but you're really just not old enough."

"Fern started riding around with me right about her age." Jason held up his hands. "If you want to say no, I'll stand behind you on that front, but I'm also okay with it."

"Pease, mommy?" Rachel turned to Tess.

"Yes, can Rachel please come with us?" Fern fell to her knees and clapped her hands together like she was praying. "I promise I'll keep an eye on her." "No you won't! Daddy will!"

Fern looked over at Rachel. "If Daddy's busy, I'll have to do it."

"No! Daddy watch me!"

Jason sighed, then knelt down. "Rachel, here's the deal. If you come with me, you'll either have to stay on the planter the whole time, or, if you get off, you'll have to play by yourself. Fern might get down and play with you, but she doesn't have to, and if she decides to join you, she will be in charge. Is all that okay?"

Rachel bit her lip, then nodded. "Yes, daddy! Pease let me come."

"Alright, then." Tess patted both girls on the head. "In that case, let's get you all going! I'll go add a bit more to the lunch basket."

Jason handed the basket back to Tess, then took the two girls and started walking them over to the planters. As they came walking up, Milligan looked down from where he was tightening the straps around Angus.

"Do we have two lovely ladies accompanying us today?"

"Sure seems like it." Jason nodded with a grin. "They're both going to turn into great big farmers, seems like."

"With you as their dad, how could they not?" Milligan sprang down, then motioned for Fern to come over to his machine. "Fern, you want to climb up? I reckon your daddy can only handle one girl at a time, and since it's Rachel's first time, I think she gets dibs."

"Okay!" Fern ran to Milligan, and beamed as he lifted her up. "Have fun, Rachel!"

"I will!"

Jason hoisted Rachel up onto the machine, then climbed up after her. Milligan snapped the reins, and Dusty rumbled off toward the Far Eighty. As he vanished, Tess came walking back out with a slightly larger basket. She handed it off, then gave both Jason and Rachel a kiss before retreating to the garden at the side of the house. Jason took up the reins, and with that, they were off.

Rachel clung tightly to both his leg and to the supports as they took off across the rolling hills. Still, though, she had a broad grin across her face, and she looked up at him after a moment.

"Tank you, daddy."

"You're more than welcome." Jason spared a glance down at her, then turned his attention back to the road. Ahead, it looked like Milligan was just reaching the Far Eighty. "Thanks for coming."

"Will I be big like you someday?"

"I reckon so." Jason nodded. "Might take a few years, but you'll get there." "Will I get my own farm, too?"

"If you want it, yeah." Jason smiled. "You want your own farm?"

"I do!" Rachel beamed. "I want to be just like you, daddy."

Jason bent down and picked her up for a brief moment. They rumbled across one of the low bridges that crossed the small ravines, and he gave her a peck on the kiss. "What about mommy? Do you want to be like mommy, too?"

"Yes! Like both of you!"

"Then I bet you'll do just fine." Jason kept them steady as they reached the Far Eighty, then pulled the lever as they rumbled up and into the field. "Alright, Rachel! Hang onto your hat!"

"Wheee! We're panting!"

Jason smiled. Indeed, the seed disks cut down into the fertile soil, and the seed began to rattle as it flowed down into the earth. Corn seeds rattled a good bit more than some of the others, which only made the sensation of planting that much better. Down below, Rachel grinned widely, and sat down on the bench to dangle her legs over the edge, letting her feet pass just a few inches above the ground.

It was lovely, there was simply no other word for it. The only thing Jason loved more than farming was his family. And his friends, too, he supposed... On that day, all three were combined.

What could possibly be better than that? He didn't know, and he knew he wasn't about to waste any time or effort trying to find out.

Chapter Twelve: The Good

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 48 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 4th day of Fall! 87 days until the Fall Festival! We're looking at another bright, lovely day, folks! We do have a storm coming in the next several days, and that one is shaping up right now to have ice, and a lot of it. Word is coming from Portswain that it was one of the worst ones they've ever had on record, so make sure you're prepared for that! Whether or not it actually gets that bad, expect it to hit... Oh, I'd say on the 6th day, maybe the 7th.]

Jason yawned and stretched, then slowly rolled out of bed. Tess was missing, and he smiled, then changed into warm work clothes. The smell of fresh bacon and cooked apples floated up from the stairwell, and he quickly made his way downstairs to find the three girls sitting there in the kitchen, working away on what looked to be a proper feast.

"And what's all this?" Jason caught sight of a small pie, just about the right size for a single person. He reached over and picked it up, and Tess turned around and whacked his wrist with a spoon.

"No pie for breakfast!"

Jason turned to the two girls. Both of them had a great deal of pie filling smeared across their cheeks, and they giggled.

"It looks like today, you two get to eat dessert and not daddy." Jason picked up a slice of bacon, and Tess passed him a plate of eggs and sausage to go with it. "What's up?"

"Not much." Tess shrugged. "I'm heading into town today to buy some supplies before the storm, and Paulina was asking me about a recipe that I got from Johan's wife back when they were living here."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "That was awhile ago."

"Yeah, I know. Apparently when he came through here last year to work on the kiddy dungeon, his wife made up some pie but forgot to give anyone else the recipe." Tess shrugged. "I happened to have it on hand, so I'm making up a few, and taking the recipe in with me."

"Well, have fun." Jason shrugged. "I'm heading out to work on the windmill with Milligan. I think we'll have it up today."

"Well, best of luck." Tess gave him a kiss as he finished eating. "We'll see you around tonight! I have a feeling that we'll be back more on the later side of things, so feel free to have dinner on the table ready for us."

She had an ornery sort of look on her face when she said it, and Jason chuckled. "I can 'feel free' to do that?"

"Yes."

"Then we'll see just how free I'm feeling when the time comes." Jason bent over and gave the two girls kisses, then kissed Tess as well and started for the front door. "See you all tonight!"

A few minutes later, he was out in the yard. Milligan already stood by the new well, looking up at the contraption that they had been slowly putting together. Jason chuckled as he walked up, then rubbed his hands together. "Are you ready to get this thing completed?"

"More than you know." Milligan snorted, though he had a smile on his face as he did so. "After you?"

Jason nodded, then leaned back and took a look at the structure. It had four legs, which sloped up toward each other to form what would eventually be a rectangular pyramid. They were held together by an interlocking series of cross-bars and cables, which formed a sort of checkerboard pattern. Jason

puffed out his cheeks, then walked up, grabbed hold of the lowest cross-bar, and started climbing.

He intended to eventually put a ladder up the side, but before he could do that, he needed to actually get the side built. It now extended about thirty feet into the air, and Jason quickly reached the top. There, he braced himself as best as he could, near the north-east corner.

"Alright, Milligan! Pass me up the next support!"

[Notice: Milligan is attempting to pass you [Support: AB]. Do you accept?] "Yes."

With a flicker of light, the support appeared in Jason's hands. It was a piece of metal about ten feet long, bent lengthwise at a ninety-degree angle, with holes cut here and there for bolts. It wasn't heavy, but as Jason tried to flip it upright, he did find the process to be quite difficult. He had to hold it so close to the end that he had very little leverage, and it was only after much struggling that he was able to line the bolt holes up with several other bolt holes at the top of the corner.

[Would you like to connect these two pieces together?]

"Yes!"

There was a flash, and several bolts appeared, sealing it in place. Jason let out a long breath, then slowly climbed over to the next corner, the north- west one. Milligan passed him another support, and Jason soon had it in place as well. So it went along the south side, and within about fifteen minutes, they had it all in place.

With that, Milligan climbed up, and they set to work together. Next were the cross-bars. They were situated every five feet on each of the four sides. Because of the length, it took both of them working together to get the beams in place, and, being as careful as possible so as not to fall, they

worked their way around the structure. Almost half an hour went by before they were ready with the cables, which just served as extra support against the winds that would often buffet the prairie landscape.

It was nearly lunchtime by the time they got that next section entirely squared away. When they finished, Jason let out a breath, then climbed up to the top. Now, forty feet above the ground, his head was starting to spin... But he was also very nearly done, which made him want to keep pushing. "Alright, Milligan! One last section, and then we're good!"

Milligan called something up, though Jason couldn't quite hear it. In any case, the next support was passed to Jason a moment later, and he quickly locked it in place. This time, as he worked his way around, the four supports met in the center, at a point about ten feet above his head, forming the pinnacle of the windmill. The moment all four were in place, Milligan climbed up, and they set to work installing the last of the cross-beams. As they finished with that, Milligan started stringing up the cables, drawing them tightly from corner to corner, and Jason climbed up to the very peak. He was still a good bit lower than the peak of his barn, but the height wasn't too shabby, either. He took a deep breath, then cupped his hands around his mouth.

"I'm the king of the world!"

The shout echoed off the barn and resounded out across the prairie, and Milligan chuckled, not really looking up from his work.

"Say that too loudly, and Jeremiah's going to ride out here and have your hide. He doesn't like other people taking his job."

"Fair enough!" Jason laughed, then sighed deeply. "Well, Milligan, do you want to do the honors?"

"Not one bit. You've been excited for this for ages, you do it!" Milligan gave him a nod.

Jason took a deep breath, then slowly opened up his inventory and pulled out the enormous spinning portion of the windmill. The fan was almost as long as he was tall, and he was nearly pulled from the top of the structure as he fought with its weight. It certainly wasn't pleasant, that was for certain, and it was incredibly awkward to try and hold. Carefully, he gritted his teeth and wrapped his legs a bit tighter around some of the supports, then pulled the fan up a bit higher and set it onto the top.

[Would you like to connect these two pieces together?]

"Yes!" Jason almost screamed the word as his muscles strained to hold it in place.

With a loud clang, the top of the windmill snapped into place, and he gasped in relief. Milligan chuckled as he finished stringing up the last of the cable, and the two men slowly climbed back down to the ground. Overhead, the windmill squeaked as it turned a bit in the wind, and the fan spun merrily as a soft wind blew up. Jason crossed his arms and let out a long breath, and Milligan clapped him on the shoulder.

"You've got a winner there, it looks like."

"Sure does." Jason nodded, then looked down at the well, which was still uncovered. "Now for the next part!"

"Now, for lunch." Milligan stressed the word.

Jason couldn't argue with that, and the two men went up and into the house, where Tess had prepared a picnic basket for the two of them. They tucked in, but Jason hardly even noticed what they were eating. His mind was consumed with what lay outside, with the windmill and what they were

soon to finish. The moment he was done, he jumped up and raced outside once more, leaving Milligan to a bit of well-earned rest.

The next part of the task was to cover up the well, and then install the pump on the covering. Thankfully, Jason had already prepared a covering, which made that part of things a bit easier. He opened his inventory and pulled it out, causing a large, wooden slab to come crashing down onto the grass. His muscles burned as he picked it up and started working to lug it into place, where he found himself entirely unable to put it into position until Milligan emerged from the house, refreshed, and helped him toss it across the gaping hole of the well.

"Now that's what I call a windmill!" Jason walked across the platform, stomping on it as hard as he could, listening to the hollow thunk of the noise reverberating through the chasm. "All we have to do now is get the pump in place, and then hook up a hose from here to there!"

Milligan chuckled, then picked up the pump. It looked like any old hand pump, and as they set it down in the exact center of the platform, they received another of the connection messages. Jason gave a nod, and it sealed itself in place. Overhead, the blades of the windmill whirred lazily, and Jason put his hand on the pump.

[Would you like to start pumping?]

"Yes."

Instantly, water gurgled out through the metal fixture and poured across the platform, and Jason grinned from ear to ear.

"Now we're in business!"

"Indeed." Milligan clapped his boss on the back. "Now, you just have to hope that this one works."

"I'm sure it will." Jason crossed his arms and gave a nod. "In fact, I'm positive of it.

Chapter Thirteen: After The

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 48 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 7th day of Fall! 84 days until the Fall Festival! Alright, folks! That storm last night was a bad one, no doubt about that! Depending on when you wake up and read this, it might be over, or the last little bits of it might be dying out. Any which way, be carefully if you go outside this morning! I'm getting reports of debris scattered from the high winds, which means that there could be nails, sharp bits of wood, and other such things.]

Jason yawned and rolled out of bed. He climbed to his feet and stretched, then slowly walked up to the window and looked out across the farmstead. All around, prairie grasses had been flattened by the storm, though they seemed to be perking up a bit as he watched. The barn roof had lost a few shingles, but otherwise, all seemed to be in order. Tess had brought her cattle into the barn before the storm, so they were good to go, and--

"No!" Jason put his hands on the side of his head as he set his sights upon his windmill. It had, in the chaos of the wind and the rain, blown over. It now lay sprawled across the ground in a heap, metal supports and cables all tangled up in a giant mess and he sighed deeply.

"I'm really sorry, Jason." Tess appeared in the doorway. She slowly walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "I know this project has meant a lot to you."

Jason scowled. "It was working, too!"

Tess could only nod. Indeed, the trick with the windmill had been working. The Homestead Eighty had filled up with water in just a few days of allowing the thing to run, and even now, it was still filled with quite a lot of

water. Jason had been intending to start planting rice that very day, though now... Well...

"Come on down for breakfast." Tess urged him. "Once you're refreshed and feeling better, we'll..."

"I need to get outside and get to work." Jason sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. It was another setback, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. That said, he did need to go get to work on fixing it. "If you could bring me something, I'd greatly appreciate it."

Tess gave a nod of her head, and Jason quickly dressed and headed downstairs. The girls were still asleep, on account of how late they had stayed up due to terror from the storm. Jason pulled on his boots at the front door, then strode out into the farmyard as Milligan rode in, looking around him with discouragement on his face.

"What's the word from the far side of the place?" Jason asked as Milligan swung down from the horse.

Milligan could only shrug. "You've got a couple of fences down in Tess's pasture. Looks to me like they were made by some sort of monster, not the wind, but I couldn't find any tracks to indicate what it might be, or if it's coming back. Otherwise, the corn crop weathered it more or less well enough. You might see a slight dip in the yield, but at only a week old, none of the ears have started developing yet, so it ought to bounce back well enough. And all the fences around the fields survived, so no need to worry about monsters getting inside and eating up your crops."

"Good to know." Jason puffed out his cheeks, then gave a nod. "Alright, then. We need to get those repairs done before we do anything else. The pasture is the most important, Tess's cattle will get anxious if they're kept in the barn too long."

"What about the windmill?"

Jason turned to it and shrugged. He didn't have the faintest idea if it could be repaired, but he was afraid that it would take more than a simple patch job to get it back upright and working again. If it wasn't running, the field would dry up in just a few short days, which didn't leave him much time to get things done. If he planted the rice, and then something happened and prevented him from getting the windmill fixed, it would just dry up, and he would lose the crop.

"I'll get to it when I get to it. Priorities first, and the rest will fall in place, right?"

"Couldn't have said it better myself!"

Jason walked toward the corral. "Why don't you take care of the cattle, and point me in the direction of the breaks? I'll head out and get them patched back up."

"Alright, boss!" Milligan gave a wave. "Start from the corner by the New Eighty, then head back east toward us. You'll see two big sections down, ought to take you close to all morning to fix, maybe even a bit more."

Jason flashed a thumbs-up in reply. Soon, he had saddled up Angus, and rode off to find the disruptions. As he rode along the gravel road to the backside of the farm, he took a deep breath. The air was cool, though not quite so cold that he could see his breath. All around him, the land showed the marks of the storm. Still, though, it was beginning to rebound, and he felt a smile flicker across his face. Several deer raced across the prairie in the distance, and he caught sight of some sort of strange frog-monster hopping through the grass at a different place. It seemed to be enjoying all the bugs displaced by the weather, and Jason had to chuckle.

In any event, when he made it around to the breaks, he had to agree with Milligan's assessment. There were two sections, each about three posts long, that had been smashed to bits. There were no clear footprints. But... well... The break closest to the New Eighty clearly had all the debris blown into the pasture, while all the debris on the further break had been scattered out across the prairie. It looked like something had wandered through, only to turn around and leave again. He wasn't sure what that meant, but he supposed it didn't matter much. As he reached the first gap, he swung down, then opened up the farm's inventory and dumped out a pile of leftover supplies from when the fence had been built.

"First thing to do is take out all the old stuff." He took out a shovel and walked to each of the three affected posts. They had been snapped off at the base, the metal supports cleanly broken by impossibly immense force. He tapped each of them, causing them to be teleported out onto the grass. Thankfully, the hole remained, so he didn't have to worry about digging that again. When that was done, he went over to the still-standing posts on either side, which both held splinters of the metal rails that had once been there. Those took a bit longer to disconnect, as whatever destroyed them had twisted them about and made some of the bolts get jammed, but he stuck to it, and after about thirty minutes had been able to get both gaps clear and clean. Now, they didn't look broken, they just looked empty. "Jason!"

Jason looked up as Tess appeared on the horizon, riding Lady. She swung down out of the saddle, just as he was lugging one of the fence posts into place. He dropped it down into the hole, then smiled and gave her a hug. She passed him a picnic basket, and gave her a kiss.

"Thanks for coming out." He frowned. "Where's Milligan? Where are the kids?"

"Milligan is taking care of the damage on the barn." Tess shrugged. "The kids are with Richard. He stopped by to see how we were doing, and offered to watch them while I ran food out to you."

"Milligan is working on the barn?" Jason blinked in surprise. "He hates heights!"

"He's actually not working on the shingles. He said he'd leave those for you." Tess chuckled. "The siding on the far side took some damage, none of us noticed it until he was feeding the cattle."

"Huh." Jason shrugged. "What about Richard? Didn't the Lazy-H take damage, too?"

"Almost none." Tess shook her head. "The storm passed north of them. Sounds like our farm was the southernmost edge, at least in this area." "That's one good thing, then." Jason lugged the next post over and set it in place. "Thanks for the food!"

"Thanks for being such a great husband!" Tess climbed back up onto Lady, then slowly turned away. "Yaw!"

Lady galloped away, and Jason went back to work. Once all six posts were in place, he tamped them down, then started setting up the rails. It wasn't the hardest work in the world, but it wasn't the easiest, either. By the time lunch came around, he was famished. He sat down on the ground, leaned up against one of the completed posts, and ate a meal of roast beef and sauerkraut. When he was done, he slowly got up and went back to work, finishing up the last of the rails, and then, exhausted and covered in mud, he tucked all the debris into the farm's inventory and rode back out for home.

Angus's hooves sounded like thunder as he rose up and down the gravel road. In the distance, he could see the peak of the barn, and next to it, the top of his house, just next to the spinning blades of his wind--

His windmill.

A smile broke across his face, and as he came riding back up into the yard, he found the water just beginning to flow from the device and into the field once more. Richard and a handful of his hired men stood at the base, looking up at it in satisfaction, and Jason swung down from Angus as he came riding up.

"You... you fixed it."

Richard shrugged. "At this point, I think it's pretty much just a law that if things get broken up here, all my hired hands will come up to fix it for you." He clapped Jason on the shoulder. "And there you are! All ready for planting."

"Are we doing that tomorrow?" Milligan asked, a glint in his eyes.

"I think so." Jason puffed out his cheeks as Richard and the Lazy-H hired hands mounted up and rode out. Fern came racing out to him, and he picked her up and turned to regard the windmill. "It's taken us all sorts of work, but at the end of it, we have a rice paddy!"

"Yay!" Fern clapped her hands. "Now we get to grow rice!"

"Wice!" Rachel added her encouragement from down below.

"That's right! Tomorrow, we plant rice!" Jason declared. As he set the girls down, Milligan coughed.

"Ahh... Boss? There's something you ought to know."

"What is it?" Jason turned to him and frowned. "Everything okay?" "Mostly, yeah." Milligan nodded. "It's just... well... To be honest, I thought you already knew, and just had some sort of contingency plan,

but..."

"What is it?" Jason pressed.

"Well..." Milligan shrugged. "Rice can only be grown in spring and summer. Most can only be grown in spring, a few can do summer as well. I don't think there's a single variety that can be grown in the fall, it's too much of a warm-weather crop."

Jason scowled, then took a deep breath.

"Well... Then..."

"Should I drain the paddy?" Milligan posited.

"No." Jason held up a hand. "We went to all this work, and I am not letting it go to waste!" He paused. "We'll just have to find another outlet for its use.

Chapter Fourteen: Bright &

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 48 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 9th day of Fall! 82 days until the Fall Festival! Looks like things are going to be bright and sunny today, folks! Honestly, it's hardly going to feel like fall at all, and won't for the next week or so. Not to fret, though, we'll be seeing a turn here before too much longer, and by the end of the season, I expect it to get so cold that winter essentially comes early! Which, I suppose, could be either good or bad, depending on your personal tastes!]

Jason felt a great sense of excitement shoot through him as he climbed out of bed, and he rushed with eagerness to the window. The world seemed to have rebounded without fail from the storm. The prairie was full and rippling once again, the barn had been patched back up, and his windmill spun merrily as it continued to dump water into the empty paddy. Jason took a deep breath, then walked over to the wardrobe and changed into work clothes for the day.

By the time he made it downstairs to the kitchen, Tess was waiting for him, a wide smile on her face. He gave her a kiss, then looked down at a large platter of chicken and waffles.

"What's the special occasion?" He asked as he sat down, digging into the food with gusto.

"I just know how happy you are to finally be planting this thing." Tess shrugged. "I guess this is just to say that I see your enthusiasm, even if I don't always understand it... That's a good portion of why I fell in love with you in the first place, and I love you even more now than when we got married, so... go have fun, and good work getting this to actually work."

"Thanks." Jason gave her a syrupy kiss on the cheek, then stood up. "What are you and the girls going to do?"

"We're getting back into the swing of school." Tess declared. "We've gotten out of it since the festival, just because life got crazy, but they're also both bursting at the seams to learn more, and I aim to oblige."

"If I can help, just let me know." Jason flashed a grin at her. "It's exciting to watch."

"Thanks." Tess smiled. "As soon as they wake up, I'll send them out to say hello."

Jason nodded, then walked to the front door, pulled on his boots, and headed outside. Milligan was just finishing up with the chores as seemed the usual, and met Jason as they walked toward the field.

"Alright, boss! Tell me what the plan is."

Jason leaned against the top rail of the fence and frowned as he looked out over the wide expanse of water. "I've got a handful of ideas."

"Any good ones?"

"I suppose we'll see." Jason shrugged. "Tess won't let me buy a water buffalo until I've proven that this venture will work--"

"Not an entirely unwise thing." Milligan chuckled.

Jason shrugged, then continued. "Which means we have to use Angus, and the normal planter."

"Is that going to work?" Milligan frowned. "Don't you need a dedicated planter for underwater crops?"

"It does help, but at the end of the day, it's sorta like harvesting sugar beets. You get a better yield if you use a dedicated digger, but you can technically use a harvester." Jason paused and frowned. "Now, trying to get harvesters through this thing is going to be a nightmare, but I suppose we'll manage.

And, once we turn a massive profit, Tess will have no choice but to allow me to buy everything I need for a full rice-farm operation."

"You do realize that most farms that produce rice dedicate all their resources to it, right?" Milligan held up his hands. "I'm not trying to discourage you, but this really is a fairly large undertaking."

"And I already have the rice paddy, so I'm moving forward!" Jason turned toward the corral, then paused. "That said, we should probably only run one machine through there for the first bit, until we prove that it isn't going to get stuck."

"Way ahead of you there, boss!"

Jason walked over to the corral and took out Angus, then got him hitched up to the planter. As he was tightening down the straps, Fern and Rachel came racing out, and he bent down and gave them both hugs.

"Guess what, daddy?" Fern bounced up and down. "Mommy's going to teach me how to read the word cat today! Now, anytime you see it, you won't have to read it yourself, you can just ask me to do it, and I'll know!" "And I'se going to learn 'bout shapes!" Rachel nodded.

"Well, that sounds like a very full, very fun sort of a day." Jason kissed them both on the tops of their heads. "I'll see you for lunch!"

"See you!"

They raced back out across the farm, retreating toward the house, and Jason climbed up on board the planter. He opened the seed box and started perusing his farm's inventory, then found the seed he had chosen.

The previous day, after learning that he couldn't grow rice until spring, he had gone into town and bought a great deal of taro seed. It was apparently something like a potato, but grew underwater like rice, and was quite rare to

the area as a result. As he rumbled up to the fence, he closed the seed box once more, and Angus gave a snort.

"Easy, boy." Jason soothed the mighty beast. "Just take it easy. Nice and slow. You've got this!"

Angus dipped a hoof into the water, then snorted.

"I know it's not what you're used to." Jason soothed the mighty beast. "Just ease your way into it, and you'll be alright!"

Angus snorted once more. Jason snapped the reins again, and even though he obviously didn't want to go, he obeyed, and they slogged forward into the water-filled paddy.

By that point in his life, Jason had planted many, many fields. This was unlike any of them he had yet planted. Water rushed up and around the machine, rushing over the wheels and around the disks. When Jason pulled the lever to begin planting, it sank down so low that water trickled mere inches underneath his feet. Waves here and there would lap up over the narrow bench where he stood. He could hear the rattle of seeds falling down the seed tubes, but... That was the only thing that remained the same. Angus's muscles bulged as he pulled the machine forward, though, to Jason's surprise, the steed didn't really seem all that bothered by the object. In fact, in some ways, they actually seemed to be moving along at a faster clip than they sometimes did. He didn't know why, but he accepted it, and onward they went.

This time, as he went along, he inhaled deeply, trying to take it all in. The air had the smell of wetland, of decaying plant matter, of mud, of life. Swirls and ripples raced out behind the planter as it disturbed the water, little bubbles and bits of foam swirled about in the miry liquid. The water, which had started out slightly clear, quickly became so filled with mud that

it was impossible to see even an inch below the surface. Jason chuckled at the sight, but turned his attention forward as they reached the end of the field and turned around.

To his surprise and delight, Milligan was just lumbering into the field at the other end, joining Jason in the watery pool even against his better judgement. He waved at Jason to acknowledge, but otherwise simply took up the reins and focused on moving forward. He was a good man, there was no doubt about that.

Overhead, Jason heard several loud quacks as a small flock of ducks raced by. A few of them dropped down and landed on the paddy, where they began paddling about and ducking under the water to look for bugs. Jason had to laugh at that, and as he turned around and came back, they exploded up into the air once more, scattering to the winds.

When Jason and Milligan met in the middle of the field, they made one final pass back to the entrance, then happily slogged back up onto dry land. Water cascaded down from their machines, while their horses eagerly made their way back to the corral. Jason and Milligan got the great beasts unhitched, then turned them back toward the corral while they checked the machines for any damages.

"All looks good here, boss." Milligan glanced over after a moment. "I'm getting a notification that if we keep using the planters like that, we'll see rust building up a bit faster than before, but for the moment, I think we're good."

"Great!" Jason peered underneath the machine. There was a decent amount of mud caked on the press wheels, but generally speaking, everything seemed to be in order. "I think you're right." He straightened up, then gave a nod. "Thanks."

"Think nothing of it." Milligan shrugged. "I'm your hired man, after all. If I got stuck, it would have been on your instructions, and you'd have had to help get me out."

Jason burst out laughing. "Fair enough!" He sighed, cast a look up at the spinning windmill, then started ambling up toward the house. "Alright, Milligan. I'm heading inside for lunch, you're welcome as always to join us, and then I think Tess wants to work some cattle this afternoon." "Sounds like a plan to me, boss!"

As Jason reached the house, he turned around and cast a long look back at the field. Indeed, things were finally coming together as far as the paddy was concerned. He did still want to get it planted with rice at some point, but he supposed that such things could come later.

For now, he had a taro crop in the ground—er—water... For the time being, that was just fine by him.

Chapter Fifteen: A Good Day To Stay

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 48 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 25th day of Fall! 66 days until the Fall Festival! And... Well... It's looking wet today, folks! You all know by now what fall storms are like. Lots of cold rain, lots of wind, so stay inside and don't go out unless you absolutely have to!]

Jason's eyes opened to the steady rat-a-tat-tat of rain on the roof and windows. He shivered and rolled out of bed, then slowly walked up to the window. Outside, rain came streaming down, pounding against the house, the barn, the fields. It came pouring off the barn roof in great waterfalls, and he shivered once more.

When he was done looking, he walked back over to the wardrobe and dressed in a warm tunic, then made his way downstairs. There, he found Tess sitting in the living room at the writing desk, idly gazing out through the panes at the road.

"What's up?" Jason walked over and sat down beside her, making her jump a bit. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"That's alright." Tess shrugged and nodded at the page. "I've been thinking about writing down some of my story for awhile now. My childhood, arrival in Summer Shandy, getting to know you, all that sort of thing." Jason smiled. "You ought to do it. Seems like today's a good day for it." "Yeah, but I have school to do with the kids." Tess shrugged. "Maybe I'll do it someday. I happened to look out the window and saw a warrior riding past. Soaked in rain, but still holding his head high as he rode off down the road. Made me remember the old days, you know."

Jason nodded. "You miss it?"

"No, and I think that's the point." Tess answered. "There's a certain joy that comes with it. You're marching out through the wind and the rain, soaked to the skin, hardly able to breathe because things are so miserable, and you just sorta love it. Now, though, I don't think I'd ever leave this home again. I know I never would. I just see people who are still so caught up in that old world of mine, and I understand it, but I also... I don't know. I'd love to make more people see the joy of just cutting back and living simply."

"If you ever do decide to write it, know that I fully support you." Jason heard a squeak on the stairs, and glanced out of the corner of his eye to see a head peeking around the doorframe of the kitchen. He raised his voice. "In the meantime, I think there's an infestation of mice in this house! Maybe large rats, it's hard to tell."

"Do they need to be exterminated?" Tess stood up. Giggles echoed from the kitchen.

"I think so!"

The giggles got louder.

"Then... charge!"

About an hour later, after chasing the girls all over the house, wrestling and tickling them wildly, and then trying (and largely failing) to calm them down for breakfast, the family sat down around the dining room table. It was more organized than before, separated by subject and year. Fern hopped up into her chair, and Jason leaned against a wall while Tess grabbed a red folder and flipped it open.

"Alright, Fern. First things first! Sight words!"

Fern beamed. "Yay! Do cat!"

"Not right at first." Tess thumbed through the folder and pulled out a handful of flash cards. "And... here!"

She held up the first card, and Fern nodded. "Dog!"

"Good. Now this one?"

"And!"

"This one?"

"It!"

She ran through five cards, ending with the word cat, and Fern nodded. "Good job." Tess reached out and rubbed her head. "Now, we're going to learn a new one. This one is the word the."

"The." Fern repeated. Tess held up the card, and she made Fern repeat the word half a dozen times before mixing it in with the rest of the words. That done, they went through the set again, with Fern easily able to identify the word among the rest. Jason had to admit that he was impressed, and he nodded in approval as she finished the gauntlet that Tess had set up for her. "Good!" Tess nodded in satisfaction. "Now that that's all done, let's move to numbers. Go get the manipulatives."

Fern raced out the room, while Rachel walked up to Jason and began to tug on his pants.

"Daddy? Can you do school with me?"

Jason glanced at Tess. A moment later, Fern raced back into the room with a container of paper clips from Jason's desk.

"Hey! Those are--"

"Temporarily being used so that Fern can count things." Tess held up a hand to forestall his complaints. "I'm ordering a counting tool from the item shop, but it's coming from overseas, so I don't have it yet."

"What sort of counting device do you have that comes from overseas?" Jason could hardly believe what he was hearing.

"It's called an abacus. Trust me, it'll make sense when it shows up." Tess shrugged, then turned to Rachel. "Yes, daddy may do school with you." "Yay!"

Tess handed Jason a pile of flash cards, and Jason retreated to the living room. Rachel bounced up onto the couch next to him, and he started thumbing through them to find a wide variety of shapes and colors, more or less the same as before, but expanded a bit beyond what had been provided the last time he had helped her do school.

"Thank you, daddy." Rachel snuggled in close to him. "This is going to be fun!"

"I'm glad you think so." Jason flipped over the first card. "Now, what is this?"

"Blue heart!"

"That's right." Jason flipped to the next card. "And this?"

"Owange star!"

"Good job!" Jason quickly went through all the cards, ending with a Green Leaf. When he was done, Rachel bounded down, then looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Now can I do running school?"

"What's running school?"

He got his answer a moment later as Fern raced through the room at top speed. She raced around a coffee table, then ran back out without a word. Tess cheered in approval of something, and Jason nodded.

"I reckon we can do some running school. Just let me think for a moment." He stroked his chin, then nodded. "Alright. I'm going to go through these flash cards one more time. If you get the answer right, you're going to run

into the dining room and give Fern a kiss. If you get the answer wrong, you're going to run into the dining room and give mommy a kiss. Got it?" "Got it!"

"Good." Jason flipped over the first card. "What's this?"

"Red fish!"

Jason glanced at the shape to confirm, then nodded. "Yup! Run! Go kiss Fern!"

Rachel tore off, her little feet pounding on the ground. As she entered the dining room, though, she ran smack into Fern, who, of course, was on her way out. Both girls came tumbling to the ground, bawling, and Jason and Tess raced to their sides.

It took almost five minutes to get the tears turned off, and another five minutes to get everyone re-focused on school. With that, Jason settled down, then flipped out another card.

"Alright, Fern! What's this?"

"Pink square?"

"That's right!" Jason grinned. "Go kiss Fern!"

Rachel raced off for the dining room. This time, as she reached the kitchen, she slowed and stepped to the side, allowing Fern to come shooting out. Of course, Fern's directive was to race to the living room, not to stop for kisses.

"Fern! I need kiss you!" Rachel charged after Fern as her older sister rounded the coffee table and pounded back toward the dining room.

"I'm running!" Fern called back. "You can't catch me!"

"I have catch you! Daddy say so!"

"Oh!"

Fern stopped abruptly, more than ready to comply with her sister's wishes if it meant pleasing daddy. Of course, this caused Rachel to run smack into Fern once more. They went down in a heap of limbs, and Jason had to fight to keep from laughing as he raced to help untangle the two girls from each other.

"Tank you, daddy." Rachel looked down at the ground. "I no want kiss anyone anymore."

"I think that's acceptable, given the circumstances."

Jason led her back to the living room, then flipped up the cards once again. Rachel started in once more, and they ran through the cards three more times. First, they jumped up and down, then Jason had Rachel run laps around the coffee table. Finally, Jason had Rachel run the cards over to the writing desk, where she set them down next to Tess's blank document. When they had gone through all the flash cards half a dozen times, Rachel got bored, and Jason rose to go see what Tess was working on with Fern. There, he found Fern snuggled up on Tess's lap while Fern slowly flipped through a book.

"And then the little dog dug up the bone! He was a happy little pup."

Fern grinned widely.

"But then the big, bad dragon showed back up! He roared his terrible roar, and he said: 'I warned you not to dig in my garden!' And he swooped down to eat the little pup!"

Fern gasped. "Did a knight show up and save the little pup?"

"Nope." Tess chuckled. "As the dragon came closer, the little pup threw the bone up into the dragon's mouth. It started to choke on the bone, and it crashed into the mountainside. The little pup ran back to its mommy and daddy, and it never went back to dragon mountain again."

"Oh!" Fern grinned. "That was a good story!"

"And now, you're going to answer questions about the story." Tess scooted Fern over to a nearby chair, so they were facing each other. "Now, why did the little pup leave home?"

"Because..." Fern scrunched up her nose. "He wanted a treat, and he saw the dragon burying bones in its garden!"

"Exactly." Tess nodded. "What did his parents tell him?"

"They said that the dragon would eat him, and to stay home."

"Good job." Tess nodded. "And... Let's see if we can find a tricky one." She flipped back through the book. "What color was the dragon?"

Fern frowned. "Blue?"

"Nope."

"Green?"

"Nope."

"Red?"

"Is that a guess, or do you know it?"

Fern paused, then nodded. "Know it!"

"Yes, it was red!"

"Yay!" Fern hopped down from the chair and raced away, and Jason chuckled.

"And what skill is that practicing?"

Tess shrugged. "Reading comprehension. In the past, schools have just taught them to read, and assumed that the comprehension part would come later. This curriculum tries to make sure that the kids are understanding what they're hearing, even if it moves a little slower in some places."

"Sure seems plenty fast to me." Jason shook his head in amazement. "It's pretty cool, in any case."

"I'm glad you think so." Tess folded up several of the folders, then opened up a few more. "After lunch, we'll have history, then science, and writing practice."

"Just incredible." Jason chuckled. "Do you have anything more for me to do?"

"I can find things for you to do, or you can go sit in your boring old office. Tess raised an eyebrow.

"See what you can find for me to do!" Jason declared with a grin. He sat down in a chair and stretched himself out. This, as far as he was concerned, was the life... He wanted to enjoy every minute of it as possible.

Chapter Sixteen: Temperature

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 49 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 37th day of Fall! 54 days until the Fall Festival! Alright, folks, today's a chilly one! Not winter yet, but we're likely to see a steady decrease in temperatures from here to the end of the season!]

Jason yawned and stretched as he rolled out of bed. He slowly approached the window, where a light layer of frost had grown across the glass. The air was cool even before he reached it, and he shuddered a bit, then shrugged and squared his shoulders.

"Good morning!" Tess walked into the room, a smile on her face. "Today's the day, isn't it?"

"It is, yes." Jason took a deep breath.

"Are you excited?"

"More than you can know." Jason nodded, then slowly walked over to the wardrobe and dressed in thick, warm clothes. "I feel like this has been building up for years now!"

"And it's not even rice." Tess snorted. "It's just some watery potato."

"Hey, don't go knocking on taro." Jason held up a finger as he swept out into the hall. Rachel and Fern came racing up to him, and he bent down, scooped them up, and gave them both hugs and kisses while he continued to talk to Tess. "It's a traditional dish in the eastern islands, used to make everything from porridge to desserts."

"Yeah. The same thing that potatoes are used for here." Tess snorted. "Haters gonna hate." Jason waved a hand dismissively as he walked down the stairs, a girl on each arm. "Now, what do you two want for breakfast?" "Pancakes!"

"Waffles!"

"Sausage!"

Jason walked into the kitchen and set them down at the table. "And I'd really like some biscuits and gravy."

"Are you making it all?" Tess raised an eyebrow.

"No, but now you're going to break their hearts if you don't make it." Jason crossed his arms. Both girls giggled, and he frowned. "Quick! Give her your eyes!"

Fern frowned. "Daddy, they're stuck in my head."

"Ouch!" Rachel, quite unfortunately, poked herself in the eye as she tried to follow her father's commands. She pouted, turning to Jason instead of Tess. "Daddy, that hurt!"

"Yes, daddy." Tess had a wide grin on her face as she walked to the stove and started cooking some eggs. "That did look like it hurt."

"I meant... Use your eyes to make please-faces." Jason sighed. "Never mind. I'm sorry you got poked, Rachel."

"It's otay, daddy."

Half an hour later, Jason walked out into the chilled air, stomach and heart both full. Milligan was nowhere to be seen, though the door of the barn hung slightly open. Jason strode up and inside, shivering a bit as a cold wind raced across the prairie. Inside, he found Milligan rubbing his hands together, though he had a smile on his face.

"Good morning, boss!" Milligan crossed his arms, tightly. "Are you ready?" "Ready as I'll ever be." Jason puffed out his cheeks. "Just like last time, I'll go first. If it looks like I'm getting along well, you follow me. Deal?" "Seems like it." Milligan nodded. As the two men walked out of the barn and down to the lean-to, Milligan chuckled. "Seems like it'll be just about

the hardest time we've ever had harvesting, any way you look at it. I've never before seen a field where you couldn't rightly tell where you'd harvested and where you hadn't been yet."

Jason couldn't disagree with that. He walked up to the rails of the fence and peered over. Taro leaves could be seen beneath the murky waters, spreading out across the surface. If you didn't look closely, it was almost impossible to tell there was anything there at all. He didn't think it would be too big of an issue, though, just another particularity of underwater farming.

Angus seemed apprehensive as they hitched him up to the digger, as if he knew that things were going to be quite unusual. As soon as he was attached, Jason climbed up onto the machine and took up the reins.

"Yaw!"

Angus snorted and shook his head, and Jason sighed.

"Please?"

Angus snorted again, then slowly walked up to the edge of the field. Once again, he slipped a hoof into the drink, then shook his head and stepped back. Jason sighed, then climbed down from the digger and pulled an apple out of his inventory. Angus eagerly snapped up the treat, but as Jason climbed back up, he still refused to move. In the end, Milligan had to feed the mighty beast three sugar cubes before he was finally willing to lumber forward and into the liquid.

While Jason planned to harvest rice with the harvester, he planned to use the digger for taro. It did grow rather like a potato, underground (or maybe under-mud), so he assumed that it would be the best option. Angus snorted as the waters came up to his flanks, but he steeled himself and plodded forward, and as they entered the field, Jason yanked a lever to drop the digger down into the ground.

Schlump.

Water rushed about the digger as it plumped into the liquid. The whirling spades of the machine churned the water into a frazzle. As it came down to hit the mud below, there was a loud schlurp that continued to rumble upward from the machine as Angus pulled it forward.

Now, while many other aspects of creating the paddy and planting everything had been quite pleasant... This was not. Mud that sat at the bottom of a stagnant pool, when it was stirred, had a very particular and rather unappealing smell. Now, Jason found that he was besought on all sides by this very stench. He steeled himself against it, muscling through. He tried to focus on the positives. As a cool wind bit across the lake, it was hard to do, but... well... He did manage to succeed.

Inside the machine, the taro roots made a rather satisfying splashing noise as they were flung up and out of the water, into the chains that shook them free of dirt. In addition to the larger splashes of the taro, there were smaller, almost constant splitters of that very dirt showering back down into the water. It was nice, in a strange sort of way, and Jason smiled.

All around him, though, mud billowed outward, obscuring the underwater plants. It quickly became, as Milligan had predicted, impossible to tell where he had been and where he hadn't been. Thankfully, Jason had gone over the field enough times that he knew where to place himself in relation to the fence posts, otherwise, he didn't think he could possibly have done it. Regardless of the challenges, Jason kept pushing through, and a sense of excitement filled him as he went along. He was doing it. Maybe it wasn't rice, but after all this work, he had successfully managed to get a paddy in the middle of the Illumitir plains, and was now getting a successful crop out of it. Milligan entered the field with his own digger once Jason had made

several passes without incident (and after coaxing Dusty with almost ten sugar cubes and three apples), and with that, the two men got to work. Jason didn't need to imagine how strange they looked, and had to laugh when Tess and the two girls came out to watch. They leaned against the fence rails, pointing and chatting amongst themselves. Now, it was a great surprise when he caught sight of more riders, and found several other horses and riders coming up to the fence to swing down to watch. He waved, and on his closer approach, recognized Jeremiah, Richard, and Weatherhand. They all waved back to him, and he saw wide smiles across their faces. When lunchtime finally came around, Jason found himself chilled to the bone, both by the wind and the splashing of the water. Although he still found that he was more excited and satisfied than he had been (at least when considering the realm of farming) than he had been in a long time. He and Milligan splashed back up and out of the field, and Richard helped them get the diggers back into the lean-to. He then took the horses back to the stable and threw warm blankets over them while Jason stood in the barn and rubbed his hands together.

"Well?" Jeremiah took a long draw on his pipe. "Don't just keep us in suspense! How did it yield?"

Jason opened up his inventory and scanned through until he reached the taro. "It looks like... we got..." His eyes opened wide. "Almost four tons an acre."

Jeremiah whistled. "Now that's what I call a good yield. Even if you only sell it for a shandy a pound, that's a pretty good return, I reckon."

Jason nodded in thought. I think I spent... Ten thousand shandys on the seed?"

"Then yeah, you're looking at a minimum of... four times eighty... three hundred sixty... thousand..." Jeremiah shook his head. "I bet you're going to get closer to ten shandys a pound, given how exotic that stuff is. You're making bank off them!"

Jason glanced over at Tess, who shrugged. "I never said you couldn't turn a profit if you put your mind to it. I just also think that it was a lot of work, and you probably could have made that same profit off the field in that time without all the extra labor you put in."

"Yeah, but..." Jason shrugged. "Now I can say that I successfully produced a crop of taro."

"Very true." Tess shrugged. She smiled, then turned back to the house. "Good job, my dearest husband!"

Jason smiled down after her, then sighed. "Well, any of you want to stay for dinner?"

"Nah. The missus will have my hide if I do." Jeremiah turned away. "We're having dinner with the... I can't even remember what their names are. Some friends of my wife from way out west. I think they're related to us somehow, but I can't remember anything except that they're terribly boring."

Jason glanced at Richard and Weatherhand, who shook their heads as well. "Sorry, Jason. We've got a big cattle drive to prepare for in a few days." Richard shrugged. "We had some sort of a giant monster smash through a bunch of fences, and some of our cattle got out. We got them all rounded up, but they managed to get a fungal infection in that time, so we have to get the herd all cleaned up before we can sell."

Weatherhand nodded wordlessly, then waved. Jason waved as well, and soon, all three observers were taking off. Jason and Milligan, though, quite

happily made their way back down to the farmhouse. Inside, Tess had lit the hearth, and the two men happily warmed themselves before its flames while Tess got some food ready.

When she brought it out, Jason was both delighted and surprised to find that she had put together one of those dishes that actually used taro! It was wrapped in leaves and served with a side of pork, and he sighed deeply. The girls both screwed up their noses, but he could only nod at her in thanks.

It had been a long haul to get a crop off the field... And, hopefully, he wasn't done yet.

Chapter Seventeen:

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 49 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 50th day of Fall! 41 days until the Fall Festival! It's looking like another chilly one, folks! Expect it to be bright and clear, though, so it'll feel way worse than it actually is! Ahh... Other than that, not much to report. Still no sign of rain on the horizon, though I do expect at least one major storm before the end of the season.]

Jason yawned and rolled out of bed. As he rose and stretched, he noticed that Tess was already gone. He chuckled a bit, then slowly walked up to the window. As he looked out across the frosty landscape, though, his eyes narrowed.

Tess, instead of being down with the girls, was out by the barn. She and Milligan were talking about something, and Milligan gave a nod of his head. With that, he turned and jogged off, jumping over the fence into the pasture. There, it looked like he started calling in the cattle, but Jason couldn't tell for sure. In any case, Jason was suddenly blindsided as two little girls in night robes burst through the door and jumped on him. "Where's mommy?"

"I want pantakes!"

"With ice cream!"

"Yay!"

"Slow down." Jason puffed out his cheeks. "I don't know what's going on with mommy. No ice cream for breakfast. Probably pancakes, but only with fruit or peanut butter. Got it?"

"Yes!" Fern nodded. "Can I change myself?"

Jason frowned. He was more than a bit distracted, and gave a nod. "Sure."

"Can I change Rachel?"

"Sure."

Both girls burst out giggling, and raced form the room. Jason closed the door behind them, then got changed and headed out and down the stairs. When he reached the kitchen, the cookbook flipped its pages happily at him, and he gave it a nod.

"Alright. I need a platter of pancakes, and a large dish of strawberries. Three plates."

There was a flash, and the dish appeared. Jason sat down, pulled a couple pancakes onto his own plate, then served the two girls. He was still cutting up their food when Tess appeared in the doorway, a small smile on her face. "Hey, Jason. You look like you're horrified about something."

"Not at all!" Jason shrugged. "I just want to make sure everything's okay with you. You looked like something's urgent, which usually means giant monsters or something of the kind."

"Something of the kind." Tess sighed. "Unfortunately, it is something fairly urgent. You remember that fungal infection that Richard mentioned offhandedly?"

Jason nodded. "Do we have it now?"

"Sure seems like it. I wrote him a letter to have him come check, and to offer advice." Tess shrugged. "He hasn't responded, but I imagine he'll be here soon. Milligan is getting the cattle back into the barn now. I'm going to ride for town here in just a few minutes."

"I'll get the girls ready." Jason nodded. "We'll hold down the fort here!" "Give them kisses for me." Tess gave Jason a kiss, then turned and raced out the door once again. As she left, footsteps echoed on the stairs, and Fern and Rachel appeared.

"We're dressed!"

Jason turned to find Fern in a blue dress set with a green cardigan, while Fern was in yellow footie pajamas covered in a pink blouse.

"Works for me." Jason shrugged. "Alright, come eat! We've got a big day ahead of us, I think."

"Where's mommy?"

"Gone, but she'll be home soon." Jason shrugged, then leaned forward. "We're going to go see cattle today."

"Yay!"

It took Jason almost an hour to wrangle the girls away from breakfast, into their coats and boots, and out the door. As he ran them across the driveway, Richard came down out of the barn. He and Jason shook hands, and Jason gave a nod in the direction of the cattle.

"What's the verdict?"

"They've got what I had, but a good bit worse." Richard grimaced. "It's sorta gross, I'm not sure if you want the girls to--"

"Whoa! That looks cool!"

"Well, they saw." Jason chuckled. He walked past Richard to where the two girls stood in the doorway, and looked past them at the herd.

Milligan was just getting the last of the cattle into the stalls. All of them, though, were... well... Infected. Across their backs, and on their faces, enormous, orange mushrooms bulged and trembled. Some of them were sprouting mushrooms out their legs, a few had toadstools on their tails. All in all, they looked utterly disgusting, and Jason wrinkled his nose.

"Wow!" He gasped. "What... what is this stuff?"

"I had Donald, the vet, up here to look at my own herd." Richard answered. "He said it's something going through a lot of the herds. When it infects a

herd, it randomly takes on an intensity of Level 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. I was lucky and just had a level 2. Level one is so mild that sometimes even Guild members won't detect it in time. This stuff you've got is a full-blown Level 5, I'm pretty sure of that."

"Is it deadly?"

Richard could only shrug. "It just appeared a month or so ago. Right now, they aren't even sure where it came from. Some people think it's a dungeon fungus that escaped, some folks think it came from overseas... No one really knows for sure. I mean, they're fairly certain that if it sticks around on the cattle for long enough, it'll suck up all their energy and they'll die, but it's not exactly clear how quickly that will happen."

"Huh." Jason shrugged. "Is it easy to cure?"

"You'll see in a few minutes!"

Jason couldn't argue with that. He quickly took the girls up the stairs to the loft, which, while crowded, could also be turned into a pretty good play place. Once he had them settled, he went back down, arriving just as Tess came back inside. She had a large kit in her hands, which she set on a nearby bench.

"Alright!" Her voice rang out over the assembled chaos. "Are all the cattle inside?"

"Yes!" Milligan called back. "I counted twice!"

"Good!" Tess nodded. "in that case, I'm going to be standing in the operating area, treating cattle! Milligan, push cattle to me! Richard, run the gates! Jason, stand close by and hand me medicines I ask for!" She paused, then looked upward. "Rachel, Fern!"

"What, mommy?"

"I love you!"

"I love you, too!"

The girls giggled and retreated—then, as near as Jason could tell—started playing Sick Cow. One of them would flop on their side, and the other would administer treatments. Jason, meanwhile, got into position as the whole process began.

All things considered; it was pretty simple. Milligan hopped into the pens and ran the cattle back out into the pasture. When they reached the narrow part of the alley, Richard closed them in, and Tess began treating their fungi. Jason found that part to be particularly fascinating, though, in part, that was because he was the one handing Tess all their medicine.

The treatments came in several parts. First, Tess took a swab, which she dunked in a reddish medicine. This was swabbed on all the fungi, one at a time, which could take quite awhile. This made the fungi darken from their orange state to a dark black. Then, a second, greenish swab made them dry up and fall off. A third medicine, a pour-over, killed any small spores still lingering in the fur, and finally, a shot gave an inoculant to kill any fungus that might try to re-infect the cattle.

It was a fascinating process, and Jason and Tess quickly fell into a routine. Jason would have a medicine ready in his right hand, take the old medicine from Tess in his left as he passed her the new one, set the old one on a table, and pick up the next one in line. In some cases, Tess went so fast that he could hardly keep up. In other cases, particularly with the ones that had to be swabbed on each individual fungus, it could take a long time, even up to five minutes per animal.

In any case, it was a problem that needed to be taken care of in its entirety, and immediately. The ground was soon littered with dried and shriveled mushrooms, necessitating that the alley be swept out every five or six cattle.

A pile began to grow just inside the pasture, where Richard pushed them, which soon grew nearly as high as the fence itself. Jason could only shake his head in amazement as they went along. When the fungi fell off, they left open patches that showed only bare skin, as all the hair in those places seemed to have been eaten away.

Still, though, through it all, he could see the effects it had on the cattle. Inside the barn, they seemed slow and sluggish, especially the ones that had fungi on their faces. When they left the barn, they raced out at a full gallop once more, kicking up their heels and prancing about in the cool, crisp air. Every single one brought a smile to Jason's face, that was for sure.

In any event, they were forced to work straight through lunch, not stopping until mid-afternoon when the last of them finally went running back out into pasture. Jason mopped his brow as they slowly walked back down, away from the barn.

"That was... interesting." Jason nodded at Richard in thanks. "Much appreciated."

"Anything, anytime." Richard murmured. "You'd have done the same in the reverse situation, leastways if I didn't have hired hands to help me."

"True enough." Jason stretched. "Alright! Well, who wants to eat? I'm famished."

"Me." Milligan held up a hand. "I don't always take up your offers, but I'm starving."

"Me, too!" Fern cried out. "Hungry!"

"Hungwy!"

"Then it's a good thing we live in a small town." Tess nodded at the house. The door popped open, revealing Elizabeth and Paulina, who had

apparently helped themselves to the kitchen. "I mentioned the problem, and they said they'd have everything taken care of."

Jason felt a great wave of relief and joy flood him. It had been a strange day, a crazy day, but... They had come through it alright, and now, they could get cleaned up and enjoy the company of good friends. The herd had been saved, and they got a good meal out of it in the process! Sure, it hadn't been his original plan, but he knew he couldn't complain in the slightest. Hard work only made the reward that much sweeter, and this time, the meal ahead certainly seemed rewarding indeed.

Chapter Eighteen: Good

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 50 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 60th day of Fall! 31 days until the Fall Festival! Today's about the perfect fall day you could imagine, folks! Crisp, but not too cold... Also the perfect day to head down to the Lazy-H Ranch for another pumpkin patch celebration! Games for the kids, prizes to be won, contests even for adults! And yes, there will be cannons. This almanac entry sponsored by the Lazy-H Ranch.]

Jason chuckled as he rolled out of bed, stretching as he hit the floor. He heard excited footfalls in the hallway, and grinned from ear to ear as he pulled on a warm tunic. As he finished getting himself dressed, the door burst open, and Fern and Rachel came racing inside.

"We get to go to Grandpa's to have fun!" Fern jumped up into his arms. He smiled and twirled, then gave her a toss onto the bed. "We get to cut up pumpkins and fight dragons and all sorts of other things!"

"Eat apples!" Rachel declared. "Pease we go now?"

Jason laughed and picked up Rachel as well, then tossed her onto the bed next to Fern. Both girls giggled and stood up, then started jumping on the springy mattress.

"We get to go to Grandpa's! We get to go to Grandpa's!"

Tess walked into the room, her eyes bleary, and she sighed. "They haven't been able to sleep since something like three o'clock this morning."

"They have been looking forward to today ever since it was announced." Jason started walking toward the door. "Shall we go get breakfast and then head out?"

"No!" Fern cried out. "Eat breakfast there!"

"Eat donut!"

"And cake!"

"And hot chocolate!"

Both girls shot past Jason in a blur of energy, and Jason frowned. "Do we really want them eating nothing but sugar today? The Fall Festival isn't that far away."

Tess shrugged. "It all has apples and stuff in it."

"That excuse didn't work for me when we first got married." Jason countered.

"You're not a five-year-old girl." Tess answered. She laughed and walked away, and Jason followed, laughing despite himself. All in all, it sounded like a good enough plan, and they were soon loaded up into the carriage and rumbling off down the road.

The wheels of the carriage rumbled happily across the uneven dirt as they made their way down to the Lazy-H. Richard had announced the event shortly after the debacle with the fungi infection. He claimed that it was entirely coincidental, but Jason certainly imagined that at least part of the reason was to try and assure the townsfolk that he wasn't harboring some sort of deadly disease that was going to infect all of them and their children. Thankfully, as they rumbled into view, Jason had to admit that they seemed to have succeeded, if that was indeed their goal.

The yard was filled with a wide assortment of games, while food stalls lined the drive. Already, there were almost a dozen carriages parked there, and more were coming down the road from both directions. A farm hand came out to meet them, letting the family climb down while he took the carriage over to be parked in the designated part of the field. Jason, Tess, and the

two girls slowly walked into the midst of it all, looking in wonder at the assortment.

"Bweakfast!" Rachel reminded them.

"Alright." Jason bent down. "Now, what do you want for--"

"Here!"

Both girls raced over to a stand where the sounds of bubbling oil could clearly be heard. Jason got in line to wait, with both girls bouncing beside him, while Tess walked off somewhere else. When they reached the front of the line, he found apple donuts frying in a great vat, which the attendant scooped out using a wire basket. He dumped the donuts onto a plate, and Jason paid him almost fifteen shandys before taking the girls over to the side. They sat down on a bench, and Jason broke the steaming hot donuts up for them.

"Yum!" Fern beamed as she bit into her morsel. "This is amazing!"

"I'm glad you like it!" Jason chuckled. He bit into his own, then frowned. "Now where did mommy--"

"And some apple cider to go with it." Tess walked up from behind them, several cups in her hand. She sat down, then handed Jason a steaming mug. He took a sip, it was the flavor of apple and cinnamon and cloves and other things more subtle for him to properly identify. It was marvelous, in any case, and he sighed deeply. "Drink up!"

They all sat there until there was nothing left but crumbs, and even those were soon licked up. Now, their stomachs full, they set off in search of... well... Whatever the ranch had to offer.

First up was the corn pit. A metal stock tank had been placed in the middle of the drive, and subsequently filled almost halfway up with corn kernels.

Jason and Tess set both girls down inside, and they quickly began digging and throwing kernels every which way.

"Mommy!" Fern cried out. "Rachel threw some corn down my shirt!"

"It was probably an accident." Tess shrugged.

Rachel simply giggled, then picked up another big handful of corn, leaned forward, and dumped it down Fern's shirt again. Fern stamped her foot, then dove forward, tackling Rachel into a large pile of the grain. Kernels exploded up into the air as they scrabbled, and Jason quickly rushed over and pulled Fern up.

"Fern!" Jason scolded her. "That wasn't good. You can't just tackle people, even if they did something mean to you."

"Unless they're trying to kill you or someone under your protection." Tess held up a finger. "Or if they're a criminal, or a known--"

"Tess." Jason raised an eyebrow. "If someone is trying to kill her, I want her to run. We can deal with the specifics of combat morals when she gets a little older."

Tess paused. "Fair." She turned to Rachel and started scolding her about dumping the corn down Fern's clothes. It took almost five minutes, but soon enough, they had it sorted out, and moved onto the next set of games. The next thing up was a maze made out of hay bales. It wasn't large, maybe fifty feet on every side. The walls were only about three feet tall, making it easy for parents wandering through the maze to see where they were going, while still giving children a sense of wonder. Several other parents were already taking their children through it as the family strolled up, and Jason smiled.

"Alright, girls, do you--"

"I want to do it myself." Fern declared. "Please?"

"Can you take Rachel?" Tess asked.

Fern thought for a moment, then nodded. "I'll take her if she behaves." "Rachel?"

"I'll listen to her!"

Jason gave a nod, and Fern gripped Rachel's hand. They raced into the maze together, and Jason laughed as he and Tess walked around to the exit. "It's incredible to see them working together, you know that?"

Tess gave a nod. "What makes me laugh is the fact that they can be mortal enemies one moment, and best friends the next."

"You have met your brother, right?" Jason raised an eyebrow. "I'd say he pretty much fits that description perfectly. Sometimes, he's the best guy in the world. Other times... well..."

"Oh, stuff it. You love Daniel and you know it."

Jason could only chuckle softly. "Fair."

As they reached the exit, the two of them leaned against each other, sighing deeply in contentment.

"Howdy, neighbor!" Richard came sidling up, a grin on his face. "Lose your girls?"

"In your maze." Jason laughed. "What's up?"

"Ahh, not much. Just enjoying the day." Richard shrugged. He held out a hand, which Jason shook, and then he gave Tess a hug. "You mind if I catch the girls when they come out?"

"Go for it." Jason nodded.

Richard crouched down and spread his arms wide. A few moments later, a child came rushing out, and Richard leapt forward.

"Gotcha!"

Instead of grabbing Fern or Rachel, though, he found himself looking at the two-and-a-half year old Michael. Michael seemed just as surprised as Richard, and the older man blinked and slowly let go of him.

"Free hugs for everyone, now?" Obadiah walked up from the side. Michael ran to his daddy, and Richard turned as red as a tomato. Obadiah was shaking with laughter, and Jason and Tess both laughed as well. "Now that seems a little too generous. Seems to me like something fishy is going on around here. You're not trying to win us over to some sort of coup, like Jeremiah was always trying to do, are you?"

Richard coughed. "Ahh... Sorry."

Behind him, Fern and Rachel came racing out. They hugged his legs, since he was turned away, and he sheepishly turned back around and hugged them instead of Michael. Obadiah continued to laugh as he turned and walked away, and Jason raised an eyebrow.

"Coup?"

"Just a little joke from the last time I was in town." Richard shrugged. "That little fungi outbreak is making some waves up in Illumitir. Apparently Hank got involved. I don't have all the details, but there have been more government men out at my property than I care to think about. Jeremiah was always threatening to rebel and declare independence from Illumitir, and I've got half a mind to take up the banner now that he's mellowed out a bit."

"Well, I'd like to hear more of the story." Jason laughed. "Maybe over winter, you and Weatherhand can come up to the house for dinner."

"I'd like that." Richard tipped his hat, then turned away. "Well, I don't mean to cut and run, but I'm afraid I've got some odds and ends to take care of. Catch you around!"

He wandered away, while Tess and Jason slowly took the girls through the rest of the farm. There was a petting zoo, filled with goats and sheep and some bottle calves and little foals. He had some turkeys, and some pheasants, and even an owl, over in some bird cages. And, of course, there were a great deal more games. Many of them were for adults, which Jason and Tess had to avoid for the sake of the girls (such as a rather interesting one that involved throwing hatchets), but they bobbed for plenty of apples, went through a corn maze, flung pumpkins using a giant catapult, and even fired a canon at an array of pumpkins set up throughout the pastures. Jason actually managed to hit one of them, and won a pumpkin pie as a result. They stayed until lunchtime, where they ate pulled pork sandwiches in the barn, then headed back home. Both girls were growing weary from being up so early, and Jason laid them down on the small footboard of the carriage so they wouldn't fall over sitting up. He and Tess held hands as Angus carried them off toward home once more, and Jason sighed.

"That was... Lovely." He glanced at Tess. "Thank you."

"For what? I wasn't the one who put it on!" Tess laughed.

Jason shrugged. "Yeah, but..." He paused. "Without you, we wouldn't have a family to have taken, you know."

"You contribute to that, too."

"Fair." Jason sighed deeply, and the two of them leaned against each other. He didn't say anything more... But then, he didn't really have to. They were together... And that was all that mattered.

Chapter Nineteen: Easy

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 85th day of Fall! 6 days until the Fall Festival! We're coming up on the end of the season, folks, so if you have anything else to get done, now's your last chance! It's cold today, and I expect that to remain the case up to the time that winter begins!]

Jason shivered as he rolled out of bed and slowly walked up to the window. Indeed, he could feel the chill even before he reached the glass. The wind howled across the prairie, making the windows rattle in their fittings. There wasn't a layer of frost, but Jason imagined that it was cold enough that frost could have formed, if the wind would only have allowed it. The whole house seemed to creak under the buffeting weather, and through the haze (for it was quite overcast) he could see the prairie churning like a raging ocean. The barn was holding up well enough, but the windmill was whirling wildly.

"Good morning." Tess poked her head in the door. She had a smile on her face, and gave a small nod. "I'm glad you're up."

"Everything okay?" Jason frowned.

"Yeah, okay enough." Tess walked up to him and put her arms around his shoulders. "It's just a lot of wind, and it's nice to have you around in weather like this."

Jason flashed a small smile at her, then sighed deeply. Unfortunately, he had very little time to stay in the house. There were a number of odds and ends that he and Milligan needed to get done before winter hit, and the time to get such things done was rapidly growing short. He gave her a kiss, then walked over to the wardrobe and started pulling on clothing.

"You're not seriously going out in all this, are you?" Tess blinked in surprise.

"I have to." Jason tugged on a warm, long-sleeved flannel, then pulled up his overalls. "We have 6 days until the festival. One of those days is a Sunday, so no work on that day. 5 work days, and I have to get the Far Eighty and New Eighty harvested, I have to harvest the last crop of taro off the Homestead Eighty, I have a section of fence along the New Eighty that needs repaired, some more shingles blew off the barn roof, you have one last cattle drive, I desperately need to tighten down the window in the dining room, the carriage wheel started to squeak, and I need to get all my equipment cleaned up for the winter so it doesn't rust." He sighed and shrugged. "The last several days have been nuts, so I've been putting it all off, but I really need to get to it."

"That's fair." Tess grimaced. "Just stay safe. You'll have to be the one to explain to the girls that it's too dangerous for them to go out."

"Fair enough." Jason shrugged and chuckled. He finished pulling on some thermal socks, then trooped out into the hallway. He could hear giggling from below, and frowned. As he walked into the kitchen, there were two loud pops, and several blasts of confetti were shot over him.

"Bleh!" He spat out a strand that had landed in his mouth, but smiled, nonetheless. "What's the special occasion?"

"Richard brought them by early this morning." Tess laughed. "He apparently bought a bunch of them for his fall festival thing, and then forgot to actually bring them out, so now he's just giving them away."

"And what was Richard doing by here?" Jason sat down at the table. It was already covered in food, and he eagerly tucked in. There were eggs,

sausage, and a great deal more. The girls looked to have mostly finished, which he supposed was a good thing.

"He's itching to get things done before winter, just like you." Tess shrugged. "I guess it's just a man-thing."

"Men!" Fern scrunched up her nose. "Gross!"

"Hey!" Jason crossed his arms in mock indignation. "Men aren't--" He paused when he realized that he was talking to his daughter. "You know what? Fair. Men are really gross, and you should never have anything to do with one. Especially if he wants to marry you."

"I'll go be a farmer and never get married!" Fern declared. "I'll get cattle and sheep and cats and never have kids!"

Tess raised an eyebrow, and Jason sighed once more.

"Well... Okay, so men aren't that gross. They're gross until you're old enough that I say you can start thinking they're not gross. And even then--" Jason held up a fork with a half-eaten bit of sausage. "They're still mostly gross. Just slightly less gross than before."

Fern giggled. "Daddy's being funny!"

Rachel laughed as well, though she was only laughing because Fern was laughing, and Jason sighed.

"Any help, Tess?"

Tess shrugged. "Nah. Even if you marry one, men are still pretty gross." "Well, this man has work to do, and doesn't have to sit around here to be belittled by his favorite women." Jason finished eating, then stood up and gave his two girls kisses on the forehead, then gave Tess a quick hug. "My women who are also quite gross."

"We gross!"

"Gross!"

Rachel picked up a pancake, dripping with syrup, and threw it at the wall. It stuck, then slowly started sliding down, and the girls just about fell out of their chairs laughing.

"Gross!"

Jason shrugged. "Well, they're all yours now. Bye!"

Tess snorted good-naturedly, though she had a smile on her face. Soon, Jason was striding down into the yard, bracing himself against the sheer winds that tore across the prairie there.

The wind whipped and tore at him, trying to knock him over. He imagined that it wouldn't take much effort to do, that was for sure. It was a bitter wind. Easily as cold as he had seen in winter many a time before, and stronger than he had felt in a good while, at least stronger than anything that had come outside of a storm. He saw the door to the barn cracked slightly open, and staggered up to where Milligan was waiting, just outside of the raging wind.

"Morning, boss." Milligan was rubbing his hands together, though he stopped as Jason walked up. "How goes it?"

"Gross, apparently." Jason answered, then laughed at Milligan's confused look. "It's a long story. What are we looking at today?"

"I'm going to be honest, boss, it's going to be rough if we try to harvest today." Milligan shrugged. "The wind is coming straight out of the west. It's a little better out across the prairie, since the forest does skirt up to the west of us, but it's not a lot. The horses are going to struggle, and besides that, it's just plain cold."

Jason grimaced. "The problem is that I just don't see what else we can do. We don't have the materials to do the other projects on my plate, I haven't

had a chance to get into town to buy the rest of it. The taro will spoil in two days, and the corn will spoil in three. Our time is now, you know?"

"Trust me, I get it." Milligan stroked his mustache. "Look, the fact of the matter is that if you want to go out there, you know I'm going to be right behind you. The choice is up to you."

Jason thought for a long moment, then gave a small nod. "We're going to do it."

Milligan nodded back, and the two men quickly strode down into the howling wind. Once more, it threatened to tear them from the face of the earth, it fought to flatten them. Milligan brought the two horses out of the stable, and Jason worked quickly to get them hitched up. His fingers nearly numbed as he fastened the straps down around the great steed, and his teeth chattered as he climbed up onto the harvester's bench. It was settling in to be a cold day, but... Hey, that was part of what made farming so worthwhile.

Milligan rumbled off the moment he had Dusty ready, and Jason followed a moment later. Off they went, past the paddy, past the pump, and out across the rolling hills of prairie grass. Jason paused as they went past the paddy, looking over the bright-green leaves floating underneath the murky waters. They looked none the worse for wear despite the bad weather, which was another benefit of the underwater plant. The corn had taken quite a beating that fall, but the taro crop had repeatedly come through without a hitch.

As they rumbled across the prairie, the wind continued to bite and sting, and didn't cease as they entered the Far Eighty. The blades whirred to life, and Jason gritted his teeth. Corn was particularly satisfying to harvest. The stalks had a loud, crackling sort of noise they made as the blades tore through them, and the kernels rattled far louder and with more gusto than

some of the other grains as it was all dumped into the farm's inventory. On top of it all, the empty cobs rattled about loudly as they were tossed about by the blades, and several made loud pings as they were flung from the back of the machine to fly across the field.

Even with all that, though, Jason found himself simply having to grit his teeth to muscle through the fray. The wind blew colder and colder, harder and harder. He could see Angus trembling, but the mighty horse had been trained well, and didn't give up. So neither did Jason. Onward they plunged, onward they went. The one bright side was that the wind was so strong that the dust was blown away almost instantly, making it so that Jason wasn't bothered in the least by any of it. He clung to that small consolation as his fingers grew colder, and his face stung painfully.

By the time they finished the first field, Jason was so cold he was almost stiff. He and Milligan brought the horses up to the stables and painfully undid their straps before turning the mighty beasts into their stalls. The horses bunkered down in the hay, and the two men added some blankets before making their way into Milligan's cabin.

"I don't have much in the way of food, but I have a sourdough starter." Milligan offered. "Give me twenty minutes, and I'll have a loaf of bread on the table that will make your mouth water just from the smell."

"I look forward to it." Jason sank into a chair gratefully. A warm fire started up in the stove, and with that, heat began to fill the whole of the house.

It was a cold day, a bitter day, but they were making it through, nonetheless. They would have a nice rest, probably a somewhat longer one than usual, and then they would get back to the grindstone. Still, though, as Jason sat there, he felt... Refreshed. Hard work was good, and that year, he seemed to be getting more of it than usual.

He only hoped that he would be able to push through the next several days until the Festival came, and along with it, his long winter's rest.

Chapter Twenty: 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 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 91st day of Fall! It's the day of the Fall Festival! You all know the drill by now, so get out here! It's actually an incredibly pleasant day today, so we'll be having most of the festival outside. Bring your pies, bring your pumpkins, bring your corn, and get on out here as soon as you can!]

Jason's bleary eyes were still reading over the message when he caught sight of something tumbling down on top of him. It wasn't a girl, that much was obvious, and his hand snapped up reflexively to catch the hat rack that had apparently just fallen on him. Beside him, Tess stirred in her sleep, and he pushed the rack upright and slowly sat up.

"Sorry, daddy!" Fern looked up at him from the side of the bed. "I was pretending it was a giant! So I tackled it!"

Jason blinked the sleep out of his eyes, then chuckled. He held out his arms, and Fern scrambled up onto the bed. She gave him a big hug, and Jason frowned.

"Where's your sister?"

"She's out with the other kids. I decided to stay here."

"Ahh." Jason gave a nod. "Well, why don't you go run along and keep an eye on your sister? Just to make sure she stays out of trouble?"

"Okay, daddy!"

Fern hopped off the bed and raced away, and Jason chuckled.

"They've got a lot of energy, those two."

"Indeed." Tess murmured. She had a smile on her face, and slowly sat up in bed and stretched. "Happy Fall Festival!"

Jason smiled back, gave her a kiss, and then got dressed quickly. When he was done, he slipped out into the hall, and soon located the two girls in the main dining area of the inn. To his delight, they were too busy playing a game of tag to be bothered with eating a great deal of sweets, so he was able to gather up a plate of (relatively) healthy food, and then called them over once he was done. They scampered over and jumped up onto chairs, and Tess joined them as the two girls tucked in.

"Well, what's the plan for today?" Jason asked as they ate their rather lovely breakfast. "Do you have anyone you're planning on talking to, or are we just wandering?"

"Actually..." Tess blushed slightly. "Paulina convinced me to set up a mock schoolroom in the Guild Hall. I'll be running a mock classroom for an hour or so, just to show some of the other moms what I've been working on." "You're going to be a teacher before too much longer." Jason chuckled. "Would that be such a bad thing?" Tess batted her eyes at him.

"Yes." Jason pointed a fork at her. "Then you'll be gone all the time, and our kids will have their heads all crammed full of knowledge, and they'll be able to outsmart us, and..."

Tess leaned forward. "Jason, they can already outsmart us."

"No, they can't." Jason turned to the two girls, only to realize that they had slipped away from the table while he had been focused on Tess. They both laughed, and he finished up the last few eggs from Fern's plate. That done, the two of them stood, and Tess gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Don't worry your head about it. I'm just showing off some skills I've learned so the other mothers can do the same with their kids."

"Go have fun with it, then." Jason smiled. "I'll be off jawing with the menfolk, soon as I can find any of them."

Tess smiled in reply, then snagged Rachel and Fern and led them out into the town square. Jason went back to the room and got everything packed up, then checked out of the hotel and made his way to the carriage, where he stowed away everything in the luggage compartment. When all of that was done, he wandered back to the main square, where things were turning into a proper hive of activity.

When he had first come to Summer Shandy, the mornings of festival days had largely just been for setting things up, with the main body of celebrations coming later. Now, a decade later, the festivities pretty much started as soon as everyone woke up in the morning, and continued until they went to bed. Sure, there were people rushing about setting up decorations, but people were already milling about, chatting here and there, while a few yard games were eagerly being enjoyed by more than a few of them. Jason himself wandered up to the town well, which, despite being used almost exclusively by the two women for their tasks, always seemed to become the gathering ground for the menfolk.

"Howdy, Jason." Obadiah waved as Jason wandered up. Jeremiah was nowhere to be seen, which was somewhat unusual, but Richard stood just next to Obadiah, a thoughtful look on his face. "How's it going out on the farm?"

"Well enough." Jason flashed a small smile. "I managed to get three taro harvests off that paddy over the course of the fall, which I'm not complaining about in the slightest. I also managed to get everything done that I needed to get done over the course of the last week, which has just been miserably cold, so I can't complain there, either!"

Obadiah nodded with a smile on his face. "It's been awful, that's for sure. I was afraid we were going to have to cancel the festival outright, but then we

got a nice warm snap come through."

Jason nodded, then glanced around. "Where's Jeremiah?"

"Interviewing a candidate about the job of constable." Obadiah answered with a shrug. "Some guy from Darkwater, I think. I don't think he's a great match, but Jeremiah seems to be at least interested enough to give him an interview. I guess we'll see how it turns out."

"And no one else is showing up to ask about the job?" Jason queried. Richard laughed. "I mean... It's not like Summer Shandy has a high crime rate. Most of what you do is sit at the town well and chat with people who walk by, and then handle all the paperwork that makes everyone else in the town angry at you. It's not exactly a job that a lot of people would like."

"If it truly comes down to it, I can take on the position for a little while." Obadiah put in. "I'd rather not try to jungle both jobs at once, but with the kids getting older, Paulina can juggle some of the paperwork while I handle the grunt portion of things. We could make it work for long enough to find someone, even if we just have to put in to the constable's guild for a random replacement. I'd rather avoid that possibility, but it's always an option if we need it."

Jason nodded thoughtfully. "If I happen to run into anyone who seems a good fit, I'll be sure to let you know." He glanced over at Richard. "What about you? Anything new with that whole fungi business?"

Richard shook his head. "Nothing terribly interesting, just a whole bunch of regulations. You can only buy cattle from certain areas of the continent now; they're trying to restrict its movement. I suppose that's probably a good thing in the long run, but it's driving up the price of cattle something awful. Everyone who has cattle is selling them at higher prices since the demand is higher as well. Now, meat prices have soared through the roof as

well, so I can't really complain there, but..." He shrugged. "You know how it is. Bit of give, bit of take, that's the market. I feel awful sorry for the folks down in Portswain, though. They're the ones being hit by the embargo the hardest, I've heard that there's just no meat to be had down there."

Jason frowned. "And they still don't know what caused it?"

"Nope." Richard shook his head.

"Hank sent me a letter, actually." Obadiah spoke up. "Sounds like he's on the trail of the stuff, at least in some respect. He started following paper trails, documenting when it appeared and didn't appear, and thinks he's actually figured out where it came from."

"Really? Now that's something I'll be interested in hearing about, once it all comes together." Jason frowned in thought. "Tess hasn't mentioned anything about it, but I assume she has it all under control."

Richard gave a simple nod of his head. "Tess is on top of things, I've been talking about it with her. I found a single buyer way out west who has one of those mega-herds. Millions of cattle, completely self-sustaining. He's still selling at reasonable prices, so long as you buy a certain amount of them, so we're partnering."

"Sounds good to me!" Jason laughed. "You guys certainly seem to love your animals. Just tell me if you need anything. Hopefully no more of that gunk, but..."

"Meh. If it happens, we'll deal with it again." Richard shrugged. He motioned off to one side. "Pardon me, but I'm afraid I have to step away to catch Cecilia. She sent me a letter that she's closing shop early today, and I have some things I really need to buy."

Jason nodded and watched as Richard jogged away. He chatted with Obadiah for a bit longer, then left and wandered into the Guild Hall. There,

he found Tess's schoolroom down at the end closest to the bookshelves, with just about every mom and kid from Summer Shandy clustered around. "Alright!" Tess called out. "Count up the number of ducks, and then run that many laps!"

A stampede was the result as a dozen children tore away from the desks and blackboard, thundering around the guild hall. Jason laughed as he was nearly bowled over. Several of the other dads stood by, drinking cider and whiskeys as they watched the ordeal. Jason joined them, and one of them nodded.

"That's your wife, right? Tess?"

Jason gave a nod. "That's her."

"Is she like this at home, too?"

Jason could only laugh. "Turned our whole dining room into a school! The girls are learning lots, though, and it keeps them busy. I know all the mischief I got up to when I was a kid, so I imagine it's a good thing."

"Me, too." The father, who had a long beard that fell nearly to his chest, frowned and took a sip. "You reckon she'd be willing to teach any other kids? Only thing I can read are price tags in the item shop, and I still have scars from jumping off the Guild Hall when I was a kid."

"Me, too!" Another dad rolled up his sleeve, exposing a rather long, rippling mark across his skin. "Landed right on a big, burly guy from down south. His reflexes kicked in, he threw me halfway across the town before he realized I was a kid and not a goblin."

Jason chuckled, then shrugged. "Truth be told, I don't know what Tess is up for, and what she isn't. She'd make a good schoolteacher, I'm fairly confident of that."

The other fathers began to express their opinion on the subject, and to Jason's surprise, all of them were extremely optimistic about the idea. Jason's stomach flip-flopped, but he put it aside. If that was the direction their lives were heading next, he knew he would make it work. It was different, but then again, their lives seemed to change directions every few years, anyway.

In any case, they were heading straight into wintertime, which would give them plenty of time to think about it. They could weight the pros and cons, and then... Maybe... by the time spring came around, they would have an answer.

Chapter Twenty-One: First Day of

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 1st day of Winter! 90 days until the Winter Festival! That temperature dropped fast when midnight came, I'll tell you that, folks! We're now well below freezing, with a heavy snow falling. As per the usual on winter days, if you were planning on getting any work done, I highly suggest you abandon those plans now!]

Jason stretched as he rolled out of bed. Tess was still asleep, though he could hardly blame her for that. While he and the girls had come back shortly after dinner, Tess had stayed until past midnight answering questions about schooling. She had only come home with Richard when her father had forced her out the door. Jason pulled the blanket up over Tess a bit higher, then dressed in a warm tunic and headed out into the house.

The air was chilly, and he shivered as he made his way downstairs. When he reached the living room, he found both girls on the couch, underneath a blanket. They were shivering as well, and Fern pointed at the fireplace. "Daddy! It went out!"

"Then I'll get it going again." Jason tossed a handful of logs into the hearth, and held up his hands as warm rays of light flooded out and began to fill the room. "There we go! That ought to be better."

"Thank you, daddy!" Fern snuggled a bit closer to Rachel. "We'll stay here, nice and toasty warm, until you have breakfast ready!"

"Bweakfast!" Rachel jumped off the couch, taking the blanket with it. Fern scowled and kicked her legs up into the air in frustration, and Jason chuckled.

"It's alright, Fern. Come on, and you can help me."

They all made their way to the kitchen, where Jason quickly whipped up some eggs, bacon, and sausage. It wasn't a huge meal by any stretch, but it was filling enough, and the three of them had soon finished. With that, the girls jumped down and raced away, laughing and giggling.

"Rachel! I'm a dragon, and you're the little pup!"

"Ahh!" Rachel screamed. "Don't eat me, big dwagon!"

"Munch, munch, munch! I ate you!"

"Did not! I thwew a bone in yours mouth!"

Fern proceeded to start making a gagging noise, and fell on the floor with a loud crash. Jason winced as he heard Tess moan from upstairs, and he clapped his hands.

"Alright, we're going to have quiet fun today."

"What kind of fun is quiet?" Fern climbed up. "That sounds boring!" "Yeah!" Rachel chimed in. "Bowing!"

"Ahh..." Jason bit his lip, then walked up to the front door. He poked his head outside, where he found torrents of thick, white flakes tumbling down. "What if we go outside?"

"It's cold!"

"But we'll bundle up!" Jason declared. "And we'll play in the snow, and we'll..." A thought struck him. "We can go ice skating!"

"Yay!" Fern cheered and clapped her hands, then paused. "What's ice skating?"

"I'll show you in a few minutes." Jason waved them upstairs. "Come on, we need to get dressed."

"Can I dress myself and Rachel?" Fern batted her eyes at Jason.

"Ahh... Yes." Jason nodded. "Gives me more time to get ready, actually."

The two girls quickly thundered up the stairs, taking the steps three at a time, and generally causing every last ounce of the noise and chaos Jason had been hoping to avoid. He chuckled and sighed, then walked to the broom closet and pulled out a broom, then went to the front door and pulled on his boots.

Not long after, the two girls came racing back, dressed in the oddest mismatch of winter clothes that Jason thought he had ever seen. Still, though, they did look warm. He put the red-and-yellow clothed Fern and the pink-and-green clothed Rachel in their snow boots, wrapped them up in coats, and sent them outside.

In the yard, flakes drifted down fat and thick, landing on them even as they strode toward the paddy. The girls followed Jason, apprehensive, but terribly interested in what he was doing. The snow had drifted to a height of several inches by this point—which didn't make it terribly difficult to walk around in, but did make the girls—in particular, stumble a little bit. Finally, though, they came to the paddy, and Jason swung the gate open and allowed the two of them to walk up onto the icy surface.

Jason had considered draining the paddy for the winter, but had decided against it, largely because his schedule had just been so crazy that he hadn't had the time. Now, he was glad that it had stuck around. He pulled out the broom, then began to walk across the ice quickly, sweeping away the growing layer of light snow. In its place was a long, glassy sheet of ice. Thankfully, it seemed to have frozen clean down to the soil (or at least close to it), which negated the danger of falling through the ice. Once Jason had swept away a decent portion, he turned, braced himself, and shoved out across the ice.

"Wheeeee!" Jason grinned as he sailed over to the fence. "Come on! Try it!"

Fern slowly held out her hand, which Jason took. Together, they shoved off once more, skating gently across the ice. Fern grinned widely, then let go and started to spin.

"Come on, Rachel! This is fun!"

Rachel stepped forward, slipped, and fell flat on her backside. She stuck out her lip, but Jason glided back over to her and helped her up.

"You fell!" He laughed. It was a fake laugh, but one thing he had learned was that laughing at the potential injury of a child (as long as it wasn't actually serious) was an easy way to make them get back up. Rachel grinned from ear to ear, and allowed Jason to help pull her back to her feet. "I did! I won't this time, though!"

Jason glided forward with Rachel, moving slowly and carefully. Fern was getting the hang of it, shuffling along slowly. She held out her hand for Rachel, and the two of them started skating together. Jason took up the broom and re-swept the area, then started making it a bit larger.

"Howdy, boss."

Jason looked up as Milligan came riding up on Dusty. He swung down from his horse near the gate, and Jason walked over and leaned against the fence. Milligan did the same from the other side, and they watched the two girls at play.

"I haven't seen anything like this in... Must be almost ten years." Milligan whistled. "I was on a run to a greenhouse way up north, some little client kingdom with a castle and three farming villages, and I saw something like this. They'd cleaned off an entire lake, must have been a mile wide, shaved down the surface so it was smooth, and then made these shoes with little

blades on them. Made you shoot across the ice like you were flung out of a catapult." Milligan paused. "Actually, they did have a giant slingshot there you could stand in, it would fling you out across the ice, sometimes as much as three-quarters of a mile if you stayed in a straight line."

"Sounds like a blast." Jason laughed slightly. "If I ever leave Summer Shandy, I might have to get up there."

"Your list of places to visit if you ever leave Summer Shandy is as long as the road between here and Illumitir." Milligan snorted. "And you're never going to check a single one off your list because that would require actually leaving Summer Shandy, which we both know you're not going to do even long enough to take a vacation."

"Fair enough." Jason crossed his arms and chuckled. "Anything I can do for you today?"

"Nah." Milligan shook his head. "All the cattle are in the pasture out by my cabin, I already checked them. I only came up to the house to check on the chickens and things, then I'll be heading back out."

"Big plans for the winter?" Jason called as Milligan ambled off toward the barn.

"Just ones involving the greenhouse." Milligan frowned, and a smirk came across his face. "I was considering crossing a monstertrap with the Serial Meateater Pitcher Plant from the jungles way down south, but..."

Jason bent down, scooped up a snowball, and threw it at his hired man. Milligan dodged it and walked away, laughing, and Jason turned his attention back to his girls. He went around the ice-skating rink once more, sweeping off a bit more of the area, and sighed deeply.

It wasn't a crazy day, it was impossibly simple in the grand scheme of things, but... There was something incredibly wonderful about it. Fern and

Rachel, holding their hands tightly, as they glided to and fro over the ice. Fern looked up and caught Jason's eye, and she held out her hand. Jason stepped up and took hold of it, and together, the three of them skated around the area, over the frozen mud, just... Enjoying the company of each other. Truly, in so many ways, there was no better season than winter. It was a season dedicated entirely to family, entirely to the joy of just being with one another, staying warm, and eating good food. The work of spring, summer, and fall was done. Yes, there were things he needed to do to prepare for spring, but it was the very first day of winter. He would get all of that done as it came.

For now, he was going to enjoy the time with his daughters. Everything else, in his mind, was quite secondary to that.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Story

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 15th day of Winter! 76 days until the Winter Festival! It's cold and frozen, folks, but that should be about it! Expect high winds starting tomorrow, followed by a dip in temperatures and a major storm in probably two weeks' time. Until then, just stay warm and cozy, and take advantage of the calm to get outside and get work done!]

As Jason slowly rose, he found Tess missing, which he thought was rather unusual. She had started to sleep in a bit more than usual through the winter, due largely to the somewhat less urgent nature of things. He yawned and stretched, then rose and walked to the wardrobe. He changed into a warm tunic, then went out and down the stairs, where Tess was snuggling the two girls in the living room. They were reading a story by the fire, and Rachel scooted aside to allow Jason to sit down next to Tess as she finished up.

"And then the giant was slain and thrown into the ocean! His skull became a new island, which can still be seen today. The end!"

Jason smiled at them. "Early morning story time is the best, isn't it?"

"This isn't story time! This is school!" Fern grinned. "This is the history of Illumitir!"

She jumped down and raced away, and Rachel followed.

"Food!"

Jason chuckled as he slowly stood up. "I have to admit, I've not heard that particular history before."

Tess shrugged. She handed the book to Jason. "This particular series of books covers bits and pieces of history that aren't usually covered in

schools."

"Well, it certainly looks good enough to me." Jason shrugged. He passed it back and grinned. "Have fun with it!"

"I will." Tess tossed the book onto a pile at the end of the couch, then started wandering toward the kitchen. "I... do have somewhat of an odd question, though."

"Shoot." Jason entered the kitchen, where a handful of plates had already been set out. They were piled high with biscuits, while a bowl of gravy sat at the center of the table. They all sat down and tucked in. "What's up?" "It's actually about my cattle." Tess apologized. "I'm afraid that these might be suffering from the fungi, too."

Jason scowled. "What does that mean?"

"It just means we need to treat it all again." Tess answered. "I got a letter from Milligan, he's coming down in an hour or so to help, once he finishes up with some project or another in the greenhouse. Richard is coming up from the Lazy-H Ranch, too, and I think he's bringing Weatherhand."

Jason stroked his chin. "Does Richard have it?"

"Another mild case, but yes." Tess answered. "We still don't know what's causing it or anything, but at this point, we can only assume that the herd out west must have contracted it somehow."

"Interesting." Jason crossed his arms as he continued to eat. "It's just such a strange sort of disease. It's not terribly fatal, and it's super easy to cure, it just keeps making a mess of things."

"Tell me about it." Tess puffed out her cheeks. "There's a cattle drive in a week. If I can get it all cured before three days prior to the drive, I ought to be fine, and won't suffer any penalties. They'll send an inspector out at that

time, if they detect any of it when he gets here, I won't be able to sell at all."

"Then I suppose we're treating fungi again today." Jason chuckled.

"I'm really sorry." Tess sighed. "I know this is taking a lot of your time. When you were going crazy with the rice paddy, you didn't take up any of my time, but with this whole fungi thing, it seems like all I'm doing is taking up yours."

"Ahh, don't worry about it." Jason leaned over and gave her a kiss. "It'll be good for me!" He paused after a moment, though. "The one and only issue I see would be the kids. It's really cold out there, and they would have to be out there all by themselves. I mean, they'd be in the barn with us, and it's not terrible in there, but I'd still rather not put them through that."

"And that's what I was going to suggest." Tess answered. "If you'd like, I can go out and work on the cattle while you stay inside with the girls. It does cut into getting anything accomplished at your desk, which I think you had mentioned you were planning on doing today, but..."

"It'll be fine! I love these two." Jason hugged them both, then shrugged. "Although, if you want, we could do the reverse, too. I know you're trying to get a lot of schooling done, and I can treat that fungi gunk."

Tess frowned. "Are you sure? That's a lot of work."

"Anything for my dearest wife." Jason stood up and gave her a kiss on the forehead, then slowly turned away. "Stay inside, have fun with the kiddos! Stay nice and warm! Between Milligan and Richard, we'll be able to figure things out!"

"Well... Thank you!" Tess called after him. "That really means a lot!" "Not a problem!"

Jason slipped back upstairs and changed out of his tunic and into work clothes, then went back down, pulled on insulated work boots and a thick coat, kissed each of the girls good-bye, and then slipped out into the cold weather.

It hadn't gotten above freezing since that first day of winter. The snow that had fallen at that point had largely stuck around, though it showed almost two weeks of footprints, and a good bit of it had evaporated away, leaving little more than a cold crust here and there. When Jason reached the barn, he pulled the doors open, then went inside and started adjusting gates. He didn't know the cattle as well as Tess, but he could get things set up, at least. When that was done, he walked down into the pasture, made sure all the gates were open up into the barn, and pulled some pellets out of his inventory.

"Here, cows! Come on!"

He dumped the pellets into a bucket and shook it, and soon, the great beasts appeared over the hills, lumbering along at a slow and steady pace. Sure enough, they were sporting more of the strange, fungal growth. Jason scratched his head, unable to figure it out, but then, he supposed that he really didn't need to figure it out. He led the cattle up into the barn, where they ambled into their pens, and poured them out all a bit of food to keep them occupied and satisfied while they were stuck inside. He then snuck around and closed up the gate behind them, and made his way to the main portion of the barn to wait for people.

Thankfully, he didn't have long to wait. Milligan was the first to arrive. He swung down out of the saddle and grinned at Jason.

"No wife today? You drew the short straw?"

"Volunteered to draw the short straw." Jason countered, though he had a smile on his face. "I figured I'd give Tess the day off, you know?"

"You're a better man than most, Jason." Milligan slipped over to the table, where someone would be applying the actual medicines. "Alright, what job do you want? You have the option of getting kicked when you push the animals into the chute, getting head-butted when you try to run the gate, or getting covered in fungal gunk when you apply medicines."

"I figured I would be the guy handing the medicine person the medicines." Jason had to flash a smile.

"Ahh, I'll cover that myself." Milligan waved his hands. "You and Tess could do it together 'cause you're married, but that'll just cause chaos. I suggest you push the cattle in."

"Alright, then." Jason shrugged. "Just tell me when and where."

"How about now, and right there." Richard came riding up into the barn. It was just him, no Weatherhand, and he grimaced. "Wow. Tess wasn't joking. That's almost as bad as the first time. I wish I could stay the whole day, but the stuff hitting my herd is actively mutating at the moment."

"Mutating?" Jason frowned.

"It was at a Level 3 when we detected it last night." Richard shrugged. "It's already increased to Level 5 right now, and it seems to be progressing to a Level 6."

"I didn't think it could hit level 6." Jason frowned.

"Neither did we." Richard sighed. "Anyway, I have to get back to my own farm, unfortunately, though I'm here for as much time as is needed."

"Then let's menfolk get this party started!" Milligan grinned. "Richard, you're on gates! Jason, bring me cattle! Fast as you can, just about!"

Jason nodded, then walked to the first pen of cattle. He swung the gate open, then stepped inside and held up his arms. The steer closest to the gate took one look at him, then snorted and started walking out into the alley. Jason patted it on the rump, trying not to touch the large, flat-capped mushroom growing out of the head of its tail. The great beast was slow and lethargic, and quickly allowed itself to be pushed into the catch pen. Richard swung the gates, and Milligan's hands flew as he poured medicine and administered shots. Mushrooms fell off the cattle like snow, and the cleansed animal was soon trotting out into the pasture. By that time, Jason had brought another one along, and so it went.

The three men worked quickly, though, if Jason was being honest, most of the credit went to Milligan. That job was the one that took the longest, and he performed it admirably. He was fast, but even better, he was good. Jason never saw him miss a single infection, and the cattle all had their heads up, looking much more energetic by the time he turned them out. Only one or two of the animals tried to break free, early, but Richard's skill manhandling actual monsters allowed him to hold the gates steady, preventing the animals from actually doing anything.

In any case, they processed the animals quickly, probably one every minute and a half, and finished in just a smidge over two hours after they started. The moment they were done, Richard grabbed some hand soap and washed himself off as best he could, then mounted up and rode off.

"I'll send you all a letter at the end of the day letting you know how things are going in my own herd!"

Jason called after him. "Do you need my help? Since you helped me?"

"I have enough hired help I think I'll be good, but I do appreciate the offer!" Richard called as he swept down out of the yard and vanished down

the road.

Jason stretched in the cold air, and Milligan clapped him on the shoulder. "Another good day of work." He sighed. "I'm heading back up to the greenhouse. If it's alright with you, I'm going to send a letter to a laboratory down in Portswain. I worked with them during my time in the genetics company. They've worked on fungi before, I have as well, in a more unofficial capacity. I might be able to develop something to counter the infections, if you're interested. These medicines mostly just treat the symptoms, they're more of a general cure instead of an exact cure, but with a bit more research, I might be able to isolate something."

"You have my permission, as long as the result doesn't become mobile, sentient, or both."

"Deal."

Milligan strode off toward his cabin, and Jason wandered back down toward the farmhouse. It seemed that the situation was becoming more and more tricky by the moment. He wasn't terribly concerned, but it was interesting.

He only hoped that they would be able to come through it just as easily as they had been dealing with it thus far.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Storms

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 30th day of Winter! 61 days until the Winter Festival! Alright, folks, here we are! One month into winter! I know, some years, it seems like the time just flies, and this year certainly seems like one of them! Anyway, it's looking like that big winter storm that I mentioned is coming along right on schedule. It ought to be here by the time you wake up, and if it's anything like the other winter storms we get, it won't deign to leave us alone for quite some time!]

As Jason slowly woke up, he found the almanac to be right on point. Wind howled against the house, making the windows rattle loudly, while snow and ice swirled together in a mixture that made it impossible to see much of anything. He rose and slipped up to the window, but found that he couldn't even see the barn, much less his fields or anything else. He shivered, just imagining what it would be like to set foot outside, and decided that he was glad they wouldn't have to do so. Tess had brought all her cattle into the barn the night before and made sure that they had plenty of food.

Jason, when he was satisfied with staring at the storm, slipped over to the wardrobe and changed into a tunic. Behind him, Tess sighed and sat up in bed, blinking sleep out of her eyes.

"Morning, honey."

"Morning." Jason smiled at her, then stretched. "You stay in bed. It's a cold day, this time, I'll be the one to bring breakfast in bed to you."

"Have the girls be the one to deliver it, if you would." Tess smiled and snuggled back into her pillow. "It's always nice to see them do things like that."

"I--"

Thump.

Something echoed from below, and Jason sighed. "Sounds like the girls are up. I'll go check it out."

"Have fun!"

Tess grinned and rolled over, as Jason swung the door open. At that exact moment, no fewer than five children came racing through the door, led by Fern and Rachel, and dove up onto the bed to slam Tess back down. Her eyes went wide, and Jason frowned. As he turned around, an enormous, armored frame appeared in the doorway, just beneath a wide smile.

"Little farmer! Sorry, I told the kids to wait. Breakfast?"

Daniel, who had apparently managed to get into their house after Jason had locked it for the night, held out a tray. On it were eggs, sausage, biscuits, a type of marmalade that smelled exotic and positively wonderful, and several other odds and ends that Jason couldn't quite identify.

"Sure." Jason shrugged after a moment. With Daniel, it was usually better to just go with the flow. He walked back over and hopped into bed, and all the children crowded around them as Daniel set the platter on their legs. Viola appeared in the doorway, less embarrassed than she usually was at her husband's ability to barge into just about any room at any time. She held their youngest child, Anastasia, who had been born just a year earlier, as well as another baby who looked to be just about six months old.

"Ahh!" Tess screamed as she saw the new baby. "You have another one?" "We're up to five now!" Daniel grinned from ear to ear. "Charlotte, Joseph, Fisher, Anastasia, and now Wince! Five little warriors in our fellowship!" Viola laughed as well. "He insists on calling it a fellowship. And it's seven, with the two of us."

"Fair enough." Daniel laughed. He motioned at the food, which had mostly been untouched (excepting the children, who were tearing into it with gusto). "Eat, eat! Once you're done, come on downstairs, and I'll tell you all about what we've been up to!" He started to turn away, then paused and turned back. "Sorry, I can't wait! So when we left Illumitir after I quit my job at the Dungeon Guild, we went south, but then--"

He proceeded to regale them with a long tale of going south all the way to Portswain. Fighting a handful of roadside monsters, teaching his kids how to fight a sewer-rat, meeting a crazy scientist in some sort of cave- laboratory that he had thought was a dungeon. Accidentally helping with a cattle drive from Portswain to the Mountain City of Rune, and all sorts of other such things. When he was finished, he sighed deeply, and Jason nodded.

"Uh, huh. That's... Fascinating." He pursed his lips. "Can I ask one more thing?"

"Go for it!"

"How exactly did you manage to get into our house?"

"I had a key!" Daniel shrugged. "Viola had it made the last time we were here."

Viola shrugged as Tess looked at her with horror and betrayal. "Daniel sorta rubs off on you, and I figured it would be easier than just knocking down your door each time."

"That's fair." Jason sighed, though inwardly he was laughing. He didn't really mind Daniel or his family one bit. "Now, everyone out of the bedroom!"

He jumped out of bed and chased the children out, then shooed out Daniel and Viola as well. Tess laughed and shook her head, and the two of them

finished eating while Tess got dressed. With that, they headed downstairs, where Daniel and Viola were relaxing on their couches while the children played merrily around them.

"In complete honesty, just so you know, we really would have stayed outside until morning." Viola held up a hand in defense as Tess entered the room. "We just... the storm was just kicking up, and we didn't want to light a fire for warmth in your barn, and..."

"No, it's totally okay. For the best, I think." Tess shrugged. She sat down next to Daniel, while Jason sat down in an armchair. "Now, what brings you all back here to Summer Shandy?"

"Work!" Daniel shrugged. "Maybe. Jeremiah sent me a letter that said if I wanted a job, he had one for me, so I figured I'd come check it out. I'm not really finding much work anywhere else, these days."

Viola nodded with a grimace. "No one wants to hire an ex-adventurer with a family. He's considered too unhinged for most jobs, but too stable for the ones more geared to his specific skill set. We're not desperate yet, but our money is starting to run low, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit worried."

Jason nodded with a grimace. "What happens if you don't find anything?" "I'll have to go back to adventuring." Daniel answered. "I don't want to do it, but if I go stake out around some of the mega-dungeons, I can go inside for a three day 'shift,' so to speak, about once every two weeks. It would be tight, but we could make it work. Do you know what Jeremiah's job happens to be?"

Jason felt a grin growing across his face. "Constable."

Daniel paused, and a grin grew across his own face. Horror, meanwhile, appeared on the faces of the two women.

"Daniel, being constable requires that you handle paperwork." Viola whispered softly.

At that, Daniel's face twisted downward. "Bah!"

"Exactly." Viola shrugged. "Now, I do think it would be good to go up and talk to him. If there was a place we could carve out for ourselves in Summer Shandy, I wouldn't mind coming back. It's a nice place, and it makes you miss it when you're gone."

"I'll have to take your word for it." Jason winced as the herd of children came racing through. Fern was being a dragon, while everyone else in the group seemed to have found rulers, paper towel tubes, or sticks to use for swords. Fern turned around and roared at them, and a moment later, vanished under a dogpile of arms and legs.

"Get it!" Daniel called out, getting into the excitement. "Go for the belly! That's where it's weakest!"

"Roar!" Fern pushed through the stack of knights, made her break, and soon went pounding upstairs once more. "I'm free! Run!"

The children all raced after her, and Jason simply laughed and shook his head. He sighed deeply, then glanced over at Daniel and Viola.

"Thanks for coming." He finally answered. "Whether or not you wind up sticking around, it's good to see you. I know you've turned it down before, but you're always welcome to stay here. We can set you up on a farm, or--" "I smash things, Jason, I don't grow them." Daniel shrugged. He gave Tess a noogie, she shoved him, and he laughed. "I'm awful proud to have you guys do so well at that, though. Used to be, I thought that the only people worth knowing were the ones who killed giant monsters. Now..." He shrugged. "Just about everyone and their dog has been an adventurer at

some point. There are hundreds of them, thousands. Anyone can break things, but only a few special people can make them."

Jason smiled, and Daniel sighed. For a long moment, none of the parents really said anything. Finally, Tess chuckled.

"It's sorta nice to have them all entertaining themselves, isn't it?"

"Indeed!" Viola laughed. Suddenly, she opened up her inventory and pulled out a cookbook. "Oh, Tess! I was going to share some recipes with you that I've picked up in our travels. Some of them are acquired sorts of tastes, but others are really good! I think your family would love some of them."

"And I'd love to show you some cool stuff I've picked up here and there!" Daniel stood up as well. "You mind if we use your office?"

"Let's go!" Jason grinned. "What all have you found?"

"Well, first off, I found a Winter Shandy dagger." Daniel pulled a small weapon out of his inventory and passed it to Jason as they walked up the stairs. "It was actually in the lair of that creepy scientist guy. He sold it to me for... Pfft, I can't even remember what. Said it was a trinket he had picked up on the road, but if I knew someone who knew what it was, they were more than welcome to it. I know you collect old historical stuff from the area."

"Thanks!" Jason beamed as Daniel passed him the weapon.

"Not a problem! I also thought you'd want to hear this cool story about a giant slime that wandered across our path!"

As Daniel broke into yet more stories, Jason could only smile. Daniel was an odd sort, but he was a good, honest fellow, and his stories were always edifying—in their own way. As wind and ice raged around the small home, the inside was brilliant and warm, full of stories, full of love.

And in that sense, Jason knew that he would never, ever let the home grow cold.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Dangling

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 35th day of Winter! 56 days until the Winter Festival! Looks like the storm has finally died down, folks! Thankfully, for how bad it seemed, I don't think there was really any major damage done to the town. That layer of ice that came down right at the beginning sorta protected the buildings from all the wind that came later, so count your blessings!]

Jason smiled as he rolled out of bed. The floor was warm as he hit the floor, and he stretched as he walked up to the window and looked out across the farmyard. He had chipped the ice away from the window the night before, allowing him to see the entire landscape that seemed frosted with glass. Ice covered the barn, the paddy, the yard, everything. It hung in long daggers from the rooftops, his windmill looked like a mountain, it was... It was beautiful, and deadly, and wonderful all at the same time.

He heard footsteps on the stairs, and quickly changed into a warm tunic before anyone could come barging in on him. He was none too soon, as the door flew open to reveal Daniel standing there with a broad grin.

"Hey, little farmer! You want anything for breakfast?"

"Yes, but not here." Jason slipped out into the hall. "Maybe just some biscuits and gravy, if you're offering?"

"Biscuits and gravy!" Daniel shouted past Jason's head so forcefully that it made Jason's head ring. He grimaced and clapped his hands over his ears, but Daniel took no notice as the two of them slipped down the stairs and into the kitchen. Viola was just placing a platter of biscuits on the table, and as Jason sat down, she turned back to the stove.

"I'll have the gravy here in just a moment."

"Thanks." Jason smiled and gave her a nod, then frowned. "Where's Tess?" "In here!" Tess called from the dining room. "Just working on a quick lesson!"

Jason rolled his eyes. He leaned and glanced through the doorway, where, indeed, Tess was reading a storybook about the giant that had become an island. He could only chuckle as Viola passed him the plate.

"And how much did she have to beg you to get your kids to subject themselves to schooling?" Jason asked jokingly around a mouthful of biscuit.

"Actually, I'd heard about her schooling from Paulina in a letter a few months back." Viola answered. "I'd been hoping I could get a demonstration. School is something that's in terrible need around the country, I can tell you that."

"Even up in Illumitir?" Jason frowned. "I mean, I remember when I lived up there that I didn't love it, but no school kid does, I think."

"Even in Illumitir." Viola confirmed. "There are a few public schools, but they're all subservient to the Teacher's Guild, which in turn is run by a bunch of rich folks who don't really know what they're doing. All they care about are scores on tests, and while the teachers in the schools do know how to get the results the fat cats want, it doesn't do a whole lot for actually teaching the kids practical life skills. In other parts of the province, it's even worse, or just doesn't exist at all."

"Huh." Jason frowned, then shrugged. "Well, Tess is certainly loving it well enough. A lot of folks in town are practically begging her to set up a school in Summer Shandy."

"Are you going to do it?" Viola's head spun around.

Jason shrugged. "I'm certainly not opposed to it, but I don't really see how it would work at this point. Tess has the cattle that takes up so much of her time, and besides, we live so far away from town. It's alright for a ride up once a month, maybe once every two weeks, but I don't think it would be practical to do it every single morning."

"Hmm." Viola stroked her chin. She seemed to be thinking about something, though Jason wasn't exactly sure what it could be. In any case, as Jason finished eating, he sighed and rose.

"Well, if you're okay having your husband called away for a minute, I could sure use his help."

Daniel grinned broadly as he came stomping down the stairs. "With what?" A smile spread across Jason's face as well. "The only thing you're good at. Breaking things."

Ten minutes later, Jason had bundled himself up enough that he felt more or less comfortable in the sub-zero temperatures. Daniel was wearing insulated armor, which he said was lined with the fur of a yeti dragon he had killed several years earlier. Jason didn't have the faintest idea what sort of a creature that was, but he certainly wasn't joking when he said that he needed Daniel's help.

The sun was high, but its brilliant rays didn't hold a single ounce of heat. The ice, which was several inches thick in some places, wasn't going to melt for a good, long while. Jason's boots slipped as he simply tried to make his way across the yard.

"Here! Let me go first." Daniel raised a boot, and iron spikes shot out of the bottom. He slammed them into the ice, breaking it up, and started stomping his way across the farmyard. Jason followed in his tracks, grateful for the

assistance. As they reached the barn door, Daniel crossed his arms. "Now, what do you want me to do?"

Jason pointed at the door, slipped, caught himself, and then straightened up once more. "I... I need you to get that thing open."

The barn door wasn't small in the slightest. Thirty feet high, it could be difficult to move on a normal day if something went wrong, and on that day, it had what must have been several tons of extra ice across it. On top of that, the ice had sealed all the edges down, making a barrier stronger than some welds on metal. Jason didn't stand the faintest chance of breaking inside. With Milligan's help, it was possible they could have gotten in with time, but Milligan wasn't anywhere to be seen. Frankly, Jason wasn't sure if a horse could really ride across the layer of ice, at least not safely, which meant that he wasn't likely to see much of his hired man until things got a little warmer.

"Alright, then!" Daniel made his right hand into a fist, and punched it into his left hand. "We'll get this down, quicker than you can blink!"

"Open! Not down."

"Right. The ice will need to be down, though." Daniel frowned, then slowly reached out and grabbed the handle. Or, rather, he grabbed the ice that had built up around the handle. After a few moments of tugging, he gritted his teeth and squeezed, shattering the ice, then took hold and yanked.

Still, nothing happened. The ice held the door shut firmly, though the noise made the cattle start to low with expectation. Daniel took a deep breath, then drew his arm back.

"Don't worry! I'll only give it a little tap. I'm using a skill called [Shockwave, which should cause the impact to ripple outward, parallel with the surface, instead of actually being transferred into the wood."

Jason nodded. "Just don't knock down the barn."

"Got it!"

Daniel threw a punch, hitting the ice firmly. It was a harder punch than Jason could ever have managed, but he knew Daniel well enough to know that it had, indeed, been just a little tap. A bit of ice cracked underneath the strike, but nothing much else seemed to happen.

"Alright, then! Time to crack this up a notch!"

Daniel threw a second punch. This one was quite a bit harder, and Jason saw the shockwaves rippling out across the ice in shimmery waves. There was another long pause, and Daniel drew a deep breath.

"Okay, then! Here comes the dragon-killer!"

Jason's heart stopped, and Daniel drew back his fist and smashed it into the door with what seemed to be the force of a mountain. Shockwaves, visible as strafing blasts of lightning, flowed outward from the point of impact. Cracks exploded across the surface, and ice was blasted from the door in a great, white display. A moment later, it all came crashing down on the two men, burying them up to their necks in cracked ice. Jason blinked in surprise, then started laughing.

"That works!"

"Perfect!" Daniel shoved his way through the ice and pulled the door open, then turned. Jason was stuck fast, and it took a bit of time for Daniel to dig him out. The two of them stumbled inside, and Jason pulled the door shut behind them once more.

The interior of the barn was warm, and they spent a few more minutes clearing out some of the air vents that had frozen shut. Those were easier for Jason, as he could simply fire his pistol through the layer of ice blocking the airflow from being able to get out. When that was done, the two men

poured feed for the cattle, made sure all the skylights were open, then turned and headed back inside.

It had been a relatively simple chore for all the effort it took to get there, but... well... Sometimes that was just life. As Jason slipped down away from the barn and across the ice, he glanced over at Daniel.

"Have you ever been ice skating?"

"Yeah!" Daniel grinned. "There's this frozen lake way up in this little kingdom... I could be a slingshot! A human slingshot! Quick, before the kids get out here, let's test it!"

Jason opened his mouth to protest, but before he could manage a single word, Daniel grabbed him, whipped him around, and slung him out across the ice. He blurred across the frozen landscape, fell on his face, and caught a glimpse of the kids all laughing through one of the upstairs windows. He continued to slide, propelled by his momentum even after he fell, and did his best to wave... At least until he slammed into the fence.

Still, though, as he climbed to his feet, all he could do was laugh. Sometimes, the best thing they could do was make do with what nature sent them, and on that day, they certainly had an abundance to work with.

Now, they simply had to enjoy it.

Chapter Twenty-Five:

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 43rd day of Winter! 48 days until the Winter Festival! It's another cold day out there, folks, so make sure you bundle up nice and warm if you head outside! On the bright side, I'm not expecting any inclement weather for the time being, so it should just be cold. No snow, no ice, just good, old-fashioned winter!]

Jason stretched as he woke up, and slowly rolled out of bed. The air was already warm, and he could smell bacon sizzling in the frying pan below. He rose, then slowly walked up to look down across the farmstead. Everything was still covered in a lovely layer of ice, upon which had fallen a soft layer of snow several days later. Much of it had been trampled down over time. A great deal of it still remained as well, and the wide expanse of the prairie stretched out as far as the eye could see, an unbroken expanse of white loveliness.

"Good morning, daddy."

The door creaked open behind him, and a rather tired-looking Fern came slowly stumbling inside. Jason smiled and walked over to her, then bent down and gave her a big hug.

"Good morning, Fern. You okay?"

"Yeah." Fern yawned. She was still in her night clothes. "I think I just had a rough night. I'm tired."

"Do you need a nap today?"

"No!" Fern suddenly straightened up. "I'm feeling much better now!"

"I thought you might perk up a bit there." Jason straightened, then sighed. "Well, why don't you head back to your room? I'll get changed, then get

you changed, and then we'll head downstairs to see mommy?"

"Okay!"

A few minutes later, all had been done as planned, and the two of them walked into the kitchen. Rachel was already at the table, grinning from ear to ear, and the four of them sat down as Tess finished setting out breakfast. It was a simpler meal, consisting primarily of bacon and eggs, but that just made it all the better in a lot of respects. Jason sighed deeply, then glanced over at Tess.

"Well, my dearest wife, what might be the plan for today?"

"I don't know." Tess answered. "We're sorta hitting the midpoint of winter where I've gotten all my winter projects out of the way, but I'm not yet going stir-crazy from being stuck inside. We have a cattle drive in... I can't remember exactly, maybe a week or so, but that's still a little ways out."

"I know!" Jason chuckled. "I keep thinking about what projects I have to do on the farm, or what paperwork I need to get done, but I think I pretty much have it all squared away."

"And the girls have done really well on their school, so I don't even really have that to do with them." Tess smiled at the two of them, then simply shrugged. "So... Yeah. I wish I had a better answer, but I really don't." "Then we need to come up with something to do." Jason nodded. "What if we go outside on a big family excursion? A camping trip, but without all the sleeping?"

Tess thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. "That could be a lot of fun! We could go out to the trees, look around the old forest. I haven't really been out there in years, come to think of it."

"Neither have I." Jason mused. "Alright! Let's do it!"

"I'll pack the food; you get the girls dressed?"

"Deal!"

The girls were already mostly dressed, of course, but they needed to be bundled into warm, winter clothing. By the time Jason finished pulling their little arms through the tight, multi-layered coats and such things, Tess had packed up the food, along with a tent and some other odds and ends, into a large pack.

"I could have just put it into my inventory, but if we're doing this, we're doing it right." She declared. "A lot of warriors, when they're on long trips, will keep most of their supplies in packs like this. It decreases the weight being carried on their bodies, so if something attacks them, they can drop the pack and fight with less stuff encumbering them."

"Huh!" Jason frowned in surprise. "Fascinating!"

"Of course, it does mean that your items are more likely to be lost or stolen, but that's part of the risk."

Jason could only chuckle and shake his head. As they made their way out into the snowy wonderland, Jason opened up the inventory of the farm and pulled out a large sled. He dropped it onto the ground, and the girls squealed and clamored on board. Jason then took up the rope, and with that, they were off!

They could have taken the horses, but decided to go it on foot, and simply set off across the prairie. The girls grinned from ear to ear as Jason lugged them up the hills, then let them slide down the far side. They simply took in the scenery as they went along, the vast white expanse of the prairie, the little marks here and there made by bounding animals. Several times, little rabbits poked their heads up through the snow, then darted back down and away when they saw the family coming. The cattle in the pasture also took an interest, and several of them wandered over to the fence to low at them.

"Here, girls!" Tess passed Rachel and Fern sugar cubes. "Go feed them!" They both jumped off the sled and raced through the snow to the fence, where they were able to feed the animals straight from their hands. One heifer leaned over the fence and licked the side of Fern's hood, making her squeal as she raced back to safety.

When they plodded over the last hill and came into sight of Milligan's cabin, they found a pillar of smoke curling lazily up from the chimney. Milligan was just walking out of the cabin and forging his way over to the greenhouse in the middle of the New Eighty, and he waved merrily.

"Off to new adventures today, I see?"

"That's the idea!" Jason beamed. "Have fun with whatever plant you're creating!"

"Fungi, but I will!"

Jason waved in reply, and the family struck off down toward the trees while Milligan went his way. Soon, they reached the forest, where they were forced to store the sled and trek onward on foot.

The forest was an old one, stretching back at least a hundred years, maybe more. Enormous trees, oaks, maples and cottonwoods, all grew together in a landscape that seemed more like a dream than a forest. In some places, they grew together so thickly that you could hardly get through. In other places, they were more open, allowing the ground to be filled with shrubs, berry bushes, and other such things. Somewhere inside was a dungeon, which Jason had purchased as a wedding present for Tess, though it had been torn apart from the inside by a Painted Dragon that Jeremiah had spawned in. "Whoa! This is so cool!" Fern beamed from ear to ear as they stepped under the boughs of a particularly large oak tree. The trunk must have been fifteen

feet across, stamping out its place firmly in the order of the forest. "Can we build a tree house here?"

"When you're older, if you want to make the trek out this way and build a tree house, I'm all for it." Jason chuckled.

"Can we build a tree house at home?"

Jason shrugged. "The only trees we really have at home are the apple and pear trees, and none of those are really big enough for a tree house."

Fern frowned and looked at the ground, and Jason shrugged.

"But I'll see what I can do as you get older! In any case, you are still a little young for one, yet."

They slipped around another tree, and Tess let out a small gasp of awe. When Jason joined her, he echoed the statement. Ahead of them was a small clearing, one that Jason didn't think he had seen before. Standing at the center was a willow tree, all by itself, covered in snow and glistening with ice. It looked more like a frozen fountain than a tree, and the way it caught the light and made it sparkle all about was simply breathtaking.

"Alright, girls, I think we found where we'll make our camp." Tess declared. She unslung the pack, and the girls hopped off the sled. "Go have fun!"

Fern and Rachel raced over to the tree, where they started to play under its branches. Rachel tried to throw a snowball at Fern, which made Fern tackle Rachel to the snowy ground, and they rolled back and forth, laughing and giggling, beneath the crystal tree. Jason and Tess, meanwhile, took out shovels and cleaned away a good portion of the snow, then set up their tent on the bare ground. That done, they both slipped inside, and called the girls to come join them.

As the family packed into the tent, Tess fired up a small stove. A metal flue extended upward to an exhaust port in the peak of the tent, allowing for fresh air exchange, while the flames from the stove filled the insulated dwelling. Soon, it began to get so warm that Jason even had to take his coat off, and the girls did the same. As they sat there, relaxing and enjoying the moment, Tess started to cook up some lunch, one little strip of meat at a time, and Jason's stomach rumbled.

"This was a good idea." Tess glanced over at him, while she worked. "Thanks for suggesting it."

"Well, thank you for coming along." Jason leaned over and gave both girls kisses on the top of their heads, making them giggle. He sighed and leaned backward, laying down on the ground. "It was... Nice. Still is! Why am I using the past tense? We have a whole afternoon of adventuring left to do!" The girls cheered, and he sighed deeply. That wasn't quite true, of course. They had far more than a single day of adventuring left. They had an entire lifetime. He only hoped that he would be able to spend as much of it as possible with them, doing things just like this.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Having

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 50th day of Winter! 41 days until the Winter Festival! Still cold, folks, and I don't expect that to change until maybe the week before the festival! I know, I know, everyone wants a nice warm snap, but I'm afraid I just don't see it happening. In the meantime, enjoy staying inside! Get a nice cup of hot chocolate, or cider, and make yourself a pie!] Jason chuckled as he slowly rolled out of bed. He rose and stretched, then walked up to the window to look out across the landscape. As winter wore on, it was becoming more and more dismal, unfortunately. Not dismal in a bad sense, necessarily, but the snow was entirely gone now, along with most of the ice (the ice in the paddy was still there, of course, but all the cool, decorative icicles had fallen down), which left a simple brown expanse. He took a deep breath and smiled, nonetheless. Winter was a necessary part of the cycle of the seasons, and it only meant that he would enjoy spring that much more.

He soon got himself dressed in a warm tunic and made his way downstairs. There, he found Tess flipping pancakes and frying up a great deal of sausage. Jason chuckled and sat down, and Fern came running and jumped up into his lap.

"Do we have company coming over or something?"

He meant it entirely as a joke, but Tess gave a nod.

"We do, actually! Paulina and Obadiah are coming down for the day. I think Obadiah has some things he wants to talk over with you and Milligan, though I'm not exactly sure what, and Paulina wants me to give her kids a lesson or two."

Jason could only smile and shake his head. "You and your school stuff." "It's a good thing!" Tess crossed her arms in defense.

"And I'm not saying that it isn't! I just think it's cute." Jason chuckled and rose as Tess flipped out the last of the food. "Now, let's dig in!"

Jason and the girls tucked into the meal, and soon had it squared away. Once they were done, Rachel and Fern raced off to get things ready for their play date, while Jason rose and made his way into the living room. Boots sounded on the porch just as he did so, and he swung the door open as Milligan raised his hand to knock.

"Good morning, boss!" He grinned from ear to ear. "Thanks for agreeing to this on such short notice!"

"I don't exactly know what I've agreed to, but you're more than welcome." Jason chuckled.

"Well, your wife agreed in your name, and I'm grateful for it, however you happen to slice it." Milligan doffed his hat as Tess walked into the room. "Morning, ma'am."

"Good morning, Milligan!" Tess smiled. "Would you like some coffee or tea, or anything?"

"I'd love a good cup of tea, particularly green, if you happen to have it. Thank you." Milligan sighed, then nodded at Jason. "Given that you don't know what's happening, I might suggest that we head upstairs to your office."

Jason nodded, and the two of them quickly made their way up to the small room. It held a desk and a lot of bookshelves, which Jason was slowly filling up once again. HIs uncle had kept a great deal of rather unpleasant texts on them, and after disposing of all the old volumes, it had taken quite some time before Jason had been able to find enough books to replace

them. He had some adventure novels, quite a few texts on farming techniques (most of which he had never read), and a number of other odds and ends. While he got himself seated behind his desk, Milligan fetched some extra chairs to sit across from him, and Jason settled in to wait.

He didn't have to wait long. Boots thumped on the stairs, and Obadiah poked his head inside. Jason rose from the desk and held out his hand, and Obadiah walked up and shook it gravely, then shook Milligan's hand as well.

"Good morning, both of you!"

"Good morning!" Jason sat down once more, and Obadiah settled into one of the chairs. Milligan took the other, and a moment later, Tess appeared with several steaming mugs. She handed Jason a mug of coffee, gave Milligan his green tea, and handed a black tea to Obadiah. With that, she retreated, leaving the men in peace and quiet.

"This is a nice place." Obadiah glanced around the small room, thoughtfully. "Seems like it would be good for contemplation."

"It is, yes." Jason gave a nod of his head. "Now, at the moment, I'm mostly contemplating what's going on with you two. Something's up, and I'm afraid it's got me equal parts nervous and flabbergasted."

Milligan chuckled and glanced at Obadiah, who simply gave a nod of his head.

"Then I'll get you caught up." Obadiah folded his hands. "I think I told you that Hank was doing some investigations on the mysterious fungi that's been plaguing the cattle, right?"

"Right." Jason nodded. "What has he come up with?"

"At the moment, he's dead certain that it was artificially created, though he hasn't yet pinned down why." Obadiah shrugged. "He's following a handful

of leads at the moment, mostly way down south around Portswain, where it's nice and toasty warm. Trust me, he makes sure to gloat in each and every letter about how wonderful the weather is."

Milligan chuckled. "I don't know that I ever met Hank, but he does seem like quite the character."

"Quite." Jason snorted. "Anyway, what happened?"

"Well, as you know, Milligan has been working on some experiments with fungi, that sort of thing. The short version of the story is that Hank was able to find a laboratory that had samples of the fungi taken from several years ago, before it had become quite so virulent. At the time, it was just a minor infection that could plague dungeon bats, essentially." Obadiah shrugged. "He was able to send the data that the laboratory had collected back to Milligan, who, in turn, thinks he's created a cure."

"Really?" Jason blinked in surprise. "That quickly?"

"Well..." Milligan wagged his hand back and forth. "The word cure is a bit misleading; I'll admit. Essentially, what I did was craft a... I suppose you might say a nemesis fungi. Another organism whose sole purpose and craft in life is seeking out and destroying the target fungi. I have to run some more tests, which the Lazy-H Ranch has graciously agreed to assist with, but... Essentially, once I have the genetics perfected, all I'll have to do is produce the new fungi in large quantities, then release it into target herds throughout the land. It will spread, consuming the old fungi, and then die out once there's no more food left. It ought to near annihilate the old strain, with minimal risks of any issues."

"All that's sounding good to me." Jason bit his lip. "Do you mind my asking what the catch is? Why do I need to know any of this?"

Milligan and Obadiah glanced at each other, and Milligan sighed.

"The short version of the story is that we need a place to grow the fungi. We need a lot of it in order to contain the outbreak." Milligan began explaining slowly. "If we only release a little bit at a time, it won't do anything. It might contain local outbreaks, but more likely than not, we'll simply wind up creating a variant of the stuff that's resistant to this new strand of fungi, thus making the issue even worse."

Jason started to understand. "And you need my fields to grow it?"

"Field. Singular." Milligan rubbed the back of his neck. "While I could have developed something that grew on the ground like toadstools, I found that I could generate a much larger quantity in a much shorter time by using an aquatic fungus as a base. I... well... We need to use your rice paddy." Jason nodded slowly. "How many crops do you need to get off it?"

"Based on my calculations, with the paddy the size of yours, we'll need to get at least eight harvests, with a ten-day incubation period between the initial seeding and the harvest." Milligan looked down at the ground, then back up. "On the bright side, though, you won't need to re-seed the paddy after each harvest, it'll just automatically start to grow again."

"That's something." Jason felt as if a load of bricks had just been dumped onto his soul. That would take up his rice paddy for a full 80 days of spring. That only gave him eleven days to get in a rice harvest afterward, and that was assuming that nothing went wrong.

"Don't worry." Obadiah held up his hand. "There are lakes and streams around here that we can use, too, so--"

"But you need to harvest it. My paddy is perfect for doing that sort of a thing." Jason drew himself upright, then gave a nod. "You have my paddy." "Are you sure?" Obadiah raised an eyebrow. "I saw the look on your face when--"

"There will be other springs." Jason shook his head. "Besides, I can just move the rice harvest to summer or something. I'll figure it out. This is bigger than me. I'd be selfish if I just kept it all for myself." Resolve filled his heart, and he let out a long breath. "Maybe there was a reason I was so set on getting this paddy built. It'll save the cattle, and likely the economy, across the land. That's a more noble cause than growing some rice for fun, I imagine."

"You're a good man, Jason." Obadiah reached across the desk and clapped him on the shoulder. "I'll make sure you're compensated for the use of your field."

"Oh, don't worry about that." Jason shook his head. "We're saving the world, right? You'll have to expend enough resources distributing the stuff, don't waste any money on my little farm. The two fields on the backside will keep me busy enough, and will sustain the operation. Besides, it's only for a single season. I could probably survive a full season without any income, though, admittedly, things would get tight."

"I'm glad to hear you say that." Obadiah gave a nod. "I guess it's true what people say about you. You really are just the soul of the community."

Jason looked down at his desk, then drew himself up and took a deep breath.

"Well, as long as you're here, would you want to play some cards or something? Tess and Paulina will talk school until the sun sets, and I don't get to socialize with other guys often." Jason chuckled. He pushed aside some of the items on his desk, then pulled open a drawer and pulled out a tattered deck. Obadiah and Milligan both drew themselves up, and Jason started dealing.

It wasn't what he had planned for the spring, and in a lot of ways, he felt crushed inside. It was a silly thing to be disappointed over, but he had put in so much work, and had been looking forward to growing the crop since the end of spring the year earlier. Still, though, the needs of the community came first. What he said had been true. There would be more opportunities for growing the rice.

For spring, he now had a mission... And he was going to do everything in his power to do it well.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Morning

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 65th day of Winter! 26 days until the Winter Festival! We're just starting up that final month, and trust me, I know how hard that can be for people! Hang in there, keep your head together, and we'll all make it to Spring soon enough! In the meantime, it's mighty chilly today! High winds, bitter cold, everything you could want for a cattle drive!]

Jason groaned as he read the forecast. Slowly, he rolled out of bed and climbed to his feet. He could hear the wind howling against the house, and the window rattled as he walked up to look across the farmstead. Indeed, what little vegetation was left on the prairie whipped back and forth under the gale, and the windmill whirred rapidly. Jason shivered, then sighed as he noticed the first of the cattle plodding past on the road.

"Good morning!" Tess swept into the room. She was already wearing her brown working dress. It was lined with fleece, and Jason had been assured that it was quite warm in the winter months. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Cold!" Jason chuckled. He turned and gave her a hug and a kiss, then frowned as he looked past her. "Are the girls up?"

"Already down by the fire, drinking hot chocolate and snuggling up for story time." Tess smiled softly.

"Then I'll be down to join them here in just a moment." Jason gave Tess one more kiss, then quickly changed into winter work clothes. As he tromped down the stairs, he heard the girls giggling in the living room. He swept through the kitchen to find them on the couch, underneath a large, woolen blanket. They giggled even harder as he started to walk closer.

"Hmm! I wonder where my kiddos are?" Jason spoke loudly, making the girls laugh all the more. "Well, I don't see them. Guess I'll sit down on the couch and enjoy some peace and quiet!"

As he sat down on the blanket, being careful not to apply too much weight, they both screamed and jumped down onto the floor.

"Daddy! It was us!"

"It was?" Jason held out his arms as if he'd been surprised. "You were there the whole time!"

"Yes!" Fern nodded. "We were being silly!"

"Well, I don't know any other kiddos who do it better than you two." Jason scooped up both of them in an enormous hug and squeezed them tightly, then sank back onto the couch. Tess brought in a plate of pancakes, and he let them slip to the side as he started to eat. "Now, mommy said that she's been reading you stories?"

"We've been doing science!" Fern nodded. "We're reading a story about how to combine crystal powders to make gunpowder!"

"Now that sounds useful!" Jason grinned widely as Tess slid onto the end of the couch. "Are you girls going to start making your own homemade cannons?"

"Can we?"

"If you can figure it out yourself, I'm okay with it." Jason gave a nod. "Yay!"

Both girls jumped down and charged off through the house, and Tess slid over next to Jason. For a moment, they just sat there, and then Tess sighed. "I don't know what you're thinking, but it's way too cold to take the kids outside today."

"I agree absolutely." Jason gave a small nod. "One of us will stay home with them, the other will run cattle."

"I mean, I just assumed I'd be running the cattle." Tess shrugged. "They're my cattle, after all."

"Yeah, but it's really cold." Jason pointed out. "Stay home, stay warm with the kiddos. It's my job as a husband to take on these jobs."

Tess shook her head. "I'm the one who wants the cattle around here. I should be the one to go."

"Do you have school to do with the kids?"

Tess hesitated. "Well... yes... but..."

"Kids!" Jason called out. Rachel and Fern came racing in, and Jason crossed his arms. "Who would you rather do school with you today? Daddy or mommy?"

"Mommy!" They both chorused instantly, then raced off to keep working on building their cannon.

"Then it's settled." Jason slowly stood up and sighed. "Goodbye, my dearest wife. I'll think of your fondly in the chaos and cold indifference of this world!"

Tess snorted, but she smiled as she rose and gave him a kiss. "Thanks, Jason. You're the best."

"And don't you forget it!" Jason grinned as he walked over to the front door and pulled on his boots. With that, he walked out into the bitter cold, and almost instantly began longing for the warmth of home.

The wind whipping across the prairie was so cold that it stung. It seemed to tear straight through his clothes all the way down to his bones. Still, though, he gritted his teeth and forced his way forward. He had a job to do, and that

was that. Ahead, the barn door was open just a crack, and he slipped inside to find Milligan making last-minute preparations.

"Morning boss!" Milligan beamed. "It's you, today?"

"Figured I'd give Tess the day off." Jason shrugged.

"You're a good man, boss." Milligan swung open several gates, then swung up onto Dusty. He pulled a scarf out of his inventory and wrapped it around his neck and the lower part of his face, then gave a nod. "If you don't have something like this, I have an extra, or I can wait while you go back into the house."

"I'll take your extra." Jason held up his hand, and Milligan threw him a long strip of cloth. When he had wrapped himself up, Jason felt rather like a cattle rustler instead of a rancher, but he supposed that was just the nature of things. Milligan threw open the door, and Jason began guiding the cattle out into the yard.

Thankfully, cattle were hardy beasts, and didn't really seem to mind the cold all that much. Slowly, purposefully, Jason and Milligan began guiding the herd of 100 cattle down the frozen road.

Overhead, the sky was grey, the result of an endless expanse of slate- colored clouds. The wind blew so hard that Jason was nearly knocked out of his saddle more than once, and Angus, strong as he was, stumbled far more often than usual. Still, though, they pressed onward, wearily making their way up the long road to the settlement.

Thankfully, perhaps because of the piercing wind, the trip to Summer Shandy was quite simple, and lacking in almost any incidents. As they rumbled across the cobblestones, Jason found the town nearly abandoned, or at least it seemed that way. Smoke curled out of every chimney, but not a soul dared to poke their heads out into the town square, and Obadiah was

missing from his usual perch at the town well. They rumbled around the item shop to the gates, where they found a motley collection of animals, and the members of the esteemed Cattle Guild clustered around a small, flickering fire near the back of the item shop. One of them rubbed his hands together a few times, then pushed himself away from the fire and wandered over to the gates.

"Good morning!" He spoke out cheerfully, though his rather pudgy body quaked with tremors as he shivered in the wind. "And how might you two be doing today? How many head of cattle, and what ranch?"

"100, registered under the Circle-S brand." Jason answered. "We're appreciative for you being out here today."

"And vice versa!" The man gave a nod. "Between meat shortages due to the fungi, and now this... I didn't know if we'd have any at all. Works out well for you, though."

"Really?" Jason asked, his teeth beginning to chatter. When they had been moving, it hadn't been too bad, but now that they were stopped, he was feeling the cold ever-more. "How's that?"

"The guild is offering a one-time bonus of 20% per head." The man shrugged as he pulled out a notebook. "And, on top of that, I'm not even going to inspect each head. You get... There." He handed Jason a receipt. "You'll have the money in your account as soon as we make it back to Illumitir."

Jason glanced down at the receipt, and found the number to be a great bit higher than he'd ever seen it before. "Much obliged."

"Think nothing of it." The man shuddered. "Make sure the gate's latched when you get them all inside, alright?"

With that, he turned and wandered back over to the fire, where he shivered and held up his hands once more. The handful of guild members clustered close together, trying to stay warm, and Jason frowned. He hopped down from Angus and helped the rest of the cattle inside, then closed the gate and latched it tightly. That done, he mounted back up, waved at the hapless cattle guild-ers, then rode around back to the town square. There, he paused, turned to look at Milligan, and swung down off of Angus as he reached the item store.

"Feel free to come inside, or just head home and get warm!" Jason called up. "Either way, come by the house! You deserve a nice, hot lunch!" Milligan frowned, then gave a nod. He tipped his hat in acknowledgement, then rode off, trotting down toward the farm once more. With that, Jason slipped into the item shop, where he found Cecilia leaning against the table, a rather bored look on her face.

"Mike! Good of you to come by!"

"Hey, Cecilia." Jason walked up to the counter. "I've got an odd sort of request today."

"Those are my favorite. Hit me." She paused. "Well... Don't actually hit me. Had a guy do that a couple weeks back, mostly as a joke, but he had a strength stat of something like 90."

"Was it Daniel?" Jason asked.

Cecilia blinked several times, and Jason remembered how bad she was with names. "Maybe?"

"Not important, I suppose." Jason shrugged. "Anyway, I just want to buy some hot chocolate, and maybe some fresh pastries for those guys out back. They look cold, like they could use some basic care."

Cecilia snorted. "You're buying things for them? They could buy this whole store, probably this whole town, if they took a fancy to it."

"So?" Jason shrugged. "A bit of small-town hospitality is worth more than the entire city of Illumitir."

Cecilia paused, then shrugged. "Well, it's your money. If you want to do it, go for it. There's... Five of them?" She ran a few numbers in her head, then nodded. "That'll be 50 Shandys."

Jason nodded, and the items were transferred into his account. With that, he turned and walked back out into the cold. It was true, the members of the Cattle Guild were rich beyond belief. Meat was a big commodity, and they had cornered the market. Most likely, each one of them had a mansion (or two) up in Illumitir, and access to every creature comfort imaginable, and yet... Jason rather pitied them for that very fact. He would rather have been in Summer Shandy, exposed to the bitter cold and all the chaos of life, than live in peace and security in a big city once again.

He only hoped that he could give a small bit of that joy to the men on that cold, frigid day.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Snow

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 70th day of Winter! 21 days until the Winter Festival! Today, as per the norm, is another cold one, folks! That said, it's bright and clear, and there isn't a hint of clouds or wind, which makes it the perfect day for heading out to the Circle-S Ranch and Farmstead for an ice-skating party! Come out and glide around on a surface of glass, drink hot coco and cider, and enjoy good company! And yes, there will be cannons. This almanac entry sponsored by the Circle-S Ranch and Farmstead.]

Jason grinned as he rolled out of bed. His feet hit the floor, and he stretched, then slowly walked up to the window. Looking out across the yard, he found it to be a winter wonderland. The wind had brought with it a dusting of snow, enough to coat everything in a lovely white powder without dumping so much snow that it became hard to travel. Thus, Jason and Tess had put together the idea of opening up their rice paddy for an ice-skating rink. It was a good deal larger than the town square (which had been flooded once before to create a similar experience), and the farmstead could accommodate a large number of people. Jason stretched once more, then dressed in a warm tunic and made his way downstairs to help.

Already, the place was a hive of activity. Tess was in the kitchen cooking up more food than Jason could fathom, while Paulina and Viola helped carry it outside. The barn had been set up as a hub for the food and drink (as well as just being a somewhat warmer place to congregate and talk). Jason gave Tess a kiss in between pancake flips, and she smiled.

"Would you mind heading outside? I think Milligan could use your help in the barn, and the kids would love to see you."

"I'll head that way." Jason gave a nod. He smiled, then snagged a couple pancakes and a biscuit for the road. He then pulled on his boots and headed out, making sure to stay out of the way of all the platters of food.

Already, wagons were rumbling into the farmyard, carrying whole families brimming with excitement. Jason waved at some of them, then frowned as he caught a glimpse of Daniel striding out toward the ice.

"Daniel!"

"Hey, little farmer!" Daniel turned around and grinned at him. "Guess what I get to do?"

"What?" Jason raised an eyebrow, slightly apprehensive. "You do realize that if you smash the ice, we don't have an ice skating rink, and everyone goes home angry at me, right?"

Daniel laughed, then patted Jason on the head. "Don't worry about it, little farmer! I'm just going to go level the ice!" He pulled out a broad snow shovel and flipped it upside-down. Carefully, he placed the sharpened blade against the ice, then took a deep breath. "Just watch this!"

Jason didn't have a chance to protest as Daniel suddenly launched himself forward, blasting off across the ice as if he'd been shot from a cannon. Shards of ice erupted up into the air as he swept forward, leaving a pristine sheet of glass in his wake. Jason frowned and knelt down, running his fingers across the surface. He had thought that the original ice had been smooth, but he did have to admit that the leveled ice was far smoother... And, by extension, a great deal more slippery.

In any event, as Daniel whizzed back and forth across the paddy, Jason rose and made his way over to the barn, where Milligan and Richard were setting up tables. Milligan waved at him as he strode up, and Jason waved back.

"Good morning, boss!" Milligan beamed.

"Good of you to join us, sleepyhead." Richard's greeting had a tone of mirth to it, and Jason raised an eyebrow.

"I was the one who said not opening until noon would be just fine, and that if you wanted my help, you'd have to wait until I got out of bed."

"And here you are!" Milligan grinned. "Can you grab all that farm stuff over there? I wasn't sure where you might want it."

He gestured at a pile of equipment that seemed to have been dumped there by the two of them. There was a shearing rack from when Tess was still running sheep, along with a wide number of buckets, shovels, rakes, and other such things. Jason shrugged, then waved his hand and dumped it all into the farm's inventory.

"Future-Jason will be angry at me, but we have people arriving, so we don't really have time to get it all put away just the way I'd like it." Jason explained.

"I'll schedule Future-Milligan to help Future-Jason." Milligan offered.

"I won't." Richard chimed in. "Heads-up!"

Jason blinked as a family walked inside. Richard stepped behind the food table, then grabbed several paper plates and threw them like frisbees to the arrivals. The family managed to catch most of them, at which point, Richard proceeded to flip half a dozen pancakes up into the air for them to catch. Quite unfortunately, over half of them fell on the ground, and Jason sighed.

"Alright, alright! I'll stick to ranching." Richard chuckled as he stepped away once more. "Hey Jason! I think your wife wants you to lug out some of the drinks."

Jason blinked and looked up at the house, where Tess was standing there, waving at them. He and Richard made their way down, where several kegs containing hot chocolate and hot cider had been placed out on the porch. The two men, working together, carried them up to the barn and got them arranged on the tables, then stood back as more and more people arrived. "Thanks for opening up your home!" A woman wrung Jason's hand as she walked past. "It really means a lot to us."

"We're glad to have you." Jason smiled and nodded to her. He sighed in contentment, then glanced out to the paddy, where Daniel was just finishing up the last of the leveling. He twirled and jumped, making Jason wince, but he managed to land perfectly without even scratching the ice. Several people applauded, and slowly, the crowd made their way up onto the ice to start skating around.

"This is just incredible." Richard walked over to Jason and leaned against the wall as more and more people arrived. A line formed from the carriages to the barn, and then from the barn to the ice. "There aren't many communities left these days where something like this could happen."

"I know." Jason murmured. "We're pretty lucky to be here."

"Indeed."

"Daddy!" Fern and Rachel suddenly came pounding up one of the stairwells of the barn, along with a herd of other children. Jason recognized all of Daniel's children who were old enough to walk, Obadiah's children, and just about every other kid who had come in from town. There were almost twenty of them, and more joined the group as they arrived. "Can we go onto the ice?"

"That's what it's there for!" Jason shrugged. "Just be--"

"Ice!" Fern cried and raced down the slope, followed by the herd.

"Careful." Jason finished quietly. The group of children thundered across the snowy ground, politely waited for several adults to slip out onto the ice, and then charged out. From where he stood, Jason subsequently had a wonderful view as each and every one of them fell over each other, sliding across the ice on their bellies and fannies. Some of them tried to stand up and kept falling, others just started waving their arms and legs to make themselves continue to slide around on their bellies.

"Should we go get them?" Richard frowned.

Jason shrugged. "I reckon all their individual parents will have to handle that."

"You're the parent of two of them."

"True. And I should probably go take care of them." Jason sighed and pushed himself forward. "Catch you around!"

Richard waved, and Jason quickly made his way down the slope to the rink. There, he located his two girls. Fern was on one side, while Rachel seemed to have slid in the opposite direction. Carefully, Jason placed one foot on the ice, then kicked off with the other, sending himself gently gliding across the frozen surface.

He chose Rachel first, and soon glided up next to her. She beamed as he offered his hand, and he pulled her back to her feet.

"Daddy, can you help me skate?"

"Of course I can." Jason turned toward Fern, then carefully pushed himself off. Rachel leaned into his hand, letting her own feet mostly just drag across the surface of the ice, and they slowly glided across the paddy to where Fern was struggling to pull herself up on one of the fences.

"Hi, daddy!" Fern grunted as she pulled herself a bit higher. "I... Can... Do it!"

"Probably." Jason held out his other hand. "I am here to help, though, if you want it."

Fern gritted her teeth and pulled herself fully upright, pushed off, and fell flat on her back.

"Okay, daddy."

Jason bent down and pulled her up as well—and, hand in hand, the three of them began to skate, slowly and purposefully, over the paddy.

All around, the area teemed with activity. Teenagers raced around the long fence line, circling the full eighty acres over and over again. Parents took their children up the middle, bringing them along in a joy that knew no other. Couples without children swung around, spinning in circles around one another in their own bliss. Jason sighed deeply, then took the hands of his children a bit tighter and skated down toward the far end of the field.

It was a simple time, there was no doubt of that, but it was a lovely one. Jason knew that he wouldn't have traded it for the whole world. This was the essence and joy of winter, and as he turned and looked at everyone else enjoying his farm, he was simply happy that he was able to share it.

That was the odd thing about joy. The more you shared, the more you had. Jason caught sight of Tess walking up along the fence, and he started bringing the girls over to meet her. After all, there was one more member of their family not on the ice yet... It wouldn't be right not to share the time with her, too.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Warmer

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 83rd day of Winter! 8 days until the Winter Festival! Let's see... Today, we're actually going to be seeing a warmer streak, and while I don't expect it to really get warm until spring, I do think the upward trend is going to continue! With the snow we got last night, I'd expect there to be some good, solid packing snow, so... Get out there and enjoy it! Make your very best snowman, and if you do it in the town square, maybe Jeremiah will come out and judge them!]

Jason stretched as he rolled out of bed. Sure enough, as he gazed out through the window, he found the ground covered in a thick, wet-looking blanket. Some snows were dry and powdery, and you could tell it from a distance. This snow, though... Even without touching it, Jason could see how good it was going to be for packing, for sledding, for just about anything you would classically want to use snow for.

The only problem was that it was a workday.

"Oh, well." He shrugged as he walked over to the wardrobe and got changed. "There will always be more days to play in the snow. Work is work is work, that's why I'm out here."

No one answered him, except for the distant sound of bacon sizzling in the frying pan below. Jason squared his shoulders, then marched out and down the stairs. As he swept into the kitchen, Tess looked up and beamed at him, and the girls pointed eagerly at his plate.

"Look, daddy! We made you a smile!"

Jason sat down and laughed. Sure enough, two eggs had been put on his plate for eyes, with a strip of bacon beneath to mark out the mouth. Both

girls had smiley faces on their own plates as well, and Jason chuckled as Tess took her seat.

"Can we play in the snow?"

"And make snowballs?"

"And a snowman?"

"And a snow woman?"

The girls spoke over each other, chattering faster and faster, and Jason held up a hand.

"Alright, slow down." He took a deep breath. "We'll see. You girls are welcome to play in the snow all you want, but I do think that mommy and I have work to do."

Their faces fell, but only for a moment.

"Help daddy?"

Jason grimaced. "We're working with the cattle, unfortunately. I'll play with you as soon as I'm done working, but I don't think I'll have time until this afternoon."

The girls looked down at their plates and stuck out their bottom lips. It almost broke Jason's heart, and he reached out and rubbed their heads. "Hey, chin up! It'll just make this afternoon that much more fun!"

Fern perked up. "More fun?"

"More fun." Jason nodded. He picked up his bacon and ate it in several bites, then paused. "Now, I think we need to get you two all bundled up, eh?"

"Yay!"

Fern and Rachel both jumped down and raced for the front door, and Tess frowned while she and Jason finished eating.

"If you want, you really can go play with them."

"No, I need to help." Jason shrugged. "You could really use the help, what with Richard and Weatherhand being out of town, and they do need to learn that we can't play together all the time. Sometimes, they'll just have to play together. That's what's so beautiful about having more than one, you know?"

"Fair enough." Tess grimaced. "It's just so hard to say no!"

"Then let's practice." Jason stuck out his lower lip. "Tell me no."

Tess snorted. "No." Her voice held no end of sarcasm, and Jason laughed as he finished the last bit of his food and stood. The two of them made their way to the front door, where the girls were trying to get ready. Rachel had put on her winter coat backwards, while Fern was in the process of attempting to cram her head through the sleeve. Jason laughed, and quickly helped the two of them get things fixed. That done, he pulled the door open, and the family rushed outside.

Both girls quickly flung themselves into the first snowbank they saw, vanishing beneath the thick, sticky snow. As they popped back up, Fern threw a snowball at Jason, who narrowly dodged. Tess responded by throwing a bit back at Fern, then following Jason as they made their way up toward the barn. Milligan already had the barn door open, and Jason waved. "Morning, boss!" Milligan called down. "How's it going?"

"Good as it can be!" Jason called back. "Have you heard anything from the supply company?"

Milligan shook his head. "Not a thing, though I did climb up the barn to see if I could see anything. There's a herd coming up the road, I think it was getting close to the Lazy-H when I saw them, that must have been about ten minutes ago."

"You climbed the barn?" Jason raised an eyebrow.

Milligan shrugged. "Don't look at me like that. I'm a faithful hired man, and you need to know when your animals will be here. Everything inside the barn should be set up and good to go, they just need to get here." "Thanks, Milligan." Jason started walking down toward the road. "I'll go get the yard gate open! Tess, get ready with the branding iron and anything else we need!"

"Will do!"

Tess and Milligan vanished into the barn, and Jason soon swung the gates open to allow traffic inside. He stepped out onto the road, and, sure enough, could see a herd of cattle lumbering forward in the distance. He waved, and a rider at the front of the line waved back at him. With that, Jason returned to the barn, though he kept an eye on the girls.

Fern and Rachel were both playing in the front yard, near the apple and pear trees. It looked like they were piecing together a snowman, or at least trying to. Neither one seemed to take much notice as the herd of cattle came lumbering along and slipped into the yard and up to the barn. Jason frowned as he looked the cattle over. These were a different breed than he had seen before. They were smaller, a cream-color, and had rather spiky-looking horns. Toward the back, there was a single animal that was a good deal larger. It sported enormous horns that looked big enough to gore someone with. Nevertheless, they were all docile enough, and Tess soon directed them all into their assorted pens. Three riders came along, and paused as they ran the last of the cattle into the barn.

"Are you Jason Hunter?" One of them swung down from the saddle and pulled a clipboard out of his inventory.

"That's me." Jason nodded.

"Here." The man passed it over. "I've got the receipt for... 100 cattle, and 1 water buffalo. Don't know what you want a water buffalo for, but I suppose I don't need to know, really."

Jason's jaw dropped, and he glanced over at Tess, who just shrugged and flashed a smile at him.

"I can run my rice paddy now!" He practically cheered. "Like... Really run it!"

"A rice paddy?" The man raised an eyebrow. "Here?"

"Trust me, don't get him started." Milligan walked past. "That said... It's actually sorta impressive."

"I'll take your word for it." The man shrugged and swung back up onto the saddle. "Anyhow, they're all certified fungus-free, at least when we left. You'll find the fee and everything in that receipt, just pay it at your local bank or constable's office, and it ought to go through."

"Much obliged." Jason gave a nod. With that, the men turned and rode off, and Jason tucked the receipt away and went to help Tess and Milligan.

All the cattle had been put into pens, and were slowly being pushed through the alley. Jason hopped into the alley and started running the gates, which Tess seemed to appreciate. She worked as quickly as possible, but she had to apply a topical fungus prevention along with each brand, which just took time. When almost an hour had gone by, a distant call echoed over the rumble of the herd.

"Daddy! Daddy!"

Jason closed a gate to prevent a large steer from getting through, then turned and threaded his way through the alley. Fern and Rachel stood nearby, shivering.

"We're cold! Can you take us inside?"

Jason sighed. "I'm sorry, but mommy and daddy are busy."

"You can go help them if you want." Tess called out. "Milligan and I can handle this!"

"Can you?" Jason glanced over his shoulder at her. "This really needs three people."

"Ahh, we'll make it work." Tess shrugged. "Go have fun with the girls. Get them nice and cozy warm."

"We want mommy!" Fern called out. "Do school!"

Jason glanced over his shoulder, then climbed over the last gate and walked up to kneel down next to her.

"Fern, you can come inside with me, but we're not going to be able to do any school."

"Please?" Fern's lips puckered up. "I want to do school!"

"Learn numbers!" Rachel cried out. "Please!"

Jason puffed out his cheeks, then walked back over to Tess. "If you're up for going in, I'd be willing to stay out here and get this done."

Tess raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you the one who was just saying that this takes three people?"

"And you're the one who was saying that it can be worked out." Jason shrugged. "I'm the farmer, you're the mom. Let me take this, so you can go inside and get nice and cozy."

Tess's face twitched, and Jason knew he had her. A few minutes later, Tess was leading the girls down toward the house, and Jason climbed back over the fence and started working where Tess had been. Thankfully, as long as Milligan didn't bring him more than one animal at a time, they could make it work. It was a good bit slower, but it worked out.

As they went along, he cast a long look toward the house, and sighed deeply. He wanted, rather desperately, to be inside with the girls—but he knew that his place was here, in the barn. He was the one to work, to support the home, to build it up. Tess's school, at least thus far, seemed to have been a resounding success, but it was also making the girls far more interested in things of that nature.

"It's a good thing, boss." Milligan smiled as he walked past, reading Jason's mind. "You know it as well as I do. Besides, you'll be able to go inside as soon as we get this all worked out, and you'll be able to spend the rest of the day with them."

"True enough." Jason took a deep breath, and a sense of resolution filled him. "In that case, let's get this

Chapter Thirty: 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 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 91st day of Winter! It's the day of the Winter Festival! Let's see... well... We've had a run of perfect festival days, so I suppose we were due for one that wasn't quite as perfect. Today, we've got just about the biggest storm I think I've seen in a long while. If you're already in town, go on over to the Guild Hall for one last hurrah of winter! If you're not, please do stay home, folks!]

Jason's eyes flickered open to the sound of wind howling, and the rattle of windows in the panes. He stretched and sat up, and found, to his astonishment, that Fern and Rachel were still both in the hotel room. Of course, the night before, it had been a late bedtime for them. Everyone else had gotten into the inn early in order to avoid the storm, so many of the games traditionally reserved for the morning had been played the night before. It had been after midnight before the two girls fell asleep on the stairs when they lay down to hide, and had been carried back to the room by Jason and Tess.

"Good morning, Jason." Tess sighed and wrapped her arms around him. "How are you feeling?"

"Good, I think." He yawned and stretched, then slowly rose and started getting dressed, keeping an eye on the girls all the while. Thankfully, neither of them really stirred, and he was soon in a warm tunic. "Shall we go get a romantic breakfast all to ourselves?"

"I don't think we've done that in... Pfft, almost five years at this point." Tess laughed. She rose and dressed as well, and the two of them slipped out into the hall.

The inn as a whole was quiet, save for the howling of the wind. As they walked into the dining area, they found a far smaller repast than usual. Still, there was a vast array of food choices up for grabs—including donuts, pastries, sausage—the whole nine yards. They quickly gathered up plates of everything that looked good, then slipped back to their room.

Inside, they ate on the bed, simply enjoying one another's company without really talking much at all. When they finished eating, they remained still, basking in the silence. Finally, though, Fern stirred and sat up, her eyes going wide.

"Was I found?"

"Something like that!" Jason laughed and picked her up, setting her on the bed. "Good morning, my favorite oldest daughter."

"No, I'se your favorite!" Rachel sat up as well, blinking indignantly. "You're my favorite youngest daughter." Jason held up a finger. "And mommy is my favorite wife."

"Daddy's about to become my least-favorite husband." Tess joked. Jason scowled at her, and Tess gave him a kiss on the cheek before standing up. She started packing up their things, while Jason began to serve the girls from the tray of food they had brought back.

"Do we get to play today?" Fern asked as Tess pulled a blue dress over her head.

"Of course we do." Tess grinned. "And we're going to go play in the Guild Hall."

"You used to work there!" Fern grinned.

"I did, yes, before I met daddy."

"A little bit after you met daddy, right?" Fern queried.

"Before I was married to daddy." Tess corrected herself. "I suppose I had met him while I was still working there."

"Then why did you say it wrong?"

"Because... I don't know. Why do you pay so much attention?"

"Because!"

Jason chuckled. He handed the last scone to Fern, then helped Tess wrangle the rather wriggly Rachel into a dress as well. That done, he helped Tess finish packing everything, and they rose and wandered out into the main portion of the inn.

It was starting, slowly, to grow into a larger hub of activity. Parents, mostly with bleary-eyed children, slipped out with their bags. Jason waved at some of them he knew, and he and Tess reached the front door. Bracing himself against the cold, Jason pushed the door open, and they forged their way outside.

The wind and snow were howling across the landscape with so much force that he couldn't even see the Item Store across the two square. The snowflakes stung him like bees, and Tess quickly wrapped her arms around the girls and ushered them along. Jason watched with longing as they entered the Guild Hall, while he made his way over to the wagon field where he stashed their luggage in their carriage. That done, he turned and made his way, one painful step at a time, back to the Guild Hall.

Stepping inside, though, made up for the trouble getting there. The moment the door opened, he was hit with a wave of heat that melted any and all snow right off of him. The smell of roasting meats, rich pies, cakes, casseroles—and other such dishes made his mouth water. Tess stood nearby chatting with some other moms, notably Paulina and Viola, while a men's group sat in chairs near the fire. Jeremiah had his unlit pipe in his mouth,

while Obadiah and Daniel sat not far away. Jason strode over, and Obadiah motioned to an empty chair.

"Have a seat!"

"Much appreciated." Jason slowly sank into the deep leather. "Ooh, this is comfortable."

"It's made from the skin of a leatherback land lobster." Obadiah chuckled. "Those things are rare, but I managed to track one down when I went on a business trip to the sea late last year."

"If you ever happen to find another one, I'll buy its hide, or at least a chair made from it, off you." Jason settled back into the chair and sighed, then sat up. "How's everyone doing?"

"I think I've found a job!" Daniel grinned from ear to ear, as if he had been waiting for the opportunity. "These guys don't think I can do it, but it sounds fun to me."

"And what's that?" Jason raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Cattle Wrestling!"

Jason paused for a moment, then glanced over at Jeremiah and Obadiah. They both just stared at Jason, and he sighed.

"Do you mean cattle rustling?"

"Wrestling, rustling, it's all the same, right?" Daniel grinned broadly. "You get a pen, and then you turn a bull loose, and you use a red blanket to try to kill it!"

Jason bit his lip. "Ahh... Multiple things I'm seeing."

"Shoot!"

"First off, there's no such thing as cattle wrestling." Jason shrugged. "What you're describing is called Bullfighting, and... correct me if I'm wrong,

Jeremiah, but it's been illegal in the Illumitir province for just about forever."

"You're not wrong." Jeremiah shook his head. "Nasty business. My buddies and I tried it back in the day, just for fun, and wound up spending almost a month in the hospital as a result."

"I could do it!" Daniel puffed out his chest.

"Yes, but as we've mentioned, it's rather illegal." Daniel held up a finger. "Now, second thing. Cattle rustling is a thing, but it just means stealing cattle."

"I could... I..." Daniel frowned. "I'd just be stealing from my father and my brother-in-law!"

"Technically, Richard isn't your father, but yes, that's correct." Jason nodded. "Besides, you shouldn't be stealing anyway!"

"I just want a job." Daniel drummed his fingers on the arms of the chair. "That's it! Just a job where I can support my family. Like you, little farmer. Only I'm not good at doing anything 'cept smashing things."

"You're good at lots of things, just not things that let you spend time with your family." Jason countered. "You had the Dungeon Guild running smoother than silk, near as I heard tell."

"True." Daniel brightened slightly. He shrugged. "Anyway, I don't want to take away from anyone's fun. Someone else, go!"

Jeremiah shrugged. "Well, I still haven't found anyone to be constable. My right knee has also started acting up, but I reckon you don't really want to hear about all that."

Jason chuckled, then glanced at Obadiah. "What about you?"

Obadiah shrugged. "About the only thing I have that would interest you is my correspondence with Hank, and he hasn't sent me anything new since

the last time I talked to you." Obadiah paused, and he frowned. "Well... Okay, that's not exactly true. He sent me one more thing, but just that he's checking out some leads in Portswain. Thinks he might have a bearing on where the fungi came from, but he isn't quite certain yet."

"Even if he can't find it, I think we're poised to take it down come this next spring." Jason shrugged. "I've been talking with Milligan. Rain or shine, we're planting the field to the fungus tomorrow, and after that, it should be a fairly simple business getting it ready."

"Good. Just let me know how much you have, and when you have it ready." Obadiah mused. "I've been in contact with other Guildmasters and constables across the Illumitir province. I think we'll plan to release the spores on the last day of spring, all at once, to make sure we deal the most effective blow possible. As you get more and more samples, I'll send them out wherever they need to go."

"Just let me know what you need, and I'll have it for you." Jason confirmed.

They sighed and leaned back in their chairs, sighing in contentment. A moment later, Obadiah spoke up once more.

"Mmm. Just so you're prepared for it, Jason, the womenfolk of the town are all conspiring."

"Oh, really?" Jason chuckled. "Just what about, this time?"

"They want to elect Tess as the local schoolteacher."

"That doesn't surprise me in the slightest." Jason smiled and slowly shifted. "Frankly, I'm surprise it's been this long coming. I just don't know how any of the logistics would work. It can be quite the ride between our farm and Summer Shandy, and our family doesn't really want to be apart that much."

"We know." Obadiah chuckled. "They have a plan they're going to formally bring before Tess today. I don't know what it is exactly, but... We'll build a schoolhouse this spring, and then starting in the summer, if Tess could come up for one day out of the week, the rest of them could handle the lessons in between. She'd serve as something like a principle, overseeing lessons and all that sort of thing."

"Huh." Jason frowned in thought. "That doesn't sound like an awful idea. It would take a bit of getting used to, but I reckon we could make that work." "That's what they're hoping. Like I said, though, they'll be talking to her directly at some point." Obadiah glanced over his shoulder, then rose. "Apologies, but I have to get going. Looks like someone just found the entrance to the secret crystal stash, and I'd rather not have the place explode."

Jason chuckled as Obadiah jogged toward the far side of the hall, where he waved his arms and chased away several children who had managed to get a small hatch open. Jason sighed deeply, then sank a bit further back into his chair.

It was something he had been half-expecting for some time now, but also, it was strange now that it was actually starting to come to fruition. Tess would make an excellent teacher, that much he was certain of. There were countless questions, though, that would need to be addressed.

Oh, well. He could figure out all of that over the course of the next season. For the time being, he was going to enjoy the festival, and enjoy his family. Starting the very next day, things were going to get nuts once more. Any issues he had facing him could be dealt with at that time, but not, he decided, a single moment earlier.

Chapter Thirty-One: First Day of

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 1st day of Spring! 90 days until the Spring Festival! Alright, folks, spring is here, and with it comes the rain we've all known would be here! That storm from yesterday hasn't abated in the slightest, only gotten a smidge warmer! If you have to go outside, do stay safe!] Jason nodded as he rolled out of bed. He did rather want to stay inside, but... duty called, and that was the simple reality. Beside him, Tess was still asleep, along with Fern and Rachel. Between staying up late the night before the festival, and not wanting to leave until after the blizzard had turned into a monsoon, the family hadn't exactly gotten to bed early the night before. Truth be told, Jason was utterly exhausted, but he gritted his teeth and forced his way over to the window, where rain beat down in a torrential downpour.

It lashed against the house hard enough to make the whole structure shudder. The windows rattled; the chimney howled. It was, in no way, shape, or form, a pleasant sort of experience. Jason sighed, then walked over to the wardrobe and got changed into work clothes.

"Daddy?" Fern sat up in bed and looked at him through bleary eyes. "Can I get up with you?"

"Of course." Jason nodded. "Come on, quietly."

Fern carefully crawled out of bed without touching Rachel or Tess, and Jason quickly led her out into the hall and down to her own bedroom. He went and changed her into a day dress, then went downstairs, and whipped up some eggs and sausages. The two of them tucked into their meal, all the while rain continued to lash down with incredible force.

"Daddy?" Fern asked quietly. "Can I come work with you today?"

Jason frowned. "You don't want to do school with mommy?"

"I do, but I also want to work with you. It's been awhile." Fern pouted slightly, and batted her eyes. "I think I'm just missing it."

Jason chuckled, despite himself, and gave a nod. "Alright, then. How can I say no to a face like that?"

"No." Fern explained it to him. "The same way you always say no. But please don't!"

"Don't worry. You'll come." Jason glanced up at the small window, then grimaced. "If you want to. If we get out there, and you decide that it's too much, you have to tell me, okay?"

"Okay!"

The two of them finished eating, and Jason took her to the front door. There, they pulled on their clothes and opened up the front door. Thankfully, their door faced east, and the rain was coming from the west, which shielded them somewhat. That said, it was still just coming so far and so hard. Jason sighed as he looked out at it all. The spray seemed to blow back to hit them, and Fern grinned.

"This is fun, daddy!"

"It is?" Jason blinked. "You actually like this?"

"Yes! Let's go!"

He shrugged, and they stepped outside. Slowly, carefully, they waded out and down the steps, hitting the body of the rain a moment later as they passed beyond the range of the house. Almost instantly, Jason was soaked to the skin. He looked down at Fern, but she simply had a broad grin across her face. With a shrug, he simply lowered his head and pushed forward, arriving at the barn a few moments later.

Milligan was nowhere to be seen, so Jason started doing the chores. There wasn't much, it really only encompassed putting out some mineral for the great beasts. When he finished, he was still alone with Fern, so he took her over to the stairs leading up to the loft.

"Alright, Fern, I need you to stay right here." He smiled. "I'm going to go get out the water buffalo. I don't think it will do anything, but if it does get spooked, I'm going to need you to run like the wind up to hide in the storage rooms, alright?"

"Yes, daddy!" Fern nodded. She sat down on the stairs, soaked to the bone, but still grinning from ear to ear. Jason watched her for a moment, then walked over to the pen that held the water buffalo.

The enormous beast had to weigh over a ton, and had horns that were as thick at the base as Jason's head. It certainly looked as though it could take down a mountain (and it likely could if it wanted to), but the thing was as tame as a house cat. That didn't mean he didn't need to be careful, though. Even if it meant no harm, the buffalo was so strong that a single misstep could prove harmful. Making sure that it could see him, Jason opened the gate, slipped inside, and put a loop of rope about its neck. The creature huffed and grunted, but allowed it to happen, and Jason slowly and carefully took the mighty creature out into the middle of the barn floor.

It continued to make no objection as Jason led it out into the driving rain. In fact, the stalwart creature even seemed to enjoy the water, which reminded Jason rather forcefully of its name. Carefully, he led it down to the lean-to, where he hitched it up to the planter. The water buffalo grunted a bit at that, but it still allowed itself to be attached, and Jason nodded.

"Alright, there we go! Now, all we have to do is..." He opened up the farm's inventory and hunted around for a moment until he found the fungi

spores. When he dumped it all into the seed boxes, he watched as tens of thousands of tiny green balls came rattling to fill it up. A smile broke across his face as he slammed it shut, and, water streaming off his body, he went back into the barn to get Fern.

"Are we ready to go?" Fern asked.

"I think so." Jason nodded with a smile. They carefully ventured back out into the driving rain, with Fern clinging tightly to his shirt. When they got there, Jason set Fern carefully on the bench of the planter, then opened his inventory and took out a long whip.

Well... Strictly speaking, it wasn't exactly a whip, but that was the name of the item. It was a stick, almost five feet long, with a rather stiff cord that ended in a bristle. Carefully, Jason tapped the rump of the water buffalo with the whip, and it began lumbering forward.

It was slow, that much was obvious. Angus was built for speed, and even when he slowed down to pull farm equipment, he also did so at a fairly decent clip. This water buffalo, though... Hardly plodded forward at a foot a second, but it had power. Jason could see its muscles rippling through the rain, and it didn't slow (or even pause) as it reached the field and lumbered inside. Jason pulled the lever to start the seed flowing, and with that, he simply held on.

He couldn't hear the seeds... or rather the spores... Over the sound of the wind and the rain. That said, he could see the little green balls bobbing to the surface of the paddy behind him as they passed through, making him wonder somewhat about the need to actually plant any of it. In any case, though, it was fun, and he could see from the look on Fern's face that she was enjoying every moment.

They lumbered down, slowly and surely, toward the end of the field. Rain hit them dead on, and Jason planted his feet and stared into the raging storm, imagining that he was some great general forging onward through the dregs of war. Fern did the same, though she giggled.

"Daddy, you're all wet!"

"So are you!" Jason turned and grinned down at her. "In fact, you're soaked!"

"Yeah!" Fern clapped her hands. She leaned against him and sighed deeply. "I love working with you, daddy."

"And I love it when you work with me." Jason frowned, then bent down and hefted her up. "Want to try and drive?"

"Can I?" Fern's jaw dropped.

"Sure!" Jason placed the hilt of the whip in her hands. "Just reach out... nice and carefully... Tap him on the rump."

"On his butt!"

Jason shrugged. "Yes, on his butt."

"Okay!"

Fern drew back the whip over her head to bring it slamming down, and Jason quickly reached up and caught it.

"No! Do that, and he'll run and dump us in the--"

His foot slipped slightly, and he gasped and grabbed hold of a support. The whip fell with a splash in the water behind, and Fern giggled.

"Now you have to go get it!"

"I do, don't I?" Jason sighed, then carefully set Fern back down on the platform. "Stay here, alright?"

"Got it!"

Jason carefully jumped off the back, landing in the drink. It was about three feet deep, give or take a few inches, though the thick mud at the bottom caused his feet to sink a bit deeper. It pulled and sucked at him as he forced his way backward to where the whip was bobbing on the surface of the water, his movement making the little green fungus balls swirl about him wildly. When he retrieved it, he turned around... Only to find that the water buffalo had kept moving! Fern giggled and waved, and he quickly began trying to catch up.

It was much harder work than he thought, thankfully the creature was moving so slow, though Fern enjoyed every minute of the slow-motion chase. When he caught up, he grabbed hold and pulled himself up on board, grinning and gasping as he slowly stood up.

"Daddy?" Fern crossed her arms. "Don't do that again!"

"I'll do my best." Jason fought to keep from laughing, then did anyway. He reached up and tapped the water buffalo on the right-hand shoulder, making it swing off to the left to turn around.

It was an odd start to spring, but he supposed that sometimes, things were just like that. He was hard at work, and he had his daughter next to him. All in all, in just about every way, that made it the best way to start spring, for sure.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Smell The

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 10th day of Spring! 81 days until the Spring Festival! It's about as lovely of a spring day as you could imagine! Get outside and smell the flowers, folks, because you always complain about missing them once summer comes!]

Jason took a deep breath as he rolled out of bed. Indeed, the window was wide open, allowing a wonderful, fresh spring breeze to blow inside. He rose and walked up to the window, drawing a deep breath.

Outside, the whole world was green and vibrant. The prairie stretched out in an endless expanse of new grass intermixed with wildflowers. Countless flowers grew up around the border of the house, planted by Tess and the girls. The smell of dirt, the smell of moisture, the smell of life—it all flowed upward and mingled, and he sighed in contentment.

Slowly, he turned to look at his paddy. It was doing quite well, and was due for its first harvest the very next day. Jason didn't know a thing about fungi, but... well... It certainly looked to be growing fantastically! The entire surface was covered in a thick, green slime that Milligan assured him was entirely composed of millions of the tiny organisms all growing together. Upon the slime grew blueish bubbles, every few inches or so, ranging in size. The smallest ones were the size of pinheads. As they became the size of marbles or so, they started pushing upward upon stalks that rose to heights upward of three feet in some cases. Jason had stepped inside it several days earlier, and could confirm that the whole thing was growing on the surface of the water, though there were some root-like appendages that

went down to the mud at about the same frequency as the stalks that went upward. All told, it looked equally exotic and downright disgusting.

"Good morning, Jason!" Tess swept into the room, a wide smile on her face. "And how's my dearest husband doing this morning?"

"Good as ever, I'd say." Jason stretched, then slowly turned away from the window and walked to the wardrobe. "What's your plan for the day?"

"A bit of school with the girls, and then I think we're going to go pick some flowers for Viola." Tess answered. "She sprained her leg yesterday, and is having some trouble getting about. There's plenty of help up that way, so she doesn't need anything, but it's always nice to have a few flowers, you know?"

"I'll take your word for it." Jason chuckled softly. "Well, have fun."

"And what are you doing?" Tess asked.

Jason shrugged. "Just some odd jobs. The fungi needs harvesting tomorrow, and the other fields won't need any work done on them until next week when they're ready to harvest. I need to repair some fences before it deteriorates to the point of breaking, and the barn took some damage in that windstorm at the start of spring. Nothing major, but it needs a new coat of paint in a few places. That sort of thing, just general maintenance." He paused, then smiled sheepishly. "And then, after that, I think I'm going to go for a run."

"Still planning on driving up those actions?" Tess laughed.

"Yes, and I wish you'd stop making fun of me for it." Jason crossed his arms, though he wasn't actually upset. "I fell out of it all winter when it was cold, so I'm getting back to it now."

"I'm not making fun of you! I think it's really good, honestly." Tess smiled and turned to walk out of the room. "It's just so unlike how you've been

since I've known you!"

"A guy can change!" Jason pulled on work clothes and followed Tess down to the kitchen, where the two girls were waiting for them.

"Yeah, but most people don't." Tess shrugged. "Anyway, enjoy your run! You know where the kids and I will be."

Jason nodded. He ate a quick breakfast, enjoying every moment with his family, then rose as he finished and headed off into the farm.

His chores, such as they were, went quickly. The fence was along the northern side of the pasture, and while he didn't exactly know what had caused it, his repair skill was high enough that all it took was some scrap metal and a few taps from his hammer. The fence was restored to a 100 Durability, and after riding around the rest of the fence to troubleshoot issues, he returned to the barn. Fixing those issues weren't hard, either. He found painting to be quite fun, relaxing, even. To be frank, he didn't care all that much about the aesthetics, but the paint served as a sealant of sorts, keeping both moisture and insects out of the wood, which helped increase the longevity of the barn.

He finished with those tasks right about the time that Tess came down from the house with the girls and a large picnic basket. He helped them get hitched up, then waved as they rumbled off down the road toward Summer Shandy. A smile spread across his face, and he slowly made his way up into the house.

"Alright! Time to work on this here exercise quest."

No one answered him, but then, he didn't really need them to. He went upstairs and changed into lighter jogging shorts, tennis shoes, and a lighter shirt. All that done, he went back down into the farmyard and opened up his [Exercise] quest.

[Exercise Today: 0/3000 m run, 0/20 sit ups, 0/20 push-ups]

"Let's start with the easy bit." He took a deep breath and sat down in the dust, then lay flat and started sitting up multiple times in a row.

[1/20 sit ups]

[2/20 sit ups]

[5/20 sit ups]

[10/20 sit ups]

When he finished, he was breathing heavily, though not as badly as when he had first started the exercise quests. That done, he rolled over onto his belly, and did the requisite number of pushups. That, thankfully, wasn't too hard. He was used to using his arms for things, so they were more than capable of performing the required task. As he finished, he slowly rose, then began bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"That's all done! Now, all that's left is to run three kilometers." He drew in a deep breath and slowly started jogging toward the road. As he slipped out, he turned and ran down toward the Lazy-H Ranch.

Around him, the prairie slipped slowly past, and he smiled broadly. A deer walked by, then turned and looked at him. Brilliant gemstones glittered from its antlers, and after a moment of watching him curiously, it turned and bounded away. A honey badger, dripping the sticky golden liquid, poked its head out of the grass, then turned and withdrew into the safety of the prairie around.

Jason smiled as he simply took it all in. The prairie was vast, seeming to swallow him up in its enormity. Though it was such a simple thing, it was something that he still had never quite grown used to. Up in Illumitir, you could only see buildings around. In forests, as beautiful as the trees might be, you could only see the ones you were closest to. On the open prairie,

you could see for countless miles, grasses stretching out in as many directions as you might choose to look.

When he reached the Lazy-H, he slowed and turned around, only to hear hoofbeats. Richard came trotting out on his enormous horse, grinning broadly.

"Training for a marathon?"

"What's... a... marathon?"

Richard shrugged. As Jason turned around and started running back toward the Circle-S, the older man clopped up next to Jason and kept his horse at a slow walk to be able to continue to talk.

"I don't know exactly. I think it's like 20 miles or something. There was this town, I think the town of Marathon, and there was a dragon that was trying to eat it, and someone ran there..." Richard scratched his head. "Then again, it might have also been a human army attacking the town."

"A human army?" Jason laughed. "Come on... People... don't attack... other people..." He slowed to a walk for a moment. "Except maybe in duels and personal rivalries. No human army is going to attack a human town." "That's fair enough, I suppose." Richard chuckled. "How far are you?" Jason could barely speak as he started running again. "1500... meters..." He drew a deep breath. "By... the way... what's... a meter?"

"Propaganda from the eastern isles." Richard scowled. "A bunch of rich folks decided to try and convert everything in Illumitir to foreign measurements. Meters instead of yards, hectares instead of acres, ounces instead of pounds, kilometers instead of miles."

"Uh, huh." Jason frowned. "Then... why... are the quests... still... in meters?"

"Not a clue. I'll tell Jeremiah, he'll probably have a form where you can convert." Richard frowned down at Jason. "Are you okay? You look like you're dying?"

"Just... not used... to this." Jason puffed out his cheeks, then gasped for breath and kept running. "But it's good for me."

"I won't argue with that." Richard shrugged. "Well, if you ever need anything, you just let me know, alright?"

"Alright!"

Richard spurred his horse onward, and soon left Jason in the dust. Jason choked for a moment on the cloud, but it passed soon enough, and he forged onward.

When he reached his house again, he had about 300 meters left. Chest heaving, barely able to move, he forced himself to push further on down the road until it had been reduced to 150, then turned around. It ran out just as he arrived, and he gratefully slowed to barely a crawl, staggering up toward the porch.

His legs burned, they felt numb... But he had done it! [Quest Completed!]

[Current Dexterity: 14]

[Days to Exercise: 7]

He nodded in understanding, made it up to the porch, and sat down. As he leaned against the wall, he sighed in both exhaustion and contentment.

It was hard work pushing through all the exercise, but... in so many ways, it was unfathomably rewarding. All he had to do was keep pushing through, keep making his way, and... well... Truth be told, he didn't really need that many more actions, but it gave him a goal to work toward, and was tremendously satisfying besides. He didn't move for a good, long time, then

rose and slipped into the house to go take a shower and get changed back into normal clothes. Then, once that was done, he would get supper ready for the girls when they finally did get back home.

Then, the next day, refreshed and ready to go, he would get the first harvest of the fungi. How that would go, he didn't have the faintest idea... But, as was his usual custom, he couldn't wait to find out.

Chapter Thirty-Three: Family

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 51 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 11th day of Spring! 80 days until the Spring Festival! I don't really have much to say that wasn't said yesterday! This is about the most perfect spring weather you could possibly ask for, so enjoy it before it goes away! I do think we have a storm coming later this week, just a heads up!]

Jason rolled out of bed, a strange sense of excitement and apprehension filling him as he slowly walked up to the window. Looking out across the farmstead, he looked past the usual greenery and gazed upon the rice paddy, which had matured more even since the day earlier. The little blue balls, as well as the stems, had grown ever larger, giving the impression of another realm of existence. And he was going to be walking straight through it. "Good morning, daddy!" Fern raced into the room, her night gown streaming behind her. "Can I work with you today?"

"Good morning, squirt."

"I'm not a squirt!"

Jason frowned and set her on the bed. "You look like a squirt."

"I do not! I look like a little girl!"

"Hmm..." Jason stroked his chin. "I'm still going to call you a squirt." Fern's nose scrunched up, then she grinned. "Okay! Squirt, can I come work with you?"

"My name is daddy!" Jason crossed his arms.

"No, it's squirt!"

Jason rolled his eyes. "Fine, you win. Good morning, Fern."

"Good morning squirt!"

Jason chuckled and shook his head. "Anyway, back to your question, I'd rather you didn't help me today."

Fern's face fell. "Why?"

"Because I don't really know what this fungus is going to do as we start trying to harvest it." Jason shrugged. "I don't know if it will stink, or if it'll just get slurped up, or if it'll explode, or--"

"Explode?" Fern put her hands on the sides of her head as if shocked. "Exactly!" Jason put his own hands on the side of his head as well. "And if it explodes, I don't want you around!"

"Good!"

Fern jumped down and ran off without another word, and Jason laughed. He shut the door and changed into work clothes, then made his way downstairs. Tess was in the kitchen with both girls, and she set out a plate for him as he appeared. Jason sat down, just as a knock came on the door.

"Come in!" He hollered off through the living room.

"Daddy?" Fern asked as she took a bite of sausage. "What would happen if I got 'sploded?"

Jason chuckled. He glanced up as Milligan walked in and doffed his hat to Tess. Tess passed him some sausage as well, which he gladly took. "I reckon that depends on the strength of the explosion. A minor one might just scare you a little, maybe give you a bruise or a minor burn."

"But a big one might kill me?"

"Ahh..." Jason glanced at Tess. He didn't particularly want to scar his children for life, but he also did want them to have a healthy fear of explosions. And weapons. And large animals. "Yes."

"What happens when I die?"

Jason shrugged. "You get buried, and everyone around you cries."

"Oh." Fern frowned, then perked up. "Rachel! Let's go play explosion! And I'll die and then you can cry over me!"

"Okay!"

The girls jumped down and raced away, with Tess racing after them.

"Hold on! Not a game we're going to play!"

"But mommy..."

Jason chuckled and shook his head, and Milligan replaced his hat.

"And that right there is part of the reason I never married." Milligan sighed as he and Jason made their way back out through the living room and into the yard. "I can't answer all those questions for myself. Never really wanted to have to explain them to little kids, you know? One wrong answer, and whoops!"

Jason chuckled. "On the other hand, I remember getting plenty of bad answers as a kid. Humans have a way of rebounding from them."

"And that confidence is why you're the farmer with a wife and kids, and I'm the hired man who lives in a cabin over the hill and spends all my free time with my plants." Milligan smiled, then nodded toward the paddy. "Alright, boss, you have any ideas for this?"

"Me?" Jason glanced at Milligan. "I thought you'd know how to harvest this?"

"Are you kidding me? It's a giant fungal mat of goop!" Milligan shrugged. "This thing is like ten times the size I thought it would be! Don't have the faintest idea why, and I'll readily admit that, though I am pleased. That said, because of it..." He shrugged. "Can we even take your harvester through this place?"

Jason could only shrug. "I don't have the faintest idea. That water buffalo is strong, but the harvester just isn't designed for that. I mean, the digger

wasn't either, nor the planter, and we made both of those work, so I guess we can give it a whirl." He paused. "I just don't know how it'll work since there's not really anything to actually cut."

"Agreed." Milligan shrugged. "Since we don't have any other options, though, I would imagine we sorta just have to dive in and give it a whirl, so to speak, and see where it goes."

"I think you're right." Jason started walking up toward the barn. "I'll go get the buffalo, and you get the harvester ready!"

All in all, it took them another twenty minutes before they were ready to go. Getting the buffalo hooked up to the harvester wasn't difficult, though the machine had suffered particularly badly through the winter. It was starting to show quite a bit of wear and tear, and besides, it was getting to be an older machine. He was using his older harvester, which, if he remembered correctly, he had purchased almost six years earlier.

"You have any idea how long you've been around?" Jason asked as they lumbered toward the field.

Milligan scratched his head. "I want to say that this is the third year I've worked for you, the fourth year I've been around."

"That's what I was thinking, too." Jason shrugged. "This thing was relatively new when you got here, but it wasn't brand-new at that point. Honestly, we might just need to think about replacing it come this next year, though I'm not going to settle on it just yet."

"Ahh. Give it some time. This is the one I always drive anyway." Milligan waved his hand dismissively. "As long as I'm okay with it, I don't see many issues. Now, let's get this started!"

Jason gave a nod, climbed up onto the back of the harvester, and slowly reached forward to tap the great beast on the rump. It grunted and started

forward, the blades whirring to life automatically as the wheels moved over the ground.

As they splurched down into the field, Jason grimaced and tried not to gag. The blades whirred through the layer of fungus, churning it into a proper froth, sending up a great blast of fungus-smell. It smelled of old mud, of sweaty socks, of decay and rotten animals and just about everything else Jason could think of that didn't smell good as a rule. As the buffalo went a bit further and they sank into the full expanse of the water, the smell only got worse, and Jason held onto the harvester with all his might.

The blades made great whooshing noises underneath the water as they churned it into a slurry, while the fungus above the water was sucked down below. Stalks toppled, the little blue balls burst, sending out showers of green spores that stuck all over Jason's body and clothes. Quite a few of them fell into the water, which would almost certainly re-seed the paddy as Milligan had anticipated. Thankfully, the harvester did seem to be working, and left a long trail of open, muddy water behind them as they lugged along.

The water buffalo, for its part, didn't seem to greatly mind the stalks of fungus brushing its nose or sides, though it, too, was soon so covered in the spores that it looked green instead of black. It broke through the thick layer of fungal sludge covering the surface of the paddy like a boat smashing through ice. Jason tried to estimate how thick that particular layer had grown, and while he couldn't tell for sure, it seemed to have reached a depth of almost six inches.

When they reached the end of the first pass and turned around, Jason felt a breath of fresh air as the wind from the prairie caught him, and he sighed in relief. It was a great deal better than the repugnant air of the paddy, but... A

few moments later, his trusty steed was lumbering back into the field once again, harvesting the odd fungi as they tried desperately to save the world. Or, at the least, to prevent the collapse of the cattle industry. Milligan watched from the sidelines, and Jason saw him moving to hitch Dusty up to the other harvester, but he waved and caught his attention.

"No! Leave it be." He sighed. "Best that only one of us get in this stuff. Plus, I'd hate to get Dusty sick. I don't know what it's going to do to the water buffalo."

"Fair enough." Milligan grimaced. "You look a sight, though, boss."

Jason could only nod in agreement, lower his head, grit his teeth, and keep moving forward. On through the morning he worked, reaching about the 1/3 mark around lunchtime. Tess brought out some food, but by that point, he was so covered in spores that he didn't dare eat anything. Stomach growling, he forged onward.

It was nearing dinnertime when he finally got done, and, utterly exhausted, slogged up and out of the paddy. The water buffalo moved just as slowly and steadily as ever, and seemed utterly unaffected, but Jason felt like he was going to stumble and fall right then and there. Milligan had a bucket of water at the ready, which he dumped over Jason's head to wash him off (at least partly). That done, Milligan started rinsing off the harvester and the buffalo, while Jason staggered up toward the house to take a shower.

As he reached the door, he paused and looked back across the harvested paddy. It was a swirling, muddy mess, and in just a few days, would have re-grown to look as though Jason hadn't done a thing at all. That was the nature of life, though, and Jason nodded in contentment as he walked inside.

His stomach and family called him to the table, while behind him, he had left his mark—however temporary, on the field. It was all he could do, but he was going to do it as well as possible. Anything less would have been a failure, and on that day, he certainly felt like a resounding success.

Chapter Thirty-Four: Sugar

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 52 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 30th day of Spring! 61 days until the Spring Festival! Good morning, folks! It's looking like today's going to be a fine day yet again, a day to get out and about and just enjoy the weather! I think we have a storm on the horizon, so keep your eye out for that, but for now, just get out there and get to work!]

Jason yawned as he rolled out of bed and stood up. His heart fluttered with excitement, and he slowly walked up to look out the window. As always, the prairie seemed bursting with life, and it became more so with every passing day of spring. More and more flowers sprang up across the vast expanse of the prairie, the wind seemed to blow sweeter and with more fortitude, and... It was beyond compare.

On that day, though, he didn't have time to stand around gawking. He pulled his head back inside, then walked over to the wardrobe and dressed in a short-sleeve flannel and overalls. Almost as soon as he finished, the door burst open, and Fern came racing inside.

"Good morning daddy!"

"Good morning, my dearest Fern." Jason bent down and scooped her up in an enormous hug, twirled her around, and then set her down once more. "And how might you be doing this morning?"

"I'm good!" Fern beamed. "Mommy said that you're harvesting sugar beets today!"

"That's right, I am." Jason tucked Fern onto his hip and started walking down the stairs to the kitchen. She bounced right along with him, grinning all the way. "While the icky, sticky homestead field has been growing loads

of fungi, the Far Eighty has been growing sugar beets! And the New Eighty, technically, and I get to go harvest them today!"

"Yay!" Fern clapped her hands. "Can I come with you?"

"That will be entirely up to your mother." Jason swept into the kitchen, where Tess was setting out a large platter of biscuits and gravy. Fern grinned from ear to ear as Jason set her down, and turned to Tess.

"Can I please go with Daddy to harvest sugar beets?" She batted her eyelids rapidly. "I promise I'll sit still and be the very best daughter ever!"

"No!" Rachel scowled. "I'se the very best daughter ever!"

"No, I am!"

"I am!"

"Girls!" Jason held up a hand. "You're both the very best daughters ever." "I'm a daughter, too." Tess raised an eyebrow. "My dad lives right down the road."

"Yeah, but you're not my daughter." Jason turned and scowled at her. Both girls giggled, so he knew the distraction was having the desired result.

"You said the best daughter ever. I'd say that I deserve a spot right up there with these two."

"Alright, alright!" Jason held up his hands. "You're all three the best daughters ever!"

"Tank you, daddy." Rachel went back to eating her food. Fern, though, didn't seem convinced.

"But... Daddy... The best can only be one."

"Oh..." Jason sighed. "Fine. I love you all equally and think that you're just great, and I wouldn't be able to live my life without any of you, and how did this get started?"

Fern burst out giggling. "Because I said I would be the best ever!"

"But I'se going to be the best ever!"

Jason sighed and let his head thunk against the table, and Tess burst out laughing. In any case, a very merry half-hour later, the family walked down into the farmyard. Milligan bustled about the barn, and Tess went up to join him as they dumped out some feed for the cattle. Jason watched them, then turned to Fern and gave a nod.

"Did we decide if you could come or not?"

"Yes." Fern nodded. "We did!"

"Good." Jason bent down and scooped her up. "Then why don't you help me get the digger ready? First harvests after winter are always tricky, you know."

"I do!" Fern giggled as he carried her over to the digger. They both crouched down and slid underneath, and started looking around.

Jason whistled softly as he took it all in. The interior of the machine was covered in rust, far more than he had ever seen before on a functional piece of equipment. He wasn't even sure if it would still turn properly, frankly, and he crossed his arms.

"Daddy?" Fern looked at him. "Aren't you going to get to work? There's a lot of it to get done!"

"Yes..." Jason murmured. "The problem is that if I try to get this cleaned up, I'll use up all my actions just trying to get it cleaned, and we won't get the sugar beets harvested. If we don't get them harvested today, we risk them spoiling, since the fungi needs harvested tomorrow."

"Hmm." Fern thought for a moment. "You could drive it through your rice paddy! That has lots of water, and could clean it!"

"Unfortunately, I don't think that that will be a good solution, here." Jason murmured, then shrugged. "We're just going to have to go for it and see

what shakes out."

"Sounds like a plan!" Fern grinned.

The two of them slid out from underneath the machine, and Milligan came ambling over. "Everything alright, boss?"

"Depends on your definition of the word." Jason grimaced. He glanced underneath the other machine, noticing that it was just as bad. "Once we get the next harvest of fungi off, and the fields re-planted, I think I have our next project."

"Simply name it, and know that I'll be there!"

"Fair enough." Jason gave a nod. "Well, let's get these things hitched up and get to work!"

A few minutes later, Angus had been hitched to the larger digger, while Dusty was hitched to the smaller one. Jason lifted Fern up onto the bench of his machine, then climbed up as well. Tess stood nearby with Rachel, smiling and waving.

"Bye, bye, Fern!" Rachel called out. "I wuv you!"

"Love you too!" Fern called back. Jason snapped the reins and they rumbled off, and Fern didn't stop waving until they had passed the windmill and crested the first of the many rolling ridges that stood between the homestead and the Far Eighty.

As they rumbled along, Fern turned her attention all around. She didn't say anything, but Jason could see her simply soaking in everything that passed. She was an observant one, there was no doubt about that, and Jason had little doubt that she would go places when she got a bit older. He didn't know exactly what that would look like, but he was certainly excited to watch it happen.

When they finally reached the Far Eighty, Jason sighed in contentment. The green, plush leaves of the sugar beets protruded from the ground, full and ready for the picking, and the two men rumbled forward without another word. Jason pulled the lever to lower the contraption the moment that they were inside the field, and the enormous digger slumped down to land against the soil.

As always, the thrill of harvesting filled him with an incredible joy. The enormous scoops of the digger tore into the ground, ripping the beets from the soil and throwing them into the cleaning mechanisms of the machine. He held the reins tightly as it bounced back and forth, rumbling down toward the far end of the property. Angus's muscles strained, but he kept himself steady, a testament to his training and endurance.

"Daddy?" Fern looked up at him. "What would happen if we stopped farming this land?"

Jason shrugged. "Oh... I reckon within a few years; you wouldn't be able to tell we were ever here. The fences would rot and fall down, and the prairie grass would cover over the field, and that would be that."

"Huh." Fern stroked her chin, just like Jason always did. "What if we farmed the whole prairie, so there was no prairie grass left? Then, if we stopped farming it, what would happen?"

Jason frowned in thought. "I... Honestly, I don't know. Maybe some whole new type of grass would--"

Bang!

Something lurched and rattled loudly from below, and the digger simply stopped moving. Angus strained for a moment as he tried to keep pulling it along, but it was to no avail, and he paused after a moment. Jason frowned, then pulled the lever to raise the contraption. He jumped down, locked a

safety in place to keep it from falling, and carefully crept underneath the digger.

"Can I come too, daddy?" Fern called from her perch.

"Not yet, honey." Jason called back. "Just a minute... I... Hmm." He looked over the interior of the machine. There were large problems that could happen to the machines, and there were small ones. This was not one of the small ones. The drive shaft, which connected the wheels to the spinning scoops, seemed to have broken clean in two. Without it, the scoops had simply become lodged in the ground, unable to spin an inch further. Jason frowned, then slid over to the shaft and looked it over.

"Boss?" Milligan called out distantly, though it sounded like he was coming closer. "Boss, you okay?"

"Yeah!" Jason called back. He opened up his inventory and pulled out a wrench, then carefully tapped it against one side of the shaft. There was a flash of light, and it came rattling to the ground. Satisfied, he tapped the other side, and nodded as it came rattling to the ground. "I'm alright. Just..." He let his eyes flicker across the rest of the machine. "Do you, by any chance, happen to have the [Detect Flaw] skill?"

"Yeah! I actually use it a lot with my plants. You need to borrow it?"

"If you wouldn't mind."

A moment later, red lines began to trace across the different parts. The welds that held the scoops to their axel were weak, several of the gears seemed to have fractures running through them, and the chains that cleaned the beets were loose in several places. Jason stroked his chin, then gave a nod.

"That's enough for now."

"What do you need?" Milligan frowned as Jason climbed back out from underneath the digger.

"I need..." Jason scratched his head. "I need you to run into town real fast. Buy a new drive shaft for this machine, and get a good amount of Instaweld. It won't fix the machines forever, but it ought to patch us up for the rest of the day."

"What are you going to do, boss?" Milligan asked as he started unhitching Dusty from the harvester.

"I..." Jason hefted Fern down from the back of the digger. "Am going to take Fern and keep harvesting using this one. It'll keep us moving at least a little bit, so we're not horribly behind."

"Sounds good." Milligan swung himself up onto Dusty. "Do you want me to pay extra to have everything transferred directly into the farm's inventory? It'll cost an extra thousand shandys, more or less, but it might be worth it."

"Ahh... Yeah, do that." Jason gave a nod. "I'll see you when you get back!" Milligan rode off in a cloud of dust, and Jason started working to get Angus hitched up to the older machine. As he worked, Fern frowned thoughtfully. "Daddy, do things go wrong often?"

"It depends on how you look at it." Jason shrugged. He finished the job, then helped Fern up onto the bench. "If you mean, do things not go according to plan, yeah. That happens pretty near all the time. That said..." He climbed up next to her, took up the reins, and they rumbled off again. The digger clumped down to the ground, and the whir of the spades cutting through the soil once more filled the air. "Anytime something goes wrong, it's an opportunity to grow. You learn a bit of humility, and you can gain a bit more patience."

"Huh!" Fern grinned. "I like that!"

Jason rubbed her head, then turned his attention forward. In so many ways, it felt like it had been a long time since things had really gone according to plan, but... well... He wasn't too concerned. Everything always seemed to work out in the end, and as far as he was concerned, that was good enough for him. After all, the rougher the journey, the more rewarding the conquest was when it finally came.

Chapter Thirty-Five: Sleepy

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 52 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 35th day of Spring! 56 days until the Spring Festival! Today's a rainy one, folks! Doesn't look like it's actually panning out to be that bad of a storm, which is a positive, but... well... It's still going to be plenty wet!]

Jason yawned as he slowly rolled out of bed and stood up. He stretched, then walked up to the window, as if to confirm what Obadiah had said. Sure enough, rain was pelting down, lashing against the windows. It was a wonderful sort of spring rain, that was for sure. Not too heavy, but not too light, either. He caught sight of Milligan riding up through the drizzle, then turned and walked over to the wardrobe.

It didn't take him long to change into work clothes, a long-sleeved flannel and overalls. It was a bit hot, but he was going to need it that day, he suspected. With that done, he made his way downstairs—where Tess, as usual—had breakfast on the stove.

"Where are the girls?" Jason asked as he sat down. He leaned out, looking into the living room, but didn't see a thing.

"They're still fast asleep." Tess shrugged. "There was some lightning and thunder at the beginning of the night that sorta scared them, so I think they stayed up quite a bit longer than we realized."

"Huh!" Jason chuckled. "I didn't even realize there was any lightning." "That would be because you slept straight through it!" Tess laughed. "You were exhausted."

"I'm afraid that's not going to change today." Jason murmured. He sighed, then tucked into his helping of eggs and sausage. When he finished, he rose,

then stretched once more. "What's your plan for the day?"

"More school with the kids, and then cleaning out the basement." Tess grimaced. "We got a crack in one of the walls over the winter and didn't notice. It's not much, but it is starting to leak on some of our boxes, mostly old clothes. I need to get it tidied up, figure out what's still good and what isn't, and then we can work on getting the crack patched up."

"Let me know if you need anything. I think Milligan is going to need to run into town again today." Jason slowly walked to the front door, where he tugged on his boots.

"Mmm, that's not a bad idea. Can you get some instant cement?" Tess asked. "The putty kind, not the big bag. I think that'll be the easiest way to patch up the crack."

"Will do." Jason flashed a thumbs-up. With that, he turned and marched out into the rain, slogging his way through puddles up to the barn.

As he stepped inside, he sighed deeply, trying to avoid becoming overwhelmed. The smell of hay and chicken feed was mingled with the smell of oil and grease. His harvester, at that moment, was sitting up on blocks that allowed himself and Milligan to climb underneath without crawling. Meanwhile, pretty much every single mechanism from inside the machine was strewn across the ground, where they had been carefully cleaning and patching up all the assorted blemishes.

"Alright, boss!" Milligan grinned as Jason entered the barn. "You ready to get this done and back together?"

"More than you know." Jason grimaced. He slowly looked at it all, then crossed his arms. "Refresh my memory again, how much further do we have to get done?"

"We need to finish cleaning off the gears and the chains, and then it's just a matter of putting it all back together." Milligan shrugged. "Do you want to start with the cleaning, or would you like to start slotting things back in place?"

"I'll... I'll start with the cleaning." Jason shrugged. He walked over to a bucket and sat down, then grabbed several of the chains. Meanwhile, Milligan took up several of the cogs that the chains would be attached to, and ducked under the machine.

The bucket was filled with solvent, a brownish liquid that smelled of oil. Jason dropped the chains down inside, then reached in, found a rag at the bottom, and started scrubbing the chains as best he could manage.

[Action Used: Clean Chain. Remaining Actions: 51]

Jason drew out the chain, and found that about half of it had been cleaned of all the rust and grime. He dunked it and scrubbed the other half, then took it out and laid it on the floor of the barn. Carefully, he started looking it over for any blemishes.

"How's it look, boss?" Milligan called out.

"Not bad, but not great, either." Jason frowned. "Can you toss me the hammer?"

"You're sitting right next to it, boss."

Jason looked around until he found the hammer practically underneath his leg. He chuckled, then picked it up, grabbed a metal punch, and carefully aligned the small end of the punch with a small, broken peg. A single whack sent the peg out of the chain, breaking it cleanly in two.

"And now I need a repair link..." Jason rose and walked over to a temporary workbench they had set up, where he dug through a small pile of parts to find a small link. He took it back and lined it up, then whacked it

with the hammer a second time. There was a flash of light, and the chain was back to being as good as new. "Here you go!"

"Thanks!" Milligan caught the chain as Jason tossed it to him, then ducked back under the machine. "Almost... There! Got it. Ready for the next one when you are."

"Patience, patience." Jason grabbed up the next chain and proceeded to clean it in a similar manner. This one had two breaks, which necessitated a few more repairs, at which point he passed it along to Milligan as well. "On the bright side, even though this is a royal pain in the hindquarters, it ought to increase the longevity of this thing by a good deal. Honestly, I wish I'd realized you could do this a long time ago; you know?"

Milligan could only nod. "Are we going to be doing this with all our machines, now?"

"I think we have to." Jason grimaced. "They're good machines, but without proper care, I'm afraid I'm going to have to buy a whole new line of them come this summer. It's either spend a few days tearing them apart and putting them back together, or spend almost a million shandys."

"I know which one I'd rather do, but you seem more like the elbow grease sort of guy." Milligan chuckled.

"That's one way of putting it." Jason finished up and tossed Milligan the last chain, then started looking at the remaining pieces. "What do you need me to clean next?"

"Ahh... I have the spindles... and the gears... There!" Milligan pointed at a set of pulleys. The pulleys themselves were rubber, so they had just purchased new ones, but the wheels needed a good deal of cleaning. "Get those, and make sure that the holes for the grease are all cleaned up."

"You got it." Jason slipped over and grabbed the wheels, then tossed them into the solvent. As they sank to the bottom, he grabbed several smaller shafts, as well as some bearings that fit into the outer shell of the digger, which were used to mount the pulleys in. He slid those over next to the bucket, then started cleaning the pulley wheels as best he could.

On and on it went, with Jason finishing the last bit of cleaning needed while Milligan stuck them back in place. When they reached the large axel that the scoops were attached to (which had been torn apart and rebuilt separately), it took both of them to slide the thing underneath the machine, and then lift it up into place. Still, though—as it latched and fused with the rest of the digger—it was a satisfying feeling, and Jason gave a nod.

"And there we go." He bent down and picked up the last few odds and ends. "We're basically done. How's it feel?"

"Like I sprained my back." Milligan rubbed the small of his back, though he had a smile on his face. "That thing may not look any newer than before, but as far as her insides are concerned, she's brand-spanking new. Not many farmers would have been able to do something quite like that, you know." Jason shrugged. "Oh, I bet most of them could. Everyone knows how to do repairs when stuff breaks down."

"Yeah, but to do a full-service dismantle and rebuild?" Milligan shrugged. "Anyway, it's done! When do you reckon we'll start on the other machines?"

"I don't know." Jason turned and walked to the edge of the barn, where he looked out across the fungi-filled paddy. "Probably this summer. The planter I suppose we could do right now, I just don't know that we'll have the time, though if it comes up, it would be a good project. The harvesters, I don't think it's worth doing until after I drain the paddy."

Milligan blinked in surprise. "Drain the paddy?"

"Yeah." Jason shrugged. The thought had been bumping around in his head for awhile now, and he was finally ready to vocalize it. "The whole project has been a disaster from one end to the other. The digger was practically destroyed by it, all the water and the rust, and I'm sure the harvesters aren't faring any better. Might even be worse, since they go in the water just about every week, week and a half, or so. At this point, I just want to get all the fungi harvested that we need for this project, and then I'm going to drain it and go back to more traditional crops."

"I sure hate to hear you say that, boss." Milligan sighed. "I guess I get your point, though. If that's your decision, I'll stand behind you."

"I know you will, Milligan." Jason turned to his hired man and gave a nod. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm ready for lunch. Care to join us?" Milligan smiled broadly, and he doffed his hat briefly. "I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Clear

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 53 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 45th day of Spring! 46 days until the Spring Festival! Alright, folks! At noon today, it will be exactly halfway between the beginning of spring and the end of it! Not that anyone cares all that much, but... I dunno. Still a nice day, in any case! Bright clear skies... Not that I'm complaining, because I enjoy it as much as the next fellow, but all this nice weather has made reporting things extremely boring.]

Jason laughed as he slowly rolled out of bed and climbed to his feet. His night clothes billowed about him as he made his way over to the window, where he looked out across the prairie with a sense of awe and wonder. Today, being the middle day of spring, was when the prairie was in its fullest bloom possible. Every single flower, every single herb, every shrub, all of it was in full display. Starting the very next day, things would start to close down, bit by bit, until it returned to the full-green panorama of summer.

"Good morning, Jason." Tess swirled inside the room, her blue dress billowing about her feet. "And how is my dearest husband doing this morning?"

"Good as ever, I reckon." Jason spared a single glance at the rice paddy, which was covered in the thick green slime of the fungi. It was already shooting up a few of the stalks, which was a record for that spring. Usually, they didn't start rising until the day or so before the harvest, but barely half the normal time had elapsed since the last harvesting, and already they were shooting up rapidly for the sky. Jason shook his head as he took it in, then turned away. "What's up? You seem cheery."

"No more than usual." Tess shrugged. "That said, I did get a letter from Milligan. He's joining us for breakfast, says he has some news."

"I wonder if the fungi is mutating." Jason frowned as he walked over to the wardrobe and changed into work clothes. They had started tearing apart the planter several days earlier, though they had subsequently been forced to abandon the project in order to plant the Far Eighty and fix some fence when Tess's cattle stampeded. "A monstertrap snuck into the field and ate some, and now there's a giant fungi-trap mega-giga-dragon-thing that's going to try to eat the world."

"Just saying, that sounds epic." Tess pointed out.

"In a story, maybe!" Jason held up a finger. "In real life, not a chance!"

Tess chuckled, and they walked down the stairs. "So what makes you think it's good news?" Jason pressed. "Because you obviously do."

"I dunno. You can tell by the way people write things." Tess shrugged. "The language they use, the slant of their letters, all sorts of cool stuff like that. He's got good news."

"I sure hope you're right." Jason chuckled. He reached the kitchen, where Rachel and Fern were very carefully carrying a plate of waffles into the dining room. Jason followed them, and had to laugh as he found a small area for eating, five places wide, carved out not far from an enormous pile of textbooks, notes, flashcards, and other such things. Jason glanced over it all, while Tess helped the girls get the waffles on the table. That done, she added some chicken, syrup, and some other amenities.

Suddenly, a knock echoed on the door, and Jason nodded.

"I've got that!"

He turned and made his way through the house to the front, where he pulled open the front door to reveal Milligan. His hired man had a broad smile on

his face, and doffed his hat.

"Morning, boss!"

"Good morning, Milligan!" Jason beckoned him inside. "Tess mentioned that you have some news?"

"Yes, indeed." Milligan nodded. "If you don't mind, though, she offered breakfast, and I think we ought to be sitting down when we discuss it." "Fair enough." Jason gave a nod of his head.

The two men wandered into the dining room, where Tess was just finishing up the preparations. They all sat down, and Jason served food to Rachel, then started cutting it all up. A somewhat awkward silence prevailed until they all had food and started eating, and Jason glanced over at Milligan, burning with interest.

"Alright." Jason mumbled around a mouthful of waffle. "Now can you tell us?"

"Yes!" Milligan gave a nod. "Now... It's somewhat of a long story, but to sum up, do you remember the first harvest that we did of the fungi?"

Jason wagged his hand back and forth. "We've done four of them now. They do start to blur together."

"That's a fair point." Milligan chuckled, then returned to focus. "Anyway, the important thing is that the paddy had produced far better than I had expected. I could speculate nearly endlessly on why that might be the case, but at the end of the day, I don't have the faintest idea. The important bit is that it produced far better than I could have imagined, and the subsequent harvests have only grown in production."

"Alright." Jason frowned. "What's the point?"

"The point is that I have everything I need." Milligan shrugged. "Just last night, I shipped out the last of the samples."

Jason frowned, then slowly began to brighten. "You mean..."

"I officially don't need your rice paddy anymore." Milligan nodded with a broad smile. After a moment, though, he frowned. "Now, of course, we currently have your planter spread across the barn floor in a gazillion pieces, but..."

"I can work with that." Jason let out a whoop, which made Fern and Rachel jump.

"What's so good, daddy?" Fern looked up at him. She was smiling, too, excited for him even though she didn't yet know what for.

"Daddy gets to plant rice!" Jason grinned from ear to ear. After a moment, though, he paused. "Now... I don't have the faintest idea how to actually get all the fungi out of the paddy, now. I don't suppose you'd have any particular insights into that?"

"A bit of one, yes." Milligan nodded. "Obviously, as you know by now, if you leave even the smallest bit of it in the water, it'll regrow, and to quite a great extent."

"Yup." Jason nodded. "Figured that out."

"So, what I did was to create a new type of monstertrap." Milligan leaned forward. "It eats fungi, and--" Jason felt pure and utter horror shoot through him, and Milligan burst out laughing. Tess snickered as well, and Milligan began to turn red from it. "Do you see his face?"

"I do!" Rachel nodded. "It's right dere!"

She pointed at him, and Jason bit his lip. "So... Are you saying that you didn't create a new type of monstertrap?"

Milligan held up a hand and wagged it back and forth, at least once he had calmed down a bit. "Depends on how you look at it. I did create a type of monstertrap that would only target this particular strain of fungi, however,

what I did was dissect it, once I had a viable sample, and removed the cells that are... I suppose you could call them the 'taste buds' of the plant." Jason nodded thoughtfully. "Okay..."

"And then I inserted them into a harmless, at least to humans, bacteria." Milligan pulled a small vial out of his inventory and passed it to Jason. "Dump this into the paddy. The culture will spread and gobble up all the fungi, then will die out once there's no food."

"And the monstertrap genetics won't cause it to mutate and start eating... I don't know. Something else?" Jason held up his hand. He could only imagine what a bacteria that ate prairie grass, or trees, or animals, would look like. That was a whole different sort of calamity.

"Nope! I made sure to remove all the monstertrap stuff after it was sufficiently programmed." Milligan shrugged. "Look, the important part is that it will work and I've taken steps to make sure that it doesn't eat the world."

"I suppose that's all I can ask for, then." Jason shrugged, then gave a nod. "How do we begin?"

When they had finished eating breakfast, the five of them all went outside, making their way over to the fungi-filled paddy. The green, sticky fungus seemed to look up at Jason, pleading for its life. Jason, though, wasn't feeling terribly inclined to agree to such a request.

"And there we go!" Milligan nodded. "Just pour it right in! Make sure not to spill it, though. That sample took me almost a month to put together, and it is the only sample I have."

"Got it." Jason pulled the stopper out of the end, then leaned over the fence and poured it squarely onto the mat of fungi. It was as clear as tap water, and as Jason stepped back, he crossed his arms and waited.

"How... how long will it take?" He glanced at Milligan.

"Patience." Milligan held up a hand. "Just... and... There!"

He snapped his fingers, and pointed. Down below, small pits were starting to form on the surface of the fungi. There was a hissing noise, and a great stench filled the air. Fern and Rachel plugged their noses and ran away, gasping for breath, while Jason chuckled. The pits grew larger, plunging down through the green, gloppy layer. Within just a few moments, water came bubbling up from below, and the fungi in the area began to turn black. "You're welcome to stick around and watch it if you want, boss, but I reckon it'll take almost eight hours to fully consume everything in the field." Milligan shrugged. "Once it's done, it won't be crystal clear, either. There will probably be a layer of slime across the surface, still, but that will evaporate over the course of the next day or two."

"Then we really do need to get to work on the planter again." Jason turned to the barn, then groaned softly. "Not that I would change anything, but... Now that we have the ability to plant the field, we're just going to have to tear this whole thing apart again when summer comes around."

"Maybe not." Milligan crossed his arms, a twinkle in his eye. "I sent a letter to a friend of mine down in Portswain, who has contacts still further south, where they actually grow rice."

"I didn't think they grew rice in Portswain, or even close to it." Jason frowned in thought.

"Way south." Milligan shrugged. "Past a whole heap of jungle and at least three volcanos. Anyway, he found an old, used rice planter, and is having it shipped north. Ought to arrive here sometime between yesterday and a year from now, near as I can tell."

Jason had to laugh, and he shook his head. "You're the best, Milligan."

"Nah. But you're pretty close, and that's why people are willing to do things for you." Milligan clapped his hands, then started up toward the barn. "Now, we really should get to work on getting this planter back together whether or not we're going to be using it soon."

"I'm right behind you."

Jason sighed deeply in contentment. Behind him, fungal stalks withered and collapsed, marking the end of one era and the start of... Well, not necessarily a new era, but the start of something he'd been looking forward to for quite some time now.

And he couldn't wait to get it done.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Saving

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 53 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 50th day of Spring! 41 days until the Spring Festival! Today's looking like a drizzly one, folks, but nothing too bad! Just a light sprinkle, though if you're running heavy machinery of any sort, I'll warn you that it may cause problems.]

"That is, unless you're already running it through water." Jason commented on the almanac as he slowly sat up, stretched, and walked to the window. Sure enough, a light drizzle, so light that it could hardly even be counted as rain at all, pattered down. He nodded in satisfaction, then walked over to the wardrobe, got dressed, and made his way downstairs.

Tess met him on the stairs, blocking him from heading down fully into the kitchen. He frowned, though he understood a bit more as he heard giggling from below. "What is it?"

"There's a situation in the dining room that requires your urgent attention!" Tess spoke in a concerned voice. "You have to come right now!"

The giggles grew louder, and she flashed a small smile without giving any real indication of it. Jason nodded, and he followed Tess down. Quickly, he slipped into the dining room, where there were some plates set out, but nothing more.

"Oh, no!" He cried out. "I see the problem! There's no food!"

The giggles grew louder still.

"However will we address this?" he wailed. "We're doomed! No breakfast! We'll starve, waste away until there's nothing left of us! We'll--"

"It's okay, daddy." Fern came running up and put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't need to worry!"

"I don't?" Jason turned and looked at her, pretending to be bewildered. "What's going on?'

"We're saving bweakfast!" Rachel declared. She turned and waved at Tess, and Tess carried in a plate of pancakes, which she set on the table. Jason licked his lips and stood up, and the family sat down. "We made dem ourselfs!"

"You did?" Jason smiled at the two girls. "Without any help?"

"None!" Fern shook her head, then frowned. "'Cept for the cookbook."

"He can be quite helpful." Jason nodded gravely.

"But we still told him what to do!" Fern grinned. "They're blueberry! Your favorite!"

Jason looked down at the pancakes, which were, indeed, blueberry. He smiled and nodded, then leaned over and gave both girls a kiss. "Thank you, my dearest daughters. What's the occasion?"

"You get to plant your rice!" Fern beamed. "You've been wanting to for such a long time now, and now you can!" She paused. "Can I help?"

"Can you help?" Jason stroked his chin and leaned forward as if pondering the question. "Can you help?"

"Please?" Fern clapped her hands together and fell to her knees. "Please, dearest father?"

Jason sighed, then laughed. "Of course you can, dearest daughter."

"Ha!" Fern jumped up and pointed at Rachel. "I am the dearest!"

"No!" Jason facepalmed. "I just meant... Not in the sense that you're the most dear compared to Rachel, just that--"

"So I'm not dear to you?" Fern batted her eyes.

Jason sighed, then scowled at her. "Just go get ready and meet me at the front door."

"Yay!"

Fern raced off, and Jason laughed as he tucked into his meal. When he was done, he rose and made his way to the front door, where Fern was already waiting. She had pulled on her work boots, while she wore a reddish-brown work dress. She spread her arms wide as Jason walked up, and he chuckled and rubbed her head lovingly.

"Alright, my little farm hand. Let's get out there and get to work!"

Fern bounced along beside him as they made their way out into the farmyard. Milligan was ambling about, doing different chores, and walked up to the rice paddy as Jason approached. Jason and Fern went to join them, and together, they looked out across the expanse of water. The drizzle was already starting to lighten up, though here and there, slightly larger drops would plunk in the drink.

"How's it looking, Milligan?" Jason asked as Milligan bent down and splashed his hand through a few of the waves.

"Looks clear as the sky to me." Milligan shrugged. "I don't see any remaining traces of the old fungi, so I think we're good to go!"

"Perfect!" Jason turned and walked toward the lean-to. "And the rice planter just got in, so... Let's go get to it!"

Milligan followed as they made their way over to one of the odder-looking contraptions Jason had ever seen. It still looked like a planter, but... well... Instead of having broad and wide wheels, the wheels were thin and narrow, the better for cutting through mud. From the wheels, supports ran straight up several feet to support the seed box, which was made of metal, and was far smaller than the one Jason was used to. The seed tubes dropped straight down from there, where there were simple wedges to cut into the mud and

deposit the seed into the ground. It was far simpler, but for multiple reasons, could only have ever worked on an underwater field.

"Alright, Fern. What's the first thing we need to do?" Jason clapped his hands.

"We... Need to check it over!" Fern nodded. "It's traveled a long way, and it might have gotten broken!"

"Exactly." Jason nodded. "See if you can see anything!"

Jason and Fern proceeded to examine the planter from top to bottom, looking for any and all blemishes they could find. Jason found a couple bolts that had come loose, and Fern discovered that one of the wedges was a bit crooked, but otherwise, it seemed in tip-top condition. With that, Milligan went up into the barn and brought down the water buffalo, and they hitched it up.

"Now, it's time to head in." Jason looked around for a bench to stand on, but didn't find a thing other than some small footholds. He climbed up and braced himself as best as possible, but there just didn't seem to be any place for Fern. "Hmm..."

"Daddy?" Fern walked around the planter. "I don't see anywhere I can ride!"

"I don't, either." Jason frowned, then brightened. "Milligan, could you heft her up here, please?"

"Of course." Milligan strode up and happily picked up Fern. He handed her up to Jason, who, feeling like he was being crowned king, set Fern carefully onto his shoulders. She giggled and clung to his head, and Jason took hold of the whip.

"Alright, Fern! Hang on!"

He reached out and tapped the buffalo on the rump, and it lumbered forward, down into the paddy. Water swirled around its legs, then its brisket, then around the planter. Jason braced himself, and the water swirled up around his feet and lower legs. Fern giggled, and they slid down into the paddy with gusto.

Jason was amazed at how quickly they moved from that point. It was still slow, the water buffalo was never going to win a race except perhaps against a snail, but it moved along quite a bit faster than before. The planter seemed to simply carve through the mud and water like a knife, with ease. There was soft hiss as the grains of rice rushed down the seed tubes and into the mud, and Jason smiled.

"Is this fun?" Fern called down from her perch.

"It is!" Jason called back up. "Very... Satisfying! How about you?"

"I love it!"

Jason couldn't keep a wide grin across his face as they planted down to the far end, then turned around and started coming along back. The water around his legs wasn't warm, exactly, but it was far from cold, and... It simply felt as though he was finally succeeding at something that had been a long time in the making.

Fern did eventually get tired of sitting on his shoulders (she said that his bones were starting to hurt her, and he frankly couldn't really argue with that logic), so he moved her to the seed box. It wasn't technically a seat, but she could dangle her own feet in the water, which she seemed to greatly enjoy.

They planted all through the morning, making it about a third of the way through the field by the time that lunch came around. This time, Jason was able to stop working, and he allowed the water buffalo to walk around the

house and graze on the grass of the yard while the family went inside to settle down for a meal. Jason, of course, had to change pants before he could go to the table, though Fern was allowed to eat in her wet clothes. The table was filled with broad smiles as they tucked into their roast beef sandwiches, and Tess gave Jason a nod.

"Was it everything you wanted it to be?"

Jason paused, trying to figure out how to answer the question. Finally, he shook his head. "Not yet."

"What do you mean?" Tess frowned.

"I mean..." Jason shrugged. "The whole reason I started doing rice was so I could harvest it. I've planted rice once before, if you remember."

"Of course." Tess rolled her eyes. "But now you're planting it properly." "We hope!" Milligan laughed.

"Very true." Jason sighed, then shrugged. "In any case, it does feel good, and I'm quite excited for the harvest in a few weeks. It'll be a long afternoon, I think I'll probably be late for dinner, but it'll be good."

"Can I come help you, too?" Rachel perked up. "Please, daddy? Both of us together?"

Jason glanced at Tess, who gave him the smallest of nods. "If it's okay with your father, it's okay with me."

"Well..." Jason stretched and leaned back in his seat. "I reckon that seed box is pretty big..."

Rachel lit up like a lighthouse.

"But I'm going to need something from you, first. Both of you, actually." "What's dat?" Rachel started bouncing in her chair.

"Three kisses!"

Both girls jumped down from the table and ran over to him. He leaned down, and they started kissing his cheeks in rapid-fire succession. They both went far over the count of three, but Jason didn't mind that fact in the slightest.

All in all, it was about the best day he could have imagined... And his dearest hope was that the days would only get better.

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Barn Door

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 53 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 71st day of Spring! 20 days until the Spring Festival!

Let's see here, folks! It's looking like we have quite the storm today, folks! Don't be too disappointed, it's been the only bad one since winter, so just settle down and enjoy your day off!]

Ka-boom!

The clap of thunder sent Jason straight out of bed, and he shuddered for a moment as he tried to get his bearings. Slowly, he steadied himself, then walked up to look out across the farmyard. The sky was covered in clouds so thick and black that he could hardly see a hint of light from the sun, and the rain was coming down in sheets so thick that he couldn't see the barn. He took a deep breath, then slowly turned, walked to the wardrobe, and pulled on a warm, around-the-house tunic.

"Daddy!" Fern dashed into the room. She was already dressed for the day, in a rather plain around-the-house dress. Apparently Tess was settling in for

a nice, quiet day as well. "Mommy needs you! Right now!"

Jason frowned, then nodded and jogged down the stairs. He heard Tess call distantly from the front door, and came racing up to find her framed in the doorway, soaking wet.

"What's up?" He frowned. "Everything okay?"

"If everything was okay, would I have sent Fern to... Never mind." Tess sighed. She was wearing a blue work dress, though already, it seemed to be caked with more mud around the frills than she would ever be able to wash out. "Last night, Milligan and I pulled the cattle into the barn to keep them safe from the storm, right?"

"Right." Jason nodded slowly. "What's the problem?"

There was another massive crack of lightning, one that hit the prairie so close that Jason was left with spots in front of his eyes. The clap of thunder hit in what felt like the same moment, and he grimaced as he felt the noise in his chest.

"I don't know exactly what happened, but somehow, the door to the barn was left open." Tess turned and gestured to the barn. "All the cattle got out into the pasture, and at some point, lightning hit one of the fence posts and blew up a pretty decent chunk of the fence line. The fence needs fixing, and the cattle need to be found."

Jason frowned as he tried to run through the options. "Have you talked to Milligan?"

"I sent him a letter, but he hasn't responded." Tess shook her head. "What do you think we should do?"

"Ahh..." Jason pursed his lips as he tried to think. "You head inside. Take care of the girls. I'll head out into this mess and try to patch things together."

Tess shook her head. "Once again, these are my cattle."

Jason shrugged as he turned back toward the house. "Yeah, but... I dunno. Isn't it my job as a husband to go do that sort of thing?"

"You're a farmer. I'm a warrior."

"We've been married for seven years now, Tess!" Jason called out. "It's been a long time since you've been a warrior, so you can't keep pulling that card forever!"

Tess scowled. "Fair enough. But..."

He made his way upstairs, where he quickly changed into work clothes, then bolted back downstairs. Tess was wringing the water out of the folds of her dress, and Jason paused to give her a kiss. "I'll see you girls soon!" "Bye daddy!" Rachel called after him. "Be safe!"

"Will do!"

Jason pulled on his boots, then stepped out into the rain. Almost instantly, it hit him so hard he was almost blasted to the ground, and he gritted his teeth. With all his might, he forged his way through the rain to the barn. Water ran in rivulets across the ground, churned into whitewater by the extreme wind. When Jason reached the barn, he found the door slightly ajar, and slipped inside to find the barn, indeed, quite empty, save for the horses.

"Alright, Angus." Jason jogged over to the horse and quickly took him out and saddled him up. "No time to rest today, I'm afraid."

Angus snorted as Jason climbed up onto him, but obeyed well enough. Jason clopped forward and out into the pasture, where he found the break in the fence almost immediately. It wasn't far from the barn; it would have been extremely easy for the cattle to wander out and not even realize that they were escaping. Four full sections were down, which was not going to be the easiest thing in the world to fix.

"Alright, Angus. I need you to fly like the wind."

Angus wasn't likely able to hear him, but he nevertheless made a great deal of speed as he shot off across the prairie, through the pasture, toward Milligan's cabin. Jason raced up to the fence line, just on the opposite side of the fence as the gravel road, and soon arrived at Milligan's home. He jumped off the saddle straight over the fence, and, with the rain so hard that he had to raise a hand just to be able to see where he was going, he staggered up to the door and knocked, then rather accidentally stumbled inside.

The interior of the cabin, quite unfortunately, was completely empty. All Milligan's furniture and things were there, of course, but Milligan himself was nowhere to be seen. Tess's letter lay on the floor just next to the letter- box, unopened. Jason frowned, then slipped back outside and ran to the stable. Dusty was missing, too, which boded all kinds of questions. At that moment, though, Jason didn't have time to figure it all out. He ran back to Angus, climbed up, and rode back down toward the broken fence.

Rain lashed down all around him, thunder echoed in his ears, but onward he went. Soon enough, he came racing up to that wide gap, then swung down and landed in the mud with a wet squelch. Desperately, he took out a shovel and began to dig up the broken and fractured posts, though it was slow going at best. The holes began to fill with water the moment he yanked them free (and even then, it often took him three or four tries before the shovel actually worked). When he dropped the new posts in, rather annoying messages popped up to hinder his progress.

[Warning: Attempting to set posts when the ground is [Saturated] will result in damages once the ground dries.]

"I'm well aware of that fact, but I don't exactly have a whole lot of options at this point." Jason gritted his teeth. Suddenly, boots squelched in the mud, and he looked up.

Tess stood there, water streaming off her dress, a smile on her face. Beside her, standing tall in the midst of the rain, were Fern and Rachel. Both of them had their hair pulled back, so it wouldn't get in their face, and Jason beamed.

"My favorite people!" He called out over the storm.

"We want help--" Rachel called out. She said more than that, but her voice was lost amidst the wind and the rain, and Jason simply flashed a thumbs- up at her.

"Well, I'm dearly thankful!" He called back. "Let's get to work, then! Girls, grab that debris and haul it out of the way! Tess, help me dig up this last post!"

The girls sprang into action. The pieces of the fence that lay scattered over the ground, thankfully, hadn't been shattered, but melted. It was a small distinction, but meant that there were no sharp poky bits of metal for the girls to cut their fingers upon. They did their work well, leaving Tess and Jason to focus on the posts.

Jason had managed to do two. Quickly, they walked to the third, and each one stuck a shovel on opposite sides of the post. There was a loud slurping sort of noise, and the post was blasted out of the ground and tossed to the side. Jason gave a nod of satisfaction, and Tess quickly dropped the next post into place. That done, they moved onto the last one.

The final broken post took them three tries, even working together, to get out of the ground. When it was done, though, they dropped in that final post, and had the structure in place to get the rest of the fence built.

"And there we go!" Jason gave a nod. He walked over to the pile of debris that the girls had formed, and quickly dumped it all into the farm's inventory. For obvious safety reasons, children under a certain age weren't allowed to access larger inventories. "Now..." He scrolled down a bit and dumped out a large pile of poles. "We can start getting these in place now!" He and Tess both grabbed the end of one, and quickly carried it over to get it wedged into place. It was far from the easiest task, as the post had already started to shift a bit crooked, but they made it work. As soon as the first one was in, they put up the second, then started working on getting the next section together.

"Daddy!" Fern's scream suddenly echoed over the power of the storm. "Daddy! Cows!"

Jason looked up. Rachel had, quite wisely, scampered over and climbed up the fence. Fern did the same thing next to Jason and Tess, while a large herd of cattle, moving slowly and surely, began to lumber through the gap. A figure on horseback emerged out of the darkness, and a rain-soaked Milligan appeared with a smile on his face.

"The whole family out here! Now that ought to get some sort of award!" "Milligan!" Jason beamed. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you here!"

"Oh, given that you two were just now trying to figure out how to go riding out across the prairie with your two girls looking for a bunch of biological needles in a lightning-infested haystack, I reckon I have a pretty good idea how happy you are."

Jason held up a finger, then laughed. "Fair!"

"Anyhow, I'm glad to see you here." Milligan swung down as the last of the cattle lumbered into the pasture. He helped the two adults keep putting up

the fence, just as casually as if it were bright and sunny. "I was woken up by someone knocking on the door. When I opened it and found a steer scratching his head on my doorpost, well..."

Tess chuckled. "I can only imagine."

"And I'll admit I was responsible for some of the rest of the chaos." Milligan chuckled. "I let out a scream like a little girl and slammed the door, and that sent him running, which sent the rest of them all running. I figured it was my duty to get them back, so I did. Never thought I'd find you here, nor the fence, but those cattle sure knew where they needed to be going."

"I'm just glad we're all here in one piece."

The adults soon finished pushing the fence back into place, and Jason sighed. It would need fixing again once the rain was over and the ground was dry, but he could deal with that at a later date. "How many actions does everyone have left?"

Tess took a moment to check. "Ahh... 8."

"3." Milligan answered. "You?"

"5." Jason chuckled. "Alright, then! We're done for the day! Anyone who's hungry and wants food, head to the house! We'll get dried off, and then go from there!"

"I won't say no."

"You couldn't say no to the boss." Jason pointed out.

"True that, boss."

As the family trekked back through the driving rain, Jason sighed in enjoyment. As the girls got older and older, they were coming out onto the farm more and more. It was a lovely thing, especially in the midst of chaos.

He only hoped that they would continue to enjoy it, continue to nurture that dedication, for a good, long time.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Fruit of Your

[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason and Tess were ready to get to work around the farm. They had 54 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 83rd day of Spring! 8 days until the Spring Festival! Today's looking to be a great day today, folks! Temperatures are moderate, bordering on lovely, and the wind will be a nice, calm sort of a breeze. If you have projects left that you want to get done before summer, you're rapidly running out of time, so go get it done!]

Jason awoke with his stomach full of butterflies, and he slowly rose and stretched. As he walked to the window and looked out across the farmyard, he stuck his head out and inhaled deeply.

Though there were certainly plenty of sights to see, his eyes turned to the rice paddy, which was brimming with life. Leaves and rice heads poked up out of the water, giving it a rather spiky sort of appearance. As he stood there, Tess swept into the room behind him, a smile on her face.

"Are you ready for this?" She started rubbing his shoulders. "Almost a full year in the making, and now it's here."

"Indeed." Jason grinned, then slowly turned around. He gave Tess a kiss, then sighed. "I... Thank you. I know you thought this whole thing was a bit crazy, but I appreciate you sticking with me through it."

"I'm just sorry I doubted you." Tess shrugged. "You stuck with it, and you made it work despite all sorts of odd happenings. Get out there and enjoy the fruits of your labors!"

"With pleasure." Jason walked up to the wardrobe and got changed, then glanced over at her. "Do you mind if I take the girls with me?"

"Both of them?"

"Why not?" Jason shrugged. "Honestly, I'd love to take all of you along, but..." He shrugged. "There's not really room on the harvester, and I imagine that you have other things you'd rather be doing. Or need to be doing, I should say."

"Actually, I'm pretty well caught up." Tess shrugged. "And, frankly, I have quite a bit I need to talk to you about. Things have been so crazy that we haven't really had a chance to talk about a lot of different things, but..." Jason thought for a moment. "Then... Hmm." He stroked his chin. "I have an idea, but I don't know if we have the things do to it. Let me... Can you make me a burrito, something I can eat on the road, and I'll be back?"

"Go for it."

A few minutes later, Jason rode out on Angus, heading down toward the Lazy-H, munching on his breakfast as he went along. Angus's hooves ate up the road in a flurry of energy, and soon, he came trotting into the drive of the massive ranch. Richard was standing by some of his corrals, and turned to grin broadly as Jason as he rode up.

"Howdy, neighbor!" Jason waved.

"Howdy!" Richard called back. He made some hand gestures to Weatherhand, who was inside the corral working with a handful of young calves, then turned and walked over to Jason. "What can I do you for?"

"I have a really, really odd question." Jason chuckled.

"Then I have a really odd answer." Richard crossed his arms. "Shoot."

"Do you, by any chance, happen to have a canoe?"

Almost an hour later, Jason stood on the back of the harvester, whip in his hand. He tapped the water buffalo on the rump, and it slowly lumbered down into the field. As it entered the water, Jason pulled the lever to engage

the blades, and underneath of him, the harvester whirred to life with the most wonderful noise he thought he had ever heard.

Just like the other times he had entered the flooded field, at first, the blades just whirred through the air. Then, as they hit the water, they began to churn the whole thing into a slurry. Bubbles exploded out from underneath the harvester (an entirely new experience, since the fungi was so thick that it rather prevented such things). The noise began to become a soft thrum- thrum beneath the waves, and Jason grinned broadly as the water buffalo lumbered forward.

All around, the tips of rice heads and leaves poked up out of the water, a great sea of underwater grass. The only difference was behind him, where there was nothing but bare, muddy water... And, as Jason pulled further away from shore, a boat. Instead of a canoe, Jason had been able to borrow a johnboat from Richard, which had a far wider and flatter bottom, excellent for families. Tess sat at the rear, while Fern and Rachel both crowded to the bow.

"Throw me the rope!" Jason called out.

Tess quickly coiled up a small rope there, swung it behind her head, and launched it out across the water. Jason caught it, then tied it to one of the handholds. With that, Tess pulled them up until they were floating just a few feet behind the harvester, and Jason grinned from ear to ear.

Never before had he been able to harvest with his whole family. His smile almost hurt his face, but still, he couldn't wipe it away. The rice made a satisfying whooshing noise as it was dumped into his farm's inventory, and his jaw dropped slowly in amazement as the number of kernels climbed higher... And higher... And higher.

"This is yielding better than any wheat field I've ever planted." He shook his head in amazement. "Better than any singular crop I've ever planted!" Of course, Milligan had tipped him off that such a thing might happen. The decomposition of the fungi left a great deal of nutrients floating around in the water and trapped in the mud, which had likely given the rice quite an extra boost. Whatever the reason, though, Jason was satisfied with it, and he sighed in contentment.

"We're harvesting with daddy!" Fern grinned widely. "On a boat!"

"Toat!"

Jason sighed contentedly. As they reached the end, the water buffalo slowly turned around and started lumbering back toward the entrance once again. It moved so slowly, but now... well... Jason didn't need to worry about speed.

The girls spent most of their time simply pointing at things in the water; water bugs, or a water snake that went by once, or some tadpoles that wriggled about like little worms. Tess had brought along some flashcards and other such school things, so they did that for awhile. When lunchtime came around, Tess pulled out a picnic basket, and floated close enough to pass Jason his food.

"Mmm." Jason gave a nod to Tess. "I wanted to ask you something. Earlier, you mentioned that you wanted to talk to me, but I don't think I heard what about."

"Right!" Tess nodded back. She swallowed the food in her mouth, then continued. "You know how there's been talk of me doing some teaching in town?"

Jason nodded. "Yeah. How's that turning out?"

"Well..." Tess shrugged. "Pending your permission, I'm going to do it. They're building a schoolhouse; I think construction just started a week ago or so. Sunday evenings, I'll drive into town with the kids, teach school Monday morning, leave out lesson plans for that week, and then drive home Monday afternoon. Every now and again there might be the odd time I go in on some other day of the week, but..." She shrugged. "What do you think?" Jason paused for a moment as he mulled it over. "If that's what you'd like to do, go for it. Our girls have been benefiting from it quite a lot, I think, and you'll still be here most of the time. When we first started discussing it, I was afraid you'd be driving in every day or something, or..."

"Or having to turn the barn into a school?" Tess laughed. "Yeah, that would... That would be interesting."

"Well." Jason finished off his sandwich, then gave Tess a nod. "In my official capacity as head farmer of the Circle-S Ranch and Farmstead, I doff my hat to you, and I hope you have all the success as a schoolteacher." "Principal."

"Principal." Jason agreed. After a moment, he chuckled. "Who'd have thought?"

"I know, right?" Tess laughed. "You know, when you stumbled into my Guild Hall all those years ago. If you had told me that one day, I would be a teacher—and that I would be teaching people to read, not just to stab things —I wouldn't have believed you."

"I'm not sure I would have, either." Jason paused, then snickered. "At that time, I'm not sure I would have even thought you knew how to read."

Tess scooped up a bit of water and splashed it at him, and he laughed. The girls immediately decided that such things looked fun, and Jason and Tess

quickly had to order them to stop, in order to prevent the boat from capsizing.

In any event, onward they floated, bobbing through the field behind the harvester. Jason's heart swelled within him as he looked at it all. It was... It was beyond wonderful.

In a great way, he was sad about the prospect of draining the rice paddy once he was done with that harvest, and a great portion of him wanted to abandon the idea and keep it up, but... He also knew that not every harvest would be like this. He also knew that, as things changed... well... Some things just always did stay the same. He was a farmer on the plains of Illumitir, just south of the town of Summer Shandy, and that was his simple reality.

He didn't have a single inclination to change that fact, and he hoped he would be able to continue doing it for a very long time, indeed.

Chapter Forty: 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 55 starting actions]

[Obadiah's Almanac: 91st day of Spring! It's the day of the Spring Festival! Alright, folks, as seems to be almost a law of nature around here, the weather for the spring festival couldn't be better! If you're not already in town, get out here as soon as you can! We've got games! We've got food! And yes, we have a major announcement about the next constable of Summer Shandy!]

Jason felt his heart fluttering as he opened his eyes and read the almanac entry. So Jeremiah actually had found a replacement! He chuckled and slowly sat up, finding the door to the room wide open. Herds of children raced past, most of them holding large bouquets of flowers, and Jason smiled.

Suddenly, Fern and Rachel came charging inside and dove up onto the bed. They, too, were holding a great deal of flowers, and shoved them right into Jason's face.

"Here go daddy!" Rachel grinned. "We picked dese for you!"

"Thank you, so much." Jason took a sniff, then gathered them up and placed them on the bedside table. "Where'd you get them from?"

"A garden!"

Jason froze, and Tess sat bolt upright. "Did you have permission to do that?"

"Yes!" Fern nodded. "The lady said, 'Please take these to your parents,' and then let all of us pick as many flowers as we have fingers on one hand! I knew that meant five, but I didn't say so."

"That was very humble of you." Tess patted Fern on the head.

"Yes. Because I'm very smart, and some of the other kids aren't."

Jason bit his lip. "Alright. Not as humble. Fern, we--"

"Tag!"

John raced by in the hallway, and with that, both girls tore out of the room. Fern slammed it behind her, and Jason shook his head and simply laughed. "We'll work on virtues at a later date, I think." Tess slipped out of bed and dressed in a lovely pink-and-yellow flower-pattern dress. "I hope. Ahh, as long as they watch what you do, they'll turn out just fine."

Jason didn't really have an answer, and just focused on packing up their things. A few minutes later, they slipped through the lobby. Tess started wrangling the girls over to one of the tables to get some food, but Jason simply snagged a few pastries as he lugged the trunk back out to the carriage.

As he wandered through the town square, he found it simply alive with activity. Flower and flowerpots were set out everywhere, their brilliant colors standing out amidst the buildings. People swirled about as a band started warming up. A few people danced about, mostly out of time, and Jason laughed and smiled at them. When he got the luggage stowed away, he started working his way back toward Tess, but found herself and the girls surrounded by a crowd of moms who were all making their way toward the new school building.

It stood along the road heading south toward the Circle-S, just about the same place where an upstart hospital had once been built. At that point, the foundation had been laid out, and walls were rapidly going up, but it was mostly still just frames, which left a long way to go. A large bell sat on the ground nearby, which Jason imagined would be quite loud when it was rung.

"Howdy, neighbor." Jeremiah came ambling up, his unlit pipe in his mouth, as per the usual. "Looks like your wife is really making her mark. I suppose you just weren't satisfied with one building marking out the landscape, you just had to go and put up a second one."

Jason laughed. "I had nothing to do with this one. Didn't even know about it before... I can't remember exactly. Couple weeks ago."

"Yeah." Jeremiah sighed. "I'm just messing with you. You guys are doing good. Doing our community a favor, that's for sure."

"So what's up with you, anyhow?" Jason glanced over at Jeremiah. "You're retiring, officially?"

"That's right." Jeremiah gave a nod. He reached up and tapped his shoulder, which now didn't sport a constable badge. "Handed it over today, actually. They wanted to do a big ceremony, but I'm just not up for that anymore. My replacement ought to be along... Ahh, there's the man of the hour!" Jason glanced over his shoulder, and his eyes just about popped out of his head. Striding up was none other than Obadiah, this time in a dapper constable's outfit. Black jacket, red tie, badge, the whole works.

"I don't think I've seen you outside of your armor since... Pfft, since you first got here." Jason blinked in surprise. "I have to say, you're not the person I expected to see filling Jeremiah's shoes."

Obadiah shrugged. He pulled out his own pipe, nigh-identical to his father's, and stuck it in his mouth. Side-by-side, the two were quite the image. "I don't know. He's pert near taught me his job over the years as we've had to do this thing or that thing together. It was... Was it a week ago, or so? Doesn't matter, I suppose, but we were doing some thinking, and we realized that we were coming at this all wrong." He held up a hand. "We kept looking for his replacement, when we had one all along. What we

needed to be looking for was my replacement, and after a bit of thinking a desperate scrambling... well... We found him."

"And who's the lucky guy?" Jason asked, a smile spreading across his face. The smile vanished a moment later as the ground gave a soft thump. He turned as an armored mountain came striding through the town square, a broad grin across his face.

"Little farmer! Guess what?"

"Him?" Jason glanced over at Obadiah. "You got Daniel to be the Guildmaster?"

Obadiah shrugged. "He's gotten a lot more responsible than the last time he lived here long-term, plus, he's so powerful he can literally lay down and take a nap in the most powerful boss chamber in that dungeon while the monster is attacking him."

"Did it yesterday!" Daniel reached them and stretched his arms behind his back. "One of the best naps I've ever taken, actually."

"Point is, since he has kids, he's gotten a lot more protective." Obadiah shrugged. "I can get people through the dungeons easy enough, but even now and again, you have some newbie who just manages to slip through your fingers. With Daniel? There isn't a soul who enters that dungeon who will walk out with a single scratch on their bodies. That much, I'm confident of."

"Well, if you're really here, we'll be glad to see you more often." Jason held out his hand, which Daniel shook. "You always have a seat at our table, if you happen by."

"I'll keep that in mind." Daniel flashed a sloppy sort of salute, then turned away. "I don't mean to cut and run, but I'm told I need to meet the community. Catch you around!"

He turned and stomped away, and Jason grinned.

"Well, I'm glad that's all taken care of. The almanac entries will be unique next year, I'm sure, but he'll do a good job."

"Yes, indeed." Obadiah crossed his arms and sighed. "Lots changing around here, but lots staying the same. Mmm, speaking of which, I really can't tell you how helpful you growing all that fungi has been. I coordinated with constables across the province, and near as well can tell, the infection has been entirely eradicated. Milligan did good work, that's for sure."

"You're not kidding." Jason nodded. "I'm lucky to have him around."

"I just hope you keep having him around."

Jason frowned. "What does that mean? Is something the matter?"

"That depends on how you look at it." Obadiah glanced at Jason, then nodded off to the side. "Can I speak with you? Privately?"

Jason nodded, feeling a great deal of concern come over him. Obadiah quickly took him around behind the constable's office, where he sighed. "There are two things happening right now, Jason." Obadiah rubbed the back of his neck. "And they're both connected to that stupid fungus. You knew Hank was doing some investigating, right?"

"Right." Jason nodded slowly. "What about it? Did he find something?" "Short answer, yes. Lots of things." Obadiah grimaced. "He's coming back here; I think his hope is to arrive by the Summer Festival. I'll let him explain more at that time, but... The short answer is that he was, indeed, able to confirm that the fungus was manmade. The reason he was able to put so definitive a mark on it was because he found the laboratory."

"I'm not seeing the connection to Milligan." Jason frowned.

"You will." Obadiah sighed. "Jason... There were a lot of files in that laboratory. A lot of letters, written by a lot of people. The scientist in that

lab... It was your uncle. Alfradus Hunter. The very same one who left you the farm."

Jason felt his world starting to spin. "I thought he died."

"There was never a body found. You're the one who told me that." Obadiah grimaced. "Now, you don't need to worry. There's no matter of your losing the farm. You've purchased loads of it anyway, at this point, and as a matter of common law, you've obtained possession of it for ten years without a complaint. That makes it yours, fair and square, and any court of law will stand behind you on it." Obadiah paused. "The key bit is the fact that you were the one who helped stop the fungi that he apparently released into the wild. He had a map of the Illumitir Province, and Summer Shandy was circled. He has drawings of the house as it appears now, and of the barn, which was built way after he left. And, now that the cure has been effected, he likely knows who Milligan is, too."

Jason frowned. "Do you think he has... I don't know. Ill intent, or anything?"

"I wish I knew." Obadiah held up his hands. "The only other thing I know is that the fungi was apparently an old one. We know he had an interest in dungeon monsters from ancient times. The pieces are all there, I just don't know why, or what he'll be doing next. If I'm being honest, that's a big part of the reason I went ahead and took over Jeremiah's role. If something does happen, I want to be less conspicuous than when I'm walking around in full armor. Plus, it gets Daniel here, and he's rather handy when fights break out."

"Oh, come on." Jason shook his head. "There won't be any fighting."

"I hope you're right." Obadiah grimaced. "You're the optimistic one, and I suppose you're usually right, but as the constable, it's my job to be grim

and think of the worst possible outcomes." He patted Jason on the shoulder, then walked away. "Enjoy the festival, and I do mean that!"

Jason watched him go. As he walked back to the town square, the two girls bolted for him, hair streaming behind them, and he bent down to scoop them up. As he did, and the music and colors of the festival filled the air, he sighed deeply.

Maybe his uncle really was still alive. Maybe he knew what the house still looked like. Honestly, it made sense that he would still be keeping up with the place, at least tangentially. It filled Jason with more questions than answers, but... well...

He hugged his two girls tightly, and smiled as Tess came walking up to him. They were in the most lovely place in the world, surrounded by friends and family and joy. Anytime that adversity had come, such as the fungus, it had always turned out to be for the best. After all, his single rice harvest had earned him more money than every single other harvest for the entire year combined. That was the odd thing about Summer Shandy, really, but one of the best. If you came, you changed for the better, and if you left, you'd be drawn back in time.

If his uncle really did return, even if it took a bit of elbow grease, he knew that the final outcome would be worth it. Until that time came, though, he was going to enjoy his time at the festival, the time with his lovely family... His home in Summer Shandy.