Skies and Stories of Gold

River looked at Varek a bit confused when she heard him and went to look at him in the kitchen. She tilted her head when he told her to come over, whispering when he did so. That was a bit odd to her that he was being quiet on purpose but she gave a little nod and walked over to him.

"What is it?" She asked, trying to be quiet the same as he was but she was still sleepy so she would take a minute of looking to find what he wanted to show her.

Through the window, the two of them could see a pair of swans and their little cygnets coming up to a kneeling Harvey, who was hand feeding them some of a loaf of bread.  He was so happy looking, watching the little honking creatures dance around the crumbs he sprinkled on the dry grass.  The pair of graceful bird were a little more reserved in their pickings, but still ate what the man had thrown to them.  Harvey hadn't seen Varek and River watching him, but even after he ran out of bread, he seemed content sitting there among the shining white birds.

"Pretty cute, huh?  Harvey's the best with animals, too," Varek mused with a smile as he stepped back from the window.  "I just found him like that.  I don't know why, but it's like he's got some kind of mystical power...  Anyway, we should probably tell him about last night.  Are you ready?  You look pretty tired, still."

River looked outside and started to smile as she saw Harvey outside feeding animals and looking so happy. If she just watched him like this she wouldn't have ever guessed he might be sick, she was hoping that soon he could go back to doing what he was best at too and what he liked. When she heard Varek speaking though she smiled and looked over at him again.

"I suppose we should go ahead and tell him now huh? Though I guess I had some weird dreams and happen to not be used to getting up this early." she said and laughed a bit.

The horse jockey began to lead her out through a back door of the house that wasn't too far from their point in the kitchen.  He seemed surprised when she mentioned her dreams, worried that it was just because of what they saw the previous night.

"I can understand not getting up early, I've been in the same situation when I was younger," he started his voice becoming a little serious as he continued.  "But did the weird dream have anything to do with last night's encounter?  Or did you not wanna talk about it?  I can understand if you don't want to bring it up."

As they walked out back, the swans saw the two coming their way and strode away with their little hatchlings.  Harvey slowly rose to his feet ready to greet his farmhands.

River followed after Varek as he went to go outside, laughing quietly as she waved a hand as if dismissing the whole thing about her mentioning the dream. She didn't really want to explain it, since it wasn't really a terrible dream or anything it was just a bit surprising.

"It's nothing concerning, I guess makes me feel odd a bit. Something about me being able to save the farm, but I was planning on helping to make sure it survived anyway."

She said as they walked, smiling and waving some to Harvey after she explained it to Varek.

Varek was glad to hear that it was something of a good omen, at least, that's how he took the news.  As they approached Harvey and he met them halfway, the farmer took off his glasses and began to clean them on his plaid shirt.

"Good morning, you two!" he said cheerfully.  "How did it go last night?  Did you get any sleep?"

Varek began to explain, trying to hide his shortcomings in the bravery department.  "Everything you said, you saw, was true.  We met the Harvest Goddess and her Sprites, and it was really... ah, magical."

"Really?  That's great news!  What did they have to say, River?  Did you ask them about the farm?" Harvey asked, his eyes sparkling with curiosity.

River smiled as she listened to Varek speaking about what they did the night before. She didn't want to interrupt with her answer to the question before hand since she thought it was rude. When she was asked a question she smiled at Harvey a bit and nodded.

"Though they didn't tell us how to fix it yet, they said they knew what was going on at least. We should be able to go back tonight, if Varek would like to, and find out what to do. They said it did have something to do with you getting sick as well so I hope we can fix this all in one go."

Her step-brother couldn't hold back his bright grin.  "I'm so happy I chose you two to come help me!  We'll get the farm back up and running in no time!"

Harvey then led the two farmhands all the way over to the stable.  The lone cow and chicken were there as they were yesterday, coming up close to their three guests.

"Today, you can start by feeding these two.  The feed for each animal is labeled with a picture; corn and seeds for chicken and hay and grass for the cow.  A pitch fork is there if you need to use it.  When you're done, come back to the drive way and I'll set you up with your next assignment!" he explained to them, walking slowly out the door.  They could hear him say, "This just made my day!" as he left the building.

"Well, River, which animal would you like to feed?" Varek asked, the cow mooing behind him.

River couldn't help but giggle happily some when she heard Harvey after he left them. She was very happy that he was feeling better about this already, smiling happily as she looked at Varek. She thought about it for a second and looked around at both the animals some.

"I will feed the chicken, does that sound okay with you?"

The little hen clucked over to River, strutting around fearlessly. Varek then walked over to the side of the barn and opened up the bag of bird feed. After scooping some in a cup and capping it, he tossed it to River with a smile.

"Catch!" he warned her, picking up a pitchfork and steering it towards a mound of hay he would feed to the cow. "You can sprinkle it on the ground or feed it to her by hand!"

River squeaked a bit in surprise when he threw the cup to her all of the sudden, having thought he would hand it to her. She was lucky enough though to catch it, sighing some as she opened the cup carefully and nodded to what Varek said.

"For now I think I will just go ahead and spread it out on the ground. How much am I supposed to give?" She asked as she started to carefully sprinkle the ground with the feed.

"The whole cup should be enough for today!" Varek replied, eagerly shoveling the hay into the mammal's trough.  "And once we get some grass growing in the field, we can start taking the animals outside for the day and not have to worry about giving them as much food.  It'll save a lot of money that way!"

Quickly the little white hen started plucking at the nubs of food.  It's little feed made prints as it walked around, scarfing up the food and bobbing its head about.  The cow moo'd, as if it was amused at the chicken's behavior.

River giggled quietly as she watched the chicken scurrying around to get the food, spreading more out for it as she listened to Varek. She did think it was a good idea getting them outside so they would have to get the grass growing soon.

"I would love to see the animals allowed outside too just to walk around in the sun too. They must like it more that way." She said and smiled over at Varek, looking back to the chicken after though as she went to empty the cup.

Once Varek finished shoveling the hay into the cow's trough, he smiled and took back River's empty cup and placed it next to the pitchfork.  As the two of them left the animals to their munching, they could see a double-seated bike parked in the driveway of Harvey's house.

"Uh-oh.  The double bike," Varek sighed.  "The engineers are here.  Harvey had told me before you got here that there's been a problem with his plumbing, and I was hoping I wouldn't have to deal with it.  Honestly, these two are so obnoxious that I would rather try and fix it myself, even though I know nothing about plumbing."

Sure enough, knocking on the doors of the house were two figures.  One was a tall, beefy guy with a broad chin wearing a mechanic's bodysuit and a cap.  The other was a skinny girl with braided blonde pigtails wearing large glasses and a similar suit.  She didn't look like she wanted to be here, but the guy was sure ready.

River smiled and nodded when seeing the two animals where fed properly and eating as the two of them left. She made sure to stick close to Varek as he walked, she didn't want to get lost even though it didn't seem too likely to happen. She did listen closely to him when he started to talk about the two that had shown up for the plumbing.

"They are annoying to you? They do not look like they could have some sort of annoying personalities but if you say so." She said, trusting him in such matters. Though she could have different views on what was annoying and what wasn't "Are we going to talk to them or should we just move onto our next task, leaving Harvey to deal with them?" she asked and looked at Varek.

He shrugged and thinking a little bit before continuing to speak.  "Those two are very smart and skilled at what they do, so much so that they like to challenge others for fun.  Bartholemew bothers me more than Evie does, though, but only because he teases me for favoring horses compared to any other animal," he told her, dropping their names casually as if she'd met them already.

"Maybe if we sneak past them, they won't see us!  They're guaranteed to challenge you to something, since you're new.  Come on, follow me!" Varek said, signaling River to crouch down with him behind the broken picket fencing.  "If we crawl along this fence and around to the back of the house, we can grab some tools and start our next project."

"Eh? Why do they challenge people so much then? I mean that is a little annoying I can see..." River said and looked confused. Why would they challenge someone all of the sudden without asking or just talking first. She didn't think about it too much though before seeing Varek crouching down to go through the fence.

"Okay, that sounds like a nice idea. I prefer to just keep working and get things working properly again soon." She said and followed after him, crouching down and moving carefully. She didn't want to get caught on anything after all or end up getting lost on the way.

As the two of them snuck along the fencing, going around overgrown berry bushes and over tree roots, Varek began to explain a little more about the history of Soule.

"You could probably guess this from what the Harvest Goddess and Harvey were saying, but Soule is a dying place.  Many of it's residents are long gone and there's not too many tourist attractions anymore.  We do have the occasional festivals and major events that bring in some outsiders, but a lot of the people who had already lived in this town get really bored with the lack of things to do."

They finally reached the halfway point of the fencing and were almost around back.  So far, so good.  "People like Francis, the delivery girl from the inn, these two engineers, even Reggie's family, all of them get very excited when festivals happen and new faces come in.  They were the same way with me when I was still new.  If you help fix Harvey's farm, they'd probably love you forever, since he's always been a main provider of goods for those events, hahaha!"

River listened to Varek closely as she followed him, nodding a little as she did though since she thought it was interesting. She did want to learn more about this town, though she didn't like to be challenged often about random things. Though she would keep up with everyone and do her best if it came down to a challenge, she wanted to do her best with the farm first though.

"I want to make sure then that I won't turn down challenges if they come up. I don't want to offend anyone. The first thing on my list though is helping to get the farm better." she said and laughed a bit quietly. By that night she would probably be very tired but was going to go back and see the Harvest Goddess and making things better.

The horse jockey happily smiled as River assured him of her first and most important goal.  It was then that they finally reached the back gate of the fence, and were only moments away from reaching the back door of Harvey's home.

"I think I saw a box of tools on the kitchen table before we left.  You were really quiet back there, so I think you'll do better if you go inside and grab the box.  It's red and metal and has a picture of a hammer on the front.  What do you think?," Varek asked, holding open the gate for River to go through.

River followed closely and smiled a little bit when she saw that her goals made him happy. She did think it was important as well to make as many people happy as she could, so if helping here more would help with that too she would help. Hearing what he said about her going in though she nodded, willing to go ahead and get the box.

"I will be right back then, I think I saw it there earlier as well." she said and smiled at him a bit. Right after she went through the gate, keeping quiet though as she went to go inside the back door. She was keeping as quiet as possible as she searched for the tool box in the kitchen area as Varek said.