Sixteenth Jump (Harvest Moon) Part 6

Cierra’s Day Off

            It had been a full season before anything of note actually occurred. Everything that needed to be taken care of was taken care of… Yankaka had slain another chicken when I wasn’t looking because she was hungry, but at least she cooked poor Hoolio, I suppose. I lose more chickens to her than I do anything else… We even had a wolf roaming around once and he didn’t get as many. Besides, at least she cooks them for our dinner every now and then, but I am going to have to talk to her about it… We get most of our money from crops and eggs, after all.

            That’s not important, though. I had been drinking a little less at the very least, but not enough to really show in our profits, but everyone else seemed to be a hint happier about it. Especially one person who I saw fairly frequently because of where I usually ate each day, but who was working fairly frequently. This day was apparently her day off…

            So, here I was sitting by the pond with my fishing rod out, simply enjoying the hot, summer day in all its glory. The buss of cicadas filled the air, the fish were biting, and… and… then I felt a pair of hands grabbing me by the waist and lifting me up. I held the exact position that I had sitting down, not even adjusting the fishing rod as I was carried off, and the hook dragging through the grass as I went along. “Come along, Tadek. We have things to do!”

            Apparently it was Cierra… Which explained the fact that she had lifted me so easily. Bang and Yankaka could do it, as well, but Cierra was still taller than both of them. Well, Bang is about as tall as she is, but she’s still physically stronger for some odd reason. I blame mutations. Either way, she carried me away from the farm a good feet before I managed to wiggle my way out of her hold and onto the ground. “What is it, Cierra? I am very busy.” As I spoke, I held up the fishing rod and started to reel it in while she gave a response.

            “Well, I have a day off today, so I thought that we should go on a trip to Bluebell. I need to get a few things from the café there and you seemed just so bored sitting there by the pond, considering you do that every day you can when you’re not at the teahouse drinking.” She leered over me with a small, questioning hum. Though, in response I simply held the hook that was currently holding onto a stick, some newspaper, and apparently some pants that someone had left lying around somewhere. “I admit nothing as you already know what I do to be true.”

            That earned me a huff, her hands coming to set themselves on her hips. “Very well. While you’re with me, though, you won’t be drinking a single drop till we get back. Let’s see how well you do without alcohol to back you up.” She grinned mischievously, turning on heel and, as I was just about to walk the other way, I felt a hand on the back of my shirt that dragged me behind her for the first few feet. “I can see why they were training you as a diplomat… You figured out that words don’t work, so you just pull me along.”

            It wasn’t too interesting for the first half of travel. That was the thing about a peaceful setting… Everything was relaxed, but there was hardly anything of note going on. When we had left, it was quite cloudy, but the both of us simply pushed that off to the side as we left town… which was sadly a bad idea on our part, considering that halfway through the mountain pass it had begun to rain rather heavily. Rain was nothing to worry about normally, but when you were walking through anything involving mountains and the wind was causing you to fight to remain on your feet, it was best to stay out of it all. Why was there even a bad storm near a mountain pass? I have no clue.

            Either way, as thunder crashed above us, we dived down into a small cave in the mountain side and got comfortable. She had brought along a backpack and, thankfully, had a blanket for us both to sit down on. I didn’t mind stone… honestly reminded me of the time I went caving back before I went jumping, but the blanket was quite welcome.

            “Well, this isn’t exactly how I thought it would go. I was going to whisk you away to Bluebell, shower you with good food and win your heart through words and your endless stomach.” She grinned, her hands sifting through her backpack for the moment as if she was looking for something else. I took a moment to reach over and give Ciera a small pat on the shoulder. “Heard about the competition, too, huh? Cierra, Lina told me that you knew about me leading everyone on the whole time… Sorry about that.”

            The tall woman sighed softly, straightening up a little as she glanced over to me with an innocent smile. “Oh, it’s alright… When Celestian told me why, I didn’t hold it against you. Not many know how to handle having multiple women… and I think that guy at the diner back in Detroit after them at one time. You don’t seem to care about others, but you do try to take care of us. You go about it the wrong way, but you do try… Like a proper hero!”

            Without warning, she wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer, her other hand pulling out a little gift from her backpack. “Here! Got you something.” I took a moment to try and slip out of her hold, but she simply grabbed the front of my shirt and kept me there until I took the gift. Then she actually let me go so that I could open the little, ribbon-tied box.

            Inside was a single photo and, while it was difficult to see at first until she turned the flashlight we had been using toward it, come to find out it was a picture of everyone in the group. The four sisters were together, Bang was near the edge of them, Meddy was wrapped around Lina’s wrist, the maid whose name I had completely forgotten was on the other side, and Yankaka was holding onto Bang and apparently trying to gnaw on his head as he went to the ground.

            I grinned slightly, offering her a small nod of thanks. “Hmm… Sweet. Thanks.” I stated simply, glancing over the picture a few times before slipping it back into the box so that it wouldn’t be damaged by the moisture. “I thought, since you have a habit of going off on your own, that it might be best for you to have a picture of all of us so that you don’t forget.” With a small hum, I reached over to give her a few pats on the shoulder. My heart was a little warmer than usual, but… Honestly, I had to thank her for that. Just an ounce of actual happiness again.

            Though, then I came to realize something… I left home without telling anyone and a storm had picked up… That was going to have to be taken care of when I get back…. Shit.