Ephemeral Reverie #1 - The Silence Between

Chapter Six - Bunny Festival

Charlie awoke the morning of the Bunny Festival feeling a little apprehensive. Today was the day to start harvesting the apples in the southwestern section color-coded as 'green'. Yet when she stopped by for one last check before retrieving the ladder and baskets, she stopped dead in her tracks. There were no apples on the branches. Like, literally none. She had spent the last few days nervously eyeing those sweet round fruits, counting down the days until harvest. And now they were gone.

In a panic, she checked the journal she had gotten into the habit of carrying everywhere, just to make sure she was in the right section. And she was—large square plot northeast of the greenhouse. Every tree in that plot had a faded, but still very green ribbon around their trunks.

Looking around showed the other trees were heavy with fruit, but they were the red and pink apples, both in fruit color and their respective ribbons. As much as she wanted to deviate from the routine that had been in place for decades, green was what was supposed to ship this week.

Whatever kind of trick this was, it wasn't a good one. It was messing with her source of income, and a source of goods for dozens of stores in the area.

Looking up suddenly when she heard a short, melodious chirp, Charlie spied some burlap sacks near the sprite hut. The sacks bulged like they were filled with baseballs, each tied off with a purple ribbon. They weren't there the day before. She cautiously approached, tugging the ribbon away. Her eyes widened when she saw what was inside: green apples. The next sack was the same, full to bursting with ripe, freshly picked green apples.

"What in Erde's name...?"

She looked at the journal and then stared hard at the hut. Had the sprites finally come back? There were no footprints, definitely a crapload of small fallen branches, and no fruits dropped at all on the ground. The apples had been gathered and neatly placed into bags...almost by magic.

It had to be the sprites.

Crouching to get a better look at the little constructs, Charlie gingerly pulled open the door attached to the front of one. And inside she saw...nothing. Nothing but empty space and the hard-packed plot of dirt upon which the construct sat.

"Maybe they are just shy..."

Closing the door, she stood and turned to the sacks.

The sprites were the only ones she could think of to do this, and in such a short amount of time. Without magic, picking, bagging, and placing said bags of literal thousands of apples would have taken a normal, full crew of people over a week. She'd last checked on the trees before bed the night before, so not even twelve hours had passed. She wasn't upset the sprites wouldn't show themselves, just curious. And ever-so-thankful.

She tossed the journal back into her small messenger bag and picked up the first sack. It was heavy like she'd expected it to be. With a determined exhale—and a muttering of thanks—she carried it up to the shipping bin.

‡ † ‡

Two hours and a long shower later, Charlie was feeling a lot better. She lost count of how many sacks she had carried to the shipping bin, but it was enough to put a sizeable dent in the pile. Taking a moment to finish the day's entry in her new ledger, she smiled to herself. She had officially started on her first harvest. And the sprites—she'd convinced herself that no one else could have done it—definitely eased the process along.