Lost and Found [Harvest Moon: A New Beginning]

Sanctuary

The night after the cattle show, an unexpected and severe cold snap hit Echo Village. Rio's farm was particularly hard-hit, and she had to work night and day to salvage her crops. She was profoundly grateful that Vaughn was there to help then, since without him, she would surely have lost far more of the harvest than she did. Neil helped out, too, by taking over many of Vaughn's regular chores. He didn't know anything about raising crops, but he did know about animals. Meanwhile, Vaughn tended the smudge pots that kept her orchard from freezing while Rio raced from one field to the next, anxiously tending her crops until she could harvest them. In the end, most of her crops were saved, though she did lose some of her more delicate flowers and herbs—an unfortunate but tolerable loss under the circumstances.

Then, as quickly as it came, the frost was gone, replaced with a fierce Indian summer—the hottest fall in years, Hina told Vaughn one afternoon as she sat on the stool at her shop counter, fanning herself and sipping a tall glass of iced tea. Everyone's houses and stores were like ovens, and the animals were panting and lethargic. Rio's dogs all but ignored their charges as they lay sprawled out in whatever shade they could find, but her livestock were too exhausted from the heat to take advantage of the lax attention, anyway.

"Goddess damn it!" Vaughn heard Rio shout one Thursday morning, just a few days into the heat wave, as he straggled up the steps to her house to begin his day. They'd settled into a routine lately, where he'd arrive early and have breakfast with her, discussing what work needed to be done that day over their coffee before heading out to begin their chores. It wasn't quite exactly what he wanted—he'd hoped to be sharing much more with her than mere coffee and conversation by now. But he accepted what he was offered, and he was glad to have even that much, all things considered.

Giving a quick knock on the door before walking in, Vaughn spotted her sitting on the edge of her bed, more or less dressed, her hands clutching her hair as she stared into her open, half-empty wardrobe. Piles of clothing lay heaped around the floor before her, and a few items were scattered across the bed. "Good morning to you, too," he said as he walked in, and she jumped and turned to look at him, startled.

"Oh, hey. I didn't hear you come in. Sorry for shouting. I'm just really frustrated by this heat. I don't have any clean shorts or tank tops left—nothing I'd wear to work in my fields, anyway. I've worn them all at least once and haven't had a chance to do my laundry. And I'm in a hurry this morning, too—I don't have time for this! These were the cleanest I could find, so I guess they'll have to do. Ugh! I wish I lived in a nudist colony!" She scowled down at the faded blue tank top with smudges of dirt across her breasts and flicked impatient fingers across some rust-colored stains on the front of her shorts.

"Well, I won't complain if you want to work naked," Vaughn drawled, and she threw a pillow at him before standing up and slamming her wardrobe doors shut. "What's the big hurry, anyway? Got a hot date with Neil after he closes up shop?" he teased, ducking as she threw yet another pillow at him.

"Shut up! I want to take the animals to the Sanctuary today. This heat's just awful for them, especially my poor sheep and alpacas and llama. A day at the Sanctuary will do them a world of good. I'd have taken them sooner, but I had the damage caused by that frost to deal with. This is the first day I've been able spare the time. So don't bother with taking care of the livestock yet. See to the pets and chickens and the fish tanks, then come give me a hand in the fields so we can get out of here as early as possible."

"'We'?" Vaughn asked, raising an eyebrow. "What's this 'Sanctuary', anyway? Sounds like the name of a zoo."

"It's a service that Neil offers," Rio said darting past him into her kitchen. Vaughn scowled, but she continued before he could comment. "It's kind of like a park, I guess, but for livestock only. There's a huuuge meadow of tall, green grass for them to graze on, and lots of trees for shade, and cool mountain breezes. They always come back happier and looking healthier. So anytime they've been subjected to stress, like this heat wave, I like to take them there to recuperate."