I woke early next morning to the sounds of songbirds greeting the sunrise. Stretching, I sat up and looked out at the dark silhouettes of trees against the lightening sky, enjoying the luxury of waking on my own—without anyone knocking on my door. I made a simple breakfast, then went out to take care of my animals. Afterwards, I went to make my daily rounds in the village, dropping off the requests I'd already filled and accepting a couple of new ones. I even managed to give a few gifts, mostly wildflowers and herbs that I'd foraged. Cam was back in town, and he seemed especially pleased by the little bunch of fresh herbs and flowers I gave him, and sniffed them appreciatively before placing them in a little glass of water on his counter to keep fresh.

After greeting everyone in the village, I hurried back home. I grabbed a quick sandwich for lunch, using the last slices of Jessica's bread. I'd need to bake some bread soon, I thought as I popped the last bite into my mouth. I put my cow and chicken back inside for the night, then saddled Lady up and headed out to forage on the mountain again on the way to Konohana. I hoped to get there earlier this time, so that I would have a chance to meet the rest of the villagers there and hopefully be back earlier that night. This time I had a better idea of good spots to forage, so I made much better time, arriving at the village gates at about mid-afternoon. I dismounted, and leaving Lady tied to a hitching post next to a grassy spot by the gate, I headed into the village to check the message board and see the town.

By daylight, I could see that the town had a definite Oriental flair, with Asian-style houses decorated with red paper lanterns and little stone statues and shrines dotting many of the gardens and yards. Most of the houses there had at least a small vegetable garden or a fruit tree or two. It was a very pretty and charming town, albeit in an entirely different way from Bluebell. As I strolled along the dirt road, I saw Kana's shop. His sign said he was open for business, so I stepped in to say hi. Several dogs came trotting up to sniff my legs, wagging their tails and barking happily. A few cats lounged around on high shelves and the tops of cupboards. And there behind the counter was Kana.

Cam was definitely one of the most beautiful men I'd ever seen, but Kana had to be the manliest. And in addition to his rugged, muscular appearance, he seemed confident, friendly, funny, and good-natured. In other words, although he was very definitely masculine, he thankfully was not at all macho. He talked a lot about horses; so much so that when I later stopped by the small store in town, run by Diego and Enrique's triplet brother Raul, and saw that he had horse treats for sale, I smiled and, with some of my meager funds, purchased a package. On my way back out of town, I stopped by his store and gave the treats to him, mostly as a joke. However, his delight with the gift was so genuine that I resolved to purchase more as soon as I could.

I returned over the mountain, watching for anything I might have missed on my first pass that I could use, sell, or give to someone as a gift or to fill a request. I found a few items I'd overlooked before, and I reached my farm much earlier today. My clock said it was just past 9 when I walked in after settling my pony for the night. I hesitated a minute, then decided to go drop in on Cam, Laney, and Howard, if it wasn't too late, and maybe even to Jessica and her family, too.

I walked briskly up the road to town, arriving at the café about twenty minutes later. The café was still open, and since Laney and Howard were busy with a customer, I just waved to them and headed back to where I'd learned Cam's room was. I knocked, and he opened the door, looking surprised to see me. He stepped aside and let me in, although he commented on the lateness of the hour. I agreed, apologizing for the late visit and asked if he'd rather I leave. He hesitated, then shrugged and said I could stay if I wanted, it didn't matter to him.

I took that to mean that he at least didn't mind that I'd come to visit, but it was hard to tell since I didn't know him well yet. So I struck up a conversation with him about his favorite subject: flowers. I asked him about the flowers he sold and the wildflowers I'd found on the mountain. At first he just mumbled some brief replies, but soon his interest had been engaged and he began to actually converse. I told him about some of the flowers my mother had in her garden that I'd never seen anywhere else, and he seemed very interested in that. After a little while, I heard the sounds of Howard closing the café and realized I'd been there for over half an hour. Not wanting to keep Cam up too late, I said I should be going. As I left, I promised to see if my mother could save him some seeds or get him some cuttings from some of the plants I'd mentioned. He seemed so pleased by this, that I determined to write to her soon, that night if possible. I hurried on out the door, waving goodbye to Howard and Laney, and headed for home.

Back at home, I showered and slipped into my pajamas, then I dug around through a box of miscellaneous things that I hadn't yet gotten around to unpacking, and found some stationary, stamps, and a pen. I sat up in my bed, using a large hardcover book as a makeshift lap desk, and wrote a letter to my mother, telling her all about my arrival, my first few days in Bluebell, and about Cam's interest in her flower garden, ending by asking if she could please save some seeds from some of the more unusual flowers to send to him. I addressed the envelope and sealed it up, placed my writing things and book on the table, and slipped into bed to read a few pages of my novel before falling asleep.

My days quickly fell into a routine of rising early, tending my animals, greeting the villagers in Bluebell, checking the message board, shipping things, foraging on the mountain on the way to Konohana, greeting the villagers there, and returning home just in time to get my animals put away before dark. Festivals provided some interest to my routine, and there were many festivals. Cooking festivals were especially frequent—rarely did a week go by without one. And although the atmosphere of the first cooking festival I attended was decidedly hostile, with the mayors of the two towns openly quarreling, before many weeks had passed, I noticed an improvement in relations.

Meanwhile, I was quickly becoming good friends with the villagers in both villages. Before spring was over, romance began to bloom, too. To my surprise, Cam was the first to ask me out on a date. He normally went for long walks by the river on his days off, and one sunny day, he asked me if I'd like to join him. We had a lovely time that afternoon, strolling along the river and talking about this and that: flowers, of course, and animals, as well as the weather, the differences between the villages, the mountain and the wild animals there, and books we were reading and had read. He was still shy and reticent, but I was happy he had warmed up to me enough to ask me to spend time with him.

I was also becoming good friends with Kana. I liked his hearty, frank, friendly manner, and I shared his love of horses, if not quite to the same extent. I must confess, I found him very attractive, too. He and Cam were so different, I thought, yet I still enjoyed the company of both. Nonetheless, I thought of Kana as just a friend, or rather, I thought that he thought of me that way. So it came as a surprise to me when one afternoon in late spring he, too, asked me on a date. I was surprised but also thrilled to be asked out by the manliest guy in either village.

We went for a stroll through town, chatting as we walked, and wound up sitting on the benches beneath the big, old cherry tree by the stream that ran through the southern end of the town. It was lovely and peaceful there, the tree fluffy and pink with blossoms, a light breeze gently blowing petals from the tree to float down the stream, and birds singing merrily as they flitted about. I remember we talked about horses, of course, but we talked about other things as well: the weather, the villages and villagers, fishing, our childhoods and our families, my farm, and his shop. We found we had several interests in common, and I felt that he would be a very satisfactory friend. We parted with the suggestion that we go fishing together sometime, and I headed back over the mountain.

Although he had initially seemed attracted to me, Ash remained somewhat more aloof; although still friendly, helpful, and polite, he nevertheless just didn't seem to warm up to me as quickly as the other villagers. I wondered if he was still making his mind up about me, or if maybe he was worried that my farm would affect their livelihood. But I wasn't sure, so I said nothing and let him make up his own mind in his own time. Meanwhile, I expanded my farm as much as I was able, adding a calf, a chick, and a lamb. That was about all I could handle on my own, at least until the babies had grown up some. If I wanted many more animals, though, I'd need to invest in some herd dogs.I knew Grady had a good selection of shepherds and cattle dogs, all of whom had the potential to be good herd dogs. Even his cats could be trained to herd poultry, I learned to my surprise. I also found that Kana's animals were equally well-bred and well-trained, though Grady's shop was more convenient to me at that time.

As spring drew to a close, I found that I was beginning to feel more at home in the village and that the villagers in both villages were beginning to truly accept me. Ash finally seemed to decide that I was okay, too. One Wednesday as I stopped to chat with him as he was heading towards Howard's Café, he unexpectedly asked if I could to go somewhere with him to talk. I readily agreed, hoping to learn more about him and why he was still so reserved with me. So we headed over to the town square and sat on the benches in the shade of the statue in the center of the square and talked.

He told me about his family, about his dad and the outbreak of influenza that killed him—and apparently, nearly killed his mom and unborn sister, too, which I thought explained why he was such a doting son and big brother. He also talked about growing up in the village, remembering various antics that he and Cam got up to as kids, and then the topic strayed into reminiscing about my grandparents, who had been almost like grandparents to him, since his own had all passed away. Grandma Nellie always kept a jar filled with his favorite cookies, he said, and Grandpa Geoff would show him how to mend tools and do other useful tasks around the farm. He'd loved to spend time with them and had missed them very much when they died.

He paused for a few minutes, as if making his mind up about something, then blushed a little and said "You know, at first... when I first heard you'd be moving to their farm... I kind of resented it. I mean, don't get me wrong... it's just that the idea of someone—a stranger, even if you are related—moving into their house and using their things and all... well, I just resented that. I was afraid that you wouldn't appreciate them or the lives they'd led, you know? But then when you arrived... " he trailed off into silence for a minute. "When you arrived, you looked so much like them, and you were so nice and kind and friendly, I could see that you were a lot like them. And as I got to know you better, I realized that you weren't really replacing them, I guess, so much as... as carrying on their work. I'm sorry, that probably doesn't make any sense. But if you've wondered why I haven't been, well, friendlier... that's why. But I reckon I don't feel that way anymore. I'm real glad you've moved here, and I hope we can be good friends."

I put a hand on his arm reassuringly, saying, "I'm glad you told me that, Ash. I did wonder... I thought maybe you were worried about our farms competing or something. I'm happy you were such good friends with my grandparents. I love to hear about them, and I wish I'd known them. I always felt like I was missing something, growing up without my grandparents, you know. My parents wouldn't talk about them at all. I didn't even know the story until after they'd all passed away and we found that they'd willed both farms to me. I think my parents were a little shocked, and maybe they regretted never making up with them. But by then it was too late, so...."

"Yeah... it's too bad that they didn't make up while they could, and that you missed out on knowing them. I didn't know your other grandparents really, but Geoff and Nellie were great people. And like I said, you remind me a lot of them." He stood up and held out a hand to pull me up. "Hey, I'm glad we had a chance to talk like this. I'd better get going now, and I'm sure you've got a lot to do. I'll see you around, okay?" He waved as he turned and walked away towards the café, and I sat staring blankly in that direction for a while, thinking about all he'd said.