"It must have been the storm that did it," Felicia was saying as Colette stepped down from the bridge and joined the group gathered outside Taro's house.

"But how could a storm, even a cyclone, do all that?" Mirabelle asked, incredulously, as Chen nodded agreement.

"Do all what?" Colette asked as she joined them.

"We have some new islands. They just... appeared!" Felicia replied, gesticulating excitedly. "No one knows how."

"Really? Where are they?"

"There's a whole bunch," Natalie exclaimed. "A whole little chain of them along the north end of the archipelago. Kirk said he saw four larger islands and a couple of little ones. Can you believe it? And some of them are so close to the north end of your island, they're practically touching!"

"You didn't even notice?" Julia laughed.

"No, I didn't," Colette admitted. "I guess I haven't looked beyond the stable and barn since the storm—I've been too busy cleaning up."

"Was there much damage to your crops?" Pierre interrupted anxiously.

Colette grinned. "Some, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. So don't worry—you'll still get your farm-fresh veggies as soon as they ripen!" Everyone laughed as the gourmand sighed with relief.

"Father says that same team of geologists from the university are coming out tomorrow," Felicia said a moment later. "He says they're bringing a few other scientists as well. A meteorologist and... I think he said an oceanographer? Apparently they're all beside themselves. Nothing like this has ever happened before—all these islands and the volcano appearing out of the blue, and of course the way the cyclone suddenly changed direction and blew out to sea, away from the islands and the mainland."

Colette didn't blame the scientists for their excitement—she was pretty thrilled at the thought of new islands, too. So far the only new island she'd been able to visit was the volcanic island. She hadn't had a chance to get even so much as a glimpse of any of the others.

Will was on the phone in the hotel lobby when she strolled in later that morning, standing in the midst of a pile of boxes. He saw her and smiled, gesturing for her to wait a moment. Before long, he finished his conversation and handed the phone back to Carol.

"Thanks for waiting, Colette. I was talking to the boatyard. They'll come for my boat tomorrow, and with luck, I'll have it back within two or three weeks."

"That's good to hear. Do you need any help removing your things?"

"No, thank you. This is the last of it. Carol has kindly offered me the use of her basement to store my possessions for now."

"Then if you're free, would you be interested in doing a little exploring with me today?"

"Exploring? Where?" he asked, looking both curious and interested.

"Well, I'd like to go and have a look around Meadow Island, for one thing," she replied slowly.

"Meadow Island? Surely there isn't much to explore there?" Will said, raising an eyebrow.

"I-I'm not sure... I'll explain after we get there. If you're game, that is?"

"All right, let me stow these boxes below, and then I'll join you. Can you meet me at the dock in, say, half an hour?"

"Perfect. I need to take care of a few things anyway, so I'll meet you there."

First, she headed back to Taro's to enquire about land rights. She'd taken a look, and some of the new islands were indeed very close to her farm.

"It depends on their precise location, m'dear, but apparently your property used to be much larger, so your deed of ownership actually extends a ways into the sea. Naturally ownership will also depend on the islands themselves. Some lands are deemed public property or designated a preserve for some reason or another. We'll have to wait until we have more information. However, I'll put it on record that you inquired first, so that if they are available for purchase, you'll have the right of first refusal. Pity Regis didn't feel inclined to remain here with us, isn't it?" he asked with a twinkle in his eyes as he winked at her.

After that, she headed to Gannon's to enquire about the construction of some footbridges to the new islands close to her. He agreed to have a look after he closed shop that evening, and if Taro okayed the project, he figured he'd be able to get something built pretty quickly.

Will was ready and waiting for her when she reached the dock. They stepped into Kirk's boat, and he zipped away toward the dock on Meadow Island. He agreed to return in two hours, and they headed up the beach to the large meadow that served as the village's festival grounds.

"Now, what is it you're looking for here?" Will asked, taking her hand in his as they strolled across the large grassy field.

She turned a little red, and after a lengthy pause, she looked up at him, a worried look in her eyes. "Well, you see, the night when the hurricane was so close... did you notice how the winds changed direction?"

He shook his head. "No, must've happened after I fell asleep. The last thing I can recall that night, the wind was howling wildly, and the waves were pounding, and things kept crashing against the stable. I didn't think I'd ever be able to sleep, but obviously I did. The next thing I remember was you standing there in the doorway, bathed in sunlight, and the storm had passed."

"Well," Colette said slowly, "that night, the wind had been blowing pretty steadily from the southwest up until I finally fell asleep. Then a little after midnight, something woke me up. After a minute, I realized that the storm sounded different, then that the wind was blowing from the southeast. I pulled on my coat and boots and stepped outside, and...."

"And what?" he asked, when she hesitated.

"I know this sounds crazy, but.... Well, I saw this green glow coming from Meadow Island, towards the back of the meadow, like about where that old shrine is. And... and in the middle of the light, I saw a woman." She flushed and looked away.

"Really? What was she doing?" he asked, incredulously.

"She... she looked like she was pushing the storm away from the islands. Then the storm actually shifted, and... and she turned and looked at me... and suddenly it was morning, and I was waking up in my bed. But I still had my boots and coat on—and the storm was gone."

"Fascinating. So you want to have a look at the shrine, because...?"

"I-I'm not quite sure. Maybe to see if there's anything to prove if what I saw was real or just a dream? I just... feel an odd compulsion to come here. But I'm a little afraid, too, so I didn't want to come alone. Thanks for coming with me. Do you think I'm nuts now?"

He shook his head solemnly. "No more than anyone else, anyway. Who knows what you saw? And there's no denying that the storm did change direction quite suddenly, nor that its doing so was both unexpected and inexplicable."

They reached the shrine, nestled into the small grove at the end of the meadow just past where the grass gave way to the undergrowth, and both of them stood in silence, staring at it. It was, as Taro had told her, very old, possibly even older than the eldest of the islands. It had been sadly neglected for quite some time—some of the stones were beginning to crumble, and much of it was covered in a thick layer of velvety emerald moss. The shrine was made up of three parts: two stone lanterns shaped like tiny huts perched on top of rough-hewn stone pillars, and between the lanterns, a large, upright slab of stone set into a stone block, which was in turn resting on a much larger stone block. The slab had some sort of markings carved into it, though neither Colette nor Will could make it out.

"I wonder how old this place is?" Will murmured, stepping forward to gently brush away some of the moss from the surface of the tablet. He traced the peculiar markings engraved across the surface with his finger, shaking his head. "Is this writing? If it is, I've no idea what language this is, let alone what it says."

He turned away to examine the lanterns. "It has to have been decades since a fire was last lit in these, if not centuries" he said as he peered inside. "Look, this one has the remains of an old bird's nest inside."

Colette stepped up to the tablet, bending down to examine it more closely. "I wonder how they carved this writing? Even though it's angular, it's so delicate. It's beautiful," she said softly, reaching out to brush a fingertip over the markings.

As her finger touched the stone, a blinding white light exploded inside her head, throwing her back from the monolith. She crashed into Will just as he was turning to have another look. She heard him shout her name, but he sounded so very, very far away....

Then she was again standing before the stone, but a thick, pale mist had settled all around, obscuring her view. There was no sign of Will. She peered again at the stone, gasping when she saw all the dirt and moss and lichen had disappeared and the stone was now perfectly clean and whole, as if new. Turning, she saw the lanterns, too, looked as though they were new, and tiny fires burned within them, the flickering lights barely penetrating the fog.

"Will?" she called, but there was no answer—at least, not at first. After a heartbeat or two, though, she heard movement close by.

"She doesn't belong here!" she heard a tiny, shrill voice exclaim insistently close by.

"Of course she doesn't," another, calmer voice replied. "But she's here, all the same."

"Oh! Oh! I know her—that's... oh, you know. Coley-something. The new farmer. The one on that island."

"How do you know her, Cinnabar?" the first voice demanded.

"Well... we, uh, kind of overslept. No big deal, except she saw us!"

"She SAW you?" Three or four voices, maybe more, gasped in unison.

The second voice said tiredly, "He's making it up. We all know humans can't see us."

"They can so, if the H.G. has set her mark on them!" Cinnabar declared stoutly.

"Children, children!" a very different sort of voice interrupted the quarreling. It was soft, velvety, lyrical; it made Colette think of lush forests with moss covering the ground and dripping from the tree limbs overhead, someplace green and growing and pure and wild. "What is all this fuss about?"

"Oh! My Lady, we apologize for disturbing your rest. But... well, there's a human! Here!" squeaked the first voice indignantly.

"Indeed, there is," she replied agreeably. "What is the problem?"

"But-but-but she shouldn't be here!"

"So, just send her back already," the second voice yawned.

The first voice snapped sternly, "You know that once a human has left, they can't go back! It's against the rules!"

"Of course they can," the lady's voice said soothingly, "if I wish it. And I do wish it—the world needs more of her kind. And so do I."

Then the lady stepped out of the mist: tall, slender, graceful, dressed all in green with long, green braids hanging to her ankles, a faint green glow infusing the mist all around her. She smiled down at Colette and reached out a slender hand to her. She spoke a few words in some language she couldn't understand, then lightly touched Colette's forehead.

Once again, there was an explosion of light, then she was sitting bolt upright, gasping for air, Will's arms wrapped tightly around her.

"Colette!" he cried. "What happened? Are you all right?"

"I... I'm not sure," she replied, dazed.

"You... you fell down, and then you... you went limp and... you stopped breathing. But before I could do anything, you were sitting up again. I-it all happened so fast, I don't know what...."

She leaned her head against his chest, simply breathing while she listened to the sound of his heart pounding against the wall of his chest. Once she felt a little recovered, she told him what had happened.

"A green lady?" he mused. "And you say she looks like the same lady you thought you saw in the storm?" Colette nodded. "Well, I have to admit, I'm not especially religious. But I seem to recall depictions of the Harvest Goddess in art museums that match your description."

"The Harvest Goddess?" Colette echoed, her brow creasing as she thought. "I didn't think she was real!"

Will stood and helped her to her feet. "Are you okay? Can you make it to the boat, or shall I carry you?"

"I'm fine. Thanks, though."

"Hold on...." He peered at her intently, brushing her hair from her face.

"What? What's wrong with my face?"

He looked again, then shook his head. "I... I could have sworn I saw a green spot on your forehead, but I guess I was mistaken. It's gone now, anyway. Probably just a smudge from the moss or something." Then he turned and looked around, exclaiming in surprise, "Where did... weren't these rocks crumbling and covered in moss just a few minutes ago? Or did I just imagine that?"

She turned and stared, dumbfounded. The lanterns and monolith were clean and whole, as if new, and tiny fires burned within both of the lanterns.