Stars... 

Stars are a symbol of hope... 

They bring smiles to people's faces...

A velvety red curtain parts down the center, revealing a packed audience to a lone girl standing on the stage. Her hair was down and flowed freely around her body, and she smiled out at the crowd. The lights overhead grew overpowering in an instant...

And when they faded, they were replaced by the occasional whispers of constellations across a moonlit sky. The streets of Cropdale were quiet that night, most of the people having already retreated to their homes for the evening. The air was cool and smelled of roses and raspberries. The town was small, but it was perfect, and it was everything its people could have ever asked for. 

Even though the roads had been largely left abandoned, there was one spot in Cropdale that was alive with the buzz of activity. The tavern was the first building a person saw when they entered the town, and it was easily the most exciting of all. Lights burst free of the windows, and if someone listened closely enough, they could hear the chatter of the patrons in the audience from anywhere in Cropdale. The tavern was the place to be, and tonight, it was an even better spot than usual. 

Agnea Bristarni stood atop the stage with a smile on her face and a spring in her step. Two musicians stood off to the side of the stage, one with a fiddle and the other with a lute. They played a sprightly tune together, and Agnea danced to it with a smile. She wore a simple brown dress with a white apron across the top of the skirt. The clothing had clearly been loved half to death, and the apron had a few old stains left behind from old baking accidents. Agnea's hair was tied into a braid so it was out of her face, but a few threads still framed her warm smile. 

Agnea's dancing was earning her the love of the crowd, and everyone in the tavern was watching her with a happy smile. Agnea could feel the song was coming to an end, so she raised her hands high above her head and made a wave motion with her entire body. Once that was finished, she spun in a circle and glided to the left, spreading her arms out to either side. Agnea held that pose as the final note echoed in the air, and applause immediately burst out from everyone who was watching the show. 

Agnea smiled and pulled herself out of her pose. She bowed her head to the crowd with a curtsy and a small exhale. "That was incredible, Agnea!" she heard one villager call, and those words only made her grin wider than before. 

"Encore, encore!" another villager exclaimed, trying to inspire the crowd to join her in calling for just one more dance before Agnea was finished for the night. 

Agnea waved to the crowd eagerly. Her cheeks were pink from the exertion of her dancing, but she didn't mind it that much. There was nothing quite like a performance to raise her spirits, and tonight was no exception. "Thank you, thank you! But the fun's just getting started. I'm going to dance the night away!" Agnea launched into yet another spin, but the heel of her right shoe snagged on the toe segment of her other shoe, sending her twirling toward the ground. Agnea let out a small yelp as she hit the stage hard. She was glad she had chosen to wear her apron that night; it gave her an extra layer to cushion her fall, and given how much her knee had already started to hurt from the impact, she knew she had needed. 

"Agnea!" came the shout of Gus. He had been one of the two musicians during the show, but he was also the tavern's keeper and a good friend of Agnea's of many years. He moved to help her up in an instant, worry etched across his face. "You alright?!"

"I'm fine!" Agnea declared, suddenly breathless after her tumble. She was so flustered she didn't even notice Gus had extended a hand to help her stand, and she forced herself onto her feet again all on her own. "I'm tougher than I look! I'm gonna be a star, after all."

"Oho, that's right!" one audience member agreed, raising his mug high in a toast that the others at his table gladly followed. Once they had all clashed drinks, they began to drink to Agnea's future eagerly. 

"To think our village is home to a future star!" a woman in the audience mused with a sigh. 

"We're all rootin' for you, kid!" another person the crowd exclaimed. 

Agnea felt her cheeks grow warm not from the effort of her dancing but her embarrassment, and she laughed humbly to the crowd. "Thanks, everyone."

"Why don't we call it a night? I doubt you'll be doin' much more dancin' after that," Gus remarked, gesturing to Agnea's knee. 

Agnea shook her head. Her knee didn't hurt that badly, and she knew she would feel better having a distraction rather than just sitting in her home thinking about how she had tripped and fallen. "I can keep going."

Gus stepped up to the edge of the stage and gestured back to Agnea with a proud smile on his face. "Agnea's savin' for her journey to stardom," he explained to the crowd even though they all knew the story well. Everyone in Cropdale knew of Agnea's aspirations, and they supported her with everything they had and then some. "She's been workin' hard in this li'l tavern to earn whatever coin she can. I take it everyone here has prepared their tips for our dear dancer."

"Sure have!" one of the men in the audience exclaimed. "It's all yours!"

"You're the best, Agnea!" a woman smiled brightly. 

"Let's toast to our future star!" another young woman suggested from her place just beside the bar. 

Agnea's cheeks grew impossibly warmer and redder at that, and she bowed her head so she didn't have to look anyone in the eyes at the peak of her embarrassment. "You're all too kind..."

"Now go on, Agnea. Those tips won't collect themselves," Gus told her, nudging her toward the crowd with his shoulder. Agnea didn't move immediately, so Gus gestured to the steps leading off the stage. "There's no need to be shy. Go on and get your tips, Agnea!"

Agnea nodded, and she darted down the steps into the crowd. She approached the man who had announced that he had a tip for her, and he pressed a small pile of coins into her hands. Agnea stared at the leaves in shock, her eyes wide. "Isn't this a little too much...?"

"I can't explain it, but whenever I see you dance... I feel lighter than air the next day," the man explained with a smile. "So I'm more'n happy to give you what I can!"

Agnea laughed, the sound soft and light, and nodded. "Thank you!"

"Over here, Agnea!" a woman cried out, waving her hand high above her head to get the dancer's attention. Agnea nodded and wove through the crowd to her next target, and she found that the woman had another pile of leaves that was just as large as the tip of the man before her had been. Agnea's shock must have been written plainly on her face since the woman pressed the money into her palms with all the insistence she could muster. "Your dancin' was beautiful as always, Agnea! I'm lookin' forward to your next show! I think I'll bring my friends next time!"

"Really?!" Agnea beamed, fresh joy rushing through her like water bursting forth from a river. Once again, she found herself laughing in pure excitement. "I can't wait to see you then!"

Agnea continued to push her way through the crowd with a smile, gathering tips from those who had set aside money from her. The tavern began to empty out once the show was declared over, and Agnea waved eagerly at everyone as they departed. "Thank you so much, everyone!" Agnea exclaimed as she came to stand beside Gus near the bar. 

One of the villagers shook his head. "It's us who should be thankin' you, Agnea!" he retorted. 

"See you tomorrow!" another villager smiled. 

Agnea nodded, her cheeks burning from her smile. "Yeah!" 

Once the door closed as the final few patrons streamed out of the room, Agnea let out a sigh. Her hand came to rest on her chest, and all the weight in the world seemed to rush in to greet her. She had been running on the high of her adrenaline for a while, but she could feel it starting to crash on her now. She had danced for a good hour before she slipped, and Agnea could feel it now. She was looking forward to going back to her home and dreaming the night away. 

Before she could do that though, Agnea knew something else needed to be finished first. "Now to clean this place up!" The tavern was always a bit messier than usual after a night Agnea had been dancing there. Her performances attracted a larger crowd than the tavern was otherwise used to, and it took time and effort to clean up after a big show like this. Agnea liked to stay behind and help out as thanks for the tavern's staff allowing her to perform there with the mess she seemed to make. 

Gus shook his head at Agnea's words. "Ah, don't worry about that. You must be exhausted."

Gus certainly wasn't wrong, but Agnea wasn't going to let that hold her back. She wanted to help, and that meant stepping up and doing what needed to be done. "I'm fine! Besides, this won't take long! It'll be faster with us both working on it!"

Gus nodded, recognizing quickly that there was no point in protesting when Agnea got to be like this. She was a determined young woman who didn't let anything stop her once she set her mind to a task. "Alright. Let's get to it then!"

~~~~~

Cleaning up didn't even take an hour in the end. Agnea and Gus were able to clean off all the tables and wash all of the dishes easily. Once they were finished, Agnea stepped over toward the stage to make sure it was entirely clean. It wouldn't do for her to leave the stage in poor state after it had given her a pedestal to stand upon all night. 

"Thanks for stayin' to clean up," Gus said as he put his rag down on the counter. 

Agnea shook her head and looked up to meet his gaze. "It's the least I can do after you let me dance on your stage," she argued. 

"Say, Agnea... Did you manage to get all the leaves you need?" Gus questioned. 

Agnea grinned. She had her old purse resting at her side, and she gripped at the handle. "Almost! Just a thousand more to go! Then I'll finally have the ten thousand leaves I need!" Agnea had made a ritual of counting out the money after every show she did. If she was given tips, then she would count out everything she had received from the crowd, and it would go right into her purse to save up for her fund for stardom.

Gus let out a sigh and crossed his arms. "Ever since we were kids... You've been sayin' that you'd save up and leave the village to become a star."

Agnea nodded. "That's right." Gus stepped toward her, pulling out a small pouch from his pocket. Judging by the way it jingled when it moved, the bag was full of leaves. Agnea stared at the bag in shock. "What's this...?"

"It's exactly one thousand leaves. For you," Gus replied with a grin. 

Agnea staggered away with a frantic shake of her head. "B-B-But why're you givin' me so much?!" 

Gus laughed heartily, pressing his free hand over his stomach. "Seems I shocked the fancy accent right outta you!"

"Oh!" Agnea clapped one hand over her mouth. She had been training her voice for a long time so she sounded as refined as possible. If she was going to make it in the city, then she was going to have to sound like she belonged there. Agnea didn't like it, but she knew that people from her neck of the woods didn't get much in the way of acclaim from city folk. By imitating travelers who came through town, Agnea was able to seem like she belonged in a larger town than Cropdale, and she knew that would end up going a long way with persuading others into believing in her dream. Still, Agnea wasn't perfect at it, and she knew her true accent came out when she grew too emotional regardless of what the feeling was. 

Gus let out a small sigh at Agnea's embarrassment and the pink in her cheeks. "I know you've been workin' hard to talk like the city folk for when you make it big. You're really somethin', Agnea. You never gave up on your dream." Gus shook his head and pushed the bag a little bit closer to her. "Consider it my tip. It's my way of cheerin' you on."

Agnea knew she couldn't refuse a kindness like that, and she graciously accepted the bag from her childhood friend. "Thank you, Gus..." She emptied out the leaves into her bag, hearing the coins jingle together. There were ten thousand leaves in her purse... Just the amount she needed to get started on making her dream a reality. 

Gus' grin grew wide enough to consume his entire face. "You finally did it." He started toward the door, something bittersweet in his eyes. "Tomorrow's festival will be my last chance to see you dance before you go."

Agnea nodded resolutely. "You don't want to miss it! It'll be my best one yet!"

"I'm already lookin' forward to it." Gus turned his gaze out to the street through the windows of the tavern. "It's dark out. Get home safe, Agnea."

The dancer nodded once again. "I will!" 

Agnea took a deep breath of the night air once she was outside. Most of the people of Cropdale were asleep by now, and the few that were still out were headed to bed soon. Agnea smiled at the town around her as she started to trace her path back to her home. This was going to be one of her last nights in Cropdale, wasn't it? Agnea finally had the money she needed to set out on her journey to become a star. She would have to leave soon if she wanted to make her dream a reality. 

It didn't even feel real now that Agnea was there facing her new reality. She had thought she had at least a few weeks more of dancing in Gus' tavern before she was able to make up the money she needed to leave Cropdale. Instead, Gus had eliminated the need for any of that with his grand tip. Agnea was beyond excited for it, but she was admittedly a bit anxious about leaving town so soon. She knew the open road would have a lot to show her when she finally stepped out into the world, but Agnea didn't know if she was ready. 

But there was no way to know for sure if she was ready other than to just do it. Agnea had worked hard for this, and she deserved to enjoy it. She was going to make her dream come true. She had given it her all to make it this far, and she would continue to dedicate everything to her hopes so that they would one day become a reality. She could do this. She knew she could. 

Agnea opened the door to the Bristarni home with a smile on her face. The house was tucked into the back corner of Cropdale, cut off from the rest of the town by a simple, picturesque fence. Agnea had always thought her home looked like something out of a fairy tale. Something about it was simply whimsical to her, and she had always loved it. 

Agnea closed the door behind herself and cupped one hand around her mouth. "I'm hoooooome!"

Pala Bristarni was standing in the kitchen when Agnea arrived, and she paused the sorting she had been in the middle of to turn and face her older sister. Pala's hair was a darker brown color than Agnea's was, and she kept it tied out of her face by two dark pink ribbons. Pala smiled at the sight of Agnea and waved to her enthusiastically. "Welcome home, Agnie. You were workin' late again tonight," Pala greeted. 

"I'm sorry. I'll cook dinner right away!" Agnea exclaimed, setting her purse down on her chair at the kitchen table. She smiled at the bag, unable to stop her grin from consuming her entire face. "I finally have enough money."

Pala gasped. "R-Really?! So that means..."

Agnea pressed her hands to her chest with a giddy laugh. She could barely believe it, but she couldn't have asked for a better outcome to all of this. Pala felt the same way, and she rushed into Agnea's arms for a tight embrace. Agnea gladly returned the hug, and the two remained together for a few seconds longer. Agnea let out a small sigh and pulled away when she heard her stomach grumble. "I guess we're both hungry. Let's eat."

~~~~~

Agnea sped her way through cooking food for herself, Pala, and their father. It went by in the blink of an eye because of all the excitement she had built up for herself over the course of the night. Whenever Agnea felt her smile start to slip, she would look back to her purse and start grinning all over again. She had the money she needed. She would be able to leave town soon, and her dreams would finally be within her reach. 

Once Agnea had set out her and Pala's food on the kitchen table, she started deeper into the house toward her father's workroom. Knowing him, he was still hard at work on some project or another and therefore not paying much attention to the rest of the world. Agnea knocked on the doorframe, finding that the door was open. "Papa... Dinner's ready. Come and eat while it's hot."

Garud Bristarni had his back turned to the entrance of his workshop. He was a tailor, and he was easily the best in all of Cropdale. He was currently working on sewing together a dress, but Agnea couldn't see the details of it beyond that. Garud said nothing in response to Agnea's prompt to come out of the workshop, instead just humming vacantly under his breath. 

Agnea felt her heart skip a beat. She had been doing her best to not let her anxiety consume her, but it was hard to not think about it when she knew she was going to have to talk to her father about the fact that she had gotten enough money. Garud had always been opposed to the idea of Agnea chasing her dreams of becoming a professional dancer. Agnea yearned to see the rest of the world, but she didn't know how she was meant to walk away and still stay on good terms with her father. She didn't want to hurt him, but she didn't want to stifle herself and the ambitions she yearned to follow either. It was a difficult line to walk, and Agnea didn't like having to think about it at all. 

Still, she knew she had to say something sooner or later. Agnea had gathered the money she needed to leave town far sooner than she expected, and that meant she needed to tell Garud of her plans to leave town. "Papa... Do you remember our promise?" Agnea questioned, letting her fingers wrap around one side of the doorframe. "You said I could go on my journey if I made ten thousand leaves with my dancing." Agnea waited for a moment to see if Garud would respond. He did not. Agnea pressed her hands to her chest. "Well... I did it. So I'm going on my journey... Just like you promised I could."

Garud still did not turn away from his work, continuing to sew away at the dress Agnea was unable to see even now. "Then go."

Agnea's fingers clenched tightly around one another. "I'm going to become a star and bring smiles to people's faces... Just like Mama."

The air in the workroom seemed to freeze, and Garud stopped his work of sewing the dress. He looked up at the window on the wall of the workshop with a frown. "Are you prepared for what that means?" he asked, his voice soft yet level in a way that struck Agnea to the core. 

Agnea nodded. "I am." 

Many years ago, Agnea's mother, Cuani Bristarni, had been a star too. She had been one of the best dancers in Solistia's history and certainly the best of her time. She wrote her own songs and traveled the land, singing and dancing before crowds of all sizes and scales. Garud had been a tailor since before he met Cuani, and the two of them crossed paths when he began to make dresses for her shows. Cuani gladly wore Garud's creations as she sang her heart out for all the world to hear. 

As the years passed by, Garud and Cuani fell in love, and they had two daughters together. Agnea and Pala followed Cuani and Garud everywhere they went. Agnea's earliest memories were of seeing her mother shine on the stage and hoping that one day, she would be able to do the same. Cuani made people happy, and Agnea would have done anything to do the same. She yearned to bring joy to all the people she met, and she knew Cuani's performances to be the best way to do that. 

Unfortunately, those happy days were not set to last forever. Cuani insisted on making others happy even at the expense of her own health. She didn't realize that she had fallen ill until it was too late for her to fully bounce back. Even if she recovered, she wouldn't be able to perform the way she once had. That had been enough of a blow, but times grew even harder when Cuani went on one final journey... To a place that neither her husband nor her daughters were able to follow her to. Ever since then, Garud had opposed Agnea's dream of becoming a dancer and following in Cuani's footsteps. He had already lost his wife to the overwork of performance, and Garud couldn't stand the thought of losing one of his daughters to it too. 

Agnea's grip on the doorframe grew tighter. Her eyes fell shut, and she felt the world around her fall away...

~~~~~

Only to reconstruct itself many years in the past. 

Cuani was dancing in the dining room of the Bristarni home, a smile on her face. Agnea was small and clumsy when put beside her mother, but she never minded it much when they danced together. Agnea looked just like Cuani, and she had been told as much many times. Agnea hoped more than anything that when she grew older, she looked just like Cuani and could follow in the same path that she had blazed first. 

"'I must be on my way,'" Cuani sang as she spun, pulling the orange skirt of her most famous dress along with her. "'But goodbye I shall not say.'" Cuani spun around twice more, finishing the twirl with one arm high above her head and the other outstretched toward her swaying daughter. The move was known as the moonstep, and it was one that Cuani herself had made famous through her many performances. "'For you and I will meet again someday.'"

Agnea tried to imitate her mother's twirl, but she tripped over her skirt halfway through and fell to the ground. She flailed her arms to try and ease her collapse, but she hit the wooden flooring of the Bristarni home anyway. Cuani stopped her dancing immediately to dart over to Agnea's side and help her to stand again. "Oh! Are you alright, Agnea?"

Agnea nodded, pushing herself up onto her feet. "I... I'm fine." She stood up as tall as she could stand, pressing a smile across her face. "Someday, I'm gonna be a star like you, Mama!"

Cuani smiled. "You get back up no matter how many times you fall. The moonstep is a difficult dance. But you can do whatever you set your mind to." Cuani reached to the back of her head and pulled out a rose clip pulling her hair away from her face. "Agnea, I want you to have this hairpin." Cuani used the pin to tie Agnea's bangs away from her eyes, and Agnea looked at her mother like she was the only star in the night sky. "Wear it and you'll feel like you can dance the night away. It's my lucky charm."

"Wow... Thanks, Mama!" Agnea's fingers drifted up to the clip so she could feel the texture of the false petals beneath her touch. 

"Stars are a symbol of hope. They put smiles on people's faces," Cuani went on. "I know you can do it, Agnea. Someday, you'll be a star."

Agnea nodded eagerly. "I will, Mama!"

~~~~~

The rest of the night passed in relative silence. Garud came out to enjoy his dinner, but he didn't say much of anything to either one of his daughters throughout the meal. Agnea barely had the energy to clean up the dishes after they were finished eating before she collapsed into her bed. Three beds were set out in one of the corners of the Bristarni home just across from Garud's workshop, each color-coded to match the favorite colors of the people who slept in them. Once upon a time, Agnea's orange bed had been mirrored by a pastel pink bedspread Cuani had enjoyed. Now though, Cuani's bed frame was long gone, leaving everything about the woman as little more than a fond memory. 

Agnea blinked to awareness the next morning slowly, the sunlight splashing across her cheeks. "Sun's up..." she murmured distantly. In an instant, Agnea shot out of bed. "Time to rise and shine!" The memory of all today was going to mean to her struck her in the blink of an eye, and Agnea darted around the house to get ready. This would be one of her last days in Cropdale, and soon, she would set off on her journey. She had to make the most of it. 

Agnea sped her way through making breakfast, her body moving far faster than she had even thought possible. "Nothing's gonna stop me today! Wake up, Pala!"

Pala yelped as she jolted out of her slumber. "W-What in tarnation?! What's the matter, Agnie?!"

"It's morning! Breakfast time!" Agnea called out, setting out plates with food for both her and her sister. "It'll go cold if you wait too long! Now get out of bed!"

Pala shuffled her way out of bed slowly, rubbing at her eyes as she approached the kitchen table. "Mornin' already, huh..." Pala settled down at the table, looking down at the food waiting for her on her plate. "So this is the last time I'll be eatin' your cookin' for a while... I sure am gonna miss gettin' tasty meals handed to me."

"From tomorrow on, it'll be your turn," Agnea told her, the words barely feeling real as she spoke them. 

Pala nodded, and she cast her sister a smile. "I think I'm finally startin' to see how amazin' you are, Agnie."

Agnea felt her cheeks grow warm. "Better late than never, I suppose," she teased. "So what are you doing today? Helping out with the festival?"

Pala nodded. "I'm goin' into the woods to gather raspberries," she confirmed. "We'll need as many as we can get for the town's famous raspberry pies!"

"I'll be helping Gus and the others with the heavy lifting," Agnea said. 

"You'd get more work done than half a dozen men," Pala commented. 

"Rounding them up is more the problem," Agnea sighed. Festivals were important to the people of Cropdale, but it seemed like a lot of the best workers wanted to shuffle their feet instead of stepping up to help. Agnea had grown used to having to rally the people of Cropdale together to make sure they did what they were supposed to in the name of the festivals. 

Pala let out a small laugh as she took a bite of her food. "I can't imagine roundin' 'em up will be a problem with your talents," she snickered. 

Agnea's eyes went wide in confusion. "My... Talents?"

"You are a dancer, after all..." Pala went on, pointing at Agnea with her spoon for emphasis. "I'm sure men and women alike would gather 'round if you put on a li'l show!"

Agnea's cheeks went bright pink in the blink of an eye. "P-Pala! Just listen to what you're sayin'! I'd look like a right fool if I used my dancin' for somethin' like that!" she yelped, her country accent slipping out the instant she stopped putting effort into hiding it. 

Pala sighed. "Oh, Agnie... You can be so naive... Talents like yours were made to be flaunted!" Pala finished up her breakfast and set her spoon down before darting for the door. "Thanks for the breakfast!"

Agnea was too flustered to move as Pala ran out of the home, leaving the dancer to stammer after her sister's retreating back. "W-Wait up! Pala!" Agnea already knew her sister was long gone though, and she sighed into the silence of the Bristarni home. "Talents, huh..." She shook her head. "In any case... I ought to make my way over to the festival." 

With that, Agnea put the dirty dishes in the sink and started for the door herself... Though Pala's words about her 'talents' never stopped ringing in her ears. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And there's the first part of Agnea's story! Woohoo!

I'm really happy with the way this turned out. Agnea's chapter one is another segment that really isn't changing all that much from the game, so most of this is just retelling what happened in the game. I'm enjoying writing for Agnea a lot though. She's just a ton of fun, and I love being able to get into her shoes for this. She's just a great character. I adore her. 

I don't have all that much to say here, so I won't keep you all for long. Next time, we'll press on with Agnea's chapter one and all of the introductory fun included with it. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!

-Digital