Chapter 6

Alice in Castanet

The Harvest God did not sleep well that night, and I suppose I cannot blame him for it. It was his first night being mortal after all. It must have been a lot to take for somebody who'd been such a powerful being for all of his long existence. It was almost comical seeing him huddled there in that corner trying his best to sleep on a bed that wasn't quite as long as he was tall, and fumbling with a blanket that similarly was not long enough cover his feet and his shoulders at the same time. This resulted in him having to adjust to a sort of fetal position as he tried to sleep on his side.

As time passed, Penelope and myself had retreated to our own bed and were about to fall asleep, content with the fact that the Harvest God seemed to be falling asleep. I was on the verge of dreaming when I felt someone nudging me awake.

"Wizard…"

"Mh…?"

Of course it was the Harvest God. His hair was a bit messier now, and he had his blanket draped around his body while simultaneously holding a white cat in one hand. He looked tired and irritated.

"This…" he held up the cat so that I could see it, "…will not leave me alone."

My eyes were open, but I was resistant to actually getting out of bed, "That's just Sirius. He'll leave you alone if you shoo him a couple times."

The god stared puzzledly at me, "You named your cat after the dog-star…?"

"It was Penelope's idea. She thought it was funny. Now go to sleep… Please…"

I closed my eyes after that, and I can only presume that the Harvest God tried to sleep. I become comfortable yet again, and very soon I had drifted off into a deepened sleep. But this did not last so very long either.

"Wizard…"

I was nudged awake again, and this time I answered him with an exasperated, "What?"

"The cat still will not leave me alone," Sirius was in his hands again and yet again he held the cat up for me to see, "Can you not toss it outside or something? It keeps trying to rub against my feet and sleep next to me."

"I can't just toss Sirius outside. Penelope would get mad at me if I did that. Here, just give me him and he can sleep here with me and Penelope," I offered.

The Harvest God readily handed the cat over to me, and after some petting and a few adjustments, Sirius was glad to sleep in my bed. Afterwards, I think we all found sleep to come a great deal more easily. There were no more nudges to wake me up that night, and I caught up on some much needed sleep.

………

As with every day, our family woke up at 6:00 sharp, but this of course was not like most days for us. The Harvest God was woken up by the noises made by the children, and daylight shining in through the windows. Once he'd awoken, Penelope, being the kind hearted woman she was, offered him some fried eggs and toast for breakfast. He refused at first, but as the morning dragged out and he realized that he was hungry, and there was nothing better to eat, he accepted.

"Alice will likely be coming here from the path beyond Flute Fields." Penelope said, having a sort of skip in her step as she went about her usual morning duties, "I haven't seen my sister since I first came to Castanet. It will be so nice to have her around again."

"What's Aunt Alice like mama?" Stella asked, swaying her hands back and forth in her usual playful stance.

"Well… She's always been very fearless… When we were children, if I saw a mouse, I would have screamed and stood on a chair to get away. But if Alice saw a mouse, she'd think it was cute, pick it up with her bare hands, name it and try to keep it as a pet. She was also a bit of a tomboy. But she was most definitely a great sister. You'll like her, I'm sure."

At this point, the Harvest God piped in, "It's unwise for mortals to pick up mice with their bare hands. The mouse would not have known that she meant no harm and would bite anyway."

"Oh, but Alice was never bitten. She had this way with animals. It must be her aura or something. I wish I had it. Sunday might like me more that way…" Sunday happened to be the name of the family cow, and as my wife stated, the cow did not like her very much. Our children had taken up the cow's care because of this.

"So will we be going to meet her, or should we wait for her to come here?" I asked.

"Well, I do need to buy seeds for this year's harvest…" Penelope said, "We'll meet her over there. Knowing her, she'll be here as early as she can. Once we meet up with her, she can help us pick the seeds for this spring. It'll be fun!"

"Well what will I be doing in the meantime?" the Harvest God asked us.

"You'll be coming with us Iggy..." I answered him, "You wouldn't want to be cooped up in the house all day, now would you?"

The god cringed at his nickname, "Not you too…"

………

There was nothing that could have prepared me, nor the Harvest God, nor anyone else involved in these implausible events for the sort of complications that Alice would bring. None of it was really her fault. Nor was it the fault of the god, or Penelope, or my children, or myself, or anyone at all. No, I believe the fault rests solely in that which pulls the strings of fate.

Alice arrived just as Penelope had predicted that she would. Standing there by the large barn of Horn Ranch, we watched as a small speck in the distance slowly grew larger and larger, and soon a clueless young woman was arriving on foot into our story. It was a little while before we were able to get a good look at her, but soon we decided to walk in order to meet her, and she came into clear view. This girl was most certainly my wife's sister. She had the same shade of hair, the same big brown eyes, and she even had the same sort of gait. But she was also quite different from Penelope. Most notably, Alice's hair had a tendency to flip outwards whereas my wife's did the opposite and curled inwards. This, and just by looking at her, you could tell that Alice had never seen the countryside before. Perhaps it was how she looked out at the sky and the surrounding fields so often as if she were entering another world.

"Penelope!" Alice called out, and immediately her sister ran to greet her with a hug.

"Alice! It's so great to see you!"

And the sisters embraced. It was a rather heartwarming sight if I do say so myself. Both looked as if they had wanted nothing more than to do this for years now. The two exchanged a few more words, but I cannot remember them well. I remember that I'd glanced at the Harvest God then. He must have felt out of place here, and I can't really blame him. Standing off behind me, he was staring down at a tuft of grass off to the side, trying to look as if he found it much more interesting than anything else at the moment. Shrugging it off, I turned back to my wife and sister-in-law to find that the children were already meeting her.

"Oh and these are your children? They're adorable! ...So you must be Stella…and you're Ray."

Stella looked shocked, "Oh wow! How did you know? Are you a magic-person like Daddy?"

Alice just laughed, "Oh no, I'm a normal human. Your mother told me all about you in her letters to me. She says that you like jewelry Stella, so I thought I'd get you something…"

As Alice reached to a pouch at her side, Stella's eyes widened with anticipation, "What? Really? Whatisitwhatisit?" she scrambled closer to get a better look.

Soon, Alice had pulled what appeared to be a sapphire pendant from her pouch, and Stella practically squealing with joy when she got a good look at it, "Happy Birthday Stella!"

"Thank you Auntie!" Stella took the pendant readily and then immediately put it around her neck.

At this, Ray huffed, "It isn't even her birthday…" Clearly he was just annoyed that his sister had gotten a present and not him.

"Well I haven't been here for any of your birthdays, so I guess I'm making up for that. …Oh and don't worry Ray. I'll get you something too just as soon as I can."

"Alice? Are you sure it's okay? I mean… that's an expensive pendant…" Penelope said.

Alice shrugged and smiled, "That's alright. I'm not the one who bought it anyway…" but before anyone had a chance to ask more about that subject, she'd noticed me, "OH! And you must be the Husband that she refuses to tell me the name of. Nice to meet you!"

She held out a hand, and so I shook it out of politeness. Her mere presence was starting to make me nervous and I felt myself reverting back to my old antisocial behavior. Strangers, even if they're technically family, are one of my utmost fears. I will admit that.

"Nice… to… meet you as well…" I said weakly.

But much to my relief, she did not spend much time talking to me, for she'd noticed the last person in our party. The Harvest God had not moved from his spot behind me, and seemed to be trying his best to disappear into his surroundings, which is hard when you have bright red hair and are as tall as he is. That and he still hadn't changed out of the clothes that he'd worn yesterday. Come to think of it, I'm surprised that she didn't notice him first.

"And who might you be?" she asked, keeping a cheerful tone.

The god glanced at her, as if making sure that she was in fact talking to him. Once this had been confirmed, he said in the most cynical tone, "Nobody important."

"His name's Iggy!" Stella decided to do the introductions for him, "He's an amnesiac. Daddy found him yesterday all dressed up like the Harvest God on the top of Mt. Garmon and he can't remember a thing. I decided to name him Iggy."

"Oh well what a strange story," Alice said, and she turned to the god, "They've taken you in?"

"In a sense, yes," he said.

"Well then I guess we're not all that different, huh?" she sent him a warm smile, "We've both lost something and are starting over with a blank slate. Everything's new for us. I do hope we can be friends."

The Harvest God's reaction to her statement surprised me a little bit. For a moment, I saw his eyes soften instead of their usual state of being narrow and focused, and with it, his whole face seemed so different. Just what was going through his head? It was impossible for me to know.

"…I" he paused, and then his face took its usual stern appearance again, "I suppose there's no point otherwise…" which was as good as a yes coming from him.