Chapter One; The Gleam

Yes, metal was cold. It was hard and it could rust in the rain. In a way it was predictable. There was a comfort in its steady nature; there was an untold beauty in it. Yet, if left in the sunlight, metal could quickly become warm. If heated enough, the warmth could easily melt the metal. In a way it was unpredictable. There was a relief in its chaotic nature; there was an untold beauty in it.

The large man stood there with his strong arms crossed. He stared into the giant metal sculpture, as if waiting for an answer to a question which had never been uttered past his lips. In the background birds chirped their little songs and there was a faint buzz that came from a building on the top of the hill in the middle of the valley. Fainter still was the soothing notes from a musician's guitar that he played as he sat below the tree right outside his home. But none of this mattered to the artist. Not one bit. For he, for a very long time now, had trouble placing his finger on a certain problem. Without knowing how to fix this problem, he was left to do nothing be ponder it. After he had decided that the sculpture was going to offer him no assistance today, the man walked off, up the hill away from his home, to continue his thought, in another place.

It was a sunny day in Forget-Me-Not Valley. The last of the winter snow had gone- as if it disappeared the moment it knew spring had come. The valley was green again, everything was fresh and clean. The man kept to himself, he knew the few inhabitants of the valley were busy carrying on their lives at this time of day, he would hardly see anyone if he was lucky. He was passing the Inner Inn when and older man walked across the bridge. This man was dressed for hard work, with worn rubber boots, dirty jeans and an old sleeveless shirt thrown over his well tanned body. The older man smiled warmly at him. "Oh, Cody, good to see you."

Cody nodded once in agreement. The older gentleman didn't take offense to Cody's lack of response; everyone knew that Cody was a person of few words. The older man gestured to Cody to wait a moment. He turned and shouted, "Abiba! Please come here. I don't want to lose in such a small town, what would your father say?"

As Cody waited he noticed a petit figure appear from behind the older man. It was a girl, a young woman, probably about the age of twenty-one. This girl called Abiba had chestnut brown hair that was pulled up into a ponytail and deep purple eyes. She too appeared to be dressed for work, however her clothes were certainly bought recently; she was a beginner at hard labor. She gasped to catch her breath, resting her arm on the older man's shoulder. "I-I'm sorry Takakura," she said, "But this place is so beautiful, I couldn't help but become a little distracted."

Takakura smiled as warmly to Abiba as he did to Cody. "There's nothing to worry about- here, Abiba, meet Cody, he's an artist that works with mostly metals."

Abiba looked at Cody for a moment. He could tell his appearance surprised her, his appearance always frightened someone. His dark complexion and blonde Mohawk did frighten people. But her face wasn't one of fear. There was an acute sense of innocent curiosity twinkling in her eyes. Abiba's face lit up at the sight of Cody. "You're an artist? Really? Wow, people in this valley do a lot!" Abiba then grinned, and a once Cody found her smile, while innocent enough, to be very odd.

Takakura nodded wisely and nudged Abiba. "Come now, let's not keep Cody long." With that Takakura nodded to Cody and walked passed up to the old Black Berry Farm.

Abiba looked at Cody again. "I hope to see you later Cody. I'll be working on Black Berry Farm from now on!" With a cheerful sort of wave, Abiba followed Takakura onto the farm, leaving Cody at the bridge.

Cody thought for a moment. The girl wasn't cut out for farm work; she appeared to be too much of a giddy city gal to get used to the hard work. He hadn't quite passed judgment on her, but at the same time, he didn't believe she'd last too long. He continued to walk on, but before he turned away, Cody noticed the shiny gleam in Abiba's brown hair. It had a silky smooth look to it and the hue of the hair reminded him of a rich copper tone in one of his sheets of metal. He stood there for a moment, not entirely knowing what he was doing before walking on farther. Perhaps some copper tones would help fix his problem…