[The alarm went off, it was 6 AM. Jason was ready to get to work around the farm. He had 39 starting actions]

[Tess’s Almanac: 55th day of Summer! 36 days until the Summer Festival. There’s a storm brewing later this afternoon, and it sounds like quite a nasty one from the reports were getting down south. Get your work done quickly, that’s for sure!]

Jason groaned and rolled out of bed. What did work even mean for him anymore? He staggered over to the window, where he gazed out at his failing crop of wheat, and sighed deeply. He didn’t take long to get dressed, and soon started down the stairs to the kitchen.

About halfway down the stairs, he caught a whiff of something that smelled like bacon, and a smile flickered across his face. He took the remaining stairs two at a time, and burst into the kitchen to find Tess just putting the last of a small breakfast onto the table. It was nothing extravagant, and about half of it was some sort of unidentifiable vegetable stuff, but there was also a good bit of bacon and eggs, and that was good enough for him.

“Tess!” He grinned and threw his arms around her. She was in her standard battle armor, and he nodded down at her. “What’s the occasion? I didn’t expect to see you here today.”

“With the storm coming in, I figured it would be another good day to discuss wedding plans.” Tess shrugged. “We started getting some good responses in the mail.”

“Great!” Jason beamed, then frowned. “I do have a bit of stuff to get done today, though, before we can do that.”

“I figured I could help with it.” Tess shrugged. “That’s why I came dressed to work!”

Jason eyed her armor. “You do realize that you can kill most of the monsters around here just by stepping on them, right?”

Tess rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“Do you even have clothing other than armor?” Jason asked as he chewed on a piece of bacon. “I mean, what are you going to do when you get pregnant?”

“They sell maternity armor up in Illumitir. I know someone I can get a discount from.” Tess shrugged, then flashed a grin. “I’m kidding! I mean, yes, they do sell maternity armor, and I’m likely to buy a set or two of it once the time comes, but-”

She sighed. “Oh, Jason, we’re getting married!”

They stared at each other for a long time, then Jason forced himself to go back to eating. They soon finished their meal, and headed out onto the farm. Angus and Lady were already hitched up to the post, and were munching away happily. Jason kicked at a few of the crabgrasses as he walked up to the fence, then leaned against the metal rails and gazed out across his sickly field.

It should have looked like a great green carpet, about two feet tall, that was just about ready to burst into heads. Instead, it was a brownish-yellow, with just enough green left to justify saying that it wasn’t dead yet. If he got a yield off it at all, it wasn’t even going to be enough to use to re-plant the field. He sighed, and Tess joined him.

“At this point, I’m less concerned about trying to save the crop, and more concerned with figuring out a way to prevent the things from getting at my next crop.” Jason gestured vaguely at the swarming insects. A few of them buzzed past his head, but paid him little mind. “I’e been trying out this stuff that Jeremiah told me how to make, and it’s working well enough when I can actually get it onto anything, but it’s clogged up my sprayer eight or ten times now, and I just can’t figure out how to treat an area more than a few feet across as a result.”

Tess pursed her lips. “Do you still have more of it? What portion of the field did you treat, and how did you do it?”

Jason sighed, then led her a the corner of the field nearby. There, nestled among all the dying wheat, was a small patch about three feet on every side that was actually quite green. There were still a few bites taken out of the leaves, testifying to the fact that the concoction wasn’t perfect, but it was a good deal better than anything else Jason had tried. When he had gone into Paulina’s store and listened to the other farmers talking, it was obvious that none of them had been able to find anything that worked any better.

“How’d you do it?” Tess repeated her question. “Were you able to get the spray to flow through the sprayer for a few seconds, or…”

Jason just chuckled and shook his head. “Have you ever been to a church where the priest sprinkles the congregation with holy water before mass? There’s a ball mounted on the end of a stick that he dips into a bucket, and… I don’t know. It seemed like a half-decent idea, so I gave it a whirl.” He grimaced. “It took me two days to wash the smell out of my hair.”

Tess chuckled, then leaned in close and gave his hair a sniff. “Make that three, or however many days its been since then.”

“You’re no help.” Jason scowled. “Now, do you have any brilliant ideas?”

He turned and walked back to the lean-to, where the large pot was still resting. It was still a brownish sludge, and had seemingly been unaffected by any and all forms of mold, algae, or other forms of decay in the five days that it had been sitting there. Tess leaned over and picked up a stick, which she dipped into the liquid. She stirred it for a few moments, then let go of the stick. It remained standing upright, and Jason sighed.

“See?”

“Indeed.” Tess thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Have you tried some sort of explosive device? Maybe dump a bunch of it into a bomb, then chuck the bomb out into the field? The explosion might disperse it. We’ve done similar things to get goblin repellant through dungeons, in case of emergencies.”

“Yeah. A bomb going off in the middle of my field is exactly what the crops need in order to grow well.”

Tess nodded slowly. “That’s a fair point.”

Jason crossed his arms, then slowly looked up at the sky. It was darkening rapidly, which meant that even if they did somehow come up with a half-decent way to disperse the spray, it was just going to get washed away as soon as the rain came.

“Well, now you’ve seen the problem, at the least.” Jason shrugged. “If you come up with anything, let me know. I’m exhausted, and opening letters sounds like a much better option. Like I said, I’m not getting anything out of this crop anyway.”

Tess inclined her head, though her face was sad. They turned and walked back into the house, and had soon settled down in the living room. Tess took a small bundle of papers out of her inventory and passed them to Jason, and he scanned through the envelopes.

“Let’s see…” He took out a letter addressed to “Ms. Tess of Summer Shandy,” in a rather elegant handwriting. “This one’s about your brother?”

Tess nodded. “We can save it for last, if you want.”

“No, I’d like to see.” Jason handed it to her. “Open it!”

Tess smiled and slit the envelope open, then took out a small piece of paper. It wasn’t much, but she’d soon unfolded the message and read it out loud.

“Dear Ms. Tess, I’m so happy for you! Just imagine, you’re getting married! Thanks so much for inviting me! I’ll be there if at all I can. In the meantime, I do have a bit of information about your brother, as you asked. The last I heard, and that was about six months ago, he was heading down into the Volcanic Country to start working on clearing out some high-level dungeons there. If you write to the Warriors Guild Headquarters in Lava City, I’m sure they’ll be able to track him down. It sounded like he wasn’t going to be moving on for quite awhile, so you’ll probably be safe. Once again, congratulations! Yours truly, Samantha Nottingale.”

Jason nodded at the letter. “Who’s she?”

“She was a friend of mine while I was growing up.” Tess answered. “Her parents were also dungeon warriors, but not quite to the same extent as mine. Only one of them would go out at a time, and only for long enough to earn that month’s food. Lovely family, actually. We spent quite a bit of time playing together, whenever she was available.” Tess sighed as she thought back. “About the time I entered training to become a Guildmaster, she met a handsome young warrior who was just starting to prove himself in the different circles that warriors run in. They got married, and I’m pretty sure they have three or four kids now.”

“Wow.” Jason flashed a small smile. “That’s a full house.”

“They’re shooting for a full dozen.” Tess chuckled. “They joke that they like dungeons so much, they’re just going to turn their house into one!”

At that, Jason laughed. “Well, at least we know where to find your brother now.”

Tess nodded. “I’ve visited that Guild Hall before. It’s a good one, they really do a lot to coordinate all the different warriors in the area. It’ll… It’ll be good to see him again.”

She sighed deeply, then flipped through a handful of envelopes. “These are all my different warrior friends that I’ve made over the years. You won’t know most of them, so I can open these later.”

“Hey, your friends are going to be my friends soon.” Jason answered. After a moment, he frowned. “You’ve got it easy. All my friends live right here in town, so you already know them.”

Tess chuckled softly, and they spent the next several minutes opening all of her envelopes. When they finished, there was only a single one left, and Jason felt a stab of nervousness.

It was a simple brown envelope, written with a black pen. It was addressed to “Mr. Jason of Summer Shandy.” Tess passed it to him, and he slowly tore it open. There was a single page inside, and he pulled out the small, faded paper.

“Jason, your invitation comes as a bit of a shock, given how you’ve snubbed us over the last two years. I’ll be coming down with Killian and Nathanial as soon as I can get matters squared away here, and we can discuss your business endeavors. Lacy.”

Jason sighed, then haded the letter to Tess. She read it herself, then frowned in confusion.

“My mom.” He clarified. After a moment, he drummed his fingers on the armrest of the couch. “I guess now we know how she’s viewed the last few years.”

“Maybe you can explain things once she gets here?” Tess held up her hands.

“That’s my hope, too.” Jason nodded, then shrugged.

“And who are Killian and Nathanial?” Tess asked.

“The youngest of my brothers. Probably the only two that are still at home.” Jason stroked his chin. “My dad will be staying home to keep working. I’m not exactly sure when they’ll be getting here or what they mean by discussing business ventures, but… I guess we’ll find out.”

“Yeah.” Tess muttered softly, then glanced at him. “How was your family life growing up? Was it as tense as it seems now?”

“No!” Jason shook his head. “We were all really close! At least I thought we were. My brothers and sisters and I would all go playing through the streets, we had free rein of pretty much the whole city. My mom and dad were always there in the evenings, and my dad would read stories to us around the fire. I really don’t know what’s happened since.” He sighed. “I only hope that it can be resolved quickly. I don’t like the idea of being at odds with them, you know?”

“Yeah.” Tess whispered softly. After a moment, she shrugged. “I don’t know. It just sounds so wonderful, to have had a family like that. I can’t imagine being upset with your kids, or your parents, at least not to that degree. I mean, I’m sure there are times when you’d love to just chuck them into the closest dungeon and barricade the entrance, but the majority of the time… I don’t know. I wish so badly that I could have had that.”

Jason flashed a small smile. “After we’re married, you will. Our kids will.”

“And I’m sure you’ll be a wonderful father.” Tess sighed. “I only hope I can be a good mother.”

“You will be.” Jason hugged her tightly. “You will be.”

They sat there on the couch and stared out through the front window, watching the prairie grasses rippling in the growing wind. A few Juun bugs wizzed past, lightning flashed as the storm came roaring over Summer Shandy, and Jason sighed. Outside, it was a strange and cruel world. In here, though, he had something wonderful. He only hoped that the arrival of his mother and brothers didn’t upset that balance.