Part 2: Meemaw, Apples and a Snow Flower

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Soon they reached the top of the mini hill and before the group stood a chapel-like building with a small well further away from it, snow-capped trees and terrain surrounding the area like a giant wall of sorts. Someone was waiting on the veranda until they looked up hearing the group approach.

"Epel! My goodness, it's so good to see you again!" a cheery voice matching the person spoke up. A woman, in her late 60s to early 70s, walks briskly down the wooden stairs and forward to meet the group. She had milky white skin with wrinkles around her eyes, cheeks and neck, a prominent nose and graying lavender hair and the familiar blue-bell colored eyes like that of her grandson.

"Meemaw!" Epel runs forward to meet her with a tight hug. The old woman puts her hands on Epel's shoulders and checks his face for any signs of malnutrition.

"Have y' been studyin' properly at Night Raven? Can't have ya being a slacka person! Don't tell me you're throwin' awa' whatevah you don' like. Dear me, ev'n as a teenag'r, it's hard to change eatin' habits..." she ranted.

"Meemaw! No' in fron' 'f m' frien's!" Epel hissed between his teeth ad he looked over his shoulder with worry that he was being babied.

"Ah, that Epel-Shi's Grandmother we've heard about so much..." Idia spoke first amongst the group.

"She seems like a rather nice person." Jade smiled.

"What in the world are they talking about? it sounds like...mumbo-jumbo to me!" Sebek was clearly irrate.

"That's just how they normally speak." Luna says.

"Though, from our POV, it does sound like everything's slurring together...." Charlie admitted.

"Ah! So you're Epel's friends! It's so good to meet you! I am Marja Felmier." Marja introduces herself.

"Oh...it seems...now we understand you." Jade raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you learn a thing or two when it comes to trading and selling in the big city." Marja chuckled. "Lots of people don't understand Harvest's dialect at times..."

"I'll be the translator if anything's too hard for any of you to understand." Epel assured.

"Thank you for taking time to travel all the way from your school to here. And for keeping an eye on my grandson."

"It's no trouble. Epel usually has our backs at times, too." Luna nods.

"Uh...n-not me, though...." Idia raised a timid hand.

"Oh! Where are my manners? Jade Leech." they shook hands. "Thanks for extending the invitation to us."

"Sebek Zigvolt. Pleased to meet you!" the first year bowed stiffly but vigorously.

"A-and....And I...." Idia fumbled for the touchpad and finished, "I'm Idia Shroud."

"My, my!" Marja raised an eyebrow. "Some city kid friends you've made!"

"N-No, that's....just Idia's anxiety kicking in...." Epel sweats. Marja looks over towards the girls and smiled brightly with glee.

"Ah! And who are these two lovely young ladies?"

"Luna Brighton." Luna greets with a small curtsy. "And this is-"

"I'm Charlotte. Charlotte Luchessi." the brunette greeted herself without Luna's help.

Marja's eyes widened upon hearing her name. "Ah, so YOU'RE the girl my grandson writes about in his letters!"

This made Charlie raise an eyebrow. "Letters?"

"Yes, yes!" Marja clasps her gloved hands around Charlie's. "He gushed so much about you! Says he sees you as his older sister of sorts! You're very pretty, too!" Taking the brunette's face in her hands, Marja looks into her face with keen intellect. "Such eyes! They're so god-like almost....and you've the right blend of beauty and cute in your complexion!" She smiled warmly. "It seems my grandson found a keeper!"

"M-Mee-Maw!!" Epel hissed with embarrassment.

Charlie chuckled awkwardly towards Marja's speech, but over her shoulder, she glared daggers at Epel, mouthing through clenched teeth, 'We're talking about this and you're not getting out of it!' Scaring the young boy. Turning to the elderly woman, she smiles, "Glad to hear that...."

"Me next! Name's Grim! And I'm always lookin' out for Epel!" the excited tanuki interrupts.

"I never said anything of the sort." Epel glares at the grey creature.

Marja chuckled, "Ah, the new generation is so cheerful and energetic. Like baby trees! I hope you enjoy yourself here for the racing and scenery. All of you."

"By the way, Epel. What'll the winner get if they win the race?" Grim looks up. "Please let it be apples! Please let it be apples!"

"Why do you bother asking? You're not even involved in this thing!" Sebek groaned.

"Well, uh....actually, we don't win anything; we race just for honor." Epel answers.

"But how'll THAT fill my stomach?!"

"Ugh, always thinking with that bottomless pit of his...." Luna rolls her eyes.

"We get blessed with good fortune all year long!" Epel contunies.

"Keep talking, I'm listening." Grim changed his attitude.

"The village head who won last year got a lottery prize!"

"How much, though...?"

"....5000 madol."

"Eh....that's okay, I guess...."

"Well, I don't care about prize money or anything. As long as I'm involved, I will put my all for this thing!" Sebek boomed. "Let's move!"

One by one, everyone got to the building and made it inside.

"Alright, time to begin preparation!" Marja took off her gloves to begin working. "For you, men, choose the fabric you'd like from the table." a wide variety of different folded fabrics were laid out neatly on a folding table. Bules, Pinks, Purples and even Red and Oranges, varying colors and patterns swathed the table like a rainbow threw up everywhere. But no one moved. Sensing their confusion, Epel jumps in to explain.

"We use fabrics as part of the process to creating the plushies in charge of pulling the sled."

"Oh, I forgot. It's plushies, not live dogs or horses..." Sebek felt embarrassed for not remembering. "Bright red....Plaid....there's such a wide array."

"And the length and size of the fabric squares are varied..." Jade poked through the stack.

"These are all scraps the villagers have collected around their homes." Marja answered.

"So...leftover pieces...." Idia puts it with distaste.

"But we aren't cheapskates when it comes to new fabrics!" Epel defends. "It's the thought of valuing what's left over. We reuse things that are no longer needed. Besides, choosing more than one will create a patchwork, so...go ahead."

"Do we have to..." Sebek was a bit iffy, but he stood in thought and sighed, "But looking at it from another angle...fabric is fabric. It's nothing to do with the speed of a sled..."

"Actually....it does."

"WHAT?!"

"We need to keep in mind the fibers of the fabrics. Say: air resistance. You need something that's lightweight. Or if we trek through water, there must be something that's waterproof. Just letting you know!"

"This is a lot of information..."

"But I found what I need~!" Idia sniggered.

"That fast?!!" Sebek shouted.

"I made a list of what fabric work and dont work from previous events, according to past participants." Idia answers. "With these in hand, nothing can stop me now!"

"Wow...did the research and everything...." Epel murmurs.

"That's Idia for you." Charlie shrugged. Sebek got to work, first choosing two scraps dotted in snowflakes, the other in polka dots, and then a bright orange. He made it clear he was using what Idia chose as a guiding reference. He looks over to Jade, who took some time deciding: green and brown solid, snowflakes and blue striped scraps.

"I could choose them all since they look wonderful." He claims.

"Agree to disagree." Idia mutters. Epel suddenly found one that gave a sense of nostalgia.

"This one reminds me of a few clothes I wore when I was a toddler! They were always my favorite..."

"I know how that feels...." Charlie nods, remembering the clothes she wore in her younger days, from skorts to graphic tees, jelly shoes, even colored hairties with beads on the ends for funky hairdos. "Can't believe Liccy made fun of me for wearing wacky things...then again, me and my girls were always weird when we met each other....what about you, Epel? Did you have any friends growing up here?"

"Not really, actually. There weren't any other kids my age growing up, so i was always surrounded by older people..." He confessed, recalling how he used to play with the adults and they made him feel protected when around them. 'He was very loved by them, it seems.' she thought, but he went on, saying that after he started attending school, he started getting into several fights with the kids there, making a wide grin show on his face. But Marja interrupts, laughing,

"Yet he always came back wailing like a baby!"

"I-I was six!!!" Epel defends. Huffing, "It only happened back in elementary school...those who thought they'd look down on me, I came back twice as hard!"

"Relatable." Charlie snickers, having her fair share of getting even with those who put her down. "Did everyone you know find out about you being a troublemaker?"

"When word got, we called him 'The Bad Apple" of our family's name. Brings back memories...." Marja smiled, answering the question.

"Sh-She means....I'm someone who has a different personality than how I look. I'd rather be called, 'The Rising Dragon of Moln Mountain' or 'Raging Horse of Harveston'! But No: I got with a cutesy nickname...."

"And a memorable one at that." Jade laughs. Charlie looked over and saw Luna leaning near window, looking out at the landscape, her arms crossed as she looked out the glass panes. She went over to her with worry. She didn't even know Luna slipped away from them

"Hey, you okay?"

"I'm fine, just.....keeping to myself." Luna nods lightly.

"I know you're here to keep an eye on me, but I thought we were in it together." Charlie argued subtly.

"And we are. It's just....I don't know: a little boring that there's much preparation to go into this. I know we're not a part of this, and yet...." Luna was having trouble coveying what she was tring to put across, but Charlie shushed her.

"It's okay, I get it. You thought it'd go differently. I'm sure it will. Just....give it some time." she said. She overheard the guys confirming what fabric scraps they chose and one confirmed, it was time to choose the animal that would be made into a plushie. Sebek decided to choose one ASAP, as did everyone else.

"I choose the octopus." Jade answers first.

"Um...we can only do land animals, Sea creatures don't count..." Epel puts it lightly.

"Oh, my bad. I just thought it'd be funny seeing something like that dragging the sled~."

"Geez, it's like he's torturing Azul-shi, even when he's not here...." Idia whispered. A list was given, ranging from deer to squirrels to raccoons, but they got what they decided on: Jade went with a reindeer, per his hiking knowledge from the club and animal ecology. Idia mentioned that it was one of the best choices, Epel conforming by saying it had speed over all other animals and was a competition favorite. But to their surpise, Idia went with a bear; saying choosing Reindeer was 'beginner-level advantage', all the while staring at Grim, claiming to prefer something more fluffy, and saying the bear has more power above the rest. Jade nearly changed his but Idia "persuaded" him into keeping the reindeer. Epel chose a rabbit.

"Although I prefer animals that have strength like leopards, I actually had a pet rabbit myself when I was a baby. My dad says he used to capture any wandering animals that tried to devour any of our crops. We caught a rabbit one day, but it's foot got injured. It was so tiny and helpless, so I nursed it back to health myself. He was a good companion. Grew attatched to me since I fed and nursed it over anyone else in the house. Usually, when i take him outside for fresh air, some villagers would come up and feed him carrots or fruit. Soon after he was fully healed, I released him and I never saw him again. So I thought...why not choose a plushie that reminded me of something I held dear to me in the past?" the rabbit plushie was known for it's powerful legs and to have nimble speed: perfect for leading the charge. All that's left was for Sebek, but he didn't care what he got as long as it would work with him. Jade persuades him to let Idia since he was more in tune to the stakes, but Idia was all,

"Why me?", leaving Epel to choose and it was...a squirrel.

"Sq-Squirrel?! You don't have anything stronger?!"

"You said you'd work with anything!"

"I....I did, didn't I...?"

"And you didn't even choose large fabric! They're nothing but tiny squares! So because of that, you'd have to go with the squirrel..." Sebek wanted to rechoose the fabrics, but Idia managed to convince him to keep the squirrel, which worked. But Charlie, and even Luna, overheard him saying that although the squirrel had high speed, the downside was low durability. Should it be pushed beyond it's limits, it would break.

'That probably won't be good....' Charlie noted down for later.

"Okay, let's get to sewing!" Epel announced.

"Is the sewing done individually?" Grim frets.

"Yes, but don't fret. I will handle it." Marja assured.

"You sure, Meemaw? There's four of us!" Epel sounded worried.

"Don't underestimate my skills~! I'll be okay. And I'll use a small spell as a finishing touch." Marja winked, gathering all the sewing materials and scraps. "Just leave it all to me! Why don't you go and take everyone to the Plaza, in the meantime? They didn't come here just for racing, you know! You're their friend, so give them a taste of our little town."

"Right!"

"I'll be a few hours, so enjoy yourselves in the meantime!"

"Thanks Meemaw! To town!"

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"Ah, Sightseeing...I'm looking forward to it!" Jade smiles.

"There'd better be food...." Grim whined.

"Don't worry, I know some good dishes." Epel assured. "But before we do anything, there's one last thing that's important for us to do."

"And pray tell, what is it?"

"Is it a custom?" Sebek asked.

"Yea....we need to wash our hands."

"....Excuse me?"

"That's just a basic everyday thing...."

"Well, yes, but it's really important!" Epel defended. He began to explain the story behind the so called 'custom' but Charlie already knew what he was talking about. But when Jade asked,

"Why does that tradition still exist?" Epel said something that caught her attention.

"It's just a random guess but....since the village is far up the mountain, we don't have nearby medical aid and if anyone should fall ill, the nearest hospital is at the base of the mountain. And it was a challenge since there weren't any modern-day transportation means to get there faster...so we use it as an alternative."

"It...does make sense thinking about it...." Idia nodded.

"Come on. Let's get to the well." Epel walks over. But Idia didn't move.

"Wait. Is the water in there cold?! My butt's freezing as is! I vote to go back to the assembly hall and get warm water there!"

"Idia, it's alright!"

"DO NOT BE A WIMP!" Sebek shouts.

"Then YOU do it first."

"Sebek, are you sure?"

"I meant what I said!" the half fae rips off his gloves and dunks his hands into the well, screaming at the top of his lungs that it felt icy cold. but he pushed through it and got the task done, forcing Idia to go next. Feeling like he wouldn't get it done, the third year did so. but also felt he same icy touch hit his hands. But when Jade took his turn, he didn't feel any difference and thought the two were just being overdramatic. Epel wasn't fazed at all either.

Charlie used her Moon Opal, with guidance from Luna, to create golf-sized spheres of water to float from the well and into their hands. Although it wasn't easy, the task was done. And Grim thought so too.

"Okay, let's go! I want my food now! I washed my hands!"

"Since when?" Epel asked firmly.

"Uh....Yesterday?"

"No! No clean hands, no food!"

"Ugh, fine, I'll go and do it-WAGH!!!" However, Charlie knowing when to put him in line, grabbed him by his tail and thoroughly dunked his whole body into the well.

"You read my mind, thank you." Luna sighed.

"Hey, he may be a kid, but kids need to be disciplined." Charlie smirks, leaving Grim to claw himself out of the well, sopping wet and mad at what was done to him.

"Why don't we say a small prayer for good luck in our race today? Make a small wish by the well. Legend states a princess made a wish by the fountain as is origin to custom. Unless you really mean what you wish for. That's why each year, the town wishes for something before the harvest arrives and the during the first snow. You may not have this chance again, so let's do it!" Although each wished for something related to today, Charlie had clasped her hands together as her eyes fluttered shut. Luna had bowed her head, silvery curls slipping past her shoulders like a waterfall. Both women breathed their wish.

'Let me and my powers grow strong enough to the point where I can save what's mine...'

'Let my Sister and I save Charlotte from her dark fate...'

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The sight of the town square, plaza, came into view. Little booths were open, showing off what would be sold as apple-shaped lanterns were strung above or on tree branches. A small fire pit with stone was burrowed into the ground and one lone snowman stood at the base of one barren tree.

"Wow, that's a lot of tourists...." Grim looks around.

"This is the main venue of the festival. Apple Square." Epel introduced.