Georgie stepped out of the cave and found a train passing by the railroad. It was springtime in Stardew valley, she strolled down mountains off-side the worn-down path and traveled instead between big rocks and wild trees, keeping out of sight. No emerald servant will be seen by humans. They paid to get rid of children like her, after all.

Teacup floated in front of her face just as she was about to jog behind the next tree, effectively stopping her. Teacup directed her gaze behind Georgie, pointing at the farmer marching by the dirt path with a resolute expression on their face and a bloated red backpack that was incredibly bigger than their full size. Georgie watched them march with bated breath, wondering how a single person can carry that much weight on their back and be able to jog down with full speed. Whatever special concoction they were drinking, she wanted one of it. Her tiny legs barely made much progress compared to them.

There was nothing she could do about it. She was permanently stuck in a toddler body. Peering down at her bare feet, she cursed the starry skirt she was wearing. It was a reminder that she was sold off and indebted to the emerald witch for several more years. 788 years to be exact.

“Tea tea sin-uhs-tea!” Teacup chanted beside her.

“Yeah, yeah. I hear you. Let’s go.”

They went their way towards the sewers in Pelican town undetected with no one the wiser to her half-human, half-beastly presence. It was high noon and the villagers were out and about going on their merry way under the sun. If she were human, she figured she’d be terrible at hiding but since she was part cat, she had an easy way going through the most narrow passages to avoid notice. Pelican town was alive with fresh vegetation and community manicured bushes at this time of year so it was smooth-sailing for her in reaching the sewers as she jumped from bush to bush.

Underground, Georgie and Teacup both entered the sewers with an impatient jump from the long descending ladder. She quickly regretted it. The abandoned concrete floor was gritty and abrasive, hurting the soles of her feet.

Teacup snickered at the displeased look that crossed at her face.

“Glad to amuse you, lil’ Teacup.” she muttered to her companion.

Off in the distance echoed Krobus’ voice, unsure and trembling but his sound bounced right off the spacious cavernous walls. “Georgie? Is that you? Come quick, don’t keep me waiting please. You’re making me nervous.”

Both she and Teacup rounded the corner with a wince on her steps. Why she kept forgetting to bring human shoes for these concrete floors, she doesn’t know. It must be her age.

Krobus, a lonely shadow person, meditated in the middle of surrounding stone vessels. His crooked stance quickly reminding her of his awful past. It was a monstrous tale as old as time. An entire horde of shadow people bullying him until he had no choice to leave his home and make a new one in the sewers.

The moment Teacup spotted him, she floated to him in giddy excitement.

“Ah, Teacup! Georgie! Wonderful to see you again, oh my.” Krobus made a full body shiver as Teacup started blabbering to him with small dainty noises. It seemed the longer Teacup stayed underground, the more her purplish liquid inside her cup glowed and kindled a bitter-sweet aroma that cut through the sewage stink. Clapping his shadow palms together, “Always happy to see you both.”

“Good morning, Krobus.” She greeted to him, then started walking across each of his eight statues that surrounded him. “Good morning Duchess. Good morning Executioner. Good morning Cook. Good morning Pig Baby. Happy day to you Red Knight and White Knight. What a great day today Mr. White Rabbit. And Alice, fine morning to you.”

Krobus bounced in his heels, “Most pleasant day is today because you are here, Georgie.”

“It gives me great honor to be in your presence.” She smiled, pulling a handful of dried horseradish from inside her satchel and offering it to him. “I trust Mr. Red Knight and White Knight are keeping you safe.”

His returning smile was broad but crooked, “Most definitely. They succeed at keeping bad people away. Well, in fact, umm.. I had quite a pleasant surprise last week. A farmer from Stardew Valley visited me.”

Tired of resting her bare feet on concrete floor, she hopped onto Mr. White Rabbit’s slab of stone where his statue lie and sat on it leaning back.“I’m not surprised. I’ve seen them around. Poking everywhere like they owned the whole damn valley, why don’t they?”

“Farmer is not so bad. He’s nice.”

She rolled her eyes, “They make it real difficult for me. Especially once that farmer started building paths and lamp posts in the backwoods. It made foraging for horseradish real hard.”

“Oh dear.” He peered down, looking completely chastened but then lights sparked in his gaze, a bright idea clearing away his uncertainties. “Why don’t I tell the farmer? I’m sure they’d mind giving you trouble like that. They’re real nice. Won’t like making trouble. I’m sure. I met them. Oh my, I’m sure.. I’m sure they won’t mind me visiting their farm. Oh, oh. I’ve never been. I should go, right? I should go. It’d be good for me. Real nice making friends. Don’t you agree Duchess?” he nodded at the stone vessel to his right.

As if he received a satisfactory answer, he released a long sigh and said. “I should go to the farmer. Have real nice conversation. Oh!” He puttered towards his stone chest and rummaged for a tray full of void eggs. “It gives me great honor to give you this, Georgie.”

Her jaw fell. “This is too much. I only need the one.”

He shook his head. “The farmer been visiting me, talking my ear off with them chicken houses they got. Apparently, they got lots of them chicken. Deluxe coop full of blue chickens. Another coop for brown chicken. Another coop for white chickens and guess what?”

Her eyebrow raised “They got a coop for all their void chickens.”

“They do! They do! Who woulda thunk?”

“It’s ‘who would have thought’, Krobus. I’m really glad to hear you got more people to talk to.” She took a quick sweep over eight of his stone vessels that were smoothly polished and washed.

In the meantime, Krobus and Teacup started talking to each other in a gibberish ghostly conversation she didn’t understand. It took a couple hours of them catching up in the gossip surrounding Pelican Town, conversing about the farmer’s progress that it left Teacup with no time to play with Krobus.

“Come on, Teacup.” she said to the two, “It’s time to go.”

Unhappy noises began bouncing off sewage walls. Both of them groaning at the realization there was no time left for play.

“Five more minutes?” asked Krobus with a pleading look.

She suppressed a grin, trying to seem unaffected by how adorable he looked. “Nice try, shadow merchant. I’m afraid I’m on a strict schedule. I don’t have enough time to spare. It was a pleasure doing business with you.”

“Be seeing you whenever next time.” he said, shyly.

This time she couldn’t help the smile crossing at her face. Especially when Teacup barreled right into her chest, purple liquid sloshing “Yeah. See you Krobus.”

He twiddled his fingers, not really meeting her eyes. “I tell you many times, Georgie. Call me your friend Krobus.”

“You first.”

His lips thinned, shoulders lifting close against his ears. “I wouldn’t presume.. I won’t assume before you consent Georgie. It is the way of the shadow people.”

Gloom fell upon her cold as a winter night and she had to turn her back to him before he could see how upsetting his statement was to her. “I’m not shadow people, Krobus.” Before he could say more, she was already rounding the corner with haste. “Take care. Be well.”