Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Solitaire Farm
Day 23 of Winter, Year 1
9:00am
Trudging through ankle-deep snow, Blake braced himself against the wind and peered up from the ground.
His farm looked as though a glacier had crushed it. Nothing grew in the harsh cold, all of the chickens had retreated into the coop, and even his dog refused to leave the shelter of the farmhouse.
A sense of dread growing in the pit of his stomach, Blake waded through the frozen drifts to the silo and checked the stores of hay.
Two days. There was enough hay remaining for two days. The chickens would be starving very soon.
He made his way to the greenhouse to check on the newest crop of wheat. What Blake saw made his heart sink.
Inside the warm light of the greenhouse, the last hope for Solitaire Farm took the shape of a wheat crop. It would be ready to harvest in three days.
Too little. Too late.
Solitaire Farm was dead, and it was all Blake’s fault.
He should have done something, anything, to prepare for his first winter in Stardew Valley. He should have stockpiled more hay. He should have grown a larger crop of wheat instead of corn in the fall. Perhaps he should have tried to sell the chickens when the Night Market visited last week.
He should have…
Vision clouded by hindsight, Blake stumbled back to the farmhouse and collapsed by the door. Diogee, the most loyal German Shepard a man could ask for, let out a whining sound and licked Blake’s face. Blake raised a hand to rub Diogee’s ears, but the dog took off at a run, sprinting for the country road that connected Solitaire Farm to Pelican Town. Following in Diogee’s footprints, Blake walked the same route and stopped when Diogee did.
Tail wagging madly, Diogee pranced around the mailbox and barked. If Blake was not going to work, then Diogee wanted to play. The dog pushed his front paws against the mailbox and Blake finally noticed that something was sticking out of it. Blake opened the mailbox and retrieved a letter from inside. It said:
Dear Blake,
I would like to give you some information about an upcoming event: the Feast of the Winter Star. It's a time for the community to come together and think back on all the good fortune we've had this year.
A favorite tradition is the "secret gift exchange", where everyone in town is randomly assigned to someone else. On the day of the festival, everyone brings a gift for their secret friend and surprise them with something special!
This year, your secret friend is:
Alex
Don't tell anyone! The feast will take place on the 25th from 9AM to 2PM at the town square. See you then!
-Mayor Lewis
Blake read the letter twice, turned it over, and then checked the date at the top. With a jolt of horror, Blake realized this letter was sent over a week ago! How long had it been since the last time he checked the mail!?
Blake read the letter a third time. He was supposed to give a gift to… Alex? Who was that? Blake had lived in Pelican Town for a little less than a year, yet there were still a few people he did not know very well. By pure bad luck, Mayor Lewis was expecting Blake to give a gift to one of the last “total strangers” in Stardew Valley.
For a moment, Blake wanted to throw down the letter and scream.
For a moment, Blake wanted to give up on this place and go back to his old life in Zuzu City.
But that moment ended as quickly as it began.
Blake had managed to persist and endure hardships like this for almost a year. He told himself the same thing he repeated every time he got into a situation like this.
“I got this far. I can keep going.”
He decided to go into town. He would seek out the two friends he made during his first year in Stardew Valley and ask them for advice…