"Well, it's about rules, right?  We don't know if there are any."

"If I'm not supposed to take comfort in my faith in Yoba anymore I really am going to cry."

"I don't see how what I said contradicts anything there.  Maybe Yoba will always be more powerful than you and will always help you and that's fine.  Or maybe someday Yoba is in trouble and you turn around and help him and then that's fine.  Friends are allowed to help friends."

Hanging out with Oliver is an emotional whirlwind.

It's blasphemy one minute, sincere concern for her well-being when dating self-interested guys in the next. Then he kisses her and really turns on her body in a way she couldn't process at all, and now he's back to the blasphemy again.

She had all but given up when she couldn't figure out what to do about her body. She thought he couldn't understand, and then suddenly, he did, and he helped, at least a little.

She decides to try again.

"So, Oliver, listen. You joke about Yoba a lot, but it's not actually funny to me. I know I've changed my mind, or opened my mind, about a bunch of things since I met you. The world is way more complicated than I thought. And I guess I can't say for sure I'll never change my mind about this. But if I had to guess, I don't think I'm going to. I think I'm always going to like animals and be a vegetarian, I think I'm always going to love bright colors and fashion, and I think I'm always going to believe in Yoba."

"So... could you please... not say stuff like that? Or at least not be so... jokey about it?"

"Okay."

"I have a non-joking question that I don't know, fundamentally, how to ask.  Is Yoba the sort of thing that's going to do stuff to my life and Pelican Town in a way where it doesn't matter if I believe in him or not, or do junimos only exist as a possibility for fixing the bus for somebody who believes in junimos but then they can fix the bus and everyone sees the bus get fixed, or is Yoba the sort of thing where from the perspective of anyone who doesn't believe in him they're never going to be whacked over the head with Yoba suddenly showing up in person?  If you don't know, it's okay to say so.  But to me it matters a lot whether Yoba is just out there as a big powerful force in Pelican Town the way that Gus's tavern is there, or something that I need to relate to emotionally in a particular way so the bus gets fixed, or if Yoba is something to believe in and that's all.  I'd been assuming the first one, based on how your sign glows when you pray to him."

"I don't really know the answer to any of that. I just woke up a day ago! There's a lot I don't understand about how the world works."

"But I'm pretty sure that there's something that's a lot more powerful than you or me, something that made this world and decided how it would work."

"And I am in awe of their creation. There's so much beauty, so much to look at, so much to wonder about."

"Whoever that is, whoever made this place and made us and made it beautiful and coherent, that's who I call Yoba, and I believe in that."

"I don't know if it matters if you believe in Yoba or not, but don't you want to believe in true things?"

"Would you rather I answer, or leave it for later?  You've got a lot going on right now."

"It was meant to be rhetorical, and I'm a little surprised you think it's not! Maybe we better just leave it there."

"To Robin's place, then?"

"Yes, let's go."

Emily keeps holding one of Oliver's hands as they continue north along the path up into the mountain area and on to Robin's house.

Soon they arrive at Robin's blue-roofed house. It's bigger than most of the houses in town, with a garage, an outbuilding, and a fenced area enclosing a big telescope.

"And now we just walk into her house, in accordance with normal standards of etiquette, yes?"

"Yep! After all, it's also the carpenter shop, and she's open right now. But that's kind of the standard anywhere you go."

"Starting to see one possible reason my home might've included a handy cave."

Oliver enters, not particularly dropping Emily's hand.  If other characters have comments on this relationship he does, actually, want to know their opinion, a strange and unfamiliar feeling.

Inside the front room of Robin's house there's a desk with a cash register. Robin is standing behind it. Light streams in the windows behind her. There's an axe leaning against the wall and an ornate golden rug.

Off to the right is a hallway, and if you peer that direction you can see a bright, clean, tiled kitchen.

Mayor Lewis is here.

"Hello, Robin.  Hello, Mayor Lewis.  Fancy seeing you here!"

"Hey there, great to see you, Oliver!"

"Emily! Surprised to see you all the way up here! It's so nice to have a visit!"

"Hello! How are you settling in at the farm?"

"Why, surprisingly well, all things considered!  In some ways it's not what I was expecting but that was just because my entire understanding of all of reality was completely wrong.  I was just wondering, even, if it's possible to buy more land, or stake more land, in order to make my farm even larger, at some point in the future?"

"Larger! Hoo-boy! You're out to take the world by storm, I see!"

"No, the farm is as big as it gets. I think you'll find you can make a very tidy living on that plot. It's plenty big enough to support a very nice lifestyle... even if you get married and have a family!" Lewis waggles his eyebrows at Emily.

"Are there any more farms anywhere around, by the way?  Might be nice to meet another farmer sometime!"

"Hmmm. Evelyn tends the flowers around the town square, but I can't think of anyone else who grows crops as such."

"Fascinating!  I'm curious if you happen to know who owns the land beyond my farm."

"Let's see... north of your farm, there's a path that leads up here to Robin's... maybe you even took it to get here today?" He looks at Emily, who shakes her head no. "Apparently not! Well, possibly you haven't seen that path yet, but you will."

"West of your farm are hills and thick woods, pretty impenetrable."

"Southwest of you is Cindersap Forest. There's a lake there, and the Wizard's tower. And directly south are some islands across the river."

"And then of course east of you is town."

"Nobody in particular owns most of the land outside of town, I think, except for the land right around the Wizard's tower."

"I see, I see.  Well, not to be premature, or anything, but I might want to expand my farm--or Emily might want a farm of her own--so if that happy event comes about, I'd like to know where to file papers for homesteading additional, unclaimed land beyond my own farm.  Of course it is logical that such a place to file papers would exist, and it's logical that you'd know about it!"

"Well, that does seem a little premature, though, don't you think? Haven't even been here a whole day yet! Why don't you get all the way settled in first and work the land you've got, and when you've sorted that out, then we can talk more about expansion."

"If you're looking for more to do, I could really use some help restoring the Community Center! Now that would be a fine way to contribute to the community!"