It was late in the night when he finally finished packing and loading the cart. He took her letter from his pocket once more and reread it. It said clearly, "don't bring anything useless". It made him laugh every time he read it. Lilian was the one that used to have too much stuff and useless things, so he had a hard time figuring out what could be useless to her. In any case he decided to bring along his single bed, a pillow, a pot that he used to cook, his work outfit and a frame that Lilian gave him before he first left home with a picture of his family. Even thought it was a picture from their good old days he would still hide it as it brought him hard feelings.
"I think I'm done Carl," he announced.
"Then let's get going Phil!"

Earlier that same day Philip told his boss that he would be leaving. "You're my best worker, Philip," he had said. "Things won't be the same around here without you. If it is about money, I can give you a rise."
"It is not about money, sir," he said gently, "I just can't say no to my sister."
"Is that so?" His boss seemed to understand, but it didn't change the fact that he was sulking. "Well, here is your payment. It was nice to meet you Philip!" He said as he extended his hand. Philip greeted him and turned around to never come back.
Carl had been waiting for him outside the docks with his cart to give him a ride back home.
"So you're really leaving?" The man asked.
"Yes, I am. Thanks for agreeing to help me move," Philip said as he rummaged his backpack for the one thousand Gold he had to pay to Carl.
"You know I'm only giving you this discount because we're friends, right?"
"Yeah, I know. Let's go, I still need to pack everything."
In truth, Carl took advantage of Philip's kindness lots of times. Philip knew it, so when he knew he had to look for someone to help him with his moving, Carl was the man. And since the man owed him so much, he couldn't say no.

"Are we there already?" Carl asked, impatient.
"Second to this map, it is close. Turn to the right."
Lilian was very bad at drawing anything so Philip was impressed as how accurate the map was. It was full of references and details. He couldn't help to think that someone else drawn it, but the handwriting on the map was all from Lilian's. It was very early in the morning when Philip saw Lilian waving at him with a serious woman dressed in exquisite clothes by her side. When they arrived Philip came down from the cart and opened his arms to welcome a running Lilian. She buried her face on his chest as if hiding from something. The last time she did that was before he left their old house, so his bad memories about it made him shake her off, but she didn't seem to mind it.
"I'm happy that you're finally here! Let me introduce you! This is Ina, she is the mayor around here."
"Nice to meet you," Ina greeted him. "Lilian talks a lot about you."
"I wonder what is there to talk," he mumbled and as he looked to Lilian, she was smiling.
"Usually I would show you around," Ina continued, "but Lilian insisted that she wanted to do it, so I'll just take care of your moving, if you do not mind."
"It is fine for me."
"Then let's get going!" Lilian said while grabbing his hand and pulling him after her. He thought about apologizing to Ina but when he turned to her to do so, she was smiling.

"Here is Sheng's shop. He is a blacksmith, an artisan and a lot of other things. Let's get in."
Lilian knocked and came in, pulling Philip by his hand behind her. The house was somewhat dark but it was pretty simple. Probably Sheng lived alone. Philip jumped when Lilian showed him an old man wearing a panda costume. "This man is crazy", he thought, without a clue to how someone like him could be a blacksmith.
"Hi Sheng! This is my brother. The one I was talking with you about."
"Not now, Lilian. I'm thinking of pandas," the old man told her without even really looking her in the eye.
Philip looked at Lilian with a puzzled face, while she gave him a sorry smile before trying again.
"Sheng, I need the new tools! The ones you promised me before, remember?"
"Oh, right, right," he said, looking to the roof as if trying to remember something. "I don't have them," he finally said. "What?" Both Lilian and Philip asked in unison.
"Don't need to shout!" Sheng complained, rubbing his panda's costume ears. "I will have them tomorrow, so come back and see me tomorrow."
Defeated, they had no choice other than leave. Lilian pointed to the farm, and they walked up to it.
"You will be living here from today onwards. I hope you like it here as much as I do!" She smiled. Then, grabbing his arm, she kept going.
"Here is Kana's shop. He sells pets. And if you want to rent a horse, he is the man."
Kana's shop, or the Animal's shop, as the sign said, had 2 lanterns hanging from the ceiling, a fenced area and a pretty worn-out stable. Philip felt almost obliged to fix that barn for whoever that Kana person was.
"Here is Dirk's house. He is our mailman. It is thanks to him that we could exchange letters!"
The house would be pretty normal if not for a huge mail box right in front of it along with a small field where he had some summer crops ready to harvest. They walked down the road and arrived to what seemed like the downtown area. The first thing he noticed was a huge building. Lilian seemed to notice his interest and said that it was the town hall.
"Ina is there most of the time. It would be good if you become friends with her. She is very strict and serious, but she is really caring too."
She showed him the message board and told him that townspeople liked when you help them. Then she showed him the doors to the town hall. She explained that the place would be closed now since Ina was at the farm helping with the moving. In front of it there was a somewhat big farm and, in it, a black haired girl with pink clothes worked.
"Hey Nori!" Lilian waved to the girl, who turned and waved back. "I'll talk to you after introducing my brother to Gombe!"
Nori smiled and went back to her work while Lilian brought Philip inside the house. Inside they meet an old man with big ears and a sakkat. The man, despite his old age, was cheerful and playful. Philip was still trying to figure out if that was good or bad when Lilian started to drag him again. This time, they didn't go too far. Nori was already coming back inside while Gombe was going out.
"Nori, this is my brother. Be nice to him, please," Lilian said, bowing her head.
"Nice to meet you Lilian's brother," Nori said with a polite smile.
"I have a name, you know. It is Philip," he snarled.
Lilian panicked and started to push him out while apologizing while Nori just watched them with curious eyes.
"You didn't need to be so rude to her! She is my friend, you know?" Lilian scolded.
They went all the way back to the main road with Lilian bugging him about how rude he was. But he didn't care. Lilian was introducing him to everyone as "the brother I told you about", so probably the girl already knew his name. Calling him as Lilian's brother was almost as if she was denying his existence and that pissed him off.
"Ok, we are on the next stop. Here is the doctor's office. Her name is Ayame. Be careful, she is sharp."
"I can listen to you, Lilian," a woman's voice said from behind the girl.
Lilian jumped when she turned back to the door just to find it open and the doctor standing in there. She blushed deeply and looked to the ground. It was Philip's chance to change things a bit.
"Forgive my sister, miss Ayame. And nice to meet you, I'm Philip," he greeted.
"Heh heh. Interesting. Nice to meet you, Philip."
They didn't stay there for long before Lilian was dragging him to the next place. Outside it looked like any other house in town, but inside they found plenty of things that, for sure, didn't match the rest of the place.
"This is Raul's shop. You can buy a lot of things here. And his shop is open almost the whole day, too."
Then they went back the same road a bit and turned to the right to a nice and big house with a balcony.
"This is Yun's tea house," Lilian said with a faint smile. "But let's not bother her now. Come."
They crossed a bridge and walked down a small road to another house with an orchard by it. Lilian didn't knock on the door, but instead, she walked up to a huge man that was working on the orchards.
"Hey Mako!" She called out.
"Hello Lilian. Came to talk about fruits again?" The man replied, his back still turned to them as he used the palm of his hand to sweep the sweat from his forehead.
"Actually I came to introduce my brother," Lilian started.
"I'm Philip," he said quickly before Lilian could add anything.
"Hello boy. Where did you come from? Are there any rare fruits in there? Do you have any with you?"
"Err... I..."
When the huge man faced them Philip noticed his eye patch. That man looked like a pirate. And a dangerous one too! He didn't know how to react and Lilian didn't notice it at all. That's when he heard a voice from behind him.
"You're scaring him, Mako."
"Harr harr, I'm sorry, when I start talking about fruits I can't stop," he said, laughing wholeheartedly.
Philip turned and saw a girl with teal clothes. Her hair was black and had some braids on the back. She had sharp eyes and her face was as serious as Ina's. To his surprise, Lilian hugged the girl in her always spontaneous way. He was about to pull her back when the girl patted Lilian's back with what looked like a smile.
"Phil, this is Reina. She is a botanist. And wonder what? She is from our hometown!" She said excitedly.
"Ah," he started, not knowing how to react. "Nice to meet you... Reina."
Philip was nervous but he didn't know if it was by his surprise after seeing Reina's smile, if it was about her being from the same hometown or if it was because of his sudden memories from his hometown that invaded his mind.

They were finally back to the farm and Ina was waiting for them.
"Today is the last day of summer, so you don't need to worry," Inan started. "Your sister already planted a lot of crops here. But on the next season, I'm counting on you."
"Yes, thanks again Miss Ina," he thanked her.
"If you need anything, just ask me or anyone else whose you might feel more comfortable." And after saying that, she looked to Lilian. "You should go back to Bluebell now, it is getting late."
"Do not worry, I brought my horse. It is tied on the woods."
"Then I'm going," Ina said. "Hope you enjoy your stay here, Philip."
Ina had already left when Lilian finally said something.
"Sorry for bringing you all the way to here."
"It is ok," he said, stretching his back. "But you really should have called me faster if you were feeling alone."
Once again Lilian buried her face on his chest, this time clinging on his clothes. He knew that she would always do that when she was feeling guilty so he was going to hug her when she parted from his arms with a smile on her face.
"Thanks for being here. I'll go back to Bluebell now, but I'll come back tomorrow," she said while turning her back.
"I'll walk you to Bluebell," he offered.
"Ah, no," she said, waving her hand. "Bluebell is a bit far. It is better if you stay here," she advised.
"Then at least let me walk you to your horse," he said. "And I won't accept no as an answer," he demanded.
After Lilian left he felt exhaust. Her farm fields were already cleared. There were no animals inside the barn. There were no pets to feed or places to visit, so he thought it would be a good idea to go sleep early that day. "Tomorrow my new life starts", he thought. And he still had to go to Bluebell to know the people around there. After all, it was the place where Lilian would be living. Not to mention that he still haven't found the guy that was with her on the docks back then. Who was him? What was their relationship? The more Philip thought about that, the more it bugged him. And it would be useless to ask her. He had to find it out by himself.