"Leo, my boy, how's the fish catching today?" Leo looked up to see the old fisherman strolling lazily towards him, bucket in one hand and his fishing pole in the other. The younger of the two smiled.

"It's catching, all right, though they seem to be less interested than they were this morning."

Willy grunted as he put his bucket down between them before looking sagely out at the forest river.

"Wind's been picking up?" he finally asked, without taking his eyes off the waters.

Leo mulled it over for a while before saying "Yeah, actually now that I think about it, it has."

The older man nodded at that "And you've been using the same tackle all day?"

At that, Leo smiled sheepishly, finally seeing where the old fisherman was going with this.

Rearranging the pipe in his mouth, Willy flashed a boyish grin and squatted down to rummage in his bucket before pulling up a tackle that looked like an oversized wine cork.

"This one should do it" he said, handing the tackle to Leo who took it gratefully, reeling in his snare and began to swap his old, worn tackle with the new one.

Willy had been one of the first people he had met in Pelican Town and they had hit it off right from the start. Leo's late father had taught him fishing when he was very young and he had been ecstatic to receive Willy's old fishing pole, eager to recall his forgotten fishing skills.

The old fisherman reminded Leo a lot of his father and he liked to believe the older's affection reflected his own. They didn't talk a whole lot but enjoyed each other's quiet company every now and then- especially on the weekends when Willy closed his shop.

Today was such a day, a quiet Saturday afternoon. The rays of the sun were enough to blind the eyes, yet despite its glare, it was freezing outside. Most of the snow had melted away, as it was nearing the end of the winter season, but there was a cold wind blowing through the valley and it seemed to have gathered its power as the day went by.

Fishing in the winter would have been a near impossible task if it weren't for the green wool gloves his mother had sent him late last fall. She had sworn she had knitted them herself, but he would have found that hard to believe even if he hadn't found the tag inside that read 'made in Zuzu city.' It was the thought that counted however, and he found himself immensely grateful for the gift.

A fish soon tugged at his pole, dragging him back to the present. The fish thrashed and pulled at the snare as Leo carefully turned the spool. Finally, the scaled beast emerged from the water, a crimson-bellied Tiger Trout.

"There's a handsome one! Great job, son!" Willy bellowed, making the younger of the two grin appreciatively as he placed the fish with the rest of the day's catch in his own bucket. Soon they were back to a comfortable silence.

Willy, with his pipe releasing smoke like a small chimney top, caught far more fish than Leo did, though he himself did pretty well and found himself happy with the haul. It should give him enough coins for feed for the animals throughout the whole next week, as well as a beer or two at the saloon.

At the thought of alcohol, Leo's mind turned back to that incident when he and Shane ran into a certain valley jock. Quickly glancing at the fisherman and then back to his bobbing tackle, he cleared his throat and opened his mouth,

"I met Alex the other day." he said conversationally, sounding casual.

"Hm?" said the fisherman distractedly before his eyes seemed to come back into focus. "Did ye now?"

"Yeah, he was out running- it was pretty late, just past midnight I think."

The old fisherman chuckled at that, "he's an amusing one, can't stop thinking about that ball game of his and muscle building and whatnot. When I was young all I ever thought about was how I could win the next fishing competition- there were a lot more of them back then, one for every season!"

"Ah." Replied Leo dumbly before picking up the thread again before the fisherman managed to completely change the subject, "well, anyway, when I met him he was pretty rude. I was helping Shane home, you know," Willy didn't need to reply, everyone in Pelican Town knew about Shane's 'little problem',

"And we bumped into Alex who, completely out of the blue, called us 'useless drunks.'" Willy winced at that, giving Leo the confidence to continue on the subject,

"You know, I kind of expected him to spit on us, they way he looked at us, but then he just turned away and started jogging again. You know what that could have been about? I mean, I've never even had a full conversation with the kid, I'd just like to understand why he'd say something like that to someone he doesn't know."

There was a long while in which the fisherman contemplated this, chewing on his pipe as he did. The wind picked up speed again and in one powerful gust, blew Leo's teal-colored hair out of his face and then blew the strands back into his eyes. He would need to cut it sometime soon, knowing full well his hair would absolutely drive him insane come spring when he began watering his crops once again and he wouldn't be able to see out of his eyes because of his bangs.

"That boy-" Willy finally said, causing Leo to jolt with surprise at the sound of the deep voice,

"- has had a rather troubled life, young as he is. It is not my place to to tell you his story, but I've known his grandparents from the time I was young- those two are ancients, I'm telli' ya," The man winked at Leo, who couldn't supress his smile. "I used to be a friend of Alex's parents, too... Before they moved to the city, that is."

It was as if a shadow befall on the fisherman's face, and suddenly he looked far older than he usually did. Leo averted his gaze to look across the unruly water and continued to listen in silence.

"Leo, I would like to ask you to show the boy a little patience. He could use someone to talk to, poor lad, and he doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the young'uns in the valley."

Then Willy went quiet once again, seemingly lost in though as he often did. Then, quite suddenly, the fisherman seemed to shake himself out of his stupor, glancing at Leo from the corner of his eye.

"Don't judge a book by its cover," he said wisely, which made Leo frown slightly.

He hadn't judged the book by its color. He'd read the first chapter, found it self-centered, judgemental and rude and had therefore quit reading said book.

He decided not to argue with the fisherman, however, and after a few more minutes of no further catch, he found himself becoming increasingly frustrated, so he reeled in his snare and picked up his bucket.

"Well I'd better get started on dinner. I'll see you later, Willy."

"Take care, lad," was the reply and Leo began to make his way towards his farm, passing Leah's cottage and aunt Marnie's ranch on the way.

The sun was starting to lower its head past the high mountains surrounding the valley. The wind had picked up even more and Leo made a mental note to double check the gates to the barn and the chicken coop once he got home. It looked like there would be another storm that night.