Yay, many updates! I actually have over 30 pages written for this one, so I'm probably going to do weekly updates (or every two weeks, depending on demand) and focus into writing more for Sweet and Sour. Thank you so much for reading A Very Fond Farewell! :)
Dilan closed the door and shivered as she stepped outside. It was the middle of the day, but it was still spring and she had forgotten a jacket. I'll have to look into buying a jacket when I go to the Tailor's, she thought, heading off in the direction of Horn Ranch. As she reached the top of the hill that led to Horn Ranch, Dilan noticed a small, overgrown path that led into the woods. She walked over to investigate and found a sign that said "Fugue Forest", and two large gates that led beyond, shut and locked with a padlock. Dilan decided to ask Mayor Hamilton where the key was and explore once she'd gone through town and met everyone. She backtracked to the top of the hill and walked down to the ranch. There was not a soul in sight, so she peered into the open doors of the huge barn that was built a little ways down from the ranch house. The barn was warm and bright and smelled of sweet-cut hay. There were horses, cows, sheep, goats, and ostriches all lined up at troughs that were neatly organized in the middle of the room.
"Hello," a small-built young woman stepped out from the other side of a horse she'd been grooming. "If you're looking to buy livestock, you're going to want to check with my mother, Hanna, in the ranch house."
"I'm just looking to introduce myself," Dilan smiled and extended a hand for the girl to shake. "My name is Angela. I just bought the old ranch up by the beach."
"It's so nice to meet you!" the girl grinned broadly and pumped Dilan's hand up and down. "I'm Renee, and this is my father, Cain." Renee gestured to a large black cow that was standing beside the horse she'd been grooming. Dilan gave Renee a weird look, then looked at the cow, and then looked at Renee again.
"Your father is…?" Dilan began, confused.
"I'm behind the cow," a man's head popped up over the cow. "Sorry, I was in the middle of milking. I'm Cain, and it's wonderful to have a new rancher. We love getting new young folk here." Cain grinned and made his way over to Dilan, also shaking her hand with a firm grip.
"So, you're just starting up your ranch?" Renee asked, a gleam in her eye.
"Yes, I've just picked up some seeds from Ruth at Marimba Farm," Dilan replied, laughing nervously. "I was hoping to get a goose and maybe a cow."
"Well, Piccolo over here just birthed a new calf," Cain began, beaming at his daughter. "We're pretty full here, and I'm sure Renee wouldn't mind if you took care of the little one."
"Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that!" Dilan gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. "Wouldn't you be losing money?"
"It's not about the money," Renee replied, leading a little calf over to Dilan with a gentle smile. "It's about being neighborly. Take one of these brushes, as well. If you brush her every day, she'll stay squeaky clean and she'll learn to really love you." Renee handed a lead to Dilan and clipped it onto the harness of the calf.
"I don't know how to thank you," Dilan stood in shock before crushing Renee into a hug. Renee laughed in surprise but embraced Dilan as well. Cain was not surprised when he was the next victim, and Dilan led her new calf away from the farm with the sound of laughter in the air.
Dilan had gone through Harmonica Town, meeting the beautiful sisters at Sonata Tailoring (who had promised to make her a jacket), joking with Kathy and Hayden at the Brass Bar, and having a lovely conversation with the couple that owned the Ocarina Inn, Colleen and Jake, and Colleen's mother, Yolanda. Dilan decided that she should visit the church, as she had attended church on the mainland and there was only one here on the island. As she climbed the well-paved stone steps to the church, Dilan noticed that the sun was already beginning to set, casting a lovely orange glow on everything. She walked to the center of a little courtyard that was right in front of the church and looked around. As she turned, she saw a ledge that overlooked the ocean, and the entire town; and someone was standing there. Dilan cautiously approached, clearing her throat a bit.
"Hello?" she began timidly, squinting her eyes against the sunlight as she got near enough to the figure to touch it. "My name is Angela, I'm new here, and I-" Dilan gasped when she recognized the figure, who had turned around and now looked at her with very sad violet eyes. "It's you! My first neighbor!"
"Yeah, hi," the young man sighed with boredom, leaning against the stone railing that surrounded the platform and propping his chin under his fist. "We've met."
"Well, I ran into you," Dilan corrected cheerfully, hopping up onto the railing so that she didn't have to look into the sun to see him. He glanced up at her with his eyebrows raised nonchalantly, clearly trying to convey his want to be alone. "We didn't really introduce ourselves." She stuck out a hand. "My name is Angela. What's yours?"
"I'm Chase," the young man stared at Dilan's hand as if she were offering him a plate of worms until she slowly lowered it.
"So, Chase," Dilan smiled. The name felt good on her tongue. "What do you do? I'm a rancher. I bought the land down by the beach."
"I'm a cook," Chase replied, sighing in surrender and running his hands through his hair again. Dilan noticed that some of his hair didn't budge, and was held in place by bobby pins. "I work at the Ocarina Inn and the Brass Bar. Not that it really matters, anyway. The fire's not hot enough for me to cook any decent food."
"So, have you worked on the mainland? It seems like you're used to better cooking conditions," Dilan asked curiously, studying Chase's face.
"Yeah, I worked in the city a bit," Chase replied, his face darkening. "Then I moved here for some peace. The fire used to be so much better…everything used to have so much life and now it's just…dead in some way."
"I wish I would've seen it in its prime, then," Dilan smiled, thinking about how the island could have been any better. "Even now, this island is so full of life!"
"What do you mean?" Chase glanced up at her, face actually registering curiosity.
"Well, all the people are so nice," Dilan explained, smiling at him. "I don't think it's the island itself that's full of life, but rather the people. I mean, I went over to Marimba Farm and Ruth told me how the soil is not as fertile as it used to be. But everyone here still lives and is happy living, and they have all been so enthusiastic welcoming me…it's not like that in the city." She shut her mouth abruptly, realizing she had been rambling, and took a sideways glance at Chase. He looked surprised, and had seemed to listen to every word she'd said.
"I never really thought about it that way," Chase turned his head to look out onto the ocean. "I guess I'm just not really alive in that way."
"I think you were pretty lively when you shot me those sarcastic remarks," Dilan suggested, hopping back off of the wall with a shrug. "Either way, I'm glad that you're alive, and I'm glad that this island is so alive. I think it's rather pointless to give up on living, don't you?"
"…I have to get to work," Chase stated, turning his head away from Dilan as he trudged back down the stairs.
"See you later!" Dilan called after him, grinning and waving. She got a halfhearted wave in reply, and Chase didn't even turn around. With another shrug of her own, Dilan walked into the church to meet the pastor, Perry. It was dark by the time Dilan got out of the church and out of a long theological discussion with Perry, so she started scurrying back down the steps and past the bulletin board before turning back when she heard her fake name called. It was Luna, the younger of the sisters that worked at Sonata Tailoring.
"Angela, I called your name like five times!" Luna complained, trotting over to Dilan and grabbing her hand.
"Sorry, my ears don't work too well," Dilan gave a helpless laugh. I need to get used to being called Angela, she thought dryly.
"We're heading to the Brass Bar to meet up with Owen, Luke, Julius, and Pheobe from Garmon Mines," Luna laughed, pulling Dilan in the direction of the bar and Candace, the elder sister, who waved timidly and twisted her big blue braids nervously. "Come with us!"
"Well, I have to get back to the ranch and get settled in a bit," Dilan protested halfheartedly. At Luna's crestfallen look, she added, "You know what? There's always time for that tomorrow. I'd love to join you!"
"Awesome!" Luna fist pumped the sky and dragged Dilan and Candace through the door and into the painfully bright bar. Dilan blinked a few times in order to get used to the light, and then gasped in admiration at the beauty of the inside. The floor was dark lacquered wood, and polished to shine. The bar was homely and tended by a man with a huge, bushy beard and a loud laugh. A beautiful blonde, dressed a bit provocatively, weaved between tables delivering drinks and dishes of food with a dazzling smile, which only got wider when she spotted the girls that just entered.
"Angela! I'm so glad you could make it!" Kathy beamed, putting an arm around the new rancher, leading her, Luna, and Candace over to a table that was packed with chairs, four of them full. "All right everybody!" Kathy announced, gaining the attention of the three males and one female that were seated at the table. "I want to introduce Angela, the new rancher in town. Angela, this is Owen, Luke, Julius, and Phoebe. They live up in the Garmon Mines district of the island, and you'd have a nice little path to it if someone could get their little housemate to fix the damn bridge!" Owen, a dark redhead, smiled at Dilan and waved before laughing at what Kathy said.
"Hey, I'm not my father's apprentice's keeper," a golden-eyed, blue-haired young man protested. He wore a bandana on his head and had a large axe propped up against the leg of his chair. He turned to Dilan with a friendly and slightly insane grin. "I'm Luke. I'm the carpenter's son, so whatever you need done to your house or barn, we can handle it! We take things to the EXTREME!" Dilan laughed, surveying the two others that were sitting at the table. Phoebe was a green-haired beauty that wore a pair of red glasses that seemed a bit big for her face. She was laughing loudly with Luna and having a great time leading the conversation that was going on between the group that excluded Julius and Candace. Julius had long purple hair that was streaked with gold and even a bit of pink. He talked to Candace quietly, but often flung his hands in exaggerated motions or raised his voice a bit louder than necessary. Dilan grinned at the group and was about to sit down when her stomach grumbled loudly, shocking the friends gathered into laughter.
"Hey, Kathy! Angela needs some food, stat!" Luke called, pounding his fist on the table and making everyone's drinks jump. Kathy yelled back at him with some choice words and made her way over to where the group was sitting.
"What do you want to eat, Angela?" Kathy asked, opening up a notepad and grinning. "Chase can cook just about anything."
"Oh, yeah! Chase works here!" Dilan grinned excitedly while the rest of the table groaned or guffawed. "I'll have the cook's choice, whatever he wants to make! And maybe an orange cocktail to drink…I love orange juice!" Kathy walked away, shaking her head and snickering a bit. Dilan turned back to the group. "What's wrong with Chase?"
"Where do we start?" Luke laughed, pounding his fist on the table again and earning another choice word from Kathy. "He's so not EXTREME!"
"Chase is just…not a very socially adept person, if you know what I mean," Phoebe explained expertly, adjusting her glasses and taking a sip of her grape cocktail as she did so.
"He's so mean!" added Luna, pouting a bit. "He's always insulting people!"
"He wasn't mean to me," Dilan replied, confused a bit.
"Honey, I'm sure you didn't think he was," Julius cooed, flapping a hand. "But I'm sure that he was insulting you in his own special way."
"Here's what Chase made you, it's some yakisoba," Kathy set down a steaming plate in front of Dilan and plopped down a fancy beverage glass as well. "That'll be 300 G."
"Thank you!" Dilan beamed and dug the money out of her backpack, giving Kathy the correct amount before digging into her food. "It's so yummy!" A small drop of drool escaped from Dilan's lips as she was chewing a forkful of the food, making everyone point at it and bust out laughing. Dilan shrieked and wiped her mouth immediately with a napkin.
"I'll be sure to mention this to the chef," Kathy wiped a tear from her eye and went back behind the bar, where she joined Hayden in cleaning the glasses.
"So, Angela," Luke grinned at the farmer and leaned his chin on his fist. "What brings you to Castanet?" The rest of the group nodded eagerly, turning to see what the young rancher would say next. Dilan swallowed her food hard, laughing nervously and patting her mouth with her napkin.
"I just got bored with city life," Dilan replied with a small smile. It wasn't a total lie. "I finished up my bachelor's degree in agriculture and decided to get some hands-on experience." Still not a total lie, she did have a bachelor's degree in agriculture.
"That's so cool!" Phoebe exclaimed, scooting closer to Dilan. "What's college like? Is that knowledge useful to you now?"
"Of course," Dilan laughed, gulping down her orange cocktail. "All knowledge is useful. We only deem it unnecessary when it doesn't apply to the situation that we're in."
"A philosopher, are we?" Luna giggled, looping arms with Dilan. "You should help out at the school, Angela."
"Well, I don't know much about teaching," Dilan replied, smiling at the girl. "I'll just focus on the whole ranch thing for now."
"Sorry to be that guy, everybody," Luke pushed his chair back and stood up with a yawn and a stretch. "I have to get going, I have some orders to fill tomorrow morning and Dad doesn't like it when I get behind."
"We do all have jobs tomorrow morning," Candace murmured regretfully, glancing at Julius.
"We should do this again tomorrow night," Dilan smiled at her new friends. "I really had a great time meeting you all and hanging out."
"Let's do it!" Luna fist pumped the air again. "Tomorrow night at 6:00, let's all meet right here again!"
"Sounds like an EXTREME plan!" Luke raised his axe and cheered. "See you all tomorrow!"
This is probably what the length of a chapter is going to be, but if you'd prefer longer (or shorter) chapters, please let me know in the comments! I'd also love any advice, so even a comment about something you don't like would be awesome to hear about! I'd be happy to answer any questions or just chat about the story, so go ahead and leave a comment or message me! Thank you so much for reading! :)
