Note from the author: Sorry for the late update. School is giving a homework overdose this year. I'm not sure how soon I can write, but I do guarantee a chapter to be published the week of Thanksgiving. I also apologize for the size of this chapter. I hope to write a longer one next time. Sorry for any errors in the chapter and hope you all enjoy it. :)
On another note I would like to thank Firestripe49 and lnex for their votes. Feel free to vote again whether for the same character or a different one!
While I'm on the subject of voting... I decided that chapter eight is the last chapter for voting. Chapter nine will announce the winner and chapter ten will be in the winner's POV. Happy voting!
"An empty can." I groaned. The rain was still coming down pretty hard. I thought about going inside and rejoining Liesey and Chelsea, but my determination to catch a fish was too strong. I tossed the empty can in my rucksack and tossed my line again. A few minutes later I got another tug. I pulled and reeled up a small Whitefin Jack. Small was an understatement. It was tiny. It was a little bigger that the size of my palm. Is this even legal to keep?
"Hey there, nice catch." A voice said with laughter.
I rolled my eyes and turned around to see Denny standing behind me. He had a big grin on his face. "What are you doing here?" I asked.
"About to fish, but I saw you here, so I wanted to say hi to you and your great catch." He said.
The sarcasm was starting to annoy me. "If you like it so much, you can have it." I retorted, extending the fish to him.
He raised a brow and smiled, taking the fish. "Thanks, I really like fish."
"You're welcome." I replied.
"Is that Nina's rod." He asked.
"Yeah how did you know?"
"She showed it to me yesterday. Although I don't think she knows how to use it. She kept asking me questions about it and where the best spots were."
I laughed, "She probably doesn't." A thought occurred to me. She was probably trying to get him to show her how to use it to spend more time with him. If they spend more time together, then we can get his household stone faster. "Why don't you offer to teach her?" He had a questioning expression so I added, "You are a great fisherman after all."
He took the bait and smiled at the compliment. "Yeah I should teach her."
I smiled, "I have to get going. I'll see you around later Denny."
I headed off as he waved bye. I headed back to the inn.
"Any more questions?" Liesey asked Chelsea, as I walked in.
"Cally, you're soaked!" Chelsea exclaimed. She then turned to Liesey. "Not at the moment, thanks for answering my questions."
"No problem. Cally, why did you stay out so long?" Liesey asked.
"I was trying to catch a fish." I replied.
"Oooh, what did you catch?" Chelsea asked.
I hesitated. Then I pulled out the can. "An empty can!" I said with fake enthusiasm. They busted out laughing. I didn't bother to tell them about my other catch. After they finished laughing Liesey got up and fetched a towel. She tossed it to me and I dried myself off.
"Do you guys want to go to the café for dinner? My treat." Liesey offered.
"Sure!" Chelsea replied. I nodded. We took off to the café. We sat at one of the corner tables and Nina skipped over to us.
"What's up?" she asked, sitting down.
"Nina, don't you have to work?" I asked.
"My shift's ending in a few minutes." She replied. I nodded. The four of us chatted for a while and ordered some toasted rice balls, sandwiches and water.
After Chelsea and I finished eating, we headed home to find the house upgrade completed. The outside looked less shack like and the inside was quite a bit bigger.
"This is fantastic." Chelsea smiled.
"It's great. Now we can probably get a kitchen soon." I added.
"Can you cook Cally?" Chelsea asked.
"Depends on what I'm making. How about you?"
"I've never tried." Chelsea laughed. "I never really had to cook before. Will you show me?"
"I can show what I know, but I think it's best if we get some recipes from Nick and Haila first."
"That sounds good. I guess we should get to bed soon."
I nodded in agreement and about ten minutes later, I was snuggled up in my sleeping bag. I wonder if Chen sells any extra beds. I don't want to sleep on the floor forever.
The next morning Chelsea and I headed out the door and were met by Gannon.
"Good timing ladies. You heading out? I built a coop as you requested. Go take a look. I'm done with the work you requested. See ya." He said. He then turned and started walking off.
"Thank you," we shouted as he headed towards the bridge. We headed towards the coop and walked inside.
"What a nice chicken coop!" a voice said. We turned to see Mirabelle walking over to us, with two chicks behind her. "Let me give you girls a present to help fill it up." The chicks peeped. "So, what do you want to name them?"
Chelsea scooped up one of the chicks and held it close. "Awwww. You are so cute. I'm going to name you Angel." The chick tilted its head and tweeted.
I picked up the other chick. It gave me an odd look. Huh? What's with that look? Oh well hmmm, I need a name. I usually name my first chicken Nina, but I guess that's probably not going to work this time around. "I'm going to call her Pepper." I said.
"Those are nice names. Well do you want to learn how to take care of chickens?" Mirabelle asked.
We nodded and she instructed us on how to feed the chickens and store the feed. After she left, Chelsea played with Angel. Pepper glared at me. What's with this chick?
"They're so cute. Don't you think so?" she asked.
"Yeah." I said half-heartedly.
She cocked her head and gave me a questioning look. Then a look of shock came across her face. "Chelsea, what's wrong?"
"I forgot to buy more seeds yesterday. Chen's shop is closed today." She frowned. "I don't have any crops to tend to."
"You can help water mine." I joked.
"Really? I'll go grab my watering can." She said, sprinting out the coop.
"Chelsea wait you don't have to if you don't want to," I shouted, but she was out of earshot. I sighed. I stared at the two chicks in front of me. They were both glaring at me. Angel proceeded to attack me. I stood up as soon as she started pecking. She continued to peck at my boots. "Angel, stop it." I said, but the chick kept at it. Angel, how ironic. Kind of should have expected it be so anyway after reading the Maximum Ride series. Wait a second. Is Pepper smirking at me? What the heck? I stared at the two demonic chicks. They stared back coldly. What did I ever do to them? I promptly exited after the minute stare-down. Okay, so I guess I can try to convince Chelsea to do most of the coop work. Maybe.
"Cally, what took so long?" Chelsea asked. "I already finished watering. Want to go to Mirabelle's shop? We need to get some feed."
"Sure, I guess." I frowned. "Hey Chelsea, did Angel or Pepper seem off to you?"
"No, what do you mean?"
"They were a bit bitter towards me after you left." I said. A bit bitter was an understatement, but I had to let the idea sink into her first.
"Really? They seemed fine to me. Maybe they were hungry?" Chelsea suggested.
"Maybe.." I trailed off, as we headed off towards the animal shop.
Today started off great. Mirabelle came by with two horses. One was pure white, with a cream mane. The other was a chestnut brown, with a chocolate brown mane. She taught us how to train them for the festival and how to care for them. Chelsea chose the white horse and named her Princess. I was excited when Chelsea selected Princess, because I love brown horses. I named mine Mocha. After tending to our farm work Chelsea and I were on our way to Meadow Island, to raise an island.
I counted the sunstones we had. Eighteen. We can raise at least one island. I really wanted to raise Mystic Island, so I could have a proper conversation with the Harvest Goddess. We bumped into Nina and Liesey on the way to Kirk's boat.
"Cally, I have a surprise for you." Nina said, in a sing song voice.
"What is it?" I asked.
She smiled and held out two sunstones. "Courtesy of Denny."
"Thanks Nina, now we can probably raise two islands." I smiled. "Do you two want to come to Meadow Island with us?"
"Sure," Liesey replied. Nina nodded and the four of us headed off towards the boat. As we sat down, we talked about yesterday's Harmony Day.
Honestly yesterday was one of the best days we had in this world so far. I wasn't really expecting anything from anyone yesterday, because I was expecting the rule that bachelors having to be at a Purple Heart level to give presents to hold true. Fortunately for Chelsea and me, the rules bent a bit. Elliot, Denny, and Pierre all stopped by and gave Chelsea and me cookies. They were delicious and I still had some left over for nibbling on today's boat ride.
In addition to the unexpected cookies, yesterday was a sunstone gold mine. It was the fifth day of giving presents so everyone gave us the gift exchange sunstones. On top of that, we managed to get three house hold stones too! Later, Liesey, Nina and I decided we needed to start planning a surprise birthday party for Chelsea. We made a few plans and needed to talk a bit more about it. Overall, it was just an awesome day.
Chelsea and I decided to raise an island today, so here we were on the boat approaching the island.
Once we got to the island, we walked over to the shrine. Agete appeared.
"Do you want to raise an island?" he asked. We nodded. "Which one?"
"Mystic Island." I stated.
Agete frowned. "Sorry girls, but the Goddess asked that you raise a few islands before raising Mystic Island."
"What!?" I said. "Why?"
"I'm not quite sure. She doesn't really give us a reason for her orders." He replied.
I frowned. Well there goes my chance to talk to the Harvest Goddess. Wait, maybe not. "Volcano Island." I announced. Everyone looked at me, with questioning looks, but no arguments. "Does anyone else want an island raised? We have enough for another."
"Mushroom Island." Chelsea requested.
I nodded and turned to Agete. "Mushroom and Volcano Islands please." I said, holding out the twenty sunstones. He took them and they started to glow. A small tremor shook the island and off in the distance two islands were popping out of the ground. We were too far away to make out specific details, but it was quite a sight to behold. Everyone else was in awe too.
They finished raising and the other girls decided to stay on Meadow for an hour. I, on the other hand, dashed off to Kirk's boat. "There are two new islands. You should check them out." He said.
I smiled. "Kirk, can you take me to Volcano Island?"