Chapter 7: Speaking of Dolphin

The incident with the Wizard in the graveyard was quickly forgotten, as in the days that followed, the Wizard refused to answer Sage's questioning. He simply told her to bring the items he had requested. Yes, he felt fine. And no, he didn't want to talk about what happened.

On top of that, Sage had been very busy. Summer was in full swing and she had planted a lot of tomatoes hoping to harvest a shining one. The farmer from the Marimba farm, Craig, had tersely explained to her that if she cared and fertilized her crops religiously, she might end up with a shining product. He had also muttered "amateur" under his breath, which Sage had pretended not to hear. But as soon as Craig turned his back, she had rolled her eyes and made some funny faces, which caused Finn to giggle uncontrollably. It was childish she knew, but sometimes she just couldn't help herself. On the other hand, Sage knew that farmer Craig, crabby as he was, knew his stuff, so she decided to follow his advice and spent some of her hard-earned money from her part-time job at the Town Hall office, on the best fertilizer she could afford.

She woke up at dawn as usual and got dressed in her work clothes. After splashing cold water on her face to chase away her sleepiness, she headed outside. She brushed and fed her new calf, Daisy, which was purchased from the Horn Ranch. She wasn't sure why cows needed brushing. However, the nice lady at the Horn Ranch, Hanna, had given her a cow brush and had told her that it was essential that she brushed Daisy every day. Since Daisy seemed to enjoy the brushing, Sage figured there must be something to this brushing the cows thing. That chore done, she went out of the barn to water and weed her crops before the comfortable summer morning turned into a scorching one.

After the chores, she showered, put on a fresh set of clothes, had her breakfast and started to prepare her lunch box. Today, she would be working at the Town Hall office. After a hesitation, she decided to prepare another lunch box for Gill. She had noticed how he usually skipped lunch, opting to work instead. Once in awhile Luke, Owen or Luna from the Tailor shop, would drop by and try to drag Gill's out for lunch. A lot of times however, he would decline. Sage also remembered that Gill had visited her at the Clinic when she had to be hospitalized from the poisonous gasses, and he had dropped by the farm on the day after, to check on her. She figured she owed him a lunch box, nothing fancy, just a simple tomato sandwich. A sandwich would let him eat lunch and work at the same time if he wished. Plus she knew he loved tomatoes. Tomatoes and paperwork. Those were the two things Gill loved more than anything. And tailored suits. Make that three things Gill loved more than anything.

The rest of the morning flew by quickly. Sage was relieved, for she had almost finished filling every single paper in the Town Hall office. The end of the mind-bogglingly boring task of filling, she felt, was near. The office cuckoo clock chimed twelve times signaling the start of her lunch hour. She took out one lunch box out of her pack and walked towards Gill's desk.

"Here. This is for you. I am going out for lunch. See you after lunch," She said, placing the lunch box on Gill's desk.

"Oh...thanks...," Gill said. When Sage stepped away from his desk, he called her name.

"Sage, wait! Where are you going? There is something I want to talk to you about," He said. Sage turned around and knitted her eyebrows.

"I was going to the Lighthouse to have my lunch. Why? What is in your mind?" she asked. Gill stood up and grabbed his suit jacket. No matter how hot the summer days had become, he still insisted of wearing a tailored suit to the office. He opted to skip the vest today because the day would be too hot for it.

"I need some air. Let's go. Let's have our lunch at the Lighthouse," he said as he put on his suit jacket and picked up the lunch box that Sage gave him.

"Er...sure..."

As they were about to leave, a girl burst into the Town Hall office. She was dressed in a pink, full-skirted dress decorated with abundance of lace, mother-of-pearls and ribbons. Her pink, curly hair was divided into huge pigtails, framing her delicate face and a small, upturn nose. A subtle flowery scent emanated from her. Luna. The queen of fashion. The goddess of cuteness. Sage looked down at her own clothes, and felt shabby. Being in the same room with Luna always made Sage feel shabby. And envious. She wished once again that she was as cute and fashionable as Luna.

"Hello Gill. Do you want to go out for lunch today?" Luna chirped breathlessly. According to what Sage had heard, Luna worked as an idol in the big city for a few years before returning home to Harmonica Town. Yup, she was that cute.

"Oh hello Luna. Not today, sorry. We are going to have a picnic lunch, Sage and I," Gill said.

"Oh...?" Luna wrinkled her nose cutely, "Where are you going? Can I come?"

"Not today. There is something Sage and I need to discuss...," Gill said.

"In private," he continued, as Luna was following him to the door. Gill opened the office door and held it open.

"Fine," Luna said, "Don't forget to come to the shop later and pick up your new suit". Then she walked out of the Town Hall office with her head held high. Sage followed after Luna carrying her lunch box and a small cooler.

Gill closed the office door behind Sage and together, they headed towards the Lighthouse.

"What's in the cooler?" Gill asked, making small talk. He expected that Sage would tell him it was filled with iced tea or soda.

"Fish," Sage responded.

"Fish?" Gill raised his eyebrows.

"Yup, fresh fish I caught yesterday. I need to befriend a dolphin. They like fish, you see."

Gill groaned. This girl is getting crazier, and crazier every day. She really drove him crazy, he thought. Okay, okay, calm down, he told himself. That must be an explanation for all these madness. Gill took a deep breath.

"Okay...and why do you need to befriend a dolphin?" he asked, dreading the answer Sage was going to give him.

"Er...well, I need to meet a mermaid..." Sage's voice faltering. She sighed and kept her eyes on the ground. She was afraid to look up as she was pretty sure Gill was giving her one of his exasperated looks right about now. She was quite sure that he thought she was completely mad. Stupid wizard with his stupid quest. Sage cursed inwardly.

"Does this mermaid have something to do with finding the Harvest Goddess?"

Sage stopped walking and whipped her head towards Gill in surprise. There was no snappy, impatience tone in his voice this time. That was new, she thought. Usually when the Harvest Goddess was mentioned, Gill would get all prissy. She was wondering if he was making fun of her so she looked up and looked directly into his eyes. There was no sign of malice in his eyes. He seemed serious and sincere. She relaxed a little and continued walking.

"Well, yes, sort of. You see the Wizard had asked me..." Sage recounted the story of the Goddess, the Witch of the Fugue forest, the Wizard, and the items the Wizard had asked her to find.

"I see...so you have the silver already, and if you are lucky, you may have a shining tomato in your next harvest. Now it is just the question of where to find the Mermaid's tears," Gill summarized, counting with his fingers. A soft breeze scented with the salty smell of the sea brushed through his hair. Gill and Sage have reached the Lighthouse. They were now standing by the white fence that separated the Lighthouse ground from the plunging cliff beyond.

"Right. And Selena told me a dolphin should be able to tell me where the mermaids live. That's why I need to befriend one," Sage put down her cooler on the ground. She shaded her eyes and gazed at the sea. I hope it is here today, she thought. Then she sighted a small, shiny head emerged from the sea. Here comes the dolphin, she said to Gill. She had spotted the dolphin a couple of days ago and had decided to feed it some fish. She bent down and opened her cooler, took the fish and flung it towards the dolphin. The dolphin leaped into the air, caught the fish and gracefully fell back into the waters. A couple of second later, it re-emerged, leaping backwards to form a quick loop in the air before it swam away. Sage watched the dolphin with a smile on her face. She definitely preferred dolphins than moles. Dolphins were much cuter. And they preferred fish for lunch.

Gill was deep in thought. He approached the park bench nearby and took off his suit jacket. Carefully, he draped the jacket over the bench and rolled his shirt sleeves up a few times. He sat and called out to Sage.

"Sage, how are you going to tell that Dolphin that you want to meet a mermaid?" he asked.

"Don't tell me you don't know how to speak dolphin," he continued, when she didn't answer him.

For once Sage was speechless. She hadn't thought this through. She had been preoccupied with finding mermaids and dolphin that she hadn't thought about how to communicate with the dolphin after she befriended it. Gill was right, how she was supposed to ask the Dolphin anything if she didn't speak Dolphin? Her mind was racing. She sat beside Gill on the bench and opened her lunch box.

"Have you asked the Wizard? Maybe he knows a spell that, you know, make you speak Dolphin," Gill licked a spot of mayonnaise off his thumb. Then he took a big bite out of his sandwich.

"The Wizard of course! That's it. That's how I am going to talk to the Dolphin," Sage brightened. Then after a moment she turned her face towards Gill.

"Now you sound as crazy as I do, you do know that, don't you? " Sage asked with a grin.

"What can I say. Craziness must be infectious," Gill responded while trying to keep a straight face. At the corner of his eyes, he thought he saw something sparkled. Must be the sea, he thought, sparkled under the summer sun. But even if it wasn't the sea, even if it was something else, Gill felt that he would be okay with that. He took another bite of his sandwich and glanced sideways at Sage who was still grinning at him. There were small dimples at the corner of her mouth. He had noticed the dimples long time ago of course, but he had never noticed how well they suited her. He had to admit although Sage was not the most beautiful woman he had ever met, with her tiger eyes and her dimples, she was pretty easy on the eyes. Yup, he would definitely be okay with that.

End of Chapter 7

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