Chapter 24
Prince Peasley, disguised as Haricot, an identity he created to deceive his own people to learn about them, left the castle and dashed towards Bean-bean Town, where a gathering of Beanish townspeople awaits the arrival of the hooded stranger.
As they wait, there is a tall Beanish among the townspeople. The tall Beanish has a yellow paintbrush-like hair, wears a plain yellow masquerade mask, black jumpsuit with a grinning green face, a red-colored belt around his waist, and a pair of white bracelets.
The townsperson said to the tall Beanish, "The stranger from the faraway land will come over soon to join us to your workstation in Bean-bean Fields."
The tall Beanish answered with a serious tone, "I hope this is worth the wait. If this stranger fails, I'm gonna splatter his face with a color he hopes is allergic and deadly to him!"
"Calm down," the townsperson replied, "don't let impatience get in the way of your judgment. Your work has greatly pleased the Beanish and we respect your time to make more of these."
As the hooded stranger arrived from the west entrance of town, he is greeted by the Beanish townspeople who were waiting for him. Prince Peasley greeted back politely.
One of the townspeople proceeded to introduce the hooded prince to the tall Beanish, "Haricot, meet Harhall, the master fashion stylist and tailor in town."
Harhall, the tall Beanish, corrected, "No, no, I deliver stock to this town. I actually run my work in the south of Bean-bean Fields."
"Tailor, is it?" the prince admired Harhall, "I am now impressed with your work upon seeing your fellow Beanish people wear them."
"Thank you," Harhall replied, "and I would like to thank you for helping me out for today."
The townsperson explained to the hooded prince, "We convinced Harhall to join us today. His work involves coloring with a partner to grow your dependence towards one another. Trust is one thing, but fun is another."
Harhall says to the hooded stranger, "Both of those traits do not apply well with me when the stock gets low in the store! Rush and focus, that's the way I like to do it to make and color my clothes. It's demand and supply!"
The Beanish townsperson nervously explained, "W-We promise you that the Beanish could wait, Harhall. The clothes you made please us, and we respect you by waiting patiently for more of your gorgeous creations."
Harhall jumped and stomped the ground with anger and replied, "Not to my suppliers who I gotta keep paying to make your clothes! I work on my own! If Haricot, is it? If Haricot fails, I… I…!"
Prince Peasley sighs and tells Harhall, "Listen, Harhall, show me how you do your work and my first try won't fail you."
Harhall breathes and says to the hooded prince, "Remember that you'll be working with a partner. If you fail and deliberately waste my supplies and materials, I am owed by you, your partner and the good people of this town… one hundred thousand Bean coins!"
The hooded prince and some of the Beanish townspeople gasp in surprise to the price of the hooded prince's failure.
The hooded prince regains his confidence naturally and asks, "Who am I paired with?"
Harhall answered calmly, "Oh, this sweet girl from a faraway land in this kingdom. She is staying at my workstation. She makes a great partner… to me anyway! She shares creativity with me, such a partnership perfectly created."
Prince Peasley crossed his arms and replied, "I was taught by these good Beanish people that effort isn't everything to achieve success, Harhall. Don't believe that you could be successful just because you and the girl have something in common without the same emotions."
"I'll admit the girl has fun while I don't," Harhall replied, "but your convincing truth learned from these Beanish dramatics will help you no more when you get to work. Hope does wither in a matter of seconds after a wasted hard work."
"I believed the same thing," the hooded prince responded, "but these people have shown me that it could last longer."
"So be it, Haricot!" Harhall challenged the hooded stranger.
And so, the hooded prince, Harhall and a group of Beanish townspeople leave town through the west exit. They proceed to walk south in Bean-bean Fields, where many of the monsters that live in the fields hide behind bushes, trees and inside holes of the earthly ground, fearing to be hunted. And then, the Beanish head east, where bodies of freshwater are more common, and trees grow in both ground and water to serve as bridges and platforms.
Finally, Harhall leads the Beanish people south and cross a bridge. They continue to head south until they finally arrive in a half-submerged tree with a spacious, rectangular treetop. There are buckets of colored orbs and many plain white clothing scattered everywhere on the treetop.
There is a familiar blue girl hanging some of the white clothes on crosses made out of twigs and sticks. She places the crosses on each edge of the treetop. The girl acknowledges the presence of Harhall and the visitors upon turning around, but seeing the hooded stranger made her smile and blush happily. The hooded prince chuckled a bit when he saw none other than Jojora.
Harhall welcomes his guests, "Welcome to my workstation, fellow Beanish! You are welcome to the behind-the-scenes where you learn how Harhall colors those beautiful clothing you wear," and then, as Jojora flies towards Harhall's side, Harhall introduces her to the visitors, "This is Jojora, my young, beautiful, playful assistant. Just showed up out of the blue like her shining skin."
The Beanish admire Jojora's beautiful appearance through gossiping,
"Jojora is so beautiful."
"Out of the blue? She must've come from somewhere."
"Way more gorgeous than my girlfriend."
"She's just so cute."
"An idiot could only resist those looks."
"I could."
"Then, get out."
The hooded prince is the only one who did not speak of Jojora's admirable looks, but he spoke of it in his heart and mind. He blushes as Jojora approaches him and his people.
Jojora happily greets the Beanish, "Hi there. You people aren't as bad as I thought you'd be when I met Harhall. I'm so glad to see you."
Harhall tells Jojora, "Jojora, you will work with a stranger from a faraway land. His name is Haricot. He will take my place as your partner."
"Splendid," the snow witch replied in excitement.
Jojora happily pulls Prince Peasley towards the treetop where Harhall does his work. They both stand in place on the center of the treetop, where a crate of colored orbs is set up for them.
Jojora whispers to the hooded prince, "I thought you'd never come, Haricot. What a funny name."
Prince Peasley blushed and replied, "I'm glad I did come. Listen, I miss you, so I'll try to regain your trust in me by doing this."
"It'll be fun," the snow witch happily responded.
Harhall approaches the two of his workers for the day and proceeds to tell the hooded stranger, "I'll show you the precious supplies I have that you shouldn't waste," he points his finger at the crate of colored orbs, "Those are Color Designbombs. Inside the Color Designbombs are special dyes that change color gradually. You will hurl the Color Designbombs towards the white clothing this girl hung for your test. When the Color Designbomb hits the white clothing, it will break apart and paint the clothing," and then, Harhall walked towards another crate of patterned orbs and pulled it to the center of the treetop.
Jojora giggled and expressed, "Oops, I forgot to move that one."
"It's fine," then Harhall said to the hooded prince, "this crate is full of Patterned Designbombs. If you hurl these to the color-changing clothes, the clothing will be designed with a pattern and dry the color. Be precise when throwing a Patterned Designbomb to dry the clothes to a color I want them to be. For example, I want blue. So, throw the Patterned Designbomb at the right time to set the chosen color."
Prince Peasley asked curiously, "Are these dyes environmentally safe for the waters? Since we're standing on a treetop surrounded by the freshwater."
Harhall answered, "The dyes hate water and rather kill themselves. Don't worry, once they get into the water, they disappear without a side effect."
The Beanish townspeople admire the hooded stranger's care for Bean-bean Kingdom's environment. Jojora, too, is deeply moved.
"I swear," Harhall warns a precaution of his rage, "if you spill these besides on those white clothing or fail your tasks, you will pay in every way! Money and pain."
The hooded prince gulped, but Jojora giggles and encourages her friend, "That's something this stranger could handle."
Prince Peasley realizes his position and smiles confidently. He begins by picking up a Color Designbomb from the crate full of them and hurls it to a hung white shirt. The Color Designbomb hits the white shirt, breaking its fragile casing apart and a splatter of dye colors the whole shirt. The shirt starts to change colors, a beautiful sight that admires the Beanish visitors.
Harhall says to the hooded stranger, "Impressive throw indeed. Now, I want the color… red with a striped pattern. There is a Patterned Designbomb with stripes among the crate of Patterned Designbombs."
The hooded prince picks up the Patterned Designbomb with black and white stripes. He waits for a timing as the shirt color changes. There is a pattern when the color changes: red to orange to yellow to green to blue to violet and loops back to red. Prince Peasley is ordered to have the shirt blue, so he waits for the color to become green before changing to blue.
When the clothing turns to green, the hooded prince hurls the striped Patterned Designbomb. The orb breaks apart when it hits the hanged shirt. A splash of dye covers and dries the whole shirt.
But everybody is frightened that while the shirt has a striped design, it is colored purple instead. Prince Peasley gasps in fear with his fellow Beanish people.
Harhall angrily stomped the treetop with his feet. His face expresses his rage and yells at the hooded stranger, "No, no, no! This is all wrong! You must retry from scratch! Give it a blue color, I say!"
Jojora floats towards the Beanish stylist and calms him down, "Now, now, it's just one shirt he wasted. I'm sure he'll do better in his next attempt."
Harhall angrily mumbled the words said by the hooded stranger, "His first try won't fail, he says."
"Oh, come on," the snow witch replies, "Haricot is supposed to be my partner and I didn't do my part, so it should be my fault, too."
The fashion stylist blushed and replied shyly, "I guess you're right. You're a nice girl after all, so I'll give you two another chance."
The snow witch giggles, winks at Prince Peasley and says to him, "Don't worry, clumsy timer. Mister Harhall will let your mistake slide. Let's do this for real."
"Thank you, Jojora," the hooded prince thanked and blushed.
Jojora flies towards the crate of Patterned Designbombs to take a striped orb. Prince Peasley takes another Colored Designbomb from the crate full of them and hastily hurls it to the white shirt, but the colored orb slips from his hand. The hooded prince's rush caused the Colored Designbomb to fly and land on Harhall's head. He is splattered with multicolored dye.
The Beanish visitors laughed at Harhall's embarrassing appearance. Jojora covers her face to conceal her giggling. Prince Peasley felt the comical humor his clumsiness has caused and started to join in the laugh. Harhall, however, though the dye starts to fall off his face slowly into the water to disappear, has frustration in his heart, but fakes a laugh as a mask to hide his anger from the snow witch.