The next day had passed on without much happening. The days grew a little warmer for Lillian as she ran about her daily chores of caring for her animals. She let them graze in the late mornings after she had brushed them all down. She ushered them out to her small pasture and wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. Her two cows and one sheep sure didn't mind her much. She assumed it was because she didn't put out that dominate attitude that Ash often mentioned was key to ranching. She was too tender, used to touching things with soft, delicate hands, as if she were afraid of bruising. Exiting her pasture, she noticed her cat, Annabelle, had successfully managed to wrangle her two chickens out of the chicken house and into the coop. The little black cat now sat on the fence, licking her paws and apparently on break.
Lillian petted the little cat as she walked by on her way to tending to her little line of crops. Inspecting a petal, she sighed, this soil just wasn't efficient for growing high-quality crops that she dreamed of. She pulled out her watering can from her bag and watered the plants anyway though, giving them extra love so that, perhaps, they may grow a little better. She was mumbling compliments to the plants when Cam had quietly strolled into down the road to the farmer's house.
"You do that too?" Cam had asked, almost in admiration. The sound of Cam's voice had Lillian jumping in surprise, then her face burning in embarrassment.
"Y-Yes, I've heard talking to the plants can do miracles," she stammered. She took a deep breath and settled down a little. "I hope that's true because the soil here sure isn't doing any miracles for me," she joked. She finished up with the plant and started packing up her tools.
"Yes, that is very true and I can tell from here. I am sorry, though. Most ranchers don't even pay attention to the soil. Though I can only say that your only option is to use fertilizer, it can also work wonders." Cam was not a man of many words, and this might be the most that he's ever said to Lillian. He was also not very fond of the smell that wafted around from her ranching, but he was also used to it considering his best friend was a rancher himself. He looked around, noting how well Lillian had taken care of the old farm. The overgrown grass had been replaced by neat lines of plants, the broken fences had been repaired, and she even appeared to have freshly painted her house. It looked nice.
"Yes, I've been using it," Lillian offered Cam a light smile. With her tools put away safely in her bag, she stood and brushed the dirt from her skirt and looked up at him. It finally came to her to ask why was he here in the first place. Cam was a very set man, he knew where he wanted to go and he had reasons and logic behind all of it, and it was very hard to believe he had just stumbled into her farm. "Did you need something, Cam?"
The surprise was written all over his face, and then a joking smile, "I suppose you would'd believe me if I said I got lost."
She laughed, covering her mouth, "No I would not," she told him.
"Well," he began as Annabelle decided to greet him with a little meow from the fence, which made him soften, walking to the fence to pet the cat. "I was going to ask you to accompany me up the mountain. I've heard Laney and Georgia talking of seeing a rare flower they encountered earlier this week."
"I'd love to," she smiled as they both started walking out of the farm, leaving Annabelle to yawn, stretch, then lay out on the fence to observe her chickens.
About an hour later, Lillian and Cam were almost at the peak of the mountain, with no flower sighting. She huffed in exhaustion, her skirt not making it any easier to climb in. "Maybe Georgia and Laney were mistaken on where it was," she tried to tell Cam.
"No, I'm sure we're close," he said without turning around to her. She almost groaned. He was so determined that it was killing her. Although, she had to admit this was nice to climb the mountain with Cam. Despite his determination, he didn't push her to do the harder routes. "Look over there," he said with excitement. He pointed and she looked, and there it was and all its glory. It was truly beautiful, its petals were a soft orange with a healthy glow about it.
"It's beautiful," Lillian said with awe. Now the problem was getting to it, she thought. It was an entire level above them and she looked around, seeing if there were any places to climb from. "I wonder if the Konohona side has any place to climb up to it," she thought out loud.
"Great idea!" Cam approved and they rushed down to the Konohana side of the mountain. Instantly, they were greeted by another duo. The duo being Phillip and a girl she recognized from the cooking festival, but could not remember her name. The pair slowed their rush to greet the Konohanans.
"Good day, Cam," the girl said politely, but there was something to her tone that suggested that the meeting was not wanted. Lillian couldn't place it, but she wondered if there was rivalry between the two. The girl glanced at Lillian and said a similar greeting, with less of the tone she used for Cam.
"How are you?" Phillip asked Lillian, but due to her pause, Cam ended up answering for her.
"We're doing wonderful, it is very pleasant to run into you and Reina. My condolences for the loss yesterday. We were just on our way though, if you'll excuse us," Cam was never impolite as such, he never held himself above others as Lillian was witnessing with wide eyes. She couldn't tell if he was directing his rude tone to her brother or the girl.
"And what has you in such a hurry?" Reina asked, sounding slightly interested.
"None of your con-" Cam started a new onslaught of barely hid rude comments when Lillian interrupted.
"We wanted to find a route higher." Lillian tried to ignore the glance Cam gave her, as if he wanted her to stay out and let him handle this. But Lillian was never the one to let someone handle anything for her.
Reina's brow raised in surprise. "I hope you aren't expecting to find one on the Konohana side, because there isn't one. My apologies, you'll have to give up your quest."
Cam bristled in annoyance. "And what has you coming this way towards Bluebell?"
"I need to purchase some animals," Phillip answered before Reina.
"Ah," Lillian and Cam said in unison. Then Lillian added "I'm sure Ash would love the business."
"Correction," Cam said, "Jessica loves the business. Ash will be disappointed that his business isn't from you." He finished and the two shared a laugh. Phillip looked slightly annoyed at this.
"Well, we better be on our way," Reina said, sensing Phillip's discomfort adding to her own.
"Yes, I think Lillian and I will take a trip down to Konohana, she's been dying to try Yun's tea, yes?" Cam lied, looking at Lillian to lie as well.
Lillian caught on and nodded, too enthused. "Oh, yes! I just love tea!"
Phillip caught on to the lie easily, knowing very well that Lillian hated tea more than anything, but didn't say anything. Reina said goodbye for the both of them and let the Bluebell residents pass on, chattering about tea. Reina and Phillip walked on, her glancing at Phillip like a ticking bomb. He sighed and said, "I don't like this Ash guy," he confessed. It felt good to finally say it.
"You're overreacting," she told him, a little smile on her face.
He made a noise of disbelief. Wanting a change of subject, he decided to switch it to her. "What's up with you and flower boy? Bad blood?" He couldn't pretend to not notice the way he treated Reina, and he didn't like it but he also didn't want to upset his sister by attacking the other man. That surely wouldn't help. But he couldn't help but feel as if he let his friend down by not coming to her aid and defending her.
Reina shrugged, "you'd think we'd get along very well, considering we both love plants. But it appears that the shared interest has only produced a thick rivalry between us. It's been this way for a very long time, and I do not care to change it."
It sounded reasonable, maybe that was the reason Phillip didn't like Ash very much either. He tried to feed the lie to himself but eventually he knew it was because of the way Ash looked at his sister. He couldn't describe it, it surely wasn't love, but it was something he didn't like. Hopefully he was just overreacting.
They made it to Bluebell a little while later, marching through the stone gateway. Phillip looked around and tried to imagine this place as his home, but found it difficult. He couldn't imagine not living next to Sheng, or visiting Yun's tea house when his chores were finished. He tried to picture himself not knowing Reina, and with a glance towards her, he felt guilty for even trying. After all she's done for him, helping him forage and grown plants, then helping him try and make friends with the villagers. He didn't think he could repay her. They walked past the entrance to his sister's farm and then into town where the villagers eyed them cautiously. It wasn't uncommon for a villager from their rival town to come by, but it also wasn't an everyday thing. They also didn't approve of it, but had no law prohibiting it seeing as how Bluebell villagers also had business in Konohana that had them also crossing the border into Konohana. And they were not hypocrites.
Phillip noticed the eyes on them and murmured to Reina about the warm welcome they were receiving. Reina chuckled, "So it would appear. But we are both not from this village, nor a regular sight to see here. It may be merited."
Phillip rolled his eyes, it was not merited to him. He let that thought go through him as he opened the door to Jessica's Livestock, letting Reina go first and then entering with the door closing behind him with a little jingle of a bell.
"Welcome to Jessica's Livestock! I'll be with you in just a moment!" a woman, presumably Jessica, called from another room. Phillip and Reina waited in the front room, taking in the decor of this small home. It was very homey, little pictures of two children and the village were hanging on the walls along with little sayings about the importance of friends and family and love. It reminded Phillip of his grandmother's home when he and Lillian were little.
Lost in thought, Phillip didn't quite respond as fast as Reina had when Ash entered the house, walking past the two into the house part of this building. Reina stepped aside, and into Phillip's personal space, but it's not as if it really bothered him. He was taken by surprise when he snapped out of his daydream and noticed the red-capped farmer walking by. He didn't say anything, considering Ash wasn't even aware of the way Phillip felt about him and his suspicion to him. After a few moments, Jessica rushed into the room behind the counter, brushing her apron off and apologizing to the customers. Phillip places his order for a cow and a chicken, placing the money on the counter for the woman. She counted the money and smiled lightly.
"Pleasure doing business with you, I'll have my son show you to the cows and chickens. Do you need him to help you back through the mountain with them?" Phillip knew she was just being polite, but it was almost insulting to him. He didn't need Ash's help! He was a natural born rancher.
"No, and thank you, ma'am," he said, Reina already leaving the store, "have a good day." Jessica returned the gesture as Phillip left as well and headed out back to where Ash was already waiting by a back door. Ash held out his hand in a greeting, which Phillip pretended not to see. Right now he only wanted to gather his animals and leave as soon as possible.
"Well," Ash said, a little insulted by Phillip's attitude. Ash wondered how this stuck-up kid could be related to the sweet and selfless Lillian that Bluebell had come to adore in the past two weeks. He decided to ignore his annoyance, this man was a customer, and sometimes customers were rude. He'd just have to ignore it. "The cows are out grazing, you can talk to them if you'd like, I often find it improves their mood. Do you want me to teach you how to care for them?"
"No," Reina intervened before Phillip caused a fight, she took Phillip's arm to distract him. "He'll just pick them out and we'll go, thank you. Could you leave us for now?"
Ash nodded, brows raised as he turned and went back into the house. Reina sighed, argument avoided. This was not the time for them to engage in petty fights for no reason. Reina was ready to head home, as it was getting into the late afternoon. She knew Mako would have something to say if she came home too late. So she let go of Phillip's arm and let him pick his animals, put a reign on the cow, and asked her to carry the chicken. They both left just as quietly as they came, putting Bluebell to rest and go back to their activities.
"Just a few more steps," Cam urged Lillian from above. This climb has taken its toll on the girl, beads of sweat on her brow and annoyance for the rocks that refused to stay in place despite how light on her feet she felt. Even more, she was annoyed that Cam had insisted she come with him, he could have climbed by himself and grabbed the flower then come back to join her. But, not wanting to be rude, she agreed and they both climbed up.
"I'm trying," she said through gritted teeth. After her hard work, she reached the top and crawled up beside Cam. She left out an exhausted sigh in relief and flopped back. "Can we have a break?" she almost begged.
Cam chuckled and nodded, falling back onto his back and laying beside her with his arms folded behind his head. Lillian closed her eyes, her muscles aching in protest and she surely would feel worse in the morning. Lillian broke the silence as his attitude with Reina came back to her and she could finally ask what had happened.
Cam shrugged slightly. He sighed in annoyance that wasn't directed to Lillian, "she irks me."
"I could tell," Lillian laughed.
"She just," Cam couldn't form the words to express what he thought. "She likes plants as well, but where I did not go to a university to study plants and get a degree, she did. She's hard to get along with as well."
"I see," Lillian told him. She didn't really understand why that deserved such an attitude from such a stoic man, but she decided she didn't want to question him any longer. "Let's get that flower and go home, she told him and they both stood.
"I'm sorry for how I acted today, she just unnerves me," Cam apologized as he brushed the grass off his pants.
Lillian waited for him to be finished before they both started towards the flower that lay a little ways down the path. "It's alright, I know how you feel," she told him. And with that, they lapsed into a comfortable silence, finishing up their adventure today. Later, once they had come to the fork in the path that would lead to Lillian's farm and town, Cam did something that surprised her. He gave her a light hug.
Lillian hesitated before returning the hug and the two parted ways.