Cam stretched his body across the warm green grass by the river. The air had begun to get heavier in the late spring. The summer bugs carried a low hum in the many sounds of the mountain. But the river still ran strong from the much needed snow they had received in the winter previous. He was settling into his traditional afternoon off. In solitude, relaxing after a long walk, listening to the rush of the river, even better still before it got too hot. A relaxing place all to himself. To bask in the sunshine where no one else could possibly disturb-

"AHHHHH!"

The tranquil scenery he had so artfully admired was shattered by a scream and crashing of branches and a large thud. Cam shot up and the sound. his eyes traced the low arched cliff and trail of broken branches and leaves down to a tangled heap of clothes and leaves.

"Oooogh…" Lilian groaned still sitting how she landed from her fall, rubbing her backside.

"Woah! are you okay?" Cam yelled rushing over to her. Her face was covered in small scratches, socks poking out from worn holes in work boots, her dress was dirty and torn from her fall. Lillian looked up at him, her eyes were cooper and filled with a fiery fierceness. A smile broke across her face and answering him without words she extended out to him what was still clutched in her hand.

"Mwahaha!" she laughed manically!

Cam at a loss of words had nothing to offer back as he looked at the branch in front of his face covered in fat golden apricots. "Uh… what is that?"

" This! is the reaped rewards of hard work my friend!" Lilian laughed extending her empty hand out towards him for his help in getting her back onto her feet.

Cam looked up to the ledge from where she had came, noticing a very tall, bent apricot tree. Precariously close to the edge. " Did you fall- getting that?"

" oh hey, it's cool I can get myself up. No big deal, never mind" she said as she hoisted herself up onto her feet. " Oh and ummm… yeah" she replied as she began to gather various different plants

"What!? You can't just climb off of Cliff Ledges! you could have gotten seriously hurt!" Cam exclaimed!

Lilian, a bustle of movement did not seem to share his concern with her safety. She was now scaling up another tree, far wider than her arm span.

" uhhh.. hello?" Cam said

" Sorry sir!" Lillian Grunted while climbing "it's terribly great of you to be concerned, and I highly appreciate the conversation. I just got to get these things within the day- after all I worked so hard on them-"

Cam couldn't distinguish what she was saying between her exasperated grunts as she crawled up the tree. " Um sorry I- I can't-"

"Oh but look at how rude I am being!" Lilian interrupted. She flipped around one of the branches greeting his eyes with her's upside down. "My name is Lilian!" she giggled extending an upside down hand. "what's yours?"

"Er- It's Cam." he said rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. He could have sworn he was getting whiplash from the conversation.

"Cam- aye? Oh well it's okay Cam, you don't have to shake my hand either." Lilian laughed again before tumbling out of the tree.

"Oh! Uh- sorry.." Cam blushed having forgot to take her hand a second time. But by the time he had extended his hand to reciprocate, Lillian had ventured off into something else. It made Cam feel uneasy. Formal greetings were important to him, and something he was good at when he was prepared for it….

"Cam- Cam… is that short for Cameron?"

"No… No its not."

"Cammmm… Cammm... Cammmerraa, Camera." She snickered at her own joke.

" No-no it's just Cam." he could feel his face turning pink from embarrassment. and could feel his body instinctively gravitating to the path back to town. "Well,l if you are okay I think I'm just going to go ahead and- "

"Be on my way! it was a pleasure Camera!" she giggled, and as quickly as she was there she was then gone again, skipping down the mountain.

"jeez…" he muttered aloud. feeling exhausted by the whole conversation. All hopes of relaxation now being completely shot, He headed back down the mountain to town. Lillian.. as strange as the meeting had been he couldn't help but be intrigued by her. she seemed so different from anyone in town, or anyone he had met in the city.. As strange as she was she certainly did have a passion for…. apricots? or whatever. He thought. Lillian seemed so busy it made him feel like there had to be work needing to be done somewhere.