Slowly, summer began to meld into fall. New residents arrived, and thus far, none had left. The island was beginning to seem just a tiny bit more prosperous. It was odd, however, that of the 'new' residents that arrived, only one had not lived on the island before.
Both the orphan, Chase, and the elderly owner of the tailor shop had resided on the island before and left for some undisclosed reason. Even the daughter of general store owners was supposedly moving back.
Perhaps there was hope for the island after all.
Angela, however, had yet to produce another rainbow. The flow of residents to the island would eventually stagnate if the present situation remained; the island was still lacking any great draw. Eventually, he would have to confront her. There was one small flaw with this logic: Gill still couldn't look Angela or Luna in the eye.
He was neither progressive nor a prude and as consenting adults they could do as they wished; however, the thought still irked him for some indistinguishable reason.
Gill tapped his pencil against the desk with a frustrating lack of concentration and stared blankly at his paperwork.
"...No, he's not here today I'm afraid, Angela. If you have some pressing business, perhaps you could talk to Mr. Gill..."
"That's fine, Elli. I'll think I'll pass on that headache today."
Slowly, without much thought, Gill rose from his chair and walked with more confidence than he actually felt towards the front of the town hall.
Angela regarded him suspiciously. He flushed, unable to meet her eyes, and made one last attempt to smooth his hair and look self-assured.
"Angela. Care to join me for lunch at the Inn?"
"Not particularly." Angela frowned.
Gill bit back a snarky reply. He doubted he would get another opportunity or gather enough patience to discuss the island with Angela in the near future; no matter how loathsome she was.
"I'll buy."
"Done." Angela's frown transformed into a smirk. "When do you want to leave?"
"Now. Elli, I'll be out for the rest of the afternoon; should my father come looking, do me a favour and don't tell him where I am or what I'm doing." Gill began to walk out the door, pleased to notice that Angela was actually following him, and left behind a rather bewildered Elli.
They made their way down to the inn without a word; which suited Gill just fine. He didn't particularly want to talk to her, unless it involved island business.
Gill opened the heavy oaken door and waited for Angela; who, in turn, gave him a rather odd look before proceeding to walk past him. She couldn't possibly be inferring that he might drop it on her, though he had to admit it was tempting.
"Oh! Welcome! Would you like to get lunch?" Jake asked, looking oddly chipper.
Gill was about to reply when he noticed the Inn's other occupants. Or, more specifically, a certain tubby little man in a flamboyant coat grinning ear to ear and remaining oddly quiet.
"Yes, we'd like lunch. To go." Gill replied, rather irritated.
"W-Wait, where are we going?" Angela looked as though she couldn't figure out whether to focus on him or his father.
Where did she think they were going? He would hear enough about this encounter later, without staying where his eccentric father was within eavesdropping range.
"Angela. We're going to have a picnic."
"Why are you doing this? I'm sure it's not out of the goodness of your heart." Angela was oddly upset for a woman who had just received a free lunch.
Gill frowned and focused on the waves lapping against the beach.
"...There was a book on Waffle Island lore that refers to a series of ingredients needed to revive the Mother Tree, should anything ever cause it to cease growing or die; it also had some interesting information regarding rainbows and the island. Apparently, the harvest sprites exist to make rainbows." He paused and waited for a response.
"...What interesting speculation." Angela commented, entirely unimpressed.
"I know you've been collecting the ingredients, Angela. Why did you stop? Don't you know what this means to the island?" He paused and looked at the farmer.
Angela began to laugh. Flustered, Gill pushed himself out of the sand and crossed his arms over his chest.
Couldn't she comprehend the implications of what he just said? This sole farmer held the key to reviving the island! Soil could improve, people could begin moving to the island in droves, Waffle Town's municipal government would no longer be in debt and they could afford a policeman and even a school like Flowerbud Village! This was a matter of the utmost importance!
Slowly, Angela's laughter died down. "You of all people should know it isn't that simple. I'd love to help the island; well, all right, I'd love to help the island if it was convenient for me..." Gill let out a pronounced sigh. "But I don't have the means to do it."
"What are you implying? It couldn't possibly be that hard!" he made a rather baffling gesture with his arms.
"How would you know? You can't see the sprites anymore, let alone get them to make rainbows! How in the hell would you know how hard it is? If it was so damn easy, why didn't you do it?" Angela removed herself from the sand and stared Gill directly in the eye.
How could she possibly know his feelings in the matter? She hadn't lived on the island since birth and witnessed its change into a destitute mess. The girl had barely been here two seasons! Angela couldn't possibly fathom his situation!
"Idiot. Don't you think I tried? I was just a child, Angela!"
"Maybe you just weren't trying hard enough." Her face contorted into a sneer.
"Was I not speaking clearly? There was nothing I could do!"
Gill stared at her, waiting for her to speak, yell, something. Instead, she just turned her back to him and watched the ocean listlessly. The air around them seemed stifling and he could hear his own irate breathes over the calm ocean lapping at the shoreline.
"...You could help me, you know." Her voice was eerily calm and void of any raw emotion.
A wave of emotions crashed over him. Disbelief, anger, and relief made their way through his mind before leaving him exhausted and unable to find the drive to continue arguing with the farmer.
"What is it that you're having so much trouble with?" Gill finally relented.
"...A banana," replied Angela, oddly frustrated.
"...I do hope you're joking." Angela shook her head and Gill sighed. "You know you can find those on Toucan Island."
"Oh. Maybe I should get one, huh?"
Despite the fact that it was only four o'clock by the time he finished sorting out a decent approach to gathering the items for the latest rainbow with Angela, Gill found he had little desire to return to the town hall. There was too much to think about, too much to plan. His mind was already swimming without attempting to budget the New Year's festival one full season in advance.
Reaching his residence, Gill made one last attempt to brush sand off his immaculate white suit before pushing open the door.
To no one's great surprise, Hamilton was waiting for him the moment he set foot inside the manor.
Gill watched him open his mouth and decided to take a preemptive strike.
"No." he said, glancing back toward the staircase and lifting his foot to the first stair. Hamilton was undeterred.
"Why, I remember when your mother and I enjoyed our first date! Come now, don't deny it! That farmer would make a fabulous wife and now you just need to finish roping her in! Now, don't be shy, I saw..."
"Father, I'm rather tired. If you need assistance with dinner, I'll be in my room." The mayor's son made his way up the stairs as fast as he possibly could.
"But my boy! We have so many plans to discu--"
Gill slammed his door shut and drew a blank piece of paper out from beneath a stack of books.
Angela was obviously hopeless and would need all the help she could get.