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"Hey - sorry, can you tell me where, uh .. The blacksmith is?"
It felt absolutely weird asking about it. Who on earth was looking for a blacksmith; well, maybe some nerd who wanted a sword replica, but she wasn't like that. More like a nerd who really loved the idea of being a farmer. Turns out, moving into a small village with nothing but the clothes on your back and the money you got from selling your old, rusty car, was absolutely lovely, romantic idea. At least, when you were thinking about it while sitting at your boring desk-job, with minutes passing by like hours and knowing the small rental apartment downtown would only offer some off-brand wine and loneliness once your 9 to 5 day would come to an end.
Every muscle in Aalo's body ached; for the past three days she'd been knee-deep in mud, the layer of dirt seemingly never leaving the leather of her boots. She'd been cutting down some of the smaller trees, trying to find an bucket to catch the water leaking from the roof and planting stupid, tiny seeds to the same knee-deep mud, trying to figure out how on earth was she supposed to know what was the best spacing for them. She'd bough parsnips, of course! But it wasn't exactly common knowledge if they were supposed to be planted side-to-side or like, a meter or two between them. The morning of fourth day - the rain from last night soaking her small field of growing parsnips - was too sunny to let pass by. She needed some supplies and her sore arms definitely needed a break.
So, with a small map drawn on scrap paper, she'd left her grandpa's old Pomergranate Farm and walked to the town. Too bad she wasn't the best artist - as she looked up from the small map she'd googled on the awful signal she had back at the farm , there definitely wasn't supposed to be a fountain there. Actually, she was supposed to be close to a beach, but the muddy river she had passed a while ago couldn't be the beach, could it? Maybe it was the beach, to a small town standard...
“Oh... you're that new farmer girl, aren't you?" the question shook Aalo from her thoughts, as she opened her mouth to say something. But she was cut off by the blonde girl's blue eyes looking at her up and down with absolutely no shame whatsoever. She realized she never really answered until the blonde spoke again, her glossed lips stretching into a smile that almost felt mocking.
"Huh? Oh... I'm Haley. Hmm... If it weren't for those horrendous clothes you might actually be pretty. Actually, nevermind.” Aalo stared openly at the girl - how rude was that! She gave her light-pink overalls a tug, adjusting them, suddenly self-conscious about what she was wearing.
Haley - some sort of beauty queen herself with golden curls and eyes as blue as the sea Aalo was promised - then nodded towards the southern hill.
"Just go down the stairs, you'll find the blacksmith."
"Oh - thanks. Nice meeting you, Haley." Haley didn't bother answering her - she already was digging for her phone, the white light illuminating her features even in the midday sun. Aalo raised her hand for an awkward wave, but Haley didn't care anymore. Aalo's lips tugged into an annoyed pout, but she just turned her back to this incredibly rude beauty queen and started walking towards the direction Haley had pointed her to - only to realize she had finally reached the central Pelican Town and had no idea which one of the small village-houses was the so called blacksmith. Aalo rolled her eyes at herself - of course the girl still standing ontop of the hill wouldn't bother giving her any proper instructions on how to get there.
What a bitch.