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"Wait for me, Bonaparte!" "That'll be a thousand potch, miss" stated the ferry man blankly. "WHAT?!" exclaimed the fourteen year old girl, "This is highway robbery!" The gruff man did not remove his gaze, but gave her a dull look. His back still ached from loading the massive amount of luggage which now littered itself around his craft and he had received more than a few angry glares from the many _other_ passengers who had wanted to travel to the Toran Republic. "You are costing me business, I have other customers waiting and I can normally ferry more than just one person at a time." Millie was quite oblivious to the qualms of the merchants and travellers. She was on a special mission, a matter of great import and nothing could stand in her way. Instinctively she adjusted her cap slightly, gave the boatsman a look of indignant pride and produced a large bag of potch, "Take." Silently accepting the parcel, the ferry man released his vessel from harbour and steered towards Banner Village, the entrance to the Toran Republic. He tried as best he could to avoid the dirty looks from the other people at the sluice... indeed if Master Shu had seen the commotion, he could have lost his licence, or worse, his boat. This little girl and her luggage was more trouble than she was worth but, if she could afford to pay him what he normally earned from one trip, he was content. She was, however, far from content. Counting what was left of her potch, she sighed deeply. She had only brought five thousand from her home in the Highlands and already she was dwindling down to her last hundred. This is all going to compensate that cost, she chided herself. Millie was chasing an important find. A collector of rare items, novelties and anything that looked pretty and cute, she was on the trail of the most adorable creature she had ever set eyes upon: a beady-eyed yellow freckled groundhog. She first saw it in Kyaro Town and had since tracked it down all the way to Banner Village. How it got there and why was beyond her. "So, miss, what are you heading down to the Republic for? Thinking of settling there?" the middle-aged boatsman inquired, a question he asked of all his passengers. "I'm looking for Bonaparte," Millie replied, "I've been chasing him from the Highlands." "Would that be your boyfriend then, miss?" her transport nosed further, "Making sure his eyes don't wander none, eh?" A large sweatdrop formed on Millie's head, she didn't have a boyfriend and hadn't really given it much thought, all she cared about was the creature she had named 'Bonaparte' and her huge collection of gypsy charms, hats, clothes and other accessories, which she carried around with her. "Uh... no he's uh... not my boyfriend..." she said nervously, "He's a beady-eyed yellow freckled groundhog." The ferryman couldn't conceal his laughter. "Wh-haaaT?!" he chortled, "A yellow - a beady-eyed - a - a - freckled groundhog?! This you've got to tell me about!" She decided to humour the oarsman, having had grown used to the response from Kyaro, Ryube and Radat Town, "Yes, a beady-eyed yellow freckled groundhog..." *** Some Highland Town *** "Millie!" "Yes mama?" "Can you please do something about your room? It's like the True Wind Rune tore through it!" She sighed, her mother could never appreciate her special method of organisation. No matter how messy her room looked, there was a natural order to it... well... more of a lack of storage space but still there was order. She told herself she'd do something to make it more presentable later, she was too tired now. Having spent the whole day hiding from Louis Napoleon, she had good reason to be tired. The youth was arrogant, obnoxious and had this strange notion that he was going to woo young Millie. Of course, she would have no part in it. He was a hamper on her social life and she couldn't stand it, but it was better than having to listen to the drivel he produced by the minute. Now she had managed to conceal herself in recluse behind her house, watching the mountain range and the trees. It was relaxing, she admitted, to be able to sit down and not be constantly on the move. So far, in the day she had seen a rat and a bird, constantly at each other, the rat wanting the bird's eggs and the bird wanting to lay them without the presence of the rat. Kinda like me and Louis, she thought, Figures he'd be the rat... Something else came by amidst the quarrel between rat and bird... it was a beady-eyed yellow freckled... groundhog? She had never seen anything look like that before, it was small, compact and... insanely cute. "OOooo..." Millie awed, "Kawaii desu ne!" The curious creature looked at her with six small beady eyes, made a small 'eep' noise and ran off into the bushes. "W-w-w-waaait!!" cried Millie, giving chase to the creature, "Come back!" She couldn't let it go, not this unique creature that had just ran away from her. She had to have it, it was not a want but a need, it became her very reason for living, it was more important than... "Ah!~" she exclaimed, "My collection!!" Well, not more important than that, the groundhog was heading somewhere and she'd continue to follow it... after she packed her bags... "... and that's around it. I've followed Bonaparte all the way down to here, I saw him swimming down the river the other day..." she concluded. The greying man kept a smile around him and, after much deliberation (and chuckles) said, "Here, here, that was a good tale, for it I will give you back five hundred potch of your fare and bless you for the good company ye've kept. Haven't had that good a laugh in years I've had, miss." Millie wasn't about to complain, she would now have enough to sustain her for what other obstacles Bonaparte set before her in her odyssey. Whatever puncture in pride she felt from the chortles of the man disappeared when a pouch of five hundred potch found itself in her hands - money had a strange healing effect on a person, she found. "Ah, here we are, Banner Village, we'll soon be setting in on the harbour and you can go off and chase your dragon-warthog thing!" "Beady-eyed yellow freckled groundhog, actually." "Whatever." As the boat docked, and Millie hopped off with the ferryman behind her glad to be rid of the luggage marked 'Millie', she caught a glimpse of Bonaparte running in the woods. Grabbing her bags and, giving a grateful smile to the ferryman, she ran through the streets calling, "Wait for me, Bonaparte!!" Where she got the energy to run with those bags was beyond him but the boatsman could only stare, dumbfounded, at the small yellow creature as he shook his head in disbelief. "Well I'll be darned..."
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