"Please talk to him," the huntsman begs me. "We need his help." It's been hours since I've seen any sign that the hermit is returning to the beach. I'm ready to go and start walking away.
"What do you take me for?! An idiot?" I glare at the huntsman, angry that he's ruined my adventure. I don't even want to talk to him. It starts to get cold, and I retrieve my gloves from my satchel and put them on.
"I'm starving,"I grumble. The huntsman looks around, and starts heading for the forest. I follow him, not sure what he's doing, but he takes the bow and arrow on his back, and holds it at the mark. He spots a fox, hunting in the grass. I push his arrow down when he holds steady.

"No don't kill it," I say. Taking the rest of the food from my satchel, I set an old sausage down on the ground for the fox. The fox comes up cautiously and starts to nibble on it. I'm glad I got to feed it. I start on my way through the trees, the huntsman following me silently. It's annoying. I see a large edifice up ahead on the path. Finally! It's a tents for the marketplace.
The marketplace is lively, lots of people, merchants and music.
There's a piano player playing a familiar song, and I have a sudden urge to sing. I jump right into the music and start singing,
"...never know how much I love you
never know how much I care
when you put your arms around me
I give you fever that's so hard to bare..."

Everyone in the market huzzahs and dances. I kinda like seeing the happy people, but I must get back on task. I must get back to my mission to find food. After the music ends, I return to the huntsman who's busy drooling over some fancy bread stand.
"If I buy you that great smelling bread over there, will you forgive me?" the huntsman asks. I sigh and smile, but don't answer him. I go over to the stand and ask the merchant if I can barter my extendable walking stick for a loaf of their bread. They agree and we make the exchange. I walk back to the huntsman and break the loaf in two, hand him a half. We eat it together while watching a coal walker perform his dangerous stunt for a crowd.
After we finish eating, the huntsman is strangely nervous. "Can we return to the beach now?" He asks.
"Yeah sure...but hold on, " I say. I take the wand I found in hillside and go up to talk to local magician's. He looks bored waiting for customers at his stand, but when I come up, his face lights up.
"Hello! Welcome," He says with a grin.
"Hi. I was wondering if you could identify this white twisting wand for me?"
The magician gently takes the wand from my hand, and looks at it through a large magnifying glass.
"Why, this is no wand, this is the dream crystal!" He says, studying it's strange markings in awe.
"What..." I say, grabbing the crystal from his hands and taking a closer look.
"W-why yes, these crystals are rare and grow in the northern caves, but this one in particular is laced with spells and was carved into a wand," he tells me.
"A wand? How does it work?"
"Well if you dream of something you want, you should be able to use it properly. But I'm not entirely sure."
I thank the magician for the information and give him the moon sapphire as payment. "Be careful with that," he advises.
"Thanks I will," I say.
I come back and grab the huntsman's hand and we return to the beach.
I try dreaming up the bitter hermit to appear. A strange blue glow emits from the end of the crystal wand and swirls around my head. The huntsman turns, hearing the strange babbling voice through the blue haze. The old bitter hermit comes into focus, prancing about on the beach.
"Bitter Hermit!" I yell. He looks in our direction, waddling towards us.

"What do you want you evil girl?!" The hermit asks angrily.
"We need your help to save some people from pirates," I say. The huntsman nods his head in agreement.
"Pirates you say...hmm," he thinks real hard, scratching at his stubble.
"I shall give you all the help you need," he agrees.
We listen very carefully.
"The secret is in you," he says, poking at my forehead. For such a serious moment, it's suddenly ruined when the hermit runs off to talk to a beach turtle. I roll my eyes and the huntsman shrugs.
"Follow me, " I say.
I stop in front of the turtle and dream something real big.
"I've worked out a master plan to help us travel faster, capture the pirates, free the prisoners, and come home. All with this wand in order to foil the Red witch's plans...."
"What?" Asks the hermit and huntsman at the same time.
"I'll dream us a victorious adventure."

TO BE CONTINUED...