It felt good to be off of her little break. Assama needed to get back into taking jobs. She couldn’t remember the last time she had taken a vacation this long. Sure, it has only been a couple of weeks, but that was a couple of weeks Assama hadn't been gaining any money. If anything, she was loosing some. She went to a patisserie with Alisa, bought some candy at the market streets, spent money to eat substantial food (not just candy) and had to pay for a room at the inn. It all added up faster than Assama realized. If she extended her vacation she would find herself in a bit of a situation moneywise. So now, she would have to start finding some jobs to do. She would start, at the request board.

Assama knew that she saw the request board somewhere in Crocus. She just couldn't remember exactly where it was located. So, after some hopeless searching of her own, she decided to ask Crocus' citizens where she could find it. As much as it pained her to stray from her independence and ask for help, she knew that she needed it. After one pointed her in the direction of the board, she thanked him and went back to searching for the board, but in the right direction this time.

It wasn't long before she found the request board which had multiple pieces of paper scattered about. It seemed like not a lot of people have been taking these quests. Maybe everyone was on their own little vacation around this time of year. She hope that, that wasn't the case. If so, then Crocus needed a lot of work to be done. Assama would help get that work done, but first, she needed to find the perfect request. Since she was getting back into the swing of things, she figured that it would be good to start slow. She would select an easy but helpful request. After scanning the board for a simple request, she found the perfect one. The client went by the name of Armin Bartholomew. He was ill and needed someone to train five young future Rune Knights. Assama couldn't say that she was surprised that children were already training to become Rune Knights. It was similar to how Myras worked.

Assama snatched the request from the board and set off to the specified location. Apparently, it was a small park. It was a good choice in Assama's opinion. It was relatively uncrowded, populated only by a couple of people sitting on a bench and five male children standing in the center. Straight as an arrow, they stood in attention awaiting their instructor. There was no about about it that they were the Rune Knights in-training. Confidently, she strode towards the group and introduced herself as Miss Sinclair, their substitute instructor. They only looked at her quizzically. "But you're a girl," one of them said. Stunned, she looked at the young boy. "Do you want to repeat that?" The boys looked to one another and exchanged childish smiles. "Girls aren't soldiers," another one of the boys said as if it were the most natural thing in the world to say. Assama flashed a glare at them. "There are plenty of girls who are more fit to be Rune Knights than any boy out there." "Oh yeah? Name one!" "I know of two Rune Knights who you would be in awe of." One of which was a Dragon Slayer. The other one had a certain breed of kitsune magic, a magic that humans typically didn't even get the chance to learn. "But nonetheless, I am your substitute instructor for the day and rather you like it or not you will follow my ever order. Got it?" Though she said it sternly and with authority, the boys didn't seem to be moved. Assama gave a small sigh before shaking her head in disappointment. She was going to have to try a different approach. "Look, if you're going to become Rune Knights one day you need to take orders of the people above you regardless of their gender, and if you even want to stand a chance for becoming one you need to train relentlessly. You're not going to be taking a day off just because you have a substitute instructor that just happens to be a girl. Now, start with twenty laps around the park." The boys hesitated. "Now it's twenty five. Get a move on!" Two of the boys rolled their eyes. They would have to do thirty. The others grudgingly turned around and started running. Assama watched the young trainees while they ran as fast as they could around the park. Quickly becoming tired, they slowed down to a jog. It seemed like they hadn't grasped the concept of pacing themselves just yet. Assama would be sure to point that out to them once they were finished.

When they came back, Assama gave them a few pointers and (with convincing and arguing involved) instructed them to do their next sets of exercises. It eventually came to be that they gained some respect for Assama and willingly did their day of training with minimal back talk that descended into none what so ever. The silence was like music to her ears. When they were finished Assama dismissed them and said that she would be reporting back to their original instructor, Bartholomew. But first, she would have to clean up.

Assama made her way back to the bedridden instructor. It must have been embarrassing for him to have her, or anyone in that matter, see him in such a state. Even so, he carried on just as if it were any other day and asked how training went. Assama wasn't going to lie. She told him how the trainees didn't like her being a girl but said that they eventually came to obey her. She gave them a lesson to remember. Happy with what he heard, Armin told Assama that her reward was on his bedside table. She took the money, thanked him and left. Though she had made some more money, she still had much to recover before she would go out traveling again.

Word Count: 1,039/1,000