The weather is good, I will find work today, Seira Navillera thought to herself and mindlessly clicked her tongue. With her chin resting upon the back of her hand, the young woman stared out of the hotel’s window and admired the thick forest and Orchidia Town’s lively streets. It was early in the morning, still, and although she had always been more of a night owl the Sorceress understood that the world, at least here in town, had a different time rhythm than she did—and Seira accepted that. Her expression was still a little dreamy, her movements slower than usual and she casually prepared herself to leave the room. She had heard of a mission board, covered in fliers with information, was located somewhere close to the center of Orchidia and she wanted to pay it a visit. On her way outside Seira stopped by the hotel’s bakery (an excellent feature, in her opinion) and bought some pastries for herself to nibble on during her walk.

Fortunately it wasn’t a very long travel, the board itself was fairly easy to find and she spotted quite a few people, all of which were wizards she assumed, surrounding it, each looking for their own jobs. Hopefully the good ones aren’t taking yet, Seira smiled to herself and gently shook her head. She finished her meal and approached the masses, quickly scanning through the quest fliers to find something for herself. One in particular stood out to her. The client was a woman named ‘Seheda Linas’ and all she asked for was a training partner for the day, someone to help her sharpen her skills. Seira chose to give it a thought, and eventually decided that she should perhaps do something for her own fitness as well (certainly more often!) and with a shrug removed the flier from the pinboard.

The location for today was set place in the town’s forest, a place Seira deeply enjoyed but otherwise would have been suspicious of if it wasn’t for the time of the day. She highly doubted that someone would lure travellers into the forest during the middle of a sunny day only to cause them harm, so she followed the instructions to meet up with her client. It was another walk of approximately fifteen minutes before Seira could make out the right location but once she did she spotted her client from afar and greeted her friendly by waving her hand and pointing towards the flier to signalize what she was here for. “Someone came! I’m so glad,” were the first words out of her mouth and Seira immediately noticed how dainty the girl was. Her voice was delicate, her posture indicated insecurities—even though she was taller than Seira herself. “My name is Seheda. Seheda Linas. It’s so good to see you here! You see, I’ll cut straight to the point. I’m a mercenary, I’ve been doing this kind of work for nearly two years now and surely you would expect me to be a little bit more experienced than this,” she paused and helplessly fumbled around with the tips of her hair, “Honestly, there is always place for improvement. I have desperately been trying to improve my combat skills, but up until now I have failed to do so and the local combat academy rejected me. Three times already!”

The tone of her voice changed, she got a little louder, her expression was honest and revealed how truly upset she was. Seira almost felt a little sorry for her. “Well, that’s unfortunate.” She, however, chose to laugh it off in a somewhat awkward way and waved her hand dismissively. “My name is Seira, I’m a traveller from Era and I will gladly help you improve your skills today. Let’s begin right away, there is no time to waste!” They started out with basic exercises to warm themselves up and although Seira wasn’t a very physical fighter, good speed and endurance were important to her, even more important than physical strength and she gave Seheda a few tips in regards to her speed, nimbleness and how she could improve those abilities of hers. Shortly after they were dashing through the lush forest and Seira made her way through the bushes and trees to chase after the mercenary, occasionally using her magic to put various obstacles into Seheda’s way, by cutting off tree branches and such. For a while she would point out to her whenever something was about to fall into her way, but eventually Seira’s comments lessened and her attacks became more aggressive and precise. Seheda did a decent job and it wasn’t as though she was simply untalented—her insecure personality just got into her own way and she was more of a hindrance to herself than anyone else. The less pressure Seira put on her, the more natural it became and the mercenary began moving quicker and each step she made was made with care.

They continued for nearly an hour and as they both felt the exhaustion kick in, Seira decided that it was time to compliment her. “You are doing very well,” the white-haired said with a smile and Seheda immediately responded. “T-thank you! It really does mean a lot to me! This job, I mean. I want to succeed this time and get accepted into the academy, it would also mean a lot to my family. They have always supported me, even in spite of my failures, so I don’t want to disappoint them again.” Their pace slowed down and Seira nodded in agreement as her client spoke. “Keep this up and you won’t fail anymore. I’m sure of it.” As she said that, the mercenary turned towards Seira with a bright smile on her face. “R-really? You think so? You really thi-,” but before she could finish her sentence, Seheda (probably out of excitement) overlooked a log, tripped over it and brutally face planted into the dirt. Seira gasped and did her best to suppress laughter.

“Seheda? A-are you okay?” Seira rushed to help her up and watched awkwardly as the other woman’s face turned tomato red. “Y-yes, I’m alright, t-thank you. I think I learned enough for today, I’ll end the exercise here. Here’s your reward.” Seira received the money and watched with a puzzled expression on her face as Seheda, still deeply embarrassed, fled the forest.

[1060]
Quest.