Ri looked at his reflection. The bathroom's mirror was foggy, but the mage managed to make-do. A hand ran through his wet hair, as he tried to style it in the best way he could, while it was still malleable. Two dark circles were formed under this energetic person's eyes, and he bore a tired gaze, almost as if he hadn't slept that night.

And he hadn't. His last job included him working with sick people, so it was to no surprise, that even with the medicine he had received as a gift, that the cold still had its, well, cold dead hands upon him. He brought his hand to his face and coughed into it, before shaking his head, and sighing.

Dressed in his sleeping clothes, which were drenched in sweat, Ri looked towards his room, which had the teacher's papers nicely spread out on a table. Another sigh escaped him, as he ran his hand across the mirror, and trudged towards the other room, before sitting down on the table's chair. Running another hand trough his hair, he used the other to pick up one of the worksheets. "Maths..." He mumbled, before giving a loud groan, and letting his head bang against the wooden surface. Why did he take this job again? The worst part about it was his sickness, which would have been done by now, were it to have shown signs a few days ago. But no. Ri treated this clear illness as nothing but a mere cold, and the thing went untreated for the couple of days that he had spent doing absolutely nothing.

By the stars, was he mad at himself. But, he had promised the girl that her day with her mom won't be ruined. And so, with a few low curses, Ri stood, and began rummaging through his travelling backpack. He took out a wrinkled white shirt, and almost fainted at the sight of it. But, he'd decided to just hide it with the jacket. And so, he quickly dressed up- Well, as quick as he could- took his wallet, the notes, his keys, and headed out, not forgetting to lock the door.

When he exited the inn, his gaze was met by the powerful sun, which had already risen at that hour. Nine in the morning, and he had to be at the school in an hour. Enough time. Enough for him to walk as slowly as he needed so that he won't give away last night's dinner on the side of the road. So, with a huff, he began walking, gently sniffling. Damned be his luck. He didn't even have a handkerchief to wipe his nose with. Thankfully, it didn't seem to be that bad. Yet.

Either way, he soon reached the school, and in due time. Ten minutes left before the class started. With another sniffle, he headed inside, papers stuck under his arm, so that he could open the school's doors. Children were running past him, and into their class, and Ri silently wondered if this was how it was to be a teacher. Just to look at children having fun, while you knew you had a long day head of you.

He shuddered at the thought.

With a deep breath, he brought his other hand up, and ran it over his face, before giving a huff, and heading inside of his assigned classroom. Suffice to say, the children gathered were surprised by Ri's tall form, as he entered the room, looking at him like he was some kind of demon. He set the papers on the table, ran a hand through his now dry hair, afterwards bringing the same hand to his mouth, to cough into it. "Good morning." He spoke, at which he received a loud "Good morning," spoken in unison by the children.

Ri smiled, to show that even if he was almost dead, he would still make sure that none of the children would fear him. He kept the cheery demeanor as he spoke. "Your teacher had some business to take care of, so she asked for my help." A few mutterings were their response, before the mage spoke up, again. "Has anyone heard of.." His eyes shifted to the papers strewn across the table, "Addition?" A few nods, but mostly silence, "I see. Well, let's get started then."

In all honesty, Ri didn't know how to quite exactly explain to them how additions worked, but he tried his best. After all. He was an actor. He had to come up with something, sooner or later.

"I want you all to raise your fists in the air." He spoke, before grabbing a piece of chalk, and beginning to scribble on the table, '2+2'.

"Now-..." He paused, briefly. He wondered if this was a good idea. After all, he -was- thought that way, but it didn't mean that they also understood it. "Raise two fingers from your right hand, and two from your left. The total number..." He paused, once again, and went back to the board, writing the number '4' past the equal, "Is what addition is." With the same smile, he stopped, and looked back over to the class. Some children were muttering among themselves, and he let them talk, choosing to fix the cuffs of his jacket.

"Sir?" One called, timidly. Ri couldn't help but give a quick sniffle, before he turned his attention to the child, and nodded for him to start talking, "Does that mean that three plus five is eight?". His own answer was another nod, and a bright smile, "Yes! Good job." The children returned to their muttering, but only for a few moments, as Ri gathered himself, and began talking, once again.

It seemed the small ones caught the principles of additions and subtraction quite easily, and Ri felt a bit of pride. Mostly for the children, but some for himself as well. He didn't even know he could make such a good teacher. The clothes might have had something to do with it, though. Was he...Was he becoming mature? Nah, couldn't be. After all, after the classes were done, he'd go back to sleep, almost excited to get both the sickness and the tiredness out of him.

As he mused this, over the small break the children had to eat and play, Ri had found a handkerchief, and managed to blow his nose into it. He took a deep breath, happy to have some brief feeling of freedom. Of course, by now, his head had began throbbing, but with a few stubborn hits to his forehead, he had returned to his usual self. It wouldn't take long before the pain set back in though.

It stopped the mage only briefly in his explanation of divisions and multiplications, but thankfully, the children were nice enough to not cause a ruckus while he was silently suffering.

Actually, with the headache he had that day, he might have imagined the whole mission. But, one thing was for sure. Imagined or not, once the lessons ended, he was given a bag of jewels, ready to be spent.