Kazimir had found his way back into the groundwork in Hargeon. This time a request had come in from a woman named, Raina. He walked down the old-style street of the town to his destination while reading over the information.

She appeared to be a marine biologist in need of some help around the lab. There wasn’t much experience he could lean on for something like that but would give it a shot.

Before long he arrived at the meeting point set by the request. It was in front of a small cafe and walking out on cue was a woman with long blue hair. “Hello, I could recognize a member of the knights easily. You are here to help with the lab, correct?”She spoke with sincerity and appreciation, moving a strand of her hair over one ear.

“Yes. I’m Kazimir. I don’t know how much help I can be but if you’re ready to get to work, so am I.” He was ready to dive in and get this task done. It was something new to him and he was at least mildly interested in how it all worked even if it wasn’t a passion of his.

“Thank you. Please follow me,” she led him through the streets of Hargeon. “We need to pick up some samples from the water first and then we can get to work in the lab. The last time I tested them the pollution levels were very concerning, and I hope these will prove less so.”

Kazimir wasn’t sure about what made the samples so worrisome, but he hoped it wasn’t anything that would cause serious problems to the town.

They arrived at a small river that fed into the sea. It twisted through the town and flowed beneath bridges. Raina pulled out some vials from the inside pocket of her coat. They were sealed in a plastic bag for safety. She ran one into the river, filling it with water and reached back to hand Kazimir two empty vials.

“If you wouldn’t mind can you go a bit farther down and fill this up closer to the pedestrian areas,” She asked.

“Of course,” he made his way a few hundred meters down and filled the vials up. There was no visible difference to him, but the lab tests may prove otherwise. He returned to her side as she patiently waited.

“Alright then, shall we head to the lab,” taking the vials he held and securing them away in her field jacket.

About fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the small clean building with a sign reading ‘Marine Laboratory.’ She opened the door to the small building that was only big enough for a full staff of four people. It was meticulously filled with various instruments and machines neatly organized for efficiency.

“Kazimir, would you mind turning on all the equipment it’s time we got started,” as she pulled out the vials of water and placed them on some racks.

The wind mage flipped the switches on the machines, that hummed to life. The only other sound in the room was Raina, as she let out a discontent sigh and turned to face him already.

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“Is everything okay Raina?” The mage inquired about her heavy sigh, wondering if something had already gone wrong.

She shook her head, closing her eyes for a fleeting moment. Without an immediate reply, she turned back around and grabbed a vial, moving it into the slot of the first machine. “It’s just that I come here every day and it's always the same. I gave my life to this job and people still continue to pollute the water no matter what I do.”

The machine began swirling the water slowly in its vial, “No matter what I do people dump their trash and chemicals in there. Water is our source of life.”

“I’m sure your efforts here are not in vain. The work you do helps sustain the people and I hope you can get them to see that.” He tried to reassure her as he finished turning on the last machine and joined her by the vials.

Raina lifted another vial and extended it toward Kazimir, “Can you pour this in the machine you just turned on. It’ll run it through a filter. You just need to pour it in and press the button,” She moved the hair from her face once more, “Then wait ten minutes and its done and give me the reading.”

The glass vial was smooth and easily poured into the machines funnel. He looked around it searching for the button when Raina called out, “It’s to the left.”

“Oh, Thank you. Guess I’ll need a lot of training before I could do anything like this.” He remarked trying to keep things light-hearted.

The swirling stopped, and Raina removed the vial and added another solution to it that caused it to change colors. “People just don’t think about aquatic life when they do those things. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to pull an animal out of something or try to clean up a habitat. One day things may take a turn for the worse and people need to take responsibility.”

Kazimir could tell she was clearly upset and her passion for her job reminded him of his clan. “You know I once fought alongside many powerful water mages that felt the same as you. They dedicated themselves to using the forces of water to protect people and nature. They were proud and vigil. They were also saddened by the treatment of the rivers and the oceans.”

He paused for a moment, reminiscing about his own past, “You are a lot like them. That’s how I know you’ll make this work.” He thought about all the time he spent with the mages and what it meant to him when the clang of the machine indicated it was time to see the results.

Raina crossed over next to him with a clipboard and her own results. She scribbled something down on a chart, “Thank you for your words of support. You would make a great scientist.” She stood up straight, “That takes care of the tests for salt concentration and pollution. All things aren’t too alarming yet. Thank you for your help. Here is your reward.”

Kazimir took the reward and with a farewell, he walked away from another job.

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