Atani grinned as she put away the earnings from her previous quest. She quite liked being a mage. As much as the elf enjoyed spending her days in Athalran libraries and clinics learning all her brain would let her, it did not hold a candle to the newfound freedom she gained in Blue Pegasus. Not only was she free to complete the tasks that interested her most, each new job came with their own unique set of challenging experiences that were frankly hard to come by in her homeland. Soon enough, her work would take her away from Hargeon. At least, that was the hope. It was hard to tell when exactly “soon” would be. She had not been in Hargeon for terribly long— long enough that she was just beginning to grow comfortably familiar with the town, yet still somehow long enough that the Wood Elf was beginning to get stir crazy.

She did not know why she didn’t get that way in Athalran. Perhaps there was just enough natural chaos that the wilderness provided to offset any lingering feelings of boredom. Yes, that had to have been it. Otherwise fundamentally, her situation was more or less the same. In both places, she was expected to complete jobs in a confined area that never changed. It was sad, really, now that she thought of it. Or perhaps not sad, but painstakingly mundane. She had no clue how some people could pick one job and settle down with it the rest of their lives. Not all of them were gifted enough to be mages of course— she knew that— but there were more options. Atani was sure that if she had no magic, she would find another way to live the life she wanted, one that would somehow be just as interesting.

WC: 302/1000

“Being an archaeologist might be nice,” the Wood Elf thought to herself as she did her hair. Three sections of the mage’s blonde hair wove together to progressively form a simple braid. A field where she could venture to mysterious areas and uncover ancient relics would have been fascinating to get into. She supposed that she still could do those things as a member of a light guild, though she didn’t imagine it paid nearly as nicely. If she wanted to go on an adventure like that herself, the funds would have to come out of pocket. It was not an issue for some, but for an elf like her who came fresh from Athalran to a real Fiorian town... Atani had quite a bit of catching up to do. That is, if that was something she even wanted to do.

To start gathering her funds for gods know what, Atani started heading for her guild’s request board. Her mind changed so frequently, she was sure this whole idea of an “adventure” would be gone by the next morning. Even so, it was important to start saving. Not just in case her impulsivity led her to an expensive decision, but to cover general expenses and eventual trips to other towns. If she just so happened to pick up a request that brought her to a different city, she would have to find a way to cover travel expenses. Luckily, that did not seem to be the case very often.

The request that Atani had selected most definitely was not out of town, and it offered a modest payment for what the task seemed to entail. Seeing that it had been put out by a noble was all Atani needed to read to understand why it offered such high pay. An easy job for good jewels. That made Atani’s decision a lot simpler.

WC: 302+312=614/1000

How hard could taking care of a little girl be? If she was sick, she probably wouldn’t have a ton of energy to do many things anyway. It was understandable why she would want to get out of the house though. Bed rest was important, but it was boring. Some fresh air was important too, however, so Atani didn’t really see the harm in any of this. Upon meeting the child though, she saw the harm it could do to her peace of mind.

To put it bluntly, the child was a spoiled brat. She wasn’t sure how someone raised by such a kind and beloved lord (who, for that matter, the child seemed to adore) could turn out to be so bothersome. Atani had not expected the girl to be so... demanding, especially when she was supposed to be sick. In fact, the first duty Atani had to do as her babysitter was to collect every single seashell she could find along the shore. “Every single one?” the elf asked, surprised. The girl firmly nodded her head. “Along the entire shoreline.” Atani took a deep breath and did as the little noble said. Why she wanted so many seashells, the elf did not know. Half the fun was collecting them yourself.

Partway through the collection, the little girl began to complain of heat, so Atani had to provide some shade with palm leaves she gathered from the trees. She, on the other hand, still had to collect shells in the heat. Suddenly though, the young noble realized that she did not want to spend any longer at the beach, and wanted to pick flowers in the forest instead. That, Atani loved the sound of— she was not a beach person. And so, she gladly led the girl to the forest, but of course the girl did not want to pick any flowers of her own. She insisted that Atani was the one to pick them. There was no refusing her client, so the mage did as she was asked. She started picking all the colorful flowers the girl wanted, when suddenly, she realized that the demands had ceased. The little girl was not there anymore. Panicked, Atani began frantically searching for the child. How could she have gotten so far away? After what seemed like forever searching, she heard the sounds of crying coming from one direction. The elf quickly went in pursuit of the sound, and found the girl curled up, eyes red and tears rolling down her cheeks. Atani picked her up and carried her back to the castle. She tucked the girl into bed and set the colorful flowers on her nightstand.

“You know, you’re one of the nicest people I’ve met. Thank you for the seashells and flowers.” Atani was surprised. After all that bossing around, she would have sworn the girl didn’t think twice about her, but it appeared she was wrong. “Of course. You’re welcome, now get some rest. You’ve had a long day.”

With that said, Atani departed from the girl’s room, collected her reward, and headed back home for some shuteye of her own.

WC: 614+523=1137/1000