This Time With a Map! [Magnolia to Clover]

Aila paced her way through the city with a peaceful expression on her face. She had been in Magnolia for a while now, and had come to know it pretty well, perhaps better than her home town of Hargeon. The people here were rather laid back. They barely batted an eye at a show of magic and didn't give her odd looks for walking around in her different cloaks. Sure they were next to a giant spider cave, but she could easily get over that just by seeing their happy faces. Eventually she made it to the request board only to find that it was empty.

“Eh… This is kinda bad isn’t it?” She muttered as she rummaged through her pockets and pulled out her jewel purse. Food and Boarding wasn’t exactly cheap in this town, and her wallet showed it. She had been doing fine due to all of the incoming requests but now. She bit her lip softly.

“Mizushima Aila?” a male voice spoke up from behind her. She turned to meet his gaze. He appeared to be a runner of some kind. “I’m a post man” he continued holding out a letter “Your brother told me to look for a oddly dressed girl named Aila” He chuckled at her brothers description while Aila flushed a light red at his antics. “I guess he’s never been to Magnolia huh-” He noticed that the girl appeared to be embarrassed and cut himself off. Clearing his throat he handed over the message before dashing off.

Spoiler:

Aila flushed red once more, remembering that she had been too embarrassed to tell him about the little mix up.

Spoiler:

At the end of the letter was a smiley face that she assumed was drawn by the twins. (It was covered in awkward scratch marks where the two had argued about what to draw) Aila smiled and folded the letter up. She had never really planned on staying in Magnolia. Heck, it had been a mistake that she ended up here in the first place. But, it still felt a little odd to just up and leave, especially after she had met so many people. If her brother really needed her to go what choice did she have? She returned to the inn she had been staying at and paid off the balance. After that she walked to her room, retrieved her things and checked to make sure that trains weren’t still an option. Sadly they weren’t, and so Aila set off down the road.

503/1000

The weather was nice at least, Aila mused as she walked along a road. The walk was rather uneventful. Every so often she would come across a random post man or Fairy Tail mage returning home, but after a small wave and maybe a few kind words, they would go their separate ways once more.

The sun was nearly down by the time she reached Hargeon. The town felt as though it was stuck in a loop. It felt like the very same people that were sweeping or walking the city streets had been doing so when she left. Her eyes casually glanced at the setting sun and she made the decision to rest at home tonight rather than making camp beneath the stars on the road to Clover. As she approached her home she was surprised to see 2 identical figures with their eyes glued to the window. As soon as she came into their view the figures vanished. They reappeared at the now open door and tackled their older sister in a loving hug. “Big sis!” they yelled it unison. Aila smiled and wrapped her arms around the two.

“I told you she’d come” Karu exclaimed as they made their way into the house.

“Nuh uh” Haru replied “You were crying saying she forgot about us” His twins face flushed a bright red at this allegation.

“Don’t lie! It was definitely you that was crying!”

Aila simply watched their antics; it was rather relaxing to be around this noise once again. Lately she had been alone within her own thoughts.

A laugh came from a nearby doorway; it was soon followed by the appearance of her older brother Tsoru. “Don’t let these two lie to you Aila, they were both crying up a storm” he said while smiling at her. The twins began to pout and turned away. “Welcome home” He said as he placed a plate of food in front of her.

“I see your cooking hasn’t improved” Aila said with a small giggle as she poked at a burnt piece of chicken.

“Believe it or not, the twins have been cooking. They were just a little preoccupied with staring out the window”

Aila ate the edible pieces of her dinner and happily fell into her own bed for a good night’s rest.
As happy as it had made her to see her brothers again, she knew that she would have to leave again. She had only come to sleep after all. Tsoru woke her up and led her around the sleeping forms of the twins, who had crawled into her bed in the middle of the night. He remarked about how they were getting to old for that but Aila merely smiled. She had missed them more than she had realized. Once they were outside Tsoru handed her a slip of paper, with instructions to open it after she had reached the road to clover. She had been far too curious, however, and opened it as soon as he went back into the house.

On the slip of paper was a map from Hargeon to clover and the words “I found out”. Aila blushed in embarrassment and set off without another word.

When she finally arrived in clover she saw a sign about a tournament in Era. She inquired about it at a local office and managed to sign up. She then proceeded to her brother's supplier and took care of the negotiations. She planned on staying here a bit longer before leaving for the tournament.