Era to Magnolia

Aila rolled around her hotel room in a melancholic mood. This city was fun and all but it was a little too busy for her. Even worse was the fame of being a tournament fighter. Everywhere she went she was being watched or whispered about. At first she had been asble to ignore it but lately it had been warped into a sort of paranoia. She just wasn’t used to having so many eyes on her. Tsoru had told her that it was only until the tournaments end but who knows when that would be! It felt as though she had been waiting weeks for her next match and all they had told her was that they would send message of her next match.

Knock Knock

Aila was startled a bit by the sudden knocking and rolled off of her bed with a loud thud . “Just a minute!” She groaned as she climbed to her feet, and paced over to the door. With a quick look into the peephole aila confirmed her suspicions. Outside were two identical looking boys each with exaggerated replicas of her angelic shroud. She giggled to herself. She had noticed various souvenir shops selling these but most people were a little more focused on dressing like Ardere or Nix. With a light click she undid the lock on the door and allowed the two boys to enter. Immediately they pounced on her and she pulled them both into a hug.

“Big sis!” They said in unison “Tell Tsoru that we don’t have to go home yet!”

“Hm? You guys are leaving?” She hadn’t heard anything about this…

“Yeah Tsoru says he’s been away from the shop for too long so we’re heading back” Karu muttered into his sister’s stomach.

“But we don’t want to go yet!” Haru added.

With a sigh their older brother entered the room. Tsoru cast an apologetic glance in Aila’s direction. “I’m sorry but we have to go. I have orders to fill and I’m cutting it close enough just staying this long”

Aila frowned. She wouldn’t try to stop him. No she couldn’t bother him no matter what. Instead she turned that frown upside down and crouched down to eye level with the twins.

“What if your big sister comes with you?” she said with a small smile on her face “would you be ok then?”

Both of them looked up at her with surprised looks in their eyes “What about the-“
“It’s been canceled” she replied. It wasn’t exactly a lie. Due to certain events the tournament had been postponed. She could always just come back if they needed her for a match.

The twins were elated. They had come here to see her after all, and with the tournament and the short visiting hours for the hotel participants they had barely been able to do so.

Aila stopped by the hotel reception and told them that she would be leaving and where to forward any information in case the tournament resumed. Then she set off on the road to Hargeon with her brothers

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The clash of metal echoed throughout the forest. Again and again the glints of silver splashed through the green landscape. Momentarily one would fall back only to strike out again with more ferocity than before. On one side was Aila wielding a new weapon of her brother’s design on the opposite side was Tsoru that very same brother. In an effort to test out his newest creation he had recommended that they spar for a bit. This was met with cheers from the twins who hadn’t seen the two train together in a long time.

Tsoru apparently hadn’t been slacking on his training just because of his heavy schedule. In fact he seemed stronger than ever. Every swing from his warhammer was more than enough to shake Aila’s attempts to parry. Luckily Aila was much more agile and able to sidestep and counter her brothers attacks. Soon Tsoru smirked and summoned forth a magic circle. Aila was shocked for a moment, her brother had never shown the capability of using magic before. Sure enough as he brought the hammer into contact with the ground he summoned forth an earthquake. Aila thought fast and leaped upward hand planting on her brother’s head and meeting a nearby tree with her feet. With a hard kick she flew back towards her brother’s back.

A loud clash echoed throughout the forest and when the dust settled her brother was on his knees. His weapon and made itself home in a nearby tree, and Aila was declared the victor of this little sparring match.

Her eyes practically sparkled as she looked over the new spear her brother had forged for her. It was flawless in every aspect. Some of his best work to date in her opinion. One could barely pick up on the faint yellow sparks that decorated its blade. The white staff was a pure as freshly fallen snow and decorated into it were engravings of Valkyries doing battle. Apparently this weapon had been set to be her reward for performing well in the tournament. However, he had decided to give it to her early just in case she needed it for some of the stronger opponents. After all she had performed perfectly with Cerberus’ leash, his earlier project. Although wielding this weapon was far different than either of the scythes she had used before she seemed to pick up on it rather quickly.

The twins eyes were sparkling as well as they congratulated their sister on her victory. Soon after they set up camp and settled in for the night. Tomorrow they would have to stop by oak town and gather supplies for the rest of their journey home, and they all needed their rest if they hoped to make it. It took less than twenty minutes before the twins had abandoned their tent and curled up in their sister’s and although it was rather cramped the girl couldn’t be any happier.

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Ok... now she was feeling the burn. Her legs were beginning to protest their treatment, and she was forced to slow to a walk or risk being too tired to compete when she arrived. She took a deep breath as her magic slowly dropped and her clothing stopped its glow. The realization of her magic loss hit her hard all at once. Keeping the boost effect of this armor up for such an extended amount of time was really hard on the old magic supply. Her legs gave out slightly mid-step and she fell to her knees on the dirt. There she remained for five minutes while she collected herself. She was almost afraid to test her weight on her tired legs, but let out a sigh of relief when she stood and felt the same as usual.

Her brothers caught up to her rather quickly huffing and puffing from lack of air. She had planned on moving forward and picking up supplies ahead of them so that they could move out immediately but apparently that wasn’t going to happen. Their sparring match had taken more out of her than she had thought.

They stopped in Oak for a short pit-stop. She bought a small lunch that she could eat on the road and a couple others for her brothers. They decided that they had more than made up for the time lost when they overslept. From here they could take their time. Overexerting themselves would be unnecessary.

As she finished the last bite of her sandwich she bounced on her heels for a moment. According to her map, she was close to Era now, so she prepared herself for the city the council called home. Her imagination went wild with ideas of floating buildings, giant arenas, and an elegant guild hall reserved for the council members. She imagined the town as something of a mesh between Magnolia and Clover, with people that were happy, and lived in total elegance. The town would have little to no crime, after all the Council was full of very powerful mages. Who would want to challenge them?

Nothing she imagined prepared her for what she saw. The town was amazing in every sense of the word. Its buildings, its people, even its locations all seemed beautiful. She stopped in at a check in area by the hotel and told them that she had arrived. They handed her a hotel key.

“Enjoy your stay” They said with a smile.

They knew that they would honor that request. All together they curled up on their beds and went to sleep instantly. Dreams of home promised to run through their minds all night

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The rain continued to pitter patter upon the ground as Aila happily munched on her well deserved food. Her first request had gone perfectly, and had really lifted her spirits. She idly traveled to the train station while finishing her last rice ball.

Once she had finally arrived her eyes scanned the premises for her brother. Oddly enough he wasn't there. She pulled her hood down and entered the station. The station had always been rather alluring to her. It had a rustic feel, and the train traveled so fast that she couldn't help but think that the riders drifted away without a care.

"Excuse me miss?" she heard a voice squeak behind her. She whirled around to meet the face of a small girl dressed in business like clothing. "Would you be-" her eyes traveled to a small slip of paper in her hands "Miss Aila?" Aila nodded in response and the girl let out a sigh. "I'm a customer of your brother, he told me to deliver this message to you." With that she pulled out a letter and placed it in her hands before scurrying off. Almost as if she didn't want to be around when Aila read it.

Her eyes quickly scanned the letter.

Quote :

"Hey, you looked tired so we went on ahead catch us if you can"

Aila smiled, her brother had always been a jokester. As she began to fold up the letter she noticed a small note on the bottom.

Quote :

Hurry it up sis! Or you don't get lunch

A cold wind traveled through the station, and Aila's face flushed ever so slightly. Did he forget that the whole reason she was traveling was so that THEY wouldn't be lonely some supplies! Aila approached the nearby counter with annoyance apparent in her eyes "One ticket to Clover please".

The man on the other end of the counter smiled back at her and hit a few buttons on a cash register. "That'll be 10,000 jewels please". The cold wind blew through the station again as Aila casually took out her purse. She knew that she didn't have nearly enough money. Why was everything so expensive? The smart thing to do would be to go back home and ask her brother for the extra money needed. However, that would require letting her brothers know that she had spent some of her traveling money on her new requip set, which they saw as "just clothes". A shiver went through her body when she remembered the ridicule she had received from her original requip outfit.

"Wh-which way is it to Hargeon?" She muttered in a defeated tone.

The man looked back at her with obvious annoyance. His face quickly changed into a smirk as he pointed in a random direction. Aila, being the indoor child she was, believed the man and set off down the road. She picked up some snacks for the road from a nearby shop, and began to walk down the path imagining the beautiful city of Clover that her brother had always bragged about during his days as an apprentice. Now she’d get to see it in all of its glory!

The walk was rather long and for a while she thought it would run on forever, but before she could give up she saw the shape of buildings off in the distance and smiled. Her clothes let out a faint glow and she dashed off, now dressed in her new requip set.

Her eyes were sparkling as she peered around at all of the buildings. The place didn’t look near as extravagant as her brother had often bragged. Was it that important to make her feel jealous? She stopped by a nearby shop to ask for directions to her brother’s supplier.

“Sorry to say that you went in the complete wrong direction missy” The shop keeper told her with a chuckle.

For the third time today Aila felt a cold gust of wind roll in. She took a pen and piece of paper from her bag and gently scribbled out a message to her brother, with a bright red blush on her face.

Quote :

Dear Tsoru, I decided to go to Magnolia instead. Please get your materials some other way.

Signed your adult sister,

Aila

Still blushing she handed the note to a nearby post office worker and began to explore the town.

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Aila smiled as she walked around the familiar streets of Magnolia. She was sure her brothers would be upset about her not meeting them in Hargeon, but she just had to return here. This place was like her home. The people all seemed happy and wore their smiles with their heads held high. No fear was present in their eyes, unlike those that lived in the slums of Hargeon. Unknown to the young mage was the fact that much of their fear came from her usual shrouded appearance. Today, however, she was dressed in her casual clothes which consisted of one of her brother's hooded sweatshirts with jeans and a pair of white tennis shoes. Her hair was pulled back into a long ponytail. Over all the clothes didn't quite seem to fit her. Most of it was too big, but the girl was comfortable in it.

She dashed to and fro searching for somewhere to stay for the night. It seemed as though most inns and other places of business were closed in honor of the tournament, much to the small girl’s chagrin. After checking out what felt like 100 hotels she found a small bed and breakfast within her price range. She paid off 2 weeks at the establishment and immediately headed to the rather large bath within. The large bath was empty and the girl smiled to herself at her luck.

She stepped into right into the shower and sent her clothing back into her pocket dimension.

After a short shower and a long bath she redressed and left the bathhouse. A short walk later she arrived back in her room and plopped down on the bed. She planned on just relaxing for the rest of the day.
A small glance out the window revealed the spider guy she had helped last time she was here. Aila could still feel the tiny tendril-like legs of giant spiders on her skin. 'Never again' she thought as she gave one last shudder at the thought. She finished off a rice ball while watching the people pass by. It actually felt odd to think that such disgusting bugs lived so close to these normal, happy people. She looked down at her coin puch, at the very least the job had paid rather well. 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. 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 have just up and left before, especially after she had met so many people. But now she was back, and boy did it feel good!

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