Would You Like It Here Too?

"You're not focused," Adelia grumbles, hitting Mizuki on the shoulder with a book. "Go closer to the fire and focus on it. You're not going to be able to manipulate an entire element with absolutely no effort."

She's so strict with me. Mizuki hobbles towards the fireplace, lowering her head as she makes a second attempt at wielding the power of fire. She makes sure to focus on one idea, the core idea of starting a fire and nothing else. She feels her hands grow warmer, squeezing her eyes tighter so as to not break focus.

At some point, she feels warmth gush through her veins. When she opens her eyes, she's wrapped in a shield of flames.

Adelia nods, impressed. "Good job, now hit me."

Mizuki blinks, confused, her fire starting to go out. Adelia snaps her fingers, then claps her hands loudly as a way to get Mizuki's attention back in focus. "I didn't tell you to lose focus. Come on, don't wait," she urges.

Mizuki lifts her fingers, pointing two towards Adelia who only stands and watches. With a slicing motion in the air, towards the target that now hovers on Adelia's abdomen, she sends a massive laser of fire slashing through the air.

Adelia mutters a spell under her breath, raising her hands. Just in time before the fire hits her, a magic circle appears in front of her, completely breaking the hit.

Absorbing the fire, the circle vanishes. Adelia folds her arms nonchalantly, as if she hadn't shown the coolest trick right in front of Mizuki's eyes.

Mizuki's flames waver. Her eyes sparkle, "Oh my god, that's so cool! Can I learn how to do that with my fire too?!"

"It's too dangerous," Adelia shakes her head. "We'll perfect your physical attacks for now, I don't want your burns to leave permanent scars." Pondering before she continues, she speaks, "I think we might've gone a bit overboard for a first session as it is."

Mizuki looks down. Ah, the burns have grown. "Oh shit, I think my health points are going down, what do I do," Mizuki panics upon the realisation.

"Take a break, I'll brew you a potion. Sorry if I was hard on you," Adelia apologises.

"It's okay, I want to get better at this," Mizuki falls against the couch, coughing upon having a dust cloud escape into the air. She flaps her hand in front of her nose, a futile attempt at trying not to inhale the ungodly amount of dust in the air. Too much is happening at once.

Things don't calm down for at least the next hour where Adelia really pushes Mizuki to her limits, making her go all out with her fighting techniques.

Mizuki tries her hardest to mask her difficulty, continuing to execute tough attack styles though most of her body aches from the previous fight. By the end of it, she falls back onto her back, lying on the ground. She can't be bothered that it's probably dirty and she's going to have to wash her hair a lot longer to clean it thoroughly.

"I'm tired, teacher."

Adelia closes her fingers, stopping the green aura emitting from her palm. "You did well today. Make sure to perform as well in future weeks."

Mizuki groans, rolling aimlessly on the ground. Adelia reaches a hand out to her, helping her up. "You can't stay on the ground forever. You have other duties to attend to." Nodding groggily, she hoists herself up onto her feet.

Dragging her satchel back towards herself, Mizuki bows to Adelia in thanks for her effort. She immediately recovers upon realising what she did, staring flusteredly at Adelia who only returns the bow.

"You don't have to change your habits just because you're in a different place. Sigma and Ocantis have ties, we understand the cultures here," Adelia reassures.

"I'll see you next week, thank you," Mizuki smiles warmly, lips curved weakly. As she trudges back up, she reminds herself of Miko's quest, mentally encouraging herself not to give in to the fatigue before she completes the quest.

Upon entering the Union's Headquarters, she's greeted warmly by Ingrid who, for once, isn't roomed up behind her desk. She seems to be putting up a couple of flyers. Mizuki catches sight of them briefly, noticing something about an exclusive event. She ignores it completely.

"Mizuki!" Miko calls out to Mizuki from the front, leg kicked over the other as she sits comfortably against the couch by the front of the building. Mizuki pulls out the pendant she had been using earlier, holding it on her open palm. Miko freezes, physically stopping all action to stare at the trinket in Mizuki's hands.

Without a second thought, she snatches it out of Miko's grip, cradling in her own. Her eyes sparkle, be it from oncoming tears of relief or sheer joy. "I can't believe you found this for me," she exclaims breathlessly.

Miko clutches it against her chest as she stands. "Do you mind following me somewhere close? I want to leave this there for my husband."

Mizuki, truthfully, wants to decline the offer.

[Side Quest: Memories Often Windswept - Follow Miko]

But of course, the quest won't let her cut corners.

Mizuki sways more than she walks, trudging very slowly behind Miko as she's led down a street towards the West of the town. She hasn't previously roamed this area, the street close by the armoury.

Somewhere along the winding road, they leave through a gate and Mizuki finds herself led to a field. It's connected to the field she ended up in when she left through the North gate, except there's no forest around here. In the close distance, she spots a river and even a little village across it, presumably where the food and cloth are grown as well as processed.

Mizuki starts to enjoy walking a little more, the scenery absolutely breath-taking. Now that it's close to sunset, Mizuki feels like she's seeing all the beautiful things in the world at once. I wonder if I could come here with Hinata sometime. There's a tinge of sadness in the way she looks now.