Samantha had cleared up her the training yard. As expected, several Arrows had been damaged and would need to be repaired before she could use them again. The ones that couldn’t be repaired, would be used as fire wood.

She slipped the bow around her, it was not as painful as it looked to others. It also kept her hands free to do what she needed. The local guards didn’t like people carrying swords unsheathed, or a strung bow in the hands. As a member of mercenary group forming in the city, she could be asked to assist the local guards usually during emergency cases. She carried her damaged arrows in her hands to make sure she didn’t pull a broken arrow out of her quiver in a serious situation.

The walk back to her home was quiet. Vivian was right, the heat was too much for most people. Most people who didn’t have a job to do, were trying to stay in the shade. She stopped to look at dresses in the tailor shop window, one of the new dresses sported a floral pattern. Samantha liked the look of the dress, but the pattern didn’t fit her. Given the cost to make, Samantha guessed it already had a owner. After a moment staring at the new dresses, she continued on. Even if Samantha could afford the a dress, she had no money on her.

Outside her home, a woman wearing man’s suit, and a mask standing by her door. Only one person in she knew dress like that, Shinora. Shinora was the nearest this city got to Mayor’s Assistant. There was no Mayor, but she worked for the man in charge of the city. She turned to Samantha as she approached, “Hey Sammy. Have you see Laliea Carla?”

Samantha sighed, Laliea was living in the same building as Samantha. Laliea had a habit of annoying local residents. Hoping that Shinora would leave her alone, Samantha said, “Not since breakfast. I’ve been in the training yard since then.”

Shirona lent over and sniffed, “I believe you. It smells like you’ve worked out hard. Did Vivian see you earlier?”

“Yes, I got an invite and a key to the changing room at the baths. I’m just here dropping off my gear,” Samantha said as she opened the door her home.

The Door lead to the dining room, and the nearest the building to a living room. It was huge for group of 4 people, it would however cater least 20 people. It was less of a home, it was barracks. The building in question had been built with it’s own training yard.

The training yard had been destroyed, as a single large crystal had grown in the spot for many years. It was not uncommon to see areas in this city to be completely turned in to crystals. The story was that about 1000 years before, in the incident that sealed magic away that this city got turned to crystals. There was a huge Crystal floating above one the squares that could be seen from her old home in Lufas. That was the short version that Shinora gave Samantha on the day she got to the city.

The only table set up looked like it seen better days. Samatha could still see breakfast still out. It was already in the afternoon and she had skipped lunch.

Shinora stepped up in and looked at the room, “What has Laliea been doing?”

A loud moan came from upstairs. Samantha covered her face in desperate attempt to hide.

Shinora seemed to pickup on Samantha’s embarrassment, “Ok, that good enough explanation for me. So Sammy, why don’t you show me what you’ll be wearing for your date tonight?”

“Date? I thought that I was going to have a meal with Lady Acacia,” Samatha objected.

“Well whatever, I think you need to look the best you can be,” Shinora smiled.

“Don’t you have something else to do?” Samantha asked, as she worked as she unstrung her bow.

“I am here to speak to Laliea. She needs a job to stay here. With the exception of Zinnia, almost everyone in this town is employed in some fashion,” Shinora explained.

Zinnia was a new name that Samantha hadn’t heard, “Zinnia is Megumi’s baby, right?”

Shinora smiled, “Yeah, she is. At 2 months old, all she can do is look cute. With Laliea, I do have a job opening for her. I’ll wait until she comes out of the room. No harm if down the hall. So shall we see what you’ll be wearing?”

“Fine, follow me,” Samantha relented, as she climbed the stairs to her room.