Azlyn awoke the next morning without much trouble. Her parents began their day early, getting supplies and materials ready to read or prepare. They must have decided to give her several chores to do around the island for the day—as it would keep her busy and out of trouble. She accepted the scrap of paper without any resistance, and made her way outside. The sun had barely begun it’s ascent into the sky, and the dream from yesterday faded from her mind. 

Her first task had her cleaning the chocobo stables, caring for the large birds, and then feeding them their morning meals. It wasn’t a hard task—and she’d need to complete it swiftly so she could finish the other three on her page. Apparently her parents prepared quite a day’s worth of chores for her to do. 

She arrived in the stables with the cold, crisp morning breeze. A stable hand had already started to place all of the relative items needed before turning to face her. He smiled. “Ah good morning little Azlyn—you’re first to arrive. Where’s your partners in crime?”

Azlyn looked behind her to the wide, open barn doors. She didn’t know who he was referring to until three others came running over. She recognized the tallest of them as G’raha. Krile, the brand new Lalafellin girl with brown hair tied up in a ponytail had run up right behind him. The last one to come up was Ejika, a Lalafellin boy who trudged reluctantly over. She didn’t know Ejika all to well, but he seemed to like studying as much as them. They smiled at her. 

“Good morning!” Krile replied.

“Mornin’.” Ejika murmured. He sounded rejected.

“Hey Azlyn, you doing alright?” G’raha Tia had been the first to reach her, peering at her from all around. He seemed to be making sure she was alright. 

Azlyn smiled, raising one of her arms to pump it in the air. “I’m good—It wasn’t that big of a fall.” She laughed while the Miqo’te child frowned. 

“Well I won’t lead you to anymore high places. Archon Baldesion was not happy yesterday.” He explained, his ears flattened and tail curled at the memory. 

Krile popped up between them with a smile. “It’s probably for the best, from what I heard. I’m glad you’re okay!” 

Azlyn nodded, not quite remembering how it went down. Her sudden vision was probably to blame, but she didn’t want to tell the others about it. “I slipped, it’s not Raha’s fault.” She was prepared for her friend to feel guilt, so she hoped to assuage that pain with taking responsibility for it instead. 

Ejika sighed loudly. “Well if you weren’t so clumsy, I wouldn’t be here tending to livestock.”

G’raha looked like he was going to give the boy a piece of his mind, but Azlyn shook her head. She intercepted the refute with a timid bow. “You’re right—sorry for causing you trouble Ejika.” 

The stablehand say the tension rising between the children, and hoped to break it with the clearing of his throat. “Ahem—hi everyone, I have some brooms and mops. If the boys can handle inside the stables, the girls can mop the pavers in front of the birds.” 

Azlyn and Krile accepted the pails of water and mops. Azlyn took one pail and threw the water down on the ground, where Krile began to scrub vigorously with the mop. Azlyn followed suit, wondering how long this task would take.

The answer, she realized was shortly after two and a half hours. All four of them were leaning against the rails exhausted. But the pavers, the stables, and the birds looked cleaner than they typically did. The stablehand that had left them to their task had come back with a cart full of bird feed, and seeing the birds happily chirping he smiled warmly to the four children.

“You guys worked hard, the chocobo’s are mighty impressed.” He complimented. 

Everyone smiled in approval, while Ejika shrugged his shoulders as if that was expected. The bird standing near by seemed to notice, and pecked the top of his head fervently until G’raha burst out in laughter. Azlyn cracked a smile, while Krile tried to calm the suddenly excited bird. The stablehand watched with amusement and concern. Ejika ran out from the stable covering his grayish colored hair with both his hands. 

Azlyn walked over to the bird feed, grabbing a bag and opening it with a snap. All of the birds snapped their attention to her as she walked over to their feeding bowls. The stablehand must have guessed they were hungry, now acting a bit mischievous to those that cleaned their homes. He opened the doors to the corrals allowing the birds to surround the girl placing bundle of bird feed in different bowls. Once her bag was empty, she was greeted with a yellow haired chocobo staring at her from above. She easily reached up, rubbing the down feathers of the bird as it chirped happily. 

G’raha sat on top of the rails watching from the side, and Krile had attended to the birds eating on the other side. The birds allowed them to pet them, and the stablehand even let G’raha ride one for a little. 

Shortly after the birds were settled down and placed inside their corrals did Ejika pop his head back in. He beadily stared at the birds resting, nestling, or cleaning their own feathers before he determined it was safe to come in. Overall it was quite a productive morning. 

Krile brought out a small satchel filled with snacks from the Archon. They ate happily between each other. 

“Krile, how old are you?” G’raha poked a clawed finger to the new girl.

“Hrm? Seven turning eight. You?” 

“Nine. Turning ten sometime this year. Azlyn’s the same age as me!” He added, pulling the girl into a side hug. Azlyn nodded with a smile. 

Ejika piped in. “I’m turning eight too.” 

Azlyn said, “We’re all relatively close in age; so let’s be friends together okay?” 

“Let’s have a party to celebrate Krile’s welcome.” The Miqo’te boy grinned. “After work, of course.” 

Ejika sighed. “You can’t even do your work properly.”

“Says the kid who ran away when a chocobo poked your head.” 

“Shut up stupid cat.” 

Before G’raha could retort, Krile waved them off. “I wouldn’t mind celebrating together. It’d be nice to learn more about you.” 

Azlyn grinned. “I can ask my mom to show me a quick recipe for dessert. We can plan for a little get together later tonight.” 

“It better have lots of chocolate in it.” Ejika said, perking up at the thought of sweets. “Or I won’t bother showing up.” 

Krile smiled. 

G’raha sighed. “Can I make his Azlyn? I can find some spicy cacao beans to make it.” 

They laughed, Ejika frowned. Before long Azlyn wiped the dust off her knee high socks and pulled out her list of chores. “Let’s knock out our chores before anything else.” 

After the stables, they were to help out in the Library. Ejika was thrilled to be in his second favorite spot on the Isle of Val. The four of them arrived at the entrance, seeing Azlyn’s father working at the circulation desk. He appeared to be talking to two others. But having the sense of someone watching, she watched as her father looked to them. Being a rather tall individual, he spotted the four small children easily, and waved them over. 

Standing next to him was another Archon, an older Elezen with tanned skin and the marks of his order upon his neck and forehead. He seemed to be holding up a book. He dressed casually, his white hair combed neatly back, his eyes calm and filled with kindness. Apparently this man also happened to be good friends with Archon Baldesion. 

Azlyn only seen him in passing a couple of times when she was younger, as her father had some work associated with him. Azlyn imagined her father learned his patience and gentle approach to things from him. 

She believed his name was Louis? Louisoix? It was some interesting Elezen name. The other person in his group was dressed in what she assumed was his order’s uniform. The hood covered his entire face, so she couldn’t discern who he was. He was pretty tall, like the Archon standing with her father. 

“Such bright eyed children.” The Archon smiled warmly and they all bowed their head to him in greeting. 

Her father smiled as he explained. “Archon Baldesion thought it’d be best to give the children some chores to do throughout the day to prevent accidents.” 

The Elezen continued smiling. “Ah, clever as they are mischievous? That sounds oddly like a former student of mine.” At that Azlyn watched her Father scratch the side of his cheek with chagrin. 

“You won’t let me see the end of that, will you Master?” 

The chuckle that emanated from the two adults caused the children to quick their heads. The youngest male in the trio looked down at the children, particularly Azlyn. “Methinks heredity hath played a role in that endeavor Master—fates to play a fun jest.” 

The older man nodded. “Quite so Urianger. But let’s not disturb them any longer with our visit. Nahz’el, it’s great to see you and your family well. We have a long trek back to Sharlayan. Come visit sometime soon.” 

Azlyn watched them exit, as Ejika followed their exit with excited wide eyes. When the man was outside of ear shot, or what Ejika thought was ear shot, he grabbed hold of G’raha and shook his arm. 

“That man is one of the greatest scholars on the continent! He’s so great and awesome! He’s done so much! His order has been uniting the city states against the —” he continued gabbing on about how great the man was. 

Azlyn gave her father an exasperated look while G’raha stretched his limbs. 

Krile smiled warmly, she too had met him when she was picked up by Archon Baldesion.

G’raha didn’t seem impressed. Interrupting Ejika’s monologue, he yawned. “Anyway—The other guy talked like a stuffy doll. Who even talks like that?”

Nahz’el chided all of them to quiet down. “I’ll have you take these stacks of books to restock them where they’re cataloged. Please be quiet as there are other workers trying to study their research.” He showed each of them carts that had been planned for returning. As if he had known all four of them would come, he had set up their work as efficiently as he could before they arrived. 

Azlyn took one cart, designated A-F and headed to the first section of the library. She worked as quickly and precisely as she could, finding some of the titles interesting. It took her about an hour to finish her cart before she wheeled it back to the circulation table. There she found Krile and G’raha Tia reading side by side at a round table. Her father noticed her return and offered her a book to read while they waited for Ejika. 

She sat adjacent to Krile, reading about the start of Atheryte crystals and connecting the flow for easier teleport. It seemed to be a new development in technology, but it was written easily for even a child to understand. 

Another hour went by, and there was still no sign of Ejika. Azlyn looked up from her book to look at the studious pair before her. Her father seemed to sense her jitters, and walked over to them. 

“Azlyn, if you’re done can you go check on Ejika? Maybe he got lost in the Archives upstairs.” 

The girl nodded, closing the book and handing it back to her father. The other two children were lost in their own world to realize Ejika had yet to join them. Both offered a brief hand wave before diving back into their stories. Azlyn gave her father credit for knowing what interested each one of them. 

She climbed the spiral staircase, going up the circular motion until she was at the anticipated floor where Ejika was last seen. She moved into the quiet bookshelves, walking between the shelves and running a hand through the spines as she walked. 

It must have been another ten minutes before she heard the murmuring a bookcase beside her. She stopped to peer inside the case, but only found the back of the wood instead. It was too bad these tall, oaken shelves weren’t able to be seen through. 

Walking up the path, and turning right, she made another immediate right down where she could see a semi full cart with books and Ejika reading. She gave a bemused looked, as she approached. 

“I’ll have you know I was doing my work diligently until I came across such an interesting subject about —” Azlyn let him drone on about some topic about eikons being summoned by beast tribes. She sighed before turning to the cart full of books. Noticing her disapproval, Ejika waved at the cart as if he couldn’t help it. “Oh—here’s an idea, since you caused me so much trouble this morning with these newly added chores, you can do restock these books as an apology. I’ll return this one when I’m done reading!” 

Azlyn would have expressed her frustration, but decided not to push it. It was kind of her fault they had these chores now. Grabbing the handles of the cart, she begrudgingly went to restock his set. After finishing placing the last book away, she went back to where Ejika was before, and found him missing. The book he finished reading was left on the ground without much thought. 

She sighed. Picking it up, she looked at the identification and then back to the catalog. She found that the book belonged several bookcases away, so she resolved herself with one more trip back into the archives before making her way back downstairs. 

Ejika sat with the other three waiting for her return. He was happily reading another book while G’raha was cracking his hands nervously. Krile must have finished reading, as she too was waiting for Azlyn. 

“All done.” She quietly reported to her friends, pumping her fist in front of her. 

Her father nodded in approval, stamping their chore set like the stablehand did earlier that morning. It was around mid morning when they finished in the archive. 

Before the children left the library, Nahz’el pulled aside G’raha Tia, Krile, and Azlyn. Ejika pondered what it was about but headed off to their next destination. 

The older Au Ra smiled knowingly. “Thank you for your hard work—you too Azlyn. Here’s an additional thank you.” He brought up three candies that he produced from his pocket. Their eyes lit up excitedly. “I believe Liliana is expecting you four by the training grounds. She has an activity for your group.” 

They wondered what it could be, before stuffing the candy into their mouths. Shortly, they made their way out from the library and caught up to the one who left early. He was humming to himself as they appeared. 

“Mmmmm—this candy tastes so gooood.” G’raha teased aloud, while Ejika stammered. 

“C-Candy? Where, and who gave that to you?” 

“For our hard work.” Krile replied, and then smiled. “Since you gave your work to Azlyn, it’s only fair those who worked got the reward. Too bad.” 

He flushed in anger, to which Azlyn raised her hands up in defense. 

Before Ejika could unleash a torrent of curses at them for feeling cheated, Krile ran ahead. G’raha immediately noticed what she was attempting to do, and started to flee with Azlyn’s hand in his. They sprinted past the angry Lalafelll who gaped at their escape. 

“You’re not getting away!” He shouted after them, giving chase. Krile led them, rushing down the outside halls to the open archway. Beyond that were clear skies, a large open field, and several individuals training in designated areas. The children all stumbled to a stop at the field where their next chore was listed at. 

“I see you four are working well together.” A new voice popped up in front of them. They found themselves looking up to Liliana who waited with a spread of weapons ready on the ground. 

“It’s not fair, why did they get candy and not me?” Ejika caught up, his breath slightly hitched and pouted. The other three rolled their eyes at his overdramatic entrance. Liliana caught this and smiled. 

“Well if my husband is behind that, he only does that when he knows you’ve finished your work. Did you do all your work?” Liliana surmised, winking to the other children. 

Ejika stammered once more. “I-I’ll work from now on.” 

“There’s a good boy.” Liliana reached forward to ruffle the top of his hair. His hair was growing longer, and if one didn’t pay attention to the voice, one could easily mistake him for a girl. He adjusted his glasses, looking away. 

“Okay, I’ll need you four to go into the training grounds and practice with the weapon of your choice. I have laid out several for you to try.” She explained what she wanted to see, from the martial styles to the magical styles. Azlyn, not sure what she should try out walked up to the weapons. Krile had picked up a weathered cane. Ejika, a similar looking cane with a focus on the top. G’raha picked up a bow and arrow set. 

 Azlyn was left with the remaining sets. An axe laid nearby, a sword and shield, a table which had a book laid on it, a lance, and a pair of fist gauntlets. She paused by each set, until she felt a resonance with the book laid on its back. Her mother seemed to notice her interest and explained. “Depending on the spell caster, some will use spells books to summon familiars or cause status ailments to their enemies. It’s an excellent class to support your friends. It’s always good to be well rounded in your studies, I noticed you working on the sword and shield earlier this week. Try it out, maybe you’ll be able to figure out how to expend your mana.”

After that, Liliana placed them in front of their own striking dummies. G’raha had to shoot the dummy until he successfully nailed fifty bolts. Krile was instructed to attune herself with the nature around her, to sense the earth, air, and water in the life around her. Ejika was told to fire balls of concentrated magic into tiny balls that would impact the target. He seemed quite agile with his wand already. Azlyn, meanwhile looked down at her book. The words that spun from the pages entered into her mind as she whispered the contents aloud. Her mother nodded in approval as Azlyn brought forth a surge of magic energy to surround the dummy. 

“Excellent, keep up these stances and continue the drill until you have done it fifty times.” Then she turned away from them to go set up another exercise. Azlyn watched from the side, realizing that her mother was multi tasking between them and another group of young adults coming to set up a hunting party.

She channeled her energy into the task given to her, the casting came easy as she started shifting her stance from ruin into what she assumed was bio. A thick mucus like substance covered the target and slowly ate it away. Everyone stopped in their training to look at the different stance. 

“Did you use Ruin 50 times already?” Ejika, who was slightly sweating, stuttered. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve. G’raha smiled briefly, before arching another arrow. He had shot fifty times, but only ten hit the mark. He went to try again. 

Krile smiled, “You are a quick learner, but don’t over do it. We’re still learning, even you.” 

Azlyn nodded, deciding to close the book shut. She looked up at the sky with a strange yearning to travel far and wide. She watched her friends continue in their tasks, albeit a bit bored, she returned the book to pick up the sword and shield once more.  As she walked over to her dummy, she tried to remember the basics from last time, and practiced her combination until she was comfortable. It wasn’t long before the rest finished their sets and opted for a break. 

“I’m exhausted!” Ejika collapsed to the ground holding the wand. Krile walked over to him to make sure he was alright. 

“I said don’t overdo it.” She admonished, before looking over to Azlyn standing by G’raha. He was arching his arrow once more to fire. His arms were shaky, but he firmly pulled back and watched his last arrow sail into the target. He smiled broadly, turning to his friend beside him. “Did’ja see that?! I actually hit the target fifty times!” He gripped his hands to Azlyn’s waiting on, and winced when the pressure was applied. The girl pulled back, looking down at his slowly forming blisters. 

“You’re hurt.” Azlyn replied, but he waved her off. 

“They’ll be fine. Gotta get stronger so that I can keep an eye on you all.” He grinned.

Ejika sighed. “I’d feel safer if you didn’t.”

“Shut up.” G’raha retorted back. 

“I think that’s an awesome goal!” Azlyn replied, hoping to ease their tension. “I’ll get stronger with you! Maybe we can travel around altogether!” 

Krile chuckled, while Ejika snorted. He didn’t seem all that interested in traveling. Krile seemed okay with the notion. The only one truly excited was G’raha and her. 

“We can travel around solving tons of mysteries! Or studying in all types of libraries! That’s the life!” He fervently said, his different colored eyes lit with a passion.

“Haven’t you already traveled a long way Azlyn?” Ejika said suddenly, as if bringing up the fact she may have already done what she stated. “You came here from Doma, but that was to run from the soldiers, right?”

Azlyn frowned, it had been at least five or six years since she’d found a home on Val. “I don’t remember much of it. I have fragments of what I think is Doma. I remember a large ocean separated us from Kugane. And then another boat took us to another port. It was a long time ago.”

Krile widened her eyes at the expedition. “That must have been quite a trip, was it just you and your parents?”

Azlyn shook her head. “No, my father and mother, along with my Aunt and cousin escaped. My Aunt and cousin are currently in Ul’dah, and my dad keeps in close contact with them. My cousin is about two years older than I am.”

G’raha frowned, “Do you remember anyone else? Like friends or other family?”

Azlyn shook her head. “No I’m afraid I don’t. Much of my memories are being here with you all. Studying, learning, playing—it is definitely a different living though.” She tried to explain as best as she could. 

“Personally, I don’t think I’d want to travel after that. I have everything that I need right here on this little island.” The Lalafelll boy remarked. “It’s just a messy world out there. I want none of it.”

Krile frowned. She too had seen a bit of what that world was, and didn’t enjoy much of the bad stuff. “You might have a change of heart in the future—something to discover, something brand new to see. Who knows.”

Everyone nodded, except for Ejika who shrugged at it like it was an impossibility. 

“I see I’ve been too lenient with your exercises.” The four children jumped up as Liliana stared at them with a squared expression. “That’s no good—no good at all. Go run ten laps!” And the children jumped up to start their marathon before lunch. 

Azlyn kept a steady pace, reminding herself that the tortoise won against the hare for its perseverance over agility. With this small thing in mind, she ran beside Krile who seemed like she hated the aspect of running. Ejika was far behind, looking like he might vomit. G’raha was pretty fast, ahead of the group by several laps. It wouldn’t be long before he finished, and was forced to run another five laps by her mom. That was why Azlyn didn’t want to finish early. It just meant more work. 

Once Ejika finished his tenth lap, he all but collapsed on the ground. “I...hate...this...” He gasped.

Liliana had their chore tasks in hand, and stamped her approval of completion. “And you’re done, good job kiddos. Go eat lunch because you have to report to your next chore.”

The children all felt the rumble in their stomachs, and were thankful for a well earned break. Taking the opportunity to rest their aching muscles, the four put all their food in the center of the grass where they shared in a type of potluck fashion. Azlyn’s had been homemade from her mom. G’raha had gathered some berries and edible plants. Ejika and Krile had gone to the farmers to ask for some spare ingredients for their potluck. Everyone on the Isle of Val were friendly and often times would give ingredients or food out to them with no problems. So they sat with a smorgasbord of delicacies, partaking in each other’s bounties. 

They ate plenty, regaining the energy they spent that morning doing the firsts half of their chores. When they were all done, they picked up their trash, finding a proper place to throw their waste away. It wasn’t long before all of them gathered around Azlyn as she read the next task aloud. 

“Scavenger hunt?” 

“What’s that?” Krile asked curiously. 

G’raha gave a wicked smile. “Archon Baldesion is behind it, so it must be something fun!”

“Let’s go and check in on him in his study then.” Ejika concluded, and led them with assured steps. “Follow me, I know the way.”

“We all do.” G’raha dryly added, which earned a chuckle from the girls. 

Ejika didn’t retort back, as he continued his way forward. It wasn’t long before they arrived at the Archon’s study. Inside they saw multiple people working on small projects. Standing at a podium in the back stood the Archon himself, reviewing several packets of paperwork. 

“Ah, there you four are. I forgot you were coming.” He smiled at them before busily placing his paperwork down. “Give me one moment to find that assignment. I know I put it around here somewhere.” He rustled through some of his stacks before finding what he was looking for. 

“This is what I’d like you to find on the island for me. It may take you sometime, but it will be beneficial.” 

G’raha smirked with excitement. Krile and Ejika looked like they were a little worried, as what had been assigned would be outside the academia grounds. Outside the walls, in the open were monsters and creatures that could tear an adventurer apart. He didn’t seem concerned by the danger as he continued to speak. 

“Ah—yes if you can locate and bring back a Wizard Eggplant for me. I heard there were some growing wild near the mountains to the east of the grounds.” He rubbed his chin in thought. “Why, I think it’d be a good opportunity for you four to band as a party and fight some easy creatures along the way. Shouldn’t be too bad.” He laughed.

Before any of them could try to reject the chore, he wrapped up the parchment and shooed them out from his study. The swift shut of the door made the children stare in dumbfounded wonder. Shaking their heads, Azlyn was the first to shrug. 

“Alright, an eggplant. It can’t be too bad.”

And as they would find out later—it was bad. Krile and Ejika had run away from an attacking beetle. G’raha was dealing with his own beetle. Azlyn was the only one left that could probably take care of the beetle before it head butted them to death. She raised her book up, the arcanist energy surged through her fingers as she drew the attention of the beetle to her. It’s beady eyes drawn, it decided she would make a better target that two running Lalafellls. Azlyn burst several ruins as she could, timing her attacks to its lunge. She knew she had a bit of cool down between its attack, so she waited for the right time. 

Unfortunately she wasn’t prepared for another attack where it suddenly slashed at her. She took the slashing damage on her arm, wincing as she summoned her strength to pull the book up in the air. The wind around her shifted and changed, her eyes, a violet purple shined with a brightness that none of them had previously seen, and a strange wave of energy coursed through her. 

Hear—feel—think—

Azlyn stared straight at her foe, drawing as much as she could. And an astral blue creature appeared before her in a burst. It shook off the excess energy and then it hissed over to the attacking beetle. Taking the time to attack the monster, the summoned creature continued to slap it with its tail until the creature collapsed to the ground. Azlyn dropped to her knees, as a heavy wave of exhaustion passed over her. The creature, with bright obsidian orbs turned to her before evaporating into nothing.

G’raha flung his last arrow into his beetle’s head before rushing over to her with concern. Krile ran up, out of breath and let a wave of healing magic weave over her scratched arm. Ejika took the opportunity to fire a single fireball at the dying beetle, taking care of the threat to their group.

Krile leaned down. “Azlyn, that was reckless, what if you couldn’t handle that?”

G’raha reached out to grab her hand. Azlyn accepted it with ease, wiping the dust off her clothes. “We finally found the eggplant master wanted, and it would be our luck that it’s the beetles favorite as well.”

“Then let’s make haste and head back home. The sun won’t be up forever.” Ejika was worried that there would be more creatures to come. Azlyn walked over to the wild Eggplants growing by the mountainside and plucked one with ease. When she brought it over to the group to get approval, Krile cried out in shock. 

Azlyn stopped as she looked at the young lalafell with concern. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Your-your sleeve is all torn! What would your mother think?!”

The girl paused, looking down at the aforementioned piece. Her father would probably be more worried. Her mother might laugh and smack her on the back for a great job. “It’s fine. I don’t think she’d mind.”

Azlyn proceeded to lead them down the path of less carnage and back to their home. By the time they arrived at the gate, the Archon and both of Azlyn’s parents waited patiently. Ejika and Krile seeing the master ran over to him, explaining all about the beetles that came up from the ground to attack them. G’raha Tia walked calmly with Azlyn until they stopped in front of her parents. Her mother gave an approving nod, and her father fretted over her torn sleeve. 

Their day was full of chores and adventures, and the memories they made as a team continued to grow. But soon, a change in one of them would spark a fire of growth in each of them.