Personal Shopping

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 4, Post Number 81

-Capital Crocus Mall, 10:00 A.M.-

Wearing her green, white, and gold outfit without Argent Gloves and without the knife in her right boot, Leona stepped through the sliding glass doors into the crowded Capital Crocus Mall to begin her first real shopping trip in the capital of Fiore. She had left all of her usual gear at home for this trip. Leona had left her weapons, Argent Gloves, backpack, and even PG-13 back at Silver Wolf Guild Hall because her reputation would be intimidating enough without a red-eyed guard droid wielding a plasma staff walking with her to add to the intimidation factor. She had come all the way out to the busy mall for several reasons and all of them were personal. Leona needed to do something other than fight all the time and she was looking to do just that by going on a shopping trip.

First, she wanted to find a decent computer to buy for use in learning computer literacy; her initial plan was to buy an older model that could be easily replaced, but since the world ran on modern computers, she might as well buy the newest model she could get to learn how to use the latest technology. Second, she really needed to update her painfully limited wardrobe, which had only three outfits plus the dress from the auction night. Third, she had heard that there was a figurine shop here and she wanted to buy figurines of Leila Vergious and Ruvel Mizune plus her contemporaries among the Wizard Saints and Gods and Goddesses of Ishgar. Fourth, Leona just wanted to do something that normal people did, an activity in which the world was not in danger and people would not die if she made mistakes like buying the wrong outfit or eating the wrong food at the food court. Fifth, she did not want to take a job that involved fighting and wanted to do something to try and improve her life outside of battle.

While she felt guilty for slacking off by going to a mall instead of fighting some major threat to the world, Leona was sure that her contemporaries among the Wizard Saints and Gods and Goddesses of Ishgar plus countless other heroic mages would pick up her slack, if only for today. With her conscience eased, the Wizard Saint took a deep breath and began to make her way towards a map of the mall to better understand what kinds of shops were here and where they were located. She sidled up to a colorful map of the mall on a stand and had started to read it to locate an electronics store that had what she wanted.

According to the map, the store that could help her was named Electronic Gateways and was located on the third floor along with Resin Monuments, the figurine shop she needed to go to for the figurines of Leila, Ruvel, and the current generation of high-profile mages of Earthland. With that in mind, Leona left the map behind and went to look for a stairwell that she could use because the elevators were crowded and she did not care much for crowds. It was a test of endurance for her to simply be in the crowd without the additional stress of being confined in a small space with it.

-On the Third Floor, five minutes later-

After climbing the stairs and hearing a cluster of teenage boys following behind her and whispering about the size of her backside, Leona reached the third floor with ease and stepped aside to let them pass, then began to look for Electronic Gateways, which was on the opposite side of the railing from her current location. She walked around the floor at a leisurely stroll instead of the hurried pace at which she typically moved and was conscious of this change. It was hard to resist breaking out into a brisk walk or even a jog because she was used to having to hurry everywhere she went, but today she had all the time in the world. No one was in danger and nothing was riding on her success except her personal wants. It was a weird feeling to not have high stakes in an endeavor, even one as trivial as going to the mall for some personal shopping.

Leona reached the front gate of Electronic Gateways and found that the rolling gate was down and the lights were out. On the inside of the left display window was taped a paper sign. Printed in large black letters was a message for potential customers.

"DUE TO A DELAY IN THE SHIPMENT OF COMPONENTS FOR OUR MERCHANDISE, ELECTRONIC GATEWAYS WILL OPEN LATER TODAY AT 4:00 P.M. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING."

Leona put her hands on her hips and felt a surge of mild disappointment. She had encountered a modest setback that would disappear in six hours, but it was still a bit of a bummer to have to wait that long because she had wanted to buy a computer first. What could she do to occupy the next six hours before the store reopened?

There was the need to update her wardrobe with some new outfits, so she could go look for a clothing store or two and see if they had anything that could fit her. There was Resin Monuments and its selection of figurines for sale. There was the need for lunch in roughly two hours. And then there was all manner of unplanned events like being hastily conscripted into stopping a thief, having to help someone carry their shopping bags, or any other number of little things that could add up to shave a lot of time off the clock. In the meantime, Leona would just walk around the third floor to get an idea of what shops were on the floor and to kill a little time while she tried to decide whether to look for clothes, buy some figurines, or simply wait for lunch and go eat something before going to look for clothes or buying some figurines.

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-Ten minutes later-

Leona had made a lap around the third floor and had stopped by Resin Monuments, which was surprisingly busy for this time in the morning. There were so many people in the shop that Leona could not hope to squeeze in without the aid of a spell that could turn her paper-thin. The sale that was going on today might have had something to do with that spike in customers. Since there were well over thirty people currently inside Resin Monuments, it would be best just to come back later after shopping for clothes and having lunch. Hopefully there would still be some figurines for purchase by the time Leona got back to the shop.

She left Resin Monuments behind and made her way to a map on a stand about 50 meters to her right to look for any clothing stores that she could go to. Like she did when she first entered the mall Leona sidled up to the map and began to read it. Within a few seconds of browsing she had learned that there were clothing stores on both the first and second floors, giving her plenty of options and another way to kill some time before Electronic Gateways opened. With nothing else to do on the third floor, Leona located a flight of stairs and made her way to them, then carefully walked down the crowded stairs until she reached the second floor.

-The Second Floor-

Leona had to step to the left and hug the wall the moment she reached the second floor because a flood of people burst out of the stairwell and surged past her without even knowing she was there. Once it was safe to step out she did so, but only after taking one last glance at the stairwell to make sure she would not be knocked down and trampled by another surge of people exiting the stairwell. Leona stepped into the main lane of traffic and began another leisurely lap around the floor to get an idea of where everything was before committing to a course of action.

After completing a leisurely lap around the floor Leona had learned that every single clothing store was packed with customers and that they were not going to clear out any time soon, so Leona would just have to go in there and brave the crowd to get what she wanted. However, the trouble with that was that she did not know exactly what she wanted out of her wardrobe.

She wanted her wardrobe to be more modern, but that was another problem in itself. The "modern" media ideal seemed to be thin women with tight clothing and Leona was not on board with wearing tight clothing. She did not like the idea of her chest and backside being emphasized any more than they already were because those two features were what attracted Joshua Hamlin to Leona at the village party over two years ago. They led to Joshua getting handsy with her, which resulted in Leona refusing his "offer" of marriage, which resulted in Joshua insisting that she would marry him. That in turn led to an angry Leona giving him two black eyes and a few other injuries; that incident led to her exile and subsequent ambivalence towards men.

Should all men have to suffer for a mistake that one amorous teenager made over two years ago? No. But what happened to her was not something that the blonde could easily shrug off like she could the baggage that came with fighting bandits, werewolves, dragons, or zombies. Most people would be terrified out of their minds if they had to go toe-to-toe with a single werewolf, let alone a pack of them, but for Leona it was just another day at the office. She had been born and raised in a harsh desert environment where being able and willing to fight at a moment's notice was an unfortunate part of life and she had been forced to fight and kill when she was twelve years old, so shrugging off the trauma that should have come with being forced to fight for her life on a regular basis was second nature to her.

Aside from Joshua Hamlin, the only man who had ever shown any sort of interest in her was Sol Detholusin, the dark-haired mage who was Ruvel Mizune's right-hand man. With the disappearance of Sol it was safe to say that romance was not in the cards for Leona any time soon, so she did not have to worry about dressing to impress a male companion. Still, she wanted to at least try to add something new to her wardrobe so that she had something other than desert camouflage shorts, khaki cargo pants, t-shirts, and two outfits her mother had made for her hanging in her closet. Even if today's endeavor met with failure she had at least tried to connect with the world outside of Desierto and Silver Wolf Guild Hall in a way that was not job-related. Since Electronic Gateways would not open until 4:00 P.M. she had plenty of time in which to try and connect to the world outside of her narrow sphere of interest.

Leona had found a clothing store called The Modern Woman that advertised a variety of casual styles, but she was not sure if she wanted to go in. She was a Guild Master and a Wizard Saint and had an image to maintain. Image was important for Leona and she did not want to give the wrong impression by dressing too casually for her titles. Still, she would go in and see what The Modern Woman had to offer, if only to take some time off the clock.

Leona walked up to the store front and saw that inside the medium-sized store were at least twenty people shopping plus ten or thirteen staff members helping said customers. It was going to be crowded, but Leona was able to handle it because if she could manage making her way through the crowds of the Tri-Council City's open-air bazaar, maneuvering through the crowd inside Capital Crocus Mall's stores should be no big deal... at least in theory.

Taking a deep breath, Leona entered The Modern Woman and began the quest to expand her limited wardrobe.

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-Inside The Modern Woman-

Leona stepped past the threshold and into the women's clothing store she wanted to go into first, which was teeming with customers perusing the clothing racks and employees helping customers make decisions. The Wizard Saint entered the shop unnoticed and thus got a chance to browse what The Modern Woman had to offer without being distracted by a starstruck employee trying to make a sale to a Wizard Saint... she carefully worked her way to center of the store and looked all around her. The clothing was a mix of styles that leaned on the casual side like t-shirts, shorts, and skirts with the occasional pair of pants thrown in for the sake of balance. However, the shorts and skirts seemed to be a bit too casual because some of them were dangerously short, but that shortcoming did not stop them from being snapped up by teenage girls and young adult women. Leona decided against buying a pair of shorts or a skirt because there was nothing in her size that was not on the short side and instead started to head towards the t-shirts for something in her size that might be comfortable to wear.

Leona got to the t-shirts and saw that there was a good variety of colors and styles to choose from. The main color options were staples like white, red, green, blue, black, purple, yellow, and pink, but right next to those were different hues and shades of the base colors like baby blue, hunter green, hot pink, lavender, cherry red, and other options. There were also different sleeves like short sleeves, long sleeves, and even tank tops. The color choices and the different styles of t-shirts were two things that worked in The Modern Woman's favor, but then she took a closer look and noticed that some of them were designed to expose the wearer's midriff, which was another thing that Leona had wanted to avoid. When she approached a blue tank top and touched it to feel the fabric, another flaw was soon made apparent.

The fabric was so thin that Leona could easily read a newspaper through the shirt if she wanted to.

Thin fabric was fine if one lived in temperate climates like Fiore or in warm ones like Desierto, but in colder climates like Silent Glacier or Phoenix Mountains that lack of thickness could be a big problem. Then there was the consideration of what would happen if the wearer got caught in a sudden rainstorm without a rain jacket. Leona's chest size would work against her in both cases. With those factors taken into consideration, Leona decided to hold off on making any purchases from here until she had first went to an athletic apparel store and browsed what they had to offer. She recalled there being one on the second floor named The Athlete's Edge.

With her mind made up, Leona silently left The Modern Woman and returned to the floor to make her way to The Athlete's Edge to see what they had to offer. She might return to The Modern Woman for a casual t-shirt or two, but that shop was not going to be the primary source of her new wardrobe. No one had even known that the Wizard Saint had been in there, but that lack of recognition was fine by her. She was not looking to be treated like a superstar. She just wanted the same shopping experience that an ordinary person would get

-The Second Floor-

Leona left The Modern Woman and blended in with some light foot traffic that was making a lap around the second floor. She calmly followed the mix of young people and middle-aged people until she reached the entrance to The Athlete's Edge and then broke away from the pack to check out the store. She entered the small, clean, and well-lit athletic apparel shop and a DING-DING sounded, eliminating any chance she had for a leisurely perusal of the clothing.

-Inside The Athlete's Edge-

"Hi there miss, welcome to The... oh wow!" A young woman with waist-length black hair and brown-rimmed glasses greeted Leona before stopping and cupping her hands over her mouth in surprise. Leona dreaded what was about to come next. She was probably going to be waited on hand and foot by a starstruck employee despite not wanting to be waited on. The Wizard Saint did not want this because to her critics it would look like Leona was abusing her status to make the hapless employee do her bidding. However, there was no stopping it now because the young woman was already excited about meeting the Wizard Saint and was ready to show Leona everything they had.

"I can't believe that I'm helping Leona Jarnefeldt herself! I never thought that I'd meet a Wizard Saint!" She exclaimed in clear excitement. Some of the customers down on the shoe aisle about 100 meters in front of her heard what was being said and turned their attention from the shoes to Leona, who began to blush. She was not wanting the attention, but she was getting it now. Since she was a public figure who commanded attention whether she liked it or not, Leona would just have to grin and bear it. Seeing that the Wizard Saint was uncomfortable with the unwanted attention, the employee calmed down and asked Leona what she could do to help the esteemed mage.

"What can I help you with?" The employee asked Leona.

"I'm looking for a shirt or two and some shorts that I can wear under my skirt." Leona answered. She was concerned that the size of her chest and backside might make things difficult, but the employee did not seem concerned by that issue. After taking a quick look at the blonde's body she calmly spoke to the Wizard Saint.

"We've got some items that should fit you. Follow me and I'll show you." The black-haired employee diplomatically said before motioning for Leona to follow her to the back of the store, where neatly ordered racks of shirts waited for them. Leona wordlessly followed the young woman through an empty aisle of shoes in boxes arranged according to  size and brand and to the back of the store. A few young women who were browsing for shirts and shorts saw the Wizard Saint and brought out their iLacs to take pictures of the blonde mage. Leona obliged the young women, pretending not to notice them and letting them take their pictures. They smiled and resumed their shopping like nothing had happened and Leona was left in peace to do some shopping of her own.

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With the help of the employee, Leona began to browse the racks of shirts for an athletic shirt or two that she could wear. Her objective was to get one white, one blue, and one green shirt, but if The Athlete's Edge did not have any in her size Leona would either have to accept a shirt that was not one of those colors or simply do without. The Wizard Saint quietly looked through the circular racks and spotted a white shirt without any writing or logos that the bespectacled employee reached for and looked at the tag on the black plastic hanger.

"This should fit you, Miss Jarnefeldt." The young woman confidently opined. Leona looked at the name tag on the woman's purple shirt and saw that her name was Evelyn. Now the Wizard Saint knew what to call the young woman.

"If I may ask, do you have any particular colors you'd like?" Evelyn asked Leona.

"Actually, I do. I'd like a blue shirt and a green shirt in my size, please." Leona answered the question. Evelyn quickly began to sift through the shirts on the circular rack in front of them and produced a blue t-shirt in a matter of moments. She quickly glanced at the tag and nodded to herself.

"This will fit too." Evelyn said laconically before turning her attention back to the rack and sifting through the shirts until she found a green one that she picked up. She examined the tag and frowned. She then put back the garment without further word and looked at the rack to her right. Evelyn darted over and immediately seized a green t-shirt, then read the tag before walking back to the waiting Wizard Saint with her prize in hand.

"These shirts should fit you, Miss Jarnefeldt. If you'd like to see for yourself, feel free to make use of our dressing room." Evelyn said to Leona jerking her thumb behind her to point out a women's dressing room that was behind them. The blonde mage trusted the bespectacled employee, but she did not want to get back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall and find out that she had bought items that would not fit her. Leona would try them on before she bought them so that her time and her money were not wasted.

"I'd like to do that, thanks." Leona said to Evelyn. The employee promptly handed the shirts over to Leona and escorted her to the dressing room.

-Inside the dressing room-

Leona walked into the open room to the far right and closed the door behind her, then set the three shirts on a hook, spacing them out so that they did not get wrinkled. She then faced the mirror and took off her outfit top, then set the garment down on a chair that was behind her in the corner. She grabbed the white shirt and tried it on, looking at herself in the mirror.

It fit perfectly. It did not hug her chest too tightly and it had a fairly long shirttail so that it could be tucked in if she wanted to. Leona took it off and put it back on the hanger, then tried on the blue shirt. Again it fit perfectly and had a lengthy shirttail, so it was definitely a keeper. Leona took it off and place it back on the hanger, then tried the green one. The blonde held her breath as she pulled the shirt all the way down before looking in the mirror.

The green one also fit perfectly. The Wizard Saint had lucked out and gotten three shirts that she wanted to buy. She took off and hung up the green shirt and put her outfit top back on, then carried all three shirts out of the dressing room to go buy them.

-Inside the store-

Leona returned to the waiting Evelyn and handed her the shirts. Satisfied with her choices, Leona was about to leave when she spotted a pair of black bike shorts and remembered that she also wanted a pair of shorts to wear under her skirt because that article of clothing tended to take almost as much damage as her top. She wanted to wear something underneath the skirt in case it got too damaged for field repairs or was ripped straight off of her by a forceful attack.

"I forgot to tell you that I'd like a pair of bike shorts as well, Evelyn." Leona said to the employee. Evelyn stopped in place and immediately went for a circular rack on the far right of the store. Leona followed in her wake and found the bespectacled employee sifting through a rack of nothing but bike shorts in search of just the right pair for the customer.

Leona quietly waited a few steps behind Evelyn as the latter finished sifting through the rack, then carefully sifted through them again at a slower pace. The young woman frowned as she finished the second search without any luck and immediately began a third. Again Leona kept quiet and kept her distance so that Evelyn could search in peace without her famous customer breathing down her neck. Evelyn completed the third search attempt and turned back to Leona.

"I'm sorry, Miss Jarnefeldt. We currently don't have any bike shorts in your size." Evelyn apologized to the blonde mage for her failure.

"It's OK. I'm really happy with the shirts you helped me find." Leona assured Evelyn that everything was OK. Getting three out of the four items she had wanted was not bad. Getting shirts that fit was a higher priority to Leona than the shorts were.

"OK then. Would you like to check out?" Evelyn asked Leona. Leona nodded. Evelyn then guided the Wizard Saint to the front of the store and got behind a cash register, where she rang up Leona's purchases and the latter paid for them. The bespectacled employee quickly folded the three shirts and placed them into a white plastic bag with The Athlete's Edge printed in red letters, then dropped in Leona's receipt.

"Thank you for shopping at The Athlete's Edge! Have a nice day, Miss Jarnefeldt!" Evelyn thanked Leona for her patronage. Leona nodded in response.

"Thanks for helping me find the shirts. You have a nice day too." Leona said before exiting the store with the bag clutched firmly in her left hand. Now that she had bought some athletic shirts that fit her without hugging her chest too tightly for comfort, Leona would move onto her next objective, which was going to see what else of interest she could find before she tried to enter Resin Monuments again. Maybe there was a decent bookstore she could visit to kill some time before lunch. If she was lucky she could find and buy a book or two on ancient languages that would not cost her two million Jewels.

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-The Second Floor-

Leona left The Athlete's Edge and sought out the floor map again so that she could find a bookstore to go into just to kill some more time before lunch. If she found that there was indeed a bookstore in the mall and that it had a book or two that she could use, that would be splendid. If the store had nothing that she wanted to buy, that was no problem because she was mainly concerned with killing time. Leona had already gotten part of what she wanted with the purchase of the three athletic shirts and everything after that would be a bonus. However, she had plenty of time to burn before Electronic Gateways would open and she was not sure if she could do enough shopping to occupy herself until then.

Leona found the map and walked up to it, then began reading it again. After a little browsing she found out that there was indeed a bookstore in the mall. It was located on the first floor and was called The Scholar's Resource. That was all the information she needed, so Leona left the map behind and slowly made her way towards the stairwell, being careful not to bump into anyone on the way because there was a sudden increase in foot traffic on the second floor. Leona got to the stairwell without incident and carefully made her way down to the first floor.

-The First Floor-

Leona hurriedly stepped off the stairs and flattened herself against a nearby wall to avoid a stampede of shoppers who had all decided that now was a good time to visit the food court and that any delay was unacceptable. Once the stampede had passed her by Leona pried herself off of the wall and looked towards the busy food court to her left. Judging from the number of people there, she was uncertain as to whether she should just go ahead and get an early lunch or head towards The Scholar's Resource and browse at their books before eating. Leona would not have very much time to make her decision because more and more people were flocking to the food court and if she was going to eat she could need to get in line and secure her place. After weighing the options she decided to just go get something to eat and resume shopping later, but at that moment something happened that drew her attention away from the food court and towards the ceiling when something soft hit the top of her head.

Leona casually rubbed the top of her head and looked down at her feet to find a green-haired doll in the likeness of Samira Nassar. The Wizard Saint recoiled and hesitated to bend down and pick up the doll because its green eyes bore into her own as if asking what she had done to set herself apart from the average mage. Leona shook off the thought of the doll judging her and took a deep breath to pick it up. She had just grabbed the Samira doll when something soft bounced off of her back and she spun around to find a smiling doll of Nessa Cordelia Lux staring at her from the floor. Leona dutifully picked it up and was surprised to see a plush Mura Kensho land where Nessa had just landed... she set Samira, Nessa, and Mura at her feet.

Leona had just set down the smiling Mura Kensho doll when she heard shouting from the third floor and watched as a small Johann Von Weiss descended and landed right in the hands stretched above her head. She turned the doll over and found that the plush Johann had a stern facial expression, a feature that amused the blonde. That in turn led the blonde to do a mental tally of the dolls of famous mages that had graced her with their plush presence.

Samira Nassar, Nessa Cordelia Lux, Mura Kensho, Johann Von Weiss... who was she missing?

As if to answer that question something soft bounced off of her left shoulder followed by a second, slightly harder impact on the top of her head. Leona looked down at her feet and found Serilda Sinclair and Mythal Ragnos, the two trailblazers of the Wizard Saints and Gods and Goddesses of Ishgar. Serilda had a slight smile and Mythal had a stern expression that sent the message of "Stay away from me!" Leona recalled meeting Serilda at Nessa's birthday party but did not recall meeting Mythal. Maybe she did but she had just forgotten... the party was so long ago that it might as well have happened a lifetime ago.

Clutching the collection of dolls in her arms, Leona did an updated mental tally.

Samira Nassar, Nessa Cordelia Lux, Mura Kensho, Johann Von Weiss, Serilda Sinclair, Mythal Ragnos... that seemed to be everyone, everyone but herself.

Where was Leona's doll? She looked expectantly towards the railing of the third floor and saw another small object go hurtling over the side as a female voice shouted in despair. Leona saw a doll sail in a perfect arc and plummet straight for a trash can not even ten meters away from her. The doll dropped through the hole and landed right in the trash without even touching the rest of the can. Leona was not sure whether to be upset by the doll going into the trash or be impressed by the accuracy with which the doll was thrown.

Leona heard more frantic shouting and a child's laughter. She then heard something screamed from the top floor.

"PLEASE DON'T GO ANYWHERE WITH MY DOLLS!" A woman shouted at Leona. The petrified Wizard Saint stayed right where she was and waited for the woman to come down to the first floor and reclaim the dolls. Leona waited around for five minutes and was greeted by the sight of a young adult woman with shoulder-length brown hair wearing a pink tank top and white skirt holding the hand of a brown-haired young girl in a pink dress.

"You found them! Thank you!" The young woman said appreciatively. She walked over to Leona and gratefully took the dolls from Leona and handed a few of them back to the child, who casually tossed the Mythal Ragnos doll straight at Leona's face as if allowing him a chance to get revenge on the blonde. The doll's left fist hit her in the left eye and Leona recoiled from the impact as the doll rolled off her left shoulder and landed on his back on the floor. Out of her good eye she saw the plush Mythal scowling at her from the floor, silently warning her not to get near him again.

"I'm so sorry, miss! My little sister likes to throw things around and sometimes I can't stop her! I'm so sorry!" The young woman apologized. Leona rubbed her left eye and looked towards the young woman. The Wizard Saint could not be mad over what was an accident, but then her mind wandered to the question of whose doll had ended up in the trash can. Based on the theme of the dolls she had recovered, Leona had a pretty good idea of whose doll was currently lying in the trash.

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As her left eye recovered from being hit by the tiny fist of the plush Mythal Ragnos that had been tossed at her face earlier, Leona had a feeling that her doll was lying in the trash can, a feeling that only intensified as the young woman whose dolls she had recovered did a tally of them. She handed Leona all of the dolls so that her little sister did not toss them into other trash cans or anywhere else where they could get lost and spoke to the blonde.

"Thanks to you I've found all of them but one now. Where did the last one go?" She asked Leona after pointing at each doll and whispering its name to herself.

"I saw one thrown over the railing on the third floor and land in that trash can." Leona answered, pointing out the trash can nearly ten meters away from her. The brunette recoiled and walked briskly away from Leona, hurrying over to the trash can and hesitantly peering into the receptacle before reaching down with her left hand and gingerly fishing out a doll with blonde hair. Leona's heart sank a bit when she saw that the doll in question was made in her image.

Of course it had to be her doll that landed in the trash.

The blonde frowned because it seemed like some cosmic force was trying to tell her that she was not worthy of her status as the Wizard Saint of Courage, but then she thought about the situation a little more and saw it a different way.

If it was a sign, it was better that the plush Leona had landed in the trash instead of someone who actually deserved to be a Wizard Saint or God or Goddess of Ishgar.

Anyone could be a fighter and slay bandits, zombies, dragons, and other dangerous beings, but it took a special kind of mage to inspire others and bring hope in situations when things looked to be at their bleakest.

Leona was not sure if she really was that special kind of mage. Leona was more of a weapon than a people person. Weapons were made every day, but someone who could bring hope to others was a rare commodity.

Leona set aside her unhappiness so that she would not upset the young woman whose dolls she had rescued and stayed where she was as the brunette approached to add mini-Leona to the gathering of plush Wizard Saints and Gods and Goddesses of Ishgar. The blonde mustered up the courage to look and expected to see a badly stained doll that might very well go back into the trash from which it had been rescued. Instead she saw that her doll did not have any stains on it, which was good for both her ego and the young woman's collection.

"Man, we really lucked out. That trash bag only had empty drink cups in it and by some good fortune all the cups were empty, so the doll didn't get stained. I don't think that kind of good luck will ever happen to me again." The brunette said to Leona, who silently rejoiced that the doll had not been stained in the slightest. Leona was about to hand over the dolls in her possession when the young woman looked at the doll's face and hair, then at Leona herself. The brunette was starting to make the connection.

"You're... you're..." She said to Leona, hesitating to finish the sentence. Leona waited patiently for her to finish as the young woman's little sister tugged at her big sister's leg.

"You're Samira's friend! That blonde girl who hangs around her a lot!" She finished the sentence in a way that Leona had not anticipated. The blonde felt like plush Mythal Ragnos had just punched her in the face. While what the young woman said was technically true, the Wizard Saint of Courage had kind of hoped that she would have been recognized in her own right. Instead she had been recognized only as "Samira's friend." Hearing that was a greater blow to Leona's ego than her doll being pulled from the trash can.

"Lee! LEEEEE!" The young woman's little sister said as she toddled over to Leona and began tugging on the Wizard Saint's skirt. The taller brunette did not yet make the connection between the doll in her hand and what her little sister was trying to say.

"Cathy, quit bothering the nice lady and come back here. Her name's not Lee." The older brunette gently told her sister and motioned for her to come back, a gesture which Cathy obeyed. Once Cathy was back at her side the former then jerked her head up and looked towards the blonde.

"Wait a minute... I never asked you your name. Now that I think about it, you look kinda familiar. What is your name?" The young woman finally asked. Again Leona fought back the feeling of being insulted and calmly gave her name.

"I'm Leona Jarnefeldt." Leona answered simply. It was at that moment the young woman finally made the connection. The blonde mage was Samira Nassar's friend, but she was also the Wizard Saint of Courage and a notable figure in her own right.

The doll collector was at a loss for words now that she knew who the blonde standing in front of her was. Leona was more than a little amused by the reaction, but she had no intention of making the young woman feel dumb for not recognizing her. Leona had made plenty of dumb mistakes over her career and thus had no room to cast stones at the brunette.

"LEE! LEEEEEE!" Cathy exclaimed triumphantly after being vindicated to a small extent. Cathy looked to be four or five years old and could not say "Leona" just yet, but she had a firm grasp of the first syllable of the Wizard Saint's name. Professor Barnsworth of Beanstalk Village had butchered the blonde's name in worse ways like "Leena" and "Lenora", so the blonde mage took Cathy's inability to say "Leona" in stride.

"I can't believe that I'm actually talking to a Wizard Saint in person! I never thought that I'd meet one here in a mall! I thought you'd be off on some big adventure slaying dragons, exploring a zombie-infested town, or exploring an ancient temple with Dr. Anna!" The brunette continued to express amazement that the person standing before her was one of Earthland's most famous mages. Leona smiled a little. She was often off on one adventure or another, but today she was just here for some personal shopping, as demonstrated by The Athlete's Edge bag in her left hand. The food court was starting to get packed out by hungry shoppers, but Leona did not care. It was nice to talk to someone in a situation where rank was no object and no lives were on the line.

[Post Word Count: 1,158]
[Total Word Count: 6,718/12,500]

"It's true that Wizard Saints often go on big adventures across Earthland, but sometimes they take personal days to do what ordinary people do." Leona briefly explained to the starstruck doll collector that her perception of Wizard Saints as adventurers constantly on the go was not entirely inaccurate. Saying that made the blonde feel guilty for wasting a day to go to the mall and shop for clothes and figurines instead of using that time to help her guild by finding a powerful magical artifact or stopping some big threat in some far-flung part of Earthland. Leona pushed the guilt back down by remembering that even the exalted Goddesses of Ishgar like Samira or Serilda took the occasional day off. If better and stronger mages could take a day off without repercussions, so could a Wizard Saint.

After a lengthy pause the doll collector finally found her tongue and spoke to Leona.

"I'm still surprised that you'd be here of all places, Leona." The young woman said to the Wizard Saint. Leona looked at the woman and realized that she did not have a bag to put the dolls in. The brunette might need one to make taking them back home easier and safer than lugging them around in her arms.

"What happened to your shopping bag? Did you have one when you left the shop?" Leona asked the brunette. The latter blushed in embarrassment.

"I completely forgot about it! It's still on the third floor! I left it there when Cathy threw the dolls down here!" The young woman exclaimed before running off to go get it, leaving the Wizard Saint with both the dolls and Cathy. Cathy toddled to Leona's side and stood by the Wizard Saint, occasionally tugging at her skirt and saying "LEE! LEEEE!" in addition to "NEFFA!" Older women passing by commented on how cute Leona's daughter was and wondered why Leona had kept the public in the dark about her daughter. Other people wondered aloud who the father of the child was; those statements caused the Wizard Saint to blush furiously. She had never had sexual intercourse with anyone and she was definitely not married!

"NEFFA! GIB ME NEFFA!" Cathy cried out. Leona looked down at her arms and saw the long silver hair and purple-and-white outfit of the Nessa doll and quickly put two and two together. Cathy wanted to hold the Nessa doll.

Shifting the bulk of the dolls to her left arm, Leona singled out Nessa and reluctantly handed the plush Saint of Virtue to Cathy, who took the doll into both hands and giggled with delight.

"NEFFA IS MAGIC!" Cathy said as she made the plush doll raise her arms and said an incantation in slurred words while laughing and spinning in a circle. Leona was worried that Cathy would throw the Nessa doll somewhere or at someone, but the child kept a tight grip on the doll and happily played with it by making it cast imaginary spells at Leona. The Wizard Saint wished that the young woman would hurry up and get back soon before the rumor mill really got going.

Leona stood with the dolls and with Cathy for twenty long and awkward minutes before Cathy's sister returned with a white cloth shopping bag with the name Plush Pals in pink letters on the side... and another Nessa Cordelia Lux doll, which she handed to Cathy. Cathy relinquished the first doll and the collector clutched it in her right hand as she approached the waiting Wizard Saint.

"I'm so sorry you had to do that, Leona! I was in such a hurry to find the bag before someone took it that I forgot to take Cathy with me!" The young woman apologized to Leona.

"It's OK. It was no trouble at all." Leona answered, relieved that Cathy's sister was there to take Cathy back and quash rumors that Leona had conceived a daughter she had kept hidden from the public eye. Cathy toddled over to her older sister with the Nessa doll clutched firmly in her little hands.

"Was Cathy too much trouble?" The young woman asked. Leona shook her head.

"No, not at all... um, what's your name?" Leona asked the young woman.

"It's Natalie." The young woman answered. Cathy continued to play with her new Nessa doll and cast yet another imaginary spell at Leona. Natalie held the cloth bag open and Leona obligingly put the dolls inside of it starting with Samira, then Mura, Johann and Serilda. She looked warily at the scowling Mythal plush and hurriedly put him inside the bag next to Serilda before he tried to punch her in the left eye again or tried to break her hand. Finally Leona put her own doll in the bag and Natalie closed it up.

"Thanks for looking after Cathy and helping me find my dolls, Leona." Natalie thanked Leona for her time and effort in watching over her younger sister and collecting the plush dolls that had gotten thrown over the third floor railing by Cathy.

"It's no problem." Leona answered calmly, then looked towards the Nessa doll clutched in Cathy's hands. It was a well-made doll with an accurate outfit, hair length, hair color, and eye color. The dolls of the other famous mages were made with the same exacting attention to detail as Nessa. Natalie noticed Leona's interest in the doll and commented on it.

"I might be totally out in left field here, but if you're interested in getting some Wizard Saint dolls of your own, my grandmother owns Plush Pals on the third floor. She makes each and every doll by hand, so you're not getting factory-made dolls there." Natalie informed Leona on where she could get some dolls for herself. Leona had suspected that the shop named Plush Pals was the source when she saw the bag, but Natalie's tip had confirmed it. Natalie had also given the floor where Plush Pals was located, making finding the source even easier.

"Thanks, Natalie." Leona thanked the doll collector for the tip. Natalie looked towards Cathy and then towards the mall exit.

"Well, I'd better get going. I've got to take Cathy to the babysitter in a couple of hours. Thanks for the help, Leona!" Natalie thanked Leona again before gently guiding Cathy towards the mall exit. Leona watched the two leave and then turned back to the food court, which was so busy that Leona stood no chance of getting anything to eat any time soon. The business with Natalie and Cathy had cost Leona her chance to get in line before things got too busy, but it was worth it to help someone out, even if it was just in a small way.

[Post Word Count: 1,126]
[Total Word Count: 7,844/12,500]

Leona looked towards the food court and counted at least twenty-five people waiting in line for pizza plus an equal number waiting in line for a restaurant that specialized in recreating dishes from Midi. She looked at a big wall clock hanging above her and saw that the time was five minutes past noon, which meant that she had slightly under four hours to burn before Electronic Gateways opened for business. She looked around her and noticed even more people streaming towards the food court looking for a meal. Leona concluded that there was no way that she was going to get a meal right now and started thinking about what she should do until the lunch rush died down.

The blonde could either head to The Scholar's Resource while she was on the first floor or take the stairs and go to the third floor to visit Resin Monuments and Plush Pals. She thought about it for a minute and decided to just go visit The Scholar's Resource while she was on the first floor. While time was no object, Leona was already in the area, so it would make sense for her to visit the bookstore and see what it had to offer an amateur scholar like her. Leona turned right and walked away from the food court and towards the section of mall that loomed in front of her.

-In front of The Scholar's Resource, five minutes later-

Leona had found The Scholar's Resource, which was a small bookstore that was marked by a wooden sign with the store's name in brass letters that hung above the entrance. The entrance was blocked by a rolling gate that was down. The interior of the store was pitch black and there was a paper sign hurriedly taped to the gate at the corners. It bore a message that had been hastily scribbled with a black ink pen.

"DUE TO A SUDDEN DEATH IN THE OWNER'S FAMILY, THE SCHOLAR'S RESOURCE WILL REOPEN TOMORROW AT NOON. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING." The note read. Leona was mildly disappointed that the bookstore was not open, but a death in the family was a good reason to shut the store down for the day. She simply shrugged her shoulders and started to make her way towards a stairwell about 500 meters to her right. She would just pay a visit to Resin Monuments and Plush Pals.

-The Third Floor, ten minutes later-

Fighting against the milling crowd going down the stairs like a salmon swimming upstream and having to deal with a teenage male furtively touching her backside near the second floor, Leona breathed a sigh of relief when she finally reached the lightly populated third floor and stepped out of the stairwell. Lunchtime had drawn a good number of shoppers out of the shops and made it easier for the Wizard Saint to get around. On her way to Resin Monuments she casually glanced into the stores and saw that the number of patrons inside each one had declined to single digits; Leona would have some space to herself when she went inside one. Leona reached Resin Monuments and peered inside. There were only three other patrons inside, meaning that she would have plenty of space in which to look for figurines of Leila Vergious and Ruvel Mizune.

Leona took a deep breath and went inside Resin Monuments to look for the figurines and take a trip down Memory Lane.

-Inside Resin Monuments-

Leona walked into a spotlessly clean medium-sized shop with carefully aligned and stocked shelves with figurines of many kinds, but today she was after figurines of Earthland's most famous mages. She looked to the right and saw shelves that had been helpfully labeled with plastic signs in six different categories. They were "CURRENT RISING STARS", "FORMER RISING STARS", ""CURRENT WIZARD SAINTS", "FORMER WIZARD SAINTS", "CURRENT GODS/GODDESSES OF ISHGAR," and "FORMER GODS/GODDESSES OF ISHGAR." Leona knew which category she was looking for and carefully made her way to the "FORMER GODS/GODDESSES OF ISHGAR" shelf to see what she could find.

Her eyes were immediately drawn to a boxed figurine of Ruvel Mizune next to one of Sorano Granon, the former Goddess of Tranquility. Leona picked it up and looked at the blond-haired former God of Resilience, that magician who always had a replacement outfit at the ready whenever something embarrassing happened to Leona's clothing. She recalled first meeting Ruvel at the formation of the Tri-Guild Alliance while serving as the Ace to Poko Monstar and meeting him again at the fall festival that took place just outside of the Haunted Castle, where she had also had a second meeting with Samira Nassar.

Noticing that there were only three Ruvel Mizune figurines currently in stock, Leona held onto it and began looking for Leila Vergious, the former Goddess of Radiance and the founder of Silver Wolf. Leona soon found it on the far left side of the shelf and grabbed it. The blonde dared to look into the blue eyes of the figurine and saw a flash of the silver-haired mage as if they were standing face-to-face again. That brief flash caused Leona to quickly put it back on the shelf and step away for a moment.

It was just a figurine.

What was Leona afraid of?

Was she still afraid of Leila's judgment months after the latter's disappearance?

Leona shrugged off those thoughts and grabbed the boxed figurine again. Leila Vergious was the person who had given Leona her start almost two years ago. Almost two years down the road Leila was gone and Leona had remained as the Guild Master of Silver Wolf and the Wizard Saint of Courage. That was two more titles than Leona had ever seen herself gaining and that was possible thanks to Leila taking a chance on a mage who had botched what should have been an easy fight with a mundane serial killer due to Jacob Goodnight's quick wit. Leona had rebounded from that mistake to gradually become one of the most powerful and most famous mages in Earthland.

Leona decided to keep the Leila Vergious figurine and started to head for the counter to check out when she turned back around to look for more figurines. She still had time to burn and no set schedule. She could stay and shop a little longer without consequence. Maybe she would browse the other shelves of mage figurines and acquire a few figurines of her contemporaries for keepsakes. Due to their growing friendship Samira was at the top of the list, but Leona also had interest in acquiring one of Johann Von Weiss and Serilda Sinclair.

However, she would need to act fast because more and more customers were starting to filter into the store. The lunch rush must have just ended. Leona would need to move quickly if she wanted to get her hands on some figurines of the magic world's current celebrities.

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[Total Word Count: 9,004/12,500]

By the time Leona could turn around and walk to the "CURRENT WIZARD SAINTS" and "CURRENT GODS/GODDESSES OF ISHGAR" shelves the crowd had descended on them picked up every last figurine that had been on the shelves, causing the Wizard Saint no small amount of distress. At least her own figurine had been snapped up just like those of her contemporaries instead of being left on the shelves as yet another blow to her pride. Sensing that the crowd would soon move towards the "FORMER GODS/GODDESSES OF ISHGAR" shelf, Leona hurried over to it and grabbed a Sorano Granon figurine, leaving the rest of the figurines to the patrons who converged on the shelf seconds later. Leona was glad that she had kept the Leila Vergious figurine because soon none of them would be left; the same went for Ruvel Mizune.

While they were busy browsing and picking over the contents of that shelf Leona hurried over to the "CURRENT GODS/GODDESSES OF ISHGAR" shelf and looked to see if there was a single Samira Nassar figurine left for her. Leona browsed up and down and did not see a single one of Samira. She also did not see any of the rest of her contemporaries until she browsed the very bottom shelf and spotted a single Samira that had somehow escaped detection. Leona scooped it up and calmly walked towards the checkout counter with her prize before anyone was the wiser.

Once she walked up to the checkout counter manned by a bespectacled male clerk in black shirt and khaki dress pants with brown loafers Leona gently set down her four figurines and paid for them. The receipt and the four figurine boxes were carefully placed in a white plastic bag with amber letters that read RESIN MONUMENTS on both sides and the bag was pushed to Leona, who thanked the bespectacled male clerk for his help. She threaded the fingers of her left hand through the holes and held onto the bag tightly so that her figurines did not get snatched by a greedy customer. One would have to be very foolish to even consider stealing from a Wizard Saint in broad daylight, but there was always someone willing to try.

"Have a nice day, miss." The youth bade her.

"Thanks. You too." Leona said to the youth, who did not seem to know who he had just served until she turned to walk away and leave Resin Monuments in order to pay a visit to Plush Pals. Behind her she heard a gasp and then the sound of frantic typing on an iLac, presumably to alert his social media contacts about how he had just met the Wizard Saint of Courage in the store he worked at. Leona left him to it and sauntered back onto the third floor in order to get to her next destination.

-On the Third Floor-

With her mission in Resin Monuments mostly accomplished, Leona was off to Plush Pals to look into the dolls that Natalie's grandmother made by hand. Leona wondered whether the woman had only the dolls of current Wizard Saints and Gods/Goddesses of Ishgar or if she also had dolls of former Wizard Saints and Gods/Goddesses of Ishgar in stock as well. The blonde was going to take her time getting there because she still had three-and-a-half hours to burn and nowhere to be.

Leona made a leisurely lap around the third floor and found Plush Pals a short distance away; the shop was situated at the very corner closest to the map. She wondered how she had failed to see that store earlier but then concluded that since she had not been looking for a shop that sold dolls she had not paid any attention to it. Leona walked towards the shop and was almost at the entrance when a thin man in black sweatpants and black shoes with a black short-sleeved shirt ran out of the entrance clutching a bag of Jewels. Just behind him was an elderly woman wearing a gray sweater and blue jeans who burst through the entrance and nearly ran into the Wizard Saint.

"STOP THAT MAN! HE STOLE THE CONTENTS OF MY CASH REGISTER!" An elderly woman wearing a gray sweater and blue jeans shouted desperately, jabbing her finger at the fleeing man and catching the attention of a mall security officer who was on patrol. Leona turned away from the entrance to Plush Pals and immediately sprinted after the thief, who was halfway to the stairwell by the time Leona got to a running start. However, once the Wind mage got off to a running start she narrowed the gap and was closing in on him. The thief hurried down the stairs and Leona followed him, her rapid footsteps sounding like thunder on the metal stairs.

-In the stairwell-

Leona was about three arm lengths away from the thief when he pulled a fast one and quickly ducked onto the second floor. Leona followed him and ducked a punch thrown in her direction, then followed him onto the second floor. She could not sense a magic signature from him, so he was either not able to use magic or simply hid his signature to lull opponents into underestimating him. Even if he was not a mage he was still a fast runner. Leona

-On the Second Floor-

Leona continued her pursuit of the thief as the crowd dispersed to make room for mall security to stop him. She sprinted past one mall security officer who had missed a diving tackle and was lying on the ground barking instructions into his radio. She watched the man sprint past two more officers before he looked back and saw the Wizard Saint gaining on him. He turned and dipped a hand into his bag of loot, then flung a handful of Jewels into her face, hitting her in the right eye with the shiny projectiles. The enraged Wizard Saint could still see well enough to run straight through them and soon got to within arm's reach of him.

Once in range Leona grabbed him by the collar with her right hand and held tight, causing his feet to shoot out from under him and the thief to land painfully on his backside while he clung tenaciously to his loot. The Wizard Saint held him firmly as he struggled against her and held him in place until six mall security officers arrived to take the man into custody. The thief was pulled to his feet and struggled against them until he turned around and got a good look at who had chased him down.

"Leona Jarnefeldt was after me? And I just threw a handful of Jewels into her face?" He asked them, his face turning pale with terror. He reckoned that the angry blonde was now going to punch his face in for what he had done to her. He also reckoned that mall security would turn a blind eye to the violence that was about to happen because of the trouble he had put them through. He immediately stopped resisting and let himself be apprehended by the officers.

"Arrest me, send me to jail, whatever. Just get me away from her!" The man pleaded. He was taken away without further incident by three officers while two stayed behind to speak to the Wizard Saint who had closed one eye due to the pain of having a cloud of Jewels thrown in her face.

"Thanks for the help, Miss Jarnefeldt. He would have been a lot harder to catch without you chasing him down." A middle-aged officer said to Leona as the latter caught her breath. A short distance behind her two officers were scooping up the Jewels that had been thrown at Leona in a vain attempt to stop her pursuit.

"It's no problem." Leona answered while rubbing her right eye.

"Miss Ethel's the owner of Plush Pals. She's had a shop at the mall ever since it opened and has been a steady worker. She gets here early every day and works from opening time to closing time. She's getting older and I hate to see people trying to steal from her. Now I'm gonna have to talk to the chief about putting extra security around Plush Pals." The officer said to her. The owner of the doll shop exited a nearby elevator and slowly walked over to the officers to give her side of the story. Leona wordlessly stepped aside and let the woman speak, standing by in case her testimony was needed.

Leona's right eye was hurting from the sparkling attack, but she had stopped a thief from making off with an elderly woman's earnings. She looked down at her left hand and noticed that she had a deathgrip on her bags from The Athlete's Edge and Resin Monuments. It must have been both funny and strange for ordinary people to see a Wizard Saint clinging to shopping bags while chasing a thief at top speed.

[Post Word Count: 1,506]
[Total Word Count: 10,510/12,500]

-One hour later, inside Plush Pals-

After giving her testimony on the thief to mall security and being allowed to leave Leona had a little over two hours before Electronic Gateways opened, but she was not sure if she would have enough patience and energy to wait the rest of the time. Her right eye still hurt and she was worried about getting into any more unanticipated fights with would-be thieves, but it was worth it to keep an elderly woman from losing her earnings to a thief. Now Leona was standing inside Plush Pals and facing Ethel, the owner of the store.

Plush Pals was arranged in a neat rectangular layout and had wall-to-wall wooden shelves filled with plush dolls of all kinds. There were cats, dogs, lions, tigers, bears, alligators, crocodiles, elephants, and a zoo's worth of other animals on the left shelves. On the right shelves were teddy bears and baby dolls. Behind the counter was a section of shelving set aside just for dolls of the Wizard Saints and Gods and Goddesses of Ishgar. Leona saw the faces of her contemporaries peering down at her as if they had assembled to judge her worthiness to be among their ranks.

Seated on the top shelf were the Gods and Goddesses of Ishgar. Samira sat on the left and smiled at Leona while Serilda sat to Samira's right and gave a small smile that was hard to read. Seated to the right of Serilda was a frowning Mythal and seated on the end was a frowning Johann. That was two people for her and two people against her... or it could have been one person for her and three against her. Who knew what Serilda's slight smile meant?

Seated on the bottom shelf were Leona herself, Mura, and Nessa. Her doll smiled at her, as did Mura and Nessa. Excluding herself that made at least three plush mages ruling in her favor, four if Serilda was on her side. Satisfied that most of the plush jury of her peers found her fit to remain a Wizard Saint for the time being, Leona turned her attention from the dolls to the elderly woman standing behind the counter.

"Thank you for coming to my rescue earlier, my dear. Without you I would have lost my monthly rent payment and might have even lost my shop." Ethel thanked Leona for rushing to her assistance and preventing the thief from making off with this month's rent money.

"I'm glad that I could help." Leona answered calmly. The pain in her right eye was starting to let up enough for her to open it halfway, but she opted to keep it closed to protect it from flying dolls, flying Jewels, or any more objects that might cause further harm to her eye. Speaking of eyes, Ethel leaned over the counter to take a closer look at the blonde and was startled once she recognized her customer.

"I'll be! You're Leona Jarnefeldt, the Wizard Saint of Courage!" Ethel exclaimed. Leona nodded in acknowledgment.

"I never thought that a real live Wizard Saint would come to my rescue!" Ethel said in amazement at her good fortune. Leona remained quiet and let the woman speak without interruption.

"I've made Wizard Saint dolls by hand for years, but I never thought that I'd ever meet the subject of one of my dolls! My granddaughter Natalie is a big fan of both Nessa Cordelia Lux and of Samira Nassar!" Ethel continued. Leona perked up when she heard the name "Natalie". Natalie was the name of the young woman she had met earlier who had the Wizard Saint doll collection and a little sister named Cathy who was a big fan of Nessa Cordelia Lux.

"Actually, Miss, I met her earlier today. I met her and her little sister Cathy in front of the food court." Leona spoke up. Ethel's face lit up when she heard that.

"So you've met my two granddaughters? They're good grandchildren, both of them. Natalie helps me run the shop whenever she gets any spare time after school. She makes sure that all the dolls are stocked and arranged and also makes sure that all the shelves are clean and neat before a single doll is put on them." Ethel complimented Natalie's work ethic and attention to detail. Leona felt that it was no idle boast but a statement of fact. The Wizard Saint did not challenge the assertion and listened to the elderly woman talk more about her grandchildren and how Cathy adored Nessa Cordelia Lux so much that she wanted to be just like the Saint of Virtue. Leona listened patiently because as far as she knew she did not have a living grandmother or grandfather. She wondered what it was like to have grandparents to brag about her accomplishments to total strangers.

After minutes of stories about her grandchildren Ethel transitioned to the story of how she had founded Plush Pals with her late husband Eugene. The husband and wife team had founded Plush Pals over thirty years ago and Ethel made each doll by hand while Eugene handled the business side of the shop. It was a winning combination that lasted for twenty-five years before Eugene passed away peacefully in his sleep and left the shop to Ethel and her grandchildren.

Ethel caught herself and apologized to Leona for going on and on without pause. Leona did not mind at all. She was interested to hear stories from a time before she was born... that was why she liked listening to Old Man Mustafa's stories back in Nebdoui. She, Leonidas, and the other village children eagerly gathered around him to hear fantastic stories from centuries ago about genies who came out of lamps and granted wishes, pearl-white palaces with domes of solid gold that glittered in the midday sun, and flying magic carpets that carried their riders anywhere they wanted to go. Even if they were just myths and not real stories like Old Man Mustafa insisted they were, those stories were fascinating enough to captivate Leona and the other children for hours on end.

"I'm sorry, dear. You didn't come here to hear me ramble about things from thirty years ago. You came to buy dolls, didn't you?" She asked Leona. Leona nodded.

"Which dolls would you like to buy, dear?" The elderly woman asked her.

"I'd like to buy one of each Wizard Saint and God and Goddess of Ishgar, please." Leona replied. The woman took each one down and set it on the counter to scan the barcode on the tag located on each doll's back. Leona waited until Ethel had scanned them all and rang up her total before paying. Ethel took the Jewels and bagged the dolls in the same white cloth bag that Natalie had carried earlier, then dropped in Leona's receipt.

"There you go, dear. Thank you for your patronage. And thank you for saving my monthly rent money earlier!" Ethel thanked her for buying the dolls and for stopping the thief before he had escaped with her rent payment.

"It's no problem. Have a good day!" Leona bade her before grabbing the cloth bag by the handles and carrying it out of Plush Pals. That lion doll on the shelf looked appealing, but the Wizard Saint had spent enough money on dolls for today. Leona might return to Plush Pals in the future and buy it and a few other dolls to help Ethel out. In the meantime the Wizard Saint had another decision to make.

Would she go down to the food court to get lunch or did she go to the second floor to revisit The Modern Woman and possibly buy a tank top or two?

[Post Word Count; 1,296]
[Total Word Count: 11,806/12,500]

-On the Third Floor-

Once she had left Plush Pals with her purchases, Leona had been faced with a new decision to make. She had almost two hours left to go before Electronic Gateways opened and she had already been to most of the shops that had caught her attention on the map. She had a choice between going down to the first floor to try and get a late lunch or going to the second floor and making another attempt to shop in The Modern Woman. Her initial impulse was to try and get a late lunch, but a quick peek over the railing at the food court convinced her that trying to do so was not the best idea. The food court was somehow still as busy now as it had been at lunch, so the better option was to revisit The Modern Woman and kill a little more time before she could try and visit Electronic Gateways.

Leona turned right from the entrance of Plush Pals and made a beeline for the same stairwell she had chased the thief to slightly over an hour earlier. Leona moved at a casual pace to take a little more time off the clock and to see if there were any other stores on the third floor that caught her attention before moving onto the second floor. There were no stores that stood out to her, so Leona continued on her course to the second floor without further delay.

-On the Second Floor-

Leona exited the stairwell and located The Modern Woman, making her way towards the clothing store she had visited earlier in the shopping trip. She passed by Electronic Gateways and walked towards the entrance to The Modern Woman at a slow pace. A quick glance at the entrance told her that the clothing store was still very busy and that if she entered it she could expect long waits for help from store employees and long waits in the checkout line. Leona still decided to go inside, if only to give her search for new articles of clothing another try. This time she had an idea of where things were, so the search would go a little faster... at least in theory.

-Inside The Modern Woman-

Leona entered the clothing store to a DING-DING from an electronic bell and her arrival went unnoticed just as it had last time. This time she made a beeline for the t-shirts and looked for some that were not so thin that she could read a newspaper through them. Just like last time the Wizard Saint was doomed to disappointment. All that was in stock was thin shirts.

Then she looked at the bag from The Athlete's Edge and realized that if she had purchased athletic shirts she currently had no need for anything in here. Upon realizing that Leona promptly turned around and left the store without further delay. She had not burned enough time to make the second visit worthwhile.

-On the Second Floor-

Leona left The Modern Woman and walked towards Electronic Gateways to wait outside the entrance for the remaining time she needed to wait before the store was open for business. There was a bench she could sit on, so Leona would be spared standing up for the entire time. She was not sure if she could stand the wait without getting something to eat first, but a glance over the railing at the busy food court showed her that waiting for food would not be an option unless she wanted to give up her shot at being one of the first customers to enter Electronic Gateways when it opened. Leona took a seat on the bench and began to play the waiting game.

-Two hours later-

Leona's patience was almost gone by the time four o'clock rolled around and Electronic Gateways was supposed to open, but by taking the occasional slow walk around the floor she had managed to avoid dying from boredom. Now the question was why the rolling gate had not yet been raised and the lights inside the store turned on. Were employees simply late in getting here or had something changed between ten o'clock and four o'clock? Leona stood up and walked over to the window to find out.

Leona looked for the sign taped on the inside of the left window and found a new sign waiting for her. The curious Wizard Saint began to read it and found that the message was not to her liking.

"DUE TO CONTINUING DIFFICULTIES IN PROCURING COMPONENTS, ELECTRONIC GATEWAYS WILL REOPEN NEXT WEEK. WE APPRECIATE YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND PATIENCE."

Leona stared blankly at the sign and at the darkened interior of the store. She had sat on a bench and waited almost two hours for nothing. The blonde mage took a deep breath and tried to think of what to do now that the biggest reason she had traveled to Capital Crocus Mall was not open. Again her initial impulse was to go down to the food court and brave the lines to get a meal, but after the long wait her patience was almost at the vanishing point and being unable to eat something did not help things at all. It would be best if she simply went home to Silver Wolf Guild Hall and ate at the cafe.

Leona left Electronic Gateways behind and walked down the stairwell to the first floor to make her way out of the mall.

-On the First Floor-

Leona exited the stairwell and found herself back near the food court. She looked left and saw that while the lines were still long, there were only about fifteen people in each line and the lines were moving at a brisk pace. Leona briefly reconsidered her decision to leave, but when she saw a new wave of hungry shoppers take their places in the lines she knew that the decision to leave was the right one. Leona spun around on her heels and made a beeline for the exit so that she could go somewhere she did not have to wait in long lines just to get food.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, three hours later-

After stopping by the cafeteria for a quick sandwich Leona entered her personal room and gently set her shopping bags down on her bed. After holding the bags for many hours her left hand was starting to cramp, but she had made a day of the shopping trip and she had helped a couple of people along the way. While her goals of expanding her wardrobe and buying a computer had not been completely successful, Leona had only experienced a setback. The mall was open every day of the week and she would have plenty of chances to go back and try again.

Leona sat on the edge of her bed and took off her boots. Her feet were hurting from all the walking and running she had done earlier, but this was no time to be lazy. She would take a brief break here before heading to her office to take on the paperwork that had no doubt accumulated in her absence. No one ever said being a Guild Master was easy.

All in all Leona's shopping trip had been worth the time. If only she could find that Celestial Fabric that repaired itself and get a green, white, and gold outfit made of it, her life would be a lot easier. Being the Wizard Saint of Courage was hard on her body and her clothes.

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