The Start Of Recovery

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 11, Post Number 262

-Lion's Island, inside the Albatross, 9:22 A.M.-

After a roughly three-hour flight from Silver Wolf Guild Hall Leona had just landed the Albatross on Lion's Island, an entire island that was a gift that had been left to her by one of her very first real friends, a mage by the name of Ruvel Mizune. She felt the craft settle down from the landing and unbuckled the safety harness, then got out of the pilot's seat and walked out of the cockpit towards the cargo bay. She was going to examine the immediate area of her private island before unloading any of the cargo she had brought and she had brought a lot of it.

Leona had brought plenty of clothing, the Davinci Design System for reading and designing robot schematics, the Vitruvian Design Table for letting her see her work in real time, and the data disc containing the robot schematics Mr. Bank had given her. She had also bought plenty of other needed items like bathcloths, towels, forks, knives, spoons, bowls, drinking glasses, and other items she would need for her new home away from home.

Dressed in a green tube top and khaki cargo pants with tan boots on her feet and Argent Gloves on her wrists, Leona strode into the cargo bay and made a beeline for the cargo ramp. Once she reached the controls she lowered it and walked down the ramp.

-Outside the Albatross, 9:25 A.M.-

Leona had walked down the cargo ramp and was standing outside of the Albatross, facing a large two-story tropical villa with two stone lion statues sitting on pedestals that flanked the single wooden door. The exterior walls had a stucco look and the roofing was dark brown that was faintly reminiscent of dark wood. The villa sat in the middle of a peaceful grassland with short grass that swayed in the wind.

Leona felt the wind blow on her bare shoulders and looked at the villa in front of her. Her neutral facial expression softened for just a moment as she thought about Ruvel for the first time in a long time. She had found the letter that contained the deed to Lion's Island, the deed to the tropical villa, and the key to it in her office during last night's all-night paperwork marathon and felt regret that she could not thank him for the generous gift of her own private island,a large tropical villa, and magical security measures that made finding the island difficult for anyone other than Leona herself or people she chose to reveal its existence to. She had read about all of those features in the letter she had found just recently that Ruvel had left to her a few years ago.

Leona was not worthy of this generous gift. She had done nothing to deserve it but he had given it to her anyway. Leona closed her eyes and thought about how she never got to know people until it was too late and they were already gone.

After a few moments Leona opened her eyes again and walked on the grass until she reached the paved pathway. She stepped on it and continued past the sitting lion statues with stone faces fixed in snarls until she reached the door. She stopped in front of the dark wooden door and fished the golden key out of her right side cargo pocket, then placed it in the lock. She turned it right and the lock was disengaged. Leona pulled the key out and put her right hand on the doorknob, then twisted it to the right to open the door.

-Inside the villa, 9:27 A.M.-

Leona stepped into the empty villa and peered into the darkness. The blinds were closed and had been closed for quite some time, but she was not bothered by that because she had natural night vision. Thanks to it she quickly located a light switch to the right of the doorway and flipped it up. The room was bathed in a soft yellow light and she stepped inside and shut the door, then glanced around the space.

It was a large living room with white walls, brown baseboards, and plenty of space in which to put furniture. It was also an empty space, which made it a blank slate for Leona to decorate according to her tastes. She folded her arms across her chest and thought about what exactly her "tastes" would be. Leona herself was fine with anything she could get her hands on, but guests like Masha, Samira, and her guildmates might expect a higher standard than "random odds and ends."

Leona would need to pay a visit to Motor City to buy some furniture for the living room.

The blonde looked to the right and saw an open doorway to an area that looked like a dining room, so she went to take a quick look at it. She was already getting the idea that she was going to have to do a lot of furniture shopping to make the villa a real home. Her budget could sustain it, but she did not need to go overboard with the furniture shopping because she still needed to obtain equipment for producing robots and she was sure that acquiring such equipment was going to cost quite a lot of money.

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-Inside the dining room, 9:30 A.M.-

Leona walked into the dining room and noticed that it was a roughly rectangular space of medium length. The flooring was white tile with beige borders and the baseboards were brown just like those in the living room. Leona wondered where the kitchen itself was until she turned to face behind her and saw a set of wooden double doors. Overcome by curiosity, she walked towards the doors and opened them.

-Inside the kitchen, 9:33 A.m.-

Leona stepped inside and used her natural night vision to find a light switch to turn on. The moment it came on the space was bathed in soft white lighting and Leona got a glimpse of the kitchen. It had black-and-white checkerboard tile and a kitchen island in the center of the room. Along the wall ran a long counter with a gray granite countertop and in the approximate center of the counter was a stainless steel sink with two separate places to put dishes in. To the left was a wooden sliding door that presumably led to a pantry in which she could stash her food, coffee, and other items.

On the left wall behind her was a gap where a refrigerator would go and on the right wall was a gap where an oven would go. Leona frowned as she began to realize that she was going to have to buy kitchen appliances in addition to a dining room table and chairs. Home decorating was going to get much more expensive than she had anticipated.

Satisfied with what she had seen, Leona turned off the light switch and exited the kitchen to go back to the living room.

-Back inside the living room, 9:36 A.M.-

After her brief inspection of the kitchen Leona was now back in her living room and was looking at the empty space sitting before her. Since the walls were white and the baseboards were brown she might want to capitalize on that by getting brown leather chairs and couches. She might also be able to get away with black leather chairs and couches, but she was getting ahead of herself. Leona wanted to look inside the guest rooms and her own room before deciding what furniture to get for the living room.

She glanced left and saw a hallway that had a bend at the right and railings that likely belonged to a staircase, so she walked down the hall until she reached the bend. When she turned right she saw that there was indeed a staircase leading up to the second floor. She grabbed the railing with her left hand and went up the stairs to check out the second floor. Maybe her room and the guest rooms were up there.

-On the second floor, 9:40 A.M.-

Leona reached the top of the stairs and paused to get a look around the floor. The layout of the floor was symmetrical: the hallway to the left featured four doors on the left wall and a single door on the right wall at the very end and the hallway to the right was a mirror arrangement with the doors on the right wall and a single door positioned on the left at the very end. In front of her sat a single wooden door that she surmised might lead to her room. Leona went right and opened the first door she came across, then went inside.

-Inside the room, 9:42 A.M.-

The blonde walked inside and paused in the center of the room. It was a medium-sized room with a color scheme that followed the rest of the villa. On the right wall was a pair of sliding doors that could be pulled open. To the left was an open door that led to an en suite bathroom. Leona walked over to the sliding doors and pulled them open to reveal a shallow closet with a sturdy metal bar running from wall to wall where clothing on hangers could be hung up.

Leona shut the doors back and went to the right to check out the bathroom. When she walked in she noticed that the space was a bit smaller than she had imagined. On the left was a shower with an open thick white plastic shower curtain and a short distance away in the right corner was a white porcelain toilet. To the right and near the door was a bathroom sink with chrome fixtures and a rectangular mirror hanging on the wall behind the sink. When Leona saw herself in the mirror she saw an expression of regret cross her face.

She had taken Ruvel for granted and now he was gone.

She had done nothing to deserve Lion's Island.

Leona spun on her heels and moved briskly out of the bathroom before she looked at herself any longer. Besides, she needed to see what was behind the doors on each end of the hallway. Maybe they were larger guest rooms that could be given to her most valued guests like Masha and Samira.

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-Inside the room to the right, 9:50 A.M.-

Leona was now standing inside the room on the right hallway with the door positioned on the left wall. In front of her were two large windows that were currently covered by closed white curtains, but enough sunlight got through to enable her to see her surroundings without using her night vision. The room had white tile flooring and was easily as large as two or three of the guest rooms put together. The closet and en suite bathroom were improved as well.

A short distance to the right of the open door that led into the bathroom was another open door that looked like it belonged to a walk-in closet. Leona's footsteps echoed in the room as she walked towards it and peered inside. It was indeed a walk-in closet... it was a small but serviceable one with a sturdy metal bar hanging at eye level on the left wall and another bar hanging at the same level on the right wall. In front of her sat a wooden nine-cube structure that was presumably for shoes to be put in if one chose.

Leona took one step backwards and turned left, then moved towards the en suite bathroom to look inside it.

-Inside the en suite bathroom, 9:53 A.M.-

Leona stepped inside and immediately noticed that the bathroom in the larger room was easily twice the size of those in the guest rooms. The walk-in shower was larger and featured frosted glass walls with silver metal framing for privacy and a door that could be pulled open. The toilet was the same white porcelain one as those in the other bathrooms, but it was further away from the shower and located in the top right corner. The counter was marble and the rectangular mirror was larger and longer. The sink was a chrome fixture that was a cut above the fixtures in the other bathrooms. Above the mirror were five white spherical light bulbs that provided lighting.

Her curiosity satisfied, Leona turned on her heels and left to go back to the main hallway and see what was behind the door in the center.

-Inside the central room, 9:57 A.M.-

Leona was now standing inside the room behind the door in the center of the hallway and had the feeling that this room was intended for her. It too featured white tile flooring and had two large windows flanking a set of doors that opened onto a balcony, a feature that the large room she had previously been in lacked. Leona looked to the right and saw that the location of the bathroom and the closet were exactly the same but both rooms were made slightly larger to befit the owner of the island.

Leona walked into the bathroom to see if it had any special features that were exclusive to her room.

-Inside the bathroom-

Leona paused inside the bathroom and looked around. Her shower was in the left corner and also featured frosted glass walls and a door, but the framing was gold. The toilet sat near the top right corner and the bathroom counter was made from gray marble. The sink had a golden faucet and the mirror was the same as the one in the larger room, but it had gold framing while the other lacked framing of any sort.

Leona eyes were drawn to the mirror, where she looked at herself and frowned. She had discovered Ruvel's letter a short time after her defeat at Medeia's hands and the timing made her feel like someone had given her a consolation prize to make up for her failure and humiliation. Leona did not deserve any of this and her luxurious new home felt like some cosmic entity was mocking her.

Her right hand clenched into a fist and she bit her bottom lip so hard that it drew blood when she thought of Medeia.

Leona had come here to get away from it all after her loss to Medeia and she was mentally reliving all of it. Being trapped inside the coffin and reliving her worst memories, the futile sacrifice of innocent lives for one last attempt to stop the Warlord, and the humiliation she had suffered before and after transport to wherever it was her enemy had taken her to.

Her mind drifted to the humiliation she had suffered while the unwilling guest of the Warlord. The Wizard Saint felt the adrenaline surge out of control as she bit deeper into her bottom lip and the fingernails of her right hand dug into her palm. Leona had started off strong and determined to resist the Warlord's questioning but had faltered the moment the latter began playing with her hairband. That gentle touch reminded her of Masha and after that things quickly went downhill. Medeia using the hairbrush to gently brush her hair did not help either.

That last part was especially humiliating for the Wizard Saint because brushing her hair was one of the things Medeia did that made her talk.

Leona took off the right Argent Glove with her left hand and the fingernails of her right hand dug deep enough into the palm to draw a trickle of blood. She held the gauntlet with her left hand and drew her arm back, aiming directly for the center of the mirror where her face was. Leona held that pose for a moment before letting it fly.

"I HATE YOU!" Leona shouted as it made contact with the mirror, making a small crater from which several cracks emanated and ran a short distance before stopping. The Argent Glove landed on the counter with a CLANK and a moment later Leona looked at the mirror. The adrenaline was still flowing through her as she began to think.

Had she directed her comment at Medeia or had she aimed it at herself?

She did not know. All she could think about was what had happened in Hargeon Town and what had happened afterward. Leona's breathing was slow and irregular as she stared at the damaged mirror.

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-Lion's Island, outside the villa, 10:44 A.M.-

After damaging her bathroom mirror in a fit of rage Leona went back to the Albatross to treat the palm of her right hand with the medical supplies she had recently purchased for minor injuries. Once it was treated Leona spent awhile standing outside the villa after having carried all of her clothing to the walk-in closet in her room. The day before making the trip to Lion's Island she had went to Capital Crocus Mall and had bought a lot of clothing so that she could leave some in the closet of her room and not have to rely on what was on board the Albatross. Leona had bought tops of several different kinds as well as pants and skirts for the closet.

Speaking of clothes, she needed to get a washing machine and a dryer to wash them all because she had neglected to wash them back at the guild hall. Leona would need to acquire those appliances when she went to Motor City to buy furniture for her bedroom and living room. She also wanted a coffeemaker for her kitchen. Coffee always made her feel better and a coffeemaker was something the Wizard Saint was going to make a special effort to get.

Leona decided to go to Motor City and get the furniture and appliances now so that she could start getting the villa ready for herself and for future guests. Without further delay Leona walked up to the front door of the villa, locked it, then made her way to the waiting Albatross. She boarded it by ascending the cargo ramp and made her way to the cockpit to begin the takeoff sequence.

-Lion's Island, outside the villa, 7:55 P.M.-

Leona had made the trip to Motor City and had come back with a cargo hold full of furniture. She had bought a queen-size mattress for her bedroom, the bedframe needed to support it, a wooden nightstand for the bedroom, a lamp to go on said wooden nightstand, a washing machine, a dryer, a laundry hamper for her bedroom, a laundry basket, laundry detergent, soap and shampoo for the bathrooms, plenty of towels and bathcloths, a lot of toilet paper, and two coffeemakers. One was for the kitchen and the other was for a location she had yet to determine. Leona had also bought sheets for her bed, pillows, and pillowcases plus a furniture catalog so that she could browse for furniture to add to the other rooms.

Leona needed to get to work unloading her new purchases because it was already dark and she did not want to spend the night in the Albatross if she could help it. Thankfully she had her Argent Gloves, so she did not need to worry about hiring a moving crew and risking the island's existence being exposed before she was ready to reveal it to people close to her. Thanks to the lifting and carrying power of the gloves she could handle the moving herself.

-Inside the villa, the master bedroom, 10:01 P.M.-

Leona had carried the metal bedframe and mattress up to her room along with a toolkit from the cargo bay and had fully assembled the bedframe thanks to the detailed instructions that came with it. The completed bed was now against the center of the left wall and ready to use... as soon as she could put clean bedsheets on it. She took a moment to breathe before she needed to go downstairs and install the washer and dryer in the laundry room she had found on the first floor. Without those two appliances Leona would not have clean bedsheets or clean clothes for tomorrow.

Leona put all of the tools she had taken out of the toolkit back into it and picked it up with her right hand, then headed for the first floor, leaving the bedroom door open as she left. At some point tonight she needed to bring the nightstand and lamp up to her room so that she would have a light for the benefit of guests who did not have night vision.

-The laundry room, 11:50 P.M.-

Leona breathed a sigh of relief as she finished installing the washer and dryer. It had taken quite some work and a lot of time to install them properly, but both appliances were now properly connected and ready to use. They would get quite a workout because she had a lot of items that needed washing and drying.

The laundry room itself was a medium-sized room with no door but plenty of space between the appliances plus space on each side of the room for cabinets in which to store detergent and other items such as ironing boards. Both appliances were positioned on the right side of the room, so she could easily put the cabinet in the top corner of the left wall if she wanted. She might go with that when she bought one, but for now she needed to move another piece of furniture.

Leona packed the tools she had used in the installation back into the toolkit and set it on the floor on the right side of the dryer, then made a beeline for the living room to pick up the nightstand for her bedroom. Once it and the lamp were in place she was going to go downstairs and wash her bedsheets and pillowcases before calling it a night.

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-Leona's Bedroom, the next morning, 6:33 A.M.-

After installing the washer and dryer last night Leona had managed to wash and dry her bedsheets and pillowcases in time to use them on her new bed, but she had not been able to sleep very much. She kept thinking about what she still needed to buy for the living room, the dining room, and the other rooms in the villa. She also kept thinking about where she was going to put her Davinci Design System and Vitruvian Design Table.

Leona's ideal location for those pieces of equipment would be a basement so that she could more easily conceal them from prying eyes, but so far she had not found a basement in the villa. She would need to look for that soon, but first she needed to get ready for another trip to Motor City to buy more furniture. Her highest priority was a computer desk to set the Davinci on followed by a chair for the desk, a dining room table, some dining room chairs, and an oven and refrigerator for the kitchen so that she did not have to use the Galley on board the Albatross during her entire stay.

Leona rolled to the edge of her bed and sat up, then stood up and headed for her bathroom. She was going to get a shower and head to Motor City to procure more furniture and appliances. She might also get a new bathroom mirror if she were in the mood to do so.

-Lion's Island, inside the villa's living room, 4:45 P.M.-

After getting a shower and getting dressed Leona had made the trip to Motor City and after several hours spent shopping returned with all of the furniture and appliances she needed for the time being in the Albatross' cargo hold. She had taken all of that plus the Davinci Design System and Vitruvian Design Table out of the cargo bay and into the empty living room. There they were waiting to be moved and assembled. Leona's biggest priority was the computer desk followed by the Davinci and the Vitruvian. She was glad that she had brought and worn her Argent Gloves because there was no way she would have been able to move any of the heavy cargo without them.

Leona grabbed the box containing the computer desk in both hands and lifted it, then began walking towards the stairs that led to the second floor. Once that was set down she would move the Davinci, Vitruvian, and desk chair, then assemble the computer desk.

-Leona's Bedroom, 6:55 P.M.-

Having changed her clothing from a green t-shirt and khaki cargo pants into a black tube top and khaki cargo shorts, Leona stood in front of the assembled computer desk. It was a large wooden one very similar to the desk in her office back in Silver Wolf Guild Hall; the key difference between them was that this desk was made out of a lighter color of wood. It would do nicely for its purpose because it had plenty of space for the Davinci monitor, keyboard, and mouse plus room for a coaster on which to put a mug of coffee off to the side but still within easy reach.

It sat in front of a power outlet that was not too far from her bed. It was in a convenient location for her because when the monitor was set up it would be facing the back wall, thus preventing guests from being able to see what was on the monitor when she was working. She could also see the entire room from her desk, which was another benefit to placing it that way.

Leona walked over to the waiting Davinci Design System and carefully unboxed it, pulling out a sleek 32" monitor and the tower plus a wired keyboard and mouse. Also inside was a paper owner's manual of average thickness with a glossy black cover. Leona set up the monitor on top of the desk, putting the tower to the right of the monitor. She then placed the keyboard and mouse in front of the monitor before going to the back of the tower and plugging in the monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

Finally she found the power cord to the tower and gently moved it around the back of the desk before gently plugging it into the outlet. Once that was done Leona stood back and admired her handiwork for a moment. One of the pieces of equipment needed for her latest project had been set up... she would need the Vitruvian Design Table to have everything she needed to read the data disc schematics Mr. Bank had given her. She wanted to see the robot in a 3d holographic display before she began any serious examination of the schematics.

Leona would have to move that vital piece of equipment up the stairs later. Right now she was kind of hungry and had not set up the oven in her kitchen, so she was going to have to eat a can of soup warmed in the microwave in the Albatross' Galley. That was OK, though. Although a microwave was far from ideal at least she had a means to prepare meals until the oven was installed.

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-Leona's Bedroom, 8:27 P.M.-

Having eaten a can of soup in the Albatross' Galley before hauling the Vitruvian upstairs, Leona had unboxed it and set it up a short distance away from her computer desk. She had also unboxed and assembled the chair she was going to use for her desk. The Vitruvian Design Table was half the length of the dining room table Leona had bought but not yet set up. It was tall enough to come up to her waist and its surface was crisscrossed with white grid lines in a manner similar to graph paper. The chair was a brown leather office chair with armrests and wheels on the bottom of its five legs. Sitting on the desk was the silver briefcase containing the data disc Mr. Bank had gifted her.

Now that everything had been set up it was time to see what was on the disc.

Leona put the assembled chair in front of the desk, then sat down in the chair and powered on the monitor and the tower. The Davinci powered on and went through the startup sequence before arriving on a blue desktop screen with two options that really stood out. One of them was to a program called "Talos" with an icon of a metallic giant while the other was a program called "Damocles" with an icon of a double-edged sword pointing downwards and held by a single string tied around the grip.

Leona moved the mouse cursor to "Talos" and double-clicked it. The program started and the background changed to a black silhouette of a giant on a light blue background with the letters "TALOS" in black underneath the silhouette. A few seconds later Leona was on another screen with a few options and the one that stood out to her was "View Schematics." She looked for and located the disc tray on the tower and gently pressed the button that opened it, then took the data disc out of the briefcase and placed it in the tray before closing it.

Once the disc was in Leona double-clicked on "View Schematics" and it took only a second for the screen to change to a view of the schematics in question. She did not get a good look at them because her eyes were drawn to the Vitruvian, which showed a 3D holographic representation of what was on the disc. It was a humanoid design that had a single yellow camera eye and a basic, utilitarian look... the look was exactly what Leona wanted. She stood up from her computer chair and walked over to the design table to get a closer look at the 3D image.

Leona stopped in front of the table control panel and looked it over. She saw the "Rotate Left" button marked with a white arrow that pointed left and pressed it, watching the image move accordingly. After a few seconds of that she looked down and saw a "Rotate 360 Degrees" button that was marked by a white arrow that looped back onto its tail. Leona tapped it and watched the image rotate a full 360 degrees before stopping back where it had started.

The Vitruvian Design Table was easy to use thanks to its intuitive controls, but she had not begun any serious design work, so she would have to withhold judgment on it until after she had used it for its intended purpose. As a holographic display system it worked flawlessly... the image quality was excellent and there was no flickering anywhere on it, not even when it moved. Leona walked away from the table and back to the computer to take out the data disc and shut it down for the time being. She would start a serious examination of the schematics in the next day or two, but for now she had more appliances to install, more furniture to set up, and more clothes to wash.

-The next day, Leona's bedroom, 10:25 A.M.-

Leona's eyes slowly opened as she lay facing the door to her room. She had been busy until roughly 1:00 a.m. and when she finally went to sleep she felt like she had been hit by a speeding car. When she woke up just now she felt like the same car had zoomed in and hit her again.

The blonde had installed the oven and refrigerator in her kitchen, unboxed and set up the dining room table and chairs plus one of her two coffeemakers, and had finished washing the clothes she had brought with her to Lion's Island. She had also hung up said clothing in her walk-in closet and had stocked her pantry with the food and coffee she had bought a couple of days ago. Leona still needed to put furniture in the living room and all the guest rooms, but that could wait awhile. She really needed some coffee.

The blonde rolled over to the edge of her bed, then sat up on it. Her feet touched the cool tile floor and she stood up for a few moments before facing the bathroom. She was going to get a shower and change her clothes before she realized that she did not have to if she did not want to. She did not anticipate having any guests today or any time soon, so there was no need to dress to impress anyone. Besides, she owned this island.

Having decided to be lazy, Leona turned away from the bathroom and walked towards her bedroom door. She was going to go to the dining room and look over the work she had done there before doing anything else. She was also going to get some coffee to try and feel alive again after everything she had done last night.

The 3D Image Of The Schematics:

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-The dining room, 10:35 A.M.-

It took Leona a few minutes to reach the dining room because she was so tired that she made snails look speedy, but when she got there and prepared a cup of coffee with one of her new coffeemakers the blonde felt alive again. She stood behind the counter in the dining room and looked at the rectangular table she had bought for it. The table was a rectangular one which could comfortably seat ten and the color of the wood was somewhere between dark brown and black. The ten wooden chairs matched the color of the table and were positioned so that each guest would have some space to themselves.

Leona took another sip of coffee and felt a mild sense of satisfaction.

The villa was getting closer to looking like a place she would invite guests to.

She still needed to get furniture for the living room and guest rooms in order for the villa to be complete, but that could wait for a bit. Leona wanted to walk around Lion's Island and see what it had. She was interested in seeing if the island had anywhere to put the equipment needed for a robot production facility, but she also wanted to just walk around without being on a job. Leona would go do that once she was finished with her coffee. After she poured a second cup of it, anyway.

-Lion's Island, the western half, 12:21 P.M.-

After finishing her coffee Leona had went to her bedroom and put on her boots before going on a walk around the island to see what she could find. Now she stood on the beach looking out at the water as it lapped on the sandy beach and felt the sunlight beaming down on her hair. The scene reminded her of Hargeon Town's beach and she closed her eyes for a moment as she remembered what had recently happened in that town.

The Wizard Saint wished that she had done many things differently, but it was too late now. Everything was said and done and she had come up short against her toughest enemy to date. Leona had suffered considerable humiliation at Medeia's hands and was looking to get revenge for those numerous slights, but that would have to wait because right now she was not physically or mentally ready for the daunting challenge of a rematch with the Warlord Of Lust.

Leona opened her eyes again and decided to take off her boots and socks. She was going to walk barefoot on the beautiful white sand of the beach for awhile. She felt the heat of the sun that the sand had absorbed and flinched when she put her right foot down and the hot sand touched the sole. She put her left foot down and felt the burn on the sole of that foot. Leona was starting to regret her decision to go barefoot and she had not even started walking yet.

Leona turned left and decided to go that way. Her feet hurt with each step she took and she winced and made noises of pain as she slowly moved down the beach with awkward steps, but after a few dozen steps she adapted to the hot ground and her pace soon quickened to her normal walking speed and her stride became more natural. Striding across the sand reminded her of traveling in her desert homeland, where the sand seemed to go on forever with no end in sight. That in turn reminded her of Medeia's question concerning whether growing up in the unforgiving desert had given Leona what it took to bear the burden of being a Wizard Saint.

The blonde was not entirely sure if that harsh upbringing had fully prepared her for bearing the title, but surviving central Desierto had definitely given Leona a leg up on withstanding adversity. She recalled all the bandit attacks and slaver raids she had survived before being exiled from her home village and knew that compared to living in a desert village life in Fiore had been pretty easy. The Wizard Saint was definitely hurting from her defeat and humiliation at Medeia's hands, but she would eventually recover and try to challenge the Warlord again.

For the time being Leona would try to put those thoughts out of her mind and walk on the beach a while longer. She had intended to roam around the entire island in search of a place for a future robot production facility, but that goal had been sidetracked by finding the beach. She needed to get back on track and continue her search, but for some reason she just could not stop walking on the beautiful white sand.

The wind picked up for a few moments and kicked around a light cloud of sand that brushed against her legs as she walked. Leona barely noticed it because she was too busy actually thinking about things instead of just pushing them aside until later in the hopes that they would go away and a lot was on her mind. One topic that kept coming to mind was Medeia.

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-Inside the dining room, 2:25 P.M.-

After walking on the beach to her heart's content Leona had returned to the villa to take a shower because she had been out in the sun for so long that she had gotten more than a little sweaty. Now she was sitting at the head of the table in the dining room drinking coffee while wearing a navy blue tube top and a pleated white skirt she had recently bought to expand her selection of skirts. The blonde was thinking about Medeia, a topic which had been on her mind for the entire walk on the beach. Leona set the coffee mug on the right side of the table and took a quiet breath.

Leona knew exactly what had led to her defeat in Hargeon Town. She had let Medeia expertly manipulate her emotions to keep her from fully focusing on the fight. She had not tested her ability to fly by fusing with a Summon before the battle, so her fear of heights was in full effect and her flying was sloppy compared to the Warlord's. She had let herself get caught inside the coffin, which had brought to the surface past memories Leona had wanted to keep hidden and had driven her emotional state even lower than it already had been up to that point. The final part of her failure was her inability to pierce Medeia's shield and do meaningful damage before the ultimatum that compelled Leona to surrender had been delivered.

Sonic Slash, Silver Blade, and Razor Tornado were the only three spells she had that could punch through magical shields. She could not use Sonic Slash since the fighting had taken place in the air and she needed her feet on the ground to use the spell. Silver Blade was strong enough, but she needed to get close to Medeia in order to use it and after the first few times using it Medeia had quickly learned to keep her distance. Razor Tornado could have done the job, but it also stood a very good chance of destroying Hargeon Town and that was a risk Leona was not willing to take.

Leona closed her eyes and thought about the innocent people she had sacrificed to the tentacle to get the opening for one last effort to defeat Medeia, a last effort that turned out to be in vain.

"I was so stupid." Leona blurted out a succinct summary of the aftermath of the decision.

The Wizard Saint opened her eyes again and her mind jumped from the fight in Hargeon Town to her time with Medeia wherever she had been taken to.

Leona did not want to go through a play-by-play of that awkward time, so she instead focused on how the physical contact with Medeia had made her feel. It felt really awkward to have someone who had been doing their level best to kill her hours ago all of a sudden be in the mood for a conversation and more than a little hugging. The most awkward part of it was how good being embraced from behind by Medeia had felt.

It had felt warm and comforting despite Leona knowing that a Warlord was hugging her.

Leona's face turned red and she silently reached for her coffee mug to take a sip from it. She took quite a few sips of coffee before setting the mug back down and looking towards the kitchen door at the back of the dining room. The blonde recalled looking at Medeia after being moved from the chair to the center of the room floor in preparation to be freed from the ropes and once she was standing vividly recalled her eyes lingering on Medeia's chest for a moment too long when looking at her enemy up close for the first time since the end of their fight in Hargeon Town. Her face turned bright red and she sat in embarrassed silence for a few moments as she tried to forget the Warlord's response to that mistake.

Once she recovered enough to think straight she thought about the other young women in her life. Leona did not feel any attraction to Samira, Mercury, Aspen, or any of the others she had met and that was not just because she had pledged loyalty to Masha. Samira had long and beautiful teal hair and green eyes, but the blonde's relationship with the teal-haired mage was strictly platonic and so were her relationships with Mercury and Aspen. Leona was so confused.

Why had she been attracted enough to Medeia to look at her like that?

Medeia had a combination of a striking eye color, long dark hair, and height that had made the blonde take notice. There was a sinister beauty to the Dark mage that Leona could not deny, a beauty that compelled her to think about her enemy even now. Her face turned red again as she wondered why she had found Medeia appealing in any way and she started drinking the rest of the coffee in her mug to try and make herself think about another topic.

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[Total Word Count: 7,210/11,000]

-The Second Floor, inside the right guest bedroom, 2:55 P.M.-

Leona was standing inside the large guest bedroom on the far side of the right hallway and looking around to determine what furniture she needed to furnish the room to make it acceptable to her most favored guests. She intended to save the two larger rooms for Masha and Samira, but it went without saying that they could be used for other guests too. Leona knew that a bed, nightstand, and lamp were required at the bare minimum, but she was not sure what else she could add to the rooms to make them comfortable to stay in.

She would figure that out later, though. Right now Leona wanted to go back to her room and look over the schematics more now that she had put aside the thoughts about Medeia and had consumed enough coffee for the time being. Leona spun on her heels and walked out of the guest bedroom to go back to her room and do some more actual work.

-Leona's Bedroom, 3:27 P.M.-

Leona had powered on the Davinci Design System and Vitruvian Design Table a few minutes ago and was standing in front of the table as it projected a 3D hologram of the schematics. She had examined it from the front and the back and had determined that the humanoid design was a good starting point for what she intended to do with it. It was a no-frills design that would make a good fighting machine, but she needed to either design weapons for it herself or look around for weapons schematics she could obtain for later production when she finally acquired the production equipment needed to make her project a reality.

Leona's first thought was to use the completed design against Medeia for their rematch, but the Wizard Saint decided to not go through with it for several reasons. The first reason was that if she lost to the Warlord a second time she did not want it and its weapons to fall into the latter's hands. The second reason was that Leona would only get one good shot with whatever weapon it was equipped with before her enemy quickly adapted and made landing further hits on her difficult, especially if the Warlord was flying. The third reason was that any fight with Medeia had the potential to involve a lot of collateral damage... the Dark mage had no problem with that while Leona had to pull her own punches and keep control over her fighting machine so that its weapons fire did not damage or destroy buildings and harm the people inside them. When those reasons were taken into account the Wizard Saint decided to reserve it for use against opponents who were not nearly as powerful as Medeia.

Leona took a quiet breath and deactivated the Vitruvian, then walked over to the Davinci and shut it down. She was making modest progress in figuring out the purpose of the design, but to really get anything done she would need to find production equipment and produce a prototype robot to work with. Her first thought was of Mister Burke, who was probably still on vacation on Crescent Island. Her second thought was of his younger sister Helena Burke, the young woman who had sold her the Davinci Design System and Vitruvian Design Table. Talking to one of the Burkes might be a good idea, but she could do that in a few days or so.

The Wizard Saint decided that she would go for another walk on the beach to kill an hour or so between now and tomorrow's shopping trip to Motor City. In addition to buying beds, nightstands, and lamps, she might also want to look into buying several beach chairs and umbrellas so that she and her guests could sit on the beach if they wanted. Leona certainly wanted to sit on the beach, but she did not want to sit on the sand itself and get her clothes dirty if she could avoid it.

-The next day, inside the living room, 6:31 P.M.-

Leona had gotten up at 9:27 A.M., gotten a shower, and changed her clothes to a white jacket on top of a light blue tank top and pleated white skirt with white and silver tennis shoes and had stashed her Argent Gloves in the Pilot's Quarters for heavy lifting when she got back home with her purchases. She had taken the Albatross to Motor City around 11:00 A.M. and had returned around 5:00 P.M. or so. The cargo bay had held two queen mattresses and wooden bedframes, two wooden nightstands, two lamps to go on said nightstands, and twelve beach chairs and beach umbrellas of varying colors such as blue, light blue, white, red, green, pink, and orange. All of those items had been unloaded by Leona herself and were in the living room waiting to be moved to where they went.

Tonight her priority was moving the guest room furniture because moving, unboxing, and assembling the bedframes and nightstands would take a decent amount of time to do and she wanted to do that while she could focus on those tasks. With that having been decided Leona grabbed one of the boxed bedframes and put it into a carrying position under her right arm while holding the front with her left hand, then began walking towards the stairs to the second floor. With any luck her work would be finished within the next two hours.

[Post Word Count: 922]
[Total Word Count: 8,132/11,000]

-The next day, the beach, 4:09 P.M.-

Last night Leona had set up the furniture in each of the large guest rooms and the work had taken her slightly under two hours, so she had met the goal she had set for herself. She went to sleep around midnight and woke up at 10:00 A.M. to go to Motor City for yet another furniture run plus a few miscellaneous supplies like sunglasses, a pair of sandals, small folding tables for her and guests to set drinks and other items on, a vacuum bottle to store coffee in so that she could carry some of her favorite beverage with her, and perhaps a bikini or two just to wear on Lion's Island in case she wanted to go swimming. Leona had procured all of those items and was now back on Lion's Island.

She had bought eight twin mattresses for the smaller guest rooms, eight metal bedframes for them, a wooden nightstand, and a lamp for each room. She would furnish as many of the guest rooms as she could once she was finished being lazy at the beach. That would take awhile because the blonde was feeling fairly good today and was deliberately being lazy to enjoy that mood. The fact that the weather was warm, the wind was light, and the skies were clear helped a lot.

Wearing a sleeveless light blue crop top and pleated white skirt, Leona was sitting in a blue beach chair with her white jacket draped on the back of it and a blue beach umbrella providing shade. Her new white sandals were placed to the left of her chair. To the right was a wooden folding table on which sat a blue vacuum bottle full of coffee: a white ceramic mug half-full of the drink sat just to the left of it. On her face was a pair of aviator sunglasses with a gold frame that reduced the effect of any sunlight that got past the umbrella.

Leona could not muster the courage to wear one of her new bikinis or a light blue version of the style of tube top that covered only her chest while exposing everything else, so she settled for a sleeveless crop top as a middle ground. She felt uncomfortable and exposed while wearing the garment and it was all she could do not to stand up and put her jacket back on despite being the only person on the island. She successfully fought the urge to put the jacket on for the time being, but she was not sure how long she could manage to do that.

Leona sat in her beach chair and looked at the horizon to distract herself from her concerns over her attire. As she looked she felt an unexpected breeze blow her hair about and raise goosebumps on her arms and midsection, causing her to shiver for a moment. The breeze soon died down and the return of the heat warmed her up again. The blonde closed her eyes for a minute and tried to focus on relaxing instead of worrying about how she looked.

The Wizard Saint opened her eyes, reached for her mug of coffee, and took a few sips of the hot drink while looking at the ocean in front of her. Drinking coffee on a beach sounded stupid, but Leona really did like coffee that much and the beverage took her mind off of everything she wanted to escape from. The blonde would need to come up with a long-term solution to her problems that did not involve Medeia's weird idea of "healing" or the awkwardness of being bound in rope. The wind picked up again and Leona closed her eyes for a moment to think as her hair was gently moved about.

Leona was thinking about someone she could talk to for advice and soon came up with a name that towered above the rest.

Samira Nassar.

The Goddess Of Humility was a fountain of wisdom and she was not inclined to be judgmental of Leona despite the latter's poor social skills and tendency to put her foot in her mouth when speaking. The teal-haired mage would be perfect because of her wisdom and her ability to keep a secret. After deciding that Leona had to figure out a good way to approach Samira about a conversation that involved things she had never told the latter before.

[Post Word Count: 740]
[Total Word Count: 8,872/11,000]

-The dining room, 11:47 P.M.-

After spending roughly three hours on the beach Leona re-entered her villa around 7:32 P.M. and had almost immediately started work on furnishing the eight guest bedrooms. It took a lot of time and effort plus a lot of coffee, but Leona had gotten the job done. All eight rooms were now furnished and ready for guests... not that the Wizard Saint anticipated having that many guests at one time, but she never knew what the future held.

After finishing her work Leona took off her Argent Gloves and set them on the nightstand next to her bed, then went to take a shower. Now dressed in an outfit consisting of a green tank top and blue jean short shorts she had bought to eventually wear for Masha when they met again, the blonde sat in "her" chair at the head of the dining room table and drank more coffee as she thought about what to do tomorrow. Most of the rooms in the villa were furnished except for the living room, so she could make another run to Motor City to buy furniture for the room if she wanted. Or she could try and go swimming at the beach to get some practice in swimming in case she ever had to go into the water for a job.

A third choice was to cut the vacation short and return to Silver Wolf Guild Hall to do all the paperwork that was likely waiting on her. Leona did not have to make a decision right away. She had plenty of time to choose and would not rush things. In the meantime she took a sip of coffee and looked at the back wall of the kitchen in thought as Medeia came to mind yet again. Leona was not thinking about their battle because she already knew why she had lost. Instead she was thinking about what happened after the battle when she was tied up and held in the Warlord's arms.

Why had she reacted so strongly to Medeia brushing her hair with a hairbrush and embracing her from behind?

Leona thought about that vexing question and wondered if she had reacted that way because she was attracted to Medeia or because she secretly enjoyed the physical comfort her hostess had provided. The Wizard Saint led an austere lifestyle where she had the basics and few luxuries except for a sizable arsenal of weapons and a growing wardrobe of clothing of different types. Her room at Silver Wolf Guild Hall was a modest one with a desk, a bed, and two wardrobes in which to store clothing and her office had a large wooden desk, a bookcase, two chairs in front of the desk for visitors to sit in, and little else. Despite her titles the blonde did not find much appeal in luxury... in fact Lion's Island and the villa were the greatest luxuries she possessed.

The blonde had grown up in the desert and did not have a whole lot to her name, so she was used to that. She also did not have much physical comfort either. At first she slept on a blanket on what passed for the floor of the family tent but later progressed to a cot when her mother bought three, one for each Jarnefeldt. Leona recalled her mother Sophia being distant and being so preoccupied with her job as the village teacher that she did not have much to do with Leona and Leonidas except providing them with the basics of life such as food, shelter, and clothing and urging them to get married and have children as soon as possible.

Leona recalled her mother brushing her hair quickly and roughly so that the older Jarnefeldt could get the task over with. She contrasted that with Medeia's slow and gentle brushing and shivered at the memory, gripping the handle of her coffee mug tightly for a few moments before she realized what she was doing and let go of it. The blonde also recalled that the gentle brushing felt so good to her that it made her unable to think straight while it was happening.

The hugging from behind did not help Leona either. She had felt the warmth of Medeia's body and could not help but to derive comfort from it despite the fact her enemy was the one embracing her. The warmth reminded the blonde of Masha and how the redhead made her feel.

Leona got up from the table and went over to the coffeemaker to pour yet another cup of coffee. She was not going to be able to sleep for awhile thanks to the large quantity of coffee she had already consumed and her thinking about Medeia, so there was no harm in getting another cup. She would drink one more while thinking about what she wanted to do tomorrow, then try to go to sleep... if she could. The thoughts that occupied Leona's mind were not going to relinquish their hold on her any time soon and it might take all night for them to go away.

[Post Word Count: 856]
[Total Word Count: 9,728/11,000]

-The next day, on the beach, 2:03 P.M.-

Leona sat in her beach chair while wearing a black tank top and blue jean short shorts with aviator sunglasses on her face. The beach umbrella had been set up behind and to the left of her and the folding wooden table with blue vacuum bottle of coffee sat to her right. A white porcelain coffee mug sat to the left of the bottle within easy reach and her white sandals sat just to the left of her chair.

Leona was going to go back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall later today to start on the paperwork that had likely piled up since she had went on the mini-vacation. She was not looking forward to the all-nighter ahead of her, but she had responsibilities to take care of. In the meantime she was going to spend an hour or two longer on the beach before she locked the villa, boarded the Albatross, and flew to Silver Wolf Guild Hall.

She had not quite solved the riddle of why being in Medeia's arms was so comforting, but she had a hypothesis or two that she had come up with. She also already knew what she had to do to prepare herself for a rematch with the Warlord. What she had to do was split between physical and mental preparation and most of it was easily attainable.

On the physical side of things Leona had to learn how to fly more effectively when fused with a Summon. Related to that was learning how to overcome or reduce her fear of heights so that she could fly higher, fly faster, and not panic when she saw the ground below. Finally she needed to start wearing more armor than just the Argent Gloves.

On the mental side of things Leona needed to come to terms with the Ishgar Symposium so that Medeia would have a harder time exploiting that send Leona into a downward spiral. She also needed to come to terms with her mistake in Hargeon Town and accept that no matter how she had tried to justify it she had made a bad decision that had cost innocent people their lives. Another thing she had to do was figure out a way to reduce the effects of Medeia's verbal teasing and physical gestures of affection, but resisting those two things would be easier said than done now that the Warlord knew those actions flustered the Wizard Saint.

She could deal with those problems later. Right now Leona just wanted to relax a bit before she had to go back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall and go back to work. She would likely have an all-nighter ahead of her and she would need a lot of coffee to get through it all. The guild cafe was going to get a lot of business from her this evening.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, the office, 9:01 P.M.-

Leona had secured the villa on Lion's Island around 3:33 P.M. and made sure that she had her Argent Gloves before boarding the Albatross and setting out for Silver Wolf Guild Hall. She had reached her destination around 8:43 P.M. and made a beeline for her room to change out of her beach clothing and into something more suitable for the office. Now she was wearing a blue long-sleeved turtleneck shirt and white capri pants with white and silver tennis shoes as she sat at her desk and looked at the stacks of paperwork sitting in front of her.

As she had anticipated there was a lot of it waiting on her. There were at least ten stacks of it, which guaranteed that she would be here for quite some time. Leona did not have a cup of coffee yet, so she got up from her desk and went to the guild cafe to get some of her favorite beverage before starting.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, the next day, 1:10 P.M.-

With her work done for the time being Leona shuffled into her room and closed the door behind her, then walked over to her bed and untied her shoelaces. She took off the shoes and set them under her bed, then changed back into her black tank top and blue jean short shorts before putting her office outfit on the back of her desk chair. She was going to sleep for awhile if she could.

Leona sat on the edge of the bed, then swung her feet over to the center before rolling onto her side and facing the wardrobe. With any luck she would get to sleep for a few hours before she went back to the office to confront more paperwork. It seemed like for every stack she completed two more sprung up in its place, but that was part of the administrative side of her job as a Guild Mistress.

[Post Word Count: 816]
[Total Word Count: 10,544/11,000]

-Leona's Office, 5:06 P.M.-

Leona's respite from office work had been all too brief because she had been summoned back to her office by a guild staff member and was staring down another desk loaded with papers. She wondered whether these were new items or part of the backlog left over from when she had went to Lion's Island on the mini-vacation. She did not know and she was not going to ask. She had went to the office without bothering to change clothes or put on her tennis shoes because she was too tired to care how she looked. A few of the guild staff members were clearly uncomfortable seeing Leona dressed so casually, but the blonde was too tired to be concerned about that minor detail... all she cared about was completing the administrative work she had to do.

She counted eleven stacks on top of the desk and sighed. The Wizard Saint was going to need coffee to power through this endeavor. A lot of it. She grabbed her coffee mug from the right side of the desk and left the office to go to the guild cafe and get a cup before she began her work.

-Leona's Room, the next day, 2:26 P.M.-

After completing another grueling marathon session Leona stumbled back into her room and shut the door behind her. She had completed the eleven stacks by 1:00 A.M. but a steady stream of paper found its way into her office whenever she tried to leave. When the flow of paper finally stopped around 2:00 P.M. Leona quickly left the office before more of it could be set before her. She had reached her limit for now and really needed to sleep.

Leona lowered herself onto her back, then rolled over to face the door. She was reasonably certain that this respite was going to be short-lived and she would be called back to her office again. She was hoping that she would be proven wrong and she could sleep without interruption, but she was not banking on it.

-Leona's Office, 4:00 P.M.-

Her belief that she would not get to sleep for long was proven right and once again Leona was sitting in her office staring at work that needed to be done. This time there were only five stacks, but it would likely not remain just five stacks for long. The exhausted Wizard Saint sighed and got to work to try and finish at least one of them before more paperwork was brought to her desk.

-Leona's Room, the next day, 7:00 A.M.-

Leona was beyond tired when she finally got to go back to her room. Five stacks of paperwork soon multiplied until she was facing thirteen, then sixteen when three more stacks were brought in afterwards. By some miracle Leona had finished them all without mistakes or overloading herself on coffee, but she could not do any more administrative work today. She just could not.

Leona shut her door, staggered over to her bed, and sat down on it, then reclined and rolled over to face the wardrobe. If anyone tried to summon her for anything short of a serious emergency she was going to ignore them. That was an irresponsible attitude to take, but she highly doubted that anyone wanted to deal with a sleep-deprived Guild Mistress who had not had enough coffee to mask her exhaustion. If she had to get up for anything she would, but otherwise the blonde planned to sleep for the next several hours.

The blonde closed her eyes and had little trouble drifting off. With any luck she would finally have an uninterrupted stretch of time to get some sleep before she had to go back to the office. With even more luck her administrative responsibilities would be finished for the day and she could do something like get a shower, get some coffee, or just sit around her room. Maybe she would wake up and find a message from a client who required her help and she would get to leave the guild hall to go on a job.

[Post Word Count: 686]
[Total Word Count: 11,230/11,000]