Tea Time With Granny (solo mission)

Cyrus breathed heavily as he stood in front of a small home in Hargeon. He had been sent there on a mission. No, it wasn't a fight against a demon, nor was it a journey to find some legendary item. No, Cyrus had accepted his guildmaster's request to take care of his grandmother. Despite the fact that this was not the most impressive undertaking, he couldn't help but feel nervous, as this was his first mission.

"Hello there child, have you come here for any reason?" asked an elderly woman who had emerged from the residence. Cyrus had been so caught up in his anxiousness that he hadn't realized her arrival.

"You must be Master Cii's grandmother," he stated, hoping he got the address right.

"That I am child. And you are?" asked the woman with a kindly smile.

"I'm Cyrus Kuma, one of your grandson's mages. I've come to keep you company."replied the mage.

"Oh of course! I was expecting you. Please come inside."

He walked with the woman into the house. "So tell me about yourself Cyrus," the woman, much to Cyrus's relief, was very kind. She was old and delicate, but had a warm aura nonetheless.

"I lived as a nomad most of my life," he began, "I've only recently joined Lamia Scale."

"And do you like it?"

He smiled lightly as he remembered his guildmates, "Absolutely! Although I was hesitant to join at first, the guild welcomed me with open arms. No matter how weird or old or tall or scary they are, everyone at Lamia seems very excepting."

"That's good to hear. Can I tell you something about my grandson?" she asked.

"What?"

"One of his greatest fears, as far as he has told me, is being a bad guildmaster. I'm sure he'll be glad to hear you say something like that about his guild."

His smile greatened as he heard that. "Thank you," he said.

"Do you like tea?" asked the kindly old woman.

"Who doesn't?" the mage asked rhetorically.

"In that case I'll be right back," said the woman with a smile. She walked through a doorway, presumably to the kitchen. Cyrus wondered if Master Cii was so kind because of this ladies influence. It wouldn't be surprising, they are both such good people. The old lady came back, with two ceramic tea cups and a matching tea kettle. She placed them on a low sitting table and kneeled down. After pouring some of the liquid into both cups she invited Cyrus to come sit. He too moved over and kneeled. They both took a sip of their tea.

"This is delicious," said Cyrus.

"I'm glad you like it," responded the old woman, It's my own special brew. Say, would you like to hear a story of back when I was a mage?"

"I would love to."

"Back when I was your age," she started, "I was quite the mage. I was part of a five person team, and we were considered some of the best mages in Fiore. It was me, the supporter, an earth mage, a fire mage, a water mage, and an air mage. We were known as the Great Elementals. You know, I had a short lived romantic relationship with the earth mage, but that's for another time. Anyways, we once went on an adventure to slay a beast terrorizing a town," she began to tell the exploits of her team, "It was huge black beast with shining claws and glinting fangs. His glossy fur shone in the moonlight as we confronted him. He had a hard sheet of armor that we had heard deflected magic. Sure enough, no matter what we tried, water spells, fire spells, earth spells, or air spells, we couldn't hit him. He appeared to be impervious to any and all magics. A good mage should never be at a loss. As such, I had a plan."

"Sure the beast could not be harmed magically, but ah, I knew that was just because of his armor. If we were to remove the armor, then we could hit him with any type of magic," the woman still seemed proud that she figured this out, "So, I roused the villagers up from their sleep, and led them to a cliff nearby. everyone helped to push a rock close to the edge. There we waited until my teammates had lured the beast underneath us. Once that had successfully happened, we pushed as hard as we could, dropping the boulder on the beast below. After being pushed to the ground, it quickly through off the rock and stumbled around, dazed, confused and angry. My plan had worked. There were cracks all over his armor as the thick steel began to fall off it's body. The imposing beast growled and lunged at the fire mage, but without his armor was easily burnt by the flames. Boy you should have seen the look on the monsters face when he realized the position he was in."

"Now that we could hit him, we attacked him with everything we had. Wave after wave of elemental magic. Some villagers even pitched in with their farming tools and the occasional knife. Before long, the previously invulnerable monster was down for the count. As a reward, we got it's pelt and many jewels." As both of us had finished our first cup, she poured them both more tea. She then got up, walked over to a plate of bread and brought it over to the table. "Would you like some?" she asked, offering Cyrus some of the simple treat on the platter.

He nodded silently, as they both grabbed a slice of bread and began to eat. "And you?"

"Hm?" asked the younger mage. He wasn't quite sure what she was asking.

"Tell me about some of your previous jobs, I'm sure you have had a lot of fun times as a wizard." explained the old lady.

Cyrus chuckled slightly at this notion. "This is actually my first job as a mage."

The woman laughed, "I see, then I guess I was wrong." She then looked expectantly at the young wizard. "But you plan on going on a lot of adventures, right?"

"If it's for the good of Fiore," he answered, "or for the good of Lamia Scale, I'm willing to do anything I can."

"But what about for yourself?" The woman's tone of voice changed. Instead of her previous kindly demeanor, she now spoke with a dangerous sounding seriousness.

"No," he said, slightly surprised. "I've done everything I wanted to for myself."

"But you haven't," she said matter-of-factly. Cyrus was taken aback by this sudden comment. "I can tell there's trouble deep in your mind, deep in your heart, that you need to resolve. I'm right aren't I?" she looked at Cyrus with piercing eyes.

The Cloud-Make mage looked away. He began to think of his parents. His disapproving father, his mysterious mother. Now that he though of it, there were plenty of reasons that he would complete jobs for himself.

"You had forgotten why you were fighting. There's only one reason why that could be," she explained. "You weren't strong enough."

He cringed when she said that. That's just why he had joined Lamia Scale. That's why he gave up his carefree lifestyle. That's why he was here. To become stronger.

"You weren't strong enough, and you forgot your goals, because you weren't determined enough. Determination is strength Cyrus. Remember that. Determination is strength."

Those words rang in his head. Determination is strength. Determination is strength. To become strong, to surpass his father, to find his mother, to make Lamia Scale proud, he needed to be determined.

"Do you understand now child?" asked the old woman.

"I understand."

"Prove it to me then. Tell me why you became a mage." she insisted.

"I fight," he paused trying to work out how to say it, "I became a mage to learn what it means to be strong so I can resolve the problems with my family."

The guildmaster's grandmother smiled, "Then do just that, and do it with determination."

"I understand," repeated Cyrus, "but at the same time I don't. I'm unsure of how I fit in to my guild. I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Although I know my goal, I don't know how to get there."

"Have patience Cyrus. You'll get there. Nobody knows for sure how they'll achieve their goals, but they get there, and so will you."

The Cloud-Make mage silently took in her words. The kind, wise old words of a guildmaster's grandmother. He took in those words with a deafening silence. His mind was at peace with them now. He just had to continue down his path until he reached the end. "Thank you."

"No need for that child. If anything I should thank you for staying here and listening to an old lady this whole time. Either way it really is getting late. You've humored me enough, so I'll show you out."

As they walked to the old woman's door, Cyrus told her something"I've been wondering something."

"What is it dear?"

"Well, Master Cii seems to be pretty old from what I've heard. So I've been wondering how old you are."


A mischievous smile grew across the grandmother's face as they Cyrus walked through her door. "Goodbye young one," she said, waving to Cyrus from the doorway, simultaneously dodging the young mage's personal question.

He nodded, taking her cue and calmly walking away from the house.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" as Cyrus turned back to the old woman, he raised his hand to catch a small metal object flying towards him. "Take this." Looking at the object in his hand, Cyrus realized it was a silver necklace with the Lamia Scale insignia hanging from one of the beads. "If you ever forget your goals again, remind yourself with that necklace."

Cyrus smirked as he put it on and walked away. I promise that I'll never forget them again.

Approved