Lapsa chewed on an apple as he read the tailoring book, he could hear Cayden and Cronix, who were both sitting at the table, talking about an event that happened earlier when Cayden was with Wendril, it involved a challenge of sorts from a young man.

Playing with his pendent, Cronix actually put some thought into what Cayden told him, if things like this went wrong it could be very detrimental to them.

In the end though, Cronix could only shake his head, "There's nothing we can do, we can't refuse the fight, we'll be 'embarrassing' Ms. Potpourri, so we have no choice." There was an obvious tone of disdain when Cronix said the word embarrassing, but no matter how much he disapproved of it, the deal left him no choice.

"Just focus on perfecting your stars and learning the spells we have at the moment, then we'll really focus on things like this. At least we have a season to prepare, and no work, so it's already better than the Ayuna's."

While Cronix's tone was light when he said this, Cayden could tell Cronix was worried about subjects such as these.

"By the way, do you have any idea what the M.M.C is?" When Cayden asked this, he noticed Cronix immediately perked up, "The M.M.C means Magic Miners Company, where did you hear this?"

"In the tower, there was this guy asking me to join." Cayden looked at Cronix carefully when he said this, and saw a faint smile rise on Cronix's face, "That's good to know."

"Oh, and we have another small problem, I can't read any of the spell books."

Cronix frowned when he heard this, and his hand clenched around his pendent. For about a minute he didn't say anything, leaving Cayden quietly waiting.

In the end Cronix sighed and stood up, muttering, "I think it's time we used our first favor."

Cayden didn't quite understand what Cronix meant, but he followed after him when he began walking away, and out the door; Kara flew out after them, and her dark magic surrounded the both of them.

The two walked side by side until they entered the main building, where Cronix's speed slightly increased to take the lead.

He stopped in front of the desk where Wendril stayed, reading a book, waiting for someone to enter the door.

She looked up from her book when she heard Cronix and Cayden entering. Cronix was the first one to speak, "I need to talk to Ms. Potpourri regarding the first favor."

"Okay, but let me check if she's busy." But before Wendril could move, Madame's Potpourri's voice came from a metallic disc that was on the desk. It looked similar to the one Wendril was using earlier.

From it, Madame Potpourri said something along the lines of let them in. Wendril then stood up and guided them out the room and to a hallway, the first door was the office.

Wendril was going to knock before entering, but Cronix didn't care about things like that, feeling they were unnecessary, he just opened the door.

Madame Potpourri's office was like the rest of the building with everything purple, but Cronix and Cayden already got used to the color, so it didn't surprise them, what did surprise them however was the abundant amount of supplies on the floor.

These supplies ranged from pills and potions to tools and food.

"Is this all for the focuser game?" Cronix couldn't help asked when he saw the supplies.

"Some of it is and some of it is for the Transition Day festival, anyways what do you want?" This time Madame Potpourri wanted things to get to the point.

"We're using our first favor..." Cronix went silent the second he said this, it suddenly dawned on him that he didn't know how to phrase his words in a way that would bring the least amount of suspicion.

Cayden frowned when Cronix went silent, he could tell there was trouble in Cronix's mind, but they came here so fast he didn't explain what they were here for, so he couldn't help him.

Thankfully it only took a few seconds for Cronix to gather his thoughts, and there wasn't any time for someone to complain about him taking too long.

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"Cayden needs help understanding some of his spells, but me and Lapsa are both busy so we can't help him." Cronix finally said.

Both of Cayden's eyes lit up,

So this is what we're here for...

Madame Potpourri was silent, she was mentally debating whether it was worth it to make a deal with these three kids rather than patiently waiting for another Caster to come by.

Taking a deep breath, she said, "Fine, Wendril will help you with your spells, and the such, but there is another thing..." Potpourri then put her full attention on Cronix, "We need to go over certain topics about the focuser game."

Cronix nodded and waited until the room cleared before he made any moves, which didn't take long, however this still brought a bit of strain to Kara's magic as everyone was slowly being spread out.

Back in the residence, Lapsa's interest was piqued in ways similar to Cronix with formations as he read the book.

Tailoring wasn't something new to Lapsa, because of Cayden, he would sometimes go to the laundry demi-humans to get new clothes, and he would often see them sew everything together.

However this was different from normal sewing because this involved more than just needles and fabrics. In the book, it presented two types of sewing, one mainly focused on using magic while the other mental energy.

Sadly there was no mention of combining the two, which provided a small problem in Lapsa's mind, because he wasn't really a professional in either of the two powers, so to choose one was like choosing which path he was going to take.

But he wasn't going to make a choice now, he'll wait until he completely read the book, before making a decision.

In the background he heard Cayden enter the residence, and only then when his attention was free from the book did Lapsa notice his body was surrounded by the dark element.

His eyebrows tilted, but when he looked up, he understood. Cronix didn't come back with Cayden, but Madame's Potpourri's attendant did. The two of them went to Cayden's room.

This can not be good for Kara...

Standing up, Lapsa's eyes darted towards Cronix's room, it should in there where Cronix's cloak resided, but just as he took a step, he felt a sharp pain coming from his ears.

He immediately turned around, and saw a silver tipped feather on the couch, as well as Kara standing on one of the kitchen cabinets, she was shaking her head. There was no question in his mind on what caused the pain in his ear.

While glaring at Kara, he continued to walk to Cronix's door, but when he got close to the door, the dark elements surrounding him reacted, forming a type of barrier prevented him from moving forward.

"What are you doing?!" Lapsa asked in a loud whisper, trying not to alert Wendril of Kara's existence, Kara only shook her head again.

Lapsa tried to calm himself down, but Kara was starting to annoy him, "I'm trying to help you by putting Cronix's cloak on."

And again this only received another head shake from Kara, in fact the dark elements surrounding Lapsa formed a head of a crow, and shook its head before coiling around Lapsa again.

That's when it hit him, why Kara wasn't letting him get the cloak, she didn't want the help.

And for whatever reason, she was being very stubborn about this, so with a worried frown on his face, Lapsa went back to the couch, and continued reading.

In Cayden's room the atmosphere was awkward, even though the two had spent the earlier part of their day together, they could hardly be considered friends.

Wendril was the first to say something, clasping her hands together, she asked, "What part of the spell do you need help with?"

Cayden cursed under his breath, Cronix did this all without warning, so he couldn't think of how to properly phrase his words.

In the end, he decided to just be blunt about it, "I need help with the reading part..." He could see Wendril's face contort into a frown.

"So, you don't know how to read?" Wendril said, her eyebrow slightly raising.

"Yeah..." Cayden looked away, he couldn't meet anyone's eye at the moment.

Wendril sighed, "Fine, I guess I'll teach you, but what do you know?"

"Um... I remember how letters look."

A few hours passed by, and the door opened as Cronix came back in, and opened again minutes later for Wendril could leave, as she left there was a faint hint of annoyance on her face.

She spent these few hours attempting to teach Cayden how to read, using the book Cronix had given him, but to no avail. He just couldn't recall what sounds each letter made on their own, so they couldn't even get to basic words yet.

The thing was, she wasn't the first person to try teaching Cayden how to read, the first came from way back, when his brother tried teaching him with the same result.

After him were both Riley and Ash, who quickly gave up after a week with no progress, and the latest besides Wendril was Lapsa, who tried twice as long as the Ayuna brothers, but nothing ended any differently.

But it was good everything ended when it did, because Kara was at her limit, with the dark elements around them loosening up before dispersing.

When the dark elements vanished, all their animal features were on full display. When this happened Cronix stretched out his tail before collapsing on the couch next to Lapsa.

"Cayden!" He called out.

Leaving his room, Cayden asked, "What?"

"Have you learned anything?!"

"No!" Cayden replied with a bitter tone, he was starting to think he would never be able to read.

"Which spell are you trying first?"

"The new one." He said as he sat next to Cronix.

"You should try the basic spells, maybe it would be easier compared to the complicated spells." Cronix said as he adjusted himself so his feet were in the air, and his head on the cushion.

Cayden tilted his head, he didn't think of that, and he hadn't even opened the basic spell book yet, but this seemed like a good idea. However he didn't want to try right now, this day had been exhausting.