Irene's stiff tone and slight glare are all I need to see to know that she's mad at me. But a guard? Why here? Not to mention, why would a guard come to Eryk's house looking for me?

"A-alright," I stammer a little as I get up and quickly follow her back to the front door. Maybe it's Francis? He knows about me and Eryk, but how would he know where Eryk lives? When I get back to the door, it isn't Francis, it's a guard I don't recognize. And he's sweating and panting for some reason.

There's also another man with him too, similarly winded. This one is dressed in the uniform of the refinery staff though. I hear John coming up behind us as the guard addresses me. "You're Aria?" he looks down at me in disbelief.

"Yes..." I answer. The way he looks at me just makes my heart sink.

"Frank told me to get you, he said it's urgent."

That name makes me perk up immediately. "Wait, Frank? That means..." There's only one reason Frank would need to get me, isn't there? I immediately turn to Irene.

"I'm really sorry, Irene." Even as my mind races, I force myself to slow down enough to press my hands together and bow my head respectfully like she did earlier. "I have something really important I need to do, so I need to leave now. I'm sorry I can't finish listening to your entire lecture."

"Fine, get going," she responds with a small sigh. At least she looks less harsh now. I give her a big nod and follow the guard out the door. The man in the refinery uniform gives a small wave and turns to go in another direction, while we begin walking.

"Why does Frank want you?" the guard asks pointedly, even as he picks me up in his arms.

Like before, his tone hurts. I feel tears stinging in my eyes, but push them back and try to respond. "Because I can help."

"How...?" he mutters under his breath, but obviously I can't answer that. He begins to jog down the street, heading northwest. But in no time at all, John comes running up behind us.

"Aria, you forgot your stuff," he says, holding my bag of ingots in one hand.

"O-oh!" I gasp. I completely forgot about it when the guard showed up so suddenly. I reach out to take it, but he grabs my wrist and lifts me right out of the guard's arms.

When the guard gapes at him, he just says, "I've been told to escort her today. Carrying her around is my job," with a big grin. Despite his labored breathing, the guard chuckles. At least it will be easier for him when I'm not weighing him down. But what about John? Actually, he looks like he's doing great. He's not even breathing heavily, keeping up a jogging pace to match the guard. "Where are we going anyway?" he asks.

"Garrison," the guard answers shortly.

"What's going on anyway?"

"We found a man, it looked like he was poisoned," the guard answers.

"Poison?" John's eyes go wide, then he looks down at me with a complicated expression.

I lean up to speak quietly to John. "I made a deal with Frank. I'm supposed to help if anyone gets poisoned." I glance away a little and sort of mutter, "He saw me treat it one time, but I think he got the wrong idea..."

"How long ago was it?" John asks the guard.

"I don't know." He has to stop speaking as he continues to pant. "They brought him in... around the eighth bell."

"It's already after the ninth bell, it took you way too long to get her," John comments.

"I've been running all over town!" the guard finally shouts, sounding exasperated. "Everyone sent me to a different place!" That makes me realize what he's been through...

Frank must have told him to go to the orphanage since I'm injured and not going to the forest. Then Mister Fredricson said to go to the refinery because I told him I was going to work today. And then Eryk sent him to his house. He really has been running all over town...

"I'm really sorry you had to go through so much to find me," I apologize. Even though this is exactly the sort of situation I told Frank would happen back when we made this deal. Although I expected to be in the forest at the time. Maybe I should have Riko hang out around the guard barracks in the future so I'll know when they need help, without them needing to spend bells of time to contact me. It'll be suspicious, but if it lets me help people...

"Poisoning gets worse the longer it takes to treat, right?" I ask. I don't actually know that much about regular poison because none of the divine armaments are poisonous, at least not like normal poisons. I only know a little from the vague mention of it when we learned about the body, specifically how the liver and kidneys are responsible for neutralizing it.

"More or less," John answers. But he raises an eyebrow. "You don't know?" I can feel him asking 'and you're supposed to cure it'? even though he doesn't say it directly.

"It's complicated."

"Ahh," he replies simply. He's heard at least enough about mana to know that it takes me a lot of effort to work with it. "Anyway, we have to get there fast. We'll go ahead," John says.

"Fine," the guard pants out tiredly. Then John increases his pace, quickly leaving the guard behind. I feel a little bad leaving behind the guard who just went through so much to get me, but we have to get to the garrison. Someone needs my help there, and they've already been waiting way too long.

"John, can you go faster?" I ask. It isn't fair to him, but I ask anyway.

"I have to pace myself or I won't make it all the way there," he says. I figured as much, so I'm already drawing some fire and lightning mana from the bag of metal in my arms.

"Here," I say simply, touching his arm and giving him the mana.

"That... works I guess." I can tell that he immediately feels the difference. He looks kind of disconcerted, but he just goes with it and continues at a good run, making his way up through the central district very quickly. There aren't too many people on the streets here at this time of day, but we definitely draw attention going through town like this. The only thing helping is that we pass by everyone so fast, they can't really stare at us that long.

We make it up to Main Street fast, turning west. I can still feel John's breath coming clear and strong as he runs, so I just shake my head and try to prepare myself for helping whoever I need to help. I try to think back on the little I know about poison and work out a plan.

I know that the liver and kidneys are responsible for neutralizing it, but I don't really know what the differences are between them or how they work. Besides that, I'm not too clear on exactly how poison hurts or kills people. It isn't like a cut. It isn't a wound and it doesn't bleed. So earth and fire mana probably won't help that much. That just leaves air, lightning, and water. I don't know if any of those, or maybe even the other two, might help the body clear out poisons. Ugh, I should have tested that at some point, I'm sure I could have found something poisonous and tested it on myself...

Ignoring my regrets, I try to reason things out a little more. I know fire is for the heart and lightning is for the lungs. I haven't pinned down anything specific for earth, air, or water yet. Well, maybe I can count the muscles for earth, but those feel different. Not really a single organ.

If I try to look at it from how each element feels, then air probably relates to things that move or change a lot, while earth would be solid and dependable. And water would be something calm and flowing. Is there anything about the body or vital organs I can match up with those descriptions?

The first thing that comes to mind is for earth. Something dependable, probably durable. It makes me think of my stomach. And it may be jumping to something unrelated, but The Goddess of the Earth is also responsible for harvests, so maybe earth is also related to food and nourishment, like the stomach? It's just a guess for now, but it at least helps me narrow down what to try out first.

Air changes and moves a lot. Maybe... my brain? It's really hard to say. I always feel like I've completely lost my mind, jumping all over the place when I have a lot of air mana, so it's still really hard to get a good idea of how it feels.

Last is water, since I don't know much about it yet. It's also related to nourishment. It's used for life and growing things, so maybe that one is related to the stomach, not earth? Or it could be both for all I know. It flows in rivers, so maybe it's more like flowing things. Like saliva or pee? I have no idea if that makes sense, and it wouldn't help me now anyway, so I ignore it.

When it's not in a river, the way it sits perfectly still unless you disturb it, which makes me think of it as something calm. Calm... Like the opposite of the energy you get from fire or lightning. Would it make you sleepy? Not a part of the body, I remind myself with a small head-shake.

"Something wrong?" John asks as he runs.

"I'm just trying to come up with how to treat poison, but I don't have much to go on."

"That... does sound like a problem..." he furrows his eyebrows in clear worry. I try to get back to thinking...

If I'm talking about helping a person's body fight off poison, I need to consider two things. First is how the kidneys and liver are responsible for neutralizing it. If one of the mana types helps them work better, I need to find which one it is. Secondly, I need to know exactly how poison harms a person and see if there is anything I can do to relieve that long enough for their body to neutralize the poison. For now, that's the plan. But that... that's if I even have the chance, it's been an entire bell since they sent the guard to get me. I hope we aren't already too late.

I really don't want to keep thinking about that possibility, so it's good that we're nearly there already. John turns just a couple blocks into the northwest district to reach the garrison. He opens the door immediately, walking inside, as he calls out, "Excuse me, I'm looking for Frank."

Only a few guards are inside right now. One of them says, "Frank's busy, come back later."

"We're here to help him," John responds.

"Oh?" the guard looks us over, clearly out of place, but then shrugs. "If you say so. Over here." He leads us past lots of weapons lined up in rows, armor hanging off of nails, and a few piles of stuff I can't recognize immediately. I also spot the table I woke up on the couple times I was brought in when I got hurt. I only have a chance to glance around as we're quickly led to the door along the right hand wall at the far end of the room. Once we pass through, I see the next room is lined with a few beds on the far wall.

I begin to wonder why they put me on that table instead of bringing me in here, but when I see how all of the beds have blankets and pillows across them, I realize it must have been because I'm a peasant. Either that, or the beds are only used by guards, not people that are brought in. Except the man I'm here to help is someone they brought in...

That's not important.

After the brief glance around, I turn my attention to the problem at hand. Frank is sitting beside a bed with a man in it. I can immediately pick out his labored breathing, and looking at him, he's sweating and shaking slightly. Frank turns to us as we enter.

"You're finally here! I sent a man out to get you almost two bells ago!"

"Sorry, he ended up having to run all over the city to find me, so it took a while," I explain things.

"Ah, makes sense," he mutters. Then it's right to business. "Here's the situation." John sets me down on the floor while Frank begins to speak. "This man collapsed near the central plaza. He's been having seizures and trouble breathing, so we figured it must be poison." I don't know why those are indications of poison, but Frank would know, so I'll go with it. He gestures me forward, and I touch the man's wrist. His skin is sweaty and a bit cool to the touch. A quick check confirms my guess that it's not some sort of poisonous mana. That sort of thing probably would have killed him a long time ago.

So, time to try treating poison...

The very first thing I do to start is dumping my bag of metals on the floor, then using the durite to make lightning mana. I feel a little nervous doing this in front of Frank, but he basically knows that I do strange things with metals already, so I just have to put up with it.

I give the lightning mana to the man, but his breathing doesn't improve as much as I expected. That really worries me. In fact, I turn back to Frank because I have to ask. "Hey Frank, I mentioned this when we made the deal... This isn't a poison I can treat easily like last time. Are you sure that you want me to do it instead of just buying holy water for him?"

"We can't get him holy water," he answers, as if that should be obvious for some reason.

"W-w-wait, what?" I stammer. "Why not?"

"Because I don't know him. Sure, I would if he was one of the guards, but we don't have the kind of money here to just throw that much away on any person we pick up with symptoms of poisoning." He... doesn't know this man? No, of course he doesn't! He just said that they found him collapsed on the ground.

"So you don't know anything about this man..." I mutter under my breath as I realize. I still don't know just how much holy water costs, but he gives the impression that it's very expensive. Without knowing this man, they couldn't even say for sure whether he would be able to pay for it once he regains consciousness.

That's why they called me. It's just six coppers for my services, so they can afford to pay me for it, even if this man ends up not being able to pay himself, because I hardly cost anything. But then... despite the knot in my stomach, I ask, "what did you do before?"

Frank shrugs. "There wasn't anything we could do before."

My voice comes out shaky. "Then, you just watched them die?"

"It's the least I could do for them, don't you think?" he frowns.

"Ahh..." It's finally sinking in. The guards didn't have any way to deal with poison, so they just had to watch people die from it. How many times has Frank had to just sit and watch...? But then, that also means I'm the only thing that can help this man. I never thought of it that way before.

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Just thinking of it as 'treating poison' or 'helping Frank' never got me to the point of realizing that if I don't do something, this man will die.

It's hard to breathe. I clutch a hand to my chest, I definitely can't let that happen. I have to protect him. Finally understanding how important it is, I turn back to my work, putting an ear to his chest to listen to his heartbeat. It sounds normal, so that's good. But what's wrong with his breathing? I try giving him more lightning mana, but again, it only leads to a slight improvement.

I don't know enough. I don't know why his breathing doesn't improve as much as normal. An effect of the poison? But without knowing how the poison is harming him, I don't know how to deal with it. And Frank doesn't seem to know any more than I do. "John, do you know anything about how poisons work?" I can only ask the one other person in the room.

"Not much, just that they seem to make the body shut down from the inside."

"Thanks anyway," I say, even if that much is obvious, so it doesn't really help. Fine, if I can't get his breathing to improve, I need to find how to get the poison out of his system faster. So which mana type do I think will help? I've mostly ruled out fire and earth as likely, so I'll give air and water a try first. Except I still don't have any azrium, so I guess I'll go with air... At least I remembered to put my glass in my bag today. It's wrapped in a bundle of cloth for safety, so I grab it up off the floor and generate some air mana with it.

I give that to the man and... his breathing improves? I have no idea why. Maybe air also helps the lungs, I just never had a chance to test it that much.

No, that shouldn't be it. Lightning mana makes the lungs work better, but that isn't helping his breathing. Meaning the most likely thing I can think of is... something else is causing his trouble breathing. It's not his lungs, so lightning doesn't help much. Whatever is causing him trouble breathing is affected by air mana, so that's why it helps. I have no way to confirm my guess, but that's what I have to go on for now. As long as he can breathe, that's good enough.

But now what? I don't know if air helps the liver or kidneys at all. And I have no way to check whether it's working or not, since it takes time. All I can do is try something, then wait a while to see if that did it. But the longer this takes, the worse it gets, right? I bite my lip, struggling to come up with something.

Unfortunately, this is all I can do. I don't know enough. Though I still want to try water, since that one just gives vaguely the closest feel to what I'm looking for. Even if I have basically nothing to base the feeling on...

But for that, I need water mana. And all I have right now is the little bit I've been carrying around with me. "Do you have any azrium?" I ask Frank. All the guards' weapons and armor are all iron, as are their doors, the furniture is wood... But maybe they have something here I can use?

He scratches his chin, looking around and thinking, but it seems like he's having trouble coming up with anything.

"I have some here," John suddenly offers. When I turn to him, he draws his sword halfway out of its sheath. The shiny blue color of the blade... his sword is made of azrium? I blink at it a couple times. Then I mentally kick myself. Azrium is basically better iron, so of course someone with enough money, who uses a tool all the time, would want to get one like that. Emily already bought an azrium cooking knife.

"Th-thanks, can I?" I ask nervously.

"Sure." He gives me a trusting nod. Even if I know that mana doesn't do anything bad to azrium, John doesn't. So I guess he trusts me that nothing bad will happen to his sword...

With a small gulp, I go over and generate some water mana with it. "Thanks a lot, John." He just grins a little and slides the sword back into its sheath with a soft clink.

I go over to the man and push the water mana into him. He feels pretty much full now, with good amounts of lightning, air, and water. At least his breathing isn't as ragged as before. I listen to his heart one more time to be sure that there don't seem to be any issues with it.

Since that is fine, I probably don't need to worry about fire. The last one is earth. I walk around the bed, looking the man over more closely. I don't see any wounds on his body. So...

"Hey, Frank," I ask, "how was he poisoned anyway?"

"Don't know," he shakes his head.

"Mmm... What methods of poisoning are there?"

"Normally if you get a cut from something poisonous, or eat something. And I think there are poisons you can breathe in." I nod slowly.

If I think of it more specifically, that would mean poisons can get into the body through the blood, the stomach, or the lungs. The question is how they work from there. Something vague like 'making the body shut down' doesn't tell me anything specific that can help. Maybe someone like Beth might know more since she's a doctor and she might have learned all about how they work, but that won't help me right now. Maybe I can ask her about it later.

I feel like I'm beating my head into a problem I have no way of resolving. No one around me knows enough, and there's no way for me to observe how it actually works. With a heavy sigh, I sit down. "I think I've done all I can for now," I tell Frank. "We'll have to wait and see if it works." Frank just nods. So I just close my eyes and keep listening closely to the man's breathing for signs of trouble.

After sitting for a little while, Frank speaks up. "If you've already done everything you can, you can head home. If it doesn't work, you... don't have to watch." I can hear his voice soften a little as he speaks. For some reason, the way he says it makes me annoyed. Now he's worried about me watching someone die? After making me responsible for whether or not they do die?

I shake my head to clear it. As terrible as the thought is, I've already watched myself die. More than the death, knowing that I failed to save him would be far worse...

"No, it's fine." I answer. "If he does survive, he's going to be a mess afterward."

"What do you mean?" He sounds worried.

"I can't explain exactly how, but the things I did that might help him heal will make him go kind of crazy once he wakes up if I don't fix them again."

"Ahh..." he mutters, still sounding very obviously worried.

"Actually, now that I think about it..." I mutter. I stand back up and walk over to John. "Thanks for carrying me here earlier," I say and touch his hand to pull out the fire and lightning mana I left in him earlier. I don't think he'd want those messing with him.

"You're welcome." He chuckles a little. I guess he didn't catch on to what I did. It's not like the changes would be obvious to him right now anyway. So I just go back to sit by the bed again. We continue to wait in a tense silence for a little while longer, before there's a knock at the door, followed by it opening a moment later.

"Sir, I've returned." It's the guard from earlier. It really took him a while to get back here, I'm glad we went ahead...

"Hampton, you just got back?" Frank asks.

"Yes, sir." He's so visibly tired, he's wheezing with each breath. I can actually see him wavering on his feet a little. Then I look at his face. The bright red flush, dripping sweat, and unfocused, glassy eyes immediately remind me of how I felt at the refinery. I think he's overheated from running so much. At least he doesn't seem as bad as when I got heat stroke.

Frank starts to say something, but I'm on my feet, walking over to the guard. I think Frank called him Hampton. "You need water," I tell him. It would be really bad if he ended up hurt because of me.

The flustered Hampton rapidly glances back and forth between me and Frank.

"Sir?" he asks.

"Ahh, fine," Frank sighs. He grabs a flask off of a table near the unconscious man's bed and tosses it over to Hampton.

"Drink slowly," I look up and tell him as he pulls the top off of the flask. He just stares down at me, confused, for a few moments, before taking a small sip. He continues taking a few sips for a bit. I can actually hear his heart hammering in his chest, it's that loud. It gets faster and he starts sweating more as he drinks. Was he dehydrated too? It doesn't take him too long to empty the small water flask, but by the time he's done, I can hear him recovering.

He tosses it back to Frank and says, "Thanks a lot."

"Alright, so what happened?" Frank asks.

Hampton stands up straight and begins to report. "I went to the orphanage as instructed. The orphanage caretaker told me that Aria went to work at the Ebock refinery by the northeast wall. So I went there, but the head of the refinery said that she wasn't at the refinery today and sent me to a house in the southern district."

Frank suddenly whistles appreciatively, then addresses me. "I see what you mean, he really did have to run all over the city to find you." But then Frank scratches his head a bit. "Thought you would've been at home. You still look hurt, what's this about you working at the refinery?" Ah, this again...

"I signed a work contract with Eryk to work on a project there."

"A work contract?" he asks with a frown. I swear, everyone reacts the exact same way when they hear. It must really be something looked down on... But unlike the others, Frank sighs and lowers his head. "Well, it's not like I have any right to complain, I'm basically doing the same thing."

"Huh?"

"Sure, we didn't sign a contract, but I'm still paying you to help us out. It's practically the same thing," he says with a shrug.

"I'm sorry sir," Hampton cuts in. "Who is this little girl exactly?"

"Aria," Frank answers, as if that's all he needs to know.

"You told me her name earlier..." he sighs. "Why is she here?"

"Mmm," Frank seems to be considering his next words carefully. Of course he would have to explain to someone at some point, but what is he going to tell him? "She has some useful talents. Can't say much more than that." Hampton doesn't seem too pleased with the vague answer though. But as they're speaking, a sound catches my ear and I spin around. The unconscious man's breathing just changed. It sounds more shallow, less forced. He begins to move a little.

"He's waking up," I say, drawing everyone else's attention to the man. He's stirring, just beginning to wake. The treatment must have worked! I move forward slightly as he opens his eyes, looking blearily over at Frank who's already sitting right in his line of sight. I reach out to remove all the extra mana so he doesn't freak out, but draw back at the last moment and glance at Hampton. I really shouldn't show anyone else what I can do... Unfortunately, my moment of opportunity passes.

"Where am I? Who are you people?" He lurches up out of bed, stumbling into the one next to his.

"Damn it!" I curse and point at Hampton. "John, get him out of here!" I can hear John starting to jostle the guard out the door, but my eyes are locked on the man who's in the middle of a complete breakdown. Fear, sadness, and impulsiveness to just make the other two worse. This is going to be bad.

"It's fine," I try assure the man, but he doesn't even seem to be listening to me.

"I was dying!" Tears burst from his eyes with no warning as he scrambles away from the beds, into the nearby wall. He spins, stumbling and off balance, as he retreats. Even as I hold my hands up to show we don't mean any threat, it's clear that the lightning and water have completely overtaken his senses. He collapses and rolls backward, staggering to his feet as he reaches the third bed down the line. There's no way to calm him down now, is there?

As he reaches his feet and leans against the wall again, his hand closes around the hilt of one of the swords in the racks on the wall and as he struggles to stay standing. When the sword comes away in his hand, he doesn't even hesitate and flings it at us in terror.

That finally makes my decision for me, blood rushing as I prepare for combat.

"Woah!" Frank yelps, jumping back into the corner of the room as the sword spins end over end. His flailing throw only has it aimed somewhere between me and Frank, but this is way too dangerous! I dash forward, but he screams and flings another weapon my way when he sees me coming at him.

"Aria!" I hear Frank shout from behind, but I ignore it for now. Even if there isn't much room, I sidestep the next sword, but he's already grabbed another from the racks and throws that at me too. He flings it so badly it hits the ground before it even reaches me, bouncing up again. I snatch the handle with my right hand as I pass, crossing the rest of the distance between us before he can throw the one he's already raising.

I tighten my grasp on the hilt, holding it in a reverse grip from the way I grabbed it, and vaguely note how light it is. When I come close, he swings the next sword he grabbed down at me. It's simple to just hold my own sword up to block the blow. I make sure to take it on the flat of the blade so the edge doesn't get damaged, the metal screeching as they scrape over each other. I tilt it away, deflecting rather than trying to stop the full weight of the blow, even though he isn't that strong.

Once his sword slips past, I grab his wrist with my left hand and a hard pull knocks him out on the spot. I spin as he loses consciousness, catching his weight on my back so he doesn't fall and hit his head or anything. I also take the last sword from his hand, holding one in each hand. But now I can't grab him to hold him up with my hands full, and he's a heavy adult man, so I can't really move.

"Frank, a little help?" I ask while I continue to support him. The battle rush was so short, it's quickly starting to wear off. Then I look up to the far end of the room. Both Frank and John are standing there, staring at me in disbelief. I freeze up, realizing that I probably just did something really stupid.

At least the door is closed, so it's only them. But this guy is seriously heavy. "Come on, how long am I supposed to hold him?" I complain loudly to cover my nerves, which finally gets them to move. They both rush over, grabbing the man and pulling him back over into the bed he was lying in originally. I carefully check the swords for damage, but they look fine. At least I didn't break any of the guards' weapons.

Then I put them back up in the racks, though I have to hold them by the end of the blade to get the handles to reach high up above me, so they'll fit in the spots shaped to hold them. Once I get the second sword back in place, I go back over to the two men, continuing to stare at me even after they get the man back in bed.

Frank is the first one to scold me. "Do you have any idea how stupid that was?"

I flinch at his harsh tone. "B-"

"You could have been hurt!" he yells at me, not even giving me a chance to speak. I glance from him to John, but John is glaring at me too. "Look at you, you're already covered in bandages!"

"Why do you throw yourself into danger?" John joins in. "You should leave it to us!" I'm already crying from them yelling at me, but I can't help it.

"It was my fault!" I shout back. That makes them recoil a little and gives me a chance to go on. "He was only like that because I messed up again! I can't let people get hurt because of me!"

"Is that why you're always hurt? Do you really value yourself so little?" John asks, his anger suddenly tinged with pity.

"Yes! As long as I'm the only one who gets hurt, it's fine!" I answer truthfully. I look up with eyes full of tears. "Could either of you have helped him without hurting him?"

"You're... serious..." John's eyes go wide, and Frank takes a half-step back. I look down again, listlessly gathering my things into my bag. When I'm about done, a hand grabs my shoulder.

"Aria, do you really feel that's how someone blessed by the gods should talk about themselves?" Frank asks. He sounds serious, but his words make me freeze.

"Frank, you aren't supposed to-" I start, but there's nothing more I can say.

"John already knows, doesn't he?" Frank asks, like he expected he did, but my response made him second guess himself. I shake my head, slowly turning to gauge John's reaction.

"You're..." John mumbles with wide eyes. But then it turns to anger. "And you still don't care if you get hurt?!"

I stare straight at the floor and squeeze my eyes shut, my mind going blank. But the words come anyway. "It's not like she really cares about me." I remember how relieved she was, but that must be because she can still use me. "The last time I talked to her, all she did was scream at me and call me stupid."

The room hangs in silence for a few long moments. It goes on so long, I start to look up again when they don't respond at all.

But then, John's hand thumps down, rubbing my head. "I don't know much about the gods, but I do know you don't yell at someone unless you care about them." He's forcing a smile, even as he scolds me. "I'm supposed to be protecting you, remember? So you can't just run off like that. Leave the dangerous stuff to the adults."

I lower my gaze. No matter how much he says that, I can't do as he says. But still... "It's not like I want to..." I grumble. He just keeps rubbing my head for a little while.

Finally, Frank breaks the awkward silence. "Anyway... You must be tired, so let's get this wrapped up." I look up at him, but can't get myself to answer. I haven't been able to stop crying. I guess that shouldn't be a surprise, I still have a lot of water mana after taking it from that man. When I realize that, I convert it back. The tears slow, but don't stop. I eventually manage to wipe my eyes with my sleeves.

"Mm..." I mumble. I still have work to do.

With a touch, I give the man his colorless mana and he wakes up again. He jolts a little, sitting up and looking around in confusion, but without a bunch of elemental mana inside of him, he manages to calm down after a few moments.

"W-where am I?" the man asks nervously as he looks around at us.

Frank puts up a hand to have him wait, and speaks to me. "I'll take it from here, you should head home for tonight." I stare at his feet. He holds out his hand, so I put out my own, and he deposits six copper coins. Just like we agreed...

As I stare at the coins resting in my palm, John picks me up and carries me back out of the room. I rest in his arms as we leave the garrison and head up the road, but I still feel terrible. Everything from getting scolded to John finding out about my blessing, and remembering how Reena yelled at me just makes me feel bad.

Even them telling me to care about myself, and how they act like they care about me. All because I'm lying to them and they don't know what I really am.

As the sun sets behind the city walls, we make our way back to the orphanage, but the silence isn't as comfortable as usual.

I feel tears trickling down my cheeks again, it's not the water mana this time.