I was scolded for a full half hour after I got back to the shop. Arswen had already gone home by himself, so Toen had to guide me from the school back to Cleimeph. He had left me outside the door with another bow and sincere thanks.

I had gone into the shop, only to be faced with a very displeased Arsral. He had demanded an explanation for why an errand that should have taken half an hour at the most had instead taken two whole hours more, and I had sheepishly given him one.

"So what you're saying is," Arsral said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "is that somehow, impossibly, you managed to stray completely off the main road and get lost in the back streets, and end up on the other side of town, unintentionally."

"Uh... yes?" I laughed nervously.

"Amazing. Absolutely amazing. You weren't kidding when you said you had a terrible sense of direction. How did you survive back in your own world?"

"I just didn't go out of the house by myself unless I absolutely had to...?"

"Alright," Arsral straightened up from where he had switched to massaging his temples and pointed accusingly at me. "Alright. We can't have you somehow ending up in the dungeon as soon as you so much as set one foot outside the store."

Ignoring my mutter of 'I'm not that bad', he announced, "So from now on, when there's an errand to run, you'll go with Arswen." Then, in a mutter to the side: "You're long overdue for a tour of the town anyway."

So that led to where I found myself now. A few days after the incident, wandering around aimlessly because I'd dodged a guy carrying three crates of vegetables and all of a sudden found myself clueless as to the whereabouts of a certain red headed brat.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagghhh.

Half groaning, half screaming in my mind, I kicked a few rocks forward as I walked.

I should have held his hand. Or held onto the back of his shirt. Or wrapped a string around his waist. Whatever. Goddamniiiiiit, why does this always happen to me?

I found another rock and added it to the growing collection of rocks. People were probably giving me weird looks, wondering why for every step I took, half a dozen rocks were being kicked forward as well.

One of the rocks bounced off another and to the side, making me have to take a few extra steps to retrieve it. It had ended up against another pale rock, which I added to the six rocks I already had. I resumed walking and kicking them along.

I was so engrossed in making sure not one rock was lost as I walked, that when I collided with someone, I collided hard with a squawk of surprise and nearly fell over.

"Gyak!"

The person I'd crashed into was built like a bear on steroids and nearly as hairy as one. When he turned, I saw his maroon shirt was half open, giving me full view of the mass of light blue hair sprouting from his chest, and the sleeves were rolled up, showing off his beefy arms, also covered in a ridiculous amount of blue hair. He carried both a giant broadsword and a bow and quiver on his back. I thought it was a bit strange, but hey, I can't exactly criticise someone else's style of fighting when I can't even do it myself.

"Oh dear, are you alright?"

The man reached out a hand to steady me as I stumbled back a few steps. Noticing the rocks I had collected on my way still closely gathered, I discreetly used a foot to sweep them to the side when his eyes were focused on my face as I apologized.

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"Sorry 'bout crashing into you. I, uh, was caught up in my thoughts and wasn't watching where I was going."

"No, no," he replied, just as sheepishly. "It's alright. I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings as well."

We shared a chuckle and I thanked him for helping me up. Just as I was about to leave, a familiar blue haired woman clapped him on the shoulder. A taller person wearing a set of well worn robes with a staff with a large green magic stone on the top strapped to their back followed behind her.

"Hey, Meiva, what's-" She noticed me and her face lit up in recognition. "Oh! Hello again."

"Senga!" I smiled and waved. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Senga, you know him?"

Him? I've been mistaken for a man again. Oh well. It'll be funny seeing their faces when they find out I'm not.

"Yeah. This is, um," she paused, realising I'd never actually told her my name.

"I'm Joan. I work at the item shop Cleimeph," I said, holding my hand out.

Meiva shook my hand. "I'm Senga's brother. The meeting is appreciated."

"No wonder you look so similar. Um, the meeting is appreciated." I copied his greeting and hoped I got it right. Senga gestured to her companion.

"This is Binediem. She doesn't talk much to people she's not familiar with, so don't mind her silence too much. She's the one who wrote the list for me."

The dark skinned woman with long mauve hair and orange eyes smiled and shook my hand as well. 

"We have a fourth member of our party, Cottor, but he's back at the inn nursing his hangover." Senga rolled her eyes. "Serves him right for trying to outdrink Binediem."

I looked at Binediem in surprise. She didn't look like a person who could hold her liquor well. She caught my eye and her smile broadened.

Well, they do say to never judge a book by its cover.

"So, what're you up to?"

"Oh, nothing much, just trying to find a good place to eat with my party. Any recommendations?"

"No, sorry, I'm pretty new to the town as well. Oh," I said, remembering Toen, "There's a place called the Mayflower Bakery on Clove Street."

"A bakery, hm... what do you think?" Senga asked her two party members.

"Why not?" Meiva said, while Binediem just shrugged. "We can bring something back for Cottor as well."

"Alright, we're going there then. What are you doing? Want to come join us?"

"I'm running an errand. Uh, was. Now, I'm just lost. By the way, have you seen a red-headed brat about yea high," I hovered my hand in the hair about the level of my chest "with bright green eyes and carrying a small satchel?"

She thought for a bit, before Binediem poked her arm and pointed at something over my shoulder. Her eyes focused on something behind me.

"Uh, you mean like the one currently charging towards you right now?"

"Charging- Oof!" I turned just in time for something to smash into me and nearly knock me over again. "Oh hey, kiddo."

"Joan."

I let out another 'Oof!' as he jabbed me in the stomach, scowling at me.

"I take my eyes off you for a minute and you just disappear!"

He continued jabbing me in the stomach with a much put-upon expression.

"Haha, I'm sorry- hey, you can stop- seriously, stop i- damnit, Arswen- Fine, you leave me no choice."

My stomach was starting to actually hurt from the abuse so I scooped him up and started lightly tossing him up and down in my arms.

"What are you- Ah!"

"Sheesh, I said I was sorry, okay? It's not like I did it on purpose."

"Whatever, just put me-" He shrieked a little as I threw him up again. "-down!"

"Hmm..." I pretended to think as I tossed him up again.

"Put me down!"

"Let me think about it..."

"Joan, put me down!"

"Are you going to stop hitting me?"

"Yes! Yes! I'll stop, just put me down!"

"Okay."

I caught him, spun him around a few times, then finally let him go. He wobbled a bit as he was set down.

"There," I said as I steadied him. "Now, are you going to stop hitting me or should I do that again?"

Arswen turned his head to the side with a rebellious click of his tongue but said, "Fine."

A giggle alerted us to the fact that we had an audience. Binediem looked amused while the blue haired siblings were muffling laughter with their hands. Arswen flushed and looked away.

I decided the best thing to do in this situation was to introduce Arswen. "This is Arswen. He's the younger brother of the owner of Cleimeph."

Senga stopped chuckling and smiled warmly at Arswen. "I'm Senga, and this is my brother Meiva, and my party member Binediem. The meeting is appreciated."

Arswen nodded at them, cheeks still a bit red and repeated the greeting.

"The meeting is appreciated, but we really have to get going now. Come on, Joan." He grabbed my arm and started dragging me off.  I waved at the three people we were leaving behind.

"Oh yeah," I said, remembering, "we have Derae venom in stock now. Come by when you have the time, 'kay?"

"Oh really? That's great! We'll come by this afternoon. Make sure you're open, alright?"

"I look forward to seeing you then. Bye!"

I gave a final wave, then Arswen dragged me around the corner of the block and we headed towards the merchant guild.