Riley was slowly walking down the cobbled paths of Magnolia’s bustling streets, staring at the ground and ignoring all the cheerful laughter and yelling going on around him. He’d never really been into the Fantasia Parade, but he did enjoy the Festival each year. The food was great and he always sat an watched the Miss Fairy Tail pageant in case Mary decided to participate. She never did, which was surprising. He’d been angry at the time, but seeing her in that little dress earlier made him more than embarrassed to admit that she had a very nice body. He quickly slapped himself on the forehead. What the hell was he doing thinking about that? Mary didn’t care about him. She was too old and spent most of her time crushing over Alex. Just thinking about him riled him up, and he ended up kicking over a garbage can in his frustration. A few people stared at him, some even ordered him to clean up the mess. He ignored them. Once he’d finally left the busiest streets he thought he’d be able to walk to Holstur in peace. It was only about half a days carriage ride, but he didn’t have any money for a carriage.

“Hey, wait up a step!”

He stopped in his tracks, his hands balling into tight fists at his side. He could feel his nails digging into the palm of his hands but he didn’t care. He didn’t know why he was so angry at Alex all of a sudden. Alex beating Riley in a spar was a common thing, and while he was always sour about it he always bounced back fairly quickly. Not this time though. He could feel a low growl stirring in the back of his throat and suddenly without thinking he turned around as Alex approached him and swung a right hook at him.
“Just leave me alone!” In his anger he didn’t realise that his footing was off, and swinging around caused him to trip over his own feet and fall down face first onto the ground in front of Alex. He sat there for a while, his face planted in the dirt before the muffled sound of sobs started to appear.
“I’m so pathetic. Yukiko didn’t train me like this. She didn’t train me to lose.” He remembered how proud he had been that first day in the guild, when he proclaimed how he was the student of the great Yukiko Kaname. He even had her famous Katana with him to prove it. All the other guild members were expecting a prodigy; a legend who could match the famous swordswoman’s strength and agility. So when he was quickly beat down by Alex in his first spar at the guild he naturally became the laughing stock.
“If she were still alive no one would laugh at me. Me and her were going to be the strongest wizards in the whole world. She’d kill anyone who made fun of me.” [I]I miss her[/I]. Was what he wanted to say, but realising he was talking to Alex ensured that he wouldn’t say anything so pathetic. He stood up and dried his tears on his arm.
“Just hurry up and pay for a carriage. We need to get to Holstur quickly.”

-----

The commotion around the guild had finally settled down, and Mary was free to do whatever she liked. She was going around picking up all the empty beer pints and stacking them onto trays to be brought into the kitchen for cleaning. Of coarse the only thing Mary would want to do in her free time is clean up the guild. There were few wizards left in the guild, and from behind her she heard the door of the infirmary open. Turning around, she smiled at the sight of those long, wiry whiskers.
“Good morning Master Pollux. Are you feeling any better?” Pollux was wearing his usual golden robes, his silver guild mark shone brightly on his wrinkled brow. He rocked back and forth as he walked, looking as though he could tip over at any moment. Thankfully he had his cane to keep him balanced. He let off an aura of wisdom and serenity, something that made talking to him much more easier than one would expect.
“Morning, Mary. I’m still kicking it seems.” He let off a slow, exhausted chuckle before clearing his throat with a few coughs. He slowly removed a piece of paper and handed it to her. “I have an old friend arriving in a few days. She hasn’t been to the mainlands in over two decades so I imagine she doesn’t know how to get from Hargeon to the Guild. Tell a couple of the members to go and escort her here.” Mary nodded at the request, and before Pollux could walk away she nervously spoke her mind.
“Are you still researching them? You know,” She brought her voice down to a low whisper, “the dragons?” Pollux smiled at her before walking into his study. Mary was cleaning one day when she accidentally stumbled upon Pollux’s research notes. It seems their master had been trying to learn about dragons; more importantly, the whereabouts of specific dragons. She knew that it pained him to see young James without his dragon guardian and wanted to help as best he could. Not to mention there were rumours going around that the Master was a close friend of a dragon in his youth, before he disappeared as well. She tried not to ask more questions, but she was curious about how far he was getting in his research.

After he disappeared, Mary took note of James signing up for the flower picking request and run up to him with a high pitched squeal of joy.
“James! You’re going to accompany me with flower picking? That’s great! I can’t think of anything better to do than relax all day in a meadow of beautiful wildflowers!” She was practically jumping up and down, her sundress twirling around as she did.