Ayrie breathed a sigh of relief to hear that not everyone viewed her the way he seemed to. Things were starting to make a little more sense though, if the church had hurt him or someone he loved in the past that would certainly make him view them the way he did.

"Anyway, I better get going. My original intention leaving the house this morning was to find a bath, and I'm afraid now I need to go make amends so I can get one." Ayrie said, beginning to feel a little better. "It was nice to meet you, Nadia. I hope I will see you at the festival later!"

She waved goodbye to Nadia and the children and trotted off in the direction of the Temple, hoping the mayor had already left. She wasn't sure she could face him, but she needed that chit. As she approached she saw that Markus was still there, tending to a bed of roses outside.

"Hello Markus!"  she said. "I'm sorry for running off the way I did earlier, I didn't mean to cause a ruckus. I-is there any way I can get that chit back? I could really use a bath before the festival tonight."

Markus looked at her, wondering how on earth this girl had gained his Lord's attention. "Yes, my dear, I have it here." he handed it to her.

"Thank you." she looked at him, unsure what she might say to excuse her earlier behaviour.

"My dear, have you thought about getting more education in your elemental magic? I think you may be getting so anxious because you're not sheilded correctly." he eyed her with what appeared to be concern for her wellbeing, and in fact he was concerned. An explosion here, from a light element user, could be devastating.

"W-what? But I..." she felt her mental sheilds for a moment and noticed they were cracked. "You're right. I do need to resheild. Who could teach me the right way though? All of the teachers at home were old when I was born, I've been getting by on what I learned at 5 years old my whole life."

"Why, I will of course." Markus said cheerily. He wasn't exactly happy to be taking on a student, but for some reason he liked this girl, whether she was from the Church or not. "Meet me here after your bath and I will teach you proper sheilding."

"That's very generous, thank you." Ayrie said, still a bit dumbstruck at her luck in finding a teacher. She walked away feeling lighter, having made two new friends in a city that had seemed so dark only an hour ago.