Introspection On Lion's Island

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 12, Post Number 288

-Lion's Island, inside the villa, 2:04 A.M.-

Dressed in a black tube top and khaki short shorts with tennis shoes, Leona entered her villa to start another vacation on Lion's Island... and to seek shelter from a likely rainstorm. Roughly six minutes ago she had set up the Nanotech Aircraft Hangar 110 meters to the east of the villa and had landed the Albatross inside of it. Thanks to that portable shelter the aircraft was safe from the elements, which was good because when she had first landed on the island there was a light drizzle that indicated heavier rain was possibly on its way.

She had spent the past few days at the guild hall doing paperwork and wanted to do something that involved a little more activity than sitting around. No jobs had come in from her usual clients, so rather than waiting for something to come along the Wizard Saint decided to go to her private island and pursue her goal of acquiring the means of producing a robot. In a day or two she would try to get in contact with Mister Burke or Helena Burke to ask if they could help her order the special machinery needed to advance her project. For now she would settle into her villa and get some coffee.

Taking her socks and shoes off in the living room, Leona walked into her dining room, walked over to the coffeemaker on the counter, and started the process of brewing a fresh pot of coffee. She had just opened the jar of coffee she had left on the counter during her last visit when she heard the dull roar of heavy rain beating down on the roof. She had gotten indoors just ahead of the rain and there was something oddly pleasing about that. The content blonde continued to make coffee as she listened to the rain and wind outside.

-The dining room, 2:06 A.M.-

A minute or two later Leona was sitting in "her" chair at the head of the dining room table drinking coffee like she had done so many times before. For once she was not thinking about what Medeia had done to her like she had so many times in the past. She was not regretting the numerous mistakes she had made over the course of her mage career or the connections with other mages she had failed to make. She was just sitting in a chair drinking her favorite beverage.

The Wizard Saint sat in an uncommon state of calm and listened to the weather outside as she drank until the mug was empty. When it was empty she got up from the table and went to get another cup. Once the cup was refilled Leona returned to her place and sat down again to think about what she would do today.

Going to the beach might be an option, but it went without saying that she needed to wait for the rain to stop and for the area to dry up. Exploring the forest on the eastern side of the island was another option, but again she would have to wait for the weather to cooperate with her. She would make a choice later... since she was on vacation she was not under any time constraints.

Once she finished her second cup of coffee she was going to go to her room and try to sleep for awhile. Maybe when she woke up the rainstorm would be over and the weather would be pleasant like it usually was. If the rain continued she would just have a lazy day indoors.

Lifting the mug to her lips and draining it completely, Leona set it down in front of her, then got up from the table and passed through the living room, picking up her socks and shoes to carry with her to her room.

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-Leona's Room, the bathroom, 11:04 A.M.-

Having woken up after nearly ten hours of sleep, Leona had peeked out of the window of her room to check the weather and it was still raining heavily, so a trip to the beach or the forest was currently out of the question. Leona was now standing in her bathroom looking at herself in the new bathroom mirror she had installed during her last visit. For once the blonde was looking at herself with a facial expression that could almost pass for calm and she was paying special attention to her choice of clothing. She still had not figured out why she wore tube tops so readily when she had feared the possibility of Medeia tearing open her green, white, and gold outfit top during their time together.

Leona's hypothesis was that she chose to wear that somewhat revealing garment as opposed to someone ripping the top of her signature outfit and making it revealing, but she did not have any concrete evidence to support that, only personal belief. When she first started her mage career years ago Leona never expected to not only wear tube tops but actually have a collection of them. It was strange how life turned out.

Leona had also never imagined that she would willingly wear short shorts. The start of that was when she had first met Masha Dymonrel over four years ago to go on a job together. During their meeting before the work actually started the redhead had stated her wish to see the blonde wear a crop top and short shorts. Leona's desire to make that wish come true for the redhead who had become her girlfriend had paved the way for the former to start amassing a collection of garments she would not have been caught dead in years ago.

Leona studied herself a bit longer before stepping away from it. She had gained some mental clarity while out in the Forgotten Deserts working with Eleanor Crouch almost a week ago and that was as valuable to the Wizard Saint as a relic of the past was to the freelance archaeologist. She had come to the realization that Medeia exploiting her fear of having her top ripped open like Joshua would have done to her if she had not defended herself was what had made Leona so reluctant to resist the Warlord to the end. The blonde's face turned red as she thought about the beautiful Dark mage and recalled what her younger self had said to her during the All Hallows Event in Rose Garden.

Her younger self had claimed that she was attracted to tall, dark-haired women with large chests.

During their fight Leona had dismissed the claim as absurd, but now that she had had some time to think about it she had realized that their might be a shred of truth to that assertion. She had found Medeia to be oddly attractive despite their adversarial relationship. Leona had not met anyone else who had the combination of hair color, eye color, and height that the Warlord had and that made Medeia stand out among all of the mages she had encountered over the years.

Leona continued to think about her enemy and her face continued to burn red until she stepped away from the mirror. She really needed to go get some more coffee to take her mind off of the Warlord. With that the blonde left the bathroom and headed for the dining room.

-The dining room, 11:14 A.M.-

Seated in her chair at the table after serving herself a cup of coffee, Leona listened to the rain as it pounded against the villa's roof with no end in sight. She was a little disappointed that she could not go to the beach and drink coffee while looking at the water, but there would be plenty of time for that when the weather cleared up. Leona took a sip of her beverage and looked at the back wall like she always did as she waited for the rain to stop.

She had not thought to buy a rain jacket or poncho or anything else that would keep the rain off of her, so Leona could not venture outside unless she wanted to get soaked. She did not have anything inside the villa to do like assemble furniture for the guest rooms or stock the kitchen since she had already done those tasks on her first visit to Lion's Island. As a result the Wizard Saint was not sure what to do with her time other than sit and drink coffee, then pace about the first floor, but since she did not have any other ideas she would do just that.

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-Inside the villa, Leona's Room, 8:32 P.M.-

The rain was continuing to fall with no end in sight and Leona was not happy about that. The entire day had been nothing but bad weather and constant rain and the Wizard Saint was unhappy with being forced to stay inside all day long. She had wanted to go to the beach and spend a leisurely day sitting in a beach chair looking at the water, but that would have to wait until tomorrow or the day after tomorrow because she did not feel up to getting drenched just for a moonlit stroll on a beach full of wet sand. Instead Leona wanted to sit in her beach chair on the beach during the day and feel the sun's warmth on her skin while drinking coffee and watching the waves lap against the sand.

Leona was not sure if the rain would stop tomorrow or if it would just keep going, but it was out of her hands. All she could do was wait and see what would happen. In the meantime the blonde was lying on her bed because she did not want any more coffee tonight and she had long ago grown tired of pacing around on the first floor. Now she was staring at the ceiling wanting to go to sleep so that she did not have to be bored any longer.

As the blonde gazed at the ceiling her mind inevitably wandered back to the topic that seemed to always hover at the edge of her mind and that topic was Medeia. The focus for this particular session was why Leona had dialed down her resistance when the threat to rip open her outfit top had been made. She had pondered that issue before and had made a bit of progress by determining that she did not want Medeia to do what Joshua had been prevented from doing and tear open her outfit top. Thinking about the matter again gave the Wizard Saint another insight.

During the incident with Joshua Hamlin Leona had her hands free and could defend herself. However, she did not have that luxury during the incident with Medeia thanks to the Warlord tying her up. When that fact was combined with the knowledge that the Dark mage was able and willing to make good on the threat to damage Leona's clothing if she deemed that action to be necessary Leona had arrived at a logical reason why her resistance had not been as strong as it should have been for someone with her titles.

Deciding to move on from that subject for the time being, Leona rolled onto her left side and faced her room door. She hoped that she would be able to go to sleep sooner or later so that she did not spend all night thinking about various topics she was not yet ready to revisit.

-11:48 A.M., the beach-

Leona had finally managed to go to sleep somewhere around 10:00 P.M. and had slept until 10:30 A.M. the next day. When she finally woke up the first thing she did was go to the window and look to see what the weather was like. To her delight it was bright and sunny, so she immediately made plans to go spend some time at the beach to make up for her inability to do so yesterday. Leona changed her outfit and gathered up what she usually took to the beach, then set out for her second-favorite place on Lion's Island next to the villa that she stayed in.

Dressed in a green tube top and blue jean short shorts, Leona sat in her beach chair under the cover of a blue beach umbrella and watched the waves lap against the sand through her aviator sunglasses. To her right was the wooden fold-up table upon which sat her blue vacuum bottle of coffee and a white mug of the beverage sitting with easy reach of the blonde's right hand. Just in front of the table sat her white sandals. Leona had applied plenty of sunscreen to her exposed skin before setting out, so she had little reason to fear getting a sunburn.

Leona had briefly considered wearing her black bikini so that she would be wearing it if she wanted to try swimming, but she decided against it because she just did not feel up for it today. She would save that activity for either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Today she was content to sit back and watch the waves as she tried to set her cares aside, if only for awhile.

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-Inside the villa, the dining room, 6:48 P.M.-

Having spent a good chunk of the day at the beach, a only lightly burned Leona had returned to the villa around 5:47 P.M and made a beeline for her bathroom in order to take a shower. After getting out and drying off Leona changed into a black tank top and blue jean short shorts. Now she was in the dining room seated in her chair at the table and drinking coffee. Her affection for the drink had probably crossed the line to a full-blown coffee addiction a long time ago, but she supposed that things could be a lot worse.

The Wizard Saint had had a pretty good day at the beach today. She did not think about any of her problems at all and she did not get a bad sunburn. It was bad enough to remind her that she needed to apply a little more sunscreen before spending a long time in the sun, but the pain was not unbearable.

Leona soon moved on from that minor complaint and focused on planning for tomorrow. She would either go back to the beach and walk on the sand for awhile before trying to swim for the first time in years or she would explore the forest on the eastern side of the island. Right now Leona was leaning towards going to the beach again because she genuinely liked going there and sitting in a beach chair for hours while feeling the sun and wind on her skin. Being there made her feel almost as peaceful as the times she was in her suite on board the space station she accessed using her Infinite Improbability Chronometer.

-The next day, the beach, 11:20 A.M.-

Wearing her black two-piece bikini and white sandals, Leona had arrived on the beach for another day of being idle. It was cloudless day, the sun was shining brightly, and there was a gentle breeze blowing. It was under those conditions that she began to set up her beach chair, beach umbrella, and other essentials. Those essentials included a sleeveless white crop top and blue jean short shorts in case she decided she did not want to go swimming and wanted to just sit in her chair instead or walk on the beach. Once everything was set up she looked at the water and thought about the significance of what she might do today.

If she went swimming it would be the first time she had done so since nearly drowning in a cistern beneath the Abandoned Cabin several years ago.

Leona looked away from the water and walked back over to the fold-up wooden table with her aviator sunglasses, clothes, bottle of sunscreen, and large white beach towel sitting on top. She grabbed the beach towel and placed it in the chair, then placed the crop top and short shorts on top of the towel before taking off her sandals and placing them to the right of the table. Leona then took a quiet breath to calm down before resolving to do something she had never done before.

She was going to walk on the beach while wearing a bikini.

Despite being the only person on the island the blonde was more than a bit anxious about wearing such a garment since it exposed more skin than she was comfortable showing. She knew that it sounded stupid to be anxious when no one else was around, but that was how she truly felt. Maybe the Wizard Saint could overcome that feeling and gain a little self-confidence by wearing the two-piece bikini around her private island. During one of her previous visits Leona had worn a crop top and skirt, so a bikini should not be too much of a problem.

With that in mind Leona faced left and began to walk down the beach at a leisurely pace. The sun was out, the sky did not have a single cloud in it, and the wind was a gentle breeze that did not kick up any sand. She was going to have another great day at the beach even if she chose not to swim today.

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-On the beach, 11:43 A.M.-

Leona had managed to walk a fair distance away from her beach chair without running back to grab her clothes and put them on, but she was still not entirely comfortable with wearing a bikini. By some miracle she had found one that was her size so that everything important was covered up, but the blonde was still feeling more exposed than she liked to feel. It did not take very long for her to conclude that part of her problem was accusations of using her beauty to her advantage she had gotten from various men during her career.

It was exactly like she had told Medeia during their time together... various men had accused her of trying to get what she wanted through her physical charms instead of by earning it through hard work. The worst accusations implied that Leona had went so far as to offer sexual favors to get where she was. The blonde had done no such thing: she had never had sexual intercourse with anyone and she was certainly not going to do it to climb the career ladder. The thought of those accusations made the Wizard Saint's face turn red with anger when she remembered one of her most prominent male critics, Dr. Edward Crouch.

Leona was helping him with some archaeological work and she had entered his tent to speak to him about something... she did not recall exactly what it was, though. He had spotted part of Leona's midriff because she had worn a tank top to sleep in and forgot to pull the shirttail down after it had moved up during the night. Since the archaeologist had seen her with an exposed midriff and skirt he had concluded that the Wizard Saint was trying to use her charms to curry favor with him. That was untrue, but he continued to believe that and Leona carried the anger of being the recipient of a false accusation to the present day.

After shoving that unpleasant memory out of her mind the Wizard Saint continued to walk and her confidence was slowly creeping upwards, but the gains were not coming fast enough to balance out how awkward she felt. Leona still felt like she was showing too much skin and the temptation to race back to her beach chair and put on the crop top and short shorts was getting stronger by the moment. She was thankful that she was on her private beach and not somewhere public like Crescent Island or another public beach. She was also thankful that her friend Samira was not here to see her wearing a bikini.

Samira Nassar was Leona's closest and oldest friend and on some level the blonde craved her approval. She recalled the teal-haired mage's reaction to Leona wearing black a tube top to the Sommarsun Weeks event in Rose Garden and her face turned red from embarrassment. She suspected that Samira was not all that thrilled about the blonde's choice of shirt but was too polite to say anything. Leona was not sure how Samira would react to the former wearing a two-piece swimsuit, but she knew that she did not want to receive the teal-haired mage's disapproval if she could avoid it. Even the possibility of it hurt every bit as much as any of Medeia's spells.

-12:37 P.M.-

Despite her reservations Leona continued to travel to the east and felt her confidence slowly inching upward with each step she took. She was not ready to go to Crescent Island and be seen wearing a bikini in public, but she was slowly becoming more comfortable in the garment... or at least comfortable enough to not want to cover up after a few minutes of wearing it. She still felt a little too exposed and that feeling was going to take a while to shake, but now she felt roughly as exposed as when she wore a sleeveless light blue crop top to the beach during a previous visit to Lion's Island.

Speaking of that, Leona never thought that she would have worn a crop top for any reason, but committing to a relationship with Masha had changed that. So had finally getting free of her mother's control and being able to make decisions for herself. Ever since arriving in Fiore the blonde had made a lot of progress in learning to choose her own path in life, but she still had a long way to go before she was truly her own person. Leona would take it one step at a time just like she was doing while getting used to wearing the swimsuit she had on.

With that thought Leona stopped where she was, then turned around and began following the trail of footprints she had left in the sand. They would lead her back to her beach chair and from there she would either go swimming or just sit and relax in the chair for awhile before heading back to the villa to take a shower and plan for tomorrow. If she did not go swimming today there was always a chance to do it tomorrow.

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-1:49 P.M.-

Having done enough walking on the beach for today, Leona was now sitting in her beach chair and wearing her aviator sunglasses. She was still wearing her bikini for the time being and was not quite as self-conscious as she was when she first set foot on the beach in it. However, she was still not going to be seen wearing one in public if she could help it. If she had her way only Masha or Samira would get to see her wearing one and only when either of them visited Lion's Island.

Leona was going to pack up everything and head back to the villa soon, but for now she was content to sit and watch the waves as they gently lapped at the shore. She had gained a little bit of confidence in herself, but she still had a long way to go before she was able to feel anything approaching her past self. Losing to Medeia had done a number on her self-esteem just like the Ishgar Symposium had and that one-two punch of failures had hurt her worse than anything she had experienced before.

The Wizard Saint's self-esteem had rebounded some after defeating Odhran Aegisbane in a close fight where she was outnumbered. She thought that she had what it took to send Medeia packing, but just like Medeia had claimed "killing" Armina had been the blonde's biggest mistake. The second-biggest mistake had been ignoring the purple tentacle to go after Medeia, giving it free reign to kill the people it managed to catch. She recalled the sound of it doing its messy work and felt the guilt wash over her again.

Leona should have given up after being caught in the coffin spell, but she did not consider that possibility because of how the fight with Odhran went. She had her back to the wall for a good portion of the fight only to endure long enough to turn things around. She had hoped to be able to pull the same reversal of fortune on Medeia, but in the end the Warlord was just too strong for her to defeat.

With that thought Leona stood up and began packing up everything. She was going to go back to the villa and get a shower now. She could not stay out here any longer.

-Inside the villa, Leona's Bathroom, 2:44 P.M.-

Wearing a green intermediate tube top that covered her chest and part of her midsection and khaki short shorts, Leona was examining herself in the mirror she had bought to replace the one she had damaged during her first visit to Lion's Island. Her skin was only a little red, indicating that she was finally finding the right amount of sunscreen to put on to avoid serious burns. As she looked at herself in the mirror the blonde was not too self-conscious about her outfit, mainly because she was used to wearing a tube top and was not bothered by them anymore. The intermediate kind was the right size and was comfortable to wear in addition to covering everything that needed to be covered.

However, she was not going to wear that type around Samira.

Leona remembered the mixed reaction Samira had given to the conservative black tube top she had worn to Sommarsun Weeks in Rose Garden and suspected that the intermediate type was likely to elicit an even stronger mixed reaction, if not an outright negative one. Therefore she would save the second type for Lion's Island, for desert climates, and for Masha. If she had to wear it in public for whatever reason she would always wear a jacket she could button up over it.

The Wizard Saint gave herself one last look in the mirror and was able to look herself in the eye for the first time in a while. Leona saw someone who still had a ways to go before she was able to offer any real challenge to Medeia again, but she was not nearly as much of a mess as she had been during the first visit to Lion's Island. As the old saying went she was down but not out.

What Medeia failed to understand or chose not to understand was that Leona was going to recover at her own pace. No matter how hard the Warlord had tried no amount of comforting gestures and pretty words were going to make the blonde magically recover from her mental issues on the spot. Besides, Leona had not come to Fiore to trade the control of a domineering mother for the control of a domineering Warlord. Leona made eye contact with herself and spoke a single sentence.

"You don't own me, Medeia." Leona calmly asserted to the mirror. It did not matter that the Dark mage was not around to hear that. All that mattered was that the blonde was confirming her control over her life in order to continue rebuilding her self-esteem and repairing her self-image on her own terms.

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-Leona's Room, 3:24 P.M.-

Lying on her bed for the time being since she could not think of anything else to do, Leona was reclining on her right side and facing her room door. She was a bit tired from all the walking she had done on the beach, but she was not tired enough to go to sleep... at the moment, anyway. She was likely going to walk on the beach later in the day or early at night when it was cooler, but for now she was content to stay indoors and relax a bit.

Leona was not feeling particularly industrious today because she did not have the specialized equipment and machinery needed to begin work on her personal project. She had already studied the schematics Mr. Bank had generously given her and they were to her liking, but until she produced a prototype there was no reason to run about without a direction to go in or make any plans. Thinking about the matter had revealed to her that she would need a lot of space in which to place what she needed and her villa was certainly not going to be able to hold it all.

The Wizard Saint would need a separate facility to house everything, but she had no idea where she could find a structure that could meet her needs. Leona would need a large one with plenty of space for the machinery and good physical and electronic security to keep unwanted guests out. She would also need to find a place for the building... while Lion's Island had plenty of wide open space in the center she still needed to choose a location that was not too far away from the villa so that she did not have to travel too far to get to it nor one that took up space she would need for the Nanotech Aircraft Hangar.

She could deal with that problem later, though.

Leona lazily rolled over onto her other side to face the curtained window that opened onto the island behind the villa. She was not in any hurry to solve the issues of machinery or a facility for said machinery. She suspected that Mister Burke and his sister Helena were busy with work of their own and would not have time to speak to her, so she would save the trip to Shirotsume until after her vacation. Pursuing her personal project could wait awhile.

Having decided on that plan of action, Leona decided to try and sleep for awhile. When she woke up she would head for the beach to walk on it for an hour or so before going back to the villa and staying there the rest of the day. Once inside for the day she would decide whether to go swimming or explore the forest on the eastern half of the island.

-The beach, 7:42 P.M.-

Leona had slept for a bit longer than she had intended, but it had worked out for the best because she had arrived on the beach at a very good time. A crescent moon was in the cloudless sky and the temperature was cool but not so cold that she required a jacket. It was comfortable enough for her to get away with what she was wearing, but she had still carried a jacket and put it in the seat of her beach chair in case she needed it. Her beach chair was set up in its usual place in case she wanted to sit down and look at the moon, but right now Leona was in the mood to walk.

As the sand crunched beneath her bare feet she thought about Medeia and how being hugged from behind by the Warlord while seated in the latter's lap and near the end of their time together where Leona's emotions were running so high that the only way she could deal with them was to practically shut down. That simple gesture had done more to weaken the Wizard Saint's resolve than any threats or sweet talk. The blonde's face turned red at the memories as she felt embarrassment over how being hugged had affected her and how pathetic she likely looked to the Warlord. Leona already had an idea why she had behaved the way she did and it had to do with Medeia's beauty.

Medeia was a dark-haired and statuesque young woman who was so beautiful that Leona could not help but to notice her.

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Leona had met other beautiful young women before meeting Medeia, but something about the Dark mage made her stand out beyond just her alignment.

Maybe it was the fact that she was the first mage to ever defeat Leona in combat. No matter how much she tried to deny it Leona got a thrill out of fighting that almost nothing else could match and fighting the Warlord had been the greatest challenge she had ever faced. The only people who had given her a similar challenge was Odhran Aegisbane, that ambitious mage who had many powerful helpers and a knack for being unpredictable and Aven Alveron, the Fairy Tail mage she had faced during the Fairy Festival that she had participated in a lifetime ago.

Medeia had earned Leona's grudging respect for pushing her as far as she did. The blonde should not have felt anything other than deep disdain for the Warlord, if not outright contempt, but for some reason she felt a modicum of respect for the only mage to have ever defeated her. However, she was not going to suddenly want to be friends with the person who had killed so many innocent people in Hargeon Town and humiliated her just because she could. Leona would do her best to make Medeia answer for all of it one day, but that would be some time in the future.

The blonde took a quiet breath as she walked. That hypothesis still did not answer why she found Medeia to be attractive, but it gave the Wizard Saint a bit of insight into why she was thinking about her enemy more than she should. Speaking of Medeia, Leona began to recall the treatment the Warlord had given her... the hair brushing, the hugging, and the kissing. She remembered it all and that caused her to come up with another hypothesis about why she had not resisted as much as she should have.

Leona had went into captivity expecting to be subjected to violence and possibly even killed at some point, but instead she had been treated gently.

That in turn made Leona think about how she had acted near the end of the "visit" with the Warlord. When the time limit for the visit was almost up Leona had expected Medeia to take off the gloves and start using violence to get what she wanted, but instead the Dark mage had continued to treat her gently and speak to her in a gentle tone of voice. The blonde did not know how to react to that kind of treatment and was so overwhelmed that she had effectively shut down to avoid doing or saying something really dumb while her emotions were running so high.

That led into still another hypothesis for why Leona had behaved so meekly.

Other than Masha no one had ever been so kind and gentle to her.

Not even her mother had treated her so kindly. Sophia seemed to regard her daughter as nothing more than a means to an end and had cared for her by providing food, clothing, shelter, and as much security as she could manage to provide considering they lived in central Desierto, but she had not offered Leona any physical or emotional comfort during times of great distress. That need for comfort had increased when Leona actually began to fight in defense of the village and was plunged into life-or-death struggles whenever a bandit or slaver raid happened, but it seemed like her mother refused to provide it out of spite for her daughter defending herself instead of letting a man fight for her. Of course that last part was just Leona's personal belief with no evidence to support it, but considering how firmly her mother believed that women should not do anything other than be homemakers, it made a measure of sense.

Having come up with a few sensible reasons as to why she thought about Medeia so often and being unable to come up with any more right away, Leona decided to let the matter drop for now so that she could focus on something more pleasant. She shifted gears to thinking about what she would do tomorrow. She had the same two options from earlier, but choosing which one was going to be tough. Right now she was leaning towards going for a swim, but depending on the weather and her mood that might change.

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-The next day, the beach, 11:08 A.M.-

Dressed in her black bikini, Leona stood in front of her beach chair, which was sitting under the shade of the beach umbrella she had set up just moments ago. The fold-up wooden table sitting just to the right of it held her aviator sunglasses, bottle of sunscreen, and other items she brought to the beach. With everything she needed having been set up Leona turned her attention to the water, which was as clear and inviting as it always was. However, the water would not have been nearly as appealing without the weather setting the stage and it had certainly delivered.

Just like yesterday the weather was perfect for an outing to the beach. The sun was out and there was not a single cloud in the sky. The stage had been set for a pleasant day and all Leona had to do was grab it with both hands. However, before she entered the water there was an important precaution that needed to be taken.

Leona decided that she needed to have someone nearby to help her in case she got into trouble while swimming, so she channeled magic into her body, raised her hands into the sky, and summoned a familiar trio to be lifeguards.

"O FABLED HARPIES, O SISTERS THREE, LEND YOUR STRENGTH UNTO ME!" Leona used the summoning chant to call them forth. The trio appeared and almost instantly began looking their summoner over.

"Hey girl! I've never seen you in a bikini before, but you look good!" Sylvia greeted Leona and complimented the blonde on her appearance. Daphne folded her arms over her chest.

"It's been years since we last spoke, but your butt's still as big as ever." Daphne "greeted" Leona with an appraisal of her backside. The blonde frowned and glared emerald daggers at the black-haired Harpy.

"Be nice to her, Daphne. She's going out on a limb to try a new look and the least we can do is support her." Sandy suggested to her sister. Daphne shrugged her shoulders at the brunette.

"It's true, though. Look at the size of her butt and tell me it's not big." Daphne stood by her assertion much to Sandy's chagrin and Leona's frustration. The Wizard Saint folded her arms over her chest and sighed. Some things never changed.

"All right then... moving on. I called you three here because I'm about to go swimming and I need someone to watch out for me in case I get into trouble. I'm not a very good swimmer, so I'm going to need you three to be ready to help me if and when I call for you." Leona told the trio of winged young women why she had summoned them.

"OK!" Sylvia exclaimed.

"We can't possibly lose sight of you, Leona. Your skin's so pale that it can reflect the sun." Daphne took another shot at her summoner. The blonde looked down at herself and saw that her exposed skin was indeed rather pale. That was because Leona always kept herself covered in her green, white, and gold or blue, white, and gold outfits whenever she went on a job. When she was not on a job she stayed indoors at Silver Wolf Guild Hall. The Wizard Saint looked up and made eye contact with the black-haired Harpy.

"You know, you have a point there." Leona conceded with an embarrassed look. Daphne shot the blonde a smug grin in response.

"Don't worry about anything, Leona. We'll watch out for you." Sandy assured her summoner. Armed with two out of three expressions of support, the Wizard Saint decided to proceed with her plan to go into the water. After days of thinking about it she was finally going to take the plunge, so to speak.

"All right then. I'm going to try to swim." Leona stated her intention to the sisters. She then calmly walked past Sylvia, Daphne, and Sandy and continued walking until her toes touched the water. The cold shot up from her toes and rushed through her entire body, causing her pause in place to throw her arms around herself and shiver.

Maybe this was not such a good idea.

"C'mon Leona, you can do it!" Sylvia shouted encouragement.

"Don't get cold feet now!" Daphne made a pun at the blonde's expense before laughing. She was lucky Leona was too busy trying to fight off the cold to give a verbal retort or otherwise retaliate for the lame joke.

"We're here for you, Leona. Take your time." Sandy assured the Wizard Saint. Leona mustered the will to move forward again and walked deeper into the water until she was knee-deep, where she stopped and shivered again. As she tried to warm up enough to press on there was a single question on her mind.

Why was the water so cold on such a sunny day?

[Post Word Count: 818]
[Total Word Count: 6,912/11,000]

-In the water, 11:09 A.M.-

It had been roughly five minutes since Leona had entered the water and she had waded to the point she waist-deep in it, but she was not nearly deep enough to swim yet. The cold was not unbearable, but it was strong enough to delay her progress because she was not used to being cold. The bikini-clad blonde had grown up in central Desierto and was used to intense heat, not intense cold like what she was currently experiencing. She was thinking about just giving up on the idea of swimming and wading back to shore to do something on land, but she had already come this far, so she might as well go all the way and go shoulder-deep.

Leona took a quiet breath and pressed on, wading into the water until her shoulders were submerged. At that point she lifted her feet off of the sandy bottom and let herself float forward a bit before moving her arms and kicking her legs. Leona swam forward until she was in deep enough water to turn to the right and start swimming parallel to the beach. The blonde was not a good swimmer, so her motions were choppy and wasted a bit of energy, but she was finally doing what she set out to do.

The Wizard Saint continued on her path and quickly noticed that the Harpy Sisters had went airborne of their own volition and were heading towards her. She wondered if they had picked up on her apprehension and were getting ready to rescue her if things went south. Leona did not dwell on that and instead focused on staying afloat, which was not too hard at the moment because she still had the energy to maintain enough forward movement to keep going. However, she might tire out sooner rather than later because her motions were energy-intensive due to a lack of formal swimming lessons and a lack of swimming experience in general.

Leona could see the shadows of her summons on the water as she swam and took comfort in knowing that should she get into distress help was just overhead. So far the going was good and the water was calm, but since this was her first time swimming in the ocean she had no idea what to expect. The blonde did not think about that topic for long because she had already taken measures to save herself if the worst happened, so her mind went back to what she was doing at the moment.

-In the water, 12:16 P.M.-

Leona had gone right for quite a distance and was starting to feel a bit fatigued, particularly in her arms, so she decided not to press her luck and return to land while she could make the trip under her own power. She turned right and began to swim for shore until her feet touched sand. She quickly got her footing and stood up in water that was just below her waist as the shadows of the Harpy Sisters passed overhead and stopped to hover a short distance away, the flapping of their wings making ripples on the water.

"Hey girl, you stopped swimming! Are you OK?" Sylvia asked Leona. Unable to look the Harpy in the face thanks to the glaring sun, Leona had to settle for talking in her direction.

"I'm fine, Sylvia. I was just getting a bit tired and didn't want to push my luck, so I'm heading back to shore." Leona informed Sylvia why she had decided to return to land so suddenly.

"That's a sensible idea, Leona. If you don't think you can make it don't push yourself and get into trouble." Sandy voiced her support for her summoner's choice.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. I totally agree with that logic." Daphne said something that was not a jab at the size of Leona's backside or another insult.

"Thanks guys." Leona sincerely thanked her summons for their help and support even though it was not required. She waded forward until she was totally out of the water, then shivered when the wind decided to pick up and blow a bit across the beach. The three sisters landed beside Leona and waited until the blonde stopped shivering before doing anything else. Once she was able to move again Leona turned left and began to walk in the direction of her beach chair.

"C'mon, guys. I'm going back to my beach chair and pack things up." Leona told them where she was going and began to walk slowly so they could catch up to her without having to scramble. She was a bit tired and her arms were hurting a bit, but she was glad that she decided to go swimming even though she did not swim for a long time. Swimming was a skill that she would have to build up over time and the beach was likely not going anywhere, so she would have plenty of opportunities to practice in the future. For now Leona was going to return to the villa and take a shower, then change clothes before doing anything else today.

[Post Word Count: 860]
[Total Word Count: 7,772/11,000]

-Outside the tropical forest, 2:33 P.M.-

Wearing the green intermediate tube top from yesterday with khaki short shorts and white tennis shoes, Leona had taken a shower and changed into clothing appropriate for walking in the forest before applying more sunscreen to her exposed skin. The outfit was one she did not mind sweating in, which was good because the sun was beating down on her and she was starting to sweat more than a little bit. She had dispelled the Harpy Sisters because she wanted to walk alone without Daphne making disparaging comments about her somewhat revealing outfit or her backside. The blonde was not in the mood for that sort of thing right now.

Leona took a quiet breath to focus on what she was about to do, then began walking towards the tropical forest. Once she entered it she felt a mild increase in the temperature due to a humidity spike, but that change was nothing compared to the heat of central Desierto.

-Inside the tropical forest, 2:35 P.M.-

As Leona walked through her private tropical forest she looked closely at her surroundings. The trees were tall and mighty ones of a type she did not recognize and all of them looked to be healthy. They were also spaced a fair distance apart and the forest canopy was not particularly dense, allowing for a good deal of sunlight to get through and beam down onto the Wizard Saint.

Unlike the last time Leona had tried to walk through the woods she was feeling peaceful because she was finally starting to come to terms with what had transpired between her and Medeia in wherever the latter had taken her. The Wizard Saint still felt humiliated and ashamed about how she had acted during their meeting, but after giving the matter a lot of thought over the past few days things were gradually starting to make more sense to her. Leona's issues were numerous and complex, but most of them had stemmed from what Joshua Hamlin had done to her years ago. His unwanted touching had caused her considerable mental harm that she had suppressed because she did not want to think about what would have happened had she not aggressively defended herself from the chief's son.

Medeia's focus on her outfit top had brought back those unpleasant memories and the threats to damage her outfit had made Leona apprehensive because had she not stopped Joshua he likely would have tried to rip her clothing, particularly her outfit top. Medeia was able and willing to make good on the threats if she deemed it necessary and the possibility of being exposed like that had made Leona reconsider the level of resistance she put up. It was not the best display of courage from someone who was called the "Wizard Saint of Courage", but Leona was more than a little afraid of the past repeating itself and being unable to stop it like she had the first time.

That realization had went a ways towards Leona feeling less shame over that incident because she finally realized that she might not have been a coward for acting the way she had. Maybe she was too quick to give herself a pass for not showing more bravery, but her apprehension was genuine... she did not want the Warlord to rip open her outfit top and expose her to more than just humiliation. While Leona was wearing modest undergarments, she still did not want her enemy to force her to relive one of the worst moments of her life and she certainly did not want to be seen in such a state.

Leona took a quiet breath to calm down again after mentally replaying the entire encounter and recalling the detail of Medeia referring to her as "my girl."

The last time she recalled those two words they were enough to send her into a rage that nearly caused her to destroy a tree in anger. While a tree was not a person and was easily replaced, Leona did not want to fall into the habit of lashing out at the nearest object when she got angry because if she did she might one day attack a person in a fit of rage and all manner of tragic consequences could stem from that lapse in judgment. The Wizard Saint was determined to avoid go down that path and was equally determined to express her anger by acceptable means.

She certainly had plenty of that negative emotion whenever she thought about Medeia referring to her by that name. If Medeia really was from Desierto she should have known better than to imply ownership of someone who had survived numerous slaver raids, but Leona supposed that her enemy was too caught up in the rush of having a Wizard Saint as a captive to care about potential consequences down the road. She also supposed that the Warlord's apology for the mistake was not a sincere one but one only given keep the "conversation" going. When she thought about that segment of the visit Leona's teeth involuntarily clenched and her right hand balled into a fist.

The next time they met Leona would do her best to make Medeia regret calling her "my girl."

[Post Word Count: 878]
[Total Word Count: 8,650/11,000]

-Inside the villa, the dining room, 4:03 P.M.-

After her illuminating walk in the forest Leona had returned to her villa to take another shower and change her clothes. She had done enough exercise for the day and she was going to go back to Silver Wolf Guild Hall tomorrow in order to do all the administrative work that had likely piled up on her desk over the past few days and to look for a job to get back into the field. But before she left for home she would spend her last few hours on Lion's Island in leisure.

Dressed in a black tank top and blue jean short shorts, Leona was in the dining room and sitting at the table with her second cup of coffee for the day in her right hand. She was looking at the back wall and thinking about her time on Lion's Island, which had been a lot more productive than she had imagined. Leona had imagined having maybe one or two new flashes of insight into herself, but she had had at least three of them and that was one more than she had banked on having.

The most crucial gain was the insight into why Medeia's threats to damage her clothing had been so effective in forcing her to dial down her resistance to the Warlord. It might have been a bit self-serving for Leona to be so forgiving of herself, but after mentally replaying their "conversation" over and over being lenient was the best thing she could do for herself. Something that might have been only humiliating to someone else would have badly hurt Leona mentally, who had faced the same risk of being reduced to her underwear at Joshua Hamlin's hands all those years ago. Not wanting to go through that experience at the hands of someone who would actually reduce Leona to her underwear if doing so would advance their goals had made the Wizard Saint back down.

Capitulating to that threat was almost as humiliating as the deed actually being done to her, but what Joshua had nearly done to Leona had scarred her enough to make her not want to take the risk. The Wizard Saint would have to find a way to overcome that weakness, but that was easier said than done. She did not want people to know that they could make her submit by threatening to take her clothes and leave her in her underwear and she did not know who to trust to help her get through that issue.

Leona would have to work on that later. She would let the matter drop and be content with the insights she had gained over the past few days since they had given her what she needed to continue healing from the experience at Medeia's hands. The blonde was still not happy with herself and would not be for some time, but Leona was not feeling nearly as much self-hatred as she used to whenever she thought about what the Warlord had done to her. That was a big step forward for the blonde.

-The next day, Silver Wolf Guild Hall, the Guild Master's Office, 3:27 P.M.-

Leona had packed up and left Lion's Island roughly six hours ago because she felt she had spent enough time on the island and needed to get back to work. After getting back to the guild hall she had taken some time to go to her room and change from her travel outfit of a tank top and short shorts to a more conservative outfit of a blue t-shirt and khaki cargo pants with white tennis shoes. After dressing up a little better she made a beeline for the office and found over thirty stacks of papers waiting on her. The Wizard Saint sighed and pulled out her desk chair, then sat down in it and began to take on the mountain of paperwork.

This session looked like it was going to be another all-nighter.

-The next day, Silver Wolf Guild Hall, the Guild Master's Office, 11:47 A.M.-

Leona had pulled an all-nighter and then some to take care of her administrative responsibilities, but now they were all finished and she could drag herself back to her room to sleep for awhile. The exhausted Wizard Saint pulled herself out of her chair, stood up slowly and unsteadily, and remained standing until she was steady on her feet, then began slowly putting one foot in front of the other. Leona reached the office door, then opened it and walked out of the room before closing it behind her.

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, Leona's Room, 11:55 A.M.-

Leona closed her room door behind her and shuffled over to her bed, which had her travel outfit from yesterday haphazardly thrown on it. She changed out of her office outfit into more casual clothing, then put the t-shirt and khaki cargo pants on the back of her desk chair. She finally walked over to the bed and sat on it, then swung her feet onto its foot before rolling over and facing the room door and closing her eyes. After the long session in the office she had just completed Leona went to sleep within moments.

[Post Word Count: 876]
[Total Word Count: 9,526/11,000]

-Leona's Room, 6:22 P.M.-

Leona woke up feeling somewhat better after the marathon in the office she had done last night, but the temptation to just close her eyes again and sleep the day away was encroaching on her mind. She doubted that if she did the paperwork would accumulate as much as it had over the days she was on Lion's Island, but she did not need to get into the habit of sleeping all day after a night at the office. However, she had no idea what she could do with the time she had left in the day.

The drowsy blonde sat up and looked towards the room floor to see if a letter had arrived for her while she was asleep. Unfortunately for her there was nothing there, so she allowed herself to gently descend back into the comfort of her bed and lay there staring at her room door as she tried to find something productive to do with the rest of her day. She stared at the ceiling until she got the idea to go to the office and see how much work she had to do tonight. It was not the most entertaining activity she could think of, but the Wizard Saint really had no other ideas, so she was going to do the responsible thing and go to the office.

-The Guild Master's Office, 6:33 P.M.-

Leona entered the office to find only six stacks of paper neatly arranged on top of the desk. Compared to what she had done last night that was a light workload and one she could do without spending all night glued to her chair. She walked over to the desk, pulled out her chair, and began fulfilling her administrative responsibilities. Tonight looked like it was going to be an easy one.

-The Guild Master's Office, 7:50 P.M.-

It had taken Leona only a little over an hour to get the work done, a speed which she attributed to the sheer quantity of on-the-job experience she had gained over the years. In the early days of her tenure as Guild Mistress she had had help from Silver Wolf's staff members, but some time after the Ishgar Symposium Leona had learned enough to not require help any longer. Now she could do administrative work on her own... while she did not set speed records, she got it done and did it right no matter how many stacks of paper she was confronted with.

The blonde thought about how in the past she used to seize any chance she could to get out of doing paperwork because she wanted to be out in the field. Back then she had a lot more confidence in her abilities and was not yet weighed down by her failure at the Ishgar Symposium or her defeat at Medeia's hands. Now Leona tended to go to the office first thing in the morning and not leave it until all of her work was done. In a way her administrative responsibilities allowed her to take her mind off of her failures and patch up her legacy a bit... she was far from the best Guild Mistress, but at least no one could rightfully say that the guild's paperwork was not in order.

Leona pushed the chair out, stood up from her desk, and pushed the chair back in before leaving the office to go back to her room and either sleep or do something else. Right now she was leaning towards just going to sleep so that she could wake up in time to handle office work early, but that was not a guarantee. Part of Leona wanted to spontaneously travel somewhere to take a walk at night, somewhere such as Capital Crocus or Motor City, maybe even Forgotten Deserts.

Was it a smart or practical idea?

No.

Was it something she wanted to do regardless of how smart or practical it was?

Yes.

The Wizard Saint was not going to act on impulse just yet. She would go to her room and think the matter over before doing anything. Maybe if she took the time to think she would come up with an option better than jetting off in the Albatross to go walk in Capital Crocus in the middle of the night. Maybe if she waited she would get a job offer from Dr. Reid or Mr. Bank or get a message from Mister Burke or his sister Helena.

[Post Word Count: 746]
[Total Word Count: 10,272/11,000]

-The next day, Leona's Room, 8:33 A.M.-

Dressed in the same tank top and short shorts she had been wearing for the past day or so, Leona got out of bed and decided that she really needed to change her clothes today. She walked over to her large wardrobe, opened it, and pulled out a black tube top, the olive green jacket, and olive green cargo pants to wear on her trip to wherever it was she ended up going plus another pair of blue jean short shorts to wear around the guild hall and set all of the garments on her unmade bed. She was going to go to her office and take care of any work that was waiting on her before she left the guild hall.

-Leona's Room, 10:45 A.M.-

It had taken a little over two hours to finish everything that was waiting on her, but the work had been finished and now Leona had some free time. The first thing she was going to do now was get a shower, then change her clothes before leaving to go somewhere. Where that "somewhere" was she had no idea, but she would make a decision soon because she did not want to waste time and effort going to a place that did not satisfy her need to travel.

-On the outskirts of Capital Crocus, 1:32 P.M.-

Wearing a black tube top under an open olive green jacket with olive green cargo pants and white tennis shoes, Leona was standing in the presence of Order Cleric Athena, who had summoned Leona to a meeting outside of Capital Crocus via a letter slipped under the Wizard Saint's door courtesy of a guild staff member. Leona had flown to the city outskirts via her Winged Lion summon and met the cleric outside of the city. Right now no one else was around, so they could talk in privacy.

The other young woman had dressed in a simple casual look consisting of an orange tank top under an open white jacket with a white skirt and white sandals. Leona assumed that the orange-haired Cleric was trying to dress casually to better blend in with everyone else because the latter's normal outfit would have made her rather conspicuous. Speaking of outfits, Athena had definitely taken notice of what Leona was wearing because she was looking over the blonde.

"Hey Leona! I like the look you're sporting!" Athena cheerfully greeted Leona and added a compliment about the blonde's attire. The blonde blushed a little when she heard the compliment... she should have known better than to wear a tube top to a meeting with a client, but it was too late to do anything about it now. Fortunately for her Athena did not seem to mind because the orange-haired young woman was looking at the blonde with obvious approval.

"Thanks." Leona said calmly, her face soon returning to its normal color.

"Anyway, here's the deal. We got word that there's a possible cult base in Silent Cemetery." Athena informed Leona. The blonde kept a straight face despite what she was thinking. The cult must have been running out of ideas for refuges if they kept returning there... or maybe they were on their last legs and were desperately looking for a place that offered breathing room from the Order.

"I thought we'd already cleaned out a couple of their bases in that area." Leona commented upon being told that. Athena shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, we have, but apparently the cult's taken a liking to that place. Anyway, there's supposed to be a base there and most of our Paladins and Clerics are still recovering from their injuries, so it's gonna be you and me checking it out. As far as I know there aren't any particular threats to watch out for other than the local zombies, so it sounds like an easy job." Athena gave more details of the job. Since the blonde was looking to get back into the action after her stay on Lion's Island she was up for the task.

"I'm in. When do we go to Silent Cemetery?" Leona inquired. Athena smiled.

"We can go there tomorrow... some Order scouts are keeping a close eye on the place from a safe distance. But in the meantime, I have something I want to ask you." The orange-haired young woman told Leona. Mildly intrigued by the question, Leona took the bait.

"OK. What did you want to ask?" The blonde inquired.

"Would you go with me to Capital Crocus Mall some time soon?" Athena requested. Leona did not take very long to give her response.

"Sure." Leona agreed to the request. The orange-haired young woman reached out and wrapped her arms around Leona's waist before pulling her in for a hug that lasted for several seconds.

"Thanks!" Athena thanked the blonde for agreeing to go shopping with her at some point in the near future. Leona surmised that the other mage meant going after they investigated the cultist base, but she had no solid proof of that. Instead she kept quiet and waited for Athena to speak again.

[Post Word Count: 858]
[Total Word Count: 11,130/11,000]

-Silver Wolf Guild Hall, the Guild Master's Office, 5:56 P.M.-

After the meeting with Athena on the outskirts of Capital Crocus and learning about what she was being hired for the pair had parted ways and Leona was now back in the guild hall and seated in her office chair. She had arrived at the guild hall around 4:50 P.M. and had changed tops from the black tube top she had worn to the meeting to a green t-shirt and traded the olive green cargo pants for a pair of khaki shorts. Now she was busy trying to plow through the work in front of her, which was not too much for a change... it had been seven stacks of papers when she started around 5:05 P.M., but now it was only five. The Wizard Saint would not have to spend all night in the office to finish this workload.

-Leona's Room, 7:12 P.M.-

Leona had finished her work for the time being and was back in her room for awhile. In an hour or so she would get a cup of coffee, then return to the office and see if anything else was waiting on her. If there was nothing for her to do in the office she would go back to her room and sleep for awhile before getting up and preparing for the trip to Silent Cemetery tomorrow night. She already had a good idea of what gear she was going to take and what she was going to wear, so all she had to do was pick everything out and lay it out on her bed before going to the office and taking care of any paperwork.

Leona was looking forward to doing something other than guild paperwork after spending a few days on Lion's Island. However, that time spent had not been a vacation where she lazed around on the beach all day but a time where she had gained some flashes of insight into herself. Those flashes had set her on the path to understanding why Medeia had been able to manipulate her so easily during their "conversation" and had given her the understanding she needed to quit being so rough on herself. Leona's self-esteem still had a ways to go before it recovered to what her old self had prior to the Ishgar Symposium, but the endeavor was going to be a marathon, not a sprint. One of the best ways to rebuild her self-esteem was to get back in the field and do some action-oriented work with a bit of danger to it to prove to herself she still had what it took to be a Wizard Saint.

Tomorrow night Leona would be going up against zombies and possibly cultists, two enemies she had a lot of experience in dealing with. They were not the toughest opposition she had ever faced, but she needed to start off slow before working her way up to the bigger threats like werewolves and necromancers. Once her confidence was back up she could move on to more challenging opponents like that four-armed creature she had encountered in Fat Monsterland several months ago she had driven off with an injury to one of its eyes but not quite killed. One day she would have to track it down and finish the job, but her commitment to Athena came first.

Leona walked over to her bed and sat on it before swinging her feet over to the foot of the bed and reclining. From there she rolled over onto her side and faced the room door. She was not going to sleep just yet... she would lie there for awhile before going to get a cup of coffee. After she drank it and had an hour or two to wind down Leona would try to go to sleep before waking up early in the morning to take care of any paperwork that awaited her.

[Post Word Count: 656]
[Total Word Count: 11,786/11,000]