"I was forcibly bonded to an eidolon. It took over my mind and my body," Laenid says. "It would not let me wear clothes, but it made me aware of my shame. I had to eat like an animal..."
Hitome listens silently as she eats, studying Laenid's expression and body language to grasp the truth of her response. The angelborn warrior's expression shifts to one that blends sympathy and anger, appalled that a summoner would be abused in that manner by their eidolon
Listening to her she brings a hand to her mouth, "Oh Laenid....I never imagined such a thing could happen. I'm sorry you were forced to go through that....but you're here now and at least you never have to worry about something like that happening again. I'm sorry I brought it up....I didn't mean to bring up painful memories for you." She says placing a hand on the other woman's arm, her expression one of sincere regret for bringing up something so painful.
Laenid gives Jin a slight shrug. "I am free now. I can't let it bother me."
"Have you since bonded to a new eidolon?" Hitome asks, curious.
Laenid nods. "Yes, Matthias is my new partner. He is much more compatible."
Wiping the look of shock and horror at what Laenid had been put through, she gets a thoughtful expression on her face as she realizes that she isn't the only one that had suffered through hardship. Laenid had gone through something she was barely able to imagine and come out of it with such strength and hope. She had such a positive attitude about what she had been through that Jin found a whole new respect for the summoner sitting next to her.
Giving her a smile she says, "Well, I'm glad to see that your experience didn't turn you off to being a summoner, and I'm really happy that you're here. I mean....I'm....you know, that we're all here together now....with our eidolons and friends." She tries to hide her face behind her tankard of water as her cheeks turn a dark pink. Taking a couple sips of water to try and cool off her face she hopes that they can get the gist of what she was trying say.
Laenid nods. "If it wasn't for those bad experiences, I wouldn't be here to enjoy these good ones."
She gives Jin a warm smile. "I'm happy you're here too."
Listening to Laenid she realizes that the things she had been through, as well as those that she had lost, had all helped to shape her into the person she was now. Yes, some of her losses were painful, but they were an important part of her journey. She found truth in her words and nods her head a little as the expression on her face shifts slightly, "I think I understand what you mean." She says a little more quietly while playing with her napkin. Looking back up at them she says, "I'm glad I came. I know now that every part of our journey through life is important....even the painful parts, because it helps us to...to remember what's worth living for. Right?"
"Right," Laenid says. "Someday we'll all find a happiness that will make the sadness we've experienced seem minor in comparison. At least, that's what I think."
She nods, "I'd like to believe that too." She sips quietly on her water as Hitome eats her fruit, reflecting on what they had been talking about. She knew it was time to move on....it was just the actual moving on part that was difficult. Maybe it could start with making friends here and opening up more to other people. Maybe then she could start finding her happiness again. Maybe it would come to her when she wasn't looking.
Giving Mr. Halfpocket a smile she immediately starts to wrap her first gift. A lovely doll for a girl's birthday from her parents. Picking a few different bright colored pieces paper, she layers them before carefully wrapping them around the package. Giving the package the appearance of being wrapped in a rainbow. She brings it all together with a some beautiful silver ribbon and ties it in a pretty bow on top. Taking out a card she writes in bubbly girlie letters, 'Happy Birthday Princess, Love Mommy and Daddy'
Satisfied with her work she puts it on the table with the other wrapped and labeled parcels and gets to work on the next one. She works steadily and methodically picking out colors and coordinating bows according to age, occasion, and gender. After she's finished wrapping each gift she writes out the card to the recipient and makes sure to attach it firmly to the appropriate package so that it doesn't fall off.
It takes her almost two hours to finish wrapping the rest of the packages and to discard the bits of paper and ribbon left over from the packages she wrapped. She wipes down the counter and makes sure the packages that are finished won't fall off the other table. Taking a cloth she wipes down her work space before getting the broom and sweeping up anything that landed on the floor.
Once she's finished she goes out into the main part of the store to find Mr. Halfpocket and let him know she was done with the wrapping for today and see if he needed anything else.
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Halfpocket shakes his head and hands Rajni a gold piece. "Thank you for all your help today."
She smiles as she takes the gold from him, "Thank you Mr. Halfpocket. Sienna and Cyna's wedding is tomorrow, are you going to be open tomorrow and will you need me if you are?"
"If you're going to attend, you can take the day off," Halfpocket answers. "I'm going to be here since I don't get invited to things anyway."
She looks at him and cocks her head to the side, "Why wouldn't you be invited? Without you no one would get what they need. I'm sure lot's of people from town will be there. You know them don't you? There's probably not going to be much business tomorrow anyways, why not just go? I'm sure they'll appreciate your well wishes."
Halfpocket smiles and shakes his head. "My place is here. You have fun tomorrow."
She nods, "Okay, have a good day Mr. Halfpocket and I'll see you the day after their wedding. Thanks for letting me work with you today, it was fun."
Hitome listens to the exchange, nodding quietly to herself.
Jin finishes her water and quietly waits for Hitome to be finished with her fruit.
Once Hitome is done eating her fruit she puts three gold on the table and stands up, "Alright, let's go see about getting you some armor and a weapon." She says as they prepare to leave the restaurant.
"Alright," Laenid says, getting up. "Oof...really full now."
Chris finishes his water. "I guess they should be ready with the furniture and such. Ready to go?"
She nods as they leave, "Yeah...it's really hard not to over do it here."
Making their way to the mines she sees Kierk and waves at him as they approach, "Good afternoon Kierk, we were needing to get some armor and a spear type thing for my friend here."
Finishing her ale she nods, "Yeah, I'm ready."
"Me too." She replies as well.
"Ah've got plenty o' 'spear thingies' and armor lyin' around as long as yer not lookin' fer anythin' magical," Kierk says.
"Mundane will do until I can afford my own things," Laenid says.
Kierk leads Jin, Hitome and Laenid over to his racks of armor and weapons. "Look around an' let me know if ye need anythin'"
He then goes back to working on one of his projects.
Laenid selects a chain shirt and a nine foot long spear. "These will do."
She nods, "Okay, so how much for those things?"
"That'll be a hunnerd an' five gold," Kierk answers.
Jin smiles and hands him ten platinum pieces, and five gold. "There you go, thanks Kierk." Turning tho Laenid she asks, "Was there anything else you wanted to do right now, or are you ready to head back?"
"Unless there's something else you need to do, I guess that's it for now," Laenid says. "I should probably check in with Toni about the new place."
Toni comes running up to the group. "There you are...I've been looking all over town for you."
She huffs and puffs for a moment. "Someone moved out of Valwick so you've got your own place, Laenid. Here's the key."
Toni fishes in her robes and hands Laenid a small iron key. "The furniture was left too, so you don't have to worry about that."
Laenid laughs. "We were just talking about you. That's really nice. Would you show me where it is?"
"Sure," Toni answers. "Do you want to come along too, Jin?"
She nods, "Sure, we're not really doing anything else at the moment."
Toni leads the way to the northeast part of the town. "Here it is. It has just one bedroom, though. Plenty of storage space."
Jin looks around the house with them, "The furniture seems to be well maintained, so you should get a good amount of use out of it. I wonder why someone would just leave all this stuff here though."
"From what I hear, the former owner had to leave in a hurry," Toni answers.
"Strange. I'm not going to complain, though," Laenid says, walking through the rooms.
Thinking for a moment she says, "So, this should take care of the housing for all of us except the new summoner, once we find them and get them back, and their midwife." She pauses, "I know there are things more important than housing arrangements, but it's nice to see things coming together so well."
"Yeah, I'm happy things are working out myself," Toni says. "Well, I'm going to head back home. I've done all I can for the day."
"Thanks for all your help today, Toni," Laenid says, walking Toni to the door. "Did you let Konstantyná know I wasn't coming back to her place?"
Toni nods. "Yeah, she knows. Anyway, enjoy the rest of your day."
She waves as she walks back home.
After Toni leaves she smiles and looks at Laenid, "Well, I guess that takes care of that. I guess we can unload the equipment you got from Halfpocket's place now." She says as she goes into her bag of holding and starts pulling everything out, setting it neatly on the floor.
"Thanks again," Laenid says. "Well, I don't think there's anything else to be done for today."
She nods, "Yeah, I think we got everything we needed. Well, I guess that's it until we leave tomorrow. So, we'll see you tomorrow morning for breakfast at Hadrinn's then?"
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Laenid gives Jin a brief hug. "Yep, I'll see you tomorrow."