A Paladin comes their way. He is the one that will escort them back to the town. The boy is young, around 16. He has black hair. Most of his hair are up to his cheeks, and a long ponytail can be seen reaching his back. He has a long earring and black robes.

Valerie moves her body next to him and gently pushes him aside. The boy looks at her with his grey colored eyes, filled with irritation. Valerie then gives him an evil smile.

“You! I’m a Paladin now, you can't act like a child!” says the boy.

“Sure, Amon!”, answers back not buying his act.

She then jumps in the air and touches his head, messing it up. “Hey!” he shouts with complain. He crosses his hands and looks away.

Valerie puts her hands behind her back and slowly comes close to him again. Nora notices that a small item appeared inside her palms.

“Sorry for teasing you! Happy birthday Amon!” she says with an appealing voice and she gives him the gift. Amon is caught by surprise and his face becomes red. He takes the gift that is wrapped inside a box. He opens it and inside there’s a gemstone. He grabs it with his two fingers and looks at it. “Wow, that’s an emerald stone!” he screams full of joy.

Valerie knows that he loves collecting stones from the regions and places around the Galaxy, and she knows that he always wanted to visit the Emerald region, mostly of its beautiful healing stones.

Amon grabs her and crushes her in his arms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you Val!”, he says non-stop. Valerie is happy that she made her friend smile.

The three of them continue their path to get to the berthing. Nora is mostly observing the environment, and the conversation between Amon and Valerie. She notices his strong structure and her petite body, how much taller he is and how she looks up to him. In her mind, they are looking like a dream couple.

Valerie is making jokes and is telling him about her last quest. Amon is then saying about his new tasks as a Paladin and that he was praised for saving a whole system from a demon. Nora hadn’t seen Valerie so cozy with someone, and she realizes there must not be many people around that she acts like that.

They finally reach the berthing place. Nora as a trainee is gonna sleep with other girls that like her, are trainees.

“So, I guess I’ll be going. See you tomorrow in the grounds?” says Amon.

Valerie nods and she sees him off. Then she directs her attention to Nora. “I’m sorry, I was caught up in the conversation with Amon. I hadn’t seen him in a while and he is a dear friend”, she says with warmth.

“Don’t worry about me! It was nice to see you relaxed!” she says with no bother.

“Alright Nora, this is where you will sleep. There’s a yuna inside that will get you to your room and clothes for sleep and training” and she shows her the door.

Nora gives a sad face and says, “You aren’t coming?”.

“I’m sorry, I don’t sleep here since I’m not a trainee anymore. I’ll get you in the morning so don’t be scared!” says with a reassuring tone and pats her head.

Nora agrees and she goes inside the berthing place. With that, Valerie notices the sun going down and she knew she had to go and see Master Odel.

She first went to her own berthing located in the far end of this town. She enters her room, and is happy that she has her own place. She gets undressed and goes into the bathtub that has been already filled with herbs.

After that she knows she has no time to relax so she dresses to some other clothes. They are more girly, with a black shirt, and a wide beige cloth on top of that that starts from her waist, and is short on the front , and long in the back like a cape. Then she wears black shorts and knee black socks, with beige shoes.

She moves out of her room and follows the path inside the woods. There’s Odel waiting, sitting on a bench, looking at the little fountain.

Valerie runs up to him, explaining everything that happened, making big movements with her hands, shouting in excitement. Odel just listens to her, acknowledging what she says.

“... And Master, what’s with that gift that I need to receive? Whose idea was it?” she asks him.

“Sometimes we grant gifts to really worthy warriors, like you. The Lord is the one that decides on that, and he decided that since you don't qualify as Paladin yet, a gift should suffice ”, answers to her and stops for a second and touches his chin.

Valerie has heard people getting gifts from the Lord for their marvelous accomplishments. But the Lord not giving specifically instructions on what the gift will be, seemed fishy to her.

“But why mine is something I have to choose? Is this not a little sloppy?” she says without thinking.

“Valerie! Please..” Odel tries to stop her.

He sighs and puts an end to this conversation saying, “You did well, Val. Accept what’s given”. She notices his voice is sad. Valerie gets confused by his reaction. He isn’t looking at her as usual, but he stares into the distance.

“I’m really, sorry! I shouldn’t ask so much. Forgive me”, she says trying to fix it.

He is distancing himself from her and the atmosphere seems colder now. She realizes that something else must have happened.

“Master, did something happen? Did my manners put you in a bad spot again?” she says all concerned.

“You see Valerie, it always has to do with you, I always end up in trouble for you”.

Valerie felt like someone stabbed her in the chest. She lowers her gaze, looking at the dried leafs. Even though she asked for it, she asked for the truth, she didn’t expect him to be so bold and tell her that.

“I’m sorry, I will behave from now on” she answers and her tone is serious. Odel has heard that promise a lot of times, yet never saw it happen. This time though, he notices that her promise is true.

He pats her head and gives her a warm smile. Valerie doesn’t look at him but she keeps staring down, so he won’t see the tears.

“You are such a crybaby, you know that? You won’t get by if you can’t control your emotions” he comments, but that doesn’t make it easier for her.

“I have been easy on you, that’s my sin. I’ve grown attached to you as if you were my child” he says and that pains him.

She looks at him, realizing that this must have been difficult for him. She recognizes that she was thinking only for herself till now.

She pulls herself together and straightens her posture. “Master Odel, thank you for everything till now. Please, you don't need to worry about me anymore, I have made my decision. I wanna be here, the best Guardian, Protector of Men! You don’t have to do anything else about me, anymore”.

Odel smiles with her reaction. 'So, this is what you decided?Lying won’t help you', he thinks.

“So, you made up your mind, as I asked. I will make sure you achieve all the things you told me. Now, since I'm sure you didn't think about it, I chose the gift for you”.

Valerie stares at him without blinking, as she has forgotten about that. He then pulls something out of thin air. It’s a round glass bead. She takes it and examines it, not knowing what it is or its use, but she feels appreciation.

“Thank you Master”, she says and she pulls it on her chest, like hugging it.

“You don’t know what it is, right?” he says, knowing she was just withholding herself from asking.

“I can’t explain what it is right now, all I can say is that this will help you in a time of need. It will help you when you will decide something very important. That will be the key” he answers, yet gives her more confusion.

“Master, you always give me answers like you are an oracle or something” she says whining. He starts laughing, seeing her face expression.

She then bursts into laughter and both of them can’t seem to stop.

And this is how they continued, for just a little, till the nightfall came.