Skyla's Story: Gaining Trust

-yaaaawwwn- ....is it morning already!?

Morning had arrived, and I stretched my aching arms and back.
Guess I went a little crazy with the monster extermination yesterday...
No matter. I was ready to finally fulfill what Mother Miounne recommended I do... Help the citizens of Gridania to try and crack through their cold, adventurer-wary shells.
I began by asking around the Adventurer's Guild itself, and found a couple of adventurers who needed some help themselves with some deliveries. One Lalafell fellow mistook a piece of metal for a nut and almost cracked his teeth on it right in front of me.

I think I can see why some people look down on adventurers... Either way, I offered to return the piece of metal to its rightful owner.

First thing's first though, completing tasks in the city itself!

I can't help but say that Gridanians seem cold, yet oddly somewhat eager to throw tasks towards us "adventurers." My first course of action was to make a quiet young Elezen girl laugh.

An odd request, and definitely not an easy one... It finally took me dancing like an imbecile to get a giggle out of her. When I returned to the young man who tasked me with this challenge, he explained that her father died 5 years ago during all the fighting. I didn't want to accept the gil after hearing that, but the guy insisted I take it.

Afterwards I scouted around Old Gridania for some other jobs.

I found out the piece of iron that Lalafell practically chomped down on belongs to a Chocobo stable outside the city, so I decided to save that for later. The Conjurer's Guild also asked me for some scarlet oil extracted from the corpses of ladybugs... Guess they took the lance on my back as a cue for a slaughtering job.

I soon found myself at the Botanist's Guild, where a frantic Elezen tasked me with tracing her footsteps and picking up all of the rose hips that spilled out her torn pack before rampaging adventurers crushed them to bits.

Guess our need to run around all over the place annoys the locals too...

She was thankful for the help, and in turn I got some more gil.

It was after this somewhat pleasant job that I encountered the kind of Gridanian that Miounne warned me about... Ethelred.

I was wandering around and admiring the fields of flowers at the Botanist's Guild, when this guy popped out of one of the flowering bushes, cursing the Gods and complaining about how us adventurers are "like flies on muck."

Classy.

I honestly was too taken aback by his hostility to even think about making a retort. Before I could even compose myself, he bit his tongue for a moment and muttered about how times were changing, and maybe... He stopped right there, and thrust a rose in my face, telling me to go deliver it to someone. I stood there blankly, not knowing how to react. He then screamed at me to "deliver the bloody rose" so I leaped over the little fence and went along my way.

Well, money is money. Guess I'll add that to my list.

I did a lot of little jobs here and there along the way...

...like gathering vegetables left at the Amphitheater by the slyphs. If I remember correctly, they kind of look like vegetables themselves.

My legs aching from running about and my pockets jingling with gil, I finally went to deliver the rose.

Back alllll the way to the Conjurer's Guild...

The man I delivered it to was beyond pleased. He told me that Ethelred had a long-standing grudge against foreigners after some ill-willed fortune seekers almost picked his rare flowers to extinction, and that he had asked me for help is a sign that perhaps his mistrust is waning.

Despite the verbal abuse I endured at his hand, it all worked out pretty well. Miounne said that Gridanians are tough nuts to crack, and here I was, possibly having changed someone's mind about foreigners.

Before I retired for the day, I decided to explore the Conjurer's Guild a little more... and I saw something that made my jaw drop to the floor...

A PADJAL.

A hyur gifted with horns and youth by forest elementals seemed absolutely ridiculous when I read it so long ago in my father's book of creatures, and even talk about Gridania's leader being one was questionable... but there he was, standing there plain as day.

Even crazier, he was TEACHING some Conjurers, and they were just sitting there LISTENING!

Am I the only one freaking out about this?!?

It seemed to be so, because nobody's gaze seemed to falter as I glanced around in surprise. Guess this is normal for them, seeing a somewhat mythical being.

I left feeling amazed and shocked, and wondering if my dad ever saw the leader of Gridania in the flesh. He must have if he was a part of the Order of the Twin Adders, right...? He had never mentioned anything of it. Maybe he too became accustomed to their presence in the city and it didn't even seem worth noting anymore.

Ah well. Tomorrow is a big day. I'm going to take up the lance and show some more monsters who's boss, and finish up the myriad deliveries Gridanians have thrown onto me.