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The tavern, as was normal around dinnertime, was full of rowdy young men, women with painted lips, and a few very haggard-looking waiters.

Lyra looked upon the chaos for only a moment before tugging her hood further over her face and turning to the left corner of the room. Just as the letter promised, another hooded figure sat there with a mug of beer. With a sigh, she carefully drew up the hem of her robe to reveal her new charge - riding on her leg and very confused, of course. "Now, I want you to be on your best behavior," she whispered in what was supposed to be a commanding tone. "I won't be too long, and then I'll get you something good to eat. If you behave, I'll get you a treat," Lyra finished, and gave Nerissa a small smile before lowering the robe again and making her way to the table.

"I didn't imagine you would much enjoy beer from your letters," she said in a much different tone, sliding into the chair adjacent from the man's quietly. "Why, I feel as if I don't know you any more."

Casting a glance around, she leaned a bit closer. "You better make this quick," she murmured, eyes narrowing slightly. "I have better things to do."

"I didn't imagine you to be a woman," he said bemusedly, setting down his glass. "I'll just cut to the chase, then." He reached behind him for a moment before quickly sliding a pile of clippings across the table. "There is a very important artifact that I need. I've tried to retrieve it myself numerous times, but every time I've been repelled one way or another." He growled slightly and shifted in his chair. "I don't need it right away. In fact, take your time. But I want it in one piece."

Pursing her lips, Lyra flipped through the documents. There were many sketches of what looked to be a small jar - there were obviously many details and inscriptions on it, however, that the drawings did not fully show. "For your house, eh?" She murmured, raising an eyebrow. "Right. Where will I find this thing of yours?"

"In Jade," he replied, nonchalantly sliding his finger along the rim of his glass. It was long and slender with a pointed nail - well, that wasn't something she saw every day. "I'm not sure where, exactly. There may be some other clues in the articles that I've overlooked. Ah, yes," he said, raising his finger towards her. "If you find it, you are not to open it. Bring it straight to me. There's cargo in that jar too precious to lose..."

"Really," Lyra said, bemused. "What could that be?"

"Ashes."

"...wh-?"

"Now, about your pay..." He swiftly dove into his sleeve, pulling out a small pouch. "Take this. When you find the artifact and safely return it to me, I will pay you.. quite more generously."

He seemed to hesitate a moment before dropping the pouch into Lyra's expectant hand. She stowed it in her pocket immediately along with the clippings. "How will I contact you once I... retrieve this item of yours?"

"Ah, yes. Take this as well," he chuckled, setting a light blue ocarina on the table. Lyra looked at it with confusion. "If you find it and bring it back safely.." He said, pointing to the holes on the top of the instrument. "Play these notes in this village's square. If it's damaged, play these," he continued, pointing to several other notes. "And if you can't find it.. don't bother coming back at all."

"Understood," Lyra replied, grimacing as she took the ocarina as well. "Well, until then. I must be off." She stood up without another word and strode quickly out of the tavern and into the adjacent alley. Once she was sure nobody would see her, she tore off her robe, gritting her teeth. "Oh, this should be fun," she grumbled, tossing the robe with the trash. "I get to retrieve somebody's ashes -" then she noticed that a Certain Someone wasn't clinging to her leg any more. "s**t!" She wailed, clutching at her bangs. "Oh Frear, is she still in there?!" Cursing under her breath, she ran back into the tavern, immediately dropping onto her knees and crawling around on the floor.

"Nerissa? Nerissa!" She cried, peering under various tables. "Very sorry," she mumbled to one couple, checking underneath their table before skittering away quickly. "Nerissa? Ne - Issa! Where are you?"

Meanwhile, at the bar, a little girl with a blue lotus on her head was merrily playing with some of the silverware while an older man chuckled. "What a tyke," he rumbled, slapping her on the back. "Don't worry, I'm sure your guardian will show up soon."

"Gee!" Issa said happily, then stuck a spoon in her mouth.

"Issa?" Lyra said fearfully, then scrambled to her feet and dashed over to the bar. "Oh, baby -" she mumbled, lifting her charge up off the bar and hugging her tightly. "I'm sorry if she caused you trouble," she said quickly to the man, who grinned and said it wasn't a problem. "Ohh, why did you run off?" She whispered, then hesitantly kissed the child on the cheek. Issa leaned back a bit to grin widely and pull the utensil out of her mouth. "Spoon!" She said proudly, holding it out to her new mother.

"Y-yes, spoon," Lyra repeated dazedly, taking it from her and looking at it strangely. "Hope ye don't mind, but I taught her a few new words," the man said, then chuckled. "Why don't you two have a seat? You look hungry."

"Oh, that's..." The blonde began, but he had already turned to a waiter. "Hey, you! Get the lass some chicken, and a bowl of peaches for the little girl!"

Facepalming, Lyra reluctantly sat down at the bar. This was going to be a long night.

Fifteen minutes later, she was spoon-feeding sliced peaches to Issa while the man talked in length about His Life. It was quite fascinating, really, but at least Issa was cute enough when she ate to wholly distract her from the monotony of her wonderful dinner partner this night. Oh man, she really was cute. Lyra would hold the spoon a little bit away from her mouth, and when Nerissa had finished one mouthful she would lean forward a bit to get the next. Once in a while Lyra would pull the spoon away from her just before she was about to close her mouth around it and she would look at her with a cute little expression of baby annoyance. Lyra, of course, would pacify her with a big spoonful of nectar whenever she did this. Removing a bit of food from the corner of her mouth with the spoon, Lyra turned briefly to her own dinner and took a bite. The chicken was good.

"You're a good guardian," he said at length, chuckling. "You must have gone to school for quite a while."

"When I wasn't busy," Lyra said before she attacked a drumstick with her teeth. Issa began to grow restless after a few moments, so she put down her food for a moment so that she could feed her another spoonful. "It's easy when you have books to work with, but when you're actually doing it.."

"I know what you mean," the man said, chuckling again. "Yeah, I remember when I first received my Lotus. I was so happy, I was dancing around - and I almost forgot to water it."

"Ha," she murmured, stuffing her face with chicken again. She didn't realize how hungry she was before.

"Yeh," he said, taking another swig of his beer. "She was such a pretty little girl. I was so sad when she grew up."

Pausing in her chewing, she glanced at Issa, who was very determinedly shoving her face in her glass in an attempt to get at her milk. What would it be like when she grew up? Would she end up like her..?

Grimacing, she took a drink of her water. She wouldn't think about that right now.

Frustrated, Issa glared at the glass. She touched it carefully, then slowly slid her hand up to the top... the milk rose slightly to meet her touch. Shivering slightly, she begun to move her hands in a strange manner as the milk rose in a stream and begun to form a little ball between her palms.

"Ah, look at that!" The man said incredulously, dropping his fork. "That's amazing! She's just a little baby, and.."

"Huh?" Lyra looked up from her glass and nearly choked on an ice cube once their eyes met. "What in the world?"

The sphere of milk fell apart at her outburst, and Issa's hands fell to her side. She was silent for a moment, and then tears started to brim in her eyes.

"Oh no," Lyra moaned, dropping her fork as well to reach out towards the baby. "Oh honey, I didn't mean to -"

And they began to fall.

"Oh no!" She hissed, then quickly scooped her up. "I've got to go," she said to the man, bowing in apology. "Thank you very much for dinner -"

"Take care," he said, and waved as she rushed out the door.

Morning came way too soon.

"Ihatemylife," Lyra moaned, instinctively rolling over onto her side so as to get the sun out of her eyes - her motion was stopped halfway, however, by the realisation that yes, she was a guardian now.

"Breakfast!" She gasped, sitting up in bed and missing Issa's befuddled early-morning glance. As the little girl curled back up into the bedsheets, Lyra strode over to the cooking pot.. and then remembered she didn't have anything to cook with.

"s**t," she muttered, then clapped two hands over her mouth.

Being a guardian really sucked sometimes.