A cherry blossom blooms at Lamia Scale(OPEN to all LS members)

Toka had just arrived by boat at the docks of Hargeon Town. The smell of salt was in the air and a pleasant breeze blew through the town. This was definitely a new experience for the young shrine maiden. After all, Toka had grown up secluded in the mountains of Joya, surrounded by nothing but cherry blossom trees, the temple she lived in and very few people other than the temple monks and her grandmother. So seeing so many people in one place, was a bit overwhelming for her but not in a bad way, in fact, it gave Toka a sense of excitement. She stepped off the boat that had brought her to this seaside town and headed towards her pre-determined destination. Now, why would Toka come all the way from Joya to Hargeon Town?

It all started 3 months ago. After her grandmother's death earlier that year, Toka was cleaning out the temple storage shed, when she found a note in her grandmother's handwriting. Curious as to what it said, She carefully opened it and read it over. Her grandmother had written this letter a month before her death.

"Dear Toka,
By the time you read this, I will be with god and no longer with you at the temple. I know loosing me will be very, very hard on you, but I want you to remain strong my child, for both our sakes. I know it will be tough to live on your own and try to run the temple, so I've arranged for you to join a wizard guild called Lamia Scale in the neighboring country of Fiore. It's located in a seaside town known as Hargeon. The master of the guild is an old friend of mine, I'm sure if you show him this letter, he'll gladly let you join. Please do not worry about the temple dear child, the monks will take care of it and make sure you will always have a home to come back to. May the lord guide your path and follow your heart no matter what. I will be watching over you from heaven.

Love,
Grandma

Now, there Toka was, in the town of the Lamia Scale guild. All's that was left to do was to find the guild hall. Surely that couldn't be too hard to do. Toka had been given a map of the town before departing from the docks. It showed the location of every place in the town. On the map, Toka managed to figure out which building was the Lamia Scale guild hall and headed in the direction leading there.

Ten minutes later, Toka was standing in front of what she believed to be the guild hall, however, its appearance was not what she had been expecting. It was a large tree in the middle of a huge forest on the edge of the town. At first Toka was hesitant. She started doubting on whether she made the right choice or not. She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out her grandmother's letter and read it over again. She took a deep breath before pushing forward and up to the guildhall entrance. Once at the doors, she quietly pushed them open in a timid fashion.

When she had pushed them all the way open and stepped inside. She was surprised at the lack of people and the quiet atmosphere. This made Toka feel more at ease. She stepped further inside until someone took notice of her, a rather good looking young man. He walked up to her with a kind smile. "Can I help you?" Toka looked up at him and gave a slight bow. "Yes, I very much like to talk with the master of this guild if at all possible please." The man smiled once again at Toka and told her to wait a bit. She simply did what she was told. Toka just stood there, waiting patiently, hoping the man had gone to fetch the guild master.

Toka still stood there in place. Looking around, she noticed a few people around having a drink. She soon heard footsteps coming down the hall and watched at a rather old and large man walked into the main hall, over to the bar first to grab a couple of sake bottles then approached Toka. As he approached her, he first bit off the cap of the one sake bottle, sip it out and off to the side before taking a swig. "So, you must be the young beautiful girl I was told about." He said before offering the second bottle to Toka which she kindly refused. She also blushed a bit when the man called her "beautiful". He introduced himself as Rangoon, the guild master of the guild. Upon hearing that, Toka fished out her grandmother's letter from her skirt pocket once more and handed it to Rangoon. "My name is Toka Yamamoto. I'm the granddaughter of Yuri Yamamoto. My grandmother told me to come here and join your guild. I would be much appreciative if you'd allow me to join Master Rangoon. " She said with a deeper bow this time. She hoped that Rangoon would take her in. If by the off chance that he didn't, Toka would simply return home, back to the temple.

When the girl refused to take the drink from Asuma's hand, the old man just took another sip from his first bottle and quickly finished it. "Oh well, more for me." He said and threw his bottle at a corner in the guild. When the girl explained her situation, Asuma changed his expression for a more serious one. Yuri Yamamoto was indeed a familiar name, but he didn't really know that person. He took the letter and read it carefully, clearing most of his doubts with it and then giving it back to the girl. "So, Yuri Yamamoto right? I didn't really get to know her that much, but I'm pretty sure she wasn't talking about me in this letter, she was talking about my wife. The past guild master." Said Asuma and looked at the girl carefully before saying anything else. "If my wife was Yuri's friend, I'll accept you as a friend and part of this family, you're welcome to join Lamia Scale if you wish." Said Rangoon and opened his bottle, later on moving it towards his mouth to have some of his sake. "So, are you sure you don't want some?" He asked the young woman by showing her his bottle and of course referring to some alcohol.