High above the Twelveswood, a roiling storm stirs the heavens into a torrent of steel fury. Lightning strikes quick and hard, charging the very air with static aether and whilst sensible beings take shelter during such inclement weather, Anders cherishes the experience. Currently venturing out at the behest of his master, he recalls her words even now.

“There’s only so much you can learn ensconced within Gridania’s walls, Anders,” she’d said long ago, reclining back onto the sofa and cradling a mug of hot tea in her hands. “I want you to go out and experience the world. Live a little.”

These days, rosewood from The Bramble Patch is easy harvesting but Anders figures it turns decent profit. Mistress Delouix won’t be too displeased. After brushing through dense thicket and passing a particularly dour-looking Roegadyn huddled beneath a tree, Anders stops short upon hearing a shrill cry.

Spattered in mud and cowering upon the rain-pelted ground is a young Miqo'te woman, dwarfed by the morbol barely ten fulms away. Its writhing tendrils slap and slither against sodden earth, leaving a trail of brown slurry in its wake. Anders panics. He can hardly fight such a dangerous foe with botanists’ tools. One snap of those whip-like vines can break a man’s neck, so he’s heard. Perhaps he can distract it …

A lance flies out of nowhere, piercing the morbol’s flesh neatly. Lightning quick strikes and the nightmarish seedkin is dead upon the ground, severed vines still twitching with a residual flicker of life. An Elezen man sidesteps the carcass, offers a hand to the Miqo'te, who rises from the ground and begins to cry. Clutched in her trembling grasp is a shortsword dripping with mud.

They’re adventurers, Anders remarks silently, recognising the gulf of experience between them – one, a leather-clad gladiator and her saviour, a dragoon dressed in custom platemail. Whereas she’s soaked through, the rain slicks down his expensive armour and leaves nary a mark in comparison; flawless and untouchable.

Years working for his master and Anders has never thought of her adventuring ways. He’s only sold on the rewards of such, maintained the grounds and gardens, called for additional services when required, but now he sees Coco in another light. She does this on a daily basis along with her peers – on a much grander scale. It’s the adventurers so steeped in life’s experiences that keep the realm safe, protect people, fight off enemy forces. They are the ones risking their lives each and every day, often without due recompense. Standing there in the Twelveswood, rain cascading down all around him, Anders feels humbled. He decides that today he’ll fetch something his master will really appreciate.

Much later on, Coco is exhausted and overwrought, but she’s much happier for the pitcher of freshly-brewed coffee; dark, delicious and brought home as a pouch of roasted beans by Anders, her long-serving and faithful retainer.

Character: Coco Delouix.
Server: Balmung.
Requested prize: Bluebird earring.