By Fang Wolfsbane

"Tsu. Tsu. Tsu!"

Tsuyu Asui blinked out of her trance the moment her mother tapped her on the shoulder. Looking to the woman beside her, Tsuyu gave a sheepish smile, her long green hair falling over her face as she rubbed the back of her head in a show of embarrassment over having been caught daydreaming – again.

"Sorry mom, ribbit."

Beru Asui let out a sigh as she rested her hands on her hips and arched a brow at her daughter. "You've been thinking about that again, haven't you?"

Her mother didn't need to so much as wait on an answer. Ever since Tsuyu had seen the first explorer since she started working in her parents' tavern, The Lucky Hop, she had been fantasising about going out one day and joining their ranks.

Usually she could catch an interesting story from one or two of them. Her parents complained that she annoyed the customers with her constant questioning, but most of the adventurers didn't seem to mind telling of their exploits.

In fact, many welcomed the chance to simply lean back and tell of what had happened to them on their journey to the tavern.

Granted, there were a fair share of would be adventurers that told a tale that was a bit too tall for her liking. Usually she could weed them out pretty quickly the moment a mischievous gleam caught their eyes.

She left those tables for her parents to deal with. They weren't all that interested in the customers' tales unless they brought a shiny coin in exchange.

It wasn't that they didn't support their eldest in her dreams of becoming an adventurer herself, but while she lived under their roof, they had made her promise not to simply grab her things and run off into the woods like one of the maidens in her story books.

In all honesty, she loved her family and enjoyed her time in the tavern, but there was only so many jugs of ale and loaves of bread that a girl could carry after someone else that lived her dream on a daily basis. She wanted that life for herself, and frankly, she was getting tired of waiting on it.

"Oh Tsu, what are we going to do with you?" her mom asked, a look of defeat on her face, accompanied by the remnants of an ale stain on her skirt from when one of the customers accidentally bumped into her while she was on her way to put down an order.

"I'm going to assume that I'm not going to get my tip from table seven anymore, ribbit?"

Her mother only shook her head as she held up a tray with a loaf of bread and some fresh milk for the stableboy that worked just outside the tavern, near the local inn. "I might reconsider. Now go and take Koji's food to him. The poor boy must be starving by now."

" Ribbit," Tsuyu hummed as she took the tray from her mother and greeted a couple of the regular customers on her way out into the bright afternoon sun.

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