Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

Over the sounds of hammering and grunting, dust was kicked up in the air; after a weeks' worth of brainstorming with others, Hisui's plan finally has a schematic, the layout of the tracks has been sorted out. Now, the construction was about to go underway. Just then, a man sweating from the summer heat barged into Hisui's office.

"Hisui-sama, we have a problem!"

"What is it?"

"We don't have enough people to build the schools and expand the station at the same time!"

"I had a feeling that would happen, I hope that this wasn't the case. I hate to do but, please have some groups stop working on the schools and focus on the train station, the schools that I marked as high priority will continue. As for the tracks, we're still compiling the list of civilian workers so, please don't worry about the tracks just yet."

"Then, I'll tell that to everyone."

"I'm counting on you." Once the man has left, Hisui sighed heavily.

"Karie, looks like I over-played my hand, I didn't think this through."

"That's to be expected, with the way you're using our manpower."

"I still have ways to go. Hopefully, we can finish the station in a year, then we can focus on the schools. Or, we can send helpers to other towns and cities, but not everyone will be willing to move to another place, even if we reward them monetarily."

"A year is a bit wishful no? The tracks I suspect can be done in a half a year, once that happens, we can expect things to be faster."

"Then what do you think is a reasonable time?"

"I say…a year and a half."

"I guess in the meantime, I shouldn't do anything that requires construction."

"What do you have in mind?"

"First," Hisui patted a stack of application forms. "we handle this, can you help me?"

"I never thought that you would ask for my help."

"I didn't want to add to your burden after all."

"It's my job to assist you in any way I can."

Hisui's plan was set in full motion. The jobless applied for a position in a flash shortly after the King's speech. Now, Hisui is pouring her time into other reports of the pass years, looking for ways to improve the city without adding to the infrastructure. Time past like leaves swirling in the wind, no define shape or pattern. Hisui sprawled out on her desk, pushing aside the files effortlessly. Not finding anything that she could use, Hisui drank a mouthful of coffee and looked at her shelf for answers.

"I guess I take a break?" Hisui said with Karie chuckling along those words, placing a tray of snacks at Hisui's desk.

"I never would've thought that you would say those words."

"What can I do? My hands are tied, either because of resources, don't have enough personnel to support a policy, or simply because the city has no need for it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Hisui took a biscuit and took a nibble. "say I want to improve the health of the people, I can encourage check-ups by offering a reduced cost for people older or younger a certain threshold, however, we don't have the money to do that. The same problem happens with other things I came up with."

"What about taking a loan?"

"I rather not, let's just wait until next month. Until then, my work load will be more relaxed." Hisui stretched her arms. "I'm already done with the paper I have to do; would you like to recommend any activities?" Karie clasped her hands together.

"Shall I teach you how to do chores?"

Soon, they were walking in the market, looking for ingredients to cook with. Hisui looked at the market with unending curiosity; the haggling; constant shouting by store owners to promote their goods; the atmosphere overall was foreign to Hisui.

"Karie, what are those people doing?" Hisui looked in the direction of an arguing duo of customer and owner.

"I believe they were haggling and them it turned to a dispute."

"It's surprisingly fierce…"

"Don't get too relax when shopping in a market like this, people will try to sell you lower quality goods if you can't tell the difference. For reference, the stale smell of fish is usually an indicator of the fish not being fresh. Also, if the eyes of a fish is clear like it just died, then that's another sign of a fish being fresh."

"This strangely reminds me of home."

"Don't worry, only corrupted owners will try to do that. In general, most owners are friendly and will help you if you have a food related question. Some won't hesitate to recommend another stall to a customer, even if they're selling similar items. If you get used to it, it can be fun. I will say before we get started, your ability to read others is a skill that can be transferred in a situation like this."

"What are we buying for starters?"

"The ingredients we're buying are all easy to prepare, I will get some trickier ones as well. Since today is your first day cooking, I want you to get familiar with a knife. So, all you're doing for the day is chopping vegetables, the fun elements we'll save for later. It won't be bad to have Wendy-sama to come join us as well."

"You have no trust in me!"

"I didn't say that, come on Hisui-sama, the ingredients are waiting." Karie briskly walked off to visit a stall.

"But you're implying that. Also, don't distance yourself when it's convenient for you!" Hisui followed her servant, regretting somewhat about giving Karie so much freedom. Yet, Hisui was glad that she did, smiling as she said those words.

While Karie was teaching Hisui on how to distinguish good ingredients, from the bad ones, Hisui was soaking the vibe of market, seeing how it isn't a place she would visit often. And here is when Hisui learned of Karie's methodology of teaching. We the two is moving from stall to stall, Karie would ask different questions based in what she taught at random intervals; when Hisui thought Karie was going to ask one, she didn't. The situation happened vice versa, always striking when Hisui would least expect it. Whenever Hisui got the pop quiz wrong, Karie would tease Hisui about it.

During Karie's tenth playful remark, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw a girl with white, wavy hair sporting a perfect smile.

"Karie, it's nice to see you here."

"Mirajane-sama, you're out shopping as well?"

"Yes, I see you brought the Princess along as well. Hisui-sama, Lisanna was talking about you around the house."

"What did she say?" Hisui asked instantly, hearing that her friend was talking about her to someone else roused her interest.

"She said you're an interesting person to talk to. And at the same time, someone that gives out good advice. Perhaps more importantly, Lisanna said she's glad that she became friends with you."

"I see…"

"That's right! What are you two doing here?"

"Karie is teaching me how to cook."

"In that case, why don't you do it at my house? It closer than the dorms, Lisanna would love to help you as well."

"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude."

"Don't worry about it, I welcome visitors. If it's alright with Karie that is."

"No problem."

"Then after we're done, I'll guide you there."

"Please do." The rest of the trip was Karie continuing with her lessons while Mirajane would add a few tips every now and then. It felt like having two older sisters for Hisui, both enjoyed making fun of Hisui's ignorance toward food and culinary practises, all the while patiently guiding Hisui through the tricks of the trade. When they were heading for Mirajane's house, Hisui noticed that she was the only one without a bag, her footsteps slowed while looking at the ground, kicking up the dirt as they walked along the stone bricks.

Arriving at Mirajane's house, Hisui noted that the design of the house was simple, having two floors and white walls like most other housing around the streets of Magnolia. Mirajane opened the door and urged the two to go inside. Once they took off their shoes, Hisui got a good look at the house. The clean wood floors spoke of diligence, while the furniture has simple designs as well, never having any complicated sculpting; only having two colours of paint at maximum. Sitting on the couch, was Lisanna talking happily to Lucy.

"I'm home!" Mirajane announced.

"Mira-nee welcome back! Oh! You brought Hisui and Karie-san. And you bought so much stuff, what's the occasion?"

"Hisui-sama is learning to cook."

"Really!? I can't wait to see how this turns out!"

"Lisanna-san, you're expecting me to mess up aren't you?"

"W—why would I think that? Right Lucy?"

"Y—yeah…"

"I see, I'll just have to prove it to you. That I'm not as incompetent as you all foresee me."

"Please don't worry," Karie commented. "Hisui is only cutting vegetables, the margin for error is quite small."

"Oh yeah, why is Hisui learning how to cook? I thought that Karie-san takes care of it?" Lucy asked.

"You never know what might happen, I may be too busy to care for her. If that happens I need to make sure that she can at least take care of herself."

"Can we help in any way?"

"Then, can I ask of you to keep an eye on Hisui? I'll be busy cooking lunch, so I won't be able to help her anytime she wants help."

"You can leave that to us!" "Count on us!"

"Karie, do you want me to help you with lunch?"

"If I'm not bothering you Mirajane-sama."

"How many times do I have to tell not to call me that? I'll forgive back at the market but, we've known each other long enough don't you think? Erza has been saying the same thing you know?"

"Forget about it," Hisui formed a playful smile. "it took me weeks before she got rid of the habit, and I reminded her multiple times in one day. Unfortunately, you'll have to bear with it for a while."

"I'm very sorry…"

"I'll forgive you once you kick the habit okay?"

"I'll do my best."

"Then, let's get started. Hisui is helping with chopping the carrots for the soup, spring onions for the eggs, garlic for the pasta, some tomatoes for the salad. If she wants to, we can have her cut the chicken as well. Lisanna, Hisui has never handled a knife before so, you need to teach her the basics."

"No problem!"

While Karie and Mirajane started immediately, Lucy and Lisanna was teaching Hisui knife safety before they got to any cutting. After running through the hazards of working with a knife, Lisanna took out two cutting boards; one for Hisui and other for Lucy. Lucy showed Hisui the cutting motion when chopping while Lisanna observed Hisui's mimicry. Finally, came cutting ingredients.

Starting with the carrots, Hisui is like an old engine when cutting, having trouble starting, once it does, the performance is subpar; makes lots of noise; doing a poor job at powering something; speeding up with use. Hisui's cuts were slow and clumsy, making the carrots have varying shapes and thicknesses, almost cutting herself in several occasions.

In midst of the busy work, Karie saw the laughing face of Hisui as she got tomato juice on her face, throwing a stalk at Lisanna for a joke aimed at Hisui's cutting skills.

"Looks like she's having fun." Mirajane said, whisking an egg.

"Thank You for arranging this, Hisui doesn't have much time to spend with her friends apart from when she comes back to the dorms. Even then, there are times when everyone is asleep."

"Don't worry about it, I'm just a meddling woman."

"Even so, your suggestion helped out a lot. She needed to spend more of her time doing this. And she knows it, it's a part of the reason why she's so efficient at finishing her work, Hisui just wants to have fun with friends. Her natural talent for the field helps tremendously of course. However, nothing else creates such a big drive in her."

"It seems like it was the right choice in moving to Fairy Tail."

"The perfect choice." The guardians looked at their respective loved ones fondly, enjoying the happiness they're experiencing. Hisui's radiant smile was a sight that's changing in rarity, A welcome change at that; rain ending a drought. Karie looked at Hisui one last time before getting back to work, knowing full well that one of her desires is fulfilled. The others may be tricky but, Karie will support Hisui on every step of the way.

Thanks for reading! This is my way of balancing things out for the progression, a bit one-sided so far, so using up resources in an excuse to have one or two chapters that's more on the lines of relationship building and having Hisui take a break every now and then.

Speaking of break, I do think this is where my writing limit is for now, I'm getting to the point where everything is starting to mash into one—same thing happened with my previous story. What I mean by that is most of my "Developments" is stupid simple, to an extent where it feels the same, kind of like putting a skin on a character and claiming that they are completely different. So, most likely, I'll move onto the more social aspects of this story, you can call it an arc if you want. However, that won't happen next chapter, rather soon-ish.

Until then, I hope you enjoyed, have a nice day!