A/N: Boom! A new chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please enjoy!

Chapter 5: Portal to Fluorite

February X792

Lenz frowned as he locked his front door in the morning. Even after sleeping on things and training this morning, he still dreaded thinking about heading into the guild.

"Lenz, it's almost been a month since the guild has been open, and you haven't even tried to take a mission with Olivia or Sano. You need to start building relationships with people."

It felt like his frown grew deeper at remembering his guild master's words. He had been doing just fine on his own. Every mission he had taken had been completed on time and with no problems. Rhia had even received a few compliments about him. Granted, the missions he had been taking were small D-Rank ones that were more like running errands for people, but they couldn't complain since they were still so new, and they were lucky to have these missions thrown their way. So, why did he need to bring extra, annoying hands with him when he was simply delivering a package or finding a lost toy?

He found himself clenching his jaw a bit at the thought of it. He took a deep breath when he felt the tightness in his jaw. He'd just have to talk to Rhia again this morning and get her to see his side of things. He was hoping to catch her on her way into the guild since she usually headed in early to take care of paperwork and just generally be there in case customers or potential recruits came by.

Luck must have been on his side that morning because he saw her blonde hair just a few houses down from him. He picked up his pace, weaving through a few people that were headed into the main part of town to start their day.

"Master Ward!" he called out to catch her attention.

She looked over her shoulder at him, slowing down to let him catch up.

"Good morning, Lenz," she said with a smile, "You know, you're allowed to call me Rhia."

He scrunched up his nose at that, causing her to laugh.

"Fine, fine. You do as you wish. How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you, ma'am."

She smiled at his continued formalness but said nothing further about it.

"I was actually hoping to run into you this morning before you arrived at the guild."

The pair stepped in stride together, continuing their conversation as they made their way to the guild.

"Ah, yes," she laughed lightly again, "I thought you might. This is about our most recent conversation about missions, correct?"

Lenz wasn't surprised that she already knew what he wanted to talk about. She tended to be observant and knowing like that. It was something he picked up on during his time working under her command.

"It is," he confirmed, "I believe I'm serving the guild much better on my own. My missions show the work I am completing. You've even received compliments on my work."

"Your work is as good as it has always been. You've never been a poor soldier. But this isn't about your quality of work. This is about you as a person and growing as a person. You cannot isolate yourself here."

"But it's so much easier to work on my own."

"When have you ever been the type of person to take the easy way?"

Lenz went silent for a moment. She had him there, but he wasn't ready to back down yet.

"But ma'am-"

"Besides, I received our first big mission early this morning. It's for a merchant two towns over and granted it's just looking for an item for him, but it's still the best paying job we've received since we opened. And it's all yours, but…"

Lenz saw how excited she looked about this new job, and even though he knew there was going to be a catch to it, he didn't think it would be right of him to burst her bubble.

He let out a heavy sigh, "But?"

"But you need to take Olivia or Sano with you, otherwise I'm sending the two of them together to take care of it."

Lenz felt the tightness in his jaw return. He hated the thought of having to take one of them with him, but he hated the thought of the two of them being sent out together even more. He could only imagine the mess of things they would make and on the biggest mission they've received so far. It was important that they completed this job properly. It could be the one that would really break things open for them.

"What rank is it? And what town is it in?"

"It's a C-Rank, which I know doesn't sound like a lot, but considering all the other jobs we've been getting have all been D-Rank, it's a definite step up," she said, Lenz silently agreeing with her, "And it's in Fluorite, so you'll have to head out of Carnelian."

"I've never been there, but I imagine it's not far if we're receiving the job."

"I know where it's at."

The pair turned to see a blonde man in a colorful Caelum shirt covered in bright flowers. He wore a warm smile along with cargo shorts and flipflops. They exchanged looks with each other, each noting the coats they both wore while this man walked around like it was the middle of summer on a beach.

Rhia gave Lenz a small shrug, "That's nice," was all she said to the blonde man.

They turned to leave, thinking it was just a weird, random run-in with a stranger.

"Yeah, they have the best crepes on this side of Pergrande, especially the apricot ones. You should really try them. You won't be disappointed."

The pair stopped again, Lenz raising an eyebrow while Rhia could only smile in response. She was just as confused about what was going on, but the stranger didn't seem to mean anything bad by butting into their conversation. She nudged Lenz to be the one to respond this time.

He rolled his eyes, but if the stranger noticed it, he didn't show it.

"Yeah, okay, we'll be sure to stop for some while we're there, thanks," Lenz said flatly, "Now, if you don't mind, we have to plan for our trip."

"Plan?" the blonde said, seeming genuinely confused, "I can get you there now. I wouldn't mind going myself!"

Rhia and Lenz turned to fully face the man this time, their attention completely caught by his words.

"What do you mean you can get us there now?" Rhia asked.

"Exactly what it sounds like!" he said, waving his hand backwards and seeming to hit the air like it was solid. A large, light blue glowing circle appeared. Soon, the inner part of the circle changed to show off a bustling town with snow falling lightly.

Rhia and Lenz looked up to see that the skies were clear above them, so whatever town they were looking at was not Carnelian.

Rhia walked up to glowing circle first, reaching a hand out to touch it.

Lenz grabbed her hand, though, "Wait, we don't know if it's safe."

The blonde man looked at them and then into the circle, "Looks fine to me!" With that, he stepped through the circle, the man being part of the picture that Rhia and Lenz had been staring at. He waved at them, indicating that they should follow him.

Rhia moved first again, sticking part of her body through the circle. It was a bit colder on the other side, considering the falling snow. People moved about them, going on about their days just like the people of Carnelian would.

She tapped a young woman on the shoulder who was passing by, causing the woman to jump slightly, "May I ask what town this is?"

"Fluorite," she said quickly before shuffling off away from Rhia.

"Well, I'll be damned. You make portals!"

"Ah yeah, didn't I say that?" the blonde man said, "So, how about those crepes? They're sounding really good right now."

Rhia chuckled as she caught the back of his shirt collar, "Not yet, I have some questions for you," she said, pulling him back through the portal with her.

"Awww, but they'll run out of all the good flavors early!"

Rhia ignored him as she fully pulled him back through to the Carnelian side of the portal. She noticed people were starting to eye the open portal on both sides.

"How about we go ahead and close this up for now? Don't want anyone accidentally stepping through it or anything," she said.

The man sighed, realizing he wasn't going to get those crepes after all, "Yeah, alright," he said, and with a wave of his hand, the glowing circle was gone.

"Let's start with your name," Rhia said.

"I thought I said that already," he said with a shrug before shoving a hand towards Rhia, "I'm Weyland. Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too, Weyland. My name is Rhiannon, but you can just call me Rhia," she said, shaking his hand in return, "Why don't we head towards my guild, and we can speak there. It's a bit warmer and we can get some drinks."

"Do you have smoothies?"

Rhia laughed at that while Lenz rolled his eyes, "I'm sure my wife can whip something up for you."

. : + : .

Lenz wasn't sure what made his eye twitch more. The straw slurping sound coming from the new guy and his stupid smoothie. Liv looking at him with wide, hopeful eyes, her excitement barely being contained. Sano being the total opposite and not even giving him the smallest glance. Or Rhia giving him that smile, knowing he had to choose between Liv and Sano.

"Ma'am, please," he tried one more time with his guild master.

"We've already had this discussion, Lenz. If you want to take this mission, you're picking one of them to go with you."

Another loud slurping noise interrupted them.

"Will you stop that?!" he snapped at Weyland.

"I think you need a smoothie. I can ask them to make you one. No problem!"

Cassie laughed from behind the bar, wiping down some glasses, "I like this kid. Where did you find him?"

"We'll talk about that here shortly," Rhia said, her smile still in place, "So what's your answer, Lenz?"

Lenz looked between his two choices and inwardly cursed his guild master again. Both would be trouble on this mission in their own ways. Sano seemed distracted and thinking about that crown of his again. He wasn't sure if he would stay on task and not wonder off to look for his own clues. And Liv was, well, Liv. She was buzzing with energy, and he was worried if her excitement would mess up the mission. But since he had to choose, he'd rather take the person that actually seemed interested in going and helping.

He let out a sigh before he answered, "I'll take Liv with me."

His eye twitched again at the happy squeal she let out.

"I knew you would pick me! Let's get going!"

She made to grab his hand and pull him out of the guild, but luckily Rhia managed to set a hand on top of her head to stop her.

"A few things first before you go," she said, handing the mission request over to Lenz, "You'll need that to prove that we were asked to work the mission. Also, to fully let you know what you'll be doing. A merchant has requested a mage guild to help track down an egg that was stolen from him two days ago."

"An egg?" Liv asked, "Can't he just get new ones at the store?"

"This is a special egg apparently. It was about two feet long and bright purple in color. He can't say what kind of egg it was exactly, but it definitely wasn't normal, and some random thief stole it from him."

"Um…what if the thief ate it?" Liv asked.

"Who the hell is going to eat a bright purple, two-foot-long egg?" Lenz retorted, "They probably stole it to sell it for money."

"Most likely, yes," Rhia agreed.

Liv crossed her arms as she mumbled out, "They could have eaten it."

Rhia ignored her pouting as she continued her explanation, "That egg was worth a good amount of gems for the merchant and he wants it back. Considering the size of Fluorite's markets, it's likely that the thief is still there and trying to sell it. So, you'll need to start there, especially since you'll want to speak to the merchant first. His name is Conrad Marsh. He is a fairly well-known merchant there and should be easy enough to find."

"I guess that means we need to catch the train then," Liv said.

"Not quite," she said, pulling Weyland to stand beside her, "This young man will get you there in an instant."

Liv stared at the blonde man with some skepticism as he slurped at his smoothie again, "He can do something like that?"

"I can!" Weyland answered, moving a hand to hit the air again but stopped midway, "Where are we going again?"

"Fluorite," Rhia answered.

"Ah, right! The crepes!"

With that, he hit the air as if there was a wall beside him. The glowing blue circle appeared again, revealing the town of Fluorite in the middle of it.

"Oh wow! That's amazing!" Liv said, admiring the portal before looking over at Weyland, "You're amazing! You should join our guild!"

"I like this one," Weyland said with a smile, "No smoothie needed."

"Oh my god," Lenz mumbled while rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"That's something we'll be talking about while you two are gone," Rhia said, patting Weyland on the shoulder.

"Okay, so you can get us there," Liv said, "But how do we get back if you're not with us? Will we need to take the train back then?"

Weyland stepped up to her and mirrored Rhia's previous motion, patting her on the shoulder, "No worries! Just call my name and I'll show up for you. But I may come along to get those crepes I was talking about."

"Not this time," Rhia said, pulling him back by his shirt collar again. This earned her another disappointed groan from the young man, "Now then, are you two ready to go?"

Liv and Lenz exchanged looks. Liv smiled brightly at him while his frown only seemed to deepen, but he was no longer fighting the fact that he had to take this mission with someone. At least, not out loud. It'd only earn him another lecture from Rhia, and it could potentially pull him from it.

He gave his back a quick pat, making sure the short swords he kept on him were there. Upon feeling them both, he nodded at his guild master.

"I'm good to go as well!" Liv said.

Lenz looked over her again, not seeing any weapon on her, not any that were out in the open anyways.

"Through the portal you go then," Rhia said. She watched as Liv happily hopped through it while Lenz silently followed her, "Good luck! I'm certain you will do well together!"

"Sure," Lenz said with a sigh while Liv gently knocked her shoulder against his.

"Don't forget to pick us up when we're done, Weyland!" Liv said.

He returned the smile she gave him, "Just say my name and I'll be there! And have a crepe for me!"

He closed the portal after Liv gave them a wave goodbye and the pair had turned away from the portal. He looked down at his smoothie to see that it was all gone, giving the empty cup a small frown.

"Now then, I think we have some things to discuss," Rhia said, turning to walk up to her office and motioned for him to follow her.

"Can I have another smoothie first?"

Rhia dropped her head for a moment, trying to decide if this young man was worth it or not. But then she remembered the portal two of her members had just walked through and knew she couldn't let this young man slip through her fingers. With that thought in mind, she took a deep breath and popped her head back up.

"Of course. Cassie, please make him whatever he likes and then send him up to my office."

"All right!" Weyland said with a bright smile, taking a seat across from a still smiling Cassie.

. : + : .

Liv stared at the town with wide eyes. While it wasn't too different from Carnelian, it was still a new place for her, and it had a rather large market area. The streets were filled with outside vendors, colorful awnings covering most of the stands. Each street seemed to hold something different – one for spices, one for weapons, one for clothing, and so on. It was busy and filled with so many people. It had to be a market that people from all over Pergrande came to. While she was used to markets in Alexandrite, the one in Fluorite was quite different than what she grew up with. There was life breathing through the entire place and it would take days or maybe even weeks to discover it all.

She eventually turned and her eyes fell back on Lenz, who had been looking her up and down.

"What?" she asked, a small flush crossing her cheeks.

"Do you have any weapons on you?"

"Oh," she said, shaking off the heat in her cheeks, "No, I don't. I didn't think I needed any and I've never really used any."

"That's a stupid way of thinking, especially if you're going to be a mage."

She puffed her cheeks out in annoyance at his comment, "Well, I am brand new to this."

"That's obvious. What magic do you have?"

"Sound Magic," she answered, doing her best to ignore his rude commentary.

Lenz thought about that for a moment before he nodded, "That's decent enough. Should come in handy for something."

"Do you have to be so rude about it?"

Lenz just shrugged at her, "I just need to know what I'm working with. We should also get you a weapon. Something small and easy to use and quick to learn."

"Well, what about you? What can you do?"

"I'm a requip mage."

It was all he said, as if that answered everything. Liv knew what a requip mage was, of course, but some more detail would have been nice, especially after he had interrogated her. But he already seemed to have a plan in mind as he eyed each of the streets, Liv already knowing she wasn't about to get anything else out of him.

He made a beeline for the street filled with weapon vendors, leaving Liv to quickly trail after him.

"Shouldn't we be finding the merchant that requested us for this mission?" she shouted after him.

He simply ignored her as his eyes began to search across all the weaponry. Her own eyes lingered on many of the glittering swords and jewel encrusted sheaths. He skipped over all of them, though, and eventually ended up under a blue awning that had a few tables of sleek weapons in simple black sheaths. There was nothing fancy or pretty about any of the weapons, but Lenz seemed to pour over them like they were made of gold.

"These are very high quality. I'm surprised to see something like this in a market like this," Lenz said more to himself than Liv.

"You have a good eye, young man."

The pair looked up to see an older gentleman sitting in a chair at the back of the stand. He stood up to walk near them, smiling down at Lenz and rubbing his beard in thought.

"You've seen some action, haven't you?"

"Been part of the military for the last few years, and part of a military family before that, so yes."

"That's where you get the eye for weapons then," the old man chuckled, "Most merchants here just want to sell glitter and gold to people who desperately want to feel important. But there are a few of us here with legit wares."

Liv felt like she was out of her depth with this entire conversation, but she inwardly gave Lenz credit. It was clear he knew what he was talking about, and it was kind of nice seeing him perk up when he spoke about something.

"So, what is it that you're looking for today?"

"A knife for her," he said, pointing at Liv, "And probably a thigh holster to go with it."

"A knife?" Liv asked, not having expected that answer.

"It's the best thing to get you for now. You're not starting off on a sword or anything else when you have no experience."

"Good call," the merchant smiled in agreement.

"Do I really need a weapon?"

"You should have something."

"He's right," the old man said, "Better to have it and not need it."

Liv sighed but didn't fight against what was happening at the moment.

"How about this one?" the merchant said, holding out a combat knife to Lenz.

He picked it up and felt the weight in his hands first before unsheathing it. The blade was clean and sharp and shining. It was big enough to make an impact when needed, but small enough for Liv to handle for now.

Lenz snapped it back into its sheath, "How much?"

"For that and the holster…fifty gems."

Lenz nodded, feeling like the price was decent for what he was getting. The merchant probably could have gotten more for it, but it seemed like he had taken a liking to Lenz, and he wasn't about to wave off the generosity.

"Lenz, I don't have fifty gems on me!" Liv hissed quietly.

"Don't worry about it," he said, digging into his pocket for his wallet.

"I don't have fifty gems at home either!"

"I said, don't worry about it."

"Lenz!"

He finally looked at her, his blue eyes boring into her gold. She suddenly realized the first to look away would lose and it was hard holding the intensity in his eyes. But no one outside of her family had ever gotten her something, and even if it was some dumb knife, it made her feel weird about accepting something that cost so much. Still, the look in his eyes dared her to try and fight him, and she eventually gave in with her own roll of her eyes.

"Fine," she said, as their stare-off broke, "But you better not be doing this just because I'm Rhia's daughter."

"I'm not," he said simply, "You need a weapon, that's all. I don't mind when the quality is good."

Even if he sounded genuine, she couldn't help the look of hesitation on her face.

"Look, if it bothers you that much, then you can pay it off by doing some training sessions with me back at the guild."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Okay, that sounds fair enough," she said, but then she thought about it for a moment, "Wait…are you talking about your ridiculous four in the morning training sessions?"

"Maybe," he said, handing over the money to the merchant, "Maybe not," he finished with a small smirk as the merchant handed over both the knife and the holster.

"You're terrible."

"Well, this terrible guy just procured you your first weapon and now you owe him."

Liv silently cried over all the mornings she was going to miss sleeping in while Lenz thanked the merchant and led both of them out from the street and back into the main circle of the market. They made their way over to a random statue before Lenz stopped them and began hooking the holster up around one of her thighs. Once he was certain it would stay in place, he placed the knife into it.

"There you go," he said as he stood back up.

"I guess it does look pretty cool," she said, admiring her new piece of equipment.

"Now, we can find the merchant we came here to meet."

She nodded at him and moved to follow him. As they crossed the main square, her eyes caught bright orange ones. The color stood out against the rest of the man they belonged to, considering the rags he wore for clothes and the dirt across his face and arms. But those orange eyes were so bright that they were hard to ignore. Liv realized that the man was around her age, which made her feel bad for his clearly homeless predicament. Though, the hardened look in those orange eyes didn't seem to match with someone who was down on their luck. Still, though, she couldn't seem to ignore him.

She walked up to him, catching Lenz off guard as she wandered off their path.

"Liv! What are you doing?" he called after her.

She ignored him this time, though, and continued walking over to the orange-eyed man. She pulled out the few crumpled gems she had stuffed into her pocket and tried her best to smooth them out. She was hoping to have used these on those crepes that Weyland had mentioned, but they suddenly didn't seem so important.

"Here," she said with a soft smile, laying the gems into a worn cap the young man had placed in front of him. She wanted to say something else, to give him something positive to get him through the day, but she was honestly at a loss. She'd rather be silent than come off as rude with anything else she could have said. She turned to leave, seeing Lenz waiting for her.

"Thanks," she heard a gruff voice behind her say.

She glanced back, seeing those orange eyes on her now. While they still held a hard look to them, they had seemed to soften up, just ever so slightly. She exchanged looks with him a moment longer before giving him a warm smile.

With that, she walked off to rejoin Lenz and their hunt for the merchant who made the mission request.

A/N: And there we are! I hope you all enjoyed it!

Credits

Weyland Strider – Kit_Kage

I'm so excited that we're getting into introducing other characters! Weyland is just so much fun to write and I really hope you all enjoyed him too! He made me laugh several times throughout this chapter. And I really enjoyed that last scene as it wasn't what I originally planned, but I really like how it turned out. We got to see a bit more of Lenz's personality come through.

We should be seeing some action next chapter. Nothing wild or anything, but hopefully Lenz and Liv will get to show off a bit of their magic at least. So, look forward to that! And to another new character!

As a note, the Caelum shirt that Weyland is wearing is just like a Hawaiian shirt.

Thank you all for the amazing reviews! They were great and really made my day! Always appreciative of them!

That should be it for now!

Until next chapter!

MyDearWatson