The stables were full of morning light; many of the animals were already awake in and around the stalls. A pair of cat-like things were gamboling near one of the stalls, disturbing both the laar inside--it looked up with a mouthful of hay warily--and the bird-headed creature next door, who thrust its beaked face around the stall wall to investigate. Yoshi, already up and in uniform but with shoulders slumped, replaced her pitchfork on a wall rack with the others, and yawned hugely.

Someone said her name then, and she looked around to find, with a sudden shock, Liya approaching. The sleepiness vanished immediately.

"L-Liya!!" she said nervously, and tried to cover up her tone with a rather strange smile. "Good morning!"

Liya didn't seem to notice the strangeness, but then, she seemed to be in an unusually cheerful mood herself. "Mornin'!" she said brightly. "Already done with work?"

"Ah, yes...I wanted time to clean myself up before my appointment," Yoshi said, and crossed her arms fitfully.

"Uh, so, hey," Liya said, and pulled her shoulder bag around so she could dig into it, "I'm just here real quick before I gotta do lessons with Helly, but uhm, I uh, got you somethin'." She produced the ring and held it out to Yoshi in her palm, and explained awkwardly, "It's, y'know, the spelled jewelry you wanted."

Yoshi stared at it. "...What?" she said, taken completely off guard.

"Uh, I made the ring myself!" Liya explained, as Yoshi took the ring and held it up wordlessly. She then added matter-of-factly, "An' then I got the Cynn to do the spell part."

"You...you what?!" Yoshi exclaimed, looking almost mortified.