[color=D6CC88]Amuné was painfully relieved when her search for Mr. Gage the next morning found no trace of the man.  She'd made a sincere effort, but if she couldn't find him there was no way to work with him and nobody could blame her for it.  She looked up at the bad-mouthed woman after they'd been let into her office, noting the open flask on the desk amongst all the papers.  Her mommy would say Taliya drank too much.

They were being sent out after merchants -- but if they'd left only yesterday, how had enough time passed to reach their destination and make it all the way back?  It must not have been very far, or maybe they had something like the loud vehicle Norman had been on that one time.  Taliya's callous mention that the men might be dead made her wince.  

She actually flinched when they were told to track down Gage, stepping closer to Ethan and looking suddenly guilty.  Was this to make sure she showed up for a lesson today?  There wasn't any excuse, if she helped track him down.  But the mention that they weren't doing anything made her straighten up.  "Not true!" she protested.  "I am doing something -- I was helping prepare herbs for medicine most of yesterday afternoon!"  It wasn't super interesting work, but it was one that didn't require a lot of oversight, and it needed doing.  Especially when it came to using mortar and pestle on the ones that needed to be thoroughly mashed -- young hands were much better about the repetitive motion than many older ones.  She'd helped with some other things too, but that was the biggest one.

Taliya raised an eyebrow before scoffing, giving Amuné a patronizing round of applause. "Good, so now you can heal whatever wounds your friends make before the enemy kills you! Learn to use the damn bow, kid. It's not hard, stop being a stubborn twerp and take your lessons."

"I still can't hold it right," she mumbled in response, dropping her head and leaning against Ethan again.  Tears prickled her eyes, but she stubbornly clenched her jaw.  She wasn't going to cry!  The woman was wrong, that was all -- her mommy said healers were important and taking care of people was important and Taliya was just mean and probably drunk.  It hurt worse when Nymira seemed to agree that she was useless.  She wasn't -- she'd learn how to be useful, she just hadn't made much progress yet.  And of course Taliya didn't bother hiding that she thought Amuné was a waste of space.  It was a relief to be kicked out of the office, and she stayed silent while the group discussed how to go about their tasks.  She didn't find the nerve to speak up until the conversation was almost finished.

"If I had something of his, I might be able to locate Gage," she ventured uncertainly.  "I mean, I've never tried to find anyone on purpose, but...I've got the right sort of magic for it, yeah?  Only...."  Her gaze strayed to Taliya's closed door.  Maybe it was better not to ask.  She didn't even know if she could, and she had only the barest control of her magic to start with.  So probably all she even could do was sit back and watch, like Taliya said.

---

She was still downcast when they headed out, now walking close to Wyth and holding the coat that had once been Ethan's close about her shoulders.  She let the adults go talk to the guards, and instead addressed Cecil.  "Hey...did that shield Norman made you turn out okay?"  She'd not had as much time as she'd liked to talk to the Machina over the past couple days, and he'd seemed almost like he was avoiding them.  Or maybe it took longer to make a shield than it did to change a battery, and with her helping the healers it just felt like he was.  But even before that, he'd been all worried about being near her and the others.  Amuné just didn't know.[/color]