[i]Hmph, all I need now is a stalk of grass to suck on.[/i]

The chocobo Sara rode rocked her back and forth, almost as if it was trying to lull her into a sleep. With a leisurely stride, it carried her down the dirt road between a couple of fields in Miris. She looked back to her patrol group for the day who rode behind her. The first, Brandt, was fairly green, but far more enthusiastic than he needed to be. Nevertheless, he appeared tough enough for the city guard. The second, Harry, was a flake in every sense of the word. He had a sharp mind, but he was in the guard to get paid, not to catch criminals. There were certainly worse people to be assigned with in a patrol around Miris, it wasn't as if much was going to happen. Apart from the very occasional monster appearance, Miris had probably the most amiable populace of all of Xenon's holdings. Sara couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

She knew why she was here though. It was a punishment for arresting a certain narcotic dealer in the Gamma waterfront, one she had been on the heels of for a while. How was she supposed to know that it was the son of a prominent bureaucrat? He could take a few bruises like anyone else, not to mention he was [i]breaking the law.[/i] Regardless, even past a session of yelling with her superiors, they didn't have the grounds to suspend Sara, so here she was in patrol purgatory until she learned to respect nepotism. Oh well, at least people weren't sneering at her here.

Sara was snapped out of the trance that the trot put her into by Harry's voice behind her. "Heh, look over there," Sara turned to see Harry pointing down the road with his spear, Sara turned again and squinted her eyes to look to the commotion. "I'd heard the rumours about these country types, but..." Harry's humour was always crude, it made Sara roll her eyes. Some kid was getting a bit too much attention from a chocobo on a ranch down the road. It didn't look like an attack from this distance, the creature was just being playful. As they passed the gate to the ranch, Sara slowed down and looked down at the young man. She kept her halberd lowered, nonthreatening. "Are you alright there?" Sara asked with a frown and a raised eyebrow.