Noticing the way his jaw tensed out of the corner of her eye, Amal remained silent.  She could sense there was something more on Chiron's mind than his duty as Ethan's Guardian but knew better than to pry where it wasn't her place.  If he wanted her thoughts or input, Chiron knew to ask for them.  The mage wasn't the sort of woman to give her opinions freely.<br/><br/>In truth, she was just happy the warrior had slowed his steps at all and agreed, with only a minimal amount of protest, to walk with her.  Though the mage didn't doubt either of them would have been able to run the entire downhill portion of their hike to the beach, she was thankful for any reason to suggest they didn't need to.<br/><br/>They were approaching the final portion of the path, made up of some smaller machina ruins which would let out onto the beach, when Chiron broke their silence.  Amal smiled openly up at him, letting her expression mirror his as she nodded sincerely, "You were brilliant."<br/><br/>When it came to that last part of his proclamation, Amal felt her nerves beginning to bubble up to the surface as she was reminded of what she'd wanted to ask her friend.  Catching her Moogle to hold it gently to her chest with both arms wrapped around it, she looked down at her feet and watched the way the sand underfoot would give way to each of her hesitant footfalls.  She willed herself to just ask him, already, and suffer whatever consequences her words might bring; the worst he could say was no.<br/><br/>But his 'no' would send her back to Bevelle and Agustin, ashamed she'd failed to live up to her own expectations before her journey had even begun.  There was no way to make the warrior understand how hard it was for Amal to ask someone for help, or how large of a leap of faith this was for her.  The only thing to do, the mage decided, was to trust her intuition that this request was the right step forward.<br/><br/>"But I wondered, Chiron," and here she paused, biting her lower lip and closing her eyes.  She didn't realize she'd stopped walking or was holding her Moogle too tight.  All Amal could do was stand there, take a deep breath, and jump over the edge of whatever it was she was feeling.  This was Chiron.  Her friend.  'He won't say no,' she reassured herself.  Taking a deep breath, she spoke quickly and never once fumbled over her words as she asked, "Would you consider teaching me?  Not to use a sword, of course, but the basics."<br/><br/>When she opened her eyes to look up at Chiron, the mage flushed to find her Moogle was struggling within her arms, kicking its legs against her stomach and pounding imaginary fists against her forearms.  Frowning, she let the Moogle free and flinched when her small companion shook it's fist angrily at her.  But rather than issue an apology, she looked past the Moogle and up at Chiron, studying his face for any sign of a reaction.<br/><br/>"If I am to become one of Ethan's Guardians, I won't want to be a burden," she explained, pushing her bangs up and out of her eyes.  Her eyes drifted to where Harris and Ethan had fallen into step together a few meters ahead of them.  Somehow, it felt easier to ask Chiron for this favor when she knew Harris would not overhear her.  Narrowing her eyes in determination as she stared up and into his, she felt her confidence return as she explained, "I'd like to know, at least, how to keep myself out of trouble instead of needing to rely on… someone else to do it for me."<br/><br/>'Especially not Harris,' she smiled to herself, lowering her eyes to where the toe of her boot was half-buried in sand for the way she still felt nervous waiting for Chiron's answer.<br/><br/>From across the sand, the boisterous Blitzer's voice rang out on an echo, "Me tryout for the Aurochs?"<br/><br/>Here, Harris paused to laugh a deep and happy sound.  Amal watched the Blitzer's palm thwack between the priest's shoulder blades and felt a surge of relief wash over her when she perceived the woman had hit him maybe a little too hard.  At least Harris misjudged her strength when it came to everyone; for in that regard, the mage did not want to be an exception.<br/><br/>"Sure, they'd be lucky to have me," she called out, perhaps wanting for one of their players to hear her.  Harris removed her hand from Ethan's back and strutted forward to where a Blitzball was lying forgotten in the sand.  She kicked it gently into the air, juggling it a few times on her left foot before moving it up to her knees.  After a single bounce on top of her head, she let it fall to her feet and struck it cleanly to send the ball whizzing rapidly towards Amal and Chiron as she smirked, "But I think you need me more than the Aurochs do."<br/><br/>Frowning, the mage managed to put a thin wall of water between them and the ball and get it to freeze before either she or her friend would need to duck out of the way.  When the ball made contact with the ice wall, it fell harmlessly to the ground, but caused a cool shattering of ice crystals to flicker forward and cover herself and Chiron.  Laughing softly for the sensation of the cool ice against her face, the mage reached out to brush some of the ice off of her friend's shoulder.<br/><br/>Amal’s Moogle had landed on the ground near the Blitzball to take a running start before it tried to kick the ball back at Harris.  When the soft plush foot struck the hard leather surface of the ball it remained motionless; the Moogle, on the other hand, cradled its foot and began jumping up and down in pain.  Amal gently picked up her companion and cradled it in her arms.<br/><br/>"Besides, could you imagine an entire Pilgrimage with just the two of them?" Harris shuddered in an exaggerated way before she turned around the corner of the dock and disappeared towards the ship.