Feeling heat rise to her cheeks for Ethan's praise, Amal turned to look at her Moogle without realizing it had drawn the priest's attention, as well.  Yevon knew she'd received far too little praise far too frequently to have made herself an expert in gracefully accepting a compliment.  For the mage who had trained her, Amal could manage nothing without bringing the old woman dissatisfaction.  And with Agustin.<br/><br/>Amal sighed.<br/><br/>Then she looked up at Ethan with a glimmer of curiosity hidden behind her eyes when he mentioned chocobos.  He'd actually ridden one?  She could feel her toes curl in her dark boots with envy.  Of course the mage had read about them what she could but she'd never seen one up close.  Before she could ask him anything more about them, however, he urged her forward towards the village.<br/><br/>When Chiron managed to catch up with them, Amal turned to wait for him to catch his breath.  She couldn't help but smile because even if she had struggled halfway to the village with Ethan's weapon, she knew in her current state she was still better for wear than the warrior.  How fast had he needed to run to catch up to them?<br/><br/>Listening to him struggle over the word for 'blitzer,' the mage caught her lower lip between her teeth and silently willed him to find what he was searching for.  Her mind sang a silent mantra of 'blitzer, blitzball, blitz' to urge him on as she wrung the smooth fabric of her jacket between her fists.  When he chose a different path, she felt her features soften as a wave of empathy washed over her.  Despite not understanding his language, Amal could gather Spiran was very different from how he'd been accustomed to speaking; everything from the syntax and structure of phrases to the cadence of how he'd utter the words in his native tongue.<br/><br/>When he mentioned Harris, Amal felt her heart skip a beat.  In all of her haste to follow after Ethan, she'd forgotten to wish the other woman luck in her attempt to join the Aurochs.  Drawing a shaky breath, the mage closed her eyes and sent a silent wave of well-wishes backwards towards the shore, 'Be focused, Harris.  Be determined.  You're the one with the power."<br/><br/>When they'd first met the blonde Blitzer a few days ago, she'd been fresh off of a rejection by the Guado Glories.  Before that, she'd failed to make the team in Luca; her confidence was shattered, despite whatever self-obsessed bragging she'd mustered for her new travel companions.  Fifteen minutes of hearing the young woman's story was enough time for Amal to deduce Harris's worst enemy in accomplishing her goal of making a Blitzball team was herself.  She was afraid of failure to such a degree she wasn't able to play at her best when the time to prove her skills inevitably arrived.<br/><br/>Chiron captured the mage's attention when he drew his sword.  Amal closed her eyes for the gleam of the sunset, amber and tangerine gold, against the blade.  She was following along with his words and thought 'fiends' at exactly the same moment Ethan spoke the word aloud.  The mage looked up at the priest for a thoughtful moment before Chiron drew her attention again.<br/><br/>Shaking her head as she followed after the priest, leaving Chiron to his bravado, Amal bit back a smile.  She wasn't sure about what the gods might have intended for his beloved Atilla but she was confident Chiron was going to like the result of his hard work.  For weeks before they'd left Bevelle, the pair had forged a friendship over guided study; he'd wanted to learn and she'd been eager for a friend that wasn't Agustin.<br/><br/>"Alright, Chiron," she agreed, motioning for him to walk in front of her so he might be the first to spot a fiend.  She kept her voice level in an attempt to hide her humor, "But you go first, just in case this doesn't work."<br/><br/>Amal knew he would succeed.  She could almost feel the vibration of magic radiating from the spells he'd infused within the blade.  They were strong spells, impressive for someone who'd told her he was looking to find his magic.  The mage secretly suspected he knew more than he'd let on but she hadn't wanted to pry.<br/><br/>Letting her eyes wander forward, past Ethan, Amal noticed she was falling behind.  Hurrying her step, which was difficult in its own right for how she required two steps for each one the men took, she fell into place beside Ethan.  The group walked together in relative silence for an impressive distance without spotting a fiend.<br/><br/>Lost in her thoughts, Amal didn't notice the gigantic machina ruins they were wandering through but if she had, she would have fallen behind for her eyes to be drawn upwards towards the darkening sky.  Instead, her gaze was focused inward as her thoughts wandered back to chocobos.<br/><br/>She considered several possible ways to ask Ethan more about them.  There was the evident question of whether or not they were gentle creatures, of course, but Amal suspected each chocobo would have its own personality, like a Moogle.  She wondered if he'd had his own chocobo or if they had been borrowed when he needed one.  Or maybe the dragoons of the highroad were responsible for catching their own.  He'd mentioned chasing them down, after all.  Eventually, the thought occurred to her too much time had passed to bring them up again.  There was the possibility of asking Chiron if he'd ever seen a chocobo… but it didn't seem quite right, either.<br/><br/>Amal was snapped out of her thoughts when she caught a flicker of motion to her right.  A slight rustling in the brush at the edge of the trail caused her to subconsciously clench her hand into a fist over her heart, waiting at the ready to cast.  But then she remembered Chiron and how anxious he'd been to test his new weapon.<br/><br/>Reaching out to place her hand on the warrior's back, between his shoulder blades, she tried to capture his attention without making a sound.  At this rate, Chiron would have the benefit of initiating the battle.  Pointing at the bushes, not looking back to see if Chiron and Ethan had stopped with her, the mage watched as another Water Flan crept out of the bushes and settled onto the path behind them.<br/><br/>With the element of surprise now lost, the mage pretended to hide in terror behind her friend, crying, "Oh no, Chiron!  Such a terrifying fiend!  Whatever shall we do?"