Year 1, Month 9, Day 18
The dancing puppeteer is hiding out in an alley behind Main Street. The girl cat tries to talk her out of hiding, while the boy cat (the black one who sounds like Naota) scolds her for dropping her wallet and not taking any tips from the audience. Here, we learn that the girl's name is Lionela Heinze, just in time for Rorona to show up to return the missing wallet. Rorona is surprised to learn that the puppets are able to talk, which the girl cat reminds the Naota-cat that they're not supposed to be doing in the first place. The puppets are named Aranya and Horoholo, which she shortens to "Horo" and "Ranya" for convenience. Horo says that it's time for them to find shelter, now that they have money.
Year 1, Month 9, Day 22
Rorona remembers that she promised Geo she would make some Beast Statues for him to make up for not being able to get the high-quality Special Meat he wanted before. She makes a few extra so that she can turn them in to Sterk for her assignment, even though she didn't need to.
With some time left over until the deadline, she looks through her alchemy book to see what kinds of recipes she has yet to complete.
Year 1, Month 9, Day 25
Rorona feels like she's being watched...and she is, by Lionela and her puppets. She gets ready to back down, but Aranya and Horo push her to enter. She's spotted by Rorona's mischievous Absentee Mentor, Astrid, who invites them all inside. Rorona's attempts to be formal with Lionela sound weird to Horo, so she tries calling her "Liona". Lionela thanks Rorona once again for returning her wallet. Horo says that he wanted to learn what sort of environment alchemists work under, and it's nothing like he had initially pictured. Aranya says that now that they're friends and all, they may decide to submit requests to her. Lionela, who is generally shy around new people, leaves. Astrid seems to have taken a liking to her, which makes Rorona wonder what sorts of things she's got planned...
Year 1, Month 9, Day 30
The evaluation of the third assignment goes as smoothly as the two that came before it. The accompanying note says "We don't know much about alchemy, but we believe that was satisfactory." The next assignment asks Rorona to prepare food items for the Annual Festival at the end of the year. The better quality items she turns in, the better evaluation she gets. However, there is a slight difference in the deadline for this one, stopping short on the 20th day of December (instead of the 30th like all the others). Sterk hopes that she'll get to enjoy the festival when she's done with her work.
Year 1, Month 10, Day 1
Astrid and Cordelia are sitting by at the workshop, with Cory saying that she just stopped by to greet Rorona. She then asks Astrid why she took Rorona in as a pupil in the first place, to which Astrid simply says, "Because she's cute". Cordelia isn't amused, so Astrid gives her the other reason: "...because she's dumb. If you don't like the term 'dumb', then replace it with 'talented'." She then tries to give an analogy for her statement using a fictitious book about "Magic Spells for Monkeys". When that fails, she simply says that anyone can learn alchemy if they put their mind to it. And because Astrid sees Rorona as, uh, "talented", she doesn't have to teach her a thing.
