Ning looked into the eyes of Rachel, the girl he had been sitting next to in class. He wasn't really close to her, but he would like to believe that they had established a base level of friendship over the last few weeks.
Still, he questioned that thought when he saw the fearful look in her eyes. It was like she had seen a ghost.
'Did I hurt her?' Ning wondered and reached out to her.
"Are you hurt somewhere?" he asked.
Instead of accepting his help, the girl scrambled backward. Ning was surprised by the act, but he did realize that she wasn't hurt.
'Right,' he thought. 'She doesn't like physical interaction very much. Well, it wasn't me who bumped into her, so it should be alright.'
Rachel walked back to her corner of the area and started training again, but throughout the rest of the class, she kept staring at Ning.
Ning saw her staring at him from time to time but wondered why that was so. 'Did I offend her by offering help? No way right?' he thought.
The flight training lasted for half an hour more. By this time, most of the students were very capable of flying.
"Okay, that's it for today. I'll see you guys on the 1st day," the teacher said and left the room.
The kids returned back to the class for the rest of their studies, while Ning and the others were free to go home now.
'Tomorrow's the weekend, huh?' he thought. He walked out of the tower and walked back to the palace.
However, along the way, he saw someone following him from behind.
'What's this girl up to?' Ning thought when he saw her behind him, following all the way through.
At some point, Ning stopped and decided to confront her.
"Rachel, why are you following me?" he asked as he slowly turned around.
Rachel was shocked to see him find it out. "Ho-How did you know I was following you?" she asked.
"I've been keeping track of you for a while now," Ning said. "So, why are you here? It can't be because of what happened in the training right? You do know you were at fault for crashing onto me there, right?"
Rachel's eyes changed a bit, and a guilty look appeared on it. However, she didn't say it out loud.
"Ning…" She said. "Who are you?"
Ning was a little surprised to hear such a question.
"What do you mean by that?" Ning asked. "You aren't implying that I'm using a fake name, right?"
She didn't answer immediately and looked at him up and down. "Are… are you really okay?" she asked.
"Hmm?"
That was a question he wasn't expecting. 'Am I fine? Of course, I am. What does she mean?' he wondered.
"Don't worry, you didn't break any of my bones back there," Ning said with a chuckle.
"No, that's not what I meant," Rachel said. "Are you feeling well?"
"I'm feeling perfectly fine," Ning said. He was starting to wonder where this line of questioning was going.
"Wh-what about your Aether?" she asked.
"My Aether?" Ning was even more confused. "My Aether is fine. What do you mean?"
Her eyes went back to being frightful once more. "Who are you?" she muttered.
Fortunately, it was noon and not a lot of people were out on the street to hear this odd conversation.
Ning scratched his ears as he asked, "I supposed you're not asking for my name, are you?"
Rachel said nothing, waiting for him to answer.
"I… am a part-time guard at the palace for now," Ning said.
"Eh?" Rachel was surprised. "A guard? You?"
"Of course," Ning said. "Part-time only though. I still need to continue my studies after all."
"Wait, wait, wait," Rachel couldn't wrap her head around it. "How the hell are you a guard?" she asked.
"Well, through a bunch of coincidences really," Ning said.
"No way, you can't be a guard. Are you a Head-guard?" she asked.
"Nope, just a random guard," Ning said.
"What?" Rachel gasped when she heard that. "Even if it is the Royal family, they wouldn't dare employ an Aether Emperor as a mere guard."
Ning's eyes suddenly changed. He slowly walked up to her and asked, "Aether Emperor? Why would you say I'm an Aether Emperor?"
Rachel started fearing for her life right now. She was an Aether Magister. At her age, that was an accomplishment that was hard to come by anywhere else in the world.
Only the lucky noble children with tons of resources for themselves could match her speed. However, even then, in front of an Aether Emperor, she was nothing.
Ning could handle her like a fly buzzing around him.
Ning walked up closer to her and asked, "Why did you make that assessment?"
Rachel had a secret that she promised herself to never tell anyone lest they come to use her for some malicious purpose. She always believed that she could keep the information to herself.
However, right now, she was fearing for her life. She didn't know if she could survive an attack from an Aether Emperor.
Suddenly, she grabbed Ning's arm.
"Hmm?" Ning looked at her grabbing his arms and was very confused. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"You will see," Rachel said with an angry face. Ning waited for a few seconds, but he didn't 'see' anything.
"I thought you hated contact. Why are you touching me now?" he asked.
"Eh? What's going on? How… how are you still okay?" she asked. Suddenly, a thought came to her mind.
"No way!" she said. Her eyes were as wide as a pigeon's egg. "Yo-you are not an Aether Emperor, are you? You are an Aether S—"
"Ning?" Someone called him from the side. Rachel jumped a little in surprise.
Ning turned to see Fiona and Jamie walking together.
Fiona saw Rachel's hands-on Ning's hands and immediately put on a sour expression.
"I thought you were going to the tower to learn about Aether," she said as he shook her head.. "Turns out, you were just trying to find yourself a girlfriend."
