"You are a bundle of energy, aren't you?" Tyler asked.

"Sometimes," Ryan grinned in response. "I've not been on a plane in ten years, you know. While there won't be a hot flight attendant for me to ogle, it's still going to be exhilarating. I'll also get to smell the ocean for the first time. By the way – am I buckled correctly?"

"No," his servant responded, then Ryan felt his servant's hands at the buckle, fixing it in a way that informed Ryan he had tangled it up, as he'd thought. "Here we go."

As Tyler finished fixing Ryan's buckle, his phone rang.

"That's probably your father," he told Ryan, then Ryan heard the sound of the phone being pulled from a pocket. "Yep. Hello, sir. Ryan was impatient, we are already on the jet. It was that or continue to deal with him tugging on my ear. No, sir, he does that whenever he gets impatient about something and manages to grab my ear. I'm not certain why he does that."

Ryan did it because it usually meant things were sped up just to stop the pain.

"Yes, sir, we will see you then," Tyler said, then Ryan heard the phone being returned to a pocket as his servant sighed. "Your father is on his way now, Ryan. I told you we should have waited at the house."

When they woke, Ryan's father had been away from the house with a promise to return within a couple of hours. Ryan did his morning exercise and shower, then ate breakfast, then convinced his servant to take him to the airport out of anticipation of the trip and eagerness to get going. His father had managed to arrange Ryan's trip on his birthday, for the next day. Ryan would be allowed to stay there for three months. From November 4th to February 4th, he would be allowed on the islands.

Ryan wasn't certain how his father managed to convince Damien to allow his presence for that long, and had realistically expected only a month to a few weeks, not most of winter. However, the result pleased him, as it meant he would need to perform fewer resets and he would be able to enjoy the season there.

At least, until he stopped his resets then and reset back to his birthday for training in another place with different elementals. Ryan wanted to train with each of the six base types of elementals, to study each and perfect his senses of the elements. It would take him time, as elementals did not have a way to communicate and were known to be non-sapient, but he was patient. He would study them as much as possible, learn as much as possible just by observing. Then, once he was ready, he would move on to the next place.

First, however, he had to wait for his father to arrive, something which occurred half an hour later. Ryan heard the man enter with two others, guessing they were the pilot and copilot. The door to the jet closed, and Ryan felt the air pressure shift with that. Two of the new boarders moved into the pilot's cabin, the door closing firmly behind them after informing Ryan's father they would be taking off as soon as they finished their checks.

"We'll be going, now," Ryan's father informed them as he sat near Ryan. If the teen had to guess, his father had sat across from him, which would make sense. The man would want to be able to look at his son directly, even if his son's gaze would wander. "Are you ready?"

"I was born ready for this," Ryan told his father. "And once I've trained in my magic some more, I'll simply use it to fly wherever I wish to go. If Tyler is lucky, I'll fly him with me."

Ryan heard the clicking of a seatbelt as his father chuckled, and he decided that he could trust his father. Not telling his father everything bothered him, and he wanted to share a little more information with him.

"Father," Ryan said. "I'm not entirely blind."

He could feel his father's uncertainty at that, and Tyler's confusion as well. Both knew he couldn't see a thing, which meant his statement had likely thrown them a little.

"I mean," Ryan said. "I am blind, as I can't see a thing at all. But after my awakening… I developed a new sense. That's what my PAOMA was about yesterday. Me wanting to come to the islands was partly for selfish reasons related to that."

"Nothing wrong with being selfish," his father said. "What is this sense?"

"I can detect water," Ryan answered. "It's a rough sense right now, but I can sense the water in the air, in people, in drinks, in plants. I can sense the steam rising up from food. I can even sense when Tyler gets an erection over the pretty lady he fantasizes over."

He sensed his servant's discomfort at that and he shook his head.

"It doesn't bother me, Tyler," Ryan said. "I'd suspected it for awhile, but never actually thought about it until yesterday. Although it does explain why you sometimes linger while drying my chest. You're probably thinking about fondling her boobs and trying to resist the urge to make the motions."

His servant's discomfort rose as embarrassment filled him, and Ryan smiled, then pat him on the back. His servant didn't actually linger there, but that didn't mean he couldn't claim it, make Tyler wonder how long he had been doing it without noticing.

"It's okay," Ryan said. "Most guys like to fondle boobs every now and then. Soft, plush boobs, small, firm ones. Large, squishy ones. Boobs of all sizes and types. It would be easy for you to feel hers if you started dating her and moved to that stage. Introduce me sometime."

"Maybe one day," Tyler's discomfort grew more as his nerves grew. "But for now, I wish to serve you, Ryan. Having a relationship can interfere with my duties in ensuring you are well. If I were to leave your service, it would require you adjusting to a new servant, or possibly going through several until you finally find another. Before you contest it saying that I wouldn't leave your service, it is mandatory for anyone who has two children to lose their status as a personal servant. In addition, if I do marry, I would need to spend time with my wife, and more if I had a child. That would result in you needing another servant, anyway. My duty is to the family, and so I will refrain from any relationships."

"Tyler," Ryan said. "If you ever feel that a family duty pulls you away from your duties to me, we can always move your wife into the house with you. She would see you around, and once I am family head, I will also have plenty of duties which you will be able to take a break from. It is truly no issue for me."

"The lack of sleep which will come from having a child," Tyler said. "Would interfere with my duties, sir. If I am to enter into a relationship, it will be only after you have a suitable replacement for me. However, I do not wish to leave your service at the moment, as I know you and your needs the best. It would be a failure in me as a servant of the family to abandon you for selfish reasons."

Ryan sighed. He supposed Tyler had a point. The other teen had been raised to serve the main family, and even after eight years of servitude and friendship, that mindset was firmly set into him. He felt bad for it, though, because he wanted Tyler to be happy. If there was something he could do to ensure that, he would, but Tyler refused all attempts at it.

Resolving to sort the situation out the next time he went through the mall trip where they met the two former classmates of Tyler's, Ryan dropped the subject for then. He didn't need empathy to know both of the women were interested in Tyler, and he hoped one of them was the girl Tyler liked. If not, they might be able to provide the answer as to who it was.

He could search Tyler's mind for the answer, but felt that would be an invasion of privacy. While he didn't care about most people, Tyler was his friend, and Ryan never screwed over a friend like that.

"Ryan," his father spoke after a few moments of silence. "You want to visit the Mieria Islands to watch the elementals, don't you?"

His father wasn't stupid, so the teen wasn't surprised the man had already figured out the true purpose for the request after having heard about Ryan's new sense.

"I do," Ryan answered.

"You're aware," his father said. "That they can't teach you, yes? Elementals are simply embodiments of elements that float around. While they might have some way of telling where things are, and may react to circumstances, they are dumb things."

"I know," Ryan said. "However, perhaps by observing them with my own sense of water, I'll be able to tell how they do some of their sensing, which would enable me to adjust my sensing a little. At least, that is the hope. In addition, being around such sources of water would no doubt help me strengthen this sense, so that I can sense more when there is a lot around. I would also be able to study how they do their magics, which might help me with casting water magics without needing eyes to target things."

"Good luck," his father said. "And remember to be on your best behavior."

"Does that mean I can't sass anyone?" Ryan asked. "Because I'm pretty sure I'd die if I didn't sass at least six people a day."

"Your best behavior," his father chuckled. "Not the best possible behavior, Ryan. Once we take off, I want to discuss something with you."

"Okay," Ryan responded. "I'm curious, Father, but how did you convince Damien to allow me to stay for three months? I was expecting a single month, at most. I know I said a few months, but I wasn't actually expecting that."

"That's what I want to talk about once we're flying," his father responded.

"Ah."

They fell silent, waiting for takeoff, and only once they were in the air for a few minutes did Ryan's father speak again.

"Ryan," he said. "I was expecting to negotiate awhile with Damien before using the threat. When I initially began, I started with six months, telling him you wanted a long vacation somewhere warm and beautiful, for Tyler. Naturally, he shot that down, but he of course knew I was willing to negotiate.

"From the start," his father continued. "I noticed something off in his voice. Once we made it down to three months, he agreed. I was further surprised when he agreed to allow me to accompany you for arrival and show up to bring you back home at the end."

"Surprised and suspicious?" Ryan asked.

"Exactly," his father responded. "Damien may have some goal with you. Few people know my actual status in magic. You and Tyler are among the handful who do, and you are within my inner circle. If this is a trap, I will ensure our exit. He will not expect me to be able to handle whatever he sends our way."

"And if it isn't a trap?" Ryan asked.

"Then I want you to be on the lookout," his father answered. "Both of you. Especially you, Tyler. Stay with Ryan, no matter what. I know that was intended, but it is even more true now. I am using the video evidence of the Miami incident to threaten Damien for your safety, but there may be other things going on. In addition, I will be examining the minds of both of you upon your return."

Ryan knew the unspoken reason for that. His father was a powerful mind mage, which meant he would likely find any evidence of tampering or any geass placed without their awareness. The man could also likely remove any of them. The thought of someone touching his mind made Ryan nervous, but at the same time, he knew it wouldn't matter.

There was the possibility that the tampering would return with him when he reset, but he would do his best to reset before anyone tampered with his mind. The moment he noticed it happening. If the tampering occurred without his awareness of it or ability to stop it, then he would reset to that morning, have his father remove it, then reset a little further back.

The goal would be to avoid allowing anyone to tamper with his mind in the first place, and he felt confident in his ability to do that.

"Understandable," Ryan said. "With only two people aware of my ability to detect some things around me, it shouldn't be easy for someone to get me. They would need to poison me, probably."

"Or enter your mind while you're asleep."

"Sir," Tyler spoke up. "Pardon the rudeness in asking, but how easy it is to enter someone's mind without physical contact?"

"Entering them?" Ryan's father asked. "Easy. Empathy and telepathy don't necessarily require touch to perform. For example, I can sense your discomfort anytime Ryan makes a comment about his desire for you to be happy with someone. I can sense anytime Ryan's mischievous mood increases. I can tell our pilots are bored right now. If I used telepathy on top of my empathy, the latter of which I have active at nearly all times, I would even be able to tell which lady you fantasize about, what Ryan might be planning, and even what the pilots are discussing. And I'm not touching any of you.

"As for affecting their minds?" The man asked. "That's another matter entirely. A well-trained telepath can project their thoughts to someone else without physical contact between them, but they would find trouble affecting the target's mind. Only a truly powerful mind mage can actually affect a mind without touching the person it belongs to. No one knows why this holds true, but it seems to be a rule for it to take an immense amount of power to perform."

"Sort of like with chronomancy," Ryan said, and he felt his father's gaze return to him, curiosity and surprise in the older man's mind.

"That's an interesting connection," his father said. "And chronomancy takes much more to perform than a mind-altering mind spell from a distance. Far, far more. There have only been a few chronomancers who I know of, and all of them had monstrous amounts of mana. Why did you come to the connection?"

"Just thinking about it," Ryan said. "Because Kayla is a chronomancer. Her Calling is being able to slip out of time. She can even slip others out with her, as long as she is touching their bare skin with both hands."

He felt his servant's curiosity and his father's confusion.

"I have my ways of knowing information," Ryan smiled. "When is the announcement of their engagement?"

"We were planning on making it on New Year's," his father answered. "How do you have an information network I missed? And how did you learn about her Calling when I haven't managed to learn that yet?"

"You missed the fact that I was speaking with guests."

"That is an internal thing," his father said. "I don't have the staff keeping an eye on your internal activities, Ryan."

"A man has his methods," Ryan told his father with a grin. "Mine are just easier to hide than others."

After all, the only thing he needed to do to hide his discovery of information was reset to before he learned it. Then, no one would know he knew it, because he had never learned it in that run of time.

"I see," his father said. "Perhaps when you return, you'll inform me of how you learned this Calling of hers."

"Perhaps," Ryan answered.

It would be quite easy to not, as by the time Ryan finished the runs, his father won't have known about it. He wanted to see how events played out by revealing her Calling to his father. Only if things turned out positive would he let it remain in his final reset of the events. With that reset, however, he would change how his father learned it. Knowing his father had empathy active at all times meant he could easily cause Kayla or her father to make him aware of it by accident.

"Tyler," Ryan's father said, and Ryan felt the man's gaze lift off of him. "Why were you curious about how easy it would be?"

"I am a light sleeper, sir," Tyler answered. "If someone enters the room, I will no doubt awaken. They would likely need to gas us while we sleep in order to prevent something."

"Or poison," Ryan said. "I'm a fan of poisons. They look pretty."

He felt amusement in the minds of both his father and his servant.

"That, and they can be quite effective," he added. "But yes, Tyler will likely wake if someone came at us during the night, and he's more than a servant. He's a bodyguard. I trust we will make it through without incident."

And if they didn't, Ryan could always reset things, as planned. He just hoped nothing came up that he didn't plan for or couldn't handle.