The days passed in obscurity. Caspian spent most of that time with Elincia. Since he was essentially her chaperone, the old man had given him special permission to take her into town on school days. After classes, they head into Axium and spend most of their time wandering.

None of his peers appreciated the special treatment that he was given. On any other occasion, Caspian would have told them all to shove their complaints up there ass, but this time, he understood where they were coming from. He was getting special treatment, so it wasn't like their complaints were without merit.

Classes ended that day as they always did, with the students rushing out of the room while the instructor tried to hand out last minute instructions. "And don't forget that your papers on mechanical engineering are due tomorrow. If you don't turn them in, you will get a failing grade."

"You're already done with your paper, aren't you, Caspian?" Elincia asked as they walked down the hall, toward the school entrance. They were going into town again.

"Yes. I finished it last night before going to bed," Caspian said.

"And you woke up early this morning to exercise." Elincia's admiring glance made Caspian only feel a little self conscious. "You've really changed a lot from the boy who would sleep in every morning."

"And you've changed from the girl who used to come into my room every morning and jump on me to wake me up, Ms. Five More Minutes."

Caspian thought Elincia's swelled cheeks was one of the cutest things known to man. He grinned at her, swinging their joined hands back and forth. After a while, Elincia's pout shifted into a smile.

"And you two say you're not dating."

Frowning, Caspian turned to Christo, whose sly smile made him want to smack the other boy upside the head.

He supposed there was some truth to Christo's words. He and Elincia were close; they were always together, they held hands when they walked, and they were physically closer than two friends should have been. Caspian believed it was mostly because of their shared childhood. He and Elincia had done much the same when they were younger, and even though it had been years since they'd last seen each other, both of them were comfortable in each other's presence. That's all there was to it.

Or is there?

Caspian would admit that Elincia was beautiful. Her long blond hair, colored like honey, shimmered as she walked. Her face had matured, yet it still retained the youthful elegance that her race was known for. Also, and he felt somewhat embarrassed for even thinking this, but her body had grown from that of a skinny child to a budding young woman.

Yes, Caspian could say that Elincia was beautiful—gorgeous even—but was it right of him to think about her like that? This wasn't Erica, who loved it when the lustful eyes of men strayed to her. This was Elincia. She probably wouldn't appreciate him lusting after her.

He glanced at her again. Elincia was giggling at something that Christo had said, probably a dumb joke he made. She must have sensed him staring, however, because she turned her head seconds later.

And then she smiled. He smiled back.

Well, whatever happens happens, I guess.

Caspian wouldn't push himself onto her, but if something happened between them, then he wouldn't say no either. Besides, he was going to be her Knight. Once they underwent the knighting ceremony and became bonded through the ritual, their souls would be laid bare to each other anyway—or so he had been told.

Bound to Ele...

It was a pleasant thought. Caspian didn't have much in his life. He'd never known his father, and he could barely remember his mother. After he'd been rescued by Sylvia, Caspian had been introduced to Elincia, who'd been staying with Sylvia for reasons that were never disclosed to him.

They'd hit it off instantly. He and Elincia had never strayed far from each other back then. They had always been together, playing together, eating together, sleeping together. They'd even tried taking baths together, but Sylvia's maids told them that it wasn't appropriate for a boy and girl to bathe together. He hadn't really understood that at the time, though he did now. Either way, they had been close, and so when he went off to the academy, he and Elincia made a promise to each other: He would become her Knight, and she would remain with him for all eternity.

It does sound pretty romantic when put like that, but then, we were really just kids back then.

Their promise hadn't been because of any romantic intentions. They simply hadn't wanted their friend to leave them. It was a promise that they would always be friends, and that they would always be together. There was nothing romantic about that, but still...

"Caspian?"

"Wha—" Caspian jerked back when Elincia's face appeared right in front of him. Their noses were almost touching. "Y-yes?"

"I was asking what you wanted to do in Axium today." Elincia frowned at him and leaned further forward, making him lean back. "But it looks like you're busy thinking about something else."

"S-sorry." Caspian coughed into his hand. Christo snickered, and he sent his roommate a glare, then looked back at Elincia. "Anyway, you were saying something about what we should do in Axium?"

Elincia clasped her hands behind her back. "I hear they've finally finished setting up all of the stands, so I was thinking we could see the new magitech they have, and then..."

"Yes?"

Fidgeting in place, Elincia's cheeks turned a pale pink. "I was thinking that, maybe, you and I could go and get some dinner while we're there..."

"We can have some dinner there, if you want."

"Really?!"

Caspian grinned. "Of course. I was thinking about how nice it would be to have dinner somewhere other than the cafeteria."

Maybe then, people wouldn't stare at him and Elincia. While the stares didn't bother him, as he'd grown used to them, he knew that Elincia hated being stared at. She always made them sit as far from everyone else as possible, though that normally failed because people tended to congregate near them. It had gotten to the point where she'd started dragging him out to the courtyard when they ate.

"Oh, man. This is so not fair!" Christo moaned. "Why do you get to go into the city while I'm stuck here! It's not fair! I wanna go, too!"

Caspian twitched, but he quickly mastered his agitation and settled on a shrug. "Sorry, I can't help you there."

"Caspian! Go talk to the headmaster and see if he'll let me join you guys, will ya?"

"How about no?"

"What?! Come on, Caspian. Don't do this to me! Be a pal!"

"I said no! And what do you think you're doing?! Get off me! Don't latch onto my waist like that!"

"But I wanna go into town, too!"

"What part about no don't you understand! Now let go!"

***

It didn't seem possible, but Caspian could have sworn that the atmosphere in Axium was even more festive than before. No longer was it just banners strewn over the heads of everyone. Miniature fireworks were going off every second, popping and crackling over their heads. Small mechanical dragonflies whizzed by on swiftly beating wings. Everywhere he looked, something was happening.

Elincia's eyes glimmered as they wandered down the road. He kept a grip on her hand, otherwise she would have no doubt wandered off by now—not that Caspian would have blamed her.

Stands were surrounded by hordes of people. Merchants stood on their podiums and announced the latest and greatest inventions. Caspian saw everything from machines that could fly to portable speaking devices to a strange object that could be used to record moving images. There was so much stuff, and Caspian felt more than a little overwhelmed. He could only imagine how Elincia was feeling.

As they continued walking through throngs of people, Elincia suddenly stopped, forcing him to stop with her. Caspian noticed her staring at something and looked over to see what had grabbed her attention. It was a small stand with several finely crafted pieces of jewelry. However, unlike regular jewelry, these pieces appeared to have magitech embedded into them.

Leaning down, Caspian whispered into Elincia's ear. "Come on, let's go check out that stand."

"W-what?" Elincia stared at him.

"You wanted to look at the jewelry, right? So, let's go."

"O-oh, no. I wasn't—"

But Caspian wouldn't hear anything of it. He gently tugged her hand, and Elincia, too sweet to refuse and obviously eager to look at the jewelry, allowed him to pull her along.

"Hello there!" The young lady manning the stand greeted them with a cheerful smile. "I just knew you two would be coming by to my little stand."

"You did?" Elincia asked.

"Uhuhu, of course." Holding a hand to her mouth, the young lady hid her unladylike smile. "A handsome young man and his beautiful girlfriend journeying through the streets together, enjoying the festivities? There was no doubt in my mind that you two would come here to commemorate your relationship."

"Our relationship?" Caspian and Elincia said at the same time. They looked at each other, realization slowly dawning in their eyes. Simultaneous blushes appeared on their faces, and they hurriedly looked away.

The lady chuckled. "You two are just way too adorable. Now, then, why don't I show you my selection?" she said to Elincia, whose blush dispersed upon hearing that.

Caspian stood back as the lady showed Elincia her wears. Jewelry didn't interest him.

"This might look like just your average ring, but it's actually the latest by Chrono-Tech," the lady said, holding up a small silver ring. "What you do is press this button here, and it shows the time, date, horoscope, and alignment of the stars."

She pressed the button and an image appeared in the air. Composed of floating mana particles, the image depicted numbers—the time. The lady pressed the button again, and the mana particles rearrange themselves to show the current alignment of the stars, then the date, and then today's horoscope. Caspian was impressed, and from the way Elincia's eyes lit up like a light spirit crystal, so was she.

"What about necklaces? Do you have any necklaces that do that?"

"No, but for necklaces, we have plenty of other amazing items."

She grabbed a necklaces hanging from a small stand and presented it to Elincia. It didn't look like much. The necklace glistened with an unusually vibrant sheen. Caspian thought, at first, that it was made from silver, but upon closer inspection, he realized that the way it reflected light was not at all conducive to silver. Hanging from the necklace was a pendant shaped like a heptagram within a circle, and embedded into the center of the pendant was a small jewel the color of liquid sunlight.

"This necklace is made from adamantine, so it will never break. Also, while the pendant is kind of large, it comes with a holographic display that can project pictures into the air like this."

"Oh, wow!" Elincia clapped as the woman pressed a button in the back, and a large image appeared over the pendant. It was an image of the young lady, grinning at the camera and giving the peace sign.

"You like it?" the lady asked, smiling like a cat that had trapped a mouse. "This necklace is on sale for really cheap. It's only one-hundred and fifty drachma."

Elincia's elated expression disappeared like a cool breeze blasted apart by Ifrit's flame. She bit her lower lip, and Caspian knew it was because she really wanted the necklace, but she didn't have any money. She'd only brought enough for the trip here.

His friend was never very good at advanced planning.

"Do you have anything a little less expensive?" Caspian asked, stepping up to the stand.

The lady frowned at him. "Less expensive? How less expensive are we talking?"

Caspian counted the amount of extra money he had in his head. "How about... eighty drachma?"

"Eighty drachma, huh? Aren't you being a little cheap?"

Ignoring Caspian's wince, the lady hummed for a moment before bending down. Caspian heard something rustling, followed by a popping sound. He and Elincia leaned over the stand to see the woman searching through a box filled with strange-looking white foam and several pendants like the one she'd shown Elincia.

"Uh... where was it. This isn't it. Nu-uh. No. Nope. Not it. And no—ah-ha!" Elincia and Caspian leapt back when the woman sprang to her feet, grinning. "Here it is!"

She held out her hand. A necklace dangled in her grasp. Shimmering with the same vitality as the previous necklace, this one still looked a lot more modest. The pendant was smaller, not a heptagram, but an oval. Its oblong shape gleamed like polished saphrite. The gem was situated within a metal circlet.

"This is another nifty magitech necklace," the lady said. "The company who made this went out of business some time ago, so we don't have many in stock, and they weren't very popular because they don't use the new mana projection technology."

"What does this necklace do?" asked Elincia.

"It displays photos. Here, you press this button on the back, like so, and then voila!" An image appeared within the stone, and Caspian realized that the stone wasn't saphrite. It was a spirit crystal. "This spirit crystal can hold up to twenty images. Each time you press the button, a new image will display for twenty seconds before fading."

"How do you add images?" Caspian asked.

"That's easy." The lady turned the pendant over and showed the small lense embedded on the bottom. "This lense allows you to take still-frame images."

Elincia clasped in her hands in front of her face. Caspian could practically see the desire to reach out and touch the pendant in her eyes. He turned back to the lady and asked, "how much is it?"

"Ninety drachma."

Caspian withheld a wince. That was going to put him back. Still, it wasn't like he spent his money on anything special, and this was Elincia.

"Okay," he said as he reached into the pouch attached to his waist.

"W-wait, Caspian! You're not planning to buy this, are you?" asked Elincia.

"Of course I am."

"B-but this is way too much," Elincia protested. "You've already done so much for me. There's no way I could have you buy this."

Caspian didn't understand why Elincia was protesting like this. She'd been staring at this necklace just a few seconds ago. Was she concerned because he was using his own money, or was she just embarrassed because he was buying this for her?

"I don't mind getting this for you," he said. "And we really do need to get something to commemorate our reunion." Elincia bit her lip. Caspian sighed. "How about this: I'll buy this for you now, and you pay me back by filling that pendant with the memories that we'll make during our time together?"

"During our time together?"

"Our time here, I mean," Caspian elaborated. "During our time together at the tournament."

Truth be told, Caspian wanted, more than anything, to make pleasant memories while he was still at the academy. Most of his time at Arcadia's Knight Academy had been depressing. It was filled with angry glares, disgusted leers, and years of people talking down to him because of his ignoble status. Christo's annoying attempts to befriend him didn't help. If nothing else, Caspian would like at least a couple of good memories before leaving.

"O-okay," Elincia conceded. "We'll make memories of our time together during the tournament, and we'll use this pendant to store them in."

Caspian turned back to the lady and handed her the money. She accepted the drachma and, giving him a sly look, said, "Look at you, Mr. Smooth Talker. You must have been taught by quite the woman to use pick up lines like that."

"I have no clue what you're talking about, but I would appreciate it if you kept such comments to yourself," Caspian said blandly.

"Don't be so upset," the woman chuckled. "That was a compliment. Anyway, since you bought this, how about I take your first still-frame for you?"

Caspian and Elincia eyed each other, both coming to a silent agreement. As one, they turned to the lady.

"We'd like that," Elincia said, speaking for both of them.

"Excellent! Now get together, you two."

Elincia and Caspian moved closer. The lady frowned.

"Not like that. There's no intimacy in that position at all! You two need to move even closer. You, Mr. Smooth Talker, wrap your arms around your girlfriend's waist, and you, place yours around his shoulders. You want this to be a good picture, don't you?"

Caspian opened his mouth to tell this woman off, but Elincia moved in close and wrapped her arms around his neck. His mouth snapped shut. Elincia's cheeks had turned pink, but her eyes held a determined glint. Reigning in his embarrassment, Caspian wrapped his arms around Elincia's waist and pulled her to him, consciously aware of his friend's slender curves.

"Nice! Nice!" the lady said, grinning as she held the pendant up to her face, the lense pointing at them. "Now, then, just hold that position and give me a big smile!"

Caspian didn't know if he smiled or grimaced. The lady handed the pendant to him, and he and Elincia glanced at the spirit crystal as their image appeared within it. As he stared at himself and Elincia, the hue of their cheeks matching in color, and their lips both curved upwards, he decided that there were worse expressions to make.

"What do you think?" Elincia asked.

"I think we look good."

Elincia's sigh of relief was like aplomb for his mind. "Me too."

After leaving the stand, Caspian and Elincia wandered the area street some more, enjoying the sights and looking at all of the new contraptions. Elincia acted almost like a child. She stopped at every stand, gazing at all of the new inventions and trying several times to touch them. More often than not, her hand was slapped away with a, "don't touch the merchandise unless you plan to pay for it!" but that didn't seem to deter her one bit.

"Tiffa, d-don't run off like that! Please stay with us!" a voice shouted. Caspian's and Elincia's ears twitched.

"Ha-ha! Look at all the stuff they have, brother! It's so amazing!" a young, girlish voice shouted back.

A little girl burst from the crowd, dressed in an elegant pink and white gown. She ran right in front of Elincia and Caspian. Following close behind her was a young man, wearing the garb of a butler. His hair was dark, much like the girls, and his eyes were nearly pitch black. He turned his head and caught Caspian's eyes, skidded to a halt, and then stared.

"It's you!" the young man shouted, pointing at him.

"Do you know him?" Elincia asked.

Still staring at the young man, Caspian shook his head. "No, I... wait." He got a closer look and, observing the person further, spotted the pointed ears that were partially hidden by thick hair. "I do know you. You're the person who tried to steal that purse."

"And you're the one who got me thrown in prison," the young man said. "Although I guess I should be grateful to you."

Shrugging, Caspian tried to appear nonchalant. "There's no need. I didn't do it for you. I did it because you have a sister, and I'd hate for her to be left alone when she'd done nothing wrong."

"Even if you say that, I still feel the need to thank you." The young man bowed. "I appreciate what you did for my sister and I. Without you, I would have been left to rot in prison, and my sister would still be living on the streets."

Caspian felt uncomfortable at hearing such heartfelt thanks, but he knew better than to just wave it off like it was no big deal. "Well, you're welcome, I guess."

"Hey, Caspian. Who is this person, exactly?" Elincia asked.

Opening his mouth to answer, Caspian snapped it closed when another thought occurred to him. If this boy was here, then it meant that she was also here.

"Tiffania!" a frighteningly familiar voice called out.

The crowd parted as if someone was splitting the earth. From within this part, two people emerged. One of them was a man decked in resplendent red armor, and the other... the other was a person who still gave Caspian nightmares.

Hair cascaded down her head like an effervescent waterfall, glimmering with an otherworldly radiance. Her left eye remained covered by thick, glossy hair, but her right was visible, and its amethyst hue ensared all who gazed upon it. Wrapped around her body like a second skin was a dark red dress with a single slit to reveal a long leg. Her slender arms and shoulders were laid bare by a lack of sleeves, yet a pair of white gloves covered her hands.

The woman stopped upon seeing him. She and Caspian stared at each other. And then, she smiled.

"Oh, my. If it isn't Caspie," Erica Demonica de Angelo said, her single eye crinkling as her lips curved into a delightful u-shape. "It's so good to see you, and I see you even have a girl on your arm. Have you replaced me for this nubile young woman? How cruel of you."

Caspian shuddered. This was not good. Not at all.

I wish Elincia and I had stayed at the academy today, he lamented to himself.