Again and again, she tried. Even if she managed to hit the log, she did nothing else but completely shattering the logs or nothing at all. She was supposed to hit it on the log with a magic bullet, not destroy it to bits or not even do anything to it. Aediva felt fatigue starting to build up in her shoulders and chest.

Magic felt nothing like physical exercising but then again she felt as if she had run all the way from the main gate to the Aval Dorm multiple times before collapsing.

Collapsing she did.

Aediva pants as she wiped off her cold sweat from her face.

“Huh… Huh… Dammit” Aediva cursed. Frustrated, she sat on the ground - heaving a tired sigh when she noticed the senior student’s shadow coming close. Aediva fall to her side, lying on the grasses with a bored expression on her face.

“You’re definitely improving. Keep this up and you’ll be able to manipulate your magic at the end of the year” Naffael said. Aediva’s expression dropped.

“You’re doing that on purpose are you, Blackhorns? Don’t be mean to the pitiful me…” she said, responded with Naffael’s amused chuckle.

“Why would I be pitying this girl who kept rolling on the ground after failing so many times?” he asked, being playful. Aediva puffed her cheeks, planting her face onto the grass to avoid the young man’s gaze.

“Don’t tease me anymore! Just out with it! I can handle the truth!” Aediva shouted to the ground.

“At least tell that to my face, lass. Not the ground…” Naffael said but Aediva didn’t budge. He pokes at her, a little entertained when she wiggled from feeling ticklish the moment he poke at her waist. He poked at her again and Aediva rolled away before sitting up - covering her waist with both her hands.

“No tickling!” Aediva hissed at him, a little frustrated at the childish treatment she was receiving from “Blackhorns” but it was enough to lighten her mood. She looked at him standing up straight and looking at the dark clouds looming above. With the strong scent of rain incoming, it was enough to make Aediva decide to call it a day and return to the dorm.

“It’s going to rain soon…” Aediva said, standing on her feet and patting her skirt. She was about to just head back but then Naffael didn’t seem to react at all, so she looked at him. The look on his face was a bit saddened if anything.

“Blackhorns” Aediva called to him, managing to snap him out of his thoughts.

“Wanna go to Aval Dorm and get something to drink? You haven’t really told me of my training progress yet and it’s the closest to shelter from the rain” she said with a wide smile. The young man blinked at her as if not believing what she had just said to him.

“... Okay” he answered after a few moments of probably thinking to himself. Aediva turned to her back and it didn’t take long for “Blackhorns” to join her by her side. As she stepped into the archway leading to the garden, she noticed how he was matching his pace with her own. She smiled, peeking at the handsome senior who had been nothing but kind to her.

“... You know, Blackhorns. We really have quite the chemistry huh?” suddenly she commented. Naffael looked at her, again with a bewildered expression.

“I don’t know why but I’m really comfortable when around you. Isn’t that weird? Although I don’t even know anything about myself. Sometimes, I just don’t think much and follow my instinct. Maybe both you and senior Aerelle were right calling me a baby hatchling after all” Aediva laughed. Naffael kept silent.

“So you’re saying you’d trust a man you’ve not exactly known for long because of your hatchling instinct? Hmph, awfully brave of you, lass” he said. Aediva chuckled.

“I know right. Not exactly the safest thing to do when I don’t even know your real name. All these time I’ve been calling you whatever I want. It kinda makes me feel a little rude…” she said. Naffael stopped in his tracks, soon imitated by Aediva. Those golden eyes looked at her as she turned around, looking at him with an impassive look.

“... Do you want to know who I really am?” Naffael asked. Aediva shrugged before chuckling a bit.

“I don’t know. I don’t want to force you to tell me your actual name or something like that. I know you have no intention of really telling me your real identity since the second time we met” she said, seeing the young man’s eyes widened.

“Plus, I’ve not told you my name as well. Although I think you already know I’m called Aediva” she continued with a small giggle. She stopped tittering when seeing “Blackhorns” walked near her. She simply let out a calm silent sigh when he wordlessly planted his palm on her top of her head.

“Why are you so nice to me, I wonder. Almost everyone just tends to ignore me and talk badly about me, you know” Aediva said, her voice is emotionless.

“Do you think it’s an insult from me to treat you like a proper person?” Naffael asked. Aediva snickered.

“Of course not. Although, I couldn’t help but wonder a lot about it. I don’t like to think too much though. It puts me in a very bad mood if I delve too deep” the time Aediva stopped talking, she noticed a droplet from the sky fall to her hand. The girl pulled Naffael’s hand, smiling.

“It’s gonna rain. C’mon Blackhorns. I don’t want you to be drenched in the rain” she said, pulling him with her.

By the time they reached the dorm, they were both almost drenched by the rain that poured heavily all over the sudden when they were at the stairs of the Aval Dorm. Aediva shivered from the unwelcome additional chill to her already cold body. She looked at her guest beside her, laughing when seeing him just a lot more drenched than she is.

“Blackhorns, you were covering me from the rain did you?” she giggled, reaching for the door of the old shelf right beside her as they lingered at the foyer. She took out two clean towels from the shelf and threw one to Naffael who promptly caught it with a quick reflex.

“I always keep extra towels inside this shelf in case Cath and I came back drenched. Ah, what’s this? A smuggled food? AH?! Wait, isn’t this my damn cookies?! That damn Cath--” Aediva took out a pack of cookies from the shelf, growling.

“Lass” hearing her guest calling for her, Aediva looked up from the shelf on the ground. Her eyes went wide slightly.

“Did you said “drenched”? How often did it happen? Answer me. Which students dared to harass you?” he asked, ire clear in his eyes but Aediva simply sighed with a weak smile and stood up.

“Blackhorns. There’s really no need to bother knowing about it. I don’t even remember who did it anyway. Calm down, okay?” Aediva said to him. Naffael gritted his teeth, flinching when he felt something gripping his hand. He looked at Aediva lifting his hand in her own.

“Ah… Your hand is actually really warm. I tried holding Arthur and Eden’s hands before, you know. I couldn’t feel anything at all. Both of them said my hand is as cold as ice and it kinda hurts them to touch me for too long. It’s so weird. Ever since that day I destroyed the courtyard, I never really felt the sunlight or the ambient heat burning on my skin anymore” Aediva said, reluctantly letting go of Naffael’s hand.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t really take someone’s hand like that” she apologized before walking down the entryway foyer, noticing the ghosts are all gone for some reason.

“You can sit anywhere you want. I cleaned the couches before. Arthur and Eden always sleeps in the living room, so I cleaned it quite often. Eden is surprisingly pretty good at fixing things. Meanwhile both me and Arthur can’t even fix a broken table even if our lives depend on it” Aediva laughed, going into the kitchen just beside where Naffael chose to sit. He simply listen as Aediva chattered on with small talks.

“I just know how to break things, aren’t I? Huh… My allowance is almost depleted as well because of the broken lab sets. Ms. Rachel, the magic chemistry teacher, keeps shouting at me after I broke all of the spares the same day. I’ve been banned from her class too since last week, you know. “Come back when you learned the basics of trapping elements!” she said” Aediva complained.

“Hm… Did she?” Naffael replied, looking at Aediva when she peeked from the door to the kitchen.

“Are you hungry, Blackhorns? I can’t cook but I have some good sweets I’ve stashed away from that greedy monster” the girl asked. Naffael didn’t answer quickly, as he browsed the note idly.

“... How much do you have stashed?” he asked. Aediva giggled.

“A lot. Cookies and buns. Ah, you know what I’ll take out everything. I’m gonna eat a lot right now when that noisy creature is gone. He’s probably stuck at the Pavilion waiting for the rain to pass” Aediva said. Naffael stood from the couch, wiping whatever water that hasn’t still evaporated on his hair with the towel that has turned warm from being handled by him for quite some time. When he reached the entryway to the pantry, he found Aediva climbing the counter to get to the shelf. She noticed him immediately the moment she felt his presence close.

“Ehehe…” she let out nervous laughter, turning stiff when her own guest picked her up by the waist and off the counter like she was some sort of little pet cat who had failed to steal food.

“I know honoring a guest is a good habit but I’m not going to let you catch a cold after forgetting to dry yourself in order to entertain me” Naffael said, placing Aediva to the floor. The girl pouted.

“I’m dry enough! Let me do this!” she said, puffing her cheeks as she tried to stop Naffael from reaching out to the snacks at the back of the shelf that she has not been able to reach earlier.

Alas, after a while of trying to stop Naffael, she failed. In the end, they both sat on the couch with warm tea and sweet snacks - she was the one that ended up forced to dry herself and was also the one being served by her own guest.

But she has to admit.

The tea is really delicious.

The scent was gentle and sweet. Almost like one of the flowers he grew in his garden. All these time the tea she brewed was bland that she thought it was normal to taste tea the way she did.

She looked at the cup of tea in her hands and looked at Naffael who didn’t really have to look at her back to know that she’s questioning a lot of things in her head.

“... My caretaker taught me how to brew tea ever since I was a boy” he said, sending Aediva the cue to panic.

“I said no reading my mind!” she said at him.

“I didn’t read your mind though.You’re just really easy to read” Naffael said, smirking at Aediva. The latter pouted at him.

“You’re a real tease aren’t you. You and your that dark charms of yours. Grrr… Anyway! Quit stalling and tell me already!” Aediva said to him. Naffael chuckled.

“I’m not stalling anything though” he retort, laughing a bit when Aediva frown at her - her face looking like she scrunched her nose a bit too hard. The next second, the smile on his face disappeared.

“... Then, I’ll tell you honestly,” he said, placing his teacup to the table in front of them.

“You’ll never be able to use magic properly. No matter how much you train. Even with my help” he said, pointing at her chest as the girl listened with bewilderment.

“Because you do not believe in magic yourself.”