Laying in her room after the talk, Valerie wore a dumbfounded look as she reviewed all the information Lang had given her. His ability to memorize the layout of the house with steps was one thing, but going as far as to learn how to be aware of everyone else from the slight movement of their steps or learning almost who is approaching him by their smell is another. However, as soon as Lang had told her he had seen colors her heart stopped. Only by questioning him on what the colors appeared to him as and what colors he thought the various items were in the room did she relax slightly. Chalking it up all to imagination from excessive excitement.

Lang had gotten all the questions about the colors in his room wrong, to her, it made sense that he would as he would not be able to see them. Disappointingly she shook her head as she summarized him relating the colors and what they felt like or how he described them to the story she had told him before.

This did not reside the fact that she was nonetheless bursting with pride at his accomplishment in two or three days of training, she could not even begin to fathom how it must have felt to experience the sensations Lang had talked about. While she paced back to her room, she had removed her shoes to test her abilities in detecting such vibrations, however even with her eyes open and knowing that someone was there, the level of depth of which she felt did not reach what Lang had felt at all.

My son is really amazing huh... Apollus, mark my words, you will regret everything you had thought about him. Surely.

No matter how restless she would surely try to sleep, however, the heaviness of her eyes nor the numbness of her limbs did not allow her to rest herself. Pausing and sitting herself up, she steadily turned on her lamp, gazing around her room before standing up and heading to her office.

The hallway, now dreary and silent shrouded her figure, the only light source that passed were the dimly illuminated lamps held by the small tables and the few passing servants. As she entered her study she could see a dark figure shuffling about, and she turned on the switch the hidden intruder appeared.

Turning around the black hair flowed to the side gracefully into a low pony tail hung as eyes dark enough to suck the nearby light in suddenly lit up, the thin figure slowly put her hands together right below her stomach and bowed down seamlessly.

"Noir! What are you doing up so late?"

"Miss Valerie, it's a surprise to see you up as well!"

Greeting Valrie briefly, Noir turned around and continued organizing the folders of papers rearranging each document to its correct location. Her dainty fingers lightly wettened by her saliva as she gazed at each one. Valerie continued to watch her for a period of time before exiting the room, returning with a cart holding a light rose and apricot tea. Slowly, she poured Noir a cup before filling her own, and as the soft and gentle aroma tickled Noir's nose she turned around slightly frightened.

"Ah! Miss Valerie, I could have gotten that for you! There's no need for you to do that for me."

"No, there's no need to cause yourself a panic now haha. Especially when you're up so late preparing me for tomorrow without anyone knowing."

"... No... I was just thinking. Lang has been a bit strange, perhaps he hasn't been seeing his mother as much recently is why, so maybe I thought this would help."

"Noir, you're a sweet child. However, you're wrong about one thing."

"Lang is not acting strange... Well, maybe that child is a little strange... but he has been recently practicing his use of touch and smell. So the reason why he could know someone was there was because of his success in it."

"Oh?! That's amazing! Ahhh he's such a prodigy, always so cute, now he's just shocking mysterious, wow he'll be a heartthrob when he grows up madam."

"Shush!."

Chuckling to herself Valerie had placed the tea on the desk, pulling her chair out before grasping on the folders Noir had organized. quietly scanning the documents she then pulled out the tax forms for this region. Her warm hand lazily touched the pen as she continued with filling out the sections of reference.

Noir who paused in the sorting warmly smiled at Valerie, as she clasped the teacup she gently sipped on the flowery and gentle taste, the apricot's sweetness complemented the slight sweetness of the rose itself. While the aroma of the petals soothed her restless mind. Closing her eyes she nodded at her madam's perfected choice, the sugar her body needed to energize her had been replenished.

"Madam."

"...Yes?"

"Now, why are you up so late working?"

"Hmm, I wonder Noir... Well, I was thinking that if I finish tomorrow's work earlier, maybe I could spend some more time with Lang, I feel like the child has been pushing himself... maybe because he felt a little lonely."

"... I see, it does make sense, to achieve fulfillment from achievements... since an age group that would sincerely friend him is hard to come by. However, madam, won't you agree that Lang will never be alone here?"

"...Yes, I can agree to that, everyone around here is kind to him, especially you and Alicia."

"You can be sure I will always love him, and you already know about Alicia. So, would it matter for others aside from the others at this mansion too much?"

"... Yes... You see Alicia, we are all humans. Take yourself, for example, you have your parents, the other servants, and the guards. Correct? Well now, think if the ones your age were not around. It may seem like you would be okay, but there is still the generation gap. Rarely does it get as close to the point of being able to have a sibling-type bond with them, can you imagine how you would feel if Alicia were not here. How you would have to bottle up certain emotions you have."

"... I apologize, madam, I see, this is a different type of loneliness you're talking about."

"Yes, but sadly, only the more mature few would be able to understand his situation. Since he would not be able to easily venture out on his own, that chance is already slim enough. This is why we cannot stop him, I can only take time and spend it with him more. As I see it, once he finishes this, he would already be one step closer to being what is hopefully normal in the eyes of the others out there, maybe even amazing enough that they would want to get to know him."

"Miss Valerie, please calm your thoughts slightly, you're rambling again out of concern."

"Ah, I'm sorry Noir."

Silence lingered in the room as their thoughts were sorted through, walking over the cart Noir refilled both of the teas roaming around the study momentarily before settling onto an open seat. Gazing at her reflection in tea she traced the edge of the cup shifting through ideas to change the subject.

The tapping of a pen filled the room in combination with the clock, this had only served to slightly strain the awkwardness of the current mood.

"Did you learn any new magic yet?"

"Ah!"

Startled by the sudden voice of Valerie, Noir had spilled the still steaming tea onto her hand. Noticing the accident, Valerie quickly stood up panicked, and hurriedly arrived at Noir's side to fan the area.

"Miss Valerie! You're using the documents!"

"Ah!"

"Pfft... Ahaha."

"Little twerp, you're too young and a bit impolite to make fun of your elders... and the madam of the house."

"Oh, I'm so sorry madam."

"Do you feel better?"

"Yes, thank you..."

"Then, why don't we continue, have you learned any new magic?"

"No madam, but I am learning the concept of fire."

"Oh? You seemed excited and cheery again, would you like to talk about what you learned?"

"Yes please madam."

Watching Noirs grin, Valerie had also revealed a smile, as she steadily walked back to put away the work for tomorrow, she then took a seat across from Noir and relaxed before nodding at Noir.

"Fire, madam, is produced by energizing certain molecules with mana."

"Oh? so it doesn't generate like magic either huh?"

"Pfft, madam this isn't a fantasy novel, even these elements have principles in them, science and these gifts correlate."

"Does technology apply to this?"

"No, not this madam, only certain people have the mana to combine the two, most of us are simpler in the ability we have."

"...Okay, continue."

"With mana, we focus on the molecules in an object, firstly for fire, we create the spark, focusing on the element iron, which is present in most everything and quickly them expose to oxygen, the surfaces of the iron particles will spontaneously ignite and give off heat as they oxidize, or known as rust."

"Why would you rust them first for a spark?"

"Because the surface area of the iron particles is so large compared to their volume, the particles quickly heat up and glow red hot. Becoming, sparks."

"Oh!"

"Yes, madam, second to creating the spark is then quickly energizing the other elements, oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen to gather quickly towards the center of the spark. Mainly, oxygen is focused on."

"I see, so is this how fire is created?"

"Haha no there's one more madam, we need the fuel, the will need to be something acting as the fuel of the fire. You see, atoms in the fuel heat up and begin to vibrate until they break free of the bonds holding them together, releasing themselves as volatile gases. These gases react with oxygen in the surrounding atmosphere. This chemical reaction causes a lot of heat, so much heat, in fact, that it is permanent, as long as there's fuel and oxygen. The flames of the fire are the release of some of the heat energy as light."

"Wait, Noir, you're talking about oxygen a lot, what happened to the other two?"

"Oh, the other two were used to quickly build a blazing flame without the slow process of the beginning flames."

"Wow! splendid Noir! Don't be causing explosions around here okay?"

"Madam, in actuality there are specialties, simple magic such as this is easily stopped and uses a large amount of mana, I, myself have learned water production and am in the process of fire production for simple necessities. More complex magics such as explosion have a longer endeavor."

As Noir and Valerie continued to chat about Noirs weekend lessons the night continues to pass away outside, and the chirps of the crickets could softly be heard.

*****

"So, Lang is taking a trip in a little bit huh?"

"Yeah, isn't this the perfect chance to mess with him a bit?"

"It can't be traced back to us right?"

"No, it's a simple kidnapping, we'll tell them not to hurt him, only to scare him."

"Perfect plan brother, I can't wait to!"

"Tsk, that maid shouldn't have pissed me off. What's wrong with a little bullying? It builds character, doesn't it?"

"Right! He'll have to man up and mature."

Two small silhouettes could vaguely be seen as they continued down the alley within the twist and turns in the town.