Boredom.

Her first day was full of it—them having covered the basics of Alchemy. She already knew the basics. She knew the theory. It had been burnt into her brain over the years by her last teacher, so of course she'd ended up staring out the window and absentmindedly answering all the questions thrown her way. Her boredom hadn't gone unnoticed either, and Leia knew she quickly veering from her relatively safe genius status into child prodigy territory.

That was a whole other ballgame.

Child prodigies were far rarer than geniuses. They weren't the same thing. Not when it came to Alchemy and Assassination—both of which Kiryin Palace was well known for.

Child prodigies were far too mature for their age, and when coupled with explosive growth and the ability to pretty much learn whatever they set their minds to made it hard for them to interact with others of the same age group.

Exactly like she was struggling to do at that moment.

Her plan of fly under the genius radar wasn't working as she expected it to... which had led her to her next plan...

The plan to make a friend.

Which was how she found herself surrounded by people only two or so years older than her... well, physically at least.

"What's your favourite colour?"

Her eye twitched.

"Do you have a boy you like?"

Her eye twitched.

"Alchemy is more important than boys..." she muttered, rolling her eyes.

"So you do like someone?"

Her eye twitched, and then she excused herself from the dining table. It was late, and she already had something she wanted to do—and that didn't involve sitting and talking to hormonal fifteen-year-olds.

"Oh hell..." Her shoulders slumped. "I'm gonna have to go through puberty again..."

She shook her head, staring out across the training grounds. She'd gone there far too often in her last life, so it hadn't taken her long to figure out where to go.

There was only one problem, though.

It wasn't empty.

Instead, there was a small black-haired boy standing in front of a straw-padded training post—punching the living daylights out of it.

He was around her age, about level with her height, and that made him a perfect training partner. He realised that soon after, so it came as no surprise when he tottered over to her. "Want to spar?" he asked, his voice hesitant.

"Umm... Sure?"

She had nothing to lose, aside from her pride. Though she loathed to admit it, she was rusty. Very rusty. Her old instructors would've been disgraced at her lack of form and finesse.

Still, she had no problems keeping up with him.

Which was why she was grinning as they fought, relishing in the sound of skin meeting skin as their fists and palms slammed into each other.

"You're pretty good..." The boy smiled, pulling away, dropping his fists back to his sides, watching as she did the same. "What's your name? I don't think I've seen you around the place..."

"Leia. You?"

"Alden," he said. "Want to meet up again?"

Leia paused, blinking. Was he asking her out on a date? How very forward of him, she mused and then laughed at the thought. "You want to be sparring partners?"

"Yep. Most of the people my instructors make me fight are bigger than me... I've never really sparred with someone my height before..." He nodded. "I'm always here in the evenings—it's my free time."

"Well, I'm planning on coming here whenever I can after classes..."

"I guess I'll see you around then?"

"Sure," she mumbled, mulling over his name silently. It sounded oddly familiar, and she had no idea why.

The only thing she knew was that he was being trained under the assassin side of Kiryin Palace. With his skills there was no doubt. Shrugging slightly she wandered over to one of the training posts, not bothering to watch as the boy left the courtyard, ducking back into one of the open corridors—vanishing into the darkness without a sound in a manner fitting of a trainee assassin.