Icefall Academy
Arktis Skyland
Northern Space

"Tell me again why I am still stuck with you?" Areisha asked him. Alec remained silent. An amused smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he watched her brows knit in annoyance. She looked adorable. When she glared at him, he forced the amusement off his face.

He heaved out a sigh before he decided to humor her rhetoric question. "Professor Linan and Doctor Warsen needs our help with the sick Draes. I need to calm them down and your Flame is needed to grow more herbs."

Without any more words, much less a glare, Areisha carried Emera, before walking off. "The sooner I'm done, the sooner I'm free from that bastard you like so much Emy," he heard her whisper to the green Draeling.

Alec looked down at his Draelings and his amusement returned. "She acts like she doesn't enjoy my company," he said. The replies he got were growls. He walked after Areisha. With his long strides, he caught up to her in a matter of seconds.

Students exiting their classrooms filled the grey hallways of Icefall Academy. Most looked up to watch the pair and their Draelings pass by. Some kept to themselves near the walls.

They turned a corner and he spotted the gate leading into the academy's greenhouse.

A small gloved hand clamped around his wrist. "Rou," a small voice said. "Alec-rou."

He turned around after Areisha did the same. The hand remained around his wrist, as he took in the young girl's appearance.

Her complexion and red attire allowed him to recognize her at once. Familiar russet eyes stared into his. The last time he saw them, they were filled with surprise and fear at Ferrin Lake during Water Conqueror. But now they were calm and...expectant?

"Philisa," he said, "I'm glad to see that you're out of the hospital. The cold water doesn't seem to have any severe effect on you."

Philisa released his hand from her hold before she bowed. Her short curly hair framed the sides of her round face.

"I thank you for saving me from the monster," she said. "I promise that I won't tell a soul that I saw it. The Council of Heavens has ordered it so."

He opened his mouth to tell the younger girl that she didn't need to sound so formal, but Areisha beat him to it.

"You don't have to be so formal around him, Philisa," she said. "He's a jerk who doesn't appreciate formality, even though sometimes he acts like a noble with a stick stuck up his―"

Alec cut her off by pinching her left cheek with two fingers. "Shut up, will you?" he said. Areisha growled at him to let go while he could hear Philisa's suppressed laughter. He eventually let go and flicked her reddening cheek. He then returned his attention on Philisa after receiving a withering look from Areisha. "What can I help you with?"

"I actually wanted to tell you something."

"Is it something private?" he asked while glancing at his brunette companion.

"It's up to you to decide whether to keep it private or not, ruo," she said. "It's about something I saw when you froze it and the lake."

Alec's brows creased in confusion. "All right, you can go ahead and tell me," he said. "Roselintine knows almost everything about my private life. She won't give a damn if she hears more."

"I can hear you," Areisha said. She was ignored.

He watched as the young girl took a deep breath before speaking. "My Sentiral Power is to see spirits and the memories they leave behind in people and places. Ones like me serve as their bridge to the physical realm."

Although confused as to where the conversation was going, he nodded for her to continue.

"I saw a Spirit Memory of your mother. One she left in you," she said.

He stilled and stared at Philisa with his mouth falling ajar. From the corner of his eye, he saw Areisha freeze in her attempt to leave him with the Parythian girl.

There was a silence lingering in the air surrounding the three of them. Philisa's gaze flickered from him to Areisha with a crease forming between her brows.

"Is something wrong, ruo?" the younger girl asked with a tilt of her head to her right.

Alec snapped out of his shock and blank mind. He did his best to send the girl a soft genuine smile.

"Nothing," he said, "I'm just...surprised."

The smile returned to Philisa's face. "I could tell she really loved you, ruo. Spirits only leave behind memories in people they love with all their heart."

Alec fell into a brief daze before his smile widened. He was right. He didn't imagine the hand caressing his face and the soft voice lulling him to sleep. His mother loved him, just like he'd hoped for since he was younger.

"What did she look like?" was all he could say while many thoughts ran through his mind.

"She was beautiful," Philisa said. She looked like she was in a trance as she continued to describe the Spirit Memory of the woman she saw. "She was fair. Long black hair framed her face. She had dark eyes. I dare say she looked like a Goddess, Alec-ruo."

Alec chuckled at the open amazement on the girl's face as she talked about his mother. He then bent so they were eye level, and planted his hands on his knees. "Thank you, Philisa," he said. "You don't know how much this means to me."

Philisa stared, then blinked her innocent eyes up at him. A smile broke on her beautiful face. "You're welcome, Alec-ruo," she said. "Thank you again for saving me." The girl bowed at him once more before she pivoted and ran off while waving her hand in goodbye.

When Philisa disappeared around the corner, Alec bent down and guided Entiny's head towards his. He nuzzled her face and the Draeling licked his cheek in return. "You heard everything right?" he asked.

"Of course she did," Areisha said with an eyeroll. Alec caught the small smile on her face before she walked away from him to hide it.

He and his Draelings ran after her. Without thinking, he wrapped an arm around her neck in a headlock. A sound, somewhere between a shriek and a gasp, escaped her lips as he dragged her to the greenhouse gate.

"What in Saggar's name―" she cut herself off. "Oh Saggar, no! I will not allow myself to be a victim of this thing you call the 'Solana Syndrome' once again."

"You already are," he said. The triplets and Emera laughed with him as they watched Areisha's attempt to escape his hold.

―――

When they finished their tasks, Linan had told them to go on back to their inn. He still needed to help the Drae Doctor and he couldn't keep the two from celebrating the twins' victory at Knoweledge Hunter with the others.

Alec and Areisha were silent, including their Draelings, as they made their way down the academy's large staircase on the mountain side. It was quiet, considering that they were the only ones walking on the steps. Areisha was giving him the cold shoulder ever since the headlock attack he did on her almost an hour ago. He was used to it though, and he chose to wait until she was calm enough to tease her again.

As they neared the last steps, he looked up and caught sight of people. They were both dressed in thick heavy dresses with green hooded cloaks. The younger of the two females, who looked about 17, wore blue, while the older one was donned in a dark green dress. The older woman's gaze was fixed on Areisha, while the younger one looked timidly at the snowy ground.

"Roselintine?" he called. He knew she would ignore him so he continued. "Aren't those two the ones you called 'bitches of your life'?"

The moment he said it, Areisha paused on a step. She subtly glanced at the approaching females and Alec heard her sharp intake of breath.

"Let's go back inside. I think I left my gloves," she said. She turned and trudged past him and back up the stairs.

Alec was about to point out that she was wearing her gloves but a woman's voice stopped him.

"Areisha Cyrene Roselintine."

Alec's gaze went to the two people standing on the lower steps. When he got a closer look, he had to admit that the two were indeed beautiful. However, when growls came from his Draelings and Emera's throats he had a feeling that it was the only time he would admit that they were as such.

When he looked at Areisha, he saw how she bit her lip with anxiousness written all over her face. She took a subtle breath before facing the new arrivals. Her usual calm and emotionless attitude quickly hid her nervousness.

Alec knitted his brows. The Areisha he knew was never nervous about anything.

"Stepmother," she said. He snapped out of his thoughts at the new information he received. He stepped back a bit from the unfolding scene. There was a nagging feeling telling him that he should not watch what will occur. But there was also another, much stronger feeling telling him to stay.

"Would it kill you to call me mother?" Areisha's stepmother asked with a smirk on her blood red lips.

Areisha greeted it with her own lips pulling back into a smirk. "I won't risk calling you as such, Lady Reina," she said. "I don't want to give you the satisfaction and finally celebrate the one thing you've been wanting to achieve: my demise."

Lady Reina gave out an obviously fake melodious laughter before releasing an exaggerated sigh. For a moement, Alec saw Areisha's mask slip, before she composed herself.

"Where is your father, you brat?" Lady Reina asked. That time, she didn't hide her spite when she called Areisha a brat.

Emera growled louder and Alec clenched his right fist.

Areisha gave a fake chuckle of her own. "Oh, I don't know," she said. "Papa has probably realized that he made a mistake in choosing you to be his replacement wife. He's probably avoiding you right now."

It seemed to Alec that her statement struck a sore spot on Lady Reina. Her soft features hardened into a glare enough to stone anyone in place. She straightened her back even further. She looked like a tyrant looking over the puny civilians of her domain.

All of a sudden, she climbed up at the stairs, surging toward Areisha. Alec squashed the urge to stand in front of Areisha when Reina raised her palm. Areisha caught her wrist in a vice grip before the woman had the chance to slap her.

"You'll slap me again? Don't you have anything new up your sleeve," Areisha said. "If you don't, I have a few." With her tone lowering menacingly with each word, Alec felt a figurative chill ran up his spine.

It was then that he knew. He finally understood why Areisha had such an attitude. She had to become bitch, as she called herself, to fend against another. It was her mask to hide everything she truly felt about her stepmother.

The sound of skin hitting skin filled the silent staircase as Reina's other hand made contact with Areisha's cheek. The force sent Areisha falling back on the steps.

In a flash, Alec caught her before she landed on the cold edges of the stairs. He didn't even want to think of the literally bloody scenario that would've happened even if he was only a second late.

"Your father will hear about this!" Reina said.

Areisha's face contorted in pain before she straightened. She wriggled out of his hold before she raised her chin in defiance.

"Go ahead and tell," she said.

With a huff, Lady Reina hiked her skirt and trudged up the stairs. She paused though, when she stood next to Alec. It was for a moment, but Alec was sure he saw something like...recognition, flash in her dark brown eyes. Entiny growled at the woman and it caused her to shrink back.

"Eila, let's go!" Reina said, before stomping up the stairs.

Her daughter had remained silent the entire time. In fact, she didn't even flinch when her mother slapped Areisha. Alec assumed, that she was probably used to seeing such a scene.

She walked up the stairs with her head down. As she passed, Areisha spoke, causing her to stop.

"How long are you going to keep silent about everything your mother has done?"

Eila though, didn't answer. She bowed at Areisha, and Alec barely heard her quiet apology.

When the two females were out of sight, Areisha attempted to walk. However, she slipped on the semi-frozen stone. She would've fallen to her doom if Alec had failed to wrap his arm around her waist. He tugged her close to his body when her legs gave out beneath her.

"Drae's shit!" Alec said as he made her sit on the stairs. Once he did so, Areisha drew her knees to her chin and curled into a ball. He could see her shaking and hear her snivels. He was at a loss as to what to do. It was the first time he saw her crying, and he certainly didn't know what to do about a crying Areisha Roselintine.

He took a deep breath and sat next to her. Without any words, he reluctantly rubbed her back. For a couple of minutes that was all he did, until his hand went to her head and threaded his fingers through her hair. Eventually, she unfurled herself from her ball and stared out at the snowy terrain with tears streaming down her cheeks. Emera hopped on her lap and purred against her.

She didn't make an attempt to wipe the tears away and they were freezing on her cheeks. Alec clicked his tongue before he reached out to her face. She stiffened like a statue when his thumb wiped away the frozen liquid trails.

"Tears don't suit you," he whispered. Stop crying, was what he meant.

He didn't stop there. He cupped the side of her face that Reina struck. She winced at the contact, and Alec took a deep breath to suppress the sudden burst of anger he felt for the noble lady. "This will bruise," he said. What will you say when the others see this? Was the other meaning of his statement. Apparently, Areisha understood him.

"I'll just say that you hit me hard when we practiced our attacks," she said.

"They won't believe you," he said as he retrieved his hand from her smooth skin. "They know very well that I will never hit your face."

She didn't reply after that, but her tears had stopped flowing. They spent a few more moments in silence until she shattered it.

"I was ten when she took me and Eila for a stroll in the woods outside our manor. Back then, I thought she was nice," she said. "While we were there, I fell on a pit where a giant snake lived. It was similar to the snake we encountered a few months ago. I cried for help but she just looked down at me without any emotion in her eyes. Eila looked panicked but she kept silent.

"Bran, my guard, saved me. He was the one who comforted me too, while she on the other hand looked disappointed. Since then, I'd been afraid of snakes...and her."

"Did your father know?" Alec asked.

She shook her head from left to right. "She threatened me that she would have Bran killed if I told Papa, Alec. Back then, Bran was the only one who cared for me. If he would be gone, I thought I would have no one."

Hearing her call him by his first name was enough to convince Alec that he should take Areisha back to the inn so she could rest. Her stepmother could really shake her up.

Entiny hopped off his shoulder as he stood. He offered a hand out to Areisha before speaking. "You did well, you know," he said with a soft smile. "You really caused her to bristle. She reminded me of an angry bull when I saw clouds of mist forming in front of her nose whenever she puffed out air."

Areisha stared at him, before a smile fought its way to her lips. She looked away and took his offered hand. With a single tug, she was up on her feet. To Alec's surprise, she embraced his waist and buried her face on his chest.

He stilled, and he could feel the heat rising to his cheeks. He took a deep breath to prevent his heart from racing and hugged her back. They pulled away soon after and made their way down the rest of the steps.

"She's dangerous. She has done things way worse than what she does to me," Areisha said. When Alec locked eyes with her, he could see the fear in their dark blue depths and the things about Reina that she kept to herself. "I'm more afraid of her than Beuen."

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ruo- Parythian for older brother or Mister