12 Chapter Twelve

The man before Rielen was ignoring her. 'The nerve. He had me dragged all the way up here and he ignores me?' She tapped her foot in impatience. The man didn't seem to notice her agitation. 

He kept scratching at a piece of paper with a pen. After what felt like forever, he organized the papers he had been working on, and laid them down on a pile to his right. He folded his hands on his desk, and looked her straight in the eye.

"It seems that you have learned a new power."  His voice was filled with command. Rielen gulped and nodded in response. "I will forgive it this one time," he warned her. "However, if I hear you have left the palace grounds again without permission, there will be severe consequences. I have awarded the girls several resources with which to protect them. I will be obeyed."

Rielen suddenly realized the man was wearing the royal crest on his hand. The King!  She had offended the King. She bit her lip as she waited for her punishment. 

"However, since you have awoken such a rare power, I feel as if I must reward you."  She looked up in amazement. The man before her scratched at his beard for a moment. "You may have visiting hours after dinner once a week." 

Visiting hours? "I assume this will curb your interest to appear before your childhood friend in the future?"  The last sentence made her shudder. The King's aura was hard to take in. Rielen managed to squeak out a yes. He dismissed her and she was escorted, less roughly this time, back to her rooms. 

Hyla greeted her with relief. Thankfully, she had thought ahead, and a tray of food was waiting for her. Hyla laughed as the food quickly disappeared.  She helped Rielen bathe, and for the first time, Rielen slept soundly in this dreary castle. 

In fact, she slept so deeply, Hyla had to shake her awake in the morning. Rielen made it to breakfast just in enough time to grab a pastry and choke it down before making it to class. Her schedule had been rearranged where she had Ms. Humphreys first thing. 

It was a terrible start to the day, but the thought of getting to see Eon weekly fueled her. She managed to get through her general lessons quickly, with few mistakes. Even Humphreys seemed satisfied with her work today. 

"That is all for today. I'm afraid that I won't have anything left to teach you before long. Keep up the good work. It's nice to see you applying yourself again."  Rielen couldn't believe the words she just heard. Before she could say anything back, her teacher had already left the room. 

Lunch was the same, but Rielen finally wanted to listen to the conversation going on again. She was not ready for the barrage of questions though. "You met the King?  What does he look like?"

She did her best to explain the encounter to them. They were equally amazed about the visiting hours. "To think that was even an option?  I wish I had a cute childhood friend to visit me."  Rielen rolled her eyes and finished her breakfast. She didn't know if she would ever fit into this group of girls. At least things were starting to get easier. 

She began a new individual studies class to help her harness her new powers. Since there were no other purple users, it was mainly just magic theory. They kept her in a special magic room that made it impossible for magic to leave the room. 

This seemed to be the King's way of letting her know that she could still be imprisoned if need be. She kept a low profile though and was on her best behavior. There was no way she was going to ruin her time with Eon. 

Soon she was able to teleport a few times across the room. Unfortunately, it seemed she lost a bit of time with each teleportation. I guess I didn't lose track of time that day. The cost of this magic is your time. With this realization she wondered, is this really teleportation magic? 

I wonder if I applied it in another way if I could actually discover the true nature of this power. She ended up having long discussions with her magic theory teacher about it. He was fascinated with her power. They would often go overtime trying out different tests and applications. 

Alfred often has to come find her so they made the new room their new classroom. "It's better this way anyway. We can go a little wild without disturbing the outside world."  He smiled devilishly at her. She had been dying to test out the limits of her nature magic so she agreed wholeheartedly. 

It was like a fire was lit under her. Her magical control skyrocketed. "Your capacity for magic is amazing!"  Alfred would often exclaim to her. The envy in his eyes was unmistakable. Spells that would take him hours to finish took her half the time. 

"That's it, I have nothing else to teach you. You are officially a Nature Mage. Normally you would be sent out into the world. In your case I am sure the King will keep you here until you master this other power."

Eon's POV

He received a notice on his bed. He could visit her!  He quickly scanned the rules for his visits and times. I can see her once a week!  He had never been so giddy since before he had come to the capital. He even clapped Tam on the back at breakfast. 

"Well. Well. I must be hallucinating. Did Eon acknowledge me without using violence."  He had his hand to his heart playing up his joke. "Would you rather a punch to the face?"  Tam looked as though he was contemplating it very deeply.

Eon made a fist and raised his eyebrows. "Ok. Ok. I accept the acknowledgement.  Put that dangerous thing away."  Like I could catch you he thought silently to himself. Tam as usual was the center of conversation and Eon droned everything out as he ate. 

I wonder what she will want to talk about?  It was like he couldn't think of anything they used to discuss. It had been so long since they had an actual conversation.  He would have to come up with some conversation topics. 

It's not like he could ask one of the guys. Many of them still believed girls should not be allowed to learn magic. Although, Rielen suddenly popping up out of nowhere had silenced most of those arguments. 

Why was it so hard to think of a topic?  Come on Eon, you used to talk endlessly with her. It's not like he could go look for a stone in the river here when he ran out of things to discuss. A gift!  I could make her something. He had recently been learning how to use his reinforcement power to mold stones. 

The best he could muster right now else's a basic oval shape. Her favorite flower. Could I make a stone into a flower?  She would always stop and smell the roses in her mother's yard. A purple rose. That is what I could give her. 

He worked day and night consumed with making her the perfect rose. There were piles of failed manipulations in his room. Tam came strolling in stumped but all the purple stones. "What you doing Eon. The guys want to play leg ball in the courtyard. You in?" 

Eon couldn't hear him though. He was too focused on making his gift for her. The time finally came to visit her. All he could manage was a basic flower form. He shook his head. I will let her know I am serious by giving her a better one each week until it's perfect. 

He entered the heavily guarded room just inside the East Wing. Rielen was seated in the lounge sipping some tea. "Eon I am so glad we can finally see each other properly."  She gave him a gorgeous smile. His heart melted and he felt tongue tied. 

She laughed at his helpless look and gestures to him in the lounge opposite her. "We are not allowed to sit next to each other. It will have to be enough for now."  Her blue dress fit her snugly around the waist. He couldn't help dragging his eyes across her figure. 

A blush came to her cheeks and he pulled up his eyes. Oh those beautiful eyes. He could get lost in them. Someone cleared their throat across the room and Eon remembered they were not alone. Her attendant served him some tea and gave him a pointed look. 

Don't forget the rules she seemed to say. She obviously didn't trust him but had no authority to stop this visit. He cleared his throat as well and pushed a small wrapped box across the table. 

Rielen's eyes lit up at the present. She looked at Hyla who nodded. She grabbed the box and excitedly opened it. "It is the best I can do for now. I hope you like it."  Eon sounded meek as he waited for approval. 

Rielen's POV

She unwrapped the gift with joy. Finally she could add another present to her collection. By now she had memorized the feel of each and every stone in her jar. She had spent hours clinging to the jar to soothe her sadness. 

A small crude flower shone inside the box. Stone manipulation was not an easy art. It was considered rather advanced. She could tell he put a lot of time into this gift for her. Her heart swelled with love. "Thank you so much Eon. I will treasure it."

The look of relief in his eyes brought a giggle out of her. He seemed drunk on every sound she made. Rielen was not blind to the attention she received from him. She teased him and made him flustered. Laughter could be heard from the two of them the full two hours of visitation. 

Regretfully Eon did eventually have to leave. She bid him goodbye, not allowed to physically come in contact with him. She had smiled so much her cheeks were sore. Hyla led her to her room smiling gently as the energy from their banter had seeped into her rigid dislike of the boy. 

He is good for her. She caught herself thinking. She shook her head and focused on turning her charge in for the night. Rielen was dancing around holding the gift to her heart. More than once Hyla had to remind her to get ready for bed. 

Eventually Rielen did settle down. She insisted on holding the small flower and fell asleep clutching it to her chest. Hyla managed to pry it from her hand and gently deposited it in the curious jar of rocks Rielen treasured above all else. She finally understood why she had treasured the jar. 

I wonder if anyone will ever make me feel like that?  She silently scolded herself. Such nonsense. As if a man could make her feel the joy of love. With that she crawled into her own bed and slept soundly.