Meeting Daren and Chris

Daren snapped out of his thoughts and glared at Chris.

"Don't be ridiculous. I just saw Deputy Heston and was wondering who is the girl sitting next to her."

Chris raised his hands in surrender.

"Yes, yes. Of course, the study fiend young master of the Forolan family would never fall in love at first sight with a woman. That does look like Deputy Heston, though. How about we go greet her and meet the new girl?"

Chris resisted the urge to tease Daren further and gleefully dragged him over towards Deputy Heston and her companion.

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While Ramona and Aayla chatted about what they each had been up to after Ramona went back to Tellus many years ago, they noticed a sunny young man who was dragging his pale, dark haired friend over from the shop next door. As they got closer, Aayla thought that they looked strangely familiar.

"Good afternoon, Deputy Heston. Daren and I just arrived at Forest Waypoint a couple of hours ago and saw you lovely ladies having lunch. Do you mind if we join you for a bit?"

The sunny young man smiled sweetly while his companion kept stealing glances at Aayla. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked at Ramona. The blond young man gave off the feeling of a self proclaimed, manipulative 'nice guy' from Terra, and the glances of the dark haired one felt a bit intense and creepy. Her godmother gestured for the boys to have a seat.

"What a coincidence. We were speaking about both of you earlier today with Headmaster Marin. Go ahead, have a seat."

The dark-haired young man blinked in surprise while annoyance contorted the sunny young man's face at the mention of the headmaster.

"What troublesome thing does that annoying old man want now?"

"Please watch your language, Mr. Vear. That 'annoying old man' is the headmaster. Aayla, this is Mr. Daren Forolan from a magic family down south and his attendant, Mr. Christopher Vear. Mr. Forolan and Mr. Vear, this is my goddaughter Aayla Glowery. She's acting as my assistant at the old Nafriton Residence Hall this year."

The dark-haired boy bowed his head slightly towards Aayla while the sunny young man smiled and waved.

"Oh! The goddaughter you've always been bragging about? Hello, Miss Glowery. You can just call me by my nickname, Chris. This guy over here is Daren. Don't take it personally if he rarely talks. He's just super shy."

"Nice to meet you, Chris and Daren. I look forward to working with you all."

Daren internally sighed. Another one trying to scheme her way into his good graces? So even Deputy Heston's goddaughter is like that. He has so many girls trying to get his attention that the situation's not funny anymore. So much time and energy lost to their antics.

"Yeah, if we have a group project together, that would be fun. Are you a first year? We're second years, so having a group project together will be difficult though," Chris replied, trying to subtly add some distance between Daren and Aayla.

"Ah, no! That's not what I meant. The headmaster assigned you to Nafriton Residence Hall to help me with student management this year."

Daren and Chris looked surprised then very concerned. What? What about their dorm room in one of the new on campus dormitories? The Nafriton Residence Hall is ancient and so far away from campus. Is that dormitory even habitable for humans?! We already went through so much trouble to keep our dorm room a secret to avoid all of those pesky recruiters and single young ladies!

Seeing their confusion, Ramona decided to explain further.

"You'll hear about your assignment from the headmaster when you get to campus. Technically, I'm in charge of the dormitory while Aayla will be helping me as the resident advisor. You two will be more like assistants to the resident advisor.

To thank you for your help in advance, this meal will be on me! Feel free to pick whatever you like. This restaurant serves an excellent chicken cordon bleu panini and iced coffee if you need recommendations."

The boys sat in stunned silence. So, Miss Glowery didn't have any weird thoughts. It was that meddlesome headmaster that did. That mischievous old man is the only one that they knew who would secretly volunteer them for something troubling and not even tell them in person!

A simply dressed waiter appeared to take their orders. The group quickly chose their lunches, which the waiter took back into the kitchen. Ramona happily sipped on her coffee while Aayla fiddled with her hair and tried her best to avoid awkward conversation. Chris put on his most charming smile and tried to talk with Aayla.

"So, Aayla what did you do over the summer? Daren and I just came back from our home town of Halcyon. The weather is quite nice in the summer. It's a bit humid though. If you can, you should visit some time."

"That sounds nice. I just spent the past few months with my parents."

"Spending time with family is always fun. Where did you all go?"

"Somewhere remote up north in the wilderness. We just investigated some ruins."

"So, did you do anything exciting?"

Aayla's eye twitched slightly. Her trip was way too exciting. So much so that 'boring is best' has become her new personal mantra.

"It was fairly uneventful up until I left."

"Oh. Well, what is your major? Are you studying ancient history under Deputy Heston?"

"Technically, I'm a staff member and not a student."

"Were you able to get everything that you needed today? Daren and I know where some good shops are if you still need somethings."

"Thank you, but my godmother already helped me get everything that I need."

Chris lips twitched as he tried not to frown. Is there something wrong with his face?! Women bend over backwards to make him happy and can't stop talking when he smiles. Why is it so hard to get information out of this little girl?!

Daren tried hard to hold back his laughter. He had never seen his friend fail so badly talking with a woman. Normally they became putty in Chris's hands. Never before has a woman been so uninterested in Christopher Vear or his face. Coming over to talk with the Deputy Headmaster wasn't a bad idea after all.

Internally, Aayla squirmed uncomfortably as she tried to answer Chris's probing questions as vaguely as possible. How does he manage to ask all of the questions that she can't answer truthfully? When dining at a restaurant, one should just eat and not ask so many questions!

The long questions and short responses continued until their food arrived. Chris was relieved when he had a valid excuse to stop his questioning without embarrassing himself. As Daren's aid, how could he fail to get any real information out of a little girl? Especially with a gorgeous face like his own?

His pride wouldn't allow him to give up, so Chris continued chatting and trying to get information. Deputy Heston's mouth was like a steel trap as always. Aayla clearly took after her in more ways than their area of study. The conversation slowly turned to the plans for Nafriton Residence Hall in the upcoming semester.

While in the middle of their meal, a commotion broke out across the street. There were only a few yells and hastily running passengers. That's not completely abnormal. Passengers are late all the time and the rude ones push others out of their way.

"Ramona, is that commotion normal?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it. At most some idiot couldn't control their companion magical beast properly. Security can easily handle these types of situations."

Aayla watched the train station warily while the rest continued their meal unconcerned. However, the commotion didn't stop. The screams increased and within seconds passengers stampeded out of the station with their luggage. Some were sucked under the wave of people or fell of the sides of the stairs. Several soldiers pushed through the crowd to go in. Onlookers and the escaped passengers gathered in the street to watch the commotion.

The shops nearby, however, were calm. This was an uncommon but regular event for them. Many were even happy. Hawkers quickly changed their wares and sales pitches to offer medicines, calming drinks and snacks. Aayla was speechless. These peddlers really knew how to adapt with the times!

Ramona suddenly turned her head towards the station and frowned. An entire platoon of soldiers rushed along the street and into the screaming mass of people. She quickly pulled out some bills and stuffed them into Aayla's hand.

"Something is going terribly wrong. I'm sensing a strong surge in mana at the train station. You three should leave quickly. Aayla, take the carriage back to Nafriton. That should be enough for the meal and a carriage ride for a single person. You two might want to cut your visit short as well."

As soon as she finished, Ramona rushed off. Daren and Chris continued eating calmly while Aayla looked at the paper notes in her jittery hands.

"Shouldn't we go now?"

Daren looked at the station and shook his head.

"It's fine. Deputy Heston is there and the mana is starting to stabilize. With the soldiers, the situation –"

A thunderous boom cut off Daren's words, shattered the windows and threw everyone to the ground.