We passed Lilly Weare, who stormed past us holding an enormous stack of old books and manuscript scrolls under her armpit. It looked like she didn't even comb her hair before leaving her room. Or perhaps she stayed up all night studying.

"First year was hard, but not hard enough to study all night," Florencia said after Lilly passed the corner, heading up to her room. "She looks tired and pale."

"Well, not everyone has their own genius to get them through the classes. "The Art of Logic" with master Calderro would have been impossible if you didn't explain it to me."

"Flattery won't serve you today," Florencia smiled, and urged me to walk faster to get to her toffee canoes.

"Wasn't supposed to."

We reached one of the four grand corridors of the main building of Cappesand. The ancient sorcerer architects built the Cappesand Academy with towering gothic styled archways, tall windows of painted mosaics, which overlooked the courtyards and parks. The ten-meter-tall ceilings depicted scenes of a forgotten age. Under our boots, the tiled floors echoed with the footsteps of hundreds of students, teachers, and masters of the crafts.

There were already many students in the four grand halls at eight in the morning. Some were only now finishing up their studies, having studied throughout the night, and looked like they were in the state between awakeness and sleep. Other students were fresh, washed, and clean, ready for the day. They dodged the many exhausted aspirants and rushed towards their lectures.

"Oh, there's Keon again," Florencia said, and waved good morning to a young man who appeared from behind a grey pillar. Keon Zek's skin looked sickly again, and with deep bags under his eyes from many long nights studying. He has always been an average student, but got along with Florencia well enough, even though they had been studying in separate fields for the past two years. While he always had been thin, the past few weeks he had been losing so much weight that the sleeves of his ragged-looking tunic appeared almost empty, and his shoulder blades looked pointy. He had this oily and unkempt look to him, with his hair sticking together in thick clumps.

"Still reading that book?" I asked out of politeness, but took a step back from his sweaty stink.

"Mhm!" Keon grunted and moved past us without making eye contact.

"Get some sleep, Keon. You look tired. And eat something." Florencia said, while he rushed past us, pushing his stack of books against his chest. Keon not only looked tired but also had this strange distant and dreamy look in his eyes, like he was somewhere far away instead.

"I'm fine," Keon said impatiently and waved goodbye from a few steps away.

"Oh, alright then!" Florencia said, in shock. Keon dashed ahead and turned left toward the dormitories. His dark and unwashed coat casting tall, dancing shadows on the floor.

Florencia looked after Keon for a moment and said: "We used to get along so well. Now he barely even talks to me."

"That happens sometimes. Maybe he has a lot to study," I said. Florencia agreed, and we moved on to get some breakfast.

We were in the large dining hall on the ground floor, where a hundred students from all different classes and ages were eating, and talking about the differences between various techniques and theories they were told to study by their teachers. Florencia and I passed them and made our way to a small available seating area just next to them. The dining hall was always full in the morning, and rarely had lots of free seats. We sat down next to each other, with our legs and shoulders touching, and slowly ate our food.

After I finished my simple plate of meat pie and tea, I asked Flo when she would finish her classes today. I timed my question right when she was chewing a large piece of her pastry, so she had to swallow her food before she could speak. That made her angry, and that's exactly why I did it.

She was shooting daggers at me while trying to chew down her last pieces of breakfast. After finally doing so, she answered: "I have classes with Karim Mas until evening, and then I'm all yours!" I could swear she put an emphasis on those last words, but I could be wrong. The mess hall was loud and the debate to my right was heating up.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Alright. So you'll be finished around six?"

Florencia nodded and said: "Master Mas needs me to come in early today, so I need to go soon."

She had a few specks of bread on her upper thighs, and I nonchalantly wiped them off onto the floor. I did that a bit slower than necessary, trying to extend the physical contact for a little longer. When I looked back up at her, she was smiling and said, "Let's get out of here. I'm almost late already."

We started stacking our dishes on the tray, when she said: "Come on, Jonas. Try to levitate the tray just this one time, for my birthday. I'll catch them if it falls."

"You can't use your birthday as an excuse to make me do whatever you want," I complained. "I've failed it every time. Actually, just this time, why don't you do it? I bet you can't," I challenged Florencia, knowing full well it wouldn't even be a challenge for her.

Florencia scoffed, frowned her brow out of concentration, and closed her left fist so her knuckles turned white. The plates, mugs, and forks organized themselves on top of each other and floated in front of her. To further destroy my ego, she even made them dance to a little melody she was singing. Even though I knew perfectly well that she was proficient in telekinesis, and had been for years now, the way she used it so effortlessly made me feel like a goof.

"Too easy!" she said.

"Show off."

Instead of replying, Florencia winked and held her gaze for what felt like a minute. There was something... new to her behavior this morning. The way she held eye contact longer, how she responded to physical touch, or her odd choice of words, were unusual and unlike how she usually acted. There was a new dynamic which I could not recognize.

We put away the tray and dirty dishes, and moved towards the little courtyard between the dormitory wing and the Cartere wing, named after the founder of the Craft of Diplomacy in Cappesand - Ronario Cartere. Florencia had most of her classes there, while mine were on the other side of the campus.

There was a new idea which had taken root in my mind some time ago. The Cappesand Academy was meant for gifted students of magic, and while I could use magic for a few simple telekinesis techniques, I was far from being gifted in it. I came to the realization that the only reason I was still studying in Cappesand was to help Florencia and support her and her studies. Moreso, I was never punished for skipping classes, only for failing tests. They just let me do my thing, and rarely intervened. It was almost like I was a guest who was given a bed and food, with the only obligation of looking after Florencia and keeping her engaged in studies. Perhaps her masters did notice her rebellious tendencies?

That realization was both liberating and devastating. I was free to do what I wanted, while knowing that I wasn't gifted enough for Cappesand. The magical gift is unique already, with perhaps less than a hundred powerful mages in the country of Lienor. To waste such a gift such was disgraceful, and to understand that I was a glorified cheerleader to Florencia, was crushing.

"Already falling for the dark thoughts again? I hoped I could keep your mood up for longer," Florencia asked. She sat down on the stone bench overlooking a circular area of spiny evergreen bushes, whose berries were a natural laxative. Her words shook me out of it, and I stared at her dark-green eyes in shock.

"Did-?"

"Why do you always think so little of yourself?" Florencia continued with subdued anger and frustration. She looked away, turning her golden braided hair to me. She never did like when I made self-deprecating jokes, or when I put myself down. Were my thoughts so well perceived by her?

"Are my thoughts so easy to read?" I asked.

"No, but I can sense your emotions when they're very intense," she said, still looking away into the distance.

My thoughts stopped. Florencia said that she could sense my intense emotions. Does that mean-?

"Aspirant Regalla. Our study session is beginning. Would you, perhaps, wish to be on time?" We heard a pompous voice from behind the spiny bushes. It was Karim Mas, who was walking towards us with his characteristic slow walk and exaggerated swinging of arms. He wore an exquisite and finely tailored robe of blue and grey silk, with a deep burgundy coat hanging on his shoulders. Obviously, they were very expensive.

"Ugh!" Florencia rolled her eyes. She turned back towards me and hunched over, almost as if she tried to appear smaller than she was, and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I can't stand him anymore. He always has to belittle me. I just can't take it."

"It's only for a few hours, Flo," I said, wrapping my arms around her and stroking her hair. "And then a certain someone has a birthday party to go to." We hugged often, but this time it felt more than a mere familiar embrace. Maybe I was reading too much into it. But she did clearly say that she could sense my emotions. Did that mean that she knew what I had suppressed?

"Maybe," Florencia said, smiling weakly, still avoiding looking at me. My heart stopped, and I didn't dare do a single thing that second. "I can't wait for tonight, Jonas." Florencia then kissed me on the cheek, a warm and radiating kiss, not something polite and casual. Then she quickly disappeared with master Kas toward her classroom.

She knew! It was clear to me that she did. There was no way that she couldn’t, not after how she acted this morning. Her ability to sense emotions was one of her strengths, and there was no way that I could have fooled her by acting disinterested.

I watched as Florencia left with Master Kas; her steps more purposeful and her hips swaying more than usual. And as she turned the corner, I couldn’t help but feel an unmistakable bubble of joy radiating inside me.

It was a little parting gift from her, letting me know that she was aware of my true feelings for her. And it seemed that she had finally deemed it appropriate to let me know.

The evening ahead promised to be more interesting than I had anticipated.