“Is this a good time to be here?” Lily murmured to Aida, standing in the doorway. Aida peeked over her head

“I don’t know,” she said uncertainly. “They seem like they’re having a pretty heated debate.”

Just inside the door was a foyer, where she could see several Affiliates standing as they listened to the commotion in the living room just beyond. A few of the Affiliates less interested in what was happening in the living room glanced over to the two girls.

“Hi there, to what do we owe the pleasure?” a middle-aged Wood woman with broad shoulders stepped up to them, preventing them from entering the building. She had a disarming smile on her face. Aida recalled she was an Adventurer.

“We’re looking for Healer Bokar,” Lily said, doing her best to appear unbothered and uncurious about what was happening in the living room.

“Sure thing. Why don’t you wait outside while I go grab him for you?" The Adventurer shut the door, muffling the noise.

“What was that all about?” Aida mumbled.

“I don’t know, but it sounded pretty serious,” Lily muttered back. She stepped away from the door, glancing nervously back at the building. “Definitely an argument of some sort. But why would Affiliates argue with each other?”

Before Aida could respond, the door opened again and this time Healer Bokar stepped out, pushing his glasses up his nose.

“Hello, you two! I hear you're looking for me?”

“Hi! Remember that conversation we were having last Moon where you were talking about the efficacy and instability of the harmony herb? Well, I thought it was such a shame that you were limited by the finicky nature of the herb, so I thought I would try and breed in some stability so that you can use it for your antidotes,” Lily said breathlessly. She thrust out the potted plant to Bokar, who instead of leaning away from the foreign plant the way Aida had, leaned closer to the flower, a mystified expression on his face.

“This…this certainly does look like the harmony herb’s flower, but instead of a stem, it’s on a…”

“A soothing succulent as a base.” Lily nodded vigorously. “The succulent is the most stable plant that didn’t get overwhelmed by the harmony plant’s inherent chaotic nature, but even then there was an element of chance where the succulent wasn’t able to preserve its nature. I think I got lucky with this one.”

“This is incredible,” Bokar said, blinking at the plant. “And you grew this all by yourself?”

Aida felt like she was having an out-of-body experience, watching Lily and Bokar geek out about a random plant. She was a bystander, watching these two feed on each other’s excitement, not invited to their celebration of Lily’s success.

She was happy for Lily, and gratified that Bokar was ecstatic about her achievement - especially as someone who better understood the significance of her breakthrough. But for some inexplicable reason, she couldn’t help but feel so…alone. She was heavily aware she was being immature, feeling neglected and lonely when she should be celebrating her friend.

But…watching how easily the two of them got along, despite each person having a different background and expertise, made Aida realize just what she had potentially lost by telling Ezra the truth about her origins. Of course he had pushed her away; anybody in their right mind, when confronted with such a bizarre situation, would rather distance themselves. Crazy situations were unpredictable, and nobody needed the stress of unpredictability.

Furthermore, Levi had effectively told her she was on her own, because he couldn’t support her while she was in a relationship under false pretenses with Ezra. And though she had just told Ezra the truth, leading him to push her away, she couldn’t bring this situation to Levi because it would look like she was just using him for comfort. No - it wouldn’t look like I’m running to him for comfort. I would be running to him for comfort.

On the other hand, since she had done what she believed was right - no more lies - she might as well see it through to the end. If Ezra was going to treat her as the malicious spirit Levi had first suggested she might be, she might as well find out as soon as possible if that was the case. Because in this current state of limbo while she waited for him to reach his own conclusions, she would only spiral into an all-consuming pit of anxiety and self-pity, and she needed clarity for her next steps - the same clarity she had when she realized she really did like Ezra, and she wasn’t going to just let him continue festering in doubt when she could at least mitigate some of the incorrect assumptions he was sure to make about her.

“I’m going to head back to my room,” Aida said abruptly to Lily and Bokar. They turned to her, Lily’s cheeks flushed and Bokar’s eyes sparkling. “Thanks for letting me come along, Lily. I’ll see you later, Healer Bokar.”

“Enjoy the rest of your evening,” Bokar said, smiling. “Sorry for neglecting you! Let’s chat later this star cycle.”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

Waving at Lily and Bokar, Aida felt buoyed by her plan - it wasn’t a clear master plan to win Ezra back, but at least she was going to demand some amount of control over her fate.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Aida ran into Ezra at the school entrance; he seemed to have been looking for her as well. They approached each other slowly, stopping a cautious distance away.

“…dinner?”

Aida blinked, keeping hope under control. “Sure.”

Ezra stepped back to allow Aida into the school, and they headed to the dining hall together, albeit with an arm’s length distance between the two of them.

“Did you…” Aida trailed off, uncertain what she wanted to ask. Do I have time to change his mind?

“…I think so.” Ezra seemed to steel himself before he said next, “Let’s talk…after we eat.”

Dinner was a tense, silent affair, both of them unwilling to meet each other’s eyes. It was a harsh reminder that the dinners they’d been having the other nights, despite not being overtly romantic, were certainly intimate.

As soon as Aida forced down her last bite, Ezra stood up with his tray and walked away, leaving Aida to hurry after him. He led her to an empty classroom, checking to make sure no one saw them before indicating for her to enter.

Aida leaned against a desk, eyeing Ezra warily. She supposed it was a good sign that he didn’t seem to be angry; his mana, though tense, wasn’t as chaotic as it was when she first revealed she wasn’t Aida.

Ezra lifted his chin, firming his shoulders. “So. You said your real name is Annie.”

Aida nodded.

“Tell me about the world you came from, Annie.” Ezra’s voice was calm and controlled. His request was neutral, and Aida didn’t get the sense that he was waiting to catch her in a lie; he seemed like he just wanted to know. Regardless, the clinical veneer over their interactions hurt.

“It…is very different from here. We don’t have any mana; nobody has any special spiritual abilities.”

“So that is why you didn’t know how to use mana.” Statement of fact, no judgment.

Aida nodded again.

“You are human?”

“Of course.”

“How can you profess to have a soul, if you do not have mana?” Some of Ezra’s tension threatened to spill through, air beginning to swirl in the room.

Aida’s brow wrinkled as she wondered how to explain. She had picked up some cultural knowledge during her three-month immersion experience, but she was certain there were still some facets she was missing.

“I guess the most accurate way to explain it is that we have mana, but we don’t have the ability to harness and control it the way you can here. All of us are like the regular civilians in Shale Port or Buddington Town: we are alive, but can’t develop any control over the elements.”

“You said your future in your world was bleak. Does that mean you lived in undeveloped conditions? If none of you had mana, I would imagine your civilization never progressed past hunting villages.”

“Actually…I think we progressed further than what you have here.” At Ezra’s skeptical eyebrow raise, Aida elaborated. “We might not have mana abilities, but as a civilization we developed physics-based technology - machines and golems - to do many things.” Aida bit her lip, wondering how she would describe the internet to him. Did they even have a telephone equivalent? The Gullbeaks seemed to get all of their important news by word of mouth, and they never seemed to talk about what was going on in other cities. “In order to make up for our individual weaknesses relative to people here, society as a whole banded together to invent things that made life easier - and the efficiency allowed our cities to develop beyond what I’ve seen here.”

“If your world is that much more advanced than what we have here, that seems at odds with your ‘bleak future.’”

“It’s…bleak for my family. I suppose my situation is the same as Aida’s - we don’t have the family name, connections, or wealth…I didn’t have the opportunity to attend a school with the renown even remotely similar to Maglica Academy.”

Ezra’s eyes lowered thoughtfully. “So to you, your predicament in Aida’s position is an improvement?”

Aida nodded guiltily. “Even though she’s the worst-performing student in the year, her individual gift puts her far ahead of where I am in terms of opportunities. Even without Maglica, the fact she can control water means she’ll at least have some sort of advantage over the normal civilians.”

“Fascinating,” Ezra murmured. “So the effort you put in…”

“That was me,” Aida said, unable to keep a note of defensiveness out of her voice. “I don’t know what skills Aida knew or her progress before I came here, but I do know that her mana pool and physical fitness was ridiculously underdeveloped. If three moon cycles was enough for me to become somewhat competent, then I don’t know what she was doing for the past ten years. Respectfully speaking,” she added.

“I understand, and that wasn’t judgment from me. I’m asking these questions because—“ Ezra hesitated, looking vaguely embarrassed. “—although I’m aware it is not right - however, one could argue none of this is right - I can’t help but feel you should be allowed to take this life. I suppose I am looking for justification to accept that…you should remain here.”

Aida blinked, scarcely able to believe her ears. “You…you accept me? Taking over Aida’s life?”

Ezra’s cheeks were red now. “I realize my motivation is driven by selfish desires, but yes. At the moment, I see no issue with you being Aida.”

A wave of relief washed over Aida, and she sank to her knees, a whimper unwittingly escaping her throat. Ezra was by her side in a second, apologies spilling from his lips.

“Why are you apologizing?” Aida asked, laughing through her tears of relief as she reached for him. It’s okay, I won’t be alone.

“Even though I see no issue with you as Aida, I still fear there is a deeper significance to your presence being here.”

Aida stared at him dumbly, not comprehending. Ezra pulled her to her feet, his hands slipping from hers.

“You may not intend harm to us, the occupants of this world, but I believe it would be prudent to discover why, or how, you arrived here.”