"Good morning, Tyler," Ryan spoke after gathering his bearings upon awakening.

"Good morning, sir," his servant responded.

Ryan heard his servant rising from the chair the other teen had been sitting on, then the rustling of clothes drawing closer. He sat up and turned to the side so that his legs were hanging over the edge of the bed.

"How long have you been here?" Ryan asked.

"I arrived just a few minutes ago," Tyler answered, standing in front of and to the side of Ryan. "You woke early, though I did disable your alarm. Your father asked me to, so that you could rest as long as you wished."

Ryan snorted. His father always ordered that for Ryan's birthdays, and the teen always woke before his alarms, which usually resulted in Tyler turning them off before they sounded, anyway.

"Happy birthday, sir," Tyler told him.

"Thank you," Ryan stood. "I need to pee."

He walked into his bathroom and relieved his bladder, then washed his hands, feeling the hot water on his hands. It was scalding, so he turned on the cold a little, just enough to make it manageable. After he finished, he dried his hands. The towel was soft and fluffy, and when Ryan brought it up to his nose, he smelled the light lavender scent the servants used for the towels. There were always fresh, clean towels available for him.

With his hands dry, Ryan returned to his room.

"Your outfit for today is on your bed," Tyler informed him. "Would you like to exercise first?"

"Yes," Ryan began to undress. "What's the schedule for today?"

"Your shorts and sleeveless are on your bed as well," Tyler responded as his master undressed. "As today is your birthday, your father has nothing scheduled for you outside the celebration this evening. However, I do believe he will be at each meal."

"Thank you," Ryan responded as he felt on his bed for the shorts and sleeveless he wore to exercise in. "Will there be an Appraisal?"

"Most likely," Tyler answered as he helped Ryan begin to stretch. "While it is unlikely you would be able to make anything of the results, it would still be preferable to know, yes?"

Ryan smiled at Tyler's comment. He was the only servant not afraid to voice his mind with Ryan. They were introduced when they were ten years old, as Ryan had begun to grow uncomfortable having older people around him during his more exposed times once he hit puberty.

So his father reached out to the branch families and looked for someone Ryan's age who could be trusted, and came up with Tyler, a fourth-cousin. The two had become fast friends, even if they held a master-servant relationship when others were around.

Tyler was a month older than Ryan, which his father had been concerned about, but Ryan's issue wasn't that bad. His previous servant had been a woman in her fifties, and that had bothered the growing boy.

She had been scared to voice her mind or say the truth around Ryan, and he appreciated having a servant who wasn't. He knew that no matter what his affinities were, what magics he could use if he'd awakened without awareness, would mean nothing. No matter how weak or powerful he might be, no matter how few or many affinities he held, he would never amount to anything as a wizard. He knew that Tyler was likely the only person in his family's employ who would dare to voice it, and Ryan didn't mind, as he knew Tyler meant nothing malicious by it. It was simply the truth.

But everyone was tested for their affinities, starting when they turned sixteen. That was around the time their magics could begin to awaken and when they could be read. The absolute latest would be eighteen, as while it was rare to awaken past that, most had already awakened by then.

There were ways to force awakenings as well, which were usually used on anyone who was eighteen or nineteen and had yet to awaken. As long as they could afford it or find someone to afford it for them.

"Perhaps I'll be a Specialist with mind magics," Ryan joked. "Able to talk with others by thought, not saying a word aloud. I could order breakfast as soon as I woke up!"

"And then hurry to eat it while it was warm because it arrived before you were ready," Tyler chuckled, helping Ryan with his stretches and exercises. "If you were a specialist, I think you would be perfect as a telekinetic."

"Imagine my father's reaction to that," Ryan laughed as he began pushups. "He would probably assign a dozen guards around me at all times, along with an accountant to pay for any bills because of my bad aim."

Tyler chuckled again, and Ryan once more wondered what his servant's own affinities were. He had never asked, but knew that his cousin had bloomed late, only discovering that he had awakened on his own eighteenth birthday. Ryan wasn't nosy enough to poke into his servant's business, however, and so never bothered asking. No doubt his father knew, but his father also understood Ryan enough to know he wouldn't ask.

Ryan finished his morning exercises, then they entered his bathroom once more so he could shower. Tyler dried him off after, then they returned to Ryan's room, where he dressed as Tyler moved the laundry into a hamper.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Ryan asked the usual question, already knowing the response.

"It is forbidden for servants to have relationships without permission from the head."

"Which head?" Ryan smirked.

"The family's," he could hear the amusement in Tyler's voice. "We still have time before breakfast, what would you like to do?"

"A walk into the gardens would be nice," Ryan answered. "I want to smell the flowers and morning air."

"Yes, sir," Tyler responded.

Ryan allowed Tyler to lead him to the gardens, keeping one hand on his servant's arm as they walked. When they reached the gardens, their pace slowed so that Ryan could enjoy the feel of the crisp autumn morning and the smells which filled it. His father ordered the garden planted when Ryan was only six, and while back then, Ryan wasn't aware of why, he knew once a few more years had passed the reason for the garden. The excuse given was to put something beautiful there, but it was for Ryan to enjoy the scents of the plants and the sounds of the insects and birds that visited it and the water that flowed through it..

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When they reached the pond, Ryan sat on the stone bench, feeling its cold hardness beneath him as he thought about love. He could ask his father allow Tyler a relationship, but knew the man would likely turn it down until Ryan pleaded, which wasn't in the teen's nature. The very fact that pleading wasn't in his nature would be the very reason his father allowed it.

But Ryan also knew that, while grateful, Tyler would likely not pursue a romance. He would need to speak with the head of his branch family, who would then arrange for a marriage with someone else within the family. At least four generations separated, though preferably five. Someone with no more than twelve and a half-percent shared DNA, though preferably someone with less than six, even if the legal side put it at twenty-five or half that in most places, with no second-cousins at all, even if they met the legal genetic difference.

Ryan himself would likely never marry, even to a fifth, sixth, or seventh cousin. When his father passed, he would take over as the head of the family as others schemed and plotted behind his back. When he would be pushed to name a successor, he would also likely be pushed towards certain members or branches of the family.

In the end, his decision would ultimately not matter. The family would end with Ryan's father as the last true head of it, and Ryan's time as its head would begin the family's fall.

He sighed, then inhaled, allowing the smell of the flowers and the bubbling of the small waterfall in the pound calm him down. People were pushing his father to take on another wife, to provide a whole heir.

To put Ryan aside and give one of their branches a little more influence. That, still, would lead to the downfall of the family, as the other branches would refuse to accept the resulting child as the heir.

Which still led to the issue of his family's true power ending with the end of his father's reign as its head.

A difference in the sound of the pound caught Ryan's attention, and he felt himself frowning a little. Listening, he heard the water shift again, a ripple in its sound.

"Is there anyone else around?" Ryan asked.

"Just you, myself, and the guards," Tyler answered as Ryan thought over his lack of a response to his master's frown, which the servant had no doubt noticed.

There was also a hint of curiosity and amusement in his servant's voice.

"Are you playing with the pond?" Ryan asked.

"Yes," he could hear his servant attempting not to laugh as the sound of the water's different movements ceased. "You seemed depressed, so I thought maybe I could do something to take your mind off whatever it was. I was swirling the water in different directions."

"You have a water affinity."

"Tier Six," Tyler answered, and Ryan could tell his servant wasn't bluffing.

He knew Tyler well enough to be able to detect that in his servant's voice.

"Really?" Ryan was impressed.

There were twelve Power Tiers to magic. The majority of people were in the first four, known as the Basic Tiers. Tiers Five through Eight were the Advanced Tiers, and Tiers Nine through Twelve were the Ultimate Tiers. Most people could advance up to three Tiers in their life per affinity with dedication and training, but few ever reached the Advanced Tiers in even one affinity. Being a natural Advanced Tier was rare – only one in every thousand people, and there were maybe ten million total Advanced Tiers in the world, out of the seven billion people alive.

If Tyler were a Tier Six already, that meant he held the potential to reach Tier Nine and become a Master. There were less than one million total Ultimate Tiers in the world, and they each held a title. At Tier Nine, they were a Master, at Tier Ten, they were an Elder, at Tier Eleven, they were an Immortal, and at Tier Twelve, they were a Divine.

History said that Tier Thirteen was possible, but only a single mage ever held that status, only one had ever earned the title of Transcended: the Gray Mage. When magic first came to the world, it was through disaster. Soon after, the Gray Mage appeared, then halted it.

Supposedly, the Gray Mage was at least a Master in all magics – even all Specialties, or 'high magics', that he could bend space and time, play with minds like they were children's toys, heal lethal injuries without even a touch, and more.

While Tyler would obviously never reach such a legendary – and probably exaggerated – power level, he was still impressive and held decent potential.

"Yes, sir," Tyler responded to Ryan's question. "They said it was likely the reason I bloomed late."

"That is still impressive," Ryan commented. "The family only has four Masters in it, and you have the potential to become one. Do you train in your free time?"

"I do, sir," Tyler answered.

"Do you have enough?" Ryan asked. "A talent like yours shouldn't be wasted. You should explore the boundaries of what you can do and push past those to new heights."

"I have sufficient time," Tyler answered, though Ryan knew that likely wasn't true. "Thank you, sir."

"Nonsense," Ryan said. "With schooling over since several months ago, I have much free time on my hands. You can use some of that to train yourself."

"Your concern is appreciated," Tyler told him. "But I would not take away from my duties to train."

"If you are training by me," Ryan said. "You are still able to respond to my needs. I can put time aside to allow you to train. Listening to the sound of your magic at work might be soothing to me."

Tyler was silent for several seconds, before letting out a soft sigh which Ryan knew he was likely the only who would have noticed, even if others were close by.

"Thank you, sir," Tyler responded.

"What do you normally do, when you train?" Ryan asked.

"I move water around," Tyler answered. "Usually within a bowl. I also practice summoning water and turning it to ice."

Ryan smiled at his servant's words. Summoning an element like water was more difficult and required more mana to perform as a result of it being a 'physical' element rather than 'nonphysical'. Only water and earth magics had that issue, from what he knew. Up until the Advanced Tiers, though, no one could manifest an element by themselves, they had to manipulate that which was already present.

"In addition to that," Tyler continued. "I also practice performing small gusts."

"Gusts?" Ryan interrupted in curiosity. "You're a Line?"

The term for someone with two elemental affinities. Someone with only one was considered a Circle, then it went Line, Triangle, Square, Pentagon, and Hexagon, and those were even used on official documents and uniforms.

"Ah, no, sir," Tyler said. "I'm a Square. Tier Six Water, Tier Five Air, Tier Five Light, and Tier Five Energy."

"I am definitely putting time aside for you to train," Ryan told Tyler. "I know you are likely wanting to do so, and it really would be a waste to not give you even an hour a day. Father would even bring someone to train you, if I asked."

"Thank you, sir, but that is not necessary," Tyler responded.

Ryan sighed, knowing his servant was no doubt wanting it. However, he would never admit it, even in private, because if someone found out, they could say he was attempting to manipulate Ryan into doing just that. With others around, it was essentially a requirement for him to reject any comments suggesting it.

However, Ryan knew he could avoid that hassle, especially with knowing that guards were present for his discovery that Tyler had such high affinities.

"Tyler," Ryan said. "I am putting aside time each day so that you can train your magics as you wish. I will have Father bring in trainers to teach you what you wish to learn. It would not do for my servant to be unable to come to my defense through magical means when he has the means to do so. You already have time set aside each day for combat training, we can set time aside for magical training. I will speak to my father about this when I see him."

There was a pause before his servant responded.

"Thank you, sir."