Ryan woke gently, smiling lightly after a few minutes passed without any pain. He had reset back to his birthday, to before he had woken. His experiment worked, and he remained asleep as his physical adjustment of magical ability performed its changes.

It had only taken him a day to verify with other elementals what Calm Sky had told him, and Ryan knew that unless they were all lying to him, the elemental spoke the truth. Even had it not, the Blessed Ones were near a place he would inevitably end up, and they did have answers he wanted.

Not wanting to waste time training when he could be receiving that information or more advanced training, he reset immediately, telling the elementals he would return at some point, even if it was many resets later.

He hated to lose the situation he had created, and his revenge against Nicholas for his death, but he had more important things to do. Playing with events could come later, as could his revenge. The reset would also clear him from his powers being known by anyone but the elementals, which gave him a fresh start as well.

"Good morning, Tyler," Ryan said.

"Good morning, Ryan," Tyler responded as Ryan sat up. "And happy birthday, too."

The mage expanded his senses of water and air, sensing his servant seated on his usual chair across the room. He extended out his empathy as well, and sensed his servant's boredom, though it was fading quickly as he stood. In its place, determination filled his mind, and Ryan knew it was in case he began his joking early.

"Thank you," Ryan said. "I am going to do my morning exercises, then take a shower. After that, I wish to speak with my father. Nothing serious, but I have a request as a birthday present."

"I can send for him while you are in your shower, if you wish," Tyler informed him, curiosity entering his mind. "Or would you prefer to wait until breakfast?"

"Please send for him while I am in the shower," Ryan told his servant. "I would like to speak with him before breakfast."

"I will do that, then," Tyler responded as he moved to Ryan's closet, then pulled out the exercise clothes and returned. "Here you are, sir."

"Thank you," Ryan changed into his workout clothes, then began his workout, reining in his empathy.

When he finished, he took a shower, and after he was dried, entered his room to dress, ignoring his father on his way to his bed. His father showed up relatively fast, and there was a form outside the room, another person. Based on the build, Ryan was able to match it to the person with the complacent mind. He became curious about why his father was so close on his birthday and who that person was, but knew he couldn't simply ask that. The question would come up in an eventual reset, but not that one.

"Good morning, Father," Ryan said after he finished dressed, turning and sitting on the edge of his bed. "How are you today?"

"I am well," his father responded. "Happy birthday, Ryan. Are you doing okay? The message from your servant said you wished to speak with me before breakfast."

"Yes," Ryan said. "It has come to my realization that Tyler has not been able to take a single vacation since he began working as my servant. It would be quite a hassle to have a new servant attempt to adjust to serving me just for him to take even a single day off, much less a full vacation. In addition, I know his worry over my state and how the temporary servant dealt with me would prevent him from fully enjoying it.

"Therefore," he continued. "I was hoping maybe, as a birthday present to me, you would allow Tyler and I to take a month or two of vacation? The Srentases own a ski resort, I believe? I am sure Tyler would enjoy using its facilities.

"Now, naturally," Ryan said. "If I am there, he will still need to attend to his duties. But we can compromise on that. While he is performing his vacation activities, I will restrict myself to a set area. A room, or even a seat. That way, he knows exactly where I am at all times and that I am well. As we will be among allies we trust, there will be little need to worry over my safety.

"That should allow him to enjoy his time," Ryan said. "I am sure you would be insistent on sending a few guards as well, to accompany us and keep an eye on me. We might trust the Srentas Family, but we and they do not know the trust level of every guest. That should also alleviate some of Tyler's concerns.

"Before you protest," Ryan continued. "This is also partly my way of giving Tyler a better birthday gift than I have in the past. While I know he's appreciated them, I also know he's never been able to take a vacation. He's an adult now, and he is determined to be my servant for as long as he is able. Because I do not take vacations, he does not, and if I did, he would be in servant mode the entire time. I want him to enjoy himself."

Tempted though he was to expand his empathy and find out what his father and servant were feeling at the moment, he wanted to avoid doing that. It would make his father aware he was an empath, and he wasn't sure yet he wanted his father aware of it in that reset.

"Ryan," his father spoke. "As you and Tyler are aware, I am capable of both telepathy and empathy. When you were speaking, I used both of those to see if you were being honest."

Ryan stiffened.

"While I know you were hiding something," his father said. "I also know what you were tempted to do after you finished. Your expression told me. How long have you been awakened?"

"A few months," Ryan sighed. "Are you still in my head? And how can you do that without me noticing?"

"How did you know I'd notice?" His father asked, and Ryan realized his sigh gave it away. "And I'm not actually touching your mind, more like brushing around it. Your mind has never been open to me before. I can sense some vague emotions, but that's it. When you're sulking or want to be left alone, your mind has always closed off completely, becoming unreadable. I've known you were destined to be a mind mage once you awakened because of that."

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"So the reason I've never noticed you touching my mind," Ryan said. "Is because you aren't?"

"Correct."

"What about telepathy?"

"It's always failed," his father answered. "Though I can use it on Tyler just fine, which tells me more than enough when you are getting up to your usual mischief."

Ryan frowned a little. His father had performed telepathy with him before, yet said he couldn't. After thinking on it a moment, Ryan realized that when that had happened, he had stretched out his empathy and was reading his father's mind. If that was necessary for telepathic communication with him, then Ryan was pleased. It reduced the chances of someone entering his mind. However, he had other concerns.

"Are you able to completely hide if you are in someone's mind?" Ryan asked.

"Against other mind mages, you mean?" His father asked, and Ryan gave a light nod. "I am. As long as they are weaker than me, I am able to hide my presence entirely. If you wish, I can teach you how to do that, as well as how to detect when someone else is brushing around your mind."

"Thank you," Ryan let out a sigh of relief. With having empathy stretched out quite often, he needed to know how to tell if someone else was touching his own mind. That would also help him guard against other mind mages. "Before we do that, however, do you think we can do breakfast? I know we still have some time before that, but I am rather hungry after that workout."

"I can teach you after breakfast," his father chuckled. "As for your request, I can see what can be arranged."

"Thank you," Ryan said. "I am sure you have other things to do before breakfast, and I wish to speak with Tyler for a minute as well."

"Enjoy your discussion," his father said, and Ryan waited for the man to leave, exiting his range with the guest.

Only then did he turn his attention to Tyler, stretching out his empathy to find regret, guilt, hurt, and confusion present.

"I am a mind mage," Ryan told Tyler, trusting his servant would keep the full extent of what he could do a secret, even from his father. "I am capable of empathy, or sensing the emotions of those around me. It's rather easy to hide, as Father is the only other Specialist here."

"That's… not what is confusing me, Ryan," Tyler said. "You've been awakened for a few months?"

Ryan realized his servant felt hurt by that knowledge. Tyler was the one person he trusted as closely as he trusted his father, and the servant saw him as a friend. They knew plenty of secrets relating to the other. For Ryan to have kept his awakening a secret from Tyler was a form of betrayal of that trust.

With that run, he didn't want to reveal he was a chronomancer at all, and so had to think about what he said next. When he did, he gave a small prayer to whatever godlike being might hear it that Tyler accepted it.

"With my condition," Ryan said. "There isn't much I can do with magic. Having empathy seems to be a blessing, as it will give me an edge when it is my time to take the spot as head of the Novars. However, it comes with a stigma of always being in someone's head. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable knowing that, at any time, I might be sensing what you're feeling. That's why I didn't inform you. I apologize if that upsets you, but I hope you can understand my reasoning for it."

He knew Tyler was already accepting it, the hurt fading from his servant's mind. The confusion lightened as well, though the regret and guilt were still present, even if they had moved to the background during the discussion about Ryan's empathy. The guilt did flare up a bit more, and Ryan knew his servant and friend was feeling bad for getting upset without knowing the full cause.

"I didn't think of that," Tyler told him. "I should have expected you had a reason that would make sense. Sorry."

"It's okay," Ryan smiled. "That's a normal response."

"Are you sensing my mind right now?" Tyler asked, hesitation in his voice.

"Yes," Ryan answered. "I realized that you'd likely felt confused, and knew you wouldn't ask. So I stretched out my empathy to check, and then you asked about me being awakened. Again, I apologize for not informing you, I didn't want you to constantly worry about me knowing what you're thinking."

"I'm sorry for immediately jumping to conclusions," Tyler told him.

"We're both sorry," Ryan smiled. "So, Tyler, what is it that's confusing you?"

"I know you," his servant said. "Well enough to know you wouldn't have stopped at just using empathy. You'd want to learn other magics, even if just to mess with people. I've never noticed you taking time for that. You'd definitely shoo me away for something, with some excuse. Possibly even just give yourself time alone while I am doing my training. Yet that hasn't happened."

Ryan thought it over for a moment, tapping his leg gently as he did. There was only one viable excuse he could come up with. Denying learning other magics would only raise suspicions, and he knew his father probably already suspected it.

"I spend a brief time after you leave me at night," Ryan informed Tyler. "Using air magics. I would like to try other magics, but the risk of causing damage or leaving behind a trace of it is too high. Water and earth magics would leave behind its remains unless I had some nearby I could use, fire and lightning magic would no doubt damage something or leave a scent, and light magic… well, that one I could do, but it would be hard for me to know if there's actual success."

"Yes," Tyler chuckled. "I can see an issue with that. So you can perform wind magics?"

"Some," Ryan held up a hand, puffing out a brief blast of air in the direction of his servant, feeling it move through the air and connect to his servant's chest, creating a brief impression in Tyler's shirt. "I can also do some telekinesis. Like this."

He touched his pillow, then lifted his hand up. When he flicked his wrist, the pillow shot at his servant, who caught it, laughing.

"Of course you'd learn that!" Tyler said.

"Yeah," Ryan grinned. "The temptation was just too great."

He quickly turned serious as he pulled in his empathy.

"Tyler," he said. "I know you are feeling regretful and guilty. You feel responsible for me feeling bad about your situation, don't you? I've pulled in my empathy, so I'm not actively reading your emotions. I could sense it when I first stretched it out."

"Yes, sir," Tyler told him. "It is my duty to care for you and worry over you, yet you began to feel guilty that my duties prevent me from taking a vacation."

"I do feel bad for that," Ryan said. "Taking care of me should not mean you are without your own pleasures, Tyler."

"Ryan," Tyler said. "Sir, I am a servant of the Novars. I am a member of a branch family who has sworn an oath to serve you as long as I am capable. I reaffirmed that oath on my birthday. Unless your father approves of me having a relationship, which I am not going to seek, I am to serve you. That is the life chosen for me, and the life I have chosen to accept."

Ryan was stunned for a few moments. Tyler had the day off on his own birthday, something Ryan always ensured. He was not made aware his servant had reaffirmed his oath, and he could hear the honesty and will in his friend's voice.

"Tyler," Ryan said. "I know that is how you were raised, and what you believe. I know that is how your status is. However, you are my friend as well as my servant. It is only natural for me to care about you as much as you care about me. This vacation is my gift to you, Tyler. For your birthday, for your loyal service, and for your genuine friendship with me. Take it, okay?"

A few moments passed, and when Ryan noticed Tyler's head lift up a little, he knew his servant had accepted it.

"Thank you, Ryan," Tyler said.

"You're welcome," Ryan smiled. "Now, let's head to breakfast. I'm sure Father told the kitchens to be ready sooner, and I'm betting we're having my favorite."