Drayce, Fiore, and Rania watch from the sidelines - alongside a sizeable crowd of onlookers, cheering for both combatants as they keep going - as Aeson and Jack spar in hand-to-hand combat. Both boys are covered in sweat, dust, and dirt as they keep knocking each other down - Jack's proven himself a good opponent, if the excited expression on Aeson's face is anything to go by. "Here's an idea," the Elf Prince says as he throws a fist at Jack's face, only for it to be redirected and have to evade another attempt at sweeping his feet out from under him, "what if you and your parents stayed in Asathaes?"

Jack blocks a jab to his side, then says "You'd have to ask Mom and Dad, honestly. But…"

Aeson tilts his head, leaping to the side in an attempt at getting behind Jack to kick his legs out from behind, and asks "But?"

"But…I guess the only thing I'd really miss from home is my best friend, Taylor."

Fiore calls over "You did say she's going to Oregon for college, Jack. Who knows, maybe she'll find somewhere close by to live, you could visit."

Jack brightens at once, one hand planting itself on Aeson's face to keep him from taking advantage of his momentary distraction, and calls over "Good point, Fiore!"

Rania can't help herself as she full-on laughs at the sight of Aeson trying to free his head from Jack's casual grip, ending up clutching at her sides as tears run down her face while Fiore tries very hard not to end up the same way. But, the sight of Aeson unable to pry Jack's hand off his head and equally-unable to reach Jack to try and make him let go some other way is hilarious.

Jack glances at the two ladies in confusion, then at Aeson after a moment, and sees the dark-haired boy is giving him a glare that looks more resigned than actually angry as he's given up trying to escape Jack's hand. After a moment, Jack grins and asks "You want to take a break?"

Aeson blushes ferociously, and mutters "…yes." Yes, he would very much like to take a break.

Once the crowd breaks up, Aeson grumbles as he runs a hand through his hair and says "That was just low, Jack. Not part of any kind of fighting style."

Jack chuckles in amusement, and says "You're just jealous I've got longer arms."

Rania finally gets her laughing under control, red-faced and looking like she's about to collapse from lack of oxygen, and says "That…was hilarious. You know that? Please, I beg of you, do that more often."

Aeson gives her a much more effective glare, which only gets an unrepentant look from her in return. "You're supposed to be on my side, you know!"

"So," Rania says, "tell us about this Taylor, if she's so important to you. Your best friend, hm?"

Jack nods, saying "Yeah, I think you'd get along with her! She's super smart, for one. Really creative, to. Hates math with a burning passion, says it hated her first." Jack snorts, and adds "Best in English class, though."

Drayce clears his throat, saying "As entertaining as that is, right now we have slightly more important things to focus on, son. You did well against Prince Aeson, even unused to having wings on your back."

Jack blushes a bit even as he grins, saying "Thanks, Dad…"

"You do know your wings can be used as a shield when they get stronger, right?" And his tail, should he sprout one, can be used as a weapon as well once he learns to control it.

Jack nods, saying "I'd thought of that, but…"

"But you can't use your wings yet." Jack nods, glancing away until Drayce shakes his head and says "No, don't be ashamed or embarrassed. Nobody belittles a toddler when they trip trying to walk. You just got these wings recently, nobody with a grain of sense is going to expect you to know how to use them."

Fiore asks "But, you can teach him…right?"

Drayce nods, saying "I'll show you how I learned. Got it the first try."

Rania quickly asks "How…did you learn, exactly?"

Drayce hums, then says "Jumped off a really tall cliff. Survival instincts kicked right in."

Jack quickly says "Hold up there, how 'bout we get me to the point of moving my wings reliably before I go straight to a nearby cliff?!"

Fiore, Aeson, and Rania all nod their heads in agreement, and Drayce gives them all a look before asking "You thought I was going to just drop you off the side of a cliff and hope for the best?"

Fiore sucks on her bottom lip for a moment, then says "You kinda made it sound that way…" Aeson and Rania nod their heads in unison.

Drayce facepalms, then says "It was ages ago when I learned to fly, alright? And I would've caught you if you weren't going to make it."

Jack half-nervously asks "What if you missed?!"

Fiore quickly says "If Taylor's so smart, call her up! Maybe she'll have some miraculous idea!" The sudden flare of a rather ugly feeling inside her she's only felt that one other time before takes her by surprise, and she quickly decides to blame it on her upcoming birthday - she was having mood swings for weeks before Jack arrived in Mythos, and Antonino said it was due to her body getting ready for her incoming Inheritance. Whatever the case, she's not going to slap away a perfectly good explanation for why the mere mention of a girl she's never met is causing the feeling.

Aeson frowns at Fiore, asking "Are you…jealous?"

"Pfft," Fiore scoffs, "as if. I've never even met this girl before, of course I'm not jealous." She's been moody like this for weeks, ever since Antonino started bringing the whole issue up, and it looks like her hormones decided now's a good time to go another round.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Rania rolls her eyes, then says "It's a good idea. Call her, perhaps she'll think of something."

Drayce shrugs, saying "What the heck, right? Can't have anything to lose beyond a few minutes."

Jack quickly hits the speed-dial for Taylor's number, getting a highly confused look as Fiore's hair turns yellow while her eyes turn a sicklier color of green than their usual holly-leaf-green, and waits for Taylor to pick up. "Hello? Jack, is that you?"

"Hey, yeah, it's me! Sorry I haven't called-"

"Oh, relax. I bet you've been busy. How's the search going, did you find the mysterious man?"

"Yeah…hypothetical question for you. You ready?"

"Fire away."

"Say you suddenly gained the ability to fly…how would you do it?"

"Other jumping off a trapeze platform with a giant net below?"

"Yeah, other than that." It's a much more appealing idea than jumping off a cliff...except for the part where they don't have a trapeze platform and giant net.

"Mm…treat it like learning to walk. Try getting off the ground first, stretching your muscles out some…whatever kind of muscles these would be, physical or mental ones. You didn't suddenly become a wizard, did you?"

Jack grins, running a hand through his hair, and says "Ah, no, I didn't suddenly sprout magic powers on top of anything else…"

Drayce smirks, and adds "Yet. Elemental energy isn't quite the same as magic, but…it's close enough that they can be easily confused."

"Jack? Who was that?"

Jack grins once more, smirking a bit at everyone before saying "Well, it wasn't my long-lost uncle."

"That was- how did he- I'm not on speaker, am I? You put me on speaker, didn't you?"

Jack laughs a bit, and says "Didn't have to, he's got really good ears. Actually…everyone around here has really good ears."

There's a dramatic groaning sound from the phone, making everyone but Fiore snicker.

Aeson gestures for the phone, and says "Greetings, I'm Aeson." Smirking at Rania and Fiore for a moment, he adds "Don't worry, we'll get your boyfriend back to you soon enough."

And then Aeson wishes he could eat those words at the look of utter death Fiore gives him, a promise of the strongest lightning she can generate going through him the next time she gets close enough to him - her pupils look like they're getting…darker? Red edging in from the outside edge of her irises. She's definitely jealous…

And then the both of them start as a full-blown giggle attack comes from the phone, lasting a solid five minutes.

Jack rolls his eyes, saying "Now you've set her off…"

Aeson looks entirely confused, asking "I…what now?"

"We have a running bet going on who's going to get paired up with someone first. We don't feel that way about each other." And the both of them bet that the other one is going to find someone they like first.

Rania blinks, asking "You don't? The way you talked about her...?"

There's the sudden sound of Taylor trying to breathe over the phone, sharp and high-pitched gasps for air the only thing that they can make out, and Jack asks "Do I really need to reach through the phone and hit you on the back?"

"No…" Taylor gets out, "No, I'm good now…needed that…" There's another few giggles, before Taylor's voice comes over the phone saying "Jack's not my boyfriend, he's my best friend. Gods, he thinks I don't know he cornered the group of ten kids that were bullying me in middle school and threatened them! I don't know how he threatened them, or with what kind of bodily harm, but the detail that they were all petrified to so much as look at me. And the detail that they all turned tail and ran one day in gym about twenty seconds before he got by my side was the clincher."

Drayce is silently shaking, biting half his fist so he doesn't burst out laughing while everyone else gives Jack identical looks of shock.

Jack just shrugs, saying "They acted like I killed one of them when they all walked away from that talk without a scratch…wait, you knew?!"

"Jack, c'mon. They all avoided me like I had the Bubonic plague mixed with Measles, Chicken Pox, and pneumonia. One kid actually wet himself when he got paired up with me in art class. It was not that hard to put two and two together."

Jack just facepalms. He'd genuinely thought she hadn't figured it out, as all of them swore they wouldn't tell her - she wouldn't tell the adults because going to the adults would just make things worse, and the group of kids wouldn't go to the adults because then he'd spill everything about how they were relentlessly bullying his best friend. And they didn't want to get into any trouble, so they just stayed as far away from Taylor as possible.

Fiore asks "So…you really don't have a thing for Jack?"

"Oh, please. What, have you been asking around town? Word spread before a week was out that I was off-limits, and nobody's so much as hit on me even after all these years. No, Jack and I are completely platonic, despite what everyone else thinks."

There's silence for a moment, one where Fiore goes back to her usual look…right up until Taylor says "Wait a minute…"

Jack freezes, then mutters "Oh no…" He knows that tone of voice - that's her, 'I've got a puzzle to figure out' voice.

"Jack, who was that?"

Everyone can hear the shit-eating grin in her voice, and Jack says "That was Fiore, she's been helping me since I met her. Fiore, Taylor. Taylor, Fiore."

There's a beat of silence, and then Taylor finally says "So, when do I get that twenty dollars?"

Jack groans, and Aeson asks "What now?"

"That was our bet…whichever one found someone they liked first has to pay up twenty dollars…"

Fiore blushes brightly, mouth opening and closing like a goldfish, and then sputters "We're not- we haven't- why would- what makes you think we're a thing?!"

Taylor chuckles over the phone, then says "Because you asked if Jack and I were a thing. If you weren't interested in him, you wouldn't have asked. If you were a gossip, you would have phrased it differently."

Rania grins, saying "She makes a point. You're good at reading people, you know."

"If you say so. I just like to read a lot…"

Fiore hums, then says "You were saying about treating it like learning to walk? Stretching his muscles?"

"Yeah. Look, I'm not going to even pretend to understand this, alright? But…baby steps, right? Kids don't learn to walk without falling…just try to keep the fall distance short, tough guy. Gotta go, I'm just leaving for work, talk later. Be careful…and don't tell your dad or your not-yet-girlfriend any embarrassing stories about me, please?"

Jack grins, and says "No promises. I'll leave out the best ones, though."

There's the distinct sound of Taylor facepalming, and muttering a few things, and then she hangs up.

And then Drayce bursts out laughing, a deep, booming sound that knocks everyone off-balance for a moment.

"Well," Rania says with a grin, "that was enlightening. Baby-steps, hm?"

Fiore says "Let's just go with the 'stretching his muscles' bit."