Zeph Malston: The Aether Mage

The room was quiet. Everyone was looking at the wall of an empty bedroom on Lili's tablet screen. After she screamed at Lili, Ivy covered her bright red face and ducked under the camera's view. There were sounds of sniffling as everyone heard her start to cry quietly. Bianca and Semara quickly suppressed their laughter. Lili looked confused, and Zeph was wondering what he should do in this situation.

'Ivy probably has a crush on me. She blushed when she looked at me, and Lili practically confessed to me for her.' Zeph sighed while he took some time to think. 'Ivy still hasn't ended the call. She was probably too embarrassed to think about it. If my first crush heard that I fell in love at first sight, I would want to hide too. I should probably say something to ease her worries and then give her some space. I'll assure her I don't think anything bad about her, and then I'll send Lili out of the room. I bet Ivy will either hang up after that or chew Lili out. I better make sure she doesn't hang up before I calm her down, otherwise, she'll be worrying about what I think of her. God, this is so weird. Wait, what is that bonehead doing?'

Lili was standing next to Zeph, tapping the screen on the tablet. "Ivy, hellooo. Are you okay down there?"

Zeph brushed her hand out of the way. "You embarrassed her Lili. Give me a moment to say something, and I'll give you back your tablet." Zeph cleared his throat, making sure it got Ivy's attention. "Ivy, don't hang up. I know you're embarrassed, but you don't need to be sad or worried. I'm not mad, nor am I upset. I'm actually very flattered that a cute girl like you might like me. I don't know much about love either, and I've only just met you. So if you'd like, we can be friends. I don't have many of those and could always use more." The sounds of crying stopped, and the top of Ivy's head could be seen on the screen. "It's okay if you don't want to look at the camera. I'd be pretty embarrassed myself if I was in your situation. We can talk later when you're ready." He handed the tablet to Lili. "Here Lili, can you take your tablet out and leave the room. I'm pretty sure Ivy wants to talk to you in private."

Lili took the tablet. "Okay?" and left the room with a confused look on her face. As she was walking out the door Lili started talking to her friend again. "Isn't that great Ivy, Zeph said you were cute!"

After the door closed behind her, the three people left in the room heard a muffled shout. "Lili!!!!"

Zeph turned away from the door, ready to get back to practice. He saw two shifter women looking at him with wry smiles. "What?"

Bianca spoke first. "Nothing, we just thought that was really sweet of you."

"Yeah, now you've definitely got her on the hook you big stud muffin" Semara started laughing.

Zeph's eye twitched. "I was just trying to calm her down. She was really upset, and I felt bad for her."

"Sure, and you weren't trying to impress that cute blonde girl by acting all kind and m.a.t.u.r.e." Semara tried to tease him.

Zeph knew she was just trying to make him blush. Probably as a way to get back at him for the prank he pulled when they met. An interesting thought crossed his mind. "No, I wasn't trying to impress her. I actually like older women." He pretended to be bashful and looked towards the two shifters.

Bianca spent enough time with him to know when Zeph was planning something so she played along. "Oh my, does that mean you were trying to impress one of us?" Zeph looked toward the ground. "Well, I know you don't have a crush on me. Oh my! Do you like Semara?"

"Coach B, why did you say that?" Zeph pretended to be really embarrassed.

"So it's true. What do you like about her?" Bianca stepped towards him. When her back faced Semara, she gave Zeph a wink and subtle thumbs up.

Semara was surprised and wasn't sure how to react. "What are you saying Bibi?" She was starting to feel embarrassed.

Zeph continued to stare at the floor and started to twist his foot against the ground. "Well, she's really pretty, and smart, and her hair is so shiny. Rin told me that her hair was also really soft, and it felt good lying on her head…" he continued saying good things about Semara and tried to embarrass her more.

It worked because Semara couldn't help but blush after hearing the praise coming from the kid. It was really flattering, and she was trying to think of a way to let him down easy.

"Semmy are you blushing?" Bianca said in mock surprise. "See that Zeph, you might have a chance." Semara blushed more because her friend caught her blushing. It was a vicious cycle. Bianca continued to tease the poor wolf girl. "Semmy, I didn't know you were into that kind of thing."

"I'm not, you're misunderstanding. I don't like Zeph." Semara shouted defensively.

In the most pained voice Zeph could muster, he yelled "You don't like me!" and he created fake tears with magic. Then Zeph turned around and pretended to cry.

"No, I didn't mean it like that. Damn it Bibi, see what you did." Semara walked up to Zeph and put her hand on his shoulder. His shoulders were slightly moving up and down. At first, she thought it was because of his crying, then she heard Bianca giggle. The giggle soon turned into full-blown laughter, and Zeph suddenly joined in. It only took a microsecond for Semara to realize that the teacher-student duo pranked her again. Her grip tightened.

Zeph's shoulders were suddenly squeezed. "Ouch!" He turned to see an angry wolf girl looking at him. Bianca was still laughing, so he called out to her. "Coach, I could use a little help here."

Bianca walked up to Semara and pulled her off of Zeph. "Don't be mad Semmy. We were just having a little fun."

"You two shouldn't mess with people like that. And you," Semara pointed at Zeph, "It's rude to make fun of a woman like that. Lying to say you liked me and I was pretty and all those things. Just thinking about it makes me want to smack you."

Zeph felt a cold shiver run up his spine. He tried to ease her anger. "It was just a joke. Not everything was a lie. You are really pretty."

Semara's deep frown eased. "Oh really, then who's prettier, me or Bianca?" The wolf girl gently nudged Bianca. It was a subtle hint. She will deal with her friend later, but now it was time to pay the boy back for his mischievous nature.

Bianca got the hint and joined in on the fun. "Yeah, Zeph. Which one of us is more attractive?" An aura of intimidation radiated from both of the girls as they stared at him, waiting for an answer.

Zeph blinked a couple of times. 'Wait, how did this happen?' He knew he was in trouble no matter how he answered. Gathering up some courage, Zeph answered, "The one with the nicest tail." Semara and Bianca took a quick glance at each other's backside. Zeph grinned.

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Lili was in her rooms, and she was rubbing her ears with her fingers. "Jeez, did you have to yell so loud? I might even have to use a heal spell on my ears."

Ivy's angry face was displayed on the tablet screen. "Of course I had to yell. You're such a blockhead that I was worried the sound would just bounce off of you."

"I still don't get what the problem was. I told the truth, you met Zeph, and he said you were cute. He even said you two could be friends and talk again later."

"I'm sure he was just being nice, he probably doesn't mean it." Ivy blushed.

"Well, I can ask him." Lili started to get up.

"Stop!"

Lili sat back down. "Fine, you do it." She tapped the screen a few times.

Ivy received a message. "What's this?"

"It's Zeph's contact address. Now you can call him and ask yourself." Lili said it like it was something insignificant.

"You can't just go around giving away someone else's contact information. I shouldn't have this." The smile on Ivy's face contradicted what she said.

"Sure you can. Zeph said he would talk to you later, how else will you get in touch with him?"

"I'm pretty sure I was supposed to call you, and you'd be the intermediary."

"That's stupid. If you want to talk to each other, it's better if you call directly. We can always conference call or play a game on the weave together if all of us want to talk."

"Yeah, but I don't know if I can call him." Ivy blushed.

"Why not?" Lili was honestly confused.

"Because it's embarrassing, and I'm a little afraid."

"Ivy, you wanted to be the greatest spirit mage in the country when you grow up, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"It's simple. If you're too scared of calling a boy, then how are you going to form a contract with a phoenix or an angel, or whatever those fancy spirits are?"

Ivy was stunned. Lili was right. "I guess I can try," she said meekly.

"I'm sure you can do it. Besides, you could always ask your mom or grandma for advice. They're always reading those romance books. You know the ones with the shirtless long haired muscle man on the cover."

It was like someone turned a lightbulb on in a dark room. "You're right, I should do that." Ivy's voice was hopeful, and she wasn't mad at Lili anymore.

Lili was going to talk about something else but saw something from the other side of her half-open door. It was a black and white fluffy kitten walking down the hallway. "Ivy, I've got to go."

"Why?"

"Well, Zeph's cat is in the hallway. She keeps avoiding me, and I really want to pet her."

"And you want to catch it?" Ivy looked exasperated. "You know, you can't force a cat to like you right?"

"Oh, she likes me. This is just a game we play. The last couple of times I held her, she purred really loud. But Zeph had to hand her to me both of those times. I've never got her on my own. But it's like grandpa says, 'If you don't try, how will you know if it's possible or impossible." She waved at her half-elf friend. "I'll talk to you later Ivy, and don't forget to call Zeph. Bye Bye."

After the call ended, Ivy stared at the blank screen. 'She's right. If I don't try, how will I know.'

While Ivy was finding her determination, Lili stalked her prey. Rin was looking for Zeph. She just woke up from a wonderful nap and was in the mood for something sweet. A cold feeling suddenly swept across her back. The cat jumped forward, narrowly avoiding Lili's grab. Looking back at the little girl, Rin eyes narrowed and she meowed condescendingly.

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