Zeph Malston: The Aether Mage

The drive to school was fifteen to twenty minutes depending on traffic. Zeph decided to ride in the passenger seat next to Eli. He was hoping that the separation from Ivy and Lili in the back would help the nervous half-elf. It helped a little. Ivy started talking more, and she became more animated once Lili got her talking about stuff. Eli and Zeph were listening to a peppy song that helped them get in the mood to take on the day. Soon they started to sing along with the music, getting the attention of the two girls. They were surprised to find that the boys sounded pretty good. Lili started to sing along as well, and then Ivy joined in.

Soon they arrived in front of a large elongated three-story building with an expansive courtyard. Beautiful plants were placed along the walls of the school building, and there were a few small garden areas sectioned off by nearby benches. Shade trees were scattered about. The school's courtyard, or quad, was beautiful. A decorative sign near the road was titled AVA Middle School. AVA stood for Asperitus Valir Academy. Cars were lined up to drop off children, and Eli and the kids continued to sing and have fun while they waited. When it was almost time to drop them off, Eli turned off the radio.

"All right kids, I'll drop you off and then park nearby." Eli handed the children three small flower buds wrapped in greenery. Zeph remembered that people usually wore these decorations on suits during weddings and dances.

"What are these for?" Zeph took the flower and placed it on the lapel of his school uniform. Lili and Ivy did the same.

"Well, for one it makes you guys look snazzy. Two, those little plants will let me know where you three are and how you're doing. That way, if you get into trouble, I can get to you quickly. I'll also be keeping an eye on the area, just to make sure nothing shady is going on." Eli smiled at them. "Don't worry so much though, this is just standard procedure. This school is a pretty safe place. I'm just here on the rare chance that something bad happens."

Lili noticed Zeph looked a little worried. "Don't worry about it Zeph, this is just how it is for nobles. Me and Ivy are used to it." Ivy looked curiously at Lili.

"Zeph never had to have a bodyguard before?" Ivy asked her friend.

"No, I grew up in a different country as a commoner. I didn't move in with my grandfather until recently, so I'm not used to how nobles act. I hope you and Lili can help me not make a fool of myself okay." Zeph gave Ivy a gentle smile, causing the girl to blush again. He was starting to think that her skin color was naturally pink at this point. The girl nodded in response, so he turned back around looking out at the students walking around campus.

They wore the same school uniform, but many had accessories and different hairstyles to express their individuality. Some kids wore bracelets, gloves, earrings or hats. Many had wild hairdos and bright vivid streaks of color in their hair. Quite a few fully dyed their hair in blues, greens, and reds. Zeph realized why Bernard said his glow in the dark hair wouldn't be a big deal.

"Okay kids, I'll pick you up here in the afternoon. You guys take care." The car pulled into the drop-off zone, and watched the children exit the car. "Oh, and little dude." Eli waited for Zeph to turn around. "Have fun okay. Don't worry about being noble, behaving a certain way, or troubling the old man. You're Zeph Malston, and you don't have to take anybody's crap." Smiling ear to ear at Zeph's confused expression, Eli drove off.

Zeph stood there for a moment, wondering why Eli would say that to him. Bernard said something similar before, so they were probably expecting him to have some trouble while he was here. He heard Lili call out to him, so he ran over to catch up with the girls. After he joined, the trio walked toward the building.

"Hey, do you guys think I might get into trouble or something here? Grandpa and Eli told me I didn't need to worry about causing trouble." Zeph waited for the girls to answer.

Lili was the first to respond. "I don't know about getting into trouble, but you might end up punching someone, or someone might try to punch you." Ivy nodded in agreement.

"Why would that happen?" Zeph raised an eyebrow.

"Well, we're in a school for people who want to be warriors, mages and valir. That means the people here want to fight. Most people who like to fight aren't as cool as I am and act like jerks. They pick on people weaker than them and try to show how tough they are when anyone seems like they might be stronger. Whenever people like that mess with me, I usually just punch 'em in the face and they leave me alone." Lili shrugged. Zeph opened the school door for the two ladies and entered after them.

"I never had to fight anyone, because everyone at my other school was scared of me. But there were bullies and kids like that there." Ivy tried to look at Zeph's face when she talked to him, but her eyes kept looking off to the side.

"Why were they scared of you? You seem like a nice girl to me." Zeph looked around the hallway and saw a map on the wall titled 'Directory,' a water fountain, and some doors leading to offices.

Ivy's expression darkened and she looked toward the floor. "Well, I'm really good at spirit magic and I can make temporary contracts. One time, I summoned a scary looking wraith during magic practice. Since then, everyone avoided me. I….I didn't have any friends really until I met Lili. There weren't any other nobles in my school, so the kids were afraid of my magic and my status." Zeph and Lili could hear the sadness in her voice.

Lili surprised her friend by giving her a big hug. "Don't worry about it Ivy, me and Zeph aren't scared of you."

Zeph looked the poor half-elf and imagined what it would be like to be young and alone surrounded by people who feared you. Instinctively, he rested his hand on Ivy's head. "She's right Ivy. We're your friends now. You aren't alone, and we're here for you okay." He heard the girl sniffle, and rub a tear from her eye. "I'm going to check out the directory over there and figure out where we're supposed to go." He walked away to give the girls a moment alone together.

Ivy was happy. It was the first time she ever cried because she was happy, and it was weird. There were only a few tears, and it wasn't for long. But, it still surprised her. She was glad Zeph left to check the directory so that he didn't see her tears. Friends, she had friends here, and they would spend time together every day going to school together. It was something she wished she could have for so long, and that wish was coming true. Not only that, but one of them was a boy who she might be in love with. Her heart started to beat loudly when she remembered his hand on her head. This morning was such a whirlwind of emotion. Trepidation, embarrassment, sadness, and hope all transformed, turning into joy.

He was so nice to her. Zeph wasn't arrogant, or mean, or dismissive. When he said they could be friends on the video call with Lili, she thought he might be saying empty words. Relina, her grandmother, told her to wait a while before deciding if she liked Zeph in a romantic way or not, but she was starting to think that waiting wouldn't change anything. Her feelings toward him were only growing stronger. She looked up from the ground, now that the tears stopped, and looked at Zeph as he walked back to them.

Zeph was surprised at how normal this school was. He was kind of expecting there to be more. Like kids flinging magic in the yard, or glowing mystical objects littered about the place. Instead, this place looked pretty normal. At least he didn't have to worry about being the center of attention. One of his biggest worries was people surrounding or bugging him because he was the young lord of the territory, but he remembered that no one really knew what he looked like. A few people would take a moment to look at him and the girls, but he guessed it was just because they were wearing the flowers on their uniforms so it looked like they were a group. Also, one guy with two cute girls was sure to garner a bit of attention. Fortunately, there were no cliché events where some jackass tried to cause the new kids some trouble. After he was done looking at the directory and figuring out the route to their classroom, Zeph turned around and made his way back to Lili and Ivy.

When he got close, he saw two boys talking to them. Ivy and Lili looked a little upset. Zeph sighed, maybe clichés were inevitable. One of the boys was a little taller than Lili and had green hair. He reached out and tried to grab her arm. Anger rose up inside of him, and Zeph started to run over. Before he could get near the girls, He saw something that made him stop in his tracks.

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While Zeph was looking at the directory, Lili was waiting for her friend to look up from the floor. Her friend had been acting weird all morning. It took her a while to figure out it was because of embarrassment. She didn't really understand that emotion, because Lili was never really embarrassed before. Ivy was looking at Zeph again, it made Lili smile. The little half-elf looked so cute when she was all dreamy eyed. Unfortunately, Lili wasn't the only one to notice that, because two boys came over and tried to hit on them. Grandpa warned her about guys like this. They were arrogant and thought that she and Ivy should be grateful that the two idiots decided to talk with them. After making it very clear that she and Ivy were definitely not interested, the green haired jerk tried to grab her arm. So, Lili did what her grandpa told her to do. Something she'd done before, and will probably do again.

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Everyone in the hallway stopped as they all felt a surge of magic. They turned to see a girl with auburn hair punch a boy in the stomach, sending him to a wall. When the boy hit the wall, ice grew around his waist and pinned him there. The auburn haired girl held her fist in the air threatening a second boy, and he ran away. A few people walked away as if it wasn't a big deal, but most of them stared at the green haired kid frozen to the wall and laughed. Ivy grabbed Lili's hand and they walked away.

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Zeph was a little stunned watching Lili nail a kid against the wall. He chuckled thinking about how direct the little ice princess could be. Ivy brought Lili over to him. "Hey girls, I see you met some new people." He gave them a wry smile.

"Yup, too bad they were jerks. So, do you know which way to go?" Lili said smugly. Ivy giggled at her friend's behavior.

"Sure do, follow me." Zeph led the girls to the staircase, they needed to get to the third floor and enter class 3-V. "By the way Lil, I thought you punched them in the face?"

Lili shrugged. "Its the first day of school, so I decided to be merciful."

They could hear the boy on the wall calling for somebody to help him, as they were climbing the stairs. Ivy tapped Lili's shoulder. "Do you think you might have been too hard on him?" The half-elf felt a little sorry for the guy.

Lili just put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Ivy, when you deal with people who don't want to take no for an answer, or arrogant jerks who think they can do what they want to you, remember one thing."

"What's that?" Ivy tilted her head.

Lili grinned. "Establish dominance."

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