Paradigm: Seekers, Chapter 2: Undersold

Chapter 2 of Paradigm: Seekers

Undersold (Chapter 2)

The school day had been awkward for Linos and Reva. She was in every single one of his classes, and at no point did he try to talk to her throughout the day. She began to wonder if he was ignoring her on purpose because he didn't like her, but the truth of the mater was that he was just incredibly shy. He knew he would have to talk to her at the end of the day for their study session, but other than that he had no idea how to start talking to her first. As Grey had pointed out many, many times before, he was not good with people.

As their final class of the day came to a close, and everyone was getting their things together, Reva wondered if he'd talk to her then. She watched as he packed all of his binders neatly into his school bag, though she noticed he was acting a bit odd, the way he took forever to precisely place everything away. He's stalling, She thought, starting to believe fully that he hated her. Then it dawned on her, though. Maybe he's just shy?

She put her things away quickly and stood up from her desk. As she did, she noticed he was looking at her. He froze, not sure what to do, and she just smiled at him. Quickly, he turned away, probably trying to hide his red face from her. She sighed, walking over to his desk, stood right next to him, and waited for him to acknowledge her existence. However, he said nothing, and just stared at her.

"You don't have to be so shy, you know." Reva said, finally breaking the silence.

"What?" He blinked, "I'm not shy."

"Clearly you are." She scoffed, seeing right through him, "I'm guessing you don't have many friends. That, or you've never really met a girl before."

"That was rude." Linos said flatly.

"Sorry, I couldn't think of any other way to put it." Reva laughed, trying to show she didn't mean it offensively.

"Well, you're right." Linos sighed.

"About what? Not many friends, or never really met a girl?" She asked.

Linos said nothing.

"Ouch... I'm sorry." Reva said, looking down at her feet in embarrassment.

"It's fine. Shall we?" Linos said, point towards the door, his book bag now slung over his shoulder.

She nodded, following him out of the class room. As the walked, he maintained a good two feet distance ahead of her, sometimes checking back to make sure she was still there. He obviously wasn't that good at making conversation with strangers. Other than his attitude, she didn't see why he didn't have any apparent friends, besides Grey who she had met during lunch briefly. He was apparently very smart, and somewhat handsome.

Linos was tall, and while he lacked a lot of muscle mass, he wasn't quite scrawny either. He dressed well, from what she'd seen today and during yesterday's meeting. Clean dress shirt with a vest, simple black denim jeans, and a sleek pair of boots. Though it may have been a bit over the top for something as simple as college, in her mind, he at least had good taste. His brown hair was longer than most people would consider acceptable, but it still wasn't anywhere near as long as hers, and she liked her's short. The only problem she saw with that is, he would try to hide behind it, as if trying not to be seen.

One thing that really stood out on him were his wings. It wasn't how he wore them, tucked behind himself stiffly to keep posture, but their colour. His were completely white, most Mirian's wings were white, but with speckles, or tips, of brown or black. They were a rare physical trait, like the naturally straight hair on the girls she envied. Reva had white wings with brown tips, which she considered to be a very complimenting feature of hers. Still, he totally white wings were stunning.

"So... how was class?" Linos suddenly asked, breaking their silence for the first time on his own.

"What? Oh, it was good, thanks." Reva nodded.

"That's good..." Linos said, struggling, "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"Thank you." Reva smiled, trying encourage his new behaviour.

"Uhm," Linos hesitated, his mouth hanging open for a moment, "Metallurgy is one of my favourite subjects, right next to artifice it self."

"I see you have a thing for metal, then?" Reva smiled, catching up in pace to walk right beside him.

"Oh, of course, it's so much fun to work with." Linos smiled back, "I like to shape little scraps of metal at home to practice with, I've actually made some really interesting things."

"Like what?" Reva asked.

"Well," Linos started, "the other day I build a little metronome."

"Oh? Do you play any instruments?" Reva asked.

"No, I've never been good at music, but I do like it." Linos laughed.

Reva laughed along with him. He was nervous, his stomach fluttering as he tried to talk to this girl. He felt as if he was making progress, though. She didn't seem bored with him at all, a pleasant first. Grey would be really proud if he could see him now, he imagined Grey's face as if he were eavesdropping their conversation a few feet behind them, giving him the thumbs-up. Linos rolled his eyes out of habit.

As the two of them entered the front lobby, Linos noticed two Nyph City officials standing at the front desk. The sounds of their not-so-quite conversation echoes through the room, but became distorted, and Linos couldn't tell what was being said. They looked irritated though, and the desk clerk seemed to be a bit concerned by that. Reva realized Linos wasn't paying attention, and then saw what he was staring at. They stopped for a minute and watched from a far, until the officials seemingly gave up and walked off down the hallway towards the cafeteria.

"I wonder what that was all about." Reva said.

"I saw them here yesterday, in the cafeteria." Linos said.

"What did they want?" She asked.

"No idea, they seemed to be looking for something," Linos said, "or someone."

"How odd..." Reva said, looking a bit concerned.

Soon, they continued walking out of the building, continuing their conversation from before. It was fairly windy outside, the clouds moving swiftly through the sky. A few people stood, talking, around the statue in the centre of the cobblestone courtyard. The day-moon, Ymir,  getting low in the western skies, dying the clouds a soft shade of orange and pink as the sky grew dark.

"I didn't realize it would get this dark this fast." Reva commented, staring up at the sky.

"It's nearly autumn now, it'll get colder soon, too." Linos added.

"I'm not used to this yet, I guess." Reva shrugged.

"How long have you been in the Sygna sector?" Linos asked.

"About a month, now." Reva explained, "I've been staying with my aunt and uncle."

"What sector did you come from?" Linos asked as they rounded the front gates leading to the edge of the floating island.

"One south of here, the Gelise sector." Reva explained.

"Oh, I've heard of that one, warm most of the year." Linos nodded, "It's just south of Nyph sector, right?"

"Yeah, I used to go there as a kid a lot, since my home island was so close to the bored of Nyph and Gelise." She smiled.

"I've never been, is it nice?" Linos asked.

"It's big, biggest island I've ever seen. The Seat of Miria is beautiful, it's such a nice building." Reva said.

"Yeah, they say it's the biggest city left." Linos said.

Soon they were out of paved walkway to follow and found themselves standing on the edge of the floating island. Linos spread his wings first, and after a nod to Reva, dove off the edge and took flight. Reva followed shortly after and the two of them soared together through the endless sky of Miria, towards Linos' home island just south of the Guild. It wasn't a far flight, so they just glided, watching the moon set lower behind the clouds in the west.

Reva followed Linos through the front door and into the hallway. To the left was a coat closet and a shoe rack, and a bit further down the hallway, the entrance to the den. On the right was a stair case, more than likely leading up to the bedrooms and maybe even a study. Linos immediately noticed Grey was home by his boots laying in the middle of the hallway. He let out a disgruntled sigh, and moved them onto the shoe rack beside him.

"The rack was literally two feet from where you left your boots, Grey!" Linos shouted into the house.

"I was in a hurry!" Grey shouted from the kitchen.

"A hurry for what? Food?" Linos said, sarcastically.

"A man's gotta eat!" Grey laughed.

Reva giggled at the two of them, setting her shoes neatly on the rack as not to invoke the wrath of Linos, master of shoes. Linos lead her into the den, where he placed his book bag and hers on the small table in front of the couch. Grey sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen, his mouth clearly stuffed with something. He was also reading something, it looked like a text book. Then Linos noticed a sprawl of homework and notes across the counter top. He looked back up to see Grey wink, and gesture towards Reva.

Linos scowled at him, he couldn't believe how serious he was about their agreement. Giving a sigh and giving up for now, he turned back to Reva, who had been setting out her notes from the day. Joining her, he took out his binders from the day's classes and set them aside, making more room for her. This would be the first of many tutoring sessions, and while they wouldn't be every night, this first one would be a lot to cover. Reva had missed many classes. She had even been assigned make-up projects to help get her grades up to average, but they wouldn't be worth the same as the projects she had missed. There was a lot of work set out for her and he had to help her pick it up.

Reva appeared to be fairly organized, judging by the way she took her notes. She had clean handwriting, and kept everything in order, similar to  the way Linos took his own notes. One thing he did notice is that she took a lot of notes, which means she probably wasn't that good at jotting down only the most important information. That didn't matter though, as long as she could retain it all. Their program was a difficult one, requiring them to understand many different skills, from artifice to anatomy. Still, it was all focused on medical purposes.

"So, why did you enrol yourself in this course? It's not an easy one." Linos asked her.

"I'm not sure." Reva shrugged, "My mother was a nurse, and it just seemed like I should follow in her foot steps."

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Linos asked, concerned with her answer.

"Yes, I think so. I'm not unhappy about it."  Reva replied, looking up at him and smiling.

Linos smiled back. As long as she was happy with her choice, then it was alright. Grey had been in a similar situation as her, in that he didn't know what to take. All he really wanted to was be with Linos through all of school, like they had been as kids, and while the Sygna sector's law program wasn't the most impressive on all of Miria, it was affordable. Linos, however, had been eyeing this school for quite some time. Phenic had a more prestigious program, but Sygna's was far more hands-on. Especially in its artifice programs, thanks to its famed program in engineering and mechanics. He was quite happy, here.

"What about you? Why'd you pick it?" Reva asked.

"My father was an artificer, and my mother was a pharmacist." Linos explained, "When I was a kid I didn't spend much time out of the house, and so I often chose to watch my parents work while they were at home. I learned a lot about metal-working and medicine from the two of them, and I thought I'd put it to good use."

"Impressive." Reva nodded.

"He's always been a shut-in. Trust me, I've known him most of his life." Grey said from the kitchen.

"Oh really?" Reva laughed.

"This guy has all the time in the world for homework, no time for fun." Grey laughed.

The two of them continued to laugh when they saw Linos scowling at Grey. He rolled his eyes and turned back towards his work, picking where he and Reva should begin their tutoring, and got her attention by clearing his throat. She giggled a bit, but took a deep breath to calm herself, and turned her attention towards her notes as well.

Last night's study session had gone well, they covered the basis of each class and even got her prepared for todays classes. Reva was a quick learner it seemed, and Linos appreciated that. He'd tried to tutor Grey in the past, but that had been an awful experience. Thankfully Reva was a bit more mature that he was when it came to school work. Unless, of course, homework was part of a poorly chosen ultimatum that would allow him to forever poke fun at Linos' inexperience with socialization.

Linos walked alone through the empty front courtyard at his own relaxed pace, enjoying the bit of solitude. There was a fair bit of cloud cover today and the air was damp, it would probably rain later on, so Linos wore his long-coat just in case. It was early, so not many people were at the Guild yet. Grey also had the day off, so he would be by himself for most of the day, unless he decided to work up the courage to keep talking to Reva. Though he felt he'd made decent conversation yesterday, his heart was still racing throughout most of it, and he wasn't any less nervous about it.

As he circled the fountain for a fourth time, pondering his thoughts in the quiet, he noticed two people exited the front doors. Linos froze for a second, immediately recognizing the two figures as Nyph City officials. What are they still doing here? Linos pondered. The two of them looked over at Linos, as he was the only person in the courtyard, then turned to stand next to the door and began talking. They were, once again, too quiet for Linos to eavesdrop on, and this irritated him. He knew it was wrong to listen in on people's conversations, but he wasn't the type to simply ask around.

He kept circling around the fountain, trying to think of a way he could get close enough to listen without being noticed. They hadn't been watching him, thankfully, which seemed like they weren't worried about him. Suddenly he figured it out, and without changing pace, he started to head for the lobby doors. As he changed direction, the two officials stopped talking and the one facing his way kept an eye on him. He only glanced at them a few times, trying not to look suspicious and entered into the lobby. Instead of heading in, though, he stepped to the side and leaned up against the wall next to the door. He guided the door closed, but didn't let it shut, keeping a light crack so he could hear them. Soon enough, they started talking again.

"...Are you sure?" Said a girl's voice.

"Yes, I believe we've asked every potentially informed staff member at the college, except for Cloy." Said a man with a deep voice.

"It seems he will have to relinquish more information to us." Said the girl.

"He has not been entirely truthful with us, perhaps this is just another ruse?" The man suggested.

"This is probable, but we must investigate this lead. If we find out it was another lie, then we know he was lying, and he is the one." Said the girl, with a strange flat tone.

"Yes." The man replied, "What is our next move?"

"We know what class she is in, we should now attempt to interrogate her classmates. For now, let's eat." Said the girl.

Linos hurried away from the door to the nearest bench on the adjacent wall and took out his book. Just as he managed to flip it open, the two of them walked back through the front door. The girl looked his way, but paid no mind, and followed her companion through the corridor on the far side to the cafeteria. He let out a sigh, sinking back into his seat, as they fell out of view. His hear raced, pounding in his chest, as he took long breaths to calm himself back down.

They were looking for someone, a girl. Somehow she was in the school, but no one knew who she was. Putting the pieces together game Linos a very bad feeling. They also mentioned Cloy as their source of information, which made him feel even more uneasy about the situation. Something was deficiently going on here behind everyone's backs. He wanted to know more, and while he wasn't one for asking around, Cloy definitely owed him one.

Cloy sipped his morning tea while looking through the large window behind his desk. It had a very nice view, over looking the back gardens of the guild, a place he often liked to take walks in. Even though it was a somewhat gloomy morning, pillars of golden morning light shone through partings in the cloud cover, painting a very pleasant scene in the otherwise empty northing skies. He let out long a sigh, trying to relax. He was still a little shook up from the night before.

Just as he took another sip from his cup, he jumped at the sound of his door being thrown open, and he spilled some of his tea onto his shirt. He turned to see who it was, frustrated at the mess they'd just caused, but was surprised to see Linos standing in the doorway. He brushed off the fact that he had made him spill his drink, and opened his mouth to welcome him. He stopped though when he noticed the angered look on Linos' face, and suddenly became concerned. Linos moved from the open door way, briskly, towards Cloy's desk, placing both his hands down and leaned in towards him. Cloy took a step back and set down his drink, he was very confused by this.

"Can I help you with something, Linos?" Cloy asked.

"Yes, you can." Linos said sternly.

"What would that be, then?" Cloy asked.

"Tell me why the Nyph City officials are here at the school." Linos said, cutting straight to the point.

"Pardon?" Cloy blinked.

"I over heard their conversation today," Linos explained, "and I know they're looking for someone. I also know you told them who to look for, but some reason, not where to look."

"Uhm..." Cloy stuttered.

"Now, I'm not stupid. I can put pieces together in my head." Linos continued, "They're looking for someone here, who is enrolled in classes, and the staff aren't aware of this student it seems."

"What are you trying to say?" Cloy asked.

"They're looking for Reva, aren't they?" Linos asked.

Cloy sighed and leaned back against the window, crossing his arms. Linos leaned back off the desk and waited for Cloy to explain. He had made it obvious that Linos was right, and now it just looked like he was choosing the right way to explain the situation to him. Linos wasn't pleased by this. Why would he make him her tutor if she was potentially a wanted criminal?

"Reva is a suspect in a robbery." Cloy finally said.

"A suspect in a robbery?" Linos repeated, unsure if he heard him right.

"Yes," Cloy began, "there was a robbery in Nyph City, a pretty big one. This information couldn't be disclosed to the public however, due to the nature of the stolen item. Little information is known about the thief, except that they fled Nyph City and headed west."

"So they're here looking for that person, and you think Reva is the robber?" Linos asked.

"It's possible." Cloy shrugged.

Linos took a step back, turning away from Cloy, to think for a second on this new information. Was she really thief? Linos was having trouble accepting this, nothing felt right, but he also hardly knew her. He did know one thing, that Reva enrolling made little sense. Sure, being a student would be a good cover when the police came around, but that would be too risky a move, considering it was part-way through the semester now. Still, Reva did get accepted. He did have one more question, though.

"Why west?" Linos asked.

"What do you mean?" Cloy asked.

"Why west? What's west of Nyph that's so important?" Linos asked.

"You're too clever for your own good, Linos." Cloy shook his head.

Linos turned back to Cloy, worried by his last comment. He watched as he bent beneath his desk to retrieve something, moments later coming back up with something in his hands. The item he'd been hiding was wrapped in cloth, but was rectangular in shape. He set it down on the desk and Linos leaned in to see what it was as he unwrapped it. He revealed what appeared to be a box. This didn't look like any old box, though. The wood was dark and smooth, the edges were embroidered in a thin metal lace, and on top of it appeared to be some kind of device made up of rings and a central dome. Linos cocked his head as he examined the metal, it seemed to be the same as the rings above the official's heads. This was a very odd things.

"What is this?" Linos asked.

"I cannot tell you that, but it is very important that it isn't stolen from here." Cloy explained in a very serious tone.

"Why on Miria would allow Reva to attend school here if you knew she was a suspect in this crime?" Linos asked, expressing his disbelief.

"Because the culprit needs to be found." Cloy said, "If she is indeed the thief, then the officials will snuff her out and she will be captured. It's trap, Linos, we just need to see if she's the who will take the bait. I wanted you to keep an eye on her, I know you would report to me anything suspicious about her. I should have know you'd figure it out, though."

Linos stood, speechless, wondering what to believe. This was all a little too much to take in at once, he was beginning to feel overwhelmed. He kept repeating the same question in his head; could she really be the culprit? He needed time to figure this out on his own, but he was very far from calm at the time. Cloy waited for a response from him, but instead of saying anything at all, Linos turned and stormed out of the office. The sound of his heavy foot steps echoing in the hall as the office door remained open. Cloy let out a long sigh.

Anxiety had a grip on Linos as he sat in class next to Reva. She didn't seem like she was hiding anything, but she could also be just that good at sticking with an alibi. He hated this feeling, he never didn't know what to think, he always knew how to figure things out when he had the information. Wait and see was his least favourite game, and that was what he had to do until the truth revealed itself. He watched her from the corner of his eye, half paying attention to the lesson going on around him, watching her write down notes.

He hadn't seen the officials since the mornings which meant they probably hadn't figured out this class's time table. Still, he sat waiting for them to burst through the door and either take her away for interrogation, or arrest her on the spot. He hadn't figured out why Cloy didn't tell them where she was, right away, but the answer came to him eventually. Cloy must have been risking the possibility that she was innocent, and buying time for her to take his bait. He was giving her a chance to show her true nature, and having realized this, Linos didn't feel as angry towards him as he had.

"What does she mean by that?" Reva leaned in and whispered to him.

"Sorry, pardon?" Linos blinked, tuning back in on the lesson.

"Oh, uhm, soul circuit." Reva said, reading off her notes.

"Oh, sorry, a soul circuit is something with in everyone." Linos explained, "It's part of your soul, but like the veins in your body that channel blood, they channel raw energy which we use for magic. We're not sure where that energy comes from, but we know that magic is powered by it."

"Oh, okay, I didn't know that." Reva said, jotting down notes on what he said, "How does that pertain to medicine?"

"Sorry, I suppose I should have covered that yesterday." Linos said, sitting up straight, "We'll be learning spells that let us redirect this energy into the body. That allows wounds to heal much faster than normal without draining the body's natural energy supply. This is very useful when patience need to recover from blood loss or trauma, but it hinders magical use greatly."

"Thank you." Reva smiled, going back to note taking.

Moments later, the lecture came to a close and the class was dismissed for lunch, which was wonderful because Linos was starving. The two of them packed their bags and headed out the door. As they rounded the corning into the hallway, Linos' heart dropped as the same two officials from the morning passed right by them and entered the classroom. His eyes darted to Reva who hadn't even batted an eye at them as they passed so close. His feelings were strongly juxtaposed, and he hated every bit of it, his heart racing as he knew it wouldn't be long until Reva was confronted by them.

<<<<>>>>