Kriger II Rebirth of Light

Robert had aged since his last meeting with the President. Ever since the Kriger boy had left the safety of Rufeus two years ago none of the programmers were able to get near him. They followed, to some extent. The programmers always reported the same results.

"He seems to be going aimlessly." The President wasn't pleased with Robert's lack of results.

Everyday felt as if Robert was going to be finally ‘taken care of' As Ferdinand liked to put it when people reached their usefulness. Robert halted at the President's door and the icy chill rose in his spine.

"He's not pleased with me, is he?" He asked in the silent corridor.

No response from the superintendent. Either she was too busy minding the AIs, or she knew. Gulping what he felt was his last bit of air; he entered the office and coughed softly, at least he fulfilled one order.

"You sent for me President Traxxus?" He asked after a moment of silence.

The President pointed his pen at the chair in front of his desk and went back to writing. Robert obeyed another order and sat down quietly fidgeting away. Ferdinand laid down his pen and looked up at Robert.

"Kortz, I have wonderful news for you. Developer Sid Cortzes has died for unexplained reasons." Robert’s face pale as Traxxus rolled the news off his hands. "So, you will be taking his duty as the new Developer for Kriger II. I expect you to report to the Librarian as soon as next week. Is this understood?" The last part wasn't a question, it was a command.

Robert stared at Traxxus for some time before nodding his head. The President smiled eerily and waved a dismissed hand at Robert. Standing gratefully, he walked out of the office before the President could change his mind. Two years of nothing and the President is acting as if he could care less for the first two Kriger. What's really going on? As if someone had probed his mind, chatter came up on the intercom.

"Word of caution: don't ask too many questions." a deep raspy male voice told him with a twinge of laughter. Robert took off in a slight jog back to his own office.

Sector Seven

Geldom, Torrdeck

The dew shimmered in the sunlight as people bustled in the early morning. Astraea felt the sun’s rays warm her from the coldness. She couldn’t believe she stayed up on the roof all night. Getting up she stretched out the aches from her joints and walked back into the semi warm building.

When she got to her apartment, she noticed that Lorelei was not yet awake. Looking at the clock it was barely 6:30AM. The sun was not wrong to be coming up from behind the mountains now. But, Lorelei and Lavender should be awake by now. She will be helpful for once and make breakfast for them. It was the least she could do for not being able to work.

Astraea had always tried her hardest to help with their money issues. She worked in the clothing factory with her friends Lavender and Lorelei. However, after her many fainting spells from exhaustion they would not allow her to work. She went off to work at the marketing stalls and only lasted a few weeks before she was attacked one night. Luckily the owner was still there and fought the bad men off her. He wanted her to stay because his wares sold faster when she was modeling them for customers. Astraea would have if her sister wasn’t so protective of her.

Astraea stayed indoors now. The silk trader brought her material every week so that she could sew new things for him to sell. However, being a seamstress was not paying enough. She needed to figure out a better way to earn money. They were barely making ends meet as it was. They were always scrounging for something when rent came up.

That is why Astraea came up with the idea to be a private seamstress for the Astros in the Garten district. She had asked for more material from her boss and made examples to present to some clients. She had even made a new blue dress for herself. Hoping that it would make her look serious about her work. Astraea kept this plan to herself because she knew Lorelei would never agree to let her do it. She would fight her on it, saying she couldn’t take on clients. She might fall behind and such. Nonetheless, Astraea hated feeling useless like this. She should be able to help as well.

So, she kept it a secret and was finally ready. Today was the day she was going to go out to the Garten District and knock on as many doors as possible. She was going to get a client no matter how many doors will slam in her face. She was going to work for this.

“Where were you last night?” Lorelei walked in the small kitchen smelling the bacon sizzling in the pan.

She licked her lips and sat down at the table. Astraea didn’t think Lorelei would have noticed her leaving. Placing a plate of eggs and bacon in front of her sister, Astraea quickly went back to the kitchen.

luckily Lorelei was still half asleep and didn’t prob any more. Lavender came in finally and sat with Lorelei at the table. Astraea placed Lavender’s food down and they sat there in silence eating their food. Astraea wasn’t going to try and make small talk. She liked the peacefulness in the morning with her sister and friend.

They have lived together since Lorelei and she left the orphanage at eighteen. Lavender was looking for roommates to help with the rent and so they were the perfect match. With Astraea being at home doing her seamstress job she took up as the cook as well. It gave her a weird sense of pride cooking for the other two. She mostly watched them, and she pretended to eat.

Unfortunately, for Lorelei, she knew why Astraea was not able to eat and never brought it up to her. She had promised her Mother to not bring up any of Astraea’s secrets to her. Least she remembers the terrible things that had happened before.

“Don’t forget to go to the market with Sid this afternoon. You have the list, right?” Lorelei nagged Astraea.

Astraea nodded and took the folded paper from her pocket.

“Right here. And I don’t need Sid to babysit me. Besides, Fahim was going to come get me. He needed to pick up some dresses anyway.” Astraea shoved the paper back in her pockets and ushered the two out.

“You’re going to be late for work!” She told them. Lavender went ahead but Lorelei stopped at the door.

“I just worry about you, okay? At least invite the boys over for dinner tonight. It’s been awhile since we have seen them. I know we are all off this weekend together. We could do something. Please talk to them.” Lorelei placed a hand on Astraea’s shoulder and smiled faintly. Astraea sighed and nodded.

The weight from her sister’s care made it so much harder to lie to her.

“Don’t worry. I got it.” Astraea flashed her smile. Lorelei left the apartment finally.

Astraea rushed around getting her lunch ready and putting her collection in a clothing bag to keep the dresses from wrinkling up. Hopefully she won’t be late for the bus. Astraea had to change into her nice dress. It was a blue silk skirt attached to a white blouse with long sleeves and a black corset, to give it an hourglass shape. It was a wonderful way for her to show her collection to her clients. What better way than to model your own clothes? To finish it off she placed her favorite blue shawl over her wavy hair.

Rushing out the door she knew she had to stop at Sid’s place first or else Lorelei knew something was going on. Astraea had to create a cover somehow. Just her luck there he was with Luiso and someone else she did not recognize. He stood behind them as they were leaving their own apartment. He was a head taller than her and very lean, as if he hadn’t been fed. He had long shaggy, black hair. When he looked up at her something clicked in her mind. She had stopped in mid stride, starting him down with wide, confused eyes.

Why was it she knew this man? His eyes bore down on her as if he was searching for something inside of her. She in turn felt this electricity pulsating through her. She only felt this way when she was near computers and AIs. Something inside of him was screaming to be found. She wanted to go through him and find out what it was. Still, that made no sense. He was a man, not a machine.

“Astraea? Are you ok?” Jules asked, waving his hand in front of her. She blinked several times and strained her neck to look up at him.

“Lorelei wanted for you and Lusio to come over tonight for dinner!” Astraea blurted out. She could feel her face burn with uneasiness. She was never good at talking to others when strangers were around.

“Sure, we will come over as soon as we are off, okay? Is Lorelei cooking? Ask her to make her famous tamales. They taste like my Mama’s” Luiso told her, rubbing his stomach and licking his lips.

“I am sure your mother made gut retching shit for a living.” A man snorted and slither in between the group of men. He came right up to Astraea and wrapped his arms around her shoulder. She scrunched up and tried forcing him off, but he held on tight.

“Maybe that’s why the government killed your people? Because they made such shitty food.” He snorted again at his own jokes.

Luiso grabbed the tall rude man’s hand off Astraea’s shoulder and twisted his whole arm around till his back was facing them. Astraea shuffled herself in the arms of Sid.

“What have we told you about leaving Astraea alone, you piece of shit?” Luiso wasn’t really asking. He kicked the man on his back side and sent him sailing into the far wall. He luckily had his hands out and caught himself.

The man turned towards them. Luiso had backed himself in front of Astraea, knuckles bared. He looked at Astraea between Sid’s arms like a savage animal.

“One of these days Astraea those two numb skulls won’t be around. And when that happens you will hear me out and know I am the man for you.” He yelled at her and walked off holding his hurt wrist.

Sid released Astraea from his grasp but kept a hand on her shaking shoulder. Lusio walked to the corner where the Man had walked off in the same direction.

“Astraea, I still don’t understand how you meet these strange men.” Sid complained.

“I am going out, you guys.” She announced ignoring the threat the man had made.

Lusio came back to her and put his hands on her.

“Astraea, are you crazy? You need to go back to your apartment and lie down. If Lorelei finds out what-“

“She won’t find out anything because you’re not going to tell her what happened. Or she won’t be making tamales.” Astraea flashed a smile, waved at them and rushed off.

She didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t want to stay there any longer and Sid asked questions about what she was doing. Sid was known to just say everything even though it was to be a secret. She loved Sid like a brother, but she couldn’t trust that blabber mouth of his.

Einar had watched the girl with the blue scarf leave the hallway and disappeared. He had tried entering her mind, but something kept pushing him away. It must have been her. She is the only one who fits the description perfectly.

"Sid, who was that girl?" he asked while they walked down the stairs.

He was hoping to see her, but she had run off so quickly.

"That was just Astraea. She is our neighbor." Sid replied, shrugging. “She’s a nice person, if not very quiet.”

Lusio laughed and punched Sid in the side.

“Like your one to talk, mister I’ve said maybe two words to Lavender” Luiso snickered and led the group of men outdoors to the ever growing cold.

Einar kept thinking of Astraea. 'She is beautiful. I need to figure out a way to talk to her in private.' Einar was going to ask Sid more about Astraea but saw her standing across the street at a bus stop. He was behind the two men. He didn’t think they would miss him. He quickly ran over to the other side. He stayed a few feet away from her.

He honestly didn’t know what he would say to her. She seemed still put out from that other man trying to pick her up in front of her two friends. She probably would scuff him off or worse call for help. So, he just stood there waiting for the bus as she was waiting as well.

When Archer left the hallway back to his own apartment, he slammed the door hard to make everything feel the pain he felt.

"What's the matter? Astraea slapped you again for breathing in her air." A bony, blond woman asked, and sneered at his misery.

"No, there is this new guy living with Sid and Luiso. It pissed me off the way he was looking at Astraea. I tried getting her to come with me but of course that loser Lusio shoved me off.” Archer slumped next to the girl at the table and pouted.

"Oh, god Archer!" She shouted and slapped Archer on the back.

"Will you just get over her? She will never say yes or ever be with you. She's so stuck up and prissy for a slum boy like you." She cackled, taking a deeper drag on her cigarette.

"Jessie is right, Archer. What are you going to do to get her? Be more aggressive?" Another man, an Aelfheim also but shorter than normal, had strolled into the living room from the bedroom area.

"God, why do you guys have to put me down like this?" Archer muttered.

Jessie laughed and punched Archer in the shoulder.

"Yeah, remember how that went over? You are better without her. She will never like you." Jessie told him to walk away with the blonde boy into the bedroom, kissing each other. Archer looked up at them through his thick hair.

"I'll show you. I'll show all of you." He told himself darkly.

Astraea never noticed the dark-haired man getting on the bus right after her. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t even notice he sat directly behind her. If she had been paying attention, she felt she was being followed by that same man she had met in the hallway earlier. Instead Astraea took out her notebook and wrote down all the names from the dream and what had occurred in it.

She found a similarity in the dream from all the other dreams she had been having. They all picked up from each other. The first dream she had made no sense. It was about this woman named Thaliea being yelled at by a tall, well built man that was the President.

What she could not understand was why she was dreaming about these people. What did they have to do with her? What should she be learning from these dreams? After an hour on the bus she finally reached her destination. Getting off she looked around the clean streets and pretty people. Everyone was dressed in bright colors; some even had bright colored hair. It was an astonishing sight after being in a dirty slum for so long.

Changing her plans, she decided to speak to clothing shop managers for a chance to showcase her fashions. Maybe that way their customers will want to buy it from there and then look up for a more custom look. While walking around the district, checking out all the stores and trying to find the courage to go in one, she begins to lose confidence in her skills. Gazing dizzyingly at all the pretty clothes she realized that maybe she was in over her head. Everything was made of high-quality material and has such weird angles. Maybe going for a traditional, modern style was not a good idea. The clothing that the Astros wore was very high end.

Astraea finally decided to go into a store. She went up to a purple neon building and checked its windows. It was still a very punk look but maybe they would like her style? She had to do something, or she would lose all confidence and just leave without getting anything done. Pushing the door open she entered the store. It was even more eye-catching on the inside. Loud, pumping trance music was playing. It was semi dark and dreamy inside. After a few moments of not knowing where the register was, an Alfheim woman with an angled face and short asymmetrical bob hair cut drifted over to her.

“May I help you?” She asked.

Astraea gulped and looked for something to help her out. Why was she here again?

“Miss, what is in the bag? Did you need to return something?” The woman asked a little concern this time. She folded her hands-on top of each other and looked down at her like a child.

“Y-yes, I am an up and coming fashion designer. I have heard great things about your boutique and would like to sell my designs with you. Is your store manager in so I may speak with them?” Astraea informed the salesclerk trying to be as professional sounding as possible.

In truth she had no idea what she was talking about. Astraea hoped by flattering the stores reputation it would in turn make her sound semi important. This was wrong of course. The salesclerk scrunched up her nose in a sneer and scuffed.

“You? A fashion designer? What is your name? Maybe I have seen your designs.” She started with a superior tone.

Astraea lowered her eyes. She knew if she lied this woman would throw her out and probably tell all the other stores about her. Best just come right out with it.

“I-I haven’t gotten anything published yet. I just want to speak with your manager please.” Astraea asked in a small voice, clutching her clothing bag tighter.

The woman laughed at her now. “The manager won’t be interested in some rift raft who thinks she can waltz in and sell knock offs. Leave before I call the PeaceKeepers.” The clerk pointed back towards the exit.

Astraea heavily sighed once she left the store. Leaning up against a light pole she looked up at the clear blue skies. Normally she would feel better looking at that pure blue blanket up there covering her. But, right now nothing could make her feel any better.

“That was my first try. This wasn’t going to be easy.” She muttered to herself. Standing up straight she went off to the next clothing store.

It was about one o'clock when Astraea stopped for lunch. She had gone to so many clothing stores and lost count how many times they laughed at her. She was in a nice park and figured she would sit under a tree to get away from the unusually warm day. It was almost autumn, but it felt like summer still wanted to hang around.

Walking around in the sun was doing nothing for her health. But she drank plenty of water so far and felt perfectly fine. Astraea laid down and closed her eyes for a minute. She couldn’t take the stress anymore from so many rejections. What is she going to do if she never got a client? Did it even matter, honestly?

A few hours later, and countless rejections, she was on the bus heading back to the slums. Astraea could not believe the nasty remarks all these people would just roll off their tongues. Did they look so down on people all the time? Dropping off her worthless project, she left the apartment again for the market area.

Later that night the girls were busily preparing dinner while waiting for the boys. It was Lorelei’s choice to make a traditional Rouindi meal. The other two knew why of course and Lavender was not letting up about it. She teased Lorelei the whole time while they cooked.

“You think Lusio will like you more just because you’re making him his favorite meal? You are fooling yourself.” Lavender scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Lavender kept rolling the flour dough for Astraea to fry. And Lorelei was busy stuffing the fried flour full of meat and rolling them into a pan.

“Maybe he will finally see what a nice person I am for doing this. And it is not just for him. It is for all of us. We all like this food, don’t deny it.” Lorelei defended herself.

Astraea half listened to their squabble. Feeling lost from her disheartened journey.

“Astraea what did you do all day?” Lavender asked her. She had to wave her hand over Astraea’s eyes though as she was not paying attention.

“Hey, Sidnir to Astraea? Where did you go?” Lavender asked this time.

“W-what?” Astraea nodded back to reality and looked over at Lorelei’s and Lavender’s confused faces. Lorelei’s forehead was scrunching up into her normal “Mother Mode”. Astraea quickly smiled and brushed her bangs away.

“Just cleaned a bit and went to the market. I got a few dresses made up.” She quickly lied and went back to cooking.

Lorelei raised her eyebrows but didn’t go into it. She knew if she did Astraea would just run off to the room and not join them. For once Astraea was excited about having people over. She didn’t know why seeing as she had horrible anxiety issues. However, was glad nonetheless for her new social skills.

She simply shrugged off Astraea’s suspicious behavior and went back to cooking. Astraea sighed and went back to frying the dough that Lavender would hand her once she was finished with one.

Astraea didn’t need Lorelei bugging her right now. She had to put all her concentration into contacting Einar tonight during dinner. If her thoughts about him were correct, then that means he is the “boy” that she has been dreaming about. A strange burning feeling started building up deep in her stomach. She didn’t understand this feeling every time she started thinking of Einar. It swam itself through her core to her face. Her cheeks felt as if they were on fire and she had to stop frying the bread.

“I’m not feeling good.” She told Lavender and excused herself. Lorelei tried following Astraea to the bathroom, “I just need to use the restroom.” Was the excuse she gave them.

Astraea locked herself in the bathroom and breathed heavily. What in the world did these feelings come from? Why was it whenever she started thinking of Einar, she would unexpectedly start feeling ill or hot as if she was on fire? She crossed over to the sink and turned on the cold water. Letting it run for a minute while watching herself in the mirror. Was she falling for someone she didn’t even know? The confused stare only made her knees weaken. No, she cannot get herself caught up in something silly like that. She needed to find out what the dreams were telling her.

She shook her head and splashed the freezing water on her face. Someone knocked on the bathroom door. Astraea knew who it was.

“Astraea, the boys are here. Are you going to join us?” Lorelei asked.

“Coming!” She yelled back. She splashed some more water on her face and dried off.

Everyone was sprawled around the small living room. Lorelei was feeding Lusio some of her tamales. Lavender and Sid were at the table discussing some new political scheme that was happening. She noticed that Einar stood alone in the kitchen. She didn’t want to break up the other two talking so she went into the kitchen and grabbed a plate for food.

She stood there quietly; her eyes closed. Shutting out all the noise around her she focused on Einar’s breathing. Astraea forced her will to enter Einar’s mind.

She’s standing next to me and I am just being a dolt not saying anything. I could be talking to her! Gods what is wrong with me?

Astraea lost her connection as she giggled at Einar’s awkwardness. But, quickly went back to what she was doing.

Einar?

“What?” Einar spoke aloud and looked around. He noticed that Astraea still just stood there. Not getting food or anything. Her head was bent, looking as though she was in pain. He was about to reach out to her when he heard her voice again.

Einar, meet me out on the roof tonight. At midnight. So, that we may speak. We know who we are to each other.

Without another word she severed the connection. Astraea put the plate back on the counter and rushed to her room.

“Astraea!?” Lorelei called out to her. But Astraea had locked the bedroom door. Everyone looked back at Einar still in the dark kitchen eating his food.

“I didn’t say anything to her.” He admitted and went on eating.

Lorelei didn’t like the fact that Luiso and Sid brought a stranger to their dinner. But she couldn’t say no to him either. There was something off about the man, she just knew it. He looked strangely familiar. It frustrated her that she could not pinpoint it. The name was what threw her off. It was an old Alfienhiem name. Even Lavender made a comment about it. She had only heard the name in her youth. Before she had to leave her mother at the facility. There was a boy with the same name. But it couldn’t have been him. He was taken away with a different programmer. He was not allowed to come near Astraea. Why was it she felt this was the same boy? The boy that they had experimented on with Astraea. The boy she played with in the lab when they were better. Was it him? If that was the case, then she knew Astraea would be leaving soon. Lorelei had to help them get out of the city. This might be her chance to be with her mother again.

When the men had left and fell asleep with full bellies, Einar slid out of the apartment. Checking the dark hallway with its peeling wallpaper and barren wooden floors. He hugged the walls walking up the first few steps to the next level and cringed every time the stairs squeaked.

"Damn this place does not let up." he complained.

Einar just ran up the stairs and huffed when he got to the top. Looking around he noticed there were no exit signs to the fire escape or to the roof.

'I might as well find Astraea's room and just go up with her.' Closing his eyes, he probed the hallways with a low frequency.

Beneath his eyes everything had changed. Brain waves were pulsating off the walls and floors, red and blue lines etched everything out so that he could see through the walls. He found sleeping bodies, all were deep colors of a burning fire. And then he saw something different at the end of the hallway. Walking towards it he notices something different about the reading of this body. It had more waves coming off it then all the other bodies. Its body heat was all wrong as well

"It’s completely blue. Like an A.I." He whispered to himself, shivers ran up his spine.

The body also had a lower body heat then the others.

Astraea, wake up I can't find the roof door

Einar echoed his thoughts to the body he suspected was her.

Astraea softly smiled and rolled over to get out of bed.

'I can't believe he couldn't find it.'

Einar had opened his eyes and was leaning against the door looking out for anyone. Astraea had gotten up and was inching for the door keeping her mind closed, she reached for the door and quickly opened it. Einar fell flat on his back and was looking up at Astraea.

"You have nice legs." He told her hotly. Astraea just giggled and helped him up.

How could you not know where the roof door was? All you had to do was go straight.

She echoed through his mind.

Astraea grabbed his hand and a spark went through them. A white sterile lab with blinding lights from the ceiling. People chattering in a strange language. Unexpectedly, a face came into view. It looked like a Sidnirean face, but somehow different.

Its face was too long to be normal; the eyes were slanted upwards. It had no nose except for two small slits and the mouth was thinly lipped but rather large. It moved its silvery hair away from its face and showed a rather long pointed ear, it smiled at in a caring, nurturing manner. As if it waited its whole life for this moment. The face distorted and faded away.

Astraea opened her eyes and found she was back in the dark hallway of the apartment building, Einar holding her and wiping away her tears.

"What was that?" He asked shakily.

You saw it too?

She was not able to use her voice. She stood back up on her own and looked over at Einar.

“Yeah, I saw it.” He told her looking ashen faced.

She looked down at her hand and wanted to cry, wanted so badly to know who that face belonged to.

“Come on, let's get to the roof and talk.” Einar held out his hand, but Astraea was afraid to take it, so she just led him.

Silence overtook them as Astraea created a white globe to give them light as they talked on the roof.

"Why are you looking for me?" She finally asked.

Einar looked over at her startled and combed his fingers through his ragged hair. What point was it now to hold out any more? To better understand the situation he should start at the beginning.

"I lived with this man since I was five thinking he was my uncle the whole time. We lived in Morvak. It's a big port city in Folkvang. Anyway, he started getting sick. I was thirteen when it happened.” Einar had to stop for a moment. Even though it's been years, thinking about his surrogate Uncle brought many horrible memories of losing him. He cleared his throat and continued.

“From the delirious fevers and pain, he threw at me all these wild stories. I felt like these secrets he kept were the cause of his sickness. And he had to just let it go before it killed him. It was hard to wrap my head around the stories because it was even harder for him to get it out. I was built, I’m an AI, built to protect another AI. And that AI was brought here by aliens called the Cormians. All he kept saying was that I had to find you, Astraea. That you were the key to everything. But there was something terrible the Cormians had brought as well, Astraea. And you have the information about what that is. My uncle wouldn’t tell me ever what it was. He refused, saying it would cloud my judgement on this journey. And that I might hurt people because of it. I am not sure what this terrible thing those Cormians brought but we can’t let it get in the hands of the government. Who knows what awful things will happen. When my uncle died Programmers and Maldrones came to the city, they were looking for me." Einar stopped as the tears from his lost Uncle came once more.

"E-Einar...I think we need to look for Mai." Astraea told him softly.

Einar looked back at her, confused. "Who is that?" He asked.

Astraea looked up at the stars. "I have dreams, I don't know if they're real or not. But Mai knows something about Thaliea."

Einar jumped at the name Thaliea and he saw a vision of a woman with long chamomile hair and a pale, sad face looking down at him.

"I remember her." He said aloud.

Astraea focuses back on Einar. "Who?"

"Thaliea." He answered softly. "Back in Morvak my Uncle would call up this woman occasionally named Thaliea. I asked him a couple of times who she was, but he always gave me vague answers like: 'Oh, she is just a friend' and then once he mentioned that they worked on a project called 'Kriger' and she was the lead developer."

Astraea stiffened and looked away.

"What's the matter?" Einar asked, wanting to reach out to her.

"The Kriger project, it had something to do with alien technology. I can't believe I didn't put it together until now!" Astraea sprang up and looked down at him smiling.

"What are you talking about, Astraea?" Einar got up with her.

"About my dreams, Einar. They always talked about Thaliea and the Kriger project and about two kids who disappeared with Thaliea. The whole project was trashed because Thaliea destroyed the data. But the last dream I had was about you, I think." Astraea looked over at him and blushed.

She hadn't realized he was rather strong looking. "How long were you looking for me?" She asked, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Oh, I suppose it's been about eight years now. Why do you ask?"

She nodded and looked away for a moment. "So, I guess I am right again." She murmurs.

Einar got the courage to go and stand next to her.

"What did you figure out?" He asked softly, he breathed in the sweet smell of her body and smiled.

Astraea turned around but didn't expect him to be so close. She fell right into his arms from surprise. Einar grabbed her and held on to her tightly as they started falling, but he caught his footing and held on to her.

"You ok?" He asked not wanting to let her go.

Astraea looked up at him and noticed the blue in his eyes never faded either in dark or light. The heat in her cheeks returned.

"Um I-I forgot." She admitted. Astraea slowly backed away from him but never pushed him away. She wanted to stay in this warm embrace forever.

"We should get back to our rooms." He told her quickly, letting go of her.

Astraea nodded and left his embrace.

Several weeks they met on the roof to figure out what powers they might have.

"I wonder why we have them." Einar asked loudly over Astraea's humming.

She stopped, starting hazing over the sleepy city and looked over at Einar.

"Can you read other people's minds besides my own?" She inquired trying to keep her voice leveled.

Astraea had been noticing that Einar tried to get in her mind at any chance he could. Why did he do this so harshly? "Well, yeah. Why do you ask?"

Astraea shifted on to the lip of the roof and was suddenly interested in her feet.

"I don't like you probing my mind. Maybe we can just figure out each other without...Intervening?" She asked him, stiffing herself from an outburst.

Einar was silent, though. Looking up she found Einar staring at her with a silly grin on his face.

"What's so funny?" She asked, annoyed.

"Nothing I just figured you would ask sooner or later. You’re completely right. It's not right to probe without one's consent. So, how about this, we probe other's minds but not one another, unless it’s necessary." He told her.

Astraea gulped down and chuckled and hopped off the lip "Thank you." She told him she was grateful for the privacy.