Auther moved through the back alleys like a fugitive, heart still hammering from the confrontation with his mother and the venom in Viola's voice. Every shadow made him flinch. Every distant footstep sounded like pursuing guards. The weight of the day — Divine Rank, Crown Prince, endless bowing faces, and his mother's cold, trembling anger — sat heavy on his chest like a stone.
He needed to breathe.
He needed somewhere the world couldn't reach him.
By the time he reached the edge of the merchant district, his hands were shaking. He stopped in front of the small, rundown shack, staring at the faint warm glow leaking through the cracks in the door. Candlelight.
Without thinking, he knocked softly.
Lana had been at home the entire day carefully healing her nearly healed face, she had been walking on eggshells silently fearing that a guard would come into her door and arrest her for questioning.
But since the sun has set and nobody had come, her mind was finally at ease lighting the candles in the house all of them casting glamorous shadows in her run down shack.
"I'm picking up a bad behavior from that boy... wait his majesty, he's a crown prince now." she said looking at the messy bed they shared for a while, wondering silently how simply she had allowed a man into her life and they did nothing.
"It's not like I wanted to get raped... I'm just thankful Auther isn't like the scum I know, now he's a phoenix flying and burning bright... enough thinking about him if he has any conscience he should be bringing me a bag of gold for saving him... even silver would do my debts can be pushed back a month or two with that."
Soon as the candles were about to go out, in the wee ours of the night, she heard a soft knock at her door and could help but think it's the debt collectors, who else would come knocking at these times?
"Shit I don't have the money here not now I spent it all in healing myself and that royal." she silently though looking around for anything sellable in the house but came up short.
"Who is there!" she shouted softly "If it's Sven then I can talk to him to come later but if it Hagrid then I might truly die today." she thought silently.
"Take a guess." A gruffy voice came out she knew this voice, it was belonging to the one and only royal she knew, she could not be mistaken, that brat came back.
She for some reason almost jumped from her bed hurriedly going to open the door before calming down removing the unwanted giddy.
"I guess the ceremony even got me excited." she silently though while opening the door.
She had never seen his face before at least fully healed and it was hard for her not to get lost in the emerald shores that were his eyes, badly enough he simply smiled at her warmly enough to melt her heart.
"Is this kid this good looking, he better than Neon." she silently thought before slapping him in the face.
He held his cheeks in astonishment wondering how and why the hell she did that but Lana wasn't done with the surprises as she extended her hand for a handshake.
"What was that for?" Auther smile wavered as he nursed his face.
"You were looking at me weird,"
"That's a very shallow reason... anyway hi, nice to formally meet." He said peeking into her house looking nostalgically at the candle lit dump that served as his nursing home.
"Hello your majesty you can call me Lana, Lana the alchemist." Auther ignored her hand and hugged her tightly before letting her go.
"You are really silly, I missed you so much and I have so many questions, can I go inside then we talk?" he was smelling her clothes, the silent grimy scent made him forget about the rosy smelling palace and for some reason that made him subsequently smile.
"Surely. Right this way, Auther." She led him to the bed, her only functioning piece of furniture.
Soon they were sitting on her bed which also functioned as their dining area and lounge.
"So, How have you been?" He asked looking at Lana with a seriousness that beckoned her to simply laugh in his face.
"Surprisingly well, I totally expected to be abducted by guards at any moment, how was your day? How do you feel like now?" her eyes subconsciously looked at his face trying to avert her eyes, she finally found a cloth, used to function as a make shift bandage but now fully sanitized
"Wait before you answer let me cover up that annoyingly handsome face of yours, It's a bit distracting." Lana said covering up his face without even a blush, none of this was weird for her.
"You do not have a filter, do you?" he silently asked himself surrendering to her antics, in a while he was fully covered now looking like a mummy from a children's show.
"My day was... well frustrating."
"Oh, so you met the guy who did that to you?"
"Yeah, but weirdly after the awakening I still felt my knees giving out when they were there I was like a firefly competing with the moon. Why am I so weak?" He confessed beckoning her to look into his eyes one more time staring at a picture of vulnerability, charming her in a sort of way to pat his ack in assurance, quickly pulling away.
"Well you can't expect to be the strongest person in the world right at your awakening, you of all people should know that, it's in all the beginner books for swordsmanship and magic training."
Auther sheepishly smiled, him being himself never got the beat of bettering himself in swordsmanship after being put down so much by Viola on his first day, he also did not expect to awaken a magical class.
"How do I tell her I only read poems and oral literature from that library, it's not like there is an educational curriculum. to guide me or something." He felt silly as he asked himself.
"It seems like I skipped that page, can you catch me up?"
"You just had to be stupid, huh? It seems handsome truly does remove the smart element from a person."
He rolled his eyes at the insult, silently he wanted to retort but he knew she was right within context.
"Anyway think of your rank like a dam, the higher the rank the bigger the dam it and the sturdier it is, but at awakening it's full but you can't make use of it because your body is filled with so many impurities for mana to forcefully flow into your soul."
"So my body weak or something?"
"Exactly now it needs some time to fully open up to it's source capacity and it takes a while for that to happen depending on how big your soul source is."
"So I'm not beating that guy for a while?"
"Yes, you simple creature yes."
"Thanks for the explanation I should probably read those handbooks in my free time."
"I could be your tutor for a fee, and I'm quite cheap."
"But you are an alchemist, you don't know anything about mages."
"But I was also the valedictorian of Grimond magic school in my year with a spotless theory record. I know more about magical theory than even your mother, she just has way more practical experience."
"So is she that good, she said she wanted me to be her disciple."
"Yeah she's pretty good, I would dare say the best you could find in the human parts of the world, yo don't want her offer?"
"I don't know, anyway how much do you want to be paid I only get five gold coins a week I'm a bit poor."
"I get paid ten times less per month so I'm at your service for a gold coin a week."
They shook hands a sign of agreement.
"Can I have a three hundred silver advance?"
"I only have a gold coin on me, so you are going to pay back the seven hundred silver change?"
"When are the lessons and how long are they?"
"After noon?"
"Sure I'll see you tomorrow after noon."
Auther noticed the dying candles their talk took longer than expected and he had to leave for fear that he would wake up a mess, they walked the short way to the door and Lana sought him off.
"And Auther if you ever swing around the alchemy lab pretend you don't know me please." she said before ushering him outside.
Auther had to sneak back into the palace completely dismayed by the weird request