Nox and Ayla stepped out of the Academy's gate and into the city.

She had her hand on the watch fighting the urge to take out the cookies within and eating all in one go

Nox had forbidden her to, at least not until they were far enough away.

"Stop staring at it," he said without looking at her. "You'll survive five more minutes."

Ayla glanced at him, then back at her watch. "…I doubt that."

He chuckled at her words as they continued walking forward, they watched as each residents of Solara Prime went about their day.

Nox had the chance to calmly observe them and he realized that none of them seemed remotely worried about an Eclipsed wave.

Why would they?

After all, they were protected by the barrier and even if a Rift somehow managed to open inside the city, solar knights would be dispatched just a moment after.

That was only possible because two of Aureum's most important buildings were present here in Solara Prime.

The solar academy and the Royal Palace.

Speaking of which, Nox turned towards his right, far South was a place that lacked high rise buildings.

But what stood in their place was an even more radiant building. It was visibly huge, even from this distance, and its architecture alone seemed to demand respect.

It was a white building made of stone, unlike the others all around, and it had patterns of gold around it.

This was the Royal Palace, a place where the king and his family stayed, and also a place that someone like him would never hope to go.

But that didn't stop him from admiring it.

"Now that I think about it," Nox muttered, "isn't the palace a bit too close to the to the academy?"

He was right, although there was quite a bit of distance between the two, the academy was the closest building to it.

"That is simply how it is," she said, though her attention wasn't really to his words, as she paused and said, "also, we are far enough now."

Before he could respond, she pulled the small packet from her watch's inventory and shoved the remaining cookies into her mouth in one go.

Nox stopped walking.

He slowly turned to look at her, staring as she chewed with the same blank, unreadable expression as always, save for the faintest hint of satisfaction in her eyes.

"…You didn't even savor them," he said.

"They were savored," Ayla replied calmly. "All at once."

Nox sighed before the continued walking forward, "I haven't had the chance to ask, but are you related to the headmistress?"

She turned towards him before placing a hand on her chin, as if thinking about his words before answering, "the headmistress is like a parent to me."

Before he could ask, she continued, "she saved me when I was abandoned."

Nox stopped walking for a while her words calmly registering before he repeated, "abandoned?"

"Yeah," Ayla nodded, completely unbothered, it was almost as if she was talking about some else she didn't care about, "my family was scared of me, so they dropped me in a rift because that's where umbra energy belongs."

Nox felt a shiver run down his spine with the unsettling calm she said that, but she wasn't done yet.

"I didn't die," Ayla continued, as if clarifying a minor misunderstanding. "But the rift did close for a while and I was stuck inside."

Nox's eyes widened, he knew what it was like being stuck in the rift, he had been in that hell hole for a month.

"A while?" he repeated.

"Hmm," Ayla nodded, "the headmistress said two years."

That was even worse than what he experienced, but was that the reason why she was this cold?

"My parents might have thought that I died," She tilted her head slightly. "But they were wrong."

Her grey eyes met his for the first time since they'd left the academy. There was no anger or resentment in them, there was just an empty, distant stillness.

"The headmistress found me after a while," Ayla went on. "I was sitting at the center of where the Rift used to be. Everything around me was… gone."

Nox clenched his fingers without even realizing it.

Two years.

Two years inside a Rift, surrounded by Eclipsed, and she came out sitting calmly at the center of nothingness.

"And after that?" he asked quietly.

"The headmistress took me in," Ayla replied. "She sealed most of my umbra affinity and brought me here. Gave me food. Clothes." She paused, then added, "Cookies."

That last part almost sounded fond.

Nox let out a slow breath. "So that's why you don't react to much."

She looked at him again, head tilted slightly.

"Should I?"

He didn't answer right away, instead he just looked around for a while before sighing.

"No," he finally said. "I guess not."

They resumed walking, Nox didn't ask anymore questions as he was lost in his own thoughts.

He turned to her and said, "let's move faster."

"Run?" Ayla asked curiously.

"No," Nox shook his head before extending his hand, "c'mon on."

She looked at him for a while, before taking his hand. The moment she did, golden light covered them both and the next second, they had disappeared.

The crowd of people moving around just curiously looked at the spot they previously were before going about their day again.

People using their solar tech wasn't a strange sight, solar knights did it almost always.

***

"We're out of the city," Ayla observed, turning to the barrier behind them.

"Yeah," Nox nodded, "I thought it'd be faster if we teleported since we were supposed to be subtle during this mission."

"I see," she nodded and then turned towards the direction where they were supposed to be heading, "we probably shouldn't teleport towards them."

Nox nodded in agreement.

If they tried teleporting towards the settlement, then the Eclipsed would just hide as they previously had been, which meant they had to start walking.

"Alright," Nox said, "let's go."

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