“I still can’t believe they didn’t tell her!” Lucia exclaimed, looking shocked.

“Drop it, miss,” said her student, Alex, wearily. “It’s their choice, and I don’t want to interfere in it.”

“But, Alex, you could tell her yourself, right?”

“And then what, miss? Have to face my parent’s with the guilty conscious of doing something behind their back and possibly hurting Luna beyond anything? No. Rather, I’d prefer to fall together with my parents than single myself out by doing a really dumb thing even if it’s the right thing to do.”

At his words, she shook her head in disbelief, but he smiled sweetly at her for supporting him.

“Anyway, let’s move on, miss. We’re here to teach me flight magic, remember?”

“Yeah. I know,” she replied and sighed before opening the book in front of her.

The two of them sat inside a multistory building that had books stacked neatly in shelves everywhere to see, where the people were browsing through and taking out the ones they wanted to read. They were at the library in the city, which was several minutes from Alex’s home, which they came there by flight soon after having breakfast.

Earlier, when Lucia and Luna returned after freshening up, the young girl bounded towards Samuel with a bright smile, eagerly nagging him to tell her about her parents. So, as they sat around for breakfast and were eating, Samuel opened up and told her that he had received a call from them yesterday while he was working at his office.

“They said they’re currently at Dong, capital city of Mungdo and told me they’d be heading to Huizhou next,” he informed her.

“Really?!” The girl exclaimed, widening her eyes and becoming excited. “Did they tell you how long it’ll take them to get there, or how long they’ll stay, and whether we could meet there?”

Samuel smiled and said, “I did tell them about your plan to visit the Forest of Lone, and they became very worried for you. They asked me whether it was wise to send you off to such a dangerous place, but I informed them that one of the council members was going to be arranging an escort and will make sure you and everyone will be safe.”

Luna fell silent, but her smile on her face remained the same. In fact, it looked like she was very delighted to hear that her parents were concerned for her and wanted her to be safe. It made her so happy that she was at a loss for words.

“So, they said it’ll probably take them a month to reach Meria and then Huizhou, which would probably take the same amount of time for you guys, I think,” said Samuel thoughtfully.

“That’s awesome!” She said happily, recovering her ability to speak and to the Lucia to ask, “Miss, when can we begin our journey?”

Lucia was a little taken aback by the girl’s sudden eagerness and replied, “Hold your horses, Luna. We have yet to receive any word from my father, so until then, please be patient.”

“I know,” replied the kid, still smiling regardless of the shot down. Then a thought struck her, and she asked, “Is it possible to head to Mungdo and then to Huizhou?”

This made everyone in the room chuckle and made her ask around, “What? I was just curious.”

“Luna,” began Sarah with a smile, “it’ll take you more than two months if you go through Mungdo. Believe me, it’s much faster if you just headed straight for Huizhou.”

“Oh. Okay,” said the girl, looking a little crestfallen. Then she muttered, “I wish they’d have written a letter at least.”

At her words, Samuel, Sarah, and Alex all looked at each other while Lucia minded her own business and ate her breakfast. The truth of the matter was that Luna’s parents could not write to her because her mother had died a long time ago, and her father was receiving mental therapy for losing his mind at the loss of his wife.

So, to make sure the girl would not get suspicious off them, Samuel and Sarah always thought up some kind of story that involved her parents contacting them through the telecommunication network which was a faster way of communication than by sending a letter, which would have taken months to reach them.

“You know letters take time to reach us, Luna,” said Sarah softly to the young girl with a sad smile, using the same old excuse as always and since Luna was an innocent girl who trusted them a lot, she easily believed their words without question.

“True,” admitted Luna with a sad smile. Then, all of  a sudden, she looked up with a determined smile on her face and said, “No matter! We’ll still meet in Huizhou, so there’s that to look forward to!” a moment later, her expression became that of worry as she asked, “I wonder if they’ll even recognise me as their daughter.”

“Oh, Luna,” said Sarah, who was sitting right next to her, softly and reached out to place a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Your parents will be able to recognise you the moment they see you. Don’t worry about it.”

The kid nodded in understanding and smiled before having her breakfast. Alex and Lucia watched this scene unfold and looked a little uncomfortable with how happy the girl looked despite the truth being the complete opposite.

Once the breakfast was over, Alex asked his teacher, “Miss, I’m kind of bored training in the same usual magic as always. Can you please teach me flight magic already?”

“Bored?!” Lucia exclaimed, looking alarmed. She instantly flared up at him and said, “Alex! What you’re training is the magic that you’d be relying on a daily basis! Flight magic is just for transportation.”

“I know, I know,” he said, waving his hands in a gesture to calm her down, “but listen. It’s been the same lessons over and over and over again! I’m getting bored. Please, miss. Teach me the flight magic. It’ll be different, and I won’t feel like I was bogged down by something unnecessary.”

His teacher looked at him with a disgruntled expression on her face before she sighed and relented.

“Alright. I suppose a change could do you some good,” she said and smiled softly at him. “Guess this means we should visit the library.”

“Great!” He said, looking excited.

So, when Lucia informed his parents of their plan to visit the library to teach him flight magic, they were okay with it. Luna became so excited, she said she wanted to tag along with them and learn how to fly as well.

However, Lucia and Samuel denied her proposal and told her that she cannot learn magic like Alex, and must learn to control her energy, which was not Luna’s strength as they first found out when she lost control of her energy and caused it to explode.

“Aww,” the girl replied, looking disappointed and turning to look hopefully at her childhood love.

He smiled sadly at her and said, “Sorry, Luna, but I think they’re right. I think it’s better to learn it from dad.”

With no help coming from him, she sighed and nodded wordlessly in agreement. But with Samuel having to go to work, that left Luna with nothing to do for that morning. Instead of wasting time playing with the kids, however, she decided to help Sarah around the house and improve on her cooking skills.

“I really want to show my parents how great my cooking skills are, and they’ll be really proud of me!” She told them happily and showed them a cheerful smile.

Everyone felt uncomfortable about it, but with time pressing on them, Samuel bid them goodbye and quickly headed off to work. Lucia headed upstairs to fetch a small purse and came back down to find Alex waiting for her outside.

“Let’s go,” she had said, and she wrapped her arms around him and flew into the air.

It took them a few minutes to reach the library, which only had a few people coming in and out with books in their hands. Alex was staring at how big the library building was, which Lucia noticed and looked puzzled.

“What is it, Alex?”

“Oh. Nothing, miss,” he replied to her, still staring at the building with amazement. “I’m just amazed at how big this place is.”

She raised an eyebrow and asked, “By any chance, is this your first time being at a library?” When he nodded, she chuckled and said, “Wait till you go inside. Then you’ll be amazed.”

With that, she led the way into the library, and he marveled at the amazing sight of the multiple floors there that had books stacked neatly in shelves everywhere with people browsing through them.

“There sure are a lot of books,” he muttered in amazement.

“Yes, but we wouldn’t need to go through them all luckily,” she said and sighed wearily. “Searching these books is the most difficult thing to do. Trust me. Being this big isn’t helpful.”

He chuckled at her words, and they walked over to the nearest table, and she told him to sit there and wait for her while she’ll find the book they needed. So, he sat there and waited for a few minutes before she returned and laid the book down before pursuing through it. However, because she had been concerned for Luna all this time, she got distracted and made that comment about her disbelief about them not telling Luna the truth.

So, as he sat there silently while she flipped through the pages, he became curious at the book and asked, “Miss, what is that book called?”

“A beginner’s guide to flying,” she replied, flipping over another page with a brief glance at it.

Her words made him look surprised and made him say, “Wait. Does that book teach you how to fly? With magic or with energy?”

“With energy obviously. Normal people don’t know that magic us usable, remember?”

“I know, miss, but it’s just I’m confused. Like, how can reading a book about learning to fly using energy help a magic user like me?” He asked her, looking confused.

That was when she placed a hand on the page to not lose sight of it and lifted her attention to focus on her student.

“The basics for flying for energy and magic is the same; the method,” she explained while he listened intently. “By learning the form, and knowing a more detailed version of what flying is about, then you can better understand how to apply the magic into flying.”

“Oh,” he said, blinking in surprise and then looking lost as he admitted, “I’m confused. Isn’t flying like just jumping off your feet and making the wind fly you around?”

His words was met with amazement from his teacher, who smiled wryly and asked, “Really? If it were that easy, how come people have to learn proper ways of flying then?”

To that, he had no response, but she did not want to look like she was scolding him so she said, “It’s okay, Alex. To be honest with you, flying is one of the most difficult things you’d probably be learning and the same goes for Luna. She might be good at learning things quickly, but even she will surely find it difficult because you first have to get a mindset of what flying is about.”

With that, she went back to pursuing the book for a few seconds before saying, “ah,” when she found the page she had been looking for. She placed a hand on the edge of the page and turned the book over to show him the contents of the page that she found was interesting.

He looked down at the page and saw descriptions as well as illustrations showing the figure jumping and hovering off the ground. This puzzled him, and he scanned the page to find any traces of a method to flying, but there was nothing there.

“Um… I’m confused,” he said, looking up and putting on a confused face. “It only shows jumping and hovering. There’s nothing about flying there.”

“It’s on the next page,” she said with a smile, and he tilted his head in bewilderment.

“How is this going to help me, miss?” He asked her curiously.

“It does because this illustrates the method people use to fly,” she said and smiled pleasantly at him.