11.1

It was finally quiet and peaceful in the hallways and rooms. The past few days had been so full of everything.
      Aidan’s only few minutes of nothing were when he was getting ready to go to bed. He’d attended countless dinner parties and lunch parties, and council discussions and activities, it had left him with no time to work on his own things.
      He’d done little to no homework or spent time on projects – luckily, deadlines were not close yet – and the hours he was allowed to spend in school, had been tiring.
      Even at home, he’d seen servants running around to get decorations out of the storage and to get supply lists from one to another. In addition to that, he had seen Jura more than he liked. The elder had been roaming the halls in the mansion, keeping an eye on the servants – and Aidan, it had seemed. He had felt the old man’s eyes staring at him whenever he passed him in the hallway or when he left the dinner table.
      And now, he finally had time to think in silence again. Aidan sighed as he let himself fall onto the chair in the library with a thud.
      He’d seen no one around when he had entered the library. No cleaning servants anywhere and Reyna too seemed to be gone.
      His almost empty notebook was still on the table, exactly where he had left it the last time he’d spent time in here. The books used were still spread across the table, but now was not the time to read up on new information.
      No, he was certain it was time to start logging everything he’d learnt in the past days. From the drugs to the ceremony procedures to how they picked their new “lambs” – as the council loved to call the workers.
      “You’re awfully busy, Brother,” a familiar voice spoke from behind him, startling him and covering his scribbles in response.
      “How did you know where I was?” He tried to cover up more as he looked at the strawberry blonde girl walking to the other side of the table.
      “Reyna told me she’d seen you walking in here. She didn’t want to bother you, since you’ve been so busy. But I just missed our talks more than I wanted to give you a moment of silence. So, tell me, what are you doing?” Yuno excitedly asked as she took a seat opposite of him.
      “I haven’t really started yet…”
      “Then what are you planning to do? Any research on the schedule? Can I help you with some reading perhaps? I’m great at taking notes, and you know it!”
      “I–”
      “–please let me help, Aidan. I’m sick and tired of classes, it’s so boring without you in most of them. And when you are present, you’re so focussed – or perhaps more zoned out? – that I don’t even get to enjoy my time with you.”
      “School is meant for focus, Yuno. Not to play around with your classmates.” He could barely hide his own laughter as she snorted at his statement, followed by hysterical laughing.
      “Oh, please,” she snickered. “Don’t bullshit me.”
      “Fine, I won’t.” He picked up a basic psychology book and put in front of her. “Here, I haven’t started this one yet. Read through it and just write down anything you think is useful. Useful in general or useful to understanding the human psyche.”
      “Psyche, such a fancy word…” Yuno mused.
      “If you’re going to get off-track anyway, then don’t bother helping,” Aidan sighed.
      She hurriedly pulled herself back together, shaking her head aggressively. “No, I want to help! Don’t send me away, I can do this!”
      “Good, then please help. I could use your note-taking, it is amazing. So just give me whatever you think is helpful. I need things that help me understand human nature, why we think certain ways and how to keep our little brains happy or how to distract it to think it’s happy.”
      “Yes, sir!” Yuno saluted him.
      Aidan smiled at the salute and returned to his own notebook, but as he was about to write his first word, Yuno cleared her throat and hesitantly said, “I don’t have a notebook though.”
      Aidan cursed loudly and searched the table in hopes of finding the second notebook Reyna had given him. But to no avail.
      “I’ll go find Reyna,” he groaned.
      “Or you give me some paper from your notebook. We can always put it in a different folder and you can just hand me a new piece whenever I need more. Easy fix.” Yuno grinned widely and extended her arm across the table, her hand motioning him to give it paper.
      “But I’ll ruin a perfectly good notebook,” Aidan said melodramatically, hugging and petting the notebook as if it were a priced possession.
      “Then I’ll make no notes.” She withdrew her arm slowly, hoping to trigger a response.
      “You win.” He pulled a few pieces of paper out of the notebook, making sure it was perfectly torn on the tear-line, and handed them to her.
      Yuno smiled triumphantly as she took the papers and picked up one of the pens scattered across the table. “Good luck, Aidan.”
      She opened the book he’d handed to her and started her research – or his research, actually.
      Aidan closed his eyes to refocus himself and his thoughts. To figure out what he wanted to log and what he definitely needed to remember.
      First of all, Jura’s behaviour. He’d noticed the elder paying a lot more attention to Father Xavierno and himself than he’d done before. It hadn’t just been casual observations. Aidan knew Jura had been stalking him whenever he was out doing simple tasks his father had given him.
      On top of that, the elder was present at every lunch and dinner he was to attend. It felt like a coincidence, considering he was one of the council elders and the most intelligent one at that. But it was too odd. Why was the elder not attending dinners with Father Xavierno? Why was it that he had to attend the lunch with Yuno’s family instead of the banquet with the ruler of the city?
      Jura was definitely paying extra attention to Aidan and his actions. The only thing missing from the picture was Jura taking notes on him or his father making more detailed comments on how he fulfilled his assignments.
      None of that had happened. His father was just as distant as before, with the exception of council meetings.
      Xavierno definitely felt the need to pretend his son was an amazing prodigy of some sort. To make himself look better, using Aidan and his wits in the process. And Jura absolutely despised that.
      Aidan could see it every time during the meeting. The slight twitching in Jura’s face when Aidan got a special job, the grimacing whenever his father made a comment on how quickly Aidan had finished his task or how novel his solution to it was. He loved it every second of Jura’s jealousy, but it was dangerous. He would need to tread carefully if he was to stay on Jura’s good side – if the man even had a good side.