Finding Stardust

To him, Emma always looked beautiful even though she was frowning, but of course, the happy expression on her face today was special because it was rarely displayed. 

KNOCK

KNOCK

"Come in," Emma said. She was beaming with excitement for her first experiment.

The library door was opened, and Atila soon entered. Her expression was flat. She took the basket on the table and then turned around and went out. She did not say anything the whole time.

Emma turned and looked at Therius excitedly. She involuntarily grabbed the young man"s shoulder and squeezed hard.

"I can control people remotely!!!!" she let out a m.u.f.fled shriek. "It"s so amazing!"

"Sshhh ... keep your voice down," said Therius. "We don"t want others to know you are a telemancer."

His gaze fell on Emma"s hand, grabbing his shoulder with enthusiasm, and she immediately realized the same thing. Emma gasped and hurriedly took her hands off the prince"s shoulder.

"Uhm .. I"m sorry. I"m too excited," she said sheepishly.

"Getting excited is good," Therius said with a smile.

The man also realized that Xion was right. His face that was usually devoid of expressions, now, was often filled with smiles. Emma really brought color to his life.

"Can I try again?" asked Emma.

"Of course. Who do you want to call here?" Therius asked. "Don"t give orders that are too suspicious. We don"t want them to notice there is something amiss. Our power as telemancers must be kept a secret."

Emma nodded. "I understand."

She already knew from Xion that the telemancers had a bad reputation in Akkadia. Even the crown prince himself wanted to hide his abilities.

"Xion said ... we can kill people secretly with telemancy," Emma said suddenly after thinking about it for a moment. She looked at Therius fixedly. "Have you ever killed anyone?"

Therius nodded lightly. "Yes."

Emma held her breath. "Really? With telemancy?"

"Yes."

Therius" words stunned Emma. She used to hate Therius and was always mean to him. She considered the man as an enemy. But after 3.5 months together in this s.h.i.+p and spending so much time with him every day, she began to get to know Therius better.

She didn"t think Therius had ever killed anyone. The man looked like he was actually a decent person.

"Who?" Emma asked quietly. "Was the person you killed evil?"

Therius smiled mysteriously as he answered Emma"s question. "If I told you, then I would have to kill you."

Emma rolled her eyes at the young man"s words. Ah, Therius and Xion were indeed two peas in a pod. They liked to keep secrets and even use the same sentence to avoid having to answer Emma"s questions.

"You"re just like Xion. You"re both annoying," Emma grumbled softly. She did not want to press on the issue and chose to ask other more important questions. "All right. You don"t have to answer anything you are not comfortable sharing."

"Thank you," said Therius.

"I"m curious, though. Xion said as a telemancer, you were already at the highest level. What does it mean by being the highest level telemancer, and how long did it take you to reach that level?" Emma asked him again. "I want to know how hard I should train to beat you."

Hmm ... you could say the highest level of the telemancy is at level 10 when you can control everyone in a radius of 1 km from you. "

Emma gasped. "You mean ... if you want ... you can control the minds of everyone in this s.h.i.+p to do whatever you tell them to?"

"I can," said Therius. "But not for long. Otherwise, I will lose so much energy."

"Oh ..." Emma remembered years ago her mother controlled everyone in the royal palace to fall asleep so that she and Kaos.h.i.+n could escape from their planet. Arreya exerted so much energy that caused her to get injured. As a result, she even lost her memory for quite a long time.

Emma understood that Therius now must have telemancy abilities on par with her mother. Maybe, if Therius experienced being in a similar situation, he would also be able to exert as much force as Princess Arreya did back then.

"Princess Arreya was also the highest level telemancer," Therius said, as if reading Emma"s mind. "I could do what she did back then. But not for long."

"Oh ... I want to see what a high-level telemancy can do. I already have enough seeing ordinary people bringing a cup or delivering a basket," Emma said. "Can"t you control Xion"s mind and, maybe, make him dance naked on the bridge? That would be funny."

A mischievous smirk curved up on her face. Suddenly Emma thought it would be hilarious to prank on Xion since the man sometimes can be very annoying. She could not control Xion"s mind because that man was far stronger than her. But Therius certainly could, right?

Therius" expression turned grim when he heard Emma"s words.

"Why do you want to see him naked?" His voice sounded icy all of a sudden.

Emma pursed her lips when she realized Therius was acting like a jealous boyfriend. "Gosh, I"m just joking. You don"t have a sense of humor."

"Hmm ..." Therius waved his hand. "I can"t control Xion"s mind because he is as strong as me."

"Then, what about me?" asked Emma. "I"m weaker than you. Can you control my mind?"

In fact, the thought came to Emma"s mind several times. She was often worried that, as a stronger telemancer than her, Therius would force her to do things she did not want.

However, so far, she had never experienced anything strange. So, she was very sure that Therius did not try to control her.

Still, the suspicion was there, and Emma figured now was a good opportunity for her to find out the answer.

"You know I will not be able to control your mind, and I will not do it even if I can," Therius said flatly.

"Why not?" Emma asked, feeling more curious. She had heard Xion mention that telemancers could not read the minds of the people they loved unless that other person allowed them. But Emma did not know whether this included mind controlling in general or just mind-reading.

"You are my Avena. I will never be able to read your mind and control you however I want," Therius explained. "It is what we call fairness by design. Telemancers cannot bully or control their partners so they can have an equal relations.h.i.+p."

"Avena? What is that?" It was Emma"s first time hearing that word. She tried to guess what it might mean.

"Avena. The person who has my heart," Therius smiled faintly. "You must already know that I like you. I cannot control you or read your mind, so we can have equal standing. Of course, if you are willing to open your heart to me and allow me to read your mind ... I will be very happy."

Emma suddenly hiccupped when she heard Therius" words. The man really talked like a caring boyfriend just now and it felt awkward to her.

"In your dreams," Emma grumbled. "I will not let you read my mind."

She quickly s.h.i.+fted their conversation back to the telemancer topic. Emma didn"t want Therius to confess his love to her again, especially now that he was sober. He already confessed his love for Emma when he was drunk, and it seemed he didn"t remember he did it.

"Ahem. Well, you can"t control Xion. So, how can I see you demonstrate your ability to use high-level telemancy? I really want to see what you can do with it... so that I will have a clear target in my training," Emma said hurriedly.

"Well, if you are really that eager to see it, we can do it tomorrow," said Therius. "Tomorrow, this s.h.i.+p will stop by in an Akkadia s.p.a.ce base for fuel and supply. If you are bored at this s.h.i.+p, I will take you to the land and walk around. I can also demonstrate some high-level telemancy action for you."

Emma"s face immediately lit up. "Are we going to land??? Can we get out and take a real walk?"

"The base is small but it"s good enough. I think you will like it." Therius stared at Emma"s beaming face and his chest felt warm. He could guess that Emma was very bored on the s.h.i.+p and really wanted to break away from her routine. "I see you"re excited to get out."

"I will go with you. I have been doing the same thing for months and I cannot stand it anymore," Emma complained. "I don"t know how you can do it."

"All right. In that case, I will tell Atila and Anddara that there will be no cla.s.ses for three days. We will go out and have fun outside," Therius said. "I think I need a change of scenery too."

"Can we do that???!" When Emma saw Therius nod, she was too excited that she involuntarily hugged Therius and squealed. "I am so happy!"

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