Chapter 5: Secret Admirer?

Shiaji never did take the note. Infact she didn't receive anymore strange notes since that one night and that had been a month ago. She had told only Kat about them and she was sure it was a guy named Celo. He had been watching Cephera since the day classes began according to Kat.
Celo was handsome with his soft brown hair and brown eyes but Cephera wasn't in any way attracted to him, so she hoped it wasn't him. Though he did go to the bathroom often.
Kat had been excited for her to have a secret admirer. But really how she came to that conclusion was still a mystery to Cephera. He only asked about her cat and it was one night. She never received flowers or gifts or anything afterward.
"Maybe he's shy and wasn't sure what else to say. Go talk to him." she urged her one day during some downtime between spells.
"What? No! We don't even know if it was him." she growled taking a deep breath.
"Your loss." Kat shrugged and began to talk to the guy beside her. Her new late night partner. Cephera sighed and went back to casting. Today they were making things disappear. Or rather camouflage. They didn't really go anywhere but they melded with their surroundings to make it look like they had.
Kat poked her in the side making her squeak. "What?"
"Tonight a bunch of us were going to a rave on the beach. Wanna go?" Kat's tone told Cephera she was only asking to be polite. Cephera had already attended one of these parties thinking it would be fun only to find out it was mostly a bunch of drunk people making out. It was amazing how so many people, over a century and some two centuries old, could be so childlish. She couldn't talk. She often was too. Maybe it came with being ageless.
"No." she told her going back to her magic. Kat didn't ask or bring it up again.

***

It rained again that night. She had seen enough rainy days now to contain her enthusiasm. She walked outside in her night dress and walked the yard with Shiaji. She found the rain soothing and made it perfect for thinking. She thought about her last few months.
She hadn't had a nosebleed in a couple of classes now. It seemed using her magic often, produced healthier results in her. The fatigue was still there but she was getting a better handle on it. Magic was hard.
Alchemy was easy. She enjoyed making potions. She stopped across from her own room above and sat on a stone wall. The rain pelted her hard. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling. When she opened her eyes again she fell backward off the wall to the other side with a yell.
Standing right infront of her was Loki. She hadn't heard him approach her and now she was on her ass. She was happy he was on the other side or he would have seen her very red face. She stood slowly and rubbed her rump. He was still there a grin across his lips.
The rain didn't seem to touch him at all. In fact it bounced off him without leaving a trace. She blinked a couple of times. What should she say?
"Your nightgown..." he paused and chuckled. "You really shouldn't get it wet." he told her looking her over. She looked down. She never had reason to look down before but now that she had she crouched back down behind the stone. She wore nothing beneath it and he knew it. The damn thing was see threw. Not completely. But enough to see her nipples.
"Thanks for letting me know." she said without knowing if he was still there. She knelt up to look over the wall at him. He was still there and still grinning. When he turned to walk away she sighed inwardly. "Impressive beast." he said when he was further away. Cephera froze. What had he just said. The rain made it hard to hear but she was sure she heard him right.
It couldn't possibly be him. She waited for him to disappear from sight and ran to her room. She pulled open her vanity and searched for the first scroll she had been sent. Her memory served her well. Those were the exact first words of the scroll.
Her heart was pounding in her ears. Why not just ask her in class? Why the secret notes? She remembered what Kat said and shook her head of the notion. Secret admirers were for children not ancient princes. She realized she didn't know how old he was.
"How could you?" she asked Shiaji. The cat tilted its head at her and purred.

***

As much as she wanted to tell Kat about Loki she kept it to herself. Kat didn't trust Loki and wouldn't approve. She was completely distracted with her thoughts all through class and only snapped out of it when he walked in.
It had been a few weeks since they saw him. He was walking around like always. She cursed him. She turned red just at the though of her nightdress peep show. She would never go out in the rain again after that.
When he made it to her she concentrated a little to hard on her spell and her nose exploded blood down her face. She grabbed a tissue quickly and kept her embarrassed face pointed downward. She heard him chuckle the same one as he had in the rain before he moved on.
She retreated to her room the fastest she ever had after class that day. She closed the door with a resounding thud and locked it. She yanked off her dress. She had gotten blood on it again. When she tossed it in with her other soiled clothes she stopped.
On her bed sat a neatly folded piece of fabric with a small scroll laid on top. She approached it like it might bite her and slowly picked up the note and unrolled it. 'Wear this next time you decided to go out in the rain.' she looked passed the note to the fabric.
She reached down and when her hand made contact she felt the soft cotten and couldn't help but smile. She shook the dress out and was surpirsed to see, besides the neckline which was a sweetheart neckline as opposed to straight cut, it was extremely similar to her other nightgown. The length, she soon realized as she held it to herself, was also different. It came to just below her knees. It was black with light green ribbon.
She decided right away she couldn't wear it and put it down. She sat and looked at it a moment. Why couldn't she wear it? He was only being nice. Not knowing what else to do she scribbled down a note 'thank you' and to her surprise Shiaji took it as if he had been expecting it. She let him leave the room and waited.
'My pleasure.' was what the note had said when Shiaji returned.