The worst part about short chapters is that I feel bad when I want to make a longer A/N.

Well, I'll try to keep it short. Enjoy the chapter!

The next few days were… interesting, to say the least.

While the students were not directly informed of what had transpired during Fouquet's attempted theft, anyone with two functioning brain cells could tell that the boy Louise had summoned was deep in the thick of it. Between defeating an infamous thief known across Halkegenia and creating a beacon of light intense enough to attract a platoon of guards all the way from the capitol, Aang's power had been solidified in their minds.

Guiche was nothing compared to him. Kirche and Tabitha, two of the highest performing students in the entire school, lost some of their clout as everyone correctly assumed Aang to be the strongest. This did not bother Tabitha, who couldn't care less about what people thought about her. Kirche, on the other hand, was left with a mark on her pride for being second rate to a child who wasn't even old enough to normally attend the academy. Thus, she decided to take drastic action.

This is why Aang was currently running across the courtyard in a full sprint, doing his best to avoid Kirche's outstretched arms.

"Come here, little cutie! I won't hurt you!"

"I'll pass, thanks!"

Aang knew that Kirche wasn't malicious. He knew that she was very competitive. He knew that she had no concept of personal space, especially when it came to him. He knew that this was all a game to her.

He also knew that he didn't want to get caught.

"Come and tell Kirche what makes you tick!"

"Please, don't refer yourself in third person! It makes this even weirder!"

"Kinky, just the way I like it!"

Kirche would be the death of him. She would chase him to the ends of the Academy. One time, Aang got tired of the chase and let her catch him. She latched onto him like a pythonaconda around a fire ferret and refuse to let him go until she felt satisfied. Which, as one can imagine, was a long time. From then on, Aang vowed to never let himself be caught again. He may be currently twelve—or thirteen, he couldn't tell—but he still had some memories of being an adult. Being smothered in the grip of someone with a body as alluring as Kirche's was a tempting and dangerous situation.

Katara would kill him.

The distracting thought almost cost Aang his freedom, as Kirche made a flying tackle at his exposed back. Thankfully, the airbender's reflexes kicked and he shifted to the side, letting Kirche fly past him by the narrowest of margins. She landed, arms outstretched, in a perfect faceplant on the floor. She didn't get up.

"Are you okay?" Aang asked instinctively. The fall looked and sounded painful, especially since—contrary to popular belief—Kirche's bust was not a pair of air cushions.

Kirche slowly lifted her face from the floor. A small trickle of blood dripped from her nose. "Come to me~!"

"You're definitely fine," Aang said with a sigh of relief as he readied himself to resume running.

The ringing of a large bell signaled the end of their game of cat and mouse. With a disappointed sigh, Kirche dusted herself off and gave Aang a wink. "Looks like we have to go back to class," she said regretfully as she started walking towards the Air Tower. "But don't worry, I'll catch you next time, darling."

"Please don't call me that," Aang pleaded. He followed Kirche to the tower but made sure to remain a healthy distance away from her. So far, she had only chased him during breaks or after classes were over for the day, but he couldn't afford to let his guard down.

Once they entered the classroom, Aang slid into his seat next to Louise while Kirche cozied up next to Tabitha.

Louise noticed the exhausted expression on Kirche's face and the exasperated expression on Aang's. "Was Kirche chasing you again?" Louise whispered to Aang.

"Yup…"

Louise glared at the redhead, who smiled back cheekily in response despite the blood dripping down her nose. "I'll give her a stern talking to," Louise promised.

Aang knew Louise meant that she would take Kirche aside to scream and threaten her. While he doubted it would help, he appreciated the intent.

"By the way," Louise asked. "How come Kirche is always sweaty and disheveled after chasing you, but you're not? She's the most brutish—I mean, athletic girl in our year."

"She's not breathing properly," Aang replied. "And she falls over. A lot."

"With that much extra weight on her chest, I can see why," Louise grumbled enviously.

Aang ignored that comment as the teacher called for the class to begin.

Since Aang had defeated Fouquet, his role in the school had been changed from Louise's tagalong to a semi-official student. While he now had a room with the first-year male students, he attended the second-year classes with Louise. Because Aang could replicate most spells with his bending, the distinction mattered little to him. His only struggles in the classes were in magic theory, which required reading books. There, Louise was his lifeline.

Aang never expected to end up as a student after being resurrected, but he found himself liking it. Sure, the students weren't the nicest. He found himself surrounded by people who were physically older than him but entirely less mature. However, Aang now had a sense of normalcy that he had lost early in his previous life. There was only one complaint Aang had about his current life.

Written homework was cruel, evil, and should be abolished.

While Aang was now a noble by technicality, he didn't see any reason to act like one. He highly disapproved of how mages treated the non-magical populace. Even when Aang lived at Air Temple Island, the Acolytes were all voluntary, and he never insisted that they were lesser people just because they couldn't bend the element they studied. Aang valued their effort in preserving the history and culture of his people.

Aang wasn't perfect. He knew he had caused issues in his own family by personally mentoring Tenzin more than his other children. Still, that only gave all the more reason for him to be more inclusive in this second life.

This led to Aang spending more time interacting with the academy's staff. It took a few days for the staff to get used to his presence. They were used to being subservient when dealing with nobles, especially egotistic young ones. Slowly, but surely, Aang's openness and friendliness allowed them to relax in his presence. Aang could see strange looks being sent his way when he interacted with commoners, but none of the students outright challenged him on his behavior, probably because they felt intimidated.

All except Louise. "You shouldn't interact with the staff. They have jobs to do."

"Why can't I talk to them while they work?"

"Because nobles aren't supposed to talk to commoners."

"What do you mean? You talk to them when you're asking them for something."

"That's a part of their job, it's different."

"How?"

"It-it just is! You can't speak casually to a commoner!"

"Why not? I speak casually to pretty much everyone."

"If you talk to them like that you're ignoring the difference in your stations! People of lower social standing must always respect those in higher standing."

"They do respect me. And I respect them. Talking to them doesn't change that. We're all people, aren't we?"

While it had taken a long time—and a mix of childish and logical arguments—to wear down on Louise's mental fortitude, Aang eventually persuaded Louise to let him interact with the staff. It was hard work, but it was all worth it in the end. Bridging the gap between the commoners and nobility was his first step in reforming the world. The extra treats the maids kept sneaking him from the kitchen were only an added bonus!

Which was why Aang was insistent on entering the academy kitchen. Bridging the gap started with the stomach! Or something like that. Honestly, Aang wasn't sure how much his childish self held the reigns on his decision making, but he figured it was fine as long as nothing too crazy happened.

Standing in the kitchen doorway was a gruff-looking, muscular man with a scowl on his face. His thick brown eyebrows and beard made his appearance even more formidable. Aang resisted his urge to hide behind Siesta and stood his ground, offering the man a smile. "Good morning!" the Avatar greeted. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

The man looked at Aang, then shifted his gaze to Siesta. "The kitchen is off-limits," he said sternly. "Especially for children."

"But Chef Marteau, this is Aang, the boy Mrs. Valliere summoned! Can't you make an exception for him?" Siesta implored.

Marteau crossed his meaty arms. "I know who he is. There's not a single person in this academy who doesn't. And while I appreciate him getting rid of Fouquet, the rules of the kitchen are firm. We don't need people running underfoot. Do you know how hard is to make enough food for everyone in the Academy?"

"Very hard," Aang said knowingly, his adult experience kicking in. "You have to make enough food to satisfy everyone. Create extra portions in case a batch gets ruined for whatever reason. Have a diverse menu so everyone can find something they like. And then you have to make sure all the staff have enough available to eat as well. It's a lot of work, and it's admirable that you've managed to keep the kitchen running this well."

Marteau was stunned into silence. Siesta was shocked as well. Aang seized the advantage of the moment to give the head chef a puppy-eyed look. "Can I please take a look inside the kitchen? I want to meet the people who keep the Academy running and watch them at work."

"I… well…" Marteau scratched his beard and tried to avoid looking into Aang's eyes. "Fine! Siesta!"

"Yes, sir?"

"He's your responsibility. Keep him out of trouble. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

Aang internally cheered. Adult memories and a child's body made for a deadly negotiation combination.

The kitchen was large, taking up almost half of the size of the dining area that lay on the other side of a wall. Chef busied about at various stations, working with fires or mixing ingredients at tables. Kitchen assistants were doing everything from washing dishes, fetching ingredients and tools for the chefs, or serving food into plates and bowls. Servers dashed from the kitchen to the cafeteria and back, carrying their trays fulls of food or empty dishes depending on where they were headed.

"I didn't realize this place was so big," said Aang in awe.

"You can't feed the entire Academy in a home-sized kitchen," Siesta said with a giggle. "Come this way. I think you'll like what's going on over here."

Aang followed Siesta to a portion of the kitchen that had fine white powder floating through the air. Aang breathed sharply out of his nose, resisting his urge to sneeze.

"This is where we make the dough for bread and other pastries," Siesta explained to Aang. "Oh, Pierre! Would you be able to show Aang how it's done?"

The man she called out raised his head. He was slender, a bit below average height, and had a short mop of brown hair. His eyes bugged out when he noticed who was accompanying Siesta. "I'd be happy to," he said with a nervous tremor in his voice. He gave a small bow towards Aang. "A pleasure to meet you, Mister Aang."

"A pleasure to meet you as well, Mister Pierre," Aang replied with an equal bow.

"Oh no, you don't have to bow to me," Pierre said abashedly. "I'm just a cook, and you're a noble."

"Only technically," Aang confessed. "I don't really have a noble title. Besides, I was taught to respect my elders." He had lived long enough to be Pierre's father, but the man didn't need to know that part.

"Still…"

"We'll compromise then," Aang offered. "I'll call you Pierre, and you'll call me Aang. Sounds good?"

"I…" Pierre looked to Siesta, who nodded encouragingly. "If that is what you wish, Aang," he relented.

Siesta giggled. Another challenger had fallen to Aang's charismatic wit.

As Pierre pulled a heap of dough out of a mixing bowl, he asked Aang, "Have you ever done this before?"

"I've rolled dough before," said Aang. "But not the way you guys do it." He pointed to the slabs of yellow butter that other chefs were kneading into the dough.

"It's a technique we use to make the croissants as flaky as possible," Pierre explained. "The dough needs to be folded many times over. By adding in the butter at the last minute, we make sure that the dough will be folded properly by the time the butter is fully mixed in."

"Can I try?"

"Wash your hands and grab an apron, and we can get started."

Aang hadn't been much of a cook in his previous life, but he had helped Katara in the kitchen from time to time. Still, this was a new experience. Rather than punching the dough or using airbending to knead it, he had to make precise motions to knead in the slabs of butter. While Pierre and the other chefs made it look easy and clean, Aang ended up having a mess of butter on his hands and a mound of lumpy dough in front of him. Siesta quickly came to his aid. While as a server she didn't have as much experience as the actual chefs, she at least had some experience, which was more than Aang could claim to have.

"Not bad," said Pierre, examining the duo's work once it was finished. "You did a better job than most people on their first try."

"Really?" Aang thought Pierre was being generous. Even he could see slivers of butter that he'd failed to mix in properly.

"The butter may not be mixed in properly, but you folded and applied pressure. The only thing holding you back is a lack of experience, and maybe your smaller hands."

Aang examined his admittedly smaller butter-coated child hands. "Wow, my hands really are small," he commented.

Pierre laughed. "I'll finish one up," he offered. "Siesta, how about you show him how to cut them and take the batch to the ovens?"

"Sure thing!"

Aang quickly found that cutting the dough into triangles was significantly easier than working it.

"To make sure you make the right cut, mark it first by lightly dragging the knife over the dough," Siesta instructed. "Make them about this big." She indicated by stretching out her thumb and pointer finger. "And try to make them as even as possible."

"Got it," said Aang. While he didn't have much experience using knives, it became much easier when he thought of the knife as a brush. A very sharp brush.

A minute later Siesta was examining his work. "I almost can't believe this is your first time," she said. "Even I struggle to make cuts this clean."

"Precision is something I practice a lot," Aang remarked proudly. "I didn't expect it would be useful for cooking though."

"You'd be surprised," said Siesta with a laughing, knowing full well what tricks a seasoned chef could do with a sharp knife. "Let's take these to the oven and then we're done."

"Yup!"

As Aang and Siesta loaded the cut croissants onto a tray, Pierre's elbow bumped into a bag of flour. The bag fell over, sending a cloud of white in Siesta and Aang's direction.

"Sorry!" the chef immediately apologized.

"It's fine," said Siesta. "That's what aprons are for."

"Exactly," Aang agreed. Except in his case, he had been closer to the flour when it fell, so he a thin coat of white clinging to the side of his face as well.

His nose twitched.

His eyes bulged out.

He involuntarily took a deep breath in.

"ACHOO!"

A gust of wind surged from Aang's mouth, carrying the spilled flour in a whirlwind cloud that flew across the nearby tables.

Aang winced as he saw how many people had been hit by the blast. At the very end of the section of the kitchen was a glaring Marteau. His face was pink under the chalky white flour.

The airbender took the hint. He took off his apron and quietly crept out of the kitchen. Siesta bowed and quickly followed after him.

"I think I'll stay out of the kitchen for a while," Aang remarked.

"That might be for the best," Siesta agreed.

Aang was getting ready to sleep for the night when he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in!"

Louise stepped inside and slowly closed the door behind her. Aang immediately knew something was wrong. The girl's gaze was dropped, her fingers were fidgeting, and most importantly, she was on the boy's floor dressed in only her nightgown.

"Louise? What's wrong?" Aang asked.

"Nothing," Louise denied far too quickly.

"… then what are you doing here?"

Louise cleared her throat. "I've been summoned to the capital, and I will be leaving first thing in the morning," she announced.

"The capital?" Aang echoed. "Did the princess summon you?"

"Y-yes."

Even Aang's adult wisdom wasn't enough to piece together what was going on in Louise's mind. She clearly was uncomfortable about something, but he couldn't guess what. He needed more information, but if Louise was leaving right away, that didn't leave nearly enough time to get answers.

A bright idea sparked in Aang's mind. "Can I come along too?" he asked. "I didn't get to see Princess Henrietta off properly before she left the academy."

"Well, the summon was only for me…"

"But I can't get anything done here without you," Aang pointed out. "I can't read your books, and I don't understand half of what the teachers are saying. What am I supposed to do while you're gone? Who's going to take care of me?"

Aang was perfectly capable of taking care of himself—classes aside—but the words triggered Louise's protective instincts. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to bring you along," she said thoughtfully. "It would be negligent of me to leave you alone. I'm sure the princess will understand."

"Thanks, Louise." Acting on impulse, Aang ran up to Louise and wrapped her in a hug. She stiffened at the unexpected contact, but after a moment, she returned it. Aang could feel Louise's erratic heartbeat slowly settle down as her body gradually relaxed.

After a few seconds, Louise gently pulled away. "I'll see you bright and early tomorrow," she said. "Get some sleep."

"I'll be asleep faster than you can say flying fishopotamus!"

Louise didn't get it, but she smiled as she left Aang's room and slid the door shut. "You won't ever have to be alone again, Aang," she said softly. "I'll make sure of it."

I needed Aang to interact more with normal people before I shipped him off to Albion... somehow. Part of the reason I barely managed to get this done within the month is because I spent more time planning the next arc than working on this month's chapter. Non-chronological writing bites deadlines sometimes.

Speaking of deadlines, this is the first month in a while where I only have two chapters instead of my usual 3-4. This is because my school/personal life is getting busier, so I have less time write. And I started playing Genshin Impact in December once my classes were over. It's a great game, and I can spend hours playing if I don't regulate myself. I'll try to keep up my 3 uploads a month from now on. Maybe I'll take a hiatus in March so I can get sorted out.

And while I'm here, let me just give you all a big THANK YOU. 800+ faves and 1100+ follows on this story. Those numbers are staggering to me. To those who want this story to continue indefinitely, I'll say this: this story will go until I feel like it can't anymore. For some of my stories I have an idea of where to end them, but for this one, I'll just see where it goes. Hopefully you enjoy the ride as much as I do.

Thank you for all your support. If you want to see where I discuss my stories in more detail, you can find me on Spacebattles. If you want to support me financially, I'm on Ko-Fi as well. I recently updated all my online tags to be "RainEStar3" so people can find me anywhere. If you just want to give me a metaphorical thumbs up, leave a review! Remember, reviews are food for a writer's soul!