Refreshing Childish Fun

**Aileen's POV**

Lucky first choice! The cover held no title, but had colored gems in each corner with a purple stone in the middle. Fire, Ground, Wind, Water, and Mind were all represented. The gems gleaming at me caught my attention as if I was a poor farmer's daughter, honored to be in the presence of something so dazzling. I would wager this as the newest of all my chosen selection. Pages were crisp as if the book had only ever been opened once or twice.

The book had taken me well over three hours to sort around. Several chapters I skimmed, but the ones I thoroughly inspected I read many times over. The plain untitled book contained the truth behind elemental powers and how both humans and demons obtained it. My thought process was jumbled up from all the statistics and facts on the pages. There was too much gritty detail and math that I hadn't expected. Numbers were never my strong suit and it was really unnecessary. I didn't care what magic numbers it took and percentages to make an elemental, I just wanted to know how the talents came to be.
I opened the next in the stack, most likely the oldest. The cover was beaten up. It appeared to have some kind of title etched in, but had become unrecognizable from the years. Two more hours soared by feeling more like ten minutes. This book was more on different classifications of humans.
They didn't separate us into groups the same way we do; rather on personality and gender. Women were broken down into three types of relient girls and two types of independent girls. Each one was considered a different type of human. For boys, they were broken down to money and power rather than what was on the inside. Boys had seven different variations of wealth and standing. Demons classified themselves as high or low based on status. So there were twelve kinds of humans. Funny how being black, white, asain, and so on were not mentioned. Race had nothing to do with how a demon saw us.
A familiar heavy weight started to drag on my shoulders again. Knowing Shiuku was watching, had me biting my tongue. I longed to shout out, *"this is going to be a boring episode of Everyone Hates Aileen Show or whatever that show Sam had joked about was called*. Whenever he watches me now I get this strange spider crawling underneath my skin sensation. Ignorance was bliss, at least back then I thought I was just tired. Bet it would have been less of a pain to my parents had I known this was the cause of my constant dreariness.
Concentrating proved to be very difficult. Just hurry up and get bored! I turned another page pretending to be engrossed in words I could not focus on. Jacob tightened his grip across from me, crushing part of the cover.
The door opened abruptly, snapping both Jacob and I's heads up. Sekai strode in proudly. "Look at you two getting along." She placed her hands behind her back, I think to try to cover the blood smeared on them. Sekia wore a cherry grin, but her eyes were dull, lifeless. Whatever she had done took a toll on her. "Forgiven him?"
"Yes." I lied. Shiuku finally left, tired of the bland study session. Finally! "Of course I haven't. I just needed help sorting through all this. I can hold back my aggression, but that does not mean I have forgotten Kalum. One day I will avenge him. For now, Jacob can atone for some of his sins."
The last part of the sentence came out muffled. Painful cramping caught me off guard.
Devon entered behind Sekai, careful to keep a clear distance. What was up with that? *Shit, what am I supposed to say to him? Devon just marches in here acting all nonchalant. Wasn't his body tingling with fresh goosebumps too. He really did look handsome.*
"How's the research going?" He asked, walking up and reading over my shoulder.
My face flushed remembering his soft lips on mine. "G..good. My mind is a little fried, but a little break and I think I'll have enough to write to Father! Lena and the DSS could do so much with this!"
"I was blessed, cute and smart. If only I had acted sooner, or saw passed his deceit." He brushed some wild hair away from my face. I must have appeared a mess. With all the running, fighting, and studying; I hadn't exactly kept up on my grooming. "I'll be on another mission soon, but before that, I think we could all use something relaxing to take a little bit of stress off. Let's go outside."
He was leaving again? I already could sense how much I would miss him.
Sekai muttered, "Great, leave me to clean up all these books. At least Jacob can help me."
"You're coming too Sekai. Technically it's your shift next is it not? If Aileen wishes to be guarded out into a courtyard, then you should accompany us no?" Devon spoke to the demon girl.
Her mouth dropped comically. Devon was never really friendly to her, so this did seem out of nowhere. I would be less surprised to see Father bow his head for a commoner! "I can't leave... I am not allowed outside. I stay in the dark."
"You protect Aileen. Let's go." Devon held a hand to help me up. All of his affections for me would have to stop once we were in sight of other demons, but for now, we could allow little gestures. Sekai's fingers turned to claws as she scratched at her leg. A whimper left her lips and her eyes became blurry. It was taking everything in her not to cry. I wasn't sure what was going on, but Devon had pierced Sekai's defenses.
Our little group started for the door. I tilted my head back to Jacob. "You come too. It IS your shift right now. The switch over has yet to happen." Jacob shared the same expression Sam had. "Besides, I need the summary of what you read. Your head needs to be cleared too. Sunshine and the smell of nature should do wonders."
I don't know why I felt like being merciful to Jacob. I just couldn't blame him completely anymore. Like Sekai whom had just tortured someone, Devon's betrayal of the DSS; Jacob was a victim of Shiuku. He just cost me personally. Still, I won't forgive him. He knew exactly what killing Kalum would do to me. This was the closest thing to nice I would ever be to him. Not that I would ever admit this out loud, but I wished I could hate him full heartedly. I honestly don't think I can.
During our trip, plenty of demons stopped to stare. Here was a group of humans and a half demon with their heads held high walking through the halls like they owned the place. All of them by now recognized me as Shiuku's newest conquest and knew these three were my guards. Some of them got twitchy and moved aside with haste. I could guess why they were on edge. The four of us were almost never together. I think a couple of meals with Shiuku were the only times we all gathered. They would assume Shiuku was meeting us.
A few demons glared, hating us; but it was a fairly peaceful walk. Sekai had a childish skip to her step that she couldn't control. Jacob was fighting back a smile. Devon kept stealing quick glances at me.
When we arrived, I was reminded that it had been well over a month since I had been outside. In the courtyard the trees began to shed their leaves in the wake of fall. The air had a nice crisp breeze taking away from the heat of the day. Wind kissed my cheeks as I headed to the pond.
Sam and Dev were on either side of me both happy in the rays of sunshine. Sekai was a bit more eager. Her shoes were flung off and she let her feet touch the ground. Her toes wiggled in the grass.
We all wore dorky grins absorbing the natural light rather than the glow bulbs inside the castle.
Beside a rather large pile of leaves was an extremely skinny human. His legs were scrawny and weak. He was busy raking and paid us no mind. The man needed a meal in his stomach. I was surprised he hadn't collapsed yet. His knees were buckling, barely able to support the tiny bit of weight the rest of him held.
Devon stopped in his tracks. His face crinkled as if conflicted on two decisions. Jacob observed Devon's behavior unmoving. Sekai and I paused too, curious about what he was thinking. My body felt light, so I knew Shiuku wasn't watching us.
"Come here." Devon grabbed my arm once again expressing a child's carefree face. He swirled his index finger in a small circle aiming downward. When he jumped forward a small spiral of wind lifted my feet, forcing me in the air as well. Both of us came falling down into the cushion of leaves skinny man had been raking.
Laughter, glorious no worry filled laughter overtook me as I threw random red and green leaves at my true love. "What is wrong with you!" I attempted to sound mad; not very convincing when girlish giggles kept escaping my mouth.
"Hey, you two do realize you just caused that man to have to redo all his work right? If yall caused me extra work at the restaurant, I would kick ya out!" Shouted a fake angry voice beside Jacob. Sam! Guess she got tired of waiting around in her room as well. "You jerks dare to forget about me! I could see you from the damn window out here without me!"
*Oops*
Sam didn't feel like being a kid with us. Hell, I wasn't even sure why I found jumping into leaves so much fun. I was an adult and not drunk in the slightest. As a small child I would have gotten in trouble for the 'unlady-like and improper behavior.' Yet, here I was all grown up and wishing I could do it again.
The man's eyes got wet. When I looked over at him they became wide and fearful. No doubt he recognized me. There was nothing he could say about me restarting this part of his job. Otherwise he would risk a very painful death. At least he would assume that. Had I been in his shoes, I would hate us too. Being starved would make this simple task all the harder as well.
I gave him a bright smile, he tried to give the peasantry back, but it came out as a pained grimace.
"If you give me the rake, I'll clean up our mess. I'll even finish any other assignment you have out here." I motioned back to the castle. "Jacob, can you ensure he is fed? We had that giant stack of snacks in Sekai's room. I would hate for the tasty food to go waste!"
The old man was dumbfounded. I could see the wheels turning in his head. Most likely, he believed this to be a trap. Before working for Shiuku, the man may have been smart; just reduced to grounds keeper. Shiuku would have no room for clever men; not clever human men at least. The two humans went back inside. I didn't miss the tears of joy flowing down the elders' cheeks.
I set off to raking the leaves. Both demons chuckled at me. I didn't understand why until Devon twirled his fingers. Wind swept up all the leaves, swiftly forming a new pile. Sekia started petting the trees one by one. All of them became bare. *A ground ability?* More leaves, made more piles, and meaning no more raking needed done by the old man.
I reckoned that this rake was now pointless. Sam walked over taking the equipment from me; a wicked look on her face. Turning around, Sekai and Devon had the same expressions. Did I miss something?
Unsure, I stepped back away from them. A bad move. The ground under me started to split and I started to slip. I was so focused on not falling on my ass, I didn't notice Devon charge at me. He tackled me into the largest pile of leaves. The colorful fall leaves scattered in the air above us. The appearance of my true love's face inches from mine, in gleeful laughter, his cute dimples showing, with leaves raining down above us, was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen.
"So jealous." Sekai hummed somewhere in the background.
Sam snickered, "the hell did I miss?"
Devon leaned forward, placing a quick peck on my lips. "I love you always," he whispered in my ear.
This bliss wouldn't last forever, soon he would go off on another mission, and I still had to collaborate with Jacob on the next letter... But for right now, I would soak in every second I could with this amazing man.