"Does Tyler really help you change clothes?" Kayla asked as she undid Ryan's tie.

"Only certain outfits," he answered. "Such as when I wear a suit to dinner. Most of the time, he just pulls them from the closet and drawers and sets them on my bed, then I change, and he puts the dirty laundry in the hamper."

"I see," she said. "So you just wanted to speak with me in private, then?"

"Mostly," he grinned. "I just wanted to check your reaction to the suggestion. But it does feel nice to have a beautiful woman helping me undress rather than Tyler."

"You still don't know if I'm beautiful or if it's just my voice."

"A beautiful voice is beauty to me," he said. "If they ever find a way to fix my sight, that might change, but for now, that's how it is."

"Do you mind if I ask a personal question?" She asked as she unbuttoned his shirt.

"Only if I can ask them back."

"While much is known about your family," she said. "The only thing I've heard about you is that you're blind. Were you born this way, or was it an accident, or… something?"

"I was born blind," he answered. "Completely and entirely, without a speck of light to be seen by me. I make the most of what I'm dealt, though. It's also fun sometimes."

"I've also heard about your mischief with that," she smiled. "Jonathan's mentioned a few times where you would ask to see something others were seeing, then declare it either ugly, beautiful, or something else that could be taken quite sarcastically given the responses of others."

"That is fun," Ryan grinned as she helped him out of his shirt.

"You have nice abs," he felt her hand on them. "Toned just right."

"I did mention I exercise most mornings," he reminded her. "And if you touch me too much, you'll likely find a boner as well."

"I already noticed it," he could hear the smile in her voice. "What personal questions did you have for me?"

"I know about your brother's affinities and Tiers," Ryan explained. "But I've not heard of yours, which means your father must be keeping it a secret."

"I awakened after my birthday," she answered. "And yes, he's keeping it a secret. I'm sure yours is as well, whatever your affinities are. So you wish to know them?"

"I do."

"I'm a Specialist," she explained. "Tier Eleven, with energy affinity, fire affinity, and earth affinity each at Tier Twelve."

"Impressive," he responded. "I'm a Specialist as well, though we aren't sure which high magics I'll have an easier time learning. I'm yet to be awakened."

"You used the new devices?" She asked, and he felt her hands on his belt.

"Yes," he answered as she began to work his belt off of him. "I'd not heard of them before my birthday. I'm hoping to learn telepathy and empathy magics once I awaken, though."

"I can see how those would be useful for you," she told him. "Mages who can use those are quite rare, even among Specialists. I have, however, heard of a telepath who could see through the eyes of others."

"I've not," Ryan said. "But that does sound like something I could check into. Would be curious to know if I can see when using someone else's eyes."

"You probably can," she told him, her hands moving and holding his sides. "You have a nice body, Ryan."

"You have a nice voice, Kayla," he responded. "Are you helping me all the way?"

"I am," she answered. "What do you wear when you sleep?"

"There are pajama pants and shirts in the closet," he informed her. "I typically wear those, with my underwear on underneath."

"Okay," she said. "Why don't you sit on your bed?"

Ryan moved onto his bed, his sides cold where her hands had been.

"Mind if I ask which high magics you can use?" He asked as he heard her open his closet door. "And if you know your Calling?"

"I'm able to use some telekinesis," she answered from within his closet, the clacking of his hangers moving reaching his ears. "Some healing, and I'm a chrononmancer as my Calling."

"Chronomancer?" He asked, unfamiliar with the term.

"Time magic," she answered.

"Ah," he said. "That explains your Tier, I've heard that the only known time mages were in the Ultimate Tiers."

"It's suspected to be a requirement," she told him. "It also takes an immense amount of mana to perform, far more than any other spell I've used since I awakened a few months ago."

Ryan knew of only three time mages, including the grey mage himself. Four, if he included Kayla. From what he knew, all three of the others possessed immense mana reserves as well.

"So you can slow time and stop it?" He asked.

"I can't slow time," she answered, her voice drawing near him. "And chronomancy is more than that, but yes, I can stop time. That's all I can do with it, but also a bad way of phrasing it. It's less that time is stopped, and more that I step out of it. It's essentially the same, though, but with the effect being on me rather than everyone else."

"So you are what's changed, rather than everyone else," he said.

"Correct," she answered, in front of him at that point.

"What else can chronomancy do?" He asked.

"There are five known abilities to it," she answered. "The two I've mentioned, peering through time, sending your soul back to a previous point in your life, and actually moving through time. The Silver Oracle was a chronomancer who could peer through time, which was how she knew of events before they happened."

"Not that they saved her."

"Being psychic doesn't mean always knowing," Kayla said. "It has to be something we chronomancers actively look for, and we'd only know of the event if we managed to see it. I've not even tried to peer through time because I know it's beyond my current skill level. The other two are even more beyond. My specialty with my Calling is slipping out of time. In fact, I pulled us out of time."

"You did?" Ryan asked in surprise. He didn't notice anything different happen, and so couldn't place when she did that. "When?"

"When I put my hands on your sides," she answered. "Which means that we can talk as long as we want, and no one would know it."

"That's neat," he said. "So how do the other two work? You send your soul back to a previous point in time?"

"That's the basic explanation," she told him. "You return to a previous point in your life, retaining all of your memories, knowledge, and power gained up to when you traveled back from. No one really knows how that works, as it should contradict the ability to do that. Alternate universes aren't made with chronomancy, meaning that you aren't in a new universe or something. It's… honestly confusing. The same thing with actually traveling back. Your physical body moves, and you can interact back then, but it doesn't affect you."

"But when you come back," he said. "The world you know is different. Couldn't you accidentally erase your own birth?"

"No," she answered. "Because as far as the records show, what's happened has always happened. Our minds are protected from changes, too."

"So if I went back in time and killed my mom-"

"It wouldn't happen," she interrupted. "As something would prevent that from occurring. Everything you do in the past already happened before you went back in time. It's only by resetting yourself to a previous point in your own life that you can change events. And what's more with blatant time travel is that paradoxes exist."

"Meaning?" He asked.

"It's possible to be your own biological parent," she answered. "Which shouldn't be possible, as you'd need to have existed before you existed in order for you to exist. When it comes to moving through times, things become complicated and confusing, and there are so few chronomancers that no one can really study it too deeply."

"The rarer the magic, the more difficult the research."

"Exactly," she said, and he could hear a smile in her voice. "Tell me, Ryan. You're in a room alone with a woman. If she offered sex to you, would you accept it?"

"Are you asking if I'd have sex with you?" He asked, and she didn't answer. "Even though you're to marry my cousin? Did your father put you up to this? Is that why he allowed you to come with us?"

"Ha!" She laughed. "My father thinks of you as a worthless cripple, Ryan. He's glad your father didn't suggest you as my future husband, because he wouldn't want to be the grandfather of a cripple's son. No, this is my own desire. If I got pregnant with your child, then our fathers would be forced to marry us unless mine thought he could cover it up and the abortion he'd likely want."

"Which would put you as married to the heir of the family."

"Exactly," she said. "And mother of your heir. While I don't intend on running things, a lady can hope, can't she? Besides, a marriage between Jonathan and I wouldn't happen until at least the summer, and I'd rather not wait until then to have sex."

Ryan found that the opportunity he was looking for, and decided to clarify what she wanted with the marriage.

"So you're doing it for the position you'd have, and not the authority or influence."

"Correct," she answered, and he heard the rustling of fabric as she set his night clothes on the floor, then knelt in front of him. "So tell me, Ryan: I am taking off your pants, or your pants and underwear?"

"While the offer is tempting," Ryan began. "The choice is yours. But know this: I had full intentions of sleeping with you tonight for my own reasons. You might be pursuing a status just for the status, but I am pursuing my own plans."

"I understand," he could hear the smile in her voice. "Then you won't have any objections to this."

Ryan felt her hands on his crotch as she unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, then her fingers as they hooked into his waistbands. He lifted his ass up so that she could pull his pants and underwear down, and he felt his boner spring free as she did. Once his pants and underwear were on the ground, she pushed his legs to the sides, and he felt something warm and wet touching his dick.

It took him a moment to realize that she was licking his erection, one of her hands gingerly holding it as the other gently rolled his balls around. Ryan inhaled sharply at the unexpected sensation and feel of her touch, gripping his blanket tightly as she worked his erection over with her tongue.

As he felt like he was drawing closer to his climax, she stopped, then he felt her hands and body moving away from him. He listened as he heard more fabric moving, the rustling of her own clothes being removed.

He heard her move onto his bed, felt the mattress dip more as she move down beside him, then her hands on his arms, guiding him around to her. Not a word was spoken as she guided him him onto her as she lay down, and her intent was clear to him.

"Mh," Ryan moaned softly as he found his way into her, Kayla echoing him.

The warmth, moistness, and tightness around him threatened to send him over the edge, but Ryan resisted, holding out as long as he could as he felt her hands on his arms and back. He rested his arms beside her head, not sure what else to do with them as he thrust within her, his breathing short and pleasured. Her body felt warm against his and warming faster, and he noticed, with his head right near hers, the light and sweet scent of whatever she had washed her hair with.

"Unh!" Ryan thrust one last time, breathing hard as he reached his climax.

When he came down from his orgasm, Ryan rested on Kayla for a few minutes, careful not to squish her while enjoying the warm tightness around his staff and the warm softness of her boobs against his chest. After savoring the feelings both internal and external, Ryan pulled off of Kayla and moved so that he was sitting on the edge of his bed, his breathing still a little heavy.

Nothing else was said between them as Kayla helped him into his night clothes and dressed, then he heard her picking up his dirty laundry, then the sound of the hamper in his closet opening, then closing.

"There's a spray on my nightstand," Ryan spoke up as he tucked himself into bed. "Would you mind spraying it for me?"

"To get rid of the smell of our sex?" She asked.

"That," he responded. "And because I enjoy the smell of it. It helps me relax and fall asleep."

"I see," she said, and he heard her pick up the canister. "Tropical breeze? Not something I usually hear or see a man using."

"Why does a smell like the tropics have to be confined to a sex?" He asked. "Seems rather sexist, if you ask me. I can't stand most of the 'manly' smells. Something like this, however, is wuite pleasant to my nose."

"Alright," she said. "How much do I spray?"

"Just pump it twice," he answered. "Quick pumps, one aimed towards my bathroom, the other aimed towards the hall door. Make sure to shake it first, too."

He heard the canister being shook, then two quick spritzes of it before it was set back down. Almost immediately, he could begin to smell it, then unexpectedly felt lips against his own.

"Good night," Kayla told him, and he heard her steps across the carpet to the door.

It opened and lingered for a moment, then he heard familiar steps across the carpet to him.

"I see she sprayed it for you," Tyler commented.

"I asked her to, before she left," Ryan said. "You should go to bed, Tyler. Even if you were cured of whatever had ailed you, your body still needs its rest to finish recovering. A healer can only do so much, you know."

"I do," Tyler responded. "I'm just making sure everything is taken care of properly before I do."

"Thank you," Ryan said.

He listened as Tyler checked his bathroom and closet, then his servant wished him good dreams before leaving. Moments later, Ryan himself had fallen asleep.