For the first time in his life, Ryan felt himself genuinely, truly annoyed by Tyler, and his servant didn't have to do anything at all. In fact, Ryan made sure to not make Tyler aware of his annoyance, as his friend did not hold any responsibility for annoying Ryan, despite being the source of it.

Or rather, the source of the source of the annoyance.

"He's been your servant since you were ten?"

When at the main estate, Ryan never had to deal with this. When at the Mieria Islands, he never dealt with it. While both Kayla and Bethany did mention it, as full members of their respective Families, they went with the greater prize.

Unlike the nuisances Ryan had been forced to deal with for the last week, ever since arriving at the Srentas Ski Resort. There was the one time, on his first run, where the event occurred where someone was more into Tyler than him. The first time he had lived that day, there were two of them.

"Was he as silent and firm then as he is now? Or did he change over time?"

Ryan sighed. There were three women sitting around him. An hour ago, there had been four others. While some were vaguely aware Ryan was an important member of his family, they were more interested in Tyler. And since Tyler was busy on the ski slopes, they were entertaining Ryan to keep him company.

Their way of trying to look good to Tyler. Of earning his approval. Half of them were locals who had seen Tyler either while skiing themselves, or on a trip he had made into town on the second day of their trip.

He knew he should have expected that. Tyler was the one with the hotter body, according to everyone he heard talking about the two of them, verbally or mentally. Without even stretching out his empathy or telepathy, he could tell their feelings regarding them, and he had used his telepathy, more than a few times.

Some of them were bothered by his blindness, but for the most part, everyone was willing to look past it for Tyler. Ryan wished Michael were around to talk with, except that when his pseudo-friend wasn't at university or dealing with family business, much of his time was spent either painting or assisting Tyler in enjoying the resort.

The Novar Heir didn't resent him for that, nor did he find the Srentas man guilty of a slight. Were someone to ask him, Ryan would admit he was relived Michael was doing that. The point of the trip was to reward Tyler for his help and loyalty, and Michael guiding him and giving him tours meant Michael understood the focus of the trip was Tyler, not Ryan.

"Is everything okay?"

It was then that Ryan remembered that people were talking to him.

"My apologies," he smiled. "I was just thinking that Tyler must be doing a few more runs than he did yesterday. To answer your questions, yes, he's been my servant since we were ten, and he was actually stiffer back then. He was scared of upsetting me to the point that he made many mistakes while trying not to. I had to knock the stiffness out of him."

Ryan knew he had to be polite in response. Those who wished him and his father ill were everywhere. Even with the guards present, standing only a few feet away from him, Ryan was aware that anyone around them could be a spy for someone who wanted to take down his father. If he acted in any way which was inappropriate, it could be used against his father.

Used to disinherit Ryan.

It didn't bother him too much as he would eventually reset, but he wanted to make sure he performed every run as if it were his last. According to the elementals, he could be killed by another of his kind, by another godlike being. They also insisted he would know the moment another such being arrived on their world, but he wasn't certain how that would happen, and they refused to elaborate on the matter.

The part which had bothered Ryan the most, outside of the women trying to impress Tyler, was that he had been there a week, yet not had a chance to communicate with the elementals. Most of the trip, he was confined to the resort's main building, which included its lodgings. He did go for a walk around the property every morning before breakfast and evening before bed, just in case, but none of the elementals drew too close.

According to what he'd heard, they rarely came within one hundred yards of it, which frustrated him. One bright spot was that Michael promised to take him and Tyler out for a painting session soon, and that the fire elementals had a forty percent chance of coming within twenty feet during those sessions.

Ryan smiled a little as he remembered Michael talking about how terrified he had been the first time that happened, and the Novar Heir assumed it was the elementals just amusing themselves. They didn't destroy his stuff, but they probably enjoyed his tense reactions and the way his body temperature would spike as his heart started pumping.

"Is everything okay?" One of the women asked Ryan. "You seem rather distant today."

Her tone held less sincerity than he would expect of someone who actually cared, and Ryan thought for a moment she sounded familiar.

"My apologies," he responded, turning his head in her direction, aware that she was probably unnerved by that. He stretched out his empathy, confirming that. "It's difficult for me to draw close on my own, so if I'm distant, you'll have to come closer."

Two minds filled with slight amusement at his comment, though the one who had addressed him seemed unamused. She seemed rather annoyed by Ryan's comment, in fact. It took him a moment, but then he remembered that she usually seemed annoyed by his comments.

"You do realize," Ryan said. "That Tyler can see past superficial beauty and personalities, don't you? He's fully aware you're only trying to befriend me in the hopes of impressing him. He's also too kind to inform you that he's not allowed to date or have a relationship without my permission, which means you'd need to impress me as well. It was obvious by your tone that you didn't care at all."

"I-" she began.

"You are here in an attempt to impress my hot servant, I'm aware," Ryan said. "But you have apparently not realized who I am, or that he is a servant. You are in the Srentas Ski Resort, yes?"

"You do not look like a Srentas," she said. "My apologies."

"He's not a Srentas," a female voice Ryan strongly recognized said with a Russian accent, and Ryan watched as the woman came into his senses. She had a slender figure with a modest chest, her long hair tied back in a ponytail. He supposed that with her profession, she didn't want it loose while working, and likely kept it tied up just in case the inspiration struck. "Not by any relation at all."

"Hello, Meredith," Ryan said. "It has been some time since we last met."

"A few months," she responded, approaching Ryan. "How do you fare today, Ryan?"

"Quite well," Ryan said. "Though from time to time, some pests arrive to annoy me. Unfortunately, Tyler is not here, and my aim with the flyswatter is not the best."

"I see," he could sense the smile in her voice. "Why don't I assist you with that? Your father decided that you being in such a beautiful place was a rare event, and asked that I come out and do a portrait of you."

"Outside?" Ryan asked.

"Indeed," she responded. "It's doubtful the flies would follow you out there."

Ryan suppressed a laugh as he sensed the realization in the three younger women at what the pests were.

"Do you mean for now?" Ryan asked. "Or in a short while?"

"We can go now," she answered. "I already have a station set up, with a couple of guards to protect it."

"Thank you," Ryan stood. "Guards, you are officially on a rest for now, Meredith and her guards will be sufficient protection for me for the duration of the painting."

"Yes, sir," his guards responded.

While they would normally protest such an order, everyone who was anyone knew Meredith Lacklar. While she wasn't a Divine, she was an Immortal in four different elements, in addition to being a Specialist. One of the most powerful known Jewels in the world, the Russian painter held enough power to erase the lives of everyone in the resort in a matter of minutes.

Despite his own training with combat, Ryan knew he might not be a match for the forty-two-year-old Jewel yet. There were some theoretical things he could do to kill someone like her, but he had yet to put them into practice through his training sessions yet.

Not just manifesting or controlling the elements around him, but controlling the ones within someone as well. Generally, most mages needed a true awareness of an element in order to control it. A true perception of it. That meant they could not manipulate water or air they knew existed, but could not actively perceive, such as someone's blood or the air within their lungs.

Ryan, on the other hand, could sense it all due to the magical senses he possessed. That gave him a greater range for what he could perform, but he didn't have any good test subjects for it yet. He hoped an opportunity for that came soon.

For the time being, however, he would continue as things were, and that meant having his portrait painted.

"Lead the way, Meredith," Ryan held out his arm, and she approached him and slipped hers through it.

"Do you need your coat?" She asked as they began to walk.

"No," Ryan answered in Russian, aware his grasp of the language was still only at a beginner's level. He would not pass up the opportunity to practice it, though. "While I might not be able to see, there are a few spells I can perform. I haven't told Tyler about this yet. One such spell is the ability to warm or cool the air directly touching me, therefore negating the effects of the cold or heat."

"Impressive," she said. "Last time we spoke, you weren't yet awakened, yes?"

"Perhaps," he smiled a little. "I know you're a mind mage, Meredith, and so was curious if you've ever attempted to enter my mind.

"While I have been tempted," she responded as they exited the resort's main lodge, and Ryan turned on his warmth spell, which the air elementals taught him before he reset in the previous run. "Just to find out what goes through your head, without any visuals to see, I decided to quell my curiosity by finding another without sight to do that to. Your Family is one I do not wish to upset."

"Really?" Ryan asked. "You are more powerful than anything we could muster."

"Perhaps," he sensed her smile. "But I am perhaps one of the few people aware of your father's true might, Ryan. A secret third Divine, and a mind mage to boot. Even if he were not powerful enough to simply snuff me out of existence, Ryan, I don't desire war with your family. Your father has never done anything to upset me, and I've enjoyed painting for the Novars."

"I see," Ryan said.

He knew, naturally, that she had never succeeded. It seemed his mind was a closed book to any of the rare mind mages who might have attempted to enter it, unless he touched them with his own mind magic. Even then, he still needed to let them in directly, and that seemed to have been a rule since even before he'd awakened.

"Here we are," Meredith said once they reached a car. "It will take us a few minutes to reach the spot."

Ryan waited for a guard to open the door, then he slid into the seat and buckled up. One guard was already in the front passenger seat. The guard outside closed Ryan's door and walked around with Meredith. He opened the door for her, and she slid in. The guard closed the door and entered the driver's seat as Meredith buckled up, then he buckled up and began driving.

"Are you doing just the one portrait?" Ryan asked. "Or will you do several?"

"I will do one portrait today," she told him. "While we are there. I will also take several pictures of you, to create more portraits later. Your father has commissioned ten portraits in total."

"Ten?" Ryan was surprised by that amount. "He rarely asks for more than three."

"As I said," she told him. "We are in a rather beautiful setting, and a rare one for you to be in. Normally, I do a portrait of you at the main estate. This is a rare opportunity."

"I see," Ryan said. "All of your guards have a geas used on them, yes?"

"For secrecy, of course," she answered. "To ensure that any secrets of mine or my clients are not revealed. Should someone attempt to pry them out of their heads, the geas will kill them."

Ryan knew about that condition of the gess placed on her guards, as it was his father who had created them, part of the payment he made to Meredith for her services.

"Excellent," he said. "If you see elementals approaching us, do not panic, they are likely there to talk with me. This is one of my secrets, so please ensure your guards are aware."

"You can speak with elementals?" She asked.

"Yes," he answered. "I've not made my father aware of it. They seem to enjoy my presence."

"I will relay this to my guards," she informed him. "So that they will not share it with others. Our location is secluded as well, so we do not need to worry about others stumbling upon us."

"Thank you," Ryan said.

"How do you communicate with them?" She asked. "Elementals do not seem to have any minds or form of language."

Ryan could sense that she was not fully done with that, and so waited for her to continue. It was likely she already figured it out herself, and he wanted to see if she did.

"Unless," she said. "They aren't the mindless creatures they are believed to be and they do communicate, but using their elements. For someone who is seeing with their elements, that would make it easy for the elementals to communicate without us being able to properly track it. They see even the slightest changes to the elements of the others, which we can notice, but not understand or piece together."

Ryan watched as she pointed at him with her right hand.

"And if you have developed a similar method of sensing to them," she said. "Then it would likely be easy for you to pick out this communication method they use and learn how to use it yourself."

Ryan smiled, then turned his head to face her and lifted up both of his hands, grabbing the one she had pointed at him with them. He opened her hand and placed his right into it, then dropped his left hand, shaking hers.

"Congratulations," he said as he dropped his right hand, moving both of his back onto his lap. "You have learned another secret of mine, and I'm aware you had Father place the geas of secrecy on you as well."

Had his father not, Ryan would never have given her the information she needed to draw that conclusion. It was not something he did on a whim, either, as he had a purpose in allowing her to learn one of his major secrets.

"I know you steered this conversation to that," Meredith told him. "You knew I would realize this."

"You are wise and knowledgeable," he said. "So it was only natural you would piece it together with such little information. Most people would not have come to that conclusion and simply assumed I was joking around."

"Such is your nature," she said. "You joke around quite often, and such a comment would not be out of character for you."

"Indeed," his smiled widened. "And now that you're aware of this, Meredith, I have a request for you. I want you to help me with something dealing with my ability to sense the elements around me."