“It actually works, like properly?” the girl sitting across from me asked over the table.

  “Indeed, we had a demonstration for some of the more technically minded men from The Royal Society just earlier today. Perhaps my project isn't impossible for them to have considered, but they're all quite surprised,” I answered. “You'd think that with all the papers my grandfather had published they would've expected this.”

  The girl's father, some lower end noble laughed from a couple seats down. “Ah, I might shed some light upon that. You see, people have been reading his papers, well a few of them, but they discounted that it actually worked. Normally we see such things coming from well known inventors and while your grandfather may be well known for his interest, he isn't well known for his invention.” After a moment he took a look at me though. “However I have heard some of the most interesting rumors about you...”

  “Perhaps I'm a bit clever, but I've not made that many things,” I demurred, hoping to keep from getting too much attention.

  My date for the evening took a moment to stop giving the girl who'd started talking to me the stink-eye and chuckled at my remark. Rowenna had been happy enough to accompany me on this event, but had been significantly less thrilled when she'd seen the seating arrangement. She was getting a bit on the possessive side tonight and having me sat near a girl who'd tried flirting the second we came in the door didn't sit well.

  Not that I really blamed her, I suppose if I'd been out with her and someone had started making eyes at first sight I'd have been rather cross myself, but it was behavior to note. The host for tonight was the Murkshire family and it was clear that their daughter wanted something. Perhaps her family had put her up to that after hearing about the test she was now inquiring about, perhaps she had herself.

  To be quite honest I barely knew them, having seen said daughter Lucy Murkshire at a few events over the years but hardly ever talking to her. She had a brother a few years my senior who'd attended the same school I did, but I don't think I'd ever spoken to him either, just someone known in passing. Her uncle though was a common sight at Royal Society meetings, running in much the same circles as my grandfather did.

  “I don't suppose you'd be willing to show me this flying machine of yours?” Lucy asked, batting her eyelashes.

  “You're welcome to come to any of the demonstrations we've planned, they're open to the public,” I answered. Telling her flatly that I wasn't interested would be rude, but agreeing would make a whole slew of other problems, and honestly I didn't know this girl at all.

  Once more I thanked my experience from Earth for saving me. Most boys my age would see a moderately pretty girl making eyes at them and do something stupid, but that was a lesson I'd already learned from my first adolescence. Perhaps I'd never been the wisest or cleverest person, but I'd made it to adulthood, and if you did that there were at least a few things you'd get clued in on.

  Like the fact that this girl probably didn't care about me at all, not really. Planes were going to be big, and while a lot of people were writing them off, as they had on Earth, some weren't. Those who joined early into the flight industry would soon find themselves at the head of new, huge investments. Cargo transport, private transport, military, the options were there, and I had the benefit of hindsight to know where to push.

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  Not everything would be the same, magic changed so much, but many things would be. Air travel for example would only be really good at medium range, for cross-continental or super long range travel magic gates were basically unbeatable, but for something like my family's yearly trip to Exion? Shortened by days. Military applications would be huge too, as few mages could fly, and exploiting the air would be a force multiplier like no other.

  “Are you sure nothing else could be arranged?” Lucy pushed.

  “Unfortunately not, there are quite a lot of interested parties and it's simply not feasible,” I didn't add that I didn't want to, this girl was causing me problems and I didn't want more.

  Dinner after that was fairly bland. I'd made it clear to this family that I was unwilling to give them what they wanted, something I'd had to explain to others if not in the same setting. Seeing that they could only make inroads through proper public channels my hosts politely cut off their attempts.

  “I'm sorry about that,” I said to Rowenna as we rode home. “Had I known that they would use such tactics I would've found a way to decline the invitation.”

  She looked across the carriage at me and chuckled, not her normal high pitched laugh but something altogether less kind. “Oh no, seeing you deny them like that made the whole thing worthwhile. Did she really think that was going to work? Honestly I feel a bit insulted on your part.”

  “On a lot of boys my age it would've worked,” I informed her. “Boys tend to be rather foolish when it comes to girls.”

  “That's what I like about you,” she told me, leaning in and kissing me so suddenly I didn't know what to make of it. One second she'd been leaning forward to talk, the next she was practically in my lap. “You're not like others.”

  “Rowenna,” I said, leaning back from her.

  “Stop being such a prude. I know you're holding back, but I don't know why, I can tell you like girls, so it's not that.”

  I wanted to scream at her that I was far older than her, but that wouldn't make any sense. She wouldn't understand rebirth, and telling her now seemed too much of a danger to me.

  “If you still feel this way once you're fully of age we'll talk, but I don't want to lead you on.” I'd always intended this to me mostly for show, something she had to know.

  “Oh, now you are the silly boy,” she said as she curled up in my lap, refusing to move. “You're not leading anything, I am. I'm the one who chose you not the other way around.” She turned a bit to poke me in the cheek playfully.

  “And when exactly did you do that?” I inquired.

  “Do you remember when we first met?”

  “You asked me to beat up your brother if I'm not mistaken,” I answered.

  “And you agreed perfectly. I had an inkling then, one you've only confirmed over the years. No reason to lie, but I've had crushes on other boys, they've all just come up... short. You though have always been what I wanted, mature but silly, kind but dangerous, cleverer than is good for you.”

  “I'm not sure that's entirely healthy...” I tried, hoping to get her to at least consider the situation.

  “It is, it will give me exactly what I want out of life.”

  “And what is it that you want out of life?” I asked, blinking at her immediate response.

  “A home, a good husband, a few children, that's about it actually.”

  “That's...” I wanted to say 'horribly stereotypical' but couldn't. “Not much.”

  “It is more than most people get Percival. I mean, I'm sure I'll do other things, but that's the core of it. Mother managed it and she seems quite pleased with life.”

  “You don't want to study magic, or invent, or...”

  “I've an aunt who is like that, she seems rather unhappy. Not sure if that's because of what she does or because she's just a miserable old coot, but no. Honestly I'm middling at magic at best, and like I said I'll do other things, I'll still do magic, still try to improve myself, but I'm no genius, and no inventor. It seems better to me to instead bring what light I can to the world than to do things I don't want in an attempt to prove I'm someone I'm not.”

  “That is not the answer I expected,” I admitted. “That you just want a husband and children.”

  “Not today obviously, not for a couple of years.”

  “And what do you want today?” I asked, hoping for something slightly more understandable.

  “The man courting me to wrap his arms around me properly rather than keep them to his sides like he's afraid of me,” she answered snarkily.

  With a snort I did so, relaxing them around her in a gentle hug.

  “Good, we'll have you trained yet,” she said as she curled up against me, laying her head upon my chest.