Zephyr: The Elemental Clans

156 - Agnes of the Cloth

Xyder Zephyr - POV;

"Are you heading out alone? It's quite early this morning," the receptionist girl at the front desk of the Rising Flames Hotel called out to me as I walked past.

"Yeah, it really is. I turned in early yesterday so now, here I am awake at three. The others are out cold. They'll probably remain that way until closer to noon too," laughed.

"Yeah, well you guys all deserve it after the things you pulled off in the tournament," she giggled, "Hey you know, I don't actually clock in until seven. I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go grab a coffee? I know a place that's open all night."

"Yeah, sure. I wasn't really planning to do anything out there anyway," I answered.

The black haired girl immediately shot to her feet and after hastily securing her workstation, she scurried out from behind her desk and met me in the lobby.

"Let's go," she announced excitedly as she led the way. I walked alongside her through the dark, fairly silent streets of Fenix City however, I couldn't help but glance down at the five and a half foot tall female every few seconds.

"Um," she suddenly spoke up, "It's a bit embarrassing the way you keep looking over at me like that."

"S-sorry," I apologised, pulling my gaze away, "It's just that this is the first time I've actually seen you anywhere outside of that desk. It's the first time I've seen your hands too. What happened to your left arm?

"Oh you mean this?" she asked, raising her limb and causing her long sleeve to fall. This revealed a series of bandages wrapped completely around the appendage from the tip of her fingers to her elbow.

"Are you worried about me?" she teased.

"It does look pretty bad," I admitted.

"I guess so," she giggled, "But it's nothing serious. You don't have to be concerned. It's um... I guess you could call it a disease. The skin on my left arm is pretty sensitive so this is just to protect it. The rest of me is perfectly fine though."

"Oh. That's a good thing then. You're able to do so much despite that. That's impressive," I noted, "By the way, your name was... Annie, right?"

"Agnes. Sorry, I never actually introduced myself. That was rude of me," she apologised.

"Oh no, I'm sorry for calling you something else. I saw your name as employee of the month a little while back, but I couldn't recall it exactly," I admitted.

"That's okay, my name is pretty uncommon these days," she assured me.

"Well, I can't say the name Xyder is any better, can I?" I chuckled.

"I guess not. Oh, there's our place," she pointed out. It didn't take us long to acquire our ordered drinks and be  comfortably seated at the business' abundant accommodation. It was at this point where Agnes broke the ice.

"So, this might be a bit weird to just come out and say but I'm sure you get it alot: I think you're really amazing," she stated.

"Thanks," I chuckled a bit at her remark.

"No really, you can do so many amazing  things. I was actually there at Zephyr City watching the Battle For The Crown tournament that you all held. I'm a bit of a fangirl for these kinds of things. The things that trained Vessels can pull of are astounding! Alot of people at Zephyr City were talking about you. There were so many saying all sorts of terrible things about you because you were outcast from the Regulus Line and because of your lack of power. Honestly, I didn't think you would actually be able to get past the first round but despite that, from the second I first saw you I was rooting for you. I thought you looked really cool and after you dominated that first fight, I knew you had it in you!" she declared, all while playing with her hair across from me.