[Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, Wichita, Kansas]
Cyrus let out a brief sigh as he watched the crowds of people pass him by while he waited for his escort to come pick him up from the airport. Despite the calm exterior that he was portraying to the world, the young 'tree magic' user couldn't help but rub his hands together as he tried to shake off the nervous energy buzzing through him. An energy that only seemed to grow stronger the longer he waited.
This moment felt more bizarre than it should have, at least in his opinion. As if something important was about to begin. And even though the uncertainty made his stomach twist, there was a spark of excitement he couldn't ignore, pulling him forward into whatever came next. This was his first time ever travelling outside of North Carolina without his parents. A fact that only seemed to dawn on him once he finally stepped off the plane.
'At least the air here smells a bit cleaner.' The young man thought to himself. 'I guess all those stories about the wide open plains weren't just an exaggeration.'
"Cyrus?" A familiar voice suddenly caught the freckle-faced teen's attention, causing the young man to turn around in his seat and lock eyes with the person who called out to him.
There, dressed in a red flannel shirt and denim shorts, was Alyssa Blair. The tan-skinned, blonde-haired, brown-eyed sorcerer that he had met back at the beach and fundraiser. She looked exactly the same as the last time he saw her, except now her hair was styled in a long bob cut that fell elegantly over her shoulders.
"Hey." Cyrus said with a casual wave as he stood up to greet her.
"Hi!" Alyssa replied with a warm smile. "It's good to see you again!"
"Likewise."
For a few seconds, Alyssa paused as she unintentionally began to study the man's face and hands. Naturally, she was more than a bit shocked to see the dramatic change in his appearance compared to the last time she had seen him. All the scaring on his face and the long, curly afro almost made him look like an entirely different person.
"Uh…Alyssa, is something wrong?" Cyrus raised an eyebrow at the woman.
The blonde 'rose magic' user was quick to recompose herself before speaking. "O-oh, uh, sorry! It's just that I wasn't expecting the whole uh…" She made a gesture by waving her hand around her own face.
"Don't worry, I understand. I do look pretty different these days."
"I heard about what happened from Elizabeth. Well, most of it anyway. How are you holding up?" Alyssas frowned, almost apologetically.
"I'm good. I'm pretty much back to normal, well…except for the scars." Cyrus replied with an indifferent shrug.
"I see…." The blonde nodded. "And what happened to the people who did that to you? If you mind me asking."
"Dead and gone."
"Good. I'm glad to hear it."
With no reason to stick around here any longer, the two 'plant magic' users began making their way over to the woman's car. It was still pretty early in the day, despite all of the foot traffic around them. But the airport had a rather calm atmosphere thanks to all of the restaurants that they had to walk by.
"So, are you excited for your upcoming training? My uncle went through a lot of hoops to get you to come out here, y'know." Alyssa asked as they made their way over to the parking lot.
"I am." Cyrus replied with a calm smile. "I haven't really had the chance to interact with other 'plant magic' users before. And I've heard a lot of good things about your family."
"Well, I can assure you that you're in for a treat! You're going to be training with my cousin, Constanza, for the most part while you're here. She may be a bit crazy, but she's a great teacher from what I was told."
"I'm looking forward to it."
As the two continued walking, Cyrus felt the need to get something off his chest. Of course, the young man had his own thoughts and opinions about coming all the way out here just for a bit of extra training. However, there were still a few things that he needed answers for before he really got into the swing of things.
"So…be honest with me." The 'tree magic' user looked at his new companion with a serious expression on his face. "What's the real reason why your family wanted me to come out here?"
"What do you mean?" Alyssa turned toward him with a confused expression.
"Come on, I wasn't born yesterday. Even I know that you guys wouldn't have offered to train me if there wasn't something in it for you."
Alyssa paused for a moment as she considered what to say to that. It was no secret that the Blair family was always on the lookout for new talent whenever it popped up. And she would be lying if she said that wasn't the case here. But considering everything that the young man had gone through over the past few months, she saw no reason in trying to deceive him. Besides, he was bound to learn the truth sooner or later.
"You want an honest answer?" The woman asked.
"Yeah." Cyrus nodded.
"To make a long story short, my uncle wants to use this as an opportunity to convince you to join our family."
"Is that so?"
"Pretty much." The woman shrugged with an awkward smile. "From what he told me, his goal is to either try to directly adopt you, or get you to hook up with one of my aunts or cousins. It's the reason why he chose Constanza to train you and not my uncle, Jonathan. You didn't hear this from me, but he showed her some photos of you from your social media accounts a couple of weeks ago. And she was all for it since she thought that you were cute."
Cyrus had to fight back the urge to laugh at what he just heard. "You can't be serious?"
"I am, unfortunately."
"And you're just playing along with the whole thing?"
"Not exactly…." She replied.
"What do you mean?"
Alyssa gave Cyrus an odd expression before answering. This might be her opportunity to jump the gun and get what she wanted.
"As I'm sure you already know, my uncle is the one running our family these days. Pretty much whatever he says goes as far as the rest of us are concerned. But we have a hefty bit of competition among the different branches of our family."
"Go on."
"My uncle thinks that having you in his pocket will give him an extra bit of leverage to use against his brothers and sisters since your 'tree magic' has so much potential. And I've been inclined to agree. But…what he doesn't know is that I plan on using your time here to scoop you up right out from under his nose."
Cyrus had a pretty good feeling as to what the woman was implying here. But he wanted to hear the words straight from her own mouth before jumping to conclusions. "What do you mean?"
"My original plan was to try to either convince you to marry me, or at the very least, convince you to join my side. You see…I plan on taking the reins in my family one day when my uncle finally decides to retire. And having you by my side would be a great help. But in light of…recent events, I don't think that I'd have an easy time trying to seduce you."
"Seriously?"
"Hey, you wanted honesty, right? And I'd rather be up front with you as opposed to trying some nonsense behind your back." Alyssa said with a smile.
Yeah, that was pretty much exactly what Cyrus expected to hear. And it was damn near the exact same thing that Elaine had told him when he found out that he was being sent all the way out here. The Blairs were known for this kind of thing. So, the young 'tree magic' user shouldn't really be surprised.
"So, what you're telling me is that I'm about to get roped into Blair family politics against my will?"
"You wouldn't be totally wrong in thinking that." The 'rose magic' user gave him a playful shrug.
"Great…."
"But hey, look on the bright side! You're going to get some good training and some valuable networking out of it. And having good connections with the Blair family will go a long way when it comes to your career in the DPA!"
"You do know that I'm technically with the MacNamaras now, right? And I don't think the twins would appreciate your family trying to poach me."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But don't worry. I don't plan on doing anything to piss off Evan, Elizabeth, or Skye while you're here. As far as the two of us are concerned, I'm just trying to build a strong friendship with someone who has a bright future ahead of them."
"Sure…" Cyrus nodded, albeit a bit skeptically. "Anywhos…where am I going to be staying while I'm here? I know that you guys were still working out the details as of a few days ago."
"You're going to be staying with me, of course!" The blonde woman beamed with all the confidence in the world.
"Really now?" The man raised an eyebrow.
"Don't worry, you're going to be shacking up in my guest room. My parents bought me a pretty nice condo in the city after I graduated from school. And there's plenty of room for you to get nice and comfortable. Plus, I already told everyone not to even think about coming over while you're here. So you won't have to worry about any unexpected visitors trying to curry favor with you."
"This is going to be a long month for me, isn't it?"
"Oh, I guarantee it!"
Despite himself, all Cyrus could do was laugh at the situation he now found himself in. He really was walking directly into the belly of the beast. And he was almost certain that he was going to have at least one major headache when it came to dealing with the Blairs and whatever nonsense they were about to throw his way.
That being said, Cyrus was still looking forward to whatever training these people had in store for him. This was a good opportunity for him to expand his skillset and learn a bit more about his magic. Plus, Elaine was really insistent on him making a good impression on the Blairs while he was here. Why that was, he had no idea. So, the 'tree magic' user simply decided to just roll with whatever was about to happen.
'This is going to be fun.' Cyrus sarcastically thought to himself as he and Alyssa got into her car and began making the short journey over to her condo.