{IRIS}
A week in the academy passed like a quiet blur.
My days fell into a gentle rhythm—morning training for my body, afternoons spent devouring books beneath the great canopy tree, and evenings wrestling with that cursed student manual I still hadn't managed to finish.
And through all of it, Zephyros remained beside me.
Always silent, always near.
Sometimes he sat beside me, legs stretched out lazily. Other times he drifted above in the branches, half-asleep, half-watching.
He never disturbed me—just existed near me, as though my presence alone was enough to anchor him.
"Only a few more days before classes begin," he sighed one afternoon, watching students bustle across the grounds. "No wonder there are more people now. It will get noisy again."
"It seems so," I murmured, eyes fixed on my book.
"Do you have everything you need?"
I nodded. "Yes."
"Is it truly that fun?" he asked.
