Image by Phuong Luu from Pixabay

Irek reveled in the silence of his private study. He was the youngest scholar at Atania Scholar Academy to have been given the honor of having a private work area. Most young scholars his age were forced to work in the common area. However, he’d already published three very well-received papers and he was only twenty two.

Adjira smiled at her great-nephew’s blissful expression. “You seem to approve.”

“It’s quiet,” Irek told her. “I like the quiet. The noise bothers me.”

“Is it a trigger for you?” Adjira asked.

“Not like it was back home, but it can be.” Irek sighed. “Viktor says I’m much better at controlling myself than I used to be. Part of it is being off the Throne World. There isn’t the constant pressure that there is at home.”

Adjira nodded sympathetically. She’d served as tutor for Irek’s father and one of his aunts. She knew about the pressures, though only through secondhand, of being on the Throne World and being part of the Imperial family. “Do you have any friends you want to show this off to now?” she asked.

Irek shook his head. “I don’t really have many friends, and the few I do have also have something like this because they’re all older than me and are established already.”

“No one your own age?” Adjira was surprised by that.

“People my age are too loud and boisterous for my tastes,” Irek informed her. “They want to talk endlessly about trivial things. If I talk to someone, I want the conversation to mean something.”

Adjira couldn’t blame him. She was of a similar nature. It was very nice to have at least one member of her family follow in her footsteps, especially since she’d never married and had children of her own. Even her brothers had children, and she’d never thought Eon would settle down. She snorted at that. Not that he had stopped traveling. He just took his wife and children with him as he traveled.

“Do you think you’ll ever marry, Irek?” Adjira asked.

Irek shook his head. “I don’t want to pass on my maladies to any children I may have. Besides, even though I’m out of the line of succession, they’d still look at my children as possible heirs if something horrible happened and I don’t want that.”

“Understandable. Well, I’ll leave you to settle in and enjoy the peace and quiet.” Adjira gave him a quick hug and headed for the door. Irek sat down with his pad and a notebook with real paper, something he and Adjira loved for taking notes, and set to work on his next research paper.