The House of Daena was quiet, save for the distant rustle of pages and the soft scratching of Ren's pen. He was detailing the thermal conductivity coefficients of the heater's alloy coil, a string of numbers and symbols flowing effortlessly onto the parchment. But his mind wasn't fully on the equations.
He paused, setting the pen down with a quiet click. He looked across the table at the sleeping girl. Her breathing was even, her posture relaxed, her head resting on her arms. To anyone passing by, she was just another exhausted student who had succumbed to the Akademiya's rigorous demands.
But Ren saw something else. A subtle tension in her shoulders. A microscopic twitch of her fingers. A stillness that was just a little too deliberate.
He let out a soft sigh, leaning back in his chair.
"Miss Layla," he said, his voice low but perfectly clear in the quiet corner. "You can stop feigning sleep now."
There was a pause. The girl didn't move.
"I know you're awake," Ren continued, his tone gentle but knowing. "Or rather… I know someone is awake."
Slowly, very slowly, the girl lifted her head. She didn't wake up with the groggy confusion of the sleep-deprived Layla. Her movements were fluid, controlled. She sat up straight, stretching her arms with a languid grace that was entirely absent in the girl who had stumbled towards him moments ago.
She opened her eyes. They were the same golden hue, but the expression within them was radically different. Gone was the hazy exhaustion and the timid anxiety. Instead, there was a sharp, confident intelligence, a cool self-assurance that bordered on arrogance. A faint, amused smile played on her lips.
"My, my," she said, her voice holding a crisp clarity, devoid of any slur or mumble. "Aren't you perceptive? And here I thought I was putting on a stellar performance."
She leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand, her gaze locking onto Ren's. "How long have you known?"
"Since you sat down," Ren admitted with a small shrug. "You were too stiff. Your breathing was too controlled. And…" he offered a sheepish, conspiratorial grin, "as someone who has spent a lot of time pretending to be asleep to avoid chores or lectures… I'm kind of a master at it. It takes one to know one."
The girl laughed, a bright, confident sound. "Fair enough. You have a keen eye, little one."
She stood up, smoothing down her robes with a practiced efficiency. "Well, since the jig is up, I suppose I should thank you properly. That catch was… impressive. Superhuman, even. You saved her a lot of grief. Dropping those books would have sent her into a spiral of anxiety that would have lasted a week."
She reached for the stack of books Ren had saved, intending to leave.
"Wait," Ren said softly.
She paused, her hand hovering over the books. She looked back at him, an eyebrow raised in inquiry.
"You're not Layla, are you?" Ren asked, his voice steady. "At least… not the one from before. Not the one who was worried about failing."
The girl's smile faltered slightly. She looked at him, really looked at him, her sharp eyes searching his face. She saw the glowing azure eyes, the messy hair, the aura of quiet, impossible wisdom that clung to him like a cloak. And she felt… compelled.
"There is something about you," she murmured, more to herself than to him. "Something in those eyes. It demands honesty. Or perhaps," she added with a smirk, "it's just that ridiculously cute face of yours. It makes it very hard to lie."
She sighed, sitting back down. "No. I am not her. I am… the Other Layla. The Sleepwalking Eccentric. Whatever you want to call me."
She gestured to herself. "Layla… she worries. She frets. She crumbles under pressure. She wants to succeed, but she lacks the confidence. So, when the pressure gets too high, when she collapses from exhaustion… I step in."
She picked up a scroll from the stack—a complex star chart filled with unfinished calculations. "I finish what she cannot. I write her papers. I solve her equations. I do the work while she sleeps, so that when she wakes up, the 'Blessing of the Stars' has magically saved her."
Ren listened, his expression thoughtful. He knew of Layla's condition from the game, of course. But hearing it directly, seeing the stark difference between the two personalities, was fascinating.
But a frown creased his brow. A thought occurred to him, a concern born of his own understanding of rest and recovery.
"But if you take over when she sleeps," he asked, his voice laced with genuine worry, "does that mean… Layla's body never actually sleeps? Does she never get to rest?"
The Other Layla's confident mask softened. She looked at Ren with a surprising gentleness.
"No," she said, shaking her head. "I'm not a tyrant. I don't take control every time she closes her eyes. Most of the time, I just let her sleep. She needs it. We need it."
She gestured to the library around them. "I only step in when it's necessary. When there are things pending. When the weight of her anxiety is crushing her, preventing her from resting even in her dreams. I take the burden. I finish the work. So she can wake up and breathe."
She picked up the unfinished thesis, looking at Layla's frantic, messy handwriting. With a quick, graceful movement, she pulled a pen from her sleeve and began to write. Her hand moved with a terrifying speed and precision, filling in the blanks, correcting the calculations, turning the chaotic notes into a cohesive, brilliant argument.
"I protect her," she said simply, not looking up from the paper. "In my own way."
Within minutes, she was done. She rolled the scroll back up, tying it neatly. She looked at Ren, her expression serious.
"Just keep this a secret, okay?" she said, holding a finger to her lips. "Layla… she thinks she is blessed by the stars. She thinks a Seelie or an Archon is watching over her. It gives her hope. It gives her confidence. If she knew it was just… another part of herself, a part she can't control… it would scare her. I wish to keep it that way. Let her believe in the magic."
Ren looked at her. He saw a guardian. A protector born of the mind, just as he had been a protector born of another world. He understood the need for secrets, for protecting someone from a truth they weren't ready for.
"I promise," Ren said, his voice solemn. "Your secret is safe with me."
The Other Layla smiled, a genuine, warm expression that mirrored the one the original Layla would have worn if she weren't so burdened by worry.
"Thank you, Ren," she said. "You're a good kid."
She stood up, gathering the books with ease. "Now, I have a thesis to finish and a body to rest. It was nice meeting you."
With a final wave, she walked away. Her step was lighter, her posture confident. She disappeared into the stacks, a sleepwalking guardian watching over the dreams of a star-gazing girl.
Ren watched her go, a small smile on his face. He picked up his pen and turned back to his own work. The forms for the heater patent were waiting.
Energy Conversion Efficiency… he read, his mind shifting back to engineering.
The world was full of strange, hidden guardians, he thought. Some were adepti living on mountains. Some were travelers from other stars. And some were just voices in the heads of tired students, finishing their homework so they could face the morning with a smile.
He dipped his pen in the ink. He had his own work to do.