"I can see why your brother is supposed to be here with us. We need him to watch the both of you."
"Hey!" Kage and Zane said together, glaring at Maximus who stopped pacing to stare at Nixon.
"So, how did you know Jinn was a she?" Maximus wondered.
Nixon glanced over at me as I sipped the rich hazelnut coffee.
I could sense a touch of magic in the steamy liquid but it made me extremely calm and was already giving me a hint of energy with each sip.
"Everyone has an aura around them. Not your 'magic aura' that you can see when you concentrate on an individual. Just a simple aura that kind of defines you. Males are usually blue and shift to warmer colors as they grow older. Girls are normally pink or purple, depending on their personality and shift to the cooler colors as they grow older. Jinn's aura is a really strong pink. It's not something I could ignore," Nixon explained.
"Why didn't you question him... her, earlier?" Maximus asked.
Nixon shrugged.
"Why should I? She could have been transgender. Who am I to get into her business and reveal what isn't present with the human eye? If she wants to be male, whether it's for her own personal reasons or for a situation like this, she certainly can and I shouldn't interfere. Doing so is simply selfish,” he replied and I had to smile.
Nixon is a really nice person.
"Hoot," Alice replied.
I looked at her and saw she was awake, though just barely.
"He's cool. Give him a cookie,"she stated before she closed her eyes again.
Nixon lifted his hand and petted her.
"That reminds me, Kage. What was with your comment about Ali?" Logan asked.
"Hmm? Oh, Ali's a she too, right?" he asked, turning to stare at me.
"How did you know? Oh, her name is Alice by the way," I replied, sipping more coffee.
Seeing as the cat was out of the bag, I might as well be honest.
"I told you Kage is really good with familiars. He can tell their gender and strength just by looking at them," Zane praised.
"Really?" I asked.
Kage nodded.
"Yes. Our parents both had familiars and I got obsessed with learning more about them. I can tell Alice is very powerful on her own without using much of your mana. I can only imagine what she'd be like with even a bit of your power. She's friendly too,” he added with a smile.
Alice poked an eye open.
"Hoot hoot,” she replied."That's right. Praise me."
I rolled my eyes.
"Don't spoil her with praise. It'll go to her head," I cautioned before having another drink.
"Hey Nixon, how did you know Jinn needed a magic boost?" Zane asked.
Nixon relaxed on the sofa while he pulled a black hair tie from his wrist to tie back his long red locks.
"Jinn has been looking exhausted since the exam. As fast as her mana recovery speed may be, she's using a large amount of mana in her male disguise. Literally burning mana every minute she's in that form. Then she had to deal with the exam which lowered her mana threshold even more. Think of it as a scale. Jinn was at a nine out of ten before the exam. It dropped to a three out of ten, but instead of slowly going up, it remained there because her male form was still demanding mana. By the time we got here, she should have looked a little more rejuvenated but looked worse. She slept all afternoon and then again all the way up until thirty minutes ago. Now that she's in female form, her energies can recuperate."
We all gawked at his vast knowledge on the topic.