Black Emerald (on hold)

Chapter One, Part Two: Ayla

Ayla refocused her thoughts on the scene before her. Crouching on a roof across the street, she was supposed to be observing the activity of the man living in the third-floor apartment across the street.

    The conditions couldn't have been better for her assignment. It was a clear day, and the man had, stupidly, left all his curtains open, allowing Ayla a perfect view into his apartment but her mind was in a thousand different places. Usually, Ayla had an incredibly single-minded focus when it came to assignments, but this one wasn't even technically hers.

    She shifted her crouched position for the millionth time, refusing to sit on the dirty roof. Her mind wandered again, and this time she didn't bother to stop it. She couldn't stop thinking about the girl from the training room. She had known who Ayla was, that much was certain. That wasn't surprising, there weren't many people on base who didn't know Ayla Winters. After skipping a year in the academy and being assigned to the legendary Team Zero when she was only seventeen, she was pretty notable. That, and her distinct magic.

Everyone's magic had a color, usually common colors like red or blue. Purples, pinks, and greens were rarer. Even gray was rare, but not unusual. But pitch black like Ayla's? That was unheard of. Literally. As far as she knew, she was the only Summoner to ever have black colored magic. And she had done considerable research on the subject. Any operative who saw her magic immediately knew who she was if they had not already recognized her face.

As the youngest to ever be assigned to Team Zero, most operatives, and especially trainees, were scared of Ayla. But the girl in the training room hadn't been frightened. She had smiled. She had corrected Ayla's form. No one corrected Ayla's form.

Ayla sighed. She really needed to stop thinking about that. Peering through the window again, she saw the man eating dinner. Like he had been for the last twenty minutes. Giving up on her cleanliness, Ayla sat down on the roof. Her legs were practically numb from crouching for over two hours for this useless assignment.

She was the youngest on Team Zero, which of course meant that she had to assist the more senior agents on their missions. That would be fine, but Ayla knew the only reason she was on this roof right now was that Jacon couldn't bother to be here himself. He was the second youngest on the team and had been the youngest for years before Ayla was assigned to the team. He enjoyed lording his newly found seniority over her by forcing her to go on the most tedious parts of his missions and refusing to let her assist with the interesting parts.

She wouldn't even mind, really, if she had gotten at least one assignment of her own. Since she had become an operative, she had only received one assignment and it had been a complete joke. They had given her a week to complete the assignment. She had done it in less than six hours. Although she was famous among operatives, possibly even the most famous agent alive, her notoriety did not ensure that she got the best assignments. Or even an assignment.

She was young and inexperienced, she understood that. But how was she supposed to get experience if they never gave her anything to experience? Ayla sighed out loud before she realized that she was close enough to the ground for pedestrians to hear her. She quickly stood and crept away from the edge of the roof. After she was sure no one had heard her, she got herself back into position and looked across the street. Her target was now standing at the kitchen sink, cleaning dishes from his dinner. Ayla rolled her eyes.

Useless.

Being an operative was everything she had dreamed of since she was a kid, and here she was. Crouching on a dirty roof, watching a man wash his dishes. Although trainees don't begin the academy until they are seven, Ayla had been preparing long before that. It wasn't uncommon for prominent families to train their kids to be selected into the academy from birth. Ayla's family did just that, with the added pressure of disownment if she was not admitted. When she was admitted, she had to cease all connection with her previous life, which was basically the same as being disowned anyway.