by Katie Pottle
Cadin felt silly for not realizing it before.
“I would say that was a fairly good blind test,” Master Emilio commented as he gently grabbed the plant back from Cadin and put it on the window sill.
“Really? Does that mean I can try the gins now?”
“That will be the first thing that we will do for our next lesson, as it is getting late and you should probably get home. Your homework is to open your consciousness up to all cloud-life. Get a feel for the different energies surrounding you.”
Cadin didn’t want to stop, but was also anxious to get home and check on Gur. He grabbed his paper and thanked Master Emilio before walking out the door.
Gur ran back and forth between Cadin’s shoulders as they walked through the smooth, double door entrance. He received special permission from Headmaster Tripharian to have Gur with him at school after bringing a note from Miss Esperanza explaining (in a slightly disappointed tone) that it is not advisable to separate a dragon from its owner once they bonded.
Headmaster Tripharian scratched his beard as he read the letter. “A few years back we had a student that secretly raised a pair of grass dragons that she kept hidden in her locker. One day both dragons found a way to escape and caused havoc before they found her.”
“Yeah, Gur doesn’t like to be away from me.” He wondered what Gur would do if Cadin had to keep him out of school. “But he is really good if he can stay on my shoulders,” he added quickly.
Headmaster Tripharian put the note in a pile and pulled out a pen and blank paper. He looked at Cadin. “If he stays well behaved and your school-work does not suffer, you may keep him. Understood?”
“Yes, thank you!” Cadin grabbed the offered note and headed to class.
Everyone surrounded Cadin to talk about the dragon before Instructor Kade walked into the room. He found it much easier to calm Gur down after everyone took to their seats.
“Welcome back from Fall Break everyone!” Instructor Kade said. The class settled down and looked up expectantly. “Now, I have a surprise for you. We will be training outside of the school today, and this comes with a chance to earn a badge!” Instructor Kade held up his hands for silence. “We will be training at Glade Cloud Park to work on cloud-shifting.”
“Oh, excellent!” Lexi said from the far side of the room. The rest of the class responded with similar sentiments.
“Now,” Instructor Kade said, “We have a few minutes until the group transports are ready, so let’s have a brief lesson about cloud-shifting. Who can tell me what cloud-shifting is?”
Lexi’s eyes shone bright pink as she raised her hand in the air. Instructor Kade nodded to her and she stood up to address the class.
“Cloud-shifting is when angels purposefully shape the clouds around them to different forms and consistencies.”
“Nicely put, Lexi; however, I would add that it is not always intentional. In fact, as angels we all subconsciously cloud-shift to a certain extent, and that is how we have cloud-lands. Cloud-shifting is a highly beneficial skill for all angels to perfect for various reasons. For tactical purposes, you can create nice cover or a blockade, and for practical purposes if you are flying for any distance and get tired, you can cloud-shift any nearby cloud to become a small solid cloud-land to rest on. The cloud-land will resume its normal shape soon after you move on. Even a grown angel that is wounded and nearly unconscious will subconsciously cloud-shift a resting area.
"I say grown angel because having an Aura hugely increases the subconscious abilities of an angel to cloud-shift. One of many reasons why all un-winged angels should stay away from the edge of the cloud-lands.” Cadin squirmed in his chair. "Patrol angels are fast, but I wouldn't rely on them catching you if you fall." Instructor Kade fluttered his wings and continued. “More permanent cloud-lands such as Glade are formed by a group of angels living together, and constantly using the cloud-land. It takes a long time and many angels to form such large, solid cloud-lands. Glade National Cloud Park is a protected area that safely controls natural clouds for all angels to enjoy and practice their cloud-shifting.
“Yes, Hydra?”
“How do they make the natural clouds not turn into solid cloud-lands like the rest of Glade?”
“There are park rangers whose jobs are to control the area and actively cloud-shift to the natural cloud form. Any other questions? Yes, Xeno?” Cadin turned around to look at his friend.
“Well, as the clouds are natural, and the angels practicing there may not have wings, how do we not fall through to Earth?”
“It is part of the rangers’ job to simulate natural clouds above, and solid, though soft, cloud-lands below. Don’t worry, class. Many angels practice there, and falling is part of the learning process. It is a fun and safe place to try things out. This is the first official cloud-shifting lesson for most of you as it is not taught in middle school. This is the age that most angels’ energy is strong enough to cloud-shift to any useful extent.”
“I think we have time for one more question. Yes, Sun.”
“Do any other creatures cloud-shift?”
“Actually, most cloud-creatures cloud-shift to a certain extent. I am no expert and you will learn more in your cloud-nature classes. I can tell you that the creatures that cloud-shift the most besides angels are cloud-plants and wraths.”
There was a general shudder through the class as they had all grown up with the stories warning them against the most dangerous animals in the clouds. Even dire dragons kept their distance from the strange leathery winged creatures that got twice the size of an adult angel, made nests inside of clouds and ate large cloud-creatures to absorb their energy and get increasingly stronger. Cadin heard a fellow classmate start to hum the rhythmic beat of the common childhood rhyme and matched the words in his head—
Beware the wraths teeth and lies,
Fear to ever look straight at their eyes.
They beguile, bewitch and lure you in…
You wake only to see you’ve approached your end.
“Ah, the transports are here.”
Cadin moved with the rest of the class towards the windows. Sun and Lep were both next to him and Cadin saw Sun crinkle her nose at the sight of the transports.
“Those do not look safe,” she said as she watched ten large floating platforms manned by adult angels arrive over the main road towards the front of the school. Two hovered low at the corners and one vibrated madly. He also noticed how many there were, and guessed that it was not just their class or even just the first years going on this class trip—it must be the whole school.
“Yes, Sun” Instructor Kade said, apparently responding to her comment, “Headmaster Tripharian is talking to your father about upgrading our school transports.”
“That is good to hear.” Sun watched with a shudder as the last of the transports pulled around, dragging a back corner on the road.
“Alright, let’s head out. Make sure you all stay with me as a group.”
CHAPTER TEN
The Cloud Park
His teeth chattered as they turned up the main road. Their group got the transport that vibrated, and Cadin had to catch Xeno from falling off more than once. During the “smooth” parts of the ride, everyone talked about their childhood experiences in Glade Commons Cloud Park. There were a couple of students from the far end of Glade that never made the trek and Xeno’s grandfather never saw the need to leave the forest to take him.
“I can’t believe that you have never been to the The Park, man,” Vincent said, calling it by the common slang name. “It is awesome—so light and fluffy.” Jade hugged Vincent as he wore a nostalgic look on his face.
“I am not so sure about it,” Xeno responded. “A place without trees or land sounds kinda boring.”
“It’s anything but boring,” Treven chimed in. “You can basically do anything you want in the large pit and not get hurt. One summer I was over there every other day perfecting my flips.”
“What abou
t you guys, you ever go The Park?” Treven directed his comment at Cadin and Lep.
“Yeah, we used to have a pretty good time there,” Lep said looking directly at Cadin. “That is until we got kicked out.”
“What, really?”
“Hey, don’t look at me like that Lep. You are just as responsible for getting us kicked out for the rest of last summer as I am,” Cadin defended.
“How did you guys manage to get kicked out of a place where you are basically allowed to do anything?” Vincent asked.
“Well, Cadin likes cloud-creatures, obviously,” Lep began as he pointed out Gur, who was enjoying a nap in Cadin’s lap. “But at The Park there aren’t any cloud-creatures except for a few birds. So, we managed to stay out of trouble and have fun most of the summer just jumping around the clouds and watching the older kids train. Well, Cadin liked watching them so much, that just seeing them trying to create cloud-bridges to walk across the pit was not enough.”
“Hang on Lep; you were the one to suggest that we follow them to their next training site,” Cadin interjected.
“Yeah, but when we found out it was off limits to younger angels I was ready to back off. You, on the other hand, wanted to go climb the back side of the steep cloud-mountain to try and watch them.”
“True.” Cadin smiled at the memory.
Lep shook his head and continued. “So here we are climbing the steep cloud-mountain, which was quite shifty, and all of the sudden Cadin started running ahead super-fast. I see Cadin jump off the mountain and grab onto a huge bird and at the same time the cloud shifted underneath me and I fell through the mountain!”
“Oh!”
“What happened?” Lexi asked. It seemed like the rest of the class had started to listen to Lep’s story.
“Well, I watched Cadin struggling to hold onto this huge eagle as I fall through the mountain and land on the padded bottom. As soon as I land three different park rangers fly down to me and ask how I got there. I told them I fell through the mountain and my friend was hanging onto an eagle. They seemed to think I was crazy until Cadin came crashing into the back of one of them with an injured eagle in hand.
“The eagle got sent to the cloud-creature rehab center at Town Hall, and we got banned from The Park for the rest of the summer.”
“You say you were climbing the steep cloud-mountain?” Instructor Kade asked.
Lep seemed surprised that he had been listening. “Oh, ah, yes. It was the big one on the far side of the park. I fell for a long time before I hit the bottom.”
“I see.” He stared at Lep and Cadin as if evaluating them. Not quite knowing how to take it, Cadin turned to Sun.
“Have you ever been to Glade Commons Cloud Park?”
“Nope,” she said with a smile. “But I am looking forward to it. We have a Cloud Park in Lance; however, the base natural clouds are wispy cirrus—not the cumulonimbus clouds that build up into cloud-mountains.”
“What can you even do in a wimpy cirrus cloud-park?” Vincent asked.
“Well, angels with yellow Auras are a bit lighter on our feet and wings than you big green clunkers.” Cadin let out a laugh but turned it into pretend coughing when he got dirty looks from everyone before Sun continued. “Cirrus clouds hold us up just fine though the Com students work on fast cloud-shifting, rather than the strong barricades. I guess both are useful for different reasons. It is fun seeing how different Aura lands do things.”
They pulled through the gated entrance to Glade National Cloud Park. The Park was fenced in, so that everyone knew how far the safety bottom to the clouds extended. There were several small cloud-mountains and a huge one that rolled up into the sky. The ground was littered with training pits of various sizes and the first-year groups all headed off to a secluded section of the park.
“All right, all three classes have a seat on the pink, flat area!” Instructor Nightan yelled. He stepped back as Instructor Zephran cleared her throat.
“Many of you have been here before, but some have not; so, before we get started on the training, we must go over the basic layout and rules of The Park.” Several moans escaped from the audience. “First of all, take note of the pink areas and paths around you. These artificially marked pathways indicate the only solid cloud-land in The Park.” Cadin had never paid much attention to the pink in the past. He thought he remembered his mom saying something about it the first time that she took him there, but he had been too excited to jump into the big pit to take it in.
“In the rest of the park you must cloud-shift to get around. If you do not successfully cloud-shift where you walk, climb or jump on the clouds that are not pink you will fall through to the bottom. The bottom, as many of you can attest to, is solid and soft to prevent injuries. The pits,” she said as she waived over the bowl-shaped holes in the ground “are filled with natural clouds for basic training and where we will be doing our lessons today. The mountains are for more advanced training which we will get to later on in the year.
“And now for the rules.” Her face turned very stern, and Cadin knew she was serious. “You are not allowed to go beyond the pit area and onto the cloud-mountains until you have earned your level 1 cloud-shifting badge. We are here to practice, not play. You are to practice the skills that we are here for; therefore, no flips or crazy jumps into the pit during skills training.”
“Oh, man.” Treven moaned.
“Please be conscientious of where people are in the pit. It hurts when someone lands on you. No wandering off without one of the instructors. We will have time for group breaks and lunch. Anyone who breaks the rules will be suspended from school. All right, enough with the rules, let’s get to some training! Instructor Kade.”
“Thank you, Instructor Zephran,” Instructor Kade said as he stepped forward. “Today we will be working on basic skills in three main areas: manipulation, walling, and walking. At the end of the day, you will have a chance to earn a level 1 cloud-shifting badge. Calm down, we don’t really expect anyone to earn a badge after just one day, but it is good to get experience in trying for badges. To earn a badge, you must receive at least a proficient mark in one skill in each of the three areas. This badge counts as a general studies badge and is one you must earn before graduating from Commons School.
“Now, each of the three classes will have a certain amount of time for each skill set. In the small pit at the far end Instructor Nightan will be working on manipulating skills. In the other small pit, I will be working on walling and in the big pit Instructor Zephran will be working on cloud-walking. Each group will start out with their main instructor and we will rotate from there. But first, it is good to get a feel for the natural clouds and the pits before we train, so everyone gets twenty minutes of free time where you can go a little crazy and have some fun. Yes, Treven, that includes flipping as long as you don’t land on anyone,” Instructor Kade finished as he saw Treven’s hand fly up at the mention of free time.
Cadin ran and launched himself into the big pit, sprawling out and feeling for just a moment like he was flying through the clouds before falling and landing with a belly flop on the cushy bottom. He got up and quickly made his way to the edge of the pit where the pink hand-holds led him back to the surface. Just as he reached the top, he saw Treven flip forward and spin at the same time, getting at least two and a half rotations in before landing and then stumbling on the bottom.
“Man, I have to learn to stick that!” Treven said as he scrambled up behind Cadin.
“That was totally cool,” Cadin said. “How do you do that?”
“Oh, it took a few summers to get that one down, and I still can only land it some of the time. You start out with a front flip and then twist your body in midair. The tighter your arms, the faster you rotate.”
Cadin tried a couple of twisting flips, but after landing on his head, which hurt no matter how soft the bottom was, he decided to stick to his dive. Sun did a very elegant front flip and landed it. She crawled up giggling, saying that
she had always wanted to do that onto a fluffy cloud. Treven, Lep, Xeno, Jade and Vincent had a cannon ball contest to see who got wedged the deepest into the bottom of the pit. Treven and Vincent were the best, sinking down to where Cadin could only see the tops of their heads and their arms wrapped around their legs, before the bottom of the pit contracted and spit them out. Cadin gave Lep a high five as he climbed out. Lep smiled and challenged him to a far jump contest. It was something that they had done since they were kids. Lep’s sister, Charlie liked to join in, and was a surprisingly good jumper for her size.
Before they got going, several other people said they wanted to join. Instructor Kade and Instructor Zephran agreed to judge—Instructor Zephran from the bottom of the pit, and Instructor Kade from the top rim. Lep went first, launching himself forward and landing with his feet out in front of him. Cadin saw that it was a good jump with a great landing. Instructor Zephran stepped up to where Lep had landed and used a green cloud-wand to mark the position of Lep’s heels.
“Next,” Instructor Kade said when he saw that Lep and Instructor Zephran had cleared the area. Treven jumped with his limbs flying everywhere. He did not make it close to where Lep had landed, and had a bit of a crash landing, tumbling forward as he hit the bottom. He still had a smile from ear to ear when he crawled back to the top, and Cadin laughed and gave him a high five.
Xeno, not having been to The Park before, did not have the utter abandon that most everyone else did. Before he got to the edge of the pit, he froze and tried to halt, but had too much momentum and just stumbled into the pit.
“You just need more practice,” Instructor Zephran said as she helped him up.
Lexi and Vincent along with the twins from Nightan’s group and two girls from Zephran’s group all jumped and did decently well. Lexi jumped the closest to Lep’s mark but was just shy. Only Cadin and Sun were left to jump.
