by Dixon, TJ
Yusa is looking down at the ground nervously when I hand her the contract and a pen. She blinks and then looks up before saying quietly. “It’s still OK?”
“Of course.” I say with a smile. “Nobody starts as an expert. Even if you are bad at magic we can help. I have no idea who that girl was but if she has Perry’s support then I already hate her. Don’t let what she said bother you, and never trust her, or anyone on Perry’s side.”
“You know Perry?” She asks curiously.
“Not very well, but more than I’d like.” I say and grimace remembering her ruthlessly killing those innocent people the monster had captured. “Anyway, if you still want to join then please sign the contract.” She quickly does so and hands it back to me. “Yusa, welcome to the team.” I say smiling.
“Thank you!” She says looking down at me cheerfully. Then a pair of girls port in. They are both slightly shorter than me but only just. They have short blonde hair, pale skin and blue eyes. I can’t see a single difference until I look at their auras. Obviously they are twins.
“I’m Cherry Lightwood!” The one on the right says brightly looking up at me with a smile.
“I’m Sherry Lightwood!” The one on the left says sounding and looking exactly the same. Sherry however has a brighter, though less stable aura than Cherry.
“Hi! I’m Peter but we’ll do the introductions later.” I say and quickly give them their contracts. Yusa gives them the pen and they sign right away. “Welcome to the team!” No sooner have I said it than the other girls start appearing. Soon they all have a signed contract, which Rin puts up her sleeve, and I have eleven more team members than I did at the start of the day.
“We’ll start the training tomorrow.” Rin says and I am glad she seems to be taking the lead for now. “If you need or want to go to see the play, then please do so tonight to avoid clashing with training. For now though let’s just get to know each other. Everyone who just joined, please form a loose circle.” Rin says and they do so. Rin then enters the circle and walks around it giving everyone a number from one to six and a letter of A or B. The first six are A’s and the last five are B’s. “Everyone please find the other person with the same number as you. Peter is 6B. I’ll give you a minute to get to know each other and then I’ll tell you to swap. At that point everyone who is an A will increase their number by one, except whoever is six becomes one. Everyone understand?” As everyone agrees I curse myself silently for not taking charge!
“Hi I’m 6A.” A nervous voice says as I am frowning at the ground in thought. I look up and see a pale skinned girl slightly taller than me, with short green hair and purple eyes. After a moment I remember her name.
“Hi Midori.” I say with a smile. She seems pleased that I remembered her name.
“I’m a wind user too. I’d really love to learn to fly like you did.”
“It will take time, but I’m sure you’ll be great at flight if you’re a wind user.”
“They say girls with small chests are poor wind users though.” She says sounding depressed.
“Why?”
“Because I can’t bring as much air into my breasts, so I can’t use magic on as much air.”
“That’s nonsense. You only need to use the magic on a small amount of air inside you to control as much air as you need to. With flight magic it barely enters my mouth before I expel it. If you bring it right inside, you can’t react as quickly.”
“So do you prefer small breasts or large?” She asks sounding embarrassed, and blushing bright red.
“I’m not sure I understand. As a boy I could never have large breasts anyway.”
“On a girl I meant!” She says.
“Umm. I still don’t understand. I don’t see why it would matter.”
“So what sort of girl do you like?”
“I like people who I can trust.” I say after a moment but I don’t think it is what she wanted to hear.
“Everyone change!” Rin calls out.
“I look forward to working with you.” I say.
“Me too!” She says but it seems a little forced, as does her smile as she leaves to find her next partner.
“Hi I’m Sherry!” The next girl says cheerfully. I look up and frown.
“I thought you were Cherry. Did I get your names mixed up?” I ask confused and her mouth falls open for a moment.
“No… You can tell us apart?” She asks disbelievingly.
“Of course. Your aura is very different.”
“What do our auras look like?”
“Yours is a pale but constant yellow. Your sister’s is a brighter yellow but it fades and strengthens a lot. Sometimes it is almost as pale as yours but not for very long.”
“Is there any special meaning to it?”
“There are lots of possible meanings. If I had to guess though, I would say you are more in control of your magic or emotions, but that Sherry possibly has stronger magical power, or is more prone to strong emotions. Of course that might be wrong.”
“You’re not wrong. I am more stable with magic, and Sherry does have stronger magic. She’s also much more passionate about things than I am. You’re like a mind reader. I’d love to learn how to read minds. Now that would be great magic!”
“Great, but terrifying. Anyway, reading minds is one thing I can’t do.”
“Oh I know, but I wander whether there is some way I could learn to.”
“If so Rin will probably know. She knows most things. I hope there isn’t though. Imagine if someone evil, like Perry or Claire had that power…” I say and as she looks blankly at me I realise she doesn’t know either of them. “Oh, just some really evil people we have the misfortune of knowing. Hopefully you’ll never see either of them.”
“Do you have enemies that we need to be worried about?” She asks and is clearly already worried.
“Don’t worry we have a contract with Claire so she isn’t a problem, and Mayor Perry doesn’t see us as enemies, even if I see her as one.”
“Mayor Perry! You don’t want to mess with her.”
“You know her?”
“I don’t know her but I’ve heard about her.”
“Swap again!” Rin calls.
“It was nice talking.” Cherry says with a smile before finding her next partner.
“Hi!” A blue skinned girl with long wavy hair that reminds me of a rainbow, and bright red eyes calls out to me. She is fairly tall and has quite large breasts. I noticed Rin glaring at them earlier but I have no idea why. Rin isn’t a wind mage so I don’t see any reason it should make a difference even if she believes that nonsense.
“Hi Niji.” I reply smiling. I don’t imagine I’ll forget such a distinctive looking girl.
“I really liked how you beat that flame monster earlier, but your flying was the best. I really want to try racing you. I don’t think I can win yet, but it would be great to try.” She says in a nervous rush. I remember my race at Lucy’s place but my sadness at thinking of Lucy must show. “I’m sorry! We don’t have to!”
“Oh, sorry. It just reminded me of a friend. I don’t mind racing at some point but to be honest I have only raced once before, and don’t know how to set one up.”
“Are you serious? I was sure you were a professional racer.”
“Sorry but I’m not a racer. It seemed interesting but I had other things that were more urgent to learn.” I say and remember Lucy trying to teach me to hide my presence. I managed it in the end but it wasn’t easy.
“Another sad memory?”
“Oh, yes, sorry. I’ll try to focus. So you’re a wind user?”
“Yes. I’m pretty good too, but not as good as you. Not yet and you look younger than me too. How old are you?”
“Probably 12 or 13.” I say awkwardly.
“You don’t know your age?”
“I don’t remember anything really from before I was a slave.” I say and she surprises me by laughing.
“You were a slave? I assumed y
ou were a noble or even a royal to get in the academy before boys were allowed to study here.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
“No! I’m actually a bit relieved. It was a little intimidating. I was a slave too, but my master lost all her money, so I was sold to Contractia to serve in the military. I need to train first though, which is why I’m here. Was it the same for you?”
“No. I fought in the arena just before the rebellion. The new Queen freed me along with the other arena slaves. I asked to be sent here because there is something I wanted to achieve.”
“You wanted to form the company right?”
“No. That is just something I need to do to accomplish my goal.”
“What is your goal?”
“I have a few now actually. The most important is to wake a friend of mine.”
“To wake…”
“It’s a long story.”
“Is it dangerous being your friend?”
“When you graduate it will be less so than being in a regular company.”
“I suppose that’s true. They say that non Contractian mages like me are being used as cannon fodder in some companies. If you were a slave then I hope that we are all equal to you.”
“I don’t plan to abandon anyone. Everyone will come back alive if I have anything to do with it.”
“Given who the enemy is, don’t you think that’s unrealistic?”
“Everyone swap!” Rin calls out.
“Whoever the enemy is, if we try hard enough we will find a way to make sure nobody dies.” I say, but it is true that I was already worried. Just the Death Bird was a problem. A Fallen Angel will be much worse.
“I hope you’re right but I have a hard time believing it.” Niji says before leaving to find her next partner.
“Hi Peter!”
“Hi Aventurine!” I say and take another look. Her red hair reminds me of the Queen, but Aventurine’s hair is down to her shoulder. The Queen’s hair of course is much shorter. Aventurine’s green eyes shine like emeralds and her skin is very pale white. She looks fragile though and makes me think of a doll. She is about my height but is very thin, especially her arms and legs. I can’t help thinking that she is very, very cute.
“I’m 12. How old are you?”
“12 or 13, I think.”
“You don’t know your age… Well I hear it is not unheard of among commoners. I’m a noble from the Divine Flame house. I was told to make a name for myself in the war, but I’m not really that good with magic. I hope that working together with everyone I’ll be able to improve enough to survive the war, and make a name for myself.”
“You will. Everyone in our group has made great progress so far.” I say. Not entirely true. Elucia is still just as much of a disaster waiting to happen but, with Elucia not being a student I am only slightly bending the truth. Then I frown. “I hope you’re not planning on taking risks to make a name for yourself though.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t plan to.”
“Your aura doesn’t strike me as being that of a flame user. What is your element?”
“My tutors all focused on fire magic because it runs in the family. Can you really tell that it isn’t my element from my aura?”
“It isn’t certain, just the impression I get.”
“What magic do you think would suit me?”
“It would be better to try all the elements and make that decision yourself. I could guess, but I don’t want to make an assumption about something so important.”
“All change!” Rin calls out. I’m sure that was shorter! I look at Rin who for a moment appears to be glaring at Aventurine, but maybe it is just my imagination.
“I look forward to working with you.” I say with a smile.
“Me too.” She answers smiling back.
“Hi Peter!” A small girl with a tail and cat ears says cheerfully. Her short hair is more like fur and like her skin it is a cross between blonde and ginger. Some areas of both hair and skin are much more like blonde and others much closer to ginger. She is only up to my shoulders.
“Hi Nekorian.” I answer.
“You remembered my name!” She says jumping into the air twice with a huge grin on her face. “I’m so pleased. I’m a wind user too so I look forward to learning lots from you. By the way you can just call me Neko. That’s what my friends call me.”
“Sure, um, Neko, so how did you come to join the academy?”
“I want to fly. They say my people are more attuned to the earth, but not me. I can blow a gale or lift a castle into the air, but I can’t lift myself up into the sky. Can you help me fly?”
“I’m sure you’ll be flying in no time. Perhaps by the end of tomorrow’s practise.”
“Nya! I’m so happy!”
“Nya?”
“Don’t you say nya when you’re happy?”
“No.”
“I’ll have you saying nya in no time! Consider it my thanks! There’s nothing as fun as nya’ing the warm summer sun or the winter fire. Nya!”
“Umm… Ok. So…”
“All change!”
“Already…” Neko says looking sad.
“There will be plenty of time to talk. I look forward to working with you.”
“Me too!” Neko says and runs off cheerfully. I think she may be a lot of work!
“Hello.”
“Ah, Yusa. Hello.”
“…”
“So what’s your element?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Well don’t worry, you’ll know soon enough.”
“I hope so.” She says a little gloomily. “If I don’t do well enough, will you…”
“You will do, and we aren’t going to kick anyone out just because they have a slow start. Besides you have the contract, which binds us as much as you.”
“There’s a clause that you can get rid of members though…”
“Is there? Rin must have added that. Anyway like I said, we aren’t going to get rid of you.”
“I hope not. Didn’t you at least read the contract though, even if you didn’t write it?”
“I trust Rin and I was in a bit of a rush. So no, but I wrote the original contract that Rin changed a little.”
“Are you going out with Rin?”
“Going out?”
“Dating.”
“Dating?”
“Is she your girlfriend, your lover?”
“No. She’ my friend and she is a girl but we’re not lovers, whatever that actually means.”
“How old are you?”
“12 or 13, I think.”
“I’m 16. Why don’t you know your age?”
“I was a slave and I have no memories from before that.”
“That’s weird. They don’t usually wipe a slave’s memories. In fact I didn’t know you could wipe someone’s memories… Unless you lost them naturally. That sometimes happens. I’ve never been a slave but my family aren’t rich. I only got in this academy because I worked hard and earned enough to pay the entrance fee. That’s why I’m a little older than most new students.”
“Once you’ve learnt enough we can take you on our jobs. You’ll be able to earn money a lot easier. I figure it’s good to get everyone some real experience that way whilst we are still at the academy, and it is a good income.”
“Now that would be good! I could help my family too if I do that.”
“For now though I don’t want you distracted by hunger. I know what it can be like all too well. Slaves aren’t exactly well fed. So if you need help with food then say so.”
“I don’t want to rely on charity. I’ve worked hard to get where I am.”
“It’s not charity. You can pay me back when you are doing our jobs, but if you’re too distracted to focus then you’ll never be ready to do them.”
“I can focus. I’ll consider it if I really need to, but for now I’d rather rely on myself.”
“OK.”
“Time’s up! Everyon
e gather around!” Rin calls out.
“I look forward to working with you.” I say and Yusa looks surprised, but then nods with the hint of a smile.
“Me too.” Yusa says and then we go along with everyone else to Rin. I let Rin handle this and she seems to be more than happy to do so.
“Anyone who wants to go with us to the show tonight meet us here straight after your afternoon class. We will meet here for training straight after the afternoon class tomorrow, so everyone make sure you are here for that. We are still recruiting, so please encourage your friends and classmates to join us. That’s all for now!”
Some people port whilst others walk away. It looks like more leave together than arrived together, so I guess Rin helped make some friends. Hopefully we will all be friends soon.
“That seemed to go well.” I say to Rin cheerfully.
“I hope so. Regardless we have eleven new members. I hoped we would get some members but I didn’t expect so many so quickly. We still need more students from our own year though, and that isn’t going to be so easy.”
“Where do you want to spend the rest of lunch?” I ask.
“Do you mind if we go down to the cave under the arena again? It’s been a while since I’ve been down there and I’d like to see it again.”
“Fine with me. Anyone mind if we do that?” I ask and nobody protests so we port down there. “Just as beautiful as I remember.”
“Beautiful?” Charlotte asks in surprise. “It looks really creepy. Smells lovely, but it certainly isn’t what I’d call beautiful.”
“The aura is.” I say.
“I wish I could see it.” Rin says and starts to breathe deeply to make the most of the smell. “I just have to close my eyes and imagine. Can you describe it again?”
“There is a mix of silver and blue flowing into each other from all the smaller plants, and the bigger plants form beautiful shapes. It is like a tapestry that is constantly changing but always beautiful. There’s something different this time though. Unless I just didn’t notice it before. There’s a small ball of silver that is constantly spinning and threads of silver are flowing out. There’s no blue near it either. It’s over there.” I say pointing.
