The early autumn sky was turning into a deep orange glow, a soft breeze rustle through the coloring leaves. Aless took a deep breath, she was finally here. It had taken her a whole day to get away from her controling grandmother, granted the woman was finally better after a pretty bad health scare. But that was no excuse to keep her from the academy longer then needed. She sighed again, and pulled her suitcase over the brick road that lead towards the school. The large building was standing proudly, just three stories high. But still the white prestine brick set perfectly off the now warm colored forest. This is whats she dreamed for the last six years, her parents met and fall in love at this school. A pit of sadness grabbed her heart, which always happened when she thought about them. Her familiar owl, Silver, sat on the suitcase, turning its head from side to side. The school building was lurking in the end of the road, she was almost there. The street lanterns jumped on, the small warm flames flickered in the evening air. Aless felt her mouth twitching, the small flame playing in the small container.
"Ahh, we have another dreamer on our hands. Not bothered by the fact that she is late."
A heavy grumbling voice. Aless head snapped towards the owner of the voice. An old man stood in the middle of the road, she hasn't seen him there before. The dimely lighted road made it a bit diffecult to see anything at all. Even though it was not that dark yet. A black cat walked around him and planted its fluffy butt on the ground. It looked at her with his golden, yellow eyes, judging her like her owner. She smiled at the man hoping that this would help just a little. But his lifeless gray eyes stared at her. The man had a wrinkly lathered face and his muddy gray hair hung in strings around his face.
"Like I said, not bothered at all."
Aless blinked with her eyes, was he talking about her? of course he was, there was no one else but her and the cat. She has informed the school about her late arrival, she also explained why this was the case. The man sighed loudy, the cat started to yawn but didn't take it's eyes off Aless.
"Why do even I bother?"
The cat mauwed softly next to him, as if it was in agreement with its owner.
"Uhm, you are mister Incedis I assume," she said, she already knows the answer. "Never mind, I know that I am late. My grandmother was sick, and I needed to take care of her." Mister Incedis sighed deeply, he clearly already knew that. So why was he bothering her. "But I will go to my small cabin behind the large building. Mister Incedis." She took a piece of paper out of her pocket. "Building four, I believe? So I will be on my way now, sorry if I bothered you." She grabbed the handle of her suitcase and wanted to walk on. Hoping that this would be it.
"You have being moved to building fourteen," mister Incedis said, clearly annoyed. "Someone, that wasn't me, should have told you this. But here I am, doing someone else's job, as usual." Aless smiled softly. Her grandmother always said the same thing, but often then not it was her job to do curtain stuff.
"Then I am going towards cabin fourteen, thank you for telling me this." Aless said, the man frowned as she walked away.
The sky darkened with every step she took, she thanked the elements that there were street lanterns that light the way. She was not yet able to create fire, as she hasn't unlocked that element yet. The only element she was able to wield was air, it was the element she was born with. But that was the whole reason why she was at this school, she needed to find her other familiars to unlock the other five elements. Silver started to hoot, and she turned her head slightly. The nocturnal animals started to appear, bats started their hunt. So were the owls that hunt by night, badgers were shoveling around. Fireflies, and another insects, are trying to escape. The cabins, who were behind the school, were placed in odd places. They were not even number in a logical order, the cabin that would be her home for the upcoming years was all the way in the back. Seperated from all the other cabins and to her delight it was the only one closest to the forest. A large willow tree was growing in the backyard, a soft light was burning behind the glass. Heated voices were coming from the building, there was a horse laying in grass at the side of the building. It didn't raise it's head when she came closer. So this meant that there was a fire elemental inside the cabin. She now wondered what the other elementals were inside. She raised her hand up towards the door, and knocked softly. The heated voices stopped, and the door swung open. A young woman stood in the opening, her piercing blue eyes were a bit puzzled. The blazing red hair was hold back with a green hair tie. The woman wore a cute green pajama's with matching slippers.
"And who are you?" she asked. Two other heads popped up behind her, those were men. It was not a secret that the academy didn't only mix the elementals, but also genders. Which resulted in couples forming early on, and some added drama. But she was getting of topic here.
"I am Aless, mister Incedis said that I was moved to this cabin." Aless said, she stepped aside so that they were able to see her suitcase. Hoping that they wouldn't make a fush, about a new roommate.
"Ah, I already wondered why you weren't here. I even blamed it on Initor's sour mood." the woman said, while her thumb pointed towards one of the men behind her. "Come in, I am Ixis Stowne, Earth." Ixis smiled and motioned with her hand to return the introduction. Which Aless took with both hands.
"Aless Cerulea, Air." Aless replied, she picked up her suitcase and Silver flew inside the house. Probably to sit somewhere high so that she can overlook the whole situation. "That is Silver, don't mind her, she is a bit shy." Ixis nodded, and turned her head slightly so that she could look at the men behind her.
"Boys introduce yourself, this is Aless, our new roommate." Ixis said.
The first man waved at her, he had soft green eyes and very long black hair. The other man had amber eyes and very short black hair.
"Hey, welcome. I am Raldor, Water. This sour face here is Initor, and he is a Fire elemental." Raldor said, with a wide smile. Initor, who indeed had a sour face, turned around, walked into his room and slammed the door. The whole cabin shook from it, and Aless was shocked by such an outburst of anger.
"Don't worry about it, it is his way of saying hello." That didn't comfort her at all. She quickly looked away from the closed door and let her gaze wonder, the area they were in was not that big. There was a large couch, a simple coffee table, a small kitchenette in the corner of the room. Which contained one cabinet and a small fridge, they could eat in the cafeteria inside the school. This was only to store personal snacks and drinks. Silver was sitting on the high cabinet, cleaning her feathers. There were four doors, the one that Initor used to 'say hello'. The others probably led to their individual rooms.
"The door next to Initor's is yours. Have a good night sleep, the elements know you are going to need it. The lessons at this school are not know to be a easy stream." Raldor walked towards another door. "And here I am, following my own advice. Night, night. It was nice meeting you, Aless."
"He is crazy, but he is also right. You do not have the luxury of settling in, like the other first years, at the beginning of the school year. You have only Air class first thing in the morning" Which Aless already knew, this was nothing new for her. "Mister Tumul is not going to make it easy for you." Ixis said. "Just keep in mind of who your grandmother is." Aless didn't need to hear that she was going to get drilled into being the perfect Air elemental, her grandmother has being doing that for the last six years. But she was not going to tell Ixis, or anybody else, that. She simply smiled and went towards her room, followed by Silver. Her room was simple, small and totally bare. Which was not strange, she just arrived at school. And besides there was a double bed, a desk with bookcase attached to it and a wardrobe. Another door that led towards a small bathroom, complete with a toilet, shower and sink. Aless quickly opened her suitcase and started to unpack, placing the books in the bookcase. Lay her notebooks, and other stationary on the desk. She would save changing the bed linen for the next day, her toiletries found their way into the bathroom. She placed a picture of her family onto the nightstand, together with a small stand for Silver, and crawled into the bed, while removing her glasses. It was strange, this was a new room in a totally new place. But she already felt at home, she now understood what her mother said about this place being home away from home. She turned on to her side, closed her eyes and listened to all the noises of the forest that was just on the other side of the window. A tear rolled down her cheek, and a smile appread on her lips. She was finally here, and she couldn't wait to get started. Knowing that this wasn't going to be easy, but she would have to do her best.
*******
The morning came, after a good night sleep. The reddish light peaked through the curtains as she opened her eyes. Aless jumped out of her bed and quickly took a shower. The warm water on her skin was enough to wake her up, she put on the black pants, white shirt and the light blue trans coat that was part of her uniform. She brushed her hair and put on her glasses. She didn't look in the mirror before she left the room, she never looked into the mirror. Knowing what she would see, she would see her father's brown hair, and her mother's violet eyes framed behind her round glasses. She would never see herself, she always saw her parents in the reflection. Something she didn't want to, so she simply trusted her ability to dress herself. She never wore make-up either, she would need a mirror for that. With her packed backpack she left the room. Ixis was already inside the small living room, her backpack was standing next to the couch.
"That looks like someone who is ready to get started," Ixis said grinning. "Good, you are going to need it. But first it is time to get breakfast." Aless couldn't agree with her more.
"Sounds like a plan."
Both of them left the cabin, into the crisp morning air. Birds were singing their songs in the trees, hoping that they wouldn't shit on them as they joined the other students on their way to the main building. It wouldn't be long before the rain will dominate the season, but so for now she would enjoy the fact that there was a soft sun.
"Brrr, it is a bit colder than I thought." Ixis said, as they walked over the path that lead towards the main building. The cafeteria was on the main floor and was a very large space, tables with multiple seats were littered throughout the room. Besides the plates and cutlery, there were large plates with bread, various meat, cheese and sweet spreads. Glass jars with various fruit juice, and two large bowls with eggs and various fruits. Aless sat down next to Ixis, she didn't know anybody else, and the cafeteria was already packed with people. Ixis said nothing about it, so she believed that it was not a big deal. "Ohh, this looks good, I am getting some coffee, do you want some too?" Aless nodded, and followed her roommate with her glance. Ixis went towards a counter in the middle of the room, on that counter there were three large metal dispensers were placed. One for coffee, one for hot cocoa and one for hot water. Well, now she knew where to find those, she grabbed a slice of bread and started to place some bacon and cheese on it. Ixis placed the coffee in front of her.
"Thank you so much," Aless said with a smile. Ixis said down next to her, and started to grab pieces for her breakfast.
"It was not a problem," Ixis replied. "By the way, just in case we didn't say it before, Raldor and I are both second years. We both unlocked the metal element last year, and we both are owners of a tiger. Initor started in the same year as us, but was hold back a year." Aless nodded softly. So, he has not connected with another familiar, and was not able to connect to another element yet. Which was something that happened more often lately. And she had a theory about why that was. Something she was not going to share with everyone, at least not for now.
"Again, thank you, now I know that it is a touchy subject." she said softly, the others who were sitting at the table looked up. All of them were wearing the same green coat as Ixis, the color of an Earth elemental. Ixis nodded and took a sip of her coffee. The others kept looking at her, probably wondering why she, as an Air elemental, was sitting at their table. Aless made a mental note to herself that she needed to find another table in the future, she didn't want to upset that states qou. At least, not on her first day. She quickly eat her slice of bread, and drank her coffee, and took a glance on her watch. That she was not wearing. "Ohh, I forgot my watch. I need to get it before class starts." she said. She picked up her back and grabbed an apple from the bowl of fruit. Before she rushed off to to her first class.
*******
