A New Start

[Ailena]

Ailena pushed open the double doors to the Academy as quietly as she possibly could. It was late midday when she had finally gathered her urge to look into the place where she hoped to gather some knowledge of her newly chosen life.

Indeed, now that she stood inside the massive great hall, she had entered a new phase of her life. One that required more determination and will of the mind, if not in the physical state. Such determination she had experienced well enough in the past.

Looking around, the young woman found many rooms with books upon books on large bookshelves, tables with many people quietly studying behind, and even a store room further down the hall probably for the supplies one would need to advance in the knowledge of magic.

Magic, in a simple sense, she had never experienced in her life. Neither by sight or actions for she hadn't even known that such things existed until a few weeks ago. Still, she hoped that somehow her mind and body would become susceptible to the knowledge that so many of her fellow mages possessed.

Not knowing were to start, the girl simply headed into as large and empty a room as she could find with hopes that it would hold some sort of staring point for her. Finding an unclaimed table with a few scrolls and books lying upon it's rough surface, she decided to make use of what was given to her.

Pulling her red dress about her chair and pulling the long strands of dark hair out of her blue eyes, she reached over for the scroll and unraveled it. Peering inside, she found it to be in a language that her tutors taught her previously, Latin. With a sigh, she took to reading, and translating, the parchment.

'The elements,' she thought, as the words slowly formed in her head, 'and the elementals that control them.'

[Kalim]

Kalim walked with a certain purpose within the Academy. He could almost feel his ego rising after his most recent class. Things were currently going very well for him, according to his instructor, and it might not be too long a wait until he managed to be skilled enough to advance past an apprenticeship. The thought of which was quite enervating to a simple city kid who found himself in possession of some smidgeon of magical talent.

Feeling the need to express his exceptionally good mood to someone else, he spotted a girl sitting by herself and seemingly engrossed in some sorts of studies. Diverting his current path directly to meet with her, he seated himself on the opposite side of the table she sat at and waved cheerily, "Ahoy there, how goes it?"

[Penelope Van Degroul]

Penelope drew her cloak around her head. she slowly entered the doorway looking around. she had always heard of the magic academy, though her lineage was none magical:

:she entered keeping her cloak over her head, her big eyes scanned the room, while a strained of her red hair fell upon her shoulder:

:18 yrs ago she was born to common farmers, who died when she turned 13. she lived with the closet family she knew. on her 18 birthday she decieded to attend the magic academy. to show her worth in the society she was to be brought into:

[Ailena]

Hearing the chair before her scraping against the stone floor, the young woman gently lowered her scroll allowing her blue eyes to fall on the boy sitting now opposite her. His rather positive disposition allowed Ailena's own drawn face to relax somewhat.

"It goes well, young sir," she replied with as much of a smile as she could muster. "Drawing rather open conclusions, would I be wrong to suggest that you are a training mage yourself who probably can do any of this with more ease then myself? For things would go much better for me if I knew how exactly to start my own training."

[Kalim]

"Training mage? Heh, that is exactly what I am, although amateur might be a bit more of a word to use to describe it, much as I hate to admit." he said, a friendly smile upon his face, "Although if my studies go well I hope to advance to become powerful enough to be known as more than just some incompetent city kid who lights valuable books on fire by complete accident," he continued on rather sheepishly admitting this.

"Hmmmmmm, as for how one might start their training," Trailing off, he sat in momentary thought, reliving his own humble beginnings, which happened to not be so long ago, "Well, I mainly just read anything I can get my hands on, asking others higher up for help as much as I can, although not everyone learns in the same fashion as others."

[Ailena]

"Lighting valuable books on fire?" she repeated with a raised eyebrow. "I do hope it wasn't too serious. However surely someone here put it out, like a-" glancing down at the scroll she still held in her hand she quickly picked out the word she was looking for, "like an elemental. Being able to learn and control the elements of the world sounds very intriguing, to me. I do hope that I shall find the means to accomplish such a large goal. However, it is just as you said, such learning will require work."

Letting her blue eyes look over the boy sitting opposite her, she found him to be very ordinary. Figuring that the magic that he spoke of did not come from physical features but from somewhere deep inside each person. That gave her some sort of hope. At least she had yet to find a valuable reason for why she would be unable to learn.

"Would you might telling me of what you can do, so far. I'm sure that with at least that insight I might be able to practice something. Honestly, I simply hope that there is some sort of magic in me, for I've yet to see any spark of it in me."

[Kalim]

"My own magic?" Kalim asked, taken slightly aback. This was somewhat of a touchy subject for him, as he was unskilled and knew this well, although did not like much to admit it. Still, touchy subject or not, it would be rude to simply blow off such a question when directly so clearly at him.

"Well, like I said, which I must elaborate once more, I am an amateur. Find a basic spellbook and that's about the extent of my power. I mean, I can, say, light a candle for you if you so wanted it or move small object from here to there. In fact, it would be better use of my time to smack someone around with a stick in a fight than to try spellcasting on them. What of you? Surely you can do something, know some spell, can cast some minor bit of magic. Otherwise, why would you be in this academy?"

[Ailena]

'For many reasons,' Ailena thought in response to his question. Her earlier past had changed many of her thoughts on the subject, but if she thought hard enough a few instances that one would consider magical had indeed occurred to her.

"Although I have never tried to cast a spell before, I do remember times when things just sort of happened for me. At the time, I did not know that magic existed, it was taken for an abnormality by the people who'd been witnesses. Still, those rare moments occurred only when anger or hate had taken over my body and mind."

"That is one of the reasons I am here. I had accepted those occurrences to be something of little importance until I heard of this academy. Intrigued by what the mages who come here are taught, I decided to try my luck at magic. Thus, I came here to learn and perhaps to solve those unexplainable occurrences in my past."

As her mind played back what the boy before her said, an idea popped into Ailena's mind. Debating whether to act on it or not, the young woman figured there was little to lose while doing it.

"You spoke of moving objects with... your mind, correct? I do know that you're learning just as I am, but could you perhaps demonstrate that for me? I'd really like to start learning something, and I would be honored having you help me. That is, if you don't object. I would understand if you did not."

'Seeing as I seem to have been able to do that before,' she added with an ironic glilnt in her eye.

[Kalim]

"Performing a bit of magic myself?" he asked, clearly a bit surprised by this request, although he probably should have been expecting something of the sort. "Well, you see....I sort of....hmmm...." He took several moments pause to debate upon a suitable excuse he might make to be excused from a show of power, especially one that might end up with him making a fool of himself as was the norm when it came to him and his magic.

"Ghah, very well. See that book?" he said, accompanying this with a gesture to a book lying on the table near them, "I think that should suffice, just hold on a moment and I'll see what I can do." Allright Kalim, just focus. There's the book, there's the space above the book, those two things are one and the same, it's exactly the same, the book is that place. He went over in his head one time after another, tilting the wooden staff he carried in his left hand at an angle slightly pointed towards the book.

Realizing he had closed his eyes while concentrating, he opened one cautiously to see he actually had managed to work his magic and the book now hovered gently a few inches off the table. Letting out a sigh of relief that nothing was on fire, he looked back to Ailena, "And that's about how it's done."

[Ailena]

Ailena watched the book, it's unsupported movement, and felt her memories stirring up. She'd done something similar before. But her objects movement had been more precise, with deadly accuracy.

"Good job," she finally whispered, her thoughts on a free flying weapon, aimed for-. No, she would not let herself lose control of herself that easily. "Thank you for that. I am sure that in no time at all, you will be a powerful mage. "

Remembering her manners, Ailena reached across her table and extended her hand, "My name is Ailena, it is a great pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir - ?"