Dorin and Damien left the burrow after Dorin was given the same kind of long pleated skirt the groundskeeper was wearing. It was made of a sturdy, canvas-like material that seemed to flow with his every move. They met Azra along the way who simply nodded at them and hurriedly entered the hollow. Her eyes once more, were a pale shade of pink.
Outside, the trees were so close to each other that only a small path led from the hidden cave to an opening wide enough for a patch of sunrise to peep in. Damien stood in the middle of the patch and made sharp calls to the air. Later, Dorin saw two large eagles circling in the sky above them, descend to the forest floor.
“Have you ridden an eagle before?” the groundskeeper asked him.
“Yes,” answered Dorin as he lovingly caressed the velvety feathers near the base of the eagle’s sharp beak. “But I didn’t fly very far, my mother is against me moving more than a mile away from our homestead.”
Damien gave a soft chuckle. “I never thought that your mother would be the over-protective type,” he said.
“Do you know my mother too?” Dorin asked with interest.
“She was a former here,” was the other’s only reply. Damien climbed up the eagle’s back, urging Dorin to do the same. As soon as they were air bourn, Damien gave a series of sharp sounds, instructing the eagles where to go.
It didn’t take them long before the birds were flying over a part of the forest full of glittering light. Dorin shielded his eyes. As they flew lower, he noticed that the light reflected off several large trees whose branches were covered with round glass leaves of different color. They landed in a clearing by the edge of the glittering trees.
“These are called bell trees,” Damien said as he led Dorin near the huge trees. “These are used to determine a mage’s aptitude for magic.”
He went under one of the wide trunks and reached out to a low hanging red orb. It looked like a small upside-down fish bowl. As soon as Damien touched it, it began to glow faintly and give a sweet tinkling sound.
“Red is the most resistant.” said the groundskeeper. “Purple comes next, then blue, green, yellow and orange as the most sensitive to magic.” he went over to an orange orb and breathed on it. The orb gave a high pitched tinkle, a small web-like crack forming around it. “As you can see, even a little magic can easily break it.”
“So, this is to gauge my magic?” Dorin asked, eyeing the orbs with curiosity.
“Yes,” replied his companion. “These bell trees don’t lie, there is no way to hide your true capacity.” he looked straight at Dorin, “You can choose which color to touch, but first, remove the restraints on your legs.”
Dorin removed the bands around his ankle and handed them to Damien, surprised that the groundskeeper knew about them. He then touched a yellow orb. It shattered in his hand, giving off a broken sound.
“Let me rephrase that...” Damien told a surprised Dorin, “Try touching the red orb first and see if it will ring true.”
Dorin touched a red orb. It gave a flickering light but made no sound.
“What happened?” Dorin asked.
“Nothing.” Damien replied. “Try the next one.
Upon touching the lilac orb, it suddenly gave a discordant tune. Dorin quickly let it go. Next was the blue orb. As soon as he touched it, the orb gave a bright turquoise light and sounded out a deep mellow gong that seemed to resonate with the rest of the bell trees.
“Quattuor.” Damien said beside him. Dorin looked at him, an expectant smile on his face. He looked like a child that was waiting for his parent to praise him. “You did good.” said the groundskeeper.
“Did I?” Dorin beamed, “Is that really good?”
“Good enough to be a wizard.”
Dorin grinned from ear to ear.
“But grossly lacking in experience.”
Dorin’s grin disappeared.
“My mother is still teaching me...”
“A narrow-minded person could never make a good teacher.” Dorin was taken aback, but before he can defend his mother, Damien asked him, “How is your water and healing magic?”
“Well, we haven’t really had a thorough lesson for healing, but my water skills are okay...”
“Your mother was an elementer, but even with the mastery of all the elements, she refused to develop her healing magic. Her family, you see, the Briar Rose, are earth mages, thus, having fire as a base element, she decided that she didn’t want to further study the water element, since, according to her, she can control it at will, anyway.”
Dorin looked at the groundskeeper. His face was as expressionless as usual, tough his voice was slightly rising.
“That’s true...” mumbled Dorin, “She even asked someone else to teach me water magic...”
“You see, your mother was never a patient person. She refused to understand that fire and water leads to creation.” Damien looked at Dorin, a sad smile on his face. “And those who tried to show her, were the ones who had to pay for her mistakes.”
Dorin wanted to ask him what he meant. But the sadness in the groundskeeper’s face made him feel embarrassed. Too embarrassed to even speak.
Damien broke his gaze and turned around. “Your element is wind and lightning.” he said. “I have seen you in action. You seem to have mastered these two elements.”
“A-actually...” Dorin confessed, “My lightning is still a bit erratic... the bands on my ankles actually help me control the release of thaum from my body.”
Damien looked at the bands Dorin handed to him earlier. “Hmm... Althea’s work I presume?” he asked. Dorin nodded vigorously.
“Usually, when I don’t have my charms and debasers, I end up frying the immediate vicinity for a 3 meter radius...”
“Didn’t your mother help you with the lightning?”
“Well, she was rarely home, and she said there was a shortage of trustworthy lightning mages in the empire...”
“True. They were either killed or exiled after the uprising years ago...” Damien said thoughtfully, then looked back at Dorin’s questioning face. “Didn’t she tell you about the uprising?”
“Not really...” replied Dorin, “Though I heard her mention it before in a message, and some students in campus have talked about it...”
“Then there really is so much I need to teach you.” Damien sighed, looked to the sky and called their ride back. “But first, I shall teach you the Song of the Aerials.” he placed a hand on the young man’s shoulder. “You shall learn the song of the wind mages.”