Disclaimer: I don't own anything you'll recognize!
A/N: Thanks a lot to all the people who reviewed. It helps a lot. Thanks to
Anna for betaing this story. You're doing a really great job!
Naia
Now off with the story.
Chapter Eight
Harry slowly came back to consciousness. The atmosphere was hot and dry. He could feel the sun above him. He closed his hand, drawing it into a fist. Under his finger he felt some .. SAND! He opened his eyes and was blinded by the sun. He blinked a few times, slowly recovering his sight then look around him.
"Oh great!" he said for himself "Where am I now?"
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Harry got a quick look of his surroundings and sighed. A desert! Marvellous! What was he going to do? Here, alone, with only a horse, some weapons and his wand in the middle of a desert with the sun high in the sky, literally burning everything and no shadow or water close to him.
He took of his clothes, only keeping his pants and shirt. He then do a simple spell which would allowed him to know the closest place with water. It directed him towards the west. Shrugging, he started to walk, not wanting to tire Sheitan by mounting in the sand.
He hadn't walk for a few meters that he heard a voice behind him.
"Well you don't seem as hopeless as the last ones the old madman sent me." He could tell without turning back that it was a woman.
He turned on his heel, his knives ready in his hand.
"Definitively not as hopeless" stated the woman. He had a good look a her, while sheathing his knives, seeing there wasn't any threat around.
She was tall and slender, with long straight black hair put into tiny braids then pulled in a ponytail, huge almond-shaped black eyes which were twinkling. Her faces features were a bit harsh for a woman, but it didn't single out to much. She had chocolate brown skin with a few scars on her arm. She was dressed in a simple white cotton robe with a few embroideries and a huge piece of material wrapped around her head and falling on her shoulders. She looked quite energetic.
"But I should present myself, shouldn't I?"
Harry didn't know what to answer. Taking his silence as a yes, she continued.
"I'm Amber, an other one of your ancestors, happy to finally meet you Harry."
"Likewise" stammered Harry, a bit surprised that she knew his name, but, coming to think about it, Odyeus must have warned her about him.
"Good, now, if you don't mind, we should go, I don't fancy burning in the middle of the desert." Said Amber.
Harry nodded.
"Great, hold my hand, Ill use a quickest way. And touch your horse or else he will stay here."
He did as he was told and in a blink of the eyes, they were surrounded by huge flames. Before he could say or do anything, Amber had said a few words in a language he didn't know, even with the information drilled in his mind. During his jump in time, he had acquired the information about where he was and he was starting to have access to them. He now knew he was somewhere in ancient Egypt, that Amber was the leader of a group of people under the orders of the pharaoh. They lived somewhere in the desert and the place was kept secret. Each of them had the power over one element. He stopped his musing and became aware of his environment. The flames had disappeared. He was now in a much hospitable place. Before him stood a tall white building, on his right he could see a small lake, surrounded by palm trees. A few horses and dromedaries could be seen around. On the left he saw people walking, talking.
"Welcome to my home." Said Amber.
"Its breathtaking" whispered Harry.
"Isn't it? Now follow me, I must clear the situation with the teacher about your arrival."
They walked towards the building. On their way people saluted her and eyed Harry coolly. He shuddered a bit under their gaze but dismissed it.
"Here, you wont learn about physical fight or magical duels. Well teach you healing as well as how to use your elemental powers." Explained the woman while walking through corridors.
"Elemental powers?"
"He didn't tell you? Still as secret as ever." Laughed Amber. "Well, Elemental powers run in your blood, since I'm your ancestor. You should be a fire one, like me. But well see that in a few moments. Here we are!"
They stopped before a large door.
Amber entered, followed by a confused Harry.
The room was big and richly ornate. The walls were covered with drawings and hieroglyph. There were a few pedestals supporting statues of Egyptian gods like Bastet, Horus, Amon Ra, Thot, Osiris and so forth. They were made of gold and shinning gems. Harry brought his attention back to the people in the room. They were five: three men and two women. All had chocolate- brown skin and dark hair.
"Hello Amber, why did you ask us to come here?" asked a man with frizzy hair and hazel eyes.
"Well Imir, I want to present you a new student: Harris."
Harry gave her a sharp look. Why had she changed his name?
"Harris, meet Imir and Kenet, Earth Masters, Yana, Air Master, Assim and Theri, Water Masters, Imir and Kenet were both tall and really muscular men. At first sight you know better than disturbing them. Kenet had short spiky hair and greenish-blue eyes. Yana was tall too, very slim, nearly skinny with long and curly hair braided and ornate with a few amulets and brown eyes. On the opposite, Theri was rather small, her hair was shoulder- length and straight. She had strange gray eyes which were sparkling as she looked at Harry. Finally Assim was of average height, with a well toned body but as muscular as the Earth Masters. He was keeping an expressionless face, but Harry could see he was evaluating him. His blue eyes were boring in him.
They greeted him politely, and Harry returned their salutes.
"Well now, that the presentations are done, we might as well do the elements determination." Said Amber. Her suggestion was meeting with agreement. Yana exited the room and came back a few minutes later. During this, everything had stayed silent. The masters were looking at Harry, trying to judge him, Amber was lost in her own thoughts and Harry was busy organising the information he had just received. Once she was back she put a big casket. It was really a sight. Its creator had used ebony and ivory, as well as lapis lazuli and topazes. Reverentially, Yana opened the casket and pulled out a big crystal orb in which four beams of light were twirling: blue, red, green and gray.
"The orb of choice" said quietly Amber. "You need to take your shirt off Harris."
At this Harry was really confused but obeyed.
"You have to touched the orb. A ring showing your element will appear on your arm." She showed him hers. Up her right arm, a ring of flames was circling her biceps.
"Alright" nodded Harry.
"Well, do it now."
Harry shrugged and slowly approached his hand from the orb. He was a bit reluctant to touch it, not really wanting to find what was his element. If was single out? If he had a completely different element? Well there was only one way to know. His finger touch the crystal. There was a flash of light. After a few seconds he retrieve his sight and looked at his right arm. Slowly, a ring of flames was appearing.
"Well, fire it is!" said Amber.
"Good" said Yana, "we haven't got a lot of them lately."
Harry was looking at his arm, smiling. Then thin gray lines started to appear below the first ring.
"I'm sorry Amber, but is it normal?" he asked, pointing to the gray lines which were slowly tracing an other ring.
She looked at him and frowned. Approaching she took his arm and studied it closely.
"It looked like the Air ring, but. Yana!"
"Yes?"
"Come. Is it the Air ring?"
"Yes, but why is it appearing, he had already the Fire one?"
"It shouldn't be here.." The other masters had approached too, curious.
Then shock appear on Amber's face.
"Could.. could it means he has control over two elements?"
This seemed to shock profoundly her colleagues, well except Assim which was standing, expressionless as usual.
"Apparently It..it could be a possibility.. But there hasn't be a multi- elemental for centuries!" exclaimed Kenet
"Fire and Air.. a strange mix." Said Imir.
"There's more" stated Assim in a quiet voice. "Apparently he got water too."
"WHAT!" yelled Theri
"Look at his arm." Answered the man.
True, a blue wavy ring was appearing below the gray one.
"Its getting crazy!" said Imir, taking his head his hand.
The masters were starring at Harry, something which was making him highly uncomfortable. He sighed mentally. Even centuries back in time he singled out.. It had to be a curse.
Finally it appeared that he had control over the four elements since he bore the four rings on his arm. The masters and even Amber were shocked beyond words.
Not believing what they had seen, they made him try to use the elements. He had to lighten a candle, something he did easily, then blow it off with the air which wasn't difficult. He had more problems to make the water of a bowl float, but managed to do it after a few attempts. Finally he was asked to make a plant grow, something he had a lot of trouble to do but manage to achieve.
The masters weren't believing what they had seen. Amber was the first one to recover from her shock state.
"Well it seems that you'll be an interesting student.."
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Once they recovered from the initial shock, they started to plan his schedule. Finally after hours of discussion about his schedule, but also what to say to the other people here: the apprentices, with which Harry would live, the novices and the soon to be masters, they left the room and went to an other one, bigger, where people came to eat.
There were three table: one for the apprentice on the right, an other for the novice in the middle, and finally one for the masters on the left. All the people were already seated and looking at them as they entered.
Amber stepped forwards.
"Good evening" she said.
A good evening answered her.
"Apprentices and novices, a new student had joined our school. He will join the apprentice, I trust you to welcome him correctly. May I present you Harris."
She pushed him forwards. Feeling quite uncomfortable, he looked around him, meeting the eyes of all the people present in the room. He tried to smile but was too nervous. They were looking at him, eying him, with a cold expression. Harry was quite confused by this. After the warm welcome of the youths in Odyeuss tribe (of most of them), he had thought it would be the same; but all he was seeing was blank and defiant faces. Amber motioned to him to go sit at the apprentice table. He obeyed, nervous about his coming encounter with his comrades. He sat at the end of the table where was the only spare place. He sat and looked to the other youths. There were three girls and five boys. All shared the black hair trademark and chocolate brown skin. An uncomfortable silence settle on the table as the food was bring by other people who were here to take care of the building, grounds and of the masters and students, as Harry would soon learn. They didn't exchange a word despite Harry's attempt to start a conversation. This puzzled him a lot, but he would soon learn why..
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Harry was sitting near the lake, under a palm tree, thinking. He was only there for two weeks and he already wanted to be anywhere but there. He remembered his first days here..
On the first morning, Harry, tired by his journey didn't wake up in time for his first lesson at 9 a.m. None of the others helped him. Finally getting up at 10 a.m. he hurried and reached the classroom, one and half an hour late.
He knocked on the door.
"Come in" said a male, rather angrily.
Nervous Harry opened the door and stepped forwards in the room. It was Assims class.
"Harris. How nice to finally join us" said coolly Assim, clearly angry.
"I'm sorry" said quietly Harry.
"Sorry? Alright, I let this pass today as you are new here, but don't expect me to be so lenient next time You'll have to catch up what you have already missed." He added before resuming his speech.
Harry sat quietly at a table on the front and listened at Assim.
"As I was saying before I was interrupted" he glared at Harry. Water is a stable element unlike fire which is extremely volatile. To use it, you need to give your mind the same stability, the same calm. You must be water. To reach this spirits state were going to practice meditation until you managed to access this state in a few seconds. It'll be extremely difficult as the mind had a tendency to jump to one though to an other." Assim continued to explain how to stabilise their mind. Harry listened attentively for the five first minutes. Then he felt something hit his head. He turned and scanned the room but everyone was looking closely at Assim. Shrugging he reported his attention to the water master. A minute later, another thing hit him. Once again he tried to find the culprit to no avail. The third time he ignored it. But the person kept on throwing what looked like bits of parchment. After ten minutes, he was getting fed up with it. He turned wildly, attracting the teachers attention.
"Harris, could you repeat what I have just said?" he asked quietly.
Harry bit his low lip and stayed silent.
"No? Being new doesn't allow you not to pay attention. You'll stay after the class is over."
Harry nodded, knowing better than arguing.
For the remaining part of the lesson, he listened carefully to Assim, trying to grasp the basis of meditation. He had quite a lot of trouble clearing his mind but after a few attempts he managed to reach a quite good state of mind.
He was one of the last ones to managed it. As he would know later, children there learn very early to control themselves, to make the smallest amount of movements, to save their energy. They had been looking at him, smirking at his failed attempt to meditate. This hadn't helped him at all, as it had made him quite mad..
After the lesson, he had to endure the lecture of the water master about paying attention to class that his particular situation wouldn't give him a better treatment and so forth.
He had a quick lunch before hurrying to his second class of the day. Indeed they had one four-hour class in the morning, then, lunch. After it was the afternoons four-hour class. The day ended with a two-hour healing lesson.
One day they had water and air the next it was earth and fire. The air lesson went better than the water one. First, Yana was a less strict teacher. And air didn't require as control as water, quite the opposite in fact, they had to let their mind waver, lost all control on their body, make their mind float and then only then he would be able to start controlling his element. He had a easy time in this class as he seemed to understand the concept quickly. He was able to make the wind swirl around him by the end of the lesson. Yana smiled at him. The healing class went well, for a first time. The teacher, Louses was a slim and short smiling woman. She made him feel welcome and he relaxed slightly. He had feared it'll be like with Assim. After dinner he headed straight to his room. He still hadn't exchange a word with the other teenagers. He fell asleep rather quickly. The next he woke up on time to have breakfast. None of his classmate had uttered one word to him yet.
Nervous he approached a tall girl who had been in the air class with him. She was looking a bit bored. Her name was Denila.
"Hethera" he said, using the most common way to salute someone, a bit like hello.
She looked up at him with cold eyes, eyed him then looked back at the book she had been reading. She closed it, put it back in her bag, got up and left the room. Harry stood there shocked and confused. What had he done wrong? Puzzled, he shook and headed towards his first class: earth.
Four hours later he exited the classroom, completely exhausted. If he had thought that water class was hard, earth one was simply hell. This element required an even biggest concentration than the water one. Harry simply couldn't manage to have it right. Even if he had managed to make a plant grow before the masters, controlling the element meant a lot more than making thing grow. The clam compulsory to its control was only driving him crazy. At lunch he looked around him, trying to start a conversation with someone, but his table was deadly silent, you could have heard a fly. He could heard voices and heated discussion at the novices and masters tables, but silence was overwhelming the apprentices one. This behaviour was confusing Harry to no end. There was his next lesson was the fire one.
When he exited this class, he already knew it was going to be his favorite. Controlling fire was coming naturally to him. He didn't even have to concentrate. Moreover, Amber was a great teacher with a good sense of humour. After his healing lesson, he went to dinner. There he scanned his table. Again, no words were being exchanged. They were twenty-four at the table: Yassin and Safia with who he learned about fire. They were going out and could always be seen together. Then there were the waters students: Ahmed, Kamel, Moira, Beryl, Ian, Ouana, Tassit, Hasn and Yoran. Beryl and Ahmed were a couple, and the nine of them formed a closed group. The water group was the largest. Then came the air one: Usil, Jenal, Harim, Akim, Deis, Noa and Namia. Harim and Akim were twins as well as Noa and Namia, but though Akim and Harim seemed to be exactly alike, Noa and Namia were really different, by their height, hair and faces features. Finally the earth group was composed of six people: Djamel, Ismalia, Basten, Denor, Kisael and Samira. During the dinner, he tried several times to talk with them but it was like talking to walls, he only met blank faces and icy looks. He finally gave up, but couldn't help feeling a bit hurt by this treatment. For the following Harry was pointedly ignore by his comrades. They never warned, helped or gave him advice. But it was still bearable, unnerving but bearable.
The taunting had only started at the end of the first week. It was in the evening, after dinner. Harry was working on some homework Assim had given them. He was nearly finished when he found himself drenched with water. His work was completely lost. The room erupted in laughter. Harry had to restrain himself from standing up and cursing them to Hell. He clenched his teeth, dried himself with a flick of his wand and cast a water repellent spell on his parchment. He spent half of his night redoing his work. Then he went to sleep. Cautious he hid his work as well as his bag and other possessions. He congratulated himself in the morning as he woke up and found his desk completely redecorated: paint was splashed all over it, it was still wet, some parts had been burnt, others had grown and formed leaves Harry recognised as itchy Ignia. He looked at his clothes, all were wet, half had been dyed a pink color, some had been ripped. He sighed and look around him. They were all sleeping. He drawn out his wand and with a few spells restored his belonging to their initial state. He dressed up, took his bag, checked his work and went to breakfast. He was nearly finished when the others arrived. If they were surprised to see him in regular clothes they didn't show it. As he was standing up and walking out, one of them tripped him. He fell flat on the floor under the laugh of everyone. His bag exploded spreading parchments all over the floor. Flushing, he quickly gathered them and left.
This was only small examples, he had to underwent several thing, like finding himself banded to his chair with roots, or having his eyebrows burn in an accident.
The teachers didn't seem to notice this or dismissed it as clumsiness.
Harry sighed heavily, throwing a rock in the lake. Now he knew why they were behaving like that. In the following days he had realised that all the apprentices there were only motivated by one thing: drawing attention to them, being noticed by their masters. They were all ready to use nearly anything to obtain it. Him being able to control all four elements was seeing as a threat for them, thus their behaviour.
He slowly got up, took his bag and headed for his next class, Air. He had lost all hope of befriending some of them. First he had thought that they'll see that he wasn't going to overshadow them, but he had forgotten something else. He was different, physically but also mentally, making it impossible for him to blend in the crowd. So he had decided to learn everything as fast as he could, hoping that this way he would be out of here sooner. Slowly he braced himself for his next class, trying to imagine what'll happen next. He shook his head, he'd just have to wait and see.
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So What did you think of this? Let me know! Thanks again to all of you.
Blank: Thanks a lot.
Aydindril D.Iyake: I hope you didn't have to wait too long and that youliked this chapter too Tank you for the review.
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Katie Weasley: Does this answer your question? Anyway thank you for the review.
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Sons: Thanks for the review. Harry isn't going back to the present Hogwart before a long time, but he might went to a past Hogwart. You'll have to wait and see.
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Illustrious sorrow.: Hope you aren't too mad at me. I tried to post as soon as I could but scool started three days ago and I had to prepare myself for it. Anyway, thank you for reviewing.
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Once again thank you to all of you!!!
Naia
Now off with the story.
Chapter Eight
Harry slowly came back to consciousness. The atmosphere was hot and dry. He could feel the sun above him. He closed his hand, drawing it into a fist. Under his finger he felt some .. SAND! He opened his eyes and was blinded by the sun. He blinked a few times, slowly recovering his sight then look around him.
"Oh great!" he said for himself "Where am I now?"
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Harry got a quick look of his surroundings and sighed. A desert! Marvellous! What was he going to do? Here, alone, with only a horse, some weapons and his wand in the middle of a desert with the sun high in the sky, literally burning everything and no shadow or water close to him.
He took of his clothes, only keeping his pants and shirt. He then do a simple spell which would allowed him to know the closest place with water. It directed him towards the west. Shrugging, he started to walk, not wanting to tire Sheitan by mounting in the sand.
He hadn't walk for a few meters that he heard a voice behind him.
"Well you don't seem as hopeless as the last ones the old madman sent me." He could tell without turning back that it was a woman.
He turned on his heel, his knives ready in his hand.
"Definitively not as hopeless" stated the woman. He had a good look a her, while sheathing his knives, seeing there wasn't any threat around.
She was tall and slender, with long straight black hair put into tiny braids then pulled in a ponytail, huge almond-shaped black eyes which were twinkling. Her faces features were a bit harsh for a woman, but it didn't single out to much. She had chocolate brown skin with a few scars on her arm. She was dressed in a simple white cotton robe with a few embroideries and a huge piece of material wrapped around her head and falling on her shoulders. She looked quite energetic.
"But I should present myself, shouldn't I?"
Harry didn't know what to answer. Taking his silence as a yes, she continued.
"I'm Amber, an other one of your ancestors, happy to finally meet you Harry."
"Likewise" stammered Harry, a bit surprised that she knew his name, but, coming to think about it, Odyeus must have warned her about him.
"Good, now, if you don't mind, we should go, I don't fancy burning in the middle of the desert." Said Amber.
Harry nodded.
"Great, hold my hand, Ill use a quickest way. And touch your horse or else he will stay here."
He did as he was told and in a blink of the eyes, they were surrounded by huge flames. Before he could say or do anything, Amber had said a few words in a language he didn't know, even with the information drilled in his mind. During his jump in time, he had acquired the information about where he was and he was starting to have access to them. He now knew he was somewhere in ancient Egypt, that Amber was the leader of a group of people under the orders of the pharaoh. They lived somewhere in the desert and the place was kept secret. Each of them had the power over one element. He stopped his musing and became aware of his environment. The flames had disappeared. He was now in a much hospitable place. Before him stood a tall white building, on his right he could see a small lake, surrounded by palm trees. A few horses and dromedaries could be seen around. On the left he saw people walking, talking.
"Welcome to my home." Said Amber.
"Its breathtaking" whispered Harry.
"Isn't it? Now follow me, I must clear the situation with the teacher about your arrival."
They walked towards the building. On their way people saluted her and eyed Harry coolly. He shuddered a bit under their gaze but dismissed it.
"Here, you wont learn about physical fight or magical duels. Well teach you healing as well as how to use your elemental powers." Explained the woman while walking through corridors.
"Elemental powers?"
"He didn't tell you? Still as secret as ever." Laughed Amber. "Well, Elemental powers run in your blood, since I'm your ancestor. You should be a fire one, like me. But well see that in a few moments. Here we are!"
They stopped before a large door.
Amber entered, followed by a confused Harry.
The room was big and richly ornate. The walls were covered with drawings and hieroglyph. There were a few pedestals supporting statues of Egyptian gods like Bastet, Horus, Amon Ra, Thot, Osiris and so forth. They were made of gold and shinning gems. Harry brought his attention back to the people in the room. They were five: three men and two women. All had chocolate- brown skin and dark hair.
"Hello Amber, why did you ask us to come here?" asked a man with frizzy hair and hazel eyes.
"Well Imir, I want to present you a new student: Harris."
Harry gave her a sharp look. Why had she changed his name?
"Harris, meet Imir and Kenet, Earth Masters, Yana, Air Master, Assim and Theri, Water Masters, Imir and Kenet were both tall and really muscular men. At first sight you know better than disturbing them. Kenet had short spiky hair and greenish-blue eyes. Yana was tall too, very slim, nearly skinny with long and curly hair braided and ornate with a few amulets and brown eyes. On the opposite, Theri was rather small, her hair was shoulder- length and straight. She had strange gray eyes which were sparkling as she looked at Harry. Finally Assim was of average height, with a well toned body but as muscular as the Earth Masters. He was keeping an expressionless face, but Harry could see he was evaluating him. His blue eyes were boring in him.
They greeted him politely, and Harry returned their salutes.
"Well now, that the presentations are done, we might as well do the elements determination." Said Amber. Her suggestion was meeting with agreement. Yana exited the room and came back a few minutes later. During this, everything had stayed silent. The masters were looking at Harry, trying to judge him, Amber was lost in her own thoughts and Harry was busy organising the information he had just received. Once she was back she put a big casket. It was really a sight. Its creator had used ebony and ivory, as well as lapis lazuli and topazes. Reverentially, Yana opened the casket and pulled out a big crystal orb in which four beams of light were twirling: blue, red, green and gray.
"The orb of choice" said quietly Amber. "You need to take your shirt off Harris."
At this Harry was really confused but obeyed.
"You have to touched the orb. A ring showing your element will appear on your arm." She showed him hers. Up her right arm, a ring of flames was circling her biceps.
"Alright" nodded Harry.
"Well, do it now."
Harry shrugged and slowly approached his hand from the orb. He was a bit reluctant to touch it, not really wanting to find what was his element. If was single out? If he had a completely different element? Well there was only one way to know. His finger touch the crystal. There was a flash of light. After a few seconds he retrieve his sight and looked at his right arm. Slowly, a ring of flames was appearing.
"Well, fire it is!" said Amber.
"Good" said Yana, "we haven't got a lot of them lately."
Harry was looking at his arm, smiling. Then thin gray lines started to appear below the first ring.
"I'm sorry Amber, but is it normal?" he asked, pointing to the gray lines which were slowly tracing an other ring.
She looked at him and frowned. Approaching she took his arm and studied it closely.
"It looked like the Air ring, but. Yana!"
"Yes?"
"Come. Is it the Air ring?"
"Yes, but why is it appearing, he had already the Fire one?"
"It shouldn't be here.." The other masters had approached too, curious.
Then shock appear on Amber's face.
"Could.. could it means he has control over two elements?"
This seemed to shock profoundly her colleagues, well except Assim which was standing, expressionless as usual.
"Apparently It..it could be a possibility.. But there hasn't be a multi- elemental for centuries!" exclaimed Kenet
"Fire and Air.. a strange mix." Said Imir.
"There's more" stated Assim in a quiet voice. "Apparently he got water too."
"WHAT!" yelled Theri
"Look at his arm." Answered the man.
True, a blue wavy ring was appearing below the gray one.
"Its getting crazy!" said Imir, taking his head his hand.
The masters were starring at Harry, something which was making him highly uncomfortable. He sighed mentally. Even centuries back in time he singled out.. It had to be a curse.
Finally it appeared that he had control over the four elements since he bore the four rings on his arm. The masters and even Amber were shocked beyond words.
Not believing what they had seen, they made him try to use the elements. He had to lighten a candle, something he did easily, then blow it off with the air which wasn't difficult. He had more problems to make the water of a bowl float, but managed to do it after a few attempts. Finally he was asked to make a plant grow, something he had a lot of trouble to do but manage to achieve.
The masters weren't believing what they had seen. Amber was the first one to recover from her shock state.
"Well it seems that you'll be an interesting student.."
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Once they recovered from the initial shock, they started to plan his schedule. Finally after hours of discussion about his schedule, but also what to say to the other people here: the apprentices, with which Harry would live, the novices and the soon to be masters, they left the room and went to an other one, bigger, where people came to eat.
There were three table: one for the apprentice on the right, an other for the novice in the middle, and finally one for the masters on the left. All the people were already seated and looking at them as they entered.
Amber stepped forwards.
"Good evening" she said.
A good evening answered her.
"Apprentices and novices, a new student had joined our school. He will join the apprentice, I trust you to welcome him correctly. May I present you Harris."
She pushed him forwards. Feeling quite uncomfortable, he looked around him, meeting the eyes of all the people present in the room. He tried to smile but was too nervous. They were looking at him, eying him, with a cold expression. Harry was quite confused by this. After the warm welcome of the youths in Odyeuss tribe (of most of them), he had thought it would be the same; but all he was seeing was blank and defiant faces. Amber motioned to him to go sit at the apprentice table. He obeyed, nervous about his coming encounter with his comrades. He sat at the end of the table where was the only spare place. He sat and looked to the other youths. There were three girls and five boys. All shared the black hair trademark and chocolate brown skin. An uncomfortable silence settle on the table as the food was bring by other people who were here to take care of the building, grounds and of the masters and students, as Harry would soon learn. They didn't exchange a word despite Harry's attempt to start a conversation. This puzzled him a lot, but he would soon learn why..
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Harry was sitting near the lake, under a palm tree, thinking. He was only there for two weeks and he already wanted to be anywhere but there. He remembered his first days here..
On the first morning, Harry, tired by his journey didn't wake up in time for his first lesson at 9 a.m. None of the others helped him. Finally getting up at 10 a.m. he hurried and reached the classroom, one and half an hour late.
He knocked on the door.
"Come in" said a male, rather angrily.
Nervous Harry opened the door and stepped forwards in the room. It was Assims class.
"Harris. How nice to finally join us" said coolly Assim, clearly angry.
"I'm sorry" said quietly Harry.
"Sorry? Alright, I let this pass today as you are new here, but don't expect me to be so lenient next time You'll have to catch up what you have already missed." He added before resuming his speech.
Harry sat quietly at a table on the front and listened at Assim.
"As I was saying before I was interrupted" he glared at Harry. Water is a stable element unlike fire which is extremely volatile. To use it, you need to give your mind the same stability, the same calm. You must be water. To reach this spirits state were going to practice meditation until you managed to access this state in a few seconds. It'll be extremely difficult as the mind had a tendency to jump to one though to an other." Assim continued to explain how to stabilise their mind. Harry listened attentively for the five first minutes. Then he felt something hit his head. He turned and scanned the room but everyone was looking closely at Assim. Shrugging he reported his attention to the water master. A minute later, another thing hit him. Once again he tried to find the culprit to no avail. The third time he ignored it. But the person kept on throwing what looked like bits of parchment. After ten minutes, he was getting fed up with it. He turned wildly, attracting the teachers attention.
"Harris, could you repeat what I have just said?" he asked quietly.
Harry bit his low lip and stayed silent.
"No? Being new doesn't allow you not to pay attention. You'll stay after the class is over."
Harry nodded, knowing better than arguing.
For the remaining part of the lesson, he listened carefully to Assim, trying to grasp the basis of meditation. He had quite a lot of trouble clearing his mind but after a few attempts he managed to reach a quite good state of mind.
He was one of the last ones to managed it. As he would know later, children there learn very early to control themselves, to make the smallest amount of movements, to save their energy. They had been looking at him, smirking at his failed attempt to meditate. This hadn't helped him at all, as it had made him quite mad..
After the lesson, he had to endure the lecture of the water master about paying attention to class that his particular situation wouldn't give him a better treatment and so forth.
He had a quick lunch before hurrying to his second class of the day. Indeed they had one four-hour class in the morning, then, lunch. After it was the afternoons four-hour class. The day ended with a two-hour healing lesson.
One day they had water and air the next it was earth and fire. The air lesson went better than the water one. First, Yana was a less strict teacher. And air didn't require as control as water, quite the opposite in fact, they had to let their mind waver, lost all control on their body, make their mind float and then only then he would be able to start controlling his element. He had a easy time in this class as he seemed to understand the concept quickly. He was able to make the wind swirl around him by the end of the lesson. Yana smiled at him. The healing class went well, for a first time. The teacher, Louses was a slim and short smiling woman. She made him feel welcome and he relaxed slightly. He had feared it'll be like with Assim. After dinner he headed straight to his room. He still hadn't exchange a word with the other teenagers. He fell asleep rather quickly. The next he woke up on time to have breakfast. None of his classmate had uttered one word to him yet.
Nervous he approached a tall girl who had been in the air class with him. She was looking a bit bored. Her name was Denila.
"Hethera" he said, using the most common way to salute someone, a bit like hello.
She looked up at him with cold eyes, eyed him then looked back at the book she had been reading. She closed it, put it back in her bag, got up and left the room. Harry stood there shocked and confused. What had he done wrong? Puzzled, he shook and headed towards his first class: earth.
Four hours later he exited the classroom, completely exhausted. If he had thought that water class was hard, earth one was simply hell. This element required an even biggest concentration than the water one. Harry simply couldn't manage to have it right. Even if he had managed to make a plant grow before the masters, controlling the element meant a lot more than making thing grow. The clam compulsory to its control was only driving him crazy. At lunch he looked around him, trying to start a conversation with someone, but his table was deadly silent, you could have heard a fly. He could heard voices and heated discussion at the novices and masters tables, but silence was overwhelming the apprentices one. This behaviour was confusing Harry to no end. There was his next lesson was the fire one.
When he exited this class, he already knew it was going to be his favorite. Controlling fire was coming naturally to him. He didn't even have to concentrate. Moreover, Amber was a great teacher with a good sense of humour. After his healing lesson, he went to dinner. There he scanned his table. Again, no words were being exchanged. They were twenty-four at the table: Yassin and Safia with who he learned about fire. They were going out and could always be seen together. Then there were the waters students: Ahmed, Kamel, Moira, Beryl, Ian, Ouana, Tassit, Hasn and Yoran. Beryl and Ahmed were a couple, and the nine of them formed a closed group. The water group was the largest. Then came the air one: Usil, Jenal, Harim, Akim, Deis, Noa and Namia. Harim and Akim were twins as well as Noa and Namia, but though Akim and Harim seemed to be exactly alike, Noa and Namia were really different, by their height, hair and faces features. Finally the earth group was composed of six people: Djamel, Ismalia, Basten, Denor, Kisael and Samira. During the dinner, he tried several times to talk with them but it was like talking to walls, he only met blank faces and icy looks. He finally gave up, but couldn't help feeling a bit hurt by this treatment. For the following Harry was pointedly ignore by his comrades. They never warned, helped or gave him advice. But it was still bearable, unnerving but bearable.
The taunting had only started at the end of the first week. It was in the evening, after dinner. Harry was working on some homework Assim had given them. He was nearly finished when he found himself drenched with water. His work was completely lost. The room erupted in laughter. Harry had to restrain himself from standing up and cursing them to Hell. He clenched his teeth, dried himself with a flick of his wand and cast a water repellent spell on his parchment. He spent half of his night redoing his work. Then he went to sleep. Cautious he hid his work as well as his bag and other possessions. He congratulated himself in the morning as he woke up and found his desk completely redecorated: paint was splashed all over it, it was still wet, some parts had been burnt, others had grown and formed leaves Harry recognised as itchy Ignia. He looked at his clothes, all were wet, half had been dyed a pink color, some had been ripped. He sighed and look around him. They were all sleeping. He drawn out his wand and with a few spells restored his belonging to their initial state. He dressed up, took his bag, checked his work and went to breakfast. He was nearly finished when the others arrived. If they were surprised to see him in regular clothes they didn't show it. As he was standing up and walking out, one of them tripped him. He fell flat on the floor under the laugh of everyone. His bag exploded spreading parchments all over the floor. Flushing, he quickly gathered them and left.
This was only small examples, he had to underwent several thing, like finding himself banded to his chair with roots, or having his eyebrows burn in an accident.
The teachers didn't seem to notice this or dismissed it as clumsiness.
Harry sighed heavily, throwing a rock in the lake. Now he knew why they were behaving like that. In the following days he had realised that all the apprentices there were only motivated by one thing: drawing attention to them, being noticed by their masters. They were all ready to use nearly anything to obtain it. Him being able to control all four elements was seeing as a threat for them, thus their behaviour.
He slowly got up, took his bag and headed for his next class, Air. He had lost all hope of befriending some of them. First he had thought that they'll see that he wasn't going to overshadow them, but he had forgotten something else. He was different, physically but also mentally, making it impossible for him to blend in the crowd. So he had decided to learn everything as fast as he could, hoping that this way he would be out of here sooner. Slowly he braced himself for his next class, trying to imagine what'll happen next. He shook his head, he'd just have to wait and see.
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So What did you think of this? Let me know! Thanks again to all of you.
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Once again thank you to all of you!!!
Naia