Emerald's POV

Alright, I was rested, my mind was at rest, and my body was ready to start moving, my mind was ready to focus. That was something I couldn't say very often, wasn't it. I couldn't help by stifle a little laughter. It used to be that I dreaded having to train, but now I was really excited about it. Who knew, all it took to get me excited about magic training was being on a sky pirate ship and having my life and the lives of everyone around me threatened.

I was there, the old coot was there, and now so was Ray. I knew he was trying to wake us up before, but it had been way too early after the night we had, and he proved it himself by falling back asleep for so long. However, eventually enough had to be enough. We couldn't waste the entire day waiting for him to get up. Time was a precious thing, especially right now. We couldn't afford to waste too much of it.

I started stretching out, and Ray followed suit. This was the first thing I would do with Lilly. Freeing up the body and mind was important, apparently. I really hoped that he was a better teacher than her, or that maybe I was better now. I hoped I just… wouldn't struggle as much as I did in the past, because that would have been really annoying, come all this way and get this supposed master, just to find out I still can't do any magic, just to find out I was still a dud, that I could only accomplish what a toddler might be able to in terms of magical prowess. That's why I also wanted training from the pirates themselves. I wanted Jesse or maybe James to teach me to fight, to teach me swordplay, and how to fight dirty. I knew I could pick up on that much easier than I could with magic.

And how was the old coot going to teach me anyways? He never really did go into that, did he? The guy couldn't do magic himself. He didn't have a familiar, but he knew so much about it, or at least, he made it seem like he did. The way he helped the two of us lengthen our tether certainly wasn't fake. He was a bona fide, genuine… something. I had to believe he could teach us, because, quite frankly, if he could not, I had my doubts that anyone ever could. If there were even other teachers still out there to learn from.

Everyone had cleared out of the main part of the deck for us to wok on. It was a large, rectangular area. There were still a bunch of pirates on the sidelines, and such. Some were working to keep the ship afloat, some were fighting for fun, and some were just watching us, to see what would happen. I wasn't sure they were in for a very entertaining show, especially if this was my first lesson, but I guessed they had nothing better to do. Who was I to judge?

"Alright, everyone, your attention please. Clear the premises. This might get, uh... messy." The old coot cackled, shooing them off the part of the deck we were going to be training on. They did with surprisingly little upset. As far as I could tell, even though they listened to their captain, they didn't much care for being told what to do, which was a quality I enjoyed greatly. Still, they just stood aside, now. I couldn't help but wonder if this was a part of the magic, too. Wasn't sure how that would work, since, again, the old guy couldn't do any real magic.

"Why are they watching us?" Ray asked.

"I guess they just want to? Maybe to watch me screw up." I joked. But, I was pretty sue that was why half of the capital came to my bonding ceremony in the first place. Not to celebrate, but to watch me mess up, watch my magic backfire on me in the most hilarious way possible. I was glad I didn't give them that satisfaction… until I fell into the lake. That wasn't my fault, though, and it had nothing to do with the beacon. I did the beacon right! I really hoped that was not what these guys were here for, just to watch me mess up. That was all sorts of cruel, especially because I was just a newbie in their ranks. I needed time to grow and improve before I was ready for them to judge me.

"A'right. You done enough stretchin." The old man yelled, and banged his staff on the floor twice. When he did, it seemed the world turned silent, like we were the only ones there. He might not have had magic, but there was something strange in him, indeed. I couldn't put my finger on what it was, though.

"So, first thing I wantcha to do, wantch to give me your best display of magical energy running through ya. Emerald, you know it as a beacon. Ray, conjure up your power but do not shape it into anything, just let it flow out unfiltered. You may use any means of getting there, but I want to see the absolute best you have to offer. Need to see what there is to work with, ya whippersnappers. Now go."

There was something weird about his voice, like, he talked a little different when he was coaching. His actual voice sounded the same, old and crinkley, but his words and intentions became less garbled. You could understand him better, and then he would go right back into his nonsense. What was that about, I wondered.

Well, this wasn't really the time to worry about something like that. Our training had begun, and he wanted to start with an assessment. Well, I doubted he would be impressed with what he saw, but it was still my job to give everything I had. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and concentrated.

The last time, the thing that got me to be able to shine my beacon out was the sound of the ocean, and the longing to be free, to go out on an adventure. Now I had been out and seen exactly what there was to see in this world. That illusion was broken forever, so there wasn't any real point in trying to call on that image of the world again. Besides, the ocean was out of reach, now. We were very high up in the air and what's more, we weren't even above the ocean, we were miles away from ocean. So I guessed I would have to use what was around me… the sky… and the rebellious hearts of the pirate crew. I drew my attention to those things, and began to concentrate.

I could feel something in the air. I could like… I could see something in the air, even though my eyes were closed, seeing with my mind's eye. It was like… little flames, little pops of color and the outlines of my fellow pirates. Actually, as I concentrated more, I could see the whole world. It was gray and smeared with colors, like liquid, or wind. What in the world was this? What… was this? I had never experienced this before. Was this… energy? I was seeing the energy of the world? That was crazy, I'd never been able to see it before! And, I didn't even do anything to train up til now. I didn't think I did, anyways. Maybe… No, I… anyways, sensing energy around me wasn't enough to make a beacon. I had to then channel that energy into my body and release it.

How was I going to draw it in… I wasn't sure I could, especially because it was the energy of other people. I had never seen that before, and I wasn't sure what kind of effect it would have. It was strong in them, the energy, the spark of rebellion was strong in them. However, if I used them as my source, would they be hurt? Would they die? I wasn't about to risk it. I would ask the old coot when I had the chance.

So, I turned my attention to the environment, the clouds and the wind and all of that. It was all sort of… red. The energy of the air was red. That was weird. I didn't know why exactly I thought it was so strange. Why was the energy red when the color was blue. Wasn't color a kind of energy, too? Well, it didn't matter. I inhaled deeply, and imagined the energy from the air coming back into my body.

Slowly… ever so slowly… it began to come towards me. I exhaled and it went away a little… inhaled, it came forward, exhale, it went away. Ok, so I just had to make my inhales bigger than my exhales. I did that for a while, and soon the energy was in my body. Now I had to release it. I felt it in my body, in my bones, in my face. It was a very strange feeling, stronger than it had been during the ceremony.

I exhaled quickly, and opened my eyes. A light shined out. It was brighter than it had been, but it wasn't… as bright as I'd been hoping. Also, it didn't shoot out like a beam, but just sort of hung around me like crystals or something. I looked to the old coot to see how I was doing, if that was good enough. His face was uncomfortably neutral. I saw a sort of light around Ray as well, but it looked like a rainbow, like a prism, like he was a prism. What did the old man think of our display.

Time went by, very slowly, very quickly… I wasn't sure which it was. Everything felt slightly warped, most of all time, most of all space. Was this some sort of magic itself? I did not like this, I did not like this one bit.

"And… you can let that go." The old coot said, and as soon as he did, all the light dissipated. I blinked and looked around. Everything was how it was supposed to be, now the light was gone, everything was gone, that strange sense of distortion was gone. Thank goodness for that. All the pirates that had been watching us seemed… awestruck. Was what we did really impressive, or something. It didn't feel that impressing, I just did some breathing. So… what was the deal? I just… I wanted some feedback here, but not from the watchers. I wanted feedback from the guy that was supposed to be teaching us here. Were we doing good? Were we doing bad? How were we supposed to know?

"So, how did we do?" Ray asked. Good, he asked before I did, I was sort of afraid to ask first. Now, I'd been about to do it anyways, because fear wasn't about to stop me for anything. However, that didn't diminish the relief that came with having him ask the question instead.

The old coot, however, didn't answer. He just sort of looked at us, his eyes unfocused, like he wasn't even paying attention. I frowned. What was he up to, or was he up to anything… or did we do that to him accidentally… or was he just being his ridiculous self? There was no way to tell with this guy.

"Hey, old coot. Did you see what you needed to? Tell us something, please." I said. He still said nothing, and neither did any of the audience. It was weird to hear them all be so silent. I could even hear them breathing. I was glad I could, because that meant that they were alive, for sure. We didn't accidentally kill them or something. I was pretty sure we weren't in that weird dimension where the trial of the souls took place. I was pretty sure that was inside our souls or something, and that was why it got all blended. Was the old man just thinking? I was starting to get a little worried.

"Hm… I see." The old man finally said. I exhaled. I didn't realize I had been holding my breath. Ok, good, he was alive, he was here with us. However, his response wasn't exactly illuminating, was it? He saw… he saw… what? He saw what we did? He understood something about it? Ugh, I was still just as confused as ever.

"Alright, no more audience. I gotta be alone with the newbies." The old man said with a rye grin. Then he started shooing the crowd away, flailing his arms wildly, and they scattered. A majority of them went below the deck. They probably had things to do anyways, just like I would after this training session was done. I was a member of the crew, and that meant I needed to help maintain this ship in one way or another. Everyone had to chip in under Captain jesse's order. Captain Jesse was in the captain's quarters, and James was down on the ground. I went to wake Ray up after the ground parties had departed for the trade center. It was better to work now, when there were less people around, less crowded here, and we didn't have to squish other people to give us enough room.

"So… people came to watch… we showed you our power, and now they can't watch anymore. I have to say, this isn't what I imagined training with you would be like." Ray said.

"Oh, and what did you think this was goin ta be, ya whippersnapper? I'm telling you I need ta get a lay of yer powers. Root around, see what I have to work with, you know. I'm sure ya undestand well enough. And if ya don't, well, I dun care much, now, do I?" The old man gave a cackle. It was slightly unnerving. Yeah, something was definitely off about him. I disagreed with Ray, though. This was exactly what I expected from training with him… complete and utter nonsense that somehow translated into better magic use. I meant, did Ray eve watch this guy, of course his teaching style was going to be as whacked out as his personality.

"I don't know, drills? Specific technique that you demonstrate and we do, and then we kept doing it until it's second nature?" Ray asked. Yeah, but that kind of training hadn't worked for me, yet.

"Yer not good enough fer drills, yet. Drills are fer people who can shape their magic. You two are weak." The old man said. He wasn't attacking us by it, he didn't mean anything bad. All he meant was… well, what he said. It was a fact, the both of us were weak. Ray might have been strong before coming here, in fact, just looking at him, I was sure he was, but coming here and attaching himself to me made him weak. I hoped he didn't resent me for that, and I hoped he wouldn't resent the old man for saying that either. I also wished I had something better to call our teacher than old man. I knew that was the name he wanted to go by, but it felt really disrespectful.

"That's fine, then tell us, how much longer will it be before we can do that?" I asked.

"Now, that's up to the two of you, is it not?" The old coot asked.

"What I mean to say…" I start to explain better this time. "What level of magic are we at right now. How much work do we have to do, how much farther do we need to go in our skills before we are ready to fight and, well… I want to disguise myself to get into town. You remember that, right? Everyone's looking for me, after all."

"Yer weak. It'll take a lot of training to get strong. Some of da training won't be with me, though. No, siree. You're gonna need yourself some training in the field, as they call it. Hehe, and I have a funny feeling yer gonna get it."

"So, what I'm hearing is… we're gonna be fighting people. Right?" I asked.

"That's right. Now, lemme unlock some of your energy. I did a little. Doesn't excuse the hard work of course, but it breaks this block you have. It's nearly gone already, I been working on you enough. Maybe that's why you got out of the affliction so easy, ain't it?" The old man laughed a little. Something about him seemed inconsistent… His speaking was kind of inconsistent, and I didn't know why.

"Uh, ok, what do we have to do?" I asked.

"Stand straight, arms out." He said with a toothy grin. I frowned. What in the world would that accomplish. Then again, he did something similar when he lengthened our tether so that we could move further apart. He just sort of hit a spot on my back and went farther than I ever thought I'd be able to. So, I guessed I would trust him. I put my arms out and stood straight, and Ray did the same. Well, he didn't stand, cause he didn't have feet, but he had the tip of his tail brush the deck, so that he was stretched his entire length. I'd never seen him stretched all the way out vertically. He was quite tall, at least two feet taller than me. I felt pretty tiny next to him, but that was ok.

"Now close your eyes." The old man said. I hesitated just a little bit, but closed my eyes. I could hear the old coot working with Ray. I wondered what he was doing with Ray. Hm…

Wait… what was happening?! I saw something bright, but that was probably just some sort of energy thing, like what we were doing before. But this was a little different, there was heat, and the heat grew, and it was close and… If it was a test, I failed, because I had to open my eyes and turn around, and fire, IT WAS FIRE!

"HIT THE DECK!" The old coot yelled, and I threw myself to the ground, as the sky burned.

I thiiiink I only have one written chapter after this one... so I gotta go and write more...eventually...