In a city of ivory marble and sparkling gemstones, the academy stands out more than anything. Situated next to the river, it was surrounded by a large circular wall, as high as the city wall itself, adorned in more colorful gem murals than even that of the keep. Three gate towers allows passage into the school grounds, separating the walls into three segments each dedicated to an element and adorned in it's color.

``Take a good look Nathan, this is where you will spend nine years of your life, starting next year.'' [Shale]

``There are nine years worth of students? How many?'' [Nathan]

``A thousand. There are fifty students of each element at the start of every year, and eighteen dormitories that houses them. Ah, there's the principle.'' [Shale]

As our boat closes in on the river shore, a slim figure is seen standing silently on the pier. As we pull in, my mother stands to greet him.

``Welcome Jessica, Shale. It's been a long time indeed, how have you been?'' [Principal]

``Life has been good to us. And to you as well, Shawn. Principle of the great Bightkeep academy, and at your age. Nathan, this is an old friend of ours, Twinpeak Shawn, your future principle. Shawn, this is our son, Nathan.'' [Jessica]

He puts out a hand in greeting.

``Hello Nathan.'' [Shawn]

I take his hand in a firm handshake, and look at him more closely.

He is birdkin. There is no beak, but he has soft feathers in the place of hair. He is slim and tall, though a bit smaller than my father.

His robe is adorned in an intricate blend of blue and red, rising from a rusty red at the left of the robe to a clear sapphire blue at the right. Looking at his feathers, they are a mix of the same rusty red and sapphire blue. Normally, one would clearly dominate the other, the other peaking out when the hair moves. His had the same blend as his robe, separated down the middle.

And his eyes.. He's heterocromatic. A clear bright blue and a deep murky red.

``Nice to meet you.'' [Nathan]

``Do my eyes scare you child?'' [Shawn]

He says with a slightly amused smirk on his face.

``Not at all.'' [Nathan]

I release his hand and he straightens his back and looks at my mom.

``Shall we go?'' [Shawn]

He leads us from the pier along the wall to the gatehouse. There are three large gates, a green gate with a wave motif on the left, and a blue gate on the right with a wind motif. The middle gate was white and unadorned.

``The two outer gates leads to the dormitory areas of Air and Water, and the middle door leads to the academy itself. Would you rather see the academy, or the dormitory? I'm of course assuming you would be living in the Air dorm.'' [Shawn]

``The academy, I may not be staying in the dorms after all.'' [Nathan]

``So be it.'' [Shawn]

He knocks on the gate three times and turn around as it opens.

"Welcome to Bightkeep academy, the white school of sanctuary.'' [Shawn]

At the other side of the gate was a long tall hall with doors along either side. Marble statues were lined along the walls on both sides, portraying kin and kith of all kind along with a score of unearthly creatures.

"On the right you see classrooms for all the Air classes, and on your left you see Water classrooms. Classes that are shared between elements, such as history, are located near the center of the academy, next to the teachers lounges and all the different offices. At the end of the hall is the arena, where you will be having your exams and participate in various tournaments.'' [Shawn]

``Exams are held in the arena? Are they public?'' [Nathan]

``They are, no use in withholding your skill, people will find out either way once you participate in a tournament. Some classes hold their exams in the dorm areas instead, or even outside of campus, but a lot are held here.'' [Nathan]

``What about the tournaments, how often are they held?'' [Nathan]

``Once a year as part of the curriculum, and several times a year as voluntary events. We prefer to let students grow through competition and experience rather than simple lectures. Once they reach the age of fifteen, they are allowed to join tournaments in the Silver Arena, but until then they are only allowed to join tournaments here.'' [Shawn]

``Is there a reason for that?'' [Nathan]

``We place certain restrictions on the tournaments for those below the age of fifteen, in order to keep the tournaments safe. Of course accidents are unavoidable, but we try to keep injuries to a minimum.'' [Shawn]

As we walk, the hall widens and eventually splits into three.

``The walkway to the left goes to a hall like this that lies between the Water and Earth dorms, and the right goes to the one that lies between the Air and Earth dorms. The middle one continues into the arena at the center of the building, which is also where the large auditoriums are situated. Do you want to see them?'' [Shawn]

``That would be nice.'' [Nathan]

Shawn shows us an empty auditorium, and an empty classroom to compare. The auditorium is large enough to fit a hundred and fifty people, but the classroom is only large enough to fit fifty. He then shows us where some useful locations, like toilets and stairs, and shows us his office and residence at the top of the central tower. It looks a bit bare, but he told us he only just got the position a few months ago, and that he hasn't had the time to personalize it yet.

The view is spectacular though. It has windows on all three sides, allowing him to view all three dorm areas.

Much like the temples I saw earlier today, the Earth dorms themselves are partly underground and the grounds are covered by a lawn, the Water dorms are situated on islands in an artificial pond that covers the entire grounds, and the Air dorm is made of six ivory towers along the outer walls, and the grounds are covered in flowers. Looking at it from here, it feels like windows to three separate worlds. It is absolutely spectacular. What makes it even better is the clear signs of life. There are people buzzing about all over, from picnickers in the Earth dorm, swimmers in the Water dorm to winged people flying around in the Air dorm.

``If you like it now, you should see it at night. Every morning, I roll a die, but I don't check the result.'' [Shawn]

He gestures to a dice cup on his desk.

``At the end of the day, I go to the window matching the result and watch the night sky from there.'' [Shawn]

``Sounds like it has it's boons, being the principle of a prestigious institution.'' [Shale]

Shawn stares coldly at my father.

``So does coming from a successful line of doctors, which you know all about, Shale.'' [Shawn]

Dad holds his breath briefly, before lowering his gaze.

I shift my look between Dad and Shawn. What's going on between them?

``Enough of this, would you show us the Air dorm Shawn?'' [Jessica]

``Of course, let's go down then.'' [Shawn]

He leads us down the long stairway and guides us to the Air dorm grounds.

``As you can see, there are six dorms. Two for each of the lower, middle and higher students, males and females in each their own building. There are roughly seventy five students in each dorm, in rooms of two or three. Do you want to see the insides?'' [Shawn]

``Certainly.'' [Jessica]

``The bottom floor is quite large, and consists of a canteen and some common areas. The next two floors are for the first years, the next to for the second years, and the last two for the third years. Each year has a common room available, and above the third years there is a large floor that is used for ceremonies and parties. Each of the dorm towers are build like this, and you will have to swap rooms every year. By the time you become a third year, your view should be quite nice.'' [Shawn]

He stops to knock on a door, and a kid a bit older than me opens.

``Yes?..'' [???]

``Ah, this is Wolfe Lance, if I'm not much mistaken. Could we possibly see your room child?'' [Shawn]

``Uhm, sure..'' [Lance]

He steps back and opens the door for us. His room has two desks, two closets and two beds. It's quite spacious for a dorm room. One side is a bit bare, but has a few crystals on one of the desks along with some parchment. The other side is much more decorated, but the desk has hardly been touched, and it's visible that there is a fine layer of dust on it.

``Thank you for showing us your room Lance, you can resume your studying if you so wish.'' [Shawn]

Lance shuts the door behind us, and we end the dorm tour.

``And I believe that was most of the academy, though I have saved the best for last. The arena.'' [Shawn]

He has an excited look on his face.

``Actually, we also wanted to get a tour of the residents outside of campus.'' [Jessica]

``Is that so? I do suppose you can afford it, but at such a young age?'' [Shawn]

``I am more than capable of taking care of myself.'' [Nathan]

He looks at my parents in disbelief.

``Are you sure?'' [Shawn]

``Absolutely. Nathan is extremely mature for his age, and more than capable of living by himself.'' [Jessica]

``Sigh.. So be it then. Follow me this way.'' [Shawn]

He leads us out of the academy through another gate than the one we entered through, at the junction between the Air and Earth dorms.

Several small buildings lined the side of the walls, on both sides. Continuing onto the side of the Air wall, he showed us several cabins, each with a single bedroom, a kitchen, and a small living room.

``What do you think Nathan?'' [Shale]

``They are a bit small, I would really prefer a place where I can imprint in a spacious room.'' [Nathan]

``Hmm.. Shawn, are there any houses that are slightly bigger than these?'' [Shale]

``There are the old ones from before we build the dorms. They are a bit in a bad shape, but if you want you could have a look.'' [Shawn]

We leave the academy walls behind, and move towards the edge of the residential area, near the city walls, next to an area that has been reforested as a park.

``These are the old teachers dorm. That entire park area was used as dorms, but now all the buildings have been torn down except for a few buildings rented out to new teachers that haven't found a place to live long term. Only a few are still in use, and most are going to get torn down in a few years to expand the park area. The counsel decided to have a park ready for next time they move the city walls, and they think this area would be ideal, so we are getting rid of the houses. We're getting rid of as many as we can, but we don't have to vacate them all for another fifteen years, so it should be fine to let you have one for nine.'' [Shawn]

The buildings really are old. Most are in disrepair and needs new windows and roof tiles.

``What is that building over there?'' [Jessica]

She points into the park.

``Oh i completely forgot about that. An old teacher that just retired lived in that house, and refused to move. He lived there his entire career before he died half a year ago. There was no way of getting rid of him because there wasn't a time condition on the lease, but we were gonna tear it down this summer now that he died. Do you maybe want to see that one then?'' [Shawn]

``I thought you wanted to tear it down.'' [Nathan]

``Well yeah, but these buildings are actually somewhat in demand right now because the new teachers dorm hasn't been expanded yet. And seeing as it's in the forest area already, it might just be better to let you have that one so we can tear down one of these instead.'' [Shawn]

``Sure.'' [Nathan]

Can't be much worse than these..

We walk to the house along a path though the woods. When we come to the house it's surrounded by a clearing, allowing light to reach the house all around.

``This is quite nice. I never expected old grumpy Barker to have kept this place in such a good clean state.'' [Shawn]

``No one inspected it after he died?'' [Nathan]

``It was before I was instated. The old principal never cared much for anything outside the academy walls.'' [Shawn]

``His loss. Do you have a key?'' [Nathan]

``No, but that's okay, watch this.'' [Shawn]

His back starts to glow as his aura appears.

It's just like his feathers and his robe, split down the middle between a rusty red and a deep blue. Usually an aura moves differently depending on which element it's channeling, and so is both sides of his. So while his entire right side is a slowly moving mass of muddy light, while the left is a flowing mass of a deep blue glow.''

He bends down in front of the lock and puts his hands up in front of it.

``How do you do that?'' [Nathan]

``I am one of the few that have two elements that are completely equal. Most people with my-, condition, can't even manifest their aura, because there is no incantation.

In return, I can cast spells from both elements at once. And that lets me pick locks that are burglar-proof.'' [Shawn]

``You can invoke your aura without an incantation?'' [Nathan]

``Sure you can. It's just very difficult, most people don't even bother trying. You'd have to be extremely good at mana manipulation.'' [Shawn]

``Could you teach me?'' [Nathan]

``Haha, sure child.'' [Shawn]

The lock clicks open.

``But maybe you should wait until we teach you to invoke your aura.'' [Shale]

``He learned that a year ago.'' [Shale]

Shawn turned his head and looks at my father.

``Truly?..'' [Shawn]

``- Don't get your hopes up, my aura.. Isn't very thick..'' [Nathan]

``.. Jessica did tell me you were unusual, but I thought it was just the hair..'' [Shawn]

``Nope, I am the whole package..'' [Nathan]

Shawn kneels down in front of me, and puts his hand on my shoulder.

``..Don't you worry child, if you can already invoke your aura I'm sure you can make something of yourself. If anything, I'm proof that you should not give up...'' [Shawn]

He maintains eye contact shortly before he stands back up.

``Now, let's see what old Barker left behind shall we?'' [Shawn]

He opens the door and we step inside.

It's a somewhat large entrance hall, with direct access to the living room. The living room itself is a somewhat larger than a dorm room, with large windows and a door on either side. The kitchen is accessible through the hall, same as the bathroom. It's nicely decorated, but entirely covered in dust.

``Wow, old Barker had a nice place.'' [Shawn]

``yeah, this is really nice. In fact, I think it might be perfect.'' [Nathan]

``What would this place cost?'' [Jessica]

``I had no idea it was in such good repair, I don't think I can justify renting it out for fifty thousand BUCs like we talked about Jessica.. It would have to be at least seventy five thousand for the nine years.'' [Shawn]

``But we can't afford that.. Is there any of the other places you liked Nathan?'' [Jessica]

Hmm.. I still don't really want to live with some random brat for nine years, but those other places were just in such disrepair..

``If I decide to live in the dorms, are there any ways I could share a room with someone who will be attending as a student of ?'' [Nathan]

``No, you can only live in the dorm of your own element, it's ancient tradition, the only way is to live off campus.'' [Shawn]

"Could we afford it if I lived with Tony?" [Nathan]

My parents look at each other for a short while.

"Yes, I think we could." [Jessica]