Shae and Mel sat in the comfortable chairs, chatting about what they would have at the tea and sweet shop when they were done here. But first they would have to track down her brother Kip. Mel kept the conversation light to keep Shae’s mind occupied with something other than worrying about the tests.

Roughly fifteen minutes into their small talk the tiny mage returned, without the taller robed man.

“Right this way. If you would follow me, please young lady. You may follow as well, adventurer friend. Though you will not be allowed into the test areas. You may observe.”

“Mel, just call me Mel. And you are again?”

“Yes, of course, where are my manners! My name is Nithonsandorthorpe.” The short man bowed to the ladies. “But please just call me Nith. Humans usually have such a hard time with my name.”

Mel returned the bow, “it is a pleasure to meet you Nith.” Then made do as I do eyes at Shae who was a bit slow on the uptake.

Shae also bowed to the Gnome? “It is also my pleasure to meet you Nith. Thank you for setting up my tests so quickly.”

“Think nothing of it my dear. And yes, in case you are unaware since you are from the northern reaches. My race is Gnomish.”

“Thank you again for clearing that up for me.” Shae beamed. And mentally fist pumped her first Gnome!

“Now that the formalities are out of the way. Please follow me.”

The three left Nith’s office and entered the door on the right behind the attendant’s desk, who still refused to even look at Shae or Mel. Shae hoped the attendant girl would not cause problems for her down the line. Mel did kind of lay it on a bit back there.

Behind the door were stairs that led down into a room that looked a lot like the rooms behind interrogation glass. There was a pink tinted glass window that separated this room from another room of identical size, with one door to the left of the large viewing glass. Shae wondered if it was one way glass. The other room while identical size however, had red brick walls. Shae guessed it was to keep whatever magic that would go on contained to the second room.

Nith walked over to the door and opened it, then waved Shae to enter the room. As Shae passed the gnome and entered the room he began to explain.

“Please stand in the middle of the room. Once I close the door there will be a short wait. Then a glyph will appear beneath you. Don’t panic. And please don’t step off the glyph. You can move a bit, so there is no need to be overly rigid. This room will test your aura strength, and its major elemental properties. The test should take no longer than three minutes.”

Shae did as she was asked and went to the center of the room, then turned to face the two-way glass. That little fact made her feel better for some reason. Less like a prisoner maybe.

Before Nith closed the door he reminded her to just relax and be calm. She should not even feel anything.

Then he closed the door. Shae tried to relax and just concentrated on her new world bucket list. Gnome Check! She was distracting herself.

Then an intricate glowing glyph appeared under her feet. It was a circle that was over a meter round. It had seven smaller circles attached to the outside of it. There looked to be vague images of what might be elements to Shae drawn around the inside edge of the circle. For instance, in front of here there were three wavy lines, she thought could represent air. To the left of that was a triangle, but the top two lines had a zig or was it a zag in the middle of them. The base line was normal. This could have maybe been a mountain for earth? The images continued all around the circle just outside of her feet. She noticed she was standing on a star symbol.

The glow reached a peek brightness, then the circle started to rotate around Shae. Everything was moving clockwise. Even the star beneath her feet.

Shae noticed a much larger light fill the room in totality. It did not emanate from the circle. It was alike a thin misty light that filled the chamber. Shae felt a bit of pressure in her chest. Shae almost started to worry, but the pressure stayed at say having a fat cat sit on your chest. The circle was almost a blur now as it spun up faster and faster.

Then the pressure got a bit heavier. Now Shae started to worry a bit. She was only roughly one minute into the test and things were escalating inside of her.

She saw Mel talk to the gnome mage briefly, he just waved her off and said a quick blurb back. ‘Mel must have seen something in my face and asked him if this was normal maybe.’ Shae thought.

Now maybe two minutes in Shae was getting more than a bit worried, the pressure was making it hard to breath. It was not painful, just a big squeeze.

Now Mel was a lot livelier in her actions and words. Nith made a calming motion to Mel with his hands and seemed to not be worried. Seeing his clam demeanor made Shae feel a bit safe.

Suddenly there was a sharp pain that shot from just below her belly button up to her heart. She buckled over unable to remain upright. Then there was a sudden relief of pressure and her ears popped. She felt more than heard a low rumble, like dynamite going off inside of a building. Then all the lights stopped, and the glyph just proofed. Shae dropped to her knees, finally able to look up through the window. She had a bit of tunnel vision from her stress she guessed.

Nith was staring into the room wide eyed his mouth agape. Mel looked much the same. They were both just stunned, seeming unable to move. Then Shae noticed through her bit of tunnel vision that the brick walls had all cracked and bowed out slightly in the middle.

Mel, as if she broke through a spell jumped at the door and threw it open rushing to Shae. Everything was very muffled for Shae. It was like she had put her hands over her ears. Maybe worse.

Mel said something to her, but she didn’t quite hear it.

Then Mel turned to ward the glass and yelled something that Shae only caught a word or two. Shae realized her hearing must have been damaged. She put her hands up to her ears and felt a wetness. Looking at her fingers there was blood. Her ears must have ruptured. Nith was gone from the room, and Mel just knelt beside a shell-shocked Shae and hugged her.

After what seemed like an eternity to the poor girl, the robed man from before rushed into the room. He said something to Mel and helped her up and away from Shae. Then Nith came running back into the room panting like he had run a three-hundred-meter dash with an elephant on his back. He was bent over out of breath.

Shae felt it funny what she was focusing on. And yet not really getting it at all.

Then the blue robed man knelt in front of Shae and put his hands on either side of her head covering her ears. He closed his eyes. Shae could feel slight pressure from the man. Like it was imposing itself against her. ‘Was this what being next to someone using magic feels like?’

Then there was a loud ringing in her ears that made Shae wince. She had to shut her eyes tight threw the noise. Then after a seconds there was blissful silence. Well not full silence. She could hear again, but it was muffled because the man had his hands over her ears. Shae caught normal noises though. Mel’s restless movement, the mans breathing, and Nith’s huffing.

The robed man pulled his hands away. “How’s that?” he simply asked Shae.

“I can hear normally again.” She replied still in a bit of shock.

The man nodded and made way for Mel’s hugging tackle of Shae. She whispered how sorry she was, tears running down her cheeks.

Shae hugged Mel back and shushed her. “It’s not your fault. You could not have known this would happen. If anyone should have foreseen this it should have been Nith. But since he thought it was safe, even he didn’t know.” Shae finish stroking Mel’s hair. Shae was crying a bit now too.

“Look! You’re making me cry too! Stop that.” Shae pretended to scold Mel, which caused Mel to bubble out a laugh.

“The young lady will be fine. At least a lot better than this room.” The robed mage said looking around at the walls just a bit stunned.

He left the two women to collect themselves and took Nith away.

Once the two had calmed down they were both laughing like idiots, before finally calming down.

Shortly after Nith came back and begged Shae for forgiveness bowing low. Nothing like this had ever happened before.

“I guess it’s alright. I am fine now after all.” Shae said like a trooper.

“Your too nice, you know that Shae?” Mel asked, said.

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?” Shae spoke to Mel.

“Oh, I like that. I’m going to use that saying for sure.” Mel stated.

Shae just smiled at Mel. ‘Looks like I get credit for all of earths sayings here.’ Shae thought with a mental grin.

“Yes, anyway. If you would like to continue. And I promise these tests are purely academic, no magic!” Nith blurted the last out fast as Mel was getting ready to give him an earful.

“Just the mental acuity portion.” He added sweat breaking out on his forehead.

“Can I relax a bit and get myself together?” Shae asked Nith.

“Of course! Let’s go to my office. I will have refreshments and biscuits made available. Take all the time you need.”

The three went up to Nith’s office. True to his word, the attendant from the front desk brought in tea and biscuits on a tray.

After Shae had spent some time in light conversation with Mel. Nith had left the two alone in his office.

“You’re sure you’re up for this?”

“Yeah. Nick said it would just be games and puzzles, right?”

“I guess it shouldn’t be too bad.” Mel finally giving in.

Shae poked her head of the office and asked the attendant if she could call Nith back for them.

Then the two waited in silence until the gnome made his appearance.