Everyone filed out of the dining hall heading to their first class. The House of Kenna first years were on their way to the third floor to learn how to produce a simple flame. The House of Leith first years were making their way to the front of the castle to go out to the lake and learn how to move water. The House of Gia first years were making their way down into the caves to work on maneuvering the ground. The House of Erion first years were making their way to the front of the dining hall where the whisper in their ears told them to go.

Parker was looking around, seeing everyone he recognized from the night before. Alexis and Caleb were standing by him and the short brunette girl from their group was nearby. Parker wondered what her name was, she’d spoken many times since they’d arrived but never mentioned her name. There weren’t very many from this group that had spoken up yet, mainly just Parker, Alexis, Caleb and the brunette girl.

He started to look around the dining hall, realizing that he hadn’t really focused on much of the castle itself since he got here. He’d been so focused trying to figure things out that he hadn’t paid much attention to his surroundings.

The dining hall was very tall and had many tables for everyone to sit at. The head table was very long, even though it only sat eight people. The windows that lined the walls let in a lot of light, which Parker hadn’t noticed the night before since there had been no sunshine.

The entrance to the hall seemed so little from all the way at the front of the room. He wondered what it must be like to stand up here and use your elements the way the masters did in front of all the students, even using the students as a part of it. Parker saw Master Sora turn the corner into the dining hall.

“Welcome to your first element lesson!” Master Sora boomed from the entrance to the dining hall. He made his way to the front, pushing in chairs as he went. He shot his hands out in front of him toward the students and they could feel a huge gust of wind hit their faces. The master laughed a deep a laugh. “Ah, I love doing that. Always have.”

The students looked at him, seeing a side of him they hadn’t seen yet. They all gathered around him, waiting for their first lesson to begin. Alexis tapped Parker on the shoulder. “What do you think we’re going to do? I mean I know we’re supposed to learn to fly, but do you think he’ll teach us that whisper trick?” Parker shrugged his shoulders, not sure what all was going to happen.

“Our first lesson is going to be creating a simple breeze. However, before we begin, we need to go to our classroom. We will be heading to the twenty-third floor, Room 23-D. Once everyone arrives, we will begin.” He motioned for everyone to start heading to the spiral stairs.

The group began leaving the dining hall with Master Sora taking the lead. Parker made sure to be towards the front of the group because he wanted to ask the master about what they would be learning. Alexis was quick to notice what Parker’s plan was and ran to catch up.

“So, Master Sora, when you say, ‘Create a simple breeze’ you just mean a little gust of air?”

Master Sora nodded his head. “Yes, it may seem to be a simple task, but you’ll find it takes a little while to catch on.” Parker knew that it wasn’t going to be easy, he still found it hard to believe any of this was possible.

Alexis was listening to their conversation as they made their way to the stairs. When they made it out of the dining hall and turned right, she noticed someone waiting at the bottom of the stairs. “Is that Hailee? Why is she here?”

When Hailee saw them coming, a smile beamed on her face. She was always so happy, even though she had no housemates her age. “Hi Alexis! Parker! I’m so excited for this!” Parker and Alexis looked at each other confused as to what she was talking about.

“What are you excited for?” Parker asked, but then remembered that she had told them to ask for help if they ever needed it.

“Master Sora told me that I can come help out with your first lesson today. I caught on to this stuff really fast so I’ll be able to help you out if you need it.” She was so happy that Master Sora asked her to help out. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do otherwise. Being the only second year, she didn’t have a class first thing like everyone else.

They made their way to the center of the spiral stairs. Master Sora gathered everyone around him in a circle and said, “Well, up to the twenty-third floor we go.” The master spun in place with his arms out and then pointed his arms up. The group began to rise slowly. After a second, Master Sora began spinning in place faster with his arms pointed towards the ceiling and everyone began flying up the stairwell.

Parker loved the feeling of flying through the air, nothing under his feet. The looks on everyone else’s faces said they didn’t quite feel the same yet. They were slowly guided to the steps in front of the twenty-third floor corridor.

He turned to Alexis, who was breathing very heavily. “That was amazing! I can’t wait to learn how to do that.” Parker could tell that Alexis was still trying to gather herself after the flight.

“That was exhilarating. I was terrified but I know that once I am the one controlling it, I’ll love every second of it.”

They turned to ask Caleb what he thought about the flight and they could see the fear on his face. His cheeks were ghostly white and it looked like he was shivering a little. “Caleb are you okay?” both Parker and Alexis asked. Caleb just stood there, staring straight ahead. Parker remembered what Caleb had said that morning; he didn’t have a connection to any one element, so that probably wasn’t the same experience for Caleb as it was for him.

“If you would now, please head to room 23-D. Once we are all ready, we will begin.” Everyone started to walk down the corridor looking at the different doors. Some were simply made of wood while others were made of stone, brick, or metal. Parker wondered if the type of door had any correlation to what was inside that room. At the end of the corridor, on the left, stood a wooden door that read “23-D”. Parker was at the front of the group so he was the one to reach forward and grab the doorknob.

When his hand grasped the knob, his memories raced back to being burned. He hesitated turning the knob, but kept going so no one thought something was wrong. All he could think about was being burned by the doorknob at home.

Everything from that day seemed so real now. Now, that he knew it was possible for people to shoot fire out of their hands. Maybe this was what his father had been talking about. Maybe his dreams about being attacked were actually like premonitions of something that was going to happen.

Parker was so focused on his thoughts that he didn’t notice the room he walked into. A loud, “Ooooooh!” brought him back to reality. The room he was standing in was not your typical classroom. There were trees all over; the floor was not tile, but grass. It was like they were outside, there was even sunshine in the room. A breeze blew across their faces bringing the smell of spring to their senses.

Everyone made their way to the center of the room, trying to take in the new scenery. “Welcome to room 23-D. Here, you will learn how to master your Imperial.”

“What’s an Imperial? You mentioned that you were an Air Imperial, which makes us Air Imperials as well. But what does that mean?” Parker wasn’t sure who said it, but the same thought was running through his mind.

“Air is the element which I can control. Imperial is the title given to someone who can control an element. If you ever here us say, ‘You have to use your Imperial’ that means that you’re going to control the air to do whatever it is. Any questions?” They shook their heads, even though they all had a million questions to ask. “We will start our first lesson, creating a gentle breeze.” He made his way to the center of the group, so he had everyone’s attention. The House of Erion stared at him, waiting for his directions. They saw him raise his right hand and make a slight wave in front of him. Those standing in front of him felt the air blow through their hair.

“It’s as simple as waving your hand in the air?” a voice said.

Multiple kids waved their hands out in front of them, trying to make a breeze, but nothing happened. Master Sora laughed to himself. “It’s not as simple as just waving your hand in front of you, you have to connect with the air before you can do anything. So, I want everyone to close their eyes. Let your mind go blank. Let your emotions go.”

Everyone stood there, not moving a muscle. The trees rustled over their heads. “Once you feel a sense of calm, a sense of peace, try to slowly move your hand in front of you.”

No one moved for minutes, taking their time to find the calm Master Sora mentioned. Caleb was the first to begin moving his hand around, but he felt nothing.

Alexis reached her hand out in front of her, eyes still closed. She could feel the air circulating in her palm. Her heart started to race, she grew very excited that it seemed to be working.

Parker reached his hand out and began to move it slowly, side to side. A gust of wind blew from his hand into Alexis. Her eyes shot open. “How did you do that?”

He was just as shocked as she was. “I have no idea. I just did what he told me to. I let everything go from my mind, and when I felt peace, I moved my hand out in front of me. Then it just… happened.”

Many others began trying, some successful at feeling the air circulating in their palm like Alexis, while others were unsuccessful. “If you weren’t successful, and by that, I mean if you couldn’t feel the air circulating in your palm, don’t worry. Not everyone gets it on their first try. Take your time, breathe, and let your mind rest. Let go of any worries, anything that would hold you back. Wait until you feel the sense of calmness and peace. Then, give it another try.”

Master Sora made his way over to Parker and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Can you come here for a second?” Parker wasn’t sure what his master wanted, but he wasn’t going to not follow him.

They walked behind a tree and found Hailee standing there. “Hailee, Parker here created a gust of wind on his first try. Please take a moment and see what you can get out of him.” As soon as he gave Hailee her instruction he walked back to the group.

Parker could hear Master Sora mention that the key to your Imperial was peace of mind, letting everything go and imagining that you are one with the wind.

“Show me what Master Sora was talking about,” Hailee said.

Parker closed his eyes, let his mind go, and raised his hand in front of him. When he felt the peaceful calm he had before, he began to sway his hand back and forth. A gust of wind blew out of his palm at Hailee knocking her off-balance.

“Wow! I see why he asked me to work with you some.” Parker seemed very confused as to what she meant.

“What do you mean?” She looked at him, eyes filled with excitement.

“Parker, not many students create a gust of wind right away. Definitely not one that strong,” she said. “Now hear me out. I want you to put your arms down by your side, with your palms facing behind you.” He did as she told him. Facing her, he waited for what he was supposed to do next. “Now, I want you to, when I say go, raise your hands straight up, imagining the wind blasting straight forward.”

Parker did just as he was told. He raised his hands straight out in front him, imagining the wind following his hands. Air surged forward from Parker, knocking Hailee off her feet. “Hailee! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to, I promise!”

She lay on the ground for a second, taking in what just happened. Hailee started laughing, causing Parker to look at her confused. “What’s so funny?”

She leaned up on her elbows, “Parker, this is going to be a really fun year.”

Parker was still a little confused as to why she was saying that, but went along with it anyways. “Let’s go back and join the group, I’ll explain more of why Master Sora wanted me to work with you later.”

He helped Hailee off the ground and they made their way back to the group. Many of the students looked very frustrated when they arrived. Some still had not felt the swirl of air in their palm, while others, like Alexis, were able to create the small gust of wind.

Master Sora pulled everyone together in a circle and said, “Raise your hand if you have not been able to feel the air circulate around your palm.” Hands from over half of the group went into the air. “Now, out of those of you that just raised your hand, how many of you are getting frustrated?” All of their hands stayed in the air.

Parker couldn’t figure out why Master Sora was doing this, it just seemed humiliating to him. The master spoke up, “The more frustrated you get, the longer it’s going to take you to find that sense of calmness. You’ve only been trying now for about thirty minutes. Do not let this get to you, making it more difficult for you to continue.”

“Do you think we should try to help them out?” Alexis whispered to Parker. He shrugged his shoulders, not sure what they could possibly do to help them.

Master Sora began separating the group into smaller groups, after about an hour and a half based on what they had accomplished. Alexis and Caleb were put into a group with three others. There was a group of five that were next to Alexis and Caleb’s group that had accomplished the same thing, and were going to work together to improve. Then, there was one last group of five who had not been able to find the peace and calm they needed.

Parker was included in this group. Master Sora pulled him to the side for a second. “I want you to try and help this group out. You found your center, your peace so easily and I think you might be able to help your peers out better than I can. They say kids learn better from other kids.”

Making his way to the group of kids who weren’t able to find their own peace, Parker thought of what he did that made it so easy. He couldn’t figure out what made him so special or why Master Sora thought he was so amazing. All he had done was create a gust of wind.

“How did you do that?” a girl with long blonde hair asked. “You made a gust of wind on your first try. How?”

The look on Parker’s face told the group that he honestly didn’t know what he did that was any different from what they tried. The girl spoke again, trying to figure out what he had done. “Do you come from a family of air imperials? Is that it? You’re just meant to be amazing at this?” Parker didn’t know how to answer the girl’s questions.

“Honestly, I don’t know what I did. And I don’t know if my family can do this stuff too, I didn’t know anything about all of this until I got here. All I did was follow Master Sora’s directions.”

Each member of the group stood their thinking about what Master Sora had told them. Parker repeated Master Sora’s directions to them. “It’s not as simple as just waving your hand in front of you, you have to connect with the air before you can do anything. So, I want everyone to close their eyes. Let your mind go blank. Let your emotions go. Once you feel a sense of calm, a sense of peace, try to slowly move your hand in front of you.”

The blonde girl said, a little frustrated, “That’s exactly what I did!” Everyone could tell that she was really bothered by not being able to create the air circulation. Parker wanted to just tell her that she needs to calm down and it’ll be a lot easier but he didn’t know how to confront her about that.

“All I did was let my mind go. I tried to not think of anything, but I couldn’t even do that.”

A confused look washed over the girl’s face. “But he said your mind has to be empty!” He thought about that for a second and realized he didn’t focus on letting his mind go empty but he focused on what made him feel at peace and calm.

“I was thinking about home. How I loved being around my family and learning from my mom. That’s the most peaceful thing I could think of. So, why don’t you give that a try? Try to think of something that makes you feel at peace.”

The girl stepped away from the group so she had some space. Everyone was watching closely, which couldn’t have made this easier for her. They could see her body relax, her shoulders slump down, her breathing steady. After a few moments, she raised her hand in front of her and slowly moved it. She could feel the air circulate around her hand and she screeched out in joy. “I did it! I can’t believe it worked!”

Smiles formed on everyone’s faces and they started to high-five her. Parker gave her a high-five and asked, “So, what did you focus on that helped you out?”

She blushed a little, seeming to be embarrassed. “Well… I thought about what I do when I go to sleep at night. I get ready and then climb into bed. When I’m in bed, I have a stuffed animal that I really like to cuddle with but I couldn’t bring him with me. It was a stuffed dog that my grandma gave me when I was born.”

Everyone continued to congratulate her on her success and then began giving it their own try. One-by-one, each kid in the group was able to make the air circulate around their hand.

When the last kid had succeeded, Master Sora appeared in their group. “Great job everyone! Most years don’t have one hundred percent completion within the first day. That gives us much more time to move on to our next lesson. So, quickly now, everyone gather in the clearing.”

The group made their way to the clearing in the trees forming a circle around Master Sora. “Parker, would you please join me in the middle.” Everyone turned their stares straight at him. His face turned red, nervous to be called out like that. “I am going to demonstrate how we fly and then I will walk you through the process.”

Master Sora stood motionless for a moment, and then he raised his arms by his side and made quick circular motions with his arms. The wind picked up and began swirling around him. As it swirled around him it picked up its speed and then began lifting Master Sora off the ground. After a few seconds, the wind died down and he slowly lowered back to the ground.

Shocked looks came from all around him. “Master, why did you call me to the middle if you’re the one doing a demonstration?” Parker was very confused as to what Master Sora wanted with him.

“I’m glad you asked Parker! You’re going to be the first try from our new year of students!”

His face went white, like all of the blood had drained from his body. His voice shaking, he asked, “You want me to do that? But… how?”

Master Sora started chuckling to himself again. “Did you think I wasn’t going to explain it to you?” Parker didn’t really know what to do and then Master Sora began giving an explanation of how it works.

“Similar to what you just accomplished, you will need to find that sense of peace again. However, this time, when you find your peace it needs to be rooted in a very happy memory. The happier the memory, the easier it is to create the wind to help you fly.” He motioned for Parker to take a moment and find his memory. “Once you’ve found your memory that you think will work, let me know.”

Parker stood for a moment, trying to think of the happiest thing he could. He thought about playing with his sister, being taught by his mom, but the one that stuck to mind the most was a little surprising. He nodded his head at Master Sora, signaling that he was ready for the next step.

“All right, once you’ve found your memory. You raise your arms out to the side as I did before.” Parker raised his arms out next to him, focusing on his memory. “Then you run them quickly in a circular motion. That is what creates the swirl of wind around you.”

Parker was focusing hard on his memory, trying to ignore the fact that everyone was staring at him, waiting to see what would happen. He didn’t budge for a minute, and then his arms began to rise beside him. They rest there for a moment and then in one quick motion he moved them in a circle.

A gust of wind kicked up, swirling around him fiercely. The next thing he knew, he was being lifted off the ground. Parker was so happy that he opened his eyes and saw that he was five feet off the ground already. He got so excited that he lost focus of his memory and the wind stopped swirling around him. Quickly, he fell from his spot in the air straight to the ground, landing on his bottom.

The whole group started clapping. Master Sora helped Parker back up to his feet. “That was amazing Parker. I only know one other student who has managed that on the first try. Typically, the student I have be the first to try only gets a small swirl of wind going. But not enough to actually lift them off the ground. You must have picked a great memory.”

Parker smiled, thinking of the memory he had chosen. Master Sora then had everyone spread out so they could begin trying.

Alexis was quick to achieve her first flight of a foot, followed by the blonde girl that Parker had recently helped. Caleb succeeded after a few tries, focusing on some different memories.

After about five of the students had succeeded, Master Sora pulled everyone back together. Caleb raised his hand. “Master Sora, we’ve only managed to make it like a foot into the air so far. How are we going to manage making it all the way up to our common room?”

“That’s a great question. The way that our entrance works is actually a way that makes it easy for us. As long as you make it into the opening of the entrance using your Imperial, the entrance will take you the rest of the way. If another element were to try, there are defenses set in place.”

Caleb’s face lit up. “So we only need to make it about ten feet into the air?” Master Sora nodded and everyone looked determined to be the first one to make it to that height. They turned to go back to their spots, forgetting that Master Sora had brought them back to say something.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold your horses everyone!” Everyone froze in place, realizing they completely ignored the fact that he had called everyone together. “You have been working very hard so far and I’m really proud of you. You’ve been at it all morning now and have made amazing progress. We’re going to take a short break for lunch at The Regale and then we’ll meet back here once everyone has finished.”

Parker leaned over to Hailee and whispered, “What’s The Regale?”

She laughed, “That’s the dining hall. To ‘regale’ means to feast or to eat. So, they named it that. Most people just say the dining hall though.”

As Parker got to the door, Master Sora grabbed his shoulder. “Parker, wait here for just a moment, I would like to talk to you.” Parker motioned for Alexis to go down and said that he would meet her down there.