The Girl with an Owl

Chapter 26

When they entered school, with much more confidence than the previous day, Ajana pulled out her schedule to check what her first lesson for the day was.
She sighed in relief when she saw that it was 'Magical Predisposition' because she could see that was where Bluebells was heading, too.
It made her feel a bit better because for the first time since she arrived at Mag she felt down, the whole situation with Orla had managed to ruin her good mood.

Ajana knew that she shouldn't let Orla get to her, but sometimes it was difficult not to react to people's negativity.
Her father always used to say that she had to understand that people who were treating her badly were actually unhappy about their own lives and were trying to make everyone around them miserable.
But he also told her that one shouldn't get angry at those people or hate them, one should pity them.

"Imagine how sad their life is when they have such an overwhelming need to stop others from being happy, my dear.
That's the kind of pain that you and I can't even try to understand.
If you feel anything towards those poor souls, it should be a pity.
It is sad for any living creature to be in so much pain as they are, trust me, my dear." Ajana's father used to say.

She knew he was probably right but sometimes she found it really difficult not to feel down when someone treated her badly.
Often times it made her wonder who was the real problem, people who told her all those bad things, or her.
These moments of self-doubt usually didn't last long and Ajana was glad that Bluebells, the happiest creature she had ever met would spend those moments with her.
Bluebells and his infectious positive energy were the things that she knew could bring her back to her old self.
After all, she was in a magical world learning about the magic, she couldn't allow anyone to destroy her good mood and the enjoyment of the wonders of the new world.

When they entered the classroom written on their schedule, they were surprised to find themselves in what seemed to be a training room.
That was not what Ajana expected.
She thought they might try to do something more similar to what she read about in Harry Potter books, like levitating a feather, she would be fine with that. However, from her surroundings, she concluded that it wouldn't be anything as easy as that.

Although it was obvious that they were in some kind of training room, it was unlike any training room she had ever seen. There were simply too many completely different things in it for her to make any sense of what was about to happen.
It didn't help the matter that there were many teachers standing on one side of the room deep in discussion but what did help was seeing Wallace among them.
This lesson seemed more important than she previously assumed, and she wasn't sure if she should feel scared or excited, so she settled for a bit of both.

Not knowing what else to do, she started looking around the room hoping to gain at least some clue to what was about to happen.
Space was huge, much bigger than anything Ajana had previously seen and it seemed like it was built a long time ago although it was still in pristine condition.
There were two levels to the training room, and she noticed that while Bluebells, the other first-year students and her were on the lower level, there were some students standing on the upper level near the wooden fence.
To her, it seemed as if they were spectators, but spectators to what?

The room had an old-fashioned feel to it what with the beautifully carved wooden arches that were the rafters.
Room colors were neutral but still tastefully arranged with predominant colors being brown and white.
The only way to get from one level to the other seemed to be a rickety old ladder that still looked strong enough to carry its weight.
Scattered around the room were different objects whose purpose or function Ajana could only guess.

Her attention was drawn to the strange glowing orbs that seemed to be trapped in even more unusual glass containers.
To her eye, it looked like a beautiful if somewhat unusual decoration, but having in mind where they were she was pretty sure the orbs had a different purpose, one they might soon find out.

She didn't get the chance to check out all the smaller and bigger objects around the room since there was a teacher coming their way, and she assumed he was there to explain to them what was about to happen.

Only when he approached did she notice a few unusual things about the said teacher. He wasn't as corporeal as he first seemed.
There was a kind of transparency about him that one wouldn't expect in a human and that was when Ajana realized that he must have been some kind of spirit or another non-corporeal being.

"Gather around!" He said.
His voice had a special quality about it, hearing it was quite a unique sensation because they didn't just hear his voice, they felt it.
They felt the voice as the wind in the air that swept across them both strong and oddly beautiful.
That was a very strange feeling that Ajana couldn't properly process, but she could feel that it was part of who he was.
The same way people saw facial expressions and gestures as just part of who they were, it seemed for their new teacher wind was part of him, or he was part of the wind, Ajana wasn't sure which one was truer.

"I am Adahy, a wood nymph and for the time being your teacher." He said looking every one of them in the eye daring them to ask something strange or laugh.
However, they had all learned their lesson after what happened the previous day with their dragon teacher, and they all stayed quiet.
"That's good, you are fast learners," Adahy said.

"As most of you here are unfamiliar with our world here, the most important thing for you to remember is to never laugh at any magical creatures and to always be careful what types of questions you ask them.
I can't count the number of times some uneducated little students, such as yourself, have asked me the obnoxious question 'Aren't wood nymphs supposed to be beautiful girls'. " He said using the most irritating tone of voice he could muster.

"Well, those students know nothing of the world. Wood nymphs can be of both genders as is the case with all the other species.
Next thing on agenda, as we are expected to have these classes for a long time I am not about to keep up this human glamour any longer.
By now you should have gotten used to the fact that we are all different here." Adahy said as he got rid of his human-like form.
What was left was his true nymph self and for Ajana he was the most fascinating being she had seen thus far because he was not what she expected.

He still had a humanoid form, it was just more transparent than before and his skin seemed to be made of tree bark, it seemed equally firm and a part of him as much as anything else.
On his face there appeared a leaf-shaped mask that didn't seem to be a mask at all but a part of his face.
It was like the most beautiful autumn leaf just fallen from a tree.

"Okay, that's better. One more thing before we start. You might wonder 'Why don't you speak in a strange language like magical characters we read about?' Well, it's mostly because of you.
I have been working with students for such a long time that I even sound like you.
Now, since we have cleared up all those pesky things that might bother you, let's get down to business.

Today we are going to try to determine your magical predetermination as the class name says.
What some of you might not know is that although there is magic in all of you here, some of you are more in tune with one type of magic than the rest.
That means that while some of you might find yourself drawn to healing others might easily master telepathy or telekinesis and so on.
According to what you are drawn to your classes will be adjusted to better suit your needs.
Of course, you will have to have general subjects, but most of your subjects will be the ones that will benefit you the most.

However, I must warn you, sometimes your predetermination might not be revealed during the first class and that's okay, it's completely normal albeit rare.
In that case, you will be asked to take the general course until your predetermination shows itself.
Okay then let's get started!" He said and the most important class they would ever have started.