Lucille stood in front of an amphitheater filled with people, scanning the faces. They were clearly divided into īpaš, with the water on one end, and then earth, fire and air. For some reason, the air seemed even further away, and there were only about twenty kids there. Professors sat at the front of their group, and one woman stood in front of them. “Welcome first years, to Demesne, we are happy to have you here. As you must have inquiered about it on the bus, I’ll assume you all know about the īpašas, and how you will be sorted into your own īpaš. Keep an open mind, you never know where you might end up.”
“Water,” Max said pointing to Lucille, “fire,” he said, gesturing to himself, “and earth.” He said, finally gesturing to Taylor. “Called it.”
Lucille grinned nervously and rolled her eyes. The woman that stood in front of them was going over some history stuff, and then she recapped how the sorting would go. Lucille grimaced and closed her eyes, as an air professor came over and quickly slashed the held out arm of each first year down the line. Lucille was last, and when it was her turn she opened her eyes.
The pain was totally unexpected. It hurt more than the time she broke her leg when she was eight. It hurt more than anything else had before. She was no longer nervous, she wanted it to stop.
“First years are now feeling the pain that you all felt when you first came here. Now, as you are eagerly waiting your healing, is the first time that your powers are open to you. The first chance you have at discovering your īpaš. You see, you cannot use your īpaš until you come into contact with the īpaš of another. Now, first up we have Lucille.”
Lucille gasped. She thought that her side of the line was the end. So much for that. All of a sudden, it was as if the pain was gone, and all she was was nervous. She gulped, considering each cylinder. Nothing came to her. She had no idea. Maybe this whole īpašas thin wasn’t meant for her. Maybe it was a mistake. “Let’s see if your call was right.” Lucille whispered to Max, taking a deep breath and walking to the water cylinder.
Lucille hesitantly dipped her hand into the water cylinder. She felt the glance of the water īpaš on her. All of a sudden, her arm started to tingle, she was filled with a light, freeness, she felt like dancing! Lucille could feel herself rising into the air… it was the best feeling in the world. Far away, she could hear the cheers of the water īpaš. She looked down and opened her eyes. There was water all around her, and she was twenty or thirty feet in the air, suspended by the water around her.
“Nice!” she could hear Max yell.
Lucille blushed and fell to the ground. One of the water professors gathered all of the water and put it back into the cylinder. Lucille walked back and stood next to Max in line.
The woman laughed. “No! You can go sit with your īpaš now.”
Lucille walked with a smile to sit in the front row of the water īpaš.
Max walked sheepishly up to the front and stuck his arm into the dirt. Nothing happened, he blushed a little bit, and then hesitated before sticking his arm into the fire. “Ow!” he yelled, withdrawing his arm and sticking it into the water. When he pulled his arm out, he blinked a few times, and then held it up for everybody to see.
Lucille laughed and clapped for Max, as he walked over to sit next to her. Lucille was glad to be with someone else who didn’t know what they were doing.
Taylor was next. She ran up and stuck her arm into the water. When it didn’t work, she ran to the dirt, and stuck it in, and then cautiously eyed the fire before moving to the air. The kids in the air element laughed when she stuck her arm in to no avail. She hesitated, paused, and stuck her arm into the water again for a safety coating and then immersed her arm in fire. She jumped up and shot the fire from her healed arm about a mile into the sky, a grin gracing her face.
