Wednesday, April 20, 2005

   Chapter 2: Falamarana (part 4)
Fala stepped outside, and had to delete the picture from her mind.
Welding was nothing like a school. It looked more like a neighborhood, surrounded by a huge, red brick wall. In the middle was the largest building, with a tower on one side. A few of the huts were larger than others. Some were taller, round, or very colorful. The whole place was strangely deserted, empty of life except a few lonely doves, cooing to themselves upon the multi-colored rooftops.
“C’mon,” Blues said. He didn’t seem very surprised at Welding; obviously, he had been there before. He ran dutifully to the nearest section to the wall.
“Where is everyone?” Fala questioned, slowly following.
“Home. Summer Break. But not for long,” Blues shot her a glance. “School’s starting in a couple weeks.”
“Yeah, okay…”
“You’ll be going, too.” It wasn’t a question.
“What?! But… I don’t know magic!”
“Well--” Blues flicked his right hand, and was suddenly holding a black wand. Fala was so surprised by this move that she, literally, sprung back three feet. “—someone’s gonna hafta teach ya.”
“Ahhh…”
“Relax! I’m sure we’ll get you to catch up in time!” he exclaimed.
“You’ll teach me—“
“I never said that!” Blues started, blushing around the edges. But he had to rethink quickly, before he answered: “Although I do think that is what will happen.”
For a second, their eyes met each other. They stared at each other, spellbound by something neither of them could explain. Finally, Fala broke the silence:
“How do we get out?” she asked stupidly. Blues’ face turned slightly pink and he looked away, embarrassed. Fala did her best to ignore it.
There were absolutely no doors in the wall as far as she could see. “Step back,” Blues ordered, raising his wand against the wall. Fala did as he asked. “It’ll be your first lesson. To get in and out of Welding, we do this.” Putting his wand to the wall, he pulled it down to the grass, never leaving the surface. Then, he backed away and he drew a archway in the air. At the joining point, he held his wand still until the wall simply disappeared. Blues slipped his wand back up his sleeve, and he walked through the arch as if he did it every day. After a moment of hesitation, Fala ran through after him. Once she was outside, the wall reappeared.
They faced a little town, separated from them by a clearing. It took her a while to sort out the many family-neighborhoods of houses.
“Welcome,” Blues said, “to WillowWind. The city of the Wind-mage.”
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