Page 106

wooden door and peered into the square just as a small cat was leaping onto Saure's shoulder.

"There you are! Thought I'd catch you studying for the finals. Finished?"
"Just about. Might want to close that door for a minute."
"Oh, right… right." He did so. Saure muttered to herself, swishing her hands in a rolling circular motion. The tops of the surrounding walls were grooved deeply, allowing a little trough for water to collect. The rain gutters in the greenhand section of the University of Nora fed into these grooves which surrounded growing squares and ran through green sheds for convenience. Now, Saure summoned water down from the walls and collected it into a ceiling. Here she held it aloft with one hand, searching through her sachet with another. She took a handful of special orange dust, and blew this into the rippling roof of water. This tinted it, making it shimmer brightly for a moment. She walked backwards to the door, flattening herself against it. Then she lowered her hands. The water fell in a sheet, evenly distributed upon every potted plant. She dusted her hands and let herself out.

"Baffles the mind, I tell you…" Sig muttered, shaking his head. Curls of dusty brown hair fell into his face and he brushed them away as he walked with Saure. "I'll never know how a fireblood can waterweave the way you do. It's just counter-intuitive."

"Oh, Sig. I'm nothing that special. Just versatile." She smirked, stroking Fred's ears as they passed into the shade of the main building.

---

Saure had learned extensively of her arts while at university. She excelled in her floramancy and herbology, was well-versed in growth-aides and fertilizers. She excelled in her extra-curricular classes in pyromancy and aquamancy, and also received top marks in her ether theory course.

Page 107

Part of her wished never to leave such a utopia of knowledge. Part of her wanted to remain as a teacher, perhaps even a professor in many areas. She longed to create a combination elemental course in which she would teach her findings as a master of multiple elements. She was already in the process of writing this course; although the somewhat random pieces of parchment were littered about her living quarters and inserted at angles in her most prized tome, the Manifesto. Among these papers were reams about fauna and its practical uses. She was more than slightly aggravated that those in Nora turned such a blind eye to such a blatantly wonderful gift.

However her want to become a giver of information, her young heart burned with wanderlust. And at times her soul was split betwixt staying on indefinitely and just striking out for the hills. Countless times she had bargained with the guard of the high tower to breast the many stairs. She craved the high winds and the breathtaking view from that high tower. The exhilaration of possibility sprang up in her chest every time she walked the circumference and gazed out at forest, plain, mountains and the insurmountable briny expanse of darkest ultramarine that separated her from the mysteries of the orient and beyond.

Nineteen springs was a long enough wait, she thought sometimes. Other times, it seemed far too young to risk one's life on the unknown. But, the other half of her mind would counter, what is the price of adventure? Picking up what personal possessions she absolutely needed, selling the rest and setting off... was that really such a horrible thing to do? Pulling up her roots in Nora, so to speak?

She flew through her exams with something of a bored tolerance. The tasks were idiotically simple to her, and she was anxious to be done with them. She rushed because she was ready for the next chapter in her life, whatever that chapter might read.

---