Wind Magic (Kal's failed attempt at teaching)

There was a large blackboard in the corner of the ring. Kallistrates had put it there a long time ago. The top read:
Wind Magic - A guide by Kallistrates
1. Do not fight the wind. Let it direct you and your heart
2. Flexibility
3. Ask Tahi for anything else.

The end

P.S. there are gliders and sailboats in the equipment shed. Use them to practice.

P.P.S. except for you Tahi. No gliders for you.

P.P.P.S - Do not try wind + archery/daggers without passing the archery/dagger class first. I am not to be held responsible if you get hurt.

Kallistrates.

Tahi frowned. Of course her brother would make sure to share her embarrassing crash incident with the entire school. She looked at the blackboard. It was the same advice he had given her when they were training on the road when she was a little girl. But it meant a lot more when her brother had actually assigned her exercises to do. She sighed. I guess that's my job big brother. Thanks... She sat in the grass, and began scribbling a lesson plan on a notebook she kept in her satchel.

Zephyra walked into the magic ring hoping to get some form of practice in before she would have to do it in the actual class. She stopped there was a fifth year girl, sitting in the grass with a notebook. So Zephyra completely dropped the whole reason she had come there for, she walked up to the girl. The older girl was a Nephelae, she could just tell, people of the same species could recognize other people of the same species. "Hello! I'm Zephyra, do you mind if I sit here and join you?" She asked.

((The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this thread was, Hots for the Teacher, by idkwho. I could definitely see something between him and Azzy.))

Tahi looked up from her notes to see a smiling face looming above her. The girl was of medium height, with short blonde hair, brown eyes and pointed ears. Noting the lightning bolt necklace around her neck - Tahi realized she must be one of Zeus's warriors.

Zeus... She and her brother had had difficulties in the past because of his... unique sense of leadership. But that was no reason to judge this girl. Tahi wouldn't want someone to judge her lady just because of her antics. She looked back at the girl. Tahi knew that Zeus favored nephalae, and this girl - judging by her ears - definitely wasn't human. She briefly wondered if she was one of her father's people. Most nephalae weren't fond of half breeds like her. And with her dark skin - almost unheard of among nephelae, it was hard to miss her Egyptian heritage. But again - Tahi didn't believe in judging people by their race. Okay - she decided. I'll give this girl a chance.

"Sure!" Tahi replied - returning the smile. "I'm Tahirah - but my friends call me Tahi. My brother's the wind master" she said, indicating the blackboard. "But he's a little to lazy to teach - so I always end up writing the lesson plan," Tahi continued, motioning to her notes.

((He's 13 years older than Azu ... He's an incorrigible flirt - but not that much))

((who says azu doesn't like older men?? Hehe))

Zephyra smiled at Tahi and sat down. She looked curiously at the notebook. "If you're brother is the wind master then why are you drawing up a lesson plan?"

Zephyra looked at Tahi carefully, her dark skin proved that she wasn't a pure breed Nephelae. She thought carefully what her father said about half breeds, it was horrible what he had said about them and he was the leader of her people. Zephyra shook her head, she had never listened to her father's rules nor had she ever followed them. Why start now? Tahi's dark complexion was obviously Egyptian.

"So Tahi, who is your sponsor? Mine is Zeus, if you couldn't tell from the necklace." Zephyra asked, and then held her necklace in her hands. She looked at it and then back up at Tahi smiling.

Tahi laughed. "You're obviously a nephelae. You know how sometimes you just need to be like the wind - you know - moving, wandering from place to place, totally free? For my brother that 'sometimes' feeling is a 'all the time' feeling. He has a bad habit of disappearing right before lessons are supposed to start." Tahi laughed again. She loved her brother with all her heart - but he was the most irresponsible person she knew.

"But it's okay." Tahi continued "My lady - Hestia, who's my sponsor by the way - knows how Kal is, and uses his wanderlust by sending him on her errands. Drives Mnemosyne mad - because he's officially supposed to be Hestia's mentor as well, but poor Mnem always gets stuck with it.

"But as far as the lessons go - I studied with my brother so I could control my wind magic for eight years when I was a little girl. I know the theory pretty well - even if I... well... as you can see I'm only half-nephelae," Tahi's voice was quieter now. "My mother was human, and it makes my magic... unstable at times."

Tahi considered Zephyra for a moment, gauging her reaction. But the nephelae seemed unfazed by Tahi's confirmation of her human mother. That was a good sign, she thought. Maybe this girl was like Kal and went against the traditional Nephelae beliefs.

Tahi also noticed how Zephyra held the lightning bolt necklace. The girl seemed truly fond of her sponsor. Well - maybe Zeus had taken a liking to this girl for something other than his... usual reasons... that made Tahi curious. Maybe this girl was more powerful than she thought. At any rate she was worth getting to know.

"So," Tahi asked. "Will I - I mean - will my brother have the honor of teaching you this year?"

Zephyra smiled at the girl. "Yes, your brother will be teaching me, if its an honor I'm not so sure."

"Thats okay. Wind magic, well it depends on the person. And you're skin color is lovely. Wish I could be tan like you." Zephyra said with a smile. "All I do is burn, and its just gross and painful." She hated how her people discriminated the half-nephelaes. It was wrong and horrible.

She looked at the necklace around her neck. Zephyra wasn't quite as fond of her sponsor, Zeus gave her the necklace demanding that she wear it. The stupid thing branded her as another one of his warriors and the fact that she was girl would be showing that she was chosen for his usual reasons. Zephyra prayed and hoped that it wasn't the case with her and that maybe he chose her because she is a prodigy archer.

Tahi smiled. She liked this girl. "I know how you feel... Kal's a great guy, but.. he can be a tad irresponsible... And I guess burning can be rough. I know my brother has a cream the healers made up for him to keep him from burning when we're traveling. He's used it ever since I've known him - and for Kallistrates to use something regularly - you know it must be important." She giggled. "I'm betting he burned himself terribly when he was a kid."

Looking down at the notebook in her lap, she yawned, then stretched. "Okay - It's official - I've been sitting down for too long." She placed the notebook back in her travel satchel and placed it on one of the benches surrounding the magic ring. Pulling her arms above her head in another position that stretched her triceps, she turned back to Zephyra, her green eyes slowly loosing all of their color until they were a brilliant white.

"Up for a little practice?" Tahi asked with a grin.

Azurith wrote:((who says azu doesn't like older men?? Hehe))

Anemos sneaked her way into the ring, looking around to see if there were any good spots. She saw two girls caught in conversation and thought that she shouldn't interrupt them. Swaying her hair she walked to sit next to a Pretty girl looking at the teacher with big flirty eyes. "Hey " She smiled at the girl sitting in the soft green grass. "Is this spot free?" She asked the girl while twirling a small blue lock of hair.

((Kal's not actually here and neither is Azu. Azu's comments are in double parentheses so its not her roleplaying - it's her creator commenting, and Kal's comments are just a note on the blackboard))

Zephyra smiled at Tahi, the girl was growing on her. "Why not, the reason I came here anyways was to practice. So sure lets do this." She smiled brightly at the girl. "Don't laugh if I make a fool of myself."

Zephyra felt the winds around her. As a child she could feel the winds and control, but the power grew and got stronger as she got older. Raivynne had cut her hair short after the party, so the winds blew through the short blonde locks. She waited for Tahi to begin.

“Excellent - and don't worry, you'll do fine!” Tahi grinned, as she stooped down to a crate near the blackboard and picked up a set of five strange looking balls. They were about the size of an orange, and looked like some sort of strange contraption. Each ball had a circular ((note – CIRCULAR = 2D, not SPHERICAL =3D)) outer shell made of metal that served as a frame, while the inner layers were made of a paper thin material, designed to rotate around the spherical axis. Picking one up, she held it out in front of her.

“These are called sky-balls. My brother and I used to play with them all the time before I came here. The outer metal ring acts as a stabilizer, but it makes the balls heavy. The inner paper layers catch the wind and move the ball. But if you use too strong of a wind, you’ll break the paper. The idea is to use the wind to toss the ball to your partner without breaking the paper. It’s about control and flexibility, because the ball has a habit of turning around so that it’s hard to direct sometimes, and you have to be able to change the wind at a moments notice. Let’s start with just one for now, but if we get better, we can add more balls, and try to coordinate patterns.”

Tahi held the ball so that her hand was only touching the metal circle support. Then, concentrating, she summoned up a brisk wind to flow through the paper, making the paper parts whir as they spun. “Ready, set, go!” she yelled, as she let go of the metal support, and the ball soared skyward. Catching another breeze with her hand she directed it at the ball from a horizontal angle, propelling it towards Zephyra.

((The balls are like spherical pinwheels…))

((sorry it took me so long to respond to this XD. I love pinwheels!))

Zephyra listened to Tahi explain the pinwheel like object. She nodded understanding. Tahi propelled the ball at her, Zephyra eyed the disc as it came towards her. As it came closer, she called the winds to her and then used a quick small breeze to grab hold of the ball, she sent it back to Tahi.

"Was that right?" Zephyra asked, questioning what she just did. She didn't want to mess up, she wanted to prove her abilities as Nephelae and that she wasn't just chosen by Zeus for well obvious reasons. Zephyra also wanted to make a good first impression.

Zephyra pushed the ball back to Tahi. The ball dipped a little as it went, but it carried close enough that Tahi could float the ball with a breeze.

"Was that right?" Zephyra asked, hesitant.

Tahi caught the ball with another breeze, directing it into a circle around her head. "That was excellent! You're a little soft, but that's only to be expected, because you don't want to be too forceful and break it. You can be a little stronger if you'd like" she winked, and with a twitch of her fingers the she threw the ball back on another breeze.

Zephyra nodded at what Tahi had said. When the ball came back to her, she gathered a little more wind and threw it back to the girl. She didn't ask again if she did it correctly not wanting to seem paranoid, even though she totally was.

Tahi caught the ball easily, and directed it into lazy loops around her hand. "Excellent!" she cried with a grin. "You're a quick learner."

"Up for making things a little more difficult?" Tahi asked, picking up another ball. Two balls wasn't that hard, three took coordination, four took skill, five took luck, and any more took a combination of all three. Tahi and Kal had once done seven, but it was only for one round, before Tahi had dropped the balls. She had never asked Kal what his record was. She was pretty sure it would make her jealous..

Zephyra nodded. "Sure lets make it more difficult." She had never seen these things before. Shocked in the very least that she could handle more then one on her first try with the balls. Zephyra out of a nervous habit cracked her knuckles. She could handle it...hopefully. Zeph got ready for Tahi to send the balls back.

Tahi nodded and grabbed a second ball, and launched it into the air, swirling it back into where she had the first one spinning.

"I'll toss you the first one first, then when you catch it I'll toss you the second one, as you toss me the first. I'll go low, and you go high, and we're sure not to crash. Here we go!" She tossed the first ball, in a low arc with a breeze. And as she did so her head throbbed, and she felt her magic waver just a tiny bit. No! Not now! Tahi thought, as she felt her power draining, her eyes changing back to a brilliant green. The second ball, the one she hadn't tossed yet, dropped like a rock, hitting her squarely on the foot, while the other ball was still careening towards Zephyra. The breeze propelling it was gone, but it still had momentum.