Iseld Teser Academy for Wizarding

"Excellent. how about tomorrow at five o'clock in the evening, then?" Filrian glanced at his time-keeping device. "Goodness, Tempest is late. There might not be a tomorrow."

"That time would be fine." Keith thought for a moment, trying to remember who Tempest was. They hadn't ever really talked.

Tempest walked into the lab and looked around. Ugh. She was late. If her day got any worse, her Beskra teacher would have an interesting day tomorrow. "Hi, Professor," she said.

_Ah, that Tempest._ Keith eyed her, briefly skimming her surface thoughts, exercising all his skill in mind-reading without being detected.

Filrian glanced at Keith, then looked an Tempest and smiled. "Ah, Tempy. Now we can start. Let's line up, shall we?"

Tempest raised her eyebrows at the nickname. "All right." She stood where Filrian directed and glanced at the boy watching her. She couldn't remember his name, but really, when could she remember people's names? If she hadn't met them, or they just didn't make an impression, Tempest tended to forget who people were. It wasn't bad memory, it was just a lack of interest.

"Good. Now, please take out your implements," said Filrian.

Niphia did as she was told, clutching her black dagger in her right hand.

Tempest drew her Kusarigama and awaited further instructions.

Keith readied his long dagger, running his thumb over the runes on the handle.

Filrian surveyed the line of students. "Good. Now, hold out your implements. Feel the energy from the tense sky come toward your implement. If succesful, lightning will come. Now, it is important to immediately direct the energy elsewhere, lest you burn up. That is why we have these targets," said Filrian, indicating painted circles set up on the wall. "You will not succeed on your first try, or even your second try. Persevere, and after 20 tries you may have been able to bring down lightning. I expect Tempest to have it done by her tenth try."

Keith thought before his first try. _It's about the feeling. The way the magic flows. And Professor Filrian knows exactly how it feels._ He carefully probed the professor's surface thoughts, since, as he was teaching a class on it, the best method for summoning lightning would be there.

Tempest rolled her eyes at the hidden insult within the Professor's compliment. He mentioned agitation as the key to summoning lightning earlier in class. Very smooth, Professor Darsmoon. So I have a bad temper, do I? I'll show you a bad temper. She stared evenly at the teacher, waiting for further instruction.

Filrian sensed Keith's presence and lazily batted him out of his mind with a mental slap. "You may begin now. And no cheating," he said, with a pointed glance at Keith.

Niphia raised her implement and tried to summon the lightning. She couldn't.

Tempest closed her eyes and tried to feel frustrated. Well, at least that's never hard, she thought wryly. No luck. She pursed her lips and tried again, feeling for the energy that was supposedly going to come down from the sky into her implement. Into my implement... She shut her eyes tightly and focused.

Keith snorted and focused on his dagger. He had gotten a brief glimpse, not enough to do it, but enough to help. He tried summoning lightning. Nothing happened.

Tempest glanced quickly at Keith, wondering what had amused him. She gave a tiny shrug and continued her own efforts. Hmm. What if... She tried changing her approach, but still no result. Well, this is getting old. She huffed and felt a flame of frustration burst in her. Suddenly, the air hissed and crackled as a blue bolt of lightning descended from the roof to her Kusarigama and her eyes flew open as she let forth a squawk. She flicked her implement and tried to direct it to a target.

Keith immediately scanned Tempest's mind, not so intrusively that she could notice, but enough to get an idea of what was needed. _Anger. Of course. A hot emotion. Shouldn't be too hard._ He thought of his little brother, the twerp, and how father favored him. He focused, waiting, making sure he could control the power, not wanting to be caught by surprise like Tempest had been.

Tempest recovered from the shock of having actually summoned lightning and smiled, pleased. Well. That wasn't so hard. I guess that's why I'm specializing in elemental magic. Man, it's so emotions-based.

*OOC*
Robbie says to let you know that elemental magic is not anger-based. It's agitation. He would tell you, but he's studying

Keith focused on one of the targets and on the clouds, only aware of his dagger as a conduit. He channeled his anger through the dagger into the tip, and PULLED.

Lightning arced from the cloud, to his dagger, to the center of the target. It hadn't been nearly as powerful or flashy as Tempest's, but it had been there.

"I daresay... This class is full of negative energy," commented Filrian. "Although... I thought I said no cheating."

Niphia was surprised at Tempest and Keith's success. She tried again, to no avail.

Tempest smiled, pleased with her success. She was surprised that Keith had caught on so quickly though. He was supposed to be in Furus...Weird. Oh well. She shrugged and proceeded to try again. Now that she knew the secret, it was easier than before, but still required concentration, and a definite agitation.

Filrian contemplated. "Indeed. This class is..." He paused, lost in thought.

Niphia tried again, getting frustrated. This was her twenty-first try, and she still hadn't gotten it. Again. she failed. She frowned. She lifted her dagger once again, feeling very frustrated. A spark crackled in the sky. Once again, she went through the process of feeling enrgy pulled toward her--except this time, it worked. Lightning arced down toward her. Surprised, she forgot to redirect the lightning toward the target. The lightning connected with her implement, continuing down it toward her arm. However, before it made contact, the lightning suddenly shot away from her dagger, connecting with the wall. She looked around, her mouth hanging open.

Filrian stood with his arm outstretched, a smile on his face. "Congratulations, Niphia. You have succesfully summoned lightning. Next time, please do not forget to redirect it."

Tempest glanced around at the cracks of lightning flashing down all around her. She smiled, feeling comfortable. This was her element. No pun intended, she chuckled to herself.

Filrian glanced at the clock. "Gods above. Time files when summoning lightning. I'm running late for an appointment. Lab is over. Have a good weekend, and do your homework, or you all get failing grades. Bye, now." He looked at another teacher in the room. "I can trust you to clean up? Thank you." He rushed out.

Niphia stared at his hastened exit.

Tempest watched the Professor quizzically as he left.

--

Evander grabbed the books he had collected over the years: dog-eared copies that he had bought cheaply off the street. He had to get to Professor Darsmoon's house soon, or he would be late for his lesson.