Rowan Academy

Aislyn was only half listening to John/Eld. She was sitting ramrod straight, sharp, dark eyes examining the clearing. We are not alone. She stood as Eld began to swear before inclining her head. "Eld," she said. "I'm Aislyn. 'Member?" Then she spun, approaching a particularly tall tree. She morphed into her human self, as easily as changing clothes. "I know you're there. We're not gonna hurt you." She smiled, not unkindly.

Yoki couldnt believe her eyes, there in the clearing were two wolves. Not any ordinary wolves, one had a pelt of fire? The other one that reminded her of twilight? She felt her stomach drop as the fiery one morphed into a human, a boy about her age...."Holy crap...did some one slip some shrooms in my trailmix?" she was tempted to slap herself to try and bring back a sense of reality to her situation, but stopped herself. The twilight wolf also changed into a young girl, also about her age. They seemed distracted with each others conversation, Yoki wanted to sneak away while she could, she was scared, but something was keeping her there.

The twilight wolf approached her tree, aware of her presence...maybe they really were her guides? It was no use trying to leave now, gingerly she stepped out, barely making a sound against the leaves scatter among the floor. She felt ridiculous in her traditional clothes, the feathers in her hair, the beads around her waist and neck. "Uhh...you guys wouldn't happen to be spirit guides would you?" she asked, feeling totally cliche, her cheeks turning rosy with embarrassment, she was even expecting some cryptic answer from them like the stereotypes always showed.

Eld looked at the new girl and smiled broadly, "Well I am spirited but I'm pretty sure I don't qualify as a guide since i'm lost. My name is Eld, but until recently I went by John, I'm the wolf of fire and i'm a new student at Rowan academy, are you a student there also? If so do you know how we can get there? I'm lost and I think I will probably be completely incapable of finding my way back before tomorow morning which would get me in a lot of trouble." Eld smiled again then frowned suddenly before assuming a neutral expression, "I'm sorry I completely forgot to ask your name, what do you prefer people to address you by when speaking to or about you?" Eld stuck out his hand and reduced his wolf form to nothing more than faintly flickering flames along his eyebrows before becoming fully human and smiling at who he had decided would be his newest friend.

Aislyn glanced at the girl. She was a young, pretty woman who seemed around Aislyn's own age. She grinned a little at Eld's talking, already used to it. "I'm sure those clingy wolves that are at the school are already sending out search parties for us," she chuckled, then turned.
"We go to Rowan Academy. I'm guessing that's where you are supposed to be, aswell, instead of waiting for spirit guides. You're probably one of the wolves. I'm Aislyn, wolf of the Moon." She said, unsure of how she should introduce herself yet used the office aide's way of pronunciation, the first thing that came into her mind. She gave a little wave, while she waited for the girl to respond to Eld's question, curious to whom this newcomer was. But the girl seemed friendly enough.

Yoki tilted her head as the boy talked to her, they were nothing like what she thought spirit guides would be causing her to wonder if they were something else. "Uh my name is Yoki....but most people know me as Kiwi" she said, now wasn't the time for explanations about it's origins. "I was told I would find my true self here, in the forest by the clan leaders" she said sheepishly. "And I guess seeing as you guys are the most mystical thing I have found out here this wolf thing must be it" she giggled, her cheeks turning rosy under her tanned complexion.

"Rowan Academy? There are more wolf..people things?" she asked, feeling a little giddy at her bizarre discovery. "Cool...but I hate to say it I have no idea where it is" she shrugged, "I was sent here with no idea what i was supposed to do. I guessed it was some right of passage thing." She thought about it for a second, had the elders known about this the whole time?

"I might be able to guide you back there though" she said, "I'm still learning but I was taught to kind of...read the wind" again she knew how ridiculous it sounded, but then again she was talking to people who could turn into wolves it was safe to say very little would surprise them.

"read the wind? righteous, does that mean you're the wind wolf? wait never mind you just said you didn't know. But yeah there are lots of people at the rowan academy, i actually just passed out then woke up there so i've never even seen any of the area surrounding the academy. How do you read the wind? is it like reading a book with letters and such or like those spiritually type thing where its just colors and feelings? can you teach other people how to do that? do you think I could learn to read fire? i don't know what a fire would say though besides 'hi i'm all burny and stuff!' but it would still be kinda nifty. Oh also there's water over there in a small pond but you probably already saw that. So why do people call you Kiwi? is it because you like the kiwi fruit or the kiwi bird or is it because you lived in new zealand at some point in time or some other reason? people call me Eld, well i say people but right now it's pretty much only you and Aislyn that know that name unless someone else did some spiritually type thing, but wait never mind what I just said i'm rambling i do that from time to time by the way but i never gave you a chance to answer my questions so yeah i'll stop talking now so one of you can talk." Eld stopped talking and looked around the clearing then got distracted by a game of chase-the-shadow for a bit before sitting down again and staring up at his two friends *wait do i need to wait for them to accept my friendship before i can call them friends or does that just mean i consider them friends regardless of whether or not they also consider me friends? I dunno whatever* and then patted the ground next to him "come on guys no reason we can't sit comfortable while we talk, wait oops i'm supposed to be quiet now." Eld drew his fingers across his lips in a closing a zipper mime then smiled and started pulling off his shoes so he could get to the matches and lighters he had stored there.

Yoki giggled at Eld as he kept going with no pause, then at his embarrassment for rambling. Once he had finished she smirked and held up a delicate hand, she counted the answers on her hand as she spoke, surprisingly she remembered all the questions he had asked. "I read the wind as though it's like a whisper, I guess it was a spiritual thing I was the only person in my clan who could really do it the mystic only guided me, yes you could learn to read fire there are heaps of techniques but it's actually a way of predicting the future and current activities. Uhh...when I first came to my tribe two years ago they told me my true name was Kiwidinok, its means 'air', so I that might have something to do with the wolf of air?...although I doubt it...its just a name right? Anyway...so since then people in the clan have called me kiwi. I've never been to New Zealand, I do like kiwi fruit and I like all birds. Kiwi birds are endangered ya know?" she said very rushed as she was running out of breath.

"I think that about covers it" she said with a smirk. "So..Rowan Academy? A school for wolves? That's gotta be weird.." she said leaning against a tree. "How does the whole turning into a wolf thing work? How do you do it?" she asked raising an eyebrow curiously.

Aislyn perked up. "You're the Wolf of Air?" she asked, smiling hugely. "And you can get us back! That's great." She plopped down into the crest of a tree, in an encirclement of roots. She heaved a sigh, enjoying the day, then said mildly, "I think it varies for different people and elements. I mean, it's fairly easy to shift for me- but alebit painful." She glanced at Eld for confirmation.

Eld noticed the glance from Aislyn and smiled then pulled the zippo lighter out of the square he had cut in his shoe. Before he started talking he lit the zippo and made sure the flame was steady before snapping it shut and looking back up, "I actually have no idea how to shift between wolf and human form and I'm usually too excited when I do shift to notice anything other than me being on fire but next time I shift I'll try to pay closer attention, my shifting actually seems to be tied to my emotional state so I should probably talk to somebody about that maybe figure out how to do it on purpose. But I do believe we have sat and relaxed for quite long enough let us be off! we shall sally forth into the presumably great unknown and endeavor to find our way back to Rowan academy preferably before dinner because going to bed with no food in the belly is not fun at all. Which way shall we go fort in our quest of discovery, I vote we head north!" as Eld finished his semi-dramatic statement he pointed boldly to the south-east, then turned to his traveling companions and waited for them to cast their votes. He didn't really care which direction they went in so long as they were moving, staying in one place for so long had reminded Eld uncomfortably of being back in the institution he had spent too many years of his life in.

Yoki smiled and closed her eyes, letting the breeze hit her, it was directed south meaning it had already passed through the north. It carried all the information of what it had passed. "The North, there's nothing but more forest for at least 7miles" she said, "I came from the west and I've been walking for quite a while, I entered on a road that separated the forest from town" she said. "I suggest we head south east if you haven't traveled more than 7miles into the forest" she said, this was ne thing Yoki knew she was good at, directions. The wind was her compass, and her gps. She smirked at the idea of the faint whispering sounding like the female voice on those annoying car systems.

"Well, let's get going," stated Aislyn, feeling a lot less energetic then she had when she'd arrived. It was already dark outside. She closed her eyes, centering herself for a few moments. The moon was a small sliver in the night sky; she supposed that was effecting her in more ways than one. She felt her fur growing, the half-moon marks on her back seemed to be glowing. She shrugged; as a wolf it appeared to be a twitch. She let out a literal bark of laughter and began to head the direction Yoki had pointed in.
She began to trot, eager to get back to the academy. She had a feeling she was going to meet her roomate there- but she wasn't exited, not as much as she thought she would be. Merely tired.

Eld grinned broadly, happy to be moving, and started strolling in the direction Aislyn was trotting in then stopped and turned to Kiwi, "Hey since you don't have a wolf form do you think we would move faster if you rode on one of our backs? I'm not sure but I think I can make the flames from my wolf form be not hot so you won't be all 'oh no i'm on fire!' or if Aislyn is ok with it you can ride on her back, that way the whole group moves faster. Wait lemme try to become a wolf first." Eld lit his zippo and set it on the ground while he stared at the flame, letting it draw him in to its depths. As he stared deeper and deeper into the flames he helft himself grow warm and felt liquid fire race along his limbs, not painful in a bad way but kind of like stretching a cramped muscle in that it hurt for a second then he felt a great release of pressure, and when he looked away from the flame he realized he was lower to the ground and had a flickering glow of fire around himself. Eld opened his mouth and let his tongue loll out in a canine grin then looked at the others and tried speaking, when his voice came out it sounded like crackling flames burning through a log, "Yay I did it on purpose! Ok so Kiwi, may I call you Kiwi? I'm bad with names, but anyways you down to try riding on one of our backs? faster movement is more better." Eld trotted around marveling at how things looked different to his wolf form, he could tell Intrinsically at what temperature everything would burn at and what its current temperature was and he enjoyed it until he realized his zippo was still on the ground and he couldnt pick it up with his wolf paws, "shoot, didn't think about that..."

Yoki followed Aislyn, keeping next to Eld. She kept quiet, the winds would tell her if it had passed the academy and then they would know where to go. She stopped and watched Eld transform once more, he was obviously pleased that he could transform now on purpose. She looked at them both, they were bigger than your average wild wolf, but to ride them? Yoki tilted her head "Uh sure if you can carry me. But yes a I would appreciate if you didn't singe my butt" she giggled picking up Elds zippo for him and pocketing it. "And Kiwi is fine, I'm used to it" she smiled. She guessed from now on Yoki would be her less used name, it didn't matter to her that much. Yoki was a name she had been given at the circus, Kiwi was her true name so why wouldn't she use Kiwi from now on? She glanced at the glowing Aislyn and at the Flaming Eld, "So who wants to be my steed?" she snickered.

Aislyn raised her eyebrows.
Ride them? Like common broadmares? She didn't want to offend the girl, but there was no way in heck she was letting some stranger on her back. She was going to walk unless Eld let her on his back- which she already doubted. It wouldn't take that much longer. Besides, as a wolf it didn't increase her strength much more- it'd be like piggybacking someone when the speed would be increased tenfold by yourselves.
She snorted and glanced at Eld. She didn't want to put him on the spot, but he'd suggested it.

Eld opened his mouth in another canine grin then closed his eyes in concentration and focused on his flames for a moment and felt their warmth recede. The flickering flames of his pelt slowed in their movements and then slowly shifted from fire to a bright red pelt of fur. After this happened Eld opened his eyes and looked around then smiled again, "Yay! Ok lets go!" Eld trotted over to Kiwi and presented his back to her and prepared to take off once she was on, he felt the hunger pangs from not eating all day and he was excited to get back to the academy.

Kiwi hesitated as Eld came forward, "If you're sure" she said as she swung her delicate legs lightly over him. "Alright not to fast now, I may get you to change direction as I read the wind" she said. She gripped onto his scruff loosely. His pelt was hot to the touch, like holding a cup of boiling water, not too hot that she would need to let go but it was definitely noticeable.

Eld nodded his head, "Not too fast, got it." Eld crouched and wiggled slightly to make sure Kiwi was secure on his back then started walking, and then trotting, and then slowly working up his speed until he was running full-tilt forward in the direction Kiwi had told him to go in, paying attention to her grip on his pelt in case she tugged in one direction or another. As he ran his excitement grew and his vision grew more accurate and his speed increased until he was moving nearly as fast as a car, only twenty-five to thirty miles per hour but still respectably fast. Eld felt as though he could run faster but didn't try because his entire focus was on dodging around trees and keeping his pelt from exploding into flames which were both very important.

Kiwi let out a little whoop followed by a few childish giggles as they picked up speed. The whispering winds raced past her, flooding her with images and details of what they had passed. She managed to catch one about a building due west of a large tree stump. She looked up to see they were fast approaching the exact landmark described. She pulled on Elds fur lightly to direct him to turn. "Its just under a mile away if I'm right" she called out so Aislyn could hear too.

Eld turned where Kiwi had guided him, panting happily from the exertion of running and the unusual joy of being a wolf. Listening to what Kiwi had said to Aislyn, Eld put the spurs on and ran as fast as he could without either exploding into flames or hitting a tree. After two minutes of running, Eld leapt out of the forest and sped up even more when he recognized the buildings ahead, heading unerringly to where he had seen the main office, hoping someone was still there even though the sun had set. As he approached the main office Eld began to slow down and eventually came to a stop in front of the office door. "This is the main office I think, if someone is still here they'll be able to help you find a room to stay in, but they probably already have a room for you since they knew we were coming. Hey I don't mean to be rude but could you hop off my back? I just thought of something and now it's driving me crazy." Eld crouched down so Kiwi could hop off his back and waited patiently, or his approximation of patience, for her to do so. When she did he hopped like a rabbit over to some grass and flopped over on his back and began wriggling around with his mouth open and his tongue lolling out like he had seen dogs do some times, and it felt FANTASTIC. Eld was content to writhe around on the ground for hours, until he got bored thirty seconds later and rolled back on to his feet and stopped holding back his heat, letting blue and white flames flicker over his body. "That was awesome; I never ran that fast before, at least I don't think I have, I might not remember...." Eld then decided he wanted to have hands again so he tried focusing on doing the opposite of whatever he did to become a wolf, and that didn't work so he sat down and decided to wait for one of the adult-type people in charge to tell him how.

Finally, the school!
Aislyn let out a shout of happiness that was really a bark. She was drunk on exhaustion. The moon had risen long ago, and it had to be at least 11 o' clock; she'd stayed up the previous night. It seemed a lifetime ago! She let out a huff and plopped down in the grass beside Eld, setting her head on the tuffs. She couldn't remember how she'd shifted into her human form twenty minutes ago and was content to stay a wolf for the time being. She let out a short yip to alert the teachers within and almost fainted with relief when Ian came out, along with a few others. Some were wolves. She blinked at Ian. Where was her dorm again?