And Soaring

Instructor Ilex waited patiently for them to settle some before he spoke. The moment he started, all of the young Faelyn hushed, desperate for any advice they could get, "Remember, use your magic to reinforce your arms. If you fail to do so, drop to the net. We'd rather have you deemed unable to dive than have you lose an arm. If the assistant down below sees that your reinforcement is not strong enough but you are still reaching, they will knock you away and make certain you land in the net."

He paced as he spoke, his steps at times almost louder than his voice. Everyone had their ears perked to make sure they heard his every word, "The goal here is to dive, grab the marked branch, and soar as high as you can. There are guardians on each platform to make certain you land safely. I am sure you can guess what is coming next, but if you are about to land in a way that will injure yourself the guardian will either catch you using magic or, once more, knock you into the net. I do not expect any of you will make it back to this platform, but it is where I hope to see you land."

"Most of you are strong enough to pull it off, skilled enough even. But this test is to see if you have the will to utilize those skills and it is perfectly fine if you do not. We would rather have you alive than force you into this when it is not something you can both do and grow to love."

With his encouragement done, Ilex began calling names. Silaira forced herself to the edge of the platform to watch. The first jumper was Azolla, she was one of the strongest in the class but never seemed to enjoy diving practice as much as the others on the platform. She had requested to get her attempt over with first and did so by jumping off and going straight for the net without even trying. She did not want to dive, she did not want to soar, she wanted her feet firmly planted on the platforms and the ground.

As if he had expected as much, instructor Ilex chuckled slightly, "Daucus, if you would please show our class an attempt now that Azolla has, ahem, dropped out."

Despite the tension in the air, most of the class at least smiled at the pun. Daucus rolled his eyes, as if annoyed at having to go after such a lackluster attempt, which was likely since he was a showoff by nature and took his place at the edge of the platform sparing a small glance for the gate that normally guarded people from falling off.

His jump was nearly perfect and he reinforced himself with magic properly before grabbing the limb. Silaira's heart skipped a beat as it always did when watching someone soar. Part of her wanted that for herself, another part was terrified of the landing as it was the hardest part and it was the one they had overall the least preparation for. It required split second judgement on what type of landing could be executed depending on the speed and angle of approach towards the platform.

She watched as he soared through the sky from the branch near the lower platform up to the middle platform but knew he would make it no further. He seemed to know as well and landed on the middle platform with a tuck and roll, coming in too low to have the chance to land on his feet without breaking something.

The next diver had to be knocked away from the branch, their reinforcement magic failing at the last second with nerves. The following was caught at landing and the one after had to be knocked away from the platform.

By the time it was finally her turn, only two had landed without aid, Daucus and one other that landed on an intermediary platform just above the middle layer, one more landed with aid on the low platform, and the rest had been knocked into the net at some point or other, if not jumped into it to disqualify themselves after seeing from Azolla's attempt that such a thing was acceptable. Thinking about it and knowing Azolla had never been terribly interested in diving even if she was skilled at it, Silaira wondered if Ilex had her go first on purpose, knowing already that she would not soar.

"Silaira," it is your turn, Ilex said calmly, "It is time to clear your mind of your worries and see how well you soar." His soft voice had provided unheard encouragement to each jumper and she could not help but smile slightly at it.

She approached the edge of the platform and looked down to mark the limb in her memory before stepping back to the middle of the walkway and running at an appropriate speed to make the jump but hopefully not overshoot.

She leapt into the air and arched as if she was diving to cut into the water, where the name had originated, and marveled at the feel of the wind in her hair and tail. She could do without it in her ears, though, it was loud and annoying but it also gave her a feel for her speed and she figured out quickly that she could tilt her ears to make it less irritating.

The reinforcement magic came naturally to her as she approached the branch at speeds that could kill her if she collided with it the wrong way. That was why there were numerous skilled divers present in all places, including on the branch she was using as a springboard of sorts.

She caught the branch and swung herself upwards, unable to resist spinning slightly in the air as she did so and grinning at the sheer adrenaline of it all. Everything about her dive was perfect, something that was cemented with a flawless landing on the platform across from where she had leapt, a platform that suddenly contained Ilex as well as the guardian that had been present before.

Dizzy at the sudden loss of momentum she stumbled when she tried to move after landing, caught by Ilex even as the other Faelyn swung the gate shut. A glance to the far side showed the gate over there closed as well, and she frowned at it slightly.

Seeing her gaze, the guardian spoke up gruffly, "No way you were landing over there, you don't have the training for tree hopping yet."

Tree hopping went along with diving and soaring, the Faelyn using their reinforcement magic to leap off another limb or tree trunk to change direction quickly without the use of wind magic. She had seen it in action but did not understand it in the slightest.

They struck the tree without damaging either themselves or it, and essentially soared once more as they had from the original limb. Those that were the most skilled at it did so without executing another dive for a higher branch than the original using purely magic to give themselves the same momentum that a full dive had originally imparted.

Once the sound of her heart beating in her ears subsided, Silaira heard the applause from the lower levels and tensed slightly. She had never expected she would land back on the upper platform, considered it a fluke if anything. She did not deserve applause.

"Your natural skill shines through," Ilex said softly as he helped her stabilize herself so she could walk, "Next time you land up here, it will be with intent, not just skill. Diving will be your wings in this land of trees, letting you soar to heights you never knew were possible. In time, you might even learn to fight as you soar. You will not soar alone, either. Those that landed before you will learn quickly and you will have to fight to stay at the top of this class."

Silaira nodded to acknowledge his words and followed the guardian as he led the way to the stairs down. Having landed somewhere differently than where she started, she was uncertain of her ability to find her way back to the staircase to begin with. Her sense of balance felt just a little off from all the adrenaline and she suddenly felt rather weary.

"The weariness will pass and in time you will stop feeling it after diving, once your body adjusts to all the things you are learning," Ilex said as he noted the slight droop to her ears and tail, "They have some warm tea prepared on the lower landings for you. While I expected you to do well, even I did not expect you to soar quite this high, I must admit. I should have had a flask of the tea on me anyway. I failed all my students today, by underestimating what you were capable of."

She wanted to argue but he merely shook his head, "It is a lesson I needed, it will keep me humble. I thought no one in this class would even land as high as Daucus did. I needed the humbling of his success and yours to keep me a good teacher."