Cloud Shifters

The first two months of school flew by, with the Archery Club quickly becoming Cadin’s favorite part of the week. Eventually convinced his friends to try it out, and they came every so often, insisting that more than one day a week was just too much to spend on archery.

The club began diversifying their weapons and training, which Cadin found to be great supplemental studying for his Warrior Path classes. Bart—as Sun’s nickname for him had started to catch on during Archery Club practices—and Cadin got better with bows, and Lep enjoyed throwing daggers, mostly at a ‘pin the tail on the donkey’ target that was drawn by a Guardian. Lep told them he thought that Earth donkeys were funny creatures and wondered what humans thought of their tails constantly falling off.

Cadin’s math suffered and he didn’t know how he was going to pull off that required badge. All his other classes were fascinating and he was hopeful that by the end of the first semester, he would have a badge or two and a better perspective on the best Path choice.

The last day before their Fall Break seemed to take forever and Cadin amused himself by watching Lep and Treven who were discretely playing games whenever Instructor Kade wasn’t looking. Lep launched a smooth stone across the table toward Treven, trying to get it as close to the edge as possible without it falling off. It sailed too far and Treven deftly caught it while pretending to take notes.

“Nice,” Lep whispered.

Cadin watched, thinking that Instructor Kade was probably not as oblivious to the games as he seemed. He looked around the room and noticed that a lot of the kids were just as restless and paying less attention to the lesson than normal. Then it hit him—this is the last class before Fall Break!

Cadin’s mind drifted through the possible excursions that could be done with a whole week off school. He would be limited as he was still grounded and had the rest of the school year of required community service cleaning the Town Hall.

He also thought about Sun, and how nice it was to be around someone so motivated and at the same time easy-going. Playing with his medallion now, he remembered how he had missed the outing with his friends when they had shown her Mist Lake.

Being grounded stinks!

Frustrated at his lack of freedom, he watched Treven sail the stone across the table, leaving it short of the end. Lep picked it up with a little smirk, and carefully sent the stone back across the table. The stone barely reached the edge and then stopped just before falling off.

“Yes!” Lep celebrated quietly, but with enthusiasm.

Apparently, it was not quite enough, because several people turned towards them, drawing Instructor Kade’s eyes.

“So, Leptan, you think that poverty is inevitable in the Fringe-clouds, and you are excited about it?” Instructor Kade inquired.

Lep turned red. “I, uh...don’t...what was the question?”

Many in the class giggled, and Instructor Kade just shook his head. “Oh, alright.” He let out a huff. “I know a lost cause when I see one. Today I’ll let you out early.”

“Yeah!”

“Alright!”

The entire class perked up and starting packing up their things.

“Everyone just make sure to use the field exit from our classroom, so we don’t disturb the other classes. Have a good week off and enjoy your Fall Break!”

Cadin was struck with inspiration and silently thanked Treven and Lep for the extra twenty minutes as he grabbed his stuff and headed across the room. Sun was reaching to the ground to pick up one of her fallen belongings and smiled when she sat up to see Cadin in front of her.

“Oh. Hi, Cadin. I have never been let out of school early before.” She picked up the last of her things and stood up. “I am not quite sure what I am going to do.”

“Well actually, that is why I came over,” Cadin said, a little flustered as Lep and Treven walked up to their conversation. Cadin took a breath and continued. “Well since you have extra time, I was wondering if you wanted to walk with me and Lep towards our houses, and then if it is okay with my Mom and Dad, maybe go with me to Mist Lake for a few minutes before you have to go home?” Cadin looked down at his feet, not feeling like he could look Sun in the eyes, and knowing that he couldn’t look at his friends.

When she didn’t say anything right away, Cadin keep talking. “I would have been happy to walk you back to your house, but I am still kind of grounded after the whole Glade Palace thing.” He looked at the dirt on the tip of his shoe as he felt the back of his neck warm. “And well, I was sad that I didn’t get to go with you guys to Mist the first time.”

They did have the extra twenty minutes and could sneak off to Mist; however, after the Glade Palace incident, Cadin felt the urge to do things in a better way than he had done in the past. Plus, if he got caught, who knows how long being grounded could last.

Sun still hadn’t said anything, so Cadin looked up. This seemed to be what she had been waiting for. Instantly she smiled, and said, “I’d love to. My dad is busy with work, so I have some extra time.”

Most of the walk was spent talking about the Archery Club and the possibility of adding other weapons to train. When they reached Cadin’s house, Lep ran off to his own house, saying that he had promised to take Charlie into town.

“Come on in,” Cadin said as he held the door open.

“I like your house. It is very different than what I am used to. My dad and I just live above his shop.”

After showing Sun through most of the house, Cadin finally found his mom in the back valley near his dad’s workshop. She was on a ladder and looking none too steady as she reached up into a tree that had a strange fruit that Cadin had not remembered being there before. He rushed to grab one side of the ladder and Sun hurried to grab the other side.

“Oh, it’s you, Cadin. Thank you,” Sara said as she made her way down with a basket on one arm. “I was just excited to see that sun fruits were growing this year and I wanted to pick a full basket and couldn’t reach the inner tree mid-flight.” She smiled when she reached the bottom and noticed Sun.

“Well, hi there; I didn’t notice that Cadin had company.”

“Mom, this is Sun,” Cadin said stepping forward and grabbing the basket. “She moved here from Lance and is the one who started the Archery Club I told you about. Sun, this is my mom, Sara”

“It’s nice to meet you Sun. How do you like the greenness of Glade?” Sara asked.

“Well I’ve had a good time so far, but it is funny that you should mention the greenness. I have definitely noticed the difference from living on a yellow land. Everyone and everything here seem to be so green and grounded—almost immovable—that is until I met your son and now you. You are the first person with a blue Aura that I have seen since I got here.”

“Yes, and you are not likely to see any others. Glade is almost completely homogeneous in the population of green Aura angels alongside white of course; however, I think it is good to have some different colors around here—so, welcome.”

“Thanks.” Sun smiled.

“So, what are you kids up to? Isn’t it a little early for you to be out of school?”

“Yeah,” Cadin said. “Instructor Kade let us out early today, so I thought I would show Sun around Mist Lake…that is, if it’s okay with you?”

“Hmm,” was all Sara said as she took the basket back from Cadin. She looked at both of them and then smiled. “Well, alright.”

“Yes!”

“You have an hour and a half until I need you back here to help with dinner. Sun, you are welcome to join us,” Sara called after them—Cadin already leading Sun towards Mist Lake.

“It is so nice here today,” Sun said as they approached the lake. The sun was still high enough to reflect sparkling rays off the water’s surface, as a slight breeze rustled the surrounding grass and moved the shape of the higher clouds. Cadin closed his eyes and enjoyed the unique smell of the cloud-daisies that crowded the rocks at the base of the lake.

“Yeah, a perfect Mist Lake day,” Cadin agreed. “You up for a swim?”

“Definitely.”

Leaving their belongings and outer clothes at the edge of the lake, Cadin watched as Sun raced ahead and cannon balled into the water. Cadin laughed as he followed, but instead of balling his body and making a huge splash, he soared over Sun in a perfect swan dive.

“Wow, where did you learn that?” Sun asked after Cadin surfaced.

“My mom. She loves to swim.”

“Even though she has wings?”

“Yep. Apparently, in the blue cloud-lands a lot of angels with wings still swim. They don’t normally develop the veretal coating on their feathers, so they are not as heavy in the water.”

“Interesting,” Sun said as she lifted her body into a back float and just drifted. “Angels from yellow lands don’t usually develop veretal coating either; however, not many adults swim.”

“I hope that I am still able to swim after I develop my wings,” Cadin said as he paddled in circles around Sun.

“Well, is your dad from a blue Aura land as well?”

“Yeah, he is from Ansford, but he developed a green Aura.”

“Oh, that is pretty rare. However, with your parentage, you do have the possibility of developing a blue Aura. Or would you rather have green?”

Cadin just started laughing. “I actually have no idea what I would prefer… I mean it will be what it will be, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Sun said as she smiled and then splashed Cadin.

Cadin was stunned by the flash of water as Sun swam away, laughing and trying to get out of Cadin’s range before he could get back at her. Though Sun had gotten a good distance away from him, Cadin could tell that he wouldn’t have any trouble catching up.

Sun powered on as fast as she could, heading for the edge of the lake with their stuff. Just before she reached the edge Cadin deftly popped up right in front of her, smiling. Sun screamed and choked on the cold lake water.

Realizing that he had shocked her a little more than he had intended, Cadin helped her to the land as she finished spitting out the water.

“Sorry about that,” Cadin said, a contrite look on his face. “I really didn’t mean to scare you that much, swimming underneath you and all.”

“No, no—it was my fault—I was only expecting you from the back. Rookie mistake,” she said smiling. “Back on Lance my crazy grandfather would constantly quiz me on battle tactics and would always tell me that the biggest rookie mistake for angels in battle who had just gotten their wings was forgetting that flying battles introduced an additional dimension. Rookies are always too focused on what is on the horizontal plane and often get ambushed from below or above. I just didn’t think about water as offering you another plane. And even if I did, I had no idea that you would be fast enough to utilize it.”

Cadin was relieved that Sun was not upset with him. A chill ran up his body as a slight breeze rolled through their shaded cove.

“Do you want to climb up the rocks a bit and sit in the sun? There are a lot of cool cloud creatures up there, and I have some snacks in my pack that we can eat while we warm up.”

“That sounds good.”

“What kind of creatures?”

Cadin told her stories about when he was a kid and chased bright green moonflies with his parents, and about finding cloud-worms with Lep and losing half of one to the biggest rock dragon that he had ever seen. “And every full moon there are white bats that come out of their caves to hunt the poppers,” Cadin said as he reached a flat area.

“What’s a popper?”

“Oh, that’s what we call the claw insects that spend their larval stages developing in the lake. On the full moon, they pop out of the water and fly around. The bats love them.”

The heat radiated through Cadin’s cold skin as he spread out over the warm rocks.

“This feels much better,” Sun said as she closed her eyes and tilted her face toward the sun. “What kind of creatures live in the rocks?”

“What… oh yeah—a lot of the little species of dragons. The grass dragons are usually yellow to green and only get about a finger’s length. Rock dragons are generally a bit bigger and gray. But the rock dragon that fought me for half the cloud worm was dark blue and huge. We will probably see a few of them out sunning, or we could lift up some rocks and try to find cloud-worms.”

“How about that snack first?”

“Okay,” said Cadin as he pulled out what was left of his school snack to split up between them.

“Cadin, how do you know so much about the cloud-life around here?”

“My mom. She works in the Cloud-Creature Department at Town Hall. She tells me about some of the cool stuff that they do like explore all the different types of ecosystems in and around Glade. They study the wildlife and rehabilitate some creatures that people bring to them that have been partially eaten, or accidentally hit by an angel in flight.”

“Do you ever get to see any of the injured animals?”

“Oh, yeah. My mom occasionally brings one home with her and we take care of it until it can be released. There are a couple of creatures that could never be released back in the wild because their injuries handicap them too much, and they stay on a special reserve on the back side of Town Hall. My mom used to let me play there when I was little.”

“What types of animals are there?” Sun asked excitedly as she set aside part of her sweet roll.

As Cadin began to answer, he froze up and watched as the same large, blue rock dragon that had got his cloud-worm, rush up at lightning speed, snatch the sweet roll from Sun’s side and run off up the rocks.

“Not again!” Cadin yelled tore up the mountainside after the thieving dragon.

The dragon was incredibly fast as it ran up and around the rocks. It tried to open its wings to fly a couple of times, but Cadin was too quick and nearly caught it every time it tried. Cadin was almost close enough to grab it when it zipped into a deep rock crevice with its prize. Cadin quickly grabbed for the top rock over the entrance, and though it was too heavy for him to lift, he managed to get it to roll forward.

“Heads up!” Cadin shouted down to Sun. The rock rolled safely by her as she continued to climb.

Cadin looked quickly to the hole that he thought was a narrow crevice but now saw was a small cave. The large rock collapsed some of the walls.

Off to the side the large rock dragon hissed at Cadin, some smoke circling her nostrils. In the center was a clutch of spotted eggs. It looked as though three of the five had been crushed by the collapsing walls. His bright golden eyes glistened with tears as he looked over the scene.

Two of the eggs were certainly crushed by fallen rocks; however, the third egg that Cadin had initially thought to have been crushed was only cracked and empty. Staring at the empty egg, Cadin’s eyes flew open as he realized that it must have just hatched. Searching the den, Cadin saw a small tail flicker from under the rubble.

“Oh, no,” Cadin moaned as he reached for the baby, ignoring the mom dragon now in the center, standing with her two remaining eggs and half-eaten sweet roll, spitting and hissing at Cadin. Under the rubble was the smallest rock dragon that Cadin had ever seen. It was still covered in the fluid from the egg, and in some of its own blood.

Sun climbed over the edge and surveyed the scene just as Cadin gently picked up the injured baby rock dragon and wrapped it carefully in his shirt.

“We have to take him to my mom quickly,” Cadin said. “First, can you help me lift this rock?”

Setting down the baby rock dragon, Cadin and Sun lifted a nearby flat rock and gently placed it over the exposed mom and two eggs to act as a ceiling.

“The entrance hole looks clear,” Sun said as she peeked in while Cadin picked up the baby dragon.

Sara had flown ahead to Town Hall with the baby dragon, leaving Cadin and Sun to run and meet her there. Upon their arrival, a mousy looking receptionist told them they were to wait in the main hall for Sara.

They sat on the nearest bench to the Cloud-Creature office in the large main hall. Once Cadin caught his breath, he started getting more and more anxious about the dragon. To distract himself, he looked around the room that he had become familiar with during his community service. He was two months into his six-month sentence and he still didn’t know where all the doors led.

The Town Hall was laid out more for winged angels than adolescents. The main floor had access enough for everyone with a large circular antechamber that they now sat in. Then there was a wide flyway opening to another large room that Cadin could not quite see. Cadin nudged Sun to show her his favorite feature of the large room designed for adult employees. The room extended up six levels. There were no stairs, only landings that extended out from each floor. Cadin saw a couple of angels fly quickly between floors and land with variations of gracefulness before carrying on with their work. Sun giggled as one angel burdened with paperwork stacked up to his forehead missed a landing and nearly ran into the wall.

Sun’s gaze dropped back down to their level as she took in the many doors. “Most of the doors on this floor are nicely labeled,” Sun pointed to the brightly colored sign that said, Education Department. “But there are a few that are blank. Do you know what are behind those doors?”

“Only a couple. I’m not allowed to go into the offices while I’m cleaning. If I even get close to the Local Enforcement office, the receptionist gives me a dirty look like I am one of the criminals on their boards.”

“That’s terrible.”

“Comes with the job,” Cadin said with a shrug. “That door leads to a closet with cleaning supplies. That door at the far end is supposed to be a public office I think; all the offices on the main floor are here for easy public access…but I never see anyone go into that room.”

At that moment, they heard a strange noise coming from the room in question. They did not have a good view of the mysterious room and both hopped off the bench to check it out. More interesting noises came from behind the door that Cadin could now see was slightly ajar. They had followed the curve of the wall to the office and approached it without a sound. Cadin was trying to be as quiet as possible with Sun close behind, who seemed to Cadin to be just as noisy as every green Aura angel.

Getting near enough to the entrance to hear several sounds from within, Cadin reached out a hand for the doorknob.

“Cadin, Sun!” Sara called from behind them. Cadin’s heart jumped at the sound of his mother’s voice, and Sun let out a surprised squeak.

In his mother’s hands was the baby rock dragon, curled into a ball and sleeping. The wounds were expertly wrapped with very tiny bandages around the dragon’s body and foreleg. Cadin could see that his mother had a bag full of things, but could not see what was inside.

“It has medicine, food and more bandages. If we take good care him, he should be fine, though we must bring him back to Miss Esperanza for checkups.” Sara answered Cadin’s gaze.

“Him?” Sun asked.

“Oh, yes. Miss Esperanza identified him as a male, newborn rock-dragon and said that he is quite big.”

“You should have seen his mother! So, can we keep him?”

“Well, he will need help at least until he is old enough to survive on his own. However, he may not survive well in the wild if we raise him in captivity. We may want to let Miss Esperanza raise him in the wildlife reserve. Then at least he could be released later. I told her we will take him for this week and figure it out from there.”

“Mom…” Cadin was mulling through his emotions. “I would like to raise him. I broke his home, and it was my fault that he got crushed by the rock.”

“It is a serious commitment to raise a cloud-creature Cadin. How about we wait to decide until the end of the week?”

“Okay. Thanks for your help, mom. Can I hold him?” Sara smiled at her son and told him to open his hands.

The baby rock dragon stayed curled up and asleep in Cadin’s hands for the entire walk home. Cadin noticed that he kept making little grumbling noises if he was jostled. Sun walked with them to the edge of the town center. She gave Cadin a one-armed hug, trying not to wiggle him too much, pet the baby rock dragon with a finger, and then waved good-bye and headed home. The dragon gave a little gurrrr and then settled back into the curve of his hand.

Cadin felt relieved to have the week off school because taking care of a newborn dragon was hard work. At night Cadin had to wake up every few hours to feed him, and if he forgot, the baby dragon would start growling and spitting at him. Hearing gur...gurrr...spit…gurrrrrrr, was enough to get Cadin out of bed to sleepily crush up the dried cloud-worms and other little creatures that were in the bag. He mixed the powder with warm water and feed it to the baby dragon through a small dropper. The dragon soon got so excited to see Cadin with the dropper that he would start wiggling around and bite for it, occasionally getting Cadin’s finger in all the action. The dragon sucked and bit happily, making little grunting noises until he was full and then curled up in the warm corner of the rock nest that had the desk light shining down on it.

Sara helped him build the rock nest and set up the desk light with a dark filter. “Normally the baby would lay next to their mother to keep warm, but this should do.”

The next morning, Cadin dragged his feet into the kitchen. The baby dragon had woken him up five times throughout the night to eat and cuddle.

“For such a small thing, you sure are loud,” he mumbled.

“Gurrr,” the dragon said as it curled up in his hand.

“I have an idea.” He set the sleeping dragon down and started searching the cupboards. He was precariously perched on a dining room chair, and reaching above the kitchen cabinets for some old linens when Sun and Lep both walked in.

Cadin saw them out of the corner of his eye, and when he turned, the chair gave a nasty wobble. The chair went flying and Cadin landed hard on his butt.

“Are you okay?” Sun asked.

“I’m fine.” Cadin pulled the sheets off his lap and stood up.

“Smooth,” Lep said as he picked up the fallen chair and sat with it facing backwards.

“Hi guys,” Cadin said casually as he walked by Lep, knocking his elbows out from under him. Laughing he offered Sun a seat and then sat himself.

“Hi, Cadin. How’s the baby dragon?” Sun asked.

“Baby what!?” Lep asked looking around in a panic, as if a dire dragon was about to turn the corner of the kitchen at any moment.

“Just a little rock dragon, Lep,” Cadin said as he pointed to a second rock nest in the corner of the kitchen and the living room.

“Oh, I think we woke him up,” Sun said as she peered into the nest. “His tiny bandages look so cute.”

“Yeah, cute,” Lep said from a distance, probably thinking that dragon teeth were way sharper than cloud-worm teeth.

“Can one of you guys pick him up gently and hold him while I make his food?” Cadin asked from the kitchen. Lep took a small step forward when Sun looked at him and smiled and then three big steps back when Cadin warned them to watch out for biting. Sun picked the baby dragon up and laughed as he nuzzled her thumb and started his little gurr…spit…gurrr routine.

He started nibbling in search of food.

“Cut it out, Gur,” Cadin said to the dragon as he pulled him off Sun’s thumbs and gave him the dropper.

“It didn’t hurt,” Sun said as she giggled, watching the dragon try to grab at the dropper with his forearms as if it would help get the food out faster. “What was it that you called him?”

“Gur. It is the noise that he makes the most, so I just started calling him that. What do you think of him?” Cadin asked, seeing that Lep had slowly inched his way closer.

“Well, he is really small, and not as gray as I thought baby rock dragons were.”

Sun smiled and may have laughed a bit, but she turned away. Cadin smiled at Lep and said, “Not what do you think about what he looks like. What do you think about me having a dragon?”

“Oh, well…I guess it is kinda cool, and definitely something that you would do.”

“As for his coloring,” Cadin said while letting Gur walk between his and Sun’s hands, “my mom told me that baby rock dragons change their coloring to blend into their environment better for the first six months or so. That way it is harder for predators to find them.”

“That makes sense,” said Sun.

“Yeah, pretty cool,” Lep added as he leaned in to get a closer look. “He looks kind of tan in color, like the walls of your house.”

“Maybe you can change his color by putting different shades in his rock nests,” Sun suggested.

“Perfect.” Cadin jumped up to retrieve everything he had gathered to make a companion for Gur. “I’m making him a little sleeping doll.”

After Sara re-bandaged Gur, the dragon was looking sleepy and crawled towards the heated corner of the nest. Cadin watched as Gur paused at the sight of the dragon doll. He approached it very carefully and sniffed the air. He took a couple of quick steps to one side and then the other. He slowly crawled closer, staying low to the ground and keeping an eye on the big dragon’s face. Cadin smiled as Gur reached his unhurt forearm out. Not being quite within reaching distance, he scooted a little closer and reached out again. This time he could just barely touch the base of the dragon’s tail. Gur took a few steps back, lowered his head and raced forward, head-butting the big dragon right in the rear.

Cadin burst out laughing with Sun and even Lep. Gur scurried off to the cold corner of the nest as far away from the doll as he could get.

“Quiet, guys, I think we scared him,” Cadin said to the other two who were still giggling. It had just been too funny and a little bit surprising seeing Gur ram the stuffed dragon rather than cuddle with it. Cadin held his hand out to Gur and let the baby dragon crawl up to his palm. Talking in a very calm voice, Cadin slowly brought Gur close to the stuffed dragon and told him that it was meant to be his friend to sleep with. Gur seemed a little hesitant as they got close, but Cadin started petting the big dragon with his free hand, and then petting Gur. Gur seemed to get the idea, and reached out and started feeling the big dragon on his own. After several minutes of exploring the stuffed dragon, Gur curled up next to the doll and fell asleep.

Cadin walked with his mom through the town center toward Town Hall with Gur crawling back and forth from one shoulder to the other. They had taken him outside in the little valley behind their house to play, but this was Gur’s first time really out and about since the first day they had taken him to Miss Esperanza.

Cadin had talked a lot with his mom about whether they should keep and raise Gur, but the more time Cadin was with Gur, the less there seemed to be any choice in the matter. Sara could see that they had bonded, and that it would be bad for both of them to be separated. She was just worried what Miss Esperanza would say. Master Esperanza was a strict angel who believed in rehabilitating cloud-creatures the “right way,” with as little angel to creature contact as possible.

“Why are you so worried, mom?”

“I apprenticed with Miss Esperanza when we first moved here and I know how challenging she can be. Don’t get me wrong, she is very knowledgeable and has had great success rehabilitating adult cloud-creatures; however, I disagree with her policies on no angel contact with the new-born babies. I had to watch most of the baby creatures that came in either die, become overly aggressive, or too become depressed to survive in the wild.”

“We can’t let that happen to Gur! Why does she even have to see him again? She might try to take him.” Cadin held the little dragon closer to him.

“We have to let her know our decision to keep him. But she also must see him to check that he has healed. Don’t worry, Cadin. I won’t let her take him.”

“You had better wait out here,” Sara said with a sigh. She held her hand out to Gur and he jumped from Cadin’s shoulder to her open hand. Cadin took a seat on the same bench that he and Sun had sat on a week ago. Strange noises were again coming out of the office behind the mysterious door. Cadin got up to investigate. Now closer, nearly at the door, Cadin heard voices mixed in with the sounds. Peeking around the door and into the room Cadin drew a quick breath at what he saw. He was wrong thinking that he had heard voices in the room, realizing that there was only a single voice. In the center of the large and cluttered space was an angel with a bright green Aura that highlighted the man’s clean, silver hair. The angel was talking to himself in a bit of an irrational manner, mutter things under his breath and then the next moment speaking quite clearly to what Cadin could only assume was the wall.

It was not the crazy-looking angel in the center of the room that had surprised Cadin, but what was happening to the objects encircling the old angel. All around him things were floating and flying through the air! A large rock whizzed around his head—changing from bright yellows to deep reds, while the strange plant floating above the desk kept changing sizes. Pieces of wood banged on the back wall, knocking books off their shelves, while a beautiful ribbon of water swirled around all the other objects without touching them.

Trying to get a better look at the flying water, Cadin grazed the door with his shoulder and the single voice that had filled the room came to a sudden halt. Cadin expected all the objects to come crashing to the floor; however, they all slowly sank down into organized positions around the room. Just as the ribbon of water was returning to a glass pitcher positioned on the desk, the old man’s keen blue eyes found Cadin.

“I am sorry that I barged in on you, sir,” Cadin said. The man looked slightly taken aback that Cadin was talking to him. He didn’t move or speak as he stared into Cadin’s eyes with what Cadin felt to be a quite lucid glare. He fought a severe urge to run and willed himself to walk forward. Each step felt like his legs were filled with lead as he forced himself to come face to face with the old man who now looked positively shocked.

“I…I am Cadin of Glade, son of Talvarian and Sara.” Finally getting all his words out, Cadin felt like a huge weight had been lifted from him. He realized that he had been sweating and wondered what exactly was happening and who the heck this was. Just as he was about to ask, the old man straightened up to a posture and attitude that felt quite respectable.

“Ah,” he said, now moving behind his desk and gesturing for Cadin to sit in a chair that Cadin hadn’t even noticed before. “This makes much more sense now—yes of course,” he continued as if talking to himself as he rummaged through a drawer in his desk.

“Excuse me,” said Cadin politely, “but, what makes sense?”

With a slight smile slowly spreading across his face. “It makes sense how you were able to resist me. You must be the young man that broke into the Glade Palace.”

“I…, but ..., well, how did you know that?” Cadin had no idea that it was such common knowledge.

The smile on the old man’s face faltered just a bit. “There are traces of our existence that are overlooked by many—I simply pay attention.”

Cadin had no idea what that meant and didn’t think that he was going to get a straight answer from this eccentric old man. Deciding that his best route was just to let him continue down whatever path he chose, Cadin just got comfortable and looked up expectantly.

The old man seemed to understand and sat back as well before continuing. “You see, boy, these cloud-lands are alight with Auras of not only angels, but all cloud-creatures. Auras leave marks where they have been, and likewise, Auras can then be marked by powerful angels, creatures and even places that one encounters. You broke into a highly powerful place, and not being allowed there openly, the Glade Palace’s energy clashed with yours. Breaking into such a powerful establishment took someone with a strong, bright Aura,”

“But,” Cadin tried to interject while the old man simply held up his hand.

“You must wait until I finish,” the old man said sternly. “Now, where was I—oh yes, a strong Aura to break into Glade Palace and a strong Aura to resist my persuasion to leave upon entering my chambers.” He gave Cadin a small nod, giving what Cadin assumed to be permission to speak.

“But, I don’t have an Aura yet,” Cadin said.

He did a double take at Cadin, as if realizing that what Cadin said was in fact true. Then he wrapped his hands around what he had pulled out of his desk earlier and dropped the contents in front of Cadin on the desk. Little black and white stones that looked as though they were cleaved in half scattered across the desk. Cadin quickly caught a few that tumbled off the edge and then looked up into the wrinkle-lined face.

“These are a special type of cloud-stones called gins. Pick them up,” he instructed, “the white ones in one hand and the blacks in the other. Now hold your hands out, palms up, and slowly close your hands around them. Good. Now young Cadin, close your eyes and focus on the gins.” Cadin did as he was told and felt the smooth marbles in his palms, noting the difference between the smooth round sides and the slightly rough flat sides. He also thought he felt some of the gins vibrating against his hands. Cadin started to feel a little light-headed until the man’s voice cut through the fog around Cadin’s mind.

“Now I want you to think about your Aura, the power within you. Feel the ebb and flow of your energy and try to direct it towards your hands and the gins you hold.”

Cadin worried that this was all a crock, maybe even a setup just to make him look foolish. His mom was probably going to walk in at any moment, looking for him, only to find that the crazy old man dancing around him and sticking snakes in his pants while his eyes were closed. He started wiggling at the thought.

“Concentrate, boy!”

After taking a little peek and seeing that there were no reptiles in sight and the eccentric angel was still sitting behind the desk, Cadin decided to give it a try. He felt very little until he remembered the Glade Palace and how he felt at the time. Soon he felt a tingle at the back of his neck, which he mentally pushed down his arms to his hands and the waiting gins. Suddenly the gins were vibrating madly and felt very hot. Not being able to keep hold them any longer, Cadin opened his hands and eyes at the same time.

At once the gins from each hand shot towards each other in midair and Cadin saw a colorful bright light as they fell to the desk. Cadin looked at the cloud-stones that were once halves and now whole. They were no longer black or white, but different colors without any fuse line visible. Not all were the same shape. There were four that were spherical and the size of small marbles. Two were somewhat flattened, the edges slightly sharp. The last one was hollowed with an opening like a cup—and not much bigger than a thimble.

“Outstanding!” the old man said examining the gins and Cadin simultaneously.

“What just happened?” Cadin asked.

“Just because your Aura has not shined through yet,” he said as he got up and started looking over his bookshelf, “it does not mean that you do not possess one. It is within you, a part of you and ever growing. Eventually it will become so strong that it can no longer stay contained within your body, and shine through.” He grabbed something white off the bookshelf and walked around the desk to Cadin. “Your Aura may not be visible yet, but it is uncharacteristically powerful. Enough so to break into Glade Palace, to resist my persuasion, and even to fuse gins.

“You fused these, Cadin of Glade, and they are now yours if you want them.” He revealed what he had retrieved from the bookshelf to be a small white leather pouch; though Cadin did not know what kind of leather it was, it shinned a bit as he set it down next to the gins as if a liquid metal was trying to surface from under the leather.

“Would you like to have the gins?” He looking deeply into Cadin’s eyes as if he were looking beyond him.

Cadin gazed at the beautiful stones and the pouch, and even though he did not know exactly what gins were, still he wanted them. He looked up nodded affirmatively.

“Good. You may put them in the pouch, and I would not suggest keeping them anywhere else for now. Not until you understand more about them. If you would like to learn how to use them you may come back here and I will train you.”

The offer seemed casual, but Cadin could feel the intensity in the old man’s eyes. “I would be honored to learn from you ….um, I am sorry but I don’t know your name.”

He smiled and said “I am Master Emilio of Glade, and I accept you as my apprentice young Cadin.”