As they came down the mountain, they saw a village in the distance. Jak and Alya's stomachs both growled in sync. It had been a full day since they last ate. They picked up the pace and entered the village just as the sun went down. Heading towards the center of the village, they saw an inn and headed inside. The inn was a cosy place, with over a dozen people spread throughout the tables. A warm fire crackled in the hearth, and a friendly-looking inn keeper waved a welcome as they entered. "You two look young to be traveling in these parts." The keeper said with a raised eyebrow. "What can I do you for?"

"Hello," Alya said, "we would really like some food and a room, but we don't have any money. Is there anything we can do? Wash the dishes or scrub the floors?" She asked pleadingly. Seeing the young girl with dirt on her face, holding a baby wolf in her arms, was too much for the poor inn keeper. He sighed and let them have one meal and one night's stay for free. They took a bowl of stew and devoured it by the fire, cleaning the last bits off the bowl with pieces of bread. As they were eating, they overheard some merchants talking about the mountain pass.

"It's a shame," one of them said, "it's been two months since a mountain troll took over the pass, nobody has been able to travel through since. I had good business in that valley."

"Two months sounds like a lot of trade," said another, "how come you don't just hire some men to kill the troll?"

"Kill the mountain troll? Ha!" the first man slapped the table, "Trolls take on their environment, you know? This one has stone skin. You could fire a hundred arrows and stab it with a hundred knives, nothing is going to hurt that troll." The man shook his head sadly. "The only way would be to hire a mage, or a mercenary with enchanted weapons, but that would be a year's earnings." The others nodded in agreement. Jak and Alya looked at each other, not sure what to make of it all. Jak looked down suspiciously at the knife on his belt, but it seemed as plain as ever.

At that moment the door opened and a young man walked in. He was about Jak's age, but the similarities stopped there. Where Jak was dressed in little more than rags, this young man was wearing finer clothing than Jak had ever seen. He was shorter than Jak, and skinnier, with dark hair and green eyes. He smiled like he was up to no good, and walked up to the inn keeper. "Good sir! A room for the night, a meal, and some wine would be just the thing." He flipped a couple of coins through the air, which the inn keeper caught deftly and put in his purse before anyone could see hints of gold in their reflections. He smiled his best smile at the young man, bowed, and said "At your service, sire."

As the young man settled in, he noticed Jak and Alya by the fire place. Bringing his bowl of stew over, he introduced himself. "Hello, I'm Tim. Are going to the academy also? Oh goodness me what a lovely little pup!"

"Hello Tim, I'm Jak, this is Alya, and this is Ash" Jak said. "We don't know about the academy, what is it?"

"What is—?" Tim's eyes went wide. "You must be from a small town indeed. You've never heard of Elwind? Next thing you'll tell me you've never seen a crafted item!" Tim took in their blank looks and sighed. "Oh dear, let me start from the beginning. Hold on." He rummaged in his bag until he took out a smooth white stick. It looked like a plain piece of wood, although white was a rare color for wood to be. Then Tim whispered "Light." and the end of the wood lit up, glowing like a candle, even though there was no flame. It was a bright, solid light, unlikea flickering candle. Magical items like this were not common in the valley, Jak had never seen anything like it. He reached out hesitantly to touch it, and Tim nodded for him to go ahead. The wood was cool to the touch, even the part dining with light. Jak turned it over and saw delicate carvings all along the underside.

"This is incredible." Jak whispered. "And you make these?"

"Not yet," Tim replied, "but I'm going to study at the academy where they teach this kind of stuff, so who knows? I might even-" he trailed off as the light stick flickered and then went out. "Well, that's a first."

Jak felt his face flushing. "S-sorry." He stammered. They had just arrived to a new village, and already he was ruining things. Would they be kicked out before the first night was over?

"Huh? Oh! No don't be ridiculous, that wasn't you. These light sticks are meant to last forever, that's what the man selling them told me. Ha, what a swindler!"

Jak was relieved Tim didn't seem too bothered to see his precious artifact breaking. Then something occurred to him. "Say, this academy of yours, it makes magical items right? Does that mean there are mages there? People who know about magic, curses, that sort of thing?" Jak tried to slip "curses" in as smoothly as possible. Tim grinned at the question.

"Of course. The greatest mages in the seven kingdoms all end up coming to Elwind at some point. It's where they can train, grow stronger and develop new abilities. Why is that? Do you fancy becoming a mage?"

"No no, nothing like that," Jak said hastily, "I've just always wanted to ask a mage some questions, is all." He was trying to think of a way to redirect the conversation when Alya spoke up.

"How do you become a mage?" Jak looked over at his sister. Normally quiet and timid around strangers, she had a strangely bold and eager look on her face. Tim shrugged in response.

"I don't have a magical bone in my body, so I don't know the details. But some are born with an affinity to certain elements. The mage wing of the academy teach these people how to focus that affinity into spells. Something like that."

"Elements?" Alya asked, "Like fire?" As she said the word, her eyes were shining with excitement. The fire in the hearth also seemed excited, burning brighter and fiercer than it was before. A small wave of heat washed over the three of them.

Tim exclaimed and stood up, a big smile on his face. "Alya, look at you! Yes, exactly like that. How did I not see it before? Your aura is very dim, so I assumed you didn't have anything like this. Well, you must come to the school now! You can be my classmate."

Tim looked over at Jak. "And you can get your questions answered. How about that?" Jak glanced at Alya, and the pleading expression on her face.

"Yea, that sounds like a great idea." Jak agreed. "One thing, you mentioned 'aura' before, what's that?" Tim blinked a few times, before answering.

"All people have an aura, a cloud or sphere of presence that extends past our physical bodies. Most people's auras is so dim it's invisible, but if you ever see a powerful warrior, you'll see it or at least feel it. Have you never seen a powerful warrior back where you came from?"

"I guess not" Jak answered simply. He couldn't remember seeing or feeling anything odd in the villages they had lived in. The closest thing might be the fear he felt facing the moonwolf. "Do beasts have aura?"

"Of course. All living things have a presence in the world. The fun part is when you get strong enough to manipulate your aura. That's when you get into the realm of skills and abilities beyond the normal laws of the physical world. Let's get a good night's sleep and I'll tell you all about it in the morning."