Meditation was a lot harder than Wren thought it would be. Although he’d been able to access and use the green energy on the meadow yesterday, it was a lot harder to do now when he had all these distractions around him. The girl next to him was constantly shifting about, trying to get comfortable, every time she moved it made the floor squeak and it was putting Wren off. Wren also had to deal with someone at the back of the class who obviously had a cold as they kept sneezing and sniffling, he wanted to get up and beat some sense into the boy. For one he wasn’t covering his face when he sneezed, instead deciding to project his nasty little germs all over the rest of the class, and secondly the noise he made when he was sniffled kept cringing Wren out. Wren didn’t know that a sound could be so wet and gross until he heard the boy.

The most annoying thing however is that even after concentrating through all the shuffling, sneezing and sniffling he still couldn’t see the green energy. He thought back to the previous day on the meadow when he had touched the energy for the first time. He’d focused on the wind, allowing it to react with the energy inside him, that was what he needed right now, wind.

He looked up, trying to catch Anastasia’s eyes as she was roaming about the students, making sure they were meditating properly and not just falling asleep. She saw him calling for attention and came over and squatted down so they were on eye level with one another.

“I can’t concentrate without the wind.” He whispered.

“A good elemental doesn’t need the wind to summon their energy, let alone to meditate.” She informed him in a hushed tone, giving him a little smirk.

“That may be the case but I’m not exactly a good elemental yet am I? It’s only been two days.” He replied.

“Fair point. I’ll give you a clue.” She leant down even further and brought her lips to his ear. “Who says there isn’t any wind?”

Her breath on his ear made him shiver and he ducked his head down to hide the blush creeping up his neck and onto his face. Anastasia, assuming he’d gone straight back into meditation mode, got back up and carried on her rounds, making sure the recruits were meditating properly.

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Wren thought over her words. ‘Who says there isn’t any wind?’ What could that mean? The door was closed, and there were no windows or ventilation shafts, the person who designed the building obviously wasn’t very keen on allowing its occupants to stay cool. The only sort of wind Wren could think of was his breathing. He was taking in air and pushing it back out, it was highly stretched but that could perhaps count as a mini wind of sorts.

That’s when it hit him. Mini winds. Air was never stagnant, it was the most erratic of particles, always moving about, never staying in one place. There had to be some sort of air currents, however small they were, he just had to concentrate hard enough.

He closed his eyes and focused. He blocked out the coughing and sneezing, he blocked out Anastasia’s steps as she walked amongst the recruits, he even blocked out his own breathing. Focusing singularly on the air.

After about five minutes of hard concentration, he finally felt it, a small current drifting through the air like a stream. He felt the energy inside him react to it, not as strongly as it had the day before, but it didn’t have to be. He could see his EP, a bundle of green energy in his core. It was completely back to normal, all of his energy had rejuvenated over night and throughout the day.

He let out a sigh of relief that he hadn’t known he’d been holding. The thought of losing his ability to use his powers scared him. He hadn’t had them for long but they were now a part of him, and if they weren’t he knew he wouldn’t be right.

He started circling the energy around his body as he had been instructed. Letting it seep into every part of his being, but not letting it escape. If it was released it would come out in the form of the wind slice and that would be bad for everyone. It was why Anastasia had made them place their palms on their knees, if they did accidentally release the energy, it would both hit their knees and it would teach them to have better control. A good incentive to not let go of the energy Wren thought.

He continued to guide the energy through his body. He didn’t need to push, the energy wanted to move, it was always in flux and never stayed still. He guided it up his chest, through his neck and around his head, it gave him a light head rush as he did it, not an unpleasant feeling, but too long and he would get dizzy. He directed the energy back down his body, up and down his arms and into his legs. He made sure to avoid a certain area, if it made his head rush then he had no desire to find out what it did there. That would be embarrassing.

Anastasia clapped her hands, stirring all of the recruits from their meditation. They had been at it for an hour.

It hadn’t seemed that long to Wren, he’d just been playing around, having fun moving the energy, but then again, he hadn’t exactly been keeping an eye on the time.

“Now that that’s out of the way. How about some practical exercises?”