As Kori stands outside the door to the Elder’s Chambers, letting her nerves settle after being presented to the council like a newly caught fish, she begins to shuffle and twitch not from her nervousness but as the excited energy builds. She’s going to learn magic. Real magic. She can’t help but imagine the possibilities and with each new idea her excitement builds.
She’s not really sure how long she stands there, lost in her imaginings, but eventually she starts as several of the elders pass out the door next to her, many glancing in her direction with a smile. For better or worse they all know who Kori is now and she feels the weight of their expectations as they watch her. Elders Ylst and Korse exit side by side and approach her.
“Now, you be good for Elder Ylst, she isn’t used to all your questions yet so try not to go too overboard with them.” Korse chuckles, seeming as though he’s handing off a problem rather than a bright young Kobold, which to be fair, he’s doing both.
“Yes Elder.” Kori responds, trying to sound meek, but her eagerness showing as the words come out just a bit too quickly. Both Elders share a glance and chuckle.
“Come along Apprentice Kori. I will show you to the training grounds and have one of the other apprentices get you settled and begin the first stages of your training.” Ylst waves her hand forward towards one of the pathways in the great hall, one that will lead to the tunnel marked with a spear and a flame and to the next stage in Kori’s life.
The tunnel itself is not very long, there are no branches or doorways, just a single straight path into a massive opening, nearly as big as the great hall, Kori sees a multitude of pillars holding the stone above them, though one of the biggest things to stand out is that the floor is covered in gravel and sand, not bare stone as is typical.
“Elder, why is there so much crushed rock on the floor?” Kori pipes up, barely even realizing she’s asked until after the words are already spoken.
“Hm? Oh, the sand is to keep the training areas safer for sparring, the gravel is to mark off paths and keep the sand from spreading everywhere.” Ylst absently responds.
Continuing into the area Kori observes several large clear areas full of sand that contain Kobolds in armour sparring with each other, spears chief amongst the weapons wielded, but she also sees clubs, daggers, and even a sword or two, all made of wood for training. She can imagine them with real weapons, holding tunnels and pushing back invaders. Other fields have warriors in lighter armour as whirling slings send rocks, or shorter spears are thrown towards targets set in a line, a wall of stone raised not far behind them.
The elder leads them off to the other side of the immense cavern that is the training grounds, here she sees what she has been waiting for, Kobolds in robes of various colours, grey, red, brown, green, and even a few blues, with the occasional having a sash of a different colour worn over their robes.
“Elder, why are all the robes different? There are several colours, and then yours is different still, white, is that because you’re the Elder?” Kori’s clearly forgetting Korse’s earlier admonition as her curiosity escapes in fast paced questions.
Ylst takes a moment and gives a little laugh as she listens, “Korse warned me about you, you know? Curiosity is well and good, but temperance is a trait to be nurtured as well, we’ll have to work on that. The robes denote a mages affinity, you’ll be wearing grey soon as an apprentice, though you’ll earn a sash once you are able to unlock a magical affinity, the full mages wear their colours to represent their affinity or class and a sash if they have managed to unlock a second affinity, or sometimes even a third.” As she says this she points over to one side where a rather elderly Kobold stands in a red robe with both green and brown sashes intertwined around his waist. “Take Flamebringer Nol over there, his class is an advanced fire mage, but he’s managed to learn 3 separate elemental magics over his years, rare and difficult, but possible.”
Ylst continues walking towards some openings along the side of the chamber, “My white robe is not a mark of the elder as you surmised however, it is my privilege as an Arcanist, one who has mastered the 4 primal elements. Should you work hard and manage the same you will be afforded the same right.”
Kori begins to speak, another question on the tip of her tongue as Ylst continues, “Now, the rest of your questions will have to wait. We’re here at the place all apprentices begin. The meditation grounds.” The Elder points out across a space, enclosed by a short wall of stone and in which sit several young Kobolds in grey robes, as well as a few older in their colourful robes. “This is where you’ll begin training, one of the more experienced apprentices will guide you in meditation to help you unlock [Mana Sense], the cornerstone of all mage Skills, it is not until you can sense mana that you can begin to wield it.” Ylst points to a small group of grey robed apprentices, clearly the youngest present, following the low and calm voice of another apprentice wearing a red sash within the group Kori recognizes her brother Plk.
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Ylst looks to another grey robed apprentice without a sash, sitting by themselves in the meditation grounds their eyes open and observing those around them, “Apprentice, please take this youngling to the supply room and help her find a robe,” Ylst eyes Kori a moment, “Whatever the smallest one you can find is, then show her how to wear it properly and return her to the meditation group.”
The apprentice, likely a year older than Kori since he is not amongst the meditation group, stands up quickly and gives Ylst a quick nod, “Yes Elder. Please follow me, Youngling.” And begins hurrying off without even checking if Kori is keeping up.
Kori follows along the behind the other apprentice and is led to a small chamber off the main training hall, inside she sees a number of robes hung from racks along the walls, leathers stacked to one side, and even some staves in a pile in a corner. He begins sorting through the grey robes holding them up one by one, “Well, this should about fit you.”
Kori takes the grey robe and belt offered and begins to don them, finding that unlike the others where the robe ends around knee high, on her its well below her knees, just barely high enough that it won’t impede her stride. “Uhh, it’s a little long, isn’t it?”
He gives her a look up and down, “You'll hopefully grow into it, besides I don’t think we’re going to find anything that fits you any better, here, let me show you how to wind the belt, and you’ve got the collar wrong.” He begins fussing with her robes to straighten the collar and wind the belt around twice and tie it with a looping knot.
“There, done, you’re looking the part now.”
Kori looks down at the robe covering herself, feeling oddly itchy and out of place in it. “It feels awfully restrictive on my tail, is it supposed to be like that?” Plucking at the rear of the robe she looks at the other apprentices and sees that his tail is let out via a slit in the back, finding the same in hers she struggles briefly, twirling around a bit and twisting to try to maneuver her tail into place, catching on every little ridge, she almost has it as she teeters on her feet, the robe twisted around.
“Watch out, you’re going t…”
As she dances around trying to situate her tail Kori ends up stepping on one of the staves sticking slightly out from the pile, “Ahhaa…” Her foot goes out from under her, and she ends up landing on her side in a tangled mess, just barely missing the stacked leathers that would have cushioned her fall, and nearly knocking over the other apprentice.
“To fall… You’re going to fall…” A somewhat exasperated look on the young Kobolds face as he holds back his laughter.
Kori begins untangling herself, “Could you give me a hand? Please?” He takes her hand and helps her steady on her feet. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Try undoing the belt, that might help a little.” His efforts to stifle his laughter barely succeeding.
After a few minutes of fiddling and once again being shown how to tie the belt properly, Kori is finally dressed.
“Yay! Robes! No more looking like a hatchling for this Kobold!” Kori beams as she twirls around again, this time with less flailing and more attention to where she’s stepping, though still nearly tripping over nothing but her own feet this time.
The other apprentices’ efforts are finally shown insufficient as he begins laughing at Kori’s antics, watching her dance around with two left feet, just happy to be clothed.
“So, what’s next? Back to the place everyone was sitting around?”
“Yes, back to the meditation grounds, someone should still be doing a guided session to help you first years learn [Mana Sense], you’re pretty useless except for errands and chores until you get that and a few others under your belt.” Before he even finishes speaking, he’s already turned towards the door to the storage area and is walking back the way they came, expecting Kori to follow.
As she returns to the meditation area, Kori sees Plk and the others still sitting on the floor, listening to one of the older apprentices with a red sash around their waist drone on in a monotonous voice, “Envision yourself sitting alone surrounded by an endless bed of coals, smoke wafting through the air all around you, breathing it in and feeling it through your body,” He pauses as he sees Kori joining them and nods to an empty space near the group before continuing, the other apprentices likely not even knowing she was there, ”Breathing it out, to rejoin the endless haze. Feel the wisps of smoke touching your scales and circling you, see the smoke in the air all around your body.”
Kori joins the group near the others, tries to mimic their pose and closes her eyes, following the droning voice of the guide as he tries to help them envision the mana that apparently flows around them like a haze of smoke in the air.
Kori makes it all of 2 minutes before she has a question, opening her eyes and looking to the guiding apprentice she gets the distinct feeling that questions are not presently welcome. This state of things does not sit well with her as more questions pile up and she doesn’t seem to have any outlet, she tries asking those around her but is quickly shushed and given a dirty look by the apprentice leading the group. Trying again to settle her mind she closes her eyes; this time it lasts about 45 seconds. Her concentration broken by her tail idly swaying across the stone behind her and notices many additional dirty looks she has now earned from her fellow apprentices… She’s really not sure about this whole ‘meditation’ thing…