3 years

As surprising as it had been when we turned one year old our third birthday came. This time we were brought to a room with soft carpets, little tables with pen and paper on them as well as some instruments and complicated games we had played in our classes.

This time, to my great surprise, there were the same six girls. Yaupon sat with us in the room.

Azalea stared at her with a puzzled expression. She was about to go to talk to her when our nurse placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and shook her head.

I pulled on her sleeve. “That’s Yaupon!” I whispered. “She was back at our last test, too.”

Ash, who had apparently been listening in, looked at me in surprise. Then she looked at the girl with the mousy brown hair who was looking down at her feet timidly. She looked like she was thinking hard.

Willow, of course, looked like she had just received the best birthday present ever. I could guess that she really wanted to ask the other girl everything about where she had been.

I was pretty sure she would hate our nurse if she didn’t allow us to talk to her.

Magnolia, who had come in after us, sat down in her chair obediently and smiled at Fern. Magnolia had become really chubby over the last two years since we had entered the toddler group, I noticed.

Fern was looking at my sister as if she were a gift from heaven and snuck a bit of caramel into her sticky hands, which got her a satisfied grin from Magnolia.

Willow was staring at her jealously. None of us had ever had any sweets because our nurse said it was unhealthy.

The door opened and a group of women entered. It was quite a different group of adults from what I had expected.

One of them moved like a cat.

The second wore scholars’ robes like those the woman who observed our lessons occasionally wore.

The third gave me a really strange feeling.

And the fourth was a woman in an old dress full of colors as if she had just come from painting. There was grey dust everywhere on her, too, while her sleeves had traces of something brown. I guessed that she was probably an artist.

The scholar clapped her hands to get our attention. We were already quiet, of course, and obediently looked at her.

“This is your placement test for early school. You will be allowed to stay in the crib as long as you pass even one test.” Her eyes were warm when she said those words, but I wondered where we would go if we didn’t pass, like Yaupon the last time. Would we be able to come back later?

“The first test will be one you won’t be able to do anything about now.” The scholar looked at the woman who was dressed like a nurse but gave me that strange feeling. I looked at her with a bit of apprehension.

She ran her eyes over us slowly, one after the other. Finally she pointed at me and Ash. “Those two pass. The others fail.” The announcement sounded final, so the scholar just nodded as the weird woman left.

Ash looked at me from the side and I glanced back. She didn’t understand either.

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Yaupon’s lips started quivering as if she was about to cry, like she had last time, but before she could start the artistic looking woman rubbed her little head. “Now, girls, it’s time to paint a pretty picture. If you want to you can work with clay, too. Or sing a song. Whatever you like.”

Yaupon still seemed unhappy, but she grabbed the pen she got as if her life depended on it.

After art we had to count and do some math questions as well as write down some things and draw a picture of what some written things meant. That was easy and fun because we each got our own blackboard and colorful chalk for it.

After that we danced and then we had to run around the garden and then do fun things like rolling around the ground and play catch.

Then they decided to take our weight, height and measurements. Lastly they looked at our hair and looked for scars and such things. None of us liked that part.

Finally there was the talking again in a language I had never heard before while the six of us had to sit quietly.

After an eternity the scholar kneeled down in front of us.

“All right. I have your results now. Azalea will be part of the physical training and educational program. Congratulations.” She handed my sister a pen and a small dagger.

I wanted a dagger too!

She turned to me next. “Lily, you will have three courses. They will be ki classes, physical training and the educational program.” I got my dagger! And the pen and a little key.

Magnolia got Arts classes and was told she would have something called separate special education though I had no idea what that was supposed to be. The scholar woman looked at Fern with pity, too, though I didn’t understand why. Maybe Art was a bad thing?

White Ash was in ki training and education, but not in physical training. The woman who moved like a cat told her she would still have about twice as many sports lessons and had to take a martial arts course compared to the others who also weren’t in physical training.

Willow had physical classes and the education course.

We were happy that we would all have at least one thing together.

Then it was Yaupon’s turn. Poor girl. She really looked dejected already so I hoped she had passed something, too.

The scholar rubbed her head and smiled. “You’re not remarkably smart or very pretty and you have little talent in art. But you have a strong body and if you ask Lady Zinnia she may allow you to sit in her classes quietly. If you try very hard you might make a good witch yet. You’ll be in physical training.”

Yaupon looked up with her eyes shiny with tears that had been desperation but were suddenly transformed into joy. “I can be a witch?” She squeaked.

The scholar smiled as she nodded. “If you train very hard. Then maybe.”

I smiled happily and looked at the others. I’d already decided that I would help her as much as I could. Willow, White Ash and Azalea grinned back.

For some reason Magnolia was gone though.

Puzzled I looked around and found her next to an ashen faced Fern.