Rime held Cyra's hand to keep her close as they made their way out of the class and headed for the back of the head Master's and Faculty's building. Where there was a wide field that stretched as wide as the eye could see; only stopping at the back fences for the Academy that was far out of sight. But everyone knew it was there so the teachers felt comfortable allowing the students to wander the field unattended.

"Okay so I've given each of you a list of five herbs that I want you to go out and find, you're to bring an undamaged sample back of each of them. When you return you have to sit and make a sketch of the herbs to store in your notes and label your storage jars with your names and classes. Okay so each one of you have a timer and when it goes off I want you to make your way back to me, take too long and I'll deduct marks, pair up if you wish and go on your way."

Before she even finished speaking Rime and Cyra had already left to wander the field they'd say the teacher had it out for them after Cyra's little outburst because she gave them the rarest herbs to find. They were the ones that were easy to miss because of their size and ability to blend in with the plants that surrounded them. But Rime had a bit of an advantage; because the Arch Mage seemed to have taken a liking to them he had information that could be considered to be of high value.

The first plant they had to find was the willow weeper, it was a plant that grew close to the ground and had dark purple leaves and the scent of feline piss. The slightest sound caused the plant to burrow into the earth, so it was hard to find but if you knew to read the signs of their presence it would be a simple enough job. He decided to let light footed Cyra go and find it because it was on her list, she soon waved him over and he went to see her holding on to a brown plant stalk.

He set his backpack down and pulled out a small box, he set it on the ground and whispered herb. The box suddenly grew three times its original size and then the clasp unhooked itself sending the top of the box flying up and then landing on the ground next to it. Inside the box was the storage jars and the equipment he needed to collect the herbs, he pulled on a pair of gloves and clamp. Using his fingers he dug into the dirt that surrounded the plant and then reached the clamp to the bottom of the plant grabbing it by the root and pulled it out.

The smell of feline piss filled the air just before he placed it in a jar that had holes in the cover, he closed it in and Cyra who had already written out the label stuck it to the front of the jar before setting it back in the box. When they were finished they went for the next herb, tally soul, it was a dark green plant and every visible part of the plant was the same color but when you got to the root it was a ghostly white. Whenever the plant was plucked from the ground it let out a horrible scream, which it had when they took it to place it in the jar, but luckily they had already covered their ears.

The next herb was a widows will, it was a very poisonous plant but the bottom of the plant at the center of the root was a little bulb that was used to help increase the power of certain spells that required powder to be cast. They made sure that their hands were completely covered along with their faces before finding the plant near a small stream. It was easy to dig up because of the loose dirt and they were able to get it in the jar before it spurt it's poison, they made sure it was a jar with no holes or openings.  

They quickly gathered the rest of the plants and placed them each in a jar before they stood up and headed back to where the teachers were gathered, all sitting and having a chat with each other as if their students weren't out in a field searching for dangerous plants. Their Professor looked at them and sighed before she came over with a plastic smiled on her face. "Well the two of you appear to have finished early; I trust that you were able to get all of them." She said and Cyra rolled her eyes.

Rime nodded and opened up his box pulling out the ten jars that were each labeled, he set them down on the ground in front of her and handed back their list, the teacher looked them over quickly and made a note after examining their condition. "Okay they are all well-kept, now you can complete your sketches for them and the put what they are used for. If there is enough time state the proper way to prepare each and every one of them, this shouldn't be too hard for you right?"

They didn't bother giving her an answer as they sat to do their work, Cyra doing the sketches while Rime handled all the writing, he took his time going in debt for each and every one of them. By the time they finished a few of their class mates had returned and began their own work. Rime and Cyra moved to a nearby tree and decided to catch up on some much needed rest before the presentation.

+

The remaining students had finally returned after the timer went off all bringing back their different works before the teachers began grading them and placing down notes of how well their students had done. When they were finished they decided to get everyone back to their classes before heading to the Academy's Arena. One of the teachers noticed the sleeping siblings; Rime was leaned against a tree fast asleep with his hood covering most of his face while Cyra was curled up in his lap also asleep as she was snuggled up in her cloak.

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Rime was woken by the teacher and he looked down at Cyra and thought about letting her remain asleep. He had no choice but to wake her when he realized that he wouldn't be able to carry her and all the bags and he didn't trust anyone else with her or their things, so he reluctantly shook her awake. Cyra woke with a grumble but quickly stood and adjusted her cloak before collecting their lunch sack and her haversack as Rime held onto his own haversack and the now heavy box.

Their teacher lead them back to the class where they were told to leave all of their things before they headed off to the Arena but Cyra decided to keep their lunch sack because something told her that they would most likely need to take part in the training. This was because of the simple fact that they were students of the Fire Caster's and Water Guardians; Cyra herself was able to manipulate water because it fell under the category of Light magic while Rime was able to create fire out of nothing he suspected this was because of his affinity with dark magic.

It took them some time to reach the arena because it was situated close to the building where the warrior students studied the academic part of their training. These were the students that would go on to be part of the Royal guard, the hunting party, the army and so forth, so they spent most of their time in the arena as Rime and Cyra had come to know.

Some of the students recognized them as they made their way towards the arena giving them a respectful bow while the glared at the other students. It was known that Warriors and magic users were always at each other's throat until they needed to fight side by side on the battle field. So the magic students just gave them ugly faces in return some sneaking in crude gestures that would make a priestess blush.

Rime shook his head and sighed when they finally reached the Arena the other students piled into the stands while he and Cyra made their way over to their respective teachers, who marked their presence before sending them to change. They each went under a tent that was designated one for boys and the other for girls, Rime was the first to change coming out in black tights that laid flat against his skin and a red long sleeved high neck t shirt that fit just the same with black running shoes.

Cyra wore a similar outfit with her t shirt being blue and fitting her a little loosely, she came over to Rime who quickly braided her hair and clipped the bottom of the braid to her shirt so it didn't come undone. He pulled his hair up into a similar style before hurrying both of them back to their classes.

The Fire Caster's were told to go first starting with the worst student which was a short boy with a strange buzz cut, they were told to hit a rock statue that was in the shape of a man to see how much damage they could do. The boy was able to make a small burn mark on the statues chest earning a nod from the red head male teacher. They went down the line the person before Rime being able to turn the statue black which caused it to crumble earning a clap from the students in the stands.

Rime had to wait for the Head Earth Former to make a similar statue before stepping forward, to which everyone in the arena stepped back. He sighed and former a small ball of fire in his hand some of the student from the arena booed him unaware of the destruction that such a small flame could cause. He stared at the statue and then tossed the ball causing it to hit the target's chest, it was instantly absorbed and everyone waited in silence.

Cyra took a few steps back as the statue vibrated before exploding into tiny fragments that shot everywhere. The Earth Former was able to capture each fragment before it could do any real damage. Rime flexed his hands and nodded to himself the fire seemed to be more powerful the smaller it was. The teacher told him good job and took his notes before leading his students off the field to the stands where Rime could feel many eyes on him.

The Water Guardian teacher ran her hand through her dark blue hair that was styled in a pixie cut before telling her students to step forward. For them they had to see how large a water ball they could form without using anything else but their own power. She was pleased with most of the results she got, but her mouth dropped open as she watched the tiny four year old girl that had been assigned to her step forward.

Cyra took a deep breath, she knew she wasn't able to make water out of nothing but about a year ago she learnt that she could draw water from living things. As she had no interest in being locked away for committing mass murder just to prove she could for a water ball. She focused on the ground below her feet and slowly imagined the water being sucked from each grain of sand and just like that a large ball of water began to form above her. Cyra stopped drawing from the earth and with a click of her finger the ball burst and drenched the ground and the other students that were still on the field, luckily she and the teacher had put up a veil just in case of an accident like this.

Cyra snapped her head to the side when she heard someone whistle and smiled at Rime who was cheering for her. She laughed and ran over to him, he picked her up and placed her on his shoulders as everyone watched on in silence.