First-Class Test

A waning moon hung over the palace when the wind mage returned.

She set her books on the desk. Her seafoam hair, loosened by the wind of her return journey, fell across her face as she picked up a note on her desk. She smiled as she read it.

The first snowflakes fell on the day of Nestor’s first-class test. A crowd had gathered on the palace steps to watch the spectacle. Mages stood off to one side, shivering in their robes. Nobles stood on the other side in winter finery.

The day prior, Airi had found Nestor in the Water Study Room, frantically practicing The Great Ocean. She’d asked several mages about the first-class test, Mildred included, but they’d all told her the same thing.

She repeated their words to Nestor: “The test will be easy if you really are a first-class mage, and impossible if you aren’t.”

“What if they want me to cast a spell? River Runs Away was my best one,” Nestor said through a mouthful of lettuce and tomatoes.

“It’s not something you can prepare for, so it must have to do with your mana. You just need to focus on your emotions, and you’ll do fine.”

“What if I’m not good enough?” Nestor said in a hushed voice.

“You are.” Airi patted his head. “Remember that belief I gave to you for safekeeping? Is it still in here?” Nestor nodded. “Hold onto it just a little longer.”

Now she stood at the front of the crowd, watching Nestor stand alone at the top of the steps. He scuffed at the floor, waiting for the examiner to show up.

“Who normally proctors these tests?” Airi asked the woman next to her.

“I can’t wait to see either!” the woman said excitedly.

Another woman said, “I hope it’s Mage Pygmalion; he’s so handsome.” Airi wrinkled her nose. Perhaps it was Feldspar; she hadn’t seen him in a while.

“Do you think it could be Mage Narcissus?”

“I don’t think so. Look, His Majesty isn’t here either. There’s no way Mage Narcissus will show up.”

As the women discussed whether or not Narcissus would show up, Mildred appeared from inside the palace. The women sighed in disappointment, and the crowd quieted.

Mildred handed Nestor a small flag. “The rules are simple. Do you see the Astronomy Tower of the Upper Palace? Lift the flag to the top of that tower, and you’ll be a first-class mage.”

“That’s it?” Airi muttered. Even a third-class mage could lift that flag. What an anticlimactic test.

“There is one rule,” Mildred continued. “You may only cast spells while standing on the ground, right here.”

Mildred gave Nestor a copy of Tale of Flight, and he began to read. When he was finished, the flag soared into the air, fast as an arrow. The crowd gasped and people tipped their heads back to watch it fly. At this rate, the test would be over in seconds.

About halfway there, the flag faltered and fell back towards the ground. The crowd groaned. Beads of sweat appeared on Nestor’s forehead as he cast the spell again. The farther up it flew, the more he strained, as if carrying a heavy weight.

“Why is it so difficult?” Airi whispered to the woman next to her.

“Hm? Well, doesn’t it cost more mana to lift something higher?”

But Nestor had the mana. Airi was certain of it. What he lacked was control. Airi watched the flag falter again and again. Nestor flinched every time it fell.

“You can do it!” she called, ignoring the heads that turned her way. “This is nothing. Remember that time with the Mother of Plenty?”

People began to whisper. The flag flew higher this time, before it clipped a windowsill and fell back down.

“I can’t do it,” Nestor said in a panicky voice.

“Yes, you can,” Airi shouted. Mildred looked like she was about to tell Airi to be quiet, but Airi glared at her. Don’t you dare. “Think of all the people you helped on your way here. You’re going to be the best first-class mage ever.”

“That girl is so obnoxious,” someone said.

Praise didn’t seem to be working. Airi took a deep breath.

“Think of how many people were killed by Charybdis,” she shouted. The flag dipped as Nestor flinched. “You want to help them? You want to save them? Prove that you’re good enough to help them! Prove that you can defeat those monsters! Make your dad proud!”

She held her breath. The flag trembled higher every second and came to a shaky landing on top of the tower, and then Mildred was reaching into her pocket and fastening a gold crest onto Nestor’s robes.

“Congratulations,” Mildred said over the roar of the crowd. She patted Nestor’s head, and Airi wiped the tears off his face. “Well done.”