Nightingale High: Skyler

There are three simple things every air elemental needs to know.

First off, never fly near a razedra. You may be invisible to most creatures when cloaked in the air currents, but a razedra isn't one of them.

Secondly, unless you want to spend three hours a night brushing snares and tangles from your hair, keep it short or in a well tied ponytail. I recommend keeping it short, naturally spiky, and windblown.

And finally three; the front door is for people stuck on the ground (unless you're meeting your future mother in-law).

So after taking a spin over Lord Charles' barn, I picked an open window on the second floor and flew in; manipulating the air current I had been riding back out the window after slipping out of its gentle embrace. Spring currents are normally quite gentle, while summer currents have a certain playful recklessness to them that I preferred. Fall currents are pretty solemn affairs, that bring quite a bit of the more nostalgic sylphs out. Great if you want to hear old legends and forgotten stories, but just a little unsettling. Now, the winter currents are dangerous. They have a similar recklessness to their summer cousins, but none of the playful innocence that the summer currents have. Summer currents want to have fun, while the winter currents want the warmth that is denied them.

The current settled back into the immense web of currents outside, just as an irritated voice spoke.

“You could have knocked, at the very least. This room is already taken.” I turned to face the speaker, and nearly fainted. The girl looked cross, but it wasn't her looks that interested me (though she was pretty. Dark auburn hair that barely touched her olive shoulders, and bright brown almond-shaped eyes with a deep amber-gold tint. Her left ear was visible, and had a dark metal ear cuff attached. The ear cuff had a small dark gold and black stone in the center of the metal.).

I was more interested in the air currents surrounding her. They were massive, and volatile. They circled the girl like she was the eye of a storm, the currents rising to touch the ceiling and falling to the floor in a violent spinning cycle. It was like this girl had a cyclone surrounding her.

Yet nothing was being smashed, and not a single hair on her head so much as twitched.

“Elemental, would you kindly make your way out of my room? Or did someone send you to get me? Classes don't begin until next month.” The girl had a beautiful voice, now that I actually listened to it. The irritation was still there, but not as much as when she had first spoken. Her eyes were actually curious, now that she had taken the time to study me.

I shook my head, then gave her a respectful bow Charles had taught all of us under his care. Better to show some respect to someone when you first meet them then to not and get your head on a chopping block, Charles had commented once when Rath had complained. Besides, it was something a gentleman does. And Charles hadn't raised us to be lumbering oafs.

The girl raised an eyebrow, a faint smile almost making an appearance. “Well, for a uninvited guest, you do seem to have some manners. What's your name, elemental?” She motioned with a hand for me to sit in an old Victorian style chair. I sat in the chair, then answered her question after she had sat in the other chair.

“Skyler Chase, uninvited guest and student at Nigh-High. Though my friends and complete strangers call me Air.” I bow my head and waved a hand in the air, catching sight of a small smile on the girl's face a moment before it disappeared. The Cyclone (for anything as weird as her air currents needed a name.) slowed as the volatile movements ceased. I was curious about the Cyclone, as well as in the girl it apparently survived on.

“Nigh-High? I wasn't aware the school had had a name change.” The girl didn't offer her name, which was fine. I was just glad she hadn't kicked me out the window or gone screaming to a teacher. Charles would be furious if I got in trouble before the schooling even began.

“Oh, it didn't. But Nightingale High is such a mouthful, especially if you pin on the fact that this school is for the magically challenged and socially dis-enthralled. Nigh-High is also a much cooler name. Because this is nearly a school, and it might be near it's demise before it even begins. Nightingale High makes it seem as if we're here to sing, and I'm not sure that'd be as interesting an experience as a school that could collapse at any moment.”

The girl gave a soft laugh, then sighed and shook her head. “I wouldn't be here if it was a school for singers...” The barely whispered words were easily heard by me. But then again, air elementals have amazing hearing unrivaled by any. I lifted a finger for the girl's attention, then spoke gravely.

“I wouldn't whisper around an air elemental. We have amazing hearing, and are especially drawn to whispers. Oh, and we like open windows. Makes for a better entrance then the front door, unless you're meeting family...” The girl looked angry for a moment, then shook her head and grinned.

Score for Air, made a girl grin, due to old air elemental advice.

“You're a strange one, Kyler.” Her grin faded to a smile, “My name is Nightingale Valentine, though I'll probably introduce myself as Gale to as many people as possible. It's embarrassing to have a school named after you, especially when you have to attend it.”

I smiled, holding a hand out as if to shake on a deal. “Well, if you'll let me call you Nigh, then I'll let you call me Kyler.” The Cyclone had diminished to only a foot tall during our conversation, so I assumed that Nightingale and I might have become friends. Or at least allies.

Nightingale held out her hand, a mysterious look in her eyes. “Agreed, Kyler.” Then she stood and we walked to her door. After I had stepped out into the dimly lit hall, I turned to look at the girl with the Cyclone. “You know, I think this is the start of a peculiar friendship.”