Elemental

Three- Ochre

When they reached the desk, an Earthen man greeted them. "Hello, um, just a moment." He quickly glanced at his clipboard. "Dryad, Kraken, and Phoenix. My name is Mr. Clayton, and I'm the director of the B sector. I don't have enough time to show every group around the center, so you and the kids in B-37 will be assigned a guide. And that will be..." He looked at his clipboard again, scanning the words quickly. "Oh. Your guide," he sighed, "is Ochre. Ochre, come over here!"

A teenage girl, around fifteen or sixteen, slowly walked over. "Let me guess," she said, annoyed. "More mudskippers that you expect me to show around and serve like I enjoy being stuck here forever."

"Ochre, show some respect. And yes, these are fledglings that will be staying here for the next week. I expect kindness from you, and anyway, all you have to do is show them their rooms and where the mess hall is. You act like it's such a big job, but you have to walk less than a mile." While Mr. Clayton was lecturing Ochre, Phoenix sighed. She also wondered why all of the staff seemed to be Earthen. It was strange, she supposed, but maybe there was good reason. Perhaps Ochre would explain it. Maybe...

"Kid!"

Her thoughts were interrupted by Ochre, who, having finished her argument with the director, had started to walk away, leaving Phoenix behind.

"Coming!" She hurried to catch up with the others. Ochre stopped. 

"Clayton said I had to take B-37 too, they should be around here somewhere." The teen stopped as she saw two kids, a Watrea girl and a Firii boy, standing around looking lost.

"B-37?"

"That's us." said the girl. "I'm Brook, and I don't know his name. Like, he won't even talk to me. Rude much?"

Phoenix rolled her eyes. These types of girls were so annoying. Kraken was staring off into space again, and Dryad had rushed over to enthusiastically greet Brook and the boy.

"Enough of that. Let's get a move on mudskippers." Ochre started to walk away again, leaving the group to follow behind her. She entered a passcode to open the door. "Welcome to the fledging center."

"Like, it looks so homey. Cute!" Brook exclaimed.

Ochre grunted. "Girls, your rooms are on the left. Boys, on the right. The numbers on the doors match your group number. So, y'all are in rooms 37 and 38. The mess hall is on the floor below this one. There's also a rec room. I cannot go into the rec room, so I'll take you there and drop you off." She started to walk quickly in the direction of the stairs. The Firii boy, Dryad, and Brook followed, but Phoenix and Kraken stayed behind. Kraken seemed overwhelmed by it all, and Phoenix was analyzing the room.

"You two! Hurry up!" Ochre yelled. 

"Come on Phoenix." He touched her arm. "Ochre is calling us."

"Oh. Okay, I'm coming."