"There Indeed." Risa stood, grabbed a book and a large owl feather quill, and stood by the door waiting for the two others to lead the way. Gideon lead the way out , with Nightingale behind in. They walked quickly from Risa's apartment to the training center. Risa opened the door. Instead of the grassy field that Nightingale and Gideon had encountered the first time, there was a dark group of barren rocky fields, and a downcast "sky".
"Well. Isn't this dreary in here!" Gideon said, looking around at the dark, gloomy, monochrome rock formations. Risa nodded and walked over to a control panel like pedestal. Her hands glowed a golden color, and the scene in the room changed to a rusty colored canyon. "This won't do..." Risa muttered, and slid her hands around the pedestal, the scene changed to a dark night on a hill. A beach, a town, a mountain top, until finally she stopped at a deep forest clearing. A circular ring in the middle of what looked like nowhere. Tall deciduous trees shooting into the sky.
"This is perfect...." Risa sat back in a chair, and gave up a relaxed sigh. Gideon nodded and sat in the center of the clearing, legs folded in lotus position. "Whenever you're ready, Nightingale." Gideon said, staring up at her.
"I... Yeah. Come over here." Night said, looking worriedly to Risa, but beckoning Gideon to stand in the center of the field with her. There was an unsure look on her face by this time. She wasn't qualified to teach! Yes, she had been a teacher for a long time, actually teaching kids how to bring out their magic over and over again, semester after semester, but now with Lady Risa watching Nightingale felt as if she was once again a novice herself. Her worried face maintained through most of their conversation.
"So...um..." She mumbled once Gideon had come to her. "I..." She kept her eyes on Lady Risa, seemingly not being able to look away from her. Interestingly enough, she was having quiet flashbacks to the tests that her father had given her, to see how her powers were progressing. She always felt awfully nervous at those, and Nightingale knew that impressing this ancient dragon was not going to be easy. "Y-yeah... Just... Sit for a bit." She mumbled again, sitting down cross-legged in front of Gideon. "I guess we need to start with the basic mental confidence." She said, her worried eyes still lingering upon Risa.
"I... um..." She was speaking quite quietly, only loud enough for Gideon to hear. "Do you want to start with mental contact or meditation? Cause... I... I know you know how to telepathically talk to people anyway. It'll be harnessing that that's going to be a bit hard."
Gideon paused for a moment, thinking. Students weren't often given choices on what to learn, so he figured it would be best to show eagerness. "Lets try the more difficult task, and see how much work I actually need?" He suggested. In her chair, Risa nodded, pulling out her book and quill, writing down everything she saw. Even though Night spoke quietly, Gideon spoke loud enough for the both of them. Risa had only slight difficulties figuring out what was going on. Nightingale was tense, and nervous. This was how Risa had felt training her first apprentice, with her mentor hovering over her shoulder. It was not easy to teach while being watched. Instead of speaking up, and telling Nightingale to relax, she instead sent her a mental message.
/'I'm not here to judge you, Night. I'm here to learn from you. You've impressed me enough already. If I need to be impressed by anyone, its my apprentice. Lets see how he deals with a new teaching method.'/
Gideon smiled, as he had heard the thought as well. Risa was a great teacher, and he was sure it didn't help the nerves to have her writing down everything you did. This was how she taught actually. Gideon had spent countless days practicing one thing or another with Risa simply sitting in her chair, writing down everything. At first, it was nerve-wrecking, but after a while it helped you improve what you needed to work on. As eager as he was to learn magic, Gideon was also a tiny bit worried. What if he couldn't do anything, what if he wasn't good enough, what if Night was wrong and he had no magic at all? Quietly, Gideon squashed those thoughts. Wasn't there something she had said about confidence? He could do this. Gideon believed he could, eventually, become skilled with arcane arts.
