The Whisper of the Nightingale

Chapter 6: Foreign Might

Hoatzin stood at the front end of the stage. Raven couldn't see his face from the balcony she was on but she noticed that his fists were clenched in determination.

'Good luck brother!' Raven prayed.

"Don't resist." Elder Kagu shouted his instructions for the eighth time and the air was once more filled with thousands of spirit orbs. Once they had entered the present children, Elder Kagu spoke yet again. "You have five minutes, starting... now!"

The exam began. It only took a heartbeat before the first light shot out of Hoatzin. A faint murmur spread throughout the crowed. So far, no one had been this fast with the first expulsion.

The seconds flew by and as the one minute mark came and went Hoatzin had managed to push nine orbs out of him. Raven sighed a breath of relief. If he kept this up her brother would pass the exam in flying colors, perhaps even beat cousin Dunlin!

'Hmm?'

Raven had averted her gaze from her brother for a moment to observe the other participants and she noticed a blond youth standing right below her at the far right-hand side of the stage. By now, everyone else had managed to expel at least one or two orbs, but not this boy. Not even one orb of light rotated around him, but as Raven looked closer she realized that even if the lights from the spirit orbs were still within him, seven sparks seemed to shine brighter than the rest and the vibrated ever so slightly.

At this moment a tenth orb flew out of her brother at the other end of the stage, momentarily taring Raven's attention to the front. When she looked back at the blond youth see witnessed how yet another spark slowly began to glow stronger within him.

'Could it be...?'

Raven kept observing her brother and the blond boy closely. Everytime Haotzin managed to expel a new orb, one more spark would brighten within the blonde.

'It can't be... Is he moving a new orb closer to his skin every time he sees my brother expel one?'

Once ten sparks had increased in luminescence within the boy, they simultaneously shook once and then slipped out of him. Everyone in the hall noticed the sudden increase in light at the back of the stage, and yet another a faint murmur spread throughout the hall. At this moment Hoatzin had twelve orbs rotating slowly around him and the audience watched with intense stares as he and the blonde continued to steadily expel orb after orb.

Raven noticed that even if the boy now pushed out the spirit orbs rather keep them just under his skin, he still paced himself after her brother's progress; as soon as the previous orb left the blonde a new spark would intensify and then wait patiently under his skin until Hoatzin managed to release his next orb.

By the time only one minute remained, Hoatzin had managed to remove a staggering 33 spirit orbs and more were still coming. Raven was overjoyed by her brother's achievements but at the same time perplexed by the blonde youth. He had 31 spirit orbs flying around him and a thirty-secound spark that shone brighter than the rest within him; why wasn't he expelling it right away? He clearly had the skill to do so, but instead he matched his pace to her brother...

While Raven pondered this, time went on and before she knew it Elder Kagu's voice filled the hall.

"Time is up." Elder Kagu waved his hand and collected all the orbs back to him.

Silence filled the hall. How did it go? In the end there had been too many orbs flying around the participants on stage to tell clearly what the results were.

"Two confirmed passes: Hoatzin Nightingale, 40 orbs cleared, and Javelin Hake, 38 orbs cleared."

The gathered crowd started applauding vigorously at the elders report and even the previously indifferent elder himself seem quite pleased at these results. He felt joy at the fact that two geniuses had appeared this time, and the Dunlin kid wasn't half bad either.