.Elementals.

-3-

I sat high up in an old elm tree, one of the highest of branches with still ways to go above my head, leaf canopy hiding the sky from my view until a small gust of wind came and moved them out of the way.

Up here I knew I would be left alone, sitting in the silence of nature, using the soft caresses that my magic could conjure to awaken the dormant soul of the old elm, listening the silent stories it told of old times via the creaking of branched and rustling of leaves while I leaned against its truck with my eyes closed and listening to its tales.

It was peaceful up here, alone and carefree... peaceful.

I let the magic fade and let the old soul rest as I opened my eyes, those of dragons' as I've heard people say many times before, always brought up along with my 'silver mane' as people called it, because of it, the queen's silver beast, the dragon eyed girl, the silver dragon and many other names were given to me.

My hair style didn't help really, two inches of hair sticking up in spikes like a real mane would, my hair just in front of my left ear reached passed my chin and I had my hair really short in the back, having shaved it a couple of weeks ago.

The long strand of hair on the side of my head was braided with small light brown beads braided into it with markings on them, each having a different meaning and there was six in total, small enough beads to leave a thumb of space between each of them with place for two more with the hair length left.

I stood up and watched the leaves previously resting on my clothes fall and float away towards the ground, gliding softly through the air.

I dusted of myself, wearing the clothes that each court mage had in this country.

Black fingerless gloves that reached mid forearm and covered with forearm bracers with the insignia of the royal family burnt into the dark leather, a blade hidden in the right on my inner arm, a small handle-less flat blade I barely ever used in my life.
Then came the tight fit short sleeved black under shirt, the sleeves reaching mid upper arm with an armor-like dark leather corset over the top, laced in front (but shorter laces then in the pic).
The upper left part of the corset covering my breast was stamped with the insignia again, I also wore a thin silver chain necklace with a dragon stone in it, the stone shimmered like the scales of a dragon, a red dragon.
My trousers were also black and stuffed in my dark leather boots, laced tightly so I wouldn't worry about it coming undone, the leather of the boots not as pristine as the rest but what boots didn't get dirty?

Other than the beads in my hair and this necklace, I wore one earring in the left ear with also a small red dragon stone on it, these gifts from the queen as they matched my eyes and as her court's elementals we played part in representing her Majesty in front of everyone, if we didn't look the part it would hurt her Majesty's image.

I caressed the old yet unchanging bark of the elm and hopped down, feet softly landing on each branch below, the old tree looking out for me and not letting me fall.

I hopped down onto the root of it and onto the ground as I left the comfort of the sage old tree, going to meet my new family, the four other mages I grew up learning side by side with, close enough to be seen as family.

First was Calypso, the oldest and most studious of us, two years my senior, eyes black pits with long hair looking like the icy waters of winter, blue and white in hue, hair the length of her arm with her being a head taller then me who was 6'2, tall for a woman from this country but she came from a country down south where winter was mild and temperate while here it was harsh and deadly, sun bloomed almost daily from where she came from.
Dark skin clashing with her hair, she was the only one of color as here most were light skinned, me being the palest. She was lanky and thin but I've seen her lift rock that was a few tons while I was more.... blocky.

Emersme was the second, I call him Em and he was my bother from another mother, hair as short a mine but much much more dense and a hue of earth and sand mixed into, he was built like a soldier despite not being one, as I said I was more blocky in body shape but still with a nice tone body as I heard some describe me.
His face was clean of all traces of facial hair, never having been able to grow any, eyes the specific shade most of the elvish people from the east had where his ancestors mingled with them which was why his face was always clean shaven and so delicate looking, the male get-up being the same as mine but a dark leather breastplate and pauldrons instead of a corset.

Leo was the third and youngest as eighteen, each generation of humans had a few mages in them so of course we'd be similar in age.
He had some stubble and curly golden brown hair with golden eyes, while Calypso was the highest and Em and I were the same height he was smaller by half a head then us.
He was built like a monster, what I mean is huge muscles just a bit too big for his body to pass unnoticed, an absolute unit of a man, ask him to run through a wall and he'll run through three.

And last but not least Amalia, a girl from the western corners of the queendom, from a village high in the mountains.
She was the shortest of all, a head smaller then me, her hair was shoulder length but it was a deep rocky grey along with her eyes, a tiny body for a tiny girl but she had great forms while I.... was still and always will be blocky, I do have some form to my body but less pronounced than most of the women in the capitol, not that I am jealous anyway, I like my body how it is.

For the four of them people could guess more or less which element they had an easier time with wielding as magic tainted the fragile hair into the color the element is represented by: Calypso is ice, Em is plants, Leo is ground/dirt, Amalia is rock/stone/clay and me it is fire I guess, that's the magic I used the most of any of them but as all know my hair is silver not red but whatever.

Our teacher, the head mage of the court, Belladonna was in her forties and her hair was colored like the ocean, blue, eyes a rare white, there was a black circle that delimited the iris and there was the black pupil but the iris was white.
Instead of the trousers and an undershirt she wore a black dress with the corset and a dark brown mantel. She had an almost regal look to her without comparing to her Majesty in any way, radiating with the decades of knowledge up her sleeves, a second mother to all of us in absence of our own but also a competent teacher that deserved the respect she was given.

All of us were the court mages under her Majesty's orders.

I smiled softly with my arms clasped behind my back as I walked, wondering what would the day bring.