The Elders' Secrets

One

Aquila's PoV

Here in Sanctuary, life is practically perfect. Our village on top of Mount Manta is lively and full of excitement for the upcoming trials, which will start in two days. While everyone else is excited, I'm not so sure about this.

Keeping my secret is hard enough without the thought of the war and the trials hanging over us. I can't help being nervous-although I'm sure Theta and Aries would say that I should toughen up and live on.

I turned eleven last week, finally receiving my cape. As soon as I grew it, I immediately knew it would look exactly how I wanted it to-light pink at my shoulders, and then a salmon pink at my waist, before finally ending in watermelon pink. My cape was like everyone else's: with five small stars on it, outlined with another star.

I knew that my friends Aries and Theta had received their capes the same day, as we shared the same birthday, whereas Lyra was born six days after me, and Aquarius-although she preferred to be called Aqua-two days after Lyra. But our eldest friend, Lyra's sister, Vela, had received hers ten months before I received mine.

I smiled as I watched Aqua trying to dodge the obstacles in the air as she flew. Aqua sucked at flying, whereas Lyra was bad at sliding, and I... well, I was pretty good at most things, although I excelled with music, ice skating, and flying, although I sucked at collecting light. Vela was really good at everything, although she was the best at music.

Aqua eventually landed next to me, reaching into her pocket for something. But she pulled nothing out, instead, she smiled at me. "Your turn," she said, grinning slightly, ready for the show.

I knew that I was going to give her a good one.

Aries and Theta called me a butterfly, since that's what I looked like when I flew. But I thought of myself more like an eagle.

I grinned back at her and jumped off of the floating island we were on. I spread my arms out, my cape following, as I glided towards the obstacle course. I watched as the obstacles came closer, and closer. I could almost hear Aqua smiling, getting ready for a show.

And that was exactly what I was going to give her.

I ducked between two obstacles and flew up, going over the next, before ducking under one and doing a loop, going back through. I twirled in the air, pushing myself up with my winged light. I saw the finish line below me, and, as I flipped through the air, I tucked my arms in, diving through it and landing gracefully on my feet.

The elders approached me, nodding. "Good job, Aquila," Auriga said, nodding at me. I knew she prepared the third trial, but I wasn't sure what the trial was or where it would be.

"You are free to go," Gem and Ini said at the same time. They kinda creeped me out.

As the elders of the fourth trial, they were an exception. There had never been twins who became elders, but for Gem and Ini, that was different.

I had no idea what you got if you won, but I could only assume that it was something really good, seeing as you had to go through all that trouble to get it.

As I walked back to the geyser that would shoot me up to the village, I could only imagine what it would be like to win the trials. I knew that there was no chance I would make it. I was just barely eleven, whereas there were children who had been training for four years to win. The most likely candidate to win was a child named Sagittarius, who was fifteen now, his final year competing.

I imagined that I had won the trials. That my friends were cheering me on. But mostly, I imagined that I had a family to be proud of me.

I'm an orphan. The elders wouldn't tell me how my parents had died. I never knew them. My grandparents had passed away shortly before I was born, and my parents were only children, meaning that I had absolutely no family left.

I was almost back to the geyser when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey," Vela said in a soft voice. "Are you thinking about your family again?"

I nodded reluctantly. Vela could always tell.

"You do have family, you know. You have me, and Lyra, and Aqua, and the elders. I could go on all day."

"I'm sure you couldn't," I replied, grinning.

Vela narrowed her eyes at me. "You wanna bet? If I win, you owe me a heart. If you win, I owe you a heart."

"You're on!" I exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. I ran the rest of the way to the geyser with Vela behind me, listing off names. We both shot into the sky, gracefully landing on the peak of Mount Manta, where our village was. "Hey, you wanna get some dinner?" I asked her, heading towards the market.

She nodded. "And there's also Aries, and Theta too, and..." I tuned most of her rant out and held out my hand, which she placed a candle in. I went to the counter and placed her candle and mine down, watching the owner as he fried up some crab for us. I thanked him and grabbed the platters, heading back to Vela, who was now sitting on the two chairs by the edge of the mountain, continuing reciting names.

I smiled and placed the plate of crab in her lap, which she gladly picked up, before taking the seat next to her. "Der's awso Vuwpecuwa," she said with her mouth full.

"What?" I asked, not understanding a word she had said.

She swallowed. "There's also Vulpecula," she replied before she went back to eating.

"I don't know who that is," I lied, and she looked at me strangely.

"Well, I should probably go home now," she finally said after minutes of us staring at the sunset.

I shot to my feet. "I win!" I shouted, making her jump.

"What?"

"You owe me a heart," I said, smiling. "Now let's go back home, we both have a big day tomorrow," I said, before returning home after waving her off.

Back in my own home, which had apparently once belonged to my parents, I finally relaxed.

Everything was going to be fine.

I pulled off my mask, tracing over the markings on it. If I had known my parents, I'm sure I would miss them. This mask was a replica of my mothers. Over the left eye hole was a blue line with a dot above it, and below was another identical blue line.

Sighing, I set my mask on my nightstand and put my flute on it's stand before crawling into bed.

Everything was going to be fine. I would go through the trials. I would come home after losing the trials. And although I would be disappointed, I still had four years to practice.

I had no idea how things were about to change.

So... Lyra (If they leave authors notes for you guys they're Ai, Isle is Aqua.) is the one who came up with the idea if any of you were wondering. Aquila is me. And the descriptions of them are how we look (Kinda we change a lot). Also, what do you guys think of me and my friends (Lyra, Aqua, and Vela) doing a reenactment of the story in Sky, filming it for you, and posting it in the book when we're done with the story? It would probably take a while, and a lot of being krilled, but I'm sure we could do it if you want. There would be a lot of goofing off, pretending we had certain cosmetics, playing multiple parts, and figuring out what emotes to do for what.