The Snow Queen..., ...starting her class

[OpalAdmin]

All IC:

A soft wind was heard, and amongst the snow and ice in the Advanced Class area, a figure appeared. She had lovely white hair, a few strands coming out from underneath her dark blue cloak, and wise and powerful white eyes. She wore a sort of crown on her forehead, that dangled down and bore colorless jewels that moved when she did. Her face wasn't unkind, but not the most gentle. In her hand was a staff, and near the end were a bunch of feathers, then the shape of a crescent moon that glowed and shimmered.

She was beautiful, not too tall, and looking like she was ready for anything that dared come her way. Indeed, she was Opelia Icicle, called Opal Ice, or Icicle, the Snow Queen. Most dared call her nothing but Queen Icicle, but a few ventured to say her real name...despite whether they were frowned very deeply at and told to speak of the Queen better.

The Queen herself, however, didn't seem to mind as much as her followers. She, herself, was enchanting, powerful, yet, a little kind. Now she stood, waiting for who was to come and be trained by her, and, when the one to be trained came, a whisper came from her mouth. "State your name, element, and who sent you to me...and you shall be trained...by the Snow Queen."

[Rhian]

The sighs of the wind brought not just Opelia Icicle. Beady black eyes were watching her from behind a snow drift, noticing every that they could possibly take in, from her cloak, the few strands of white hair seen beneath it, her tiara, and her staff. She noticed Opal Ice's face, not unkind, yet not the face of a gentle softie. Finally, the eyes looked at the Queen's eyes, white, and filled with power, wisdom, and emotion.

Rhian was cautious about presenting herself to this beautiful person. She felt weak and silly. Her fur and feathers were nothing compared to this person before her. She was merely a creature, but Opal Ice wasn't. Opal Ice was a Queen, and how could a mere hippogriff feel like the Queen was just her teacher, not her ruler? Rhian took a deep breath. She had to.

She walked out slowly from her hiding place. She stood tall and proud, making sure that she at least gave the teacher a good impression. Walking towards Opelia, she lowered her head, in a bow of respectfulness. "My name is Rhian. I was sent here by a phoenix, Ekaki. My element is that of the moon," she said cautiously, then added hastily, "You Majesty." Was that not a proper way to respect ones title as a queen? Rhian wondered.

[OpalAdmin]

The magestic face of the Queen softened a little, yet acknowledged the other as another, not more or less than herself, as the Hippogriff spoke. She nodded at her, pulling back her hood and letting her eyes smile a little. "Greetings, Rhian of the Moon... To be put in the advanced class at the beginning is an honor, and I congratulate you in it..."

She smiled at the hippogriff, then spoke once more. "Yet we have much to work on. And, if you feel you are ready, let us begin."

Stepping forward she pointed her staff to the ground, and immediately 3 targets were lined up, ready for being shot at. Turning toward Rhian again, Queen Icicle spoke, motioning toward a line in the snow a bit away from the targets as she talked. "Now, you may stand there, and, however you like, hit at the target, aiming for the center of course. This is for me to see what I should help you with...what kind of training to start with first."

Herself always wanting to know even the simple and perhaps obvious "why?"'s when she was learning her element, Opal Ice had a way of explaining about everything to the Ele-Learners, as she called them. And now patiently watching Rhian, Opelia wondered to herself, with a hidden smile, how many queens out there would do this sort of thing.

[Rhian]

Rhian stared as the targets appeared. That was powerful magic, at the least of it. She still nodded though. She was ready to show her new teacher what she could do.

She walked confidently toward the line, pausing just behind it. Her black eyes scanned the three targets, studying each very carefully. It was obvious that once she hit the first target, she would have to practice on the second and third. Finally, her eyes rested on the center target, looking right at the painted red center.

She closed her eyes, letting the power in her veins flow through to her mouth, gathering in a silvery blueish ball. She took a deep breath, and let go of her power, letting it move freely through the air. Even if it had been a ball in her mouth, now it spread itself out, alomst snake-like. It hung in the air, waiting for her to command it.

At first it wobbled. She was nervous, and didn't have entire control of the stream. Finally, she steadied her nerves, taking a deep breath, and the blueish snake stood still. It dropped to the level of the center of the target. She set it out to hit exactly in front of her.

There was a bit of smoke as she hit the target, and it was just off center when the smoke cleared. The energy stream was still alive, in the form of an arrow, piercing the wood.

[OpalAdmin]

Opal watched Rhian shoot at the target, her face almost expressionless, if it wasn't for the soft smile on her face that was not unkind, but not the most gentle of smiles.

She nodded in approval as the hippogriff hit the almost-exact center, watching the blue smoke clear. She nodded. "You have great power, Rhian. But I shall need to help you with your confidence in yourself...."

Soon many targets appeared, some in the trees, some right in front of the hippogriff, others moving, they were all over the place. The Snow Queen smiled. "Go ahead...hit as many as you want, and it doesn't matter if you miss or not."

((It'd be a better post, but again, I g2g. ><))

[Rhian]

"So many targets..." muttered Rhian. She studied each target for a moment or so, calculating where the moving ones moved to and from, and how far away each were from her. Rhian got ready to shoot at some of them. Gathering power, she slowly let it out.

She shuddered once, wondering if she could try something. It was an interesting idea that she just had, and now she intended on trying it. She split the long silvery blue snake of power in two. Aiming them in different directions, one of them wobbled, her confidence had soared from doing so. Noticing the wobbliness, she shuddered. Realizing that her power was centered around how smooth her confidence was, she tried to settle her nerves.

The two power strips hit their targets, one was a bit off center though. Both hitting non-moving targets, Rhian got a bit amitious after hitting them. Repeating the process of gathering her power, she split it into two once more, going for moving targets. One hit, the other missed.

Perhaps she could send more than two? Perhaps she could send them in all directions? Was that possible? Rhian wanted to try. Gathering up more power than ever before, she felt most of the warmth leave her limbs. Her mouth was burning hot, but she ignored it. If this worked...

Trying to keep her nerves steady, she send the ball into the air. While it was there, she shot a few separete beams away from it, in order to hit the targets. Her ratio of hit to miss with this method was about 4:5 hit to total for non-moving targets and about 2:5 hit to total for the moving targets.

[OpalAdmin]

((What in the world...I thought I replied to this. o.O;))

The Snow Queen nodded in approval as Rhian learned how to hit more than one target at once. And for a few moments she watched the other, but soon started to join her own power with Rhian's, to help make the smoke more acurate.

Silver and white flurries of wind twirled around the blue smoke, curving it toward the targets, increasing the chance for the power to hit the centers.

After a while, the targets all hit, they disappeared, and new ones came up, only a few in the back moving, and the number of them not half as high. She turned toward the hippogriff. "Now let's work on focusing on the targets."

She pointed her wand toward the middle one, farther away than usual, then spoke once more. "Focus on the center. See it in your mind, imagine hitting it exactly in the middle. Watch how your smoke curls toward it, rushing, blowing, then going into the middle, straight through the target.."

"Now try hitting it.."

[Rhian]

Seeing new targets, Rhian sighed. Though she enjoyed this practice and teaching, she was beginning to feel tired, possibly from overuse of her power? She wasn't exactly sure. But trying not to seem fatigued, she nodded slowly.

There was the target. The gleaming center, every detail exactly perfect. It was just as far in her mind as in reality, but in dream, she could hit it with perfect ease. The smoky silver-blue substance curling toward it, leaping, gliding, riding on the swift air. And hitting it. Dead center.

Opening her eyes, Rhian didn't think about what she was going to do. She just... did it. Without hesitation, she gathered her power and let it release, and guided it only by the memory of her hitting it in her dream... her black eyes focused on the center. She could feel that this would work. It just had to.

[OpalAdmin]

Opelia watched Rhian, hearing her sigh and sensing her tire. After this they would take a break... Gaze followed the smoke as it curled toward the center, and Opal almost smiled, yet her face remained emotionless.

Perhaps the Snow Queen was tired too...she hadn't trained anyone in a while, and pulling up all those targets from nothing didn't help. Well, she would have her power work outs more often then, Opal thought with an inward chuckle. But she only watched the hippogriff and her power, and waited to see if it would hit the center or not...

[Rhian]

Rhian focused her eyes only on the target that she had seen in her mind. She guided the smoke not through her knowlege of where the target lay in reality, but in her mind still. Hoping this would work, she gave a small smile. This was going to work. She could feel it.

And it did. The smoke didn't curl lazily, but sped toward the target quickly. When it cleared, a clear hole was aimed directly through the center. Smiling broadly, Rhian turned to her teacher, wondering what she would think. But whatever she though, Rhian was proud of her accomplishment.

Of course, this accomplishment wasn't without its punishment. Without a cry, Rhian felt to her knees, so it looked sort of like she was doing a clumsy bow. In order to redeem herself quickly, Rhian batted her wings, raising herself an inch or so above the ground before standing upright, a bit shaky.

[OpalAdmin]

Opelia nodded her approval, smiling slightly. As the hippogriff fell to her knees, she recognized this as not a bow. Smile turning to a small frown, she bent and sent a chilly breath toward Rhian, giving her some strength.

As the other stood up once more, the frown disappeared but she pursed her icy lips and motioned the hippogriff to follow, before turning and slowly walking along, though she glanced back a few times to make sure Rhian was following.

In almost no time at all the Snow Queen reached a cabin, stopped snow off her shoes, and stepped inside. There was a large fire in the room, and a hot and slightly sweet drink was on a table, a series of pastry-like-goodies and bits of cracker-like snacks. There was also some slices of meat, and singular but delicious fruits on the side.

Opal went around making everything was appropiate for her guest, then walked back outside and nodded toward the pupil. "Feel obliged to come in...I have some food that should refresh you, and if you need to get some shut-eye there's some beds of sorts upstairs."

She hoped the hippogriff wouldn't feel uneasy or reluctant, as she had no plans to trick her and had definitely not poisoned the food...but Opelia Icicle merely waited for Rhian's response as she stood in the doorway, but would move if the hippogriff came in.