Elyndra wakes from her slumber by the young morning light which shone through the ceiling that was made from leaves. Not far from her home, she heard an owl hooting. She gets out of her bed and puts on her silver-coloured dress. She eyes the door and thinks about the immense pressure that she feels. Because today, she is expected to exceed the expectations of her strict father. Her father, an Elflord, bit her to sleep early and wake up early. So, she could put her mind at rest.

Her knees wobble and then takes in a deep breath. She takes her jewellery and puts it on and walks out the door with a slight sigh. The smell of flowers reminds her of the time of the year. It is autumn. The always-green grass of the city is now covered with brown leaves. Once outside, she hears that the daughter of her neighbour, her friend, has also been selected to partake in the ritual today.

´Hiya, ´ the girl says while waving at Elyndra, ´excited for today, are you? ´

‘Well, yeah,’ Elyndra said while blushing.

‘Good!’ the girl replied.

Moments later when Elyndra walks down the path, across the river and along the riverbank to finally stop at the ritual spot. She waited and after her, the girl came running with her gown slightly torn on one end.

‘Good, everyone is here. The other arrived before you did, it’s good that you’re not late,’ a man said in a coat that had shimmering gems on it. They shone as Elyndra looked at them while slightly moving side to side.

‘Now, be careful and follow my every move,’ the man continued, ‘I will demonstrate. Grab the twig and say these words cautiously. One mockup and everyone is worse for it. So…’ he said while grabbing a twig from the table that lay in front of the whole group of elves.

‘Grab the twig and say: “Elyia Samalti Evatalia”, this will, in turn, cast a small summoning spell that summons a water spirit. Which will come to heal you when you are hurt.’

The group of elves had to shut their mouths again from awe after hearing these instructions.

‘Changing these words will have different effects. For example, changing “Samalti” to “Eert” will, in turn, summon a tree that will follow you and give you shade from the sun. Mind you, if you lay down on the ground because they’re not very tall, they are.’

Elyndra chuckled. She tried the spell and at once she had summoned a water spirit, it all came too easy she thought. She tried it again and it worked once again. Without the feeling of effort. She snorted a bit as if baffled by her skill.

The others were not so successful in their endeavour of summoning a water spirit. They tried and tried again. One elf tried and failed to say the words correctly in order and instead of summoning a water spirit, she summoned a fire spirit that sat the ground around her on fire. Of which the instructor had to cease it with a counterspell. Which was too much for beginners such as them.

‘Good, good,’ the instructor said while puffing, ‘we’ll just continue tomorrow. This was good enough for today. Elyndra, well done girl!’

Each of the elves scattered and returned to tell the lesson of today to their parents. But before Elyndra left the ground on which the ritual was held. She was commented on by the girl next door.

‘Hi again, you did mighty good back there,’ the girl said, ‘how come you did it so effortlessly?’

‘Well,’ Elyndra said, ‘I don’t know. To be honest. I just tried and even to myself, I thought that I had done something wrong by doing it right the first time. The instructor thought it not so.’

‘You did so well the first time. Would you teach me, if you want of course,’ the girl said while blushing.

‘Yes, of course I will. Let’s be friends,’ said Elyndra, ‘my name is Elyndra. What’s yours?’

‘Neftalia at your service,’ said the girl while giving a curtsy and grinning.
Elyndra grinned back.

‘Well, see you tomorrow then!’ said Neftalia while walking away and waving.

‘See you,’ said Elyndra. ‘Tomorrow…’ she said softly.

Elyndra instead of walking straight back home like all her other classmates, walked down the path and before crossing the river, she took a turn to the right. Here she sat down in the field where she found brown leaves, she gathered them and put them into the back of her gown.
Then suddenly she heard a deafening cry. A goat went by her and caused her to fall. Before the goat disappeared behind a tree at the riverside, a man ran past her with great haste.

‘Here we go, you confounded fool,’ the man said while sweat ran down his brows.