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to turn to, as I had no idea what either of them were specialising in.
    “So,” began Cale, much to my relief, though his question soon squelched that feeling, “who was the boy—or, man really—that walked you here, Little Synfee?”
    My head snapped up, and I felt my voice sticking in my throat, along with another emotion, one that—strangely—I hadn’t yet attributed to Nareon after our first meeting. Fear.
    “Nobody.” I answered quickly, maybe a little too quickly.
    “A friend?” pressed Cale.
    “No, not a friend.” I wasn’t sure what the quake in my own voice meant. Was I scared of Nareon, or was I scared that other people would find out about him? People were only mildly tolerant of me as it was, how would they feel if they found out that a real synfee had decided to attach himself to me for some barely-explained reason. I glanced up from my textbook to find Cale watching me, and Hazen watching Cale, with that now-familiar, frighteningly blank expression.
    “Was he a fae? I’m usually pretty good at sensing these sorts of things, but he was gone before I could get a good grip on him.”
    “A fae?” I asked, momentarily confused, until I remembered the fae shimmer that Nareon had shaped-changed onto himself. “Oh. Right. Yeah, he’s a fae.” I needed to steer the conversation away from Nareon. “Shouldn’t we start working or something?” I asked.
    “Yes,” Hazen spoke for the first time. “Let’s start by explaining our specialisations, and then we can sort out what to cover over the three days a week that we have.”
    Cale and I both agreed, and I found myself looking to Cale, expecting him to start us off. I could have laughed when I noticed Hazen do the same thing, and I almost did when Cale let out an exasperated sigh.
    “I am specialising in bender abilities,” he said, “as well as fire and wind elemental.”
    I blinked, surprised at that answer.
    “And I am just specialising in bender abilities,” offered Hazen, “though I also have a few fae tricks up my sleeve.”
    They both turned to look at me expectantly then, and it took me a moment longer than it should have to realise that they were waiting for me, as I was preoccupied with both Cale and Hazen’s answers. Professor Carren had said that he was splitting us up depending on our specialisations, which made sense for Cale, but Hazen had only specialised in bender abilities.
    “Bea?” Prompted Hazen.
    “Oh, right. I am specialising in Bender abilities, fire, water, and wind.”
    It was uncomfortably quiet for a little while and then Hazen spoke up again.
    “Now should we say what we left out the first time?”
    Cale laughed, but I could only blink at them both stupidly.
    “I also have a special kind of sight, or sense… I’m not sure how to describe it exactly,” Cale offered. “The general concensus is that it comes under the Brown Caste, because the rangers are all about their senses. I can tell a lot about a person just from the aura that surrounds them, and sometimes I can even change things about that aura. Like…” he looked embarrassed for a moment, “peeking through a glamor.”
    I wanted to be angry, but I was mostly just glad that it hadn’t been me who had hurt him after all, not that Hazen was going to give me a chance to be mad, as he picked up quickly where Cale had left off, as if to avoid any conflict.
    “And my bender power stretches to the mind.”
    I jumped up then, feeling real anger. I certainly had a right to be, after what I had just pieced together… though perhaps not to the extent that I was now feeling it. As though I wanted to rip Hazen’s head from his shoulders and—wait… what?
    I realised that I had slipped right into myself, into a violent whirlwind of reactive thoughts, thoughts about hurting people, while my eyes slid closed and my power began to leak out. I heard myself cursing and flinched as I pulled the wall down over my power a little too hard, opening my eyes to a