Students were beginning to filter from the food hall and returning to their dorms, enthusiastic chatter filling the air. Renee and the others were walking to their dorm, passing pupil filled corridors.
They entered the dorm and everyone leapt into action, cleaning and making beds, or going to take a shower. Maori sat on her bed, her cheeks still a little flushed from her argument with Mizuki.
"Hey, Renee. " Said Maori. Renee looked up from what she was doing, which was trying to find her lip-gloss in her feather bed. The stuff that had been in her original clothing had passed onto her current garments and now she had lost half of her items. Her efforts were in vain, she would probably never find them in the vast sea of feathers.
"Yeah?"
"Are those clothes supposed to look like pajamas? Cos they don't really look like they are..." Renee still hadn't changed her clothes.
"Oh... should I just change them?"
"If you want to. But make sure you still look cute!" Maori swept Renee up into another bear hug, but let go hastily, just in case she really did strangle her. Renee coughed.
"I'll try and change them now." Renee closed her eyes and pictured how she wanted her clothes to look like. The sleeves of her top slowly began to detach and move down past her wrists and her hands. The material shortened and a hole appeared in the sleeves near her thumb. She stuck her thumb through and gave it a little wiggle. The material continued changing until it had turned into fingerless gloves.
"Keep it like that! Just change your socks to tights and maybe turn your one piece white.
"Sure."
A few minutes later, Renee had finished adjusting her clothes. A look of puzzlement crossed her face as she noticed some side-pockets had emerged on her garment. I don't remember wanting pockets on there... Oh well. A voice interrupted her musing.
"You gonna come to Flying Class with me? Renee?" It was Mizuki, who had suddenly sprouted wings. Large, pink bat wings. She flapped her them with impatience and irritation.
"Huh?"
"Well you have wings don't you? So you have to learn how to use properly. So c'mon!" Mizuki grabbed Renee by her wrist and dragged her unceremoniously of her feet and out the door.
Renee let herself be guided through countless corridors, until Mizuki came to a large wooden door. There, she let go of Renee's wrist and fumbled with the doorknob. The door swung open, bathing both of them in sunlight. Mizuki strode out, Renee following testing the air with her nose. The sharp green tang of grass drifted though the air, mixed with the musty smell of dew.
Renee swept her eyes around. Students were clustered in groups, talking to each other. Renee walked forwards and noticed that the class was situated on a ledge that jutted out over a valley. Renee pricked her ears and heard a swishing sound and saw a lady flying in. She wore a simple robe and had large angel wings, which she tucked in close to her body.
"Good morning class. " She said. Everyone fell silent and turned to face the teacher.
Some students muttered a "Good morning Teach," or a "Hey Miss." The Teacher inspected the students, when her eyes came to rest on Renee.
"Renee?"
"Yeah- I mean yes?" Renee responded, well aware that everyone was now staring at her. Renee caught Mizuki's eyes. Mizuki yawned and ran over to the edge of the ledge and jumped over, a multitude of people trailing after her. The Teacher ignored them.
" So you're the new girl... I just want to say, don't worry if you can't keep up with my lessons. Although you should pick it up quickly as you go along. I heard you were from the other world. Is that right?"
"Yeah. Sure."
"Okay then." The Teacher turned and launched herself into the air. The rest of the class did the same. Renee walked over to the lip of the ledge and peered down. A river snaked it's way along the valley and a number of trees clung to the valley walls. It was a long way to fall, if she slipped. Luckily, Renee wasn't afraid of heights, otherwise it would cause some difficulties flying.
"You coming out, Renee?" It was Mizuki, who was hovering in front of Renee her arms crossed in impatience. "Scared? No need. Your wings will move on instinct."
Renee hesitated, and then flung herself of the ledge, she fell a few metres before her wings snapped out and glided slowly over to where the rest of the class were, which was in the middle of the valley. Mizuki was already there.
"Alright class! Don't laugh, but today we're going fishing." Some of the students sniggered. "It's not funny, we're going to put together what we've learnt in the pass couple of weeks. How to enter a backwards dive, stabilise yourself so you can move easily and braking before impact. This is a useful manoeuvre, because if you are in battle, it can be used as a quick escape or a very lethal form of attack, if executed properly."
Renee fidgeted about uncomfortably, feeling the anxiety bubbling up inside her. That sounds dangerous... what if someone hurts themselves... like me, for instance. "Hey, Teacher, isn't this a bit dangerous?"
"Renee, do you really think I would send my students off to do something that is potentially life threatening without any ways of saving them if they came close to death?"
"I guess not."
"Of course, I can freeze time, so there's no need to worry. Oh, and you may call me Miss Kamon." She smiled reassuringly. "Now class, get into a line! Chop chop!"
The class slowly formed a ragged line with Miss Kamon to the side of it. Renee positioned herself near the end, so she could see how other students performed the task. There were a few accidents where some students performed the manoeuvre wrong. One boy entered the backwards dive perfectly, but didn't stabilise himself correctly and started corkscrewing to the left. He nearly crashed, but Miss Kamon's time-freezing ability saved him. Renee didn't see it happen, but one second the boy was hurtling towards the ground facing certain death and the next second Miss Kamon was still at the side of the line, breathing heavily, her face tinged pink and the boy was flying slowly upwards, a bemused expression on his face.
Soon, it was Renee's turned. She flew out into the open space informant of her, her heart beating hard in her chest. She swallowed and bottled up her fear. Hovering, she looked down with her enhanced eyesight she swiftly located a fish. Ignoring the butterfly's fluttering about in her stomach, she drifted forwards before twisting onto her back. Renee hung in the air before tipping down headfirst. She waited until her body was almost vertical, then hastily tucking in her wings. She began accelerating towards the ground, her spine tingling in the irritating way when you fell. Curving her back towards her feet, so that her spine made a slight U shape, Renee stabilised herself, carefully angling her body so she would be able to brake easily as soon as she came close to the river. The wind whipped her face and her eyes stung and she blinked rapidly in an attempt to clear her vision. The river was rushing up fast. Renee shifted her hand so she would be able to grab the fish. The river was inches away from Renee's body and she shot out her hands and tightly clasped her hands around the unfortunate fish. Her wings knifed out at an impossible speed and Renee arched her back upwards so that she instantly zoomed back up into the sky.
