Raldel called forward all who had chosen to be sentries, and Nemos, Haku'da, Merim, the boy who had cut his palm, and the girl with the menacing air stepped forward. Raldel motioned to another sentry, who took his place and told the five of them to follow him. He took flight, leading them to the cliff high above the area. As Onyx watched, Raldel explained what their test was to the crowd below. "Trust is an important quality in a sentry. Without trust in your companions and teammates, the only thing that can happen is failure. Those on the cliff are having their wings bound as we speak, and we are to catch them, that is if they have enough trust in us to jump."

No sooner than he had finished speaking did two people jump over the edge, followed more slowly by two more. After the first two had been caught the fifth one jumped, angling themselves so that they fell faster and passed the second two before the three were caught at once. The fifth jumper, Nemos, let out a whoop as the binds on his wings were removed. He passed by Onyx on his way back to his place in line and whispered to her. "That was actually kind of fun."

As worried as that made Onyx for his sanity at the moment, she was too excited to see what the next test would be to spend much time on it. Next, Raldel called forward the Scouts. Jun'esi and the other two that were younger than Onyx stepped forward. The two looked almost worried, while Jun'esi seemed excited as everyone waited to hear what their test was. Raldel took a few papers from his pocket and handed one to each of them. "On these papers is a riddle. This is a test of problem-solving and actual scouting ability. You are to find the answer to the riddle and then bring it back here. All the riddles are different, but the items are all smaller than an infant. There is your hint, now go!" Raldel waved the three away and they took off immediately. They hovered in the air for a few moments as they read their riddles, and then went off in different directions. 

Jun'esi was the first one back, holding in her arms a wax statue representing Olias. The other two got back not too much later, one right after the other and both carrying a wax statue, one for Heilias and one for Fellagang. Raldel smiled and told them all that they had passed, taking the items and papers from them and handing them to different people in the crowd who all stayed standing forward as Raldel started to motion Rin'ili forward. 

"As a diplomat you will have to solve problems between others and make agreements and compromises between them, even if it costs you something personally to help others. Your test will be to negotiate a compromise between three warring 'tribes', represented by those holding the statues." As he finished speaking the three holding the statues approached each other and started arguing. Rin'ili stood by for a moment, listening before she approached and put her hand on the shoulder of the one holding Fellagang's statue.

She took a while, but eventually she reached an agreement between the three and Raldel congratulated her. Rin'ili passed Onyx as she returned to her spot, wishing Onyx good luck. Then Raldel was motioning Onyx forward, a smile on his face. "Bri'nx, you have two tests today. The first one, you must prove you are meant to be a prophetess by reciting your caantam to us, and then you must interpret a dream that multiple people in the tribe had last night."

Raldel finished speaking and motioned for a few people in the crowd to come forward as Onyx faced the crowd, waiting for silence so she could recite her caantam. The chatter was mainly people wondering what a caantam even was from what Onyx could hear. Eventually everyone realized that she was waiting and focused on her intently, the chatter stopping almost suddenly. Onyx closed her eyes before she spoke, listening to the words she had only heard one before as she spoke them for the first time. [i]Thine eye that shines as white snow, Blessed me my wings of golden heart.[/i] She sounded different to herself as she spoke, older and more powerful. 

The crowd stood, stunned for a moment after she finished. Raldel was the first to unfreeze, prompting those he had motioned forward earlier to start describing the dream to Onyx. As they described the dream, Onyx got a growing sense of dread in her stomach. When they had finished, she closed her eyes and thought for a moment before speaking. "I had this dream as well last night. Everything you described was exactly the same." Onyx paused for one last moment before she started explaining what the dream meant, surprised at how easily the information came to her.

"The absence of land is isolation, and the calm, mirror-like water refers to 'self' or one person. the large moon means that this person lacks trust, either they are not trusted or the do not trust others, and the absence of the sun means that the person may feel lonely or lost because of that. The laughter, the storm, the strange creatures, and the scream all mean fear. Fears of the past, present and fears for the future as well. The inability to move, and being pulled under the water represents a forced or unwanted role, and the inability to ever escape it." Onyx finished speaking and was immediately bombarded with questions.

She heard one question the most however. 'Who does this dream about?'  "It's not about anyone in the tribe, or even one of our people. None of us have met them, yet, but we soon will." Onyx had no idea how she knew this, the words just came through her, not from her. There was confusion and a lot of noise from the crowd before Raldel silenced everyone and told Onyx that she passed. Onyx went back to her place in line while Raldel closed the ritual with the same words he had started it with. 

As soon as the ritual was over most started to fly away, while a few stayed behind to tidy things up. Raldel came over and hugged Onyx, congratulating everyone in the group and telling them they were free to go, and to report to him at first light tomorrow to receive their first orders as full-fledged members of the tribe. They all congratulated each other and took off, each heading their own way. Onyx was headed home, as she was tired and hungry from not eating anything since early that morning. 

She got home to see Tarentek doing pull-ups over one of the doorways in the den. After laughing a little at the, to her, strange behavior, she greeted him and started to make herself something to eat. "Hello Tarentek! I hope you've had a good day?"