Life was good.

In three months, ShiZhen had friends, ShiZhen had some control over her water element, and Zeke's nickname of 'Braids' had slowly pushed away the undesirable nickname of 'Otter'. After her private study session with the headmaster, ShiZhen applied herself wholeheartedly into reigning in her powers, and realized what he was trying to show her. For as long as she has had her power, she sought either to escape from it, or keep it at arms length, forgetting her love of the water. Now, she had learned to embrace it, and that was the first step.

She enjoyed her classes, Ms. Hargreaves' thought-provoking philosophy, Mr. Hirsoi's math, and while she was not very physically fit, she at least enjoyed whenever they got to swim in Mr. Manilow's PE, even though she was still rather shy to be seen in a swimsuit.

ShiZhen had gotten close to her roommate, Lyra, and her friend, Zeke. Some of the other first years she knew cordially; volatile Felix, ice-cool Dia, sluggish Eirwen, sophisticated Kanako, easily-flustered Jideh, tough Chaska, and several others. Some of them demonstrated great mastery over their element despite their age, and even grew up surrounded by elemental family members. ShiZhen aspired to master her element as well, and wanted to learn as much as she could about life among elementals.

She headed towards the gathering that would be happening soon, wondering what it was. Alongside her floated Kracko Sr., a small cloud, the most recent manifestation of her unusual grasp of her abilities. Whereas before, her nervousness brought on massive amounts of condensation on herself, now a small cloud followed her wherever she went, its weather behavior indicative of her mood. As part of her regimen to embrace her powers, she decided to name it.

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It had been three months since Catherine had offered one-on-one training to Kanako, which ended with Catherine flying Kanako surreptitiously back to her dorm for a change of clothes. Catherine had been teaching philosophy to the group of first years, many of whom, she could tell were troubled. Though she started with basic logic, she had gone into ethics, belief systems, and epistemology, the knowledge of how we know what we know, all in an effort to cultivate in them, not only a personal identity, but a conviction in the identity they chose. She didn't so much stress what was the 'right' thing to do, as much as she stressed what was right for them each as individuals, even if it expressed itself in the form of rage or deception. But her philosophy was that to truly master one's element, they had to embrace themselves, to come to terms with who they were rather than trying to run away from it. She saw herself as an example; as elusive and duplicitous as she was, it stands to reason that her mastery of air comes in the absence of the element, through the use of vacuums. She had often playfully hinted that anyone seeking one-on-one tutelage simply needed to approach her, and she would help them to unlock their potential by finding their center. Some had been brave enough to take her up on the offer, while others remained hesitant, fearful to confront themselves.

She headed towards the gathering spot, floating gracefully through the air. She wanted to see how her first years fared against the Headmaster's 'test'.