When the next scene started to crystallise, Kat was surprised to find the location was certainly not the palace. In fact, it looked much more reminiscent of Enuko's place from the outside. However, as the surroundings came into view it was clear it was not.
The found themselves standing outside an old-style Japanese house with well-kept gardens almost as far as the eye could see. At the edges of Kat's rather impressive vision she could make out pure white walls, and through some of windows make out a few shapes beyond.
Refocusing on the scene in front of her Shizuka, in her purple ice avatar was walking slowly up a garden path made of stones towards the front door. Kat could see some indistinct shadows following behind her, but Minor didn't give an alert about them being nightmares and chose not to act.
As Shizuka approached the door she rang the large bell that was off to the left side before stepping backwards. A few moments later the front door was pushed open to reveal a strange man.
He had long hair, longer than Kat, which collected around his ankles. His beard was of a similar length, ending just slightly above the knee. His beard was a pure white, and his hair a pure black. To contrast this, he was wearing a dark blue kimono held in place by a dark red sash, and he held an old-fashioned smoking pipe to his mouth. Oh and he had bull horns.
The bull man took the pipe from his mouth and blew a long gust of smoke from the corner of his mouth directing it to the ceiling, making sure to keep it away from the small form of Shizuka.
"I see, the young princess has arrived. Come on then, and leave your guards" said the bull man.
Shizuka nodded "Yes Master Resho"
Resho nodded and turned leaving the door open for Shizuka to follow. As she started moving, the scene slowly crawled along with her dragging Kat and Minor along for the ride. Resho moved with purpose, striding slowly but unerringly, as he took turn after turn, until finally exiting a door into the backyard.
It was a sparse affair. There was a small pond to the left, and a large amount of bamboo on the right, in the centre though was a large pagoda with tatami mat flooring. Stepping over the stones Resho paused at the edge of the mat and replaced his shoes before stepping onto the mats and taking a seat on one of the two cushions.
Shizuka awkwardly, but successfully managed to copy his actions and take a seat opposite him. "Are you aware of what we are doing today?" asked Master Resho.
Shizuka nodded
"Now, I'm aware I agreed to teach the Queen's children as payment for my asylum, but don't you think you are a bit young for the elemental testing? Most children haven't stabilised their mana cores yet" said Master Resho
"Mother said that I have achiefed awakening already" said Shizuka with the slightest lisp.
Master Resho frowned "I see. Well, at the least my testing should not cause you any harm even if she is mistaken"
"Mother wouldn't lie" said Shizuka indignantly
Resho smiled but didn't comment on anything "Please feel free to ask any questions about the process. This is important for all aspiring magicians"
Shizuka nodded
"Minor" whispered Kat "I somewhat need this information so I'm going to be concentrating on it, but please let me know if a nightmare shows up"
Minor nodded in response. *I might need this for Lily. As much as I'm unsure if I'd like to bring them into a world like this, if I can teach her magic and I don't she'd never forgive me, so I might as well learn what I can.*
"Right, so first I will be testing you for healing magic, and then other advanced elements you might have like me. Any questions so far?" asked Master Resho
"Why are you testing for the rare ones first?" asked Shizuka
"Well" said Master Resho as he lifted the floor beside him and started to pull out a large box. "Some of the rare elements don't play nice with the more generic testing methods. For example, if someone with magma affinity tries the fire test, they are very likely to destroy the nearby area. That, and people with rarer magic types sometimes have secondary basic elements, so we don't stop till we've covered at least one of each"
"Conversely, they can still use fire magic, it's just that the testing for it is extremely dangerous" Master Resho began to pull out a strange flower, it was pure white, with a dark green stem.
"Now, sadly, the test for healing magic requires me to prick your finger. Are you prepared for it?" asked Master Resho
As soon Shizuka started to nod, there was as glint as Resho swiped his hand past Shizuka's outstretched one, pricking it and then placing the flower below. "Forgive me, healing magic is one of the more expensive to test safely" said Master Resho
"This is safly?" asked Shizuka
Master Resho nodded as the blood dropped onto the flower and promptly died the whole thing red in an instant. Resho threw it away over his shoulder as soon as he saw that "So no healing magic"
Rummaging around in the box Resho brought out a red stone. "Ok, now I need you to summon your mana can you do that yet?"
Shizuka nodded slightly "Ok, so… this is the magma test. I'm going to very gently lower this towards your hands. You ARE NOT to touch it. If it starts melting when it comes into contact with your mana you will be fine. If it doesn't melt you will still be fine, I'll just take it away"
Master Resho held the stone over Shizuka's hand and rotated it a few times as if he was trying to cook something over a flame. "Hmm, no Magma either" said Master Resho gently putting away the magma stone back in the box.
"Now, that those two are out of the way, I should probably test the most likely, ice. Considering your lineage, I find it very likely you've inherited it despite your red coat" said Master Resho
Shizuka flinched at this but nodded. Resho pulled out a box from within his trunk and pulled out a small ice cube from among many "Please keep your mana flowing" said Master Resho
Gently lowering the ice cube down onto Shizuka's hand he packed the ice box away "So, we have some time, determining if that melts or not. Do you have any questions for me?" asked Master Resho
"Um… what elements do you have Master Resho?" asked Shizuka
Master Resho took a long puff of his pipe, and started to draw shapes with the smoke. Creating a small fox as well as a bull, along with a bunch of flowers before running out of smoke. "I'm a smoke mage. Quite rare, and I'm double unique because I didn't get the fire affinity with it, just smoke" said Master Resho.
"Isn't that… bad?" asked Shizuka unsure if she should voice her question
Master Resho shrugged. "I suppose it depends on who you ask young one. A magician needs mastery over all of the elements under their control to advance, so I have less work this way, but many believe, perhaps rightly so, that the strongest mages have two affinities"
Shizuka's eyes looked like they were shining, which looked really weird on her ice avatar form "What about three or more?" asked Shizuka
Master Resho sighed. "I'm afraid that isn't really possible… Well, no, it isn't completely impossible. One would need to be lucky enough to have, Healing, a rare element, like say Ice" Resho pointed at the still unmelted cube "And then one of the basics like water. That is the only way"
Shizuka frowned "Surely not right… what about all those wizards in the stories that can call down thunder, while setting people on fire, and shooting ice at them"
Master Resho smiled "Well, young one. Once you get to the more advanced realms like me" Master Resho summoned a glob of water "You can branch out a bit if you must. But!" the water vanished "They will never be your specialty. Nothing but cheap parlour tricks for all but the truly strongest magicians. It is simply so unbelievably inefficient otherwise. That water ball cost me about as much mana as it would take me to fill my entire house with smoke"
Shizuka's eyes shone "No way!"
Master Resho broke into a smile "A little thing like that for a grand magus like myself? Why that is simple"
Master Resho blew a long gust out of his pipe and started to create runes out of smoke forming them into a large three ring sigil.. He raised an eyebrow and smiled at Shizuka before taking a deep breath and blowing.