Ren and Zyn didn’t see much of Sarala over the next few days. She mostly stayed in her room, only appearing for mealtimes in the Eating Hall. She’d sit alone, and, though the sisters wanted to spend time with someone else their age, Ak-tu told them to leave her alone while she adjusted to being in a new environment.

The sisters therefore returned to their new hobby of trying to summon Zyn’s magic. The days continued to pass with no success, though Ren tried hard with the guided meditations she provided Zyn. Ak-tu wouldn’t give anymore tips, not even to Ren, and merely told Zyn she’d have to wait for the assessment week—which luckily wasn’t too far away.

It was soon August 3. Most of the students would be arriving that Moonday, a week before school began. First-years often arrived on that first day, to do the assessments at the beginning of the week and have more time to summon their magic. Of course, the assessments lasted the whole week, so students who couldn’t arrive to the school on the first day would have multiple chances to test their magic.

Ren moved to her open window, brushing past her plants. She stared out at the Courtyard below, breathing in the damp morning air. The teachers were bustling about, getting ready to greet the students in the Entrance Hall. As breakfast was already over, students would be arriving any minute.

She got dressed in her purple robe, then went down to the family room. Zyn was pacing back and forth, her robe (bright blue with swirling waves) whirling about so much that it made Ren dizzy watching her.

“It’ll be okay, Zyn,” Ren said gently.

Zyn stopped in her tracks, but only for a moment. “Oh, hi, Ren!” she said in an unusually high voice.

“Still nothing?” Ren asked.

“I’ve been trying,” Zyn muttered, staring at the ground as she continued pacing anxiously.

A loud shrieking noise suddenly filled the room. Ren jumped in surprise, then relaxed as she saw it was just the family mirror, lying on one of the round tables next to the window. Zyn hurried over to it and tapped the screen, which showed a still image of Ak-tu doing what looked like a peace sign (but was actually a two-finger eye strike). As soon as Zyn answered, Ak-tu’s face filled the mirror and he spoke.

“It’s time for the assessments!” he said, an excited energy shining in his eyes.

“We’re coming,” Zyn croaked out.

Ak-tu nodded, then ended the call. The mirror returned to its appearance of a regular mirror, reflecting the wooden ceiling. 

“Let’s go,” Zyn said.

“I’ll do the assessments too, Zyn,” Ren told her sister. “That way, you don’t have to go at it alone!”

Zyn nodded, but did not make any other reply.

They hurried to the center of the Courtyard, where a group of ten teenagers stood before Ak-tu and one of the other teachers, Khurshid Jihan. Most of the soon-to-be-students looked to be about thirteen, the standard age magic would make its first appearance.

“Welcome, everyone,” Ak-tu said, as Ren and Zyn took their places at the back of the group. “We hope you will be our new first-year students this year. But before we can take you in, you will have to pass a magic assessment. We have to make sure you have your magic before you enroll in this magic school, after all. 

“There’s no need to be nervous for these assessments! We aren’t testing how powerful your magic is, or how well-controlled. We don’t care how your magic takes its form, just so long as it does. If you can summon your magic, you have nothing to worry about. 

“If you find that you don’t have your magic by the end of the assessments today, you are welcome to return each day this week (including Saterday) until you find it. If you are unable to summon your magic, I am sorry to say that you will be unable to attend school this year. Any questions?”

The students shook their heads or remained quiet. Ren peered around at them curiously, taking in their faces and wondering which of these students she’d befriend. She saw with some surprise that Sarala was in the group too, despite proving she had magic already.

“We’ll be doing this one person at a time,” Ak-tu continued. “As I said, we don’t know how powerful your magic might be or how it might take its form. To prevent injuries, I’m going to ask that you all take a seat in the lovely garden behind me. Mr. Jihan here will let you know when it’s your turn to come out. We will start with the three simple tests. By the third test, students typically have their magic. If not, you will have to wait until all students are done with these first assessments, so we can move to the next location afterwards. Now, who’d like to go first?”

Ren shot her hand up in the air. Might as well show everyone there’s nothing to be scared of!

“Ren Caihong,” Ak-tu said with a nod and smile of approval. “Stay here. Everyone else, follow Mr. Jihan to the garden.”

The teens walked away, some glancing curiously over their shoulders. Zyn stared at her for a long moment, then left too. Soon enough, Ren was alone with Ak-tu in the center of the Courtyard.

“Dad—can I do all of the assessments?” she asked, clasping her hands together.

Ak-tu frowned. “But you already have your magic. There’s no need.”

Ren nodded. “I know, but…if Zyn doesn’t pass the first test, I want her to see what the other tests are. That way, she knows what to expect! After all, those other students might pass the very first assessment, and then Zyn wouldn’t be able to see the other assessments.”

Ak-tu smiled. “That’s very thoughtful of you, Ren. Very well. If you want to act this out, then be sure not to use your magic.”

Ren nodded again, beaming at her father.

“The first test is to move your whole body and think of pushing your magic out of you. You can punch or kick the air, stomp your feet, jump around, dance…whatever you can think of to get your magic coursing through you.” 

As he said this, he acted everything out—punching, kicking, stomping, jumping, dancing… Ren snorted at the silly movements, wondering what the other teens might be thinking. She waited for him to settle down before raising her hand, as if she was already in class.

“But why don’t we just use wands?” she asked. “Isn’t that why we’ve got wands—to help us bring our magic forward?”

Ak-tu smiled. “We will most certainly use wands soon. But we can’t have students using wands to test their magic. A wand is very personal, and there’s no sense giving it to someone who doesn’t have their magic yet. Eventually, you will become advanced enough with your magic to have no need for a wand, and you’ll be using your body anyway.”

Ren nodded her understanding. Of course, she’d seen Ak-tu use only his hands plenty of times to perform all kinds of magic. She couldn’t think of a time when he’d used a wand.

“Now, go ahead and give it a try,” Ak-tu said, winking.

Ren took a deep breath, then tensed her body. If her body was tense, her magic wouldn’t flow as easily. She punched the air, and was glad to see nothing happen. She stomped the ground and danced around, doing as many physical movements she could think of. Hopefully, one of these actions would work with Zyn, or even the other teens watching.

“The second test is probably the most effective test,” Ak-tu pressed on, after the first test went on long enough. “You see those big cauldrons behind you?”

Ren glanced over her shoulder. The rough-looking cauldrons only ever came out for the assessments. There were four in total, each labelled with a different element.

“Each of those elements—as you can see from the fire in the red cauldron—are in the designated cauldrons,” Ak-tu went on. “It is sometimes helpful for the student to see the element itself first, and try to control it from there.” 

Ren approached the red cauldron first. She might as well play with the other elements, as she’d have to be careful with the air cauldron. Standing in front of it, Ren could feel the heat of the dancing flames, as warm as lying on a sandy beach in the summer. She punched and kicked the air several times, but, of course, nothing happened.

She approached the next cauldron in line, which was yellow. She peeked inside, but saw nothing. Remembering that the cauldron had “Air” written on it, she didn’t know what she expected to see. Ren stepped back and punched the air, keeping her body tense again. She didn’t even feel the slightest hint of a breeze, which meant she successfully managed to not do magic.

She then moved to the green “Earth” cauldron. Inside were stones of various sizes and colors. She focused on them, then did a large sweeping motion with her arms, as if she was trying to lift them out. After a moment of waving her arms about, she moved to the blue “Water” cauldron.

Ren focused on the still water inside, able to see her reflection staring back up at her, calm and collected. She once again hit the air, as if she was controlling the water within. After a few seconds, she turned back to Ak-tu.

“The last test is a guided meditation,” he said in a low voice, though it was quite unlikely that the students would hear him from so far away. “I’d rather get on with the others, so if you could just go ahead and summon your air magic…”

“Yep!” Ren said. 

She turned back to the cauldrons, acting like she was retrying each of them. When she got to the yellow cauldron, she took a deep breath and relaxed her body. She then twirled around on the spot, and wind swirled around her, a cool breeze rushing through her hair and nearly knocking her glasses off.

“Excellent!” Ak-tu cheered. “You may sit in the garden to watch whenever Zyn comes out.”

Ren nodded and skipped away to the garden, her feet light as they touched the warm ground. The other students had been watching her with wide eyes, and they clapped when she arrived. 

“It was nothing,” she said, blushing at the attention.

“Who’s next?” Khurshid asked the students in a deep voice.

Before the words had left his mouth, Zyn hurried away. It was clear she just wanted to get it over with. Zyn was soon attempting a bunch of punching and hopping motions. But it seemed that she was having no luck with the first assessment, Ren’s heart sinking to see her twin struggling. 

Ak-tu was then pointing the cauldrons out to Zyn. Zyn approached the fire cauldron first, just like Ren. The fire remained undisturbed, neither growing nor shrinking in size. Zyn moved to the air cauldron, but nothing seemed to happen there. She turned to her dad with a shrug, but Ak-tu pointed to the other cauldrons.

{Come on, Zyn!} Ren thought. {You got this!}

{But I don’t have earth or water magic.} Zyn replied, as she stared at the earth cauldron. {My sun sign is fire and my moon sign is air.}

{You never know! Maybe we got your moon sign wrong?} Ren suggested. {It’s worth a try!}

Zyn tried the other two cauldrons without any luck, her shoulders slumping as she faced her father again. Ak-tu was clearly trying to cheer her up, his arms moving in wide arcs as if waving encouragement to her. He signaled her to sit down on the ground for the meditation.

{I’m totally going to fail this.} Zyn sent the thought to Ren.

Ren shook her head. {No, don’t think that, otherwise you will! Just focus your attention inwards, and remember to relax!}

After the short meditation, in which Zyn was clearly fidgeting, Ak-tu ordered Zyn to try the cauldrons again. But nothing happened, and she returned to the garden with slumped shoulders, her knees seeming ready to buckle beneath her.

“I still don’t have it,” she muttered glumly, looking like a plant withering beneath the sun.

“Don’t give up, Zyn! There are still other tests to shake that magic out of you!” Ren said firmly.

“Yeah…” Zyn murmured, staring at her feet.

The other students tested quickly compared to Zyn. While most had to use the cauldrons or even meditation to summon their magic, Sarala managed to stomp the ground and break a stone with earth magic on her first attempt. Each of the ten students tested successfully, and Ak-tu dismissed them to see Fern and Aster (the other two teachers) in the Admin Office for their IDs and room keys.

Ak-tu then approached Ren and Zyn, who remained in the shade of the garden. “Zyn, as you’re the only one who still doesn’t have any magic, I’m going to have you try these tests again tomorrow,” he said. “There’s no point in setting up the other assessments for one student. I’m sure you’ll have it tomorrow.”

Zyn nodded, too dejected to speak.

But no matter how many times she tried that week, “tomorrow” never came. Fewer first-years showed up for the assessments as the week went on, and each student successfully summoned their magic. Ak-tu continued to push off the final assessments, since there was “no point” in doing them if it was only Zyn who needed them.

Finally, Saterday arrived, the last day for assessments. Only one other student had shown up for the assessment alongside Zyn. Ren sat in the garden with Khurshid and the other student, biting her bottom lip nervously as she watched Zyn from afar.

“Dad has to let Zyn try out the other assessments,” she murmured to Khurshid. “Right?”

“Of course he will,” Khurshid replied calmly, straightening the golden sash tied around his waist. “He just doesn’t want to let it come to the final tests.”

“Why?” Ren asked.

But Khurshid didn’t answer. Ren gazed up at the blind man, staring into his pale eyes as she willed him to say more. She soon dropped her eyes to his yellow shirt and then to his baggy brown pants as she realized he would be giving away nothing more.