Alara

== Alara ==
by Annie(Keefecrazy)
Chapter 1 
Aria was stunned as she walked through the gates to her new home. 
Alara.
Actually, to tell the truth, Aria was a bit disappointed. All she saw was trees. Lots and lots of trees. 
There were flowers too, but mostly just trees. 
No, she thought. This can’t be my home. It's not even a school. Just trees. I'm wasting my time. 
Aria started off back through the large glittering gates towards her real home, Applecrest Mt., but something hit her.
A boy, not much older than herself had whacked her cheek with a large stick!
Aria staired. "How dare yo-"
"Witnesses may not go back," the boy said. "Unless you want your brain wiped of this place, you're stuck here, and I doubt you'd want one." He wiped some sweat off his sun burned face.
That's odd, Aria thought. It's not that hot out. 
"So- uhh...” he said awkwardly, like he was trying to start a conversation, “where at Applecrest Mt. are you from?" 
Aria stepped back. 
What?
"I never told you I lived there." She was just about seventy-five percent sure that this boy wanted to freak her out on purpose. 
The boy grinned. "No, you didn't. Your shadow did." 
Aria looked down at her shadow. For the briefest moment, she could've sworn that it waved. Terrified, Aria changed the subject. "Y-yes. I would like a- what did you call it?" 
"A-small-brain wipe?." 
"A brain wipe." She looked at him confidently. 
The boy bit his lip and looked at her nervously with his dark grey-blue eyes. They were the strangest eye color she had ever seen, and Aria started to understand how all of the villagers felt when they saw the unusual shade of deep violet in her own eyes. "Are you sure? You haven't even seen the school yet. '' 
Aria thought this over. She must have looked stupid, entering the gates only to ask for a stupid brain wipe. 
"I guess I could try." Aria said, practically running away from the strange boy. She strode through the branches of the strong, healthy trees, wondering if the school actually looked as whimsical as told to be.
Aria walked through another small field and gasped. It was beautiful. 
For a moment she felt all of her fear fly away with the wind. It had to have. She can't just let this much fear go. Aria licked her thumb and tested the wind. She let out a sigh. Somewhere in the north, someone was very frightened. There had to be a better way to let go.
Aria was an Emotion. She could control other people's emotions(not super easy though), but it's also really hard to control her own. So it's easier to just let it go. Into wind, animals, plants, and sometimes people. Every once in a while she can let it out through song(but definitely not around others). 
"Hey," a voice said from behind Aria. She jumped. She turned to see a boy, a different boy, floating behind her. He had sky-blue eyes and brownish-blond hair, and looked maybe a year older than Aria. The boy smiled, showing a mouthful of perfect white teeth. "Your new, aren't you," he said.
"Maybe," Aria said back, hoping that she wasn't blushing. The boy grinned. "Your blushing." 
Drat. New plan. 
"Would you please just leave me alone?" Aria snapped, letting her frustration from the previous boy flow. The boy backed away. Aria started to walk faster. 
"Wait!" The boy floated, struggling to keep up in the air. 
Aria halted. "What do you want?" 
"Y-you frightened me." Well that's ridiculous. 
"And?" Aria walked faster still.
"No one can frighten me." The boy was running now, giving up flying. "And that wasn't even scary." 
"Well you've probably never met an Emotion then." The boy muffled a laugh. "What?" Aria demanded. 
He paled. "N-nothing." He raised his hands innocently, searching Aria's face. "You're not kidding." He looked genuinely confused. 
"I've got to go..." Aria tried to walk past him, but the boy just floated right beside her. 
"So do I. What are your classes?" The boy snatched the paper Aria was holding.
"Hey!" Aria protested. The boy ignored her. 
"You've got Ms Anara. I had her for the history of the Ocean for my second year. She's nice, you'll like her. Lord Henry though. Good luck with him." 
Aria frowned. "What's wrong with Lord Henry?"
The boy scrunched up his nose like he had just smelled something bad. "You'll see," He said. "He's awful!" 
The two of them didn't say much more as they walked to the school entrance.
A woman with brown hair and round glasses was reading in a small booth next to the school. 
'Storms and their ways'? Aria thought, a bit puzzled. Why would a full-grown woman need a student's studybook? 
"Name and dorm," she told them without looking up. 
The boy rested his arms on the booth and floated upward. "Hey, Kiah." The woman jumped and, to Aria's surprise, fluxed into a girl who looked about a year younger than Aria. 
"Alin! Don't do that!" She snapped, her grey eyes bulging. "If anyone--" 
"If anyone knew that you were Ms Gretchen then you would have a big, angry mob at your dorm." He rolled his eyes. "I know, I know." 
Kiah's eyes shifted nervously towards Aria. "Your secret is safe with me," Aria promised, crossing her finger over her heart. Kiah nodded very slowly. She lifted her overly large glasses up the bridge of her nose and glared at Alin, and something told Aria that they were a little more than friends. 
Kiah had grey eyes and fair skin. Aria also noticed that kiah had brown hair much like her own. If it weren't for the large round glasses and the pony tail, not to mention her outfit, she would've looked more like a princess than a schoolgirl.
Aria moved closer to the girl, and held out her hand. "Hi. I'm Aria, nice to meet you." 
Kiah looked at her uncertainty. "Hi, I'm Kiah, I'm a Shift, and you've probably already guessed that Alin here is an Air." She gestured to the floating boy next to me. "What about you?" 
Aria blushed a little. "I'm an Emotion." 
Kiah cocked her head and looked at Aria with puzzled eyes. Then she fell to the ground and let out a fit of hysterical giggles. Alin grinned. 
"What's so funny?" Aria asked. More laughter. "Why are you laughing?" Aria shouted. "Why??" 
"D-dear,"Kiah said, finally settling down, "Emotions are gone, off the map." 
The world spun. 
Off the map? What? Aria felt sick. "What? Off the..." Her confusion engulfed her, making her mind swirl. 
That's it. 
Memories confronted her, making Aria’s head hurt. 
Then it stopped. 
In front of her, Aria saw a baby, wrapped in fine silk, left in a small basket by the shore of the Arian sea and at the bottom of Applecrest Mt, a note beside her, that no one could seem to understand. 
Quenteo sae omcala avwaila hameci mea neone neva endeico 
Aria passed out.
* * * 
Aria woke up in a bright room. 
"Eivana! She's up!" 
"Five more minutes," Aria mumbled. 
"Let her rest a bit more," a woman's voice sugusted. 
Aria bolted upright. "Five! One, two three four five!" Aria giggled. She opened her eyes and saw a woman gazing down at her. She had bright green eyes, like the color of leaves. Aria found this hysterical. "Greeeeeeen! Red blue yellow GREEEEEEEEENNNNNN." 
Kiah was next to the woman, and looked awfully worried. "I-is she okay?" 
"I'd say that it's just the type of medicine I gave her to wake up, she should be a little... not herself for a little while. Nothing to worry about," Eviana said.
"GREEEEEEEENNNNN," Aria said again, then poked one of Eviana's pupils. "GREEEEEEEEEENNNN." 
"Gah!" Eviana stepped back, covering her eye with her hands. 
Aria looked around, then looked at the woman again. "You're a doctor," she said. "I'm dying now, aren't I?" Aria giggled some more. 
Kiah stared at her, horror printed upon her face. "Are you sure she'll be okay?"
"Positive." 
A boy walked in. He shoved off his backpack and sped to the cot. He had brown eyes and maple red hair with fair skin. He didn't look much younger than Aria or Kiah.
"Hey, Kiah," he said. 
"Hi, Dan." 
The woman smiled. "Glad to see you’re finished with your studies."
"Yeah, me too. Did you give her the Canie?"
Eviana nodded. "And the Mevei. Just like you taught me." She looked back down at Aria, this time keeping a distance. 
"Good job, you’ve learned well." Dan looked towards Aria and squinted. "Whoa. Weird eyes. Huh." Dan shifted his gaze over to Eviana. "Is this because of the Canie? I don't think that's supposed to happen. She could be having a negative reaction." 
"N-no," Kiah whispered, "her eyes are just like that. I-I thought that it was just the sun playing tricks with my eyes, but now that we're inside..." she bit her lip. "Nevermind." 
Alin floated into the room, a small, cool breeze following him. "Hey guys. Wasn't really invited to the party, so I uh, just invited myself." He left his backpack by the door and walked over. Aria stretched her arms out to him. Alin stepped back. "Whoa. Um, Aria? You okay?" 
"Bub," Aria answered. Dan ignored them. 
"What is it, Kiah?" He said, "what do you mean?" 
"Well..." 
Alin chose this wonderful time to break the wonderful news. "Hey guys, did you know that Aria's an Emotion?" He grinned as their faces all paled. "Yeah, pretty sweet, huh?" 
Kiah shrugged, "yeah, that's it." 
Dan turned back to Aria, who was starting to regain full consciousness. "That would explain the purple eyes." 
"And why I’ve been getting this goofy feeling since she woke up." Eviana chimed in. 
Dan sat down in a chair and thought for a moment. "But... Emotions have been gone for... years. How could she...?" 
"K-Kiah?" Aria said, paling. "What does he mean, 'gone'?" 
Kiah opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself. She just gazed at Aria's eyes and nodded. Aria looked at her desperately. "Kiah, please tell me that I c-can go to my dorm and meet more people like... like me." 
Kiah looked away, refusing to talk. Alin opened his mouth. "Aria..." 
"No!" Aria said. "I-there has to be more! I hate this...this magic!" She spat out the word like it was poison. "I can't control it! I'm probably overreacting now! I want family, more of me!" 
Alin opened his mouth, probably to tell her that she wasn’t overreacting, but closed it. Aria broke into tears, "I don't even know where I came from! I'm just the girl that was found in a basket, no one even told me that I was different! I'm just the girl who has no family, aren't I?" She screamed.
Dan smiled sadly and sat on the cot next to Aria, brushing her brown hair away from her teary eyes. "Don't worry, Aria, we, as in the school Alara, are your family now. It will all be fine." He sighed. "As to where you came from, I can't say, but-" 
"Bring our daughter home when the war has ended." 
"What?"
"A note was found next to me when I was found as a baby. No one could understand it. But... I can. It said ‘Quenteo sae omcala avwaila hameci mea neone neva endeico’: Bring our daughter home when the war has ended." Aria’s voice was hushed. "I do have a family. I-I'm just not looking for them." 
Dan met her eyes, a serious look printed on his face"Aria, if there's a war going on, so important to send you away-" 
"Which must make you important, too." Eviana added. 
Dan nodded. "Then my guess is that they will come looking for you when it is all over." He leaned closer. "Until then, you're welcome to stay with me in dorm Plant 6. It's not only boys, and I'm sure we can make room for another bed." 
"And I'm sure Ms Gretchen will write you down as a member of the dorm." Kiah said, smiling meekly. Clearly she was not used to this. 
Aria almost hugged them all, but she decided not to, so instead she just smiled. "Thank you all so much." 
Chapter 2 
"Is this whole place run by kids?" Aria asked as she walked into the cafeteria with Kiah and Alin(Dan was busy with a kid who had broken his leg), where Shifts were unsuccessfully trying to shift while serving food to all of the students. Sweat trickled down their noses as they rushed from kid to kitchen, probably because of the oven, which was currently burning dinner, or maybe it was because of the pressure of making their peers a perfectly balanced meal. Most likely both. 
Kiah laughed. "No. The teachers and professors think it's a good opportunity." She looked at the overwhelmed cooks again and gasped. "Ah! I forgot! I'm on kitchen duty next week!" 
But instead of listening, Aria was busy scanning the room. "Isn't anyone else like me?" She asked. "Isn't anyone else... different?" She searched both of their faces, hoping one of them to perk up and say 'Yes! That guy Jeffrey over there! Let's go say hi!'. 
To Aria's surprise, Kiah did say something. "Avery was different." It felt sorrowful, Aria could tell, and it sounded like a slip, a snake finding its way out of her vocal cords, and Aria said something she instantly knew she shouldn't have. 
"Who is he?" 
Kiah smiled sadly. "He was a Vision, he could see through walls, people, ect. 
“Yeah, really rare. It was super useful, too. He was Dan's apprentice, until-" Kiah gasped, like she was saying too much. She gripped a pendant around her neck that Aria had never noticed before.
“Kiah…” Aria started. Kiah glared, then ran.
***
Aria and Alin ate dinner, burnt turkey and semi-mashed potatoes with some gravy(to Aria’s surprise, it tasted really good!) in silence.
After they were done eating, Alin started showing Aria around the school. As it started to get dark, he turned to her.
“I-it’s just hard for her, ya’know? They were close,” Alin looked away, and started to pay close attention to the wall. “We were close… ” He frowned, brushing his fingers across the paint.
Aria didn't have to ask to know who he meant. Avery. Still, she couldn’t help but notice that Allin’s behavior was strange. “I-is everything okay?” Aria asked. “Are you alright?”
“No.”
Silence.
Alin turned to her.
“Can I trust you with a secret?” He frowned, “well, no, I can’t. You’re too new. Well, good night.”
“...”
He looked at her, confused, then realization struck him. “OH! Dan’s dorm is on the fourth door to the left, right down the hall.” He led her to a door that brought them outside, and a short trail, lined with rhinestones and roofed with glass, split into many other trails, all in which looked the same, all leading to different buildings, dorms, Aria guessed.
Alin led Aria through a path lined with green rhinestones and explained that he was just down the path of sky-blue-and-white jewels. First door to the right.
“Remember,” he said, “fourth door to the left. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dan’s waiting for you.”
“Yeah. Um, thanks, goodnight.” Aria opened the door.
“Yeah. Goodnight Aria.”
She closed the door and entered the glittering green hall. 
*** 
Alin was right. Dan was waiting next to a fancy green door decorated with names etched into the wood. “Aria! What do you think of the school? Personally, I like the greenhouse and the library best, but I've heard- whoa... you look exhausted! Come in, we have a bunk ready for you.” He opened the door to a group of teens all about her age staring at her. “You guys!” Dan shouted at them, embarrassment filling Aria's senses. 
One girl snapped out of it, performing a hair toss and walking towards them. "Well, I'm not a guy. If you ask me, boys are gross." She gave a shudder, then turned to Aria. "Hey, girl, I’m Ivy. How ya doing?"
Aria blushed and gave a little wave. “Hi.”
The girl looked her over and gave her an unimpressed face. “Okay, so did you get contacts or what? You may have fooled loverboy here” (“Hey!”) “but you can’t fool me.”
Aria had never felt so embarrassed in her life! “Well, Uh,” She was red from head to toe. “It’s not really, um…” she felt sick under Ivy’s intense stare. “Please excuse me,” She said, already running for the door. Aria burst outside with no direction, and bumped into a boy with thick black hair. When Aria looked up, she saw the same boy from before, the one guarding the gate to Alara. She stumbled back, rolling away from the startled boy. 
“Uh sorry,” Aria said, blushing almost as much as the boy. She realized that she had run into the Shadow path. Dark grey and blue chiseled stones lined the path, leading to yet another dormhouse. 
“Uh , yeah,” He got up and held his hand to Aria, helping her up. “Are you okay?”
“Fine, thanks.” She brushed off her skirt and untangled her hair. “What are you doing out here?” She looked at his eyes. In the dark, they looked even more black.
“Um, recharging before school. Y'know, being a shadow and all.”
“But...you're not a Lunar. Wouldn’t it be better for you to get under a tree or something?”
He looked at her, confusion printed on his face. He looked up at the moon. “You know, I think you might be right. I’ll have to ask Lord konn. And maybe Lady Sean.”
Aria wrinkled her nose. “Gack. you have to call them all ‘lord’s and ‘ladys’?”
He grinned. But it wasn’t really a grin. It was darker. Deeper. Honestly, it creeped Aria out a bit. “Yeah. It sucks. Lord Henry really seems to enjoy it though.”
“I’ve heard about him. Alin-” The boy seemed to prick up uneasy at the mention of that name. “Um, he told me that he sends away students for messing up a project.”
“Uh, yeah”
An uneasy silence broke in between them. And then…
“Get away from her!” They turned to see a very angry Alin on the third floor of the Air dorm, popping his head through a window. “Stay away from her!”
The boy started away toward his dorm. “Wait!” Aria followed him, ignoring Alin’s angry warnings. The boy stopped. “What’s your name?”
The boy looked down. They stayed there for a moment, then he looked back up at Alin, then at Aria again. “Keir,” He said confidently. Alin started screaming his head off. He ran outside in nothing but his footie pjs, purple striped dinosaurs covered in blue polka-dots. Keir smirked, just a bit. Alin screeched not-so-great words in his face.
Aria somehow found her way into the school and into the library. She had always been fond of books. So she spent the night reading, or at least until Kiah and Alin came rushing to her, slamming the doors behind them. Kiah had on a pink-purple nightgown on, and Alin had changed into a T and shorts.
“Aria! Are you alright?” Kiah sat down next to the giant bed of cushions Aria had gathered for herself.
Alin knelt down. “I saw,” he sucked in a breath, not wanting to spill out the name, “Keir talking to you. The nerve.” He frowned. “He’s been known to bully the newbies. Sorry he picked you.”
Aria thought for a second. “Actually, he was kinda nice.” Then she quickly added, “I bumped into him.”
I HOPE U LIKE IT SO FAR!!! :))))