Before Athira realised the day was upon them, she and Zoe had their bags packed and were on the shuttle with the other kids from their area on the way to Sirah's city central. 

Zoe claimed the window seat as Athira slid into place next to her. "What do you think city central's like?"

"I bet their lights don't go out every few days," said Athira, fishing around in her bag for one of the three books she'd brought with her. The sun was barely up, but the lights on the shuttle would be enough.

"Yea," said Zoe. "I bet the buildings are really cool, too. You know, not built out of concrete and stuff like ours, but that Colour-based material. Y'no, the one the Elites designed based on Red's structure? That'd be so cool!"

Athira flicked the front cover of her book open. "Mmhmm."

She knew Zoe was rolling her eyes as she said, "Enjoy the book, Thira."

She did. The quiet conversations of the kids who hadn't fallen asleep were easily tuned out. Her hours on the bus passed by with the days within the words, interrupted only once for a bathroom break. It was so easy to lose herself in the pages, to shrug off her own problems in light of what the characters faced.

Athira was two-thirds of the way through her book when Zoe shook her shoulder and said, "Look!"

One glance out the window and Athira forgot to be annoyed.

Somewhere along the line, the buildings had grown. From her aisle seat, Athira couldn't see the tops of most of them unless she leaned on Zoe's lap and craned her neck skyward. They were sleek and caught the glint of the midday sun in such a way that most sunlight reached street level, and even that was impressive. Gone were the cracked sidewalks and overgrowngrass that sprouted through. Nothing, no line, no plant, no speck was out of place.

"Woah," said Athira. "I think they might be taller than the mountains around the monastery. I wonder what it'd be like on top of them."

"If you fly up there," said Zoe, breathless. "Take me with you."

"Deal."

They continued into the heart of Sirah, and their destination quickly became apparent despite the drivers claim that they were still half an hour away. The Elite's headquarters was one of the tallest, widest buildings, almost doubling the average span. Cylindrical in shape, it was a pillar, a sturdy, strong pillar, and Athira was willing to bet it was the centre of Sirah's city district.

True to their word, thirty-two minutes after their driver's claim, Athira stepped off the shuttle with Zoe close behind at the base of Elite HQ, staring into the large, glass windows that looked into the ground-level lobby.

"Go on inside, kids," said the driver. "There'll be an Elite in there ready to take you, and your bags will be brought inside later. Have fun!"

And like someone had broken the spell, excited whispers stirred the air as the group half walked, half ran inside. Athira wasn't entirely sure how she felt about so much building being above her head. A mountain, at least, had some credibility to the stability factor, but she supposed that being able to slip through walls she shouldn't be the one to complain about it.

Inside the lobby, the floor was so shiny Athira could see her face.

A man in a Yellow suit that Athira assumed marked him as an Elite strode towards them, arms spread.

"Would I be correct in assuming you're all here for your Colour maturation ceremony?" he said, smiling when heads bobbed everywhere in reply. "Great! You guys are the second last group to arrive, so I'll take you up to where everyone else is, and once they arrive we can get started with the introductions!"

The group followed him to an elevator big enough to fit them all inside.

"Thira, he's a Yellow!" Zoe whisper-squealed. "Just like me!"

"Zo, there's only six Colours. There's gonna be more than one Yellow on the planet."

"I know, but he's the first Elite we've seen!" Happy didn't begin to describe Zoe at the moment. She was so far past happy that her skin had an aura of Yellow light. "It's... it's--oh I don't know I think I'm going to explode!"

Athira just smiled and shook her head to hide the knotted nerves twisting their way through her stomach.

The Elite led them out the elevator and down a fairly long hallway until they reached a set of double-doors. Athira heard the conversation through the wall long before he opened the door and a couple of hundred heads looked up.

"Okay guys!" said the Elite, clapping his hands together and sending off a shower of Yellow sparks. "We're just waiting on the last group now, so feel free to explore the room, talk to the other kids! You won't be assigned any groups until tomorrow, so for now if you've got friends, stick with them and you'll go to registration together later today after the introduction!"

Athira wasn't entirely sure what about the room he wanted them to explore. Aside from the kids and the Elites mingling among them, it was empty. Either way, she and Zoe found an area that allowed them some personal space, and a few minutes after that, the final group arrived.

The excitement hit a peak in the room. They knew what the last group arriving meant--it meant that the introduction was about to start.

The lights dimmed. Zoe's glow became more than a little obvious. The Elites who'd been among the kids moved to particular places in the room, standing with heads tilted down, hands behind their backs.

And then it began.

"Welcome, boys and girls, to your official Colour maturation ceremony!"

Platforms of Red raised from the floor, lifting the Elites upon them above the heads of the crowd. Athira found the two Reds quickly at opposite ends of the room, their Colour marked by their suits.

"Over the next three days, you'll be going on a once-in-a-lifetime journey to explore your Colour! Already, I can see some of you have a handle on it, but for others, you're ready to bloom, and we'll be with you every step of the way. But first--a little performance a few of us threw together!"

Music replaced the voice, and perfectly on beat, the Elites on the platforms punched the air.

Ribbons of every Colour streamed through the air, manipulated and controlled by their owner. They started off the same, quickly changing, becoming more specific as Colour by Colour they were the star of the moment.

The Reds created flying crafts that duelled in the air, sparks flying each time they collided. The Oranges did something Athira didn't quite see but ended up with an elegant, armoured Tech suit. One Yellow moved impossibly fast, the other created lightning from empty space. The Greens shifted--one a bird of prey, the other into various people in the crowd. The Blues runed clay lumps to life and created balls of light that followed them. When the Purple's turn came, Athira could have sworn the walls had melted and the outside had turned into a lush, green forest--the kind that was only hidden away in some secret corner of the continent.

Athira hardly knew where to look as the finale came to a close. The ribbons of Colour were back, merging and twisting and twirling until the music hit one, final beat, and the room exploded in a bright white light.

The kids couldn't stop clapping. Even Athira, who'd seen the monks use their Colour enough to last her a lifetime joined in.

The Red platforms converged into a large stage in the centre of the hall, the kids automatically shuffling out of the way to give it space. The fourteen Elites on stage bowed, possibly in an attempt to get the applause to stop, until finally the speaker--one of the Purples--could be heard over the noise.

"We're glad you liked it!" she said, bringing on yet another wave of clapping. She waved it down. "That was just a small taste of what Colour is capable of when you dedicate yourself to it, too! Who knows--maybe some of you will become Elites one day and you'll be the ones up here, ready to lead the next generation into their Colour!"

The Purple on stage continued. "My name's Val, and I'm going to be one of the many Elites helping out with your Colour ceremony over the next few days!" The next few minutes were spent explaining what would actually occur--the registration, the group training--things Athira and Zoe had already extracted from Raph. Two nights, they'd all be staying in this hall as a group, sleeping gear would be set up when they came back. What they could expect, where their Colour could take them. "And who knows? Maybe at the end of this, you'll find a new love for your Colour, like I did. Keeper training almost killed me some days, but it was worth it. There's so many uses for Colour in our amazing society, but honestly, if you ask me, becoming a Keeper beats them all."

Beside Athira, Zoe released a breath and said, "Keeper. I wanna be a Keeper, Thira."

"We have to make it through registration first, Zo."

"I don't care what it takes, I'm going to do it one day." She gave Athira a smile. "Maybe us three could all be Keepers--maybe start our own team back home, fix the place up a bit, y'no?"

"Maybe, Zo," said Athira softly.

"So!" said Val after another housekeeping announcement. "We're going to start taking out groups now, about twenty at a time, and you'll be taken for registration! Stick with your friends if you want to go with them, but remember that tomorrow, you're all going to be in different groups, so be prepared! If you have any questions, feel free to ask one of the Elites that'll be hanging around, and other than that, I hope you all have a great time! We've got lots of fun activities ready, so with that, group number one, let's go!"

*+*+*+*

A/N - I totally wasn't playing WC3 campaigns instead of writing this and that's why it's later than my usual upload times, nope. Not at all. Nu-uh. 

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