At the back of the room, Athira and Zoe were some of the last people to be called.

A cheerful Purple Elite counted out ten heads--Zoe 6, Athira 7--and led them into a smaller hallway with ten rooms branching out of it.

"Okay guys, pick a room, any room!" said the Elite. "There'll be an Elite in there ready and waiting for you. Just a short couple of questions about your Colour, introducing you to a Colourformer, and you'll be set! Go!"

Athira grabbed Zoe's hand and made for the rooms furthest away. Her stomach was in knots, and she didn't know why. She didn't have anxiety problems. If something bothered her, she walked away from it whether there was a wall in the way or not. Nothing could hold her--so why was she borderline panicking? "Zo, if something happens and I don't come out of that room, it might be better if you pretend you don't know me."

Zoe looked at her like she was insane. "Thira, you need to stop freaking out. It's a Colourformer, just like the Saver at home. They're not going to drag you away and lock you up somewhere."

But they might. People had before. Instead, she said, "I know."

They reached their doors. Zoe gave her a squeeze hug and a reassuring smile before disappearing into the door opposite Athira's with a click.

Aside from the Purple Elite, Athira was the only other one in the hallway. As her hand hesitated on the handle, the Elite waved her forward and nodded encouragement. There was no backing out of this.

With a deep breath, Athira pushed the handle down and straightened her arm.

The Elite inside wore an Orange suit, which calmed Athira's nerves a little. She could lie and not have to worry about a Purple who might be able to tell the difference.

He gave her a warm smile and tapped the table where an empty, comfortable looking chair sat beside him. "Come on over, I don't bite. Promise."

Somehow, Athira managed to shut the door behind her and sit down without shedding shards. The Black was warm under her skin, sensing her anxiety, her desire to be anywhere but here. She curled her fingers into her palms and dug them into her thighs, grateful for the cloak's weight on her shoulders, even if manners demanded she keep the cowl down.

"Don't think I've ever had anyone who wore a cloak before," said the Elite. "My name's Matt, by the way. What's yours?"

"Athira," she said.

He nodded. "Definitely unique enough that I don't need to ask for a last name. I don't think I've heard that one before. Sounds almost Nomstrali in origin. Do you--"

"I don't."

"Gotcha. Okay, so down to business--has your Colour ever surfaced before, ever been able to use a bit of it?"

"Yes."

The Elite brought up a notepad on his wristlet. "Have you been able to figure out anything you can do with it?"

"Yes," said Athira, hoping that'd be the end of it.

It wasn't. "Can you give me an example?"

She listed it off quickly, keeping it to the basics, completely shutting the things she'd discovered with Trian out of her mind. "I can move through physical objects. I can make tendrils and pick things up. It crystallises when I release it."

He nodded as he noted down her exact words. "That's pretty cool that you've got such a handle on it, especially at your age. Think you can give me an example?"

Figuring they were going to have to see her Colour at some point over the next few days, Athira placed her hand on the table and let the Black coat her skin. She waved her hand through the tabletop a few times to get her point across before releasing the Colour into its usual crystals.

"Wow," said the Elite, seeming genuinely impressed. "I've been doing this a few years now, and I don't think I've ever seen someone your age with that much control. Do you have as much of a handle on the picking-things-up ability?"

Athira went to lift the table off the ground before deciding that probably wasn't the best idea. "Do you have anything small?"

The Elite rummaged through a bag on the floor before producing what looked like a piece of metal plating. "Is that small enough?"

Athira answered his question by coating it in Black and lifting it off the table, dropping it a few seconds later. The Elite caught one of the larger crystals that rained to the floor, turning it over in the light, inspecting every facet of it.

"It's almost like a vessel," he said. "I know a few Colours that crystallise after use, but I don't think any of them are quite like this. You've got a pretty special Colour, Athira."

He didn't know the half of it. "I guess so."

"I don't suppose you've ever shown any elemental powers? Any attachments to air, stone or water?"

"No."

The Elite nodded, making a few more notes and placing the crystal to one side. He swivelled in his chair, picking the Colourformer up off the desk. "Okay, so that's the basic questions done. Now, do you know what this is?"

"Colourformer. Converts raw Colour into energy that can be stored in vessels and used to power things. Portable version."

His eyebrow went up. "You've done your research, I see. This one's fairly special though, we don't have many of them. They're specially designed to deal with Colour that's only just matured and might be a little unstable. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say you know how it works?" Athira nodded. He placed it back on the table. As she continued to stare at it like it was going to leap out and bite her, he added, "When you're ready, place your hand on the internal pad. Feel free to look it over first if you want to familiarise yourself with it."

If she took it slowly, she could get through this without making a bigger spectacle of herself. Carefully, Athira took one finger and touched the top of the Colourformer. When it didn't blow up immediately, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her entire palm didn't change things, either, so she slid her hand onto the actual Colour pad.

There was an instant where the pad pulled at her Colour that she knew not even a Colourformer designed to cope with the most unstable, unmatured Colour was going to be able to withstand the Black.

The vibration rumbled up her fingers as the Colourformer's circuits fried, exploding the empty vessel at its back into shards.

Athira withdrew her hand in silence, already knowing what his next words were going to be.

"Just when I thought I'd seen everything possible on this job," he said, awed. The Elite picked up the Colourformer and turned it over, even going to far as to give it a shake before his fingers turned Orange. "That's so weird. It's just like all the Colour that makes it work are gone." He pursed his lips. "Hm. Maybe it was one of the older models with a new reinforced case over the top. Stay here, I'll be back in a second."

Athira's imagination ran wild with Elites pouring through the doors, demanding she do it again, their eyes going wide as they realised she wasn't normal when the Elite--just Matt--came back through the door holding another Colourformer.

He grinned. "Borrowed next door's. I know hers was new, so we should be good to go." He placed it on the table. Athira had no idea how he was going to excuse it when she blew up a second Colourformer in as many minutes. "Give it a try, when you're ready.

Athira placed her hand on the Colourformer's case, keeping her skin away from the actual pad as she prepared. If she could keep the Black away from her finger, if she could resist that tug and give it no more than a drop, maybe--just maybe--the Colourformer and her would both be able to escape this still in one, non-suspicious piece.

She pulled her Black back to her mindscape, something she'd only ever done under Trian's supervision after a few hours of meditation, but she was desperate. She imagined the Colour locked behind a wall in her mind, unable to escape unless she let it. She added a tap to that wall, a tap that she turned the tiniest amount until a single drop of Black fell from the faucet and raced into her body, right down to the tip of her finger where it pooled, waiting.

Athira screwed that tap off as tightly as she could. The Colourfomer--designed to draw unmature Colour out of a thirteen year old--would pull at that, and she couldn't let it out. No more than the drop.

She placed the tip of her index finger on the Colour pad.

The pull happened. Ready for it, Athira let it have nothing but the drop. Her Colour pushed against the wall, but it stayed. It stayed and the Colourformer didn't blow up.

Like lightning, Athira snatched her hand away. She didn't care if she barely filled up the vessel. There was something in that vessel now, and that was all the Elites needed. Let them think she was weak, that there was no strength to her Colour. Anything except the truth.

"See, told you it was just an old one. Now, how about we have a look at what we've got?"

The Elite detached the vessel from the back of the Colourformer as Athira rode the high of elation. She'd done it. She hadn't blown it up. She'd done it.

Then she saw the vessel in his hands. Filled.

One drop, and it was filled. At least that explained why most vessels she touched exploded.

He held it out for her to take. "Want to--"

"Nope," she said quickly, holding her hands away. "All yours. I don't want it."

He gave her a strange look that quickly disappeared behind the smiles once again. "Okie dokie then, that's all good." He placed the vessel beside her crystal on the table. "Based off what I've seen so far, even though it's such a dark shade, I think it's pretty likely you're a Purple, probably more on the Indigo side of things. By the look of your cloak, it looks like you figured that out a while ago anyway."

Athira glanced at the edge of her cloak. She hadn't given its Colour two thoughts. It'd been a present from Trian, maybe in more ways than she'd initially realised. What was it he'd always told her? People saw what they expected to see.

"Any more questions before I release you?" he asked.

He didn't know how close he was with the 'release' analogy. "Nope, I'm good."

"All righty then! You're free to go, you'll be assigned a group tomorrow, good luck and have fun!"

Athira couldn't get out of that room fast enough.

Zoe was hanging around at the mouth of the hallway talking to the Purple Elite. Her glow was back, emnating in waves from her skin. When she saw Athira, it only got brighter.

"Thira! How'd it go?"

"Fine," she lied for the Elite's benefit. When the Elite was a safe distance away at the head of the group leading them to their next spot, Athira whispered, "I blew up a Colourformer."

"You what?"

"I told you it was going to happen," said Athira, glaring at a kid who glanced over his shoulder. "The Elite just thought it was because it was old though, I think."

"It was probably because you were freaking out about it so much," said Zoe. "If you'd relaxed, maybe it would have been okay."

Athira folded her arms. "Easy for you to say when you have the normal Colour."

"What Colour did they think you were, then?"

"Purple on the Indigo side of things."

"I spose the cloak helped with that?"

"Yup."

Their conversation was interrupted as the Elite turned around, walking backwards to face them. "Kay guys, you have a bit of free time tonight while we go through registrations and sort you into groups! There should be activities set up in the hall by now--a few games and stuff that's Colour-based that'll be monitored, movies too if you'd rather do that, but I encourage you to check out as many of the games as you can before dinner." She opened the doors to the hall. "And, since you'll all be in the system by now, may I be the first to congratulate you all on your newly official Sirah citizenship status!"

The other kids cheered, Zoe included. Athira's skin just prickled.

In the system.

She didn't know how she felt about that.

Whatever it was, it wasn't good. 

*+*+*+* 

A/N - Posting this now rather than tomorrow because it's done and written and I don't like holding on to chapters. That said, there might not be an update for a few days because renovations and shiz at the house, so yea => 

Vote, comment, speculate, throw cookies, you know the drill <3