New Beginnings, New Friends

[Minoas Stratis]

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Rangipo Desert​

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<SIZE size="50">At the top of that pillar of earth the wind was carrying solitude and sombreness. It was whistling in Minoas ears about what have happened there just five years ago as he was inspecting the vastness of the canyon, meandering as far the eye could see. At the same top of the tallest of these two sandstone pillars, Minoas had witnessed that dark cloud descending upon them and taking away his father. Signs of that day were left there. The protective spell that his father had casted had left a circle engraved on the perimeter of the flat peak. There were also ominous clouds in the horizon as well but this time they were only carrying water. It was a whole different visit for the young man who was standing dangerously close to the edge. It wasn't a commemoration but a new beginning. He just wanted to remind himself why he was starting a new chapter in his life and why he had to leave behind him so many loved ones. It didn't feel like a step anymore but more of a blind leap. And while the voice of logic was the loudest inside him, it wasn't necessarily right. It was his heart he was going to follow this time.

He casted a glance full of doubt at the golden coin in his palm. He checked his watch to find out that it was the exact time mentioned in the letter he had received to perform this weird signal. Minoas shrugged slightly his shoulders and threw the coin in the air. It might was just his eyes deceiving him but he thought that the coin might have stopped in the midair for a second before falling back in his palm. His grey eyes scanned again the horizon and what they spotted had him draw back a couple of steps. Awestruck, he watched a giant ship emerging out of nowhere, like it was crossing some kind of portal out of another dimension. It soared gently closer and casted an immense shadow on the lone standing sandstone pillars in the middle of the canyon. "No kidding..." Minoas found again his voice while a sudden rush of wonderment overwhelmed him. There were no masts or sails waving in the wind. Instead an enormous, oval-shaped balloon made of cloth was carrying the vessel made of mahogany wood. Several scarlet patches were woven on the navy blue balloon, possibly to cover past holes. Rooted to the spot, Minoas watched the flying ship lowering until he could see its deck. A wooden plank was casted and connected the ship's deck with the pillar's peak. What crossed it had Minoas drawing his wand.

"Ahoy young lad. Ye must be Mr. Minoas Stratis, 'm I right?" crackled the jaw of a moving skeleton dressed in pirate clothes. The skeleton pirate jumped off the wooden plank and moved closer to Minoas who pointed confused his wand at the unexpected newcomer. "No reason to fear. I'm Capt. Rot-gut Ralph and this is Peppito." the charmed skeleton introduced himself and his parrot pet roosting on his shoulder. "This is Naptune's Shame. Taking students to Zardosh Academy since 1972 and I'm its captain." Rot-gut Ralph gestured at the enormous vessel hovering just behind him and Minoas lowered his wand when he established that probably this skeleton didn't mean harm. "Nice to meet you...umm...Captain Ralph." Minoas wondered if he should have exchanged a handshake with the skeleton. "I'm sorry. You took me by surprise." he apologized for pointing a wand at him. It should be insulting even for a skeleton. "I'm indeed Minoas Stratis. I informed the academy to be picked up from here." he confirmed. "Then in this case, welcome aboard!" exclaimed the captain and turned to the ship before starting shouting.
"Come on sea rats! Get a move on and carry on board the lad's baggage."

Two more skeletons dressed in pirate clothes as well crossed the plank muttering "Aye Aye!". They picked Minoas' trunk and owl cage and moved them to the deck. "They're taking 'em to yer berth. Come on! It's time to set sail again."
Minoas crossed the plank and made it to the dock. Several other non-skeleton people were there. Perhaps students like him picked up earlier. "Here matey. This is a map of the ship's facilities. Ye go and tidy up your things at yer berth. Dinner is served at nine o'clock. You can take a caulk until then." said the captain and Minoas nodded not sure what exactly he was saying to him. "Thanks." he accepted the map. He surely would needed in such a vast place. "This scurvy dog will take ye to yer berth." he whistled and a pygmy skeleton arrived. Minoas guessed it once was a house elf. "Make sure ye don't get close to the edges. We don't want ye to become shark bait, do we? Off ye go now. Have a great time aboard." Captain Rot-gut Ralph told him before starting barking orders to its skeletal crew. "Yeah, sure. Thanks for telling me." Minoas smiled awkwardly and followed the pygmy skeleton. The moment he stepped inside the ship, cannons fired and the vessel starting flying again.

Labyrinthine corridors was all he saw of the interior of the ship as he was taken to his room. Numerous doors on their way which he guessed they were other students' room or recreation rooms. When he finally arrived to his room, he found out that his trunk and the cage with his sleeping owl were already there. As he was left alone, he had a serious deja vu of Hogwarts Express and the time he was travelling to Hogwarts. Now it was a pirate ship with a crew dug out of their grave and an academy located on the other side of the planet. Minoas took a moment to study his room. It was small but cozy and pirate themed. There were portholes instead of windows and Minoas watched through one of them the canyon they were leaving behind. He had failed to sleep the previous night. The prospect of this trip and what was going to follow next, had him staying awake all night just staring in the dark. No wonder how fast he fell asleep on that soft bed.

When he woke up, golden light was coming through the portholes. Guessing that the sunset was going to be spectacular from the deck. He took the map and his wand before locking the room and leaving. Even with that map in hand, Minoas had trouble to get back to the deck. After making a few circles and reaching a couple of dead ends, he made it outside. The deck was almost empty. A few students had formed a circle at the keel, sitting down, chatting while a few more were watching the view from the port. Music reached his ears. It was the sound of violin, muffled slightly by the wind. Imagining a skeleton possibly playing the instrument, he decided not to miss this comical sight and followed the source of the sound. It brought him to the ship's bow where the violinist proved to be not part of the skeletal crew.

 

[Melody Wilde]

It was time for Melody to go back to school. It was finny it was only her second year at school since her parents 'died' in a storm when she was eight. She had apparated from Ireland as Saoirse O'Connor, Traveling musician and arrived in Queensland australia as Melody Wilde Student. in her hand was a violin case and her bag, she had learned to travel light and most of her belongings were in this bag. she found the rocky outcliff off the coast where she was about to load the school boat. Some may thing it was odd that she appeared to australia just to catch a boat to Austria. but Melody didn't mind. She liked the boat and the crew. though the crew did take some getting used to. She boarded and solitude the Captain. "Hello Captain" she said before making her way to the stairs. Melody, how was your break" came a voice from the front of the ship. "it was okay thanks how was yours" she said this was about as social as people liked to be around her. most people avoided her as they thought she was a little weird. she headed through the door and down the stairs. making her way through the labyrinth of corridors which she was sure the captain had made deliberately confusing to annoy the first years. when she reached her corridor she saw a boy walking along it before reaching the dead end and turning around. "if you are looking for the deck the steps half way down the corridor get there, head up and you will find it" she said. guessing he was lost. before opening her room door and putting her bag on her bed. She then went to open her violin case and took out the instrument and one of the two bows she had in there. The bow she mainly used on holiday, not the special bow she used at school.
She then left the room again and following her own directions headed up to deck. it was nice up there this time of day, the sun was was setting and turning the clouds below into a sea of gold. she second she reached the open air she started to play, the fresh air made her feel comfortable and it was nice to at last play what music felt like it needed playing and not the songs or melodys that were needed to be played. she made her way along the boat past most of the clusters of students returning a wave smile or hello wen she did but not starting one until she reached the very front, the prow. it was there where she let the music loose her and started to play more, letting the music run free in the wind telling the air stories of what was and what could be. she looked around and saw a boy standing and watching the boy who had been lost on the way up. When she had a moment when she could let go with ha hand she briefly waved hello. before continuing playing.

 

[Minoas Stratis]

Minoas was admiring people that knew to play music. He knew how to play the guitar himself but it was long ago since his fingers had pulled those strings. Many activities he used to enjoy were now left to the past but he hadn't lost his love about music and this girl had earned his respect for producing such a nice melody with her violin. He couldn't help but stand their and enjoy. He raised his hand to wave back to her but he didn't dare to say anything and interrupt her. Only when she finished, Minoas broke into applause along with a few more students who have been listening to her around the deck. "Bravo! That was really good!" he praised her music. When Minoas made up his mind to enroll at Zardosh Academy, he had decided to not make friends and just stick to his objective. But now that he was there, at the beginning of his life's new chapter, he wanted to make the best of it. What better than a new friend? It was going to make the first few days of adaptation much more easier. "I'm Minoas Stratis." he introduced himself and stretched out his hand for a handshake. "Are you a first year, like me?" Minoas asked the musician although it didn't matter in which year she really was.

 

[Melody Wilde]

At Zardosh it wasn't unusual to have students practicing whatever brand of magic they were specialising in in the corridors, however usually on the boat the students were too caught up in catching up to display their talents. Melody on the other hand didn't really have many friends to catch up with, yes she had class mates, people who had been in her classes last year, people in her dorm, people who sat near her in meal times but not proper friends. as she had played she noticed the eyes of the boy from the corridor earlier on her. and she smiled as she played and once she stopped a few students clapped a couple of times out of politeness. but the boy came to congratulate her on her performance. "thank you." she said graciously. though there was a lot going on in the school and she had a lot more up her sleeve than a few melodies.
when the boy introduced himself she smiled, the boy had a cool accent, and the name stratis seemed vaguely familiar though she wasn't quite sure why, it was the sort of name that she had overheard through closed doors. "It Is nice to meet you minoas, what a great name, I am s- i'm Melody Wilde" she said mentally kicking herself for using home name not her school name. thankfully she managed to cover herself before it was noticeable. she put both her bow and violin in the same hand so she could shake the boys hand. "I am in my second year, but last year was a bridging year so i will be doing quite a few first year classes." she said it wasn't like she wouldn't have kept up with the courses that she had to do but as she hadn't done OWLS and NEWTS she had had to take a year doing newt level courses so as to meet the prerequisites for what she wanted to do. "what courses are you doing?" she said wondering if they would be having any classes together, he was pretty cute, though she knew she wasn't here to make friends, or get close enough to people who would wonder why she went by both Melody and Saoirse. She was here to keep her head down and learn, practice and live in the music.

 

[Minoas Stratis]

Minoas smiled when the girl introduced herself. He thought that her name really suited her and that her parents had done a great job choosing her name. "Nice to meet you too." he said back as they shook hands. Melody wasn't a first year like him but it appeared she was going to attend a few first year classes. "Hmm...I'm not sure yet." he scratched his chin thoughtful, trying to remember the courses on the brochure. At the beginning, Minoas didn't care about the rest of the available classes. He had enrolled to the Zardosh Academy with one purpose. Study the art of the enemy. However, he had grown fond of the idea of having some more courses. A lot of them were looking really promising and interesting. "I don't know yet. One thing is for sure. I'll be taking elemental magic classes. They might be hard but they sound interesting." he said and hopped on the ship's bow to have a seat. He had a brief look bellow. The floating, pirate ship was sliding through the cream-like clouds. Above them the sky was clear, acquiring a darker blue hue as the sun was lost and it had left a golden horizon. A single star was starting twinkling already. The first of many to appear soon. "Any suggestions?" he asked Melody who certainly new better which classes were good. She was a student for a year, she have been taking some of them for a while now. "I bet you're having music magic." he guessed with a grin as a cool breeze kissed his skin and made him shudder.

 

[Melody Wilde]

Melody nodded when she said that it was nice to meet her too and when he said that he wasn't sure what class he was going to enrol in, she ran her bow across the strings leaving a slightly flat droning noise. "you don't have much time left to decide" she said starting up a light melody as they spoke, she liked having a little background music it was often easier to portray things through music, well at least when she had her other bow and was playing her full potential. "that is a good choice" she said nodding approvingly. she was doing that course too, so that meant that she would be in class with him cool. "What gave that away?" she said a slight ring to her voice. "I am majoring in music and elemental magic, with minors in dance" she said pausing the music, someone doing elemental magic was interesting. she wondered if she was right in recognising the name. they stood there for a few moments as the sun set and Melody started playing a pice that she had been working on over the break, If it was being played wit her other bow there would be a light breeze a promising breeze instead it was just a gentle sparkling of notes.
the sun had set and the first stars were coming out with most of the light gone but not enough to see more than the brightest stars. when she boat hit a little turbulence and it jolted "Ooh" she said letting another flat note on the instrument "do you reckon we should go below for a bit " she said, she hadn't eaten all day and was getting hungry and once it was properly dark she liked it on deck as the stars were never brighter anywhere else and best of all as they were high there were no clouds.

 

[Minoas Stratis]

Minoas fussed over which courses he should take when Melody told him, he hadn't much time left to decide. He was planning to attend several of them at the first week at the academy and continue only with those that were going to benefit him. Music and dance magic were out of the question since he was a terrible dancer and he hadn't no music instrument with him. "I think Alchemy would be a wise choice when it's actually connected with Elemental. Then I'm torn between Spell Crafting and Ancient Magic. Maybe, I'll take both." he said without really knowing the amount of material for each of these courses. "You have chosen I nice combination. I bet you can control the elements with some music magic." he guessed, planning ahead to ask his next question. Every single person who knew about Elementalism, could help him at some point. She could even know about the Elementalist Scitorari but he knew the girl so little to bring such topic to their conversation.

He was interrupted from his stream of thoughts when Melody suggested going bellow. Instantly, Minoas' stomach complained with a soft growl. Only then he realized that he was hungry. "Sure. I actually want to visit the dining room. I'm starving." he said and pulled the map to find the location of the dining room. "Erm...hmm. Maybe you know the way." he reckoned for being a second year. She had certainly traveled with this flying, pirate ship at least once before. "It feels like a treasure hunting." he mused with a chuckled and jumped off the bow. "Can you use Elemental Magic?" he returned back to the question he wanted to ask her as they were heading inside. "I can only do this." he said and opened the palm of his free hand. A sphere of water started forming, levitating above his skin. It started from a small droplet and grew to the size of an apple before it lost its shape and water splashed on his hand and floor. It was the only thing he could do after a lot of time practicing in his room. Producing the element himself it was so exhausting. He probably wouldn't be able to do that again for a while.

 

[Melody Wilde]

When the boy said that he wanted to try several classes including alchamy, spell crafting and ancient magic. ooh he was a smart one, an academic one. academia was something she wan't fond on, she liked more creative subjects. They sound like a good mix." she said and when he guessed that she used her music to shape the elements she raised her eyebrow. "now that sounds complex" she said easily hiding that it was the truth. his stomach punctuated the pause in conversation and hers let out its own rumble in reply. "That sounds like it is already decided." she said, she thought and was pretty sure she hadn't eaten since lunch and giving the fact that she had jumped time zones it had been about 14 hours ago. she headed across the deck leading the way to the hatch to hte gully. it was a large boat but she liked it and knew her way around by now. "be warned the mess stinks of fish but the food is good. she said as they reached the floor that it was on and approached the doors.
he asked if she could use elemental magic "I have had a couple of experiences" she said thinking back to the night when her parents had died and she had first stayed with rosie. and when she had tried to get the rain clouds to move on when all she did was replace them with more clouds that rained so much there was a flood. yes she could use it but she always felt like she was clutching at strings and being dragged along instead of controlling it. she watched as Minaos made a ball of water appear in his hand. it looked like a bubble and she wanted to poke it to see if it burst but she knew better than that instead she just watched it. until it outgrew its bonds and popped on its own accord. "that is pretty cool" she said "here probably isn't the best place for me to demonstrate my area" she said there was a range of reasons why it wouldn't be practical, firstly it was a wooden boat flying above the clouds. she entered the dining hall to a wall of sound and stink. and joined the qui. it thankfully wasn't too long, and was soon at the ordering point. she placed her order and took her box of hot chips from the hatch and covered them with tomato source, hot chips were certainly both her bane and vice . "there is a lounge down the hall if you want to eat there" she said. it didn't smell as bad as here that was for sure.

 

[Minoas Stratis]

Minoas was grateful that Melody was going to lead the way. He was terrible at orientating himself, at least indoors where he couldn't consult the stars or other natural landmarks. The worst thing that could happen to him was to be abandoned in a labyrinth where everything looked the same. And the interior of that ship wasn't far from it. At least his new acquaintance seemed confident as she led the way. Minoas wiped his wet hand from the water sphere he generated and hoped to see something similar from Melody or something more advanced. However, she seemed skeptical about casting elemental magic within the ship and Minoas wondered if she was bending fire and she was afraid that such a demonstration could set the wooden ship into flames. He decided not to insist. He had to be patient until classes. For now, filling his empty stomach seemed a much better priority.

They reached a dining hall that was keeping the whole pirate theme for good. Tables were large barrels with even smaller ones for stools. The smell of fish and beer wafted into the room and there weren't only students dining but also a few skeletons of the crew. "I don't mind." he shook his head as he took a tray and joined the queue right behind Melody. "Let's enjoy the whole pirate experience." he chuckled and took a dish of fish and chips as well a dusty bottle of beer. He poured some tomato sauce on his chips as well, trusting the violinist's taste. They found an empty table barrel and had a seat, not far from the table of three skeleton pirates who were drinking beer to pour out of their rotten bodies. Minoas decided to ignore that sight and picked a few chips with his fork. "So, where are you from Melody?" he asked. The crispy, thinly sliced potato proved to be an excellent choice, sided the tomato sauce.

 

[Melody Wilde]

Melody was glad that the boy didnt press her for a demonstration. there were a couple of reasons that she didnt the main one was if she did she may cause a storm or at least winds strong enough to make a lot of people airsick and the stink of stale fish was already quite overwhelming she didn't partially want to add vomit to the mix. the other reason was the reason she had changed her name to come to the school, the reason her family was on the run, The scitori. what if there was someone here who was a scitori, what if Minoas was. that thought sent a chill down her spine. minoases choice of seat didn't do much to help, although the captain was okay she wasn't a huge fan of some of the crew. she took a seat as far from them as she could on the bench and managed to get a couple of chips into her mouth before being asked by minoas where she was from. this she had a story for "I come from ireland originally, but now live in a town called Zilzie in Queensland australia" she said. the town of course hadnt been picked at random it had been chosen because it had a population so small that no one had heard about it and also because it ad an even smaller wizarding population, of no adults. she ate a few more of the chips, the challenge of course was eating them without getting too much ketchup on her hands. "What made you decide to come and study elemental magic?" she asked deciding that the reason for this was likely going to hint if he was in league with the scitori or not.

 

[Minoas Stratis]

Minoas casted a sidelong glance at his new acquaintance but right after he turned his attention back to his dish. He could sense the girl's constrain. He thought that she was careful with the words she was using for some reason. Maybe it had to do something with their surroundings. They were after all enclosed by a company of drunk skeletons. Despite the unusualness of this sight, for Minoas it wasn't completely alien. His grand aunt Efthalia was having a charmed skeleton to do the chores for her while she was too busy with the brewing of her potions. When Melody referred to the country she was originating, Minoas paused as memories flashed before his eyes. He had spent a weekend at the Irish countryside but it wasn't exactly the camping experience he had pursued. "I've been in Ireland. It's a nice place." he commented briefly. "I've never heard of Zilzie though. What is like? Is it closed to Wagga Wagga." he asked interested. Minoas had been only once in Australia for a festival and he had stayed at his sister's farm. Other than the city of Wagga Wagga, he had no idea what looked like the rest of the country.

The young man slowed down chewing the mouthful of chips. Melody's new question caught him unprepared and this gave him the time to think what he was going to say. He had an impression that there was an ultimate purpose to that question but upon swallowing, he replied casually. "It is a family kind of thing. We get to find our element affinity when we get fourteen." he explained. Although it was true, this wasn't the reason he was going to study the subject at the academy. Like it was happening for centuries in his family, he could have been taught by another member with the same elemental affinity. Instead, he wanted to infiltrate the global community of elemental magic practitioners to get him closer to the Scitorari sect associated with this art. "Just a way to deepen in the elements' secrets. The academy is one of the best places to learn more about it." he concluded and took a bite of the fried fish. He watched the gang of skeletal pirates bursting into laughs after a cracking gag but he was actually wondering if there was indeed another reason behind Melody's trivial question. He dismissed the idea, thinking he was getting paranoid. This girl couldn't be a Scitorari. "What about you?" he asked back.

 

[Melody Wilde]

Melody smiled when Minoas said that Ireland was a nice place and nodded. Agreement. "I don't know where Wagga Wagga is so I don't know. But zilzie is miles away from everywhere so I don't think they are close" she said smiling slightly melodically. The sailers next to them started singing a very loud slightly drunken sea shanty then as they sat there. yo up and a bottle of rum she added before she raised her eyebrow." Do you want to find somewhere a little quieter?" she said raising an eyebrow they really were making a racket and although she liked them somewhat though they really couldn't sing in time, tune or a reasonable volume. Over the caterwaul she heard Minoas talking about why he was studying elemental magic. It was interesting that he said that it was a family thing. It sounded like he was pulling things from her past. Her family had, according to Rosie practiced elemental magic. well you sound like you have an interesting family, who must be really tied to element all magic. I mean fourteen is rather young to decide in an element, most places it is upon adulthood or later. I am going to pick mine this year she said, fairly sure. my resins for studying it was a lot less interesting. I came here to study music and it sounded interesting, and apparently it is the best program. she said. Like most things she was saying it was a part truth. Sometime she would have to keep note of them. But in the meantime she would just have to remember what she was saying and keep building her character.

 

[Minoas Stratis]

Minoas couldn't remember where exactly was the city of Wagga Wagga in Australia, to determine if Zilzie was close or not. He was just apparated there from New Zealand and the reasons for his brief visit were too important to bother himself with the exact location of his whereabouts. He also had the impression that Melody didn't really want to analyze further about her place of residence and so Minoas didn't insist. He actually thought that he should also be careful with the information he was sharing. Definitely she didn't look like an ambitious, future member of the Elementalist sect of the Scitorari but the fact that she was studying the particular subject was placing her in his suspicious list.

Minoas grimaced as the skeleton pirated erupted in another round of roaring laughs. It was true that it was getting to loud in that room to continue a simple conversation. Things seemed to be out of control when two of them started quarreling, cursing in pirate terms that Minoas guessed they should be quite insulting. The skeleton with the golden teeth, shoved the other one who stumbled on a barrel stool and fell down on the floor. His skeleton arm got unsoldered and he picked it up as he was standing up again to smack with it the head of the skeleton pirate with the golden teeth. "Maybe we should get outside." Minoas nodded in agreement as he watched the skull with the golden teeth rolling down, on the floor.

He quickly picked up his tray and returned it to the counter as more skeletons joined the fight. He waited for Melody and they both got out to the meandering corridor. "Okay, let me try and get us outside this time." he volunteered but in the end, he had to asked her a few times whether they had to turn at some point or not. When the two of them got outside, the dark sky was sprinkled with twinkling stars. Students had formed groups around the deck, chatting or playing games of exploding snap under the light of floating flames and hovering orbs of light. A fanged frisbee flew above his head and tacked on a mast. Fearing that the snarling frisbee might end up pinned on his or Melody's head, he decided to lead the way away from the two guys who were recklessly tossing it across the deck. At the bow of the ship, Minoas looked down at the wooden vessel was tearing through the foam like clouds that were died deep purple from the absence of sunlight. He was tempted to climb on the bowsprit and slowly walk over to its edge. His tall and brawny body type stood nothing against the strong wind hollowing through the masts.
"So are there any houses?" he asked and sat down, like so many other students were doing around them. "I mean, at the school I was going, we had like four different houses where students were sorted upon their arrival. Is there something similar at Zardosh?"

 

[Melody Wilde]

Melody watched as the singing slowly turned into a bit of a brawl, let's go or we will be ducking tankards filled with beer" she said as Minoas agreed that it probably wasn't the best to stay here, just as they left the table as if one of the skeletons had heard her a flagon was hurled by one of them hitting its target on the chin and leaving a rather impressive spray in its wake, a spray that Melody just about managed to save her chips from, beer batter chips=good, bee soaked chips=bad.
they left the hall and she let Minoas take them up to deck, a slightly convoluted way but they got there in a fairly good path. she stepped on deck and the fresh breaths night air made her feel more alive than ever. there was something about air at night that was totally different to day air. it wasn't three seconds before she heard a whoosh of a fanged frisbee and ducked just in time for it to pass where her head had just been and slam into one of the masts. she happily went away from the boys and sat with minoas at the bow. he seemed like a decent bloke, not like someone who associated with the scitori. not that she trusted him enough to confirm that with, but he was trusted enough to spend time with on the trip. she sat on one of the benches against the hull feeling the cool breeze on her arms and her neck. he asked about houses at the school and she both nodded and shook her head in a sort f kind of way. "sort of, there are four clans that compete n the academy competitions, alpha, vita, gamma, delta and Epsilon, every new student picks a clan at the end of their first week and that is theirs for their time there. each of the clans have a stone and colour scheme Axinite for Alpha, Pyrope for Vita, Azurite for Gamma, Aventurine for Delta and and i think it is Seraphinite is for Epsilon. I am in Delta the green house myself" she said. summing up the clans. "Which school was it you went to before?" she asked curious about other schools. last year was the first time she had been to magic school so so was wondering how it was different from Zardosh.

 

[Minoas Stratis]

Minoas listened interested to Melody's description of the Academy's sorting system. There were five houses but she wasn't referring to them as houses but clans. It seemed that the ceremony itself was going to be a lot different than the Sorting Ceremony at Hogwarts. It sounded like the students were going to pick their clan and not being sorted to it. The names of the clans were based on the five first letters of the Greek alphabet and had no animals for mascots. Instead, a precious stone was assigned as a symbol or maybe as color representation. Melody shared that she was member of the Delta clan and that their color was green. There were a few questions he wanted to ask but he decided to answer her question about the school he used to go. "I was attending Hogwarts. New Zealand's branch. The original one is in Scotland." he said. "We were sorted in houses not clans, with the help of a talking hat. I was placed in Gryffindor. A combination of scarlet and gold colors, a lion for mascot. It is the house that emphasizes on the trait of courage as well as some other traits." he explained, showing that there were a few minor differences between Hogwarts and Zardosh. "You said we have to pick a clan. How this is going to happen?" he asked if there was a specific ritual or process to follow.

 

[Melody Wilde]

Melody could see minoas was a little confused. and his explession brought a tune to mind, she lifted her fiolin to her chin and started to play a stune with a mess of chaotic notes. it wasn't that she was not paying attention, it was just sometimes certain melodies popped into her head, and they wouldn't get out other than through her fingers. the music turned to a more thoughtful tone as minoas started to talk about his house. "the clans are not like that, they don't have traits or anything to them. they jut are, though your house sounds interesting, no here the first week of term all the clans are advertising for members, and during that week you pick your clan by putting your hand in its urn and the logo will be gold on your hand, she said stopping playing and showing him her tight hand which looked like most normal right hinds until she clenched her fist and on the back of the hand appeared a gold and green triangle. "see Delta". she thought for a moment about the selection process, the urns were set up in the school hall, at the start and end of the week but the rest of the time they were in the clans headquarters where members could reconfirm their allegiance to get a fresh mark. i may be wrong but I don't know if there is anything that forces you to pick a clan, but everyone does. and i don't know what would happen if you don't, and some of the clans are picky on who they want to join, Alpha especially, who likes to get the sporty people. but if you want to join there isn't really much they can do to stop you." she concluded.