The next morning found Danny following a liveried elven servant through the halls of the palace towards the wing reserved for the Elders. Like the rooms, the surfaces of the hallway were not sharply angled, but unlike the rooms, the hallway did not have any leaves on the ceiling. Smooth bark, arching across from one wall to the next. Paintings, tapestries, pottery, and other artwork decorated the sides and walls every few feet.

The night before, after his meeting with the Queen and Elder Breeze, Danny had followed a servant back to his room. Everyone had apparently retired for the evening and the dinner table was already clean and spotless. Danny hadn't been surprised when Arya had walked into his room shortly after, looking to find out what happened. Danny knew the walls could literally have ears, so he kept things simple and truthful. He told her he had been asked to do something important for the elves. Something only he could accomplish. In exchange relations between their two countries would improve and he would be personally rewarded. Before she could ask, Danny explained that he would become an enemy of elven state and the human/eleven alliance would be dissolved, should he ever explain what it was he had to do.

Arya accepted his explanation better than he thought, but only had concerns that what Danny was doing could give the elves too much power. Danny had already thought of this and explained that he believed it was better to have a stronger and grateful ally than a weaker one. Arya obviously didn't like all the unknowns but admitted she would have to trust his judgement. Danny was a little shocked by this as he would have figured she of all people would question his judgement.

Danny continued to follow the palace servant through the twists and turns. Everything about the palace screamed organic. There were no straight hallways or even level floors. He passed a window to find they had traveled up a floor without him realizing it. His air scanning ability had shown this would happen but he figured he would recognize the elevation change somehow.

Walking into a large atrium, Danny could see light pouring in from windows high up the walls. One side of the room was taken up by a large round table, and around the table sat around two dozen elves in robes. The other side of the room held rows upon rows of bookshelves. A small space was left open at the end of the bookshelves for studying, filled with tables and chairs. Danny immediately veered towards the knowledge awaiting him on the shelves. He had only made it a few steps when there was a cough behind him.

The liveried servant spoke nervously, "Honored guest, please continue on this way. The entire elder council is awaiting your presence."

Danny frowned and looked back towards the bookshelves for a few moments before continuing on towards the other side of the room.

Looking around, all the elders were advanced in years and he was surprised to see the male/female ratio of the table seemed to be split evenly. Danny recognized Elder Breeze when he stood up and walked up next to Danny. The servant left the room, and that's when Danny realized there was only the elders and himself present in the room. Elder Breeze looked to the entryway and nodded to an elven guard standing there.

Clearing his throat Elder Breeze addressed the room, "Esteemed council members, I would like to introduce you to Danny Creek. Originally he was to come to us as the first human sorcerer to do so since the great cataclysm. Now, I would like to introduce you all to the first known human ascendant."

Reactions around the room varied from shock to disbelief. Elder Breeze settled everyone down and called on two of the more senior members of the group to come up and verify his claim. A female elder came up to stand close to Danny and stared at different parts of his body before confirming the claim. The other elder seemed extremely skeptical and reached out to place his hand on Danny's cheek. Danny suddenly felt odd.

*Danny! I don't know how, but he is stealing our mana!*

Danny yelled out in alarm and on instinct tossed the elder away from him with a blast of air that radiated from his body. Currents of wind surrounded him and he turned to find the offending elder on the ground looking back at him with wide eyes.

“Do not do that again!” Danny’s voice seemed too loud to his ears as the sound reverberated of the walls.

Two guards appeared in front of the elder laying on the ground, their swords drawn.

“Danny! Please calm down! Danny!”

Danny turned to see Elder Breeze yelling at him, while crouching a few meters away from where he had been a short while ago. Danny glanced around to find the room in chaos. Many of the elders were standing from their chairs and each had a pair of guards standing over them with weapons drawn.

Danny closed his eyes and centered himself in order to calm down. Eventually pulling the winds into himself he realized he had activated wind aspect on impulse. Looking down his body was almost transparent. It also felt lighter and added an almost fluid quality to his movements. He was pleased to find his clothes, despite a few tears, relatively intact. It looked as if his clothes were both trying to cling to and fly off of his body.

“Danny I apologize for my council member's actions. I had no clue he would attempt something like that.” Elder Breeze was standing closer to him, but was still obviously wary about approaching the boy.

The elder that had stolen his mana rose and bowed low towards him, “Ascendant, I apologize for my actions and my doubt. Please, just tell me how and I will make amends for the wrong I have done you today.”

From what Danny had been told before, elders rarely bowed more than their head to anyone, except the ruling monarch. This elder was shoving his pride aside in exchange for Danny’s forgiveness.

Danny took a deep breath, staring at the elder still bowing towards him, “Just don't do that again unless I give you my explicit permission. Now, let's talk about how I'm going to try and return your people to their former glory.”

The bowing elder raised his head and nodded it reassuringly at first, only for it to fall in shame at Danny's last words.

Everyone settled back into their chairs and their personal guards faded into the background. When Danny started moving towards the chair, placed there for him, he was surprised to find he naturally floated above the ground. He forgot he was still in air aspect and would have to get rid of the excess air affinity stored before he would return to normal. He stopped moving his legs as he was still trying to move by walking. He willed himself towards the chair.

*You look like a ghost!*

When Danny went to sit in his chair he found his butt wouldn't settle on the seat cushion. After trying to pull himself down a few times, only to float back up again, he gave up and relaxed. Many of the elders openly stared at him while others looked markedly uncomfortable with his new appearance.

Elder Breeze was looking at Danny with an amused smile, “Danny, on behalf of the elder council, thank you for agreeing to help our people. Now, we have a few questions before we begin that effort. First, how did you achieve ascendancy? You see, our histories tell us that the youngest elf to achieve ascendancy, did so around the age of 750 years. Only after the good part of a millennia of using large amounts of mana is it normally expected to reach the point you are at. The transition to ascendancy is a slow and gradual one that takes just as long as it does to start.”

Danny had expected this question and had prepared an answer, “I was gravely wounded after stopping the goblins from casting a dark affinity ritual spell. I used the last of my mana to slow my decent through the forest from the resulting explosion. When I came to later I was alone, healed, and physically weak. Then there was pain, nothing but pain. We I woke up it was dark and almost morning the next day. I found myself changed into an ascendant.”

The elder discussed this for a while, some theories came close to the truth. When asked, Danny answered with the truth, just omitting anything Cranny had done. They then asked Danny about his education, family, and finally his affinity levels. To say they were shocked upon hearing his affinity levels would be an understatement. Of course he did not mention the entropy affinity.

Elder Breeze was civilized enough to look uncomfortable when he asked, “Danny, the last question I have for you is one that is considered rude, and you can refuse if you want to. Have you exceeded any attribute thresholds?”

Danny was not surprised they asked this even though most people did not give out this information, as it could give an enemy or rival and edge.

Danny paused for dramatic effect, “Yes, my intelligence passed the first threshold.”

“What was the gift bestowed upon you?”

Danny shook his head, “I won't tell you unless someone else tells me what they got. Information for information.”

Elder Breeze looked confused, “The gift bestowed is the same for all members of the same race. For intelligence, Elves receive the ability to perceive time at a decreased pace, humans can split their concentration, and dwarves can create a space in their mind to train and test their skills safely. The effects on the beastman races are still unknown to us.”

Danny nodded, “I also received the split concentration ability.”

Elder Breeze looked confused, “What kind of education did you have to get these high of magical affinities, yet not know about attribute thresholds?”

Danny shrugged and slowly started to rise up towards the ceiling, “The kind where knowledge is expensive and your teachers don't truly understand what is you are capable of.”

The elders all agreed humans were strange creatures.

They broke shortly after for lunch, with Danny agreeing to meet back in the council chambers afterwards.

Danny flew down the hallway. Active movements used up mana allocated to air aspect, while floating didn't. More than a few servant and guards looked up in alarm as he flew by to quickly for them to react.

*The three guards they assigned us are struggling to keep up.*

“They know where I am headed and I am sure this will be a nice change from just standing there all day.”

*It’s crazy how easily it is to manipulate the air around us in this form. Do you think we could do this in our natural state?*

“I don't know, maybe. Well, at least not for long. Mana put into this aspect goes a lot further than in our natural state. If we do test it, let's just try it over a body of water in case I fall. How much mana did I put into this aspect? I was a little upset and didn't pay attention.”

*You had about 12,000 mana saved and you grabbed about 7,000 of that when you activated your aspect. Then after your tantrum, you only had 5,000 left. So at this rate you should be able to fly around for another twenty minutes before you turn back.*

"Works for me, let's go show the girls!"

Danny flew into the guest wing past the Basalts sitting in the atrium with an important looking elf, and then down to the girls room. Flying in through the open doorway he found the room empty. Turning back he flew into the atrium where the Basalts were eyeing Danny warily.

Danny looked around the room, "Hey, where did the girls go?"

Arya recovered first, "Danny, what are you doing?"

Danny flipped over so that everything was upside down, "Flying."

Wizard Basalt started chuckling at Danny's antics, "I assume that's your air aspect then. You will find the girls in one of the courtyards surrounding the castle. The elves have allowed them to train under some experts here. Something about your wives needing to be able to keep you safe." The wizard winked at him.

Wren Basalt spoke up, next to her husband, "Danny, the elves have never allowed a human to train under them. What exactly are you doing for them?"

Danny turned right side up and straightened out his clothing, "Nothing I can talk about without serious consequences. I am going to go find the girls, bye!"

Danny took off out one of the large windows before they could ask any further questions.

Danny flew out into the cold open air and felt the midday sun warming his skin. Looking back, he realized each opening in the tree held a few layers of air over it, trapping the air and heat inside. This aspect allowed his air scanning ability a new level of detail he wasn't used to.

After Danny was done contemplating, he couldn't help but shoot off into the sky, flying as high as he dared. While Danny wasn't scared of heights, he did have a healthy respect for gravity and his limited mana. Looking down, he could see that the city radiated outward like a five petal flower. Maybe the different area's had a purpose.

Danny flew back down to the palace and noticed a few guards staring up at him through the leaves, with bows drawn. Suddenly unsure of what he had been thinking, Danny slowed down outside of what he hoped was their bows range. He wasn't about to test the skill of elven archers. Three familiar guards ran up into the bowers of the tree and the archers quickly lowered their bows. Moving closer Danny spotted three familiar heads practicing in a courtyard below.

Jade had her bow out and was shooting at a target while dodging things being thrown at her by an older female elf. Brooke and Ivy were sparing together while a male elf looked on with arms crossed.

Danny flew down towards Jade as she was the first to stop in order to catch her breath. The instructor helping her noticed Danny and looked up in shock. Danny held his finger up to his lips and the instructor nodded dumbly. Jade was busy studying her shots and missed their interaction.

Danny floated upside down and right above Jade, and tapped her from behind on one shoulder. Turning around she looked around further before turning to her instructor. The older woman had a horrible poker face, but to her credit didn't look up at Danny once. Tapping her shoulder again, Danny couldn't help but laugh after Jade whipped around in confusion.

Looking up at him, her frustrated face quickly slipped away into one of confusion. Still laughing, Danny floated lower to kiss her nose. Jade, recognizing him, jumped backwards and flushed a bright shade of red.

Noticing the commotion, Ivy and Brooke ran over to them, along with their instructor.

Brooke was laughing, "Danny, what are you doing up there?"

Danny turned right side up and floated over to Brooke, "I was trying out a new aspect when I realized it was lunch time. I was wondering if you three wanted to eat with me."

Brooke looked to her instructor, who shrugged and gave her a nod. Smiling she turned back to Danny, while trying to act nonchalant, "Sure."

Danny smiled and looked at the other two girls, "You two ready?"

Jade's face had returned to normal and smiling she said, "Yep!"

Ivy though looked concerned, "Yes..."

Danny raised his hands and all three girls screamed as they rose into the air. Bands of wind swirled closely to their bodies, holding them in place. Danny turned and headed towards the guest wing with the three girls in tow.

Forgetting something Danny turned and waived to the two instructors, "Thank you for agreeing to train them!"

Jades instructor just stood there, mouth agape, while Ivy and Brook’s expressionless instructor numbly waived back as the four floated up into the air.

*Danny, at this rate you have two minutes to get them there. I will add more mana to the aspect if needed.*

Danny nodded and called out to the girls, "You wanna see the city?"

Jade and Brooke excitedly screamed, throwing their hands into the air, “Yes!" "Let's do it!"

Ivy looked like she was drowning in the air. Danny stopped them and floated her over towards him. Grabbing her arms he pulled her into a hug until she calmed down.

“Ivy, are you alright now?”

Ivy was taking short breaths while looking everywhere yet nowhere, all at once, “No, please, can we just get down.”

Danny looked at the other two girls who looked disappointed but nodded in agreement.

Danny pulled her up into his arms in a princess carry, “Alright, we will go to lunch. I won't let go of you until we get there.”

Ivy swallowed visibly and nodded her head that was now buried into his chest.

Danny chuckled at the girl who always seemed to have it together. He had to admit this side of her was very cute.

*Now we know what to do next time she gets mad at us!*

They all floated over through one of the large atrium windows in the guest wing.