Emari stopped running when she approached the proper room and knocked on the door, then she started to whisper. “Please don't be late. Please don't be late. Please don't be late.”

The door opened and a very stern-looking partially furred face glared at us.

“You're late.” The alien said.

“It's my fault.” I said, and Emari took in a sharp breath. “She was washing me and I got soap in my eyes and mouth.”

The alien's beady little eyes stared at me for a moment, then it let out a low warbling sound. “I can smell it on your breath.”

“At least it smells better than it tastes.” I said, and the alien made a horn sound.

“All right, I'm not angry.” The alien said and stepped out of the way. “Try to be on time from now on.”

“Thank you.” Emari said and stepped into the room.

“Whoa.” I said as I looked at the thirteen other kids in the room. They each had their guardian with them, and you would think the room would feel crowded; but, it didn't and everyone had lots of space around them. They were all doing weird things, and I wasn't sure what to look at first.

“A new recruit?” The alien said, and Emari nodded.

“Has he been tested?”

“No.” I said.

“Yes.” Emari said, and I looked at her. “Everything that didn't require you to be conscious.”

I sighed, and the alien made the horn sound again. I think that's a laugh. I thought.

“It's all right, little one.” The alien said. “Unlike those insensitive stuffed shirts, we won't try to force you to do anything.”

“I still have to show up, though. Don't I?” I asked, and it made the warble sound.

“It's required play time.” The alien said. “But that's not all it is. Social interaction and exposure to others with similar abilities can help you develop.”

“What if I'm stupid and can't learn?” I asked.

The alien made the horn sound again. “You just proved that you are not stupid.”

Emari chuckled and put me down. “Look, there's Jared.”

I turned and saw that Jared sat about a foot off of the floor with nothing underneath him.

“Why don't you go and see what he's doing?” The alien said. Since I couldn't argue that I didn't want to see what he was doing, I listened and walked over to him.

“Hey, Jared.” I said.

“Hi!” Jared said. “Look! I'm flying!”

I held in my laugh and my immediate snarky comment that he was actually levitating and not flying. “How are you doing that?” I asked instead.

“Maron taught me!” Jared exclaimed and looked at his guardian.

“It took a while to show him the basic principles, then I had to teach him how to regulate the flow of...” Maron stopped talking and looked at me with wide eyes. “I'm sorry, that's a bit too complicated of an explanation, Ullir.” She smiled. “He's sitting on an invisible shelf.”

I frowned at her for a moment, then closed my eyes and used the mental technique that I used to detect the flow of the Presence around me. I opened my eyes and looked at Jared and what he was doing. I could see a constant flow of the Presence was thickening to push him up and then dissipating, so that he wouldn't keep floating up until he hit the ceiling.

“He's not sitting on a shelf.” I said and concentrated on making a box of energy by making the Presence solid. Once I had one, I climbed up onto it and sat down. “This isn't a shelf either; but, it works just the same.”

Everyone stared at me as I sat in mid-air.

“What is it?” I asked as I looked at their faces. “Why is everyone surprised?”

“You... just...” Maron looked down at the invisible box I sat on and then at my face. “How did you do that?”

“I just concentrated and formed the box in my head, then used Presence to make it solid.” I said, and the alien came over to me.

“You can see the boxes?” The alien asked.

“Only if I use the technique my parents taught me.” I said and looked at Jared. “When Maron said he was sitting on the shelf, I had to look and see what she meant. He's actually sitting on a flow of Presence, not a shelf.”

“Can you wait here for a minute?” The alien asked.

“I guess so.”

“I'll be back in a little while.” The alien said and looked at Emari. “Can you do the juggling exercises with them?”

“Ullir doesn't know how to do that yet.”

“That's all right.” The alien said. “It's his first day. I planned on him just observing.”

“Oh! All right.” Emari said and walked to the middle of the class, and the alien strode to the door and left the room fairly quickly.

Since I was still using the technique to see the flow of Presence, when Emari got the other children's attention and started them doing the juggling exercise, I could see them using the Presence to help them keep the balls in the air. I had no clue how to do that, though.

*

“Wise One!” The teacher alien exclaimed as she burst into the small meditation room.

“What is it, Xuglach?” A large robed alien with the head that looked like a giant housefly asked. “I'm trying to meditate.”

“You aren't going to believe this.” Xuglach said and told her master about her newest student.

“How old is he?”

“According to the records, he's four years old.”

“That's very early for his perception to be so high.”

“He accurately described what levitation looked like, Wise One.” Xuglach said.

“I will observe him, then.”

“Thank you, Wise One.” Xuglach said and bowed deeply, then left and closed the door to the meditation chamber.

“Are you sure it's wise to leave him in with the normal students?” The woman from the assembly said as she stepped out of the small alcove that had hidden her from view.

The Wise One chuckled, which sounded like he was throwing up. “I don't believe spouting rogue rhetoric to five and six year old children would appeal to him, not after the assembly today.”

“I've never met a four year old that could enunciate so well.” The first woman said.

“I really enjoyed him shouting louder than you.” The Wise One said, his voice full of mirth. “I wonder how he learned to use the Presence to boost his voice?”

“Wise One, this isn't the time for musing.” The woman said.

“Yes, yes. I share your concerns.” The Wise One said and stood up, and she had to strain her neck to look up to his nearly twelve feet of height. “Make sure Emari doesn't bring him to the assembly hall anymore.”

“I don't think that will stop him.”

“I'm merely delaying him from using our own way of doing things against us.”

“He's only four.” The woman said. “I doubt that he's that devious.”

The Wise One put a three clawed foreleg on her shoulder. “Big things can come in small packages.”

“Then what comes in big packages?” The woman asked and smiled up at him.

“Even bigger things.” The Wise One said and laughed.

*

While the other children juggled with a wide range of success, I could barely hold onto the balls with my small hands. Emari saw me struggle and she took a break from monitoring the other students to stand behind me. She couldn't get close enough for what she wanted, so I made a box around the box I sat on.

“Have a seat.” I said and pat the air behind me. She looked down at the spot, smiled, and climbed onto it like she was mounting a horse. She sat down right behind me and put her legs on either side of me.

“Let me show you.” Emari said as she put her arms around me and took the ball from my hand, then held it up in front of my face. “The Presence is a part of all things.” She said and I saw her hand glow slightly. “All things have Presence.” She said and the ball glowed slightly. “You know how to push with it, right?”

“Yes.” I said.

“If you concentrate, you can use an object's Presence as if it was yours.” Emari said and her hand glowed slightly brighter and the ball lifted up from her palm slightly. “You can move them as if it was your hand moving it.”

I watched as she moved her hand under the ball, and the ball moved with her hand as if she still held it.

“Okay, that's neat.” I said and put my hand under the ball, and I felt a tingle through my hand.

“Take it.” Emari said.

“But...”

“Don't overthink it.” Emari said and rested her chin on the top of my head. “You can feel the Presence around the ball, can't you?” She asked, and I nodded. “Then you can touch the ball without touching it.”

“I...”

“Just try it.”

I took a deep breath and let it out, and concentrated on my hand. I could see the flow of Presence around and in my hand as it danced and swirled, so I looked at the ball. I could see that her Presence was still holding it up, so I didn't try to take the ball from her. That move might have been jarring and too much for me to handle, so I just let my Presence float up slowly from my hand. The glow around the ball increased and I was surprised that my brain could interpret it as if my hand actually touched it.

“I can feel it!” I exclaimed, then moved my hand from side to side, and the ball followed my hand. “Ha ha! I did it!”

“Yes, you did.” Emari said. “Now let it go.”

I stopped concentrating and the glow lessened, then it disappeared as Emari let the ball go as well.

“Now, try it on your own.”

I knew I could do it, so I picked the ball up and turned my hand over, then concentrated on the flow of Presence. My hand glowed and the ball glowed, and I used that energy to very slowly lift the ball away from my real hand with my Presence Hand. When I had it six inches away, I moved my hand from side to side, and it held the ball in place.

“That's very good!” Emari said and gave me a hug. “Keep letting it go and picking it up, while I go and check on the others.”

“Emari.” I said and turned to look at her. “Thank you.”

“Don't look at me! Look at the ball!” Emari laughed.

“Oh, right! Sorry!” I said and looked back at the ball. I kept slowly lifting and lowering the ball into my hand using Presence. The more I did it, the easier it became, and I eventually held one ball up with Presence in one hand and scooped up another and started to use both hands to do it. It was a lot harder to try and split my concentration like that, especially since I was using my less-dominant hand. It needed a lot more concentration to do the same movement and it needed a lot more Presence to do it.

*

“Look at him go.” Maron whispered as she leaned in close to Emari. “He's already progressed to doing it with two hands.” She pat Emari on the back. “That was great how you helped him that first time.”

“I didn't.” Emari whispered back. “He did it on his own.”

Maron chuckled softly and leaned in closer. “I saw your hand move with his to hold the ball steady.”

“I didn't.” Emari said. “He caught both the ball and my hand and moved both of them.”

“Wh-what?” Maron looked at her with wide eyes. “How did he do that?”

“He...well, he... I can't really explain it.” Emari said. “You know how they're supposed to use their Presence to grab the ball and it makes that jerking motion because we have to let it go?”

Maron's eyes widened. “It... it didn't do that.”

Emari shook her head. “It was like... he reached into my Presence grip on the ball, then used his own Presence to grip both my Presence and the ball at the same time.”

“That's not possible.” The teacher alien whispered from right behind them.

Both women gasped and jumped from being startled, then turned to face her. Luckily, they were far enough away from everyone else in the room and there was enough background noise that they hadn't been noticed.

“When did you get back?” Maron asked.

“Just now.” The teacher alien whispered. “What you're saying isn't possible.”

“I know.” Emari whispered. “That's why I said that I can't describe it properly.”

“Well, it's a good thing that I've asked the Wise One to monitor him.”

“Thank the Goddess.” Emari looked back at the little boy she was in charge of. “Maybe he can figure out how a little boy can praise god when he's startled.”

“Wh-what?” Maron and the teacher alien said together.

“I startled him earlier and he said, 'oh, my god'.” Emari said, to their surprise.

“Only the most knowledgeable in The Order know that there are other gods and goddesses in the pantheon.” The teacher alien whispered.

“Maybe that could explain why he's so smart?” Emari asked.

“Perhaps.” The teacher alien sighed with a warble. “I will inform the Wise One if he doesn't know already.” She put a gloved hand on each of their shoulders. “Until then, I have a class to teach.”

*

I was getting pretty good at holding both balls up in the air above my hands with just Presence, when the teacher walked into the center of the room and a small pulse of Presence emanated from the alien. I turned my head and looked at her, and she smiled at us. I held in my disgust as the smile moved some of the fur aside and revealed a pair of small mandibles where the mouth should have been.

“You've had enough practice with the juggling exercise.” The alien said. “Thank Emari for her help.”

“Thanks, Emari!” The other thirteen children exclaimed loudly.

Rather than blindly following the teacher's order, and since I had already thanked Emari for her help, I looked at Emari's face and gave her a nod instead. As if she understood the difference, she gave me a big smile and nodded back.

“Now, I think we need to move on to the Pushing game.”

“Yay!” Jarod exclaimed. “I can really push hard!”

The alien teacher made the horn sound and pointed to an area off to the side. “Then you can be first, Jarod.”

Jarod laughed and ran over to the side of the room and grabbed one of the soft pillows in a pile there, then tossed it a couple of feet away. He plunked down onto his butt and held both hands out towards the cushion. I was still using the detect flow technique and saw him gathering Presence around his hands, then he pushed it out and it hit the pillow. The pillow looked like it had been hit by two small fists and it slid across the floor fairly quickly. When it stopped by the wall, Jarod laughed and everyone clapped at his success.

“Good job!” The alien teacher said and looked at the other children. “Who wants go next?”

Nearly all of the other children put up their hands, and the alien pointed to one girl. She hopped up and ran over to the stack of pillows and grabbed what I assumed was her favorite color, and she tossed the pillow a couple of feet away and plunked down onto her backside like Jarod did, and she held up only one hand. I saw her gather twice as much Presence to her hand and she did the same thing and pushed it out to hit the pillow. It slid across the floor and hit Jarod's pillow, flipped up and over it, then hit the wall and landed on top of Jarod's pillow.

“Ooo! That was a nice one, Afora!” Her guardian said. “I'd say that was worth two points!”

“YAY!” Afora yelled and ran over to her guardian and hugged her. The other students took turns until they had all pushed their pillows across the room.

“Well! I think that's enough for today.” The alien teacher said, and all of the guardians went to their charges and picked them up. I stopped Emari before she tried to pick me up, and I saw the disappointment on her face.

“I want to try it.” I said and pointed to the pillows, and she understood that I wasn't rebuking her.

“You don't have to...” The alien teacher started to say.

I ignored her and walked over to the area. Since all the pillows were already across the room in a messy pile, I used the same trick I had used many times before and formed a box of energy around the closest pillow and pulled it towards myself. This was met by complete silence and I stopped myself from smiling.

I knew that I was showing off a little; but, since they thought I wasn't capable of using a technique I just learned, I figured it that it was okay to awe them. I glanced at Emari and saw her slightly worried expression, so I winked at her. She caught her breath at the gesture, and I smiled and looked down at the pillow in front of me. I didn't pick it up with my hand and toss it out a few feet away like the other kids did. Instead, I used the same technique that I had used on the juggling balls.

My hand glowed slightly as I gathered Presence around it, then I did the same thing to the pillow and gripped it with my 'hand' made of Presence. When I lifted my real hand up, the pillow lifted as well. Everyone gasped in surprise, and I moved my real hand up and out in front of me, and the pillow moved up to hang in the air in front of me. It was about a foot away from my hand, and I assumed that if I was holding it with a hand made of Presence, I could 'throw' the pillow if I pushed it away.

I concentrated on that idea, and pushed my real hand forward slightly and pushed really hard with Presence. Everyone stopped breathing as the pillow flew across the room in an instant and slammed into the wall. Either the pillow was poorly made or I had used a bit too much Presence, because it popped apart at the seams and pretty much exploded.

Feathers and stuffing were flung out everywhere and covered half of the room, which just happened to be the side of the room that the other kids and their guardians stood. I turned and looked at them and saw that I had covered them almost completely, and no one said anything as Emari walked over to me.

“Ullir.” Emari bent over and picked me up, and some of the feathers fell off of her head and shoulders.

“Emari, I...” I expected her to berate me and I didn't know what to say.

“You're a prodigy!” Emari said and smiled at me as she turned around with me in her arms. “Did you see that, everyone? He pushed that pillow across the room!”

Everyone just stared at us, and she laughed.

“I think I need another shower!” Emari said and shook her head, and feathers and stuffing landed on my head and face. “Oh! Now you do, too!”

I still didn't know what to say to her complete opposite reaction to what I had expected. She hugged me tightly and then shifted my weight to her hip so she could carry me like she had earlier that day, then walked over to the door.

“See you tomorrow!” Emari said and waved to the other guardians, then we left the classroom. She didn't cover us in Presence to do her quick run trick, and instead took me around to different windows and showed me all of the different buildings and areas that surrounded us.