After we got our powers, the kingdom had a celebration. A week had passed since then, and not much had changed. We were all still having a hard time controlling the wind. It was easy to make the wind fly in the direction you swing a limb; it was as if it were an extension of the body. But making it move without your body moving or wrapping it around something was a different story. Possible, but hard. Like patting your head and rubbing your belly. It just felt wrong. Which was a bummer as we all had dreams of using the wind armor, wind-coated swords, or flying in the air. All of which were things that we saw on TV. But it would evidently take time. Time, which we didn't have, as we were being sent to the land of water soon.

  Something I noticed this week was that now, when I used analysis on someone, it would say (blessing of the wind dragon medium) above their head. The only exceptions were that blonde boy, evidently his name was Merlin. Above his head said (blessing of the wind dragon low.) I think this was Typhoon's way of getting back at him for interrupting. And me, above mine it said (blessing of the wind dragon high), guess he was happy with me.

  This didn't bring love from the others, as they were upset that I could summon stronger winds than they could. They began to bully me in jealousy; once they beat me up, another time they put a bug in my soup, they especially liked to throw rocks at me, nothing ever permanent, but it still hurt.

  Besides the wind, we were being taught how to fight; we were given leather armor and a one-handed sword. I asked why swords and they said “swords might not be as dangerous as a spear with it’s range, or as good at causing blunt damage as maces or hammers, or as good at travel as a knife, but it’s versatile, it has decent range, it does enough blunt damage, and it’s ok for travel, so the sword.”

  Some of the people, like Merlin, really excelled on swordsmanship. I didn't like it; it felt more like we were training to fight people than a dragon. I wasn’t the best at it.

  Then one day, we were allowed out of the castle, we were all given escorts. Assigned to me was a woman; she had white skin and hair just like the rest of the people here, and she wielded a staff and a dagger. She looked at me curiously, probably because of my dark brown hair that was almost black, and my tan complexion, rare for here.

  Then she said, “Hello, my name is Sid, what’s your name?” I replied, “Liam, and by the way, why don't you have a sword?” She replied, “We are just walking around the city. I probably won't need to kill anybody. If there is trouble, it will probably be some drunk that needs beating up. Staffs are good for not killing, and they double as a walking stick. And if I do need to kill someone, I have the dagger. I looked at my sword and thought maybe I should get a staff then, as I didn't want to kill anybody, and it would be a long journey to the land of water.

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  Upon leaving the walls of the castle, I suddenly felt a strong breeze hit me. It was windy, and I squinted my eyes, which were being assaulted by the wind, and could hear all our cloaks flapping in the wind.

  We then walked into town, all the buildings were made sturdily of bricks to survive the wind. Looking around, I saw we were on top of a mountain with many mountains surrounding us. It was beautiful. Then, walking into town, I noticed everyone staring at us, probably because, unlike them, not all of us had white skin and hair.

  Then, some guy came up. He was a big man and obviously drunk, said “heroes huh, bet you can't beat me, I should be the hero.” he drew a dagger, I grabbed my sword's handle, but hesitated to draw it, I might kill him. Then, before anybody could do anything, Merlin cut him down. A knot formed in my stomach as I wondered if he was dead? Then Sid went to the man and checked if the man was ok, evidently, he would live, but he needed to be treated, so some of the guards were going to bring him to the city's doctor.

  I was glad he would be ok, but I hesitated to draw my sword; that wasn't good. Then someone who seemed like a friend of the man came charging at us, but this time Sid pointed her staff at him and once he was close enough she jabbed at his face the blow disoriented him causing him to trip, then taking advantage of the moment she grabbed the end of the staff for maximum leverage and swung it from above, hitting him over the head knocking him out.

  I asked if he was ok? She replied, "he'll be ok, he just will have a big headache when he wakes up.” Yeah, I wanted a staff.

  Once we got back, I immediately asked Sid if she would teach me how to fight with a staff. She agreed, and the next day, I met with Sid. I was given a staff made of ironwood. I picked it up, holding it in the middle, and she asked, “Why do you think it’s called a quarter staff?” I shrugged and said, “I don't know.” She continued, “You hold it with one hand at the quarter-length from the bottom and the other on the bottom. This gives you superior reach and more leverage if you swing it. Holding it like that isn't exactly wrong; it's called a mid-range grip, and it’s better for close combat and defense. But I prefer the long grip. Why let them get close? This is also how you hold a spear.”

  I adjusted my stance, and she said, “Good, you want your hands low and your staff pointing toward the enemy's face, and after you jab, point your staff down and raise your arm so that the stick creates a wall between you and your enemy, then get back in stance.”

  I did as she said, then she said, “Good, now jab and swing at that dummy over there and get used to your weapon,” and this was how the first day of staff training went.