"The Lesson" by Jessica M. Jordan

Wait.. This isn't right. I thought it was supposed to turn green! I hate it when things like this happen.. She thought as she surveyed her last homework assignment.. Her master had said if she had this one done by tomorrow, he would give her a new place in the glass, and now it was ruined. She sighed and made the ball vanish by speaking a brief word under her breath. Her master was not going to be at all pleased with her.. She couldn't just lie about completing the assignment..or could she? No, of course she couldn't.. She had seen other students turned out of the school for lying to Master Ubran. He had a way of telling if someone was lying.. No one quite new how he did it.. He just did. Sulen once again tried calling up the blue ball. The object was to merely change the color from the shimmering, translucent blue to a rather solid green. A simple exercise, really. It was just that it never came out right for her. She muttered the correct words to call up the blue ball and thought about the color green. A solid green, and muttered the correct words to the elementary spell. She frowned when it once again just mushed the two colors together. She sighed and sent away the failed homework assignment and crept under her warm covers. I'll tell him just what happened.. I hope he's not angry with me.

She woke when her brother violently pulled the sheets off her..

"I have a stomach ache.." Sulen said as she curled up into a ball..

"Sure you do.. This wouldn't have anything to do with the green ball project, would it?" Rayin asked her, with a malicious grin on his face. Sulen looked up at him, her stomach ache forgotten.

"How did you know? I had the door locked."

"I had to do that one too, remember?" He grinned again, she was beginning to hate that grin of his. It always reminded her of how fast he had gotten through the magic school. "Tell Master Ubran your problem and he'll probably give you a way to figure it out." Sulen then got up and changed into her bluish robe, the normal uniform for students of lower ranks. The next rank up was yellow. The third, green. Her brother's rank was next: brown, and lastly came the black robes of the Masters. She gave her mother a hug and a wave and set off to school, which was down the street. She got there and sat at the front table, which she had earned for her point score.

Master Ubran came in in his usual black robe of the Masters. Sulen had great respect for him and stopped talking and sat down when he came into the room. He motioned for the students to settle down. The class eventually got to their seats and was silent..

"Did anyone not figure out how to do the homework assignment?" He asked in a deep, fairly resonant baritone voice. Sulen looked around and everyone was rather sheepish in not rasing their hand. She frowned. She had never lied to the Master and she wasn't about to start now. She raised her hand and when he called on her she spoke up.

"I couldn't figure it out, Master." She admitted, and felt rather foolish, for the other students had figured it out. "I did exactly as you said, and it didn't work."

"Sulen, your honesty makes me proud. Come and see me after class." She blinked and wondered what was in store for her. "As for the rest of you.." Master Ubran looked around the room at the dishonest students. "You all lose points for lying to me." He then went on with class, not bothering to explain anything.. When class was over, which seemed like an eternity to Sulen, she approached his desk and waited for him to speak.. After he was finished erasing the board, he turned around.

"See it in your mind, Sulen. You must visualize it. Try the spell for me now. Remember, you must replace the image in your mind of the blue ball for the green one.." Sulen nodded and muttered to bring up the blue ball.. She hesitated, and then closed her eyes to visualize it better. She saw the green ball in her head and when she opened her eyes, it was there in front of her. She gasped and looked up at Master Ubran, who was wearing a proud smile on his lined brown face. "Splendid work Sulen. You make me proud. Now, go turn in those blues, and I'll see you tomorrow, at half past noon." When Sulen gave him a questioning look as he was walking out, he explained. "That's when the Yellow Robes have class.."