Gael and Phoenix

The three of them started to excitedly chat about what they'd done so far, Mya waving her arms around and unleashing a torrent of sentences, but despite it all, Maria couldn't help but notice that Nin was otherwise alone.

"Um... I don't want to be rude, Nin, but... where are your classmates?"

She pointed her hand at a couple of tables.

"Most of them are over there." She took a sip from the suspiciously blue juice before continuing: "and you can come out now, Gael."

A boy appeared out of thin air near Nin, sitting next to her. He had light blonde hair, slightly tousled. His powder blue trimmed uniform, which showed he was an air, somehow managed to be neatly pressed and slightly loose at the same time. It was especially obvious with his powder blue tie, which hung crooked around the collar of his white shirt. The boy was an interesting paradoxical mix of prim and proper and disheveled.

"Girls, this is Gael, my classmate. I've known him since I got here. Pretty much the only non-earthen who isn't a jerk." Gael mumbled something under his breath, cheeks a tad redder and a sheepish smile on his lips, and Nin smiled and continued talking. "Gael, these are my roommates, Mya and Maria. Maria is an earthen and Mya is... alright for now."

"Hey! That's not fair!" Said Mya and immediately berated Nin, completely forgetting about the previously invisible boy, who was now looking straight at Maria with big, milky white eyes.

Maria shook Mya's shoulder, trying to get her to stop fighting, when she noticed something else: two big fluffy ears appeared from beside Gael's left side and, along with them, a pair of big green eyes. Without warning, two beautiful butterfly wings shot out and the critter made itself visible by flying upwards and then landing in the center of the table: it was a big fluffy grey tabby with 2 fairy wings. "Moth!" said Gael, his voice firm, but not harsh. He then pet his foot. "Back!" The fairy cat obediently came back and landed in a bag that stood beside him, making a disgruntled sound.

That got Mya's attention as well, as she stared slack-jawed at Gael and his companion.

The boy apologized, his previously firm voice turned sheepish: "I'm so sorry... he's usually very calm. He must have woken up with your arrival here..." He touched Maria's shoulder, then touched Mya's. "I am Gael. It's a pleasure to meet you." A small gust of wind flew around them two, making Maria's and Mya's hair flutter, before finally settling down. Maria shivered at the sudden breeze. The boy smiled, self fulfilled, apparently content to stop talking. Maria stared at the strange boy, dumbfounded by the strange silence. Miraculously, Mya had also shut up, her mouth opening and closing in stunned silence. Nin gave the boy a slight nudge, before saying:

"Come on, Gael! Tell my roommates a bit about yourself."

Gael, suddenly put on the spot, fiddled with his tie.

"Right! Of course. So rude of me..." He cleared his throat, then he started talking. "My name is Gael Zephyr and I live in a small city on the north- western coast of Aether. I... have a fairy cat. His name is Moth. He's my seeing eye cat." His soft, uncertain voice sounded like wind chimes floating away in the wind.

"I am blind... Although, I can see through Moth's eyes because of his charmed collar. And I also can see people through the power of wind." His voice had raised a bit again and he paused a bit, laughing nervously. "I am sorry if my way of making a first impression through a gust of wind startled you. I should have probably asked beforehand for permission..."

"It's fine, no worries..." Maria answered, her voice clouded, as she was still reeling from the information that Gael had just offered about himself.

"You can do... what now?!" Mya asked, still stuck on the weird abilities that Gael had talked about.

"It's... a skill my family helped me develop to compensate for my... lacking sight." Gael said, his voice even more quiet, as if he had been startled by Mya's surprised shout.

"That is soo cool!" Mya shouted, then stood up from the table to take a look at the cat snoozing inside Gael's bag. Gael looked startled, but quickly composed himself. "But why would you keep Moth's eyes closed? Wouldn't that make you double blind?"

A small smile appeared on Gael's lips and he chuckled lightly. "I don't need Moth's help all the time!" His voice had gotten more lively and was now a normal volume. Whatever personality he had hidden under polite smiles and hushed tones was slowly thawing out. "I can see people with gusts of wind by how they hit different obstacles, like hair and arms and such... It's kind of like a bat sees, you know?"

"That sounds amazing." Maria declared, chowing down on the sandwich that had a side of potato crisps.

"I am glad you find it fascinating!" Gael stopped a bit, before asking. "You do have bats on Earth too, do you not?"

Maria laughed at the question. "Of course we do! But I can see why there would be confusion with that."

Gael delved in deeper onto some questions about Earth and him and Mya listened fascinated. It seemed like Nin hadn't told him too much about Earth, but he knew some basic stuff.

"So, what classes have you 2 had so far?" Nin asked after a while.

Mya didn't seem to notice and eagerly talked about their classes, then asked back:

"What about you?"

"Not too much. A recap of beast study. Some astrology, but it's no fun when you can't see the stars.” Gael let out an amused huff of air and Nin added: “Yeah, that includes me too, silly! Other than that, some basic charms, but nothing I didn't already know and I'm an Earthen. Waiting on this afternoon's first sparring class."

"Coool!" said Mya.

Nin chuckled. "Honestly Mya, I could show you a drop of water and you'd be impressed." She then casually gathered some water from the air and let it float above her palm. Both Maria and Mya were amazed, but then Nin flicked her fingers and spritzed them.

"You're making it too easy." Nin smirked. Maria started laughing and soon enough Mya joined. The laughter infected Nin and Gael as well, waking up poor Moth, who meowed and flew from the bag, but quickly came back when Gael offered up some fish.

"So why aren't you using Moth all the time if he allows you to see?" Maria asked after a little while.

"Well, I do use Moth a lot during classes and such. Moving both me and Moth at the same time is quite tiring though, so I mostly use him for activities in which one of us can sit still. It's also really hard to move myself when I see myself in third person." Maria noticed Moth was looking intently at Gael eating his food and realized he was probably using him to be able to eat. "But I probably don't use him too often because it's... overwhelming. Cats don't see colour very well, but they have incredibly heightened senses. It can make me quite dizzy."

As the bell rang again, Maria and Mya parted ways with the Gael and Nin. And Maria was happy to see both of them smile.

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Maria and Mya met up at the Moonlake with their Stardew classmates and with 2 other groups of waters too, some of them coming from Phoenix, ironically enough. The girls sat down on the soft grass and started chatting, waiting for their teacher to arrive. And then Maria saw her: walking slowly but surely towards the Moonlake was Mrs. Cloud. Maria waved at her and she kindly smiled, but moved towards another group of eager first years. Water teacher after water teacher, the groups started their lessons and they looked around for the one who would teach them, but no one else came.

Bored, one of the boys from Phoenix started throwing skipping stones across the Moonlake. Just as he was about to throw the fourth one, the water bubbled and a pail of water hit him, soaking his uniform. A figure jumped out of the lake, completely dry, but with a bit of seaweed stuck in her white blonde hair. Ms. Summers, with as grand an entrance as at the auditorium, frowned at the wet student and tsked.

"The first lesson you will learn today is to respect the Moonlake. It is filled with magical power that has been preserved for centuries and many magical aquatic creatures call it their home. Under no circumstances should you treat it as a play thing." She narrowed her eyes as she looked at the rest of them. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Ms. Summers" they all repeated together.

"Now, today we will have an improvised lesson." She took the wet student by the shoulders and presented him to them. "We will learn how to gather water out of wet material efficiently. This can include hair, clothes or naughty boys."

A bit of laughter went through our group and the poor boy went beet red.

"Then let's begin. If anyone is feeling left behind, do ask for help. We are here to learn, after all."

And with that, they started our lesson.

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Edit: I also changed Gael's element, also for plot purposes. :)

Edit 2: I changed Luna into Gael, because I noticed I have waaay too many girls. It's still not a balanced group, but oh well.