Ruby turned her red eyes up to the boy and stood with a soft sigh. "Let me start by telling you Ruby Hains is not a witch. Ruby Hains is the daughter of a millionaire who has spent her whole life learning how to make jewelry and run a business. Ruby Hains is not one to give up the person she is and has been her whole life for a cave home and to learn things she has no idea about." Ruby took a deep breath and let it out in a slow sigh. "I will also tell you that Ruby Hains died in that explosion with her family." She looked up at him and held out her hand. "I, Ruby Haze, would be honored to learn your ways."

Jay's golden eyes looked into Ruby's red ones. "Very well. Then we shall start your training... today." Jay held up his chin. "I, Jay Bjorn, admit you, Ruby Haze, into the world of witchcraft and wizardry."

Agnes continued: "I, a quetzal and Jay Bjorn's familiar, accept you, Ruby Haze, into the world of magicians."

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Accepted." The word vibrated through the walls, the voice of Damien the Wizard assertive and dominant.

Jay grinned. "Guess you're accepted then. Wanna go to breakfast?"

Ruby nodded softly, blushing a little when her stomach growled loudly at the mention of food. "Yes please..."

Jay beckoned to Ruby. "Come on!"

Jay ran down the hallways, assuming Ruby was following him. Agnes flew along, following Jay closely. All of a sudden, Jay jumped through a chute in the wall. Whooping, he slid down through the smooth rock tube, picking up speed. Suddenly, he shot out the opening into a long room-- the dining room. He yelled as he flew through the air, no spells required, through the length of the room. At the other end, he hit a wide net, and slowly rolled down into a deep tub of one-foot foam cubes. He scrambled quickly out of the tub.

The dining room was 100 meters long, but could be lengthened magically if needed. Two long tables, long benches attached, ran down the length of the room. Wizards, Witches, and Apprentices were quickly filling up the places to sit. As Jay flew down the room, students whooped and shouted to him.

Jay walked down the room, holding up "bunny fingers".

"All hail Jay!" a girl with green-hazel eyes and blonde pigtails sticking out from under her brown bandanna yelled.

Jay laser-stared her. "Loren! Just because you chose the Shifter genre doesn't mean you can go around shifting people in their sleep!"

Loren cocked her head to the side. "Well, you were a special case."

Jay sighed, stuck his thumbs in his pockets, and waited for Ruby to catch up.

There was soon a high pitched scream as Ruby came shooting out of the chute as well, holding her white dress down as the wind whipped at her before she came crashing down into the net. She got up onto her hands and knees and looked around, her red hair frazzled, and of course, everyone was staring at her, she looked around at all the unfamiliar faces and gave a self conscious wave. "H-Hi everyone..." She said quietly, then looked down as she crawled off the net into the pit and then out of there.

Jay grinned, ruffled his black hair, and went to sit next to Loren. He patted a space next to him. "Come sit with us, Ruby!"

Loren, on the other side of Jay, gave Ruby an explosive smile. They were sitting in one of the sparsely populated sections of the table, where it was quieter, but not by much.

Ruby nodded self consciously, fixing her hair and dusting off her dress as she made her way over to them and sat down next to Jay, looking down.

"Oh wait a second! I forgot something!" Jay jumped up, onto the bench, then the table. "LISTEN UP PEOPLE!!!"

Everyone became silent, watching Jay.

"WE HAVE A NEWCOMER...."

Everyone leaned forwards.

"RUBY HAZE!!!!" Jay motioned to Ruby, a broad smile on his pimple-free face.

Everyone cheered, mini-fireworks and glowing confetti appearing suddenly spontaneously, and Jay jumped down into his seat. A brunette across from them held her hands up, and a shower of fireworks and sparkling and glowing confetti rained down on them, spelling out the name "Ruby" in the air.

"Alright," a voice boomed. "Are we ready to eat yet, or is your celebration still going?"

Everybody cheered, including Jay, then chanted, "EAT EAT EAT."

All the familiars had disappeared off somewhere; they had gone to their own familiar dining room.

Damien, sitting with all the rest of the Witches and Wizards of the City, waved his hand, and empty goblets and plates topped with turkey roast and sticky rice.

Jay pointed to his empty goblet. "Sparkling Pepsi!" he ordered. The goblet immediately filled up with Pepsi. Jay winked at Ruby, then took a sip as the roar of conversation ensued.

Ruby's eyes widened as Jay introduced her and she looked down shyly at all the eyes on her but once the fireworks and confetti appeared she looked up and a soft, self conscious smile appeared on her lips and she nodded to everyone. She giggled softly as everyone chanted to eat and she looked in awe as everything from the celebration vanished and the food and drink appeared. She smiled at Jay and sipped her pepsi before whispering, "Thank you..."

Jay cocked his head. "Well you're welcome! After all this eating-breakfast-task, we're going to start you on ya trainin'. What do you think about familiars? I mean, what kind of familiar do you want? I mean... well, yu'll have to choose an Element of Magic first." Jay pointed at the brunette who had been tossing fireworks and confetti earlier. "She's Ariel. Ariel is in the Element of Celebration, which means she decorates things for celebrations. Her familiar is a rainbow bunny." Jay looked at Ruby with a smile. "There are so many, uncountable elements that I wouldn't be able to say all of them. I chose the fire element; you've met Agnes, she deals with green Greek fire, destructive at will. My question is: what Element will you choose?"

Ruby's head was already starting to spin from all the knew knowledge and she looked down, trying to sort out her thoughts. "U-Um..."

"Don't worry! You'll think up something! Just tell me this: what is your favourite thing to do? Ever? Play with fire? Make magic items? Invent things? Come on!" Jay grinned at Ruby.

Ruby looked at him, her eyes showing how nervous and panicked she felt as they darted around the room. "U-Um... I..." Her eyes landed on a potted plant at the end of the room. "I like... plants..." She said quietly.

"Plants..." Jay mused. He mindlinked Agnes: Ruby's into plants! What Element would that be?

There was a small pause. Healing?

Perhaps. What familiar would she have then?

Agnes bird mind worked as quickly as it could. A chameleon? No, a sloth! Nevermind, not that either. It would have to be some sort of healing familiar if she is interested in healing. Ask her if she's interested in healing!

Beside Jay, Loren spoke up: "Oh! If you're into plants, you could do the Healing Element! How about that?"

Jay looked at Ruby. "Yeah! Are you interested in healing?"

Ruby thought for a moment, as she thought her eyes grew sad and she looked down and nodded. "I would... like to help people..."

"Yeh so that would be in the 'Red Cross' Category. So, you would learn healing, most likely. Your familiar would be something like a... uh... maybe a cat? Some sort of cat perhaps? What do you think?"

Ruby gave a small, slightly forced smile. "I like cats... I used to have one..."

Jay nodded. "Okay, so... uh... what sort of cat would be good for you?" he asked, biting into a sandwich. "Likech ash leshperdsh?" He swallowed his food. "I mean. Um. Excuse me. Like a leopard? Or a savanna cat? Small or big, I mean."

Ruby's eyes widened. "I can have a wild cat!?"

Jay looked at her in surprise. "Well of course! Any animal you choose for studying your Element-- and when I say any, I mean any-- will be joined with you, literally and figuratively, and stay with you beyond death."

Ruby's eyes widened and she looked down in thought. "Well... I... always thought panthers were really pretty..."

"Well, what kind of panther? Florida panther or black panther? Oh, and by the way, what's really cool is that you can mind-link your familiar, like talk through your mind, and familiars can talk with eachother or other people, if necess, if ya know what I mean." Jay's thoughts were a million miles ahead. This is gonna be so cool! he mind-linked Agnes.

Shut up! Agnes snapped. We familiars are watching a movie!

Ruby looked at him and smiled softly. "I like the shiny black panthers."

"Okay so uh..." Jay pondered telling Ruby about daemons, but he tossed the idea; that was way deeper than he was willing to go. Let Damien talk about that. "So, um, after B-fast, Agnes and I will take you to the Hall of Familiars, and we'll find you a good familiar. You'll have to fill out a form asking your age, name, what-you-like/dislike and such, but then you'll get your male panther-- since you're female. How's that sound?"

Ruby smiled softly and hugged him. "Thank you..." She whispered before going back to breakfast.