179 Generation, 6th year, 1st year, Season of Maturity

El-ali Teasen’athem
(Greenshadow of the Trackers of Dragons)

 El-ali Teasen’athem is an young Elf (18 human years), firstborn of her family, arriving at Valerarama University on Illyium, after seven cycles of magical study and preparation. 

Valeracon has population of 32 million. 

Seven Cycles Earlier:
Year 1: “Call me Greenshadow; it’s far easier on the tongue.  Even I get tangled around it!  I’m supposed to become a Fire Mage, at least that’s what my mother says!” said the Elf-child with a wide-eyed smile.  Taking in the buildings (and the amount of people), “So, this is the Collegium.  It’s … large.”

Second week – Letter to home: “Dear Father, The teachers here do not know what they are doing, and it is impossible to learn anything with all of the noise.  I do not like it here, please let me come home; I promise I will be good and do all of my chores.  Please, please, please — do not make me stay here!”

First month – Arguing with instructor, with all the petulance an eleven-year-old can muster: “I don’t want to make a fire; I want to play with the shadows!  Leave … me … alone!”

Instructor to Head of College: “She doesn’t belong here.  She has no aptitude for this.  Transfer her out of this school to someplace she would be more suited. May I suggest, as she has stated many times that she wants to ‘play with shadows’, the College of Shadow-weaving?  Or something safer, such as Necromancy?”

Mid-year – Letter to home: “Dear Father, things are much better now, the instructors here seem to know what they are doing, not like those in the other school.  I know that Mother is disappointed that, once again, I am a ‘failure’, but truthfully, I have never wanted to be a Fire Mage; that was her dream, not mine.  I am much happier here, studying the Shadows, and I am making new friends.”

And so we begin our new adventures…