It was a pleasant day with the sun shining above. There were parents seeing off their kids in front of the check point with tearful goodbyes. There was laughter and cheerfulness all around her. It filled her with a sense of peace. Maeisha walked forward from the checkpoint and stood in a line to wait for her turn.
There were ten booths set up for the teachers to admit them in. Excited Students stood in lines and waited for their turn before following the procedures for admission. They all wanted to be selected so they could do their family proud.
When her turn came she walked forward, held her wrist to the scanner and reported in.
"Maeisha, first year." the young teacher said as he turned from his chair to get something from inside the booth. His left leg was amputated and was seated in a wheelchair but there was no depression or sadness on his face.
Most teachers in the school were retired soldiers and enforcers if they didn't have other positions in The Empire. If the warrior was a highly decorated one they could find them jobs where their skills would still be of use or they could retire and find some other way to contribute to The Empire.
Disabled soldiers and officers were taken care of by The Empire. They made sure to provide them with the best possible medical care and after making sure they were better psychologically, they were given posts so that they could have a job and not had to rely on others.
Most disabled people choose to work or go back to school to study, as they liked to independent. Since The Empire made sure that they know they were still useful to the society, they still had their self confidence and were no different from other individuals.
Where as the Battle Master and his seconds were some of the best The Empire had and were pulled to teach the next generation of warriors.
The teacher handed her a data pad. The data pad was the size of a small book and ran the same way a communication pad did, except without a way to communicate with anyone outside the school.
"Put your trunk on luggage pad 3."
He pointed towards the place that had luggage carriers and were numbered. There were some trunks on it already.
"Your pad is your map and student guide book. Keep it with you at all times. If it gets broken see the quartermaster immediately. If you loose it your points will be deducted and you will be punished. The pad will be with you for 10 years so take care."
"yes sir." Maei said and took her trunk to the luggage pad and neatly stacked it with other trunks.
She turned on her pad and read the instructions on it for new students.
The Battle School was huge and without a map or direction a person would be lost and keep walking around in circles.
She followed the map that had come up and walked into a room where other students had gathered, found her name and went and sat at the spot it indicated and waited.
She knew she was a bit early and could have roamed a bit but she considered it a good thing to be a little early.
A boy sat next to her. He turned to her and grinned, "Hey, I am Roi."
Maei nodded offering her hand for a handshake and said; "I am Maeisha."
"Man you are cold to touch." As he released his hand and blew on it.
Maei grinned knowing she would get that comment often because of her power.
"Its normal for me as its my elemental power. So Roi any idea of what to expect?" She asked.
Roi shook his head, "My grandfather was in Battle School's first class and my elder brothers refuse to tell me what to expect. Just that follow the orders well."
Maei nodded as that was what she expected.
Right then a girl of elf bloodline sat next to her.
She nodded and smiled, "Hello, nice to meet you. I am Celaena."
Roi and Maei also nodded back and introduced themselves, before starting to chat.
Slowly the room filled with other students until there were at least eight hundred people in attendance. These eight hundred students were not only children from the capital but from all over the Empire.
The battle school (BA) in the capital was the best and parents from all over The Empire wanted their child to go the best. But that was easier said than done as the screening process here was much harder than the Battle School in other cities.
A man with a patch covering one of his eyes walked in to the head of the room, looking at a pad. He had hurt his eyes during the fight with the purists recently. The doctor had operated and patched up his eye so that it would not get infected.
Roi immediately sat at attention and kept his head to the front. Maei and Celaena copied Roi as it was a smart thing to do and there was no harm in it.
As the man pretended to check the time, his good eye scanned the room and noticed the three students whose attention was focused on him, out of the sea of faces.
Going back to the pad he quickly looked up their seating plan to learn their names and history.
Roi was from the Moran family. His was a military family so he had been trained since young and had a rough idea that every person in the Battle School were instructors. Maei and Celaena were different unless they guessed that because he was an adult he was a person to pay attention to.
Sol Griffin, the Battle School Master, walked into the room sipping on a cup on a cup of tea. He was a large person and looked easygoing but was not. He leant against the podium and glanced around as he finished his tea.
The students in the first three months of the Battle School were put through hell by himself and the senior instructors.
It was a means to an end as it forced them into forming groups of wings and helped them get placed into flights. The training also instilled in their minds obeying their instructors above all.
Bullying is not allowed as it doesn't help build strong ties and causes dissension later in life. It also left psychological shadows and trauma which they didn't want at all for their kids.
Generally the group would choose their own leader, it will be an unconscious action and they will just start following someone. They let the group choose their own leader as they want them to trust their structure and leader. Forcing them to follow someone will only make them resent their leader.
If the BA believed that a group is unbalanced or has a bad leader, they will put the group in situations which will force them to change. When they believe that a good wing has been formed and doesn't require any changes they push them into the flight system.
In the first three months the purpose of the instructors are to bring up their fitness, make them learn to obey and get them to form a wing. They would stay in those wings and flights for the rest of their time in the School.
Even after BA though their flights change, their wings don't. They stay within those wings their whole lives. They know each other, their strengths, their weaknesses, how their leader thinks. They almost become precognitive, anticipating their leader's and their teammate's actions.
So if possible The Empire makes sure not to break up the wing and split them up.
In BA there are nine flights and each flight had fifteen wings. Each wing was a group of twelve to fifteen individuals with a leader.
The students would form their own wing and would be then placed in flights according their current strength, aptitude, history, behaviour, discipline, interaction with others, and their conduct.
A person's family or their surname had no importance in BA. It was what the student was capable of that made a difference.
From the moment they stepped inside the Battle school the instructors had already started to observe them....