“My father? Foster father you mean?”

Barbie kept on smiling.

“I’ll take that as a Yes.” Even said.

The Ice Queen kept on smiling.

“Uh, my mom told you that too? Wow, you guys were close huh?”

Barbie shrugged, (She can shrug?) “We were best friends back in the old days, still are actually. But she did not need to tell me this, everyone knew.”

Even stared at her for some time, registering what she had meant by that, “Everyone knew? Uh, my fathe-Foster father is a teacher, not in One Direction.”

The Ice Lady’s eyes suddenly twinkled in excitement, she leaned her body against the glass table (Poor Glass Table.) and placed both of her arms on it, meeting the younger female eye to eye, “One Direction? Are you a fan of Harry?”

“I’m more to Nial, but Harry’s cute too. His curls are to die for!”

“I know right?” And the fan girling continued for several minutes before the older woman cleared , “Ah, yes, your father.”

“Foster-father, and I rather discuss One Direction, please?” Even gave said and gave her the Puppy-Dog eyes.

Barbie laughed, “Even, I am the Headmistress of this Academy, I leaded thousands and thousands of students for the pass 10 years. What makes you think I will give in to such childish trick?”

Talk about pride.

“Because mine’s the best you’ve ever seen?” Even pleaded, well, sort-of pleaded.

Barbie kept quite for awhile, making no movement at all, she might as well be a statue for all Even knew. Several moments later, she said, “They are.”

“Huh?”

“Your Puppy-Dog Eyes, they are the best I’ve ever seen.”

“They are?” Even asked in shocked

Barbie nodded in agreement.

Things were getting creepy, Even rather had them talk about her foster-father, and everyone who knew her knew that that was not Even’s favorite subject in discussions.

She’s in an Academy for special people, too late now. “My foster-father you say? What do you mean by everyone knew?”

Barbie slouched back a bit, returning to her position as the ‘Head of Academy’, “Your mother and I, as well as your fa-foster-father, were schoolmates.”

“Schoolmates? Here?”

“Yes.”

“He’s a Wizard?”

“Yes, and quite weird though, how can you have this same trait with him while being so….Distant to him?”

“Distant? Well, I won’t say distant. We just….Well……Yeah, we’re distant with each other.” Happy, Miss I’m-Always-right?

“Actually, my parents had their schedule booked for work for about, uh, more than half of the year, but you knew that, don’t you?”

“Yes, indeed I do.” Barbie said calmly.

Where did the One Direction Fan Girl went?

“So, yeah. Okay. What’s next?”

Barbie smiled at the question, “Next, we find you a room.”

“Cool.”

“But before that, we find you the right house.”

“House? I get my own house? Awesome!”

Barbie giggled slightly, “Not that house, your Academy Team House. You see Even, in this Academy, you will get sorted into one of the 4 Team houses.”

Even waited patiently for her to continue, “The houses are Storm, Blaze, Forrette and Teour. The House of Storm seeks Leadership, Loyalty, the focus to be Stable, Energy and Power. It’s basically for those who are always ready and unafraid of challenges, but they do have flaws, you will see so later yourself.”

“I’m going in that house?”

“No, well, not now, that is. We still do not know yet.”

“Then, what do you mean by ‘you will see so yourself later’?”

“Oh, I said that, because you will meet them when you attend this academy, you will see their flaws, some are common for the house, some are individual flaw. More or less, you will know, soon.”

Even felt silent.

“Many flaws for Storm that you will need to judge yourself, but I can tell you this, their biggest flaw, is the pride to achieve victory, and when they fail to do so…Things can get…Very messy.”

“Blood bath?” Even asked.

“More or so.” The Headmistress answered.

Sounds like a house fit for an evil emperor and his knights.

“The next one is rather lighter than Storm. The House of Blaze.”

“Blaze? That’s fire. How is that ‘lighter’ than Storm? Oh, I get it, Storm beats fire. Okay, okay.” Even said.

The headmistress laughed lightly and shook her head side to side, as if she was thinking : What am I going to do with this kid?

“Blaze does not symbolize the pain in fire, but the colour of it.”

Even leaned back to her chair, “You lost me at ‘symbolize’. Don’t get me wrong, I know what it means, but…..You know what? Forget it. Do continue.”

“Pleased to do so.” The headmistress said, and continued, “The colour of fire. Some are orange, some are red, some are blue, and some are even purple.”

“Yeah, so?” Even interrupted

If Ice Lady was feeling annoyed, she sure did not show it.

“These colours of fire interpret the originality as well as the courage in one’s character. A student of Blaze can be different from the other. Aside from that, students of Blaze are also like the dancing blaze of a fire, very enthusiastic. They also have humor, well, some of them, and of course, they are good.”

“Good?” Even asked.

The headmistress nodded, “Yes.”

“Good….As in kind, goodie-two-shoe good? Or as in good in their thing?”

Ice Lady reached out to an Ice Globe on her desk, in lightly, “Depends, it can go either way. As I said, Blazes are very different from one another, very unique.”

“Uh, okay, I guess. Um, what’s their biggest flaw?”

Ice Lady’s face slightly tensed, she took a great grip at her Ice Globe and answered, “Well, no one knows really. They are too different from each other, so, their flaws are based on their students’ own weaknesses.”

Even nodded her head awkwardly, “Um, next house?”

The older woman’s face relaxed, “The third one, is the calmest of all the houses. House of Forrette.”

“Oh.” Even said simply.

This Forrette House is calm? Just calm? Man, get me in that one!

“Forrette’s students are as I said, calm, wise, usually very patient, has a fair judgment, and of course, it’s most special trait,” She stopped dramatically.

Drum Roll please.

Dum

Dum

Dum

“Balance.”

The room remained quiet.

“The house of Forrette is not only the calmest house in this school, but it also contains the most balanced of students. They can be wild and happy, but they can also turn to be calm and quiet.  They have a fair and wise judgment on things, they know when to commit, and when to not.”

Wise and fair people? So, a house full of court judges huh?

“Their biggest flaw however, is quite dangerous, for the students themselves.” Barbie said in a sad tone. She sounded like she was taking a pity for a friend.

“How so?” Even asked.

“Forrettes may be wise and fair in judgment, but they are too bounded to their duty to keep the school, or, rather, everything  balanced. They will do anything for balance, even sacrificing their own happiness.”

“So they’re selfless? You people call that a flaw?”

Barbie leaned closer to the glass table, “That is a flaw, a major flaw indeed. They are ready to sacrifice so much just to keep balance. For instance, they are willing to sacrifice their own family for balance, they are ready to disowned their blood connections just for balance.They are even ready to kill for balance. They are willing to do anything for balance. Breaking the rules or not.”

“K…..Killed?” Even stammered, “They’ve killed before?”

The older lady sighed, “Decades ago, yes. But they killed those who are evil. Though they’re imprinted to this flaw, they still have wise and fair judgment.”

Even padded her chest in relief, “Hence the word balance?”

“Yes.” Barbie answered.

“Okay, so, next?”

“Next, well, actually, the last one, is Teour, which means ‘Mountain’ in Latin. Tell me Even, what do you think of mountains?”

What I think? I think that if this Teour house does not fit me, or I don’t fit this house, whatever, I may as well just enter Blaze. Different people from me, and I’m different from other people, yippee.

Even stared blankly at the light blue wall, (Is everything Water-related in here?) sinking into her thoughts, about mountains.

“They’re really, really old?”

Barbie laughed, “Yes, they’re old, and…?”

Suddenly, somehow, everything just clicked. She suddenly knew so much about the meaning, the interpretations behind the word ‘Mountain’.

“A mountain stays in the same place for a very long time. It also shields sun light for people living at its foot. Not just that, it too can be used for planting semi-temperature plants, according to its individual needs.”

Barbie beamed, “Correct my dear, and what does it mean?”

Even stayed still, not moving an inch, as she stared at the wall, channeling for answers in her mind.

“Stays in the same place for a long time interprets that it is loyal, mature and classic. As it always stood there, it means that it is very professional in its job:  Shielding people from sunlight means that it is kind, caring and as it always does so, it can also be trusted. As for the planting……It’s reliable.” Even stopped, catching her breath.

“So, Teour is the house for those who are loyal, mature, cherishes tradition, professional in their jobs, kind, caring and reliable.” She finished.

About 3 seconds after that, Even removed her gaze from the light blue wall to the faded blue eyes of the woman in front of her. She blinked her eyes after minutes of staring the wall.