"So?" Zandra Aile asked with a smile.
"How does it benefit the modern day world?" Zandra Aile asked just to be fair to the other children in the room.
"By giving us the gift of remembrance." Princess Marina said with a far away look.
"I made it so that people can keep a piece of their loved one with them no matter how far away they are." Princess Marina said with a wistful tone as she wished with all her might that she could transfer all the images she had of Gale into a photographic film.
Nodding her head in agreement, Zandra Aile said "Splendid" once again and the panel wrote something down.
After some reconvening within the panel, Zandra Aile looked up as the door slammed open.
"Your next entrance exam is on Animation." Zandra Aile said as a man walked into the room.
"Xeroxe Tal," Zandra Aile said as a black haired man with striking red eyes stepped into view.
"Will take you on this part of your entrance exam." Zandra Aile said before quietly walking out with the rest of the panelists.
"This part of the entrance exam is exactly like the name suggests and it would be held in a different area of the entrance hall." Xeroxe Tal said before leading everyone out of the room where they held the creation test into another which contained a mini village of metal trees, metal horses and metal people.
"For the second part of your test, I want you all to try to animate these metal figurines without touching it." Xeroxe Tal said and everyone including Princess Marina blanched.
Getting hit by a wave of nostalgia at the almost identical face that he once wore the first time he heard of this test at their age, Xeroxe Tal tried his best not to smile.
Clearing his throat, Xerose Tal said "Did any of you use animation in your first test?" in a loud voice and Falorin raised her hand uneasily.
Turning to look at her, Xerose asked "What did you animate?" calmly.
"A boy and girl figurine." Falorin said nervously.
"How did you do it?" Xeroxe asked Falorin.
"I imagined how I wanted them to move and whispered it to the figurines that I made." said Falorin.
"Good." Xeroxe said with a nod.
"This test is based on the same principle." Xerose said as his eyes swept across the children.
"The only noticeable difference is that you will need to translate your thoughts to the figurines in this mini village without whispering to them." Xeroxe said before demonstrating what he meant.
As Xeroxe demonstrated, everyone watched in awe as the mini village came alive without a hint of rigidity.
The children marvelled as mini people went about on a stroll, horses pulled a carriage that contained two people and children running around in a park. Some figurines were also skating but while all of this was happening, the only thing Princess Marina could think of was "How can he animate different actions for each figurine?"
"The first candidate for this test is the third star of the Empire, Princess Marina." Xeroxe said and all the children turned to stare at her in worry.
Taking a deep breath and trying not to let her nervousness get to her, Princess Marina stepped in front of the mini village and concentrated.
"When Xeroxe Tal demonstrated, a strange energy came off of him." Princess Marina thought as she closed her eyes.
"It was small and unassuming but constant." Princess Marina thought as every muscle in her body relaxed.
"Use the principles of refining and envision what you want them to do." Princess Marina thought as her mind slipped into the memories of children playing and the vibrance of the trees in her past life.
She imagined the way the wind felt on her skin when she was their age as she ran around with Gale and the figurines of the children playing in the mini village began to move. She remembered long walks were she was just babbling about anything and everything with Forestina and two metal figurines of girls began to take a walk and the more Princess Marina thought of the wind on her skin, the more she thought of the trees reaction to it and eventually the trees in the mini village began to sway as if a light breeze was blowing through them.
"You have passed the test." Xeroxe Tal said with a clap of his hands, snapping Princess Marina out of her reverie.
Opening her eyes to see what became of her test, Princess Marina watched as the mini village was lit with joy, from the trees to its people and felt a deep sadness once more.