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Tear (Teardrop)'s POV:

I woke up on the wooden plank with a sheet on it I call my bed in a small closet-sized room. I call this comfy living, because there are other people on the streets that have to sleep in the cold, freezing rain.

  Ha, you got the joke? It doesn't rain here, and it never will.

  I don't have any night-clothes, so I sleep in my day-clothes, which makes the wooden plank a bit easier to deal with, but not by much.

  Right now, I'm wearing a dirty blue t-shirt and ripped jeans. People might think I look like a homeless person, but I have a home, although it is very small and dingy. Homeless people wear rags, I don't wear rags. I just wear dirty clothes, no biggie.

  I put on my worn old sneakers and tied my short blue hair into a small ponytail. Blue hair isn't out-of-the-ordinary here, almost everyone has it. I have no idea why any of us have blue hair, but we have gotten used to it. I opened the door, which fell off it's hinges when I touched it, and walked down the tiny hallway. I passed the window, which in reality is a hole in the wall, and spotted a piece of paper taped to sign in the middle of town square. I raced outside and read the paper.

All Citizens:
The king has decreed that on the 3rd of June,
officials from the castle will come to every town
and search for a child aged 15 and older
who has Elemental Abilities.
Every child shall come to their town square at noon
and parents shall not interfere with the official's work.
This decree will include the following realms:
-Fire Realm
-Air Realm
-Earth Realm
-Water Realm
The officials will check every house for children.
Children who do not come will be punished.
Good luck to all in the Choosing.

-Elemente Capitol Building

So the rumors were true, Water Realm is participating in the Choosing this year.

  Wait, today is the 3rd of June, which means today is the Choosing.

  I grabbed the paper off the sign and sprinted inside to my Mom, who was in the kitchen cooking. And by cooking I mean heating up a can of mystery food. The labels have long since peeled off, so we don't know which can has which food.

I tapped my Mom on the shoulder and handed her the paper. Her eyes skimmed over the paper, and widened a bit when she read the part about Water Realm participating in the Choosing. I gave her a look saying if I should go, and she gave me a thumbs up.

"Why aren't you talking?" you might ask. Here's why. Ever since the drought of water 10 years ago, only the richest of the rich still drink that precious liquid. The only traces of magic anyone has ever shown in our town is the ability to survive without water. But I don't really think surviving without water is a elemental ability for using water, but I still think it's pretty abnormal.

And what does this have to do with not talking? I hope you have done your homework, because no water for 10 years means no voice for 10 years. That's right, our vocal cords are nonexistent now.

  Fire Realm has rudely nicknamed our town, "Silence", but our town's original name was, "Dew". We, along with the other citizens, decided that the name, "Dew" doesn't really apply to this town now, so we officially renamed our little town, "Thirst". It is anti-climatic really, that a town in the realm of Water is named "Thirst", but we only named it according to our predicament.

I sat down next to my Mom and opened the food can. It was canned carrots, pretty good. Some days we only got dry spinach or stale bread. We ate very quickly from that small portion and saved half of it, because this was our breakfast and dinner. Forget lunch, our portions would be nonexistent if we had lunch, too.

  There is nothing else to do other than talk while we wait for noon, so we had a sign-language conversation about the community. There are rumors that the poorest of the poor are cutting themselves to try and drink their own blood. That's creepy, but I understand that they are desperate for water, or any type of liquid in general.

  And the richest probably drink about a tiny cup of water a month, so the only voices you can hear in Thirst are the hoarse whispers of the rich. I'd actually prefer a town of silence than a town with creepy whispers every once in a while.

We spent a while talking about this and that, since we couldn't go outside on days like today, where it is very dry and humid. I was starting to get bored when I saw that it was almost noon, and that only meant one thing. It was time to go to the Choosing.

We got ready and started heading out. As I walked down the small, dirt road that lead to the town square, I saw the twins, Aqua and Turquoise, who I played with when it wasn't blazing hot outside. I also saw a few of my other friends, who had strange names portraying different shades of the color blue. They were all heading in the same direction as I was, with other kids that must live on the other side of town.

  When we arrived in the tiny, dusty square, our parents, who were walking with us, went to the other side of the town square by orders of the paper. We all kept our heads low as we lined up in the middle of town square. We all heard the heavy footsteps of the officials, and I saw my Mom smile weakly from where she was with the other worried parents.

It was time.

(AN: Thanks for reading! I will be working on Aura and Brand New!)