Kel wiped the sweat off of his forehead with the already damp cloth, then squeezed it out.  Even though he'd been here for a year, he still couldn't get used to the Jungle.  The heat wasn't a problem, he'd lived in such heat all his life, and even fought in it.  It was the humidity.  Even sweating didn't do anything, as it couldn't evaporate.  [i]I should find one of the air wielders among the first years and get them to make a little wind to cool me off.  Either that, or go for a dip at the waterfall.[/i]  Yeah, that would work, he could go swimming in the nearest fresh water supply.

Of course, he was here to try and test the first years.  He wasn't sure if it was allowed in the rules or not, but it was tradition.  And the first test he had in mind was to see if they were willing to fight for their own survival.  They were training to be mercenaries, after all.

After the speeches and fight were over, he sneaked over to a nearby rock and moved it out of the way.  Behind it he had hidden a cave, the same cave he had used to move around during his first year.  He lit a torch and moved the rock back in place.  If any of the first years were decent Earth Wielders they'd be able to find the cave too, but he wasn't going to make it easy on them.  He walked down the cave, only bothering to kill the animals that tried to attack him, so that anyone who followed him wouldn't have too easy of a time.  The air in the cave quickly cooled him, and he was able to make better time than the people on the surface.

Several hours later he exited behind the waterfall, an exit he had actually made his first year, as this cave ran near a branch from the waterfall's cave, and stood there, waiting for the first years to appear.  As soon as he saw one, he focused on them, and put an image in their mind of a large water snake crawling beneath the surface, one of several varieties of constrictors that lived in the local water ways.  He also did the same with several others to insure the rumor would spread.  After that, he sat down to rest and watched the first years, to see what they would do.