As Onyx arrived at Olias's place of power, the site of the ritual, she noticed that there were already quite a lot of people there including her father and 8, no 9 others her age. Great, I'm the last to arrive... Wonderful start. "Hello!" She called out as she landed, her brooding at being last to arrive disappearing quickly as excitement took its place. The area was essentially a large circular room of sorts, as the mountain rose up on one side and blocked the rising sun, and the other side was a steep cliff drop to the base of the mountain. There was a large flat rock in the center which the group her age was gathered around, and around the edge of the circle were various items that would likely be used in the test of sills, although some tests won't use any items or one would be given an item but their test would have nothing to do with it, it was meant to confuse them until the last moment.
Onyx joined the group standing around the flat rock and heard her greeting returned with equal excitement as she had spoken with, recognizing everyone in the group. Daimos, Kesi, Akili, Geda, and Helaheim were all there, and they smiled as they greeted her, Daimos making some comment to Kesi that Onyx couldn't hear while Akili came over to stand by Onyx while the group waited for something to happen. The other four in the group didn't smile when they greeted Onyx, but they weren't rude towards her either. If she recalled correctly they were all a few years younger than her and she had never really interacted with them much. They were eager, declaring their paths a few years sooner than most do and stand off from the others as if they were superior in some way. Onyx didn't care, they'll make their mistakes and realize their place later rather than sooner, as most who declared early did.
There was much activity going on around them, although Onyx couldn't tell that anything was actually getting done. Someone would put something somewhere, and another person would go put it back where it started, or an order would be given but no one would follow it. Everyone in the group except Akili was getting more and more confused each moment, until Akili spoke up and told them what was going on. "This is our group test," She started, getting the attention of everyone in the group quickly. "Did anyone here attend the last ritual, Where they tested the group with a missing-persons situation? No one told the group what was going on or that there was even a group test, they never do, so the group stood here alone for a few hours before organising and looking for everyone. Once they found Raldel he called everyone else out of hiding, but that group failed because they took so long to realize that something was wrong. Two of them didn't come of age and won't be able to for another season."
The group stood in silence for a moment until one of the others spoke up, a young girl who seemed angry at herself and stood with a menacing air about her. "So? This is our test, but what do we do? They're all just going around and getting nothing done." She gestured around them at the people who were working but doing nothing. "They aren't even listening to what the orders are."
Kesi nodded in agreement, about to say something, but her brother beat her to it. "So, we fix it, somehow. We've gotta get them to stop undoing each other and actually do what everyone's ordering them to." Daimos smirked as he finished speaking. "How hard could that be?"
Everyone studied the situation for a moment, each trying to come up with a way to accomplish their task. A few stared trying to talk to the people around them, trying to get them not to move whatever someone else had just put down or telling them to listen to the orders they were being given, only to get snapped at that they were following their orders and needing to back off before they'd end up starting a fight. Onyx stopped focusing on the workers and listened to the orders that the leaders were giving. Sure enough, whenever someone picked something up to put it somewhere, an order had been given for it to be done, but They couldn't tell that the orders were being followed because the people they were directed at were not the people that fulfilled them.
The leaders were undoing each other, and those who were following them were not who they thought they were. It was not a simple matter of disobedience on the part of the followers, it was dissonance between the leaders and a split following between them, something that in a battle would wind up with everyone dead. Speaking to the grunts would not work, the group had to settle whatever the problem was between the leaders of the group before working out the loyalties of the followers.
Onyx stood on top of the flat rock so she could be seen by the whole crowd. "Everybody stop!" She ordered in as stern a tone as she could keep when yelling above the clamor of the crowd. To her surprise everyone actually did stop what they were doing, the members of her group making their way back to the flat rock to see what Onyx's plan was. "Would all the leaders please step forward." Onyx wasn't sure of the term once she said it. It worked fine in her mind, but she supposed she should have said 'commanders' instead once most of the group took a step forward.
Geda spoke up, correcting the problem for her. "No, only the ones who've been barking out all the orders. Workers step back." At his words Onyx saw smiles go through the crowd, giving the group a hint that they were succeeding so far. Most of them stepped back, leaving 6 people, including Raldel, standing forward as leaders.
"Great, thanks Geda." Onyx said as she hopped off of the rock and motioned the group of leaders together. "Now, what's the deal? Someone's got a problem with someone and it's causing everyone problems, so tell me what the first problem was." Onyx spoke sternly and made eye contact with each of the leaders, still a little surprised that they were actually listening to her.
Raldel spoke, or started to at least. He got cut off by one of his friends, who gave him a strange look as he spoke. "Ral 'ere's been overstepping 'imself, and Hold's got 'imself in a fight wit' the lady here. I try ta play peacekeeper, but then Kurt 'n Gall tell me ta keep my trap shut. We's got an agreement not to talk ta each other again 'till we finish our job 'ere." Onyx didn't know any of their first names except for her father's, so she was guessing at who everyone was by how they were glaring at each other.
Akili sighed and spoke before Onyx could even begin to think what to say to them, her annoyance tangible in her words. "Yea, well you're not getting anything done! You're all standing away from each other and undoing whatever someone else just had done. None of what you're doing even really needs to be done in the first place, you're just wasting time and causing a bad situation for everyone." She paused, seeming like she was going to say something else but ending up not when Onyx found her voice.
"Alright, you all need to stop letting personal problems mess with what you're doing. You're a team, working together towards one goal, not a bunch of young children fighting on the playing field. Your actions have consequences for those other than yourself, just imagine if this same thing had happened in a battle!" Onyx still had more to say, but was silenced by her father's sudden embrace and the cheer that rose from the crowd as the other leaders shook hands and patted each other on the back, smiling and congratulating the group.
Raldel spoke over the crowd, smiling as he let go of Onyx. "Well done. You have all passed the group test! We will wait a little while for the rest of those who wish to witness the ritual to arrive, and then we will start the introductions." As he finished speaking the crowd quieted and started to tidy up the mess that they had made during the test, putting everything back in it's rightful place without needing any orders to tell them so.