The junior gym, unlike the main one, actually resembled a gym. Eleanna Myers waited in the center of it, her back turned to me. 

"Ah, Viviana," she smiled warmly at the sound of my footsteps. "I have a very special task for you." 

"Whatever it is, I probably can't do it," I hung my head. 

"Yes, you can," Eleanna smiled darkly. "The Icehearts have discovered our base. We are all in danger, and you are the only one who can divert their attention for long enough to allow us to evacuate." 

"M-me? Face the Icehearts?" I gasped. 

"No," Eleanna laughed. "You won't need to face them. You'll only need to occupy them. I know the Queen very well- she says that she wants to kill you, but deep inside, her greatest wish is to be reunited with you. Tomorrow, you will travel to Lessaenes and be deposited outside Glaisse. You must claim to be the lost princess and plead to be allowed into the city. Once you have gained an audience with the Queen, you must convince her that you are on her side. After that, you will keep the Icehearts distracted from our base as well as serve as an inside agent." 

"How am I supposed to trick her?" I threw my arms up in desperation. 

"You don't have to go," the rebel leader bit her lip. "You could always stay here, and be indirectly responsible for the deaths of three thousand people. You wouldn't be the first murderer in your family." 

"Alright, fine," I sighed. "I'll give it a try."

"But first, you must at least have basic training in the art of Aura warfare," Eleanna crossed her arms. "Fight me." 

Before I could even process her words, a sheet of Aural fog slid under my feet, tripping me and causing me to fall face first onto the ground. 

"If you want to ever battle the Icehearts, you can't afford to be so slow!" She shouted. "Get up!"

Furious, I rose, forcing Aura into my fingertips and putting up a shield. This time, I was able to deflect almost all of Eleanna's blasts, and even send some of them back at her. However, the Flame leader still managed to continuously defeat me even with her relatively weak Aura. After about fifteen minutes, I was furious. 

Allowing my Aura to raise me up, I directed my burning hatred at her and loosened my hold on my power, watching as it spiraled outward, throwing her at the wall. 

"I'm so sorry!" I gasped as she slowly got to her feet. "I don't know where that came from, it was-" 

"Viviana, when you were able to summon that blast, what were you thinking?" She cut me off, approaching me. 

"Well, I was really mad that I wasn't getting anything right. Why?" 

"This is a very bad sign," Eleanna pursed her lips. 

"What?" 

"Have you ever heard of power emotions?" 

I nodded. I vaguely remembered one of the Icehearts mentioning them when I was younger. Each Lessaenite had one- an emotion that stimulated his or her Aura to its maximum level.

"It looks like yours is anger, just like your mother's. It's the rarest power emotion and the most difficult to control. You'll need to work very hard to harness it correctly." 

"Okay," I nodded. "I should be able to do it. I mean, I have plenty of things to be mad about right now," I laughed. 

"You must draw upon the emotion correctly," Eleanna warned. "Enough to activate your Aura, but not so much that it fills your mind and clouds your thinking. Work on that tonight; you'll have to try summoning your power emotion in small, controlled bursts." 

"Alright," I smiled. 

"You are dismissed." 

As I exited the gym, I realized that a lot more time had passed than I had thought, and remembered something. 

Aron. 

Grabbing onto the rickety railing of one of the base's many staircases, I jogged up three flights of stairs to the topmost floor. Unlike the rest of the hideout, the first floor was messy, smelly, and dimly lit. It was obvious that people didn't visit it or clean it very often. 

Aron waited for me in one of the darker corners, just as he had said he would. 

"Vivi?" He turned around, looking mildly surprised, as I approached him. 

"Yeah." 

"You actually came...I didn't think Lady Myers'd be done with you so early. Whenever she meets someone, she usually keeps 'em for at least a few hours." 

"I guess she let me off easy, since it's my first time," I laughed. "So, where are we going?" 

"We're leaving the base." 

"What? But...that isn't safe!" I protested. 

"Come on, just trust me," Aron winked. "You aren't going to regret it."

I grudgingly followed him to a small trapdoor in the low ceiling. It must've been a secondary entrance, because it was nowhere near as prominent as the gigantic hole we had come through the previous day. 

Aron used his Aura to unlock the door before floating through it. Thanks to my recent Aural training, I was able to imitate him without totally embarrassing myself. The two of us crept into the humid night, drenched in sweat after just minutes. 

Finally, an opening in the trees became visible, and we climbed over a pile of rocks to the edge of a cliff. The scene before us was simply breathtaking. The majestic lake in which our spaceship had landed stretched out for what seemed like miles, and the valley below us was alive with sleek, white birds. They soared over the lake in intricate formations, diving and rising at impossible angles. 

"Whoa..." I gaped. 

"Angel swans," Aron smiled. "They're an endangered species. Those awful Lessaenites nearly hunted them to extinction for their feathers. You can only find 'em in West Arabella nowadays. I think they're the most beautiful creatures in the universe." 

"You're right," I watched, mesmerized by the power and grace of the swans. 

"They usually come out on cloudless nights like this one," Aron explained. "We should come out here and watch them more often. It could be our special thing." 

"Sorry, I can't," I shook my head. 

"Why not?" Aron gave me a concerned look. 

"I'm leaving tomorrow." 

"What? But you just got here!" 

"Lady Myers wants me to go to Glaisse on a mission. The base is in danger, this is our last hope." 

"Glaisse? That's suicide!" 

"So what if it is? I could've died at least five times before now. It's better to die knowing you've done your part." 

"You can't die!" Aron growled. "I n- I mean, the rebellion needs you!"

"I've chosen to do this," I said firmly. "I'm not backing down now. I've got an Empire to save."