"Would you mind if I asked you just one more favor?" Concord asked Marco and Lynda's friend, Elaine, who had flown the plane that took him to Moraindia.

"Eh... I don't know about that. I don't just go around transporting people for free. Marco and Lynda paid me to bring you here." Elaine pushed a stray strand of curly hair behind her ear.
Concord gave a sigh. Andrea groaned. Omar shrugged.

Cascade smiled. "I've got this." She winked back at the others. Then she stepped forward. "What would convince you to take us?" she asked Elaine, making her voice slightly higher so that she was less intimidating. Cascade was a tall girl, much taller than most. Her voice wasn't particularly high. It was quite low, in fact. It often made her a scarier figure than she intended to be.

"Maybe if you, I don't know, paid me a little?" Elaine nodded towards Cascade's pocket.

"How much would be your minimum?"

"How about... seven hundred suns? It's less than most people have to pay. Plus, I don't know you."

Cascade switched tactics, as was her plan. Her smile faded. She looked straight into Elaine's eyes.

Elaine's head swam as Cascade's eyes swirled and shifted and glowed. It made her feel a little light-headed.

Cascade switched back to her regular voice. "There is an evil overlord trying to take over the world. And the entire world will end if we don't get on that plane."

Elaine would normally have laughed off such a futile attempt to convince her, but there was something in Cascade's eyes that let her know that Cascade wasn't lying. But she was still hesitant.

"If you don't fly us there, we will be forced to take your plane and fly there ourselves. There are four of us and only one of you." She pointed towards the plane. "And I'm sure I can figure out how it works," Cascade added, a grim expression on her face.

This made up Elaine's mind. She certainly didn't want to have a bunch of strangers flying her plane. Why she couldn't think of any other alternatives other than the two that Cascade had suggested, she wasn't sure. "Okay, okay. Calm down. I'll fly you there." Elaine gave a deep sigh and opened the door of the plane. She beckoned them in. They all smiled and climbed aboard.

Inside the plane, Andrea turned to Cascade. "Do we even have seven hundred suns?" she whispered.

"No. I doubt we even have seventy suns if we put all of our money together," Cascade replied.

Andrea laughed. "But I'm sure that was not the most diplomatic way to handle that situation, Cascade."

Cascade turned to Andrea and raised an eyebrow. "As diplomatic as I am," Cascade replied, straightfaced, "sometimes a different tactic is needed."

"And where'd you learn this tactic from?"

"From you. Turns out it's quite useful for situations such as this. I probably wouldn't have been able to find a diplomatic solution to that problem. Even I'm not diplomatic enough for that." Cascade let her smile break through.

A grin spread across Andrea's face. "Sounds like I've been a bad influence ever since we've become friends."

"No. You've been a good influence. I've enjoyed using some of your tactics."

"Like the one you just used?"

"Just like the one I just used."

They both laughed at that, then sat together in companionable silence, thinking about all of the bad, or rather, good, influences Andrea had had on Cascade.

"Hello!" Cascade called into the open space. The only response was her own echo, which rebounded around the mountains that completely surrounded them.

The space was in a naturally square shape, about forty meters by forty meters wide nestled into the mountains. There was a small path, however, going in between two of the mountains, which the Elementals had entered through.

"I think this is a good space," Omar said.

"You can't see it. How do you know?" Andrea asked.

"I calculated the amount of time that it took the echo of Cascde's voice to rebound."

Andrea didn't have a response to that. Cascade smiled. Somebody else other than me has finally gotten advantage of Andrea in an argument.

Andrea glared at Cascade for her thoughts. Cascade ignored the look.

"Well, we should start practicing by figuring out what we're not good at." Concord looked at the other Elementals.

"I agree," Cascade said. "Well, Andrea and I already know what we're bad at. I can't make water out of the air, and Andrea takes forever to summon fire."

"Again, such bluntness. Wherever did you learn that from?" Andrea muttered. "From me, I suppose." She sighed. "But do I really take forever to summon fire?" she asked Cascade.

"Yes."

Andrea sighed. So much for hoping Cascade was going to give me an empathetic answer.

Indeed. Cascade's thoughts appeared in her mind once more.

Andrea switched topics. "Omar, do you have something you need to work on?"

"I'm not good at... well... smoothness. For example, when I floated down into that temple, it went nicely until I was near the ground. Then I just thumped to the ground. My powers are either on full power or on no power."

Andrea nodded. It made sense. "What about you, Concord?"

Concord thought for a moment. He knew that he was quite in control of his powers. At the moment he couldn't really think of anything. He was pretty powerful and could command the rocks and soil to his will easily. "I can't really think of anything," he admitted.

"Oh, come on, Concord! There must be something you need to work on!" Omar told him, grinning.

"I really can't think of anything."

"Hmm." Omar shrugged.

"Well," Cascade decided to rejoin the conversation, "maybe Concord just doesn't have anything that he really needs to work on right now. He could just practice what he can do for now. He can also supervise our training and tell us what we're doing wrong or how to improve."

"Hmm. Sounds good to me," Andrea said.

"I like it." Concord agreed.

Omar smiled and nodded. "I agree."

Cascade smiled. "Then let's get to work."

They all sat in silence as Andrea channeled her power from her core into her flames. Her eyes glowed and she appeared to be covered in bright orange fire as she constantly threw fireballs at the wooden targets.

In the night, it was especially hard to take your eyes off of Andrea, as she stood out in stark contrast to the backdrop of the night sky and dark surroundings.

Everyone watched in awe while the targets burst into flames as Andrea launched the balls of fire at them.

The targets were basically stacks of wood that they had gathered from the surrounding forest. They were tied together with some vines. Andrea's goal was to light all of them on fire in a certain amount of time, reducing the time each time she did the exercise.

"Stop!" Cascade yelled, just as another fireball went on its way.

Andrea tried her best to stop the fireball in midair, but she tripped over a stone on the ground, and lost her focus.

The fireball smashed into the target, and Andrea fell to the ground. She stopped glowing and got up from the ground wearily.

"That was a good round." Cascade told her.

"Thank you."

"But we found something else you're not good at."

"Great."

"You lose focus easily. You tripped over the stone. You lost your focus. You need everything to be completely quiet. Your last fireball was significantly smaller. I suspect it was because I said something and your focus was momentarily distracted. You need to learn to focus through distractions."

Andrea sighed. "The stone wasn't fair. I was going to fall over and smash my head into the ground."
"That brings me to another point. You should be more aware of your surroundings, even in the darkness. You need to be able to feel the ground instead of having to see it."
"I can only do so many things at once!" Andrea protested. But she knew Cascade was right. She sighed. "I'll work on it."

"Good."

"WAKE UP!!!" Andrea shouted in Cascade's ear.

Cascade leapt out of bed, a sword of ice materializing in her hand as she took some water from a pot beside her. She spun around, stopping the blade of the sword just in time, so as to not separate Andrea's head from her shoulders.

"Wow. I didn't know you could make a sword!" Andrea exclaimed excitedly, a grin on her face. "Or use one, for that matter!"

Cascade looked at the sword in her hand. "I may have practiced a little on my own time," she admitted ruefully.

"Are you kidding!? That's awesome! I wish I could make a sword out of fire!"

"I'm sure that if you work up to it, you can."
"You really think so?"
"I really think so."

Andrea started to bounce up and down with excitement. Cascade mentally slapped her forehead.

Andrea's focus was already reverted back to the sword. "That's really beautiful."

Cascade looked at the sword once more.

The blade was a light shade of cornflower blue. It was long and straight. The hilt of the sword was white. A hazy white. There was a crossguard on the sword, which curved in the direction of the blade. It was also a hazy white, like the hilt. There was a round, sapphire blue gemstone embedded into the hilt.

"That's the most beautiful sword I've ever seen," Andrea said. "Though I'm not exactly sure how many swords I've seen."

Cascade had to grin at that. She spun the sword around a few times. Andrea watched in excitement as it gracefully sliced through the air, gradually speeding up as Cascade became more accustomed to the weight and length of the sword.

Andrea and Cascade moved outside, where Concord and Omar were talking.

Cascade moved to the middle of the arena, still spinning the sword around her. It continued to increase in velocity.

Soon, you could no longer see Cascade's hands or the sword as it sliced through the air, creating a seemingly impenetrable barrier on all sides of Cascade. The only way you could know it was there was by the blue streaks that were, indeed, for a brief moment, where the sword had been.

Andrea had an idea. She waited a few seconds. Then she shouted to Cascade. "Stop!"

Cascade stopped in the position that she had been in. She put the sword down in the ground in front of her, digging its point into the light brown soil. "How'd I do?"

"Amazing!" everybody said at once.

"I could tell how fast that sword was moving just by the sound of it slicing through the air! I would have said it was impossible to move a sword that fast if I hadn't heard it just now!" Omar said.

"I couldn't even see the movement of the sword! So Omar, you didn't miss anything," Andrea said.

Omar laughed.

"That was great!" Concord said. "But you still need to learn how to get water out of the air."

"I bet I could do that, if I tried," Cascade said.

Concord shrugged.

Cascade took a deep breath and knelt down. She touched the sword briefly and it evaporated.

"Interesting." Concord muttered. "She can put water into the air, but can't take it out."

Cascade stood again and put her hands out on either side of her. Then she focused and closed her eyes, willing the moisture in the air to form droplets. But she didn't feel anything happening.

"Take your energy from your core!" she heard Andrea tell her.

"Don't let your worries or fears distract you! Stay calm and don't let your emotions interfere!" Concord added.

Cascade tried the techniques.

Suddenly, she felt something happening, things clumping together, something sapping her power, and for a fraction of a second, she wanted to focus on what had happened. But she knew it would break her focus, so she didn't. She simply focused on taking the energy from her core, then channeling it to her hands, and then willing for the droplets to form.

Andrea watched as Cascade's eyes opened, glowing and full of energy and passion. Her long, open hair slowly floated up into the air, as if it was being blown by the wind. But there was no breeze.

Droplets formed in the air, lots of them, as if raindrops had been frozen in place. Now Cascade made her hands into fists, and the raindrops clumped together to form a sphere of water. The ball of water became taller and thinner, then froze.

The sword materialized from the water that Cascade had taken from the air, and she stepped forward to grasp the floating sword. Her hair floated softly back down, and her eyes stopped glowing.

It had been a masterful performance.

"That was amazing!" Andrea exclaimed. She rushed forward and hugged Cascade tightly. Cascade returned the embrace.

"I certainly wouldn't want to fight you!" Concord said.

"Thank you," Cascade replied tiredly.

"I loved it," Omar said.

Andrea turned to him, one eyebrow raised.

"Yes, yes, I know, I couldn't see it. I regret that. But I could feel the power, surging outwards towards me, even from a distance. That is impressive."

"But it took so much of my energy." Cascade sighed, finally finding something that wasn't perfect.

"I'm sure you'll get it in time," Andrea told her.

But we don't have time. Cascade was careful not to share the thought with Andrea. She didn't want to make Andrea any more worried about the upcoming events.

For Andrea was, in fact, worried. Cascade could sense it. Andrea was worried that she would not be able to control her powers when the time came and they needed her most. Cascade had a plan for later to encourage her. But that was a plan for later.

"Omar, your turn to practice." Cascade turned to him.

"What training exercise will Omar get?" Andrea asked.

The gears in Cascade's mind turned quickly as she looked at the mountains around them, then at Concord, then at Omar. She nodded in satisfaction.

"Concord, when I say 'go', you push out a chunk of rock from that mountain right there." Cascade pointed to a mountain on her left. Now Cascade turned to Omar.

"Omar, when Concord pushes it out, you need to use your 'sixth sense' to sense where it is. Then, try to soften the landing so that the rock doesn't shatter on impact. And Concord, use a softer piece of rock, one that will break more easily."

Both Concord and Omar nodded in recognition and acceptance of the plan.

"Sounds good to me," Omar said. "It's going to be a challenge, no doubt."

"I'm just glad to have something to do," Concord said.

Everyone laughed.

Cascade clapped her hands together. "Well, then. Let's start."

"Go!" Cascade called out.

Concord pulled out a boulder, about a meter wide and tall. Then he dropped it, stopping all control he had over it. It plummeted towards the ground at a swift rate.

Omar's breaths in and out were so powerful that they pulled the rest of the Elementals in when he took a breath in, and pushed them away when he took a breath out. Concord had to embed their feet into the ground to keep them from being blown away.

A tornado seemed to rise up from the ground and catch the boulder in midair. It slowed the boulder's progress significantly, more than anybody had expected. But when the boulder was a few meters away from the ground, the tornado dissipated and the boulder shattered on the ground.

"AAAH!" Concord just barely had enough time to throw up an earth wall in front of them before the shards hit the wall. Dust flew everywhere.

When the dust cleared, everyone looked around. The boulder was clearly broken.

Cascade shook the dust from her hair and thought about what Omar had said he needed to work on. He had definitely told the truth about it. He had controlled the boulder's descent magnificently until a few meters away from the ground. Then it had fallen and broken.

It puts a lot of pressure on the air when there's less space. Cascade looked at the shards, strewn across the area in front of her in a haphazard pattern. It makes sense that's when it falls. I wonder how we can help Omar become better at that. Or maybe Omar just needs practice.

Omar looked disappointed. Cascade walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "It was still impressive, Omar. You'll get it in time. It just takes practice."

Omar smiled at Cascade. "I'm sure it does."

The others nodded and came to join them. Omar looked around and stood up a little straighter. And for the first time in his life, he felt accepted by the world. Truly accepted. A feeling he had never felt before.