Concord woke. Why can I only see white? Maybe I've gone blind. Then he cast the thought aside as he spotted a glowing yellow circle on the white surface. A ceiling.

He tried to sit up, but it was a futile attempt. He thumped back down to meet a soft surface. He looked to his right and left. He was on a couch in a comfortable living room. There was a fire in the middle of the room. There were multiple comfortable chairs in the living room, where two people sat. They looked up when Concord turned to look at them.

"You're finally awake!" The girl sitting in one of the chairs exclaimed.
"Finally?" Concord asked, confused.
"You've been unconscious for a day or two." The girl nodded her head vigorously.

Concord took a deep breath. "How'd that happen?"

"Well, we were hoping you could tell us." The boy sitting in the other chair explained. "I'm Marco, by the way, and this here is my sister, Lynda.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Concord."

"Nice to meet you too, Concord. But we've been wondering if you could tell us... what happened out in that forest?"

"To be honest, I'm not really sure." But Concord knew exactly what had happened. I smashed into a tree with my moving boulder, and when I tried to jump off a shard of it hit me in the back of the head. Then I fell. I'm guessing that's how you found me.

But he couldn't tell Marco and Lynda that. I can't tell them that I can control earth and stones. Plus, I was weak. I couldn't stop that shard or hold up against it. I should be stronger.

"I was just ...walking in the forest when a boulder came down a hill in a landslide," Concord lied. "It hit a tree and shattered, then one of those shards hit me while I was running away."

Concord's excuse seemed to convince Marco and Lynda. "That must've hurt a lot!" Lynda exclaimed. "Are you really all right?"

"Yes, I'm all right. But my head does throb a little. Well, maybe more than a little."

Lynda immediately looked very concerned.

"But really. I'm fine."

"Well, all right." Lynda didn't look any less concerned.
"Really! I'm fine!"

Lynda sighed. "Okay. Just tell me if you need anything! I'll bring you whatever you need."

Concord gave a small sigh as well. He liked Lynda but she seemed to overreact to everything he said. It tired his brain. It took some serious thinking. For she was still looking at him, a bit concerned, and was bouncing up and down looking for something to do.

"You know, I could use some cookies." Concord said whatever came to his mind in the moment.

"I'll get them right away!" Lynda jumped up and ran across the house as fast as she could.

"And I'll have some water, too!"

"Yes, absolutely!" Clattering and clanging could be heard coming from the kitchen. CRASH! SCREEEEEECH! CLANG!

Concord covered his ears. His head hurt more. "Take your time! Don't hurry!"

"OH! Yes, of course!" The amount of crashing and clanging increased.

Concord groaned. "Does she always do this?" he asked Marco desperately.

"Yup."

Concord shook his head and immediately regretted it as it sent a wave of pain through it. He threw his arms over his head.

Marco stifled a laugh. "Is it really that bad?"

"Yeah, I would have preferred that boulder to the sound of the havoc that is probably happening over there."

"Oh, well. Not much you can do about it, though."
"That's exactly the problem."

The crashing and banging stopped. Lynda came back into the room balancing a tray with cookies and tea in one hand and three glasses of water in the other. Three books were stacked on top of her head, balanced there. Concord heard Marco give a deep sigh.

He whispered in Concord's ear. "I told her not to do that anymore! Not since the books fell one day on the glasses and knocked the tray over. It was a terrible mess. It took forever to clean and the books weren't recoverable."

"Oh, my," was all Concord had to say to that.

As they sat and ate the cookies and drank the tea, Concord grew more and more anxious. I keep getting visions of the Denecay Dunes. I can feel a pull towards them. I can't ignore it. I have to find a way to get there.

"You know, I've been trying to get to Moraindia," Concord said. It was the only place in mind that he could think of that was near the Denecay Dunes and wouldn't seem suspicious. Why he knew it was in Moraindia, he wasn't sure. Maybe I read about it somewhere.

"Cool! How are you planning to get there?" Marco asked.

"Um... I'm not really sure. I was wondering if you had any ideas."

"Hmm. Well, you'd have to fly there. We're in Armain, and we're nowhere near the coast. It's not very efficient to drive to the coast, take a boat across the Attane Ocean, then drive some more. I don't even think you're old enough to drive, are you?"

"Nope. I can't drive. I don't know how, anyway. But I don't know how I'd manage to get a flight. That's expensive."

"Yeah, I suppose it is." Marco looked thoughtful. "Well...we could fly you there."

What? "How?"

"We have a friend who has a friend who has a small Aerodon - you know, those metal contraptions that are pulled by two flying creatures. I think she would be happy to take you there. She's been wanting to go to Moraindia for a while anyway. At least that's what I heard."

Perfect! "That would be great! Thank you!"

Concord shook his head in amazement. They're giving me a free flight to Moraindia. This is the strangest thing that has ever happened to me in my life.

As Concord sat on the couch looking at the dying embers of the fire, he thought about what his life would be like from now on. I left the place where I had been all my life, the orphanage, and now I'm going to fly to Moraindia with someone that I don't know. It's crazy. Plus, I got all of this while just being myself. If I had stopped that boulder with my strength, I would probably never be going to Moraindia.

Concord felt himself starting to get very nervous and homesick. He shivered and shook at the thought of flying over the ocean to get to Moraindia. Then Concord steadied himself. He crossed his legs and put his hands on his knees. Then he closed his eyes and meditated. He stayed in this position until all his worries about the coming events of his life faded away, and he was confident in his own abilities once more.

Suddenly Concord slammed into the wall. "AAH!" He opened his eyes and rubbed his nose, which was throbbing painfully. Now his entire head hurt, not just the one point that had been hurting before.

"Whathappened whathappened whathappened whathappened???!" Lynda came rushing into the room.

"Are you all right??" Lynda asked, a little too loudly, into Concord's ear.

I'm going to go deaf like this. Not for the first time, he wished that Lynda wouldn't do that. It made his head hurt more.

"I'm just fine." Concord rubbed his head once more.
"Good, good. Good." But Lynda still looked agitated.

Concord sighed and looked at the wall. I wonder why I slammed into it. I normally never move during meditation. That's the whole point.

"Hey! I just heard you ran yourself into a wall!" came a second voice. Concord didn't need to turn to know who it was.

"Are you ok, or are you gonna keep sitting there like you broke your nose or something?" Marco said, concerned.

Concord realized he had been sitting there for a little while now. "Oh, no, I'm fine. Sorry." He got up but then groaned softly as it sent another wave of pain through his head.

"Are you really okay?" Lynda asked.

"Yes."

"Are you sure? Are you sure? You don't seem okay."

"No, I'm fine. I could use some ice though."

"ICE? Well, if you need ice you're certainly not okay. I will certainly get you ice. I will get it right now." Lynda ran off. More crashing and banging. A bunch of ice cubes could be seen flying across the room.

After a minute or so, Lynda came back out, slipping and sliding with a bowl full of ice. Marco sighed again. Concord didn't because it would make his head hurt if he did.

"Here's the ice!"

"Thanks."

"I hope you're okay. Are you really? Is the ice helping? Is there anything else I need to get for you?"
"No, really. I'm just fine."

"Hmm..."

Marco interrupted. "Hey, I noticed that it's getting late! How about we all eat some dinner?"

"Yes please." A small smile spread across Concord's face. He was grateful that he wouldn't have to tell Lynda that he was fine again.

As Concord walked to the dinner table, he thought about why he had slammed into the wall. I suppose it's because the Denecay Dunes are in that direction. It pulls me towards there. The pull gets stronger every day. That's what makes the most sense. Well, it doesn't make that much sense, but it makes relative sense.

Concord put the thought to the side and sat at the table, determined to enjoy the moment.

The Aerodon started to gain speed.

Concord clutched the small bag of materials that he had brought along for the trip and looked out the window as the Aerodon started to rise into the air. Suddenly, he began to feel strange. Concord decided that he didn't want to look out the window. He closed his eyes and wished for the feeling to go away. Finally, it started to fade. Concord tried not to look out the window, but it was tempting. He looked out.

Concord whimpered quietly as he saw how high up he was. He hated to be away from the ground. He hated feeling powerless. I'm not a particularly strong person. My powers give me strength.

High up in the air, he couldn't use them, and he felt utterly powerless and alone. While the sight out of the window was beautiful, Concord wished that he could be back on the ground, where he was safer.

But if I was strong, then I would be safe up here too, because I wouldn't need to rely on my powers so much. Admit it, Concord. If it weren't for your powers, you'd be dead. You need to get stronger.

Concord suddenly had another thought, and he became more worried than before.

There's so many things that can go wrong in an Aerodon. It could crash, the oxygen could become compromised, and many other things. I don't want to think about them. I like to be connected to the ground.

Concord shivered at all the things that could go wrong. All the safety precautions that were taken on an Aerodon, Concord didn't take into account, of course.

Concord wanted to meditate, but the jostling of the Aerodon interrupted him constantly. It was impossible to stay still. So, for Concord, it was impossible to stay calm. He could only focus on the negatives. I just wish for the flight to be over.

Concord sighed. Not that the sand will be that much better. It shifts and slides and even though I can probably control it, I've never tried and it might not work.

Concord's mood didn't help with this. Normally, he would try to think of how he could learn to shift the sand and how well it could go, but now he could only think of what could go wrong. Concord was even beginning to regret leaving the orphanage a little.

But there was no turning back now. No turning back.