Present-day Arya turned to face the Howler and I. "That's Taj," she said, pointing with her thumb to the boy. "He was... my friend, I guess."

So this is the infamous Taj, I thought, staring at the boy in Arya's memory. Why was she muttering his name?

"What did he mean when he was talking about sacrifice?" the Howler asked as I tried to wrap my brain around what I had just seen.

"Remember how I said strong emotions interfere with my abilities?" she asked me, and I nodded. "Well, make that any emotions. The gurus forbade friendships, which is why Taj and I had to sneak around."

"If we had stayed in Elaria, we wouldn't have been able to stay friends," Arya continued.

Younger Arya and Taj had since run back to the village, and I grabbed Arya's hand, ready to transport us back to the shop.

"Not yet," she said, gesturing towards the hill.

Arya and Taj came rolling down the hill again, a few years older than the pair we had just seen.

"I can't believe we're doing this," Taj said breathlessly.

"Believe it," Arya said with a grin. "We're getting out of this dump."

An acrid scent began to intrude my nostrils, and I instinctively closed my throat — smoke.

In the distance, a fire roared and incinerated the straw huts. Both Arya's and Taj's eyes grew wide.

"The gurus," Taj said worriedly. "We have to go back."

"What? But you said it yourself — they don't care about us!"

"That doesn't mean I don't care about them."

Taj turned around and bounded towards the fire, with Arya hot on his trail.

"Taj! Don't do this!" she screamed through the smoke. "You're only endangering yourself!"

Suddenly we were in the thick of the flames. The plucky confidence had all but disappeared from Taj's face.

"'I'm scared Arya," Taj whimpered. "My powers, I can't-" He looked up with pleading eyes. His face grew ashen and sweat poured from his forehead. "Do something!" he cried.

"This is why the gurus told us not to be friends!" Arya yelled. "Now you're powerless. Pathetic."

Taj looked taken aback, a sudden stab of terror piercing his gut. "Yeah, well what good did that do them?" Taj yelled back. "They're all dead!"

"And so are you," Arya said coolly.

I looked with alarm at present-day Arya. She didn't. She couldn't. Right?

The younger Arya tried to repel the flames, but they were getting higher and higher, creating an impenetrable wall between Arya and Taj. Eventually, she turned her back towards her supposed friend and ran away from him, using her abilities to shield her from the heat.

"Arya!" Taj kept screaming, over and over. Listening to his yelps was painful.

I looked to the younger Arya, who had no obvious emotion on her face. Present-day Arya, however, was struggling to stay upright, her eyes burgeoning with tears and hands seeking something — anything — to hold onto.