Pica still couldn't believe it—she was an Elemental! A regular thief from Kefa meant to possess earth-changing powers, and with said powers, along with the other Elementals, would defeat Fangril after three thousand years, and finally free Ethea.

She also couldn't believe her luck on meeting Aeris either—that ranked as high on her chart as being named an Elemental. Her beloved idol. The others told her that Aeris was the Air Elemental, so she was giddy with the thought of traveling with the famous singer. Hopefully, she could one day talk her into singing, like she did for the group.

But neither could she believe how Aeris had acted. In all the concerts, she had watched on the hologram, the singer had looked like an approachable person, fun, and very sociable—Pica had read about her always greeting fans, going to charity events, and the like. That didn't sound close at all to the blonde woman she had met, angered by Pica recognizing her. Perhaps celebrities had a different side off camera... But it still hurt thinking about it.

As they walked back to Uncle Furs', all the other Elementals, and Helian, agreed that her initial meeting was not what Aeris was like. She was mainly quiet but polite, kind, and sociable—that sounded like the Aeris Pica had expected. But once again, they credited her switch being the effect of her losing Heela—someone she couldn't put a face to for the life of her. Pica still had trouble wrapping her head around the fact that they hadn't recognized her either, especially when she sang before.

Coming upon Uncle Furs' scrapyard, Pica wanted to run toward the door of their small shack of welded sheets of metal—Helian said Zelenia and Aeris would meet them there. Aeris could be in there right now! She just needed to see her again to convince her that she wasn't in a dream. But she did her best to hold back her excitement and kept pace with Renuo beside her; she couldn't help bouncing, though.

Dressed in brilliant golden armor, Helian, the personified Sun, strode through the door, followed by the big, green Kemiji, Tegen, Kalisa—a dark-skinned gypsy—and finally her; Renuo and Geryon—Water and Fire—came in last. With everyone coming from a different part of Ethea, they were an odd-looking bunch.

"Uncle Furs! Uncle Furs!" Her excitement bubbled in her voice.

Her eyes quickly swept the vacant living room—a couch and a sofa being the sparse furnishings—then turned on the kitchen to her right. Uncle Furs and Zelenia were seated at the welded dinner table; continued scanning of the room and the stairs leading up to their bedrooms yielded no Aeris. Her energy depleted from disappointment.

Zelenia's soft blue eyes noticed, and she smiled sweetly. Four words summed up the young Moon: pretty, sweet, calm, and caring. "Aeris needs some more time alone to think. She will join us later."

"Will she be alright?" Helian asked.

"Yes. She knows the dangers of a city."

Pica was confident she did and knew how to handle herself, but still didn't like the idea of her being alone. Geryon, crossing his arms, had her thinking he thought the same. So far, the Fire Elemental seemed to always be disgruntled.

"She's a smart one, and a pretty one too; I thought she had looked familiar," Uncle Furs said. "She'll be just fine." He looked at her. "Well, Pica, do you agree with them?"

She stepped up. "Absolutely! There's no way I'm not the Light Elemental!"

He chuckled. "As long as you don't doubt it, I won't either.

"So, how did the meeting with Dyan go?"

Pica jumped into laying out the story and detailing everything the Elementals did to save her. She mentioned Aeris' reaction to being recognized but hurried on in seeing Uncle Furs' eyes hardening—she didn't want him accusing Aeris of being rude when they didn't understand the reason why. She ended with pulling out the gold medallion she had worked so hard in palming from Dyan, almost to have him kill her for it.

After handing it to him, Uncle Furs admired the medallion in the light. "You're right; I think it's from Ibi too. It has the markings of the first Rovaneim. It'll feed us well."

Pica beamed with pride—it had all been worth it. Because his scraping business didn't bring in all the money needed for survival, she stole to supply the rest. It was dangerous, but her smarts allowed her to help her uncle, the only surviving member of her family who took Pica in when her parents died.

She looked at Zelenia. "So, what do we do now that we're all together? Well, mostly..."

The Moon took a heavy breath as she shared a look with Helian. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I understand that it now falls to each Elemental to discover the path to their Element's temple."

Helian cocked his head at her in question. "How do you know that?"

"On my walk here from speaking with Aeris, a sense settled on me that our roles as leaders are over. We are now only supporters as we leave the decisions in the Elements' hands—they will decide on who they will direct next to approach them."

Helian turned to Geryon. "Since you've been through this twice, can't you just tell us where each temple is?"

Pica's "Really? Twice?" went unheard.

The older man's ruby eyes turned on him, burning in irritation. "No. The memory of each location has been wiped from me. And since I was never chosen by my Element to approach them, I do not know how it is conducted," he added when Helian's mouth opened again.

He closed it into a tight line.

It was quiet for a while before Tegen spoke up. "So, we wait for our Element to speak to us."

"Or just to show us where the temples are," Kalisa said.

"Whatever it is, we still have to wait?" Renuo asked. "Great."

***

Pica snapped awake. She lay curled in her bed with slim Zelenia sharing the rest. Kalisa lay asleep somewhere at the foot of her bed. It had been a challenge finding a comfortable spot for the Elementals to sleep in their small house. They figured out that the girls would all share her room, Geryon, Helian, and Renuo would sleep in Uncle Furs' room, and Tegen would have the living room to himself—he was so tall, he couldn't even fit up the stairs. Aeris had yet to show up.

Why had she been pulled out of sleep? Energy kept her from falling back asleep, and the image of the golden medallion was stuck in her head, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it.

So, Pica slipped out of bed, hoping she wouldn't wake Zelenia. She glanced back to find her facing the other wall, breathing evenly. She tiptoed to her door—passing a sleeping Spirit—eased it open, then slipped out to softly shut it behind her.

Uncle Furs had left the medallion on the dining table; she could picture it as clear as day as she crept to the stairs. A step squeaked underfoot and Pica froze, feeling as jumpy as a thief in the night. Which she had been before but wasn't near as this paranoid. And this was her house, so she shouldn't feel guilty.

After fighting a case of giggles, Pica straightened up and walked down the stairs. In the kitchen, she could hear the soft breathing of Tegen in the other room. She thought about going to peek at him but the golden shine on the table captured her focus. The medallion called out to her.

Pica walked up to it and studied it. Nothing looked different about it, but there was undeniably a tug on her soul toward it. So, after hesitating for a second, her hand closed around the medallion.

Gently rolling sand dunes stretched in every direction she looked. A sea of sand surrounded her. A brilliant blue sat above her—she had never seen a blue sky before. The sun scorching her back was so bright, her shadow stretched unnaturally long in front of her.

"Pica," a strong but pleasant male voice said, echoing all around her—so loud and unexpected, Pica nearly jumped out of her skin. She looked but couldn't find the source. "You hold the product of overcoming your fear in your skill."

Suddenly, the sands raced past underneath her, as if she was flying. She flew past the settlement of Nyan and came to a stop before an ancient temple of bronze pipes. It was completely adapted to the harsh life of dwelling in a desert: solar panels blindingly reflected the strong sun; huge wind turbines turned in the gust, converting the resource into power; enormous pipes snaked throughout, burying themselves deep into the outlining sands to stretch toward the nearest water source. It was a marvel.

"Use the key to open Ibi, find me in its maze, and acquire your lineage."

Pica blinked, the vision faded, and she was back in her home. It took her a moment to readjust to the darkened interior lit by the orange nightlights outside.

A noise, like someone walking across metal, brought her eyes up to see a dark form at the front door, hidden in shadow. Scavengers have broken in before, seeking money, and she and Uncle Furs fought them off. Pica held in a cry as the door opened and Aeris slipped in.

When her silver eyes landed on her, Pica jolted, frozen at the dinner table, hand clenched around the medallion, and staring at the woman with wide eyes. Aeris' eyes never left hers as a hand shut the door behind her. They stared at each other for a long time, neither moving nor saying a word.

"I apologize for my behavior before, but don't expect me to fit back into that mold. I am not that woman anymore," she whispered, so light like an invisible breeze, but the caveat chilled Pica, like walking into a cold fog.

"O—okay." Pica still hadn't recovered from the vision she had been thrown into by touching the medallion.

"Pica?" The gentle whisper brought her around to Zelenia coming down the stairs. She stopped at the sight of Aeris.

"Oh, Aeris, you're back. Are you alright?"

Aeris only nodded.

"We're staying in Pica's room." She gestured behind her up the stairs. "It's the one to the far right. We've already set bedding for you. Go on up."

Aeris moved past Pica without a word. She quietly ascended the stairs and was gone. Zelenia turned to her.

"Is everything alright, Pica?"

It took her a moment to move her head in a nod.

"Are you sure? You look shaken." Zelenia came forward to grab her arms.

She snapped out of her trance with the Moon's cooling, comforting touch. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just shown something." Pica looked at the medallion in her hand, then looked back at her. "I know where we have to go."

***

In the morning over breakfast, she told Uncle Furs and the rest of the Elementals about her vision. Their kitchen was put hard to work baking sweet bread, frying meat, and warming coffee. Pica couldn't stand the stuff—she was already hyper enough without needing the black sludge to wake up. Tegen was the only other one without a steaming cup in hand.

They listened to her recounts of her vision without interruption. The men had bequeathed the dinner table to the four women, but Pica barely stayed in her spot from acting out her flying experience.

"Pica, honey..." Uncle Furs began once she finished. "Ibi was destroyed three thousand years ago in the Selfish Wars; nothing's there anymore. No one's exactly sure where it was even supposed to be."

"But I saw it, Uncle Furs! It was this huge temple in the middle of the Emeri Desert, quite a way from Nyan. A voice even called it Ibi!"

"What did the voice sound like?" Helian asked.

"It was male; loud... but soft. Does that make any sense?"

He glanced at Zelenia. "Could it have been Potens?"

Zelenia shook her head. "I don't think so. There's no need for the Sun to talk with her; it had to be her Element."

Pica nodded. "He even said to come find him and acquire my lineage. I don't think the Sun would tell me that since he's already chosen you, Helian."

He shrugged.

"So how far away is Ibi, or well... that other place you're sure exists?" Renuo asked from his spot on the stairs.

Pica turned. "Nyan? Well, it's not that close..."

"How far?" Geryon reaffirmed the question.

"Ummm..." Pica scratched her head as she thought.

"50 leagues northeast away in the Emeri Desert," Tegen answered.

She turned to the green Kemiji. "Wow. Are you like a walking compass?"

"I have learned the maps of Ethea."

"Sooo, yeah?"

"What's our best route, Tegen?" Helian asked.

Tegen turned to him. "Head north out of Kefa, travel 10 leagues to Ahkerrin, turn east onto the Nylanine Road for 5 leagues, acquire camels in Haapavetsi and go 35 leagues in the Emeri Desert to Nyan."

"Sounds like you're all settled on this," Uncle Furs began. He rubbed the prickly stubble on his chin as he thought. "Well, a trip into the Emeri isn't an easy one—I'll go get some supplies. Remember to watch out for Koquas." He put his empty coffee mug down to head for the door.

Pica could see the dejected way his shoulders were slumped to know he didn't like their plan. She got up and ran to him before he could leave, wrapping her arms around his thin form.

"I'm gonna miss you, Uncle Furs."

He patted her hands locked around his chest. "It's going to be quiet without you here, Pica."

"You're just gonna have to make some noise until I get back."