The walk through the forest was quiet. Destan, staying several paces behind his teammates, tried his best to focus on the soothing sounds of a sleeping nature, instead of the storm that hung ignored in the air. Rustling leaves, snapping twigs in the distance, the soft whistling of birds just starting to wake up, these were tranquil sounds. Destan suspected they were about to be disrupted by stomping feet, shouting voices and angry, crackling fire.

As they walked, he kept his painful arm pressed against his side. It felt a whole lot better than yesterday, but it still pounded with every step. He probably shouldn't use it too much yet. He'd have to work with his left arm today.

Elias seemed to be in a bad mood already, and they hadn't even talked about the plan yet. Aruna had probably come to see him this morning. Last night she'd promised Destan and Keara she'd talk to Elias, make sure he'd let Destan help out with the task. Make sure he'd stick to the plan. But Elias had made that promise before, and he had broken it. Would he do the same today?

There was a difference this time though, Destan thought as he stared at the backs of the two friends, walking a few feet apart, nothing but silence between them. Elias' fists were balled by his side, as if he struggled to suppress his powers and keep the fire in his hands. Keara kept her head still, never glancing over at her friend. For once her silver ponytail was not bobbing about.

Keara was the difference. Where last time she'd shared Elias' opinion of excluding Destan during the task, this time she was standing by Destan. Keara had changed her mind. Yet she still hadn't told Elias. What was she waiting for? Would she even tell him at all? Or would she just as easily change her mind again? They were getting closer and closer to town and she still hadn't said a word.

"So," said Elias when there was no ignoring it any longer. "We should probably talk about the plan."

Without slowing down, Keara shook her head, ponytail bouncing off her shoulders. "I don't think we do. Aruna created a strategy for us. All we need to do is stick to it."

Elias grabbed her arm and forced her to face him. Destan stopped walking so abruptly that the sudden movement hurt his ankle. He ignored it and stared at his teammates. There was nothing he could do to change the outcome of this conversation. It was on Keara now.

"Aruna included the outcast in her strategies," said Elias, talking about Destan as if he wasn't even there. "I say we change it."

Keara glanced at Destan and he held his breath as he watched her hesitate. "I don't know if you remember how badly we failed the last time we decided on our own plan," she snarled, "but I do. And I'm not planning on that happening again. So I say we do as she says."

Destan's heart jumped at her words, though he kept his face still. Smiling would only provoke Elias more.

Elias' face fell. "You have got to be kidding me! What, you like him now? Is that it?"

"His powers are useful," said Keara, choosing her words carefully. "He's our teammate."

"I never wanted him to be our teammate!" Elias raged. "And neither did you. I don't trust him."

"You don't have to trust him. Trust Aruna."

With that, Keara tore her arm free of Elias' grasp and continued on her path. Elias threw a furious glance at Destan, as if he had caused all this, and then followed after her. Letting go of the breath he'd been holding, Destan got his legs to move again as well. He knew from Elias' look that this wasn't over yet. The boy had too much fire to give in so easily.

It only took a minute before Destan turned out to be right.

"I'm not doing it," said Elias. "I'm not going with Aruna's plan. It will fail, can't you see that? Who knows what'll happen if we fail!"

"I know exactly what will happen if we fail," said Keara. Her face had scrunched up into a worried look and her skin suddenly seemed much paler against her silver hair. "Remus will make us outcasts if we fail again. I won't let that happen, Elias, I can't!"

Destan had never seen her so terrified before. He couldn't blame her. Being an outcast was the worst thing that could happen to a triber, apart from being banished. The point of the tribe was to help each other survive. To live together in a community and support each other. As an outcast, all of that support suddenly fell away and you only had yourself to fall back on. It was a life of insecurity, of loneliness. It wasn't really a life at all. The only reason Destan had survived it, was his hope for a better future. His ambition to one day redeem himself. That was all he lived for.

That and Julia.

"That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid!" Elias sighed. "We can't go back there until we have something to bring home with us. I don't want him to screw it up for us like he did last time. He's an outcast, a failure. It's bound to happen again."

The pair stepped out into a weak, listless moonlight, while Destan stayed behind in the familiar, safe shadows of the trees, waiting for Keara's response. Just like Elias, she could still be swayed. Nothing was decided until one of them gave in.

"Look, we tried it your way last time and it didn't work. Let's just do what Aruna says and get this over with. Please?"

They stared at each other for a while, both desperately searching for a way to convince the other of their mistake.

"I promise I won't intervene," Destan blurted out. He could see his error immediately, when Elias shot him a deadly glance. "I won't do anything except what Aruna told me to do," he muttered.

Elias looked from Keara to Destan and back, obviously trying to find a way to retort. He didn't find one. "Fine," he said. "We'll try it. But don't come complaining to me when he ruins everything for us. Again."

***

The plan was simple. They would go to a different shop this time, because the previous one would likely be better watched and guarded, now that they knew they were a target. It wasn't unimaginable that other shops in the area had been warned as well, but the team didn't have a choice but to take that chance.

After that, it was a simple matter of distraction and diversion. Finding cover somewhere out front, Elias would use his power to set small fires inside the shop, to keep the shopkeeper and whoever else was around busy. In the meantime, Keara would open up the lorry and Destan would lift out anything preservable, filling up the large burlap sack he'd been carrying with him.

Once done, Elias and Keara would keep anyone who tried to catch them at a distance, while Destan would levitate the sack back through the forest, preferably before the sun came up. And that would be it. Easy peasy. They could be back home within just a few hours.

The plan was simple, yet Destan was nearly shaking with nerves, as he and Keara watched Elias walk off to find a hiding place. His aching arm pounded with every heartbeat.

"Are you ready?" Keara muttered.

Destan could hear the warning in her voice. If you muck up, we're toast. He had no idea if she meant it that way, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he had to prove himself to her, as well as to the rest of the tribe. He'd gained some trust with her, but it wasn't much. It definitely wasn't unconditional.

"I guess I'll have to be," said Destan, peering over the low wall they hid behind.

The lorry they'd been waiting for drove around the corner, parking by the back door of the shop. Destan's jaw dropped when it wasn't just the driver who got out, but another man as well. This second man had a bulk of a chest, a guarded look in his eyes, and a gun in a satchel around his waist.

Scrap.

This was not part of the plan. A driver and a shopkeeper, that's what they'd planned for. An extra shop assistant or two could be handled. But a proper guard with a gun? That was something completely different.

"Is he staying with the lorry?" Keara whispered with a squeaky voice.

"Looks like it..."

"What do we do now? We can't get the food with him there."

"No," said Destan, his eyes flashing across the scene as his mind raced. "We need to distract him. You need to distract him, while I take the food."

Keara looked at him, her eyes wide. "He has a gun!"

"Not if you take it," said Destan. "Use your powers to take that gun, then open the lorry for me. Keep him busy while I take the food."

"What if he starts screaming?"

"Then you knock him out. Use the gun for that, if you need to. Just don't actually shoot the gun, because that'll make too much noise. Oh, and make sure he doesn't see your magic." As he said it all, he realised just how impossible her part of the task sounded. She groaned with worry.

Movement near the front of the shop caught Destan's eye. Elias was on the move. "Now, Keara! Before he takes that gun out himself."

Keara took a deep breath and nodded. She jumped out from behind the low wall, diving past the guard's back. Using her metallic powers, the gun instantly flew from its holster on the man's waist into her hand. She aimed it at the man, then used her free hand to open up the side of the lorry – the side facing away from the guard, as he turned around in confusion.

The metal of the lorry creaked and groaned. Destan kept his eyes on the guard, ready to jump out and defend his teammate if needed, until he heard a snap. One of the metal plates had come loose, bending upwards and creating a hole for Destan.

"Hello there, little girl," said the guard in a low, mocking voice.

Keara said something back, but Destan didn't listen. He ran along the wall, making sure not to be seen by the guard, until he reached the lorry. Opening the burlap sack, he stuck out his left hand and aimed his power inside the lorry. He sensed the molecules of crates upon crates of fruit, vegetables, meat, confectionary, condiments, and... Ah! Tins.

The tribe didn't need sweets or coffee to survive. They couldn't use fresh fruits and vegetables that would spoil within days. Even meat didn't last very long. What they needed was tins of preservable food, that could be stored throughout the winter. That was what helped them survive.

As the tins flew one after the other into the sack, Destan peered around the corner of the lorry inside the shop. Elias kept the fires going. Good. It kept the driver and the shopkeeper distracted. Keeping one ear out for the conversation between Keara and the guard, in case something happened and they had to bail, Destan continued levitating tins of food.

The burlap sack was filling up nicely. He'd only need a few more minutes and it'd be done. They could go home, the mission completed.

All of a sudden more voices filled the air. Destan's head snapped up. He peered into the shop to see what was going on. The fires were out. All of them. Elias must've stopped setting them. Was he in trouble?

Tying a quick knot in the top of the burlap sack, he used his power to lift it up. He struggled, having to push everything he had into it. His right arm stung with the power flowing through it. The sack was much too heavy to carry the normal way; all that food weighed a ton. But even with his power, heavy things were harder to carry. He needed both his arms for this.

Glancing between Keara and the shop, Destan made a quick decision. He lifted the loot up into the air, hiding it behind a chimney of a nearby house.

Just out of view of the guard, Destan signalled to Keara that they could go. Just as Keara nodded her understanding, the other voices came around the corner. It was the driver of the lorry and the shopkeeper. And they both had guns. Keara wheeled around and sprinted off, Destan right behind her.

"Keara!" shouted Destan, when they'd put some distance between themselves and their pursuers. He dove into an alleyway, Keara following on his heel.

"What? We've got to go!" she squeaked. "They're coming! Where the hell is the food?"

"It's safe. But we've got to go back."

"What?!"

"Elias suddenly stopped setting fires. He's not with us. I think he might be in trouble. We've got to go back."

Keara's eyes widened even more, if that was at all possible. "Oh no," she whispered.

They left the alleyway on the other side and went around to go back to the shop.

The three men chasing after them must've still been out trying to find them, because the shop was quiet.

"He was hiding over that way," said Keara, pointing and following her own finger to the bushes out front of the shop. She crossed the road without even looking around.

Destan nervously glanced left and right, checking for Inops. "Keara..." They couldn't be spotted. The driver and shopkeeper could be back any moment. Who knew how persistent they'd be in their pursuit?

"There!"

Keara kneeled down and when he approached, Destan saw their teammate lying on the ground, clutching his head in his hands. Blood coloured the ground beneath him red.

"What happened?" said Keara.

"I don't know." Elias groaned in pain as he pushed himself to his feet. "I was setting fires inside, when I suddenly blacked out. I woke up with this." He held out his hands to show the blood on them.

"Someone must've hit you with something," said Keara. "Are you sure you didn't see anything?"

"Not a thing."

"That's because they hit you from afar." His teammates turned to frown at him, so Destan pointed to the ground, where a heavy stone lay half-hidden under the shrubs, just next to where Elias had been lying.

"We have to go," Keara whispered. When Destan followed her gaze, he spotted the shopkeeper, with his gun, coming round the corner, arguing with the guard and the driver. Half-carrying Elias, the team scurried off, staying in the shadows as much as they could until they rounded a corner and got out of sight. They didn't stop to see if they'd been followed.

***

Once they'd taken Elias to safety, Destan told Keara to wait just inside the forest, while he went back into town. The food was still there.

Sneaking through the streets and alleys, Destan made his way to where he'd hidden the burlap sack. The town was waking up; the streets weren't so empty anymore. He did his best to stay inconspicuous, hiding his arms in the sleeves of his jacket.

When he was nearly at the hiding place, he spotted a familiar form on the other side of the street. Destan nervously readjusted his hood, hoping Nero wouldn't recognise him, and dove into a side alleyway. When he looked back, Nero was nowhere to be seen.

Afterwards, Destan couldn't remember how he'd gotten the large burlap sack through town all the way to the forest without arousing suspicion. He had used his powers to keep the sack floating, because it was much too heavy to carry. It floated along over the top of houses, where people wouldn't see it. Still, he couldn't believe his luck when he found his way safely back into the forest.

Keara had indeed waited for him, while Elias rested. His head had stopped bleeding, but he'd had quite a hit.

"Isn't it weird?" said Keara as soon as she saw Destan. "Someone knocked him out and then just left him there?"

"What do you mean?" Destan frowned, setting the burlap sack down on the ground and sitting down to catch his breath.

Keara pulled her hairband out of her hair and retied it again. "Who was it? It can't have been the guard, but the driver and the shopkeeper wouldn't have left him there. They would've taken him into the shop, tied him up or something, right?"

"It wasn't either of them," said Elias. "I had them in my view the whole time."

"There was another person there, then," said Destan. "A fourth person. Why didn't they show themselves?"

"Exactly!" Keara exclaimed. "What if someone saw us using our magic?"

A stunned silence filled the air. If they'd been seen, the tribe was in serious trouble. Even more than before.

"It can't be," said Elias eventually. "Even if they had spotted me, I set the fires from a distance. All they would've seen was me waving my hand around a little."

Keara nodded, but didn't look convinced. "You're right," she muttered. "It's probably nothing."

"Besides, whether they've seen me or not, there's nothing we can do about it now," said Elias. "Let's just get the food back to camp."

"He's right." Destan nodded. "We haven't completed this task until we're back. They can still come after us."

Keara glanced through the trees nervously, and helped Elias up. He smiled at her as he put an arm around her shoulder, muttering, "Thanks."

Destan levitated their loot and the team made their way through the forest.

It didn't take them long to get back to camp, but it felt like an eternity. Destan and Keara kept glancing behind them, making sure nobody followed them, while Elias barely managed to focus on dragging himself onward. The trek cost them all their energy. It wasn't long before Keara started panting with the effort of carrying Elias. Destan, too, felt his breathing get heavier by the minute from hauling the heavy food along. It cost him all his energy to keep the sack afloat.

"Nearly there," Keara said every couple of minutes. Destan soon started to wonder whether she was saying it to Elias, to keep him moving, or to herself. "Not much further now."

As tired as they were, a smile broke out on all three of their faces when they finally broke through the forest and found themselves in the massive clearing that held their camp.

A few passers-by stopped to look at the burlap sack Destan was carrying. Everyone knew what it meant. With their first task failed, the entire tribe knew that this had been their chance to redeem themselves. Coming back with a sack full of food was the way to do that.

For the first time in his life, people smiled at Destan as he walked through camp. For the first time in his life, he held his head up high. Proudly.

As they neared the centre of the camp, the square in front of Remus' house, their Chief opened his door. Remus stepped out into the sunlight, looking down at the team with a smile.

"Welcome back," he said. He glanced at the burlap sack Destan placed on the ground by his feet. "Would you like to tell me whether you succeeded at your task today?"

"We did, sir! We've got the food to get through the winter," said Keara breathlessly.

A smile broke out on their Chief's face and excited chattering erupted amongst the onlookers. "Wonderful. It seems my faith in this team was not misplaced. I'm sorry to see one of you got hurt, though." His eyes rested on Elias.

Elias immediately straightened his back. "It's alright, sir. It was... necessary. It-it was the only way we could complete the task."

Remus' eyebrows raised. "Your team succeeded thanks to your heroics, then?"

Elias' eyes shot towards Keara and back. "Er... Yes. That's right, sir."

Keara scoffed. "You must've hit your head harder than I thought, Elias. It was Destan who made this happen."

Destan's face brightened and he looked around as the growing crowd burst out into laughter.

Remus laid his hand on Elias' wound. The boy's face and shoulders relaxed as the pain was taken away.

"Thank you, sir."

Remus stepped back and smiled at the young team. "You three did well. Remember that this is just the start." His eyes lingered on Destan. "The start of a new beginning."

Destan's heart stopped. What does he mean with that? Was it possible the old Chief meant what Destan had hoped for his entire life? The start of a new beginning. The start of a new life; one in which Destan would be accepted in the tribe.