Shadow stood alone on the side of the lake. It was her favourite place and she'd not been there in ages. The small ripple-like waves lapped around her feet. She closed her eyes and sat down, listening to the sounds of nature. Worthy was jealous, but there was no time for that.

"Shadow" he called softly. She turned to face him.

"What?" she said, clearly upset with him for interrupting her.

"Stead said we have to go."

"Already? But we just got back here!"

"Apparently we have to help the Greencloaks win a singing competition so Soama's village can have water."

"Why on Erdas do we need to be there?"

"Cos you know how Stead feels about soama."

"Yeah, I guess, but now?"

"Come on, before-" Stead walked into the light.

"I'm guessing you were going to say, 'before that'."

"Hurry up. Remember, we need this money and a top singer will be there." Worthy rushed off, not wanting to upset the leader of the Redcloaks. However, Shadow started to talk to him. Worthy didn't hear the words though. 

It wasn't far to Trunswick, but the journey was sped up by the excitement of seeing Dawson again. When he got to the gates Worthy saw his little brother sitting on a stage. He ran up to him, only to see the boy was crying.

"What's wrong?"

"I need the Greencloaks to win or else Trunswick will be out of money!" he sobbed. Worthy hugged him.

"Don't worry, we have a master singer on the Redcloaks team."

"Really? Great! You go get them ready, I'll welcome the guests."

"Cool, of course."

Worthy sat in the Greencloaks' dressing room. Meilin, who'd trained as a singer as a general's daughter in Zhong, was representing them. Abeke was her backing singer and the boys were both in charge of directing the band, which was failing on various levels. The Redcloaks stood by one wall.

"Hey guys" said Worthy

"Hey man" said Jolt, giving him a friendly wave.

"Hi" said Howl, who was playing cards with Stead. "Aha, I win!"

"Do you even know the rules of that game?" asked Shadow.

"No" said Howl.

"Not really" said Stead.

"Here, let me teach you" she said, coming to join them at the table. Dawson rushed in.

"Devin, how's the practising going?"

"Oh, erm, good."

"So who's your singer?"

"Ah, em, that's a secret."

"Oooh, ok, you're up next."

"Ok" said Worthy as Dawson left.

"WORTHY!" screamed Shadow.

"What?"

"I'll tell you what. You just entered us into a SINGING competition!" cried Talon.

"Yeah, not cool man."

"How do you expect us to sing? We're half animal" growled Howl.

"Well, some of us are half bird and birds sing" suggested Worthy.

"Yeah, no" said Talon.

"WE'RE ON NEXT AND WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING!" yelled Stead.

"I'll do it" said Shadow. They all turned to stare at her. "I'll sing" she confirmed.

"No, Shadow. You can't remember last time?" said Talon.

"And now we have the Redcloaks, with a mystery singer!"

"Well, here goes nothing" said Shadow as she stepped out onto the stage. Worthy and the others peered round the curtain.

"Please don't be like last time, please don't be like last time" pleaded Talon from beside Worthy.

"What happened last time?"

"She sang so high it shattered all the glass in the room."

"I didn't know that was for real."

"Nether did I, until it happened."

"Hi, I'm Shadow, and I'm gonna sing you all a song" said Shadow. She started to sing. Worthy loved it. She was the best singer he'd ever heard, and he'd heard a lot of singers. Dawson was at the judges table, staring at Shadow. A total hush fell over everyone.

"Wow" breathed Worthy.

"Amazing, isn't she" said Talon.

"You're telling me"said Jolt. "I've never heard someone sing like that!"

"You're not the only one" agreed Worthy.

"I'm betting my sword she'll win" said Howl.

"No you are not, that's an expensive sword" scolded Stead.

"And she's an exceptional singer."

"I know only one person better" agreed Stead.

"Who?" asked Talon, surprised.

"Soama." Talon smacked her head.

"Why didn't I guess?" Shadow started to sing higher. "Oh no."

"What?"

"Get all the glass away from here." But Shadow never reached the high note and the glass didn't shatter. She gave a small curtsy and stepped offstage. The Greencloaks headed out, leaving the Redcloaks alone backstage.

"That was amazing" said Howl.

"You did it, girl!" cried Talon.

"I did, and nothing shattered!" Shadow said, delighted.

"You are the best singer I've ever heard. You haven't lost any of your old talent" smiled Worthy.

"You've heard her sing before?" asked Jolt.

"Yes, she was training to be a singer before all this happened."

"I'm sure some of you would have heard me for my first few weeks at the Conquerers. I sang a lot."

"Nope."

"Never."

"Meh, oh well, you heard me sing then and that surprised me, so no wonder it surprised you." She walked over to the seats at the other end of the room. Talon and Howl followed while Stead went to see how the Greencloaks were doing. Meilin was a good singer, but not as good as Shadow.

"Jolt" said Worthy.

"Yeah man?"

"I think I'm in love."

"I think I figured that out ages ago man!" laughed Jolt.