"Oh. Hello, uncle Lys."

Lys cocked his head to the side, a smile on his face. "Well, aren't you going to let me in?"

Stepping aside, Destan let his uncle into the cottage, closing the door behind him. Lys let his gaze wander through the bare living room, before settling on his nephew. His face didn't betray a thing, though Destan could only imagine just how meager it must've looked to his uncle.

"Er... Would you like something to drink?"

"No, no," said Lys, waving his hand. Destan heaved a quiet, but relieved sigh; he wouldn't have been able to offer anything but water. "We should get going soon. Aruna is almost ready for you."

"Oh!" Destan's eyes widened. He'd been waiting for this for days, barely able to sleep at night through the excitement. He'd been to his father's grave, between the mountains, twice in three days, to tell him all about it. Finally he was able to help his tribe. And maybe, just maybe, he would be accepted soon.

Would his mum be proud of him?

"I just wanted to have a quick chat with you first. Is your mum not here?"

"She's in bed," Destan muttered as his uncle took a seat on one of the chairs. He was careful about it, as if he wasn't sure the rickety stool could hold him.

"Right, right." He stared at the door that hid her bedroom from sight. "Such a pity, that," he added in a voice so quiet Destan wasn't sure he'd heard him right.

"She... She just misses him," said Destan. "So do I." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the entire truth either, and they both knew it. His mum didn't just miss her husband, she missed her baby, too. She hadn't been the same since Julia was taken away. The death of her husband had only made it worse.

"Me too, my boy. Me too. Your father was a great friend. I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for him."

"Really?" Destan asked, eagerness widening his eyes.

Lys nodded solemnly, the fat under his face puffing up into a second chin every time his head dipped. "Your dad introduced me to his sister, Cerys. Without him, I wouldn't have married into the Kardos family. He also recommended me to Remus for the role of advisor, after the previous one retired. I owe him much."

Destan stared at his uncle, who was taking several steadying breaths. "I... I had no idea."

A humming noise rumbled from deep inside him. "In fact, your dad was my son's godfather. Before the ancestors claimed them both."

A pressing silence filled the little room. Destan furiously blinked the upcoming tears away, as memories of his dad burned bright in his mind. He could still feel his dad's stubble against his neck, as he wrapped him in a tight hug. His heart hurt every time he thought about him.

Lys sighed. "What's done is done. We must live in the present. I am training Tari to be the best damned Chief this tribe has ever seen and you..." His lips curled into a smile. "You might finally make up for past mistakes soon."

Destan nodded fiercely. "I will, uncle. For my dad." He hesitated, then added, "Do you think granddad will forgive me, if I do this right?"

Reaching out, his uncle clapped thick fingers on his shoulder. "He just might, boy. So it's important that you do your best. Listen carefully to Aruna's instructions and do what she says. Aruna is a clever woman. She's the only one who has ever seen the potential in you."

Destan grimaced. "I hope she's right about that."

"She is. I know she is." Lys' thick, grey eyebrows furrowed. "The tribe, they... They are easily scared. Losing control is dangerous, Destan, you know that better than anyone. These powers we have can create complete chaos. They can kill, even if we don't want them to."

A heavy pit settled in his stomach. Yeah, he thought, that's for damned sure.

"Tribers fear that. We need control to survive. But you were only a boy. You've lost your dad and then you lost everything. You deserve better than being treated like dirt. Aruna knows this."

His eyes pricked as he looked up at his uncle. He couldn't remember the man ever having said such a nice thing to him before. "Thanks, uncle Lys," he said genuinely. His uncle's ice-blue eyes looked down on him, a gentle gleam in them.

"Right then," said Lys, jumping up from the creaking stool. "Let's get going, shall we?"

***

The door opened and Aruna stepped back inside, a pleased smile on her face.

"Well, I'll leave you to it then," said Lys, turning around to take the short walk back to his own home.

Destan followed the old woman inside. Two people sat on the sofa behind her. Both their faces fell when they saw him, and Destan felt his own do the same.

He had seen both the boy and the girl around camp before. He recognised the girl's long silver hair, pulled back in a loose ponytail, and the smoky lines that made her eyes look big. She was pretty in an intimidating way.

And the boy, with his fiery hair and slumped posture, didn't look any friendlier. He seemed to always be pulling a face as if he'd just taken a bite out of a lemon. Instead, all it took for him to scowl like that, was seeing Destan, the outcast of the tribe. Destan had never spoken with either of the two, even though they were both his age, but he knew the boy lived nearby him.

"What is he doing here?" sneered the boy.

"I don't understand," said the girl, eyeing Destan suspiciously. "You said you had news about our task. I figured Elias and I..." Gesturing at the boy next to her, she didn't finish her question. Yet everyone in the room knew what she was going to say: I figured Elias and I would form a team, but the outcast is here too, and he can't possibly be part of my team.

Aruna's smile didn't waver and Destan struggled to swallow away the doubt he suddenly felt towards the well-respected tribe trainer.

"All three of you will soon turn sixteen, which means you'll be looking for a job," said Aruna.

Elias scoffed, and Destan knew what he was thinking: How can an outcast have a job? He's not even part of the tribe! But Aruna silenced him with one look.

"All three of you will need a job," she repeated. "And considering your individual powers, we have got just the thing for you."

"You can't be serious!" snapped Elias. Aruna shot him another look, but this time it didn't stop him. "He's an outcast! He's not supposed to have a tribe job, it's against the rules!"

"That," said Aruna sharply, her smile finally fading, "is up to Remus. Not you."

Despite Aruna standing up for him, Destan shrank against the door. This was why he never talked to people. He'd felt their eyes on him as he made his way through camp, but he always kept his head down. Because if he said anything, the tribers would let him know how they really felt about him.

And that wasn't pretty.

"The Chief has agreed to this?" said the girl with the silver hair, her eyes widening.

"Yes, Keara, he has," said Aruna, annoyed now. "And if you two have any decency, you will show our Chief the respect he deserves and you will obey his decisions."

The two paled slightly at Aruna's words and bowed their heads in defeat. This seemed good enough for Aruna; the smile came back to her face, although tighter than before, and she continued her explanation.

Destan, however, felt blood rush to his head. Why did Aruna place him in a team? She knew perfectly well that everybody in the tribe hated him. She was there when he made his mistake all those years ago. She was there when his grandfather had declared him an outcast. And she was there for all those years, while everyone avoided him like the plague.

"You three are lucky enough to have been handpicked by the Chief and his advisor to carry out a special kind of task. You all know about the dire situation the tribe is currently in. We will not survive the coming winter if we don't do something drastic. Which is why we have decided to send a team into Grimsby and take some of their food. They have plenty. Completing this task is a way for you to help out the tribe, to make us all stronger. To help us survive. I cannot stress enough how important this is for our survival.

"Please understand the gravity of this situation. The danger of the task. For this reason, we have decided to place you into a team, so that you can tackle these assignments together. You three have powers that we think go well together. Elias' fire, Keara's metal and Destan's levitation can be used to attack, defend and distract, whichever is necessary. Destan can take what we need, while Elias and Keara can either cause a distraction or defend you all. Your powers complement each other perfectly."

She cleared her throat, hand folding behind her back, then added, "As long as you give each other a chance."

For a few moments, nobody spoke. Destan stared at Aruna, his back against the door, making sure to avoid eye-contact with Elias and Keara. His gut churned as he felt their eyes on him. If looks could kill, he would've been a pile of ash on Aruna's fluffy mat.

These two hated him. He wanted to get out of there.

Elias spoke up. "What have we done wrong?"

"Pardon?" Aruna frowned.

"What have we done wrong to deserve this?" said Elias with a furious look at Destan.

His cheeks burned and his atraments itched as anger raged through them.

"Elias is right," said Keara. "I don't think anyone in the entire history of the tribe has ever been made to work with an outcast. Why us?"

"That is completely irrelevant," said Aruna. "Destan's powers are incredibly strong. Outcast or not, we cannot justify letting them go to waste. Especially in trying times like these."

"There's a reason he's an outcast," Keara shot back. "He broke the rules once, how are we meant to trust him not to do that again?"

His hands balled to fists by his side as he struggled to contain the magic within them. He swallowed the rage down, but it pushed its way up just as forcefully.

"Exactly!" Elias chimed in. "He's not adding to our team, he's a danger to us."

Aruna was about to say something, but Destan interrupted her. "D'you know what, it doesn't matter." The old woman turned her head towards him in surprise. "I can't team up with two people who talk about me like I'm a slug instead of a human being. I'm sick of it. There's no point teaming us up, it isn't going to end well."

Destan opened the door before Aruna could stop him. With the door handle in his hand, he stopped to add: "I'll do this task alone, if you want me to. But I can't work with a team."

And with that, he shut the door behind him, his insides churning with the knowledge that he'd just ruined his one chance of ever becoming accepted into the tribe.