The rock wobbled in midair, then dropped. It hit the top of the three stacked stones, making them collapse. Wakko growled in frustration; he'd been at this for almost a half hour, and still was making very little progress. Of course, he could barely keep his mind on what he was doing. All he could think about was that fight him and Yakko had last night. It wasn't so much that he was still too mad to talk about it… though he still was a little. It was more that he just had no idea what to say. He'd said something awful, and he knew it. He didn't even really mean it. But it had come out all the same, and he didn't have a clue how to go about taking it back. Jayna's voice broke into his troubled thoughts.

"You're having trouble focusing."

Wakko turned to face his instructor, a sheepish look on his face.

"Yeah… sorry."

She kept looking at him with a searching look, making him feel even more uneasy. Finally, he lowered his gaze to the ground.

"I've just, uh, got a lot on my mind."

"I imagine you do," Jayna said, and her tone made Wakko look up again. A suspicious frown came to his face.

"You… you know what happened?"

The woman never took her eyes off him, speaking in a calm voice.

"You and I are connected… I can sense your feelings. With time, you'll be able to do the same with me."

Wakko's unease immediately doubled; so she could tell what he was feeling, all the time? That was just weird. Apparently reading his look, Jayna's face softened.

"I stifle the connection most of the time," she reassured. "But if the feeling is particularly strong, it can break through."

The middle sibling thought for a moment, then his frown deepened.

"Yakko talked to you, didn't he?"

Jayna's look didn't change, but her eyes and voice grew gentler.

"He's concerned."

Wakko let out a soft huff, crossing his arms.

"Don't get why he thinks he's gotta be," he muttered. There were a few moments of silence, then Jayna spoke again.

"Sometimes, people can seem unreasonable, but it's usually because they're afraid."

Wakko immediately tensed, his throat tightening. It took a lot of effort to keep his voice from breaking when he spoke.

"He must really not trust me if he's scared of me."

A hand touched his shoulder, causing him to look up into his instructor's knowing green eyes as she sat beside him.

"He isn't afraid of you," she said in that strange, gentle tone. "He's afraid for you."

Wakko blinked at that, looking at her with confusion.

"How… how do you know that?" he asked slowly. Somehow, he couldn't see his older brother admitting he was scared, especially to someone he didn't really know well. Jayna looked away, her eyes growing distant.

"I've been on the receiving end of it."

Wakko frowned, but before he could ask any questions the woman went on in a soft, noticeably sad voice.

"Where I come from, magic is mistrusted. My parents were always afraid that someone might… try to hurt me. And yes… some people were capable of that."

Wakko slowly sat down as well, looking at Jayna with wide eyes. What would that be like, living somewhere where you could be in danger just because you were born different?

"Eventually they decided I should go away… somewhere I could learn to master my Gift without fear. As soon as they found someone who could teach me, they sent me there. They were only doing what they believed was best for me, and I understand that it was now, but I didn't then. I was… pretty angry, and I said some awful things to them. And I stayed angry for a long time."

Her eyes moved to him again, and the intense seriousness in them made him shift uneasily.

"The difference between you and me is that you still have a chance to put things right. By the time I understood, my parents were… gone."

She swallowed, and her voice quivered just a little at her next words.

"They always said I would understand someday, and I did. I wish I could take back what I said more than anything, but now I have to live with the fact that the last thing I said to them was that I hated them."

Wakko felt a rush of sympathy at that. He couldn't imagine how awful he would feel if he said something like that to either of his siblings and never got the chance to say he was sorry. Reaching out, he placed a tentative hand on hers.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. The woman blinked and looked at him in slight surprise, as if she had forgotten he was there. Her green eyes bore into his, the expression on her face unreadable. Then it was his turn to be surprised when she lifted her hand and gave his head a gentle pat. He supposed that was her way of thanking him.

"The last thing I want," she went on. "Is for you to make the same mistake. You never know when you can lose someone you love, and you should never let anything you regret saying go without letting them know you don't mean it. Even if they know you didn't, it's still an awful thing to live with."

Wakko couldn't stop himself from shuddering at the thought of that happening with him and his siblings. He couldn't imagine the devastation of losing them even without bad words between them. He gave Jayna a slight but genuine smile.

She's right… I'm just being a jerk.

"Thanks," he said. The corners of the woman's mouth lifted just a little and she opened it to reply, but her face quickly dropped. Frowning, she placed a hand on the ground. Then, without warning, she leaped to her feet and snatched Wakko by the arm.

"Look out!"

She yanked him toward the trees, and he heard a faint whistling sound before an arrow hit the ground where Jayna had been just seconds ago. Wakko heard unfamiliar voices shouting and made out one phrase that sent a chill down his spine.

"Take him alive!"

Are they after me?

When they were behind cover, Jayna knelt and placed her hand on the ground again. After a moment of concentration, she stood.

"There's five of them," she whispered, her voice tense and grave. "But there's something off about one of them. I can sense some kind of… power in him."

Wakko felt his heart speed up at that, but he kept his voice just as quiet.

"Is he… like us?"

He felt a little relieved when his instructor shook her head.

"No… it's not that strong. It's crude, basic."

She looked at him, her face even more serious than it had ever been.

"You can't fight yet. Stay right here… I should be able to take them, but it'll take time."

Feeling a rush of concern, Wakko started to protest, but Jayna cut him off.

"No, there's no time to argue. You stay here, and don't try to help. Do you understand?"

The middle sibling bit his lip, then slowly nodded.

"All right," Jayna murmured, then her eyes softened a little and she gave his head another pat. "Don't worry. I won't let them near you."

Taking a deep breath, she braced her feet, then leaped out from behind the tree. There was a strange rumbling sound, then a loud crash. After a brief moment of hesitation, Wakko very carefully poked his head just far enough out to get a look. His eyes widened; Jayna had torn several large rocks out of the ground and was launching them toward her attackers. But they were fast, and all but one had managed to dodge them.

With a sweep of her hands, Jayna then lifted a shimmering dome of water from the stream. One by one, she shot jets of it toward the strangers, each one freezing into ice as soon as it hit the ground. One struck on-target, and the man found himself frozen to a tree. Not daring to risk letting any of the strangers see him, Wakko pulled his head back and pressed his back against the tree. Then he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. When he looked, his eyes snapped wide in alarm. Behind another tree, he could see both his siblings looking out with stunned, alarmed faces.

What the heck are they doing here?!

When they caught sight of the middle sibling, both made a move as if to rush to him, but Wakko desperately shook his head and motioned for them to stay there. Just then there was the sound of rushing flame as Jayna swept a jet of fire toward the attackers. Much to his relief, the middle sibling saw Yakko pull Dot back. Then, above the shouts, he heard a slightly louder voice yelling something in a weird language, and his heart began pounding when he heard Jayna let out a startled shout. The temptation to do something to help her grew even stronger, but with considerable effort Wakko stayed where he was. If he got himself into trouble it would only make things worse for her.

Then an alarming thought came to Wakko: Jayna knew he was there, but not his siblings, so she wouldn't know to keep the attackers away from them too. There was no way to get her attention without revealing himself, and it would definitely be a bad idea to distract her. Wakko racked his mind, trying to think of some way, but nothing he could think of seemed like a good idea. He glanced over to where his siblings were hiding, hoping beyond hope that no one would get close enough to see them.

For a while, it looked like his luck was holding out. But then a particularly loud shout came from the clearing. Wakko peeked out to see one of the strangers dodging an attack from Jayna, and to his alarm the man, looking for cover, was heading straight to where Yakko and Dot were hiding. If he got any closer, he would see them!

No!

Without a second thought, Wakko leaped out from his own hiding place. Ordering himself to focus, he managed to summon some fire and sent it shooting at the man. He yelped and jumped back when it struck the ground right in front of him. Wakko tried to dodge back behind the tree, but the man whirled around, and his eyes widened when he saw the middle sibling.

Bad, bad, bad!

"Over here!" the man shouted. Wakko made a move to run, but before he could take a step there was a flash of red light out of the corner of his eye. Then something hit him, and it felt like he'd been hit by a jet of icy water. His entire body went cold, and he dropped to the ground, unable to move. Through the heavy fog clouding his mind, he felt rough hands snatch him off the ground. As if from a distance, he heard his brother's desperate shout.

"NO! STOP!"

That was the last thing he heard before everything went black.