Fortus was being objectionably protective as the team left for their hunting trip. Any time Standig and Lolo came within three feet of each other, Fortus deliberately inserted himself in between them. Lolo felt stifled, and she was worried about Standig who had, once again, retreated into himself. He didn’t need the constant reminder from Fortus that he had hurt her.

“Fortus, you have to cut that out,” Lolo pulled him aside to say.

“Cut what out?” Fortus was indignant.

“I know you’re feeling protective, but Standig didn’t mean to hurt me. I’ve already forgiven him, and it’s not fair for you to constantly remind him of it.”

Fortus’s face was dark. “You forgive too easily, Lolo.”

“Fine,” Lolo huffed. “Maybe I do. Hold your grudge if you must, but you still have to stop this. Standig was only just starting to get over his guilt for keeping the Wolf Tribe attack from us. No one wants to see him regress, and, tactically speaking, if nothing else, we need him. And I need my friend back.”

Fortus seemed to be warring with himself. “Fine, Lolo,” he spat. “Just don’t expect me to forgive him.”

“He’s still your teammate, Fortus.”

“Yes, but he shouldn’t have touched you.”

“I agree that he made a mistake, but you can’t equate what he did with what Sattal did.”

“I don’t see how it’s so different.”

Lolo rolled her eyes. “Fortus, Sattal took pleasure in hurting me on purpose despite me telling him to stop. Standig hurt me by accident because I couldn’t tell him to stop, and he did stop as soon as he realized that something was wrong. They’re not the same. Not even close.”

“But the result is the same.”

“No, it’s not. Sattal traumatized me. Scarred me,” Lolo tugged at her shirt to reveal the mottled scarring on her right collarbone. “Standig didn’t. He just had the misfortune of kissing me after my trauma with Sattal. Had Sattal never attacked me, Standig’s lapse of judgement could never have had that effect on me.”

Unwillingly, Fortus understood the distinction and sighed. “Fine. Tell me what happened.”

Lolo took a deep breath. “It turns out that you were right about him.”

“How so?”

“He has feelings for me that he never told me about.”

Fortus glared and crossed his arms. “So why did it come out all of a sudden?”

“He saw me with Philige.” Lolo gave Fortus a loaded look and watched as her meaning registered.

“So… wait, Lolo, wait. You and Philige?” Fortus’s anger wiped off his face. “You’ve accepted him? You have feelings for him? You’re dating?!” Fortus processed out loud.

She nodded, suppressing a smile.

“Since when?!”

“We’ve been spending our evenings together since he confessed his feelings for me.”

“And Standig saw you two together?”

“Yeah. Philige came to the courtyard to talk to me this afternoon. I think, at first, Standig was just upset that I was dating his brother and hadn’t gotten around to telling him, and that kind of morphed into jealousy. Emotions all around have been running extremely high lately. He lost control and kissed me, and I panicked. He shouldn’t have kissed me, but his fault ends there.”

Fortus debated which Tragen brother he wanted to discuss more.

“Can you please agree to not punish Standig for this? You know he’s already going to punish himself without your help.”

Fortus wasn’t happy about it, but he agreed. “Then tell me about Philige.”

Lolo beamed. “I like him. Actually, I really like him, Fortus.”

He smiled to see her so happy and gave her a hug. “Then I’m happy for you, Lolo.”

Standig led the team northward, deeper into Bear Tribe territory. Lolo had never seen this part of the Bear Tribe before, and it was breathtaking. The mountains were densely forested, and in the sunset, the trees and low-hanging clouds appeared to be on fire. The storm Philige had predicted was rolling in from the west, and the dark, ominous clouds created a strangely beautiful contrast against the fiery orange.

Even though they were calling this adventure a night hunt, the team wasn’t really there to hunt so much as to look for potential triggers for their ultimates.

“I’m confused,” Ulana complained. “What exactly are we looking for?”

“That’s just it,” Lolo explained unhelpfully. “We aren’t looking for anything specific. We just need an opportunity to figure things out.”

“Great. More unknowns to look for.”

“Since we’re here, we might as well hunt while we look,” Lolo smiled. “If nothing else, we can have some fun.”

“We must really like tromping around the mountains at night,” Ulana continued to gripe. “We keep doing this to ourselves.”

Lolo laughed.

Dusk came, and the wind picked up. The group paused long enough for Huo Lohse to complete her nightly meditation ritual. As Lolo finished, it started to rain.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to track anything in this weather,” Fortus had to shout over the splattering of large raindrops.

Lightning split the sky, and the group decided that it would be wise to seek shelter.

“There’s a large overhang near the foot of the mountain we passed about half an hour ago,” Standig shouted. “It would give us some cover.”

They turned back and Standig led the way. It was nearlybinpossible to see. The clouds blocked out the celestial lights, and between the downpour and increasingly wild winds, it was difficult to see much anyway. Somewhere along the way, the group got separated.

Fortus heard the crack above their heads and pulled Ulana brusquely out of the way. Standig wasn’t so quick, and a giant tree branch caught his leg as he tried to dodge. Between the three of them, they managed to get the branch off of Standig, but it was clear pretty quickly that Standig wasn’t walking away from this one. He was in agony.

“I told you we should just take shelter under one of the trees,” Fortus said angrily. “Now you’re hurt, and Lolo and Jadu are missing!”

“I bow to your wisdom, great leader,” Standig mocked through gritted teeth, holding his broken leg.

“Aren’t you worried about the others?!” Fortus yelled.

“Of course I am,” Standig snapped as pain-filled tears involuntarily flooded his vision. “But there’s not much I can do about it right now, is there?!”

“Boys, stop fighting! It isn’t helping,” Ulana yelled. “Think! We’re supposed to be discovering our ultimates. Now seems like as good a time as any to discover them.”

“Let’s at least get out of the open,” Fortus said and grabbed Standig under his arms to help drag him towards a large rock. “Ultimates. It would be helpful if we knew what they even were.”

“I just hope Lolo and Jadu are ok,” Ulana said.

“They are,” Standig grunted with each torturous movement. “Lolo will know what to do.”

“Lolo will know what to do….” Fortus found himself replaying this statement. “What would Lolo do if she were here right now?” She’d probably try to connect with her wolf spirit and hope for a miracle. That wasn’t Fortus’s style, but, at this point, there wasn’t much to lose. He closed his eyes and gave it a shot. When his eyes opened again, they were glowing amber.

“Did you see which way everyone went?” Lolo shouted to Jadu.

“I was following you.”

“I can hardly see a thing,” Lolo admitted.

There was a loud crack as lightning struck a tree a ways to their left. Even in the heavy rain, they could hear the tree crash as it snapped in two.

“This is getting dangerous!” Lolo yelled. “We might need to find our own shelter for the time being and look for everyone else after the storm passes.”

Another bolt of lightning struck nearby, and Jadu agreed. The wind was becoming oppressive, and they couldn’t see more than just a few feet in front of them as the rain turned into hail. With the next lightning strike, Jadu spotted a large cedar with low-hanging branches to huddle underneath. It was cold and they were wet. Lolo’s teeth started chattering audibly.

“I hope the others are alright,” Lolo shivered.

“Lolo.”

“What?”

Jadu shook his head.

“Lolo.”

“Jadu?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Lolo, where are you?”

“I’m right here!”

Jadu looked at her like she was crazy.

“Lolo, Standig’s hurt.”

“Fortus?”

“Yeah, it’s me. I think this must be my ultimate. Jadu’s with you right?”

“You're ultimate?! Cool! Yeah, Jadu’s here. How can we find you?”

“Lolo,” Jadu seemed concerned, “what’s going on?”

“Shh!” Lolo hushed him. “I’m listening to Fortus.”

“But Fortus isn’t-”

“SHHH!”

“Howl.”

“Howl?”

“Yeah. Howl. I’ll roar. Maybe between us, we can produce enough light to see.”

“Ok.” Lolo took a moment to connect with her wolf spirit before throwing her head back. The light Lolo’s howl produced was quickly swept away in the wind leaving her in the darkness once again. “No good, Fortus, the wind is blowing too hard. The light isn’t stationary enough to use.”

“Same here. Let me think.”

“What are you doing?” Standig asked Fortus.

“Talking to Lolo.”

Standig laughed raucously through his growing delirium. “Of course you are.”

"Boys...." Ulana warned.

“Standig, would you please shut up! I’m trying to think.”

“Oh. Excuse me,” Standig shot back.

“Standig!”

“I’m not the one talking to someone that isn’t even here!”

“BOYS!!” Ulana yelled.

“Stay out of this, Ulana,” Fortus snapped at her.

“Why? So you and Standig can continue bickering with each other?!” Her normally grey eyes had turned a fiery ember color.

“Fortus just wants to be the hero, the leader, the boss!” Standig shouted resentfully.

“Better me than you! You can’t see beyond your own feelings!” Fortus yelled back.

“Both of you, just SHUT UP!!” As Ulana began to lose her temper, sparks shot from her hands.

“Ulana,” Fortus got an idea that he would probably regret later. “Who made you the boss?”

“ME! I MADE ME THE BOSS BECAUSE YOU TWO ARE ACTING LIKE CHILDREN!”

“Lolo, watch for fireworks,” Fortus communicated just in time to watch Ulana leap into the air.

For a moment, Ulana appeared to have wings of fire, and her aerial gained impossible height. As she came back down to the ground, her hands and feet shot off fiery projectiles at Fortus. She landed, throwing hot red flames outward in a large circle.

“What was that?!” Lolo and Jadu both rose to their feet. Glancing at each other, they took off at a run towards the flames.

They arrived to find Ulana yelling at Fortus; one of the nearby trees was ablaze despite the storm. “You provoked me on purpose?! I COULD HAVE KILLED YOU! You’re lucky you only got singed a little. Next time, I won’t miss that self-satisfied, arrogant face of yours!!”

“Standig?” Lolo found him against the rock, shivering and holding his leg just above his knee. The sustained, prolonged pain had made him woozy. “Jadu! Over here.”

Jadu took one look and knew he was probably dealing with a broken femur. “This isn’t good, Lolo. He can’t walk on this.”

“Now would be a really good time for you to remember how that blue fire stuff works.”

“It’s not that simple.”

"It can't be that complicated either. Try connecting with the Blue Dragon.”

CRACK!

The tree Ulana had lit on fire buckled in the storm. Lolo looked up to see it crashing down over their heads. She and Jadu could dodge, but a barely conscious, injured Standig could not.

“Look out!” A shockwave of silver light exploded outward from Huo Lohse’s body until it formed a great protective dome around her and her team. The falling tree was knocked to the side before sliding down the outer edge of the shield. Lolo could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins and a surge of sustained energy being emitted from her body as she concentrated to hold the shield in place. Her eyes had turned a vibrant green. “Jadu, patch Standig up, and let’s get out of here!”

His own adrenaline skyrocketing, Jadu closed his eyes to calm down and take a few deep breaths. He opened his eyes again to find his hands on fire, the flames matching his glowing blue eyes. Standig groaned as Jadu’s hands found his leg, but a few moments later, Standig was breathing easier.

“Thanks for that.”

“Don’t mention it,” Jadu grinned.

With Standig back on his feet, Lolo released the shield. “We need to find cover or at least get out of these trees.”

“Everyone, stay together,” Standig had to shout.

The group grabbed each other’s hands to form a chain so they couldn’t get separated again, and Standig led them in the direction of the mountain pass with the overhang and a noted lack of trees. The hail was beating down over their heads as they ran, passing branches that tugged at their clothes and slapped their arms and legs.

With the overhang barely thirty feet away, Fortus warned, “heads up!”

It was a rock slide. Lolo found it necessary to create another shield as the group huddled against the mountain wall. Sustaining the shield had consequences though. Without the control over her spiritual energy necessary to not over-exert herself, Lolo quickly became exhausted, and her nose started bleeding. Once the rock slide was over, Lolo released the shield and collapsed into Fortus. The team found themselves trapped on both sides by large boulders that had rolled off of Lolo’s shield.

“Alright, Standig,” Ulana grinned. “Your turn.”

“My turn?”

“Yeah. The rest of us have figured out our ultimates through this mess, and the Black Bear is supposed to be super strong or something, right? It’s your turn.”

Standig moved to the giant rock in front of him and started shoving at it, struggling to get it to even shift, let alone move out of the way. “Guys, I can’t.”

“Try connecting with your bear spirit first,” Fortus suggested.

Standig closed his eyes, but was too distracted by the pressure to focus. "I'm sorry. I can't!"

Fortus set Lolo down against the mountain wall to give Standig some extra motivation. "Lolo's not doing well. We need to get her to shelter."

With the next flash of lightning, Standig caught a glimpse of Lolo leaning into the mountain for support. She was pale and shivering, her bloody nose had created streaks down the front of her shirt. With or without the help of his bear spirit, Standig had to find a way to get Lolo out of the storm. “Stay close to the wall," he ordered. His team squished tightly against the mountain, and Standig stepped back to get a running start at the boulder. As he charged past them, Standig seemed to be venting a black smoke. His eyes had turned a steely metallic color. Throwing his whole body against it, the boulder gave way and toppled over the edge of the path to continue rolling down the side of the mountain. Standig’s momentum was great enough that he only managed to stop running once he was under the overhang.

The team found some wet wood and Fortus encouraged Ulana to show off her ultimate again to get it all lit on fire.

“Very dramatic,” Lolo approved through chattering teeth.

“I know, right?!” Ulana was thrilled.

"'Nothing like an emergency situation to force things to happen,” Lolo tried to laugh through her shivering. “'Not exactly what I had in mind though."

“But, we all discovered our ultimates!” Ulana grinned, unusually pleasant considering the ordeal they’d just gone through.

“So, let’s sum up,” Fortus said. “We’ve got Jadu’s healing blue fire, Ulana’s fire aerials, Lolo’s shield, Standig’s… what would you call that? A human battering ram?”

Standig shrugged. “That works.”

“And then, I don’t even know what to call my ultimate.”

“Yeah, what is your ultimate, Fortus?” Ulana asked.

“Long distance communication? Except, it’s kind of more than that,” Fortus frowned. “Lolo, when I was talking to you, I was sort of able to see everything that you could see. It was weird. I saw Ulana’s fire up close, but then I also seemed to see it from your perspective too.”

“So, long distance communication and observation?” Lolo suggested.

“Something like that. I could see that being very tactically advantageous.”

Ulana was less than thrilled. “Does that mean you can get into our heads whenever you want?”

“I don’t know. I’ve only tried connecting with Lolo, but let’s give it a shot.”

Ulana was obviously unnerved as Fortus tried to connect with her. His eyes turned amber, and he seemed to be concentrating really hard.

“Anything?” he asked.

“No.”

“I couldn’t see anything either. Maybe you have to be willing to let me in.”

“Try it with me,” Standig suggested.

A few moments later, Standig heard Fortus’s voice in his head. “Can you hear me?”

“Yes,” Standig said out loud.

“Great, then turn and look at something.”

Standig looked at the fire and then at Jadu and Lolo. “Can you see that?”

“Yeah! That’s super trippy.” Fortus broke the connection and his eyes faded to their usual golden-brown. “My guess is that you have to be willing to let me make a connection,” he said to Ulana. “I can connect with Lolo and Standig. But you didn’t seem to want to connect, so I couldn’t.”

“'Glad to know it requires consent,” Ulana grinned. “That makes me feel much better.”

“Although, in a battle situation, that might make things challenging,” Fortus observed. “Where Lolo was really easy to connect with, even without some sort of warning, we were able to make things happen pretty quickly. If you’re always closed off, Ulana, we might run into some trouble keeping you informed.”

“You’re thinking that this ability can help you coordinate battle plans,” Lolo observed.

“It makes sense,” Fortus said. “Theoretically, I could keep tabs on all of you guys in different locations across a battlefield, come up with a battle strategy, and coordinate our movements.”

“It suits you,” Lolo smiled. “Actually, all of our ultimates seem to suit us.”

“So now what’s the plan?” Ulana asked.

“Well, according to the Great Owl, we’re supposed to learn to control our ultimates,” Fortus reminded her.

“Actually, I think that might be simplistic,” Lolo said. “During the rock slide, when I was holding the shield, it felt like I was in control of the shield but not in control of my spiritual energy. I think I used up my energy more quickly than I needed to.”

“So, in addition to being able to control the ultimate itself, produce it at will and shut it off when we’re done, we also need to develop some control over the energy flow we use to produce it?” Ulana rephrased for clarification.

“Something like that,” Lolo nodded.

“In my case, I’m going to need some practice connecting with each of you,” Fortus added. “I’m getting the feeling that some of you are going to be easier to connect with than others.” He gave Lolo a meaningful look.

“Once we are satisfied that we have our ultimates controlled, aren’t we supposed to declare ourselves?” Standig asked.

Fortus nodded. “'Weird thought.”

“How long do you think that will take?” Ulana asked. “Weeks? Months?”

Fortus shrugged. “Depends on how hard we work on it, probably.”

“I’m getting the feeling that, even with our ultimates, we’re still going to need to be careful about using them,” Standig said, looking at Lolo’s bloody shirt. “Using them too much seems to cause damage.”

“I’d also imagine that we can build up to longer, more frequent use,” Fortus agreed. “Almost like putting on muscle. The more we exercise, the more we’ll be able to do.”

“Makes sense to me,” Jadu agreed.

“Speaking of, if it’s alright with you guys, I’m going to meditate again,” Lolo said. “I’m feeling quite drained.”

Having used up so much of her spiritual energy producing her ultimate, Lolo’s meditation was a particularly lengthy and luminous ordeal. Around her, she could hear her friends complaining about being blinded by all the energy that she was absorbing, and it took a lot of self-control not to laugh in favor of maintaining her meditative state.

Meditating felt amazing. With each breath, she was reinvigorated, and the Silver Wolf seemed happier and more active in her chest. Once satisfied, Lolo felt her wolf spirit curl up to rest, and she ended her meditation. When she opened her eyes again, her teammates had all laid down on the ground to bury their faces in their hands. Standig and Jadu had fallen asleep with their eyes covered. Lolo laughed. “You all look ridiculous.”

“You couldn’t see how bright that was,” Ulana laughed back. “Seriously, it hurt our eyes.”

“Yeah, Lolo,” Fortus grinned. “During our morning meditation, it’ll be your turn to get blinded. All four of us get to make up for used energy.”

Lolo smiled. “I look forward to it. I’ve never seen you guys absorb visible amounts of energy before. I still don’t know what that looks like.”

“So, now that you’ve meditated, how do you feel, Lolo?” Fortus asked. “Are you at full capacity? Or will it require further meditation?”

“Actually, I’m pretty full. I wouldn’t say that I’m at one hundred percent, but maybe ninety? I’m thinking that my Silver Wolf spirit is getting more efficient the more we do this together too.”

“That’s definitely a good thing, especially if we’re supposed to be practicing our ultimates regularly,” Fortus was pleased.

“We should get some sleep,” Lolo said. “Tomorrow we can meditate before heading back to the Leader’s Lodge.”