He remembered the day that his follower disappeared. When Yuma asked his parents where the boy had gone, they said something that was incomprehensible to him at that age. Something about the boy's parents selling him to the Cowbird Project. Yuma never found out what a cowbird was. He had always wondered if they were just flying cows. Now he remembered Sam's mom telling him about the birds in one of her stories. She had told him that they laid their eggs in other birds' nests, and if the other birds were naughty, they'd get replaced. Sky wondered how much of that was children's' stories to make him behave, and how much was real, but it did confirm that cowbirds were birds, and not cows.

Sky watched the boy sit down, directly in front of Yuma, and make eye contact with him. "Riley, what are you doing here?" He asked the boy, making sure to use Yuma's voice. Ava started coughing on the water she was drinking, and he gave her a curious glance. Ava looked between Riley and Yuma with wide eyes. What was that face she was making? Maybe she was nauseous. Koa put his head under her arm, and she absently scratched behind his ear. She had been acting strange lately. He wondered if he should ask, but decided against it. It was still none of his business.

Riley looked shocked. Had he not expected Yuma to remember him? "You remember me, right?"

"Yeah, no, of course. Listen, Yuma, it's kinda weird to see you here. Do you think we could go somewhere to catch up?"

"Uh, sure I don't see why not."

Riley got up, leaving his plate behind, and Koa wasted no time in finishing it for him. Sky followed, but Riley stopped him. "Just you and me, Yuma, if that's alright. These guys are alright, but I kinda wanted to talk in private, ya know?"

"Oh, alright. I guess that's not a problem."

He followed with Yuma, and waited until they were out of sight. He had Kyle trail behind at safe distance. Kyle didn't need to have line-of-sight on them, since he could tell where Riley was regardless. Sam followed from another angle. Riley didn't take him too far, only up the street from their dorm to a quiet alley, but Sky hadn't done much testing with the limits on his spirit connection. They'd played with it some on the walk back to the sect, but they had been tired, and hadn't pushed themselves to find a real limit. So far they had only tested it up to a few hundred yards without feeling any strain at all.

Sky moved Sam and Kyle to opposite ends of the alley, making sure to stay out of sight. Sky wasn't sure what Riley was up to, but he knew from Yuma's memories that it probably wasn't anything good.

"Yuma, why are you here?"

"It's a long story, but basically I passed out from chi deviation, and when I woke up I was in the mountains. Sam and Kyle helped me, so now I'm here."

"Are you going back?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think so. Why are you here? My parents said you joined some kind of bird thing."

"Shh! Keep it down!" Riley whispered, "I'm not allowed to talk about it. Anyway I took a big risk talking to you. Does anyone know who you are?"

"Uh.. yeah, a bunch of people know. I'm not telling everyone, because I don't want to make a big deal out of it, but it's not like it's a big secret either."

" Well, listen: nobody knows where I came from. They all think I'm from some podunk town out in Colorado somewhere. If anybody asks, just tell them we mistook each other for other people. Got it?"

"You think anyone would believe that?"

"It's the best I can do. I wasn't prepared to run into anyone I know. As far as I know, I'm the only one here besides you."

"Huh... alright... was that all you wanted?"

"Um.. yeah. Just stay out of my way."

Sky realized that the other boy looked nervous. Yuma had been a bully as a child, and this boy used to fear his strength as much as anyone else did. He respected the boy's courage for standing up to him like this, but he also knew that if Riley still thought like a demonic cultivator, then he couldn't show any weakness. He would have to put him in his place.

The part of him that remembered the lessons of Sam and Kyle's families, didn't like that he had to see things this way. Sam had especially hated bullies, but from Yuma's memories, Sky knew that he didn't have a choice, if he wanted to avoid trouble in the future. He wasn't sure if Riley had bad intentions though, so he decided to test him. He would just walk away, and see what happened.

"Alright, later," he said, waving with his hand. Kyle was next to the alley entrance that Riley was facing away from, so he moved to where he could see, while Yuma turned around to walk away.

Yuma walked off, but Riley stayed behind. He watched and listened through Kyle's senses, waiting to see what Riley would do next.

With his Sight, Kyle could see the moment Riley started circulating chi. He wasn't used to seeing others' chi yet, but he was comfortable guessing that the boy was preparing to attack. He probably intended to punctuate his demands with violence, so Yuma wouldn't change his mind later.

Sure enough, Riley moved into the first stance of an attack form, and quickly began to execute it while Yuma's back was turned. Chi surged into his legs, and he pushed off powerfully from the ground, closing the distance between him and his target, while swinging a chi-charged fist.

As though he had eyes in the back of his head, Yuma stepped effortlessly out of the way, grabbing Riley's arm as he did, then pulling him forward. Using his weight and momentum against him, it was easy to throw the unprepared boy off balance, and soon his face landed in the ground. Sky wasted no time in planting Yuma's foot on the back of Riley's head.

"You idiot. I said I would stay out of your way."

"Mmmph!" Riley tried to speak, but his mouth was firmly planted in the cobblestones. Sam and Kyle moved into the alley, as Riley tried to grab Yuma's leg. He moved his foot out of the way then kicked him hard in the back of the neck, and he heard a "CRACK" as Riley's head hit the ground again. Sam and Kyle arrived just then, and grabbed Riley's arms.

"Alright, idiot, you can lift your head now."

Riley didn't move.