“So we have to climb up that tree?” Jason pointed at the impressively tall oak situated in a less busy section of the park.

Judy nodded.

“And get that yellow thing up there?”

She nodded again. “It's an apple.”

“And we're not allowed to use zai?” He looked away from the fruit taped to a stick at the top.

“Nope, because that would make it unfair for me,” said Melissa with a cheeky grin.

“Why?” Satara asked Sinastar. Did he put that apple up there?

“When you fight, you need certain skills and use different muscles to do it well.” The tree teenagers stood between him and Judy. “Climbing a tree is similar but less violent.”

“Not if we're racing to reach the top.” Jason rolled his sleeves up with a smirk.

“So it's a test?” Satara removed her hoodie and set it aside, straightening out her T-shirt.

“Hey, why're you looking at me like that?” demanded Melissa, flexing her biceps. “I used to climb trees all the time when I was a kid.”

Put them away. Your arms are like toothpicks.

“What about you?” The dark haired girl shifted her attention back to her cousin.

“We're going to keep watch and make sure to catch anyone who falls.” Judy laughed uncomfortably as Satara looked at her. “Of course, I'm sure Spy's going to be the one doing all the catching.”

“When do we start?” asked Jason.

An early spring breeze tousled his red hair as he stretched and Melissa seemed to appreciate its decision, her gaze lingering longer than necessary.

“If you get a bit closer, you can start as soon as I clap my hands.” Sinastar laid a hand against the trunk then backed away from it, both hands raised as he waited for them to get into position.

“Sorry, girlies,” said Jason. “That apple's mine.”

“Oh, I don't think so.” Melissa tied her hair up with a pale blue and pink hairband. “Apples are my favourite.”

“I hope you both enjoy falling into Sin's arms,” said Satara, giving in to the urge to smile wickedly at them.

Sinastar clapped before either of them could express the indignation in their eyes and Satara reached for the closest branch. The bark grazed her skin but she temporarily ignored the risk of splinters. I can just ask Sin how to pull them out with zai later. She tested its strength, then placed a foot against the tree as she located the next handhold.

“What's wrong, Tara?” Jason called down to her from the lower boughs. “Don't you like apples?”

Satara pushed off the trunk and grabbed onto a second branch, pulling herself up as if she were climbing the monkey bars in their school playground.

“They're all right,” she told him before they both lunged for another branch.

“You should try the green ones with salt,” said Melissa from somewhere above them. “They're amazing.”

“I'm more of a Red Delicious guy myself.” Jason grunted as he pushed himself up to join her.

“If you say so.” She scrambled onto the next branch and pointed skyward, balancing easily with her other hand against the trunk and triumph in her smile. “Guess you won't mind if I eat that one then?”

I would. Satara mapped a path through the leaves and made sure to control her breathing as she climbed higher. Just as she started to draw level with them, Melissa flitted to another spot above their heads. What are you, a squirrel? Jason reached for a branch but clearly hadn't seen the crack on its other side. Before she could warn him, he transferred most of his weight onto it and the branch split away from the trunk in seconds.

“Whoa!” he cried out as he failed to find another handhold, mouth open wide in a silent scream as he fell backwards.

Satara threw a cord of Black Fire and caught him by the hand before she remembered Sinastar was watching them from below. Stabilising her own grip with zai, she tried to balance the weight of their mismatched bodies. The stub of a previously broken bough sat close the first and she swung for it, fingers wrapping painfully around the protrusion. They both ended up flattened against the trunk, breathing in its musty scent and coughing.

“Don't move.” She rubbed her face against her shoulder as Jason groaned next to her. “I don't know if it'll hold.”

“Jason,” said Sinastar from a branch above them.

He held out a hand to the younger of the two and helped him struggle onto a tree limb opposite his own. He got up here so fast. Satara climbed up onto another branch beyond Jason's and turned to him as soon as she found her footing.

“Thanks,” he said, patting his chest. “That was kinda scary, not gonna lie.”

She shook her head with a small smile. Her own heart beat started to slow down again. “Even skinny people have to test their weight against things first, you know.”

“I know now,” he exclaimed, brows raised. “I thought I was gonna die!”

“You wouldn't have,” said Sinastar. He nodded at her from the other side. “But well done anyway.”

“I guess this means I'm disqualified now?”

“I'm not sure it matters either way.” He pointed upwards right before Melissa called down to them from several branches up.

“Hey, Jay! Satara!” She swung her legs from the safety of a thick branch and munched on the apple with a big grin. “How do you like them apples?”