Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun; Nintendo/Camelot does.
Dead Weight.
The rain beat down, soaking the grass by the banks of the river. Lord McCoy's barricade loomed ahead, creaking in the wind. Damp sawdust oozed out of the wider cracks, mixing with the mud. Two pairs of boots drew to a halt.
Saturos glanced around warily, one hand on the hilt of his sword. He hardly seemed to notice the rain. Menardi turned to glare down the path the way they'd come, tapping her foot impatiently.
Felix and Jenna finally rounded the corner of the cliff bordering the path, one of them on either side of Kraden, helping him along. The old sage was shivering, bowing his head against the rain. The Proxians set a tough pace. Felix had given up on asking them to slow down. They never paid him the slightest heed. As the three of them drew level with Menardi, Felix asked a question they'd consider more sensible.
"What's the delay?"
"Nothing much," Saturos replied without turning round. He raised his arm, preparing an immense fireball with which to blast down the door, or at least allow them to take it apart with greater ease. Flames looped and flared around his arm, hissing and steaming in the rain.
"Perhaps..." Kraden broke off, coughing miserably. Jenna wrapped an arm round his shoulders sympathetically.
"What?" Menardi snapped. This was taking long enough already.
"Perhaps that's not absolutely necessary," Kraden suggested, having caught his breath somewhat.
"Are you suggesting we go around?" Menardi smiled humourlessly. The river was in full flow, smashing against the banks as it whirled and rushed downstream. "Feel free, all of you. I'm sure we can find replacements."
With a whoosh and a hiss, Saturos' fireball extinguished itself against the door. Gritting his teeth, he readied another.
"Not what I had in mind," Kraden assured them. "This barrier seems rather shabbily constructed. Might it be simpler to see if it will come apart easily enough?"
Menardi strode over to the barrier, with half a mind to prove him wrong. She grabbed one of the heavy crates and yanked at it, to no effect.
"Wait..." Felix stepped forward, squinting at the crate. He wasn't allowed to fight. He got so little chance to practice his Psynergy. Even if it might not work... Raising his arm, he used Move, and managed to shift the crate to one side. The gap behind it gave them plenty of space to pass. Saturos stared, the roaring fireball in his hands fading away. Menardi frowned.
"Well then, let's get going." Saturos headed for the gap without looking back.
"Wait!" Jenna called out, glancing about and trying to brush away the wet hair that kept falling across her eyes. "Has anyone seen Alex since... when did he fall behind? Shouldn't we wait for him?"
The Proxians sighed and continued through the barrier. Jenna looked at Felix, who shook his head.
"There's never much point waiting for him," Felix explained, rejoining Kraden and his sister.
Between fleeing Mt. Aleph and lighting Mercury Lighthouse, Alex had taken quite an interest in their group's new arrivals, only wandering off within towns. Felix hadn't appreciated his presence. When Alex and Saturos had caught up with the rest of them after the fight at the Lighthouse, Alex had encouraged them to gain as much distance as possible, and Felix hadn't expected him to disappear so soon. His absence would have made this stretch of the walk easier, if it weren't for the rain, the mud, the hurrying, the Proxians... Staring fixedly ahead, Felix squelched onwards.
"Hey, look there." Jenna paused, pointing toward the river. "More weird trees, like the one in Bilibin."
"Oh yes. A very peculiar form." Kraden stopped with her, pulling Felix to a halt too. "Almost like people - "
"What have you lot stopped for?" Menardi called out.
"Don't you think these trees look just like people?" Jenna called back. "Do you think they have something to do with - "
"Trees? You've stopped for trees?" Saturos snapped. "Come on! Do you want us to leave you behind?"
"But they - " Jenna protested, indignant at his tone, even if they were just trees.
"But what?" Menardi stomped back over to them. "They look like people? You can't move until you've gawped a little more at the eerie tree-people? Maybe these three can be your replacements! Then we'd be carrying less dead weight."
"Hey! They are eerie." Felix stepped in front of his sister protectively. "They might mean something. The one in Bilibin might not be a coincidence - "
"And what if they do mean something?" Saturos asked, returning too. "What would you have us do about it?"
"Uh..." Felix turned to Kraden for help.
"Well, if we had a Jupiter Adept with us, we might be able to ascertain - "
"We don't have a Jupiter Adept. Or has that escaped your attention?" Menardi snapped. "Why don't we take a sample with us in case we meet one?" She reached up and snapped off a handful of twigs.
"Don't! That might be their hair!" Jenna protested.
"Or maybe their fingers, or their toes, or their twigs!" Menardi tossed them into the river. "Well, too late!"
"Seriously, if those are people, you shouldn't - " Felix tried to argue.
"If those are people..." Saturos drawled, losing patience. "That's enough!" He started to shove the trees over. Almost rootless, they toppled faster than he'd expected; as the trees splashed into the river, Saturos stumbled back, and Felix lunged forward.
"What do you think you're doing?" Menardi grabbed Felix's shoulder as he tried to shove past her to the river.
"Pulling them back to shore!" Felix snapped, trying in vain to pull away. "If they're people, I won't let them drown - "
"Don't you dare drown yourself, boy." Saturos laid a hand on Felix's other shoulder. "You will not throw away the life we saved."
"I won't! I only... No. I'm sorry." Felix stopped, closing his eyes. Why did they always have to make him look like a fool? He couldn't protest against anything they did, even if it seemed wrong to him. Taking hostages, rushing, making enemies... And yet whenever he tried to argue, he ended up defending a ridiculous idea. Letting the wind and rain plaster his hair across his face, Felix stood there quietly, waiting for Saturos and Menardi to let go. Kraden and Jenna looked away, embarrassed for his sake.
"Good." Menardi turned and set off down the road again, Saturos alongside her. "Keep up this time."
"They shouldn't tease you so," Jenna muttered, walking to her brother's side. "You were supposed to have some say in all of this, weren't you?"
"No, I..." Felix sighed, staring after them. "I just had to come along."
"And we're very glad you did," Kraden assured him. "Now, shouldn't we set off?"
The three Valeans continued down the path, reserving further conversation for that evening's break.
Above the low cliffs that ran alongside the path, atop one of the tallest of the genuine trees growing there, a patch of blue shifted against the sky. Adjusting the Psynergy barrier that was holding off the rain, Alex sat on a well concealed branch, eating lunch. The bakery at Bilibin hadn't even noticed its missing wares.
So this was how they handled things without him? While clearly the Proxians were invaluable, setting a pace like this, it looked as though each of the others could prove useful too. All that was missing was a Jupiter Adept, and the Mars Star. The children following them could provide both, if necessary, but that would cause... complications. Better to keep going like this for now. If they could find a different Jupiter Adept along the way, they might be able to avoid involving Isaac's group until the Proxians were ready to return home. After all, Saturos had been defeated. Several temples were supposed to lie along their route, according to the local people. Would it prove practical to kidnap Master Hama...? Maybe not.
After finishing his food, Alex stood and glanced at the recently scattered trees below. Some of them had already washed up on their own. If the rumours were true, those three were probably the youths missing from Bilibin. Drowned tree-people... Could a tree even drown? Stepping off the branch and into the air, Alex warped away. The wind whistled through the space he had vacated, unobserved by mortal eyes - though not entirely unobserved.