And it continues. Already, little hints of change spring up...

As it turns out, Engeve is a decently-sized town. The part you see in the game is really only a tiny portion of the town- though I tried to stay around this area as I walked around, so that I wouldn't get lost. As I passed by the inn, I could hear a commotion going on. That's right… based on what had happened so far, this was when Luke would be accused of stealing. And of course, Ion was supposed to clear his name by finding cheagle fur. But I was Ion… so I'd have to do it. With this in mind, I slipped around to the side of the inn and stood still in the shadows, where I would go mostly unnoticed, and waited. Hopefully, it wouldn't take too long.

Just as I was starting to get fairly bored, and a little bit hungry, I heard a voice that was clearly Luke's. He was arguing about the food theft again… and, of course, he got arrested and Tear just quietly let him. As I could hear his protesting voice fade out, I slipped into the inn. Nobody paid attention to me as I crept into the storeroom. It was a nice cool room, rather dark and nicely dry, perfect for storing food. And, stuck on a little bit of wood was a tuft of bright yellow fur. Score. I plucked it off, then left the building, still going unnoticed. It was surprising how little attention I drew as Ion… but it wasn't a long walk to the house of Rose, a certain village elder. I pressed my ear to the door. I could hear Tear calmly explaining that she and Luke weren't with the Dark Wings… perfect timing. I tucked my staff under my arm and opened the door, still holding the cheagle fur. I emerged into the back of a small crowd, and gave a purposely loud cough. Everybody turned to look at me.

"I heard that food was being stolen, so I went to look… and I found a hint towards the identity of the real thief. The redhead is innocent," I said. They let me through, and I opened my hand, showing the yellow fur. A woman on the lower end of elderly took the fur and inspected it.

"This is fur from a sacred cheagle," she said.

"I told you I was innocent," Luke said, giving annoyed glares to the townspeople. He then looked at me. "And thanks for backing me up, um…"

"Ion," I said, allowing myself a small smile. However, this was a bit worrying. He was already showing a hint of gratitude… which was different from the game. I wasn't sure what would happen if I made everything go differently… ah well.

"Wait, you're not Fon Master Ion, are you?" Luke asked. Yup, things were going off-course.

"You didn't know?" an amused Jade said, sipping his tea. "My, my." Luke shot him a glare.

"Jade, if you need me, I'm going to be around the inn," I said, before turning and leaving. As I started to walk away, I thought to myself, I'm going to be stopped and questioned by Luke in 3… 2… 1…

"Hey! Ion! Stop, I wanna ask you something!"

Right on cue. I stopped, and turned around with an innocent smile on my face. Luke was hastily approaching, with Tear following with her hand pressed firmly against her forehead.

"Hello there. What is it?" I said.

"Master Van told me you went missing. What are you doing here?" the redhead asked.

"Missing? Oh, he must be mistaken. I don't believe we've met, by the way. You already know who I am… what's your name?" I said. It was really all I could think of… he wouldn't believe me if I told him Van had really left for other purposes.

"I'm Luke. You're Ion, right? For the supreme leader of the Order of Lorelei, you sure are… little," Luke responded, scratching his head. He didn't quite seem to know how to respond to me.

"Luke! I'm sorry, Fon Master, I'm sure he didn't mean to insult you," Tear said, glaring daggers at Luke. She really was a pretty girl in person, I noted.

"It's alright. I'm still fairly young, and I'm not up to the average height for my age, so I guess I am little," I said. Unfortunately, this was something that hadn't changed when I suddenly woke up as Ion- I'd always been a tad short. Luke was lucky I was playing Ion, because usually I socked people in the face when they commented on my height. It was just one of those things that really bugged me.

"See, he doesn't care. Well, anyways… it's good to have that cleared up. Later," Luke said. He turned to leave. I reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"By the way… your name is nice. It means 'light of the sacred flame', doesn't it?" I said. He looked at me, confused. I let go of his arm, and let him and Tear leave. Tear glanced back at me, but I was soon occupied by something else.

"There you are, Ion! I've been looking for you!" Anise said as she walked over to me. She grabbed my free hand and started to drag me off. "It's about lunchtime. Aren't you hungry? Or are you too busy spacing out to notice?"

"S-Sorry, Anise," I sighed as I stumbled trying to keep up with the energetic little girl. She led me back towards the Tartarus, leaving town. Jade joined us, and I tried to ignore the way he was inspecting me like a rare test subject. It didn't take long for us to arrive, where somebody had set up a picnic blanket and some food beside the huge landship. It looked silly, to be honest, but I pretended not to notice as the three of us sat down to eat lunch.

"That Luke boy was rather charming," Jade commented. "Though a tad ignorant. He didn't realize you were the Fon Master until your name was brought up."

"I thought he was nice," I said. I really didn't- Luke was kinda a jerk. It just seemed like the kind of thing Ion would say.

"You think everyone is nice," Anise said. I fell silent and ate my lunch while not speaking, while Jade and Anise got into a conversation without me. After I had finished my food, which was a rather tasty meat stew that I had a suspicion Jade had made, I stood up.

"I'll be back in a minute… um, which way was the bathroom again? I forgot."

Solana was originally a girl. Fon Master Ion is a boy. Poor thing.