Jade didn't sleep right away that night. As soon as he was sure the other two were out, he went over to the Orb of Lorelei and began to observe it. It gave off a faint light in the darkness, as well as a somewhat calming aura.
Luke had held the Orb in gloved hand, and so Jade made sure his gloves were on when he touched the sphere. He lifted it up, and rolled it in his palm for one or two rotations; so lost in thought was he that he didn't count. He looked over at Luke, sleeping peacefully on the bed, and strolled over to him, taking the Orb as he went. Slowly, he crept, step-by-step, all the while monitoring the rate at which the seventh fonons were dissipating in Luke's body; or rather, taking note of the difference in the dissipation rate as the Orb neared him, then as it went farther away, then back again. He crept back and forth several times, testing the speed of dissipation the whole while. When he was done, he simply murmured the word, "Interesting," under his breath, mind working in overlimit.
He set the Orb back down on the dresser. His next experiment was risky, he knew, but... it had to be done. He removed his left glove and touched the Orb of Lorelei. An expected feeling came over him: the feeling of the fonons in his body being absorbed. The first through sixth fonons were slowly drained from him into the sphere; when he stopped touching it, the feeling stopped.
Jade then focussed the fifth fonon into his hand, feeling it warm slightly as the fonons of fire gathered. He touched his gloveless hand to the Orb, and felt as the concentrated fonons were then drawn into the Orb. The Orb turned a brilliant sanguine, apparently now filled with fifth fonons. Jade smirked. "I see," he whispered. "Very interesting, indeed..." Covering his tracks, he proceeded to generate the first through sixth fonons, minus the fifth, and, one-by-one, placed them into the Orb of Lorelei. It returned to its original golden-white shade, just as he had predicted it would. He returned it to its original place on the dresser, and then crawled into bed. Analysis could wait for the morning's light.
Luke woke up in the morning feeling utterly refreshed. Usually the others would have already woken up and been waiting outside for him, but today Jade hadn't left early, taking instead a little extra time in the room to read. Luke awoke to discover him sitting atop a neatly folded bed, reading patiently.
"Isn't it a little early for literature?" Luke yawned, blinking the morning light from his eyes.
"Oh, it's never too early for literature, Luke," Jade smiled in reply, red eyes not slowing down in the slightest. "However, it is apparently much later than we'd planned to get a start to the day at. If you could, would you mind grabbing your things so we could get out of here?"
"Not even a chance to comb my hair, huh?" he mumbled.
"Well, from the looks of things, you cut your hair again quite recently– a month ago, I'd say– and it's not quite at the point where combing it is a requirement so much as a luxury," Jade reasoned. "Now, let's get going."
"Yeah, yeah," Luke mumbled. "You can be a real pain, you know that?"
"Assuredly," Jade replied, watching Luke walk to the dresser. Focussed entirely on his fon slots, he observed as Luke recollected his shirt, item bag, Key and– most importantly– Orb of Lorelei. Once he was dressed and equipped and with the Orb back safely in his pocket, his fonon dissipation rate picked up again to the level it was at before he went to bed the night before. It wasn't enough of a difference to matter, considering how little distance had actually changed between he and his belonging, but...
"Jade," Luke said, looking back at the colonel from the doorway. "I thought you wanted to go."
"My apologies," Jade said automatically. "I was distracted by something."
"What's that?" Luke wondered, head tilted slightly.
"Never mind, it's not important right now," the other said, pushing his hair back and fixing his glasses more closely to his face. "Let's be off while the offing is good."
Jade strolled from the room while Luke paused a moment to puzzle through the word "offing."
Spinoza was observing the work of a few other scientists in the research facility. The trio (Noelle had left to standby in the Albiore) walked in to see him smiling slightly at his team, doubtlessly content with their efforts.
"Ah, Luke!" Spinoza said. "It's good to see you. Jade and Guy, too."
"I'm afraid we're not here for pleasantries, Spinoza," Jade said, pushing his glasses farther up his nose (one would think that by now he would have just fixed the glasses to his nose with a fonic arte, but he found it relaxing to fiddle with the meddlesome device). "I'd like to speak to you about something."
Spinoza narrowed his eyes. "It must be serious if you're coming all this way to speak to me."
"Indeed," Jade confirmed. "If I may, I'd like to speak to you in private, however."
"Hey, now that's not fair, Jade!" Guy frowned. "This is about Luke, why can't he be in on this?"
"I'd rather not throw around worrisome explanations until I have more of a basis for fact in them," Jade replied. "We won't be long, and if I'm right, we can talk more."
"Well, whatever," Luke sighed. "Just make it quick, okay?"
"One more thing," Jade added. He held his hand out. "If you don't mind, I'd like for us to take the Orb of Lorelei with us."
Luke frowned. "This thing? Why?" He slipped it out of his pocket, handing it to Jade, who took it carefully in his glove.
"Oh, no reason in particular," Jade said. "Now, let's talk, Spinoza." The latter gave a quick nod of his head and the two of them stalked off to a corner of the lab. Jade walked away with the Orb into another room… then a second room farther away, tracing the dissipation rate as he went.
It didn't change.
The farther Jade went from Luke with the Orb, the more the dissipation rate didn't change. Jade was puzzled, but filed it away for a moment while he and Spinoza walked. The important detail right now was to figure out why the dissipation was happening, not what was causing the rate change.
"Here we are," Spinoza said, leading Jade in. "Let's talk…"
"Yes, let's."
"Why are we following them again?" Guy asked as they followed Jade, room-by-room.
"Because I wanna hear what they're saying," Luke smirked, creeping quietly. "If it were about you, wouldn't you want to hear what they were saying?"
"Well, yeah," Guy admitted. "But I didn't expect to see you going after them so actively."
"Really?" Luke blinked. "Why not?"
Guy fiddled with the hilt of his sword. "Well, you were always so… unconfident. Seeing you actually taking initiative for something that just affects you is kind of surprising."
Luke smiled a little, looking down at the ground as though seeing his own memories projected on his scratched surface. "It's Asch…" he finally mumbled. Guy didn't say anything, hoping that Luke would elaborate on his own, but, as Luke remained in pensive silence, Guy found that he didn't need Luke to say anything. He'd managed to figure out what Luke had meant, unsaid, just through his own understanding of his friend.
They'd stood there in the adjoining room to Jade's for a full five minutes before Guy finally said, "We should get back so Jade doesn't catch us snooping around. Come on, man."
"Yeah… you're right, Guy," Luke relented. "Let's go." He shifted his sword on his back into a more comfortable position and the two of them walked back to the southern door, went through, and closed it tight.
As soon as the door was closed, Jade and Spinoza came through the northern door of the room, unknowingly following Luke and Guy's path, step by step. Jade wasn't able to determine Luke's position through his fon slots, but he could still sense the rate of dissipation.
I've moved rooms away from Luke… then gone back… but the rate hasn't changed at all, even though the Orb has moved with me. He sighed. Perhaps I'm wrong… maybe the Orb of Lorelei isn't related to this problem at all…
"What's wrong, Jade?" Spinoza asked.
"It's nothing," Jade said.
Guy and Luke were settled back into the first room where they'd met Spinoza when he and Jade returned, Jade perplexed (though not visibly) and Spinoza mostly silent. Guy started to ask Jade what he'd been discussing, but Jade pre-empted him, saying that he knew nothing, handing the Orb of Lorelei back to Luke, who pocketed it again. Guy naturally didn't believe him, but Luke trusted that if Jade said he knew nothing about a serious enough condition, he really meant it.
Luke was entirely too trusting for his own good. Perhaps literally.
The three men parted ways with Spinoza, making the short walk back to the entrance, the halls where they travelled littered with sound.
"I don't believe you know nothing, Jade," Guy said for the tenth time. "This is serious."
"As am I," the colonel responded, voice nearing exasperation. "I simply don't have a reasonable basis to make any kind of hypothesis."
"We're not looking for a reasonable basis," Guy shot back. "We're looking for guesswork."
"If we act on guesswork, we'll end up farther from the solution than we are now," Jade replied sagely. "Luke's taken my response in stride, I would advise you to do the same."
"How can you stay so calm when talking about something like this?" Guy muttered.
"I try," Jade said as he opened the door to the outside, "to constantly remain on guard to I'm not taken aback. If you prefer, I like to be constantly on my feet so— augh!" he cried, as a dark-haired torpedo blew in from the open door, oblivious to his presence and took him down to the ground.
"Owww… watch where you're standing, you basta— Colonel!" she cried, nearly choking him in a tackle-turned-hug.
"Anise?!" Luke cried in shock, voicing the words Jade couldn't due to a lack of ability to breathe.
"Luke, too?!" she gasped. "And Guy!"
The latter promptly slipped behind Luke. "Hey, Anise. How are you?"
The girl leaped up into the air and landed beside Luke, clinging to his arm and giggling. "Oh, were you worried about loveable little me, Luke?" Jade coughed slightly, hiding a deep intake of breath.
"Not especially," he quipped. "I know you can take care of yourself."
"Oh, booo," Anise grumbled. "Don't you know how to be polite to a lady?"
"Too bad there's no lady present," Guy mumbled under his breath. Anise kicked his shin.
"Well, it's nice to see you're been keeping well," Jade commented, getting back to his feet while Guy hopped on one of his, hands clutching his leg.
"Yup! I'm as great as ev—"
"Indeed," Jade smiled. "You haven't lost any stuffing and your stitches are as tight as ever."
Anise nearly hit him with the doll on her back. "Hey! You're supposed to be talking to me!"
"My apologies," Jade said, inclining his head ever so slightly. "What am I supposed to be talking to you about?" he grinned.
The girl looked back up at him with slightly widened eyes. "Why... about me, of course!"
"I see," the colonel went on. "Well, do forgive me, Anise, but I usually refrain from talking about the small topics of the day."
"I'm still growing!"
"I should hope so," the colonel ribbed, "or else you'll never be able to look Guy in the eye as you scare him." Both Anise and Guy took exception to this and began to make their grievances known, but Jade's slow stroll toward the opened door informed them that he wasn't prepared to listen to them, or at least that he was entirely apathetic to their complaints.
"Where are you going?" Luke asked, watching his departure.
"To the inn," Jade replied calmly, returning his hands to their normal overcoat lair. "We old folks need rest to assuage the pain in our aching joints."
"…Jade, you're moving faster than all of us…" Guy said, sighing.
The group arrived in the inn, Anise trailing on the heels of all of them, obviously torn between fulfilling what she'd come to do and following her dear friends (and, perhaps, soft touch for cash— hey, she may have become a fon master, but that doesn't mean she had to stop chasing money!). In the end, of course, the potential infinite wisdom of Jade won out.
"So," Luke asked once they were all settled down in the lobby of the inn, "why'd you came here, anyway, Anise?"
Anise confided, "We received word in Daath that large quantities of fifth fonons have been gathering in Mount Zaleho. It's practically unheard of," the Fon Master said, brow furrowed in confusion.
"Larger than what was already there?" Luke gaped, remembering their last visit when the group nearly collapsed from the heat and nearly everyone accused Jade of possessing an air-conditioned suit.
"Well, if that's the case, what are you doing in Belkend?" Guy wondered aloud, leaning against the inn's wall casually.
"I was hoping Spinoza would have some idea about what to do about excess fonons," Anise replied. "And thanks to you three, I haven't even gone to see him, yet," she berated herself, holding her head in both hands.
"There's no need," Jade said. "I think I know just the thing to take care of excess fonons in an area." The others stared at him for a moment.
Guy smiled a little. Luke might have been right: sometimes, it seemed like Jade really did have all the answers. "And what do you have up your sleeve, Jade?"
"Oh, I'm sure you'll figure it out sooner or later, Guy," Jade said. "We'll have to go to Mount Zaleho to take care of it, of course, but that's not a terribly huge problem, and if we're really lucky, it might even solve our other problem," he added, with an extended look at Luke.
"Other problem?" Anise blinked, tracing Jade's eyes over to Luke. "What's wrong?"
"Guy, please explain."
"Why is it always me?!"
Noelle flew them back to Daath Bay that night. The explanation had only taken a few minutes and they'd had plenty of time to The abnormal amount of fifth fonons rising from Mt. Zaleho made the surrounding airspace hazardous to fly through; it was rife with heated updrafts that would bob the poor Albiore like a landship in water (the Tartarus notwithstanding, of course). Anise led the group back to Daath, but they travelled at a slow pace due to the heat. The entire island felt flooded with a blanket of humidity. Even walking up the steps to the cathedral was painful.
They finally returned to the hidden fonic glyph that lead to Mount Zaleho, and Jade stopped them before they proceeded any further.
"Luke," he commented. "I'll need the Orb of Lorelei before we proceed any further."
As Luke pulled it out of his pocket, Anise pulled near and stared into it, saying in awe, "This is the thing you got from Lorelei? It's beautiful..."
"I'm not entirely certain I got it from Lorelei," Luke corrected her, "but I certainly did get it from Lorelei's ambient energies. It just might not have been purposeful."
"Either way, you could probably sell it for a lot of gald!" Anise piped up, all notice of the heat fading away as she started thinking about the potential profit to be made.
Jade took the Orb from Luke's hand. "Just like we could sell Tokunaga as well, hmm?"
"Booo! You're mean, Colonel!" Anise said crossly, sticking his tongue out at him.
"Not at all," he replied, gathering the fifth fonon in his own ungloved hand, "just realistic."
"Jade, what are you doing?" Guy asked, watching his progress.
Jade sighed, knowing an explanation was imminent. "I'm placing some traces of the fifth fonon in the Orb of Lorelei."
"Why would you do that?" Luke asked. "If I were you, I'd be saving all of my strength for dealing with the head inside Mount Zaleho…"
Jade rearranged the glasses on his face. "I can only surmise that the Orb is acting as a kind of vacuum, absorbing like fonons to what is most contained inside it."
Guy whistled lowly. "Clever, Jade. So by inserting fonons of fire into the Orb..."
"The Orb will absorb the excess fifth fonons in Mount Zaleho!" Anise squeaked in delight. "Oh, Colonel, you're so clever!"
"Well, we're not home free, yet," Jade admonished them. "The Orb is still drawing fonons from Luke, as well. It seems that nothing prevents it from drawing in the seventh fonon." He finished inserting fonons, and the Orb glowed the same crimson it had the night before. Almost instantly, it began to feel much cooler.
"So bringing the Orb will protect us from the heat?" Luke guessed.
"Yeah," Guy confirmed. "We just need to find the biggest clusters of the fifth fonon and absorb them, and everything should go back to normal."
"I'm afraid not, Guy," Jade sighed, pushing his glasses up yet again. "You see, with this high a concentration of fonons, there won't be separate patches of it."
"Like fonons attract," Anise reminded herself. "Which means all of the bunches of fonons are going to come together in one spot."
"But... wait," Luke realized. "When enough fonons of a single type come together, don't they become sentient?"
"Yeah," Guy said, folding his arms across his chest. "Lorelei was the sentience of the seventh fonon."
"So that means... we're going to come across the sentience of the fifth fonon, then?" Luke blinked, piecing everything together.
"It is more than likely," Jade admitted, "that we'll run into Efreet: a being of pure flame, who commands the magma around where we'll be."
"That's no good!" Luke cried. "It could wipe us out with one sweep of its arm!"
Jade shook his head. "I don't think we'll have to worry about that. Remember, the sentient fonons are historically very friendly to humans. I believe if we explain the situation to it, it will cooperate with us easily. Then we can just absorb the ambient sources of the fifth fonon quickly."
"Ambient sources?" Anise asked. "But what about the sentient being, itself?"
"Efreet will feel some drain, but be mostly able to go right through the Orb's field," Guy translated,
"which means that if we're going to absorb it, it's going to have to let itself be absorbed."
"Precisely," Jade smiled. "Or we convince it to ascend into the fon belt, where it can exist harmlessly."
"So either way, we have to get it out of there, right?" Anise chimed in.
Jade chuckled. "Exactly," he said, ruffling her hair a little. Luke was waiting for her scathing comeback, but it strangely never came.
"Well, I guess that's it, then," Luke sighed. "Let's get this over with!"
"Luke," Guy said sternly, "don't overexert yourself. Let Jade and I handle most of this."
"I'll be fine," he replied, brushing off Guy's concern. "Don't worry about me."
"You'd better be," Anise shrugged. "Tear would kill us if we let anything happen to you!" Luke blanched and looked away.
"Don't even look away," Guy said, laughing at his reaction. "You know she's right!"
"As fun as it is to tease Luke, we should be going," Jade intervened, for which Luke decided to thank him in private later. "Please make sure everyone stays within about twenty meters of the Orb."
"Twenty meters is all the room we have, huh?" Guy mumbled. "That doesn't seem like a terrible lot..."
"It's the best we can do, now come on!" Anise pushed him into the glyph. "We have to go, go, go!"
"Just stop touching me!"