If you're reading this message then clearly FF is not bugging out and has successfully replaced the old chapter with this new one. No real big changes, but this's my October 08 revision of chapter one.

Enjoy!

Chapter One

Word from the West

"Wait, it's from who?" Felix looked up from the maps in front of him as Isaac spoke, the fair-toned man standing in front of him was looking over his shoulder at the door. Garet's heavy-set presence was a welcome break from the maps and course charts. Felix's head was throbbing, and he leaned back in his chair to try and give his back a stretch. Ugh... they'd been at this all morning.

"Several people actually, but the original message is from Moapa." The three of them had finally lost the boyish signs of their childhood. What roundness had been left in Isaac's cheeks upon their return to Vale two years ago had been worn and worked away over the past several seasons of construction and business ventures. His hair hadn't darkened, retaining its sunny golden glow, but his face had matured enough so that his pale china blue eyes no longer seemed to dark or worldly for his years. His clothing was more sombre as well, a plain blue tunic over the warm brown of his shirt, dark tanned trousers tucking into boots hardy enough for work, but too soft for travel.

Garet was still a great beast of a man, his red hair a startling top to his darkly tanned face. Garnet eyes and still with a wide grin, he'd grown into his shoulders by now, along with his feet. Built like a firmly rooted tree trunk, his clothing was only somewhat more dressy being as he was now the Mayor's son, his grandfather having passed the mantle on now, bringing Garet effectively one step closer to the office. Doe-skin tunic hemmed with yellow cord to mimic gold, and a robin-red shirt tucked into his light doe-skin pants and boots.

"Moapa…" Felix murmured, trying to place the name which was familiar to him. Someone met on their travels no doubt… but that helped little to narrow the search. Leaning back in his chair, it was a relief to have Isaac turn away and fold his arms, clearly also trying to think.

"From… Hesperia, right?" The blond asked after a moment, and Felix looked up at him absently. Ah… right.

"The Shaman Village." He said, surprised a little by his own voice, he hadn't spoken much the entire morning, nothing more than to point out a few suggestions in the shipping routes they wanted to establish. They'd seen so much of the world over the years, so many places willing to trade their common goods for something seen as more exotic. It wasn't so much the money which had captured Isaac's imagination, just the possibility of bringing their new world together with trade and commerce. They'd been pouring over maps for months now, it was tiresome…

"Aye, he sent it first to Contigo, and now Master Hamma's sent it here." Garet continued, nodding and grinning widely, and it was the first time Felix actually noticed the large piece of folded parchment in the other man's hand. There were several sheets actually, which made sense since he'd already said it was a message from several people.

"Hamma?" A surprise there; and Felix couldn't help but feel his interest dredge itself up. "Did she send word of Ivan and Sheba?" It had been many months since last any word had drifted to Vale of the two wind adepts. Come to think of it, it had been just as long since they'd had any news of Piers and Mia too. He knew everyone was safe, could feel it in a way only the other members of their old party could understand, but still, it was nice to have firm proof every once and a while.

"Uh-huh." Garet was just nodding his big head cheerfully, in good spirits as was normal for him. "They've been researching and excavating all around the great pit next to Contigo. There's a small package of stones and artefacts for Karden as well, some things the two of them'd like looked into." Felix was going to point out the lack of said box, since it didn't seem unlikely to him that Garet might've simply left it somewhere unattended. But he wasn't given the chance, the larger adept simply speaking over him.

"Seems they're taking to the digging like a couple of sand rats," He laughed, opening the letter again and scanning a few words, reading a line or two allowed. "Like little golden foxes, scurrying around through ruins getting the winds blowing and uncovering things right left and centre."

"What's this news from the Shaman's about?" Isaac cut in, and Felix fought down the urge to roll his eyes. It seemed to him as if the world were slowly turning into a realm of business for the other swordsman- if it was even fair to call him that anymore. There was nothing wrong with taking on a practical profession, and it was honourable not to be fuelled solely by attaining unknown riches in the process, but still. There were limits to how practical and stoic one should be; something Isaac seemed to be struggling to find a balance with.

"Dunno." Garet allotted, shuffling the papers before handing them off to Isaac to read. Felix simply looked from one to the other before focusing his attention on the fire-haired Martian. "She said somethin' 'bout it being Alchemy-related though."

"Another reason to pass things on to Karden?" Standing, Felix knew he didn't really need an excuse to leave Isaac alone with his maps, but it hadn't seemed worth it until now to come up with anything better to do than compare sea charts from various continents and plan out wind corridors and mark treacherous shoals.

"Where's this package, Garet? Did you leave it somewhere?" He would admit silently to wanting to read the letters, but Isaac seemed too absorbed in them for the meantime. He might as well have a look; do something useful, or at least something to get him away from those cursed maps.

"Ah, Jenna's got it." He answered simply, and Felix felt his eyebrows climb just a little at the thought of his sister being interested in old artefacts. "We were talking when the messenger arrived. He's a peddler from Vault; bunch of people down in the centre square bartering with him right now." No he frowned instead, that really didn't sound like Jenna. Passing up a peddler to take a dusty package to the old Sage?

"Are you sure?" He questioned, not sure why he pressed the matter, but it didn't really make sense. Jenna was as kindly towards the old sage as was to be expected. They'd all spent nearly a year and a half of their lives traveling together; he was like a grandfatherly figure to their party, but still. Jenna was only human, and the old man's stories and ponderings weren't the soul source of entertainment in Vale as they'd been during their journeying.

"Uuh… Well…" Garet was balking, and if anything that made Felix yet more curious. He was asking a simple question, what was there to evade? Watching Garet closely, the Mars Adept seemed to be trying to imitate a fish, his mouth opening and closing several times, but no sound escaped him.

"Garet?"

"Felix, come take a look at this." Torn for a moment, Felix could feel his gaze narrowing somewhat on the Mayor's large son, but turned as he was called. Isaac was still looking between the several pages of the letter, but as he came up the blond reordered them and held them out for Felix to see, pointing to several lines across the blotched brown surface. Isaac didn't let him actually take the pages however.

"Seems there's something going on in Hesperia." He explained, and Felix slowly recognized a large scribble in the corner to be a rudely drawn map of the area. Turning away for a minute, he went to the shelf behind the desk where they'd been working. Half of the main floor in Isaac's house had been converted into an office space for them to work together. Along the walls there was memorabilia from their journeys, a shelf full of small relics and art which had been both gifts and purchased by the party.

The shelf also had several shallow drawers, the sort for holding charts and long sheets of paper. Maps were kept there now, many of them copied or taken directly from the two ships their groups had used before merging. Piers had newer copies of everything they did; only the old parchment and leather images that were too weak for salt air and brine were kept here in Vale. He fingered through a small stack before pulling out two maps near and around the Shaman village, and although he disliked them for the most part, he had a feeling Isaac would want to take a look at them to double-check the locations.

"There a problem?" He asked, monotonously prepping the maps on the desktop with the small brass clips made specifically for keeping the curled papers down flat for examination.

"Seems so. Thanks, Garet." It seemed a bit out of place, the dismissal, but as Felix glanced towards the large Mars adept, he merely gave a large grin, a small salute with one hand, and then stepped out of the house and back into the sunshine. Huh…

"So…" He began slowly, not sure of the words, and trying to dig up the enthusiasm to really pay attention. "What's going on then?" Isaac was frowning. He didn't seem angry really, so much as he didn't seem like he knew what exactly to make of the words in front of him.

"Something about a cave." Isaac answered dully, turning the pages over once or twice, and Felix noted that most of the pages were written on both sides. Of course; Hamma didn't seem the type to go wasting parchment, or sending a package any more bulky than was strictly necessary.

"Several people've fallen ill in the area, I don't get it…" Felix found himself leaning back against the desk, folding his arms for a moment before pushing back and holding one hand out.

"Here, let me-"

"No, I got it." Isaac merely side-stepped away from him; and the other Adept sighed lightly. It wasn't worth it to push the subject; he was more interested in the parts about Ivan and Sheba anyways. "She thinks it has something to do with Alchemy, or that's what it sounds like. The three of them keep sensing a weird power around the cave mouth."

"And inside?" He asked, watching Isaac start screwing his eyes up trying to read the cramped writing. She'd had to write small so as to fit everything thing into the limited space on the page.

"They won't go inside. Something about the local traditions." Shaking his head, Felix gave a heavier sigh this time.

"Why tell us then? Just current events?" Seemed like a waste of paper. It would've been more useful or informative to just go on about the artefacts and the weather than some place where Alchemy was making changes. Alright, yes, it was an interesting topic to discuss, but impractical for letter-writing.

"You're not going to believe this next part." Isaac said, finally with an air of amusement to his voice, but there was a frown mixed in there which told him it wasn't all for fun and laughs that he pointed this out. Felix didn't answer him, just looked blankly in his direction, awaiting this unbelievable news.

"She wants one of us to come and check it out."

"…? What's so hard to believe about that?" He asked, something must've flown over his head. He didn't understand what Isaac meant and apparently it was mutual, the blonde's smile fell just a bit at that.

"Felix, we've got to much work around here." He complained, and had he the will for it, Felix would've clapped his hands up over his ears. "We can't just pick up and run across the world on a whim. We've got plans to follow now. I'll be riding into Kalay in the next fortnight to discuss the Silk Road. And Piers is already-"

"And Piers is sitting in Lemuria drowning himself in draught and reacquainting himself with everyone in the city." Felix cut in, shaking his head and keeping a third sigh from forming as he didn't know why he bothered pressing the issue. Was it even worth it? "If Hamma wants someone to come, do you mean one of us specifically? She's got Ivan and Sheba right there with her… Here, let me see that."

This time at least he was successful in getting his hands on the letters. Scanning them briefly, the writing was even more cramped than he'd thought, no wonder then why Isaac had had to squint so much to read it.

"She means a Venus adept specifically." He stated bitterly, though Felix for the life of him couldn't figure out what there was to be so worked up about. "As in you and I."

"'Adept' is singular, Isaac. She means one of us." He countered, frowning as his tone came off a little to sharp for his liking. He didn't want to get into an argument now over something so stupid.

"You've become really callous lately, you know that?" …Oh, by the Gods, this had to be a joke.

"…What?" Looking the edge of the papers at Isaac, there was a grim line in the place of the other man's mouth, and Felix tried to wrap his numb mind around the idea that he might've just been insulted.

"You heard me. Is something the matter with you? You've been acting so cold and uncaring lately." His arms were crossed over his chest, and Felix had to rethink one of his earlier observations; no, Isaac still wasn't entirely grown up, he could still pout like a child and make his face round out while he was at it.

"Haven't been sleeping." Absently tossing the words out to satisfy the nosey entrepreneur, Felix busied himself with the letter, only to be interrupted again from his reading shortly after deciphering, 'Dear friends'.

"Not sleeping, not talking, and not contributing anymore. You wander around like a ghost; you don't even care about our work at all. This isn't like you."

'You're one of the last people to go making any assumptions about-' He bit back the thought before it could become words, words that would only land him in an argument, something he didn't want to have to deal with right now.

"I'll go." He said suddenly, cutting through anything further Isaac had to say. Turning around fully as he spoke to glance over the map on both the letter and desk, he still didn't know what he was agreeing to, but he did it anyways. It shut Isaac up at least, the blonde just stood there staring at him for a few stunned moments, and when he opened his mouth to speak Felix turned around again and cut him off good and short.

"If they need an Earth Adept, I'll go. Clearly Ivan and Sheba aren't able to do much there." He thought that might be enough, but then Isaac tried to speak again, so he barked up and continued, building his case only as he went, hardly aware of what he was saying.

"It's a cavern, meaning it's in the earth and you know how that makes them feel. Your stomach drops as fast and as hard as mine does at the thought of an island floating high in the sky- that's just not natural. You know how they get inside caves and small spaces, I'll bet you anything Hamma gets just as queasy as Ivan does in cramped places."

"Felix-" Venus damn him! There would be no arguing today! He was sick of arguing, he was sick of having people trying to make decisions they had no place or business making!

"If it's Alchemy then four heads are better than three, Isaac. You go to Kalay next fortnight, I'll start making ready for a trip to Loho."

"Loho!?"

"How else?" He replied stiffly, feeling his back straightening out although he hadn't been aware of slouching at all recently. Isaac seemed to notice the change though, something about him changed just a bit. "It's West, straight over the mountains. What, do you think I'll get lost in our own backyard?"

"That's not what I mean." Isaac finally cut in, lifting his hands up and making a calming gesture, something which irritated the other man without a real reason for doing so. Damn it all, he was calm. "I just don't understand, why the land route of all ways? It'll take days to cross the mountains."

"And it'll take longer to go south through the cities and the markets, and catch a ship from Lalivaro through the Madran Canal." And Venus alone only knew how well he could time that trip. So many weeks of their journey had been spent doing little more than sailing the endless oceans from Gaia Falls up and down the Gondowan coast. Catching a ship along the still-unfamiliar commercial passages from Lalivaro south to Indra would take months.

"It's safer." The way he said it just- It just…!!

"Maybe I could use the exercise." He retorted sharply, gritting his teeth against anything more potent he might've had to add to that statement. Damn it, damn it, damn it, he didn't want to argue. He was too tired in his own mind to want to go seeking out anything like this.

"A trek across the mountains is no light jog, Felix."

"Why thank you, Isaac. I could never have figured that out on my own." Isaac just gawked at him.

"Perhaps the Teleport Lapi-"

"Venus Damn it, Isaac! I'll go my own way!" The sound of his hand slamming down on the desk startled even Felix himself. It took nerves he didn't know he still had anymore to keep from jumping as he slapped the letter onto the desk, unread and abandoned as he turned his back and snatched up his gloves where he'd tossed them down on a small table by the door.

"What in Mars's name has gotten into you!?" Isaac's voice was like a bellow, and in the back of the house Felix thought he heard something shatter across the floor like china. He'd forgotten that Dora was in the back, getting her baking ready for the day, but he didn't spare Isaac's mother anymore thought than that as he rounded on his friend, and could feel his temper licking at him like hot flames. He was a mixed element after all; he could feel the touch of Mars every now and again when harried well enough.

"Nothing has gotten into me!" He shouted back, but quickly curbed the volume and put a firm hold on his temper. Not now, not for this, it wasn't worth it. "It's the most practical way to get to the Western Ocean; I can't go taking several other people with me to power the Lapis just to step in on Ivan and Sheba and see how they're doing."

"If it's just to step in, then what better method is there but to take the Lapis?" Isaac seemed to follow his example, not shouting again, but his voice was still struck with an undertone of bull-headed resolve and disapproval. And to Dullahan's Feast if he needed Isaac's approval for anything!

"Maybe the trip will do me some good then, ever think of that?" Damn it all, control, he needed control. This was not something worth the anxiety and hype of a full argument. Why couldn't he just control himself? Everything he said just kept coming out with more and more fury!

Whether his words struck Isaac to silence; or something else completely, Felix didn't care, he wasn't going to stay and find out. Isaac didn't say anything more to him as Felix turned sharply on his heel, pushing through the door Garet had left ajar when he'd taken his leave earlier.

The summer was still bright and young around him as he left Isaac behind, standing there silently. He couldn't see for a brief moment, the glare of the sun playing tricks on his eyes after the dim interior of the other Adept's home. The scent of the yellow apples came to him strongly however, with a sweetness which seemed too false for his taste, too strong, like the southern sweets of honey and fine dough far, far across the oceans. Places like Madra and Alhafra, where it was always hot no matter what the season, and the food spicy and brilliantly colour to match.

"I'll go my own way." He muttered darkly under his breath, hardly sparing a nod for the one or two people he passed by as he moved into the village proper.

Isaac's family had been given a place of 'honour' on one of the many rippling hills at the base of crumbled Mt. Aleph. A line of trees separated them from the small creek which was already growing to replace the old river from the village years ago.

All of their homes were along these ridges, greatly resembling the old layout of Vale before the eruptions and destruction of Sol Sanctum. He and Jenna lived with their parents across the village to the east. Isaac's home was here to the west. Garet's family was of course given the highest plot in the village given that they were also the line of the Mayor. Ivan, Sheba, Mia and Piers had also been given small homes set aside at several of the nicer plots of land around the base of the old mountain.

Ivan's home was planned to go near Karden's across the river, though it was currently vacant like the other three. Sheba had a plot of land to her name near the orchards though she had made it clear before leaving that she didn't intend for anyone to build anything on it for her until everything else in Vale was finished first. Mia had more or less been given rights to dig into the mountain simply because it was close to the sanctum, and Piers's undeveloped lot was near a calmer stretch of the new creek, where it was expected the water would form a large pool once the currents had a chance to define and order themselves.

But even as he noted and visualized these places in his mind, he couldn't for the life of him figure out why these vacant plots were supposed to be so important. It frustrated him, the emphasis on what land to build on and what to leave alone, as if they were somehow more important simply due to whose eye they had caught or how high they stood on the slopes of the collapsed mountain.

He was grinding his teeth as he went, dodging looks and trying to avoid as many nods and glances as he could. He wasn't in the mood. He didn't want to be harassed or followed about right now. He wouldn't begrudge these people their apparent fascination; most hadn't ever set foot outside of Vale before the evacuation two years ago. It even did him some good now and then to take a walk around the village and have two or three of the village maidens absently try to fall in step with him. But not now, by Venus he wanted none of it just now.

'Your… hands…'

"Damn it, I'll go my own way…" He was clenching his jaw tightly now, breaking through the crowded morning square. Garet was right, there –was- a peddler in town; he could hear the shouts of the bidding wars from here. He turned up one beaten dirt lane, moving as swiftly as he could without running.

"…my own way."

There were stairs cut into the new layers of mulch and settled stone, and he took them in great leaps to climb the rise, moving steadily more eastbound towards his edge of the village. He passed the hidden trail which would take him to the rock face and the lonely cave, not turning to follow it as he didn't trust himself alone at this moment.

'They're… so warm…'

Their home was two levels now, blue shingles sparkling in the sunlight as they were made of the cheap blue stone which had been forced out of the ground by the eruption. Windows framed with blue detailing he'd spent Jupiter-knew how many hours sanding down into gentle curves to meet his mother's standards of perfection. The door was stained blue as well to match it, and didn't give the slightest squeal as he swung it open and stepped inside.

'I'd forgot-'

He slammed it shut behind him with the force to make the windows in the wall next to him rattle slightly. He couldn't take it, couldn't take it. What was wrong with him? Why was he so worked up over something so small? He couldn't help it, but why? He felt himself sinking back against the doorway, mouth open as he hadn't realized he'd been running the last little ways towards the house. He was so out of breath, but he shouldn't have been, so why-?

"Charles?" His mother's voice came softly from somewhere within the house. She was calling for his father, and he couldn't find the breath to correct her, simply felt his knees growing weak as he sank down to the floor in front of the entrance. He couldn't think right now, couldn't reason out his own actions, his behaviour.

"Did you find Kyle about those hound pups- Oh! Felix, you're back!" His mother's dark red hair was tied up behind her head as usual, her eyes a shy crimson colour which gave her a soft sort of presence when she wasn't angry or disapproving. She was drying her hands on the white apron around her waist, a dark purple dress running from her neck down to her ankles; it was made from a charming piece of fabric Jenna had bought a large bolt of one time in Izumo. It looked good on her… though he didn't know why that mattered now… Why it ever had at all…

"Felix..?" There was a frown across her face, concern touching her eyes, and that bothered him, though he couldn't really say why. Obviously she was his mother so he should've been worried to see her distressed, but all of that felt far away for now. All so very, very far away…

She came up to him almost silently before kneeling down just in front of him, and although he felt as though he'd suddenly been clapped in lead weights, he looked up at her as she spoke to him.

"Felix… what's wrong?" She asked softly, the words 'Nothing, I'm alright' came to him immediately, second nature, a developed habit. But he choked on them, just as Garet had choked on his answer for where Jenna was, and how Isaac had choked on his indignation. Now it was his turn, the words died before ever clawing their way up his throat.

"I don't… know…" He croaked gently, and watched as her frown deepened ever so slightly with concern. No, wait, he hadn't wanted that…

"Maybe you should go upstairs and get some rest." She suggested softly, taking up one of his hands with both of hers. He hadn't noticed how small her hands were before, or if he had, it was a detail he'd chosen to forget since then. He hadn't put his gloves on after leaving Isaac's house.

"I can't, I-…" They died, the words just turned to dust in his mouth, and he had nothing to say. What was wrong with him? What had gotten into him- or rather was it a question of what had gone out? He felt cold inside, so cold…

He nodded to her, numbly, seeking to appease her even as it seemed impossible for him to reclaim his feet. He wouldn't let her help him up. He wasn't a small boy anymore, he was a grown man. He'd been grown even before leaving Prox to set out on the journey to Unleash Alchemy, so he was certainly still so now.

And then, miraculously, he was standing.

"I'll send your sister up when dinner's ready, I'm boiling up a chicken for some soup." So that was what he could smell. It was a warm aroma of boiling meat, wafting through the house slowly from the kitchen in the back. He had one hand on the banister to head upstairs before glancing over his shoulder at her, seeing the concern still touching her rose-coloured eyes, and he almost choked again, if only that it hadn't been her face, maybe he wouldn't have said a thing.

"In a few days, I'll… I'll be going west…"

I love the pace of this story x3