hello everyone! I'm back and I want to thank everyone for reading! Thank you to my two reviews, and for everyone who took the time out of their day to read the story. I've a few things to say before we divulge into the chapter. This chapter holds hints as to a small head cannon I host about Raine and how she feels about her past. So you're not confused as you're reading the chapter, I'll tell you what I think, of course, it's just my opinion and you are free to continue thinking whatever you think.
I have always thought that the Otherworldly Gate was traumatizing for Raine, so she lost a fair share of her memory. Thus, she has a faint attraction to studying ruins because of this abandonment. She knows that she and Genis had a mother and father, but she was so traumatized and hurt from the abandonment, that she refused to think highly of her mother especially, thus, housing hatred and resentment, which in times blinds her from the truth of her own past.
So I think that's all. I'm hoping for Wednesday/Thursday and Saturday/Sunday updates, but that might change depending on when I have time to sit and edit a chapter. Enjoy!
a dozen times distraught
exhibit b; finding comfort in logic
Raine catches sight of the Otherworldly Gate as the party heads from the Temple of Earth to Flanoir and the Temple of Ice. Instead of accompanying her companions to collect Penguinist Quills, she spends her time in the library researching the ruins, which leads to not only a revelation about her past, but also the realization that she is no longer the lone logical individual in the group with her second encounter with Regal.
She had seen it earlier that day when they were flying from the Temple of Earth to Flanoir. Raine had seen something that piqued her interest in the distance. Slightly northeast of the tower that Zelos had once pointed out as the Altamira Hotel was a small island with rock pillars arranged in a sort of circle.
Looking at those ruins had initially made her feel uneasy. Seemingly every hair on her body stood up and it felt as if her entire body was tingling. Raine had never felt this apprehensive and on edge before in her entire life. While the others had continued flying directly east towards the snowy continent, Raine had found herself veering south.
She had to know why those ruins were making her feel so terribly anxious. There was no way that she would ever allow a mystery such as the one presented before her to remain unsolved.
"Raine!" Genis had called. "C'mon, you're going the wrong way, Sis!"
She had sighed at the time. The ruins would have to wait.
;;;
"Hmm? You want to know about the Penguinist Gloves?"
The group had found themselves in the Accessory Shop of Flanoir; upon previously entering the city, they were stopped by a man on the east end of town who informed them abut the Celsius' Tear, which Raine had read about before. Had that man not suggested they craft a pair of Penguinist gloves, she would have said so herself.
"Yes, please!" Colette said eagerly.
The man chuckled. "Penguinist Gloves are nice, warm mittens made from quills of Penguinists, which dwell in the ice caves. If you had three Penguinist Quills, I could make a pair for you."
And with that, their party of eight left the small (cramped, Raine mentally added begrudgingly) building. "Let's go get us some Penguinist Quills!" Lloyd exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Colette and Genis cheered.
Raine bit her lip. The ruins that she had spotted earlier had never left her mind once, and she was sure that a village such as Flanoir would have a library of sorts that she could spend her time in. She cleared her throat. "By the time we collect the items that we need it will be too late for us to go to the Temple of Ice. I believe that it would be wise of us to spend the night here." She suggested. "All of you can go ahead, I'll make reservations at the inn."
Her suggestion, as she suspected, caused a lot of surprise amongst her companions. "Are you sure you'll be all right, Raine?" Genis said, a concerned expression etched across his features.
She offered her younger brother a smile. "I'll be fine."
Eventually, after stifling some of the protests within her group, they exited the city, leaving the half-elf all by herself. She exhaled with content before heading in the direction of the inn at the front of Flanoir.
It was an easy task to reserve a handful of rooms for her traveling group; the lobby receptionist informed her that each room had three beds, so in order to minimize their expenses, Raine booked a total of three rooms, figuring that Presea, Colette, and Sheena could take one room, herself and Genis could take the second, and the remaining males (Lloyd, Zelos, and Regal) would take the third room.
Before leaving the inn, Raine turned around and returned to the receptionist's counter. "By any chance, would there happen to be a library in this city?"
"There certainly is!" The woman responded cheerfully. "If you leave here and go straight, it'll be the second building on your right. It's a little small, but there's supposed to be a lot of interesting material in there."
"Thank you," Raine said appreciatively before exiting the building. A cold wind bit the exposed skin on her face, and she drew her garments closer to her to gather warmth as she walked to the library. It felt as if it managed to drop 10 degrees during the short period of time where she was inside of the inn.
Despite the cold, time passed rather quickly and before she knew it Raine was standing in front of the library of Flanoir. The receptionist was correct in that it was a small building, but a smile graced Raine's face as she entered. All of the walls were lined with books. And with that, she settled for an old atlas and seated herself at a wooden table.
Raine opened the large book to a map of Tethe'alla and traced a pale finger to her current location of Flanoir. "That island was somewhat south of here," she muttered as she dragged her finger along the rough paper. "East of Altamira…" eventually, her finger settled at a small island, and Raine was certain it was the one that she spotted earlier. She tapped the island absentmindedly and squinted, leaning closer to the map to read the fine print that labeled the location. "The Otherworldly Gate."
Her eyes widened. That sounded familiar, and made a feeling of nostalgia run through her body; however, this feeling was not comforting. Instead, it was the same uneasy feeling that she had felt earlier upon spotting the ruins. She quickly rose to her feet and returned to the wall of books, grabbing anything that could happen to refer to the Otherworldly Gate."
And thus, Raine settled at her table once again, flipping through all of the books that she had collected and memorizing any information about the Otherworldly Gate. "The fable land of Sylvarant…connects the two worlds…mysterious formation of rocks…"
It was then that a forgotten part of her past returned to her. Raine gasped upon remembering trekking through the fields of Tethe'alla when she was twelve years old, holding her father, Kloitz's, hand as her mother, Virginia, holding an infant Genis, led them somewhere. She remembered falling into the ocean and nearly dying of a terrible case of hypothermia that ensued. And most of all, Raine remembered the ruins. She remembered sitting there as her mother placed Genis in her arms, staring at her parents as they left their children to be engulfed by the light. The memories caused her entire body to shudder.
"There you are."
The sound of the door opening and a new voice caused Raine to yelp with surprise and slam the book shut that she was previously reading. She wildly looked to the entrance of the building to see Regal staring at her curiously. "I'm sorry if I startled you."
"No, no…" Raine started slowly, still recollecting herself from his sudden entrance. "I just…I wasn't expecting anyone to come here so soon." She rose to her feet and paced towards him, hoping that that would keep him from looking at the books she collected. "Where are the others?"
Regal raised an eyebrow at her actions but answered her nonetheless. "It didn't take us too long to find the Penguinist Quills. The others headed towards the Accessory Shop to deliver our findings to that man." He explained. "I returned to the inn, and when you weren't there, I asked the receptionist if she knew of your location."
"And here you are," Raine murmured.
"Indeed," Regal started, and paced towards the table that she had been sitting at. She felt the instant urge to stop him, but such actions would have been incredibly suspicious of her. She turned rapidly to see that she had left one of the books open, and mentally swore for allowing such a thing to happen. He looked down at the text with interest. "The Otherworldly Gate. Legend has it that if you stand in the middle of the formation under the night of the full moon you will be taken to the mystical land of Sylvarant."
Raine resisted the urge to snort—that certainly wouldn't be appropriate in this particular situation. Sylvarant was a lot of things, but "mystical" was not the adjective that she would use to describe the planet. "I caught sight of the island today. The ruins seem…lovely." She said in somewhat of a strained tone.
"Raine." Regal said firmly. She had no idea how he was able to see right through her when Regal hardly knew her. The opposite applied as well, of course, Raine wasn't able to see through him like he was apparently able to do with her.
"I appreciate your concern, Regal, but I'm fine." She said almost harshly, and she could have sworn that Regal recoiled slightly.
"Whatever you say; I understand if you do not wish to talk about this yet," he said gently, and Raine instantly felt bad for snapping at him.
"Thank you," Raine said shortly, and closed the book, stacking them all into a pile before gathering them in her arms. "I would also appreciate if you did not tell the others about this research of mine."
"Of course," Regal agreed.
After putting away all of the books, Raine was somewhat surprised to see that Regal was still standing at the table. She bit her lip lightly before clearing her throat. "Regal?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think that what we're doing is worth it? Or rather I should ask if our actions are just?" She asked suddenly, which appeared to catch Regal off guard. If she had not been in such an odd mood, this would have caused her to feel an overwhelming sense of pride.
But now was not the time for petty competition. Besides the Otherworldly Gate, she was curious as to what the cost of severing all of the mana links would be. The worlds would apparently split apart, but something about that logic didn't seem to be right in her mind. Would it be instant? Would there be a period of transition? Raine could hardly lay out all of the possibilities in her own head.
"The only way for us to find out is to continue what we're doing, yes?" Regal said. "It appears to be our only option as of now, so I would say that our actions are indeed sound."
"Your logic never ceases to impress me, Regal."
"I can say the same about you."
Raine let out a light laugh at that and spotted the small smile on Regal's face, which made her smile as well. "I'm sure that the others are back at the inn now. I wouldn't want anyone to worry." She said eventually and Regal nodded, walking in front of her to the door to open it for her, which Raine responded to with a quiet "thank you."
Raine Sage was unsure of a lot of things. Her past was still foggy despite the revelations that she experienced in that library. She was unsure of what would happen after Sheena formed the final pact, and she was unsure of Cruixs' goals as well.
However there was one thing that she was at least somewhat sure of, and strangely enough it was that Regal was ambiguous, which was interesting to the scholar. There was no doubting that he was a gentleman, and a logical one at that. There was more to him that met the eye, and Raine found herself almost eager to find out more.
