Chapter 4: Politics, Reunions and Engineers

o Budehuc o

The actual Budehuc castle was set on a hill with the town below it. Truthfully it was more of a village then a town, but Thomas was working on changing that since he had become Castle Master,. At the moment though Thomas was talking to his head of staff, Sebastian. on the front lawn of the castle. Sebastian was a rather portly man with curled light brown hair, who also ran the inn and served as the cook. He was much better at the first two than the last.

"Thomas is this wise? If ..." asked Sebastian wiping his forehead nervously with a handkerchief as he looked at the people coming towards the castle.

"We don't have much choice." Thomas looked out over the people coming as well. It was easy to pick Terra from the others, even without her distinctive hair color it would be easy. "We can't just leave them there. Besides I think with everything that is going on we have been forgotten about."

"Do you really think so?"

Not entirely, thought Thomas, "I am sure that the Zexen Council has more important things to deal with right now then us."

"But still the added expense..." groused Sebastian.

Thomas thought of the small, dark underground room that Terra and the kids had been living. "We are going to help them, Sebastian, and that is final." Thomas turned and went down the stone stairs set into the hill to greet his guests.

o * o

Budehuc was a small little place, probably the smallest Terra had ever seen. The fountain in the center of the and the stones around it looked old and worn down, but some of the buildings looked quite new. Thomas was coming down the stairs that lead up to the castle. Terra found herself smiling as he approached.

"Did you have any trouble getting here?"

Terra shook her head, "Didn't see any sign of monsters on the way."

"Um, good. Let me show you where all of you will be staying."

He took them inside the castle past some stairs and down a little hallway with about four rooms on it. Two of them had windows that looked out to the sea. There was just enough room between the castle wall and the cliff edge to escape that way if needed.

"Cool, there is a ship down there." said Alic looking out one of the windows.

"I hope these rooms will be suitable for you," said Thomas. He looked so nervouss for some reason.

Terra smiled, "Thank you, this is wonderful." She put down the pack she was carrying.

"I am glad you like it." Thomas put his hand behind his head, "Uh, if you want I can give you a tour of the town." said Thomas.

"A tour?" Terra looked over at the rooms Thomas had given them. There were any number of things that needed to be done. "I don't..."

Katrin interrupted, "We can take care of things here Terra, so go see what the rest of the place is like."

"Are you sure?" asked Terra

"Yes, go enjoy yourself for once." Katrin seemed pretty insistent. Terra wasn't sure how seeing the layout of a castle was fun, but then she didn't have more then a passing idea of what fun was.

They went down the stairs to the town. At the bottom of the stairs was a grassy area with a fountain in the center, that they had passed though on the way up. Thomas mentioned that this was the town square. There were about four buildings around the square and Terra could see a couple more a bit farther away from the square. Thomas pointed out the inn and front gate, which was just a gap in the worn down wall, before they moved on.

It was at the blacksmiths that Terra got a bit of a shock. The blacksmith was seven feet tall, had scales and a tail. I wonder how strong his magic is?

Thomas must have noticed the look on her face, "You've never met...no of course you haven't met anyone from the Lizard Clan. How would you?" Thomas stopped to take a deep breath, "Sorry, Terra this is Peggi, a sacraic of the Lizard Clan, one of the Six Clans of the Grasslands." He turned to the giant Lizard holding a hammer, "Peggi this is Terra, the mayor of Mobliz, one of the towns that was in the other world that combined with ours."

Peggi nodded, "Gotta get back to work." He pointed towards his anvil.

"Yes, of course," said Thomas.

As they left Terra wondered what to ask first. Thomas had acted like Peggi was nothing usual. Did this mean that there were many beings like him? How close were they to espers, her father's people? And, and...

"Sorry about that I just wasn't thinking about the fact that you would never have seen or even heard of the Lizard Clan before. I suppose you want to know about the other races of the world? Said Thomas.

"Other races?" asked Terra confused. She was sure that Thomas was not talking about people running really fast.

"Um, yes, were there other beings besides humans in your world?"

"There were Espers." Terra's shoulders slumped thinking about what had happened to them.

"Sorry I didn't mean to..." He stopped because Terra was looking at him oddly.

"Why do you keep apologizing for things that aren't your fault."

"Um, well you were looking upset, um we have a good library in the castle." He was looking very nervous again, but there was nothing around that was dangerous that Terra could see, so either there was something she wasn't seeing or he was nervous about her. She hated people being scared of her, but he wasn't acting scared just nervous. We could go up there next. There is information on many different subjects there."

Terra said, " I would like to know some about," Now what was that term Chris used? "geography."

As they went up to the library, Terra remembered where she had seen that type of nervousness before – in the way Locke had acted around Celes sometimes when they were not in battle. The library itself was a nice room that was well lit by the windows and full of books she wished she knew how to read. She said as much to Thomas.

"How can you not know how?" asked Thomas, He seemed surprised, " I mean, it can't be from lack of intelligence."

"I was never taught." said Terra.

"Why? Didn't your mother...?"

"She was killed when I was two." by Gestahl. That Terra could remember although she wasn't sure if it was her memory or her father's.

"Oh sorry, Um I can teach you if you want?"

"I would like that."

Thomas took a leather bound book off one of the shelves and sat down at a table with Terra and proceeded to start to teach her the letters of the alphabet. With everything that was happening, it was several hours before Terra realized she hadn't seen Chris since they got to Budehuc.

o * o

Chris stood back out of the way when Thomas came down the steps to talk to Terra. She didn't want to interfere and was unsure what official attitude to adopt now that she was here. If it wasn't for her position as the Captain of the Zexen Knights, then she would be thanking him most profoundly for his help, but she wasn't just a private citizen and if she made a misstep it wasn't just her that would suffer for it. She had been gone on her reconnaissance mission to the Grasslands for some time, so she was not the most up to date with the events in the Zexen Council.

There were more shops in Budehuc now then there were last time Chris had been here, but did that mean that Thomas had reached an accommodation with the Council or was he still acting in defiance of them? Last time she had came here it was because she and Percival had taken a wrong turn on the road toIksay Village. It had taken the longest time to find out where she was because everyone had thought she was here on purpose. She had ended up getting a whole explanation of why they were letting people open shops without paying the fees required by the Zexen Council, namely they did not have enough incoming revenue to pay for even the most basic of things, before she even found out the name of the place.

"Hey, you're Percival's friend, aren't you?" called out a man off to the side.

Chris turned to see a man in simple farmers clothes that she had met briefly once before when Percival had taken her to Iksay for the Harvest Festival. "You're Bartz, right? What are you doing here?"

"My crops got trampled in that Karyan raid. You were there weren't you?"

"Yes," she had almost gotten killed when some of the raider had recognized her as the Silver Maiden. The last man she had fought there had whispered to her to find the Flame Champion if she wanted to find her father. It turns out that, if the information she now had in her mind was true, that man was her father.

While she had been thinking Bartz had continued talking and she missed his next few words, "...So this is a good place to be. I hope there won't be any more trouble."

"Trouble?" asked Chris

"Yes the Zexen Council has tried to have the Castle Master removed from his postion. I don't like fighting, but I don't want to be running all my life, so I guess I will have to help defend this place if needed. Do you-"

"I have to go." said Chris as she turned and left in a hurry. What should I do? I need to get back to Brass Castle, but what if the first thing I am ordered to do when I get back its to attack this place?

o Mobliz o

There were a few sad buildings standing. Celes hadn't ever been to Mobliz before, but she knew that it had been a prosperous if small and out of the way community here before they had failed and that world came to an end. Now it seemed that this town had been hit even worse then other places.

"What happened here?" cried out Lily, her voice sounding quite different without the arrogance that it normally held.

"I had heard that Kefka fried Mobliz but still...I so want to punch him right now." Sabin smacked his fist into his hand.

Celes didn't say anything. She wondered if I had just moved faster back on the floating continent, then would I have been able to prevent this. She didn't want to think about that. It might be that all they could do now was...wait that tree. She knelt down by it. It looked like there was a fight here not that long ago. Don't see any bodies though, probably a good sign.

"We better look around and see what we can find out," she stated getting up.

Most of the buildings that were left weren't even liveable anymore. Truthfully only two of them were even remotely liveable. The one that was further from the cemetery had been inhabited until recently, but there was not anyone here now. All that was left was a few useless scrapes. So whoever had lived here had time to pack up, but did they leave by choice.

The knights were the ones that found the biggest discovery. They recognized some badly tore up clothes, that Celes had just thought were just rags, as belonging to their captain.

"Good so we know that she was here." said Celes, nodding.

"Good, how is knowing that Chris was hurt good?" This was the first thing that Lily had she said since she asked what happened here.

"All ready knew that." Celes said as she looked at the wall, parts of it had been repaired recently. "She was fighting Kefka after all."

"For all we know she could be dead by now." yelled Lily

"No, if she was dead then we would have found a body or a grave."

"There are some graves." Lily yelled gesturing off in the direction of the graveyard they had found earlier..

"But none of them are newly dug, besides her sword would be stuck at the head of the grave if there was one." Like we did for General Leo.

"Why would her sword be at the grave? That is the stupidest thing I -" Lily's high pitched annoying voice was stopped by Celes' fist.

"It is a gesture of respect for a great warrior to do so."

Sabin put his hand on Celes shoulder. She would guess that he wanted to stop her from doing anything more, but if that was so he didn't need to worry. Lilly had deserved that punch, but anymore would just be beating up the weak. Celes Cher would never do that again.

"Oh, oh, I challenge you to a duel."screamed Lilly after a moment or two of looking shocked.

"No" said Celes, she had learned the Soldiers Code of General Leo and she intended to follow it in his memory, "The officer will refrain from needless duels." She turned on her heel, "There are some tracks leading this way. I am going to follow them. It doesn't matter what you do." Celes said as she walked off.

For some reason everyone followed her. They followed the tracks to a rather run down castle. The outer walls were in need of maintenance and the girl who was guarding the front entrance did not look or act like a proper soldier. She was likely to last less then ten minutes in a real fight.

o Budehec o

Chris had been thinking for several hours on how best to deal with this situation without any loss of honor for anyone. This ended when she heard Cecile call out that there were some people coming. Chris recognized most of the people coming up to the castle.

Two of them were knights that she commanded. She was both glad to see them and worried. Glad, for they were good people and they would know more about resent goings on in the Zexen Confederacy. Worried because, why were they here. Does it have anything to do with that resent council ruling Bartz had mentioned?

Lily was also in the group. She was in what she called her adventuring clothes, but she was looking more bedraggled then Chris had ever seen her. She also had a black eye. I wonder why? Lily's two attendants were with her.

The other two were a man and a woman. Both had the same lean and tired look that everyone she had met from the other world had, but she didn't look afraid like the people of Mobliz did. The man Chris disregarded for the moment. She didn't know anything about him. The woman though Chris knew of two names that could be the woman's, but which one was it? It was bad enough that she didn't know why she knew the names of people, and even worse what it implied about where her father was.

Chris stepped forward to greet her men and see what she could find out about the others.

"Captain, I see you are unharmed." said Roland once he swung down out of the saddle.

"I was actually hurt quite badly in a fight, but luckily Terra was able to heal me." replied Chris, "What are you doing here?"

"Chris, what is it with the clothes you are wearing?" asked Lily

"Celes said you might have ended up over this way." said Percival, "It looks like she was right."

"Celes, that is her over there is it not?" asked Chris, knowing what the answer would be and not sure of how she felt about that.

"I don't want to talk about that rude person." said Lily over towards Celes

Percival ignored Lily and said, "Yes, how did you know?"

"I'm not sure. I just did." said Chris That piece of information is true it seems.

"That is strange to say the least." said Roland.

"She is uncouth, obsessed with fighting and, and..." said Lily

"Lily that is the same thing you said about me when we first met." Chris told Lily.

"Any idea how this happened?" asked Roland.

"Well yes, but you never punched me." said Lily completely ignoring the question Roland just asked.

"No, I'm not the only one though, Terra said she knew who I was the moment she saw me." replied Chris. "Wait, is that where you got that black eye?"

"I think that might be be because you had just insulted her people's burial customs." said Roland.

"She doesn't have a people. She said so herself."

"I need to talk to her." said Chris as she turned to head over there. She was hoping that she could quickly find out about if she could trust this information that had appeared in her head and maybe about find out how magic worked in their world.

It didn't turn out that way Celes thought Chris was coming about Lilly's black eye. When the name Dienae was brought up she first didn't recognize it then she started swearing. Some of the swear words Celes used were a bit odd sounding, but then as she was from a different world that made sense.

Sabin stoped her, "Hey not in front of the kid.

"What I would like to know is why I know that name when you didn't." asked Chris What I would really like to know is if I can trust this name information?

"Because the thrice be-damned Gestahl apparently decided not to have me be told the name my parents gave me, I would guess." said Celes before getting control of herself. "I have to go see about a place to bed down for the night."

It was obvious from Celes' ice cold tone that the topic was closed. She did bring up a good point though. It was too late in the day to leave, so arrangements would have to be made at the inn.

o Inside Budehec o

The two of them, Terra and Thomas, were still in the library, when Cecile came running up with a loud clatter.

"Some people have come." she said between gasps of breath, "I think some of them are Zexen Knights."

Thomas could run faster than Terra had thought, because he was out the door and down the stairs in a flash. Terra had lots of experence with having to move fast because soldiers had appeared, so she was able to keep up with him, but Cecile was left behind. Outside Chris was talking to some people. Two were men in the same type of heavy armor that Cecile was wearing, although theirs was much better fitted. Two people she had last seen as the airship broke apart were standing there.

Off to the side were Sabin and Celes.

"You're both still alive?"

"Oh come on, Terra. Did you think a little thing like the end of the world was going to kill us?" replied Sabin, striking a ridiculous pose.

"No I guess not," said Terra trying not to laugh, "The others?"

Celes had that stubborn look of hers on as she said,, "We'll find them. They have to have survived."

"Yeah we just need to find where the biggest treasure in the world is. We'll find Locke there." said Sabin. He was only exaggerating slightly.

"It would be good to see him again. You will have to bring him by here after you find him." said Terra

This statement surprised Celes it seemed. She had likely been exspecting Terra to come along "Terra, you-"

Caspian came up, "Mama, who are these people?"

"That's Celes and that Sabin," Terra told him pointing at each of them in turn, "They are good friends of mine."

"Terra, who..."

"Oh sorry, this is Caspian. After the world ended all of the adults of Molbiz died saving the children. I've been taking care of them since then. I am needed here. The kids need me."

"You can't take Mama away!" he grabbed on to Terra's legs, hugging them fircely.

Sabin keeled down so his head was even with Caspian's "Don't worry, kiddo, We aren't going to. We'll just be visiting for a few days. Your mama's going to stay right here where she can take care of you, promise."

Terra smiled glad that Sabin understood. She turned to Celes, but before she could say anything Chris came over.

"I suppose you are going to complain about me hitting your friend." Celes said as soon as sahe saw Chris

"I don't think we have been properly introduced. Should I call you Dienae or Celes?"

"Why would you...Hell!" Celes muttered a number of things regarding how Gestahl had been an awful person, which Terra agreed with. Although for some reason Sabin told Celes she shouldn't be using those words in front of Caspian.

o * o

It had taken a while to find places for everyone, but it had been done. Thomas was now going around to make sure everyone was situated for the night. He had just looked on the villagers of Nor. They were fine and didn't need anything, so next he went to see if Terra, err the people of Mobliz, needed anything.

As he got closer, Thomas could hear a voice booming though the hall that Terra was in. It was, now what was his name, ah yes, Sabin's voice.

"So we know what Terra has been doing and I just told you what I've been doing-"

Thomas couldn't catch what was said in response. He did however hear Sabin's reply to it. "Yes at some length, so what have you been doing Celes. You never did say."

Thomas wasn't an eavesdropper, but he had wondered about this. Terra obviously cared deeply about her two friends, but they hadn't been around... They had let her think they were dead for a year.. He put his ear to the door to hear better.

"I was unconscious for most of it..." There was so much raw pain in her voice that he just couldn't stay and hear any more. It was just too personal now, even if he did want to know what happened.

Thomas turned away, took a few steps and almost ran into Duane. They both started appolishing to each other. The whole time Thomas was hoping that Duane didn't think he was eavesdropping on anyone.

"I was looking for you, sir." said Duane. He looked about ready to bow.

"You were, why? And you don't have to call me, sir."

"You are the Castle Master, why wouldn't I call you sir?"

Because I am a bastard whose father doesn't want to have anything to do with him, thought Thomas but he said, "Never mind that now. Why were you looking for me?"

"Well I was just finishing up my apprenticeship with the village mason, before... he stopped for a moment before starting again I had actually become a Journeyman the day before the world ended. So I was wondering if you needed any help with repairing the walls here."

What does he mean by the world ending, thought Thomas before he realized what Duane was saying, "I would love to have the stonework here fixed. We just haven't had the money to hire someone to come out and fix them."

Duane smiled looking relived, "Then I will get to work tomorrow. What do you have in the way of supplies?"

Thomas winced, "Not much I'm afraid."

"Don't worry the world has been reborn, so the phoenix will see that things will work out."

"What do you mean by that?" Thomas thought that was an odd thing to say.

"Oh the phoenix is said to be able to bring people back to life, since the world has been reborn it just seemed to fit."

"No, what do you mean by the world being reborn."

"The sky is blue and plants are growing."

"But that has always been true."

"I guess that it has for you, but not for us this last year. One year ago the world got torn apart and everything was dying. That is not true anymore though." said Duane, "Well I will bid you a good night then, Lord Thomas. Tomorrow I will have a lot of work to do."

He really expects that everything will go well. I have to make sure that they do. Thomas went to go do something that he kept putting off out of nervousness, talk to the Zexen Knights.

The inn was larger then one would expect from a town the size of Budehec. Thomas was given to understand that it had been built when Budehec was a bigger town than it is now. Thomas wished he knew more about the history of this castle, but he had been too busy with more pressing matters. One of which was the reason he was here now.

After everyone had shown up, Lady Chris and the other Zexen Knights had gotten rooms at the inn. Thomas headed there now. Thomas had only been to this inn a few times. When he arrived there, he found that Lady Chris and her friend were at the bathhouse right now and Sir Roland had gone for a walk. Sir Percival was the only one there, so Thomas went to talk to him.

"Sir Percival, er I was wondering if you knew anything about the, um, dispute we are having with the Zexen Council."

"No I haven't," Percival looked at him intently for a moment, "You are a good man, Lord Thomas."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you are," Percival said, "Other men would have decided to hold Lady Chris hostage to force a solution."

"I would never do that." said Thomas, shocked at very thought.

"I know. That is why you are a good man." said Percival

"Um thank you, that doesn't help much though in battle, if it comes to that. Not that I want it to come to that."

"It is getting late so we should be getting to our beds." Percival said getting up. As Thomas had his hand on the door ready to leave Percival said "And, Thomas let us both agree to keep our eyes open for a way out of this mess. You never know what might happen."

"Right, as I was told earlier the phoenix will see that things work out."

o Brass Castle o

The next day dawned with a cold chill in the air. However it was bight and clear and it looked to be staying that way. Perfect weather for traveling, aside from the cold, with a little luck they would be able to get all the way to Brass Castle before nightfall. Even as Chris thought this she mused on how odd that thought was, since a few days ago it would not have taken more then an hour or two at the most to make the same trip.

They were lucky. The trip was uneventful, well as uneventful as a trip though mostly trackless, monster invested wildness can be. They reached Brass Castle before the gates closed for the night.

It was good to return to Brass Castle after everything that had happened. It's walls and bustling city life were comforting to Chris. They went straight away to the Knights Quarters in the center of town.

It was good to be home. All of the knights were glad she was back unharmed. It seemed that none of them wanted to have another new captain so soon after Sir Galahad died. She would have to make sure to stay alive so that didn't happen.

Borus had made it quite clear that he had wanted to be one of the ones to go find her, which was not that surprising. What was surprising was the reason that Salome gave for not having Borus go. He was worried about how Celes would react to him.

"I think that she has seen too much. I have seen eyes like that before, but rarely on one so young."

"Eyes like that?" asked Chris.

"Yes, too many battles and too much pain. People with eyes like that end up lashing out and getting into fights they don't mean to, killing themselves or others because they can't get out of battle mindset."replied Salome while fingering some paper. Chris knew he only did that when he was thinking about something that made him nervous.

To that Percival said, "Well, since she didn't try to kill Lady Lilly, despite the provocation I would say we don't have to worry."

This made Chris worry for Terra, but she probably had a better idea of what to do then Chris did. That did make her think of something else that she needed to talk with her strategist about.

Later when they had a quiet moment Chris told Salome. "I need to collect some information on what the Council plans to do in Budehec."

Interestingly Salome didn't ask why or that he needed time to research it, he just said, "I know that Durabum has been making a fuss about the place. I suspect that he is trying to cover up some misdeed, but I can't figure out what exactly it is."

"Not the most helpful unless we knew what it was he trying." said Chris she then asked "Are the routes to the Capital clear?"

"Yes, it now takes an extra hour to get there and the route is less peaceful now, but it is open."

"I'll set off tomorrow for Vinay del Zexay to give a report to the Council."

o Kuput Forest o

Jimba was worried about Yumi. She looked as pale as death as she parted the veil of illusion that kept Alma Kinan separate from the rest of the world.

It was quieter on the other side of the veil. There were fewer animal sounds and those that could be heard were softer and more muted. This felt so wrong to Jimba, every time he had been here before the forest had, if anything, sounded more alive behind the veil.

A charnel smell reached Jimba's nose before they even reached the village gates. Inside the gates there were still some buildings standing. In fact one house on the far side of town was completely unscathed. Other houses though were completely destroyed by metal wreckage. One thing that Jimba couldn't figure out was where all of the metal had come from; The Alma Kinan used hardly any metal.

"Put the supplies down here while we look around, Belus stay and guard them." said Jimba, "Yumi will you take a couple men and go look to see if there is anyone still alive in the buildings." He didn't want Yumi to see the battle site in her current state. After seeing the expression on her face he added, "If anyone is still alive than they will want to see a familiar face."

The destroyed buildings were bad enough, but things looked even worse when they got closer. They started finding bodies. At first the bodies looked simply like they had been thrown back by a great force. The ones further in were so twisted and distorted or mangled up that I was impossible to tell who they had been. In some cases it was hard to even tell they had been human.

:Oh shit. Look at the stone shattered around here;It took Jimba a moment to realize that Maduin had said that.

:I think the people are more important: thought Jimba looking down at the body of one of the villagers. Half of her was a mess of scales and claws. Her face was still human though and it was locked in an expression of terror.

:Look at how some of the bodies have been changed. The stone must be from them:

:From who?:

:The Warring Triad: replied Maduin, :They were the source of all magic for the world. If they are ahattered than I don't know what is happening.:

Jimba had no idea what the Warring Triad was but, "Everyone stay away from the pieces of stone."

Everyone stopped to look at him. In the silence that followed Jimba could hear the faint sound of someone calling for help. He followed sounds to one of the trees.

There was a woman beneath what was left of the tree. In a way she was lucky; she hadn't gotten hit by any of the shards and she hadn't bled to death. In another way she was very unlucky the reason that she hadn't bled to death was because all of her wounds had been cauterized by the fire that had given her those burns she had. Dieing slowly from exposure was not good luck, but still being alive when rescue came might be, if she didn't die in the next few moments that is.

Jimba took a deep breath and started to draw on the True Water Rune's power. Where water runes had some offensive power, they were more known for their healing power. The first choice for healers was a water rune. Since all the water runes descended from the True Water Rune, the healing power of the True Water Rune was immense.

It was not enough to heal the woman all the way though. She was still missing an eye and was so weak that she couldn't stand, but she was still alive.

:How were you able to use my magic to heal her?: asked Maduin as soon as Jimba finished with the healing.

:Just a moment.: Jimba toward two of the younger warriors "Arel, Perer could you carry her out of here. Everyone else, see if you can find anyone else that is still alive, but be careful."

Jimba leaned against the tree. :Now what were you saying about healing?:

:I have never had healing magic, so how were you able to use my magic to heal?:

:The True Water Rune has always had that power.: replied Jimba knowing that this was going to be one of those confusing conversations, but maybe he could learn more about magic this way though.

:Man that means that I have magic I don't know about. I should know if I have a magic.:

:It is understandable that you wouldn't know all of the powers -:

:No, you don't understand my instincts should have told me.:

:What instincts?:

:The same ones that any magic user has. How else would you know how to use magic?:

:By being taught it by someone who can correct your mistakes, of course, to do otherwise would be too dangerous.:

:What, trying to do magic that way is what is too dangerous.:

This argument went on for awhile.

There were no other survivors. The only thing to be done was to build a funeral pyre, so that the souls of the Alma Kinan clan would be one with the Spirits once again. Jimba had fought to save all the Clans fifty years ago. It seemed most unfair that he would now see the end of one of them, but Jimba knew that life was not fair. He had seen plenty of evidence of this in his extended life.

He sent some of the men to gather firewood, telling them to take care not to get outside the boundary, and asked others, who he judged more able to deal with the death all around, to prepare the bodies. He then went back to where the supplies were to tell the people there what was going on.

On the way back he asked Maduin if he could explain more about what the stone might do.

Maduin replied :I'm not really sure, but pieces of dead Gods are not likely to be good for ones health.: With those words came a wave of conflicted emotions among them were fear and a sense of failure.

Jimba remembered his vision and got pale :You promised she was still alive.:

:What?...Oh Chris is. The reason I said she was still alive was because her name is one I know from the list you were complaining about. Everyone on that list is alive:

Jimba couldn't help but think of all the things that could happen to a person that were worse than death. He took that thought and put it into a mental box until he could finish with this task.

Yumi was talking with the woman he saved, but as soon as she saw him she got up.

"There was not one house that was unscathed." Yumi said rather tonelessly.

That is not good. It sounds like she is past her limits both physically and mentally. "Are you alright."

"I have to be." said Yumi with a hint of the pain she must be feeling creeping into her voice.

"Here walk with me. I would like to make sure I don't end up not being able to make it back."

They walked for a little ways without talking. At the very least they were getting away from the smell of death for a little while. Jimba turned to Yumi, but before he could say anything she spoke.

"If you are going to say something about heading back to Chista, than don't bother. I will be here when my clan is sent off to the spirits. It is my right."

Jimba did not have time to make any response to that for a series of crashes echoed though the air. These sounds were coming closer. They peeked though the trees and saw a beast of metal with people on it and more being pulled behind it.

:Magitek Armor: Jimba could detect the rage in Maduin's voice, but now was not the time to ask about that, for Yumi had notched an arrow on to her bow. She sent it flying towards one of the people on top of the metal monstrosity. The machine turned towards them.

:A bolt spell should work.:

:What! Geddoe isn't here to do one .:

:Jimba, just open yourself up for some magic.:Maduin sounded like he would be gritting his teeth if he had any to grit.

Jimba did so and next thing he knew the Armor was being hit by a lightning bolt.

Things were still for a moment. Jimba just had time to realize that he had no idea who they were fighting or why, before he had to dodge out of the way of some incoming fireballs., there were two men rushing them. Yumi took one down with an arrow and Jimba took down the other with his sword. He turned towards the others standing further off. Were they going to attack next? They turned and left instead.

He held up his hand to stop Yumi from presueing the enemy.

"If you get yourself killed than you won't be able to light the funeral pyre." said Jimba as he thought :Maduin we have to talk.:

:You want to know why I was so ready to attack. If you knew how many died to create that thing you would not have to ask:

o*o

We are almost there. Thought Sarah, as she kept low so she wasn't hit by any low hanging branches. That thought would have made her happy even if they were not going to save Luc, just because it meant she would be getting off this hunk of moving metal. She didn't care how the thing worked. She just wanted to get off.

An arrow pierced Sarah's arm before she even had a chance to notice let go of the rope in surprise. Then the metal she was on moved under her. She scrambled to grab hold of the rope as she started slide off, but she was unable to.

The fall was long enough to knock the breath out of her. I just got shot. Who shot me? Thought Sarah as she looked at the arrow in her shoulder. She looked up to see a bolt of lightning strike the metal monstrosity. She would have thought this to be magic if the direction wasn't all wrong. The tree cover wasn't so thick that someone could have gotten above them. What would be the point of attacking from that direction anyway? One would get the same effect much easier attacking from the side.

"You all right, Sarah?"called out Strago.

"How?"

"I can smell it in the air when someone is about to use a Bolt spell."

"But..." she didn't know what she was going to say.

"Here hold still." Strago snapped the arrow in half and pulled it out, "I don't have any Cure magic. Do you?"

Cure magic, that is an odd way to phase it. Thought Sarah and she shoke her head.

"Well we will just have to do without magic than." He got up, "I'll go see what there in in the way of medical supplies."

Moments after Stago left, some of the Favored came though the trees. They looked like they had been in a fight.

"There is no way this was just luck." He glared at Sarah, "You better not have just lead us into an ambush, girl."

"I did no such thing." said Sarah primly.

The man slammed her up against a tree. "Liar, than how did they know we would be here than," He hit Sarah's wounded arm causing her to cry out, "Who are you working for?"

"I'm not working for anyone." cried out Sarah as he brought his arm back for another punch.

That punch didn't fall though, one of the other Favored stopped him by saying "She might be telling the truth. After all who would be stupid enough to stay with the group they just lead into an ambush."

"Maybe, but we should make sure she isn't keeping any secrets from us."

"You can have your fun later, Dyan. If she disobeys orders you can have her." he turned to Sarah, "Now girl, use your superior knowledge to tell us where we should go now."

"Vinay del Zexay." Sarah said quickly, naming a place a random, Durabum is there. He can help with getting rid of the grasslanders. "Some people there will be only too glad to meet you."

o Council Hall in Vinay del Zexay o

Chris was striding down the wood paneled hall of the Council building when she almost ran into a man she had never seen before. He was a handsome man with long blonde hair. His clothes were richly dyed and cut in such an odd style, but they were a bit more worn then one would exspect.

"Beautiful lady, might I introduce myself?" If that was a question this blonde haired man gave Chris no time to answer it. "I am King Edgar of Figaro. As I am a foreigner in these parts, I was wondering if I could prevail upon one such as you to show one such as me around."

A blush rose to Chris' face. This man was being very blatant wasn't he. "I have to give a report to the Council."

"Ah, then we are going the same way," he said with a bow, "for due to our worlds combining somehow I am forced to start diplomatic relations with this country from a cold start."

Chris had never before heard the phase 'from a cold start' before. It seemed that this man was also from that other world. Ah that must be it difference in culture that's why he seems to be flirting.

With all that was going on it was not surprising that the Council was doing several things at once, such as listening to a report from the Captain of the Zexen Knights and meeting with a foreign king.

The Council didn't want a full report of what Chris had found out. They immediately got into a discussion on how best to use the Zexen Knights, without touching on the points she had brought up about giving aid to Mobliz and reaching some accommodation with Budehec.

"First and foremost we need to secure our borders." said Durabum.

"As the esteemed Durabum should remember we are a merchant nation, if we don't get the trade routes re-established then we won't have the resources to secure the borders like he wants." said Lowma.

"If we are not able to keep our borders secure, then how are we to convince other lands to trade with ours if our roads are not safe?" Durabum said banging his hands on the table.

"You could do both, you know." Edgar drawled. He hadn't given any indacation of paying attention and Chris had forgotten that he was there.

After a moment Councilor Achden said, "And what would the King of Figaro know about the internal affairs of this land?"

"Absolutely nothing," said Edgar, he turned to Chris. "Captain, do your men have a good supply of rope on hand?"

A question like that surprised Chris, but she did have an answer to it, "Yes."

"Lay some across an area that you know Delta Bugs are. They will always go investigate anything new. You can then pull on the rope to topple them over. They can be easily killed that way." Edgar said then he turned and looked at the Councilors. "Knowing the habits and weaknesses of the monsters reduces the number of soldiers needed for the task. That way you will have the troops to re-establish trade routes."

"Ah, and what will it cost us to get information about the monsters?"

"Well, the currency point we have been discussing, maybe," said Edgar

"We will have the papers drawn up." the Councilor gestured to an assistant to go take care of the matter.

"And I would like to have some information about the other countries."

"You can talk to Lady Chris about that when you tell her the monster weaknesses," said Lowma.

"I always look forward to talking with a beautiful lady." said Edgar grinning roguishly.

After that the Council meeting went on for several hours without getting much of anything done. Just a lot of talking, then deciding to break for the night without getting anything else decided.

o Vinay del Zexay o

When Chris exited the Council Hall her squire, Louis was there waiting for her. He handed Chris her sword and asked her how the meeting went. She was not able to answer him because Edgar came up at that moment.

"Shall we go to someplace more suitable for conversing, my lady?" asked Edgar in rather honeyed tones.

"And why would we need such a place?" asked Chris glaring at him.

"So I don't look like a complete fool in front of everyone when you explain to me about other countries." Edgar said with a smile.

"Sire, your sword." said, well Chris wasn't sure if the man was Edgar's bodyguard or manservant and it would be rude to ask.

"Thank you, Lalt." The sword Edgar took and tucked into his sash was an odd one. It was curved and the hilt had a disc shaped pommel with a spike in the center.

Chris looked up at the sky as they stepped outside. Wrong time of day to go to an inn or public house of some kind, they will be too crowded. Bother appropriate, I am taking the easy way. "Follow me."

As they started off Edgar asked, "If I may be a blunt idiot for a minute, might I ask if there is some cultural reason I don't get for talking for hours about noting when in the Council Hall?" Edgar's voice sounded confused, but his eyes sparkled with laughter.

Chris thought, No they should be working on dealing with this problem instead of playing power games. But she knew that was not something she should say out loud, let alone to a foreign king. Instead she just asked. "Oh and how would you deal with this in Figaro?"

"Well, lets see, normally my advisers would argue about the matter for several day before making up their minds."

"How is that different then what was going on in there?"

"Ah, but if I feel they are dragging their feet for no good reason then they aren't my adviser anymore." Edgar grinned as he said this.

"Very funny," said Chris trying not to smile, "Somehow I doubt it is that easy."

"It can get complicated at times, but my chancellor helps. Unfortunately now is not one of those complicated times." Edgar said looking down at the cobblestones he was walking over.

Louis spoke up then, "Why unfortunately sir, if you don't mind me asking?"

"It is unfortunate, because most of my advisers are dead now. We came though better then..." Edgar stopped looking morose, and Chris thought she had a good idea why.

"Better then Mobliz you mean?"

"Yes, I heard that town was hit pretty hard by," Edgar paused for a moment, "The aftermath of the Floating Continent."

"What do you mean?" Chris knew something had happened, but she hadn't heard anything about a Floating Continent.

"Emperor Gesthal and the last of his generals tore up the Esper World to get their hands on the source of magic for our world. We tried to stop them, but failed. I don't know if any of the others are still alive. So truthfully how badly was Mobliz destroyed?"

"Well Terra is-"

"Wait... did you say Terra?" exclaimed Edgar light in his eyes. He looked, well, hopeful, "Just to make sure this Terra is a young woman with green hair, right?"

"Yes, now why are you asking about her?"

"Terra was one of the the people who was with King Edgar on the Floating Continent." said Edgar's guard.

"Oh," Why was a healer like Terra there? "We're here."

"Nice, is this your place? I like the garden."

The garden he was referring to was full of a number of different flowers and flowering bushes. Chris remembered, as she always did, how much her mother had loved the gardens when she was alive.

Chris turned to her squire, "Louis, will you take a message to your father for me when you go home?"

"Yes ma'am, what is the message?"

"Tell him I have the King of Figaro here and would like his advice on current affairs."

Louis nodded and went off towards the Keeferson manor.

Chris turned to Edgar, who was finishing up with his instructions to his man.

"Are you sure, sire?"

"I think I can manage to take care of myself for a few hours," said Edgar, "What is more important is you going and getting that coal."

"You never did explain what Emperor Gesthal and his general had to do with a continent that was floating." said Chris as she and Edgar went though the front doorway of the Lightfellow Manor.

"If I told you that they ripped up part of the land and made it float in the air would you believe me?" replied Edgar.

"No."

"Then I didn't say any such thing."

Chris was saved from having to come up with an reply to that statement by her butler coming into the front hall.

"Welcome home, milady."

"Thank you. There should be two guests for supper tonight. I am sorry about the late notice." Chris told Prion as she walked inside, "This is the King of Figaro. I will be speaking with him in the drawing room. Please inform me when Polenth Keeferson arrives."

"Yes, milady" Prion said. Chris knew he would do just that for he had been loyally serving the Lightfellow family since before she was born.

The drawing room was much the same as always. Chris could remember her mother receiving visitors here and vaguely remembered her parents laughing together after a dinner party.

"I think it would be best if we talked about the monsters first and politics after Polenth arrives." Chris said turning to face Edgar.

"As you wish, Beautiful." said Edgar with an overblown bow.

"I have a name you know. It is Chris."

"All right Chris, might I ask who Polenth is?"

"He is an old family friend. He used to be on the Council so he knows more about the conditions of other countries then I do." She gestured for Edgar to sit down. They both sat in the neatly upholstered chairs. Then Edgar then started to tell about how fire could kill bloompires and how to trap buffalax. This went on for some time.

"Milady, Polenth Keeferson is here." Prion stood back out of the way so that the brown haired bespectacled man could get by.

Chris rose to he feet, "Thank you for coming. You are looking well."

"You look like you have been overworking again. Tasia said to make sure to invite you over for dinner at some point."

"Not sure how long I will be in town this time." said Chris, "This is Edgar, The King of Figaro. I was asked to tell him some about the other countries."

Polenth inclined his head, "I am pleased to meet someone from this other world I have heard about."

"Everyone keeps acting like there are two completely separate and different worlds." said Edgar, "But the reality is that there is only one and we are just going to have to deal with that fact."

"True enough, but why the bitterness? The Council being problematic?" Chris didn't see any visible reaction from Edgar, but Polenth must have, "Don't worry, I do think that some of those men should not be on the Council."

Chris was torn between agreement and feeling that it might be her duty to defend the council members, so she didn't say anything.

"Oh do you mind telling me some about these Councilors?"

"You should be careful of Lowma. He has a tendency to get rid of things that he no longer needs." said Polenth. "and Durabum has a nervous temperament, that he hides by being a bully, and he has a bad want for power."

" I believe that either of them will be more trustworthy then some of the people I have dealt with. Of course that is not saying much since one of the people I was forced to deal with tried to burn down my castle." replied Edgar.

Before Chris could figure out how to respond to that over the top statement, Prion opened the door.

"Dinner is ready, milady, sirs."

"Thank you," said Chris, "Shall we continue this over food?"

"Of course."

It is nice to see more then one place set at the table, thought Chris as she walked into the dining hall with Edgar and Polenth.

The first course was a sweet potato soup with pecans. The taste of the sweet potatoes melded well with the onions and garlic. The discussion was mostly concerning Harmonia to the north.

"First it does not take long to figure out that Harmonia has been a dominate force in this world for many years, even the calender we use is based on the Harmonian one. To be fair they have made a number of positive cultural achievements, but-" said Polenth.

"Let me guess they are draining energy from people to power their war machines," Edgar looked perfectly serious as he said this, but there was no way he could be.

"Please don't make stupid jokes. Their society is built on the backs of slaves. Harmonia is very dangerous when it is not in the middle of fractional infighting." Polenth went on to give other basic information about Harmonia such as that is was a theocracy ruled by Hikusaak, the bearer of the Circle Rune and that it used to be even larger then it is now.

The next course was Salmon baked in a mustard honey mixture. The salmon was fresh caught. It was likely that it had been bought at the port less then an hour ago.

There was one thing Chris noticed, Edgar was very careful about eating. He was always the last one to try any piece of food. The way he did this was so inconspicuous that she almost hadn't noticed it. That kind of careful action was at odds with much of what she had seen of him so far.

The last course was the dessert. It was bittersweet chocolate tartlets.

Polenth was half way though a explanation on Tinto's economy, when Edgar interrupted.,

"Wait so what are the water gems mined there were used for?"

"They are used to create the common runes that are used in everyday life."

Edgar's next question surprised Chris "Ok, now what are runes?"

"How can you not know what runes are?"

"I think the answer to that should be obvious."

"But haven't you seen the shops?" asked Polenth, "Sorry never mind, runes are how we use magic."

"Wait, so you can just go to the store and buy magic?" said Edgar looking pale.

"Yes that is you can have a Rune Master or Mistress affix a rune on your hand. With the proper training you can use the magic within it." said Polenth

Chris remembered the other reactions people from the other world had to magic and asked, "Edgar how does magic work in your world?"

Edgar paused for a moment then said, "It is very rare. Most people didn't even believe that it existed at all. But the Emperor of one of the southern countries did and decided to use magic to conquer the world. There are three ways to get it. One is to be born with magic. The second is a very dangerous magical infusion. The third is though magicite."

"Judging by what Celes said I take it those last two are not very nice."said Chris.

Edgar put down his fork, "When did you run into Celes, and is there anyone else you have run into I should know about?"

"She helped some of my Knights find me and there had been a man with Celes. Now that I think about it he did look a bit like you, Edgar."

"How do I get there?" Edgar asked as soon as she finished

"What?"

"That man happens to be my brother."

"I'll show you where Budehec is on the map, but I am not sure how helpful that will be with how everything has changed."

"Good, is there any way I can get up there soon without mortally offending the Council here."

"It will take a few days and no matter what you do some members of the Council will be offended." said Polenth.

"That is a risk I will have to take. Now I had better return to my ship before the crew decides that I managed to seduce you Chris." Edgar turned and left.

Polenth turned to Chris,"What was that about?'"

"I don't know." said Chris, "I need to get some sleep."

"Chris, what is bothering you? And don't say that it is nothing or that it is something to do with the worlds combining because I can tell it isn't."

"Too many things, one is that while I was on my reconnaissance mission I found out that my father is still alive." Chris did not say 'he must have decided to abandon me and mother' but it was heard. "I shouldn't be worrying so much about what is just a personal issue right now."

"Chris I assure you, your father would not have left if he had any choice in the matter. He loved you and Anna."

"Then why is he living among the Karayan? Why is he Jimba now instead of Wyatt? Why?"

"I can't answer that exactly, although I have some guesses. I do know that before he disappeared he was very worried about some people that had shown up in the city. When I checked into it more thoroughly later, I found that those people were Harmonians and I think one of them was a member of the Howling Voice Guild."

"Oh," said Chris that was not she had excepted to hear, "What would they want with my father?"

"None of my agents were able to find that out, but Harmonians are always after True Runes."

"And my father had...has the True Water Rune."

"Chris, I am sure everything will work out somehow."

"You are being an optimist," said Chris. "Good night."

Polenth left and Chris went up to her rooms. By all rights Chris could have moved into the Master Bedroom, but she never had. It just didn't seem right.