Disclaimer: I don't own Symphonia or these characters.

As the coast grew larger, I wondered would it was going to be like, coming back home. It had been years.

Finally, we stepped off the boat, onto the shore. Though my heart was racing, nothing seemed to change. I was on a different shore, but nothing had caught on fire, nobody had died. I was the same woman I was.

Yuan came over to me. "Look at where the next temple is." I knew it right away. In the city where it all began. I truly was going home.

"So this is your capital city?"

Meltokio was a glorious city; in that day and age, so long ago, even Palmacosta was glorious. It was the biggest city in Sylvarant, and, though I was excited to visit my home, it was exciting to be in such a big city. I had traveled this way before, but I had hardly seen it when I was leaving my home behind.

I found that there was one problem in my joy at being in such a city. For a human like me, it was fine. But we had three half-elves travelling with us, and the world was not kind to half-elves. I wondered if it would ever be.

As we passed through, I heard people whisper. I could barely hear them, but I knew that my friends with their sensitive ears could hear them. "Disgraceful. Our city ruined by those things travelling through..."

"Haven't they brought enough pain to us all? If they hadn't-" I'll stop; it was painful enough just to hear them. I don't need to remember the hateful words towards them.

Martel, as quiet and gentle as ever, said, "We should get out of here as quick as we can." She bowed her head to hide her tears. I hurried with them.

We faced another problem at the inn. We had to stop; it was getting too late for us to travel. The man at the counter turned away as soon as he saw us. "I'm sorry, we don't serve your kind."

Mithos looked to One, as if expecting him to do the trick with his sword again. One looked down at him and shook his head. Hostility would not be our friend here, not in the city that hated them. As we walked out of the inn, I saw something in Mithos's eyes that worried me. Not tears, like had been in his sister's, but anger.

We had made camp before, and it hadn't been so bad, but it felt so strange when we were in the outskirts of a city. None of the inns would take us in. It may have bothered me a bit, but I kept my head up. This was just life for them. I could tell that Mithos was affected, despite how close Martel was to him, whispering in his ear and trying to provide comfort to her brother.

One stepped in. "Mithos, would you like to start our training?" He looked up, wide-eyed at the human man.

"You don't hate us, do you?" he asked; his voice was very quiet, as if just asking that would make him realize that he hated them and would flee. He even looked at me. I had come all this way with them, but this had shaken him.

I placed my hand on his shoulder. "I will follow you until the end, my friend," I said, and he nodded. One sighed and shook his head.

"It is not blood that determines our fate. I wish that things were different, Mithos, but we will help you in the quest. It will be not be blood that parts us."

He nodded and followed after the taller man to go train. I watched after them, and I went to sit by the fire, where I noticed that Two and Martel was talking.

"Do you face this often?"

"This is every day for a half-elf," Martel said quietly. "I try to shield Mithos from it as best as I can, but I know that he feels it too. When we were in Heimdall, people judged us because our mother was human. That was all that they saw of us. I wish... I wish that people wouldn't treat us different because of our blood."

"I never realized," Two said. "In the castle... when I was training, I saw elves and half-elves, but they were practically invisible. I knew an elf growing up, but he never complained. If I had known... I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," Martel said with a gentle smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. She brushed her hands over her chest, a motion that I often saw her doing, as if she was hiding something there. I didn't question her.

I tore my eyes away from her and tried to focus on something else. I chose to look at our bag instead, see what supplies we should get while we were in our capital. I hoped that we would be able to get out of there quickly the next morning, but I noticed that there was a problem.

"We're out of food."

I went into the city the next morning to get food, but Martel insisted on coming with me. She wouldn't say why. As I started to get food, I noticed her slipping away. I grabbed her hand.

"In a city like this, I don't think that you should stray too far," I said; not after the talk I had heard. She shook her head.

"There's something I have to do by myself," she said, her voice very quiet. "I'll meet you back here in a little bit, okay?" Something in her expression worried me.

"Is everything all right?" I asked, and she tore her gaze away from me. I noticed that she was pressing her hand over her chest again. "If something is wrong, then you should tell us. We could get you help."

She pulled me along, knowing that I would not leave her alone until I knew that she was all right. Her voice was very quiet as we walked. "It is a small problem, I think. I didn't want to worry the others." She pulled me aside, and she lifted the shawl that she wore so that I could see the problem. I had never seen anything like it before.

There was something that could only be described as a crystal just above her chest; looking again, I noticed that it was embedded in her skin. In another occasion, it might have beautiful, but the skin around it was red and swollen. It looked painful to the touch.

"What is it?"

"When we left Heimdall, the village elders gave this to me. They said that it would give me the strength of a true elf. I don't know what it is," she looked away, her long bangs hiding her face. "It has made me stronger, stronger than I thought, in battle, but I feel weaker. I feel sick. And then I looked at it recently and I saw this..." Her voice was very weak. "I haven't told anybody about this. Nobody seems to have heard about crystals like this. I thought maybe somebody at the famous Palmacosta school would help me." She looked up at me with determination. "Please don't try to stop me; please don't tell the others-"

"I'm going to make sure that you're all right," I said. She was my friend, and I was going to help her. She smiled at me, and we were on our way.

I didn't know what to say as we went into the institute. Martel looked very scared as she covered herself, like she didn't know what they were going to do to her. The others glared at us, and I stepped forward.

"Is anybody interesting in helping us in the science of the elves?" I called out. "We have a rare crystal with strange power that it appears that science hasn't touched." They all stared at me, and maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

Then one of the scientists, a man with silver hair, stepped forward. "I'll take a look at it." Martel smiled gratefully, and we went into the scientist's room.

"Fascinating, I've only heard about this in legend." After a long while of looking at his computer, the silver-haired scientist finally spoke up.

Martel looked hopeful at the scientist's words. "There are legends about this? Please, anything that you know will help."

"They say that it is an ancient power of the elves that will unlock the fullest potential of the wearer. They will become something more than human or elf," they said. "Something more than anyone could dream. Even for those legends, this is evolved."

"If it's so powerful, why is it weakening me?" Martel asked. "When I'm wearing it, outside of battle, it feels like it's taking all of my strength." I looked at him in concern.

"It appears to be due to your mana signature."

"Mana signature?" I asked. I knew of mana, they called it the energy of the world, but I didn't know much of it. The scientist looked pitingly at me.

"Everybody, regardless of race, has mana of their own," Martel explained patiently. I guess that there were things that elves knew more about. "Humans can not manipulate it, but they have it. And the amount, the feeling of their mana, is different for everybody; the chance to find two people with the same mana signature... That may come once in a thousand years." Hearing all of those sparked a lot of questions in my mind, but I knew that now was not the time to ask. I'd have to ask Martel when she wasn't so sick. "It appears that it is the presence of my mana is what is making me sick."

"According to legend, there is one thing that can help you, that can slow down the pain. It is as far as we know in the science. An item called a keycrest. They say that the dwarves," I knew nothing of dwarves, but Martel nodded as if she understood, "can create one if you get the proper materials."

"Where would you get the materials?" I asked, and Martel looked at me in surprise. If my friend needed help, I was going to give it to her.

"There is a mine near by," he said. "It is where dwarves are said to be. I must warn you that we know little about the science of these crystals; if something is to happen, we won't know how to stop it. I'm sorry, Martel."

"No, thank you. You have helped us quite a bit," I said, getting to my feet. And, as I was about to walk away, I realized that, for all of his help, we had not even gotten his name. "What is your name, Sir?"

"Sage," he said, with a smile. "My name is Genis Sage."

I knew that Martel didn't want to worry the others with her illness, but I knew that we had to do something to help her. We could have all the power in the world, but it wasn't worth it if we couldn't save our friend.

As we made it back to our friends, I figured out what to say. I stood up straight and I said in my best royal voice, "We have found that there is another source of power besides the Summon Spirits. A kind of power that will help us unleash the power within us. It is good luck that we happen to be nearby a place that we could easily achieve this power." They all looked at me in surprise, and I took our map in my hands. As I laid my eyes on our destination, I knew that it was where we had to go. Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I turned to our group and said, "We need to go to the Toize Valley Mine."

It was only a few days destination to the mines. I had done well with keeping Martel's secret so far, as nervous as I was, but I decided to ask the questions that had been on the tip of my tongue when we had been in Sage's office. So I fell in step with Yuan, and I asked, "What can you tell me about mana?"

He gave me a curious look. "What do you want to know?"

"I asked Martel about it, and she said that humans have it too-"

"It's in every living thing, Chase," he explained patiently. "It's in the very earth." He turned his eyes to the sky. "It is the very source of life." I didn't know that.

Mithos came up to us. "You're talking about mana? I can explain!"

"You'd probably know better, being from Heimdall," Yuan explained, passing him off. He went to go pour over the map with Martel, and I turned to the young boy.

"Mana is everywhere, and everybody has a little bit of their own. We elves can sense it, you know."

"I suppose that elves and half-elves have more?"

"Not really, actually. It's like how much power they have and what kind. Martel has a lot of it, but so does Teacher," he said. "Martel says that I have a lot too. Would you like to know about yours?"

Somehow, I felt like it wouldn't do too much for my confidence. "I'll just leave that a secret." It figured that Martel had a lot, if she had such power.

"Half-elves and elves, due to the fact that we can sense it, can manipulate it. That's what we call magic. And we're not the only ones who can use magic either!" I listened carefully to his explanation. "That's where the summon spirits get their power from. They have the MOST power! Seriously, when we're around them, it's enough to take your breath away. Their strength in manipulating mana is why, of course, we need their help to end the war." So that was why. I guess I didn't know much about this world.

I thought of a time long ago, that people didn't like to talk about, when the castle had been attacked. The mana cannon. They said that humans had gotten their hands on a ton of mana that day... "Where does all the mana come from?"

"Well, there is a legend, by the elves." Did the elves have a legend for everything? "There is a legend of a tree that holds nearly all of the mana in the world." Seeing the look in my eye, he explained, "When the Sylvarant army attacked, they said that they were able to use one of the seeds of the Great Tree. Martel and I tried to stop them..." His eyes were distant; he clenched his fists. "They had no idea, what kind of power they were wielding, the kind of damage they nearly... they did. What happened to the..." He looked up at me, guilt in his eyes. "Nevermind. Forget I said anything."

I wanted to ask him the truth, I wanted to ask him what we could do, but I kept my mouth shut. Right now, we held a lot of power, but I had a feeling this is something that we would be completely powerless against.

At last, we arrived at the mine. The sheer size of it was intimidating, but it was my idea, and we would be doing the best that we could.

"So the source of power is here?" Yuan asked me as we approached it. I didn't even know where to start. I didn't even know what these things were called.

"Can we help you?"

I looked down at the rather short man standing there. He had a full beard and a pickaxe in his hand. I would have to be the ambassador here.

"We have heard that there is a great power here that could be useful in ending the war," I said, and the man looked at me. He must have seen my clothes, some of my fanciest ones, and realized my power.

"We're not helping the crown, lass. I'm sure they have enough power." I saw worry in their eyes, and I turned to him.

"We're not from the crown. We're seeking to end the war in a peaceful way," I said, and I offered, taking him by the arm, "Perhaps I could explain our mission to you? I'm sure that you could help us greatly."

The man sighed and turned away. "Come with me." My heart was in my throat as I walked away with him, trying to figure out how to explain. I had to tell him the truth.

"My friend is sick. She has a special crystal like nothing else that we've heard of. And it's hurting her. We heard that you can help us."

"So you're not actually seeking to end the war?"

"We are. And my friend could be essential to it." And I explained the mission to the man, and his expression softened, and he sighed. "We need a lot of power to make people see sense. And there is a lot of power here."

"We are tired. We have lost a lot of our own kind to this war," he said, and he turned away, closing his eyes. "All right. We'll help you. Let me have a look at your friend."

I called over Martel. She knelt before the man, pushing her shawl back. The dwarf took in the swollen area around her chest, and he nodded. "Let me see if I can get you fixed up."

He led us into the mine. It was massive, and I knew that I would have gotten lost if it wasn't for the dwarf leading me. And then we stepped into a room into the cavern, and my eyes grew wide as I saw what lie there.

The room was filled with gems, smaller than Martel's crystal, although some shined just as much as Martel's. The dwarf lead us over to one side, where a golden colored metal was. "This is inhibitor ore. It will help that swelling go down. I don't know how much we can do, but, in the proper form, it will help some."

"Thank you, sir," Martel said, and the dwarf turned to me.

"What about you? If you are going to fight summon spirits, you and your group will need some more power." My eyes were wide at the suggestion. Martel said that she had achieved a great amount of power with her crystal, but I never thought that I could achieve it. "I reckon that there is enough for all of your group."

"Will it make us sick like Martel?"

"I don't know, lass." They had said it was something to do with her signature. I finally nodded.

"It's a risk I'll take. I'll try it first, see if it does any damage."

"It may take a few days to prepare, lasses. Could you find something to do in that time?" I looked to Martel, who nodded. Our journey had been put on a halt, but I knew that all of us would come out stronger in the end. Even me.

Finally, we went back to the mines, and the dwarf presented us with the golden ore carved and a few similar gems with that ore attached. "We can't thank you enough for all of your help."

"Just end this war," he said. Under his eye, Martel attached the golden ore to her crystal. And then it was my turn. Under their guidance, I decided to put the crystal- that's what it looked like, anyway- to my chest. I expected a surge of power, I suppose, but it didn't feel like it had changed at all. Well, I suppose that was good. Maybe it would come over time? Maybe I didn't have all that much power to enhance. That was sad. I tried not think about it.

Yes, I named the scientist after Genis; I imagine he's his ancestor.