"Ow... my head." Nemo groaned, rubbing the side of his head where it had hit the floor. "Are you two okay?"

Fae was flat on her bed, looking annoyed. Mainly because Schimmel had fallen onto her. "You're right Nemo, you're not the one I have to worry about. It's this idiot." She said, grabbing his collar.

"Wait Fae, it was an-" Schimmel began, but couldn't finish after Fae shoved her other hand into his stomach. She pushed up hard and tossed Schimmel over her head, sending him crashing into the bed next to hers.

"I think that was a bit much, Fae." Nemo commented.

"He had it coming." Fae said crossly.

"I wasn't trying to fall on you..." Schimmel coughed, sitting up.

"Not that! Oh... nevermind. What caused that anyway?"

"I think we just left Inferia." Nemo said, going over to the window. He could see Inferia behind the ship, slowly getting smaller. "Yep. That means we should reach Celestia in a day or two."

"A day or two?! Nobody told me the trip was that long!" Schimmel exclaimed.

"I thought it was common knowledge." Fae said.

"Yeah, it's not like they're connected anymore. You can't go from one to the other in a matter of minutes. Well, maybe a few thousand minutes." Nemo muttered, still staring out the window.

"I've never been stuck in such a small place that long. I hope I don't go nuts here." Schimmel sighed.

"You don't have to stay in the room, it's okay to wander the ship as long as you don't mess with anything." Fae said, picking up Schimmel's suitcase and tossing it onto the floor by his bed.

"Maybe I'll take a walk then. Want to come, Nemo? I know you were excited about seeing this ship."

Nemo didn't answer, he was still gazing out the window with a serious expression on his face. "Maybe..." He muttered to himself, clearly not paying any attention to Schimmel and Fae.

"Uh... Nemo?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you okay? That bump to your head didn't give you brain damage did it?" Fae asked with a chuckle.

"I was just thinking about something." Nemo said, walking over to the door. "I'm gonna take a look around, this is probably a once in a lifetime thing. I never expected that we'd actually get to ride on the Van Eltia!"

--

The three of them walked along the now empty corridors of the ship. They heard voices coming from behind a few of the other doors leading into cabins, but ignored them. Fae pointed out they should keep their distance from other students for now, since someone might actually know Schimmel wasn't James. The voices faded and a grinding could be heard coming from through a doorway.

"Be careful! That's very important!" A woman's voice yelled.

Nemo peered into what must have been the engine room. Four people were inside, three were dressed in the normal crew's uniform but the fourth was wearing a red and white shirt with long sleeves and long, blindingly bright orange pants.

"Careful? I couldn't damage this if I hit it with a hammer!" One of the engineers, an Inferian boy, retorted.

"If you hit my beautful machines with a hammer I'll hit YOU with one!" The woman in red shouted.

"Calm down Captain, I wouldn't allow such a thing. He is new here, please go easy on him. I'd rather not have to train another new engineer." A Celestian girl said calmly, brushing her long black hair out of her eyes.

"I don't see why we need another one anyway. You and Philia are all I need, Oriana. With my knowledge the three of us are more than enough to keep the Van Eltia in top condition. Isn't that right?"

"Huh?" An Inferian woman with long green hair glanced up from the open panel she had been examining. "I'm sorry Captain... but were you speaking to me?"

"See? Focused." The Captain said, gesturing to Philia, who was now looking a bit confused. "That's what you need to be, Remus. At least if you want to stay on my ship." She said crossly, looking at the Celestian boy again.

"Can you guys understand a word they're saying? I sure can't." Schimmel said, scratching his head.

"I can understand them." Fae said.

"Me too. Don't tell me you forgot..." Nemo sighed. He reached up and lifted Schimmel's hair that was hiding his ear. "You did..."

"Forgot what?" Schimmel asked, taking a step away from Nemo.

"The earring that James gave you, what did you do with it?" Fae asked.

"Oh, that odd thing?" Schimmel reached into his pocket and removed a golden earring with a large green gem on it. "I didn't see what the point of it was. It's a bit gaudy, really.

"You idiot." Nemo muttered. "That's an Orz Earring. It's so you can understand Melnics."

"And before you ask, Melnics is the language used by Celestians." Fae added.

"I know what Melnics are, but how's this supposed to help?" Schimmel inquired, getting a bit annoyed.

"Just put it on!"

"Fine... how?"

"You're hopeless..." Fae sighed, taking the earring from him. "Hold still." she said sternly, trying to put it on him.

"Hey... what're you- OW!"

"I said hold still!"

"What are you three doing down here?" Someone asked.

Nemo glanced back at the engine room and saw the Captain standing in the doorway. Schimmel and Fae didn't seem to notice, since they were both still having problems with his earring.

"Hello, Captain Chat!" Nemo said, more enthusiastically than he meant to.

"Do I know you?" She asked, looking Nemo over. "You don't look familiar."

Schimmel hesitated for a moment when he noticed Chat and Fae took the opportunity to clamp the earring onto his ear. "OW! That hurt, Fae!"

Fae ignored him, walking up to Chat and extending her hand. "Hi Chat. You wouldn't know this oddball, but maybe you remember me?"

Chat stared at Fae, scratching her head. "Hmm... nope."

"Ah." Fae sighed, lowering her hand. "I suppose you wouldn't, it was a long time ago. At least five years..."

"This thing still isn't working, Fae..." Schimmel said, tapping on his earring.

"You have to give it some time, I've had mine on since yesterday so I'd get used to it." Nemo said, glancing back at Schimmel.

"Fae? You mean... Reid and Farah's daughter?" Chat wondered.

"You do remember me!" Fae exclaimed.

"Of course, I just didn't recognize you at first. How have you been?"

"Great, and you?"

"I've been having trouble finding a new engineer. You had some interest in machines when I saw you last time, if this new guy doesn't work out maybe I could convince you to try for the job? I'm starting to think women are more suited for it." Chat grumbled, glancing back into the engine room just as Remus dropped something on his foot and cursed.

"We'll leave you two to catch up." Schimmel said, walking away quickly. "Come on, Nemo." He grabbed Nemo's arm and pulled him back down the corridor they had come from.

"W-wait I... it was nice meeting you Captain Chat!" Nemo said quickly as Schimmel pulled him around the corner.

"Jeez... if you get like this just from meeting her, you'll probably have a heart attack if you ever meet Keele." Schimmel sighed.

Nemo chuckled nervously. "You've got a point there."

--

After exploring the rest of the Van Eltia, the three of them met up again in their cabin. It sounded like a good thing that Nemo and Schimmel left when they did, once Fae told them what she and Chat had talked about. Not long after they returned to the cabin, they decided to get some sleep.

The ship jolted slightly, and Schimmel fell out of bed. He mumbled something about it being impossible to sleep well with conditions like these and sat up, looking around the rather dark room. Fae was still in her bed, snoring so loudly he was surprised it wasn't her that had woken him up. Nemo's bed, however, was empty.

Schimmel didn't think much of it, crawling back into bed and trying to get back to sleep. A couple minutes later it was painfully obvious there was no way he was going to nod off again with Fae's snoring. He sighed, put his Mintche uniform on and headed out the door.

Apart from the snoring coming from behind a few of the doors and the distant grinding of the engine, the ship was quiet. Schimmel wandered the ship, but found nobody except a couple crew members. He started climbing up the stairs to the observation deck, and heard voices coming from the top.

"...stopped Fae when she did."

"I know, it would've caused problems if she had seen it."

"Do you plan to ever tell them?"

"They'll find out when the time is right. It's too early right now, they could ruin everything. You remember what happened last time?"

"We know the story as well as you do, but if you told them..."

"No, Breeze. It's out of the question."

"Fine..."

"Nemo, what are you doing up here?" Schimmel asked when he reached the top of the stairs. There were four sudden flashes of light as the Craymels disappeared.

"Oh, hey Schimmel." Nemo said casually, gazing out the glass dome of the observation deck and into space. He wrote something into the book he was holding and closed it. "I couldn't sleep very well with Fae's snoring, so I decided to take a walk."

"Is that all?" Schimmel wondered, not really convinced.

"Of course... I just..." Nemo trailed off, staring at something outside the dome. "What the hell is that?"

Schimmel glanced out the window, but didn't see anything. "Don't try to change the subject..."

"I'm not changing the subject! Look!"

"I don't see..." he began, but then noticed what Nemo was pointing at. "...how that's possible..."