The healing process was slow-going.

On Felix's end, Mia was nonresponsive, but physically completely healthy. Rief didn't know what to make of it, but he could guess; something about that dark sword drained psynergy something fierce. He thought back to the vortex he got too close to several weeks ago. The feeling he felt then - emptiness, sadness, weakness - was nothing compared to what it felt to just be within a few centimeters of Felix's sword. And his mother had actually come in contact with it. The effects of psynergy deprivation on adepts had never been studied, but... maybe this was it?

Sveta, on the other hand, was just physically ill. He had cured her concussion and mended all of the physical damage, but she still had a very bad cold... and hypothermia of that extent would take a bit more work than Rief could manage at that moment. He had done what he could, but he was tapped again. Sveta was stable but Mia needed all the psynergy boosts they could spare.

When Rief had first begun to see to her, Sveta was unconscious, shivering pathetically in her drenched royal garments. He had since cast several spells: mostly healing, but also some protection from cold and basic vitality boosters. Despite what he had said to Felix, he still couldn't bring himself to get Sveta out of her wet outfit, but she was out of danger and sleeping peacefully. She'd hopefully wake up any minute. Right now, she had a smile on her face and occasionally her leg would give a few playful kicks. Once the smoke cleared from the cave, she'd be safe to move back in.

Felix leaned over Mia and Rief saw several more bright yellow flashes emanating from him. Felix then walked back to where his sword was placed, gripped its handle firmly for several seconds, and then turned back and went through the process of re-setting the Djinn he had unleashed. Rief wished he could help, but he didn't have any Djinn capable of restoring psynergy - he had left the rest of the group with a full complement of Mercury Djinn, and most of them were designed for healing anyway.

"Hey, Felix? What's up with the sword? Why do you keep touching it like that?"

Felix gave him a look of warning. "It's... just important. I have to. If I don't, the consequences could be dire, and no, I'm not feeling too inclined to tell you what the consequences are. Don't you have a patient to attend to?"

Rief stood up. "Sveta's fine now. There's nothing more I can do for her at this point. I... I think she'll be fine. But honestly, I don't know. She'll need constant attention for the next bit unless we find another solution. And, well," Rief stared intently into Felix's eyes as he said this, "I'm sure you wouldn't be all the way up here if you didn't have a good reason. Am I right?"

Felix narrowed his eyes, but he nodded.

"And this reason," Rief continued, "must be quite important if it was enough to pull Sveta away from her KINGDOM. You know, Morgal? The place where she currently holds the office of Queen? Yeah, I haven't heard anything, but I'd love to know how they're taking her disappearance."

Felix said nothing.

Rief nodded in the direction he and his mother had come from. "And what about that Tuaparang airship over there? Does that factor into the equation at all?"

Felix cocked an eyebrow. "...You know about us?"

There was silence.

Us?

Rief didn't know how to respond. "Y...! I..." He paused to collect his thoughts. "I think... I think we should wait until my mother's awake for this. I'll just... yeah."

Probably time to wake up Sveta after all.

"So how'd it go, Isaac?"

Ivan stood the door to his guest room, where Isaac was sitting, all packed and ready for another trip. The sun was low in the sky and he should probably have been getting prepared for bed - they had a busy day tomorrow, of course - but he wanted to make sure the plan was still on.

Isaac gave a quick thumbs-up. "Officially? We've got a truce. But I think we're both hoping for a better end result than that." He shrugged. "I don't know what I can hope for, but who knows how long this thing will last? It might just be the one vortex, but it might spiral out of control. These things tend to happen that way."

Ivan nodded. "So you're hoping that when she gets a taste of adventure again...?"

"She'll remember why she married me in the first place, yes." Isaac smiled. "Just as planned."

Ivan's expression remained neutral. "I don't know. A quick adventure might provide a distraction, but it won't just magically solve your problems." He paused and put his chin in his hand. "Do you think she might be a little more receptive to...?"

Isaac inclined his head slightly. "To... mindreading, you mean?" Ivan gave a curt nod. Isaac frowned. "Well, I don't know. You could ask her, but honestly, I'd prefer that we got on the road first. She's in a good enough mood tonight that I don't want to change her mind by bringing up... unwanted memories."

Ivan sighed. "You can't avoid the issue forever, Isaac. I believe you, you know I do. I've seen what you've seen. Which is why it perplexes me that you're trying to dodge around and find other solutions. If you know you're in the right, why not find supporting evidence? Getting Mia to pitch in in your defense obviously wouldn't help, but you've got to have some witnesses or... or something, right?"

Isaac turned away. "Look... I've tried everything I can think of. The only people who were in the area at the time are me, Mia and Jenna. Our stories don't match. Nothing makes sense. I can't actually find anything to support my side of the story, except 'Mia didn't end up pregnant,' which I'd rather not bring up and which isn't very solid anyway." He looked back at Ivan. "Not to be rude, but can we change the subject? I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I'll enjoy it while it lasts, and if it's doomed to fail, then..." He let the comment trail off.

Ivan shook his head. "Alright, fine. If you say so. I just wanted to come by and make sure everything's okay. If you'd rather, I'll stay away from Jenna for the evening, but I feel like getting a look at what happened from her perspective is the only thing that'll fix this. Heck, even seeing what Mia thinks of it all would help. You're going to have to face this at some point, Isaac. But we're friends, and if it's that important to you, then I guess it can wait."

Isaac nodded. "Thanks."

Ivan sighed. No use forcing the issue. "Have a good sleep. See you in the morning." And then he turned and left.

Isaac simply laid on the guest bed and stared at the ceiling.

Rief shook Sveta lightly. She groaned and rolled over. "Mmmm... too early..."

"Sveta," he said. "Sveta, wake up."

She opened her eyes a crack. "Nrrrrgh... Matthew?"

Rief involuntarily jerked back. "Huh? No, it's Rief. Why did you think I was Matthew?"

Sveta opened her eyes fully. She examined her surroundings and her ears drooped. "...Oh." She took a deep breath and coughed a few times. "Did you do something for me while I was asleep? Thank you, whatever it was. I feel much better now."

Rief just stared. "Sure. You didn't answer my question, though."

"What question?"

"Why did you think I was Matthew?"

Sveta blushed. "Oh, I was dreaming, I guess. I just had not fully awoke, perhaps? That sounds about right."

Rief sighed. "I have so many things I would love to say about that, but now isn't the time for snarkiness. My mom and I just happened to be out here. How'd you get here, why are you with my mom's long-lost adventuring partner, and what does all this have to do with the downed Tuaparang airship we found a little north of here?"

"Oh. Umm..." Sveta blinked. "It is a long story. And it is going to sound very strange, but trust me, it makes sense."

Rief looked at his mother on the ground, and then at Felix, resetting his djinn again. "I've got plenty of time, I guess. Go ahead."

Sveta cleared her throat. "Well, Matthew came to visit, umm, things happened, and then I decided I wanted to be kidnapped. And then Mr Felix came and kidnapped me coincidentally, though I did not mind greatly, and then there was an explosion on the airship, and... oh, dear." She trailed off.

Rief paused. "Wait, he k-kidnapped you? And... what?"

Sveta blushed. "There is a lot more to the story. I know not why Mr Felix wanted to kidnap me, but I am fine with it! Really! I cannot tell you why, but believe me, there is a good reason."

Rief paused again. The he put his face into his palm. "This isn't helping at all."

"I am sorry." Sveta sneezed, and continued. "I wish I could be more help. Maybe if you asked Mr Felix?"

Felix looked over. "Stop calling me Mr Felix. Just Felix is good. And I'd really rather avoid talking about this any more than I need to. Hopefully they'll realize that we haven't returned and send a search-and-rescue team. With any luck, we'll be back on track by tomorrow night, and nobody will know any more than they need to." He gave Rief a harsh look. "Understood?"

Rief glared at Felix. "I'm not letting you take Sveta anywhere until I know she'll be safe. She needs medical attention that I can't provide here. And let's not forget about my mother. You put her into this mess in the first place."

Felix walked over to Mia and unleashed a few Earth djinn in quick succession. Again, he returned to his blade, gripped the hilt, and began to set the djinn for continued use. "I'm doing my best, but I've never been much of a medic. Are you sure there's nothing you can do to help?"

Rief thought for a moment. "I don't have any djinn, and I don't have any psy crystals. Wait a moment..." Rief's eyes widened. "The lighthouse. We can take her up there."

Felix shook his head. "No."

"What?"

"I said no."

"Why not?"

Felix gestured to the lighthouse, still visible from where they sat. "You see that vortex up there? I have reason to believe it appeared because I was nearby. That's all it took. You go up there, I'm not going with you, and neither is Sveta. I still have my mission to think of."

Rief stomped his foot. "Setting aside your stupid mission for a second, Sveta could benefit from the lighthouse too. She'll be with two trained Mercury Adepts on top of the world's source of Mercury Psynergy. She'll be back in perfect condition in no time. And you'd rather keep her here, dying of hypothermia?"

Sveta cringed. "I am... dying? But I do not feel-"

Rief threw his arms out. "Okay, so you aren't dying right now. But if we hadn't arrived in time, you might not even be breathing at this point. I don't mean to scare you, but you need this. Badly. Can you walk?"

Sveta picked herself up off the ground. "I... I feel shaky, but-"

"Hold on," Felix said, "You've forgotten about the vortex up there. Sveta can't handle it."

"Oh, what now?" Rief shouted in exasperation.

Felix sighed, weighing his words. "When we were in the airship... well, when the vortex appeared, she looked at it. And that was all it took. Something happened to her, she got all... feral. She just lost it. The reason we aren't in that wreck right now is that she bailed out, and I jumped after her. I don't know what's wrong, but if she goes nuts just from LOOKING at one of those things, I don't want to see what'll happen when she gets too close."

Rief raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think it was the vortex? That seems like a bit of a leap to make."

Nobody said anything for several seconds. Then Felix growled and pointed at Rief. "Look, kid. Rief, was it? I'm not telling you this because I like you. I'm telling you this because I WILL accomplish my mission whether you like it or not, and the success of that mission relies heavily on her survival. The truth is, the Tuaparang scientists wanted to study the effects of a psynergy vortex on a beastman, or in this case, a beastwoman. They think that since the entire race appeared shortly after the Golden Sun event, they must have roots in psynergy, which would make them vulnerable in some way to vortexes. I think it's no coincidence she went nuts right after the vortex appeared, and I think if she's going to be exposed to them again, it should be in controlled laboratory conditions, and not because some cocky little kid had a gut feeling. Sound about right?"

Rief stared in shock, and Sveta's eyes welled up with tears, the betrayal she felt showing plainly on her face. "Mr Felix... how could you? You knew this would happen all along, and you did it anyway?"

Felix rolled his eyes. "Again, I was kidnapping you. What did you expect, a tea party? I still don't even understand why you came so readily."

"It doesn't matter why you took her," Rief said. He took up his staff and assumed his battle stance. "She's my patient, and my friend. I don't care what kind of past you had with my mother and her friends, but if you've stooped so low as to kidnap girls for experimentation-"

"Enough!" Felix shouted. "I've done things for the Tuaparang that I'm not proud of. I'll continue to after this. But nothing you can do can stop me from taking her with me. Don't even try it. It won't end well."

Rief laughed. "Oh, come on. That's the best you've got? We took on TWO of your generals and came out on top. Sure, it's just Sveta and I now, but what makes you think this'll be any different? Bring it on."

But Felix's angry expression had left him. In its place was a look of nervous confusion. "You... wait, you took on two of us? Which ones? Did they make it out alive?"

"Rief..." Sveta pleaded.

But Rief ignored her. "Blados and Chalis. And no, they were still up in Apollo Sanctum, last I saw them. They weren't looking too great. Why?" He smiled maliciously. "Did you know them?"

Felix's eyes narrowed. "For your sake, I hope they survived. Especially Chalis. The High Empyror... I don't think he had heard anything from them when I left. If he hears they're dead, he might do something rash. Let me spell it out for you: YOU DON'T WANT THAT TO HAPPEN."

Felix did one final round of Djinn unleashes, and then he strapped on his sword. "Change of plan. We're going to the lighthouse. If you're telling the truth, Weyard is in serious danger and we need every single one of the Warriors of Vale in top form."

Rief's face displayed a look of horror. He was at a loss for words. "...Oh. Uh. Did we do something wrong?"

Felix picked up Mia and draped her over his shoulder, careful to keep her on the side opposite his sword. "Hmm, I don't know! You've pissed off the leader of the single most advanced nation in the world. And hey, you managed to do it right after they accomplished their greatest technological leap yet. I'd say you screwed something up!"

Sveta tried to take a step forward, but stumbled. Rief caught her and supported her as they began walking toward Mercury Lighthouse. "What happened? Why would he be so concerned about that pair specifically?"

Felix looked grim. "Not the pair. The one," he said. "Chalis was one of two natural adepts in the entire Tuaparang Empire. The other was her brother."

He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. "The High Empyror himself."