"I'm bored!" Meru shouted. She and Haschel were sitting on the beach. The old man was meditating, probably thinking about Claire, but Meru hadn't the patience to do something that quiet and contemplative.
"You're always bored." Haschel muttered. Despite how much he didn't want to say it, he wasn't young anymore. He needed to focus and rest like this more often then usual; to help his reflexes and reactions.
"C'mon old man, let's do somethin'!"
"I am doing something." Haschel responded, trying not to listen to her. Suffice it to say, he was failing.
"But I'm not doin' anything!"
"If you wanted to do something interesting, why didn't you go with Dart?"
"Cause I'm not good with all that diplo...diplo..."
"Diplomacy."
"Yeah, what you said. I'm better off doing something fun while they do the boring talking stuff."
"Well then go find something to do. Go play with the kids." Haschel suggested. Meru darted off to find them. Most of them were in the water.
"Hey kids!" Meru jumped right into the water, turning a complete back flip before landing. The water was surprisingly deep; Meru couldn't even touch the bottom.
"Hey! What's out there!" One of the kids called, pointing out to sea. Meru turned and squinted, trying to make it out. There was something floating in the calm waters, and birds flew above it.
"Hey, Hachy!" Meru called.
"Don't call me that." Haschel responded.
"Whatev. What's floating out there?" Meru pointed. She swam over back to the beach and went towards Haschel as he moved forward towards the water.
"Hmmm...well, I can't rightly say from here, but it looks like those birds are waiting for something."
"What are they waiting for? What kinda birds are they?"
"Wait, I know what they are." A woman's voice called from behind them. It was the Chief's wife.
"Those birds are scavengers. They usually eat fish that die and float." She said.
"So then, what are they waiting for? If it was a fish, why don't they just eat it?" Haschel wondered.
"It's too big to be a fish." The woman said. "Hmm..." She thought a little longer.
"I think I know what they are waiting for...they're waiting for that thing to die." She resolved.
"If it was a big fish or something that wasn't dead, they would go underwater if all those birds were looming.
"Then that means...we gotta get that out of the water, maybe someone from the Queen Fury fell in!" Haschel said. He and Meru quickly ran into the water and swam over to the figure. She was rather far out, which made it an exhausting swim. As the two neared the figure, the birds flew away, their prize had already been claimed, and they didn't have the capabilities to fight.
Meru, as the quicker swimmer, reached the figure first. As she swam closer, Meru noticed that it was a girl, with platinum hair just like hers. She wore no clothing, and hers eyes were shut, her feet twitched every so often to show that she was alive. Wasting no more time, Meru wrapped her arm around the figure's stomach and started to swim back to shore. When Haschel came over, he assisted, taking Meru's position while she pushed the woman's feet from behind. The shore got closer, inching closely. When the shore was finally close enough, the Chief's wife went out to help, dragging the unconscious woman to shore. Once there, another villager wrapped the girl in what appeared to be old sailing rigging to dry her off and at the same time, cover her nude body.
"She was just floating there?" The Chief's wife asked. "No clothes or anything?"
"Nothing." Haschel responded. Meru moved closer to the girl's face, brushing her hair off to the side. Was it someone from the Queen Fury? No, the Queen Fury was a crew of all men minus the little girl Kayla, and this woman was too tall to be her. Meru looked at the face a little closer, and couldn't believe her eyes. Haschel too, looked rather amazed when he saw the unconscious woman, although he didn't share Meru's look of shock. He had already used his when he discovered Lavitz.
Meru's voice cracked as she spoke.
"Lenus?"
"This is such a dank place." Miranda muttered. "I don't know why anyone would come here, much less stay."
"It's probably some kind of test." Lloyd noted. "Only admit the worthy or something like that."
"This was necessary." The Chief responded. "But not in that way."
"Then why?" Lavitz wondered. This was strange that anyone would choose to live here.
"She does await for the arrival of the strongest, but this is not a test." The Chief affirmed.
"But, sir, tell me, why would your wife leave you and your son to live up here in the mountains, it makes little sense to me." Albert responded.
"There is a legend among our people. It would take far too long for me to recite it here, but I can tell you a short story. Do you know the legend of the phoenix?" The Chief asked. Dart shook his head.
"I only know bits and pieces." Albert started. Lavitz too, didn't know the whole thing.
"The phoenix is a mythical bird of fire that lives in brilliance its entire life. It shies away from society as it ages." Lloyd responded.
"That's not completely correct, but it will do for now. For now, it will be sufficient to know that Vilandra, my wife, has always been up here." The Chief moved forward, into the rear of the cavern.
"This place...is it a ruin?" Lavitz wondered, looking at the walls. They appeared to have been walls, evident by the deliberate cuts of the stone."
"Ages ago, this was a small Wingly outpost set inside of this mountain." The Chief narrated. "They were studying the powers of the earth. When their empire ended, this place was forgotten. We have done very little with it, preferring to let be let be." The Chief kept walking through the cavern, the group tentatively walking behind him. Eventually, they reached the rear, which was, surprisingly, furnished. The furnishings were all Wingly in make, with a desk, table, and a small room off to the side that was hidden from view by a hanging curtain. Someone had been living here, someone who had a woman's touch. Probably Vilandra.
"This is where she waits." The Chief went towards the curtain.
"Behind here...my Vilandra."
Meru sat down and waited to see if Lenus would wake up. She had been unconscious since she was found in the sea. Haschel, grateful for Meru's silence, went back to his meditation.
"Hey Kongy!" Meru shouted. "D'ya think anythin's wrong with Lenus? She ain't wakin' up."
"Kongol not doctor." Kongol responded. "Wait for Miranda. She help with magic." Meru said nothing, but suddenly got an idea. Her Dragoon spirit had a little bit of healing power, definitely not as much as Miranda, but it was worth a shot. Grinning, Meru rubbed the deep blue spirit, and felt its power wash over her. She felt embraced in the pull of the ocean, like she did when she was swimming out to Lenus with the currents tugging at her. Soon, the feeling subsided, and Meru was bedecked in wings and armor, the Blue Sea Dragoon.
"Good idea, Meru." Kongol complimented. Meru was all smiles as she bent down and formed a small bit of healing water in her hands. She had to think for a second. Normally when Meru healed, the water would seep into open wounds, healing them as it went along. However, Lenus didn't appear to have any wounds on her. She couldn't make Lenus drink it: She knew that people who were unconscious shouldn't be made to eat or drink anything.
"How should I do this?" Meru thought. "Well, I might as well cover her completely, that'll solve everythin', right?" Without taking another thought, Meru dropped the ball of healing water right on Lenus.
The girl coughed and sputtered.
"What the hell!" She screamed. "How the hell did I get here!" Lenus sprang straight up. "And where are my clothes!" Lenus covered herself again with the sailing rigging she was lying on.
"I did it!" Meru exclaimed. "Umm...you weren't wearin' any clothes when we found ya floatin' in the ocean. You go skinny dippin' and get sucked at by the tide?" Meru wasn't going to bother with the question how Lenus was alive again. It had happened to Lavitz, and he evaded the question entirely.
"Hmph. I don't really know what I was doing in the ocean. One minute I'm...where am I anyway?"
"Ederneum Islands, in the ocean near Mille Seseau."
"Wait, I was just...how?" Lenus thought for a second. "Hmph, well, I suppose I've been revived. Not that this is really any different from bein' dead."
"It is different, everyun's gonna be shocked. Dart and Al, and Lloyd..." Meru started. At the mention of Lloyd, Lenus paled and grabbed Meru by the shoulders.
"He's here!"
"No, well, sorta not. He's away, but he'll be back." Meru started. Lenus jumped up, trying to keep the sailing rigging covering herself.
"I'm going to need clothes, and everything like that. Where can I find some?" She demanded. Meru gave Lenus and extra set of hers for now.
"Boy, won't everyone be excited!"
"She is back here, my Vilandra. She..." the man inhaled deeply. "Is deceased." He finished sadly.
The words took a few seconds to sink in completely.
"Wait, what? She's dead already?" Lavitz wondered.
"Yes. A few years ago, she realized that her power was beginning to wane. She and I made the journey up here, and then we set this entire area up, to wait for the arrival of the other dragoons. She died, with express instructions that once you had proven you were the real powerful Dragoons to me, and then I was to lead you up here. I could tell you were Dragoons from the moment I saw you."
"How?"
"The power of the Dragoon has been passed down from mother to daughter in our village for several centuries. Although it is the women that gain their strength, the Dragoon spirits are so powerful that it has always affected the men the women choose as their husbands. After...marital relations and simply being around that person for so long, the power of the Dragoon stems to both husband and children, some powers weak, others strong. That power stemmed to me, and I have the gift of the Sight, I can see into the future if I choose. I knew who you were and what you wanted to do before you even knew about these islands."
"So tell me, why did you not find another to use the Dragoon Spirit?" Lloyd wondered.
"Although it sounds foolish to say this, I have no daughter to pass it onto. My son is far too young to use this spirit, and I am no warrior. I knew you would be coming, and so, I reasoned that you would take it with you. It will serve you much better. Here." The Chief went behind the curtain and withdrew something from an old, well-worn trunk. It was a dragoon spirit, lime green in color. The sight of it, for some reason, made Lavitz sick to his stomach.
The Chief seemed to notice Lavitz's revulsion.
"It has that effect, whenever someone looks at it, they feel sick initially. Perhaps that has to do with the fact that its power derives from toxins." He handed it to Dart, who wrapped it in cloth and stowed it away.
"Now, we must go. This place is a place that is better off forgotten."
"What will you tell the people?" Miranda asked.
"Nothing yet. It is still far too early." The Chief walked slowly away, as if, despite the tragedy that occurred, leaving was still taboo.
The return trip was significantly shorter then the first one, and when the group returned, Haschel looked like he was anxious for them to return.
"You're not going to believe this, but we found someone floating the sea while you were away."
"Floating in the sea?" Dart asked.
"Yes. The girl was floating in the sea, without a stitch of clothing on her. I believe you'll recognize her. Hey, they're back!" Haschel said mysteriously, then shouted out inside a house. Two platinum haired women came out. One of them was Meru, and the other, although dressed like Meru, was definitely not her.
"Were it three days ago, I'd say this was impossible." Albert noted, looking right at Lavitz.
"Lenus, it is you." Lloyd responded flatly.
"I was wondering when I'd see you again." Lenus responded. "What are you doing with these humans?"
"Cooperating with them to defeat a powerful and unscrupulous Horven Frahma." Lloyd responded. Lavitz was shocked by how business-like they were treating each other. Lloyd had told him about how Lenus had felt about him, so why wasn't their reunion more emotional?
Albert proceeded to fill Lenus in on what happened.
"I don't know anything about that, but Horven's the reason why Lloyd, this blonde dork, and I returned from the world of the dead."
"Lenus is a strong fighter and has powerful magic. I suggest we take her with us." Lloyd told the group.
"It's her decision." Lavitz responded.
"Absolutely not!" Lenus returned. "Lloyd, how can you stoop to the level of working with humans! Horven is making an ideal word of Winglies, that's exactly what you wanted!"
"Lenus, humans are necessary in the idyllic world. Barriers between races like this are exactly what I want to avoid. After all, humans were able to band together and defeat the Winglies when they were at a magically and technologically inferior level, and more or less a divided people." Lloyd noted.
"So what?"
"So they should not be eliminated. Horven Frahma's path is only the path of ruin. It will not be enjoyable to stand on a scorched and ruined planet."
"Please, gimme a break. Humans destroyed countless number of our people and forced us to live more or less in hiding. Our proud people say it is only for safety, but we're too weak to revenge our ancestors. Only through a powerful guy like Horven can we get our revenge and take back our planet."
"Idiot." Greg stated, glaring at her. She glared right back, and Laviz could swear that the air was charged between the two of their faces with tension.
"Horven Frahma only wants to bring ruin, not Paradise. He killed countless people."
"And humans are any better?" Lenus returned. Greg paused; humans had killed other humans and Winglies as well. She had him trapped.
"I'm leaving." Lenus returned. "Lloyd, when you finish playing around, come and find me. I'll be waiting." Her wings appeared from her back, and she flew away, as quick as she could."
"What a ridiculous woman." Lavitz said to himself.
"Don't say that!" Meru returned. "She's just..."
"A racist." Lavitz filled in. "A prejudiced, bigoted racist."
"That's not nice! She has her good points too!" Meru combated.
"That doesn't matter, does it? She's not coming with us."
"I have to side with Lavitz." Miranda said. "Lenus will not cooperate."
"Sorry, Meru, but we can't chase after her; we've got other things to do." Dart responded.
"Like what?" Meru asked, notably angry.
"Like get back to Basil, I sense problems." The Chief, who had been seemingly invisible until Lenus left, now made his presence known.
"Chief?" Haschel wondered.
"Get back there immediately, I can see that the attacks have begun."