The light and warmth from the sun was unusually great. And to make matters worse. I was stuck in this dress with my hot, black, under armor on! I felt like I was about to faint.

We were finally on our way to Lalivero. The one thing standing in our way? An enormous desert, with an angry lizard −that from what the others said− really wanted revenge for them defeating it earlier on in their journey.

Another, personal problem that needed to be addressed, was the feud going on behind the scenes. It was Ivan versus Felix, and it looked like Isaac wasn't able to keep his trap shut, so now everyone was choosing sides. Despite the fact that they were trying to hide it, it wasn't hard for me to find out because I could easily peer into their hearts using Mind read.

It seemed it was Ivan, Mia, Jenna, and Isaac up against Felix, Piers, Garet, and me. This was just getting plain ugly, for the relationship between me, Ivan, and Felix, but it was getting bad for Mia and Garet too. I could see that they had a crush on each other, and this was just a hindrance for their relationship.

"I-Ivan? I was wondering if you could give me a lesson with the Meditation Rod I just got. I'm not quite sure how to channel pyenergy through it.

"I'm not good with weapon channeling. Ask Jenna or Mia if you want to know," was his ice cold answer.

"C'mon, Ivan. Can't you see she's trying to make up with you?" said Garet. "You could at least help her out."

"Not my problem. I don't do weapon channeling."

I lost my temper.

"I've had it! What is your problem Ivan?! All you ever do is ignore me, or tell me to go away! If you have something to say, at least say it! It's more torture for me to be ignored!"

Ivan turned towards me slowly. His purple eyes sparked dangerously.

"You want to know what's wrong?" he asked quietly. "I'll tell what it is. It's YOU! You acted like you just might have…" Ivan stopped.

"Never mind. You wouldn't understand." He turned to go.

I grabbed his hand and dragged him off through the dry grass. I'd had enough of this. Every time they started to say something important they would stop. It was annoying.

As soon as we were out of earshot of the others, I stopped pulling. I turned on him. We were standing near a cliff wall.

"Now, you have no reason to be embarrassed, no matter what you say. So tell me, what is the matter with you? Every single time I try to talk to you, you give me the cold shoulder."

"It doesn't matter. At least not anymore, you have Felix."

"That's right. I have Felix, because he actually cares about me. Because he's the only one who cares for me, okay?" As soon as I had said that, I regretted it.

Ivan didn't exactly take what I had said well. He put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me into the stone wall behind us.

"Is that what you think? He's the only one that really cares, for you." His pale blond bangs were hiding his eyes.

"Did it ever cross your mind that I cared about you? Did it?" He looked up into my eyes. His purple eyes were bloodshot. Like he was on the verge of tears. There was something he wasn't telling me. Something about that vision I'd seen of us dancing above the bonfire. Wait… why was that suddenly popping into my mind now?

"You're really important to me Sheba. That's why I was angry. No, that's why I was jealous." He let his blond hair fall back into his face. "Now you know." Ivan's arms dropped back down to his sides and he turned and walked back to the campsite.

Oh my elements. Ivan… What was I going to about this? Now whenever I get anywhere near him I start blushing nearly as bad as when I'm around Felix. Agghhh! Why is my life so complicated?!

"Hey, Sheba! We need some veggies and meat for lunch. Can you get Ivan and Felix to go with you and get some food?" called Mia. Ivan and Felix? Was she purposely trying to start a fight? Those to can't stand being around each other now. And something tells me that my presence isn't going to relive the obvious tension.

"Sure, Mia. I'll go and find them." I walked towards the field that Ivan was training in.

"Ivan!" I called.

"Hmm? What is it Sheba?" He asked. Lately, Ivan had been acting nicer to me.

"Mia wants me to ask you and Felix to help me gather food for lunch. It seems we're low."

"Sure, Sheba. I don't− Wait a second. You, me and Felix?"

"Yeah." I said quietly,

"Fine, let's go find him and then get some food. I'm starving."

We found Felix overlooking the desert landscape. His eyes were angry, sad and confused all at the same time. I wonder what was bothering him. That could wait until later, first thing we needed to do was find some food.

"Felix! We need you to go with us to find some food. We're low on supplies." I called as cheerfully as I could.

"Coming," His voice sounded melancholy. What was wrong with him? We went along a path that led to a cliff side. There was a wild wolf hunting an emu on the plains.

Ivan's face lit up. "I've got this one." He took his swords out from their sheaths and tossed them into the air. Wind pyenergy picked them up. He pointed towards the wolf, and the swords sped off. In a matter of seconds the wolf had been sliced four different ways. Well, now we had about 150 pounds of meat.

"Ivan that was amazing!" I said.

"I wasn't that great," answered Ivan scratching the back of his head shyly.

"No, it wasn't," Felix said flatly. I glanced at him a bit confused. Felix generally had a very nice demeanor. The way he was acting was making me nervous.

"Well!" I said trying to break the uncomfortable silence. "Let's go find some of those veggies! Oh, but we need someone to guard the meat before some other animal gets to it. Felix, would you be so kind?"

"Fine with me," he snapped. I flinched. Ivan must have seen me wince because he looked at Felix and said; "Knock it off Felix."

Felix didn't answer he just turned and went to go stand by the meat we'd gotten. Ivan and I went off to look for some vegetables.

"Thanks for the food!" I said happily. Who knew that Mia was such a good cook?

"You actually ate something?" asked Jenna. I nodded.

"You're a really good cook Mia. You'll be good bride one day." Piers said. Mia blushed a deep shade of red.

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that…" she glanced in Garet's direction. Garet glanced in her's. They caught each other's eyes and looked away quickly. They both turned red.

Everyone laughed.

"Sheba, I'm glad that you ate. You were starting to worry me because you were getting so thin! I'd be glad to teach how to cook, if you're willing to learn from me."

I smiled. "I'd love to learn!" Mia's face lit up.

"That's great! We can cook tomorrow's lunch together." Mia said hopefully. I nodded.

The boys went to find some wood for a camp fire, while Mia, Jenna, and I cleared the dishes. I was humming a song (I really don't know what it's called but I just started humming it) when a hand landed on my shoulder. I turned to see Felix.

"Hey," Felix said. "I think we need to talk."