Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Sorry this one is so late. Christmas preparations kinda threw me off. I didn't realize I had so many people to buy stuff for. Also, for some reason, this chapter was a little more difficult to write than the others. Next chapter should be better though. Anyway, enjoy the latest installment of A Different Kind of Storm!

For anyone interested, I know it's kinda a jump from one fandom to another, but I have a FFVII: Crisis Core oneshot in the works. No serious plot or anything, just insane light-hearted randomness cooked up between me, my boyfriend, and refined later on by my little sister.

Solblade44 – Glad you liked it! I was thinking about drawing out the romance a bit more, but then I realized that Karis wouldn't drag it out if she was suspicious about something, so…here we are. Also, Goldenheavenshipping? That's weird…I can't really remember how it relates to the pair. Oh well, we'll see what catches on.

Anne Iriel Devay – Thanks so much for your review! I'm glad you think so. And I'm glad that you think I'm good at the "sensible scenes". Nice to know I'm not just writing pointless fluff for the masses, although fluff is fun to read too.

Linkblade1 – It's alright, it happens. The internet makes everyone unsure, lol. Thanks for your support!

Knight-Dawn – Yay, I got the food right! I was just basing it off what I know about Thai food, and since my family's big on Asian food, I had some experience with it (although I'm not exactly tolerant to spice…) And I agree, Amiti looks a lot younger than he actually is. Maybe Alex passed some of his not-aging genes to him, haha? You can imagine him looking a little older in this fic.

Gravaja Umbros – Glad you liked it, despite the lack of stuff happening. Don't worry, stuff is definitely going to happen next chapter, although this story has a fairly short plot in comparison to the whole romance thing. As for your one-shot, I'm looking over it now. Expect to see a reply later tonight/early tomorrow (December 21 – 22)

XxXxX

A Different Kind of Storm

CHAPTER 11

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Karis smiled when she woke up the next morning, rolling over on her bedroll and stretching as she remembered last night. She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a giggle, sitting up and running a hand through her hair. On the bedroll beside hers, Himi still slept, curled up on her side with her knees pulled up so close to her that they were almost touching her chin.

She brushed and tied her hair quietly so that she wouldn't wake up her tent mate, stepping outside into the warm Ei-Jei sunshine. A group of people were already assembled around the fire as they made breakfast. Karis counted Jenna and Matthew, who had ended up taking the last watch and had probably been awake for the past few hours, Ivan, Isaac, Mia, Sveta, Eoleo, and Amiti. Amiti caught her eye from his seat just behind Matthew and smiled. Karis smiled back, feeling the sudden urge to giggle again.

She walked over to him.

"Morning," she said.

"Good morning, Karis," said Amiti, his smile widening slightly.

She sat down beside him, shuffling a little closer to him. Amiti obliged, putting an arm around her shoulders. The movement drew stares from the assembled group. The two of them looked up, smiling.

There was probably a better way to let the others know about what had happened last night, but Karis didn't care. She liked this one.

"About damn time," said Eoleo with a grin.

The rest of the group broke into smiles. Mia said something that sounded like "young love", while Isaac leaned over and whispered something in Jenna's ear that made her turn pink and hit him lightly in the arm. Matthew glanced at his parents, looking visibly disturbed. Karis looked up to see Ivan offer her a faint smile and nod. Her father met Amiti's eyes for a moment, and Karis frowned slightly as she saw Ivan nod briefly towards him, his smile fading for a moment. Had the two of them talked before?

"You're not surprised?" asked Karis, looking around.

"It was bound to happen sometime," said Matthew with a grin. "Even Tyrell noticed it!"

"What did I notice?" asked Tyrell, walking out of the tent that he and Matthew had shared. He looked around, his eyes falling on the two of them. They widened. "Wait!" he said. "When did THAT happen?" he asked.

"...I…uh…stand corrected," said Matthew. "Everyone but Tyrell noticed it."

Karis laughed, drawing a little closer to Amiti as a round of laughs and chuckles started around the fire and Tyrell stood there, scratching his head and looking confused.

XxXxX

It was only a few days longer before the group found themselves at the foothills of the Khiren Mountains. Karis smiled in accomplishment, resting her hands on her waist and tilting her head back slightly so that she could see the peaks. The mountain in front of them rose up as far as the eye could see, and just behind it, the snowcapped peaks of the rest of the range rose even higher. She felt a twinge of excitement in spite of herself, fluttering beneath her skin.

We climbed that…she thought, remembering her initial climb up the mountain with Matthew, Tyrell, and Rief.

"Hard to believe…" said Matthew from beside her, looking up at the mountains as well.

"Yeah," said Karis, nodding. "What were you thinking, when we first stood down here?"

"I was thinking I'd lost my mind, because there was no way a sane person would attempt to do this," said Matthew with a small chuckle.

Karis grinned. "Being insane is one thing," she said. "It takes even greater insanity to follow an insane person."

Matthew laughed a bit at that. "That's true," he said. "I was actually thinking something else, about halfway up the mountain."

"Oh?" asked Karis.

"I hate Tyrell so much right now," explained Matthew.

Karis laughed. It was easy to forget that this entire quest started because Tyrell had broken her father's soarwing. Tyrell walked over to them, along with the rest of the group.

"Brings back memories, doesn't it?" he asked.

"Mm," said Karis.

"The four of you climbed this?" asked Mia, walking over to them with Rief in tow.

"Well," said Tyrell, "Rief had to be carried part of the way, but yeah."

Rief flushed as Mia laughed. "Tyrell!" he said. "You promised not to say anything about that!"

"It was the…um…short arms and legs," clarified Matthew. "He couldn't reach the handholds."

From behind Karis, Amiti chuckled quietly, having just reached them. Ivan stopped at her other side, a frown on his face as he looked up at the mountains. Isaac turned towards Matthew.

"Will we need to climb here now?" he asked.

Matthew shook his head. "There's an easier way this time," he said. "Come on."

Karis followed as Matthew led them down the familiar path towards the cave. Even after two years, her feet still knew the way. It was amazing how much of Ei-Jei was still familiar. The cave that Matthew led them to glowed with the pale green light of zol embedded in the rock, and the large green square of zol still hovered in place, waiting for them to step on it. The others stared.

"So this is zol," said Ivan, picking up a small green piece and holding it up. "It feels like any other rock."

"But it reacts specially to wind," said Karis.

Amiti nodded. "I wasn't here when the zol lift was reactivated," he said. "I think Karis had something to do with it. Zol is one of Passaj's primary exports, besides metalwork." He paused, and Karis watched him pick a cube of zol from the air, slipping it into his pocket. She frowned, wondering what he was going to do with it.

"Interesting," said Ivan, his tone neutral. "How do we start it?"

"We stand on it, as far as I can tell," said Amiti. "Although we might be too heavy…"

Matthew frowned, doing a quick head count. "Why don't we split up into two groups?" he asked. "That way we won't all be crowded on the same platform."

"Agreed," said Amiti.

"Good idea," said Himi.

"Sounds like a plan," said Garet, nodding. Isaac frowned, looking around.

"I'll go on the first group," he said. "With...Jenna and Garet."

Matthew nodded. "I'll take Tyrell and Sveta," he said. Karis raised an eyebrow at him, and he gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Karis, but you've been here before…" She sighed, nodding in reply. It made sense. Somebody needed to make sure their parents didn't get lost.

"Karis and Ivan should be light enough to fit with us," said Isaac. "Himi too."

Matthew shook his head. "We need Himi to balance out Eoleo," he said. "How about Rief?"

Isaac nodded. "Rief and Mia can come with us," he said.

Which left Amiti with Matthew. The two groups clustered together, and Matthew turned towards Karis.

"We'll meet up at the top," he said. "Someone needs to ride the lift back down."

All eyes turned towards Rief, who was the smallest in the first group. Rief sighed. "I'll go," he said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Karis nodded in reply, and Matthew's group stepped back as the first group boarded the zol lift. There was a humming sound and then it began to rise, through the mountains and towards the top. Karis glanced at Ivan but her father wasn't looking at her. Instead, he seemed more interested in the floating zol beneath their feet. Karis had done enough work with zol that it didn't feel novel anymore, but she couldn't blame him. She had acted the same way the first time she discovered what it was. She looked away. She couldn't talk to him now. There were too many people around.

They reached the top and the lift came to a stop. The group stepped off, and Rief turned towards them.

"I'll be back in a bit," he said, stepping back onto the lift. It started to lower again, disappearing beneath the rock.

"…I guess we wait," said Isaac, sitting on one of the rocks.

Karis nodded, turning towards Ivan as he walked to the mouth of the small chamber they were in. She exchanged a glance with Isaac before following him out. The zol mines were empty at the moment. Karis couldn't see any of the zol miners that had been around the entrance the last few times she had visited Passaj, even though the glowing green blocks themselves were still floating up with the wind.

"Are you okay?" asked Karis, standing next to him. This close to the drop, she could feel the updraft against her skin. One of the floating zol cubes nearly hit her on its way up. Without anyone to collect them, the cubes were funneled into two natural (as far as she could tell) conduits in the cave's ceiling, presumably dropping back down to the bottom.

"I'm fine," said Ivan, smiling at her. He reached out into the air current, and Karis felt the wind ripple slightly around his fingertips, conforming to his hand. The Psynergy was effortless, and way beyond her current skill level. "Just wondering how I'm going to explain this to your mother."

"Amiti?" asked Karis. Ivan nodded. Karis smiled slightly, clasping her hands together in front of her. "…I guess we can figure out something to say when we get back."

Something about what she said must have bothered him, because he tensed up slightly, the delicate air currents he had spun around his fingers collapsing. She frowned. He had been acting odd since they left Ayuthay, and this morning, he hadn't seemed too surprised…

"Did the two of you talk or something?" asked Karis, folding her arms. Ivan withdrew his hand, turning towards her.

"He came to me two days before we left Ayuthay," he said. "The night that Sveta arrived. He asked me—very politely—if he could court you."

Karis's eyes widened. "And what did you say?" she asked.

"I told him that that was your decision and not mine," he said. "He agreed. But he also said that he wanted to do this traditionally." Ivan frowned, turning his head to look Karis in the eye. "I hope you understand that, Karis," he said. "He's taking this seriously."

Karis nodded, the implications of that slowly beginning to sink in. Now that Amiti had chosen someone, the pressure from his court wouldn't abate. In fact, it would increase. Politics weren't her strong suit, but she understood this much. As long as there was a royal family, there was an Ayuthay. To insure the continuity of the line, the country would need an heir…

She blushed, her fingers tangling in the fabric of her skirt as she quickly looked away. The scraping sound of the zol platform fitting into the rock drew her attention and she looked up, turning towards the room. Voices drifted towards them from inside, and after a while, Matthew and the other half of their party stepped out, heading towards them.

"Well," said Matthew. "Let's go?"

They nodded, and the group started walking towards the entrance to the mines. Karis lingered behind, meeting up with Amiti at the rear of the group. Amiti frowned at Karis's flustered face, turning towards her. "Something wrong?" he asked.

Karis shook her head. "Nothing," she said.

Amiti nodded, even though he didn't look too convinced. He held his hand out to her. "Shall we go?" he asked.

She nodded in reply, taking his hand.

XxXxX

Unlike Ayuthay's palace, Passaj didn't really have a large building to house important guests in, but that suited Matthew just fine. Its inn was relatively high quality, or at least, it had become high quality during Passaj's two years of prosperity after the Grave Eclipse. He smiled, recalling the quick exchange he had had with Sveta before wishing her good night and walking her to the room she shared with Karis and Himi. The group had decided to keep their previous arrangements when it came to dividing up the inn's rooms. [1] He ran a hand through his still damp hair, taking a moment to glance outside the window where Passaj's Alchemy Forge lit the town a dull reddish color before he opened the door to his own room.

Amiti sat on one of the beds with his back propped up against the headboard, a look of intense concentration on his face as he stared at something small and green in one of his hands. He held something thin and silver in his other hand. The light in the room glinted off the blade as he moved it in a small decisive motion. He barely seemed to notice Matthew.

Matthew frowned. When they arrived in Passaj, Amiti had offered a quick polite greeting to Bogho before talking to Baghi out of earshot. Matthew had simply dismissed it as a private greeting between old friends, but he felt like it was just a little more than that. He wondered if Sveta would consent to reading Baghi's mind…

"What are you doing?" asked Matthew, taking off his boots and setting them in a corner of the room beside Amiti's. Amiti looked up at him.

"Carving," he said. "Zol is a little easier to cut than other stones."

"You can cut stones too?" asked Matthew, tugging off his yellow scarf with one hand.

"Mm," said Amiti, smoothing out the rough edges with the small blade in his hands. "Despite my royal status, I am still considered a descendant of the Exathi. Although…" He frowned, teasing out a line. "…I'll admit that stone isn't my favorite medium."

"What is?" asked Matthew, even though he already knew what the answer would be.

"Ice," replied Amiti. "When I was younger, I used to practice with it."

"I see," said Matthew. He sat down on his own bed. "Any special reason why you're carving now?"

Amiti's shoulders moved in a practiced shrug. "To kill time, I suppose," he said.

Matthew studied his face. Rief once said that he knew the members of the party better than they knew themselves sometimes, but he couldn't tell if Amiti was lying or not.

"What is it?" asked Matthew.

Amiti paused for a moment and held the zol out so that Matthew could see. It was cut in the basic shape for the symbol of Luna. He had seen it before on banners in the Ayuthay palace, a blue crescent-shaped Luna set in a gold teardrop. It was the crest of Ayuthay and also the crest of the royal family. Matthew frowned, keeping his suspicions to himself for now.

"It's very good," he said.

"Thank you," said Amiti, nodding once at him before resuming his work.

XxXxX

[1] Room arrangements – In case anyone's wondering, the people sharing rooms (and tents in the earlier part of the story) are: Matthew and Amiti, Karis, Sveta, and Himi, Isaac and Jenna, Garet and Ivan, Eoleo and Tyrell, Mia and Rief.