Please forgive the lateness of this chapter, I had wanted it posted by Thursday, but I was also working on All I Want for Christmas and had some other things going on, so… this was put off. Many thanks to MysticYoshie again. Hopefully next chapter shall be posted by Wednesday. Anyway, R&R please!

The sun glinted off the waves; rainbows sparkled on the small droplets that the ship displaced. The sky was a perfect blue and the sea reflected it. It had to be one of the most spectacular things Lloyd had ever seen. He stood against the railing, leaning over as far as he could while still keeping his balance. Noishe sat beside him, tongue hanging out as he grinned at the spray hitting his nose.

"Lloyd Irving, get back from there! You're going to fall!"

He turned, leaning back on the rail as he addressed his teacher. "Don't worry, Professor, I'll be fine!"

Raine hadn't been doing well on the boat; she kept herself below deck if at all possible, and when she came up top, she wouldn't go anywhere near the edge. Poor Genis wasn't let out of her sight, but Lloyd and Colette were free to wander as they pleased.

In response to the Professor's glare, Lloyd grinned. "Watch this." He hoisted himself up, sitting on the rail and locking his feet behind the bars before leaning back as far as he could until he was almost parallel to the water below him. His hands were casually folded behind his head.

"Stop messing around, you're going to give her a heart attack." Lloyd was pulled forcefully forward by Skah, who sent him tumbling face-first to the deck. "Professor, why don't you go back below," the blonde suggested, opening the door for her. That was strange; Skah was being thoughtful? Lloyd frowned slightly as he watched. Raine gave him a small, guarded smile as she stepped through the door, calling for Genis to follow her.

Brunette teen and silver-haired boy groaned at once. "Come on, Sis, I want to stay out here longer!"

"Professor, let Genis stay!"

Raine frowned, but Skah reassured her. "Leave the kid up here. We'll make sure he doesn't fall off or anything." She looked doubtful, but eventually conceded.

Lloyd sat with his back to the railing, and Skah joined him. "The woman's paranoid," he muttered. Lloyd laughed softly.

"Yeah… I don't think she likes water much."

"Oh really, I never would have guessed."

Lloyd closed his eyes and tilted his head back, enjoying the warmth of sunlight on his face. He heard Genis and Colette talking animatedly about what would await in Palmacosta, but to tell the truth, he didn't really care. He loved the salty taste to the air, the excitement of sailing. He didn't want to leave the ship.

"Lunch, Lloyd!" His eyes opened immediately and he sprang up, joining his friends for sandwiches with Skah right behind him. They talked and laughed, but some of it was forced; he couldn't feel comfortable while Colette was still ignoring Skah. Lloyd could see how she felt, but still, it seemed harsh.

Soon enough they finished their food; Colette ran below deck to give some to the Professor, and Lloyd bundled up a few more sandwiches and left to find Kratos and Yuan.

The two men had sailed before; therefore they had been left to control the boat. Skah seemed to know what he was doing as well, so he helped from time to time when it was necessary. Lloyd, despite how much he wanted to learn, was allowed to do almost nothing.

"Hey guys, lunch!" he exclaimed as he found them.

"Oh, joy," Yuan muttered, "he's back."

"That's nice, thanks Yuan. Maybe next time I won't bring you anything."

When Yuan simply rolled his eyes, Lloyd turned away from him toward Kratos. The mercenary was looking over several charts that had been found aboard the ship, apparently navigating.

"Sandwich?" he asked, holding the morsel out for him to take. Kratos received it with a soft word of thanks, but did not look up, and only set it down out of his way. Lloyd felt a bit of disappointment at the man's detached attitude; as much as Lloyd hated to admit it, Kratos was becoming somewhat of an idol to him. Lloyd had never met his equal in swordsmanship and would have liked to become as talented. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yeah, stay out of the way." Lloyd glared at Yuan; the half-elf was adjusting some of the rigging and not looking at him.

"We have everything under control, Lloyd. You do not have to do anything."

"But I want to—!" Lloyd cut off, realizing he was whining; he did not want to come off as a child to either Kratos or Yuan. "I-I mean, I want to learn…"

Yuan snorted, and Lloyd could practically hear the cobalt rolling his eyes. Kratos sighed and looked up at Lloyd.

"There really is nothing that we need you to do, nor is there anything that I can much show you at the moment. Go back to your friends."

He made it sound so final. Lloyd felt himself deflate; was there no way to do anything? He put the sandwich meant for Yuan down next to Kratos' and left to return to the others.

In an attempt to distract herself, Raine had taken out the jewel from the Triet Ruins and proceeded to examine it, writing notes on anything she found or theorized.

Absorbed in her work, she didn't hear anyone come below. "So, what have you figured out?"

She jumped, turning in her chair to see Skah behind her, examining her notes. "Why do you want to know?"

"I'm curious." Approaching the chair next to her, he asked, "Mind if I join you?" When she didn't protest, he sat down, reaching out to grab the gem. "I want to know what this is," he murmured. "I mean, it was valuable enough to be guarded down there, but not so much that whoever left it there wanted it around."

"Valuable… or dangerous."

"Yeah, I had thought of that too." He looked up, crimson eyes meeting hers. "But you don't seem too worried about that."

"It's not as if I'm not being cautious," she huffed, defensive.

"No, I didn't mean it like that," he quickly corrected himself, worried that he'd offended her. "I just… want to know what you think."

She sighed, looking back down at her notes. "I haven't been able to find much of anything yet, I'm afraid. If only I had been able to go over Aster's notes with him…"

"What?"

"Aster said he had done research on the subject; he seemed to know what this was, however, we had to leave before we could look into it."

"That would have been helpful." Skah sighed. "So you don't have any theories?"

"Not theories, but I have noticed several rather strange things." At his raised eyebrow, she continued. "You wouldn't be able to notice this, but it almost seems to give off its own mana. It almost… radiates with fire mana. I didn't notice at the Seal because of the power already there, but I felt it as soon as you gave it to me."

"Its own mana…" Skah looked at the gem speculatively. "Do you think it could be related to the Giant Kharlan Tree?"

"That tree is a myth."

"You can't know that for sure. And I mean, it was supposed to give off mana, and the seals were created for the Chosen to release after the Ancient War supposedly killed the tree, right? Well, this gives off mana and was at the seal. Makes sense, right?"

"Yes, except for the tree. No one really believes it actually existed."

"…I guess you're right." Skah leaned back in his chair, depositing the gem on the table. "You have any ideas then?"

Instead of answering his question, she carefully picked up the jewel, turning it over in her slender fingers. "This will seem strange, but… does it seem to you that this isn't its natural form?" Without waiting for a reply, she continued, "It feels almost like its been warped, like it shouldn't be in this state."

"Huh," was all the reply she received.

Hours later, Skah emerged from below deck to grab some food, joining Lloyd, Colette, and Genis at the bow.

"Where've you been?"

"Below." He took a bite of the rice ball in his hand. "This is good."

"What were you doing down there?" Lloyd pressed.

The blonde shrugged. "Hanging with the Professor, looking at that weird jewel."

"Seriously?"

"What?"

Lloyd shrugged, forcing himself not to glare. "You just didn't seem like the studying type."

"So what, I'm not allowed to have brains and brawn? I didn't know I had to choose one or the other."

"Whatever. So, did you figure anything out?"

"Not really. We just kinda tossed some ideas around. It kept her mind off the whole 'I'm on a boat in the middle of the ocean' issue."

"Since when do you care how she feels?"

"Since when are you so defensive about it?"

Lloyd looked away, taking a bite of his own rice ball. "Sorry, it's just kinda weird for you. I didn't think you guys liked each other."

"Well, she's kind of a psycho, but she's got brains. And I still don't think she likes me much. And besides," he shot a glance at Colette, "is it a crime to not want to be hated by everyone I'm traveling with?"

That made sense. "I guess not. Sorry for prying."

"Whatever, Lloyd. Hey kid, are there any more of these rice balls?"

Lloyd couldn't sleep. Normally it was only when he woke up in the middle of the night that he couldn't fall back asleep—insomniatic, or something like that—but it was rare that he could not fall asleep in the first place. Perhaps it was the rocking of the ship or simply all the excitement of being on the ship, but he was having difficulty drifting off…

He sighed and rose, careful not to wake any of the others, and slipped out of the hull of the boat. The strong smell of fresh, salty sea air hit him, as well as the cool night air. Lloyd looked up and was amazed to see the sky was perfectly clear, not a cloud to be seen, and millions of stars were spread out; they felt close enough to touch. Lloyd felt his jaw drop; it was spectacular!

Lloyd didn't even bother to move, but sat down where he was, watching the twinkling diamonds as they winked down at him. He smiled and allowed himself to be taken over by the memories that they brought; most of them were just feelings, like a tug on his heart as there was a flash of memory that vanished as soon as it came. Sometimes images, some that he could not even understand; the stars seen though something spiked and red, a soft silver glow more vibrant than the stars themselves, a piece of fabric that he wanted to reach out and grab a hold of.

Sounds: the soft hum of a woman's voice, the deep baritone of a male's. Warmth, happiness… the only memories of his life before Dirk came like this. The only memories of his parents, near disappeared with time, were written in the stars above.

"Lloyd?"

Lloyd jumped, looking around to see Kratos staring at him. "Lloyd, what are you doing up?"

Lloyd felt a blush rise in his cheeks, he had been caught with his guard completely down, something he doubted Kratos would exactly praise him for. "I couldn't sleep, I came up here 'cause I was sick of just laying around…"

"…I see." Kratos seemed to contemplate something for a moment, the gestured at Lloyd, "Why don't you come up with me, unless…" Suddenly, Kratos seemed almost hesitant, "you do not want to."

Lloyd, still sore from the afternoon's humiliation, was close to saying no, but, at the last minute, decided in favor of the idea. Besides, he would not mind the company. "Sure." He rose and followed Kratos up the small flight of stairs to the upper deck and sat down, his eyes again fixed on the stars.

"It is beautiful, isn't it?" asked Kratos, glancing up at the night sky.

"Yeah, I love the stars…" As soon as Lloyd said it, he realized how random it must have sounded to a stranger. Kratos, who was nearly a complete stranger, must have found Lloyd to be one of the weirdest people he had met already. What he must think now…

But Kratos seemed only curious, his eyes alighting on Lloyd, who felt like Kratos could see straight into him. He forced himself to stare at the stars so as not to react. "Why?" was the only this he asked.

Lloyd was surprised, it seemed like such a personal question coming from the hired mercenary; Lloyd had always just figured this was only another job for him. They were all just names and faces in his mind and nothing more. For him to actually want to know more was… strange. Then, of course, there was what Lloyd would actually tell him. It was very personal; the stars told all he could remember of his childhood, not something that he generally told people. In fact, not even Colette and Genis knew the purpose of his fascination.

Despite all of this, Lloyd felt compelled to tell Kratos everything. As if he wanted to tell him. He was an impulsive person, and so he did what came naturally. "My father and I always used to look at the stars together."

He turned to look at Kratos, only to find the man busying himself with something or another, barely, it seemed, paying attention to Lloyd. "I did not think Dirk the kind to enjoy that type of pastime."

Lloyd chucked slightly, "Dad's a dwarf, they're all really down to earth, he's not interested in anything above the mountains, and that's only for the different kind of mines you can have in them. I don't think he's ever actually looked at the sky for anything other than the weather. I'm talking about my real dad."

"I did not think you remembered much of your biological parents. Mr. Sage seemed to think that you had no memories from that time."

Lloyd rolled his eyes, "Genis doesn't know everything. I can always remember something about them when I look at the stars. My dad used to tell me stories about the stars. I can still remember some of them, I used to tell them to the other kids, but the Church got really mad and made me stop…" Lloyd fixed his eyes back on the stars.

Kratos turned to look at Lloyd, but the boy did not see. "It sounds rather radical for them to react to a child's stories…"

Lloyd shrugged, "I guess, but that's what always happened. I was the weird kid: raised by a dwarf, abandoned by his parents, didn't go to Church…"

Kratos said nothing, and Lloyd wondered if he had offended the man, perhaps he was really devout or something…

"I see," he said softly, after a moment.

"That's the tip of Sylph's wing, that means that fall's coming soon," Lloyd pointed to a bright star in the east, "and that one is the tip of Origin's spear, you can always see it. It was always one of my favorites…"

So the night went on, Lloyd telling Kratos everything he knew about the heavens, the constellations that knew, the meanings they held. At first, the mercenary seemed hesitant to join the dual swordsman, but after a few minutes, he joined the boy. The two talked and watched the stars drift across the sky as the night progressed. Sometime around early morning, Lloyd drifted off, his head lolling.

Kratos shifted him, unwilling to move him, but not wanting him to sleep like that all night, and then watched him. For a long time he stared at the stars, Lloyd's breathing the only sound other then the rushing of water and the snapping of lines and canvas sails.

How had the boy remembered so much…?

After a few more days spent in such a manner, they reached their destination: Palmacosta. Lloyd could hardly sit still as they docked; he was torn between his love of the ocean and excitement at exploring a new city, one bigger than he had ever seen. He knew he couldn't stay with the ship, so he stepped off the boat concentrating on the excitement to come.

However, some of his companions were more focused on business. Kratos and Yuan yelled for him to help tie up the boat and to other chores, not that he minded much. Skah, on the other hand, was concerned with another practical matter.

"I'll find someone to bring the boat back to Izoold, all right Colette?"

Lloyd was mildy shocked; Skah actually used her real name! As far as he could remember, the man had only done that for him… he must be really desperate for Colette to forgive him. However, the other blonde merely pretended not to hear him, instead smiling to her friends and saying, "Come on, let's go! This city is so big, I want to look around."

Lloyd glanced back at Skah, mouthing an apology for Colette, but Skah just shrugged it off. As the man looked away towards the ocean, Lloyd thought he saw a bit of sadness and frustration, although Skah hid it well. He felt bad; Skah was trying to make up for things to Colette, but she didn't seem to want to forgive him. At least the Professor acknowledged him now that he was trying to make amends, but Colette just pretended he wasn't there… that had to hurt.

"Lloyd, are you coming?"

Colette and the others were waiting for him. "Yeah, I'm coming." With one quick glance at the blond man, he ran forward with his friends into the city.

However, they had hardly gotten out of the port before Colette tripped, crashing into a smaller girl dressed in pink frills. The girl let out something between a whine and a shriek as she was knocked over, dropping a glass bottle to the cobblestones where it shattered, splattering her and Colette in deep red potion.

"Ow! What did you do that for, you little—" she cut off when she looked down at herself, horrified at what she saw. "Look what you did!" she howled, glaring at Colette with obvious hatred. "You destroyed the Palma Potion I just received, and you ruined my dress!"

"I'm so sorry!" Colette pushed herself up and tried to help the other girl, but she only smacked her hand away.

A tall, blue haired man stepped out from the group behind the girl and stood protectively in front of her. "That was an incredibly valuable potion you just squandered, and you soiled my beloved's gown! How do you plan to make up for this?"

The man turned to help the girl off the ground, but she snarled at him. "Don't touch me!" She picked herself up, brushing dust off her coat. "And stop calling me your "beloved". You're ridiculous and you disgust me."

Colette, thoroughly embarrassed, quickly tried to make amends. "I'll buy you another potion right away! And for your dress I know some things that should take the stain out; I spill things all the time—"

The man sneered at her. "A replacement potion? Do you honestly think that that will appease my anger?"

Lloyd rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, now you just sound like an idiot."

The strange couple's companions glanced nervously at one another, amused but afraid to show it. "What did you just say?" he demanded grandly, making himself look like more of a fool. "Do you know who we are?"

Lloyd raised an eyebrow. "And I should care because…?"

"Why you impudent little—"

"Shut up, idiot," the girl snapped at him before turning her eyes to Colette. "It would be lovely if you would replace my potion and my dress," she simpered, but there was an edge to her voice and a hard glint in her eyes that made Lloyd shiver. "We'll be leaving the city tomorrow, so bring them to me by noon."

"Colette, you don't have to do anything for these people," Lloyd muttered to her, but she only shook her head.

"No, I ran into her, so I have to pay for it," she replied softly. "We'll replace your things."