I think I'm going to completely get rid of the idea of updating on a weekly schedule. I can manage it when writing is a priority, but with the upcoming school term that I'm taking five courses in and all the other stuff I'm doing, I really don't think that it'll be possible for me to update on a weekly basis. Not that that'll matter too much for this story since there aren't many chapters left, but I might as well mention it to the few who are reading this.

Disclaimer: Refer to chapter one

Altercation

"Let's go, Garet, break time's over!"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

Wolfing the last bite of his lunch down, Garet hopped to his feet and hurried into the smithy. His eyes were a bit blurry from fatigue, and the only thing he could do to fight it off was to wipe his face with a dirty rag.

This past year had gone by in a flash, and the now thirty-year-old Mars adept found that the exhausting number of things he had been doing were finally taking their toll on his body. Ten months ago he had arrived back in Kalay after his equally long journey to Morgal. Six months ago was when Ivan and Samantha were wed, not to mention that the ring he would propose to Jenna with had arrived, initiating the planning process for how he would actually pop the question to her. On top of all that, he had been working to repay Roxy, who had covered his work for him while he had been away. Ignoring and pushing away her flirtatious advances was a constant and significant bother, but one he had to be wary of lest he face Jenna's wrath again.

"Where's that friend o' yer's been lately?" the old armourer asked. "You know, the blond fellow that lives in the mountains. Haven't seen 'im in a while."

"Not sure," Garet grunted. Ever since completing the cabin, Garet and Ivan used to take time to check in on Isaac when they could, if only to make sure he had not given into his despair. As of three months ago, Garet found that he simply did not have the time or energy to spare to go all the way out to Goma Plateau, and had to make the choice to trust his best friend not to make any rash decisions. He would feel less guilty if Ivan were still keeping tabs, but the Jupiter adept had enough of his own problems to worry about, what with talk of eventually inheriting the throne from Hammet and producing an heir of his own. Life sure could be tough for royalty.

The day came to yet another end, and Garet was simply glad to go home and sleep. Jenna had been fairly busy as well, and despite the fact that the two of them weren't fighting, it seemed that they had not gotten the chance to spend any time together. Usually they would eat breakfast together, leave for work, come home, and if they weren't too worn out from the long day of work, eat dinner together before going to sleep. They were with each other in body, but certainly not in mind.

Before he even realized it, the sun had risen, and Garet was already walking towards the familiar building. The sounds of metal clashing against itself had become a monotonous drone that he hardly even heard anymore. On this particular morning, Roxy's father brought in a surprisingly large stack of papers, scoffing at them as he dropped them in front of Garet. The redhead eyed the mountain of parchment, noticing that the topmost section was not comprised of invoices, but the daily news.

"King Albalupus of Morgal slain in battle," Garet muttered the headline, not fully aware of the words he was saying. "Led by Emperor Ko, the armies of neighbouring country Sana successfully capture Morgal, taking the lives of both the king and queen. Though their statuses remain unknown, the young prince Volechek and the newborn princess Sveta have gone into hiding."

It took a moment or two for him to suddenly realize the gravity of what he had just read aloud. His eyes widened in alarm, Garet gripped onto the newspaper with all his might and madly looked over every detail he could about the war in the east. Unfortunately, there was little to be found, and he was forced to imagine just how powerful a man this Emperor Ko had to be if he was able to defeat the strongest man in Morgal. It was more than he could even comprehend, though it was unlikely that the two men had squared off in a fair one-on-one duel.

"Wasn't that the place you went off to?" the blacksmith asked.

"Yeah…lucky we got out of there before the war started, huh?"

There was no point in letting his boss know that he had gotten to personally meet the king and prince during his brief stay in Morgal. It might only complicate matters here if he did, so Garet chose wisely to keep his mouth shut. If nothing else, he would speak to Ivan about it later on and also write a letter to Piers.

Though the tragic news had fully awoken him, Garet found the day's work to be more laborious than usual, most likely because the large stack of invoices was actually a very large order placed by the Sanan military. Despite the fact that the war was over now, it seemed unlikely that the beastmen would not rebel against their oppressors, and Garet could not help feeling partially guilty that he would be one of the many suppliers of those oppressors' weapons.

"Gooood morning!" Roxy's voice floated in before said woman came bounding into the shop. "How are you two doing today?"

"You're late," her father grunted.

"Hey, now, I was just going to ask Garet for some help today. We got a big shipment of goods and I can't lift all the boxes myself, you know!"

Garet and the older smith looked at each other before turning to the brunette and shaking their heads in unison. "We've got too much work set out for us," the older man said. "I can't afford to lend him over."

"Sorry," the Mars adept said. "The only time I have off is for lunch. I'll probably have to stay long after sundown so that we don't fall behind."

Roxy pushed out her bottom lip in a pouty fashion. "You get an hour for lunch, don't you?"

"Yeah, same as you."

"Good, then you can bring the crates in at lunchtime!"

"Then when am I supposed to eat?"

"While you're working, silly! I won't make you unpack everything; I just need the goods inside for storage."

"That's…an awful lot of extra work for no return…"

He immediately regretted saying that the moment Roxy raised her eyebrow and sent a devious smirk his way. "Oh, too much work, you say? Poor you, having to work a little extra during one lunch break. I can't even imagine what it'd be like if you had to do twice the work for some crazy amount of time like, oh, I don't know, ten months. I'm sure the person who put you in that hypothetical situation would feel extremely indebted to you."

"Okay, okay, I get it, just stop the guilt-tripping."

She giggled an overly innocent "teehee" before thanking him and hurrying off to the other side of the building.

"And now you know why you should pay her back as quickly as you can," the older smith chuckled as he got back to work.

Garet sighed and lifted his hammer once again. "I can only hope to at least get a bite of food before the day is up…"

Just as expected, however, he soon found himself hauling crates around while his stomach growled and moaned. From the number of crates he had to move around, Garet had no false hopes that he might get to eat something before his 'break' was over. With a grunt, he begrudgingly hoisted another crate filled with some kind of glass material and brought it over to the storage area.

"Is there a reason why no one else in the building is helping?" Garet panted while Roxy took down inventory on a clipboard. "I know I owe you one, but that doesn't mean I should be the only one doing all the work."

She simply jotted something down on the parchment and stuck her tongue out at him playfully. "Aww, poor baby, do you want some cheese with your whine?"

"I wouldn't be complaining if I could just get someone else to help me with this. Hell, most of these crates are too heavy for me to move by myself!"

The brunette hummed as she easily sauntered past him, keeping her eyes down on the clipboard. Garet could only stare into the empty storeroom in disbelief. It came as a great surprise when he felt a pair of hands gently squeeze his taut shoulders from behind.

"There, better?" Roxy giggled seductively into his ear. "I won't let you get away without working, but I don't mind offering up a free shoulder rub. I've been told I have a magic touch before."

The feeling of her palms pressing into his sore muscles was more relaxing than he thought could be possible, and he hated the fact that he could not let her continue. With shivers running down his spine, Garet bit his bottom lip and hesitantly stepped away from her.

"Look, I know I've said it outright at least once before in the last year," he spoke sternly, "but you can't keep doing stuff like this. I'm in a happy, healthy relationship with Jenna, and I'm even planning on proposing to her soon. It doesn't matter if you're just teasing me or if all these flirty things you do are actually serious; I can't just allow it anymore. Can't you understand that?"

Though he didn't want to come across as angry, he needed to be straight with her if he was going to get his point across. It was always hard to tell how she took these kinds of things, though, especially since her expression right now was that of mild amusement mixed with uncertainty.

"Sorry, but it needed to be said," he muttered when she said nothing in response. "I'll bring in the rest of the crates now."

Without another word from either of them, Garet headed back out to where the rest of the goods were, his head now completely ignoring the roaring of his stomach.

And for the rest of the day, he and Roxy avoided eye contact at all costs.

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Autumn hit Kalay suddenly and without any warning signs. The temperature dropped just as suddenly as the rainclouds emptied their cargo upon the merchant kingdom. Within a week, nearly all of the leaves had gone from a lush green colour to reds, oranges, and browns that littered themselves along the ground.

"You've worked hard this week," the older smith said to Garet. "With the rain coming down the way it is, we won't get any customers for a while. All our work's done so you might as well head home."

"R-Really?" he sputtered. "But I still owe Roxy a huge debt, and there's a lot that needs tidying up around here."

"It's nothing worth worrying about right now. 'Sides, if it rains tomorrow too, I'll probably just tidy up the shop, so don't bother showing up unless it clears up."

There was little reason to argue about this, so Garet quickly gathered his belongings and thanked the smith before heading out. He had only been at the smithy for about an hour, and while he did not have any issues with getting some time off, he had been working so much lately that he was not entirely sure what he would do with time off. The fact that it was raining only served to complicate things further, as he could not partake in any outdoor activities.

He stopped briefly at the bakery to inform Jenna and also pick up some bread. Unlike the smithy, the warm, pastry-scented building would be busier than usual with the cooler temperatures and sudden downpour.

With his task completed, Garet hurried home with his jacket pulled up over his head. He made quick work of the lock and shut the door behind him as he threw his wet jacket onto the hanger.

He looked around the room and scratched his moustache while wondering what he might do to pass the time. He honestly could not even think of the last time he had not been working himself to the bone, and to suddenly get time off was more than a little bit odd. Starting by stepping out of his wet boots, the Mars adept shrugged and headed over to the bathroom; as unhygienic as it was to admit, he had not properly bathed in quite some time, as he did not have the time to do so. For the most part, he was lucky if he got the chance to wipe his body down with a washcloth before going to bed.

Thanks to his abilities, the water took very little time to heat up, and Garet let out a great sigh as he submerged his body in the relaxing water. Roxy's 'magic touch' had nothing on the natural powers of a hot bath. With his head rested on the edge of the tub, he soon found his eyes drooping shut beyond his control, and with another sigh, Garet allowed the blanket of steam and the pattering of rain on the roof to whisk him away into a much-needed slumber.

It was difficult to tell how long he had been asleep for, as the sky looked the same when he awoke to a tapping sound that contrasted the rain. Thanks to his Mars abilities, the bathwater had stayed warm even while he slept, so he would not be so unlucky as to catch a cold from doing something that would typically prevent him from catching one in the first place.

The tapping sound persisted, and with a few looks around the room, he noticed a small figure outside the frosted glass window. Though he didn't want to, Garet was forced to pull himself out of the water so he could let the bird in. He had to assume it was a carrier pigeon, and given the fact that he had recently written to Piers about King Alpha's tragic demise, it was possible that he was simply writing back.

The bird hopped into the steamy room once the window was open, and Garet was quick to dry off and throw some clothes on before taking the parchment from the bird. Making sure to drain the bathtub before he exited, he headed into the kitchen where he threw some seeds out for the bird and untied the letter from its leg. Much to his surprise, it was not from Piers or even someone he had written to: it was in Mia's handwriting.

"Mia's writing to me?" he mumbled to himself. "It must be pretty serious…or maybe she's just letting everyone know that the conflict in Imil is over."

Hoping to satisfy his curiosity, Garet unfolded the parchment and made sure to carefully read each word that was written down.

Dear Garet,

It's certainly been a long time, hasn't it? Are you and Jenna well? I can only imagine that receiving a letter from me after all this time must come as quite a shock. Before I get into this, I would like for you not to read this along with Jenna. It is not that I wish to keep this a secret from her, but given the circumstances of what I need to say, I feel that it is only proper that you find out first, as Isaac's dearest friend. How and whom you choose to tell after reading this is entirely up to you, though I hope that you will keep it mostly to yourself.

I'm sure you noticed while you were on your journey to Morgal that the world is changing, and at a frightening pace no less. Though the turn of events here in Imil seems to be in our favour, I fear that it is only temporary, especially since the lizard men from the ocean have been absent as of late. Our main concern is that they are simply amassing a larger army to attack once we have tired ourselves from fighting off the trolls and maulers. But I digress, the point is that the war does not seem as though it will end for at least another year or so.

I cannot properly express in writing how much it hurts to say this, but because of the way things are, I will be travelling to Kalay to end things with Isaac. By the time you receive this, I will likely only be a few days away. I assume you will want a full explanation, so I will agree to meet with you before I go to him.

Please write back with the date, time, and place you would like to meet.

Mia

With the letter still in hand, Garet slowly fell back into the seat behind him and stared blankly at the wall. He could not even begin to describe how he was feeling or what his face looked right now. He wanted to look over the letter again and find some flaw with it, some kind of hidden message that showed what Mia was really trying to say. He wanted there to be some uncharacteristic "Gotcha!" written somewhere on the piece of parchment.

But the more he searched, the deeper this emptiness within him grew. He could not even bring himself to read the letter in its entirety again; the words had already engraved themselves in his mind.

"O-Oh gods…" he stammered breathily. "She's…she's going to break up with Isaac… After all this time and everything he's been through…it'll be over just like that."

Garet was not sure what to do. He stood from his seat, sat back down, stood again so he could pace, and then ended up sitting in a different seat before repeating the process countless times. He looked around aimlessly, as if doing so might reveal a way that could stop this from happening, but there were no answers to be found on the walls of his home.

He began to feel guilty, as he had not gone to see Isaac in a very long time. How had he been holding up for these past three months? The last time he'd seen him, the blond had been flying out on the soarwing during the day and indulging himself with alcohol at night. Though it wasn't exactly a healthy lifestyle, the rate at which he was doing so was not worrying enough to warrant concern from either Ivan or Garet. Since neither of them had been keeping tabs on him, though, it was not impossible for the man to have turned to alcohol at a much less conservative rate. He had clearly only been drinking to rid himself of boredom before, so it seemed unlikely that that would have changed.

"I-I…I…" Garet stammered aloud for no particular reason. "I should write back to Mia…a-and then…and then…"

And then what? He would wait until Mia arrived so that they could discuss why she was doing this? He could not simply wait around like that, hoping that once he had met with her that all these problems would suddenly disappear. If this happened, there was no telling what Isaac might do.

"I'll check on him, then. I'll go see him early on the day she arrives, meet with her after, and then…"

Why was there always an "and then"? Why could he not simply know what would happen from start to finish. Was he afraid to admit that this was real? That this was actually going to happen in just a few days?

With unsteady resolve, Garet shakily brought out a quill and parchment so that he could respond to Mia's letter. There was so much to consider, so much uncertainty, and yet he found that his hand was moving in a continuous, albeit shaky, manner. Before he knew it, the letter was dry and coated in a waterproof substance, ready to be sent off to Mia with her pigeon.

Garet could only watch in sorrow as the bird with the letter tied to its leg hopped out of his open window and flew off into the distance.

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"Isaac? Hey, Isaac, wake up. Isaac…c'mon, man, get up already! ISAAC!"

The fated day had arrived, and it was relatively early morning. The sun was still peeking over the edge of the horizon as Garet stood above his sleeping friend. After convincing the smith to let him take at least a day each week off of work, he was not expecting to find Isaac passed out on the downstairs sofa. It took a while, but Isaac eventually groaned and cracked an eye open to see who had woken him.

"Ugh, finally you're up. Man, you must've been out cold."

It came as no surprise, as the moment he had entered the building, Garet's nostrils were filled with the smell of alcohol. The cabin was a complete mess, and there was not a single place in the room where a bottle was not within his line of sight. Though disappointed to find that Isaac had been drinking himself silly, he did feel partially to blame for not checking in on him for these past few months, especially since he was fully aware of the Venus adept's mental state.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy there, big guy, you're gonna knock yourself out," he said as Isaac attempted to sit up, ultimately falling back down. "Had a little too much to drink last night, I can see."

Isaac blinked confusedly at Garet. Surely that couldn't be a good sign.

"Too much? Garet, I only had two glasses of champagne! If I recall correctly, it was you who let yourself go at the wedding!" His own shouting caused him to groan in pain and rub his temples.

Garet looked down at his friend in the utmost confusion. Was he fully sane right now? This was a day to be taken seriously, and yet he could not help the mildly amused smirk from pulling on the edges of his lips.

"Wedding?! Man, I knew something was up when I hadn't heard any news from you in a while. I'll try to clear this up for you: I wasn't with you last night. In fact I haven't seen you for three months now!"

Isaac didn't respond at first, seeming not to have understood what was just said. A moment later, his eyes shot open in bewilderment.

"Gee, if I'd have known you were this depressed about Mia I wouldn't have left your side." This wasn't the time to play the upbeat best friend, and yet he could not help himself, knowing that Mia would be here later to call things off. "Ivan and Sam have been married for six months. You must've been dreaming or something, because I have no idea how you thought all of that happened last night." He paused as a sudden realization hit him. The amusement washed away from his face as he hesitantly asked his friend, "Have you…have you been drinking every day, Isaac?"

The blond twisted his face in thought, though Garet did not particularly need to wait for an answer to know that he had been. The evidence was all around the room, and it would take a very convincing story to prove any sort of innocence.

"I, uh…I don't really know," he stated groggily. "I suppose that would probably answer your question, though. I guess tried to keep myself occupied after Ivan's wedding, but I only kept myself busy for some short amount of time. After that, I must've started drinking heavily enough that everything from the wedding to now is just a blur."

Garet crossed his arms. Isaac was the last person anyone thought might wind up as a drunkard, but here he was, lying on his couch after another night of drinking himself stupid. It certainly seemed unbecoming of someone with the titles of Captain, Lord, and the Master of Earth. If only he could have checked in earlier; there was no telling what he might do after meeting with Mia.

"I can't believe you, Isaac," Garet scolded, his upbeat character vanishing quickly. "It's one thing to do nothing but laze around all the time, but turning to binge drinking? I'm actually curious now, have you and Mia still been writing to each other? If you can't even remember a day of the past six months, I'm almost afraid to see some of the things you've tried writing to her."

Isaac motioned to his room to indicate that any letters he may have written or received would be upstairs. Garet swiftly made his way upstairs, careful not to make too much noise. The number of bottles lying about did not decrease as he reached the top floor, and he did not even want to imagine what Isaac's bedroom looked like.

Reluctantly pushing the door open, Garet was only slightly relieved to find that the room was no worse than the rest of the cabin, though that fact in itself was still troubling. It took hardly any time to find a mess of letters scattered across and around the desk, and he quickly scooped them all up before turning to leave the room.

In the brief time he had to descend the stairs, he was able to see some of Mia's responses, most of which were true to the fashion of being vague about the situation and reassuring Isaac that she would return. Garet cringed, hating to know that her promise of returning was going to take place tonight, just not in the way Isaac was expecting.

"Well, lucky for you, you don't seem to have come off as a drunkard in your letters, judging from Mia's regular-sounding responses." He dropped the stack of papers on Isaac's chest and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You better get clean, Isaac. Whether Mia's coming back soon or not, you can't spend all your time – not to mention gold – on regretful nights of drinking and hating yourself. I'm gonna tell Patch what's been going on and make sure that his new bartender doesn't sell you anything. I'll be damned if you try to get alcohol some other way."

Keeping his shaking fists from showing, Garet stormed out of the cabin and slammed the door behind him. Rather than leaving in a justified anger, however, he exhaled deeply and deflated, taking a much-needed seat on the wooden steps.

"I can't let her go through with this," he muttered to himself. "If she calls things off… I don't even want to think about what he'll do to himself."

A flash of gold light appeared a few feet from his face, revealing one of Isaac's djinn.

"I take it you've heard what Miss Mia plans to do," the male voice, identifiable as Flint, resonated in Garet's head.

"Yeah," he responded quietly, getting to his feet and heading off so that Isaac could not possibly hear them. "How do you know about it?"

"Word travels quickly between djinn. I was informed of the news by Mist nearly two months ago."

"Two months, huh? I guess that would've been when she'd have left Imil to travel here."

After stopping at Patcher's Place to briefly reprimand the innkeeper for allowing Isaac to drink himself into a downward spiral, Garet continued down the mountain with Flint hovering beside his shoulder.

"Can you protect him?" Garet asked the djinni. "You and the other djinn, I mean."

"I'm afraid we can only do so much as persuade him," Flint said apologetically. "Because you are technically our masters, we cannot do act in a way that would go against your wishes. Should he try to do what you surely fear, I can only implore him to rethink his actions."

"And by that point I doubt he would even listen to what you have to say."

Flint floated around so that he was in front of Garet, his beady eyes gazing directly at the Mars adept's face.

"Master Garet," he spoke formally, "there is little that I am able to do, and so I must make a request of you. Please speak thoroughly with Miss Mia. I cannot tell you her reasons for going through with this, but if you should disagree with her even after she has explained it to you, I ask that you do whatever is in your power to dissuade her."

They reached the bottom of the mountain path where Garet's horse awaited him in the stables. He stopped for a moment to really look at Flint, and with a heavy heart he nodded. The djinni thanked him before disappearing in a flash, and the Mars adept hurriedly set back out for Kalay, steeling his resolve as best he could as he prepared to meet with Mia for the first time, and potentially last, in two years.

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Though the mountains had been clear, a light drizzle dampened the streets of Kalay as Garet arrived. Returning the horse to the stable he had rented it from, he covered himself in a cloak and headed out towards the pub he had agreed to meet Mia at. He stepped into the building, finding that he had arrived first, and sat down at a table where a waitress dropped a menu in front of him.

The pub was quiet, most likely because it was a weekday and was not even noon. A few travelling merchants and regulars had gathered in small groups, chattering quietly about whatever it was they had going on in their lives. From the kitchen, the sound of dishes clinking and stoves sizzling resonated out into the main area.

Garet looked up as the bell above the entry door jingled, it's welcoming tone poorly reflecting the solemn mood of the atmosphere outside and the hesitant woman who stepped inside. She removed her hood, revealing a head of long azure hair and a pale complexion. He waved over to Mia as she looked uncertainly around the room.

"You're really here," he said instead of greeting her properly. She did not seem to mind and took a seat across from him.

"Of course," she said quietly. "We did say that we were going to meet here in our letters, didn't we?"

"We did. I just hoped that this was all some sort of elaborate prank. I'd settle for being pissed off about that than worrying to death over this."

They paused as the waitress dropped another menu in front of Mia, though neither of them had food or drink on the mind right now. Garet watched the healer's glossy eyes flutter every so often as she fought back any tears that tried to come forth. It was apparent that she was just as stressed out about this whole ordeal as Isaac was sure to be by tomorrow.

"So," Garet sighed, "how do you want to start this?"

Mia sniffled once and met his gaze. "I suppose…I should just come right out with it."

She took a deep breath and glowed blue for a moment. Though Garet was not entirely sure why she would need to use psynergy right now, the effects seemed to calm her down, allowing her to speak without fear of choking up or crying.

"I'll start by saying that I never imagined something like this might happen. Honestly, I still can't quite grasp the fact that I'm only returning to Isaac after two years to end our relationship. It's…like a horrible nightmare, one I could not have seen coming under any circumstances.

"You must already be aware that Weyard is changing at an alarmingly fast pace. Mountains are shifting, islands are breaking off from the mainland, and Gaia Falls is actually expanding outwards. When you think about it, it's amazing what's happening, considering that all we were trying to do was stop it from shrinking the world. But I digress, the point is that for better or for worse, the physical form of Weyard is changing, and in our personal case it's for the worse.

"Put simply, the tunnel leading from Bilibin to northern Angara is closing. I'd overheard the soldiers talking about it when they returned from their scouting mission, and from the looks of things it won't be usable by the end of this month. I had some troubles coming through on my way here, and I suspect I may be the last person to pass through it on my return journey."

"So is that it?" Garet interjected. "The reason you're calling things off is over something as simple as the cave closing?"

Mia smiled sorrowfully as she shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous, Garet. If it were something as trivial as only needing a new route to reach each other, I would never even think to end things with Isaac. After all, we're…we're betrothed…"

She paused for a moment and glowed blue again, no doubt to contain herself from once again bursting out into tears. Garet noticed a few unwarranted glances from the other customers, but the moment Mia's blue glow dissipated they all went back to their own conversations.

"Sorry, please allow me to continue.

"As I was saying, the last person to pass through Bilibin Cave will likely be me, as I cannot stay here with Isaac. No one could have predicted that a war against monster clans would last so long, but with their newfound intelligence the monsters have been relentless with their attacks against us. It may be hard to believe, but they've even developed a language of their own and use practical tactics to fight against us."

"Sounds like they aren't so different from the beastmen, then."

"I suppose that is a possibility. In any case, I've only been able to take a short leave because we were able to decimate their numbers so substantially. The healing duties have lessened to the point where Justin can cover both healing and strategizing, at least for the time being."

"So basically you're saying you have to stay in Imil and once you've gone back there won't be an easy way to leave regardless."

"Exactly."

"Then take Isaac back with you."

Mia's eyes widened a bit, though her surprise was short-lived. Her gaze fell to the table and she swirled her fingers along the parchment menu in front of her.

"I…I can't do that, Garet."

"Why not?"

"For the same reason I can't stay here with him."

Garet took a moment to figure out what she meant, though it did not take long. Isaac had mentioned it when Mia left two years ago, and even then it still hadn't made much sense.

"So you're saying that you can't take him away from Goma Plateau because he needs to protect the people of Kalay?"

"Yes."

"Hhhhh… Okay, let's just say that, hypothetically, Mt. Aleph does erupt again. Do you really think that Isaac's going to have enough time to magically warn everyone before the firestorm arrives?"

"That's not–"

"Even if he could somehow warn everyone, if a blast from Mt. Aleph really was powerful enough to reach Kalay, that means it would reach Imil too. Both places are about equal distance from there."

Mia paused again, though she did not glow blue this time. Had he managed to talk some sense into her? Though he didn't like to say out loud that Isaac's watch on Mt. Aleph was rather pointless, Garet was almost certain that everyone was aware of the futility of doing so. If anyone was in danger of an eruption, it was those who had returned to the mountains.

"There is more to it than that," she said timidly, a light blush creeping onto her cheeks. "Though…I am a bit embarrassed to speak about it."

Garet scratched at the stubble on his chin, wondering what could possibly embarrass her enough to stop her from wanting to be with Isaac.

"What?" he asked bluntly. "Have you fallen in love with some other guy?"

"H-Huh?!" She smacked her hands on the table, earning looks from the others once again. "I-I would never! I've been in love with Isaac for ten years; I could never look at another man like that!"

"Whoa, whoa, easy now," he said, gesturing her to calm down. "You're being a little…I don't know, skittish about this so I thought maybe it was something you wouldn't want to mention to anyone, especially Isaac."

"F-Fair enough," she stammered, relaxing her arms so that they rested normally on the table once again. "I will try to be more to the point, then, so that you don't accuse me of any more unthinkable claims.

"The reason I need Isaac to stay is…well, because of the dreams I have been having."

Garet sat stunned when she did not elaborate more on what she meant. This somehow sounded familiar, but at the same time it was completely absurd.

"U-Uh…your dreams…?"

"Oh, sorry, I thought Piers had spoken to you about it: that he and I have been sharing dreams. In them, we always find ourselves in…his body on the balcony in what looks like an ancient city, plotting when to make our move against the Wise One."

Garet recalled the conversation he had had with Piers nearly a year ago and how strange it had seemed. Supposedly, their minds would enter into Alex's consciousness as they slept, though he would remain unaware of their telepathic presence. Though the idea seemed troubling, even more so because it still persisted to this day, it hardly seemed worth fretting over. After all, there was no way Alex had survived the collapse of Mt. Aleph, and even if he had, he would have been in no condition to leave.

"I know it seems unreasonable," she said. "How could a strange dream like that be any more than just a dream, but it really does worry me. If it were only that, I wouldn't need to call things off with Isaac, but with everything else combined…I just don't see how we could make things work."

"Why not let Ivan or me keep an eye on the Wise One, then?" Garet suggested. "One of us could do it, or we could alternate who goes when. That way Isaac could go with you back to Imil."

Again, Mia shook her head. "If something were to happen…I doubt either of you two could hold your own against him."

"What makes you so sure that Isaac could if neither of us could?"

She paused for a moment and looked straight into his eyes. "Do you think that Isaac would lose in a duel against Alex?"

"…I don't know." This conversation had taken an odd detour, but Garet was already going along with it. "He and Felix are the only ones I feel could have fought the old Alex on equal terms. But we're talking about someone who potentially survived the collapse of a mountain and walked away from it! As strong as Isaac is, there's no way he'd be able to fight someone like that one-on-one, especially in his current condition."

"Current condition? Has something happened to him?"

Garet cringed and bit his tongue. He hadn't meant to let that slip, though it was hard to say whether or not Isaac would clean up his act in time for her to see him by tonight.

"Garet, speak to me! What's happened to Isaac?!"

"Nothing, nothing," he said, holding up his hands to calm her down for the second time today. "If you give me a chance, I'll explain it."

Mia took a deep breath and calmed herself once again, settling for a worried and impatient expression.

"He hasn't been in the best mental state since you left, but I'm sure you could have guessed that would happen," Garet explained, to which Mia nodded. "Other than just being generally depressed, he…well, he's become a bit of an alcoholic. Ivan and I haven't had the time to go checking in on him for the past few months, so when I saw him this morning, well, I sort of yelled at him to get his act together."

Mia's expression remained relatively the same as she stayed silent, leaving an uncomfortable atmosphere at the table for two. Garet wondered if it would have been better not to say anything at all. He was surprised when she suddenly glowed blue again, this time the colour remaining for a longer period of time.

"This is my fault," she practically whispered as the glow faded. "I couldn't…couldn't save him from this grief, and now I'm only going to make it worse. I…I'm a terrible person."

"Don't say stuff like that. If you really feel bad about it, don't go through with this. Take him back with you and leave the cabin duties to us."

"I'm sorry, Garet…but I can't do that."

He let out a deep sigh for what felt like the hundredth time and ran a hand through his fiery spikes. "There's really no convincing you?"

"There isn't."

"And you're absolutely sure you want to go through with this?"

"It's not that I want to…"

"Fine, I get it, but no matter what I say at this point, you're not going to change your mind. What would you have me do, then? You didn't just send me that letter because you thought I should know before everyone else."

Mia hesitated for a while, making it apparent that she did not want to say the words she was about to. Clearly she had thought this through, and though no one wanted to imagine what something like this might do to someone in Isaac's state of mind, it was impossible not to when weighing all the options.

"As his best friend, I wanted to entrust you in making sure he doesn't do anything rash," she said calmly. "I would hope that he has the resolve not to cause himself any harm or worse, but after what you've told me, I can't be sure that something won't happen."

"You think he might kill himself," Garet stated bluntly, to which Mia gasped, covered her mouth, but nodded all the same. "I won't blame you for having little faith in the guy, and I'll agree to keep an eye on him with Ivan, but I'll say it again: I don't approve of your reasoning for doing what you're about to do."

She nodded and slowly stood from her seat. "I understand. Thank you. Though I hoped this would have gone better, I'm truly grateful that you'll support us during this hard time. And…even though this was an unpleasant exchange, it really was nice to see you again, Garet. I wish I could have stopped to see Jenna, Ivan, and Samantha, but given the circumstances… It may be a long time before we get to see each other again, but I'm glad I got the chance to meet with you one last time."

He also got to his feet as she started turning on her heel. Before she opened the door to leave, however, she looked over her shoulder to say one last thing to him.

"I'll be heading to the cabin soon. I…will be spending the night with him before ending things tomorrow. My belongings are at the inn, so if you need to speak to me about anything, I will be stopping to pick my things up tomorrow."

With that final note, she stepped out the door, jangling the bell once again as she stepped out into the rain. Still standing beside the table they had been seated at, Garet slumped back into his chair and rubbed his temples with one hand. With the other, he signaled a waitress to come over to his table.

"I'll take a bottle of your strongest stuff," he grumbled to the woman. "And any advice you can give on helping a friend with a broken heart."

Well, that chapter turned out way longer than I expected. Not that that's bad since I did manage to cover all the things I wanted to, the most important being the conversation with Mia. It was left open in WiH to whether Garet knew that the breakup was coming, and I figured it would be nice to shed some light on that in here, revealing that he actually knew about it the whole time (before anyone else, I might add). Things aren't going to get much better from here, though, so don't expect too many happy turns of events.

Thanks for reading and please review!

–GengaJupite