They made their way slowly through the Thunder Plains, pausing every now and then to rest in between lightening bolts. When they reached Macalania Woods, Leilani was relieved and Rikku danced with joy.
"No time to stop, now," said Auron.
"Where should we rest?" Yuna asked.
"It's not late enough to be thinking about that," said Wakka.
"How can you tell?" asked Leilani. The forest was so strange… the trees themselves seemed to be made of gems, and no sunlight came through… It was cold and sterile there, she wasn't sure she liked it. Auron looked up towards the tree tops.
"We'll at least exit the forest," he said. "Rest at Rin's on the edge of the Lake."
"I'm hungry," said Rikku.
"Me too," chimed in Tidus.
"It wouldn't be a bad idea to see if there is something to eat here," Lulu finished.
"Fine," Auron almost snapped. He sat down on a nearby boulder.
"Well, uh, is there food here?" Leilani asked.
"Underground," Lulu said. "There are fruits buried at the roots of the trees. They have thick shells, but once you cut through them, they're quite good."
"Alright… Uh… I guess I'll dig."
Leilani walked towards a nearby tree and knelt down at the roots, pawing in the tough dirt. There were little chips of gems in the soil, and she hurt her fingers. Tidus came over with his sword and helped chop the ground up. After 15 minutes, they still had not found fruit in the area, and ventured away a bit to try other trees. Tidus thrust his sword down into the soil, only to hit something hard.
"What the…?"
Leilani bent down and dug to see what he had hit. There were several tough, round fruits that reminded her of coconuts, but blue and purple. There were also a shining series of symbols that resembled the Earth Crest. She picked it up and looked at it.
"What is it?" she asked Tidus.
"Looks like a Sigil," he said.
They paused for a minute, admiring it.
"Hey, you know what this means?" he shouted, suddenly excited.
"What?"
"We can finally upgrade your weapon!"
"Um, okay," she said, putting the Sigil in her pocket, "How do we do that?"
"C'mon, I'll show you!"
He grabbed her by the wrist and led her up a starry, flowing path until they reached a large, round crystal brimming with light and energy.
"What do I do?" she asked.
"Bring up your weapon, Crest and Sigil."
She did as he told her, Tidus flashed what looked like a small mirror, and suddenly her whip shone brilliantly, the Earth Crest and Earth Sigil seeming to meld into the weapon. When she received it back, it was lighter, but more powerful, somehow. Terragaia was inscribed on the hilt. They walked back to the encampment, picking up the hard fruits on the way. When they arrived, Leilani was still examining her weapon. Auron frowned deeply when he saw it.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I'm not sure," said Leilani. "Tidus said it's upgraded."
"Be careful," he said. "You're not sure what it can do, yet."
"Pssht, it just seems a little stronger. I'm sure there's no harm done."
"Hmph."
"Hey, try it out!" yelled Tidus.
"Yeah" piped Rikku.
"Not yet," barked Auron, but Leilani ignored him and cracked the whip. It was longer than it was before, however, and the point slammed into the earth. As soon as it did, the ground shook violently and the group was brought to its knees. It was a few seconds before they stood again.
"What did I just…" began Auron, but his lecture was drowned out in the flood of cheers coming from the rest of the group.
"Wow, that was an Earth spell!" said Wakka, grinning in amazement.
"Earth spell?" Leilani was confused.
"There are elements to magic," explained Lulu. "Most Mages are only proficient in the basic four – Water, Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder. Anything to do with Air and Earth elements are hard to come by… very hard."
Leilani looked down at her changed weapon.
"Awesome," she whispered.
"But it could be dangerous," warned Auron, finally getting his two cents in.
"Ya, Auron's right," said Wakka, sticking with his hero. "Best we not experiment until we know more about it."
"Let me look!" yelled Rikku. "I'm an expert."
She leapt forward and examined the weapon thoroughly.
"Stronger and longer, obviously, but… Earth element based… First Strike… Double Overdrive charge… Can't tell much more than that, but… Your weapon rocks!"
"Cool," Leilani said, wrapping it back around her waist.
"So, getting back to dinner…" Rikku started.
Auron suddenly brought his sword down on the blue fruits repeatedly, slicing them effortlessly in two. Everyone grabbed a half except for Auron and Leilani. She looked at the purple fruits.
"Why not them?" she asked.
"They aren't ripe and could poison you," said Lulu through a mouthful of blue produce.
Leilani shrugged and knelt forward for her half on the ground. When she straightened, Auron was sitting back on his rock, looking off into the distance. He didn't have any. She sat down on the ground next to the boulder and offered the fruit up to him. He merely looked at her. She took a bite, and sweet, granular juice filled her mouth. It was like chewing on sugary water. She brought it back up to him.
"I don't want…" he began, but trailed off and took a bite of the fruit.
They passed it back and forth until it was done and the rest of the group was ready. While they were still concentrating on gathering their belongings back up, Leilani snuck a kiss on Auron's left cheek, leaving blue lip-marks that neither of them noticed. It wasn't until the rest of the group stared in amusement that they noticed something was amiss. Leilani turned and looked in guilt and horror at his cheek. She didn't dare clean it off, but gestured to her own face with a wiping gesture. He ran his hand over the spot, smearing it at first, then gave it a second pass to be sure.
"Just juice," he said.
"Suuuuuure Old Man," said Tidus, but Yuna smacked his arm.
"It was lip marks," tried Rikku, but Yuna smacked her, too.
"Ouch!"
"Shh!"
"There's nothing…" Auron tried, but Tidus snickered.
Auron frowned and Tidus pointed to his face. Auron gave the spot one more swipe, finally eradicating the last of the stain on his cheek. Everyone giggled. Leilani put her hands on her hips and glared at them.
"Grow up," she said, furious, trying to put to rest everyone's suspicions.
They turned around and kept walking towards Rin's near Lake Macalania.