"Volt?" asked Lloyd, bewildered by the chilly atmosphere. "You mean, like a cellar?"

"That's a vault, Lloyd," sighed Raine, "Volt is the Summon Spirit of Lightning."

Lloyd brightened. "Oh! Well, that's fine, isn't it? Since that's what we're doing, anyway."

"It's - not that easy," Sheena said, gaze fixed on the floor. "Volt isn't like Undine. He's too strong, and... I'm not sure if I can."

"Of course you can!" insisted Lloyd, "You're Sheena! Besides, we're all a team again," he went on, "We're all gonna have your back, so you don't need to worry."

"It's not that simple," Sheena replied. She was beginning to turn red - not the rosy flush of embarrassment, but the blotchy red of someone on the edge of a meltdown. Orochi half-stood, looking unsure, and Raine put a gentle hand on Sheena's shoulder. Raine looked uncomfortable and terribly out of her depth; Raine was someone who went cold under pressure, not hot, and Genis wasn't the kind of kid who needed a soft touch. "I can't just - you don't understand."

"Sheena," Raine said, trying for soothing, "there's no need to get upset, I'm sure-"

"You don't understand," Sheena repeated, breath coming quickly. Then it became too much; she wrestled her way out from under Raine's hand and through the clustered room and fumbled with the doorknob for a moment before throwing herself out into the hall. We could hear the thump of feet on steps. It had all happened very fast - I stood, knees creaking.

"She's panicking," I said, "I'll go talk to her, you lot -"

"Hang on," said Zelos, "maybe let Lloyd do it, you probably shouldn't be wandering around out there."

"Do what?" Lloyd asked, frustrated, "why is Sheena-?"

"I'm afraid Sheena has faced Volt once before," said Orochi, somber. "Many of our people were lost in the attempt, and Sheena still blames herself."

"It's a pretty famous incident," admitted Zelos.

"So that's why -" Genis began, but didn't finish the thought. We all knew how anxious Sheena had been in the lead-up to Undine. It was a reasonable fear all on its own, but the context made it much worse.

"Many were surprised at the news she had successfully formed a pact with Undine," Kuchinawa volunteered.

"Some in the village still blame her for it," Orochi agreed. "It is why she has so often taken missions that would keep her out of Mizuho. I'm sorry; I didn't know she still felt so strongly about it."

"She's been worrying about that by herself this whole time?" Lloyd asked, more to the room at large than to anyone in particular.

"Well, either you go," I said, annoyed, "or I will."

"Lloyd and I can go together," decided Colette, taking Lloyd's hand, "we'll make sure she's okay."

"Uh, yeah," Lloyd agreed, allowing Colette to tow him out of the room.

"...I'm sorry," said Raine, after the door had swung shut again, "that was more dramatic than I expected."

I sighed.

What had she imagined? It was a small room to begin with, crowded with people, and they'd put Sheena on the spot. Lloyd hadn't known it was a sensitive topic - how could he have known? But then Sheena had probably downplayed her anxiety about it right up until the plan became official - that wasn't Raine's fault, and it wasn't even Orochi's. And now I was worked up because it was hard to see Sheena in pain.

"They'll be all right," I decided, "Lloyd and Colette are good with her."

"If that's all," said Kuchinawa, "I should be leaving."

Orochi stood. "One moment. I'll be traveling with you, but first we need to settle the matter of transportation. The Isle of Lightning is far north across the Storm Sea. Mizuho no longer has any vessels capable of making the journey, even with Undine's assistance. You will either have to travel up the coast and make the trip across the island strait, or find passage out of Sybak. I'm sorry we can't be of more help."

Raine got to her feet. "You've already done more than we expected. Thank you again, for everything." I glanced between them, recalling that Orochi had probably been hanging out here with her and Sheena and Genis for a few days now. I was a little jealous.

"It was my pleasure," returned Orochi.

"Stop making that face," Raine scolded me, after they'd gone. "This is hardly the time."

I deflated, all the tension flooding out of me at once. It was just so good to have everyone together again. We were going to be okay. I flopped down onto the bunk between her and Genis, turned so I could make doe eyes at her. "So mean," I whined, puffing out my cheeks and sticking out my lower lip, "and we only just met up again!"

She nudged me with her leg so that I wobbled backwards into Genis, who shoved me off, annoyed.

"You're heavy," he complained, but he was grinning. "Where's Presea?"

I slid onto the floor, and Genis prodded me with his foot. "She went back to her house, I think. We can go check on her after the others get back."

Raine nodded to herself. "We need to resupply, too. Genis and I have more or less been sequestered here since we arrived. It's not a very hospitable village," she added.

"Yeah, we noticed," I agreed.

"Speaking of which," said Zelos, "we probably shouldn't stay here too long. People respect Mizuhoans around here, but I'm not sure what the vibe's gonna be now that they skipped town."

"Why are you still here, anyway?" asked Genis, surprisingly sour.

"Watch it, brat," Zelos said, scowling over at him, "In case you weren't listening, I'm wanted for treason 'cause of you guys. You should be thanking me!"

"Chill out, you two," I said, "you're ruining my mood."

"At any rate," said Raine, ignoring them, "I'd personally like to go to Sybak. I'm tired of charging ahead with so little information; we know roughly where the Temples are located, but we need information on Cruxis, and on Yggdrasill. If we proceed as we are right now we risk an eternal cycle of reacting to new threats - I won't have us stumbling blindly into another situation like the Tower."

"The Renegades didn't offer up more info?" I asked, and then shook my head. Of course they hadn't. "Well, great."

"I get where you're coming from," said Zelos, sprawling into the chair Orochi had vacated, "but I gotta remind you guys about the whole 'treason' thing. Sybak's an imperial city - they're gonna have it guarded. I can probably get you guys in, but I dunno how much research you'll be able to do with the Papal Knights sticking their noses in everything."

"We'll have to deal with them one way or another," countered Raine. "They know we haven't crossed back to the western continent, and there are only so many roads you could have taken from Sybak."

Zelos sighed. "Yeahhh, they're probably gonna come after us, but I'd rather not make it easy for 'em."

"Can't you do something about it?" asked Genis, "I mean, you're the Chosen."

"Chosen and traitor to the throne," Zelos rolled his eyes. "I never said I wouldn't help, I'm just saying it's not gonna be easy."

"I don't get it," I sighed, "the Renegades have to have resources, right? Why not help out?"

Raine frowned. "It's a fair question. It seems to me that they're fighting a battle on many fronts, and that we're not necessarily a priority. If they are fighting Cruxis, than it may be integral to their survival to minimize contact with us. On that note..." She paused, drumming her fingers on the bedpost, "Don't you think it's strange that Cruxis has allowed us to get this far? If they have a line of communication with the Church, then they would already know that we survived. I'm surprised we haven't encountered... resistance," she said, rather than name names.

"Maybe the Papal Knights following us to Sybak was the resistance," I suggested. "If I was Mithos, I'd want to deal with the whole 'Chosen rebelled and ran away' thing as discreetly as possible. Besides," I went on, "I think the Tower is the point they'd be using to go back and forth, because the other one is a Renegade transport, so their mobility might be limited."

"That's another thing," agreed Raine, "I wish we knew how they were traveling. If Yggdrasill and his angels are truly omnipotent, then they would have been able to follow us when the Renegades intervened." She paused. "If they were truly omnipotent, the Renegades would have long since been eliminated. Or they serve some other purpose to Cruxis that we don't yet know."

I shook my head. "No, I don't think it's that twisty. Yuan-" I paused. Had I told her that he was one of the Four Seraphim? I couldn't remember, and I didn't want to get into the specifics in front of Zelos and Genis. I shrugged. "I think they're limited somehow. It might just be a question of maintaining their image and authority," I conceded, "but it might be an attitude thing. Think about how long Mithos has been around," I said, waving a hand. "This probably doesn't seem like a big deal to Cruxis. I doubt it's the first hiccup they've had, and it's definitely not the first time they've had to dispose of a Chosen."

Raine nodded, thoughtful. "Then they may not react with full force unless they consider us a dire threat. That's good."

I was really, really grateful that Raine was in on the grift now, because playing dumb in the face of all of this would have been incredibly painful.

"Another thing," I said, clasping my hands around my knees, "Yuan said that both him and Cruxis can track Colette by her mana signature, which means they can probably track Zelos, too. Have we got any idea how they'd be doing that? Is there any way to prevent it?"

"Hm. I have no idea," Raine admitted. "It may be a kind of divinatory spell, but it might also be some kind of magitechnology." She sighed. "It would be nice to have a question I am able to answer from time to time."

"Hang on," said Zelos, "I might know something about that." I raised my eyebrows at him. "Geez, don't look so surprised. I am the Chosen. A couple years back I helped out with this mana signature study at Sybak. They took blood samples and everything - if anyone knows about stuff like that..."

Raine beamed. "Then we should return to Sybak. I'm glad you agree."

Zelos folded his arms. "It's not like I enjoy the idea of Cruxis knowing where I am either, y'know."

"I wish we didn't have to go back through the Forest," I admitted.

Zelos was thoughtful for a moment.

"Y'know, word about us might not have gotten out this far yet. We might be able to hitch a ride on a merchant vessel heading back that way."

Raine made a face. "I'd prefer not to travel by boat, but if it's faster and safer, then it's certainly the better option."

"Worth trying," I agreed.

The door creaked open; Colette entered, leading Lloyd and a puffy-eyed Sheena behind her.

"Um," Sheena said, "sorry about all that."

I got up, arms open in the overture to a hug. Sheena gave me a back-breaking squeeze.

"You don't have to apologize," I said, when she'd let me go. "We don't get to choose what hurts us."

"Yeah," she agreed, voice thick.

"Don't worry, Sheena," insisted Genis, "We won't let you down, no matter what!"

"Thanks," she grinned, "I know you won't. I won't let you down, either."

"Aw, that's so sweet," said Zelos, "now how about a hug for your old pal Zel- oww!"

"You're not my pal," protested Sheena, "don't ruin the moment!"

I patted him on the shoulder, trying not to laugh. Zelos had a face for slapstick, and it was hard to feel too bad for him when he used that voice. "I'm sure you can catch up later," I said, soothingly, "when everyone's calmed down a bit."

"I am calm," argued Sheena.

"Sheena's always angry," sighed Zelos, "it's one of her more attractive traits."

"Um, maybe we should go find Presea?" suggested Colette, in an attempt at peacemaking. "We didn't even get a chance to say goodbye!"

Genis nodded, hopping off the bunk, "Y-yeah, that's a great idea!"

"You'd think we were the only adults," Raine sighed at me, as if she didn't complain about me being childish nearly all the time. I grinned. "Let's go before it gets late. Do you know where she went?"

Ozette wasn't big; Presea's house was hard to find, even if it made the rest of the town look positively urban.

It was nearly fifteen minutes down the mountain, sequestered by black firs and half-surrounded by a ruined stone wall. The lawn, if you could call it that, was overgrown with scrubby trees and wildflowers and tall weeds; the only route to the front porch was a line of trampled yellow grass.

The house was large - clearly a family home - but it was falling apart. Or rather, it had fallen apart; the right half of the roof had buckled, and the porch had collapsed, subsumed by plant life. The windows were grimy and opaque, some panes broken and boarded, shutters hanging or broken. The supports were overgrown with ivy and pitted with old hornet nests, and the glassed-in lantern over the gate was entirely black with soot. A tiny outhouse was hidden by the gate, nearly enveloped by the trees.

An animal carcass - a large rabbit? - was rotting on the stoop, and the rain barrel was overflowing with scummy green-grey water. The yard was full of trash - rusted tools, soggy old planks, bones, rags, broken bottles - even freshly rotting food.

"Presea lives here?" asked Genis, face screwed up against the smell.

"It doesn't seem very safe," said Colette, fingers twisting together.

I glanced sidelong at Raine. "Lloyd talked to some researchers in Sybak - Presea is some kind of guinea pig for making Cruxis Crystals. I'm not sure that she's..." all there, I didn't say.

"We promised we'd help," Lloyd said, scowling, "I didn't know it was going to be this bad, though."

We gathered on the ruined porch. There was no doubt Presea was inside - her axe leaned against the doorframe, and we could hear her moving around inside. Lloyd knocked; the door swung open, unlocked and unlatched.

Presea stood at the far end of the room at a potbellied stove; putrid smoke seeped along the ceiling, and something viscous boiled in a large cast-iron pan. A plate of rotten potatoes was pooled with black ichor, and a string of moldering sausages hung from the rafters alongside a wreath of shriveled onions and a bundle of slimy, blackened carrots.

There were only two rooms - this one, which seemed to be both kitchen and workshop, and the second, smaller room, a bedpost just visible through the open doorway.

Presea didn't seem to notice us; she was busy, scraping rancid butter onto hard bread and arranging cracked plates on a wooden tray.

Then a smell wafted over me - not rot, not decay, but a musky, floral smell - a cologne? - and for a moment I thought I was going to die.

It was entirely irrational, and no one else seemed to notice, but the smell - barely a note in the symphony of putrefaction - struck me through like a freezing bolt, icing over my insides and making my heart spasm. Adrenaline flooded me, and I began to sweat; my hands were shaking, and I couldn't breathe. And then, when nothing happened - when nothing had attacked me, when I was still standing - the feeling passed. I stared around at the others, but they were dealing with a different kind of horror - no one else had felt it. It was only me.

I felt wrung-out, exhausted, and it was only as I looked around at the filth and dust that I remembered why we were here.

Presea took the tray of rotten food - greasy silverware beside a grimy glass of brown water - into the next room. Raine followed, and there was an awful noise.

"It's..." She covered her mouth. "What is this?"

The thing in the bed was hardly more than a skeleton. The sheets were thin and motheaten, oily and brown with what remained of the remaining tissue. There was other evidence of Presea's ministrations - linen bandages on bare bone and empty tonic bottles on the bedside table. Presea sat on a crumbling wooden stool, spooning brown-grey glop into what remained of a mouth.

"How could this happen?" Sheena asked, voice choked.

"How long has she..." Lloyd trailed off. "Is this the Exsphere?"

Raine turned away, hand passing over her face. "Most likely. I can't be certain, but..."

"P-presea," Genis edged forward. I couldn't help but think how brave it was, to approach Presea as she sat beside the corpse of her father, scraping soup from the broken bowl. His knees were shaking, and his face was grey, but he put a hand on her shoulder, pleading. "Presea, you'll come with us, right?"

Presea didn't look up.

"I must do my job."

"She doesn't know what's going on," Raine said. "She probably doesn't understand what's happened."

"We can't just leave her here," Lloyd burst out. "This is awful!"

"I don't think we'll be able to make her leave," said Raine, "not without force."

"Didn't Kate mention some Dwarf?" Zelos said. "Altessa, right? He was part of the experiment in the first place. If anyone can help..."

"Can we talk about this outside?" I suggested. "I think I'm gonna throw up."

Raine nodded gratefully, and we reconvened by the stoop.

The air outside, however foul, was stark relief compared to the stale stench inside the house. I sat on the stone stoop, head between my legs, while Raine interrogated Lloyd and Zelos about what had happened in Sybak.

"A Dwarf was involved in all this?"

Lloyd nodded. "The researchers at Sybak said they were trying to make artificial Cruxis Crystals, and Presea was one of the hosts. She's got some kind of special Key Crest. I didn't wanna mess with it," he added, "not if she ended up like Clara or my mom. Kate said that Altessa left the project and took pretty much all the information with him."

"Hm. We did want to have a Dwarf inspect Colette's Cruxis Crystal," Raine mused. "I suppose it's worth asking. Is there anything you could do for her in the meantime?"

Lloyd winced. "...Not really. Sorry."

Raine shook her head. "It's not your job to worry about it. Alright. Let's head back to Ozette for today. We still need to resupply, and hopefully some of the locals will know where Altessa lives."

"Can we really just leave her here?" asked Genis.

"She's survived here this long," I said, climbing to my feet. "We'll help her out, okay?" I pulled him into my side, half to steady myself and half to comfort him. He nodded, looking at the ground. "Come on. I need a bath."

Anything to get rid of that smell.

We didn't hang around.

I slept badly, woken up briefly by a bad dream I couldn't remember, and rose in the morning with a pounding headache. Everyone else had already gone - I was rarely the last one up, if ever, and I felt vaguely ill.

"Here," said Zelos, pushing a mug into my hands, "You look awful."

I squinted down at the cup. "Coffee," I said, in dim recognition.

"That's the stuff," he agreed. "The girl at the desk was pretty friendly, once she got talking. She even put milk and sugar in that one." He grinned, dropping down into the chair near the bedside table and taking a long sip from his own chipped cup. He didn't look so good, either, once I looked over. His eyes were bruised purple with lack of sleep, his skin dull and too pale, his hair a little limp. I doubted anyone had slept well after yesterday.

"You're the best," I said, eyes drifting shut. The coffee was milky and very sweet - the only kind I could stomach. I thought about asking how he'd guessed - but it was probably just coincidence.

"Anyway, sleepyhead, the others are out doing the shopping," he told me, lounging on the stiff wooden chair as if it were a throne, "so we're gonna be leaving in a while. Turns out this Altessa guy is just down the mountain."

"Neat."

We lapsed into comfortable silence.

I began to feel slightly more human - or half-elf, if you were being pedantic - and after some time, my brain started to work again. I blinked, and put down my empty cup. Zelos was leaning back in his chair, a book propped open on his lap.

"What are you reading?" I asked, padding around in my sheets for my hair tie. It'd fallen out during the night, which meant my hair had probably dried funny. Oh well.

"Dunno," Zelos said, "but there's a lot of bodice-ripping."

"Love a good bodice-ripper," I said, knotting back the top bit of my hair and letting the rest of it go wherever - plenty of it was still damp. "How are the bosoms? Heaving?"

"With anticipation, you might say," Zelos said, glancing over. "You about ready to go?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, one minute." I pulled on my boots, and gave the bunk a once-over, just in case I'd shed something else mid-nightmare. I hadn't; I chucked my bag over my shoulder and gave Zelos a tired grin. "So, the bosoms are heaving, the bodices are ripping - tell me about the loins - quivering? I gotta know about these loins."

Raine and Genis were waiting in the front room - what could generously be called the hotel lobby.

"You're finally up," Raine observed, "are you all right?"

I must have looked bad if Raine was asking. "I'm okay, just tired." On cue, I yawned into my hand. "Zelos said the guy is actually pretty close?"

Raine nodded. "The southern gate is by Presea's house." She frowned. "The word around town is that Altessa is quite reclusive and misanthropic. He sometimes hires couriers to bring supplies down the mountain, but nobody has much of anything to say about him. Given the local attitude towards outsiders, it may be simple xenophobia, but..."

"We'd best be on good behavior?" I guessed.

Raine nodded.

"I've been wondering," she said, as the four of us gathered our things and set off from the inn and down into the village, "why it is that Colette returned when she did. If she had come back to herself when Lloyd attached the Key Crest, I might have understood, but why the forest?"

I hadn't had a chance to talk one-on-one with Raine since meeting up again, which was a bit of a problem - I needed to talk to her about Colette, and not just because of the Key Crest. The sooner Raine knew about the crystal thing the better.

"I think for the same reason Cruxis sends the Desians after the Chosen. The development of the Cruxis Crystal is about stress, right? So maybe it took extreme stress or danger for the Key Crest to 'engage' with the Cruxis Crystal?" I shrugged. "I dunno, to be honest. There was definitely something spooky going on in that forest," I went on, "but only Presea and I seemed to be affected. And it eased up a lot after Colette 'woke up', so to speak."

Raine frowned. "It's too bad we weren't able to get more information from the Asgard base. Kvar's research... whatever he was trying to do with Lloyd's Exsphere is probably similar to what's happening with Presea and Colette. 'Angelus Project' is fairly telling, once you consider angels as no more than augmented half-elves."

I nodded. "Right. Huh. I wonder if they're related. Not just in terms of an end-goal," I said, waving a hand, "but in terms of... I mean, was Kvar sharing information with Sybak? I'd think so, but all the Grand Cardinals seemed... badly informed. He said," I screwed up my face, trying to recall Kvar's monologuing, "he said it was supposed to be a gift for Yggdrasill. Which..."

"Implies he wasn't aware of the Cruxis Crystal's true nature," Raine agreed.

"And it's not like Cruxis has trouble making angels," I went on, "So either Kvar and Sybak are doing their own thing with limited information, or they really are doing something different from what Cruxis already has going on. New and improved angels?"

Raine straightened. "The 'Age of Lifeless Beings'," she recalled, "Yuan said that was Yggdrasill's 'next step'. So either Kvar and the others are pawns - or being allowed to spin their wheels while Yggdrasill concentrates on some separate initiative."

"'Lifeless beings'?" repeated Zelos, making a face. "The guy wants to turn everyone into Exspheres?"

"Not literally, I don't think," sighed Raine, "but near enough."

"Very much 'people aren't playing in my sandbox the way I want, so I'm going to nuke the sandbox'," I observed.

"Nuke?" asked Genis.

"Blow up," I clarified.

Genis made a quiet, dissatisfied noise. "I don't get it. If Mithos is a half-elf, why are half-elves suffering so much here?" He made an aborted gesture - the village wasn't crowded right now, and it was still light out, but there was still the overhanging sense of menace. "Like what you said about Sybak. That's awful."

"Well, squirt," said Zelos, "if you get down to it, there's just two species that matter, and that's the powerful and the powerless."

I glanced over at him. "That's a pretty accurate analysis, actually."

"Like in Meltokio," Zelos continued, "plenty of humans are living in the slums and suffering. It doesn't make half-elves better off, or anything," he said, a hand raised in innocent defense, "but you get a place like Meltokio and you end up with some people in mansions and some people in shacks. It's just how it is."

"Divide and conquer," I agreed. "I bet a poor half-elf is worse off than a poor human, but that means you'll never get them uniting against unfair conditions. The people on top are putting in extra sub-strata to keep people fighting one another. Like it or not, it's the same thing Mithos is doing with the Regeneration cycles - keeping people down so they can't upset his status quo. It's nasty," I conceded, "but it functions."

"That doesn't make it okay," Genis argued.

"It doesn't make it okay," I agreed, "that's why we're doing what we're doing, right?"

"That's pretty optimistic," Zelos said. "You think in four thousand years - or whatever - that no one's tried to stop the guy?"

I shrugged. "They probably have. But they haven't been us."

Genis rallied. "Yeah, they haven't been us!"

"If you say so," Zelos shrugged. "I'm just saying, there's no sense in getting upset about stuff that's probably not gonna change."

"Easy for you to say," Genis glared at him, "You get to do whatever you want."

"And yet," I said, trying to keep the peace, "he's here, with us. So let's keep it civil, okay?"

Genis grumbled; Zelos gave me a strange look.

"There they are," said Raine, raising a hand in acknowledgment. Sheena, Lloyd and Colette were hiking up the path, burdened by the morning's shopping. We stopped to redistribute supplies, and to get a handle on what exactly we were doing next.

"The people around here really don't like Presea, or that you guys came into town with her" Sheena said, handing me a bundle of tallow soap and fresh rags as Lloyd and Zelos argued over who ought to carry the fifty-something pounds of barley rice, "They're not usually this bad, but the woman at the butcher's charged me double what she should have. I tried to haggle, but..." Sheena flushed, and Raine nodded. Sheena wasn't cut out for that kind of confrontation.

"It's all right," Raine said. "With any luck we'll be able to resupply again on the western road, or in Sybak."

"Safer to do it on the road," Zelos suggested. "Towns out here are less likely to rat us out to the Church."

Genis groaned. "Are we ever not gonna be wanted criminals?"

"Goodness, I hope not," I said.

Altessa's home was a four-hour hike down the mountainside and towards the coast. The path, if you could call it that, was uneven and overgrown, meandering and inconsistent. Much of it was over packed earth, but some was over cracked stone that crumbled underfoot. There was the occasional patch of rutted dirt to suggest a wheelbarrow or a cart had been pulled through, but no one had gone this way recently, and it was certainly not a regular route.

It was hot out, cloudless and uncomfortably sunny. The fir trees receded and gave way to tough, scrubby yellow grass; someone had bored away part of the mountainside to reveal a niche of golden sandstone. In that hollow was set a door and several deep, round windows.

There was a small garden, and beside that a pyramid of earthenware jugs. Posts marked out a kind of courtyard, and between some hung lights, and between others, washing lines, laundry billowing gently in the warm breeze. Set further back was a well, and to the far right of the courtyard there was a huge stone oven, occupied for the moment by a dozen bundles of dry branches, protruding from the opening like a hundred oversized brown cigarettes. Yellow-green moss grew up the walls and towards the treeline, and strands of ivy sprouted shriveling seed-pods.

The swept stone had a nostalgic smell to it, although I couldn't be sure why, and I tried to remember Altessa from the game - he had been a bit of a stick in the mud, hadn't he?

"Huh," said Lloyd, slowing. "This is kind of like where my dad used to live."

Raine glanced at him. "Really? It doesn't resemble the cottage."

Lloyd shrugged. "He built the cottage after he took me in."

"I hope Altessa is as nice as Dirk," said Colette, around with great interest.

The front door was huge, wrought from a single stone slab and engraved with precise geometric ornamentation - simple, but very pretty. There was an iron doorknocker, and Lloyd took the initiative; the sound bounced off the rock, heavy and hollow, and we waited.

The door opened.

"WHO IS IT?"

It was the blocky, inflectionless sound of a speech synthesizer; each word laid out as if it was being plucked from a shelf and slotted into place. There was a very slight lisp - disconcerting in what was obviously an artificial voice.

"Um," Lloyd looked back at me, eyes wide. Colette and Sheena did, too, bewildered. Lloyd turned back to the door. "Um. We've heard that there's a dwarf living here... uh..." He glanced back at me again, wrong-footed. "Is... there any chance we could see him?"

The girl in the door was both my doppelganger and a complete stranger.

She had the same face, the same eyes, the same build - but she was also a very young woman, at least five years my junior, and there was an uncanny perfection to her. Her skin was entirely smooth and even, without scars, blemishes or blotchiness, her posture upright, her eyes bright and clear. I had been perpetually tired, even at sixteen; this girl was fresh-faced and beautiful in a way I would never be.

My body went very cold.

"YOU DESIRE A MEETING WITH MASTER ALTESSA. PLEASE COME INSIDE."

Colette and I looked vaguely alike - that wasn't so strange. We were both pale, fair-haired, with turned-up noses and full cheeks, but this was different.

"Uh, okay," said Lloyd.

The girl disappeared. We unfroze; I staggered forward into the cool dimness of Altessa's home, gaze unfocused.

"So," said Zelos, breaking the silence, "you got a secret little sister, or something?"

I raised a hand to my throat. I remembered this girl from the game - an automaton, the thing that eventually became Martel the Summon Spirit. That couldn't be right.

"She really looked like you," said Sheena, "I thought - I dunno."

"But... she was human," Genis pointed out. "She had rounded ears."

"I mean," said Lloyd, searching for an explanation, "they do say everyone has a doppelganger somewhere. Like Colette and that fake Chosen!"

"That's not the same," Raine scolded, "And even so..."

I couldn't quite breathe.

"Uh, crap," muttered Zelos, leaning down to look at my face. "Are you okay?"

"Who are you people?"

We turned. Altessa had been summoned, and now he stood in the door of the cluttered workroom, eyes darting from one face to the next.

He wasn't actually that short - maybe five feet - but he was broad and barrel-chested, his hands like baseball mitts and hanging nearly to his knees. He was elderly, by the look of his ash-grey beard and bald head, but he was deeply tan and thickly muscled, his forearm thicker than my thigh. His face looked as if it had been crushed backwards into his skull, and his eyes were almost entirely hidden beneath a heavy, hairy brow. His nose was bulbous and lopsided, and he wore a deep blue-green robe with golden cuffs.

"My name is Lloyd," Lloyd volunteered, "We've come in regards to Presea. We heard about you from Kate in Sybak."

"Lloyd, something's wrong," Raine said, "Edie?"

"You," cried Altessa. "I want it gone, I will have none of Rodyle's abominations here! Leave!"

"What?" Lloyd looked back and forth between Altessa, who had turned away, and Raine, Zelos and I - I was breathing again, but I still felt much too cold. My fingers were nerveless and my hands were shaking.

"I don't want anything more to do with that girl, and I want that thing gone! Get out of here!"

"I can't believe you-" Lloyd began, but the girl was already shepherding us back out into the entryway, and Sheena was tugging Lloyd along, not looking for a fight. "What was that all about?" Lloyd demanded, rounding on the girl, furious and confused.

"I APOLOGIZE," she said, "THE MASTER DOES NOT WANT TO GET INVOLVED WITH PRESEA."

"Why?" asked Genis, in much the same state as Lloyd, "He doesn't care if she dies?"

"IT IS NOT THAT," she replied. "IT IS BECAUSE THE MASTER REGRETS WHAT HE HAS DONE." She glanced at me, and then away - a move that nearly looked involuntary.

"Then please, ask him to save Presea!" insisted Colette, "All she needs is for her Key Crest to be fixed!"

"I DO NOT KNOW IF THAT WOULD TRULY BE IN HER BEST INTEREST."

"Why?" asked Lloyd, bewildered. "How could anything be worse than living in that cruel condition and waiting to die?"

"IF YOU ARE THAT COMMITTED," the girl replied, "THEN YOU SHOULD SEARCH FOR INHIBITOR ORE."

Lloyd blinked. "Presea's Key Crest isn't made out of inhibitor ore?"

"CORRECT. HER CREST IS-"

There came a clattering smash from the next room, and a thump, like wood on stone.

"Tabatha," Altessa bellowed down the hall, "What are you doing? Get rid of them!"

Tabatha turned in the direction of Altessa's voice, and then back to Lloyd. "I APOLOGIZE," she repeated, "I MUST RETURN. PLEASE COME BACK AGAIN," she went on, "I WILL ATTEMPT TO PERSUADE HIM." And then she turned to me. "I AM SORRY FOR THE MASTER'S BEHAVIOR. I HOPE YOU WILL FORGIVE HIM."

"Forgive him for what?" asked Lloyd, but Tabatha didn't speak again, and Sheena finally dragged Lloyd outside behind the others. I stumbled along beside Raine, the sun too hot on my bare skin. "Forgive him for what?" Lloyd repeated, glaring back at the door. "What was all that about? Why did he call Edie-"

"I'm gonna throw up," I announced, and bent over the nearest length of fence to do so. Zelos recoiled.

"Did you know him?" asked Genis. "Why was he so-"

"Just - I need a minute," I said, leaning over the beam a moment longer before bursting into motion - vaulting over the fence - and the sick - and into the grass, willing my feet to carry me away from here and towards somewhere that made sense. I needed to be alone - or perhaps I needed not to have seen Tabatha. My mouth tasted of bile. Abomination? I could hear someone calling out after me, but I couldn't bear to face them right now, not when I couldn't even think.

Rodyle had been that skeezy half-elf - the one who kidnapped Colette. What did he have to do with anything? What did he have to do with me?

You had to come from somewhere, said a treacherous little voice in the back of my head. You saw that plaster cast. And you don't remember everything.

Raine had asked how I dealt with it - and I dealt with it by not thinking about it. I couldn't - there was no way to make it make sense, to sand the edges off and fit it inside the soft mess of my mind. It was all wrong, and strange.

This was my body. I was me. I remembered being me. I remembered my family - I remembered my friends, my mom, my dad, my sisters - but that wasn't right, either, because I had been trying not to realize it for months now, but I couldn't not think about it a moment longer, and it was just too awful: I couldn't remember their names.

Or, maybe, that there were no names to remember in the first place.

I fell into a crouch, head between my knees and arms canopied above me. I took slow, deliberate breaths, fingernails sharp against the nape of my neck. I remembered my mom's laugh. I remember my dad's model trains. I remembered the house on the lake and I remembered fireflies swimming in the dark.

And I thought, None of this is real. So does it matter if that's real?

I wasn't sure.

It happened. You remember it.

But had it?

'Real' is a lie told to you by your body. You remember. That's real.

Because - it was, wasn't it? It didn't matter if it was fuzzy, or fake, or if I was in an insane asylum somewhere, because I was right here, crouching in the long grass, the sun burning the back of my neck and my boots squeaking in the dirt. I had told Raine - I had told her, how it didn't matter, because there was nothing to be gained from wondering - that didn't mean it only applied in one direction. I was still me.

I was still me.

I dug my fingers into the earth, dry soil giving way to cold loam. I was here.

Despite everything, I thought, It's still you.

I rolled backwards, landing on my pack and flopping over sideways. I could smell the rubbery sour smell of fermenting soil, and the sweetness of summer lilac, and taste acid bile. I was here. I pushed myself up - I had made myself invisible, but I could feel the heat and wind and the scrape of air past my teeth, and I felt real again. I stood - I had gone a long way, Altessa's house obscured by a cluster of pale aspens.

"Edie?"

"Hi there," I said, scaring the daylights out of everyone except Colette, and feeling only a little sorry. They hadn't strayed far from the path, and it was easy to find them. It might have been more polite to make myself visible before I joined them, but I could be forgiven bad manners on a day like that.

"Edie!" Raine looked half-panicked, half-annoyed.

"Sorry about that," I went on, brushing dirt from my cuffs, "I just needed some time alone, sorry for worrying you."

"Are you okay?" asked Sheena, face twisted up in concern and confusion. "You just-"

"Like I said," I waved a hand, expansive, "Just needed a minute. They say you shouldn't have coffee on an empty stomach," I added, propping my fists on my hips. "So that's a lesson for all of us. Anyway, where were we? Inhibitor ore? What's that?"

"Edie-" began Lloyd, but Zelos interrupted him, settling an arm around my shoulder and waving a dismissive hand.

"Come on, Lloyd, like you haven't had stomach trouble? I'm sure it's fine."

"Exercise is always a good way to get the body back on track," I continued, a mite desperately. "Anyway, ore."

"Ore," Zelos echoed.

"Let it be, Lloyd," Raine said, resting a hand on his arm. "It's not our business."

"But-"

"Let it go," Raine repeated.

The silence stretched on, long and horribly awkward.

"So," Sheena intervened, probably because she'd also had a recent embarrassing breakdown, "uh, inhibitor ore?"

Raine waited until we made camp to corner me, which at least gave it the dignity of privacy.

"What was that?"

I sighed, abandoning the whetstone and leaning forward, my elbows propped on my knees. "It was a very brief and very intense existential crisis. I said sorry."

"I'm not asking because I'm upset with you," Raine said, although the tone was chastising. "I'm asking because I'm concerned. What was that girl?"

"I think she's, like, a robot," I groaned. "I don't know."

"And do you have any idea why you look like her? Or why she looks like you, I suppose."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I didn't want to say it out loud.

"I think she was supposed to be a vessel for Martel. She's modeled after her."

Raine stilled.

"After Martel?"

I nodded.

"...You and Colette do look somewhat alike," she said. "Sheena pointed it out before, and I confess I didn't see it, but..."

"Altessa said 'abomination'," I recalled. "I wonder if... If I..." I swallowed. "If this body was made for Martel, too. But - it doesn't make sense. I still look like myself. I even - I even still have this scar on my chin," I pointed. "I crashed right into a curb, it was really embarrassing. And - Raine. At Sybak, there was a bin with a plaster death mask in it of my face."

"What? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because it's insane!" I burst out, "Of course it's insane," I whispered, because that had been very loud. "Look, it's... I took art class in school, right? They make you draw self-portraits and stuff, and I know this is my face. Cameras are super common where I come from. I took so many selfies - you know what, I don't want to explain it, but I know that's my face. My face."

Raine was quiet for a while.

"You know, the memory is quite malleable. It might be-"

"That my memories are changing to suit reality?" I guessed. "It makes the most sense. I don't know how a body would deal with... with any of this. How the brain would deal with it. I wish I was a neurologist or something. And maybe - maybe everything I remember is just a dream, or something, and I was born in a test tube, but..."

"But?"

"But fuck it, Raine. I know that it was real, even if it was just real to me." I was crying, I realized - Raine took my hand, and squeezed it. "Even if it's just my imagination, it was real."

"Yes, I think it was," Raine said, surprising me. "Consider everything you know about this world. Precognition isn't entirely an impossibility, but why such limited information? And those stories you tell Colette, and all your songs. It's possible you invented them out of whole cloth, but I'm not sure you did."

I stared at her. "Y-yeah."

"I'm not saying it makes sense," she allowed, "but think of what we've witnessed. Is it so absurd that this reality might coexist alongside another? You said it yourself," she continued, "There is infinite possibility, and infinite time and space for possibility to become real."

I wiped at my face.

"That's pretty irrational, coming from you," I said, thickly. "I mean. How stupid is this?"

Raine was serious. "You may have expected Cruxis," she said, "but this is my world, Edie. How do you think I felt, that day in the Tower? To know without a doubt that our world is built on a lie? It's very self-centered of you to imagine that I am not capable of imagining what's happened to you." She squeezed my hand again. "I'm not saying I understand, entirely, but I am certainly capable of empathizing."

I dropped my head on her shoulder, sighing.

"Why are you always right?"

"I'm not sure," Raine said, wry. "Occupational hazard, I suppose."

"I - thank you," I said. "I didn't realize I needed someone else to say it."

"Do you know," Raine said, in an absentminded kind of way, "I think you're the first person in a long time I've considered a friend rather than a responsibility."

I glanced over. "Yeah?"

"Yes."

"Same, honestly," I admitted. "Sorry. I wish..." I waved a hand lamely. "I wish I made more sense."

"Not at all," Raine sniffed, "I think I appreciate the thought experiment."

I laughed. "You would, wouldn't you?"

"Somehow I think you'd feel the same, in my position."

I beamed. "You're much smarter than I am. You'd have figured yourself out by now."

"I don't think intelligence comes into it."

"You're supposed to say, 'actually, Edie, you're just as smart as I am.'"

"I don't make a habit of lying."

"Why, you little scamp!"

"Don't make me-"

"Hey, keep it down over there," called Zelos, faux-scolding. "If you're gonna fight, at least put on something revealing first - gaah!"

Raine had really, really good aim, and her boot wasn't even particularly aerodynamic.

The only inhibitor ore any of us had heard of was in Toize Valley - the same place they mined Exspheres. That introduced a familiar problem: we didn't have a way to get there.

"It really does come back to mobility," Raine sighed. "We'll have to hope we can find passage out of Sybak."

Zelos was right; news of our supposed treason hadn't reached the area yet, and we were able to book passage out of one of the portside villages - it was hardly more than a crossroads, but they had a dock and a shabby little inn, and that was enough. The riverboat arrived a full two days later, so that there was plenty of time for us to sweat it out. There wasn't any way of getting news down here, and nothing we could do but wait.

At least we had the opportunity to throw Sheena a belated birthday party.

"You guys didn't have to," Sheena demurred, embarrassed. We crowded into one inn room, because the only other place with a table was the downstairs bar, which was permanently occupied by a very nasty old drunk and his unfriendly dog. We could have camped out, but Zelos refused to rough it when there were beds available, and it wasn't so bad. The worst accommodations here were equal to your average Sylvarant bed-and-breakfast, so I didn't mind.

"Of course we did," said Raine. "Happy birthday."

"Sorry I didn't wrap it," Lloyd said, rubbing anxiously at the back of his neck. "I kind of forgot."

Lloyd had made her a lovely hairpin out of scrap stone from Sybak - it looked a little like jade, or some other opaque gemstone, and it was very pretty.

Sheena unfolded my gift from a bit of old handkerchief. "Oh!" She grinned up at me, "I saw these in Asgard! Thank you, Edie!"

"It matches your robe," Colette admired, "That's so cute! I've always wanted a coin purse."

"I'll keep it in mind for your birthday," I smiled - already thinking that it would have to be sky-blue. Or dog-patterned.

Genis' was a charm - in line with what we'd all given him for his birthday - but with a little something extra.

The heart of it was a tiny wooden sphere, dark and polished, cocooned inside a net of red string and clay beads. "Twist the bead on the end," he said, looking smug. Sheena did - and gasped in amazement as the entire thing lit up soft and golden. It wasn't yellow light, either, but the perfect, warmest gold - the sun at magic hour. It shed light like a lantern, dense and smooth and reassuring, and Sheena turned it over in her hands, casting long shadows on the walls. And then she twisted the bead, and it went dark.

"Wow, Genis," Sheena said, "How'd you even do this?"

Genis had the grace to look embarrassed, but he was still obviously pleased with himself. "I've been messing around with enchantments for a while. Edie gave me the idea, actually."

I looked at him with wide eyes. "You said you didn't know about enchanting!"

"I've been studying," he said, turning pink, "I mean, there's plenty to read about it. You don't have to be so surprised."

That reminded me. "Lloyd, did you ever finish that thing I asked for?" I waggled my eyebrows.

Lloyd squirmed. "Uhhh."

"You forgot," I guessed. "Well, you should work on it. I paid you and everything!"

"You paid Lloyd to make something?" asked Genis, "I hope you got a receipt."

"Shut up!"

"Anyway," I said, "I'm glad we were able to celebrate at least a little."

"Hey, don't you have a present for Sheena?" Genis wheedled at Zelos.

"Hey, I'm paying for these rooms, aren't I?" Zelos replied, arms folded. "Anyway, how am I supposed to know Sheena's birthday?"

"I don't want a present from you anyway," Sheena replied, "it'd probably be something gross."

"Aren't you guys friends?" asked Lloyd.

Sheena snorted.

"That hurts," Zelos whined, "we've known each other since we were kids!"

"That doesn't make us friends."

"Zelos was really worried about you, though," Genis blurted. "When he thought-"

"Oy, shut up, brat-"

"Well, you were!-"

"GUYS," I said, hands up in a gesture of peace, "You're ruining the birthday vibes. We can all pretend not to care about each other later." The boys settled a little. Sheena was blushing. "Anyway, if you think about it, we've all been together for half a year now! Well, not including Zelos, but isn't that wild? Almost seven months!"

"Has it really been that long?" asked Raine, sounding tired. "I suppose soon enough it'll be Colette's birthday."

Lloyd brightened. "Oh yeah!" He grinned at Colette. "You'll be seventeen!"

"We should do something special," Genis agreed. "Not that your birthday isn't special," he hurried to say to Sheena, "It's just..."

Sheena shook her head. "No, I get it. It's a pretty big deal." She grinned. "We'll have a real party. Surely you can help out with that, at least," she prodded Zelos.

"Sure, sure," Zelos waved his hands, "It's not like I have other stuff going on, y'know."

"I'm sorry, Zelos," Colette worried at a lock of hair, "you got dragged into all of this, and now-"

"I was joking," Zelos rushed to assure her, "Just joking. Like I said, we Chosen have to stick together, right?" He folded his arms. "I throw awesome parties, don't you worry. You guys never got to see my mansion, did you?"

"You have a mansion?" marveled Lloyd.

"Of course he does," Sheena rolled her eyes.

"That'll be a lot of fun!" Colette clapped her hands. "I've never had a birthday party before!"

"...Anyway," I said, steamrollering over the inherent tragedy of that statement, "isn't Lloyd's birthday in August or something? That's gotta be coming up."

"August 2nd," said Genis, grinning. "Last year Noishe knocked over his cake and got it all over the house, and Dirk made Lloyd mop up," he remembered fondly.

"It wasn't even my fault," Lloyd sulked.

"That's like a week away," I complained, "I don't have anything ready."

"Lloyd doesn't need gifts," sighed Raine, "I'm sure it's fine."

"Hey, shouldn't I decide that?" whined Lloyd.

"I'll think of something," I said, "We'll be in Sybak before then, right?"

"Provided we don't get jumped by the Papal Knights, yeah," Zelos agreed. "I have some friends in Sybak, so once we're in it shouldn't be a problem. Still, though, don't make a scene like last time, huh, Miss Mysterious?"

I swatted at his arm. "I made a scene?"

He grinned.

"Speaking of nicknames," Zelos said, "I've got 'em for you and Miss Angel and Little One and these two," he jerked a finger at the boys. "And obviously Sheena is a Shrieking Violent Banshee - ow - but what about Raine? I was thinking," he spread his fingers as if picturing some far-off wonder, "Gorgeous Ultra Cool Beauty. How's that sound?"

I gave two thumbs up - Raine kicked me.

"I don't want to be called something like that!"

"Hm. How about Her Highness?" Zelos suggested.

"Her Majesty," I added.

"Edie, stop encouraging him."

"I guess 'The Professor' is pretty good," Zelos allowed. "The bewitching female teacher."

"Edie."

"All I did was nod," I complained, rubbing my shin.

The journey by boat took about three days. We were the only passengers aside from some middle-aged tourist and his dog, and the riverboat was a lot larger than Max's little ship, so it was miles more comfortable than the trip to Palmacosta. Raine spent the entire journey lying down in the cabin with a damp cloth over her eyes, but that couldn't be helped.

Colette, of course, was delighted about the dog, and when Colette was happy, everyone was happy. Or at least moderately content.

The riverboat went south of Ozette and then hooked north around Gaoracchia, only dipping south again to rattle into harbor in the fens around Sybak. The harbor was busy and huge - massive freighters chugging along beside fishing vessels, tugboats, merchant ships and luxurious ocean-liners. We disembarked along with the older man and his dog, and then we were in Sybak again, yet to be accosted by Papal Knights.

"Well, that went better than expected," Zelos said, but he sounded suspicious. "Don't you have any clothes that don't scream 'backwoods madman'?"

"My clothes are fine," Lloyd argued. "You stand out more, anyway."

That was true. People recognized Zelos.

"It's okay," Zelos said, gazing coldly out over the crowd. "I don't think they'd have expected us to come back here, and the University knows what side their bread's buttered on. They won't arrest me here again, at least not in public. People like me too much," he turned a bright smile on Lloyd. "Anyway, I'm starving. Let's worry about all that boring stuff later."

"I'd rather be boring than in jail," complained Genis.

We ran into a small snag.

The University had decided Zelos was more trouble than he was worth, and no amount of wheedling, begging, bribery or outright threats of violence would get us past the front gates. That ended up okay, because the University had more than one gate, and plenty of people who were more receptive to our methods than the faculty. And that was how Raine, Sheena and I ended up 'in disguise' as three lovely young co-eds of Zelos' acquaintance.

"The uniforms fit, at least," Raine sighed, "although I wish they wouldn't shorten their skirts. It's hardly conducive to a learning environment."

"Don't be a spoil-sport, Professor," Zelos grinned, "Don't you know university life is all about romance?"

Zelos' entire 'disguise' consisted of a pair of narrow spectacles.

The library was crowded, but no one was paying us any attention. It wasn't even that they were careful not to pay us attention - everyone seemed run off their feet with work or study, and half the students barely looked awake. "Graduate program applications," Zelos explained, when Raine asked. "I know, right? Who'd want to subject themselves to an extra six years of this place? But people sure seem eager."

"I wanted to go to grad school," I said absently, "Didn't work out, though."

"Really? I had you down as a pretty-but-brainless type," Zelos teased.

"Focus," Raine scolded, "we're not here for fun."

We were looking for - well, a lot of things.

We didn't have a lot of time in Sybak. We were probably pushing our luck by returning at all, but Raine would have gnawed her own leg off before she passed up this opportunity. There was just so much we didn't know, and so many questions we didn't have answers for. The library was three stories, not counting the basement and the periodicals section, and we were only four people. There was work to do.

Sheena, Zelos and I did the legwork, pulling down every book we could find on Exspheres, Key Crests, Cruxis, Martel - really anything even vaguely related to our situation that had been bound and printed. The trouble was that half our fields of inquiry basically fell under philosophy and metaphysics, rather than anything actually useful. It helped that I had a rough idea of what I was looking for - but it was really, really rough.

"Do you know what it's called?" Raine asked, when Sheena and Zelos were elsewhere. "That would certainly help."

I shrugged. "Chronic-something-something Inofficium? I dunno, I'm sorry. But I know you have to get a mana herb or something-"

"Mana leaf herb?" Raine looked up in interest. "That's supposed to be extinct."

"Well, it isn't," I said, "and -" I paused. "A mana fragment, I think. We have to go to Derris-Kharlan for that."

"Derris-Kharlan."

"It's like... a planet or something? Wa... Waluigi?"

"Welgaia?"

"Sure."

"The Holy City," Raine sighed. "You do realize you're talking about Heaven."

"Yeah, well," I said, defensive, "the Tower is like a space elevator or something. And it's not like we can go right now, anyway."

Raine passed a hand over her face. "Was there anything else?"

I thought hard. "Uh. I know there's definitely three ingredients plus your Unicorn power, but I don't remember what the last one is. Sorry."

Raine shook her head. "It's something to go on. And Origin?"

"He's in elf-town, or whatever," I scowled, "But we can't deal with him until we have all the other pacts."

"Yuan said Kratos maintains the seal."

"Yeah. Lloyd will... have to fight him, I think."

"Lloyd will?"

I paused. Lloyd had to, in order to inherit the right of the pact, and to use the Eternal Sword. Except... I'd suspected Kratos was training me up just for that purpose. But that wasn't right - Lloyd had split the power of the Eternal Sword into the fire-and-ice things, or something, and he'd only succeeded because of his Exsphere, right? Because I remembered the part of the ending where he sprouted wings, and I couldn't do that.

"Probably," I said, frowning. "I dunno. But it's for later down the line. We have enough to deal with as it is."

Raine nodded soberly. "I suppose there's no sense in getting ahead of ourselves. Still, Welgaia... And right now we're struggling to find a boat that will take us to Volt."

"Yeah," I agreed, weakly. "Look, when we're down here in the library... All that stuff seems kind of impossible, doesn't it? But we fought an angel." I sighed. "Sometimes - I dunno, it seems like that happened to someone else."

"I know the feeling," Raine agreed. "Remember when Kratos threw Lloyd into the pond? I thought you were going to die laughing."

"I remember." I sunk down beside her. "Ugh. I can't believe... It's almost been a year. Isn't that insane?"

"It's... bizarre," conceded Raine. Then she shook her head. "But reminiscing isn't going to help us right now. All of that might be in the future," she allowed, "but people are still suffering in Sylvarant. Presea is still in Ozette. Half-elves..." she trailed off, and shook her head again. "I need to get back to work. There's a paper mentioned here," she pivoted, turning a page toward me, "Can you see if this is in the card index? It'd be useful to cross-reference."

I saluted. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"You're lucky these aren't my pens, or I'd have hit you," she said. "Get going."

"You're back!" cheered Genis. "I wish we could have come along."

"They went to a library," Lloyd said, "that's like, punishment."

We were holed up for the evening in a vacant apartment, left empty for the summer by some distant acquaintance of Zelos', and about a hundred times too spacious for one student to take up all by himself. Colette had swept off the furniture, and the boys had pushed two tables together in the kitchen to make a space big enough for all of us. Tomorrow, we'd be getting on some old fishing boat and making for the Isle of Lightning - but tonight, we deserved a party.

"How was it?" Genis asked.

"I wish we'd have had more time," Raine sighed. "I think after the Temple of Lightning, we should head for Toize Valley. Zelos was right about that, at least. Unfortunately, the mine's not open, and I'm not even sure who we could contact to enter legally. It was shut down some time ago, and the company that owns it is no longer operating in the Valley."

"Well," Zelos said, "Shut down is basically abandoned. Which basically means it's free reign, right?"

"You want to break in?" asked Sheena, scandalized. She was the one lugging around the big cardboard box, and her temper was running thin.

"We're already wanted criminals," he reminded her. "Breaking and entering doesn't look that bad next to treason!"

"Anyway, it's for Presea," Colette said soothingly, "so it's all right, right?"

"Right," Sheena allowed.

"At any rate," Raine interrupted, "there may be a dual purpose." She swung her bag around sideways, and produced a sheaf of papers with suspiciously regular print. I looked on in amazement. "Lloyd, would you be able to reproduce this design, if given the right materials? I'm not an expert, but it looks simpler than what you've done with mine and Colette's key crests."

"Did you tear that out of a book?" I asked, voice going embarrassingly squeaky.

"We're already wanted criminals," Raine echoed, "And I didn't tear them. I had my sewing scissors."

"Uh, yeah," Lloyd said, still focused on the diagrams, "this is made with inhibitor ore? What's it do?"

Raine smiled. "It's a kind of shielding charm. If you can make one each for Zelos and Colette, then Cruxis may not be able to track their signatures. It's not foolproof," she admitted, "but the theory is sound, and if Cruxis' technology even slightly resembles the prototypes at Sybak-"

"This is amazing, Professor!" said Colette, starry-eyed.

"I have cake," Sheena blurted, and then went red. "Well, it's heavy!" She hefted the box up onto the table. "I know that's all important, but we promised we were going to actually celebrate! And the cake's kind of mine too, you know."

Raine smiled. "You're right, I'm sorry. Genis, can you find a candle? We should do this properly."

"Hey, no," Lloyd protested, "no singing."

"There's a birthday song?" I perked up. No one had mentioned that before.

"It's traditional," Colette told me, beaming, "at least, Dirk says it is! He taught us. But you have to have a cake with candles, and Raine wouldn't let us sing for hers."

"Just shut up and enjoy it," Zelos told Lloyd, "I didn't spend money on a present just for you to be a stick in the mud."

"You didn't spend money on a present," Sheena said.

"I did," Zelos pouted, hefting his bag on one shoulder to dig out something I'd mistaken for a book. It was a large, thin package, wrapped in maroon paper. There was even a little golden ribbon stuck on the front. "See? Ribbon and everything!"

"When did you have time to do that?" Sheena demanded. "We were working all day!"

"I happen to know how to delegate," Zelos said. "And I have something for you, Miss Bossy." He handed her a smaller box, this one wrapped in deep blue.

"Wh-why?"

"I missed your birthday," Zelos shrugged. "Nothing weird about that."

"I picked something up as well," said Raine, amused. "Sit down, Lloyd, you may as well get it over with."

"But I'm eighteen-"

"All the more reason to celebrate."

Sheena dimmed the lights. Lloyd sat at the head of the assembly of tables, red in the face and low in his chair while Colette and Genis stood to either side, grinning widely. Raine slid the cake, platter and all, into place before Lloyd, and Genis lit the lone candle, which was already half-used-up. It burned bright in the dark of the apartment, and Genis and Colette took big, theatrical breaths.

"Oh my goodness, oh my gosh, what is that I hear?

I turn around and here we are! It's been another year!

Did you have fun, and were you good? Are you taller, wiser?

Well, hip, hurray! Your friends are here to cheer you and advise you:

The strongest thing of all is love! The nearest next is steel;

So be smart, be bold, be just and good, keep on an even keel!

So be grateful for these friends of yours, who sing for you today,

Togetherness is best of all, and that's the Dwarvish way!"

Lloyd, blushing terribly, blew out the candles. Then Genis smashed his face into the cake.

It was a good party.

A/N: ;w; thank u everyone who has kept reading thru the brief hiatus. please dont ever worry about me abandoning this story, because its my horrible little baby. anyway, i love you