"Boats," sighed Raine.

"You've been very tolerant," I said, patting her on the shoulder. "Just imagine - soon it'll be Rheairds and gravy."

"Gravy?"

"Gravy."

"I'm worried about Sheena," she admitted in an undertone.

It was early yet - the sky was grey and cold, and the sea air was fresh and invigorating. Steely water battered the edge of the concrete wharf, studded with barnacles, and seabirds screamed over the whirring engines. Colette and Genis sat together some distance away, feet dangling over the edge, and Sheena was sprawled out beside them, head pillowed on her bag. The harbor was busy, even now, and I was tired.

"Yeah," I agreed, "I don't think she slept last night."

"At least we know in advance about the language barrier," Raine sighed, "but... Undine was difficult as it was, and water, though I loathe to admit it, is less immediately fatal than lightning. You nearly cracked your skull open," she recalled, "and Lloyd had a few very nasty wounds. I wish we had more time to prepare, but it was a question of time. I wonder if I made the right choice."

"You've done what you can do," I said, "No use borrowing trouble."

A horn bleated, long and tinny.

"Hey, guys!"

Lloyd was at the helm; Zelos was hanging onto a rail by the cabin, waving a formless yellow hat. The boat was grimy and careworn; the motor rumbled and spluttered at the rear, the few seats were scuffed and torn, the deck was strewn with fishing miscellany, and the cabin was just large enough to fit the seven of us, if we packed in like sardines. It had been christened Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow. I had never seen Lloyd look so happy in all the time I'd known him.

"I'm steering a ship!" he informed us, as Zelos tied off the boat and hopped onto the pier. "A real ship!"

"It's... seaworthy?" asked Raine, looking green.

"That's what the fella said," Zelos grinned. "Don't worry, I've been on boats."

"What a relief."

"We have Undine," I said soothingly, "She won't let us capsize."

"Whuhh?" Sheena stirred at the mention of Undine, blinking in the hazy light. "Oh. Huh."

"It'll be okay," Genis assured his sister. "If we get stranded, I know who we can eat first!"

"Hey," said Zelos, on principle.

"Lloyd knows how to fish," volunteered Colette, "Don't you, Lloyd?"

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah! We've got poles and nets and everything!" He grinned. "So we can leave eating Zelos as a last resort."

"Hey."

"Can we not joke about eating people?" Sheena begged, shouldering her pack and peering at the boat. "Ugh."

There was a group effort to help Raine board, although Raine participated very little beyond not attacking us. Once she was safely ensconced beneath a blanket in the cabin, there was a last check. Everyone was present and correct, if you counted 'groaning under the bedroll' for Raine, we had supplies - not counting the fishing gear, compass and nautical maps - and, remarkably, no one had left anything in the apartment, so there was nothing left to do but set sail. Or whatever you called it, sans sails.

"Anyway," I said, as Zelos unmoored us, "cannibalism is a pretty bad survival strategy. If you're deprived enough to be actually starving, your body doesn't have the equipment to process the vital nutrients, especially if the other person is starving, too. Stupid, really, when you get right down to it."

From the cabin, Raine groaned.

"Hello, sailor," I greeted, settling beside Zelos. It wasn't like it was a big ship, or that there were many seats. Genis was sleeping on the other two, and I was sick of sitting on the ground. "What's new with you?"

Zelos had his hair tied back in deference to the wind; he was sunburnt, even with the overcast weather, and didn't look pleased about it. We would all be worse for wear by the time we reached the island, but fair-skinned, red-haired Zelos was having the worst of it. Magical healing was all well and good, but Zelos' skills didn't tend towards the cosmetic, and Raine refused to 'waste her energy' on him, although she'd forked over some gels for the pain. Sunburns hurt.

"Oh, you know," Zelos said, waving his book at the world in general. "Ocean. Wind. Horrible searing pain. I thought I saw a whale earlier, but it turned out to be a rock. How about you?"

I shrugged. "The fishing's good. I've never gone fishing with a net before, so that's fun. Sheena's teaching me to play a Mizuho card game with pictures. Uhh, what else. Oh! Raine says we're only another day and a half out, if the weather holds, so that's good news."

"Oh, hurray," Zelos grumbled. "And when did she say this?"

"In the ten-minute break she took from groaning and throwing up," I said. "Don't be too hard on her, she really, really hates being on boats."

"It's fine," Zelos shrugged, and winced. "I'm kind of turning around on them, to be honest. Not so much fun when you don't have a plush cabin and a four-course breakfast."

I squinted at him. "There's not really something like a four-course breakfast, is there?"

"Of course there is," Zelos said. "Next time we're in Meltokio, I'll take you to brunch at the Swan's Little Parade in the Castle District. They do a six-course meal. With drinks. Swear on my life."

"Okay, but brunch doesn't count," I argued, "Brunch is just bourgeoise luncheon."

"Okay, fine, then no one does a four-course breakfast," Zelos relented. "They keep it to three, max."

"Are you counting coffee as a course?" I asked shrewdly.

"Of course not," he replied, all faux-offense, "I'm not a savage."

"I wish we weren't rushing around all the time," I admitted, "I've been all these places and barely seen 'em. Except for Asgard," I allowed. "Last time we went it was May Day, and Kratos-" I cut myself off. "Anyway."

"...Hey," said Zelos, half-turning, "Why is everyone still so..." He waggled a hand. "...About that guy? He sounds pretty crummy to begin with. And I heard what he did to you," he pointed at a spot over my heart. "Why do you all still talk about him like..."

I shrugged. "I mean..." I began. "You have to understand that we were all basically together twenty-four-seven. Kratos... He was a dick, but he was still a solid dude. Guy. Whatever. It's hard to be with someone that long and trust them with your life and not... care about them."

"Seemed pretty easy for him," Zelos said, mulish.

"I'm not sure that's true," I replied. "He definitely could have killed us, but he just... didn't."

"So he's a good guy for only possibly fatally maiming you?" Zelos asked, scowling.

I shrugged again. "Part of me still hopes he's on our side. I can't help it."

Zelos sighed. "Well, whatever. If I ever meet this guy, it's not gonna be pretty."

I smiled. "Didn't know you were so worried about our motley crew."

Zelos shot me a look. "I'm still here, aren't I?" He shook his head, leaning back against the bench. "Guys like that just piss me off. Anyway, pretty easy to see how bad he messed up those kids," he jerked his chin towards Colette and Genis. "That's low, and I'm saying that."

I tweaked his ear. "Stop putting yourself down. You said it yourself - you're still here. Maybe it hasn't been very long, but you're still part of the team. I know I wouldn't have gotten through the Forest left alone with Lloyd and Presea, that's for sure. You think we'd have made it this far without you?" I tapped a foot on the deck. "I mean, who the hell even knows how to rent a boat?"

Zelos went funny for a moment.

"It really is flattering," he said, clasping a hand over his heart, "but I'm not sure if I feel the same."

I rolled my eyes. "You're such a dweeb."

"Excuse me?"

"Seriously, it's like a non-stop pity party with you guys. What you gotta do," I went on, "Is have a massive, overinflated and unshakable ego, like me and Lloyd. Fix you right up."

Zelos laughed.

"Is being stupid a requirement?"

"Hey," I said, grinning, "It's not required, but boy does it help. Now. Is this a new book?"

"'Borrowed' it from the library, yeah," Zelos allowed, "But I think it might go over your head. There aren't any pictures, even."

"You'll just have to read aloud, then," I said, slumping back with my arms folded, my eyes closed against the sun. "Paint me a word picture."

"I'm the Chosen, y'know."

"Come on, man, I'm dying here."

Zelos snorted, and started to read.

"O Captain, My Captain!"

Lloyd grinned. "Hey! Isn't this great?"

I sunk down beside the helm, wind just skimming the top of my head.

"It's swell," I joked. "You know, like the ocean swells. Or wind swells."

"Oh. Sure!"

"You look like you're having fun."

Lloyd turned back to watch the sea speed by. "Yeah. I mean, I just feel like I could go anywhere. I want a boat like this someday. Well," he conceded, "maybe the kind that has a little house in it, y'know? With a bed and stuff."

I nodded. "That'd be pretty fun."

Lloyd smiled. "You wanna give steering a go?"

"Uh, I'm good, thanks."

The world rushed by; beneath us, the sea stirred, cold and wild. The warmth of the sun never seemed to warm the spray or the fine mist that hung in the air like low clouds. I closed my eyes, salt stinging my face, and drifted to the sound of the ocean splitting before us and the rumble of the engine underfoot. Somewhere far away, a pair of seagulls were having a conversation. I lolled sideways - my head struck the side of the boat and I blinked up at Lloyd.

"You okay?" he asked, caught between laughter and concern.

"I'm good," I agreed. "Boats, man. They're the best."

"Aren't they?" Lloyd beamed.

"Boats," I mumbled, already feeling sleepy again.

"Oh! Before I forget," he took one hand off the wheel to fish around in his pocket. "I finished this last night while we were moored," he said, passing it over to me. "Genis helped me test it. Does it... look okay?" He gave me an anxious glance. I shook my head, beaming up at him.

"It's perfect," I said, tucking it in my pocket.

"What are you two up to?"

Genis slapped the book shut, he and Colette a picture of frantic guilt.

"Nothing!" said Genis.

"Studying!" insisted Colette, at the same time.

"Studying nothing," Genis resolved, flushing.

"Okayyyy," I said, squinting at one of them, and then the other. "Nothing is a big concept."

"It's - it isn't anything bad!" Colette said, flapping her hands. "We were just-" Genis nudged her.

"We were thinking of things to name the boat," Genis decided, deftly returning the little book to his rucksack and waving his hands. "Boats are supposed to have names, right?"

"Isn't it Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow?" I asked, feeling bad for them but unable to resist.

"Y-yes," Colette agreed hurriedly, picking up the thread, "but Professor Raine doesn't like alcohol-" I thought, amused, about Raine, tipsy, on the night of her birthday - "so we thought it should have a different name. And it's not a very nice name, anyway."

"Ah," I agreed, "so, what are the candidates?"

Colette looked urgently at Genis, who floundered for a moment.

"Uh, well, you're supposed to name boats after girls, right? So maybe the - the Reliable Raine?" he suggested.

"Hmmm," I stroked my chin. "I dunno if Raine would like having a boat named after her. Seems a little mean."

"Th-then maybe," Colette fluttered, "Seaworthy Sheena?"

"I like it," I agreed, "Always love a good alliteration."

"Or even," said Genis, getting caught up in his own cleverness, "the Erstwhile Edie!"

"That's a good one, too!" I sighed. "Well, naming a boat is a big deal," I said, pushing myself up out of a crouch and grinning down at them, "So you guys had probably best workshop things a little more, until you're sure." I reached down and mussed Genis' hair. "You kids have fun."

I was polite enough to wait until I was out of the cabin to start laughing.

"So," I said, sliding down to sit on the deck beside Sheena and Corrine, "How's it going?"

"I'm nervous," Sheena blurted, and then backtracked. "I mean. If we make land tonight... we'll get to the Temple tomorrow. I'm just... I don't know if I can do it."

"It doesn't matter if you don't," I shrugged, leaning my shoulder against hers. "We're not gonna let you fail. We're gonna be there. Even if you faint or throw up or pee your-" she socked me in the shoulder, and I grinned sideways at her. "It's gonna be okay, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. We're the dream team, baby."

"Ugh," she said, but she was smiling. "You're terrible."

"I know," I agreed, beaming. "Speaking of being super great, I have a gift for Corrine. I know it's not your birthday," I allowed, "But I hope you like it."

"A gift for me?" he asked, perking up on Sheena's lap. "What is it?"

I produced the amethyst charm Lloyd had carved for me. It was a pretty big bead - maybe as wide around as a quarter - but it was a patchwork of runes and arcane geometric patterns I couldn't hope to understand. It had a dim internal glow - a soft, pale lavender, barely there except in the right light - and it was warm to the touch, even after a morning in my bag. Corrine crept towards it, black eyes shining purple.

"It's a charm of lightning resistance," I said, feeling that the phrase lacked style. "Kvar had these two huge amethysts powering his sprite things way back at the Asgard Ranch," I explained. "After I found out about enchanting, I commissioned Lloyd to make this outta one of them. It's not much," I hedged, beginning to feel embarrassed at the lack of a response, "but I thought it'd give you peace of mind if Corrine - urk!"

Sheena squeezed tighter, if that were possible, and I gave her a tentative pat on the back. Corrine, trapped between us, whined in protest.

"Sorry," Sheena said, letting go at last. "Sorry," she directed at Corrine. "I just-"

"I know," Corrine said, and while his eyes were entirely black they gave the impression of rolling in their sockets. "This is great," he told me, "I don't get gifts often."

I grinned down at him. "I dunno why. You're my favorite Summon Spirit, that's for sure."

Sheena was already undoing the collar around Corrine's neck, so that she could knot the bead in beside Corrine's bell. Corrine looked very proud of himself, for a football-sized fox spirit, and admittedly the amethyst looked very fetching against his golden coat. Sheena's hair whipped in the wind, knotted up in its usual wild ponytail, and I realized that she and Corrine wore matching ribbons - pink, in her hair and in his tails.

"It's so funny you had this," Sheena said, gaze oddly wistful as she adjusted the collar back around Corrine's neck. "Zelos gave me this charm for my birthday." She drew from beneath her neck of her robe a thin golden chain; on the end was an amethyst pendant, engraved with faintly luminous sigils. "I thought he was being stupid, but... it's enchanted to protect against lightning, too." She looked thoughtfully at it. "I guess... I'm pretty lucky."

"We're pretty lucky," corrected Corrine.

"Yeah," Sheena agreed, smiling down at him. "We're pretty lucky."

"What's that expression for?" asked Zelos, justifiably cautious.

"You stole my thunder," I accused him ,"You... thunder-stealer."

"Uh... sorry?"

"You should be." I pouted harder. "Thunder-stealer."

We made landfall in the early morning, when the world was grey and freezing.

It was colder, this far north. I doubted we'd have docked safely without Undine's help - we'd have just been another boat dashed on the rocks. I couldn't see through the fog, but Lloyd pressed forward, Sheena at his elbow and Undine somewhere in the water below. We drifted in alongside an ancient oak pier, spotted with lichen, and Zelos and I waded through the seaweed to tie the boat off nearer shore.

"This is it," said Sheena, at once determined and defeated.

"The air feels weird," Genis observed, stepping off the boat and flexing his feet on the dock.

"Professor, do you need help?" Lloyd asked, keys to the ignition jangling at his hip as he leaned into the cabin, all concern. "Uh, you look kind of green."

"I'm fine," came Raine's voice. It was several minutes before the woman herself emerged. She climbed onto the dock with Lloyd's assistance and stumbled towards solid ground, where she lowered herself, slowly and gratefully, into a sitting position. "I just need a moment," she said, daring us to say anything.

"Wow, it's really foggy," said Colette, waving a hand through the air. "I can barely see!"

She sounded delighted.

"Have we got everything?" asked Sheena. "If... everything goes okay, we can just leave on the Rheairds right away, so we might not come back."

Lloyd turned, gobsmacked. "What? We can't leave the boat!"

"That was the plan, bud," Zelos said gently. "There'll be other boats, I promise."

"But..."

"Lloyd," said Raine, voice flat, "I am not getting back on that boat, or any boat. Ever."

Lloyd sagged. "Okaaaaay."

"...Maybe we could put the boat in a wing pack?" Colette suggested. Lloyd brightened.

"Hey, no," Zelos scolded, "We only have so many to start with, and Rheairds are made to go in wing packs. Your janky boat definitely isn't."

"It's not janky!" Lloyd whined.

"Zelos is probably right," I said, consoling. "I don't know much about how they work, but something tells me you'd end up with... well, a lot of broken boat."

"But... my boat..."

"You can always come back for it later," Genis reasoned. "You are gonna have a Rheaird. You can fly out here and drive the boat back to land."

Lloyd brightened for a second time, hope returned. "Oh, yeah! You're right!"

Zelos rolled his eyes behind Lloyd's back.

Lloyd had a heartfelt farewell with the as-yet-to-be-renamed Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow. Colette rubbed his back. Raine eventually got to her feet, and sighed, looking much better for a few minutes on dry land, and peered out into the mist. "It shouldn't be too far north from here. Come on," she said, as if we hadn't all been waiting around for her to get her bearings, "Let's go."

The Temple of Lightning was a little over a mile inland. It was a pillar of mossy stone, tall as any skyscraper, and had no door, only a gaping archway overgrown with dangling ivy. The passageway beyond the arch was dark stone, a purple so deep that it was almost black. The feeling of an oncoming storm - the tension in the air, the strange heaviness, the feeling of energy not yet discharged - had only intensified the nearer we came to the Temple. Here, at the mouth, it felt like a force field.

"Huh. There's no oracle stone or anything," Lloyd observed, staring up at the lip of the enormous stone archway. "There's not even a front door."

"This is the flourishing world," Raine agreed, looking pleased with Lloyd for noticing. "It probably isn't functioning as a seal right now."

"We can just go in?" Lloyd asked, uncertain.

"Well, we're not gonna get an invitation," Zelos pointed out.

The world beyond the threshold was different.

I'd suspected, before, that the temples were extradimensional in the same way as the Tower of Salvation; here, it was impossible to deny. The archway opened onto a long stone walkway, wide as a city street, but to either side the world fell away into shimmering purple nothing. I leaned over the balustrade, fascinated. There were supports, yes, of the same dark stone, but they faded, as if obscured by invisible clouds.

"Hey, be careful," Zelos said, "You could fall over."

"This is cool," I said, straightening up. "Raine, I think this is its own place, like the Tower of Salvation."

Raine nodded. "I think you're right. Fascinating."

"Theory," I said, "Did you ever notice that the altars in the other temples look really out of place?"

Raine blinked. "...Now that you mention it, they didn't seem part of the original design, no."

"What if," I posited, "these temples, or whatever - they predate Mithos? And he just added the altars later as a kind of prop? Or even an anchor. I wonder if he's bound the Summon Spirits there somehow. Maybe..." I looked up at what should have been the sky - or even a ceiling - but was instead nothing at all, "Maybe the power of the Summon Spirits make these places? Or this is like a portal into their domain?"

"It's an interesting hypothesis," Raine allowed, tapping her chin. "But outside of conjecture..."

"Uh, Professor? Edie?" Lloyd said, waving his hands, "We're kind of here for a reason, remember."

"Ah. Of course," Raine gathered herself. "We should keep moving."

"Spoilsport," I accused.

We continued unimpeded for about a hundred yards before Sheena threw up a hand.

"I remember this," she said. "Those lines on the ground, the white pearly stuff, they're like electric fences, but they go on a pattern. I think..." She squinted up. "Yeah, it's the same as when the sky flashes." I blinked, following her gaze. I hadn't even noticed the rhythm. "It's hard to pay attention and go through at the same time, so someone will have to call out when to go... I can start."

"Actually," said Raine, a hand on Sheena's shoulder, "it might be easier to use Edie for this."

"Use me?" I repeated scandalized. "What happened to 'it's not in the spirit of the trial'?"

Raine shot me a look. It wasn't a very flattering impression of her voice, but she'd started it. "We're not on a Journey of Regeneration anymore," she pointed out. "We're here to defeat Volt."

She looked down the walkway to the point where it widened. Three pathways branched from that platform, dividing still further. They snaked out into the haze; some flared into staircases leading nowhere, and others shimmered strangely in the distance. There were five electric 'gates' obstructing our way to the wider platform, which looked relatively safe; it was a distance of forty yards, maybe forty-five.

"Can you get us to that platform in one jump?" Raine asked, after a moment. "It would be faster and safer than going through each trap individually."

I squinted.

"Yeah," I relented. "Be ready for a messy landing, though. Who wants to go first?"

"Landing?" asked Zelos, frowning.

"You've seen me 'jump', right?" I said, making air quotes. "Or did you think I was just really super fast?"

"Yeah, but..."

"I'll go first," Sheena volunteered, holding out her arm. I nodded, locked my elbow to hers and seized her other shoulder for stability. There was a lurch, and Sheena wobbled for a moment before regaining her balance. I looked back along the walkway, and frowned. I'd cut it a little close - if Sheena had fallen on landing, it wouldn't have been pretty. "I'm fine here," she said, misinterpreting my worry. "You should probably get Lloyd next."

Lloyd was, in fact, waiting impatiently on the other side.

"Hey, what the heck?" Zelos asked me, "How long have you been able to do that?"

I shrugged. "I dunno. A while. Lloyd?"

Lloyd wrapped an arm around my shoulder, and I put one around his waist.

My landing was much better the second time - well within the safe zone. Lloyd fell over, though.

I took them over one by one, leaving Zelos for last.

"Are you sure that's safe?" he asked dubiously.

I smiled. "I used it to disarm Kratos once," I said. "I know what I'm doing. Come on." He relented, mimicking Lloyd's posture - and then he sprawled sideways, groaning.

"Is he gonna throw up?" asked Genis, chortling.

"You threw up your first time," I reminded him. Genis made a face at me. "I need a break before I do that again. What now?"

"I'm not sure," Raine admitted. "These pathways are... strange. Sheena?"

"Sorry, Sheena winced, "I don't remember this. I know it took a long time... Oh!" She snapped her fingers. "I know. There are these golden... statues? I can't remember, but we had to put them into place to get the altar to come to life. And there's one of those Sorcerer's Ring pedestals. Huh. I just remembered that." She frowned. "Nothing else is coming back to me."

"Method of loci," I said, smiling. She gave me a look. "You're more likely to remember things in a familiar place." My mood dipped a little. I knew that well enough. "Anyway," I went on, "It kind of sounds like a circuit, right?"

Raine brightened. "Yes! That would follow. Golden statues... I'm sure we'll have to find them. Let's go."

We plunged forward following the tried-and-true 'always keep to the left-hand wall' method - which worked, even without the wall. Sheena kept up point beside Lloyd, eyes peeled for traps. There were more of those electric gates to jump over, but not so many in a row, which was a relief. But it was impossible to feel at ease; the air crawled up my spine and set me on edge, always on the verge of... something.

It was hard to track where we'd gone already - hence the left-hand wall method - and the monsters here had a nasty habit of fading suddenly into view, like we were playing with the draw distance turned way down. They were... upsetting.

I had expected lightning elementals, yes, but some of the monsters had the eerie quality of being sketched out of static - flickering, inconstant shapes that were hard to look at and hard to anticipate. It didn't help that the air pressed in against my eardrums, as if I was experiencing a sudden change in altitude and never getting the chance to reset - I felt off my game, discomfited and uncertain. The others were the same way - a second too slow, one inch in the wrong direction.

We found the first 'statue' after nearly an hour: it was taller than I was, an abstract shout in gold geometry. It was nothing like a person in shape - but I had the uneasy feeling that it was perceiving me as I perceived it.

"What do we do with it?" asked Lloyd, prodding it with the toe of his boot.

Sheena shrugged. "Beats me."

I could see the two terminals that must have been either end of this 'circuit' - circles of gold and amethyst set into the stone floor, tails disappearing into the haze - but no way to use this thing to connect them.

"Honestly no idea," I said, folding my arms. "I say we knock it over."

"Let's keep that as an option for later," said Raine, wry. "We still haven't found the pedestal for the Sorcerer's Ring yet. Let's wait until then."

Lloyd grumbled and gave it another kick.

We made our way around a corner - never mind that there was no wall to corner, which didn't seem to matter to the space inside the temple - and arrived, for the first time, at a doorway.

There was no door; only an empty stone rectangle set in the air, through which we saw a void. It was entirely dark beyond the threshold - until, after a few moments, lightning struck. I made a disconsolate noise, because I could deal with heights. I couldn't deal with heights in the dark, especially when magic was involved. Lloyd started forward, unafraid, but I hesitated.

"I'll wait here?" I suggested. "You guys... Come get me when it's time to kick butt?"

Zelos squinted at me. "Are you afraid of the dark, Miss Mysterious?"

"I'm afraid of falling to my death in a magical abyss," I disagreed.

"You'll be fine," assured Raine. "The pathway is stone, and you can hold onto me."

I sighed, but gave in, taking her hand like wuss in a haunted house.

It was awful. Had it been simply dark, I would have coped; we had magic that made light, not to mention Sheena's new lantern. But the lightning shrieked across the world at odd intervals, turning black to searing white and dropping us back into absolute darkness. There was no chance to adjust our eyes, which was probably the point. I clung like a limpet to Raine's side, jumping at the sound of thunder long after the lightning had faded.

And then we were out.

I dropped to my knees as Lloyd ran forward to inspect the pedestal - which did, indeed, look like the usual order of business.

"Screw that," I decided. "This sucks."

"Perhaps you should hold someone else's hand next time," Raine suggested, flexing her hand as if I'd broken it. "To cut down on damages."

"I could give you a piggyback ride," Colette suggested. "It'd be fun!"

I nodded glumly. That did sound kind of fun. Colette had wings.

The purpose of the trial revealed itself to us at the next 'statue' - Lloyd pointed the ring at it, pulled the proverbial trigger, and the thing... changed.

There was the sound of distant, booming thunder, but no light, no sparks; a pillar became a twisting arch bridging the gap between one terminal and the other, a shape like a broken spine. It was oddly - in the same way that I had felt the first one was watching me - joyous. If the other one had been watchful, this one was a cry of freedom, or a bolt of raucous, wild laughter.

I shook my head.

It was a lump of metal.

"I don't get modern art," I said, hands propped on my hips. "Kids these days."

It seemed like the right thing to say - but it wasn't very funny, in the moment.

No one was feeling great, not right now.

We wove through the temple - which gave the impression of changing around us, settling only when observed - and transformed seven strange statues. Then, no doubt by magic, we could see a path where before there had only been a - there was no other word for it - not-path. I was feeling very upset by the whole ordeal, I really, really wanted to make someone else as upset as I was. Bonus points if it was Volt.

"It's here," breathed Sheena. The fog of perception seemed to lift, and all at once it became clear that there was only one path: that leading directly from the entrance and towards the altar platform. "It's time."

"He won't speak Kharlesian," Raine reminded her. "Stay calm and let me translate."

Sheena nodded, jaw tight. Corrine - who had more or less been out and about all day, which was unusual - hopped up onto her shoulder.

We filed out onto the platform, fanning out around the altar. I didn't have to look back to know that the walkway to the exit had disappeared.

It made a kind of sense.

Volt represented the most volatile natural element; he was not humanoid, not anthropomorphized beyond the bare minimum because it was in his nature to be inconstant. Even the pronoun - that aspect of humanizing a chaotic innate force into a 'him' - came from scholars, not Volt, not the other Spirits. This place was unreal because it was not in keeping with Volt's 'personality' to keep one single shape, one form - it was lightning given voice.

How did you fight something like that? How did you negotiate with it?

Sheena stepped up onto the altar dais, and Volt descended.

It was so unlike the other Summon Spirits; there was no pretense of humanity beyond those two gleaming eyes, strips of light across the surface of a bubble. Its nucleus was a ball of compressed energy, its perimeter forming concentric circles of electricity in the air. The atmosphere was stifling - suffocating, supercharged and overwhelming in the extreme. Its mana suffused the air, and my skin prickled and itched, flashed hot and cold - it looked down.

Volt spoke.

Its voice was a series of concussive silences, interspersed with the boom and rattle of thunder; how Raine understood it, I couldn't begin to guess.

"I am one who is bound to Mithos," Raine translated, "Who are you?"

"I am Sheena." Sheena's voice rang through the oppressive fog, clear and bright. "I ask that thou annulst thy pact with Mithos and establish a new pact with me."

My ears rang as Volt replied.

"He says that his pact with Mithos is broken, but he no longer desires a pact."

"Why?"

"He says, 'I will have no more dealings with people, therefore I desire no pact.'"

Sheena turned to regard Volt.

"I am trying to undo what Mithos has done to this world," she said, "What you helped him do. This world is broken. I DEMAND YOUR POWER."

I had expected desperation. Sheena had brought command.

There was a great vacuum of sound.

"'Very well'," Raine translated, hands closing around her staff even as she moved into position, "'Then prove yourself!'"

We didn't need telling twice.

Volt's slitted eyes flared wide; lightning glanced from seven shields. I expected it to ground itself, but instead the magic rebounded, and the room was full of light shattering in all directions. I heard Colette cry out in pain, but I didn't have time to look around; it was all I could do to evade, black sword drawn and arcing through the haze towards Volt.

The blade cleaved a gap in the electric field, but only for a moment, and then Volt was on the offensive.

"Gahh!"

I heard the clatter of metal on stone - one of Lloyd's swords skittered past me, electricity still shivering along the blade. Lloyd was gripping empty hand in empty hand, and I could smell burning flesh. I came around, clipping through space to bring him into Raine's orbit, and then I had to pull up a shield again - and even then the tail end shot through me like every neuron was on fire.

"He's targeting the metal," Zelos snapped, hand spasming around the hilt - but Zelos didn't drop the sword. For a moment I thought he'd been paralyzed - and then the butt end of the sword blossomed into grey stone. It was the same spell - or the same root - as the stone spears in the tower - I let out a whump of air as Genis collided with my midsection, thrown free of an explosion in magnesium white fire.

I righted Genis, hands going to the clutch of poison darts - but there would be nothing physical for them to hit. I swore - I couldn't do stone, but - yes. I tore the leather guard from my left elbow and gripped the sword more firmly. Leather wasn't a perfect insulator, but neither was stone. We worked with what we had.

"Angel feathers!"

A ring of sunlight spread out from Colette, a wave of protective magic that broke on each of us like an enveloping hurricane, and Lloyd plunged past me. It took a moment to register his weapons as the wooden dummy swords he used for practice - and another to realize that it didn't matter, because his technique drove the air into a blade before each strike.

"Come, Maiden of the Mist; I summon you, Undine!"

Pure water, it turns out, is a pretty good insulator.

I attacked on the heels of Undine's defense, sword cutting darkly through the electric haze - but it was impossible to tell if we were winning or losing. Volt wasn't a person - it didn't even resemble an animal. It was just a shape in the air, and all I could do was swing at it and hope for the best.

I danced around the lightning, dragging Raine out of the path of danger once, twice - and then getting caught in it myself a third time, my leg dead and burning as I hobbled sideways, trying to keep my balance. Raine's mana washed through me, and the dead flesh woke up, the memory of Volt's attack in pins and needles down my calf and in the soles of my feet - I had to keep going.

I attacked again, and this time the force behind it was burning sunlight - it was light and shadow that came naturally to me, it was bending light that let me go invisible, and now it was tangible, a blade seething white in the air. Sheena leapt over and past me, hands twisting as a gout of flame erupted from the space between her palms; I fell back, and the image of a lion, Lloyd's mana made manifest, slammed Volt backwards, down, as Sheena descended in a rain of steel.

A gong rang silent.

"E-enough," Raine managed, when the world had gone still but for the sound of our labored breathing. "Speak your vow."

Sheena was shimmering as she stood, light arcing off the tips of her fingers and grounding in the stone.

"For the sake of everyone that risked their lives to protect me," she said, "And for the sake of all those for whom we risk our lives: I will save both worlds. I won't give up, not like Mithos did. That's my promise."

Volt spoke.

"The vow has been made. I entrust my power to the pact-maker, Sheena."

For a moment, there was peace - something like a tuning fork, low and clear, radiating out through the air, and through me.

Then the earth shook. If the platform had been more real, we would have fallen, stone supports crumbling below us - but instead it was just shaking, bouncing, the ground plane of the world dropping out and jolting back up again as the universe reoriented itself. I fell sideways, knee cracking painfully against the floor, and gripped my leg, cursing lost to the deafening rumble.

The quake went on for thirty seconds - and then Undine appeared, twisting out of the air in a halo of glimmering green-blue light.

"A link between the two worlds has been severed," she said, in a voice like a stone dropped in a deep well. It echoed; it was the vastness of the deepest ocean, a whisper in still water. The world had changed: so said Undine, Maiden of the Mist. Beside her, Volt's voice intoned that same natural wisdom, a booming vacuum that turned the air to tingling vapor. One at a time was strange enough; two Spirits, side by side, were overwhelming.

Sheena hissed out a long breath.

"One down," she said, "three to go."

"Are you sure we can't go back for the boat?"

"No, Lloyd," Raine said, "We can't go back for the boat."

Zelos clapped him on the shoulder. "It's good to experience loss every so often. Keeps you fresh."

It was late afternoon; the air had cleared, and the sky was blue and cloudless. Gone was the stifling press of energy - I could breathe here. On this side, I could see why the temple had affected me so badly. It had been like a dream, a bad one, except that there was no waking up. Even in the forest, in my drowning nightmare, there had still been somewhere else, somewhere safe. In the temple, there had only been the dream.

I turned my face to the wind, marveling in the realness of it all.

"Does that mean we can use the Rheairds now?" asked Genis, hopeful.

"Um, maybe," said Sheena. "We might have to wait for them to charge."

"Don't you have to ask Volt to help out?" Lloyd wondered. "Like when you asked Undine?"

Sheena frowned. "I think he kind of... understood? I don't know. It changed after he accepted the pact. Weird."

Genis dug his wing pack out from the bottom of his rucksack, held it aloft in a thoughtful kind of way, and the Rheaird unfolded into the air, a monster of white fiberglass and sky-blue metalwork. I sank down on the turf, achy legs stretched out, as he clambered on to examine the console. It was nice out - not warm, exactly, but a comfortable chill, the kind you got on nice days back home.

"Yeah," said Genis, sounding disappointed, "it's charging, but it has a while."

"I'm fine with that," said Sheena, massaging a spot below her right ear, "I could use a good rest after Volt."

"Me, too," agreed Corrine.

"You didn't do anything," Sheena countered, flopping down near my ankle.

"I'm moral support," Corrine insisted. "I morally supported you."

"You supported our morals or you supported us in a moral way?" I asked, grinning.

"Either! Both!"

"If everyone's exhausted, I could do the cooking tonight," suggested Raine, in a hopeful sort of way.

"Uh," said Zelos, into the sudden silence, "sure?"

"Great!"

"Zelos," hissed Sheena.

"What?" he hissed back. The whispering wasn't really necessary - Raine was already off scouting for a good campsite. With our luck, she'd have dinner ready within the hour. It wasn't even evening yet. "It's not like I was gonna volunteer. Besides," he said, rolling his head back, "I bet Raine's a dynamite cook."

Genis and Colette burst into giggles. I snorted.

"She's... creative," said Sheena, generously.

"It's probably best to lose your appetite now, rather than later," I advised.

"She can't be that bad," said Zelos, eyebrows arched.

"'Bad' is putting it lightly," muttered Genis, suddenly mutinous. "Remember the eels?"

"Remember the spinach thing?" I sighed.

"Remember your birthday cake, Genis?" Colette recalled.

Lloyd and Genis shuddered.

"What was the thing she made when we were camping near that lake?" Sheena tried to summon up the memory, and shook her head. "I can't believe you ate that, Edie. I thought you were going to vomit up a lung."

"I can't hurt her feelings," I protested. "She's just so cute when she's excited."

"You were green!"

"Eh, I lived, didn't I?"

"...Huh," said Zelos, peering over at Raine. "You think it's too late to change her mind?"

It would take all night for the Rheairds to charge, which I counted as a very good thing. The Temple had been stressful for all of us, but particularly Sheena, and none of us were at our best, physically speaking.

My right leg was stiff and sore, the calf webbed with scar tissue and blisters, my foot black and blue with burst blood vessels. It would time time to heal entirely; Raine's magic was extraordinary, but it worked in concert with the body, not in spite of it. Zelos and I were suited more to the treatments of minor lacerations, bruises and burns, and Raine did not have an infinite well of mana to draw on. She had been injured, too, although not as seriously as Lloyd.

Lloyd had taken a few direct hits to hands and forearms, and his gloves and coat were a tattered mess. His palms were covered in tough, knotty scars and he couldn't flex his hands flat - he couldn't really get them beyond an arthritic claw, and that was a problem. There was a long process of stretching and massaging and breaking down of tissue to accompany the application of healing magic - and it sounded painful.

On the upside, Raine didn't have time to make us dinner.

"There's always next time," I told her, watching Lloyd wince and whine as Raine worked on him. Colette was feeding him bits of buttered bread, so it wasn't all bad.

"I do like that cream stew Genis makes," Raine allowed. "I was very interested to try out a new recipe, though. Did you know, barnacles are actually a kind of mollusc?"

Genis - only a few feet away, tending to the fire - coughed noisily. It sounded suspiciously like a laugh. I'd had barnacles, and they were pretty good if you cooked them right, but you didn't really want Raine to be experimenting with them. She had funny ideas about preparing seafood, and, more broadly, was worryingly lenient about the condition of 'spoiled food', on the premise that many molds were actually edible. Genis made a choking noise, face hidden behind his sleeve.

"The smoke is pretty strong," Sheena volunteered, glancing anxiously in Raine's direction.

"Uh-huh," Genis agreed, hoarsely.

"Sooo," said Zelos, settling down with his own bowl, "Where to next?"

Genis coughed again. "Aren't we - sorry - going to the mine? We promised we'd help Presea," he said sternly, as if Zelos might have forgotten.

"Well, obviously," Zelos allowed, "but we have the Rheairds now. It might be a good idea to stop back in at Meltokio," he gestured over at the campfire. "It wasn't like we had time to do much in Sybak, and I've got way more connections in Meltokio. 'Sides, in case you haven't noticed, you're all in pretty rough shape." He looked meaningfully at my ruined pant leg, Lloyd's coat, and Sheena's robes.

"No way," Genis argued, "You said it yourself, right? We've got the Rheairds, so it makes more sense to help Presea out first. Besides, if we go to Meltokio we'll be stuck there another night, probably longer." His tone implied Zelos would get distracted, which seemed a little unfair.

"I'm okay," Lloyd insisted, "I can patch stuff up on my own, and I'd rather go try to help Presea. I don't like the idea of her..." he trailed off. "Anyway, we did promise."

"I'm with Genis," said Sheena, "Anyway, Meltokio's a walled city! Who says we could even get in? It's not like it has a sneaky back entrance."

"I don't care either way," Raine sighed. "It would be nice to have an opportunity to rest and review the information we collected in Sybak." Raine hadn't been much use on the riverboat or at sea, and we'd only been in Sybak for one day. It wasn't hard to guess that she might be feeling a little ineffectual. Not to mention seasick. "But I'll defer to the group."

"I'd like to help Presea," offered Colette. "She reminds me a lot of me, and I don't want her to be alone for too long. She shouldn't have to live like that."

Zelos looked at me - not searching for an ally, but asking for an opinion, I noted.

"If we go back to Meltokio now, I don't think it'll be a very restful visit," I said, smiling thinly in Genis' direction. "Besides, you and Colette are for sure being tracked right now. If we can get that inhibitor ore, then we might be able to move a bit more freely." I didn't remember the mine as being some big combat zone, anyway. "I vote Toize Valley, then drop in on Altessa."

Altessa.

Now that I'd had my big episode, I kind of wanted another opportunity to talk to him.

It was hard not to be curious. If I had something to do with Rodyle, or with Cruxis - well, him and Tabatha had raised more questions than they'd answered. Getting incapacitated by Clara was the last big surprise I'd been able to weather - and if being a potential vessel made me susceptible to Cruxis' influence, I wanted to know sooner, rather than later.

"Fine, fine," Zelos relented, "I give in. Mine it is."

"Mine time," I said. "Mine crime time."

"A fine time for mine crimes," Raine said, absentmindedly.

I turned to beam at her. She turned pink.

"What? It was an obvious joke, anyway," she complained.

"And we're sure they're all the way charged?" I asked, arms crossed.

Genis rolled his eyes. "Yes, Edie, they're all charged."

"Don't act like I'm being irrational," I said, reaching out to pull him into a noogie. He slipped free, but it took him a moment. "I don't want us to get split up again."

"It's really fine, Edie," Sheena assured me, looking embarrassed. "It was my fault for not checking the fuel gauge, anyway."

"It wasn't anyone's fault," Raine interjected, before things could get too needlessly emotional. "Everything is working as it should be. If we head north, we can get there in two and a half hours. That's plenty of leeway in the event of an emergency."

"...Fine," I gave in, helpless in the face of Raine's aggressive logic. "But if it's looking like the weather is bad and we might not make it-"

"We'll land early and wait for it to pass," Raine agreed, but she was humoring me.

"Come on already," cried Lloyd, already raring to go. "We've got a mine to break into!"

A/N: bepp bop short chapter but there you go! please review it makes me feel like im not 100% bananas OTL ur the best