Chapter 12: Escaping the Desert
"Run!" Garet yelled out to his companions as he took off on foot across the gusty landscape of the Suhalla Desert. The other adepts only hesitated for half a second as a glance behind them was all they needed to spur themselves into action. A massive whirlwind, far larger than any the group had seen thus far had formed and seemed to be heading in their direction.
Each one of them had been counting their blessings the morning after being reunited as the wind and sand were still strong, but had subsided in intensity once again. It was finally possible to speak without getting a mouthful of sand and while it still helped to cover their faces, it was no longer completely unbearable as it had been in the last couple days.
That threatened to change fast with the whirlwind Garet warned about rapidly approaching. Mia could feel the soft sand of the dunes beneath her feet as she sprinted away in the same direction as Garet. With all the wind to chip away at the rocky landscape of the desert, the ground was smothered in fine particles of sand. Each footfall felt like the loose sand was trying to suck her feet in, slowing Mia's progress as the adepts did their best to run away.
Mia wasn't the only one having difficulty. All four adepts were encountering the same issue with the terrain and couldn't hope to escape at top speed. Ivan and Isaac were looking around as they ran, doing their best to spot any escape paths or caves they might be able to duck into in an effort to avoid the incoming tempest.
Is this the one Isaac feared? Mia found herself thinking back to their conversation at night, making a connection between the massive whirlwind and the smaller ones caused by the lizards living in the desert. There wasn't any time to dwell on it though. The rapid appearance of the storm had caught everyone off guard and now it was a mad scramble to get away.
"It's gaining!" Mia called out over the increasing sound of wind in order to alert her friends.
The two blonde adepts paused their search to take a quick glance back and confirm Mia's words. Sure enough, the indomitable wall of wind was catching up.
Thinking fast, Isaac placed his hand on the ground and sent a tremor of psynergy to cause the ground to shake and become unstable in the path of the whirlwind. He didn't stop to watch as the sand behind them rolled up and down in mesmerizing waves, but did continue to glance back to see if it had any ability to slow down the progress of the storm.
Unfortunately Isaac's efforts had been for naught. The approach of the windstorm continued unabated.
Isaac had been operating on the same principle Mia thought of after seeing the massive storm, assuming it was also being caused by some sort of lizard monster, albeit much larger than the ones previously encountered. Disappointed, but undeterred by the ineffectiveness of his trick, Isaac racked his brains for another method to allow the group of adepts to gain some distance from the storm.
Garet had seen Isaac's efforts out of the corner of his eye as he ran ahead of the pack and briefly considered an attack of his own. Conjuring his psynergy in the form of a flame, the redhead thought better of it and snuffed it out with a clench of his fist. He knew his fire would only serve to turn the whirling disaster into a firestorm or get snuffed out by the strong winds before reaching his target.
At this point the whirlwind was nearly on top of them and the strong winds being generated whipped past the clothing and hair of the fleeing adepts. A clear figure could be seen inside the storm at this point, and as expected the culprit was a giant lizard.
The adepts were running out of time fast and Isaac decided to give up on the notion of escape. Drawing his sword, Isaac turned his head towards the monster and yelled out, "Mia!"
With her tacit understanding of Isaac and seeing the blonde boy draw his sword, Mia knew what he was expecting. Quickly gathering her psynergy, she unleashed a torrent of water directly toward the approaching whirlwind, just as she had shortly after encountering a smaller one when they first entered the desert.
To be safe Mia had put a lot more power into this deluge given the size difference from then and now. Ivan and Garet stopped running as well, catching on to the intent to fight as the water psynergy slammed into the wall of wind.
A fine mist exploded across the dunes with the force of the winds breaking apart the water, and a shill screech echoed off the rocky walls. The winds swirling around shot out from a giant neon green lizard monster that was hiding inside the storm, and the only warning any of the adepts had was a faint feeling of Jupiter psynergy and sense of danger.
The wind whipped past the three boys as it dissipated, blowing them back with a force that felt like a tidal wave. Isaac's boots created grooves in the sand as he slid backward from the impact, watching Garet get knocked off balance and Ivan barely able to stay upright.
There was a special surprise for Mia along with the wind though thanks to the monster being agitated from her psynergy attack. Her robes fluttered behind her as she felt a strong blast of wind cut just past her left cheek, cleanly slicing off some of her cerulean hair that was dangling past the ear.
Mia's bright colored hair seemed to fall to the ground in slow motion as the impact of that wind wave behind her blasted a sand dune into oblivion with a loud thud. Startled by the ferocity of the attack, she looked wide eyed at the lizard monster and felt her skin prickle as the same Jupiter energy as before began to build up around it.
The monster swung its huge claws and released more blasts of razor sharp wind in her direction. The wind whistled as it flew past, ending in two more explosions of sand following closely behind Mia as she snapped to her senses and dove out of the way, ducking to avoid the second strike.
The boys didn't waste any time in following up however. Ivan was the quickest to recover and rushed forward with his sword drawn, recognizing his psynergy would likely be less effective against a Jupiter aligned creature. Isaac created an opening for the younger boy by calling on his psynergy to break jagged shards of rock off from a nearby rock formation, sending them directly into the back of the giant lizard.
With a roar of pain, the monster turned to see what had hit it and Ivan was able to dash past the monster, landing a blow from his sword on an outstretched arm as well as its thigh. The glint of the sun on a razor sharp talon flashed briefly as Ivan barely dodged away from a retaliatory swipe of a claw.
A blast of fire landed directly on the creature's chest not a second after Ivan's escape and scorched the scales of the great beast.
Mia saw all of this as she picked herself off the ground, grains of sand sticking to her hands as she got up. It's fast, Mia recognized. Incredibly fast.
Irritated by its suffering, the lizard's frills puffed out as wide as they could go and electricity began crackling around the fin-like structures. With scant seconds to react to the buildup of power, Isaac barely managed to project a barrier of earthen psynergy in front of each adept to lessen the impact of the lightning that shot out in a cone, hitting all four of them in their group.
Though the four felt a strong jolt, the barrier spared them the worst of the pain and prevented the potentially deadly incapacitation effect that lightning could have. The ionized air had a charred smell to it still as the monster followed up by leaping towards Garet and bringing a clawed fist raking down on top of the Mars adept.
Without time to fully dodge, Garet raised his heavy blade and somehow managed to deflect most of the blow, suffering only a gash on his arm where the talon still connected. With a spray of blood, Garet was knocked to the side by the force of the blow, his sword doing little to stop the inertia behind the strike.
Mia channeled her psynergy into her staff that she picked up off the ground after her tumble and conjured shards of ice that acted as a mirror of Isaac's opening attack. Sending them racing toward the lizard, she began to run over towards Garet so she could mend his arm.
"Get in close!" Isaac called out as he and Ivan rushed in to cover Mia and Garet. "If we stick close to it, we can reduce the chance of it using psynergy," he explained his reasoning.
Mia heard the clash of sword and claw, but didn't have time to look as she stopped in front of Garet and grabbed his outstretched arm. A streak of red was visible coming from the wound and bright drops of blood collected at the tip of his elbow before gently dropping at Garet's feet and staining the sand below.
Mia didn't have time to worry about that though. Garet used part of his shirt to wipe away the blood so Mia could work, and the Mercury adept called upon her psynergy. A gentle glow embraced Mia's hand as she pressed it lightly against the injury Garet had sustained. Fortunately the gash wasn't too bad and the healing spell went to work closing the wound and stemming the flow of blood.
"Thanks," Garet said as he shifted his weapon back to his main hand.
"No problem," Mia replied, seeing that the spell succeeded and backing away to give him room.
Garet swung his sword experimentally and seemed satisfied with his combat ability. Both adepts looked over towards where Isaac and Ivan were fiercely fighting, doing what they could to keep the towering monster occupied.
Heeding Isaac's previous words, Mia rushed over to her pack and dropped her staff, picking up the mace that she had been practicing with ever since Kalay. Garet has already rushed in to fight, using his psynergy to cause a burst of three fiery explosions in the interval between Isaac and Ivan's attacks.
Both blonde boys were grateful for the moment's reprieve, able to find their footing again on the loose sandy terrain while breathing heavily. Garet matched the roar of pain from the lizard due to his explosive psynergy with his own war cry and proceeded to take his revenge for the arm injury.
Mia still remembered how fast the smaller tornado lizards were and how quick this larger one had been so far, but its psynergy was clearly such a large threat that they had to take the risk of fighting it head on. With that in mind Mia rushed in, conjuring a frost spell to obscure the vision of the lizard's eyes with ice and slow its reactions to help even the playing field.
Garet's sword connected with a clean slice through the leg of his victim, and Mia smashed the side of her mace into the monster's knee. "Leave it to us for now," Mia coordinated with the two adepts that had backed off and were using the time to let Isaac heal up some minor injuries on himself and Ivan.
Easier said than done though, Mia thought, gritting her teeth as she sidestepped a retaliatory swipe of razor sharp claws.
Garet still had an opening however, and reversed the direction of his blade, chopping back the other way to deliver a deep slash on the lizard's forearm. Isaac glanced back over at the howl from the creature, picking up his sword now that Ivan was all patched up.
The monster leaped backward to gain a bit of distance and its claws started to glow with a light violet hue as it built up psynergy. Mia didn't sit still though and pressed the attack, dashing forward to meet the lizard head on. Calling upon her psynergy in the split second she took to close the distance, Mia applied a frost spell to adhere spikes of solid ice onto her mace.
With the wicked looking weapon cloaked in an aura of chilly fog, Mia landed a solid blow directly into the monster's midsection. A cracking noise could be heard as what was presumably a rib or two snapped under the force of the blow, with puncture wounds from the icicles dripping a thick trail of blood.
Mia jumped out of the way of the retaliatory claw swipe, but managed to successfully prevent the monster from using the deadly cutting wind attack that oh so efficiently gave her hair a bit of a trim earlier on. Garet had been channeling his psynergy again after watching Mia dash in to interrupt the beast and took that moment to unleash a powerful beam of fire directly into the lizard's wounded belly, knocking it back and staggering the Mars adept's opponent.
Immediately claws moved to protect the stomach of the lizard from further abuse, it's natural instincts working against it as it paused to regain its bearings. Isaac and Ivan took advantage of that time to re-join the fray and rush into close range, swapping places with Mia and Garet. Ivan's fingers began to crackle with electricity as he lunged toward the distracted beast, stabbing his blade into an exposed section of its side.
Pressing his fingers against the metal hilt of his sword, Ivan unleashed the torrent of electricity, scorching the hide around the wound and also utilizing the metal as a conductor to amplify the effects of his psynergy inside the lizard's body.
Some minor convulsions showed the attack had indeed been effective, though not as much as Ivan had hoped. Fortunately he was spared a follow up attack since Isaac had circled around behind and unleashed an assault on the monster's back, opening up two massive gashes in a roughly "X" shaped pattern before plunging a massive sword conjured of pure psynergy directly through the intersection of those wounds.
That got the monster's attention and despite the impact of Ivan's attack, the lizard only remembered it as a tickle in the face of this new threat. Spinning around at lightning fast speed, the lizard swept everything around it away with its tail, giving Isaac no time to dodge.
The Venus adept went flying into a sand dune off to the side, winded from the impact of the blow. Ivan barely managed to dodge out of the way as the tail reached where he was standing. Mia could feel palpable anger radiating off of the giant creature as it stopped once facing the direction Isaac had been knocked in.
An explosion of fire psynergy burst where the lizard had been standing, but the lizard was no longer there. Garet let out a curse as his spell missed completely due to the monster moving at an insane speed towards Isaac.
Mia was just as startled. Fast! Too fast! She recognized the lizard almost seemed to teleport to the winded adept's side. Mia dropped her mace as she started gathering psynergy with both hands, realizing it would take too long to chase after the monster.
Being the fastest adept, Ivan called upon his Jupiter psynergy for more speed, and dashed towards Isaac with his sword at the ready to help out.
The first blow came down on the winded Venus adept faster than anything the lizard had done previously, forcing Isaac to block head on with his sword. It was immediately followed up with a lightning fast slash in an uncontrolled rage. The distinctive clanging sound of massive claws striking metal rang out across the dunes, increasing in frequency and ferocity while Isaac barely held on, unable to even attempt to dodge due to the speed of the assault.
It felt like the four adepts were moving in slow motion compared to the unbridled fury of the Jupiter aligned Storm Lizard. The previous combat was clearly just a test to the uncontrolled monster, only showing off its actual agility once feeling truly threatened. Each blow caused the wind surrounding the pair to pick up and toss sand around like a maelstrom, building up a chaotic windstorm that threatened to obscure the battlefield.
Isaac's arms felt like jelly as the force from each blow made it more difficult to hold on against each successive strike. Ivan's approach was slowed by the sand now blowing into his face and Garet had barely had a chance to register his attack missing before Isaac had taken half a dozen blows.
Mia desperately continued to pool her psynergy in an attempt to break Isaac out of his predicament until inspiration finally struck her. Unleashing the wave of Mercury psynergy, Mia cast her spell.
Be enough! She pleaded as she channeled all her power into her chosen solution.
Isaac was not holding on well, and could feel pain radiating in his arms, tremoring from each clash of claw and blade. Something had to give, and the first thing to go was Isaac's sword arm. With a sickening snap, Isaac knew the arm was broken. In a desperate attempt to hold off the next one, he used his one remaining good arm to swing his sword from where it had been knocked pointing diagonally towards the ground up directly into the oncoming claw of the lizard monster.
The collision was the loudest crashing noise yet, but it didn't hold and the sword itself shattered into multiple pieces. Knowing that was it, Isaac couldn't do anything but attempt to dodge the inevitable follow up attack that would kill him.
That attack never came. In the middle of the swing to end Isaac's life, the lizard's arm had slowed and then froze in place for an instant, allowing the blonde boy to dive just far enough out of the way before it hit the dirt.
It took everyone's eyes a moment to register what happened, but Mia let out the breath she had been holding in stressful anticipation. The monster's entire back and arm was laced with bloody red ice, running along every cut and wound from the three boy's blades.
As Mia continued to pour psynergy into her spell, she expanded the domain of the ice as much as possible, using the solidified blood to freeze muscles and joints across the beast's back and arm. The force of the attack meant she couldn't stop it entirely, but Mia successfully bought just enough time to allow an injured Isaac to scramble out of the way.
The cracking of ice followed the frozen mass of blood and muscle as it continued on its much slower trajectory into the sand Isaac had previously been standing on. Frozen muscle broke apart, ripping cleanly along fractures in the ice due to the inertia behind the blow, rendering the arm and back muscles of the monster almost completely inoperable.
With an inhuman scream of searing pain, the crippled lizard was completely still after the ordeal. Ivan took the opportunity to target a vital spot of the downed creature with a jump, sinking his sword deep into the side of its neck.
The blood soaked blade sliced cleanly through and turned the scream of agony into a gurgle as blood burst out of the neck at an alarming rate. Not leaving anything to chance, Ivan landed in the sand and deftly turned back toward the lizard to sink his sword directly through the front of the neck as well. Leaving the blade lodged in the monster's throat, Ivan backed away from its death throes and went to Isaac's side.
Mia finally relented and released her psynery, wiping away a bead of sweat near her eye from the exertion.
Garet and Mia approached the scene as the unnatural creature collapsed to the ground, twitched a few times, and was finally still. Garet checked to ensure the beast was actually dead as Mia approached Isaac, who was being supported by Ivan just to remain sitting up in the sand.
Despite the Venus adept's propensity to try to hide his pain, it was evident to Mia at a glance. She had grown too close to him to miss the hint of a grimace in his expression and the way he was completely avoiding any movement that might upset his aching body.
Calling upon her psynergy again, Mia began to pour healing energy into Isaac's body to relieve the pain and stress on his body as a whole from his efforts to stay alive.
Seeing that Isaac was in Mia's hands, Ivan wiped some of the blood splatter from his final attacks off his arms and went to retrieve his sword from where it lay lodged in the dead lizard's neck.
"Thanks…" Isaac managed to get out weakly as Mia continued to work in silence with just a nod of acknowledgement.
The blond haired boy closed his eyes and leaned back into the sand with a groan, not having the energy to remain sitting on his own.
With the immediate danger past, Mia could finally feel her racing heartbeat starting to slow down again, becoming more even and measured.
"That was...incredible…" Isaac managed to praise the freezing technique with a bit of a forced smile. "A new technique…?"
"Yes," Mia replied knowing Isaac wouldn't see another nod with his eyes closed. "But now is not the time to go over it. Try to relax," she instructed, continuing to do her best to relieve the pain.
"Yeah...I'll do that…" Isaac answered, not having the energy to argue.
If those words weren't an indication he was hurting, Mia didn't know what was. Her heart went out to Isaac as she empathized with his suffering, knowing full well that she didn't have enough psynergy left to draw on to stop the pain entirely.
Moving over to his arm, Mia inspected it briefly before very gently placing a hand on it and earning a grimace from the blonde boy.
"It's broken isn't it?" she asked, pretty sure she already knew the answer.
"Most likely," Isaac answered, opening his eyes to see concern etched into the features of the girl watching over him.
Mia sighed. "Then there's nothing I can do for it now," she said in a resigned tone.
"I know," Isaac replied with a smile. He raised his good hand and attempted to call upon his own healing psynergy, but it flickered briefly and went out. "Not much I can do either," he added after his brief demonstration.
Mia shook her head slightly at the scene as Ivan and Garet also approached the pair of adepts. "You really need to stop getting injured like this," she mused. "It worries me."
Isaac reached out his good hand and took Mia's in his own. "Sorry for worrying you," he said. "I'll be alright though."
Mia smiled at him and the comforting gesture. "Still...you have a habit of running into close calls," she explained. "Just...try to be careful," Mia added, not trying to turn her concern into a lecture.
Isaac nodded solemnly, adopting a serious expression. "I will. I promise," he said, not wanting Mia to feel like he wasn't taking her feelings seriously.
"You should listen to her," Garet spoke up, hearing what the two were talking about. "You're going to give poor Mia a heart attack at this pace," he said to try to lighten the mood a bit.
It worked and smiles could be seen on the faces of the four adepts. "How bad is it?" Ivan asked, glancing around the desert on the lookout for anything else that could cause a problem for the group, just in case.
"Broken," Isaac replied, demonstrating by lifting his entire arm in the air while holding his forearm stiff and level.
"Well...that's not good," Ivan said, unsure of exactly what to say.
Garet rolled his eyes at the understatement, but showed genuine concern on his face. "Can it be healed?" he asked, addressing both Mia and Isaac.
The two looked at each other briefly and then Mia replied. "I can probably help it heal a lot faster, but not right this second if that's what you mean," she answered.
Isaac just shrugged. "I've never tried healing a broken bone myself but it doesn't seem easy. In any case, we're both pretty tapped for psynergy right now so there's nothing more we can do," the Venus adept explained.
With the environment around them looking safe, Ivan was able to fully focus his attention on the situation on hand. "We should find some way to immobilize it for now probably," he stated, looking over at Mia to see if she would agree.
As the one with the most experience healing and recovery, she was the de facto decision maker when it came to any injuries among the group. Nodding at Ivan, Mia indicated her agreement.
The three adepts glanced around and considered what they had in their packs that they could use for a makeshift sling, but Isaac was a step ahead and was unwrapping the yellow scarf he always carried around his neck.
Looping it under his broken arm, Isaac caught everyone's attention by saying, "This should work but I probably need some help tying it."
Mia moved to assist since she was sitting next to him from when she had been using her psynergy to help heal Isaac's injuries. "I'll do it," she said, taking the scarf from Isaac and gently fanning it under his arm to allow for maximum support. Satisfied, she took the loose ends from each side and pulled them around and behind Isaac's neck where she could tie them together and complete the sling. Mia tested the knot gently to make sure it wouldn't unravel too easily by pulling on the two sides.
Satisfied with her handiwork, she leaned back and said, "Done."
Isaac moved his arm slightly to see how well the sling could hold it in place and found it to work pretty well considering the circumstances. "Thanks Mia," he told her with appreciation.
With the broken arm issue postponed for the moment, the next order of business was to figure out what to do about the rest of the desert. Though none of the adepts had ignored their surroundings or safety, they didn't really have a chance to truly pay attention to them after the fight either past ensuring there was no immediate danger.
As a result it was only now that the group noticed the relative silence and stillness of the landscape around them. The wind that had plagued the adepts throughout the desert up to this point had died down considerably and the sand ceased to blow like crazy in strong gusts of wind.
Everything seems so much calmer now...Mia felt as the four took the change in. Garet helped Isaac to his feet as they continued to look around.
"It seems like that monster was what caused the winds to get so out of control," Garet stated, contrasting the desert before the battle to the light gusts of wind brushing past the group now.
The other three expressed their agreement with the assessment as well as how they were glad the winds did finally die down with the death of the massive lizard. Isaac took the chance to move about a bit in his still aching body as he slowly walked over to where his sword lay shattered into multiple fragments upon the desert dunes.
With some effort Isaac bent down to pick up the hilt of his sword, turning it over a few times in his hand and inspecting where the blade had shattered at a slightly diagonal angle. Determining it was unsalvageable, Iaac let out a sigh and allowed the hilt to fall back to the sand below, joining the remaining pieces of the blade on the former battlefield.
Ivan had walked over as well and placed a hand on the older boy's shoulder as they looked down at what remained of the weapon. "Looks like we'll need to go shopping soon," Ivan said before dropping the hand and turning back to see Mia and Garet pick up their packs of supplies.
"I'll look for a new weapon. No rush with my arm as it is though," Isaac joked.
"Are you going to be able to carry your pack?" Mia asked, picking Isaac's supplies up along with her own.
Isaac turned back toward where Mia and Garet were getting ready to leave. "It should be fine," he stated, moving over to retrieve his bag from Mia and sling it over the shoulder of his good arm. "I can at least make it out of the desert like this," Isaac added after a few moments to boost the confidence of his allies.
Seeing that Isaac was indeed feeling better thanks to the brief reprieve after battle, the other three adepts smiled and got ready to keep moving forward.
"Shall we then?" Isaac asked, knowing everyone was waiting to ensure he was good to go since he was the most injured.
With that the group moved on from the brief, yet fierce battle, heading towards the edge of the desert. Thanks to the more mild winds and lack of abrasive sand blowing directly into their faces, progress was much better than before and truthfully not even very difficult.
From time to time the wind would pick up a bit, but always settle back down shortly afterwards. The elimination of the giant wind lizard clearly had an impact on the ecology of the desert as a whole, and the adepts were left to those thoughts while continuing their trek throughout most of the day.
Eventually the group of four could see a passage ahead, flanked by walls formed of large rock formations where the endless dunes of sand gave way to more solid ground covered in dirt. Excited at the prospect of finally leaving the desert, all of them picked up the pace, passing through the valley and into entirely new terrain.
A wave of relief passed over the adepts now that they were finally out of the vast expanse of sand and wind that was their nemesis the last couple days. Even the small shrubs and trees acclimated to the still relatively dry climate was a welcome splash of green after two days of nothing but tan sand and massive rocks in every direction.
It also indicated that reaching the Venus Lighthouse and town of Lalivero nearby would soon be in reach. All that remained was traversing the Suhalla Gate before reaching town. Supposedly there was an outpost there before coming upon the lighthouse and town.
Dusk was coming on though and it was still a good half day walk or more to town, with all of the adepts worn out from the harshness of the desert.
"We should stop here for the night," Isaac spoke up as they came across a patch of ground that actually had some grass growing on it and wasn't just a mix of dirt and sand.
"We're so close though," Garet complained, wanting to keep pushing forward toward their goal.
Mia had to temper his enthusiasm however. "We can't Garet. Just look at how much Isaac is struggling after his injuries earlier," she reasoned.
Garet looked over to Isaac and didn't have a good response ready for that objection. It was true that Isaac was the most beat up of them all, but it wasn't as if he was the only tired and exhausted adept in their traveling group. He could only concede the point and let it go.
"Haha…" Isaac let out a weak laugh. "That's true, but that's not the only reason to rest," he explained. The other three looked at him to hear his explanation and so the blonde boy obliged.
"We are in no condition to fight right now," he said simply. "Forget about me, none of you are in the shape we need to be in to deal with any sort of confrontation," Isaac added.
Isaac looked up and off into the distance where the Lighthouse and town awaited them. "It's dark enough by now that if the beacon on the Venus Lighthouse was lit, we should be able to see it from here," he said,
"Ah...so we're close to catching up," Ivan spoke up, catching on to what Isaac was thinking.
"All the more reason to hurry," Garet said, letting his impatience once again overtake his logical side. "We need to stop it from being lit and rescue Jenna as soon as we can." Garet voiced with conviction.
Isaac frowned. "Trust me, I'd love to do nothing more than keep pressing on, but we seriously can't." He looked over at Garet with a serious expression. "What if we actually did catch up and run into them? Right now would you be confident we can beat them?" Isaac challenged.
Ivan and Mia could already tell the only reasonable conclusion and remained silent as Garet looked at each adept in turn before his expression changed, accepting the truth.
"With the beacon unlit we need to be even more careful not to carelessly run into their group," Isaac asserted.
Garet had to relent, knowing that Isaac spoke true. "I know, I know…" he admitted. "It's just that I really wanted to...you know, hurry up and save them," the Mars adept did his best not to show too much of his emotions, but it was plainly clear that the closer they were to their goal, the more it weighed heavily on Garet's mind.
It was something everyone could sympathize with, but nobody quite knew what to say to comfort Garet. He decided to make himself busy as a distraction from his thoughts while simultaneously showing he understood they would go no farther that night by starting to set up the tents.
With Garet spearheading the effort to get camp up and running, the other three adepts began to help as well, including Isaac until Ivan stopped him.
Poking Isaac in the chest to make a point, Ivan told Isaac, "You need to rest your body and arm. We can't have you injuring yourself any further right now."
"I can still help," Isaac protested, not wanting to push everything to the others.
"Ivan's right," Mia interjected, knowing the younger blonde boy would explain further.
She wasn't let down. Ivan just shook his head. "You're too stubborn for your own good sometimes you know?" he told Isaac. He didn't beat around the bush and talked to the Venus adept straight up. "You were the one just now telling Garet we can't possibly win a confrontation with Saturos and Menardi for now, yet you're the one who most needs every second you can get to recover for when that inevitably does happen," Ivan elaborated.
Isaac hesitated for a moment, but then a smile graced his features. "Yeah. I can't argue with that," he agreed, backing down and showing that he would not interfere anymore.
"I'll set up our tent so you can lie down, then come check up on you in a bit," Mia said, glad to see Isaac wasn't going to argue the point.
Ivan made it a priority to help Mia set the tent up so Isaac would be able to rest, while Isaac sat off to the side and focused on using up some of the psynergy he had recovered since the battle to help heal his body.
The broken arm was still painful of course, but the aches across the rest of Isaac's body were finally starting to settle down thanks to his healing psynergy and time since the battle. He focused mostly on his knees since his legs were the one thing that couldn't relax during the rest of the trip through the desert, though the soft sand helped prevent his knees or legs from feeling too much worse. With a small amount of his healing psynergy and a night's rest ahead of him, Isaac was fairly confident that he would be fine other than the broken arm come morning.
The broken arm was another issue altogether and couldn't have come at a more inopportune time. A sword could be replaced, but an arm would be much more difficult to heal, likely requiring Mia's help to recover.
With the tent set up, Ivan moved over to help Garet with dinner for the team in order to allow Mia some more time to see what could be done for Isaac's arm other than a temporary sling. Mia laid out Isaac's bedroll and had the blonde boy lay down as he joined her within their tent.
"Just lie still," Mia instructed as she loosened the sling to better take a look at Isaac's arm. Fortunately she had recovered some of her psynergy as well, though not as much as she would have liked. "How is the pain for now?" she asked.
"It's all right," Isaac replied. "I handled the other aches and pains just fine, but I'm afraid I can't do much about this arm right now," he said.
Mia nodded, giving the rest of Isaac's body a cursory glance before gathering her psynergy and focusing back on his broken arm. Isaac winced slightly as Mia placed her hand gently against the break and began healing it as best she could. As she worked on it, Mia could get a sense of how bad the injury was and the impact her efforts were having.
"It seems to have improved a little bit," Mia stated as the healing glow around her hands dissipated. "It's still broken though so don't go trying to move it around," she warned quickly as Isaac sat up but before he could raise his arm and test it out.
"Bone is a lot harder to mend than cuts, gashes, or bruises," Mia explained, removing her hand from Isaac's arm, glad to see he was heeding her warning and leaving his arm nice and still.
Isaac laughed. "It certainly seems that way," he replied, looking over at the Mercury adept with a smile. "I appreciate you helping to mend it though," Isaac said gratefully.
Mia shook her head somewhat disappointed. "If only there was more I could do for it right now..." she replied. "If I had more psynergy left I could probably mend the bone enough to make your arm usable again," Mia lamented.
"It's fine, it's fine," Isaac tried to reassure her. "Just what you've done so far has helped a lot. It's a lot less painful now at least," he said with a smile.
Mia just sighed in response, taking a moment to appreciate that despite the injury, at least Isaac was going to be fine and it wasn't anything life threatening.
"You know...it's not the first time I've realized my healing skills are inadequate," Isaac spoke up to prevent silence from descending between the pair. "I have no idea how I would heal a broken bone, but I can feel the difference from what you've done so far...with so little psynergy too," he said.
"I've always used my psynergy for healing though," Mia answered. "I feel like I'm more predisposed towards healing psynergy than most people as well," she explained. "On the other hand, you have talents with other kinds of psynergy that have more combat applications, because that is what has been most useful for you on your journey so far," Mia added.
Mia looked directly into Isaac's eyes to try to read his expression. "You picked up healing psynergy out of necessity before meeting me right?" she guessed.
"Yes," Isaac agreed. "It was never something I focused on at first, and before we met you we weren't really running into obstacles that would result in much more than scrapes and bruises," Isaac said.
Mia nodded. "And because of that, your healing psynergy is useful for those kinds of injuries. You simply haven't been exposed to the need to heal things like broken bones…"
Isaac shook his head. "You're right, but that doesn't mean it's fair to push it all onto you," he told the Mercury adept. "You've made considerable effort towards improving your physical combat abilities and psynergy so I feel like I should address my own weaknesses as well," Isaac explained his reasoning.
It was a logical train of thought, and one Mia herself had followed herself quite recently by learning to use a mace in combat. "If that's how you feel about it, then who am I to stop you?" Mia replied with a friendly smile.
"Thanks Mia," Isaac said, grateful for her understanding. "I feel irresponsible for taking this long to realize I should have paid more attention to healing psynergy, but I'll make sure to take it more seriously going forward," he added. "You're great at healing. I think we all appreciate that fact and unfortunately have been taking it for granted. I don't want to do that any more," Isaac stated.
"I don't feel like you've taken anything for granted," Mia spoke up, wanting Isaac to understand that wasn't an impression she had ever had of him.
"Even so, you're the one that handles a vast majority of the healing around here," Isaac replied. "I think that's a good thing. You are the most experienced after all…" he clarified. "But what if you're the one to get injured?" he paused for a second to let Mia imagine that scenario before continuing.
"That hasn't been as much of a concern in the past because of your fighting style, but now that you are changing your approach to combat, it's really something I should be taking into account," Isaac explained. "I don't want to run into a situation where you're the one that gets injured and I find that my own abilities aren't good enough to heal you," he continued with a serious expression.
Mia considered it for a moment. "I...feel like I have a better understanding of your motivation now," she answered. "If that's truly the way you feel...then I should really be encouraging you," Mia told Isaac with a half smile.
Something seemed off to Isaac in Mia's expression, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was. Instead the conversation died down with Mia looking off to the side and Isaac unsure why the mood had suddenly changed.
It took a few moments, but Mia broke the silence that had settled between them. "Have I ever told you why I studied healing back in Imil?" she asked Isaac.
Bewildered by the sudden change of topic, Isaac shook his head. "I don't think so...You don't often talk about your life back in Imil," he answered truthfully.
Mia looked back at Isaac and gave him a sad smile. "I suppose I don't," she said.
Isaac was unsure how to reply to that and hesitated a moment. "I mean, there were some things I could clearly see when we first met," he said. "You were well liked there...and obviously an incredible healer. It seemed like everyone in the town had a lot of faith in you…" Isaac prompted.
Mia smiled again. This time it was genuine, without the hint of sadness Isaac had noticed before. "That's true. Before I left for this journey, I was always busy helping everyone I could...though it wasn't always that way."
Isaac stayed silent and listened, understanding that this wasn't something Mia would normally bring up.
"I studied at the sanctum for years to learn the healing arts of the Mercury Clan," Mia explained. "Those years of my life were intense, and I was doing everything I could to become a better healer and help everyone in town live better lives." She paused. "They were good years and they made me into the person I am today so I don't regret them," Mia said.
The cerulean haired girl hesitated before continuing. "Before all of that though, I grew up with my mother in a house by the pond that always freezes over in winter," she said, smiling at the memory, and looking over to the side of the tent as if she could imagine that scene from her childhood once more.
"I was much like anyone else back then other than my talent for psynergy. The Mercury Clan took note of that power though, and that's how I ended up becoming an apprentice healer in the first place," Mia explained. "I was learning, but I never fully dedicated myself to the art of healing back then," she continued.
Isaac continued to watch Mia attentively as she shook her head and looked back towards him, breaking away from her happy childhood days. "That all changed though," Mia told him with a now serious expression.
"My mother...she got sick one year…" Mia said, her voice slowing down as she struggled to find the words to say.
Isaac felt a pang in his heart seeing Mia's demeanor change, and guessing what was coming.
"I thought the healers could help her," Mia continued after a moment. "And we tried. We…..we did our best." she continued.
Mia shook her head sadly. "It...didn't work," Mia could feel her eyes watering up, but managed to hold back any actual tears.
"Mia…" Isaac said, unsure of what to do. He settled on reaching out to hold her hand with his one good arm as a show of support.
Mia brushed away the tears threatening to form with her other arm's sleeve. "She was my only real family left you know?" Mia asked rhetorically. "I just kept thinking...if only I had been able to do more...if only I had studied harder..." she looked up at Isaac with her slightly red eyes and humorless smile.
"I couldn't do anything back then. I felt powerless," Mia explained, knowing Isaac would understand. "I...didn't want to feel that way anymore. Since that day I've put my all into learning everything I could from the Sanctum and the Mercury Clan about psynergy and the healing arts," she told him. "I didn't want anyone else to have to feel the way I did back then…"
Isaac's heart went out to the girl in front of him and he scooted closer to her, letting go of her hand and instead wrapping his arm around her shoulder, gently rubbing it as a gesture of comfort.
Mia gave Isaac a smile of appreciation in response. "That's why your reasoning for improving yourself resonates with me," she explained. "I completely understand not wanting to feel helpless if something happens…" Mia added.
There was silence for a short while as Isaac digested the story before he spoke. "Are you…?" Isaac started to ask, before stopping himself.
"I'm all right," Mia answered, knowing what he was trying to ask. "It was a long time ago now," she said as an explanation.
"We really did try everything we could think of though," Mia elaborated, moving past the emotions that had welled up recalling the story. "Psynergy...Herbs and traditional medicine...alternative cures…. We didn't rule out anything that could potentially help and though there was some improvement, nothing actually cured her," she explained. "That's why I tried to learn as much as I could about all kinds of healing methods," the Mercury adept added.
"Alex even tried to make his healing psynergy more powerful using a psy crystal…" Mia trailed off.
Mia's gaze suddenly jumped to another part of the tent where her pack lay on the ground, staring at it intently. Startled by the change, Isaac stopped moving his hand and pulled it back slightly as he waited to see what Mia was doing.
Psy crystal...
"I'm so stupid!" Mia exclaimed suddenly, getting up onto her knees and reaching out to grab her pack and drag it toward where she was sitting.
"Why didn't I think of this earlier?" she asked herself excitedly.
Isaac watched with interest as Mia hurriedly dug through her pack and set extra things aside that she wasn't looking for, wondering what had changed her mood so quickly.
"Aha!" Mia exclaimed, pulling a small object out of the bottom of her bag and holding it up for Isaac to see.
"Psy crystal!" Mia said with enthusiasm, even though Isaac recognized what it was at a glance. "It's a good thing we did that lucky medal game back in Tolbi after all," she said.
Isaac had some idea of her intentions with the psy crystal given the present status of his arm, and found himself agreeing. "Something that could come in handy…" he said, parroting what Mia had said when explaining her reward choice from the fountain game.
"Exactly! It seems I'll now have the chance to pay you back for that dress you got for me," Mia said with a wink.
Isaac laughed, but was glad to see that her mood had completely turned around with the recollection of the psy crystal she could use to solve his current predicament.
Mia turned the small star shaped object over in her hand, admiring the golden shine of the star as well as the small bit of psynergy stone embedded at the center. These devices were a relic of a lost age, which could clearly be seen by the wear on the surface of the metal. The bit of rock in the middle was what actually gave psy crystals their power though, allowing adepts attuned to psynergy to draw energy from them.
Mia had never personally used one before, but it was like an intuitive process to one who could feel the presence of the psynergy stone. "Let me see your arm again," Mia instructed as she began to focus on the psy crystal to harness the energies within.
Isaac shifted himself so that his broken arm was easily within Mia's reach and waited as the cerulean haired girl focused on drawing power out of the stone.
The sensation Mia felt was weird as the energy of the stone reacted to her attempts to connect with it. It was as if a dam broke and a torrent of water surged forth, flooding Mia's body with psynergetic power.
Chaotic, Raw, Unrefined.
These were the words that came to Mia's mind as the sudden rush of energy boiled up within her. It was a sensation she had never experienced, and she let out a gasp in surprise at the intensity of it.
Isaac had noticed the surge of psynergy as well, and though he could only faintly detect it from the outside, Mia's reaction made it clear that it had a profound effect.
Struggling to bring the overwhelming power under control, Mia reached out to Isaac's arm and channeled the energy through herself and into the strongest healing spell she had ever cast. A blindingly pure cyan light shone out from where Mia placed her hand against Isaac's arm, causing both adepts to squint.
Mia closed her eyes completely, focusing entirely on converting her overflowing psynergy into healing energy while Isaac averted his gaze to the side of the tent to avoid the glare of the spell.
It was only now that the healing spell was taking effect that Isaac really understood the power bestowed upon Mia by the crystal. Even he felt overwhelmed by the rush of energy concentrated in his arm as his bones began to slowly mend themselves, but Isaac knew it could only be a fraction of what Mia was experiencing.
Mia didn't dare let her concentration lapse as she kept up with the healing spell, draining the energies of the rock in an effort to mend Isaac's broken bones. She didn't even notice as excess psynergy escaped, causing the air around her to become chilly and frost to start forming on the ground.
Isaac was certainly startled, but understood that it was a barely controlled release of psynergy seeping out around the Mercury adept because she was unable to contain and control all of the power from the psy crystal. The cool embrace of Mia's psynergy in his arm had a profound effect that caused the pain to dissipate and his arm to feel much more like normal again.
Mia still didn't feel it as the frost began to coalesce on her hand and arm as well, slowly creeping up toward her body in the form of miniature ice crystals. Seeing this, Isaac reached out to break Mia from her trance-like state, but hesitated before doing so, his hand stopping just before touching Mia's shoulder before dropping it back to his side. Containing most of the power of the psy crystal could be no easy feat, and he was worried that disrupting Mia's concentration might lead to worse effects from a release of psynergy than what she was currently experiencing.
Wavering back and forth on if it was worth the risk, Isaac finally made up his mind and moved his hands to Mia's shoulders to try to shake her out of it. He never needed to though. As his hands touched the fabric of Mia's robe, the cerulean haired girl finally opened her eyes and the rush of power was abruptly cut off.
Breathing heavily, Mia glanced around in a daze before meeting the concerned gaze on Isaac's face. The exhilarating rush of energy blinked out of existence as the psynergy stone fragment in the psy crystal crumbled to dust.
"Mia?" Isaac asked questioningly as the Mercury adept gathered her bearings.
"Did it...work…?" Mia got out between breaths as she shivered suddenly from the cold air, finally aware of her surroundings again.
"I think so," Isaac replied, using his hands to steady Mia, as if he was afraid she might fall over at any second. Mia glanced down to confirm Isaac's arm was okay and noticed he was using both arms to hold onto her.
"Isaac! You're using both of your arms right now," Mia exclaimed, happy to see proof of success right in front of her.
"Ah! I am!" the blond boy replied, pulling them back quickly as if taking back his previous instinctual action to use the injured arm would prevent any further injury from moving it. "There's no pain though," Isaac noticed when he pulled his arm away.
"That's good. I'm glad…" Mia said with a weary smile, feeling a bit drained from the sudden absence of all the power that was just coursing through her moments ago.
Isaac slowly moved his arm around experimentally and found he could reach a full range of motion without any ill effects. "That's incredible…" he said, awed by how thoroughly the injury had healed.
Getting her breathing back to normal, Mia noticed the frost on the ground and her arm. "What…?" she asked, brushing away some of the ice crystals that had formed on her skin with a confused look.
"I'm not sure either," Isaac answered, reaching out to help Mia rid her arm of the frost. "My best guess is your psynergy overflowed and caused it to happen," he explained.
Mia nodded. "That...makes sense," she said after a moment. "The amount of power in that one little stone… It was way more than I expected at least," Mia added. She smiled. "The results seemed good though," Mia indicated Isaac's arm, seeing the blonde boy moving it around without issue.
"Yeah...I can't believe how much better it feels right now," Isaac said, demonstrating how his arm was as good as new again.
"I'm glad it worked," Mia said back, relaxing again with a sigh. "One more problem down I guess?" she asked.
Isaac laughed. "One more problem down," he answered with a smile. "If only you could have repaired my sword too…" Isaac teased.
Mia just shook her head with a smirk, understanding that Isaac knew it had taken all of her power to heal his arm.
"Thank you," Isaac stated, being a bit more serious.
"I'm just glad I remembered I had it," Mia replied. Silence descended between the pair as Isaac continued testing out his arm and Mia thought back to the story that led her to utilizing the psy crystal. She didn't want to dwell too much on her past, but since it had been brought up, her mind wandered back to it and was having a hard time focusing on anything else.
It took a little bit for Isaac to notice Mia's shift back to a somewhat melancholy mood, but once he did, he connected the dots. "Thinking about Imil?" Isaac asked, trying to confirm his suspicions indirectly.
Mia flashed him a smile hiding a faint hint of sorrow behind it. "Yeah," she answered. She paused for a moment. "I don't really talk about it much so now that it's come up, it's just stuck on my mind a bit is all" she added, trying not to make Isaac worry too much about her.
Isaac thought for a moment. "Well, since you shared that story about Imil with me, how about I tell you a bit about growing up in Vale?" he asked, thinking that something more lighthearted might help her feel better.
Mia smiled. "You know...I think I'd like that," she answered.
Thinking back to his days in Vale, Isaac racked his brains for something that might be interesting for Mia to hear. "I've already told you about the circumstances surrounding our quest with the Elemental Stars, the storm, and all of that I think…" he said.
Mia nodded in confirmation. That was one of the first things she had learned about Isaac and Garet since it was integral to their journey.
"How about the time in between then when we were honing our skills with psynergy?" Isaac wondered.
"That sounds good," Mia replied, happy to hear whatever Isaac decided to talk about.
"Okay then," Isaac said. He thought back to that period of his life, wondering where to begin.
"That's when Garet and I were really trying to improve our abilities with psynergy and learn how it all worked," Isaac began jumping into what his life was like as Mia listened.
"You know those pillars we sometimes move around to help us get past obstacles in our travels?" Isaac asked.
Mia nodded an affirmative and Isaac continued. "We used to have a tree stump like that back in Vale and would use that to practice by moving it with psynergy," he explained. "Oftentimes it would devolve into competitions to see who could push that thing the farthest, and we would exhaust ourselves since neither of us would give up," Isaac laughed.
Mia smiled. "I can definitely picture that," she said, understanding the personality of the two boys.
"Yeah, well that wasn't all either. We found all sorts of creative ways to train psynergy and competed with each other to see how we were progressing." Isaac shrugged. "It was probably pretty good practice for improving our abilities and never would have worked as well if we didn't push each other to do better."
Isaac smiled. "It was fun despite being hard work. Jenna would sometimes join in too and we could find things to do that required more than just the two of us. She would just watch most of the time, but when she did join it was more exciting than with only Garet and I."
Mia pictured the red-haired girl in her mind, recalling vaguely what she looked like from their brief encounter on top of the Mercury Lighthouse. It was only a fuzzy image in her mind since the entirety of the meeting consisted of Jenna calling out to Isaac and Garet from the elevator of the lighthouse and a brief conversation with Saturos and Menardi.
"I think Jenna was just happy to spend most of her time with friends, whether she participated or not," Isaac explained. "After all she lost family in the storm back then too. I lost my father, but she lost everyone…" Isaac trailed off, realizing he was heading in a more depressing direction than intended.
Quickly clearing his throat and changing topics, Isaac glossed over bringing up the storm. "We would go 'camping' a lot too though," he said, demonstrating air quotes as he shifted back to a lighthearted topic again. "We claimed they were psynergy training trips, but it was more like an excuse to hang out together," Isaac explained with a laugh. "We would go practice our psynergy and camp out for the night around the edge of town. It was always a lot of fun," he said, reminiscing about simpler days.
Isaac grinned as he recalled some other details. "Garet would always make sure to bring all of our favorite snacks so we could sit around the fire and eat while making up scary stories."
Mia smiled at the thought. "Little did you know that your camp outs would prepare you for this journey huh?" She asked.
Isaac shook his head despite the smile on his face. "I guess it helped to be somewhat familiar with sleeping in tents and being more comfortable outdoors," he shrugged. "I think Garet and I got used to it faster than Jenna though. She was always forgetting to bring a jacket and getting cold or having trouble sleeping, so she would spend the night with me instead."
"Oh?" Mia voiced, her suspicions aroused that it wasn't just a matter of Jenna being cold or unable to sleep.
"Yeah...I feel like it was an excuse for her to not be alone," Isaac explained, thinking back on his experiences from the time. "I'm pretty sure Jenna saw me as someone that could understand her pain and we grew closer during that time because of it," he added.
Mia felt somewhat upset hearing those words, and it took the Mercury adept a moment to recognize her reaction as jealousy. Even though her thoughts and feelings weren't something Isaac could see, Mia found herself feeling awful for being jealous at the idea of Jenna and Isaac growing closer in that situation.
She lost her entire family! Mia reminded herself, trying to suppress the ugly emotion that had reared its head. Of course she wants to be with someone she knows and finds common ground with...
Even reminding herself of that fact didn't dispel Mia's selfish thoughts. She did a good job of hiding her inner turmoil from Isaac though and managed to avoid any outward display of her mood aside from some minor fidgeting.
"Ahh...so you kept Jenna company?" Mia managed to ask without much change in her expression.
Isaac looked over at Mia and replied. "Yeah. I think she was happy that I didn't treat her differently despite everything that happened back then." He sighed. "The three of us - Jenna, Garet, and I were all good friends before any of that...but that dynamic changed a bit after her family and my father disappeared," Isaac explained, realizing that he was once again going back to the topic he avoided earlier. Mia seemed to be engaged in what he was saying though, so Isaac shrugged it off and continued.
"Jenna always put on a brave face, but she cried a lot after the accident even if she didn't like to show it. She even hid it from Garet some, I think because he couldn't empathize with her the same way, not having lost any family himself," Isaac said. "I guess I became her emotional support, and my mother and I were sort of like her second family..."
"Oh…" Mia said to fill the void in the conversation as Isaac stopped talking, her mind trying to sort out her own emotions and what she was hearing. Having just recently become clear on her own feelings for the blonde boy, Mia could feel seeds of doubt taking hold in her mind thanks to how Isaac was describing his interactions with Jenna. It was clear that Isaac cared about Jenna and the two had grown very close over years spent together, so Mia found herself wondering how Isaac actually felt about the girl from Vale. That wasn't exactly a question that she could just come out and ask Isaac however, not only because it would be very out of place due to the topic on hand, but also because it would be extremely embarrassing for her.
Isaac realized the silence was starting to get awkward and so he spoke up again. "Ah! Jenna is a lot better than she used to be though," he said before the conversation died out entirely. "I am worried about her right now since she's a captive of Saturos and Menardi and all...but then again Felix is there too so I'm not really sure what to think…" he said. "I can't imagine that Felix would have changed so much that he would let any harm come to his sister. He was always so overprotective when we were all younger," Isaac explained.
Mia used the mention of Felix to try to distract herself from the desire to know Isaac's feelings toward Jenna. "I obviously don't know Felix… but I would hope that he would still protect his sister," she said, steering the conversation in a slightly different direction.
"Yeah...me too," Isaac replied, nodding slowly. "I still feel like Felix is a good person," Isaac said. "I don't think he would be helping to light the lighthouses for no reason. Saturos and Menardi must be forcing him to work with them somehow...maybe even using Jenna to ensure his cooperation…" the blonde boy said as he shook his head.
"Well...hopefully we'll find out soon," Mia answered Isaac's thoughts, thinking of the Venus Lighthouse that lay ahead.
"I guess we will...one way or another," Isaac said, shaking his head slowly.
Both adepts ended up falling silent as their thoughts wandered to very different places. Isaac found himself contemplating the future and the Venus Lighthouse ahead of them, while Mia's mind wandered back to the past, struggling with what the relationship between Isaac and Jenna was really like.
Neither one seemed to notice the other's preoccupation, but they were both interrupted by the arrival of Ivan, who poked his head in to let them know dinner was ready.
Shelving the muddled mess Mia had made of her own feelings after hearing Isaac talk about Vale and Jenna, she followed him out of the tent to join Garet and Ivan outside.
I'm sure I'll find out how Isaac feels if we catch up to Jenna at the Venus Lighthouse, Mia reassured herself.
All will be clear then...