Legal stuff:
The following characters belong to me: Ondine, Kildare, Lucca, D'ken, Jasper, and Danda. If anyone wants to use them, go ahead, just give me credit for them, okay? The Temple of the Lost belongs to me, too. Anything you haven't seen before (i.e. weapons, etc.) all belong to me, unless otherwise noted. The journeybooks belong to Terry Goodkind.
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Chapter 8--Building of Strength
"Who are you?" Zell asked. "And how did I get here?"
The woman walked over to him. She looked to the mage guards who stood at her door. You didn't notice them unless you were told they were there, because they were stayed invisible. "Guards," the Dileja said plainly.
They materialized and took a step forward. They were dressed plainly in green robes with daggers at their belts and no more. That was a wizard's last line of defense, should his ability to cast spells wane. They were allowed to carry a small dagger and nothing more.
"Leave us, please," Lucca said to them. They bowed to her and backed away to the door. They withdrew from the room, leaving Zell, Ondine, and the Dileja.
"Now, as for who I am, I am Dileja Lucca of this Temple," Lucca said to him. "I am, as you would call me, the headmistress of this place and I always have been, ever since it was created thousands of years ago by Hyne to protect the many races that once swarmed this planet. The Artics to the south and the D'shalu to the east. The Tymarna's to the west and the Folstza's to the north. They all used to exist in great numbers on this planet until he came."
"Who do you mean 'he'?" Zell asked.
"The Dark One, Jasper. The one who destroyed them," Lucca said.
"Okay, now how did I get here?"
"Your Stone brought you here. That is one of the three Stones of the Ancient World. It brought you here because that was what your heart wanted," Lucca explained. "You see, the Stone you have is the Stone of the Heart."
"Because that was what my heart wanted? What do you mean?"
"You saw your friends in danger and all you wanted was to take them to the safest place in the world. You didn't know that it was here. The Stone simply did what you wanted it to," Lucca said. "That Stone you bear is the most dangerous of the three Stones."
"So, it's the most powerful?" Zell asked, lifting his necklace into his hand and looking at it. "This little Stone?"
"No."
Zell was taken aback by her statement. He looked up in surprise. "What do you mean '*no*'?? You just said it was the most dangerous!"
"That's what I said. But I didn't say it was the most powerful, I said it was the most dangerous. The human heart is a dangerous thing. More powerful than any weapon in the world. That power only needs a way to be let out, to be utilized and this Stone is the outlet," Lucca explained, walking to her picture window. Zell and Ondine followed her, listening intently. "It carries out your inner most wishes, no matter how honorable....or wicked....they might be. In the hands of an evil man, that Stone would be the death of the world. And even in the hands of a righteous man, it is still the most dangerous thing in the world, because even a righteous man is capable of evil thoughts. It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake."
**Author's note: that last sentence is quoted from H.L. Mencken, 1880-1956, American journalist.
Zell took the Stone from his neck and held it out in his hand toward the Dileja. "Let someone else take it. I don't trust myself with it," he stated, shaking his head.
"No sane man would, Zell....no sane man would trust himself with such power," Lucca told him as she watched the bottom of the sea from the window. Zell gazed out the window. He gasped as he thought he saw the shadow of something that looked half human.
"Was that a--"
"A Mermaid? You call them that on the surface, but they call themselves Merrows. You would do well to remember that. Only a person who knows the true name of that people will receive help from them. They do not trust surfacelanders. Yet, some have saved people on the surface from drowning. There are peoples on this planet, Zell, that no one has seen in hundreds of years, but their numbers are dwindling. There was even once a kingdom that floated in the sky, but it gone now, sunken into the ocean. Elves, Dwarves, Faeries....they all exist and as with everything, some are evil, some are good. And Dragons? They are sorely misrepresented. You will find a friend in the Dragon of the North, D'ken. He is very old and very kind. But, he will not ally himself with just anyone. You may take him this." The Dileja took off a necklace whose charm was hidden inside her dress. It was a tooth that had a hole inside it, hanging on a string of burlap. "He knows me and you will find shelter with him, should you need it."
"I'd like to see how my friends are doing now," Zell said, fidgeting with his feet. Squall was going to give him hell and he knew it. He was going to get scolded. He hated getting scolded. It always made him feel horrible. He remembered when the Dincht's adopted him and he did something he wasn't supposed to, he would always say 'just give me a whipping and forget the lecture, *please*, Ma....?' But, he always got the lecture instead and he went to bed feeling guilty.
But, he was going to have to face the music this time and take it. He just hoped Squall wasn't going to be too mad at him.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
"You're going to apologize to him, Squall," Rinoa demanded, crossing her arms. Squall stood with his back to her and his friends and let her talk. "I told you we weren't finished. But, we will be if you don't apologize to him." Squall turned around, an eyebrow raised.
"Just what *exactly* do you mean 'but, we will be if you don't apologize to him'?" Squall asked her.
"I meant what I said. You have gotten me that angry, Squall. Angry enough to break up with you if you don't apologize."
"God, Rinoa, I didn't say I wasn't going to apologize to him! I know I was too harsh, I know that, but I wasn't thinking," Squall said. It was true and he knew it. He hadn't been thinking at all at the bridge. It was like he had been in battle mode or something and wasn't able to turn it off.
Squall put his hand on his forehead. "Rinoa, I....[sigh]...I made him stay because I didn't want him getting hurt. The prophecy was the second reason. Maybe the reason Zell didn't see himself in the prophecy was because if he was there, he would have died. I didn't want him to get killed. He's the one with the Stone. Maybe no one else can use it. We need that advantage of being able to see the prophecies before they happen."
"We know why you made him stay, Squall. It was just the way you tried to get it across to him, you were just.....cruel," Quistis said to him from her small bed. She sat on it, looking at him from there.
"I'll apologize to him. But, not because you guys want me to," Squall said. "I'll do it because I'm sorry."
"We know you're sorry," Irvine commented. "Now apologize to him."
Squall reached over and knocked his cowboy hat to the floor.
"Hey! Did I mention that's a new hat...?!" he said, retrieving it from the floor.
The large double doors that led to the hall opened, revealing Zell, Ondine, and the Dileja, she, of course, entering last. The doors were shut again by the guards in brown robed who had followed them. It was their job to protect the Dileja with their lives if necessary.
Lucca stopped in front of Squall. "I am the Dileja of this Temple. You may call me Lucca." The guards gasped at this. No one was permitted to call the Dileja by her birth name unless her title came before it. "They are outsiders," she said to the guards. "They may call me by my name. You may not. Ondine, Kildare, you will be going with them on their journey."
"But, D...Dileja...I cannot survive in warm temperatures....How will I....?" Ondine said, concerned.
"There is a necklace that will enable you to do that, Ondine," Lucca said. "I would not send you if I were sure you would perish. You will go as well, Kildare. With your combined knowledge of the ancient world, you will be able to assist them."
They bowed. "Yes, Dileja."
"Come with me," Lucca said, she motioned for the guards to open the doors. They opened silently and they all left the room, entering the hallway. It had no carpet, only white marble tile. Their footsteps echoed throughout the temple.
"Why is it so quiet? If there are so many people here, why aren't we seeing any?" Zell asked, looking around at the ceiling and the white columns that lined the wall.
"We are at the bottom level of this Temple," Ondine said. "My people are on the next level up. But, there is no time for a tour, if my understanding is correct, Dileja?"
Lucca nodded. "Yes. There is no time for such formalities. These will be trying times for you all."
As they approached the end of the hallway, Squall saw a blue light on the floor and a red light next to it. They were both big enough for all of them to stand on and there were sparkles coming up from them.
"The blue one takes us up. The red one will take us to the Sacred Hall. There, you will find new weapons, new magic, and items that might assist you. But it has not been visited for nearly 1,000 years. Me, myself hasn't even been there in that time," the Dileja said. "Go. I will unlock the way for you." Lucca touched the panel on the wall over the light. She closed her eyes and began to chant in the language that they all recognized as High Centauran. The language of magic.
The red light flickered and turned to yellow.
"Go. Take what you think you will need. You'll find the spell to return here in a book on a desk there," Lucca said. "Guards, return with me to my chambers, please."
The entire party, minus the Dileja and her guards, stepped on the yellow panel and disappeared. Lucca turned around and began to walk with her guards back the way they had come. She was silent a moment, pondering the events that were to come. Lucca knew that the Book to the End of Days was in friendly hands on the surface and that that person was deciphering it even as she was thinking of this. Whether the Book would stay in those friendly hands or not was unknown to her.
She spoke aloud, her voice echoing through the hall.
"If He finds it.....*Heaven* help us...."
________________________________________________________________________________________________
"These books are in our language..." Squall said, startled.
"No, these are in High Centauran. They can be read by anyone, regardless of language. They *are* magic books, after all," Ondine corrected, holding a leatherbound book in her hands.
The dark room was filled with bookshelves, covered with dust an inch thick.
"It is my understanding that, on the surface, with magic there is a...draw system...? You draw magic from certain points, er fountains and monsters?" Kildare said uncertainly. She knew next to nothing about the surface world.
"Yes," Quistis said. She rubbed the dust from a book between her fingers, letting it drift slowly to the floor.
"That is not how it works here, with this magic," Ondine stated, lifting a book from the shelf. "You read these spells and then you have the magic to use as many times as you want. You simply say the name of the spell loudly and it executes itself automatically. There is a catch: a person can only use two types of magic and they have to be compatable with each other. One will use fire and earth, another lightning and wind, and another water and curative magic, etc. You cannot study combinations like fire and water because they are incompatable. And then there are magics that stand alone. Such as Pearl magic. Those can only be used alone."
"Wow, this is completely different than what we have on the surface," Selphie exclaimed. "Lucca said we'd find new weapons down here. What about them?"
"In time," Kildare said. "Those weapons are sacred. You must be patient."
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Later...
"Your weapon, Selphie, is the Morning Star. This has death magic. Whatever mortal thing you hit with this will perish," Kildare said, handing the solid black nunchaku to her. It had what resembled maces on each end, while a white dragon flew up each handle. Selphie gasped in amazement.
"This is....oh wow...."
"Irvine, this is your gun, Orion. You will not miss with this." Kildare handed him the black rifle. He took it in his hands and turned it, looking it over.
"Rinoa, your's is the Halo of Truth. This is infused with Holy magic," Kildare said. Rinoa took the golden ring from her and latched it to her launcher she wore on her arm.
"Quistis, this belongs to you," Ondine said, holding out in front of her a maroon whip with a neon green dragon engraved around the handle. The tip of the whip itself was full of barbs. "It is the Dragon's Tail. The barbs will anchor to anything you want it to."
"Squall...your gunblade," Ondine said, unwrapping it from a protective cloth. The cloth dropped to the floor, revealing a deep purple blade. Again, a white dragon showed itself on the handle. "Premonition."
"Why so many dragons?" Squall asked, running his finger along the blade.
"Dragons were sacred to the Centra civilization, the people who forged these weapons," Kildare said. "Centaurans were never attacked by dragons, while other peoples were because they hunted dragons and killed their young while they were still in their eggs. Many dragons have lost the ability to talk because of this. Some do, if you would listen and give them a chance by not attacking them."
"And your weapon, Zell, is this." Ondine held out a pair of black gloves with a red dragon on the back. "The Desert Rose."
"He gets a 'Premonition' and I get a 'Desert Rose'? Man..."
"Well, you *are* one of a kind...." Selphie giggled.
"Now, each of you state your magic affinity so that everyone knows who has what," Kildare said.
"Curative and Water," Selphie stated proudly.
"Fire and Earth," Quistis said.
"Lightning and Wind," Rinoa sang.
"Death and Dark," Squall said in his usual monotone voice.
"Pearl," Irvine said, shouldering his new gun.
"Nonelemental and physical," Zell said.
"Only one with curative? You're lucky that Ondine and I both have curative magic affinity," Kildare chided. "Whatever you read in each of those books, you have memorized. You need not go back and read it again."
________________________________________________________________________________________________
"That is everything I told Zell before I saw the rest of you," Lucca said to Squall. She turned to Ondine, taking a gold necklace from her pocket. "Ondine, take this necklace. It will protect you from the effects of warm temperatures," Lucca said, a simple gold chain around her neck.
"Thank you, Dileja," Ondine said.
"You must find this girl, Naomi Hansen, and protect her at all costs, whether she wants to have anything to do with you or not," Lucca said. "She is in Dollet."
"How do you know that?" Irvine asked suspiciously.
"I simply know. I have been around for 1,400 years. I understand your curiosity, but there is no time for me to explain such things," Lucca said. She reached inside her desk and took out two small, leatherbound books. She handed one to Squall.
"This is a journeybook," Lucca explained. "You write in this and I will receive whatever you wrote in its twin. We can communicate with these. I will have this with me at all times. You have everything you need. Go northeast and find D'ken. He will help you."
"Is everyone ready to go?" Zell asked.
"Ready," Ondine and Kildare said at the same time.
"Everyone hold hands," Zell said. Everyone grasped each other's hands, forming a circle.
"Godspeed," Lucca blessed.
"Exit!" Zell shouted, visualizing where he wanted to be.
And they were gone.
The following characters belong to me: Ondine, Kildare, Lucca, D'ken, Jasper, and Danda. If anyone wants to use them, go ahead, just give me credit for them, okay? The Temple of the Lost belongs to me, too. Anything you haven't seen before (i.e. weapons, etc.) all belong to me, unless otherwise noted. The journeybooks belong to Terry Goodkind.
************************************************************************************************
Chapter 8--Building of Strength
"Who are you?" Zell asked. "And how did I get here?"
The woman walked over to him. She looked to the mage guards who stood at her door. You didn't notice them unless you were told they were there, because they were stayed invisible. "Guards," the Dileja said plainly.
They materialized and took a step forward. They were dressed plainly in green robes with daggers at their belts and no more. That was a wizard's last line of defense, should his ability to cast spells wane. They were allowed to carry a small dagger and nothing more.
"Leave us, please," Lucca said to them. They bowed to her and backed away to the door. They withdrew from the room, leaving Zell, Ondine, and the Dileja.
"Now, as for who I am, I am Dileja Lucca of this Temple," Lucca said to him. "I am, as you would call me, the headmistress of this place and I always have been, ever since it was created thousands of years ago by Hyne to protect the many races that once swarmed this planet. The Artics to the south and the D'shalu to the east. The Tymarna's to the west and the Folstza's to the north. They all used to exist in great numbers on this planet until he came."
"Who do you mean 'he'?" Zell asked.
"The Dark One, Jasper. The one who destroyed them," Lucca said.
"Okay, now how did I get here?"
"Your Stone brought you here. That is one of the three Stones of the Ancient World. It brought you here because that was what your heart wanted," Lucca explained. "You see, the Stone you have is the Stone of the Heart."
"Because that was what my heart wanted? What do you mean?"
"You saw your friends in danger and all you wanted was to take them to the safest place in the world. You didn't know that it was here. The Stone simply did what you wanted it to," Lucca said. "That Stone you bear is the most dangerous of the three Stones."
"So, it's the most powerful?" Zell asked, lifting his necklace into his hand and looking at it. "This little Stone?"
"No."
Zell was taken aback by her statement. He looked up in surprise. "What do you mean '*no*'?? You just said it was the most dangerous!"
"That's what I said. But I didn't say it was the most powerful, I said it was the most dangerous. The human heart is a dangerous thing. More powerful than any weapon in the world. That power only needs a way to be let out, to be utilized and this Stone is the outlet," Lucca explained, walking to her picture window. Zell and Ondine followed her, listening intently. "It carries out your inner most wishes, no matter how honorable....or wicked....they might be. In the hands of an evil man, that Stone would be the death of the world. And even in the hands of a righteous man, it is still the most dangerous thing in the world, because even a righteous man is capable of evil thoughts. It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake."
**Author's note: that last sentence is quoted from H.L. Mencken, 1880-1956, American journalist.
Zell took the Stone from his neck and held it out in his hand toward the Dileja. "Let someone else take it. I don't trust myself with it," he stated, shaking his head.
"No sane man would, Zell....no sane man would trust himself with such power," Lucca told him as she watched the bottom of the sea from the window. Zell gazed out the window. He gasped as he thought he saw the shadow of something that looked half human.
"Was that a--"
"A Mermaid? You call them that on the surface, but they call themselves Merrows. You would do well to remember that. Only a person who knows the true name of that people will receive help from them. They do not trust surfacelanders. Yet, some have saved people on the surface from drowning. There are peoples on this planet, Zell, that no one has seen in hundreds of years, but their numbers are dwindling. There was even once a kingdom that floated in the sky, but it gone now, sunken into the ocean. Elves, Dwarves, Faeries....they all exist and as with everything, some are evil, some are good. And Dragons? They are sorely misrepresented. You will find a friend in the Dragon of the North, D'ken. He is very old and very kind. But, he will not ally himself with just anyone. You may take him this." The Dileja took off a necklace whose charm was hidden inside her dress. It was a tooth that had a hole inside it, hanging on a string of burlap. "He knows me and you will find shelter with him, should you need it."
"I'd like to see how my friends are doing now," Zell said, fidgeting with his feet. Squall was going to give him hell and he knew it. He was going to get scolded. He hated getting scolded. It always made him feel horrible. He remembered when the Dincht's adopted him and he did something he wasn't supposed to, he would always say 'just give me a whipping and forget the lecture, *please*, Ma....?' But, he always got the lecture instead and he went to bed feeling guilty.
But, he was going to have to face the music this time and take it. He just hoped Squall wasn't going to be too mad at him.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
"You're going to apologize to him, Squall," Rinoa demanded, crossing her arms. Squall stood with his back to her and his friends and let her talk. "I told you we weren't finished. But, we will be if you don't apologize to him." Squall turned around, an eyebrow raised.
"Just what *exactly* do you mean 'but, we will be if you don't apologize to him'?" Squall asked her.
"I meant what I said. You have gotten me that angry, Squall. Angry enough to break up with you if you don't apologize."
"God, Rinoa, I didn't say I wasn't going to apologize to him! I know I was too harsh, I know that, but I wasn't thinking," Squall said. It was true and he knew it. He hadn't been thinking at all at the bridge. It was like he had been in battle mode or something and wasn't able to turn it off.
Squall put his hand on his forehead. "Rinoa, I....[sigh]...I made him stay because I didn't want him getting hurt. The prophecy was the second reason. Maybe the reason Zell didn't see himself in the prophecy was because if he was there, he would have died. I didn't want him to get killed. He's the one with the Stone. Maybe no one else can use it. We need that advantage of being able to see the prophecies before they happen."
"We know why you made him stay, Squall. It was just the way you tried to get it across to him, you were just.....cruel," Quistis said to him from her small bed. She sat on it, looking at him from there.
"I'll apologize to him. But, not because you guys want me to," Squall said. "I'll do it because I'm sorry."
"We know you're sorry," Irvine commented. "Now apologize to him."
Squall reached over and knocked his cowboy hat to the floor.
"Hey! Did I mention that's a new hat...?!" he said, retrieving it from the floor.
The large double doors that led to the hall opened, revealing Zell, Ondine, and the Dileja, she, of course, entering last. The doors were shut again by the guards in brown robed who had followed them. It was their job to protect the Dileja with their lives if necessary.
Lucca stopped in front of Squall. "I am the Dileja of this Temple. You may call me Lucca." The guards gasped at this. No one was permitted to call the Dileja by her birth name unless her title came before it. "They are outsiders," she said to the guards. "They may call me by my name. You may not. Ondine, Kildare, you will be going with them on their journey."
"But, D...Dileja...I cannot survive in warm temperatures....How will I....?" Ondine said, concerned.
"There is a necklace that will enable you to do that, Ondine," Lucca said. "I would not send you if I were sure you would perish. You will go as well, Kildare. With your combined knowledge of the ancient world, you will be able to assist them."
They bowed. "Yes, Dileja."
"Come with me," Lucca said, she motioned for the guards to open the doors. They opened silently and they all left the room, entering the hallway. It had no carpet, only white marble tile. Their footsteps echoed throughout the temple.
"Why is it so quiet? If there are so many people here, why aren't we seeing any?" Zell asked, looking around at the ceiling and the white columns that lined the wall.
"We are at the bottom level of this Temple," Ondine said. "My people are on the next level up. But, there is no time for a tour, if my understanding is correct, Dileja?"
Lucca nodded. "Yes. There is no time for such formalities. These will be trying times for you all."
As they approached the end of the hallway, Squall saw a blue light on the floor and a red light next to it. They were both big enough for all of them to stand on and there were sparkles coming up from them.
"The blue one takes us up. The red one will take us to the Sacred Hall. There, you will find new weapons, new magic, and items that might assist you. But it has not been visited for nearly 1,000 years. Me, myself hasn't even been there in that time," the Dileja said. "Go. I will unlock the way for you." Lucca touched the panel on the wall over the light. She closed her eyes and began to chant in the language that they all recognized as High Centauran. The language of magic.
The red light flickered and turned to yellow.
"Go. Take what you think you will need. You'll find the spell to return here in a book on a desk there," Lucca said. "Guards, return with me to my chambers, please."
The entire party, minus the Dileja and her guards, stepped on the yellow panel and disappeared. Lucca turned around and began to walk with her guards back the way they had come. She was silent a moment, pondering the events that were to come. Lucca knew that the Book to the End of Days was in friendly hands on the surface and that that person was deciphering it even as she was thinking of this. Whether the Book would stay in those friendly hands or not was unknown to her.
She spoke aloud, her voice echoing through the hall.
"If He finds it.....*Heaven* help us...."
________________________________________________________________________________________________
"These books are in our language..." Squall said, startled.
"No, these are in High Centauran. They can be read by anyone, regardless of language. They *are* magic books, after all," Ondine corrected, holding a leatherbound book in her hands.
The dark room was filled with bookshelves, covered with dust an inch thick.
"It is my understanding that, on the surface, with magic there is a...draw system...? You draw magic from certain points, er fountains and monsters?" Kildare said uncertainly. She knew next to nothing about the surface world.
"Yes," Quistis said. She rubbed the dust from a book between her fingers, letting it drift slowly to the floor.
"That is not how it works here, with this magic," Ondine stated, lifting a book from the shelf. "You read these spells and then you have the magic to use as many times as you want. You simply say the name of the spell loudly and it executes itself automatically. There is a catch: a person can only use two types of magic and they have to be compatable with each other. One will use fire and earth, another lightning and wind, and another water and curative magic, etc. You cannot study combinations like fire and water because they are incompatable. And then there are magics that stand alone. Such as Pearl magic. Those can only be used alone."
"Wow, this is completely different than what we have on the surface," Selphie exclaimed. "Lucca said we'd find new weapons down here. What about them?"
"In time," Kildare said. "Those weapons are sacred. You must be patient."
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Later...
"Your weapon, Selphie, is the Morning Star. This has death magic. Whatever mortal thing you hit with this will perish," Kildare said, handing the solid black nunchaku to her. It had what resembled maces on each end, while a white dragon flew up each handle. Selphie gasped in amazement.
"This is....oh wow...."
"Irvine, this is your gun, Orion. You will not miss with this." Kildare handed him the black rifle. He took it in his hands and turned it, looking it over.
"Rinoa, your's is the Halo of Truth. This is infused with Holy magic," Kildare said. Rinoa took the golden ring from her and latched it to her launcher she wore on her arm.
"Quistis, this belongs to you," Ondine said, holding out in front of her a maroon whip with a neon green dragon engraved around the handle. The tip of the whip itself was full of barbs. "It is the Dragon's Tail. The barbs will anchor to anything you want it to."
"Squall...your gunblade," Ondine said, unwrapping it from a protective cloth. The cloth dropped to the floor, revealing a deep purple blade. Again, a white dragon showed itself on the handle. "Premonition."
"Why so many dragons?" Squall asked, running his finger along the blade.
"Dragons were sacred to the Centra civilization, the people who forged these weapons," Kildare said. "Centaurans were never attacked by dragons, while other peoples were because they hunted dragons and killed their young while they were still in their eggs. Many dragons have lost the ability to talk because of this. Some do, if you would listen and give them a chance by not attacking them."
"And your weapon, Zell, is this." Ondine held out a pair of black gloves with a red dragon on the back. "The Desert Rose."
"He gets a 'Premonition' and I get a 'Desert Rose'? Man..."
"Well, you *are* one of a kind...." Selphie giggled.
"Now, each of you state your magic affinity so that everyone knows who has what," Kildare said.
"Curative and Water," Selphie stated proudly.
"Fire and Earth," Quistis said.
"Lightning and Wind," Rinoa sang.
"Death and Dark," Squall said in his usual monotone voice.
"Pearl," Irvine said, shouldering his new gun.
"Nonelemental and physical," Zell said.
"Only one with curative? You're lucky that Ondine and I both have curative magic affinity," Kildare chided. "Whatever you read in each of those books, you have memorized. You need not go back and read it again."
________________________________________________________________________________________________
"That is everything I told Zell before I saw the rest of you," Lucca said to Squall. She turned to Ondine, taking a gold necklace from her pocket. "Ondine, take this necklace. It will protect you from the effects of warm temperatures," Lucca said, a simple gold chain around her neck.
"Thank you, Dileja," Ondine said.
"You must find this girl, Naomi Hansen, and protect her at all costs, whether she wants to have anything to do with you or not," Lucca said. "She is in Dollet."
"How do you know that?" Irvine asked suspiciously.
"I simply know. I have been around for 1,400 years. I understand your curiosity, but there is no time for me to explain such things," Lucca said. She reached inside her desk and took out two small, leatherbound books. She handed one to Squall.
"This is a journeybook," Lucca explained. "You write in this and I will receive whatever you wrote in its twin. We can communicate with these. I will have this with me at all times. You have everything you need. Go northeast and find D'ken. He will help you."
"Is everyone ready to go?" Zell asked.
"Ready," Ondine and Kildare said at the same time.
"Everyone hold hands," Zell said. Everyone grasped each other's hands, forming a circle.
"Godspeed," Lucca blessed.
"Exit!" Zell shouted, visualizing where he wanted to be.
And they were gone.