Greeeeaat. Just great. The MS Word on this computer doesn't let me save anything in HTML format, so now I have to type things in MS Works Word Processor. Oh, rapture. … *growls and snatches a large stick away from Kitsune* Stoppit! Now! Yer gonna leave a freakin' bruise on me arm!

"But that's the point!"

…You have three seconds before I superglue you to Xellos, you hear me? Three…two…o—oh, there he goes. ^_^

DISCLAIMER: Still don't own Golden Sun. Nope. Saturos is still my Muse, though. ^_^ If anybody has a problem with it, I have a few immortal Anubis Warriors who might want to have a little chat with ye to work things out, ne?

~:~:~

"Kierra! Wait up!"

I turned around to see Matt following me. I sighed. "Can't you just stay back in Vale?"

"Why?" he said quizzically.

"Because you might get hurt."

"I know a little Psynergy…"

"Oh, fine." I was going just on the outskirts of Vale to train. I hadn't seen a single monster on the way to the village…in fact, the only time I ever used my Psynergy on the trek was when that jerk confronted me at Lunpa. Of course, Matt had spotted me and just had to tag along. Not that I minded. It was just that Garet held me responsible for him.

Why didn't I call him father, you ask? Because I still didn't believe it. We weren't anything alike. True, he was arrogant, as I sometimes have a tendency to be…but he was rather thickheaded at times. We didn't even look alike; it was obvious that I had inherited most of my looks from Jenna, but not Garet. I often wondered about it.

When I decided we were far away enough, I stopped and looked around, drawing my javelin. Matt stayed back; smart kid. Then I spotted a quick flash of blue. A Vermin. Excellent.

Then it came out of nowhere, practically flying at me. I easily deflected its flight with a quick snap of the javelin, sending it crashing to the ground. Not wanting to waste any Psynergy on the weak animal just yet, I rammed the javelin into its stomach. It gave out a shriek and disappeared. I smirked and waited for the next challenger.

"D'you have anything for me?" Matt asked cheerily.

"Wha…what? What do you mean by that?"

"You know, like a weapon or something. Do you?"

"No," I said bitterly. "I travel light. Besides, didn't you say you knew Psynergy?"

"Only a little," he said earnestly. "Please?"

"I already said no."

"Why not—look out!"

I heard the last part louder than the first. I quickly whipped around, the javelin crashing into whatever was there. Then I saw it was a Thunder Lizard. "Oh gods…Matt, get back…"

"Why? He doesn't look so strong…"

"Get back!"

Merely seconds after I shouted the command to him, the creature whipped its tail out, knocking me down. I landed roughly on the javelin, but quickly rolled over just in time to kick the Lizard square in the chest, preventing it from slicing me in half. It hissed lowly, then leaped at me again, preparing its own Thunder Blessing attack. [A/N: That IS what it's called…right?] But before it could do so, a thin wave of fire slammed into it, distracting it. My mind registered the fact that it was Matt who did that, but I didn't care at the moment because the Lizard was back up. Before I could summon any Psynergy to attack with, it let loose its Thunder Blessing. I braced myself for the attack…when a large curtain of white flames struck out like a lance, shielding me and turning the attack back on the creature. Then I gathered enough energy to rush at the dazed Thunder Lizard and seal its fate with a single stroke of the javelin. When it disappeared, I suddenly felt drained. I wasn't wounded except for a long scar on my leg where its tail hit me, but it felt as though the white fire was coursing throughout my entire body instead of blood. Then it occurred to me to make sure that Matt was okay.

"I'm fine," he called out weakly. I turned my head to where he was. He seemed a little shaken up, but was perfectly fine other than that. "Wait…your hair…"

"What about it?" I snapped.

"It's…blue. Not all of it, just that white part."

I took the single lock of white hair in my hand. It felt searing hot to the touch. Yet, I noticed something—it was a deep, sapphire blue. The darkest I'd ever seen it was a light azure color…oh well. Figuring that was probably enough training for the day, I stood up, using the javelin as a support, and walked back to Vale.

…

I ended up being in the sanctum. Jenna, upon seeing the scar on my leg, insisted that I go. It only occurred to me that I could ask Isaac to heal it instead as I walked in the door; of course it was too late then.

While I was waiting for the Sacred Elder—apparently, some moron who couldn't use Psynergy was downed in battle with a Vermin—I thought about the Thunder Lizard. I'd only seen one once or twice; at times, Iodem made journeys to Lalivero and requested that I come with. All the times I'd seen one, though, they'd been fairly small and easy to defeat. That one was the largest I'd ever seen. Where did it come from…?

My thoughts were cut short as the Sacred Elder walked up to me, sighing. "Honestly, you would think that any fool would be smart enough to run away instead of trying to fight it barehanded…huh. What seems to be the trouble, Kierra?"

"Fell in a ravine," I lied quickly. I didn't want to alarm anyone…but I felt bad for it a few minutes later.

"Really? Oh, well, this doesn't look so bad…" He closed his eyes, waving his hand briefly over the scar. Being an Adept, I saw a small aura of golden Psynergy close the wound. It was as good as new.

"Sol's contest season, I hear," he said as I started to walk out the door.

"What?" I said. I stopped at his voice. Sol's contest? What was that?

"Sol's contest. Ever heard of it?"

"No…"

"Ah. I see. Sol's contest is sort of a test of strength, stamina, and intelligence that only goes on at certain times of the year…of course, it's impossible for anyone to compete."

"Why?"

"First of all, the supposed entrance to the grounds is up at Sol Sanctum. It's forbidden to go up there. Second, even if you could get to Sol Sanctum, the entrance is hidden. No one has found it yet, I don't think."

"Why is it forbidden to go up there?"

"My, you ask a lot." He chuckled. "Nothing can be done about it, I suppose. Oh well. You see, about twenty-one years ago—long before Garet married your mother—somethi—"

"Wait, wait. You didn't call him my father…does that mean…?"

"Yes. Ah…your real father…is dead."

I shrugged. "Oh well. I never knew him, anyway, it doesn't really matter all that much to me…" But it still meant that Matt was a half-brother. Did he know that? No, he couldn't have…could he?

"Anyway…twenty-one years ago, your mother, Isaac, Garet, and Kraden all managed to get past the guards to get to Sol Sanctum because they suspected two people were going to steal something from the Sanctum. And they were right. However, it resulted in Kraden and Jenna being kidnapped, and three of the Elemental Stars were stolen; Isaac and Garet managed to keep the fourth one, the Mars Star." I nodded; I'd heard of the Elemental Stars. "It was three years before the other three Elemental Stars, Kraden, and Jenna were recovered. But then, Jenna disappeared off to somewhere for a few days…then came back. It was quickly forgotten, but she still won't say why she left."

"Who were they?" I asked. "I mean, the thieves."

He furrowed his brows in thought. "I think…yes. There were two Mars Adepts, a Mercury, and a Venus. The Mars Adepts were Saturos and Menardi, the Mercury was Alex, and the Venus was, coincidentally, your uncle."

"Felix?!"

"Yes. Of course, he was just part of their group. He never did anything, really. He joined up with Saturos and Menardi after they saved his life when the Aleph Boulder fell."

"When was that?"

"Twenty-four years ago. The boulder killed Jenna's mother and father, and Isaac's father. Everybody thought Felix was dead until he showed up at Sol Sanctum."

"Ah…um, wait, if you do win Sol's contest…what's the prize?"

"Well, uh… One wish, I think. If the gods see it worthy, of course."

One wish? That sounded so cliché. "…Oh. I see. Well, thanks."

"Any time," he called after me as I walked out the door. Then I looked up at Mt. Aleph. Honestly, what was the big deal about going up there? It wasn't as if I wanted to steal the Elemental Stars all over again; I didn't have any use for them. All I wanted to do was to check out this so-called 'Sol's contest', and see what it was all about. There wasn't anything wrong with that, was there? No, there couldn't be. Luckily, the guards weren't on duty at the time. Lucky, lucky me.