Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. Golden. Sun....So. There.

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Isaac said nothing more, collapsing back into a deep sleep immediately. Mia knew that he had somehow forced himself to wake up to warn her, because she was an experienced healer and knew that no-one that badly injured could hope to wake up so quickly after collapsing. His force of will was able to break almost any rules of nature though, it seemed.

She had somehow sensed the truth behind his words, and knew deep in her soul that all her friends of many years were dead. Despite this, however, she could not truly accept the information She was still sitting there several hours later staring off into nothing and trying to sort out the idea that they could all really be gone. And then, of course, there was the warning of danger to her. She presumed that the two were linked, the deaths of her friends and the danger to her - and quite possibly Isaac's injuries as well. He had not had time to tell her much at all, really.

With that her mind flicked back to Isaac and she changed the bandages as well as conjuring a few healing enchantments of her element. Resting, his own psyenergy was recharging, and when he awoke he would be able to add his own spells to hers. He really was far too thin to be healthy, although well-muscled still... Actually, he looked quite good in a way, worn down and wounded or no. She very quickly shooed her minds away from that thought. She had had a crush on him years ago, but had never seen any sign of returned affections and had forgotten about it long before now. She told herself this firmly, she was only looking at him because he was her *patient*.

Mia went through the next couple of days in a kind of daze, still trying to come to terms with the loss of her friends - she often didn't see them for half the year when she was in Imil, but they were a very close- knit group and she truly felt that her world was coming apart. She tended to Isaac and fed him as he had not yet awoken again, spending large amounts of time in the chair just watching him sleep and thinking. She also found a secluded spot just outside the town and began to practice her more powerful battle psyenergy again. It was as much something tiring that demanded concentration, taking her mind off her losses, as heeding Isaac's warnings of danger. She did not like to leave him alone for too long, though, just in case something happened to him.

On the fourth day after his arrival he awoke again, and Mia came back from one of her short but intensive training sessions to find Isaac sitting in the snow with his back against the wall of the house, drawing power up from the earth to aid his recovery. When she recovered from her surprise at seeing him up she marched over to him.

"Couldn't you do that in bed?" she asked with a fake resigned annoyance, which could not hide her joy at seeing him up and about. He flashed her a smile, actually looking more cheerful than he mostly had in the years before he disappeared altogether - maybe the deaths of his friends and being nearly killed himself loosened him up. She ignored that thought, happy in spite of everything just to see him happy.

"It's better to be able to get at the earth. And I want to try moving around a bit. How long was I asleep for? It must have been a couple of days." He answered, a touch flippantly.

"You were gone for three days," Mia said a little more seriously, hoping to convince him to get back into bed - although she knew that she had little chance with someone as stubborn as Isaac. His face clouded and his mouth twisted wryly.

"Three days. I'm getting old." He muttered to himself. Then he straightened, a touch stiffly but with far more ease than she expected from someone who had been so badly injured, and looked her in the eye.

"You look tired. Come inside, there's some things I need to tell you." He trudged through the snow and into the house; she followed quietly. He was a far cry from the young man she had first met all these years ago, but he actually seemed more...human than he had since his mother's death.

When they had both got inside and sat down, Isaac sighed. "I suppose I ought to tell you what I've been doing for all these years. The basics you already know - wandering around the world, never staying long in one place, doing the odd job for a bit of coin and so on. And, perhaps most importantly, getting stronger - you know how much more powerful we were at the end of our quest than the beginning. But the more I saw of the world, the more bitterness, petty hatred, corruption and general viciousness I saw in the human race. There's a lot." His voice had grown angrier over the last few words, and Mia was a little off-balance from his tirade against the whole world. He continued.

"That is the lesson - there is more hatred and bitterness in the human soul than anything else. It's a lesson very few ever truly learn - intellectually understanding it is one thing, truly accepting it deep down inside you quite another. There are very few who can handle that. But the more I saw, the more I knew it was true - and it taints every view I have on everything. I look at a happy couple and know that they will argue and weep and split up, I look at an innocent child and know that they will not remain innocent for long." His voice was growing more bitter by the word, and Mia could tell that he truly believed this - no wonder he seemed so worn at such a young age.

"That is beside the point, really. That's just my personal rant at the world, but I think I've wanted to say it to someone - anyone willing to listen - for a long time. What is more relevant to the current situation is a Lady I met recently. I largely accidentally interrupted an assassination attempt on a wealthy noble of Tolbi - don't look at me like that, the man had done the same to others and neither side exactly had the moral high ground - but the woman hired to slay him is not tolerant of unexpected interruptions, and she decided to go after me - once she had killed the noble through his increased security.

She got to Vale before I could when I realised what she was planning. Their ends were not pleasant, their corpses showed that much. The other people of Vale were horrified, of course, but I hoped you hadn't been reached yet up here in Imil and left right away. I think she might have stayed around Vale a bit to watch them grieve." His voice had become dispassionate again as he talked of what happened to their friends. Mia finally interrupted.

"Stayed to watch them grieve!" she exclaimed "who the hell is this woman?"

"Who is she?" Isaac returned with a twisted little smile "A mercury adept of massive power, and, as I already stated, an assassin. She is named Amarre. I know something of her past - she has quite a reputation - there is an enormous amount of hate in her for everyone and everything. She was enslaved, beaten and raped as a child. She ran away from the brothel she had been working at for three years at 8, and survived on her own, becoming a feared assassin and learning to use her powers. If I were to guess why she is so heartless, I would say that the world has not treated her well - I doubt anyone has ever showed her any great kindness in her entire life - so she hates the entire world. A little demented, but what do you expect growing up in circumstances like that? It was some hirelings of hers that ambushed me in Bilibin cave, that's where I took these injuries. You look a touch stunned. I don't blame you. But she's a point in case about the misery of the world."

These final words sparked something off in Mia, and she rose and walked over to him. "There may be suffering in the world. But it can be overcome. Anything can be overcome. You just need to have *hope*." With this she stalked out of the door, slamming it, desperately trying to digest the information he had given her.

Isaac, still sitting in his chair, sighed. "It's been a very long time since I had any hope of anything." He got up and began expertly shadowing Mia as she walked. Who knew when Amarre might appear? In spite of everything, he did not intend to lose the last person he cared for in the whole world.

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Okay.... getting a little weird. Oh well. This is changed from my original chapter 5 which was posted briefly as that was just too weird and incomprehensible.