Lord Cynic: Thanks.
Triad Orion: Here ya go! Kinda short, but it does reveal a little but more. However, the reference to Suhalla in my other fic doesn't have anything to do with this one. They're different, but I just used the same thing for the sake of convenience. Yes, it's true, this author is a lazy person. I'll have to try to step up my updates.
Snoopy6458: *sigh* Unfortunately, I did spot my mistake. Thanx for pointing it out to me. And, yes, Iodem is supposed to be with them, but I changed that too. I'll try not to change too much, promise.
Jupiter Girl: Details are good. *nods*
Midnight C: I think a lot of people would be... ^__^
Alex: No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you this time – finally Chapter 7!
saiyagal: Well, you don't have to take this advice, but just spend time training. It'll be very boring, but it'll be easier to defeat the Fusion Dragon and stuff. Also, it sets you up for The Lost Age, which is coming out very soon, if you're going to get it. $_$ Money would be a good thing for me right about now... must start saving...
7 - Visions of Danger
"What are you doing here, Alex?"
The azure-haired man flinched, surprised at the familiar voice. He was standing at the cliff directly in front of the entrance to the Sol Sanctum, staring down at the small, nondescript town of Vale. The home of his former enemies, but he didn't know what Isaac, Garet, and the others were to him now. He did not need to turn to see whom it was that spoke to him.
"Nothing of your business, Felix." And yet, he knew, most of in an unconscious sort of way, that Felix, older than the others, watched out for them. He must have noticed my presence here, Alex thought sourly.
"It's my business if you're hurting Mia in the process." Felix's voice was stony and hard. Not quite unlike the voice he had used while in Saturos and Menardi's company. Felix always had been mysterious, to both him and Saturos and Menardi.
"What?" Alex had known that his words to his former master and girlfriend would shock her. But hurt her? He couldn't possibly have hurt her with only words. They were the truth.
And perhaps tainted with jealousy and greed as well? The inner voice taunted relentlessly. For the past few days, he'd been having a crisis of conscience. Knowing that he wished to speak with Mia, but knowing she wouldn't want to see him.
"Yes. Perhaps you do not think it so, but your actions or words hurt her. It was only yesterday I saw her sitting by herself, crying as if the world would end. Luckily it was I who found her, not Isaac or Garet. If either of the two had seen her in such a state, they would have pried the information out of her and then gone hunting for you." He waited for Alex's reaction.
"They would not have been able to catch me," he said guardedly, blue eyes flashing. They glared across the sky. You're in denial! The tinny voice yelled, but Alex pushed it away.
"Ah. That would only last so long. Isaac cares greatly for Mia, as does Garet, whom is also one of her best friends. As for me, I owe a debt to her, saving my sister from danger. Your presence here only confuses the healer, only causes a tumult of feelings inside of her. She loves Isaac, not you. Please accept it, and go away. Find somewhere, anywhere, else to go, but do not play with her feelings." Alex whirled around as Felix began walking away.
"What are you talking about?! I am not playing with her feelings!"
"She doesn't need you around to make her life more complicated than it has been up until now. She is happy with Isaac in Vale. Isn't that what you want for her?"
Unable to form an answer to the unexpected question, Alex could only watch helplessly as Jenna's brother strolled away to disappear into the tiny village by Sol Sanctum.
"So how does this look?"
"Oh, Jenna, the cloth is too thin. You'll freeze to your death tonight!"
A gasp resulted from the far corner. "Jenna! This deep red would be most wonderful on you! Come look at it!" Just about everyone rushed over and began ooh-ing and aah-ing over a scrap of cloth. They were all making hand gestures that made no sense at all to her.
Mia wanted to clap her hands over her ears and go to sleep. To be dragged out of a nice, soft warm bed at the crack of dawn! What have these Valean women come to? And to discuss dresses, no less! Really, she'd rather sit with Garet and let him fill her ears with nonsense all day than be present at this fiasco.
All the young women of the village were swarming in the surprisingly spacious attic of the inn. There were many built-in closets, places to hang dresses, scarves and such, and thread and yarn strewn everywhere. Hundreds of needles were stuck in an abnormally large pincushion, and ribbons and silk scraps were all over the place. Not to mention wooden mannequins with half-finished dresses on them, which were just now having the last touches put to them.
It was the morning of the Holiday of Stars. It could have been viewed as a good thing, what with the high spirits that prevailed, and the happy laughter that echoed and reechoed across the valley. Some people from Vault had already begun arriving, and Isaac had stayed for a brief time only the night before, the two of them lying contented on the covers and talking of things that made no sense. Trivial things.
And, in Mia's case, it could also be viewed as a nightmare. Dragged awake by Jenna and several of her friends, she'd followed them up into the attic, where the rest of the young women in the town were discussing clothing, dresses, scarves, buttons, pearls, diamonds, gems, and who knows what else. At least they have not tried to dress me up like one of those mannequins yet...
She was sitting in a more secluded spot than the benches outside, on the inner shelf of the window. If there had been a curtain, or even without one covering the opening, she might have been discovered immediately. However, Mia had discovered a rather large niche with wood paneling, and when the sun shone onto her face, and illuminated the warm-colored wood all around her, her shadow fell only on the wood, and did not stretch behind her into the attic. It was there she had stayed 'safe' so far.
There is so much excitement about it. In Imil, we didn't go around like this, giggling and squealing for all we were worth. Or, the others might have. I never did join them. They accepted and respected me very much, but I was still different enough to know things beyond their wildest thoughts. And I had Alex as well. Until that morning, at least...
"Alex?"
She felt the spot next to her in the bed. Cold. As if someone had not slept there. Mia pulled herself up, letting the thick blanket slide off her bare shoulders, and glanced around the room. Stepping from the warm haven, Mia picked up her silk shift, still lying on the ground where Alex had removed it, and strapped it on tightly, still looking around the room. She ran a brush through her hair, which only last night Alex had been running his fingers through. She could still lightly smell the scent of him in his room. For that was where she had woken up; his room in back of the chapel. Picking up a heavy robe to keep herself warm, Mia pulled it around her slender body and let her eyes slide in concentration over each spot in the room. Alex's clothes and his staff were gone.
"Alex?" Mia called, opening the door to the small sitting room. Her own room could be reached not far away, a door on the opposite side of the building. Megan and Justin, her two apprentices, were most likely still at the major entire-town sleepover for the children, set up and organized by two elderly couples of Imil. That was the only reason she had gone with Alex, because they would not be present. It was so rare that they did not observe and watch her every move. Orphans they were also, and Mia had a special bond with them. They had been in training to become healers before Alex had joined their little group.
So far, they two had been of much help, with the epidemic sweeping through the entire village. The Water of Hermes at the Lighthouse had not flowed as of yet, and without it, Mia taxed both her powers and her rest, healing day in and day out. It seemed to be the only thing that worked quickly enough against the disease, and whatever it was, it didn't seem to want to leave the area. Just yesterday afternoon, she had come upon three strangers walking around, and warned them about the epidemic. At the time, she hadn't given them much thought, because she needed to report to yet another call for her healing, but later she saw them again. Did that mean something?
There had been two blonde ones, but while the younger had hair parted neatly, and wore a simple tunic and loose trousers, and holding a staff, the other had spiky hair, light armor, and a scabbard belted to his side. The bigger man, crimson-haired and with almost the same shade of eyes, seemed to be the more reckless of the three. The other two were unnaturally quite and seemed quite somber, at least for travelers. She was sure the other girls of the town, if they hadn't been worried for their parents or brothers and sisters, would have rushed out of their homes just to greet the strange travelers. Swarmed around the unusually young, handsome travelers in a throng.
The thought brought to mind Alex's face. A warm blush swept her cheeks when Mia recalled the loving ways he had expressed his love to her the previous night. His hand swept down her back, or tumbled through her long hair, or his mouth worked their magic in kisses against her bare skin. She had lost herself in waves of passion, and it seemed that she'd never felt such happiness in her life. But where was he now?
The rather small healing sanctum was silent, noiseless. Nothing stirred. Only the faint aura of healing lingered in the room made of stone, and Mia moved quickly through it, as from it she sensed a faint resonance of unsettlement. Then, completely out of nowhere, a vision came to her. Before her eyes, lay a scary scene: Alex stood at the top, along with two others who looked confident, and two people who were looking frightened, one a girl and the other an older man. Magic was erupting all around them in a fast-paced fight, fireballs flying and rocks falling out of the sky. Small, miniscule tornadoes whipped around them and caused the air to swirl rapidly. The scene quickly faded and flashed away, leaving her blinded, and then the entire Lighthouse came into view, with a bright life engulfing the top of it. All her nerves twanged, like an out of tune harp. A warning of danger pulsed through her veins.
The Mercury Lighthouse!
Alex forgotten, at least for the moment, she ran, robes flying behind her. Mia grabbed her staff along the way. She might need it.
Something's happening at the lighthouse!
"Mia! What are you doing here?"
Opening her eyes drowsily, she could barely make out Jenna's fiery crimson eyes and curled hair.
"Jenna? Is that you..."
"Stop mumbling! Have you been sleeping the entire time? We have to get you ready for tonight!" Frantic, she hauled Mia out and immediately hustled several others over, each with their own measuring tape. Others held many circles of ribbons and thread in their arms, each in a different color of the rainbow, and still others had needles in their mouths, scraps of cloth in small, compact boxes held to their sides by their hands, and rolled up balls of yarn at their feet. The sight of those things jolted Mia awake instantly.
"O-oh, no you don't. I am not getting fitted for some dress. I've been working for a whole week on my own! I don't need another one, trust me. I'm ready, I don't want to curl my hair, or color my face strange colors, and I most definitely don't want sewing needles, thread, and measuring tapes around me." Nervously she glanced around, and, looking for an escape, found one at the entrance to the attic.
"Isaac! I've been meaning to speak to you, but I've been busy all morning. Come, we must go downstairs and talk..." Before Jenna could protest, Mia all but ran across the room and dragged the poor, unknowing Isaac down the stairs and out the door.