Hellooo, everybody!! I'm back, and this time I actually updated faster!! Yay for me. I convinced myself to somehow finish this chapter before the week ended and update so you all wouldn't end up hurting me (this is not the last chapter though!). *sighs* Anyway, on with the fic!
But first the review replies, the RRs. Extra long this time for some reason...
0==|=R=a=g=n=a=r=o=k= - Interesting name... but that's besides the point. Thank you once, and twice, for the nice, esteem-boosting compliments! And I don't think writers misspell "quite" with "quiet," per se. It's just sometimes when you type VERY fast, your fingers think faster than your head and just punch down the keys. And since those are all the correct keys (just in a diff. order), you don't think anything you typed was wrong. Did I do that? I'm sorry. And everyone out there – let's watch our "quite"s and "quiet"s; Ragnarok is watching us!
Snoopy6458 - *sighs* You know, I think you are the most helpful and observant of all my reviewers. You catch absolutely EVERYTHING (which is a good thing, by the way)! I don't know what happened to Kraden, to be honest. I always focus on one thing and punch through everything else in my way. Next GS fic (which will hopefully be coming up soon, when I finish this fic and intro it in my TY notes) I'll try to pay more attention to details and such, alright? Thanks once again!
Midnight C – It's not right, but it had to happen. Where would the cliffhanging be WITHOUT that event? If you think about it, you need things like that to make other things interesting. And I agree. Waiting for new installments are an injustice. O_o
Alex – Yes, everyone, I was alive, I was just bogged down in the swamps of school and everything related to it. And as you'll see, it did not take weeks to update this new chapter! Hehe.
Akiko – The artist... good for you! I can't draw to save the world. My best... was a stick figure. ^_^ Anyway, I'm sorry to break the news to you and Alex, but I doubt I will be getting Alex and Mia back together. *sad smile* I just don't think it's meant to be. Mia+Isaac all the way!
Triad Orion - *cringes at first 'evil'* Ouch. *cringes again* That hurt! You are just as bad, I agree! Anyway, thank you twice and millions. (that didn't make ANY sense...) But those were very floral-sounding compliments... they deserved the equally floral-sounding thank you's.
Jupiter Girl – I think you're the only one who caught onto the Garet part... yes, slow on the outside, but very sensitive and thoughtful on the inside. That was the whole point of the chapter, I think – to balance out some of his more humorous characteristics. And addiction is good... in this case, anyway. I promise the next chapter will be coming up soon!! *now I'm committed...*
PhishyKiss – Thanks! And you read correctly – this will definitely not end up as an Alex/Mia. I'm sure you – and the other readers – know what pair I plan on ending "Embrace the Stars" with. ^_^
11 – Understand Thyself
Sparkling snow lay everywhere – the beautiful aftermath of almost an entire week of late blizzards and winter storms. The wind fairly skipped over the snow, sending wisps of every cotton-like pile into the air like miniscule clouds, as seen from the heavens. There was no word to describe her very vision of paradise. She was in her element – the very essence of her shrouded the beautiful little village around them.
Sadly... the calm scattered almost precariously around her did not match her mood. Mia could only stare unhappily across the snow, the only thing her eyes welcomed were tears, and the only thought fleeting across her mind was of Isaac. A week had past since his proposal, and she'd not seem him since. Even of Garet and Jenna, she saw little, and so usually the only one she saw all day was Ivan, and some villagers when they came to her for help on minor injuries and some colds.
"Mia?"
She turned hopefully, eyes bright with anticipation, and robes flying delayed in their movement. As soon as Mia saw who spoke, her shoulders slumped and her eyes dulled. The small smile stayed on her face.
"Are you and Sheba ready to go yet?"
Uncertainly, Ivan nodded, and gestured toward the entrance of Vale. "We're ready to leave. I think we'll head to Imil, first; it would be safer if you stayed behind in Imil and Sheba and I, the two of us, traveled together in a pair –"
"-Because it is always safer in pairs," Mia echoed, nodding resolutely. The two began walking down the slope, to Vale's entrance gate. After one last wave to the mayor, who was standing with the innkeeper and the innkeeper's two workers, Mia, Ivan, and Sheba turned around walked out of Vale, and into the wilderness. Hidden from view, Isaac watched their retreating figures until he could no longer see their diminutive forms in the distance. Then, he turned and strode away.
"No, I'm sure they understand what we're saying!" Ivan insisted.
"But they don't do anything! Look, they just sit there with angled heads and listen to the sounds we make! There is a difference!" Sheba argued back, inserting much pointing and arm waving into her few sentences.
Demurely, Mia watched the two yell their sides of their points of view back and forth. They had been doing so for hours now, while walking at their pleasure to Vault, at a nice, relaxed pace. The argument was simple: did Djinn actually understand the words that their Adepts spoke? Ivan said yes; Sheba said no. Of course, when she had actually listened for a while, Mia found that their debate was a lot more complicated than that...
"Sure, they come when you wave your arm or say a few words," Sheba was saying exasperatingly, "but they don't actually understand what you're saying!"
"Oh? Then how would you suppose they'd know what to do in battle?" Ivan retorted sharply.
"Your word tones! They can tell by your word tones, Ivan! And the speech inflections that you have, not to mention the thought images that spread from your mind when you think!" One complication was that Sheba believed that with every thought a person had, especially Adepts who hadn't learned control of them yet, images and pictures spread from the mind and out into the near vicinity. Those whom had the ability could pick up those images and use them to their advantage, if possible. Sheba's theory was that Djinn couldn't understand the actual words that the Adept spoke to summon them, or use their abilities; they could, however, pick up a great deal of thought-images from the Adept and use those as cue lines for attack or doing whatever it was the Adept wanted to do.
Ivan was now the one who was sighing exasperatingly. "Do you actually believe those things? Djinn respond so quickly to the Adept's commands, there's no way they'd have to FIRST receive the thought-images, and then do the actual task! That would take too long. Besides, Mia's Djinn seem so close to her, that almost even before she finishes, they seem to sense what she's about to say – from her old habits and sentences – and do whatever it is that is to be done!" At that, both glanced back at Mia, who smiled lightly and nodded brightly. They went back to their argument.
Ivan's point of view was exactly opposite that of Sheba's. He believed Djinn understood the Adept's commands; no doubt about it. After spending months with his Djinn, Ivan truly thought that they understood his words, and with the way they behaved almost playfully at the lighter times during their journey. It was also a help that Mia's Djinn seemed to care so deeply for her.
Mia didn't mind their incessant chatter – in fact, she welcomed it. It gave her something else to focus on, instead of thinking constantly about Isaac. And Vale. And Garet, and Jenna, Kraden, Felix, and Alex. Most likely, it was the first time she had placed a warm, real smile on her face that week. Refreshing, truly it was, to let her mind follow the intensely scientific and persistent debate about Djinn that Sheba and Ivan were participating in. She, herself, had pulled herself out of it after the first few minutes. She knew where her opinion would lie. Besides, it was interesting to see what the younger Adepts thought about the topic of the mysterious creatures of the elements, Djinn.
She let them argue a bit longer before finally breaking in between them. "I know how you two would just love to debate about Djinn all evening, but we've already arrived at Vault. Come on. Our rooms at the inn await us!" Sheba and Ivan laughed, agreed, and all three hurried into Vault to claim their rooms for the night.
Sheba looked across the landscape laid out before her. "By all the gods! It's so beautiful up in the mountains! I've never been this far up north, except at Vale, but they didn't have mountains like this! I didn't believe it when you said that almost a month of traveling to an isolated little village would be worth it!"
Giggling like a child again, Mia hugged the younger girl. "It is, isn't it? I've lived in Imil all my life, and I've never been able to get over how much beauty lies all around us. Either you love the snow, or you grow to hate it. Luckily..." She laughed gaily. "I love it! I always have, and I always will." Picking up a handful of snow, she flung it into the air in Ivan's direction, who was absentmindedly staring across the landscape. It rained down on them, making them laugh joyfully.
It was stunning. The white expanse of snow seemed to stretch to the very edges of the world, and if one looked closely enough, you could see the beginning of the artic waters beyond the Mercury Lighthouse and the tiny town of Imil not far away from it. The water was a frigid, but dark, blue; the color rivaled in color with its lighter but stronger sky-blue companion above the horizon.
Smells assaulted their senses, but these were of the mountains, not city smells or those of the desert. Faint tangs of pine reached their noses, and there was a pure freshness that only the mountains had, in their risen elevation from the rest of the world. A light mist enveloped them, but it was still light enough to see through and make everything seem almost otherworldly. Mia could have sworn she'd seen mountain and snow sprites jumping from snow-laden tree to snow-laden bushes; Sheba claimed that everything she saw was sparkling in a glowing sort of way, a result of the sun and mist. Ivan declared that even after seeing it once, another view from the tops of the mountains were peers to no other.
Breathing in, eyes closed in bliss, Mia clasped her hands in front of her. "I've only seen this view once in my life. I wouldn't mind living up in the mountains all my life. Imil isn't so bad, for all that it is so much smaller than Kalay and Tolbi, and not nearly as lively. Every morning, I woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside my window during spring and summer, and to the sound of wind chimes during the fall, and to the snow-covered peaks of the majestic mountains in winter. Besides," Mia spun around, making her robes flare out, "There is the ocean behind the lighthouse. It's so blue... and it sparkled in the sunlight."
Ivan and Sheba smiled knowingly to each other. It was obvious how much Mia missed her home during her stay in Vale, and during their journey to rescue the others. Her face showed it now. Her eyes sparkled in view of the glory of her childhood playground. Her manner was something Sheba had never seen before, and Ivan had only glimpsed when they had left. She seemed... freer. Serene, and peaceful, among the vastness of snow around them. When they looked closer, she almost glistened under the bright blue skies, and the glorious sun. No doubt, she would glow even more under Luna, the goddess of her element. There was no question about it.
She belonged in Imil.
"Who's going to take first watch?" Ivan commented, yawning so hard he thought his jaw would split.
"Obviously not you," Sheba sniffed, and then her own yawn punctuated her remark. Ivan shoved her lightly, laughing. In retaliation, Sheba grabbed a handful of snow and attempted to stuff it down Ivan's clothes. His Djinn stopped her (all seven of them) by leaping into her clothes and wriggling. The result was that everyone was amused and all of them were in good spirits.
"I suppose this means I'll take first watch. Sweet dreams, Sheba, Ivan." Mia smiled sweetly as she watched the two younger Adepts fall asleep. All the troubles seemed to ease themselves off their faces. Almost like letting them have their peace at night, as they sleep, Mia thought. The two nodded off at her words, smiles at their lips. Soon, Mia could hear nothing except the echoes of night and their deep breathing. It was then she broke down and began crying, because she had everything she'd ever had, except for one thing.
Isaac.
He was hundreds of miles away.
I've made my choice... I can't turn back now. I belong in Imil. I love it too much to live anywhere else. And although my duty to watch over the Lighthouse has been released, it is my duty to train Megan and Justin to become healers of Imil. It is my home. I belong near the snowy mountains, near the Lighthouse, and near the sea beyond. Please be happy, Isaac. Please be happy in Vale.
As tears coursed down her cheeks, she could only say one thing.
"I love you, Isaac," she whispered inaudibly.