I don't own Golden Sun, or any of it's characters/locations/related material. I do, however, own this story, and all original concepts/plot/characters etc.

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The great bow of the Lemurian ship thudded into the soft sand.

            "Isaac!  I think we hit something! I swear I couldn't see it coming," Garet called over the steering wheel. He bent down to grab his Burning Axe, which had tipped over from the impact and was starting to singe the heavy wood. Reminding himself to look for its' cover, Garet ran down the stairs to the left and started sprinting down the deck. He was going at full speed, yet it still took about two minutes to reach the far end of the ship.

            Grasping the rail, Garet leaned out over the side, hoping he wouldn't find a gaping hole in the side of the ship. It would be just his luck to run into a jagged rock on his shift. But he didn't find a hole, or a rock. The surface of the water shimmered metres below him, over what was unmistakably a sandy bottom. In shock, Garet looked up from the ground to see what was in front of him.

            Barely fifty paces away lay a stretch of pure white sand. Behind that, some scrubby bushes and stunted trees covered a wide expanse of ground. Garet could distantly see the outline of a dense forest further into the horizon, and almost thought he could make out some mountains. Shifting his gaze to the left a bit, he saw that the beach ran on as far as he could see, almost painfully bright in the late afternoon sunlight.

            Hardly noticing his mouth had dropped open, Garet stared at the land in front of him. It was almost too much to believe that, after two months of being confined to a ship, searching for some hint of land, that he'd accidentally landed on it. He'd almost forgotten what trees looked like.

            Finally grasping his senses, Garet called frantically down the long deck of the ship.

            "Isaac! Mia, Ivan! Come here, quick! You've got to see this!" Not waiting for them to answer or appear, Garet quickly snatched up a coil of rope and tied it to the wooden railing of the ship. Grabbing the other end, he wrapped it twice around his waist, checked that it wouldn't break, and started to lower himself down to the water. Garet was too impatient to put down the proper plank.  This warranted immediate attention, not fussing around with gears and pulleys.

            He was halfway down the side of the Lemurian vessel when an exasperated voice called out. "Garet, if you've hit another coral reef, I'll have to wrap that belt of yours around your . . . " Suddenly Mia's voice went quiet. Garet grinned to himself, knowing that she would be just as shocked as he had been.

            "Dear God . . . Garet! Have you seen this?"

            "Well of course I have, Mia! I ran into it after all,"

            "You should look where you're going then!"

            "Oh, I'm sorry Mia! Next time, I'll not run into a continent, how's that?"

            Mia's voice had lost its agitated edge. "I don't really mind if you run into land, Garet." Garet sighed, and continued lowering himself down. He and Mia always seemed to have arguments, over the pettiest of things. Most of the time Garet knew he was in the right, but it didn't help that she felt the same way. He knew that Mia was much smarter than he was, but he didn't like to think that gave her an advantage over him. In some of their most heated rows, Ivan or Isaac would have to step in to put a stop to it. Garet equated their fights with the long time spent at sea with only each other for company, but Ivan had suggested once that they were "at elemental odds".

            He knew that Ivan's idea was more probable. He being a Mars Adept, it was only natural that Mia, a Mercury Adept, would have conflicting opinions. It was most pronounced when they fought. Mia used her skills to slowly wear down her opponent, and healed the others in the process. With Garet, he much preferred a frontal assault, with the biggest attack he could muster at the time. Recuperation from these attacks was to simply give the enemy a taste of his axe. But both he and Mia knew that they didn't hate each other; friends had fights at the best of times.

            "Goodness, Garet, in a hurry?" Mia called down, as she peered over the edge. She wore an amused expression that barely hid her excitement at being able to walk on dry land again.

            "I'm not spending a second longer than I have to on that infernal raft. Where are Ivan and Isaac?"

            "They should be coming soon, they were checking the storage hull for leaks. Oh look, here they are now,"

            Garet heard two pairs of running footsteps pound closer, then stop abruptly at the edge. Gasping for breath, Ivan joined Mia over the railing.

            "Gosh . . . Garet . . . you didn't have . . . to slam the ship . . . into the ground . . ."

            "You are all so picky! I cannot help it if I didn't learn how to sail Lemurian ships back home," Shouted Garet, halting his decent to glare up at his assembled friends. "And I don't hear Isaac complaining about the stupid ship!"

            Isaac sounded a little put out. "You hadn't gotten to me yet, Garet . . ."

            Forgetting he was dangling from a rope, Garet threw his hands up in despair, and promptly crashed into the very close shoreline. Spitting out salty water, Garet got to his feet. He looked up, where he could just make out 3 concerned faces.

            "Fine then!" He cried out. "I hereby will not sail this ship any more!" Garet turned on his heel and marched towards the shore, creating his own small waves in his wake.

            Ivan shot a look at Mia, then Isaac. He grinned. "I'm quite happy with that, aren't you?"

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24/04/03 – Fixed some errors.