Explanations

"How can this be?" questioned Sierra, "I'm not even human. Could those people from the caravan have been Silver Wolves, who found me here? That sure explains a lot. I don't even have birth parents to abandon me, and the people who really wanted me couldn't keep me." One tear fell down her cheek, as she thought of the only people who'd ever really cared about her. No doubt the people who'd come for her and her brother had murdered them after learning that the two of them had hidden the twins.

"I must have been a pet of that caravan then. Probably, they found you and wanted to take you in. Then, monsters or demons must have attacked, and they didn't make it. Sierra, the men in the caravan loved you too, wanted to protect you. People may have died, but they gave you a future. You've got to use the time they brought for you in order to stop those who wish to harm our world," Kyoku begged.

Sierra told her friend, "I'm going to. I've just got to work things out. You know, it's not too bad knowing about all of this. I now understand my own powers, and why I was able to handle an ARM without any difficulty at all. It's in my blood, or should I say my being." She laughed at her own joke.

Sasha looked at the others. "Well, regardless of all that has happened, we've got to get going. I have a feeling that we can find something if we visit this island north of where we found Lucaia's shrine. It's shaped like a banana peel, and is covered in forests everywhere except the beach. Something is telling me to go there, maybe it's a clue to another Guardian's shrine or a Demon hideout.

* * *

They returned to their ship, and headed towards the island in question. It looked exactly the way Sasha had described, with the beach on one of the sides of the "peel". Once they disembarked, the team began to cut their way through the forest, searching for something. But as no one had any idea what they would find, they couldn't quite figure out when they would see something of value.

Luck was with them. In the depths of the forest, they saw a small cabin. Lyle walked up to the door, and knocked. Soon, the door opened. From the look on his face, it was clear that he'd seen a girl, and she was quite pretty. This was confirmed when Sierra walked up to slap him before he said a rude comment to her. But it seemed that the gunner had caught her interest for some reason.

"I can't believe it!" she exclaimed, "After all these years of waiting, you've come here! I thought this day would never come in my lifetime." The girl had long blond hair tied in two ponytails and vibrant green eyes. She had a white blouse and a blue skirt on, as well as a red beanie hat and leather boots. A leather bag was strapped across her front, which was filled with various types of seeds.

"Excuse me, I don't think we've met. My name is Sierra, and this is my Wind Mouse Kyoku. The others are Lyle, Jacob, and Sasha. We don't mean to intrude, but we've been searching for the help of the Guardians, and Sasha wanted to come here for some reason," Sierra replied. As she spoke, she pointed to each of her friends in turn, so the girl would know exactly who she was talking about.

Sasha then asked, "Excuse me, Miss, would your name happen to be Flornina? My name is Sasha Vanderbuilt, and I'm a descendant of Lilka Enduro, daughter of Jet and Virginia Enduro. All in my family know how a girl named Florina helped them by growing berries and other items for them to use on their journeys over the Wastelands a thousand years ago. You look like how she's described in books."

The girl took notice of Sasha, and then turned back to Sierra. "Yes, my name is Florina. But it is also Mariel, the last Elw on Filgaia. I've lived over three thousand years now, and I'll continue to live until the last blade of grass, the last flower, the last leaf, is gone from Filgaia. That's why I was so keen on restoring the environment, I'd die if it was destroyed. But in my long life, I've met many people. Including the great warriors Rudy, Cecilia, and Jack. You, Miss Sierra, look just like Rudy. You've got to be his long lost twin, the one he was searching for before age began to finally fail him. I volunteered to help find her, but then the Yggdrasil incident that Virginia and Jet told me about happened, and Filgaia became a Wasteland. I was no longer able to continue my search. So I changed my name to Florina, and hid here. But where are my manners today, come inside, we'll all have lunch together and talk about the situation."

* * *

"So, that's the situation," Mariel stated, "No choice then. I've got to give you this, it'll help you greatly." She left the room, and went into the storage closet. When the Elw child returned, she was carrying two objects. One was a Medium, the other looked like an ARM. The Medium was handed to Jacob, as she could see he was Baskar, and the ARM was promptly given to Sierra.

"This is the Medium of Chapananga, Luck Guardian. Years after the final battle, it was given to me by Gallows Caradine, in order to give me some luck in the future. I figure you're his brother's descendant, so I want you to have it. Now, about the ARM," Mariel said.

Sierra asked, "What's so special about this ARM? Is it really one of the legendary ones, the ARMs that are supposedly too powerful to manufacture anymore, for fear of what people will do with it or the fact that none are powerful enough to synchronize with such a weapon?"

Mariel nodded. "This is Arc Smash, a weapon that Rudy Roughnight wielded in the old war. It was his most powerful ARM, and he left it with me when he died. His last wish was for me to give it to you when at last you awoken from your long sleep. Use it to fight the Demons, Sierra."

She thanked Mariel for this gift. The team then decided to spend the night with the young Elw. In the morning, they began to return to Baskar, in order to find an idea about where to go next.

- - - -

Teefa's Last Words…

Yeah, I figured if the Elw are so connected to nature, maybe their lifespans are connected to the planet as well. That's how Mariel lived that long.