The Flower Fields

"Well," said Halle, "So that's what's going on. I would like you to investigate a rumor for me. They say that there is a cabin nearby Jolly Roger, one that has a full field of flowers and a large natural forest in the vicinity of it. Maybe, just maybe, we can find this Elw girl Mariel and be able to get some information on how to kill this Demon. For if she was alive in the Second Demon War, as your people call it, she may have a piece of information lost in time." Halle gave Virginia a few berries that they'd been stocking, and wishes of good luck. Virginia nodded, it would be nice if they were able to meet the girl who helped her ancestors.

So they flew to the cabin on Lombardia, where they saw a blond girl with vibrant blue eyes working in her garden. She had on a red and white hat, green dress, leather shoes, and carried a leather bag. Her hair had been put up in two braids. The second she saw them, the child was startled. She backed against the house, shaking as if in fear. But when Virginia walked over to her, she began to feel a little bit calmer.

"It's ok, we're not here to hurt you. My name is Virginia, and these are my friends. I was wondering if you might be Mariel, the last Elw on Filgaia. You see, I'm a descendant of Cecilia Adlehyde, and we need your help. Ziekfried is returning to Filgaia, and we have to stop him before he tries to destroy the world. So can you help us in any way?" Virginia asked the girl. She was wearing one of her genuinely kind smiles, a way she knew often calmed fears. But that didn't seem to be what did it. Apparently, her and Jet's Filgaian powers were noticeable, and the girl ran over to the boy. She pulled him closer, and made him and Virginia hold hands. Both of them blushed madly, they didn't know what exactly was going on with this young child.

She whispered, "My flowers are dying, the soil to the north is corrupt. You people have the power to heal it, can you help me? I feel you aren't going to hurt me, you're all nice people. Yes, a long time ago my friends called me Mariel. But after the land began to get worse, I came here and changed my old name to Florina so no one would bother me. You see, we Elws age in accordance with the land's ability and our own will, once we want to stop aging we do. I can't maintain the form of an adult in Filgaia's current state. My energy only can reach that of a child, due to the weaker environment. Can you help me to save the world?"

Virginia kneeled down before her. "Sure I will. In return, show us some of your flowers. I just love them, and so did my mother. Before she died, there was always a bouquet on the windowsill of some sort. Now then, where exactly is the soil corrupt? We'll go and fix it right away so don't you worry about a thing."

"North," she replied, "In a temple of some sort. There is a curse that is destroying the land there. I don't know what to do. In return, I will be able to grow you curative items, since berries used to grow in the soil here before the curse took its energy and made it corrupt. I have some for you now, use them if you are in need while you are in the dungeon." She handed ten Heal Berries over to Jet, who put them in his pocket.

* * *

They went to the temple she'd spoken of, and soon had found the Ring Keeper, a wraith that lived in a treasure chest. He held the Cursed Ring, which locked their power and weakened their vitality. One hit from a monster, and it would be death for the team. Luckily, it didn't break Virginia's wings. She could fly high above the monsters, take them out, and then revive those that were injured. But their Vitality wouldn't come back until the curse was dispelled. And the only way to do that was to make it out of there alive.

Finally, they left the temple. There, in the sunlight, the ring dispelled, and the curse was lifted. If that truly was the curse that had taken hold of the soil, Florina's flowers would be well too. So the team then took a little field trip back to the Secret Garden, in order to see if everything was alright once again.

"You did it, you did it! You managed to kill the monsters that were harming my poor flowers. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Why don't all of you stay the night, it is getting quite late. I can make you breakfast in the morning too. Oh, now my flowers will be able to grow. And I can give you the curing items if you only give me a seedling to work from," said an extremely happy Florina. She smiled, and gave both Jet and Virginia a hug. Gallows laughed, which nearly caused a fight to break out between the two men. The only reason it didn't happen was that Clive then yelled at them for acting like little children.

* * *

Florina asked, "Hey, Virginia, is there something going on between you and Jet? Come on, you can tell me. I was the one who helped Queen Cecilia when she was having trouble dealing with her feelings for Rudy. Those days sure were happy, the Demons dead, Filgaia nearly green, me being able to be with my friends. But one thing troubles me. I can't remember exactly when Filgaia deteriorated to this extent. Sure it was bad when I left to form this garden, but I can't remember when the whole sea dried up in one night."

Virginia sighed. "An attempt to revive Filgaia went horribly wrong. That's why I have the advanced powers beyond a normal Shaman. I was caught up in the explosion, and Filgaia's energy brought me back to life. And yes, Jet and I do have a relationship going, we just don't tell the others cuz Gallows would only tease the poor guy. He may seem cold and distant to most people, but when we're alone he has this side of him that's a total sweetheart. Jet says he doesn't like people to know the real him, he wants to seem like he's tough so they won't try to bother him. But no matter what, I could never live without him by me."

"A really nice relationship," Florina told her, "You should never let that go to waste, the two of you have something special, and it would be a shame if it were destroyed. Now then, about the return of the wicked Demon Lord Ziekfried. There really is no secret to defeating him, just fight like you would against any other enemy. Not even the Guardian Blade would help you any, and it was the most powerful sword ever crafted. Besides, it's probably destroyed, nothing could have survived the explosion it had caused."

She wanted to say about how her father had found the blade along with the rest of the council, and created an ARM out of it. But that would go into Jet's past, and he was the only one with the right to tell it. Besides, Florina was getting sleepy, she lay down on the floor and hugged her blanket around her. Clive was still awake, so she asked him, "So, what do you think we should do next? I'm drawing a blank here."

Clive pulled out an old map. "Here is marked the last spot I visited before my professor's death. I would like to think there is a way to revitalize Filgaia in this facility. How about we visit here tomorrow?"

"That sounds good," Virginia said, "We have no leads on Sigfried or the Prophets, so we should look for our other goals at the moment. Who knows, maybe a hint or something will come to us after we visit it."

- - - -

Sky's Corner

I volunteered to do this for Teefa, since she's currently incapacitated due to an overload of mush. I nearly went over the edge as well. But oh well, that's Teefa for you. However, she'll be back next time. We took a long time thinking about how to put in this sidequest, as it's the only one that has a real integration with the main plot (since some interaction between the character was used), as well as the most important for the Drifter who is running low on supplies. So after a lengthy debate, we decided to wait until the name Mariel came up, and then go look for her. Yes, that is Mariel from WA1, it said so in some Japanese book that we heard about online but don't own.