Chapter 6
The group headed east to the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge, with Zelos and Presea in tow. The young taciturn girl was carrying herself rather well for not having traveled for a time. Across the expanse of ocean, she seemed neither concerned nor worried for her companions or their objectives; even returning herself to her hometown brought little interest. As the coast finally came over the horizon, collective sighs of relief were heard from all but the small Presea.
She was the first to touch land; she stopped and turned back, waiting for the others to cross. Sybak, the University Town, was within a half-day's walking distance of the exit of the overseas transit. The party leaders chose to rest a day before continuing their quest. Presea looked to the sky and muttered, "Sixty-five percent possibility of rain showers or thunderstorms."
Colette had been observing the young girl from afar for quite a while now, inspecting her every move to try and place her personality. She tried to begin conversations with the pink-haired axewoman, but gained no ground. Colette pondered how one could be so lifeless and uncaring; the party had, after all, been obligated to return the girl to her home. How she could be ungrateful at a time like this was beyond their understanding.
That evening Genis Sage, Raine's small brother, began to make supper for the group. Presea abstained from joining them and instead withdrew to the open fields around their campsite. After taking up her axe, she began to cleave the air carelessly, simply keeping her mind occupied with something other than the town that lay ahead of them.
She stopped for a moment, and then looked to the east toward Gaoracchia Forest. A knot began to curl in her stomach, tightening with each passing glace. She began again. On her fiftieth heft, she stopped and held her Francesca in air during mid-swing. Presea placed her tool upon the ground and sat next to it, curling her knees to her chest and holding her arms around them.
Presea whimpered, though she knew not what it was. She cried, though she had not been given the ability. The girl saw a vision of her father, beaming, when the vision began to solidify. She reached to him, took his hand, and held it delicately. As quickly as her father had appeared there before her, he began to retreat from her view. Presea chased his image, and leaped into his fading arms, but to no avail. She knelt down and openly began to weep aloud.
Then she shot straight up, heaving and perspiring, akin so many other nights. The girl had not the capability to perform such emotional displays visibly to others. Her only forms of release were the thoughts she kept inside her, she being unable to illustrate to the outside world.
"I want to go home..." she said humbly, yet weeping furiously within.