Chapter 12

Calm Before the Storm

"I don't remember that being there." Jenna said absently, looking up from where she'd been busy cleaning the residues from the last flock of birds to try nesting in Garet's hair. The cold air of the northern sea made her nose glow red and her eyes sting as she felt under the weather surrounded by the snow, but that didn't impare her vision as she looked out over the bow.

"When did Prox get a harbor?" Isaac questioned, coming up beside her from where he'd been coiling the thick ropes which kept them secure in ports. They'd come loose and tangled themselves during said bird invasion.

"That's not a harbor. They have no warehouses." Sheba commented, hearing the conversation while she and Ivan climbed down from the thick mast, having been performing maintenance on the cannon after firing it to get through the ice fields. Did the work never end on this ship?

"They're building them." Was Piers' response to that, the Captain scratching his head around the band of his headdress as the group took note of the frames being erected along the snowy coast, a new warf already floating in the calm waters.

"True." Jenna admitted, folding her arms awkwardly around the mop she held, and reaching one gloved hand up to rub her nose, which was beginning to run.

"Ha, Contigo's Harbor could kick there ass."

Everyone on deck turned to stare at Ivan. The blonde Jupiter-Adept smiled sheepishly at the attention, and waited for it to go away. It didn't.

"Well, it could." He argued lamely, scratching his blonde head absently.

"Technically Contigo has an Inlet, not a Harbor." Piers stated. Ivan just gave him a flat look.

"It's still better than the frames the Proxians are building." He countered. Piers shrugged and looked back out over the water, they were moving swiftly at the moment, the dragon head gliding along over the cold waves.

"Whatever you say, Ivan." The Lemurian replied.

"Hey," Isaac said, looking at the many rocks in the water, and how shallow the sea was getting. "If were all on this side of the ship then..."

"Then what, Isaac?" Jenna asked; Piers went very pale before rushing off in a panic.

"Then who's steering?"

"I didn't do it."

"Well who did!?"

"A person who is not me."

"FELIX!"

"I was locked up in here! I didn't ram the ship into the rocks!" Felix protested, Piers was getting mad, and Piers got scary when he got mad. There was no one else in the small cabin as the golden-eyed Mariner pointed a threatening finger at his friend. He was so mad, the blue fall of his headdress was almost straight with anger.

"You and Karst had BETTER work things out because of the hell I've had to endure on this journey!" the Lemurian shouted, and Felix coulda sworn there was now a Tidal Wave on its way to Izumo. Piers was yelling, you did not mess with Piers when Piers was yelling, it was hazardous to your health.

"I'll do my best." Felix replied flatly, watching as the enraged Sailor stomped out of the cabin, and breathing a sigh of relief as the door slammed behind him.

'I think Piers is in a bad mood.' Echo said, stating the obvious. Felix rolled his eyes as he pushed his friend from his thoughts.

--Flashback—

"Oh, if I ever have to run across three continents again I'm gonna die." Jenna moaned, I couldn't help but smile as she and Sheba walked back from their room in the Inn. My sister's ribbed skirt and her tunic of browns and reds had been replaced with the white spare cloths provided by the inn. Sheba's creamy robes and violet sash were probably being washed as well as the pair of them came back arm-in-arm, their hair was hidden under a pair of towels wrapped around their heads, a sure sign that they'd only finished their baths a short while before. I could swear the both of them were at least three shades lighter after washing off all the dust and grim from Southern Gondowan. I glanced over and noticed our knew companion glancing around the Inn a bit unsure,

"Relax, Piers." Kraden said reassuringly, beating me to it, "We got Briggs to admit you aren't one of his men, you aren't going to be thrown in Jail again anytime soon." Piers gave a small laugh and kept looking around,

"It is not the towns-folk who I'm worried about..." Piers said as I began counting the coins for our dinner, and gave the gold to the Inn-keeper's daughter, who acted as waitress. I noticed the young woman staying near our table for a bit, even after she had the money.

"Did I give the wrong amount?" I asked, more than slightly uncomfortable as I caught her looking me up and down. She gave a small jump and I noticed her colour slightly before rushing off. I turned my attention back to the others, Jenna watching the waitress with interest, and Piers seemed on edge.

"So what's the problem, Piers?" I asked as we relaxed in the common room, waiting for the chef to prepare our meals. Piers bit his lip slightly, and then gave himself a shake.

"I could swear that once we entered Madra that there has been something following us." He said with a shrug, I raised an eye-brow, thinking over it as Kraden started going on about one of his weird theories. Something about spirits following those who would unleash alchemy, or in other words;

Blah, blah, blah.

When our meal arrived most conversation stopped, as everyone was a bit more preoccupied with eating something not scrounged up in the woods or packed into some one's pocket. Chicken simmered in a deep red sauce which I thought was tomato until I actually tried it, and found my tongue swirling around the odd, buttery flavours. At least, until the spices kicked in, I then hurriedly swallowed and was thankful for the large bowls of yogurt which soothed the burning.

The evening entertainment consisted mainly of Sheba and Kraden fighting over the last Kebab, and having it snagged and eaten by Jenna some time in-between. Followed Piers trying to convince one of the other guests that there was no such thing as little blue, water-squirting, horned, beetles. Or blue-eyed, red and yellow lizards that set things on fire randomly, and that the leftovers from her meal had not been consumed by a brown dust-bunny with bat-ears. While Sheba I had a lengthy talk with the Djinn.

"So we're seeing the Mayor tomorrow?" Jenna asked, I nodded and shot my sister a light glare.

"For the last time; yes." I replied; trying to shoo her into the room Sheba and her were sharing. As usual, the sleeping arrangements included Sheba, Jenna, and Kraden getting the beds, and Piers and I flipping a coin for the last available bed. Damn him and his Lemurian luck.

I woke up that morning especially sore, seeing as how some time in the night I'd rolled onto my sword. Not very comfortable.

"Sleep well, Felix?" Piers asked cheerfully as I half stumbled down the steps to the common room. I gave him a flat look before glancing around.

"Where are Jenna and Sheba?" I asked as I sat down near where Kraden and Piers, who had been talking to one another over breakfast. Kraden chuckled.

"You know how nosey the two of them can be, they're running around town reading people's minds of course." I rolled my eyes as the same waitress from the other day came over.

I opened my mouth to ask her for a helping of whatever it was I could smell from my seat, when the door swung open and a pair of adepts in a foul mood came in before roughly sitting down at our table. I gave my sister a quizzing glance as she sat next to me fuming. I chose to ignore her for a moment and glanced back at the young woman. Who of course had vanished, meaning I'd have to wait for her to come back before there was a chance I could eat anything.

"And what has put you two in such lovely moods?" Piers asked lightly, I chose to remain silent as Jenna looked like she could chew through stones. All Piers could manage to get out of Jenna was an annoyed "Humf!" which was Jenna for 'Leave me the hell alone.' So we did, turning to Sheba instead. Thankfully she seemed a bit more willing to talk to us, though not by much.

"We were walking around talking to people," She said simply, stealing a few pieces of food from Kraden when the sage wasn't looking. "And when we were walking past the stalls, we ran into this one traveler." Jenna gave a snort, I glanced at her while following Sheba's example and snagged a roll from Piers' plate. Of course I was caught, but he just smiled and let me have it.

"One traveler who acted like she had a cactus shoved up her ass." Jenna said testily. I noticed the elderly couple staying at the Inn give our table a questioning glance. Obviously, Jenna didn't notice, or if she did she didn't care.

"What, did you try to read her mind?" I asked them both, although I lowered my voice significantly to avoid being overheard.

"Uh..."

"Maybe..."

"So she got annoyed with you when she caught you staring at her?" I snorted, it was no easy trek to Madra, any traveler would be moody after the Dehkan Plateau, or Gondowan Cliffs, and Yampi Desert wasn't a walk in the park either.

"Felix, saying she got annoyed is as large an understatement as me saying Alex gives me the creeps." Jenna said simply. She stood again and rolled her shoulders, "Are we all ready to go to the Mayor's house?" She asked, and everyone nodded in agreement. Well, everyone except me, who hadn't had anything to eat yet. But I kept quiet as we gathered our things from our rooms and left the Inn for the Mayor's.

The visit itself was fairly uneventful. It was pleasant of course to feel like a dashing hero when the Mayor's children started bouncing up and down to see our weapons. But there was little for the rest of us to do while the Mayor and his father apologized to Piers for having him locked up, then his wife apologized for loosing the orb, then the Mayor apologized for loosing the orb, then the Mayor's children apologized for staring at Piers because he had blue hair and yellow eyes and...

And they basically apologized for every single thing you could think of. Alright, I might be exaggerating a bit. But not by much!

We remained at the Mayor's house until late-afternoon, when we realized that we should be moving out. Piers had told us his ship was beached just South of Dehkan Plateau, and that was a good day and a half hike from Madra. Our plans to leave that day were put on hold as we realized it would be easier to remain in the city one more night.

"Felix, hold on one moment." The Mayor called, as we paused near the door. The Mayor came up with a small parcel in hand. "Back in Alhafera, I offered you a reward for your aid in catching Briggs, did I not?" I blinked twice before nodding slightly; the Mayor smiled and offered me the small pouch he held. "This is your reward." He said kindly.

"Mr. Mayor," Kraden said coming forward "You cannot expect us to accept a reward when your town is need of you attentions. Please, you keep it." He said, I nodded in agreement, but the Mayor wouldn't hear of it,

"We cannot let you go un-rewarded for your deeds, as a token of our appreciation, please take this." I bit my lower lip as I accepted the parcel, a small cloth bag with a lavender tie, and something weighing it down inside. The Mayor smiled, very pleased before wishing us one last farewell; and vanishing back inside his home.

"What is it, Felix?" Jenna piped up as I tugged at the strings keeping it closed. I turned the bag up-side-down, and looked over the flat pinkish stone that fell into my open palm. A cyclone was engraved on the pale surface.

"There's a symbol of the wind on it." I commented, glancing at the others, " Sheba?" She smiled as I handed her the stone. She almost seemed to glow for a moment, the light sub-siding instantly.

"Cyclone." She said softly after a moment, before grinning widely,

"All right, Felix!" Jenna shouted excitedly, in a much better mood than before. "We even got a new Psynergy, looks like today's our lucky day!" I smiled at her, everyone's mood lifting gradually. If only I'd known how wrong my sister was...

"Felix?" Startled, I glanced around, looking for who had called my name.

'That voice, hang on...' I thought dimly, had I heard that voice before?

"Yes, it is you." My eyes darted to a shadowy figure with their back up against the wall. The figure shook its head as it looked up at the five of us, something about the person tickled my memory, but without seeing their face I couldn't tell who they were.

'K-Karst?' I thought dumb-struck. My eyes widening as she pulled pack the cowl on her cloak, allowing her shortened red hair to catch the spring sun making her glow red for a moment. 'Gods, I didn't even recognize her! And it's only been a few months; I don't think I've ever seen her dressed like that before!'

Foolish me; thinking it was just her hair and how she was dressed that had confused me. I looked over her face, and right into her dark red eyes. I felt a bit of surprise as I could find only trace remains of my friend from Prox.

The Karst I had known was sealed away, in her place stood a warrior, strong and set to accomplish her goals, whatever they may be. Even from where I was standing, I could feel how much her powers had increased in recent months. A scythe, much like the one Menardi had used, was slung across her back in easy reach if she were to fight.

'Oh gods Menardi, and Saturos too...' I thought, 'Oh please, let her already know, don't let me have to be the one to tell her...'

"Where are Saturos and Menardi?" She questioned, voice icy. I had to fight to keep my face neutral, not wanting to be the one to tell her. "I've heard rumors that they're dead, is this true?" I realized she was directing the question at me, completely ignoring the others. I took a breath to steady myself, opening my mouth to tell her, as gently as I could what had happened.

"You have heard correctly then." Kraden said simply, I jumped at his voice and felt a twinge of annoyance.

"Isaac killed them atop Venus-Lighthouse," Jenna cut in; I spun to try and keep her from saying anything else, "Felix saw the whole thing, he said they fell into the pit at the top before the Beacon was fired." I stood there with my mouth open for a moment, Jenna giving me a weird look.

'No...' I thought, 'She had to be told, but, damn it you two not like that!' I wanted to say something to her, to shout at her, but my throat was dry and my tongue felt tied in knots. I turned away from my sister defeated, and stared straight into Karst's shattered eyes.

The warrior had vanished, but only I would be able to notice, and only because I actually knew what she looked like. Those small traces I had seen before shining through, leaving only Karst as the cold façade faded away. She was suddenly pale, and was swaying ever-so-slightly, as if she would fall over at any moment. Fearing this, I tried to step down, tried to make my way over to her, and be her friend again. But the moment I moved to step down, Jenna grabbed my wrist and held me back.

"What are you doing!?" She hissed at me, keeping her voice low and casting Karst suspicious glances. As if in her broken state she was any threat.

"That's the same traveler Sheba and I ran into earlier." She said quietly. "And no one looking for Saturos and Menardi can be anything but trouble. Let's get out of here."

"Your lies are not appreciated." Karst's hard voice made me look away from Jenna and face her again. She'd regained that air of clam again, but the mask was still shattered for the time being, the real Karst showing through.

"Menardi could never be brought down by some half-trained fool." Her eyes were still on me as she spoke. Something in her gaze making her seem as if she were begging me to tell her it was all a lie. Tell her that Saturos and her sister were still alive somewhere… But I couldn't.

Menardi was gone. Saturos with her. Isaac had killed them both, while I had just stood at the sidelines and watched… They were gone.

I realized then that I had never really mourned the both of them. I had felt saddened by the loss, but in reality, I had been... relieved? That's not what you're supposed to feel when to people die. I had never wept or felt any grief... I had never even spared a thought for the pain Karst would endure when she found out. It made me realize what a poor friend I was to her.

I couldn't take the grief in her eyes. She hid it well; I doubt any of the others noticed the pain she was in. How her breathing became labored and painful, how her eyes glistened with tears she was to proud to let fall. How her eyes themselves seemed to tune the world out. From where I was standing I knew that she was a thousand miles away, remembering the day Menardi had promised her the four of us would return.

It was killing me to watch her in so much pain. I cursed Jenna silently for holding me back, her grip tightening when I tried to move forwards again.

Karst spoke, her eyes seemingly dead. And for some reason I couldn't quite hear her words, I took in enough to feel hurt, but I didn't take them too literally. She was in pain, and lashing out at whatever was nearby… For some reason, I felt that I'd deserved whatever harsh words she could throw at me...

"You say they fell at the hands of Isaac?" She asked, changing the subject and startling me from my stupor. I nodded before looking away, unable to take the pain and anger growing in her eyes, something close to betrayal kindling in their red depths. But I saw her smile, tears beginning to flood her vision, but she was able to hold on long enough to make her vow.

"Then I shall avenge my sister's death. And I will not rest until Isaac's blood stains the ground beneath my feet."

And she was gone. She turned on her heal and strode stiffly away from us. I watched her retreating form as it vanished into the crowd around the market stalls. Hardly catching my companion's comments as we descended and made our way back to the Inn.

"And I thought Saturos and Menardi had issues." Jenna commented dryly as we entered the Inn to order an early dinner. When the meal arrived the others all sat around talking about our meeting with Karst.

I pretty much spent the whole evening hunched over my dinner, poking at it half-heartedly with a spoon. Despite the fact that I had hardly eaten all day, I had no appetite. Hardly touching the curry in front of me as the evening wore on. I couldn't eat with the image of Karst's horrified face in my mind. I listened with half an ear as Kraden and the others told Piers about Saturos and Menardi.

"Are you worried about Isaac at all, Jenna?" Sheba asked at one point in the evening, my sister gave her a quick glance

"About Karst? A little bit, yeah. What makes you ask?" She replied, I looked up and saw the evil grin plastered over the younger Adept's face.

"Well, aren't you two, an 'Item'?"

Alright. That was it. I was done for today.

I rose from my seat at the table, missing Piers' questioning glance as Sheba continued to pester Jenna about Isaac. My sister's face just kept growing darker and darker shades of red.

"Where are you going, Felix?" Jenna asked as I reached the stairs, trying to shift Sheba's attention.

"Bed." I replied simply, trying to keep my temper in order, for some reason my patience were running thin.

"But you've hardly eaten." She argued, "We have a long way to go tomorrow, shouldn't you—"

"I'm fine." I said, failing to keep the slight edge from my voice. I could tell Jenna was a bit startled with my tone.

"Felix."

"I'm. Fine." Part of me thought to apologize as I moved up the steps, but I felt stubborn, and chose not to. I was sure that anything in a way of an apology would come off as nothing more than an insult.

When I got upstairs, instead of heading to the room Piers, Kraden and I were sharing, I chose instead to go outside. I hadn't realized that night had completely fallen until I was standing out on the roof of the Inn. I moved over to the wall near the door, and sat down, leaning my back against the brick as I looked out over the moon-lit harbor.

It was incredibly hot in this part of the world for all that it was late winter. After three years in Prox I had grown accustom to fierce storms and bone-chilling temperatures. I shook my head roughly, trying to keep Prox from my head. It didn't work though...

'Damn it, Karst...' I thought bitterly, 'I never thought you could change so much. I didn't even recognize the real you until you found out about Menardi. I'm so sorry for everything, Karst, I really am, but there was no way I could have helped what happened atop Venus-Lighthouse...' I was so caught up in my own thoughts, that I didn't notice that there was anyone coming until she slammed the door behind herself.

"Damn it, Felix, what has gotten into you today?" Jenna asked sharply, her eyes flared as I just sat there. I tried to keep my temper under control as she seethed above me. There was no reason for me to get mad at her. "You were acting so weird when we met that woman today, you've been sulking all evening, and where do you get off yelling at us!"

Okay, maybe one.

"Do you know who it was we met today?" I asked testily. Jenna blinked a few times before replying.

"Some woman named Karst with issues with anger, what of it?" She asked in a similar tone, I fought to keep my anger in check again.

"That was Karst, Menardi's younger sister." I said sharply, I sensed Jenna's unease as I failed to hide that edge again. "And you and Kraden just chose the most direct, blunt, rude, insensitive, and possibly the most harmful way of telling her that the last member of her family is dead!"

I brought my teeth down on my tongue too stem anything else I might say now, and regret later. I kept my eyes away from her, feeling a tinge of guilt as I could sense the hurt in her eyes. I couldn't remember the last time I'd raised my voice at her in anger.

"Oh, I... hadn't known that..." Jenna said softly, I sighed, running one hand through my bangs as I got to my feet to stand next to her.

"I know, I... I just wish things could have gone differently, that's all..." I said quietly. Jenna wrapped her arms around me, and I in turn wrapped one arm around her shoulders.

"You know her from Prox?" She asked, I was a bit surprised at the question, normally I didn't like talking to her about Prox, but I was willing to answer a few tonight.

"Yes, I was trained with her and some others." I replied, Jenna nodded,

"So, she was a friend?" Jenna asked, I nodded,

"Yeah, we knew each other rather well." A bit of an understatement I knew, but after this afternoon, I doubted my sister would have believed anything else.

I… wanted to point out how to the two of them were alike. Jenna had thought that she'd lost her entire family after the Storm three years back, and Karst had just lost her last loved-one. But then I realized the key differences; Jenna had lost us all at the same time, for Karst it was spread out. And also, our parents and I had come back, we'd never really died.

For Karst, no one was coming back...

--End Flashback—

Felix pulled himself from his memories, as he could no longer ignore the constant bumping coming from his sack that had been tossed into a corner. Muffled shouts coming from inside. He sat up and spared the pack a glance. Coming from inside the beaten bag he heard:

"HELPMEHELPMEHELPMEHELPME!"

"You have earned your fate Echo!"

"Get him!"

"Aahhh!! Felix!!"

The Slayer grinned evilly as the pack began to roll around the floor. Echo valiantly trying to get away from the other Djinn locked in the bag. Their semi-punishment.

Only semi, since he'd paid off the majority of them to ram the ship into the rocks. In exchange for the name of the Djinni who had told him about their habit of spying on his memories.

"By Gaia! Felix help!!"

Felix chuckled to himself before settling back down on the bed.

"No."