Ch 4
The next morning, Caleb began his search for Orator's crest by making his way to Sybak. If the libraries and museum there didn't have it, then his next best bet would be the royal archive in the city of Meltokio. He hoped it was in Sybak, the trip to Meltokio would take several days at his fastest in the Elemental Carriage. The carriage was being pushed to its limit already, and Caleb could only imagine the amount of stress being placed on the mana crystal that powered it. He thought back on the adventures he had been in, both with Lloyd and the Heroes of Union to save the world from an insane couple of angels, and with the Wonder Chef to prevent a worldwide famine from being unleashed on Symphonia, and winced. If it hadn't been for DuGorge shattering his own mana crystal in the final attack within the Famine Temple, then the stress of running around everywhere to save people would have cracked it in two.
Gaoracchia Forest loomed ahead and Caleb muttered irritably under his breath. He knew how to get through it without getting lost, but that trip would kill a lot of time. Even with his ability to travel through the days and nights without rest, Caleb could still sense the passing of time like humans and found himself worrying about work that had yet to be finished when sundown neared. Having a soul and a mind with free will and thought had its downsides sometimes.
"Several hours at the least... I'll reach Sybak in three days at this pace." the doll murmured and gazed skyward at the mana beasts heading out to spread mana, "Sure wish I could fly, too. All the abilities and strength of an angel and I don't have the wings or magical power to back it up. Man..."
The wild animals of the forest kept their distance, fortunately, as Caleb only had enough on board ingredients to whip up a small pot of chili and fling it at a group of wolves. They remembered the last time a carriage came by with chili, and wisely chose to find less clever prey. Briefly, the doll wished for his over-sized steel soup spoon and old Lid Shield from his previous excursion. They would have slung the food further than the small spoon he had on hand.
"Hell, at this point I'd rather run off with the Wonder Fork and teleport to Sybak." Caleb grumbled as the tree limbs scraped and scratched at the sides of the Elemental Carriage.
The sun was sinking low in the sky when Caleb finally broke out of the forest onto the fields that lay between him and Sybak. The doll sighed unhappily, he must have lost a night and a good portion of a day getting from the Yggdrasill Tree to this point. Pressing onward, Caleb made a straight shot for Sybak, hoping he didn't run into anything along the way.
The fields of Altamira the continent were wide, grassy plains that served as the home to many wild animals, most of which left travelers alone unless they were really desperate for food, and a few roads that wound through them to small outlying towns and farmlands. Almost all travel to Altamira was done by ship, so major cities were founded on coastlines all along the continent. The Heroes of Union soared over everything on their Rheairds; Caleb mowed through grass and wheat in the Elemental Carriage.
"Sorry! Didn't mean to! You should have built a fence or something! Come on!" Caleb yelled out the window as he raced by a group of angry farmers waving pitchforks at him. He had just cut a messy path through their next harvest, which would account for a small price rise on bread and grain next time he went shopping and annoyed Wren slightly when he had to pay extra for a decent sandwich.
Sybak itself was busy as ever with school shopping being the top priority on everyone's minds. School supplies and books were being sold faster than they were manufactured, and chaos in the streets for the students meant chaos in the buildings for Caleb. The mask and hat he wore to towns were wilting under the heat of so many people all crowding and rushing around in panic.
"Ahh! That was the last printing of Curative Properties of Mana Leaf Herb: Volume Two! I need one before the end of the week!" Caleb could hear the voice of an old friend wail out.
"Poor Genis." the doll muttered as he ducked into the first library he found with an unbarricaded door. "Hey! I need some help! I'm looking for an artifact lost at the end of the Kharlan War!" Caleb shouted once he was in. The librarians hissed at him from behind their protective walls of books.
"Quiet! We're trying to look like we're closed!" they snapped.
"Sorry, but I'm not a student. I'm looking for an old crest. It had been lost in the Holy Ground of Kharlan when the peace treaty was formed." Caleb explained, "I really need to find it. It's a vital piece of, um, elven history!"
"Tch, and you think we'd know anything about it?" one woman said in annoyance as she pushed a stack of books aside to face him. Caleb shrugged.
"I thought you might. It's a crest, probably the size of a book, with the image of the staff of the Goddess Martel engraved on it." he added, "Does that ring a bell?" The librarians looked at each other, then stared at him.
"That thing? It was a piece of junk. Sure the design was nice, but there was no sign that it belonged to any culture or country. It was collected at the Holy Ground with all of the other artifacts in the archaeological dig years ago, but we shoved that in the back so many times." one man told him incredulously, "And here you are telling us it's elven in nature? It doesn't look elven."
"Well... it is! And I was sent here to get it and give it back!" Caleb declared, "Now, go in back and get it!"
"We don't have it. We gave it to the museum down the street to try to figure out." the female librarian told him. "Check there with Prof. Bethrum. He might know where it is now. I haven't seen it on display." Caleb thanked her and raced out. "I wonder what kind of a mask that was. It looked elvish, might even be early fashion from Meltokio..."
The Sybak History Museum of Tethe'alla wasn't as helpful as the library had been. The curators insisted they couldn't talk about artifacts that hadn't been identified, then said they needed a special form filled out to search for it, then special permission from the king to even look at it. Caleb tapped his foot impatiently as they did all they could to avoid calling for the professor.
"Look, it's just a crest with Martel's staff on it. I need it to complete a very important recreation of history. Elven history! Do you want to start another incident with the elves?" he growled. "Go in back and look for it! Or get Professor Bethrum to come up here and tell me where it is so I can go get it myself!"
"The Professor is a very busy man, and if you could just go to Meltokio and request a letter of permissions from the king..." the young curator rattled off. Caleb sighed and shook his head. He had hoped it wouldn't come to this...
Moving quickly, Caleb pulled off the large woven hat and his mask of stiff cloth, pulling his hair free of its bun and shaking his head enough to toss his hair wildly over his shoulders. He glared at the now gaping curator with flashing blue-green eyes.
"Do I look like I need permission from the King of Tethe'alla to collect anything! I am the great Zelos Wilder, Chosen of Mana!" he yelled, hoping the shaking man didn't notice the faint metallic echo in his voice, "Either you get me that crest now, or I'll make sure you get visited by the Third Coming of Spiritua!"
"Ch-Chosen One! Forgive me! I hadn't realized it was you!" the curator stammered in shock, "I'll get the Professor right away! He'll know where to find the crest!" With that, he ran off. Caleb fumed as he ignored the stares and whispers of the museum staff and jammed the hat back onto his head.
"I am sick of having to pretend to be an idiot." he muttered to himself. Minutes later, a bearded man with graying hair rushed up to him, puffing frantically as he tried to catch his breath.
"Ah! Greetings, Chosen! I hope you are well! How may I be of service?" the man wheezed. Caleb twisted a lock of hair around one finger in annoyance.
"I'm here to collect an elven artifact. It's a crest with the staff of Martel engraved on it. According to my data, the crest was found in the Holy Ground of Kharlan and sent here for study. Where is it?" he demanded evenly. Bethrum winced and fidgeted nervously.
"F-forgive my stupidity, Chosen... but I had it thrown out. You see, what happened was..." he began. Caleb exploded in outrage.
"You threw it away! How can you throw something as important as Orator's crest into a trash heap!" he shrieked. The staff scattered at that moment and Bethrum whimpered, sweat running down his face.
"I didn't know it was important! Really! Oh, do please forgive me! I'll make a large donation to the Church of Martel!" the professor pleaded.
"It's the Church of Conscience, and attend it now and then. You look like you need a wake up call." Caleb growled at him. The man nodded, then lit up.
"W-wait! I remember the bazaar shopkeeper was snooping around the trash heap that day when the rubbish was tossed out! He might have it!" he stammered, "Why not interrogate him?"
"Fine, and next time be more careful with ancient relics!" Caleb snapped and stormed out, still gripping the mask in his fist.
The bazaar was turning in a profit, selling used supplies and books at high prices to desperate students. After waiting in line, the doll gave the shopkeeper an intimidating glare.
"I'm looking for a crest with the staff of Martel on it. I heard you might have picked up from the Museum's trash pile." he began in a low voice, "So, I'm only going to say this once. Where is it, and give it to me." The keeper paled and moaned slightly.
"Oh, not again. This is the second time you've picked on me!" he whined, "I don't have the crest! I picked it up, yeah, but I sold that thing already!"
"To whom!" Caleb demanded, "The Chosen wants an answer!"
"Ah, a woman who wanted a gift for her brother! He's a student in the academy!"
"That doesn't narrow it down! How much money will you lose if I shut this place down for the rest of the week?" Caleb threatened.
"Ah, ah! A half-elf! He's a half-elf student! Little kid with white hair!" the shopkeeper wailed, "I remember it now! The woman was babbling on about everything else I had in stock!"
"Genis and Raine? You sold Orator's crest to two of the Heroes of Union!" Caleb cried in disbelief. The shopkeeper sniffled.
"I gave them a damn good discount on it, too." he answered defensively. Caleb whirled around and ran off, hoping he would be able to find the little half-elf in the crowd of rushing students.
"Genis! Genis Sage!" Caleb called out into the crowd, one hand holding his hat firmly in place, the other shoving the mask into a shoulder pack, "Genis! Where are you!" After not getting much of a response from the mass of students, the doll tried scanning them with telescopic vision, trying to pick out a young boy with wild white hair. "Genis!"
"Zelos?" a voice questioned and he spun in surprise, tripping and falling when he was thrown off balance by the lack of up close sight. He blinked and looked up at Genis Sage, the half-elf best friend of Lloyd. The boy was holding several books in his arms and giving him a strange look. "Oh, it's Caleb! Caleb, what are you doing here?" he amended after taking in the green and white suit.
"Genis, I've been looking for you!" the doll remarked with a relieved smile, "I need your help."
"Follow me to my dorm. We can talk there without you getting jumped by more of Zelos' fans. They're too busy now to notice your face, but once the shops are closed, you're open game." the half-elf remarked with a grin and turned to walk away. Caleb jumped up and followed quickly, pulling the brim of his hat down to hide his face from view.
Genis shared a room with another student, a human who often forgot Genis was half-elven and frequently asked for stories about the World Reunification quest. He was now sitting on his bed in awe as Genis let Caleb into the room.
"It's the Chosen of Tethe'alla! Here! In our dorm!" the boy whispered in wonder.
"No, this is the other one I told you about, Jase. This is Caleb, the automatic doll that Altessa built. He helped us rescue Zelos from Derris-Kharlan over a year and a half ago." Genis corrected and turned to Caleb, "This is Jase, my roommate. He's a nice guy, once you learn which foods are his favorite."
"All of them!" Jase chipped in brightly, pushing his glasses up his nose as they slipped down.
"So, what can I help you with?" Genis asked as he sat down on a soft white couch. Caleb sat across from him and explained everything that had happened to him since they had last seen each other. Both boys listened to him intently, one fascinated with the story, the other absorbing the news somberly.
"...And now I have to find Orator's crest to bring him back to life! I tracked it all the way to you, Genis." Caleb finished.
"Never heard of mana beasts before." Jase murmured as Genis sat back and shook his head.
"That's hard to believe, Caleb, but you do sound different. A doll with a soul... cool... So, this mana beast crest... why do you think I have it?" the half-elf asked. Caleb described it and the sequence of events that led him to the boy. "Oh, that? I've still got it. I spend my free time trying to decipher the words that surround the staff symbol." Genis got up and went to his bed, crawling down under it. After a moment, he backed up and dragged out the book-sized shield. He wiped off the dust and walked back to Caleb, holding it out. "Here. If it will help save the mana beasts, take it. Bring Pepper by for a visit; she sounds like a nice creature!" Genis added brightly. Caleb accepted the crest.
"Thank you, Genis! And I'll bring her by when she learns to fly, I promise!" the doll told him with a smile. Genis chuckled and waved as Caleb headed for the door. "I have to run now, thanks a lot! Bye, Genis! Bye, Jase! Good luck in school!"