BTFreek: Don't worry, Adrian's in the fic. He even has a friend-mentor-guy-person who has a rather large library. Let's see if we can get some Daes Dae'mar going.
Kyarorain: Thanks. You won't have to wait for everyone to come back before the plot really gets moving. The main group has already spent more chapters in Lemuria than I thought they would.
Alexditto: I'm rather fond of flashbacks. Dunno why. Thanks for the heads-up on the error but the first part was meant to be confusing. If you had suddenly landed in someone else's body just as you died, you'd be a little confused, too.
Vyctori: I finally updated? Most authors take weeks, even months to update, but if I take a week and a half you get worried? I'm seeing this fic through to the end, for personal reasons and because I'm just plain stubborn. Wait at least a month before you start worrying about me.
Pika girl15: Thanks.
Yoshimi Takahashi: Oh. My. God. That's a lot of Senators. As for the pace of the story, I've been trying to speed things up a bit so I'll be finished before 2005, but thank you for commenting on that. I'll try to slow down.
End of Response Section
As a warning, not all the Senators will agree with Picard's future decisions so please don't get offended if your Senator gets ticked off at Picard or something. I repeat, if. (S)He may or may not do so. To tell you now would spoil it.
Disclaimer: Rallalon does not own Golden Sun, any of its characters or items, ripples, watches, clicky pens, Lords Globule Aquae, Dewst Rainmeadow, Frostshorn Conservato, Frozenshield Seaborn, Icile Glacial, or Depths Waverunner because Yoshimi Takahashi made them up, nor does she own Lord Adrian Murray because BTFreek made him up.
………
Letting the dog run into the house with his leash still on, Evan Hame closed the front door, slightly out of breath. Exercise was nice, but this was getting ridiculous. Who walked a dog at 7:29? Walk the dog. More like having the dog walk me. Better get that leash. "Joey! Come 'ere, Joe!"
"I've got him!" his father called from the living room. "Evan, I need to talk to you about something."
Please don't say we're moving again "What?" he asked, upon finding his adoptive father seated on the couch scratching the German Shepherd/Black Lab behind its floppy ears. That Evan was adopted was obvious. His dad had brown hair, eyes and mustache. By the pictures of his mom, Evan knew she had been blond and tall, at least compared to her husband. Evan, on the other hand, was clearly of Asian descent. The only trait Evan shared with his father was his height. More like his lack of height.
"I've got something to tell you," his father said unsteadily. "About the phone call earlier." Mr. Hame had been on the phone when Evan had left, and sure of another relocation, Evan had left before his dad could tell him the news. "It was… We've found your sister."
………
Zheng Hua stared at the phone. Had they done the right thing by calling? Of course it was a good decision where her little brother was involved, but they had started a ripple and would have no control over it.
What happens now, Hama? she asked, already knowing the answer. After all, she had asked about ten times in the last hour.
Ivan, or Evan as he is now, is being told about you by his adoptive father as we speak. Next they will come here. After that, Picard will follow with the rest of them after lighting Mercury and Venus. Then the Lighthouse will be lit and they'll move onto the next. Once the next is lit…
You can't see?
No, I can. It's just that…
Hua could feel Hama's dread. It was a strange thing for Hama to openly worry. Even stranger than how Hua no longer thought of sharing her body with a dead person as something out of the ordinary. She had grown used to it so much that she would be sad to see Hama go when all Lighthouses were lit.
I'll miss you too, Hama assured her, but save that for later; we have planning to do. I won't let Picard die.
………
"So what'd you find?" Picard asked the Mars Djinni that had previously been Set by Jen and Jenna. If Jenna was just a bunch of memories, then Cannon would be Set to Jen's mind both times. If she was actually inside Jen, there would be two minds for Cannon to be Set to. Djinn come in handy.
After a brief chat with Echo, (Cannon didn't speak any human languages, so the translator was once again needed) Echo repeated the info. "We've got two."
"What?!" practically the entire room gasped.
"You mean I really have a dead person inside me?!" Makrina shouted with a horrified look etched on her face. Her facial expression changed abruptly. "Oh, come on, you've been going Proxan for two years now," she said, patting her shoulder slightly. "Wait, how do I know that?"
"That's freaky," commented Jen. Or Jenna. Moldy fish bait, this was getting confusing!
"Your memories and stuff are flowing from person to person. I think it's like how the thoughts, feelings, and memories of a person can flow into a Set Djinni," Echo guessed.
"They do?" Picard asked curiously.
"Yeah, how else would we all know that you're planning to use the act of returning them to their homes as a reason for Lemuria to rejoin the outside world, as well as an opportunity to light the Lighthouses again."
"They're not lit?!" Felix/Matthew and Jen/Jenna asked in unison before Jen/Jenna went onto a question of her/their own.
"They need to be lit? How do you know?"
"Again? They were all lit?" demanded Satornil/Saturos.
Before Makrina/Menardi could get a comment in, Picard blurted out, "Shut up!" The two simple words caused many a look of confusion. Especially with Felix because without Matthew's memories and therefore understanding of English, Felix had no idea what Picard had just said.
Wait… Where was Matthew? If Felix had been in control of the body the entire time, without the struggle for control that everyone else was having, then… Picard really had no idea, but it probably wasn't a good thing.
"Yes, they're not. Yes, otherwise the core of Weyard will stop spinning and/or Weyard will blow up in a thousand years. Yes, they were," he stated flatly, rushing to get to his own question. "But, Felix, do you…sense Matthew?" he tentatively asked.
"The kid whose body I'm in?" He frowned slightly in concentration. "I think…maybe…he could be…asleep."
"He's never been a morning person," Jen admitted, "But I didn't think he could sleep through being possessed."
"But back to the topic of the Lighthouses," Satornil/Saturos prodded. "You're not going to make us light them, are you? Neither of us really wants to go to Venus Lighthouse. Or have a reassurance of what happened there."
Before Picard could even say anything, he was interrupted by a familiar call: "Milord! Milord!"
Picard could've groaned. Not now, Andrew Stormwind. I've got enough on my plate. It was nothing personal; it was simply that Andrew was the bringer of bad news."What is it?" he asked in Lemurian.
"It's the Senate, milord. There's a meeting."
"Then tell them I'm busy," he replied, gesturing to the group behind him.
"But, sire, you yourself called it," Andrew protested.
Keep calm, keep calm, keep calm… "What?" He managed to keep his tone of voice indifferent.
"I-I was in Lord Aquae's library with Lord Murray, and Lord Crest's gofer came in and said you had called a meeting," Andrew explained nervously.
"Ah, yes, I believe I remember now," Picard lied. What's Oliver up to? "Andrew, I need you to stay here." At the boy's questioning expression, he added, "Can't let them wander around unsupervised, can we?"
"No, milord."
"I'll be right…Well, I'll be back," he assured the rest of the group. Halfway out the door, he had an idea. "Could I borrow someone's watch? And a clicky pen?"
Picard received the items and more, along with a few questioning glances, before practically running off. A pang of guilt had struck at leaving Andrew like that, but if his most important ally was turning on him, Picard could allow no slip-ups, and therefore he couldn't bring Andrew along, no matter how well the boy meant. Andrew just wasn't prepared; Picard wasn't sure that he could say differently for himself.
Upon arrival at the Senate House, he found Oliver waiting for him just inside. "If you would follow me, sire?" the young, well, younger lord pointedly asked and walked off into an unused room. Picard followed. Oliver never gave him any sort of title unless there was a good reason.
"What are you up to?" Picard demanded bluntly while softly closing the door.
"What you're doing qualifies as treason," Oliver replied just as bluntly. He was right; bringing the foreigners into Lemuria was treasonous. "Without the Senate's permission, that is. And then when they are returned as the must be…"
"It will be the first step to rejoin Lemuria with the outside world," Picard finished. "Didn't I tell you that?"
"Yes. And I think you should tell it to Senate."
"Do you have any more of a plan?"
"When don't I? Don't follow me." With that, Oliver exited out the door on the other side of the room.
That's it?! He'd just have to trust Oliver. Everything was sound so far. Only Picard knew that he hadn't called a meeting, and no one had yet seen Oliver or him together. To show even a hint of an alliance could be disastrous.
Disastrous to Oliver's plan. A plan that could very well be disastrous to Picard. As much as he wanted to trust the boy, maybe it wasn't the right thing that he do so. If Oliver, no, Lord Crest could plot with him, he could plot with anyone else.
Stop that! he told himself firmly. This is Oliver, not Icile Glacial. He wouldn't… He wouldn't and he won't.
Picard wished he could be sure.
………
"In an hour, we get to the airport. From there we go to the Attawapiskat Airport in Canada and that'll take a couple hours. Then we get picked up by my cousin May and drive for two more hours before we get there," Gary told Ian while loading up the car.
Why had his dad sprung this on him last minute? No one could say that the Jerra family had planned the vacation well, but inviting Ian and his mother along? Insane. Maybe Dad thought I'd have more fun with a friend.
He and Ian weren't friends, not by a long shot. It wasn't just that Gary used to bully Ian around; they had nothing in common. Ian was a brain that was afraid of sports; Gary was a jock that didn't see much point in exerting himself at any subject in school, except gym. In other words, they had nothing to talk about.
He slammed the trunk of the mini-van shut. The car could fit seven, but his dad was taking a later flight, making the car load a total of six people: His over-protective mom, a divorced woman, an annoying sister, a hyper little brother, a shy dork, and Gary.
An hour to the airport.
Fun. Riiiight.
………
As soon as Picard entered the Senate Meeting Room, he made an important discovery: He didn't know what to do.
When someone else called a meeting, he would skip it if it wasn't important and if it was, he would listen to the point being debated about and then decide on something. But this time he had called the meeting. In a way.
He took his seat at the wooden, circular table while surveying the Senators already gathered there. Eight out of nine present. Lady Hydros is still missing! Not good. Curse her habit of disappearing on the fishing ships! He needed any support he could get. Luckily, the Hydros family had preserved their attitude towards outsiders.
Unfortunately, the Conservato family had done the same. "What is the purpose of this meeting, sire?" demanded Lord Frostshorn Conservato, making the word "sire" sound like something one calls an idiot. As a Conservato, his hate of outsiders and dislike of the king was a given. A man who grew up being taught the "virtues" of political power, he wasn't too fond of his fellow senators either and liked commoners only at a distance.
"I would like to know that as well, milord," agreed Lord Globule Aquae in a non-menacing and far more polite manner. The only threatening thing the Keeper of Records could do would be to say "This reminds me of…" as the phrase often led to a long story, even by Lemurian standards.
"Is this about the arrival of the foreigners, milord?" Oliver prodded.
There was the "milord" again. Was that the signal of the plan? "Indeed it is," Picard confirmed. As if it could be about anything else.
Lord Dewst Rainmeadow took this to be his cue to argue. A sharp-eyed dreamer, he had an odd tendency to quote poetry even as he argued in favor of things remaining the same. "Milord, they will destroy the delicate balance we have worked so hard to preserve! 'The beauty of nature is fragile as light caught on a butterfly's wing.' Would you let our fair land be over-run by the outer world?!"
"No, he will not!" proclaimed Lord Frozenshield Seaborn in his rough voice. The man was military-minded and had no sense of humor, but something of his aggressiveness reminded Picard of Garet. Just a small part of it though; Garet could and had make people laugh even as he spoke of battle while Seaborn… didn't. "It shall not be Lemuria that is defeated, but the outsiders if they dare attack! None can match our Psynergic might! If we gather an army, there are none who can oppose us!" It might have had something to do with the frequency difference that made Garet the far more likeable; more likely it was the fact that Garet had actually experianced many a fight for his life. Seaborn… hadn't. His talk of "Psynergic might" always made Picard wish he could introduce the man to Dullahan. Just for a few moments of course; the man wasn't that bad.
"Senators, first off, there is no cause for such an army. Second, we have barely a population of three hundred. Many of the smallest towns out-number us, so our army would be insignificant even if we had one. Third…" What was third?! Picard's hand brushed by his pocket.
Oh.
"Third, if a system of trade is established, Lemuria could, and will, flourish."
"What could they possibly have to offer?" scoffed Lord Conservato. This one, he wouldn't mind stretching out the visit to Dullahan for.
"It is good you ask," he replied, pulling out the first of the items: Crade's clicky pen. He held the writing tool up for all to see. "Does anyone have a piece of parchment? Ah, yes, thank you, Lord Waverunner. Now, watch." Lord Waverunner hadn't spoken two words so far; that was slightly worrying.
He pushed the button on the end of the pen. Click. The nib of the pen clicked out. Click. Back in. Click. Back out. He scribbled on the parchment for a moment before holding the page up. Upon it were written four words: This is a pen.
"So they have put ink in inside strange quills. What does it matter?"
"Conservato, think about it. If a simple writing tool has been changed to such an extent, how much have complex things changed?" Lord Aquae debated.
Exactly, Globule Aquae, exactly. "Complex things…like clocks?" Picard prodded. He had everyone's attention at once. The reason?
The Senate's clock.
The clock in Senate House was a great pride as well as a great beauty. If the outsiders had indeed surpassed Lemurians when it came to instruments of time measurement, maybe they did indeed deserve some consideration.
Once again, Picard reached into his pocket and once again he pulled out an item that far surpassed its Lemurian equivalent: Crade's watch.
Luckily for Picard's little presentation, Crade didn't have a dinky watch. Oh, no. This little guy looked impressive even if the leather band was fake and the face possibly under plastic instead of glass. Not only did it have Roman numerals the Senators would understand, it had this little thing that showed what phase Luna was in.
"This is a watch, a miniature clock. It's just as accurate as a full sized one if not more," he explained before passing it to Lord Rainmeadow who was sitting at this left. Picard waited the ten minutes it took for the watch to take a trip half way around the table. Then he pulled out Jen's watch. Jen's digital watch.
"This is also a clock. One powered by the Jupiter-related force called electricity." Fine, Crade's watch ran on a battery, but he wasn't going to go into the nitty gritty. "The difference? See for yourselves." He passed it to his right this time, to Lord Aquae. "That number is a seven. It will change to eight at the same time the long hand of the other watch reaches twelve. Say 'now' when it does," he told the lords studying each watch.
This was something he had planned. Earlier, when he had asked for the watches, he had asked that Jen and Crade set the devises so they would show the exact same time. Where was the harm in impressing them a little bit extra?
"Now," chorused Lords Aquae and Glacial. Glacial was perhaps the only person Andrew had ever come close to hating. Possibly more than close.
"So what?" Conservato protested. "It's not in time with our clock…" As if on cue, the great clock began its sweet hourly chime from the hall, forcing Conservato to switch tactics before Picard could pull out his trump card, an electronic toy called a "Gameboy Pocket". "What does this have to do with your bringing the outsiders here?"
"It shows that by bringing them here, I have opened up many a possibility for Lemuria."
"Many of them not so good," young Lord Adrian Murray pointed out mildly. "Invasion, for one." Unlike many others, Murray aruging against him was no indication that he was against him.
"But trade. Interesting trade, as well, Adrian," added his older friend Lord Aquae. Murray had learned from Aquae to observe things from all angles, something the older lord did to the point where it was nearly compulsive. "Never count a good thing out just because a bad thing might happen. This reminds me of a little event that happened between the years 324 A.L. and 327 A.L. called the Kibombo Crossing. (Author's Note: A.L. stands for After Lighting) There had been attacks on the Madra of Indra, or Africa as it is now, by the Kibombo from Gondowan, or South America. The new witch doctor of the Kibombo was far more power-hungry than his predecessors and broke a peace that had lasted over three hundred years. After two years of conflict, the Madran mayor went out to the Kibombos and they were so impressed by his bravery that they were willing to negotiate. Unfortunately, the mayor was a bad negotiator and ended up giving the Kibombo complete access to all of Madra's territories. But they weren't allowed to harm anyone while they were there, making it not a complete loss. So even though the mayor could have died, he went out to show that they didn't have to fight." And just when the world thought he was about to shut up, Lord Aquae added, "This turned out rather strangely when the continents finally broke apart, taking a good portion the Kibombos with Indra."
Oliver cleared his throat loudly. "Aren't we a bit off topic? What is the plan for returning the…individuals to their homes, sire?"
"By the Seamist, of course. I sail to the eastern coast of the North American and drop them off, simple as that. With the speed of communication in the world these days, they will be able to contact their homes in a matter of minutes. And thanks to the eighteen Jupiter Djinn currently living in the palace, they won't remember a thing."
It wasn't exactly a lie. He would set off in the Seamist; he always did. Then he would use the Teleportation Lapis, if Gust and Zephyr got back before he left. Upon reaching the east coast, he would drop off the foreigners. Once several kinks were worked out of the system. Like his friends in the bodies of present day kids.
"Sire, if you would excuse us to consider your proposition in private?"
"Of course." He had no choice but to agree, as this was custom. Not law, exactly, but close.
This was where everything could fall apart. Unless Oliver's plan really worked. But, depending on what that plan was, Picard might not want it to work.
Oliver wiped his sweating palms on his trousers discreetly as he watched the King exit the room. How could the man look so calm? It was amazing how much the man trusted him; Oliver would be squirming in his seat had he been in the other man's shoes.
He was in his own shoes and still resisting the urge to squirm. This was where everything could fall apart after all his careful manipulations. He had gotten the meeting off onto the right subject and prodded it back there whenever it seemed needed. If he were to prod too strongly now, his plan could fall apart, too weakly and it would be only half done. He needed to get Picard this chance, he had to.
He would have to trust Aquae's annoying habit of taking every side in an argument.
"If they will truly remember nothing, then there shouldn't be a problem. Unless this happens again," reasoned Lord Depths Waverunner, logical as ever, speaking for the first time. "Unless he could edit our memories as well. As far as we know he could've done so countless times already."
"King Piers wouldn't do that!" young Adrian Murray protested. "Would he?" he asked his friend and mentor.
"I'm not sure –" Lord Aquae began to be interrupted by Icile Glacial.
"He wouldn't. It goes against his character. The relic's too honest to manipulate or lie very well." So Icile could actually help Oliver's plan. Who knew?
"You say that as if honesty is a bad quality to have," growled Lord Frozenshield.
"Honest or not, he can't be trusted!" declared Conservato.
Maybe it's prodding time… Oliver thought before Aquae did it for him.
"Doesn't honesty mean that he can be trusted?"
"He can be trusted to do what he thinks is best, not what is right for all of Lemuria," argued Lord Rainmeadow.
"The answer is rather simple: we keep him in check," stated Waverunner.
Now it's time. "And how do we do that with him sailing around the world and us in Lemuria?"
"Once again: simple. We send one of us with him."
I knew it. Oliver would have to make sure he was the one who went. Any of the others… disaster.
"Shouldn't we wait for Lady Hydros before deciding this?" Murray asked. Yes, it would've been better if she had been avalible. Her going off randomly was a normallity but in this case it was an annoyance.
"She missed the meeting," Frozenshield Seaborn pointed out. "She has only herself to blame. We need to be sure that we can count on her if we are to send her out, and if we can't even trust her to show up, then we shouldn't send the Lady out."
"And we need someone we can trust with more than just proper attendance," concluded Conservato who trusted a total of zero people.
Everything, well, nearly everything going according to plan. Just pick me and we're all set. After I figure out who Melana will be staying with now that the Hydros girl's gone.
"I vote for Oliver," Adrian Murray decided.
This was turning out better than he had dared to hope. Come on, Aquae, little Adrian is voting for me.
"I second that," added Aquae.
Perfect. Oliver held back a grin. "I guess I could," he replied, trying, and suceeding, to sound unsure of himself.
"Do you guess or do you know?" Frozenshield Seaborn asked.
"I know, Frozenshield."
"Good. But if he starts to make any decisions that would count as rash, try to stop him," Lord Seaborn continued.
"I'm sure Rebecca would be happy to prevent anything of that sort from happening," Icile Glacial offered.
Rebecca? The killer? Panic and alarm flooded through Oliver.
"You suggest letting her out one more time and she's going to get a room mate!" growled Frozenshield.
Good, just one of Icile's sick little jokes.
"Still, one thing for too long isn't good for the balance of things," Rainmeadow hinted. Oliver was getting a bad feeling from this.
"Not at all good," agreed Conservato, a twisted simile beginning to appear on his face.
A very bad feeling.
"This depends entirely on what the 'one thing' is," Oliver said, desperately hoping this wasn't advancing in the direction he thought it was. "For instance, if Sol were to die, the world would fail without it." Maybe not the most subtle of metaphors, but there was nothing to prove that it was one.
Lord Waverunner sent him one of his unnerving gazes over his folded hands, enough to make the unpracticed squirm. "I wonder, Oliver," the man began quietly, using far more familiarity than was comfortable, most likely trying to throw him off guard, "what will become of your daughter in your absence? With whom shall she stay?"
His fear seemed to have hardened into something similar to a rock. A icy rock. "I'm sure King Piers' boy –"
"Will be going with him."
A very icy rock.
Globule Aquae hung his head sadly, acknowledging that there was nothing he could do.
Murray gasped at what his friend's silence meant. "It's not…it's not right," he said weakly.
"No," Frozenshield agreed, "but it's called for." He stood and unfastened his belt-knife, sheath and all. He held the weapon out to Oliver. "If the action is necessary, don't hesitate."
Picard or Melana. His king or his daughter.
The rock had become a boulder of ice.
Oliver took the knife.