Points of View
A Star Ocean 3 fanfic by Intrasonic

Disclaimer: This item of fanfiction is public domain and not intended for profit. And believe me, it isn't making any.

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Chapter 11
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Setting: 4D Space, Eternal Sphere Gateway
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It's a terrible thing to be told that you don't exist (not to mention confusing).

But, if Nel was interpreting recent events correctly, that was exactly what she, along with her friends, had been told. Or at the very least, their existence was less substantial than common sense would dictate.

If the entire affair was all an elaborate deception, it was an exceedingly intricate one, which had even convinced her friends from higher-technology worlds. And considering the level of power being displayed by this 'Creator' to date, a deception almost seemed redundant. Until proven otherwise, it seemed logical to assume the worst - that both they and their peoples were in imminent danger of being completely exterminated.

Which was why, at the moment, she was with her friends in a strange, circular room with walls that seemed to be made of one, continuous computer monitor screen. Except that, unlike the earlier examples that she had seen aboard spaceships, the images that these displayed were possessed of a quality so good that Nel almost found herself mistaking them for windows. Only the fact they constantly shifted and changed views clued her in to the fact they were merely pictures.

If the information they had been given by that boy - Flad was his name - was true, they were in a room that would let them travel to any of those destinations shown, and more. No one seemed to want to guess at the exact mechanics, but the results would clearly speak for themselves. At least they would, once Maria finished her work on the computer in the centre of the room. At present, the young woman was typing furiously, her eyes darting back and forth rapidly across the smaller monitor screen before her.

Everyone else, perhaps possessing a sixth sense for when someone didn't want to be disturbed, had vacated the immediate area, and occupied themselves by looking at the pictures along the wall. Fayt and Sophia were talking back and forth excitedly, apparently recognizing some of the images that were displayed, their faces cycling through various expressions of delight, solemnity, and amusement. Cliff was scrutinizing an image of a seashore, populated with what looked suspiciously like scantily clad women. For her part, the pictures all looked equally alien to Nel, although she almost thought she caught a glimpse of an image of the Kirlsa training facility...

"Whatcha looking at?" a high-pitched voice wanted to know.

Nel turned to face the newest addition to their motley crew.

"Have you found your home world yet?" Peppita Rossetti asked, balancing easily on the edge of the wall that surrounded the central area.

"Not yet," Nel replied. "You?"

"My people don't have one," the girl replied. "We're nomadic people."

"You travel all the time?"

"That's right. I'm part of a traveling circus, so we go wherever the customers are."

"That sounds like an interesting life," Nel offered. "So the others we met in Moonbase are the people you travel with?"

"Yep! What about you? Where are you from?"

"It's called Elicoor II."

"Hmm... I've never been there before. What's it like?"

"Well... it's my home, I suppose. I believe it's called an 'Underdeveloped Planet', so I don't suppose you would have even been allowed to go there."

"Really? You're from an underdeveloped planet?"

"That's right."

"Wow! I never even realized... how underdeveloped is it?"

Nel shrugged. "I'm not quite sure how you measure such things. I believe Maria told me that being able to travel into space is important, but we certainly haven't accomplished that. And we don't have these 'computers', either."

Peppita's eyes widened. "Really? You don't seem primitive..."

Nel didn't bother taking offence over the 'primitive' label, having seen more than enough to make her believe it. "Thank-you, I suppose. The others have been very helpful in explaining different things to me, actually."

"So how did you join up with everybody else here?"

"It's a rather long story, actually. They crash-landed on my world, and it took some time before they could be rescued. In the meantime, I befriended these people, and ended up leaving the world with them. At that time, they decided that the situation with this 'Creator' was quite serious, and that I could be of some help to them."

"With that electricity magic?"

"That's right," Nel agreed. The 'EM bombs' had worked for most of the robots on Moonbase, but the larger ones seemed to have been better protected, forcing Nel to bring all of her lightning powers to bear. Even then, the largest robots had required two or three blasts before they finally ceased functioning. Cliff had run interference to give her better shots, but Nel hadn't missed the huge chunks of wall that had been rapidly gouged out by the robots' missed attacks. The idea of trying to assault such a device with conventional soldiers... like attacking a hurricane with scraps of paper.

"Those were pretty cool!" Peppita agreed. "I bet you could travel with our troupe for a while, you know! People would be amazed to see those kind of tricks."

"Is that so?" Nel inquired, unable to keep from smiling. Magistrate Lasselle would go into conniptions if he heard that one of the kingdom's Crimson Blades had joined a band of performing nomads. "Well, if I'm ever looking for a change in job, I'll be sure to contact you."

"Great!"

By this point in Nel's life, the process of analyzing new people didn't even require conscious thought. And she'd been watching Peppita very carefully; from the moment the girl had first appeared.

A charitable soul might have called the girl 'spirited' and 'enthusiastic', but Nel preferred the terms 'reckless' and 'foolhardy'. Granted, she had usually shown an appropriate degree of caution on Moonbase, leaving the serious fighting to those who were equipped and/or trained for it. But she hadn't been cautious enough to refrain from directly assaulting one of the flying robots by herself.

Which was the other side of the issue - the girl's idea of a direct assault had involved a twenty-foot vertical jump, and on the way up, slamming both feet into the robot hard enough to topple it. The follow-up had involved the girl vaulting onto the robot to jump even higher, at which point Peppita had used a combination of gravity, a push from the ceiling, and an overhead smash with her metal bangles to permanently put an end to the threat.

Peppita was a dancer, as though that explained a child being able to jump more than four times her body height and smash solid metal. Nel was hardly a performance connoisseur, but she was sure that the performing acts she had seen as a child had been somewhat more... tame.

She was also a different race, a Velbaysian, which apparently meant that she'd been born with the same reflexes and coordination that Nel had spent her whole life developing. Add a strength-to-size factor to rival Cliff's, and you had a lot of combat potential packed into the smallest member of the group. If it weren't for the fact that the girl's race apparently possessed all the stamina of an overweight nobleman in a suit of heavy chain mail, Nel thought she might have already tried to hire the girl by now.

"Hmph. Saying that we don't exist!" Peppita was griping. "I'm going to kick this Creator's butt so hard his kids will feel it!"

"My sentiments exactly," Nel agreed dryly. "I'm not even quite sure how I don't exist."

"Right! If we didn't exist, we'd know it!" Peppita decided. "Or... I mean, how could we even think we existed if we didn't?"

"I was never much for philosophy," Nel admitted, "but that seems reasonable."

"I sure hope Maria is done soon..."

"I'm sure she's working as fast as she can-"

"I'm done," Maria abruptly announced, standing up from the computer and turning to address the group. "All of our parameters should be inputted into the system, letting us use this 'Eternal Sphere'. Now we can see if this system is everything that Flad claimed it was."

There was a brief pause as the others digested the statement.

Maria gave them all a smile. "Would anyone care to suggest a destination?"

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"What do you think, Nel?"

Nel scrutinized the area they had found themselves transported to, easily recognizable as the Aire Hills, not far from the town of Kirlsa. From the jagged mountain peaks to the North, to the somewhat smoother mountains to the South, to the faded burn and blood marks scattered randomly across everywhere in-between...

"It looks real to me," she offered.

Maria took the statement at face value. "So there's nothing out of place on the Eternal Sphere's Elicoor II. So far, at least."

"We'll have to see what we find in the towns," Fayt decided. "If this is a simulation, there's no way they could possibly simulate everyone on Elicoor II properly."

"Especially once Nel talks with her friends," Sophia agreed. "She can ask them secret things, right? No simulation could know those kind of things."

"And if we're lucky," Maria added, flipping open her communicator and tapping a few keys, "we can talk to a few friends of our own. This should be able to put out a strong enough signal if they're still in orbit... Diplo, do you copy?"

A few moments of silence, followed by a brief hiss of static. "Identify yourself," a familiar female voice replied.

"This is Maria, Mirage."

Another period of silence ensued, before Mirage replied. "I'm going to have to ask you to prove your identity. Considering that your signal is originating from the surface of Elicoor II, instead of where you're supposed to be right now."

"For the time being, I'm going to call it a trans-dimensional transport," Maria replied. "We're still investigating the exact nature of this business. And right now, we're trying to ascertain that we are, in fact, in our real universe."

"Well, I can assure you that you're in my universe," Mirage replied. "And you still haven't proved that you're who you say you are."

"Always by the book," Cliff noted with a resigned sigh.

Maria held out the open communicator before the group. "Everybody identify yourselves in full for Mirage."

"Fayt Leingod."
"Sophia Esteed."
"The Amazing Cliff Fittir."
"Peppita Rossetti!"
"Nel Zelpher."
"And Maria Traydor, of course. Happy now?" Maria inquired.

"So you know some names, and can do a reasonable facsimile of their voices. Would you be happy with that?" Mirage inquired pointedly. "And I'm not asking this for trivial reasons, I might add."

Maria frowned, but didn't dispute the question. "So we need something that an impostor couldn't possibly know..." She brightened. "I could recite your win-loss-tie record for sparring matches against Cliff-"

"Whoa there!" Cliff interrupted hastily. "No need to be so drastic, boss."

Maria smirked knowingly. "You have something better?"

"Of course." Cliff leaned towards the communicator. "Hey, Mirage? How about I recite a few titles of certain novels you've got stashed under your bed?"

Mirage was very silent for a moment. "How about I tell everybody the story about how we first met?"

"Can't imagine what you're talking about."

"Oh really? You mean you've forgotten how an eight-year old girl inflicted severe groin damage on a seventeen-year old punk who thought he was the hottest thing since faster-than-light travel?"

Cliff winced. "Erg, I'd kinda repressed that memory, thanks."

There were a few repressed snickers and giggles from other members of the group, but they disappeared by the time he turned to face them.

"And I am the hottest thing since faster-than-light travel," the Klausian added, a grin creeping onto his face again. "Or did you forget all about a certain thirteen year-old girl who was crushing on a handsome twenty-two year-old stud, and decided she'd plant a camera in his shower stall-"

"Marietta," Mirage voice interrupted quickly, "one antimatter torpedo, aim at the source of the communication..."

Cliff smirked. "I dunno, Mirage... that torpedo could take up to a minute to load. And I haven't even mentioned the 'betting pool' part yet. And Maria's looking reeeeeally curious..."

In fact, by this point, the entire group had given the conversation their undivided attention.

"Cliff..."

"Aw, what are you worried about?" he inquired, far too innocently. "If I'm not the real Cliff Fittir, there's no way I could know about you betting a big chunk of your allowance on the 'Over 25 centimetre' category-"

"CLIFF!"

"-and when the camera idea didn't work out, you went and-"

"Alright, alright, I believe you. Now put Maria back on before I come down there personally."

"Heh heh, back to you, boss."

Maria was trying hard not to laugh as well. "You realize, Mirage... that your captain is going to want an... in-depth report when this is over?"

The group could almost hear Mirage's expression on the other end of the communicator. "I'm sure that could be arranged," she finally agreed. "But the report would probably have to include an incident involving a certain fifteen-year old who stumbled across a stray issue of 'Restraint and Ordering'..."

"Erm..." It was rather impressive how quickly Maria's face began to heat up.

"...I believe we still have the backed-up security logs somewhere-"

"You said that you deleted those!" Maria protested, before clapping her hand over her mouth, keenly aware of some incredulous stares she was now getting. She coughed, managing to regain some of her composure, although her face remained quite red. "I mean, this entire conversation never happened."

"Well, if you're absolutely certain..."

"Yes. Definitely. Captain's orders, in fact."

"Let that be a lesson, kids," Cliff lectured, "you can never have too much blackmail over your friends and superior officers."

"So are you quite positive that you're in your universe now?" Mirage teased.

"Yes. Now give me a report." A stifled laugh from one of the other group members made her turn and glare at the row of innocent-looking faces. "A real report."

"Of course. No significant change from earlier, but we've intercepted UFP communications that indicate the battleship Aquaelie was destroyed in combat thirty minutes ago, near the planet Styx. So you can understand why we were a little sceptical when we picked up your communicator on Elicoor II. But it's nice to know that you're all safe."

"Thirty minutes ago?" Fayt blurted out. "But that happened..."

"At least six hours ago," Maria finished. "Mirage, could you give me a reading of the Diplo's internal chronometer?"

"The date reads seven-seventy-two dash eleven dash seven, and the time reads eleven dash twenty-five dash zero," Mirage recited. "Are you saying that you have a different time?"

"The date is fine, but my communicator thinks it's almost 1700 now."

"That's over five hours unaccounted for?"

"Which means that we spent over five hours that never passed here," Maria mused thoughtfully. "It appears that Dr. Leingod's theory was right - time passes differently in 4-D space than it does here. I suppose it's not unthinkable that we might have simply returned to our universe at the exact instant we left it, except in a different location."

"I'm not much on that kind of stuff," Cliff admitted, "but if we really are being loaded into some kind of big game, it'd be pretty easy to make us appear at any time, right?"

"We can assume so for the time being," Maria agreed. "If this was some kind of trick, they would have been smarter to make time pass at the same rate, no matter where we were. But I think we should still take up Nel's suggestion."

Nel blinked at the mention of her name. "Huh?"

"You were saying that we could see if your symbological researchers might have some insights on our symbols?" Maria pointed out.

Nel nodded, glad to have the conversation back on more familiar ground (it had been comforting to see Fayt, Sophia, and Peppita looking almost as confused as she had been). "Well, you said that you don't have devices that can see rune-I mean, symbological fluctuations like my people can. But there are people in Aquios who can perceive them even better than I can. And my training is largely practical, whereas someone like Lady Elena is much better versed in theoretical matters..."

"Then I think we'll take you up on your offer," Maria agreed. "Mirage? Are you getting all this?"

"Loud and clear. Did you want to walk the whole way, or would you like a transporter assist?"

"You read my mind. Six to beam up."

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At Nel's suggestion, the group used the White Dew Garden as a transporter destination, by virtue of the fact that it was open, and likely to be unoccupied. After all, despite the recent events on Elicoor, there was still no harm in trying to avoid the general public. And as an added benefit, the group could walk directly into the throne room and discuss urgent matters with Aquaria's Queen without delay.

And the matters were quite urgent, so Nel could perhaps be forgiven for not noticing the stunned expressions present on the attending royal court when she, followed by the other five members of the group, strode briskly into the throne room and presented themselves before the Queen.

"Your Majesty, I have returned," Nel greeted, kneeling before her Queen.

There was a moment of silence on the part of the court.

"Good to see you again, Your Highness," Cliff added helpfully.

"Nel?" the Queen inquired, with a considerable amount of disbelief.

Nel cautiously stood again. "Your Majesty?"

"You're... safe?"

As greetings went, this was somewhat unexpected. "Er, I am. Your Majesty. And yourself?"

"NEL!" That was Clair, who had likely been in the process of delivering a report, and was now in the process of crushing Nel's ribs.

"Ack! C-Clair!"

"Where were you?" her friend demanded, only relaxing her hug slightly. "You went to inspect the training facility, and never returned! I went to search for you, and found metal pieces everywhere, with blood stains and burn marks all over the roof clearing-"

"Oops," Fayt muttered under his breath.

"Looks like somebody forgot to call in sick," Cliff agreed.

Nel finally returned Clair's embrace, but gave the Klausian a glare. "At the time, I was hardly in any shape to do so, in case you've forgotten!"

Maria coughed pointedly, stepping forwards to face the Queen. "We apologize for this interruption, Your Majesty. The last few days have been... extremely busy. And we don't expect that to change in the near future. But we would certainly be happy to provide you with a more detailed explanation."

"I would certainly appreciate one," the Queen agreed, looking the group over with a calculating eye. "You seem to have brought us some more 'Engineers from Greeton', Nel."

Nel managed a wry smile at her Queen's tone of voice. "You could say that, Your Majesty. Except this time, it's them asking for our knowledge."

"Yeah, we figured that we'd show Nel the nice way to go about it," Cliff interjected. "I mean, not even out of prison, and she was already threatening to kill me and Fayt-"

"Better late than never," Nel warned.

"Yes, our Nel can be like that sometimes," the Queen agreed, a hint of a smile on her face.

"Nel..." Clair whispered, her face angled slightly away from the main group. "Fayt and Maria... and that girl next to Fayt..."

"I know," Nel agreed, not bothering to lower her voice in reply. Seeing the inquisitive looks the comment had gained her, she looked back at her Queen. "Your Majesty, you may have noticed that the runological fields surrounding Fayt and Maria are different then they were before?"

"I did indeed," the Queen confirmed. "Was the explanation going to broach such matters?"

"Most definitely."

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"Fireball!"

Even as the massive ball of flame rocketed harmlessly skywards, the small crowd of onlookers wore suitably impressed expressions.

"As you can see," Nel was explaining, "Sophia's power levels have exceeded my own at this point."

"I see," the Queen observed appreciatively. "And at a younger age, no less. You appear to have an exceptional gift for Runology, Sophia."

Off to the side, Fayt and Peppita gave an encouraging round of applause.

Sophia flushed, only partially from the praise. To say the least, the girl was still having some difficulty coming to grips with the fact that she was actually casting spells of her very own, without the aid of a holodeck. Being told that she'd already surpassed her teacher was just the latest development.

"And without the aid of any body runes," Lady Elena added, sounding curious despite herself. Along with the Queen and Clair, Nel had quickly recommended that Elena be summoned to hear the story, promising that it would be well worth her time. Considering Nel's track record for exaggeration (very rare), the Chief Runologist had wasted no time in arriving. And thus far, she had found no cause for disappointment. "And how long have you been training, young lady?"

"Er..."

Nel's smile was of the classical and timeless 'I-know-something-you-don't' variety.

"...about three days now."

It was almost comical how fast the indulgent smile on the researcher's face faded. "Three days?"

"Um... three and a half?"

All three Aquarian women immediately directed incredulous looks towards Nel.

"I would never have believed such a thing, myself," Nel admitted, "but three days ago, Sophia barely had the faintest spark of power in her. And now..."

Elena shook her head, now looking rather stunned. "For Runological powers to develop so quickly..."

The Queen looked rather nonplussed, but still thoughtful. "This... in conjunction with the story you've just told us? This 'Other world', this 'Creator', these 'symbols'... Fayt, Maria, Sophia... your powers are to be used against this Creator individual?"

"More or less," Maria admitted, banishing a flicker of anger before it could make more than a brief appearance. "Unfortunately, the circumstances are less than ideal right now, and we're still at a loss for exactly how to proceed. We can, however, expect to make use of our powers in the near future."

"And from what Nel hinted earlier, you come to us for knowledge?" the Queen inquired. "While we're certainly flattered, what makes you think we would possess knowledge that you do not? Even about Runology? Or Symbology, as you people seem to call it."

"At this time," Maria explained, "even with all of our technological advances and equipment, we've never been able to actually see symbological energies the way that you people can. And the branches of study that we do have, they're extremely theoretical in nature. Whereas you people are considerably more practical in your focus."

"So you hope that we might be able to help you develop your powers further?"

"We've been told that our respective symbols react to proximity with one another," Maria explained. "I've noticed that my own abilities have become somewhat stronger since I met up with Fayt, but ever since Sophia joined our group recently, all of our powers have rapidly grown. We don't have much time, but it could only benefit us if we were to learn a little more about harnessing our powers."

"Well, under the circumstances, we will certainly do what we can to help you in that respect. Elena, would you be willing to assist in this matter?"
The researcher smiled wryly. "I think I would be most upset, my Queen, if I wasn't permitted to assist. But if time is of the essence...?"

"Very much so," Maria confirmed.

"Then perhaps if some other knowledgeable individuals were to help as well?"

"Who would you suggest?"

"Perhaps if Lady Clair were to work with Fayt?"

Both individuals mentioned looked surprised, giving each other a glance.

Nel gave the suggestion an approving nod of her head. "Clair is quite good with a sword, Fayt, and better at Runology than I am. And, of course, you're already acquainted with each other."

"And myself and Sophia?" Maria inquired.

Elena looked thoughtful. "I suppose it would be no trouble to take you both myself, but..."

clopclopclop
Nel's ears perked up at the approaching sound coming from inside the throne room. "Elena... I think the solution is on his way right now..."

The rest of the group could soon hear the distinctive footsteps, the Elicoorians having no trouble recognizing whom they belonged to. Smiles began to grow on their faces as they clued into what Nel was suggesting.

The door leading back inside to the Throne Room was abruptly thrown open, a bulky figure striding in with all the purpose and power of a tsunami (and often just as badly timed). "Your Majesty! I have returned..." Adray Lasbard trailed off, suddenly aware of the entire group looking at him in an unusually calculating manner.

On the other hand, the older warrior had never been known for his shyness and hesitation. "Ah, Nel, welcome back! You had them all in a snit over your disappearance! I told them to have a little more faith in you all along!"

"I don't recall that at all, father," Clair retorted. "You were suggesting that she'd decided to elope with Albel Nox!"

"Excuse me!"

Adray laughed good-naturedly. "Well, Airyglyph said that their Albel had gone off somewhere too, right? It was a perfectly logical conclusion."

"Logical!"

"Well, no harm done," the older warrior decided. "I guess we'll have to tell Airyglyph to keep looking for the boy, then. So what brings the rest of you here?"

"A matter of great importance," Elena informed him. "And I think you're just the person we're looking for."

"Eh..." The man was immediately wary, and not, Nel knew, without reason. Owing to certain incidents in the past involving Elena's research projects, and Adray simply being himself in close proximity, the Chief Runologist's opinion was only slightly more charitable then that of Lasselle's. "I am?"

Nel steered the older warrior until he was facing Sophia. "Adray, Sophia. Sophia, this is Adray Lasbard, one of my kingdom's foremost Runological warriors."

Sophia strained her neck to look up the man. "Um, hello."

"Sophia has a great deal of interest in Runology," Nel elaborated. "And we don't have a lot of time right now. So we need you to teach her as much as you possibly can about Runology."

Adray looked appropriately intrigued. "Is that so?"

"So see what you can teach her in a couple of hours."

The man gave her an incredulous expression. "A couple of hours?"

"We're short for time right now," Nel explained. "I think you'll find that Sophia learns quickly. In the meantime, Clair is going to be teaching Fayt a few things."

Adray grinned. "Well, the boy's certainly got potential, I'll say that much. But my daughter is a soldier, not a teacher-"

"Your daughter is also right here," Clair interjected pointedly. "And she's trained recruits with far less talent than Master Fayt. I just hope I don't hear any reports about you terrorizing this young woman."

"Bah, you worry too much!" her father opinioned. Placing one of his massive hands on Sophia's shoulder, there was room for all but one of his fingers. "Come along, young lady! We'll show my worrisome daughter what a real teacher can do! To the practice range!"

The others watched wordlessly as Adray lead Sophia away.

"Is... she going to be okay?" Fayt asked worriedly.

"She'll be fine," Nel assured her. "Adray is actually quite a good teacher, once you get used to him."

The boy nodded doubtfully. "Is she going to have enough time to get used to him?"

"Don't worry," Nel reassured him. "And you've got your own lessons ahead of you, remember? Clair can be a tough teacher, and a little bird told me the other day that you don't pay as much attention to your studies as you should."

Fayt's grin was half-accusing and half-guilty, and directed entirely towards the exit that Adray and Sophia had taken. "She never lets up..."

"Then I'll do my best to fill in for her," Clair promised, directing Fayt towards the exit. "Any suggestions, Nel?"

"See if you can teach him to infuse his sword with spells of an elemental nature," Nel suggested. "That would work well with what he already knows. It would be good if he could develop more conscious control over his powers."

"And that leaves me," Maria noted, giving Elena an expectant look.

"By all means, the researcher agreed. "Any suggestions, Nel?"

"Just work together," Nel finally decided, "I think that you two will get along just fine."

"Then we will retire to my laboratory," Elena decided, heading for the doorway. "We will see if we can't expound on what is known about these powers."

"That sounds like a good start," Maria approved, following closely behind her.

"Shall we go also, Fayt?" Clair invited. "Time is of the essence, it seems."

"Lead the way," he agreed, squaring his shoulders in readiness.

Nel watched Fayt leave with her best friend, once again allowing herself to marvel at the sheer runological potential surging beneath the boy's slender frame. Of the three children, his was easily the most formless and untamed. To be expected, considering that he had yet to use the power in a deliberate and controlled manner. But just remembering the sight of it being unleashed against the Vendeeni spaceship...

Sophia's power was almost as visible, and was already taking on patterns that a trained Runologist could recognize as spell-casting in nature, courtesy of her brief (but fruitful) flirtation with Runology. Yet even her most successful attempts, thus far, represented but a minute fraction of the power store she possessed. Hopefully, some higher-level teaching would remedy that, allowing the girl to bring the full potential of her power to bear...

Maria's power was technically the least intense of the three (although now easily rivalling even the Queen's), but it was far more defined in composition, hinting that however long ago the young woman had first discovered her powers, she had already invested considerable effort at exerting control over them. Perhaps a researcher like Elena could teach her new ways of directing her powers...

Could they truly hope to usefully harness such immense power in so short a time? Did they even have any other options at this point?

"Nel?"

Nel turned to address her Queen, cutting short any further rumination. "Your Majesty?"

"May I ask you to see to our other guests for the time being?"

Nel glanced over at the remaining individuals, neither blessed with previously unheard-of runological abilities.

"Don't worry about me," Cliff assured her. "I'll just take in the culture, if you don't mind. Didn't get much of a chance last time we were here, right?"

"This is Aquios, not Peterny," Nel pointed out. "Seedy taverns are in short supply, I'm afraid to say."

"Hey," he protested. "I've got an artistic side to my soul, you know."

"You hide it well."

"You're cruel," he griped. "Besides, somebody's gotta give Mirage a call and give her the full story about what we've been doing so far."

Nel gave up. "You do that then. Don't get into trouble. Don't leave the city. Meet back here in a few hours."

Cliff gave a mock-salute as he headed towards the doorway. "Yes ma'am, see you around. Catch you later, Your Majesty."

Nel shook her head wearily, but didn't bother trying to comment on or correct Cliff's version of royal courtesy. And he'd done so well the first time...

Instead, she turned to the remaining member of the party. "Well then," she remarked, "it looks like it's just you and me."

Peppita beamed her near-perpetual smile. "Yep!"

"This is your first time in our land?" the queen inquired. "Perhaps Nel could show you around our fine city?"

"Really!" If such a thing was even possible, the girl's smile widened. "Great!"

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The chapel had been the most obvious (and closest) place to start, and Peppita had been thoroughly appreciative of the size, the beauty, and the artwork through the place. Apparently her performing and dancing background had ingrained a deep appreciation and love for stories as well, and Nel had been forced to jog her own memory to accurately relate the stories behind her own country's history.

The large statues of the Sun God Apris, surrounded by his three wives, the Moon Goddesses Irisa, Erinia, and Palmira had provided an easy and obvious introduction into the story surrounding Aquaria I, known as 'The Founding Queen', and her role in founding the kingdom of Aquor, which the Kingdom of Aquaria could trace its ancestry from.

Which led into talking about Aquaria XVIII, known as 'Sirvia I, the Queen of Freedom', and her role in receiving and using the Sacred Orb, finally defeating the invading kingdom of Greeton over three centuries ago, and founding the present-day kingdom of Aquaria.

Unfortunately, Peppita seemed possessed of decent mathematical skills and was old enough to have had the facts of life explained to her. So the girl had asked how so many gifted Runologists could be descended from one queen. Which had required Nel to briefly explain the story of Leo, known as 'The Son of the Queen of Freedom' in the country's lineage records, and known as 'The Rampantly and Shamelessly Fertile' (a.k.a. The Royal Man-slut) in less official literature.

Fortunately, Peppita hadn't inquired further about how the story ended. Which had - thank Apris - saved Nel the trouble of trying to explain how a very angry Sirvia I had finally put an end to her son's exploits in a very... cutting and direct manner. Despite that small mercy, Nel was versed enough in her country's history to know that a change of scenery might save her the trouble of having to relate a few more indelicate stories. That was the trouble with history - it had already happened, so you couldn't go back and fix it.

Fortunately, there were other things to see.

Such as the massive waterfalls that flanked the castle itself, pouring down relentlessly without end, supplying the rivers that ran through the city itself. Unlike most waterfalls, these particular ones were fed their water from a considerably less mundane source - the Sacred Orb nestled within the Shrine of Kadden. As a result, the water was always clean and sparkling, free of any disease or filth. Even the local foods were said to taste better on account of the water...

Speaking of which...

Nel turned to Peppita. "Are you hungry?"

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

A short while later, Nel had become firmly convinced of something.

In fact, she was beginning to wonder why she hadn't figured it out earlier. The facts had been present almost from the very start, and now they were finally looking her right in the face. In fact, she couldn't believe that someone hadn't realized it earlier. It was simply that obvious.

The boundless energy and enthusiasm. The inexhaustible supply of optimism, no matter the circumstances. The disturbingly disproportionate levels of strength and agility. The 'notice-me-and-pay-attention-to-me' aura unconsciously projected outwards. The smooth, supremely-confident swagger to the step, appearing wasteful to a casual observer, but finely-balanced and trained to a more discerning and critical eye...

"Yum! These are great! Can I have another one?"

...and the bottomless abyss for a stomach. The final conclusion was obvious: Clearly, at some point in the past, Cliff had fathered an illegitimate daughter named Peppita.

The clues were all there, especially the last one, and they all pointed to the same logical conclusion. Different race or not, it shouldn't be physically possible for anyone to fit so much food inside them without exploding.

It had barely been an hour since she'd uttered the fateful words 'eat whatever you want', and her previously-full purse was almost completely empty at this point. Obviously, she hadn't learned her lesson from the first time with Cliff and Fayt. As a matter of fact...

"Last one," Nel informed Peppita. "I'm out of money now."

"Mmph?" Peppita paused in mid-bite, her facial expression instantly going from 'blissful' to 'distressed' as she looked away from her hot pie to look up at Nel. "'o 'onee?"

"Sorry," Nel apologized; not adding that she probably could have fed a family with what she'd just spent on Peppita. A BIG family, at that. "If you're still hungry, we can go back to the castle's kitchen and obtain more food there."

Peppita looked guilty as she offered the remaining portion of the hot pie to Nel. "Um... you want this half?"

Faced with the look of overwhelming and contrite remorse, Nel silently dismissed her 'Daughter of Cliff' theory, the two being quite incompatible. But it didn't make the aforementioned attributes any less noticeable.

"Don't worry about it," she assured the girl, waving aside the offer. "You look like you're enjoying it. And you may as well take advantage of the opportunity while you're here, right?"

Peppita beamed, immediately cramming the rest of the pie into her mouth.

"We'll be on our way," Nel informed the shopkeeper. "Thank-you for your service."

"Thank you, Lady Nel," the shopkeeper required earnestly - and for good reason. With today's sales, Nel imagined, the woman's family would definitely not go hungry. And there would now be room in the store for new stock. LOTS of room. "May the grace of Apris be with you, Lady Nel."

"And also with you," Nel agreed, leading her charge outside before she could grab any of the remaining food.

-+-+-+-+-+

"Sorry," Peppita was apologizing, having finished inhaling the last half of her pie. "I couldn't read any of the signs..."

Nel smiled understandingly, leading by half a step as the two continued down Aquios' main road. "It's no problem. And it's a much better way to help the local businesses than outright charity."

She hadn't given it much thought earlier, but in retrospect, she'd never caught any of the outsiders actually reading anything while on Elicoor II. And now, having recently gained a new perspective on the matter, she understood why.

The translation devices that they used handled speech flawlessly, but they were useless when it came to writing. As a result, the visitors could no more read the writing down here than she could read the writing aboard their spaceships and space stations.

True, Fayt had looked over the diagrams for the Thunder Arrow, but he'd never actually read anything on them. If anything, the fact that he'd still been able to provide sound advice and directions spoke even more highly for his aptitudes.

Now, where to take Peppita that didn't involve spending money? Nel had already taken her charge through the most popular areas for visitors and wasn't sure that any of the remaining areas would use up much time...

"Are you important?"

Nel blinked, returning her full attention to Peppita again. "I'm sorry?"

"Are you important?" the girl repeated. "That lady in the store called you 'Lady Nel'. And that lady in the castle before was a queen, right? And you're a fighter, right? So if you can talk to her directly like that, that must make you an important fighter, right?"

"You could say that," Nel agreed, stifling a smile of bemusement over the girl's train of logic. "I'm the leader of one of our main military divisions, the Secret Legion."

"The Secret Legion? So what kind of secret stuff do you do?"

"We're charged with defending this city against enemies. My battalion is focused primarily on espionage and infiltration duties."

"You mean, spying?"

"That's right. And sabotage, of course."

"Really? That sounds exciting."

Nel couldn't quite keep from making a face. She could remember a lot of people making remarks to that effect, years ago. Then the war had happened, and people began to learn firsthand exactly how 'exciting' war really was. "I suppose, to an outside observer, it might sound that way."

"So what's it like?"

"The war is over now, but I spent most of my time in enemy territory either fighting the enemy, or attempting to learn things that would let other people fight the enemy better."

"So, you did lots of sneaking around?"

"Frequently, yes," Nel agreed. "After all, it's much easier to be a spy when the enemy doesn't know you're there."

"I guess that makes sense. So did you ever get into big battles?"

"From time to time, yes." Hopefully, Nel figured, the girl would pick up the tone of discouragement in her voice. Sometime today, for preference.

"So what were they like?" Peppita persisted. "The big battles?"

"They were big, and a lot of people died in them."

"Oh."

Nel felt a small twinge of guilt for stomping on the girl's enthusiasm so bluntly, but pushed it aside. She'd had misgivings about the girl coming along from the very start, she still did, and the sooner Peppita realized that this wasn't just some amusement trip-

"It's just, I always wondered what it like for my dad," Peppita continued. "I told you before that he was a soldier, right? My mother told me that he fought really hard to protect other people."

"..." Nel replied.

"But, since he had to leave right before I was born, I never had a chance to ask him what it was like-"

"..." Nel added.

"-and I don't know his name, so I can't exactly find out where he is, right?"

"..." Nel finally concluded.

"So I wanted to know what being a soldier is really like," Peppita finished. "Everybody says that I'm going to be a great dancer someday, just like my mother, and I really hope I can be. But since everything is really dangerous right now, I think I'd like to be a great soldier just like my father."

Just like who? Nel wondered silently. A father who 'had to leave' his daughter shortly after she was born? With a mother who had never felt inclined to give her daughter a name to know her father by?

"What do you think?" Peppita asked curiously.

"What do I think?"

"Yeah."

What did Nel think?

Nel thought that Peppita's mother was a liar. Nel thought that the only thing Peppita's father had bothered protecting was his own freedom and convenience. And Nel thought, if the girl's suddenly solemn expression was any indication, that Peppita had probably managed to figure that out for herself, a long time ago.

And, Nel decided firmly, she would be damned if she ever put words to those thoughts. "I think..." she pursed her lips thoughtfully, "...that you and I may have something in common."

Peppita blinked owlishly. "Hmm?"

By way of reply, Nel produced her blades, giving them both a quick spin between her fingers before holding them out for inspection. "Like myself, my father fought to protect this land and its people. These blades are family heirlooms, which he once wielded in battle."

The girl appraised them as well as she could. "They look very sharp."

"They are," Nel understated. "My father wore these during his last battle. It was near the beginning of the war, and a much larger enemy force had attacked him and his unit. It was a great battle, and he and his soldiers fought valiantly."

"What happened?" Peppita asked, spellbound. "Did they win?"

"Unfortunately, they were heavily outnumbered and ambushed," Nel admitted. "When he realized that the battle was lost, my father ordered his unit to retreat. While he stayed behind to buy enough time for them to make their escape."

"You mean..."

A solemn nod. "He sacrificed himself so that most of his unit could live."

Peppita swallowed. "That's... sad. I mean, he was very brave, but..."

"It is sad," Nel agreed solemnly. "I'm proud of my father for what he did, but at the same time... not a day goes by that I don't wish he was still here today."
Placing a hand on Peppita's shoulder, Nel directed her gaze straight at the girl. "And that is why Fayt said to you what he did. If you want to protect others, you need to be willing to place your life in the path of danger for them. But at the same time, you have to realize that sacrificing yourself is a terrible thing as well. Which is why you can't be 'ready to die'."

"I guess that's right." the younger girl looked thoughtful. "So what you're really trying to do is make sure that everybody is alive at the end of the battle."

"Exactly."

"So... you have to be willing to go into danger, but you have to make sure you don't get killed, but you have to make sure nobody else gets killed... that's hard, isn't it?"

"It's even harder than sacrificing yourself," Nel acknowledged, "which means that you have to try even harder. But if you can do it-" With perhaps more pomp and flair than strictly necessary, Nel spun her knives back into their sheaths. "-you can follow in both of your parent's footsteps, right?"

Peppita's face broke into a smile again. "Right!"

-+-+-+-+-+-+

"So what should we do now?"

Nel didn't bother turning her head to look at the speaker. Even if Peppita's voice wasn't distinctive enough by itself, it wasn't as though anyone else was nearby.

But to be frank, she was tired of walking around town, or of any other physical activity. She'd been pushing herself to her limits far too often as of late, and she'd be damned if she wouldn't take a chance to stay still and rest while she had it. And if Peppita suffered from some form of permanent hyperactivity, well, she'd already had the tour of the town.

Conversation, however, Nel didn't mind. "I'm sorry?"

"Well, we don't have super powers like Fayt and the others, right?" Peppita reasoned. "Well, you do, but they're normal super powers, not super super powers, right? And you already know how to use yours."

"You could say that, yes."

"But we're going up against a big guy, so we need to become stronger too, right? So shouldn't we be practicing too?"

As far as Nel was concerned, she'd started 'practicing' ever since she first broke Fayt and Cliff out of prison, and it had only gotten harder since then. "You're right, but it's also important not to wear yourself out in the process. Right now, I'm allowing my body to rest and recover after everything I've been through lately. Which will let me fight more effectively when the time finally comes."

"Oh. But I haven't been through as much, so I don't need to rest. So what should I do to get stronger?"

"I'm not quite sure," Nel admitted. "Sometimes, the most important thing can be to keep a positive attitude about everything, even between the fighting. But... somehow, I don't think that you'll have a problem with that."

Peppita nodded, her near-permanent smile backing her up in agreement. "But still, I gotta try and get stronger, too. So that I can fight harder, but without dying, right?"

"I suppose so. I'm not sure what kind of training you could do, however. Your... 'style' is quite a bit different than any I've seen before. What do you call it?"

"Um... dancing, I guess. I learned lots of different dances from my mother - when she was still alive, I mean - so when I was fighting, I'd just use different routines."

Nel looked sceptical. "Those are dance routines?"

"Well... kinda. I mean, normally I don't hit things with them, but it's not like I can't, right? And lots of my dances are freeform, so I make it up as I go."

"That's... a fairly elaborate improvisation."

"Well, sometimes you don't have a full-size stage to perform on, or a high enough ceiling, so you have to work around it. So you gotta be flexible and adapt."

"Which also holds true for fighting," Nel allowed. "So how do you go about practicing flexibility in your dancing?"

By way of response, Peppita gave her A Look, clearly indicating she considered the question to be rhetorical. "By dancing, of course! Is there anywhere to practice?"

"Well... the practice range is being used by Adray and Sophia... and I expect that Clair and Fayt will be using the courtyard for their own practice-"

"Is over there okay?"

Nel cut her deliberations short. "Where?"

"Over there," Peppita repeated, pointing towards the main steps leading into the castle proper.

"In front of the castle?" Nel asked incredulously.

"No good? Are there zoning rules against performing there? We run into those sometimes..."

"Well, not as such..."

"So why not?"

"Well, if you don't mind being in public..."

Once again, Peppita bestowed A Look upon Nel, indicating that she'd managed to say something patently ridiculous. "Of course I don't mind! I'm a performer! I'll pretend I'm doing my first show!"

"Oh. Er... I suppose that would be okay. Just be sure not to get in anybody's way."

"Don't worry!" Peppita assured her, skipping over towards the castle steps.

As always, it was an eccentric sort of locomotion, that somehow managed to make the ribbons, clothing, and jewellery travel ten times the distance that their wearer did, as though doing their best to draw the attention of the world at large. But at the same time, Nel's practiced eye could see that each step was deceptively careful and measured, with each foot placed in a precise and balanced manner that would have been equally at home on a walkway or a wire. And when you thought about it, it was exactly what one might expect from a dancer.

Hopping up to the first step, Peppita twirled around twice, coming to a stop facing Nel, with her hands clasped winsomely together. "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! Welcome to The Show!"

Despite herself, Nel smiled in response, allowing herself to lean against a nearby stone pillar for the duration of 'The Show'. While she still had every intention of staying put, she had no objections to enjoying a 'performance' at the same time. One thing was for certain - no one could ever call Peppita shy or self-conscious.

Even the sun seemed obliging enough to brighten in response, beginning to dispel the overcast gloom from the castle steps.

"You may have paid for your whole seat today, but you're only going to need the edge! Because we've got a great performance lined up for you today, featuring an up-and-coming dancer making her debut showing! Making her entrance now... the Fairy of Illusions... PEPPITA ROSETTI!"

It really was getting brighter out, Nel's brain noted offhandedly. Perhaps the wind had finally pushed aside the last of the cloud cover from before...

In cue with her own speech, the 'Fairy of Illusions' executed an extravagant bow, holding it for several seconds before righting herself again. "Today I'm going to show you a wonderful world of fantasy and adventure, so let's not waste any-hey, what's that?"

At approximately this time, the business portion of Nel's brain finally remembered that the sun was directly behind the castle proper, and had absolutely no business brightening the front steps like it seemed to be managing. Craning her neck sideways to try and identify the new source of light, she immediately found herself looking up. And up. And UP.

"Oh... WOW!" Peppita breathed in delight, taking in the colossal globe of surging fire and pulsing light in one fell swoop, even as it hung in the sky like a second sun.

"What in the-"

"It looks like it's coming down!" Peppita observed, with uncanny accuracy.

It did, Nel silently agreed. In fact, only its immense size was disguising the fact that it was descending at a disturbingly rapid pace - almost as though more than mere gravity was sending it downwards to the earth. In fact, she could not only see it, she could hear and feel it as well... an ominous bass roar, steadily growing louder, even as it began to reverberate through her bones and the air around her...

The gigantic ball of flame briefly vanished from view, descending behind a tall stone wall. But not for long, because the ground was waiting for it, and the two collided with a vengeance. Moments later, a wider sphere of flame exploded skywards again, even as an ominous rumble reverberated through the ground. Several seconds later, the shattering of windows could be heard in the distance, with the beginnings of a massive cloud of dust beginning to rise around the periphery of the explosion.

Nel stared at it all in bewilderment for an instant, her mind feverishly working on a rational explanation for what had just occurred. There was a logical reason, she knew, if she could only remember it-

Peppita blinked at it, her attention momentarily diverted. "Wow... I didn't know there was going to be special effects... Nel? What was-"

Without so much as a word, Nel suddenly broke into a sprint towards the scene of the explosion.

-+-+-+-+-+-+

It had taken several long second for Nel's mind to put several key facts together, but when they finally combined, there was no room left for uncertainty.

What she had just seen was clearly a runological fire spell.
The runological fire spell was of an extremely high-level variety.
The fire spell had been cast over the training grounds.
There were very few runologists in Aquaria capable of actually casting such a spell.
Of them, there was only one crazy enough to cast such a spell on the training grounds.
Right now, that same Runologist just happened to be on the training grounds.
And he was with a student.

Her aches and pains regulated to a secondary concern, Nel cleared the fifteen-foot wall around the training grounds by several feet, absently using a small amount of Wind Runology to give her the needed boost. She landed on the ground so hard it took three rolls to absorb enough momentum to let her return to her feet again and face-

"ADRAY!" she yelled, running towards what had been the epicentre of the explosion.

"-BWAHAHAHA!"

"What in Apris' name do you think you're DOING?" she demanded in disbelief.

A faint surge of Runological power appeared to her eyes. Moments later, a corresponding gust of wind whisked away the remainder of the airborne dust, revealing a madly laughing Adray Lasbard, with the diminutive form of Sophia cowering behind him.

"EXCELLENT!" the warrior declared to the world at large. "Simply EXCELLENT!"

Nel reigned in her temper before she could abuse the man in a fashion normally reserved for his daughter. "Adray...!"

He turned to look at her, covered in a fine layer of ash, but still grinning hugely. "Ah, Nel! And to think I doubted you earlier!"

"What are you talking about? You just-"

"FATHER!" That was Clair, who had clearly wasted just as little time as Nel in arriving on the scene. And from the look on her face, she was only a hairsbreadth from giving her own temper free reign.
"You've gone too far this time! You-"

Adray cut both of them off with a wave of her hand. "-did nothing at all, girls."

Both of them stared. "You call this-" "You can't be serious-"

"Magnificent, isn't it?" he agreed cheerfully. "Only, it wasn't me that cast that spell!"

Clair's expression could generously be termed 'stunned'. "She - Sophia - cast that spell?"

"..." Nel replied, swivelling her gaze to get a second look at the widespread destruction. The foliage was a lost cause, even the tree trunks and stumps having been reduced to ashes under the intense heat. The ground underneath had been uprooted, cratered, and even glassed in places, like Apris himself had deigned to personally redecorate. For all that it was a training ground, it had never remotely been intended for such large-scale Runology practice, and the landscape would probably be years in the recovery. Such practice was usually conducted far away from towns, with advance warnings posted so as to not alarm the people.

Nel returned to her gaze to the alleged culprit. "Sophia, you... really did this?"

Sophia swallowed nervously under the scrutiny. "Erm... I'm sorry, I... I didn't realize it would be so... big."

The admission was enough to set Adray off laughing again. "By all the gods, girl! Just when I thought I'd seen everything! Still, a good thing I was here to throw up a shield. Otherwise we'd have gotten a little sun-burned ourselves!"

"Sophia?" That was Fayt, who had lagged behind Clair somewhat, or possibly gotten lost in the process of following her. He looked at the destruction in amazement. "Wow... they sure didn't teach this course in school, did they?"

"That was AWESOME!" Peppita voiced. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the wall hop hadn't posed too much difficulty for the dancer. "We saw it all the way in front of the castle!"

"Hah! Where were you during the war, girl?" Adray wondered aloud. "We could have used you then!"

Clair scowled. "Father! That's a terrible thing to say!"

Adray waved her aside, turning to face Sophia again. Bending down, he brought his face level with hers, his expression now more solemn. "In all seriousness, girl, I've never seen someone pick things up the way you are. You've got some incredible power in you, and you've got the talent and the smarts to do things with it, too. But there's more to it than just that - you know that, right?"

Sophia flushed. "Er... not really. I only learned these things a few days ago, you see-"

"A few days, a few years, what's the difference? What really matters is the person behind it all - their heart. And even in this short time, girl, I can tell that you've got the right kind of heart for this. It's one thing to be able to cast big spells like this, but it's another thing to do it for the right reasons. You've a big responsibility with this level of power, and you need to make sure that you use your power for good. And make sure that you do use it when you have to. You understand what I'm saying?"

Clair smiled wanly, finally relaxing her posture. "Father..."

"I think so," Sophia confirmed. "I know I'm not much of a fighter, but I can't afford to let that hold me back from doing my best with what I have."

Adray nodded approvingly, standing tall again. "Attagirl! Just like my daughter, I think. All meek and quiet, but get her riled up and you'd better run for the hills!"

Clair twitched. "Father..." She then redirected her glare. "Nel..."

Nel hastily muffled her laugh.

"So," Adray continued, standing up again, "you also need to make sure you know how to use your power, understand? I've never seen the likes of your learning speed, girl, but even the best always need practice."

Sophia nodded in agreement.

"So in that case..." Adray gestured grandly towards the new clearing. "Let's try it again!"

"ADRAY!" "FATHER!"

-+-+-+-+-+-+ Fifteen years later (actually, only about fifteen minutes in real time), some semblance of control was finally re-established at the training grounds. An immediate moratorium was called on further high-level spells, much to Adray's disappointment, in favour of smaller, more varied spells.

Cliff had arrived on the scene shortly after, informing them that the Diplo had detected the spell from orbit, which had seriously concerned Mirage for a short time. Nel wasn't quite sure what a 'Kelvin' was, but the Diplo seemed to have detected quite a few of them in the explosion.

Sophia had agreed to a short break, while Fayt demonstrated the fruits of his own training with Clair. In parallel with Sophia's own prodigious learning curve, the boy had already mastered the art of harnessing elemental Runology through his sword, and directing them to deadly effect. Clair had also taken the time to give him some less spectacular - but equally important - tips on wielding his sword more effectively.

"Wow," Sophia was saying, watching Fayt send a blast of flame away from his sword. "I still can't believe we're actually doing these things..."

"Neither can we," Nel assured her dryly. "Although I must admit, I don't think you two could have picked a better time to learn so quickly."

"Well, I'm trying," Sophia agreed modestly. "Do you think I could use those healing spells you used before?"

"That'd be handy," Cliff agreed. "Never hurts to have some backup, and it'd let Nel save her magic for other spells."

Nel nodded, agreeing with the Klausian's prognosis. And at the rate Sophia was learning Runology, she'd probably be bringing people back from the dead in a matter of days. "I see no reason why not... but I'm not sure who you could practice the spells on. They require the presence of a real injury to function properly."

"Oh."

"Well, don't get too down over it," Adray decided. "Hmm... perhaps we could check with the infirmaries..."

Nel mentally groaned, envisioning the fate of any patient forced to endure Adray teaching magic on them. The man would certainly do it too, unless somebody - meaning Nel, most likely - managed to divert his attention.

Fortunately, she was good at that...

"Adray," she began, hastily stifling a smile. It was for a good cause, she assured herself.

He looked over at her. "Eh?"

Nel beckoned him closer, which he obeyed. In a lower voice, "What do you think of Fayt?"

The man raised an eyebrow, quieting his voice to what passed for loud talking in most people. "Fayt? He's a good boy. Why do you ask?"

"It's just that..." Nel frowned in consternation. "I don't know if you've noticed, but him and Clair..."

Sophia frowned suspiciously, while Cliff just looked confused.

Adray's other eyebrow went up as he glanced towards the two of them. "Him and my daughter..." he trailed off inquisitively.

"They've known each other for some time now," Nel pointed out patiently. "Ever since I first led him into Arias, really. And Fayt is an exceptional young man, correct? He's both brave and intelligent, he's a capable fighter, he immensely loyal to his friends... all qualities that any woman would find desirable, I think."

Sophia's mouth dropped open in shock.

Adray eyebrows were threatening to climb right off his forehead. "You... you think?"

Nel shrugged casually. With Adray, you could lead the horse to water, but sometimes you had to push his face into the water before he took a drink. "And really, after all the time they've spent together... how could Fayt have failed to notice what a capable leader... and woman Clair is?"

By this point, Cliff was looking dumbstruck as well - a rare enough occurrence for him.

"Hmm..." Adray glanced covertly at the two people in question, where Clair was offering corrections to Fayt's stance and posture. "You... may be right, Nel. I can't believe I didn't notice it earlier..."

"I've been with Fayt long enough to recognize the signs," Nel assured him. "But Fayt is a rather... indecisive individual outside of combat. And of course, Clair is always concentrating on her duty. And of course, they'd both be mindful of you..."

The older man nodded. "I see your point. They might be worried that I wouldn't approve, so they've kept it a secret this long. But Fayt would be a good match... perhaps I should put their concerns to rest..."

"Possibly," Nel agreed, barely keeping a straight face. Fortunately, with Adray, once you got the horse to drink, he'd cheerfully drink the entire pond in one go...

"Well, no sense in beating around the bush," Adray decided, starting towards the two. "Fayt! Daughter!"

"You..." Cliff shook his head in disbelief.

"Er, Nel?" Sophia began nervously.

"I APPROVE!" Adray announced to the two individuals and the world at large.

"I mean," Cliff insisted, "by that kind of logic, you and me would be-"

"-Fayt's not really... with that woman, is he?"

"-but I won't hear of any elopements, you two understand?"

Silence.

In the distance, several birds chirped in the trees.

Fayt looked like the direct recipient of a petrification spell.

Clair smiled at her father.

"And," Adray added for good measure, "I would certainly hope the two of you haven't done anything-"

CRUNCH

Cliff gaped in horror. "Did she just-"

-CRUNCHBOOMCRACK-

Fayt had wasted no time in beating a hasty retreat until he was next to the others. "I don't know anything about what he was talking about," he informed nobody in particular.

"Don't worry about it too much," Nel assured him, a smile briefly crossing her face.

-CRUNCHPOWBOOMBOOMZAPZAPZAP-

"She's really fast at spells," Sophia observed, her earlier concerns having been allayed at this point.

-THUD

"Is she a Klausian or something?" Cliff wanted to know. "Because she's coming this way."

"Nel," Clair called out, her demure expression contrasting sharply with the runological scabbard-whipping she'd just dealt out.

"Yes?" Nel inquired, neutralizing her expression.

Clair stopped in front of her, just outside of arm's reach. "Father was just saying the strangest thing..."

Nel merely quirked an eyebrow in response. "Oh really?"

Clair nodded, pursing her lips thoughtfully. "And I can't imagine who could have put that idea into his head. Can you?"

By some unspoken agreement, Cliff, Fayt, and Sophia all began to edge away from Nel.

The redhead sighed, perhaps a little too theatrically. "Could be anyone, I expect. You know how rumours get started sometimes."

The silvette smiled sweetly, taking another step forward. "Is that so?"

"By the way," Nel began innocently, edging backwards half a step. "Sophia was showing interest in learning some healing Runology, and your father seems to have been injured-"

Clair lunged. Nel fled.

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A considerable distance later, most of it covered at a fast sprint, the rest covered in mid-air, two individuals were gasping for breath at the foot of the palace gardens. Suffice to say, the aforementioned interim had contained a great deal of attempted violence and attempted evasion, and both had been halfway successful.

"You are..." Clair was wheezing, "in a (huff)... disturbingly... good mood."

Nel would have laughed, but her lungs were too busy sucking in air. "Hah (gasp)... sorry (gasp). It's not like (wheeze)... he wouldn't have tried something (gasp)... sooner or later."

Clair raised her sword warningly. The fact that it was still secure in its scabbard accomplished little, save to turn it into a giant club, which had been demonstrated repeatedly and firsthand on Nel, over the aforementioned considerable distance. "That doesn't (huff) mean you need to go encouraging him!"

"It was - heh - for a good cause," the redhead protested feebly, rubbing her head. "Besides, some poor patient in the infirmary is resting peacefully thanks to me."

"Thanks to me," Clair corrected pointedly. "And I restate my case - to hear the story you and the others gave earlier, you're in much too good of a mood."

"I know. It's..." Nel sagged against the other's shoulder, words failing her for a moment. "It's hard for me to explain. I've just... seen so much."

Clair's expression bore equals portions of amusement and sympathy. "Yes, you were certainly alluding to that earlier on. As though the Celestial ships weren't incredible enough by themselves."

"It's more than that," she insisted, gesturing weakly with her hands. "It's... it's like being shut up in a little cave for your entire life, and suddenly being given the whole world to explore. You... the outside world is strange and dangerous and... big, but it's exciting at the same time."

Clair raised an eyebrow. "So much?"

"It is," Nel admitted, shaking her head with a sigh. "Almost everything we take for granted, no matter how common or basic, is completely different. And this world... our entire world... we're like a blade of grass on the Arias plains. And there's somebody out there who wants to burn it all to ashes."

"Is our world really so... insignificant?"

"Not insignificant," Nel corrected quickly. "But... the universe extends far beyond our own world, even if we haven't learned how to go there yet. Even with their celestial ships, the offworlders have barely begun to discover everything out there."

As with many other recent statements, her best friend took the admission at face value. "I see."

"It sounds crazy," Nel acknowledged. "But it's true. It's all up there... no, out there, waiting to be found. And we're down here, killing each other because we can't agree on whether to farm or mine a plot of land."

"That's... an interesting way of putting it," Clair noted, but without any suggestion of argument. "But who can say? Perhaps with the fighting finally at a close, we can begin to try and discover ways to reach those places ourselves."

"Yes," Nel agreed, smiling a little at the notion. She'd already managed to accept that there were centuries of progress separating her own people and the offworlders. But as the old saying went, didn't a journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step? "I would like that."

Clair merely nodded.

Nel leaned back against the stone wall, briefly enjoying the cooling sensation that the cold stone gave her back and shoulders. Her body had a cruel owner, but she didn't foresee much rest in the near future. Traipsing through space to strange worlds and locations, facing down enemies that defied any conventional description, fighting a struggle to determine her and her people's very existence...

...there was something immensely comforting about being home again. To gaze upon the endless plains and mountains of her world, to walk through the streets of her cities and buy food from the local shops, to bow before her cherished and revered Queen, to be chased across the castle grounds while her best friend tried to bludgeon her senseless...

"Nel?"

Nel glanced over, then upwards at Clair, who was now standing.

"As much as I would love to sit here with you all day..." Clair extended a hand downwards invitingly. "Perhaps we should start back towards the others?"

Nel accepted the helping hand, letting herself be pulled upwards. Rather than relinquish her grip, however, she pulled her best friend into a hug. "Thanks."

Clair didn't hesitate to return the embrace. "Hmm? If you're really that thankful, I would be delighted to bestow a few more bruises..."

"I've got plenty," Nel assured her in earnest. "I meant, thanks for reminding me what I have to come home to."

"Beatings?"

"That too," Nel allowed. "I was telling that girl - Peppita, I mean - earlier that it's important to fight to defend others. But it's just as important to return home afterwards, to the ones you love."

"Absolutely," Clair agreed, tightening her embrace. "So... you intend to leave with the offworlders again?"

"I... think I need to," Nel admitted. "I don't pretend to understand everything, but our world, along with the rest of creation, is in grave danger. And I can't turn my back on that, not when I might be able to make a difference."

Clair disengaged herself, but rested a hand on Nel's shoulder. "I suppose it would be foolish to expect otherwise from you. And I can tell you've already committed your heart to this."

A nod.

"Then, if our people have been chosen to provide a warrior to aid in this fight, I can think of no one better suited to represent our people."

Nel flushed slightly, but mostly shrugged the reaction aside as the two began to walk towards the training grounds. "I intend to do my best. And I intend that my best, along with others, will be enough to do the job."

"Nor could we ask any more of you," Clair agreed. "And does our little world - this little blade of grass on the Arias plains - hold enough of importance to bring you back afterwards?"

Nel smiled in response. "Absolutely."

Perhaps the old adage held some truth after all - there was no place like home. And if that very home's safety was at stake, could there possibly be any stronger motivation to succeed? Perhaps, no matter how wondrous and spectacular the other worlds might be, they were made all the more special by the journey home at the end.

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Author's Notes:

Normally, I wouldn't be complaining about a chapter turning out longer than expected, but this series was honestly only supposed to be a collection of tiny one-shots. Eh, whatever. I think I may just have doubled Peppita's fan fiction exposure with this chapter.

Apologies for the delay in updating. Halfway through writing this chapter, Windows decided to crash while installing some patches. And in the process, Word was unable to properly close my writing file, which resulted in the file completely vanishing without a trace, including the auto-save file. Three different file recovery programs later, I was still file-less. Fortunately, I had a backup to resort to (This is what backups are for, kids). Unfortunately, it was over three months old, and was missing a great deal of material.

My original plan for this chapter was to have Peppita make the introduction that she did, but actually have her perform. She was going to do three dances - a warm-up, a 'battle-inspired' dance, and a 'life-inspired' dance, somewhat in keeping with her and Nel's earlier conversation. And she was pulling off some amazing moves in the process, to the point where Nel's actually awestruck that someone only fourteen years old could manage such things. In the process, a huge crowd gathers to watch, and Nel begins to realize that Peppita's dance is actually affecting the entire crowd in a strange way - almost as if the girl is using Runology or something. But that's impossible, right? The whole time, Peppita's clearly in her element, and working the crowd into a frenzy. She finishes her third dance with a spectacular move, and a perfectly timed explosion spell lights up the background. Which leads into the rest of the chapter. It was quite lengthy and flambouyant in description, with lots of manoeuvres reminiscent of her in-game moves with ribbons and bangles, and I all but overheated my thesaurus in the process. Sounds great, huh? But I lost it, and I have too many other things I want to get writing on, and I'm simply not willing to spend another three or four months trying and recreate something that likely won't be as good the second time. So it's gone, and as far as anyone else is concerned, I simply took way too long to write this.

At any rate, am I the only person who thinks that there must have been two different writing teams assigned to this game - one for the script, and the other for the in-game dictionary? And if the two teams had been switched, this game would have had the most AMAZING plot in the history of all video games? From all the SO3 fanfiction I've read, I know I'm not the only one who's spent a lot of time reading through the in-game dictionary. And when I see how many interesting details appear in the dictionary, but never get even the briefest mention in the actual game... absolutely criminal, I say.

Point in case: Compare Peppita's dialogue when you get to decide whether to take her along or not, to the dictionary entries surrounding her and her mother. You really could interpret those differences several ways, couldn't you? Additionally, Peppita apparently lost her mother before she even turned five, but she's still managed to learn her mother's dances? Considering that no actual mention is made of any other dancers/trainers for her to learn from, and the Rossetti Troupe was about to let her host their performance on Hyda IV, it's not unreasonable to imagine that Peppita's dancing abilities might be far beyond what the game gives her credit for. Just a possibility, mind.

Cheers.

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end