She stood in the wide courtyard on the west side of the fortress. The target was a good distance away and the bow she used was, incredibly, the one she had carried across Cephiro when she and Umi and Hikaru had gone on their own quest seven years ago. Now she looked forward to another quest, that of a new set of magic knights. She let out a sigh, and then let her arrow fly. She needed to get out of this place. Right on time, the reason she needed to run, walked up to her.

"Nice shot," Ferio said, hands in his pockets.

Fuu looked down, "No, I'm very rusty."

He sauntered up to the tree she had painted as a target and examined it, his face inches from the arrow imbedded in the center. "Looks well oiled to me," he looked at her with one eyebrow raised.

She laughed awkwardly and walked over to retrieve the arrow. He didn't move, even when she leaned in to yank the arrow out. He stayed close. "I don't know what you're trying to accomplish, Ferio," she stammered.

"Yes you do," he spoke quietly, his voice thick with the insinuation.

She pushed him away and said, "We can't do this, Ferio - you have responsibilities. You don't want to hurt Corsica; you don't want this, neither do I." She said the words forcefully to make sure she believed them herself.

"Are you so sure. Fuu . . ."

She lost her composure, and screamed at him with all of her frustration, "If you wanted this, why didn't you wait?" She continued, conscious of her outburst and more quite for it, " I admit I didn't think we were coming back either. All of Cephiro's problems were over. I tried to move on. I . . . I'm glad . . . I'm glad you managed it. But now that you have moved on we can't go back. It . . . it's just not fair; to us and more importantly to Corsica and her child." She breathed deeply as if she were out of breath; she was, but she couldn't explain why.

There was a long pause while they just looked at each other. Finally he spoke. "Fuu," he sighed, "You are amazing. And . . . I'm sorry. I am. Everything you said is true. I couldn't, I mean, it's just not in me to wait so . . . and Corsica was here . . . and she was beautiful. I thought you weren't coming back. I thought . . . why not? I can never have the one I really want."

"Ferio," she gazed at him, sympathy and longing in her heart. She touched his shoulder hesitantly but he flinched back. "Don't," he looked down, "I'm sorry. I know I messed everything up and everything I'm feeling right now is all my fault."

"No . . ."

"It is. I don't see you coming back here with a husband in tow."

She was growing angry now, "You think I didn't try? I've been in three serious relationships since we went back home, all failed. But I tried. And don't think I didn't see this coming either."

"What? Now, wait a second," he started to defend himself but she was quicker.

"Remember Innova? No wait, what did he call himself when he pretended to be a woman? And got you obviously interested in him."

"That was a mistake, Fuu!" he cried.

"Like Corsica is a mistake now? Is that what you're telling me Ferio!" she railed at him and couldn't believe he was doing this.

"NO!"

"Good." They stared at each other. There was nothing else to say. He wasn't happy but he wasn't unhappy and he was stuck. She wasn't happy, but Ferio couldn't make her happy. Fuu knew that now. She couldn't depend on a life in Cephiro. When she thought about it she realized that she was the one in the middle, or had been until now. Hikaru clung to her dream of a life in Cephiro with Lantis. Umi had abandoned hers and found a life with Kakeru. Yet Fuu had failed at both. She had nothing, no dream and no reality. "I'm sorry," she whispered to Ferio, then practically ran away, into the fortress, trying to find a secluded corner to cry away her horrible thoughts. As she tore through the endless maze of hallways and tiny rooms and finally reached a larger courtyard with a fountain and some sparse green, she felt a hand on her arm pulling her back, turning her around. She desperately tried to wipe away the tears that were already falling, but all she managed to do was jar her glasses off of her face. They landed with a small crash on the floor of the courtyard.

"Oh, Fuu, I'm sorry," Ferio said from behind her. Of course, it was his hand on her arm.

"It's alright," she replied quietly, "I don't need them here anyway."

He turned her so that she looked at him. He wiped away the remnants of her tears and asked softly, "Why are you crying, why did you run off like that?"

She suddenly realized how he would see this, "It wasn't because of you Ferio! I don't want you to think that."

She must have sounded hysterical or something because he smoothed down her hair saying, "Alright, alright. I believe you. So why did you run off?"

Fuu told him. "I don't have anything. My life is empty. There's nothing. And I don't know what to do."

He sighed and took her head between his hands, "I wish there was something I could do to help you."

"Just stay here with me, and don't talk about anything." She demanded and rested her head on his shoulder as she wept.

The three Magic Knights sort of floated above the two-dimensional pool and were set down by the force that lifted them slowly and elegantly.

"Did you get any?" a small voice queried from a few feet away. All three men were instantly on guard and at least two inwardly groaned.

Kakeru squinted, trying to see the vengeful little girl in the bushes she hid behind, "Any what?"

"Escudo, stupid. That's what people get at the Spring of Eterna."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Kakeru replied cautiously. "Yes, we got some."

The little girl crept slowly out of the bushes. "But that doesn't make any sense." She crossed her little arms and pouted, thinking hard on something. The Magic Knights relaxed a bit, and Yasuo slowly inched toward her. He was three feet away from her, kneeling on the ground when he inquired, "What doesn't make any sense?"

She looked at him, squarely, "If you could get escudo from the spring, that means you can't be bad men, and that means Clef lied. Why would Clef lie?" The child was close to tears now, so Yasou took a chance and gathered her in his arms, comforting and reassuring her as Kakeru explained, "It may not be that Clef lied, sweetheart. It could be that Clef has just been lied to, and because he believed what he was told, he lied to you without knowing it."

The little girl pulled away from Yasuo, not forcefully, but simply to drag her arm across her face, attempting to dry her eyes. She succeeded only in smearing the tears more, so Yasuo tenderly finished the job for her, while introducing himself and his compatriots to her.

"I'm Sable," she said in response, then looked toward Ren and announced, "It wasn't your fault my unicorn died. I shouldn't have sent him after you."

Ren looked embarrassed as he put his hands in his pockets and replied, "It . . . it's okay. No harm done." He was not a man used to children.

Then an idea struck Kakeru, "Sable," he asked gently, "Do you really want to go back to the palace?"

"Um, it's okay there, I guess."

He laughed a little, "What I mean is, don't you miss the people at the fortress? You never get to see them anymore, right? I know Sierra and Caldina must miss you a lot, along with everybody else."

"Seia! Oh, I wanna see Sierra, and Lantis! Lantis never comes home anymore," Sable shouted excitedly.

Yasuo laughed, "Well, then you should come back with us. Ren can carry you on his shoulders if you like."

"What!"

"Yay! Yay! Yay!"

Ren looked daggers at Yasuo as the other two laughed. He sighed as he picked the girl up and threw her onto his shoulders.

Hikaru picked herself up quickly, ready for another attack. The last one had knocked her clear off of her feet. He waited testing her out, circling with his massive sword raised parallel to the ground. She was not a patient person, and so ran at him, her own sword raised high. She knew he would underestimate the attack; think it a frustrated and unskillful maneuver. But, oh, he was wrong and this time it was he that went flying, sort of. It was about as high in the air as she thought he could go. "Got you that time, Lantis!"

From his sprawled out form she heard a quick laugh, "That you did."

"You so thought you were gonna beat me," she rubbed the defeat in, hard.

"Yes, I did," he concurred. "You fooled me," still chuckling.

They were in the front courtyard, practicing. What else would they be doing? Well, never mind; she knew what else they could be doing. But they wouldn't be doing that in the courtyard. Lantis picked himself up and they smiled at each other. They laughed when they heard a muffled, "Well, how do you get back in?" from outside of the wall. Yasuo.

"Remember the story, stupid!" Hikaru yelled to them.

"Yeah!" a child's voice cried indignantly from the other side. "You knock, stupids! Everybody knows that."

Lantis looked amazed, "Sable?" he asked hoarsely as the wall disappeared, revealing a small brown haired child of about seven.

"Lantis!" she screamed and hurled herself at him. Hikaru laughed and gazed bemusedly at the pair, as did the three men from Tokyo, while the child admonished the freakishly tall warrior who held her in his arms, "You never come home anymore, Lantis. Dellorian always says he didn't know when you're coming home and Clef yelled at me the last I asked him. Talon's been sad and he doesn't talk to Lori or Mini anymore. You should talk to him. You always make things better. But you weren't there when they all got sad. Lori was sad too you know. So I had to play with Sang Yung all the time, but I tried not to bother him like you said I should, or shouldn't? "

"Okay, okay. Whatever you say, Lady Sable," he quieted her, smoother her hair with a hand the size of her entire head. "But I don't know if I'll be able to deliver all of your requests."

"That's alright, Lantis," she hugged him comfortingly, as if he was all torn up about it. Hikaru laughed delightedly, but inside. It would be a terrible thing to ruin this solemn moment with laughter. She moved to great her brother and his companions, but Sable clamored down from her mountain and reached them first, dragging at Ren's hand and demanding, "You have to piggy me into the house! Yasoo said you would take me all the way there!" Hikaru really did laugh this time, as Ren yet again glared at Yasuo, but this time with no hesitation scooped the girl onto his shoulders and walked toward the fortress.

Umi and Fuu sat at the round table in Presea's study with Sierra, Caldina, Corsica and Liesse. Fuu had major trepidations concerning their upcoming journey, "You say we must go with the Magic Knights to find the Rune Gods and discover our own new power. But how are any of us to find the Shrines without Mokona's guidance?"

"I understand your concerns," the young seer replied, "But really, this is all the information that I have been given. It could be that Mokona will come to you when he feels the time is right. He might not return at all. I don't know what to tell you about any of the specifics."

"Well, this is a fine mess," Caldina muttered, "Why did that little fur ball wander off anyhow?"

"Why was he ever here?" Corsica wondered.

"He was a guide to us and he gave us provisions on our first quest here in Cephiro," Umi defended her small white friend. "The question is why he didn't wander off after Princess Emeraude was defeated," Umi mused. "He actually served no purpose to anyone when Cephiro was crumbling."

"He gave us comfort and friendship." Fuu rembered.

"And comic relief," Caldina added. Umi laughed out loud remembering her own antics with the little marshmallow.

"Where would he have gone if he did leave then? Cephiro was completely uninhabitable. He had to wait until we fixed it." Fuu returned to Umi's previous question.

Sierra stated with downcast eyes, "Mokona has always been a mystery. He was even to Clef." That sobered the group.

Fuu spoke up again, "But this is irrelevant. If Mokona shows himself he will do so when he feels that we need him. But in the mean time we must plan some sort of route to search for the Shrines."

"Well we know basically where they all are, right?" Caldina asked, "The ocean, a floating mountain, and a volcano. You just have to look around those places."

"Right!" Umi agreed, "We can eliminate places like forests, rivers, valleys, and mountains. I mean the non-floating kind."

Sierra took the initiative, "I know there's a map in here somewhere." But before she could rise from her seat Liesse spoke.

"The Magic Knights have returned. They bring another with them," and she fell out of her farseeing trance.

"What?" practically every woman at the table shouted at once. "I don't know!" the girl cried, "Why don't you go find out something for yourself! Geez!" And all of them were laughing as they rushed out of the study.