Sole Dorato: Lui Restaurarà

by Tafkae

Chapter Three: Ice in the Harbor

When they returned, Felix went straight to the inn in sort of a daze, and Alex didn't see him again until the following evening. Instead he spent the day striking up conversations with strangers, some of whom were more comfortable with him than others. (The average reaction he got was "smile and nod," which he figured was good for a first try.) In the afternoon he had the good fortune to find an injured dog and convince its owner to let him bring it to the girls' lesson, which actually led to some progress. It turned out that the girls actually did have some talent, especially the young twins working together; in fact, Karst was the only one who managed to burn the dog while trying to heal it.

Afterwards, Alex returned the dog to its grateful owner and started back toward the inn for some dinner; but on the way he finally ran into Felix in the street. He looked tired more than anything right now, and had obviously calmed down a lot since yesterday. "Doing any better?" Alex asked him.

Felix nodded. "Yeah, kind of." He paused. "Do you know where Menardi is?"

Alex sighed. "Oh, not this again. You're not going to try to kill her, are you?"

"No, not this time," said Felix. "I've just got a lot of questions I need answered. Why they brought me here, why they're telling me all this."

"I don't suppose you'd believe me if I said it was all a gesture of apology."

"You're right, I wouldn't."

"Well, I haven't seen Menardi," said Alex with a shrug. "But I might be able to help somewhat…"

Felix sighed. "That's right, they've already explained everything to you."

"Well – yes. But that's because I already agreed to help them."

"Help them?"

Alex nodded. "Yes. Okay, it's all pretty simple once you know the facts. You know that they're trying to light the four lighthouses, right?"

"Right."

"And that will stop the world from falling to pieces."

"So they say."

"Well, each lighthouse corresponds with a type of Psynergy," said Alex. "And each lighthouse can only be lit by an adept of the corresponding element."

Felix's eyes widened as it dawned on him. "Are you saying they want me to light a lighthouse for them?"

"Yes."

"After all that – after what they did tears my family to shreds – after they half-destroy my hometown – they want me to help them destroy the entire world!"

"Destroy it? No!" Alex protested, surprised. "We're stopping it from being destroyed! You know that."

"Look—" Felix took a step toward him "—I don't know what they told you was in Sol Sanctum, but it's not what they said. Do you know why it's rigged to bring down the mountain if someone enters? What's sealed underneath the Sanctum is sealed for a reason, Alex."

Alex paused. "And… what exactly is sealed there?"

"Something terrible," said Felix slowly. "A being of terrible power that will tear the world apart if it's released."

"…I don't like the sound of that at all."

"No." Felix shook his head. "So it is damn bold to assume I'm going to help with something like that."

"But—" Alex hesitated. "Felix, all right, I'll be straightforward with you. I said they don't consider you irreplaceable. What I meant by that is, they've told me they'll kill you if you don't cooperate with them."

Felix tensed; somehow he knew they weren't above that.

"They'd kill you, go to Vale, kidnap another earth adept and force him to light the lighthouse instead of you. And if he refused they'd kill him. And so on. And if the lighthouses just aren't lit? Then Gaia Falls eats the world, starting with Prox."

"But if Sol Sanctum opens, everyone dies…"

"And if it doesn't, everyone dies anyway. So whatever happens, a lot of innocent lives could be lost." Alex put his hand to his chin and thought for a moment. "But," he continued at last, "I don't think we know for sure that Sol Sanctum would destroy the world. It's a legend, isn't it?"

"It's a legend that's been passed down for almost a thousand years," said Felix.

Alex lowered his hand. "Did you ever play Pass It On as a kid? That game where everyone sits in a line and whispers a message from one end to the other?" Felix nodded. "Then you know the more people in the line, the more the message gets garbled by the time it reaches the end."

"In which case you're telling me everything anyone's ever told me about it has been false."

"No, not false, just… not necessarily completely true. Legends are essentially very long-lived rumors, after all. My point is, you have to help. There's no avoiding it if you want to live."

Felix took a deep sigh, the type made for keeping one's temper in check. "I thought you said you didn't like Saturos and Menardi. Why do you want me to help them?"

Alex chuckled. "I'm not asking you to help them, Felix. I'm asking you to help me."

Felix shot him a questioning look. "What?"

"Heh. At any rate, you've got at least a year and a half to think it over. Menardi's said we won't go back to Vale until things have begun to settle down." He glanced off in the general direction of the dock.

Felix followed his gaze, his eyes landing on the ship moored there. "A year and a half…" It sounded like such an unbearably long time to wait. But… if the alternative was not going back at all, he could probably stick it out for a year and a half.

He closed his eyes. Jenna… I'll be home soon. I promise.

It wasn't as soon as he thought.

The longest seventeen months of Felix's life went by almost without incident. The grief and longing he felt for his parents and Jenna ebbed over time, but never disappeared. As soon as Saturos lay down a specific date for their departure, Felix started counting the days. He never tried to steal the ship and leave on his own, though it crossed his mind more than once; not only was he mostly certain he would fail, but as the weeks passed, he realized more and more surely that the penalty would quite probably be his life. It wasn't worth it, and they had sworn to him that if he cooperated, he would see his sister again in just a few more months. Just a few more months.

Now the ice floes of the Northern Reaches were notoriously fickle; their sizes and positions could change drastically with very little warning whenever the temperature changed by more than a few degrees, making accurate mapping of the Reaches impossible. The harbormaster kept careful record of how close the floes came to the docks, but for about three months prior to the departure date he had been a little worried about just how close they were drifting. By twenty days prior, they were just barely far enough to be safe.

Ten days prior, the first spring thaw hit.

It was dark (as usual, since it was still only early spring) when Felix was awoken by someone pounding urgently on his door. "Get up! Ice in the harbor! Everyone to the harbor!"

Groggy, it took him a moment to realize the weight of the announcement. Ice in the… It dawned on him quickly. Damn it! The ship! He hastily threw on some clothes and bolted for the port with everyone else.

The harbormaster rarely called "ice in the harbor," simply because there was always ice in the harbor. The warning was only used to indicate that the ice was endangering something, and right now there were only two things to endanger: the docks, and the ship.

A fairly sizeable crowd was gathered at the dock and on deck as Felix approached. The moonlight made the stark white figure of the ice shelf plainly visible, butted right up to the ship, but it was impossible to tell whether or not they were actually in contact. He hurried ahead, weaved through the assembled townspeople awkwardly awaiting direction of any kind, and scaled the ladder to the deck two rungs at a time. Across from him Alex's bright blue hair stood out from the others where he peered over the opposite railing. Felix joined him; Alex didn't acknowledge it, but kept looking. "No, I think we've got… about a foot of clearance on either side," he said at last, apparently satisfied.

Felix peered over the rail. The ice was moving very fast for ice, because he could tell with absolute certainty that it was moving. "Is two feet enough?" he asked anxiously.

Menardi appeared on Alex's other side. "How long do we have?" she said impatiently.

"I give it five to seven minutes before it hits us, and another few before we'd be pinned to the dock. But that's not going to happen," said Alex. "The ice situation's better on the other side of the pier. Five minutes and a foot of clearance should be plenty to move the ship out of harm's way." He gestured at the Proxians in general. "Someone get the engine running," he ordered. "Then take us out. Felix and I will try to hold it back, that should buy us some time, and maybe even a margin of error."

A few people went below deck to start the ship's engine. Felix looked quizzically at Alex. "You're the water adept, Alex, I can't—"

"Nonsense," said Alex, smiling. "Your specialty is moving things, and ice is a thing. No worries." He turned to the ice and closed his eyes in concentration. "Besides, we need all the help we can get."

Felix paused, then nodded and joined him. The ice didn't want to yield to him; it strained against his touch like an unruly child. He increased his focus.

A minute later they felt a sudden pulse as the Psynergy-fueled ship came to life, and shortly after that a jolt as it stirred and began to move. Alex nodded. "Good. No problems. We'll be in the clear soon."

Felix didn't like the tone of worry in his friend's voice. He turned his attention back to the floe and tried more fervently to push it back, but it did little more good than it had already been doing. "Steady," Alex cautioned him.

The ship was about half clear of the ice when something went wrong. Felix felt a sudden give in the ice and exploited it, pushing as hard as he could in that one spot. Alex jumped and turned to him, shouting "Felix, don't!" – but it was too late.

With a terrible CRACK, the massive ice shelf buckled. Its corner moved abruptly and collided dead-center with the hull. The deck shook from the impact, knocking everyone off-balance and sending most of them sprawling, including Alex and Felix. Alex recovered more quickly, scrambling to his feet and back to the railing at breakneck speed. Below him it was obvious the ice had penetrated deep into the belly of the ship, and voices carried out through the hole, shouting indistinct curses.

Horrified, he turned back to the others on deck. Everyone was looking at him expectantly. He realized suddenly that they were looking to him for instructions… problem being, he didn't have the slightest idea what to do.

Before he could say anything, though, the ship jolted again, this time from the other side of the hull. No one needed to look to know that they'd hit the dock.

"We're impaled on both sides!" one of the Proxians shouted.

"—taking on water! What the hell are you doing up here!" shouted an angry Saturos, emerging from below deck.

"Saturos," said Alex. "How's the damage?"

"Bad, the ice is a good two and a half feet in. Haven't seen the second breach."

"Is the engine still working?"

"Well, it hasn't stopped."

Alex nodded, trying to think. "Break off the ice inside the hull and keep moving."

"What, and just leave it in the ship?" Saturos protested.

"We can drain it later, but not if we're pinned like this. How bad's the dock?" he called to Felix at the other side of the deck as Saturos reluctantly carried the message back downstairs.

"The pier took more damage than the hull," Felix reported.

"Okay, we can take our chances with that side," said Alex, coming over to see for himself. "Yeah, that's definitely probably all right." He looked up at Felix. "Don't worry about it. We'll be moving again in a second."

Felix nodded. "I… yeah."

For the next few minutes after the ship shuddered back into motion, a hushed atmosphere hung over the deck as they continued to inch backwards, scraping against the already half-ruined dock. Once out, though, it was simple to steer the ship to the other side; the crew breathed a collective sigh of relief when they could finally drop anchor.

Alex looked especially pleased. "Glad that's over with," he said, glancing at Felix. "What's wrong?"

Felix shook his head gloomily. "This is my fault."

"No!" said Alex. "… Well, yes, actually, it is. But it's all right. We'll be delayed a few weeks for repairs, of course, but trying to set out in the spring was a pretty stupid idea in the first place. I'll bet anything the Reaches aren't even navigable this time of year."

Felix didn't feel like telling him he was being no help. He wouldn't have gotten a chance to anyway, though, because just then a green-skinned man emerged from below deck and shouted, "Alex! Get down here and bail!"

Alex grimaced. "I'm coming!" he shouted. Before he went downstairs, though, he patted Felix's shoulder and smiled. "Pointing fingers never helps anything. You've just got to take it from where you are. Those barrels that got knocked over, for instance." He pointed at said barrels, then hurried to the cabin where the stairs were.

As he disappeared below deck, Felix let out an annoyed sigh. Alex… why is it all your good intentions are so aggravating

Following the accident, Alex was promptly assigned to harbor duty, since he was best able to keep the ice away from the ship and avoid further damage. However, Psynergy-strong though he was, his power was completely inadequate when faced with the twenty-foot-high wall of ice encroaching on the entrance to the natural cove. Just a few days into repairs, it became clear that they would have all the time in the world to finish patching up the ship.

"You can't stop it?" Felix demanded of his friend. From the end of the pier, where they stood, the harbor entrance was obviously going to be too narrow to pass through within a matter of days, long before the ship would be ready to set sail.

Alex made no response but to sigh.

Unsatisfied, Felix continued. "You're a water adept! You're supposed to be able to hold off things like this."

Alex closed his eyes and spoke softly, as if trying to calm a child. "You're an earth adept. Can you stop the decay at Gaia Falls?"

Felix tried to think of a retort, but none came.

"Believe me, Felix, I would stop it if I could, but there's just no avoiding it. We're going to have to let it run its course."

"But how long will it take to just run its course?"

Alex shrugged. "Hard to say. Several months at least. When winter rolls around it'll be hard as rock, and I might be able to work at cutting down the time somewhat then. Right now, though, unseasonably warm as it's been, it'd be too dangerous to even try."

Felix remained on edge. "We've been trapped here for almost a year and a half, Alex. I have been separated from what's left of my family for almost eighteen months and I don't want to wait any longer!"

"Look, Felix, we don't have much of a choice—"

"What makes you so calm about it? You've got a family too, don't you? I'd have thought you of all people would understand!"

A flicker of dismay appeared in Alex's face. After a moment of taut silence, he sighed and shook his head. "Okay. Let me tell you something, Felix. I'm jealous of you."

Felix blinked, startled. "Jealous?"

Alex nodded. "From all you've told me about her, it sounds as if your sister would really be happy to see you again." He looked down at his reflection in the cold water of the harbor. "Mine… if I had just one brass coin for every time she told me to leave home and never come back, I'd be the richest man alive."

In all honesty, Felix had no idea what to say to that. "I'm … sorry," he replied after a while.

"No, don't be," said Alex quickly. "People disagree about things, so it shouldn't be all that much sadder when the people who disagree happen to be family. I just… I'm sorry I haven't been treating this with as much urgency as you have, but it's hard to hurry when what you're going back to never wants to see you again." He chuckled and sat down on the dock.

There were no words to describe Felix's awkwardness at that moment. Here he had been going on for a year and a half about how much he missed Jenna, and… it suddenly occurred to him that Alex had never talked about his own sister very much. In fact, Felix didn't even remember her name, or if his friend had mentioned it at all. Now he knew why.

"I… I'm sorry, Alex. I'm really sorry."

Alex recognized the difference between that apology and the one before it, and nodded. "Don't worry about it. You didn't know."

Too ashamed to reply, Felix waited for a moment in silence. Finally, he turned and walked back to the shore. Alex sat on the dock and stared out at the cold ice wall blocking the way home.

I wonder how much you've grown… Mia.

You know we were all wondering it. Why three freaking years? Now we know.

Thanks for your great reviews! It's good to see that so many smart people frequent this section… much better than the Yugioh trendwhores…

Here's a happy birthday shout-out to Xanda! Happy 17th.