Chapter Four

The winds of change

Jonas' eyes snapped open and he sat up. That dream, he thought. He tried to remember what happened, but it was slipping his mind, becoming fuzzy in the transition from sleep to waking. Frustrated, he got up and dressed. He had been getting the same dream for a while now, that much he knew. He looked out his window; the sun was just beginning to come up, the sky tinged with pink on the horizon. He grabbed his bag and slowly shuffled out into the cool morning. It was definitely early; he could hear people just beginning to stir, others still dozing peacefully.

Jonas had eventually made it to the walkway that led to Mi'Hen, the sun already beginning to peek above the horizon by the time he lethargically trudged there. Sitting on the bench, he began thinking about what he was about to do. He yawned, "I shoulda shtayed ashleep." He slurred, chuckling at how much he sounded like a Hypello. "Mebbe I getta lil' eye-reshin' in b'fore I…I…" His head drooped and he dozed off.

V

"Arthas! Get up, now! C'mon, don't make me break this door down!"

Arthas opened his door, regarding his older brother quite grumpily, "Up all night, Adonis?"

The lanky man couldn't help but chuckle, "My sleepin' habits ain't your business. Get yourself dressed, one o' your friends is here. Got 'im waitin' in the dinin' room. Quit yer gawkin' and get down there."

The first thing Sain asked when Arthas finally came down was. "Please tell me that lady had nothing to do with you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Before you came down, some woman sat on the couch, sighed contentedly, and said something about last night. One can only assume that's not your sister so…"

Arthas figured out where he was going with this and vigorously shook his head. "No, no, that's not me, that's my brother."

"Aramis?"

"Aramis! No! He's only like ten!"

"Eight." Aramis corrected, yelling across the hall from his room.

"All right," Sain stood, "If you're ready to go, let's go."

"Yea," Arthas agreed, "I got my stuff together. Where's Jonas?"

"He's already at the gate. Let's go now before I find out more things about your family."

V

The carriage bounced along the Highroad, its passenger deep in thought. Maester Seymour Guado smiled. His plan was already set into motion. He had gained the other Maesters' trust with his display of power at Luca, and now he had only to focus on gaining the trust of one other person. Lady Yuna, daughter of High Summoner Braska. Although she was still a novice, still untrained in the summoning arts, she could be quite useful for getting all of Spira's attention. All he had to do was gain her trust, which would prove easy. Young girls' emotions are so easy to manipulate, Seymour speculated, If I can play my cards right, I may even be able to become more than an ally to her.

He was so deep in thought, however, he was unaware that the carriage had stopped. His mind snapped back to reality, and he calmly stood and exited the cart. "Are we at the checkpoint already?" he drawled.

He wasn't. In front of the carriage was a small group of masked humans, swords drawn and voices threatening.

"Oy there!" the leader of the bandits demanded, "A'right! 'And over ya money 'n we may be lenient on ya!"

Seymour sighed and waved away his guards. "Highwaymen?" he began, his voice adopting that affable tone, "An admirable career."

"Oo asked ya, girly-man!" the bandit yelled, thinking he was being mocked, "Joost give us da money an' we'll let ya keep yer head!"

"You misunderstand, good sir." Seymour replied, "I merely point out the many dangers of robbing carts. Why, you never know when something like this may happen." He laughed his ever-disarming laugh, then his face darkened instantly and he began to mutter the powerful (Author's note: and slightly melo-dramatic) incantation. "Devastation Incarnate, with my power as your conduit…"

"Ee's castin'! Stop 'Im boys!" his men rushed forward to intercept the Guado. Seymour's guards made no move to guard him.

"…Send to my foes heaven's wrath and…" his voice became more forceful with every word he said as he nimbly dodged the thieves' weapons. "…offer them rest in the vast reaches of the FarPlane! Black Magic, Thundara!"

All the bandits stopped as the heard a silenced scream. The bandit leader, who had been foolish enough to stay in that one spot while his men tried to take Seymour, was now on the ground, charred beyond recognition, burned, lifeless eyes staring blankly into space. Terrified, the others fled back into the wilderness.

Seymour took a deep breath, sighed, and turned to his body guards. "Get the body off the road and prepare him for sending. I don't want him coming back as a fiend to annoy me."

"Yes sir, he will be prepared at once."

V

"Jonas! Jonas, wake up! Jonas!"

Arthas shook Jonas violently, trying to wake him up. "Uh?" Jonas slurred, still asleep. "No, no more panincakes fer me. Jusht give meh the house beeeeeeeeer… Ish it n' earth-shakey?" he giggled, "Atenshion pass'n'gers firsht furry non shtop ta Zanerkind! Ride ze shoopuff?" and the rest was incoherent muttering and giggling.

"Darn it!" Arthas stood and shrugged his shoulders resignedly, "I can't get him to wake up."

Adrienne took a good look at her snoozing brother, "Splash water on him, it always works for me."

"All right," Sain stepped forward, "I got it." He cracked open his book, leafed over to the right page, and muttered some incantation. A sphere of water appeared over Jonas' head and landed with a loud Ker-Splash!

"THE SHOOPUFF'S SINKING!" Jonas cried, leaping from his seat, "EVERYBODY GET… out… before you, um… hi guys." He blushed a bright red as he got his stuff together.

Everyone who knew the trio had assembled outside the city gates to give one last good bye to them.

"Good luck you three!"

"Remember where you came from! You can always come back!"

Adonis' voice rang out the loudest, "You'd better find a girl out there bro!"

Second was probably Adrienne, "The same for you too! And you'd better not forget the fork!"

It took a little while, but enough good-byes were said that Jonas, Arthas and Sain could reluctantly set out on their journey across Spira.

"This is it guys!" Arthas cried, "Today, all of Spira will be changed; we're gonna make history!"

"Calm down, Art." Sain admonished, "We haven't even gotten a hundred yards from Luca yet." He turned to Jonas, "Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"'You'd better not forget about the fork?'" he asked, quoting Jonas' sister.

Jonas only chuckled and said, "Long story."