As usual, I don't own anything. I'm just a fan writing some fiction. Please enjoy!

Dwarven Vow 129:
Losgann taobh a-staigh tobar chan eil a 'tuigsinn na mara.
A frog in a well does not know of the sea.

53-

Classes at the Palmacosta University were not to resume until Monday, which meant the classrooms were empty and made the perfect place for a large group to gather. Lloyd felt like he was back in school, sitting in a lecture hall with Raine pacing back and forth at the front by the blackboard. However, he'd never have chosen to sit in the front row if this were a real class. He'd be in the back either sleeping, doodling on his textbook, or passing notes back and forth with Colette. But unlike school, the topic of discussion here was interesting, and Lloyd couldn't help but stay focused.

"-so if we wanna catch a summoner," Zelos was saying, "we have to think like a summoner. Sheena? Any tips on what this sicko is gonna do next?"

Sheena shook her head. "Sorry, but the creation of a death zone is so far beyond what I'd ever do, I'm clueless as to where to go next."

"That's only logical," Raine answered with a sigh. "We have to think about this from the perspective of someone who'd go to such lengths to achieve their goal."

Colette raised her hand. "Tabatha- er, Martel's proxy- said we could ask the other summon spirits for help."

"Yeah!" Zelos agreed with a nod. "If this person already made a pact with Martel, they might have tried to make pacts with other summon spirits too. And since they can't have actually made pacts, we won't get hit with that 'a pact forms a sacred bond' bullshit."

"How do we speak to summon spirits, then?" Professor Low asked from a few rows back. "Do we ask Sheena to summon them here?"

"Not in a classroom!" Genis snapped.

"Besides that, Sheena can't summon the spirits without a task for them," Raine agreed, leaning back against the blackboard. "Calling them here 'just to chat' won't be sufficient use of their power, and could cause Sheena to lose control and hurt herself or someone else."

Kratos had been listening silently from the corner of the room, but he finally joined in- once Raine mentioned someone getting hurt, Lloyd noted.

"If we visit the locations where Sheena made pacts with the spirits in Sylvarant, we should be able to speak with both the spirit that lives there and their Tethe'allan counterpart."

"So we split up, then?" Zelos asked. "Cover more ground in groups?"

"Perhaps," Kratos agreed, "but no one should go alone."

Sheena raised her hand. "What about the Elemental Research Lab? When I was young, they did a lot of genetic work on me. It was using compounds from my cells that they were able to reverse-engineer an artificial summon spirit…" She paused, noting the awkward silence. "Um, I just assumed that we could use their genetic database to figure out who else might have the summoning gene."

"You're absolutely right, Sheena!" Professor Low stood up. "I can go to Meltokio and speak with them about their genetic database while you all do… uh, whatever it is you do with the summon spirits."

"I like that idea," Raine replied, staring at Professor Low just a moment too long before she snapped to attention and continued. "In the meantime, Genis and I will go to the Triet ruins to speak with Efreet and Celsius. Is that alright with you, Genis?"

"Yeah, sure!" Genis agreed. "That just leaves the Balacruf Mausoleum, Thoda Geyser, and the To-"

"Colette!" Zelos chimed, "let's you and me go to Thoda! They've got that nice new hot springs resort, so once we chat with Undine, we can have ourselves some fun."

"Oh, that does sound like fun!" Colette replied though she turned hesitantly to look at Lloyd in the seat beside her. "Can Lloyd come with us too?"

"Sure, hunny, but don't you think he'd prefer to go somewhere with Sheena?"

Lloyd glanced over at Sheena and smiled. "What do you think, Sheena? You wanna go to Thoda with them? It'd be like a double date-"

"We do not have time to spend frivolously, and there are not enough of us to afford a group of four," Kratos broke in. "I made it very clear that no one is to go alone. Lloyd, you will come with me so that I can keep an eye on you. We'll go to Balacruf to speak with Sylph and Gnome."

"Wh-what? But-"

Presea stood up. "If that is the case, then I will accompany Sheena to the Tower of Mana. That will cover all the summon spirits, correct?"

"Wait, wait!" Lloyd started waving his hands. "You guys can't just leave me-!"

Anna moved over a few seats to sit next to Lloyd. "Don't worry, I'll be with you. It'll be like a family trip."

"But…"

"Listen to your mother, Lloyd," Kratos scolded. "Dirk is working hard back in Luin. You don't want him to be disappointed in your efforts."

"I… yes… alright."

Lloyd slumped back against his chair as Kratos began saying something about reporting back to the militia. He wasn't really listening, too concerned with glaring at his friends who'd just sat back and let that whole exchange happen.

"Thanks a lot, guys," he whispered. Sheena blushed and Colette averted her eyes, but Zelos just shrugged.

"I'm not putting myself in the line of fire when Kratos is like this," he whispered back. "You're on your own."

"Some friend you are."

"I call it like I see it, hunny."

Lloyd glanced back over toward the side of the room where Kratos was giving Sheena and Presea some instructions. All they had to do was travel over to Balacruf and chat with the summon spirits, right? It wouldn't take more than a day. If his mom was going to be with them, then maybe things would be bearable.

Even so, he hoped the trip would be over as soon as possible.

The oasis town of Triet had been built up considerably over the years, with an influx of tourism from Tethe'alla. It seemed anywhere there was water and palm trees, wealthy Tethe'allans would flock in droves to build summer homes and rent villas for week-long getaways. Triet, unlike Palmacosta, was still being touted as a sort of "desert wilderness" for the more adventurous vacationers, so the atmosphere was more subdued, even during the spring break. Genis and Raine made it there by late afternoon, not early enough to go out to ruins before nightfall, but early enough to have a little free time before they settled down at the inn for the night.

"I haven't been here in years. This place looks amazing!" Genis pointed toward the marketplace as he ran ahead of Raine down the sidewalk. "The atmosphere is so much livelier now."

"That isn't always a good thing," Raine murmured, falling into line beside Genis and grabbing his arm to keep him from running into a couple walking along the other side of the walk without paying any attention to where they were going. "Look at how everyone's dressed. I'd bet most of these people are tourists."

"What's not good about it? The economy's thriving and we're sharing cultures. That's how the united world should be-"

"Are we really sharing, though?" Raine asked. "Or are outsiders just after the novelty of something new? They're treating these people's way of life, their traditions, their crafts, their very existence, as a commodity that can be bought and consumed for their own enjoyment. Then once the enjoyment wears off, they run back to their comfortable homes and forget all about it. An economic model built on outsiders is doomed to bust sooner or later, and I hate to think what will happen to everyone who actually lives here when that happens."

"Uh… right." Genis glanced away, wiping sweat from the back of his neck. "So, uh, should we skip the bazaar then? We can go find someplace for dinner."

"Either would be fine. I'm not picky."

After what she'd just said, Genis wasn't completely sure how to respond. "Listen, Raine, I don't want to minimize what you just said since it's all true, but… are you feeling alright? You've been in a bad mood ever since we left."

Raine stopped in the middle of the sidewalk but didn't say anything.

"If you wanted to scold me for getting kicked out of my classes, you would've done it already," Genis continued. "So what is it? Did something happen at the university while I was away? Or is it about the summoning thing?"

Raine slowed down and fell into step beside Genis. "It's not about you or the university. I suppose it's just that this summoning thing, as you called it, took me by surprise. Here I've been working for months trying to figure out the mechanism for the NV Zone, and all this time it was something done by a summoner that we can just ask to stop? I won't lie; that's awfully frustrating from a research perspective."

"I know what you mean," Genis sighed. "When Colette told me, I thought for a second she was joking. It just didn't make any sense."

"We had already hypothesized that it wasn't necessarily a protection measure," Raine continued, "and the matter with the exspheres supports that. There is some process going on within the Tree that's producing the unstable mana field as an effect. I thought I'd made a breakthrough yesterday with an examination of the grass cells in that sample we brought back a few weeks ago, but… now I'm not sure how what I discovered fits in with the summoning explanation."

Genis stopped to look over at her. "Oh? Do you want to talk it over? Maybe we could figure something out together."

"Yes, I was going to wait until tonight when we could discuss it in the privacy of the inn room, but I suppose it'd be fine at one of these little restaurants too."

The two of them managed to find a small restaurant in an alley, frequented by locals and ignored by much of the tourist population. Settling in a small corner table, Raine began explaining her research over the past couple days.

"I wasn't surprised that the cells displayed coagulative necrosis, since they had generally kept their original structure. Normally that happens when part of the plant no longer receives mana from the environment. But there didn't seem to be a cutoff of mana- the cause of death was, rather, a massive buildup of glucose and cellular waste products. It was like the cells went into overdrive and worked the plant to death."

"Worked the plant to death?" Genis repeated.

"Yes, in a sense." Raine tapped her finger against her glass. "It was similar to some of the research that Todd and I did with mana, in which we exposed plants to high concentrations to observe their growth. Plants in mana-rich environments grew so fast, there were often mutations due to the speed of DNA replication, and some were structurally unsound. Exposure to mana speeds up metabolic process."

"Right, I know that," Genis replied. "So you're saying there's so much mana in this unstable field that living cells work too hard and die in the process? But our readings don't show any higher levels of mana inside the NV Zone than outside."

"Right. But those readings are only for alpha mana."

"Alpha…" Genis rested his arms on the table, fidgeting with his hands as he thought it over. "...you think that beta mana might be a component to this?"

"It's just a hypothesis right now," Raine continued, "but if the amount of alpha mana isn't what's driving the lethal metabolic speeds, it must be an issue of stoichiometric ratios. Metabolic processes convert alpha mana into beta mana, proceeding faster when the alpha to beta ratio is high. If the NV Zone is depleted in beta mana, the metabolic processes would naturally speed up to remain in equilibrium."

Genis closed his eyes. "Depleted in beta mana, huh? The Great Tree is the one organism in the world that uses beta mana to fuel its metabolic processes. But if a massive quantity of beta mana is being removed from the area surrounding the Tree, that would mean…" He stopped and opened his eyes again. "Presea was confused as to how the Tree could produce a burl that size so fast. It would've required a lot of energy. That must be how it used all the beta mana that it absorbed during the creation of the NV Zone. Maybe it really was a defense mechanism, and the NV Zone is a side effect due to the amount of beta mana needed to fuel that mechanism. The Tree was just hungry."

As if prompted by the statement, the waiter finally arrived with their food, and they took a moment to begin eating. Raine was the first to speak up again, setting her half-eaten kebab back down on her plate.

"Unfortunately, this hypothesis still leaves one aspect of the NV Zone unaccounted for."

"Oh?"

"The burl is not growing. So why is the NV Zone still expanding? What is the Tree using that mana for?"

Genis didn't answer right away, pushing the rice around on his plate. "Maybe that's where the summoner comes in. Colette said that Martel is maintaining the NV Zone according to the pact. There must be something that the summoner wants with that energy."

"But what? It's the Tree absorbing the energy, and its output of alpha mana hasn't changed. What else could the Tree be using it for, and how would that benefit the summoner in any way?"

They went quiet again, listening to the clatter of the restaurant around them. Genis took another big bite and wiped some curry away from his mouth with his napkin.

"...we'll just have to ask the summoner," he finally said.

"Yes, I suppose we will."

That was the end of the conversation through dinner, but Raine didn't seem satisfied by the agreement they'd come to. Something was still bothering her, and Genis couldn't figure out what. He had some ideas, though, and as they headed back to the inn for the night, he decided to go ahead and ask.

"What else is on your mind? Is it something you can talk about?"

"You can tell?" Raine asked, and Genis nodded.

"I understand if there are things you'd rather keep to yourself," he said, opening the door to their room and motioning her inside, "but I get worried if I don't know what's going on."

Raine sat down on one of the beds, fidgeting with her hands. She was quiet as Genis closed the door behind them and took a seat opposite her. He was about to assure her that she didn't have to say anything if she didn't want to, but she spoke up anyway.

"Genis… do you think I made a mistake with Todd?"

"With Professor Low?" Genis repeated. "What do you mean?"

"Was I too quick to break things off entirely?"

Genis examined her expression. "Are you saying you want to get back together with her?"

"No. Maybe. Yes. I don't know."

He knew if he laughed, it would ruin the mood, but her answer was too funny. "You know," Genis replied, placing a hand over his mouth to hide his smile, "that you just gave every possible answer to that question, right?"

Raine blushed and turned away. "You started this conversation because you knew that I was conflicted. Surely that means you want to give me advice."

"It depends on whether you want advice from me. The two of you are grown women who can handle your own problems. I'm a teenager and stupid when it comes to love."

"Just answer my question."

Genis sighed and leaned back on the bed. "You want my honest opinion? No, I don't think it was a mistake. She hurt you. I mean, sure, some of the things you said to her could've been worded a little better, but-"

"So you think it's silly of me to wonder what might've happened if I hadn't…?"

"No, I didn't say that. I just meant that it was the right thing to do at the time. If you'd asked me a couple months ago whether I thought Professor Low was going to change after everything that happened, I might've said 'no.' But she's surprised me. I think she's genuinely trying to become a more considerate person."

Raine stood up, pacing along the edges of the rug as she spoke. "I've tried to move on, to get her out of my mind, but it's not working. I thought it was blind nostalgia, that I was romanticizing things and would come back to my senses when I saw her again. But I didn't. I just felt… lonely."

Genis watched her pace for a few moments, waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, he began again.

"Were you expecting her to run up to you and beg for forgiveness?"

There was another pause. "...I don't know," was Raine's answer. "All I know is, she didn't."

"And you wanted her to?"

"No. Maybe. Yes. I don't know."

The uncertainty in her voice wasn't as funny the second time he heard it. "She's working hard," Genis continued, "trying to understand even Zelos, if you can believe it. But I don't think she's doing it with the intent to win you back. I think she genuinely wants to be a better person. You made her want to be a better person. And considering that you seem to be the only person to have done that in thirty years… it says a lot about how she feels about you."

That statement got Raine to stop pacing and actually sit down. Genis sat up, pulling himself to the edge of the bed so that he could look her in the eye.

"Why don't you keep watching her for a little while?"

"Watching her?"

Genis nodded. "Or, at least, stop avoiding her. Have a proper conversation. See if she's become the kind of person you can forgive, the kind of person you feel comfortable trusting again. I can't tell you whether or not you should give her a second chance, though. That's a decision you have to make."

"And you-" Raine looked to him with concern. "-you approve of me… giving her a second chance?"

Genis stifled a laugh again. "You care too much about what I think, y'know that?"

For the first time since they'd made it back to the inn, Raine smiled.

"I think I care just the right amount about what my brother thinks."

"Then-" Genis finally allowed himself to laugh. "-if it makes you happy, yes. I approve."

Anna was excited about visiting the Balacruf Mausoleum, having never gotten the chance to visit in her earlier life. She spent lots of time ooh-ing and ah-ing over the interpretive signs, so much that it was growing dark by the time Kratos managed to pull her and Lloyd up to the top of the monument. They stood around the platform, Lloyd having to hold his mother's hand to keep her from leaning over the side and accidentally falling. Kratos, meanwhile, had walked to the center of the seal and called out to the spirits.

"We are here to speak with the spirits Sylph and Gnome. Please, hear our query- we seek information about a summoner."

There was a pause and the air was filled with the sound of insects and the chirping of birds as they roosted in the jungle below. Slowly, the still air gave way to a gust of wind, and soon there was a swirling gale that surrounded the top of the monument and descended upon the group. The stone rumbled under their feet, and a flash of light appeared in the center of the seal.

"Information about a summoner?" "You mean like Sheena?" "Aren't you Sheena's friends?"

Sylph appeared in the air, flying around to each member of the group to inspect them. The ground shook once more before another light appeared and Gnome's shape came into view. His voice boomed with a laugh as he looked around.

"Well! If it isn't lover-boy and the in-laws! Where's Sheena run off to? I'd think you could ask her about summoner stuff."

Lloyd gave a sheepish wave. "Uh, hey, Gnome. Hey, Sylph. Long time no see. Sheena's gone to talk with Luna, Aska, and Shadow, so we've come to see you."

"What?" "Sheena doesn't want to talk to us?" "How rude!"

"W-well there's only one of her and lots of you guys," Anna said. "Besides, we just want to talk. We've got a question for you."

Gnome let out a sigh. "This isn't about those earthquakes near Mizuho, is it? Tell Sheena I'm doing my best, but it's way less destructive to let the rocks move gradually in a bunch of little quakes than it is to wait for one big'un-"

"We're not here about earthquakes," Lloyd broke in, hiding his own confusion behind a confident expression. "It's about summoners."

"A question?" "About summoners?" "About Sheena?" Sylph moved to buzz around Lloyd, and Gnome laughed again.

"Let 'em finish, at least. Whaddya wanna know, kid?"

Kratos spoke up before Lloyd or Anna had a chance. "We want to know if either of you has been approached by a summoner seeking a pact."

"Like, since Sheena?"

"Yes. Since Sheena."

Gnome glanced over at Sylph, who had moved to fly around him instead. "No, I can't say I've seen any other summoners. Definitely haven't been approached by any. You, Sylph?"

"No, not at all." "Sheena is the only summoner we've met since Mithos." "And she hasn't broken her vow, so we couldn't make another pact anyway."

"I see," Kratos murmured. "Thank you for your time. That is all."

"Whaaat? That's it? C'mon, surely you've gotta have some other questions!"

"Not really," Lloyd answered, shaking his head. "See, Sheena tried to make a pact with the spirit Martel yesterday, but she couldn't. Apparently the Martel has made a pact with someone else, and we're trying to figure out who it is."

Sylph began to fly about in a frenzied circle. "Another summoner?" "How exciting!" "Don't tell me Sheena is jealous~!"

"Just 'cause Mithos did it doesn't mean it's okay for one person to hog all the summon spirits for themselves. Tell Sheena not to be so uptight and let someone else play, alright?"

"That's not it!" Anna defended. "Sheena just wants to help get the Great Tree back to normal. Martel said that the unstable mana field around the Tree is part of the pact, so we're trying to find the summoner and ask them to fix it."

"Why can't you just ask Martel for information about the summoner?"

"They did," Lloyd answered. "Martel didn't know."

"Didn't know?" "That's impossible." "How could she not know?"

"According to Martel," Kratos answered, "the summoner did not give their name or any other form of identifying information. The only information the summoner gave was their vow, and that information cannot be divulged to outsiders."

"Now wait just a darn minute! A summoner can't make a pact without givin' their name. It's against the rules!"

Lloyd shrugged. "Clearly Martel made an exception."

"There's no such thing as an exception." "A summoner's identity is the collateral with which they back their vow." "No summon spirit would ever accept a vow from someone not willing to stake their identity on it-"

"We understand that," Kratos broke in, his voice stern and no longer reverent, "but we can only relay what Martel told Sheena. Martel said that she found the summoner's vow sufficient. End of story."

The monument went silent again. Lloyd didn't take his eyes off the spirits, though he swatted at the cloud of mosquitoes that was gathering around his face. Sylph seemed to be discussing something amongst themselves, and Gnome had his eyes closed like he was deep in thought. Lloyd planned to wait until one of the spirits said something again, but Anna raised her hand and called out before they did.

"Um, I just had a thought."

"Congratulations, Mama Bear. Care to share with the class?"

Lloyd noticed Kratos tense up, and he wondered whether it was because of the veiled insult or the weird nickname. But Anna didn't seem to mind either, and continued normally.

"I was wondering what you would do for a summoner that didn't know their own name."

"Didn't know their own name? What does that mean?" "It's not like we require a birth name. It's a personal identity thing, so a summoner can use whatever name they're comfortable with." "Are you talking more like amnesia?"

"Amnesia, yes." Anna nodded. "A few years ago, I had amnesia. I couldn't remember who I was or where I came from- I forgot my whole identity. If I'd had a vow that I genuinely believed in, even while I was still an amnesiac, could I have made a pact?"

The insects took over again, their buzz filling the air with an almost static sound that emphasized the group's unease. Gnome closed his eyes and made a deep humming noise that slightly shook the ground around him, and Sylph floated around him, their wings drooping and their eyes darting back and forth between each of their sisters. Finally, after what felt like a painful amount of time, Lloyd swatted at a mosquito that landed on his neck and Gnome's eyes snapped open.

"You've really given us a tough one here. This has never come up before. If a summoner had a strong enough will and a vow that they truly believed in, but didn't know their own name… no, I guess I couldn't require them to give their name before making a pact."

"So you'd do it?" Lloyd asked.

"If we agreed that the summoner's plea was genuine, we might." "Without a name, though, we might be picky about what kind of vow we accepted." "It would have to be something we also felt strongly about."

"Yeah, I agree with Sylph," Gnome added, "if I was gonna make a pact with somebody who didn't even know their own name, they'd need to present a vow that I just couldn't pass up."

"A vow that you couldn't pass up, hm?" Kratos murmured. "I see. That does help us somewhat. Thank you for your time."

Lloyd and Anna thanked the spirits and wished them well as they said their farewells and disappeared. But Kratos remained silent, watching with a pensive expression. In the silence that followed, Lloyd could swear he heard Kratos muttering to himself, a confused tone in his voice.

"...a vow Martel couldn't pass up…?"