Disclaimer: I do not own Golden Sun.

A/N: I know, extremely short. But I had to have something where they left Vault and went back to Kalay.

"And the bandits escaped. We are not sure how."

We were back at the mayor's house after a vote of 2-1-1, and I agreed with Garet now-the mayor was definitely "a windbag" as Garet put it.

"So, tell me about your journey," the mayor prompted.

Garet rolled his eyes. "You should have stayed outside," he mouthed. "So you could rescue me."
I held back a laugh. Garet glared at me. "It's not funny," he whispered, sliding closer.

"Well, after we left Vault," I started, secretly hoping Garet would manage to get us out, "we went through the cave to Bilibin, like you told us to. The lord refused to let us go to help the people of Kolima, but we went anyway, discovered that Tret-"
"Tret?" the mayor interrupted.

"Tret is...the king of the forest," I answered. I was trying to make my tale as short as possible. The boat set out the day after tomorrow, and we needed to buy supplies in Kalay. "Anyway, he was dying, so we went to Imil-"
"Imil?" he interrupted again. I secretly thought that he kept interrupting just to hear himself speak. "The city at the base of Mercury Lighthouse?"

I nodded. "Yes, that Imil. Anyway, we went to Mercury Lighthouse, met Mia, made our way to the top, met Saturos and-"

"Saturos?" he broke in. "Who is Saturos?"
I was starting to feel exasperated. "Saturos and Menardi-we told you about them, remember? The last time we came?"
The mayor nodded. "Yes, I remember now. Please continue."

I sighed as loudly as I dared. "Menardi, Jenna-"
"Jenna?"
"Our friend, remember?"

"Ah, yes, that Jenna. Go on."
"Menardi, Jenna, Felix,"
"Felix?"
"Jenna's brother!" I didn't mean to shout, but the mayor was getting on my nerves. "Um, sorry. Felix is Jenna's brother."
"I see." the mayor replied politely.

"Menardi, Jenna, Felix, and we thought Alex-Alex is a...friend of Mia's." I added quickly, before he could interrupt.

Mia made a face. "Make that former friend."
"Mia's former friend Alex," I corrected. "Anyway, Menardi, Jenna, Felix, and Alex, we thought, rode down to the bottom of the lighthouse."
"Rode down?" The mayor sounded confused.

"The elevator. " I thought, besides the Felix shout, I was showing a great deal of patience for his annoying habit. "So we fought Saturos, but then Alex walked up from behind the beacon. The beacon is a large beam of light, blue in the case of Mercury."

"Yes, I know." The mayor sounded offended.

"Well, anyway, Alex stalled us and then they escaped. Mia decided to join us, we collected healing waters to heal Tret, and we left Imil." I was surprised he didn't break in to ask what sort of healing waters. "We went back to Tret, healed him, and he returned the people of Kolima."
"From where?"
"They had been transformed into trees," I explained. "So the people in Kolima built a bridge, which we crossed. The bridge led to Nyunpa."
"Nyunpa?" the mayor questioned.

"Master Nyunpa," I corrected myself. "Anyway, Nyunpa gave us a test. We took the test and received Force."
"Force?"
"A special power. We went through a maze of forest, Mogall Forest, and ended up near Xian. From Xian, we went to Altin and Lama Temple."
"What kind of temple?"
"I don't know. Anyway, there we met Master Hama. She showed us how to cross the great desert. So we crossed the desert," I desperately hoped Mia wouldn't put in anything about how horrible the desert was, "and we reached Kalay. In Kalay, we discovered the bridge had been fixed and we went to Vale and then here."

The mayor seemed pleased with my shortened version of our quest. "I hope you have good luck in your travels and all that you do."

I nodded. "The same to you, sir."

When we finally left, Garet started complaining. "He talks way too mu-"
"Stop complaining!" Mia scolded. "It's very annoying."
"You're one to talk, Miss Oh-the-desert's-so-hot!" Garet flared up.

I let them go on like that for a while before simply heading out of Vault. They immediately noticed and raced to catch up.

As we walked along the road to Kalay, my thoughts drifted back to my memories. I remembered a day not too long ago...

"Isaac! Guess what?" Jenna's excited voice rang in my tired ears.

I rubbed my bleary eyes. "What?"

"I finally got a sword!" Jenna was alive with excitement. "Will you practice with me?"

I yawned. "I don't know. I'm really tired. I hardly got any sleep last night."
Jenna turned her prized death-glare on me. If I'd been more awake I would have wondered why she wasn't doing her looks in order.

"Why don't you ask Garet?" I wondered sleepily.

"I already did!" Oh. So that's why the death-glare first.

"Jenna-"

She crossed her arms and glared down at me. How she does that I'm still not sure, considering I'm over a quarter of a foot taller. "Don't 'Jenna' me! At least come up with an excuse!"

I yawned again. "I guess being tired doesn't count. How about this-you give me two hours and I'll meet you in front of the Psynergy Stone?"

Jenna considered it for a moment. "All right," she allowed.

Two hours later, true to my word, I met her in the Plaza. Her eyes were steely. She held her prized sword gently. She was ready.

I stood there, feeling awkward. Somehow, even though Jenna and I both swore we never told a single person, half the town had gathered to watch, especially the younger children.

Finally, I danced forward with my blade. Jenna parried the blow.

I could hear Garet alternately chanting, "Isaac! Isaac! Isaac!" and "Jenna! Jenna! Jenna!". I could hear Kay cheering for me, and Aaron cheering for Jenna. I could hear every single child and teenager in Vale shouting one of our names. It didn't feel good.

"Scared?" Jenna taunted me, a standard comment in these sorts of fights.

"Not on your life," I lied, the proper reply.

Suddenly, her blade flew towards me. The blades were sheathed, so that no harm besides bruises would come to either of us. I tried to dodge the blow, but I was too slow, and it hit my arm painfully. Mindlessly, I swung my blade.

It all happened so slowly. The sheath flew off the blade. The sword collided with her arm. She let out a cry of pain and collapsed. I knelt down immediately, afraid of what I might see.

But it was mainly the impact that caught her off balance. Jenna was okay. But I promised to never duel with anyone like that again.

"Isaac! Isaac! Isaac!" Garet shook me.

I looked up. "Huh? The fight's over."

Garet gave me a confused look. "What are you talking about? We've reached Kalay."

I blinked. "Oh."

It was barely nightfall, and after we ate dinner I retired to the room early. I felt doubly exhausted, as if my feelings after the memory I'd thought on had rubbed off on me and added to my weariness.

And I had to sleep well, for who knew what Tolbi might bring...