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Tundra
Chapter 2: The Wound and the Eye
-Meanwhile-
Felix cursed himself for being unable to start a fire. It was so cold that he had lost feeling in his fingers and toes. He could see the snow-capped peaks to the north, serving only to increase his anxiety. He had built a small earthen shelter to stop the wind and sleet, and had done his best to heal Mia, but he knew that she would be in serious danger unless he could start a fire. The gash on the side of his own head felt better, but he admitted to himself that the cold might have been acting as a painkiller.
He was glad that Mia was asleep. She was breathing, but her robes, normally a bright blue, had turned a dark purple hue. Felix was worried about what waited for him underneath, but he hadn't dared to expose her to the deadly frost.
He wasn't sure how much time had passed before he finally convinced the flames to spring up from the piece of wood, but when that first tongue of flame appeared, his heart leapt in triumph, and the tension in his chest and muscles relaxed slightly. He fanned the flames until the small fire warmed the hut to the point that Felix could assess Mia's injury.
He opened Mia's outer robe slowly, careful not to disturb her sleep. He sighed with relief as he removed her outer layer. There was nothing lodged within her body, which was what he was worried about. Anything else, he knew he could deal with. He lifted up her undershirt modestly, blushing furiously as even his stoic nature couldn't help but notice Mia's soft, white skin.
He forced those thoughts to the back of his mind, and concentrated on the sliced skin down Mia's right side. He focused his healing powers on the wound, though his abilities were somewhat weakened by the absence of his Djinn. After about twenty minutes of hard work, the wound, wherever it had come from, was closed and the bleeding stopped.
As Felix sat back against wall of the improvised hut, attempting to catch his breath, his ears caught a small sigh, barely audible over the soft crackling of the fire and the howl of the wind passing over the makeshift chimney.
"Mia?" asked Felix anxiously.
"Mmh?" came the muffled reply.
"How are you feeling? You've been out for a while."
Mia slowly opened her eyes a little bit, and tried to sit up. Felix gently pushed her back down.
"Don't move more than you have to. I barely got your wound to stop bleeding."
Mia's hand strayed to her side, touching her injury tenderly. She grimaced.
"What happened?" asked Felix.
"I don't know," she replied. "Whatever it was, it happened after I was knocked out."
Mia shivered violently as a fierce gust of wind blew over their shelter. After a moment fresh blood appeared on Mia's shirt.
"Ahh…" said Mia, biting her lip in pain.
Felix opened his mouth to tell Mia to lay back down, but before he could, he saw Mia's Psynergy begin to glow, only to pitter out.
"I don't have anything left, Felix, I'm sorry."
"I'll take care of it. May I?"
"What? Oh!" she said, as Felix shifted himself closer to her side. "Yes… Go ahead."
He could hardly stop himself from shaking, but he took a deep breath to calm himself as Mia lifted her shirt. There was nothing, however, that he could do about his flushing color, except hope that it would escape Mia's notice.
To his luck, Mia's attention was focused on her wound as he worked. His focus once more shifted from Mia's body to his Psynergy, struggling to draw power from the frozen earth. It took all of his attention, and as such, he did not notice Mia's wandering eyes come to rest upon him.
Mia felt her heartbeat quicken a little bit as Felix lifted her undershirt, and took what she hoped was an unnoticeable deep breath. She had found Felix's toned, muscular body attractive since she first laid eyes on him, but she had never even considered acting on those thoughts. It simply would not be proper to act on feelings like the ones she had for him. That said, however, it didn't make Felix's ministrations any less nerve-wracking. She took another deep breath and clenched her right fist tightly, attempting to move the thoughts out of her mind. Compartmentalizing a crush – especially a big one – was much easier said than done.
"There," said Felix, wiping the sweat from his brow and looking up. "All done."
Mia unclenched her hand.
"Mia, are you ok?" Felix asked. "Your face is all flushed."
"No, no, I'm fine," she said, a little too quickly. "Thank you for fixing that."
Felix leaned over and blew softly on the flames, fanning them up.
"You need to stay warm. I don't know how many more of those I have in me."
Mia obliged, and she pulled herself gingerly closer to the fire, and laid down. She closed her eyes, and a minute later, she felt a warm cover being placed on top of her. She accepted it gratefully, and fell into a deep sleep.
The storm had abated, for a moment. Ivan opened an eye from his meditation to tell Isaac that the storm seemed to be slowing down, and that he would have a chance to go outside. Isaac, who had been pacing up and down the ship's corridors, immediately headed for the door to the deck. After standing at the entrance for about five minutes, he heard the winds slow noticeably. He put his shoulder down to force open the door, only to fly face-first onto the floor of the deck – the wind had almost completely dissipated. He shook himself off, and stood back up. The sight in front of him as he looked up nearly knocked him back to ground.
In a circle around him, about half a mile in any direction, the monstrous storm still blazed fiercely, but the area immediately adjunct to the ship was completely calm.
"We must be in the center," he thought to himself.
It had certainly taken long enough to catch a break. Ivan and Sheba barely had anything left, and they had dealt with some close calls. The boat had almost tipped twice in absence of a helmsman.
In the bowels of the ship, Piers and the two Fire adepts were busy channeling the heat from the engine out of the boat. Several pieces had failed altogether, although Piers had assured Isaac that the boat would survive.
A sense of ability reentered Isaac's chest for the first time in hours. He could finally do something to help. He knew nothing of Felix's whereabouts, but he knew that Mia's Psynergy would help her to survive in the water, until she hit land. As he looked around himself again, however, Isaac realized that it didn't matter, because even if the vessel made it to the shore before the storm hit, the ship would be in serious danger so close to land, as would everyone on it.
Isaac noticed the dropped anchor, and marveled at Felix's sense of judgment. If the anchor hadn't been released, they would all probably be dead.
The blond felt jealous in spite of himself. Felix's capabilities seemed to dwarf his in any area. That wouldn't have bothered him if it didn't feel like Felix seemed to be out to get him at times. Isaac's notion was that it had something to do with Jenna; for some reason, the idea of Jenna and Isaac even talking to each other made Felix edgy. It wasn't as though Felix had any reason to trust Isaac, either – Felix didn't know how much he had sacrificed to get himself to where he was, which made Isaac feel like he had something to prove.
Isaac immediately cursed himself for his idle thoughts and turned his attention back to the storm. He could worry about his own personal life later. Isaac ran back inside, and grabbed a piece of rope of a reasonable length from one of the storage rooms. Felix hadn't had any idea how strong the winds were going to be, but Isaac had decided that he was going to pilot the ship, no matter how difficult it was. He yelled for a Fire adept from the engine room, and began to tie himself down.
A moment later, Garet came upstairs, looking around for Isaac. Garet looked blankly at the rope, trying to decipher what in the world Isaac was trying to do. After a moment, he gave up.
"Isaac, what in the world are you doing?" he asked.
"I'm piloting-mmh-the bloody-rrg--ship, what does it-gah-look like?" he responded angrily, as he struggled with the rope.
"Ah, finally got it," Isaac said, as he finally secured the last piece of the rope around his hands. "Sorry Garet, that was uncalled for. I'm going to stay tied down so that I can pilot the ship. Which is why I need you. I need you to heat the soles of these boots so that they stick to the deck. That way I don't break any bones trying to hang on to the wheel."
"This sure seems like something Felix would do," said Garet, "but I never had you pegged for a suicidal idiot."
"Thanks for the support," responded Isaac grimly. "You'd better get back down to Piers. We're going to be fighting again in a minute. Make Ivan and Sheba are ready."
"Yes sir, Captain Suicide. Who do you want to pilot the ship after you die?" asked Garet, as he burned the rubber soles of Isaac's shoes.
Isaac glared at his friend in reply. Garet snickered immaturely as he walked off.
"Idiot," muttered Isaac, moving his hands on the helm as if to rev a motorcycle.
This was going to be interesting, he thought to himself.
