I release all rights and characters to their respective owners.
Sorry that this took so long, everyone who reads my story! I've been a little busy with some other projects lately, but I did finally get this chapter finished, and it's pretty long, so it was worth the wait, right?
Tundra
Chapter 5: Snowy Dreamer, Ocean Guide
Restful nights were not keen on finding Felix, nor others of his ilk. Leaders rarely sleep well in times of crisis, and this was indeed a time of crisis. However, once in a while, Felix did get a good night's rest. The previous night had indeed been so, with Mia up against his back, holding onto him for warmth.
Now very awake, Felix poked his head out of the shelter, and saw nothing but snow for miles around. He pulled his head back in with a heavy sigh.
"What's wrong, Felix?" asked Mia, who was on the ground, still unable to move much because of her wound.
"I can't even see the ship, Mia, and the sky is clear," he replied.
"But…" she said, her eyes widening at the implications of the statement, "if we can't see the ship then…"
"They're fine. The ship was probably just blown out of the way. They'll be back to get us, and soon."
I hope, thought Felix. He couldn't afford himself any lack of confidence. After all, Mia was depending on him.
"You're right," said Mia, "The winds were really strong, after all…"
Felix knew that he and Mia were sharing the exact same feelings at the moment. A silence settled over them, and Felix found himself growing uncomfortable with inaction. He had long since lost his perfect sense of time due to the lack of sunlight, but he guessed that it was about midday. He loathed the wasted time, but given Mia's present condition, he knew there was no alternative.
Mia was feeling better, though her movement was still severely limited. They had another egg, which would last them for at least the rest of the day and the next morning, and they did not want for firewood. Felix, faced with nothing else to do, struggled with the prospect that he would have to make conversation for the entire day. Casual personal relationships were not his strong suit, and such lengthened talking drained him at a level comparable to combat.
"Felix, we're pretty close to Vale, aren't we?" asked Mia.
Great, thought Felix, starting already.
"Yeah, it's just over the mountains," he said, forcing strained brightness into his voice. "Why?"
"Well, I went there once, with Isaac, before Venus Lighthouse, but we didn't even stay for a day, and Dor… well, Isaac doesn't want us to say what happened. What was it like there, before the boulder fell?"
"Well, I guess I could tell you a story or two."
He thought for a moment, and an uncharacteristically malicious glint entered his eyes.
"Mia, you traveled with Garet and Isaac for a while. Did they ever tell you about the dumbest thing they ever did, at least while I was around?"
"No," said Mia, sitting up and adjusting herself. Embarrassing stories about friends and companions are always interesting, regardless of the circumstances.
"Well," said Felix, "Garet and Isaac were really good friends growing up, and they hung out together all the time. Normally, Isaac kept Garet from doing anything too rash, but one day, just after Garet discovered his Fire Psynergy, they decided to touch the giant Psynergy stone at the center of town. Do you know what I'm talking about?"
"Yeah," said Mia. "What happened?"
"Garet walked up and touched the stone. Now normally, this would replenish an adult's Psynergy, and even someone as young as Ivan. But Garet, being completely untrained..."
Felix paused for dramatic effect.
"Yes?" asked Mia.
"His Psynergy went off on its own. He turned around to Isaac and said; 'Nothing's happening!' and then he spewed fire right out of his mouth. It hit Isaac's hair dead on! And, every time he opened his mouth, a jet of flame would spurt out. It didn't stop for almost four hours."
"He did not!" exclaimed Mia. "Isaac, bald? I can't imagine it!"
"Oh no, he didn't go bald," said Felix. "Like I said, Isaac is normally on top of things. When his hair caught, he jumped right in the water to put the fire out, but he grabbed the Psynergy stone when he was trying to climb out of the water."
"Oh my…" said Mia. "Can this get any worse?"
"Everything he touched turned to sand. Every time he took a step, the ground turned to sand, and when he opened the door to his house, it turned to sand too."
"That doesn't sound too bad," said Mia. "That's easier to clean up than burnt hair. I don't know how your sister does it…"
"It actually did get bad, when he started running, anyway," said Felix.
"Running?" asked Mia, confused.
"Well, I said everything he touched. His clothes disintegrated in ten seconds flat!"
"HIS CLOTHES!" shouted Mia, with a huge open-mouthed smile.
"He ran smack into one of the village elders on the way to his house, and the front of his robes turned to sand too. As if that weren't enough, Garet was right behind him, and when Garet turned to apologize for Isaac, he belched out more fire, and burnt off what was left of the robes! I have never seen so anybody in so much trouble, not in my whole life. I didn't stop giving them grief for that until the day I was taken to Prox."
Mia was at this point overcome with laughter, and it took her several minutes to calm down. She wiped a tear from the side of her eye.
"I can't believe that actually happened. That is soo funny! I can picture Garet doing that, but Isaac? Only the way you put it."
"I wouldn't believe it either, but I was there. I swear to you, it happened."
"If only Imil were that exciting. We can't spend too much time outside there, but once a year, the village celebrates the Moonbeacon Festival. The moon would sit at the top of the Lighthouse, and it looked like the beacon had been lit. There is a little cave on the north side of town, and we keep whatever liquor we come across in there. Several years ago, we convinced my grandfather to drink a little more than his share at the festival. He is nearly bedridden now, but he used to be quite lively. His idea of a good time, to my grandmother's dismay, was to give an impromptu speech to the entire town."
"Did he say something bad?" asked Felix, enjoying the conversation in spite of himself.
"No, he didn't say anything bad. But in the middle of a sentence about 'counting our blesshings,' he stopped, and started singing! And he was so lewd! He belted out old bar songs from the days when he sailed the world, from fighting to the most unmentionable topics…"
Mia shuddered.
"He sang a song that he called his 'all-time favorite', and it was about a sailor who marries a prostitute because she is… ah, talented, I suppose, in the bedroom. It's rather explicit. My grandmother nearly beat him to death later."
She paused.
"That story has always reminded me of Garet, in a way" she said impishly.
Felix laughed out loud at this.
"Too true," he said.
They continued to trade stories well into the afternoon, which gave way to evening, and as the stars began to come out, and Felix found that he had opened up to Mia over the day in a way he had not ever warmed to anyone. He found himself telling her silly stories of his childhood, and more private ones, such as the time he spent in Prox between the collapse of the boulder and the eruption. His own honesty scared him, but at the same time, he had been glad to have a friend throughout the day.
Now, though, night returned, and the feelings of the yesterday came creeping back, stalking a perfectly innocent day. As if on cue from Felix's inner thoughts, Mia spoke.
"Felix, can I ask you a question?" she said hesitantly.
"Yes Mia," he replied. "What is it?"
"I may be wrong," she said shyly, "but you don't get along with Isaac very well. Ever since we joined you, Isaac has been… different, and I don't understand it. Did something happen between the two of you?"
Felix's thoughts shifted to darker things, like visions of Isaac broken on the floor, unable even to talk to his sister. Once again, he felt the urge to tell her the truth, which was a strange thing indeed – not even Jenna knew the real story. Yet he proceeded to tell it.
"It was the night before the boulder fell. I noticed Jenna and Isaac talking a lot, but that wasn't unusual. They were best friends, even better friends than Garet and Isaac were. That night, I couldn't sleep. Jenna and Isaac were sitting on the dock, and Jenna was crying. Isaac was holding her, and I went closer so I could hear. She was telling him things that she had never even shared with me… things about our family."
He broke off.
"She just held on to him for the longest time. Why did that hurt me so much? I don't know. He won't stay away from her."
Felix stopped again, and bit his bottom lip.
"I don't even know why I'm telling you this."
He glared fiercely for a moment, burning a hole in the earthen wall in front of him with his eyes.
A minute of silence later, a sniffle from Mia broke Felix's focus – she was crying.
"Mia?" he asked.
Had he said something?
"You came back," she said.
Felix halted. What did she mean by that?
"Why?" she continued. "Why you and not Alex? He was the only family I had, and now…"
Another tear rolled down her cheeks.
Felix froze for a moment. This was a delicate situation.
In a move that surprised even himself, he put his arm around Mia's shoulder. He couldn't think of anything to explain Alex's traitorous actions, so he remained silent as tears flowed from Mia's sapphire eyes. The clouds above occasionally granted a glimpse of a perfect night sky, replete with stars, a scattering of countless diamonds dispersed across a jet-black ocean.
"I'm sorry, Felix," Mia said.
Felix sat in silence, holding the healer tightly. Mia pulled herself closer as her tears splashed onto Felix's shirt. The fire began to dim, and the stars grew brighter and brighter. Felix continued to hold her, but as the fire died, it became cold again. He squeezed her shoulder tightly, and got up to rekindle the fire. Mia pulled her knees up against herself and leaned back on the wall of the hut as she looked up into the night.
"They're beautiful, aren't they? The stars," she said.
"Yeah," replied Felix, as sat back down next to her, "they are."
"Felix…" Mia started, "are they coming back?"
He said nothing for a moment, only continued to look at the stars.
"They will," he said. "I know they will."
Mia leaned her head down on to his shoulder, and in short order began to fall asleep. Her azure hair fell gracefully over her shoulders. Everything about her was graceful, even her tears. She was elegant, but not pompous, dignified, but not pretentious. She was a marvel to behold, and Felix took it in firsthand beneath the stars, from her gentle hands to her angelic skin to the remnant of the tears that rolled down her cheek.
She was beautiful. Felix wished he knew how to tell her that he would rather see her than the stars.
Isaac had grabbed the helm, possessed by a feeling to move, to go, to be heroic in some abstract poetic sense, before he realized that he had no idea where in Weyard he was.
"Kraden!" he called.
A moment later, the wizened old scholar came up out the door to the deck.
"Yes, Isaac, I'm here. What do you need?"
"Do you know where we are?" Isaac asked nonchalantly.
"Um," said Kraden.
Not good, thought Isaac.
"Don't move from this spot, Isaac. Let me see if Piers has what I need."
The old man hustled from the deck. Isaac scratched his head and followed at a pace that felt more appropriate to his tired body, as the even the smallest winds stung his blistered hands. Despite the aches in his body, he did feel more rested, and he knew it was urgent to find Felix and Mia as soon as possible. Disregarding the respect he knew that saving Jenna's brother would earn him, the Mercury Adept had gotten their group out of more struggles than he could possibly count. He owed her every ounce of his energy. They all did.
He found Kraden eagerly scouring bookshelves, occasionally pulling a scroll or book or chart and placing it on the table behind him.
"What are you looking for, Kraden?" asked Isaac curiously.
"Another map," said Kraden. "Felix has his ours with him."
"This keeps getting better," said Isaac. "Do we not have any idea where we are? Can we at least get moving in the right direction?"
"So pushy!" joked Kraden. "Go south, but don't go too fast, otherwise we might pass where we were. Try to hug the coast too!"
Isaac was already back at the helm. About fifteen minutes later, a rather large shadow fell over his back, and he turned around to see Garet, whose entire body had taken on a bright red hue, challenging even that of his hair.
"Woah, um… Garet. Your… uh… body… is really red, man."
"Thanks. I didn't notice," he replied sarcastically.
"Nice to have you back," Isaac added, as an apologetic afterthought.
"Appreciate it. Apparently, you're the only one. Jenna tried to give me a five-star, and Sheba laughs every time she sees me."
"That's because your body is redder than your hair! You look like a TOMATO!" taunted Sheba as she walked by.
"Shut up, Sheba!" Garet shot back wearily.
"TO-MA-TO!" she shouted gleefully.
"Where's Ivan?" asked Isaac, ignoring the ruckus.
"He's sleeping still," said Garet. "You should let him rest though. He hasn't had a break since before Magma Rock."
"Good point," Isaac replied.
He paused.
"Did you really get that from the steam?" Isaac asked incredulously.
"Yes! Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Garet growled. "BAH!"
He stomped off into the ship. Isaac rolled his eyes. Obviously, it wasn't just Garet's skin that was sensitive. Isaac reflected on this paradox for a moment, before Kraden interrupted his thoughts.
"Isaac!" the scholar shouted.
He slowed the ship down, and walked into the cabins, where Kraden busied himself with a multitude of various maps and charts.
"We," said Kraden with an air of authority, "are here," as he pointed to a spot on the map. "We may also be here," he said, as he indicated another point rather distant from the other.
"What?" asked Isaac.
"I'm sorry Isaac, but I can't be sure of where we are without the stars. I know we are in one of these two locations, but I can't say which one for sure. That being the case, you should set a course to the southwest, but take it slow. If Felix and Mia made it to land, the currents would have carried them here."
Kraden outlined a small area of what the map indicated to be frozen wasteland to the north of Loho.
"Ah, I see," said Isaac. "You want me to take a course that will put us closest to that spot either way by the time the stars are out."
"Precisely," Kraden remarked.
"You've got it," said Isaac, feeling suddenly empowered by his newfound sense of purpose and direction, quite literally.
"Thanks a bunch, Kraden. Where would we end up without you to guide us?" asked Isaac rhetorically.
"Go pilot our ship," Kraden said, as he waved him away with a laugh.
Isaac took the helm once more, putting all of his faith into the hope that Mia and Felix were alive.
And that concludes Chapter Five. More sooner or later, and hopefully sooner this time.
