Revised (heavily) as of February 12, 2010.
Update: Um, long ago, someone pointed out that it's "psynergy" and not "psyenergy" and I swear I corrected that when I heard, but bleargh with FFnet's edit/upload system. Fixed for real now.
Warnings: Felix talks, like for realz. (Eventually, Isaac will talk, too. I know, weird, right? No silent protagonists here.)
Pairings: Still none yet, but the main pairing will be FelixIsaac. Er, soon.
Rating: For this chapter it's K+ I guess.
Notes: Here we find that Felix does have a nice set of vocal chords. I did add a new ability to the adepts' repertoire (it seems silly to have three years and nothing but a cure spell & move to show for it). They can now (with much concentration) sense the power of those of their own element. To Jenna, Saturos & Menardi seem like a bottomless pit of Mars-aligned alchemy.
---
The Calm Before The Quest
---
Felix sat up, gasping for breath. It was the same dream again, his mind replaying the events of three years ago. He glanced out the window beside his bed; the sun was high in the sky already, signaling that is was at least noon, and Felix had promised Dora he would help repair her roof!
Felix ran around his room, grabbing his boots and the old, greed cloak Isaac gave him before… before the storm. He would have to put the cloak on at Kraden's; Felix feared it might upset Dora. Jenna still had Felix, and they both had their grandparents, but Dora was by herself these days. Felix had had to offer to fix her roof, because she did not want to ask anyone to do it.
Most of the town had recovered since that day, excepting, of course, Felix and Jenna's old house. They salvaged what they could, but it was better put to use as a handy source of firewood than a place to live.
Even the old house, though, had recovered better than Dora. At first she seemed to be grieving normally; she cried, she didn't eat, but everyone thought she would get over it. She was Dora of Vale. There was no way she wouldn't recover.
Now, she was lucky if she was well enough to leave the house. The great healer of Sol Sanctum visited Dora's house regularly. Every night before she went to sleep, Felix could feel the pull of cure psynergy from her house. He wanted to help, but his cure technique just wasn't good enough yet.
Felix tried to help with the housework as often as possible, frequently dragging Garet with him, and Jenna often cooked for Dora (the burns meant love!)but Dora was only managing to reach an equilibrium, not recovering.
On sheer whim, Felix grabbed the yellow scarf he had planned to give Isaac on his birthday, which had only been a week after the storm, before heading out the door and taking the long way to Dora's.
---
Jenna looked for Garet; she couldn't feel his psynergy in his house, but it was definitely nearby. He was practicing his psynergy again before they went to Kraden's. Jenna paused in her search, glancing skyward. The heat of the noon sun and its bright light hardly affected her. Jenna liked the sun, liked the way it made flowers grow and kept the world warm. When she had first decided she was going to learn psynergy, she told everyone she was going to be a sun adept, four elements be damned. She could still hear her brother's laughter and see Isaac's hesitant smile (because he knew there was no such thing as a sun adept, but he didn't want to correct Jenna, she was a girl, and she could hit him and not get hit back).
Jenna had never liked rain, not before she lost her parents, and certainly not after. She still was not as fond of nighttime, either. It was probably the fiery spirit of Mars within her, she thought, though Iris-only-knew why Mars's fiery spirit could not inspire Garet to wake more than an hour before noon, the slacker.
Jenna found Garet behind his house, practicing his move psynergy on Kay's flowers. Kay hit Garet across the back of the head, turning to Jenna as if nothing had happened. "Oh, Jenna! Good afternoon!" Kay turned back to her brother, hissing what were probably obscenities under her breath at him. She sighed, before continuing, louder, "I know you want to get stronger, but that's no reason to ignore your surroundings when you train!"
"Yes, mother," Garet mocked, moving the giant stone back to its previous position, and further damaging his sister's flowers in the process.
Jenna began to tap her foot. "If you don't hurry up, I'm going to Kraden's without you!"
"I'll have you know, psynergy takes a lot of concentration!" Garet shot back.
"Right, little brother, and concentration requires thinking. I know your mind isn't used to that kind of strain, so please try not to hurt yourself," Kay replied with a worried face. Garet glared at her, causing Jenna to begin giggling madly, and Kay soon broke as well, joining the laughter.
At the sound of footsteps, all three of them immediately sobered. A woman came around Garet's house. She looked sickly and confused, her thinning blonde hair and worry wrinkles doing nothing to help her image. There were dark circles under her eyes, and she looked as if she had just crawled out of bed without bothering to fix her hair or clothing. "Have any of you seen Felix?" Dora asked, her voice hoarse.
Garet shrugged. Kay shook her head. Jenna hesitated before replying, as if afraid that if she spoke too loudly, Dora might break, "He might still be asleep, ma'am. Have you seen him at all this morning?" Dora and the Jerra siblings shook their heads. "He's asleep, then."
Felix chose that moment to appear beside Dora, out of breath and not looking much better. His hair was all over the place. "Sorry, ma'am," he gushed. "I slept in by accident, had a dream about—a weird dream." Mentioning the incident of three years ago around Dora was a big no. She did well enough some days, but never on days when some idiot brought up the subject.
Dora smiled; a kind smile, if a bit sad. "That's quite alright, Felix. Don't you all have plans today?"
Jenna nodded. "We're going to see Mt. Aleph with Kraden today, ma'am."
"Mountain climbing with Kraden, eh? You must feel very lucky to study under such a scholar at the greatest source of alchemy. It's good to see you all working so hard," Dora replied, still smiling.
All three adepts nodded. "Er, Dora, ma'am, Kraden is expecting us soon…" Jenna began.
"Oh, don't worry about the roof! It can be fixed later. You kids go on to Kraden's!" Dora said, waving them toward Kraden's secluded home. Felix hesitated, but Garet and Jenna were already moving.
"Sorry about this," he said.
Dora smiled. "Don't worry, go on," she said, shooing him. She really did look a lot better today. Maybe there was just something in the air today, making it feel like Isaac wasn't gone anymore, Felix thought.
---
"Hmm… He knows much," a rich, masculine voice said. The speaker was probably not far ahead. Felix slowed; he did not mean to eavesdrop, but the voice sounded so familiar, and it wasn't a Valean's.
"Yes, we can use him…" a cold, female's voice replied.
Garet and Jenna turned to Felix, confused at his hesitance. "Felix, who are—" Garet began. Felix held up a hand to silence him.
"…And if he won't come willingly, then we can always…" It was the woman's voice again.
"Jenna," Felix said, keeping his voice as low as possible, "gauge their power." Jenna nodded. Psynergy began to flow off of her body in waves, coiling into the air like steam, spreading from her hands to greater effect over the rest of her body.
Her eyes went wide. "They're—"
"You there! What are you doing?" A blue-haired man—or, rather, a man-shaped thing with blue skin and blue clothing and blue hair—demanded.
The trio stepped away from the ledge that concealed them from these strangers; a pointless gesture, as the strangers were already in front of them.
"Were you eavesdropping?" the woman demanded. She was pink. All over, except for her strikingly blonde hair, which seemed to treat gravity as a mere suggestion, rather than one of a number of laws of the universe it was required to follow.
Felix frowned. "No," he replied curtly.
"Hmph," the woman replied. It was clear that she did not believe him, but Felix, Garet, and Jenna had the home advantage, and greater numbers. "Kraden's engagement must have been with them," she said to her equally strange companion.
Jenna nodded defiantly, though Felix could see her hands shaking. He began recalculating his strategies, should a fight arise. They could run back, but doing so might not mean much against a fire adept.
"Yeah!" Garet added, "We're going to meet him right now."
"Are you?" the blonde woman replied, licking her lips. Psynergy began to gather in her hands, taking the shape of a long weapon.
"Their errand must be more important than our own," the blue man replied, holding up a hand to halt his partner. The bubbles of Mars-based psynergy had nearly formed a complete scythe, but the energy dispersed, and the weapon faded faster than it had come. She scowled.
Garet and Jenna shared a look, before taking a step forward, matching glares focused at the pair who still blocked their way. Felix folded his arms, staring at them expectantly. Bravado could go a long way, especially if neither of them knew how strong Felix was; not as strong as them, probably, but that was the purpose of his bravado. The stranger did know that.
"Are you sure, Saturos?" the woman pressed.
Saturos replied with a comforting, yet eerily calm smile. "Menardi, we have no reason to delay this children any further."
Jenna bristled at being referred to as a mere child, but she grabbed Garet's sleeve, moving toward Kraden's house as the strangers stepped aside. She almost did not notice that her brother was still standing in the same place, a curious expression on his face. "Do I know you?" Felix asked.
Saturos seemed genuinely surprised at this suggestion, but Menardi's eyes narrowed. "Why, we've only just met!" Saturos said.
Garet blinked at them, seeming to notice something odd, as well, but thought better of it and decided to hide behind Jenna, just in case. He may have had more luck if Jenna wasn't both thinner and shorter than Garet. Naturally, this caused a scuffle, which Felix was forced to break up. He sighed, dropped the matter, and dragged his fire adept friend and sister to Kraden's.
---
"Felix!" a familiar voice called from the ledge above. Felix led Garet and Jenna up the stairs carved into the side of the mountain to get to Kraden. The old man appeared restless, and the edges of his usual brown cloak were covered in grass. He appeared to have been pacing and talking to himself again.
Jenna was the first to speak up, her nerves returning now that they were out of sight of the mysterious foreigners, "You look like something's bothering you."
"Er, well… ah—" Kraden began.
"It's those two, isn't it? Saturos and Menardi, right?" Garet offered, turning to Felix for confirmation on the names.
Felix paused before replying, "I swear I've seen them before, but I don't know where…"
Kraden sighed. "Those two are still out there? They're persistent. Persistent and annoying, not to mention confusing."
"What did they want?" Garet wondered aloud.
Jenna shivered, glancing in the direction they had come from. "They were terribly cold to be Mars adepts… Garet, did you feel their power? I don't want to know what they want."
"They were very strange," Kraden agreed. "They spoke of Mt. Aleph and Sol Sanctum as if they had seen them for themselves."
All three adepts' attention snapped to Kraden. Temple thieves were serious business. "If they went in…" Felix started.
"We've got to tell the elders!" Garet exclaimed.
Felix shook his head, then seemed to remember his hair was a mess; he tied it up before replying, "We can't." Jenna and Garet immediately turned to him. "We don't even know if what they said was true. They might have been bluffing, and if that's the case, we can get in serious trouble for starting something when there is nothing going on."
Kraden nodded his agreement and began pacing.
"Well then, what are we supposed to do?" demanded Jenna.
"We investigate," Kraden replied, grinning maniacally.
Garet took a step back in surprise. "B-but that's impossible!"
"Why?" Kraden asked innocently. "Because it is forbidden? We are only going to see if those two have violated the Sanctum's secrets. We are investigating. It's quite different."
Jenna smiled, catching on. "The elders won't mind if they don't see us, right?"
"It will be our little secret," Kraden finished.
Garet and Felix shared a look. It would be up to them to move anything heavy. And to fight any monsters. And to do all of the dirty work. Garet sighed.