This chapter's really nothing big, just a sort of "Welcome to the Party!" for Jenna. It also helps characterize Isaac a bit more, too. I've always seen him as the heart-on-his-sleeve guy that sort of liked Felix since they were little. Felix is more the angsty hero, and kind of guy that would help anyone just because.

Warnings: Mild Shounen-ai hints. Lengthy explanation of some events I skimmed over. Serious-like-huge Lost Age spoilers, too. Though I guess those were in chapter 2, too.
Pairings: Still just Felix/Isaac.
Rating: T for threats of violence, and a bit of swearing.
Notes: By sheer coincidence they never heard about the boy with strange powers (dun dun duuuuuh). Also, Felix appears to have told Jenna about their parents between Mercury and Venus lighthouses, based on her behavior at said lighthouses. Isaac...er, has less patience about the situation.

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Dishonor Among Thieves

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Upon entering Vault the party immediately began attracting attention. Saturos and Menardi seemed to think it was due to the low number of travelers visiting such a boring town. Isaac whispered to Jenna that it couldn't possibly be the Proxians' unusual skin (how many travelers have scales?!). He received a burnt sleeve and a bruise on his arm from a well-aimed psynergetic punch for his feeble attempt at humor.

The plan had been to get through town as quickly as possible. Stock up on supplies, perhaps, if need be. Saturos had planned the route to Mercury lighthouse with as few stops as possible. The idea was that they would rush through the lighthouses and be home for Christmas. Not because Weyard actually had a Christmas, but because if the party did not get back to Prox by that time, then they would have to wait at least three months for the ice to melt to get back into Prox.

The first rest was supposed to be at the entrance to Goma Cave. If they went slow. Neither Proxian was pleased to find their hostages refusing to continue. Kraden was unable to go any farther due to his age, but Jenna was merely being uncooperative. Alex would never admit it, but he also needed to rest. He stopped the argument by suggesting that the party rest in town for the old scholar's sake. It wouldn't do to kill the man before he had been of any use.

The party had not planned for inn expenses, though, so Alex, being the one to suggest resting, offered to go find some gold. After he returned Isaac could have sworn he heard some shady-looking men from a few tables over squabbling about their gold. Apparently some of their money had disappeared. As nasty as the three men looked, it could just as easily have been one of them, but Alex had never been above stealing. Especially from self-righteous idiots who thought no one could touch them.

By the time the group had rented a pair of rooms (an extra room for Jenna and Menardi), it was nearing dusk. The raid had begun around noon, and they had made good distance with Alex's help getting out of town, but it was not a tactic to be used often. Normally Alex warped away to sleep elsewhere (or do whatever else it was Alex did while he was away), but he was in bed, apparently sleeping, before the others even made it upstairs to set down their belongings.

The party, minus Alex, returned to the inn's lower floor to eat a bit of the locals' foods. The meal was simple; it consisted of roasted vermin, a few well-seasoned bat wings, and wild mushrooms cooked to perfection, alongside a basket of rolls. The food was passed counter-clockwise around the table, resulting in Jenna being the one to pass food to Isaac. He never got to try any of the wild mushrooms because Menardi refused to give them to Jenna for fear they would be burnt to a crisp before being handed on to Isaac, like everything else Jenna had given him.

The meal went quietly, everyone being rather glad that they stayed at the inn, sheerly because the meal was so delicious. Not that their joy showed, all three Mars adepts spent most of the meal glaring. Jenna glared because she felt betrayed, Saturos because the food was burnt, and Menardi because she felt like she was babysitting.

Kraden rather enjoyed the meal though, and was completely unaffected by the others' behavior. He chalked it up to youth, and attempted to eat the crispy remains of the food. Isaac was beginning to get upset and a little annoyed, though. How was he supposed to make sure nothing bad happened to his crush's sister if said sister was busy pissing off her temperamental and violent captors, as well as her ally?

Immediately after everyone was finished eating the party was to retire for the night. The Proxians would stay up to re-plan the course to the first lighthouse, accounting for the travel speed of Kraden and Jenna this time. Kraden went straight to the rented inn room to sleep. Isaac, however, was not granted this luxury. Menardi ordered him to watch Jenna in her place until she and Saturos were finished.

Jenna was more than slightly miffed at this show of reasonable distrust. Isaac sighed exasperatedly. He probably would not even get to sleep tonight.

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When they had all been happy children in Vale Jenna had been absolutely terrible at any sort of sneaking. Even Garet was quieter. Sneaking out had always been Felix's forte, and he was the only one who never got caught, but he always came out of hiding to take the blame for the others' blunders.

Jenna had shown no sign of having any more stealth than she'd had three years previous, especially if the trek to her room was any indication, but Saturos and Menardi did not know this. Besides, three years was a long time.

Isaac was trying hard not to laugh when she stumbled and fell up the stairs. Yup, he thought, just as graceful as she always was. Jenna recovered automatically, and continued as if nothing had happened, expertly ignoring muffled laughter Isaac was trying to pass off as a coughing fit.

Jenna stormed into the tiny two-bed inn room, hmph-ing as she threw herself onto the terribly uncomfortable bed away from the window. Menardi had threatened to gut her ("Hostage be damned," she'd growled) if Jenna touched the other lumpy inn bed or the grimy window near it.

Isaac chose to lean casually against the wall and play with the tassels on the scarf that Felix had given him. He had hoped to get some sort of reaction out of Jenna, who had been steadfastly refusing to speak ever since she had attempted to choke out Isaac's name back in the sanctum.

His plan almost worked. Jenna opened her mouth to speak, but immediately closed it again, a look of defiance written upon her face. Isaac sighed inwardly, it looked like the direct approach would be necessary.

"I didn't do anything wrong, you know," said Isaac. Baiting a Mars adept had always proved to be the best way to get them to talk, he had found. He was still unsure if this was because all of the Mars adepts he knew just-so-happened to have short tempers, or if this was a universal thing.

As expected Jenna had to retort, she spoke in a too-nice voice that practically spat sarcasm, "Of course you haven't! There is absolutely nothing wrong with betrayal, lies, temple robbing, and certainly not a thing wrong with hostages! Nope. You're practically a saint." She sneered and turned to face the window in disgust.

Isaac stopped playing with the scarf to look at Jenna coldly as he spoke, "I'm not exactly free to do as I please, either, you know."

Her attention snapped back to her former friend. "Right, silly me, even lapdogs have leashes," she snarled.

"If you'll let me explain–" Isaac began. He was immediately cut off by Jenna plugging her ears and singing loudly and out of tune to block him out. Isaac rolled his eyes and sighed exasperatedly before tossing the scarf over his shoulder to get the full effect of storming over to Jenna and removing one hand from her ear to yell, "No one died in the storm!"

The effect was instant. Jenna went silent, allowing her hands to fall limply to her sides. "No one?" she echoed.

"Nobody died," Isaac confirmed. "I'm not the only survivor." He waited a moment for her to regain her composure. She didn't. Isaac continued speaking anyway, "Are you going to listen now?" Jenna nodded dumbly. "Good," Isaac continued, his impatience fleeing now that she was willing to cooperate, "Those two downstairs are the couple that saved us. Their names are Saturos and Menardi. If it weren't for them, Lily, Brian, Dad, and I would all have drowned.

"We're all very sorry that we never came back, but we woke up on a ship in the middle of the ocean. We were already being taken to Prox."

Jenna had been nodding every few words until now, but she paused. "What's Prox?"

"It's the name of the town that Saturos and Menardi are from," Isaac replied, slightly annoyed at the interruption, but still glad Jenna was being so quiet with no malice behind the silence. "It's at the edge of the world. Most maps don't even have it marked because it's so far into the northern reaches. You have to go during the summer or the glaciers–"

"What about mom and dad?" Jenna interrupted again. Details about location were irrelevant.

Isaac was slightly more annoyed than before, but didn't let it show. He continued, "Right, Lily and Brian had to stay in Prox. They're still hostages," but before Isaac could get any farther Jenna interrupted again.

"But you're here," she said reasonably.

Isaac took a deep breath. Agitating her while she was calm could not be a good idea. No matter how fun it was beginning to sound. "I'm getting to that, stop interrupting." Jenna nodded agreeably at his request. "The deal was that if I go with Saturos and Menardi to light the lighthouses, then we can all go back to Vale. They needed a Venus adept for the Venus lighthouse."

"But, Dad and Kyle–" Jenna began.

"–Are old and less likely to condone the sort of behavior Saturos and Menardi exhibit," Isaac finished. Jenna's mouth formed a small 'O' of understanding.

"Is there any way I can help?" Jenna asked. Isaac was surprised at this request, but shook his head anyway.

"Unless you know of a Jupiter adept, not really. Menardi and some of the other Proxians could use aura, though. Practice your psynergy until you can use it, too, and help Kraden keep up." Isaac smiled encouragingly.

Jenna nodded, content with the answer.

A short while later Isaac had returned to his space against the wall. He was trying to figure out how to comfortably wear the ridiculously long, yellow scarf. Jenna had spent the last half-hour staring at the ceiling thoughtfully, so it startled Isaac when she suddenly spoke, "Isaac?" Thunk.

He pretended to not have just hit his head on the wall in surprise and looked at Jenna to be sure she had actually spoken. She was giggling at him. "Yes?" he replied, a bit sullenly.

"Why do you need to light the lighthouses at all?" she asked.

He thought back to Prox. There was some impending doom…oh what was it… The answer came to him a moment later, and he felt silly for having forgotten it at all. "The world is eroding. It's because of the seal on alchemy. Kraden probably mentioned it to you."

Jenna nodded. Kraden had babbled on about pretty much anything he knew related to alchemy (not that they had begun to understand most of it until recently, anyway) to the three teens. He had lived in Vale long before any of them had been born, though he had only recently become their teacher. "Then why is that bushy-browed blue guy with you?" Jenna demanded. Alex had creeped her out from the start. She had never even heard of a type of psynergy to make one warp. The fact he was a Mercury adept, the opposing element to Mars' fiery psynergy, could only add to her general dislike of the man.

"Alex?" Isaac replied. "He wants to revive alchemy, too. He's our key to get into the Mercury lighthouse, our first stop. He's from Imil, originally, er…," Isaac paused, unsure if he should mention Alex's frozen stumble into Prox. Alex did not usually take well to his past being mentioned, so Isaac chose not to mention the frozen stumble. "The same town as the Great Healer in Vale used to live in."

Jenna nodded in understanding, not bothering to question Isaac's unnecessary pause. She chalked it up to Isaac just trying to remember who had been from Imil, after all, he hadn't seen home in three years. The earlier steal-and-run at the temple did not count due to the fact that Isaac hadn't even left the inn.

"One last question," Jenna added after a short pause. "What were Sater-Saturos and Mener- Mana- er…," she fumbled for the names awkwardly.

"Saturos and Menardi," clarified Isaac.

"Menardi-right, what were those two doing to be near the river, anyway?" Jenna amended.

Isaac froze. He had been fumbling with the scarf a few moments before, trying to find a comfortable way to wear it, but he stopped. There was no way he could tell Jenna that it was all Saturos and Menardi's raiding party setting off a trap that started the storm… Isaac wasn't even supposed to know that.

Jenna was beginning to get curious at his hesitance. If Isaac waited much longer she would get frustrated, and then it would be impossible to convince her not to turn on Saturos and Menardi again. He gave in, "You know how they're getting the elemental stars to save the world and all, right?" Jenna nodded. She was confused, but allowed him to continue. "Well, er…see, their raiding party set off this trap…" Jenna gasped, her hands rushed to cover her mouth. It was Isaac's turn to be confused now. "Jenna? What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "I heard Felix talking in his sleep once… He was saying something about a trap. The storm was a trap. I asked him about it, but he said he didn't know anything. He kept repeating it, though. And when we were in the sanctum there was this trap that set off something that made the room below start getting charged with lightning… That was the trap, wasn't it?"

Isaac looked away and nodded grimly.

Jenna's eyes started to gloss over with tears. "All this time I just thought it was bad luck… It was a trap. Because the self-proclaimed saviors of the world were so concerned with the greater good they didn't stop to think about traps guarding some overrated marbles in an ancient sanctum."

"Aww, Jenna…don't cry–" Isaac tried, but it was too late. She was already sobbing, her eyes were overflowing with tears.

"If they didn't save you then you and Mom and Dad and Kyle would all be dead but if they hadn't been there nothing would have happened!" she gushed. Every few syllables were cut off by loud, choking sobs.

"It's like some twisted paradox…" Isaac said quietly.

"But worse!" Jenna insisted, "Because now Garet and Felix think I'm hostage. They might try to fight Saturos and Menardi… And then they'll want us to go, too…"

Isaac nodded sadly. It was true. Nothing so far had gone according to plan. The party only had three out of four elemental stars, they were at least a day or two behind Saturos' strict travel schedule, and now their hostage was on their side, but so depressed that she could easily be up all night crying. It was almost guaranteed that the group could not make it far tomorrow.

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Menardi was the one to wake the two Valeans the following morning. Menardi was already scolding Isaac for falling asleep with a hostage in the room. Jenna was quiet and cooperative, though, unlike yesterday, so the scolding was cut short in favor of keeping a watchful eye on her.

Neither Isaac, nor Jenna had slept well at all. Terrible sleeping conditions aside, Jenna's crying had kept them both up until only a few hours before dawn. They were attempting to function on an estimated four hours of sleep.

When they got outside the two Valeans found Kraden and Saturos already waiting. Alex had already left, presumably to scout ahead. Menardi stayed in to pay the breakfast bill, but urged Jenna and Isaac to go on and catch up with the others.

The two pushed their way through an unusually crowded street where several angered townspeople were frantically running about, shouting about lost and stolen items, drawing attention to the area. The pair was attempting to reach the area where they had just seen Saturos and Kraden. They were gone. Saturos had already left without them. Just like him, the bastard, Isaac thought angrily. He would be lucky if they caught up without being yelled at for an escape attempt.

Jenna suddenly tugged Isaac's sleeve and pointed to the gates. Saturos was waiting impatiently. Whether he was waiting for the caravans blocking the gates to move, or just for Isaac to catch up, neither could tell. It was probably safer not to wait and find out. The Valean pair jogged over to Kraden and Saturos just as the caravans began to leave.

There was a short blond boy, much younger than anyone in the Proxians' party if his height was anything to go by, who appeared to be on the verge of tears. He was mumbling something about losing a rod. If Isaac had been able to see the boy's suspiciously violet eyes, then he might have stopped to question his abnormality. Adepts often have distinct hair and eye colors to mark them as different, adding to the strangeness of psynergy.

It was only Ivan's height and complete refusal to look away from Hammet's caravan as it faded into the distance that saved him from being the Proxians' next hostage.

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A/N: Er, so I almost decided to have Ivan join the Proxians, instead of Sheba, but then I remembered the deserts kind of kill that…