From now on, A/N are at the end of chapters, cause I know people want to get to the story. Probably.

Chapter II:

Research Trip, and Setting Out

Isaac stared at Saturos in disbelief. "So, three years of training, three years of swordfighting and casting spells and building up my strength in blizzards, storms, and fair weather, and my job is to open a door?" He couldn't quite believe what he and Alex had found in an old book in the Proxian library. Alex was scowling too.

"I had always known it would be the responsibility of a clan member to open the doors, but I had hoped we would be slightly more important." He flipped a page, still scanning the faded script. "Especially since Saturos' participation is becoming doubtful." Isaac shuddered.

"Please, please don't remind me that we might be traveling with Karst or Agatio. They are psych–"

"What were you saying about my sister?" Menardi had entered the room, as silent as she ever was. Isaac didn't miss a beat, continuing his sentence. Not the way he'd intended, of course.

"–ed up, aren't they? It's boring with them around; there's nothing to do." Menardi eyed Isaac suspiciously, as if she longed to be able to see into his thoughts. Isaac knew well that she couldn't, as she wasn't a Jupiter Adept, and he was still alive. Man, some of the things he thought around her…like the private 'burnt-cornbread-hair' thought he'd had after one of Agatio's fireballs had caught her on the head. That one would have gotten him nothing less than skinned alive, he knew. After a moment, she ceased to stare, seeming to dismiss it as a waste of effort.

"Well, Isaac, it's a good thing you think so, because Saturos and I are coming with you after all. Puelle decided that we were the two most suited. We are the least likely to be swayed by emotion on the mission." Alex huffed; he preferred Karst and Agatio, apparently. Isaac disagreed; in his mind Saturos was a more …companionable person, when he didn't think he was on duty, that was. Then he was stiffer than most corpses, stiffer than a floorboard or even a metal post, for Venus' sake. Lately, he always seemed to have a rod up his ass.

Menardi looked over the notes they had made and reminded Isaac to meet Saturos in the practice yard after an hour had passed. She left and Alex grimaced even more than he had been. Isaac laughed.

"Well, as I was saying, Karst and Agatio are completely psychotic. Thank goodness they're not coming. Hmm? What's wrong, Al? Hey!" His hand had abruptly become frozen to the desk.

"I tell you not to call me that. You consistently ignore me. I would be happier if Saturos and Menardi were not coming. Puelle did not heed my advice."

"Why?" With some effort, he managed to tug his hand free of the desk, though the ice still clung to it.

"Must you be so inquisitive? You act six, not sixteen." Isaac smirked.

"I know. Why do you prefer Karst and Agatio?" He flipped through another page and found a record of the Anemos Clan. He scanned through it, finding no information less than three centuries old in the text, although it had been written in his own lifetime. He repressed an urge to throw it at the wall, although he'd rather have thrown it at its author. Alex did not reply, indicating it was none of his business. Isaac had a hunch, though. Alex was a control freak; he liked things the way he ordered them, liked to decide the way things would be. Either it was the simple defiance Puelle had shown to him (Alex saw it as defiance, anyway) or it was the fact that Karst and Agatio were easier to manipulate and 'play' than Saturos and Menardi. Or both. Alex was always this terse around Isaac; the Valean had shown repeatedly that he would not be manipulated. "Alex," he said after a moment of silence.

"Yes."

"Have you thought of visiting this place?" He pointed to the map. The label beside the dot he was pointing at read Contigo. "The remnants of the Anemos tribe. If we're going to find a Jupiter Adept anywhere, it'd be there." Alex frowned.

"Underneath the Lighthouse… Well, it would be a start. What if there aren't any Adepts there? There were no Venus Adepts in Lalivero, remember when I scouted it? Those loonies worshipped a twelve-year-old."

"Yes, I do remember the report... It's still worth the trouble of scouting, though. And this time, try to get some information. I still say that twelve-year-old was an Adept of some sort." Alex waved him off.

"Fine. If I get ambushed and killed by barbarians, it is your fault, and you get to find yourself another Mercury Adept." Isaac nodded, a self-satisfied smirk spreading across his face. All he'd really wanted was a month's break from Alex. Now he had it. Alex wasn't the only person who could trick other people into doing what he wanted.

"A one-month old baby," Alex reported the instant he walked in the door nearly a month later. Isaac didn't even look up.

"…What about him? Her. Whatever," he asked, amending his statement half-heartedly.

"She," Alex clarified, "is the Jupiter Adept you told me I would find there in that dump." He massaged his temples. "Unless we want to wait ten years more, then I suggest we find another way to climb Jupiter Lighthouse." He picked up another paper and scanned it, his eyes far away, contemplating something.

Isaac was very used to Alex's expressions and habits. "What else?" He put down his own work, and Alex gave up any pretence of searching.

"There was other talk, of two siblings that left the town, one in her adolescence, one at a very early age."

"How early, and why is this important? You think they're Adepts?" Alex nodded. "Where are they?" He shrugged.

"Who knows? They left, the boy taken by a merchant to somewhere-or-other, the girl wandering off on her own after their mother died and their father vanished." He sighed. "The girl, a woman now, I suppose, is almost certainly an Adept; the villagers were sure of it, anyway. They said she'd become quite powerful by the time she'd left the village.

"The boy would be a little bit younger than us, two or three years your junior. They know very little of him, only that a 'Hammet' took him off somewhere when he was one."

"Names are…"

"Hama. Ivan." Isaac frowned.

"You said a 'Hammet' took this boy away from the village?" Alex nodded, looking sharply at Isaac. "Because there is a merchant in Angara called Hammet. He used to trade in Vale, infrequently. As far as I know, he lives to the south of Vale, in a town called…ah…here it is," he told Alex, pointing to a dot on a map of Angara, "Kalay. Relatively new city, full of merchants."

Alex looked at Isaac, excited, although it showed only in his eyes, not touching his expression, or lack thereof; and it barely touched even them. "He's the one, then?" he asked. "I suppose it makes sense. It would be unlikely that he'd know what an Adept is, or what Psynergy is. We could promise information on those things in exchange for help…or, of course, we could just swing by Kalay and snatch him."

"No kidnapping, Alex. I'll get him out of Kalay, and I promise he'll come willingly." Alex regarded Isaac silently for a moment before returning to the maps. Isaac got up and pulled on his coat, gloves and scarf. It had taken a month's time, and a bout of pneumonia, but he had managed to introduce the notion of cold to the Proxians. The first few weeks he'd been in the town, he'd turned just as blue as Saturos whenever he needed to leave a house. Now he had an abundance of winter gear to keep him from dying until Venus Lighthouse was lit. Saturos was just so generous, when it was really necessary. Really necessary.

Ten minutes later, he was in Saturos' house, as close to the fire as he could get without burning himself, showing Saturos a map, with the four Lighthouses, their adjoining towns, Vale, and now Kalay highlighted on it with white paint. Isaac explained his plan– his incredibly simple plan– for obtaining a Jupiter Adept, showed Saturos what they'd found on the defences of Sol Sanctum and the lighthouses, and outlined the supplies they'd need for the trip. All such planning 'nonsense', as Saturos called it, was Isaac's and Alex's job.

Saturos listened to everything Isaac had to say, attentive and grave, and nodded curtly once he was done. "Good. Put all that stuff into the ship. Use this to get in, and get that ox Agatio to help," he told Isaac, throwing a fist-sized black crystal into Isaac's gloved hands. Isaac nearly dropped it; his gloves hadn't been designed with dexterity in mind.

"What? You mean, we're preparing to leave?" Saturos nodded. "Already?"

"We're going next week, Isaac," Saturos informed him. "I'd expected you to be a little more enthusiastic." Isaac gaped.

"But, already? We're not ready yet!"

"In a week's time we will be. Menardi and I will handle anything that happens, don't worry. Now, take care of the ship, and quickly. We need to leave before winter seals off the passage south." Isaac watched him leave the house, gripping the crystal tightly enough to turn his knuckles white under their hide-and-fur covering.

So soon? He hadn't thought… What were they going to think when he showed up? Would he be able to delay the trip, somehow? Even if it meant another year's wait to go back… No. He was right; they did need to get out before the ice sealed off the way south. It hadn't reopened until midsummer this year; who knew when it would open next year. It might not at all.

It had to be now. He went outside and did as Saturos had asked.

Okay, this chapter is a little (a lot) short… So I'll have another one up REALLY soon. The next one is going to be long, I think, though, to make up for it.

Isaac: That's weird, isn't it? You take forever to update a short chapter, then promise a long one soon?

Uh, yeah, maybe a little… It's cause sometimes short chapters are necessary, but they suck. So you need another one up soon, or readers get mad.

…There is just one thing. After the next chapter, I'm putting this on temporary hiatus while I write up a concrete plan. It won't take long, but I want at least a blueprint for the whole thing before I go on, so it doesn't feel disjointed and so I know what I'm doing. As it stands, all I know is the end. I just want a map. That's all. With that in mind, I'll try not to end the next chapter with a cliffhanger. If I can help it. xP …Actually, I'm getting the feeling that I should have done that before I started, but…

Review responses: Fehize Thank you for the review! Isaac's half of the main characters in this, so yeah, I think I'm keeping that. He will talk, though. There will be no muteness in my story.

arathia: I know. It's not turning out as I envisioned it would, but it's only the beginning. It should get darker as it gets going. (Hopefully...Well, that's part of why I'm drawing up a plan.) Thanks for the review, though, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

And thanks to anyone who put this on alerts. I know who you are, I just can't remember your names. I remember reviewers' names, though... (hinthint)