I confess that I skimmed over the wind seal scene, because when I tried to write the whole thing out, it felt repetitive and boring.
...I want to get these guys to the Tower so bad.
Chapter VII: The Lake
The unicorn is sacred,
For it lives and dies and lives again,
Just as the believer shall.
-The Scriptures of Martel
An eight-year-old Lloyd was standing on a chair he had pushed against the wall. This way, he was tall enough to look out the window without standing on his toes. His chin was resting on the windowsill, nose and hands pressed against the glass. Even though the green mass of the forest outside, slowly turning orange with the onset of autumn, was, in his mind, really, really boring, he was determined to stay there as long as he needed to. He had been waiting there impatiently all day.
When he woke up this morning and counted the days, he realized today was the day his father was supposed to come home. This time he had been away for two whole months! He couldn't wait for his father to come home; he had so much to tell his Dad!
Meanwhile, Dirk was busy at his forge, working on a sword a traveler in Iselia had commissioned. This was fairly ordinary work to him, though the traveler had insisted that the sword be broader than Dirk was used to making. Dirk's mind was filled with thoughts of metal, heat, and the shape envisioned for the end result of his work.
After many hours of staying mostly still, Lloyd's patience was rewarded when he saw a familiar figure walking out from the trees and down the dirt path toward his home.
"It's Dad!"
Lloyd ran for the door and was outside before Dirk even looked up.
Outside, the weary figure knelt down as his son barreled towards him. The little boy leaped at his father, wrapping his small arms around the older man's neck.
"You're back!" Lloyd chirped, holding onto his father as tightly as he could. "I missed you so much!"
"I missed you too," murmured Kratos, slowly returning the embrace. After a minute, he let go so he could look at his son. "What has happened since I last left?"
"A lot of stuff!" Lloyd said, with a broad smile. "And there's something I want to show you!"
Kratos found himself being lead back inside by Lloyd, who was nearly bouncing with excitement. Dirk only glanced up from his work as the father and son walked back inside, the dwarf carefully concealing an array of emotions.
As Lloyd ran upstairs to fetch something, Kratos sat down at the table, still hiding just how tired he felt. It was times like these that sometimes he truly felt his age, when he felt like a small weak man, trying to hold up the weight of the whole world.
"You have a limp," Dirk said, and examined his project more closely. He frowned; this one was giving him an unusual amount of trouble.
"...Pardon?" Kratos asked, though he had heard Dirk's words with perfect clarity.
Dirk gently put down the hot iron, and turned his head to look over his shoulder at Kratos, who was still largely a mystery to him.
"I'm going to be frank," the blacksmith began, not bothering to conceal the disapproval in his voice. "I don't know who you are, or what it is you do while you're 'away', and I don't want to know, it's none of my business. But what I don't get is why you abandon your son to go off and do dangerous things. I just want to know why you feel you need to do this."
Kratos turned his head to stare blankly at the wall.
"I have... other obligations."
Dirk frowned, annoyed. He felt this statement was too ambiguous to be a real answer. However, he knew from experience this was as close to an answer he could get from the stubborn man.
"Just don't ever drag your son into whatever it is you're up to your neck in, understand?"
Kratos did not move. "...I know."
"Got it!"
The two men turned their heads and saw Lloyd coming down the stairs, something clutched tightly in his hands. The boy walked up to his father and held up his prize.
"Uncle Dirk has been showing me how to make things!" said Lloyd proudly. "I made this all by myself!" He was holding up a wood carving of a dog, which Kratos suspected was supposed to look like Noishe, judging from the disproportionately large ears. It wasn't made with any particular skill; it was crudely made without any particular merit. But Kratos saw the pride in Lloyd's face, in his broad smile and bright eyes. It was strange, Kratos thought, how such a creature as himself could grow soft in the presence of a small boy.
Kratos had made his decision a long time ago.
He had no intention of ever allowing Lloyd to become trapped in his tangle of lies and violence.
Never.
- ∞ -
The Balacruf Mausoleum was in a valley at the very end of a peninsula. The Mausoleum was a large stone structure, shape roughly like a pyramid. There was an oracle stone near the entrance, and it opened at Colette's touch.
Inside it was dark, little light made it through the windows, which were no more than slits in the walls. The air was dry, cold, and stagnant. The mausoleum was silent, but for their footsteps, and the scraping of metal as lethal traps set in the walls and floor deployed as they passed. They had to be very cautious here.
"This place is creepy," said Colette, staying close to Lloyd.
"This is a mausoleum," said Yuan. "It is a place for the dead to be put to rest."
"There are b-bodies here?" quavered Genis. Though he knew the purpose of mausoleums, the reality that there might be dead bodies nearby had not struck him. He glanced nervously at the walls around him, imagination playing with horrifying imagines in his mind.
"Most of them are probably only dust by now," Yuan said, with surprising calm and apathy considering the topic. "Though the Balacruf were very good at preserving the bodies of their deceased."
Genis shivered.
The altar was on the roof, under the sky. There was a heavy fog, or perhaps they were clouds, it was impossible to tell the difference. The shape of the altar could be vaguely made out in the mist. Then they all felt the air start to swirl, then blew outward with enough force to nearly knock them over.
The wind guardian appeared over the altar; a great blue and green bird. It screeched and beat its wings wildly, as a show of strength. It was just as strong as all the other seal guardians they had fought, and it met their fate as well.
When the wind guardian died, it fell to the ground in a flurry of feathers and pained screeches. When it was still, its body dissolved into hundreds of bright little green lights, just like the two that came before it. Colette prayed at the altar, Remiel appeared in a golden light, congratulated her on making it this far, 'blessed' her with angelic powers, and disappeared again. Yuan returned her Key Crest, and Colette obediently equipped it.
"The next seal is at the Tower of Mana," Yuan announced. Then he turned to leave, the others following him.
- ∞ -
Lloyd was becoming bored with forests. They were just trees, trees, the occasional bush, trees, and yet more trees. An uninterrupted monotony made up of tall woody things. This was why when he saw something flat and shiny in the distance it attracted his attention so much.
"What's that up ahead?" asked Lloyd, pointing.
"It looks like a lake," said Raine, peering at the distant speck.
By unspoken consensus, they headed in the direction of the lake. It turned out to be a relatively small, but picturesque lake. Tall trees grew along the lakeside, and surface shimmered in the light of the setting sun.
"This looks like a great place to spent the night!" Colette chirped, smiling up at the trees and the shining surface of the lake.
Lloyd walked up to the surface of the lake, and found that he had to agree with Colette. It was so peaceful here, and so quiet. He peered into the lake, and he thought he saw something under the surface. He squinted, trying to see past the glare on the lake's surface. Yes, there was definitely something in the lake, but he wasn't sure what. It wasn't that he couldn't see it, he could see what was in the water clearly, but... it had to be impossible, right?
"What's that?" said Lloyd, pointing into the lake.
"It's called water," said Yuan without looking at Lloyd.
Lloyd fumed. "No, I meant, in the water! There's something in the water!"
Curious, the rest of the group gathered near the edge of the lake, and saw what Lloyd had spotted. At the bottom of the lake was what looked like a white horse, trapped inside an air bubble. Large logs rested on the bubble, and the horse was lying on its side, unmoving.
"It's a unicorn!" said Genis, seeing the horn on the animal's head.
"A real unicorn?" Colette's eyes were wide with amazement. She had only ever heard stories about them! The Chosen had never dreamed that she would ever lives to see a real live unicorn! "How can we get it out?" she asked Raine.
She thought about this, contemplating the unicorn's situation. "None of us can hold our breath long enough to reach it," Raine thought aloud. She frowned, as she realized just how few options there were. "If only we could make a pact with Undine..."
Lloyd blinked. "Who?"
Raine sighed, regretting she had brought the topic up. "Undine is the Summon Spirit of water. You should remember that from your lessons, Lloyd." The boy looked embarrassed, scratching the back of his head. "If the summoning arts had not been lost," Raine continued, "we could have made a pact with her." Raine returned her attention to the lake. "If only we could talk to it..."
Yuan looked over at Raine out of the corner of his eye. "Were you thinking of trying to get the unicorn's horn?"
Raine nodded. "It's supposed to have healing properties."
This caught Lloyd's attention. The unicorn horn had healing properties? "The unicorn's horn can heal people?"
"The unicorn horn can give others power in the healing arts," Raine explained. "Which could be a great boon during our journey."
Lloyd felt hope bubble up inside. The unicorn horn could heal people? Could he use it to save his Mom?
"Then can we go find Undine and ask her to help us?" Colette asked her teacher.
Raine shook her head. "You should remember from your lessons that Summon Spirits will only listen to a summoner with whom it has a pact. As none of us are summoners, we cannot form pacts. The art of summoning was lost a very long time ago." Raine saw the pained looks on her students' faces. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do for the unicorn."
"But..." Lloyd tried, hopelessly.
Raine turned to look Lloyd straight in the eye, her arms crossed. "There is nothing we can do," she repeated, the note of finality in her voice crushing his hidden hopes.
As he glanced back at the surface of the lake, he knew she was right.
- ∞ -
Camp was set at the edge of the lake. The children could not help but glance down at the trapped unicorn from time to time. None of them were happy that they could not help the trapped creature. Raine had been correct though, none of them could hold their breath long enough to swim down to the unicorn, and without Undine they were completely out of options.
Usually, Yuan and Genis trained together at this time of day, but Genis noticed that Yuan was acting strangely, staring off into the distance. He almost seemed to be in some kind of daydream. Genis slowly approached the older half-elf, but Yuan did not move, or appear to notice him. The Renegade's attention was completely focused on something else.
"Yuan?" Genis asked, nervously. Yuan didn't seem to hear him, and continued staring off at the hills at the far end of the lake, his eyes fixed on one particular spot. Genis followed his gaze to the spot that held Yuan's undivided attention.
There was nothing there.
"Yuan?" Genis ventured again, nervously.
"Hm?" he glanced down at Genis.
"Are you okay?" Genis asked. "You just started staring."
"...There is something I need to check on," said Yuan. Then he said to the rest of the group. "Can you avoid being killed by anything while I'm away? It will only be temporary."
The others didn't answer, wondering instead why Yuan had this sudden desire to leave. Yuan interpreted the silence as a confirmation, and walked into the forest.
Genis watched Yuan leave, wondering what would grab Yuan's interest so suddenly that the normally cautious half-elf would just walk into the forest on his own.
Meanwhile, Lloyd was struggling with a moment of indecision.
He had avoided talking to Raine about Anna since he discovered his mother was still alive. He didn't want to explain to the Professor what was wrong with his mother, or the things Yuan had told him.
He looked over at his teacher.
Raine was even studying Boltzman's book right now. She had been doing so nearly constantly throughout the journey, with Lloyd's permission. He knew that Raine could not possibly help Anna if she didn't even know Lloyd's mother was still alive. At the same time, Lloyd was afraid of how his teacher would react if she discovered what exactly was wrong with Anna. A person turning into a monster wasn't exactly a normal phenomena. Perhaps he could just ask if Raine was willing to help, he didn't have to go into specifics just yet.
Lloyd steeled himself, and went over and sat down next to his teacher.
"Um... Professor Sage?" he ventured nervously.
Without looking up from her marvelous new book, Raine said, "Yes, Lloyd?"
Lloyd took a deep breath. "Back when we were at the base... Yuan... let me see my Mom."
This time, Raine did look up. She had no idea Lloyd's mother was even alive. "Your mother was there?"
Lloyd nodded, and started to fidget. "Yeah. She's really sick though, so she couldn't leave."
"Do you know what's wrong with her exactly?" Raine asked, already compiling a mental list of debilitating illnesses. Were there any she could heal?
Lloyd shook his head. "No," he said. This was mostly a lie, but Lloyd didn't know how to describe a condition that turned normal humans into warped monsters. "Yuan said the reason Dad gave me that book might have been because it could help Mom. So, I was wondering... if..."
Raine wasn't confident there was anything she could do to help. She had found many healing spells in Boltzman's book, yes, but she was not sure if she had the power to use them on her own. Her thoughts returned to the trapped unicorn in the lake; if only she had the horn!
"It would be easier if we had the unicorn horn..." she thought, but realized a moment too soon she had said this aloud, when she saw the pained and hopeless look on Lloyd's face. Inside, she sighed; at least this way she wasn't giving him too much false hope.
"...I'll do whatever I can," she promised.
- ∞ -
Night came, and the camp was silent. Everyone, even Lloyd who was supposed to be the first watch, had fallen asleep. No one stirred.
The footsteps were almost completely silent, the only noise the faint rustling of grass as the assassin quietly made her way though the camp, carefully avoiding the forms curled up on the ground. None of the sleepers took any notice.
The assassin looked down at her target - at the form of the peaceful sleeping girl, the Chosen, now laying at her feet. The assassin drew a piece of paper, enchanted to be as stiff and sharp as a steel knife. She had been waiting a long time, and had endured much discomfort, for this opportunity.
"I'm sorry," whispered Sheena. "But I must save Tethe'alla."