Long time no see, all. More apologies are due for taking so long to update. It took me a long time to get this part written out. I'm not wholly satisfied with it, but hey, I can always make modifications later. Enjoy!

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Chapter 7- Ponderings of the Wind

"No… it can't be…" Mia looked around her, tears streaming down her eyes. The sky was black with smoke, and the snow stained red with blood. Flames danced all around feeding on everything that she loved. She had failed… failed to save her home from the assault. Everyone was gone, and there was nothing she could do about it. She could hear the lost souls cry in pain, and she was powerless to do anything.

Mia fell to her knees and threw her head into her hands and cried.

Now do you see?

Mia rose to attention, and looked around to find the source of that mysterious voice. "What?" she murmured, contemplating what she was supposed to "see."

It is exactly this that I was trying to prevent. Alchemy was sealed away for this reason.

She looked upwards and saw a large gray stone floating above her. The stone began to descend until it was at eye level with Mia. She stared at the boulder as it hovered above the ground. An eye then opened at its center.

It is your fault… you and your companions. I foretold that Alchemy would be used for such purposes, and lead to the destruction of Weyard.

The apparition was right… They were warned back on the aerie of Mars Lighthouse. It was their fault… Mia's fault… that the people of Imil were lost.

Your fault… your fault… your fault…

The creature's powerful voice echoed. Mia covered her ears trying to drown out his voice, but it was futile. Have she and her friends made the wrong choice? Was releasing alchemy leading Weyard to destruction?

Mia, you alright?

She heard another voice. This one was different , though. It lacked the presence of the boulder's voice and was of a higher, friendlier pitch. Suddenly a flying purple creature appeared in a violet burst of light in front of Mia.

"Breeze?" Mia said, surprised to see him. He twirled around, scanning the dark area of enflamed buildings and destruction. He stopped when he had come face to face with the one-eyed rock creature.

"Eh? The Wise one?" he said curiously, "what are you doing dreaming about him?"

"Dreaming?" Mia asked, "I'm dreaming about all this?"

"Mhm. You were crying in your sleep, so I thought I'd drop in to see what was up." With that said, everything blurred out.

---

Mia awoke abruptly, her eyes a little puffy. It was that nightmare again. That was probably the fifth time she's had it. She was still at the desk in her room. She looked down and saw the letter she was writing to Garet. She was relieved to see it was finished, and her tears had not smeared any of the writing. A little off to the side, staring out the window, sat the Jupiter Djinni that appeared in her dreams.

"Ah, Breeze… thanks for getting me out of that nightmare," she said with a smile.

"No problem, but I have to say, you're too hard on yourself," he said rather bluntly.

"What?"

"The wise one in your nightmare…" he continued, "you are feeling too guilty about what happened. You and everyone else know very well that you did what you did to prevent the inevitable doom of the world."

"You… You're right," Mia nodded, wiping her face, "it's just… we've lost so many to that attack-"

"Mia, you can't save everyone."

"But you already know I'll always try," she countered quickly.

"Well… yeah, that's because you're awesome like that," he looked at her cheerfully, "but don't drown yourself in guilt for things that are clearly not your fault." His words made her feel much better and she gave the elemental a little hug, although it did seem a little out of character for him.

"Thanks, Breeze."After releasing him, she looked out the window. It was still dark but she could hear the howling wind and see the snow blowing by forcefully. "Hopefully the blizzard will let up in the morning. Don't want you to have to fly in this kind of weather."

"I have a good feeling it'll be clearer in the morn." Mia glanced at the Djinni who had suddenly become quiet.

"What are you thinking about?" she inquired, snapping him out of his trance.

"Oh. Um. Just… stuff."

"Care to narrow it down?" Mia smiled.

"Well, we Jupiter Djinni are the embodiment of all principles of the wind. As such, we represent time, perception, thought, dreams, emotion, and all that good stuff," he said, still staring out of the window. Mia nodded and prompted him to continue. "Emotion; Anger, sadness, guilt, those are pretty easy for me to understand.

"I guess," Mia said. She was trying to figure out what he was getting at.

"But there is one that gets me. Love."

"Ah…"

"Aroma seems to know a lot about it. Hanging out with that matchmaker gave her some insight, I'm guessing. The others don't seem to care too much, though."

"Never took you for the contemplative type!" Mia teased, putting a hand to her hip.

"I'll have you know that I have a very thoughtful mind under all this!" he said, tapping his head with a wing. "I'm always trying to decipher the mysteries of Weyard."

"Heh, I bet," she said with a hint of sarcasm. "Anyway, continue?"

Breeze cleared his throat and turned back to the window. "There seem to be different kinds. There's the kind of love where you care for and want the best for others. Like how all of you guys care for each other in the group. But then there's the other kind where a couple share a unique bond. Let's take… you and Garet for example. You seem to 'love' him in this way, right?"

"Well," she hesitated before taking a deep breath and blushing, "yes. I do love him." Breeze just chuckled.

"That's what I don't understand."

"Huh?"

"Why do you love him?" he asked turning his head. Mia crossed her arms, and looked away out the window.

"It's… complicated. Love always is. I can't really explain too well without going into a back story," she answered.

"Don't worry, I got time," Breeze said cheerfully. Mia sighed as she started to gather her thoughts. Breeze waited eagerly.

"As the healer of Imil, you can say that I've gained a standing that no other individual could hold. I was respected, but it didn't do much for my social life."

"So you were kind of lonely?" he interjected. She glanced at the elemental then back out the window.

"Lonely? Hard to say. My job kind of pulled me more towards older people and small children. I've never really had the opportunity to mingle with others my age. Plus, many in town thought of me as an angel! I guess… I never really got close to any guys my age because they thought of me as 'forbidden ground,'" She giggled, "that's always left me longing for something. I never could completely figure it out at the time even though one of my many duties was to perform the marriage rituals. But when I left with Garet, Isaac, and Ivan, it was completely different."

"How so?" Breeze chirped.

"We were basically the same. We all were adepts. They never saw me in the same way the villagers did, so you can say I had a feeling of belonging with them. I think I can say they were my first true friends," Mia said, with a bright smile.

"I see, but that doesn't do much to answer my question," the Djinni interjected, "I mean, why him? He's so… you know, clumsy and oafish. He's not the brightest torch in the corridor either. I personally think Isaac and Ivan would have been better boyfriends."

"Eh?" Mia was somewhat surprised at what the elemental said. "There's a lot more to it than that! And you didn't let me finish," she said, pulling a chair closer to the window. "You see, right from the beginning Garet was always warm and friendly towards me. And even when I'm pretty sure he didn't mean to, he made me laugh. But I think the biggest thing is that we more or less shared something in common."

"Shared what?" Breeze said, trying to recall something like that. "Tell me more!" As he said that, the snow seemed to let up and the sun's rays began to shine through the window accompanied with the glimmer of Mercury Lighthouse.

"Oh, look, it's morning. Shouldn't it be about time you get going?" her tone suddenly becoming more cheery.

"Huh? But what about our talk?!" he said, flustered.

"I have to start with my morning rounds. I'll tell you more if and when you return after delivering your letters." Mia stood up and started towards the door. Before exiting completely she stopped and looked at Breeze. "Or better yet, you could ask Garet!" she teased. Before he could say anything, Mia was already gone to tend to the people of Imil. The trio of Mercury Djinn soon stirred from their slumber. Tonic yawned before hopping over to Breeze from the bed.

"Mornin', Breeze, what've you been up to?"

"Getting cheated out of a story," he responded blandly and in an agitated tone. The Mercury Djinni changed his expression in a way equivalent to raising an eyebrow.

"Um, okay?"

---

"Okay, Breeze, don't be a stranger now," said Fizz, "make sure to come back sometime!"

"Was great to see you again," Tonic added.

"Make sure to say 'hi' to Flower for me if you see her!" said Dew.

The four Djinn were standing near the sanctum's entrance. The three water Djinn were seeing their purple friend off on his return trip. Breeze nodded happily and raised a wing.

"Okie dokie! I'll see you all later my soggy friends!" he said before jumping into the air and riding the wind into the snowy, white sky. The water elementals watched and waved with their tails as the purple dot began to disappear into the distance.

"Did he call us soggy?" Fizz asked, turning to her kin.

"Yep," replied the other two. Fizz turned her attention back to Breeze who was drawing farther and farther away.

"Mhm…" Fizz hummed as the Djinni disappeared from sight, "Was so nice to see him again."

"Yep."

Fizz sighed, took a deep breath. "Aaaaand… he's going the wrong way."

"Yep."

---

The sun was now at the peak of its ascent, signaling noon. Breeze had been flying a few hours now, but he has made good time because the wind was blowing in the right direction… or at least what he thinks is the right direction. He was flying rather carefree, but he still couldn't get what Mia had said out of his head.

"Shared something, hmm," he repeated to himself. "What could she have possibly meant?" He shook his head from side to side to try to forget about it and keep his focus on where he was going. After all, directions weren't his strong point. "Okaaay, I remember this mountain range, I think, so I just keep heading forward and I should be nearing Vault. Easy!" Just as he said that, he saw something glow briefly in the distance. "Huh? What's that?"

A huge gust of wind suddenly blew past him and causing him to spin near uncontrollably. When stopped, he frantically glanced around to get his bearings. He spun so much, he actually forgot which direction he was heading!

"Aw, what!? Stupid wind!" he yelled as he realized he lost his bearings again. "And I was doing so well, too…" he said with his headed hanging low.

Who are ya calling stupid?!

Breeze froze as the gust that spun him around responded back to him in a familiar voice. The wind began to turn around and swirl before forming another Djinni that was completely identical to Breeze. "Ah, Gale! Nice to see you!"

"Indeed, it's been a while!" he said as he fluttered closer. "I thought you were hanging with Ivan?"

"I was, but I am being forced against my will to play messenger pigeon."

"Sheba?"

"Sheba…" Breeze said sullenly. "Anyway, what have you been up to?"

"Nothing much, just blowing here and there."

"Sounds… boring," Breeze commented blandly.

"Not at all! I rather enjoy the quiet," Gale smiled. Breeze sighed. Gale was never really a social Djinni. That was the main reason he decided to fly off instead of staying with the adepts. "So where are you headed?" Gale finally asked.

"I'm supposed to be heading to Kalay, but a freaking snowstorm put me out of commission for I don't know how long and I ended up in Imil."

Gale tilted his head. "Imil? Wasn't that where Mia lived?"

"Yeah, she was there and she asked me to send a message to Garet in Vault."

"Ah." They both hovered there in a silence for a bit with Breeze donning a pleading expression. "Uh, you need help?"

"Oh, you are so kind!" Breeze was about to hand over one of the letters from his pouch before the other Djinni stopped him.

"Hold up, I don't do cargo."

"But I thought you wanted to help!" Breeze whined.

"I do, but I'm not going to do your work for you," Gale replied smugly.

"Phooey!" Breeze huffed.

"However, I do see that you are lost, so I'll help you to Vault."

Breeze seemed annoyed, "well, it was your fault! I was doing perfectly fine before you cut me off with your sky speeding!"

"Uh huh… It seemed to me that you were heading towards Bilibin."

"That's, like, right next to Vault, right?" Breeze asked with an oblivious smile.

"Oh Gods…" Gale lamented as he started in the right direction.

"What?" Breeze spun around and darted after him, "you telling me it's not?"

--

The sky was once again clear and the sun shone brightly. A plain looking bird covered in dark feathers was soaring in search of food. It scanned its surroundings, which was littered with many houses both finished and in progress. It kept looking. "Oh joy!" thought the bird as it saw a plate with scrumptious earth worms sitting in the second floor window of a nearby house. It measured the distance and trajectory and swooped in at top speed. Closer and closer it dived toward its noon meal. Closer and closer it drew.

Wham! Some invisible obstacle stopped the bird abruptly, and painfully. It stayed stuck to the barrier for a second before slowly slipping off and falling into a bush.

"Oh my gods! I got another one!" yelled a voice with triumphant, uncontrollable laughter.

"You're horrible, you know that?"

Hopping next to the plate of crawling worms was an armless, orange, and yellow creature with large blue eyes and a tail that resembled a flame. "Oh come on, you can't tell me that isn't the least bit funny?" Another similar creature hopped onto the windowsill with an angry look on its face.

"No. You're here luring birds to knock themselves out on Garet's window!" she scolded.

"Oh blah, they are just birds," the other creature said dismissively. He donned a happy expression. "Isn't this new window cleaning stuff totally awesome! It's like the birds can't see it or something!" His companion rolled her eyes.

"If they could see it, they wouldn't be ramming into the glass at full speed. Forge, you're going to end up making some trouble that's going to put your fiery butt in hot wa-"

"Oh look! It's another one hiiide!" Forge yelled before tackling his kin out of view of the window.

"Ow, that hurt!"

"Ember, shut it!" Forge peeked over the sill and saw the bird that was swooping in at increasing speed. It looked purple. "Here it comes!"

Shatter! Thump! Wham!

"Holy shit! That was a big-un!" he yelled in enthusiasm after the purple bird burst through the window, bounced off the floor, and rammed into a bookcase, causing an entire book series to bury it. Ember just stood there in shock. Forge hopped over to the pile of books and looked for any motion. "I think I killed it," he giggled. Just then, the pile stirred and a lavender-feathered Djinni poked its head out.

"Wooooah, what happened?" it said woozily.

"Breeze?!" the two orange elementals yelled in surprise.

"Oh, heeeey," he said while rocking his head in a daze, "Anybody… like… see wut hit me?"

"It was more like what you hit…" said Ember with her eyes shifting towards Forge. He could barely keep himself from busting out laughing again. Another Jupiter Djinni swooped in and landed on the windowsill.

"Breeze! Why'd you swoop off like that. We were in the middle of such a riveting convo- damn, what happened here!?" he said as he eyed the broken glass and pile of books.

"Ooooh hi, guyz! Gale, when did Gasp and Luff get here?" Breeze answered woozily, "Oh, an' can one of yoooo four Mars Djinn gives me a pillow? I has a headache." He twirled around and fell over unconscious with his tongue sticking out.

"See? Now you went and hurt Breeze," Ember chastised.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop teasing birds now… but that was still the best thing that happened all week!" Forge said laughing again. The three elementals started hearing footsteps getting louder and coming up the staircase outside. The door swung open and a tall young man with red, spiky hair entered with a worried look.

"Guys, what the hell was that noi-" he stopped as he saw the broken window and emptied book case. "Okay, I leave you alone for ten minutes and you trash my room… whyyyy?" he lamented angrily, putting a gloved hand to his forehead.

"Ember did it!" Forge yelled before disappearing in a puff of glowing ashes.

"EXCUSE me!?" Ember screamed in response.

---

"Doo dee doo," Breeze hummed while flying in a completely white and strangely blurry sky. He was too lost in his state of bliss to notice how strange his surroundings were. He stopped suddenly. "Huh? What is that I see in the distance?" He squinted and saw a small speck get larger and larger. It came closer and Breeze's eyes widened when he finally recognized what it was.

"What!? Can it be?!" he said in disbelieve. The speck was now large enough for the Djinni to see that it was a nut. "Yay! Nut! I must consume!" he sang. He started flying towards it. Strangely, the nut kept getting bigger and bigger. When he finally got close enough to touch, the it towered above him and was the size of two houses! "Oooooooh! That's a big ass nut!" The nut suddenly began to move. It turned around and on its top half were two large and powerful looking eyes.

"Greetings young elemental," it said in a powerful, booming voice.

"Oh. My. Gods. Can it be!?" Breeze said in awe.

Yes, it is I, the great Nut king. I have come to you to dispel any doubts of my existence!

"No way! You really are real! And here I am thinking those squirrels were crazy!"

But alas, your previous disbelief of me cannot go unpunished!

"Huh?" Breeze said confused. Out of nowhere, an acorn the size of a cannonball smashed into the side of his head.

---

Slap, slap!

"Nooo! I'm sorry for being a nonbeliever! Enough with the acorns!"

Slap!

"Ahhh, eh?" Breeze screamed as he came to. He awoke to find himself staring at Garet, who had apparently slapped him awake. He blinked and looked around. He was laying on Garet's pillow in his room and the mess had apparently been cleaned up already. Gale, Ember, and Forge were hovering above him as well. "Hey, where's the nut king?"

"Nut king?" the fire Djinni said in tandem.

"I think that window did a number on him…" Gale said.

"It was probably the books," added Garet.

"Ow, why'd you have to hit me so hard?" Breeze whined. He rubbed his cheek with a wing.

"I wasn't hitting that hard…" Garet said defensively.

"I bet it was the window," Ember emphasized and gave an angry look at Forge, "that softened your face up." Garet turned towards the Jupiter Djinni and crossed his arms.

"Any particular reason you decided to cannonball through my window?"

Breeze blinked as he tried to gather his thoughts. "Um, let's see. Oh! I saw the yummiest plate of worms on the windowsill! I guess… I could have sworn that there was no window there…" Forge tried to stifle a laugh.

"Ew, you eat worms?!" Ember said in disgust.

"Yah!" the wind elemental replied in enthusiasm, "they taste much better than you'd think!"

"Breeze, what have you been doing while idling in Kolima Forest? Joining a family of birds?" Gale asked jokingly.

"Actually I joined a family of squirrels. The birds were our next branch neighbors!" he replied completely oblivious to Gale's tone, "I'd have to admit, they had very low standards of living compared to the squirrels. Their nests where total pigsties!" Garet and the Djinn just stared at him. Ember's eye twitched slightly and Breeze could feel their gazes burning him. "What? You guys act like I'm the only Djinni who did weird stuff while out and about!"

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Yep, short chapter is short. Don't be afraid to say something if you like/hate it!