Author's Note:

Hello everyone and welcome to this rather delayed chapter. This one shows some of Garet's difficulties with Imil and begins showing the connections between this story and 'Devouring Fire'. Thank you those for their support of this story, and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I own nothing.

Chapter 4

Imil was far too cold!

Garet shivered violently, his teeth chattering without stopping as he roughly rubbed his arms, trying to generate heat. Snow blanketed the land around them and if it wasn't for the fact he was freezing, he might've found the sight quite wonderous.

"Put this on."

He looked to the side and found Alex stood there, holding out a thick cloak. Garet hastily took it, wrapping it tightly around himself and nodding, "Th-th-thanks."

The man merely moved on ahead without acknowledging his response, leaving the boy to continue trailing at the back of the group. Kraden was hovering nearby and he eyed his charge worriedly, "Are you going to be alright?"

Garet nodded, "Y-y-yes."

The scholar was, unsurprisingly, not convinced, and he shed one of his own cloaks and wrapped it around the shivering boy.

"D-don't you n-n-need that?"

Kraden dismissed Garet's concern, "Not as much as you. The one I already have is more than enough for me. I've travelled through this area before."

"R-r-really?"

The man smiled, "Why yes, I've travelled quite widely in my research of Alchemy. Lord Babi thought that the Lighthouse at Imil might've held some clue to unlocking its secrets, unfortunately, I was unable to enter due to Imil's traditions."

"Hurry up!"

Saturos yelled back at them impatiently and Kraden nudged Garet along, "Best pick up the pace a little more, it'll also help warm you up."

Seeing his point, Garet did just that.

The young fire adept was slowly falling further and further behind.

To his credit, Garet did maintain a good pace for a while. The additional cloaks certainly helped warm him and that gave him a second wind, however, his body eventually slowed him again.

It started with the odd cough, hardly an unusual occurrence for him, but they only increased in regularity and ferocity. Soon, he was doubled over, coughing like mad.

Kraden was immediately kneeling beside him, brow creased in worry, "Oh dear me." He placed a hand lightly on the boy's forehead, "This is not good at all, you've started to develop a fever."

Felix had been hovering nearby, and he quickly joined them, "Let me see what I can do."

Holding his hands towards Garet, the Venus adept closed his eyes. In response, the earth around Garet started to glow, and he saw the recognisable light of Cure, a common skill among Venus adepts. The light flowed into him but instead of the refreshing sensation he felt when his wounds were healed, he felt nothing.

Kraden shook his head, "A good try Felix, but I believe that that Psynergy is only useful for healing wounds and injuries, not illnesses. We'll need some medicine."

"What's going on back here?"

Menardi had noticed their sudden stop and had come back to discover the reason for the delay. She snorted upon seeing what was going on, "Of course, you would be the one to fall ill. I've never come across such a weak adept."

Garet growled but was interrupted by another series of coughs. Panting heavily, he glared up at her, "I'm not weak!"

She sneered, "Really, you can barely walk two miles without rest, you collapse whenever you attempt Psynergy, and a little cold weather renders you ill. I'd say that's weakness."

She turned away, "Keep moving, we have a long way to travel and we don't need you holding us back any more than you are."

Saturos and Menardi continued to push them on, not caring about Garet's developing fever.

The teen struggled onwards, knowing there wasn't much choice in the matter and still slightly stung by being called weak. Kraden had attempted to put his foot down and force them to stop and attend to the teen's illness, but Saturos reminded him that Garet was effectively surplus to requirements. As such, he threatened to simply leave the boy behind if he couldn't keep up.

For some reason, Alex had vanished, but neither the Mars adepts nor Felix seemed surprised. It appeared that the Mercury adept came and went as he pleased, though dedicated to the mission. Garet wasn't sure, but he felt that Saturos and Menardi slightly feared the blue-haired man, though he could not fully understand why.

Inevitably, his already weakened body succumbed to his growing fever, and he lost all strength.

Collapsing forwards, he vaguely registered Kraden crying out and Felix lunging towards him, but his fever quickly took over, forcing him through the all too familiar experience of blacking out.

Jenna stared into the campfire thoughtfully, once again wrestling with her worries.

They'd picked up a new companion in the form of the younger Ivan, another adept with the ability to read minds. Having helped him retrieve the Shaman's Rod that'd been stolen, he'd decided to join them on their quest and, despite her initial concerns, he'd really helped them out.

Though on the trail of Felix's group, they'd been side-tracked by the sudden curse that had fallen upon the village of Kolima. To begin with, Jenna had wanted to press northwards after the rest, but Isaac couldn't bring himself to ignore what was going on, and she quickly came around to agree with him.

This brought them to where they were now, on their way to the cursed village of Kolima.

She sighed.

She'd inquired upon the wellbeing of Garet as much as she could while in Bilibin but got little in the way of answers. The group had only stayed one night before pushing north, and the innkeeper told her that Garet had been in his room most of that time.

As he put it, "I'm telling yer, that spiky-haired boy with them was exhausted when they arrived. I've never seen a young lad as tired as that, my wife fussed over him like no one's business when she saw this. He pretty much slept his whole time here and if you ask me, he wasn't ready to journey on when they left, not that the two in charge seemed to care…"

His words had done little to comfort her, only increasing her concerns that Saturos and Menardi were pushing Garet too hard. She'd hoped that Kraden would've been able to shield him a little, and no doubt he was trying, but apart from being a potential hostage, Garet was of little value to his captors. They had to get to him before they decided to just ditch him.

"Jenna?"

She was pulled from her musings and looked up to see Ivan's purple eyes gazing at her inquisitively, "Are you worried about your friend."

Naturally, having read their minds himself, the younger Adept was very much aware of their quest and Garet.

She sighed, "I'm always worried about Garet."

Ivan blinked, "But from what I've seen in your mind, he's strong."

She hesitated before answering. In a way, Ivan was right, Garet was strong. He never seemed to let his condition bother him, always fooling around and being ridiculous. In fact, he was their main support after three years ago, doing everything he could to make them laugh or react, or just be there when those options weren't suitable. Despite how frustrated he had to have been, always being fussed over, always the one that needed to rest first, being smothered with concern if he gave even the smallest of coughs, but he never let it show and never got angry with them about it.

So, he was strong, strong in heart, but it was his physical condition that concerned her.

She so hoped that he was okay.

They'd managed to take shelter in a cosy little cave for the night, and Felix sat quietly beside the feverish Garet.

The Venus Adept was keeping a cool cloth against the other boy's forehead, trying to cool the fever. When Garet had collapsed, Saturos and Menardi had both been for leaving him behind, it was only Felix offering to carry him that had changed their minds.

It had been a long trek with Garet upon his shoulders. Despite his weakened state, the younger Adept was hardly small, and his large body came with a not so inconsiderable weight. Regardless, Felix ploughed on, he felt it was his fault Garet was even here and in this state, and despite his own dedication to their mission, he didn't want to make his friend a sacrifice to it.

Eventually, they'd found a cave to rest in for the night, and Felix and Kraden swiftly set about properly tending to the young Mars Adept.

In reality, there was little they could do, other than cool his brow. Felix's Psynergy wasn't helping and Kraden had no powers to use, plus, they didn't have medicine (or Saturos and Menardi weren't letting them have it) to give him.

Dipping the cloth in a bucket of half-melted snow (fortunately, Imil had snow to spare), Felix wringed it out slightly and put it back on Garet's head. The Mars Adept shivered and muttered, but showed no other form of awareness, simply remaining unconscious, the older boy looked to his elder.

"Kraden, is there nothing else we can do?"

The old scholar shook his head worriedly, "I'm afraid not, I believe this is actually from a simple cold, however, given Garet's weakened constitution and lesser resistance to illness…"

"It's hit him far harder than it would hit others." Felix finished.

Kraden sighed, "Unfortunately so."

They fell into silence, so focused on the boy in front of them that they didn't notice another come up behind them.

"I see he's become rather ill."

Felix and Kraden both jumped, spinning round to see a woman with fiery red hair observing them. Immediately, Felix was on his feet, "Who are you!"

She held her hands up soothingly, "I'm sorry for startling you, one of your travelling companions, Alex I believe, said I could shelter here with you all." She bowed, "I am Pele, and I'm something of a wandering bard."

Felix didn't relax, until Alex also appeared, "Settle down Felix, I assure you that this young lady here doesn't mean any harm. She was heading towards this cave and I saw no reason for her to not shelter here as well."

At his words, the Venus Adept relaxed, and returned the bow, "My name is Felix."

Kraden nodded, "And I am Kraden, a scholar of Alchemy."

She smiled, "A pleasure to meet you both." She looked at Garet, "Will your friend be alright?"

Felix sat back down beside the younger boy, "I'm not sure, we haven't got any medicine to treat him."

She lightly touched his shoulder, "Do not worry, he looks strong to me, I'm sure he'll pull through." She gently sat down, a lyre in her arm, "It may not be much, but let me sing for you, as a thank you for letting me shelter here. Perhaps it'll even help your friend slightly."

Refocused on Garet, Felix simply nodded.

She strummed the lyre, then began to sing.

Felix did not recognise the words, nor could he really remember them afterwards, but something within them soothed him. As she sang, her voice melding perfectly with her lyre, he found himself frozen, spellbound, and slowly, and gently, he felt himself being pulled into blissful slumber.

He awoke with a start.

How'd he fallen asleep, hadn't he been tending to Garet? Garet!

Felix instantly sat up, going straight to checking Garet's condition, only to find that there wasn't one.

He was completely better.

Though still sleeping, the young Mars Adept had no fever, and was at an entirely normal temperature, his breathing deep and steady.

Beside him, Kraden slowly sat up, "Oh dear, did I drop off?" He paused, "Now where did that young lady go?"

Felix looked up from Garet and glanced around the cave to find that morning had come, and Pele had gone.

PS-So, anyone spot the connection between this story and 'Devouring Fire'? Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.