Wings of Anemos

by HyrulianJedi

Generations ago, the Kings of Anemos took their people and fled the world, becoming little more than a myth. When myths come alive, however, Weyard's most recent heroes find themselves struggling to balance their own issues in this new world against the future of Weyard itself, learning the price some must pay to be heroes.

4. Emotional Outbursts

Golden Sun: Wings of Anemos

Chapter 4 – Emotional Outbursts

- \/\/ -

Flames burst throughout a throne room, hurling a body across it in an explosion that shook the very stones themselves. The fire cast everything into an orange hue, a cataclysmic sunset for one of the two combatants' lives.

Garet stepped forward as the flames died, leaving a light, hazy smoke lingering in the air. His armored boots echoed across the room's stone floor as he advanced slowly and methodically. Sunlight fell upon the deep green armor that adorned his entire body, giving him the appearance of a bronze statue weathered by time, long since covered in verdigris.

Before him on the ground lay a woman, blond hair plastered to her head in sweat and blood. Her mouth moved madly as she glared up at the Mars Adept, but no sound came forth. One hand reached up to wipe away the blood that had dribbled down the corner of her mouth, flinging it onto the floor ahead of her.

Shifting his enormous sword to one hand, Garet held up the other as bright, white flames swirled around it, making shadows dance across the crevasses of his armor. As the woman looked up at the flames longingly, Garet smiled coldly, his mouth moving in a inaudible taunt.

The woman attempted to scream something more, but the silent words sputtered and fell out of her mouth, spit flying in her fury. She eventually descended into a fit of very audible coughing, great, ragged heaves that tore themselves from her chest, her body collapsing back onto the stones.

Garet watched the display, his sword shifting back into both hands. His face blazed down at her exhausted form with an uncharacteristic fury, his teeth grinding into each other. Finally he pulled them apart long enough to speak back, though he hid none of the hatred in his expression.

Her face snapped up to stare at him once more, a cruel smile curling her lips upwards to reveal teeth now coated in blood. She spoke again, shaking her head slowly as she did, her arms struggling to hold her body off the ground.

Shaking his head, Garet hefted up his sword. He cast one final glance at the woman as she began to laugh, his eyes widening in frenzy. His grip tightened so much that, had his green gauntlets not been covering them, his knuckles would have been white enough to reflect the sunlight itself.

The sword dropped, shearing through the air with the combined force of gravity and muscle, ready to rend the woman's head from her body in a single blow. Before it could connect, though, a voice spoke, belonging to neither of the two.

"Well, isn't this convenient?"

- \/\/ -

"Anemos?" Isaac repeated. "They're those Jupiter Adepts that ripped themselves out of the world, right?"

Alex nodded. "You remember learning about them in Contigo. You've even been traveling with one of their descendants for almost two years now."

Isaac glanced over at Ivan, who ignored the comment. "So the moon actually was Anemos, then?" he asked instead.

Rather than responding verbally, Alex simply pointed out the window. Isaac followed his finger and found the faded, white disk of Luna hanging in the blue sky, waxing towards full. So that particular legend of Anemos had not been true, obviously.

"As much as I want to know what the hell's going on," Garet said, "Mia needs to be woken up."

"And everyone else," Ivan added. "Why haven't you done that already?"

"It's a...delicate situation," Alex said slowly.

Isaac stared at him. "So stop being evasive and explain it."

The Mercury Adept raised an eyebrow. "Demanding, aren't we?" When Isaac opened his mouth to respond, Alex shook his head. "I am not exactly in Mia's good graces at the moment. I wanted to decide how best to approach the inevitable confrontation when she woke."

"Couldn't find one, could you?" Garet asked, a smirk working into his face.

"No," Alex admitted. "I'd begun to think that there simply was no good approach. But now, if you are going to, ah, force my hand, I suppose I shall have to make do."

Isaac had seen Mia wake people from an unnatural slumber before and had once commented on how much time and effort it took. "At that deep of a sleep, it's closer to reviving someone from unconsciousness," she had said. Isaac had been surprised, but understood well the strength she had used.

When Alex pointed his hand at Mia, though, Isaac felt nothing more than a brief, potent burst of Psynergy before Mia's eyes opened and she rubbed at them groggily. Yawning, she threw back the covers and sat up on the side of the bed, then stopped suddenly, looking at herself in confusion. When she looked back up, she finally noticed the others. "...Isaac? What's going on?"

Isaac did not respond, but simply fixed his gaze on Alex. Ivan and Garet did the same, and Mia's eyes followed soon after, her hands flying to her mouth and smothering a gasp. "Alex!"

He managed a warm smile for the first time since Isaac had met him. "That seems to be the common reaction to me as of late."

Mia stood up quickly, found her balance unsteady, and fell back onto the bed. "You're alive?" she whispered.

He spread his arms in a 'here I am' gesture. "Never better, actually."

Now looking between him and the others in confusion, Mia asked the questions that had first entered her mind. "What's going on? Why are you all here? Why am I in bed like this? What happened?"

"You were put to sleep by a powerful Psynergy," Ivan said. "We came up here to check on you. All of us, apparently," he added, looking at Alex again.

"I can probably explain better," Alex said, settling against a large, hardwood wardrobe and crossing his arms. "As I've just informed your friends, Mia, the long-lost civilization of Anemos has returned to the world. They landed in their original location, near Contigo, yesterday afternoon. Do you remember them?"

Mia nodded slowly. "You taught me about them. Them and several others. The Ankhol, the Lemurians, the Tund-"

"The others aren't important," Alex interrupted, though calmly. "The Anemoi are the issue. Upon their re-entry to Weyard, they stopped at Jupiter Lighthouse, making use of the power there to attack several cities. We know Tolbi and somewhere by Venus Lighthouse, probably Lalivero, were struck with lightning storms. Imil seems to have been struck with a sleeping spell, one of enormous proportions."

"A...sleeping spell?" Mia asked.

"Yes, one that covered the entire town," he said. "Everyone is asleep, and has been for about...oh, probably a full day."

Mia tried standing up again, this time more slowly, and found her balance. "We need to get them, then. Those who fell outside will have spent the night in the cold!"

Alex waved his hand. "There's no need to rush, Mia. The damage has already been done. All we can do now is help recover from it."

Shaking her head, Mia said, "No. I'm taking care of these people now. They are my charge, and even if you no longer want that responsibility, I do."

"Do you, Mia?" Alex asked softly. "Do you really?"

She fixed him with a level gaze. "Wake them, Alex. You have that power now, don't you? Do it."

He shrugged in response, then waved his hand. Isaac felt a much more significant wave of Psynergy rush past him, leaving him feeling refreshed, though unfortunately, it did nothing to quell the slight nausea that still nestled in his stomach.

"We'll continue this later," Mia said, then turned to the others. "Will you come help me?"

Garet and Ivan immediately consented, but Isaac hesitated. "Can you give me a few minutes? I have something I need to discuss with Alex."

Mia looked dubious, but made no attempt to discourage him. "Find us after, then."

After the three had walked out, Alex turned to Isaac. "To what do I owe this honor, o great Warrior of Vale?"

"Stow it, Alex," Isaac snapped. "I don't know what you're playing at this time, but it won't happen."

"I'm not playing at anything, Isaac," he replied in a reasonable tone, but Isaac knew better than to believe him.

"I'm sure. You want me to just turn around right now so you can stab me in the back and get it over with?"

"Ah," Alex said, nodding. "You're talking about that. I suppose I owe you an explanation."

Isaac crossed his arms, leaning against the door. "It'd be nice. Not every day someone comes back from the dead to try and kill me."

"Kill you? Oh no, Isaac, I never intended to kill you. If I had, you would be dead."

"Then why did you attack me?"

Alex shrugged. "You have something I need."

"Yeah, we covered that yesterday," Isaac said flatly. "Did the Golden Sun take away your ability to ask for things?"

Chuckling, Alex said, "This isn't something you can give. And besides, would you really have just given me what I asked for? The man who, I'm sure you believe, tricked you all into lighting the lighthouses for himself?"

"Are you about to try and deny that?"

"Yes and no," Alex said, pausing for a moment. "While I most certainly desired the Golden Sun, I'd begun planning the lighting of the lighthouses before I even knew about its existence. Saturos came to me before I could finish plans, so I added my strength to his. I knew Alchemy needed to be released, Isaac. I did that as much for the world as for the Golden Sun."

"How noble," the blond said sarcastically.

Alex nodded graciously, ignoring the sarcasm. "However, when the time came for me to achieve my personal goal, there was a slight...mishap." Isaac raised an eyebrow but said nothing, waiting for Alex to continue. "Your dear guardian, the Wise One, interfered."

"Yeah, he does that," Isaac said.

"And, somehow," Alex continued, giving Isaac a reproachful look for the interruption, "he transferred part of the Golden Sun's power to you."

Isaac's mind tripped over itself. What? "...You'll have to run that by me again."

"He fixed things so that, when the Golden Sun rose, it imbued you with the Mars portion, rather than me," Alex explained. "As such, I am left with a rather incomplete control of Alchemy – Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus are mine to command, but Mars still eludes me."

"I think you're wrong," Isaac said slowly. "I've never felt anything different, but wouldn't that mean I'm able to use Mars Psynergy?"

"I believe it would, yes."

"Well, I can't."

"Have you ever tried?"

He had a point, Isaac realized. He had never bothered trying to use other Psynergy types. Kraden had taught them from the beginning that, other than very basic techniques, it was impossible. But wouldn't he have felt something, anything?

Though, he had been rather occupied at the time the Golden Sun rose. He had felt the surge of Mars Psynergy flooding him, but he had felt a similar feeling at Venus when it had been lit. Had he just been distracted enough to not notice a difference between the two? Or was the similar feeling of Mars, not his innate element, the indication of his receipt of such power?

"So this is what you were after?" he asked. "So you could complete the Golden Sun?"

Alex nodded. "Precisely. Extracting it might have caused some pain, perhaps, but left you exactly as you were before. I'd simply be taking away a gift you didn't even know that you'd been given."

"For what? What do you need it for? You want to rule the world?"

"Of course not," Alex said, shaking his head. "What do you take me for, some simple-minded villain in a child's story? Ruling the world is a goal only fools reach for."

"Then what?"

"My reasons are my own," he said. "However, I assure you, they are entirely altruistic."

Isaac scoffed. "Of course they are. That's why you won't tell me them, right? You wouldn't want me to stop you from doing something good for the world."

"You tried once, after all."

"Yeah, I get it," Isaac said sharply. "Yes, I was ill-informed about the way the world worked. You, in all of your all-knowing glory, recognized the danger the world was in and made the hard choices to save it."

The smirk returned to Alex's face, along with Isaac's urge to slam his fist into it. "My, you sound a bit defensive about that, Isaac. Do I sense bitterness?"

"Stop changing the subject."

"I already told you, my intentions are my own. If those are the only answers you seek, then our discussion is at an end."

Alex moved towards Isaac, who steadfastly remained in front of the door. The Imilian came to a stop in front of him and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Isaac stared at him for a moment, then said, "The Golden Sun. Weren't you going to take it, then?"

Smiling, Alex said, "Before yesterday, it was all I could think of. Even my dreams led me to Colosso, to you. Unfortunately, I believe Weyard is in more jeopardy from the Anemoi than you might think. While I would have considerable power with the full Golden Sun, I think it would be more useful to Weyard for it to remain split for now."

"For now," Isaac echoed.

"Yes," Alex said. "Rest assured, Isaac, once this threat is dealt with, which it will be, I will be taking what is rightfully mine. Until then, though, I believe we will need to be allies, however tenuous that relationship might be."

"Did you want me to shake your hand on this arrangement, or something?"

"Of course not. I expect nothing less than open hostility from all of you bordering on active opposition. But let's not cross that border, please. I think you will all be useful allies to me in this. Or I to you, if you prefer to think of it that way."

Isaac said nothing, simply stepping to the side and letting Alex step past him, leaving the house. Isaac remained still for several minutes, absently gazing around the modestly decorated house. Mia had never been one to collect anything, and her house reflected it. She had the furniture for living, enough clothing to avoid washing excessively, an important trait in such a cold climate, and little else. The only items in her house that existed for pure decoration were a length of cord, woven into the shape of a heart, and an old drawing of her and Alex playing in the snow that Isaac assumed Alex had done when he was young.

Looking at the drawing pinned to the wall, Isaac realized that this decision was not his to make. Traitor or not, Alex was still a member of the Mercury Clan and Mia's old friend. She knew him better than anyone else, and if anyone should decide whether or not to trust him, it needed to be her.

He knew that no one else would, anyway.

- \/\/ -

"Felix, please-"

"No."

"You can't-"

"No."

"But-"

"I said no, Jenna. Stay inside."

Jenna made a sound similar to a pie landing on the ground, placed her hands on her hips, and stuck out her tongue. She wrapped them all together by spinning on her heel and walking away, grabbing the hand of a very confused Sheba as she went.

They marched on in silence through the halls, Jenna fuming so furiously that she was surprised everything around her had not yet burst into flame. The occasional servant they came across quickly moved to the wall to clear her path. She could hear Sheba muttering apologies to them behind her, but she paid little attention to the girl. She wanted to vent, and there was only one place for it.

She took the stairs two at a time, ignoring Sheba's pleas to slow down. Rounding the next corner and quickly bounding up the next flight, she reached the third floor in record time. Pausing briefly to remember which room she wanted, Sheba caught up and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Jenna, where are we going?"

"We're almost there," she said. "Come on." Gesturing for Sheba to follow, the two moved down the hallway a bit, Jenna stopping at one door, then the next. At the third door, she looked up and down the hall, gauging the distance, then nodded and opened it.

She had chosen correctly; this was the room she had found before Colosso. Though not hers, she had been meaning to move into it. The room itself was unoccupied, simply set up as a guest room. Across the room, though, stood a great, glass door, leading out onto a balcony, one of two on the third floor. Stepping across the room and throwing open the doors, Jenna took only a second to look out into the city.

Then she turned to the railing and climbed up onto it.

She saw surprise seize Sheba's expression. "Wait, Jenna! What are you doing?"

Grinning, the girl said simply, "Going up." She grabbed hold of the decorative floral piece above the balcony and hauled herself up, then turned around, holding out a hand for Sheba. "Come on, I've got you." Taking hold of the other girl and steadying her grip on the stone vine, she pulled Sheba up without much difficulty.

"Why are we up here?"

"For this."

Walking up the inclined roof, Jenna hit the ridge and walked along it until she found a chimney. Glancing down inside briefly to verify it was not in use, she climbed up onto it, settling into a solid stance and rolling up the sleeves of her travel tunic.

Closing her eyes, she held both hands out to the side and began gathering power. The warm rays of Sol tenderly caressed her skin, even through her clothes. She felt them seep through till they found the matching warmth of her body, mating to give birth to beads of sweat. Turning her mind inward, she began pulling the heat from her core, transferring it to her extremities – specifically, her hands. The sweat suddenly ran cold down her back, trickling across goosebumps.

Jenna opened her eyes and found her hands glowing lightly. Or had the area around them simply darkened? Her answer came when the sun dipped behind some clouds, casting her into shadow and making the glow much more prominent. Almost casually she pointed one luminous finger to the sky, an impossibly thin line of red extending from her fingertip into the clouds.

Jenna pulled every ounce of Mars energy remaining in her body, shoving it all into the hand above her head. Glancing around, she saw Sheba had moved as far down the roof as was possible, ducking behind another chimney for cover and shielding her eyes from the light. Smiling as she glanced back up, she saw her fingertip now radiated like a newborn star, but she found that the light did not bother her in the slightest. In fact, she found the brilliance beautiful, wavering and shimmering like a mirage.

In one last draw, she called to bear the very light around her, this time noticing a significant increase in shadow. The rooftop reminded her of the solar eclipse she once watched with Felix; everything around her was simultaneously bathed in an unnatural shadow and an alien light. Finally ready, she turned her mind to the side, finding her brother's face staring at her underneath her own eclipse. Letting out a very unladylike shriek, the floodgates of her Psynergy suddenly opened.

The roof exploded in a brand new dawn as the thin red line erupted into a furious, pulsating column of pure Mars energy, rising from Jenna's finger straight into the sky. The clouds around it instantly condensed, forming a ring of blue sky around the burning red beam. Pulses ran up the beam like a wave, in time with the minute changes in pitch of her scream.

Her mind and body melded, pouring all of herself into the Psynergy. She knew it had to throw off incredible waves of heat, but if it did, they all passed over her without notice. All Jenna knew at the moment, everything that mattered, rose from her hand. The power of volcanoes and wildfires, of combustion and conflagration. It screamed forth as she screamed forth, synchronizing the two down to the core of Alchemy itself.

Gradually her voice died out, and with it, the terrible beam. As both faded, she felt her anger leaving alongside them, until the red glow vanished entirely and she stepped off the chimney, collapsing onto her knees.

She noticed Sheba moving towards her. Placing up a hand to stop her, Jenna promptly bent over and vomited up the potato soup she had been given. The soup, now thinner, sloshed onto the rooftop and slowly dribbled down the tiles. She sat back onto the ridge, dropping her hand and feeling empty in more ways than one. "Don't worry, the rain'll clean it up," she muttered as Sheba approached.

"Are you okay?" the other girl asked, sitting down next to her and placing her arm around her.

"Fine," Jenna said sourly. "Just peachy."

Sheba frowned. "No you aren't. Was it Felix?"

Sighing, Jenna dropped her forehead into her hands, spitting a glob of vomit down onto the roof. She knew better than to use Psynergy so excessively after teleportation, but all bad decisions seemed obvious once the person was reeling from the after-effects, she supposed. "Yeah," she said finally. "I needed to vent."

"Well, you certainly got it out of your system," Sheba said, earning a weak chuckle from the other girl.

"Yeah," she said again, lifting her head back up. "He just...he makes me so angry sometimes, especially at times like this."

"He's just concerned about you." Sheba hugged her closer. "I am too."

Jenna shook her head, gesturing out across the city. "He should be concerned for the people out there! I can take care of myself, but right now, they need help!"

"And they're getting it. One person won't make much of a difference."

"They can make a difference for one person."

Sheba fell silent and Jenna felt a triumph blossom inside her, though bitterly. Sheba was her friend, and had nothing to do with Felix or his decision. She did not deserve to be on the receiving end of her anger or frustration, and that included the indirect results.

"Come on," Jenna said, standing up. "Let's go find something to do, if we have to stay inside."

Sheba followed her lead, then looked around. "I think we already ignored that order," she said, smiling.

Jenna waved a hand negligently. "I follow the spirit of the law, not the letter." She suddenly grinned. "And I don't think anyone would have appreciated me being inside for that. It was coming out either way."

Sheba rolled her eyes. "Do you feel better, at least?"

"I just used every bit of Psynergy I could gather for that. I'm exhausted, nauseous, and hungry, but I'm not angry any more." She certainly wasn't lying about that. Jenna had long ago learned the importance of being able to expel her negative emotions in the form of Psynergy, the secret to her near-endless cheer. She still harbored suspicions that Felix did the same with positive emotions, which would explain his far too serious nature.

"Wanna go raid the kitchen, then?" Sheba asked, glancing around slowly.

Jenna's grin widened. "You're scared of heights, aren't you?"

"No," the girl said, shaking her head calmly. "But every time I'm on top of a large building, something bad happens. It's a pretty consistent thing, actually."

"Maybe the lighthouses just don't like you," Jenna said, thinking back. Something bad had happened on each of them.

"Not just them. Remember Tundaria, when Felix broke his ankle and Piers had to carry him down? Or at Ankhol, when that stupid tree thing almost knocked you off the top? Or-"

Jenna held her hands up in defeat. "Okay, okay, you win. Wanna race down?"

"No!"

The girl laughed, taking hold of the stone carving and holding out her other hand to Sheba. "I'm kidding. No need to shout."

Sheba snorted as Jenna helped lower her to the balcony. "I think I liked you better angry."

As soon as the younger girl had touched down, Jenna swung around and dropped behind her. "Same here." Before Sheba could respond, Jenna wrapped her arms around the other girl's head and crushed it against her chest. "You're just so cute when you're mad! I could just bake you into a little cupcake!"

Sheba struggled briefly, her voice muffled against Jenna's hand. After a few moments, though, she stopped, and Jenna felt a pair of fingers suddenly dig into her ribs. She squirmed under the tickling, wrestling to try and keep Sheba's fingers out of reach, but after repeated failures, she simply let the girl go.

Sheba pulled away immediately, her hair pointing in every direction. She grinned, looking up at Jenna, then made a pincer motion between her finger and thumb. "I know your weakness, Jenna, don't forget."

Jenna placed her hands on her hips, sticking out her tongue at Sheba, then stepped back into the room. "Whatever. Let's go."

Raising an eyebrow as she followed, Sheba said, "Where to?"

"Well, we've been to the top of the palace. Let's go to the bottom!"

Sheba's other eyebrow rose up to match the first. "To Kraden's lab? Why there?"

"Never really been there," Jenna said with a shrug. "I figure now's the best time, since there's probably no one working there. All of Kraden's alchemists don't like people coming in, and Kraden quickly brought me out when I went down there the other day to see him."

"Well," Sheba said, a mischievous smile coming over her face, "what are we waiting for, then? We can't miss this opportunity."

- \/\/ -

Mia sank into her chair in the sanctum, exhausted. People had flooded the sanctum initially, but she quickly realized most of them were simply looking for answers. After turning them away with promises of explanations later, she had set to work on taking care of the injuries.

Megan and Justin had tended the minor injuries people had received in the falls, which were mostly limited to small cuts, bruises, and a few concussions. Mia watched them little; she knew them to be capable of dealing with these issues, and also recognizing which ones were too advanced for them. They had learned well, with none of the bothersome pride that afflicted some youths.

She had tended to the few major injuries, as well as the many cases of frostbite. Luck had been on their side and the previous night had been a mild one for Imil. Merely the skin's surface had been affected during the night, allowing Mia to tend to them rapidly and with ease. The tub of water Garet had heated for her was now nothing more than lukewarm, but none of the cases would progress further.

Unable to focus on her work with him around, Mia had immediately sent Alex out to walk through the town and check house to house. He deferred to her immediately, only returning occasionally with people that needed assistance getting to the sanctum. They always came with frostbite, which he lacked the capabilities to treat outside. Apparently he understood Mia's dilemma, though, because he never spoke to her during his brief returns, merely sending his charges to her.

But at long last, the end of the line had come, the last patients had been sent home, and the healers had found their moment to sit down. The two children had fallen asleep on a pew, propped up against each other while they waited for instructions from Mia as she finished with her frostbit patients. She smiled as she looked at them, watching the gentle rising and falling of their chests.

As she watched, though, the image shifted. Megan turned into herself, only about seven years old, while Justin became Alex, both of them sitting in a very similar position. In her own chair sat her father, looking as weary as she felt.

"Did we do good, daddy?" her younger self asked with heavy lidded eyes.

Her father smiled, wiggling his thick, blue mustache. "You did brilliant, my little angel. You both did."

Mia felt her heart swell with pride and longing at the sudden memory of that night. It had been worse than today, much worse. Winter had settled in, and with it, disease. No Hermes' Water flowed then to stop the ravages of the simple winter flu, and a great rainstorm had been howling for three days, locking everyone inside. Few would risk leaving their homes during a winter rain. To brave the rain meant to risk hypothermia, a difficult illness to treat safely, even for Adepts. The moment it let up, her father had thrown open the doors to the sanctum, welcoming in the surge of patients.

The three of them had worked from dawn till dusk, healing and preparing medicine to stave off the sudden invasion of yet another flu. A tiring day, for sure, but a typical one in Imil's winters. At least three bouts of flu struck each year, sometimes as many as seven. Winter was a child's dream for many children, delivering them snow and ice to play with, but for Mia, winter only brought suffering and exhaustion.

Despite her initial horror at the lighting of Mercury's beacon, she believed the fountain at its base had relieved her of that terrible duty once and for all. "If not disease," she said softly, "then war. Stupid of you to have thought differently, Mia."

"It wasn't stupid."

She turned her head to the side slightly and found Alex gently closing the door to the sanctum. Her entire body tensed as she looked at him, her breath unconsciously held. Once she realized it, she slowly let it out, forcing her body to calm down. "How's the town?"

"There were three dead," he said plainly. "Two broken necks from their falls, while the other seems to be natural causes and would have died anyway. A hunting party is missing, four people, and the pair that went up to the lighthouse for a fresh batch of the water. I've sent five of the uninjured out on the path to see if they could find them, but the hunting party will have to wait until dawn. I'm not going to send anyone into the forest on a winter night."

Mia nodded. All things considered, they were lucky. Had the others not shown up... She shook her head, not wanting to think about that. "Is that all?"

"Yes. Everything else is normal. Your friends are at the inn right now, preparing food for the sick. We should be able to get some more water tomorrow and take care of them, but until then, I've placed the more serious cases in the inn for tending." Alex reached the end of the pews and looked around. Seeing the sleeping children, he reached up and unbuckled his cloak, laying it over them like a blanket. After gently pulling Megan's hair out of her mouth and tucking it behind her ear, he turned back to the woman watching him. "Mia, I...we need to talk."

She stood up in response. "About what, Alex? So you can explain your betrayal of the Clan? No need. We discovered the truth of that on our own. What you did was for the good of the world. Understood." Mia paused as she pulled on her heavy coat, then looked at him. "So why is it I can still feel that hole in my heart, Alex? Where you stabbed with that knife of betrayal and then twisted? Can we talk about that?"

Alex stared at her for a moment, then his eyes flickered down to the floor. "I should have told you sooner."

"Sooner?" Mia stepped towards him, a feeling inside her that she had long believed dead now bubbling up. "Sooner?" Stopping only inches in front of him, Mia reached out and lifted his face to hers, forcing him to look into her eyes. "I trusted you, Alex! You repaid that trust with lies, however noble the cause!" Her voice had fallen to a whisper; any louder and she would have been shouting. "Would it have been so hard to explain yourself to me? Even if I didn't believe you, at least I would know!"

Her hand held his face in place, despite his half-hearted attempts to turn away. She knew such close confrontation made him uncomfortable, and though she believed in the futility of vengeance, she found herself wanting him to be as uncomfortable as possible. "I don't know how I can apologize to you, Mia. Nothing I say will make you forgive me."

"You're right, it won't," she said, releasing him and stepping away, facing the back wall. His admission did nothing to cool her rage. "Not even a letter?" she said, turning back around. "Am I worth so little to you that you couldn't even bother to leave a letter? Either time?"

"You know that's not true," Alex said softly, but Mia cut him off, the uncharacteristic fire inside her bursting into a fresh blaze.

"No I don't!" A rustle from beside them caught her attention, Justin wiggling slightly where he slept. She took a deep breath, calming herself a bit and lowering her voice once more. "I thought I knew you, Alex, but I was proved wrong once when you left, twice when you returned, and thrice at...at the end of it all."

Alex frowned. "I didn't-"

She waved her hand. "I don't want to hear excuses, Alex. I don't want to hear you claim you didn't think of something, or that you still care about me, or Justin, or Megan, or anyone. I've had enough of your lies, Alex. I can't hear them anymore. I just can't." She walked past him, tightening her coat. "I'll be at the inn. You're welcome to stay at the sanctum tonight."

Halfway down the pews, Alex's voice stopped her. "The Anemoi Kings mean for a genocide."

She half-considered ignoring him, but she already knew he had carefully calculated the one thing that would get her to stop. "What do you mean?" she asked as she turned back around.

"Total dominance of Weyard," he said. "They announced their intention to wipe out every Adept that did not fall under Jupiter's domain."

"Why?"

Alex shrugged. "When Alchemy was sealed, it stopped a great war that spanned across all of Weyard. That war was responsible for the taboo placed upon Alchemy for generations to come. The Anemoi left around this time, and now I expect they've returned to finish that war."

"But that's ridiculous," Mia said. "There is no war. Only in the past year have there been more Adepts than would fill Imil, and even now, most Adepts can barely control their Psynergy."

"I know," he said. "That is exactly my point. The Anemoi want to wipe out the other elements from humanity entirely, so that their dominance will never be challenged again. Right now, the only ones they face are the rabble."

A sudden thought occurred to Mia and she suspected she knew where Alex was headed. "Right now...because in time, people will grow to challenge them."

He nodded. "They don't believe anyone right now has the power."

"...You manipulative bastard."

"I had nothing to do with this, Mia," Alex said, so sharply that the rest of her words fell back into her mouth. "I want nothing of the sort, only to see them stopped as quickly as possible."

"Well, do it, then," she said. "You're the one with the Stone of Sages, aren't you? The power to bend reality?"

Alex smiled coolly. "I am...not enough. The Anemoi knew Psynergy at the peak of its power, and they are led by the three most powerful Jupiter Adepts in the world. I need help. Weyard needs help."

"So you want us. You want us to help you."

"Do you really want to let them run unchecked?"

Mia stared at him. "This sounds entirely too familiar to another argument you might once have made. I can only wonder what waits at the end of the road for you this time." He opened his mouth to answer, but she shook her head. "I need to think about this. Goodnight, Alex."

He said nothing further as she walked out, shutting the door quietly behind her. Mia took a deep breath, looking around her. A light snow had begun to fall, dancing around her in the moonlight. Imil had once again fallen silent, but this time, she could see the flickering glows of fires in windows.

She counted the town lucky that one of those fires had not spread out of control while everyone slept. The fire pits in all the houses were designed to prevent the spread of fire, but someone carrying the wrong item at the wrong time could have bypassed those precautions; a blanket, perhaps, or maybe a pot of grease from cooking.

A shame they weren't more similar to the Proxians, immune to the cold, or at least highly resistant. Many lives would have been spared over time, even just during her own life. She slowly picked her way through the graves outside the sanctum, her feet already taking the unmarked path to the monument at the edge of the cemetery. The snow on the ground lay undisturbed, though Mia suspected it had been that way even before the snowfall the night before. Fewer people visited the cemetery this year, and for a good reason: fewer had died.

As she walked, the gravestones became more and more worn, the result of years of wind and ice tearing at them. At least they had none of the troublesome ivy this far north. Count blessings where you can find them, she thought.

Reaching the statue, she placed a hand on it and looked up. The goddess Coatlicue gazed down at the healer gently, her arms spread in a welcome. Mia's fingers grazed the palm of one of the goddess' hands as she curtsied in respect, then softly kissed the stone and stepped past it. This area of the graveyard had been reserved for the members of the Mercury Clan, a tribute to their constant crusade against death.

Mia knew few of the people buried here, though. The decline of their clan had been evident all her life, and she had once believed it would continue to dwindle until none were left at all. The rekindling of Alchemy had banished such a belief, though; even if the bloodline of her clan were to disappear, there were still others who could take up the title in spirit. She had begun searching through Imil recently, trying to teach her healing arts to the people, many of them having discovered Mercury Psynergy in the last year. They were slow in learning, but she had been intimately familiar with patience for many years now.

Stopping at one of the headstones, she knelt down in the snow, carefully folding her cloak beneath her. She reached out and gently brushed the snow from the stone, tracing out the name of Olaf Magnarsen as she did. Once clear, her hand fell back into her lap, snowflakes landing lightly on her gloves.

"What should I do, father?" She expected no answer in words or signs. She expected no answer at all, other than what her heart could tell her. Mia knew her own bias about the situation and realized this situation had too many far-reaching consequences to let emotion cloud her judgment. Instead, she needed to let the memory of her father make the decision.

It did not take long. Once she could look at the picture with clear eyes, she knew it would be foolish to refuse Alex's help. "The enemy of my enemy might be an unreliable friend," her father had said before, "but he is a friend nonetheless."

He had been talking about a time in the woods when a bear had scared off attacking wolves, saving his hunting party, but the phrase still applied. Whatever he was planning, she realized, it didn't matter. They had a much larger issue.

Thanking her father and laying a kiss on his grave, Mia stood back up, brushing the snow from her front. She still had no desire to see Alex, but much to see the others. She had already planned to stay at the inn tonight, at any rate.

Turning to leave, her eyes idly wandered over some of the other headstones. Harold Jensen. Eric Bernard. Marie Ambrosen.

She paused at the last one, eying it curiously. The girl had died during that same storm she had recalled earlier, but Mia still remembered her well. Would things have turned out differently if she had lived? Did she have a part to play in the present, still?

Mia resumed her walk to the inn, wondering. Something to think about, at the very least.

- \/\/ -

"I said no, Jenna. Stay inside."

His sister pouted. She made faces. Eventually she stormed off with Sheba, leaving Felix standing alone in the hall, shaking his head. He briefly considered following her, wondering what mischief she might bring about in rebellion, then decided against it. Knowing Jenna, he would find out regardless, and stopping her would only make future attempts more sneaky.

That familiar tightness creeping into his back, he clasped his hands above his head, arms straightened, and pushed, hearing and feeling his back snap like a dead twig. Almost automatically his mouth opened in a great yawn and he remembered just how little sleep he had actually gotten the night before. Enough to get through the day, to be sure; he needed very little for that. To keep him awake when nothing of importance was happening? Not nearly enough, he decided.

Rubbing his stomach, he realized a nap would take care of his teleportation sickness, as well. As he started walking to his room, his mind turned to their next move. It depended heavily on what news Isaac brought back from Imil, he knew, but he could not help but begin his musings.

Personally, he wanted to visit Prox next, regardless of whatever might or might not have happened in Imil. He would not feel comfortable until he verified that the Proxians were safe. They were a resilient race, to be sure, but he could not set aside the small pit of concern that had settled into the back of his mind, spreading its roots so far that no logic or reasoning would remove it.

He knew Ivan would want to visit Contigo, as well, for the same reasons. Both trips fell in line with Kraden's initial outline, so they would be reasonable steps. Did they need to stay in only two groups, though? Ivan had shown his ability to teleport without help, but Sheba had just as much skill as the boy. Felix felt confident that, possibly with some help from Ivan, she would be perfectly capable of such a feat as well.

However, he felt uncomfortable sending her out like that, given her condition. Sheba might have said that she was fine, but he knew that the girl would admit to nothing less. He needed to go with her; while he could trust someone else to check on Prox, he was much less sure about leaving Sheba's well-being in the care of anyone besides Piers, or possibly Mia. He trusted Isaac with many things, but for all his merits, the boy was still too reckless at times. Likely Garet's influence.

Of course, there was no reason why he and Sheba could not go to Prox themselves. Yes, that sounded better. Take care of both issues together. So, then, where would the lapis be taken? Further investigations would be pointless; the lighthouses were obvious choices, but without knowing the nature of the attack, any other location was as good a guess as the next. He supposed this choice was one that would have to wait until Isaac returned.

His steps slowed as he reached the second floor, glancing down the hall. No, he realized. They still had a small loose end here. Nothing of concern for the person in question, but it would certainly be a great concern to others, once news got out about Tolbi.

Passing his own door, Felix stopped instead at Garet's room. He knocked gently on the door, then quietly opened it. Aaron sat in a chair by the window, head propped up on his arms as he looked out. He very slightly turned his head when the door opened, just enough to see who had come in, then his eyes flicked forward again to resume his silent examination.

Felix entered the room, carefully stepping around the random objects and clothes strewn about. He stopped next to Aaron and looked out the window with him. At the bottom of the hill he could see a large mass of people, crowded around the outside of the closest inn. While they were gone, Kraden had arranged for all the extra food in his kitchens to be brought around Tolbi, to help with the sudden increase of the homeless.

As he opened his mouth to speak, the roar of a dragon suddenly engulfed their senses. As Aaron's hands flew to his ears, Felix saw everything outside become tinged with red. With his hand already on his sword, he suddenly sighed, releasing it. After a few long seconds, the awful din subsided, the red glow vanishing with it. Aaron looked up at Felix, out of his chair and half-crouched. Felix simply shook his head. "It was just Jenna."

Aaron paused before looking out the window, then back to Felix. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. She's not in a good mood right now."

Shrugging, the boy settled back into his chair, resuming his prior activity. "I don't think they know that," he added, pointing out the window.

Felix looked. Many of the people at the inn had fled, with most of the remaining crouched low, pointing up at the palace. He could only imagine what they thought of such a display, regardless of how Jenna had chosen to release her anger. "Excuse me, Aaron. I need to go have a talk with my sister."

Aaron simply made a small noise in acknowledgment. Felix watched him for a moment longer, seeing if anything more would come, but when nothing did, he turned and walked out, closing the door behind him.

She had been on the roof, that much was obvious. But how? As far as Felix knew, Kraden had no access to it. Not that it would stop Jenna, he realized. After Isaac had introduced her to climbing trees when they were young, she had made it a point to scale everything in Vale that her hands could not touch the top of.

He placed a hand on the wall and closed his eyes, picturing the building. Echoes through wood and stone reminded him of the third floor balconies, but at the moment, the roof was empty. Footsteps reverberated everywhere throughout the building, but even in such a small area, Jenna's were indistinguishable.

But...Sheba was with her. And there, on the third floor, two pairs of soft footsteps walking along the hallway. Pulling his hand from the wall, he moved quickly down his own hallway, wanting to cut them off at the next set of stairs. Taking them at a run, he swung around the mid-floor landing, bounded up the remaining stairs, and stepped out onto the third floor. "Jenn- oh."

Before him stood two young servants, obviously doing their rounds of cleaning. Both looked at him confusedly as he realized his mistake. Why would Jenna and Sheba be the only two people together? "Sorry," he said, turning around and going back downstairs. He could almost feel Jenna laughing at him, though he knew she had no way of knowing about it.

His stomach gurgled at him. He placed a hand on it soothingly, remembering his plan to take a nap. After a few stairs he realized that he had never actually spoken to Aaron about his intentions. He debated whether or not to go back, eventually deciding not to. The boy had seemed fairly preoccupied already. He would simply bring it up to Garet when they got back.

As his hand touched the doorknob of his room, a voice stopped him. "Mister Brooke." Cursing mentally, Felix turned around again, finding a servant standing behind him. "I apologize, sir, but Lord Kraden has requested your presence in his office."

Felix looked back at his door, then at the ground, sighing. "Very well. No, I know the way," he said, waving away the servant. Situations like this were exactly why he always tried to sleep when the opportunity arose – things always seemed to come up to prevent it.

He had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with Jenna. Had he not been the cause of her anger, he likely would not have connected her to the roar. Outbursts in the form of Psynergy seldom happened with her.

Instead of finding Jenna sitting in the office with Kraden, though, he found someone completely unexpected. "Master Hama," he said calmly. "I would say this is a surprise, but you're probably the least of those right now."

"Understandable," she said, her face a mirror of Felix's. "Sudden appearances seem to be the trend since yesterday. Kraden was just telling me about our dead friend, who decided death did not suit him."

"Well, when he shows his face again, I'm going to decide life doesn't suit him, either," Felix said, sitting in the chair beside Hama. "It's good to see you're safe, though. How did you get here?"

Hama raised an eyebrow. "A boat. I'm not the Adept my brother is, yet. My focus is too divided. A good thing, apparently, otherwise I wouldn't be here."

Felix opened his mouth to ask why, but stopped when the door behind him opened. Inside walked one of Kraden's younger alchemists, each of his hands resting on Jenna and Sheba's shoulders. Jenna looked up at her brother sheepishly, while Sheba looked only at the ground, her hands wringing in front of her nervously. "I found these two snooping around the basement, my lord. I made sure to bring them up here so that you could talk to them."

"Oh, don't be so full of yourself," Jenna said, scowling back at him. "If I really wanted to, I could have left you crying on the floor for your mommy."

The alchemist opened his mouth to respond, but Kraden cut him off with a weary wave of his hand. "Don't, Brennan. It's not worth it. Besides, though I doubt you want to hear it, she's probably right."

Brennan closed his mouth tightly, his face turning slightly red. He nodded his head to Kraden, then left, shutting the door behind him. An awkward silence settled into the room as Felix waited for Kraden to say something. By the time he realized that Kraden was likely waiting for the opposite, Jenna broke it herself. "Oh, Hama! There you are! We were looking for you."

Hama raised an eyebrow, a small smile playing across her face as Felix covered his own with a hand. "Oh? I'm sorry for misleading you, but I dislike basements."

Kraden rolled his eyes. "Alright, I'm going to cut this off before you two banter your way into the night. Jenna, Sheba, we'll talk later. Hama has brought news."

"Well," the woman said slowly, "technically, I haven't confirmed most of it. Three weeks ago, my dreams showed me the return of Anemos."

A small gasp caused everyone to turn, finding Sheba with her eyes wide and hands covering an open mouth. Felix knew the girl had long suspected her origin from the missing city, though he did not. A floating city? Even if they had pulled their city from the ground, the sealing of Alchemy would have sent it crashing back down, eventually.

If Hama's dreams spoke the truth, though, then apparently the civilization had survived. Maybe Sheba's beliefs were true, after all. "They're...back?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Hama shook her head. "Yes, but do not take it as a blessing, Sheba. They come for war. They were the ones behind Tolbi's destruction and your lightning storm."

"War?" Felix asked. "Why?"

"I don't know," she said. "The visions only showed me events, not the reasons."

"What else did you see?" Kraden asked, frowning.

"I saw all of Imil asleep," she said. "I saw Prox unable to light fires. I saw great twisters whipping around Ankhol Tower. I saw wind and water tear at Lemuria."

Felix thought about the places affected. Tolbi. Venus Lighthouse. Imil. Prox. Ankhol. Lemuria. "Did you see anything of Tundaria?"

Hama looked at him, shaking her head. "No, but I see you made the same connection I did."

"Ancient civilizations," Kraden murmured. "Those that were around the same time as Anemos."

"They were striking high priority targets," Felix said, thinking about Prox. "The areas with the highest concentrations of strong Adepts."

The sound of the door opening made him turn around once more, but this time he found Sheba missing. He flashed Kraden a quick grimace, then followed after her, kicking himself. He had not even considered what Sheba thought about this. The Anemoi might be her family, her society, her people. What would he think if he found out Vale had suddenly attacked a city full of innocents? Or in this case, several cities? The closest experience he had, though, was finding out his town had ignorantly endangered the world with the best of intentions. A little different.

The hallway was empty by the time he reached it, so he headed for the closest stairwell. He found her huddled in the corner of the landing between the first and second floors, clutching her knees to her chest and sobbing.

He sat down next to her slowly, placing an arm around her shoulders and letting her head fall on his. "I c-can't beli-believe it," she said between sobs. "They're m-my people! I'm one of...of them!"

"You don't know that," he said as gently as possible, but the words did nothing to stem the flow of tears. He kicked himself again and tried a different tactic. "Even if you are, what difference does it make? You are you, first and foremost. Your heritage doesn't matter."

That calmed her a little, enough to reduce her to mere sniffles. "But why would they do this?"

"I don't know," Felix said, "but you can be sure that we'll stop them."

The girl sniffed again, wiping her nose with her arm, but said nothing. Felix tried to think of something more to say, but nothing came that he thought would make her feel any better. In the end, he just stayed as he was, comforting her by simply giving her a shoulder to cry on.