AN: ... . ah.. ... mmn... -shuffles off-

Chapter 37

He woke to the sound of Aster's voice, explaining something in needlessly complex terms. His back and neck ached from being propped on the edge of the low table though someone had put a throw blanket around his shoulders. Richter sat up slowly and rubbed his face with a hand and leaned back in the chair. His spine popped as he lifted his arms over his head and breathed in.

"Hey, look who's back with us!" Teepo said, flying over to hover in Richter's face.

Pushing the doll away, Richter shook his head. "Not like I wanted to pass out like that," he complained and glanced around. The table was still littered with bits of things, but apparently the World Tree's booster had been created while Richter had taken his unintentional nap. It now sat on a cloth at a cleared end of the table next to the staff. Jude and Altessa sat on the other side of the table looking exhausted. Elise was in the chair in front of their finished products, sipping from a cup of tea.

"You're getting better," Aster said from where he was working on something at the table beside him. "But since you're up, can you fix this for me? I'm about to throw it across the room." He pushed his latest device over and thumped his elbows on the table with a disgusted huff, propping his chin in his hands. "It's supposed to be a mana-shield but I'm missing something and I can't figure out what."

Richter found his glasses on the table near where his head had been resting and put them on. Aster's latest invention was an unsightly mass of bits of this and that and he shook his head, unable to figure out which end was up on it. "I think you wasted your time on this," he said honestly.

Groaning, Aster put his face in his arms. "I was afraid of that."

He gave the device another closer look, trying to identify whether there was even any science involved in it and shook his head. Obviously Aster had merely been throwing things together to see if any of it would work. "The best this will do is explode, I think," he said as he found a booster stuck into the mix. "I hope you weren't planning on using this yourself."

"You don't need to rub it in," Aster's voice was muffled by his arms, head still on the table.

"Aww," Teepo said and landed on the back of Aster's head. "Cheer up, Pal! You did a great job on my booster!"

Richter set the device down and carefully began taking it apart. "It's too complicated, I think." He considered the whole mess again and rubbed his eyes under his glasses.

"I thought," Aster said as he lifted his head and turned it to face Richter. Teepo lifted a fraction above Aster's head to avoid falling to the table and set down again. "If this could block the wave of boosted mana when Elise and the World Tree set it off... I'd thought that maybe if I could punch it hard enough, I could hide behind the disruption in the wave."

Gaze moving from Aster to Teepo, then back, Richter smiled. "Why block it?" he asked. "Ride it."

Aster's eyes opened wide as he drew in a breath. Sitting up suddenly, he bounced Teepo off his head and nearly halfway across the room. "Martel's knickers! You're right! There's no way I could ever generate enough power to block that wave! And if I could, it would completely negate all our efforts to boost the Tree in the first place!" He paused, gripping the edge of the table. "But. If I disconnect myself from the mana flow entirely I could be shoved anywhere..."

"If you're tethered to something, you won't go far," Jude said. "Like a buoy."

Richter could see the wheels and cogs shifting in Aster's head, the young man's shoulders stiffened slightly, fingers tightening their grip on the edge of the table. If he'd had his shoes off, Richter knew that Aster's toes would be curling. Suddenly, Aster slapped the table. "Got it!" he announced and turned to look at Richter. Everyone else at the table twitched in surprise.

"Of course," the half-elf said before Aster could even draw a breath. "Who else would you tether to?"

Biting his lower lip, the blond sighed and laughed softly. "Okay, okay, but how do we achieve this? And we'll need to make one for Marta too. She'll probably end up being there, and even if she's not..."

"She'll tether to Emil," Richter said.

"That is if he's capable of withstanding the wave too," Jude said. "From what I understood of his current form, Ratatosk shouldn't even be alive anymore."

Aster turned to look at him. "Emil is, at the root, human. He has a physical form unlike me and Marta. We're currently just mana manifestations."

"You mean like illusions?" Teepo asked, floating back over to hover in the center of the table.

"Yeah," Jude said thoughtfully.

"Woah... Does that mean that you could look like whatever you wanted to look like?" Teepo asked.

Considering this for a moment, Aster tipped his head and shrugged. "Tiger figured out how to manipulate his own mana to form attacks, so I guess if I believed hard enough." He tapped his fingers on the table.

Elise set her cup on the table. "Why not just believe your way out of it then?" she asked.

"Yeah! Link with a booster and pretend real hard that you won't go anywhere!" Teepo added, twirling in place.

"That would work for Marta," Aster said. "Especially if I hand her something that looks sufficiently complicated."

"What about me?" Balan said, succeeding in startling Richter since he had completely forgotten that there was someone else present. "What if you made your physical form a spirit fossil? At least you would still be around?"

Jude tipped his head to the side slowly and tapped his finger against his temple. "Speaking of which..." he mused. "I wonder if we put enough mana into your crystal, Balan, you might be able to manifest as a physical being again."

Richter turned his attention back to the device Aster had attempted to create and continued taking it apart, finding several other useful components, which he proceeded to link together in a different configuration.

"Alvin would be happy about that," Elise said, looking down at her cup as she slowly turned it between her hands. "He was really upset."

"Aww, I'm touched. Alvin actually cares about me."

Teepo snorted. "No need to be sarcastic. Alvin's a good guy. Even though he tries hard not to be."

"Surprising to hear you defend him, Teepo."

Aster scooted his chair closer to watch Richter's work. "Oh, I see," he mused.

Richter set his tools down and grabbed Aster's arm, quickly taking the bracelet Raine had given him in order to clip half his modified device to it. He wasn't sure it would even work the way he intended for it to, considering that half of the equation depended on Aster and his determination to defy reality. Taking Aster's choker off, he attached the booster and put it back on. "This will work," Richter said, determined to make himself believe in it, for his friend's sake. Regardless, once he clipped the bracelet back on Aster's arm, he could feel a slight draw from his mana and knew that at least one aspect of the device was working.

"We just need to make another for Marta and Emil," Aster said, looking more closely at the modifications Richter had made.

"Wasn't direct tethering a rather intimate things for spirits?" Balan asked. "I seem to recall Alfred saying something about that once."

Jude flushed and looked away.

The mana balance shifted in the room, the humidity rising before Aqua condensed into existence, facing the other way. She looked left and right, then turned around. "Lord Richter!" she said with a bright smile and swam through the air to put her arms around his shoulders. "How are you feeling today?"

"Better," Richter said. At least it wasn't a lie this time. "Shouldn't you be guarding the Gate?"

"Lord Ratatosk sent me to deliver a message to you all." Aqua drew back to look at the rest of the people in the room. "You have a day to finish what you're doing. He wants everyone to meet at the World Tree tomorrow."

"What?" Teepo yelped. "Man! He doesn't believe in giving people much warning, does he?"

Aqua giggled. "You think you've got it rough? Try being Lady Marta. She doesn't even know it's her wedding!"

. . .

Catching Sheena's arm, Emil leaned in close to whisper, "I need your help."

She turned to look at him. Marta was busy talking to Milla about her hair. Taking advantage of her thorough distraction, Emil leaned in to whisper quickly. "I need you to get Marta something nice to wear for tomorrow. But don't tell her what it's for!"

Sheena's eyes widened. Her hand covered her mouth. "Is that what..." she whispered.

Emil settled for nodding once. "Make it happen please?"

"Of course!" Sheena cleared her throat. "I think we should stop by Altamira," she said in a voice everyone else could hear. "To see how Regal is recovering things."

Marta looked back and narrowed her eyes at Emil again when she found him standing near Sheena. Emil blinked at her, doing his best to look confused.

Ratatosk took over again. "Hopefully he has news of Alice and Decus. That is, if he's worth anything."

Folding her arms, Marta frowned. "Why are you being such a pill?" she asked. "You've been in a bad mood since we left the research facility."

"I am not in a bad mood," Ratatosk denied.

"Don't lie to me," she said. "Emil. Why is Ratatosk acting like this?"

Pressing his hand against his eyes and seething between clenched teeth, Ratatosk stated firmly, "I am fine, Marta." He opened his eyes and saw that Milla was standing behind Marta a few paces, head tilted and hair-whip bobbing.

Emil broke into a grin. "He keeps getting distracted by Milla's hair."

"Traitor," Ratatosk groused and retreated.

"My hair?" Milla blinked once in surprise, then lifted her hand to touch the feathered lock pointing out from her head. "I do use it to distract enemies when I'm fighting them. I didn't realize that Lord Ratatosk would be so affected by it as well."

Taking Marta's hand, Emil shook his head. "He just needs to go beat something up." He reached out with his other hand to open a portal to Aselia, then stepped through into the cool night air of Altamira. "Hadn't realized it was this late," he said. There were people on the street, though they looked like locals rather than tourists, and they were staring as the group simply walked out of a dark portal into their reality. "Marta, Sheena, take Milla and get us resupplied. I'll take Ivar and go speak with Regal."

Sheena immediately nodded and grabbed Marta's hand, pulling her away before she could object.

Ivar looked from the ladies to Emil and slowly turned to follow. "You're not treating her very well," he dared to say.

"I'm really bad at hiding things from her," Emil said. "I don't want her to know what we're up to."

The silver haired man frowned. "That's pretty low."

Emil smiled as he stepped into the ferry and pushed the lever for Regal's office building. "Not really. It's a surprise for her." He turned to look at Ivar and tipped his head slightly. "We asked Milla to officially marry us."

"Oh!" Ivar sat down on one of the benches when the ferry started moving. "I guess... that would be a good reason to hurry her off." He frowned slightly and folded his arms. "But she would need something better to wear."

"I asked Sheena to take care of it," Emil said.

Ivar nodded sagely. "I'd have been a better choice. I was in charge of choosing Lady Milla's clothes... Otherwise she had a tendency to walk around naked. It was slightly mortifying, but I finally convinced her with offering things with plenty of color. She only sees her physical form as a way to distract the male half of the population."

Ratatosk snorted. "Is that why you haven't noticed Sheena's breasts?"

Eyes widening, Ivar's head snapped up. "A gentleman doesn't point out such things!"

"So you have been looking," Ratatosk teased as Ivar's face flushed.

The ferry stopped in its berth at the Larenzo headquarters and Emil reached over to unlatch the door. He carefully stepped onto solid ground again and headed across the foyer to the desk. "Is Regal in his office?"

Looking up from her book, the woman paused a second before recognizing Emil. "Yes sir."

"Thank you." Emil headed for the lift and stepped in. He had to wait a moment for Ivar to join him, the man walking with his head bowed and ears pink still. Clearing his throat, Emil swayed from heels to toes in the lift as it went up. "You know... She's not seeing anyone."

"What makes you think I'm even interested? I'm devoted to serving Lord Maxwell."

"Funny, I thought you were serving me," Ratatosk pointed out, then looked away. "Though I'm sure that serving Maxwell would be even better served by continuing your family's heritage. Sheena also has a duty as the last Summoner to pass her talents on." Ivar's face was turning red again.

Emil closed his mouth as the lift stopped and the doors opened. "Uhm. Ivar, I think she likes you. Okay? And she's a friend, so don't just leave her wondering. That's really what we're trying to say." He stepped into Regal's office and paused as he glanced around the brightly lit room. The chair behind the desk was empty.

"Huh?" Regal sat up from his slouch in one of the cushioned chairs on the far side of the room. He blinked several times and rubbed his eyes. "Emil," he said and stood. "You've returned. Was your mission successful?"

"Yes. Aster and Jude have gone back to Altessa to finish working on their project. You look exhausted," Emil said.

Regal took a breath and let it out, brows drawing together.

Feeling his stomach sink, Emil swallowed, knowing whatever news Regal had, it was going to be bad.

"I discovered what Alice has been up to," he said. "You may want to sit..."

Emil considered that for a moment, then moved closer to slide into one of the chairs facing Regal as he collapsed into his again.

"Well?" Ratatosk asked, irritated by the delay.

"Izoold has been burned to the ground," Regal said.

"Did anyone survive?" Emil asked.

Regal rubbed his eyes again. "Death would have been a mercy... Everyone. Men, women, children... have been transformed into demons. A group went to Trent and nearly wiped them out as well. Every person that falls rises again as one of them."

Emil sighed, looking down at his knees. "We'll have to deal with that soon then."

"I've already advised the Tethe'alla liaison of the situation. He's sent word to the king. I'm not sure what the king might plan on doing. I don't know if he'll send reinforcements or not."

He shifted foot to foot before finally peeking at Regal through his bangs. "Regal..." Emil started and cleared his throat. "You think... tomorrow you can spare a few hours? I... Well, I'm going to marry Marta tomorrow."

"So suddenly? What does Marta think of that?"

"I haven't told her. It's a surprise and... Also a trap. We're going to try to attract Alice and Decus and the mana thief and disrupt their plans and hopefully destroy them."

Shaking his head Regal closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That's rather cruel to use your most romantic gesture as bait like that. But I think I understand what you're getting at. It would be too good an opportunity to pass up for them. I will attend, of course."

"Thanks." Emil smiled. "It would mean a lot, to both of us."

. . .

Marta mutely followed Sheena, still mildly annoyed that Ratatosk and Emil had ditched her like that. "One thing after another with him," she complained to the ninja. "First they lied to me then they push me away. I don't get it. Does he want me around or not?" She glanced back at Milla to see if she had anything to say on the subject. "Has... has he gotten... bored of me?"

"They want you around, Marta." Sheena said quickly. "We just need to get supplies. We haven't had the chance to in a while and we should probably check up on the town to see what's going on." Sheena glanced around nervously.

Turning towards the ninja, Marta scowled. "What supplies? There's not much here." All around, Altimira was practically a ghost town. The park was closed and only the locals and wounded soldiers were there. Most of the shops were shuttered tight. Everyone on the road looked nervous; waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Well..." Sheena looked slightly lost for a moment. "Um. How about just some girl-time?" she asked, her smile awkwardly pinned on. Her eyes darted at Milla. "I haven't seen you in a while and well..."

Narrowing her eyes, Marta folded her arms.

"Oh! I wish he'd asked someone else to do this! I don't know anything about fashion!" Sheena covered her face with both hands and bent over in shame.

"Perhaps Ivar should have come as well if we're looking for fashion," Milla said.

"Fashion?" Marta drew back in shock.

Milla had already turned away. "Ivar!"

"Lady Milla!"

Turning to look as well, Marta spotted Ivar and Ratatosk striding down the street from the ferry station. "Guess they weren't in there for long," Sheena said. Ivar was waving at them like an excited puppy only to think for a second and looked at Ratatosk who mutely nodded before turning to continue on his way. Ivar broke into a jog towards them. "Yes Lady Milla?"

The blonde Lord of Spirits nodded once. "We are in need of clothes," she said.

"I would be glad to help!" Ivar exclaimed in breathless excitement.

Sheena gave Milla a look. "You're going to ruin it," she accused under her breath.

Milla smiled. "And I worked so hard to create this outfit. Do you not approve?"

"It's very fine, Lady Milla. Though a little too much white." Ivar said, tipping his head left, then right. He turned to look at Marta and Sheena before nodding. "I think I know exactly what you three need!"

"There's no need-" Sheena objected.

"As Lady Milla and Lord Ratatosk's Handmaid, I have the sacred duty to make sure you're properly dressed for any occasion. This simply doesn't do." He gestured at the clothes Alvin had begrudgingly bought Marta.

Looking down at her rather drab attire, Marta flushed slightly. "I had nicer clothes before..." she said, "I just suddenly grew out of them."

"Never worry, Lady Marta! I'll fix this." Ivar looped his arm through hers, then grabbed Sheena's hand, dragging them both down the street towards a clothing shop. Milla followed behind. Surprisingly, the shop was open and Ivar released Sheena to propel Marta in first. "Let's see. Colors, I think," he mused and passed her to wander the racks. He selected a pile of items and returned to her where he dropped a pile on a shelf nearby. Holding up one item after another, he squinted from her to Sheena to the garment, tossing aside some and putting others in a new pile. "Pink looks good on you, but far too innocent. Red and white. For you," he turned to Sheena. "Purple and gold. Milla, would you be willing to try blue and black?"

"I would be willing," the lady agreed.

Sheena looked hardly amused. "I don't need anything new to wear..." She looked at Milla helplessly as Ivar turned away again to rummage through several other piles of clothes.

"Ah ha!" he said and came back with something. He shoved it into Sheena's hands. "Go try this on!" He had turned away before she could do more than draw a breath of protest.

"Last time I had to get dressed up, I didn't even have anywhere to keep my weapons," Sheena whimpered but withdrew to the fitting room sullenly when she found no support from either of the other two women.

Ivar pushed something into Marta's hands that was rather more fabric than she had expected him to give her, considering Sheena's bundle and Milla's current attire. Reluctantly heading for the second fitting room, she was surprised to find she had been given a white dress with red accents. She heard Sheena come out of the other stall.

"Its missing something," she heard Ivar say. "Ah-ha!"

"Lady Marta," Milla called. "Are you changed?"

"Y-yes..." She pushed the door open and stepped out, flushing slightly. "Isn't this a little fancy though?"

Milla smiled at her. Ivar shook his head. "A lady of your prestige should wear her status visibly," Milla said.

"Its beautiful," Sheena whispered, hands covering her mouth. She was dressed in a dark purple sheath dress, gold edging on the hem and sleeves with black leggings beneath.

The Lord of Spirits was now wearing an outfit made of a short skirt and a top that consisted of little more than straps and a couple triangles of cloth to cover important parts. She stood there with absolutely no shame, hands on her hips. Marta found herself blushing harder as she stared at the well-endowed woman. "A-aren't you... cold?"

"I am as you are, a being made entirely of mana. Such inconveniences do not bother me." She looked down at herself. "As for this, it distracts just under fifty percent of the human population."

"I'd say the number is slightly higher," Sheena said mournfully. "But Marta, you really look lovely. I think Emil would be very happy."

Marta looked at the floor, brushing her hands down the dagged skirt. She found herself smiling. "Yeah... I think he would..."

"Then it's settled," Milla said. "Ivar, pay for these."

"Of course, Lady Milla." He set off to find the owner of the shop.