A/N: The brackets before Luke's diary let you know of any changes I've made to it. Make sure you read to the end. The last bit is not his diary, but it's short enough to be easily missed.

Chapter 41

The group reached Port Belkend, a small town north of Belkend itself. I wonder what'll be revealed in Belkend? At any rate, we have to head south to get there. (Though it'll be Asch doing the walking.)

Port Belkend was Guy's paradise.

Raine could tell from the boyish grin and the way his wide eyes lit up as the Tartarus approached the dock. It was an excitement she shared but for different reasons. A clean city with brick paths and fon machines with functions only the natives knew what for, it had an industrial feel that was much calmer than what she saw at Baticul, yet much more refined. It made sense that this was the port for a fontech city with the pipes flowing from the ocean to the buildings where gears turned and pistons moved. With his fingers drumming the rail and his feet nearly dancing in place, he just couldn't wait to see it all up close. Too bad she wouldn't see his reaction to Belkend itself, though she could guess what Belkend looked like just from seeing its port.

Finally, she felt one step closer to going home.

As soon as they left the Tartarus and walked up the dock, Raine stopped at the ticket booth. Jade, Anise, Natalia, Asch, Ion, and Guy continued on without noticing. Would this be the last time she saw them? A strange feeling took hold of her heart. Seeing them walk away somehow felt like a loss. Strange…. She had to leave Auldrant. "This is as far as I go."

"Huh?" Guy was the first to whip around. The others were no less surprised and wandered back towards her. "Wait, you're… you're not coming with us?"

"I suppose now is a good time with Sheridan so close," Natalia said, though she didn't sound too eager for Raine to go either.

"You could get a boat when we leave," Guy suggested. "Aren't you curious about what's going on?"

Raine shook her head. "I don't really care what Van is doing, except that I need to go to Sheridan before he has time to do it."

"I see," Jade said. He pushed up his glasses. "So Van's true intentions don't interest you?"

"Not in the least," she replied. "I have more pressing concerns right now than the idle curiosities of how all of this relates to Van." No, it was more than that. Falling into the Qliphoth was a warning that she needed to get off this planet as soon as possible. If one area was going to fall, why wouldn't another one fall, too? She couldn't afford to dally for too long in their side-quest about Van's motives.

"Idle curiosities?" Jade frowned at her. He didn't believe her. And no wonder. How would it be an idle curiosity to fall into one of Van's plans and then not want to find out what he's really doing, especially for someone as curious as a scholar? Not to mention the effect of Van's plans on everyone's futures, including hers. Perhaps he wondered if she already knew more than she let on. They both knew that she wouldn't say anything more than she had to. Either way, he could believe what he wanted.

"Thank you all for your help," Raine said. "I appreciate your allowing me to tag along all this time."

"Of course," Natalia replied. "We're happy to be of assistance."

"You were," Anise muttered. "But at least I won't have to play bodyguard for her." Raine smiled warmly. Anise could've just left Raine to fend for herself and not worried about it, but Anise allowed her to play in the Zao Ruins. The young soldier had her own soft spot and sure, Raine saw it even now as Anise pretended she wouldn't miss her at all. "But are you sure it's a good idea?"

Raine nodded.

"You've been a big help for us as well," Jade said. "Almost as much as the trouble you've caused me." Raine couldn't help but smirk.

"You'll miss me most of all, I'm sure. And that includes Guy."

Guy blushed. "Well, it's—you know, you don't have to leave right now."

"I'm sorry, Guy," Raine said. "The sooner I get there, the better off I'll be."

"Tch. Leave her to it. We don't need her anyway." Asch turned away and wandered down the port towards town. One by one, the others followed behind him, but Guy was more reluctant. Rather than walking away, he approached her.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"I'm going to Sheridan, Guy, not the God-General headquarters." Raine laughed. "I've managed on my own for years with a younger brother in tow. I'll be fine."

"But…"

"What about Baticul? And the Qliphoth? And all of the other times I showed weakness? Is that what you were going to ask about?" When he frowned, she nodded. "I'm a big girl. I don't need you to protect me from what may come." But she approached him leaving a three-foot gap between them. "I appreciate your concern." She really did. For once, she parted with good friends when it was time to leave instead of running away from their threats and raised blades.

Still, she didn't move right away. The excitement Guy had about going to Belkend disappeared. Now his head hung a little lower. She understood. Now that she said something, she was sorry to leave so soon. Not only that, she felt the pull of seeing him again as unlikely as that would be. She couldn't abandon Genis.

"You can come by later if you want," she told him. "I won't be leaving again until the Rheaird is fixed."

"Y-yeah…."

Suddenly, she didn't know what to say or do. He didn't really know either as he shuffled his feet, unable to look at her.

"Anyway…" Raine found it difficult to look at him, too, and chose to watch the ticket attendant instead. "I'll… see you later."

"Okay. Good luck."

She waved and he responded with a torpid wave of his own. She wandered over to the ticket booth and when she faced the attendant at his stand, she snuck a peek over her shoulder. The others had already disappeared. All but Guy. He stood where he was, watching her until he finally turned and followed the others across the bridge and out of view. Something shifted within her. Not that she expected him to be happy but… why did he have to look so forlorn?

And what happened to her own excitement?

Raine sighed. She couldn't leave Genis. She had to find him and make sure he was okay. This was necessary. This was her chance to see him again.

So why did she feel so bad?

"I'd like a ticket to Sheridan."

The attendant nodded. "The ferry should be ready soon. That'll be 400 gald."

[Changes]

Raine said she wanted to go to Sheridan to ask Class M about her Rheaird, so she stayed behind at the port. I hope she makes it okay. Guy seemed concerned about her, too.

So Belkend is part of Father's lands... It's the first time I've ever seen it.

Asch seems to think we can learn something about what Master Van's trying to do at Fon Machine Laboratory I, here in Belkend. We'll just have to head there and see what we can find.

At the laboratory, Asch's group encountered a researcher named Spinoza. Asch says that Spinoza was involved in his-no, in the original Luke's kidnapping, and that he's studying the use of fomicry on living things.

And it turns out that Jade is the one who invented the technology of fomicry itself. I never knew that Jade was such an incredible scientist...

Not only that, Spinoza's deeply involved in Master Van's plan as well. He said something about a preservation project... What could that be? It sounded like it had something to do with fomicry and replicas.

After listening around, a place called Ortion Cavern started to sound suspicious. A chemical called fonimin that's needed for fomicry can be obtained there, and if Master Van's researching fomicry, he'd need lots of fonimin. With no other clues, the decision was made to head for Ortion Cavern.

But just then, Guy announced that he was leaving. At first I thought he was going after Raine but then he said he'd always been worried about me. Now he wanted to wait for me to return, trusting that I could recover.

Guy... Thanks. He even said it without me present, which made me really happy. I hope he really means he's coming to wait for me. I guess I'll have to find out later.

Guy left the others at Belkend, and Asch and the rest headed west for Ortion Cavern, on the Radessian continent.

Sheridan looked just as Raine expected: much like Port Belkend where engineers obviously made their mark in this town. It reminded her of the Renegade Base except everything was outside. The ground looked like someone had started paving the road with bricks but never finished; they must have worn the bricks down to dust. But at least there were clumps of desert grasses and weeds to speak of unlike Baticul where the only place outdoor plants thrived was in the royal quarters.

A tower reached into the sky far above any of the buildings, like a lighthouse, but it seemed far too tall for that. Raine wondered what it was really for, especially since the town almost breathed from every building's moving machinery performing actions she could only guess at. Within the town center, a building wore a clock face, and excited, Raine hurried for it. This was her chance to learn numbers!

But when she saw the symbols up close, she realized it had no numbers at all, but the same almond-shaped black symbol for each hour. She could've figured out the time, probably, based on the location of the symbols, but she couldn't write down the symbols for the numbers. She sighed.

Of course. That's how Auldrant was. She had to learn everything the hard way. Raine stared at the clock, watching the minute-hand move gradually towards the next symbol when a woman stopped, watching her. Suddenly aware, Raine turned her head just enough to see her. She had short black hair and red overalls with a white shirt.

The woman smiled knowingly. "You're new here."

Raine nodded. She supposed anyone who showed that much interest in the clock must be new. "I'm looking for Class M. I heard they're working on a flying machine."

"That's right. They've excavated two hover drives and are now testing them to see what they can do. And that's not all the amazing stuff that's going on!" The woman's eyes shined as she pointed to the northeast above the clock building. "That tower over there? That's the Rocket Man's tower! He's working on a project to go even higher than the Albiore." She reminded Raine of how excited Guy was when he explored the Tartarus controls. Were all engineers this passionate? She supposed that would work in her favor. "But if you're looking for Class M, just go on in. What's stopping you?"

Raine followed the woman's gaze to the clock building and pointed. "You mean in there?"

"Yes, that's their main headquarters."

That was too easy. Suspicious, Raine slowly walked towards the solid metal doors, inhaled deeply to settle her nerves, and knocked. She heard a muffled holler but little else. Eventually, she heard footsteps.

Then the doors opened to reveal a man in a two-toned green shirt that had the sleeves torn off and a leather workman's belt strapped to his waist.

He looked her up and down. "Yes? Is there something I can help you with?"

Raine simply stared at him. For an old man, he looked rather fit. He was mostly bald except for a tall tuft of blond hair and matching eyebrows that put Elder McGovern's to shame. She couldn't even see his eyes. She shook her head to clear it. "I umm… I need your help."

"Well come on in. No need to stand out there." He waved her in and closed the door behind her, and then rubbed his gloved hands together. The way he watched her, she felt even more self-conscious than before, mostly because she couldn't see his eyes to know what he's thinking.

"Don't act so skittish." His tone was kind enough. She took a few more steps. Distracted by clicking and whirring, Raine scanned the room. The workshop had two main floors with the bottom level split into two heights and like the buildings outside was mostly made of bricks and metalwork. The gears on the back wall turned each other and Raine could see the flow of motion from one gear to the next, all the way up to the shaft that crossed the ceiling back towards the clock on the front of the building. One gear had been painted with the sun, moon, and stars, though the moon and sun never appeared at the same time.

"I'm Iemon. Leader of Class M." She didn't answer, too mesmerized by the apparatus at the back. "Heh, impressed by that, eh?" He sounded amused rather than offended. Iemon stepped past her and up the stairs to the war room table in front of the gear apparatus. "Just wait until you see what else we have going on." All of the chairs pointed directly to the head of the table where he probably sat. Iemon stopped at the war room table, watching her. Raine walked up the stairs, too, taking in everything she could see. Crates, tools, and all kinds of equipment, panels of notes all over the place.

This was definitely the home of researchers. Raine grinned. There was no better place to find someone to help her, she could tell. The woman's passion was nothing compared to this.

"So who are you?" Iemon asked.

Finally, Raine focused on him again. His expression was hard to read as he studied her. "You're Class M, correct?" she asked. "I heard you're building flying machines here. I hope you can repair mine for me." Raine dug through her bag for the stuff she'd planned on offering and some gald she got from Yulia City. She set each item on the table as she pulled it out. "I can pay you with these. Is this enough?"

Iemon ignored the offering. "A flying machine?" He leaned in closer for a better look though it wouldn't do much with as much distance as there was between them. "You mean you have a flying machine? Where did you get it?"

Yes! She would definitely get help. His interest was too strong. "I got it from some friends. I crashed it and I would ask them to fix it up but I'm afraid I lost contact with them."

She saw the skepticism spread across his face. "Is that true?" Iemon asked thoughtfully. "Aside from Commander Dist, we are the only ones working on flying machines." Though something about the way he tilted his chin down to think felt promising. "However…." Suddenly, the man snapped his fingers and headed for a waste paper basket at the base of a small desk where he sifted through several wads of crumpled paper, opening them one by one and tossing them aside, adding to a pile that was already there. Confused, she simply waited until he found the paper he wanted.

"Yes, that's the one." He examined the paper closer, squinting at it merely inches from his face. Was he visually impaired? But then he looked at her, his eyes widened to the point she could see them. They were blue and appeared very kind. "So was it true then?"

"I'm sorry?" Raine hesitated to approach him but something was off. Apparently he wasn't about to answer her as he waved the paper aloft and dashed up the set of stairs to one of the rooms on the left.

"Aston! Tamara! You might want to come down here! It might be true after all!"

True? Raine felt the cold fear return. What was true? She thought back to the Tartarus when Guy had pulled a paper out of his pocket and it turned out to be all about her. Was this the same thing? Oh, she hoped not. But what else could he have a sudden interest in?

"Liar!" A man hollered from the room upstairs. "How can that be?"

Iemon disappeared into the room. "Here, look at this." But that was the last Raine understood. Muffled voices sifted from the room, not even sparing a word for her to understand. She watched the door with trepidation. Should she leave? But she couldn't. She had to have the Rheaird fixed up before Van could see his plans through and these people were the only ones who could help her. She certainly wasn't going to ask Dist!

"You old man! I'm going to prove you wrong!" An elderly woman returned through the door and paused, surprised to see Raine at the war room table. She peered through round glasses and had her grey hair pulled back into a short ponytail, hurrying down the stairs with vigor Raine didn't know the elderly were capable of. Unsure what to do, Raine almost took a step back but found her foot couldn't move. "What are you really here for? Who are you?" The words were hostile, but Raine heard the curiosity in the woman's voice. Then the woman's expression changed to include a note of familiarity.

"I…" What did the paper say? Was it letter someone had sent to them? The woman scrutinized her, examining her face, presumably for any trace of lying. "I crashed a flying machine. I need it fixed up."

The woman's face softened and she asked gently, "Who sent you?"

"A friend told me I could come to Sheridan and ask Class M for help. I thought that was you."

"Yes, of course we are." As the woman spoke, Iemon returned down the stairs with another elderly man in tow. She looked over her shoulder at them. "It might be possible…."

"Of course it isn't!" This time, it was the bald man with gray fringe hanging in a sheet around his head. He wore the same leather workman's belt over a red shirt and brown pants with the pantlegs rolled up on his calf. He took one step at a time as he descended the stairs with Iemon.

"Are you really Raine Sage?" the gray old man asked.

Raine gasped. They knew her name?! But she didn't give it to them. "Y-yes…" It wouldn't do any good to lie. But she panted, wondering if it was that time again. However, they all just exchanged glances at each other as if her name alone meant something. She hesitated but said finally, "My flying machine is called a Rheaird, and I need to have it repaired."

"Rheaird, huh?"

In fact, Raine wasn't sure where everyone came from, but it seemed like a flood of people suddenly wandered in from all corners of the house, ranging from as old as the man with the bushy eyebrows to a young woman about Raine's own age, if not a bit younger. A young man poked his head out from a doorway upstairs on the right and blinked with confusion before he, too, converged on the war room level. Another man and woman appeared from rooms downstairs. Raine found herself surrounded by three old people and two middle-ages adults, and two young people, most of whom wore either aprons or overalls with tool belts. How many people did Class M have?!

"I'm sorry, where are my manners? I am Tamara of Class M." She held out her leathery hand for her to shake. Raine took it but didn't introduce herself. Tamara smiled. "Oh, relax, dear. You came here for help, didn't you?" When Raine didn't answer, she continued. "We thought it was all a hoax," she explained. "You see, someone did send us a letter explaining your situation." Tamara wandered back around the meeting table, "but since Commander Dist is the only other person with a flying machine and both of our hover drives are accounted for, we assumed it was fake." She ran her fingers along the back of a chair as she passed it.

"Ha! You really are real, huh?" Iemon clapped his hands and sat down in his chair. "Maybe we should respond to him." Him? The McGoverns? Raine wondered. So did the McGoverns give notice that she would come? They had to of. How else would Class M know her name?

Taking a guess at that, Raine nodded, dug through her bag, and pulled out one of the books she stole from Elder McGovern's library. "Here, Field Marshall McGovern gave me these. And this," she pulled out the map to show her. The woman picked up one of the books and looked it over, even flipping open the leather cover.

"Wasn't he retired?" the grey old man asked. Raine assumed he was Aston. He was the only man that came out of the room Iemon had gone into when he hollered names.

"Well, yes but—" Iemon replied.

Tamara's mumble cut him off. "These are about Malkuth…." Tamara considered the books and the map and nodded. She found a paper plaque inside the front cover. "This looks like it came from the library in Saint Binah's military base. Isn't that the citadel where General McGovern is now?"

"Yes," Raine said. "General Glenn McGovern. They allowed me to borrow those books for the sake of getting to know Malkuth. I'd never been there before and knew very little about them. They were very kind in saving me even if tensions are high."

Tamara closed the book and handed it back to Raine. "It does do one good to gain as much knowledge as you can. As a citizen of Kimlasca, that's quite commendable of you."

"Knowledge is my greatest asset." Raine nodded and returned her books and the map to her bag. "Now, I know you are researchers working on your own projects, but my request is a serious matter. Will you please help me? If you want to send a letter to Elder McGovern to confirm, he'll tell you how I crashed and he found me next to the Rheaird. Please, I need to go home." Something about her story rang true to them. She could tell from their kind expressions.

"Don't worry," the young woman said. "We'll get you home." She was definitely the youngest of the lot with short blond hair and goggles. Her brown leather jacket was lined with wool. She held out her hand to Raine. "I'm Noelle." Raine shook her hand. "And this is my older brother, Ginji." The young man held out his hand next.

"Nice to meet you," Ginji said. "So where is home? Maybe we can take you on the Albiore when it's finished."

Raine shook her head. "No, I need the Rheaird."

"Heh, there's nowhere in the world you can't get to." Aston paused. He must have realized it couldn't be completely true. With less surety, he added, "With the Albiore, we'll find a way."

Iemon nodded in agreement. "Nothing can stop us."

Raine chewed her lip, unsure what to say. At this point, would it be better to tell the truth? But how would they take it? She really should hide her origins as long as possible. "My home is inaccessible that way. You can't get to it without my Rheaird."

The entire Class M exchanged glances with each other, obviously confused.

"The Albiore is a flying machine," Ginji explained.

"I know, but I need the Rheaird."

"Feh, what's so special about that?" Aston asked, folding his arms across his chest. "Our Albiore is the most cutting edge—"

"I know." Raine paused. They weren't going to make her tell them, were they? Raine's heart beat faster from the sheer thought of telling anyone. Guy was bad enough, but here was a whole roomful of people who could run to authorities if they knew. No, she couldn't say anything. "Please trust me. I really can't use the Albiore."

This time, they shrugged at each other, offering only questioning looks, but the next person didn't have any better answer than anyone else.

"He did say she was strange," Iemon said as if that confirmed something or explained everything. He must've been referring to that letter. Didn't Jade say the McGoverns felt that way about her?

"She can hear you, old man!" Tamara snapped back at him. Raine didn't care either way. Everyone in Auldrant had probably called her weird at some point. Iemon was just one of the few who would vocalize his thoughts about it. She liked that about him.

"It won't hurt to at least look into it, right?" Noelle asked the group at large. Then she turned to her brother. "Ginji?"

He sighed. "No, of course not." He looked to Raine. "How big is your Rheaird?"

"It's barely big enough for two people to ride."

"Really?" Iemon asked, he sat up straight and leaned forward. "In that case, we should be able to haul it back in the Albiore."

"So then we're taking the job?" Aston asked. Raine saw his eyes shining a little with the hope of it. She found it hard to contain her excitement, especially with her beating heart thumping as loudly as it was.

Iemon gestured to the stuff on the table. "Why not? We've already been paid and I would like to see this 'Rheaird' for myself. There's no way it can go somewhere the Albiore can't!"

That got Aston all fired up. "All right, then, let's get to it!"

Raine couldn't help but feel excited. "Thank you!"

Iemon waved her off. "Nah, think nothing of it."

For all the excitement that Raine had about Class M fetching her Rheaird, she was frustrated to find herself staring down at them from the rafters while they worked on finishing the Albiore I. It truly wasn't ready yet. The good news, though, was the team had enough fire in their bellies to focus solely on it. Noelle and Ginji had become runners fetching whatever they asked for, tools, food, or whatever. Raine saw a second flying machine in the works and wondered about it, though it didn't look anywhere near as complete as the first one did.

Raine sighed. She supposed this process couldn't be so quick. At least they were working on it.

She left the hangar and headed for Class M's headquarters further south of town. Perhaps it was a good time to have a look around Sheridan. After all, it looked like she would be here a while and she should be fairly safe. The Oracle Knights weren't at port, nor should they have been if they were looking for her. They thought she would show up in Belkend where Genis was supposed to be. Thankfully, she hadn't seen them there either.

Raine found the inn behind Class M's workshop and dropped some gald on the counter for a room. "I'll be here for a while…. Do you have a room?"

The innkeeper stared at her for a moment before sliding the gald off the counter into his hand and counting it. "If that's not enough, I have some things I can sell." After he counted, he flicked his eyes up to study her and a moment later, must have decided he was satisfied. He left the counter and waved for her to follow him.

"You can stay in this room here." He led her to a room with a small window covered by a flap of fabric and furnished with the bare minimum bed, table, and chair. Staying in this room apparently wasn't that expensive, but they didn't give you much for the gald. She doubted every room looked like this, especially with the odd smell like someone had thrown-up in here. With the bar so close by, Raine suspected this room was for those who were too drunk to stagger home and needed somewhere to sober up.

"Thank you," Raine said. It really didn't matter to her. It was a place to sleep.

"You're welcome." The innkeeper left her to her room.

After several days of watching for Oracle Knights and seeing none, Raine began wandering Sheridan more freely. She wondered about Guy every time she saw the mechanisms through town and touched the pistons. She still had no idea what they did, but Guy would've been fascinated by them and that was enough to gain her interest. She found herself watching the apparatus at the back of the main workshop a lot. Somehow, even with Class M, their workers, and Iemon's grandchildren, Raine still felt a little empty.

She sat on a viewing platform to watch the ocean brush against Sheridan's cliffs, knees up against her chest. Now that Class M focused entirely on the Albiore, Raine wasn't sure what to do. She could continue translating the books but her mind drifted so much that she ended up not making much progress and finally gave it up altogether. From here, she could watch the seagulls dance among the spray below.

Maybe Guy would show up someday. Maybe. He probably thought about her, too, right? He did come to visit her a lot to chat and she welcomed the company. Now she just missed it. Maybe he'd like something from one of the shops.

Raine stood up, grabbed her bag and her staff, and carried on back towards the vendors. There were three of them lined up in a shop, but when she went inside, she noticed a man standing at the far vendor stall. He looked like someone from Chesedonia with his vest and turban and as soon as he saw her, he wasted no time in shamelessly watching her. She didn't like that squinty-eyed grin he wore as he stroked one side of his thin sandy moustache, as if he knew something about her.

But at least he stayed way over there. Then the doors opened behind her; his grin vanished and turned away to busy himself with the items at the vendor stall.

"Excuse me, Miss."

Distracted by the shop's grinning patron, she didn't notice someone walking up to her from behind. This man wore clothes that harkened back to the robes Ion wore, only royal blue with a white cape and a matching blue hat. He carried a staff in his hands. Not only that, he had a couple of Oracle soldiers with him. A flood of panic washed over her. What did they want?!

"Y-yes? Can I help you?"

The man frowned. "I'm looking for a woman who matches your description." Uh oh… Was that what the grinning man wanted? When she glanced back to see him, he was gone. Where could he have gone go quickly?! "Are you, perhaps, Raine Sage?"

[No changes]

Fomicry

The walls of Ortion Cavern were full of strange minerals that looked almost like mirrors. I hope we can learn something about Master Van's plan here. All we can do for now is head deeper inside and look around.

At the far end of the cave was some fomicry equipment.

Jade began investigating the equipment, and discovered that the research being done here was for making a replica one-tenth the size of Auldrant itself. He also found replica data taken from the people of the destroyed island of Hod, almost like they were planning to revive Hod.

But it looks like this facility hasn't been completely abandoned—there were two cheagles probably used in experiments, an original and its replica. According to Jade, replicas' abilities tend to be inferior to their originals. He also said that sometimes the extraction of replica data can have a negative effect on the originals, sometimes even killing them.

For an instant, I was worried that the same thing might happen to Asch, but Jade said that always happened within ten days at most, so if Asch is still doing this well after seven years, he has nothing to worry about. I was relieved, but Asch still seemed concerned about something. I wonder what? Jade also mentioned that something different can happen to perfect replicas, so maybe that's what's bothering him.

Anyway, Asch apparently found what he came for. We learned that Master Van is trying to create some sort of huge replica, possibly the destroyed island of Hod. But what does that have to do with the loss of Akzeriuth? In any case, Asch said he was leaving Ortion Cavern, and everyone followed.

At the exit, an earthquake occurred. Asch said that the earthquake might be a precursor to the area around St. Binah falling. Since I destroyed the pillar at the Akzeriuth Sephiroth (he called it a "Sephiroth Tree"), the other Sephiroth have been affected as well. What have I done...? Not only that, Master Van seems to be trying to get to the other well-protected passage rings to use them to speed up the collapse of the outer Lands. St. Binah may really be in danger...

Just then, Asch suddenly cut off the channel between us, and I finally woke up, not hearing anything else from Asch.

That's everything I saw through Asch while I was asleep.

Dirtied Hands

When I woke up, I felt like I was back in my own body for the first time in a long time.

Mieu was waiting next to me. I wonder why, after how badly I've always treated him...? But I'm kind of glad he's here.

I may have returned, but I still don't know much about this place, so I decided to go find Tear first.

Tear was in the selenia garden.

I told her about the danger St. Binah is in, and asked about a way back to the Outer Lands. But Tear responded coldly. She said that I'm always basing what I do on what others say, that I never try and think for myself.

That was when I first realized the truth. The truth that up until now, I've never even once really listened to anyone, considered their words or decided for myself what to do. And I knew that I wanted-that I had to change that. But I was doubtful Tear would believe simple halfhearted words, so I cut my hair. It's not that I really cared about my hair that much, but I wanted to show that I was throwing away my old self.

Tear still didn't seem to really believe me, but I'm serious. I will change.

But I don't even know a way to find out whether St. Binah really is going to collapse, much less how to save it if it is. Tear suggested that Teodoro, the mayor of the city, might know something, so I decided to ask him for information. This time, I'll think for myself, of course... and take responsibility for my actions. I will never forget that.

Dear Field Marshall McGovern,

I am Tamara from Class M at Sheridan's fontech laboratory. I apologize for not getting back to you before. Aside from us, to my knowledge, Commander Dist is the only other person who has a machine that can fly. So when you sent us the letter about a woman crashing a flying machine outside Saint Binah, we were hesitant to believe it.

Since then we met Rain Sage, the woman you wrote to us about. She was indeed mysterious. We couldn't believe what she told us because as far as we know, we are the only ones actively researching aircraft such as the machine she described. However, she did back up your claims about the small flying machine that crashed near Saint Binah, and she claimed that she had met you personally. She showed us your books on Malkuth that you gave her. Indeed, it seems that you wrote the truth. I apologize for not believing you.

We are happy to come by to pick up her flying machine and fix it for her, but we are currently working on the Albiore, a flying machine that would enable us to come get it. I apologize for the inconvenience, and Rain expresses her sincerest gratitude in your storing it until that time in which we are able to come retrieve it. Apparently, it is the only one of its kind and the only means for Rain to return home (we'll see if that's true when we see it), so please store it so that it doesn't incur further damage.

Best wishes, until then.

Tamara

Raine Sage, huh? She hadn't given him her last name and now he understood why.

Elder McGovern threw the letter from Class M into the fire. No way was he going to let his son see that. He sighed and returned to his chair, settling into it as he watched the page burn.

So.

Class M had no idea what he was talking about in his first letter. They apparently thought she was suspicious, too. But if the flying machine didn't belong to them, where did it come from? Maybe the flying machine was capable of things they had no knowledge of, especially if it was true that it was the only way Raine could go home. Glenn had thrown the comment around that Raine had to come from another world not to know that Belkend was part of Kimlasca. That did make sense with this new information from Class M, not to mention how much Raine panicked after Glenn's comment….

Perhaps what he said was true.

Elder McGovern sank deeper into her chair. He had hoped it wasn't, that she really was just a misplaced citizen of Kimlasca. The implications were just too dire.

"Be careful, Raine," he muttered to himself. "Your intent is not malicious, but I'm afraid ours will be."

A/N: HAHA! We've reached the point of divergence!

Um, I mean, Hello again!

Right on time! I love it when I can do that. There might be a few tweaks I could make still, but I'll worry about those later.

So, I think last time I mentioned that I'll be skipping over a ton of stuff and it was coming up soon. Well... it's here. LOL And we now find out who the first person was to realize Raine is not from Auldrant! Did you guess correctly? If you did, you're amazing! Because I sure didn't. :) But Elder McGovern had clues other people didn't have and just in case he was right, he didn't tell Jade everything he needed to figure it out either.

I am SO strongly tempted to post 42 already because I'm so super excited about it, but I think I'll give it two weeks just so you can have time to feel the cliffhanger. It'll add depth to 42 that a short break just wouldn't allow. Read 41 and 42 together later and you'll see what I mean. So, yes, 42 will be posted on the 20th! Not a Sunday, but that's just because it's finished. I don't need the weekend to work on it. 43 is down to mere tweaks as well, so that one should be fairly quick, too. In fact, I think 47 is the first chapter that still needs a lot of love, so excellent. I have some time to work on some later chapters! * purrs *

Anyway, enough rambling. Thank you all so much for reading and enjoying! I hope your next two weeks are fantastic. Be well!

~~Kat =^-^=