Chapter 6

With the sun nearing its peak, Raine reached into her bag for a sandwich packed away from the inn and nibbled on it. Tethe'alla really was beautiful. There was so much green in the plants around her. She'd always known mana was vital for life, but seeing the difference really reminded her of home with mom and dad. Home, before her family became just her and Genis.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself," Guy said, startling her. He had fallen back to talk to her, though he still maintained his distance. "I would've thought you'd get tired of traveling after a while."

She sighed and turned away from him. She let her hand drop, forgetting about eating her sandwich now. "Oh, I don't mind traveling." Why on earth did he want to talk to her? She hadn't learned anything new about the Rheairds since last night, so there should be no point in pretending.

"It's a lot easier with the flying machine, though. It brought you all the way over here. I'll bet that was exciting." Yes, the Rheaird. The man had a passion for flying magitech for sure.

"Actually, it was terrifying," she hissed. She couldn't help but look out the corner of her eye at him though. She took another annoyed bite and chewed.

"Er, yeah, I suppose that would be, crashing..." Embarrassed, he scratched his head. "But still, knowing what you know about it. I'd be interested in hearing."

She swallowed her bite. "I told you I don't know anything about it."

"I know," he said.

He must want an in with Class M, she decided. After all, he thought she was friends with them. Well, that gave him a motive to be nice to her. She decided to let him think it was so. She finished off her sandwich before he spoke again.

"You don't know how it works, but you've used it. You've worked the controls on it."

"Not all that exciting really," she said. His excitement was irritating. Or was it just his persistence?

"Heh, everyone has their passions. You might've guessed, but mine's fontech." Fontech? They really did rename everything, didn't they? He asked, "What are you passionate about?"

"Traveling."

"Oh, come on, there's more to life than that."

"I've traveled more than I have ever settled." Raine said. He smiled. She might as well humor him. "This place is far more beautiful than home, though. There's definitely a lot more green."

"A lot more green?" Guy asked. "If you don't settle, where is home that's less green than this?" He did have a point now that she realized it. The grass and the trees were about as green and abundant here as anywhere. Her quick glimpse of Tethe'alla before she crashed was proof enough of that.

"A traveler is not necessarily the most traveled," Raine said. "I do not claim to have gone everywhere."

"Maybe not everywhere, but you said you traveled a lot. Does that mean you've traveled across Radessia and very little elsewhere?"

Raine gave a non-committal "hmm" and left it at that.

"For twelve years?" Guy asked, incredulous.

Damn. I shouldn't have told him that. Although, Radessia might not be a bad cover story. It was a desert, after all. How thoroughly had it been explored? "I suppose there's no harm in admitting I'm from Radessia." Jade slowed and allowed Luke to overtake him. Raine noticed.

Guy said, "I suppose that would make some sense, but not many people live there."

"All the more reason to study the ruins there, don't you think?" Raine said.

"Aha! You like to study ruins. I suppose I should've guessed that."

"The McGoverns didn't tell you?" Interesting. But she couldn't help but feel a little excited. "The spirit seals are fascinating."

Guy stopped walking to stare at her as if she said something strange. "You said you didn't know much about the flying machine, but you've been to the Meggiora Highlands? Don't you need a flying machine to get there? How long have you been flying the Rheaird?"

"I'm new to it, actually." She said, but his puzzled expression deepened. The panic in her chest began to rise again as everyone else turned around. Even Jade who made feel her examined, exposed, just by looking in her direction.

"Hey! We don't have all day you know!" Luke said from the front.

"Oh, I don't know," Jade said. "I'm a bit curious myself." He walked closer to where Raine and Guy had stopped on the dirt road. Ion followed him. "How did you travel through the Meggiora Highlands without a flying machine?"

Raine stared at them all in turn. What would she say? She was woefully ignorant of Tethe'alla and her ignorance would surely prove that she wasn't actually from Tethe'alla. They would figure out pretty quickly that she's from Sylvarant instead. After a moment, she asked with a sharp voice of disbelief, "So you're saying there's no way to travel the Meggiora Highlands on foot?"

"Well, the terrain is supposedly pretty difficult," Guy said. Supposedly? Ha! She smiled, then. Jade was from Malkuth and not likely to have been there. Luke never had because he was trapped in the mansion. Tear and Ion didn't seem to think it so strange for her to have traveled there, which meant they knew nothing about that place either, and she knew Guy would've said something a little more concrete if he had been there. No one could call her bluff.

"Yes, well, it is worse than the Aberria desert, but you can travel it on foot."

"That's… unbelievable…" Guy said.

Jade turned away from her. "It truly is."

"As a traveler, you have to know how to survive anywhere." A lesson she'd learned when she was very young. During the first eleven years of her life, she ran away from enemies with her human father and elven mother. They both taught her how to find food, shelter, and clean water just about anywhere. It served her well after they abandoned her and Genis.

"And what about you, Jade?" Raine asked. "You're a colonel of Malkuth. I imagine you've traveled quite a bit yourself."

He shrugged. "No more or less than any other soldier." Both Guy and Tear found other interests. She supposed she wasn't the only one keeping quiet about where she'd been.

They carried on, spreading their group from Luke's impatience at the front to Raine's aloofness at the back. In between, Ion, Jade, Tear, and Guy separated, leaving far too much space between them to be considered a group. The way Ion traveled just ahead of her, Raine wondered if he knew Tear very well. They were both from the Order after all.

Birds flew overhead, and Raine's eyes followed them to the distance where a pack of animals stood tall staring at her escort. She wondered if they were hostile, but none of her companions seemed to think they were trouble. They kind of reminded Raine of wild deer. Tethe'alla did seem to have healthier wildlife, though. A lot of them behaved more peacefully, perhaps because food was more abundant here. For some reason, even the sky seemed to be a prettier blue, though that could've just been her imagination.

She stopped. There, in the sky, was a strange thing she'd never seen before. It was as if the moon was made of crystal and shaped like a rock. Whatever it was, it was beautiful! There was more than one, though—there were several, like a giant ring around the planet full of these crystalized stones. Sheena never mentioned satellites floating in the sky other than the moon. They had even talked about the moons hanging in the sky sharing the same names as the worlds.

Raine never did figure out where the places were that she remembered seeing as a child. All this time, she'd been looking for familiar ruins, familiar forests, and overall familiar places, but she didn't remember seeing the stones in the sky before. How long had they been there? Was she not from Tethe'alla after all? Or was she from an area where she couldn't see them?

As she glanced around, she noticed a small flock of chirpees flapping towards them. To her, they didn't seem threatening, but as soon as Jade noticed them, he stiffened, and a spear appeared out of nowhere within his hand.

"Heads up!"

Everyone else spotted the birds, drew their weapons, and took formation with Luke and Guy at the front. All, except Ion, who cuddled Mieu and stood behind Jade at the back. Raine took up post next to him and closed her eyes to focus her energy on her staff. She felt around for mana, but was surprised to find no familiar pull that meant mana surrounded her. Again? Tethe'alla should've had plenty of mana for her to use. Why couldn't she find it?

She heard the birds chirping, but she still had time. She felt a flow converge in front of her, and she opened her eyes. Jade crossed his arm and energy was definitely circulating around him with a glyph at his feet. She couldn't quite see the energy, but she felt it. It was a different kind of energy. Mana, but on a different scale, so it wasn't truly mana. It was like... a different frequency of mana. Was that even possible?!

Luke rushed forward and swiped his sword at the closest bird and the battle began. Raine closed her eyes again and concentrated on the pull of energy circulating around Jade. Maybe if she could use some of that…?

But try as she might, she couldn't get the energy to budge. Where was the energy coming from? Why could she only feel the flow around Jade?

The fight didn't last long enough to find out, though.

"There! We got them all." Luke said proudly. When Raine looked again, she saw the birds littered in several pieces across the grass. The energy around Jade vanished. His magic wasn't needed this round. Thank goodness, neither was hers.

But Raine's heart sank. How was she supposed to be useful for the party if she couldn't use this strange mana? Was this what they meant by fonons? A new thought began nagging at her, but she shoved it aside. There was no way that could be true. Tethe'alla used a lot of exspheres, and that might explain why the mana felt so different. She continued feeling around for it, but she couldn't find the mana she had felt whirl around Jade moments ago. Silently, she followed the others as they continued down the path. Thankfully, none of them seemed to notice anything had changed. Tear, true to her duty as a soldier, carried on as normal. Guy struck up a conversation with Luke about his form, and Ion released Mieu who flew back to Luke's shoulder, but then Ion looked back at her. He smiled when she noticed him, but it wasn't a genuine smile.

Weeds and grass grew on the dirt path towards the Fubras River. For the last couple of days, Raine watched a pair of boot prints zigzag across the path, becoming fresher and fresher as time wore on. Whoever was ahead of them walked a leisurely journey of distractions and time-consuming lag. After a while, Ion commented on her concentration.

"Is something wrong, Raine?"

"Oh, no, it's nothing. I was just contemplating these tracks." She pointed and both Tear and Ion approached for a look. Jade, Guy, and Luke stopped as well, but stayed where they were.

"Yeah, I've been wondering about those, too," Luke said.

"That's most likely Anise," Jade said. "By the speed of her gait, I'd say she's losing patience waiting for us."

"Who is Anise?" Raine asked. This was the first she'd heard of her.

"She's my Guardian," Ion said, "We lost her at the Tartarus."

The one who dropped off the letter for Jade with the McGoverns, Raine realized. She hadn't seen her because she was in the study, but she must've just missed her.

"Is it really safe for her to be traveling alone like this?" Guy asked.

Ion nodded. "She'll be fine. It's Anise, after all."

"Yes, Anise is Anise," Jade added.

"I would assume she wouldn't be a Fon Master Guardian if she couldn't take care of herself," Raine said. Still, Guy had a strange expression on his face that she couldn't decipher. Was he worried about something? But then he muttered, "Just who is she...?"