A/N: See end of chapter.

When they reached Triet, it was evening. Although the light was starting to fade from the sky, the town bustled with people. They seemed to be mostly locals, milling about the impressively extensive marketplace. There was a stall for anything and everything, with the vendors loudly advertising their wares and calling people to come take a look.

The party, however, was tired, both emotionally and physically. None of the children had the energy to get excited about the products on sale, and Raine herself was no better off. The journey through the desert had been both long and emotionally charged. She was fairly certain that everyone had noticed Rai's odd behavior, even Lloyd. It bothered her that Rai had apparently discovered important information that he had then purposely hidden from her - what could his reasoning have been? Obviously, he cared about their goals and the world regeneration, considering his decision to kill the group of Desians, but then why had he chosen to keep that to himself?

She scolded herself for so quickly listening to his suggestion to kill them - not because she thought he had been wrong, but because she knew he was now holding himself responsible for those deaths. He'd never killed anyone before today, as far as she knew, and she had an inkling that this was at least part of the reason for his odd behavior. She shouldn't have allowed that to be his decision.

And what Lloyd had said had obviously hurt him; on some level, it had hurt even her, although she understood the sentiment. The Desians had killed his mother, after all. Despite that, she had still been shocked by the strength of his willingness to blame every individual Desian for that fact. She supposed that was to be expected of Lloyd, though; he ran through life fueled by emotion, and despite his physical maturity he was still mentally a child in many ways. This wasn't the first time she'd wondered whether he was really ready for a journey like this.

She led the way to a nearby inn. It would probably be best for them to stay the night and tomorrow here, then set off the next day, both to rest and to gather information on the location of the Fire Seal. It was supposedly in the Triet Ruins, which were some distance away from Triet itself, and the journey there was said to be very harsh.

As they made to enter the inn, a man caught her eye out of all the people in the square. He stood out immensely due to his electric blue hair, striking green eyes, and handsome face, but none of those were the reason she'd noticed him.

He was obviously a half-elf.

His mana signature was oddly familiar, and even something about his face niggled at her memory, but to her frustration she couldn't place him at all. He wore a long cloak and a hood that mostly covered his hair, maybe in an attempt to be less conspicuous, but it wasn't very effective. Maybe she was just biased - she could sense his mana signature, after all. Perhaps he wasn't so noticeable to the humans here.

She had paused a little too long. The rest of the group was looking at her questioningly, some attempting to follow her gaze to see what she was looking at. Rai and Genis had probably already noticed the object of her inspection, since they were sure to have sensed him as well. Quickly, she turned and entered the inn.

She made quick work of securing rooms for all of them, handing over the gald reluctantly - it was quite expensive, as expected for such a popular tourist attraction. The high prices meant that Lloyd, Rai, and Kratos would have to share a single room, and that Colette would have to come with her and Genis; they couldn't afford to buy an extra one just for luxury. It was testament to how tired they all were that nobody complained, not even Lloyd.

After warning the children to be careful and not to leave the town - they looked too exhausted to do so, anyway - she retired to the room she, Genis and Colette would share to sort out her books and artifacts. Genis and Colette fell asleep almost immediately on the two beds, and she covered them with a blanket each before moving to continue her work in documenting the monster specimens they'd observed. She had only just started when there came a firm knock on the door, accompanied by a familiar mana signature.

"Come in," she said distractedly, not looking up from the tome she was leafing through. There was a short pause before she heard the door handle open, and then near-silent steps made their way towards her and stopped just short of the desk. After he'd stood in silence for a good five minutes, making it obvious he wasn't going to start the conversation, she finally looked up into his face.

"Rai," she said in greeting. "I've been meaning to talk to you."

Rai disliked the way Raine was looking at him, with pity-filled eyes.

She thought she knew what he was thinking, and probably thought she could help him, or that he was going through some youthful crisis. The look was uncharacteristic for her, as was the soft tone of her voice when she mentioned that she'd been meaning to speak to him. It was likely she wanted to talk about the Renegades he'd killed, but there was nothing to discuss.

He had already come to terms with it; he'd chosen to end the lives of four men, men who might have families and loved ones, for the sake of his own goals. That was what he'd decided, and since it wasn't something he could reverse he'd have to take responsibility for that decision. Raine had better not want him to discuss his feelings about it or something. If she even brought it up, W would probably latch on to the opportunity and resurface. It had taken long enough to beat the annoying voice back into control, and he had no desire to listen to it again.

She looked at him searchingly, like she was trying to figure out what he was thinking, but it was useless. Rai had on his mask, and there was no way anyone would be able to glean anything from his expression. Even Akira was impressed by how thoroughly emotionless Rai was able to make his face. Under most circumstances, nobody could tell what was going through his head if he really wanted to hide it.

...Although it did annoy him that things like the other voices could make that mask crack occasionally. But despite that, he was safe for now. There was no chance that Raine staring at him was going to help her understand him.

So why was she bothering with it, putting on that useless motherly expression that they both knew was fake?

"Were you?" he said finally, keeping his tone neutral. "What for?"

"You know why, Rai," she said gently, still in that annoying voice. She stood up and took his hand.

He wanted to slap her.

What gave her the right to act like a mother or an older sister to him? He was grateful that she'd clothed him and given him a home, but it was nothing more or less than that. They'd never had a sibling relationship, and she'd always acted distant and unsettled around him.

Did she really think that she could fool him into believing she cared?

He pulled his arm out of her grasp and turned his head away slightly, not wanting to look at her expression.

"No, actually. I'm not sure. Would you care to enlighten me?"

She sighed. "Rai - do you want to talk about it?"

He decided there was no point in feigning ignorance any further. "No," he said bluntly, turning back to look at her firmly. "Now if that's over with, there's something I wanted to ask you."

She looked sad, and as if she didn't believe him. Fury sparked within him at that, but he forced himself to control his body language and move on.

"I need your advice on something. Actually, I'm thinking about picking up a weapon to train with. In that last battle, I would have been killed by a Desian if Lloyd hadn't stepped in. Although I can cast magic relatively quickly, it's still not the most ideal when I'm one on one in a close-combat situation. What do you think?"

"Yes, I was actually meaning to ask you about that as well," Raine said, placing a hand on her hip, and to his relief her voice had gone back to its normal sharpness. "For a weapon, I recommend you use a sword. It's the most simple option if you want to be able to defend yourself at close range. Learning how to use it effectively will be the difficult part, but perhaps you can get Kratos to teach you. He does seem oddly friendly towards you, after all." The last comment was said pointedly, as if she expected him to say something in his defense, but he didn't take the bait.

"I see. That's what I was thinking as well. Thanks." He paused, then remembered what else he had meant to ask her. "Did you know that half-elf in the square earlier?" It had been Yuan, of course. Rai had recognized him instantly - but what was more worrying was that Raine had also seemed to know who he was. Was she supposed to know him? He must be missing something.

She looked surprised, but not defensive. "You noticed? Yes, he seemed very familiar, but I don't think I know anyone who matches his description. He was certainly very unique. His eye color was...well, I suppose it's not that rare, your eyes are green too, come to think of it...maybe it isn't that odd for a half-elf after all..."

He wondered why she had thought him familiar. "Are you sure you haven't seen him before?"

She continued muttering to herself and studying his features, seemingly not hearing him. "Come to think of it, your hair is also slightly blue, despite being close to white. His was extraordinarily blue, though...It certainly brings up questions about the usual coloring of half-elves...I hadn't thought blue hair was very common, although I suppose I haven't seen many other half-elves in person...I do know that elves often have green hair, but..."

He groaned a little. "Raine..."

She seemed to snap out of her reverie. "Ah...no, I don't believe I have seen him, though I can't be sure. His face and his mana signature were both oddly familiar, though." She sounded puzzled, and honest enough. He furrowed his brow, thinking about what he knew from the game. Was Raine supposed to have seen Yuan in her past?

"Ah, yes! There's something else I've been meaning to ask," she said suddenly, snapping her fingers. "Your use of magic is...interesting, to say the least. When I taught you and Genis magic when you were toddlers, you eventually refused to practice in front of us and would go off to cast on your own. I respected that, but now that I've seen you use it for the first time in years, I've noticed that you're not doing it the same way I taught you. Where did you learn it?"

He'd been expecting her to ask this eventually. "Nowhere in particular," he said evasively. "I was just experimenting with it on my own. I realized that imagining the mana the way you told me wasn't working well. I couldn't do it as fast as Genis could. But when I tried it a different way, it worked better, although the spells looked a bit different. That's all there is to it." It was the truth, though highly abridged.

She just stared at him, unsatisfied. "But what about incantations? You didn't seem to use any in that last battle. As far as I've learned, using those words is necessary to focus your magic."

"I've been experimenting with nonverbal spells for years now. It just takes concentration."

Her eyes widened in shock. "Rai! That's exceedingly dangerous! If it had gone even slightly wrong you could have been injured or killed!"

He felt a stab of annoyance. Did she really think he couldn't take care of himself at all? Of course he had been careful! "Well, I'm still here now, aren't I?" he snapped, allowing some of his anger to seep into his words. "Don't pretend you haven't thought about it."

"I have taken extensive notes on how it could be accomplished," she admitted, "and have done some controlled experiments, but they weren't very successful." He felt a bit smug at that, but she continued sternly, "However, I haven't actually tried it with combat spells - it is extremely dangerous. I expected better of you, Rai."

The fury was back. "You don't know me at all, do you, Raine?" he sneered, ignoring the shock and hurt in her eyes. "Do you really think I just tried it one day, without preparing or thinking about it at all? It took me a full year just to cast my first combat spell non-verbally, simply because I was extremely careful. Don't patronize me. I've read every book you have on spell theory; I know just as much about it as you do. Probably more, actually, since I have the nerve to try things instead of just reading about them in books - "

She slapped him. Hard. His neck ached from the recoil and he brought his hand to his throbbing cheek, dazed. It had been years since she had hit him.

"There is a limit to how much rudeness I can tolerate," she said coldly. "I've been lax lately, but I think it's doing more harm than good. Do I really have to spell it out? Rai - I'm acting this way because I care about you. You're my brother - "

"No, I'm not!" he interrupted. "I'm just some half-elf child you felt sorry for and took in one day - something you regretted every day afterwards! I've seen the way you look at me, like you're scared of me or like I'm crazy. Don't even try to pretend!" He couldn't believe this, couldn't believe that she was actually deluding herself into thinking they were siblings. Did she do it to make herself feel better? She didn't deserve that peace of mind. After all, it wasn't like he allowed it to himself. Her mouth was hanging open, and she seemed temporarily speechless.

"Rai - I - " she stammered pathetically. The guilt in her voice was palpable.

She wasn't even trying to deny it.

He turned on his heel and left the room.

"GAH!"

Lloyd slammed his fist on the table, ignoring the jolt of pain that shot up his arm. From the corner, Kratos shot him an annoyed look, then got up and left the room. Lloyd had forgotten that the prickly mercenary had even been there. Still, this was so annoying...

He'd only realized just now when he'd felt something in his pocket while changing that he'd forgotten to give Colette her birthday present. Not only that, but the necklace was broken, meaning he'd have to fix it up again...and he was supposed to have given it to her such a long time ago...

He struggled with the necklace for a few more minutes before finally giving up for the night. It was no use; he was just too tired from the journey, and his normally skilled fingers weren't cooperating with him. Drained, he removed his gloves and fell back onto the bed he was meant to share with Rai, who was still in the bath (although one of them would probably end up having to sleep on the floor, since apparently Rai was weird about stuff like that).

When they'd gotten to the inn, Genis and Colette had wanted to sleep, so they'd gone into their room with Raine. Come to think of it, both of them had been acting oddly, but Lloyd was too tired right now to even take a stab at why that might be.

Rai had left soon after, saying he needed to talk to Raine, and Lloyd had been stuck with Kratos. He'd tried to talk to the other swordsman, but Kratos hadn't been very receptive, so he'd settled for trying to fix the necklace. At some point Rai had returned, looking furious, but he'd disappeared into the bath before Lloyd could ask him what was wrong.

The inn they were staying at provided complementary bathing, and sufficient bathwater had been provided in an attached room, so Lloyd was looking forward to taking his turn. After the long trek through the desert, he felt absolutely disgusting.

As he lay there, listening to the splashes from the other room, he couldn't help but think back to how oddly Rai had been acting all day. After they'd fought those Desians, mainly.

It frustrated Lloyd that he couldn't understand it. Usually, he was really good at figuring out when his friends were upset and why, but Rai was a lot more difficult to read than Genis or Colette or even the Professor. There would be times when he thought he understood the inscrutable half-elf, but then Rai would say or do something and Lloyd would be back at square zero again.

Come to think of it, sometimes Rai's behavior reminded him of Kratos. The mercenary just looked either blank or angry all the time; Rai was pretty much the same way, although Lloyd was marginally better at reading the half-elf simply because he'd had more time with him.

He glanced over as the door was pushed open and Rai emerged, a towel thrown casually over his head. His hair, which normally looked white, was pale blue against the paper-white of the towel and his torso was bare, showing well-defined muscle despite his thin frame.

Lloyd wondered, not for the first time, how Rai was still so pale even after spending so much time in the sun. He supposed it might have something to do with his elven blood. The black clothes he was always wearing only made his skin look even lighter in comparison; even now, the shorts that hung low on his hips were jet-black.

Thankfully, the half-elf looked much calmer now. He was hard to deal with when he was angry, so Lloyd hoped he'd gotten over whatever had upset him before. He probably shouldn't ask about it now. Instead he stood and started walking towards the bathroom. "So how are the facilities?"

Rai's green eyes flashed with something that might have been amusement as he finished drying his hair and dropped the towel around his neck. "I'm surprised you know that word. You're definitely not as stupid as Raine thinks you are."

Lloyd laughed a little and raised a hand to the back of his head sheepishly, wondering if he should be offended. "Yeah, well... I just hate schoolwork."

"That's pretty obvious. Did you get anywhere with that necklace?" Rai walked over and sat down on the bed, glancing at the table where the broken present lay.

"You noticed, huh?"

"Obviously," came the reply. Lloyd thought he detected a slight note of annoyance in his voice, but in the next moment it was gone as Rai said teasingly, "It's for Colette, right? You forgot to give it to her before?"

He flushed a little. "Yeah..."

Rai's expression turned more serious. "Did you get anywhere with her, though?"

"W-what?"

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Lloyd! I mean, did you get her to open up to you about what was upsetting her?"

He felt a flash of embarrassment at his misunderstanding. "Ah...yeah, I did ask her what was wrong. She just said she was nervous about the Journey. I know there's more to it, but I didn't want to press her. She got really sad about it..."

"She'll open up eventually. Like I said before, Colette cares about you a lot."

"Yeah..."

"So...just curious. I know you care about her, but you do like her in a romantic sense, right? I thought I saw some jealousy the other day..."

Despite himself, he felt the blush creep up again. "Well...I don't...I mean..." He cursed inwardly. Why was he acting so stupid?

Rai was actually smirking now, which was a bit of a shock since he usually looked so irritated. "Let me be more specific. Do you find her attractive?"

How had this come up, anyway? "I mean, she's...cute...?" he stammered. He'd never talked to anyone about anything like this, and he wasn't about to start now.

Rai had an evil glint in his eye. Lloyd took half a step back without knowing why. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to like whatever the other boy was going to ask next.

"I mean are you sexually attracted to her?"

"Huh? Sexually...attracted?" It wasn't a phrase he'd heard before.

Rai looked exasperated now. "Lloyd. You do know what sex is, right?"

"W-what?! You were talking about that?" He remembered the word from when Dad had taken him aside one day when he was twelve. That conversation had been extremely awkward, so he'd tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to forget as much of it as he could. "Ew..."

"'Ew'?!" Rai looked pitying now. "Lloyd, aren't you supposed to be older than me? You're so innocent that I almost feel bad for you..."

"H-hey!" He was pretty sure that was an insult. Rai just shook his head at him, but his eyes were amused.

"I give up, you're a lost cause. Anyway, to answer your earlier question about the facilities, the bathwater is okay, though a little on the chilly side. Just pour as much as you need into the tub, and leave enough for Kratos. They have separate cleansers for your hair and your body, and there are some washcloths and a good number of towels. Knock yourself out."

"W-what? Why would I want to do that?"

"It's an expression, idiot. I mean...go enjoy your bath."

A/N: Thanks to Channa and Guest for their reviews of the last chapter.

I'm glad you all seem find Rai interesting; perhaps that means I succeeded him in making him a multidimensional character. Hopefully you won't come to hate him in the future...

I'm also curious about what you all think of Akira so far. He's not necessarily meant to be a likable character, but he's pretty important to the story.

Hope to see you back in the next chapter, which is slated to be a comparatively long one.

Reviews are love, reviews are life.