After the group made it through the Goma Pass, they headed for the town of Bilibin. After they arrived in town and got settled at the inn, Lina pulled out a letter she had received before she arrived in Weyard.
Lina Inverse,
I am Diol a researcher that has a proposition for you to listen to. Please show up at the ruined castle just north of the town of Midas during the full moon after Seyruun's festival. What I want to talk to you about is of importance to my research and you will be well rewarded for your efforts.
Lina chuckled and tossed the letter into the fire. "I don't think I'm going to make that meeting. This is going to take much longer than a month and a half to get back home."
Hearing a knock at the door to her room at the inn, Lina stood up and opened the door. She was surprised when she saw Felix and Kraden standing on the other side of the door.
"I thought it was Jenna," Lina muttered.
Felix shifted the collar of his tunic a bit nervously, as Kraden smiled at Lina.
"Jenna wanted the two of us to talk to Felix, Lina," Kraden said. "He won't talk to Jenna and we really don't know where the others stand."
"Excluding Alex, they are using each of us to keep the others in line," Lina replied with a shrug.
Seeing the odd look she was getting from Felix, Lina smiled broadly. "I have very sharp hearing. While we in the common room at Vault's inn, I eavesdropped on Saturos and Menardi talking about us. I was sitting on one side of the room and they were sitting on the other side."
Felix shook his head in disbelief. "No one has hearing that sharp."
Lina grinned even wider. "I have and I'm abusing it. It makes up for the amount of pain I had to suffer when Mt. Aleph became a volcano. Now Felix, why? Why didn't you tell Jenna you were still alive?"
Felix sighed heavily and looked out a window, but didn't answer. Lina growled and turned to Kraden.
"Hey Kraden? What country are we in?"
"Country?" Kraden asked, a bit confused. "We are in Bilibin."
"Yes. I know we are in the town of Bilibin, but what is the name of the country Bilibin is set in?"
"We are on the continent of Angara," Kraden replied.
Lina looked at the ceiling of her room and shook her head in exasperation. "I see. I forgot. At any rate, I wonder what the land surrounding the Mercury Lighthouse is like."
"The town of Imil is right next to Mercury Lighthouse. It's in the Northern Reaches," Kraden explained. "The land is permanently covered in snow."
"I hate cold. I hate cold. I hate being cold," Lina muttered in disgust.
"We'll be getting some cold weather gear before we leave," Felix said.
"And we head off to allow Saturos and Menardi's people to raise and army to conquer the world," Lina said in a sarcastic voice.
"The people of Prox don't want to do that," Felix blurted out. "They want to light the lighthouses because...."
Felix clammed up and stared at Lina.
"You slipped up," Lina said with a smile. "You almost told me the real reason Saturos and Menardi want to light the lighthouses. It's not to conquer the world; it's something else. What about you? Do you want them lit?"
Felix shrugged, but didn't say a word.
"Kraden wants them lit and so do I," Lina calmly stated. "We both have our own reasons to want them lit. You can talk to Kraden about his, I'll explain mine after I'm sure we won't be bothered by Alex."
Felix stared at Lina. "I thought you'd be like the others and not want them lit. Where are you from?"
"Let's just say, I'm from far away," Lina replied with a wink.
Kraden covered his mouth and hid his laughter.
"Let's not bother Lina about her home right now. I was ordered to study Alchemy by the man who raised me and trained me to be a scholar. He is Lord Babi of Tolbi," Kraden said.
"Ah yes, I have heard stories about Lord Babi," Felix said.
"He has ordered me to study Alchemy, like I said. He also wants someone to find Lemuria. But, I have come to have my own reasons to want the Elemental Lighthouse lit," Kraden explained.
"Why don't you two men has this out in one of your rooms, and leave me to my own," Lina replied.
"Er, right. Come along Felix," Kraden said.
Before Felix left the room, he turned back to Lina. "After Mercury Lighthouse is lit, I'll explain my reasons to Jenna and a little more about what happened three years ago."
Lina nodded. "I'll let her know."
After the two men left, Lina pulled the three stone splinters out from under her bracers. "I thought they'd never leave."
She rummaged around in her mantle and pulled out a big bag of gems. "It is so nice to have someone else footing the bill."
Lina separated out the gems that were clear colored gems. Diamonds, quartz, and others
Picking up the flake from the Venus Star, Lina gave a good long stare at it. "This thing shifts from yellow, to green, to brown."
Carefully keeping track of the flakes, Lina used the clear gems to create four clear wedges. Lina picked the wedges up and put them together to form a globe. As she set the globe down, it broke apart. It was like the globe had been cut in half vertically and horizontally.
"The easy part is done," Lina said and she picked up the blue flake and touched it to the point of one of the wedges.
After reciting quick spell she had modified from her talisman making spells, the blue flake from the Mercury Star flashed blue and was pulled inside the crystal wedge. Lina repeated the procedure with the remaining two flakes and two more of the wedges. Lina looked at the final wedge and shook her head sadly.
"I can only hope," Lina muttered.
The wedges with a piece of an Elemental Star in them took on a very slight hue of the piece that was now dead center of each of them. She quickly put them away and sighed.
"I won't know if I pulled it off until Mercury Lighthouse is lit. I'll have to get the Mythril Bag that held the Star afterwards. This might be my only way home. I wonder what is so important about Kolima Forest. I guess it's nothing important. We're heading to Imil and then find out what we need to do."
Lina looked out the window of the inn and grimaced.
'I am getting a little tired of the vanishing blue boy showing up whenever he wants to. I could listen in and find out what he's talking to Saturos and Menardi about, but it doesn't really matter right now.'
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(Posted Tue, 25 Apr 2006 08:21)
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