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The trek to Goma Plateau is no easy feat. Sol beats down unforgiving rays of harsh light when it rests high against the horizon, arid and dryness seeping deep past armor and fabrics. The mountaintops are lengthy and the cliffs that must be scaled even more so, the only grace coming from the worn, beaten steps forming crude stairwells dug into the rocks. For nearly twenty years, men have taken this self-carved path across the steep tablelands of rust-tinted clay as their only guide.
Felix finds himself hating every second of it.
He is remiss to bemoan the decision to travel this far north in Angara, knowing why they have come; he hasn’t seen Jenna since he decided to pursue adventure on his own, away from the denizens of Vale and their reconstructed lives. He had never been able to bring himself to even consider following in his little sister’s footsteps. There was too much betrayal and too much baggage on his shoulders that he couldn’t cast aside, knowing that he’d so easily gone against all that they’d been taught since childhood.
Jenna was safe from that - a blameless face who had been dragged into treachery against her will. Felix was not - he had chosen to comply since the start.
But it has been a very, very long time since then. He comes to find himself missing her company during nights of solitude out at sea, the spice of her temper and quick wit only matched by that of Sheba’s dry tongue, who has also been absent from his life. It will be good to see Jenna again.
Piers, his only companion since the Golden Sun event, has been nothing but smiles and laughter the entire time. It’s envious, and downright infuriating, how easily he takes to the cruel atmosphere of the mountain range. But perhaps that might be from how he has been the one to watch after their four year old son, Lemarr, as he totters over misplaced pebbles.
Felix watches as the child Adept trips over his own hasty feet and plummets against the ground face-first, tiny sniffles of shock and pain coming from him as he sits back up and paws at the tiny scratch he now sports on his cheek. He carries every ounce of Piers’ fearlessness and yet none of the pragmatism, so easily swayed to tears despite the fact that he knew very well that falling would have hurt. Regardless, the Lemurian clicks his tongue knowingly and scoops up his son into strong arms, a spell of Ply illuminating his thumb as he wipes away the cut.
“You’ll be more careful now, won’t you?” he teases with a well-meaning grin, swiftly replaced by a yip as Lemarr yanks his ponytail back with an irritated babble of incoherency. “Owowowimsorry-”
It’s enough to put Felix at ease for a moment, the looming dread of having to face his sister momentarily lost. Days prior, they had all made the trip to Kalay to see her personally - only to be confused by her absence. They had been unaware that while she and many other refugees from Vale had relocated to what could only be considered the de-facto capital of Angara, there were many times when she would depart from the bustling city to visit Goma Plateau. Against the cliff tops was where Isaac had made his home, after all.
Isaac and Jenna had gotten married. They’d gotten married and Felix hadn’t been there for it. His peace of mind is gone just as quickly as it had come.
They’re close to their destination. Venus Adepts’ intuition insists upon it, and true enough, he can see a cozy-looking cabin made of bricks and wood by strong hands perched dutifully against the cliffs as they continue to rise further along the mountain range. The sweltering heat and dried winds are suddenly far behind him as a renewed pep finds itself in his stride.
Piers takes his hand firmly, Lemarr nestled into his other arm. “You’re nervous.”
The only logical response Felix can make is to slow to a stop, holding the sailor’s gaze with a furrowed look. “...is it really so easy to tell?”
“You have that terribly pinched expression on your face, as though you might keel over and die at any given second,” he agrees, amusement glittering across golden irises that never fail to captivate. “Do you truly find your sister to be so frightening?”
The warrior sighs, shaking his head. “I am not afraid of Jenna,” he clarifies. At the sound of his voice, Lemarr peers up at him, expectant. Felix offers the boy his hand to hold for a brief few seconds before he is evidently placated, gone back to looking around the mountains with wide eyes. “I am afraid of what she might do to me.”
The Mercury Adept snorts, caught off guard by the declaration - it isn’t like him in the slightest. “Don’t be ridiculous, Felix. I’m sure she’ll understand your absence if you will just take the time to explain...”
“That’s the problem. She’s more likely to swing at me first and then hear me out.” He can already feel the ache in his jaw when he considers it hard enough, worsened as they near the homey chalet. He doesn’t even want to consider how Isaac might react.
It’s easy to forget why exactly they’ve traveled this far. But Felix finds himself remembering far too often than he likes, the sight of his son inciting it every time he sees him whisper into Piers’ ear or points towards something across the landscape with an inquiry that either of them is destined to answer. They’re here because of Lemarr.
The family of three stands before a bridge composed of wooden boards, stretched across a gap formed between two precipices where the cabin home overlooks from above. Piers is the one who steps out onto it first, crossing over brazenly without giving it too much thought. “We’re almost there!” he announces, mostly to his son as he carts him along.
Felix, though, can’t help but strain to hear the creak of the planks as he sets his foot down against it. He follows behind at a distance, only confident in his security when he stands on solid ground once more.
He can see the house more clearly now. There’s a roof made of shingles and topped with straw, walls made of concrete slabs. It consists of multiple floors, the basement of sorts technically passing underground while being visible on the other side of the cliff. Rows of farmland are lined before the windows of the lower story, and it’s only by the grace of Isaac’s affinity for Venus Psynergy that the little sprouts that have been planted could even hope to survive this high up in elevation. A metallic telescope is affixed to the attic, pointed towards the horizon - and, more specifically the remains of Mount Aleph.
It’s a sad sight to see, really. The once proud summit that had overlooked his first ever home is a mere memory of its former glory; the top has been completely blown off as a result of the Golden Sun explosion that had occurred directly above it, smoke billowing from the exposed peak and the crevices of magma that crawl across the foot of the mountain. What once was a sacred pinnacle has been reduced to an unruly, active volcano. It’s no wonder that the citizens of Vale had been tentative about trying to relocate around their former holy place.
The view of it makes him uneasy, even to this day.
“Mom!” Lemarr calls from ahead. He’s already been set back down to walk on his own, clasping Piers’ hand tightly as they wait for Felix not too far from the cabin. “I wanna go inside already!”
The brunette ducks his head sheepishly, tearing his gaze away from Mount Aleph as he joins the two of them once more. They’re so awfully close to the house now. He hardens his nerves as much as he can and takes the lead, taking the incline of rock to the front door.
And then he falters. “...I don’t know what to say to her,” he says quietly as Piers joins him at the doormat placed over the wooden porch. He isn’t really scared of Jenna, all things considered, but it’s been fourteen years since he disappeared off the face of Weyard without so much as a goodbye. He wasn’t supposed to be at her doorstep now for that reason.
“It will be fine,” his partner insists, taking the initiative to actually knock for him. “Your tendency to shoulder your perceived burdens entirely on your own certainly doesn’t help, though.”
Felix frowns heavily. He’s offended more than anything else, pride stung by the fact that Piers can hit the nail on the head so effortlessly. But, ultimately, he is right. They’re in this awkward position because the Venus Adept is woefully incapable of maintaining contact with his friends and family, and his only excuse for it comes from their vagabond life at sea. He could have tried a little harder to send a letter or two Jenna’s way, to give her some kind of closure as to his whereabouts.
But he is a coward, so that had never been a genuine consideration.
Anything else he might have thought or said in the moment fizzles out like an extinguished candle as the door pulls open. “Hello?”
She’s changed so much in a decade and a half. She’s taller now, and her hair has been cut short in a bob that barely covers her ears. The spark in her eyes has become tempered with age and maturity, no doubt in part of the grueling journey they had all taken together, but she still carries herself with a sense of vivid poise.
And there is a baby in her arms.
Felix can’t help but stare at the infant that Jenna has in her possession. Without question, a child of his brother-in-law; tousled blonde hair appears to be a family trademark of his, and although the toddler’s eyes are wide like his little sister, the calm blue-greyness has never belonged to their kin. It’s all Isaac.
Jenna’s mouth is wide open, and before any of them can get a word in, she slams the door on their faces. Muted footsteps rush away from the front of the house, and Felix can only guess that she might be going to fetch her husband.
Piers blinks eloquently. “Huh. That...is not what I expected to happen.”
“You shouldn’t expect anything with Jenna,” Felix counters wryly. His eyes remain firmly attached to the door, but he can’t get the vision of the child she held so dearly out of his mind. He wonders if she’ll resent her for that.
The footsteps return, but now there’s a distinct set of them. One is heavier, quicker than the other. Isaac opens the door at full-force, nearly ripping the poor thing off its hinges as he stares holes through Felix. How unfortunate that, even though Piers is the one who knocked, he remained at the front of the porch.
Isaac has grown some, too. He's significantly taller than Felix now and there’s wisps of a stubble lining his squared jawline. It is flat out surprising that Jenna hasn’t forced him to shave off. She didn’t strike her brother as the type to find it attractive. “...hello-”
The door is thrown shut once more. He can see Piers in his peripheral, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation at the recurring gesture. Unlike the first time, though, hushed murmurs pass through the keyhole. If Felix concentrates hard enough, his affinity for earthen powers allows him to hear more clearly.
“What in Mars’ name is he doing here..?!” Jenna. That wounds, just a little.
“Don’t know why you’re asking me...” Isaac. “Wait, was that Piers?”
A third time, the door is opened. Husband and wife now stand together in front of the entryway, the newborn baby still in Jenna’s firm arms as she watches her brother with narrowed, perplexed eyes.
“Hello,” Felix offers again, strained. He’s becoming exhausted by the hoops he’s being forced to jump through.
Discreetly, Piers steps forward and takes the lead for him, taking his hand and giving it to Lemarr behind a broad shoulder. Is he trying to hide their son? “Isaac, Jenna! It’s good to see you two again,” he greets with a genuine smile. “Sorry for dropping by unexpectedly.”
“I-it’s been over a decade...” Isaac utters with the magniloquence of a dying hyena. It’s funny, but honest to gods distracting - and not a good sign of things to come. “And none of us have heard from either of you since then. Why are you here?”
Stars, they would get nowhere like this. All of Felix’s reservations blow away in the wind like a stack of leaves, and he places himself next to Piers with Lemarr sheltered directly behind him and Piers. “We need to talk.”
Jenna visibly bristles, and he can tell that it’s taking all of her patience not to explode on them immediately. “Felix,” she begins with venom, but she suddenly finds herself unable to form a coherent sentence after that beyond angry, barely pieced together curses. “Isaac, hold the baby.”
It’s fascinating how tense the warrior becomes as soon as his name is spoken, and he obediently takes the child from Jenna’s grasp. But that same baby was the only thing that had kept Felix safe up to that point, and he only realizes that once the Mars Adept passes through the doorway and approaches him.
She draws her fist back and punches him square in the nose. A crack sounds between it and him stumbling over his feet to the ground, sticky ichor that leaves a copper taste behind dribbling over his lips and onto the dirt. It hurts, but he’s vaguely aware of it, more annoyed by how hard it is to breathe through a closed mouth now.
“Mom!” Lemarr tries to rush to his aid (what he might try to do, Felix does not know), but Piers catches him before he can get too far.
It’s only then that Jenna realizes what she’s done, the formerly distressed look crossing over her face going cold with horror. She holds a hand to her mouth, eyes darting between Felix and his son - whom she knows not, but now knows does belong to him in some way.
This really is not how he would have ever pictured this reunion going down, and yet here he is, partially splayed against the ground and snuffling laboriously like a beaten dog. It would have been humiliating if he wasn’t already ashamed for being a mere name on the wind for so long. He sits up, gingerly snapping his dislocated nose back in place with a deadened pop. His gloves are smeared with his own blood but he doesn’t care right now, too busy casting a hesitant Cure over the injury in order to stop the bleeding. The Psynergy is stifling in its warmth and it burns some, a juxtaposition to Ply’s soothing chill, but it does the job faster and he’s on his feet to confront his little sister once more.
Jenna doesn’t seem too interested in punching him again, though. “Felix, I-I...” she stammers, holding her arms with indecisiveness - she can’t pick between clasping her hands together or reaching out to make sure he’s real. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have punched you, but what's going on? Why are you here?”
“...I just want to talk with you,” he murmurs. “And Isaac.”
“You’ll explain everything?” his sister presses, pleads, and the desperation in her eyes makes him weak in the heart. He has spent years away from her under the facade of his brotherly duty in protecting her against the ire of many that he has earned, because it was his name that was attached to the betrayal of their people and not hers. But all it takes is burgundy irises that sparkle with unspilt tears to break down the walls he has built for the sake of them, and he can no longer bring himself to be so detached.
He swallows thickly, forcing himself to hold her watery gaze. “I promise.”
A hand brushes against his arm, Jenna’s fingers digging into the sleeve of his jacket as she pulls herself closer to him. “...alright. Alright,” she breathes out slowly. “I’m sorry for punching you again. I’ve...I’ve missed you.”
It’s terrifying to be missed, unequivocally so, and now he feels awful about being silent for all these long years. He brushes some of her hair aside, tucking it behind her ear. “I missed you, too.”
“You guys can be sappy inside,” Isaac interrupts flatly, but Felix can see the relief hidden behind such stoic features. “It’s not getting any brighter out here.”
“I-is it already so late?” Jenna squawks, turning away to observe the dying horizon. True enough, Sol’s light has begun to be lost behind the ridges of the Goma Range. It will be nighttime soon. “Iris, I didn’t even realize...um, come in!” She shuffles into the interior of the cabin through unsteady footsteps, her husband faithfully trailing behind her.
Piers approaches his side with a raised eyebrow. A silent I told you so is offered, and Felix shakes his head with annoyance. Because of course he would be right, again. Instead, his attention flitters back to his son, who has begun worriedly pulling at his cape.
“I’m alright,” the elder Adept tries reassuringly, and now, after pulling off his stained gloves, it’s his turn to carry Lemarr around. The moment the boy is in his hold, he grabs his father by the face and stares at him. His eyes are rounded with trouble, but it eases away when he comes to understand that, yes, he is fine. “Your aunt is very strong.”
“...that’s Auntie?” his son whispers into his ear as discreetly as he might try. He’s been told tales of her and all the other Warriors of Vale before, but this is the first time he has truly seen any of them. Other than his parents, of course.
Felix nods. “And your uncle, Isaac.” The baby is new, though, and he is dying to learn more.
“Auntie is scary,” is what Lemarr concludes as they enter the cabin, the suffocating heat of the plateaus that neither his partner nor his son appear to be too affected by replaced with the snug warmth of candlelight and an oven hearth that’s been smoldering for a bit too long. The smell of bread that’s been baked hours in the past lingers in the air.
It is nothing like the home they’ve made of Piers’ ship, tinted by sea salt and a perpetually cold breeze.
“I guess introductions are in order,” Isaac declares as he passes the child in his arms back to Jenna, gaze fixated curiously on the fledgling Adept in Felix’s arms. But he says nothing, his wife taking charge to stand before them instead.
She’s silent at first, unsure if she should study her nephew or her brother. Eventually, she turns her firstborn to face them appropriately. “His name is Matthew,” she says, soft and full of a mother’s true love.
The boy, Matthew, peers up at Felix. It’s remarkable how different he is to when Lemarr had been a mere newborn; Matthew is quiet, reserved, even for a child. His cheeks are rosy and he has a tendency to blink slowly at things that interest him, like his father. But Lemarr had been rambunctious from the start, taking after the destructive storm he’d been born within.
Oh. Oh, he was going to have to explain that.
“Do you want to hold him, Felix?” Jenna’s question snaps him out of his thinking before he can be lost too far. Her son has a hand outstretched towards the warrior curiously, babbling something only he can comprehend.
“...sure. Trade?” He extends his free arm, hooking the underneath of Matthew’s legs with care as his mother picks up Lemarr from the other. Once he’s tucked in properly, Felix offers the toddler his hand to touch and prod as he pleases, but Matthew seems content to hold onto his index finger firmly. With such close proximity, he can sense that his nephew is a Venus Adept like his father; his presence is a warm soil that sustains a budding seed, waiting to grow into a powerful tree to shelter those he cherishes.
It’s almost overwhelming. For as long as Felix can remember, he’s always hated the ability to feel the life of virtually anyone he comes across. But it’s always harder when it concerns friends and family. It makes it difficult for him to forget them when the time comes for him to journey out into the unknown of Weyard’s vast seas.
Piers clasps his shoulder tightly, leaning forward from behind to see the boy for himself. “He really does look just like you, Isaac,” he notes, flashing playful teeth at the Valean son. Matthew only titters happily.
But now Felix has begun to watch Jenna and Lemarr, his normally tense expression assuaged by the sight of his little sister pinching his son’s cheek. “Ohh, aren’t you the cutest thing!”
“His name is Lemarr,” his partner announces with pride. It is so unabashedly a Lemurian name that neither Isaac nor Jenna bat too hard of an eye at it. “He’ll be five in a few months.”
“...Felix,” the Mars Adept in the room suddenly voices, looking up at the swordsman in question. Consideration causes her brows to crease, and she returns Lemarr to Piers. “Actually, this might be a question better asked just between you and I.”
That doesn’t sit well in his gut. “Ah.”
Isaac glances between them cautiously. “Should...should I sit this one out as well-”
“No.” Felix says it before Jenna can even open her mouth. “No, I...I need you to hear what I have to say as well.”
The blonde nods, holding out his arms to take Matthew from his brother-in-law. The other Venus Adept obliges, although somewhat averse to relinquishing his newly established nephew so quickly. Matthew is awfully cute and he wants to hold him longer, but he knows that there are things to be spoken of that are dire. He can’t afford to forget that.
“Piers, would you be so kind as to watch Matthew for a while?” the Warrior of Vale asks the sailor, already extending his toddler son in his direction.
There isn’t anything beyond unmoderated elation in the blue-haired man’s eyes as he nods, participating in the undeclared game of “pass the baby around” by taking Matthew himself. “Of course. You don’t mind if Lemarr sees him?”
“Piers...” Felix warns, a knowing edge to his voice. Jenna looks at him instantaneously, but he’s quick to rectify his mistake. “Be careful. He’s never held a baby before.”
His partner, though, seems to carry total confidence in their son. “It’ll be fine!” he swears, guiding Lemarr further into the home just as Isaac and his wife gesture for Felix to follow them into the kitchen. He stops only two steps along the way, kicking off his shoes and leaving them by the door before scurrying into the room that’s wedged between the staircase and the open study.
“Do you want me to make you some tea?” Jenna proposes, already at the stove to start boiling a kettle worth of water. He sees no reason to deny it, and so he simply nods, his tongue feeling very heavy at the consciousness of no longer having an out for this. No matter what, he is going to have to tell them everything they’ve missed.
Isaac pulls out a chair from the table unceremoniously, wooden legs scraping against the floor before he’s satisfied and nearly collapses into the seat. He folds his hands underneath his chin, regarding Felix with weariness. “I can tell there’s a lot on your mind.”
It has finally come down to this. The older Adept wrings his hands underneath the kitchen surface as he thinks carefully over everything he might possibly say. Where to start? Where to end? How to say it and how to breathe in between? It’s all so maddeningly complicated and his propensity for simply jumping headfirst into a problem in order to solve it is strong.
So that’s what he does. “I came here to speak to you about Lemarr,” he admits truthfully.
That has Jenna’s attention foremost, her head snapping back to him. “Wait. Before you continue...I did want to ask something regarding him.”
His eyes flutter in acknowledgement, bewildered as it might be. “...go ahead.”
“Felix, did you...” Her teeth worry at her bottom lip as she falters, a heavy thought fogging her eyes. “...did you have Lemarr?”
The room goes totally silent. Her sudden apprehension makes so much more sense now that the question has been revealed, and Felix’s mind blanks out completely. He’s lagging miles behind, even as the others continue the conversation. “I didn’t even think about that,” Isaac mutters behind a hand, just as privy to the truth as Jenna was.
He hadn’t always been called “Felix”, but those days have been over and done with for years.
“I’m sorry, it’s probably a really invasive question. You don’t have to answer it,” the redhead at the stove adds as an afterthought, which Felix does truly appreciate. “I was just curious, because he looks so much like you...”
The thought perturbs him. For nearly five years now, he’s always thought of Lemarr as bearing more resemblance to Piers. His eyes are always filled with the same kind of curiosity that the Lemurian views all of Weyard with, constantly seeking the next adventure to chase after. But, then again, he had to have gotten his predominantly brown hair from someone, and it wouldn’t be from anyone other than Felix.
He inhales. Exhale just as slowly. “It was an accident,” he finally confesses, tired eyes drawn to the polished wood of the table and nothing else. “Forgot my contraceptive tea. Had a baby. No big deal.”
“Wouldn’t really call child labor “no big deal”, but whatever you say,” Jenna snickers, shaking her head in disbelief. “He’s definitely an Adept, right?”
“Yeah. Venus.”
Isaac leans forward in interest. “Really? With how all of Lemuria seems to be inhabited with Mercury Adepts, I would have thought that the ratio wouldn’t be fifty-fifty like we’ve been led to believe is the case normally.”
“It may not be fifty-fifty all the time,” Felix points out. But that’s beside the point, and he doesn’t want to get off track. “Listen, I...” Gods, this is hard. Speaking is hard. “There’s something else. The reason I brought him here...do you remember what happened four years ago?”
Jenna nearly drops the kettle to the kitchen floor as she approaches the table, a look of horror taking over both her and her husband as they look at each other, then back at him. It’s safe to assume that there is only a singular occurrence that had happened four years ago, ten years after the Golden Sun event, that is monumental enough for them to immediately think of.
The Mourning Moon.
Ever since the explosion over Mount Aleph, Psynergy Vortexes have become a phenomenon known far across Weyard, very specifically the continent of Angara. But, for the most part, they don’t pose a significant enough threat to cause widespread panic because of their relatively small dimensions. At worst, they’ll suck in a few Djinn and disappear for the month. It’s become a problem that Felix and Piers have learned to deal with during their travels, treating the distortions with the respect that was necessary to try and research them.
But the Mourning Moon is different. Terribly different. A decade of relative peace, while somewhat shaky at times, had been completely shattered by the massive Psynergy Vortex that had appeared above Angara. Its presence had been enough to almost level cities, leaving countless on the brink of death by how easily it had sucked up the Alchemy of the world and all of the denizens so closely connected to it. Many Adepts had died on the night that it had manifested. He had almost been one of them.
Isaac flexes the conjoined hands that his chin rests upon, an indurated set of eyes looking past him to stare at the kitchen wall. “...the Lookout Cabin was far enough away from the Mourning Moon to avoid the devastation, so many people came looking for shelter.”
Considering how aggressive the climb is to the home itself, Felix can only begin to wonder how arduous of a task it might be to do so under the Mourning Moon.
“It was terrible,” Jenna agrees with a heavy sigh, resting the kettle of hot water against the table as she goes to fetch a handful of cups. “It blotted out the sun for so long that we weren’t sure if it was ever going to disappear. And when it finally did...so many people were already dead...”
“Hama didn’t survive.”
Felix stiffens at the name, turning to face the other Venus Adept who had spoken it. He hadn’t known Master Hama for very long, but she had left a very kind impression on him before his departure across the sea. Whether she had returned to Lama Temple or chose to remain in Contigo after the Golden Sun event wouldn’t have likely changed the outcome; the Mourning Moon favored those who were strong, and Hama was certainly no exception to that.
His sister returns to the table with three glasses and a set of teabags, doing her best to keep her hands steady as she pours the water. “Poor Ivan,” she murmurs. “He’s...taking it very hard. I’ve been trying to help the best that I can, but...well. Sometimes it’s better to let things be.”
He bites the inside of his cheek. He isn’t sure what to say, if anything at all. He isn’t good with comfort like that. Such matters are something that Isaac has always been more equipped to shoulder. “...he’ll be alright,” he eventually offers. “He’s strong.”
Isaac nods encouragingly. If he - and Jenna, too, for that matter - can tell that he’s struggling, nothing is spoken to comment on it. “But you’re not here just to catch up, are you? The Mourning Moon has something to do with Lemarr.”
Astute as ever, Felix thinks numbly. “Briggs and Piers are very close friends now,” he inevitably carries on with. It’s funny how easily old grudges had been put aside once they realized their shared affinity for seafaring. “So he let me stay in Champa after we found out about Lemarr. I think I owe my life to Chaucha, honestly…”
Isaac and Jenna exchange perturbed glances. “Well. I guess I’ll have to send Briggs a very lengthy letter,” the latter replies, pressing her fingertips together. At the sight of Felix’s twisting expression of worry, she laughs a little. “It’ll be nice, I promise! I remember Chaucha being really sweet, even if her husband was...colorful sometimes.”
Her brother watches with a pointed gaze as she slides him his cup worth of tea. The water is still turning brown with tea leaves, and he knows it’s not quite done settling. Such a proclamation could only remind Felix of them, really: Jenna’s inclination for fits of well-meaning passion is only tempered by Isaac’s resolute duty in making sure she doesn’t go too far.
But he can only beat around the bush for so long. “Lemarr was born under the Mourning Moon.”
To his luck, their surprise is mitigated. Jenna’s eyebrows raise and Isaac seems to grow even tenser, but he can tell that they’re trying to be considerate. “...is he well?” the other Venus Adept questions gently.
“Physically,” Felix agrees. “Champa was almost directly underneath it, and it took everyone's effort to keep me alive in the middle of it all. Piers was almost beside himself. But...we think the conditions gave him some very unique powers.” It isn’t uncommon for circumstances to dictate the kinds of Psynergy that an Adept might be exposed to. Objects and supernatural phenomena are things that both he and Isaac have dealt with a fair number of times during their travels, giving way to possessing different abilities.
The recognition that flickers in Isaac’s eyes proves his conjecture perfectly. “That’s why you came to us. You want to know if we have any insight into what his powers might be.”
“I thought it might be similar to Reveal. But that’s a power that Jupiter Adepts like Ivan have, so I can’t possibly imagine why Lemarr would have the same Psynergy.” Felix massages his brow with increasing anxiety. They’ve spent so long trying to find the answers to absolutely zero avail, and while Piers might recognize that he’s becoming desperate, he hates acknowledging it himself. “It has to be something else.”
“Can you explain his powers to me? If he’s a Venus Adept, we might be able to figure it out,” Isaac presses. “We” is too good-natured of a word for him to use when Felix can’t even solve the conundrum himself.
The older Adept stirs in his seat somewhat uncomfortably, because he doesn’t believe that they will. But he decides to humor his brother-in-law. While it might be best explained through showing and not telling, it’s already begun to grow dark outside, and the lecture is what he’ll have to stick with for now. “...he can sense things,” Felix explains around his cup of tea. It burns his tongue, but his hands are desperate for something to hold. “More than what a Venus Adept his age is naturally capable of. If you told a Djinni to hide somewhere, he’d find it within a fifty-mile radius like it was nothing.”
“So can he already sense other people’s lifeforce?” Jenna pipes up as she takes her seat next to her husband. Felix might have thought of it as strange, her already knowing of their capabilities - but then he remembers that their own child is a Venus Adept as well and everything clicks from there.
“It’s...not as strong as mine,” the warrior counters. “He can tell when someone is nearby, but he isn’t trained to identify who that person might be exactly.” There’s a pause, again. “It’s not just people that he can feel. Or Djinn. He can see hidden things that not even my affinity for the earth can detect.”
Isaac frowns. “So it is like Reveal...”
Felix nods. “Piers and I have decided to cross over to Gondowan to see if Sheba knows anything. So, I suppose it would be wise to pay Ivan a visit as well.”
“He’ll be happy to see you,” Jenna says, more like a promise and less like a suggestion “You, um...aren’t planning on leaving so soon, right..?”
Felix looks away pointedly.
“...you can’t be serious.” Her hands shake too violently against her cup for her to continue holding and so she sets it against the table, scowling at her brother. “It’s been fourteen years and I’ve only just gotten to see you since then, and you’re telling me you already want to leave?!”
“Jenna-” Isaac begins.
Too late. She’s already pushed out her chair and stood up with force, rounding on the brunette just as he stands to meet her. She almost reaches out to grab him by the collar, but she’s able to keep herself from that. “Do you realize how selfish you are sometimes?” she demands.
“I have been anything but selfish, Jenna,” Felix returns quietly. Her eyes go wide with surprise, even as he continues. “If you fail to see why, then that just gives me every more reason to continue distancing myself from you-”
This time, she really does grab him by his vest. Her fist is strong and she yanks him forward so that they’re at eye-level, full of emotion but not so reminiscent enough to be on the verge of tears. “Then explain it to me, Felix! Tell me why I’m too stupid to understand!” It’s clear she has no reservations regarding Piers or the children overhearing her.
He waits. He waits until her hand is not so clenched against the fabric of his jacket. He waits until the fire in her eyes dies just a tiny bit. He waits until Isaac is standing just behind her, ready to intervene on behalf of any blows that might be made.
“...Jenna.” He can hear the tiredness in his own voice. “I bear the weight of responsibility when it comes to igniting the Elemental Lighthouses. You know this.”
“What the fuck does that have to do with you leaving me again?”
Felix can’t say he isn’t utterly dumbfounded by the expletive that she metaphorically stabs him with. It isn’t like her to be crass in the same way someone like Briggs is (the irony of Jenna saying the very same is not lost to him).
But then he catches up to what exactly she had meant. Leaving her again.
“...is that what this is about?” he asks, his words hoarse as he fights back sudden tears that he’s been able to hold back for so many years. He’d been nothing more than a sniveling crybaby in the early months of his life in Prox, and he had sworn off that kind of sentimentality for a reason. He couldn’t afford to be softhearted because it had always gotten him into trouble; it got him into trouble with Jenna, Sheba, countless others he can’t begin to name right now because his brain is spiraling out of control and he knew he shouldn’t have come here and yet he did anyway -
She closes the distance between them, wrapping his arms behind his back and burying her face into the wraps of cloth that has his cloak fastened around his neck. She’s crying, but he can only tell by how her shoulders pitch upwards every now and then as she tries to remain silent. Nails dig deep into the backend of his vest, tight enough for him to feel how his skin reddens against the intensity. “You can’t leave me again,” she begs, marred by her sobs.
The shell over his heart splinters, like a dam overflowing with emotion. He holds her head against his shoulder, soothing her hair back as he tries not to follow suit with her weeping. The significance of his vow to solitude cannot ever hope to overcome his sister’s love for him; she had wholly, truly missed him, and he was the idiot who had put her and all of their friends in such a state of aimless torment. He is a jester with no court to fool but himself.
“I’m sorry. I won’t leave.” He swears to it and means it. He understands now better than ever that he cannot hope to continue deceiving his own feelings. “...but I can’t stay here.” He pulls her back tenderly, eyelids lowering at the trail falling down her cheeks. He hates making her cry like this.
Jenna’s eyes are unable to pick a place to stare. Between his own, his hands, even his lips as he speaks. They’re constantly moving, constantly flooded by so many swirling egos. To rebuke him, to believe him, to reject him.
“Weyard is undergoing constant change,” he explains. “And with the resurgence of Alchemy in the world, it’s destined to create problems that someone must solve. Piers and I have already resolved to be the ones to do so. Because...someone has to figure out how to stop the Psynergy Vortexes from appearing.”
Isaac, mercifully, pulls his wife into his arms. Felix lets him, even though the sudden loss of familial touch makes him feel particularly sad. They have to exist as a source of comfort for each other, and he cannot interfere with that. “I understand. Garet and I have to stay here to watch over Mount Aleph, and with no one else to investigate strange occurrences…”
“But,” Jenna sniffles, “you can’t just disappear. If you want to travel with Piers, of course I’ll support you...but you have to talk with us. We’re here to help you. What happens if something happens to you and you have no one to turn to?”
It’s tempting to try to refute her claims. But Felix knows that this isn’t the way. “I'll write. I...I’ve always told Piers how hard it would be to rely on letters across the sea,” he smiles faintly. “But I will. On one condition.”
Jenna scowls in anticipation. “What is it?”
“...never tell Matthew.”
It’s not so hot this afternoon as they descend the mountainside that had been chosen as the foundation for the Lookout Cabin. Their packs are full of goodbye gifts and a horrifically weighty cookbook that Isaac had insisted that Felix take back with him. He isn’t sure if the other warrior was under the genuine belief that they only ate fish, or if there was some other motive he wasn’t privy to. Either way, he is regretting how much of a metric ton of bricks that it feels in the back of his satchel.
He wanted to stay longer, really. Two days had flown by faster than he could have even blink, filled with recounting of memories that they all shared and the various types of success that his old friends have found; Garet, who lives with Isaac atop the Goma Range as a fellow watcher of Mount Aleph, has his own little boy. Tyrell, a Mars Adept like himself. Ivan had remained behind in Kalay with his adoptive family and Jenna, dedicating his studies to the ancient Anemos and their technology. He and his husband are soon going to have a daughter, Karis, through surrogacy. Mia still lives in Imil as their dedicated healer, her teachings having been properly passed down to her apprentices. She’s already given birth to a daughter named Nowell but is due to have another child; Kraden, who seems to have neither aged nor changed at all within the years, has promised to take them under his wing as pupils when they come of age. And Sheba, free-spirited and willed as ever, roams Gondowan in the hopes of uncovering the truth of her origins.
But, as he told Jenna, he cannot stay here for too long. So much of the future is uncertain and so much of the world continues to be a mystery. Isaac has resolved to watch over their former home with the belief that Mount Aleph’s status might be related to the existence of Psynergy Vortex, which means that the rest of Weyard is in Felix’s hands.
He’s grateful for that, really. He doesn’t believe that he would be able to settle down in a single place no matter where he tried. Adventure is his muse and he will die writing her song.
But, more than anything, they must uncover the truth of Lemarr’s powers. It had been made clear within the first few hours that neither Isaac nor his wife had any sort of insight into what the boy was capable of. and so their eyes had to be cast elsewhere for answers. Ivan is next on the list.
Piers holds his hand tightly. Their son is not but a few paces ahead of them, lurching ahead with the courageous expectation of holding the lead for the entire way to Kalay. “You told them not to tell Matthew of your letters. Why?”
“So you truly were eavesdropping.” He should have guessed as much. “When the time comes that Matthew will leave home, I don’t want him following me.”
The Lemurian beside him can only stare, lips pursed in thought. “...was the whole point of Jenna getting you to write back to her not so that you might remain in touch with your entire family?”
“I don’t know what will happen in the future. In the case that something monumental happens, or we might be on the verge of some kind of a breakthrough, I don’t want my nephew becoming involved in our dangerous affairs.” Because gods know that they will find themselves in trouble somehow. “I love my sister. And her son. But I don’t want them to die trying to chase after my footsteps.”
His partner sighs. “I see,” is all he answers with, turning away from Felix to observe their son wandering off the path to observe a lizard that scurries over the rocks. “I trust your judgment. I only ask that, if Matthew does find us one day, you will not turn him away.”
Felix laughs tonelessly. “The day that I meet my nephew once more is the day that I come to learn what tragedy has already been bestowed upon him to seek me out in the first place.”
He doesn’t know how true that statement will become in the future.