The Forgotten Zodiac

"The sooner we get started, the better, I agree," Elincia said, wrapping her arm around Ike's and smiling. "I can't wait to be on this airship of yours. It's going to be so different, being in the sky without worrying about steering my pegasus," she said. She looked over to the rest of the group. "Aren't you excited?"

Geoffrey echoed Elincia's statement with a nod and words of his own. "I, for one, cannot wait. It'll be quite the new experience for me. I certainly hope I'll enjoy it and not get airsick, as our Lord Felirae asserts is quite a realistic possibility," he said, looking over to Soren and smiling.

The mage pretended not to hear the knight's words, and instead turned directly to Mewt. Holding out the stack of books, he said, "I've finished translating another into this notebook here. The other book contains <i>my</i> thoughts on the writing." Soren held out the stack with one hand, keeping the other twined with Lucia's.

Mewt disentangled himself from the noble he'd been talking to, a rather annoying, and useless, person who felt the need to serenade the Prince with his loyalty. The mage sorted through the books Soren had brought him and handed all of the originals to the man. "Return these to the library. They're sorted under-" he stopped, quickly analyzing the apparent intelligence of the person he was directing. "Never mind. Put them on my work table, in the same condition I've given them to you. Understood?" When the shocked man nodded, Mewt smiled shortly and dimissed him with a wave of a hand. His royal atmosphere descended as he turned to talk to Soren, already flipping through both notebooks. "I can still barely believe it was a real language. Everyone, for centuries, has thought he was brilliant and disfunctional; but, if he was from Tellius, that would explain everything." The Prince's eyes lit up slightly as another magical query occured to him. "The obvious question seems to be how he got through. There's no record of anyone from that time capable of bringing him here, and yet he seems to have arrived."
"C'mon!" Ritz took Elincia by the arm that wasn't holding Marche and led the way down the hallway, toward the back view of the palace. "I hope you all weren't waiting too long; Doned didn't arrive as early as he normally does. There was some paperwork holdup, unsurprisingly; but he got it sorted out. You have such a good brother, Marche!"

"If you get the oppertunity, we may want to go do some research in the libraries in Sienne, Bengion. Their records are far more extensive than Melior's," Soren said. "So they may have something on this "gate" he describes. What's more, from the evidence I've gathered, it would seem that..." Soren trailed off there, glancing around at the rest of the group. "Well, you can look at my notes. Shall we get going?" he asked, turning his gaze back up to Lucia.

Soren's hand slipped out of his wife's (Goddess he still had to get used to that...) and he gently took her arm, following the rest of the group. Elincia pulled Ike along by his arm as Ritz led the way, smiling happily. Geoffrey and Nephenee took to the back of the group, seemingly lost in their own conversation as they prepared for the ride in the airship.

Mewt, still flipping through the notebooks, started walking with the rest of the group. He knew most of the palace hallways by heart, having grown up wandering through them. One got a lot of practice when one spent the majority of one's time with a book in one hand. "Most of the ones you've translated so far are just his early experiments. They're hugely interesting, but they've yet to really inform us of anything." He tucked the books under his arm and continued down the hallway, hurrying, though they were quite close to the outdoors.
They arrived at the airship quite soon, and those from Tellius could easily mark the resemblance to a true trip. Unlike a true ship, it had propellers on the top, mounted on poles above the glass dome covering the passenger deck. The ship didn't go high enough to make breathing difficult, it was a passenger ship, after all, those unused to air travel tended to have trouble walking in the high winds.
Doned strode up to the group, grease streaked across his shirt. The mechanic seemed to have a great deal of trouble keeping any clothing he wore clean; but it made some sense. Those who were barely able to go outside for the first ten years of their life tended to have a certain... <i>vigor</i> in their approach to the rest of their life. "You all arrived all right, then. Great. The crew's been nervous as all get out." He joined the group before turning around and leading the way toward the ship.

Soren nodded, saying "I gathered as much. The writing seems sort of monotone now, but, as you say, if he was able to travel between the worlds, there's bound to be something astonishing in there. I'll keep at it," he assured. The mage looked up as Doned approached, then past the mechanic to eye the ship somewhat warily. "Can't wait," he responded to the boy, a bit flatly. He looked up to Lucia to gather her reaction, then looked back to the rest of the group.

Not seeming nearly as daunted as the mage appeared, Elincia walked ahead with Ritz and Marche, still dragging Ike along. "Come on, you all!" she said, glancing over her shoulder at the other two couples.

Nephenee smiled at Doned, greeting him with a nod of her head. She was about to introduce Geoffrey, but the mechanic had already turned back to the ship. The girl blushed slightly, but recalled that they'd likely have plenty of time to talk while aboard, and recovered quickly. Smiling up at Geoffrey, she followed the rest over to the ship.

Quite quickly, they were all boarding the ship. Normally, the crew would have just thrown a rope ladder down from the top or led the passengers through the belly of the ship. Today, thoroughly impressed with the importance of their passengers, the crew had put together a walkway, of sort. The wooden frame of the stairs spared all the women, including the pregnant ones, of climing a ladder in a dress; however, it wouldn't spare them any anxiety in particular. The well-meaning crew of the airship weren't particularly talented when it came to woodwork, so the stairway, while very securely put together, had the appearance of something made entirely from scraps of wood. Which it was. There were handrails, and someone had splattered the middle of the wood with red paint, but neither made it look particularly less like a death trap.
Doned, never one to notice these things, charged up the makeshift stairs, taking them two-at-a-time while still talking. Currently, he was explaining everything he knew about the ship, to no one in particular. He reached the top rather quickly, and turned around to wave the others up. "C'mon! They're quite secure."
Marche, muttering something about murdering his brother if these collapsed, started up the stairs with Ritz. Ike and Elincia headed close behind him, followed by Soren and Lucia, Geoffrey and Nephenee, and, finally, Mewt. Up close, the glass was much thicker than it had appeared from the ground. The ship was designed for speed as well as stability; there were rich patrons who enjoyed that sort of thing. Once everyone was inside and the door had been secured, Doned disappeared below decks. Almost immediately, the enginge started up; and the ship surged into the air.

Soren, who had been standing up when the ship took off, lost balance and fell forward into Ike, catching himself on the Commander's always-worn cape.

"Goddess," he hissed, righting himself quickly and glancing around to gauge how many of the others had seen that. He slid back over to Lucia and took hold of her arm, leading her promptly over to two seats and sitting down quickly. To her only, he muttered, "I never expected this to go <i>this</i> well..."

Elincia seemed thrilled as the ship took to the air, and went over to press against a window to see the ground pull away. She was, obviously, one of the more comfortable of the Tellius guests in the air. After all, she was used to the heights and the view from her pegasus. She waved Ike over to look out the window with her, smiling away.

Nephenee edged over to the window as well, but clung tightly to Geoffrey's arm as she walked, not wanting to fall over as Soren had. Though, she thought, it was less of a worry now, since the ship had leveled off in its flight, and was never really unstable to start with - just being startled by the movement was enough to knock someone off balance. She glanced out the window and gasped, trying to smile but looking slightly nervous.

Lucia laughed loudly and sat next to Soren, though she had done better than most when the airship took off. "All things considered, dear, it's going pretty well. Nothing's broken, and we've already taken off. That's reassuring, isn't it?" The woman wrapped her arm around her husband's again and interlaced their fingers again. "Besides, Doned seems competent enough; but I'm not sure I would do this for fun. It's a bit too bumpy for my taste. What do you think?"
Ike was just as excited as Elincia. Unlike Elincia, who was staying in one place with her face as close to the glass as she could get it, Ike was racing across the deck pressing his nose against nearly every glass pane available. When his wife gestured to him, he dashed across the deck to her, pressing his nose against the glass again. "Look at the ground! Look how high we are!" The King pulled his nose back from the glass and glanced over at his wife. "Can we get one? Officially? We could use it for public appearances and everything. It wouldn't have to be this big. It could be a smaller one." He turned on her pleadingly, making his best impression of a puppy dog face. "I'll bet the baby would like it."
Doned was back shortly, walking more stably than anyone else. He bounded up to his brother, looking quite delighted, and spun himself around. "Sorry 'bout the rough start. They go up pretty fast and pretty steep at first. It'll level out." Indeed, the ship was already slowing down and levelling out. It made walking easier, especially for people, like Soren, who didn't have walking on such a moving surface.

Soren gave Lucia a somewhat sheepish smile, then stood as the ship's flight leveled out. He watched Ike race around for a while with an amused look on his face, then walked over to look out the window himself to see what all the fuss was about. He stared out the window for a long while, taking in the view silently. Finally, he murmured, "It's nice. It's very nice." He glanced over to Lucia, then said, "It's not as bad as I thought it'd be."

Elincia laughed as Ike voiced this question, then offered a placating "Maybe. We'll see." She smiled at him and turned to look back out the window, before her stomach growled and she remembered that they were supposed to be having a picnic.

"Ritz," she said, turning to the girl. "Where are we going to eat?" she asked.

Lucia laughed again, quite amused by Soren's dislike of these heights. "I thought you grew up near the mountains. Wouldn't that make you more familiar with heights, not less? Or is this more like the storms?" She'd looked subtly around the deck before bringing the subject up, knowing he probably wouldn't want someone like, say, Ritz finding out. The 'support' he would receive from her would probably make him wish he was dead.
"Oh! Right here!" Ritz jumped and took the satchel of food she'd been making Marche carry. She bounced her way to the middle of the deck, which was clear of the benches that lined the sides. "Bring that over here, okay?" She demanded of Ike. The woman pulled a cloth from the top of the basket and started spreading it out and pinning it down with food containers. Turning, she waved Mewt toward Soren and Lucia and Doned toward Geoffrey and Nephenee. "Go see if they're hungry. I'm going to eat now, whether or not they do."
Ike, with Elincia in two, ran over toward the food and placed the hamper where Ritz directed. "C'mon, Soren! We're eating now. There's food and everything." Anyone who knew Ike could tell how quickly the food would be gone. If they wanted to eat, they would have to come quickly."

"I didn't grow up anywhere really in particular," Soren said, frowning slightly, "But if I had to pick a place to say where I grew up, it would be Gallia. That is where I spent the majority of my youth," he said. When Ike called for him, he smield slightly. "We'd better get over there, or nothing will be left," he said to Lucia, leading her over to the blanket.

Geoffrey glanced over as Doned approached. "Is it ready, then?" he asked. At Doned's affirmative reply, he smiled. "I hope you'll be joining us," he added quickly, taking hold of Nephenee's arm and going over to join the others.

((The dare.))

By the time everyone got to the cloth, Ritz had all the food out and prepared. She and Elincia were already dishing plates out for themselves, since everyone was capable of feeding themselves. Lucia laughed when she saw what the two of them were filling their plates with.
Ritz's plate was stacked high with fish, dripped in lemon. By itself, it looked completely fine; but, what Lucia didn't see until she got closer, was that Ritz was eating it with pieces of chocolate added in. Elincia, making Ritz look almost more sane, was drinking, judging from the bottles next to her, pickle juice and vanilla. As if those weren't strange enough, she was taking a drink and immediately putting a large bite of steak into her mouth. Lucia looked at Ike, who was also eating a large steak, and back to Elincia, a smirk crossing her lips. "Whatcha eating, Ike? You and Elincia have been sharing food for months; I'm surprised you're letting the pregnancy come between you."

"Nothing against you, Elincia, but I'm with Ike, here," Geoffrey chimed in. "I don't understand how you stomach... that." The knight gave a small shudder and turned to filling his plate. He helped Nephenee a bit with hers, then bit into his steak. "This is really good," he said between bites. "Who made this?" he asked. "Did Soren finally break down and use a Fire spell to cook something?"

The knight's light jibe was met with a flat, unamused gaze from the mage. Soren shook his head slightly and returned his attention to his own meal, watching Elincia and Ritz for a moment as, he had to admit, it was slightly entertaining. "Geoffrey, I doubt you're the only one that wouldn't be able to stomach the girls'... current diets." He offered an apologetic look for his wording, then turned to Lucia. "I highly doubt any of us would."

((Somewhere in here Lucia should make a remark about wondering what weird things she'll crave when she's pregnant and Soren can say something implying that he DOESN'T WANT TO FIND OUT.))

Lucia, after sitting down and serving herself a plate, restarted the conversation. "I'm not saying I would choose to eat it myself, though I do wonder what I'll end up eating if I get pregnant." She glanced around, watching as everyone else began eating, then looked back to Ike. "It's funny, though, I never picked you for the type to shy away from new foods. I mean, aren't you curious as to what your wife is eating every day? If I get pregnant, I'm making Soren try everything I crave." She turned, smiling, to her husband, then dropped one last statement. "Unless Soren's as scared as Ike seems to be."
Ike's eyes widened with annoyance, and he grunted loudly. Through a mouthful of meat, he protested verbally. "I'm not scared! I'm just not crazy. What're you talking about?"

Soren glanced up at Lucia carefully, then said, somewhat scathingly, "Right, because <i>that's</i> going to happen." He gave a small shake of his head and began eating again, until Geoffrey made the conversation much more engaging.

"Prove it, Ike."

It was now obvious that Geoffrey had moved past treating Ike as a superior and more like family. The knight smiled at the idea of the challege. "Not scared, right? ...and did you just call Elincia crazy?"

The young Queen laughed, smacking Ike lightly on the arm. She didn't say anything, waiting for Ike do, as he normally did, dig himself into a deeper hole than he was in already.

Ike's jaw dropped as he realized what he'd walked himself into. Typical Ike, he immediately responsed to Geoffrey's challenge. "I will, then!" He stopped again when he realized what he'd just said. "I have to eat that now, don't I?" His face dropped further as Marche laughed loudly and nodded.
"You, my friend, are <i>stuck</i>." Marche thought this was quite hilarious, especially since he was safe. That is, until his sibling decided to mess this up for him too. Doned, without missing a beat, applied the dare to Marche. The look on the paladin's face was probably worth the hell he would pay later. "Fine," Clan Nutsy's head responded. "I'll do it. But it's a completely waste of chocolate."

Soren silently thanked the Goddess whom he didn't believe heard him that he didn't have to deal with this. Yet. He hoped never. He hoped Lucia knew that. His small smirk slowly grew as he registered the current situation, shaking his head a bit.

"Good luck, you two," he said, watching on.

Geoffrey grinned at Doned for the brillant idea of roping Marche into this as well, before elbowing his brother in law. "Get on with it, we're waiting," he said.

Ike looked up at Marche, a mixture of pity and fear across his face, then reached down and took a small sip of Elincia's drink. Luckily for those across from him, there wasn't quite enough of it to spew; but he came close. "Elincia... That's <i>disgusting</i>." Ike, not as amused by the laughing of everyone around him, scowled up at Marche. "Your turn. Then we'll see how funny it is."
Marche's approach was quite the opposite of Ike's. Unlike Crimea's King, who had recklessly plunged into danger, Marche carefully planned the bite out of his fork, arranging everything to Ritz's satisfaction. When his wife was satisfied that it was a realistic taste of what she was eating and he was satisfied that'd he'd survive eating it, Marche plunged the fork into his mouth, removed it fully empty, and chewed carefully. "It's... Weird. Not quite as bad as I thought it would be, not really good either." Despite his near-bravado, he, like Ike, reached immediately for his cup and drank deeply. "It's lucky for  you, Doned. I was contemplating murdering you for making me do that."
While one brother threatened another, Lucia, like the true sister she was, was still plotting against Ike. "Geoffrey, do you suppose that really counts? All he did was taste what she was drinking. I'm just not sure he got the full effect."

"Oh, no, I agree, sister," Geoffrey said, a conspiring grin on his face. "I think you'll have to go again, Ike. Marche did it correctly - you have to get it all at once." He laughed at the look Ike's face now bore, before turning to Nephenee and taking her hand. He lowered his voice a bit, then said, "Please tell me I'm not expected to do this for you."

The lancer blushed and shook her head with a smile. "It's temptin', I admit, but... I guess it depends. We'll see," she said. Geoffrey gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then turned back to watch Ike once again.

Ike flushed, looked around, and nearly chicken out before Mewt, of all people, made the whole situation worse. "Look, Ike, it can't possibly be that bad. I'll do it, and I'm not even married." The prince poured himself a glass separate from the one Ike had shared with Elincia. After carefully adding the correct amount of vanilla, which the mage did surprisingly quickly, Mewt took a gulp of the drink, a bite of meat, and chewed visibly. When he had finished, he grimaced. "Okay, that is as bad as it looks. Remind me not to get married."
Sadly for Ike, Mewt's actions boxed him further into a corner. If a healer could stomach it, he would have to. With a completely dejected sigh, he went through the whole process again, this time to Lucia's satisfaction. Of course, what Ritz did next turned the whole situation around.
The woman, who had watched three men now suffer through the craving she and Elincia were experiencing, was somewhat annoyed. She was much too gracious a hostess to show it; so, instead, the Viera got her revenge subtly. "Elincia, don't you find it amusing that Ike and Marche, who both simply adore us, managed to stomach it; but everyone else has been too afraid? With the exception of Mewt, but I'm pretty sure he used magic to numb his taste buds. No one has really proven they can stomach it, but they're all brave enough to make the challenge."