~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Searching

"The nuisance is not yet back," Ascot noted. "D'you think something happened to him?"

"Serves him right," Hikaru muttered, biting into an apple she'd received for breakfast, courtesy of Mokona.

"Don't you think we ought to look for him?" Fuu wondered.

"What? Look for him, when we haven't found Umi?" Ascot gasped.

"I know you dislike him, but we really ought to find him," Clef said. He was met by groans all around. "I'm sorry! But he at least deserves a chance to go home. And to abandon him will be cruel. With Miata's sense of humor, he'll end up with us anyway, and even whinier than before."

"I suppose..." Ferio replied grudgingly. "He can't have gotten too far. We'll split up and look. I'm taking Fuu."

"Puu puu!" Mokona jumped into Hikaru's arms. Ascot and Clef looked at each other.

"Guess that leaves us," Ascot said.

"So it does," Clef agreed.

"So, where do we begin?" wondered Hikaru.

"Let's see. You and Mokona take that path," Clef said, pointing. "Ascot and I will search the area over here, and Ferio and Fuu can look in that direction. Meet back here at sundown. I'll check up with Mokona from time to time, and as for you two--" He turned to address Fuu and Ferio, but they had already started to go. He could still see them through the dense forest, but it was doubtful they'd hear what he said. "Well, we'll see you later."

"If you come across his corpse, let me know so I can dance on it!" Hikaru said gleefully.

"Puu?" Mokona replied, its tone questioning.

"Sorry. I guess that was a bit morbid, wasn't it?"

The two of them headed out towards their chosen area.

*

"It's so quiet here. You'd think this was the Forest of Silence, but that was always noisy because of some monster," Fuu sighed.

"Be on your guard," Ferio replied. "I don't trust this place one bit."

"I thought you said that we were meant to be here."

"That doesn't mean it's safe to pass through. We'll be tested, I'm sure of it. Be ready."

"Why are you so sure of it?" Fuu wondered, stepping carefully over a protruding root.

"Call it Pillar's intuition." His tone implied that he did not want to speak more of it.

"You're not intending on looking for Hayase, are you," Fuu said, changing the subject.

"If we are meant to find him, he will come to us. But I doubt if that's what will happen here." Ferio looked around warily. "Though I have no idea what will. I don't like this place, and I don't like its caretaker!"

"You used to like me just fine," the voice came from above. "Of course, you were too young to know any better." That laughter again.

"Speak of the devil..." Ferio muttered.

"You know her?" Fuu asked.

"No!"

"She said she knew you..." Fuu replied, frowning.

"I doubt if he remembers me," Miata said, hopping down in front of the two of them.

"Look, lady, I haven't seen you before in my life!" Ferio insisted. Miata laughed again.

"Oh, that's where you're wrong, my dear! Oh, Emeraude never told you anything, did she? This will be so much more amusing!" She turned to Fuu. "As for you, Magic Knight, take good care of little Ferio--we are the same, he and I, in some ways. And I took care of him, once, long ago, and I'd hate to see any harm befall him. So long!" Miata vanished.

Fuu looked up at Ferio. "Little Ferio? Taking care of you?"

"She's full of it," Ferio muttered.

"You don't suppose that she could be your mother, then?"

Ferio shook his head vehemently. "No way. I believe I would know my mother when I see her. Besides, Miata isn't old enough to have given birth to Emeraude, too."

"She could be much younger than she looks. I mean, look at Guru Clef!"

"I really don't think so, Fuu. She said she was Clef's former student, remember? And that the two of them...it still seems odd. I can't picture Clef..." Ferio’s eyes squinted shut and he shook his head in disgust.

"Miata is strange indeed. If only Clef had told us more about her..."

"What good would it do? I just want to get this over with as soon as possible."

"You would, wouldn't you," Fuu replied softly, allowing only a hint of bitterness to enter her voice. Ferio turned to look at her.

*

Clef and Ascot didn't speak to each other, only shouting "Hayase!" out on the wind. Ascot's throat was beginning to go raw.

"You think we should go back and check with the others?" he asked.

"I...well, I can use Mokona to speak to Hikaru, at least, if we stop a moment," the Master replied, and Ascot nodded. Clef's eyes took on a disorienting, far-away look, and his staff flared. He spoke softly into the air.

"Mokona, will you speak to Hikaru for me, please?" A pause. "Well, why not? Oh, I see...you have? Why not? What's Miata got to do with it!? She--I understand. Good-bye." He snapped back into the real world, leaving Ascot a bit in awe. "They've found him. Or they're close," Clef explained. "But we're not to go back for them. We have to make our way through the forest separately, each of us passing a different test. With Miata's sense of humor..." He shuddered.

"What?" Ascot prompted him.

"Back when there was a school for magicians, she was the class troublemaker. When she wasn't sleeping, she was getting into fights, or getting drunk. She matured some before she..." He gulped, closing his eyes for a moment and shaking his head. "...But she's still a practical joker, I'm sure of that. And she'll be having the time of her life now, coming up with 'tests'. Her magic's powerful enough to make them work, too--and weird enough that we can't do anything about it."

"What do you mean?" Ascot replied, now interested.

"Well, everyone in Cephiro's magic is slightly different, though most of it is similar enough to be lumped into groups. I've made something of a study of it. Pure magic is what I have, and elemental is a division of pure, and that's what the Magic Knights and Hayase can use. Yours and Presea's are both in summoning-creation, as you both--"

"Um, Clef, get on with it," Ascot yawned. "What's this got to do with anything?"

"I was just getting to it," Clef replied, with no small him of resentment in his tone. "Anyway, from what I've been able to tell, Miata's magic doesn't fall under any of those categories. If anything, it's like Pillar's magic, which is more pure will."

"And you can't counteract that?" Clef merely shook his head. Ascot cursed softly.

"All you can do is be on guard at all times. Nothing will be impossible, but..."

"Have you so little faith in me, my dear Guru Clef?" Miata stepped seemingly out of nowhere, her one visible eyebrow raised. "I intend to keep my promises, but I have business with your companion to attend to first."

"Do your worst, Miata! I'm not afraid!" Ascot replied boldly.

"My worst? You, of all people, have the least to worry about from me! I shall be leaving you to your own wits! Come along!" She grabbed Ascot's hand, and they flew upwards with frightening speed. Clef watched them until they were just dots against the sun.

Keep her promises? What on earth is she talking about?

Why can't I remember?

*

Mokona bounced ahead of her, and Hikaru practically had to run to keep up with the little bounding marshmallow. She was quite disoriented by now, but Mokona seemed to know the way and it had never been wrong before. She stopped to rest in a clearing...

...and found herself pounced upon.

She didn't call on her sword, as much as she might have liked to, only counted to ten to keep her temper down.

"Oh, Hikaru," gushed the simpering affair that had latched itself onto her, "I've never been so happy to see you! I thought I was lost forever!"

"Oh, you poor thing," Hikaru replied, only half-sarcastically. She could see that Hayase really had been terrified, and that his happiness to see her was genuine. "You all right?"

"No," he sniffed. "I fell through a thicket that was all-over thorns, and I'm all scraped up. It hurts!" She could see that there were some scratches, but nothing worth so much whining. Her sympathy for him lessened.

"It'll only hurt more if you keep on whining about it," she told him gruffly. "Well, we'd best go find the others." She looked for Mokona--and saw the little powder-puff talking to Miata.

It seemed pleased--if the noisy, ecstatic "Puu Puu Puuuuu!" was any indication of its sentiments. Miata put him down and hopped away.

"We need to go back to the others," Hikaru said. Mokona shook his head. "What's wrong?"

Mokona made a little shrugging motion with his arms, then hopped around in circles for a bit. "What, are you lost?" Hikaru asked.

Mokona nodded.

"Just what I needed to hear..." she muttered. And for the second time, Hayase fainted.