Summer was just about to end, and soon there would be no more hot sunny days like this one. Kimen entered the park with an old battered second hand book bag on her shoulder, looking for a particular tree she liked to climb occasionally. This tree was where she liked to sit and read sometimes, but it also held a little more significance as the tree where she heard Mr. Kent tell another child that he was her parent a matter of days before his death. She had a project in mind for this tree, but she wanted to make sure it was up to the task.

"Is this the tree, Kimen?" Coloumb walked in after you and pointed at willow tree. "Or... No wait, you're going over there." The alchemist coughed awkwardly and hurried after his friend.

"This one right here!" Kimen exclaimed, making a beeline for it. As soon as he was close enough he leapt for the lowest branch and used it to pull himself up. "A lot of the branches that are lower are pretty sturdy. And you can see the whole park from here, Mr. Coloumb!" He smiled at the battle alchemist below him, feet swinging. "What do you think?"

Coloumb leapt up and grabbed onto the branch, then struggled to pull himself up. After kicking his feet futilely for a minute, he managed to drag himself up onto the branch. He looked out over the park while he caught his breath. "Yeah, this looks pretty good."

The branch bent a little and the leaves upon it rustled as Coloumb pulled himself up onto it. "I bet with some work we can build a secret tree house even better than the one Wally has. Maybe even better than the one I had in Crysta before it was attacked." Kimen smiled, excited by the idea of having a new secret place. There was only one room and a bathroom at Mr. Forte's so there was not really a lot of space she could call her own. There was also her home at the smithy of course, but she was only there on weekends and the place... it was more quiet and sad than anything.

Kimen leaned to the side a little to look at the branch Coloumb was standing on. "Though I dunno." He said, frowning at what he was looking at, "That branch you are on seems to be bending a bit with your weight Mr. Coloumb."

Coloumb looked down. "Are you calling me-" The branch gave out under him with an earsplitting crack and he tumbled out of the tree.

"Eek!" Kimen quickly scrambled off the branch she was on and jumped to the ground, hurrying over to Coloumb, "Mr. Coloumb, are you okay?! Are you get hurt?!" She asked, kneeling down beside him. Maybe building a tree house in this tree was a bad idea.


Coloumb was silent for a long moment. "Owwwww..." He sat up and rubbed his head. "Yeah. Let's look elsewhere."

Kimen sat down, unsure of where else to look in Truce. That tree seemed like their best option. Maybe they could expand their search to outside the city though. "Hm... What about Rabite Forest? There are lots of trees there including one really, really big one! I've climbed it a couple times and the view is great! Though... a lot of people seem to migrate to that one because its the biggest. I am sure there are other good trees there though!"

Coloumb blanched at the thought of climbing more trees of questionable durability. "Let's uhh... Let's look for things that we can't fall out of."

Kimen stood up and tilted her head up towards the sky, "Well, we can still try Rabite Forest anyway. There are lots of caves and stuff there. You can't fall out of a cave. And if we explore a little more off the trail, who knows what we might find!" Kimen offered Coloumb her hand to help him up.

Coloumb grabbed Kimen's hand and got up. "Right, well let's go have a look-see there." He dusted himself off and started walking in the opposite direction of where he really needs to go, in true absent-minded scientist fashion.

Kimen started to head towards the park entrance only to find that Coloumb was not following him. He spun around, looking for where the boy had gotten off to before spying him heading off the wrong way, "This way Mr. Coloumb!" He shouted as he ran to catch up with the battle alchemist and take hold of his arm, "Rabite Forest is this way!"

Coloumb blinked. "Oh, uh... I knew that!" He makes an about face and starts heading the right way. "Why don't you lead the way, Kimen?"

"Okay!" Kimen flashed Coloumb a smile as she happily tugged his arm to lead him off towards the forest, cheerfully chatting the whole way about the current volume she was on in Mr. Forte's comic collection.

* * *

Not too long after they left the park, Kimen and Coloumb found themselves in the middle of Rabite Forest, walking along the shoreline of the lake. Kimen was keeping an eye out for any non-tree type spot the entire time, occasionally stepping off the path and disappearing into the brush to take a look at things. Eventually though, the two found themselves in the vicinity of a large hallowed out stump with a hole in one side that could potentially make a suitable base entrance if the rest of the place had a little work.

"Now this looks like it could work." Coloumb pokes his head in, then pulls it out with a sickly smile plastered across his face. "On second thought, let's-" The alchemist was interrupted by angry buzzing coming from within the stump.

Kimen's eyes widen as the buzzing starts and the child instantly sensed the danger the two of them were in and took hold of Coloumb’s hand, "RUN AWAY!" She screamed.

Coloumb "tactically retreated" with Kimen, and totally didn't shriek like a little girl in the process. He would deny any of that.
Kimen squeezed Coloumb's hand tightly, afraid that if he let go the boy would fall behind and get swept up by the buzzing storm behind their back. If they were going to go down, they would end up going together! Kimen nimbly pulled the battle alchemist through the trees and over logs making their way northward. And in a matter of a couple moments the trees gave way to the lake. The bees wouldn't follow them if they dived under the water, right?

Coloumb fumbled around, managing to load his cylinder while it was still hooked onto his belt. He pulled it off and launched a cloud of flame behind the two of them to cover their escape.

Kimen dove into the water a moment after Coloumb managed to fire, though unfortunately the action caused the child to lose her grip on her friend’s hands. Hopefully he had followed. She stayed below the surface for a few seconds holding her breath and listening to the muffled sounds that were coming from above her before surfacing.

Coloumb dove into the water after the fire blast ran out and held his breath. After a little bit he resurfaced and gasped for air.

Kimen looked around for Coloumb in the water as well as listened for the sound of buzzing. Luckily Coloumb was nearby and there was no sound of buzzing to be heard, rather than the sound of crackling and the thick heavy scent of smoke. "Coloumb?" Kimen brushed his wet hair from his eyes, seeing the flicker of flames, smoke and Coloumb swimming nearby just a couple feet away.

Coloumb waved. "I think we got away." He swam over to Kimen and looked at the wreckage on the shore.

Not far from them on the shore, thick black smoke was rising up from a burning bush. The fire was roaring and crackling loudly, feeding off the plant and nearby foliage and licking at the bark of a nearby tree. Kimen shrieked and splashed her way back to the shore as quickly as possible, managing to step on dry land just as the fire spread, "Mr. Coloumb we need to stop the fire before it gets out of hand!" She screamed inhaling some of the smoke that blew in their direction and coughing as it painfully burned her lungs.

A sphere of water rocketed past you and smacked into the burning tree, showering water all over the fire. "Stand back, Kimen!" Coloumb loaded and fired another water crystal into the fire.

Kimen backed back up into the water a couple steps and ducked, making sure Coloumb had plenty of space between him and where he was aiming. With what Coloumb showed him of his alchemy when they first met, putting out the fire should be an easy task for him. The fire hissed as the portion climbing up the bark of the tree was put out, white coils of smoke and steam lifted into the air mixing with the black smoke coming from the bush, but the fire would not be defeated so easily. An ember got caught in the wind and carried over to some nearby grass, igniting it as well.

Coloumb grunted as he shot another crystal into the bush. "Hey Kimen, can you take care of that grass over there?"

The fire burning away at the bush sizzled out with that shot, and Kimen quickly ran over to the grass that was still burning and franticly kicked dirt over it and tried to stamp it out. Unfortunately the child didn't have water magic like Coloumb.

Coloumb turned and shot another crystal at the grass, then went over to make sure it was out. "Are you all right Kimen?"

Kimen coughed on more time, gasping and out of breath as she wiped her stinging eyes, "Y-Yeah. I'm okay." She looked over the burned area and frowned, feeling thankful that the fire had not spread further and become something they couldn't control or escape. Feeling guilty, she thought maybe she should come back later and plant a couple things to make up for this, but for now she had more important matters to worry about, "What about you? Are you alright?"

"Hmm? Oh, I'm fine." Coloumb brushed himself off, flicking some water away. "Just a little damp, nothing I haven't dealt with before."

Kimen nodded, poking and poding at everything the fire had touched to be one hundred percent sure that it was out. Once satisfied he then moved over to a large flat rock at the waters edge and sat down, "Whew, that was scary. It could have been a very serious disaster" He said, dipping his feet into the water and splashing a little in Coloumb’s direction. The day was still pretty hot and being soaked head to toe didn't feel too bad, especially with the breeze. "Maybe this isn't the best place to look."

Coloumb nodded. "Yeah, let's go somewhere else. Maybe north of Truce?"
"Hm... Yeah I guess we could try that. The trail circles around the lake and then veers north to Guardia Castle. We could probably circle back around to Truce Canyon that way?" Kimen suggested, wringing out her shirt so it was less sopping wet and heavy and more pleasantly damp. "That way we can keep an eye out still if we see something. Just in case."

Coloumb nods. "Right, let's keep moving then. Our base awaits!" Coloumb dramatically points at the sky. Then falls into the lake when he trips.

* * *

When Kimen managed to fish Coloumb out of the lake again, the two of them walked along the shore, still keeping an eye out for any good starting place for their secret base plans. Soon trees gave way to canyon and and they passed the sign indicating the directions to reach Guardia Castle and Cosmos.

“So which way should we go now?” Coloumb asked reading the sign.

Kimen shrugged, digging through his bookbag for a waterbottle only to find that he had forgotten to bring one with him. “I dunno. There are a lot of nifty looking places in the castle but I don’t think anyone would be pleased if we set up a secret base in there. Not sure about Cosmo either. Did you bring a water bottle, Mr. Coloumb? I am getting pretty thirsty.”

“No, I didn’t. But I bet we can get something to drink in Cosmo Canyon. I think there was a candy shop there too!” Coloumb suggested, “Let’s go there!”

"YAY!" Kimen reacted to the decision with a small cheer, clapping her hands in approval. She smiled and followed Coloumb down the path until they reached the fork in the road leading into the small town nested within the canyon walls.

Coloumb paused and looked at a small cave in the wall along the path. "Hey, how about that? That looks like it would be a good location."

"Huh?" Kimen paused his search to find a shop with something to drink to look up in the direction Coloumb was indicating. He would have missed it if Coloumb hadn't brought attention to it, "You mean up the side of that cliff there?" There was a large almost concave area in the rock wall up above them. "Maybe, though we have to find a way to get up there in the first place though."

Coloumb scratched his chin. "How about a ladder? Let's go to Cosmo and buy one after we get our drinks."

"Yeah, good idea!" Kimen tugged Coloumb into one of the nearby shops. Here they found a variety of options; drinks, popcorn, candy and icecream. The place was a kid's dream. Kimen took a long time trying to decide what she wanted, but in the end she decided to try out something called bubble tea and also purchased a bag of chewy candy.
Coloumb decided on some lemonade and a bag or gummi worms. "Alright, let's go get that ladder now."

Kimen slipped the candy into his bag and took a drink, nodding to Coloumb. Hopefully this place would pan out. If it didn't then it would mean they bought the ladder for nothing. Then again, there could be an instance where it might come in handy in the future. Kimen swallowed another gulp of his tea and smiled, "This stuff is weird. Kind of neat though." He said, peering down at his icy cold drink, "Did you see any ladder shops when we came into town?"

Coloumb hummed. "Are there any hardware or adventuring supply stores here? I didn't see any place that specifically sold ladder stuff."

"I dunno, I don't really come by here too often." Kimen admitted with a small shrug. It was a nice little town, but it didn't have the boardwalk like Wutai did, nor did it seem as big as Truce. And Crysta seemed to feel a lot like home before it was attacked. "I guess I never really explored that far north of truce. We'll probably find a place that sells them if we look around. Otherwise we could probably think of some alternative solutions, I'm sure."

Coloumb nods. "Well, let's explore around for a bit and see what we can see." He finished off the last of the lemonade and started walking down the road, looking at shops.

Kimen followed behind Coloumb, keeping her eyes peeled for anything that could help them. If all else failed she was trying to think of another thing she could try to help them get up there. It probably wouldn't be too hard to try rope. And if that failed there was magic. She could try to make some sort of foot holding in the rock wall.

After two hours of trying to find a store that sold ladders, Coloumb sat down on a curb and sighed. "I don't think they have any here. Do you have any other ideas Kimen?"

"I can always try magic. But... The spell I would use isn't something I used all that often, and I wasn't very practiced with it either so there is a chance it would fail if I tried it." Kimen admitted, frowning a little as he reviewed their other options. "Other than that, we could try making a ladder, or getting one in truce and coming back some other day."

Coloumb shrugged. "Well, let's try the spell and of that doesn't work we can come back tomorrow."

Kimen nodded and took another drink of her tea. "Alright. I hope I can remember how to do this." She started off in the direction of the niche in the cliffside they saw mentally reviewing an old spell she hadn’t touched for years. One that she hadn't used since the days when she first found her way into Truce and had taken Mr. Kent's sword from him for fear of him hurting someone with it. "Alright. um..." Kimen stopped in front of the rock wall and studied it, placing her book bag and drink down on the ground next to her feet.

Coloumb stood back so Kimen could work her magic.

Kimen took a deep breath, then let the air out of his lungs as he began to concentrate on the spell. He took a step forward, holding his hand out and palm up. At first, nothing happened, but then there was a low, dull grinding sound as the rock began to waiver and move. A spike jutted outward suddenly. Then, about as suddenly as it appeared there was a sharp loud =CRACK!= and the spike exploded sending dangerous sharp fragments flying in all directions.

Coloumb yelped and summoned barrier spikes as the shards impacted around him. "Are you ok Kimen?"

Kimen had attempted to shield herself the best she could from the array of rock shards that came flying in her direction however she wasn't spared from many of them. "hnnng." She whimpered, flinching as she felt small bites of pain as the rocks came in contact with her. She cringed a moment then turned to Coloumb, sporting four or five fresh cuts and holes in her clothes that she had not noticed; two on her left leg, on on her upper right, on her right shoulder, and a thin small one at her cheek. Who knew how many bruises would be showing up later? "Yeah, I'm fine. Let me try one more time."

Coloumb nodded. "If you think you're up for it, then let's do it once more."

Kimen turned back to the rock wall, repeating much of the same actions as he had the first time, this time as the wall shifted and changed it sank inwards creating a small niche just big enough for someone to fit their hand or foot in. When no accident followed, he shifted his attention to a spot just a little bit higher up, repeating the process over and over again until there was a series of footholds leading up the wall to the spot they had their eye on. Finished, Kimen dropped his concentration and stumbled backwards, letting out a sigh of exhaustion. "Whew!"

Coloumb came over to look at the handholds. "Nice job!" He started to climb up and test them to see if they were sturdy.

"I'll follow you up there in a moment. I think I need to take a bit of a rest after that." Kimen admitted, sitting down on the ground and looking up as Coloumb tested each foothold out.

Coloumb climbed up into the hole in the wall and looked around. "Yeah, this will be perfect!"

Kimen picked up her tea and took a sip. The cool liquid running down his throat felt rather good after that. "What’s it like up there?!" She yelled up to Coloumb.

"It's this little cave. Kinda dusty, but it's still pretty great." Coloumb called down.

Kimen stood up, packing his drink into his bookbag carefully and flinging the strap over his shoulder before walking up to the wall and starting to climb up himself. When he reached the top he was more than happy with what he saw. There was a nice view up here of the town, and there was surprisingly a lot of room, small as it was. If they could build a couple of walls they could cut off some of the wind blowing through. "Coloumb, this is great! its perfect!" Kimen smiled and sat down, looking out at the city below. She reached into the bookbag and withdrew her drink and candy. "Celebration time! Want one?"

Coloumb pulled out his gummy worms as well. "Sure thing. It's snack time!"

Kimen split some of her brightly colored taffy with Coloumb, "So what do you think we should do? this place is bigger than Wally's lame ol' tree house any day. But I bet we can make it even cooler too with a little bit of work. And we can even put up a sign that says 'No Adults Allowed'..." Kimen excitedly chattered, biting into her taffy.

Coloumb stopped chewing. "What do you mean by adult?"

"No one who isn't a kid." Kimen answered simply after chewing for a long time, "Like no Mr. Forte, or no Mr. Edmund, or no Mr. Jinsaka."

Coloumb nodded. "So old people. But wait... I'm old!"

"You are not that old, Mr. Coloumb. You are like a teenager aren't you? You still qualify as a kid by most adults." Kimen answered.

Coloumb shrugged. "I guess. I age a year in a week, but I rebirth so I get younger every so often.

"Really?" Kimen sat quietly for a moment mulling over this information, "Well, I would let Lucass in even though he is like 500 years old. So... I will make an exception! No adults allowed unless you are Coloumb because Coloumb isn't always an adult." Kimen nodded, satisfied with this decision.

Coloumb blinked as he tried to process that. "O... Kay?"

Kimen smiled happily as she finished another piece of taffy, mind going over all the plans she had for this place.

"Let's start working on this tomorrow now that we can get up here. It's getting late and I'm sure Forte is wondering where you are." Coloumb looked out at the sun.

Kimen put the remainder of his candy into his mouth, "Yeah" He said between chewing, "We have a lot of planning and work to do."