Author's Note: Not much to say here. As you might guess by the title of the first chapter, this fic centers around Jenna realizing she's either gay or bisexual. Not going to spoil anything, but it leads to some interesting situations :P So, without further adieu, fic!

I in no way own Golden Sun, I just like writing about it

A Gentler Steam

Chapter 1: It's Called Being Gay

It was a lazy day on the Lemurian ship. The sun was high and bright in the sky, the sea was mostly calm, and seagulls were continuously circling around a very annoyed Felix, attempting to steal the piece of bread he was slowly eating. As one made the dangerous mistake of flying too close to him and thus getting punched out of the sky, Jenna, who was sitting in the crow's nest, sighed. Mentally, she checked off where everyone would be at this time of the day. Felix is down on the deck, probably eating, judging by the gulls harassing him, she thought with a small smile. Piers is probably then steering or doing whatever else Lemurians do in their free time. He must keep something around to occupy himself, Lemurians certainly have a lot of it. Kraden must be either asleep or reading something. Or looking for someone to bore to death. AND HE'S NOT EVEN SENILE YET! Jeez, it's going to be scary when he is. And Sheba… well...

"Is right behind you?" Sheba supplied, perched on the railing behind Jenna, who jumped in fright, causing the young Jupiter adept to burst into the mischievous giggles she was so well known for. Jenna was flustered, but not angry. For some reason, she had a hard time getting angry with the only female companion she had. That's why, she's the only other girl here. And I need to have a female to talk to, so I can't get her angry at me or risk anything by getting mad at her like I do around everyone else. Yeah. That's it. Well… "EARTH TO JENNA!" Sheba shouted, jumping off the railing she had been sitting on and walking over to her friend. "Anyone home? I have to read Felix's mind to find out what HE'S thinking, but usually you're ready to talk the bark off a tree. Why so quiet?"

Jenna smiled, and replied, "No real reason. I was actually just thinking about going to find you." Jenna blushed quickly after she said this. "You know, just to talk or hang out. Or annoy Felix. Whatever you like. You choose!" Jenna ended the sentence speaking very quickly, and Sheba gave her an odd look.

"Uh…. Did Piers use some kind of Lemurian drug on you or something? You're really loopy today. Well, I mean, you're always kind of loopy, but in a good way. A 'burn all people who annoy me' way. I appreciate that about you." Sheba flashed a quick smile, and for no reason she could identify, Jenna felt her knees buckle. Her smile's so cute! And… she likes my personality! "That's okay though, we all have off days. Want to annoy Felix?" Without waiting for an answer, Sheba leaned over the railing and glanced down at the Venus Adept, who was finally enjoying his small meal (and ignoring the twitching bodies of the injured seagulls spread around him). She held a hand over her mouth to stipend another giggle and sent a small gust of wind down towards Felix. It landed on his head, paused there for a second, and then disappeared, leaving his normally somewhat kept hair fairly disheveled and covering most of his face.

Sheba quickly hid herself from Felix's view, but after some muted grumbling, the two girls (and Piers, who was steering the ship but gazing with slight amusement at Felix's predicament out of the corner of his eye) heard him shout, "FINE! I GUESS I CAN'T EAT OUT ON THE DECK! I'LL BE IN MY ROOM!" He stood up quickly and walked off in a huff, throwing the door open and slamming it, then reappearing a moment late as he had forgotten his bread, slamming the door even harder the second time. Piers shook his head and let out an amused chuckle, while Jenna giggled and Sheba burst out laughing, falling onto the ground and rolling around, holding her sides. Jenna loved annoying Felix: he was always so needlessly grumpy. Her attention was diverted from her brother though, as she took notice of Sheba rolling around next to her. She's so full of energy, full of life. It's such a joy to be around her. She continued to stare at her younger companion with a warm smile, even after Sheba had stopped laughing and had stood up. And, of course she's pretty. No wonder the people of Lalivero thought she was a goddess! No, not pretty, beautiful. Her minute form, her short hair, her soft lips — WHOA. That's taking it a bit far. Or is it? I wonder what they feel like.

"…The hell?" Sheba asked removing herself from Jenna's mind, a look of confusion plastered upon her face. "Why were you thinking about my lips?" Jenna's face turned a bright shade of red, and she quickly searched for something to say, but could do nothing but stutter. Sheba shook her head, and her look of confusion turned to one of slight worry. "You need to sleep Jenna, you are REALLY off today. I'm actually going to go take a nap myself. Wake me up if you want to do something later. Bye!" And with that, the carefree young girl jumped off the crow's nest and landed gracefully on the ground, using the wind to cushion her fall. Jenna slowly sunk to the ground, leaning her back against the railing. All she could think about was Sheba's question: Why HAD she been thinking about her lips?

Jenna and Sheba had bonded very quickly over their trip, despite her initially being a prisoner. While Jenna had never enjoyed hanging out with girls all that much, Sheba was the exception: instead of being uptight and boring, interested in gossip, or just plain mean and odd for no reason, she was fairly easy going. Jenna was well rewarded for the initial kindness she had decided to show the Wind Adept, as they had become fast friends. Later, Sheba would admit to Jenna that she, being the Holy Child of Lalivero, had never really had a true "friend" before, as everyone had thought too highly of her to allow their children to "dishonor her" with their presence. Sheba's explanation of her past had led to Jenna explaining her own, to which the young Laliveran had shown much sympathy towards. Of course, they talked about boys as well. Or, Sheba talked about boys, and Jenna talked about A boy. She much regretted giving Sheba any knowledge of her feelings for Isaac.

Still, she had taken the teasing in stride, and had recently made a habit of musing out loud over Sheba's feelings for her brother. The results were often very amusing to Jenna: it was clear that her first female friend in quite a while had quite the crush on Felix. At first, Jenna had been ecstatic to learn this: in her mind, a girlfriend would be great for Felix. Maybe help him loosen up a little. After their initial teasings, the girls had taken to seriously discussing their respective crushes. Sheba was caught between whether or not her feelings for Felix were romantic or not. Jenna was fairly sure how she felt about Isaac, but had lingering doubts that the feelings were requited. It was strange, though. Whenever Sheba would bring up her feelings for Felix, Jenna would feel an odd twisting feeling in her stomach. Almost like… jealousy? But that didn't make any sense, of course she wasn't jealous of Sheba liking Felix. But then… why did she feel like she was? Coming to no real answer, and wanting to desperately forget the entire lips incident, Jenna began to climb down from the crow's nest. As she reached the deck, she was greeted by a question that caught her so off guard her heart nearly forgot to beat.

"So, how long have you liked girls?" Jenna, after recovering from nearly falling over, turned to see a very amused Piers grinning from ear to ear. She greatly enjoyed the Lemurian's presence and that he had joined their party, as he was wise, kind, and more often than not a good influence on Felix. Her brother nearly drove her crazy with his stoic attitude and self-imposed ban on smiling, but Piers (and to a lesser degree Sheba) could cheer him up, and Piers was the only person on the ship would could truly talk Felix out of an idea.

Jenna breathed in deeply, trying to clear her mind, but it failed. "Wh-what are you talking about?" She sputtered back. "Of-of course I like girls, you know they're nice, I'm friends with them." She made an awkward motion toward the wheel. "Shouldn't you be steering the ship?"

"No, we're on a straight course, the sea's calm, and the weather's fine," Pier's replied, his golden eyes holding a slight glimmer of mischief. "And I don't mean as friends. I mean as in love. The way a man and a woman love, and then get married or live with each other. You feel that way about women." He said this with a mostly straight face, but a bit of amusement still snuck in, his lips curved into a smirk. Jenna didn't understand what he was saying at first, but then it clicked, and she shook her head.

"I'm sorry Piers, but I don't know what you're talking about. People of the same gender don't get married or fall in love. That's just how it is." She crossed her arms, as if that settled the matter. "So what, I think girls are nice, that doesn't mean I'm going to marry one. I like boys too! You remember when Sheba teased me about Isaac? Well, I've had a crush on him for at least ten years!" Jenna blushed as she realized what she had just said. "DON'T TELL SHEBA I SAID THAT. I DIDN'T MEAN TO. I WAS JUST TRYING TO PROVE A POINT." Piers started laughing at Jenna's outburst, but his laughter died as he felt the air around him grow incredibly hot. He looked at Jenna to see flames starting to develop around her. "I'm serious. Don't make me BURN YOU."

Piers gulped, and nodded, then responded, "I promise, I won't. Also, just because you like boys doesn't mean you can't like girls too, or vice versa. Plenty of my people date or fall in love with members of the same sex, and many like both sexes as well. I take it the outside world doesn't approve of this?"

Jenna looked shocked, and slowly processed what Piers had said before responding. "Do you mean, in Lemuria… girls can date other girls? And… you know kiss them?" Piers nodded. "That's so… so… weird." Jenna tried to sound convincing, but her voice was filled with longing rather than disgust or disapproval.

"Not at all," Piers said, opening the door and walking into the galley. Jenna followed. "It's completely normal for love to bloom unexpectedly. It's interesting though, that you have a thing for Sheba. I wasn't sure if you liked women or not for a while. I had my suspicions, but it wasn't until that incident on the crow's nest that I was positive. You would make a cute couple." Jenna blushed heavily at this, glancing around to make sure nobody was in the room. Sure enough, it was empty.

"B-but… like you said, even if I do like girls – AND I'M NOT SAYING THAT I DO! – do you think she would feel the same way? And you are right, as far as I know it's completely unheard of to like someone of the same gender in THAT way. But… I think I might. I feel so confused." Piers nodded, and gave his friend a pat on the shoulder.

"Well, I'm not sure. Sheba might. She's still young though, so she might not even know. Also, she seems to have a small crush on Felix. Comes with the territory when someone dives off a lighthouse to their doom to save you, I guess. If you feel confused, talk to Felix. He's our leader for a reason. He'll know what to do." Jenna shook her head in a panic.

"ARE YOU CRAZY PIERS! I can't tell my brother that… that I…" Jenna couldn't bring herself to say it.

"It's called 'gay' in Lemuria, if you're looking for a word to express it. And he'll understand. He would have dived off a lighthouse to save you as well. Felix loves you Jenna, and he always will, whether or not you marry a man or a woman. Heck, he might prefer a girl, given the way he acts around men that show the slightest interest in you! Either way, you should talk to him. He's in his room." Jenna gulped, and nodded. Slowly, she made her way down one of the corridors, to Felix's room. Piers merely chuckled. He loved all of his friends dearly, more dearly than any acquaintances he had ever made in his home, and hoped that this would work out for the best. Either way, it was time for him to prepare some lunch! As he pulled out some salt dried sausages, he heard soft footsteps behind him, and turned to see a certain Jupiter Adept yawning.

"Hey, Piers. Can I talk to you for a sec? Jenna's been acting weird lately."

Yep, it's a little fluffy so far, but it gets less so as it goes on. Or maybe it doesn't. The next chapter is a bit more serious, hopefully. As of now I'm in the middle of chapter three. The characterization seems a little off to me, but the characters are tweaked slightly for comedic purposes, and because writing characters the same way every fic gets boring. Gotta love variation. Hmmmm, what else… as is obvious, a revelations of feelings moment is coming up. Not going to lie: Jenna/Sheba to me is the single cutest pairing in the entire series. Absolutely adorable. As always, reviews are welcome, and I'd love for some good constructive criticism. I'm running into a few issues with this fic coming out the way I want it to, so depending on the feedback it could go through some mild tweaking. Nothing heavy, but still. Thanks for reading! Update length shouldn't be more than a week, and chapter two will be about this length.