Terra sighed as she watched the grown men of the group argue, practically fight, over the next plan of action.
"Can't we just talk through this?" She whispered to herself.
Edgar wanted to head up to Figaro and check on the condition of the kingdom after it had been underground for months; he was worried that Figaro was having trouble rebuilding itself back to the glorious sight it used to be.
Locke wanted to Narshe in search on Banon and Aaron. But, others in the group knew that he really wanted to go door to door of the abandoned houses and see if they still held any "value" or were worthy of his interest.
Setzer set his mind on going to Jidoor in hope of buying some "much needed" parts for the Falcon… And to hit the streets of the rich town and maybe gamble quite a bit of gil off of the ignorant higher class people.
Cyan wished to travel to Maranda to visit Lola and see how she was fairing knowing her love was dead and the recent letters had really been from Cyan.
Strago demanded to be taken back to Thamasa and check on his house and the town, worrying that Kefka may had turned his Light of Judgment on the poor town.
Terra observed the group as they yelled, along with the bystanders.
Celes stood by Locke with an irritated look on her face obviously annoyed by the childishness of the men.
Relm anxiously held her paintbrush in her hand, obviously wanting to paint the scene she was viewing probably out of boredom, or maybe for humor.
Shadow stood by her, eyeing her when she looked over at her pad of paper on the floor a few feet away from her.
Gau had long ago walked to the kitchen in search of some form of meat. He had been eating much more than he used to lately, but, then again, he was of the age of constant growing which means constant eating.
Mog and Umaro had lost interest in the loud conversation and went to the small library on the ship…Though Terra couldn't figure out why. Umaro couldn't read and…well, she wasn't sure Mog could read either; just because he could speak doesn't mean he could read.
Terra rose from where she had been sitting, noticing two members of their group were missing. She walked towards the door that lead up to the deck of the ship, unnoticed by the quarreling and irritated group. Once on the deck, she saw Sabin leaning against the railing on one side of it with a blank yet calm expression.
Quietly, she walked over to him, hoping not to disturb him, but, despite how quiet she was walking, he heard her due to a creak a plank of wood gave when she stepped down on it. She flinched at the protesting noise of the wood and looked down embarrassed.
"Terra." Sabin acknowledged her and turned around with a smile of humor.
The green-haired girl sighed internally and looked up at the young martial artist, "I'm sorry, Sabin…I didn't mean to disturb you…I was just coming to stand beside you."
Sabin laughed at her explanation, "Disturb me? When have you ever done that?" He patted the railing next to him to signal her to walk over.
With a small, shy smile, she walked to his side and leaned against the railing with him, "I wouldn't know if I've ever disturbed you…You're very good at hiding those kind of feelings."
Sabin shook his head, "No, not really…I'm usually…How does my brother say it? Frank? Yeah, I'm usually frank about how I feel about people. So, if you've never seen me look irritated when you are around me, it means that I don't mind having you near me. In fact, I like being around you, you're much more level-headed and easier to talk to then the rest of our group."
Terra smiled in reply. There fell a comfortable silence between the two, which, in Terra's mind, was much better than the annoying yelling carrying on below deck.
"Speaking of the rest of the group…" Sabin broke the silence, "Have we figured out where we're off to next?"
Terra sighed, "No, not yet…and with the way those 'politicians' debate, we'll never go anywhere again."
Sabin studied her face for a minute. Her expression held a longing for something; it was obvious she didn't like any of the suggested places the group wanted to go. "Where do you want to go, Terra?"
Terra's eyes grew wide at his question, obviously not expecting anyone to ask her where she wanted to go next. After a second or so, her gaze dropped to the ground below the Falcon, "I…Well, I'm sure you're expecting me to say Mobliz, but, if I go back there, I might lose my will to leave once I see the children again, plus, I have to have faith that Katarin and Duane are taking care of everything." She chanced a glance at Sabin who seemed eager to hear her answer for some reason unknown to her. "I'd like to go to Holbrook. I heard they just had a shipment of new weapons and have a decent stock of potions and elixirs, which we greatly lack in our inventory."
"That sounds reasonable." Sabin said after she had finished, "Also, we're closer to Holbrook then we are any of those other towns, at the moment." Terra smiled, pleased he agreed with her. He found himself smiling just because she smiled. "Well, since you want to go, why not put your idea into the 'conversation'?" And then, her face fell, his falling along with hers. "What, am I like Gogo now, mimicking her?" He sighed internally at his own ignorance. It was obvious to everybody that he had feelings for the petite mage; even Master Duncan noticed it when they had found him alone in the wilderness.
"So…" Duncan said as he and Sabin sat down outside the house after their training. He noticed his young apprentice staring at a young woman with green hair across the yard who was talking with a young man who looked much like Sabin, which he assumed was Sabin's brother. If Duncan stared long enough, he could have sworn he saw a bit of jealousy in how close the young man was standing to the woman. "Sabin."
At the sound of his name, Sabin turned towards his master, "I'm sorry, Mast Duncan…I just-"
Duncan held up his hand to silence the young man, "Save your excuse, Sabin." He looked back towards the woman Sabin had been watching, "So, who is she?"
Sabin looked back at the green-haired girl as well, "Her name is Terra… I met her but a day or so after I had heard your son 'killed' you."
"A beautiful, young woman, indeed." Duncan said with a sly smile as he turned back to watch Sabin.
Sabin mumbled almost unconsciously as he continued to watch his brother interact with the mage, "A smart…strong….beaut-"
Duncan laughed, "I already said beautiful, boy."
Sabin had been oblivious to the fact that words were coming out of his mouth until Duncan laughed at him. He felt his face heat up and he turned away from his Master.
"Don't be embarrassed, Sabin." Duncan said after a moment of silence, "There comes a time in everyone's life when they meet a certain someone and fall for them…But, in your case, some fall hard for that certain someone." After his added on statement, he smiled at the young man who looked uncomfortable with the topic, "There's nothing wrong with your feelings, Sabin. And, if you feel strongly enough, I encourage you to tell her before someone else does." He gave a quick nod over to Sabin's brother who had obviously given Terra a flirtatious remark by the smile on his face and the blush on her slightly irritated and confused one.
Sabin laughed for a brief moment before he looked at the two with a longing expression hidden under yet another of slight jealousy.
"Tell her, hmm?" Sabin thought to himself with a small frown as he remembered his Master's words.
"Well…I just…" She hesitated for a brief moment before continuing, breaking Sabin's train of thought, "I don't want to add to the conflict." She rung her hands together as an obvious gesture that she was unsure what to do.
Sabin shook his head and smiled down at her, "Just explain your idea to them. They'll listen to you." He reassured her.
"What makes you so sure they will?" She asked him with a confused expression. His tone was so confident that the arguing men would listen to her when they hadn't listened to each other for almost an hour now.
"How could they not listen?" Sabin smirked, "They'd see you come and practically fall at your feet just begging for your opinion!" He dropped to his knees at her side, "Oh Terra!" He said in a mocking tone, " We need your help! Please, we're so lost, tell us what to do!" Terra giggled at his show causing him to laugh at his own performance; he wasn't used to teasing like that, but if it made her laugh, it would certainly be something he would see himself doing in the future.
"I doubt it'll be like that." By now, her laugh had turned into a frown as Sabin rose back to his feet; she began to ring her hands together again in her unease.
"You'll never know unless you go on and tell them your idea. Besides, I bet it will be, I mean, I don't see how that wouldn't happen if someone like you came in asking to make a request." He grabbed one of her hands in his to stop her from wearing the skin off of her hands out of nervousness.
"Someone like me?" She questioned, a light pink hue lighting up her face as the martial artist took one of her hands.
"You know, someone kind and thoughtful, someone with a good head on her shoulders and a caring personality…of course with outside beauty to match the inner beauty." He said, his face looking towards the horizon. There was a long silence that he couldn't quite figure why it had come until he looked down at Terra whose face was a brighter pink with her eyes wide staring at him. Quickly, he played over what he had said in his head to figure out where her reaction had come from. When he realized what he had said, he looked down and scratched the back of his head with his free hand and gave a nervous, uncomfortable laugh, "As I said…I'm very frank in my opinions of people…and apparently very open about my opinions as well..." He cursed himself mentally for such a stupid and irrelevant, so he thought, excuse.
Another long moment passed, but Sabin continued to look down, afraid to look at the mage. This time, it wasn't Sabin who broke the silence, "Thank you, Sabin." Terra said, causing him to finally look at her. She was smiling up at him, "I'll go tell them my idea." Quickly, she frowned as she looked at her hand still in his, as if hesitant to pull hers away.
Sabin thought the hesitance out of her manners; he didn't want to force her to stay but he also didn't want to pull his hand off of hers. "You can let go if you want, Terra. I think those boys downstairs need to hear your idea."
She sighed, "Thank you…but…" yet again, she hesitated before she spoke again, "I don't think I want to let go, not yet, anyways." She looked up at him, worried about his reaction, but he just smiled down at her. "Sabin? Will you, perhaps, come down with me? I feel more comfortable when I'm with you."
With a quick nod, he walked towards the stairs that lead back below deck, taking her with him by the hand. What she didn't see was him beating himself up on the inside. He felt hypocritical for telling her to go on and tell her idea to the others when he wasn't going on and telling her how he felt. "That's different." He reasoned with himself. "Is it really?" Another thought asked. Internally sighing, he cleared his mind of the thoughts, knowing they'd be back later; "It doesn't matter at the moment, what matters is that Terra gets her say in the argument."
Once the sound of the door closing was heard, a robbed figure came out of hiding on the deck. Though you couldn't tell by the mask on his face, he was smiling at the conversation between the two young people.
"It must be nice to love…" The figure laughed briefly to himself, "But, who has time for something so time consuming as love? "He questioned to himself out loud, obviously confused by his inner thoughts.
He stared out over the railing for a few minutes before he let out a sigh, "Life's so short, there's so little time…but, perhaps that's why we love…what better way is there to spend our numbered days?" Satisfied with his answer, he nodded to himself.
"Gogo!" A voice yelled below deck, "Come here! We've figured out where we're going!"
He laughed to himself, "That was fast." With a final glance back over the railing, he walked down below deck to hear the decision.
Sure enough, the next day, the group went over to Holbrook the next day. Terra was obviously pleased with the decision, pleased she had told everyone…more than that, she was pleased she told Sabin, pleased he agreed, pleased he had confidence in her idea and in her, pleased he'd gone down below deck with her…but most pleased that, since they walked hand-in-hand to address the group, the two of them holding hands was happening more often. His hand was warm and gentle and gave her confidence in herself. She couldn't explain why, but it did and she liked the feeling, it sent butterflies flittering in her stomach but it felt good.
Sabin watched as Terra walked from shop to shop with Relm, both talking about this and that, weapons and items, people they saw in the town, whatever crossed their minds. He smiled at her happiness until he saw Gogo and Edgar walking towards him. He gave a quick wave along with a frown at the odd smile his brother was wearing.
"Good day, brother." Edgar greeted.
"Hello, Edgar. Gogo." He looked back and forth at the two of them. "Can I help you two with something?" He asked, truly confused.
"Yes, actually." Edgar said as he rubbed his chin and smiled at his brother, "I have a question."
"Ask away, I suppose." Sabin answered hesitantly.
"When are you actually going to go on and tell her how you feel?"