Chapter 1-End of the Vacation

A lush breeze blew through the trees on the Ridorana coast as the sun sank towards the sea. Balthier leaned back in his chair, drinking his umbrella drink and soaking up the sun. He glanced over at Fran who was standing in the surf, letting the sea wind blow through her tall ears. Balthier cracked a smile at the sight of Fran actually enjoying scenery. It was so unlike her; yet lately there had been no jobs to occupy their interests due to Ashe's more-than-monetary reward for their services. They had, after all, helped her save Ivalice.

"Excuse me, sir." A man was standing behind Balthier holding up his hand to look at his Archadian timepiece. "Your time in this spot is up."

Balthier moved his sunglasses down to the tip of his nose and smiled at the man. "I think there is a mistake. My friend and I paid for two spots on the beach for a full day…not just an hour."

"If you read the sign," the man pointed to a sign where it stated in plain Archadian 'All reservations are for ONE HOUR', then turned back to Balthier. "As you can clearly see, your time is up. Please relocate before I have to get the guards over here."

Balthier glared at the man as he stood there pointing, but packed up his belongings nonetheless. He called to Fran down on the shore and she came sprinting over to help with the packing. "Thank you for your time, sir." Balthier smiled as he roughly brushed the man, sending him stumbling backwards.

As the pair walked through the brush back to the Ridorana Cataract, they dropped their chairs and towels off at the station they had rented them from. They casually strolled through the small beach town that had sprouted up in the Cataract recently searching for oddities they might resell for any profit.

The monsters that inhabited the Cataract were no more, due to the decline in nethicite. The Pharos now also served as a light station for airships, since the fiends no longer resided there, either. The Ridorana Cataract was a sight to behold, to one who had seen it just 2 short years ago. Balthier reminisced on the many traps, monsters, and mazes they had once had to navigate through to reach the Sun-Cryst atop the Pharos Lightouse. He looked over to see that Fran had stopped at a stand that sold more than just a few types of bows. She had been asking for a new bow, and he figured she deserved one (she hadn't gotten a new one since they encountered Vayne).

Balthier approached Fran and asked, "What are you looking at?"

"This bow. It's called Sagittarius. It is of an extremely high quality. Unfortunately, the price seems to match the workmanship, and then some."

Balthier reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pouch with the Archadian Royal Crest on it.

"Did you take that from the beach supervisor?" Fran asked in a coy tone.

"And what if I did? We need it more than him anyways…" Balthier handed the woman behind the counter the pouch of gil and remarked, "Keep the change." He turned on his heel and began strutting away, leaving Fran looking at him, smirking. She collected the change from the woman (of which there was about 1,000 gil) and ran to catch up to Balthier.

"What is with the big spending lately?" Fran inquired.

"Ah, I just feel like since we do have unlimited funds from the Dalmasca Royal Treasury, we should take advantage of it."

"I don't think that Ashe would like us to be spending so much of her money."

"Well, she gave us permission to, so if she thought we shouldn't then maybe she should have told us." Balthier smiled vaguely and entered the Aerodrome, where he approached the Private Airships Desk.

"Hello, and welcome to the Ridorana Cataract Aerodrome. What is the name of your airship?" the woman at the desk inquired.

"Strahl."

"Your airship will be ready in 10 minutes. Please wait in the pilot's lounge until then."

"Thank you very much."

Fran and Balthier walked over to the small door marked with an elegant PL and entered. Inside, there were black suede sofas and long, dark polished oak tables with comfortable chairs and reading lamps. Being the newest Aerodrome, the Ridorana Pilot's Lounge got the most luxurious furnishings. Pilots came from all around to dock their ships at Ridorana so they could see the Pilot's Lounge and stay in the Inn in the Aerodrome.

Balthier pointed towards two unoccupied suede recliners. "We can sit over there."

He and Fran walked across the quiescent lounge and sat down. The crackling fire and the gentle murmur of voices soothed them into a near-sleep state. After a few moments, the loudspeaker came on and announced that the Strahl was ready to be boarded by all of its crew and passengers. Balthier and Fran got up and took the long trek to the other side of the hangar where the boarding area was, where they boarded the airship and took their seats.

Balthier flipped a few switches and took the 'wheel'. "Fran, are we ready to take off?"

"Roger that, captain, all systems go."

Balthier glanced at Fran amused, then pushed a button that started the engines. He pulled up on the wheel and the Strahl ascended to the skies. After going up a ways, he flipped a switch and turned towards Rabanastre.

Fran looked over at Balthier questioningly. "Where are we going?"

"I thought we would drop in and make a cameo at Ashe's coronation, then head over to Archades to see how Larsa is doing."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Fran leaned back in her chair and began examining the Sagittarius while humming a viera tune.

Shortly after Fran began humming, the gentle whir of the engines began to fade. She looked up at Balthier with a questioning look on her face. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes, it won't respond…the engines are failing!" Balthier frantically pushed buttons and flipped switches to try and restore the power to the rings.

"Balthier, it's the sky stone! It's cracked! The readings on the monitor are saying that it is feeding so much power to the engines that it is overloading them! We have to land!" Fran pressed a button and a flurry of data took over the screen.

"Fran, what does our paling look like?" Balthier began to reach for the paling button.

She pulled up the screen with the paling data. "It's only charged to 30."

"Is 30 enough to help us withstand a direct hit to the ground?"

"I don't know, but it could at least lessen the impact."

Moments after Fran spoke, the Strahl slammed into the desert somewhere on the north end of the Dalmasca Estersand. Both Fran and Balthier crawled out of the airship, sporting only minor cuts and bruises.

Balthier looked at the totaled airship with a dismal expression. "The Strahl…"

Fran stood up and brushed herself off before looking around. "Well, we're obviously somewhere east of Dalmasca…the winds are too light here to be one of the Sandseas or the Westersand…"

Balthier glanced up at Fran from his broken ship. "I should think we're in the Estersand, based on how little time we were in the air. And not far from the seashore, I'd gather. We've a hike to the nearest town…"

Fran approached the decimated vehicle and began salvaging what she could. "Well, we'd better save what we can then. It appears that our vacation is over."