Gippal wasn't the only one with a mission to accomplish.
Weighed down with her own luggage, Rikku took a hover back out to the shores of Bikanel later that evening, where the salvage ships were docked. Once there, she walked with an unusual grace over the pollocked, hilly sand to the small settlement on location. This place - "the port", as they called it - was formed of all the huts and tents and other temporary homes for the people working out here on the salvage ships. Being a good distance away from Home, it was obviously much more convenient to camp out here for however long, rather than making the long trips to and from Home every day.
It certainly looked like a worker's camp, at a glance. Rambunctious shouting in the native tongue punctuated the furious wind of sand and sea. Among sparse vegetation brought about by the water, all the shabby dwellings were arranged in an almost ludricous attempt at a grid-like pattern. Steel fingers jutted out on the blue-green waters, serving as both the anchors to which each ship was docked and walkway for all the shiphands and the finds they brought back from the salvage missions. A great, rectangular mass overshadowing the camp, customarily known as the "Shed", was the warehouse where they stored most of the salvaged materials until further notice. Hover caravans would come every few days to transport certain cargo back to Home, for research, development - or use.
Rikku walked through the camp past groups sitting around fires and quickly eating dinner, some of them still carrying the sweat and sand of the days' work on their bodies. The sun had just disappeared past the horizon and twilight pervaded the air, gracing the camp with somewhat cooler temperatures.
Rikku approached one fire in particular, and was greeted by a chorus of "Cid's girrrrlll!" from its admirers. One of them jumped up from his spot in the sand just about dumping his plate of food, looking obviously displeased.
"Frana ryja oui paah?*" he shouted. "It is nighttime already!"
"I know, Brother, I have eyes!" Rikku retorted.
"Then where were you?" he said, his eyes looking ridiculously manic, the way they always did when he threw a tantrum. The other fire-keepers looked on shamelessly, as if from behind a partition.
"Saying goodbye to Gippal," she said, and then after a pause added, "and getting my stuff together."
"Gippal..." Brother muttered under his breath, crossing his arms and displaying a sudden childlike poutiness. "E ruba dryd pycdynt hajan lusac pylg.*"
"Duu pyt E lyh'd cyo dra cysa du oui!*" Rikku said. "Aren't we still leaving tonight?"
Brother repeated her question in a high-pitched, mocking voice. "Up to you, princess!"
"Alright then, let's load her up and get going, boys!" Rikku shouted to the fire-keepers. They all had their moment of whooping and cheering before tossing their trays in the dirtied water by the food tent and running out to the ship with all urgency, and Rikku followed. Brother made a bird-like shriek of distress as he watched them all drift away and commenced in repeatedly shouting, "My ship! I give the orders! ME! It is MY SHIP!"
*Al Bhed translations, once again in order of appearance:
Brother: Where have you been?
Brother: I hope that bastard never comes back.
Rikku: Too bad I can't say the same to you!