Fara was bursting with mixed up emotions. She was excited because she got to go on an Airship, which she always enjoyed thoroughly. She was happy because she really enjoyed the company of Vaan and Penelo. Basch however, seemed to very much not trust her, which she didn't blame him for. Honestly they had only met hours ago. Though Vaan and Penelo were clearly very capable Sky Pirates and loyal friends, they were clearly not discerning enough with who they trusted. Some of that, Fara guessed had to do with how impromptu alliances had ended up benefiting them in the past. She had gleaned that from some of the stories they had told before. Though Fara had originally taken those stories as exaggerations, now she was not so sure. Just days ago they had described running into people in a sewer that had turned out to be life long friends and allies who saved the world. At the time Fara had expected their to be some over exaggeration in those stories, but this seemed less impossible now after meeting their very powerful friends. Basch however kept Fara at arms length. She didn't take it personally, she was way over her head. But mostly, she was nervous and scared because she had not been back to Archades since she had left so many years ago. Her head was spinning around and around from all of the different feelings mashed up inside of her.

Wanting to be distracted from all of this, she turned to Basch, who was sitting next to her. Perhaps she could convince him that she meant well enough and asked "So how is it that all of you know each other?" Basch ignored her, but a chuckle came from the pilot's seat and Vaan said "That is a very long story."

"I'm sure we have more then enough time, the ride to Archades is a very long one" said Penelo as she turned in her seat to face Basch and Fara. "Well, it started many years ago the night that Ashe's father was to sign a treaty between Dalmasca and Archades" she began. And they started to tell Fara the whole story. Vaan and Penelo alternating parts as smoothly as two people could as they continued their way to the capitol. Even Basch chimed in a time or two with details or corrections, though afterword he seemed no warmer towards Fara. As she learned more she could hardly blame him, if that had happened to her she would never trust again. Fara certainly felt much more kindness towards Basch, and decided she would try to not hold his coldness against him.

It was indeed a very long story and it took almost the whole ride to tell. By the end much more made sense to Fara. She had learned much about the events of Vayne's fall. But she still had many questions. Could this motley crew really have overcome so much? The story was one to be a legend for sure. It seemed impossible but she had been proven a fool for doubting Vaan and Penelo just hours before. But mostly, she was caught up with this Balthier fellow, Dr. Cid's son, could it be Ffamran? It had to be, the way they described him. Dashing and suave and probably too self absorbed. But if he had left as well, how had she not known. Would he not have tried to look for her? She dashed this thought as soon as it crossed her mind. Why would he have? She had left him in the first place. He owed her nothing. Fara was lost in thought about all she had learned and the others remained quiet for the rest of the ride. They were thinking about their pasts as well.

Finally they reached Archades and Vaan brought down the Galbana, which was the name of his and Penelo's airship. A beautiful sight to behold for sure. Gleaming and svelte, the airship looked right at home in the skies. "Alright we're here" Penelo said brightly. The four walked out into the bright Archadian sun. A wave of nostalgia swept over Fara. Right there was where she had tripped and skinned her knees once and her father had carried her home. Over there was where she and Ffamran had hidden once from the guards after Ffamran had done something to make them angry (which for the life of her now she couldn't remember).

She gazed all around her. The glistening buildings that seemed to reach to the sky were too foreign to her. With a jolt she realized that this was her home no longer, despite the memories that came so easily. Perhaps she should have realized that after being gone for so long she would not be able to come back to everything being the same. Somewhere in her heart though, she had always hoped that if she wanted to, she could come back. Now she knew that was not true. Once again she felt dazed with what she had stumbled into. She would just do her best to deal with her situation, as she always had.

"Fara come on" yelled Penelo. Fara noticed then that the others were ahead of her and walking off towards Draklor laboratories. She quickly sped up and joined the others. They walked for about fifteen minutes and then entered a sky cab. "It's nice to not be in that armor" said Basch stretching his arms behind him. He had changed into less noticeable clothes before they left Dalmasca. He was now wearing a red vest buttoned up over a white shirt. His shorts are brown and his boots lace up and reach the bottom of his shorts. "It's a lot easier for me to recognize you now, I still miss the long hair though" said Penelo. The three quickly fell into easy conversation. This continued until they reached their destination.

They got out of the cab and looked up at Draklor Laboratories. Fara was still reeling just from being in the city and looking at this building just increased the gnawing feeling in her stomach. She followed the others into the building.

"Dr. Cid's quarters should still be intact. Gijs spent most of his time looking through Dr. Cid's notes so he preserved almost all of them. Gijs was actually murdered in Dr. Cid's quarters. So we will start our search there" said Basch.

"How exactly was Dr. Gijs killed?" questioned Penelo.

"Poison. The cowards weapon." Basch replied, the animosity evident in his voice.

"Well, I guess we should get going." Said Vaan.

"Right" Fara replied and began to walk off towards Dr. Cid's office without thinkin.

"You know where to go?" asked Vaan surprised, following her.

"Oh, um yes" Fara said. She had forgotten that they did not know who she was. It got tiring always having to censor herself. She decided that she would tell them about her past, as they told her about theirs. Worse comes to worse they would just kick her out of this strange group and she would be measurably less stressed. But not now, perhaps that could be the story for the return trip to Rabanastre. "I'll explain later" she continued.

Vaan and Penelo just nodded amicably and continued to follow her up the many floors. Honestly those two, regardless of what happened she wanted to sit them down and talk to them about trusting strangers. She felt strangely protective now. "Maybe that was how they got by," she thought darkly. They certainly triggered some sort of protective behavior in her, even though she couldn't be much older than they. Basch scowled however, but followed her as well, though he certainly was watching Fara much more closely. If Fara continued on this strange whirlwind of an expedition, she ascertained she would need to speak to him. Dr. Cid's room was at the very top. She had there many times with Ffamran, watching his father do research. She still found it hard to believe that Dr. Cid had done all that they had described. Messing with so many forces better left alone. But at this point she had no choice but to trust her companions and believe that they spoke the truth.

They eventually reached the room and found it strewn with papers. There were papers on the table, on the counters surrounding the room, on chairs, on the floor. There was even a paper stuck to the ceiling, though Fara had no idea how this could have happened.

Fara pinched the bridge of her nose and thought once again about what she had gotten herself into.

Basch seeing her face actually chuckled and said "I knew it would be an arduous task, but I did not believe it would be quite this time consuming." Fara was surprised by his easy going response, perhaps he wasn't as rigid as she had originally inferred? Her intuition was clearly all over the place these days. Vaan groaned and walked over to the nearest stack of papers.

"Let's get started then. Anything about Espers or the Occuria keep" he stated. Everybody walked over to a pile and began to search.

"Ooh what about this…" came Penelo's voice a few minutes later "oh wait no, it's just about the dusk shard."

It continued like this for a few hours, and though they had found a few things mentioning the Occuria, they had found nothing valuable. Fara stood up and let out a huge yawn. She stretched her hands up to the ceiling and looked at her companions. "I'm going to go stretch my legs" she said. They did not even look at her, but Vaan let out a sort of grunt to indicate he heard.

She left the room and walked around the corridors. She eventually came to a dead end with a sort of tapestry hung on the wall. The tapestry looked familiar; it was red and blue with a picture of Archades painted on. With a jolt she remembered this was not a dead end. "Of course" she muttered to herself. There was a secret room behind the tapestry. Before she left Dr. Cid left all of his most important research in there. She walked up to the tapestry hoping that he still did keep important things here. She pondered once again how her life had brought her back here on such strange terms, but continued on anyway.

She pushed the tapestry aside and walked in. It looked as if the room had not been touched since she was last here. There were still the bookshelves filled with hundreds of books. The fireplace with the comfy black chair next to it was still there. This room was rather small, but a door led to another bigger one to the right she knew where all of the lab equipment was. She was about to walk into the other room to search form some helpful information, but decided that she wanted to look at some of the books instead

She always loved to sit in here with Ffamran; each of them with their nose in a book. They had both usually picked a book about far off lands and great adventures. She smiled remembering once when they had been sitting in here reading…

But her thoughts were cut off by the sound of a gun cocking behind her, and the feeling of a barrel being pressed to the back of her head. The cold steel sent shivers down her spine and cool voice said behind her "Tut tut now what do we have here? Remember what curiosity killed."