Author's Note: It's a new chapter for a new year. I'm happy you're here right now reading. Thanks! I have many plans and chapters in store, but for now here's chapter 10.

We were. . .lost. Yes, that's right. We were lost. We had been wandering through the Salikawood for days. It was such a large place, after all. I was nibbling on some bread and wondering if I had seen this exact area before. I wouldn't have been surprised if we had somehow gotten turned around completely. None of us came out and said that we were lost, but I was sure we all knew.

During our time in the Salikawood, we had encountered quite a few creatures other than those pumpkin-headed things. We'd come across what Lamont told me was a "Baknamy" and we'd even fought these insect creatures that I'd quite frankly prefer to never see again. I mean, it was eating a chocobo! That was a sight I really wanted to erase from my mind.

On a more positive note, the bread was good. Also, the longer we were here the stronger I could feel myself becoming. Between fighting those pumpkin-headed creatures and the other things that lurked in the Salikawood, I knew I was growing in strength.

I had a book inside of my bag and between the pages of the book there was the flower Lamont had given me. I had pressed it there firmly, hoping to preserve it as much as I could. I had no idea what Esabel had done with hers. I had every intention of holding onto that memory, though. I kept telling myself it was because that was the first time a guy my age had given me a flower. I told myself that this was the reason I was holding onto that flower. I had no idea, at the time, what my real reason was. I didn't understand. . .not yet.

Okay, now I was sure I had seen this place before. I had, hadn't I? We were right on the other side of the bridge we had crossed before. How could I forget? After all, Lamont had put the flower in my hair right before that. The others didn't seem to have realized it yet. I decided it was finally time for one of us to state the obvious after days of dancing around the truth.

"Umm. . .guys?" I called to them and pointed over toward the bridge. "We've. . .we've been here before."

Lamont and Esabel looked resigned as they looked over at the bridge I was still pointing at. Esabel was the first to speak after that. "Perhaps we should take a different route than the one before. Maybe we should travel right this time rather than left?"

It seemed like a reasonable idea. After all, going left had gotten us days of wandering around. "As far as ideas go, it sounds rather preferable to our continued wandering," Lamont spoke as he started walking in that direction. He stopped and turned before letting out a small sigh. "I truly do apologize for this. If I had been in possession of a map. . ."

I watched Lamont as he trailed off. He was looking at something off to the right and his eyes widened as he shook his head in disbelief. He quickly walked over to an urn and lifted it up. He pulled out a piece of paper and that was when I placed my palm against my forehead. Right there in his hands was a map. All of those days of wandering could have been avoided if we'd gone right instead of left. If we had, we would've come right across the map.

I looked at Esabel. Esabel looked at Lamont. Lamont looked at me. We all looked at each other. Before I knew it, we all kind of started laughing in disbelief. It was funny in a strange way. After all of that wandering and fighting and everything in the Salikawood. . .here was that blasted map. We laughed like that for a while and I had to wipe tears from my eyes.

Lamont spread the map out on the ground and we all crouched down around it. "I believe us to be located. . .here," he said as he pointed to a place marked as Trunkwall Road. "Despite our setback, we're actually quite close to the exit."

Just like that, we had forgotten about all the time we had wasted. It was a non-issue because we were now back on track. We all had a bit of a bounce in our step as we side-stepped the sleeping pumpkin-headed creatures and ditched Trunkwall Road for a place called the Diverging Way. By the time we reached the Living Chasm, I spotted something awesome: Moogles.

I'd seen moogles before, of course. I mean, it's not like there were no moogles living in Rabanastre. That didn't stop me from thinking that they were awesome each and every time I came across one. I also thought it was absolutely adorable every time I heard one of them say "kupo."

"You can use this gate to get to the Phon Coast, kupo," the moogle in front of us said. I looked up and saw other moogles on top of the gate.

"We would like to do that, very much so," Lamont told him before the moogle nodded at the others and before we knew it, the gate started raising up.

Lamont thanked the moogle before walking through and Esabel quickly followed. I lingered behind and held my hand out to the moogle. "Hello," I told him with a smile. "I'm Lydian."

He seemed surprised, but he recovered quickly enough. "My apprentices call me Boss. You aren't my apprentice, but you can call me that too, kupo," he said as he shook my hand.

"Alright then." I looked up when I heard Esabel calling back to me. "I have to go, but it was nice to meet you Boss!"

"Same to you, too, kupo," he told me. I started walking away, but he quickly caught up with me. "Wait!"

I stopped and looked down at him. Once he was sure I wasn't about to run off, he ran off himself. He quickly returned with what looked like a pair of boots and handed them to me. "What are these?" I asked him as I looked them over. They looked like they would fit me.

"Quasimodo boots, kupo. They make you immune to sap," he told me with his cool little moogle smile.

Sap. If I remembered correctly, Lamont told me that some enemies used that to drain your life away. Those boots could very well save my life or at least make fighting such an enemy more easy.

"Thank you!" I told the moogle as I opened up my bag and sat the boots inside. They weren't too heavy and they fit right on in. "I'm sure these will come in handy. That was kind of you." We said our goodbyes to each other and I hurried to catch up to my friends.

By the time we stepped foot in the Phon Coast, I was in awe. Water. There was so much water! I had never seen so much in my entire life. It was beautiful. We aren't born knowing where we're going to go and what we're going to do. We aren't ingrained with the knowledge of the places we'll see. I never could have known that I'd be there right then with those particular people. I was happy that I was, though.

There was so much sand, so much blue sky, so much blue water, white fluffy clouds, and palm trees! I wanted to rush forward to the water, but we were being eyed like we were juicy pieces of meat. Of course, I suppose we really were juicy pieces of meat in the minds of the wolf-like creatures that were prowling toward us.

"Silver lobo," Esabel said, already prepared to shoot.

She made quick work of shooting some down, the ones farther back. Lamont and I took care of the closer ones. I thought back to when I hid behind a boulder in the Estersand because I was afraid. Now I wasn't. I rushed forward and pierced the silver lobo with my spear. It went down with a little yelp and the others soon followed. Lamont sliced right on through them, a sword in each hand. It was like poetry in motion, the way he took them down with one fluid movement after another.

There were other kinds of monsters in the area. Some were sleeping, minding their own business. We saw no point in attacking them since they weren't messing with us. There was something flying toward us pretty fast though. Esabel shot it, but it still kept coming. Before we knew it, she was attacked. I could tell she was hurting, but she ignored the pain. With a few more well-placed shots, that particular fight was over.

Lamont was about to pull some kind of potion out of his bag. He was probably looking for a hi-potion. I shook my head at him and stepped toward Esabel. Before she knew it, I was whispering the words I needed and put Cure into effect. I then used it again just to make sure she was healed up all the way.

"Thank you," Esabel said before stooping down to pick up her loot.

"You're welcome," I told her cheerfully before hurrying to pick up what loot hadn't already disappeared after our fights.

Esabel went to scout out the rest of the area and make sure there weren't more threats. When she came back and gave us the clear, I hurried over toward the water. It was even more beautiful up close. I took off my shoes and sat them on the sand, far enough away from the waves that they wouldn't get wet. I then walked forward cautiously. Very slowly, I stuck one toe in the water. It was cool, but not too cool. I'd actually say it was the perfect temperature. A wave licked at my feet and I laughed before stepping forward into the water.

It was refreshing and wonderful. "You guys should come in, too!" I told them, going in a little farther and grateful that I was wearing shorts.

Esabel made quick work of taking off her shoes and coming in, too. Not only was she quick, but she also strolled in with perfect posture and so much grace that she didn't cause nearly as much splashing as I had. Her skirt was short enough that it wouldn't get wet. "It feels wonderful," she said, mirroring my thoughts. "Lamont, are you afraid of coming in?"

He cocked his head to the side and considered us briefly before taking a step back. "Perhaps I am," he admitted. "I harbor enough sense and knowledge to entertain the idea that you two may be up to no good."

Translation: We looked sneaky and suspicious and just maybe we were going to try and splash water on him. He was good, I had to give it to him. He was smart and knew us well enough by now to be suspicious. He had foiled our plot.

"Come on now. We are on a serious mission here. And Esabel is very lady-like. Do you really think that we would be. . .juvenile enough to try something?" I put on my poker face and stared him down.

After about a minute, he sighed and carefully sat his shoes aside before rolling up his pants. He waded into the water and he wasn't there for thirty seconds before Esabel and I proceeded to splash water at him. He was dripping with water and disbelief before he started splashing water at us as well. The farther we got into the journey, the more we tried to stay lighthearted and positive. I, for one, didn't want to see Lamont stare into the distance with that somber look on his face.

I was aware that this was a serious situation, that this was an important journey. I didn't take it lightly. Every time I practiced a spell, I thought about how I might be able to help Lamont and Esabel with it. Every time I defeated an enemy and got stronger, I thought about how I could be a better ally in battle. I worried about how Lamont would feel if he couldn't achieve his goal, if he couldn't help his emperor. I worried about the future of an empire that I was now connected to through him. Sometimes, though, you just have to stop thinking about the big and important things weighing on your shoulders. I'm not saying that you should forget about that stuff completely. What I'm saying is that it is okay to lighten your load for a little while by taking your mind off of it.

So the three of us took our minds off of things while splashing each other in that water. We weren't carefree, but we were peaceful for a time. By the time we came out of that water, we were all soaking wet. Luckily, it was a little on the hot side that day so our clothes would probably dry quickly and we probably wouldn't catch a cold.

Esabel decided to do another sweep of the area and make sure nothing was coming to attack us. Meanwhile, I sat down on the sand next to Lamont and stared out at the water. He was in that place in his own head again. His thoughts had taken him somewhere far away even though he was sitting right there next to me.

"Hey," I said as I nudged his shoulder.

"I apologize, Lydian. Did you say something?" he asked me as he snapped back to the here and now.

"Not really," I told him as I shook my head. "You looked pretty serious just now."

I knew he liked to hold onto his secrets. I wasn't trying to pressure him into telling me something. Rather, I was giving him the opportunity to confide in me if he wanted to. He had done it before and I wanted to let him know that I was there if he wanted to again. He could just shake his head and tell me nothing was wrong if he wanted to. If so, I would drop it and go back to admiring the lovely scenery of the Phon Coast. I felt as if he knew that, too.

"Unpleasant thoughts ensconce my mind occasionally. There exists a chance that I'll fail. If such a thing occurs, what will befall the empire? What misfortune would betide the citizens?"

Thinking about what he'd said, I stared at the sand in front of me. There, halfway buried, was a little orange shell. I picked it up, dusted it off, and reached for Lamont's hand. I turned it over and sat the shell inside.

"Take a look at that shell, Lamont. It didn't start off on this beach. It came from somewhere else out there. No matter where it came from, it had to travel to get here. Maybe it traveled from far away and maybe it came from somewhere nearby. It went on a journey, though, and here it is now. You could sit it back where I found it in the sand, but a wave will probably pull it back into the water. You could put the shell in your pocket and take it with you the rest of the way." I curled his fingers around the shell and pulled my hand away. "Either way, though, that shell is on a journey. And it's going to keep on going until it can't go any farther whether it's in that water or in your pocket when everything is over. You have to keep going, too, until you can't go any farther. Whether you win or lose, you have to keep going."

He held that shell firmly in his hand and smiled a little. He was silent for a while and so was I. I was waiting for him to say something, but he wasn't. I decided to continue on.

"I'm sorry that I can't reassure you that everything will be fine. I mean, I don't know that for sure and I don't want to lie to you. But we both know that people's lives are at stake here. Failure isn't an option. You have to keep going and as long as you're going, I'll be going with you."

About ten seconds later, I heard Esabel coming back. Apparently the area was still clear. When I looked over at Lamont, the shell was gone, but a smile had appeared on his face. We didn't talk about it as we put our shoes back on, him putting on his old ones and me changing into the new boots Boss had given me.

"Thank you," I heard him say as I finished up with the second boot. I looked up and there was his hand again, waiting to help me get on my feet.

"You're welcome," I told him as he pulled me up. We dusted the sand off ourselves and hurried forward, going to join Esabel. I had said everything I needed to say and I knew he'd heard it.