I thought I'd get started on this as soon as I could after my long break from writing. Here's…

Chapter 11

The sun was slowly setting towards the sparkling Northern Ocean. The sky was a warming orange to contrast the mild chill of evening. Torches had been lit on the walls of the nearby city of Duntarine and the sounds of a city, winding down for the night could be heard over the constant complaints of a certain trio…

"I'm hungry," Lani whined.

"Will you please stop saying that!" the female human bandit shouted, "You've been saying that for the past hour almost non-stop."

"I'm afraid that I must agree with them," Zan said calmly with an uncomfortable glance at the bandits.

"You're mean, you know that?" Lani replied, feigning hurt as she so often did.

As the cart approached the gate, two guards came over to greet the arrivals.

"Greetings travellers," the first said, addressing himself to Guiness. He was a human wearing polished knights armour, "May I ask your business in Duntarine this evening?"

"I'm here to ssee my uncle, and these three are adventuring," Guiness replied.

The second guard, a Moogle who was also wearing knights armour, looked quizzically at the three captives in the cart. "What about these three, kupo?" he asked.

"They're bandits," Lani replied, "They attacked us on our way here from Erebi. We fought and captured them so that we could turn them in here."

The first guard gestured to a few other guards inside the gate who came over to the cart. He turned back to Guiness, "We'll take them from here. The city thanks you all for your service," he moved over to Mist who was once again riding Storm, "Take this," he said as he handed her a small silver token, "And show it to the owner of whichever inn you want to get free boarding for the night."

"Thank you very much," Mist said as she examined the simple token before carefully pocketing it. It was just a smooth silver coin with the picture of a knight's helmet on it.

Meanwhile, the other guards had taken the bandits out of the cart and had untied the rope joining their bonds. They were now being taken away with a guard leading and trailing each of them. Lani and Zan moved back into the slightly more comfortable area of the cart.

The first guard spoke briefly with one of the guards who had taken the bandits, then waved them through, "You may proceed. Enjoy your stay in Duntarine."

As Guiness took the cart into the city he turned to Mist, "You know, ssince you have that token, I hope you don't mind if I head off to my uncle'ss place now. He'll be ssurprised when he ssees me since I wass planning to get here tomorrow morning after a sstop in Passedi, just easst of here."

"No, that's ok," Mist replied, "We should use the remaining light to find out what we can so that we can get searching as soon as possible tomorrow morning."

Guiness pulled the cart over and Mist dismounted Storm as Lani and Zan got out of the cart. "I ssuppose thiss is farewell, friendss," Guiness said to them as he shook their hands in turn, "Sstop by my place if you're ever in Erebi again."

"We shall," Zan replied.

The cart moved quickly into the streets beyond and once again, Mist, Lani and Zan were alone on their journey. The streets around them were fairly quiet bar the people slowly heading home from a long days work.

"How are we going to find out anything if everyone's going home?" Lani asked, "I mean, we can't exactly go door-knocking for info," she quipped.

"Maybe we can still ask people in the streets," Zan replied, "There are likely to be sailors and other locals near the docks so we should try there first."

"Ok," Mist agreed, "We'll try the docks."

The three friends wandered north through the city, noting the familiar features of the city that they recognised from home and the differences contrasting with it. Sandstone houses with rough, pale walls lined the streets and coloured tarps hung in front of some of them where stalls would have been set up only an hour ago. A variety of locals could be seen heading home or talking with neighbours. Moogles were fairly common, as should be expected in their ancestral city. Seeing them made Mist a little more comforted. They just had that look to them that put her at ease.

The sounds of the ocean picked up as they neared the docks. Enormous frigates and smaller ferries were moored along the piers taking up all but a few places in the harbour. Raucous laughter and shouts could be heard at intervals from a building near by with lights shining through the window, cutting the dim of evening. The sun was sitting on the horizon and was being repetitively blocked out by the ship at the eastern end of the pier, a ferry slightly larger than most and slightly weathered.

"So, are we going to just stand out here?" Lani asked, sounding irritated, "Or can we go inside? It's cold out here, and need I remind you…"

"You're hungry," Mist and Zan said in unison.

Lani frowned, Mist could tell she was feeling unappreciated, and she mumbled incoherently as she stomped her way towards the tavern. Mist and Zan followed close behind, Zan occasionally saying, "I heard that," to annoy Lani who continued to mumble.

The tavern was a lively place with people occupying most tables and bar maids serving meals and drinks all around the room. Lani's stomach began to growl when she smelled the aroma of grilled fish and a roast of some sort, either beef or lamb. All around the room, people had begun to take note of the new comers before they continued with their duties or their loud tales of adventure and sailing. All but one man, anyway.

He was a scruffy, aged man. He didn't look old exactly, just weathered, as though life had been hard on him through many years of adventures and travel. He sat in the corner of the room at the only table with any seats untaken, wrapped in his tanned overcoat and with his three-point sailors hat tilted down to almost cover his half closed eyes.

Mist looked around and, after a few moments of further stalling, she lead her friends to the man's table and they took seats opposite him.

"There somethin' I c'n do fer you kids?" he asked without even looking up.

"Umm, not really…" Mist muttered nervously as she sat down.

"Mist, grow some courage," Lani told her, "That depends," she directed to the man, "Who are you?"

The man smirked and lifted his eyes to the group, raising his hat to show his spiked brown hair and a slightly scared face. One scar in particular was notable on the left side of his face, just to the side of his eye. With a cocky tone, he introduced himself.

"I'm the best sea cap'n you'll ever meet. I've sailed every ocean an' sea in the whole darn world. Of course, you c'n jus' call me Cid," he told them with a tendency to shorten nearly any word he could.

"That's nice," Lani replied almost immediately, as though she'd been waiting for a chance to interrupt, which wouldn't have been unlike her, "But is there anything you can tell us about the apparent medical problem that the city's been having?"

Cid looked at her with a curious spark in his eye. He took a moment to glance at the other two before answering, "Now why would the three of you be interested in that?"

"We're trying to help a friend from Sandros," Zan replied, "She said that some of the herbs and other healing materials she needs from here aren't available any more. Why is that?"

"Well, there be a few stories that try to explain it," Cid said, sitting up straight and crossing his arms, but the truth o' the matter is, no one's a hundred percent sure why. All I know fer sure is that some o' the people that head to Loxdue don't come back."

"Loxdue?" Mist queried, "Where's that?"

Cid looked at her and cracked a slight smile. "So yer not as quiet as ya look after all," he said in a half laugh before explaining. "Loxdue Island is a big sandy rock west by north west of here. It's where the cactuars live. People from here take their ships there to try an' find the little pesky things and get some needles. Not the easiest thing to do in the best o' circumstances. Cactuars are fast little buggers, too. Most of the time, the so-called adventurers that head over there just find the needles on the ground where the cactuars have been. The problem recently, as I said, is that almost no one's been coming back."

"Wait," Lani interrupted, "Almost no one?"

"That's right," Cid replied, "There be a few that have made I back. Keep going on 'bout somethin' roaming the desert an' brewin' up storms. Load o' pig swill if ye ask me."

"Something roaming the desert…" Mist mused.

"You think…?" Zan asked her, implying the question without saying it in front of their new acquaintance.

Mist nodded, and then noticed Cid looking at them all quizzically. "Uhh…" she began.

Lani put her hand to her head and sighed. "We've been hearing rumours about a creature that's been roaming around all over the place," she interjected, "Some kind of dragon thing."

"Hmm, sounds interesting," Cid replied, "So I suppose yer gonna want to head over there an' check this thing out fer yerselves?" he asked.

"If that's where the problem is then I suppose we will," Zan answered.

Cid waved over a barmaid as he said, "Well in that case, I'll take you kids there in my ferry tomorrow. Too late fer any more adventuring today. Big, nasty beasties over there at night."

The barmaid brought over 4 small plates of fish and vegetables. The smell made Mist's stomach growl and Lani quite nearly started drooling.

"C'mon kids," Cid told them, "Dinner's on me."

"That's very generous of you," Mist said, a little startled to add to her nervous disposition.

"Well, Loxdue is all desert," Cid replied, "You'll be needin' yer strength tomorrow. An' remember to pack plenty o' water. A desert is a dangerous place without that."

The sun was setting in an amber sky as two haggard riders wandered towards a small town on their chocobos.

"Who could have beaten us to Sandros AND managed to stop the sounds from the tower?" Biggs asked his companion.

"I don't know," Wedge replied, "But they claimed to have been sent from Andandrea so perhaps we're dealing with some random adventurers who think they can take our jobs."

Biggs sat up proud on his mount and said in a confident voice, "Then we'll find them and stop them if it's the last thing we do," he announced. As soon as the words left his mouth, however, a deep growling sound could be heard from both their stomachs.

With a defeated sigh, Wedge managed to mumble, "But first let's get some food."

As they entered the town, only an hours ride from Sandros, the passed a small group of children playfully chasing an old, black and white cat. The chocoknights asked them directions to the inn and headed off to rest before beginning their new quest to hunt the impostors.

. . .

It's been too long since I had these guys in the story. I promise they'll be a bit more active in the near future. As for Cid, the misspellings are intentional as a part of his speech style. Something like Cid in Advent Children but not quite so hillbilly.