Chapter 26
"Relax, sweetie. He's not going to bite."
Joanna hugged the binders to her chest as they walked down Soldier's officer hall. The little brunette, eyes wide behind round glasses, scurried in a cute navy skirt-suit next to Yanna.
"I've just never met him before," she said. "Not really."
"He's not as scary as he looks on tv," Yanna said. "He's just very intense and right now, he's worried about taking care of his men. He may be a little short but he's a good man. Just be honest."
"Okay." Joanna nodded, though she was still clearly nervous, and they walked the rest of the way in silence. When they reached Sephiroth's office, Rothridge announced them and Sephiroth waved them in.
"Ms. Kimble," he said. "Shiushan. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."
"Of course, sir," Joanna said, her voice squeaking. "Yanna said you needed a conversion projection as soon as possible. Something about an emergency budget cut."
"An anticipated budget cut. What do you have?"
"Oh! Sorry, sir." Juggling the binders, Joanna started handing them to him, one by one. "These are the land profiles for the bases and their towns, including crop yield, rainfall, Mako saturation and recovery, contact information, and Yanna's notes. These are the evaluations of what each area needs based on their current status and relationship with outside contractors. These are the cost estimates, projected schedules, and necessary forms. I also have a disc with all of this information and I emailed it to you in zip folders."
Sephiroth tilted his head, his face blank except for the amusement dancing in his eyes.
"Yanna said you were the best choice to take over the rehabilitation program," he said.
The little woman blushed bright red and stammered until Yanna put a hand on her shoulder.
"Joanna had a good point," she said. "If things did degenerate, food and water would be the first targets so the rehab department has been working on hydroponic greenhouses. They're completely enclosed and regulated and can be adapted to any terrain. Sweetie, why don't you start with Fort Meade?"
"R-right."
Sephiroth motioned for them to sit and both he and Yanna listened to Joanna rattle off the numbers in an informed, if skittish, presentation. The General followed along with the charts and figures, asking probing questions. This too was a different side to him. Yanna knew he was analytical, critical to a fault, but never before had she seen it so thoroughly in action. This was why he was the General. He researched every angle, every possible repercussion. And while he couldn't prevent all mistakes, he was certainly doing all he could.
Yanna contributed where she could, mostly from remembering the feel of the land during her three years of touring. Sometimes his questions turned to her and she felt like she was in the interrogation room again. He wasn't mean, per se, but he was blunt, intense. Even with as much time as she spent with him, it was a little off-putting.
Still, by the time they were done, Sephiroth had formed a solid plan, his stance that of weary satisfaction.
"Thank you for coming in, Ms. Kimble, Shiushan," he said, shaking their hands. "I'll be in touch."
?
"You're pacing a hole in the floor."
Yanna wrinkled her nose and sat down hard in the seat across from Missy. This was the airship that was taking them to Cosa Del Sol. It was supposed to be a fun time for them, teasing the boys, laughing about stupid stuff, figuring out what they were going to do with their hair.
Instead, Cissnei was off guarding the president because these Plat-whatever's were known for underhanded schemes—shocker. She supposed she should be grateful she got to see the Turk before they boarded. The three generals had already been arguing with the president and the board of directors for an hour when the airship took off.
That was three hours ago. Still nothing.
"Relax." Missy put her hand over hers. "It'll be fine."
"Oh, I know. They'll figure everything out."
"Uh-huh."
Yanna suddenly found the carpet extremely interesting, so interesting in fact that she jumped about a mile when Angeal opened the cabin door.
"Baby!" Missy exclaimed, jumping up. "Oh babe, you look awful. What happened? Are you done?"
"No." Angeal ran a hand through his hair, his face drawn and tired as he sat down.
"No, it's uh…well, it's not going so well. Rufus is pretty much on our side. He hates the Platagnets but the board…"
"Is it about the money?" Yanna asked.
"Yeah. Sorry to say but yeah. Shinra was really hard up after Makofall. A lot of stuff went wrong. The Platagnets were one of the first families to step in and help keep things afloat. You have no idea how much we're in their debt. I mean, they fund all the bases on the Western Continent. That's why Seph was asking about making the bases self-sufficient. If they leave…"
Angeal rubbed his eyes and took a breath.
"Sorry. I don't mean to lay all this on you girls. Point is, we're trying as hard as we can to make sure the men are taken care of. The board's being difficult but we'll get them. It's the meeting with the Platagnets I'm worried about."
"When will that be?" Missy asked.
"When we get there. They've already scheduled it."
"Angeal." Yanna stared at his boots. "Do you think this can work?"
"I hope so."
Which wasn't an answer. Yanna pursed her lips, nodding.
"Excuse me." Clenching her hands, the shaman slipped out of the cabin and down the hall to the bathroom. She barely registered the people passing her, the whispers of recognition. She couldn't even say how long it took to get to the bathroom. Her ears rang. She couldn't get enough air.
When she got to the bathroom, she went to the last stall and locked the door, sagging against the cold, hard metal. This might not work. The Platagnets were threatening his men with starvation if he didn't marry one of them. Sephiroth would not allow that to happen. He let himself bleed for them. He let Shinra do horrific things to him for the sake of his men, let their enemy take him hostage and torture him.
He was going to get married.
Yanna bowed her head and her body followed until she sat curled on the floor of the handicap stall.
He was getting married.
"Sweetie?"
She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to breathe through the shattered glass.
"Yanna, honey, are you in here?"
Missy. The shaman tried to speak but all that came out was a choked sob. She grimaced and buried her face in her arms as the tears came.
"Oh, sweetie, don't cry. Everything'll be okay. You want me to come in with you?"
She shook her head, even though Missy couldn't see it.
"Okay, honey. Okay. How 'bout I just sit out here and, when you're ready, you can come out?"
She heard the other woman sit on the other side of the stall and a faint voice told her to just suck it up, put on a smile, go out there like a good Kalani woman. But she couldn't do it.
He was getting married.
Yanna curled tighter and cried.
?
After a while, after she'd cried enough to throw up in the sink, Yanna came out of the stall. Missy hurriedly stood up and gave her a hug.
"Oh, sweetheart." Missy cupped her face, wipping away the last of the tears. "You gonna tell him?"
"Tell who what?"
"Honey." The teacher sighed and pulled her over to the community sink. "Here, splash some water on your face. And I mean: are you going to tell Sephiroth how you feel?"
"I don't feel anything. I mean, yeah, we're close but—"
"You just spent forty-five minutes crying in a public restroom. That is nothing but how you feel."
"He's getting—"
"Don't say it. We'll be fine. Now, Angeal had to go back to the meeting but he said they'd meet us at the hotel room." She started fussing with Yanna's hair. "I got the key card and all that so we'll get our bags when we land then we are gonna play with my make-up."
"Celeste." Yanna could feel her eyes start to well again.
"And when the boys come back with the awesome news that everything is okay, you are going to tell him how you feel."
"I can't do that! Missy, what if he laughs at me?" She turned away from both her and the mirror. "I can take a lot. I can't take that."
"He won't laugh at you, honey." Missy put her hands on her shoulders. "Do you love him?"
Yanna chewed on her lip, shifting anxiously from foot to foot.
"I'm afraid."
"That's okay. I'd be afraid of the sex too. Goddess, he could break you in half if he got too rough."
She couldn't help but laugh at that, absurd as it was.
"Promise me," Missy said. "Promise me when he comes back, you'll give it a shot."
"But he's the General of the Armies. I can't—"
"Yes, and everybody and their mother are after him. You wanna risk losing him again?"
Her eyes widened and the teacher nodded, triumphant.
"Okay," Yanna said. "I promise. I-I'll tell him."
"Okay. Now come on. We're about to land."
?
"Absolutely unacceptable!"
"This is an outrage."
"This is our offer."
Sephiroth sat motionless between President Shinra and Genesis. Angeal sat on the other side of the redhead. Across from them sat the nightmare that had plagued him for the better part of ten years. The Platagnet matron, a witch if he had ever seen one, sat between a blond woman with too much hairspray and a blond man with too much makeup.
"I must say I am…disappointed, General Sephiroth," the matron said. She leveled her flinty grey eyes on him. He lifted his chin.
"This was not in our agreement," she said.
"We never had an agreement, Lady Platagnet. You made an offer. I am countering it."
"Rufus, are you really condoning this?"
"I am President of the Shinra Electric Power Company and Commander-in-Chief of the Army," Rufus said tightly. "I would appreciate you address me as such. As for the general, I think I can speak for all three of them when I say how offended we are that this issue is even being discussed."
The three of them smiled indulgently.
"Of course, President Shinra," the younger woman, Sophie, spoke with the same silky voice Genesis often used at bars. "We meant no disrespect. General Sephiroth. Isn't there something we could do that would be mutually beneficial?"
Sephiroth tightened his grip on the arms of his chair. The old hag controlled the money but the real power lay with Sophie. The Silver General resisted the urge to roll his shoulders and rallied to face this new front.