What I want to be when I grow up; What I am not;

Jungles are no place for beginners;

No room; One man's monster is another man's food

"Best of luck tae ye, lads and lasses!" Cait Sith called out. Both moogle and cat waved double-armed good-byes, paws windmilling. Their friends were nearly out of sight when the automaton turned towards its companions. "Weel then, off we go!" The moogle started off, Reeve and Nanaki following after it.

It was a short walk through a dumbapple orchard to a dirt trail that wound over the hills, connecting Banora to a tiny collection of huts that passed for a port village. Cait Sith tromped along in good spirits, and Nanaki seemed to have the youthful energy of a young puppy. His small nose turned to follow the passage of white and yellow butterflies, and he sniffed enthusiastically along the grassy verges of the path. Reeve shivered as he followed, and rubbed his arms. The chilly dew had not evaporated off the grass yet, and it soaked his socks and pant legs.

They could hear the village before they saw it. There was the breaking of waves and crying of gulls, people shouting, barking dogs, the deep throbbing of a ship's engine. Reeve held up a hand to shield his eyes as they came around a hill. The town was small and smudged with chimney smoke, but the sun glittered in brilliant lances off the sea beyond. He lowered his hand slowly, allowing his eyes to adjust. He counted the ships in the harbor - fewer than he had expected, even for such a small village. There was a potbellied barge pulling out, the sort that never sailed too far from shore; a trim white yacht, probably the property of some wealthy Banoran landowner; and a beatdown cargo ship, whose rusting exterior almost disguised the sleekness of its lines. Old, but possibly still speedy. He said as much to Nanaki, who cast a curious look upwards at him. "You know a surprising amount about such craft, Reeve."

Reeve shrugged. "As a child, I read a surfeit of romantic novels about wooden ships and iron men, and had a passing ambition to become a sea captain. I lost interest when I realized how few old sailing ships there were left, and switched my sights to becoming a dashing highwayman, and then an intrepid explorer of forgotten cities."

Nanaki laughed shortly, a little huffing chuckle of breath. "Plausible careers, all."

Reeve smiled. "My mother's library was filled with decrepit books of derring-do, and it wasn't until I was, well, almost this age," he gestured to his teenaged face, "that I realized I had better find an occupation better suited for the current century."

"Weel, ye learned right quick, laddie. Started programming mah A.I. prototype less than two years later," Cait chimed in.

"Did you program him to compliment you? How vain." Nanaki laughed again, to show that the comment was not meant in a mean-spirited fashion.

"Certainly not," said Reeve, flushing with embarrassment. He looked at the cat's grinning face and wondered, as he always did, whether there was something in Cait's A.I. that he had not programmed into it, some hidden spark… They were down in the village by then, attracting the attention of grubby children and aproned women. A flock of geese behind a picket fence hissed menacingly as Nanaki passed by, and a trio of alley cats fled with puffed tails. The town was only a thin line of wooden houses, with three larger wooden warehouses at the water's edge. Reeve stood at the rickety docks and surveyed the craft. He realized why there were fewer ships than he'd expected - despite the pungent fish smell that made Nanaki wrinkle his small muzzle, there were no fishing boats moored. Most likely, the town's fishermen had gone out before dawn, and had not yet returned. Years as a Shinra board member had made Reeve cautious, and he was relieved to realize that there was no sinister explanation for the lack of watercraft.

"Good morning," Reeve called out to the sailors loading the aging cargo ship. He tried to keep his nose from wrinkling as he approached. The sweet scent of dumbapples rising from the wooden crates they swung aboard failed to mask the nauseating miasma of mixed sweat, rust, and brine. "I spoke with your captain yesterday about going with you to your first stop, the port near Gongaga." One of the men, muscles in his arms as thick as the coiled ship's ropes, heaved a last crate onto a dolly and came over to them, staring hard at Nanaki and Cait Sith.

"Yeah, the Cap'n mentioned we'd have a passenger. He didn't say anything about a pet dog and a, uh, whatever that thing is." He waved a large hand at Cait Sith.

"I am neither a dog, nor anyone's pet," Nanaki growled in resigned irritation. His voice was that of someone having to explain something for the thousandth time.

The sailor leapt back. "Sweet Shiva, it talks?!"

Nanaki's flaming tail flicked in a small sign of annoyance. "Yes, the power of speech is within my capability."

"An' I can talk tae, ye ken! Name's Cait Sith, and Ah'm a fortune telling machine. Would you like me tae tell your future?" The stuffed cat spoke quite cheerfully, but the man seemed not a jot reassured.

"I've seen a lot of strange things at sea, but I think you three're the strangest by far. I'll just go tell the Cap'n you're here." He left, moving slightly faster than was entirely polite.

"Thank you," Reeve said calmly to his retreating back, then turned to his traveling companions with a sigh. "I suppose that, once again, we will have to resign ourselves to the odd looks of superstitious locals."

In post-Meteorfall Gaia, Nanaki was well known as a member of AVALANCHE. After all the other upheavals that had rocked the world, most people accepted a large, well-spoken, fire-hazardous beast with very little trouble. Cait Sith was a known part of the anti-Shinra group, too, but was more often associated with the WRO and its work, and was especially popular with children. And as president of the WRO, Reeve had become accustomed to more positive attention than the sailor or the staring housewives were showing. He was embarrassed to realize how much it bothered him.

Fortunately, they didn't have to stand in the street for too much longer. A middle-aged woman with thinning hair came down the ramp toward them. She gave them a dubious once over before addressing them. "Yer the ones I talked to 'bout passage to Salam?"

Reeve smiled with as much charm as he could muster. "Yes. That would be the three of us."

The woman nodded, then looked straight at Nanaki and asked, "And I have yer word ya won't attack any of my crew?"

"Of course not. I'm not a monster, I don't bite," the cub responded with a snort.

The woman's stone face barely twitched. "Right, then I ain't got a problem with ya coming on board my ship. I'm Cap'n Marcon. We'll be leaving in an' hour or less, so best to get on board. You can find my first mate to settle up." With that, she went back to the ship.

"Delightful lady," Nanaki growled softly.

Reeve chuckled a little. "She's only making sure her crew is safe. Still, I have to say she's probably being overcautious. You hardly look your usual threatening self."

Cait Sith laughed at that, but Nanaki didn't. His tiny hackles fluffed out with irritation, and he proceeded moodily up the ramp.

Since they unsettled the sailors, the trio spent most of the trip in their tiny cabin, rather than on deck. The metal walls rattled with the noise of the engines. Nanaki unwound eventually, and the time passed pleasantly as he told them stories about his childhood in Cosmo Canyon. This wasn't merely for entertainment; Reeve and Cait had to know the personalities of the people there and how to work with them if the plan was to succeed. Reeve ventured out twice to fetch food from the galley. The second time, he felt the ship's turbines slowing as he returned to the cabin, his hands full with trays and utensils. "We must be nearing shore," he murmured, and roused his comrades. They ate their fish stew quickly, then went on deck. It was nearly dawn again; the approaching coastline was a dark smudge against a deep purple sky, but the eastern horizon behind them was paling to lilac pink. Gulls were calling overhead.

Nanaki put his paws up on the lowest rail and poked his head through, breathing in deeply. "If neither of you object, I believe we should start off as soon as we make landfall. Gongaga is a few hours' walk inland, and it will be more pleasant to hike in the morning than at noon."

Reeve sighed and leaned against the rail. He wasn't looking forward to hiking through the rainforest, but there was little choice. Salam was little more than a waypoint for the coastal shipping trade; its population was in the low double digits. The likelihood of finding vehicular transport from there to Gongaga was remote.

The larger village was a good fifteen miles inland from the coast and after the first three miles Reeve understood why all the other party members wore sturdy shoes or hiking boots. His feet felt like ground meat inside his leather dress shoes. There were even odds on whether that or the increasing heat would do him in first. The overhead canopy of palms, ferns and broad leafed trees only let in about twenty percent of the rising sunlight, but in the sub-tropical climate the interlocking canopy also created a nasty greenhouse effect. Even with his coat off, sleeves rolled up, and the top three buttons of his shirt undone he was sweating profusely. He was also, he thought dourly as he swatted away another bloodsucking insect, prepared to advocate for the addition of mosquitos to the monster manual.

Neither of his companions seemed to be having the same trouble. Cait Sith blazed the trail, his robotic bulk unperturbed by strangling vines and rash-inducing leaves. Reeve slid gingerly through the gaps the moogle forced open, and Nanaki padded easily along behind. The great cat was quiet, except to occasionally call out a course correction to Cait. The robot called back cheery thanks every time, then returned to mimicking the insect, bird, and primate noises around them, comically exaggerating the calls.

The leaf litter beneath their feet began to squelch. A broad stream appeared in the undergrowth, its waters stained a deep brown with tannis. With a sigh, Reeve sat down on a log and unlaced his shoes. Nanaki moved up alongside him and shook his head forbiddingly, his one eye glinting as he stared upstream. "What…?" Reeve began, before realizing why going barefoot across the stream would be a bad idea. "Oh, I see. Leeches."

Nanaki shook his head again, his eye fixed. "That is so, but there's another issue." Reeve followed his gaze. About fifteen feet upstream, he spied the tusked head of a gagighandi watching them. The amphibious ambush predator was laid out in the shallows of the far bank, a pair of froggy touch-mes sitting on its back adding to its disguise as a mossy log. Ruefully he wondered if he would have enough time to lace his shoes back up before the large amphibian attacked.

Silent ripples spreading away from the monster as it started a slow glide in their direction told him he wouldn't. The creature posed no real threat to Nanaki or Cait Sith, each level ninety-nine, but Reeve himself had never been in a fight before. He'd always acted through Cait or a replica android, which now left him at a distinct disadvantage. He was a man of the office, an engineer, architect, programmer and city manager. He had even become something of a politician. Never had he been a warrior. He should have realized the problem back in the Banora caves, he thought, tucking the stringy ends of his laces into his shoes before standing. He could have taken lessons alongside Shera and the young ones. It was too late now.

Cait Sith sprang first, somersaulting off Mog's shoulders right onto the gagighandi's green snout. The impact ducked the monster's head underwater, and the cat smoothly plucked something from behind the creature's finned ear before leaping back to shore. Cait climbed back up to his usual perch, and Nanaki took over the fight, unleashing a blinding torrent of lightning from the sky at the disoriented monster. One of the touch-mes tried to jump clear, but the bolt arced after it, frying it mid-leap.

As quickly as the skirmish had started, it was over, the charred corpses sinking below the water, already dissolving. Reeve's hand rose to cover his nose; the air was foul with the repugnant odors of ozone, burnt flesh, and hot mud. He knew that, even with the mastered materia he was carrying, he could not have ended the fight anything like as quickly. Truly, the difference between himself and his companions was staggering. If they should end up in a serious battle, he would be a serious liability, not to mention how much difficulty he would have if he were ever to become separated from them.

With a sigh, he mentioned his trepidation to his companions. Cait nodded along attentively, and Nanaki peered upward at the sun scattering through the lush canopy. "It's not yet noon," the great cat said. "We should rest during the hottest hours, but we can scare up a few monsters before and after for you to practice against."

Wearing a status-nullifying ribbon Reeve didn't have to worry about touch-mes and their frog song, but with gagighandis, kimara bugs,and of course grand horns, he would have his hands full with all the deadly predators he could want. Scenting the air, Nanaki informed them of some kimara bugs not too far away. Reeve finished retying his shoes and followed him off the path. Within four minutes, they came across three of the giant, triple-headed insects. They were tossing the furry corpse of a small monkey between themselves, their mantis-like legs lashing out to catch it. They were well occupied with their grisly game, unaware of the party creeping up on them, and Reeve checked the barriers provided by his protect ring before activating his materia.

Only when a level two fire spell ripped through the trees, scorching one of its targets, did the kimara bugs realizes they were under attack. The primate's remains were tossed away, and they advanced, waving their sickle-like forelimbs in a threat display. One's wings were smoldering, and it clicked and hissed in agitation. It was, frankly, rather intimidating. Reeve steadied himself with the knowledge that he'd seen this behavior before, recorded by Cait Sith. And if he made an error here, there was little danger - Cait and Nanaki were backing him up. Elemental after elemental spell exploded against the insects' carapaces, fire, ice and lightning, as Reeve practiced switching between the materia slotted into his watch. All were low level, and the damage done was incremental. His protect ring and barrier materia were the only things that prevented the kimara bugs from eviscerating him as he ground down their health.

After a lamentable amount of time had passed, the husks of the giant bugs' exoskeletons began to fade. "I suggest we head on towards the village and only battle those monsters we come across, rather than hunting them, or we may be here all night." There was amusement in Nanaki's tone, and Reeve could not take much offense at it, for the cat was beyond right. They would never reach Gongaga at the rate he was capable of fighting. There was one thing he could do… He put away the elemental materia he'd been using, and replaced them with a trio of Hell materia. He reflected that no matter how corrupt Shinra had been, there was no denying they'd known how to make powerful weapons. He would go through ethers twice as fast now, but they were simple enough to replenish. No longer being a liability was more important.

The next fights, after a rest at noon, against a grand horn and then another gagihandi went so much faster that Nanaki went back to hunting the predators down. The Hell Elemental series of fusion materia that Reeve was using now were exceedingly rare in the wild and difficult to synthesize. Since Meteorfall, most had been lost. Fortunately, the elite ninjas of Wutai's Crescent Unit had stolen a small crate full of the valuable crystals from the company after the war, and some had been added with Yuffie's supplies to the party's inventory. The drawback to using such powerful spells was the drain they put on the caster. While Reeve found the caramel taste of ethers appealing, the texture was equivalent to swallowing thick slime. His throat clenched as he uncorked another vial, and he had to swallow several times to get the viscous liquid down.

As he sipped a little water to wash the ether down, Reeve spied a small twitching fiddlehead fern, rustling as though a rodent was gnawing at its roots. Having the same type of curiosity as cats were known for, he stepped over to investigate. The fern, on the other hand, was not curious about him, and cast Poison as soon as his shadow fell across it. Then, once Poison had no effect, followed up with Bio2.

"Reeve! Are you well?!" Nanaki yipped, running to his side.

"Still standing, but light-headed," he wheezed, sinuses bubbling and veins tingling. "Without ribbon, I doubt I would be standing at all."

Nanaki warily eyed the twitching fiddlehead. "I do believe I have seen that type of monster before, but I cannot place it," the cat murmured, head tilted as he tried to remember.

"Hit it with fire, should burn reit up!" was Cait Sith's cheery offer.

With a nod, Reeve powered up Hell Firaga, letting the poisoned fire leap and roar from his hand. Watching the deadly fireball engulf the delicate fronds, he couldn't help but wonder if casting Hell Firaga was overdoing it. Even if the little thing had cast Bio2, it was very small. As the status infused flames flickered out, he saw the little thing was wilted and well scorched.

"I believe that's taken care off it. I wonder what it was?" he mused to the others as he again approached the plant for inspection.

It twitched, and he stopped in cautious alarm. It rocked backwards and forwards, shaking the ash off, before it began to unfurl. Reeve watched, fascinated, as the small plant shot up to stand nearly as tall as a man. Large leaves rolled out from a knobbed stem. A bud quickly formed and bloomed into a yellow flower cup bigger than Reeve's head. Two twining pink stamens writhed out of the blossom, waving in the air.

"Amazing," he whispered as the change came to an end.

Nanaki was not as awestruck. His hackles raised, and he issued instructions in a low growl. "Get back Reeve, I remember this now. A flower prong. Cloud fought one in the Battle Square. It was quite the spectacle; in the end he needed Omni-slash to win."

"Aye! That's reit! Better let us take care of it!" Cait Sith called through his megaphone.

Nanaki and the A.I. had both suffered harm throughout the day's fighting, from splash damage or multi-target attacks, but neither had retaliated for it, simply healing themselves and adding the occasional comment or tip to Reeve as he fought. Now, because of those previous encounters, both had limit breaks ready.

Stepping back, but watching with wary interest, Reeve could pick up the muffled sound of slots spinning and falling to place inside the stuffed body of Cait's oversized moogle mount. The cat struck a comical pose and announced with enthusiasm, "Three stars! Mog Dance!"

As soon as the last syllable had blasted through the megaphone, a moogle appeared, the tails of its headband streaming behind it . The small creature did a quick dance and cheer, prismatic sparkles of healing magic floating from it to the party members. Reeve ruefully watched his skin absorb the unnecessary curative magic. The moogle rubbed the back of its head sheepishly and vanished, just as the flower prong reached out for it. The pink stamens wiggled comically in the air where the moogle had floated.

Nanaki's mouth turned down. "Could you not have programmed him to be less random?"

Reeve hunched his shoulders defensively. "He was designed as a random fortune telling machine. Random is a critical part of what makes him who he is." More than that, Reeve had designed him to seem like a toy - too unpredictable to manufacture and sell, too odd to be thought of as threatening. Even the Turks had dismissed the value of Reeve's invention. It had proven useful for Reeve, when he needed to maneuver around the other board members. If Cait Sith took an action that benefited Reeve and the Urban Planning department, or discomfited one of the other directors, well, that was just Cait's random and glitchy programming acting up.

Of course, that came at a price. There were plenty of times when Cait had undermined Reeve's department to maintain the cover. And now, in a tough fight, a turn and a limit break had just been wasted.

The carnivorous plant turned its attention back to them. The stem lashed forward like a catapult, and seeds shot out from the bud, ripping right through Reeve's shirt. The seeds buried themselves stinging into his skin, Reeve stumbled back, collapsing to his knees. Palmer had owned a pet cactuar once, and Reeve had had the misfortune of being stung by it - not the infamous 1000 Needles attack, just an accidental brush - and this pain was similar, but much, much intense.

Reeve gritted his teeth and forced his attention back to the fight, just in time to see Nanaki leap forward, howling. The tiny cub landed, his paws plunging deep into the rich humus. Hundreds of tiny lights blurred and flickered around him. A ball of incandescent energy coalesced, splitting itself into smaller orbs that formed a neutron shape above his fur-tufted head. In seconds, the red beam of Cosmo Memory was rushing at full power towards the flower prong, which quivered and curled in on itself. Reeve braced himself, raising an arm against the wind and heat that rushed outwards in waves. Ancient trees cracked and groaned from the stress. Trunks splintered. Giant webs of roots ripped from the ground. Vines and branches alike snapped and tore as the whole canopy fell apart. The noise level was not unlike what one would expect from having Bahamut crash through the tree tops to land in front of them.

The light lessened, and the heat faded. The last of the broken branches crashed to the ground, and finally the only noise was the gentle, pattering fall of twigs and leaves. All that remained in a 7 foot radius of the flower prong's location was a crater of upturned earth, half covered by a toppled giant.

Nanaki padded forward cautiously. "I have previously only used Cosmo Memory in open areas. I did not expect it to do so much damage," the cub lamented, nosing at a fallen bromeliad, its water and tadpoles spilled onto a large lobed leaf.

"It's my fault for being inquisitive, I suppose." Reeve knelt by his friend and carefully picked up the bromeliad, placing it securely in a joint between two branches of the fallen tree. He delicately poured the water and the flopping tadpoles back into the deep cavities between the plant's leaves, one tadpole per tiny pool. "There."

Gazing up through the new hole in the canopy, he couldn't help but sigh. The sky above was dimmer than he'd supposed. "We should continue on with haste. It won't be long before what light manages to filter through starts to fade."

Even though they picked up the pace and stopped hunting, it was well after dusk when the trio finally arrived in the jungle village of Gongaga. The few exterior lights beaming from the round mud-mortared houses cast just enough light for them to not be stumbling around in the dark. Reeve, physically and magically exhausted, did not spend as much time as he normally would appreciating the local architecture. Subdued, he followed behind the oddly hypnotic sway of flame at the tip of Nanaki's tail to the small rural inn. Cait Sith opened the wooden door with a flourish and a bow to the others. Merry bells rang against the door frame as they entered, but the small lobby beyond was dimly-lit and empty.

After a minute, the proprietor entered from a small side door. The man had a worried expression that only deepened when he saw his customers. Reeve stepped forward, prepared to reassure him, but the man spoke before Reeve had even opened his mouth. "I'm sorry, young man, but we're full."

Taken aback by his brusque tone, Reeve asked, "I beg your pardon?"

"Not too many people pass by here, so we only have one room and all the beds are full," the man explained. "I can't put you up."

"Where do you suggest we go instead?" Nanaki asked politely.

The inn keeper startled, then bent down to peer closely at the cub. "Well, I'll be. I've heard of your kind, from out in the canyons, but I've never heard of one leavin' there."

Nanaki for his part patiently put up with the gawking man. "If we cannot stay here, then is there somewhere else you could recommend to us?" he inquired instead, betraying no visible impatience at having to repeat himself.

The man gave Nanaki another once over before offering, "You could try checking in with the Fairs. Their boy just left for Midgar a few weeks ago, so they still have an extra bed. Assumin' you two don't mind the floor." He gestured at Cait Sith and Nanaki.

They thanked the innkeeper for the tip, and set out, following the directions he'd given them. The village was small, and it was a short walk to the doorway of a small round house with walls of dry mud-bricks. A small light above the door gleamed darkly on the blue slate roof tiles. Reeve knocked politely, then stepped back to wait with his comrades. "I hope they don't go to bed early," he fretted. The nearly-equatorial sunset had been at seven, and almost two hours had passed since then.

Nanaki's ears pricked up. "There's no cause for worry, I can hear someone approaching." In a moment the door was opened by a woman in her late thirties, her black hair done up in a messy bun, her expression open and curious as she greeted them.

"Hello. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Good evening, ma'm. My friends," Reeve gestured to Nanaki and Cait Sith to identify them as individuals, "and I were told by the innkeeper that while he had no rooms available, you might?"

She tilted her head and considered them. "I suppose we do have the room… For one night?"

He nodded. "Yes, ma'm."

"Alright," she smiled, "come on in." She gestured them inside.

The three of them stayed clustered near the door as space was at a premium. There was only one room. Sitting at a round table in the center was a middle-aged man, hair just starting to go gray. Besides the table and the three chairs pulled up to it, the only furniture was a dresser, a micro-mini kitchenette, a bed and a cot, both covered with brightly colored woven blankets.

"Have you had anything to eat?" the woman asked, already moving into the cramped kitchen area.

"We have no wish to impose." Reeve held up his hands in refusal. "We have traveling rations with us; they will suffice."

The woman laughed. "As if I'd let a guest eat canned goods and dry biscuits in my house! Much less a growing boy and a cub!" She smiled warmly. "Traveling rations! What nonsense. Sit down and have some real food."

"Thank you for your hospitality," Nanaki replied politely, and Reeve echoed the sentiment. Cait Sith said laughingly, "You needn't worry about feeding me! Ah'm a fortune telling machine. Want me tae tell your fortunes?"

"A machine, huh?" The man eyed the cat curiously. "I know better than to ask my own, but my son Zack just left last month for Midgar. Can you tell one for someone who's not here? I'd like to know how he's doing." The woman, on her way out the door for something, stopped and came back curiously.

"Nae problem!" Cait chirped, then jigged in a little in one spot, pulling faces of extreme seriousness and concentration. While the divination spell ran its course, Reeve belatedly realized that he didn't know his hosts' names. "Pardon, sir, madam, but we've neglected to introduce ourselves. I'm Reeve, this is Nanaki, and that oddity is Cait Sith."

"Oddity, is it?" asked the man, smiling. "Well, I'm glad that you three stopped in, if only for the entertainment value. We're the Fairs."

Reeve's smile fixed for a moment before he made himself relax. He'd never met the SOLDIER in person, but he knew Zack Fair's name. Urban Development had had a difficult time getting their missions completed; they weren't glamorous, just monster extermination in the construction zone. Fair had given them an immense amount of assistance, and not only their department. Reeve had begun hearing him mentioned more and more frequently in internal memos and at board meetings. And then, at the same time that Sephiroth had vanished, Zack Fair's name just dropped out of all conversation. Reeve heard nothing else about him until Cloud's past came to 'd been brought up again, but only glancingly, as the party made their plans for altering the timeline.

As he watched Cait dance, worry began to cloud his mind. Change was catalyzed by the smallest things. He'd been determinedly ignoring his concerns over their effects of their actions on the time stream, because the large changes they intended to effect were so necessary. He was resolved to deal with the fallout of those choices, provided they even proved possible to accomplish. But what changes, unforeseen, unplanned for, would be caused by their minor actions? The worry they'd caused the sailors, the monsters they'd killed, this visit to the Fairs; these events could have no consequences at all… or disproportionately large ones. That was the danger of time travel. Step on an ant, kill your grandfather.

Cait Sith's triumphant shout brought an end to Reeve's contemplation. In a dramatic voice, the cat intoned, "He will achieve his dream, but the price will be steep. A flame is in his future."

Mrs. Fair clapped her hands together excitedly. "A flame? Do you mean the flame of romance?! Oooohh, I knew he'd find a nice girl! I wonder what she'll be like!"

Her husband set a light hand on her shoulder. "Don't get carried away, dear. I have to say, I don't like the sound of "a steep price"."

Ms. Fair laughed. "I'm not too worried about that boy. Trouble just rolls off of him! I just hope he'll write and tell us how he's settling in."

"If his writing habits are anything like yours, it'll be years before we hear," Mr. Fair chuckled.

His wife affected offense. "I'm not that bad. I wrote a letter to my Mom last year!"

"After three years of not writing. Whether he writes or not, I hope he doesn't get into too much trouble in the city."

As the Fairs eagerly speculated about the fortune Cait Sith had announced, Reeve shared a glance with Nanaki. The cub shrugged slightly. The A.I.'s fortunes were like the rest of it's programming - supposedly random. Reeve was aware that bias, selective memory, and vague wording affected how people interpreted Cait's prophecies, but he'd found there to be a strange thread of truth to them. The fortune for Zack could mean that the boy would come to the same unfortunate fate that befell him the first time. Or it might be totally innocuous, he reminded himself. He was committed to their course, it did him no good to be mentally borrowing trouble.

Mrs. Fair excused herself, saying she would go whip something up in the summer kitchen. As she stepped out, Mr. Fair turned to Reeve with an eager grin on his face. He clapped him on the shoulder, pushing him down into a wooden chair, then sat himself backwards on another with his arms crossed over the back. "You boys came through the jungle on foot, right? How was it? I mean," he gestured to Nanaki, "you look like you'd do just fine out there, but you two… Well, you look like a city kid," pointing to Reeve, "and then you and that thing," waving a hand at Caith Sith and Mog, "don't seem cut out for bushwhacking."

Cait jumped in promptly. "Ye'd be surprised at how well we get around. Mog's the best trailblazer there is! He can push past nearly anything."

"I suppose it could, with arms like that. Where you boys from, anyway, and where are you tryin' to get to?"

Reeve smiled. "You were right, Mr. Fair. I am from Midgar. I'm Mog's and Cait Sith's designer. Nanaki is from Cosmo Canyon, and that's where we're headed."

"Really? That's a long trip. I'm surprised to see a great cat all the way out here. How'd that happen?"

The man was a nonstop fount of questions, Reeve thought ruefully. Nanaki gave his own reply. "It was a few weeks ago. Someone found me sleeping and thought I would make a good pet. Before I even had a chance, they had thrown me in a crate and shipped me to Midgar. I tried informing them of their mistake, but they weren't interested in being told that they were kidnappers. Despite their ill treatment, I managed to escape. I ran into Reeve, who agreed to help me get home."

Their host slammed his fist onto the table making Reeve jump. The man took a deep breath before releasing it. "Some people! They ain't got any respect for other folks! Gah," he muttered. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

"There is nothing for you to feel sorry about," said Red politely.

"Still, if there is any thing we can do for you, we'll try to help."

"Your kindness is enough." Eager to get away from further discussion of the false backstory, Nanaki changed the subject. "You inquired about our time in the jungle. Would you still like to hear about it?"

The man's eyes lit up. "Ah, yes, how was that?"

Telling their story passed the time quickly. They were finishing relating their encounter with the flower prong when Mrs. Fair came in carrying a large spicy-smelling pot. "I don't suppose you harvested any of that flower prong?" she asked. Reeve shook his head, caught by surprise at the question. She sighed. "That's a pity, they're getting hard to find these days. When I was a kid you could go out and collect nine or ten at once, no problem."

Clearing the disbelief out of his throat, he asked, "And what exactly did you do with them?"

"Ate them, of course." She looked him with some surprise. "Well, you boys aren't local. I guess it's a bit much, expecting you to know anything about Gongagan cooking. Eat up, it's delicious, even if I am biased." She put the pot down on the table with a hearty thunk. "Honey, why am I not surprised that while I'm out there slaving away, you were in here chatting and not getting the table ready when you know food is on its way?"

"Heh, oops. I'll get right on it." Mr. Fair pulled two bowls out of a cupboard, while Mrs Fair took napkins and spoons from a drawer. "In my defense," the man offered, "I'm still used to table-setting being Zack's job."

"Mmhm, well it's your job now." She set the napkins down suddenly and looked at Red. "Nanaki, would you like to eat at the table? It's fine if you do."

"Thank you for the invitation," Nanaki said solemnly, "but I am fine here."

"You sure?"

"Yes ma'm. I would not wish to put you out of a chair when you have done so much for us this evening."

"Well aren't you a gentleman? Or gentlebeast? Which do you prefer?"

"Either is acceptable."

"Well you're a polite soul, that's for sure." Mr. Fair put a stack of ceramic glasses down, then passed the bowls individually to his wife to be filled before setting them out, one on the table and one on the floor.

"Now would you prefer water, sweet tea, or horchata?" Mrs. Fair asked, picking up a clinking pitcher.

"Sweet tea, thank you." In truth, Reeve didn't really care what the drink was as long as it was cold. After taking a good look at the steaming crimson rice in front of him, he suspected he would need it.

Nanaki inquired, "What is horchata? For that matter, what is this dish?"

Mr. Fair poured a cup of something creamy from another pitcher, and offered it to Nanaki for a sniff. "This is horchata. It's like drinking liquid cinnamon, only better. There's vanilla in there and some other spices. Made from rice and jicaro seeds, I believe. It's good stuff. As for what you're eating, it's jambalaya with… what did you put in there tonight, love?"

Mrs. Fair knocked her spoon on the pot, thinking. "Well, aside from an assortment of spices and herbs, it's got chicken, gagighandi, sausage made from that boar you got the other day," she nodded towards her husband, "lots of onion, scallions, bell peppers, celery, tomatoes and," she gave them a mischievous grin, "flower prong."

…..

Notes

The ether's flavor and texture were inspired by the ingredients that go into them in FF XII.

The VII map gives me a headache. Gongaga seems kind of tropical, but it's near the bottom of the map… I ended up deciding that most of Gaia's landmass is the northern hemisphere, regardless of how it's depicted on the planet images in game.

I invoke rule 27 of the grand list of RPG cliches.

Nostradamus Rule

All legends are 100% accurate. All rumors are entirely factual. All prophecies will come true, and not just someday but almost immediately.

Gongagan cuisine to me is a mix of Cajun, Creole, and what you would find in the rainforest countries/climates of Central and South America