"Take care of yourself, Cid," Cecil said as he shut the door to the infirmary. He took in the sight of the three remaining members of the party, all in various degrees of filth and exhaustion and still recovering from the betrayal of one of their own. With the door shut, only the flickering light of a single torch further down the hall illuminated their path.

"Right. We'll rest here a few hours before we go back to the surface" he announced, "I don't expect we'll get another chance to once we land in Mysidia."

Rosa nodded, adjusting her pack on her shoulders. "I'll go to the kitchens to get us something to eat. Meet me at the inn when you get hungry," she said to Rydia and Edge, her smile exacerbating the heavy bags under her eyes. Rosa and Cecil had been quieter since the events of the Sealed Cave.

"Please tell me this is the last time we have to eat underground cuisine.." Rydia muttered to Edge, low enough to avoid catching the ears of the castle guard standing next to the infirmary door as they turned to walk down the passage. The guard saluted them as they passed; Edge nodded in acknowledgement.

"Do you think this-Baron's Finest Creamery-can make it taste better?" Edge asked, squinting at a disk he pulled out of his cloak, no wider than the length of his palm. "Baron's Finest Creamery" was stamped along the face of the wheel, "Aged 6 Years" in smaller faded letters below. "I don't know what it is." He sniffed it. "It smells nice."

"You found Baronian cheese? Where?" Cecil asked, reaching for the small object; Edge jerked his hand away, and Cecil only grasped air.

"It's mine," he said, handing it over only after Cecil nodded. "It was hidden in the Falcon's bay, in a small tool box against the hall door. Cheese..." He enunciated the last word carefully, tasting the way the foreign word sounded on his tongue.

"Do you have to steal everything?" Rydia asked, hands on her hips.

"Edge, you don't know what cheese is?" Rosa asked. He furrowed his brows.

"Our food comes from the sea," he explained. Cecil handed it back to him.

"It likely came from a high ranking officer's personal storage-A sergeant or lieutenant's I'd wager. It's delicious. Rich," he said, eyes fixed on the delicacy. "Are you sure you don't want to share?"

"I'll tell you what," Edge said, striding ahead of everyone.

"Oh for-" Rydia pinched the bridge of her nose. After a few weeks of travelling with their newest companion, Rydia was starting to figure out when Edge had a 'clever' idea. He ignored her, tossing it in the air and catching it.

"We'll compete for it. Winner takes it and decides if they want to share."

"Compete how?" Cecil asked. Edge shrugged, scratching the back of his head.

"Cheese rolling?" Rosa offered, "We're probably around time of year when it would happen." Cecil smirked at Edge and Rydia's blank faces.

"Cheese...rolling? What?" Rydia asked.

"It's a Baronian tradition. No one really knows how it started, but it hasn't changed through the years: the entire town gets together and the Town Elder rolls a cheese wheel much larger than that one down a hill. From there, it's a race to see who can catch it first. If no one catches it, then it comes down to who crosses the finish line first," Cecil explained, his eyes distant and glazed, no doubt reminiscing on happier times.

"There's plenty of hills to choose from around here," Rosa added.

"Wait - the guys have an advantage over the girls. Especially that one," Rydia said, pointing at Edge with her chin. "We don't stand a chance!"

"Normally I'd agree, but I'd say about a third of the time a woman would win," Cecil ruminated.

"The only rule is that you can't harm the cheese in an attempt to catch it, other than that...Anything goes," Rosa said. Rydia cocked her head to one side, a sly smile growing on her face.

"...Alright."

Cecil pursed his lips. What was her plan, and how much was it going to hurt?

Rosa looked down, exhaling discreetly. Cecil spared a glance at her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. After so many years around each other, he could read her thoughts: Kain would've loved this.

"Baronians are weird," Edge sighed. "But I'll do it! Want to make an alliance, Rydia?" He nudged her with his elbow. Rydia shook her head.

"Nuh-uh. That cheese is mine, ninja!"

Cecil stood atop one of the smaller plateaus near the castle. He nodded approvingly.

"This is good." Cecil cupped his hands around his mouth. "A good cheese rolling hill," he called to them, pointing them towards a gentler incline to the top. Edge extended his scarf across the ground - their makeshift finish line. Rosa clapped her hands as she tippy tapped up the slope.

"But-it's a cliff!" Rydia's voice carried back.

"Then there's plenty of opportunity to catch up to Edge!" he answered.

The three of them chattered along the way, no end to the bragging and competitive trash talking.

Soon enough there were four standing at the crest and one small wheel of cheese. The suffocating breeze whipped hair and cloaks in various directions at this altitude.

"Great! So the cheese gets a head start, then we go." Rosa gestured in front of her. Edge stepped forward, holding the cheese delicately between his index finger and thumb.

"Ready?" he asked. Everyone braced themselves, ready to spring. He let it go; it took off, bouncing on the rocky ridges left to right and back erratically as it rolled, picking up speed.

"Go!" Cecil shouted, pulling his shield off his back and leaping into the air. He tucked the shield under his feet, landing smoothly on his makeshift sled. Edge sprinted down the hill, almost catching up to Cecil; Cecil hunched down, knees pressed together and legs tucked tight under him, speeding up and losing him in his aerodynamic superiority. Not one to give up so easily, Edge reached into his cloak, pulling out a small smoke bomb and throwing it thirty feet below. He pulled another out and pitched it much further down. Smoke billowed up, spreading quicker than usual due to the winds at their elevation. He disappeared into the smoke and shortly reappeared running out of the second screen below; it would've been an impressive sight, except he happened to crash into a newly formed ice wall below. Rydia cackled, doubling over still near the top.

"You're willing to lose the cheese as long as I do, too?!" He called back, jumping over the wall to hide the raging blush spreading down his neck.

"Of course not!" Another ethereal emerald whirl of magic surrounded her, and Rydia cast Blizzard; this time smaller, uneven ice crystals formed in the path in front of Cecil's shield. Cecil tried veering away to the left, but he wasn't fast enough, rocking precariously through the ice before inevitably falling off and rolling to a stop. She cast it a third time, forming a smooth slide for herself all the way down the hill. The heat started melting the surface, allowing it to slicken into a natural water slide. Careful to wrap her cape around her boots and tucking the ends between her thighs, she sat at the top of her cool creation and pushed herself down with her palms.

"Wheee!"

No one noticed that Rosa was still standing at the top, watching it all unfold from a nearby edge with a steeper drop off. She smiled as delicate white-blue shapes appeared in front of her, expanding and exploding around her.

"Float!" she commanded, her feet hovering above the ground a few inches. She jumped off, chanting her next spell on the way down.

Cecil picked up his shield and took off again, this time slaloming via Rydia's new path. He waved a thanks at the summoner behind him, exhilarated as he sped down much faster and the new puddles forming from the heat splashed out from under his shield. Flames suddenly exploded and bloomed ahead of him, and Cecil barely managed to cover his face as he passed through. The ice melted away, and while Cecil was able to rebalance himself on the bumpy surface once again, Rydia was not so lucky and earned herself a few cuts and scrapes using her arms as brakes on the now wet surface.

"Gotcha!" Edge shouted, winking at Rydia. She scowled, pounding her fist on the floor before pulling herself back up and running after them.

Meanwhile, the cheese ignored the chaos in its wake, maintaining constant speed as it passed the three quarter mark down the hill undisturbed. Edge had just passed the halfway point himself when he saw a sprinting Rosa coming around a bend at the bottom of the hill, her skin glowing the familiar red-orange of someone enhanced by Haste. Realizing how much closer she was, he cast Shadowbind, and phantom daggers appeared around her and shot into the earth, pulling a materializing black shroud over Rosa, throwing her on the ground and effectively pinning her. Rosa struggled against it, but the daggers dug deeper the more she moved until she was immobilized.

Edge was still sprinting full speed, closing the gap between himself and the cheese as it began slowing down. The cheese passed the finish line, but with two other desperate people still in the game, Edge was soon taken out as well, this time with a Hold spell from Cecil. As soon as he cast it, he threw himself to the ground and tried to hide behind his shield from Rydia's Stop - but failed

"Better cover your toes next time, Cecil!" Rydia said. As the last one standing, Rydia savored victory, skipping down the rest of the hill. She patted Cecil's head, still hunched behind his shield.

"Maybe next time," she said, smiling sweetly at him. She pranced down to Edge.

"Aw, poor you!" Rydia pouted at him, tilting her head down and looking at him through her lashes. She blew him a kiss and sashayed away, passing the now resting cheese to crouch in front of Rosa. The daggers had faded from existence, but the shroud remained. Up close, Rydia noticed the oil-slick sheen of Reflect over the veneer of Haste. She shook Rosa's stiff hand.

"Well met, Rosa! It was a clever strategy - too bad Reflect doesn't work on Ninjutsu." She smiled, and turned back to the cheese. The corner of Rosa's mouth twitched; in all of her showboating, Rydia hadn't noticed Rosa chanting silently.

"My prize," she breathed, bending down to pick up her reward. Nearby, she saw an infant magma tortoise crawling towards her. The tortoise and the chocobo fable ran through her mind. How apt! she thought, having been the person most consistently behind them all.

"Would you like some, little one?" Rydia bent down, peeling off the rind, splitting it into halves and holding a piece out for it.

"Hold!" Rosa called out, and binds appeared around Rydia, constricting her into place. The tortoise kept moving towards Rydia's now frozen arm. Rosa's own binds were gone, however, due to her discreet casting, she didn't realize that her legs were still too numb to stand on. She started crawling after Rydia, moving faster when she saw that the tortoise had already snapped up the first half and was now moving towards the second. Almost...there...!

"Nooooo!" she wailed, an arms length away from saving it from the hungry tortoise as it swallowed the remaining half. Pleased with itself, and not yet grown enough to be hungry for flesh, the oblivious creature went on his way. Rosa flopped her head down in defeat, unmoving even after the effects of Shadowbind were completely gone. Eventually Edge recovered and came by to help the defeated mage stand. Cecil walked up as well, casting Esuna on Rydia. Edge clasped a hand on her shoulder as she stood.

"Poor you!" he said, blowing her a kiss. Rydia huffed and looked away, crossing her arms.

"I don't think I like cheese rolling. No offense, Rosa," she said.

Rosa eyes danced around her friends' faces, noting Rydia's indignant outrage, Edge's fake pout, and Cecil's barely restrained smile. The absurdity of the past half hour hit her and she burst into laughter. One by one they each joined her, Rydia laughing the hardest at her misfortune and wiping away tears with the inside of her slightly torn sleeve.

And so they walked back to the castle, comparing the strange traditions of their homelands, making plans to meet again and participate in all of them when the war ends. Albeit a brief respite, they boarded the Falcon hours later well rested, if a bit nauseous and dissatisfied from the dwarven food, motivated to see things through.

A/N: Are we still doing A/Ns? This is why I wait to say gg in any pvp game until it's actually over, lol. Poor Rydia...

Also, uploading to this site is a P.A.I.N. now, what the heck. Sorry if I missed fixing any errors. Credit to whoever pointed out that Rydia and Edge both came from lands that were isolated from the rest of the world - this came out as a result :)