Chapter Nineteen
Reconciliation
Near the end of morning staff meeting, Doctor Kadowaki suddenly remembered what she wanted to ask Cid. She questioned, "Was Edea able to visit Akane?"
"Yes," Cid said sadly, "But nothing came of it. Edea wasn't able to reach her at all, although because Fujin was present Akane, at least, didn't attempt to physically attack her, as she did you."
"I'm sorry it didn't work out" the doctor replied. "But it was still a fine thought on your part."
"Is there anything else?" Cid asked glancing around the table. When there was no response, he stood up and stated, "That's it. Meeting is adjourned."
Squall, who had been lying on his bed, rolled over and placed his feet on the floor. He had reached a decision, regarding an issue he had been ruminating over for the past few hours. He arose and exited his bedroom. He was going to track down Rinoa and finally put an end to it. He decided to search the library first, as he realized her penchant for spending time in the library, when she wasn't with him.
Entering the library, Squall espied Rinoa immediately standing at her favorite shelf in the first room reading from a book she was holding open in her hands.
Striding up to her, he questioned "Anything interesting?"
Rinoa glanced up from her book and smiled at Squall. "Yes, it's early Centra history before the first lunar cry."
Squall asked, "Do you have time to go for a walk?"
Rinoa appeared perplexed, since Squall never participated in any activity as mundane as going for a walk, but answered "Sure."
Taking her by the hand, Squall led her from the library. Walking up the corridor to the main rotunda, Squall explained, "I've something serious to talk to you about."
Rinoa immediately stopped dead in her tracks and exclaimed, "Oh, no! They're sending you right back on another mission."
Squall grinned and began shaking his head. "No, nothing like that." He began to lead her down the corridor once again. As they turned the corner in the rotunda in the direction toward the front gate, he broached, "I want to talk to you about your continued willful estrangement from your father."
Rinoa immediately halted and exclaimed loudly, "I don't wish to talk about that!"
Noticing several upper-classmen walking by them shot her strange looks, she lowered her voice. "That's none of your business."
"It is my business. Anything that affects you as much as this does is my business. It's not natural for a child to have absolutely no relationship with a living parent."
As Rinoa began to protest, Squall said somewhat caustically, "At least you know who your father is."
Rinoa retorted "Come on, Squall. Everybody knows your father is Laguna."
Squall replied, "I don't know what everyone else knows or doesn't know. I only know the man has never said anything to me about it."
Squall continued in a softer tone, "I think you're frightened to talk to him."
As Rinoa began to interrupt, Squall explained, "I think you're frightened to find out you've been completely wrong headed about this all this time."
When Rinoa made no reply, but instead just glared at him, Squall made his final appeal. "Rinoa, you must realize your father is not a young man and I know, for a fact, he loves you deeply. That's why he jeopardized his entire career and possibly his life to rescue me and Quistis...because we are connected to you. How are you going to feel if something terrible happens to him? It'll be too late then."
One tear ran down from the corner of Rinoa's right eye. "Okay, damn you!" she replied passionately. "But you have to promise to do something for me" she explained with a sly grin.
"What is it?"
"That's for me to know and you to find out" Rinoa retorted.
Xu awoke to discover Squall standing beside her bed.
"How are you?" he gently asked.
"I've been better," Xu admitted.
"Is it the pain?" he wondered.
"No, the doctor provides adequate medication for the pain. It's just lying here with nothing to do, but sleep."
"We could always play Triple Triad" Squall joked.
"Are you officially challenging me?"
"No." Squall answered, "I'd have an unfair advantage. I could reach the entire board."
"Can I have Rinoa get you a book from the library?" Squall asked.
"Yes, that would be nice. Tell her anything on the solar panel in F.H. I'm doing some research on it to discover if we can apply it to the Garden as a new source of power."
"Okay, I will" replied Squall as he leaned down and gently pressed his lips against Xu's.
"I'll be back tomorrow," Squall promised as he was leaving the room.
"Great Hyne!" Xu thought, blushing deeply from the slight tingle of his kiss, "He really has changed!"
Rinoa was traveling to the third floor in the elevator. She realized General Caraway was temporarily bunking in Cid's apartment until suitable arrangements could be made for him. "I wonder what Edea thinks about that," Rinoa maliciously thought.
Stepping off the elevator as the doors opened, Rinoa crossed to Cid's desk.
Rinoa asked, "Cid, is that man - I mean, the General in the apartment?"
Cid glanced up from his constant paperwork and, not finding the tone of Rinoa's voice to his liking, replied pointedly, "Yes, your father is in the apartment. I believe he would appreciate a visit from you" Cid added dryly.
Rinoa realized she had angered Cid, but she was angry herself and didn't care. She flounced away from Cid's desk toward the apartment thinking "Like it's any of his business!" Cid sighed and shook his head slightly.
Rinoa knocked on the door and, not waiting for a response, asked, "May I come in?"
"Certainly" replied the General from inside the apartment, although he could scarcely credit his own ears. He would have known the sound of Rinoa's voice anywhere.
Rinoa entered the apartment, but left the door open. The General quickly moved toward her, but perceiving her physically flinch and begin to retreat by backing up, he drew himself to an immediate halt. He mentally berated himself for overreacting in his joy at the sight of his one and only daughter.
He turned and retreated to allow her some distance and finally sat in a large, easy chair. He asked, "Would you like to sit down?"
"No, I'm fine," Rinoa answered stiffly.
"You're looking real good, Rinoa. The Garden must agree with you."
"Thank you" Rinoa replied tersely.
The General continued to press searching for any sign of humanity remaining in his only child's feelings toward him. "How have you been?"
"Good."
"Rinoa," General Caraway began, "when your mother died, when you were just a small child, I was devastated. I vowed I would never go through such pain again, but I was wrong. That pain was nothing compared to the pain I am feeling right this moment realizing I've lost you, perhaps irrevocably."
Rinoa turned and closed the door to the apartment to prevent anyone from overhearing.
The General continued, "I thought it was the pain from the death of your mother that caused me to look the other way every time I was confronted with the truth of what the Galbadian Government and indirectly the Galbadian Army stood for, because I told myself that I would do anything to protect you from the world outside and I felt my wealth and power would keep you safe, so I would never have to deal with the pain of losing you also. Obviously I was wrong and when you grew up and formed your own opinions, I attempted to force you to accept mine so I would never have to look at my own complicity with the powers that be. For that, I most humbly apologize." General Caraway slightly bowed.
"It was only of late when I was, at last, confronted with either keeping my position of wealth and power at the risk of losing my very soul or throwing it all away by rescuing Squall and Quistis that I realized I had been lying to myself all these years. It had absolutely nothing to do with you...it had to do with me not wanting to give up all that I had until I finally had to face I'd already lost all that was most precious to me - you." General Caraway dropped his head to hide his show of emotion as tears had sprung to his eyes.
Suddenly Rinoa's heart that had been hardened towards her father for years to the point of brittleness completely shattered under the weight of this graying career army officer abjectly sharing his honest emotions and she dashed across the apartment with tears streaming down her face and embraced the General in a hug crying "Oh, father - oh, daddy, I'm so sorry."
Later in the afternoon as Rinoa and General Caraway sat conversing, he suddenly asked, "Did you know your mother's song, Eyes on You, was written about her love for Laguna?"
Rinoa sat stunned, unable to respond except to shake her head.
The General explained, "I didn't discover it myself until several months following her death, when I was finally strong enough to go through some of her papers and discovered several letters she had written to him that had been returned, because he couldn't be located. I also discovered one letter he had written to your mother. At that time, I didn't even know who he was. It was much later, when I discovered he was the President of Esthar."
General Caraway continued, "I always realized your mother didn't really love me, but was on the rebound from some tragic love affair but I didn't care. I loved her that much."
As the General continued the conversation, Rinoa's mind was reeling. "That would mean," she thought, "that it was kismet Squall and I met and fell in love. We're connected in ways we never dreamt of."
"Oh Great Hyne!" Rinoa suddenly realized, "We could have easily ended up being brother and sister. Now there's a scary thought, although sometimes I think we act more like siblings than lovers the way we fight."
Rinoa returned her attention to the General's conversation and the afternoon wore on.
Locating Rinoa in the library, the next morning, standing at her favorite shelf reading from an open book, Selphie strode quickly to her and asked, "What'cha reading?"
Rinoa glanced up. "Oh, hi Selphie. It's a book about the solar panel Mayor Dobe developed in F.H. Strange, isn't it? That a politician could develop such a far reaching scientific invention?"
"Uh, huh," Selphie commented distractedly, "Have you seen Irvine? I've been looking for him everywhere and I can't locate him."
"Have you tried his room?"
"No," Selphie responded. "He's never in his room at this time of day, plus he didn't say anything at breakfast about returning to his room."
"Well, let's go see" Rinoa suggested.
Selphie quickly agreed and, as the two young women SeeDs walked around the rotunda to the corridor to the men's dormitory, Selphie discussed her plans for the Garden Festival.
"That's why I need to find Irvine. I want him for rehearsal," explained Selphie.
"What are we going to do in the Festival?" questioned Rinoa.
"We're going to play a medley of hits by the Deling City Marauders" was Selphie's surprising answer.
Since the Deling City Marauders were the most popular rock and roll group around by far, Rinoa responded surprised, "Really? Isn't that rather ambitious for the likes of us?"
"Oh, it'll be great" Selphie reassured her. Arriving at Irvine's door, Selphie knocked upon it.
"What?" answered the strangled sounding voice of Irvine from within the interior of the room.
"That doesn't sound right" Rinoa commented. "Maybe he's not feeling well."
"Let's see," suggested Selphie pulling out a key and inserting it into the lock of the door.
"Where did you get that?" demanded Rinoa.
Selphie grinned at Rinoa. "I've always had a copy of Irvine's key. You should get a copy of Squall's," she advised.
Stepping quickly into the room, Selphie and Rinoa were shocked to observe the very attractive brunette Trepie #2 crawling over Irvine, who was lying on his bed completely nude with an enormous erection. When she stood up on the floor, they perceived she was far more attractive than usual, as she was stark naked. "Well, I can certainly see that dark brunette hair of her's comes out of a bottle" Rinoa thought cattily.
As Selphie began shrieking at Irvine, Trepie #2 quickly gathered her clothing from the floor and fled by Selphie and Rinoa and out of the room. When Selphie approached the bed and began striking Irvine repeatedly, Rinoa decided descretion was the better part of valor and followed Trepie #2 out the door closing it behind her.
Xu was sitting up in bed eating from a small bowl of rice that was all the doctor would allow her for lunch, when Rinoa walked in holding a book in her right hand.
"Hello, Xu" she said. "How are you feeling?"
"As well as can be expected, I guess."
"You look sharp in your SeeD uniform, Rinoa," complimented Xu, who had heard Rinoa never removed her new uniform except to shower and sleep, since being promoted to a SeeD.
"It's just that it's so comfortable and the skirt is so much longer than the upper-classmen uniforms" Rinoa explained, flushing slightly.
"Here's that book you mentioned to Squall" Rinoa explained while passing it to Xu, who placed it on her bedside table.
"Arigato" Xu said, "I really appreciate it."
Xu stated, "I heard you reconciled with your father."
"Wow!" Rinoa exclaimed. "You don't miss much - even from a clinic bed."
"Actually it's Doctor Kadowaki who doesn't miss much. She's the one who told me," Xu laughed.
"You know I'm going to have a birthday in a few days" Rinoa replied.
Xu appeared nonplussed and replied, "I don't think I'm going to be able to get you a present this year, Rinoa."
"Oh, no! It's nothing like that," Rinoa protested. "It's just that I think Squall will have a party for me and I hope you'll be able to get out of bed by then."
"Well, we'll see" placated Xu.
"I have to run" Rinoa explained, while leaning down and giving Xu a quick kiss on the lips. "I have to attend a meeting with Seifer and Fujin" she grimaced.
"Good luck" Xu called out as Rinoa was leaving the room.
The three Trepies were standing in the classroom of the former Instructor Trepe.
Trepie #3 asked, "Has anyone seen Instructor Trepe since she has returned to grace us with her presence?"
"Yes" asserted Trepie #1. "I worshipped her from afar this morning in the cafeteria."
Trepie #2 replied, "You are indeed fortunate. I, myself, have not laid my eyes on her as of yet, not even from afar."
Trepie #3 turned to Trepie #2 and asked, "What's this I heard about you and Irvine being caught by Selphie in flagrante delicto?"
"What?!" Trepie #1 asked loudly.
Trepie #2 began to blush furiously and quickly questioned, "Where ever did you hear that?"
"Oh, it's all over the Garden," answered Trepie #3.
Trepie #1 interrupted, "Hey, how can I score some of this action?"
Trepie #2 spun toward him enraged but before she could respond, Trepie #3 replied, "I thought you were saving yourself for Instructor Trepe?"
"Don't be vulgar" Trepie #1 retorted. "Instructor Trepe is a goddess, who would never consent to have carnal knowledge of me."
Trepie #2 reached out suddenly and slapped Trepie #1 across the face and then flounced out of the classroom.
"Well, I never!" exclaimed Trepie #1 and he too left the classroom.
Trepie #3 stood in stunned amazement for a few seconds in the now empty classroom and then left calling out "Hey, you guys! Wait up!"
Xu was sitting up in bed reading the book on the F.H. solar panel that Rinoa had brought her, when she noticed Quistis stride into the room.
"Quistis!" she called out happily.
Quistis quickly crossed to the bed and leaned down and gave Xu a quick hug. Noting that Xu had winced, Quistis asked, while pulling up the stool from the corner and sitting down, "Is the pain bad?"
Xu shook her head and said, "It comes and goes. How wonderful to see you. You must tell me all of your fantastic adventures in Deling City and the D-District Prison."
For the next fifteen minutes, Quistis held Xu's rapt attention as she offered the complete narrative beginning from her and Squall initially leaving the Garden. When she had finally finished, Xu exclaimed, "It certainly sounds as if Rinoa acted in an extraordinary fashion."
"Yes, she did," agreed Quistis. "I probably owe my life to her, but you know - it's the first time I've ever seen one of her plans actually work out."
As the two women laughed, Quistis continued, "Now it's your turn. I want to hear all about the Galbadian Missile Base."
Xu proceeded to explain to Quistis the entire Missile Base saga beginning with her initially sighting the base from the air, as the Garden was engaged in a test flight. When she had finished, the two young women fell silent for a moment and then Quistis responded, "Kinda ironic, isn't it?"
Xu looked at Quistis and asked, "What - that Seifer saved my life?"
"Uh huh" answered Quistis.
"I would describe it as supremely ironic" laughed Xu, who was joined by Quistis in her laughter.
Quistis stood up. "It's great to see you feeling better, Xu."
Xu reached out with her right hand and gently squeezed Quistis's left arm. "Thanks for coming to visit me. I've missed you dreadfully."
"I've missed you too, Xu" Quistis said as she leaned down and gave Xu a long, lingering passionate kiss on her lips, while slipping her tongue into Xu's startled mouth. "I need to go visit Melissa now. I haven't been able to visit with her, since we've been back."
As Quistis left the clinic room, Xu was crimson with embarrassment and thought, "Is this connected with her horrible experiences in the prison? I'll have to speak with the doctor about this and discover what I can do to help her through her post traumatic stress."
Because Quistis realized Melissa was finished teaching her classes for the day, she decided to search for her in her room. Nearing the door to Melissa's room, Quistis suddenly realized how excited she felt in her anticipation of seeing her good friend again and sharing with Melissa her experiences of the past two weeks.
When Melissa opened the door, she excitedly shouted "Quisty!" and Quistis embraced her in a hug. Stepping back from Quistis, Melissa replied "Well, you don't look the worse for wear, thank Hyne."
Stepping inside of the room and closing the door, Quistis spoke "Let me tell you all about it."
Quistis and Melissa sat together on Melissa's bed, as Quistis related in detail her adventures since leaving the Garden with Squall. When she began speaking of her adventures in the prison with the physical beatings and the psychological torture of being left naked, Melissa's eyes filled with tears and she murmured, "How perfectly hideous for you to have to go through."
When Quistis finished her recounting, Melissa gently spoke "You're very lucky to not have been raped or worse, Quisty"
"Poor Quisty" murmured Melissa as she suddenly leaned over and began kissing Quistis passionately, while removing her orange top and revealing her abundant breasts.
"It's about damn time!" Quistis responded, "What took you so long?"