"What kind of lead?"

These were my questions as I followed Pine's brisk pace down the hall towards the cockpit... The cockpit of the Celsius sometimes made me dizzy, I hoped this time it didn't happen. It's just that it was split up into a multi-prong hall at one point; this gave the reality we were floating in the sky and usually in a form of danger if the vehicle was not piloted right. Through their collective experience, we began to primarily rely on Rikku and whom we all call Brother. Brother only bares relation of such to Rikku, but he's watched out for us, as if we too were his blood. There's always me, but that's for another day.

Pine was generally silent as we descended and ascended various stares, she didn't really say anything until those doors slid open. It was the small hall that led to the cockpit, reminiscent of Cid's airship, where… Never mind, I don't want to think about that right now. There, she stopped; I wasn't paying attention and had to halt my own footsteps, the only way I knew she had ceased her pace was that the sound of metal and leather died down for the moment. They were all light articles of clothing, but they didn't sound light from the song they produced with each of her strides.

I looked up; I found Pine's gaze right in mine. She was quiet; something was wrong, it had to be. She wouldn't look at me like that if there weren't something on her mind; I guess I did look odd walking around with my hands in my pockets like that. I need to find a better place to keep this sphere; it was tiny enough to make into a pendant. In my thoughts of the sphere, I hardly noticed Pine crack a smile. She wasn't heartless, and I knew it, but that smile looked like pat on the back. Was she apologizing for her cold demeanor, or trying to hide some angst?

"You know why I'm doing this, right? Why I'm looking for the spheres."

Pine indeed was searching for something herself, but she had a slight romantic notion about it. I could remember the story vividly as she talked about the powers of 6 ancient warriors; that she wanted to have them for her so that she could mean something to the world. We sat in that engine room, and she told me time after time; it was one of the few times she opened up fully to me. Pine wants to mean something, just like I want to mean something. I don't want to be simply the poster girl for a political faction, that's why I help in the quest for the spheres. But when she pursed lips about 'leads', I had immediately thought of him.

"You want to make something of yourself, right?"

I had responded how I'd hope she would want me to say it, but Pine still seemed to can't her head a bit in disapproval. The smile faded, but her mild tone hadn't changed on her following words, because of such I wasn't worried. Before she spoke, she exhaled a held breath and turned around with slow movement towards the next door that would open. I wondered if Rikku was on the other side, but before I could worry...

"It's because I've heard that legend since I was a child, and I believe it."

So she really does believe in those warriors... Without time to elaborate on the legend of the power she speaks of, I knew that in the future I would have to reorganize some of these memoirs. It could wait, beyond the door in fact was Rikku, fiddling with that globe like device that would tell us where we were in the world. We never really named it; Cid had a funny word for it that I can't really remember clearly. It was just a jumble of its functions... That was the first time I'd ever flown on something that didn't breath, but even then, I'm not much experienced with that either.

I peered over my cousin's shoulder; I wanted to see where we were going. There were several blue dots that had been marked on the map, apparently Rikku was getting better at keeping our progress, but there was one glowing red dot. Only the list of commands on the panel next to the globe, the word "Active" presented itself next to a location that was named. This location was a bit startling, but it wasn't too unwelcome.

"Besaid Island?"

Rikku seemed to jump; did she expect I was worried to return home so soon without any progress? She danced a bit with her words; it was something she always did. I could try to envision her 10 years from now, but it just wasn't going to happen. She always seemed young in my mind, even in these two years. Even now that she was practically of age, she would still seem like a child to me. Her smile was still a little off, but hadn't gotten any worse in the passed time.

"Don't worry, they won't be disappointed. We've come a long way, they'll be happy to see us."

Pine would step forward, there was a pause between the three of us; no one else was close enough to be part of the conversation. It wasn't a long pause, I should note. It was just thirty seconds, it seemed Pine was gathering her words. Rikku and I did not want to intrude on her voice, it wasn't rare but still uncommon that she spoke up; Pine must have been in a good mood.

"It's strange, we scour the globe in search of legend... With all this technological wonder... And a dog finds it."

A dog? That was kind of ironic, and I smiled. Rikku smiled. Pine smiled. It was a good moment between us three, a happier moment. We needed such times, it was true what Rikku had said about us coming a long way, but I was still worried. Lulu and Wakka seemed to miss… him. Almost as much as mine, they're words showed that they wished that their lost friend would come back. I was working my hardest; we knew he was out there.

But... Returning to the subject of dog... What did the dog find? There were all kinds of clues that we could have to find legendary spheres... We had only really found three spheres in our travels. I have time to think about that; the three spheres were decent assets to us. One of them was a dusty old sphere that we thought had worth... I was surprised when it was a video of my father, and his, and... Auron. They were alive, well and young, but it was ancient and dated. It must have been polished at one point, distributed... And of worth.

The next sphere we found was one that led us to this ship, some kind of odd key that would let us activate the doors to this ship. I'll get into that adventure later; it really is quite a tale. And the last one was in the Sanubian Desert, reported by one of the workers on the well-progressing Al Bhed Home. They really are coming along, but it will be a while... This sphere was seen amidst the jaws of a great creature... Red, and small... It's the sphere I carry for my memories, it's strange coloring makes me wonder how else it works.

"Do you remember those Besaid Ruins, Yunie? It's that, a friend I made in our trip to Besaid said they found something that looked like what we were looking for."

A friend with a dog... God, that prodigy animal... That animal had given us some kind of interesting trinket... We weren't sure what to call it, but my long lost aide... My Valefor cherished it among it's other jewelry, and with renewed strength seemed to fight with more resilience than ever. Then again, this was a problem... Anyone else who called the bird to stand and fight for them also held such power, and there was a time where I would feel the singing heat of it's holy fires come to close to my person. Oh well, that's that anyway.

The Celsius seemed to shift, Pine had stepped away to inform Brother where we were off to next. The ship wasn't rickety; it didn't buckle like Cid's. I keep bringing up that old man; he's the only other ship owner I've had the pleasure of riding with. There are other ships out there, both run by Al Bhed and other races of men and factions of Spira. Yevon, a fraud; the people no longer feared technological advancement. Bevelle already was a power to be dealt with, and mechanical soldiers who swept out any remnants of fiends patrolled even the countryside. Not everything is a fiend though; there are genuine creatures of Spira who are still fearsome. I guess they too have to be dealt with.

There weren't really enough chairs in this ship, but then again it wasn't built for battle. Aside from the power it did have, there wasn't enough maneuverability for this to combat small objects. That was something, to watch the raining pyreflies that was the great Guardian Worm Evret. It looked like the sky was crying for me on that fateful day, but that's the same day that I met someone that our group already knew to some extent. The child Bahamut, noble... Wise beyond his years in appearance, but probably an old man in his mind. I still feel attachment to them, the aeons and the fayth. They were one in the same, I saw the boy in the dragon and the dragon in the boy... I never feared Bahamut.

It would be hours before the ship really came to Besaid; which was comparable to the sometimes days of travel in Cid's vessel. My dear uncle had found a diamond in the rough, but it really was dated compared to this beautiful crimson creature that traveled the night sky. I just wish I hadn't seen so much of it; I would love it even more so as my home away from home.

Pine was staring out one of the side windows of the shafts of the ship's bridge. She looked thoughtful, maybe she was wondering if it was all going to finally come into place. I didn't really know what would happen when we found these spheres that possessed the memories and power of the dead. I wasn't afraid though; I don't think Pine was seeking these spheres in vain. I don't think she was another Seymour, I didn't see it in those dead set blood-toned hues of hers. Seymour had this look to his eyes, you could hold up two hands to cover the rest of his face from view, and you would have all the facial expression you needed presented in his ocular area. The brow, the pale lifeless blue orbs; they all spoke "ambition".

I guess we all had a little ambition in us, though. I sought out resolve, and Pine seemed to be chasing worth. Maybe that's why she was quiet all the time, and harsh... Maybe that's just the way she was brought up, who knows? I was raised by a clumsy athlete, and a stoic girl who sometimes traveled away when I felt I needed her most. And then there was Kimahri, which is enough said if you've ever seen a Ronso before. Kimahri is so noble though, he also seems very young to me... I have this feeling that I've aged more than the others, even though we've all sort of grown up since then.

Then... Since we met the angel that fell out of the sky and washed up on the shore... Since we met so many faces, and did away with a few of them. Still, I think there's greater conflict on the rise. I couldn't think otherwise, it wasn't premonition; it was blatancy. There was a silent war going on in Spira, everyone trying to grab order and power.

It was my intent to resolve that war.