XV
"...and youths would go to the burial ground, eager to test their own bravery in commune with the spirits; they would bring wine to drink and baggo to smoke, and not many returned."
--Adler Johannsen, Ghost Stories of the Winhill Area

The field known to the Centrans as The Glow was, at first glance, depressingly normal. Stones were scattered across a shallow crater, pockmarking the dry Centran dirt. The husk of the Crystal Pillar crouched at the center of the waste, blackened and pitted where explosions had torn pieces out of it. But aside from these features, it looked exactly like every other Centran region.

Cabe drew up on his chocobo, staring at the depression. "Aw, man," he muttered, shoulders slumping in disappointment. "There's nothing here. Not even any bones."

"You came all this way to see bones?" Kamalyn stared at Cabe incredulously. "The Battle was twenty-eight years ago. If they weren't buried, the monsters would have gotten them." He suppressed a small shudder. "Bones are a good source of calcium, you know..."

"I pity them," Tam whispered. "Dying in a place like this. To have this be the last thing they saw."

"It was stormy, wasn't it?" Cabe smiled. "A dark and stormy night."

Kamalyn shot a glance at Aya, who was staring at the battlefield from under half-closed eyelids. "So?" he asked. "What now?"

Aya dismounted, wincing a little as muscles stretched. "I'm going to explore," she said.

"Explore? Explore what?" Kamalyn looked around. "It's a crater about a K wide, filled with rocks. It will probably all look the same."

"I'm going to explore," Aya said firmly. "It's evening now, and that means that we're not going to be heading back today. If you really don't want to look around, you can set up camp or something."

Taking the chocobo's reigns, she lead the beast over to a rock that seemed anchored enough to hold it. Tying the rope around the stone tightly, she gave it a few tugs to make sure it wouldn't come loose. The bird tried a few halfhearted pecks, but a quick rap of Aya's fist against its beak quieted it down quickly. Aya turned, and began to walk off among the cairns.

"Wait for me!"

With a yelp, Cabe jumped off his chocobo and hurried after Aya, still a little bowlegged from the ride. Kamalyn turned to Tam questioningly.

"The chocobos should stay without being tied," Tam said, sliding off the back of his bird and moving over to Aya's. Quickly untying the poor thing, he gave it a few consolatory pats on the ruff of feathers by its neck. "Riding is more work than it seems, isn't it?"

"I'll agree to that," Kam said, rubbing the side of his leg. "I think I'm more ache than muscle at the moment."

Tam chuckled softly. "Do you think that those two will be safe by themselves?"

"Aya has nothing to worry about," Kam said. "She's in one of her moods, and anything that tried to attack her would probably get one glare and drop over dead from it. As for Cabe..." Kamalyn shrugged. "The most he has to worry about is getting a death-glare from Aya."

Tam nodded. Eyeing the saddlepacks that the chocobos still sported he glanced around the even ground near where he stood. "Should we see what the birds come with?" he asked.

Kamalyn turned, opening the pack on the bird closest to him. "...inflatable ground mat and lantern, looks like. ...oh, and a tarp. We might be able to set it up as a tent, if we use some of those rock formations as the sides."

"Let's get to work," Cabe suggested. We can have camp all set up by the time they get back."

Kam glanced over, trying to locate Aya and Cabe, but they had already disappeared behind one of the larger cairns. "Sounds like a good idea to me."

"So what happened then?"

Aya thought for a moment, memories dredging through her SeeD History course. "Dyne pulled Naja into the Crystal Pillar, and they fused."

"And then?"

"There was a really big fight."

"And?"

Aya's teeth ground together. "The SeeDs won."

"But what about the Crystal Pillar? What happened to it?"

Aya stopped for a moment, pointing at one of the cairns. "That," she said. "And that," she said, indicating the boulder on the horizon.

"Whoa!" Cabe ran over to one of the cairns, digging at the loose stones at the base. Shuffling through the pebbles, he finally came up with a small piece about as thick as his wrist. Holding it up to the light, he grinned. "You were right!" he exclaimed, tossing her the rock.

Aya caught it, and held it up to examine it. The stone itself was faintly rose-colored and clear; but as the light hit it it shifted colors gradually. A quiet violet flowed through the translucent crystal, followed in sequence by a dark indigo, a sky blue, and the rest of the colors of the spectrum in their turns. A very faint warmth was exuded from within the rock; it seemed to pulse slightly with magical energy.

Cabe was already at the cairn again, digging for more. "This will be so awesome!" he said. I'll be the only kid at home with pieces of Crystal Pillar! I bet all the other kids will pay just to look at them!"

Aya raised an eyebrow, glancing down at the stone in her hand. After a moment's thought, she pocketed it. It might be useful for something, she reasoned.

"So how'd the Crystal Pillar get like this?" Cabe asked, stuffing his pockets with translucent pebbles.

Aya thought for a moment. "Bahamut attacked Dyne, and they both fell into the Pillar," she said at length. "The energy there must have been too much. It ripped the Pillar apart."

"That's kinda sad," Cabe said. "...hey, you know what they always call Bahamut? The King of GFs? It that really true?"

"As far as I know, the GFs don't have an organized social structure," Aya said.

Cabe's face appeared out of the miniature mining shaft he was digging for a second as he gave her a knowing grin. "You mean they're a bunch of anarchists," he said.

"As far as I know." Aya snorted. "Hell, they could have their own Kingdoms and Dukedoms and Parliaments, for all I know. Da is the Ambassador, you should ask him."

"Yeah, right." Cabe shook his head. "No offense, but your dad is way too stuffy to hang around with."

Aya snarled just a bit at that. "Oh, you think that I don't know that?" she asked. I get to live with him, thank you very much."

Cabe shrugged and pulled out a few last crystals. Standing up, he patted his bulging pockets. "Are these things magical? Is that why they change colors like that?"

"Probably." Aya eyed his collection. "Be careful you don't start a Lunar Cry, there."

Cabe rolled his eyes. "Naw," he said. "The Lunar Cries can't happen without the Crystal Pillar. Everyone knows that."

"Well, you've certainly got enough of it," Aya retorted.

"Come on! Let's go exploring!" Cabe urged.

Aya groaned. "It's going to be a long day," she muttered under her breath.

"What?"

"I said you're annoying," Aya lied.

Cabe stuck his tongue out, clambering onto one of the cairns to get a better view. "Come on! We don't have long before dark!"

"Long enough," Aya muttered as she followed Cabe farther into the crater.