XIX
"History is a demanding thing. You have to pay attention to it or it will start throwing tantrums, and nobody wants that."
--Instructor Aki

"Lunar Cry. The incidence of the fall of monsters from the lunar surface to the planet. A vast amount of magical energy is required for this; not only to break through the escape velocity for the moon but also to cushion the monster's entry into the planetary atmosphere. Lunar Cries as they occurred before were reactions between the Crystal Pillar and some unknown force on the moon; but, as the Crystal Pillar had been destroyed and its energy allegedly scattered, they were considered to be impossible. However, yesterday the world was shown that the Lunar Cries may still occur..."

Aya reached over to turn off the radio, but hesitated. The world was still blurry around the edges, but it had cleared somewhat--she could make out definite shapes and could read with difficulty. She felt a bit queasy, but whether that was from the medicine she had been given or from the stress and uncertainty, she couldn't say.

"The Cry occurred off the coast of Centra, and official reports state that no danger was posed to the continent. Scientific commissions around the world are calling for government funds to study the disaster--as well as an investigation into whether or not this is, indeed, the first Cry since the Crystal Pillar's destruction..."

She hit the power button quickly and leaned back. Her room seemed suddenly and unbearably empty without the newscaster's voice, but she did her best to ignore it.

Lunar Cry.

She had read the historical accounts. The Lunar Cry that destroyed Centra, the Lunar Cry that had hit Esthar and brought Adel's Tomb crashing down--but she had never paid much attention to them. They had been a natural phenomenon that had been rendered impossible; and that was really all that could be said about them.

How little she had known.

Every ounce of logic inside her said that nothing she had done at the Centra Battlefield could have precipitated this, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she had been in the wrong place at a very wrong time. And she kept turning her pirated piece of Crystal Pillar over and over in her hand, wondering what it could all mean.

Squall was away--he had been almost since the moment they had returned to Garden. He was either in his office on international radio or in a conference with local scientists--she neither knew nor cared. What was important for the moment was that she was alone in the suite--that no one was keeping an eye on her, because everyone had more important things to take care of.

Barely even thinking about it, Aya slipped out of the suite and into the halls.

It was drawing toward the end of the day, which meant that most people were getting ready to retire for the night. There was no one in the halls with a mind to stop or question her as she made her way to the entrance and quietly out of Garden.

With her vision still slightly impaired, it was only familiarity and habit that allowed her to make her way through the gathering darkness up the mountain paths to Fighter's Ledge. Finding a good niche to sit down in, she stared up into the sky.

Faint wisps of clouds traced their way across the starscape, framing a gibbous moon which looked, if anything, innocuous as usual. Somewhere a bird winged is way back to its nest, merely a faint, flitting shadow on high.

Faint notions tugged at her, bits of speculation and poetry which she knew could never quite be articulated. She regarded the moon and sky with distrust and unease, shivering slightly from the dark more than the cool. The thin halo her eyes gave to the moon seemed to warp and shimmer, lending the gibbous a mercurial, wraithlike quality.

"Like a phantom in the dark."

Aya jumped, whirling to see who had spoken. For a moment, unable to see anyone, she was convinced that she had imagined the voice--then her vision cleared minutely, and she was able to make out a huge shape camouflaged in the darkness against the rock of the opposite ledge wall. "...who are you?" she demanded.

Two wings spread and came back to rest. "I would not go as far as to say that I was a family friend," the beast said, and chuckled.

Aya squinted at it. "GF?"

"Yes."

"And not here to kill me, I trust?"

The beast chuckled again. "If I had been, you would be dead."

Aya shook her head. "...what was it you were saying?"

The beast lifted a massive foreclaw, gesturing upward into the heavens. "It's a riddle. 'An eye which blinks thirteen times a year, a hunter who pursues a beast of flame, a wandering light like a phantom in the dark.' Can you name it?"

"It's the moon," Aya said. "Can you name yourself?"

"Tiamat." the reply came easily--more easily than Aya would have expected. "I've come to help you figure a few things out."

Aya stared at the shadowy form opposite her. "What? Figure things out? ...you're Tiamat?"

"I trust you haven't heard too many bad tales about me."

Aya shook her head. "Just that Quezacotl doesn't trust you and Father... has had dealings with you."

Tiamat rose, approaching leisurely. "Then no one's poisoned your mind too badly against me."

"Should they have?"

"No." Tiamat came close enough to allow Aya to inspect her even through the faint haze, and sat. "You're lost, Aya, and I'd like to help. Pretty soon you'll be expected to relinquish all the power you've gotten from SeeD, and I'll be there when you do. They don't control me. They haven't even ever asked me to aid them. So I'll come with you." The great head nodded slowly. "I can arrange for you to be wherever you want to be, and I can help you find whatever you need to find. And--"

Tiamat paused, a lower chuckle echoing deep within her chest. Aya tensed. "And?"

"You want to know about Seifer. You want to know about your father. I know a way in which all can be revealed."

A chill threaded its way down Aya's back, but she did her best not to show it. "Oh?" she asked--not quite knowing what else to say.

"Would you like to learn tonight?" Tiamat's eyes pinioned her, and she felt as if she was caught in a slow-petrify with no way out. "Would you like to see?"

It took all of her will to nod and answer "Yes."

"Good." The spell was broken, and Tiamat's compelling gaze became a thin smirk. "Good. here is what you need to do. Go to your suite and take the Hyperion. Then go to the Training Center. I will send your father along in due time, and you will duel him. Do you understand?"

Aya shook her head. "No, not really," she said. "What does this have to do with finding anything out?"

"We'll just say that you'll find out," Tiamat responded. "Trust me."

Aya watched, skeptically. "Is there really any reason why I should?"

Tiamat threw back her head and laughed, a deep-throated laugh that echoed off the sides of the mountains. "We will get along well, you and I," she chortled, spreading her wings. "If you don't want to learn anything, go back to your dorm and see about sleeping. If you want to trust me and go ahead with this, do what I said. I'll see you again, regardless."

With a flap of her wings she rose up, and a moment later she was gone.