Chapter 10

She steered the ship into the Dollet harbour. It had been harder than she had expected, and it took her a while to get used to its controls. She had almost crashed the boat into the rock face nearby, and felt lucky to escape from the boat alive. After all, everyone else on the boat was resting in eternal sleep, never to wake up. She clambered out of the boat. She was greeted by a lot of the local people, who were very worried about what had happened.

They hampered her with questions, how she had got out of there, how had she steered the boat to safety, and, more importantly, where everyone else was.

"I have stepped off this boat," she said, "the only survivor."

People were taken aback, shocked, worried, knowing that their friends and relatives were dead. One little boy began to cry, and clutched his bigger brother's hand, and muttered, "Nanny…"

Rinoa felt awful. She was extremely upset for everyone here, and she almost wanted to cry. She could have saved those people, if only she could have got rid of the food, if only she had warned them, if only…

She began to feel claustrophobic. All these people, crowded round her, crying and mourning the loss of their loved ones. She wanted to get out.

She tried to shove through the crowd, they decided to let her pass; she wandered off into the town.

It was mostly empty. She tried to enter the buildings, they were all locked up. She reached the central square, and then sat down on the edge of the fountain. Would she ever find Squall? It was clear that he wasn't here, otherwise she would have recognised him. Maybe she should give up. But she'd come this far. Should she continue her adventure, or should she settle with living back in Timber? The adventure was taking its toll on her, she was tired and hungry, and she felt weaker than she ever had done.

Then she thought of him, together, living happily wherever he wanted, him and her, their lives so perfect, resting gently in his arms, forever.

What should she do now? Maybe she could climb to the top of the tower, she couldn't see how it would help her, but it would occupy her for a while, and hopefully she could find something. She doubted that Squall had returned there, but she could try.

She began the slow steady climb up the rocks to the tower. It wasn't particularly hard, but because she was so tired, she found it harder than she normally would have done. She reached the tower, a journey that took her a couple of monsters and a few rests along the way. She stepped inside. She had never been here before, and so didn't know what it was like inside.

Some of the metal was a little rusty, and it was quite depressing, though some of it was quite high tech and modern. She took the lift to the top.

It was deserted. She had half expected for Galbadians to be up there, she was growing more cautious. The silence unnerved her. She looked around her. She didn't find much, except some old potion bottles lying discarded on the floor from their battle with Evolret all those months ago.

She went back down the stairs; there wasn't much of interest up there.

Then she saw something, lying on the floor. It was a photograph. A photograph of a little boy in a yellow top, looking very sad and forlorn. A younger Squall. He could only be about 5 in this picture. She took it, and pocketed it, if it was his and he had left it here, she should at least keep it and if she decided to find him, return it to him.