By Robertdogwood@aol.com
Final Fantasy IX characters and locations from said game are owned by SquareSoft.
Original Plot and Characters Copyright Robertdogwood 2002
Chapter Six
Zidane and Amarant walked up two flights of stairs to reach the second floor, since the Inn didn't have an elevator and there were no rooms available at ground level. Exiting the door from the stairwell on what was really the third floor of the building, they walked almost all the way down one narrow wing until arriving in front of room 218.
Zidane inserted the key and threw the door open. As his partner went to step into the room, the blond haired young man threw his arm in front of Amarant impeding his forward progress. "Wait!" he exclaimed.
"What now, Zidane?" the red haired man asked wearily.
"Be very careful where you step and what you touch in here. We don't want to destroy any evidence," he advised.
"Any evidence of what?" Amarant inquired. "Evidence that you have lost your mind?" he continued sarcastically. "You know Zidane, as the time goes on, you're becoming odder and odder."
"Whatever," he muttered unknowingly mimicking another hero of another time. His tail swished nervously in a random pattern.
Following his own advice, Zidane stepped cautiously into the hotel room. He stepped lightly wherever he moved, making certain to not smash anything into the carpet which would forever hide it away from his eyes. Amarant sighed again rather loudly and just shook his head in disbelief as he watched, what to him, was the antics of his co-patriot.
Bent over to the degree that he was almost crawling, Zidane took a sharp right as soon as he stepped through the doorway and began searching along the front wall of the room. When he reached the corner, Zidane went to his left and continued the same procedure until he reached the small chest of drawers.
He continued with his careful investigation in each drawer, even going as far as lifting up the brown paper that lined the inside of the drawers. Except for a well-known religious text, there had been nothing left in the bureau.
While Zidane continued his meticulous search down the same wall to the windows, Amarant sat rather impatiently on the bed watching this study in inspired craziness. Maybe it's helping him to feel better, he thought with a good degree of insight. He probably figures at least he's doing something.
Zidane reached the windows on the back wall and he thoroughly checked the window sills for anything. "Oh," he said, holding up his somewhat blackened hand. "These need to be cleaned."
"I'll get on that right away," Amarant snickered.
Finishing his inspection of the window sills and along the baseboard underneath, the Royal Prince turned his attention to the small nightstand that stood beside the bed that Amarant was currently sitting on. Zidane discovered a small pad of white paper and a pencil which he checked closely, but he discovered nothing written on the pad.
"Gonna drop me a line?" Zidane's redheaded partner asked sardonically allowing his impatience to be displayed in a passive-aggressive manner.
Ignoring Amarant, Zidane began to rub the side of the pencil point quickly over the first page of the pad until the impression of the message written on the page before displayed itself. He read, Will leave today, Baku.
"Look at this," the blond-haired man pointed out while passing it to his comrade.
Amarant looked at it closely and commented, "Well, since we already know that some of 'Tantalus' was here, this doesn't tell us a great deal more, except now we know that Baku was here and they're involved in something we probably need to look into."
"That's right," Zidane agreed, nodding his head.
Amarant stood up from his position, where he had been sitting on the bed assuming they were finished and groaned aloud when he observed Zidane pick up the small trash can that rested on the floor beneath the nightstand and turned it upside down dumping its' contents onto the floor. He knelt and began to sift through the trash.
Zidane continued to pick through the trash carefully while Amarant sat resignedly back down upon the bed. The blond-haired young man eventually discovered something which seemed to pique his interest. Picking through carefully a pile of papers he held in his left hand, Zidane eventually pulled out several very small pieces of torn paper. Throwing the rest of the trash back into the container he set the pieces on the floor and commenced to attempting to fit the pieces together into a coherent whole.
The Royal Prince finally managed to fit the pieces into a small rectangle. Despite himself, Amarant found himself curious enough about it to arise from his seated position and walk around to where his partner was still crouched. He looked over Zidane's shoulder and observed a 'Tantalus' theatre ticket stub and realized immediately that someone went to a great deal of trouble to attempt to destroy the link back to 'Tantalus.'
What the hell is really going on here? Amarant couldn't help but wonder.
"Let's go," Zidane ordered.
Following him from the hotel room, his red haired companion asked, "Where to?"
"The hideout, of course."
The airship rumbled rather ominously as it seemed to list this way and that way, in whichever direction the air currents dictated to it rather than it setting its own course. Steiner stood in the aisle feeling physically rather listless, but super-alert mentally and emotionally because of the precariousness of the airship he was traveling in.
I wonder where they found this relic? he thought to himself. He realized that so many of the airships that his country used had been rather inexpensive castoffs of Lindblum, but that didn't help his nervousness and apprehension right at that moment.
The thing that always saved Steiner was his sense of duty and responsibility, and the manner in which it related to fatalism. He believed that if he was doing what he was absolutely supposed to be doing then what will be should be, but Steiner realized that still didn't keep him from wanting to reach Lindblum as quickly as possible.
Steiner resettled his weight in his standing position in order to shift some of the pain he was experiencing in his feet, because he realized with resignation that he had, at least, another hour journey before they would reach Lindblum.
After flying a Chocobo to the town of Conde Petie, Morrison and Montose, the two Mogs which Vivi had spoken with in Alexandria, began their walk along the mountain path.
"I wish you would be more careful," Morrison continued berating Montose for his behavior while in Alexandria. "You do realize that you represent all Mogs unfortunately while we're out in public, don't you?"
"Yes, yes, I do," Montose answered humbly. "And I've already told you I'm sorry, I don't know what else I can say."
"Well," Morrison suggested snidely, "maybe the next time I go out to get supplies, I will take someone who knows what to do."
"Well, maybe you should!" Montose responded in a rare display of anger.
Morrison stood shocked staring at his traveling companion, never having heard Montose speak in such a fashion. Before he could respond, he heard Montose exclaim, "Hi Lani! How are you?"
Morrison glanced away from Montose and directly into the sparkling, lively eyes of the redheaded attractive female mercenary, who always dressed in such colorful outfits.
"I'm good, what's up, guys?" Lani realized that the Mogs didn't usually travel this dangerous mountain path unless they had recruited her as their bodyguard, so she correctly assumed that they had come this way looking for her.
Morrison replied, "We have some rather shocking news to recount. We bring a message from General Beatrix for you. Apparently misfortune has befallen the good Queen Garnet and she is missing."
"Yes, yes," Montose interrupted, "Lady Beatrix would like you to come to Alexandria immediately if it please you."
Morrison shot a glance of reprimand at Montose for interrupting, but was unable to say anything as Lani exclaimed, "Of course, I'll leave right away. As soon as I can pack my carpet bag, but what are you two going to do?"
"As soon as we drop these supplies off at Madain Sari, we're going to visit Lady Eiko at Lindblum," answered Morrison.
"Ok, maybe I'll see you there later," Lani replied and she turned and disappeared into the small cave she called her home away from home. Morrison and Montose waddled on their way toward Madain Sari.
After pulling into Treno, the city of perpetual darkness, Freya and Sir Fratley boarded their Chocobos at a stable and then agreed to split up and each search in a different direction. They would later meet at the Treno Inn.
Walking down through the more affluent part of the city, Freya couldn't help but notice Doctor Tot's old residence. Remembering suddenly that she had heard something about his returning to his former home after Queen Garnet had seemed settled in her reign over Alexandria, she made a mental note to suggest to Fratley that they pay the good doctor a visit before moving on from Treno.
Freya stopped at the outdoor Café Carta, bought a café latte and carried it to one of the empty tables. Seating herself, she proceeded to sip her hot drink while eavesdropping on the most affluent citizens of Treno - the rich, pompous nobles. They first continued their perennial complaining of the cost of everything and then after finishing their grievances, the men and women nobility began discussing the disappearance of Queen Garnet.
Freya finally finished her beverage and left the café after realizing the only thing they were discussing was how this was going to affect the quality of their own lives. Shaking her head slightly at the callousness and shortsightedness of the Treno nobles, Freya walked up the stairs and across the passageway to the Synthesis Shop. She had hoped to learn anything of the Queen's disappearance or where Zidane might be, but the shop clerk had heard nothing and he was usually a most reliable source of information since people from all over the world would come to his shop while visiting Treno.
Next Freya decided to try the Weapons and Armour shop and after learning nothing of consequence from the woman who owned the shop, Freya stopped to chat with Mogrich the Moggle. Upon questioning her if she had heard anything of consequence concerning Queen Garnet's disappearance, Mogrich admitted, "I have heard this much. The last time Stiltzkin traveled through, he stopped by and we were talking about Alexandria because he had just left there and he told me he had heard there was a plot by some politicians to kidnap the Queen and take over running the country."
Freya excitedly questioned the Moggle further, but learned nothing else of consequence. Unfortunately Stiltzkin had heard nothing other than that. Freya finally thanked Mogrich for the information and set off for the Inn, eager now to meet with Sir Fratley and share what she had learned.
Vivi was allowed to pass through the front doors of the Queen's Palace once more on his way to report to Lady Beatrix. As Vivi toddled into the large first floor anteroom through which several important places on that floor could be reached, the small Black Mage heard the unmistakable fractured spoken language of none other than Quina. Quickly stepping through the very large dining room and into the huge kitchen, Vivi observed Quina in the very familiar position of slightly bending over a large kettle of stew tasting it from a ladle she was holding. Unlike others of their former comrades who thought Quina's true sexuality to be a closely guarded secret, Viva realized that Quina was a she. He had married her after all, but that's a story for another time.
Quina looked just the same to Vivi, as if she hadn't aged a day. The Black Mage saw a creature who appeared to resemble several different creatures combined into one. That was another question among her former comrades; what exactly was Quina? First of all, she was very large, some people would be mean and say fat, but it was really impossible to tell since she wore so many clothes. Quina also appeared to have white feathers, but since only her face was clearly visible it was truly impossible to tell if the rest of her body was covered with same. Her orange bill was extremely long, even longer than a duckbilled platypus hanging almost halfway down her body as she stood on two feet. And her arms - wings - upper trunk appendages, whichever they were, hung almost down to where her knees would be, if she had them.
Stepping up to Quina, Vivi greeted, "Hi Quina, how are you?"
Turning quickly being startled, Quina waved her top appendages wildly as was usually her wont when excited and knocked Vivi sideways and almost completely off his feet. "Oh, I sorry, Vivi," Quina expressed offering a wing or whatever for him to hold on to maintain his balance.
Finally managing to maintain his center of gravity, Vivi muttered his thanks to Quina and then straightened his hat first to the left and then to the right finally returning it to the exact position it had been in a moment before. "Are you ok?" Quina inquired appearing solicitous as always.
"Yes, I'm fine, thanks. Why are you here, Quina?" he asked.
"I here because the Palace Chef was called away to hometown. No one knows what for," the temporary chef answered. "Why you here?" Quina naturally wanted to know in turn. Vivi went on to explain as best as he could in simple terms to Quina what had occurred with the Queen. He realized how excitable she could become and he wanted to downplay the situation as much as possible.
Vivi realized he hadn't been quite successful as his old friend began spinning her arms or wings or whatever and lamenting, "Oh, this is terrible! This is terrible! I will go with you."
"Go with me?" the Black Mage echoed. "You don't even know where I'm going."
"Doesn't matter, I trust you," Quina explained. "You good, we find Queen."
Vivi felt himself blushing to receive such praise, but realized no one would ever know except him when he flushed. "Ok," he agreed. "Lets' go, I'm going to see Lady Beatrix to discover what she desires us to do."
"But first," the new Palace Chef offered out the ladle, "you want a taste of oglop stew?"
Vivi attempted to keep his shudder hidden, because he realized it might hurt Quina's feelings. "No, I think I'll pass for right now. I just had lunch a little while ago," he lied.
"Then come," Quina declared laying the ladle down by the knife. "We go visit Beatrix."
Beatrix sat in one of the lesser chairs in the Throne Room. She had her feet drawn up underneath her as though she was attempting to roll herself up into a little ball. What is to become of Alexandria? Beatrix thought, mentally wringing her hands. I know that I can't do this by myself, but what else is there to do? Certainly the leaders in Parliament haven't been any help. If anything, they're blocking anybody helping me. What a minute! It's mainly Helot and Handsome blocking things. There must be somebody who I can implore for some assistance. Wait, what about -.
Beatrix's thoughts were interrupted by Viva along with Quina being allowed to enter the Throne Room. Beatrix smiled at seeing the young 'married' couple together again. It was the first good feeling she had experienced since Queen Garnet had disappeared.
"Welcome back, Vivi," Beatrix welcomed. "And how are you, Quina?"
"I am fine, not important. Big question is how is Garnet?"
"We've heard nothing yet," Beatrix reported sadly, "but I'm hoping to hear anything anytime now."
"Lady Beatrix," Vivi implored with a slight bow, "What can we do to assist?"
"For right now, you all could help me a great deal by remaining right here," the beautiful woman explained, while arising from her seat.
"O - Ok," Vivi bravely agreed while slightly stuttering. "Oh boy!" Quina exclaimed, "We are going to be Queen!"
Viva turned to Quina to disagree, although Beatrix spoke first. "No, Quina, I just need you two to remain here until I come back. I have some important errands to run."
Beatrix quickly strode from the room. Vivi managed to appear almost pale, which was quite a trick for a Black Mage and he took a big gulp. Quina cried out, "Hooray!" and waddled across the Throne Room and took a big leap and landed right on the Queen's Royal Throne.
Karl Handsome stepped into the rather dark alley in a far less affluent side of town than he was used to. Glancing around quickly, he was attempting to take in everything everywhere all at the same time; such was his level of tension and paranoia.
"Karl! Knock it off! You're actin' so weird, you're frightening me."
"Why did we have to meet here?" Karl whined.
Because it's supposed to be a secret. And you didn't tell anyone where you'd be, did you?"
"No, of course not!" Handsome responded sounding rather indignant.
"Good, now what did this Carlin want?"
"Man, you don't miss much," Karl responded.
"No, I don't and quit screwing around and tell me what she wanted."
"She wanted to know what went wrong and where the Queen was," the man, who represented the middle-class in the Alexandrian government, explained.
"And what did you tell her?"
"What could I tell her?" Karl asked rhetorically. "I don't know anything."
"See that you stay that way."
Tyson Michaels, Parliamentarian Jesse Helot's chief of staff and number one personal assistant stepped from street level down into one of the dirtiest dives that passed for a bar in the whole of Alexandria. Stepping up to the bar, he was very happy to notice that there were currently little clientele present. It was the bartender Tyson needed to speak with.
"Let me have a draft, please," he very politely requested, because he certainly realized the folly of not being polite here of all places. The bartender was naturally, given the circumstances, a very large swarthy man in his early thirties with a nasty appearing scar running from underneath his right ear down to his jaw. Tyson had never inquired how that was gained.
The bartender slapped the bottle of beer up on the bar and Helot's assistant slipped a thousand Gil in the form of one bill to the bartender. The bartender looked it over closely to make certain he wasn't being passed counterfeit money and he slipped it into his pocket.
"Yeah," he growled.
"What happened?" asked Michaels.
"Somebody got in the way," the bartender explained.
"Who?" Tyson naturally wanted to know. The bartender tapped his forefinger on the bar. Helot's assistant slipped across another thousand Gil.
The bartender waved Michaels very close, too close as far as he was concerned for he found the bartender's breath to be foul. "It's like this," the bartender began.
The young Queen raced up the stairwell to the next floor. Opening the door cautiously, she discovered it was unlocked. The dark-haired young woman stepped out into another long hallway of rooms. Not hearing any noise inside the first room, Garnet paused and pushed the door slightly open hoping to learn where she was without giving her presence away.
The room was currently devoid of people, but there was a blackboard on the front wall along with a teacher's desk and lecture podium in front of approximately thirty school desks. Why, this is some kind of a school! Garnet realized greatly surprised. But where and why am I here? she wondered.
The good Queen decided to examine some of the books that were being held traditionally on a screen built for such beneath the desks in hopes of learning what school this was. Suddenly hearing a noise outside in the hallway, she ran to the door and slightly opened it and peered into the hall. The young woman espied a group of children exiting what was probably one classroom and then entering another one further down the hallway.
After they had completely disappeared into the room, Garnet decided she'd better just travel down to the staircase at the other end of the corridor as quickly as possible and she ran back out into the hall. Oh no! she thought with despair as she immediately observed another group of children coming into the hallway right in front on her.
Not having any other options at that point, she dashed into the room she was standing outside of hoping to discover it devoid of people. The raven haired young woman was granted most of her wish, as the only other person in the room was a young attractive woman with brunette hair who was wearing a long, pleasant looking, yellow dress that was buttoned all the way down to the hem.
Standing upon Garnet's unexpected arrival into the room, the woman smiled and asked, "Yes, may I help you?"
With a low screech, the dark-haired young Queen ducked behind the school desk nearest the door, while the friendly young woman, who surely must be a teacher, stood with her mouth agape. With the group of children out in the hallway and a teacher present in the room she was in, Garnet was surely between a rock and a hard place.