The world is changing
But my love will remain
Do you see beauty?
Do you see love?
Do you see anything at all?
--James Iha
"For When You Return"
Part VI
After Ultimicia's defeat came to pass and became nothing more than a bad memory Esthar fully
opened its gates to the world. This was President Loire's doing, now that Ellone was safe and
the times had grown peaceful beyond the fresh lingering of the past. A monster had to be flushed
out of hiding every now and then, they had grown wary of humans as their kind was killed off in
large numbers around them. Even now, a disturbance in the city was a rare occurrence.
However, what no one knew was that this choice was to be the start of a dire mistake, something
that would tumble with time and become more and more treacherous. Yes, at first Loire's council
objected, the citizens of Esthar grew tense -- but their worries were not for the right reason,
they were all fed by the fear of breaking tradition rather than foreshadowing, and after a few
months of being open to a new world they soon forgot their concerns and absorbed the outsiders
and their world like a fine delicacy
Rinoa had been moving all day, and yet had hardly moved her feet. When she stepped out of the
newly erected Esthar train station her knees were weak and wobbly and her calves tingled with
sleep. The world was a rushing whirlwind that had forgotten about her, and as pilgrims bustled
by her down the white marble steps she found herself unable to move any further, amazed at the
number of people there.
Beyond the gates of the station Esthar stretched out in its glory. It didn't seem real, it had
never seemed real to her when she looked over on it. If not for the little zips of transports
moving here and their in tiny blazes of light, if not for the specks of people on the roadways
like ants, if this had been her first time here... She wouldn't have believed that the image
was real. But it was. The south side of the city seemed a little more tattered, the war having
taken its toll -- but this never changed the majesty.
Overhead, the speakers belted out a second call for the train back to Fisherman's horizon.
Rinoa was beginning to get flustered now, with people moving -toward- her, like a back flowing
river on all sides. And, unable to breathe any longer, she bent to pick up her solitary duffel
bag--the one that she was supposed to be using in Centra today--and walked with clapping steps
away from the platform among the rest of the people traveling into the city.
Esthar had changed. Or perhaps it was just the way that she looked at it.
No one gave her a glance. It was so strange, feeling this insignificant. After all that she'd
done, how she had played a major part in bringing the Lunar Cry, her part in attempting to
bring and end to the world and then her part in saving it.... It was odd, how no one even looked
her way twice or seemed to know her face.
She was relieved, but tense. Even though it never happened, she still expected someone to pop
out and jab an accusing finger at her, pointing her out to be sorceress that had released Adel.
Rinoa always felt this way when she was in public. This was a curse that there was no cure for.
Rinoa's hair tickled at her collarbone as she adjusted her jacket more tightly around herself
and looked down at her feet. The floors were made of glass, and below her was a technician
working with clear wires that ran along the bottom of the path. He looked up at her like a
reflection in a lake and cast a crooked smile, waved with the narrow tool in his hand. Rinoa
smiled wanly back and shuffled on. The wind was strong here, in the open street, and with her
hands in her pockets she lowered her head against it and resisted the urge to let herself be
blown sideways.
"Rinoa?"
Squall had been so... Angry wasn't the right word, although it was the closest one that she
could think of. He seemed so hurt, so lost, so disappointed in her. And although this was not
out of his character, Rinoa knew, she felt that he could have been empathetic enough to actually
-support- her a little. She had been nervous about coming here in the first place, she didn't
need -him- weighing on her mind, too.
"Damn it," Rinoa muttered.
"Miss Heartilly?"
The voice first registered, it was that of a young man. Rinoa lifted her head and put her hand
up to her face in attempt to keep her flipping tresses at bay. Squinting against the wind -- the
sky looked bad, a grey that seemed to make the city seem more metallic and sharp--she caught
sight of a soldier with his helmet tucked under his arm. He had spiked, cropped hair and a lean
face that lit up in bashful brightness at her recognition, and with casual, quick steps he made
his way through the crowd with the ease of a man who could part water with his will. His free
hand lifted in a two-fingered wave.
"Here, Miss Heartilly, I'm right here."
He came to a halt beside her, standing strategically so that his back blocked the wind from her
frame. Rinoa dropped her hand in a trail behind one ear and gazed up at him more openly then. He
had sharp green eyes and a clean, streamlined arrangement of features, and he continued to smile
in a sheepishly humored way. Scratching at the side of his head he winced against the wind in
order to turn and jab a thumb in the direction of the train station that Rinoa had just left.
"Sorry! I was supposed to meet you when you came off!" He had to raise his voice above the
bustle of the crowd and the rising wind. It was early afternoon, and already it was growing
dark. "I kind of got distracted, I'm still learning my way around. You -are- Miss Heartilly,
right? I haven't just jumped the wrong woman?"
Rinoa nodded and started to reply, but he was already talking at her again. "Great. I'm really
sorry, again. I'm Ikuya. I'm your escort to the palace... Although I really wouldn't call it a
-palace- really, I mean, this isn't a time of kings, right? Right? Let's go, though -- We
shouldn't waste time, lest we get blown away. The weather isn't too hot, I'm sure you can see
that for yourself. What a welcome, huh?"
What a welcome, indeed. Suddenly Ikuya's hand was pressed into the small of her back, and with
a little push he was ushering her forward without skipping a beat in his words. And talking --
he never stopped! At first Rinoa was annoyed, especially on account that his hand was always on
her in one place or another.
However, she soon grew to appreciate it. Ikuya worked his magic and the crowd became less
intimidating, they all seemed to move out of their way and kept the path clear at Ikuya's
polite shoves. Furthermore, his voice seemed to put her at ease, and the chatter washed some of
her burdens and tension away.
"It's real nice, having the gates opened. I mean, things have become so diverse here now, you
know? People who have never set foot out of Esthar are finally going out to see the world -- all
the trees and grass, the ocean! And people like me can come in and make a living, here." Ikuya
said with great animation, looking over at her every once in a while as if in attempt to keep
her involved in the one-way conversation. "I used to be a soldier in Deling City--"
"I was born in Deling!" Rinoa said delightedly.
Ikuya beamed. "It's a small world, isn't it?" He gave her shoulder a tap and pointed off to
their right. "That's our new communication tower. It's how President Loire contacted you at
Balamb yesterday. We can't do very long transmissions, but we're getting there -- you may even
be able to contact home if you want." He nodded with a bob of his head and suddenly had his
hand in the small of her back again, steering her with a press of his fingers to a sharp
turn -- veering off the street and toward a transport. Rinoa looked at the tower from over one
shoulder, but didn't have much time before Ikuya was talking again. "Yes, we're getting in
touch with the world, now. It's a great change. Watch your head."
Rinoa turned around just in time to avoid a line of crackling wires that was stretched across
the seats of a circular transport. Her eyes widened and remained fixated on them, even as she
ducked beneath and stood on the other side. Another technician waved at her and put his gloved
hands into the mess again.
"Have a seat. I wouldn't advise that you stand, these things move kind of fast."
"But--" Rinoa slid her eyes pointedly toward the exposed wires.
"What? Oh, that? Something got into it, no big deal. We had a little pest problem this morning,
nothing to fret about, though. We've almost got the place cleaned up, really -- I mean, there
are a lot of corners to sweep, you know? They're hard to check. But we're getting there." He
waved his elegant fingers around at the technician a little. "Connect us to the Palace, could
you?" And with hardly a skip in tempo he was talking to Rinoa again, who tentatively sat down at
his side with her knees pressed together. "This tunnel is pretty clear now, that monster was
just a fluke. They're all pretty afraid of us now, so they never go out in the open. Besides,
these transports do a number on them when they hide in the pipes."
Rinoa, however, kept her eyes on the technician. He was holding a wire in each hand, and with a
wary little motion he tapped them together. Sparks flew, and the shield flashed on and off.
Eyeing it and nodding, the man connected the wires and set it up with a mild glow and a hum.
Rinoa suddenly felt trapped and claustrophobic. At her side Ikuya rattled on with one leg
casually crossed over another, as calm and smooth as could be.
The technician dug through the wires and finally brought up another two again. Rinoa watched him
warily put them together and felt the snap of the engine starting, and her hands gripped the
edge of the seat as the disk-like transport lifted a few feet in the air and swayed like a boat
on rocking waves. The blackening sky had a nice side effect, and a crack of thunder and bolt of
lightning snapped across the distant sky with perfect timing. Rinoa's eyes crinkled with worry.
And then they were moving, with Ikuya talking and the technician waving at them in merry
farewell.
Just as Ellone moved to touch her fingertips to the conference room doorway it pulled back and
away from her grip. She stepped back, startled, and a stony-faced man pushed past her with a
shove of his shoulder, despite the fact that there was plenty of room for him to move around
her. Whirring to face him, she narrowed her brown eyes and took a step back so that her shoulder
stopped the door from closing, and with backward steps she moved into the room, blankly watching
him storm off in a whirl of disgust and fury.
Before the doors swung shut she was turning and looking over one shoulder, elegantly moving her
body to match her face. With that her eyes came upon Laguna Loire, President of Esthar... her
Uncle Laguna. With a graceful parting of her lips--she was so beautiful, Laguna thought--she
threw him a concerned and questioning glance. Was that, lying beneath.... was she scolding him,
too?
Laguna was getting old. He was still healthily lean, yes, but it was bordering gaunt. His face
was lined and his brown hair faded where it was not already grey. When he smiled--or frowned,
or glared, or looked serious--his eyes puckered a little. They were still very clear, though,
and his motions retained the ease that he had in his youth... Sometimes.
He put one hand on his hip and the other on his forehead. "I don't get it," He said. "I just
don't get it, Elle." His arms dropped and his shoulders heaved a little, tiredly. Ellone
realized it then -- he'd been looking tired a lot as of late. She hadn't really thought about
it until then, but now she was worried.
"Were you rude to him, Uncle Laguna?" She asked as she crossed the room. The words themselves
were far from loving, but her tone and motions were. Carefully, she set her hands on his
shoulders and tipped her head at him, gazing into his eyes in that lovely way of hers, so
concerned.
"Feh. He deserved it." Laguna spat out his response.
Ellone pursed her lips. "What did he want?"
The fire in his eyes shifted, and Laguna looked away. Ellone moved her head to meet his gaze
again, but Laguna had turned by then, breaking contact in order to limp across the room. Ellone
felt her stomach drop. "Laguna? What was it? What did he say?"
"...Nothing."
"Liar."
"...It's nothing, Elle."
"Say that again without letting your leg shake." She replied with a little upward tilt of her
eyebrow. Her arms were moving to cross over her chest when the building jolted with an
especially large crash of thunder, and with huge eyes she looked up at the ceiling. Outside,
the sky split and rain came pouring down, falling like bullets onto the roof of the palace.
Swallowing, she blinked and set her gaze upon Laguna again, before re-adjusting her resolve and
lifting her chin a little again.
Usually, that pointed stare worked. However, it was not successful then. Laguna simply muttered
a response and fluttered his hand about at her, as if he were ushering her away. "It's just
business, Elle. I know how you hate business-talk."
"If it's nothing important, why won't you tell me?"
"Rinoa Heartilly is coming today." He said, smoothly changing the subject. Dragging his leg a
little, he put his back to the widow and rested there. Ellone, unfazed, watched him with a
stubborn pursing of her lips. Laguna was equally bull-headed, though, and he met her eyes in a
silent battle. Ellone was the first to sigh and roll her head a little, relenting... Laguna
punctuated his victory by going on.
"If she comes in wet, I'm going to skewer Ikuya." He said bitterly.
"Come, now." Ellone replied. However, both of them knew that he wasn't in the least bit
serious, although Laguna's eyes did move warily toward the window, which was being barraged by
the rain. It was as dark as pitch outside now, despite the fact that evening had not yet come.
"Is Squall here? I didn't know that they were coming for a visit."
Laguna shrugged at her first question, and then shook his head at her second. "I contacted
Rinoa last night -- we have some....personal business that I'd like to attend to."
Ellone narrowed her eyes at him curiously. "Personal business? Like what?"
"Later. I don't think we'll have time to go over it right now." Laguna said guiltily. He had
been keeping a lot of things from Ellone lately, and was tired of putting things off and making
excuses. Holding back always had its drawbacks and consequences, and Laguna felt that he was
getting too old to lapse into secrecy... Even over the most trivial of matters.
"Does Rinoa know what's going on?" She asked.
Laguna shook his head.
That was just like him, making things more dramatic then they should have been. Ellone's lips
had parted, as she was going to say just that, but she never got a chance to do so. The door
clicked behind her and she turned to see Rinoa and her escort come dripping into the room. When
she turned back to Laguna, his eyes were looking past her and to the dark-haired woman instead.
Rinoa smiled wanly at them, although she felt some degree of tension. Warily she wet her lips
and wrung out her hair a little. Ikuya had his coat off and was the wetter of the two --
obviously, he had taken off his over garment in attempt to shield Rinoa from the rain. He
smiled in that sheepish, humored way of his, and Laguna found, upon seeing that smile, that he
liked this man greatly.
Ellone, having recovered from the sudden entrance, crossed the room and shared an embrace with
Rinoa for a moment. Ending it with a peck on the cheek, she held the young woman back at a
distance and said, "It's been too long!" As if she hadn't a worry on her mind. Rinoa, however,
was very poor at hiding what she thought -- her eyes went to Laguna despite herself. Did she
look a little apprehensive? Ellone didn't doubt it.
"I suppose you've been on the road all day," She said. "You probably want to talk with Uncle
Laguna now... We can catch up on things tonight." Rinoa nodded a response and said something of
similar scope. Laguna had limped over by then, and after exchanging another hug with the damp
girl Ellone lifted on her toes and gave him a peck on the cheek in farewell.
"Don't -I- get a kiss or something?" Ikuya asked innocently. Ellone wrinkled her nose at him
and put her hand on the door. With a little wave to Rinoa, she stepped out of the room. Ikuya,
after receiving a nod from Laguna, went out before the door even swung to a dull and silent
close. "Hey, wait up -- have you seen the rain yet? Wow, huh!"
His pleasantly chattering voice echoed down the hallway in his departure.
Laguna's eyebrows danced a little as he looked at the closed door. When he turned back to Rinoa
there was a smile on his face, and with an apologetic look in his eyes he put his hand on her
back and steered her toward a seat.
"I'm sorry to bring you here like this, with no explanation -- we're still working at our
communication system, and what I wanted to talk to you about would have taken too long to do
over a transmission. I hope you understand."
Rinoa -didn't- understand, but still she nodded and bit at her lower lip. The room had a long
conference table--that's what it was used for, namely, and he settled her in a corner seat
before moving toward a desk that was on the other side of the room. His limp was getting worse,
although his face was rather calm.
Laguna bent and pulled open a bottom drawer. He rummaged for the shortest of moments, and with
a scrape he pulled a flat, rectangular box out and into his hands. It was about the length of
Rinoa's forearm. Curiously, she watched him take a chair across from her and set the simple
container down in front of him.
It was a strange combination... cozy, in the dim lamplight, and yet the large room made her
feel tiny and insecure. Eventually, Rinoa settled on Laguna. Focusing on him alone made the
room feel smaller than it was. Tightening her lips, and then releasing them, she motioned
toward the box with the barest tilt of her chin.
"What is this?"
Laguna didn't say a word, not yet... Rinoa met his eyes and tried to read them--a mixture of
sadness, joy, and pride--and she watched him lower his gaze to his hands. And, in the manner of
a reply, he simply put them onto the corners of the parcel and pushed it toward her with a
scuffle, until it was directly in front of her.
"Open it."
End Part 6/?
To be Continued.
But my love will remain
Do you see beauty?
Do you see love?
Do you see anything at all?
--James Iha
"For When You Return"
Part VI
After Ultimicia's defeat came to pass and became nothing more than a bad memory Esthar fully
opened its gates to the world. This was President Loire's doing, now that Ellone was safe and
the times had grown peaceful beyond the fresh lingering of the past. A monster had to be flushed
out of hiding every now and then, they had grown wary of humans as their kind was killed off in
large numbers around them. Even now, a disturbance in the city was a rare occurrence.
However, what no one knew was that this choice was to be the start of a dire mistake, something
that would tumble with time and become more and more treacherous. Yes, at first Loire's council
objected, the citizens of Esthar grew tense -- but their worries were not for the right reason,
they were all fed by the fear of breaking tradition rather than foreshadowing, and after a few
months of being open to a new world they soon forgot their concerns and absorbed the outsiders
and their world like a fine delicacy
Rinoa had been moving all day, and yet had hardly moved her feet. When she stepped out of the
newly erected Esthar train station her knees were weak and wobbly and her calves tingled with
sleep. The world was a rushing whirlwind that had forgotten about her, and as pilgrims bustled
by her down the white marble steps she found herself unable to move any further, amazed at the
number of people there.
Beyond the gates of the station Esthar stretched out in its glory. It didn't seem real, it had
never seemed real to her when she looked over on it. If not for the little zips of transports
moving here and their in tiny blazes of light, if not for the specks of people on the roadways
like ants, if this had been her first time here... She wouldn't have believed that the image
was real. But it was. The south side of the city seemed a little more tattered, the war having
taken its toll -- but this never changed the majesty.
Overhead, the speakers belted out a second call for the train back to Fisherman's horizon.
Rinoa was beginning to get flustered now, with people moving -toward- her, like a back flowing
river on all sides. And, unable to breathe any longer, she bent to pick up her solitary duffel
bag--the one that she was supposed to be using in Centra today--and walked with clapping steps
away from the platform among the rest of the people traveling into the city.
Esthar had changed. Or perhaps it was just the way that she looked at it.
No one gave her a glance. It was so strange, feeling this insignificant. After all that she'd
done, how she had played a major part in bringing the Lunar Cry, her part in attempting to
bring and end to the world and then her part in saving it.... It was odd, how no one even looked
her way twice or seemed to know her face.
She was relieved, but tense. Even though it never happened, she still expected someone to pop
out and jab an accusing finger at her, pointing her out to be sorceress that had released Adel.
Rinoa always felt this way when she was in public. This was a curse that there was no cure for.
Rinoa's hair tickled at her collarbone as she adjusted her jacket more tightly around herself
and looked down at her feet. The floors were made of glass, and below her was a technician
working with clear wires that ran along the bottom of the path. He looked up at her like a
reflection in a lake and cast a crooked smile, waved with the narrow tool in his hand. Rinoa
smiled wanly back and shuffled on. The wind was strong here, in the open street, and with her
hands in her pockets she lowered her head against it and resisted the urge to let herself be
blown sideways.
"Rinoa?"
Squall had been so... Angry wasn't the right word, although it was the closest one that she
could think of. He seemed so hurt, so lost, so disappointed in her. And although this was not
out of his character, Rinoa knew, she felt that he could have been empathetic enough to actually
-support- her a little. She had been nervous about coming here in the first place, she didn't
need -him- weighing on her mind, too.
"Damn it," Rinoa muttered.
"Miss Heartilly?"
The voice first registered, it was that of a young man. Rinoa lifted her head and put her hand
up to her face in attempt to keep her flipping tresses at bay. Squinting against the wind -- the
sky looked bad, a grey that seemed to make the city seem more metallic and sharp--she caught
sight of a soldier with his helmet tucked under his arm. He had spiked, cropped hair and a lean
face that lit up in bashful brightness at her recognition, and with casual, quick steps he made
his way through the crowd with the ease of a man who could part water with his will. His free
hand lifted in a two-fingered wave.
"Here, Miss Heartilly, I'm right here."
He came to a halt beside her, standing strategically so that his back blocked the wind from her
frame. Rinoa dropped her hand in a trail behind one ear and gazed up at him more openly then. He
had sharp green eyes and a clean, streamlined arrangement of features, and he continued to smile
in a sheepishly humored way. Scratching at the side of his head he winced against the wind in
order to turn and jab a thumb in the direction of the train station that Rinoa had just left.
"Sorry! I was supposed to meet you when you came off!" He had to raise his voice above the
bustle of the crowd and the rising wind. It was early afternoon, and already it was growing
dark. "I kind of got distracted, I'm still learning my way around. You -are- Miss Heartilly,
right? I haven't just jumped the wrong woman?"
Rinoa nodded and started to reply, but he was already talking at her again. "Great. I'm really
sorry, again. I'm Ikuya. I'm your escort to the palace... Although I really wouldn't call it a
-palace- really, I mean, this isn't a time of kings, right? Right? Let's go, though -- We
shouldn't waste time, lest we get blown away. The weather isn't too hot, I'm sure you can see
that for yourself. What a welcome, huh?"
What a welcome, indeed. Suddenly Ikuya's hand was pressed into the small of her back, and with
a little push he was ushering her forward without skipping a beat in his words. And talking --
he never stopped! At first Rinoa was annoyed, especially on account that his hand was always on
her in one place or another.
However, she soon grew to appreciate it. Ikuya worked his magic and the crowd became less
intimidating, they all seemed to move out of their way and kept the path clear at Ikuya's
polite shoves. Furthermore, his voice seemed to put her at ease, and the chatter washed some of
her burdens and tension away.
"It's real nice, having the gates opened. I mean, things have become so diverse here now, you
know? People who have never set foot out of Esthar are finally going out to see the world -- all
the trees and grass, the ocean! And people like me can come in and make a living, here." Ikuya
said with great animation, looking over at her every once in a while as if in attempt to keep
her involved in the one-way conversation. "I used to be a soldier in Deling City--"
"I was born in Deling!" Rinoa said delightedly.
Ikuya beamed. "It's a small world, isn't it?" He gave her shoulder a tap and pointed off to
their right. "That's our new communication tower. It's how President Loire contacted you at
Balamb yesterday. We can't do very long transmissions, but we're getting there -- you may even
be able to contact home if you want." He nodded with a bob of his head and suddenly had his
hand in the small of her back again, steering her with a press of his fingers to a sharp
turn -- veering off the street and toward a transport. Rinoa looked at the tower from over one
shoulder, but didn't have much time before Ikuya was talking again. "Yes, we're getting in
touch with the world, now. It's a great change. Watch your head."
Rinoa turned around just in time to avoid a line of crackling wires that was stretched across
the seats of a circular transport. Her eyes widened and remained fixated on them, even as she
ducked beneath and stood on the other side. Another technician waved at her and put his gloved
hands into the mess again.
"Have a seat. I wouldn't advise that you stand, these things move kind of fast."
"But--" Rinoa slid her eyes pointedly toward the exposed wires.
"What? Oh, that? Something got into it, no big deal. We had a little pest problem this morning,
nothing to fret about, though. We've almost got the place cleaned up, really -- I mean, there
are a lot of corners to sweep, you know? They're hard to check. But we're getting there." He
waved his elegant fingers around at the technician a little. "Connect us to the Palace, could
you?" And with hardly a skip in tempo he was talking to Rinoa again, who tentatively sat down at
his side with her knees pressed together. "This tunnel is pretty clear now, that monster was
just a fluke. They're all pretty afraid of us now, so they never go out in the open. Besides,
these transports do a number on them when they hide in the pipes."
Rinoa, however, kept her eyes on the technician. He was holding a wire in each hand, and with a
wary little motion he tapped them together. Sparks flew, and the shield flashed on and off.
Eyeing it and nodding, the man connected the wires and set it up with a mild glow and a hum.
Rinoa suddenly felt trapped and claustrophobic. At her side Ikuya rattled on with one leg
casually crossed over another, as calm and smooth as could be.
The technician dug through the wires and finally brought up another two again. Rinoa watched him
warily put them together and felt the snap of the engine starting, and her hands gripped the
edge of the seat as the disk-like transport lifted a few feet in the air and swayed like a boat
on rocking waves. The blackening sky had a nice side effect, and a crack of thunder and bolt of
lightning snapped across the distant sky with perfect timing. Rinoa's eyes crinkled with worry.
And then they were moving, with Ikuya talking and the technician waving at them in merry
farewell.
Just as Ellone moved to touch her fingertips to the conference room doorway it pulled back and
away from her grip. She stepped back, startled, and a stony-faced man pushed past her with a
shove of his shoulder, despite the fact that there was plenty of room for him to move around
her. Whirring to face him, she narrowed her brown eyes and took a step back so that her shoulder
stopped the door from closing, and with backward steps she moved into the room, blankly watching
him storm off in a whirl of disgust and fury.
Before the doors swung shut she was turning and looking over one shoulder, elegantly moving her
body to match her face. With that her eyes came upon Laguna Loire, President of Esthar... her
Uncle Laguna. With a graceful parting of her lips--she was so beautiful, Laguna thought--she
threw him a concerned and questioning glance. Was that, lying beneath.... was she scolding him,
too?
Laguna was getting old. He was still healthily lean, yes, but it was bordering gaunt. His face
was lined and his brown hair faded where it was not already grey. When he smiled--or frowned,
or glared, or looked serious--his eyes puckered a little. They were still very clear, though,
and his motions retained the ease that he had in his youth... Sometimes.
He put one hand on his hip and the other on his forehead. "I don't get it," He said. "I just
don't get it, Elle." His arms dropped and his shoulders heaved a little, tiredly. Ellone
realized it then -- he'd been looking tired a lot as of late. She hadn't really thought about
it until then, but now she was worried.
"Were you rude to him, Uncle Laguna?" She asked as she crossed the room. The words themselves
were far from loving, but her tone and motions were. Carefully, she set her hands on his
shoulders and tipped her head at him, gazing into his eyes in that lovely way of hers, so
concerned.
"Feh. He deserved it." Laguna spat out his response.
Ellone pursed her lips. "What did he want?"
The fire in his eyes shifted, and Laguna looked away. Ellone moved her head to meet his gaze
again, but Laguna had turned by then, breaking contact in order to limp across the room. Ellone
felt her stomach drop. "Laguna? What was it? What did he say?"
"...Nothing."
"Liar."
"...It's nothing, Elle."
"Say that again without letting your leg shake." She replied with a little upward tilt of her
eyebrow. Her arms were moving to cross over her chest when the building jolted with an
especially large crash of thunder, and with huge eyes she looked up at the ceiling. Outside,
the sky split and rain came pouring down, falling like bullets onto the roof of the palace.
Swallowing, she blinked and set her gaze upon Laguna again, before re-adjusting her resolve and
lifting her chin a little again.
Usually, that pointed stare worked. However, it was not successful then. Laguna simply muttered
a response and fluttered his hand about at her, as if he were ushering her away. "It's just
business, Elle. I know how you hate business-talk."
"If it's nothing important, why won't you tell me?"
"Rinoa Heartilly is coming today." He said, smoothly changing the subject. Dragging his leg a
little, he put his back to the widow and rested there. Ellone, unfazed, watched him with a
stubborn pursing of her lips. Laguna was equally bull-headed, though, and he met her eyes in a
silent battle. Ellone was the first to sigh and roll her head a little, relenting... Laguna
punctuated his victory by going on.
"If she comes in wet, I'm going to skewer Ikuya." He said bitterly.
"Come, now." Ellone replied. However, both of them knew that he wasn't in the least bit
serious, although Laguna's eyes did move warily toward the window, which was being barraged by
the rain. It was as dark as pitch outside now, despite the fact that evening had not yet come.
"Is Squall here? I didn't know that they were coming for a visit."
Laguna shrugged at her first question, and then shook his head at her second. "I contacted
Rinoa last night -- we have some....personal business that I'd like to attend to."
Ellone narrowed her eyes at him curiously. "Personal business? Like what?"
"Later. I don't think we'll have time to go over it right now." Laguna said guiltily. He had
been keeping a lot of things from Ellone lately, and was tired of putting things off and making
excuses. Holding back always had its drawbacks and consequences, and Laguna felt that he was
getting too old to lapse into secrecy... Even over the most trivial of matters.
"Does Rinoa know what's going on?" She asked.
Laguna shook his head.
That was just like him, making things more dramatic then they should have been. Ellone's lips
had parted, as she was going to say just that, but she never got a chance to do so. The door
clicked behind her and she turned to see Rinoa and her escort come dripping into the room. When
she turned back to Laguna, his eyes were looking past her and to the dark-haired woman instead.
Rinoa smiled wanly at them, although she felt some degree of tension. Warily she wet her lips
and wrung out her hair a little. Ikuya had his coat off and was the wetter of the two --
obviously, he had taken off his over garment in attempt to shield Rinoa from the rain. He
smiled in that sheepish, humored way of his, and Laguna found, upon seeing that smile, that he
liked this man greatly.
Ellone, having recovered from the sudden entrance, crossed the room and shared an embrace with
Rinoa for a moment. Ending it with a peck on the cheek, she held the young woman back at a
distance and said, "It's been too long!" As if she hadn't a worry on her mind. Rinoa, however,
was very poor at hiding what she thought -- her eyes went to Laguna despite herself. Did she
look a little apprehensive? Ellone didn't doubt it.
"I suppose you've been on the road all day," She said. "You probably want to talk with Uncle
Laguna now... We can catch up on things tonight." Rinoa nodded a response and said something of
similar scope. Laguna had limped over by then, and after exchanging another hug with the damp
girl Ellone lifted on her toes and gave him a peck on the cheek in farewell.
"Don't -I- get a kiss or something?" Ikuya asked innocently. Ellone wrinkled her nose at him
and put her hand on the door. With a little wave to Rinoa, she stepped out of the room. Ikuya,
after receiving a nod from Laguna, went out before the door even swung to a dull and silent
close. "Hey, wait up -- have you seen the rain yet? Wow, huh!"
His pleasantly chattering voice echoed down the hallway in his departure.
Laguna's eyebrows danced a little as he looked at the closed door. When he turned back to Rinoa
there was a smile on his face, and with an apologetic look in his eyes he put his hand on her
back and steered her toward a seat.
"I'm sorry to bring you here like this, with no explanation -- we're still working at our
communication system, and what I wanted to talk to you about would have taken too long to do
over a transmission. I hope you understand."
Rinoa -didn't- understand, but still she nodded and bit at her lower lip. The room had a long
conference table--that's what it was used for, namely, and he settled her in a corner seat
before moving toward a desk that was on the other side of the room. His limp was getting worse,
although his face was rather calm.
Laguna bent and pulled open a bottom drawer. He rummaged for the shortest of moments, and with
a scrape he pulled a flat, rectangular box out and into his hands. It was about the length of
Rinoa's forearm. Curiously, she watched him take a chair across from her and set the simple
container down in front of him.
It was a strange combination... cozy, in the dim lamplight, and yet the large room made her
feel tiny and insecure. Eventually, Rinoa settled on Laguna. Focusing on him alone made the
room feel smaller than it was. Tightening her lips, and then releasing them, she motioned
toward the box with the barest tilt of her chin.
"What is this?"
Laguna didn't say a word, not yet... Rinoa met his eyes and tried to read them--a mixture of
sadness, joy, and pride--and she watched him lower his gaze to his hands. And, in the manner of
a reply, he simply put them onto the corners of the parcel and pushed it toward her with a
scuffle, until it was directly in front of her.
"Open it."
End Part 6/?
To be Continued.