We stood at the center of the village by a well in front of the town hall, slightly awed by the display of colorful lanterns on every doorstep and street corners. Even the surrounding trees held hanging light sources to hold back the immediate shadows. The lanterns came not only in different colors but shapes and materials, as well. The bigger and brighter lanterns were often made of metal meshes and stained glass. The light was fueled by oil like regular lamps. The smaller ones were made of bamboo meshes covered with colored paper. They burned with small candles inside that only usually last till the morning. Careful design and placement of the candles prevented unwanted fires.
The shapes depended on how well the meshes were put together. Most meshes took the form of many-pointed stars, spheres, and crescent moons. Daring ones took the form of animals such as birds, butterflies, and lions. A few lanterns were grouped in clusters to form a bigger design such as the miniature chocobo caravan and the rainbow snake that was suspended above the well like a giant halo. A special cluster composed the red dragon that illuminated the village sign that proudly declared their commonwealth concordance with their patron nation: 'Welcome to Maranda.'
There were few people out and about. Most were tending to their farm beasts, tethering them in their stables and feeding them. Farmers threw their farming tools on a wagon to be cleaned for the next day. A smithy inspected them quickly, looking for certain ones that needed fixing. The village baker poured a bucket of water onto the earthen kiln, sending a pillar of steam into the air with sizzling and sputtering sound. Women chased their children who refused to accept the sunset.
The streets weren't paved. Chocobos kicked the dust as they grew restless in the middle of the busy streets. I happened to notice a good amount of spilled wheat kernels on the ground. I guessed that they fell from bountiful grain wagons before the trade. A homeless wretch would find enough to eat just by gathering the fallen grain.
Around the village were the vast fields of grain, almost ready for harvest. The eastern part had already been partially reaped. The wheat field glowed golden even at night due to big spherical lanterns atop taller posts. The posts and lanterns were scattered throughout like scarecrows. They resembled small orbs of sun.
As the others around me were absorbed in the fascinating display, I turned to the town hall. The design was quite curious. Instead of steps leading up to the front door, it was a ramp. The doors themselves were double doors that were each wider than they were tall. If one were to open them fully, the villagers could be inside within seconds.
As I studied the town hall, an armed man took notice and approached us, walking down the ramp as he greeted.
"Trades are closed, strangers," he said. "Best you find your lodging soon. Curfew is in an hour."
"We need to speak to the representative of this village," Jasom said.
"Where are you from, strangers?" the man asked.
I answered this one, "We bring ill news from Vector. Please... we wish to speak to your Village Speaker.
"Ill news? What is this ill news you speak of?" he asked dubiously.
"Unless you are the Village Speaker, you shall not hear of it," I said firmly.
"We are Maranda, stranger. We no longer have a Village Speaker."
"Then take us to your mayor," I replied, recalling the politics of Maranda. "The ill news we bring concerns this village."
"The mayor sleeps--"
"Then, come morning he shall never wake!"
"Who are you to make threats?! Speak, dogs!" the guard said, infuriated.
"The threat comes from Vector. Tomorrow they shall declare war."
The mayor was the village elder of fifty-four. A retired farmer, strong, and wise. He listened to our story in his office with his two sons by his sides. Stromsburg was the one who gave them the news. She revealed herself to be a sympathizer while Jasom and I pretended to be her trusted servants. I had instructed Stromsburg of what to say.
Their reaction to the warning we gave them were as I expected. They were dubious. We could not have done anything different to make it better.
"You have no proof of this?" the first son of the mayor asked, as the mayor himself was silent.
"I am her spy," I interjected. "I was in the Council Chamber when the evidence against this village was submitted. The Council approved of the attack."
"Evidence against this village? What evidence? We harbor no rebels!"
Stromsburg continued her lead, "It doesn't matter if you do not. If Vector thinks that you are harboring spies, then you are. The attack will commence."
"This is preposterous!" the second son exclaimed. "We did nothing wrong! Why should we trust you?"
"Have you heard of the Terra Episode?" Stromsburg asked.
"We had nothing to do wi--"
"We know that!" Stromsburg interrupted. "But the Military have been in a state of panic and confusion for weeks. Now, they are looking for payback. Your village has been nominated as the scapegoat--"
"But why?" the first son asked again. The mayor was still silent. His face betrayed nothing.
"Because your village is of no consequence to them. It is also the closest to Vector," Stromsburg answered with disgust. She wished she weren't a Vector citizen.
"We've had peaceful relations with Vector for years," the mayor spoke calmly. "This is not like them at all."
"Vector is afraid," I began. "Vector is angry. They are acting on these misguided emotions. Hence, they are beyond reason. It is absolutely futile for us to try to understand their way of thinking. Nothing is going to change it. Not a village. Not a town. Not a nation."
"But what would you have us do?"
"Flee," I answered. This made the two sons extremely uneasy. "And do it now! Lead your people to Maranda mainland where they can be protected, at least!" I yelled over their rising angry voices.
The sons and even the guards around us all shook their heads and cursed.
"Quiet!" the mayor shouted. Silence followed after a few seconds. Satisfied, he continued, "If you are telling the truth, then we are going to meet their attack force with empty hands high up in the air."
"It's not going to--" Stromsburg began but she was cut short by the mayor who insisted on finishing his thought.
"Just as we think it would be foolish for us to resist their force, abandoning this village is not an option! We simply cannot take the words of three strangers who happen by. If the Imperial soldiers do come tomorrow, we will show them that we have nothing to hide."
"They come for revenge--not justice!" Jasom argued. "Don't assume that they would act like civilized people."
"If we leave this village as you suggest we do, we leave behind our livelihood. Our concordance with Maranda rests in our allegiance. To abandon this village is to abandon our allegiance with them," the mayor explained, still calmly.
"Your lives are in danger! Maranda will see that!" Stromsburg contended.
"We do not see this danger. How do we know that you are not con artists trying to trick us into leaving our most valued possessions? The Week of the Yield is upon us. We are a critical source of trade. You are lucky that I have not yet ordered my men to detain the lot of you."
I could see that Stromsburg and Jasom were getting frustrated. I could also see that the guards were itching to throw us out of the mayor's house, waiting only for a signal. I could see that the mayor would never take our words of warning seriously. He couldn't and it was unfortunately understandable.
I touched Jasom and Stromsburg's shoulders, signaling them to cease their attempts.
"A wise decision, sir!" I said, bowing. "We only come as friends to give you this warning. Our job is done. We shall now depart."
The guards led us outside and slammed the door behind us.
"Well that was a waste of our time," Jasom muttered.
"I don't think we tried hard enough," Stromsburg added.
"It wasn't a waste of our time, and there is absolutely nothing we can say to them tonight that would completely convince them," I said as I led the way towards the well where we had our chocobos tethered.
Only peacekeepers walked the streets now, armed and wary of our presence. Jasom and Stromsburg caught another glimpse of the fields.
"I have a mind to set the fields on fire tonight just to scare them away," he said softly in a whisper.
Stromsburg stopped on her tracks and thought about the idea. "That's not such a bad idea," she commented.
"That will not make them leave. They will stay and fight the fire. Farming had been their livelihood for generations. I'm sure they would succeed in beating the fire. And even if the fire consumes all of their crops, it's not reason enough for them to leave," I said after a quick thought.
"Maybe. But maybe we can do something else to scare them away," Stromsburg suggested.
"Like what?" I asked.
Both were silent for a long moment, thinking. Jasom frowned and sighed. "I wish I had a few sticks of those dynamites right about now. We could make it look like the attack was already happening."
"Agreed. But I'm beginning to think that running away isn't the best course of action," I replied.
"What do you mean?"
"The Empire needs to see something done. If I lead the march tomorrow to a ghost town, we're likely to get new orders from the Council to move on to the next village."
"Great!" Stromsburg exclaimed in exasperation. "So now what?"
I resumed my walk and they followed. "I don't know," I said honestly. I was lost. The mayor's pacifistic plan gave me a bit of comfort when he suggested it. Perhaps I could work on that. But how?
When we arrived at the well in front of the town hall, I noticed that our chocobos have been busy pecking at the ground, eating fat wheat kernels. I let my mind wander off our primary concern to sate my curiosity. Looking at the ground around us, I noticed that there was a greater concentration of spilled grain around the well than anywhere else. The thought made me look around the village again. At night time, however, only certain spots were illuminated by the lanterns. The brightest one came from the village sign.
"Welcome to Maranda," I read out loud. Jasom and Stromsburg turned their eyes towards the sign and admired the red dragon lantern cluster.
Reading the sign sparked a memory in my head. I saw myself back in Vector, sitting on the captain's chair at the Intel headquarters. I saw myself picking up the curious novelty item with a sign that said the same words. Difference was that the real sign were on erected posts rather than being painted on a miniature--
My eyes darted from one direction to the other. I scanned my surroundings with one complete turn. My companions noticed my sudden alert. To them, it looked like I was in search of an enemy lurking in the shadows. It made them uneasy.
"What's wrong?" Jasom asked in a whisper, looking around him, too.
Just to be sure, I scanned the village again with one more full turn. "This village..."
"What?" Stromsburg asked, confused.
"This village is wrong," I answered. "Look around you carefully and tell me what's missing!"
Stromsburg did as they were told, intrigued.
"I see nothing but houses and fields."
"Exactly! Look at how vast the fields are. They're harvesting all of it this week."
"So?" Stromsburg asked again with a frown, wondering why we were wasting our time with something seemingly trivial.
"So...where are they storing them?"
This made them look around, one more time. Finally, Jasom noted, "There's not a granary in sight!"
Stromsburg agreed. She thought it odd and tried to find an explanation for it. "Maybe they don't store it here. Maybe they transport it as soon as they reap."
"Maybe. Or maybe we just can't see where they store their grain," I hypothesized.
"Excuse me but how is this important?" she said impatiently.
I didn't want to answer that question for I wasn't sure myself. "It's not," I said. "Just an observation." The peacekeepers watched us intently, waiting for us to leave their village. "Let's go."
"But what about the village?" Stromsburg asked.
"There's nothing we can do here," I replied glumly. Jasom looked dejected.
"We've come all this way for nothing," she said, sounding defeated.
"It wasn't a complete waste of time. Though they did not believe us, they will half-expect the attack tomorrow. They should, at least, prepare for the worst. Also, now I know what their plan is. They will not fight back. Maybe I can work something out back in Vector," I explained. The both of them didn't look too positive. "Jasom, please check the saddles on our chocs again."
Jasom acted quickly but silently. I knew that his mind was still racing to come up with something that we could do in the village. I knew Stromsburg was, too. I, on the other hand, found myself astonished by my discovery about the village. I couldn't shake off the growing curiosity within me.
Why is this important? I'm obsessing! I thought as I walked around the well, looking around for granaries. They have to store it somewhere.
The wind blew gently from the north, rustling the trees and moving the lanterns around us. I thought I had heard a voice whispering to me. My first reaction was to tap the earpiece that I was not wearing, thinking that Guardian was trying to contact me. It could not have been it. We were too far away from Vector.
I heard a whisper again though I did not understand it. It seemed to come from the blowing wind. The whisper was accompanied by a sense of familiarity. I could not immediately recall how this was so.
I felt dizzy all of a sudden. I staggered back towards the well, leaned on the pole that held a section of the rainbow snake up above it. The soft whispers continued, still incoherent. My eyes blurred, though they did not dim.
"General?" Jasom asked softly when he noticed me.
I couldn't respond to his concerned call. I was gasping for breath as the world continued to spin around me. Lightning flashed around me--no thunder.
It's happening again!
"Celes!"
I felt myself falling. I felt a brief moment of impact before the cold enveloped me. I couldn't breathe. I was still awake, but I had no control of my body. I knew where I was.
I was back in the swirling realm.