"Hey old timer!" Her voice rang clear and Squall peered over his paper, a young couple stood behind Rinoa. "Go inside and fetch the pie on the counter... and some plates!" She smiled at him, the same bright smile that somehow won him, eyes bright with just as much life as she had always had.
He set his newspaper down on the glass table beside the chair and shuffled up and out of his seat, leaning heavily on his cane. "I can't find something else?" He was protective of those pies, but he already knew the answer. Rinoa shook her head a little and he chuckled and obeyed, he knew he couldn't say no anyway.
Rinoa sat down in the chair he had vacated; she liked the warmth, while the couple took two chairs opposite. Smiling only to herself, Rinoa knew that the couple who was acting so casual now would suddenly become very awkward and formal once they realized the great sorceress and the old presidents wife sat before them. She had mentioned her name in passing, but there were so many Rinoa's that it certainly hadn't struck them as unusual. Secretly she liked it, and she liked getting Squall a bit worked up too.
Coming out with a stack of four plates and four forks, of course only the best for the guests, a warm strawberry pie and a pie server, Squall found his chair beside Rinoa, already having guessed she'd stolen his. "Do I also have to serve the pie?" Squall looked at her, guilting her a bit, serving his pie to others.
"No I'll do that." She took the pie server from him and carved up four large pieces. "Didn't you know women are better about making portions?" As the three laughed Squall noticed how much the young woman was like Rinoa, flowers in her hair, bright eyes, and the same warmth. "So what are you two doing here?"
The woman glanced at her partner, husband or otherwise Rinoa couldn't guess. "Holiday... our last summer before school is over." The boy responded, swallowing a chunk of the pie. He looked a bit hungry so Rinoa briefly considered inviting them for lunch. By briefly she more or less promptly asked them, knowing Squall would respond with his same old fashioned grump, and glare at her for a second. They nodded after a few seconds, knowing that a home made meal wasn't quite the same as the fabulous five course meal waiting at the hotel, but they had decided they only lived once.
"I suppose I'll make that new recipe I wanted to try." Rinoa mused as she stood up, "I'll leave you three out here for a little while, don't worry about Squall too much, he might seem a little bitter, but he's wonderful." She waltzed inside with her flowers, grinning slightly.
". . ." Squall looked at the two across the table, their eyes slightly wider than he remembered. "I guess I haven't said hello to either of you yet. I'm Squall Leonhart, this is my home, and that was my wonderful wife." In the years since he was president of Esthar his looks had faded, and though he had some semblance of the young man made famous, age had taken what had stood him apart from so many others. Even the scar that had marked the bridge of his nose had faded.
They straightened up, the girl blushing slightly, feeling so improper. "You're really Squall Leonhart?" She asked shyly, this sort of thing was once in a lifetime, and it was sort of unreal for her. He nodded and pulled out his necklace, which had been a sigil for the campaign Rinoa had launched for his first election.
"In the flesh. We spend the last of our years on this little plot of land, so I certainly hope you don't spread it around that you met either of us here, it's a miracle our house hasn't ever been swarmed, Rinoa invites practically everyone she runs across over." Perhaps it was his older age, or the years with Rinoa, but Squall had changed from the once reclusive man to a somewhat social man, or at least he didn't mind Rinoa's company much anymore.
"Goodness sir, that will be no problem." The young man said, feeling it was time for a proper introduction. "My name is Duncan... and this is my fiancée Avin." He bowed slightly in his chair, not sure if any other action would be appropriate. "Had I realized this was yours..." He wasn't sure what to add, what would he have done if he'd known it was the great presidents home?
"Oh don't bother yourself too much," he reached over to his pie plate and finished it off, "Rinoa wouldn't be as happy as she is if she didn't get the occasional unexpected guest. She always has been more social than I am. And don't call me sir, I'm no longer a president, and the whole sorceress business is long done with. I'm just an old man who sits on his porch most mornings, just like any other old man." Modesty was something he had definitely retained through the years.
Avin twiddled her thumbs a little bit, unsure of how to sit or hold her hands, or much of anything else. Secretly she had believed the man sitting across the table was some kind of god. Her mother had been a member of the same Garden he'd gone to school at, and she told stories as if she had been his best friend growing up.
"Come to think of it... Avin... your last name wouldn't happen to be Kinneas would it?" Friends that he had lost contact with so many years ago. She shook her head, slightly confused. "Hmmm... a friend from a long time ago had a daughter with the same name. But the world is rarely quite that small."
"Well... my mom did tell stories about you." Avin held out a picture from her purse, the image was familiar to Squall, but no name came forth. "Her name was Hanee. She died a few years ago, but she always talked as if she had been there for everything."
Ahhh yes... that was her name, the one they had called the Library Girl. "I remember your mother, but she wasn't there for everything... I'm sorry for your loss. Your mother spent many years with one of us though; he passed on before they could marry. I don't suppose she told you many stories about him?" She shook her head a little bit, although she had always felt her mom had some regret in her life that was left unsaid. "Not surprised, after that we never really heard from her." Rinoa came out with four glasses and a pitcher of some fruity drink she had made for years, like so many other things, it was her own recipe.
"Lunch will be ready in a few minutes; I certainly hope you three are enjoying yourselves." Her elbow found its way to Squall's shoulder, as if to say be more friendly. She could sense the overarching sadness their conversation had taken on. "Hope you are all still hungry!" She swished back inside almost catching her dress in the door.
They all laughed together, Rinoa had a way of lightening even the darkest mood. "But enough talk of the past and loss, when are you two planning to wed?" It seemed an appropriate question, and Rinoa would love to hear a discussion about weddings.
"Oh it'll be a couple of years down the road, get ourselves established and all that." The man took a sip of the concoction and then chugged his glass. "Where did you two marry?" Squall extended his finger toward the cliff.
"Right over there, about this time of year actually. My god that was 50 some years ago." It was rare that his age actually sank in, after a point it had started to go so fast that years seemed like months, and before he had a chance to catch his breath, he was about to turn 78. After a long pause his voice came out clear "Goodness... they always say the years fly by but it really is true." He poured himself a glass and sipped it quietly, looking out at the field and seeing all the things that had happened there. "You know, so many things happened here. So I'll share a story, since we still have a few minutes before Rinoa brings out her tray of food. And whether or not you care to hear, you'll just have to enjoy it." He glanced at the couple, and smiled at them, something he still very rarely did.
"I suppose I'll share the story almost everyone wants to hear, about Time Kompression as Ultimecia called it. We spent more time there than anyone really knows, watching from the outside as a city was created and left in its ruins at the same time. It's not something I could ever explain as it should be explained, Rinoa can almost do it justice, but she's always been the story teller." He took another sip from his glass, "In any case, the castle of the great sorceress was chained to the beach that our cliffs overlook. This place holds some kind of importance in all aspects of my life it seems." Pulling a card from his pocket, he examined it, and remembered the giant beast. "There were things far worse than death in that castle." He passed it to Duncan, and returned his eyes to the field. "That I found on the ground, next to the body of the Omega weapon after we killed it. I have never faced something as horrendous as that..."
As he took a breath to continue, Rinoa came out with an even larger tray, bouncing despite her bodies' weakness. "Lunch is served!" The tray found its way between everything on the crowded table, and perhaps it was for the best that the story was interrupted, it had been left untold for so many years for a reason. "Has he been accommodating?" Sometimes she didn't trust leaving him alone with others, half the time she didn't even like leaving him alone at all. "Looks like he showed you the card. Count yourselves lucky, the amount of people who have seen it I can count on both my hands." She reached for it, knowing that it was cryptic and dark, and she hated that Squall always had it, but she understood, it was why Zell had died. The younger couple returned it to the older couple, and they all filled their once pie plates with salads and meats and cheeses, and dips and all sorts of things that Rinoa had filled the tray with.
"So do you have a location picked out for your wedding?" Rinoa had vaguely overheard that part of the conversation, and she did love a good wedding. "Because if you don't, WE would love to have it in this field." The emphasis on WE because she knew Squall would have SOMETHING to say about it, but Rinoa always had, and always would wear the pants in the relationship.
Squall's eyes grew, he almost felt she had crossed some sort of line, but after a second he realized how much he agreed with the offer. The couple had won him over in some way, and it was something he wanted to see from the crowd, he could only imagine it as something like their own.
The couple looked at each other awkwardly, "We already had a place picked out, but it was a very kind offer. It's actually going to be held at the chapel her mother was married at." Rinoa nodded, understanding the importance of family tradition, though she had very little of either. "But we would like to see both of you their." It was quite a step, inviting two people they had barely met to their wedding, but it had also been quite a step for Rinoa to offer her own home.
"We would love to be there." Rinoa smiled as she took a few more bites, Squall nodding, holding his wife's hand. "After all, I have never met a girl who reminds me so much of myself." Had Squall and Rinoa never had children, she would have offered her art to Avin, but her own daughter was the only one Rinoa cared to give her greatest strength and weakness to. Something about the strength of the very little family she had, and the same tradition that lead Avin and Duncan to having their wedding the same place as Avin's mother.
"You two will live very long and full lives." Rinoa could simply feel it in the air between them. "And I must say it's been wonderful to have your company. But the afternoon wears on and I'm sure you have some extravagant party to get ready for." Rinoa winked at the two, casually highlighting the fact that Squall was preparing to fall asleep in his chair. Though he had some small fire left inside, he was still an old man, and old men need their naps.
Avin and Duncan both took a small bag of food with them as they set off across the field, Rinoa giving them the bundle of her daily flowers, and saying that if nothing else, they must let her arrange the bouquet. They had agreed. Squall leaned against the frame of the door, realizing that somehow, that girl had won him just like Rinoa had, and Duncan, just like himself, was one of the luckiest men on earth.