Chapter 5 – And So It Begins
Kylah lounged casually on the couch in the suite she shared with Squall, an ice pack on her bruised hip, as she looked over reports that had been sent by messenger from Laguna's office. She winced in pain as she shifted her leg, an unkind reminder of the beating her body had taken earlier that day.
Throughout the afternoon, she had seen several questioning glances thrown toward Squall as people speculated on the appearance of a rather nasty shiner beneath his right eye. Grinning, she congratulated herself on giving him such a visible reminder of the bottom of her foot.
Interrupting her reading, Squall entered the room and dropped a large stack of papers on the table in front of her. "You need to read these," he said, shortly. "They're the latest reports on Gabaldian activity sent from Laguna."
Before she even had a chance to ask him what was in the reports, he spun around and strode out of the suite. Kylah fumed as she stared at the large stack. Great. So much for free time for the evening. It would have been much easier if he had simply summarized the contents of the reports for her, as it appeared that he had already read them himself. Steam practically rolling out of her ears, she picked up the first page on the stack and began reading.
A soft knock at the door drew her attention away from the reports. "Come in!" she called, unwilling to get up and remove the cold ice from her hip.
Ellone entered the room, and peered around. "Can I come in? Or am I interrupting something important?"
"Yes, you are interrupting something important, and I'm so glad you are. Please, come in!" Kylah gestured for the other woman to have a seat on another couch.
Surveying Kylah's position, Ellone gestured toward the ice pack. "What happened?"
"I think it was repayment for the black eye that I gave Squall," she admitted, cringing.
"He hit you?" Ellone sounded stunned.
"We were sparring," Kylah explained. "It got just a tad out of hand."
"A tad?" came the reply, with a quirked eyebrow.
Looking over her hip, and remembering the bruises on her shoulder, arms, wrists, and backside, Kylah responded, "Okay, maybe more than a tad…"
Ellone chuckled. "You make it sound like you and Squall don't get along too well."
"To be perfectly honest, we really don't. I was more than a little surprised when Cid assigned us both to this mission."
"Why is that? I mean, I know Squall isn't always the most pleasant person to be around, but he's not impossible to live with."
"You couldn't prove that by me," Kylah retorted, shaking her head. "He's usually generally hostile and grouchy toward me."
"Don't take it personally," Ellone said, sympathetically. "He's had a rough time. In general, he has a hard time dealing with people."
"Oh?"
Elle took a deep breath. "You know that he grew up in an orphange?" Kylah nodded. Squall had told her as much. "I was there with him for a time. Kind of his big sister. Then I had to leave because the Sorceress Adel was looking for me. I hated to leave him all alone, but I didn't have a choice." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "It took him years to learn to trust others. Finally he met someone who taught him that it was okay to rely on someone else. To care about others. Rinoa."
Kylah nodded. She had heard about Squall's wife, and her untimely death.
"When Rinoa died, to Squall it was as if everything he had believed as a child was proven. That if he allowed himself to care about someone, they would leave, or be taken away." She paused a moment, considering. "I suppose that's why he has such a difficult time being a real father to Cass. He's afraid that, if he allows himself to care about her too much, something will happen to her."
Ellone's words tumbled around in Kylah's mind. "That's a depressing way to live," she said, finally.
"It is," Ellone agreed.
"I guess I understand him a little better. I'm still not sure how to handle him."
"You'll figure it out. The rest of us have."
Later that evening, Kylah and Squall silently sat opposite each other in their sitting room, both engrossed in reports from Laguna's office. The president was insistent that if they were going to be on his payroll that they be well informed.
Personally, Kylah thought that it just got him out of reading the reports himself.
Covertly, she stole a glance over at Squall. He was scowling at the paper in his hand as he lounged on the couch. She had a nice view of his right cheek from where she sat, and found herself feeling a little guilty for the large bruise that glared back from around his eye.
"I'm sorry I blacked your eye," she finally said, a bit sheepishly.
Squall looked up in surprise. There she was, sitting back with an ice pack resting on her hip and apologizing for injuries that she had inflicted on him? He had beaten her, and she was sorry?
"Yeah, well…" he replied, gruffly, "sorry about your hip."
She glanced down at the melting ice pack. "It's okay. I'll recover."
Laying aside her report with a sigh, Kylah addressed Squall. "Look, we need to talk."
"What about?" he asked grouchily, avoiding her gaze. He fought to keep a flush out of his cheek as he remembered the incident in the conference room that afternoon.
"We were paid, and paid well might I add, to do a job here. If we continue the way we're going, neither one of us are going to do a very good job. We're supposed to be a team, but we've barely spoken in two days, besides the fact that we nearly killed each other in what was supposed to be a friendly sparring match."
He finally raised his eyes to meet hers. "Yeah, I know."
"I proposed a truce on the train ride here, and I meant it. I'd like to up that offer, though." She took a deep breath and plunged ahead. "I'll be the first to admit that we got off to a bad start. How about we start over and try being friends for a change?"
He mulled her offer over in his mind. Friends? Yeah, he had female friends. Selphie and Quistis for starters. But, well this was different. This was Kylah. The woman who seemed to bring out the worst in him.
Maybe that was why he disliked her so much.
With a sigh, he admitted to himself that Kylah was probably right. Maybe they could be friends. Nodding his assent, he finally replied, "Okay, we'll give it a shot."
She smiled. "Good. Now, for starters, how about we discuss what we've both read in these stinkin' reports so that both of us don't have to plow through this mountain of papers."
He nodded. "Actually, I wanted to ask you a question about those reports."
"Okay, shoot."
"I noticed several places in the papers that, most likely, an Ambassador Deraldi would be attending the summit to negotiate on behalf of Gabaldia. Any relation?"
A slight scowl crept up on Kylah's face. Wrinkling her pert nose, she nodded. "Yeah. My father."
Squall nodded, assessing the situation. "Are you going to be able to negotiate with him?"
"Are you kidding? I've been negotiating with him my entire life," she scoffed, looking offended by the very idea that she couldn't hold her own.
"I mean," he retorted, "can you negotiate without letting your emotions get in the way?"
"I understand your concern," she replied, coolly. "However, I've met with Ambassador Deraldi in the political arena many times in the past few years, and have been able to successfully deal with him without any emotional entanglements."
"If you're sure," Squall responded. He made mental note to keep his eye on the situation throughout the week.
"I'm very sure," she shot back, her voice full of confidence.
Looking very distinguished and professional, Kylah and Squall both strode purposefully down the corridors of the Presidential Palace. They were each dressed in crisply pressed SeeD uniforms, which gave each of them the illusion of being calm, cool, and in charge.
The duo was following along behind Laguna, Kiros, and Ward. Laguna, much to Kylah's surprise, looked quite dashing that morning in a suit and tie. Or, he would have looked quite dashing if he weren't fidgeting, pulling at his collar, and tugging at his coat sleeves.
"I hate this thing," he was grumbling to Kiros. "Why do I have to wear this again? Wouldn't it be alright just to wear my normal stuff?"
Kiros rolled his eyes. "No way, Laguna. The Gabaldian President will be dressed accordingly. So should you."
Kylah fought back a snicker. How Laguna had ever become president of such a large nation was beyond her. He was likable enough, but the formality and ceremony that the position sometimes required just didn't suit his personality.
"Well, this is it," Laguna said with a sigh as they reached the conference room door. "Are you guys ready for this?" he addressed Squall and Kylah.
Squall merely nodded.
"Yes, sir," Kylah responded. "Ready and waiting."
"Here goes nothing!" Laguna reached up and straightened his tie. Squaring his shoulders, he opened the door to the conference room and strode in with purpose and confidence.
"President Caraway, thank you for coming. Welcome to Esthar. I trust that your visit has been pleasant so far."
Pasting a smile on her face, Kylah followed him into the room to greet them. She had to admit, she was very impressed by the, well, presidential way that Laguna carried himself into the negotiations.
Squall froze in the doorway as his eyes rested on the face of the Gabaldian president. President Caraway. It had never dawned on him that his late wife's father would naturally be attending these negotiations. He was, after all, the current president of Gabaldia. He groaned inwardly as he remembered the last meeting that he'd had with his father-in-law, on the day of Rinoa's funeral.
It hadn't been pleasant, to say the least.
"What's he doing here?" President Caraway spat out, glaring at Squall.
Laguna looked up in surprise. "Well, he's, uh, well, that is…."
"Commander Leonhart," Kylah interjected, coming to Laguna's aid, "is here at the request of President Loire for these negotiations. I suggest any personal feelings should be put aside so that we can focus on the matters at hand." She shot President Caraway a pointed look.
Caraway looked as if he might say something else, but thought better of it. He shot Squall another cold look, and then took his seat, gesturing for Laguna to do the same. It was no secret that he blamed Squall for his daughter's death. In his mind, if she had never gotten involved with Squall then she would still be alive.
Bringing the bright smile back to her face, she offered her hand to her father who stood behind President Caraway. "Ambassador Deraldi," she greeted him professionally. "Always a pleasure."
The look on the Ambassador's face reflected that he had not been aware that it would be Kylah who negotiated on behalf of Esthar. His face paled briefly, and he shakily took his daughter's hand.
"Ms. Deraldi," he acknowledged. "The pleasure is all mine."
Laguna looked back and forth between the two. "Is there something I should know, here?" he whispered to Kiros, who shrugged helplessly. He made a mental note to ask Kylah about it later.
"Now, gentlemen, we have a lot to accomplish over the next few days," Kylah began, taking a seat in the middle of the table. Both presidents sat opposite each other, each adjacent to the side that Kylah now occupied. Deciding to keep his distance from the actual negotiations, Squall crossed his arm and leaned against the wall near the door. "Let's get down to business."
"Have you lost your mind?" Laguna fumed, throwing a stack of papers back on the conference room table. "Esthar would get screwed five different ways in that agreement, and none of them in a fun way!"
"What President Loire is trying to say," Kylah interrupted, shooting Laguna a dirty look, "is that these terms are unacceptable to the Estharian government, as they feel that Gabaldia would be the only one benefiting from this agreement."
She paused, rubbing her temples with her fingertips. "Gentlemen, we've been at this table for several hours now, and really have not accomplished very much. My suggestion is that we table negotiations for the day and pick back up tomorrow when we're all feeling more fresh and alert."
"Fine by me," Laguna responded. "I'm ready to throw in the towel for the day."
"I agree," replied Caraway. "Maybe it is time for a break." He stood, taking Kylah's hand to shake it. "Ms. Deraldi, always a pleasure." Next, he shook Laguna's hand. "President Loire." With a final parting glare in Squall's direction, Caraway turned on his heel and led his advisors out of the room toward their guest suite.
"Kylah, I shall see you tomorrow," Ambassador Deraldi addressed her, nodded to the remainder of the room, and then followed his president out of the room.
Once they had left, Kylah dropped her aching head into her arms on the table.
"Hey, you okay?" Laguna asked, rubbing her shoulder with concern.
Raising her head, she peered at him with a frustrated look. "You know, negotiating a peace treaty between Shiva and Ifrit would be easier than trying to get the two of you to agree on something."
Laguna scratched the back of his neck and looked at her sheepishly.
"Oh, don't give me that 'aw-shucks' routine. You're paying me to negotiate a treaty between your two countries. If BOTH parties don't cooperate, it's going to be very difficult for me to accomplish my mission objectives."
"Okay, okay," he relented. "I'll try to be more…accommodating tomorrow."
"Thank you." She stood, stretching out tired muscles as she did so.
"So, uh, what's the deal between you and the friendly Ambassador," Laguna asked. "I mean, you do have the same last name and all…."
Kylah sighed. She'd been prepared for that question. "Ambassador Deraldi is my father," she explained. "We are not on good terms, however, and don't often speak. Rest assured that this will not affect my ability to negotiate successfully on behalf of Esthar."
"I wasn't worried," Laguna assured her. "I think you proved today that you can be a tough cookie when you need to be."
She chuckled. "Thanks. I'm going to head to my suite now, and take a hot bath. Something tells me I'm going to need all the relaxation I can find this week." With that, she collected her paperwork, and strode out of the room.
A while later, Kylah lay cozily on the couch in her suite, a cool cloth over her eyes in an attempt to relieve her pounding head. She had spent over an hour in a hot, relaxing bath, and was now clad in a comfortable blue satin nightgown and matching robe, fuzzy slippers covering her bare feet.
Squall had to admit, he felt a little sorry for her after the beating she had taken that day. He was impressed with her diplomatic skills, and her ability to remain calm in the negotiation room; however, even he could see where the dueling presidents and combative Gabaldian ambassador would wear on even the strongest of nerves.
"Here," he said, stepping up to the side of the couch. He held out both hands, offering her two aspirin and a glass of water. "This will help."
"Bless you," she responded in thanks, gratefully accepting his offering. She gulped down the pills, and then lay back against the couch cushions and recovered her eyes. "Do I really have to go back tomorrow?" she asked at length.
Squall shrugged. "I guess so."
She groaned. "In a way, I was hoping that it was all just a bad dream and I'd wake up tomorrow morning far away, back in Balamb Garden in my own bed."
With a thump, Squall sunk himself down onto the cushions at the other end of the couch.
He wasn't entirely sure what made him decide to sit with her. Maybe it was because she'd had such a bad day. Or, maybe he was getting a little more comfortable with her.
Finally peeking from beneath her cloth, Kylah peered at him. "Caraway sure has it out for you, doesn't he?"
Squall snorted. "You could say that."
"What's the history?"
He hesitated, not really comfortable discussing his private life with his colleague. After a moment, he relented slightly. "He's my father-in-law. He blames me for his daughter's death."
She winced. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry…"
Shrug. "It's okay. Not a big deal."
"Are you sure?" she asked, wondering if maybe he didn't blame himself a bit for what had happened to Rinoa.
He nodded. "Yeah. I mean, it's in the past. You can't change the past. Why dwell on it?"
It seemed to her that he dwelled on the past quite a bit, though maybe not consciously. She chose to side step that one. Sitting up, she rested her arms and her cheek against the back of the couch so that she could look at him a bit better. "Did you ever find out why Laguna wanted you on this mission?"
A slightly confused look crossed his face. "No, I didn't. I would say to back you up, but really you seem perfectly capable of handling yourself without help."
"Thanks," she replied, sincerely.
"Maybe he just wanted some SeeD visibility during negotiations. Let President Caraway know that he means business."
Kylah considered that possibility. "No," she finally said, "that doesn't seem like Laguna's style. He's bound to have a reason, just isn't choosing to share it yet."
Squall shrugged. "Who knows? Who cares? He wanted me here, and he's got me here."
"Don't you ever want to know why things happen?" Kylah asked him.
"Always asking 'why' complicates life too much," he responded, lounging against the back of the couch.
"Maybe life was meant to be complicated," she countered.
"Life's complicated enough without adding to it," he shot back.
A smile curved her lips. "Maybe so," she agreed. "But it sure does make things more interesting."