Author's Note: Greetings everyone! I want to say thanks again for the feedback. And in this chapter I wanted to point out that I will not have every single moogle that lives in Madain Sari involved in the chapter, because I'm sure someone will ask the question, "Where are all the other moogles?" Other than that, please continue to read and review!

Welcome home, it's been too long; we missed you.
Welcome home, we've opened up the gates.
Welcome home, to your brothers and sister.
Welcome home, to an accident of birth—

"Accident of Birth"—Bruce Dickinson

A Time of Peace. A Time of War

Chapter XII

Eiko sighed as she entered Madain Sari. It had been a while since she returned home. But today was a sad homecoming.

"I'm home," Eiko said, but not with the same joy as normal.

"Lady Eiko!" shouted Morrison, as he flew towards her. "You're here! …I didn't think you'd come…And you brought Zidane, Dagger, Regent Cid, Lady Hilda, Captain Steiner, and General Beatrix…From what I can tell Miss Dagger looks to be with child."

"What do you mean she 'looks to be with child'! Can't you tell when a woman's pregnant?"

"Uh, no, I didn't mean that…"

Eiko smiled. "Thank you, Morrison. I needed that."

"Needed what?"

"Someone to say something stupid…It helps me remember the good times here…Please tell me what happened to Moco?"

Morrison nodded. "It happened two weeks ago, but…"

"Two weeks ago? I only learned about it yesterday, and it happened two weeks ago! …Just what the hell's going on!"

Morrison sighed. "I'm sorry; I guess that explains why it took you so long to arrive. I guess the reason why it took you so long to receive my letter is that Mognet must be having problems."

"…Yeah, I guess so!"

"…Look, why don't we go over to your house and talk about what happened there? Lani's there, and she can help explain what happened as well."

Eiko nodded, and she and the party followed Morrison.

For the last two years, Lani—the would be assassin hired by Queen Brahne to kill then Princess Garnet—has been living a life of seclusion. Only briefly has she visited the Mist Continent since living in Madain Sari. The last time was around the time that Zidane returned to Alexandria.

"Hello, Eiko," she began with a warm smile. "And hello as well to Zidane, Garnet, Captain Steiner, General Beatrix, Regent Cid, Lady Hilda, and Morrison!"

Lani paused to examine Garnet's belly. "I heard a rumor that the Queen of Alexandria was pregnant, but I guess seeing truly is believing…Why don't I fix all of you a drink?"

Zidane smirked. "This is quite interesting. You go from wanting to chop our heads off with your blade to becoming a homemaker."

Lani returned the smirk. "Similar to how you've gone from being a thief to making babies."

Everyone laughed at Zidane, and Garnet kissed his cheek.

When Lani returned with the party's drinks, Zidane noticed a large scar underneath her chin. "Where'd you get that?"

"Huh?"

Zidane pointed underneath his chin.

"Oh, that, well…that's going to involve the incident about what happened to Moco."

"So what happened?" asked Eiko.

Lani took a sip of wine. "Two weeks ago, Morrison charged into the house looking for me. He said that Moco was in need of some help. Isn't that how you remembered it, Morrison?"

Morrison nodded. "Yes, it is. Two armed men were observing the Eidolon Wall, and were apparently going to enter it. Moco asked me to get Lani, because he believed that he'd need her help."

Garnet nodded. "So then what happened?"

"I grabbed my axe and headed for the Wall. When I arrived I confronted the two armed men that Morrison mentioned. They were about the same height, although one of the men had dark hair, while the other had light hair. I informed them that, that Wall was sacred ground, and that they couldn't enter.

Their response was to draw their swords, and I drew my axe. But unfortunately I was outnumbered, and they struck me down."

Lani paused, and pointed to her scar. "This scar that I'm left with was the result of that battle. It was an insult for me to lose in such a way…But it was absolutely un-honorable to watch what happened to Moco."

"You watched him get killed!" replied Eiko.

Lani nodded. "From the ground, I did…It was absolutely distasteful. Moco was trying to defend the Wall, but he was unarmed…It would've been more honorable if they'd killed me instead."

"Why didn't the other moogles help him?"

"With what secret weapon?" replied Morrison. "We were unarmed."

"So you just stood by and watched while one of your brothers got killed?"

Morrison said nothing.

"Hmph! I see! Nothing but a bunch of cowards then!"

"Don't get so mad at them, Eiko," responded Lani. "They were unarmed. Someone who's unarmed can't defeat one person, let alone two people with swords!"

"They could if they had courage!"

"That's being a little too reckless, Eiko," replied Regent Cid.

Eiko sighed. "I guess you're right, Father."

And she turned to Morrison. "I'm sorry, Morrison. Do you know what they wanted?"

"They wanted to learn how to summon eidolons."

"I think I'm seeing a pattern here," interjected Zidane. "I wonder if one of those two men didn't work for Haldan, or if one of them wasn't Haldan himself!"

"Hmm," began Steiner, "I haven't seen Haldan in a long time, but I remember that he had dark hair and eyes."

"Which fits the description of one of the men in the story," replied Hilda.

"But which also fits the description of a lot of men on Gaia," added Garnet.

Zidane placed his chin between his thumb and first finger. "Now that you mention it, Steiner's description of Haldan just made me think of something."

"What's that?" asked Garnet.

"I never told you this before, but do you remember the other day when we arrived in Lindblum; and I said I was going to visit the boys in Tantalus?"

"Yes."

"Well, as we were leaving the Theater District I encountered this man who glared at me. I had never met the man before, but he was armed; and he had dark hair and eyes…I wonder if that couldn't have been Haldan!"

"Possible," replied Regent Cid, "but you certainly wouldn't want to accuse everyone you see with dark hair and eyes as Haldan. After all, your wife has dark hair and eyes…"

"But she's also a woman."

Cid sighed. "The point, Zidane, is that it'd be foolish to start a witch hunt over men with dark hair and eyes."

Zidane laughed. "Don't worry, Regent, I understood what you meant…I just thought it was funny that you compared my wife to Haldan."

But Garnet glared. "I don't know where you'd find the humor in that, Zidane."

Zidane blushed. He was embarrassed, and everybody laughed at him, until Beatrix restored the party's focus.

"Wait! I remember Eiko saying something about a jewel being needed to summon. Did either of those two men have one of those?"

"I don't know," replied Morrison.

"Neither do I," added Lani.

"Where would one of those jewels be?" asked Garnet.

"Probably in the storage room behind the house," responded Eiko. "But like I said yesterday, I don't know if there was one there or not."

Lani sighed. "I hate to tell you this, Eiko, but…"

"Yes?"

"But that room was trashed when the attacks took place."

"What! All the mementos of my tribe?"

Lani nodded. "Yes, they were tossed all over that room…But…I did my best to put everything back in place."

"I have to look!"

"We'll go with you," replied Zidane.

Although Eiko was terrified at what she might find, Lani did wonderful job placing the summoner tribe's relics back to their original location.

Eiko breathed a sigh of relief. "Everything looks good. Thank you for taking care of our relics."

"You're welcome."

Zidane stared at the relics. "I don't see any sign of a jewel, do you?"

"Again, Zidane, I don't know if there was one here or not."

"But even if there wasn't," began Regent Cid, "it was obvious that's what those two men were looking for."

"How do you know?" asked Zidane.

"Well, Zidane, isn't it obvious? They trashed the storage room, and they were apparently looking for information on summoning. Why wouldn't they be looking for a summoner's jewel?"

"They could've been looking for a book too."

"But none of my books're missing," interjected Eiko.

Hilda sighed. "I think it's certainly debatable to determine what specifically they were searching for, but what we can agree on is that it was related to summoning eidolons."

Everyone in the room nodded. And then, Eiko turned to Lani.

"Lani, where's Maco buried?"

"Near the Eidolon Wall…me and the other moogles thought it'd be an appropriate place."

Eiko nodded. "Please take me there."

With her friends beside her, Lani directed Eiko to Moco's freshly dug grave. It was a rather simple headstone with the words:

Moco
Died fulfilling his duty of defending the Eidolon Wall

Eiko smiled. "I can't cry anymore…Crying won't do any good anyway. But it's just so weird…I've been on this planet for nearly nine years, and my life seems to be full of death—my parents, grandparents, and now Moco."

"But there's also life too," replied Hilda, while she placed her arms on Eiko's shoulders.

"Try to think about the good times, Eiko," Zidane said, "not only with Moco, but with all of us too!"

"Our trip together was certainly a fun time," added Garnet. "And I think it'll be a fun time when the baby's born. It'll be carrying on the lineage of the summoner tribe."

Eiko smiled. "It won't be fun for you, Dagger! You won't enjoy enduring all the labor pains, until he finally pops out!"

"Or her," added Zidane with a smile.
"Shut up, Zidane!"

Everyone laughed at Zidane, and Zidane laughed at himself.

After the laughter was over, Zidane grabbed Garnet's hand and asked, "So, what do we do now?"

"We return to Lindblum," replied Cid.

"And then what?"

"We await the return of my report."

"Report?" asked Garnet.

Cid nodded. "Yes, report. I sent spies into Alexandria before we left. It'll let us know the situation there."