They took a tent from Rude's stores at the Fort, and then left the place, not bothering to look back at it as they set off on their way. Rude wasn't used to walking, and they had to take breaks often to rest their sore and injured limbs. Tseng was forced to admit to himself, grudgingly, that the Turks, though still the best, most elite fighting foce the planet had seen, were tired, broken, and out of practice. But everything, he insisted to the doubts in the back of his head, could be mended, and it would only be a matter of time before they were all back on par again with the legend of what they'd been.

For several days they crossed the plains, spending their nights camping in tents and sleeping on Elena's old numbered shirts from her days as a Chocobo jockey. On the way, they regaled Rude with the stories of where they'd all been over the years. Rude didn't talk much, he rarely contributed any details of his own, but he listened, soaking in the news of his friends that he'd missed after so long a time.

It seemed like it wasn't long before they were boarding the boat for Costa Del Sol, registered in borrowed or stolen names. Elena tried to keep her initials as best she could, registering as Electra. Tseng and Reno took on John and Jeremy, names in which they were easily lost. Rude couldn't seem to make up his mind on the issue.

"Let's stick with the J names," remarked Reno, considering Rude's indecision. "I think you'd be a dashing Jebediah."

Elena snorted. "That," she said, "is a name that even a mother would feel guilty about picking for her son." But Rude, not nearly as picky as Elena, stuck with the name, and they boarded the ship without too much hassle or difficulty.

They were all stowed away two adjacent cabins on board, Reno and Elena in one, Rude and Tseng in the other. On the second day of travel, Elena finally got fed up with her living arrangements, and felt the need to articulate her concerns to her boss.

"I don't understand," she insisted, while they all sat together in Tseng and Rude's cabin one night after a bit of dinner that they still had leftover from Elena's stores, "Why I have to bunk with him."

"You never had any problem with it before," Reno grinned. "You know, back in the good old days."

Elena glared at Reno. "I'm not sure what good old days you're referring to," she muttered, "You wish that's how it was."

Rude grinned, averting his eyes from his quarreling companions. "Cute," he murmured.

Elena stared at him. "Excuse me?" She said. "Oh for god's sake, you're no help at all."

Reno looke dawkward. "Yeah, well, you know you're just jealous."

Rude cocked his head questioningly. "Jealous of you?" He asked. Reno shook his head.

"Nah," he started, leaning back against Tseng's bed with a smile. "Jealous of her that she got to shack up with me!"

Elena snorted, but after a few moments, couldn't help laughing. Reno, pleased with himself, helped himself to another nutrition bar from the bag that contained their limited food. Elena, catching him, slapped his hand away, and Reno dropped the bar, throwing up his hands in defeat.

"And let me tell you," he muttered to Rude, with a sigh, "I wish I'd been set up differently, too."

"Stop complaining," Tseng commanded, looking down at the three of them from where he was seated on the top of the bunk he shared with Rude. "It's only, what, two more days till Costa del Sol? Deal with it, we've all been in worse situations."

"Yeah, yeah," Reno agreed, "I'm only playing." He craned his neck o watch Tseng leafing through some book or other that he had cradled in his lap. "Whatcha got there?"

Tseng shook his head, as if to imply that now was not the time for questions. He continued pouring over what looked to the others to be some sort of novella he'd brought with him from Kalm. Tseng had never been the kind for pleasure reading, though, or for that matter, for any pleasure at all, and his three companions knew it. Falling silent, Reno and Elena gave Rude a little wave, and then returned to their own cabin, to leave Tseng alone with his volumes and his thoughts.

Rude clambered up on to his bottom bunk, and regarded the bottom of Tseng's bunk silently for a few moments. He stretched himself out, waiting until he heard Tseng close the book with a snap before asking, "What's that?"

Tseng sighed. "The news," he muttered. "And nothing pleasant, either."

"Never is," Rude remarked astutely. Tseng nodded.

"You could say that again." He swung over the side of his bunk, and came down with a calculated plop next to Rude, who squeezed over to make some space for him on the end of the bed. Tseng shook his head, and sat on the floor across from Rude instead, holding up the slim volume that now proved, upon closer inspection, to be a news journal Tseng had picked up from one of the vendors aboard ship.Tseng reached out one long finger to point at a headline, and Rude moved forward to read it.

"Fort Condor burned to the ground in a fit of Phoenix Fire," the paper read. Rude stared at it for a few moments, then looked up to Tseng with a knowing, concerned grimace on his face. "Phoenix Fire, huh?" He asked.

Tseng nodded. "Did you see a bird when we were there?" He took the journal back, and set it down next to the bed. "Cause I sure as hell didn't, unless it was out finding food when we stayed."

Rude shook his head. "No bird," he muttered. "No Phoenix Fire, either."

"S'what I thought," agreed Tseng.

As Tseng reached up to the ladder behind the bunk to climb back into his own bed, Rude rolled over to try and get some sleep. He knew exactly what the headlines meant, but he'd learned long ago to try not to overthink. Overthinking, he thought, had always been Tseng's problem, since Tseng seemed incapable fo deriving joy from any particular situation. Instead, Rude found it more appropriate and more beneficial to take things as they came, not too look too far ahead, lest he find himself going in circles.

Even as he was dozing off, something banged against the door. Tseng looked up, waited, and the bang came again.

"Rude?" He asked warily. Rude nodded.

"Yeah," he said, "Heard it."

Cautiously, Tseng climbed down from his bunk, and crossed to the door.

"Open up," came a woman's voice. "Tseng, I know you're in there."

Tseng caught his breah.

"It's-!" Rude started, but Tseng waved a hand at him to cut him off. He stepped back slowly, even as Rude was jumping out of bed to meet him at the door.