Julia Heartilly loved the night.
As a child, she always loved staying up late to watch the stars. She'd stay outside and gaze at them for hours until her parents ordered her to bed.
As she grew up, it was no longer the stars that she watched at night, but the people. At 16, she would sneak out of the house and into the tavern at Galbadia Inn to watch the performers. She'd sit and listen to the lady on the piano until the tavern closed and she'd have to leave and go back home.
One night, on her way back home, she encountered Mai Tinaly, the young woman who'd been playing the piano that night. Ms. Tinaly had noticed Julia watching, and offered to teach her to play.
One thing led to another, and a few years later she was the one behind the piano.
There was a young man, Laguna Loire, who'd been going to the tavern since before she'd first walked in. During her first performance, she noticed his eyes light up as her recognized her as the young girl who usually sat in front. She had caught him staring at her a few times, though he'd never spoken to her. She only knew his name from overhearing his friends talking to him.
Laguna was a Galbadian soldier, like most of the men who came to watch her play. He was different than the others, though. His eyes were bright like a child's, and one would never be able to guess that he was fighting in a war.
On the night he first waved to her, she knew she needed to talk to him.
His expression when she approached him was priceless. When he watched her, hadn't he had any idea that she had been watching him, too?
He was the first that she told that she was interested in singing. It was fitting, since he was the inspiration for her first song, Eyes on Me. She took comfort in his encouragement, and looked forward to singing the song to him.
As luck would have it, though, that night was the last time she saw Laguna. She released her song, and never knew if he ever heard it.
Had the war taken him? Or had him simply lost his interest in her? She would never know, and it would have been foolish to dwell on him. She had to live her life, after all.
She married, started a family. As she sung her beautiful daughter to sleep, she looked out the window and remembered… Even though she would likely never see Laguna Loire again, they'd always have that one night; a night of conversation, and a thousand nights before that of glances.
"I kind of liked it your way," She sang softly, Rinoa cradled in her arms, "How you shyly placed your eyes on me… And did you ever know that I had mine on you?"
Her voice carried on through the night, a lullaby to Galbadia.