Kildea knew it had been a mistake. She knew that it was a bad idea to have taken up Queen Garnet's kind offer of spending the night in one of the spare bedrooms in the castle. However, Blaine was the one who had taken up the offer in the first place, and he had told her that they would need to save the little gil they had left. Not wanting to be separated from Blaine in this fearful city, Kildea had given up trying to persuade him to stay at the inn.
Nightmares plagued Kildea's sleep. She dreamt of her friends screaming at her in terror, along with all the Burmecian refugees she had guided round the Cleyran settlement. They were all shrieking and crying in anguish and pain as they were hit with the powerful fire spells of the pointy-headed black demons. She then saw many of the dancers she had known, together with the King of Burmecia and the Cleyran High Priest. They too had expressions of fear all over their faces, with the dancers screaming and running around. Kildea watched in horror as a replay of Cleyra's destruction played through her mind, the dark eidolon warrior reducing her home, family and friends into nothing more than cinders and ash.
The Cleyran Oracle broke down, fell to her knees and began to weep at her loss. Everything had gone; everything she cared about had been destroyed. Yet amongst all the carnage and chaos that had taken place, she could hear laughter. Kildea's tear-stained face looked up and saw the face of Queen Brahne, filled with glee about the damage she had caused. The fat queen did not take any notice of Kildea, and when she calmed down slightly her face just faded away.
Kildea continued to cry, she thought she would never be able to overcome the grief caused by Alexandria's merciless assault on the Cleyran tree. She was then startled when she felt a small hand place itself on her shoulder.
"Why are you crying?" A small voice asked curiously.
Kildea turned to see who had addressed her, and she saw a small Burmecian child looking at her with interest. Not just any child though, Kildea recognised that it was the same child who had appeared in her dream of guiding the new Burmecian settlers around Cleyra. This was the child who had woken her up: the small Burmecian boy with his innocent blue eyes and small tufts of blonde hair that came from under his small green hat.
"Why are you crying?" The child asked again. "There's no need to cry. We can make things better can't we?"
"But...all my friends...my family...they're..." Kildea managed to speak out between sobs, but couldn't finish the sentence.
"It's alright. We can find a way to bring them back." The child tried to reassure her.
Kildea just shook her head in response. "That is impossible. Besides, it is ungodly and selfish."
"Not necessarily." The child said in protest. "Even so, someone else might have survived."
"No, all the survivors from Cleyra grouped together after its destruction." Kildea replied. "Sir Fratley, Prince Puck and a creature called Quina were the only other survivors."
"The how did Zidane Tribal, Freya Crescent and Vivi Ornitier survive?" The child retorted. "Maybe some Cleyrans escaped with them."
"I seriously doubt that is the case." Kildea answered. She had stopped crying, but her sadness still remained.
"Well, you can find out..." The child suggested, coming closer to Kildea. She was a little confused by the child's advance, but did not move. The child placed both of his hands onto Kildea's shoulders. "You can wake up."
The child shook Kildea quite forcefully, and blackness covered Kildea's vision once again. The Cleyran desert faded and her eyes flickered open to see the ceiling of one of the guest rooms in Alexandria castle.
"Miss Kildea, Mister Blaine, it is time to get up." A soldier called out to them from behind the door to the room. The woman did not look into the room, letting the guests keep their privacy, that or she wasn't bothered about ensuring that the pair were up. "Breakfast will be served in the dining room in one hour."
The door to the bedroom closed firmly, and Kildea gave a little sigh before sitting up in her bed. She turned to look at Blaine, who was already sat up and looked wide awake on his single bed. The two quickly dressed themselves and went downstairs to the dining room.
As they entered the dining room they found Garnet sitting down at the end of a large wooden banquet table with General Beatrix sat next to her, the two talking to each other about the day ahead. Breakfast had not yet been served. It seemed that they were waiting for the guards and Zidane to arrive with Steiner, who was busy trying to get the lazy monkey out of his bed.
Garnet noticed the two Burmecians enter the room and turned to motion for them to sit down. Blaine was making his way to sit with the young Queen of Alexandria but Kildea tugged him at his side and tried to persuade him to sit at the other side of the table.
"Why don't you want to sit with Queen Garnet?" Blaine asked, a little curious as to why she was so adamant.
"It's not Queen Garnet, it's just I cannot sit so close to General Beatrix." Kildea replied. "Besides, Zidane will sit at this end of the table. I know him, I can talk with him."
"I understand how you feel, but it will seem rude to sit so far away from our hosts." Blaine replied, trying to be reassuring. "I'll be sitting with you, and I'll keep you secure."
Kildea gave a nod, but did not feel much better. The two took a seat opposite Beatrix on Garnet's left. Kildea sat furthest away from the two Alexandrians. Garnet immediately decided to open up a discussion with the two Burmecians.
"Good morning!" Garnet greeted the pair. "Nice to see you two are up so early."
"You aren't the only early-risers on Gaia, your highness." Blaine replied with a smile.
"My tailors have managed to make two sets of clothes for Oracle Kildea." Garnet said with a satisfied look. "I shall have them brought to her after breakfast. I hope they are to her liking."
"Thank-you your highness. I am sure they will be." Kildea replied, before turning her head away from the Alexandrians again. Evidently she was trying to avoid looking at Beatrix.
The young Alexandrian queen continued her discussion with Beatrix, with Blaine joining into parts of the discussion. Kildea only listened to various bits of the conversation and didn't speak a word. She would not talk to Beatrix, and it would take more than Blaine to persuade her to do so.
After a while, the castle chefs began scuttling into the dining hall carrying various trays and plates filled with foods that smelt divine. They laid out the table and arranged the plates and trays into an intricate pattern which covered the table. However, nobody starting eating as it was rude to begin eating a meal before everyone had arrived. In this case, they were waiting for Zidane and Steiner.
After a few minutes, the dining hall doors opened and Zidane walked in wearing similar clothes to that of yesterday. He looked rather irritated at having such an early wake up call but cheered up at the prospect of breakfast. Steiner followed closely behind, his rusty armour clanking together as he walked. An angry face covered his face and was aimed straight at Zidane, who didn't pay him any attention.
Zidane and Steiner took their seats at the other end of the table and everybody began to help themselves to the various meats, breads and dairy foods. Everybody was grateful for their meal, and breakfast was quickly finished and empty plates and leftovers were taken away.
Once breakfast had finished, Garnet got up to her feet and lead everyone out into one of the castle halls. When everybody had gathered in the hall a finely dressed Alexandrian noble introduced himself and presented Kildea with her two sets of clothes which consisted of some simple green robes similar to the ones Kildea was wearing, only made of a finer material. The second was a dazzling white dress which really suited the Cleyran.
Kildea thanked the noble for her fine garments as well as thanking Garnet a second time for her generosity. She then asked Zidane if she could have a little talk with him in private.
"Yeah, so what is it?" Zidane asked after leading Kildea away from the group in the hall.
"How did you and your friends escape from Cleyra?" Kildea asked in a soft voice.
"Oh, we followed the black mages through the teleport system on the Red Rose." Zidane answered. "Is that it?"
"No, I need to know if any of my friends escaped with you in the same way..." Kildea responded.
Zidane paused a little before his response. "I'm sorry, but we were the only ones who escaped by following the mages."
"I thought as much..." Kildea sighed, her ears flopping down slightly. It didn't surprise her that much. She had already come to terms with the fact that she was the only Cleyran who had made it out of the tree alive.
"I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure you'll make lots of new friends." Zidane said, trying to cheer her up. "You've already found that Blaine guy right?"
"Yes..." Kildea answered, giving a weak smile. "My only hope right now is that the restoration of Cleyra goes well. So far, a brighter future seems imminent, and everything is going well."
"Yeah, well good luck with the restoration of Cleyra." Zidane said with a smile. "Come on, we'd better get back to the group."
The two returned to the group and Blaine was the first to speak on their return.
"Well, much as I have enjoyed your company, I believe it is time for me and Kildea to continue our journey." Blaine stated.
"Indeed." Garnet responded. "You have a long journey ahead of you."
Everybody made their goodbyes and farewells and the two Burmecians left the castle and crossed the moat before walking through the town to the chocobo stables. Whilst they were walking through the city, Kildea decided to spark up a conversation.
"Blaine, do you know anything about interpreting dreams?" Kildea asked curiously.
"I know a thing or two about it, yes." Blaine answered. "Why do you ask?"
"It's just...I've been having these strange dreams recently." Kildea responded, when she saw the puzzled expression on Blaine's face she continued. "Ever since I met you, the same child keeps appearing in my dreams. Last night, he had a conversation with me. I watched the destruction of Cleyra, and he spoke to me about how some Cleyrans might have been survived and that there may be a way to bring them back to life."
"Interesting..." Blaine said whilst pondering over the meaning of this dream.
"Do you have any idea why this child is always appearing in my dreams?" Kildea questioned.
"It might be that someone is communicating with you in your sleep." Blaine suggested. "But they would need a vast knowledge of how the mind works, and they probably have a lot of magical and mental power. What I don't know is why they would appear as a Burmecian child, no mere child could have that amount of knowledge."
"But who would want to contact me in my sleep?" Kildea pondered.
"I don't know, but I wouldn't worry about it too much." Blaine said in a reassuring tone. "Let us focus on our journey ahead."
They had reached the Alexandrian chocobo stables. Blaine paid the keeper for looking after their chocobos and they mounted the large yellow birds and set off into the mist, beginning their journey to Cleyra...
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of its respective characters. Blaine is my own character though.
Author's Notes: I am so sorry for being so late for the updates, I have been on holiday and I haven't had much time to write when I got back. I would have updated War on Burmecia first but I have decided to rewrite the whole of the chapter I am working on. Anyway, enjoy.
Dazz Combo: Half and Half is not part of this trilogy. I was going to make it fit into order but I decided not to concern myself with messing around with plot points of this story just to make it fit. Besides, it's been years since I worked on that story. I'm glad you are enjoying this story though.
Ultima's Angel: It's nice to see you are enjoying it too. Thanks for pointing out that minor error.