Back in the village again,
in the village,
I'm back in the village again

"Back in the Village"—Iron Maiden

Mother Terra

Chapter XIV

At dusk a knock came on Garnet's door at the inn.

"Your Majesty?"

Garnet gasped. "Steiner? Steiner is that you!"

"Indeed, it is! Along with Master Vivi and Lady Eiko."

Garnet opened the door, and embraced them.

At Garnet's side toddled Hunter, who flashed a smile through his pacifier.

"Hi, baby Hunter!" exclaimed Eiko, while she lifted him from the floor and tickled him.

But while Eiko played with Hunter, Captain Steiner examined his queen and prince. "Did Nuri harm either one of you?"

"No, we're fine." Then Garnet smiled. "I'm so happy to see all of you again." But her smile faded when she looked down the hall. "Wait! Where's Zidane?"

On that question Steiner, Eiko, and Vivi became silent—although Hunter continued to giggle.

"That's why we can't celebrate just yet," Steiner said.

"Why! What's going on!"

"We came to Terra to rescue you this morning," Vivi said. "It was us and Zidane. But when we met Nuri we were attacked by an army of genomes. We were pushed back, and Zidane was captured."

Garnet gasped, and covered her mouth. "We have to get him out!"

"We will!" assured Eiko. "But based on what we know, I don't think Nuri'll harm Zidane. He's too valuable to him. But what I don't understand, Dagger, is how were you able to escape?"

"…This is going to sound weird, but I had a dream. I had a dream about my mother—my true mother. I didn't remember ever experiencing this event in my life, but yet, I believe it to be true. I don't know how old I was, but my mother was telling me about this spell—a spell that could remove almost any evil."

"What was the name of the spell?"

"Holpel—a combination of repel and holy."

"Oh, yes! I remember hearing something about that from my grandfather. How did you use the spell?"

"To remove this collar that Goldwin placed around my neck that day he and Aldous abducted me and Hunter from the Castle."

"What did the collar do?" asked Vivi.

"It kept me from summoning eidolons. But once I was free of that collar Ramah, the god of thunder, appeared to me…It was kind of ironic that he did, because he came to me that day when we weren't able to go to Treno. Remember, Vivi?"

"Yes, I remember."

Garnet was about to continue the rest of her tale, until her mind started to wonder. She thought about Zidane. He was there the day that event occurred as well. "Zidane."

"Is something the matter, Your Majesty?"

"…No, Steiner, I'm fine."

"Damn it, Steiner!" exclaimed Eiko. "Can't you tell that Dagger's worried about her husband!"

But Garnet gestured Eiko to relax. "It's all right, Eiko; I'm fine…And I know that Zidane's fine. He survived Kuja and the Lifa Tree. What can Nuri do to him?"

Steiner nodded. "Agreed!"

"So what happened next?" asked Vivi.

"Ramah scared off the guard that Nuri had guarding my cell, and he helped lead me out of Terra and back to Gaia with Hunter."

"Wait a minute!" began Steiner. "When did all of this take place?"

"Sometime early in the morning. I don't know the exact time. Time flows differently on Terra."

"I understand that, but how could we have missed you? We must have left Gaia around the time that you returned to it. I don't know how we could've missed you."

"I don't know either, but we can't worry about that right now. We have to get Zidane out of Terra."

"Absolutely!" replied Eiko. "But we have to think of a strategy. If we go in there the same way we did before those genomes'll only push us back."

"Then we need more people."

"Your Majesty, we could summon our forces."

"…Yes. Yes, that sounds like a good idea, Steiner. But let's take only what we need. We don't need to move the entire military. We can also see if some of our friends would like to help as well. Let's return to Alexandria, and I'll work to make contact with Freya, Quina, Amarant, and Tantalus."