It was Edgar's turn at the wheel, but because of a previous incident with a prior airship, Setzer wasn't too comfortable with the idea of letting him have that turn. So Terra was left alone with Edgar for their entire trip to Zozo while Locke and Setzer went above to pilot the ship. Terra had to admit she didn't know whether the trip to Zozo would be too short or too long. There'd been something in Edgar's manner when he returned from Jidoor that had made her wary. Then, when he said that Locke and Setzer take a turn at the wheel and conveniently leave the two alone... Terra hadn't known whether to be eager at the prospect of more time with Edgar or terrified because of how eager she was.
"Are you sure traveling to Zozo is wise?" Edgar came to sit beside her. "You mentioned before that he wouldn't set camp there for fear of losing his treasures."
"I know." She sighed as she rubbed her face and neck, "but I've had a chance to think." Terra looked over at Edgar and caught him watching her. It was a little disconcerting. "Doesn't it make sense that someone there would be willing to give us information about his operation if we offered enough money? Surely if Setzer was able to discover a name we could do even better."
Edgar stood, smiling as he moved to stand behind her. His hands gently massaged her shoulders. "That's why we always made you leader, Terra. Not only are you beautiful, but you're bright."
Terra waved his comments aside and looked down at the map of the newly formed world. "I just don't know," she said in an exasperated voice. "It's been too long, Edgar. I don't remember how to plan anything." His touch began to irritate her and she stood, pulling away from him to stand by a window.
"Terra," Edgar said as he came to stand behind her. "Terra, you mustn't be so hard on yourself." Edgar placed his hands on her shoulders again, but she shrugged them off and moved away. "You're pushing yourself too hard."
"If I don't push myself, who will? I can't just breeze through this and expect none of them to get hurt. I have to think everything through and get it right."
"Terra." He turned her around to face him, but she kept her head lowered. "We're a team. No one expects you to solve this alone. All of us are with you in this."
"You don't understand."
"Then make me understand. I wish to help, Terra. Whatever it is. Whatever you're going through."
Terra turned away. "It's my fault," she said in a choked voice. "If I had just taken them with me this wouldn't have happened."
"There was no way you could know. You might have only been taken along with them--"
"There had to have been a way, Edgar. A way to stop this! A way to know!" Terra's voice was laced with guilt and pain. "I left them alone so that I could have some time by myself. Don't you understand? I... I left them. They look up to me for protection and I let them down. I walked away and let them get taken--"
The control broke and Edgar stepped forward to embrace her. "Terra, you're not to blame. Not by any means. You deserve time alone as much as any of us do. Besides, you trust the older ones to watch the younger because of the responsibility that they've learned from you. There was nothing wrong with trusting them further." Edgar pulled back and held her face in his hands. His thumbs caressed her tear-stained cheeks. "The fault was not yours--"
"It is my fault," she insisted harshly. She pushed his hands from her face. "All I had to do was watch them because they had no one else, and I couldn't even do that! How can you stand there and say it isn't my fault? You don't know what you're talking about, Edgar! You... y-you don't know..." She hid her face with her hands and felt his arms surround her again. Terra clung to him and sobbed.
"I know more than you think, Terra," Edgar said. "I understand that you're afraid you'll lose the only people you've ever loved. I know that you're terrified the anger you feel building will take control."
Terra wanted to believe him, but something held her back. Something dark. Something lurking in the back part of her mind. Something that scared her.
"Shh," he whispered as he stroked her hair. "Shh. It's all right to be scared, Terra. Even I have suffered the same malady upon occasion. I had acted such a fool during my first visit to you. Then there you were on my doorstep asking for help. I thanked my lucky stars."
Terra looked up at him and reluctantly smiled. Her eyes glistened and her chin quivered. "Oh Edgar," she said as she wiped at her face. "Can't you be serious about anything?"
He smirked and helped her dry her face with a silk kerchief he pulled from his pocket. "When I'm holding a lovely creature in my arms? Don't be cruel." She shook her head with a reluctant laugh. "That's better. We cannot be having tears in a lady's eyes on an adventure such as this." He kissed the kerchief while her eyes watched in surprise and tucked it carefully back into his satin vest pocket. "Now, give me your hand and let's have a laugh or two before tackling the problem again."
She slipped her hand into his, and he brought it to his lips for a long moment before smiling down at her with a strange expression. Terra turned her eyes away as he led her back to the table.
"A laugh, Edgar?" she asked when she sat in the offered chair. "My kids are gone and I don't know where. How can I laugh? Too much time's been wasted already."
He pulled a chair up directly opposite and took hold of her hands again. His grip was comforting and ushered that 'something dark' a little further away. She clasped them tightly, feeling a surge of desperation to fully chase the oppression from her soul.
"No, Terra. We haven't wasted anything. I understand it seems we work too slow, but that serves to prove you care deeply for your children. Just as it keeps us pressing onward." Edgar's thumbs rhythmically touched and soothed away the trembles of her hands. "Let us laugh of old times, so that your heart will be more at ease."
Terra's throat tightened and her eyes continued to hold the vision of their clasped hands. "I-I can't, Edgar. I... I feel that thing pulling and pressing at me again."
"As you did at Mobliz?" Edgar's voice was as gentle and soothing as his touch, drawing Terra's soul further from its protection.
"No. It's different. Darker." She finally raised her eyes to meet his. "Edgar... Edgar, it scares me. It makes me think someone's watching; waiting for me to make a mistake so they can punish me."
Edgar's caress on her hands ceased and the oppression reared, surging forward as her soul cringed away-- the oppression vanished on the tail-end of a sudden ringing in her ears and Edgar's caress began again.
"Perhaps it is you punishing yourself, Terra. Too long in the presence of the Empire and its demand for perfection has damaged and timidified your sensitive nature." His expression and smile were oddly compassionate as he released her right hand and, almost fondly, touched and held her chin. "Release your mind to work, Terra. Allow yourself to remember and press on. Ignore the harsh words and oppression and focus on the goal."
And those eyes comforted her trembling soul and soothed a slight smile to her lips. "I'll try, Edgar."
The intensity of his eyes grew as they held hers, and then he slowly leaned forward to touch her cheek very briefly with his lips. "Well, my dear? Where shall we begin the search?"
Locke looked over at Setzer with a shake of his head. "I don't like it," he grumbled for the countless time. "I don't like it at all."
Setzer smirked and did some fancy shuffling of his cards. "Leave them alone, Cole. Life is a lonely mistress. Those two deserve what they're getting."
"She doesn't know Edgar like I do. The last thing she needs is Edgar putting the moves on her and kissing her so she can barely think straight. She's just a kid," he insisted as his hands gripped the wheel.
"Terra is a woman and Edgar is a man."
Locke rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me."
Setzer laughed. "I thought you wanted them to be married, Cole."
"He hasn't exactly put a ring on her finger, has he? I don't like putting the cart before the chocobo, okay?"
"Do you truly doubt he will? Edgar is a man of honor, Cole. Don't trifle with that or you're liable to get your head cleaved in two. Besides," Setzer paused and palmed the Queen of Hearts, "I don't believe anything but a few passionate embraces are being shared. He respects her too much to rush her into more than that."
"You don't know Edgar."
Setzer seemed to get annoyed at that point. "Only Edgar knows Edgar," he said as he stood. "Trust your friends and leave it at that. I'm going below."
"If you come back a little pink around the ears, I'll know you were wrong," Locke grumbled.
Setzer chuckled despite himself. "It's nothing I haven't experienced myself," he tossed over his shoulder. "Besides, a little amusement would be just what I need right now."
Locke glared after him.
When Setzer made his way below, however, Edgar and Terra shared anything but a tender embrace. The two had gathered around the table examining maps and talking in low tones while pointing at different areas. Setzer smirked with a shake of his head. Terra didn't appear the least bit disheveled. Pity, he thought to himself. She's in need of some good lovemaking to make her a woman.
Edgar looked up to greet Setzer with an easy smile. "I do believe we have solved the mystery."
Setzer raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? You two certainly have been busy." Terra didn't even flush a slight color of red. Hmm.
"Before this world of ruin there was a trade route from Nikeah to about here." She traced a line on the map. Then she pointed to a section where there was only polluted water. "The Imperial base was there but, as you can see, it doesn't exist in this world."
Setzer leaned over the map with a nod. "Right. Shall we all observe a moment of silence for the loss?"
"Hardly," Edgar scoffed. "But when Terra and I recalled that you'd said you believed slavers were responsible, we then remembered the fact the Empire once used slave labor in order to," he grimaced, "save money. Harvesting prime candidates for this less than glorious profession had become quite a problem in years gone by. Before Kefka turned our little world upside down, that is. People of all ages would disappear from their homes in the middle of the night and never be heard from again. Whole schools would disappear without a trace."
Setzer noticed something strange about Terra's face, but pushed it aside. "So, our Empire friends have indeed found a way to resume their charming way of life."
"Perhaps not the Empire directly, but rather some of the leftover scum who wouldn't know better," Edgar said.
Terra moved her gaze from Edgar to Setzer with a nod. "Do you know anything about this Ledo character? Do you know if he's had anything to do with the Empire in the past?"
Setzer sat in a chair across from her and leaned back to prop his feet up on the table. "Your typical Zozo slime. Arrogant. Ugly. Anything but charming, to say the least. A real piece of work. Money and power are that character's only real loves." A frown twisted the scar over his left eye.
"Do you remember something?" Edgar asked.
"It seems to me he threw a lot of money into that game. He lost it without flinching."
Terra and Edgar exchanged a glance. "What does that mean to you, Setzer?" Terra asked.
"It means that he had just been paid a lot of money. Not only that, he more than likely expected to be paid more. And soon."
Terra took in a slow breath and stared down at the map. "I don't suppose he mentioned anything about it?"
Setzer shook his head. "No."
"Blast," Edgar said.
Locke chose that moment to come in to the room. "You've got that right."
"Zozo?" Edgar asked.
"Zozo." Locke glowered. "I hate this place. Not only does it stink to the heavens, but all of them are the worst possible thieves."
"I'm sure you could give them lessons," Setzer chuckled.
Locke sent him a glare. "Ha, ha, ha. Very funny."
"I suppose we should go," Terra said as she rolled up the map. She set it aside and slipped into her scabbard. "We've wasted enough time."
Setzer stood and collected his razor edged cards and not-so-enchanted dice. "I'd like to think we've invested time, Terra. 'Wasted' is such a harsh word."
Terra sent him a small smile, which he returned. Ah. The Terra we all know and love seems to have returned. Bravo, Edgar. Bravo.
