Paine was certain the room shown in the first half of the sphere was Gippal's, located in a fairly small house in the vicinity of Djose Temple. She found it a bit strange that he hadn't built a larger one considering his skill and gracious income, but there were a lot of things Gippal did that Paine did not understand nor feel like trying to. Her friends were unique, but she had to admit that that made them interesting.
She had wasted little time in setting out for Gippal's home, partially hoping that her two friends were still there. She wanted to find them and make them explain themselves, but wouldn't they have gotten plenty of visitors staying in such an obvious location? The press was not rabid in Spira, but there was plenty controversial about the former praetor of New Yevon and the Al Bhed leader of the Machine Faction being in a relationship, let alone that they were expecting a child together. Paine had seen many strange things in her life, so she wasn't disgusted by what she had seen on the sphere, but she could only guess how Baralai could have conceived.
And couldn't they have at least waited until they were older and less talked about?
Paine stopped her hover when her destination was in sight. She didn't want to be obvious to the public and didn't want Gippal and Baralai to see she was coming. She wanted to know the truth and with the amount of caution that she expected them to be taking, they could hide things from her if they had time to prepare for her arrival.
With that in mind, Paine slipped her charm bangle on to repel fiends. Even if the slice of her blade wouldn't make enough noise, the sounds of the defeated fiend certainly would.
When she reached the house, she frowned. None of the shades had been drawn and the house looked empty, abandoned. She continued on in case this was just a trick, and opened the front door with ease.
"Hey, you guys here?" she called, though not as loudly as she could have. Her heels clicked softly on the stone floor as she advanced, finding nothing but empty rooms. Her last shot was Gippal's room, the room at the end of the hallway, the only one with its door shut. Gripping her sword just in case, she opened said door only to find that it was just as empty as the others. The only exception was the presence of a few machines against the wall looking just as they had in the sphere.
Paine sighed. So they had left. She began to turn around until a shining something caught her eye. Bright orange, circular… a sphere was held in the mechanical hand of one of the machines. Paine rushed over and picked it up, flipping the switch without hesitation.
The footage began with Gippal yawning, wearing his favored outfit. He was sitting on his bed, light streaming in through the window behind him. "Aw, man," he mumbled, and then focused on the sphere. "So, uh, as you can probably tell, we've left. As for where we've gone… we're near the place 'where our nightmares began.' You know what we mean, Doctor. The hint was Baralai's idea, so don't blame the crypticness on me."
"'Crypticness?' Is that even a word?" Baralai's voice, sounding tired but amused, asked off-screen.
Gippal waved his hand dismissively and then ran it through his hair with another yawn. He never had been a morning person.
"But we're alright. Baralai's plenty healthy…" he brought the sphere closer to his face and whispered, "and plenty big too. I'd show you, but he's kind of shy about it."
"G-Gippal!" Baralai spouted, causing Paine to raise an eyebrow. Apparently he was more sensitive about that than she had expected.
Gippal's smile broadened and he waved to the sphere. "Hope to see you soon, Doctor. Take care."
Watching the sphere start to replay, Paine figured that the "doctor" Gippal had been referring to was herself. It was a nickname for her that only a handful of people knew about and could be misinterpreted for someone else. Not bad.
But she still did not know why her friends had mentioned her. Had they known she would find the other sphere and come looking after them? There was nothing covert about the first sphere, though. It seemed as though they were trying to hide their secrets, but then why did Paine find such a personal sphere out in the middle of Bikanel Desert?
This seemed too interesting for Paine to keep away from. She was curious to see how they were doing, and the thought of Baralai sporting a round baby belly was pretty amusing.
"'The place where our nightmares began,' huh? Too easy," she said out loud, heading back to her hover. Once she reached it, she started it up and set its coordinates for the Den of Woe.
---
Paine drove all across Mushroom Rock Road in search of a house or anything that resembled one. While the hint from Gippal had been obvious to her, she doubted that they would have actually moved into the Den of Woe, especially since Nooj had ordered that it be closed off permanently, so not even spheres could open up its entrance. Even though Shuyin's tortured soul had finally come to rest, no one wanted to risk keeping the place open.
Seeing nothing, she veered to the right and stopped the hover. The path closest to the place where they faced their first great trial together was certainly not safe for a hover to pass over. After pulling a metal chain out of her bag, she tied her vehicle to one of the thin pillars of rock on the side of the road. Adjusting her charm bangle, she set off, noting that the sky was turning red as dusk approached.
Fortunately, the monsters kept away because of her bangle and there was no one around. Yaibal and the other members of the former Youth League no longer guarded this path. They continued to serve Nooj but Paine wasn't certain where they had gone. She hadn't wanted to speak with anyone but Baralai and Gippal, however, so she couldn't exactly say she missed their presence. Prying questions were just trouble.
Walking along the uneven rocky road was simple for Paine now, though she distinctly remembered having to watch her step the first time she passed over it with her fellow Gullwings members. She was fortunate to be so familiar with the path because the sudden call of her name might have caused her to trip otherwise.
"Finally found us, huh?" the voice shouted and Paine heard a faint echo of it.
Gippal never had been very discreet.
She looked down in the direction she heard her friend's voice coming from and felt relieved to see him mostly unchanged. He still wore his eye patch and a uniquely designed outfit that screamed 'I'm Al Bhed and proud of it.' What had changed was his smile; it was no longer mildly seductive and slightly burdened. He was practically beaming and acting far too carefree for a man with his responsibilities.
Despite her criticisms, Paine smiled back and jumped down the few large boulders to where her younger friend was standing, hand on his hip.
"I knew something strange was up when the monsters suddenly left. Not too many people have charm bangles around here," Gippal said, explaining why he was out there.
Paine was a little surprised. She hadn't thought of her friends noticing such a thing. Gippal usually was sharper than she gave him credit for.
"So, you found the sphere, right?" Gippal asked, trying to sound casual and cool, but Paine saw right through him.
"Two, actually," Paine responded with a slight smirk.
Gippal's eye widened and his hand unceremoniously slid off his hip. "Wha--? Two…? You didn't—Wait, where did you find them?"
"Your old house," Paine explained slowly and calmly, in great contrast to Gippal, "and Bikanel Desert."
Gippal crossed his arms over his chest and furrowed his brows in confusion. "The Bikanel Desert…?"
Paine cut to the chase. "Baralai's pregnant, isn't he?"
Gippal looked at her out of the corner of his eye, his cheerfulness suddenly muted. "So you did find a second one. Are you the only one who's seen it?"
"Yes, as far as I know," Paine answered, her voice suddenly taking on a gentler tone. Gippal made it pretty obvious when he was nervous about something and she had no interest in causing him concern.
Gippal nodded slowly. "Then I guess it's time we got you caught up, Doctor P. Follow me and I'll tell you everything."