Author's Notes: holy shit that was a long slog to get that chapter finished. There really isn't much that happens in the fourth disk of the game, so I was sort of scrabbling for anything to do. The chocobo sidequest is entirely unlikely to happen in the story because the chocobo wasn't very important for the most part, and I figure the moogles can sort of the superslick thing on their own. That or Zidane did it, but that's entirely optional.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Final Fantasy frachise. This should be obvious.
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Chapter 2: The Four Corners of the World
Drake was uncomfortably aware of how silent his friends could be when they were processing information. Especially the outlandish information that he was starting to realize was a regrettable trend with him. He just hoped that this wasn't a nudge too far. They'd listened to him in the past, but there was a limit that everyone had to the nonsense that they could swallow.
"So that's what the ancients sealed away all those years ago? Or was that the first one in a series?" Eiko looked fascinated, which was an odd look on her. She was hugging her flute to her chest, her eyes bright. "Ooh, I wanna ask so many questions, but who would answer them?" Drake shrugged, and glanced at the cartographer, who pretended to be busy noting changes in the landscape.
"We could see if there's any indication in Dageurro, but to be honest, I doubt there is. This one had to have been around the time of Terra trying to absorb Gaia to be caught in the same seal as the Constellato. Older even than Odin." That got a confused look from everyone. Odin was the oldest eidolon that anyone knew of.
"That's right, because Odin was the first Chosen, and therefor after the seal was put in place." Odette's eyes were wide. "Would the Constellato know anything about this Ozma?" Drake shrugged, shaking his head.
"I don't know. Cleyra didn't have much information beyond that it exists, and is a threat to Gaia. Lady Maria didn't give us much more information, either. The summoners that we need to find are like that Mu from earlier, a species that would normally attack humans, but friendly. I'm supposed to be able to find them, but..." Drake shook his head again.
"But you didn't sense that one." Edgar was able to read Drake's pauses better than most. "Mm. And then there's that other thing that we've been trying to figure out as well..." For once, Drake was glad that he wasn't alone in stressing about things.
"At least looking for the friendly monsters seems to tie in nicely with mapping the Iifa Tree roots," Dagger offered. Drake played with the idea of pointing out that while an updated map would be nice, it was bound to be outdated again in short order, so bringing the cartographer around had been a moot point. But he didn't want to hurt the man's feelings, or tip him off more to the fact that they were up to something.
"That is true," Zidane said, and stretched. "Though we've probably spent more than enough time checking things out in this area. Let's get moving again." Odette helped Eiko and Quina pick up the picnic that they had spread out while listening to Drake explain about Ozma and the friendly monsters.
Drake grumbled as he heard their next destination: Treno. While he technically lived there now, he still didn't like it much. Not in the least because it was always dark. The stink and corrupt nobles didn't make things any nicer, either. At least the nobles there would have gotten word that he was engaged already.
Odette wanted him to go along with her into Treno anyhow, and looked hurt when he refused. Drake had to promise that he wasn't upset at her, he just didn't want to put up with all the attention he'd get in Treno. Edgar went with her instead, and Sabin went with Drake. The cartographer stayed on the ship with Dagger and Zidane. Drake wasn't sure what the rest of the group was up to, but Eiko went with Odette to Treno and Drake had Freya and Amarant trailing after him again.
Dagger had shown Drake the type of rock that she had given to the Mu, and Drake had found more, tucking them into his belt pouch. He wasn't sure if they'd find the next monster, but it was better to be safe than sorry. At the very least, the rough gems made for something to occupy his hands.
For hours, they wandered around the forest, talking. Drake told Sabin the secret he had entrusted to Freya and Amarant, and was surprised to find that Sabin accepted it as truth with only a small amount of persuasion. Most of the monsters avoided them, though there were a few that didn't recognize how strong they were.
After a while, they came across what must have been a house in the middle of the forest. Sabin wanted to leave as soon as they saw it, but something told Drake that it would be a better idea to stay and explore. It was a surprisingly big house, and as soon as they walked into it, Drake realized that they were being watched.
They found their way to the courtyard, and Drake sat down on the defunct fountain, and pulled out his flute. All the legends about ghosts that he could remember stated that they were kind to people that reminded them of the good things in life. Well, so long as they had been good people in life. Besides, what sort of person didn't like a little music?
Some birds started to sing along to Drake's tune as he played. He knew that ghosts were a type of monster in the game, but to be honest, He'd rather give them the benefit of the doubt. Sure enough, partway through the song, a ghost rose up out of the ground, swaying to the music. Drake finished the song and tilted his head at the ghost.
"Are you one of the summoners that I was told to look for?" The ghost tilted its head to the side. "The Constellato told us that we need to find summoners to place a seal on the resurrected Eidolon Ozma." Drake placed his flute down next to him, and pulled out a rough garnet. He held it out to the ghost. "Here. I was told that summoners like gemstones." The ghost floated forwards a little, and the garnet lifted out of Drake's hand.
"Fortunes smile upon you, Chosen." The ghost's voice sounded distant, for all that it was only a few feet in front of him. "Give my best to Ladybug, and may you succeed with all your endeavors." The ghost faded, and the garnet flashed white before a bottle landed with a soft clink in the overgrown grass, directly under where the ghost had been.
Drake scratched the back of his head as he picked his flute up again, and tucked it into his belt pouch. Sabin's eyes were wide, and he looked like he wanted to bolt out of there. Drake shrugged and picked up the bottle that the ghost had dropped. He stared at it for a moment, then tucked the hi-potion into his belt pouch.
"I have no idea how you can stay so calm," Sabin finally said, his voice cracking with the effort it took to not sound shrill. "You grew up with the same stories I did." Drake shrugged, and led the way out of the abandoned house. They'd completed the task they had arrived to do, it was time for them to leave before they wore out their welcome.
Sabin slowly relaxed as they walked back to the airship, taking a much more direct route than they had used to get to the abandoned house in the first place. Quina insisted on feeding them as soon as they returned, heating up some leftovers from the lunch that everyone else had had. Odette and the rest had returned in time for lunch, meaning that everyone had been waiting on the group that had gone to look for the next summoner.
Freya explained that they had indeed managed to find the summoner as Drake ate the sandwich that Quina had pressed on him. Everyone was a bit surprised by how easily Drake had managed to find the ghost, though when asked, Drake had to admit that he hadn't really been aware that the ghost had been there.
Zidane shrugged and moved to the airship's control station as they cleaned up. They had a few more regions of the map to check over. Thankfully, the map of the Mist continent only seemed to need a few revisions, mostly marking off which roads were blocked off.
The next continent for them to tackle was undoubtedly Caledonia, but Zidane chose to go see how the Genomes were doing in the Black Mage Village instead of setting the Invincible down in the mountains so that everyone could go visit Drake's clan.
Drake wandered out of the forest after they arrived, aware that only Amarant was following him. He thought he was wandering aimlessly until he realized that he had walked right into a meadow that felt...different. There was a spring that fed a pool, and brightly colored flowers ringed it.
Drake walked to the edge of the pool, being careful not to crush any flowers, and crouched, dipping his fingers into the water. He flinched, the water was ice-cold. He wasn't expecting that temperature, not with summer almost arrived.
"Hey! Don't hurt my flowers!" Drake twisted to look over his shoulder, and blinked as he saw a very large ladybug hovering in the air behind him. Amarant looked like he was debating stepping in.
"I'm trying not to," Drake said patiently, as he backed away from the pool so he could turn around without damaging any of the plants. The ladybug crossed its upper set of arms, wings still fluttering. "My name is Drake. Are you one of the summoners the Constellato told me to seek?" The pattern of the ladybug's wings faltered.
"And if I am?" Drake sighed. He supposed it had been too much to ask for every meeting with a monster summoner to go smoothly. At least the ladybug hadn't attacked him on sight, as its cousins seemed content to do.
"The Ghost sends his greetings," Drake said. The ladybug landed at that, and folded its wings back. "Also, I have rough gemstones if you-" The ladybug was back in the air and in Drake's face before he could finish his sentence. Drake had to gesture for Amarant to back down as he saw the monk react. The ladybug was simply holding out its hands.
This summoner was picky, and ended up choosing a rough amethyst and a chunk of black tourmaline before being satisfied with the gift. Drake felt a little bad about losing that tourmaline, he had rather liked it. It was a nice heavy rock, and holding it in his hands grounded him nicely.
"I'll help you. But only if you get enough summoners! I won't risk my life for this nonsense," the ladybug said as it arranged the rocks next to the spring. "A Chosen like you should be able to manage this, though." Drake blinked, catching the object that was tossed to him.
It wasn't an ether, like what had been the prize for winning over this friendly monster in the game. It was a carved jade stone in the shape of a hunting horn. The cord attached to it was woven out of plant fibers, just long enough to fit over his wrist.
"What is it?" The ladybug scoffed, disappointed that Drake didn't know what it was. The summoner stilled as Drake stared at it, though, and shifted uncomfortably. Drake had no idea what jade was supposed to be able to do, Dagger had never used it.
"Yeti will tell you, when you find him," the ladybug finally sneered, and zoomed off into the trees. Drake shook his head and looped the gift over his right wrist, where it wouldn't interfere with his arrows. He walked past Amarant back into the forest, trying to hide just how angry that summoner had made him.
The walk back to the village was long enough to get him calm again, thankfully. Sabin and Edgar were training by the entrance to the village, and managed to cajole Drake into joining them. The exercise was enough to calm him the rest of the way down, though the fact that it gave him a chance to work off the energy that had been building up was a plus.
The ship returned with the cartographer done charting the mountains area, including the locations of the villages, and they all piled into the ship. It was late, though, and Drake found that someone had managed to outfit the cargo hold with bunk beds. When he lay down in the one he'd claimed for himself, he blinked. The ship must have made a stop at his village, because the scent of his mother's herb mixture was embedded in the blankets.
The familiar scent was enough to overwhelm the feeling of unease that he always felt in the Invincible, enough that he could actually get some sleep. His dreams were far from relaxing, though, and he woke up before dawn with his heart pounding, half convinced that they were under attack.
Odette was awake as well, coming back from the bathroom on the ship, and looked worried at him as soon as she saw that he was drenched in sweat. It took Drake a while to convince her that he'd merely had a bad dream. He had to believe that it was a bad dream, and not a prophetic one.
Drake walked to the open space near the entrance to the cargo hold to begin stretching instead of heading back to sleep, and frowned as he saw that Sabin was also awake and looking pale. His blood brother merely smiled at him as he sat up, and rolled his shoulders back.
"I swear this ship does something to my head," Drake whispered as he plopped down on the ground and stretched his legs out in front of him. "I haven't had a good night's sleep since we started to sleep on it." Sabin shrugged, and Drake sighed.
Quina woke up next, and demanded that Drake and Sabin help him cook. The busywork was good for Drake's nerves, though his skill with the knife wasn't enough to get Quina to stop trying to show him how to do things properly. Sabin was safe from the lectures, he'd been put to kneading dough for bread. Drake had to bite his tongue to keep from losing his temper at both of them.
At least everyone agreed that the food was good, when it was all ready to be eaten. Drake had to agree that most of it was because of Quina and not him. He'd been stuck with the basic tasks while Quina did all of the actual cooking.
Drake found himself fingering the jade trinket that the ladybug had given him as he listened to the debate on where to go next. The day before had been remarkably productive, with updating the map of the Mist continent and finding three of the summoners that they would need. Drake could only help that the pace would stay steady.
As the ship rose into the air, Drake stared in the direction of the Iifa Tree. The spell that Kuja was weaving was visible even from the distance they were at. Drake frowned, thinking. Just how much time did they have before Kuja was done? They had to deal with Ozma before him, but they were undoubtedly in a race against time. And there was no way that they could hide this from the cartographer, not when the man was too busy gaping at the tree.
"Next stop: Madain Sari." Drake shifted, suddenly uncomfortable. The last time that this ship had been to Madain Sari had been when it was destroyed. How would the moogles react to seeing the ship? How would Dagger and Eiko feel about it? A glance towards them told Drake that they were calm, or at least hiding their feelings.
Zidane set the ship down just outside of the ruined city, and everyone who wasn't going to stay with the cartographer piled out. Drake and Odette wandered off without the rest of the group. Drake was surprised to note that Amarant didn't bother to follow them, and gave them privacy.
"It's so strange," Odette said after a while. They were walking along the ruined road beside the cliff. Odette was staring off towards the ocean. "I feel like I know this city. Or rather, knew it. Before it was ruined." Drake shifted his shoulders uncomfortably.
"Kuja used the souls of many summoners to draw us from Earth. Likely, it's their memories that were mixed in with ours that gives us both that feeling. I've never gotten lost here." Drake clambered over a fallen pillar, and then helped Odette over it. "It was strange, last time I was here, because I wasn't able to remember everything about both sets of memories at will. I guess I was still adjusting." Odette smiled ruefully at that.
"I guess it does take some getting used to. Oh! That's not anyone I recognize!" Drake turned to look at what Odette had spotted, and jumped. The bandit that had kidnapped Eiko, what was her name, Lani? Hid behind a rock as soon as she saw that she'd been spotted. Drake blinked a few times, frowning. He had no idea what the woman was doing in Madain Sari.
Odette walked over to talk to the bounty hunter, keeping a safe distance, though Drake had a feeling that she had a couple of spells ready to cast if she really needed to. Drake kept farther away, crossing his arms as he saw Lani glance nervously at him. He wasn't going to give her the chance to hurt his fiancé, but he wasn't going to scare her into trying it to save herself, either.
Finally Odette waved him over. Lani looked nervous, but stayed put. As he approached, Drake realized that the woman wasn't in as good condition as he had thought. She looked like she had nearly died of starvation at some point, which Drake had a sinking feeling might have been the case. He wondered if she was even able to lift that axe she had used anymore.
"You look...well," Lani offered lamely. Drake glanced down at himself. He couldn't see any difference beyond his armor, but for all he knew, she may have been referring to how he held himself. He shrugged and glanced back up.
"You look like you've had a harder time of things." Odette pushed Drake and he frowned at her. She gave him a scolding look, and he rolled his eyes. He didn't like Lani, and he wasn't about to hide it. If he did, she'd probably think he was up to something, or pitied her.
"I have. If not for that yeti leading the moogles to me when I collapsed, I might not even be here." Drake twitched at the mention of a yeti, and stared at her. Lani looked concerned, but kept talking. "I was pretty weak for a while, but the moogles took care of me. I feel really bad about causing so much trouble for them before." Drake blinked. So Lani had had a change of heart.
"Do you know where the yeti that helped you might be?" Lani gave Drake an odd look, and he shrugged, aware that Odette was glaring daggers at him. "It's...kind of complicated, but there's a specific yeti that I have to find, and it may be the one that helped you." He would have to explain to Odette later that he didn't trust himself to comment on the change in Lani without coming off as even more rude than he was already being.
"Just out of town, near those hills over there." Lani turned to point, and Drake looked in that direction. He nodded. It made sense that a yeti would be in the mountains, or in this case, the foothills. He nodded, distracted, and then yelped as Odette pinched his ear. He jerked away and clapped a hand to his poor ear, frowning at Odette.
"Did you never learn manners?" Odette's voice was dangerously low. Drake gave Odette a flat look, still holding his poor ear. He didn't feel any blood, but that didn't mean that it wasn't going to bruise. What was bothering him more was that Odette seemed dead set on him being nice to everyone.
"I learned plenty. I also learned that people who kidnap children don't make a complete about-face in a matter of months easily." Odette blinked, and Drake kept his eyes on her. He did notice Lani look down out of the corner of his eye, though. "It's possible, just not likely. Therefore, I'm perfectly fine with being rude to someone until they prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they've changed." Odette 's lips flattened, and she crossed her arms.
"And I suppose I'm to be counted under this little rule of yours?" Drake groaned and tilted his head to the side. He should have seen this coming, to be honest. He was glad Odette was comfortable enough with him to argue, but he'd really rather not have this conversation on top of everything that was going on already.
"You were under a spell that altered your memories and under Kuja's influence, so, no, I don't count you under that rule of thumb. Can we please do this later? We've got enough on our plates without snapping at each other." Drake took the edge out of his voice, closing his eyes as he felt his head ache. Being near someone that he didn't trust kept him on edge, and that plus all the things that were whirling around his head and an argument was more than what he could balance at once. He also didn't want to argue in front of someone that he didn't trust.
Odette stared at Drake, her jaw set, until he looked away and rubbed at his eyes. He was glad that she'd brought up something that had been bothering her, but it wasn't the best timing in the world. Ideally they could delay this until after they were done with Kuja, but he had a feeling that that wasn't going to happen.
"Look. I'm willing to talk about it, but not right here and now." Drake needed to control himself to keep his aggravation out of his voice. He didn't like feeling like he had to walk on eggshells with Odette, but part of him kept reminding him that if he reminded her too much of Kuja, she'd avoid him. Finally, Odette nodded, though she still looked less than pleased.
Drake sighed with relief, and turned to look at Lani, only to find that she had disappeared. He frowned at that, but turned and started to walk towards the hills that the bounty hunter had pointed out to her. Odette walked along. They waved as they saw one of the moogles that Eiko had lived with before she was found stealing from the mountain villages. The moogle waved back.
The walk was exactly what Drake needed to calm down. Odette seemed to feel better once they were out of Madain Sari, too. Drake kept his bow in hand instead of looping it over his neck and shoulder. He wanted to be able to protect Odette in the case of an attack instead of letting her protect him. Never mind that she was a red mage with a not insignificant amount of skill. He was supposed to be her protector.
It took them an hour to get to the foothills that Lani had pointed at, and Odette insisted that they stop to take a break. Drake relented, and looked down at the ruins of Madain Sari as Odette sat and dug in the bag she'd been carrying on her back all day long. Drake blinked as he saw that she was pulling out food, and sat next to her, accepting a sandwich that she handed to him.
Partway through their little picnic, Drake became aware of someone staring at him. Odette was still looking over the plains, so it wasn't her, and they had, as far as he was aware, walked out to the foothills alone. So unless Amarant had followed along after them without Drake being aware of it, they were likely about to get in some sort of trouble. As Drake swallowed his sandwich, he finally spotted the person that was staring at them. Or rather, the creature that was staring at them.
Odette noticed where Drake was staring, and pulled out another sandwich, holding it out to the yeti. The creature shifted uncomfortably, until Drake set down his bow and rested his hands in plain sight. Only then did the yeti shuffle closer and gently take the sandwich from Odette. It then backed off to wolf the meal down.
Drake looked over the yeti for a moment, his head tilted to the side. The creature looked like it had fought a gryphon or something like that recently, it had scabs and dried blood on its back and dangerously near its neck. Drake pulled out the potion and hi-potion that they had been given by the first couple of summoners and offered them to the yeti silently. The yeti eyed him before accepting the potions as well.
"Are you one of the summoners that the Constellato told me to find?" Drake kept his voice soft, but the yeti still jumped. He grimaced. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." The creature made a rasping noise and tilted its head to the side, one hand out. "Oh, right, the gifts. Here, these are the ones I have on me still." Drake set the rough gemstones on the ground in front of him. The yeti picked through them before selecting a citrine and a stone that he'd been told was called apatite. Both were rough stones, but had a sort of beauty already.
"What do the stones do?" The yeti blinked at Odette, who tugged at her skirt nervously. "I'm not a summoner, but I have magic, and I can't feel anything from the stones." The yeti made another guttural sound and pointed at its throat. "Your throat got injured?" The yeti nodded, and Drake sighed.
"I guess I'm going to have to ask another of the summoners how to use this, then, won't I." Drake flicked his wrist and held up the jade carving to show to the yeti. The yeti leaned forwards to see it, and reached out huge hands to gently tug on it. Drake leaned forwards as well to allow the creature to get a closer look at it. He didn't realize that the yeti's eyes weren't on the carving anymore until he felt its other hand close over his head.
His muscles tensed to pull away from the hand, and as he blinked, he realized he wasn't in the hills near Madain Sari anymore. Shouts and the sound of metal striking metal drew his attention, and he scrambled to the top of a rock, crouching low as he saw the fight that was taking place. And then he noticed that he could actually see his hand. He froze, and blinked several times. His hand still remained visible.
"Hey! I don't recognize you." Cid the First slid around the rock and waved at him. Drake waved back and slid down off the rock, casting one last glance back at the fight. "When're you from?" Drake blinked, looking a bit confused.
"Well, last I was aware, I was still alive." Cid rocked back on his heels, his eyes wide. Drake lifted his right hand to scratch at the back of his head and noticed the jade carving still hanging from the strap around his wrist. "...Hunh. I guess it really did work." Cid leaned over, peering at the carving. "I was told this would help in talking to all of the Einherjar."
"Well if I can see you this clearly, chances are you can talk to everyone," Cid allowed, tilting the carving with a fingertip. "No idea what's so special about this, though." Drake shrugged. He glanced around, hearing the fighting die down. "Well, if you're gonna talk to everyone, you won't have long to wait." Cid started to walk, gesturing for Drake to follow along after him.
"Uhh...I really have no idea what to say. I had no idea when I'd be able to talk to everyone." Cid paused to look over his shoulder at Drake, lifting an eyebrow. Drake shrugged, keenly aware that he was dressed in what he could remember vaguely wearing while in Trance. "Believe it or not, I'm actually not the leader in my group. I'm the second in command." Cid stopped to stare at him.
"What sort of group are you even in? You aren't the only Chosen in it, are you?" Drake shook his head. "So who does the one that actually leads the group bow to?" Drake scratched the back of his head, debating on what to actually tell him.
"Well, he bows to the Trickster, but he's not a Chosen. He's not of Gaia. He's from Terra." Cid frowned, confused. "He's kin to the man that's threatening to destroy Gaia, in a way." Cid sighed and rubbed at his face before twisting his wrists, setting the broken chains to clinking.
"I suppose that would give him a claim on stopping him. A briefing on what's going on would probably be your best bet. The Einherjar are always interested in what's going on in the land of the living." Drake nodded. That made a great deal of sense.
"I can't promise that I'll do well about it, but I can at least try." Cid shrugged, and led them around the rocky outcropping. The fighting was over, and Drake had appeared right next to the main battle, somehow. Everyone paused to look at them as Cid put his fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly. Drake blushed a little, noticing how many of them were staring curiously at him.
"So, it's no secret to any of us why we're sticking around here instead of jumping back into the cycle of rebirth. This guy here," Cid jerked his thumb at Drake as he spoke. "Is still alive. Now I don't know about any of you, but I've never heard of that before, and it seems like a decent enough reason to listen to what he has to say." The Einherjar muttered amongst themselves at the news that Drake was still alive. He swallowed as he realized that Cid had just given him the best possible introduction explaining the situation on Gaia.
Surprisingly, he did better than he thought he would, even with his heart in his throat. He stuttered only once, when he made the mistake of looking at a particularly intimidating monk that was scowling at him. He thought deliriously that for all he'd told some pretty tall tales to people, at the very least he could get less anxious about it each time.
Just as the Einherjar began to argue about it, he blinked and found himself staring up at Odette's worried face. He grunted a little and sat up, rubbing at his head. It didn't ache any, despite how he had fallen asleep. Had that been a sleep spell?
"Are you alright?" Drake blinked as Odette patted his face, her own pale. He laughed a little and caught one of her hands, kissing her palm gently. Odette blushed bright red, and Drake grinned. It had been a while since he had caught Odette off guard like this, especially with something so tame.
"I'm fine. Whatever it was the yeti did, it worked. I was on the battlefield, and more than just the archers could see me. I don't know if I was able to convince any of them, but I did tell them what was going on before I woke up. I guess we'll see how things go next time any of us get to sleep." Odette sighed and frowned at him.
"You need to stop scaring me so much," she said finally. Drake frowned and opened his arms. She scooted in and hugged him, tucking her head into the crook of his neck. Drake rubbed her back, feeling her shake a little bit.
"Sorry. I'll try to worry you less, but it's gonna be a while yet before we can relax. There's four or five more summoners to find, and then we fight Ozma. After we deal with him, Kuja shouldn't be so bad." Odette huffed a brief laugh against Drake's skin, and finally pulled back a bit, rubbing at her eyes.
"And after that, we won't have to worry about knowing the future?" Drake nodded, and tucked a bit of Odette's bangs behind her ear before getting up and brushing himself off. Odette accepted his hand up, and brushed herself off as well. As Drake looked around, he realized that she had already picked up after their small picnic. His bow was on the ground only a couple of feet away, but it was a simple matter to hook it up off of the ground and sling it over his shoulder.
Odette slipped her hand into his as they walked back to Madain Sari, despite that Drake would need both hands if they were attacked. Much to both of their relief, though they saw the shadows of gryphons wheeling by overhead, none of them bothered to attack them. Dagger and Eiko greeted them as they arrived back at Eiko's house. Somehow, Drake wasn't surprised that Lani was nowhere to be seen.
"Zidane should be arriving soon," Dagger told Odette as Drake crouched to look at what one of the moogles offered him. Interestingly enough, it was a paper with writing on it. Drake wasn't sure what it was for until he saw the signature at the bottom. It was from Lani. Drake glanced over it again, and tucked it into his belt pouch to read closer later.
The faint thrum of the Invincible passing by overhead made Drake cringe. He sighed as he watched it land just outside of town, and turned to look at the girls. They had noticed as well. Odette looked a bit pale, unsurprisingly. If Drake had felt the surge of anxiety, then chances were that she had as well.
Drake sighed with a surprising amount of relief once they were back on the ship. He found the bunk that he'd claimed before, and fell into it, running his thumb over the jade carving. He had no idea how, but the yeti had gotten it to work. Was it possible that he'd get it to work again if he went to sleep? Except he wasn't tired at all.
"Hey Drake, how was the day?" Sabin plopped down on the bunk right next to Drake, making the ropes keeping the mattress up creak. Drake lifted an eyebrow at him. Sabin didn't look like the sort to work well with the monk that had intimidated Drake so much when he was addressing all of the Einherjar, but it could be that he was underestimating that monk he'd been so scared of.
"Oh, you know. I found the next summoner, got knocked out by a sleep spell, told the Einherjar about what's going on out here, had a small argument with Odette..." Sabin winced. "I'm hoping to get a bit of a rest before talking to Odette again. She brought up something that was bothering her earlier, and we haven't really talked much about it yet. Pretty sure it's a remnant of how she was treated by Kuja."
"Eesh. Yeah, that's probably something that you should get done soon. Leaving that sort of thing to fester is a bad idea." Drake nodded and stretched, groaning. The muscles in his back were complaining, despite having not done a whole lot that day. "If you want, I can find a place for the two of you to talk where no one else will bother you." Drake blinked at Sabin.
"I'll think about it. My body feels like it got hit with a tree, for some reason. I don't know if it's a side effect of using this little carving thing or what, but I could do with a nice soak in a hot bath and an hour to stretch." Sabin frowned, and offered his hand to Drake. He took it, and groaned as he was hauled into a sitting position. His back crackled like an elder's, and Sabin winced, hissing in sympathy.
"I'm gonna go get Dagger, just to make sure that it's nothing really worrying. You really need to start stretching though." Drake nodded and unbuckled his armor, setting it aside stiffly to start stretching. It didn't take long for Dagger to show up. Drake winced as he straightened his back and felt a muscle pinch in his chest.
"I don't know what it was you did, but you strained almost all of your muscles." Dagger cast a cure spell on Drake, and he sighed as he felt his muscles loosen. "You should go to bed early today and get what rest you can. You'll have to be gentle with yourself tomorrow, too. No sparring with Amarant or Sabin. I mean it. I'll tell Odette and she'll keep an eye on you." Drake sighed as Dagger cast another scan spell to make sure that she hadn't missed anything.
Drake sighed and flopped back on the bunk, glad that Dagger had been able to tell him why he felt horrible. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go to sleep just yet, though, not if going back to the battlefield made his body tense up again. He also wasn't really terribly tired. He didn't have any books to read, and chances were he would just hurt himself if he worked on carving.
"Hey Drake, you in here?" Edgar's voice got Drake's attention, and he sat back up with a slight groan. "Ah, there you are. Here, can you give me a hand with this? Oh there you are, Sabin. You can help too." Edgar had an armload of metal, and Drake slid to sit on the floor as he and Sabin held things for Edgar as he put it together.
"So what is this, exactly?" Drake had no idea what the device was supposed to be. There were plenty of pipes, but whenever Drake tried to follow one of them, he started to feel his eyes crossing.
"I talked to Regent Cid about his steam engines, and it struck me as being a good idea, if a little inefficient. So, I need to put together something that works like his and figure out what would make it more efficient. To do that, I have to build stuff, and to be honest, it helps to have more than one pair of hands." Drake flinched as Edgar's wrench bumped into his knuckles. "Whoops, sorry."
"It's okay. Think you could explain, in layman's terms, how this is supposed to work? Earth's technology was working off of steam technology generations before I was born, and moved past it well before I was born, too." Edgar paused to blink at Drake, as if he had forgotten about Earth.
Several hours passed as Edgar lectured Sabin and Drake about the device he was building with their help. Drake actually found himself learning a great deal about mechanics. He had no idea how to make it work, himself, but he could appreciate the work it took to get things to work better now.
By the time he actually got to sleep, his mind was whirling with imaginary diagrams that he had thought up while listening to Edgar's lectures. He seemed to take quite a while to get to the battlefield, but when he finally showed up there, he was his normal shadowy self. There wasn't a fight going on, but all of the Einherjar were arguing anyhow. Drake watched from a distance, sitting on top of a rock. No one approached him.
Come the morning, it did still take a lot more energy than he had expected to haul himself up. Sabin had been waiting for him to wake up, and dragged him to the clear section of the cargo hold to stretch before sending him off to find Odette.
She was helping Quina in the rough kitchen in the Invincible, and smiled brightly at Drake as he limped in. She cast a small cure spell on him with a flick of her hand, and Drake sighed as he felt the muscle he'd pulled stretching his right leg ease. Quina dumped a sack of potatoes in Drake's arms and told him to clean them, pointing out a stool for him to sit.
Drake obligingly peeled the potatoes, listening to the chatter of people waking up and stumbling in to see if the food was done yet. Quina had found coffee somewhere, and Drake got a mug of it once he handed over the potatoes that he'd cleaned. He wasn't that fond of coffee, but it did make him feel a little better anyhow.
Just how much his joints crackled as he stood up made him grimace, though. It made him feel as old as his father, especially how his back protested. He noticed Edgar wincing at a particularly loud crack, and made sure that when he sat down again, he had something to lean back against. The hashbrowns that Quina made with the potatoes that Drake had cleaned were very tasty.
Everyone was a bit concerned at their location for the day. It would be impossible to hide the fact that they were preparing for a big battle from the cartographer when they could clearly see that there was a spell warping the air above the Iifa Tree. Drake had to argue Zidane around to letting him off the ship to see if they could find the next summoner. Only the fact that Drake was the one that could find the summoners, even if he seemed to do it completely by accident, was enough to get Zidane to let Drake do as he pleased. Freya and Amarant would be sent with him, though, along with Odette, to make sure that he didn't do more than he had to.
Drake didn't mind the tagalongs. What he did mind, though, was how quickly he got sore. More than once, Odette had needed to cast a cure spell on him because his muscles were seizing up. As the sun rose in the sky, they headed to a drought-struck forest to find some shade.
Once again Odette had brought a picnic, only this time, she actually had a proper basket and a blanket to spread on the ground. Drake was sore enough that he'd had to bite back a snarky comment that they weren't there to have fun by the time he noticed it. Much to his relief, they found a surprisingly lush clearing that was still mostly green.
Drake groaned as he flopped on the grass, moving his arm as Odette spread the blanket on the ground next to him. Freya and Amarant walked around to make sure that there were no monsters nesting nearby that would attack them. Odette started to unpack the basket, including what looked like an egg pie, a smaller basket of rolls covered in a cloth to try to keep it warm, and a skin of some sort of liquid. Drake hoped it was tea. There were also several apples that still felt cool when Odette tossed one to him.
Amarant and Freya sat down on the edges of the blanket as Drake hauled himself up with a grunt. He bit into the apple and slurped the juice up as he scooted onto the blanket without getting up. Amarant grinned a little as Odette handed him a slice of the egg pie while his one hand and mouth were busy. Drake sent him a warning glare, but shifted to not be leaning on his one hand, brushed it off on his pants leg, and accepted the slice of pie.
"So, what's the likelihood of us finding the summoner while we're eating?" Freya sounded somewhat amused. Drake just shrugged, somewhat annoyed that he was being asked a question while his mouth was full. He winced as he swallowed his half-chewed bite of apple.
"It could happen, I guess. But can we not tempt fate?" Odette giggled, and Drake sighed. He had to accept that he was being teased. He muttered into his bite of egg pie and blinked at it, surprised by the taste. He could have done with more salt, but there was some form of seafood mixed in, as well as whatever the green flecks were in it.
"Not mentioning the possibility would tempt fate even more, don't you think? Ooh, this turned out better than I was expecting." With that, their meal was largely uneventful. The only thing that really was of note was a leaf falling on Drake's slice of egg pie as he was about to take a bite, which got laughs from the rest.
The skin that had been packed in the basket held some cooled tea, which, to Drake's disgust, had become very strong in the time that had passed since it had been steeped. Still, they all drank it, because it was there. Drake just made sure that he cut it with swigs of his regular water as well.
It didn't take much to fill Drake up, and he turned to lay flat again, this time with his head resting on the blanket. He jerked with a yelp, looking straight up. Freya and Amarant jerked at his yelp, reaching towards their weapons as they looked to see what he had spotted. They relaxed as they saw the young dryad that was sitting directly above Drake, giggling.
"I apologize, but I wanted to see what you all were doing." This dryad wasn't like Cleyra, who deigned to cover up what would have been deemed inappropriate parts of her body had she been human with clothes of bark, leaves, or flowers. Drake had to concentrate on keeping his eyes on her face, aware that Odette was paying attention to where his eyes wandered.
"Well, at least you're friendly," Amarant muttered. "There's some unfriendly cousins of yours around, last I was aware." Drake blinked and tilted his head to squint at Amarant. "It was before Madain Sari," was the answer to his unspoken question.
"Ah." He turned his attention back to the dryad, who was now at least sitting primly in a spot where the rest of his group didn't need to crane their necks to see her. "I didn't think dryads were that curious about humans. Or, well, people that aren't trees." The dryad giggled at that, and flicked her hair over her shoulder. She looked to be the spirit of a willow tree, but he didn't see any around.
"Most aren't, no. I'm a bit special. I'm the only one I'm aware of that has an interest in summoning. I'm not terribly good yet, but I don't have the access to books like the Jabberwock does." Drake perked up at that information.
"Oh, we've been looking for summoners!" The dryad looked confused at Odette's words, and Drake sighed. Odette muttered an apology as Drake explained why they were looking for summoners that were not of the clan that had once lived in Madain Sari. The dryad listened carefully, kicking her legs every once in a while to keep herself occupied.
"I'd heard some rumors about that, but to be honest, I didn't really take them seriously...Of course I'll help. And I'll make sure that the others help as well, those you've talked to already, to make sure that they know what's going on." Drake nodded and stretched carefully. It was nice, knowing that there was someone among the summoners that was going to keep on top of things.
"That's a load off of my shoulders. We'll try to get in touch with you guys before we go off to fight Ozma. Oh, I almost forgot." Drake dug in his belt pouch to pull out the rough stones he'd been giving to the summoners. The dryad jumped out of the tree she was sitting in to lean over the stones he offered to her. "I thought dryads couldn't leave their trees."
"Only exceptionally old ones can, and by the time we get that old, we don't really like to travel much. Hmm...These three are pretty." Drake handed her the jasper, carnelian, and obsidian stones that she had pointed at. She wove them into her hair to keep them on her as she smiled brightly at him, and then handed him a cut emerald that he hadn't been aware of. "If you find the Jabberwocky, and trust me, that will be a challenge with how much he travels, give him this and tell him that I will need his aid. He will know where to find me." Drake nodded, ran his fingers over the stone once before tucking it into his belt pouch.
"Thank you very much. We'll do our best to find him." The dryad giggled, and leaped back up into the trees. Within moments, she was gone. Drake shook his head, a little befuddled at the speed with which the conversation had ended.
"I suppose it is good to know that there is someone reasonable to keep the rest in line," Odette said as she packed up the food they hadn't eaten. "That's something that they need, from what I've heard." Drake nodded and accepted Amarant's hand up.
"Each one that I've met so far is very different from the rest. She was the first that wasn't shy, though. Shall we get back to the landing zone?" Freya was already getting up to help gather the blanket to fold. Drake stretched again, and blinked as he felt a healing spell ease his muscle aches.
"It would be awfully nice if we spent the night in a town somewhere instead of on the ship," Odette commented. "But I suppose that could wait until after we're done with looking for the summoners. And after we're done carting that mapmaker around."
They were the first ones back to the landing zone, and Drake actually fell asleep in a semi-shaded patch of rock. When he woke back up, his skin felt tight and was a rather unhappy shade of pink. It had been quite a while since he had gotten sunburnt, which made him even more unhappy than he had been before. Thankfully, Odette's healing spell at least reduced how inflamed his skin was, though it still felt far too hot to touch anything to it.
Zidane grimaced as he saw Drake's sunburn, but didn't comment on it. Instead, all he talked about was the spell on top of the Iifa tree. While the cartographer was busy sketching out the ground, he had used the cameras on the Invincible to get a closer look at the spell. His news was depressing for everyone else.
"A swarm of dragons? Really?" Odette sounded close to despair. "Knowing him, they're all silver dragons, too, like the one we killed on Terra. Are they all nesting in the top of the tree?" Zidane shrugged. Drake tugged on his ear cuff thoughtfully.
"We don't have to fight all of them. And asking Regent Cid to try to fit a forward facing cannon on the Invincible would be too suspicious... Not to mention him seeing the ship for himself would be far too telling. Besides, we need to get rid of Ozma first, so it doesn't wreck the world while our back is turned." Zidane sighed and nodded, admitting that Drake was right.
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End Notes: Oh I actually sort of forgot a few things that happened in this chapter. Well, I'm just glad that I'm getting towards the end of this story. Five years is a long time to work on a thing, even if it is off-and-on.