WELCOME BACK! I am so excited to be posting chapter two! I am really looking forward to hearing what you readers think! Remember, I OWN NOTHING YOU RECOGNIZE! And in this chapter, there may be much that you recognize... ^_^ Read on, and stop in for the Author's Note at the END of the chapter!

Chapter Two:

Rinoa walked back inside the stone house she spent the other half of her time in. It had changed much since the sorceress' possession by Ultemecia several years ago. Edea harbored no ill will towards the SeeDs for fighting her, of course, she expected nothing less. Even so, there was no way they were going to stand idly by while Edea chose to remain in that old museum of a house while it crumbled to rubble around her. So a team of workers were hired from FH and along with decorative influence from Edea herself (with ever helpful Selphie and Rinoa in tow) they remodeled the house. Now the place felt like a palace of marble columns and floors lined with plush curtains in jade green and chocolate brown rugs. Along with Edea's personal bedroom suite there were a set of comfortable guest rooms and a vast and highly eclectic library. You wouldn't have ever guessed this place was an orphanage, at least not from the entry way.

Rinoa could hear her mentor, the sorceress Edea puttering around in the kitchen. Her own mother, Julia, had died when Rinoa was very young and her father had never been one to bring a bunch of strange women to their home to play mommy. The general had hired a sweet old prune of a woman to be her nanny and to see to the cleaning as well as making sure Rinoa kept up with her schooling. Maude was her name, she was always talking about the "young whippersnappers" and jabbing her cane accusatorily at young Rinoa, but never struck her in anger and would often stand up for her if her father pushed her or came down too hard. But since Rinoa had run out on her life in Deling City to join the Forest Owls (and later Squall and the others), Edea had far surpassed any other motherly figure in her memory. Of course, becoming a sorceress kind of changed everything.

Rinoa pushed the thought to the back of her mind and smiled at the dark haired woman in the kitchen. They hugged briefly and Rinoa offered to help with dinner. They worked together companionably and Edea lightly asked Rinoa how she had been doing; if she had experienced any issues or outbursts. Rinoa answered her truthfully. Telling her teacher about the mornings she woke up tense with built up energy. About how she would spend more and more time in the training center, controlling the monster population.

Edea nodded in understanding as they sat down to a quiet dinner. "Do not let this worry you, your powers are great, you are a true daughter of Hyne. You must remember that your true power comes from your heart. As long as you stay true to yourself and keep your heart in the light, you will remain in control. The power must never be given control or you may lose yourself to it." The sorceresses eyes flashed dangerously.

Rinoa remembered when she had first met the sorceress, when she was possessed by Ultemecia whose dark power had taken Edea- heart and mind- and used her to do her evil bidding. Rinoa shuddered. She didn't ever want think about what she would be capable of if she fell to darkness.

Later, with a full belly and after a long hot soak in a bubble bath, Rinoa settled into the warm blankets on her bed at the orphanage, snuggling against the soft pillows. She reached her hand to rub the spot between Angelo's ears to say goodnight, and pulled the covers up to her chin. As she felt herself fully relax she let her mind drift down the link between her and Squall. She felt him brush familiarly against her mind and his love warmed her down to her toes. He may not be very eloquent with his words, but his heart was easy to read. She felt a twinge of annoyance from him and saw a flash of memory from him. A group of familiar faces in Cid's office, and a taste of distress in the air. She stilled in her bed and sent a questioning response to him. It wasn't exactly like telepathy, he couldn't speak words into her mind, but they could share their emotions and even memories through the magical link between them as sorceress and knight.

Instead of any attempt to explain, however, he answered by picturing the two of them as they were in the flower field today as he kissed her goodbye. She smiled to herself, allowing the not so subtle subject change altogether. Using her magic, like flexing a finger, she submersed herself and her knight in the memory. Their bond was strong and for a moment it felt as if they were actually together. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her passionately.

"I love you, Rinoa" she felt it rather than heard it, like a promise in her mind, and the link between them faded. She sighed happily and sent back I love you too. She could almost feel his lips on hers, and his hands on her cheek. She closed her eyes and nestled in to sleep, the smell of flowers drifting in soothingly through her open window.

0*0

Squall turns to his back to stare at the ceiling as the last warm feelings of love drift to him from their bond on an imagined breeze scented with wildflowers. He puts his arms behind his head and thinks back on his meeting today with Cid. He had showed Rinoa a glimpse of it so she would understand a little of where his irritation had come from. That was one of his favorite things about their Sorceress/Knight bond. He could express himself to her without fear of trying to find the right words and without fumbling about like his father. No fear of sudden leg cramps either.

He had stood at a relaxed attention in a line in front of Cid's desk with three of his fellow SeeDs. Quistis, Zell, and Selphie. Irvine was there as well, leaning against a wall as if he was not here on a superiors' order, but instead having a bit of leisure time. .

Squall listened as the headmaster went over a wide array of updates on current political events involving the Garden as well as the rumors of the mysterious archaeological dig going on in the ruins of Centra. Cid said how it had piqued his curiosity, especially since they were so close to the site itself, but then he seemed to slip into the real reason he had summoned them all here.

"As you all may know, Xu and President Laguna have been working together with many other officials and politicians from around the world to bring about an unprecedented time of peace. Now that Timber is liberated from Galbadia, they and most every province around the world is unanimous in that they want to be able to trust that their neighbor is going to one day just decide they are going to come in and take over.

After a surprisingly quick and painless series of elections two senators from each province have been chosen to represent their respective cities. And, as you also know, Xu and Laguna have gotten together with those elected officials from each major city around the world to create the World Allied Nations. Do you know to what the purpose of all this pomp and circumstance is?" Cid looked pointedly to his students; ever the teacher.

Quistis spoke first, "The main purpose of the World Alliance is to band us all together under a banner of peace so that we may all help each other to stand against any one nation rising up in tyranny against another weaker neighbor." She spoke proudly and surely, as if quoting from one of her textbooks, even though world politics was not on her particular class curriculum. Of course, they all knew this already. The World Allied Nations was a plan put in motion for the last two years. Elections all over the world first, and now they were all finally coming together. Under a banner of peace. Everyone was hoping for an unprecedented time without war.

Squall remained silent as Cid continued. He of course, had doubted that it would work. There wasn't anything that every nation in the world could actually agree upon. How would they ever forge such a fanciful alliance? Yet it had been done. Laguna wanted to pull his country out of the veil they hid themselves behind and share its richness and scientific advancements with the rest of the world. Indeed, many of the worlds nations, such as Timber and Dollet remembered fiercely the forced occupation by Galbadian troops and how they had almost no one to call on for help. Timber, like many small cities around the world, did not have an acting militia of their own with which to defend themselves.

And then of course there were those at the other end of the monetary spectrum like Esthar and Galbadia. Whose advancements in technology and medicines needed to be shared.

And so it appeared that Laguna's fantastical dream of world peace and Xu's tenacity for writing compelling speeches and gift for political maneuvering as well as their mutual desire to end a time of humans against humans had led the worlds populace to the place they now stood. On the bring of actually attaining world peace.

Squall tended to wonder about job security at times like this. What place did a giant floating school designed for training battle hardened mercenaries have in a world at peace? Cid's voice brought him back to the meeting at hand.

"The World Alliance is having their first official gathering in Deling City and Garden has been asked to supply a small security garrison to make sure nothing goes amiss." Cid looked at each of them pointedly. "You are all aware that not everyone believes that peace is as profitable as times of war. There will always be those who vie for chaos, and who seek to forever cast us away from the light."

Squall is a little surprised at the old headmaster's words. They are unusually somber. He doesn't elaborate on any specific suspicions, however, only lines out the team Squall is to be leading and the promise of a long and tiring week ahead of him. The SeeDs all salute the Headmaster respectfully before filing out of the office. The commander was actually expecting something along these lines. The World Alliance had been all over the news for most of the last two and a half years as the various countries voted for and elected their two officials to represent them on the World Council. No longer would one small city have to fear the large glittering unknown xenophobic country across the vast ocean, they would be able to work together to provide a brighter future for the world.

The sentiment almost made him queasy. It felt like a dream. Something like world peace was unattainable, for humanity would always tend toward the darkness. Perhaps that was his own cynicism talking but Squall was deeply afraid he was right on this one. Someone obviously agreed with him, or else the SeeDs themselves would not be planning this mission to oversee the Council's first official meeting.

Squall settled deeper in his bed and tried to push those thought from his mind. He wanted to reach for Rinoa down the link they shared again, but he could already feel that she was asleep and did not want to wake her. The uneasiness in his heart would not be missed by her. It surprised him just how worried he was.

He was still puzzling over it as he drifted off into a fitfull slumber.

She was standing on a cliff overlooking a vast plain. She could see smoke rising from a city in the distance, but she couldn't tell what city. She vaguely recognized the skyline, the twinkling of the suns rays off the ocean behind the city in flames. She wanted to spread her wings. To fly over to the burning city , too use her magic to douse the flames and save the city. She wanted…

But she was rooted to the spot! She could not raise so much as a finger to cast any spells in her arsenal. She was stopped totally and immovably in her tracks as she watched the smoke spread and engulf the entire city.

Then there was a flash- and the scene changed. A new city, this one also large and familiar. She recognized the landscape of the frozen Trabia continent, but not the city itself… and it was burning too. Then a flash, another city, more flames. It seemes as if the entire world is being bathed in fire. The heat was immense and terrible and made it hard to breathe. The sweat trickled down from her brow and into her eyes to mix with her tears of despair at all the destruction laid out before her...

Rinoa woke with a start. She was drenched in sweat and shaking, her heart pounding in unmistakable fear. She tried to remember the details of her dream, what it was that had caused this adrenaline rush reaction in her, but even as she tried the images from her dream faded to dust and fell through her fingers. She wiped the sweat from her brow and kicked the blankest off her sweating body. Sitting up she swung her feet over the edge of the bed to the cool marble floors. For a moment she toyed with the idea of shucking her nightie and laying her naked body against that cool floor. It wasn't nearly hot enough in the cool morning breeze for her to be sweating like this. But instead of indulging in laying on the cool floors, she opted to open the window. And maybe turn on the ceiling fan and coat its blades with ice, just for good measure. She lifted open the window and sighed contentedly at the cool pre-dawn breeze coming off the ocean. She turned her back to the window and lifted her hair so her neck could catch some of the breeze. She looked longingly at her comfy bed and where Angelo lay still kicking his feet softly at a dream of his own. That thought prompted her to go ahead and start her day. Something naggling at the back of her mind just did not want to go back to sleep. Even though as thoughts of coffee and a sunrise had her pulling on a simple pair of shorts and a tee shirt had her forgetting all about the nightmare that had chased her from sleep in the first place.

It was also the first morning in almost two weeks that she had not woken like a rubber band pulled way too taunt. She almost felt zen. Maybe it was the scent of the flowers, or something about this place altogether.

Downstairs, Edea was already awake and in the kitchen making coffee. The smell was invigorating, and as the two added their creams and sugars and headed out to the first floor patio, on the ocean side. The one with the winding staircase to the side that lead down to the beach. The two women sat down in companionable silence to watch as the sun rose slowly above the horizon to glitter beautifully and explode into a brilliant multitude of color against the ocean waves.

Rinoa was loath to break the spell the moment had on them both, but there was a question that had been lurking in the back of her mind since breakfast yesterday at Garden, "Are there other sorceresses alive right now? In this time?" It was a terribly lonely thought, to Rinoa, to be the last sorceress alive anywhere in the world.

Edea kept her gaze on the glittering sunrise for a long time before putting down her cup and turning to Rinoa to answer. "I honestly do not know," she said. "I am sure that if there were any more out there like Adel and Ultemecia, they would have made their presence known. But as to if there are any other women out there like Ellone or the two of us? I cannot say. Though I bet they would keep the information to themselves."

Rinoa took a long sip from her coffee as she pondered this. Of course that would make sense. Why would they want to broadcast their abilities to the world? Rinoa blushed slightly. Everyone knew that Rinoa was a sorceress. And thusly she was always facing a certain level of animosity and ignorance induced prejudice. It seemed like a constant tug of war between the light and dark facets of Rinoa's heart.

"Do you remember the story of where sorceress's got their powers?" Edea asked. Rinoa had, of course, and several times. But she liked the story, for many reasons, so she let her mentor continue. "Long ago, when the world was still covered in night and the light had not yet come, there was a being called Hyne. From this darkness Hyne created the world, and battled many beasts from the darkness with his magic. Using this magic, he was able to win those battles and became the ruler of this world."

Rinoa settled in to hear the story, she closed her eyes as the older sorceress talked, letting her voice wash over her to paint the pictures in her mind.

"Hyne seated himself upon his throne, from where he thought he could see all around. However, from his throne he could not see the eastern sea because of a mountain range. Because of his many battles Hyne had become too tired to destroy the mountain and needed to create a self sufficient and self replicating tool to do his bidding. Thus he created human beings..." After all those years as the Matron of an orphanage, Edea truly had a great story telling voice, Rinoa mused. She leaned back in her chair and let the cedence of the elder sorceress' voice and the sound of the waves crashing on the beach below sooth her worries away.

"… The human beings increased their numbers while carving up the mountain. When their work was finished they asked Hyne what they should do next. He was asleep however due to his fatigue. So the human beings went on making changes to the world at their own discretion. And they continued to multiply… "

Rinoa pictured the scene: A young world with budding villages and temples and who knew what else built by these early humans to please their God.

Edea continued, "When Hyne awoke, the appearance of the area had completely changed. He was most startled, though, by the exponential growth of the population. Hyne decided to reduce their numbers and used his magic to destroy the 'smaller' humans. These were the children and they were of course very important to the humans. They wept intensely and protested angrily to Hyne."

Rinoa watched the sadness fall across the older sorceress' face, neither of them really liked this part of the story, but it was the turning point in the legend of their history. Tragic or not.

"Hyne told them that they were his tools. Of course these cold cruel words angered the humans and they rose up in rebellion against Him. Hyne retaliated with his magic and many, many human lives were lost. In the end, however, their superior numbers ended with Hyne besieged. Hyne bargained with his creations. He offered them half of his own body and power. At the idea of having even half of Hyne's power for themselves the humans agreed to the deal. Hyne split his body in half and gave it to the humans. With this act, a peace was drawn between Hyne and the humans. However, the humans began to quarrel amongst themselves, coming together in groups that wanted the power of Hyne for themselves.

A war ensued, long and hard and eventually won by the dark king Zebalga. Within a forest, finally he had the half of Hyne's body for himself and his three sons. But try as they might they could not make the power within the body respond to them. The dark king Zebalga summoned the wise sage Vascaroon who came to consult with Zebalga and his three sons. He knew the answer to this riddle, Hyne had given them a corrupted part of his body. It was nothing more than Hyne's cast off skin!"

Rinoa shuddered at this part of the story. Truly baffled by ancient men's stupidity and gullibility and the craftiness of a God.

"When the king and his sons heard this explanation, they were furious! They vowed to destroy Hyne and they split the skin into four parts and they each took a piece back to their province of the world to search for the treacherous Hyne. However whatever was left of Hyne was nowhere to be found. His remaining power concealed itself in bodies, in the form of women, a handful of those women who had caught the eye of the god. Those women became sorceresses, each contained a piece of Hyne's power. And they would forever pass their gift along to other women like themselves throughout time. Forever assuring that his power would never die out…"

As Edea concluded her story, both sorceresses sat in contemplative silence with their empty coffee mugs and watched till the sun lifted clear of the watery horizon. Edea rose first, "Come, that's enough History for today. Let's get to work."

With that the two women rose from their porch chairs and descended the winding staircase to the beach.

*0*0*

Squall zipped up the jacket on his SeeD uniform. His mission was to lead a squad of less than ten SeeDs in guarding the delegates of the first meeting of the World Allied Nations. These pompous soon to be world leaders were to gather at the unveiling of the brand new World Nation building on the mostly empty Centra continent. Since it was the only continent without a nation or delegates, it was considered the perfect neutral place to make into the headquarters of the World's new Alliance. However it is hardly the importance of this mission that is the source of Squall's unusual case of the jitters.

Zell clapped his commander on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs up before they stepped through the door into the debriefing room where he would be giving the orders to his team. This was supposed to be a relatively quiet mission. No outright threats had been made. The building had already been searched from top to bottom and everything was currently all clear.

Squall opened the door and walked into the room where his team was waiting. He explained to them what was to be expected. Showed them on a map of the compound that had been broken into sectors. There would be four teams of two as well as Squall and Zell who would be the "Alpha Team" and everyone had a designated section to watch and a set of delegates for whom they were responsible. This was an unprecedented and widely publicized gathering of politicians intending to unite all previously warring nations under a single banner of peace. Squall tried not to let any of his personal feelings on the matter come through. Nor did he mention to them his concerns about job security. After all, these politicians still needed their asses guarded. And though they would probably always need said asses guarded, the thought of a life for this SeeD filled with monotonous guard duty was extremely depressing.

The teams separated and went to their designated areas while Squall and Zell went back out front to preside over the unveiling of the big shiny new building.

Though he wouldn't have admitted it to anyone, a significant amount of his nerves were due to the unavoidable likelyhood that he was bound to run into his father. Then he would be required to converse with the man. And while Squall did not at all directly dislike the man, there was a certain amount of unexplainable distance between them that they had yet to bridge. Laguna, for his part, was as proud of his son's accomplishments as any father could be and was content to let his son come to him in his own time.

The afternoon sky was a brilliant clear blue as Laguna took the center stage set up in front of the cameras and reporters broadcasting this moment in history to homes all across the world. As the President of Esthar stepped up to the mike, Squall had a brief thought flash through his mind that he hoped Xu or even Kiros had been the one to write the speech the President was about to give… he had to suppress a groan at the image his mind concocted.

But Laguna has a passion that always seems to come through, no matter how uncouth the delivery. Luckily for everyone this was one of the times where everything goes according to plans. After Laguna came Xu as well as a member from the Shumi tribe and by the time the ribbon was cut and the reporters allowed to enter everyone was overflowing with excitement.

By lunchtime however, Squall found himself uncharacteristically bored. The delegates continued to droll on. The spouted plans and ideas for spreading the many countries wealth. They talked and talked. They planned and proposed ideas and set up ordinances. He could tell by the look in Zell's eyes that he wasn't the only one going a little brain dead from all of the political jibber jabber.

"Jeez, man, if I have to endure a whole week of this I think I might just have to go all kamikaze on something just for a bit of excitement." The martial artist joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Honestly Squall wanted to laugh at that. The idea had actually almost made the gun blade master giggle.

That was a scary thought.

Squall instead ignored the martial artists comment altogether and headed for the buildings central courtyard for some fresh air and a break from all the monotony before they reconvened for another marathon of delegation.

*0*0*

Rinoa faced the ocean, her eyes focused on the waves as she stretched and flexed that magical muscle in her minds' eye. She had already called down a bolt of lightening to light the bonfire raging behind her. Her next task was to call the waves forward to quench the flames. She clenched her fist as if grasping the waves themselves, and then lifted them above her head and spun lightly on her heel and envisioned the water lifting in an arc guided by her hands and mind and brought it splashing down in a spurt of hissing steam and just like that the bonfire was swept back out to sea.

There were a plethora of exercises the sorceress had used to train her young apprentice. The two sorceress' would dance back and forth juggling rings of fire or water or even lightning between them to see who would loose their concentration first and drop their rings. The more elements you could hold simultaneously and keep them spinning. All manner of elemental manipulation imaginable. There were also these long metal poles sticking up out of the sand to use as targets for her lightning. In the beginning, Rinoa remembered being seventeen and standing with Edea on the beach in the rain, it was only a few months after the downfall of sorceress Ultemecia… she had been feeling a little lost and overwhelmed and had sought solace in her fellow sorceress.

The sorceress had explained how her magic now came from within and that her heart and her will now gave her power limited only by her imagination and her stamina. Then the sorceress had pointed to the dark clouds above them heavy with rain and with a sharp gesture from those clouds to the earth, seemed to pull a bolt of lightning down from the heavens to strike a slender metal pole. Then Edea had led her new apprentice to where the pole sat jutting out of the sand. The older woman waved her hand and the pole lifted out of the ground and the sands shook aside to reveal a sparkling crystalline object which was brought to rest in Rinoa's waiting hands.

"It's beautiful," the young woman said, running her fingers along the surprisingly warm surface.

"The lightning strikes the metal pole and goes into the sand where it diffuses and superheats the sand making glass and forming these beautiful glittering sculptures." Edea placed her hands over Rinoa's on the smooth warm glass. "Let this always be a reminder to you that your magic can be used to create things that are beautiful. There is no reason for it to be dark and terrible. It is about what is in your heart."

Rinoa brought herself back to the present and the rapidly cooling bonfire. The elder sorceress was standing before her. The young woman pressed her hand against her heart in reminder and vowed to always stand in the light. She would always use her magic as an instrument of beauty and never use it to harm.

Except in the case of a few errant monsters of course, because, hey. That was a beautiful thing, too.

A/N: Hallo! Thank you for reading Chapter Two! If there is anyone out there? Whatever! I took the story of Hyne that Edea told in this chapter from The Final Fantasy Compendium, as well as the final scene of this chapter with the lightning/sand sculptures came from the movie "Sweet Home Alabama". As i said, i own nothing you recognize. ;)

Anyway, chapter three will be coming soon! There will be some very exciting things happening in the upcoming chapters, so i hope everyone is enjoying this story! I also must apologize for any mistakes, as my Beta has recently gotten a very busy schedule, and i was too impatient to get this up to wait fot her to read it... so please feel free to point anything out to me. I will take no offense.

Lastly, I would highly appriciate REVIEWS! Let me know what you think! It will inspire me to write like nothing else!

LOVE!

-Lupa