Locke closed and locked the heavy wooden door behind the late night visitor. The visitor had claimed to be a miner, and said he came across a strange glowing gem deep in the mine. Magicite, maybe.

Locke turned toward Celes. "What do you think?"

Celes pursed her lips. "It could be a trap."

She was right, it might have been a trap. In fact, there was a good chance that it was. But there was also a chance, however small, that there really was magicite out there. Magicite, the magical remains of Espers, was incredibly powerful. They couldn't let it fall into the wrong hands—it could tip off another Esper War, or worse. "I don't think we have a choice. We'll set out first thing in the morning."

"And our guests?" Celes nodded toward the sleeping teenagers.

"The one seems to mostly recovered. Maybe it's time for them to move along."

"Where are they going to go? They won't last three days on their own."

"Not our problem."

Celes sighed. "Locke..."

"Fine. We'll bring them along."

Celes hesitated. "I don't know…"

"What else are we going to do with them? If you want to stay here and babysit them, Terra and I can go without you."

"No, I'm not staying behind, but what if we get in trouble? We got a couple of unarmed kids to defend?"

"Have you seen them? They aren't exactly tiny. I think they can each swing a sword."

Celes still seemed unsure. Locke didn't much care for the situation either, but they didn't have a lot of options. He'd only been half-serious about turning Mermaid and Dragon-bait loose to fend for themselves. But it wasn't because he was worried about their well-being. He still didn't trust them. If they were working for the enemy, trying to infiltrate the Resistance or get to Terra, he didn't want them out of sight, where they could plan a sneak attack. As the old saying went, better to keep the untrustworthy where they could be contained.

They may not have any choice about bringing the boys along, but that didn't mean Locke would let his guard down. Not for a second. Not when it came to Terra.

Rinoa stood on the outskirts of Timber and gazed into the thick forest. She'd thought about this moment a lot. Ever since joining the Forest Owls, she'd imagined what it would be like to finally liberate Timber. She'd imagined herself celebrating, parading through the streets with Zone and Watts. More recently, she'd imagined Squall at her side, sharing in the accomplishment.

Timber was liberated, but Squall wasn't there to share the moment with. She tugged at the black ribbon tied around her left arm. She'd often imagined letting Squall untie it. She considered leaving it until Squall was with her, but decided it would be silly to wear a protest statement when the time for protest was over.

It hadn't taken much. Really, tracking down Zone and Watts had been more difficult than freeing the town. Galbadia was in such disarray that the few soldiers who remained in Timber were confused and hesitant. They didn't put up much fight when the SeeDs suggested they get out of town.

Zell and Quistis seemed to have known the mission wouldn't be too difficult. They'd been dressed in their formal SeeD uniforms the entire time. Although it was possible to fight ion the formal outfits, she knew they were typically reserved for ceremonies, allowing SeeDs to fight in whatever they found most comfortable.

The reason for the formal dress became clear shortly after they arrived in Timber. Balamb Garden had wanted it to be clear who was there on their behalf, and, even more importantly, who wasn't. Seifer had strolled into town as though he was supposed to be there. He chased down retreating soldiers, harassed residents, and generally made a nuisance of himself. Upon first seeing him, Zell and Quistis had exchanged eye rolls and sighs, apparently having anticipated his appearance.

To be honest, Rinoa had not been surprised or unhappy to see Seifer. After they had all returned from Spira, Seifer had disappeared before entering Garden. She didn't know where he spent most of his time—probably in the town of Balamb—but he would occasionally appear in Garden when Rinoa was by herself. They would talk for a few minutes, but inevitably, Quistis, Zell, or another SeeD would appear to tell him he wasn't allowed on Garden property. He would smile at Rinoa, scowl at the SeeD, and disappear again.

She enjoyed their brief talks. She always felt empowered when she was with Seifer, like she could take on the world. It was a nice change from the hopelessness she felt most of the time.

She finished untying the black ribbon from her arm and released it into the breeze. It was carried off into the forest.

"I may not recognize you without the ribbon." Rinoa turned to see Seifer approaching. "You've been wearing it since we first met." He stopped beside her and gazed into the forest.

She looked in the direction Seifer had come from. "Are Zell and Quistis still in town?"

Seifer's eyes narrowed at the mention of the SeeDs, but he nodded.

Rinoa turned back toward the forest. She should probably be in town celebrating with everyone else, but it just didn't seem right.

"They don't want you to be alone with me." It took Rinoa a moment to realize Seifer was referring to Zell and Quistis. "They think if we spend time alone, you'll fall in love with me and forget all about Squall." He said it with an easy smile and Rinoa laughed.

"They're right, you know." His smile was gone, his tone as serious as Rinoa had ever heard it. She was taken aback. She didn't know what to say.

"I never meant to let you go, Rinoa." Seifer reached for her hand, held it in both of his. She let him. "I only left because I wanted to come back a full-fledged SeeD. I wanted to liberate Timber for you. I wanted to impress you." His voice got quieter. "You deserved someone more impressive than a measly cadet."

He paused for breath. When he continued, his voice was back to full-volume, with an edge of anger. "But then, on the day of my humiliation, I find you dancing with him, of all people? What was I supposed to do, Rinoa? What could I do?"

"You didn't have to join the Sorceress! You didn't have to fight us! You didn't have to fight me, to let the Sorceress use me like that."

Seifer shook his head. "I didn't know what else to do."

There was sadness in his voice, something she'd never heard before. She almost felt sorry for him. He continued.

"I still care about you. I want you to be happy. And I'm worried that you're setting yourself up for some real disappointment."

"What?" Rinoa pulled her hand away from his.

Seifer placed his hands on her shoulders and looked deeply into her eyes. "I know you think you're in love with Squall. But even if we find him, I'm afraid he won't be everything you expect.

"When you first met him, your life was in danger. He saved you. You needed him. The passion between you two, it's based on life or death, it was born in battle. And since he's been gone, you've done nothing but build him up. Every time you think about him, he probably gets better in your mind. More perfect.

"I know Squall. I respect Squall. But nobody can live up to that.

"You and me, though, what we had was real. Before all the Sorceress mess. Just a guy and girl who really liked each other for who we were."

Rinoa was mortified by his words. She held Squall's pendant tightly and tears sprang to her eyes. "You're wrong!" She backed away from Seifer. "I love Squall! I always will!"

She couldn't believe he was doing this. She finally started to trust him again, to begin to think of him as a friend, and now he was questioning her devotion to Squall?

Seifer stood and reached for her arm. "Rinoa—"

"Leave me alone," she cried. Zell and Quistis appeared from the edge of town and ran to her side.

"What did he do?" Zell asked.

"Nothing," Rinoa replied, turning to walk away. She'd calmed down now and didn't want to get Seifer in trouble. He was just being Seifer, after all. She ought to know him by now. She continued to walk away. Zell and Quistis walked beside her.

Rinoa had just been taken off-guard, that was all. She'd reacted so strongly because she didn't know Seifer still thought of her that way. It wasn't because there could possibly be any truth to his words about Squall.

Dejected, Seifer watched Rinoa walk away. He should have been more subtle. His concern for Rinoa had come off as an accusation. He should have worked more slowly, just started to chip away at her confidence in her love for Squall.

He sighed. He'd never been any good at subtlety. Once he'd had her alone—finally!—he'd wanted to win her back, right then.

He'd failed.

He considered giving it another shot; he wasn't ready to let Rinoa go, especially not to Squall. Especially not to the idea of Squall. But it had taken forever to get the chance he had just blown and he was tired of waiting around. It was time to move on with his plan.

Maybe he hadn't chosen his words carefully enough, but he still believed that at heart they were true. If Squall returned, she would see that he wasn't as great as she thought he was. And in her heartbreak she would look for comfort. The others would probably never cease their hero-worship of Squall. So Rinoa would look for someone less impressed with Squall. Someone superior to Squall, because he'd been the one to find him.

It was a pale marble stone, with gold wings at the top and dark grey scrollwork down the sides. The name was engraved in the center, just below the wings: "Raine Loire."

Moments after seeing the stone for the first time, Laguna had been overcome with emotion and left in a hurry. Ellone had followed Laguna, asking Yuna to wait where she was.

Yuna felt a bit strange, standing there alone. Though they didn't bury people in Spira, so Yuna wasn't certain of the cultural norms, it seemed rude to be at someone's burial site without acknowledging them. Like summoning someone's image in the Farplane and then ignoring them.

"Hello, Raine." Yuna sat down by the headstone. The bouquet of flowers she and Ellone had gathered were leaned against the side of the headstone. She picked up the bouquet and held the white flowers in her hands. What did one say, to the ghost of a stranger?

Earlier, after the flowers were gathered, Laguna had taken the lead as they'd walked toward the hillside. Ellone had whispered to Yuna, apparently compelled to finish her story before they reached their destination.

"Eighteen years ago, I was kidnapped and Uncle Laguna set off to save me. He never knew that Raine was pregnant. So…"

Ellone trailed off. Yuna still wasn't sure why everything seemed to be coming to a head now. It was clearly a tragic story, but with everything else going on, why the concern about the past now?

"So, if we don't find him, it will be my fault. My fault that Squall never knew his father."

Yuna pursed her lips. She supposed Raine would want to hear what any mother would.

"You should be very proud of your son. I haven't met him, but I've heard so much about him. He is very brave. And respected by many people. He's taking care of Tidus for me right now, I'm sure of it.

"And don't worry, Tidus is taking care of him too."

Yuna found herself arranging the flowers around the gravestone. Once she started talking to Raine, she found it felt natural. The words flowed easily, even if what she was saying was silly.

"I don't know if you can talk to people on the otherside. But if you can, and you meet my mother, maybe you could tell her about Tidus. And if you see my father, you could tell him how much I miss him. And how proud I am of him. And I hope he's proud of me too. I couldn't have accomplished what I did without his help."

Yuna fell silent. She had finished arranging the flowers and she got to her feet.

"Thank you," Laguna spoke softly from behind Yuna, "For keeping her company."

Yuna turned to Laguna. He seemed to have regained his composure, though his sadness was still palpable. "Of course." Yuna bowed her head and strode away, leaving Laguna with his wife. Ellone was waiting for her at the top of the hill.