The Reunion

Chapter Four - Life in Lindblum

The day was Wednesday, and the time was around 9:00 A.M. as Eiko Carol jumped excitedly out of bed in the Lindblum Guest Room. She was glad to have her own room, at least when no guests were staying at Lindblum Grand Castle. Otherwise, she slept in the same room as Regent Cid and his wife, Hilda, or on top of the castle where she could gaze at the stars.

Eiko, who had turned twelve years old a week ago, was adopted by Cid and Hilda when she got back with the rest of the gang that saved the world. They were quite glad to take her in as their own, and she was quite glad to not be alone anymore. Sure, she did have her moogles at Madain Sari, but no real humans to talk to at that time.

Eiko had also tried to get the moogles at Madain Sari to move into Lindblum Castle with her, but they were quite stubborn, and just wanted to hang tight at the summoner's former homeland. Eiko still went to see them every now and then, though, and they were doing just fine. The moogles still watched over the Eidolon Wall and prayed there everyday, and Eiko was proud of them for it.

She was now heading up the lift to Cid and Hilda's chambers. They had promised her that today, she could go see the members of Tantalus and talk with them about the reunion. When Eiko received her invitation from the moogle who delivered it Monday morning, she couldn't have been more energetic. Since that day two days ago, she had been pretty much "bouncing" around the castle, wanting to get out and talk with others who might have received an invitation.

"Surely at least one of the Tantalus members would have received one?" Eiko thought to herself as she walked into the dining room. Cid and Hilda were both already there, eating a breakfast of eggs and grits.

"Good morning, mom... dad", said Eiko loudly as she came into the room and began preparing her own breakfast.

Cid and Hilda were both used to Eiko calling them "dad and mom" by now...especially more used to it than they were in the past, because back then, they would almost go into shock from hearing her call them that like they were her parents.

"Morning, Eiko", said Hilda. "We figured you would have been up much earlier, seeing as how you went on and on last night about wanting to go talk to more people who might've got invitations.

"Hehe... I guess I was up too late last night being excited about today", said Eiko, "so I ended up sleeping in a little bit. But... I'M READY NOW!"

She set her food of eggs and grits down at the table and began putting spoonfuls of sugar in her grits. Cid turned to face her.

"Now, Eiko... watch the amount of sugar you're using... you're already hyper enough. Oh, and when you go out to the town of Lindblum today, try to be back around 5:00 this evening. I don't want you out too late."

"No problem, dad", said Eiko as she finished sugaring up her grits. "I'll be on my way right after I finish eating."

Cid took a mouthful of eggs. "Same here."

Eiko turned to look at her "dad." "Why? Where are you going?", she asked.

Cid had an excited glimmer in his eyes. "Today is the day: I'm going to try out my brand new Hilda Garde 5!"

Hilda rolled her eyes. "Of course", she said, "you finally get to try it out today."

Eiko laughed. She remembered how long the Hilda Garde 3 lasted, which was quite a while, before Cid decided to loan it to Tantalus so they could get around when they needed to. Tantalus still used it from time to time, but it stayed in Cid's airship dock most of the time. The Hilda Garde 4 was made not too long afterwards, and it was a very nice airship. Cid told Eiko one time that when she was old enough, she could have it.

Cid had taken a break from building any airships for a while after that, but for the past six months, he had been at it again. His new Hilda Garde 5 was supposedly his "best invention" as he loved to remind everybody, and today he was going to put that statement to the test.

"Aaah, I can hardly wait", said Cid in a longing voice. "I still remember back when I built the very first Hilda Garde. It's amazing that I've come this far."

"Yes, it is", said Hilda in a menacing tone. "You're lucky I came back to you and turned you back into a human."

"Now, Hilda", said Cid, "that's all in the past. You know I would never do anything like that again."

Hilda smiled at Cid. "I know you wouldn't. I was just joking."

Eiko just sat there, eating and thinking. "It's been about a month since I've went to Alexandria. That's kind of out of the ordinary, because I usually go at least once every two weeks. Oh well, at least I will get to go and stay an entire weekend in only two days! I'm so excited!"

"Eiko!", said Cid, "slow down!"

For Eiko had begun eating at a very fast pace because of her excitability rising. "Hehe...sorry", she said.

In the days before the corrupted black mages invaded Lindblum, it was a bustling town, full of people and shops and many things to do. The Festival of the Hunt would be held every year, and like any big event, everyone would get excited about it, even if they weren't participating. A lot of people just liked to watch, anyway. Lindbum was also home to three districts back then: The Business District, the Theater District, and the Industrial District.

After the black mages had pretty much destroyed Lindblum, however, the activity decreased greatly. The entire Industrial District had been destroyed, and the remaining two districts were in bad shape, as well. The Festival of the Hunt had to be called off for a long time. Almost everything had to be re-built from scratch, and many people lost hope. Some of them moved out of Lindblum, heading to Alexandria, but it was destroyed not too long after Lindblum was. A whole lot of re-building was required at this time.

Those were hard times, but most people made it through all right. After the evil was defeated, both towns and their respected castles were well on their way to being re-built. It didn't take as long to build Alexandria Castle as it did Lindblum's, and it was re-built by the time Zidane made his return. Lindblum, however, took close to two more years to get back in top shape. While it took a while for Lindblum's population to increase again, it did... gradually. And by now, Lindblum was the same bustling town that it used to be. Just about everything was back in full motion, and the Festival of the Hunt took place last year for the first time since it was called off. Alexandria and Lindblum were both in great shape again, Burmecia was as well as ever, and Cleyra was even on its way to being re-built. Things were going good for the Mist Continent.

Cid, however, was bound for a nice, long flight around most of Gaia. He wondered how the other continents were doing as he waved goodbye to his engineers.

"Take care while I'm gone, guys!", he said to them before heading into the largely re-constructed airship dock.

The Hilda Garde 4 (red and blue in color) sat neatly in place in the big airship dock. However, in the spot where the Hilda Garde 3 usually was, there was nothing.

"Hmm... some of the Tantalus boys must have went somewhere", thought Cid. "Hopefully there is still at least one of them here in Lindblum so that Eiko can see them and stop her excitedness."

Cid now looked toward the other side of the dock, and saw it: The Hilda Garde 5. It looked more shiny than ever as Cid gazed at it as if in a trance. The Hilda Garde 5 was all silver, with crisp, clear wings. Cid didn't want to waste another minute. He rushed over to the airship, got in it, and started it up, all while almost forgetting to take a breath.

"Ohhh yes... this is going to be awesome", he said as he began to ease the sleek-looking airship out of the dock.

Before Cid knew it, he was off, the airship flying very smoothly (and fast) right out of the airship dock and up in the skies.

Eiko was now boarding an air cab around 10:00 A.M. going from Lindblum Castle.

"The Theater District", she informed the cab attendant of where she wanted to go.

With a start, the air cab was off. Eiko watched as the scenery flashed past her, and before long, the cab stopped in the Theater District.

"Good day", said the attendant to Eiko.

"Bye!", Eiko exclaimed excitedly.

She was half-walking, half-running as she headed for the newly re-built Tantalus hideout. She usually saw the guys of Tantalus at least once a week, because they came around the castle and talked to Cid quite often. The sun was beating brightly as Eiko came out into the main square of the Theater District. People were walking back and forth, going this way and that, but it wasn't too crowded.

"Most of the people are at the Business District anyway", thought Eiko.

She rushed off to the right from where the air cab station was located, walked a little way around the corner, and arrived at the Tantalus hideout. Without thinking about knocking, she turned the doorknob, which was unlocked, and the door opened. Eiko slowly walked in.

The room was a bit larger than it had been long ago, but the layout was still more or less the same. Four beds were scattered about, and on two of the beds along the left wall sat Blank and Marcus.

Marcus had turned to the door when Eiko entered. "Well, look who it is", he said.

"Heya", said Eiko, walking toward them with a smile on her face.

"Hey, Eiko", said Blank. The visor that he always wore covered his eyes, but he could still see out of it fine.

"How you been?", asked Marcus. His hair had grown longer than Eiko had ever seen it before.

"Great!" exclaimed Eiko. "Did you guys hear about the reunion Zidane has planned? Are you going? Where's your boss, anyway?" Eiko asked all these questions at once.

"Whoa, one question at a time, Eiko", said Blank. "Yes, we got an invitation about the reunion, and of course we're going. As for our boss", he added, laughing, -

"He and Cinna went to Alexandria to talk to Ruby about the reunion", Marcus finished Blank's sentence for him.

"Oh... did they take the Hilda Garde 3?", asked Eiko.

"Yep", said Blank. "Should be back in a few hours."

"Oh, okay", said Eiko, sitting at the end of Blank's bed. "You guys will have to tell them that I said 'hi', then, because I'd like to go and buy gifts for everyone going to the reunion before I have to go back to the castle.

"How many people are going?", asked Marcus.

"I'm not sure", answered Eiko, "but I'll be sure to buy enough gifts for everybody."

"Well, that sounds nice", said Blank. "You might want to buy Cinna a new hammer; his old one is pretty much worn out and rusted."

Eiko got up from the bed. The talk of gift-buying had excited her.

"Alright", she said. "I'm going to go do that right now!"

"Okay, Eiko", said Blank.

"We'll tell the boss and Cinna that you said 'hi'", said Marcus.

"Okie dokie", yelled Eiko, and before she went out the door, added, "just don't let Cinna know about his gift yet. See ya at the reunion!"

Eiko had spent pretty much all her time shopping for gifts until it was time for her to return to the castle around 5:00 P.M. Cid hadn't returned yet, and since Hilda was waiting before he go back to have dinner, Eiko went about wrapping the gifts she had bought for everyone for the reunion.

"Cinna should like this", she said to herself in the Guest Room, speaking about a silver hammer. "And I hope Zidane likes his gift", she added, wrapping up a shiny gold medallion. Eiko had a lot of gil to spend these days, being adopted by the regent and his wife, who had a lot of gil themselves.

After getting the presents wrapped and double-checking her gift list to make sure no one was forgotten, Eiko went back to see if Cid was back yet. She stopped outside the dining room door, where she could just make out muffled voices coming from inside.

"I'm telling you, Hilda, vines were moving everywhere!" It was Cid's voice, and then-

"Are you sure? You were pretty high up in the-"

"I'm positive, Hilda!" exclaimed Cid. "The vines of the Iifa Tree were in some sort of violent reaction, kind of like they were back when the world was saved. I was low enough in the Hilda Garde 5 to see them."

More silence... and then...

"What do you suppose this means?", asked Hilda.

"I dunno", said Cid slowly. "I really don't know..."

More silence followed this. When Eiko didn't hear them talking anymore, she entered the dining room. Cid looked shaken and Hilda looked confused.

"Hey...", started Eiko, "is anything wrong?"

"What?", said Cid, coming out of his thoughts, Oh... no, Eiko, nothing is wrong. Everything is fine... let's eat."

Hilda got up and fixed the plates of food, and nothing else was said throughout dinner. Eiko knew Cid and Hilda wouldn't tell her anything about what they were discussing, because they wouldn't want to worry her, so she didn't ask anymore about it.

That night, Eiko kept thinking... "What if something is wrong? Why would the Iifa Tree act like that now, after all this time?" But she soon fell asleep, and by morning, had pretty much forgot about the Iifa Tree's vines, her mind focused instead on the up-and-coming reunion.

I hope everyone is still enjoying it so far. As usual, I'll try to have the next chapter up soon. Until then, keep R'ing and...er...R'ing. :)