Ashe made them stop to eat on the sand outside the tomb. The strain around her eyes kept Noah from arguing, but when she insisted they sleep there too he had to protest.

'What of Lord Rasler, and my brother? And Rabanastre itself, we cannot delay when we are needed.'

'If those were their ghosts we saw, then no amount of hurrying can bring us to their sides,' said Ashe. It was not unusual for her to sit with her back straight and her head held high, but she looked frozen. The life and colour had drained from her. 'Do not argue with me, we sleep here. We will start early tomorrow.'

'Very well, your majesty,' said Noah.

'They are either perfectly well, or dead. I don't see any reason for hurrying at all,' said Ffamran.

Noah scowled at him. 'To know. And if they are dead we will have vengeance.'

'Yes,' whispered Ashe. 'Vengeance, by any means we have.' Between her hands the dawn shard flickered with reflected firelight.

'Not with my help,' said Ffamran. 'Not if you plan to use that on my homeland. I only came here for the treasure, which apparently doesn't exist.'

Ashe pulled something from her waistband and held it out to him. It glowed with its own light and not the fire's, a scroll, the esper's contract. 'King Raithwall's treasure,' said Ashe. 'Your prize.'

'I was rather hoping for something I could spend,' said Ffamran. 'This isn't going to get the Strahl a new paint job, not unless espers do manual labour.'

'Leave it then,' said Vossler. 'Lady Ashe, it belongs to Raithwall's line. Think of the use it could be in the hands of one loyal to you, if you do not want it yourself. Or if Lord Rasler had it.'

'Rasler may well be dead, and I will not cheat Ffamran of his due,' said Ashe. 'Ffamran, take it.'

Ffamran cautiously took the scroll and held it against his chest, grimacing as it faded into him through his clothes.

'I'm not sure I'll ever have the nerve to summon it, but I thank you, princess.'

Vossler snorted. 'It's unlike you to be spooked by a vision, Lady Ashe. And to give away a valuable weapon because of it even less.'

Ashe shook her head, she was breathing deeply in a way that seemed likely to turn to sobs at any moment. 'It was no vision, half seen or imaginary. I saw Rasler before me as clearly as I see you now, and Basch beside him. Think as you please, but I must prepare myself for the worst.'

'While hoping for the best,' said Ffamran. 'That tomb would have spooked an adamantoise, so I wouldn't give in to despair just yet.'

'I do not intend to give in at all,' said Ashe coldly. She moved to her bedroll, bending over it in a way that hid her face. Noah longed to go to her, but was afraid sympathy might cause the tears she was trying so hard to suppress. Instead he volunteered to take first watch, knowing he would get no sleep either way.

The night was cold in this part of desert, and the stars gleamed brighter than diamonds in the clear sky. Noah picked out those constellations he could remember, some from Landis while others were learnt in Rabanastre. It kept him awake, his body was desperate for sleep even as his mind spun with thoughts and anxieties. He turned sharply at the sound of movement, only to find Ffamran behind him.

'Weren't you supposed to have woken me by now?' Ffamran asked, sitting beside him.

'No point, I doubt I'll sleep tonight.'

'I've never believed in ghosts myself,' said Ffamran. 'Nor any kind of spirit found outside a bottle.'

'Spectres exist,' said Noah. With some malice he added, 'And doesn't Dr Cid have a pet ghost?'

Ffamran's silence spoke louder than if he had answered.

'Sorry,' said Noah. 'That's none of my concern, I know.'

'I suppose whatever you saw is none of mine,' said Ffamran. 'Let's both stop minding each other's business.'

They sat in silence, breath steaming in the air before them. Noah was the one that spoke first.

'If Rabanastre has fallen, where will you go?' he asked.

Ffamran shrugged, and waved at the fabulous stars. 'Where I please, of course. What else would a famous sky pirate do?'

'Famous?'

'Not yet, of course. But I will be. Under another name, probably, but still.'

'Why change your name? You don't seem to think piracy something to be ashamed of,' said Noah.

'Being the son of Dr Cidolfus Bunansa is something to be ashamed of. I'd sooner leave that behind me,' said Ffamran bitterly. 'Not that I can. Whether Rabanastre has fallen or not, I think you're stuck with me for now. At least until I've sorted out some of the trouble he causes.'

'You are not to blame for your father's actions.'

'Blame, no. But I can't pretend I have nothing to do with him either. Perhaps under other circumstances, but not now.'

Noah nodded. 'You're a brave man.'

'A brave and noble sky pirate, in fact,' corrected Ffamran. He looked at the sky. 'It's past midnight, you should get some sleep. No need for me to wake either of the others, I can watch until dawn now.'

'Agreed. Good night, Ffamran,' said Noah. He left the boy watching the night sky, perhaps picking out Archadian constellations, and was asleep as soon as he lay down. Dawn woke him from dreams of picking through rubble, all that remained of Rabanastre, pursued by rotting corpses with Basch's face. He felt less rested than when he had laid down, and faintly sick, but no less eager to tackle the Sandsea once again.

Ffamran had been right, far from destroying the Urataan Yensa they had not even diminished their numbers. The wind had picked up and Noah could feel his skin being gently scoured away, his hands were slippery with blood again, he had to grip his sword hard enough to make his wrists ache. He was tired, for all he knew Basch was dead and Rabanastre fallen, and these stupid desert creatures were keeping him from going home. They weren't even strong or organised, they were simply in his way. In sudden fury he flung himself forwards, hacking away limbs and splitting heads that looked like skulls already.

The others hurried forwards as he clove a path, he could hear them at his back although between sweat and sunlight he could barely see. No time to wipe his eyes, although he knew it was foolish to press on half blinded. He heard Ffamran's shot whistle past him, a spell of Ashe's grasped him gently for a moment. Vossler shouted something, he heard it clearly but couldn't make it out, and someone hauled him back to the safety of the group.

'Did something cast Beserk on you without us knowing?' demanded Vossler. The words came out uneven, betraying how hard he still found it to catch his breath.

'We must break through,' said Noah. He wiped his eyes as he spoke, Vossler was pale and frowning, Ashe and Ffamran were still fighting with no attention to spare for this conversation. Noah turned to help them, but stopped when Vossler caught his shoulder again. The grip was so weak he could easily have shrugged it off, and for that reason he turned instead of pulling away.

Vossler looked at him, still frowning but now in anxiety more than anger. Noah braced himself for pity or remonstrances. 'Do not hit an entite,' Vossler said.

Noah shook his head and clasped Vossler's hand. 'I will take care,' he said.

'See that you do.'

A blade sweeping by his ear forced Noah to duck and turn, the creature was down with a bullet through its skull before he could hit it. He reciprocated by taking out one pressing towards Ffamran. After that it was back to fighting, although with more caution. They day wore on under the heavy sun, until at last they reached the furthest shore.

'Well, I'm home. Did you miss me?' asked Ffamran, swinging himself into the pilot's seat of the Strahl.

'Just launch,' said Vossler, before Noah could.

'Hold on to something then,' said Ffamran, and obligingly launched before anyone had a chance to sit down. Noah caught Ashe with one hand and the back of a seat with the other. Vossler, still more unsteady than he seemed, landed on the floor.

'Ah, sorry. Perhaps I rushed that a bit,' said Ffamran.

Vossler hauled himself into a chair. 'I should wring your neck,' he said, although without much rancour.

Noah dropped into the chair beside him, and Ashe sat down in front of them. She leant towards the window as if willing the ship to go faster.

'How long before we are home?' she asked.

'Some hours yet. We should make it by nightfall,' said Ffamran, checking a chart on his control panel.

Home. The streets would be full of colour and sound and playing children. Even wartime could not wholly take the innocence of Rabanastre's children, who had lost so much yet still found time to play together. There would be a world in which seeq, bangaa and moogles mingled with men and the occasional vierra, so different from Archades that allowed so few into such a sterile city. He and Vossler and Basch would drink together and swap tales of what they had done, although Basch might not approve of some of his. But if only he was there to disapprove it would be worth all the treasures of the world.

'Strange to think that Rabanastre feels like home,' he said quietly.

'How so strange?' asked Vossler. 'You have lived in Rabanastre for fifteen years now, by my count.'

'So long? Then no, not so strange,' said Noah. The fates were toying with him though, if they let him see Rabanastre as his home only when he may already have lost it.

Vossler's hand landed on his shoulder. 'We shall see it soon,' he said.

Noah stared out the window, sick with fear and hope. Every sand dune had him braced for the sight of Rabanastre's ruins, hours before they were even in Dalmasca. The towns on the outskirts of Dalmasca had crumbled walls and airships hovering over them, the few people around had a hunted look. Yet they were there, whatever had happened nethecite had not been used. When Rabanastre appeared over a dune Ashe cried out as if she had seen something miraculous. She had, the city was unharmed.

Closer in they could see the changes war had wrought. The fountains were not running, and people hurried their bargaining, looking skywards often. It was good, so very good, to see it at all, but after that first cry Ashe had once again frozen. Noah too did not dare give in to relief, not with those cold ghosts at the back of his mind. The city might be standing, and Basch might still be dead. The Strahl was soon recognised as an Empire airship and people hurried from its shadow. Soon other airships were gathering near them.

'Let me talk to them,' said Ashe. 'We shall be shot if I do not.'

Ffamran handed her the mouthpiece at once, though not without a flourish.

'This is Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca. Do not shoot. Stand down your weapons. This is Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca.'

'Lady Ashe,' replied one of the fleet. It was not a voice Noah knew, the knights fought strictly on the ground. 'Allow us to escort you to the palace.'

A reasonable compromise, since anyone impersonating Ashe would still have had to face them.

'Agreed,' said Ashe.

The airships fell in all around them. Ffamran snorted. 'The Strahl could outrun them all,' he said.

'To what purpose?' asked Vossler. 'We want to head for the palace.'

Noah stood up from his seat, unwise during landing with the shaky suspension, but he needed to see who was waiting for them. Ashe too had risen and they both stared together. As they approached the palace they could see Rasler waiting to welcome them. Behind him, at the head of the knights, was Basch.

Ashe left the airship first, stepping down lightly onto the paving stones. Rasler's face lit up and he held an arm out to her, she ignored it and flung her own arms around his neck, hiding any tears against his chest. Noah ignored all protocol to embrace Basch before they had done their duty in escorting Ashe. He was warm and real, and Noah drew back with the last traces of his fears put to rest. Ashe pulled away from Rasler, taking his arm instead, and the knights fell in behind them on the road to the palace, while Ffamran hovered behind with no place to be. There was no crowd to welcome the princess home, nobody had known that she would be here.

'Is something wrong?' asked Basch softly, he had fallen in beside Noah as they walked. It was Vossler, on Noah's other side, who answered.

'He thought he saw your ghost. Ashe saw it also, and Lord Rasler's as well. They have been half mad with it, on the way back through the Sandsea.' Vossler's voice was halfway between concern and irritation. He and Basch exchanged a look across Noah that spoke volumes.

'You would see things differently had it appeared to you,' said Noah, hotly.

Ffamran was sent to wait outside while they were debriefed, Ashe standing and reporting as conscisely as any man at arms. Rasler listened, his face showing his response, darkening at the danger in the stillshrine and relieved at the loss of the empire's nethecite. Basch too listened and Noah watched his face when Ashe spoke of him taking Larsa hostage, but he could not discern Basch's thoughts. Ashe described the ghosts they had seen as well, to puzzled concern from both of their listeners.

'And so we returned to Rabanastre,' Ashe finished. 'With nethecite, no more or less than when we started. And although I have destroyed the empire's nethecite they can yet make more. Loth as I am to follow the advice of a madman, perhaps our only hope lies in the secret of manufactured nethecite. In Gureveigan.'

'May I speak, your majesty?' asked Noah. With permission granted he continued. 'They could not make more nethecite with no laboratory. Nor would they be so powerful with their emperor gone.'

In the following silence Ashe laid the dawn shard on the map strewn table. 'We do not know how to use it,' she said.

'The one used on Nabudis was dropped,' answered Noah.

'We cannot,' said Basch, abruptly. 'Your majesty, it is not only the emperor and his scientists who live in Archades.'

Noah turned on him. 'They did not care who lived in Nabudis!'

'We are not them.'

'Enough,' said Ashe, interrupting the arguement. 'Vossler, have you any thoughts on this?'

Vossler nodded. 'The nethecite should be a last resort. Yet we must be ready to use it if we are driven that far.'

Ashe turned to Rasler. 'Perhaps in Gureveigan I could learn some way to use it without destroying whole lands to save my people. Little as I like it, I think I must take the chance.'

Rasler looked down at King Raminas' map. He studied it for a moment and then looked straight at Ashe. 'I do not wish to lose you again so soon. And yet you may be right. We are far outnumbered, and need all that we might hope to lay hands on. Perhaps it would be better if I were to go, you are the queen of this kingdom.'

'Not crowned yet. Nor tried on the field of battle. Better for you to stay, and I to go. Much as I am loth to part with you again,' said Ashe. They stood looking at each other, a gaze as intimate as a kiss. Noah looked away, embarrassed.

'Let us talk with Ffamran,' said Rasler. 'We may learn more of what we are fighting against.'

They did, and brought in new guards as well, sending Noah and Vossler to rest and Basch to escort them. The first place they went was the food hall, and the smell of simmering stew reminded Noah how long it had been since his last meal. He and Vossler were both concerned cheifly with eating for a while. Once they had taken the edge off their hunger and slowed down, Noah found he had questions to ask.

'How goes it here? I see they have not yet reached Rabanastre,' he said.

'They have not, and yet we are stretched very thin. They come at us from all directions, and we are fighting often. You have been sorely needed here, and much missed. But you succeeded in your mission, and have done us much good in that,' said Basch. He seemed to have put their disagreement over the nethecite aside for now.

'Indeed we have. You thought us chasing a figment, did you not?' said Noah.

'I'm sorry. I saw no reason to give credence to such a thing,' said Basch.

'But it was real,' Noah pressed.

'Smugness is unbecoming a knight,' said Vossler, smiling. 'Come, Basch. You were telling us how things stand here.'

Basch shook his head. 'We are pressed on all sides, and constantly pushed back. Yet our citizens carry on nearly as usual, and in that we still have hope.'

And if we did not have hope, would you leave us then? thought Noah, biting his tongue on words he could not unsay. But Basch looked at him with a calmness that was tinged with sorrow.

'This is our land, there is not one among the knights that would not die for it,' Basch said.

'I do not doubt it,' replied Noah, making the words an apology. 'I have been glad to see you again, if we leave once more will you be joining us?'

'To chase after more stones, when the one we have could destroy half a country? I have no wish for such a thing.'

Noah looked away, readying his argument, and saw Ffamran standing by the door looking unsure whether to enter or not. For a moment he saw the ghost of a memory, a boy almost the same age uncertain of his welcome and hovering in the same manner. Himself, unsure of whether there was a place for him in the country his brother had fit into so easily. Noah waved Ffamran over and poured a drink for him.

'Many thanks,' said Ffamran, he took a drink. 'I think half the sandsea is still in my throat. It is hot here too, naturally it would be in a desert, but I'm used to somewhat gentler climes. And interrogation is thirsty work I've found.'

'What have you been doing since we left?' Vossler asked.

'Walking a thin line,' said Ffamran.

'You still consider Archadia your country?' asked Basch. From anyone else it would have been an accusation, Basch asked it without judgement.

'I'd as soon not consider any place my country. If your princess would let me I'd take the Strahl and be gone, free as a bird. Leaving war and family to others,' said Ffamran. He stared into his drink, as if he might find something there to make sense of it all.

Remebering their talk the night before, Noah doubted it. But he replied carefully, half hoping the boy would truly leave. This situation was a poor one for anyone to be entangled with. 'I doubt she would stop you. A sky pirate would be no threat to us.'

'In other circumstances I would have left with no regrets,' said Ffamran slowly, then he seemed to cheer up somewhat. 'But as I appear to be the leading man in this tale, I can hardly abandon it partway through.'

'I rather think Ashe is the leading lady,' said Noah, adopting a lighter tone himself.

'Too bad she's taken then. The leading lady should end up with the leading man, and I would have liked that,' said Ffamran.

'Do not go near Lady Ashe,' growled Noah.

Ffamran smirked and Vossler looked torn between scowling and laughing.

Basch stood up, and held a hand out to Noah. 'Lady Ashe said you were wounded, and Vossler too. You should both be seen to now you have eaten.'

'Mostly bruising. A hot bath will see to the worst of it,' said Noah. He took Basch's hand to help himself up.

'A bath does sound good,' said Ffamran. 'I don't suppose I could?'

'I'll take you there,' said Vossler. 'I don't trust you, but I think you've earned a bath.'

'Very wise, I wouldn't trust me either. I am a soon to be skypirate,' said Ffamran.

Vossler shook his head, and the four of them all headed for the baths.