CHAPTER TEN
SOUTH FIGARO
Well might Terra have thought she was dead when she awoke, for she awoke to strange surroundings. Her fever had broken and she had mostly recovered, though she still had a cough and a sore throat. She sat up in a bed that was not her own, in a room she had never seen, and she was alone. It was clean and white and in every way a perfectly ordinary bedroom. Bright sunlight was streaming in through an open window, and the birds were singing.
She was clothed in a white nightgown. She had been cleaned and her hair washed.
"Is this a dream or am I dead?" said Terra to herself.
"Neither, dear," said an old woman which Terra had not noticed. She'd been sitting in a rocking chair in the shadows, knitting. "But you gave us quit a scare," added the woman, rocking her creaky chair. Terra was not afraid of the old woman, for she had a kind, simple face.
"Where am I?" asked Terra.
"The South Figaro Main Street Inn. Those nice young men who brought you here said you got sick on a ship from Nikeah. Do you live there? I hear it's cold this time of year. Can't stand ships myself; I always get sick. Do you get seasick a lot? I do. Poor thing, they had to call the doctor and everything. I hate doctors; don't trust 'em. They're all a bunch of quacks, if you ask me. You're name is Elle, right? Those handsome young men who brought you here said your name was Elle, if I remember correctly (and I have a memory like an elephant). They said you come from Nikeah. Terribly cold up north this time of year—don't you think?—no wonder you caught a chill. They didn't tell me your last name…"
At this point the old woman stopped her monologue and leaned forward in her chair, wide-eyed, waiting for an answer.
"Uh, Cole. Elle Cole."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, dear. I knew an Elle once, a silly girl. Ran off with an imperial captain, if I remember correctly—"
"Uh, ma'am," said Terra tentatively, not wanting to offend her, but not wanting to listen to another speech.
"Oh, feel free to interrupt me, dear. I'm a chatty-cathy (as they say)—though my name is Betty. Otherwise I'll talk your ear off, talk till you're blue in the face. Why, I once talked for—"
"Well," interrupted Terra. "I was wondering where those two men who brought me here are, and where my clothes are?"
"Your clothes are warshed and folded—I warshed and folded 'em myself—and tucked into that drawer by your bed. By the way, is you Ms. or Mrs. Cole, if you don't mind my askin'? Are you the same Elle that done run off with that captain, you naughty girl?" Betty wagged an affectionate finger at Terra. "Ah, love! I was young once, if you can believe that."
"And the two men, ma'am?"
"Ah, yes, the two men. What would the captain say if he knew you were running around with two handsome young men? Trying to make him jealous, are ya? Best be careful playing that game, missy; two can play at—"
"Thanks for everything you've done, Betty, but I really have to go now," said Terra, as she opened the bedside drawer and found, to her annoyance, only the emerald green gown and shoes she'd worn at Edgar's castle.
"Go?" said Betty, looking suddenly disappointed. "The captain told me himself (and my memory is perfect) not to let you out of the house till he and his friend came back. His friend's handsome too, if you don't mind my saying so. It was a captain, wasn't it? Might'a been a lieutenant…"
Terra put on the green dress and, not seeing any of her things, tried vainly to take leave of the old woman, who was not listening, but rocking back and forth, her mouth and her knitting fingers moving with equal speed and continuity. The last thing Terra heard her say before she closed the door was, "Don't know why they tell me to make 'em stay put. These young-uns never stay put nor do what their told. Nobody listens to an old woman…" and then she trailed off into a sulky silence. "Poor woman," Terra thought, "she's just lonely."
She thought she might find Locke and Edgar in the lobby, but the lobby was empty, except for a man rubbing the counter with a rag, who stopped when he saw her and grinned from ear to ear. Terra suddenly felt very overdressed. An intermittent cough, however, took away from her elegance.
"Uh, excuse me," said Terra, "I came here with two men, one with long blonde hair tied back in a pony tail, the other with messy brown hair. Do you know where they went?" But the man only grinned stupidly and continued to rub down the counter. "Never mind."
Terra walked outside into the street. It was a large, animated city, with many people going to and fro, some walking chocobo or horses or driving chocobo-drawn carriages, most on foot. The street was long and lined with many different kinds of buildings, some big, some small, some elegant, some dingy. The atmosphere was one of liveliness and busy energy.
Just then, on the other side of the street, she saw Edgar walking by. It took a second to recognize him, because he had cut his hair short and changed his clothes. His new clothes made him look bigger and more muscular than before, but she was sure it was him.
"Edgar!" Terra called, waving at him, but she immediately wished she hadn't. If she was likely to be recognized anywhere, it would be here in a busy city. Edgar looked around, saw her—of that she was certain—but seemed not to recognize her, and kept walking.
Confused and irritated, she nevertheless dared not shout, but instead waited until she could cross the road, by which time Edgar was just turning a corner at the end of the street. "Edgar, damn it, don't be an ass," she thought. "This had better not be about Locke keeping me warm. Oh, you're so immature! Get back here!"
But when she turned the corner, he was nowhere to be found. She picked up her dress and rushed down this street and that, and looked in the windows of several shops, until she was completely turned around.
She turned to two men to ask for directions back to the inn, but immediately she paled and turned back the other way, pretending to look into a shop window—for right behind her were two uniformed soldiers. She could see them in the reflection of the shop window and hear what they were saying.
"What did you say her name was?" said one.
"Terra. You know, the witch. Damn, Vicks, how long have we been in the service together?" said the other.
"Give me a break, Wedge, I didn't know her name. Everybody just calls her the Witch," said Vicks.
Wedge told Vicks her description and they continued to survey the street. Terra walked quickly but inconspicuously past them, and with heightened senses felt their eyes on her. One of them wolf-whistled, but she kept walking. She had been saved by their dopiness, and by the fact that their description had been of a woman in a traveling cloak or some otherwise common clothing. They weren't looking for women dressed as for a ball. Perhaps this was Locke and Edgar's intention.
But where the hell were they? She now regretted leaving the inn; it had been foolish.
She was increasingly aware of the number of imperial soldiers in South Figaro, and she had to get off the street quickly before one of them spotted her. But just when Terra thought she recognized the street on which the inn was located, she heard the last thing she wanted to hear: a female voice cry, "Terra!"
Terra froze and searched for the source of the voice. A carriage stopped in the street and three over-powdered young women in brightly colored dresses jumped out and ran towards her. "Terra, is it really you?" said the tallest one, in a red dress.
Improvising, for she was sure to be spotted by a soldier if too much attention was drawn to her, she decided to act naturally.
"Yes, it's me. How are you?"
"Don't you how-are-you me! You come back from the dead, and all you can say is 'how are you'?"
"I told you she wasn't dead. I heard that she was captured by terrorists!" said the one in the teal dress.
"I heard that she got sick of the army and ran away," said the one in the blue dress.
"Well," said Terra, trying to figure out how to get off the street, "As you can see, here I am. I'm cold, can we share a carriage?"
"Of course!" they said. "Look at you: you've got goose bumps. And we have so much to talk about!" Teal Dress put a shawl around her bare shoulders and the giggly girls hopped back in the carriage.
"My inn is just up the street here," said Terra. "Driver, can you stop at the Main Street Inn?"
"Driver, you'll do no such thing!" said Red Dress. "Terra, you simply must come to the party with us. You're already dressed, after all. Where were you going? And where have you been all this time?"
Conveniently, Terra had a fit of coughing at that moment, and they had already forgotten their question by the time she was done. Luckily for her, they weren't the listening type.
"Listen, I'm feeling under the weather. Why don't I go out with you tomorrow night?"
"Just one drink! Please, just one, Terra! You have to!" pled Teal and Blue Dresses.
"All right," Terra conceded, watching her inn pass by with a sigh. "But just one."
