Standing in the middle of a barren field, Freya stared indifferently at the incoming wall of destruction that loomed on the horizon.
"My love! My love, where are you?"
Her husband was calling for her in the distance, but she didn't answer.
A withered wild flower, jutting out of small dust mound, drew her attention. It danced madly, agitated by the furious gusts of wind that heralded the tempest. She kneeled and looked at it with glazed eyes.
"You and I are the same, aren't we?" she whispered to it and then deliriously chuckled at the comparison.
"Freya..? What are you doing down there?!" Fratley yelled when he spotted his wife kneeling on the dead crop field with the massive sandstorm rapidly advancing towards her. He covered his snout with a piece of cloth and rushed downhill at full speed, "Come back, darling! It's too dangerous!"
Freya feebly tried to stand up, but lost her footing and fell backwards, wildly cackling the whole time.
"Father Berlioz, please give me the strength to reach her in time!" Fratley prayed and then he started using his dragon magic to move even faster. He felt like his skin was being ripped apart by the burning winds but he endured it and finally managed to reunite with his wife.
"Isn't it hilarious, darling?!" Freya yelled, her voice almost drowned by the deafening roar of the storm.
"What are you talking about?!" Fratley cried as he lifted her and started carrying her back to their house, "Cover your face, my love! This is gonna get rough!"
"Our lives, our kingdom, they are nothing but a big, twisted joke!" she raved, gripping her husband's vest, "Why aren't you laughing, my love? Don't you find it funny..?"
Fratley looked at her, disturbed by her delirious rant, then he glanced over his shoulder just in time to see the rolling cloud hit him in the back like a sledgehammer. He screamed in terror as the storm sent them both tumbling downhill. Despite the fall bloodying her, Freya was beyond feeling anything by that point, the world slowly fading away around her. The last thing she saw before darkness engulfed her was her husband desperately crawling towards her.
"I... love you, Fratley..." she muttered before passing out.
Freya opened her eyes, not knowing where she was. The image of Sir Fratley reaching for her was burned in her mind and for a moment she thought she was in Burmecia and that he would come to check on her at any moment. Instead, the clear sky of Alexandria welcomed her back to the royal palace. She basked in the morning light, oddly proud of having slept the whole night through for the first time in months.
Her stomach growled. Amused by the weird sound it made, she decided to look around for any leftovers of what Garnet had brought her to eat. Disappointingly, someone had taken away the silver plate while she was sleeping.
"I wonder..." the burmecian thought, wanting to see if she could stand up again. Very carefully, she put her feet on the ground. Her calves immediately started trembling when she attempted to support her weight on them, but she ignored the pain and kept trying until she finally managed to stay upright.
"Well done, legs!" she thought, proudly smiling, "Now let's try walking a little..."
She slowly took a step, then another, then another. She relished her restored ability to move on her own. She felt invincible, Gaia's ultimate survivor!
Knock, knock.
"Bad timing, Freya...", she thought, freezing up, "Please, wait a second!"
"Is everything alright?" Zidane asked, his voice muffled by the wooden door.
"Oh gods, not him!" Freya thought. The idea of being seen hobbling around in her undergarments by Zidane filled her with dread: the stars would die out before he stopped making fun of her for that.
"Yes! Just give me a moment!"
"Okay, take your time!" the genome answered. He waited patiently in the hallway until he heard a loud thump followed by a comically high-pitched yelp and a curse in an unknown burmecian dialect and decided he had to find out what was going on inside.
"Freya, are you..? Oh! OH! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" the king apologized, immediately looking away.
"Gosh darn it, monkey-tail! I just told you to give me a second!" the burmecian angrily shouted as she pathetically dragged herself towards the bed.
"Did you just say gosh darn it?" Zidane asked, immediately bursting into laughter.
"Oh, shut up you... you..!" the dragoon shot back. She then realized that she couldn't get up on her own. "Ugh, wonderful..." she thought.
"Seriously now, do you need a hand?" The genome asked her, still facing the hallway.
"... yes, please," she sighed.
The king approached the downed burmecian and gently helped her stand up.
"There you are, good as new!" he said with a grin. The dragoon stared at the genome for a while as if expecting something. "What? Do I have something on my face?" Zidane inquired.
"That's it? No crude remarks? No childish jests?" she asked him, incredulous.
"Nope. People grow up, you know?" the king answered, amused by her reaction.
"I know, I... just have a hard time believing how much you've changed..." she answered, warmly smiling at him.
"Pfft... flatterer"
"You're one to talk."
"I was going to ask you what you wanted for breakfast, but now that you're up you can join us if you feel like it. We're having tea in the garden!"
"Oh, that would be lo..." Freya enthusiastically answered before realizing something, "Hold on a second... you, Zidane Tribal, are having tea. In the garden."
"When you live among royalty you either adapt to this kind of stuff or you get kicked out," he replied as he fetched the crutch he had commissioned for her from the corridor, "Now get dressed and come before I leave your furry ass to starve for mocking me."
"... I can't believe I got my hopes up about your newfound maturity..." she retorted with a frown, "Alright, I'll go, just don't walk too fast, please."
The sheer size and beauty of the royal palace of Alexandria never ceased to amaze Freya, but she had a definite favorite place in the castle: the garden. Sporting a wide variety of native and foreign flora carefully arranged in thematic sections, it was a masterpiece, famed across the entire globe. It was Zidane who had had the idea of making a big part of it public, to let families of any status enjoy their free time in Alexandria's little slice of paradise. For things like this, he was loathed by the conservative nobility, deeply loved by the common people and grudgingly respected by those who, despite disagreeing with his ideas, saw how effective he was at maintaining social peace.
After a short trip, the genome king and the dragoon reached the kiosk where Garnet and Tot awaited while enjoying tea and biscuits. When the queen saw Freya limping towards the structure she immediately rose to her feet to go help her, but was stopped by Steiner, who was performing guard duty and decided to do it himself.
"Lady Freya!" he boomed as he approached her, "Please, let me assist you as it seems that our king has forgotten everything about chivalry or manners in general."
"Hey! I gave her a crutch!" Zidane shot back. Freya chuckled.
"Oh, hello Steiner! Don't worry about me, I can walk just fiiiiiiiii-!"
Before she could finish her sentence, the massive knight effortlessly picked her up like a child and started carrying her back to the kiosk, his armor loudly clanging with every step. Zidane laughed his head off at the sight and Garnet facepalmed, trying not to do the same.
"Steiner, please put her down..." the queen ordered in an exasperated tone when the duo arrived at the structure.
"As you wish, ma'am," he answered and gently put Freya on the ground. The dragoon dusted herself off and bowed to Garnet. "Your Majesty..." she saluted, trying to regain her composure.
"Aunt Freya! You're up!" Tot exclaimed, delighted to see her again.
"Hello there, little one!" she said with a big smile. The kid promptly glomped her with a little too much energy, almost making her fall on her backside.
"Tot! Be gentle with your aunt! She's barely recovered from her injuries!" his mother said, making the boy release her at once, "I'm glad to see you up again, Freya. Please, sit down and help yourself to whatever you want."
"Thank you, Garnet," the burmecian politely answered as she sat on a chair and started pouring tea on a porcelain cup.
"Mind if I join in?" Zidane asked, taking his place alongside Garnet and pecking her on the lips. This prompted both Steiner and Tot to cover their eyes in embarrassment. Freya lowered her eyes with a melancholic half-smile.
"We have excellent news for you!" Garnet exclaimed, clapping her hands in excitement, "We have been informed this morning that everyone in the hospital is officially out of danger and will fully recover soon! Isn't that wonderful?"
"Is that true? What about the badly hurt child? Will she recover too?" the burmecian blurted out, almost spilling her tea.
"Absolutely. Here, have a look at this," Garnet answered, extending her a handwritten report signed by the last person Freya expected.
"Eiko, huh?" the dragoon commented, this time with a relieved smile, "That girl can truly work miracles."
"When she caught wind of what happened, she traveled all the way from Lindblum to personally take the case in her hands," Zidane added, munching on a biscuit. "Sadly, she had urgent stuff to attend to. Would have liked having her over for dinner at least. She sends you her regards, by the way."
"She never changes, eh?" the dragoon commented. "I wish I had something on me to gift her..."
Garnet suddenly looked at Zidane and nodded her head. The genome nodded back and got up.
"Hey Tot! Wanna play tag? I'm up for a rematch!" he said.
"Yay! Let's go, dad!" the boy joyfully exclaimed as he started chasing after his father "See you later mom! Auntie!"
"Be careful, sweetie!" Garnet shouted and then looked at Steiner. The Pluto Knight approached the table.
"Lady Freya, we have captured a survivor," he said.
"Excuse me?" the burmecian said, slowly putting her teacup on the table.
"One of the burmecians that attacked you. He tried to run away but Beatrix's unit got him," the burly warrior explained. "He's still unconscious, but when he wakes up, Bea will personally interrogate him."
Freya stared at Steiner blankly, horrified by the idea of being in a cell alone with the merciless general.
"He is a dragoon, Freya," Garnet added, her expression becoming a deep frown, "Under any other circumstances his attempt on your life would have constituted grounds for a declaration of war, but, as I have no interest in an armed conflict with Burmecia, I need you to help me understand Ulrich's goals in order to peacefully stop him."
Freya sighed. She silently took the porcelain teapot and began pouring what was left of its contents in her teacup. Garnet and Steiner held their breath as she stared into the dark beverage.
"My first memory of him is a also a very painful one," she said as she added a spoonful of honey to her drink, "We met five years ago, during the Great Burmecian Drought. The disappearance of the eternal rain that ensued Kuja's defeat had caused a rapid desertification of the kingdom. It was a matter of time before a particularly windy season turned all that desiccated soil into an unending chain of sandstorms."
"I remember that. So many lives were lost during those years..." Garnet sighed.
"I never told you, but... the drought almost claimed mine too," Freya said, pausing to look the queen of Alexandria in the eyes.
"What..?" Garnet muttered, unable to process what her friend had just revealed to her. Steiner paled, "Lady Freya..." he mumbled.
"The extreme shortage of water led to the appearance of a highly contagious disease..." the dragoon continued explaining.
"The Blight..." Garnet remembered, her eyes wide open, "You got infected too..?"
"Yes..."
"Why didn't you tell me?! I would have helped!" the queen exclaimed, confused and hurt.
"I was... too tired, Garnet..." Freya answered in a broken voice. "I'm sorry..."
Garnet took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. Her eyes started welling up, so she wiped them with the back of her hand.
"How did you survive without proper treatment?" she asked.
"I did get treated... by none other than Ulrich himself."