It was very quiet the next morning, and all the braves, Tempest, Urd, and Strife included, had seemingly found something they had lost by the looks on their faces.
“I’d forgotten what it’s like not to think about the task at hand, you’ve done it again, Red XIII.”
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this place is a place of peace and rest, you braves need to come here more often. It strengthens you for your battles, and…” at this he looked at Rose, “Fortifies you.”
“Funny thing,” Pharda said, having recovered for the most part from the previous night’s battle, “I’ve been running around for the past couple days, and I still feel rested.”
Laughter filled the air about the candle, with the exception of course, of Fade.
“I owe you so much, Nanaki, thank you.” Rose blushed, “I found out who I am, and where I can go back to…this is my home…”
“You’re always welcome here.” Nanaki smiled, “This is all your home.”
Fade shifted her feet, and trudged off.
“Eh? Now what was that all about?” Fenris thumbed in Fade’s direction.
“I think someone needs an attitude adjustment.” Urd bristled.
“I fought with her yesterday, in a sparring match, and she seemed pretty normal…for a ninja.” Tempest commented.
“I think…,” Nanaki closed his one eye in thought, “That perhaps we should leave her be, she has some soul searching of her own to do I suspect.”
“Hmm.”
“Well, I know one thing,” Andomiel shot a smile over in Rose’s direction, “And I think she knows it too.”
“So, where should we go now?” Rose said with a smirk, “I’d say I’m ready to save the world now…”
“Well aren’t you eager…” Fenris commented, “Now that you’ve got your memory back, I suppose.”
“One problem though,” Pharda jumped in, “Where did Fade go?”
“I thought she just stepped elsewhere, why?” Tempest arched an eyebrow.
“Well, if we’re going to go, we all need to go…” Rose put her hands on her hips in exasperation.
“So we go look for her, where do you think she went.”
“Trying to find a ninja that does not want to be found is no easy task, especially in fade’s case.”
“I believe what my friend Strife is trying to say…,” Nanaki cleared his throat, “is that she has no desire to be with us at this point in time.”
“Why would that be?” Pharda placed a finger to his chin, “I know we kinda roughed her up when we first met her, but now she’s working with us…”
“Or at least she was…” Andomiel piped up.
“Her reasoning for anything isn’t simple, but I suspect that she would go to the last place she felt any solace in.”
“You mean she’s feeling insecure…?” Rose’s eyes widened.
“Well, didn’t you when you first joined up with us, Rose?” Andomiel intoned.
“Yeah, I guess…, but that doesn’t change the fact that we don’t know anything about her. Where she comes from, nothing at all.”
“Maybe you don’t, but I do.” Strife’s eyes darkened with thought, “And I believe I should be the one to retrieve her.”
Urd knew where this was going, “But Strife, we’re a group, we can’t just let you do this by yourself…?”
Strife glanced at Pharda and Rose, who knew he was pleading for a little assistance. Pharda knew exactly what to do.
“Leave him alone, Urd…” he said simply.
“What?”
“I said leave Strife alone, he can take care of himself…” his tone was almost cold, unlike him.
“…but…” Urd tried, but could see Pharda was glaring at her.
“I don’t really care where he goes…if he gets Fade back, I say we trust him.” Tempest spoke authoritatively, “….besides, we didn’t start this journey with him, we can certainly do it without him…” she smiled.
“Hmm..” Strife wondered at what she was thinking.
“Why don’t we get a head start on getting one of the shards, maybe we’ll meet him on the way back.”
“But where do we go first? I’m not sure where to begin?” Andomiel scratched his head.
“I say we go to the Wind Shrine, up on Mount Nibel, past Nibelheim…” Tempest suggested, “It’s been so long since I visited my home that…well…I’m kinda homesick…”
“Maybe it’ll be good for you Tempest, to be home.” Strife suggested, and had a feint smile creak across his eyes.
“And maybe I’ll find out more about you…Strife.” Tempest thought to herself.
“Hmph, I’ll be off then.” Strife shouldered his massive sword, and saluted the braves, hoping for the world they wouldn’t screw this up.
“We’ll…see you later, Strife…” Pharda nodded, “I promise.”
And with that, Strife disappeared below the valley.
“I suppose it’s for the best.” Pharda said to himself, “We, as he would say, ‘need the training’.” he smiled at the humor just then.
“Well, we got the Highwind, and I think it’ll be real easy to get up Mount Nibel that way.” Fenris noted.
“No way! You aren’t doing that in this trip!” Tempest blurted out.
“Huh? What’d I say?”
“Nope! The best way to go to Mount Nibel is to climb it.” she winked.
“Aw jeez!” Fenris moaned.
“Quit complaining Fenris, at least you have wings to fly up.” Andomiel laughed.
“Just cause Tempest thinks we need the exercise and she wants us to take the tour up the mountain? She’s just as nasty as Strife ever was with his so-called ‘training’!”
In fact, Fenris had been moaning and complaining up to the point that they had landed near the town on the outskirts of the mountain range, Nibleheim itself.
“They called these parts, ‘nether-ice’ not just because of the cold, but because of how high the mountains are.” Tempest stood proudly staring at the expanse behind the town.
“You say that as if you’ve climbed these cliffs yourself, lady…” an elderly gentleman stepped out of his wooden shack to investigate the new visitors.
“It’s because I have, with my mother when I was little, it was rough, but we liked it.”
“Now how would such a frail lass like yourself be able to scale these here mountains without so much as a scratch or bruise?” the elder marveled.
“I’m sorry I haven’t introduced myself, my name is Tempest Gainsborough, Nibleheim is my home town…at least before we moved to the outskirts of Hyral.”
“A Gainsborough? Can’t say as I’d remember a name like that, and I’ve been living here for over seventy-five years.”
“Say what?”
At this the whole group that were there, Pharda, Andomiel, Urd, Rose, and Fenris stopped in astonishment at what this elder had said.
“But, sir, I lived here four years ago, with my mom and…”
“Now lass, you know it ain’t polite t’lie, now you can stop and visit this place anytime you want, make it your hometown if’n ya want, but comin’ here trancing around makin’ up stories ain’t a way to make a first impression.”
