When the men stepped out they looked in surprise to find the women had done themselves over.
Zidane was all over Garnet, and trying to woo her any chance he got, not that she minded. Cloud simply gazed in wonderment at Aeris whose white dress reflected an almost angelic appearance to him, drawing him to her, then a brief embrace, then looking at himself, seeing the contrast between his now dirty armor and soldier suit said, "I should've got a tux!"
She laughed. Hard.
Delita, the most elegant looking of the guys asked Alma, "May I escort you in madam?"
"Why yes..." she said, rather surprised Delita actually took interest in her.
At first Ramza seemed jealous, but then he laughed to himself and walked in. Sephiroth quietly followed, but not without glancing at Agrias. Beowulf waited until everyone left so he could be alone with Reis.
"Reis, a gift to you....it's not much, I hope you like it."
She took the gold and silver necklace and put it on, it shimmered in the sunlight. She then wrapped her arms around his neck and they kissed in what seemed like forever.
"Thank you, Beowulf, you are so kind."
"I think their waiting for us, Reis." He said.
"Let's go in then..." she said with a smile.
"....." Sephiroth glanced at Agrias, not quite smiling, but not quite frowning either.
Agrias flushed, or at least, it appeared to be a flush, and quickly walked inside, Sephiroth following her slowly.
The lobby seemed very small in comparison to the house as a whole, but it was then the party realized the entrance was from a simple lift that took them to the main hall of the Residence.
After a lengthy corridor of beautiful tapestry and design, they came to a large double door which swung open to the President's office. The back of a chair faced them, and Ellone was standing in a business suit next to the chair.
"Glad you people could make it." She said, "this is my father."
The chair spun around and a man with raven-black long hair and deep green eyes stood up.
"My name is Laguna Loire, President of the City of Esthar, it's a pleasure to meet you. If you would, I would like it if you may perhaps dine with me tonight in the main dining hall down the main hall?"
"Why...we'd be honored..." Ramza replied.
As they followed the man, they noticed, he dressed rather casually for a President, simple pants, draped shirt left open. But it was rather unfitting for him to wear anything else considering his personality.
He said as they walked down the hall, "Tonight we dine on Fastiticocalon Filets."
"What is that?" Aeris asked.
"It is a breed of fish not found in Esthar, they import it all the way from Balamb fishing ports. Quite a delicacy." He licked his lips.
As they all sat down and dinner was served, they were surprised their host was not sitting at the head of the table, instead, he was sitting right among them. "It is a tradition, where I come from, to sit with my guests, not at the head of them."
"What an honorable tradition..." Agrias said.
"What an honorable looking woman." Laguna said as he looked at her, then changed the subject as the meal when he noticed Sephiroth was glaring at him.
He changed into a more business-like tone, "So where are you people from anyway? Don't be shy, be honest, I won't be shocked no matter where you're from, I've been travelling around and--"
"Well, if you must know, we are Zodiac Braves from various times and eras that are going to fight in the Great Zodiac War." Delita replied in as honest a voice as possible.
"No kidding, you see, I've already encountered people from other times, since the time my son had to face this great sorceress who was attempting time compression, y'know when all time gets squished together, anyway he defeated her and she passed on her powers to his girlfriend and now she's the most powerful sorceress in the world."
"Huh??????" was everyone's response.
"Dad! You talk too much, too fast!" Ellone scolded.
"Sorry....I couldn't help myself."
"Well....," Ramza said a little surprised Laguna wasn't shocked that he was from another time, let alone swindling his city out of 50 trillion gil, which of course he didn't mention, "We each came to this time for one purpose: to find the next Zodiac Brave from this era, and we hope to find the stone that goes with him or her, it's either Gemini, Capricorn, or Serpentaurius, we're not even sure where to look for the stone."
Zidane said between bites of his fish, "You said your son defeated a sorceress, from what I know, they're pretty powerful. Maybe he's a Brave?"
Laguna looked at them with thoughts in mind and said, "Well, his name is Squall, but he goes under his mother's name of Leonhart, so if you want to ask him yourself, he's visiting up north at Shumi Village with his girlfriend Rinoa. I'll even give you a ride up there. I just have to warn you he's a little apprehensive about people, even me, and may not want to talk to you, albeit, Rinoa will be more than willing to help you out."
"Thank you, Mr. President, we really appreciate this." Delita said.
"Before you leave, at least take a rest at the Esthar hotel, get freshened up, and we'll take you aboard our now legendary Ragnarok Fleet, you'll be there in no time!" Ellone said.
"Hmmph...never met a President this sloppy before, no wonder Squall doesn't want to talk to him much." Cloud thought.
"......Thanks." Sephiroth said, somewhat weary of Laguna's talking. He wanted to go to bed.
After leaving the President's Residential Hall, Alma talked with Ellone about the grave situation involving the Lunar Cries, Delita listening with her.
Ellone said, "Well, I did explain before that we have no idea what causes the monsters on the moon to do what they do, or even how to prevent it, so far the closest thing we can set up is a sorceress barrier, but only Rinoa can do that. But right now, she barely knows how to use her powers, at least that's what they tell me. Squall is currently training her to become a member of the elite military team, SeeD, and as far as I know she's also training him to become a Sorceress' Knight, and he plans to serve as her bodyguard. But that's as far as my information goes."
"We're recognized as Zodiac Braves," said Alma, "perhaps we can help you solve your problem with the Lunar Cry if you can help us find the Zodiac Braves in this era."
"I'm not sure that's even possible, Alma, as even we aren't even sure a Sorceress Barrier will even work."
