Author’s note (yes, I need to talk some rubbish every single time!):

    This is the sequel to my other story based upon Final Fantasy II/IVj; “Kain”. There’s no real need to read that one first, though you’ll be just as shocked as Cecil and his crew at one certain point if you haven’t checked out the first part.

    Well, enough with the chatting, let’s get started. Behold the ending scene in the throne-room of Baron!

Rydia and Edge

Part 1 Split feelings and poison

 “This might be a dumb question,” Edge said, “but why are we waving at the roof?”

 “I don’t know, lali,” king Giott said, “but I think that the credits roll… well, lets not stay at that!”

 “Indeed no!” Cecil smiled, “we have important business to take care of. Open the gates!”

    The guards hurriedly did as the uncrowned king ordered, their white blue, special-occasion uniforms flapping in their haste. There where several loud smashes to be heard as all of the gates of the castle was opened, one by one. The head-vicar of Baron entered the throne room, and walking behind him was Baron’s whole population. The throne room was an enormous hall, but half of all the people had to stay in the small room outside it and in the corridors beyond that, due to loss of space.

 “Is everyone here, then?” the vicar kindly said.

    Rydia held up a hand.

 “No, wait a moment,” she said and closed her eyes.

    She began to mumble in a low voice, and transparent, green and flaming orbs appeared in the air around her, only for a short moment. They danced in a circle around the young woman for a few seconds before they disappeared as Rydia opened her eyes. 

 “I call your spirits, espers,” she softly said.

    The air vibrated with a soft, eerie note. Then several ghostly figures appeared by the roof. Knowing the powers that the callers of Mist were granted, nobody in the crowd became really scared. Even though Bahamut was an impressive sight.

 “Long time no see, my human allies,” the king of dragons and god of all espers said with a smile.

 “Your Majesty,” Cecil politely said, and Rosa made a curtsey.

    The paladin turned to Leviathan and Asura, smiling:

 “Of course you deserve the finest of greetings too, Your Majesties.” 

 “No need for that in a moment like this, my friend,” the giant sea snake said.

    Either they was in their non-human forms since they had been called, or a wedding was considered a moment of such importance that it required true appearance.

 “My best wishes,” Odin smiled from the back of his horse, also receiving proper greetings.

    It wasn’t often the old king attended the new one’s crowning and wedding, but this one did.

 “Yang!” several small, transparent women with bright wings on their backs yelled.

    They soared down to the new king of Fabul and threw their short arms around his neck.

 “I have missed you too, ladies,” he smiled.

    The sprites let go of him and turned to the woman by his side.

 “Your love is truly admirable, wife of Yang,” one of them warmly said as they all bowed in midair, “it cured him when we couldn’t.”

 “Ah,” the woman grinned, “one whack with the frying pan and he knows it’s time to get out of bed.”

    Yang chuckled, which he normally never did, and draped his left arm around his wife’s shoulders.

 “Can you really keep them here all at the same time, Rydia?” Rosa asked, a bit concerned, “won’t it drain your power in seconds?”

    But the woman with strangely green hair shook her head.

 “It’s just their spirits,” she explained, “nothing to worry about.”

 “Then we will start the ceremony,” the vicar said with a smile.

    Cecil and Rosa turned to him. The female magician’s white dress made a soft, whispering sound every time she made the slightest movement. She was stunningly beautiful, even though her face was almost hid behind a thin silk veil. Cecil’s head was slightly turned at her all the time, surely he was concentrating more on his beloved bride than on the vicar’s words. Rosa warmly looked back at him. But it was only natural. The paladin looked very handsome himself, even though it was as if he was missing something as he didn’t wear any armor. He was dressed mainly in white, pants, shirt and cloak all in the same color. But all the buttons in his shirt and every edge one could find on the clothes were golden; it was typical clothing for a bridegroom of Baron.

 “We have gathered here today to carry paladin Cecil and white wizard Rosa into the holy alliance of marriage…” the vicar began, smiling as he watched the happy couple’s absentminded eyes.

    Edge didn’t listen. He had heard it all before. Well, maybe not the exactly same words, but such ceremonies were pretty much the same all over the world. And as the crown-prince of Eblan, he had often been forced to attend the weddings of his parents’ friends, and the friends’ friends too, for that matter. He had no idea how many times he had been sitting down, itching with boredom, and just dreamt one or two hours away. He was itching all over now too, but it had nothing to do with boredom. It was frustration and nervous tension.

    There was surely beyond a thousand guests in the castle, but he only wanted to see one of them. She was the main reason he had come, even though his two friends’ wedding also was important. But Rydia meant much more to him than Rosa and Cecil did. And he couldn’t even bear to face her. His heart ached in a glowing wish to talk to her, but he didn’t know what to say; afraid that his tongue would slip and only bring forth more teasing and silly jokes. Of course he enjoyed that, and he knew that Rydia thought that it was fun to tease and snap back, but he had a nagging feeling that if he never quit being such a jester, he’d never be more than a friend or a flirt to her. He wanted more than that. It had been enough as they’d been battling and traveling together, but several weeks’ lonely nights in Eblan had made him realize that he wanted to mean something special to her. He had missed her terribly. Still did, and she was only about two yards away, on the other side of the red silk carpet. But if he managed to speak to her, what could he say? If he tried to tell her that he’d missed her… what if she would think it was just yet another version of unserious flirting?

    Edge sighed deeply.

    They had been talking in another way once, for a brief moment in the Sealed cave as they were aiming on getting the last crystal of darkness before Golbez did. If he closed his eyes, he could see and hear it all again, because that moment was a treasure of his memory.

 “It’s a safe place,” Cecil said with a relieved sigh, “I guess the dwarves blessed this area when they kept guards here.”

    These “safe places” were always marked with two or more poles stabbed into the ground. They were rare; a blessing to find in enemy territory. Monsters could not enter them, because of the magic surrounding. One could rest here.

 “Good,” Rosa said, “let’s regain our breath and eat a little.”

    She and Cecil began to bring some food rations and cooking equipment out of their magical backpacks. It was surprising how much those sacks could carry…

    Meanwhile, Kain was sitting down on the ground. He had never said much at all in the short time that Edge had known him, but the dragoon had been very silent since they had entered the Underground. His eyes were constantly tired…

    Rydia walked over to him.

 “Is something wrong, Kain?” she kindly asked.

 “Hmm…?” he mumbled and looked up, “no, just tired…”

    His voice was so filled with exhaust that Rydia nodded and left him alone, letting him have the rest he needed. As soon as she moved away, Kain returned to staring at the ground, reminding of a zombie. This whole thing seemed to drain him totally.

    This whole thing…

    Edge’s throat suddenly thickened. He could hardly breath. Now that the fighting was over for a while, his mind caught up with the horrible truth, in wave after wave of regained shock and realization filled with agony. His parents were dead. And they had been turned into monsters… they were gone.

 “Oh gods…” Edge muttered to himself in a choked voice and stumbled away from his friends.

    He sat down on a rock by the cave wall, as far away as he could get, and ripped the grey purple cloth away from his face. It was part of a ninja’s clothing in battle, but right now he was only fighting to keep breathing. 

    Again and again the awful, horrible scene was displayed in his tormented mind; how his parents morphed into two horrible creatures and attacked him and his friends, how they regained their sanity and used that short moment to… to…

    Kill themselves.

    Gone, gone, gone, gone… gone.

 “Oh gods…”

    His eyes were burning.

 “How are you, Edge?”

    It was normally just a polite question or a greeting, but not this time. In Rydia’s voice was nothing but an honest concern.

 “My parents… just the shock…” he muttered, hoping that his voice was steadier than he thought it was.

    Rydia sat down beside him, and Edge turned away not to show her that there were tears in his eyes. Her arm was suddenly around his shoulders, comforting. He looked at her in tired surprise, forgetting about his pride.

 “Mine are gone too…” she mumbled.

 “I couldn’t… they just… were…” Edge stuttered, his pain so overwhelming that he hardly could think at all.

    Rydia only nodded, without a word. And that was enough. No words were suitable in that moment, and she understood that. 

    Edge took a deep breath, trying to sort out the chaos inside of him. 

 “Thanks, Rydia,” he finally said.

    Her fine hand gave his left shoulder a soft squeeze, telling him that there was no need for him to try to seem brave.

 “I know how it feels,” she whispered.

    He felt an urge to embrace her, but they hadn’t known each other for very long and he had his common sense. Yet, right then he felt as if they had always been friends. Edge allowed the urge to make him take Rydia’s free hand in his larger ones. If Rosa, Cecil and Kain were watching, it didn’t matter at all. The prince of Eblan had anyhow forgotten about them totally.  

    Rydia smiled carefully, even a bit bitterly. Her soft fingers moved slightly, her fingertips caressing the palm of his hand.

    They sat like that, without another word. Just sharing each other’s pain and compassion. Then Cecil very carefully announced that there was a meal waiting. His voice clearly gave away that he felt awful about breaking the moment, but it had to be done. They had to save the world.

    Edge slowly rose from the stone and since he still held Rydia’s hand, he helped her to get up. They smiled carefully at each other, for the first time neither smirking nor awaiting a quick, snapped answer. Later on that would be back, but not right now.

Edge sighed deeply. He’d give anything to have that moment back, or at least the feeling of closeness. Rydia had once been there when he needed her, could that ever happen again?

    Two months, two bloody months… he had been rebuilding Eblan… the whole world had been rebuilding. He had done his fair share so far. And he’d used all free time on various women, to his chancellor and council’s grave headache. They were constantly hanging over him, nagging about it and trying to persuade him into making up his mind.

    He clenched his teeth.

    Make up his mind.

    He had to find a queen. The last ting that Eblan needed was a loss of an heir that could take the throne later on. So everyone in his country was eager to help him. There was no end of the line of women that would be suitable. But Edge only chatted with and dated any of them for one reason only; trying to get over his longing for Rydia. Nothing helped, though.

    Two months… they had parted two months ago, and he had been thinking about her ever since. And as he saw her enter the throne-room of Baron, he had turned away. Turned away. Because he didn’t want her to know his pain, his overwhelming wish to have her back by his side. And he had no idea how he could face her when that was the only thing he could think about; how much he had missed her.

    He looked at her. Rydia was watching the backs of Cecil and Rosa, but she was frowning slightly for some reason, as if something was troubling her. She moved.

 ‘Is she turning her head at me?’ Edge thought, as if in panic, ‘turn, turn! Can’t let her know I’m looking at her…!’

    He hurriedly moved his head and nailed his eyes onto Cecil’s cloak.

    Rydia looked at Edge, with a cold feeling in her stomach. Why had he turned away as she had spotted him in the throne-room? Didn’t he want to see her?

    It hurt not to know, and she was worried that the truth could be painful. But why would he do such a thing? They had always went well together during the battle against Zeromus… were things suddenly different now? And she had been looking forward to see Edge again… him most of all her friends. She wasn’t sure why, and queen Asura had only smiled in a peculiar way as Rydia had tried talking to her about it. Of course she had missed Cecil, Rosa, Kain and Yang too, but there was something special about Edge. Their relationship was something special. All that snapping, teasing and bad flirting was on a friendly level that only the two of them had the right to dwell in. Plus, they had both lost their parents in horrible ways. That gave them a close bound… or wasn’t it so?

    Why had he turned away? They hadn’t seen each other in two months… she had missed his teasing and lousy flirting, his sighs and laugh when she gave proof of her own sharp tongue. As she had returned to the world Espers, Leviathan had changed the flow of time there so that it matched the human world. He had guessed well that Rydia didn’t want to return to her friends ten more years older. So for two months she had felt a craving for hearing Edge’s voice and laugh again.

    What could be wrong…?

 “I do,” Rosa said, startling Rydia.

     The caller looked towards her other two friends again.

 “I now pronounce you man and wife,” the vicar smiled, “you may kiss the bride.”

    Cecil and Rosa turned to face each other completely. The paladin raised his hands and carefully lifted the silk veil away. They both smiled warmly as Rosa wrapped her arms around Cecil’s neck and he stepped even closer to her, holding her face between his hands. Their lips met.

 “God save the couple!” Cid shouted, starting the cheering.   

    Rydia was caught in the merriment of the moment and forgot her troubles, cheering with everyone else. As she turned her head, just by impulse, she caught Edge’s eyes. She was laughing in joy, and he was in the middle of an “hooray!”. They came to the end of their projects, still looking at each other. Edge grinned and blinked with one eye. Rydia smiled back at him, utterly relieved. If he did something like that, then he couldn’t possibly be mad.

 “Order, order!” the vicar called, smiling broadly, “hold it, we have something more to take care of!”

    Both Rydia and Edge sent their attention in another direction again as Cecil let go of Rosa and turned to the vicar, sitting down on one knee. Two servants – dressed in white blue clothes since it was a special day and they had an important mission – that had been standing by the wall behind the thrones hurried forward, holding a red pillow each. On the pillows were the two crowns of Baron. The vicar took the bigger golden circle and held it above Cecil’s thick, softly grey purple hair.

 “I crown thee, paladin Cecil,” the vicar said, “may all the gods smile upon thy time as ruler of Baron.”

    And by those words, the older man put the crown on Cecil’s head. The new king straightened up and took the other, smaller crown. Rosa sat down before him.

 “I crown thee Rosa, queen of Baron, my beloved wife,” he softly said, “I know that with you by my side, I will never fail a task.”

    Rosa stood up, with a loving smile.

    The vicar looked at the crowd, smiling and speaking once more:

 “There, now you can shout again.”

    And the people and espers did.

    Rosa closed her eyes with a smile and threw her flowers out into the great room. Somebody got hit by the bouquet in the forehead, and grabbed the projectile of pure instinct. Then he froze, realizing the situation. There was a bit of a shocked silence before everyone began to laugh.

 “Aww, how cute!” Cid smirked.

 “So when’s your wedding, Your Majesty?” Edward yelled with a broad smile.

 “It hit my head, darn it!” Edge tried to defend himself.

 “’Darn it’?” Rydia called, “did you finally wash your mouth with soap as I told you to?”

    Before Edge had considered the movement, he had crossed the red carpet and pushed the flowers into the green-haired woman’s surprised hands.

 “Only trying to make you like me better, sweetcheeks,” he said with a small sneer, “how about a little private celebration?”

    He could have taken one of his katanas and cut his own tongue out. That had been one of the things he had thought that he definitely not would say.

 “Love to,” Rydia coldly said, “alone, thank you very much.”

    But then she smiled, and didn’t throw the flowers at him.

 “Well then!” Cecil yelled, “now we have a dinner waiting in the town, so let’s go!”

 “Yeah!” Palom yelled, “party time!”

 “Palom!” Porom moaned.

 “Our best wishes!” Leviathan warmly said.

    The many espers began to turn more and more invisible.

 “Be well,” Bahamut said and disappeared.

    Rydia looked up and met queen Asura’s eyes. The female esper had a peculiar smile upon her several lips. Then she was gone. 

    Cecil and Rosa left the throne-room, hand in hand. The guests followed.

 “May I have the heavenly honor?” Edge asked and offered Rydia his arm.

 “Alright, you king of bad pick-up lines,” she said, rolling her eyes.

    She took the flowers in her right hand and then hooked her left arm onto Edge’s right.

 “Don’t get any strange ideas,” she warned as they watched the wide stream of people trying to get out of the room; awaiting a calmer moment to escape the slight chaos.

 “Too late,” Edge replied and grinned, “my head’s overfilled with ‘em already.”

 “Great, I lost another one to the madness…”

 “I’m not mad, just crazy about you.”

    Rydia sighed and shook her head.

 “Sorry Edge, you’ve already tried that one,” she said.

 “Darn, my mistake…”

    He hoped that his voice didn’t give away that he was hurt. It was just as he had feared; he couldn’t say anything about his feelings that Rydia would believe. She only knew him as a flirt. Could that ever be mended, or was it already too late?

 ‘Calm down,’ he told himself, ‘you are worrying too much. Say it in a different way, in a different moment instead of moaning!’

    Rydia touched his nose with the bouquet, sneering in a friendly way.

 “Come on, Edge, you can do better than that,” she said and winked with one eye, “otherwise you wouldn’t be you.”

 “You mean I have to be nastier?” Edge grinned.

 “At least I know that you could be.”

 “Alright, how about a little kiss, sweetheart?”

 ‘I’ll just take the Murasame and make it quick…’ he growled to himself.

 “You wish…” Rydia snorted, rolling her eyes.

 “Are you two lovebirds going to stand there and chitchat the whole day?” Cid smirked as he walked by, “come on, the people are moving out.”

 “Cid, Cid, Cid…” Rydia sighed, smiling.

    She nodded at the now smaller stream of humans trying to get out through the portal.

 “Let’s go, Edge.”

 “Wherever you want to, sweetcheeks.”

Rydia was truly relieved. Edge was obviously not angry at her. But she was still puzzled about his behavior earlier.

 ‘It doesn’t really matter…’ she thought, ‘I’m just glad that he didn’t keep that up.’

    It felt really nice to walk by his side, arm in arm. Her fear that he had forgotten their precious relationship had been worthless.

 “What are you smiling so lovely about?” Edge asked.

 “I’m fascinated about that you gave me the flowers,” Rydia lied and waved with his gift, “I don’t quite understand your reasons.”

 “Hey, hey, my reputation would be ruined if it became known that I, king of the ninjas’ nation Eblan, kept a lovely bouquet I had gotten from a wedding.”

 “So you dumped it at me, eh?” Rydia said with raised eyebrows, “well, I guess that there’s some kind of twisted charm about that…”

    Out of the castle already? Both the king and the caller were surprised. It seemed like a whole building had been passed in only a few moments. They continued down the road, into the town. The town square was hardly to be seen because of all the long tables. Baron had expected a lot of guest and prepared well. The seats were all free to choose, except those around the table where the wedded couple sat.

 “Why have you placed that moron prince or whatever he is so close to me?” Cid sighed as he looked at the small notes on the plates.

 “Well I don’t fancy sitting beside a mere mechanic either,” Edge snorted.

 “Oh, please…” Rosa said with a sigh, “could you keep friends just past the dinner, for my and Cecil’s sake?”

 “Alright then, my queen,” Cid said and sat down.

    Edge pulled out Rydia’s chair for her and then bowed stupidly, making her give a short laugh. That made him feel better than he had done in weeks. He often made her sneer and snap with a special kind of humor and friendship, but her laughs were rare and precious. He also noted that she was very careful when putting the flowers on the table beside her plate.

 “Thank you, Edge,” she said with a smile, “I take it that some common sense finally got a grip of you?”

 “Keep hope burning, lady,” he grinned and took his own seat on the other side of the table’s long end, facing her.

    Rosa and Cecil sat together on the short end of the table, and Rydia and Edge were sitting closest to them. At the caller’s left was an empty seat, facing Cid. By the mechanic’s side was Yang, who had his wife before himself. Then it was Palom and Porom’s turn, and at their respective sides were Edward and Cid’s daughter. Then there were king Giott, his daughter Luca, the leader of Mysidia and three women from Toroia’s council.   

    Rydia suddenly heard Cecil sigh and turned her head at him. So did all the other friends. Rosa watched her husband’s sad eyes that rested upon the empty chair. The new queen of Baron put her fine hand on the king’s shoulder.

 “It’s Kain, isn’t it?” she softly asked.

    Cecil slowly nodded, with a second sigh.

 “I’m sure he’s alright, love,” Rosa said, “and he’ll return when he’s ready.”

 “Yes, I suppose…” Cecil said and tried to smile.

 “Cheer up, dude!” Palom said, “you’re almost depressing, and that at your own wedding? Come on!”

 “You’re right, Palom,” the new-crowned king said and managed to fight the bitterness back a little, “I can’t be like this in such a moment. Dig in, my friends!”

 “I warn you, your majesty,” Rydia said as she sent Edge the neat basket filled with small breads, “if I feel your feet by my legs, you’ll suffer the pain of a broken ankle.”

 “A heart of ice…” ninja king sighed.

    His right eyebrow went up.

 “Could you tell me the secret of pronouncing a title without capitals one day?” he said.

 “Maybe… if you shape up, your majesty,” Rydia smirked.

    Then she smiled and took the bowl of potatoes that he offered her.

    Edge enjoyed the meal to the outmost. It had been ages since he had experienced the challenge of eating properly and trying to keep up with Rydia’s talking at the same time. She had an extremely sharp tongue, like nobody else. There could be no one like her in the whole world. Definitely not in the line of women in Eblan, which all hoped that they would be the next queen.

    More than ever before Edge felt how much he loathed the thought about sharing his life with an Eblanian woman. None of them meant anything to him. But would Rydia ever…? Could his secret wish ever become reality in any form?

 “You look concerned,” Rydia said, startling him, “is something wrong?”

 “Nah,” he lied, “just planning my strategy. It seems like you’re in the lead, as usual.”

 “Oh, I don’t know.”

    She smiled, turning his troubles into white little clouds.

 “You’ve scored quite a few points today,” she continued, “been practicing?”

 “Only in my silent mind, sweetcheeks,” Edge replied, “worldwide there could be no opponent worthy me except you.”

 “He wants to fight!” Cid grinned to Rydia.

 “Fight with her?” Edge gasped, “I might be a moron, but I’m not an idiot!”

 “See?” the caller grinned, “at least he knows when to give up.”

 “No, no,” the king of Eblan said, “I would never harm a lady.”

    He raised his eyebrows and continued:

 “You are a lady, right?” 

 “I have no intention to prove it to you,” Rydia snapped, “so you’ll just have to take my word for it.”

 “Darn…” Edge sighed.

    It really hurt him; her words made him feel filthy because of his longing for her… but he was determined not to let her know about his pain. That would only make her feel guilty. She didn’t owe him anything…

 “But at least I know that you’re close to being a gentleman,” she said with a wink, “that you gave me some flowers show that you’re making a slow progress.”

 “Thanks, I guess…”

    They looked at each other and laughed. Once again, Edge’s troubles flew away for a moment.

    Rydia looked at her plate and sighed.

 “Edge, you made me forget about thinking of how the cake tasted,” she said, “you make me so absentminded…”

 “Is that a compliment?” Edge wondered.

 “I suppose it is, sort of.”

 “Great!” he grinned, “now almost all of my wishes have been granted.”

    Rydia raised her eyebrows.

 “Is that a threat?” she asked.

 “Depends on how you chose to translate it.”

    Rydia opened her mouth to shot a reply back at him, but held her tongue when Cecil  put his dessert-fork down and stood up. He and Rosa had without doubt been the last ones to finish their meals; caring more about the other one than about eating.

    All the guests turned their heads and smiled warmly as Cecil offered Rosa his hand. She took it and stood up, wrapping her arms around her husband’s neck. The new king of Baron bent down and easily lifted Rosa from the ground with a loving smile. As he began to walk back to the castle, the people rose from their chairs and followed the couple.

    Edge and Rydia tried to get a grip of each other again, but in the commotion they were separated. With a sensation of slight panic, Edge noticed that his friend forgot her flowers on the table. But there were so many people walking in the other direction that he couldn’t hurry back and get the bouquet for her. He could only pray that nobody would take it.

    Cecil turned around and grinned at the crowd as he reached the west tower. His room on top of it had been newly modified to suit two people instead of only one.

 “Alright, that’s enough,” the king told the guests, “now you won’t follow us any longer, understood? See you tomorrow.”

    He pushed the door open with his elbow, still holding Rosa, and kicked it shut after entering the tower. The people’s cheers followed the couple.

    Rydia smiled to herself. She knew that Rosa now told Cecil that he could put her down, that he didn’t have to carry her up all the stairs. But he would only smile and shake his head, making her laugh. He would carry her all the way up to their room, where he would kiss her before finally putting her down on the bed. Yes, that was exactly what Cecil would do; that was simply who he was.

 ‘And Edge?’ flew through Rydia’s head.

    The thought startled her.

 ‘Why on earth did I think about that?’ she thought, frowning, ‘oh, right… he caught Rosa’s flowers.’

    It was just silly saying that the one who got the bride’s bouquet would get married next, but… well, much more wasn’t needed to awake a thought.

 ‘Wait, where is the bouquet?’ Rydia thought.

    With an icicle in her stomach she realized that she had forgotten the flowers on the table down in the town. She immediately turned and ran out of the castle, rushing back to the town square. There was no people left there, not a single human. But the tables and everything upon them remained untouched. Even the flowers. With a relieved sigh, Rydia lifted them from the table.

    She asked herself why she had been so worried about losing the bouquet. Surely it was lovely, but she had never cared much about such things, considering people more important than things.

    But on the other hand, she wasn’t used to receive gifts.

    Especially not from Edge.

    He had surprised her by his actions, but she felt a warm twirl somewhere inside when she thought about what he had done. He could have thrown the flowers to someone else to regain his pride, but instead he had given them to her. He could be really sweet when he felt like it…

    Rydia remembered that event in the Sealed cave, when Edge’s shock due to his parents’ death had brought him to his knees. Her heart still ached thinking about the pain in his eyes. She had lost her parents too, her father when she was to small to remember, but her mother… who Cecil and Kain had been fooled to kill without wanting to.           

    She had understood Edge’s pain, and he had understood her. They hadn’t said much, just been sitting close and touched the other one carefully, as two close friends that comforted each other.

    They were friends in a very special way, and she treasured that knowledge. Edge was a very special man.

    Rydia smiled to herself and carefully touched one of the white roses of the bouquet with her fingertips. Then she suddenly saw something, just in the corner of her eyes.

    There was a movement on one of the rooftops. The young woman frowned and glanced that way. Nothing. But she was sure that she had seen something.

    Even though the world had become peaceful, there were still a few hostile monsters around. Always had and always would. But Rydia hadn’t expected any trouble a day like this, and left her whip in her room in the castle. Of course she could use her magic if the need came, but she’d rather not if she wasn’t forced to. Sending lightning bolts and icicles flying around in the middle of a town didn’t seem very smart.

    Slowly, she backed into the space between two houses, and watched the distant rooftop from there. A minute passed, and nothing happened. Rydia took a deep breath and slowly let it go. Maybe she had just imagined it. After all, it had been a pretty busy day, and she was a little tired. Seeing things in the corner of the eye…

    There was a sound from behind her. Before she had time to spin around with a spell ready on her lips, a strong arm was put around her waist from behind, trapping her own arms against her sides. A hand covered her mouth. Rydia tried to struggle, but found that even though she was a lot stronger than “normal” women, she had no chance to break free. Her opponent was far too strong.

 “What is a girl like you doing in a place like this?” a voice whispered in her ear.

    The grip loosened, and Rydia spun around while taking a step away, raising her hand in anger.

 “Edge, you’ll get the worst slap of your life for that!” she growled.

    He backed away with a small sneer.

 “Oh, please spare me… even though my crime of scaring you, my lady, is absolutely unforgivable.”

 “You did not scare me!”

 “Really? You seemed pretty nervous.”

 “It was the surprise, nothing else!” Rydia defended herself.

    Edge smiled, but there was a strangely bitterness in his eyes. Rydia hesitated and lowered her hand, realizing that he hadn’t meant to shock her like that. Maybe she had been too harsh…

 “Edge, I…”

 “I am certain, my lady esper,” he interrupted, “your courage is too great to crack. Yet I apologize, and wish you good-night.”

    And with that he jumped straight up and climbed onto the rooftop without the slightest trouble. Rydia hadn’t any time to stop him, and he ignored her call.

 ‘Idiot!’ he furiously thought, ‘idiot! Fool! Are you completely out of your mind? What did you do that for?!’

    He should have understood that it’d be too rough. It was not like they were lifelong friends…

    The king of Eblan heavily sighed. He had really blown it this time. Totally. The best thing to do was to try to keep away from Rydia for the last three days he would stay in Baron. Best to go back to Eblan and kill all angry thoughts and regret with his work. And he had to find a wife…

    His stomach felt cold as ice, and he almost missed the edge of a rooftop. By more than luck than anything else, he managed to keep balance and didn’t fall to a certain death.

 ‘Can’t seem to do anything right this evening…’ he thought, irritated.

    Rydia clenched her teeth and ran after Edge, trying to keep him in sight even though the house’s walls blocked her vision. But then he leaped over to a big building, and she was never going to catch up with him running around it. So all that she could do was stop and helplessly look up at the high wall.

    She hadn’t meant to snarl like that. She hadn’t meant for him to believe that she’d really been mad. It was true that she had been angry, but that hadn’t lasted for more than a few seconds. She had understood that it had been a joke; he hadn’t…

 “Damn!” she sighed, surprising herself.  

    She had to find him… sooner or later he’d go to his room in Baron… she couldn’t leave him in the belief that she was mad at him.

    Rydia hurried back to the castle, meeting a wide stream of guests returning to the inn and their own houses. When she finally managed to get inside of the castle, she found out that it could be hard to find workers of a castle when there’d been a wedding and crowning on the same day. Seemed like all of the servants and guards had gone to sleep. And she needed to ask someone where Edge’s room was… there had to be someone awake! A castle couldn’t be left unguarded!

    After twenty minutes of searching, she finally gave up and went to her own room. And found that there where pretty sleepy guards by most of the doors in the guests’ corridor. Why hadn’t she thought of that earlier? Rydia almost smacked her forehead with the flowers.

 “Excuse me,” she said to the closest soldier, “could you tell me which room that’s Edge’s… the king of Eblan’s?”

    The man in the uniform yawned and said:

 “It’s the last one down the corridor, miss.”

    Rydia glanced in the direction that he pointed and realized that her room was only three doors from Edge’s.

 “Is he there now?” she asked hesitantly.

 “No, I don’t think so. Sorry, miss,” the guard said.

 “If he comes… if you see him, would you tell him that Rydia isn’t angry with him?”

    The man raised his eyebrows a little and smiled kindly.

 “Of course, miss. I’ll tell him as soon as I see him.”

 “Thank you.”

    Rydia went down the corridor and glanced at the door that was the one before Edge’s room. Then she sighed and went inside her own place. She leaned against the door for a moment before she walked over to the window and looked out. From there she could see the lush grassland and forest that happened to be placed between Baron and the ocean. The usually blue line looked like a stream of gold in the sunset. It was beautiful, but somehow Rydia couldn’t enjoy it. She felt miserable, and she was well aware of the reason.

 “Edge, you moron…” she mumbled to herself.

    She looked down at the flowers she held tightly in her left hand. He had given them to her… then something had gone wrong. But they represented what had been right, and she suddenly felt an almost strangling wish not to let them fade away.

    Rydia sat down on one knee and placed the bouquet on the floor. Then she straightened up and took a step backwards.

 “Powers of Water, I bid of thee to lend me thy power… send coldness with care…” she chanted and pointed at the flowers.

    A bubble of light formed around her treasure. When the light ceased, it left a globe of crystal-clear ice. The flowers were inside, as beautiful as they had been before being crystallized. Rydia bent down and picked up her creation. The ice didn’t feel cold, neither did it melt as she touched it. It was like glass; just as she had wanted it to be. She knew her powers well.  

    The summoner walked over to the desk by the wall and placed the orb there. She watched it for a while before backing off and throwing herself on the bed. The roof suffered a concerned glare. Rydia shook her head and sighed.

    Three rooms away Edge sighed too, sitting in one of the armchairs of the guestroom. He hadn’t wanted to take the risk of meeting Rydia in the castle, and therefore climbed on the walls and into his room through the window. Such things usually was fun, but not exactly now.

    He was still trying to understand why he had such a stupid thing… sneaking up on Rydia from behind. What on earth had he been thinking?

    For two months… no, even longer than that. From the first time he had seen Rydia he had wanted to embrace her. Everything she did, every movement and word caught his attention, so it had been from the very first moment. She was the first one ever to call him an idiot… now that had really startled him. He had been bitter that time, Rubicant had just defeated the prince with a wave of his red hand. Edge remembered his anger and burning wish to try again. Blinded by his own rage, he hadn’t made the obvious conclusion; that he hadn’t any chance to make it alone. But Rydia… called him an idiot, and that was true. Of course he wouldn’t gladly admit it, but some part of him had known that she was right. So he had gone with her and her friends and… well, it had worked out fine.

    So why had he been such an idiot again? Couldn’t he just have put his hand on her shoulder instead? Then they could have talked, instead of… he would have given anything to turn back time and right his wrongs.

 ‘Fool…’ he lazily thought.

    He was an idiot. Hadn’t he any common sense at all?

    Edge massaged his forehead.

    Nothing would be better if he only sat there, accusing himself. The only way to make things right would be to go to Rydia and… what? Ask her to forgive him? What if she wouldn’t? What if she did just to cheer him up, but in reality kept her anger deep inside, turning her friendly snaps into true ones?

 ‘Come on!’ Edge thought, ‘you’re worrying far too much, you moron. Rydia isn’t like that!’

    But somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to rise from his armchair, walk over to the door and out into the corridor, looking for Rydia. So he just sat there in the armchair, as if he was tied onto it. Sat there, staring at nothing until it was past midnight and he made the conclusion that he had to go to sleep. Maybe everything would feel better the next day… he could only hope that it would be like that.

But it didn’t feel any better at all the next day. Edge awoke and was immediately attacked by another wave of guilt and regret.

    With a moan he sat up in the bed, rubbing his face. Seemed like it was pretty early… but he figured there was no chance in the world that he would be able to go back to sleep. So he got up from the bed and went over to the small table by the wall. There was a decanter and a washbowl on the table; on the wall was a mirror. Edge moved the water between the containers and then threw a handful of the liquid into his face, trying to wake up completely and gather his thoughts.

    The cold water burned his skin. He looked up into the mirror and met his own miserable reflection’s gaze.

    It would be so much simpler to just try to stay away from Rydia, but he didn’t want to be such a coward. Anyhow, it wouldn’t work. They’d run into each other sooner or later, Baron’s castle wasn’t big enough for playing cat and mouse forever. And then, when they met…

    His head dropped.

    He’d make a fool of himself again. He always did when he really, really wanted to keep away from it.

    The flirt and joker… he had played them for too long. They were a major part of him.

Somehow he made it down to the dinning hall for breakfast about an hour later. By then the morning wasn’t so early anymore, and several people were eating the day’s first meal. Not Rydia, though. Edge wasn’t sure if that made him relieved or even more depressed.

    He fell down on a chair.

 “Morning, prince or whatever,” Cid grinned, “you look like an ogre trampled around on you while you slept.”

 “M’ning…” Edge grumbled and reached for the bread-basket.

 “You sound like an ogre too,” the mechanic merrily commented.

 “Sh’ up.”

 “What’s up? You’ve never been this quiet for all the time I’ve had the displeasure of knowing you.”

    Edge sighed and shook his head.

 “I’m an idiot,” he muttered.

 “Is that a problem when it comes to you?” Cid said.

 “Have you seen Rydia?” Edge suddenly said, ignoring the mechanic’s words totally.

    Cid raised his eyebrows.

 “Rydia?” he said, “nope, you missed her. Was here about half an hour ago, but then she went away. Dunno where she went, but I guess she’s still around, somewhere…”

    With a snort, Edge violently buried his teeth in the bread. It made him feel a little, little  bit better.

 “Tell you what,” Cid said in an unusually friendly way, “I have no idea what you have done this time, but you seem to need to beat up something. Why don’t you train a little with Yang or someone? Or go for a swim, there’s great beaches to the east, if you want to be alone. The cliffs makes it nice and private.”

    Edge noted, in despite of his darkened mind, Cid’s grin by the last few words.

 “I take it you were quite interested in that privacy once upon a time, eh?” the king of Eblan smirked, for a moment able to escape his own misery. 

 “Aww, chucks…”

    Cid smacked his right hand into Edge’s back, almost forcing the king down on the table by the power and pure surprise.

 “A few interesting memories,” the mechanic admitted and blinked with one eye, “but you’re far too young and innocent to hear about it.”  

 “Oh, gosh…” Edge gasped.

    The two men grinned at each other.

    Edge had to admit that he felt much better. He and Cid argued all the time, almost like the king of Eblan did with Rydia. Though it wasn’t the same, it cheered him up.

    Swimming? Why not?

    So a while later, he went for the walk to the beaches.

    It was a pleasant walk. Since it was early summer, almost everything bloomed, butterflies danced through the air and birds sang in every bush and tree. Edge almost forgot his troubles as he passed the grasslands and entered the forest. The golden sunrays made everything it touched glow gently between the shadows of the trees. Edge even sighed as he saw the end of the forest ahead. The ocean took its place, a never ending, blue silk carpet.

    There were two kinds of beaches; the once that were easy to reach and those that were a little more complicated. The first kind laid below sandy hills to Edge’s right, only to walk down to. The others were white brown half moons beneath harsh cliffs; it was those that Cid had been talking about. Since Edge felt like he wanted to be alone, he strode along the edges of the cliffs. There seemed to be hundreds of beaches, all seemingly unreachable. If one didn’t want to climb. Edge grinned to himself.

    He made up his mind for one beach, just picking a random one. The cliffs went out a bit into the ocean, creating a bottle-shaped, great piece of water before the sand. It seemed nice.

    Edge tied his towel around his waist and began to climb. About eight feet above the beach the stonewall had a naturally formed ledge leading down. But until that, he was left with his skills.

    It took him a few minutes to reach the ledge, but as he stood secure he turned around to take a closer look at the place.

 ‘Huh?’

    He frowned and used his hand to shadow the eyes. Yes, there was someone in the water. Darn…

    Edge froze and his throat thickened as a light body broke through the surface.

    Long, green hair was kept against a fine back by the water.

    Rydia.

    Her back was turned at him. And since she hadn’t called or hid, she obviously hadn’t seen Edge.

 ‘What should I do?’ he helplessly thought.

    It was probably only a matter of seconds before she would turn around and see him. Then what? Would she… could he… dared he to talk to…

    But Edge had no time to sort out his spinning and troubled thoughts. There was something in the water by the gateway to the open sea, between the cliffs. Something big that moved fast.

 “Good grief…” Edge harshly whispered and began to run down the ledge faster than he knew was really wise. 

    Rydia was just rubbing her face to get rid of the salty water when she felt something different in the way that the waves moved past her. Blinking, she looked up and gasped in unpleasant surprise as she saw a giant shadow moving towards her below the surface.

    Her mind screamed as it found the memory of her early travels at Cecil’s side. She knew that creature! It was an octomammoth, and it was hunting.

    Rydia spun around and desperately tried to swim away. A monster that belonged in water was weak to lightning-spells, but if she tried to use such magic while she was in the liquid herself, her spell could be lead back and shock her as well. Fire couldn’t touch the octomammoth as long as it was below the surface, and ice wouldn’t harm it. Anyhow, Rydia was pretty sure that she couldn’t chant and swim at the same time, if she didn’t make it to the beach…

    A cold, slimy tentacle wrapped itself around her waist and dragged her below the surface, squeezing all air out of her lunges.

 ‘Don’t panic, don’t panic!’ she tried to tell herself.

    But it was no use. Her chest was on fire, and she almost broke all her nails trying to get free from the tentacle. Air… it hurt, her instincts told her to try to take a breath, but there was only water… one try and she would be lost, she knew that. But her lunges felt like twisting snakes inside of her, she had to…

    The grip suddenly ceased with a screech from the beast’s mouth, and she broke free, desperately swimming upwards. As she broke through the surface, her violent inhalation sounded almost like a scream.

 “Hang on, Rydia!” a familiar voice shouted from the beach.

    She tried to blink the water away from her eyes. Edge stood with water up to his knees and a towel tied around his waist over his clothes. In his left hand was a stone, but not for long. He sent it dashing through the air, and there was another enraged screech behind Rydia. She hurriedly swam a few more feet forwards, after what felt like an eternity reaching shallow water where she could stand up.

 “Use you magic, for all the god’s sake!” Edge shouted.

    Another dripping stone flew over Rydia’s head as she spun around, raising her hands. But the sight of the octomammoth startled her, and the chanting halted for half a second.

    This giant octopus was darkly grey, but the one that she, Cecil and Tellah had fought had been crazily red with bright spots of different colors. That meant that the octomammoth before her was a female. She had read something about those in the land of Espers, female octomammoths were dangerous… there was something they had that the males didn’t, what was it again? She had no time to remember, she had to chant!

 “Powers of Fire, I bid…”

    One more stone hit the monster’s pointy head, and the screech was more of a roar this time. One of the tentacles rose above the surface, the end of it pointing at…

    Poison! The female ones were poisonous!

 “Edge! Duck!” Rydia shouted and threw herself down.

    She turned her head as she fell. Suddenly, the whole world seemed to slow down. Several small spikes flew from the octomammoth’s tentacle, aiming for Edge. He tried to jump aside, but the fact that he stood in water made him slow. The spikes hit and penetrated his shirt. Groaning in pain, he fell to his knees.

 “Edge!” Rydia shouted.

 “I’m alright!” he yelled back, “teach it some manners!”

    She straightened up, growling in anger. Edge had come to help her, and this monster had hurt him. Rydia’s chest and mind boiled with rage.

 “Powers of Fire! I bid of thee to lend me thy powers!” she called out and pointed, turning her anger into a strength her mind could harness.

    A massive wave of fire left her hands and forced the octomammoth a few yards backwards. It growled in surprise and made an attempt to attack again, but Rydia gave a second proof of her powers. The pain was too much for the monster. It fled back into the ocean.

    Rydia took a deep, relieved breath. Then she remembered Edge.

 “Don’t move, I’m coming!” she called and swam over to even shallower water as fast as she could.

    Edge straightened up with her help, but he was grimacing and pressing his left arm over his chest.

 “I’ve been into worse… ouch!” he muttered and pulled a face.

 “Come on, we have to get those spikes out,” Rydia said, forcing herself to keep calm.

    Edge tried to walk by himself, but stumbled.

 “What the…?” he said and touched his left knee in confusion.

 “It’s poison, but it’ll be alright,” Rydia explained and hoped that she was right about the last thing.

    She took Edge’s arm and wrapped it around her neck to give him support standing.

 “It’s not ordinary poison, is it…?” Edge muttered.

 “No, and I can’t remember…” the caller said, unable to hide her anxiety anymore, “I have to ask Asura or the sprites to help you. But first I have to take care of the spikes.”

    They managed to stumble over to the shadow of the cliff. Rydia’s long, dark swim-vest was pasted against her body and legs, and it was turning cold fast in the winds. But she didn’t care at all. Edge managed to untie the towel he had around his waist, and Rydia placed it under his head as he lay down in the shadow. Her clothes and own towel laid a few feet away behind a rock, but there was no time for drying herself and dress up properly.      

 “Feel so numb…” Edge muttered as he tried to loosen the buttons of his shirt.

    Rydia’s stomach turned colder than ice. Good gods… it couldn’t be the poison of an octomammoth that… that… no, it couldn’t be!

    It couldn’t!

    Good gods…

    Edge noticed her eyes.

 “What’s the matter?” he asked.

    Rydia cleared her throat and shook her head.

 “Look, I’ll help you,” she said, trying to shake off the unease.

    He caught her hands as she reached for the buttons of his shirt and looked her straight in the eyes, frowning.

 “Rydia, what’s happening?” he asked, “what is this poison?”

    She bit her lower lip.

 “I’m sure that there’s a cure,” she said in a low voice, “but if we don’t get it in time, you might… turn lame.”

 “Good grief…” Edge muttered.

 “I’m sorry, it’s my fault…”

 “Your fault?”

    He forced himself to smile a bit.

 “Hey, sweetcheeks, it’s not like you called me like one of your pets. I just happened to be around.”

    The weak smile faded away.

 “Look, about yesterday, I was…” he began.

    Rydia shook her head.

 “No, you don’t have to say anything,” she softly said, “it’s alright. I know it was a joke.”

 “It was stupid of me.”

 “That doesn’t matter now, we have to take care of the poison.”

    Edge released her hands so that Rydia could loosen the buttons and remove the cloth from his muscular torso, experiencing a strange trembling in her chest as she did so.

    There were only five spikes, and they weren’t very deeply buried. However, there was quite some blood despite the fact that the wounds were small. Rydia found that her fingers were shaking slightly as she carefully put her hands on Edge’s skin to pick the spikes out, and she somehow wished that she could have blamed it on the blood. But she had never been nervous about wounds this small ever before. It wasn’t the blood, and she knew it. It was Edge; she had to admit that even though she didn’t fully understand. He was a friend… nothing more.

 ‘A friend?’ some hidden part of her mind scornfully said, ‘just a friend, is that really all? How long are you going to pretend that you don’t care more about him than anyone else of your friends?’

    Rydia was almost startled by the sudden thought.

 ‘He’s a good friend,’ she told herself, ‘we share the same pain…’

 ‘What would you know about it?’ the hidden part snorted, ‘do you have any own experience of love? No, you have only seen Rosa with Cecil, and Asura with Leviathan. You don’t know anything about it yourself.’

 ‘Now cut it out!’ Rydia furiously told herself, ‘I am not in love with Edge!’ 

 ‘What? Is it some kind of crime? You’re just afraid.’

 ‘Afraid? What should I be afraid of?’

 ‘Beats me. What are you afraid of?’

 “You OK?” Edge asked, startling her.

 “Yes, I’m fine,” Rydia said after a second of pulling herself together.

 “You were frowning pretty badly. Are you sure you’re alright?”

    She looked down at his concerned face. Did he care that much for her? Rydia’s heart made a sudden twirl at the thought, making her even more confused.

 “Don’t worry about me, Edge,” she said, and her voice was a lot softer than she had planned.

    He tried to smile a little, but it didn’t work very well.

    Rydia removed the last spike and then turned away, putting her hands together and closing her eyes.

 “I call you, Asura, queen of all espers,” she chanted.

    Transparent, green orbs danced around her, and a soft note announced that the queen had heed the call of her young friend. As Rydia opened her eyes, the female many-headed esper stood in the sand with a concerned look in her several eyes.

 “What’s wrong, Rydia?” Asura kindly asked.

 “An octomammoth poisoned Edge, can you help him?” Rydia worriedly asked.

 “Oh, dear…” the queen said, “I know that I have an antidote, but I can’t bring it to you when I’m called. Don’t worry, though, I’ll ask Leviathan to swim to you with it.”

 “How long time do we have?” Rydia asked, a lot more relieved but not to the fullest.

 “If the antidote is taken within ten hours there’s nothing to worry about,” Asura calmed both the caller and the king, “and it’ll only take Leviathan about one or two hours to swim all the way. You might turn a bit numb, Edge, but you’ll recover.”

 “Thank God…” Edge and Rydia mumbled simultaneously.

 “However, there’s a risk that you might get high fever as the antidote works, but if that should happen, I believe you’re strong enough to take it.” 

    Asura gave an encouraging smile.

 “Just wait for Leviathan,” she said, “the only thing that you can do is to wash the wounds and make sure that Edge don’t fall asleep before he has taken the antidote, Rydia. Then everything will be fine.”

 “Thank you…” Rydia said with a small smile.

 “I agree with her, Your Majesty,” Edge mumbled.

 “Don’t worry, my friends. Good bye for now.”

    And with that, Asura turned transparent and disappeared. Rydia and Edge exchanged relieved glances.

 “Let’s see, clean water…” the caller said and put her hands together again.

 “Take it easy,” Edge said, “don’t overstrain yourself just for me.”

 “Oh, don’t be so stupid. I can’t use the saltwater.”

    Rydia smiled at him and then closed her eyes.

 “Powers of Water, I bid of thee to lend me thy powers… send me bubbles…”

    As she held out her left hand small balls of water, bouncing but keeping in shape, appeared in her palm. Rydia stood up and went to fetch her towel and clothes. Edge watched her as she walked away and back again. The deeply blue, long vest she wore was stuck against her body by the water, so well that it was like a skin. If he hadn’t been slightly dizzy because of the poison, the sight might have made him bit through his lips. Rydia raised her eyebrows as she came walking back, noticing that he looked her. He managed a small, friendly sneer.

 “Seeing something you like?” Rydia teased.

    It surprised Edge a bit. It was always he who made such jokes, and she snapped back at them every time. 

 “Indeed a lot,” he answered and blinked with one eye, “changing our ritual, sweetcheeks?”

 “I should keep you awake, shouldn’t I?” she replied and sat down by his side again releasing the clothes she held in her right hand.

 “My, my…”

 “Oh, no. No strange ideas, your majesty. You’re not in a condition when you’d survive a storm of icicles and lightning bolts,” Rydia said.

 “I’m poisoned and you’re still mean to me. It’s not fair…”

    They grinned at each other.

 “Now don’t try anything I’ll make you regret,” Rydia warned and dropped half of her small water orbs over his chest. 

    Edge hissed as the liquid touched his wounds. It felt as if it was fire, not water, that softly hit his flesh. He had experienced greater wounds, but the poison had already infected the small holes in his body, making the slightest touch send arrows through him.

    Rydia rubbed her clean towel against Edge’s chest as careful as possible, concerned noting his grimaces and the angrily red areas around the wounds.

 “I’m sorry, I can’t make it more careful than this…” she said.

 “A ninja like me shouldn’t have any troubles… ouch… surviving this,” Edge muttered and pulled another face.

    It was long ago that Rydia had wished that she could use white magic instead of black, in fact this was probably the first time. But she had pushed her healing powers away in order to be strong enough to help the world. Now that seemed like a foolish decision. Edge needed powers she had gotten rid of, and now she couldn’t help him.

    She placed the last bubbles on his chest and commanded them to break into droplets with as much caution as possible. Still Edge’s eyebrows painfully crawled together below a forehead that brought the thoughts to an earthquake. He took a few deep breaths and slowly relaxed as the water reached his temperature and became less intruding.

 “Thanks for helping me with the octomammoth, by the way,” Rydia smiled as Edge had pulled himself together.

 “Don’t mention it,” Edge said and tried to smile, “we’re used to save each other’s lives, aren’t we?”

 “Yeah, I guess…”

    Rydia smiled and rolled her eyes.

 “Incredible what you get me to say when facing certain doom. Like when we fought Zeromus.”

 “I’m glad you haven’t forget about it,” Edge grinned, “my poor heart would have been totally broken.”

 “But remember that I only said you were handsome in compare to him,” Rydia pointed out.

 “Doesn’t matter, those words has kept me alive since then…”

    His voice had become harsher and harsher for every word the last two times he had spoken. Rydia put a finger by her lips.

 “Don’t try to speak for a while, alright? Wait, what am I saying?”

    They exchanged glances and smiled. A chilling wind from the ocean made Rydia shiver a bit.

 “I’m just going to change into my clothes,” she said and stood up, “don’t even consider peeking, you hear?”

    Edge chuckled and closed his eyes as she walked away. He listened to her soft footsteps over the whispering sand, guessing that she went behind one of the big rocks that laid around close to the cliffs to dress up. He tried to think about icebergs, without much success.

    As Rydia came back, now wearing her green outfit with its hanging sleeves and short skirts, she was still rubbing her hair with the towel in order to get rid of the water.

 “Nice hairdo,” Edge smirked as she sat down.

 “Don’t push me,” Rydia warned, but smiled.

    Her green hair was pretty messed up by the quick drying. Edge had wondered about the color of it as they had first met, but he had come to the conclusion that it was because she had grown up with magic constantly around.

    She looked up at the edge of the cliffs, frowning.

 “I wish I could send for help,” she thoughtfully said, “but a chocobo wouldn’t make it all the way up, and I can’t keep the other espers in this world for long enough… and their spirits can’t move that far from me. We’ll just have to wait for our friends to start wondering where we are.”

 “I give you nothing but trouble, do I?” Edge sighed.

 “Shh…” Rydia softly whispered and put a finger by his lips, before considering it.

    The two young humans froze, both of them highly surprised. Their eyes met.

 ‘Does she care a little bit more?’ Edge hesitantly thought, almost fearing to hope, ‘just a little?’

 ‘Why did I do that?’ Rydia thought, slightly panicking, ‘what if he thinks… believes… something?’

    That hidden part of her mind sighed deeply.

 ‘Oh, stop it,’ it said, ‘don’t be so stubborn. Don’t you like him?’

 ‘Like him? Of course I do, he’s my friend!’ Rydia thought.

 ‘Is he your friend just like Cecil is?’

 ‘I… no.’

    Cecil and Edge couldn’t be compared in friendship. Nobody could. She didn’t know Cecil as she knew Edward, Rosa, Yang or Kain either.

    Cecil had always been like a big brother to her, he had sacrificed his old life at Baron as he choose to protect her. Just as Kain, even though he hadn’t made it through as smooth as the paladin. He had always been quiet and a bit depressed, bitter because of his feeling of guilt. Yet, he had been able to smile a little now and then. Edward… weak at first, broken and scared after Anna’s death, he had been like a younger brother though several years older than Rydia back then. But he had found courage, and straightened up. And Rosa… a big sister, always there. At first, when Rydia still had been a kid, the white magician maybe had played the role of a kind step mum. Yang, he was a rock, impossible to budge. A father.

    Not to forget Tellah. Rydia hadn’t known him for long, but he was still kept in her memory as a grave yet kind grandpa. Oh yes, Cid was also one of those, but eccentric instead of serious all the time.

    That was what her human friends was; her family. She didn’t have any other, except the espers.

    But Edge?

    He couldn’t possibly be similar to an older brother, and definitely not a father. It didn’t suit him at all. He was simply Edge; smiling, joking, flirting and teasing. And Rydia liked him in his own special way. All about him… his light, soft hair, his laughter and those silly, half-hidden smiles behind the cloth he wore when he expected battle, his deep, grey blue eyes…

    Rydia suddenly remembered that she still kept her finger at his lips, touching them as light as a breath. She carefully removed her touch, for half a second feeling an urge to caress Edge’s cheek, stroke it with the back of her hand.

   They looked at each other.

 ‘Will I ever even dare to breath that I like her a lot more than a friend?’ Edge thought, holding back a wish to carefully take her hand in his and kiss her fingertips.

    He wouldn’t risk something like that. What if she’d snarl and violently pull her hand free? But it was hard to keep from doing it as he looked up in her eyes, where a small sparkle of confusion could be spotted.

 ‘What does she feel about me?’ he wondered, ‘anything even close to what I feel for her? I can only wish…’

    He wanted to tell her that she kept him awake through the nights with her absence, that he dreamed of her as soon as he closed his eyes. But he was afraid that she would laugh or snort, thinking it was just another chapter in his game of flirting badly.

    Once again, his thoughts drifted away to his need for a queen. If possible, it made him feel even more troubled than it usually did.

 ‘I don’t want any of them!’ he thought, ‘they don’t interest me the least… but Rydia…’

    He couldn’t stop himself from sighing.

 “Does it hurt?” Rydia carefully asked.

    Edge slowly shook his head.    

 “Nah, I’m fine,” he lied. 

 “You sure?” she asked, smiling hesitantly as she used his words, “you were frowning pretty badly.”

    No, I’m not fine at all, he wanted to say.

    I missed you so much after all the battling was over that I could scream.

    Every time I look at you, I feel warm at heart.

    Won’t you come with me to Eblan? I don’t want to go back without you.

    I have no idea what I would have done if the octomammoth had harmed you.

    I love you.

 “No problem,” he said and somehow forced a small smile to his lips.

 “Alright, if you say so.”

    Rydia smiled a little and began to work on the mess of her hair, with only her fingers as a comb. Edge watched her.

    I love you.

    The words laid like a piece of red hot coal in his mind. But he couldn’t drag them over to his lips no matter how much he wanted to. And speaking of his lips, they still burned with the memory of her gentle touch. She had probably moved before thinking, but… yet…

    I love you, Rydia.

    She looked down and smiled encouraging.

 “Don’t worry, Leviathan will show up soon enough,” she smiled, misunderstanding the bothered flicker in his eyes.

 “Oh, that’s nothing,” Edge mumbled, “I’m enjoying your company so much that I forget about the poison.”

 “Aww, you flirt you…”

 ‘I wish you’d believe me instead…’ Edge bitterly thought.

    He fought another sigh back. Instead it turned to a yawn, and he blinked.

 “What is it now then…?” he muttered, managing to reach up and rub his eyes with the back of his hand.

    Suddenly he felt so terribly tired. No, not now! Not when he was alone with Rydia for the first time, maybe even the only time ever! He couldn’t fall asleep!

 “Hey, don’t leave me now,” Rydia said and carefully slapped his cheek, not so much that it hurt, just to help him stay awake, “remember what Asura said. And you never fell asleep when we fought Zeromus, did you?”

    He had to smile at that.

 “No, then you would have killed me yourself, wouldn’t you?” he mumbled, “but that wasn’t half as exciting as this, on the other hand.”

 “What, you found Zeromus boring?” Rydia smiled.

 “In compare to this? Of course…”

    He yawned again.

 “You bigmouth, stay awake!” Rydia demanded, “forget what I said earlier, keep talking.”

 “How I wish women could hold onto an opinion…” Edge drowsily smiled.

    She pinched his nose.

 “Keep your eyes open, ya hear?” she said, “why don’t you tell me how Eblan is doing?”

 “Well, recovering. And I have my hands full of keeping the members of my council from killing each other. They seem to think it’s funnier to curse everyone else then to actually discuss how we’re going to proceed with the rebuilding. Did Leviathan ever have those kind of problems?”

    Rydia gave a short laugh, and Edge’s heart made a little twirl.

 “Yes, he actually had. But he sent a tsunami at his advisors every time they began throwing lightning bolts and big swords around. Made them calm down at once, at least they were calmer when they awoke.”

    She looked down at him and raised her eyebrows.

 “Why don’t you just use your magic when they get too violent?” she asked.

 “I don’t want to hurt anyone,” Edge said and rolled his eyes, “I don’t have as perfect control of my powers as you do, you know. Ninja magic is a lot clumsier than regular black.”

 “You should really get some kind of prize by admitting that truth, your majesty,” Rydia smiled.

 “Oh, that’s too obvious to hide for long… especially for a smart girl like you.”

    Edge reached up and touched the tip of her nose with a finger. That much did he dare; it was harmless. Rydia smiled a little.

 “Come on, that can’t be all that’s happening over by your place,” she said.

 “Well, I suppose that the next big thing that everyone will talk about is ‘king Edge get beaten up by caller Rydia while lying poisoned on a beach’. Sounds like a really tasty piece of gossip, doesn’t it?”

 “It’ll make your poor ninjas drop their hammers,” Rydia nodded with a grin.

    Edge widened his eyes in a really silly way.

 “You got me there,” he whispered and blinked with one eye, “but please don’t allow it to be commonly known that I force my troops to work as carpenters.”

  “Your secret’s safe with me,” Rydia said and blinked back, “hey, you said ‘the next big thing’. So what is everyone talking about now?”

    His tongue moved without the permission of his brain.

 “They keep going on about me finding a suitable queen…”

    The treacherous part of him was very close on getting at least one inch shorter.

    He looked up in Rydia’s eyes, and she stared back for an eternity.

 “Oh,” was all that she finally said.

    Nothing more.

 ‘Damn!’ Edge thought, ‘what did I have to say that for?’

 ‘Of course I knew he’d get married someday,’ Rydia thought, ‘I just… what will happen to our friendship then?’

    Their relationship involved so much jokes and jocular flirting, it couldn’t be the same without those things. But when Edge got married, well… no wife would allow such a friendship, any woman would feel threatened by it.

 ‘Is that it?’ that hidden part of her said, ‘is it only the fear of loosing a friend that makes your heart ache so? Isn’t the imaginary picture of hundreds of Eblanian women that stand in line before him?’

 ‘Shut up!’ Rydia angrily thought, very frustrated.

 ‘I shouldn’t have said that!’ Edge thought, ‘I’ve just made her uncomfortable. Idiot!’

    It wasn’t hard to see that she was uncertain about what she could say now. He couldn’t think of anything to say that could make her feel better again. And as she finally spoke, she sent daggers straight through him.

 “So, is anyone interested?” she asked, sounding as if she heavily pushed the words from her lips without really wanting to.

 “A few,” Edge admitted, unable to look back at her.

 “And you’re still a bachelor?” she said, straining herself to smooth the whole thing, “I thought you loved women…”

    He felt as if an ogre had sent him flying into a wall.

    It was terribly hard, but he forced himself to turn his face back at Rydia. There was something twisting in her eyes, as if she had no idea how to handle his statement. They were at least two with that problem, then. 

 “Hey, Rydia…” he hesitantly said.

    She startled.

 “Yes?”

 “I… they… I just…”

    Edge sighed and tried again.

 “Look, I don’t… I do like women, but not like that. I don’t know what to…”

    He fell silent and turned away again.

 “They’re just trying to push me,” he said, making a third attempt to mend what had gone wrong, “but I don’t want to… marry someone that… I don’t know that well. Or love.”

    She didn’t say anything, so he risked a glance at her. Rydia was watching him, looking very uncertain. Just as he felt.

 ‘How can I tell her?’ he thought, ‘dare I?’

 ‘Last time we talked like this was in the Sealed cave,’ Rydia thought, ‘he can be serious when he’s vulnerable or uneasy. But it’s not a good thing this time. Edge… what can I tell you to make you feel better?’

 “Don’t look so disturbed,” she tried, “it doesn’t suit you well. Your advisors will just have to wait until you’ve been taking your own time, they can’t exactly tie you up and drag you to a priest, now can they?”

 “No, but…”

    Edge sighed.

 “It makes me so terribly concerned,” he said.

 “I’m sure it’ll end up fine. Things seem to do so when you want them to.”

    Now that felt good to hear. Especially right now, from her. The words lit a ray of hope inside of him.

 “Thanks, Rydia,” he said in a low voice.

 “For what?” she wondered.

 “For making my heart a lot lighter, for a start.”

    They smiled tentatively at each other. But suddenly they both startled at an unexpected roar.

 “Rydia!”

    It wasn’t angry or threatening; only a friendly call from someone that was too big to control his loudness well.

 “Leviathan!” Rydia called back and stood up.

    A blue, enormous head could be seen in the water beyond the cliffs.

 “I’m sending the bottle with the waves, my friends,” the king of espers roared, “I can’t swim in the shallow water.” 

    Rydia hurried down to the wetter parts of the beach and looked around for a moment, searching. Then she walked out into the water and picked up something.

 “Thank you so much!” she called to Leviathan.

 “Anything to help you, my friends,” the great sea snake replied with a smile, “I have to return to the deeper ocean and my country now. Take care!”

    Rydia waved with her hand until Leviathan was unseen below the surface. She turned and ran back to Edge, holding a small bottle in her hand. The liquid inside had a greenish color.

 “Yummy…” the ninja king muttered.

 “Doesn’t look too tasty, no,” Rydia agreed, “but I guess we have no choice.”

 “Right. Let’s get it over with.”

    Edge tried to sit up, but fell back. His arms had no strength left.

 “Take it easy, I’ll help,” Rydia said.

    She removed the cork and smelled the potion.

 “It doesn’t smell that bad,” she reported, encouraging, “come on…”

    Carefully she moved her arm in under his head and put the bottle by his lips. If the potion tasted heavenly or was the worst sludge to ever touch his tongue, Edge didn’t even bother. To feel Rydia’s arm, her skin against his neck… maybe it was a good thing that he hardly could move, right now it didn’t feel like a threat anymore, more of a blessing that had given him some time with Rydia. And if he had been able to use his arms properly, he could have embraced her without considering it. But now he couldn’t, and it was plain torture even though he knew that it perhaps was just as well. 

    It had been so much easier to fight for the worlds future. Good-Evil, live-die, victory-Apocalypse. Simple. But this? It was so complicated, a mess of thoughts, feelings and secret wishes. It made him want to scream.

    The bottle was empty, and Rydia removed it from his lips. Knowing her arm soon would leave him too, Edge had to clamp his teeth.

 “Do you feel anything?” she asked, not moving away yet.

 “The usual warmth and all that…”

    Potions and antidotes seemed to feel much the same whatever they mended. First there was a cooling feeling as they ran through the throat, but as they reached the stomach a warm feeling began to work its way through the whole body.

    Edge wasn’t tired anymore, but that had nothing to do with the antidote. The poison’s drowsiness hadn’t got a single chance against the bitterness that the slip of his tongue had given birth to. He still felt like an idiot.

    Rydia looked down at him as he closed his eyes and waited for the antidote to do its work. He somehow still seemed miserable.

    Edge, married?

    Rydia didn’t want to think about it, but she imagined a timid, slender Eblanian woman with long, black hair. Someone he could rest by, someone that embraced him whenever he was tired and troubled after his advisors had given him a hard time. Someone that shut the door and locked it for Rydia, never allowing her to see Edge again.

    Rydia’s eyes burned for a second, then she forced it back. There was no use to cry like a baby. When Edge got married he got married, and she couldn’t exactly ask him not to just to save their friendship.  

 ‘Friendship here and there… pha!’

 ‘Shut up. You’re not making me feel any better,’ Rydia bitterly thought.

 ‘I’m not here to make you feel better,’ the secret part of her said, ‘I’m trying to help you into making it yourself. Dear, dear, just look at him…’

    Edge had never looked vulnerable for all the time she had known him. He had always been like an embodiment of power, reminding of an armed tornado as he attacked whatever kind of monsters he and the others had faced. But as he laid there now, looking as if he slept, he seemed somehow broken. His head was still resting on her arm.

 ‘I’m giving him support now…’ Rydia thought with a tight throat, ‘somebody will do it after me…’

    She had come to Cecil’s and Rosa’s wedding from the world of Espers, all the time wondering in which world she would choose to stay later on. She had no real home among the humans, even though she had friends in almost every town up in the sun. But it wasn’t the same as a home; she had that in the land where Leviathan and Asura ruled. Of course she could go between the worlds anytime, but she had to find out where she wanted to dwell most of the time. The esperworld seemed like a natural pick, but something told her that wasn’t right. Even though she was loved by every monster and all of them wanted her to stay with them, yet… she was a human, not an esper. No matter how much she loved the monsters too, they just… there wasn’t anything wrong with them, she just… couldn’t explain it.

    Edge suddenly frowned and slowly shook his head. Instinctively Rydia put her hand on his forehead, subconsciously remembering Asura’s warning about fever. And so it was. Edge was burning from inside. As he opened his eyes, they had an eerily, feverish glimmer.

 “Shh, don’t try to speak,” Rydia mumbled, “I’ll help you.”

    She removed her arm from his neck and sat up, placing her towel on the sand.

 “Powers of water, I bid thee to lend me thy power… send me coldness.”

    As she pointed at the towel, a small, blue stream left her finger and turned into an icicle. Rydia broke it in two pieces and put them beside each other. Then she made a package of the towel and placed it on Edge’s hot forehead.

    Edge felt as if his whole body was made of red hot iron. His numbing mind tried to keep above the paralyzing tentacles that tried to snare it, fighting to keep him away from unconsciousness. He vaguely remembered that he had felt like this once before, when he was twelve years old. Then he had gotten such a fever too, so grave that everyone had feared the worst and even prepared for the funeral. His parents had been sitting by his side all the time as he had been twisting and screaming in nightmares. His parents…

    The memory always brought agony. And now, with the fever trying to engulf him, it was almost unbearable. Edge’s eyes widened and he gasped in inner pain. Rydia’s cool hand came to his scorching cheek, and he blinked at her touch.

 “It’ll be alright,” she softly whispered, “I promise, you’ll be fine…”

 “R-Rydia…”

    He could hardly speak, the tongue was so hard to control.

 “Shh…”

    Rydia hoped that her own worries didn’t show. She hadn’t been this afraid since that horrible day when her mother had screamed and fallen to the ground, never to rise again. No! Not again! She couldn’t bear to loose Edge too!

 “Good grief…” she whispered before she could stop herself, “Edge, don’t die!”

    Don’t die, don’t die, don’t die, don’t die… don’t… please!

 “Ry-Rydia… don’t worry…” Edge harshly whispered.

    Shaking, he managed to reach up and touch her cheek with his fingertips. Then the hand fell; he had no strength now, even though the antidote had worked on his numbness.

 “I won’t die… I promise…” he whispered and fell into an uneasy slumber.

    Rydia sat like a statue for a while, watching him turn his head and mutter as he dreamt. Her hand was on her cheek, where the memory of his touch still remained.

 ‘That’s better…’ the noisy part of her mind softly said.

    She didn’t find it irritating anymore. She hardly heard it. She didn’t feel the wind in her hair or the sun on her skin. She only felt that simple touch and watched Edge’s struggle against the fever.

    Edge.

    Don’t die.

    I won’t. I promise.

    Please keep your word.

    His face was twisted in agony of whatever horrors his tortured mind created as he slept. And Rydia could only watch, helpless. For a while she wondered if the sylphs maybe could help, but figured that they had no such power. The fever was the product of the antidote’s war against the poison, therefore it couldn’t be healed. It had to fade away by itself, there was no other way. She could only wait and pray for that he would survive.

    Edge had no idea how long time he slept, but to him it felt like an eternity. Again and again he saw his parents die; the worst thing that he ever had experienced was displayed in his twitching mind over and over again. They ran their claws through their cursed bodies, strangled each other… Rubicant killed them a couple of times too. Then in the final nightmare, Zeromus stood before Edge with a sword in his claws.   

 “Take your sword, Your Majesty,” the demon screeched, “I command you to follow my orders and sacrifice either your mother or father to honor me!”

    Edge tried to scream in rage, but he couldn’t control his own body. He just took the sword and turned around. His parents stood there, watching him calmly. They weren’t monsters this time, instead the man and woman that he had known and missed for so long.

 “Kill me,” his father said, “I can’t live without your mother.”

 “No, kill me,” his mother said, “you need your father.”

 “No,” Edge harshly said, “I can’t do it!”

    The sword fell from his grip.

 “Kill us!” his parents screeched and began to transform into monsters; the memory escaped the cage he had surpassed it to.

 “No!” he screamed.

 “Kill us or we’ll kill Rydia!” his mother sneered.

    Edge spun around and faced Zeromus again. Battered and seemingly unconscious, Rydia laid by the demon’s feet. With a scream of agony, Edge threw himself towards her. But as he almost reached her bloodied hand, Rydia rolled aside and stood up. Before his eyes, she began to laugh manically. Her fingers turned into claws while her green clothes melted into her skin, which was turning into green scales.

 “Look at me!” she screeched, “Lugae got me too! Am I not beautiful, Edge? I always wanted to be an esper, but this is just as wondrous!”

    He backed away, but she leaped forward and knocked him down on the cold ground. He stared up into the yellowish lizard-eyes that drifted above him. They blinked, and suddenly Rydia’s warmly green eyes were there instead, filled with pain.

 “Help me, Edge…” she whispered, “help… they stole my humanity… please help me… you have to…”

 “No!”

    With a scream of terror he sat up, eyes wide open in fear. The cold towel fell down on his knees.

 “Edge!”

    Rydia’s arms caught him as he was about to fall back.

 “Shh, shh… I’m right here…” she whispered, “it was just a dream…”

    Edge was gulping for air. Rydia carefully helped him to lay back and put the cool towel in his forehead again.

 “It’s alright,” she mumbled and brushed a drop of sweat from his cheek, “just a dream… do you feel any better?”

 “Don’t know…” he harshly whispered.

    His heart was a pounding lump of pain in his chest, with every beat filling his body with arrows.

 “Rydia…”

 “Don’t strain yourself,” she kindly told him.

 “I have to…” he muttered, “please, if I should die here…”

 “You won’t!” she furiously interrupted.

    He tried to remember how to force his lips into a small, encouraging smile.

 “No, I hope I won’t,” he whispered, “but if I do… please promise me you’ll take care of Eblan for me…”

    She stared at him.

 “Wh-what?” she stuttered.

 “You’re the only one I trust that much,” he muttered, “please, Rydia…”

    For a moment longer she just stared down at him, disbelieving. Then she gravely nodded.

 “Alright Edge, I promise I would do anything I can. But you won’t die, you promised me that earlier.”

 “I’ll try my best,” he whispered and managed to produce the shadow of a smile.

    He vaguely noticed the sky above her head. It was slightly purple. Had he been sleeping for a whole day? And Rydia had been watching him…? If he hadn’t been so tired, the realization had filled him with a dancing feeling of tenderness.

    The ground was so hard and cold… he was cold all over. So cold that it hurt…

    He tried to breath, and the chilling air cut through his lunges.

 “Rydia… so c-cold…” he whispered, shivering.

    She tore the towel from his forehead, putting her hand on his cheek. He felt just as warm as before, but it was only the outer part of him…

    If only she’d had a blanket, anything better than the towel! She hurriedly got rid of the fourth generations of icicles and dried the piece of cloth with a fire-spell. Then she spread the towel over Edge’s shivering body, knowing it wasn’t going to help much.

    His breath was so terribly trembling and sharp… she felt helpless like never before.

 ‘Mother,’ she desperately thought, ‘what can I do?’

    But her mother wasn’t there to help. No one was. She just had to help Edge by herself. His skin felt cold too now… she had to do something to keep him warm. There was no logs around that the waves had brought in, so she could lit a fire. A magical flame wouldn’t burn longer than any normal one without something to eat.

    Maybe if… but… could she do that? She had no choice.

    Rydia took a deep breath. Then she laid down beside Edge and carefully moved in her arm under his neck again. He turned his head at her in tired surprise, almost too dizzy to realize what kind of thing she did to help him.

 “It’s alright,” Rydia mumbled, not certain if she tried to excuse herself or calm him, “it’s only me.”

    She placed her right arm over his chest, putting as little weight in it as possible. Then she moved as close to Edge as she could, lying by his side and offering him the warmth of her own body. He looked at her through the mist of fever and harshly whispered her name.

 “Everything will be fine,” she mumbled, “I promise.”

    He managed to move his lips into a weak smile. Rydia looked into his feverish eyes and tried to ignore that she felt that strange trembling in her chest again as she laid there by his side, holding him tightly.

    A few stars looked down at the two small humans there they laid in quiet caring.

    It was getting colder for every minute that passed, but Rydia only thought about keeping Edge warm, not about her own shivering.  Then suddenly, just when her teeth began to chatter, she heard somebody’s distant voice. Somebody was yelling her and Edge’s names high above, on the cliffs. With a rock leaving her heart, she hurriedly sat up. There were lights up there, torches that moved around, searching. More voices shouted.

 “Down here!” she called, “powers of fire…”

    There was a victorious shout as the flame down on the beach was spotted, and the torches assembled to a line of sparks by the cliff’s edge.

 “Are you alright?” Yang’s voice called down.

 “Edge has got fever,” Rydia shouted, “he need help! Could you throw down a blanket or something?”

 “Wait, my friend, I’m coming…”

 “Be careful!”

    But she knew that Yang didn’t need to hear that. He was the kind of man who didn’t need any eyes to climb down a cliff. It didn’t take him very long either. Rydia was so relieved that she had to hug him in the light of the torch he had brought down.

 “Don’t worry, Rydia,” Yang warmly said, “you’ve done well, I’m sure...  you go back to Edge for the moment, I will unpack a tent.”

    He ran the torch down into the sand so that it could stand by itself while he dug around in his magical backpack. Rydia sat down by Edge’s side and carefully put her hand on his cheek. He was half unconscious now, didn’t seem to know what was happening.

    Yang brought a stretcher from his sack, and carefully he and Rydia moved Edge over on it, away from the cold ground. Then the king of Fabul kept his promise about a tent. After putting that up and carrying the stretcher inside, Rydia heavily sat down on the ground and took a relieved breath.

 “I was so worried about him, Yang,” she sighed, “I was sure he was going to leave…”

 “It will be alright now, Rydia,” the karate-master kindly said, “now that His Majesty is above the coldness, I am sure that his strong body will face no more problems.”

    Rydia looked up and smiled. It was so heavenly calming to hear someone else say that again…

 “Rydia…” Edge whispered, stuttering.

    His hand fumbled and fell to the ground, searching her blindly. She hurried over to him and took the hand, putting it back by his side.

 “I’m here, don’t worry…” she softly mumbled.

    Yang watched the young king and the just as young woman, and a small, warm smile tickled the lips of the great warrior.     

    Rydia didn’t leave Edge for the whole night, just waved away Yang’s suggestion about sleeping a little.

 “No, it was my fault he ended up like this,” she told her older friend, “I can’t leave him; he might need me.”

 “I understand,” Yang nodded at that, and didn’t insist.

Part 2 With a little help from the friends

At the brink of morning, as soon as the first rays of the sun touched the world, a small airship landed on the beach. From it, a big group of worried friends hurried. By then Edge’s fever had gotten better, so Rosa concluded that they without any problems could bring him on board the airship and take him to Baron castle. Cecil and Yang carried the stretcher, and Rydia walked beside it every single step.

    She stayed by Edge all the time on the trip, not noticing the warm glances that her friends exchanged.

    They brought the king of Eblan downstairs, to the castle’s healing quarters. Rosa and the nurses then pushed the many anxious friends out of the room. Rydia could stay, though. Nobody dreamed about asking her to leave.

    Lying in a proper bed, Edge’s body seemed to give a sigh and managed to fall into a healthy sleep without nightmares.

 “You should rest a little too,” Rosa kindly said, “there’s nothing more anyone can do for him.”

 “I want to be there when he awakes,” Rydia explained, stubbornly.

    Rosa just smiled and shrugged her shoulders. The caller turned to Edge again, holding his hand between her smaller palms. She was so relieved that he was recovering now, that it  finally was obvious that he would survive…

    Half an hour later she fell asleep after eating some soup, still sitting on the chair. Rosa had left, knowing she wasn’t needed and unwilling to disturb. Instead a couple of the nurses carefully moved her over to the bed closest to Edge’s.

    Two hours later the king of Eblan awoke.

 “How are you, Majesty?” one of the nurses kindly asked as soon as she noticed that his eyes looked around, slightly confused, “You are in Baron castle.”

    Another one of the women in white clothes hurried up the stairs to tell the good news.

 “I’m pretty fine,” Edge concluded after carefully sitting up in the bed, “just a little shaky…”

    He turned his head and looked at Rydia, frowning.

 “Fell asleep, the poor, stubborn thing,” the nurse kindly explained, “I heard she kept awake through the whole night, watching you, Your Majesty.”

 “She did?”

    Edge tried to remember what had happened. The poison, the fever… Rydia… the nightmares… she had stayed with him all the time?

    She looked so calm now, but he recalled her anxiety. A tidal wave of tenderness built up inside of Edge as he watched her. He wanted to get out of the bed, walk over to her, awake her, thank her for all that she had done as he had been helpless. But to break her peace… no, he could wait. It was worth it. She deserved to rest now, and waiting a while would only make the thanking sweeter and give him some time to think of what he could say. And this time, he wouldn’t allow his tongue to slip and betray him.

 “Do you want to eat a little, Your Majesty?”

    A nurse offered him a soup plate. Edge smiled, grateful. He noticed that his hands shook a little as he took the plate. Now as he thought about it, he hadn’t eaten in a whole day and night. The antidote didn’t count. No wonder he felt weakened…

 “Has she eaten anything?” he asked, nodding at Rydia.

 “Yes, Your Majesty. Nothing to worry about.”

    Edge nodded and then began to eat the soup, forcing himself to do it slowly.

    He remembered that he had asked her to take care of Eblan. It had startled her, for sure. But he had felt forced to do so, somebody had to do it if he wasn’t there anymore to do it himself. And she was really the only one he trusted to compete with the hard work and had the same kind of strong will as him. His poor country did certainly not need a war over the throne.

    All the soup was gone. Edge placed the plate on the table beside the bed and then laid down again, his eyes resting upon Rydia.

    It had been long ago that he had watched her sleep. During the journeys a few weeks earlier, everyone had been sleeping beside each other since there seldom had been much space to spare. Edge smiled as he recalled all the times Rydia had warned him to try something, and then calmly laid down to sleep just beside him…

    She had embraced him to keep him warm.

    Edge’s eyebrows twitched.

    Rydia had embraced him. Laid beside him and held him tightly to protect him against the shivers.

    Oh, gods…

    How he had dreamed of such a thing… and the fever had made him so absent that he hardly had noticed it. Even if it only had been to save his life and not true emotions…

    He watched Rydia.

    I love you.   

 “Powers of healing, I bid of thee to lend me thy powers,” a voice suddenly chanted, softly, “send deep, calm sleep…”

    Warmly purple threads danced above Rydia’s head for a moment, before disappearing as suddenly as they had come. She mumbled something and kept sleeping. The nurses nodded at their king and left the room as he kindly pointed at the door.

 “Hello, Cecil,” Edge said, not allowing any sign of irritation to show.

    The king of Baron had interrupted the king of Eblan’s thoughts and viewing of Rydia, but he had done so as a worried friend.

 “Just thought you wanted some privacy,” Cecil said and nodded at Rydia, “or rather, I wanted it to be so.”

    Edge’s eyebrows went up.

 “Feeling any better?” Cecil asked and sat down on a chair between the beds.

 “Yes, thank you.”

    Cecil smiled.

 “Everyone wanted to rush down and see you,” he said, “but I waved most violently with my sword, so here I am.”

    They grinned at each other. Then Cecil cleared his throat.

 “Say, Edge,” he carefully said, “want to talk about Rydia?”

 “What about her?” Edge innocently said, “she’s a good friend, just like you and Rosa.”

 “Oh, cut it out,” Cecil sighed, “everybody knows that you two love each other.”

    Edge startled.

 “What?”

  “Edge, for all the gods’ sake…” Cecil said, rolling his eyes, “it’s only the two of you who refuses to see it.”

    Edge shook his head.

 “No, that’s not true,” he slowly said, “I know I love her. But I doubt that Rydia feels the same.”

    He was pushed into a corner. Anyhow, he had longed for telling someone the truth. He felt much better as his wishes and doubts had been partly released, even though it wasn’t  that much.

 “I don’t,” Cecil said.

    He leaned back.

 “You know, I know Rosa since fifteen years. About ten of those she used to tell me she loved me. But it seemed like I never understood what she was saying before Golbez kidnapped her. It’s a wonder that Kain never caved my thick head in for my own good.”

 “I wonder where he is now,” Edge hurriedly said.

    Cecil shook his head.

 “No changing subjects, my friend,” he said, “what I’m saying is the truth. It’s obvious.”

 “No, it’s not,” Edge said, “I might be in love, but I’m certain that Rydia is left in friendship.”

 “Now you listen to me,” the king of Baron said, frowning, “I and all the others want you two to be happy. But this might be the only chance you’ve got to finally admit what you feel for each other. Are you aware that Rydia very well might return to the land of Espers permanently if nobody doesn’t tie her to our world?”

    Edge stared at his friend.

 “What!? But the time flow…” he choked.

    Cecil nodded, gravely.

 “Yes, I know. It’s her decision, but… she don’t have any real strong bonds in this world, you know. We are her friends, but she grew up among the espers.”

    The king of Baron was crossing his fingers, holding the hand on the other side of his legs where Edge couldn’t see it. Cecil was well aware that Leviathan could change the time stream for Rydia’s sake, but lying to the ninja king might be the only way to make him think clearly.

    Edge sighed.

 “Well, I can’t force her,” he said.

 “Edge!”

 “Look, it’s not like I’m her babysitter. She’s an adult and have the right to decide herself, I don’t want to push her into something. I wouldn’t do that to her.”

    Cecil sighed, imitating his friend.

 “Edge, listen…”

 “No, I’m not going to press her, even though I don’t want her to leave,” Edge resolutely said.

 “Well, I guess I can’t make it through to you,” Cecil said and stood up, “but I believe that you’re the only one who can ask her to stay. You should at least think about it.”

    Cecil walked out of the room and up the stairs, leaving Edge to his new troubled thoughts.

    Everyone living in the castle waited in the throne room. Cecil knew it, so he went there to leave his report. The crowd split into two to allow him to reach the throne, where everyone could see him.

    Rosa stood up there already.

 “Well?” she worriedly said, speaking everyone’s thoughts.

    Cecil sighed and shook his head.

 “The fool is afraid to lure her into a hasty decision. I could have strangled him…”

    There was a lot of sighing in the room. Rosa finished her depressed breathing and then looked at Cecil.

 “I’m sure it’ll be alright,” she said, “I doubt he can compete with the risk of loosing her ‘forever’.”

 “Yeah, I guess…” Cecil said, but he wasn’t very sure about it.

    Edge was such a stubborn idiot at times…

    The guards, servants, kings and others in the room fell into concerned silence.

 ‘They want to be together,’ Cecil thought, frowning, ‘what does it take for them to see that? What should I do…?’

 “Why is there a crowd here, Cecil?” a voice suddenly called.

    A lot of heads snapped up, and many people spun around. Everyone stared. Especially the one who had been called.

 “K-k-k-k…” Cecil stupidly stuttered.

 “Kain!” Rosa exclaimed.

 “Missed the wedding, didn’t we?” the dragoon said with an excusing smile, “I’m sorry about that. We traveled here as fast as possible…”

    He wore his armor, as always. But he smiled, and that was unlike him. Behind him stood a figure in a brown robe, with a hood that hid the person’s face.

    Cecil rushed down the room and grabbed his friend’s armored shoulders.

 “You’re back!” the king said with a broad smile.

 “Seems so, doesn’t it?” Kain replied and thumped Cecil’s back, “and you’re the king now, aren’t you?”

 “Yes, I am,” Cecil nodded, “and Rosa’s the queen.”

 “Go figure…”

    Kain smiled and took off his helmet. His eyes were slightly different than Cecil remembered. They were still the same, but… there had always been a small bitterness hiding deep inside before. Now that was completely gone.

    Rosa hurried over to the dragoon and hugged him despite his armor.

 “We’ve missed to have you around,” she smiled.

 “I’m sorry about that.”

    She took a closer look.

 “You look… happy, Kain,” she said.

 “I do?” he smiled.

 “Yeah, where have you dropped your depression?” Cid grinned, approaching with Yang just one step behind.

 “I buried it somewhere…” Kain said with a chuckle, “with a little help.”

    His friends finally caught up with a detail.

 “’We traveled here’?” Cecil said, puzzled.

    He turned his head.

 “Oh, who’s your friend?”

    Kain turned around with a warm smile and held up a hand. The robed figure put a fine hand in his gloved palm, stepping closer to him.

 “This might surprise you,” Kain softly said, “but this is the woman I love.”

    Several slightly surprised “congratulations” got stuck in several throats as the hood was pushed backwards, revealing a beautiful face and a stream of thick, blond hair.

 “What the…” Cecil gasped.

 “… Heck?” Yang ended the sentence, most uncharacteristically.

 “Hello,” the woman carefully said, as if ready to run.

 “Don’t even think about it,” Kain warned, stepping in between his company and the surprised people. 

 “Val… Valvalis?!” Cecil, Rosa, Yang and Cid choked.

    Kain opened his mouth to speak, but Valvalis moved past him and faced her former enemies.

 “Yes, it’s me,” she said, “but I am no longer the fiend of Air. I was purified on mount Ordeals, just as you once were, king Cecil.”

 “She was used by Zemus,” Kain grimly said, “he deceived her mind like mine and Golbez’.”

 “But… but… but… err?” Cid stupidly said.

 “You were rather dying last time I saw you,” Cecil said, disbelieving.

 “I was,” Valvalis nodded, “but Rubicant saved me by teleporting me out of the giant of Bab-Il. That fooled you to believe that I dissolved like a dying monster do.”

    Kain draped his arm around her shoulders, careful since he still wore the armor.

 “You don’t know her like I do, that’s all,” he said, “if you did, you’d trust her.”

    He smiled.

 “Look at me,” he said, “I’ve been together with her for two months, ever since I met her on mount Ordeals after I left you in Mysidia. And I’m feeling better than ever before, certainly not because she’s used some magic to turn my head around again.” 

    Valvalis stepped backwards so that her back touched Kain’s chest plate. Not too wrongfully she felt that the dragoon’s friends definitely didn’t trust her to have left his mind alone.

    Kain frowned and wrapped his arms around her, protecting.

 “Wait, calm down,” Rosa said.

    She walked closer and reached out a hand. Her fingertips touched Kain’s forehead.

 “Holy powers of the world, I bid of thee to send me thy blessings,” she chanted, “if there is darkness within, then drive it out of this man…”

    Kain didn’t even blink as a ray of light left Rosa’s hand and went straight through his head without leaving a scratch. The queen turned to Valvalis. The holy force could not harm her either.

 “They are telling the truth,” Rosa said and smiled carefully, “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you at first.”

 “I understand why,” Valvalis said.

 “Actually I was prepared for that you wouldn’t accept her, and then I would have left again with her,” Kain said and smiled at Cecil, “but if you do, well… I’m at your service, my friend and liege.”

    Cecil reached out and put his hand on Kain’s shoulder.

 “Hey, don’t call me your liege, it gives me the creeps,” the king smiled, “welcome back, my friend. And you are also welcome, Valvalis.”

 “Thank you so much…” the old fiend of Air mumbled.

    Kain kissed her hair, and she smiled warmly at him.

 “We’ll get you an armor soon enough, love,” Kain said.

    She chuckled.

 “You see,” she said to the others in the room, “before I was captured by Milon and brought to Zemus, I was a dragon warrior; nowadays it’s called a dragoon. Do you have any room in the castle for another one?”

 “Of course,” Cecil smiled.

 “Well then, back to my question,” Kain said, “what’s going on here?”     

 “We are assembling for pondering a problem together,” Yang sighed.

 “So it is,” Edward said, “we have without luck sought a way to combine the hearts of fair Rydia and king Edge. So far there have been flowers exchanged, as well as poison and high fever at work. However the fear to hurt and stubbornness within still manage to fight back the two doves’ love for each other.”

 “String the harp, bro,” Palom grinned, “that’ll be a nice song.”

    And for once his sister didn’t hit him for opening his mouth.

 “Edge didn’t want to listen,” Cecil sighed, “he thought that he shouldn’t try to fret Rydia in any way. ”

    Kain and Valvalis exchanged glances, smiling.

 “They don’t get it, is that the problem?” Kain submitted.

 “Exactly,” his friends nodded with deep sighs.

 “Have you tried locking them up in a room in the middle of the night, all alone with each other?” Valvalis said with a laugh.

    Silence.

    Suddenly, Cecil began to grin.

 “Valvalis,” he said, “you are a genius!”

 “Actually, it was a joke…” she said, eyebrows rising.

 “Not anymore!”

 “Would not that be a bit cruel?” Yang said, but his grin gave away that Cecil had his full support.

 “I’m ready to try anything by now,” the king of Baron said.

 “Just because you bet a trading contract to Edge’s chancellor that you’d get the king married?” Rosa said and rolled her eyes, laughing.

 “Not only that,” Cid grinned before Cecil had time to answer, “he told me that if he didn’t succeed, he’d name his first son after me!”

 “Cecil!” Rosa gasped.

    But then she laughed. So did everyone else in the room. Edge and Rydia were happily unaware what was planned behind their backs, still down in the healing quarters.

Rydia yawned and stretched her whole body. Then she opened her eyes.

 “Welcome back, sweetness,” Edge said with a careful smile.

 “Hmm?”

    She blinked, all memories rushing back to her.

 “Edge, are you alright?”

    She more or less fell out of the bed and leaped over to his side. He gave a short laugh.

 “As you’re acting, one could believe that you really was worried…”

 “Don’t be silly, of course I was!” she said, almost furious, “I thought you were going to die…”

    The mockery glistening in Edge’s eyes disappeared immediately.

 “Hey, don’t attack me,” he said with an unusually soft voice, “I know you were.”

    Rydia’s frustration melted away, and she smiled carefully back. Then suddenly she froze, and her face became a little darker than it usually was.

 “Say Edge,” she hesitantly said, “do you remember anything?”

    The embrace…

    Edge understood, and pretended as if he didn’t notice her blush.

 “Not much,” he lied, “my memory is just a black hole where what happened after the antidote should be.” 

    If she wanted to go to the espers, he wouldn’t be a spider web that captured her own wishes. He had to tell himself that pretty roughly now that he heard her voice and looked into her eyes again.

    Her blush ceased, relieved.

 ‘Good that he doesn’t remember…’ she thought, ‘I wouldn’t like to explain why I held him like that… of course it was to help him, but what if he had… I don’t know…’

 ‘I’m getting sick and tired of you,’ the hidden part of her sighed.

 ‘Oh, pipe down.’

 ‘If it was only to help him, why do you feel that embarrassed? Didn’t you feel anything more?’

 “They told me you kept awake all through the night just because you wanted to check on me,” Edge said, and his fingers touched her hand, “I wanted to thank you.”

    Rydia looked down at his brief touch and couldn’t stop her hand from wrapping itself around his.

 “You’re welcome,” she mumbled, “of course I watched you. You got into that whole thing because of me.”

 “It was worth it,” Edge gravely said, “and I’d do it again.”

    His other hand placed itself over their held hands. Then it suddenly moved back again, as if he didn’t want or dare to touch her too much.

 ‘No, keep away,’ he told himself, ‘it’s not like she belongs to me. She’s got her own life…’

    It felt as if he was pushing a dagger into his own chest. But it was true. Asking Rydia to follow not her own heart, but someone else’s? No…

    Haven’t you ever heard of suggestions?

    She’s got no other bonds than friends here, the espers are… well, they took care of her!

    I said suggest, you moron!

    Rydia has the right to decide alone!

    Idiot…

 “I’m glad you’re alright,” Rydia said with a smile.

    Edge carefully smiled back. Then a nurse came in between.

 “You seem fully restored, Your Majesty,” she kindly said, “I think that you can get out of the bed now.”

    Just as Edge stood up, Cecil and Rosa came down the stair.

 “Better?” the queen asked with a smile.

 “Yes,” Edge said, avoiding looking at Cecil, “I actually feel as if nothing happened.”

 “Good to hear. Oh, and we’ve got great news; Kain has returned.”

 “He has?” Rydia and Edge said simultaneously.

    Cecil nodded, smiling. He turned his head and waved with a hand. With his armor making a terrible noise, Kain came down the stair.

 “Hi, you two,” he smiled.

 “Kain! I was worried about you!” Rydia grinned and gave him a quick hug.

 “What, don’t you think I can take care of myself?” he chuckled. 

    Rydia only smiled at that.

    She moved aside, and Edge watched the dragoon. Kain calmly looked back.

    Ever since the event in the Sealed cave, when the dragoon had followed Golbez’ command, Edge didn’t really trust him. For a moment nobody moved.

 “Come on, Edge,” Rydia finally said, “don’t be so stubborn.”

 “Well… I guess you’re right,” Edge sighed and held forth a hand, “good to see you again, Kain.”

 “And the same to you.”

    The dragoon took Edge’s hand after taking off his metallic glove.

 “So, what have you been doing after running away and leaving us in Mysidia back there?” the king of Eblan said, making it absolutely clear that he was determined to follow Rydia’s advice. 

 “I’ve got myself a fiancée,” Kain said with a smile.

 “You never said you were engaged,” Cecil pointed out, raising his eyebrows.

 “Well, I’m actually just believing we are,” the dragoon smiled and turned around, looking up the stair, “love, are we engaged?”

 “Do you really have to ask me that, Kain?” Valvalis warmly said, entering the room still dressed in the robe.

    Edge and Rydia certainly didn’t act different than the others had done. The four people who knew the story hurriedly explained everything before something was thrown or Bahamut was bothered unnecessarily.  

 “But you still haven’t told us how it came to love between you two,” Cecil said to Kain and Valvalis as Rydia and Edge had calmed down.

 “Let’s talk over dinner,” Kain said and winked with one eye, chuckling, “it’s a terribly long story.”

    So they ended up eating together, all of the friends from the journeys. From Cecil to Edward and everything in between. Kain and Valvalis told their story about how they slowly and staggering had grown to love each other as the dragoon had suffered Golbez’ tries to control him. It was a fascinating story, but Rydia only listened with a half ear.

    She thought about Edge and herself. Soon, in only two days, he would leave to head back to Eblan. And she? It was time to decide now. Espers or humans? It wasn’t easy, even though she knew where she had a home.

    She didn’t know what to do…

    And there was something else. The thought of Edge getting married made her stomach freeze. No matter how much she tried to push the thought away, it kept coming back.

    She risked a quick glance at him. He was idly pushing a piece of tomato around on his plate, using his fork. Rydia wondered what he thought about.

    Edge thought about her, even though he tried not to.

    What if they’d never see each other again? If she went back to the espers… no, she couldn’t disappear like that, she just couldn’t do it!  Yet… she could. It made him feel sick. But it wasn’t his business. He might wish like mad it had been, but it wasn’t. 

As he was back in his room, alone, the thoughts kept troubling him.

    A pencil in his absentminded grip went knocking like a woodpecker at the table.

    To never see Rydia again… the mere thought made him want to scream. Of course it wasn’t certain, but… what if that was how it would be? The pencil snapped in two between his fingers. Edge growled and threw the pieces out of the open window. Then he sighed.

    He was frustrated to the border of madness. If he lost Rydia, he felt it would be very, very hard to go on. Eblan didn’t seem important to him anymore. He only cared for that green-haired caller.

    Breaking stuff in the room wouldn’t help. Neither would just sitting there with the head filled with bitter thoughts. But he didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to press Rydia, but he definitely didn’t want her to leave the human world forever. Leave him.

    It was getting dark outside. This was the second last night he’d stay in Baron. After tomorrow night he’d leave for Eblan on an airship. Leave for Eblan and all pressure. Pressure about finding a wife.

    His hands turned into shaking fists.

    Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

 “Yes?” he called, trying to relax a little not to let his voice give away his concerned mind. 

    One of the guards of the castle opened the door.

 “Excuse me, Your Majesty, but caller Rydia wishes to speak with you,” he said.

    Edge could have jumped through the roof, but he pulled himself together.

 “Then let her in,” he said.

 “Alright, Your Majesty,” the guard nodded, “I’ll tell her she can come.”

    He closed the door, chewing on his lower lip to keep from laughing.

 “Calm down!” the other man by the door hissed.

 “Yes, Your Majesty,” the real guard mumbled, “but this is hideous!”

 “Hurry!” Cecil smiled and pushed the helmet downwards so that it would hide his eyes better.

    If Rydia should recognize him the whole thing would be devasted, but Cecil just had to handle it by himself. He didn’t dare to give anyone else the responsibility.

    The guard rushed down the hall, watching the floor. He feared that if he looked up and exchanged glances with any of his fellow guards, he wouldn’t be able to keep from laughing. The other men in the corridor had the same problem to keep calm.

Rydia had just changed to her deeply green nightgown when there was a knock on the door. She hurriedly put on the cream colored dressing gown that she had got with the room. Then she rushed to open the door.

    It was a guard, his uniform gave it away. (Poor guards and servants… they play an important role in so many stories, but what do they get? The right to remain anonymous whether they like it or not… or get snapped at, killed or saves the princess… well, let’s not get caught in such things. Now, where were we…?)

 “Good evening, miss,” the guard said, “excuse me for bothering you, but His Majesty of Eblan wishes to see you.”

 “Edge?” Rydia blankly said.

 “Yes, miss.”

 “I’m coming.”

    She didn’t even think about changing clothes, just hurried out of her room and down the corridor. There were not that many steps that brought her to Edge’s door, but she had time to think a lot in that time.

    She wondered what he could want, and by this time of the day. Well, it wasn’t that late, but anyhow…

    And her thoughts drifted away to that thing that had bothered her ever since he had told her about it. His wife. Rydia didn’t want to think about that.

    As long as there wasn’t anyone that would protest, she could find an excuse for visiting him. Leviathan would gladly bring her to the human world and anywhere she wanted to go fast enough. But… the woman that eventually would stand by Edge’s side…

    She fought back a shudder and looked at the door that a guard politely had opened for her as she had approached. With her head spinning with thoughts, Rydia didn’t bother to look at the man. Which was lucky.

    Everyone in the corridor held their breath as she stepped inside of the room. The guard that had fetched her nearly stumbled and fell into the door, so concentrated on the young woman that he almost forgot how to walk.

 “You wanted to see me?” two voices said in unison, and after a heartbeat continued, blankly; “what, you?”  

    Cecil slammed the door shut and turned the key.

 “Hey! What are you doing!?” Edge and Rydia shouted on the other side of the wood.

 “Oh dear!” the fetching guard (oh, let’s just call him Thomas) gasped, managing to sound really shocked considering the circumstances, “the lock went shut by itself again! Don’t worry, Majesty and miss, I’ll get the key immediately! Now who’s got it again? Damn…”

    Cecil grinned and closed his fist around the key, almost causing the whole corridor’s population to break down laughing.

    Two fists hit the door from the inside.

 “Cecil!” Edge roared, “I know it’s you! Open this door or I’ll break it!”

 “No, no, Your Majesty!” Thomas gasped, “don’t panic, I’ll get the key…”

 “I’m not panicking, I’m going berserk!”

 “Please keep calm, it’ll only be a few minutes…”

 “Ha!” Edge growled, “Cecil, I swear that I will kill you for this!”

 “But His Majesty isn’t present, Your Majesty,” Thomas assured, somehow able to sound really helpless.   

 “I’ll be damned if he isn’t!”

 “Edge, calm down!” Rydia snapped, “would Cecil really pull such a stunt?”

 “In the name of Rubicant he would, trust me!” Edge snarled.

 “I’ll get the key right away,” Thomas said, crossing his fingers, “please make His Majesty calm down, miss.”

    Then Thomas hurried off, at least pretending to leave for the key. But at the end of the corridor he stopped and buried his face in his hands to silence the laughter as much as possible. Cecil had to step away from the door and chew on a finger to keep calm. Those of the guards that knew they wouldn’t be able to keep it quiet sneaked away from the corridor to laugh. They had to, or they would explode.

    Inside of the room Rydia was moving in between the door and Edge to stop him from doing anything hasty.

 “Look, Edge,” she said, “I don’t think that Cecil would…”

 “Oh yeah?” he interrupted, “then who would have planned this stupid joke? Don’t tell me you weren’t fooled to come here.”

    Rydia frowned.

 “Well, I was told that you wanted to see me,” she gave in, “but if it was Cecil, why would he do such a thing?”

 “Haven’t he spoken with you?” Edge asked, “or Rosa?”

 “No, about what?” Rydia wondered, frowning.

    Edge opened his mouth, but closed it again. What could he say?

    Good grief, was she only wearing a evening gown and a morning coat over that? Her usual clothing was much more enticing, but there was something even…

    For heaven’s sake, pull yourself together!

    Edge tried to assemble his thoughts and come up with something to say.

 “How can Cecil do this?” he finally grumbled and went over to an armchair.

    He heavily sat down. Rydia took the armchair which stood beside his, still frowning.

 “What are you talking about?” she asked.  

    Edge figured that he had no escape.

 ‘Damn you, Cecil…’

 “He is… they are…”

    Edge looked at Rydia, and the dam of troubles broke as he watched her questioning, worried eyes. He didn’t want to talk about it, but he could no longer keep the pain from flooding over.

 “Are you going back to the espers?” he asked, much harsher than he’d ever planned.

    His rough tone startled her, and Edge immediately regretted opening his mouth.

 “The espers?” Rydia said after a moment, “I haven’t decided yet…”

 “Look, I didn’t mean to be that harsh,” Edge hurriedly said, feeling like an idiot, “it’s just that… Cecil spoke with me and… we understand that you feel like home there, but… we feel that we would all miss you terribly.”

    He felt even more like an idiot. And a rude one, too. Rydia watched him carefully, understandably slightly confused about his reaction.

 “That’s… nice of you,” she finally said.

    They watched each other.

 ‘Don’t be such a fool!’ something inside of Edge screamed, ‘don’t you see that she’ll be lost forever if you don’t use this single opportunity? Will you live with that loss for the rest of your life?’

    He bit his lower lip. Rydia had never seen him do something like that. He had never shown worries in such a manner. But something was really tormenting him, a blind could see that. And she didn’t like to see him troubled. If Edge was troubled, then she wanted to help him. What kind of friend would she be if she didn’t.

 ‘Friiieeend…!’ that irritating part of her moaned.  

    She ignored it.

 “Hey Edge,” she warily said, “what’s bothering you?”

    He looked at her, and his eyes were filled with a twister of troubled emotions wrestling each other. Suddenly his fingers touched her hand, which laid on the armchair’s elbow rest. Both his and Rydia’s eyes went to the hands.

 “Look, I…”

    Edge fell silent, and she looked up to met his eyes. He looked away and then tried again.

 “I was wondering if… if you don’t feel like you have a home anywhere in this world, won’t you… come to Eblan?” 

    Rydia stared at him, suddenly feeling as if she could fly.

 “To… to Eblan?” she finally managed to say, with a growing smile.

    Edge still didn’t dare to look at her.

 “Yeah, I… I…”

    He forced himself to turn his head.

 “I’m sure you really could help out and… and I’d really be glad to have you around.”

    Rydia’s hand closed around his fingers, and she was smiling warmly, straight into his soul. Edge felt his own lips move into a warm smile. His heart felt as if it could grow wings and flutter away.

 “You would?” she softly said.

 “I really would,” Edge warmly nodded.

    Rydia looked at him, smiling. But then a cold, rough thought sent a dagger through her heart, and the smile on her lips faded. Edge was alarmed immediately.

 “Rydia, what’s the matter?” he asked.

 ‘If I stay with him,’ Rydia thought, ‘what if I become so fond of him that it’ll hurt even more when he… he… damn, I don’t want him to get married!’

    But she couldn’t say such a thing, of course.

    When she didn’t answer, Edge rose from his armchair and stood in front of her, bowing down so that their faces were at the same level.

 “Rydia, whatever it is, you can tell me,” he gravely said, “we’re friends, aren’t we?”

    She looked into those deep, grey-blue eyes and saw his worries for her. It hurt to see, she didn’t want to make him even more troubled…

 “Yes, we are…”

    Gods, those eyes… she couldn’t hide anything for him, he deserved the truth…

 “We’re friends, Edge,” she said, hoping that she didn’t shock him to much with what she had to say, “and I love that! But when you get married, what will happen to our friendship then?”

    He just stared at her. His mind had turned completely blank, but Rydia couldn’t know that. She stood up and rushed past him, trying to hide the pain in her eyes.

 “I’d only be a problem in the end, and I’d have to leave for your sake,” she muttered, “it’s better that I don’t even come…”

 “Now just a darn minute!”

    Edge walked around her and resolutely faced Rydia.

 “You’d never ever be a problem to me,” he said, a bit hoarse, “you’re the only one who can understand me like only you can do!”

    He figured that hadn’t made sense at all, but at least the message was clear. 

    They stared at each other.

 “Edge,” Rydia finally bitterly said, “you know what I mean. You need a queen, you told me that yourself. Eblan needs that. And we don’t have the kind of friendship that would be acce…”

 “To the hell with Eblan and all that!” Edge said and put his hands on her shoulders, “nothing of it would mean anything at all to me if I couldn’t hear you snapping and teasing once in a while, Rydia!”

    She stared into his eyes, jaw dropped. Edge felt just as shocked, surprised over that his mind had decided that it couldn’t carry the unspoken troubles anymore.

 ‘He’ll get married,’ some devilish part of her shouted, ‘you’ll be in their way!’

 ‘Shut up!’ the hidden part growled.

 ‘He’ll have an Eblanian woman!’ the shouting inside of her snapped, ‘he’s born to marry a noble woman of his own people! What do you think you are trying to make up here?’

    She looked away.

 “Edge, I… can’t do that to you.”

    It was rubbish, but it was the best she could come up with.

    But Edge was an intelligent man, no matter what names she had surpassed him during their playful argues. His hand came to her cheek, carefully forcing her to turn her head at him.

    There was pain in his eyes now. Like back then, in the Sealed cave. Of loss, and fear of more loss. Those eyes which were like a thousand tiny crystals, that should be shining of joy and kind mischief… like a boy, but yet controlled like a grown man. Those eyes that should glisten with laughter and thoughtful mocking as he tried to think of a quick answer. Those eyes that belonged to Edge, and Edge only.

    Edge.

    You didn’t die. You kept your promise.

    If only I dared to love you.

    You didn’t leave me. I don’t want to leave you either. 

    How could I ever think of doing that to you?

 ‘Finally…’ the hidden part of her mind mumbled.

 “Rydia,” Edge said, and his voice a bit strangely thick, “why do you turn away? What are you afraid of?”

 “I’m not afraid,” she whispered, hardly able to speak at all.

    Then suddenly she could hardly breathe, because his arms were around her waist, pressing her smaller body against his. He didn’t utter a single word, just held her tightly for a moment that didn’t last longer than a heartbeat. Then he let go as sudden as he had caught her in the embrace, and turned away. Like she just had done. Like he had done in the throne-room an eternity ago.

 “I’m sorry, Rydia,” he bitterly muttered, “I don’t know what came over me.”

    Her heart was about to break through her chest, and it definitely wasn’t only because of the surprise. That feeling of being that close to Edge, to even feel his heart beat, his warm arms… she couldn’t explain what she felt. Only that she wanted to be back there again, that near him.

    Seeing his back hurt her eyes.

 ‘Is that so…?’ she slowly thought, almost shivering, ‘I do… love him?’

    The hidden part of her only smiled warmly.

    But he was… he wasn’t going to… he wouldn’t…

    Oh, cut that silly hesitating out, you idiotic girl!

 ‘She’ll hate me for that,’ Edge bitterly thought, ‘too hasty again. I blew it. Again and again and again… but holding her… she looked so vulnerable…’

    One thing that Rydia certainly wasn’t was delicate. That was one of the many things that put her aside from other women, that made her so special. So seeing her unsure like that had made him panic slightly for a second too long. He had driven her to that, he had known it. So he had the responsibility for hurting her, and he could not bear that. If he only could have reacted differently.

    He’d give anything to embrace her again, to feel her chest against his, her warmth. But not like that, not attacking! Idiot!

    A hand on his shoulder. Edge was afraid, the feeling could not carry another name. But he forced himself to face Rydia.

    She was frowning, yes, but not angry.

 “Why would…”

    Her voiced trailed off; she didn’t know what to ask or to tell him.

    He wanted to explain, to tell her that he wished that she would want him to hold her carefully. But he couldn’t, afraid to break even more.

 “I don’t know…” he said, of all stupid things, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t stop myself. I don’t know what…”

    His voice faded away, and he just looked at her with that strangling sadness in his eyes. 

    Rydia moved around him. She took the few steps needed for standing before him and then carefully, slowly, raised her arms and placed them around his neck. Edge stared down at her, the slightly confused, searching sparkle in her eyes reflected in his own gaze.

 “Like… like this?” Rydia mumbled, warily.

 “I suppose…” Edge whispered, stuttering of the surprise.

    His arms moved by themselves, one placing itself around her waist, the other around her shoulders. He hardly knew how to handle this situation, and she definitely didn’t either. They looked at each other again, unsure what to do about it. Edge was well aware what he wanted to say, the words were burning inside of his mind. But he still wasn’t sure if he dared. He was weary of the sparkling in Rydia’s eyes, she looked away and then at him again over and over. It wasn’t hard to tell that she wasn’t certain about what she was doing there.

    I love you, Rydia.

    Would those words make her even more unconfident, even scare her? But he wanted to speak them out so dearly…     

 ‘Why does he have to marry someone else?’ Rydia thought as she looked away again, ‘can’t he just… have… me?’

    It was as if a rock tumbled out of her as she finally managed to put that secret, subconscious wish into words.

    It hurt, though. He could never…

    She turned her head away, not only the eyes. Couldn’t bear to look at him.

 “Rydia,” he said in such a soft voice that it tickled her ears but only made her want to move away to escape the unreachable, “what are you afraid of?”

 “I’m not afraid,” she muttered once more.

    She tried to let go of him, but then his grip only tightened. She looked up at him.

    Don’t move away, his eyes pleaded, please don’t do that to me.

 “You are afraid,” he said, “is it me?”

 “No…”

    She bit her lower lip, but couldn’t hold back anymore.

 “I dread the woman you will love, Edge! Don’t you see that? The woman who will bring you away from me!”

    She stared at him, waiting for him to snort and say that she was out of her mind. But…

    Why was he smiling like that? And what was his hands doing at the back of her head?

 “My compassion, sweetcheeks,” he whispered, “because then you fear yourself, and that is one weird situation.”

 “Wh-what?” she stuttered.  

 ‘He loves… me?!’

 “You’re the one I love, Rydia, nobody else,” Edge said in a low, soft voice, “even though I must be forced to admit it.”

 ‘I said it? I did? Good gods, I said it!’ he thought, nervously awaiting her reaction.

    Rydia just stared at him for a moment. Then she more or less jumped, securing her grip around his neck and almost desperately pressing her lips against his. For half a second he was stunned by the surprise, then his arms around her tightened their grip, carrying her.

    Edge was a veteran flirter, of course. He had kissed women before. But they hadn’t meant this much to him, nothing like what Rydia meant. She hadn’t ever kissed anyone before him, but her first try was so wonderful that he didn’t even notice. 

 “Edge, you moron…” Rydia whispered against his lips, “you scared me so terribly! With the poison, the fever, the mere idea of you finding a queen most of all!”

 “I’m sorry about that,” he mumbled, “but you scared me too. The thought of you disappearing into the world of Espers… don’t do that, Rydia, don’t leave me alone again.”

 “I won’t, I won’t, I promise…”

    He had longed to firmly hold her for so long that it was very hard for him to keep from trying to get even closer to Rydia. He wanted her so terribly, but this was a bit too early yet… she had just got to know his feeling and given her answers, and he knew well that being too hasty could destroy what they both just had found. No, he wouldn’t be so foolish that he risked that.

    Rydia’s feet touched the floor again. They just held each other tightly in warm silence for a moment.

    Edge’s breath tickled her hair, she could feel his strong heart beat against her chest. This was where she wanted to be, and nowhere else. As she looked up his lips covered hers again, as she had wished that they would.

 “I love you, Edge,” she mumbled, and felt his lips move into a soft smile. 

 “And you feared I’d find a queen in Eblan?” he whispered, “when the one I wanted was right here before me all along, and I just didn’t dare to reach out for you? Yes, you’re right, I am a moron.”

    They removed their lips from each other and just smiled warmly. Edge suddenly chuckled.

 “Wait,” he said, “I can do better than that.”

    He released her and took a step backwards, sitting down on one knee.

 “Will you marry me, fair Rydia?”

    She almost made him fall as she threw her arms around him.

 “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’,” he smiled and kissed her again.

 “You bet it was!” she said, even though it was hard to hear what she said as her lips were occupied against his mouth.

    There was a clinking sound, followed by the moaning of an opening door.

 “We’ve found the key, Your Majesty and miss Rydia,” a voice softly said.

 “Go and feed it to an imp, Cecil,” Edge said without turning around.

 “As you wish, my friend…”

 “And check your bedding carefully before you go to sleep from now on. I’m only warning you because you’re such a good friend.”

    Cecil chuckled and closed the door.

 “You wouldn’t put something in his bed for real, would you?” Rydia smiled.

 “One can never know when it comes to me,” Edge grinned, “especially not after this stunt.”

    Rydia laughed. She touched his nose with the tip of her finger.

 “Now, now, don’t be so hard on him. It was for a good purpose.”

 “Making me almost crack down of nervous tension?” Edge grimaced.

    Then he laughed.

 “Well, I guess I could spare him if you ask me really nicely,” he said and winked with one eye.

    As he bent down a little and kissed her neck Rydia felt a warm stream of desire begin its flow inside of her, still only a small pouring, but for every single touch of Edge’s lips the surge increased. She shivered a little and tightened her grip of him.

    How she had longed for him, not daring to even understand what it really was about! Asura had known; everybody had known… but Rydia just hadn’t been able to face it.

    Edge, this teasing, hot-headed ninja that she loved so much…

    No, wait. There’s a time for everything, and this wasn’t the right moment. Not yet. That flame inside of her would have to cease and rest for a little while longer.

    Rydia freed an arm from her own grip of Edge’s neck and moved in a finger against his lips. He moved his head backwards and nodded with a smile.

 “I know,” he softly said, “time turns gold into diamond.”

 “Interesting saying,” Rydia smiled, “is it Eblanian?”

 “No, it’s Edganian,” he explained, making both of them laugh.  

    They stood up. Edge kept an arm over Rydia’s shoulders as they walked to the door; her arm rested around his waist.

 “Good night, sweetcheeks,” Edge smiled and kissed the tip of her nose, playful.

    It was hard enough not to kiss her mouth again and go even further; he knew Rydia would have as hard as him fighting back the same emotions that only wished to break free inside of him. But all that had its own, special moment, and he had to keep his emotions down a little longer no matter how hard it felt as Rydia looked up at him with those warm, green eyes…

    He suddenly realized it would take at least two weeks to get Eblan ready for a royal wedding, and could hardly stop a groan from leaving his chest. He would have to start as soon as possible, and kick some of his advisors in the back if they didn’t work fast enough. They were actually good at what they did, but they were also professional arguers and could start a fight with their companions before one had time to blink.

    Well, on the other hand the whole country had held its breath waiting for him to pick his queen. Maybe the banners were sewed, the cakes baked, the speeches written and the confetti ready to be thrown already… he’d know soon enough.

 “Sweet dreams, love,” Rydia softly smiled.

 “That won’t be any problem at all, if I only can get to sleep,” he grinned.

    She opened the door and stepped out, giving him one last smile for the evening before she was gone behind the wood.

    Edge smiled broadly as he heard her voice again.

 “Cecil, I should really fry you, but I won’t.”

 “You’re welcome,” the king of Baron grinned, “well, finally I can go back to Rosa. Oh, right.”

    The door opened again.

 “Hey Edge, I’ve given orders that an airship shall be ready for departure to Eblan tomorrow after lunch,” Cecil said with a broad smile, “you’ll both have time to pack. Do you want a ticket?”

 “Why you slippery…” Edge grinned.

 “I figured you wanted to get home as soon as possible.”

    Cecil winked with one eye and closed the door.

Part 3 The marriage of a caller and a king

 “I knew they’d get you sooner or later,” Cid grinned, “our Cecil isn’t as soft and patient as he seems.”

 “I just didn’t want the next king of Baron to carry the same name as an eccentric mechanic I know,” Cecil said with a friendly sneer.

 “You’re all crazy,” Edge sighed and rolled his eyes.

    Rydia squeezed his waist.

 “And that comes from your mouth, mister attack-Rubicant-singlehanded-and-didn’t-want-any-help?” she smirked.

 “Oh, that hurt!” Edge groaned and laughed with his friends.

    He looked at Cecil and innocently asked:

 “Say, did you find something in your bed last night?”

 “No, I thought you changed your mind or couldn’t get past Rosa,” Cecil said.

    Edge smacked his forehead.

 “Oh dear, I guess he crawled away… and I had such a hard time concentrating on climbing the tower after that evening!”

    Everyone stared at him until he began to laugh again, making it clear that he really was joking.

    Rydia and Edge went onboard the airship.

 “Have a safe journey!” Yang called, making the others yell similar things and wave.

 “Thanks,” Rydia shouted back, “let’s just hope that the winds are on our side, so that we make it all the way before Edge explodes of impatience!”

 “Don’t worry about the winds,” Valvalis smiled, “they’ll be gentle, trust me!”  

    The airship’s engine began to roar, and it left the field. The main passengers and their friends on the ground waved at each other until they all were out of sight.

    Down in the grass Valvalis mumbled a prayer to the powers of the Wind. Then she cup her hands and gently blew on her palms. Up in the sky a careful wind began to blow in the right direction, increasing the airship’s speed.

 “I’ve still got the touch,” Valvalis smiled as she and the other earthbound ones watched the distant vehicle soar through the sky, towards the awaiting Eblan.

 “The touch is the last thing you’ve lost,” Kain grinned and winked at her with one eye.

 “I guess you know best in that matter,” Cecil said and thumped the dragoon’s back with a chuckle. 

 “And when are you going to force them into marriage, pal?” Palom grinned, absentmindedly ducking.

 “Don’t think I need to…” Cecil smiled as Valvalis laughing put her arm over Kain’s shoulders. 

    Up on the airship Rydia and Edge stood together, watching the sky. They had put on thick cloaks that people often preferred to wear when on airships, to protect against the cold.

 “Will your people accept me?” Rydia suddenly said.

    Edge gently squeezed her shoulders.

 “Don’t worry, sweetness,” he said, “you’re not the first nob to come from another country.”

 “Just wondering…”

    She took a deep breath and released it slowly.

 “I’m not fit to be a regular queen, you know,” she muttered.

 “I’m no regular king either. Hey, don’t worry about anything, it’ll be fine. After my advisors stop making fun of me for quitting bachelorhood.”

    He rolled his eyes. Rydia smiled and kissed his cheek.

 “I’m sure it will be great,” she said.

 “Yeah.”

    He looked at her with rising eyebrows and a familiar glistening of mischief in his eyes.

 “Say, I had trouble sleeping last night,” he innocently said, “I felt lonely. Maybe I should sneak into your room tonight so that I can get some… rest.”

    Rydia chuckled and elbowed him gently, playful.

 “You wish,” she grinned and winked with one eye.

    He laughed and pulled her into a hug.

 “Don’t ever change, Rydia,” he smiled, “I love you just like that.”

    Then he cleared his throat and looked down into her eyes.

 “However,” he thoughtfully said, “I’d be happy if you would be a little more reasonable on the wedding night.”

 “We’ll see about that in time,” Rydia said, teasingly.

 “You’re a cruel, cruel woman…”

As the airship landed, it had been spotted long ago by a ninja on the watch upon one of the towers. Guessing correctly, the chancellor had assembled the royal guard and dragged the five members of the high council from their recent wrestling to meet the returning king. After all, Baron was still the only country with airships (even though that matter was being discussed by the befriended kings), and king Edge was the only one who was expected.

    They were all waiting as the airship was parked in the field west of the growing town and rebuilding castle.

 “Was it a nice wedding, Your Majesty?” the trade advisor, Leran, called.

 “Behave yourself!” the head of foreign questions, Tei, snapped and glared at her colleague, “can’t you ever grow up?”

    Edge had always thought that the two of them reminded of himself and Rydia…

 “Yes, it was very nice indeed,” Edge called back as a worker of the airship threw down the entrance ladder.

 “Good that You made it back so soon, Your Majesty,” the chancellor called, “we have so many things to take care of, as You know. Like the need for You to pick…”

    He fell silent, and his jaw dropped as Edge walked down the gangway with his arm around Rydia’s shoulders and her arm around his waist. The advisors and ninjas weren’t exactly less surprised.

 “We’ve got one problem covered, chancellor,” Edge calmly said, “this is Rydia, future queen of Eblan.”

    Rydia felt a warm tickling in her stomach as he said that, not because of the title but his sealing of her destiny as his wife. She felt a great relief as all the new worries that had begun to grow inside of her flew away, as simple as that. 

 “Good gods,” the chancellor gasped, “king Cecil actually did it?!”

 “Yes, he did,” Edge sighed and stepped down in the grass.

 “Oh, how wonderful!”

    The chancellor rushed closer and bowed to Rydia, almost making her blush.

 “You remove a stone from my heart, my lady!” the old man happily said.

    He took a closer look at her.

 “Wait, your face seem familiar…” he thoughtfully said.

 “I was with king Cecil in the Elbanian caves, remember?” Rydia reminded him.

 “Oh yes, that’s right!” the chancellor smiled, “dear, dear, we’ll have to start preparing a wedding immediately…”

 “Your Majesty!” the captain of the airship called down, “my liege king Cecil said that we could bring invitations to Your royal friends. We’ll wait here until You’ve set a date.”

 “Thank you,” Edge smiled, “do come with us to the castle. We’re still rebuilding, but we’ve got some coziness fixed up…”

    He had to let go of Rydia so that she could greet his advisors. Their relief was shining enough to almost be blinding.

    When she finally could return to her love the whole crowd began to walk into town. As king Edge was spotted with a woman dearly by his side, every man and woman dropped the hammers, nails and planks and ran out on the main street to stare a while before starting to cheer. They were very happy to see that they finally would get rid of at least one worry for the throne.

 “One month?” Edge choked, “out of the question! Three weeks is my limit, and I’d really like to see it be done even faster!”

 “I guess we could make it in three weeks,” the chancellor happily said, “we could fix up the last of the castle if we really want to… and of course we must put our finest tailor to work on lady Rydia’s dress tomorrow already…”

 “Please!” Leran, who also worked partly as the king’s financial manager, moaned, “don’t overdo it too much…!”

 “You bet we will,” general Kardor smirked, “we’ll make this the wedding of the century!”

    Leran groaned, but everybody knew that he’d pay everything by himself to see his king wedded. All of them would.   

    The chancellor and the advisors went into a wild discussion of what should be done first, second, third and so on.

 “’Lady Rydia’?” the caller mumbled to Edge, “it gives me the creeps!”

 “Oh, just enjoy it while it lasts,” he smirked, “you’ll be ‘Your Majesty’ soon enough.”

 “I haven’t had a dress since I was that little kid that fell off the ship and into Leviathan’s care…”

 “It’s just once,” Edge said, calming, “you’ll have the clothes you want before and after the wedding.”

    He kissed her forehead.

 “And you’ll be the most gorgeous woman on the face of the earth.”

 “And what will you be?” Rydia said with a sneer, “plain proper?”

    They grinned at each other. She smiled and swiftly touched his cheek with her lips.

 “No, you’ll look great, Edge. I’m certain of that.”

 “Thanks a lot.”

    Rydia looked up at the rest of the room and frowned.

 “Say, does the members of you council always throw pencils at each other in the middle of every meeting?”

 “No, not if they’ve got bigger things to throw instead,” Edge sighed, “would you be a dear and cool them down a little?”

 “Of course,” Rydia grinned and closed her eyes, “powers of Water, I bid of thee…”

    That following moment would bring forth laughter for the rest of the eternity.

    Later on, in the evening, Edge and Rydia finally got a moment’s rest alone, away from all the commotion. Eblan had gone mad in joy, and the chancellor and his companions hadn’t given the king and “lady” a calm moment ever since they had arrived in the morning.

    Rydia had gotten a room, in the northeastern wing of the castle. She and Edge had just arrived there and were trying to regain their breath after the hard day.

 “I have no idea how they fixed up this room so fast,” Edge said and leaned back in the sofa, “last time I saw it, it was a storeroom for bricks.”

    It was impossible to tell that now. Rydia was by no means used to that kind of luxury.

 “Isn’t it a bit… too much?” she carefully said, looking at the massive tapestries that covered the walls.

    They carried very fine artworks, small embroideries that told long stories if you had time and was tall enough to “read” them from the beginning.

    On the floor was a thick red carpet to keep the cold of the stone floor away. And the furniture… well, it was a big room, but for all the gods’ sake, there was enough stuff for a normal house! Just the size of the bed was almost laughable.

    And there were flowers almost everywhere. Not that Rydia had anything against flowers; she loved them. But there were hardly an empty space, and somehow her crystallized bouquet seemed to disappear in the crowd. Therefore she had placed it on the middle of the carpet, where it could be seen and never forgotten. That was the most precious possession she’d ever owned, at it should be paid the respect it had earned.

 “It’s my council,” Edge sighed, “they’re so happy I’ve finally found my bride that they forget their sense of moderation.”

    My bride… what wonderful words.

 ‘And that’s me,’ Rydia thought, allowing herself to be a little childish inside of her mind, ‘I’m his bride. He’s my bridegroom.’

 “Oh, there’s nothing wrong with the room,” she said, “it’s just that… it’s a little too much for me.”

 “No, no,” Edge smiled, “nothing would be too much in compare to you.”

    She wrinkled her nose in a funny way.

 “Was that a compliment or an insult?”

    Edge chuckled.

 “I’ll leave it to yourself to judge that, sweetcheeks,” he said.   

 “Pha!” she snorted and nudged him with her elbow, “tell me the truth; as usual you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

    His arms surrounded her.

 “Now that wasn’t nice at all!” he grinned, “come on, think of something kind to say about me, or else!”

 “Gosh, you really scare me!” Rydia laughed.

 “Go on,” Edge said and frowned as he tried not to laugh, “there must be a softer end of that sharp tongue of yours.”

 “Alright, alright…”

    He couldn’t fight back a laugh as Rydia thoughtfully frowned.

 “Well,” she finally said, “you’re pretty good at slaying evil monsters…”

 “’Pretty good’?” he gasped, trying to sound hurt.

    Rydia smiled and encircled his neck with her arms.

 “No really,” she softly said, “you’ll make a great father.”

 “Now that was nice said…”

    Edge touched her lips with his own, only as smooth as a breath, softly teasing.

 “I don’t know how much we’ll be able to see each other alone tomorrow and the following days,” he said in a low voice, “there’ll be a thousand things to attend to.”

 “We’ll survive,” Rydia smiled, encouraging, “even though it might be harder than it was to walk through the moon.”

 “Good grief, I fear you’re right…”

 “No, the only dress I want is the one for the wedding,” Rydia repeated, “I’m not a doll.”

 “But my lady…” the tailor sighed.

 “No, sir. I don’t want to waste your time.”

    Rydia shook her head.

 “I wouldn’t want to wear any dresses even if I had them. I like the kind of clothing that I’m wearing now. Is it absolutely necessary to make fairytale cupcakes for me? I don’t feel I need that.”

    The tailor rubbed his forehead.

 “My lady isn’t making this easy for me…” he sighed, “dresses are so much simpler.”

 “It’s simple that I like,” Rydia explained, “I’m not fit for flounces, jewelry and knickknacks.”

 “You do understand that your choose of clothing will be the leading star for the aristocrats? This will be the end of the jewel industry of this country…”

    It took quite some time before they reached an agreement. Rydia would accept a few dresses for special occasions, and the tailor agreed to make clothes similar to her usual garments too. 

    Edge just passed her by a few times, helplessly smiling, surrounded by different people who all tried to yell louder than all the others to be heard by the king. He had a really hard time, but managed to escape even that evening.

 “You don’t look too good,” queen Asura said as he more or less stumbled into Rydia’s room.

    Edge blinked.

 “Oh, good evening Your Majesty.”

    The many headed esper sat on the carpet before Rydia, who stood up and walked over to Edge to give him some support getting to the sofa. He was exhausted.

 “I’ve been an unmarried king for two months,” he grumbled, “as they are acting one could think that it was at least twenty years…”

 “Holy powers of the world, I bid of thee to help this man regain his strength…” Asura kindly chanted.

    Edge felt much better after that treatment.

 “What bring the queen of espers to this crumbled land?” he asked, grateful.

 “Just to hear the good news and receive an invitation,” the esper smiled, “well, a few invitations…”

    Edge’s eyebrows went up.

 “Please don’t tell me you invited every esper…?”

 “Of course not,” Rydia chuckled, “only Leviathan and Asura will come as they are, so to speak. I’ll summon the other’s spirits.”

 “Thank God… I’m having headache enough about how all the human guests will be able to attend the ceremony, the throne room was never big enough for this kind of crowd…”

 “And the great hall on the second floor is hopelessly rebuilt, isn’t it?” Rydia said, remembering the old layout and putting it beside what she had seen as she had been walking around a little during the day.

 “Right.”

    Edge sighed.

 “Well, my head is overdone for today. We’ll think about something tomorrow…”

 “Why don’t we have it outside in the field?” Rydia said.

    He looked stupidly at her for a moment. Then he laughed and leaned back.

 “Too much thinking isn’t healthy; I’m a living proof of that, sweetcheeks. It was too obvious…”

 “I’ll see you soon, then, my friends,” Asura smiled and disappeared.

    Edge smiled tiredly as Rydia placed a comforting kiss on his cheek.

 “Nothing about my day,” he said, “tell me about yours.”

 “I wrestled a jeweler, a tailor and a fashion agent. All in the same body,” she sighed.

 “Ah, yes. Him. The chancellor seem to like him, though, he’s been the royal tailor for a very long time.”  

 “I felt an urge to use my whip in the end,” Rydia said and rolled her eyes.

 “Oh, be gentle about him,” Edge laughed, “he’s a hardworking man. Not that I respect him either, but anyhow…”

    They looked at each other and smiled broadly.

Yes, it really was harder than walking down to the core of the moon. But somehow, one week passed by, followed by a second and a third.

    Rydia stared at herself in the mirror.

 “But I’ll ruin it!” she said, panicking.

 “Lady, please be gentle with my poor heart…” the tailor sighed.

    But he smiled. This was certainly not the right day for being brought down because of somebody else’s wedding nerves. Especially not her nerves.

 “Here, you need these too,” he said and held forth a couple of long, white gloves. 

    Rydia took them, hesitating, and carefully put them on with a little help from Rosa.

 “Good gods, this isn’t for me…” the bride weakly said as she turned to the mirror again.

    Rosa only smiled, knowing.

 “Ah,” the tailor kindly said, “they always say something like that… don’t worry, my lady. His Majesty doesn’t feel much braver either for the moment, I assure you. Now sit down, we’ll still have to work on your hair.”

    Rydia looked at him with disbelief.

 “What, you’re a hairdresser too?” she said.

 “No, that’s one thing I leave to others,” he smiled.

    He went to the door and opened it for a couple of Eblanian women.

 “My blessings, my lady,” the tailor smiled, “I will see you later on.”

 “Thank you for everything,” Rydia said, despite their argues a while ago.

 “My pleasure, my lady. I live for serving royalty like in these fine moments.”

    And he was gone.

 “Now then,” one of the women kindly said, “for your hair, we’ll need something not too complicated but charming. We have understood that, my lady. Don’t you worry about us making a mess.”

 “Thanks…” Rydia mumbled, hoping that her inner tension didn’t spoil her voice totally.

    She hadn’t the mind to judge the sound of herself for the moment.

 ‘They’ll all be staring at me!’ she thought, panicking, ‘good grief, I’ll make a fool of myself!’

 ‘No,’ that hidden part of her mind said, ‘everything will be perfect. You’ve been fighting to save the world, faced dragons and worse. What’s to fear, caller Rydia? Besides, Edge will be there.’

 ‘Yes, that’s right…’ Rydia thought and managed to relax a little.

    They had hardly been able to see each other for the last week, and as all young, new lovers know, that’s plain torture. Rydia would have felt a lot better if she and Edge had had some time to talk and talk themselves through the worst tension last evening.

    It felt nice to have Rosa there for some encouraging smiles and words, too. Rydia wasn’t sure if she had been able to walk if the queen hadn’t been there.

    But she wondered where Asura and Leviathan had gone…

    Meanwhile, the tailor was facing his next piece of work. But at least he had some more support this time.

 “Edge, if you don’t stop walking around I’ll hit you in the back of your head with a chair,” Cecil sighed.

 “Don’t tell me you weren’t about to die standing before your own wedding!” Edge grumbled and kept walking, “chancellor, you are sure where the rings are, right?”

 “Yes, Your Majesty,” the old man patiently said for the seventh time, “they’re right here on the pillow.”

    Edge glanced at the two small, glistening circles on the red pillow and then shuddered, looking away.

 “What, fearing the bond of marriage?” Cecil kindly smirked.

 “Only makes me think about the ceremony…” Edge muttered.

 “Your Majesty, please stand still!” the tailor said.

    Edge obeyed for enough time for the needle man to put the crown straight in place.

 “As You are walking around,” the tailor sighed, “an accident might as well occur. It wouldn’t be nice if You dropped the crown, now would it?”

 “Please don’t feed me with even more worries, please!” Edge groaned and began to walk again.

    He stopped for a moment and tried to fix the crown’s position.

 “Good grief, I haven’t worn this stupid thing since that hasty crowning about three months ago,” he sighed, “it’s nothing to get used to…”

    The tailor went over to him and corrected the artifact’s placement again.

 “There, my lady,” the taller woman said in the other room, “we hope you like it.”

    They secured the tiara and hung the thin veil over her face. Rydia stared at herself in the mirror once more.

 “Oh gods…” she whispered and fumbled with her gloved fingers after Rosa’s hand.  

    The white dress was close-fitting, perfect only for her. It was simple, as she had made absolutely clear to the tailor. The smooth cloth was like a second skin, the only thing that made a difference was a belt of five strings of pearls around her waist, tactically placed to mark her fine figure. Also, from her shoulders went a thin flounce as a border over her chest. The low line of the cloth made Rydia a bit nervous, she wasn’t used to having the crag below her collarbones. Alright, nothing was really left unveiled, but it was close enough. Rosa had assured Rydia that her feelings in that matter were overrated.

     Some of the hair on the sides of her head had been turned into fine pigtails with silk ribbons that joined at the back of her head, leaving what looked almost like an aureole encircling a green flow of hair that seemed to be flooding from the thin silver tiara.

 “But I’ll trample on the skirt…” Rydia weakly mumbled.

 “You’ll be fine,” Rosa assured her, “now come on.”

 “What, already?” the bride whispered.

 “Everyone’s waiting for you, nobody else,” Rosa smiled, “wait here, I’ll tell the men and get Edward.”

    Eblanian tradition was that the one to bring the bride to the altar should be a dear friend of either her or the bridegroom, and he should preferably be unmarried (in case something should happen to the original man of the day, somebody had to fill in, Edge had explained with a laugh). So Cecil wasn’t a candidate, though he would have fit well into the friendly part. Yang was to be left out too. And Leviathan. And Cid. Leaving Kain and Edward. But the dragoon had said that if something happened to Edge, then Valvalis would kill her fiancé. So it had been the king of Damcyan who got the honor. 

    Rydia fought back a wish to chew on her nails as Rosa left the room.

 “My lady,” the shorter woman kindly said and offered the bride a bouquet of flowers.

 “Thank you…” Rydia mumbled and took the flowers.

    Red and white roses were surrounded by some kind of tiny, golden flowers which fell like waterfalls between the greater petals, held together on long blades.

    Good grief, she hadn’t even gotten used to “my lady”, and now she would be “Your Majesty”?!

    Calm down, calm down… it’ll be alright. Good gods…

    Breathe, for heaven’s sake!

 ‘Don’t think so much about the title and all that,’ the hidden part of her kindly told her, ‘it’s irrelevant. You won’t be “Your Majesty”, you’ll be Edge’s wife.’

    Rydia took a deep breath and held it for a moment.

    Yes, Edge’s wife. That felt better.

    She slowly released her breath.

    There was a knock on the door.

 “Rydia, are you ready?” Edward’s soft, kind voice said.

    The two women hurried over to the door and opened it. The king of Damcyan was dressed in a softly blue cloak, a pair of matching pants and a white shirt. He smiled warmly as he saw Rydia, but despite her nerves she spotted the small glistening of sadness in his eyes. He had never got his beloved bride…

    Rydia made it over the floor, carried by sheer compassion. She put her hand on Edward’s arm, comforting. They looked at each other, and the blond king smiled.

 “Waste no worries for me, my dear friend,” he said, “Anna is watching me.”

    He took her hand from his arm.

 “Edge has found a true treasure, and you too, my friend,” he warmly said, “I hope that the two of you will be very happy together.”

 “Thank you, Edward,” Rydia said and managed to smile even though her legs didn’t feel to steady.

    They began walking down the corridor, to the main castle. The four ninjas that had waited in the long room followed the two, set to protect the bride of their king. Their white uniforms with silver edges and belts was to honor this very special day.

    Edge had only been a bachelor king for two months before he picked his queen, but as he had said, the whole country acted as if it had been twenty years. On the other hand, his people had known his lifestyle long before he became the ruler, so maybe the almost crazy festival feeling was understandable.

    In the end of the corridor, Asura and Leviathan awaited. So far they were in their human forms.

 “You look simply wonderful, Rydia,” the queen warmly said, “oh, and don’t forget the espers.”

 “Of course not,” the bride smiled and closed her eyes, “I call your spirits, my dear friends…”

    Hundreds of transparent monsters suddenly filled the air above her and Edward.

 “Oh, Rydia!” most of them shouted and dived.

    Leviathan raised his hands to calm his subjects as all of them tried to embrace and wish Rydia luck at the same time. 

 “Now, now,” the king kindly said, “be careful with her. Now, remember what we made up?”

 “What have you planned?” Rydia asked, stroking the back of a chocobo who only was there partly.

 “You’ll see,” Bahamut said with a kind smile despite his jaws, “we would never let you into marriage without thinking about some kind of present to show our respect for you, my young ally.” 

Edge glanced nervously towards the castle. The whole population of Eblan was assembled in the field, and the feeling of excited expectation almost made the air sparkle.

    He himself stood in the end of an aisle which the guests formed simply by not taking up that space. A long, red carpet was put on the ground there to mark the place to walk.

    Everyone was waiting. Cecil and Kain was standing beside the nervous king, giving him silent support as his friends. The high council, the chancellor and the vicar were of course also in the center of the great, waiting crowd.

    Edge vaguely noted that Kain looked a bit lonely without Valvalis, but he had not the nerves to ponder that matter closely.

 “What’s taking so long?” he muttered.

 “Edge, we just got here ourselves,” Cecil kindly pointed out.

    The king just sighed and once again checked that the chancellor held the pillow with the rings, and that a servant stood behind him with the queen’s crown. To prevent total war, Edge had decided to not let any member of the high council hold the artifact. After telling his advisors that, he had been forced to duck. At least Leran and the other four people had agreed in something for once…

    Edge froze as he saw four men in white clothes move down the main street.

 “I see the espers have been thinking of something special for their Rydia,” Cecil softly said as he saw that the king and queen of summoned monsters followed the ninjas.

    If transformation could be done with gracefulness, Asura and Leviathan had mastered it. The four ninjas respectfully backed off for the majestic monsters as they had passed the last houses.

 “Our blessings, country of Eblan,” Leviathan announced with a kindly roaring voice which everyone in the field heard, “we espers now leave our beloved Rydia in your care.”

    With that, he and Asura placed themselves on both sides of the road which continued out in the field. From out of the castle walls transparent monsters danced, floating through the air. Even the muscular titans showed proof of surprising slender as they moved forwards above the roofs of the city. 

    Leviathan nodded, and all at the same time all the espers moved out to form a gigantic circle above the town of Eblan. Asura drew her back her hands and then threw them upwards, sending a stream of glistening, golden stars towards her friends. As the stars approached all of the many mist dragons left their places and dove into the center of the circle, turning into mist. Their dissolved bodies floated together, filling the ring of friendly monsters with a softly white mass, all kept within the circle. The stars that Asura had sent up spread over the work of art, making the mist sparkle gently. 

    The king of espers made a twisting movement with his own body, sending a second wave of stars. These were softly green, however, and dyed the mist so that it turned from white into Rydia’s color.

    Without a sound Odin materialized between the king and queen. His horse took a few steps on the ground, then it leaped into the sky and galloped straight upwards, towards the espers’ creation. The old king of Baron pulled out his sword as he reached above the highest espers, and the horse dived.

    Like a green silk curtain the mist was cut in two pieces, and Bahamut flew through it with majestic flaps of his great wings. The mist dragons regain their form and color, dancing away from their god as all the other monsters. Asura’s stars fell like golden raindrops around Bahamut as he landed before the stunned guests and knelt, placing his front, only half transparent claw-feet on the ground. Rydia and Edward rose from their seating in the dragon’s grip and stepped down in the grass.

    Edge tried like mad to see Rydia, but his eyes couldn’t work on such a distance. He bit his lip, trying to keep patient.

    It felt as an eternity as she walked over the long carpet, allowing Edward to bring her towards Edge. Rydia could only look forward, towards him. She didn’t even hear the happy whispering and soft gasps from the guests that surrounded her.

    The silk veil didn’t make it easier for her to see; it wasn’t before she almost faced Edge as she could watch him properly. How could he look so calm?

    No matter what they had called each other during their friendly argues, what she had called him; he was a handsome man. Now he was dressed mainly in white, as Cecil had been at his and Rosa’s wedding all that time ago. There were golden and silvery embroideries on the sleeves of his shirt and on the white cloak which rested over his back, almost touching the ground behind him. Around his waist was a belt made of golden threads. As usual two thick earrings dangled from his ears. On his head was the crown of the king of Eblan. It wasn’t exactly excessive; a golden circle with a few blue jewels. The ninja people wasn’t much for knickknacks when it came to the core of their hearts.

 “I wish you all good, my friends,” Edward warmly said and backed off.

    Rydia put her free, gloved hand on Edge’s palm. To her surprise her movement wasn’t trembling at all. She looked up through the thin cloth, into his warm, loving eyes.  

    Edge held her smaller hands between his own, unable to remove his eyes from her even if he had wanted to. How could she look so calm?

    She was stunning. Beautiful wasn’t the right word. The flowers in her hand made a soft  difference against the white dress. And those eyes, that fine face and…  

 “Hey, the vicar!” Cecil hissed from the corner of his mouth.

    Oh. Right. Almost forgot.

    Edge and Rydia turned to the vicar, who begun to talk.

 “May this happy day be blessed, when His Majesty king Edge join his life with caller Rydia. May all gods smile upon these two and give them their best wishes…”

    Etc.

    Edge didn’t listen this time either, turning his head as much as he dared towards Rydia. She looked back and smiled through the silk veil, a little nervously. He returned the same kind of smile and squeezed her hand carefully. She squeezed back, smiling again.

    I love you. 

 “Your Majesty king Edge, do you swear by your soul and life that you will stand by caller Rydia’s side, to protect and serve her, never letting her down or allow your love for her to cease for as long as both of you live?” the vicar warmly said.

 “I do,” Edge said, finding that his voice was surprisingly steady.

 “Caller Rydia, do you swear by your soul and life that you will stand by His Majesty king Edge’s side, to protect and serve him, with honor carry his children, never letting him down or allow your love for him to cease for as long as both of you live?”

 “I do,” Rydia said, also surprised over her own voice.

 “Your Majesty, give your bride her ring, as a sign of your true love,” the vicar said.

    Edge took the slightly smaller ring from the pillow that the chancellor offered him, sighing silently of relief.

    Carefully he threaded the ring on to her gloved finger. It seemed to glow against the cloth.

 “Caller Rydia, give your bridegroom his ring, as a sign of your true love.”

    Rydia took the ring that was left, and Edge held up his hand.

 “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss your bride, Your Majesty.”

    As Edge lifted the veil to uncover Rydia’s face, he did it with such caution that one could think he feared that she would disappear if he wasn’t careful.

    Rydia wrapped her arms around his neck as he embraced her. When their lips met, the world turned into a warm, golden stream for a moment.

    Edge, you are my husband.

    Rydia, you are my wife.

    I love you.

    The world returned as they slowly ended the kiss, moving back a little only because they knew they needed to do so for a while.

    The air was filled with the held back cheers. Only a little longer…

    Edge released Rydia and took the queen’s crown from the pillow. It wasn’t more complicated than his; the only thing was that the jewels were red instead of blue.

    She sat down on one knee.

 “I crown thee, queen Rydia,” Edge softly said, “with you by my side, no problem will ever seem too great and no day will pass without sun.”

    It wasn’t very heavy; hardly weighed anything at all. Now the crown rested on her head, surrounding the tiara.

    Edge offered her hand, and she stood up to the cheers of the Eblanian people and her dear human and esper friends. Unbelievable enough they were able shout even louder as the newly weds’ lips met again.

 “How do you feel?” Rydia whispered.

 “I don’t know yet,” he replied, smiling lovingly, “and you?”

 “Me neither. Maybe I should throw the flowers?”

 “Yeah, send someone else to his doom,” Edge said with a chuckle.

    Rydia laughed and turned to the crowd, throwing the bouquet towards the guests.

    Well, it was cheating, really. But she did catch the flowers by herself…

    With breathtaking grace Valvalis jumped up high above the heads of the other people, and the flowers had no chance to belong to someone else. She landed by Kain’s side, grinning triumphantly. He smiled, bent forwards and whispered something in her ear. Valvalis gave a laugh and winked with one eye.

 “I see we better start preparing again,” Cecil sighed, “there doesn’t seem to be an end of weddings nowadays…”

    Edge took Rydia’s hand, and laughing they hurried down the aisle, towards the town. Bahamut flapped with his wings and flew out of the way, letting them pass. He smiled at Rydia, and then he dissolved. Cheering wildly, the other espers’ spirits did as their god had done.  

    The couple stopped for a moment by Asura and Leviathan.

 “You’re always welcome by us, both of you,” the older queen warmly smiled and hugged Rydia carefully, “we wish you luck and happiness.”

    Leviathan got a kiss from the bride, on what probably was his cheek.

 “Thank you for everything,” Rydia said, almost with tears of joy in her eyes.

 “Anything for you, my dear friend,” the sea snake kindly said, “may you be happy for evermore.”

 “Thank you, Your Majesties,” Edge said with a smile, “I’m glad to have you here.”

 “If I thought that Rydia really needed somebody to take care of her, I’d ask you to do it well,” Leviathan smiled, “but knowing her I only ask for you to make her happy. I know you will, Your Majesty.”

 “I’ll do my best, believe me.”

    Rydia took Edge’s hand again, and they continued up the main street.

 “I’m so happy they came…” Rydia mumbled.

 “Hey, don’t be sad,” Edge softly said, “we’ll go visit them as often as you want to.”

 “No, I’m not sad,” she told him, “I’m just so happy…”

    Edge smiled and stopped walking. As Rydia also stopped and looked questioning at him, he hurriedly bent down and picked her up, then continuing towards the castle carrying her.

 “I can walk, you know,” she laughed and put her arm around his  neck.

 “Yep,” Edge grinned, “but I won’t let you for a while.”   

    Rydia looked back for a moment, at the path they had passed so far. The guests were also going into town now, ready to start the celebration which would keep up in at least four days. Due to Eblanian tradition the wedded couple only celebrated with their closest family and friends, so there wouldn’t be a whole town having dinner together as it had been in Baron.

So, the dinner was eaten. Time for amusement.

 “A toast to the moron who finally dared to talk to the gal!” Cid grinned.

 “Oh, shut up!” everyone except the chancellor and the high council laughed, “a toast!”

    The advisors and the old man just looked at Edge, as if awaiting an order to attack. But the king only stood up himself, raising his cup of wine.

 “A toast to the mad scientist or whatever he is of Baron!”

 “I’m a mechanic!”

 “Yeah, whatever.”

    Edge cleared his throat.

 “And a toast to the espers’ great entrance show!” he said and winked with one eye at Leviathan and Asura.

 “Two toasts!” everyone agreed and raised their cups.

 “We had to go up to the dwarves to practice,” Leviathan sighed, once more in his human form, “there wasn’t enough room in our caves.”

 “And the memories of your mistakes will warm our homes even if the magma should fail us, lali!” king Giott chuckled. 

 “Had to force everyone to turn into spirits so that they would be able to fly,” Asura said and rolled her for the moment only two eyes, “and don’t ask about how we got the chocobos to concentrate on our goal.”

    Rydia stood up.

 “A toast to my husband Edge who always makes me forget how the dessert taste,” she smiled.

 “Aww,” Cid said, “see, he’s a moron, and a mean one too!”

 “A toast, and shut up, Cid!” everyone laughed.

 “Hey, I’m only telling the truth!” the mechanic chuckled.

 “Yeah, a toast to him for that too,” Rydia said.

 “A toast!”

    Then Valvalis rose from her seat.

 “I’d like to propose a toast to Zemus,” she said and winked with one eye, “for bringing us together.”

    There was a few thoughtful, silent seconds before her point made it through. Then Cecil nodded.

 “I agree,” he said, “a toast to Zemus for bringing so much good with his evil plans.”

 “A toast!” everyone nodded.

    Edge nudged Rydia with his shoulder.

 “I think they’ll survive without us now,” he whispered, conspiratorial, “how about practicing a profession of mine and sneak away?”   

 “Won’t they notice we’re gone?” she said with that charming, joyful mischief glistening in her eyes.

 “Not until we have left, if we do it well.”

    Edge winked with one eye and took her hand. Edward stood up to propose a toast to something and as everybody were looking at him, Rydia and Edge took their chance.

 “It worked!” Rydia concluded, trying to laugh silently, as her husband closed the door without a single sound.

 “I knew it would,” he grinned, “remember how I sneaked up on the monsters and stole stuff? They never noticed anything.”

 “That’s something I’ve wondered about,” Rydia smiled as they began hurrying down the corridor, “how come the prince of Eblan had knowledge about pickpocketing?”

 “Oh, just something I learnt when I was bored…”

    They passed a few ninjas on their way, who all saluted their king and new queen before hurrying on to wherever they would party. There was a very happy feeling in the air tonight, as well as a scent of expectation.

    Edge showed her the way up a stair and through a short corridor, until he finally pushed a door open.

    His room was much like the one that she had lived in before the wedding, but he seemed to have stopped his council from being too crazy with the luxury. He had much the same furniture, but the colors were much more cozy in Rydia’s eyes; mainly softly green and blue. That was, behind all the flowers.

 “When did all the vegetables get here?” Edge sighed as he closed the door.

    He shrugged his shoulders, smiling, and turned all his attention to Rydia again.  

 “Now who would have dreamt that this would be the result when we picked you up after Rubicant beat the crap out of you?” she mumbled against his lips.

 “Me, for one,” Edge replied and winked with one eye, “such a pretty lady calling me an idiot, that was interesting.”

 “I had to tell you the truth, didn’t I?”

    Edge laughed and bent down to pick her up again. But this time, he threw her over his shoulder.

 “Edge!” Rydia gasped, laughing.

 “What?” he grinned as he walked over the carpet.

 “You’re hopeless…”

 “Haven’t you discovered that before? Now then, how was that about being reasonable on the wedding night?”

    As careful as if she was made of glass he put her down on the bed. Rydia looked up into his eyes and gave him one of those smiles that he loved, filled with mischief.

 “Oh, I don’t now,” she said, teasingly, “I think I’m getting a headache…”

    Then she reached up and buried her fingers in his hair, making him lower his head to kiss her again.

 “That’s just too bad…” he whispered, moving in his arms under her back, “I guess you won’t feel embarrassed about hugging me this evening, then?”

    She froze.

 “Hey, you did remember!” she snorted.

 “Of course I did,” he laughed, “wouldn’t forget that even if I had been in coma!”

 “Oh, you…”

    They looked at each other and laughed.

    Edge touched her forehead with his lips. Rydia closed her eyes with a small smile.

 “How’s the headache now?” Edge whispered, smiling softly.

 “Much better,” Rydia mumbled.

 “Good.”

    His lips returned to hers, this time giving her a kiss which was somehow different; tenderly painting fire on her skin. Rydia felt her heart begin to beat faster.

 “I love you,” she whispered and opened her eyes.

    Edge’s eyes looked down into hers, and he didn’t have to tell his feelings with words as he kissed her again.

The end.

To tell you the truth, this story attacked me. Where did all these pages come from?! I thought this would be much shorter…

    I have no idea what makes me write romance. I don’t even know if I’m good at it, or if I’m just creating another mess so sweet that it makes the reader sick. Well, if you read all the way here, I hope you found my story worth reading. I’d be glad to hear some opinions, so feel free to mail me. 

weiila@trust-me.com