The Winhill Hotel - there was, in all truth, only one - nestled almost up against the outer wall, on one of the main roads through the town. Naia indicated that Shutat should handle getting them rooms; from her attitude he guessed that her familiarity with the town would combine badly with her SeeD uniform in local eyes. Shutat was, at least, quite clearly not Winhilli; although he spoke the language understandably, his pronunciation was choppy to local ears. It wasn't a language generally taught any more; the people of Winhill were insulated to an almost pathological degree, and generally the only words of their own language that left the city had to do with chocobos and chocobo races.

The rooms in the hotel, though, were clean and pleasant and even scented - faintly, so that Chugi and Naia barely noticed it and Shutat wasn't overwhelmed. It made him smile; here, definitely, was a town his kind had an influence on. It was homelike in a classical rather than accurate sense; the ambience of 'home' without having any of the Esthari specifics Shutat personally associated with the word. And - very much to his relief - when the three of them tossed their bags to the floor and got into bed, he joined his friends in actually sleeping. Rip van Winkle or not, catching up on his rest after the visions was crucial and he knew it.

The next morning, he felt more himself than he had since the final exam. Better, even; it was like a premonition of happiness, and he grinned as his friends discussed the mission over breakfast.

"We ought to see the Catacombs first," Naia was insisting. "For all we know, they're huge - we're going to want to leave enough time to be thorough."

"Birds are singing," said Chugi, annoyed. "The hills are fucking alive. And you want us to spend all day with dead people? Shutat, can't we spend a day - you know, sightseeing?" He pointed a fork at Naia. "And what about your folks? Aren't you gonna say hi?"

Naia froze, looking sad. "I don't know," she admitted. "SeeD - it's not the most loved group around here."

"Think it over," advised Shutat. "We may not be back this way again." But that he knew was wrong, even as he said it, and he thought it over. No visions this morning, but his hunches were unusually strong and clear. He knew, in a way that required neither evidence nor proof, that they would leave and return. Something forgotten and gone back for? he wondered, Or something returned to? That was the problem with hunches. They were so independent of what was actually going on. He shrugged. The problem, as ever, was the present time. "Anyway, yes. We should start with the Catacombs. I doubt the White SeeD are hiding from mageborn; there might be something down there to give us a starting point." His earlier feeling of happiness returned, but this time Shutat knew it for the premonition it was - certainly there was nothing happy about crypts and tombs, and indeed Chugi had a sour look. He put his gloved hand on Chugi's arm. "It's time, Chugi. I can't afford to waste any. If you want to go sightseeing today...feel free to. We'll meet you back here tonight."

Chugi looked stung. "Uh...no," he demurred, shaking his head. "It's no fun alone, anyway." He made an exasperated sort of sigh. "Fine. Dead people it is, but I want sightseeing before we leave, okay? You can make time for that."

"I'd like to," Shutat agreed. "We'll see what we can dig up."

"Oooh, already with the gallows humor," groused Chugi, finishing his breakfast. "Right. Let's go, then. What are we looking for? Here lies the last captain of the white SeeD or some such?"

"We're looking for whatever we find," Shutat shrugged. "I know there's something there." He tapped his temple with a gloved finger. "My Gift has been driving me here. Why, I don't know. But there's something here to find. It's just a matter of keeping our eyes open."

"We're the first ever SeeD mission to be guided by prophecy," grinned Naia, stacking plates. "Okay. Off to the Memorial it is."

* * *

The SeeD Memorial was a huge building, carefully tended bright white marble, standing alone on the outer bluffs. Although Winhill had grown significantly since the Memorial had been built, the area around it was always left clear and open. Its name was carved in the lettering of the international trade tongue - used as a primary language by the SeeD - over the entrance, but there were no guards, no guides. It was empty. On either side of the ascending steps into the building stood a statue; one of an angel, watching heaven, and one of a lion watching the world below.

"Winhill doesn't approve of SeeD and never has," Naia explained as they approached - walking, because they knew they'd end up underground and didn't want to try guiding chocobos there. "The memorial was built by the Loire family here..." she wiggled a hand. "A long time ago, but it's because of them that it's here. I forget why."

"Holy...shit..." breathed Chugi as they stepped inside. "Shu...Shutat, look. It's him."

Chugi was staring, eye to stone eye, with his ancestor. Shutat looked around; six statues. Life-size, completely life-like, he knew. It was strange to see, perfectly rendered in stone, a face he'd only seen in a dream. Zell Dincht, read the plaque at the base, but none of them needed it. Not with Chugi staring at it like he half-expected it to move. Not with the tattoo on Chugi's cheek carved in stone on the statue. "Okay," said Chugi slowly. "This takes the cake for eerie. Man oh man. Wait'll I go home and tell the folks."

"Don't they already know?" asked Naia, walking around the room examining the statues. "The Memorial is open to all. That's part of why it's outside Winhill in the first place."

"Knowing there's a thing of him here, and actually seeing it? So two different things," said Chugi in a more normal tone of voice, and then nearly squeaked as he examined the display cases on the back wall. "Hey look! They've got a replica of the gloves here, even! D'you think they'd mind if I tried 'em on?"

"Chugi!" snapped Shutat, before his friend swung into hyper. "Don't screw around with the exhibits, or I'll tell your great uncle about it the first chance I get."

"Whoa," said Chugi, visibly calming at the threat. He raised his hands in an 'all right, all right' sort of gesture. "Right. Lookee, no touchee -" he looked around. Statues, freestanding in what were presumably indicative poses, and display cases of weapon replicas, Commander mementos, and uniform changes down the centuries..."But speaking of lookee, I don't see any catacombs." The display cases covered the walls floor to ceiling, on all the walls. There was no sign of any sort of door. The Memorial appeared to be a one-room museum.

"That's because the entrance is hidden," said Naia, looking at a statue of Selphie. "And it's one of the girls..."

Shutat joined her, looking at a statue of Ellone near the entrance. "Why hide it?"

"Mageborn thing," Naia shrugged. "Okay, it's not Selphie. Maybe it was one of the -" she craned her neck up at the statue of Irvine. "If it's him, you're opening it," she finished. "Anyway, mageborn get awfully closemouthed about some things and the catacombs are one of them. I know they're here, the way in is here - I've been in them before, the upper level anyway. But it's a mageborn trick to open the door."

"Is it?" Shutat blinked. "Well...there's only one trick I know of that any of us can do." And he let his senses shift. At the heart of four of the statues was - something, and he blinked.

They are Sorceress tokens, said Griever in his thoughts. Say nothing of them. Ask Chugi to touch one of the four statues.

Blinking at the request, Shutat obeyed just to see what would happen. "Hey, Chugi - while I'm looking, maybe Naia can snap your picture with the honored ancestor, huh? Give your ...whatever-great-grandfather a set of bunny ears."

"I do that and my uncle will take mine right off," retorted Chugi, but he liked the basic idea. He put his arms around the statue and affected the cheesiest I'm-getting-my-picture-taken grin he could, so that Naia laughed as she snapped his picture.

What was that for? Shutat asked, relieved at the absence of headache.

Zell wanted to see his descendant, Griever replied, amused about something. The tokens allow us to see whoever touches the statues. We'll let you know what he thinks if you like, when he's done laughing.

Shutat blinked. That was interesting - the statues functioned like his earring, then. Preoccupied, he returned to his sense-shifted scan of the hall. Squall and Rinoa, looking exactly like their statues, were discussing something with someone he could not see - probably Zell, as they were near that statue. He turned his eyes to the other statues. "There's a seam on the Quistis statue," he said.

"So it was one of the girls!" Naia grinned, heading over. "Where is it?"

Shutat and Chugi joined her. Quistis was depicted in a knee length skirt and short vest, a stone whip - identical to one of the more mobile displays, the stone version was held at the ready, winding in the air about her. "Her arm," Shutat said, showing her the hairline seam where her arm met the shoulder of her vest. "The workmanship is incredible."

Naia gave the arm a tug, and shook her head. "It's not moving."

"You said it was a mageborn trick," Shutat reminded her, and - gently but firmly - took hold of the statue's arm, forcing the whip hand down, so that the winding whip around Quistis' body changed its angle. Under his hand the arm moved smoothly and easily, and the floor rumbled. The three companions turned to the source - the floor before the statue of Squall and Rinoa. One of the huge floor slabs lifted out of the floor and scooted to the side, revealing a stair.

"Okay...funtime's over," said Chugi, nerving himself as he looked down into the dark. "Tell me there's torches down there?"

Naia tapped him on the shoulder and handed him a flashlight from her bag. "Let's get up to this century?"

"Have you seen the webs down there?" Chugi demanded. "Ugh. Nobody's been down there for years."

Shutat reached behind him and drew his flamberge, setting it aflame with his gift. "Just until I see some torches," he offered, and led the way down the stairs, burning webs as he walked. "You might get spiders in your hair."

Chugi breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, man," he said, and followed Naia - who was laughing about brave SeeDs squeaking about spiders - into the depths.

* * *

The Catacombs were spacious and well-built, the stones barely cracked after all the time untended. Shutat found torches at the bottom of the stairs, lit three and passed two to his companions. They set about helping burn away the everpresent webs as they walked, hoping to see some sign of where to go. There were no words, but there were carvings, set deep in the stone above the many archways. Nunchaku, whip, gun, gloves. And a star. "Chugi...do your family inter people here?"

"Uh...maybe?" Chugi offered. "If we make SeeD, yeah maybe..." He eyed the archway marked with a glove. "Can we give that a miss? I'm kinda thinking it's not statues, down here."

"Fair enough," said Shutat. "I'm not feeling particularly morbid, myself." He indicated the archway with the star. "I think this is the one we want." Waving his torch to burn webs as he walked, he headed down it - it did go downward, twisting and descending - and heard the hurried steps of his companions following behind. The tunnel opened out into a huge hall, possibly directly below the last one. "Oh...sweet Hyne."

Before them were six more statues; just as life size, and life like, as the ones above, standing on small pedestals. Shutat stood frozen as he regarded them, and his companions spread out to look at them. "I thought they'd be bigger," remarked Naia, gently teasing. "Towering giants of magebornosity and so on, you know?"

"Just keep it up, Naia, keep it up," warned Chugi. "You've been itching to say something like that all morning, haven't you?"

Shutat walked from statue to statue. No names. Carved sigils, representing powers. Cactuar - Nodwydd, that was, his hair over his eyes and a child in his arms. Cariad and Chwaer, diminutive beauties, smiling and holding hands, the twins never separated, and the horned sigil of the Brothers at the base of the statue. Daear, a crown on her head and an imperious posture, the symbol of Diablos at her feet.

"You don't look like him," Chugi noted as Shutat came face to face with his own ancestor, Gwynt. Or as face to face as he'd ever get; the statue was quite short, Chugi's size perhaps, as even on its pedestal Shutat could look over the top of the hat. He hadn't seen Gwynt in dreams, hadn't known what to expect. But there was a resemblance there - not to himself that he could see, aside from the carved curls, but to Kochi. Gwynt wore an ankle length trenchcoat that was billowed as if in a breeze, with a shotgun over his arm and a hat with a wide brim and a huge trailing feather on his head. Alone of the statues, he held hands with a woman; even smaller than he, she wore an antiquated version of an Esthari pilot's uniform. At his feet, the symbol of Pandemona was carved; the woman had no symbol at all, but he knew who she was.

"I wouldn't expect to," Shutat said faintly. "It's been a long time." Gwynt and Cho. He should have expected he'd see them. Looking at the statues, he regretted he'd never meet them. Kochi, their son whom he'd met in dreams, was so perfectly balanced between them. But that wasn't where he needed to go; he already knew his own family had nothing to do with the SeeD; he was the first, ever, to consider it. He turned his attention to the last statue.

Taran certainly didn't look like a king. The statue held a white staff in its hands, bare of shirt, in pants that were almost more hole than cloth. His long, ragged hair was bound in a waist length braid, and across his back was a guitar case. His expression was distant, dreaming, and at the statue's base was the lightning-stroke symbol of Quezacotl.

"So...he's your king?" asked Naia, puzzled. "How come she's the one with the crown then?" and she pointed at Daear.

"I don't know why she wears a crown," Shutat admitted. "But Taran's the King, yes. He's called the King, or the Master, because he's the only one who was ever able to unite all of us into one group. No one's managed it since." He shrugged. "I've heard stories he'll come back, sometime when we actually need uniting, but..." he remembered the man he'd spoken to. "I don't think that will be soon."

Chugi came over to take a look - he'd been trying to lift the hat off of Gwynt's head. "Hey - that staff isn't stone."

Shutat blinked. Chugi was right - all the statues were white stone, but the staff in Taran's hand - while white - was not. Gingerly, he took off his glove and twitched at the coolness of the air as he touched it. Some shock-absorbent polymer. He put his glove back on and frowned. "Why...?"

"Let's go this way," Naia said, indicating the corridor marked with Taran's lightning bolt. "White staff. White SeeD. If anyone has a better lead I'm open, but we've got to go somewhere."

"I'm agreeable," said Shutat, thinking of Taran's son Jerolin, in his white SeeD uniform. He hadn't wanted to help, he'd said it was Shutat's job to prove the SeeD were serious in seeking a reconciliation. But the dead didn't have to keep secrets...he waved his torch over the dusty webs that hid the names of those entombed, looking for clues.

"Can I just say this place is not my idea of a wonderful destination?" sneezed Chugi, wiping dust away from names. "Look at this...skeletons wearing feathers."

Shutat blinked. "Feathers?" Jerolin hadn't looked the sort to tolerate that, and they were still near the entrance. Taking a look, he found Chugi was right. The skeleton wore beads and feathers, long left to rot. Carefully, he examined other bodies on that side of the wall. Nearly tribal adornments decorated most of the skeletons. "Look for bodies with medals, rank bars..."

"I'm not finding any," Naia called, from significantly farther away. "No uniforms, no medals. They're just people on this side."

And tribes on this side. Shutat frowned down at the yellowed bones. Tribes. He'd hoped, vaguely, for some sign that the descendants of Taran were still part of the White SeeD. And then he sighed, realizing he should've understood before. Jerolin's uniform had worn naval bars - if the white SeeD were still on ships, they'd bury their dead at sea. Not in crypts and catacombs.

Still - he did know there was a connection, and seeing the statues convinced him of the value of his dream. These people were kin of Jerolin's. If he found them, they could probably at least give him a trail to follow... "Did either of you two take native studies?" he asked hopefully. He certainly hadn't. But there was a distinctive style to the adornments on some of the bodies. And he didn't exactly have anything else to follow as a lead.

Naia came over to where he and Chugi were tentatively poking at skeletons. "It's Galbadian," she said definitively. "But I couldn't tell you the tribe. You can find things like that all over this continent in the tourist shops. Here to Deling and back again."

Galbadian. And nothing more specific. He sighed. "Looks like we're going out into the wilds, then," he said, indicating the bodies. "We need to find these people's descendants. And if they think enough of this stuff to bury family in it, they're probably with the tribes somewhere."

Chugi made a face that probably translated as "my brain is breaking". "Native mageborn," he said slowly. "Wearing - what, loincloths and -" he glanced at the bodies - "too many beads? This job just gets weirder and weirder..."

"There's no telling what they wear day to day," Shutat sighed. "But if we can find some of Taran's Line, we'll probably be able to find the White SeeD."

"That's reaching," remarked Naia, examining a necklace. "What makes you say so?"

Shutat debated telling them about the dream, and decided against it. Too much about it was strange, too much basically irrelevant. So he shrugged and said, "I just know."

"If it means we can go now, I'm all for the idea," said Chugi. "We haven't had a good fight since the field exam. If we're hunting aborigines, we'll find plenty of fight."

Shutat didn't care one way or the other about potential fights, but he did like the idea of getting out of the catacombs. "Yes," he agreed. "Let's go."

Getting out was easier than getting in; all they really had to do was follow the cleared path they'd made in coming down. Shutat made them put the torches back, and put them out, so that whoever came here next could use them, and set one of his daggers aflame to guide them the rest of the way out. Fresh air was terribly inviting, after the hours of dust - for they came out to find it was late afternoon. Chugi celebrated by inhaling until his chest puffed out. "Whew. Those hallowed ancestors really need a spring cleaning, you know?" he said, and set off at a brisk pace for the walls of town.

Shutat shared a look with Naia, who shrugged. "I can't really argue," she said. "But if you're sure we found something useful, I won't complain."

Implicit in the statement was a request for reassurance, and Shutat gave it to her. "Yes. We found something." He looked rueful. "We found not here, try over there, but it's something." He couldn't be very upset about it. Something was in the air, something bright and wonderful, and after his visions of fire and destruction it was more welcome than he could say. He strolled down the gravel path with his hands in his pockets, and watched Naia race to tackle Chugi to the ground. A few hours of sightseeing can't hurt, he hoped. Since we'll need to find chocobos we can travel with anyway.

Griever offered no comment, and Shutat wondered briefly if they'd lost interest in him for a while, and were wandering the memorial or its crypts. It didn't matter. The quiet was welcome, anyway. Relative quiet; no visions, no chatter, just the wind in the hill-grasses and the sound of his boots on the gravel path. And, somewhat more distantly, laughing taunts and threats from his two friends as they played a rough-and-tumble game of tag. Some disciplined SeeDs we are, he smiled to himself. But then, this was a wide open area; they'd know in more than enough time to respond if monsters got close enough to be a threat. There was no harm in relaxing a little, though Shutat knew that wasn't the reason he was doing it. No...it all tied back to the feeling of joy. If he hadn't gotten so familiar with the sensations of prophecy, he'd have suspected Chugi of putting something in his breakfast on the off chance it might work on him.

As they'd been seen leaving that morning, and none were wearing uniforms today, the three of them walked back into Winhill easily enough. In daylight the village seemed just that - a relatively rustic haven in an otherwise advanced world. Busy, yes - the houses and apartments were built almost up to the wall that surrounded the village. But the streets were well planned, and widely built, and the open-frame houses were kept in good repair. It was idyllic to the point of unreality, unless one raised one's eyes to the high steel wall that surrounded the city; Winhill was a city-state that was always, forever, a breath away from war. "...Naia?" asked Shutat, looking at it. "Why did you leave here?"

"That," she replied simply, pointing at the wall. "That wall works both ways, Shutat. It keeps the world out - both empires. But it keeps our people in, too. They don't think about the world outside that wall, they don't care about it. If it crosses their minds at all, it's a crazy place filled with crazy people who deserve whatever they get." She shrugged, adjusting her combat gloves. "I couldn't stand looking at that wall. So I left. Winhill's not a bad place to be from, but it wasn't for me."

Chugi was prowling the store-windows, looking for souvenirs. "Think my ma would like one of those little china...um, things?" he asked, pointing at a rack of ceramic rings.

"They're napkin holders," said Naia, "and if you don't know what they are, I'd guess she doesn't use them."

"Damn," sighed Chugi. "You know she's gonna want souvenirs of anywhere she hasn't been."

"Now I'm wounded you didn't look for anything in Esthar," grinned Shutat, and blinked as the sun - coming out from behind a cloud - reflected blindingly off a nearby building. "Ow! We need sunglasses to protect us from buildings, here?"

"Hyne," Chugi breathed, staring at the source of glare in wide-eyed delight. "It's worth it. What is that, the mayor's palace or something?"

The building in question was faced with gold-leaf shingles, the entire front carved to look like a red-gold bird with downswept wings that covered the doors. By itself it was a work of art, nestled calmly on the avenue as if it were nothing special. "Naia?" prompted Shutat, curious.

"Temple of the Phoenix," said Naia. "There's so many mageborn here that most GF cults don't really have a following, and the Church of Hyne never got off the ground because Sorceresses don't stay here. There aren't any Phoenix mageborn, though, so it's got a big membership. It's just a church, guys - nothing big."

"Is that so?" Shutat mused. "I don't think I've ever seen one. Do they keep records? Births, marriages?"

Naia blinked. "I think so," she agreed. "Why? Do you want to see if there are any of Taran's descendants on the rolls?"

"Actually, I just want to poke around inside," Shutat grinned. "But it's a good enough excuse." And he led the way to the doors, which turned out to be feathers in the wings.

Inside, the temple was awash in red-tinted light from high windows - red and orange and yellow, patterned like flames and quite beautiful. Not beautiful in the way expensive things are beautiful, though there was that as well; it was beautiful because everything in it radiated care and attention. The carvings were meticulously detailed and kept clean and polished. The floor tiles were worn but of solid make, the color being uniform all the way through and not glazed on. Old - the place was old, possibly hundreds of years old, but loved.

"Can I help you?" asked a female voice, and the three of them turned away from their absorption of various details to see who had spoken.

This took a few moments.

The girl - about their age, perhaps in her late teens, had black hair with a strong greenish tint that fell just past her shoulders. The color would have instantly pointed to her being mageborn, as Shutat's hair did, except that the rest of her attire gave the impression that her hair was just along for the ride. Ragged, fingerless fishnet gloves covered her hands and arms up past the elbows, her clothing in angular cuts of vivid colors, sewn together like patchwork, made up a sleeveless vest and a miniskirt, and more fishnet - in tights this time - dropped down into heavy industrial-grade calf -high black boots. On her forehead, almost unnoticeable within the rest of her oddity, was a tiny black eight pointed star. Not one of the three knew what to say to the strangeness, particularly since the girl's stance and bearing said she was quite confident of her ability to forcefully demonstrate her distaste of any untoward questions.

"We're just looking," offered Shutat, and - on a hunch - bowed. "Shutat ab Llew of Bahamut." He indicated his companions. "Chugi Dincht, and Naia Moasi."

The girl held out her hand. "Zia Loire, of Eden."

Shutat blinked. Eden was almost as rare a gift as his own, and feared at least as much. He reached out and took her hand in his own gloved pair as a gesture of goodwill; the Edenites were vampires, whose abilities came from taking them from others. But why - he stopped. Zia Loire. That was probably why. The little star... "You're a Seer?"

She nodded. "And sane, yet, which puts me above you, at least by reputation. You're old, for a Bahamut, aren't you?"

"Yes," Shuat agreed faintly. "Yes, I am." An Edenite, and a Seer...what a combination. The Loire family had a reputation for being gifted prophets - and not like the Bahamut gifted, either. The Loires who had the Sight, it was said, saw only what actually would come to pass. "I'm sorry, I wasn't sure if a full introduction would be required. I'm Shutat Iigeru ab Gwynt."

Zia grinned. "You're a long way from home," she noted. "What brings you to Winhill?"

Shutat barely noticed Chugi and Naia share a look and head over to a small shelf of statuettes. His attention was on the girl whose gifts matched his own for rarity. "Technically...a hunch," he said, not wanting to discuss his mission. "I've been looking for some people, and I came here to find a trail I could follow."

The girl hopped up to sit on an altar. "Sounds like you have," she said. "You found me."

"Excuse me?" Shutat blinked, surprised. "I wasn't looking for you, I think..." But even as he said it, he wasn't sure. She was a Seer; maybe she could tell him which of his visions were true. No... he could feel his own power reacting to her, and that had never happened before. Not that anyone really knew what his Gift was capable of, aside from killing anyone who had it. Maybe it was normal to react to other prophets? As far as he knew, there had never been two Bahamut gifts in the same place at the same time...

"You're a Bahamut gift?" Zia asked, knowing the answer. "Do you see visions?"

Lost, Shutat only nodded. She was very comfortable in this place, he thought inconsequentially. Priestess?

"Well, I can take visions away." Her eyes shifted, dark green to purple-green fields. "I didn't give you a full introduction either. I'm a luck Edenite. I take futures."

That caught everyone's full attention - Chugi and Naia were both immediately on the defensive, abandoning their conversation in the corner, but Shutat was simply thunderstruck. Luck Edenite! He understood now. She was right, she had to be what he'd come here for. Edenites were the only gift that drew their powers not from themselves, but from people around them - there were many varieties possible, strength and speed and intelligence and so on, but luck...and she was a Seer as well.

Zia could see the future that would happen. And if she didn't like it, she could use her gift to take that future away - and more, use that now-never future to grant herself good fortune. She could take away the chances everyone had for terrible lives, and use those futures to give herself a wonderful one. "How long have you been drawing me here?" he demanded, aware now that her gift had to be crossing paths with his. The futures she destroyed would not be visible to his power; she took a thousand possible paths and condensed them down to one great road he could not help but see. No wonder he'd been having visions of Winhill. No wonder he'd been so cheerful all day! Shutat's own power was like seeing the tips of every branch when standing within the tree's trunk. Zia's foresight showed her only the line of the trunk - and if she didn't like it, her Edenite gift let her trim the trunk off and make the most favorable 'branch' the new trunk. Every time she used her power, Shutat's power had less to see - making his visions both fewer and more useful, nearer her own.

"I didn't know you existed," said Zia with a grin. "So how could I draw you here? At least, on purpose. I have been using my gifts lately though. Nothing bad," she added hastily, as Chugi and Naia looked very apprehensive. The reputation of Edenites as vampires was truly well deserved. "A boy would have drowned a few days ago; I took that future. Things like that." She indicated the beauty of the church. "I work here - keeping the place clean, explaining it to tourists like you." She returned her attention to Shutat. "I don't Foresee everything. Just - bad things. Those are what I take. I can do that for you, too. For a while?"

He knew what she meant. She could take futures, give him time - make the date of his death as late as possible. But she couldn't control his Gift or shut it off, and that meant sooner or later it would kill him. Chance she could affect; certainties she had no power over. The penny was already falling - even with sudden winds and passing cats and any other possible interruption to its fall that could be devised, it would hit the ground.

Shutat had heard of fated romances. He wasn't prepared to go that far - but he'd certainly found a fated, and much-needed, friend. Or more accurately, she'd found him. It was her Gift doing the twisting. "I'd appreciate that," he agreed. "If you can come."

"Not a problem," she replied cheekily. "You three'll be at the Hotel, of course. Nowhere else for you to be. I'll get things settled and meet you there tomorrow morning. Later!" And with that she darted out of the temple, laughing.

Chugi and Naia watched her go, and neither of them were smiling. "Shutat," said Naia, "Do you want the full list of the rules you've just thrown out of the window? She's a civilian, she's got nothing to do with us -"

Shutat interrupted. "Yes, she does," he insisted. "Naia - Chugi - you have to understand what she told me."

"We've got ears," said Chugi flatly. "Our ears told us you just invited a vampire we've never seen before along on a mission. Are you sure she didn't charm you or something?"

"She offered me time!" Shutat snapped, annoyed. "Naia, she's a mageborn. I am not going to worry about her ability to take care of herself if the need arises, particularly not with that gift. And she's got everything to do with us - she's the reason we're here."

"Charmed!" snapped Chugi, really worried now. "I knew it!"

Shutat was just about ready to start tearing his curls out. "No!" he thundered. "I am not under a spell, damnit! Did either of you hear her say what she can do?"

"We heard her say she can take people's futures," said Naia, standing almost at battle-ready. "Such as maybe the one where you listen to your friends, huh?"

Shutat blinked. "No," he said. "No, no, no you have to listen to me." He sense shifted, indicated his Bahamut eyes with a gloved hand. "This vision - this isn't what will happen. It's what might happen. Or what already has happened. I have no way to know, when I have a vision, if it's the future or the past that I see, or whether it can happen or can't. That's part of why this Gift is so dangerous. We can't tell what we're looking at. And we don't even have the satisfaction of thinking if we wrote it all down that it'd make any difference. For all I know, my visions are of things that happened hundreds of years ago and there's nothing I can do, or futures that will never happen. Zia can take my visions away. She can take away all the ones that don't matter and leave me with the ones that we can do something with. And in doing that she gives me time - time where I'm not lost!"

Chugi scowled. "I'm not saying that's not a good thing, but there's still the part about inviting a civilian along on a mission, Shutat."

"Is it better or worse than me never finishing the mission, owing to being dead?" Shutat shot back. "Look. Mageborn are needed to find the white ships. That's half of why I've got the mission in the first place - the Commander didn't have anyone else to send. And as for the other mission, I don't know that I can do it without her help. She's been taking futures around here - altering timelines. And every time she does, my own Sight gets dragged here. To Winhill. How am I supposed to finish my mission if my Sight keeps winding up focused here? She's got to come with us. Then her power's working for us as opposed to making our job harder. We're allowed civilian specialists."

Naia started laughing, helplessly. "Civilian specialists - for fortune telling!" she giggled, a hand over her mouth to keep the sound from carrying far. "I have to admit, as first missions go, this is definitely not what I'd have expected." She shook her head, quieting. "She's not off the hook, Shutat. We're not welcoming her until we know she's trustworthy for this mission - she could just as easily decide to protect the secret of the ships, whatever it is, and kill us in our sleep." She held up a hand to stop Shutat from arguing. "I know - mageborn don't kill unless they have to and won't get caught. But she'll have plenty of chances to do just that, so we're going to do our job and keep an eye on her."

"And you're going to tell me how she's been doing this from half a world away," said Chugi. "I mean - we were in Esthar when you were having visions of Winhill, Shu. If she can drag your visions around, how the hell are we supposed to get anything done?"

Shutat made a face. "Her gift thinks I'm good luck, I think," he said. "Look - when she uses her power, she's doing a lot of things at once. She's got to be." He frowned, trying to put words around what his whole nature was accepting as iron fact, trying to think the way they thought - the way he'd thought too, before this morning, and the thought would've worried him at another time. "There's two powers - there's the Sight and the Gift. Her Sight shows her a future - the one that will happen if she does nothing to change it, I think..."

"I'm on firmer ground with the Seers than you are," Naia put in. "I understand that much of what she's talking about. The Loires have them every so often - that's why she's got the mark, because not every member of the family can See, and they decided it was better for people to know who to pester rather than assume all of them can do it. It's not carved in stone, what they See, or I think they'd have been run out of town ages ago - because usually what they See are terrible things. Like she said; children drowning, houses on fire, people dying or being badly hurt. The reason they're given such respect is it's not a given, what they See. Like, if - Zia? - saw a child drowning, well, she could walk around with that kid and pull them out when they go down. If she saw a house burning, the fire department could search the house and see where the hazard is, and the tragedies don't happen." She took a deep breath. "Which is why I'm not liking what she said, Shutat. She's not talking about prodding you in the right direction, she's talking about herding you where she - or her gift, or whatever - want you to go."

Shutat felt torn, almost literally torn. A great part of him was just happy he'd run into the Edenite, and accepted everything at face value. But he had gone through Garden training. Intuitions were not sure guides - perhaps especially not for him. "Either me, or my sight," he conceded. "The Edenite part of her gifts does two things at once. It takes a chance from you - that should be random, the way my sight is random, but evidently for her it's not, because she uses it in conjunction with her own sight. That's the vampire part - she's taking choices away from other people whenever she uses her power." He ran his fingers through his curls, trying against his inclination to think instead of feel. "The other half is the part that affects her own future. Every time she takes a choice from someone else, for whatever reason, it affects her own fate. Makes her life better, presumably - good things just happen to her, without her having to do anything to make them happen, and bad things avoid her. When I said she'd been leading me here, it's that part of her power I was talking about. In the whole world, I'm probably the only one she could tell about herself and be happy to know it. And if she's wanted to leave Winhill for a while, coming with us - there's no better excuse available, because no one could possibly be as much help as she could if she wanted to."

Chugi was staring at him with an "I do not believe what I'm hearing" expression. "Are you telling me," he said slowly, implying that Shutat had better not be, "that the reason we came here is because a girl we'd never heard of was looking for her shining prince?" His hands were making fists now, a clear sign of impending destruction. "Shutat. We don't have time for this. You don't have time for this. She can damn well find another shining prince."

"No," said Shutat, and the happy glow was quite gone now, as he thought things out. "You don't understand. We don't have time not to give in. We won't have to take care of her - she can take monster futures as easily as human, and her luck will keep her safe. But if we leave her here, my visions will stay here. Every time she uses her power, if it thinks I'm her perfect whatever, I'll be drawn back here. And what I really don't have time for is arguments, Chugi. Maybe her power's right - it's damn sure affecting me, though I don't really know how. But if she stays here, my Sight's likely to stay here - and we have found a trail here to follow, whatever else has happened today. We wouldn't have come here if my visions hadn't kept coming here. If we take her with us - then she's with us. My visions won't be dragged to wherever she is. And if I'm her perfect mate, then her power will act to keep me alive. Buying me time, hopefully." He shrugged. "The Commander gave us an order to find a treasure without even a map to follow, guys. Luck and fate are about all we've got to rely on, and our training to know the trail when we see it to follow."

"How far can we trust your judgement, Shutat?" asked Naia. "You acted like you've known her all your life, or were waiting for her."

"Maybe I have, or maybe I have been," Shutat admitted, thinking now of the dream of Bahamut that he'd had in Esthar. "I'm something that's never existed before and may never exist again, and I can't...after today, I can't call that a fluke. I can't tell you why, because I don't know, but there are reasons and we're being moved around - Zia probably as much as me."

"Not reassuring, Shu," said Chugi. "Not reassuring at all."

Shutat couldn't really argue with that. He'd been the one to tell them that people who poked too far into mageborn business tended to disappear, after all. And...as much as he needed Zia's help, if he was understanding her abilities correctly, they were right. He deflated a little, considering that. She was changing Fate around her. What was good fortune for her might or might not be good fortune for anyone near her. "Fair enough," he conceded with a sigh. "Maybe I'm getting carried away."

Chugi led them out of the temple, turned back to look at its brilliance in the late afternoon sun. "Too many coincidences," he said. "It's making me edgy."

Shutat knew what he meant. The visions that led them here, the chance that took them into the temple just when Zia was there... "Time is like that," he said. "I can just see Time. Others, it seems, can manipulate it. Whatever's running the show has been changing things so we're here, at this time...and it's all laid out." Which brought back the memory of Bahamut's stars-in-infinity eyes. That was enough to make Shutat solemn; if Bahamut were manipulating Time through Zia - or through his own Gift - there was truly nothing they could do about it. He'd really just have to hope.

"Doesn't sound promising," Chugi noted. "But if it gives you time, and we don't wind up having to kill her, I guess it works out. What's next?"

Shutat looked blank. "I don't know," he admitted. "The tribes, they move around, don't they? I guess just head for Deling - if we're lucky," and he made a face as he realized he'd said that, "then we'll run into them on the way. If we're not, we can see if the Galbadian Empire keeps track of the aboriginal tribes in its territories."

"Guh," grumped Naia. "Galbadia. That's going to bite. We've got a colonial, a rebel, and an enemy. Oh, and Zia, who probably counts as a dangerous mutant."

"Colonial my ass," snapped Chugi. "We'll manage. I'm assuming we're renting chocobos. If we're short on time, walking across the continent is not an option."

"No...no, it's not," Shutat agreed, wondering why he felt vague. Not bad, not ill, but vague - like his mind was wrapped in soft cotton. "Did something just happen?"

"Other than meeting a vampire, no, not really," said Naia, watching him closely. "Chugi, is she still around, can you see her?"

Chugi blinked. "No, she's well gone," he said. "Maybe it's a vision? Shu, let's sit you down somewhere out of the way."

"...No," Shutat said after some thought. "I'm not...it's not bad. And you're right, we're short on time. Chocobos sound good, if we can get gold ones..."

Naia laughed. "Now I know you're not thinking straight. Gold chocobos? For rent? Black maybe, if we pay through the nose - look, leave the rentals to me, okay? How many do you need?"

Shutat made himself focus. "Four," he said at last. "One for each of us...we aren't carrying much."

"And if Zia dies, we have a baggage chocobo," Naia nodded. "Perfect. Back soon!" Before Shutat could think of anything to say, Naia turned on her heel and sped off, running - presumably - for chocobo stables.

"Chicken," sighed Chugi, and latched gloved hands on Shutat's coat to drag him forward. "You. Sit down. What the hell's up with you? One minute fine and perky, next minute dazed and confused. Somebody didn't give you a concussion did they?" He pushed Shutat down onto a wrought-iron bench at the side of the lane. "Tell me, or me and Naia ambush Zia and make her give back whatever she took."

"She didn't..." Shutat protested, scrubbing his face. Think. He had to think, make himself think. He stared, vaguely, at the cobble-paved lane, the old houses, the ancient trees. It was like trying to walk forward when someone had a hand on the back of your collar. "It's not Zia," he repeated, as firmly as he could. "I'm just...foggy, all of a sudden. Like a sugar low..."

Gloved hands lifted his chin so that he was staring up at Chugi. The fingertips were bare but everything else felt odd, the metal straps and odd pads that kept Chugi's hands whole while punching through anything. For some reason it was easier to focus on that than on the worried look on Chugi's face. "Yeah," he said quietly. "Look. The only reason I'm not filling my orders right now is I think the middle of town's too open for that. Especially the middle of this town. But when we're out of here, Shu, you're handing over Griever. Because if it's not a vision, and it's not the new girl, then Griever has to be it."

He said that as if it were an order, and Shutat heard it as one, but things were spinning now, very gently. Griever? he thought vaguely. What does Griever have to do with anything?

We're not sure, the GF responded - and its voice, that had been so easy to deal with before, clanged through Shutat's mind like an alarm bell rung at his ear. His gloved hands immediately clapped themselves to the sides of his head, trying to shut out a sound only he could hear.

Well, he could focus now. His reaction sent Griever grumbling away, and the movement and sound in his mind were painfully loud. It took several minutes to realize Chugi was tugging on his arm, crying his name. "Shutat! Shutat! Tell me what's wrong!"

Shutat forced his eyes open on too-bright sunlight. "I think...you're right," he said. "I need to hand you Griever."

"Not here," Chugi replied, shaking his head in regret. "Surefire way to give us away. And we can't go back to the hotel until Naia gets back. Tell it to be quiet, will you, and I'll see about something for you?"

"P-potion," Shutat managed, closing his eyes. A potion would clear the headache, the sensitivity. At least for a while, and maybe it would be long enough.

"Sit down on that bench, then," said Chugi, taking Shutat by the elbow and half guiding, half leading him to the bench in question - a wrought ironwork affair, more decorative and durable than comfortable. "Just stay there, and I'll go snag one. As many mageborn as there are around here, they shouldn't be too expensive."

Shutat barely heard him; he was far too occupied with trying to think through fog, trying to cope with painful sensitivity of sound and vision. I don't want another vision, he told himself, wondering if he could shut the power off somehow. The day had been going so well. He had a brief impulse to call Zia back, but that wouldn't go far toward convincing his friends he wasn't charmed. Humans did tend to confuse the Gifts somewhat and there were mageborn that could do just that - charm the mind so that even other mageborn often did what they wanted. Tonberry gifts were most common in the Deling area; both his friends would have heard of them. But that was just one Gift - it wasn't one he had, and it certainly wasn't a power any Edenite had ever had...

"Here," Chugi's voice intruded, and a clear bottle filled with a translucent liquid was shoved into his field of vision. "Potion, as asked. Is it gonna help, or am I looking at carrying you back to the hotel when Naia gets back?"

Shutat opted not to answer that right away. Instead he unscrewed the cap of the shatterproof bottle and tipped the contents gently into his mouth. Potions were one of the few medicines that worked on mageborn, being magical in nature, and he'd had them before - usually for things like frostburn or broken bones. After the first sip, the headache, sensitivity, and fogginess faded. "It helps," he said, giving Chugi a smile of thanks. "I'll go get a few more while we're somewhere it won't be a major issue. I doubt I've seen the last of my headaches."

Chugi opted to sprawl on the bench then, looking for all the world like an exhausted skater. "My turn to wait here for Naia, then," he said.

Shutat shook his head as he wandered over to the apothecary - the sign clearly marked it as selling both magical and nonmagical remedies, and in the symbols of trade tongue, which was nice. Of course, I'm making a total hash of my first mission, between visions, fainting spells, sleeping too much and the headaches. At least Zia should be able to help with that. Hopefully she can defend herself. The Dragon only knows how Chugi and Naia would take being ordered to protect her...

Winhill had this much to recommend it; he walked where he would and bought what he wished without his paper-white skin and blue-tinted hair causing more than a second look. There were mageborn everywhere; Shutat could identify his own kind in any group, mingling freely with humans. It was easy to see why Naia had had no problem getting to know him. It was good to see. If only they weren't so pleased with their patch of heaven that they refuse to share it...

He selected potions that were capped in shatterproof, packable vials and presented his ID card to pay for them. These would see him through the precursors and aftereffects of visions; they were designed to heal much worse than simple headaches, and might yet be needed in that manner. Hopefully not, though. Chugi and Naia did have junctions, and spells packed lightest of all. The apothecary packed the vials in a small rope-handled crate of light wood, each potion in its own compartment. Shutat gave the man a thank you and was given the backhanded compliment that his "Winhilli was very good." Rueful, he carried his prizes out to where Chugi was waiting - and Naia had come back, evidently, for she had four chocobos with her and was leading them by the reins.

"Yellow," she said unnecessarily. "Shu, you don't even want to know what that skinflint was going to charge Garden for golds. And he got very short with me when I told him to charge the fees to Garden. But we've got them for as long as we need them; I made him agree that if Garden paid their actual worth in rental fees before we returned, they're ours. So the Commander shouldn't get short with us if we take too long. Even yellow chocobos fetch a lot of gil if they're bred in Winhill."

"It's all right," Shutat agreed. "Gold would've been fun, but to be honest I don't remember how you tell them how to fly. Do they have names? What's the name of mine, and which one is it?"

Naia juggled reins in her hands and handed him a set. "Here. She's called Aderyn. Shutat, Aderyn, Aderyn, Shutat."

She pointed with her free hand at each of them as she spoke the introduction; chocobos were often quite bright and recognized names and masters. Aderyn would now answer to Shutat's commands before those issued by herself or Chugi. Chugi already had a set of reins, and had evidently already gone through his own introduction; he looked a bit embarrassed to be introduced to a chocobo and seemed to regard it as one of the weirdest customs he'd ever encountered.

"And Daerthe is mine," Naia finished, "and the last one's for Zia. Let's get them stabled at the hotel, and we can be going in the morning."

"Sounds good," Shutat agreed, though he was a bit leery of leading his chocobo. He'd had to learn to ride one as part of his training, but it had been the only time in his life he'd even seen one. He wasn't very comfortable with the creatures. He watched as Naia wrapped the reins around her hands and copied her movements, watching Chugi do the same thing.

Naia evidently found their unconfidence amusing. "It's not hard," she said. "You'll get used to it. Daerthe, Alcasta, follow Naia."

Chugi joined Shutat in blinking blankly as the two chocobos Naia had warked in unison and followed tamely behind her, their reins slack in her hands. They exchanged looks, and Chugi said, "Okay, do you want to go first, or d'you want me to?"

"Be my guest," Shutat offered, and Chugi made a face at him.

"Coward," he accused mildly, and then cleared his throat and addressed his chocobo, blushing scarlet. "Kaiba...follow Chugi."

Kaiba did the same thing Naia's chocobos had done, and warked. When Chugi took a few steps, Kaiba followed him. Still bright red - evidently believing everyone in town had to be watching and laughing as he talked to a bird - he said, "Okay, Shutat, it looks like it works."

Shutat sighed. "Okay. Aderyn, follow Shutat." He got the same warked answer the other two had, and when he started for the hotel, the chocobo trotted along behind him.

"Winhilli are weird," Chugi said under his breath as Shutat caught up. "Talking to chocobos!"

"Whatever works, I guess," Shutat replied, but it was clear he agreed. Talking to chocobos was weird.

Zia was waiting for them in the hotel lobby, when they'd gotten their rental chocobos settled in the hotel stable. She had apparently managed to pack everything she thought she would need into one large duffel bag, which caused both Chugi and Naia bouts of extreme skepticism, but Shutat didn't want an argument where the hotel staff would gossip about it. "Come with us," he said, "and we'll double check."

Zia gave him a twisted smile. "Think I can't pack a travel bag?" she asked. "Big balls of confidence, you guys are."

Shutat knew very well it was only his own presence that was keeping both of his companions from doing more than giving her skeptical glares, so he grabbed her bag and hefted it over a shoulder, and realized as he did so that his friends were probably in for a pleasant surprise - that bag was heavy for its size, indicative of the kind of space-saving packing that they used themselves. His friends fell into step behind him, leaving Zia to trail along after. She was not unmindful of the jab. As they went up the stairs to their room, she quietly remarked, "You know, I've never understood what humans use for brains. I mean if we're as dangerous as everybody says we are, you'd think humans wouldn't, you know, be jackasses and stuff to us. If I was standing next to someone who could rip my arms off and beat me to death with the wet ends, the last thing I'd want to do is anything that might set her off. You know?"

Chugi and Naia were not stupid; the postures of both martial artists shifted subtly, and Shutat knew without looking that they were one breath away from providing Zia with a solid lesson in what humans were capable of, particularly combat trained and fully junctioned humans. So he remarked, while unlocking their room's door, "I've wondered that myself. But you don't get much of that in Winhill or Balamb, and personally I don't go for playing Big Scary Mageborn if I don't have to. No point in behaving in ways that make the worst rumors true, is there?"

Zia swept into the room and sat on one of the beds. "Generally, no," she agreed. "But you always find people that get defensive before they have to." She looked at Chugi and Naia. "I don't know what you two's problem is, but I'm going with you anyway, so maybe you'd just better spit it out now."

"Are you putting some kind of charm on Shutat to make him take you with us?" Chugi demanded.

Zia smiled. "No," she said clearly, and to make sure she wasn't misunderstood, she added, "I haven't used my power on Shutat except to take away futures where he dies in the next few days. I don't have the power to charm him."

The direct statement mollified both of them for a little while, as Shutat began carefully disassembling Zia's pack. Clothes, waterproof tarp, flint and steel, and enough meal-bars to keep a mageborn alive for months on nothing else....

"Can you take away the futures where he does things you don't want?" Naia asked.

Zia frowned, leaning back on her hands. "In theory, yes," she admitted. "But the Sight's just not that reliable. I Foresee big ugly things like, say, Shutat bursting into flames. Or all of you getting trampled. When I've Seen it, I can try to take that future away - it's two gifts working together, see, not just one. If I weren't a Seer, I could still take futures - but I'd have no idea which futures I was taking, good ones or bad ones. That's the level my power works at - people getting really hurt, people dying. I don't get to See things like you two giving me the third degree."

"We've been his friends for years," said Chugi. "You just turned up today." He sighed, giving up. "Well, if you're going to cause trouble, it won't be right now. You get to sleep in Naia's room."

"Gee, thaaaanks," said Naia with a grin. "Everything in order, Shu?"

Shutat nodded, putting the last of Zia's things back in her pack, as she'd had them. "Sorry about the privacy invasion, Zia, but we're on a mission and - no offense - we have no idea what training you have for the wilds."

"Oh, most of us do time in the volunteer reserve," Zia said. "I mean, there's no one to defend Winhill anymore but us. I picked up the basics." She picked up her bag as easily as Shutat had. "So, am I allowed to know any of your mission?"

"Fraid not," said Shutat quickly, before Chugi and Naia could add their own versions. "I'm glad you've offered to come along, help and all, but - you've got to admit it's impulsive on your part and...we don't have time to fail. Sorry."

Zia gave him a steady look, green-black hair falling across her eyes. "I sometimes See my own future," she said. "Just little bits. Important things. If your visions guided you to this city, you'll understand when I say I've seen you before. You're going to be important to me. I want to find out how."

Many paths, twisted together by her paired gifts into one great road. He'd have to hope the road went a good way; he had no power over her gifts. He indicated the door to an adjoining room. "Naia's room is there," he said. "We leave at dawn."

"I'll be ready," Zia nodded, then turned to Naia. Looked her up and down, and then said, "Okay, I promise I won't kill you in your sleep. Okay?"

Naia tried not to look relieved. "Okay," she said.

"See you in the morning," called Chugi as the two women left, then flopped down on his bed - which had been the one Zia had been sitting on. "Hyne," he breathed. "Visions, crypts, tagalongs, and talking to chocobos. And here I thought working for SeeD would mean, you know, fighting people."

Shutat decided that even if he wasn't very tired, he should try to sleep. No telling how much rest he'd get on the road. He started peeling out of his leather coat and gloves and thermal gear. "They do say SeeD is never what you expect it to be," he remarked. "I wouldn't know; I didn't have any idea what to expect."