(Untitled)

[frostydarkqueen]

Characters: Edea Kramer and Rinoa Heartilly
Status: Incomplete
Location: 'Borrowed' Airship - Dining Room
Date/Time: 6th Aug 2498 - Around Noon
Summary: Edea heads to the eating area for a snack during lunchtime, hoping to run into another certain sorceress.
Warning: None

Comments

[winged_promise]

Rinoa, incidentally, was searching the airship for Edea. The Matron's words from earlier were stuck in the girl's mind. The elder had morosely apologized for making Rinoa's life 'hell'. The younger sorceress hadn't responded properly at all, in her own opinion. She had defaulted to obvious thoughts of Squall instead of those of forgiveness. Edea was definitely owed more. Rinoa could likely even offer comfort, assuring the Matron that things worked out later on- that Cid remained ever faithful, that her children stayed alive.

The conversation prospect intimidated her a bit, but Rinoa knew there was common ground. At the very least, they could exchange stories of their respective sorceress possessions. 'Sooo, you ordered missile attacks by the Galbadian Army on innocent Gardens, I deactivated Adel's Tomb...' Right. She grimaced, praying their talk wouldn't get that grim!

Matron Edea was found sitting down in the Dining Room, looking ever statuesque. Rinoa smiled inside, wondering if she herself ever looked so elegant after indulging in a meal. She stepped lightly into view. "May I?" she asked, approaching the chair across from the mother that wasn't hers.

[frostydarkqueen]

Edea found herself glancing over towards the door as it opened, a calm smile perking up the corners of her lips in greeting as Rinoa slipped inside. It was actually quite a convenient that the other sorceress had arrived since she'd actually just been thinking about her. Perhaps Rinoa had wanted to speak to her as well?

Matron found herself glad that the girl no longer appeared afraid of her. Even Zell and Selphie had seemed slightly uncomfortable around her in the beginning because of her appearance, and Edea couldn't blame them. After all, she was still dangerous at time, even if she couldn't be directly controlled by Ultimecia while she was in this other world.

"Of course," Edea said, motioning to the chair that the girl approached. "How was your night?" she asked in basic conversation. Nothing wrong with pleasantries, she always thought. "Did you sleep well?"

[winged_promise]

It actually surprised Rinoa to see Edea speak so casually. The younger woman could really only picture the Matron in this form uttering speeches of power and cruel commands. Heartilly smiled, taking a seat.

"I slept fine, thanks for asking. Ever since arriving here, though, I've been waking up really early!" Back home, if given the choice, the girl may not have even been conscious for lunch time. She supposed this wasn't 'early' for someone who cared for so many rowdy orphans. For a moment, she wondered if Ultimecia had ever allowed Edea to sleep back in their world.

"Are you feeling okay?" The question had many layers. After all, the Matron had been badly injured and then turned into a bird. The mental burdens of being plucked from such an unpleasant time in the first place had to hurt, too.

[frostydarkqueen]

Edea gave the girl a kind smile. "That's good to hear," she said. Edea had always had trouble sleeping her first few years as a sorceresses - she was glad to hear that Rinoa's was acclimating better than she had. Then again, perhaps it was easier because she was older. Edea herself had only been a small child at the time.

Nodding, Edea lay her hands in her lap as she regarded the other sorceress. "I am better," she said. Her bruises had almost entirely faded, and were only still visible along her torso, which was thankfully hidden beneath the dark fabric of her dress. "Honestly, I am still not entirely used to my body. I only regained control of myself when I first arrived her, and being changed into a bird and back isn't helping with my practice."

The sorceress looked a little embarrassed at the fact, but Rinoa had been possessed by Ultimecia as well. She would understand, hopefully.

[winged_promise]

Rinoa's extensive beauty rest was so vital to her routine that even being a sorceress couldn't get in the way. It was during the day that her immature powers took their toll. Rinoa would sometimes feel like three or four people at once, indecisive and lacking self-definition. She'd want to answer questions from points of view that weren't her own. More often, she'd just ache... like something was trying to break out of her bones, or burrow deeper into them. Sleep was the least of her worries. Sleep was her body's way of shutting off completely, thinking of nothing, dreaming of nothing, and recuperating for another day of adjustment. It got better all the time, but it wasn't close to perfect.

"Oh, and now we're on a moving airship!" Rinoa noted with pity. "Well, if you need an arm to grasp on to at any point, just ask! I won't tell anyone why," she added, seeing the embarrassment in Edea's face.

Rinoa bit her bottom lip after further consideration. It hadn't occurred to her before, but what would happen if they all got to go home? This Edea would be sent back into the clutches of Ultimecia! Edea probably had thought of this already, so Rinoa didn't speak aloud. Instead, she decided to silently find a solution. She'd have to talk to Selphie later.

[frostydarkqueen]

Edea gave her another smile, glad that she was so understanding. She was glad that she was going to be able to get to know her successor. Not that she wouldn't have had the opportunity to do so after the war was over, but gave her piece of mind in the meantime. To be able to be there for this girl and to answer her questions would be beneficial as well - Edea had never had such a mentor. She had simply been alone.

"That's very kind of you," she said, happiness apparent in her tone. "My children would dote on me far too much if they knew, and they have enough things to worry about. I think you will be better for that task."

Edea watched as the young sorceress bit on her lip, and she wondered if she had actually worried her as well. She hoped not, and she tried to change the focus of the conversation in order to get her mind off of it. "How about you? How are you faring?" Edea hoped that Rinoa would trust her enough to confide in her. It was more than difficult dealing with being a sorceress, especially at the beginning.

[winged_promise]

"It's so cute that you still call them your children!" Rinoa chuckled a bit, thinking of her friends. Not having memories of the orphanage once made her feel excluded. Now, the jealousy was gone. "I guess they always will be, huh?"

The thought was daunting. Matron Edea had so many to care for. Rinoa still had her princess-y side, but now she was plenty aware of it. She honestly doubted she could deal out so much individual attention! To think- Edea had to nurture a miniature cowboy, a blonde bully, a little miss bossy, a train-loving sugar factory, a sorceress successor, the group White SeeD to protect said successor, and, most importantly to Rinoa, a certain little lone wolf boy. Honestly, a young Squall would have driven Heartilly crazy!

The whim of caring for Squall made Rinoa smile quite obviously. It was a shame that the man she loved had spent so much of his life refusing to open up. Someone as kind as Edea should have been able to help, but the loss of Ellone had just been too strong. Squall had finally told Rinoa his whole story one day, and several times after that.

"What was it like from your perspective?" Rinoa finally asked. "All of those kids... was it hard?"

Rinoa had never had anybody who could really relate to her before. During all of her preceding trials, the only sorceresses nearby had wanted to hurt her. "Better every day," she answered in earnest, "though there's one thing- one someone- I could really use. Now that you are yourself again, I'm sure you know what I mean..."

Somewhere mid-sentence, Rinoa's thin fingers had involuntarily found the rings about her neck. Maybe the subject was too personal...

[frostydarkqueen]

Edea found herself chuckling along with the girl. The sorceress had always found laughter to be contagious. It was probably part of the reason she loved children so much. "Old habits die hard, though I suppose they probably hate it," she said, holding up her hands in a shrug.

Putting one long gloved finger to her chin in though, Edea found herself nodding. "All things that are worthwhile are difficult, I think. Though, I loved every moment of it," she said, feeling more than a little nostalgic. "I just wish I could have protected them better," she finally admitted. As a sorceress, that had turned out to be impossible in the end, and it was her only regret.

Edea nodded in complete understanding, though she had to admit that she had forgotten until now that Rinoa had chosen a knight. "Ah, yes, my special little loner," she said, grinning at her knowingly. "I must admit, I am surprised that someone finally managed to get him to crawl out of his shell. He was always a wonderful boy, though. He took the disappearance of his sister very hard."

[winged_promise]

"You protected them until they were able to protect themselves," Rinoa nodded, trying to sound reassuring. In that moment, the younger sorceress was tempted to tell the Matron every single thing that had happened in the gap between their times. She wondered what the consequences would be.

When it came to Squall, Rinoa considered herself an expert. ...Well, nearly. He still wasn't smiling as much as the girl would have liked. "It took some work," she confessed with a light giggle.

Matron Edea was a passionate and protective person. Rinoa, however, did question some things about her. Rinoa wasn't a mother herself, but the girl had thought many times about how she would have raised a boy like Squall. After she had learned on the Ragnarok how sparse physical contact had been through his childhood, she had started to wonder.

It was Matron Edea that had sent Ellone away. It was necessary for Sis's protection from Ultimecia. White SeeD had been a haven for not only the solitary Ellone, but other orphan victims of the Sorceress War. It was for safety's sake, of course, but...

"Was there no way you could have told him the truth about her? Squall can keep a secret!"

[frostydarkqueen]

Edea gave Rinoa a somewhat bitter smile, wondering how much she knew about the beginning of the SeeD program. After all, she'd only helped create it, really. The White SeeD were the only ones that truly belonged to her. Cid was responsible for the development of everything else.

"It wasn't quite that simple," Edea confessed, looking a bit forlorn. "Let me try to explain."

Looking a little shaken as she gazed back to when the unfortunate time in her life began, she continued to speak. "When I sent Ellone away, Squall was still a rather small child. I don't think he would have understood had I told him then. I mean, if you were six years old, would you have understood that Ellone could send people through time? That some awful person from the future was going to try and hurt her? I couldn't worry him like that," she said, hoping that Rinoa would understand.

"And soon after that, I was already being possessed by Ultimecia, as she searched for Ellone's power. I was better at fighting her then, when she was just getting used to the Junction Machine, but it wasn't safe for me to be around anymore. Cid started the Gardens, and that's where the children went." There wasn't much else to tell about that.

"Why Cid didn't tell Squall, I don't know. I assume it was because he had enough to worry about and that he would eventually find out on his own. Perhaps he thought it was Ellone's secret to tell. I'm not really sure. I haven't been able to talk to my husband for years," Edea finished, twisting her fingers into knots beneath the table. "Cid...he is well, yes?"

[winged_promise]

"Sorry," Rinoa said, lowering her head a bit. "He was just so sad, and I love him, you know? So... I had to ask." Mouthing off always seemed to result in Heartilly looking uneducated in front of people. She promised herself yet again to stop doing it.

Rinoa's lips parted a bit in surprise. She had forgotten that Edea and Cid were not yet reunited from the Matron's perspective. "Yes! He's well. I mean, um, he ends up well! We all do!" The girl hesitated for a moment, wondering if saying these things was breaking some sort of Time Magic rule. She could feel her face turning pink. Folding her hands tightly in her lap, she kept talking.

"Cid helped me with the Forest Owls. Seifer introduced me. Really, your husband is the reason I met everyone." She made sure to sound extra thankful. "He, um... he wanted to defeat Ultimecia. We had to bring down NORG, because their disagreement over what to do with you- w-with her- was causing total civil unrest." Rinoa paused again.

"How much of this do you want to know? I feel bad because... you haven't lived this, and... what if you have to later?" The younger one looked into Edea's unnatural eyes, desperately seeking guidance. "I just don't know what's okay for you."

[frostydarkqueen]

"I'm sorry, dear," she said, instantly feeling guilty. "I didn't mean to make you sad," she said comfortingly, guilt sweeping through her at the look on her face. "You had every right to ask and I'm glad you did. I just didn't want to give you the wrong impression of me, like most people do. Besides, I'm not sure how much Squall remembers from back then. He was quite little."

Edea's face instantly brightened, and she transitioned easily into listening mode, absorbing Rinoa's story. When the other sorceress asked her a rather serious question, Matron took a moment to think it over before becoming to a decision.

"Well, I suppose it can't do too much harm," she said, shrugging her shoulders lightly. "After all, Squall traveled back in time to warn me, and that turned out okay. Time can be tricky, but it also has ways of fixing itself. As long as you don't try to actually change the past, then there is little to worry about."

[winged_promise]

She took a deep breath that was less than subtle. Rinoa knew what she herself had done under the influence of sorceress possession. Floating through space, she had hated herself. Now, she trembled inside, realizing what she had gotten herself into. Matron Edea had just requested to hear the ending to her story. Unfortunately, the way to that end was less than wonderful. Her stomach churning, the girl decided to give a little disclaimer.

"Listen," she said, her face softening. "Um, I know you're not going to like a lot of this, but I promise you that nobody blames you. Lots of awful stuff happened. People thought it was you. You know the start of it, with Deling and all. Well, believe me. Your children and your husband- all of us- we all live happily ever after. There's even a video!"

Obviously, this wasn't entirely true. The world still feared and misunderstood sorceresses. Rinoa was still adjusting. Thankfully, this was her own burden to bear and not Edea's. Places had a lot of healing to do. For example...

"Ultimecia had missile attacks ordered on Balamb and Trabia. Selphie's Garden... it was devastated. I'd never seen so many people so sad, and yet so immediately driven to rebuild, you know? There was crying and confusion and hurt, but Selphie- she was ready to take the lead and make it right, better than before!"

The speech would definitely be a very heavy blow. Rinoa made sure to add something special. "You should take credit, you know. Not for the destruction, I mean. You should take credit that Selphie- your child- is so strong!"

[frostydarkqueen]

Edea made a motion to continue despite Rinoa's preemptive warning. The sorceress knew that she would do terrible things, just as she had already done terrible things. Matron had come to terms with such things, even if it pained her to see them day after day.

The missile attacks hurt more than she thought they would, even if she had been prepared. It was only a matter of time before Ultimecia discovered her link with SeeD. Edea just hoped that the casualties were low. By the sounds of it, only the Garden Selphie had ended up in had been truly harmed, thought it was still a huge blow.

"Selphie was always an amazing person," Edea agreed, nodding. "I must admit that hearing this makes me more proud of her than ever." Rinoa's words were more than touching, and the older woman found it hard to keep her composure.

[winged_promise]

Rinoa raised her eyebrows, realizing what came next in the time line. "...and then they remembered!" She looked excited, but knew immediately that Edea would be confused. "Trabia Garden is where everybody remembered you as their Matron! The GFs had caused them to forget. Irvine knew, though." Rinoa's voice became somber. "He knew, and he never really admitted it, but that may be why he didn't want to, you know... pull the trigger." The younger sorceress felt her skin crawl. It still disturbed her deeply that the Matron's children could have killed their mother and never known the truth. Heartilly reminded herself that, no matter what, the assassination would have failed. Ultimecia had made her puppet too powerful for bullets.

The rest really didn't need a lot of detail. "They decided to fight you. I guess when you love somebody, sometimes the right choice is the hardest one. They did, and um, they won."

Rinoa wondered briefly if Zell or Selphie had explained her sorceress status to the Matron. "I got your powers." She quietly hoped that the woman before her would not ask what she did with them.

[frostydarkqueen]

On the one hand, Edea was glad that none of her children had truly forgotten her. If they had, they never would have retrieved those memories that the GF's had stolen from them. On the other hand, it must have made their mission much more difficult for them, and that caused her pain. Still, she was proud of what they had done, though she wouldn't have expected anything less. "Ah, so Irvine was behind that shot," she mused, thinking back on the gunshot that had rang out right before she had departed for this world. "That must have been difficult for him, but I'm proud he went through with it."

Mrs. Kramer nodded as Rinoa told her of the decision they all had made. "That's exactly what they were trained for - to defeat me. The right choice is almost always the hardest one." Edea knew a lot about sacrifice, and she was sure her children did now too. It was a sad but inevitable part of life.

"I imagine that if I regret anything after all this, it would be that. If there had been something I could do to keep them from you, I would have," she tried to assure her. "Still, I am sorry. It is a burden no one should have to bear."