Part 52
This is no way to treat a lady!!
Seems Steiner's back to normal, bravely protecting the castle by kicking out six-year-olds.
Zidane! Oh, it was horrible!
What did you just say!? Do you want to repeat that!?
Be thankful that Eiko isn't nearly as annoying as most jRPG kids are. FF is actually pretty good in regard to kids, Palom and Porom aren't that bad a comedy routine plus kill themselves before they get too annoying, Rydia randomly grows up mid-game, and Relm can get you 99 Illuminas. Of course, she can also break your game but details...
Me? I'm Eiko! Eiko Carol of Madain Sari!
From Madain Sari? Why, I've never heard of it. Don't you know anything? Madain Sari is a-
This is the royal castle! You do not belong here!
Master Vivi! A pleasure to see you again.
We came here to see Dagger. The princess? Hmm...
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Here comes Dagger, all dressed up in her ridiculous near-Queen dress.
Interestingly enough, the game refers to her as Garnet here. Previous scenes she was still Dagger.
Wow... You look beautiful! Splendid!
Zidane is a chump.
(Zidane...)
Dagger, wait!
Oh, no. Of course not. I won't be able to wander around the world with you anymore...but I'll never forget our journey together. Dagger...
Let's trade the jewels as a symbol of our friendship.
You may be wondering what jewels they're talking about. First there's the Silver Pendant, the Alexandria jewel Garnet always wears and that Brahne tried to take from her. There's the Falcon Claw, the treasure of Lindblum. The Desert Star, the jewel that was in the harp in Cleyra. Finally, there's the Memory Earring, Eiko's last momento of her heritage and the symbol of Madain Sari.
These four items are actually in our Key Items now, though it'll be next update when I show them off proper. There's some story significance to these four special jewels in this Final Fantasy game, but if it's not obvious yet the game will tell you just what they are in a few updates.
And with that, Garnet is gone to do important Queen stuff, like
I don't know...
And?
I had a whole speech ready for her. But it would've been a lie! How could I lie to her!? 'Good luck, Dagger! I'll be watching you from afar. Come find me if you need someone to talk to.' It's a big fat lie! That's not how I feel at all!
...Zidane's not taking this whole "getting dumped" thing well.
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I wish I hadn't written that stupid letter. Zidane looked so sad... Isn't there anything I can do for him?
You insensitive fool!!! You don't even know how I feel...Zidane probably kinda knew Eiko has a crush on him, but kinda didn't take it seriously because, well, he's Zidane and always had more important things on his mind (i.e. Dagger). Of course, watching someone you want to be with pine over someone else is always frustrating, especially if you're six years old and don't actually understand romance beyond not-Shakespeare's plays.
This music's pretty nice by the way, on the soundtrack it's not supposed to show up until the start of Disc 4 or so but it's pretty good stuff even now.
I gotta hide before he shows up!
Someone's coming! Could it be Zidane!? 
I guess I'm early...
...Maybe.
What.
Well... Just read the letter. I bet she's beautiful! Really? Are you sure you didn't write it yourself? I mean, you caught the letter falling from the floor above you, right? I'm telling you, she was too shy to hand me the letter herself! And if you don't think I'm a ladies' man, you're wrong. Chicks are intimidated by good-looking guys. That's why...
Marcus! Don't interrupt me while I'm talking!
Alright, alright...
NO DON'T DROP THE LETTER YOU PUTZ NOW IT'S GONNA SPREAD ITS DISEASE
Oh FUCK it's gonna get Steiner next.
Dusk to dawn, rain or shine, I must patrol the castle!
Huh?
STEINER NOOOOOOO
Let's see...
M-M-My goodness!
Who wrote it to whom!? Hmm... No address or addressee... Did someone drop it here, knowing that I would pass by?
...OH BOY.
So, uh...Eiko may have just accidentally hooked up Beatrix and Steiner.
(A-Are they in love?)
(Shh! Quiet!)
Yep. That fiendish love letter has united two fierce rivals into something more bizarre.
This is simultaneously Shakespeare and anime as fuck.
(Then stick your thumb up it!)
This is the greatest Final Fantasy.
So of course Baku comes out of nowhere to ruin it.
Definitely had to GIF Marcus here. It'd have been a travesty if I didn't.
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Who knows... I'll go look for him...
Hey, watch it! I'm NOT in a good mood right now! Stay out of my way!
Eiko reminds me of a lot of poorly-written jRPG heroines, except she's six so her behavior actually makes sense.
Have you seen a young lady named Eiko? Oh!
Ha ha ha... You're as energetic as ever. Yup! I'm always energetic!
Did you say something? No, I didn't! Didn't you come here to talk to me about something? Oh, yes. I almost forgot... Your village... What was the name...? Madain Sari. Yes, I wanted to ask you a few questions about Madain Sari. Sure, I'll tell you everything I know. You helped me out. But why don't we go to your place? We can relax there. To my home? My home is located in Treno. It's a bit far from here... Treno? Sounds like a cool place! I'm really interested in sightseeing! I wanna go there.
I wanna participate.OH FUCK YOU ZIDANE, YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT.
I wanna go, too... I'd like to go, as well. Treno, huh...? Ha ha ha... Quite a party this is becoming.
Yep, we're done with Alexandria. The We-Just-Saved-The-World Tour is moving over next to Treno, where we're gonna spend all night playing Magic: The Gathering except with more RNG.
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CAVE SOUNDS
Kinda looks like the Iifa Tree before we got rid of the Mist. I don't think the Mist is as dense as it was before. Yes, I heard that you all stopped the Mist... The Mist permeated through the roots. That is probably why it still lingers here.Remember those weird roots that show up in the overworld around the Mist Continent? Probably not, but those were from the Iifa Tree.
Oh, right, you weren't around for Fossil Roo. Lucky.
Yes. Shall we?While the gang travels to Treno, let's get an ATE out of the way.
Yes!
Sure, you are about that? That is enough! Now, we do what?
So you're going to ask forgiveness from the woman you forcibly extracted Eidolons from and whose companions you actively attacked, including General Beatrix herself. Yes, that's going to go over really well.
I will not know until-
We must hide!
Looks like no one's here. Yeah.
...keep up the night watch and preserve Alexandria's peace. Yeah, I think so, too.
Okay, let's finish our rounds. Alright.
That was close. Now what? We cannot stay as long as those meddlers are here! We must leave Alexandria!
So yeah, so much for that.
Next time, the gang arrives at Treno to play shitty card games. Also we do some really weird and esoteric things we can only do now because this is a jRPG. Yep!