Part 44: Part Forty-Four: World's Greatest Navigator

Part Forty-Four: World's Greatest Navigator


Well, Norg's dead, so that's sorted. Now let's go see Cid.


Actually, let's go see this guy.


He wants to see a magic show.


What's the worst, right?



Damn, check out Squall's cool Blizzard spell!



Oh hey, it's this guy again.


...No?


I'm not even a student anymore!


I'm not a law abiding citizen! I've been in prison!


Man, fuck you, Aki, I'm gonna go talk to Cid.



...I don't know where Cid is.


Nah, just messin'. He got beat up by the faculty, so he went to the infirmary.




Dr. Kadowaki: Are you sure?
Headmaster Cid: Yes, I believe I'm done crying.


It's been a hard day for Cid. He's not prepared to deal with this.

Dr. Kadowaki: He's got a lot on his mind.

He would have.


If you talk to her again, Dr. Kadowaki just goes right back to her regular line.



Headmaster Cid: What shall we talk about?


We've got a few options here. Let's start at the top.

: I want to make a report.
Headmaster Cid: No, no. It's not necessary. I can guess what must've happened.

Poor Squall, he was so eager to make that report. Of course, everything that happened in Deling City is probably all over the news.



: Please tell me the real meaning of SeeD.

Seifer was on about this, too. I think it's about time someone does.

Headmaster Cid: SeeD is SeeD. The elite mercenary force of Balamb Garden.

Wow, thanks.


I know you're dodging the question.

: (I never know anything.)

Of course, Squall's not that assertive.

Headmaster Cid: SeeD will defeat the sorceress. The Garden will train SeeD members. The many missions around the world are only training for the final battle against the sorceress. But now that the sorceress has become a major threat, our true mission has begun.

Well, that explains that. Edea seemed to know at least some of this, which would explain why she seemed to hate SeeD so much. Of course, there's still a bigger question about Edea.



: Please tell me about Sorceress Edea. I heard she's your wife.

Yeah, Cid. I heard our sworn enemy is your wife.

Headmaster Cid: You're quite right... She had been a sorceress since childhood. I married her, knowing that. We were happy. We worked together, the two of us. We were very happy.

Well, it seems like something went wrong there.


That's an interesting idea to have, considering.

Headmaster Cid: I became obsessed with that plan. But I was very concerned with SeeD's goal, that one day SeeD might fight Edea... She laughed and told me that would never happen. However...

Yeah. Seems like things might have gone a little sideways for Edea at some point in the last ten years.


What was NORG's role in all this, anyway?

: Tell me about Master NORG.
Headmaster Cid: He is from the Shumi Tribe. A black sheep of the tribe, one might say. We met while I was running around trying to find funds to build the Garden. He became interested in building the Garden, and we hit it off. Thanks to his funding, it was completed.

Well, that doesn't sound too bad so far.


I get the feeling NORG wasn't as big a fan of this part.

Headmaster Cid: So we began dispatching SeeDs around the world as a means of supporting the Garden. NORG's idea was right on the money.

Good thing the Galbadians were such assholes after the war, or we'd be doing actual gardening to pay the bills.

Headmaster Cid: An enormous amount of capital began flowing into the Garden. And the Garden began to change. Lost sight of our high ideals, the truth was covered up...

This was the situation when we came in.

Headmaster Cid: That's probably enough. In the end, it was my fault, for giving up control.

And that's Cid's story.


There's only one thing left to ask.

: What do we do now?
Headmaster Cid: We must stop drifting around soon... I only hope we can get things back to the way they were.

Of course, we don't have a lot of control over that first part. Killing NORG did some good for the interpersonal situation around Garden, but we are still lost at sea.


At least this guy's havin' a good day.


As we're passing the directory, Xu calls out.



: He's at the infirmary.
: Sounds like trouble. What's wrong?



Xu: It could be Galbadians or worse; the sorceress might be aboard, coming to attack us!

How would they have found us?

Xu: I have to tell the headmaster right away.

Well, let's go see this ship.


I mean, after we talk to this guy. That's a given.



He's still got the same little dialogue choice as always.


And he still thinks Squall is cool.



This guy has cards. This is the news.



Over here, the study buddies are worried about this ship.


Have we heard any mention of Galbadia having boats? I mean, it would make sense.



Who are these guys?


Did they really come looking for us in the middle of the ocean just to talk to Cid? How the hell did they even know we were out here?


Squall, having just met these people, lies to them. I feel like they'll figure it out pretty quick, though.


I...what? Aren't we that?

: (...SeeD!?)

Squall is as taken aback by this as anyone.



They proceed to come aboard.


And we proceed to show them that we are not unarmed.



Well, that's good enough for me.

White SeeD: We must speak to Headmaster Cid. Where is he?


No you're not.


Oh, sorry, yes you are.


What?

Headmaster Cid: ...Yes. I'm afraid so.
: (Ellone? That girl from Winhill?)

I wonder if this world is supposed to have common names. Nobody you deal with has a duplicate name, but hey, maybe there are hundreds of Ellones running around out there.


Not really.

Headmaster Cid: Please go find her. She's here somewhere in the Garden.

Well, I'd hope so.



For his part, Squall is only half-listening.

: ...Yes, sir.

So now it's up to us to find Ellone.


We don't really have much to go off here.


At least we've got our friend Xu to help us out.


Once we're somewhere quieter, Quistis brings this up. Probably not something Cid needs to know about right now.

: That little girl Laguna was looking after.
: Probably.

If she is that girl, I wonder why she's here.

: Do you know where she is?


This is something of a problem.

: Let's split up and look for her.

At least the Garden isn't particularly large.


Rinoa, of course, wouldn't know this. She's never had one of the Laguna dreams.

: She's a person in the 'dream world'.


Good response to being told you're looking for someone from someone's dreams.


Well, let's get to it.



These two aren't very useful.


She's not upstairs, so let's look on the main floor.


Oh, now you're not gonna tell me to make trouble?


Maybe these two can help us.



I'll take a reading, sure.





Wonderful.


Kadowaki's no help. Maybe if Ellone tried to decapitate Squall.


Maybe the gossip teens are in the know.




They are not.


In fact, this small child is the only one who offers any real direction at all. Thanks, small child.


In other news, I haven't fought enough battles recently, so I got demoted. Now I'll only have more gil than I know what to do with, instead of way more gil than I know what to do with.


Hey, it's that girl we talked to before.

And here's a music track to go along with this next scene:




Whatsername: Yes, Squall?
: Are you...Ellone?
Oh, it's Ellone: Yes...


Squall isn't exactly ebullient at this news.

: You're Ellone? THE Ellone?


She doesn't say anything, just nods.

: (What is going on?)

Good question.


Another good question.



We are finally in a situation that might warrant answers, so Squall asks about this.


Unfortunately, Ellone is feeling reticent.


No wonder the guy never asks anyone anything, nobody tells him anything anyway.

Ellone: But...one thing... It's about the past.

: (...So we were viewing the past?)

This is pretty much the only thing the player could have worked out themselves.


Well, that's horseshit, cuz there were clearly two different scenes in Julia's room.

Ellone: But even still, if there's a possibility, it's worth a try, right?
: (Change the past? Is she serious? Give me a break...)


This is another good question.

: Are you the one taking us to that 'dream world'!?

It's a good bit of characterisation that Squall asks these questions here. He is, naturally, just as worried about the dream world as everyone else, as you can tell by the fact that he's shouting these questions at Ellone.


This is probably not what Squall wants to hear.

: (...Not again. So much I don't understand.)

Since he's become a SeeD, Squall's entire world has pretty much collapsed around him.



He is not happy to hear that another person is using him.




It's been a bad week for Squall.


At this point, Xu walks in.




It's kind of awkward for everyone involved.


No, he is not.


Ellone says something to Squall.



Then she leaves with Xu.








As Ellone sails into the sunset, Squall realises how alone he is.


And he begins to realise something. This line, of course, isn't historically true.



Everything is coming down around Squall.


That includes the support structures that gave him the chance to believe he was getting by on his own until this point.


This is pretty ironic, considering he took orders the whole time, and the first time he took initiative, he went looking for someone to tell him what to do.


Of course, that's the point. It's a very childish outlook to say "I got here all by myself," and Squall is growing up. It's not an accident that the story starts with him graduating.


Following Squall's monologue there, we're treated to this shot of a child standing in the rain.


His thoughts are along a similar line.


There's a difference here: he's getting on okay despite being alone. To Squall, being alone is the natural condition.


Something's been lost here, something's missing. This is not a child that wants to be alone, but a child that resolves to make the best of a bad situation.