By midnight of that day all but one of the invited guests was resting in the palace's reserved rooms. The only one missing was only the one the royal family had expected to be missing, and made him an afterthought, for he would surely act as least impressed as he could during the festival when he arrived. Indeed, a few knights had even suggested taking Amarant's name off the guest list, but neither the King nor the Queen would have it. Whether he liked it or not, Amarant was part of the team.
The others, however, were all in attendance. The first to arrive was the reclusive Black Mage known as Vivi Ornitier, who had traveled across two continents to be at the event. He was greeted warmly by the entire kingdom of Alexandria, or at least everyone who remembered him. Standing quite a bit taller at twelve years old, Vivi was dressed in his traditional black mage garb, making him all the more recognizeable.
Though Vivi had come alone, some of the invited guests brought others close to them. Physically, the female Dragoon from Burmecia known as Freya Crescent had changed little, still wearing her red coat and having Burmecia's coat of arms tied around her neck, but she had recently found her past love in Sir Fratley, another warrior from the Rat Kingdom, and had requested permission for him to attend. It was allowed, and the two warriors from the other side of the continent had promptly arrived early that evening.
Only a few hours later did the next guest arrive, a bouncing little girl who took her sweet time investigating Alexandria and how much or little it had changed. Upon seeing Eiko, Garnet was thrilled. The girl was now nine years old, and was just beginning to show signs of development in her young body. Still proudly showing off her summoner's horn amidst her large amounts of purple hair, Eiko claimed to be over Zidane years earlier, though the Queen could still detect a little sparkle in her eyes every time she glanced at the King. Eiko had eagerly explained that the Regent Cid and Lady Hilda Garde of Lindblum were treating her very nicely as their adopted daughter, and she was even more thrilled that she had recently been allowed to bring all the Mogs from Madain Sari to live there as well.
Arriving later that evening was a regretful Quina Quen, who had wished he could have attended earlier to help prepare the meal. Unfortunately for him, he had spotted a frog hopping across the pond close to where he lived, and by the time he was done clearing the pond of frogs, several hours had already passed. Nevertheless, he was still his jolly self, with his bulging belly even more apparent than before. He had obviously grown quite a bit fatter since his travels with Zidane, but he had a special note not to let it slow him down - Though he did make an effort not to smother Garnet when he hugged her upon arriving.
By the time Quina had arrived, it was nearing midnight. Garnet decided to postpone the reunion until the next day, as it would allow the weary travelers to rest, as well as give Amarant more time to show up, as she refused to start the reunion until he arrived. The others had no problem with the Queen's request, however, and most retired to their bedrooms, tired from the long journey.
Zidane and Garnet relieved Lord Steiner and Lady Beatrix of their duties until the morning, and had gone to their royal chambers at about one in the morning, with both of them very eager to catch up on lost time. The King and Queen had only seen many of them in messages delivered between the various kingdoms. Through the information they had collected, the King and Queen had discovered that since the group had departed, Vivi had returned to the village of the Black Mages to live with his kind and Freya had returned to the rebuilding of Burmecia, which was undergoing its construction quite well, she had said. Eiko had been adopted by the Regent of Lindblum, and Quina had returned to Qu's Marsh. As far as they knew Amarant was still wandering around the world, experiencing the world as he passed it. Unable to contain their excitement, the two finally out the candles and went to bed.
Several hours later a crashing sound was heard and the Queen snapped awake instantly. Detecting the sound as coming from the east of the castle, she shook Zidane awake hurriedly and opened a window to see what the commotion was. Upon seconds Steiner had leaped into the room to protect the Queen with his sword unsheathed.
"Princess, stay away from the window!" He bellowed. "He may be an assassin or a thief." Garnet, still a bit shocked by the noise, obliged and stepped aside. Zidane and Steiner looked out the window simultaneously and saw a small fire burning near a growth of trees. Steiner rushed out the door to get some water bearers ready. Zidane still stared outside, trying to piece together the scene. He could make out several blocks of wood and metal scattered around the area, and a huge object in the center of it all, though he couldn't see it clearly. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he soon realized just what it was. His jaw dropped.
"I don't believe it!" He leaped out the window and landed on his feet upon hitting the ground. Garnet stood, puzzled, until she could identify it as well.
At that moment Vivi ran into the room. "W...What's going on?" He managed to stammer.
"You're not going to believe this, Vivi, but an airship just crashed into the castle!" She said, surprised as she said it.
Zidane ran through the brush and forest until he saw several men rushing buckets from a nearby stream to put out the fire. Off to the left he could hear two men shouting, and he instantly ran to the scene. There he saw one familiar face beating on another familiar face.
"You idiot! How could you fall asleep at the handle!" The larger one shouted.
"I'm SORRY, boss, but my mind just sorta wandered off...OWW!" The smaller figure fell to the ground as the big one punched him again. He then caught sight of Zidane and started laughing.
"Well, uh...I suppose you're wondering what's going on." He said sheepishly.
"Baku, what the hell are you doing here!? And more importantly, what the hell is the Theater Ship for Tantalus doing on the castle grounds in flames!?"
On the ground, the smaller figure stood up, rubbing his head. "We were gonna surprise you, Zidane, but..."
"But that idiot Cinna fell asleep while piloting the ship, and we crashed in!" Another member of the team hopped over the ruined airship and gave Zidane a brief hug. "How ya been, anyway?"
"Pretty good, Marcus. And speaking of which, you guys did surprise us."
"Aye, just not the way we intended to."
"You got that right, sugar!"
Zidane turned to see Blank and Ruby, two more members, running to meet with their former comrade.
"Yeah, definitely. So, who's putting out the fire?" Zidane asked.
"We are! Nice to see you, Zidane!" Quick as lightning Zidane saw the triplet cow morphs Zenero, Benero and Denero streak by, each holding two buckets of water. Zidane shook his head and grinned. Marcus and Blank were still getting them to do all the work.
"Oh, Zidane...We picked
someone up along the way you might be interested in." Baku said. "Me." Zidane instantly recognized the
voice and turned to see the easily noticeable fiery red hair and the pale green
skin. "Great to see you too, Amarant. How did you get together with these
clowns?" "I was on my way to Alexandria and these jokers spotted me from the
ship. I did something very stupid and actually got on. Look where I ended up."
Amarant groaned, stroking his goatee. "Ummm...Guys? We might really want to
put out this fire." Cinna chimed in. Zidane clapped his hands together.
"Okay, Rusty is gonna be here soon, so let's get started. Cinna, Marcus, help
the triplets gather water. Ruby, go inside the ship and turn everything off,
just to make sure we don't get an explosion. Blank, Amarant, Baku, and me will
try to put out the fire with the water already here." "Hey, when did you
become the boss?" Baku snarled." "When I became King." Zidane sneered back.
"Now let's get moving!"