1. A Quiet Life

Cissnei had the cobbled street to herself. Faded yellow brick and white-painted wood were the norm in this sleepy neighborhood, with well-tended gardens rolling out from the front of each house. The stillness no longer unnerved her, but she kept glancing over her shoulder nonetheless. Some habits were hard to shake.

The brine-scented breeze was a constant companion in the old harbor town of Utgar, tucked into a rugged bay on the northern coast. Cissnei breathed it in, filling every inch of her lungs. Every now and then the salt in the air stirred a memory from the early days of her childhood. Every now and then, it made her feel at home.

Cissnei looked up as she reached the last crossing on her way to work, casting a habitual glance up at the three-storey building across the street – the only one worth her attention, really. The top half of the brick wall was covered by a faded painting of a cartoon cat with a metal tin in its paws, advertising a brand of pastilles that no longer existed. Quaint and obsolete, much like the rest of Utgar.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. The harbor had gone through a revival after Meteorfall; evident in the number of high-end villas that had sprung up along the coast, since most of them were owned by newly-minted tycoons of the local shipping industry. The Utgar College had also become a serious contender after Midgar's downfall; as it expanded its programs, more and more students flooded into the town each year. At times it almost felt like a proper city.

But summer break had not yet ended, and Cissnei's part of Utgar remained a ghost town.

Another advertisement stuck out from the wall farther down the postcard-pretty street she was walking on, this one a sign shaped like a steaming cup on top of a stack of books. It marked the entrance to her destination, the Ink & Tea salon.

The scents of a dozen teas, spiced up with herbs and petals, engulfed her as soon as she opened the door. Stepping inside was like entering an old-fashioned parlor or library; every wall was panelled from top to bottom in wood stained a warm, dark brown. Arched alcoves were set into the walls on either side of her, some of them home to little tables for the customers. The alcove behind the counter held shelves with pots, cups and saucers.

Cissnei passed through the archway beside the counter into the library at the back of the salon. On her left was a clutter of bookshelves, most of them taller than herself; she passed them without a second glance. Her first stop was the staff room at the far end of the library. Once inside, she slipped on the white, frilly apron that served as her uniform. She ironed four crisp, white tablecloths, one for each of the four round tables in the front parlor. Together, they and she brought some much-needed brightness to the interior. The two windows onto the street were decently sized, but they and the parlor's single chandelier could only do so much against the ubiquitous dark paneling. Ironically, the two rooms in the back were far better lit, since they housed the books the salon offered for sale and reading.

Ten minutes before opening, the owner, a spry seventy-year-old named Mildred, showed up with a cardboard box of books stuffed into the trunk of her car. As Cissnei dragged the box inside, the woman chattered on about her plans to travel to Edge for even more books, peppered with well-meaning exhortations for Cissnei to mind her back; and to be very, very careful when placing books on the top shelves; and to remember to take out the trash when leaving for the day. Cissnei smiled and reassured the old lady, as she always did.

Once the cardboard box was safely tucked away among the shelves, Mildred bade her goodbyes and scurried back to her car. Cissnei eyed the box, but decided to leave it as it was for the time being. It would be a handy excuse when she needed a break from chatty customers. She returned to the front of the shop and opened the front door to another quiet, peaceful… and slow day.

No, she shouldn't complain. This was the life she had chosen, after all.

A little past noon, the bell above the door jangled softly. Cissnei looked up from the book she had been reading and smiled upon seeing a familiar face: a blonde girl in her late teens who would drop in once or twice most weeks. She smiled shyly as she stepped inside, and closed the door carefully before padding up to the counter. A few flimsy strands of hair, too short for her ponytail, stuck to the sides of her round face, which was so pink from exertion that Cissnei suspected she had walked all the way from her seaside home.

"Hi, Nina. What can I get you today?"

"Sunglow, please," the girl huffed as she clambered onto one of the tall chairs by the counter. She was both taller and broader in the shoulders than Cissnei, but the way she hunched in her seat seemed to shrink her down to a similar size. "Just one cup, though."

"You got it."

Cissnei flipped the switch on the kettle, then pulled a jar down from the shelf behind her. The scent of jasmine and oranges wafted up at her as she spooned the flavored tea into one of the empty porcelain teapots. She could hear some shuffling behind her, but otherwise Nina stayed silent. Cissnei had expected as much. The girl's voice was too quiet to carry over the sound of boiling water, and she hardly ever initiated conversation.

Once the tea was brewing away, Cissnei turned back to find a twenty gil note resting on the counter. She smiled at Nina as she picked it up. On the girl's insistence, she had stopped asking whether she wanted any change a long time ago. Lucky for her that Nina was a regular, Cissnei mused as she coaxed open the drawer of the vintage till. A shop assistant's wage only went so far.

"So," she said out loud, "nervous about college yet?"

Nina's breath whooshed out of her as though she had been sitting there holding it, waiting for Cissnei's cue to speak.

"Too busy being angry with Daddy to even think about it. He still thinks I'm making a mistake."

She kept twisting the drawstring of her hoodie, switching directions when the coil got too tight to go any further. Cissnei had never been able to figure out whether it was a sign of anxiety or just a harmless quirk.

"Is this about you planning to do a computer degree?" she asked.

"What else? Every day it's business school this, business school that. As if I'd want to become a secretary." She spat it out like something foul.

Cissnei smiled as she pictured the girl in one of the top-tier institutions her father had no doubt picked out for her, her faded sweats and messy ponytail next to the likes of Rufus Shinra.

Well, the Rufus Shinra she had known when she was still with the company. He must have changed since then. Too old for business school, if nothing else.

"I think it's called 'administrative assistant' these days," she said before that train of thought could derail her smile.

"Ugh." Nina stuck out her tongue. "That sounds even worse."

"Now, now, play your cards right and you could rule the entire company," Cissnei quipped as she placed a cup and saucer on the counter. "Seriously, though… I don't think your dad would send you to business school just to save himself the trouble of hiring another assistant. Isn't it more likely that he wants you to join his company? Maybe take over one day?"

"Maybe, but I don't. I don't care about business deals and meetings, and… and administration!"

Cissnei smiled wryly as she leaned back against the wall. If only the girl had known what Shinra's Department of Administrative Research got up to.

"You just want to open up computers and poke at what's inside all day."

Nina sighed. "That's engineering, Ciss. It's computer science I want."

"You want to… make killer robots?"

She rolled her eyes. "That's robotics. Killer robots are overrated, anyway."

"Okay, okay," Cissnei said, laughing softy. "You want to do whatever it is you'll be doing with your computer sciencing."

"Exactly! Why can't he accept that?"

"It's a dad thing, I guess." She craned her neck to check the time from the ornate clock on the wall beside them. "At least he let you enroll for the program you wanted."

"It's not the one I wanted," the girl grumbled as Cissnei fetched the pot. "It's the only one he would accept, because it's here in Utgar."

"It's a start, though?" Holding the lid in place, Cissnei poured a stream of golden tea into the cup. "I'll bet that when he sees how well you do, he'll change his mind."

Nina gave a mirthless laugh.

"He's only going along with it because he thinks I'll change my mind before the semester starts. He always thinks he knows best, even when it's something he doesn't know anything about! Sometimes I just want to…" With a groan of frustration she threw up her hands, missing her cup by a fraction of an inch.

"Leave?"

"As if he'd let me," she muttered.

Cissnei felt a pang for the girl. She had felt trapped too, once. Raised into the life that others had dictated for her.

But that wasn't something she could ever reveal to Nina – or anyone else, for that matter. Such was the price of her freedom.

"You'll figure something out." Cissnei nudged the cup a little closer to the girl. "Now drink your tea before you knock it over. I didn't make it just so you could spill it all over the counter."

Nina sighed and picked up the cup, steadying it carefully with both hands as she raised it to her lips.

"I'm sorry. I'm boring you again, aren't I? I don't mean to make it all about my problems." She paused to blow at the steaming surface. "I just don't have anyone else to talk to."

"Oh, come on, that's what tea was invented for. An excuse to meet up with friends so you can talk about–"

"Wait!" Nina exclaimed, her eyes big and round. "Did that come out wrong? I didn't mean to make that sound like– I mean, I'd come to talk to you even if I had other friends. I like talking to you!"

"You're overthinking it," Cissnei said, trying to tone down the laughter in her voice. "It's okay, really. I know what you mean."

With a soft whine, Nina sagged back down onto her elbows.

"See? You're so easy to talk to. You always know what to say to people, even if it's someone you've never met before. I don't know how to do that. Everything I say comes out weird or wrong." She sighed again. "Or I just stand there and stare like an idiot because I can't think of anything to say."

An old resentment stirred. Of course she was good at it, Cissnei wanted to snap at the girl. She had been trained for it, year in and year out.

"It's a skill, just like any other," she said instead. "You'll get the hang of it, if you put in the practice." Why had she allowed the conversation to take a turn like this? The memories were circling the edges of her thoughts like a school of sharks.

"You mean just walk up to some stranger and start talking?" Nina pulled a face. "I think I'd rather stay a silent weirdo."

"Your call." Cissnei managed a grin, then pushed herself off the counter and brushed off her apron. "Well, I better get back to work."

"You do?" It sounded like the whine of a puppy. The girl looked like one too, with that pleading look in her big, blue eyes.

"Sorry. The owner dropped off a big box of books this morning and I need to get them shelved today."

Nina nodded glumly and lowered her head to stare into her cup instead.

"Just as well, I guess," she muttered. "Daddy called just before I came in. He wants me to drop by the office as soon as I can."

Cissnei raised her eyebrows and glanced at the cup in the girl's hands.

"So… you decided to drop in here for tea instead?"

Nina's shoulders twitched a shrug.

"He probably wants to hand me application forms for yet another business school. I'm in no hurry to see those."

Chuckling, Cissnei stepped out from behind the counter.

"Well, good luck with that. If you need anything else before you go, just ring the bell."

"Sure."

She felt a twinge of guilt at the disappointment in the girl's voice. It wasn't Nina's fault that she needed a break.

Well, Nina would be back. Cissnei would make it up to her next time.

The afternoon passed quietly. Cissnei polished the mirror behind the counter, one of the few additions she had made to the decor since her arrival in an attempt to brighten up the room – and to keep an eye on things while was preparing tea. She checked her makeup while she was at it; traced the slender arcs of her eyebrows with a fingertip; pursed her lips, idly wondering if she should have worn lipstick after all. She tucked each strand of her wavy auburn hair behind her ears, decided she didn't like it, and pulled it free to frame her face. She fussed with the phrasing of the specials menu she had chalked onto the blackboard beneath the clock, smoothed out the tablecloths on every table, adjusted the lace curtains. She even dusted the wooden window slats of the antique front door. When she got sick of tidying things that didn't much need to be tidied, she returned to the half-emptied box of books on the library floor.

She had put away only a couple of books when the doorbell jingled again.

"Ciss!"

She raised her eyebrows and glanced over her shoulder. It sounded like Nina – or what Cissnei presumed Nina would sound like if she ever raised her voice.

"In here." She turned around just as the girl scampered around the corner, her cheeks pink and her eyes bright with excitement.

"Oh my gods, you'll never believe what–" Nina paused to gulp down air. "I mean… I want you to meet–" Again she cut herself off to suck in a deep breath.

"Woah, take it easy," Cissnei said, puzzled. "What's going on? Did you run here all the way from your dad's office?"

"Nah," a new voice cut in. "Just from the car down the street, yo."

Her mouth went dry. As she turned, her mind raced ahead, mentally searching for an exit even though she knew it was in vain. There was only one door in and out of the back rooms, and in that doorway he stood, leaning a shoulder against the frame. Tall and lanky, with his bright red hair and keen eyes fixed on her, he looked as though he had strolled in straight from her memories.

Reno of the Turks.