The first thing Yeri saw was the kind face of a woman as she dabbed a damp cloth across her forehead. She paused when she saw Yeri watching her.

“Are you awake? Can you speak?”

Yeri opened to answer, but was wracked by a fit of coughing. Her lungs were still burning, raw from the smoke. The woman leaned over and got her a mug of water and Yeri chugged it gratefully.

“Where am I?” Yeri croaked as she handed back the mug.

“My shop,” the woman answered quietly.

Yeri knew this shop. She knew this backroom. And instinctively, her eyes drifted to a familiar door - shut and locked - that led down a flight of stairs into the basement. “Your shop? …Who are you-”

“I heard coughing - is she awake?” Joy asked, darkening the doorway that led out to the store proper. At the apothecary’s nod, Joy rushed in and knelt next to the bed. “I thought I told you not to do anything dangerous!” she admonished.

“Yeah, well,” Yeri dismissed vaguely, though it was hard to sound nonchalant when her voice was all but gone. “Is she alright?”

“The girl?” Joy asked, glancing up at the apothecary.

“She’s fine, she… wasn’t as affected by it as you,” the apothecary answered with a small frown. “But you really scared her.”

“That’s good, but who are you,” Yeri tried asking again.

“I’m the apothecary, Sunmi,” Sunmi answered with a wide, warm smile. It was too much for Yeri in her state.

Joy nodded. “We met after we brought you here. I thought you said the apothecary was-”

“An old man,” Yeri supplied absently. More importantly, “How did you find me?”

“Well…” Joy paused, glancing around, but Sunmi shrugged.

“Everyone here knows - that’s kind of the point.”

Joy turned back to Yeri. “The moogles were right. They’re magic users, Yeri. All of them.”

+++

There wasn’t enough space for everyone crowded into the small front room of Thamasa’s mayor to sit, but at least Yeri was afforded a chair as the rest of the congregation stood. The mayor himself was a tall, wiry man dressed in brown wool breeches and a matching vest, though it had been patched so many times that it had a harlequin appearance. He was attended by Sunmi, the new apothecary, and the father of the little girl whom Yeri and Joy had chased into the decrepit mansion.

“Come now, Horace, it wasn’t malicious,” the mayor implored. “And no harm became Margret, hmm?”

“But it could have! What if the roof had collapsed?” Horace replied irately. He jabbed a finger at Joy. “These outsiders should leave - they’ve already caused enough trouble!”

Joy crossed her arms with a leveling look, but the girl’s father wouldn’t be cowed.

“We should at least hear them out. They came all this way for a reason,” Sunmi ventured, glancing between Horace and the mayor. “And we know they’re not with the Empire.”

“Oh, they’re not, are they? Then how do you explain those two?” Horace accused, gesturing brusquely at Irene and Wendy. “I’ve never felt such power! And who besides us-”

The mayor coughed out of reflex.

“Oh, for the Goddesses’ sake,” Horace cried, “How would they not know by now? Anyway, the only others who have any ability for magic are the Usurpers, so if they’re not of the Empire, then who are they?”

“We’re the Returners,” Joy ground out.

Sunmi clapped her hands. “See? That’s about as against the Empire as you can get!”

Horace squinted. “The Returners are dead. They all died in a raid a couple months ago.”

Joy looked like she was about to fly into a rage, but Irene stepped in. “Some of them escaped. Not… not many, but a few,” she said with a glance at Yeri. “It’s better to let the Empire believe they’ve been completely wiped out.”

“You speak as if you’re not one of them,” the mayor ventured cautiously as he stared down at her. “If you don’t mind my saying, you bear a striking resemblance to-”

“Imperial General Bae Irene,” Irene admitted with a nod.

“She’s a Returner, now,” Yeri said resolutely from her seat. Her voice still hadn’t returned, and the room was silent for a moment after her hoarse comment.

“The council of elders isn’t going to stand for this,” Horace grumbled. “There’s no reason for them to be here if they’re Empire or Returners. We want nothing to do with any of it!” And with that, he stormed out of the mayor’s house, shouldering past Seulgi and Solji gruffly.

The mayor simply sighed at his departure, but Sunmi pouted openly. “I’m on the elder council, too…” she mumbled. The mayor patted her shoulder.

“All of that aside,” he began, raising his voice to the room, “I really must ask why you’re here. We never get visitors to our little town, and we do tend to prefer it that way. For our own safety, you understand.”

Yeri perked up. “That’s why we came! We were told you’re magic users!” 

The mayor made a face. “Well, that’s certainly a crude way of putting it, but yes, I suppose we are. We’re the descendants of the Magi, those blessed with the ability to use magic by the Goddesses themselves. But who told you this?”

What started as the story of their encounter with the Moogles in the caves of Narshe gradually unraveled into the tale of their journeys up until that point, and it was quite late in the day before they had finished.

The mayor, leaning heavily against his desk, rubbed the bridge of his nose. “That… explains a lot,” was all he said for a long moment. He looked to Sunmi who was watching Wendy with a pitying expression. “I think we’ll need to call the council of elders together after all. But we should break for dinner first. You all…” he sighed. “Please be my guests this evening. I live alone, but I’m sure I’ll be able to find something enough for everyone.”

Moonbyul laughed. “Don’t trouble yourself over us, how about you be my guest tonight? Have you ever dined aboard an airship before?”

+++

It was decided that only Joy, Irene, Seulgi, Wendy and Yeri needed to attend the meeting with the elders, while the others elected to retire for the night in the Blackjack. It was still a large group, with the Returners equalling the members of the council, and it felt just as crowded as before as they all stood around Sunmi’s apothecary shop, trying not to knock over any instruments or bottles. It was a curious group, the elders consisting of old men, with the apothecary Sunmi standing head and shoulders above their bent, wizened forms.

“Ifrit’s , open that door, would ya? It’s already boiling in here with all you kids…” 

“Open the door? But shouldn’t we keep this private-” 

“I’m sweating already! There’s too many people here. We should just do this outside.”

“Are they going to help us with the Gate?”

“Shut up about that, will ya? Mayor said they’re the ones who have questions for us.”

“But since they’re here…”

“That’s a good idea - they might know something about it.”

“About what?” Joy finally cut in, raising her voice above the din of the squabbling elders. 

“Gentlemen, I think we should first do some introductions, hmm?” Sunmi interjected in the silence. “This is Queen Sooyoung of Figaro, and her Returners: Kang Seulgi of Mobliz, Kim Yeri of Zozo whom you may already know, and Gen- erm, Bae Irene and Wendy of Vector.”

“Vector,” one of the elders spat.

Sunmi sighed. “...And they have some questions for us,” she finished, opening the floor for Joy.

But before she could so much as get a word out, one of the elders harrumphed. “Bah! Who cares about their questions. If they’re who you say they are, then they should be the ones answering our questions!”

“Yeah, what did you little punks do to the Gate?”

“What’s the Empire up to?”

“You can feel it, can’t you? You’re magic users, too, right?” one of the elders finally asked, his tone far less coarse than the others’. “Something’s… disrupting things.”

It was Joy’s turn to sigh, though she followed the elder’s gaze to Wendy and Irene who were sharing a look. “Why don’t you start from the beginning? What’s the Gate, and what’s wrong with it?”

“Tch, these Usurpers don’t even know where their abilities come from.”

“Be nice,” Sunmi admonished. “How can they be expected to know when we’ve purposefully tried to hide the source all these years?”

“The source?” Yeri asked.

It was quiet for a moment until the less-irate elder sighed. “We might as well tell them. That was the whole point, wasn’t it?”

“The Gate is what separates our world from that of the espers, the Esper World, if you’d like.”

“It was an actual gate, too.”

“Until we sealed it.”

“It was for their protection,” an elder agreed with a nod.

“Now it’s just a big pile of rocks,” a grumpier one grumbled. “We practically brought the whole mountain down on it.”

“For their protection,” one of the elders repeated.

“An esper world?” Seulgi gasped over their squabbling. “A whole world…” she whispered to herself. Irene took her hand to quiet her.

“Ahem, yes, a whole world the Goddesses created, where the espers could live safely, away from the influence of greedy humans,” one of the elders picked up, his long, scraggly beard. “Or at least, that’s what it should have been.”

“Humans have tried to look for it over the centuries, found it once or twice, too.”

“Had to seal it up after the last time it was breached, but these days, it’s… been active.”

“You can feel the pulses, can’t you?” Sunmi asked, turning her gaze on Irene and Wendy pointedly.

From the first time the elders had mentioned it, the two girls had been trying to tap into their abilities, letting themselves feel the power they carried, and indeed it wasn’t sitting as a dormant force itching just beneath the surface, but rather it came and went in heaving sensations, like the rocking of a boat. 

“It’s been throwing all of our magicks out of control. Our abilities have become wild, primal almost,” one of the elders continued, raising his hand and touching the tips of his knobby fingers together.

“That little girl who started the fire…?” Joy began to ask.

“The youngins have a tougher time controlling such powers already,” the grumpier elder grunted in ascent. “But it's even worse lately. Dangerous, even.”

“Luckily we have Sunmi,” the kinder elder added. “Her abilities are… a little different. Instead of coming from the Goddesses like the espers, they come from the beasts that roam the wilds.”

Sunmi looked embarrassed. Even a little ashamed, in Seulgi’s opinion.

“So she was able to put out the fire ity split,” the elder went on. “Her magicks are far more stable than ours these days.”

“Enough to make that old coot think she should be Head Mage,” the grumpier elder growled.

“It was his decision.”

“It was his dying wish, you can’t blame him.”

“It’s not a terrible idea to get some new blood in here.”

“It’s ridiculous!” he harrumphed over the protests of the other elders.

“You were saying about the magical energy from the Gate…?” Joy tried to prompt them, and they paused for a moment as they slowly came back to the topic at hand.

“Right. Well, obviously the Empire’s doing something to disturb the magical forces of this world. If our magic continues to wane and wax so violently, our seal over the Gate could fail entirely!”

“Tell us, Imperials, what is that old fool Gestahl up to?”

Irene soured under the epithet, but Joy spoke up again. “There’s a facility in Vector - we saw it - a Magitek facility where they’re doing experiments on espers.”

“Experiments?”

“On espers?!”

There was suddenly a chorus of hollering and shouting as the elders voiced their outrage at such a revelation, and it took Sunmi and the others a considerable amount of time before they were all calm enough to continue.

“What kind of dastardly, inhumane…”

“Of all the criminal, base-”

“Do you think that could be causing it?” Joy pressed.

“... How many espers did you see in that… facility?” one of the elders asked thoughtfully.

Irene spoke up, being far more familiar with it. She listed the espers she had seen come and go from those massive holding tanks, and the elders’ faces fell further and further into dismay at each name.

“So many…”

“Then it’s no wonder…”

“Tell me, your Highness,” one of the elders finally said, his voice quite grave. “Why do you think ours is called the World of Balance?”

Joy simply shook her head. She had her guesses of course, but she preferred to keep the conversation going.

“Heh. It’s because the presence of magic was balanced between our world, and theirs. When the Goddesses entered their Sleep, they ordered the espers to scatter. To the strong, they said hide, watch over the humans from afar and protect each other. For the weak, they created a new world and bade them live there in safety and peace, away from the warring humans.”

“The Esper World. With magic on both sides of the Gate, we are able to live in the World of Balance with these last vestiges of magic from that time.”

“But if so many espers from our world have already been captured…”

“And killed.”

“... Then there’s no wonder our magicks are on the fritz. What do you think’s gonna happen when the last esper in the World of Balance dies, hmm? Cait Sith, it may not even take killing them all to do it - just enough of ‘em to throw the whole world into chaos.”

“Into Ruin,” the nicer elder murmured. “There’s no telling what may happen. Our magicks may disappear right along with the last of the espers.”

“And the ones in the Esper World would be affected, too!”

“How could you…” The room fell silent at Yeri’s murmur. “How could you?” she repeated, much louder this time. “You knew all this time - you knew they were using magitek, but you didn’t once think where it might have come from? You didn’t try to stop it? You just hid here in your little village away from everything?”

“Yeri,” Joy tried.

“No! How could they? How could they just watch it all happen? How can you pretend to be angry?”

The elders’ expressions were stony as they listened to her emotional tirade. It was an argument they had had amongst themselves for years. For centuries. “Man will always be at war. Our forefathers, the Magi, were not immune to this human condition. You may recall that the very war that sent the Goddesses into their Sleep was indeed called the War of the Magi.”

“It was better to dedicate our lives to protecting the Gate and ensure that nothing befell the Esper World.”

“If we can succeed in at least that much, then there is a chance that balance may be maintained.”

“It wasn’t until the Gestahlian Empire that magic was returned to the battlefield.”

“And that lack of magic before now was precisely because we hid ourselves away all these years. We will not use our magicks for war.”

Yeri couldn’t take anymore of their excuses and stormed out of Sunmi’s shop. It was several long moments before Joy finally apologized and ran after her.

“I think that’s enough for one evening,” Sunmi said, looking at the remaining Returners sympathetically. “This isn’t something we’re used to talking about with outsiders.”

+++

The rest of the Returners climbed back onto the Blackjack and one by one retired to their quarters for the night, each wrapped up in their own thoughts. Seulgi, however, needed to take Boko for his walk, and led the chocobo back up onto the deck. She was surprised when Moonbyul fell into step with her, but she supposed that was expected since the pilot hadn’t been present at the council meeting. She probably wanted an update on the situation, but where should Seulgi begin? 

Instead she said nothing as they walked, thinking about the arguing elders. Despite everything, shouldn’t the biggest revelation be for Irene and Wendy? The moogles were right: they weren’t the only two magic users in this world. But to have hidden themselves away from the war… Seulgi thought of Wendy and the way the Empire had used her abilities and wondered if she wouldn’t have been better off in this secluded village. 

“So… how are things going?” 

Seulgi blinked, about as startled as she was wont to be, and glanced at Moonbyul in surprise. “Oh, uh, well it’s like what the elder moogle said, they’re all magic users,” she began, repeating her thoughts out loud.

Moonbyul looked up at the sky for a moment, though the stars were blotted out by a low cloud cover that threatened cooler nights ahead. “I always knew something was weird about this place. There’s not a lot out here, so I rarely come, but sometimes… well, I have the only airship, you see, so sometimes I’m asked to run special errands. Everything that comes and goes from this place is weird.”

When she didn’t elaborate, Seulgi finally prompted her. “Weird?”

It was Moonbyul’s turn to shake herself out of her thoughts. “Things like crates of specific monsters, usually dead, but sometimes… and of course when I make those kinds of trips, everyone else decides it’s a good idea to either run their blue moon errands in Thamasa, too, or tag along.” Moonbyul paused for a moment, wondering if she should say something more, but decided against it.

“So you’ve been here, too?” Seulgi asked.

Moonbyul shook her head. “Yeah, but not for any length of time. Just enough to unload and take off again. It’s a dull place,” she added, smirking. “I can have way more fun in a place like Jidoor or South Figaro.”

Seulgi nodded, it truly didn’t seem like the kind of town that could hold Moonbyul’s interest for long. But now that she knew how important it was…

“But I wasn’t asking about those old farts on the council.”

“Huh?” Seulgi asked.

“How are things with you? And Irene?”

Seulgi whipped her head around as if expecting to see the ex-general somewhere on deck. Moonbyul laughed and Seulgi tugged her hat low, the brim hiding her eyes.

“I think it’s… going fine,” she finally murmured.

“Mhmm,” Moonbyul goaded.

Seulgi peeked out from beneath the brim of her hat. “What does that mean? D-don’t you think so?”

Moonbyul clapped her hands together as she laughed, then clapped Seulgi on the back for good measure. “It’s a little late for those kinds of doubts, isn’t it?”

Seulgi smiled weakly at the teasing, but she couldn’t help admitting a small, “Well… I guess with Wendy here…”

Moonbyul’s smile also faded to something more tempered. “Yeah. I see what you mean.”

That wasn’t what Seulgi had been hoping to hear and she felt her heart sink.

Moonbyul waved her hands and quickly added, “But I don’t think there’s anything going on between them! I mean… there’s something going on between them, sure, but not that.” She put a hand on Seulgi’s behatted head. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about there.”

Seulgi felt the weight of her hand on her head and was glad for a moment to not be under the knowing gaze of the pilot, but as the silence after that statement drew out, she risked another glance up at Moonbyul. She seemed lost in thought.

“... Reminding her to live in the present wouldn’t hurt, though,” Moonbyul mused. “Anyway, don’t worry about her and Wendy. Whatever history they have, you should let them work it out between themselves. Just keep being you. That seems to be what she needs.”

Seulgi’s eyes disappeared in a bashful grin. “You know, you’re surprisingly sensitive.”

“‘Surprisingly’?!” Moonbyul squawked, earning a small kweh from Boko.

Seulgi was a little chagrined at the exclamation. “Well, I mean for someone who doesn’t seem to get… tied down easily.”

Moonbyul watched her for a moment, her face seemingly caught between two expressions, before she finally settled on a smile. She leaned in and winked. “You never know where the wind will take you - that’s why you just have to take your chances as they come and leave no room for regrets.”

After all, you never know if one day you’ll sail right past that horizon and never come back.