That night he stayed at the village. Though Snow was an outsider, since he fought to protect the village everyone gave him a warm welcome.
It wasn't just Snow. Everyone in the village was showed thanks to the cactuar that sent the behemoth kings into the earth.
“I really want to treat this little guy to a feast of all its favorite foods.”
Ronnie looked disappointed when he heard the cactuar wasn't a carnivore or a herbivore and that it didn't even drink water. A monster would no doubt at least drink water, but this cactuar wasn't a monster.
“Even if we can't feed it, I'd still like to express my thanks somehow. It's the person that saved the village after all.”
As Helman said that, someone else threw in a, “cactuar's aren't people.” “It's actually a fal'Cie,” flashed a thought in Snow's mind, but of course he stayed silent. It was because not one person had realized the cactuar's true identity.
When the crest of Pulse appeared, Ronnie and the others had all hit the ground. They were probably trying their hardest to run away when the crest was being carved into the earth. Only Snow knew that tremendous strength had come from a fal'Cie. So there was no point in saying any more than what was necessary. To them, whilst the cactuar was a monster, it was also the one that saved their village. It should be left as that.
“Oh yeah, you said it was separated from its herd?”
“Huh. Yeah. That's right. We were chasing after the herd.”
This wasn't the truth either, but he thought he would stick with it.
“How about if, and I'm just saying if, you don't catch up to the herd, you come back here? You could live with together with the cactuar here. There's not a single person here who would chase it out despite the fact its a monster. I can promise that.”
“If we don't catch up to them... huh?”
“Well,I know it'd be best if it could go back to its herd. But, the steppes are pretty vast. So I thought maybe something like that could happen too.”
That's right. The Archylte Steppes were vast. This world is vast, too. Hadn't he felt that himself when the cactuar dispatched the amphisbaena?
“You're right. I'll think about it. This is the only village that'll let me keep a monster, at any rate.”
“I think this is probably the only village that has been saved by a monster, too.”
“I wonder about that,” said Snow in his head. The thought that monsters are enemies and there was no way they would help people is a one-sided misconception held by humans.
P132-133
Maybe in the future, there will be more villages that are helped by monsters. Not only that, but maybe we'd even have things like human and monsters fighting as one, too..
“But I gotta say, the landscape sure changed a helluva lot.”
Said someone, as if they'd just remembered it. Upon re-inspection, the cliffs that had formed along the fissure were actually of quite the height. Unable to make the ascent on his injured leg, Snow had to have a rope tied around his body and be pulled up.
“But thanks to the formation of those cliffs, it'll probably be safer now. I think large monsters probably won't be able to get over that.
“Oh great cactuar, your highness” said someone else. Ronnie gave a big nod, “you said it.”
“I'd like to build a bronze statue or something.”
“We could even put an inscription that said ‘Our hero, the cactuar. Savior of the village' or something like that, right?”
The place burst with merriment. Everyone had been joking at the time. But, after the laughter died down, Helman suddenly slapped his hand on his knee.
“How about instead of a bronze statue, we build a stone one? It'll be a symbol of our gratitude. And even if the cactuar doesn't get back to its herd and ends up living here, it won't feel as lonely if there's a stone statue that looks just like its friends, right?”
Ronnie nodded, “well there's a good idea.”
“It's a bit lonely to just have one. Shouldn't we build a few?”
“Right, let's build a huge one. One you can even see from far away. A big one that'll scare off a behemoth king would be good.”
“No, it'll be lonely if there aren't a few small ones too.”
“They do say it's better to be too big than too small.”
“It doesn't work that way, in this case you know.”
“No, no...”
The talk about building stone cactuar statues went on for ages. Surely the next time they visited the village, they would be greeted by several stone cactuar statues. Even after their deaths and with the passing of hundreds of years, the cactuar statues made of stone would likely still be standing in these steppes.
・・・
“Now then.”
The next morning, they departed with the rising sun. Snow turned to face the cactuar.
“What are you going to do now?”
As usual, the cactuar was silent. Snow squat down on the spot and looked at the cactuar.
P134-135
He wanted to be on the same level as the cactuar, but even though he was squatting, he still ended up looking down at it. Even so, it still wielded that great strength so, a fal'Cie was still a fal'Cie despite its size.
“Hey. Would you travel with me? I'll help you get your powers back while we look for your friends. Once we get your powers back, help me out. A fal'Cie could turn a l'Cie back into a human, right?”
Once the cactuar got his fal'Cie powers back, maybe he could have it turn back Vanille and Fang who were sleeping in the crystal pillar. Of course there remained the problem of what should be done after Cocoon was no longer being supported, but he could just find some other solution for that.
Besides, if he continued to travel with the cactuar, he could become friends with other fal'Cie. Maybe there was one who would know where Lightning was. Or perhaps he could become allies with a higher fal'Cie capable of saving Cocoon itself. Was he thinking too optimistically? To not be kept as pets by fal'Cie or be at odds with them, but instead to coexist as companions. Was that too naive a hope to have?
Somewhere in this world, an abnormality to the extent of involving not only humans, but also fal'Cie was in the process of occurring. Surely there was some significance in meeting the cactuar at a time like this. We met because we were meant to meet. I want to believe that.
“You laid your life on the line to protect me didn't you. When we were attacked by that amphisbaena. And then you protected the village too.”
Perhaps it had only been because humans were l'Cie material that it didn't let them die, but right now he thought he would believe simply in the fact that the cactuar was protecting people.
“Even humans and fal'Cie can become friends. If there haven't been any examples of that up until now, then we can just become the first exceptions.”
The cactuar stared fixedly at Snow. They say that fal'Cie have neither hearts nor feelings. But, they have the ability to understand words and think as well. Then, they should have the capacity for understanding.
“Let's go together. Let's search for them together. You and me, we could do it.”
If you decide you can't do something to begin with, then even if the path is right before you, you wouldn't be able to travel it. If you discard your preconceptions, then surely there are any number of paths. Like how Vanille and Fang had become his precious companions despite the fact he couldn't imagine fighting together hand-in-hand with Pulse l'Cie.
“Fal'Cie only do things like turn people into l'Cie and turn them back from crystals for the purpose of using them as tools, right? Your powers are for becoming friends with humans. I believe that.”
Snow stood up. The cactuar came beside him, looking the same as usual.
“All right! Then it's settled!”
While striking a triumphant pose, he thought of Vanille and Fang who were sleeping in crystal stasis, and then he thought of Lightning who had to have been fighting somewhere.
When his journey ended and they were reunited, what would the girls say when they saw his little companion? They could be utterly taken aback, or they could laugh and say it's just something Snow would do. When he imagined the scene, a smile naturally appeared on his face.
P136
“Let's go, partner.”
Snow and the cactuar took one step on ground still fresh with morning dew, and then began walking.
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