“Now. What to do,”
Snow gave a big stretch as he mumbled this. Grass and sea stretched as far as the eye could see, and a mountain range could be seen in the distance. Archylte Steppes, that's what Fang and Vanille called this place. It was now nearly three years ago.
“No, more accurately speaking, it's would be about two and a half years? More than that?
He bent his fingers, counting, but gave up. What difference would just a month or two make? Above all, he was bad at complicated calculations.
“Just about three years. It's something like that, right?”
Also, these steppes weren't some place that would change in two or three years. The skies so blue that it were dizzying and the flowers Vanille used to gather too were still there.
Only, there was one thing that had changed. It was Cocoon. At the time, Cocoon was still floating in the skies. It was small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.
Because Cocoon was now close to the surface of the ground, it appeared so large that you wouldn't think it was the same thing. The sphere being supported by the glittering pillar looked like an egg being held in arms that reached out from the ground. The two Pulsians were holding Cocoon.
“I always thought it was three people. That Sis was with ‘em too,”
Something rushed past right beside a muttering Snow. As he inadvertently stepped back to avoid them, they came one after another. It was a herd of cactuars.
“Oh yeah, the old man used to chase these around,”
An image of Sazh yelling “Hey!” while waving his hands and chasing cactuars came to mind. It seemed that his afro somehow looked amusing not only to birds, but also to cactuars. The “little green pests” frequently played tricks on Sazh and ran circles around him. It was around then when I discovered things like cactuars were smart for monsters, that they moved shockingly quickly, and that they were generally small but there were some grew enormously tall.
The herd of cactuar that moved kicking up a cloud of dust stopped right about where they passed Snow. Perhaps they were taking a break.
At any rate, this was the first time he had seen so many cactuars. Just with a rough count, it seemed there were thirty, no, fifty of them. There weren't any large enough to be gazed up at, but there were a some around the size of a human child. Then there were also some that were only about the size of long boots. The grouping of cactuars varying in size made it seem like many sets of parent and child cactuars had gathered together.
“A happy cacta-family. No, perhaps a cactuar school? Looks like parents' day [tl: where parents visit and observe their children's classes] to me.”
Serah's face popped into his mind with the word “school.” The one and only teacher of a school of less than twenty students. The day before Snow departed from New Bodhum, Serah had been about to solve a factional rivalry amongst the girls. It seemed that children were people who started one troubling thing after another.
P92-93
“But, if you don't have experience with causing trouble, then you won't acquire the skills necessary to solve it, right? This too is an important lesson for the children. You just have to keep up with it.”
“But it's tough,” said Serah with a shrug and smiled. Everything about her made her seem like a school teacher. Seeing that expression on her face, he thought she would be fine and felt relieved. Serah had a place where she belonged, as well as support. If I could only bring back one more important thing...
Snow had been thinking these things while watching the cactuars, but then by chance a small cactuar came into view. Despite the fact it was a monster, the sight of it standing isolated from the group looked somewhat lonely.
Although, it was standing in the sense of a cactuar would. It wasn't standing dead still or anything. It was busy spinning around on the spot and making passes at the sheep. But, amidst all that it would stop to look at the group once in a while. Maybe in this dog-eat-dog world of Gran Pulse, even amongst cactuars the smallest ones were weeded out.
“Hey, pipsqueak,”
A lost kitten, a baby bird that fell out of its nest, a hurt puppy. As these images of baby animals overlapped, he inadvertently called to it. The stray cactuar turned around with a spin and looked up at Snow. The ornament on its head wavered as it reflected a red glow.
“You want to go back to your friends, right?”
The cactuar tilted its head. No, cactuar's don't have necks to tilt their heads with, so it was just that it seemed that way.
“Then, you should stop being all indecisive over here and dive in there straight on...”
He was going to give its shoulder a little pat, but he realized cactuars didn't have shoulders. No, there's something else that comes first and foremost.
“Wait a minute? When I think about it, this thing, it's actually a monster!
The moment it occurred to him that “monster equals enemy, beat it up,” the cactuar headbutted Snow in the stomach.
“Ouch! Hey you, hold on a minu... owowow!”
The cactuar used its characteristic speediness to headbutt a second and a third time. Although, perhaps because it was still small, they were of a strength that could be stopped with some force. But.
“I said wait, hey!”
But for some reason he was against hitting it. Even though it was a monster, the idea that he felt sorry for it came before that.
“Somehow, I don't really feel like fighting with you.”
As he spontaneously mumbled that, the headbutting came to a halt.
“You, could it be that you understand me?”
The cactuar didn't shake its head left and right or up and down, it just looked up at Snow.
P94-95
But, to Snow's eyes it looked as if it was giving an affirmative answer.
“I see, you don't like fighting either, huh. Of course. Whether you're human or monster, nobody wants to get hurt.”
It wouldn't be strange for a monster without a herd who felt lonely to think that they didn't want to get hurt or that they didn't want to fight. The moment he grasped that little hand.
“Owowowowow!”
Snow flew into the air. The cactuar's needles were sharp and hard. Its needles were thin and insignificant in appearance, but they easily went right through his leather glove.
“Oh, of course. You can get yourself into a lot of trouble by underestimating those needles.”
It had been so long since he had last encountered cactuars that he had completely forgotten. It was as he muttered an “I've gotta be careful.”
“Oh crap!”
Snow took flight again. Before he realized it, the herd of cactuars had moved. He had forgotten about the pain of full-on grabbing the cactuar's needles.
“We're goin' after them! You're going to get left behind!”
But, cactuars moved fast. The herd steadily broke away from the pair of human and cactuar and disappeared beyond the edge of the steppes. But he continued running and the day had fallen into evening. Before long, it would be night. Find camp while it was still light out. That was what Fang and Vanille had always said the first time he journeyed through Gan Pulse.
More importantly, he didn't feel like he could walk another step. Snow sat down on the spot. Of course the cactuar didn't even break a sweat.
“Sorry. All I did was hold you back...”
It was all because he thoughtlessly called out to it that he didn't realize the herd of cactuar had started to move. He had done something cruel. But, the cactuar didn't look angry or sad, instead it just looked at Snow.
Then, he suddenly realized it. Though small, it was still a cactuar and could run faster than a human such as Snow. Yet, this cactuar had always been running next to Snow.
“I guess you waited for me, didn't you?”
As usual, the cactuar neither moved its head up and down, nor left or right, but this time there would be only one answer.
“You're a good guy aren't you. You could have left me and run ahead, but you couldn't do it.”
Surely having known the loneliness of being left out of the herd, it had reservations about deserting someone.
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Even if that someone was of a different species.
“I got it. I'll do whatever it takes to get you back with your herd. Don't worry.”
This had to be fate.It was a journey without any directions. This detour of searching for the herd of cactuar could unexpectedly drop clues to his destination.
“Now that that's settled, it's tonight's dinner and bed. Right?”
Once again Snow leapt as he put his hand on top of its needle-filled head, incorrigible as usual.
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