WHO: Nanaki WHAT: A new dream to protect WHERE: Cosmo Canyon WHEN: Memorial Weekend
Building a settlement in the middle of Galbadia nowhere entailed a brush up on his driving and navigational skills. It was sheer luck (and a few extra gils tossed along) that he was allowed to rent the car at all. Nanaki had a student license that he badly needed to replace but he kept forgetting to ask Red about it. But fortune was not on his GPS's side, at some point he had gotten hopelessly lost. What he only had was a set of coordinates, no arrow markers, no flashing signs, no gas station where he could ask for directions or take a restroom break, no nearby McMogs to stave his hunger. It was midnight and he was still driving on unpaved road, passing through endless desert landscapes and rock formations at the mercy of his headlights.
And no other vehicle in sight.
If this is a prank grandpa, I swear to Hyne...
"Or what?" He could almost imagine his grandfather challenging him with his Hynemas Father laughter.
He parked the car by a canyon wall, his phone illuminating a series of ladders to the top. Those appeared to be recent. He stared up at the towering limestone cliffs, wondering if they were the very same one that appeared on his grandfather's Loiregram. He couldn't check it now, GPS was draining his battery.
No way to go but up, he slung his bag to his back and started his ascent, halfway he started to think how this could be foolish and entertain the possibility of finding nothing up there but a look-up point and having to go all the way down in the dark. As doubts clouded his thoughts, he took the last ladder until--
"HALT! Who goes there! Identify yourself!" Called a muscular man with a thick black beard and a shotgun pointed at him. Nanaki nearly raised his hands and plummet to his death. "I'm looking for..."
"Identify yourself!"
"It's just me...Nanaki!"
The man's countenance changed, his scowl spreading to a wide smile, "Hey it's Nanaki!"
And his name was passed on like wildfire, hands grabbed the boy up, his clothes straightened and his bag taken by these people he did not know. The shotgun was just a long stick that could pass as a firearm in the dark.
"Sorry kid," The guard clapped him on the shoulder. "We've been getting suspicious visitors, we had to make sure."
"Did you walk all the way here??"
"No you idiot, he'd have to drive!"
"Yes in fact," Nanaki turned back to where he came from. "I have a car down there...I'm afraid I might be having a flat tire."
"No worries we'll have a look at it!"
"Hurry, your grandfather's waiting at the observatory!"
Nanaki could have had a proper look at the buildings around the area, but he set his sights on the giant dome in the middle, one that would lead him to his grandfather, missing for nearly 2 months! A part of him was furious, a part curious...What was this observatory? Who were those people and what role did his grandfather play in all these scheme?
He was greeted by a wooden table surrounded by empty kegs and crates, used as a place to put on foodstuff and bottles at the absence of a cupboard. There was an electric stove with a pot of stew that made his stomach churn. Then a small ice box. A lone but bright bulb illuminated this dining room and next to the door was a slot leading to a ladder to the second floor where there was a bed and an old green couch with a folded blanket and a pillow, a stack of books hinted Nanaki as to who was sleeping in there.
"Are you there, Nanaki?"
"Grandpa!" Nanaki climbed the final ladder, all the pent up frustration and anger he cultivated in all those weeks have vanished at the sound of his grandfather's voice. He just wanted to see him face to face. There was so much to tell him, about his mission in Galbadia among other things.
"Ho ho ho! You are finally here!" Bugenhagen exclaimed as Nanaki's pony-tailed head poked up the observatory. "I thought you might have fallen down a cliff."
"Very funny." Nanaki said drily, but gave in to that overwhelming feeling of relief and familiarity by embracing his grandfather, fiercely as his grandfather started to cough out protests, in a way it was not too different from a dog reuniting with his owner for a dreadfully long time...
"Come now boy," Bugenhagen patted, "Let me show you the new observatory!"
"So is this your project now? Putting up random observatories in different parts of the world?" Nanaki gazed up at the telescope, his eyes widened at the realization, "Wait a second..." He pointed at the optical tube, "I know this! This is father's!"
"Yes," Bugenhagen nodded, pulling his beard, "I rescued it from gathering dust at Fisherman's Horizon, still in perfect working order. The best of Estharian engineering and your father's vision, all rolled together..." He cleared his throat, correcting that it was the best of FH engineering. They cut ties from the techno-crazed nation the moment they imposed self-exile.
Nanaki's jaw dropped as he inspected how the telescope now fitted in this new dome, "Was this papa's wish? Was this what you were fighting about all those mornings?"
"Your father and your mother were concerned about the future. Seto did not trust Odine and refused to remain dependent of his laboratory. The solution was very simple, to branch out." By branch out, Bugenhagen extended his hands out to the dome. "Felicia spoke about this location and its potential, I believe her previous employment had long been interested of the place as an energy source but abandoned it when they've had their share of unwanted visitations. I called upon your friends Cloud, Red and Sabin to exorcise the place, of which they were successful...Then and only then can we resume the construction and ready it just in time..."
"Hold up," Nanaki said with hands out. "Why did you hide this all from me?"
"It was a risky endeavor..." Bugenhagen took a seat at a corner, "There was red tape, then gathering the people. I did not want to disappoint."
"But grandpa," Nanaki's eyebrows knitted in confusion, "Why would I be disappointed?"
"Not you, my dear boy." The man pulled out his sunglasses to wipe them, showing his small squinted eyes, "Your father."
When Nanaki stood outside the dome, taking in the new settlement in its entirety underneath a blanket of stars, he imagined what his grandfather might have gone through. The orphaned cadet was not the only one who regained his family for a short time and he certainly was not the only one to have lost it after. Seto was Bugenhagen's only son, and he could only imagine how it hurt and frightened the old man when his son left their isolated country to an uncertain fate and ultimately to his untimely demise. Their last conversation was through a phone, Nanaki learned from the Master Fisheman of FH, with Seto entrusting Nanaki's care over to the aging astronomer. Not much was spoken between father and son, about their estranged relationship and what it would take to repair it...
And what must have gone on in Bugenhagen's mind as he carried this grief quietly and with dignity. What did he think when Seto and his partner resurfaced? Were there any efforts to make amends? To find closure?
There were always those arguments, his father could be a bit too severe at his grandfather for his continued affiliation with the controversial Estharian scientist who served sorceresses and who remained to have questionable loyalties. Seto feared that Nanaki would be their puppet, their tool to do their bidding. He pressed Bugenhagen on to decide. Time was running out like sands of an hourglass.
Back then, Nanaki thought Seto meant it for himself and Felicia. But it only dawned upon the boy that his father also referred to the centenarian Bugenhagen.
How long did Bugenhagen pace in his Esthar apartment, not so much for his own mortality, but to be the only man who could move them on from a tragic past and forge a more optimistic future? How many sleepless nights did he endure following his son's third disappearance when the spell had been broken?
Now Nanaki was seeing his grandfather's work, the Cosmo Canyon, a home outside Esthar, a home of their own, brought to life by the hardworking men and women of Fisherman's Horizon, former Estharians and dreamers like Seto, survivors and fighters like Felicia. Notwithstanding, the protection of Balamb SeeDs. Oh if his father and his mother could see the fruition of Bugenhagen's project! They were building homes around the observatory, inspired by their ancestors who fled Esthar for a better life, where their talents and skills would be better utilized. Nanaki did not know it yet, but he would like to protect them, this was his parents' dream and his grandfather's creation. He would see that it prospers. He would see that it would be strong.