She tugged on the untucked hem of my shirt, silver eyes bright with tears as yet unshed. "Grandpa, make him let me go!" she pleaded.

I swear, Cariad cries more than the whole rest of the bunch put together. Why mess with a trick that works? Even knowing the tears will stop as soon as she gets what she wants, Cariad looks so darn cute that you can't bear to see her cry.

Except that this time Squall was right. I reached down and patted her shoulders, but shook my head. "I can't go with you, Cari," I told her with real regret. "I can't cross over the way you can."

She hugged my waist fiercely - and she might look like a china doll but she's stronger than your average bull - and sniffled plaintively. "But how'm I supposed to grow them if I don't know why they grow, Grandpa? I hafta have some of them so I can make them grow. Make Daddy let me go!"

I shared a helpless look with Squall, who shook his head, for once unmoved by Cariad's tears. "I could take her over but I can't stay. I'm not deserting her even in a chocobo forest by herself. There's more in those forests than just chocobos."

I stroked Cariad's hair to calm her. "Some compromise?" I ventured. "She doesn't want to stay in the chocobo forest. Just get samples of the greens."

"She'd still be alone while she gathered them," growled Squall. "She can't call her power alone, and she won't use it anyway even if she's attacked." He looked down at his daughter. "Will you, Cariad? If a monster comes after you, could you attack it?"

Cariad's response was all the answer either of us needed. She looked terribly conflicted and horrified, all at once. She just can't get her head around the idea of combat, even to preserve her own life.

And this is Squall's daughter. He found her attitude as inexplicable as I did myself. Most of the others weren't big on combat either, but at least they understood the idea of self-defense.

"No," said Squall flatly. "Chocoboys can't fight. And I'm not leaving her alone when she can't defend herself."

I considered the problem. "Perhaps Irvine...?" I suggested.

Squall growled. "Irvine is a SeeD, Father," he snapped. "And attached to Garden. He can't just take off for a few days because Cariad wants to go gardening."

"You could ask," I said mildly. "It wouldn't hurt. Maybe he's open to the idea. Or at least knows someone who could be spared."

It was enough hope for Cariad, anyway.

"There's also the point that Chocoboys only let one person at a time into their forests," continued Squall relentlessly. "It's rare, but it's not unknown for a person to just not come back out."

"Then ask Irvine to gather the greens for her when he has the chance," I pleaded. "She wouldn't have to leave the eternal realm at all if Irvine's willing to get what she needs."

Squall's hand went to his face in a pose of resigned frustration. "Father - what part of 'Irvine is a SeeD' did you not understand? As in, 'on active duty'?"

"And what part of 'ask him' do you have a problem with, Squall?" I pressed. "Look - if he says 'no' then I'll let it go. But it does no harm to ask him. Unless you're just too embarrassed to."

Squall glared at me, and I hid a grin - that was exactly what his problem was. He didn't want to ask for favors for his children. But he realized he wasn't going to win on those grounds, I think. His expression took on the distant look it habitually wears when he speaks to the holder of his junction - in this case, Irvine. When he focused back on us, his mood was sour. "He's on assignment right now," he said. "And he's going to need Rinoa and me paying attention to what he's doing so we can back him up if needed." As I opened my mouth to ask how the request went, he raised a hand to stop me - plainly running out of patience. "If he succeeds in his current mission, he says he has enough leave stacked up to do your chocobo forest run. I'll let you know when that is - but you'd better not distract me until then."

And with that he disappeared - never one for hanging around once a situation is resolved. Which it was - Cariad was clinging with happy delight to my shirt tails.

"I'm gonna grow gyshal greens!" she said happily - almost squeaking in her delight.

I've heard of broadcasting empaths - Odine made a point of studying any person rumored to have unusual abilities, like Ellone. Some people, when they feel a thing, they make other people around them feel it too. They 'broadcast' their feelings on some sort of mental wavelength. I keep thinking Cariad might be one of those sorts of people - because when she's happy, you're happy, and when she's sad you'll do anything to make her happy again. Thank Hyne she's easy to please...most of the time.

"So...what're you going to do with your greens when you get them?" I asked her.

She blinked up at me. "Chocobos eat them," she told me. "They can eat everything, but they hafta have the gyshal greens, right? So if I can grow gyshal greens, then Chwaer can live with me anywhere we want and she won't have to live in a chocobo forest to get the greens."

It's a good thing the twins are easily the most cheerful and peaceful of Squall's children. The way their minds mesh, if they wanted to take over the world they could probably do it in a week or less. "Nobody's ever grown gyshal greens outside of a chocobo forest, Cariad," I warned her. "That's what keeps the chocoboys in money - they sell off the surplus to the chocobo stables."

Cariad smiled triumphantly. "Yes they did, Grandpa!" she declared. "I met somebody - up by that big black crater in the north. He said in his time lots of stables grew their own greens, all kinds. And they bred chocobos that were different colors with them, that could climb mountains and swim rivers and fly!" She laughed. "Think of it, Grandpa! Chwaer an' me...we could bring back the gold chocobos."

I shook my head. "It sounds more like a fairy story, Cariad," I said sadly. "I know the histories - and yes, there's mention of colored chocobos who could do the things you're talking about. But they needed more than just gyshal greens - and that's why they're not around any more. When the crater was made, the world changed. Those special greens died out. If you grow your gyshal greens your yellow chocobos could be the best in the world - but if you try to breed up the colored chocobos again, they'll die on you. They need special greens to fuel their special skills, and without them they can't survive. Chwaer wouldn't like watching her blue and green chocobos dying on her."

"...Can't?" asked Cariad, her face having fallen with every word until she was the picture of sorrow itself. "But how'll we visit the others, then? We wanted to make gold chocobos so we could visit the others when we go back."

Oh yes. I'd heard about that - the plan to scatter when Squall returned them to the world. Logically it makes perfect sense - a lone person is much harder to find than a group of six people. It hadn't occurred to me that Cariad wouldn't like that. Though I suppose it should have.

"We-elll..." I began, "there's other ways of getting around besides chocobos, you know. Boats, planes, cars..."

"Money, Grandpa," said Cariad dejectedly. "We don't have any. You need money to get those things."

Quite true, unfortunately. And I didn't want to consider the sort of offers the twins might get if they admitted that to the wrong people. "Well, there's no rule that says they can't visit you, is there? Or that you could breed up those really good yellow chocobos and maybe sell them to good homes? Or sell off surplus gyshal greens - because I know you're going to work out what the secret is, Cariad."

She smiled at my encouragement. "You're right, Grandpa," she said. "We could do that. At least I could sell the gyshals. I don't think Chwaer would want to sell her chocobos. Chocobos get hurt a lot if people don't care for them."

"Well, there you go then. You'll work out how to grow the chocobo greens away from the forests, and you can sell off your surplus to get money to pay visits to the others. See? Problem all solved."

She smiled, which meant she agreed with me. She waited with me while Squall and Rinoa took care of whatever mission Irvine had them helping on - he's found that borrowing their eyes is a big help on sniper missions. He's in his forties now, and while he's still one of the best sharpshooters in the world, he might not still be the best. When he draws on Griever's sight and Griever's strength, though, no one can beat him. Most of his assignments are assassination missions; he's never been caught. Not with his shooting skills, and Selphie's quick getaways. I killed time with Cariad playing Triple Triad, and tried not to wonder too closely about who Irvine might have been sent after.

Squall returned a few days later, carrying a pair of very large urns - one in each hand. He set them down at Cariad's feet.

"Here are your gyshal greens, Cariad," he said flatly. "Irvine took a two foot radius around each plant, and dug two feet down. If it's anything to do with what it grows near, or what it grows in, you should be able to find it. I know where the spot he took them from is, so if it's location I can show it to you without you crossing over. He said to tell you if you work it out you have to share the secret with him; SeeD could use the knowledge." And with that he walked away again.

I would have upbraided him for the lack of any sort of affectionate greeting - Cariad being very sensitive - but he seemed to know that where plants were concerned his presence wasn't needed. He had barely vanished when Cariad was all over those urns, checking the health of the plants and the makeup of the soil.

I would have left her alone with them, but she quickly recruited me. She's strong enough to carry both urns alone, but not big enough - so I had to carry one for her, as we moved to her greenhouses in Griever's realm.

Griever has set aside spaces in its little pocket universe for all of its family. I have a room not unlike the one I had in Winhill, the Pride each have their own little places and unique setups...and Griever keeps it all in existence for us. Cariad has a small cottage she shares with Chwaer, with a large garden and an even larger greenhouse, and chocobo stables in the back. She's one of the few here who actually has sunlight in her part of the realm, and it shines at different intensities on different parts of her land. The effect is sort of similar to what you'd see in a sunlit forest - bright light near half-shade, that sort of thing - except that of course you're not in a forest.

We took the urns to the greenhouse, where we set them down - and I didn't get a chance to suggest maybe taking a breather because immediately she wanted to go hunt down Squall to see where the plants had been taken from. So she'd know what kind of light they were used to, she told me. I got dragged along for that, so that Squall seemed torn between irritation at his daughter's demands, and amusement at my predicament. But he took us there, and Cariad whipped out a notebook and pencil and started taking notes like nobody's business. I shot a look at Squall - it was a little frightening to see the intensity with which Cariad attacked her work. He shrugged, almost imperceptibly. She wasn't causing trouble, and her work might prove valuable - he wasn't going to interfere.

Well, of course not. Cariad had already snagged me to carry notes and urns and anything else. What did Squall have to worry about?

We waited while she took her notes, and once she was satisfied Squall left again - he doesn't like leaving Rinoa to handle Griever's work alone, and there's more of that then you might think.

"You have what you want?" I asked her - just to be sure.

She nodded. "Partial sun all day," she said. "I want to check around the forest while we're here, see if the other gyshal greens that are around here grow in similar lighting conditions. If they do, then I know where our two test plants have to go in my gardens. I'm already fairly sure water doesn't matter - that they can survive on a lot or a little. The chocobo forests pop up all over the world, and if something can survive in both Centra and Trabia, then things like water and temperature don't matter much. It's got to be light and soil composition."

Like this makes the slightest bit of sense to me. I'm pretty good on guns and what you can shoot with them, and that's really all I know about the world. Well - and a little politics. But plants don't generally enter into that unless you're trying to smoke them. So I followed her around the forest - we can do that on either side of life, but on this side there's no monsters and you can't affect anything you see - and she took page after page of notes on where the plants were found, how they were positioned, and how well they seemed to be growing.

I'd have been bored to tears, but Cariad is amazing when she's really interested in something. She sort of radiates fascination - you end up watching out of curiosity as to what's going to happen next. She could've been a top-notch accountancy professor, keeping students awake. She got her notes and then we went back to her place - and I swear all I had to do was nod at the appropriate intervals. She did all the rest.

I didn't feel useless though. Cariad hates being alone, and she made it clear that she very much appreciated my company even though gardening really isn't my thing. And really, I was amazed at how much she knew, and how much she was able to find out. She took a sample of soil from each urn, and tested it for composition at various depths - and this is not something you expect a fifteen year old girl to be any good at. But she approached her tasks with the serious caution of a scientist and the love and care of a long-term gardener.

And I helped. Not as anything more than a conversationalist or a lab assistant, but I helped. I don't think I've ever had so much fun getting my hands dirty in my life - I'll certainly never see falling into mud the same way again. I kept her company, kept her smiling, and kept her encouraged when occasionally results didn't make any sense. And eventually she worked out what the right combination of circumstances was - very easy, if you knew, and impossible to guess if you didn't. But now chocobo breeders would be able to grow their own greens, if they had the greenhouse space and patience. Well - they would, if Cariad chose to spread the word when she went back out into the world.

And the very first gyshal green that she got to grow and flower in her greenhouses, she gave to me. Having been at her side the whole time she was working the theory out, I know how to keep it alive. Thankfully it won't need much attention from me - the things can survive a hellishly long time without water, if you get the soil composition right. Which I know Cariad has. And she's set aside a bag of special fertilizer for it, too, which I'm supposed to use on the thing once a month or so, assuming I don't get distracted by...well, my life, and forget.

I don't think I'll forget.

It's hard to forget something Cariad gives you.