Fran leaned up against the engine-room port, letting the wind make the fine curls of fur along her ears flutter and cool as Valendia's endless grasslands sped out below.

"We could go anywhere," Balthier murmured behind her, and when she turned his eyes weren't following hers among the shrubs and trees but instead cast upwards, fixed on the cloudless blue sky straight ahead. He had a smudge of engine grease high on his cheek next to his ridiculous jeweled earring that he didn't even seem to notice, and she couldn't help feeling again that she was almost happy here, with him.

"Yes, I believe we could."