After a lot of walking on the Horizon Bridge, Squall has some time to think, and it really begins to settle in his mind what he's doing. He's not used to acting off of impulse, so now that his brain has had time to process everything, he begins to go through this rationally. He realizes that even if he does get to see Ellone, that doesn't mean everything will get fixed. Even so, he realizes that he's changed quite a bit.
He decides to take a break and places Rinoa gently down on the bridge as he sits down and gazes out over the water. He wonders what everyone's doing, if they're laughing at him or if they're mad at him. Then he turns and addresses Rinoa aloud, and even though she can't actually hear him, the fact that he's trying to vocalize his feelings out loud to another person is a big step for him. Squall tells her that he actually cares way too much about what others think of him. He hates that side of him, and that's why he didn't want anyone to get to know him. It made it easy for him to keep his distance when everyone thought he was just an introverted, unfriendly guy, so that's the image he strove to maintain. He thought people would keep their distance if they thought he didn't really care.
After a while, Squall encounters Zell and Quistis. Looks like they'd already set out before he got a chance to leave with Rinoa! They tell him that they're escorting Edea to Esthar, and she walks on screen. When did she even get onto the Garden anyway? Eh, whatever. When Squall asks her what business she has in Esthar, she tells him that she needs to see Dr. Odine, who is the number one guy to talk to when it comes to sorceresses. He knows more than anyone. Edea wants to find a way to protect herself from Ultimecia, and she figures the best way to do that is to get rid of her sorceress powers. Odine may know a way to do it.
At this point, Selphie and Irvine return from scouting the area. Esthar's supposed to be huge, but they can't find it anywhere. They've checked north and south, so let's head east next, which leads us to the Great Salt Lake. I like the design of this place, and the music kind of gives it an eerie, mysterious feeling. I love the giant, dinosaur-esque skeletons everywhere. Looks cool. Before they head out, Edea warns them that they must be alert, even in her presence, because they don't know when Ultimecia will try to possess her again. If that happens, they all know what to do.
Of course, thinking about this gets them all into a very somber mood. Squall says that someone once told him that if you mention bad things, they'll come true (That someone is Laguna, by the way. He says it at the end of the second dream sequence). While it's just a silly superstition, he wants to believe it for now, so they decide not to talk about it anymore. The Great Salt Lake isn't a very big area. You can find a shortcut on the first screen if you walk up the giant skeleton to the right, which also leads to a Meteor Draw Point, which is nice. After a while, you'll run into Abaddon, an undead boss. An elixir or the Recover command make short work of the thing, so I don't bother fighting the thing "traditionally" too often. It has pretty high defense against virtually everything but curative stuff, so it's just easier to kill it with an elixir or Recover.
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