Afterward, she's adrift, lost, scooped out hollow and left wanting, wanting.
Edea stands at the banister, looking down into Balamb Garden's main concourse, and can pick Rinoa Heartilly and her own magic out of the crowd from high up, far away.
She has no idea how she got here, only that escaping, abandoning where she has been hidden in the headmaster's apartment like a ghost, had seemed monumental, vital.
One slender, bare foot raises, toes curling around the iron bar that mounts the banister to the walkway, and her grip goes white-knuckles, and it is only Cid's voice next to her ear that breaks her pursuit of her magic (and a headlong crash onto the tile three floors below).
Edea blinks, releasing her hold. Rinoa disappears down a corridor. The tether snaps.
"What did you just say?" -veneficious
He had watched her unraveling, thread by thread. It was not the first time he'd watched this — he'd seen it before, the slow changing like a season from his wife into a woman he did not know. Like a coward he ran from the shift, buried his mind into anything and everything that he could distract himself with. Told himself it was what she would want; it was for the good of the children, but he knew now his cowardice had just as much lead to this as anything.
Now he watched her, this woman he barely knew, bit by bit trying to shed this foreign skin and return to who she once was, but there was something of a madness clinging to her that she could not shake, and Cid could not help but to blame himself for his wife's suffering.
So finding her here like this, poised for Hyne only knows what end, he could not help but to curse himself internally — stupid, stupid cowardly man!
He made his way to her side, briskly but not so quick as to startle her, reaching a hand out for her shoulder gently lest she lurch forward off the railing amid her harried thoughts.
"It's a lovely day out. I thought we might take a walk?" he reiterated with a tilt of his head, his gaze drifting between her own, seeking answers likely enshrouded in thought. He hoped it was not too late to calm the storm in her; he needed to be more careful when leaving her on her own.
