Koro sat watching as the merchant rambled on.  A lot of it was hard to
understand, but he could gather that he was supposed to travel to a desert
west of Albrook.  There he would find a cave.  In it, he could find someone
that held the sacred Oxyale.  The man didn't even tell Koro what kind of
person this someone was.  After - 'and if,' Koro thought - he got the
potion, the person would give him information as to how to get the
submarine.  As to what a submarine was, Koro wasn't sure.  'The Nautilus
might have been a submarine.  Didn't Butz call it that?  Am I gonna have to
get a dragon?'

   When Koro questioned the merchant about learning to be a warrior, the
man mumbled something about rewards from light and defeat through air.
'Huh?  Defeat from air?  Geez.  This guy is crazy.'  Out loud, Koro said,
"Can you supply with some food?  How 'bout some some sorta' weapon?"

   Oh, no, no, no.  Real warriors have no need for such things.  Food?  No!
Learn to live off the land!  Ninjas do it all the time!  "There was this
ninja I knew, name was, uh, hmmm..."  The merchant leaned back in his chair
in thought.

   "Well, thanks just the same.  Not even a chocobo?"  Koro was beginning
to wonder if he shouldn't just forget the whole thing.  What in the heck
was Oxyale?

   "Ummm, sure.  Chocobo?  Whatever.  Here's some money.  Now let me
think... his name... ya!"  The merchant got up abruptly, dumped a bag of
coins in Koro's hands, and hurried Koro out of his stall.

   Out in the marketplace, he quickly found the chocobo barn.  He rented
one, and bought some food rations with what was left.

   "Sheesh.  Pretty meager.  Not even a suitable weapon."  Taking a short
nap, he woke up in the afternoon.

   He mounted the chocobo and silently rode out.  "Here I go.  Master Ninja
Koro comes to defeat terrible enemies.  Merchants and damsels call upon the
ninja to do the job right!  Man, if Cyan could only see me now!"  Humming
an old Doman battle tune, Koro drifted into the forest.

                               *  -  *  -  *

   "Captain!  The Doma boy rides this way!"

   "Does he?  Send someone to test him.  Have Rozgol go.  Tell him not to
fight him unless spotted.  Do NOT kill him.  Take him prisoner if you must.
Go!"

   The Figaran captain gazed eastward as the soldier mounted his chocobo
and rode through the dark and quiet forest.