The twins set off to find that mysterious man that had talked to them
before.  Palom bounced out of the Thamasan elder's house, dragging his
sister along behind him.
     "Come ON, Sister!  It's getting dark, and I want to go explore the
rest of this new world!  This town is dullsvi-..."
     Palom's sentence ended abruptly as his jaw dropped and his eyes bugged
out of his head, making him look rather frog-like.  Standing in front of
the twins, complete with full dark armour, as if he had just teleported
from their last encounter 1000 years ago, was their arch-nemesis turned
good:
     "Golbez!" Porom exclaimed.
     "Hello, children."
     Palom did not seem happy to meet his old acquaintance.  "You, you'd
better not mess with us, you big meanie.  I'm a master ninja, and Porom...
she's, uh, a-an unbeatable archer!"
     Golbez couldn't help himself. He burst into hysterics. He could barely
hear Palom's next threat over his own laughter.
     "That's it. You're going to get it now, you big jerky old rotten guy!"
     An ear piercing "Japanese" war cry burst from Palom's throat as he
took up a stance that vaguely resembled David Carradine after having one
too many.
     "Haiyyyy-AOUCH!  Sister!" came the concluding whine.
     Porom had decided that this was a good time to stop her somewhat
impulsive brother from getting into any more trouble, and, with a firm grip
on both his ear and his ponytail, was dragging him as far away from Golbez
as possible.  Porom whispered something harshly in Palom's throbbing ear.
     "Oh, come ON, Sister," Palom responded.  "You don't really buy that
'mind control' garbage, do you?  Zeromus was such a wimp, he couldn't rack
up enough power to mind-control a fly!  I betcha I could have beaten him
single-handed, if I'd had the chance!"
     Porom's eyes virtually shot icicles at her twin.
     "Be good!" she warned, and she walked back to where Golbez was
standing, chuckling.
     "I'm sorry about that, Mr. Golbez.  My brother can really hold a
grudge sometimes. Don't mind him, he's still young, he'll learn.  But,
um... if you don't mind my asking, you don't exactly look 1000 years old...
how did YOU get here?"
     "Hmm.  It's getting late, and I'm rather tired after my exploits...
why don't we go and talk about it at the inn over some hot cider, so I can
sit down."
     So the group proceeded to the inn, where Golbez recited, in summary
(with a couple of glorifying hyperboles) the adventures of Rydia, Golbez
and friends while the twins listened intently - even Palom was relatively
calm.  The three decided that they would plan how to leave Thamasa tomorrow
- as Golbez neglected to mention the fact that an airship would, to the
best of his knowledge, be picking him, at least, up - but that for now,
they would retire for a much needed rest, Golbez' treat.
     The next morning, Porom was awakened by her even more hyper than usual
twin.
     "He's gone!" Palom screamed repeatedly.
     Once Porom regained enough consciousness to speak, she managed an
insightful, "What do you mean, he's gone?"
     "Golbez!  He's missing!  I went to his room to wake him up, and he had
just disappeared!"
     The twins searched Golbez's room, and then scoured the rest of the
town, but he was nowhere to be seen, and no one had noticed him leaving, as
far as they could gather, seeing as they couldn't manage to get many words
out of the townspeople.
     "Oh dear!" said Porom, once she had given up hope of finding Golbez.
"I guess we'll have to resort to Plan A..."
     Porom shuddered, and Palom grinned from ear to ear, as the two set off
to find suitable clothing and makeup for Porom's new 'occupation'...