[Maina the White Mage] My name is Maina. Pleased to meet ya! I've just made a new friend! See this thing on my ear? It's called a "signal pearl." If I turn it just so, I can communicate with him. "Oh hey, Gawada? Whassup? You busy? Yeah, um, I want to talk to you now, so get over here, alright?" He comes immediately when I call. Isn't that neat? Look, he's already here! "S-sorry for...th-the wait...<pant>..." What's wrong with you? Why do you look all beat up and tired? You didn't get attacked, did you? "S-sorry...<wheeze>..." Hey, hey! What are all those Quadav doing, running towards us!? Eek!!! [Relationship Difficulties?] My name is Gawaoda. Maina calls me Gawada, but there is an "o" in my name. "But Gawada is such a cool name! It sounds like Garuda!" I am not an avatar. "Anyway, 'Gawaoda' sounds like some Mithran baby's whine..." Whatever. "Okay, fine! I'll call you 'Gawaoda' if it makes you happy--starting tomorrow!" Why not now!? "Anyway, Gawada, I'd appreciate it if you called me 'Lady Maina.'" ... She's pushing it. She's really pushing it. [Adventurers from Far and Wide] We always go on adventures on the continents of Quon and Mindartia, but I hear that Vana'diel is a much bigger place. Take, for example, my tank Gawada. He's an actual living remnant from the Galkan capital that used to exist in the south! "I was raised in Bastok! Bastok, I say--ouch, don't do that!" He may look like an average guy, but that only hides the fact that he is really a Galkan prince from the ancient capital! "Just who in Vana'diel are you talking about!?" At least a girl can dream. "I don't care about all of that. Just hurry up and heal m--ahhh!!!" [The Far East] Did you know that beyond the sea lies the Far East? Its unique culture is becoming popular among adventurers. "The jobs 'samurai' and 'ninja' came from the Far East." "'Bushido' and 'shinobi' and all that stuff are sooo cool! I want a boyfriend like that!" "Maina, do you know anything else about the Far East?" "Um, you mean like the Doll Festival and Feast of Swords?" "Hm, you may be smarter than you look." "Of course! I even know about Far Eastern food! Rice balls and sushi! Putting rice and other ingredients together was a great idea!" "Well, you're just a wellspring of knowledge, aren't you?" "Oh, and I bet you didn't know this! 'Far East' is actually a trendy word describing the direction they shave hair to make a topknot--It's totally 'Far East'!" "What!?" "People who live in the Far East all wear topknots! That's why everyone calls their country the "Far East." It's just the way their heads are shaved! Geesh, I thought everyone knew that." It can't be real. Nobody can possibly be this stupid. [The Wide World of Vana'diel] So is it true that there are places other than the Far East that aren't on the map? "In the south lies the Mithran homeland." "I've been to Kazham before!" "No, I am talking about a different place. There is a great nation even further south that the founders of Kazham came from." "Reeeally!?" "What's up north?" "The Orcish Empire and the islands where the Gigas live." "Orcs and Gigas seem sooo clueless! How can anyone be so dumb?" "Also, there is the Gugru Blue that lies east of Mindartia, and beyond that lies a place called the 'Near East.' My special mirror is originally from there..." "Hey, hey! I think I got it!" "Got what?" "This 'Far East' place! It's in the west, right!?" (To Be Continued) Illustration by Mitsuhiro Arita