Strength In Our Bonds (The Strength in Generations Accompanying Book)

Slightly Embarassing Acculturation

Moving to a new country at the age of sixteen wasn't easy, but Linna always thought she was doing well, considering. She'd assumed that, since her mother had lived in Balamb (well, on Besaid) for a while, her transition to the city would be seamless. She was wrong. So very, very wrong.

They were going through Academia's grocery store today. This was the first time they'd been there, and Linna wanted to just take a few hours exploring, getting to know where everything was kept. Rikku just wanted to finish her grocery list and leave.

"Where do they keep the cactus?" asked Rikku, turning to Linna. "Do you know?"

"Mom, this is my first time here too."

Rikku frowned, before continuing to push the cart. "What good is it having a grocery this big when you can't find anything you need?"

Linna agreed with that, actually...

"I think I saw an aisle in here that had dried peppers and things," is what she said. "It's a stretch, but since cactus is bought dried, it could be there?"

"Then what are we doing here? Point me in that direction!"

After some unsuccessful attempts at finding cactus in that aisle, Linna was fortunate enough to find a staff member stocking the shelves nearby. "Excuse me?" she said.

"Yeah?"

"Could you point me in the direction of your dried cactus?" she asked.

The staff girl frowned in confusion. "Cactus? You mean like, that thing you find in the desert, cactus?"

"Is... there any other type of cactus?" And here these Academia types were supposed to be smart.

"Why in the world would you expect to find cactus inside a grocery store?"

Did Linna have to explain everything to these guys?! "Because, my mom wants to use it to cook with," she had to strain herself to not add "you big dummy" to that.

The woman squinted at her, as if she didn't understand. "There is no cactus here," she said loudly, so Rikku could hear her as well.

"You don't have to be a meanie!" Rikku yelled as she left the aisle.

"Mom, please," Linna whispered.

"Should've expected," Rikku said. "There is nothing here for Al Bhed people. Why would Noel bring us to this neighborhood? There's no one like us here. There'd be no harm in us staying on Besaid."

Linna was quiet. She'd never really fit in with the Al Bhed, but she didn't fit in here either. What a conundrum.

"Ooh, they have purple beans!" Rikku grinned. "But they're up so high..."

"Why don't we ask-"

Before Linna could finish her sentence, Rikku was climbing the shelves to get to the beans. Linna sighed; her mother could be extremely embarrassing sometimes.

~ * ~

"Good morning," Linna said as she passed Quistis one morning. It was still her first week at the Academy, and so far, it was okay. Just okay. She loved being able to work with weapons, but this neighborhood still had to grow on her.

"Good morning, Linna. Oh, or better yet, kuut sunhehk." Quistis smiled.

Linna stared at her blankly.

"That's 'good morning' in Al Bhed, isn't it?"

"Oh! Oh, yeah, I think so." Linna nodded. "Er, but, for future reference, you might not wanna do that. I'm not that good at Al Bhed. So, what are we fighting today?"