Theo jumps a little. "– I'm sure we'll be fine."

"How exactly are we supposed to cross this?"

"See the towers? They're supposed to draw the lightning."

(And there's another bolt of it.)

(She screams again.)

"Don't stay too close to them, but not too far, either."

"It does work," says Theo. "I tried it on my way back, after a bit."

"Okay..."

"… Are we set to go, then?"

"I guess..."

"You sure?"

"No."

"… I'm not really sure how to reassure you here."

There's another bolt of lightning, and she squeaks. "I—I think I forgot something in Guadosalam."

"Nice knowing you."

"Okay, okay, I'll go!"

Everyone else seem ready to go? "I'm happy to lead the way," says Theo. "Or not."

"The way is north," he says, and starts walking.

Theo shrugs and follows.

The party continues on its pilgrimage, and of course, here be thunder fiends.

Which can promptly sink into the ground, thanks muchly.

And alkali rain. They can probably fix the environmental damage later.

Not that there's a whole lot of environment at the Thunder Plains. The fiends are swiftly dispatched.

And then Tidus is hit by a bolt of lightning. "Ow!" he cries, and looks... slightly singed.

Kaede giggles and heals him.

"– Um."

"Hmm?"

"… I expected him to be unluckier than that and for you to laugh less about him being struck by lightning?"

"Unluckier?"

A bolt of lightning hits Wakka!

...or would have if Wakka hadn't dodged at the last second.

"… Did you seriously just dodge a lightning bolt."

"Yeah," he says, sounding slightly smug.

"Are you all very conveniently just totally immune to lightning damage one way or another?"

"Immune? No. But—"

—Kaede casts a spell on her, and she's suddenly surrounded by a pale flickering yellow light—

—and she's hit by lightning and the light goes away, leaving her intact. "Very resistant."

"– Do you have lightning precognition or something?"

"No, just very good reaction time."

Theo pauses and then moves closer to Kaede and asks, "Can you do this for Rikku too?"

"Of course," he says, and now Rikku's protected, too.

"Aaaah!" she screams when she sees the yellow flash... and calms down once she notices what it is.

… Theo feels slightly bad about that but at least there is less chance of her being dead now.

They walk on, and a couple of towers and more than that fiends later they can make out an old familiar man standing under the protection of a stone ledge projecting from a particularly large tower.

"Hello again," greets Theo.

"Why if it isn't the summoner and his most varied group of guardians! It is a pleasure to see you again."

"How've you been since – I don't actually remember when I last saw you, a few days ago?"

"I have been splendid, yes. The Moonflow is truly gorgeous, and Guadosalam breathtaking. Not that the vast Thunder Plains are a sight to be ignored, either. Say, would you like to hear a thing or two about them?"

"Uh," says Theo, looking around quickly. "Sure? I'm not sure how much of a rush we're in, though, so it might have to be quick."

"Let's pause here, please," Rikku whines.

Auron does not seem to object.

Theo shrugs and settles in to listen.

"Very well," he says, and clears his throat. "Let me tell you about the Crossing. A long time ago, this place was a traveller's nightmare. 'Plains of lightning, plains of thunder, those who cross are torn asunder,'" he intones. "Or... so they used to say. Then a man named Bilghen appeared. Using machina, he built towers that served as lightning rods across the plains. Finally, travellers were able to cross in safety. Bilghen was building that tower over there..." he points, "when he was struck and killed by lightning.

"Bilghen was an Al Bhed. Our history books never mention him.

"And that, as they say, is that."

Wakka squirms a bit uncomfortably.

Theo ignores Wakka. "How long ago was this? I mean, a few decades, or hundred years, or…?"

"That was over a hundred years ago."

"Helpful of him to do it, though."

"Yes. One of Spira's many unsung heroes. Even with magic, these plains would be nigh-impassable without his towers."

"Do you know of many other unsung heroes?"

"Ah, yes. I am a collector of history—or histories, as you see."

"Histories as in – also my world?" He nods.

"Well, yes, I suppose—although what I really meant is that the idea of a single history is ludicrous. There are as many histories as there have been people, and no account can tell the whole story."

"– Oh, yeah," agrees Theo. "That's an interesting way to look at it."

He nods. "Now I shan't keep you any longer—you've indulged this old man enough." He looks at Kaede. "Ah, but first... M'lord Kaede, is it true that you and Lord Seymour are to be married?"

"Sorry what?"

"The Guado have been saying he proposed."

"… Have they."

"Indeed. It is a pity, to not continue the pilgrimage."

"One, I said 'no.' Two, even if I'd accepted I wouldn't stop the pilgrimage. So, er, yeah, he did propose but not going to happen."

"Ah. That is... a mixed relief to hear."

"Have the Guado been saying Kaede accepted? Or just being vague?"

"They were quite vague, but did not sound discouraged."

"Maybe they didn't know."

"Lord Seymour was with them, so I would think that unlikely."

"– How long ago was this?"

"Oh a few hours."

"Not clear if that was actually before or after he proposed, then, since it was about that long for us."

He shrugs. "In any situation, do not let me keep you; you have a pilgrimage ahead of you."

"I hope you… find some other interesting histories around."

Onwards. They do indeed have a pilgrimage, marriage or no marriage, thunder or no thunder.

(Thunder. Lots of it.)

(Thunder is annoying and it should stop.)

(He is in the wrong place for this request.)

After a couple more fiends, a faint glow can be seen in a secluded corner, apparently attached to a stone.

"… Are glowing stones normal around here?"

"Glowing—oh," says Kaede who had not noticed it. They walk up to the rather weird... thing.

"… I'm gonna hope this isn't normal around here?"

"This in particular?"

"Hey, that looks like a cactuar!"

"What's a cactuar?"

"It's—" She screams when a lightning bolt hits a spot particularly close to them.

"It's a fiend typically found on Bikanel Island—the desert. It's... very strange to find a rock with that here."

"… What element does it typically use, or is it weak to? I mean, is it related to thunder or lightning?"

"No, it is a walking cactus."

"Cactuars aren't really fiends," Rikku says when she's recovered her voice. "They're—something else."—thunder—" Aaah! Can we talk about this away from the thunder?"

"… Is it important that it's a cactuar statue, do you think? Because if so we might want to, I dunno, check this out in some relevant way, which we can't do further away?"

"I don't know, there shouldn't be any cactuars here, they can't survive when it's this cold and wet." Thunder. "Aaaah!"

"I think I'm gonna go poke it," says Theo. "But feel free to, y'know, not."

Poke?

It feels warm-ish.

Consistently warm around or does it vary?

It varies; the light is warm.

Can he see anything behind the light if he tries looking through it?

A large rock with a cactuar on it.

So, no, okay.

"The light is warm, rest of the rock seems normal, no idea what it's for."

"Okay. Can we go now?"

He shrugs. "Sure?"

On they go.

And eventually they can see a Travel Agency. "There! Can we stop there? Please?"

"That will only make us take longer to leave this place. We move on."

"Just for a little while? Please?"

"… I think you can still hear the thunder from inside."

"But there won't be the rain and I won't have to see it and it can't hit me!"

"I'd rather keep moving, but," he shrugs.

"Pleeeease?"

He shrugs again. "Okay? If other people are okay?"

"We move on," he says, and starts walking ahead.

Sigh.

"Pretty please? Just for a few minutes?"

Auron ignores her and continues walking.

"I'm scared of lightning! Let's rest, please? Pretty please?"

Kaede sighs. "Oh fine we can stop to rest."

"As far as I know we don't have to be going immediately, do we? I mean, delaying is hardly good, but."

So into the Agency they go. Rikku sighs with palpable, almost solid relief.

What do they have on offer? Brochures or… something?

The Travel Agency is quite the comfortable place. They have travel brochures, and lots of books and trinkets adorning the walls for patrons and visitors to look through while they're there. They also offer rooms and food and room service and magic items.

– He remembers the statue and looks around for someone to ask about it!

There are other travellers and a girl behind the counter!

"Hello!" he says. "My friends and I noticed a cactuar statue earlier – I was wondering if you knew… why there are cactuar statues…?"

"Oh! You mean the Qactuar stone! I believe there's a book over there about it—High Summoner Gandof's responsible for those, the book on summoners and the Thunder Plains should have it."

Book?

There!

Does it have a convenient table of contents so he can skip to a section on the purpose of the Qactuar stone? … If applicable.

It does not!

… What about an index?

Here's one! It's divided by summoner.

Is there a clear subdivision for it under High Summoner Gandof?

Newp.

… How big is the relevant section?

Not very! About two dozen pages.

What does it say?

It tells the history of High Summoner Gandof in some detail, but the relevant passage might be this one:

Long ago, fiends known as Qactuars roamed the Djose Continent freely. They ran rampant, ravaging fields and tormenting travellers. Then Lord Gandof appeared. He scoured the continent for the Qactuars and drove them to these plains. Once he'd gathered the Qactuars together, Lord Gandof linked the sign of the fayth, whereupon the Qactuars turned to smoke and were absorbed by a stone. The Qactuars were thus sealed into stone, fated to face lightning day and night. Unless someone again links the fayth sign and releases the seal, they shall suffer within the stone for their deeds. Thus did Lord Gandof bring relief to peoples all over Spira. He believed that the battle with Sin was only one great part of a summoner's greater mission.

… Theo goes over to Kaede with the book. "Apparently it – the cactuar stone thing – stores the Qactuars that used to terrorize the rest of the Djose Continent in the past. And are now fated to lightning."

Rikku comes over and looks at it. "That's wrong. Cactuars aren't really fiends."

"… Is there a difference between the two spellings?"

"Well, I don't think so?" She grabs the book and leafs through it. "Seems like Qactuars are from Bikanel. Not fiends. Fiends used to be dead people, cactuars bloom in the desert."

"Do they drop spheres when they die? Turn into pyreflies, don't leave a corpse, that sort of thing?"

"They do leave a corpse."

"… So they're more just like monsters? Instead of actual fiends with all the other flourishes?"

"No, they're like people—they have a society and everything."

"Sapient? Or just a reasonably smart animal?"

"Some Al Bhed know how to speak their language."

"They have a language?"

"Yeah! It sounds like squeaking."

"– Do they, did they actually go around terrorizing people or is it going to turn out that this was a war where non-cactuars decided they didn't like their pesky cousins and decided to commit some sort of genocide?"

"I don't know if I'd say they terrorize people but they do attack. When fighting—" A particularly loud lightning strike hits a tower nearby and she yelps. After a couple of seconds she continues, shaking: "F-fighting c-cactuars you d-d-don't usually kill them, though, that'd be evil."

"… I'm a bit confused by everyone just ignoring the fact they're unlike other fiends and just going ahead and calling them fiends anyway? And – there are more just blooming in the desert, so – were they just all over before, and this guy rounded them up, and they don't care about the others?"

"I'm not sure? This was hundreds of years ago. Cactuars and humans don't really see eye to eye on the island, but Dad's been trying to get some cooperation going and it's been alright."

"Do Al Bhed and the other races not typically interact much…?"

"We're a bit isolated but we play Blitzball and stuff, why?"

"It sounds like you have a lot of information that nobody else seems to have and everyone else seems to have a lot of assumptions you find extremely weird."

"Well, lots of Al Bhed didn't think cactuars were people either."

"Do a lot of them think they're fiends or just… not people?"

"Some of both."

He shrugs. "I'm confused, then."

"By what?"

"Why people think cactuars are fiends."

"Most non Al Bhed don't even know about cactuars."

Shrug. "I'm not sure we can do anything about that statue, though."

"...it said sign of the fayth..."

"… Which is something I'm meant to know about?" asks Theo. "Was it the pool thing, or…?"

"—pool thing? Sign of the fayth is this," and he does the typical greeting where he extends his hands out away from his body and then brings them back together in a ball shape, bowing.

"– Oh." Pause. "Anyway, I told you about the pool thing, with the fayth statues and the maybe-Tidus face in the floating water?"

"Oh, right, that. What about it?"

"I thought it might have been the sign of the fayth. Just an uneducated guess, never mind."

"The pool is a sign...? Anyway, whatever, if these Qactuars aren't actually fiends... we should maybe free them."

"If we can conveniently get one out to check? It might turn out they had a grudge against the people in this area, could be quite inconvenient to handle right now?"

"...I'm pretty sure I prefer them to be free of stones that have held them for hundreds of years than not regardless of how inconvenient that could be."

"Right, unless it turns out they'll start some war of vengeance and try to kill everyone they see, and I'm not saying we never let them out, just that we only do one if possible first and then plan accordingly from then."

"I'm not sure I don't prefer a war of vengeance to a whole species having no mouth and needing to scream..."

"… I don't know what the impact of a war of vengeance would be on this place, and I don't know how many of them there are."

"Not enough that most people even know about them," he shrugs.

"There are not a lot of cactuars in Bikanel, either."

"Then they probably won't be able to enact much of a war of vengeance but it'd be a good idea to know if we need to be prepared against the onslaught, so getting one out and checking and then proceeding is probably wise?"

"Sure, but regardless of what they say or what we find out we're still freeing them, is my point."

Shrug. "Probably."

"Okay, let's go free some Qactuars."

It's at this moment that Rin shows up from a back room. "Oh, Lord Summoner, what a pleasure." Pause. "Is that by any chance Sir Auron?" he asks in a low voice, looking at the legendary guardian standing off to one side.

"Why do you ask?"

"I met him briefly ten years ago, and had not since seen him."

"– Oh," responds Theo. "Yeah, it is."

Sir Auron can fend for himself.

"Ah, as I thought! I've been wondering since I saw him at the Mi'ihen Highroad branch. Sir Auron!" he calls, walking up to the man. "I wonder if you remember me? Ten years ago, at the beginning of Lord Braska's Calm?"

"Yes, I should thank you."

"Not at all. I could not leave a wounded man to die. However, I was surprised when I saw you gone the next morning, with that wound. An ordinary man would not have been able to walk."

"I'd rather... drop that subject, Rin."

Pause. "As you wish."

He bows to the rest of the party and makes his way out.

"– Care to share with us?"

"No."

"'Kay."

Theo turns to Kaede. "Back to the statue?"

"Wait! Can't we stay here a bit longer? I don't wanna go back yet."

"I mean, we're not progressing. We could come pick you up after."

"Okay. Yes, that's good. I'll wait. But don't you move on without me!"

"This is a waste of time."

"Summoner's prerogative so suck it up."

Theo rolls his eyes. "Why exactly is it a waste of time?"

"There is a pilgrimage to be done."

"This is probably not going to take on the order of days, though, and could be important."

He declines to reply.

To Kaede: "Let's go, then?"

"Yes."

Off they go, then—

"Alright, alright, I'll come!"

"– You sure?"

"Yes! Now let's go before I change my mind!"

"Sure."

Outside continues to be lightningy, he presumes.

Yes it does.

They reach the stone again, and Kaede bows to it, performing the sign of the fayth. He grunts as the stone's light shoots into the sky like flames and engulfs him, then there's a crack of lightning and the stone breaks in two.

Theo is at the ready in case there's a flood of angry cactuars.

The is not in fact a flood of anything. It's quite anticlimactic.

"...er."

Theo flies around to the other side, just to check there's no weird illusion or something.

Nope. No cactuars.

"– Do you think it's on a delay?"

"I have no idea."

"Can we go, now?"

"– I think we should actually wait a bit," says Theo, apologetically.

"Nngh!"

"You could go back with someone, if you want to go inside, but – this seems weird."

"What does?"

"The stone not reproducing the cactuars."

"Qactuars," she corrects his pronunciation.

"This may not have been enough to fully lift the curse."

"– I thought cactuars were Qactuars? And, yeah, but I don't think the book mentioned anything else, so – any of you magic-sensitive or whatever?"

"Magic-sensitive?"

"Able to squint at this and see what's up with it. Or something. I dunno, do you not have ways to analyze – who am I kidding okay you probably don't."

She tilts her head but decides to let it go.

"So now we go back?" she asks hopefully.

"… I don't think the book had anything in it for what else to do here, did it? – Do more of us need to do the sign, maybe?"

Wakka, Lulu, and Rikku try. Nothing happens.

Theo tries, too!

Nada.

"Okay this... I'm confused. Maybe there are other stones like that?"

"I don't remember seeing any, but I was in a bit of a rush to try to get through here."

"Maybe we should explore more of the Plains, see if we can't find anything like that?"

"We're wasting too much time."

"Maybe let's just go?"

"Sir Auron, you really should learn to say sentences other than that one, it's getting old. Rikku, like I said you're free to go, I'm not being passive-aggressive when I say I won't hold it against you and we'll come pick you up at the Agency later."

"No. I said I'd protect you, so I will." Lightning. "And you be quiet!"

"That sounds like a better attitude," comments Theo. "And yeah, exploring the Plains some more could be a good idea."

But before that how about some fiends attack them?

No. How about not.

Or since that doesn't seem to be an option, how about they go down swiftly.

Down they go!

And now it's time for some Thunder Plains exploration! How fun.

It is very thrilling, yes.

An hour of exploration does not yield results.

"Do we have any sort of upper limit to how long we plan on exploring…?"

"Not really. Until we get tired I guess?"

"And move on after we rest, if we find nothing?"

"Possibly."

Shrug.

More exploring!

Theo flies around to try to map the area faster.

He is willing to brave some lightning. (Ugh.)

—oh there it is, another rock.

He flies towards it!

"One over here."

Follow follow! Kaede does the sign thing again, and once again lightning strikes it and it breaks and stops glowing.

… And nothing after a pause?

Nope.

"There are probably more of these."

"Probably." Sigh. "I hope the creators liked the number three."

"Unlikely."

"Do you have any mystical numbers in your culture, by any chance…?"

"Mystical numbers...?"

"Like, seven is a number of magical significance, or four is unlucky, or superstitions about them…?"

"Not... particularly. Are numbers magical where you're from, or is that literally just superstition?"

"Superstition, as far as I know." Shrug. "Might be used in parlor tricks – I don't know much about them."

"Well, anyway, no, we do not have that."

"It's possible these are scattered all over and this might take us an extremely long time."

"Yes."

Whatever.

More exploration, then?

Yep. Theo continues to fly around ahead of them to speed the process up.

...is that a small cactus-like thing running around extremely quickly over there?

It looks like it is. He flies towards it, swooping to land – well, it would be about fifteen meters away, but the thing's moving so that'll probably change by the time he's there.

It does change. But the thing stops short of that and looks at him.

"Hello."

It... makes a noise. That sounds like a rubber duck being squeezed.

"I suppose you don't speak my language," he sighs.

Point. "Theo."

The little cactus thing balances itself on one... foot... and leans forward so its head is pointing in Theo's direction.

Then its arms start rotating.

Then a huge number of incredibly strong and sharp needles starts shooting from its head at him.

Well fortunately the fucking things can do hardly more than scratch him, so he flings himself away and takes off to get the hell away, thank you very much.

Those things sure do pack a punch, though, when they reach him in the air they screw his balance over.

Does it want to be alkali'd or grounded.

It does not express desires either way.

It also does not burn like a presumably biological being would, but instead starts emitting pyreflies like a fiend.

Well that's very nice of it! He would have felt worse if it seemed biological, since Rikku said cactuars leave bodies! (And also he probably would have stopped quite briefly after making it clear that you do not attack him, if it seemed like it were leaving a horrible mark.)

He stops short of trying to actually kill it, or do more than cursory damage with the alkali, and moves on to trying to disable its movement instead.

It's not like it has much in the way of movement now it's half-buried but the half that isn't buried can still shoot thousands of needles.

He puts more alkali on the bit that shoots needles.

It is its head.

He didn't put much on. It's magic and can do some truly ridiculous quantity of needles, it can deal.

He's assuming it did not help much.

Nope. It melts and dissolves into pyreflies.

Oops.

He'll suspend judgment on feeling like a monster for now. Since it seemed rather like a fiend.

And fly back to the others.

"Find anything?"

"There was a fiend that looked suspiciously like a cactuar and shot at me repetitively." Pause. "It was emitting pyreflies when it got injured."

"...cactuars don't do that." Thunder. "Aaaah!"

"… So probably not a cactuar? Just, uh, do you have shapeshifting fiends or something?"

"Not really."

"So we have at least one fiend that looks rather like a cactuar?"

"...maybe they're cactuar fiends?"

"Do you typically get fiends in the shape of sapient creatures…?"

"No, but... fiends are usually humans or other species, not cactuars."

"Oh, you mean –" He cuts himself off. "Oh."

"When cactuars turn adult they become cacti, so these would be..."

"Kids."

"… And are cacti different from what I expect the word to mean? Like, plant things, stationary, show no signs of sentience?"

"Well, they can talk."

"… I continue to be annoyed by the spotty vocabulary I got with this language."

"Why?"

"Because from what I got, cacti do not in fact talk but are green plant things that just stay stationary and plant-like in a desert."

"They are green plant things that just stay stationary and plant-like in a desert. And they talk."

"Yeah, that did not come with the word. And I'm pretty sure there are non-talking plants that look rather like this back on Earth."

"Okay but now that we've decided Qactuars are in fact fiends can we go?"

"– So long as there aren't any actual cactuars in the stones, I'm pretty sure I'm fine with that?"

"...we kinda did just release at least a few fiends troublesome enough that a summoner decided to seal them."

"… I wasn't particularly sure that actually was us. For the record their heads turn into automated needle firers."

"Is this a priority?"

"Y—" Pause. "...no."

"Unless there are literally thousands. Or something." He looks around. "Which there don't seem to be."

"Fiends aren't corporeal all the time, there could be."

Sigh. "I honestly have no idea what would be best to do here right now and I doubt we opened all the things and so there are probably not many about but Sin is about. Ish. So. Should probably get going and hope we don't come back to a savaging."

"These Qactuars presumably existed before Sin and were not a big enough problem to prevent the existence of Zanarkand and the populational boom so probably."

So off they go.

There are more fiends and by the time they reach the Agency again they're all actually rather exhausted.

Theo less so, fortunately for him.

But he can look at books or something while they rest.

They'll probably sleep, actually.

Rest, sleep, whatever. Theo doesn't really want to sleep right now.

Unless Kaede wants to snuggle or something.

Nah, Kaede and Tidus are sharing a room tonight. Unless Theo would like to join in...

… Theo probably should actually get some reading done because he feels woefully underprepared to help out here, but maybe some other time.

Well, the Agency isn't a library, exactly, but it does have some books.

So he has a look for ones that might be most immediately interesting to him! He knows little about the culture or Yevon or much of the history or typical (non-combat) applications of magic, if there's anything on that…

There are a couple of things on thunder magic in particular and elemental magic in general, as well as some local history of the Thunder Plains.

He'd like to read about elemental magic in general.

Okay! The book explains that magic in general is about attuning the pyreflies to your emotions and calling on them the right way. Elemental magic is common for historical and cultural reasons, and given humans' attachment to the idea fiends are often elemental, too, which creates a cycle.

… Is that it?

Nope, this is the introduction! The book goes on at length about the historic uses of elements and the various trials of alternatives, and also explains the influence of Sin on research (basically made it stop). It gives examples of elemental magic and elemental fiends and situations where elemental magic's called for and when it isn't, mentions enchantments and items that have elemental attunements...

It would be really nice if Sin could just go die in a corner.

Theo does not think it wise to spend magic into lightning protection, probably, because brief burns and a mostly-unexpected shocking pain is ultimately not going to cause him long-term harm.

What sorts of (other) enchantments are there?

Magic is not in fact a very scarce resource!

Other enchantments include the space folding he's seen, enchantments against tearing and damage, things that make weapons sharper, various magical effects to them and protections against same, enhancements to the wearer's various attributes...

He looks into the space folding some more, since that could be useful to him long-term. Same for the enhancement of attributes and other magical effects.

This book doesn't have info on that, unfortunately, it doesn't count as elemental magic, or most of the other effects.

Darn.

Sharpness of weapons? He doesn't suppose that counts as, like, 'metal' element…?

Nope, metal is not an element.

Okay, well, might as well research fire if that's here anywhere…? Then why not lightning.

It is! Here's the mental state you need to occupy to cast a simple fire spell, but you still need the sphere for it.

He will have to look for more spheres sometime then.

Other applications of fire and other spheres there might be for it?

Magic fire doesn't exactly consume fuel, it just burns, so it can be used for heating and such. It can also just emit light. There is basically only one type of sphere to learn magic.

'Basically'?

Well, there are a few very rare ones that allow you to learn magic even if your soul isn't ready for it.

Oh right.

Do they come with horrifying side effects?

Nope.

Huh. That's nice of them. Is there much more information about them? (They might or might not be the ones Kaede told him about before, but either way this information is probably useful.)

Some! They are very rare and artificial and hard to make and you need very specific types of fiend to make them.

Interesting. Also a shame, but interesting.

And lightning?

Pretty much same.

Any history about Spira as a whole, or is it pretty much only local things?

Pretty much only local things.

Local things might be interesting anyway…?

Sure! There's the story about the mysterious benefactor who installed all the towers, there's High Summoner Gandof, there's various summoners who went through these plains on their pilgrimage, not a whole lot happened there otherwise since it's a terrible place...

Any interesting summoners in particular?

Other than High Summoner Gandof? No, not really.

What was he like, other than the Qactuar thing?