In Spira, there had long been a legend that far beyond the reaches of Sin, there lay other continents, with high mountains and deep inlands, but cursed with other woes. Technology there had run rampant, poisoning the air, or so the legend went. Yevon, of course, said that this Mist Continent was just a fable, a heretical tale spun by the Al Bhed.
But looking out from the bridge of the Fahrenheit, the Summoner Tidus had encountered another event on his pilgrimage that wouldn't help counter the whole 'heretic' part. As if rescuing his guardian Yuna from being married off to Seymour just because of her status as 'daughter of the High Summoner' wasn't enough.
Now he'd found proof with his own eyes that Mist was real, the foggy clouds around the edge of the high mountains... and in the distance, a gleaming spire.
"You think they might be ruins?" Lulu wondered, the Blitzball player frowning.
"Guess we need to take a closer look..." Wakka sighed, the black mage's faith having taken a severe beating over the past few weeks.
"We're going in close anyway. Can't be much worse than Spira right now," Cid sighed.
They neared, and as the minutes passed, they became surprised to see that there wasn't just a city near the gleaming spire, but other ships in the sky visible through the powerful machina telescopes on the ancient airship. Other airships. Cruder than the ancient machina of the Farenheit, like literal flying boats of wood, held aloft by propellers it seemed, but airships nonetheless.
"...We should be very careful here, pops. If we had little airships like that and something like us rolled up, what would you think?" Rikku, Cid's eldest, warned from her pilot's chair.
"Ymeahc?" Brother, her imaginatively named younger brother and one of Tidus' guardians, replied.
"Cbayg Cbenyh! Pid oayr!" Rikku snapped.
"I understood him well enough. We must look like we're not even from the same planet," Lulu noted.
"...And we've attracted attention. That ship's headed right for us," Wakka pointed out.
"Well, let's hope they're friendly enough. If there's a whole society using airships, crude or not, they can swarm us if a fight starts," Rikku warned.
"Always with the buzzkill, Rikku," Yuna sighed, but readied her sword.
"Yuna's got the right idea. Be ready for a fight but hope for peace here. We're not starting anything," Tidus warned.
The red ship approaching looked far more ornate than the ships hovering over the city distant, and seemed to be moving in faster. Through the telescope, they saw it raising flags, as if trying to send a message - but it was like trying to understand Al Bhed without a single primer.
"Okay, let's slow down, not spook our friends with our pace," Rikku said, nervously.
Soon, the red ship was close, revealing it to be a little smaller than the Farenheit, but decorated finely. Not a dedicated warship, it seemed, and standing on what looked like an open bridge, was a young man dressed in ornate clothing, a stern-looking woman in armour beside him, plus a male with an eyepatch. Mostly male soldiers lined the decks.
And then a voice spoke out over a megaphone from the other ship - speaking Spiran, or damn close to it.
"Unidentified ship, state your business in Alexandria!" The Eyepatch man seemed to be shouting.
"Crap, do we have speakers? Oh, here, Tidus, speak into this!" Rikku panicked as everyone else froze at hearing the strange sound of a familiar language in an alien place.
"Uh, this is... the Farenheit, we're... explorers, from Spira," Tidus tried.
"...From where?" Eyepatch shouted, but at a gesture, handed the megaphone to the ornate younger man... Who Tidus noted had a tail?
"Welcome, Farenheit, I am Prince Zidane of Alexandria. May we send a party aboard to speak face to face?"
Tidus wondered if grasping his summoners rod and readying Shiva or Ifrit would be undiplomatic. This 'Prince Zidane' seemed to ready a small army of female soldiers to cross over as the ships grew close enough to extend a walkway, and had a long thin sword at his side.
And then they were crossing, and if this was a trap, it was too late. Luckily, it wasn't.
"Welcome once more to Alexandria, Spirans. Please permit me and my bodyguard, Beatrix, and some of her finest troopers of the Knights of Pluto, to ride your ship to land in the city that you may speak directly to my mother, the Queen," the blonde tailed prince offered.
"Uh, sure, that's fine. I should introduce everyone. That's Cid, the owner of this ship. Brother there is his son, his daughter Rikku is the pilot, Yuna's his neice and one of my guardians, Lulu and Wakka are my other guardians, and I'm Tidus, a summoner," Tidus said, pointing everyone out.
Zidane raised a brow.
"A... summoner? Your land has summoners?"
"Yeah. I guess maybe summoners are a legend in your lands?" Wakka asked.
"To be truthful, if you are from Spira, you're already from a land of legends. We were told of a continent far away, a great monster destroying any ships that grew too close..."
"Sin. The 'monster' is real, we call it Sin. And my task as a Summoner is to stop it. Even if only for a few years of calm," Tidus spoke.
"Though we have some... problems with getting that goal done right now," Yuna sighed.
"Well... my mother has interest in stories of summoners. She would be pleased to meet you," Zidane offered, extending a hand.
And so, the Summoner Tidus shook hands with Prince Zidane, marking the first official contact between the Mist continent and Spira in verifiable historic record.