[Tifa's own gaze drops. She isn't sure what to make of all of that, and while she isn't satisfied with the answer in the least, she isn't about to push Aerith to say more than she's comfortable with. The whole thing leaves a bad taste in Tifa's mouth—how it won't last, how this will end. Aerith doesn't need to say it for Tifa to immediately think the worst, and it takes all she can muster to keep her emotions in check, her expression hardening as she gulps down what's in her cup again.

There's a long, drawn-out silence from her while she tries to piece it all together before she finally exhales with a sigh. Nothing about this conversation is easy, and it was silly of her to have gone in thinking any of this would be simple.]

I don't know what you know back home, but...

[Or maybe she does. Tifa isn't sure what to believe anymore, but she knows one thing for sure—]

Everything we did... All that fighting... We did it to change fate itself. You told us that. Whatever happens now, who's to say what is and isn't supposed to?

[Is it silly to hold out hope for a different kind of future when she has no idea what it is they changed? Maybe, but Tifa doesn't like the idea of a path being set in stone for her—for them, nor does she like that they had to "change fate" at all. So, the idea of going into it all thinking that it's going to be this or that doesn't sit right.

Another sigh, this one softening her features again, before she continues.]

So what does any of that have to do with being here? Or with Balthier?

[Or with her? Is she asking in part for her own reasons? Perhaps. Is it really that silly to go and find happiness when they know that their lives in this place are temporary?]