Things in Spira are always changing, everybody's out to get something or the other, at the cost of throwing Spira into peril of course! No wonder Yuna always feels apprehensive about everything, the world always needs saving!. And sometimes when the chips are really down you need help from Legendary Guardians!
You don't have to be mad about and you don't have to be glad about it. Just get the job done, Any Which Way You Can!
Chapter One: Reasonable Doubt
Today on Eye On Spira we take a look at Senator Vera from Bevelle. As one of the few female candidates running for the President of Spira one would think the dynamic redhead would be a bundle of nerves with the upcoming election. However, when we spoke with her earlier she seemed the embodiment of calm. Then again, what else could be expected from the daughter of a High Priest.
This is Shelinda reporting…
There was long sigh accompanied by the clicking off of the TV. Yuna, Tidus, Wakka and Lulu were lounging comfortably in the living room of Yuna's new deluxe mansion in Beside.
The villagers of the tiny island had been so thankful the High Summoner had saved the world from danger, yet again. That they simply insisted that they do something special for her. While something simple (like along the lines of a statue being erected in her honor) was the general proposal. She had emotionally blackmailed them into building her something on a grander scale. The result, her five bedroom home complete with big screen TV.
"I don't know what it is, but there's something about her I just don't trust."
"Why don't you trust Shelinda" Wakka said as he shoveled in a spoon full of Blitz-O's into his mouth. "She always been nice ya."
"Don't talk with your mouth full" Lulu snapped.
"I think Yuna's talking about the senator Wakka" Tidus stated trying to sound superior.
"Oh I guess that makes more sense" Wakka laughed sheepishly until Lulu slapped him up side the head.
"Awaken that little monster and you'll be putting him back to sleep," the black mage growled menacingly.
"Awww Sorry Lu" he whimpered and went back to stuffing his face. Wakka was use to a daily dose of mild domestic abuse.
Tidus draped his arm lazily around his girlfriend, "so what's with the suspicion Yuna."
She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. I guess it's just that the political climate of Spira has just been so….well weird these past six months."
Lulu nodded agreeably," particularly with the departure of all three party leaders."
"Remember the look on Nooj's face" Wakka slurped up his milk "he was real embarrassed when he found out about that sphere of him and Leblanc got out."
Lulu snorted unsympathetically, "it's there own fault. They should have known better than to record them selves being," she paused for a moment unsure of how to put her next comment discreetly "intimate."
"It was so…. sad" Yuna did her best to contain her laughter. She silently recalled the day the infamous 'sphere' became public. Never (with the exception of defeating Sin) had she seen a more glorious day then the day Leblanc got laughed out of Guadosalam.
"And don't forget about Gippal", Tidus added as he scooped up a handful of popcorn. "He single handedly set back the Al Bhed civil rights movement, when it was exposed that he was selling weapons of mass destruction to the highest bidder."
"What I still don't understand is why Baralai resigned" Lulu sighed. Her husband milk was spilling his down his chin, again.
"He didn't resign as much as they made him quit" Yuna stated in a low shameful voice. "He was having….personal problems."
"Yeah he was personally starting to go nuts!" Wakka started to laugh, but Lulu sneered at him.
Yuna jumped to defend her friend's sanity, "that's not true! He was just stressed that's all."
"Hey Baralai is a nice guy and all but," Tidus was unsure of how to finish the sentence sensitively. "He was really just losing it."
He turned to look at his girlfriend's face for confirmation that he had said the right thing. Apparently though he hadn't , because Yuna began to frown.
"Don't say it like that."
"But it's just that towards the end he kept saying people were following him and someone was out to get him." Yuna was clearly getting upset, but the dumb blond babbled on. "Then that whole thing with him supposedly taking opu--".
"I get the picture" she snapped.
Tidus looked down at the floor dejectedly, "well I guess it is strange like you said earlier. You know, about the Senator." He had no ideal what he found strange. He was just eager to change the subject.
"Maybe it's nothing" Yuna flicked the TV back on.
"Don't worry Yuna" Lulu cooed in a motherly tone. "The way things are being done now are best for everyone."
"Ya, this new demo-cratmite way, it sounds really fair."
Lulu slapped him up side the head "that's democratic."
"Wakka's right. A little slow on the vocabulary, but right." Tidus loved it when he wasn't the dumbest person in the room. "From now on Spira's going to have a chance to elect their leaders them selves."
Feeding off of everyone's optimistic energy, Yuna smiled. "You guys are right. This time I think Spira's turning over a new leaf."
That's when the door swung open. It was Rikku covered in soot and grinning wildly. "Hi everybody! She scampered over to where her cousin was sitting leaving a trail of black dust in her wake.
"Hey Yunie can I barrow some money?" She chimed in her most innocent voice that immediately tipped off everyone that she was up to something.
Everyone but Tidus that is, who gleefully reached over for Yuna's pierce. "Sure! How much do ya need?"
Yuna promptly elbowed her moronic boyfriend in the gut and snatched her pierce away. Honestly, if she had told him once she had told him twelve hundred million times: never just give people money (particularly her money) without asking why.
"WHY" she stressed the word and looked at Tidus "do you need money".
"It's for a super-duper good cause" Rikku chirped excitedly.
"What for" Yuna protested.
"It's not really for me, it's for someone else.
"What for" Yuna demanded.
Rikku decided not to press her luck and squealed out something close to the truth. "Gippal needs bail money."
"Mistress, not to question your impeccable judgment or anything, but are you sure this is a good ideal?"
"Sure I'm sure," she snapped "why wouldn't I be sure?"
"Well, it's just that everyone who's gone searching for the lost power has never been heard from again."
"I aware of the risks" she spat. "Why do you think I tricked all those stupid sphere hunters into going ahead of me."
It had been a rhetorical question, but the man stopped and pondered it any way. "So they could report back the strength of the fiends we might run into here?"
The woman came to a halt and hung her head. "Cretan! Have we run into any fiends?"
"Well no, but--"
She cut him off. "Exactly because there aren't any." She jumped up and down and pounded her staff on the ground. "There's nothing here to get in our way because the sphere hunters have gotten rid of them for us."
Her companion could have easily argued that allowing others to fight her battles for her could result in her not being properly leveled up, should the rough battle come along. However, he knew (from perverse experiences) that she would than show him how leveled up she actually was. Since the man had no wish to die, especially since they were running low on phoenix downs, he kept his mouth shut.
After a few more minutes of walking the pair arrived in Yunalesca's former chambers. "We're here" she announced. "Clasko set everything up".
The former Chocobo breeder hastily unloaded the seven scarce weapons from his hefty pack. "Mistress may I inquire to where you got these celestial weapons", it seemed as though he had seen them somewhere before.
The woman pulled her hair out of it's bun and began to primp in front of her compact mirror. "I don't know, this oddly looking Al Bhed fellow. I suspect he was inbred." She brushed her red hair into a gloss. "Did you get the mirror?"
"Sure did" he grabbed the final item from his pack.
She finished grooming and smoothed her cloth into place. "Then let's get this show on the road."
Falling to her knees encircled by the celestial weapons, the woman began to chant. "Oh great Aeon I awake ye from your slumber and ask for the powers of earth, wind, and thunder."
Nothing happened.
Clasko leaned over and whispered into her ear, "did you say the right words?"
"Yes" she growled when in fact she hadn't and remembered the right words upon saying so.
She started over. "Oh great being with the might from the north, east, west, and south in trust to me full power to rule with out weakness doubt." The wind blew and the ground began to shake. The woman smiled while her cowardly assistant ran for cover. She closed her eyes in anticipation on her new powers.
"Hey, open your eyes" a voice said.
The red head opened her eyes and saw a cloaked little boy standing in front of her. She had been expecting to bare witness to nothing short of a demi-god and the sight of the boy down right pissed her off. "Your not the great power," she snarled.
"How do you know" the child spoke matter-of-factly. "Have you ever been in the presents of a great power before."
"No" she admitted bitterly, "but I have seen you before. Your just that creepy kid faith kid from the temples."
"How observant, but your wrong Senator."
"Wr-wrong?" her faced tensed. Had she just copped an attitude with the greatest force on the planet?. "Oh great one" she bellowed, readopting her holier-than-thou tone. "Forgive me! You see, I have a rare medical condition that causes me to become loud and hostile at random" she lied. "Oh how I pray for a cure, but you see--"
"Silence!" the Fayth shouted. "I have every intention of granting your request."
The red head's face lit up and she spread her arms out greedily ready to receive her power, but the boy held up a finger.
"I will give you what you seek provided you complete the last requirement."
The woman's face sank. "But I already filled out all the requirements", she whined and began to count off on her fingers. "I collected the seven celestial weapons, endured the twelve trials of the behemoth, answered correctly all the true and false questions about the temples of Yevon in Spira and found Waldo on every page of the Mega Fayth's edition of the 'Where's Waldo' book". Frustrated, she threw her hands into the air. "What other dirty, back-breaking, tedious requirement is there to be fill?"
"Marriage" the Fayth replied.
"Marriage" she whimpered and looked back at her assistant. "Oh very well, Clas--"
"And it just can't be to anybody." the boy said and Clasko wiped the sweat from his brow. "You have to genuinely care for the man."
The woman clasped her hands together in an attempt to charm her way out of the situation. "Oh can't you make an itty-bitty exception? Tell you what, after I become the ruler of Spira I'll have the people build brand-spank'in new temples in your honor."
"No deal. The power which you seek can be bestowed in dowry form only."
"But--"
"No buts. Until you are wed do not come back here. The Fayth than disappeared and the Senator let out a string of four letter words.
"Perfect! Just perfect, I do love it when scholars leave out the most important parts of historical writings." She hissed and kicked the closest celestial weapon.
Clasko scurried forward and picked up the weapon. "Mistress you may want to be careful with these. I mean you do have to uses these later."
"Yeah if later ever comes" she pouted.
"Mistress I don't understand why you are concerned with such things", he muttered reluctantly as he placed things back into his back pack. "I mean your going to be president of Spira any way."
"Now you know that isn't for certain" she chided. "Politics are a fickle and I need insurance." She turned and began to walk out the room. "Besides, if I get elected President I plan to stay President."
Clasko finished packing and slung the over stuffed sack over his shoulder, and nearly fell in the process. He quickly to run and catch up to her. "Then…should I…make arrangements…for you to see some of….Spira's eligible bachelors" he wheezed.
"Oh I don't know Clasko. There was only one man whom I actually cared enough for to marry and he's gone away", she said mournfully. She slowed down her pace and her flunky caught up.
"No worries mistress. I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding a decent well to do man to marry. After all, your Senator Vera one of the most desirable woman on Spira," he said stroking her ego.