I
"The Strahl is ready."
Fran had just finished tuning up the Strahl, getting it ready for her next adventure. She had learnt everything she knew about machines from Balthier, something a common viera would know nothing about.
Fran climbed out of the cockpit of the airship and sat atop the hull. She looked out west, towards the horizon. She closed her eyes and sat still.
"It's getting weaker."
Fran tried to listen to the muffled voice of the winds. Ever since she had left the forest she had been losing the ability to detect the news that travelled the air. In Euryte Village she learned much about the outside world, gathering information that travelled through the winds and into the forest. But now the voice was faint and stark.
"What cruel fates…"
The more Fran saw, the less she heard. It was something that bothered her direly. Hearing the green voice was something completely intertwined with a vieras life, and now it seemed to be leaving her. Fran had felt forlorn ever since her exodus from Euryte village, and if the green voice left her completely she would feel more abandoned than ever.
She was conscious about the choice she had taken. Fran had once heard that a viera would lose her sensitive hearing if she were to listen to a hume's harsh speech for too long, and now she had taken the ultimate act of defiance towards the green laws. She had partnered up with a hume.
Viera society considered humes asemic towards nature, ruthless, emotionally weak and worst of all, plagued with greed. A combination that easily led to evil ."A daft lot." Fran had travelled the world of humes and found out everything the viera said was true. Time after time, Fran had tried to understand hume behaviour and failed. Humes, as Fran saw them, said one thing but would do another, went about life impatient and hastily, never stopping to analyze their actions, few had loyalty to anyone but themselves and the few loyal humes that existed placed their loyalty to inept causes.
Fran had tried to decipher how humes had become the most prevalent race in Ivalice. Their behaviour constantly pointed towards self destruction, the stability of their kingdoms was frail and full of turmoil. Corruption, treason and war left scars on their history and Fran wondered when it would deliver the finishing blow to hume society, making way for a race better fit to rule over Ivalice.
"What gives humes such resilience?"
'Twas a good question, one that perplexed Fran. Although Fran looked down at humes, she had teamed up with Balthier, but there was something different about him. He wasn't daft like the rest of the humes. He was actually quite clever and cunning. He got his way by outsmarting his foes rather than through sheer power. Balthier was a talented young man, Fran had to admit, he had a mere twenty two years and still his wits and intuition were well matched with her own, something frightening considering Fran was a lot older than Balthier.
"Ah…There you are."
Fran's reflexive thought was popped by the sophisticated voice.
"The Strahl is ready." Fran said, "it should be ready to make leave as soon as we have our heading"
Balthier was now atop the hull, he stood behind the viera. "I may have found just that…"
"What do you know?" Fran asked, her dainty viera accent exotic to Balthier's ears.
"Nothing… As of yet, but I might know someone who does." Balthier responded with amusement in his voice.
Fran turned around and looked at Balthier, yet she said nothing. She did not look amused.
Balthier let out a sigh.
"Fine," he said, looking a bit disappointed, "he's a history philosopher from Nabudis, conveniently enough for us, he's here in Bhujerba. He's told me to meet him in the Cloudborne in 20 minutes.
"Then we go at once." Said Fran as she stood up,
Balthier shook his head "That's what I like about you Fran, you're all business." He said in a sarcastic tone as he followed Fran off the airship.
Fran and Balthier walked through the streets of Bhujerba, making their way to the Cloudborne. Fran enjoyed the scenery. The high walls, the architecture, the hanging gardens. Bhujerba was one of the marvels that Fran considered worth leaving the woods for. Balthier noticed the glances shot at them throughout the city. As if Balthier's name and face weren't famous enough, he was travelling with a Viera, making him all the more eye-catching. But that never worried Balthier, he, in fact, enjoyed the fame. He had to, after all... He always considered himself as the leading man of a story in the writing.
Fran and Balthier kept walking until they arrived at the door of the tavern. Upon entering the Cloudborne, Balthier looked around immediately spotting the Scholar.
"There's our date" Balthier said.
"Our date?" Fran asked.
Balthier moved forward, "Come."
The scholar was a Nu Mou. He had weary eyes that looked like they carried all the burdens of Ivalice's history. He sat alone in a corner and seemed to have spotted the pirates from the moment they came in.
Balthier approached the Nu Mou.
"Ah you must be… Nemch'ka" he said.
"Yes, please, take a seat."
Fran and Balthier sat at the table.
"So what do you know about Jarabah?" Balthier asked without losing a minute.
"What do I know of Jarabah…" Nemch'ka said chuckling.
II
"Far , far away, east past the Ridorana cataract and the Pharos, lies the continent of Samaria. In the days of yore, the people of Valendia began to outgrow villages and powerful city states began to ascend. For the most part, the city states lived in peace as they considered themselves kin and shared a common tongue. This favored a very healthy trade between the city states and with time they became very wealthy. Eventually the city states decided to unite themselves to create the kingdom of Valendia. This agglomeration began to rapidly gain strength, which eventually led them to covet neighbor lands. They created a vast army and made armors and weapons of the finest materials they could find. With their vast and well equipped armies, the march began."
The Nu Mou paused briefly to light his pipe, and then picked up where he left off.
"First the valendians began to integrate surrounding cities, either peacefully or by force. When resistance began to grow, Valendia unleashed its might. One kingdom after another fell to valendian armies, the cruel onslaught would last for many, many years. After the small surrounding territories were integrated into Valendia, came a time of peace during which many philosophers began to arise. One such philosopher was Cirilious Septim, this man wrote a book called 'Threads of Fate' in which he says Valendians are chosen by the gods to spread civilization to every corner of the world, or at least what they knew of it. This book became highly influential and eventually instigated a second military campaign, this time to rule the world."
"Ah, I know I've heard that before…" Balthier said languidly.
"Empires don't differ too much from one and other." Replied the Nu Mou.
"Please, go on." Fran cut in, a bit annoyed about the interruption.
"Very well."
The Nu mou took a long drag from his pipe and puffed smoke from his nostrils, took a deep breath and continued.
"And so, Valendians began attacking kingdoms. First fell the small men from the east, rich bronze skins, hair as black as night. The Chechetkas. They fought with wood and stone. Fierce in battle, savage might of hope and faith. Easy to kill but large in numbers, the most honorable of them all, even the smallest launched towards battle with blazing eyes and gripped to hope. Brilliant ambushers, but it was not enough to change the tide of war.
Then the stealthiest of them all, the phantoms from the south. Dressed in black robes from heads to toe, invisible shadows in a world plunged to darkness, they attacked when least expected. Dangerous foes, outstanding assassins. Their kills were high, but their numbers dwindled. They were quelled by the might of a growing empire.
Then the black men from the west. Armored with the skulls of beasts. Attacked with sharpened bones and poisoned spears. Lived in a land so barren it was difficult to see how they survived, plagued with disease, this took many lives. When all seemed lost they turned to their labyrinth of caves. Many lost their way, many fell to traps and many met resistance in the narrow Kulnan Caves. Many others made their way and wiped the tribes themselves.
Whilst Valendia had been busy with its expansion in the south, the northern barbarians, the Uthgardt, noticed this and began to seize northern territories but with much less resistance. By the time Valendia owned the south, the Uthgardt owned the north. Valendia, following its divine fate, had to have the northern territories as well, an incondite region abundant with diamonds and snow. The only trace of civilization being the grand city of Vaalstak, known as the jewel of the North. The northern tribes of barbarians were feared throughout Samaria, recognized as the deadliest fighting force in the world, although they were losing such reputation to Valendia.
Valendia hesitated whether or not to attack, as they too feared the barbarians. The fierce resistance they faced whilst engaged in the southern conquest had polished their tactics but it also weakened their armies. They feared tactics would not be enough to overcome the barbaric brute force warfare.
Valendians planned the invasion when they were invaded themselves by the barbaric clans, hordes of barbarians ravaged the unsuspecting armies of King Uriel decimating them and driving them further south. The warriors were evenly matched and evenly numbered. One brilliant display of tactics was only outweighed by a savage boast of brute force, this led the two armies into a constant stalemate. The war raged for many years until both kingdoms reached conditional peace. One hundred years later, that peace still stands, but it is frail indeed. There have been a number of conflicts that threaten to plunge Samaria into war once more. "
"Fascinating story, wouldn't you say Fran?" Balthier said with a smile on his face. Fran looked at Balthier with deadpan expression and turned to the Nu Mou.
"Tell us about the treasure of Jarabah."
"Ah yes, that's what you came here in the first place. Jarabah is an underground vault which lies in the middle of the continent. It was recently discovered by an archadian adventurer. Valendia and the Uthgardt have both claimed it is in their jurisdiction, it's the source of the recent conflicts. I had a chance to speak with the archadian adventurer who discovered Jarabah. He told me that he managed to open the vault and get to the treasure room. He spoke if an unimaginable amount of gold and precious stones. But he also spoke of a particular treasure."
"That's more like it, tell me Nemch'ka, what did the adventurer say about this treasure." Balthier asked with a tone of pleasure in his voice.
"He didn't speak much of it, he couldn't to be more exact."
Balthier looked perplexed.
"I beg your pardon?"
"He spoke of a treasure of such radiance, such beauty… He was dumbstruck as soon as he saw it, hypnotized by beauty of the object. He says he was so enchanted by this that he does not remember what it was or what it looked like, he only remembers the beauty of it. This almost got him killed, turns out there was a savage wyrm guarding the treasure, he nearly traded his life to look at the treasure for a bit longer."
"Beauty enough to drive a man mad…" Balthier mulled the idea with a smile on his face.
"Well Fran, what are we waiting for?"
"Wait" urged Nemch'ka, "I will only ask you for two things in exchange for the information."
"Two things?" Asked Balthier, "Sounds reasonable… speak."
"First I will need you to go to Valendia and get me the book I mentioned earlier, "Threads of Fate". Many history philosophers of Ivalice know of its existence and have a vague idea about its contents, but none have ever read it. I would like to have that book in my hands… imagine, the wealth of information…"
" And the second?" Balthier interrupted, he was eager to run to his airship and begin his new adventure.
"Right, I am sorry, I get excited with the sole idea. The second would be any tomes or annals you find in Jarabah… and the third…"
"The third?" Balthier was surprised by this, the Nu Mou aren't known to be a greedy lot.
"Yes, and third, this I've just considered, I would like to see such treasure… Only in the name of alchemy, I wish to study it. I will give it back as soon as I draw conclusions. You will be paid for what ever you bring back, obviously."
"Well I guess I could do that, just as long as you promise."
The Nu Mou looked at Balthier, he wasn't sure whether Balthier was being serious or just having a laugh.
" I'm joking, old Nu Mou, I shall abide to our agreement, Fran we make leave right away"
"Understood, I will make final preparations on the Strahl, I will meet you there."
Fran stood up and walked towards the door and left.
Nemch'ka turned to look at Balthier.
" I chose to contact you for this job because I've heard you're an honest young man in spite being a sky pirate. Please… Don't make me regret this decision."
Balthier looked at the Nu Mou, amusement riddled his gaze.
"Well that all depends."
Balthier stood up from his seat and walked towards the door.
"Depends on what." Asked the Nu Mou, intrigued.
" Depends on whether or not I find something valuable enough to facilitate parting with what you want out of this deal."
Balthier exited the tavern and pointed his steps towards the Strahl.