Looted
"What should we do with this one?" Vaan queried, twirling another Bent Staff dropped by a Bagoly around after felling the last of the foul beasts.
Ashalia B'nargin Dalmasca sighed. "Just give it to Basch." She instructed. The excessive amounts of loot they collected as they moved across the Nam Yensa Sandsea was becoming an issue. The small items like feathers and earth stones were easy enough to manage, but the larger pieces, like the staves, were cumbersome. The extra weapons and equipment they carried didn't help matters. Thankfully, they'd found a merchant to sell all of the loot from the Ogir Yensa Sandsea at the edge of that region. That was several days ago. Hauling all of this extra weight through the sweltering desert was no easy task for any of them. The party members had been arguing lately about whether they should just throw some of it away instead of dragging it around.
As the princess of Dalmasca, the decision was left to Ashe. As inconvenient as carrying so much extra weight was to everyone, she couldn't justify throwing any of it away. They needed the gil too much to do that. A couple of years ago she would have never believed that one of royal blood could be reduced to such a mean existence, scrounging around in the desert and killing monsters for things to sell to pay for her next meal. She remembered that when she was a little girl, she was appalled to learn that many of the citizens of Rabanastre earned their living or at least supplemented their income in this manner. Since the assassination of her father, King Raminas, and the subsequent Archadian occupation, this kind of activity had been a major source of funding for the Resistance, as it was difficult for the Empire to track and tax gil earned this way.
She remembered the first time that Vossler suggested organizing an expedition into the Westersand to fight monsters for combat training and to collect loot for gil. She hadn't been wild about involving herself in something so plebian, but did so anyway. She had to set an example for her soldiers, after all. A few of her stronger fighters took up mark hunting on the side to earn extra money. She'd barred them from joining the clans to keep them from drawing too much attention. It galled her when her men hunted marks for the Archadians, but she liked the extra funding.
Even her long days with the Resistance seemed far away right now as she trudged through the desert toward King Raithwall's Tomb. She was glad that Vossler had found them, as her other companions left much to be desired. The two sky pirates were surprisingly the most tolerable. Fran's magicks were a lifesaver and Balthier's treasure-hunting experience was useful. His witty banter kept her entertained. Still, they were career criminals and not the kind of company that Ashe preferred.
The war orphans too had their good points. They were resourceful and good at finding food in the desert. Vaan's attempts at stealing from enemies were amusing at times. He was taking lessons from Balthier, who was a master thief. Ashe was a bit disappointed that neither Vaan nor Penelo recognized her at first. Had she really been that out of touch with the Dalmascan people before the war? Granted, as a princess she never really wandered the streets of Rabanastre or interacted with many commoners outside of her maids. It had worked to her advantage while she was in hiding with the Resistance in Lowtown. No one had recognized her or doubted the story of her suicide that Marquis Ondore announced shortly after her father's death.
She was still miffed at Vaan for stealing her birthright, the Dusk Shard, from the palace the night of the fete. The fact that he helped her out in the sewers after the battle and helped rescue her from her cell on the Leviathan didn't make up for that entirely. On one level, she couldn't blame him. He'd lost his whole family to the plagues and the war and had lived a hand to mouth existence in Lowtown ever since. The thought of Vayne and his buddies raiding the Dalmascan treasures in the palace disgusted most Rabanastrans, so why shouldn't a Dalmascan take something before they had a chance? Ashe had never been a forgiving person, so maybe her lingering resentment toward Vaan over that incident shouldn't be surprising.
She hadn't formed much of an opinion about Penelo yet. To be honest, she wasn't sure why the girl was with them, or how she had befriended Larsa Solidor. It seemed Penelo's main motivation for coming was to stay close to Vaan, who couldn't keep himself out of trouble. Ashe wondered if they were a couple. If they were, Penelo surely didn't like the way Vaan made eyes at Ashe when he thought she wasn't looking. Penelo was a promising mage, and Fran was willing to tutor her. Having a second healer was never a bad thing.
Penelo had also been helpful in stitching some of the wolf pelts together to make crude bags for them to carry loot, food, potions and extra ammunition in. She also sorted the loot each night, keeping each type of thing in its own pouch. Feathers in one bag, stones in another, and so on. They could even take the bags apart later and sell the wolf pelts. For the most part, Ashe tried to divide the bags of loot and equipment up among the party members as equitably as possible. Each person was responsible for his or her own armor and weapons and each carried a small supply of medicinal items. The non-fighting party was required to carry more loot than the fighting party. Overall, she thought it was a fair system, and she didn't even mind carrying her own things, though Vossler frequently offered to help her.
The one glitch in her otherwise fair system was that she habitually made Basch carry more than his fair share of loot, even if he was in the fighting party. He didn't complain, but Vaan had called her out on it a couple days ago, which had been a very uncomfortable moment. She never thought she'd be arguing with a common thief about her royal discretion in assigning tasks, but that was exactly what she did.
Ashe's biggest gripe with the expedition was the presence of Basch. She didn't for a second believe his story about having an identical twin brother who happened to be a high-ranking Archadian judge magister. Of course, she'd never seen Judge Gabranth without his helmet. She was shocked to discover that Basch had been alive all this time, rotting in Nalbina. It was a fitting punishment for a king slayer, which she still believed he was, no matter what he or Vaan claimed. It made her uncomfortable having him close by. Who was to say that he wouldn't try to off her as well?
Thank the gods for Vossler. She kept her proven ally close to her at all times. She knew that Vossler was unsure of Basch too and that he'd keep her safe. It was a little unnerving how strong Basch was for someone who'd been starving in the Nalbina dungeon for a couple years, though he did have the distinctive gaunt look of one who was malnourished. He was willing to do anything Ashe requested of him, including carrying more than his fair share of the loot and extra equipment.
Overall, things could be a whole lot worse. There was some day to day bickering among the party members to contend with, but nothing she couldn't deal with. Vaan whined some that she didn't let him fight more and told him to quit trying to steal from the Urutan Yensa they encountered, who rarely had anything worth taking anyway. She usually ignored his complaints. Vossler had joined Balthier in yelling at him once for doing something especially foolish: trying to steal from the Salamand Entite they'd seen in the Ogir Yensa Sandsea. It had been an especially memorable incident and the only time Balthier and Vossler had agreed about anything. The endless bickering between the sky irate and the knight ground on her nerves at times.
Basch didn't complain at all, and he kept a respectful distance from her. Close enough to assist if needed, but far enough away to give her some space. As he took the latest bent staff from Vaan and added it to the bundle of similar pieces he already carried, Ashe felt a twinge of shame. What if he was telling the truth and hadn't betrayed her? Her father would be appalled to see her treating a loyal knight this way, especially one who had been tortured and starved for two years in the imperial dungeon at Nalbina. She knew she was being petty. But was he a loyal knight or a cold-blooded killer? She couldn't be sure.
Vaan seemed convinced that Basch was being honest, even though his own brother was the soldier who told the world of Basch's betrayal. He had hated the man when he first met him in Nalbina. According to Balthier, he had started yelling and nearly blown their escape. What had Basch done since then to earn Vaan's trust? Maybe she should talk to Vaan about it tonight before they went to sleep.
Until then, she could consider how she might distribute the burdens more equitably amongst the party members without weighing any of them down too much.