FFXIV and all its characters are propriety of Square-Enix and stuff. This is not for profit.
The tale of the Adventurous Monk Princess and the healer who needed to adjust
People say love is the strongest force in the universe. Everything from miracles to destiny changing events, to battles for the future of stars, to a simple sigh, in most epics, are attributed to the power of love. I don't claim that this story is an epic, but at least, I think, it's about love. The love between a princess who wanted to see the world, and a weaver who didn't, but did anyways.
-Terraria-
"Hear… Feel… Think…"
I could feel a voice deep within me. Was it a woman? I wasn't sure. I didn't even know if it was actually voice, or something else entirely. There were stars around me, like watching the sky from the highest peak of Eorzea above the clouds. There was no ground, just empty, infinite space filled with a blue presence, but, for some reason, I could stand on my legs.
"Hear… Feel… Think…"
The voice resonated again, and I could feel it inside my chest. I lifted my eyes and caught a glimpse of a giant, glowing crystal. The crystal spoke once again, saying the by then expected words.
"Hear… Feel… Think…"
Everything is vague after that. An outburst of power. White cleric clothes adorning my body, and a two-handed Conjurer's arm in my hands. A man enveloped in shadows, a quick duel, and the man being vanished to a hole of darkness. The last image I can recall is the dark skinned princess standing in front of me. She smiled.
"Terraria?" A voice brought me back to the land of the living. There was a needle in my left hand and a piece of hempen cloth in the other. There was an order of 40 hempen culottes to be delivered to the miner's guild in Ul'dah, and we had been working all night. Well, "we", is not very specific, since it was more like "I". Then again, Redolent Rose, the master of the Weaver's guild, would make sure I got an overtime compensation. The little dream I had must have lasted only a moment, since the clock had only advanced only a minute since the last time I checked. It was 7:01 a.m.
"How are the culottes going?" Redolent Rose asked. As a Rogaedyn, his big, powerful figure would make you think he was anything but a Weaver, but he was a very nice boss when there were no urgent orders. If there were, then it was a completely different story. They say that he works at night at the Gold Saucer, but nobody knows how or why.
"Almost done, Sir." I answered, trying to forget the weird dream and focusing on weaving another piece of the required item, not before letting out a small yawn. My eyes where itchy and my fingers were going numb, but I was happy to be about to finish it. I always liked weaving, so, when I had the chance to work with Rose, the choice was already made.
"Those are quite the eye bags" He commented. Apparently, I looked exhausted and sleepy, which is exactly what you are when you have to stay awake all night.
"I apologize Sir, but I'm almost done" I answered while I spun the yarn to weave the last part of the piece. "Finished" I lifted the culottes in satisfaction, showing a faint smile. He seemed worried for a moment… but not for me, of course, but for the quality of the clothes. He quickly checked it and gave a faint smile gesturing his approval.
"Nice work. Now, if you can go deliver the order to Adalberta in the miner's guild, the order will be over. Tell her Redolent Rose says hi." He said while turning is back on me to go supervise the new recruits. I let out another sigh and stood up. 40 hempen culottes aren't that heavy for me. Yes, I might be a midlander, and yes, I'm only 5'2, but the guild didn't have any messengers, so we ourselves do the delivering, I'm quite used to it.
I put the order in four cotton bags and took two in each hand. The Weaver's guild is in the same complex around the Ul'dah coliseum, so the miner's guild is actually very near. I could have used the aetheryte system to just teleport there, but I needed the leg exercise. Besides, that kind of technology is… weird, and I don't like it very much. Just thinking about what happens every time you turn into light and disappear is enough to make me shudder. It is almost as bad as traveling by chocobo on the aethercurrents, because flying. I hate flying. Did I mention that I don't like to travel? Because I DON'T.
Thinking about important stuff like that carried me across the hall to the miner's guild. Near the entrance was Wawarukka, a Dunesfolk Lalafell who is an old friend both mine and Redolent Rose's, who's engaged to the daughter of a wealthy Uld'dahn merchant, with whom I came to be acquainted after an incident last year.
"Hello, Miss Quinn." He greeted me with a happy expression.
"Hello Master Wawarukka. I've brought Mistress Adalberta's order."
"So early in the morning? You always have been a hard worker, but sometimes you take it too far, you know?"
"I carry the name of my guild on my shoulders; if the commitment was for early morning today, early morning today I will deliver it." I proudly answered. Wawarukka opened the door and escorted me to Adalberta, a highlander redhead who was sitting on a desk, reading some documents.
"Terraria Quinn is here to deliver our culottes." My friend announced. Adalberta's gaze met mine and a smile appeared in her lips.
"Hello Terra." She greeted. As you must have noted by now, my name is Terraria Quinn. My parents where devotees of the goddess Nymeia, the spinner, so they chose a name related to the earth. It is also part of why I chose to be a weaver. My father, however, was very interested in magic, and taught me some basics of conjuring from childhood. They say I should become a disciple of magic, but I'm not really very keen on becoming a roaming adventurer. So, here I am, delivering hempen culottes to some miners.
"Hello Mistress Adalberta." I replied while putting the bags on the table near her desk. "The order is completed."
"That's wonderful. Now we will be able to send the newcomers to resume the shard mining in central Thanalan." She said while inspecting one of the products.
"Sounds easy, but shard mining is very tough." I answered. She nodded before making a wryly smile.
"You said that on experience, right?"
She had to say it, of course. I'm technically a member of the miner's guild too, but it has been a long time since I mined anything. Breaking rocks in the hot sun is just not my kind of achievement.
"Yeah. By the way, Master Rose sends you his greetings." I tried to escape the topic. Adalberta nodded again and put her left hand on my shoulder.
"Send him my regards as well."
"I will ma'am."
"Now go to get some sleep, Terra. Your face says that you really need it. I'll send the payment to Rose the usual way."
"Understood." I bowed. "Thank you for using our services."
"Also say hello to Serendipity." She added. Serendipity was the name of the master of the Goldsmith's guild, where I also take work from time to time. "And to Severian." That one is the Alchemist master of whom I also am his crazy assistant Damn, I need to deliver him something he wanted me to craft. "And also…"
"I get the point; I'll try to rest a bit." I said, slightly annoyed. Adalberta and Wawarukka waved me goodbye and I did the same.
They call the people like me "disciples of the hand", but what has the hand taught me?
Pondering on such existential crisis, I got out of the miner's guild and proceeded to return to Redolent Rose. Walking around, I watched a couple of auras walking aimlessly. Auras are draconic-like people, with horns in their heads and scale like bones on some parts of their skin. Also, the males are significantly taller than the females, who tend to be very petite. The girl had tan skin and blond hair, and was laughing very hard. Her companion, on the other hand, seemed very serious. They noticed me and the girl was quick to ask me for some directions.
"Do you know where can we find the pugilist guild? We have some business there." Her face was quite beautiful, like one of those models from the moogle post. The man just stood next to her, silently.
I hadn't had the chance to speak to an Au ra before, so their horns were a bit intimidating. Nonetheless, the guide in me surfaced to give directions.
"Of course. It is near of here. Come with me." I offered. I hadn't had breakfast yet, so I thought I could drop them off at the guild and then go grab some cream cheese and bread from the vendor at the sapphire avenue outside the coliseum.
"Oh thank you so much." The woman celebrated. "Aren't we inconveniencing you?" She asked, slightly worried.
"Not at all. I have to go near there after all."
"That's wonderful then."
"At your service, ma'am." I replied. Working in services had made my vocabulary very polite, as if I was always talking to customers.
I proceeded to walk ahead them. I noticed how the man looked at the aetheryte and then at me, wondering if we weren't going to use it. I could feel it. But I like the old fashioned way, and I'm taking them there, so no complaints.
"Do you live here in Ul'dah?" The woman asked. I smiled quietly and gave a nod.
"My family is actually from Gridania, but I live here because of work."
"That does make sense. They say that you can make coin very fast in this city." She answered, looking at the people walking around us.
"Not quite. Since the Alamighan refugees came to the city, it has become harder for everyone to get a job. I don't blame them, but the monetarist faction has been using that opportunity to pay lower wages to desperate people willing to accept anything, and because of that, the unemployment rate has gone up among locals. The Sultana would like to do something, but she is not really in a position to do anything about it."
"You do seem pretty knowledgeable about local politics." The man spoke. It startled me a bit because his voice was so deep, but I managed to meet his gaze and smile.
"Just a bit. I live here after all."
We arrived at the entrance of the pugilist guild, and the woman let out a cheer in delight, to my confusion. I mean, you don't celebrate when a mundane task, like arriving at a place is completed, right? Or maybe I'm the weird one… I hope not.
"Look out!" A voice yelled. The next thing I saw was a girl flying directly into my face.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" She screamed.
"Wha-."
I couldn't even react. The girl's head crashed into mine and both were sent flying to the wall, where I became a cushion for her. When we both hit the ground, she was the first to stand up, ready to go back to whatever thing sent her flying in first place.
"I'm so sorry, but I need to take care of this guy." She apologized without looking at me. Her gaze was fixed on her opponent. She was a mi'qote of the sun, smaller than me. Her hair and tail were black and her skin light brown. Her red eyes were of the same color as mine, and she was smiling, thrilled.
"Are you ok?" I asked. A drop of blood was coming from her forehead, but she just wiped it with her arm.
"Don't worry."
She did an internal release and jumped back to the guild. The Au ra couple just stood up there, the girl cheering on her, and the guy just silent. I stood up as fast as I could, noticing there was also blood on my own forehead.
"This is not funny." I mumbled.
"SNAP PUNCH! TRUE STRIKE! FIST OF EARTH!" The acute voice of the girl yelled with all her strength.
"Useless." A tall Elezen replied. He was wielding a katana, so I assumed he was a samurai. I was not wrong. "Enpi." He commanded. His katana moved so fast it created a wave of air that sent the girl against the wall again, landing on her back with such strength that a bit of blood came from her mouth.
"I'll show you my second wind." She cast a skill on herself to recover some stamina, but the recovery was so minimum that it didn't make a difference. She was about to lose.
"SNAP PUCH!" The girl yelled again, and once more, the enpi just sent her flying backward. The pugilist guildmaster just stood there, watching her performance. Was this some kind of test? I didn't know, but the difference in power was really evident.
"Wait!". I intervened. Everyone just stopped to look at me. I didn't know what I was doing, but something just seemed wrong. The girl was using a customary mi'qote set of clothes, and everyone knows that it doesn't really protects of anything. "He is wearing a nameless togi and katana, and that alone makes the difference between them too overwhelming. I don't know what of why are you fighting about, but it isn't right."
The mi'qote girl stood up and observed me silently, curious, even.
"You seem knowledgeable about clothing. And what do you propose?" The samurai replied.
"I… I-I am a weaver from the Weaver's guild. Let me craft her something more appropriate for a disciple of war, so you can fight in even conditions."
The girl's eyes opened wide, surprised of my declaration.
"As you yourself said, you don't even know what is going on here. Why do you meddle in other people's affairs?" The samurai asked again. His all high and mighty attitude was beginning to take the best of me.
"I just can't stand conceited adventurer wannabes." I answered defiantly. OH NYMEIA WHAT I WAS DOING.
The samurai looked at me and smiled smugly. Then he watched the Au ra couple in the back, and made a quick nod to them. They did the same.
"All right. Let this be a two-on-two duel then."
"Wait, what?"
"The nature of this duel allows the combat field to be balanced if another fighter enters the combat." The pugilist master explained.
"But I just said I would craft some clothes… that's not fighting." Right? RIGHT?
"It is helping the other combatant, so it is." The samurai smiled once more, mocking my futile attempt at helping. It seemed I just made the situation worse for the girl I was trying to help.
"It is settled, then."
"... But I…"
"We'll fight." The girl intervened. "And we will stick your sword in your ass SO HARD the tip is going to come out of your mouth!"
Harsh. But her determination made me gain some too. I didn't know what I had gotten into, but this seemed the only way out now.
"See you tomorrow then." He bowed to the pugilist master and walked to the Au ra couple. Then they left together. After they did, my legs failed me and I fell to the floor, exhausted.
"What was all that?" and Who are you, and what's going on in here is what a wanted to ask, but that was the most generic question I could come up with.
"Your friend here offended the samurai by jumping on top of his head to reach the ceiling here. So, he being a samurai, took offense and demanded a duel in compensation."
"…" My expression became as dead as a southern thanalan zombie.
"I needed to get there."
"…"
"It has a nice view."
"…"
"But thank you. You jumped right into the action to help a complete stranger." Her magnificent posture and expression contrasted with the utter stupidity of the reason why both of us were in danger of death now.
"It's ok. For now, you can come with me so I can craft you the clothes I promised. Then we can discuss what are we going to do in regards to that… fight." Oh my God, I'm going to fight an experienced samurai…
"Okay, thank you." She said, giving me a big hug. It was almost heartwarming, if not for the fact that my life is going to end because such a stupid reason.
"By the way, can I at least know your name?"
"Yes! It's Chand. Chand Bibi." She replied happily. In the back of the guild, a man of white hair, wearing a strange contraption in his forearm, watched us silently.
"Minfilia, I found something interesting." He said through a linkpearl, before disappearing among the passing crowd.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Terraria, Terraria Quinn."
"Oke, nice to meet you, Terra." She said with the biggest smile I have ever seen.
I was very worried. I mean, I could have run away, leaving her to her own, but something pushed me not to. "A way to fight", I thought. I remembered my childhood training, and the last thing Severian asked me to craft… a one handed conjurer's arm.
(To be continued)