Serenade

This is my story for the FFT Writing Circle's third challenge. I hope you like it.

I do not own Final Fantasy Tactics

"She's lucky that she is my best friend," a black mage said as she entered her study. It was early evening and her study was dimly lit. She sighed, knowing that she wouldn't have much light to work with. She walked over to the table and gently set down her parcel. She then took off her cloak, placed it on a chair in the corner, and sat down at the table. As she opened the bag she looked at the letter that was on the table. It contained all of the symptoms that she was making the remedy for. She took out each of the items in the bag. She had to be especially careful when she took the small vial of quicksilver out. She needed it for her medicine making but it was starting to become harder to get. She gathered the dry ingredients in her mixing basin first and ground them together, before adding a few drops of quicksilver. She mixed the items together until they created a paste and then she got up to retrieve a small container from the shelf to put it in. Slowly waving the vial in and out of her vision, she thought about her friend Luna.

In the letter Luna had told her that a friend of hers was sick, but more importantly it was a male friend. Zora couldn't help but wonder whether or not Luna had feelings for him. Zora put the vial down and sighed. She began to think about her brother. It had been while since she last heard from him and even longer since she had saw him last. She quickly pushed her thoughts aside and began to clean up. After she was finished she looked at the second page of the letter from her friend. She looked at the time that the performance began to figure out how early she wanted to get there. After forming the plan in her head Zora grabbed her cloak from the chair, blew out the various candles around her study and headed for her room. She would admit that she was lonely but she wasn't in the mood for a relationship. What she wouldn't admit even to herself is that she doesn't want to fall in love with someone just to have them leave her like her brother. Zora changed into her nighttime attire and got into bed. As she drifted of to sleep she thought about her friend Luna and wondered what kind of craziness Luna would try to drag her into.

--

The next morning Zora woke up early. It was about nine in the morning and about six hours before the show would begin. She wasted no time getting dressed and ready for the day. She looked out of one of the windows in her house and watched in amusement as a couple of chickens eluded their owner. She watched the spectacle for a few minutes before walking to her small stable. Zora smiled as she heard the small excited wark that came from her chocobo Snow Wind. She walked over to Snow Wind and stroked her beak. She tried to nip at one of her fingers but Zora noticed and pulled away just in time. "All right Snowy, I get the point. You're hungry," she said as she moved towards the bag of feed she kept. Zora grabbed a handful of feed and walked back to Snow Wind. She held out her hand and watched as her chocobo began to eat. While Snow Wind ate Zora patted her head. Another wark let Zora know that Snow Wind had finished. "You should be happy Snow Wind; we are going out today," Zora said. Snow Wind tried to grab Zora's hat with her beak but she came up with an empty beak. "Now, now Snowy; you should know better," Zora said as she took a step back from Snow Wind. "Mommy's hat stays on her head. I'll see you in a couple of hours." She walked into the house as Snow Wind started to groom herself.

It was about noon when Zora returned to the stable. She had the vial of medicine safely tucked away in her cloak and she had the directions to where she was headed memorized. She mounted Snow Wind and had her go at a brisk pace. Zora had to get to an inn on the other side of town. She was a little excited to be able to see her best friend again, but she also knew that their time together would be short. Zora made Snow Wind slow to a stop as they approached the inn, and after tying her to a pole right outside of the inn she went in. She took a quick look around and noticed that there weren't many people around. Confused, she went to the person at the front desk. "Excuse me, but have the dancers and bards that planned to perform at this inn arrived yet?" Zora asked as she wondered if she had arrived too early.

"Oh, you must be here for their performance. Yes they are here. They are out back setting up and talking with some of the guests."

"Thank you." Zora walked outside and around to the back of the inn. There she saw many people doing many different things. She began to search for her friend Luna. She weaved between people and tried hard not to bump into anything or anyone. Just as Zora decided that she was going to ask someone if they knew where Luna was someone poked her. She turned around to come face to face with her friend. "You're a hard person to find Luna."

"A simple hello would do Zora," she responded.

"Don't start with me Luna."

"Don't be so easy to rile up then, Zora."

"So where is this guy friend of yours? Is he here yet?"

"You always do that you subject changer, but yes he's here. Follow me." Luna led her back towards the direction of the inn. Her friend was standing at a table that had been set up close to the inn. "Ramza this is the friend I was telling you about. Zora this is my friend Ramza, and Ramza this is Zora." Zora reached into her cloak, took out the vial and held it out to Ramza.

"Ah, so this would be for you then," she said.

"You know Zora, it's not that hard to say 'hello, it's nice to meet you'. Actually just saying 'hello' isn't that hard either," Luna said. Zora was about to respond when Ramza intervened.

"Don't worry about it Luna; it doesn't bother me." Ramza took the vial from Zora. "Thank you for this."

"You're welcome. Just take a little bit of it, put it in a cup, pour hot water over it, and make tea from it. I would suggest that you do this about twice a day until you run out. It should help with what you have," she responded. Ramza nodded and expressed his thanks once more.

"Hey why don't you two get yourselves seated. Everything is just about set up and it will be just a little while before we start," Luna said. Zora and Ramza both agreed and went to find themselves someplace to sit. Ramza took a seat in the front row, while Zora took a seat in the back row. She didn't feel like being bother by someone asking her to take off her hat, and there was the fact that she refuses to take her hat off for anyone. Zora watched as more people came and filled the seats. Some gave her odd looks as they passed but she just ignored them. Others were busy talking to among themselves and some just looked happy to be there. It had been a bout a half hour when the show began. As Zora watched the bards walk onto the stage she tried to get a good look at their faces. When the bards started playing music she sighed. None of them seemed to resemble who she was looking for, but she resolved to ask later just to be sure. After a minute the dancers joined the bards on stage, and Zora couldn't help but smile as her friend got on stage.

The performance had lasted about two hours and the leader of the group had announced that the audience would be allowed to talk with the performers. Zora stood up as she watched Luna and some bard walked towards her.

"Zora I would like you to meet Akintunde. He is a good friend of mine," Luna said. Zora watched as Luna then whispered something into his ear and then they both smiled.

"Luna what are you up to this time?" Zora asked.

"What do you mean? I'm innocent."

"Yeah right. I know that look. You are up to something." Luna slowly started to walk pass Zora. Zora watched as she walked pass and then as she walk towards a table that was several feet away. She turned back towards Akintunde and looked him over. He wasn't bad looking but she wasn't really interested. Zora was about to say something when she felt her hat being snatched off of her head. She turned around to see Luna running off with her hat. She instantly pointed at her. "Out of the ground, raze all green…" Zora stopped, lowered her arm and shook her head. "Luna!" she yelled, "Give me my hat back right now! You know good and well that I do not like being without my hat!" Luna stopped and turned to look in Zora's direction.

"Nope!"

"And why not?" Luna walked towards Zora. When she was close enough Zora tried to grab her hat but Luna put it behind her back.

"I will give it back when you properly greet Akintunde."

"Fine." Zora sighed and turned to face Akintunde once more. "Hello, it is nice to meet you Akintunde. How are you today?" Luna put Zora's hat back on her head and then stood next to Akintunde. He was about to respond when they heard screaming in the background. They all turned towards the source of the noise and found that there was a guy running around on fire. Luna turned to look at Zora. "What? I didn't do it this time I swear! I mean yes I did start to cast the second level fire spell but I stopped. I didn't do it!" Luna looked at her for a few moments more before she turned her attention back to the man on fire. They watched as someone brought a pail of water and dumped it on him. Someone else came to take him to get treated. When that was over with Akintunde and Luna looked at Zora once more.

"Well, It's a pleasure to finally meet you miss Zora. You may call me Akin if you wish. Many people do. I am doing fine today, how about you?"

"Well…Akin…let's just say I could be better."

"Cheer up. It isn't right for someone as beautiful as you to be down." Zora tried hard not to roll her eyes.

"Save it for someone who falls for those kinds of lines, and Luna, I should have known that you would try and set me up." Zora turned her back on them and walked back to the inn. When she got inside she saw that everyone that was inside before were nowhere to be seen. She figured that they were probably outside. She then sat down in one of the chairs with her back towards the door. Normally she wouldn't have done that but this time she didn't care. "Luna is so lucky right now that she is my friend," she said out loud.

"But you would deny me the pleasure of getting to know you?" Zora got up and turned to look at who had said that.

"So you decided to follow me, Akin? Tell me something. Were you once a mediator?"

"Guilty as charged."

"Thought so. It is the way you talk that gives it away, but like I said before save it for someone who's interested."

"So you won't even give me the chance to peak your interest?"

"Trust me, I'm a hard person to impress. You can try if you want, but you'll only be wasting your time." Akintunde smiled at Zora and walked to the other chair at the table she where was sitting.

"Thank you for this opportunity Zora." She simply nodded and sat down. He played an upbeat melody on his harp, but she remained indifferent. Then he played a slower more mellow melody, but still she showed no signs of liking it or hating it. Akintunde then started singing as well. First he sang a song that he wrote himself. When he was finished he looked at her expectantly. "So what do you think Zora?"

"It was nice," she replied, but the tone of her voice suggested that she wasn't really impressed. He sighed and began to sing another song, but he was interrupted partway through. "The Cheer song, how…expected. Sorry Akin, but you'll definitely have to do better than that." Akintunde stopped to think. He realized how serious she was when she said she was tough to impress. He decided to sing a song that he would not have considered before. When Zora realized what he was singing she had mixed emotions. She was surprised that he would sing that to try and impress her. She was happy because it was her favorite song, but she was also sad because the last time she heard this song was when her brother sang it to her the night before he left. "Nameless song," she said just barely above a whisper. Akintunde nodded and kept singing. When she felt the effects of the song tears began to stream from her eyes. It was the same gift she had gotten when her brother sang for her; another life. When Akintunde stopped singing he heard Zora crying softly. He cautiously took her hat off and set it on the table. When Zora didn't reach for her hat or yell at him he came in close, place his hand under her chin, and tilted her head up slightly so she could look into his eyes.

"Zora please forgive me. I did not mean to distress you."

"It's not you Akin. It's actually my favorite song. It's just that my brother left me when I was young and the night before he left he sang this to me."

"I'm sorry I-"

"No, it's okay, you didn't know. There's a lot you don't know; a lot Luna doesn't know." Akintunde gently wiped the tears from her face.

"I believe that they are serving the food outside now. How about you tell me some of these things while we enjoy the meal?" He held out his hand to help her up from her seat. Zora took a couple of moments to gather herself together before she received his hand and stood up. She looked at her hat, but decided to leave it. Akintunde looked at Zora waiting to hear what her response would be. She looked into his eyes and saw genuine interest.

"I…I would like that," she replied.

If you see anything that needs to be fixed or improved please let me know. Also this is my first real attempt at romance in a while so if you have any tips, please feel free to share.

2SSC