One
Indescribable?
Somewhere South of Lake macalania. Evening.
High Priest Kinoc's monastery, located on the edge of Macalania Woods was well hidden from the rest of Spira. It's residents were a group of warrior monks trained to defend Spira from Sin's attacks. The best of them was a twenty year old swordsman; this young man was an authority figure among the other residents and it was his responsibility to lead the song of prayer. He'd chosen Lady Yunalesca's song for this night.
He entered the hall, walking by the assembled lines of monks, long red coat trailing behind him. Malakai, an old friend of his, caught his eye and winked.
"Hey, Auron."
He received a faint smile as response. Auron reached the front of the hall and kneeled. He started to speak- but the doors at the far end of the hall, through which he'd just entered, opened again. A young blonde girl stood, watching him. His first instinct was to have someone get rid of her. Being female, she wasn't supposed to be anywhere near here. She wasn't staff. She must be a visitor from Bevelle, or a member of the High Priest's family, Auron thought. He looked down at his hands and began again, this time interrupted by a roaring sound from outside, like a massive wave had passed by. The High Priest, who had been sitting to one side of the hall, got to his feet.
"We will investigate. Auron, take Malakai and Lowell. I'll take Nadim and Palmer."
The two groups hurriedly left the hall. These disturbances weren't rare; there were fiends all over Macalania, particularly near the lake. They had to be checked, however, as some of the fiends would cause damage to the building or corner unseasoned travellers.
As Auron passed the blonde girl, he felt her gaze follow him. He dismissed it and carried on out of the hall and down the corridor towards the entrance hall and the huge iron doors.
Once outside, Malakai was far less serene.
"Let's hope it's a big 'un! I can't be arsed with this singing crap, I wanna get back to training!"
He swung his blue- bladed sword around, narrowly missing Lowell's legs.
"Focus, Malakai." Auron said, keeping his voice low, "You don't want trouble the High Priest."
"Skipper's right, Kai." Lowell smiled, tossing his hair out of his face. "Let's go left, we always go right."
They set off, cautious keeping alert.
The search continued until Lowell threw his staff down.
"There's nothing here! Can we go back? I'm freezing."
"This is boring, let's go."
"No."
Lowell and Malakai looked at Auron.
"There is something here. Wait there."
He was close to silent as he crept through the silvery blue trees, seeking out whatever it was he had sensed. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew it didn't belong. He turned and caught sight of something through the trees- a common fiend in this area, a chimera. Auron drew his sword and moved towards it, but it turned and ran, already injured. As Auron arrived in the clearing where the monster had been, he saw what had injured it. A young woman lay unconscious on the ground, her long black hair covering her face. Her staff lay some distance away, as though she'd been thrown backwards. She wore a bright red dress, tied at the back with a black ribbon; by the look of her clothing, she was from Kilika. Auron picked up her staff- a pole of gold-like metal topped by a fan-like shape with a ball of some purple crystal in the middle. Inscribed in the metal were the words 'Lillja- departs from Kilika a novice. May she return victorious.'.
A summoner?! Alone?! He pushed the staff through his belt, knelt and picked up the girl. Her hair fell away from her face and her green eyes opened slightly.
"Hey… thanks…" she half-whispered before passing out again.
Malakai came rushing into the clearing, breathless.
"I heard a chimera! Is it-" he caught sight of the girl and looked at Auron, who was still studying her face. "Ohh, we in trouble now…"
"We're not. The company of women is tolerated when the female in question is a relative of a Priest, a member of staff or a summoner. We're obliged to take her in until she recovers."
"Well now I'm happy,", was the sarcastic reply, "I have to do the whole look but don't touch thing."
Auron gave him a disapproving look and turned back towards the monastery.
Two
First day of the rest of your life
Lillja awoke to a pleasant breeze coming in through the open window.
She shot up in bed, her hands clamped over her ears, she could hear a thumping sound, a roar, there were pictures in her head of people she didn't know-
It ended. She lay back down, breathless and white. The room she was in was circular and fairly small. There was a red rug on the bare floorboards. Her bed was below the single window, a heavy wooden door in the wall opposite.
Sitting up again, she finally noticed that there was someone sitting at the end of her bed. His head was against a set of drawers. He was sleeping. From where she sat, she could make out a red coat black metal armour under it and black hair. She tried to get out of bed, but a pain shot through her. It took a moment for her to work out it's source; she eventually found a bandaged wound on her left side. The young man stirred, his eyes opened. He looked at her, stood quickly and started towards the door.
"Wait!" Lillja called, "Where am I? What happened?"
He just looked at her and left the room.
Strange, she thought. He was back in a few minutes, though, with a tray that help various foods.
"Oh, you're back!" Lillja smiled. "Don't be shy… tell me, where is this?"
Still nothing.
"Why won't you talk? Are you mute?"
"I'm not permitted to speak with you."
"Why?"
"I'm not permitted to speak with you."
She remained quiet while she ate the leaves out of a small bowl.
"I'm Lillja." Nothing. "Come on, I won't tell! I wouldn't bug you so much if I knew what I could and couldn't do."
"I'm--"
"I heard you the first time." she snapped. "Oh. I'm sorry… it's just frustrating, you know? I don't remember where I was, how I got here… I remember blue, though."
"The woods."
"What?"
"The woods." Auron repeated. "The plants in Macalania are blue. To do with soil…"
"So is that where I am?"
Auron crossed to the door and looked out into the empty corridor. Closing the door behind him, he went back to Lillja and stood at the end of her bed.
"Close." he replied quietly, "You were found in Macalania Woods. We brought you to our monastery to recover. You're a summoner. Why were you alone?"
For a moment, the word 'summoner' was lost on her. Then pictures began to form in her head.
"I left Kilika… to start my pilgrimage… my guardian… died, crossing the Lightning Plains…"
"You've been alone since? Why didn't you find a new guardian in Kilika?"
"I…" she stopped. Why hadn't she gone back? "I don't know…"
"The High Priest will send you back to Kilika. We can't let you continue alone."
Lillja was silent.
"You can call me Lilli if it's easier." she looked up, smiling.
"I'm… my name is Auron."
"Pretty. Bevelle name."
He blinked, but said nothing. Lillja pulled herself up by the windowsill and looked out- she was high up, very high. She could see a courtyard below and a group of men fighting.
"What's happening?!"
"They're training."
"Oh." Pause. "Who's that girl next to the boss man? I thought girls weren't allowed in these places." Pause. "How come I am?"
"You're allowed because you're a summoner. The 'boss man' is the High Priest, Wen Kinoc. Her, I don't know."
"She's very pretty. Cold, though."
Auron didn't answer.
"Can I go outside?"
"I'm not permitted to speak with you."
"But-but-"
Auron placed a finger over his lips. The door opened and Malakai entered.
"Hey. Kinoc wants to see the lady. She has to wear this." he gave her a black hooded cloak. "See ya…"
With one lingering glance at Lillja, he left. Once his footsteps had died away, Lillja's face lit up.
"Oooh, sneaky!! I had you down as a little lapdog! He's a friend?"
"My oldest. For future, Lady Lillja, you should remember I can only speak to you when we're alone. Also, I am something of a …lapdog." he winced almost invisibly, "This place, and Yevon's teachings mean a lot to me. I only break this rule because I feel helping a summoner is more important than obeying a rule that is not imposed by the teachings."
"Ah hum." Lillja nodded absently, "Wasn't I supposed to go see…?"
She may have been seeing things, but she could swear she saw her carer… almost smile.
"Yes, you were." As she put the cloak on, he was hit by a strange feeling, a wave of something. He couldn't describe it, exactly, but had Lillja felt it, she would have described it as a sense of finding purpose.