Une Fleuraison Constante
(A Constant Blossoming)

By Tenshi no Ai

All French translations by Hawk of Death

I don't own the characters and locations in the game that are presented in this work, Square Enix does.

Prologue: This Land, This Castle

The whole of the country shone with an emerald beauty, from the spring-green blades of grass of the sweeping plains to the viridian needles of the mightiest evergreens that towered above in the many great forests throughout the land. While there were touches of human development about, small villages of yellow clay bricks and cherry wood roofs dotting the landscape but never overtaking it, most of the country was still pure, still virgin from the complicated constructs that a man's hands could weave. Tiny woodland spirits like the chatty moogle were free to hold friendly conversations with sunny-plumed chocobos while indomitable monsters such as the boisterous behemoth could square off against a stout minitaurus without being disturbed, their battles so ferocious that the earth would tremble and creak as their massive bodies slammed onto the unforgiving ground. The land was as untamed as the battles of those monsters, nothing holding it back from flourishing in life in all its forms. In an ancient language, long dead but having the phoenix-like quality of regenerating in the spoken words of today, that daily jubilation known as life was called 'yvalice'. As such, the name of the continent to the human dwellers--the only ones to care for such a trivial notion--was Ivalice.

What bloomed from Ivalice the country was a grand human achievement of the same name.

Situated on a wide but short hill with a veritable sea of grasses rippling and shimmering with the breezes from the Larner channel to the north, the multistoried, ivory-colored castle was simply beyond comparison to anything any human had ever conceived of in his mind. Initially developed by the refugees of one country or another during the times when godless hordes incited wars until the skies themselves grew bleak with foreboding, it was intended to become both immaculate fortress and complex city. The leader of the beginning architectural work was one Cidnei Fabool, and he compelled his fellow refugees to journey throughout their adopted continent, dragging boulders of luminescent white from the southwest and east, fine artisans carving these mysterious stones under his supervision while the various and many holy men put aside their theological differences and united under Ajora Glabados, continually blessing the raw materials that would form their home.

The work to build their home continued to the sons and daughters of these immigrants, and their sons and daughters, and so on until nearly a century had passed and the last brick was set in place. In reverence of their combined efforts and the solidarity of both the people as well as their home, these Ivalicians--for they were truly of the land of Ivalice by now--blessed their castle one final time and named it in their burgeoning Ivalician language La Pureté d'Ivoire de la Bénédiction de Dieu étreint le Château d'Ivalice, or The Ivory Purity of the Blessing of God Embraces the Castle of Ivalice.

Truly, it was an auspicious beginning to this, the legendary home of these misplaced people.

The castle did not so much as take up the hill it was situated on as it was sprawled over the diameter of it. Including the royal quarters and the feasting area, where all those who dwelt in the castle celebrated the major holidays together, there were four distinct sections of the castle. All of them were linked together by a multitude of crossing walkways and staircases, creating a sense of complete connection even while the halls, as three of the four sections were so named, remained mostly autonomous from the others. Altogether, the castle could keep two thousand people in relative comfort within its walls, and up to nearly four thousand should the occasion call for it. The people of the castle ranged from knights to magicians, lords and ladies of all ranks of nobility, merchants and artisans, servants and lay people, the clergy and royalty, all sorts of people entering and exiting the resplendent dwelling whenever the weather permitted it.

Over the centuries between the castle's conception to the present moment, the Ivalicians had shown a devastating potential to be quite the contentious lot, quibbling over the tiniest infractions until the entire castle would be mobilized in the feud. The knights of the involved families would challenge their new rivals at the appropriate festivals, or, if there weren't any on the horizon, to a hunt that would last from the barest rays of the dawning sun to just after the sun had sank to the west, presumably tired from watching these humans chase after various game. Due to the increasing amount of feuds, it was by royal decree that the various families would be divided into two of the largest halls, creating two distinct factions while reminding everyone that they were all under the king's authority and that it would be best to not risk his ire any more than they had already. The tempers lowered to an overall simmer, the families acclimated well to their individual halls, and most rivalries since were in mere fun and to make for more exciting festivals.

The halls had evolved into such that the people of one hall had markedly different ideologies and lifestyles from the others. They were decorated with specific colors of tradition, from curtains to rugs to the uniforms of their military. Within the westernmost hall lived all the families under the Gallionne banner. Draperies of blue and gold hung from the rafters of their part of the castle, dark blue insignias in the form of a lion imprinted upon the white capes of the knights of their military faction, proudly named the Hokuten. Down the hallways that led to the eastern section of the castle was the Zeltennia hall. Their own colors were of deep crimson and gold, the former imprinting the mark of a blood-red lion upon the white capes of their Nanten knights. In the northernmost hall, known by all as Murond, lived the clergy of the Order of Glabados, named after the holy man who had united the priests of all different religions during the initial building of the castle. Their colors were black upon a deep crimson; their military faction, called the Shrine Knights, did not generally wield these colors, but rather wore surcoats with the individual's color of rank over exquisite golden armor.

On the surface of things, daily life in the castle was rewarding and interesting. Ivalice was the epitome of life constantly abloom, wonderful miracles and dazzling splendors in even the most mundane of situations.

And where life travels, death lurks closely behind.

-End of prologue-

What inspired this story--completely in rambly third-person, I'll warn you now--was a discussion I had with a fellow writer by the name of Samuraiter. We were discussing a point he had made about Within Holy Walls, specifically that some of the dialogue seemed too modern for him. I commented that the Japanese version of FFT uses modern dialogue; he noted the fact that the setting is predominately medieval. We agreed to disagree, but it did get me thinking about intent versus actual usage. Then I thought about writing a fairytale-esque romance between Beowulf and Reis, because fairytales are about the only thing that can inspire me to write dialogue in that overly proper style. And then the dreaded thought struck: Why not go further?

While this story is decidedly alternative universe, it uses many mechanics of the FFT world. Think of this castle as a sociological construct of a microcosm of the land of Ivalice as displayed in the game. There will be a few fairytale-esque ideals, there will be most, if not every, FFT character portrayed (yes, even Bolmna), and there will be a plot that mirrors while distorting the image of the game.

For those that have deep-seated suspicions that AU equals utter and complete destruction of character development, please keep reading. I'll try my hardest to dissuade you from that belief, even if it's just for this story.

This will be either a biweekly serial or a whenever I feel like it story, depending on overall interest.