Answered Prayer

"Why is it so ungodly hot in here?" She thought to herself. She had been here a while, not that she could tell how long. The room was lacking in natural light, and other luxuries like food; her stomach growled and her mind churned.

Her eyes surveyed the statue embedded in the floor below her. The twisted and distorted form of a girl, no older than herself, had it's back to her. Even it couldn't look her in the face. Too many had told her no, too many had protested; maybe they were getting to her. She had decided long ago that this was to be her path, yet she could hardly focus on the task at hand. Still, she wasn't giving up, and she wasn't leaving this room until she accomplished her goal.

It was the first step on a long road ahead, all she had to do was pray and receive her gift; Yevon's blessing, and a confirmation that she was worthy. Worthy of being her father's daughter…She could not fail now, and let him down.

She placed her hands palm to palm, intertwining her fingers. She squeezed them together as tight as she could, hoping to expel more energy and create a catalyst. All these years of training, and she didn't know what to expect inside the chamber all alone with the Fayth. She had been told that she would pray, and if the Fayth found her laudable, they would bestow her with an Aeon. But they never told her what to ask for. She had walked in, kneeled, clasped her hands and demanded an Aeon hours ago; see how far that got her?

She huffed and dropped her arms. She wanted to scream and throw a tantrum, maybe that would get her noticed. She chuckled then, the faint and desperate laugh of a delirious teenaged girl, just before she collapsed across the glass dome protecting the statue. It smelled old, a smell most things don't have in this world; moldy with a slight trace of smoke. She didn't mind the smell, really, or maybe she was just worn out from hunger.

"I just want to do right by him." she began, explaining to the back of the girl's head. "He gave up everything so that I could live. My father paid the ultimate price so that people could live in peace for a little while."

She teared up, "He left me all alone in a world now suddenly opened up to every possibility anyone could imagine."

The song the statue was singing stopped. She had listened to it the whole time she'd been in this room, it had played over and over until she hardly noticed it anymore. The quiet sank in, and she lost the courage to talk anymore.

"Maybe," she paused, "Maybe it's time to give up. I'm getting nowhere."

She sighed, a long and frustrated sound. But before she got up, she sang the song back to the statue. She recited it from heart and memory as though she was meant to for the rest of her life. She felt it vibrate deep from her center, and believed the words even though she didn't understand them.

"I will do the same for the people of Spira one day." She vowed to the statue, just as a small commotion filtered its way into the room where she lay. Raised voices reverberated off the stone walls of the empty chamber; she took it as a sign for her to leave.

She used her hands to push herself up from the smooth glass, still horrified by the grotesque figure it housed. It was then that she saw it; A young redhead, encompassed by great wings of tan, green and red. The apparition flew at her, colliding with her, then passing through and away. She didn't even have the chance to put her hands up to shield herself from the beast.

She felt the sensation begin in her fingertips. It tingled at first, so light a touch it almost tickled, but before she thought of the strangeness of it, the pain came. It was so intense her hands shook out of control. She fought to stand, only to stumble back against the wall convulsing. She scrunched her face, fighting not to cry out.

"Stand, Lady Yuna." a voice said to her, disembodied and similar to the singing echo that had recently filled the room. "I'll grant you that which you seek. Don't let us down."

As suddenly as it had come, the pain was gone. Still, Yuna felt beyond drained. She used her hand to lead her, sliding it along the smooth marble wall, searching for the exit. She gasped for air, the pressure in the room having increased ten-fold, her eyes never leaving the statue. When the door was in her grasp, she turned from the Fayth and hobbled out of the room.

Finally out into the open air, she felt less fatigued. It was strange, though there was no artificial, or even natural light in the room she'd just abandoned, it flooded into the antechamber from behind her so brilliantly. Her entourage stood in awe, probably coming to the realization of what she had accomplished while she struggled to get past the doorway. The landing wasn't a long one, coming to a good sized staircase, she focused on putting one foot in front of the other; she didn't want to seem weak in the moment of her greatest triumph.

One step. Then two and just like that she was at the top of the stairs. The motion wasn't nearly as fluid as she'd hoped it be and her knees gave way. She slid down the stairs, like a child on a blanket, bruising her shins slightly before Kimahri rushed up to catch her. Keeping his great clawed hand up and near her, ready incase she tumbled again, he let her use him to stand once more.

Once she was up and stable again, she dusted her skirt, and flipped her hair; she hadn't noticed that it was plastered to her neck and finally addressed those waiting in the room for her return.

"I've done it." she smiled, "I have become a summoner."