Ok, random thing based after the game (Spoilers for the Faize ending).
She was growing up, it was more obvious every year. She was now a foot and a half taller than she had been when they met, and likely wouldn t get much taller; at most she might reach his shoulder one day, if she stood on her toes. He teased her about it often, but he had to concede that this was hardly her fault given than many of the people of Lemuris were short in stature. But what really marked the change in her was the way her features were developing, losing the baby roundness and becoming more defined, more chiselled.
She was growing up to be very beautiful.
It was with a pang that he realised this. She was growing up, and very soon she would have no more use for him; not that she ever admitted to having any need for him to be here anyway, but she would have less need soon, and her tolerance of his presence would likely wane quickly as she turned her sights on the boys of the village for the first time.
Though technically she was actually turning twenty three this very year; or at least the Lemurian equivalent of it to his nearest reckoning; her mind and body was just inching towards 15 or 16. She had matured much more in the past few years, and had started to behave much more like a young adult should.
He felt it a great privilege to have watched her grow up so, and to be truthful that was all he had ever expected to be able to do. When they had met he had been surprised, shocked even, to find out that she was actually the equivalent of 15 years old; he had then found it incredibly frustrating to see everyone treat her like a small child, and that she let them. Most of their fights when they had been travelling together were usually in regards to her acting appropriately for her age. But even then, sometimes, he found himself treating her like a small child, which had frustrated him at himself and had in turn made him more frustrated with her.
Words like "Crush" and "Young Love" had followed the two of them on the Calnus, and he had found that possibly even more vexing. He had never had any romantic feelings towards Lymle, never. Oh, he felt for her, and strongly, like family; the same way he felt for Edge and Reimi. The others he had found it too difficult to make ties to; and then of course there had been the possession detail which he was still trying hard to forget.
But with Lymle interaction was easy; they argued, he scolded her, and she treated him like the worst person on board the ship; there was no second guessing how they behaved towards each other. She knew he would be the first one to push her out of the way of danger if he was close enough, and he knew she would always be sure to send that extra bout of Symbols in his direction to help deal with whatever monster had decided he d make a tasty snack. It was how it had been.
It was because of that that trust he supposed was the word, that he had come here. He had bypassed Edge and Reimi, bypassed his people, and come straight to her, because he knew, that in spite of everything he had done, she would treat him the same; and that was what he had needed the most at the time, someone to just treat him the same, not walk on eggshells or try and make excuses for what he had done.
He had somehow slotted into her life, and Lutie would often laugh at him when he expressed his confusion over her words when she told him that his being here helped Lymle. She refused to this day to tell him what she meant, and Lymle just waved it off, having no desire to know.
"Mr Phi! Mr Phi!"
It was one of Lymle's students, running down the dirt path quickly towards him.
"Mr. Phi! Teacher Lymle wants you to come to the meadow!" the boy gasped as he came to a stop beside him.
Faize smiled and thanked the boy, sending his running back with the message that he would be along. His new name had been another thing to get used to, and was the matter of such odd incidents that he couldn t help but smile every time someone called him by it. It had been Lymle s idea, something that had sprung up out of the blue when he had been confronted by his fellow Eldarians who had settled here on Lemuris.
He had been at Woodley less than a week when they showed up, a week since he had found Lymle speaking to her grandfathers grave. When they arrived he found himself under immediate suspicion. He was unaware of just what the Eldarians knew of his dark time as a Grigori, but it seemed they knew enough to brand him a traitor to their kind and intended to take him back to their settlement to stand trial.
He had been willing to go, after all, if there were amends he could make then he would make them. Lymle had halted proceedings very quickly.
"He's not who you think he is, 'Kay!" she snapped, waving her wand in the Eldarians faces.
"Miss, we are well aware of who he is, and we are official arresting him."
Lymle had refused to back down, and Faize was mildly surprised that these men did not seem to know who they were dealing with. If they new about him and what he had done, then surely they must know about her. "His name isn't Faize Sheifa Beleth, Kay!" she said. "He's called Faize Phi, and he's not an Eldarian, He's Lemurian!"
Faize had been unable to do much more than utter a small "what?"
His fellow Eldarians looked at each other and at him, clearly confused and a little bemused at this small girl telling them this, but Lymle just kept talking, and it was clear in that moment how much she had grown in his absence.
"So if he's not who you say he is, then by Lemurian law you can't take him." she said.
The Eldarians had laughed at that, until Lutie had stepped forward, confirming Lymle s words; and then she had asked him directly what his name was and where he was from. He had blinked in surprise, and answered, his eyes caught and held in Lymle s serious amber one s, her determination was strong, and he couldn t think why she would do this, nor why he would say this, but he answered.
"My name is Faize Phi, of Lemuria."
Lutie nodded and turned to the other Eldarians. "On Lemuria, names are sacred, especially to those who use symbology, we put our names to the symbols, and to put the wrong name is against all we know. So I m afraid he cannot be who you think he is, and I will have to ask you to let him go."
For the sake of diplomatic relations they had, conducted the business they had actually come to do and left.
"I'll have your name put in the town records!" Lutie told him with a grin, leaving Lymle and him standing in awkward silence.
"Why?" he asked finally.
"Because they don t know, Kay. They don t know, and they don t understand. I do. And if I can forgive you then they just have to learn to too, Kay?" she told him.
"And how does changing my name and renouncing my heritage help that?" he asked, bewildered; more confused by the fact that he had willingly done so.
"Means they can't take you. she said quietly. Mean's they can t take away all the good things you can do now. Kay?"
He reached the meadow, smiling in remembrance. He had been registered into the Woodley records as Faize Phi, adopted Lemurian, and he had stayed, and had made this place his home, and he had not looked back save to remind himself that power was not the way to achieve peace and happiness.
"Faize!" Lymle yelled, waving him over towards her.
He paused only briefly to pick a flower before making his way across the meadow, and around her students to stand beside her, tucking the flower into her hair as he listened to her tell him all about the latest disaster that had occurred among her students, and the new symbol she had discovered, a variation on another.
It would be a sad day when she didn t need him anymore, when she wouldn't want to tell him all about what she had done, when she would rather tell whatever boy she found herself with. But he could live with it he supposed, after all, she had given him all that he needed over these last few years, and he had had the pleasure of watching her become the young woman he had always expected her to be. He would let her go gracefully when the time came, maybe travel a little, make a more concrete start on those amends he had been putting off for so long.
I m not entirely sure what this was. I was meant to be a short drabble type thing, but somehow spawned this. It was a random thought, and it s probably full of story errors and stuff, and I think Faize came off as a more of a parent feel than a potential future life partner; but I wanted to try and explain how I view their relationship in the game. I might have to write a follow-up in Lymle s POV. Hmmmm . Sorry for the bad spelling and grammar, my word processor is playing up and won't check properly.
