Rikku stretched her thoroughly worked muscles and shook the ocean water out of her short blond hair. She had discarded the oversized blitz-uniform, for her dry clothes and was about to settle down next to her cousin to nap, when a she spotted a huge fire. "Hey Yunie, look at that," Rikku said. She nudged her dozing cousin and leaned over the rail of the boat. The familiar coast-line of Besaid should have been empty and black except for the small signal fires marking the empty ports, but a dozen colorfully sailed boats were anchored at the small harbor and bright fires dotted the beach. "The Jenquo!"
Yuna blinked the sleep out of her eyes and stared at the unfamiliar ships. "Jenquo? They've never come to Besaid before."
"Never!" Rikku gasped dramatically and leaned conspiratorially close to Yuna. "You've never had Jenquo black bean soup? Never had your fortune told by an old mother? I can't believe it!"
"Bunch of nomadic swindlers, can't believe they're muddying up Besaid waters," Wakka called from the steering area. His voice fairly dripped disdain. The boat was actually skimming along smoothly for a change. Rikku spun on Wakka and shook her finger at him.
"Hey mister, the Jenquo are a good group of people. They've always been willing to associate with the Al Bhed, even when certain religious groups were calling us evil heathens," Rikku said. "It's like a nonstop party when they're around."
Yuna nodded. "They sound like a lot of fun."
"Oh don't say it like that." Rikku pulled her cousin to her feet. "It really is great. They do productions, grand dances and plays. Sometimes they hold games, like a regular harvest festival or something."
"Yeah and they swindle you out of every coin you got too," Wakka called belligerently.
"Don't listen to him," Rikku said.
Yuna nodded, barely listening to either of them. They were close now. The boat's sails had appeared merely colorful from a distance, up close they were works of art. Scenes in magnificent reds and azures, gold and silver, were set off by the full moon's light. "The pictures on the sails. They're beautiful," Yuna whispered.
"They tell a story. Each ship has its own Jenquo tale," Rikku said. "When I was a little girl and the Jenquo were in town, I'd sit around the docks all day with my cousins and listen to their stories. Some were sad or adventurous or even romantic."
"Amazing stories?" Yuna asked. Were they as amazing as a walking, talking, touchable dream, as romantic as a hero from the long dead city of Zanarkand? They couldn't be more tragic than a lover who faded to mist and vanished with a wave of a summoner's staff.
"I'll just have to show you," Rikku said. "Come on, let's swim for it. Wakka will be all-night finding a place to dock this big thing."
Yuna hesitated. "I'm not a great swimmer."
"It isn't far. I'll watch out for you," Rikku said.
Tidus would jump off the ship and check things out. "Why not," Yuna said. Her smile was almost devil-may-care except for the nervousness dancing beneath the surface.
"Okay then." Rikku turned on Wakka. "Hey, don't run over us! We're going to have a little fun."
Wakka killed the engine on the already slow moving vessel. "Hey what if this thing breaks down?"
Rikku shrugged. "Don't break it."
Yuna gasped when she hit the water it was just cool enough to make her shiver. Rikku was in the water a moment later, lazily kicking on her back toward the nearest Jenquo ship. "If you need help or anything just wail and thrash around, okay?" Rikku said.
Yuna snorted and executed a passable breast stroke in Rikku's wake. "I'm not as useless as all that, am I?"
Rikku laughed and kicked hard splashing Yuna square in the face. "Not useless, but you are a little too serious these days. You have to lighten up a little."
Yuna sputtered and blinked the sea water out of her eyes. "You're going to pay for that." A barrage of waves ensued in a mini-water war off the port bow of a nearby Jenquo vessel.
Rikku started to laugh at Yuna's wild splashing technique, but that earned her a mouth and nose full of seawater. What might have been a complaint came out as a gurgle, and Rikku started taking the water war more seriously. She turned away from Yuna and started using her feet as a paddle wheel. "Haha, take that," Rikku shouted.
"Time Out!" Yuna hissed.
Rikku kept splashing for several seconds after the time out was called and then she broke down laughing. "You give up?" Rikku gasped.
"Just for now. We have an audience," Yuna whispered.
A small group of young men were gathered along the railing of the Jenquo ship. They were all dark haired, with deep bronze tans. Each wore a different wildly colored outfit. Some wore deep purple or orange or even pink. One of the men stood out, he was taller than the rest, with dark, nearly black eyes, that fairly danced with merriment. "Look a' tha' boys. A couple'a mermaids done swam right up to our lil' vessel."
"Not mermaids!" Rikku called. "An old Al Bhed friend and her cousin."
Several of the young men perked up further. Maybe Besaid hadn't rolled out the red carpet for her unusual visitors. "Al Bhed, you say? Throw those girls a line, gentlemen," the taller man said. The six sailors made short work of pulling Rikku and Yuna onboard.
Rikku leaned back and stared at the sails for a long moment. "I've seen this ship before. Solomon's Journey, right?"
"Correct," the tall man said. A wide grin split his face. "I think I remember you. All knees and elbows... Rikku?"
Rikku practically glowed with delight. "You remember me?" As quickly as she'd sparkled, she wilted. "I don't remember you though. Now I feel terrible."
The man laughed and pointed up to the sails. "You remember the boy who told you about old Solomon?"
"Aldon?" Rikku said. "No way, you're ears were so... and oh nevermind."
Yuna tried not to feel too awkward as the two old friends embraced and chatted about old times. It gave her a moment to examine her surroundings anyway. The Jenquo boat smelled light and spicy. The sails were trimmed, so that whatever Solomon's journey normally was, tonight it was truncated to an older man facing what appeared to be a desert.
"I can't believe I didn't introduce you guys. Yuna this is Aldon, Aldon, Yuna." Rikku was quick to move back to Yuna's side.
Aldon immediately dropped to his knees. "Down," he barked to the other men.
"Woah, what did we do?" Rikku said.
Yuna had a sickening feeling she knew. People were so grateful and deferential and it was all just too much. This was a fun moment with her cousin, out exploring. She didn't need or want anyone's adulation. "Stand up, please. If this is for my benefit, it's unnecessary."
"You are the lady Summoner, Yuna. You killed Sin. The Jenquo have sent us to pay you a high honor." Aldon slowly returned to his feet but the other men stayed down. "We would like to build a ship of Besaid wood to be named Yuna's Pilgrimage. We would like to hear your story from you, so that we can tell it to our children accurately."
"It isn't my story," Yuna whispered. "I didn't kill Sin. Me and my guardians fought Sin together. If it was anyone's story it was his, Tidus's." This ship they proposed, Tidus would live forever as a part of their legends. "If you'd like, I'll tell you his story."
Aldon nodded solemnly. "Not to me though lady. Tell your story to one of our tellers, and not tonight by any means. There's a full out festival beginning on the beach. Please, you and Rikku, go and be our honored guests."