Gaia woke up before Tidus the next morning. She was groggy and the sand was still stuck to her body. She sat up and felt her head rush. She remembered the night before and went outside the tent to find the people that brought her in.

Wakka was standing in front of the temple with the others, and Gaia saw he was interacting with something. She walked up to him.

"Hey, Wakka,"

"'Morning!"

"What have you got there?"

He turned around to show her the redheaded baby cradled in his arms.

"Aw, he is so precious!" Gaia said. The baby happily cooed and waved his arms in response to her enthusiasm.

"Look at that, he likes you!" Wakka said.

"What's his name?"

"Vidina," Lulu and Wakka said at the same time.

"He's adorable!" Gaia gazed into the boy's crimson eyes.

"I went to a blitzball game yesterday, and I left them here," Wakka said. "I promised Lu I'd watch him all day today."

"That's right," Lulu said. "No taking him out to the shore."

"Why not?" Wakka asked.

"Look at the weather,"

Individual cumulus clouds were gathering at the edge of the horizon. A half hour later, the island would be overcast. The wind was starting to pick up as Lulu mentioned it.

"I trust you'll comply with my rule," Lulu said.

"I got it, ya?" Wakka said.

Gaia noticed the villagers gathering around Yuna. Old people, mostly, but even some of the children were tugging at her arms for attention. Yuna spoke with kind words to them, telling them to not lose faith in each other. With the new age, the old people felt hopeless, and some were close to falling into depression when the temples collapsed. They didn't know who or what to believe in. They trusted in Yevon for decades, and passed on those beliefs to the next generation. The younger villagers weren't slow to adapt to these changes. They haven't solidified themselves in Yevon anyway. To deal with the shaken elderly, the Council proposed new beliefs to replace the misguidances. Treat your neighbors with respect, be kind, be selfless, and help those in need were a few of them. Each day, Yuna would act as a counsellor for the people, and they would each ask her the same thing: what if you were wrong? Yuna assured them that the suffering from the past was no more, but they weren't convinced. This would be the first time in one thousand years that they went against an old tradition and some of the people were anticipating the punishment for it.

Yuna would pray at the temple every morning for peace. She'd pray for settling the conflicts between the Guado and the rest of Spira, the troubling thoughts of the people to cease, and mostly, her significant other. Tidus didn't know it, but Yuna found herself praying for him more than anything else in the world.

Gaia watched as Yuna went into the temple, the people following her.

"Yuna's kind of popular here, isn't she?" Gaia said.

"Well, yeah, she is the high summoner."

"No way!" Gaia's eyes went wide. "She's the high summoner? She defeated Sin?"

Wakka was confused at her surprise. "Yeah like three years ago. You didn't know that? Everyone in Spira knows who she is."

"I must've been some hermit before ending up in Besaid if I didn't know that."

"Nah, sometimes news doesn't travel everywhere," Wakka said.

"But… if Yuna's the high summoner," Gaia said, leaning her face close to his ear. "Why's she still here?"

"Well… that's kind of a long story,"

"Oh," Gaia said. "I'd like to hear it sometime."

Just then, a blitzball hit Gaia's arm. The Aurochs were practicing in the center of the village that afternoon. One of them came up to Gaia and apologized for the move. Gaia picked up the ball and suddenly had a good feeling. She tossed the ball in the air and juggled it with her knees. The players watched in fascination.

"You play?"

"I… don't think so," Gaia said. "I mean… I don't remember if I did."

"You should join us!"

Gaia tossed the ball upwards and did a backflip. She kicked it mid-air and it launched straight into Keepa's chest, knocking him to the ground.

"Sorry!" Gaia said. "I have no idea where that came from…"

"Woah, you got any more moves you'd like to show us?"

"Well, yeah, if you'd like me to,"

"'Course! Let's blitz!"

Wakka sat on the steps of the temple with the baby on his thigh. He cheered as his team played. Although she didn't seem to remember how she came to Besaid, or where she came from before, Gaia had quite the talent in blitzball. She was fierce. She didn't hold back. Every time the ball was passed to her, she came up with a new move to impress the crowd. Soon, the rest of the villagers were gathered around the team.

Tidus woke up when he heard the sound of shouting from outside the tent. He got up and stretched. He didn't realize how late he slept until he went outside and saw the sun was high in the center of the sky. He couldn't remember the last time he slept in. Tidus walked outside and joined up with Wakka on the steps of the temple.

"Hey, sleepyhead! What took you so long?" Wakka said.

"Ugh… I couldn't sleep," Tidus said, rubbing his eyes. A headache was forming in his temples.

"Well, I think you got some competition, ya?" Wakka gestured towards the newest player. Gaia hit the ball against the other player's head, and it soared. She did a triple backflip and jumped high. She kicked the ball and it disappeared from the view. Gaia landed and proudly posed for the audience.

"Woah, she's a natural!" Wakka said, standing up.

"Yeah…" Tidus hung his head. The last time Wakka was this excited about someone's blitz skills, it was when Tidus first arrived in Besaid. The Aurochs took a while to warm up to him when he played with them against the Luca Goers, but it seemed as though Gaia didn't even have to try. As if Tidus didn't already have trouble believing in himself, he felt a blow to his self esteem when he saw some of his own fans talking with Gaia.

Lulu walked back towards Wakka from the shore.

"There are people here to see Yuna," Lulu told him. "They said they arrived from Bevelle with news from the Spira Council."

"Is that right?" Wakka said.

"We should escort them and make sure this visit is kept professional." she told him.

"Alright," Wakka said. "Hey, can you watch Vidina for a bit?" He put the child in Tidus's arms before following Lulu to the shore.

Tidus sat on the steps in front of the temple, watching the villagers disperse into their own homes. Gaia went up to Tidus and sat next to him. She wiped the sweat from her brow.

"Quite a workout, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," Tidus said.

"You play with the Aurochs, right?"

"Yep,"

Gaia stared up at the sky, halfway covered in clouds. The wind blew in the palm trees and small birds were calling.

"It must be nice," Gaia said.

"What?"

"Being a part of a team,"

"Sometimes,"

"Why only sometimes?"

"It depends on if your team works together, or not," Tidus held the fussy baby on his lap. "There are times when teammates don't get along and that kind of screws up the whole concept of 'working as a team'."

"Oh," Gaia balanced the blitzball on her knee. "I wish I could be a part of a team…"

Tidus looked at her, and Vidina was struggling out of his grasp. Tidus stood him on his feet and watched as he tried to maintain his balance. Vidina stumbled over to Gaia and fell against her lap. Tidus sighed.

Even a one-year-old doesn't care about my presence anymore… he thought.

Lulu and Wakka came up to the village with two people behind them. One of them was a skittish-looking boy and the other was an irritable girl. The girl didn't seem too happy about her arrival after sailing under a stormy sky, but the boy seemed to have some form of eagerness. They walked up to the temple and Wakka turned to the two.

"Wait here, I'll go get Yuna,"

The young girl shot a look at Tidus. She recognized him, but turned her focus to the approaching high summoner. The boy did the Yevon prayer to her.

"Welcome to Besaid, home of the Yevoners," Yuna said. "I am the priestess Yuna. What brings you here today?"

The boy worked up a sweat as she talked. "My lady Yuna! It's… It's a pleasure to meet you… I-I… My name is Kurgum, and… I am an authorized sender sent here from Bevelle. I've been looking forward to meeting you. I've brought something for you from Chancellor Baralai."

"I see," Yuna said. She looked at Tidus. Turning around to the entrance to the temple, she gestured for the two to follow.

Tidus wondered why Yuna hurried away after meeting his gaze.

"Sorry," Yuna said. "It's best not to discuss things around the other villagers. I'd rather them not get involved."

"Of course, my lady," Kurgum said.

"Now, tell me about this item."

Kurgum showed Yuna the movie sphere. Once she caught sight of the shoopuff materializing from nothing, she wasn't sure what to think. She'd never seen such a strange event. As far as she'd been concerned, the dead did not ever leave the Farplane once they've been sent. Then again, she reminded herself that this shoopuff might not have met its fate at the time of its death. She wondered how this creature could be an unsent and not have turned into a fiend right about this time. The male shoopuff was the last of the species, but here she saw two of the large creatures, happily joined together again.

"It can't be real," she said. "The sphere… someone must've fabricated it."

"With all due respect, Miss Yuna," the girl said. "The shoopuff reappearing on the Moonflow was witnessed by several onlookers, and they all claimed that it was the shoopuff from thirty years ago. They were the ones that recorded the event and sent the sphere to Bevelle. This sphere can't be anything but real."

Yuna turned her back towards them. "You… can't be absolutely sure. The dead cannot leave the Farplane. This has been a fact for over one thousand years."

"Just because you've never heard of it, or seen it, doesn't mean it couldn't ever happen." The girl responded.

"Even so… the dead cannot just come back from out of nowhere to the land of the living."

"That's what we wanted to ask about, my lady," Kurgum said. "Chancellor Baralai, Nooj, and Gippal, they all met with the senders and they thought that you might know something more advanced about the dead than we do."

Yuna abruptly turned around. "Why would they assume that I knew anything about this?"

"W-well um…" Kurgum stuttered.

"You've been inside Sin, right?"

"Yes?"

"You've sent Seymour Guado inside Sin," the girl said. "You've seen more states of the dead than anyone in Spira. When you were journeying, you found out that Yu Yevon was summoning the fayth and Sin itself. Yu Yevon was a summoner once. Don't you think maybe summoners are still capable of such a thing?"

"Summoning… yes, but bringing the dead back…" Yuna started to feel uncomfortable.

"It's not entirely impossible," the girl said.

"Yes, but…"

"My lady," Kurgum said. "Chancellor Baralai requests that you'd come join the Council for a meeting about this. They warned us that it could become a major problem if things are coming back from the Farplane and reappearing from thin air."

"I'm… I'm sorry, but… I can't go," Yuna said.

"What? Why not?" the girl said.

"These people need me," Yuna replied. "Without me being here, they will lose hope again. I'm responsible for them. I'm sorry, but please be on your way."

"But what about the rest of Spira?"

"It's okay, we can just go now…" Kurgum said glumly.

"We traveled all the way here from Bevelle hoping to get answers to this problem, but now we're going back to where we started. With nothing."

"Hey," Wakka stepped up closer to them. "I don't know what Baralai wants from Yuna, but she's already saved the whole world once. Now it's the Council's turn to take care of their own problems. Yuna's done her part."

"Yuna shouldn't have to get involved with the Council's issues," Lulu said.

The girl was about to speak, but Kurgum signaled to hold her tongue. He didn't want any trouble, he was just doing his job.

"I see," Kurgum said. "Sorry to bother you, Lady Yuna. We'll leave now."

In the time it took them to take a couple steps outside the temple, a thought popped into Yuna's mind. It was true that she'd saved Spira once from Sin, but she didn't want to receive any special treatment, including being spared from Spira's politics, just because she'd done so. Even if she didn't want to discuss the idea of the dead being brought back from the Farplane, she could at least help the Council by eliminating some of these problems before they become public knowledge. The last thing she wanted was the entire world finding out about this topic and possibly enhancing it.

"Wait!" She came running towards the two. "I've decided that I'll go with you."

"Really?" Kurgum said. "That's great! I-I mean… what changed your mind?"

"It's just that I should think about everyone in Spira," she replied. "Not just myself."

"Should we leave now?"

"No, not yet," Yuna said. "I… I would like to leave before dawn tomorrow."

"Woah, hold up, Yuna," Wakka said. "Are you sure you want to deal with Spira's problems? The Council should really take care of this since they are the ones in charge…"

"This isn't their doing," Yuna said. "It's my job to take care of Spira, and I should do that."

"Yeah, but…"

"It's okay, Wakka," Yuna said. "It's something I knew I had to do from the very beginning."

"Okay…"

Lulu didn't protest. Yuna was capable of making her own choices.

"Thank you, my lady," Kurgum said. "I-I… look forward to seeing you again in Bevelle."

Yuna turned to the girl. "I don't believe I caught your name."

"Chuami."

Yuna bowed her head to both of them as they left for their boat. Tidus appeared at Yuna's side.

"What was that all about?" he asked.

"Oh… nothing important," Yuna said. "Just business."

I should've realized then that Yuna would be saying that every time I asked.

Later that night, Tidus was staring at the ceiling of the tent. He couldn't sleep, and he spent the evening thinking about what was going on in Yuna's mind. He felt cold, lonely, and without Yuna's warmth to please him. He couldn't stop thinking about the night they spent together, baring each other's bodies. He started to close his eyes. Then he heard the sound of footsteps. Yuna was at his side, staring down at him.

"Yuna…?"

She pressed a finger to her lips. She took his hand, pulling him on his feet. They left the tent and headed for the shore.

"So… those guys," Tidus said. "They were here from Bevelle, right?" Tidus had his arm around Yuna as they sat on the sand together.

"Yes,"

"I'm guessing the Council's probably in crisis mode again."

Yuna was staring out towards the darkened sea. The stars reflected off the surface.

"I don't even want to think about it," Yuna said.

"They asked you to go to Bevelle with them?"

Yuna looked at him.

"I… talked to Wakka about it," Tidus said. "I was a little worried."

"Oh," Yuna wished he didn't.

"So, are you going?"

"I have to," Yuna said. "They need my help."

Tidus stood up and walked closer to the edge where the waves met the sand.

"Okay, so when do we leave?"

"What?"

"I said, when do we leave?"

"Oh," Yuna fiddled with her hands. "Well… the thing is…"

"What's wrong? We are going, aren't we?"

"They asked me to go."

"Oh…"

"Sorry, but… this is a matter of politics, and I don't want you to have to deal with it. I don't even want to deal with it myself, but you know how it is."

Tidus figured out why she wanted to bring him out here in the first place.

"I… guess I understand," he said to her. "We should do something like that together again, though."

"Like what?"

"Go on another adventure."

"We will, someday."

Tidus started taking his shoes off. He walked closer to the water.

"Hey, Yuna, watch this." His feet made contact with the ocean, and Yuna saw the area surrounding his feet light up with bioluminescent creatures. Yuna crawled to where he was standing.

"Amazing!" Yuna said. "What are they?"

"No idea, but they look cool, don't they?"

Yuna took off her shoes and joined him. Her mouth was wide open in surprise as the creatures responded to her touch.

"I don't remember them being here before," Yuna said.

"Maybe they were able to come back," Tidus told her.

"You've seen them here already?"

"Only when I was practicing late into the night."

"I wish I'd been there to see them with you."

He looked into her eyes. "You are here, Yuna."

She smiled at him. He removed his shirt and tossed it to the side. He waded further into the sea.

"Where are you going?"

"For a swim."

"But… I'm not a good swimmer yet…"

"Then we can just stand right here." The water was up to his waist. He turned to look at the moon. It had a faint halo around it.

Yuna felt as if things couldn't have been more perfect. She removed all particles of clothing and left them on the shore. She walked right behind him, where the cold water was forming goosebumps on her skin, which she mistook for her own anxiousness.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Tidus said. Yuna didn't respond to him. Instead, he felt her arms wrap around his waist and his eyes opened wide as he felt her bare chest against his skin. Even though all the things that happened around him were leaving him with uncertainty, Tidus always kept one thing in mind: the times he spent with Yuna were never dull.