Her earliest memory of him is when she was attacked by a Dire Rat, wishing she hadn't left her handy dagger at home. The Rat shrieked wildly as it splashed hesitantly across the overflow cloaca towards her, and Penelo was just beginning to cry when a pebble shot out of nowhere and caught the rat between the eyes. This was followed by a rain of pebbles, which didn't hurt the beast in any way but was certainly enough to scare it off.
When Penelo got to her feet she was faced with a group of young boys. The leader was a bit older than the rest, with deeply tanned skin and wild platinum hair, a streak of dirt across the bridge of his nose.
"Hey!" he said, holding out a hand. "You okay?"
"Shouldn't be down here without a weapon," a smaller one spoke up, and the rest murmured an agreement.
"I was looking for my brothers," Penelo said quietly. "They sometimes come down here to fight the rats for sport but…" she looked around, a little lost, and finished lamely. "They're not here."
The leader blinked at her for a moment before bursting into laughter.
"Well duh! Come on," he rushed forward and grabbed her hand, tugging her up the stairs back towards Lowtown, the other boys following obediently. After that she discovered her brothers had been at The Sandsea windows, hoping to catch more news of Sky Pirates or the latest hunts. They hadn't been down in the cloaca for weeks, apparently, something about a horse. The group's leader was called Vaan, and he had to leave soon after to look for his own brother, who had gone hunting in the Westersand to earn them some Gil for dinner.
Penelo forgot to tell him her name before it was too late.
--
The boys named her princess, and she visited them sometimes, and never questioned how they collected enough Gil to buy her presents.
--
Penelo is twelve and a half when Vaan says –
"Hey, Pen,"
(She is completely oblivious to how these words will affect her for the rest of her life)
"- What do you think of Sky Pirates?"
Penelo blinks and looks up at the sky. They are sitting on the railing of the bridge between upper and lower Rabanastre, and Vaan is flipping a coin of Gil in his hand, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"I dunno," she says truthfully. "Why?"
"I suppose they never have to go hungry, with all that treasure."
"I suppose…"
Vaan doesn't say anymore on the subject, but then again, he doesn't say anything else, either.
--
Penelo's the first one to notice, or maybe even the only one to notice, how when Vaan first boarded the Strahl his eyes were either trained on the controls or on the back of Balthier's head, eyes almost boring through him with anticipation and admiration.
"Vaan, stop staring," she whispers to him once Balthier and Fran are in deep conversation about the weather of all things, though, she supposes it's a proper subject when you pilot an airship.
"I'm not staring," he hisses back, blushing bright red. She rolls her eyes exasperatedly at him, and he sticks his tongue out at her. Their exchange isn't lost on Basch, who raises his eyebrows at them both but says nothing. Now Penelo is blushing bright red too, and she aims a misguided kick towards Vaan, hitting the back of Balthier's seat instead.
"There better not be scuffing going on back there," Balthier says with a warning tone. "Or you'll be cleaning it off."
"Yes father," Penelo mocks, and she and Vaan snicker to themselves when a horrified shudder runs through the pilot.
"No thankyou," he says, passing a glower to the smirking Viera beside him. "Two brats are enough to take care of, even worse if they were my own."
"You barely take care of us in the first place," Vaan points out.
"Then why bother staying?" Balthier retorts, and the bridge goes silent as Vaan doesn't reply.
--
Penelo's standing in a corridor of the Strahl, all alone in the dark, and all she can hear is the gentle humming of the engine and Balthier's and Vaan's voices in the bridge. She knows if she goes to stand in the doorway, she would be able to see her friend in the Pilot's chair, hands resting gingerly on the controls, and Balthier beside him, murmuring quiet instructions, gentle fingers resting a second too long on top of Vaan's.
--
"Why don't I come with you?" Penelo asks breathlessly. They're resting at the Mosphoran Highwaste, and Vaan is using some water from one of the shrines to scrub dried blood off his leg where a Wary Wolf caught him by surprise.
"Huh?" he asks intelligently, pulling sweat-soaked hair out of his eyes.
"Sky Pirating, you know," Penelo sits beside. "You need a right hand man - er, woman," she adds, and he grins at her. "Like how Balthier has Fran! We could be a team!"
"But you've never been interested in Sky Pirating Pen," Vaan chuckles. "What's brought this on?"
"Nothing!" she says quickly, pulling out a Potion and handing it to him to drink. "Just..."
"Come along then,"
They both look up - Penelo startled, Vaan relaxed, as Balthier approaches. His face is sour and unamused and Penelo blushed and looks away.
"- We should go," Balthier is saying. "If I have to hear her Ladyship go on about the architecture of the Galtean Alliance one more time I think I shall go mad."
"Madder, you mean," Fran adds, coming up beside him and crossing her arms. Even she looked a little miffed at the princess chattering away behind them, Basch standing dutifully beside her with a trapped expression.
"If I hang around with you lot any longer I just might," Balthier smirks and offers Vaan a hand when the boy stands and tests his leg wearily. Brushing it away Vaan scowls, but grins, and Penelo watches sadly as he buckles his armour and they set off again.
She jogs to catch up with him, and takes his arm.
"Just don't leave me, okay?" she asks.
"Where would I go?" Vaan replies, amused, and then smiles at one of Balthier's jokes.