Chapter III. Balthier, Leading Man

They had been flying for the bigger part of the night only talking when the control of the ship required it. No Imperial airships followed them and it seemed they made it out of Archades safe. Ffamran was busy thinking of his future and especially focused on the new name he would give himself. In the end he decided that it would be Balthier because he liked it and he found it well fit for a Leading Man.

"I'm taking on a new name. From now on I will be Balthier." He told the Viera.

She cocked her head to face him, the expression on her dark face totally unmoved. She didn't question his motives or even consider it strange by the looks of it and she again struck him as a strange and incomprehensible being.

"Balthier." She tested the name in her soft hoarse voice.

Balthier liked his new name even better when it was pronounced in the Viera's odd accent. Well fit for a Leading Man indeed. "You don't think it strange for me to take on another name?"

Fran examined his young face deeply, eventually stopping at his inquisitive brown eyes. "Names have little worth. It is the deeds that distinguish the person." She returned to staring out of the window maundering: "Yet, it fits you, Balthier."

"Good then. Can I call you Fran?"

"That is my name." She simply said.

Balthier frowned at her but since she seemed occupied with staring out of the window he soon did the same. Not much of a talker, his new companion, but maybe it was all for the better. The less they talked, the more he could give attention to his own thoughts and those were rather interesting. There were various things to do now. For one, he wanted to update the ship and make it his own and for this he needed gil. He went over the possibilities of earning quick money coming to the conclusion that the fastest way to go about it was by mark hunting.

The direction in which they were flying now would soon take them to Nabradia and though this kingdom was on the boarders of Archadia, Balthier gathered that it was far enough from the Imperial City for him to safely start his new carrier there. Even if Bergan would send a search party after him, and of this he was certain, it would still take the hunters a lot of trouble finding him considering that they had no idea to what corners of Ivalice he might've fled.

Balthier turned to the Viera at his side finding her still staring out of the window. It occurred to him that he didn't even know why she'd asked him to take her with him and where she might be headed herself.

"Where are you going, Fran?"

The dark woman stirred slowly, unwillingly as if disturbed from deep thought.

"That depends." Fran eventually answered. "Do you know where we're going?"

Seemed like the Viera planned to stick with him for a while. Balthier couldn't really say he minded, but it still bothered him that he didn't know the reason why. For all he knew his father could be behind this, though he couldn't quite come up with a reason for that. And if this wasn't the case, what other business could the strange woman possibly have with him? "Begging your pardon, but why are you coming with me?"

Fran listened to the river's flow miles away that had spoken to her for the past hours. It was a small river yet decisive in its path and it whispered to her now of Bangaa's on its stream hunting for fish. An amusing recapitulation but not really important so she returned to her conversation with the young man at her side.

"It is the will of what shall be." The Viera finally answered cryptically.

Balthier didn't know what to make of this answer and refused to give up his inquiry so easily. "Can you see the future?"

"I cannot." Fran admitted. "I can see the present in many places of Ivalice and much of the past, but to look into the future is a power none but the Occuria possess."

Balthier's curiosity still wasn't satisfied. "Then how can you know the will of what shall be?"

"This I sense." Fran answered and before he could open his mouth to ask anything else which he was most likely to do, she continued: "I dare not explain it for it has been a riddle to myself all my life. I only know that I must follow when it calls."

Balthier finally gave up admitting that this mystic stuff was way above his comprehension and he returned to an earlier subject: "I need gil for the modification of this ship and I plan to get it through pirating. How does that stand with you?"

"Thievery?"

The young man simply nodded.

Fran considered this. "I do not much fancy the ways of Sky Pirates. They have little regard for equity."

"What if we were to take from those who already have too much or from those who stole what they possess? That would make us quite the equitable band of thieves, wouldn't it?" Balthier remonstrated with his swift mind.

The Viera didn't vocalize her agree, but he knew she did when she asked: "What modifications would you make on the ship?"

"I think it best to start with altering the ship's exterior to make her unrecognizable for any Archadians we might encounter. I must reckon with the possibility that I'm being followed, such is the way of Bergan and his lot. They do not forget treachery easily and mine the least. I know many things that would do harm to Emperor Gramis' reputation should they become public." Balthier rubbed his chin in a thoughtful gesture and continued: "We also want to make this place suitable for living. The ship will serve as our basis from which we operate so we need rooms and beds and all the comforts of a home. No objections yet?"

Fran couldn't say she had any. "Your plans are sensible. Where will we start?"

"In Nabradia."

Fran felt a whiff of melancholy realising how close Nabradia brought her to her homeland. Yes, it was still many miles to the South, but she was closer now to Eruyt than she had been for decades. She had not the courage to look to the direction of the woods because she feared that it would prove futile and she would not be able to sense her people. The Green Word had long since left her, the beloved Mother sang to her no more. When she'd lost touch with the woods she didn't know, it had happened over time. Long had the Mother sung to her after she left Eruyt and even longer, as it grew weak, the murmur of the song remained within her until one day the comforting distant hum was chased away by utter silence to never return. The Mother had finally banished her from her grace. As much as it hurt, it was the path she had chosen and she bore her pain with dignity. Nevertheless she was having a hard time coping, her pain being intensified now that she was so close to home. Sadness brimmed within her.

Balthier focused back on the controls as the Viera fell silent once again and he was utterly puzzled by her detached behaviour. For someone who had just embarked on a journey with an unknown destination and a perfect stranger as companion, she was oddly indifferent about any of it. She seemed perfectly fine with the idea of following his lead and leaving the decisions to him and though this was exactly what a Leading Man expected of his companions, it made little sense to him. Then again, nothing about this mysterious being made any sense to him and it was likely that it never would. All he knew of the Viera race were the commonly known things: that they lived in the woods and were creatures of great magick. Besides that he had no idea who or what he was dealing with.

Scanning Fran thoroughly from the corner of his eye only one explanation came to mind: the Viera were a divine race, closer perhaps to the Gods than to the races of Ivalice. Beings of power and wisdom that went far beyond the imagination of normal men. He felt small suddenly in the presence of this enigma, pathetically insignificant and yet she entrusted him with the task of leading them in this adventure so she certainly didn't consider him insignificant.

The Leading Man Balthier he had now become did not intend to let his partner down but he could really only hope and pray that he was capable of proving himself worthy her trust.