Don't own this...

Part 04-

Seymour stood in the great dinning hall his hands clasped behind his back as he peered out on the adjoining balcony. Guadosalam was in great cheer just beneath him as the people welcomed home their favored son and his soon to be bride. Their happiness filled him with a renewed strength and assurance to merge with darker thoughts.

His dream of a happy Spira was sprouting as the people of his fathers kin found new meaning and direction in their short but meager lives and all in thanks to him. And he yearned to save them. Each of them. Sparing them from a fate of undue suffering at Sin's hand. From falling tears, famine, disease or the rot of time. Very soon now it would all end in a symphony of bliss with suffering no more than a wisp in a dream.

The sound of shoes striking the wooden floors snapped him out of his thoughts as he turned to greet his new guest. His beloved. He closed his eyes and breathed deep, he could smell her sweet perfume. The unique tinge of spice and wild flowers merged with the scent of innocence creating a most intoxicating aura he felt ever drawn to. He took a deep breath and stilled his animal nature lest it take control.

Tromell entered first his long multicolored robes swaying as he moved. The servant bowed gracefully and deep to respectfully receive his master before stepping aside. Yuna stood poised her hands clasped together, her posture straight she was breathtaking.

Seymour gasped in awe as he stared his dark violet eyes flexing in the soft light drinking in her small form now robbed in dark forest green and bedecked jewels. He let out a breath and moved toward her. Yuna kept her eyes averted, fidgeting nervously with the loose folds of her gown. It adhered to her body like a glove and yet remained loose as the fabric permitted. She felt ashamed. Embarrassed for she had never before worn something so form fitting and open. A red blush stained her cheeks as she fought to reign back her emotions and acceptance of a gift that left her feeling so exposed.

"My dear Yuna how lovely you look it would seem my choice in the green gown was by far the best! Tromell- look upon your Lady is she not more marvelous than all the stars in the sky?" said Seymour as he now stood before Yuna who had still refused to meet his gaze.

Tromell looked toward Yuna and smiled gently before ushering his assurances then respectfully bowed and backed out of the room leaving the newly engaged couple to their privacy. Yuna felt her heart jerk sharply in her chest again when the old man left. For now she was dressed inappropriately with a man that was to command her life forever. And possess her in ways never imagined. She pushed the thoughts away.

"You are so very quiet how are you feeling?" he suddenly asked his voice soft and compassionate. When she refused to speak her flush spoke volumes and he smiled. He took another step forward and offered her his arm. Slowly she walked toward him her wall of silence still in place and laced her arm through his as he suggested.

They walked together toward the long diner table that had been set with fine plates, water goblets, fruit and cheese. He released her to pull out a chair to which she was dumbstruck. He continued his gentle laughter at her rather rigid behavior before tucking her in toward the table and walked away.

"My dearest it can not be this way between us- forgive me. It was wrong to suggest such a gown. One so revealing. Your innocence and indignation for having to don such a thing is written not only in your eyes but in the very air you breathe."

Yuna gasped and turned in her chair to look at him. There was a hint of a wry smile on his face but there was sincerity in his eyes. She swallowed back a lump in her throat and turned away. Quickly taking a sip of water from a glass near by and found her voice.

"How did you know?" she whispered aloud and was suddenly shocked by her own voice. How could he have seen that deeply into her soul so quickly? This man that was still a stranger. It unnerved her and suddenly she felt even more bare.

"I am a perceptive man dearest Yuna there is nothing that happens in my presence that I am not aware of." he said and then walked toward the table and sat down. She wasn't sure how to take his last statement. After his warning about Tidus she was all to aware- it were as though he was trying to reinforce himself in her life by continuing to remind her subtly that she was now his.

"If you will but humor me this one indulgence tonight and wear the gown? It pleases me so." he said and inclined his head in a curt bow. Would he never stop! His politeness was driving her mad as she reached for her goblet and took another drink.

He watched her with a relaxed ease that set her nerves on end. She had to find a way to soothe her own nerves lest she become crazed. She took a deep breath and looked at him.

"Forgive my rudeness just now...you see I have never really received many gifts. I am afraid that I do not know how to properly express myself under such circumstances..." she said and he smiled and nodded to indicate that she continue.

"I know that to accept a gift is always done with humility...but you are a Maester. It is forbidden to refuse something so thoughtful from a Maester."

His face suddenly darkened as he sat back in his chair one that matched his large size. He folded his hands on the table and starred at her with peculiarity.

"I am also a man Yuna, Daughter of Braska and nothing more. No matter what blood flows in these veins, or what faith I have aligned my life's work, I remain simply a man."

Yuna shook her head and stammered, "I meant no disrespect..." she began when he held up a hand gently. "Yes I know. No one could ever say that you were not raised with the most impeccable of manners, and it is only natural that you voice such confusion. Such finery is not what you are accustomed to having grown up in BeSaid."

"You seem to know a lot about me Maester Seymour." she said with a hint of vehemence in her tone. It was not lost on the Maester.

"Indeed I do..." he said rather nonchalantly and then smiled as though he could go on forever on the subject. She ground a fist under the table. Just who did he think he was, it were as though he was playing with her. He was so impossibility hard to read!

"You have fallen silent again is there perhaps something on your mind?" he asked his voice smooth. She looked away from him then allowing herself to take in the large room. It was the only means of diversion available. The room was long and rounded, with the oblong oak dinner table at its center. There was an ornate chandelier hanging low above their heads, the bulbs white ceramic petals emitted a luminous glow that was now filing in the gaps where night was falling. The walls alongside them housed special diner plates and other decorative items that filled in space.

It was a lovely room to hold a party or house a dance. She wondered when the room had last seen such a gala affair or when it would again. Maybe her wedding. Upon the idea she frowned, the thought having come out of no where.

"My dear is there something wrong?" he asked as he started to push away from the table. She shook her head and decided to gather her strength and put her mind back on track to the journey north.

"I was thinking of the journey to Bevelle and what will happen upon or arrival there. It is sure to cause a stir no matter what upon our arrival. I would like to know how you wish to handle such...such news as pertains to your father Lord Jyscall."

Seymour sat back hard in his chair and his features darkened again for the second time in one night. He casually took a sip from the darker goblet which contained wine, his violet eyes scanning hers briefly in annoyance before resolving to a soft lilac. He took a deep breath and began adjusting the folds of his sleeves. He kept his eyes averted as he spoke, "Is there reason to discuss such morbid things at the diner table?" he asked askance.

Yuna frowned, "The subject can not be avoided Milord it is the larger part of the reason that I am here with you tonight. To end the suffering of all of Spira by our marriage, and to help you atone for your crime of murdering your father."

Seymour laughed then. A soft chuckle that arose slowly from his large person and then echoed through out the halls. Yuna watched him nervously unable to fathom why he would find such a thing humorous. Murder was never never an easy subject to broach but patricide down right evil. Feeling of fight or flight began to assail her and she suddenly felt herself on a distant moon a thousand miles away from her guardians who she had foolishly thrown away. She took deep breaths and prayed for Seymour to take control of his sanity.

He leaned in on the table his fit subsided and studied her- he seemed a different person all over again. "My dearest Yuna how young and naive you are- oh how you must see this world we live in. With eyes that see justice and truth and the good of all mankind. I can not fault you for these things, for in you I find it alluring. Beautiful and mysterious. You see I have never known the kind of heart you posses. Save one and she died because of it! I will say this once, as I do not wish to dwell on matters that have happened and can not be undone. Of my father and his death at my hands I feel no regret. I feel no remorse, and I never will. You have agreed to be mine if I but confess, and that is all that you shall have where as my father is concerned. I will admit sin to the Maesters of Yevon- but not you or anyone can make me regret."

He sat back and a silence filed the hall. Yuna stared at him long and hard hoping that he was somehow putting on a show a bravado. That he might really care and have been lying. But he was unmoved, no tears fell from his eyes, and his body was firm. He had been truthful. Every word of he cared nothing for his father and felt no remorse at having taken his life. She felt uncertain. Deflated. She'd thrown her lot in with this man whom she did not love.

Perhaps it was all a mistake.

"We shall speak no more on my father is that agreed?" he suddenly spat out and she turned to look at him. She simply nodded and he smiled, his face uplifted as though the previous conversation was nothing more than a passing fancy. He clapped his hands together and servants entered the room with trays and platters and dinner was served.

The meal was met in silence.

TBC...