Note: I have left untranslated the occasional lines in Al Bhed. Please consult Rin's Quick and Easy Al Bhed Translator for the English translation.
occasionee
Chapter 8
From the temple, Jecht, Braska and Auron made their way back to the Kilika Port. It took them a while to find a ship owner that was willing to take them aboard, but in the end they succeeded, and embarked on the plain, wooden boat bound for Besaid.
Aboard the boat, Jecht started recording as Braska and Auron gazed off across the sea.
"After you get that aeon from Besaid… Where're we going?" Jecht asked Braska.
"Back the way we came," Auron replied in his stead. "Then we go north from Bevelle and climb Mt. Gagazet."
"Beyond it lies… Zanarkand," Braska said.
"Zanarkand, huh?" Jecht echoed. "It's been in ruins for a thousand years, right?"
"So the legends say," replied Auron, walking closer. "No one knows for sure. It still could be your Zanarkand."
"Thanks for trying, Auron," Jecht said bluntly and turned off the sphere.
Later, Braska recorded as Jecht sat on the edge of the boat, deep in thought.
"I thought if I went with you guys I might find a way to go back," Jecht sighed. "But it's not that easy."
"I'm sorry," Braska said almost automatically.
"No need to apologize, Braska. It's not your fault."
Jecht stood up and continued, "I should be thinking about fighting Sin now, anyway. Zanarkand can wait. But I will find my way back!"
Braska remained silent for a while.
"Be careful, Jecht," he then urged sternly.
"Hey, I'll be alright," Jecht assured him. "You're the one that should be careful. Wouldn't want your little girl to cry."
"She'll be alright," Braska said. "She's strong, like her mother was."
He then switched off the sphere.
"So," Jecht began as Auron joined them, "the fair lady's word is just a legend now?"
Auron laughed.
"Hers and yours alike. You both claim to have been to Zanarkand, yet your testimonies differ greatly. Therefore it's fair to say that no one knows for certain."
"I see," Jecht laughed.
After a while of silence he began, "So what happened to the other guy guarding Lord Ohalland? There were two, right?"
"Right," Braska confirmed. "I can't say that I know. He could be still alive."
"I don't think the lady knows, either," added Auron. "I recall people asking her about him, and her saying that the two of them weren't so well acquainted."
"What about the lord himself, what happened to him?" Jecht asked.
This silenced both Braska and Auron.
"…What?"
"…He… he died," Braska eventually replied. "In the Calm Lands, at the end of the pilgrimage."
"Like, right after he had defeated Sin?" Jecht said in disbelief. "Talk about bad luck. The guy never got to see his own Calm."
Jecht studied Braska and Auron closely as the two of them remained silent.
I felt as if there was something more to this tragedy, but just couldn't seem to catch on. I dunno, maybe I didn't want to catch on. Maybe they tried to tell me, and were just waiting for me to ask. But I never did.
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"Well, it looks like no one's here to arrest us – yet," Jecht noted as the men disembarked on Besaid Island.
"And we shouldn't wait around for that," Auron said. "Let's go."
Two boys of about 12-13 years of age were playing blitzball on the beach.
"Three, two, one…" Braska counted down playfully, gesturing at Jecht. Auron sighed.
"Hey!" Jecht greeted the boys not a nanosecond after Braska had uttered 'one'. "You lads wanna see something cool?"
One of the boys kicked him the ball.
"Show us whatcha got, mister!"
Jecht caught the ball with his feet, proceeding to perform quite a few skillful tricks with it.
"Wow…" the boys admired.
"Gee, I wish the Aurochs were that good!" the younger of the boys sighed.
"The Aurochs?" Jecht echoed.
"The local blitzball team," Braska clarified. "Remember that team in yellow who lost to the Psyches in Luca?"
"Oh… those chumps," Jecht recalled. "I thought they were all amateurs."
"How much did they lose?" the older boy asked.
"Ten to zero," Jecht replied.
"Ouuucchh…" the boys groaned.
"But that's about to change, once we join the team!" the older boy announced.
"Oh yeah?" Jecht laughed.
"What are your names?" Braska inquired.
"I'm Wakka," the older boy said. "This is Chappu, my lil' brother."
"Are you guys a summoner party?" Chappu asked.
"Yes, we are," Braska said.
"You'd be the second this week!" Chappu said.
"I don't suppose the first were a mild-mannered young man and a determined young woman?"
"No, it was a lady in a long dress with her brother and sister."
"Hey, want us to show you to the village?" Wakka offered.
"If you would," Braska smiled.
Wakka and Chappu led the three of them through the jungle to the Besaid village. As they reached the village gate, Auron started recording.
"Smallest heap of huts I ever seen!" Jecht commented.
"Now, that looks like a fine place to live," Braska said, then falling deep in thought. "Hmm… Auron."
"My lord?"
"When this is over… could you bring Yuna here?" he requested. "I want her to lead a life far away from this conflict."
"You have my word," Auron promised immediately. "I will bring her here."
"Thank you, Auron," Braska turned to nod at him approvingly. "You are a good friend."
"What are you guys doin'?" shouted Jecht from afar. "Let's go! I'm so hungry I could eat a shoopuf whole!"
"Sorry," Braska laughed. "Well, let's go then."
Auron turned off the sphere.
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By and by, the three of them entered the temple, Wakka and Chappu following in their wake. Inside, a girl with wavy dark hair was praying to the statues.
"Whatcha prayin', Lu?" Wakka asked carefreely, startling the girl.
"I'm praying that Sin will never attack the village again!" Lulu replied irritably.
"Come on, pray for the Aurochs to win for a change!" Chappu moaned.
"So you're fine with being crushed by Sin so long as the Aurochs win? Fine," Lulu shot back and resumed praying.
"Never mind her," Wakka said to the visitors. "Sin took her parents when she was five."
"Unlike us, she remembers a tiiiny bit 'bout them, so I guess she's taking it pretty hard, ya?" Chappu said.
"You too lost your parents?" Braska asked.
"Yeah, twelve years ago," Wakka replied. "Never got to know 'em."
Auron gave a sad, but understanding smile.
Wakka then suddenly grabbed Lulu's arm.
"Come on, Lu, you don't wanna be sitting here all day, do ya?"
"Let's go swim in the ocean!" Chappu suggested.
"H-hey, wait!" Lulu protested, but there was no stopping the boys. The three men gazed after the kids as they went on their way.
Something told me that all these sob stories I kept hearing were just the tip of the iceberg.
The three of them then entered the Cloister of Trials, and once again performed the puzzle to finally arrive at the Chamber of the Fayth.
"So, this is the final temple before Zanarkand," Braska said. "I want to thank you for your support, gentlemen."
"Anytime!" Jecht said cheerfully.
"My lord," Auron nodded.
Smiling at them, Braska entered the chamber.
"Hey, I've been wonderin' this for a while," Jecht began after a moment. "This song we always hear in here… what's it called?"
"The Hymn of the Fayth," Auron replied. "The Fayth itself is singing."
"Huh…"
"Something the matter?"
"It's just… I'm pretty sure I know it from Zanarkand."
"Are you sure?" Auron asked in slight disbelief.
"Yeah… I think my wife used to sing it to my son when he was about this big," Jecht said, placing his hands about twenty inches away from each other. "Might've hummed it myself, one or two times."
"…I suppose that proves that our world and yours are connected somehow."
"Yeah… 'spose it does."
The two of them remained silent until Braska staggered out of the chamber, and they proceeded to head back to the hall.
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As they started to make their way back to the beach, Wakka, Chappu and Lulu met them on the forest path.
"You're leaving?" Chappu asked.
Braska nodded.
"Have a safe trip to Zanarkand, ya?" Wakka wished.
"We are counting on you," Lulu said.
"I will not let you down," Braska promised.
Smiling and waving, the kids went on their way. Braska gazed after them dreamily.
"Take good care of Yuna for me…" he whispered to himself.
At the beach, the three of them made their way to the platform, where the ship to Luca was already awaiting. Braska, however, seemed hesitant to get aboard.
"What's the matter, my lord?" Auron asked.
"I don't… I don't think we should take this ship," Braska eventually replied.
"…Why?"
"Because there is someone I need to see at least once… before this is all over."
"…Who?"
Braska raised his eyes to look up at an Al Bhed ship floating next to the boat headed for Luca. Auron sighed as he realized who the summoner meant.
"Sir, I understand how you feel, but… can anything good come out of your seeing him?"
"No, probably not," Braska replied, turning to face him. "Doesn't make it any less the right thing to do."
"I'm telling you, he will not listen to a word from you!" Auron insisted.
"At least he'll know I tried."
With this, Braska proceeded to talk to the Al Bhed men nearby.
"'He' being…?" Jecht asked.
Auron sighed.
"Seriously, who?"
"…His brother-in-law."
"E rispmo naxiacd oui du ymmuf sa ypuynt ouin creb," Braska said to the captain. "E ys..."
"E ghuf fru oui yna," the captain cut him off. "Summoner Braska vnus Bevelle, uhla synneat du dra cecdan uv Cid, uin maytan. E's kiaccehk oui fyhd du ku caa res, pid E ruba oui ghuf ruf ra vaamc ypuid oui?"
"E's ihtan hu emmiceuh eh dryd nakynt," Braska assured him.
"Kuut. Ku kad ouin kiynteyhc, fa'mm mayja essateydamo."
"E dryhg oui."
Braska returned to his guardians and nodded at them as a signal for all of them to get aboard.
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"So, you speak the gibberish and all," Jecht noted to Braska as they set sail to Bikanel Island. "Must've really liked your girl, huh?"
"…Indeed," Braska smiled.
"So what's the deal with the brother?" Jecht asked.
"It's a long story… and not a particularly happy one."
"Come on, out with it already!"
"Alright," Braska consented. "Well, after I had become a priest at the Bevelle Temple, I immediately started working to improve the relations between Yevonites and the Al Bhed. The temple, of course, was not too keen on the idea, but I ignored their objections and traveled to Bikanel Island to meet with Cid, the leader of the Al Bhed. He seemed suspicious of me at first, but I succeeded in winning his trust when I told him that I was not here to make them give up their ways and succumb to the Yevon order, but to learn more about them and raise mutual understanding. I also wanted to learn their language, so he let me stay for an entire month. It was during that month that I also met Shayna, his sister – the single most beautiful woman I had ever seen. We fell in love, but Shayna implored me to keep it secret, for she was certain that her brother would never approve of any association between us. Well, he learned of it eventually, and that was the end of my stay in Bikanel. I traveled back to Bevelle, taking Shayna with me. Cid was enraged, and in the end, I suppose I did more harm than good to the relations between Yevon and the Al Bhed. But I regretted nothing – I had found the love of my life. A year later, we got married and I was cast out of the Yevon clergy – an Al Bhed wife for a priest was an inexcusable infringement of the Yevon law. That was the beginning of the happiest days of my life. Shayna was soon pregnant with Yuna, and I was finally leading a life free of obligations, duties and strict regulations. When Yuna was born, it even seemed that Cid was finally ready to forgive me – we heard from a young Al Bhed man that becoming an uncle had moved him to tears, and he hoped that someday he could meet his niece.
"Then… three years ago… everything fell apart. Shayna left Bevelle for Bikanel to mend the ties with her family… but she never reached the island. Her ship was attacked by Sin, and no one was spared. I was devastated, and Cid was furious. He blamed me for her death, said that I had stolen her away and never given back. He warned me to never come near the island or his family again, or he would not be responsible for his actions. I thought the only way I could ever make amends was by becoming a summoner – but I was hesitant. In fact… I soon decided against it."
"…What made you change your mind?" Jecht asked after a while of silence.
"Something… something unexpected," Braska replied vaguely. "Anyway… I'd be most interested in hearing how you met your wife, Jecht."
"Ehh… it's not a very good story," Jecht spluttered with a distinct tone of embarrassment in his voice.
"I doubt that. Come on."
"Well, you asked for it," Jecht warned. "I first met Dalia ten years ago, when me and my team were celebrating our first tournament victory at the local bar. So we're all more or less boozed up, and spewin' some drunken gobbledygook when this girl comes up to me and asks for an…"
Jecht was abruptly cut off when they felt the boat rocking violently.
"Ahh!" Auron gasped, almost falling over.
"Hey, don't tell me…" Jecht began.
"Sin?" Braska guessed his thoughts.
At that very moment, Sin surfaced from underwater, almost toppling over the boat.
"Ah, you've got to be kidding me…" Jecht muttered.
"Sin!" the Al Bhed screamed. "Dyga lujan!"
As Sin's tail swept over them, a Sinspawn was left behind on the boat. The three of them hurried to fight it, not wanting to endanger the persistently struggling crew. The men were able to take it out fairly quickly, but at that very moment Sin overthrew the boat, and the three of them were caught up in the wildly flowing currents.
Everything dissolved into a haze again, and Jecht felt his consciousness slowly slip away…
When Sin attacked us on the sea that day, I remembered Auron's words. It was programmed to destroy, it was the only thing it knew. The atrocities it did were not voluntary. On some level, and on a much smaller scale… there was something in that idea I could relate to. Those were my thoughts as we slowly drifted apart, supposedly to our deaths…
"Corentin… Corentin…" whispered a distant voice.
Hm?
"It's okay… I'm here… Corentin…"
Who's Corentin?
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Jecht next woke up in a desert, the scorching sun making his eyes squint. He slowly stood up and started assessing the situation.
"Alright… I sure hope this is Bikanel."
Jecht looked around himself, only to see endless plains of sand.
"Braska! Auron!" he called out.
There was no reply. Sighing, Jecht started fighting his way through the blazing hot desert. By and by, he found Auron resting under a tent construction of some kind.
"Auron!" Jecht called and ran to him.
"Ah, good to see you, Jecht," Auron said in relief.
"Hey, we on Bikanel or what?"
Auron shook his head, "I can't say. I've never been to Bikanel."
"Well, I suppose the real question is… is Braska here?"
The two of them continued on through the barren plains, finally to arrive on top of a dune with a view to a whole little community of massive high buildings, surrounded by all kinds of machina vehicles and weapons.
"Well… that certainly looks like something the Al Bhed would put together," Auron observed.
"What we waitin' for?" Jecht hurried his companion. "Let's go!"
The two of them made their way to the main building and saw themselves in. Some Al Bhed gave them suspicious looks, and finally stopped them in one of the inner halls.
"Hey! Who are you and why are you here?"
"We're looking for Summoner Braska, from Bevelle," Auron replied.
"Summoner Braska? The Summoner Braska?" the Al Bhed echoed in disbelief.
"Does Cid know he's here?"
"Well, that's the thing… we don't know if he's here," Jecht clarified.
"Sin attacked us on the way here, and we were separated," Auron explained.
"Well you sure better hope he's not here!" the Al Bhed laughed.
"Good luck finding your summoner!" another wished.
With that, the Al Bhed left them alone.
"Hmph," Jecht snorted. "Sounds like a real swell guy, this Cid."
After navigating through the corridors some more, Jecht and Auron finally found Braska in one of the rooms in the main building. He was talking with a muscular, bald Al Bhed man, but the guardians were not within the distance to hear them.
All of a sudden, the Al Bhed man's face grew infuriated, and he fiercely punched the summoner on the jaw, knocking him to the ground. Shocked, Jecht and Auron darted over, and Jecht was quick to take retaliatory action: he bluntly smacked the man twice as hard as he had struck Braska, making him fly double the distance.
"J-Jecht!" Braska exclaimed, wiping a lone blood trail from the corner of his mouth.
"Do that again and see what happens!" Jecht threatened the Al Bhed man.
"Ugghhh…" the Al Bhed man groaned, holding his nose.
"Jecht, please," Braska rebuked him. "That was completely uncalled for."
Auron helped Braska to his feet, and Cid stood up as well, still holding his nose.
"Your guardians, I assume?" he snorted. "Nice to meet you, too."
"You're… Cid?" Auron asked.
"What gave me away?" Cid laughed. "My attitude towards this selfish, lying, pretentious wretch of a Yevonite?"
"Why, you…" Jecht hissed.
"Jecht, calm down," Braska urged. "I came here of my own free will, despite him warning me not to. This is as warm a welcome as I'm to expect."
"That's right!" Cid said, then turning to Braska, "Well then, if useless apologies were all you had to offer, get out of my house and take your entourage of freaks with ye."
"…As you wish," Braska consented.
Braska was starting to leave, when a little girl of about 4-5 years and a boy of about 7-8 years scampered into the room. The four of them watched as they played together.
"Are those your children?" Braska asked Cid.
"…Yeah. But you're not their uncle," Cid declared bluntly.
"…Well, you will always be Yuna's uncle," Braska said smiling.
Cid snorted.
"…Fine, you win."
A while of silence passed.
"I still don't get what you're all about," Cid finally began. "You say you love your daughter, yet you become a summoner? You wanna leave her all alone in this world?"
Braska turned away.
Cid snorted again.
"Summoners are fools, and you're a prime example."
At that very moment, a young Al Bhed man stormed in the room.
"Lreav! Lreav! Fa'na eh dnuipma pek desa!" he spluttered in panic.
"Fryd'c ib?" Cid asked.
"Sin byccat po dra ecmyht drec sunhehk yht mavd pareht yh ahunsuic hispan uv Sinspawn! Ev drao naylr Home, fa'na tuha vun!"
"Cruf sa!"
"Fyed!" Braska cut in.
Cid and the young man turned to look at him.
"Fa'mm ku fedr oui," Braska said.
After a while of silence, Cid nodded.
"Lusa uh."
With that, Cid, Braska and the young man dashed out of the room, Jecht and Auron following in their wake.
"Somebody wanna explain what's going on?" demanded a confused Jecht.
