AN: I had intended to have this finished LONG ago, but it got pushed down the priority list by several things that cropped up in life :S I had hoped to have something finished by Christmas, but that didn't quite work out….
So yeah, hope everyone had a Merry/Happy Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanzaa/Winter Celebrations (whatever your faith entails at this time of year) and may your New Year be bright and shiny and full of many good things! :D
And please do drop me a review, I'd like to hear your thoughts and feedback! :)
Memoirs
"Well," Shulay said brusquely, dumping thick pile of papers in front of Bayla. "It seems New Yevon require our assistance."
Bayla pricked her ears at this; there were two ways of saying 'assistance' in Stroma, and the word her teacher had used described 'giving unasked for help' in so many syllables.
"Where are we going?" she asked, knowing that the 'our' included her as well. About a month of speaking in Zandal tongues had sharpened her mind to the language immensely.
"The heart seat of Yevon," Shulay said in a vague tone, wondering around her workshop and randomly pulling roots and leaves from the bunches on the walls with a sense of purpose.
Bayla neatly ordered the papers on the desk before her, and awaited further instruction. Her hands smarted with the memory of being whacked with a long stick when she had started meddling with things on the benches; she had since learnt to keep her hands to herself in this room.
"Dahh!" Shulay threw everything into a pile in front of Bayla. "You marshal this, I shall find you a pack." And left her to it.
Soon enough, after Bayla had neatly packed everything in an orderly manner, taking care to group like items together, they were heading for the first air shuttle off the island. It came as a bit of a shock to her, since she had resigned herself to the grit and dirt and searing yellow wastes of the desert for the foreseeable future; now she would see cloud scudded skies and the colour green again. They were seen off by an ex-Crusader, who looked bored out of their mind as he waved them and the six other people into the shuttle.
Since it was a shuttle as opposed to an airship, they would be in Bevelle much faster, although it would still take a good hour – forty-six minutes if they were lucky with the wind. Bayla leant glumly against the glass and stared at the landing strip as they took off, wishing she had had a chance to tell Vidina where she was; he would have a panic attack if he thought she had gone missing.
Shulay moved her bindle aside to rummage through her own medical pack, and Bayla noticed a jumble of clothing inside, including her own pyjama shirt with the little shoopuff design she'd had since the ages of fourteen.
"Elder," she said formally, speaking in Stroma and avoiding direct eye contact. "Why have you brought sleeping garments with you?"
The woman gave her a withering look, and Bayla bowed her head in apology.
"We will stay for two nights."
"What?" she blurted out in Spiran.
"You speak in the tongue of your studies, girl." The Shaman chastised her, giving her wrist a sharp pinch to remind her where her linguistically loyalties lay.
"Yes, Elder one." Bayla said in a drone. Why hadn't Aunt Elodie warned her about this woman? Why had she even agreed to this, anyway? The only mildly good thing that had come from this was meeting Dustin and being with Vidina…
"I know you wanted to say goodbye to your friends," Shulay put a hand on her shoulder, and Bayla jumped more from the sudden kindly tone than anything else. "But I received word that the Yevon Praetor's daughter is somewhat unwell. You will now learn how to deal with a sick patient."
"But," Bayla said in Spiran – paused, swallowed her sudden anxiety, and proceeded in Stroma. "Shulay, the Praetor's daughter is my friend."
"A good starting place then. She will trust you." and the old woman left it at that.
Bayla tried hard not to huff, or sulk, or make any negative gesture to give away her disquiet. Now, not only had she taken off without a word and probably made her friends sick with worry, she also had to worry about her friend in Bevelle being ill too! This well and truly sucked…
Despite the thoughts whirring around in her head, Bayla must have fallen asleep against the window, because the next moment she was being shaken awake, and her movements and mind were sluggish. Shulay booted her off the shuttle with the bulk of their equipment, and lead the way from the docks up to the palace. Bayla remembered this place only vaguely from long ago visits her parents had made to see their old friends, but as they meandered further into the citadel, she remembered more and more – fun, happy memories of childish glee that were so far removed from her current task. It made her feel sad inside, to think that the remains of her childhood were being severed from her one by one as time and her studies wore on.
Not knowing what sort of welcome to expect, Bayla was glad when Baralai found them by a side door, and ushered them both inside before the trumpets could be brought out.
"Thank you so much for coming, on such short notice!" he said, performing the traditional greeting with Shulay. He smiled at Bayla and gave her a hug. "It's good to see you again so soon, Bayla."
Looking to her tutor, Bayla gathered that she was exempt from the ritual because she wasn't an initiated adult and held a position of little consequence in the hierarchy. It was at once a blessing and a curse of the Zandal society, since she was treated no differently for being the High Summoner's daughter, and yet her lineage on that side of the family seemed mostly forgotten in their eyes.
"Is Yasmine okay?" she asked desperately in Spiran, risking Shulay's wrath. The old woman seemed unfussed about this lapse in protocol, and instead pulled something from one of her pouches.
"I think so. She hasn't been sleeping well, but I think you already knew that." Baralai looked worn and tired this close, and Bayla wondered if he'd need treatment too before they left. "I'll take you to her right away."
It took about three minutes to walk up the stairs and along a corridor to Yasmine's room, but it might as well have been forever to Bayla's patience. When the door opened Yasmine stood up, and Bayla found herself ducking under Shulay's arm, running for her friend and hugging her tightly.
Yasmine laughed, and smiled when Bayla stepped back to get a better look at her, but she certainly looked off; dark rings under her eyes, and her skin looked wan in the bight, late morning light.
"Are you all right?" Bayla demanded to know right away.
"Yes, yes…" Yasmine waved it away as though she had been doing that a lot recently, avoiding her eyes. "I'm fine. What about you?"
"Yeah, good." Bayla narrowed her eyes. Just try and worm you're way out of this… she thought to herself, not quite daring to threaten her while Baralai was in the room.
"Well, I must be off," Baralai said, checking the time. "I have a meeting with the Epoch representative downstairs. Will you be all right, Yasmine?"
She turned on her father with distinct irritation. "Yes, father."
Baralai gave her a small smile before leaving. Shulay wasted no time, and for Yasmine's benefit spoke in Spiran, which threw Bayla completely for a few minutes as she tried to remember the names and structures thereof for all the different plants and techniques for diagnosis.
"Show me your tongue." Shulay said briskly, parchment and charcoal at the ready with five oil pastels sat in the tin beside her.
Yasmine looked confused, so Bayla demonstrated over Shulay's shoulder, letting her tongue hang as far out of her mouth as she could. Yasmine imitated the gesture, giving Bayla a raised eyebrow until the Shaman began talking again.
"What do you see?"
"Err," Bayla shuffled forward and gave Yasmine's tongue a good once over before taking Shulay's stationary and sketching what she saw. "Thick coat, kinda yellowish…red tip…crinkly sides…" struggling between the different languages, Bayla showed Yasmine how to display the underside of her tongue, and quickly jotted it down before the colours started changing as the blood flow shifted. Then, she wrote a few notes in Zandal glyphs out of old habit, and looked up at her tutor.
"Well?"
"Slight infection, probably about to get a lot worse… Damp heat?" Bayla nearly breathed a sigh of relief when the woman nodded approval. "And a severe lack of energy." She concluded.
"Very good." Shulay said, with a rare smile. Then she showed Bayla how to feel for the pulses in the wrists, and made her sit with Yasmine for nearly half an hour feeling her left hand, before moving onto the right for a full forty-two minutes. "This is very important, pay attention girl! Now, you see how each one is different from the other?"
"Yes," Bayla was concentrating so hard she almost didn't notice Yasmine's tiredness until she was drooping on her shoulder.
"Tell me what organ's are affected by the body's plight." Shulay instructed.
"Move it, Yas," Bayla hissed, pushing her back into a sitting position.
"What do you want me to do?" she asked, stifling a yawn.
"Arms down, don't cross your legs. And keep still!" Bayla hated feeling for pulses; she had practised on Kai and Vidina several times, but no sooner did she find just one of the three you could feel in each wrist, she lost all of them. It was extremely tricky to keep hold of them once you did find one, and it was even harder to feel the 'sluggish', 'wiry', 'rapid' and 'watery' rhythms that Shulay could pick out with ease. However, Shulay had let slip that Elodie had had real trouble with this art, and Bayla knew for a fact that she was extremely good at it now; so Bayla could only hope that practise would eventually breed perfection.
Once she could feel the individual pulses beneath her fingers, Bayla jotted them down before they could move, change, or disappear entirely. Shulay checked them after she said she was finished, and made only two alterations to the numbers on the parchment. Bayla blinked, feeling stunned that she had actually got it right.
"So which herbs would you suggest and how shall she take them?" Shulay commanded.
Bayla rummaged around in the sacks and pouches until she had what she thought would work. The only correction Shulay had was to add another assortment of leaves to help keep Yasmine's lungs free of infection, and then she left to find some boiling water and a tea set.
When the two girls were finally left alone, Yasmine turned to her wide-eyed and said, "Is that your teacher?"
"Yup." Bayla said grimly. "Scary old bat, isn't she?"
"Wow." Yasmine helped herself to a glass of water on the bedside table. "No wonder Elodie's so good with travel medicine…she looks to be a right old dragon if she's angry!"
Bayla reflexively lowered Yasmine's hand that held the glass, and sighed at the look she got in return. "Don't eat or drink anything cold."
"Why?" Yasmine looked more curious than annoyed.
"Long story." Bayla said glumly. "You won't do yourself any favours,"
Yasmine was about to inquire further when the door opened, and a woman Bayla remembered vaguely came in with a tea tray. "Hello girls," she said brightly, setting the tray aside and began making tea. "These are Zandal herbs, aren't they? We have a Shaman wondering the herb garden's as we speak! Can't go wrong with a true medicine woman, can you?"
"Thank you, Tara." Yasmine stood up to help, but Bayla pushed her back onto the bed.
"I'll do it," she ventured, spooning Shulay's tealeaves into the teapot, and mixing the rest into a sort of powered sludge concoction. "That Medicine Woman will have my hide if I don't do this myself…"
Tara laughed. "She told me to see if you would do it of your own accord. She'll be happy to hear you did,"
"Bloody stupid…" Bayla snarled once the maid left. "Not a moments peace with her! Why didn't I stay at home in Besaid where life was easy?"
"Because you moved on to bigger and better things," Yasmine supplied, slipping off the bed to watched over her shoulder. "Count yourself lucky that you could escape from home. I doubt I will ever be free of this place. What are you doing?"
Bayla distracted them both from their respective gloomy thoughts by explaining as best she could in Spiran what the plant extracts would do, and which parts of the body they would affect. Yasmine was intensely interested, and inquired after the rest of her studies; by the time Shulay came back they were both sat on the bed, and Yasmine had drunk most of the tea, now staring at the powered sludge that smelled like something that had started to rot without anyone noticing.
"Do I have to?" she asked quietly, obviously not wanting to offend the Shaman who was trying to help her.
"Yup." Bayla said darkly. "Pinch your nose. Here, drink this afterwards," she added, holding out a glass with clear, sun warmed water in it.
Yasmine nearly threw up when the stuff touched her tongue, and she gulped down as much water as the glass could offer afterwards, pulling faces and gagging into her hands.
"Icky, ain't it?" Bayla managed a laugh, knowing it would help in the long term.
"Oh Fayth!" she cried when Shulay packed up and went to see about the rooms they would be staying in that night. "It was disgusting!"
"It'll stop your lungs from contracting an infection." Bayla promised her. "I'll guarantee it on my life!"
"Don't you mean 'swear' on your life?" Yasmine asked.
"Err, I've been speaking in three different languages recently. I'm getting my translations mixed up." Bayla informed her.
"Oh. That must be so confusing,"
"Yeah, it is a bit. But anyway!" Bayla had far more pressing matters to discuss. "What's up with Vidina and all these soppy letters he's been writing to you?"
XOXOX
Yasmine was so grateful that Bayla had come to visit, even though her Zandal tutor was almost always breathing down their necks and insisting that Bayla make a full diagnosis and treatment plan before doing anything herself. But when she wasn't there, for a few brief hours they could just be the young adults they were; share gossip and give each other tips on hairstyling and opinions on clothes. Even the demands for information on Vidina's intentions was welcome – Bayla admitted at least once that she was being merely nosey, but had a handful of other excuses to back herself up on it.
On the second day, Shulay was asked to attend a meeting with a couple of other Zandal representatives, and left Bayla with instructions to do research in the library for a certain type of lotus flower that rarely bloomed in the north, if ever at all. Yasmine had been given leave from her own studies, so she accompanied her friend to the cavernous room and led her to the section in question. They found the information so easily they decided to stay a while and see what else they could find.
It was one of those odd things that just seemed to happen out of coincidence; Bayla wondered allowed what had happened to some old acquaintances of her parents, an ex-Summoner and Guardian duo, who had a child between them. Yasmine suggested checking the marriage and birth register in the section for current affairs, and they started wondering from one end of the long row to the other looking for Lady Donna and Sir Barthello.
"Nope," Bayla chucked a book over her shoulder so that it landed in the trolley to be put back later. "She's not in here. Hey…" there was a gleam in her eye that meant they were about to embark on another mission. "I wonder if there's a register for Summoners? Yevon must have kept records,"
"The temples did on an individual basis," Yasmine told her, thinking ahead. "When the Calm came, all the details were collected into one book. We have a copy here," so they set out to find it.
The book they were searching for was in the wrong section; it was bound in deep, burgundy coloured leather, and was immensely thick.
"Woah!" Bayla said, flipping the front cover open and listening to the thud it made on the wooden tabletop. "Is this thing full of details or just names? It must have every Summoner's name since Lady Yunalesca!"
The later entries had more information than the earlier ones ("Must be because the record keeping was crap just after the Machina War," Bayla concluded.). Towards the very end, they found Lady Yuna and her extensive list of Guardians, marked out as 'Traitor' and then 'Cleared of all Charges' before proclaiming 'HIGH SUMMONER omega'.
"Omega?" Bayla asked, tapping her mother's status inked into the page.
"Look," Yasmine showed her the very first page again. "Yunalesca is High Summoner alpha. It means first, and," she flicked through to the end again. "Last. The other High Summoner's had a sort of code name for the records too,"
"Wonder what else is on those shelves," Bayla wondered back and started pulling out drawers. "Wow, they've got artefacts and everything!"
"Careful, my parent's will be angry if we break anything. This is public property," Yasmine warned her, flicking through the pages to find the other High Summoners.
"Yeah, yeah," Bayla said vaguely, digging through the contents of the drawers with gusto.
Yasmine was just skimming through the dates she knew Lord Ohalland had ascended the Summoner's Podium, when Bayla gave a yelp of surprise from across the room. Yasmine rushed to see what was wrong, and found Bayla staring at something in one of the larger drawers right at the back of the section, one of the very deep ones that often housed show cases with old weapons in them. This one was full of papers, journals and spheres, and the plaque by the handles read, "Omega High Summoner Pilgrimage – Memoirs."
"I think…" Bayla looked amazed as she leant down and extracted a large, lethal looking blade from within. "I think this is my mom's drawer."
"Of course!" Yasmine could have kicked herself. "Each High Summoner has a drawer devoted to them. There must be tonnes of items here from her pilgrimage!" it took a moment for her to remember that this news wouldn't have the same effect on Bayla as it would with most people – she had grown up, looking up to this woman as a mother, not a public icon. It would have far more sentimental value to her.
"Hey, is this…?" Bayla laid the sword out on the floor and ran a finger down the blade's flat side, before tapping the hilt with her fingernail. "It's not Sir Auron's katana, is it?"
Yasmine checked the contents list, and nodded. "Yes. Look! There's an old tent bag, water canisters, Al Bhed claw, two rods, a moogle…"
Bayla was more interested in the items that actually belonged to her parents, and hijacked the list when Yasmine couldn't find them. As they scrambled round the drawer they knocked over a cardboard box, spilling the dozen or so spheres inside out onto the bottom of the drawer.
"Drek!" Bayla cursed.
"Wow, so many!" Yasmine breathed. They exchanged looks. "Want to look at them?"
"Since when have you been sneaky and underhanded?" Bayla teased, helping her to fish them out and laid them on the floor beside Sir Auron's sword.
"Thirteen," Yasmine counted out. "This one looks like a freeze frame sphere…" it was an old Al Bhed invention that worked sort of like a normal camera, except it only projected an image and couldn't be fixed to paper like a proper photograph. It was, in short, dead technology, as the image was trapped forever on the sphere and unable to go anywhere.
"Well?" Bayla demanded. "Switch it on!"
"Bay, it's nearly twenty-three years old! I don't know if it works anymore," Yasmine reminded her.
Somehow, they got it working again, and they stared at the images in silent awe as they clicked their way through them. The first few were of the Moon Flow, then Guadosalm before reaching Macalania and the Calm Lands. The ones following after that were from all over the place in no particular order, and almost all of them had at least one person in it, usually Tidus or El in a sneak shot.
"Bet Rikku took these," Bayla murmured, taking the sphere and flicking through the images herself while Yasmine started sorting the rest of the spheres. "She's in hardly any of them herself. Hey, look!" The image was of four people trekking across a stretch of boggy looking land, with a huge mountain rising above them in the distance. "That's my dad!" true, the young blonde man at the head of the procession was unmistakably Sir Tidus, followed by another blonde figure that had to be Rikku. Behind them were Lulu, and an unfamiliar man in a long red coat, following at a sedate pace compared to the stance Tidus held – as though he were running forward with great haste.
"What about the next one?" Yasmine asked, leaning over for a better look.
Again, it was Tidus, wearing the oddest clothes Yasmine had ever seen now that he was closer; he was sat on the end of an old log by a campfire, staring down at the bowl in his hands with a confused look on his face. Beside him was Yuna, looking at and talking to Rikku on her left hand side, while the same red-coated man was caught in mid-stride, the tails of his coat frozen in time with his step.
Yasmine reached into the drawer again and pulled out a plain, paper file with a stack of photographs neatly ordered inside. "Hey, look at these!"
They did; it seemed to be Rikku's flare for photography gone wild again, although that said it was probably the best and most realistic representation of a Summoner's pilgrimage you could find. There were pictures mostly of different campsites in various states of packing and unpacking, and pictures of Elodie bent over someone and tending to a fresh wound. One such photo showed her working on a nasty looking wound across Tidus' shoulder and collarbone; he was wincing and staring off to the side while Rikku watched on anxiously, a rag soaked in some orange-brown liquid in her hands, raised for Elodie to take.
"He's got a scar all over his shoulder," Bayla said, inspecting the paper closely. "Yeah…just there, he said a fiend that took a bite out of him near this gorge…"
Yasmine winced in sympathy at the thought. "What about this one?" it was decidedly more cheerful. "Fayth…Bayla, look!"
Tidus was standing with his arms folded, giving the camera a crooked smile. Rikku had an arm placed on his shoulder, the other held akimbo with one leg behind the other, balancing on the balls of her feet, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Yuna was standing sideways on to the camera on his other side, leaning forward slightly with her head cocked to one side, hands behind her back, a brilliant smile that Yasmine was well accustomed to on her lips.
"Jesus Christ…" Bayla said, eyes flicking between her seventeen-year-old parents smiling at her from the slip of shiny paper. "That could be me in that picture! That's scary…" she looked to Yasmine for her opinion, and frowned at the look she was getting. "What?"
Yasmine had, however, found something slightly more pressing than the distinct likeness Bayla had of her parents.
"Did you ever cover Neo Christianity in history?"
"No." Bayla snorted. "I barely even know what Christianity is. Isn't it a forerunner of Yevon or something?"
"No," Yasmine frowned as well, trying to see were the links she had just found met. "It was a religion in its own right, and the main religion of Zanarkand before the Machina War. Yevon wanted to crush the heretic rebels, so Bevelle used it as another excuse to start the war. Anyone who survived that and Sin's rise would have joined the Zandal tribes in order to survive the harsh winters that followed, that far north."
"I didn't come all this way to be lectured by my best friend!" Bayla whined. "What's your point?"
"Don't you even know what you said just now about Christ?" Yasmine asked, exasperated.
"Huh?" she looked as confused as her father did in that projected image image.
"Argh!" Yasmine smacked her forehead. "If you don't know what it means, how do you even know the phrase full stop? And it's not supposed to be a curse!"
"What, 'Jesus Christ'?" Bayla cottoned on. "Oh, it's just something my dad says." She shrugged it off. "So? It's probably a Zandal thing,"
"No," Yasmine shook her head. "It isn't. According to the Christian teachings, Jesus was a powerful Holy Man sent by their deity to free his followers from their version of Sin."
Bayla stared at her blankly. "Oh."
"He was martyred for going against what the rival religions said, and his death coined the term Christ, so his given faith was called Christianity, and his followers were called Christians."
"How was I meant to know that?" Bayla demanded. "Maybe my dad just knows a lot about ancient religions,"
"Um…" Yasmine bit her lip. "Bay, don't take this the wrong way, but you only learn about that sort of thing if you go to an institute like Bevelle with all the records held in one place. Christianity is over three thousand years old, and that's not the sort of thing a sports teacher from a place like Besaid would know."
"My dad isn't from Besaid," Bayla argued.
Yasmine blinked. "Oh, I thought he was."
"Nope. Wakka'll tell anyone who'll listen about the first time they met; there was this blitzball practise, and…" Bayla was gearing up for another story telling session, but Yasmine was more interested in something else she had said.
"Wait, wait, wait! If he's not from Besaid, where is he from? I'd be interested to know where he got that expression from." She was expecting a full and detailed account about Tidus' birthplace and early childhood, but Bayla surprised Yasmine by staring at her blankly.
"I don't know." She seemed as amazed at this as Yasmine was. "He's never said."
"What?" Yasmine couldn't believe it.
"He doesn't talk much about his childhood, I just know he met my mom in Besaid just before her pilgrimage started, and they sort of hit it off from there." Now Bayla was frowning. "Weird, I never thought about it until now…"
"Hey, we could check the records," Yasmine suggested. "You know, the census? I'm sure there's more information about him there,"
They hastily stacked everything back into the drawer and dashed off to find the relevant records. Yasmine discovered them in a huge leather bound tome that needed the two of them to carry it to the table, and billowed out a huge cloud of dust as they heaved the covers open.
"Bloody hell," Bayla winced, sneezing loudly and clutching her throat. "Ouch…"
"Okay…" Yasmine started looking through the index. "Are we looking for a Spiran name or a Zandal Name?"
"Erm…try Tidus first and see what happens."
They both poured over the pages, and found him after a minute or two of searching; according to the records, his birthplace was the East side of Zanarkand, some thirty-nine years ago now, and he had been adopted as an oath brother by the Zandal Shaman Elodie à Stroma, with the given name Tsu-tey Valarduh Oaklahnd Ne'er Lastra Mahn Jechetsson Stroma. Additionally, at the time of the census, his marital status was 'engaged to Lady Yuna, daughter of Cissan', considered a son by the Al Bhed, and waiting in line for his tattoos to be completed. Beyond that, and the occupation stating 'Guardian' and then two years later 'Player for the Besaid Aurochs', and the religious alignment of 'Stroma Faith', there wasn't much else to garner from the census.
"What's the translation of his Zandal name?" Yasmine wondered allowed, trying to think more deeply on the information they had at hand.
"Err, something like…Sunlight-on-the-sea's-waves, Protection, He-with-honour , The-Dreamer's-Oath, Son-of-Jechet, of-the-Stroma." Bayla recited flawlessly.
"Wow," Yasmine breathed. "They don't half embellish their names, do they?" she managed a laugh.
Bayla shrugged. "They think Spiran names are dull and uninformative. All their names tell you something about them so you know what you're dealing with straight away. You should hear El's, it's bloody longwinded and hilarious!"
"Go on then," Yasmine giggled, dying to hear this.
"Right, it goes something like: J-airai Anarltuh Flaygraata Say-bowna Nellk Barr Stroma, which means North-facing-Star, One-who-howls-Defiance, Keeper-of-the-Elder's-Flame, Blunt-One, East-Wind's-Daughter, of-the-Stroma."
Yasmine laughed, more from the expression Bayla was pulling as she spoke the names effortlessly. "Very good! You have a superb memory,"
"Well, I do try my best." Bayla struck a dignified pose, making her look ridiculous. "But seriously," she went on in earnest. "What did this teach us? It doesn't make much sense,"
"How do you mean?" Yasmine frowned.
Bayla went back to her father's details, pouring over them intently. When she looked up, there was a crease between her eyebrows. "How'd he get from Zanarkand to Besaid without some wild and crazy story to tell? He could get a splinter from a fence and make up some crap about how he nearly died and escaped with his life. They didn't have airships back then, so the only people roaming round that far north were the Zandal, but he's only a Stroma by right of initiation, not blood – he'll tell you that himself. He doesn't look like any of the northerners, anyway. The closest Zandal tribe I've seen to resembling him is the western Lasia'austra."
"Sorry, I'm lost." Yasmine admitted.
"Oh, the blonde lot with the grey eyes and a fixation with crocodiles."
"Oh. Right then." She had nothing to say to that.
"But my dad isn't one of them! He doesn't fit neatly anywhere," Bayla frowned at the huge book in front of them. "How come none of this ever occurred to me before?"
Yasmine didn't know what to say to that. Eventually though, after Bayla had started flicking through the book to find more answers, she said, "Why don't you ask him when you go home to visit?"
Bayla paused in her searching. "I guess so…I dunno if its confidential or something…" then suddenly her eyes gleamed manically. "Hey, Yevon must have kept records about people before your dad ordered a proper census, right?"
"Well, for places like Luca and Bevelle, probably." Yasmine conceded. "But everywhere else was always under siege by fiends, or Sin…they were probably destroyed so often the Temple Priests just let them lie in ashes. There wasn't even a proper birth register or marital record until four years into the Eternal Calm."
Bayla deflated. "Argh, Yas!" she whined, shaking her by the shoulders. "You're supposed to help me, not make me feel like an idiot!"
Yasmine stifled another laugh. "Oh Bayla, it's not you! It's all those old Yevon priests not being considerate enough for your quest for knowledge! They should have known to keep better records for you,"
"Damn straight they should!" Bayla laughed as well. "Guess I have a legit reason for asking to go home to see my family then,"
"Sorry we couldn't find what you were looking for," Yasmine said gloomily a while later as they heaved the book back onto the shelf, and started for the doors.
"Meh," Bayla waved it away. "I think I'll live somehow. I always knew my dad was a weirdo, it's actually sort of comforting to know the records aren't there for everyone else to find out."
They were planning to exit the library in a calm and orderly fashion, but that plan when up the spout a few moments later
"Stop!" someone shouted at the tops of their lungs.
Yasmine and Bayla fairly jumped out of their skins, and Bayla grabbed Yasmine before towing them both behind a shelf at the end of a row. Completely thrown, Yasmine watched as the head librarian strode past at top speed, completely ignoring their hiding place.
"What the…?" Bayla began, but Yasmine elbowed her in the ribs.
"Ssh!"
"What do you think you're doing?" Father Zahid demanded.
"Ah, my good Sir," said a familiar voice. "I was hoping to be granted audience with Lady Yasmine,"
"And you thought the best way to do that would be to skulk around the library?" Zahid growled.
Yasmine was fixed in place, trying to remember a face that went with that voice.
"I was directed here by one of her tutors," the voice said pleasantly.
"Well, she obviously isn't here now. Please leave through the door you entered by,"
"Of course," there was a polite pause as though the person were bowing, and then swift footsteps towards the doors. Whoever it was causing Zahid grief took a route that by passed their hiding place, so Yasmine didn't get to see his face.
Moment later, after taking a deep breath and readjusting his robes, Zahid also left the library, the doors closing with a decisive crash. The stillness of the room was punctuated by the girls' breathing, and nothing else; they took one look at each other, and both bolted for the side door that would lead down towards the kitchens without a second glance.
XOXOX
"Look!" Tidus would have been bouncing with delight on the spot if he weren't sitting down with Deka in his lap. He brandished Elodie's letter at Yuna, before exchanging a high five with his daughter, both of them whooping loudly.
"What is it?" Yuna asked, dumping the basket of fresh fruit and veg on the table and taking the letter to read. "Dear All," she began before pausing to take a seat at the table itself.
"Yey!" Deka clapped her hands loudly, crowing with delight.
"Yey!" Tidus echoed her, giving her a bear hug. He was going to ambush Zuo the moment he got home from playing sphere break on the temple steps.
"It's gonna be amazing!" Deka squealed.
"Totally awesome!" Tidus grinned. In truth, it didn't take much to make him excited. This was just another thing he could easily get hyped up about.
"I am writing to inform you that in two weeks time the whales will be passing through the eastern straits and bearing down upon Zanarkand, as the hunters conveniently pass through the area as well. Before we send our brave warriors off to help Nooj out we're holding a festival in the whales' honour." Yuna read aloud. "I understand if Lu and Wakka can't make it, but I expect my brother at least to attempt attending this amazing event otherwise I shall be forced to revoke his oath and send him to live with the rest of the social rejects of our people." She gave Tidus a sarcastic look, and he smiled back at her innocently. "All my love and affection and positive emotions in general, El. Well, that sounds like fun, doesn't it Deka?"
"Yeah!" Deka jumped to her feet, crushing Tidus' kneecap in the process. "And she's gonna try and bring Bayla with her! It's gonna be so much fun, we'll get to go chocobo riding, and swim with the dolphins – and hear the whale song!"
Tidus laughed, reaching up to stroke Deka's hair. "Hold your chocobos, Dia. We're not going just yet,"
"But Dad!" she whined, flinging herself onto the couch beside him and locking her arms around his neck, pouting.
"Go on, move it!" he gently disengaged her hands and pushed her away. "I need to write back,"
Deka bounced out of the house in high spirits to tell her brother, leaving Tidus and Yuna alone. He was still concerned about the nightmares she was having, and it was starting to affect his own sleeping pattern, but he refrained from pursuing the topic further. After she'd bitten his head off this morning for mentioning it in casual conversation, Tidus had decided to go and brood over it some more before confronting Yuna about it again.
Instead, he helped her sort the food and pack everything away before he took a piece of paper and a pen to the desk to write back to El. He couldn't be bothered with longhand writing, so he used a series of glyphs and doodled a group of stick people at the bottom of the page and a stylised whale holding a megaphone. Yuna rolled her eyes, but had to stifle a giggle as she walked past. Elodie would understand the joke, since she was the one who had started it in the first place; she used to draw charcoal pictures on stones and logs as they passed of what had happened, and her impression of Sin as a demented flying goldfish had had Tidus in stitches for nearly an hour afterwards.
"Well, then," Tidus stood, stretching his arms and preparing to send the letter off with all haste.
"What did you say?" Yuna asked, setting the tea pot down to come and investigate.
Tidus cleared his throat and recited his message in the closest Spiran equivalent. "Looking forward to this meeting, bring my daughter with you or I shall evoke dire retribution, hoping the studies of Moon Flow pond weed is to your entire satisfaction. We expect prime seats for this display! Love you with our collective heart, All." He looked to his wife. "Well?"
"Adequate," Yuna said flippantly, picking up the teapot again.
"Only adequate?" he teased, rolling the paper up and tying a rubber band around it. "This is of course our mad crazed sister we are talking about,"
"She's your sister, not mine." Yuna reminded him with a smile.
"Nuh-uh!" Tidus tapped her ear with his scroll. "You knew each other way before I met you. And!" he added. "And, she made you my wife under Zandal Law. She. Is. Your. Sister. Too!"
"Oh, so you're not my husband then?" Yuna retorted, trying to escape his hug when he dropped the letter on the counter.
"In Spira, yes I am," he grinned. "But to the Zandal, I was an official adult first. Ergo, you are mine." He knew he was pushing his luck today, but Yuna smiled and kissed his cheek.
Zuo was somewhat apathetic at first about the whole affair, until he heard about the celebrations accompanying the whales' passage. He and Deka wouldn't stop talking for hours and hours, and eventually Tidus had to peel them from the table and throw them into bed to make them shut up. Yuna yawned widely and he innocently suggested an early night, fixing a cup of tea without looking her in the eye so she wouldn't guess what he was up to.
According to many conflicting sources, even if you don't remember having a dream when you woke up, you still dreamed something during the night; shaman had a herb that blocked the pathways in the brain from remembering anything as you slept. It didn't exactly give you 'dreamless sleep' but it was the closest equivalent as it blocked the brain's ability to make a memory of it as the dream unfurled.
Tidus felt only a small twinge of guilt when he gave the mug to his wife as they prepared for bed. She gave him a suspicious look, but relented when he genuinely sneezed.
"What's so funny?" Tidus demanded thickly, rummaging for a tissue.
"You always look guilty just before you sneeze." Yuna teased him.
"Do not!" he argued back, fighting a grin. Even though his nose felt most uncomfortable at the moment, he was thankful it had thrown her off his scent.
Yuna sat up in bed, sipping her tea while Tidus sorted his nose out. She had half finished it by the time he had crawled into bed beside her, and seemed more than willing for a cuddle – until she reached the dregs of her tea and caught the after taste the herb had left.
Looking scandalised, she dumped the mug on the bedside table and rounded on him. The innocent look didn't work this time, though Tidus tried his hardest to make it so.
"You-!" Yuna began, but her eyelids were already drooping, and before she could utter another word she slumped back against the pillows, completely out for the count.
Knowing he would be slaughtered the next morning, Tidus tucked her into a more comfortable position beneath the covers and kissed her temple.
"You know I'm doing this because I love you, right?" he queried the thin air above them, stroking Yuna's hair. His only answer was her soft breathing; long, slow, deep and regular.
XOXOX
"HEY!" Vidina boomed before launching himself from the kitchen table and straight at the person who had walked through the door.
Dustin looked up and felt his stomach do a back flip when he saw Bayla hugging him. She looked tired, but happy to be back – until Vidina aimed a punch at her stomach.
"Oi!"
"Where de hell you been at, eh? Runnin' off without tellin' us!"
"I was kidnapped!" she snapped, shoving him out of the way. "Shulay," she spread her hands wide and cast her head back to howl at the heavens, "in her infinite wisdom!" she let her arms drop to her sides and fixed Vidina with a glare. "Saw fit to drag me to Bevelle without warning!"
"Bevelle?" Vidina's jaw dropped, before he suddenly started demanding to hear what had happened and how Yasmine was.
Dustin got up, hoping to speak to Bayla himself, but Vidina took her full and undivided attention by hanging over her shoulder and pestering her with a constant stream of questions and jibes that roused her to answer and swear back at him. Dustin felt slightly better when she gave him a brief smile and a one armed hug with, "Heya," before she went back to bickering with Vidina. Eventually they left the room to go compare notes, something to do with Vidina's project that Bayla had found some information on in The Great Library.
Dustin was feeling somewhat hard done by when he heard someone speak from the doorway and jumped.
"Are me," Tarak said in Spiran with a sly smile. "Young love."
"Excuse me?" Dustin snarled, stomping over to the stove where a pan of water was boiling.
"I see it in your eyes," his cousin said in a smooth, wheedling voice. "The self same look in the eyes of a love struck puppy as it wonders perilously after a wolf."
Dustin gave him his best withering look.
"Up a slope. With rocks. And a good chance of a landslide."
"Tarak," Dustin said, dropping the long brittle strands of spaghetti into the pot.
"Yes, or dear sweet cousin mine?" Tarak said, slipping his arms around Dustin's shoulders and giving him a loving squeeze.
Every fibre in his being screamed in disgust and protest at the contact.
"Piss off."
"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you!" Tarak gave him a huge kiss on the cheek before flouncing off towards the door.
"EWW!" Dustin frantically clawed at his face to rid himself of the sensation. "You sicko!"
"Bayla's a nice girl, but don't let her fool you," Tarak was enjoying winding him up. "Playing with her is like playing with fire. You know the burns I got on the back of my right leg?" he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the direction Bayla had gone. "That was her."
"Good," Dustin said savagely. "You deserved it you prick!"
Tarak raised an eyebrow. "No need to be so violent, now!"
"No need to be such an ass. Piss off,"
Tarak made a show of rolling his eyes and flopping past the threshold towards the nearest sofa with an exaggerated groan. "Dear oh dear…" he said in Al Bhed.
Dustin went back to his cooking with renewed vigour, cursing to himself softly. When Tarak returned, it was with Kai and Bayla, which made his presence bearable. It came as a great surprise when Bayla presented Dustin with a small wrapped package she had bought before leaving the citadel; inside the bright red paper was a thick stick of nougat with chopped almonds.
"Wow!" he was unable to believe it, that Bayla had remembered him saying he really liked nougat as a throw away comment in a conversation ages ago. "Thanks,"
"No worries!" Bayla grinned before spinning on her back leg and pelting Tarak with something.
He yelped and hid under the table before crawling out to take his bounty – a collection of lemon and orange flavoured gobstoppers. "Aww mate!" he grinned, trying to fit three into his mouth at once. "I lurve citrus!"
"Please tell me you put a laxative in there or something?" Kai said in a whisper behind her back.
Bayla leant over and murmured in an undertone, "I'm working on a potion I intend to give him before the winter festivities. That'll get the git out of our hair…"
"But not in those gobstoppers?" she asked, crestfallen.
"Not yet. The only thing I can get my hands on at the moment to use would kill him cause he's severely allergic."
"…So?" Kai asked, deadpan.
Dustin and Bayla sniggered. "Uncle Gip would kill me."
"Fair point."
XOXOX
A solitary pyrefly floated through the air, twisting and turning like a delicate, glittering snake. As it floated up through the darkness a shadowy figure sat cross-legged on a bare stretch of earth that hung in nothingness of the Farplane. The figure stared into the emptiness ahead, a frown of deep concentration on their brow.
This meditation was shattered when a voice echoed out from behind, and a series of bright lights zoomed together to form another person who clapped the first heartily on the back.
"Auron!"
The first figure grunted and looked away.
The second sat down beside him and punched him in the arm.
"Must you sneak upon people like that?"
He gave Auron a wild grin. "It's fun."
"Hmmph."
"So…what you up to, all alone, out here, in the middle of nowhere?"
"Jechet…" Auron sighed.
"You felt it too?" the joking air dropped instantly, and Jechet became gravely serious.
Both men were not so old in appearance, but carried with them the weight of the experience of years in their eyes. Both were dark haired, although Auron had a badger streak with grey flecking the rest of his hair; Jechet had a roughly shaven beard that he had had for many years in this place, unable to grow or shave it off once and for all. They still wore the same clothes they had done years ago.
Auron gave Jechet an appraising look before saying, "Yes. And Braska?"
"He's worried. The holes to the chambers of the fayth were sealed up ages ago, but more and more pyreflies are gathering at the entrances, and the aeons are getting restless."
"Ahh," Auron sighed. "No rest, even in this place…"
"None for the wicked," Jechet sniggered.
"Jechet," Auron said in a warning tone.
"Just messin' with ya," he bumped his knuckles against Auron's shoulder. "What you reckon we should do about it?"
"Nothing. That is for the living. We have no right to return to Spira."
"Couldn't we just…?" Jechet began, but he was cut down.
"No."
"But if we just-"
"No."
"Oh come on!"
"Jechet, no means no."
Jechet scowled and shuffled round so that his back was to Auron's, glaring a hole through the scuffed earth by his feet. They say in rigid silence for quite a while before Auron relented.
"I know you feel frustrated, and that you want to go, but its too risky."
"What's life without a bit of risk?" Jechet said carelessly.
"That's the point," Auron snapped, exasperated as they went through the same argument yet again for the third time that day alone. "We are not living. We have no place in their world anymore."
"My son does," Jechet said sulkily.
"Your son did not die." Auron said ruthlessly, and then relented somewhat when he felt his friend wince. "Your body died. You could not return to Spira as he has. And the Fayth cannot contain every person who ever lived in the dream Zanarkand and let them live in Spira – the drain on their power would be too great. Tidus could return because of the impact he left on so many lives, and the love he inspired in his friends."
"I know, I know," Jechet sighed, massaging his temples. "And I'm proud of him, but…" he cast around helplessly. "I just…"
"It would be best not to dwell on those thoughts," Auron said warningly.
"I'll dwell on whatever the hell I want." Jechet snapped.
Auron was about to retort when another, softer gathering of light appeared in front of them. They both got to their feet as the image of a young boy shrouded by a hood shimmered and solidified before them.
"Greetings," he said politely, looking from one to the other.
"Hello,"
"Hey," Jechet raised his hand in greeting. "Wassup?"
"A great many things." Bahamut said sagaciously. "Starting with the Zandal prophecy."
"Say wha…?"
Auron fought not to roll his eyes. "Listen."
Bahamut nodded, more to himself than everything else, and said, "This year the planets of the solar system align themselves, and the Pilanel tribe shall be handling the festivities. This also marks the opening of a gateway for the first time in over a thousand years."
Jechet cocked his head to one side. "A gate? Like a garden gate?"
Auron snorted derisively.
"No. A gateway made of stone, hidden from prying eyes and ill intent for millennia. There was a tablet writ in the original Zandal tongue for those who would keep the place it hid safe, but the tablet fell out of the Shamans' knowing, and into the wrong hands. There are those who would seek to use the terrible power hidden within to enslave Spira."
"So, let me get this straight," Jechet asked. "So there's an evil dude running around wanting to enslave the world for his own amusement and not because he thinks that by destroying all life he is saving and preserving it?"
"Correct," Bahamut lowered his head in acknowledgement.
"I've had enough of misguided and flawed villains," Jechet snapped in response to Auron's raised eyebrow. "It makes things boring."
"But no less dangerous." Bahamut interrupted; his tone was calm, but there was a gathering sense of urgency in his words. "There is one who seeks this power, and he is working closely with his son, who despite his loyalty does not see eye to eye with him. The fractious nature of their alliance will destroy either one or both of them."
"Good riddance," Jechet said gruffly.
"Spira is in danger." Bahamut said bluntly, looking from one man to the other gravely. "These people have weapons unlike anything else seen since the Great Machina War. The only individuals immune to their effects are the unsent, and those touched by the Fayth. That is," he explained in answer to the confused looks he was given. "The Dreams of the Fayth, and the Summoners. The only way to prevent them from fulfilling their plans is to send a select group of people to Spira."
"Select. Meaning…?" Jechet's eyes seemed brighter than they had for a long time. Auron inwardly groaned.
"If you would both accept our plea for help, and the Lord Braska as well. We have also considered bringing a pair who were not quite a part of the Dream Zanarkand, but who still have been intertwined in Spira's fate before, and who have been touched as well by that power that gave rise to the fayth in the first place. They will also be immune to these weapons."
Auron and Jechet exchanged looks.
"We'll have to think about it." Auron said stoically.
"Indeed we do," Jechet nodded in agreement, folding his arms and contemplating the ground beneath his feet. "Okay I'm done. Let's go!"
Bahamut chuckled. "This decision cannot be made lightly, though the sooner the better. Think on it a bit more before you give us your final answer," and with that he shimmered and faded into the darkness.
Jechet and Auron exchanged look, and Jechet grinned broadly. Punching Auron's arm, he shouted, "Race you back to the spring!" and burst into an array of scattered lights before he vanished from the scene as well.
Auron scowled, but allowed himself one deep-throated chuckle before he too departed from the rock, preparing himself to marshal Jechet's unruly nature back into order.
XOXOX
"Oooh, this sounds like fun!" Rikku brandished a letter at Gippal.
He took it with a sigh and unfurled the paper so as to read what was written there. Yuna's neat, slanted handwriting met his gaze, telling him that she and Tidus would be visiting the base before going on to the Stroma territory for the whale' festival.
"What about the twins?" Gippal asked, dropping the letter onto his desk, more concerned about finding his best screwdriver.
Rikku tutted loudly and picked up the letter, clearing her throat. "Elodie will be needing to pick up some supplies for us in Luca anyway." She informed Gippal. "The kids'll be there on a ferry from Besaid and she'll pick them up and meet up with Yunie and Ti at the last outpost before Gagazet. Then they'll all go on together from there. Alright?"
Gippal shrugged. "You seen my screwdriver?"
"Yes, Tarak was using it."
Gippal suppressed a snarl; this just wasn't shaping up to be his day…
"You do know what this means, right…?" Rikku hedged.
Gippal gave her a sarcastic look. "No. Enlighten me,"
"The High Summoner, coming to visit the Al Bhed? Pomp and ceremony – any of this a'ringing a bell?"
"Oh," Gippal stared at her blankly. "Yeah, yeah of course…Yes," he started scribbling down instructions on pieces of scrap paper. "Give these to the kitchens, and this one to the cleaning crew, would you? They can have the guest suite in the northern set of rooms."
"Make it the East." Rikku said, scribbling her own amendment onto the paper.
"Why?" Gippal asked, not really caring as he struggling to find a replacement screwdriver.
"Yunie likes watching the sunrise," Rikku said smugly.
"Yeah yeah," Gippal waved it aside. "I'll deal with the cleaners later. We can fix on arrangements then, but right now I need my screwdriver…"
Rikku left him to it, and went off to find Bayla to tell her the good news. As she had predicted, the girl was over the moon and babbled excitedly about it for a few minutes with Rikku until Shulay stumped over looking grave.
In Stroma, she said, "Come with me, Child. We have much to do."
Bayla stared at the aging lady blankly. "Where are we going?" she asked in Spiran, then winced automatically as though she thought she would be smacked like a petulant child.
Shulay pinched her ear painfully, and Rikku wondered whether she should step in before remembering the brief Elodie had given her about the old Shaman's teaching techniques. Even so, Rikku felt like she had failed Bayla as she was berated for her slip of the Tongue, and was carted off to look for supplies for a desert exertion.
Deciding on an early meal and an early night, Rikku went to the canteen where she bumped into her husband again, who had a piece of machina on the end of his tray that he was playing with in between mouthful's of food.
"Don't you ever stop working?" she sighed, thinking about how she had abandoned her niece to the will of a bad tempered old woman.
"Nope," Gippal said simply, pulling wires out and clenching them between his teeth.
"And do you mean to electrocute yourself?" Rikku snapped.
Gippal raised an eyebrow, and let the wire go gently so that it didn't make a noise against the tray. "What's wrong with you?"
Rikku sighed, and confided in him the guilt she felt at leaving Bayla as she had. It irked her when Gippal laughed, but his words were comforting, "It's just a bit of character building. If Shulay were a bad person would we let her stay and work here with us? And would El have recommended her so highly? Bay's fine."
Hoping he was right, Rikku finished her meal quickly and began helping him to fix his broken piece of Machina while Gippal gratefully ate his own at a slower pace. Outside the compound night fell quickly – more quickly than usual for this time of year, and though Rikku could not say for sure what it was, when she stepped outside again to go back to their quarters, it felt like a finger of ice was running its way up her spine. Nothing around her was out of the ordinary, nothing to send alarm bells ringing. And yet, something felt amiss, though it was only a feeling, and feelings were usually discounted in the normal course of the bases security.
It was with a queasy feeling in her stomach that Rikku drifted into a dark and restless sleep that night.
XOXOX