Yuna twirled her staff in her right hand, while her left channeled a small accuracy spell to avoid tripping in her hasty stride along the Highbridge. The mana leaked out of her in the rush, rippling the air with its white glow. Her blood thumped steadily, a reassuring beat to calm her nerves.

Yuna belonged to the white light, the divine power. Her blood sang its hymn, even though she currently borrowed from the green light, whose song held Tidus' heart. Yuna belonged with the purest source, the kind that was made to help and heal. Green remained steady, but not in the same way as white. It was more upbeat and peppy, but it didn't give her a headache like black did.

The application office was a small building lost amid the sea of the larger, more complex Council offices made for meetings and presentations. She could have easily bypassed the process, the guards would have let her, but she wasn't above these people. No, she was one of them. She didn't become High Summoner because she established her position above everyone else, and Yevon strike her then if she wasn't going to start this whole thing off the proper way.

The accuracy spell glowed about her, gathering more attention than necessary, but it couldn't hurt to make a point while she was at it. Yuna dropped the haste and burst through the doors to the application office. The little man at the desk didn't react, so Yuna came to stand right in front of him.

"Name sect and division," the man said flatly. "Scrolls are-"

Yuna smiled and cleared her throat. The man finally looked up. Blinked. And jumped to his feet. "L-Lady Yuna! What are you doing here?"

"Just Yuna, please. I would like to apply for the position of Head of Religion. Praetor, or whatever they call it."

"Officially," the guy scrambled for the scrollwork, "it is Religion Director. But they all have their own unofficial names now. Kind of silly, if you ask me."

"Thank you," Yuna said. "Once I fill these out, how long until I can expect to meet with the chancellor?"

"Uh, not long I think." The man gave her a pen. "You might be able to get in within the week."

"A week."

The man flushed. "A thousand apologies, but these things take time. We have to follow certain procedures, see…"

She didn't put herself above everyone else, Yuna reminded herself. She could wait. She could be patient. "Great," she said at length. "Tell him I'll see him then."

While she wrote on the scrolls, she could hear whispers around the other workers. They looked at her with mixed reactions, some with disgust, most with awe.

She'd barely handed in the scrolls before an office worker came in and rushed her onto the path toward Baralai's office.

"Maybe not a week, then," Yuna whispered to herself when they left her to find her way. The visit with Kurgum and Chuami had taken her the exact route she needed to go, but it was so long ago now that she had to ask directions at almost every turn.

When she entered the office, she could see the scrolls she'd filled out lying scattered across Baralai's desk. He looked up when she entered, but said nothing. She hated the way those dark, intense eyes scrutinized her every move. Paine often had the same habit of watching. Yuna didn't think that was a coincidence.

"You accept?" he finally asked. "Just like that?"

Yuna bowed slightly. "I'll take responsibility for myself. I realize that the trust in the Council has been broken and that I can't do anything to remedy that, but I can help."

He stood and rounded the table in one quick motion. "How?"

Yuna swallowed as he stepped closer, hands clasping behind his back. He stopped in front of her, close enough that she could make out the red veins in his eyes. "I assumed," Yuna said, suddenly feeling very small, "That coming here by itself counted as 'helping.'"

Baralai looked down at her, expression unreadable. He was taller than she remembered. She could have sworn they were the same height, but standing so close she could see that she only came up to his nose.

"That's it?" he asked quietly, the motion of his sunken eyes turning frantic for a moment.

"No." She straightened her back, standing taller. "It's not that simple, I know that, but this is a start and I have to make up for my mistakes somehow."

He nodded in relief and he stepped away. "My apologies, Lady Yuna. I forget myself sometimes."

Yuna released a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "No," she said, "I'm the one that should apologize. I've been impulsive and selfish and it's time I make good on my promises."

Baralai returned to his desk, though Yuna couldn't help noticing the frown on his face despite the relieved tone of his voice. "Can we announce this by overmorrow?"

"Yes." Yuna fidgeted her hands. "And I'm willing to start whenever you want me to."

He shook his head. "Lady Yuna, I think you're under the impression that you will have to answer to me. That is incorrect. You will have people positioned under you, but the only one higher is myself, and my title means little. I simply watch the efforts of the different sects, who in turn coordinate their scholars and warriors. I report back. That is all."

"Warriors?" Yuna asked. "I didn't realize we were organizing military power."

Baralai chuckled. "You really haven't been paying attention, have you? Each sect oversees training certain kinds of soldiers. We haven't lost the need for an organized guard and standing army. You'll be in charge of the priests and mages."

In charge. The words sounded foreign to her, like something out a dream.

"We'll officially appoint you to your office tomorrow," he said, "if it's all right with you. That, and you'll have to work with Nooj and Gippal. I don't envy you for that part."

Yuna blinked. "You mean you don't do that?"

"I do." He leaned back. "But I prefer to avoid arguing with them when I can. They can be rather bull-headed when they want to be. Would you like to be shown to your quarters?"

Yuna shook her head. "No thanks. I have lived here before."

"Of course." He dipped his head forward. "Please let us know if they're satisfactory."

Yuna hesitated. "Chancellor…" she said slowly.

"Please. Baralai."

"Baralai." Yuna chewed her lip. "What's Paine been doing?"

"Oh? She didn't tell you?"

Far as she could tell, no one bothered to tell her anything. "I heard she's been killing fiends, but we both know she's not the kind to be satisfied with such menial, dirty work."

"Ah." He chewed on his lip for a moment before returning his attention to his desk. "It's simple, really. She's been my bodyguard for the past few months. Prevented some pretty dire situations."

"Can't you take care of yourself?" Yuna asked. "Under Bevelle, we fought…"

"I knew you were coming then." Baralai wrote something down on scrolls. "I don't have time now to watch every possible move made by my enemies and predict attacks."

That didn't sound any different to Yuna, but he didn't look like he was going to explain further, so she left it alone.

Baralai paused and pulled a note from one of his drawers to flip between his fingers. He didn't seem to pay it much heed, as he kept his attention on the paperwork before him.

"What's that?" Yuna asked.

He sighed, tapping it against the desk before shoving it back in the drawer. "Nothing," he said. "Just another mystery I'm trying to decipher."

Yuna stepped forward. "What kind of mystery?"

"I'm not sure. 'He will come as her to end your suffering,' it says." He shook his head. "I don't understand it either. I recognize the writing, which is why I haven't thrown it away, but I can't place where."

"Maybe a secret admirer?" Yuna offered with a coy tilt of her head.

Baralai chuckled wryly. "Ha. I doubt that. I wouldn't have time for such things, as it stands."

"The women that look up to you will find the time. But never mind that." Yuna gestured toward the door. "What should I do to prepare?"

"Oh." He pulled out some scrolls. "Here. These should get you started."

He pulled out some dozen scrolls.

Yuna gaped as he then offered them to her. "This should get me started? It's not going to finish me as well?"

He shook his head. "It's a paper-heavy environment. I must apologize, as I know the pain, but there's little I can do. Are you having second thoughts?"

"Well, no, but-"

"I'll have them shipped to your room, of course." Baralai dropped them back where he got them. "You don't want to carry these all the way back there."

Yuna deflated as he wrote out a note to himself and couldn't help wondering what she'd gotten herself into.

Snow paced around the camp, unable to dismiss the image of the sisters from his mind. The one with the ponytail bothered him more than the irritable one and he couldn't help thinking that they were related to a pair of demigoddesses with white faces and black body paint.

Tidus sat by the fire, watching the flames with the attention of a rapt child as it reflected in the small barrier of ice Snow put around the edges. Tidus was still, which must have been from exhaustion, given how far they'd come today. All that laid between them and the ruins now was a large body of water that Tidus said would require a ship to cross.

He never considered himself much of a pacer. It was strange to him that people would move about without going anywhere. And yet, there was something about the open air about them that caused the hair to stand up on the back of his neck. They had no cover to protect themselves thanks to the vast and rolling nature of the plains, and they may as well be open targets to whatever passersby might come. It was too dark here to make out trees, but they hadn't passed many on their way here.

"Hey." Snow paused by Tidus. "How was it that you managed to stop being dead?"

Tidus didn't respond.

"Yo." Snow tapped his forehead. "Kid."

Tidus jumped, snatching Snow's hand before he could pull away. "Oh," he said. "Sorry about that. I was lost in thought."

"No duh."

"I was thinking," Tidus said, releasing Snow, "about Yevon's church. How did he convince people to follow him?"

Snow rested his hands on his waist. "I don't know," he said. "I honestly didn't think much of it, but maybe he used our own human weakness against us."

"He wasn't even a real god," Tidus mused. "He didn't have any power to prove himself."

"So?" Snow dropped to a crouch by the fire whilst keeping a safe distance. Tidus huddled close, arms wrapped around himself to stay warm, but Snow didn't feel cold at all. "We never saw him – didn't have to. He communicated through his priests that gave him the illusion of omnipotence. I should have seen it, though, given the super vague nature of their teachings. Didn't attribute that much good to Yevon himself."

"Huh." Tidus also extended his hands. "Do you tend to doubt your leaders before you realize they're bad?"

Snow furrowed his brow. "Sometimes. Why?"

"I don't understand most human interactions," said Tidus. "You pick someone to follow, and yet you don't do what they say, and often throw them out for someone else within a matter of years."

"Are you okay?" Snow leaned toward him. "Did Yuna dump you?"

"Dump," repeated Tidus. "A strange word to use in this situation."

Snow frowned. "You need to take a break. You're acting funny from the stress."

"Stress."

"Yes." Snow yawned and dropped onto his side. "Go to sleep."

"Did you choose the chancellor?" Tidus asked. "Or did he choose himself?"

Snow threw an arm over his eyes, though he still watched Tidus. "Who knows? So long as he doesn't start killing people for no reason, I'm not gonna worry about it too much."

"You choose the position of a bystander," said Tidus. "Interesting."

"Just go to sleep, kid."

Tidus reluctantly took a spot on the ground and crossed his hands over his stomach, looking up at the stars with an intense gaze.

Snow turned away from him. They didn't bother setting up shifts to take watch, as nothing bothered them these days. Fiends had become less and less common, and there weren't a whole lot of other creatures out there with a thirst for human blood.

He remembered the girls from his dreams, one of them always glad to see him, the other angry and vengeful at the very mention of his name. He remembered missing them both almost as much.

A cool wind blew across the plains, causing the fire behind him to whistle and crackle. Snow turned again to face it and channeled a small ice spell to refresh the barrier that had melted at the edge. As it was, the fire had burned down far enough, it would only eat at the coals for so much longer.

Snow sighed, watching the flames burn on for a few more minutes before closing his eyes and imagining the strange city he thought he knew, with buildings stretching so far into the sky he had to crane his neck to see them and so white that most wore dark glasses during the day to keep from being blinded.

He thought of the roads that threatened a deadly fall to those that didn't watch their step. If only he could remember its name.

The thought distracted him from the vulnerability of being in the open here, with barely a tree to protect them.