We stared up at the airship that hovered above us and gasped as it disappeared.
"This 'come in handy' often?" Ashe asked Balthier with raised eyebrows.
He shrugged. "It's tough being popular. Wouldn't want admirers dropping in while we're away," he said.
I coughed meaningfully and stared at Maeve. She grinned.
"Well now," Balthier continued, "that's as far as she goes. We'll be in Jagd from here onwards."
"Across the Sandsea, to the Valley of the Dead, and to King Raithwall's tomb below," Ashe recounted ominously, looking off in the direction we had to go.
"So, when you're in Jagd," Vaan started saying to Penelo and everyone looked over, "skystones don't work at all. That's why we gotta hoof it the rest of the way, ya see?"
"Happy you get to teach me something for a change?" she replied with a smirk.
"Well, if you want to be a sky pirate, you have to know your-" He realized what she said. "Hey! What do you mean, 'for a change'?"
She giggled. "Come on, accept it! I'm smarter than you!"
"At least we thought to bring entertainment," Balthier commented. I chuckled.
"Oh yeah?" Vaan said to Penelo. "Says who? You wanna see what they think about it?"
Ashe let out a long, dramatic sigh.
"I wouldn't be so confident," Penelo replied cheekily.
Vaan's eyes fell on me first. I grinned. "Don't ask," I advised. "You won't like the answers you get, hun."
"See!" Penelo said triumphantly.
"'You're in good hands, right Basch?'" I said, mimicking him.
He groaned, apparently having forgotten about his little slip up outside the aerodome.
"Come on," I said, motioning West. "Let's go."
We walked off into the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea. Vaan approached the undulating waves of sand in awe. He knelt down and scooped up a handful of the fine grains, watching as they slipped back through his fingers. Penelo called him back to the group and asked, "So where exactly is Raithwall's tomb?"
"Far to the West," Basch explained. "We must first cross the Ogir-Yensa, and beyond that the Nam-Yensa, before we reach the tomb. An expanse of desert larger still than all of Dalmasca. We must pace ourselves. If you grow tired, we stop and take rest."
"You don't have to worry about me," Penelo responded proudly, puffing out her chest. "I'm tougher than I look."
Basch chuckled. "You are at that."
Maeve sidled up to the captain and glared at him. He stared cautiously back. "I'm tough," she said. He opened his mouth, probably to agree with her, but she kept talking. "I could kick your ass. If I wanted to. Which, lucky for you, I don't."
Basch inhaled, preparing to speak, but let the air out in a sigh instead. "Lucky for me indeed," he said sadly.
"That tomb isn't going to plunder itself, ladies and gents," I said, noticing that we'd stopped walking again to admire the view. "Let's go." A couple Alraunes roamed the dunes. They were small and fairly easily disposed of, however. Penelo fought with a dagger and was pretty quick. "Nice moves, kid."
She grinned. "Thanks."
"Where'd the two of you learn to fight?" I asked, addressing Vaan as well. "Can't imagine there's an abundant need to learn combat like this in Rabanastre."
"Vaan likes to fight the rats in the sewers," Penelo explained. "He also likes to drag me along."
"You gotta be prepared," he said defensively.
"It seems it worked out well," Aelia commented. "You're training has paid off on this surprise adventure."
"If only Vaan had learned some of the rules of sky pirating," I began. "Such as, I don't know-"
"Not again!" Vaan pleaded, ready for his mistake to be left in the past.
"Not using names," I finished, unfazed.
He groaned, and Maeve chuckled. I was glad she was moving on from her threat to Basch.
We reached the large structure that we'd need to traverse in order to continue westward. Vaan's eyes widened, and Basch said, "A construct to draw oil from the ground. Abandoned many years now, it seems."
"Did Dalmascans build this?" Vaan asked.
"No," he replied. "The Rozarrians. Their empire lies far to the West, ever at war with Archadia, heedless of the kingdoms caught in their midst. Dalmasca. Nabradia. Landis."
"'Tis the small craft's fate: to watch the list of the galleons and pray for light winds," Vossler said, appearing seemingly out of nowhere.
"Vossler!" Basch said with a grin. "Why are you here?"
"Imagine my surprise when upon my return to Bhujerba I find both you and the lady Ashe have vanished," he said cheekily. "I thought you above consorting with sky pirates."
Balthier scoffed, Fran rolled her eyes, and Basch said, "Balthier is a man worthy of our trust. And it was the lady Ashe's decision. I am content to lend my arm, as I could not when Rasler died, when her throne was taken. Never again. I will defend her this time."
Dammit, I thought when I saw the sadness returning to Maeve's eyes. The last thing we needed was relationship problems getting in the way of this cross-desert journey.
"You walk the knight's path," Vossler said. "The lady Ashe?" Basch motioned to where Ashe stood, not far away, and Vossler approached her.
I moved closer to Balthier and Fran, uninterested in Vossler and Ashe's conversation. I looked out at the sandsea, a sight that I had not beheld for many years. My ears already felt hot from the desert sun.
"We should leave this place," Fran told Balthier, looking around at the construct we stood on.
"Let me guess: sandstorm?" he replied. A sandstorm would be bad, but if we found shelter we would be fine.
"Something far worse," she said. "They come."
It took both Balthier and me a moment, but we remembered who made the Yensas their home. "Damn," Balthier said aloud, and ran over to interrupt the princess and Vossler. "We leave at once! This is Urutan-Yensa territory, and they are unfond of visitors. Looks like we've attracted the wrong sort of attention! Let's quit this place while we still can. Move!"
And we did. We hurried off. We didn't get far before a couple Alraunes stopped our progress. Our running then didn't even seem to matter because there were Urutan-Yensa waiting around the corner for us. They hadn't known about us until we ran right into them. They were short humanoids with crustacean faces. They were of middling intelligence and very fast. We outnumbered them and were on the whole skilled fighters, so they weren't too much of a problem. A hoard of Urutan-Yensa would, however, cause problems.
The path ahead was clear for a bit at least, so we resumed a more comfortable pace. Penelo looked up, shielding her eyes. "I'm getting a sunburn for sure," she said unhappily.
"A moment," Aelia said, remembering something and digging around in her bag. She pulled out a balm and handed it to the surprised Rabanastran. "To protect you from the sun."
"Uhh, thanks," Penelo replied, taking the jar and opening it up.
"You should put some on as well," she said to Vaan.
I snorted. "This is too perfect," I said.
"What?" she asked, looking at me in surprise.
"Once a nanny, always a nanny it seems," Basch agreed.
Aelia realized how maternal a display that had been and grinned sheepishly. "I see your point. Old habits die hard, I suppose."
"Come here," Penelo said to Vaan, having already finished applying it to her face. He grimaced and tried to evade her approaching fingers, slathered with sun-protective balm. "Stop being such a baby! You'll get a huge sunburn."
"No! Penelo," he whined.
"Don't blame me when you're red and peeling and in pain!" she said, sticking her tongue out at him.
Basch approached her. "If Vaan isn't going to take advantage of this offer, I will." He smiled and held out his hand. Penelo giggled and wiped the balm on her hand onto his. He put it on his face. He had just a little too much, so he shrugged and put the rest of it on his exposed shoulder. "Majesty?" he asked, motioning to the balm.
Ashe looked to Aelia, to make sure that the offer for sun protection extended to her as well. Aelia smiled and nodded, and Ashe approached Penelo who still held the jar.
As the princess put it on her face, Basch turned to Maeve. "Maeve? Would you care for some protection from the sun?"
She glared at him. Penelo was helping Ashe to make sure hers was evenly applied. "Fine," she agreed, "but I'm not doing it because you told me to." She approached Penelo and slathered it on haphazardly.
I saw Basch opening his mouth to tell her that her coverage was far from perfect and stepped in to avoid that disaster. "That was the worst job you could have done," I said with a smirk. I motioned for her to approach with a finger. She shrugged in agreement, knowing that her current, already a little intoxicated state was less than ideal for even coverage. I rubbed it in as evenly and completely as I could.
"Thanks, Karre," she said, and kissed me on the cheek. My face got red, and I looked at her with wide, shocked eyes. "You're a good friend. Friendship, man. What a cool thing. Two awesome ladies, being awesome together."
I cleared my throat and tried to back up a little, uncomfortable with this display of affection. "Maeve," I cautioned. "Can you, uhh, back up a little bit there?"
She chuckled. "Sure, bro." She clapped a hand on my shoulder, then stepped back.
Balthier cleared his throat and approached Penelo. "It wouldn't do for a leading man to get a sunburn. May I?"
She smiled and held out the jar of balm.
I looked around, my face still hot from my weird interaction with Maeve. I caught Basch's eye. He had a confused smile creeping onto his face. I shrugged to let him know that I didn't really understand what had just happened either.
Aelia spoke up then. "Well, now that all of our fair-skinned companions have applied their sun protection, shall we continue across the Sandsea?"
