Ch. 14
Fran stood watching Balthier as he sat at a table by a small café, chatting merrily with some girl. She found the scene bothersome somehow. Balthier's behavior with Hume girls was something she considered nothing short of bizarre, down to the fact that he seemed able to strike up conversation with anyone (and she realized that included herself) without any effort whatsoever. Fran herself had found very few Humes who she was capable of talking to for more than a few minutes without falling into awkward silence. But more than that, the general principles involved confused her. Viera had little understanding of the word love in the sense that Humes used it. There was family as well as friendship, and then there was mating, the latter of which tended to involve very little in the way of emotions. The concept of romantic love developing among Viera was not unheard of, but it was far from a commonplace event. And if she found the idea of love bewildering, the notion of casual dating was a perfect enigma. Balthier, she observed, tended to make the strange phenomenon a daily occurrence whenever possible.
It also bothered her a bit that his behavior regarding Hume girls was quite different from his behavior regarding her. Aside from the tendency to append "my dear" to her name (which she suspected was largely because he just liked the sound) and the occasional jokingly suggestive comment, she saw no signs to indicate he was in the slightest bit interested in her in that way. It was not that he was unkind to her. On the contrary, she was sure he thought of her as a friend and a valued member of his crew. Nor was it that she especially desired to be treated any differently than she was at present. It was more that she simply wondered where the difference lay. The only conclusion she could see was that she was a Viera and thus she fell in a different category from Hume females. The thought depressed her a bit. She did not wish to consider the fact that she might, and with all likelihood was, still considered something "different," even though in this case it did not matter in the same way. He already treated her as a person worthy of being a friend. She should be content with that. And yet… She sighed quietly, shaking her head. It was pointless to contemplate. She would ask him later.
Continuing to watch, she felt a small twinge on anger rise through her as she watched him give the girl a kiss on the cheek as they parted, though she knew not why she should feel such. There was nothing unusual or offensive about the action, aside from the fact that for some reason unbeknownst to her it bothered her. Deciding now was as good a time as any to work through this puzzle, she approached him.
"Do you have time?" she asked, neglecting to greet him in any way.
"Fran!" he exclaimed, seeming a bit startled by her abrupt appearance. Getting his wits about him enough to answer the question, he said, "Yes, why?"
"There is something I wish to talk to you about. Preferably in private." She figured it would be somewhat inappropriate to discuss the puzzling matter of Hume courtship in the presence of many people. Balthier seemed concerned.
"Is there something wrong, Fran?" She shook her head.
"No, I just have some questions I would like to ask." Balthier looked as if he would say something further, then shrugged and just followed her back to the airship. It was the most obvious place to go where there would not likely be people about. "I am sorry to have dragged you here, but I decided questions about Hume behavior I find puzzling were not suited to being discussed in public," she explained.
"Probably wise," he admitted, looking at her curiously. "What sort of puzzling Hume behavior are you interested in discussing?" The look in his eyes bespoke a certain amusement at her confusion regarding Humes.
"You enjoy courtship." She began with a simple observation. The Hume pondered for a moment.
"Do you refer to Humes in general, or me specifically?" To be honest, she wasn't quite sure of the answer to that clarification question herself.
"Both, but let us go with you for now." He nodded.
"Alright, then. I'm not sure I would put it in quite those words, but I find flirting to be somewhat of a fun game, yes," he explained. "Do Viera not?"
"Not in the same sense, no," she replied, not caring to go into further detail about Viera mating habits. Perhaps she would explain it all to him later. Continuing with her little interrogation, she added, "And you seem to be interested in most all Hume females."
"Discounting those too far from my age range and those I find unpleasant," he clarified.
"Granted," she said, then paused, trying to figure out how to continue without tangling the conversation into a horrible mess. "The next question could easily be misconstrued and I will ask you to simply take it at face value as a matter of curiosity. Why do you not court me?" He laughed.
"Are you jealous? I always assumed such an attempt would result with an arrow being pointed at my face." Fran frowned at him.
"You tease."
"I apologise," he said, his expression becoming serious. "It is a defense mechanism. Though I suppose I owe you a real answer." He paused, seeming highly reluctant to say any more. Fran suddenly felt a jolt of fear that her suspicion had been absolutely correct and he did not wish to say it to her. She cast her eyes down at the floor.
"It is because I am Viera, is it not?" she asked quietly, only to be met with a look of utter shock.
"Oh, goodness no! Had I any problem with Viera, or any other variant of person other than Humes, I assure you that my crew would not be so unusually diverse, though I suppose I would have some compunctions about attempting to court a Moogle." He reached out to lightly touch her cheek, his expression one of genuine concern. "How would you think such a thing, Fran?" She looked back at him, even more confused.
"It seemed a natural conclusion to me," she remarked, to which the Hume shook his head and sighed.
"Perhaps I have hidden my feelings too well. I had not planned to tell them to you for a long time yet, but it seems the time ends up being now." He peered at her seriously. "It is because, my dear Fran, I can that with you I would have no choice but to enter into a very serious relationship and I feared that prospect would upset the relationship we have now. I daresay that if I allowed myself, I would be head over heels in love with you at a moment's notice, because as you may have guessed by now, I suspect that aside from the wall set up by a terrible fear of rejection, I already am." Fran merely stared back, unable to speak. She was completely taken aback by his confession. Of all answers she had not expected to receive, that was probably near the top of the list. She had no idea how to respond.
"Now you have a choice," he prompted, lowering his hand and taking a step back from her She had never seen him look quite so utterly defeated, nor quite this afraid. It was obvious his words were true, though in some respects she had difficulty understanding him. The concept of love still made little sense to her, at least in the way that Balthier used it.
"I am unsure what you mean by a serious relationship," she admitted, and a small smile broke through the anxiety shown in his features.
"It means I will be highly attached to you and completely unwilling to let you go. I can be rather stubborn as you may have noticed." Fran raised an eyebrow.
"And if I found that I was unhappy, would you let me go, as you say?" A look of utter pain crossed the Hume's face as he briefly considered the possibility.
"Yes, reluctantly," he finally replied, "Though I assure you I would do everything in my power to prevent that from being the case." Somehow, she found this all very similar to the conversation in which she had agreed to join his crew. Except then he seemed perfectly carefree and now he seemed as if he were in danger of breaking. But there was one more thing she wanted to ask.
"And this game of flirting as you call it… It will stop?" At that, Balthier's eyes widened.
"You were jealous?" He seemed both shocked and amused at the concept, while still somehow managing to look like a puppy that had just been kicked. Fran turned her glance to the side.
"Perhaps. I am not sure I understand the word," she admitted. Balthier blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out how to explain.
"My being around other girls was bothersome to you." Fran simply nodded, which made the Hume smile. "My dear, I had no idea you were the jealous type," he commented with amusement, seeming to recover a bit from the fear that had seemed to paralyze him a few moments prior. His smile fading again slightly, he asked, "So what choice have you come to?" She knew her answer, but feared it would not please him.
"I am a Viera. I am not sure whether I am capable of love in the sense that you ask," she explained, "But I am willing to try." At the last bit of her statement, the Hume looked so happy that he might be about to cry tears of joy.
"That's good enough for me." He reached up again to lightly stroke her cheek, then pulled her into a kiss, his tongue venturing to gently taste her lips. The action surprised her, though she found it a pleasant sensation. She had little concept of how much time passed from the moment the kiss had begun to the time that their lips parted, other than it had been enough for the initial tension she had felt to gradually relax away. While she still had little concept of what love was, she suspected she now had some idea of what it felt like when received, that being a very nice feeling that left her both happy and very slightly dizzy. It took her a second to notice that Balthier was grinning at her with a look of general amusement.
"You've never been kissed like that before," he observed gleefully. She shook her head in response.
"Viera do not love, and many Humes do not love Viera." The Hume's smile faded momentarily as he contemplated those words and seemed to find them sad, though for Fran it had been a simple statement of fact.
"Well, this Hume loves this Viera, and plans to let her know all about it," he finally replied. "Incidentally, you have no idea how long I've been wanting to do that. I think I've been in love with you from the first moment we met." The sentiment took her by surprise, though she quickly rationalized that she had been strangely fond of him after that first meeting as well.
"So what happens next in this version of courtship you label a serious relationship?" Balthier raised an eyebrow at her, grinning impishly.
"Well, nothing… yet. There will be time," he replied cryptically. His smile growing slightly, he added, "Though I certainly wouldn't mind repeating what happened just a moment ago."
A smile growing on her lips to match his, she wholeheartedly thought she agreed.