Disclaimer: Thank you everybody! I am happy you are enjoying Sanctuaire so far. I am also having fun with writing it myself! Enjoy this new little chapter as a treat for your patience and for simply liking this story!

Happy reading!

SANCTUAIRE

Chapter XIV: Questio

"Why did you decide to go off on your own?"

Serah looked at the large black wolf walking beside her when he asked his question. She looked up at the clear blue skies at that moment. "I was aware that no one else would believe that Lightning would have survived such as attack. But I know better; I have seen the many times when she had been struck by blows that could have otherwise killed a man." "And yet it did not kill her?" Noctis' voice was still the same but had more of an echoed growl when he spoke as the wolf.

"My sister is too stubborn to die. I swear her determination is what her most lethal weapon is; nothing can break it." Serah sounded so proud whenever she spoke of her older sister. Noctis was not sure what to make of it, for he had no siblings himself.

The two of them have been traveling for five days now, and despite Serah seeming to be not as strong as her sister, she proved to be persistent and rather stubborn as well when Noctis suggests she stays back to rest for a bit, which Serah refused and only continued to walk onwards. Noctis could clearly see the stubbornness of the Farrons, or was it only the sisters who were stubborn?
Still, when she did tire, Serah would sit down for a few minutes then was ready to begin again. All in all, she did not slow them down during their journey like Noctis had expected she would. Serah was just as robust as Lightning but more feminine and delicate, unlike the older sister whose body had slight traces of hard muscles underneath her feminine form.

A fond smile crept up to Serah's lips. "Lightning has always been looking after me rather than herself… Sometimes I wish she would just think for herself just this once."

Noctis frowned inwardly. "My apologies for saying so but I am not interested in listening about how humbled your sister may be." Serah sighed and nodded apologetically.
Serah Farron, Noctis had to admit, had the face of a sweet little child in his opinion. The moment her smile fell from her face he was immediately reminded of a young girl who was disappointed that her father did not return home for the evening.
The wolf groaned; why did Queen Farron have to be intimidating and compensate for it by having such an angelic child-looking sister?

It seems as though the Farrons had more cunning in them than expected. But then again, if he wished to know of Queen Farron a bit more, perhaps listening to her sister was an advantage.

"I am sorry; I should not have said it that way. But…perhaps you can tell me of what kind of queen your sister is. I have heard whispers and gossip of her nearly everywhere, and I am not making an exaggeration." Noctis said, lowering his large head to Serah's eye level.
Serah considered this for a moment then nodded. "Very well… I will say that, yes, my sister is a magnificent queen. I do not say this because she is my sister; I am stating it as a truth. She has worked hard for years in order for Bodhum to come this far."

"I see… And the rumors of her swordsmanship?"

"Hm…how do I describe it? It always seems as if a sword is always at home in Lightning's hand. It is like she was born with the talent. Even at an early age she insisted on learning how to use swords despite Father's protests. But Lightning is stubborn; she refused to be denied so she continued to ask and reason with Father until he allowed her to begin training."

"And it seems she still has this stubbornness of hers…?"

"Very much."

"And she has narrowly avoided death before?"

"Plenty of times. Which is the reason I worry so much despite the knowledge that she is a great swordsman."

Noctis observed Serah as spoke. The younger sister looked up to and admired Lightning and she was sincere with her answers. The prince huffed; he had hoped to avoid hearing any worshipful words about Lightning but it seemed unavoidable. Perhaps he should stop questioning? But his curious side was too strong to allow him to back away from the mystery that was Lightning Farron of Bodhum.

Serah sensed the wolf's discomfort and stopped speaking after that. However she did speak of different topics with the prince from time to time when she sensed that he was in the mood for idle chatter.

Noctis was very knowledgeable about the outside world; from the different kinds of vegetation, culture, areas that he has explored during his three-year absence, and even the odd dishes that most people do not dare try but must for they are actually tasty delicacies.

Serah admitted the prince was rather nice at times and there were moments when he was completely rude, but Serah was not offended. Lightning being her sister, she experienced the same kind of behavior during her sister's time as a young woman of seventeen and then eighteen—eighteen-years-old was when Lightning has been at her worst.

When the two finally decided to rest, without Serah insisting she was still fine for once, Noctis was impressed with how adapted she was. She managed to start a fire on her own even without the use of a fire spell.

"You seem fine on your own. Perhaps I underestimated your ability to adapt." Noctis admitted. Serah chuckled. "Lightning trained me. I had once insisted I learn to use weapons like her, and after much argument she relented. Of course I did expect it to be difficult but my sister is rather strict, and pushed me past my limits at times. But I knew she was trying to make me stronger. She even had me take a survival test; bringing me out into the wilderness, a few miles away from the kingdom to test my survival abilities. She even left me alone for seven days then returned to inspect my progress."

Noctis' eyes widened. As cruel it must have sounded on the surface, Noctis knew it was indeed just a sister training her more delicate sibling to grow a backbone of her own. Though it still shocked him slightly at how the queen trained her own flesh and blood. But with the smile that was on Serah's face, she seemed to cherish the memory.

"You do not seem rather upset upon remembering that moment." He said after a moment of silence. Serah shook her head. "Quite the contrary really. I enjoyed myself because I had the chance to prove to her that I can look after myself even without her there. But I knew all along that she was still there watching my progress from the distance even though she said she was returning to Bodhum." Serah's smile widened, "I knew she was still in the area because when she returned to me, Odin was not with her when she did. She could not have been able to run all those miles so quickly by herself without him."

The wolf morphed into a man in an instant and sat by the fire, legs crossed. As he stared into the fire, Serah's words made him think; Queen Farron indeed sounded strict, especially when it came to training. But when the young Farron mentioned of how Lightning lacked her horse because she did not truly leave, was quite touching… He shook his head.

Not noticing his reaction, Serah poked into the fire with a stick. "It took me such a long time to rid myself of my fears from being alone without Lightning. But I knew I had to learn because I knew one day she might not be there even though she insists she would never leave my side. I had a hard time starting a fire without the use of magic. My sister gave me restrictions; not using magic was one of them. I had only the clothes that I was wearing and a sword for defense."

Noctis cleared his throat, trying not to imagine the touching scene occurring between the sisters; with Lightning hiding in the shadows and Serah struggling to start a fire and build herself a shelter from the heavy rains and predation.

Hours passed and soon Serah was asleep. However, Noctis could see she kept her weapons by her side at all times and even awoke from time to time to inspect their surroundings despite knowing that he was keeping watch over both of them. It seems Queen Farron's training had indeed been met with amazing results. That means she was a wonderful but strict teacher.

When morning came, Serah was fully awake. Noctis had announced he was to catch them something to eat, but before he turned into the wolf, Serah protested. She insisted on hunting herself. Amused, the prince allowed her the pleasure of doing so.
Serah immediately grabbed her bow and ran to a clearing where a pack of gorgonopsid were. Noctis raised an eyebrow; carnivorous beasts such as those were difficult prey. Yet he said nothing, interested in seeing how it will turn in Serah's favor.

Serah remained hidden in the bush and slowly took out an arrow from her quiver and took aim. Her arm was steady and she focused on her prey. A gorgonopsid that wandered from its pack was her quarry; her arrow was aimed right at its flank to ensure it would not get up easily to escape or attack. Noctis observed in silence as Serah pulled her arm back, hand and aim steady, and eyes focused.

After two heartbeats, Serah released the arrow.

It flew at a great speed towards the beast and struck it right on the flank. Its pack members turned their heads to see what had happened before retreating from whoever was hunting them.
Serah rushed out of the bush towards the prey and drew out her sword. The creature swiped at her with its deadly sharp claws. Serah jumped back then countered with her blade. She stabbed the feral creature in the chest but it resisted its demise. Noctis rushed in as the wolf and dug his fangs into the gorgonopsid's neck, ending its life.

After the life faded from its eyes, the wolf pulled away and was a man again. Noctis was impressed though he did not breathe a word to Serah.

The younger Farron dragged the catch back to their camp and dropped it at the side while she prepared another fire. Noctis took it upon himself to cut up the meat while she did so.
Serah had the fire ready as soon as Noctis was finished with preparing the meat for cooking. It was then roasted over the fire until it was edible. The meat was rather good and Noctis was surprised that Serah had no qualms about killing and eating a wild beast.

"It was a part of my training as well." Serah had explained when he expressed his surprise. Of course, how could he forget? Lightning had apparently taught her sister everything from hunting and surviving, to using weapons.

Once their small feast was over, they began their journey again.

Serah sighed and took in the beauty around them. No doubt Noctis was doing the same. However, Lightning was what was on Serah's mind constantly. She wanted nothing more than to locate her sister, whole and well, and unbothered by any kind of certain pain.
"How did you manage to lose your fear of being alone in the wild?" Noctis asked her suddenly. She thought for a moment. "Well I suppose I did it by thinking of the world's beauty and seeing it that way rather than as dangerous."

It made sense, Noctis thought. Farrons seem rather adaptable to change it seems.

Already he felt like he was learning much from Serah, even some childhood stories surprised Noctis despite his attempts to sound indifferent, but nobody had ever whispered words of the queen's early childhood rather than her younger days before she became queen.

So far Noctis had discovered that Queen Lightning had a big appetite, she had met and seemingly tamed Odin when she was fifteen and already queen—Serah had said she would tell him the full story of Lightning and her horse some other time. He also learned Lightning would spend time with the roses and Serah said it was because she felt at home among them; Lightning had spent time out of the palace and around in the bazaar more often when she was ten years of age, much to the dismay of some of the servants.
And to Noctis' surprise, Serah revealed that Lightning had never once allowed a man to court her or even touch her with intimacy. Thinking back to the time he and Lightning had confronted Count Gilgamesh, Noctis had thought it was natural considering that any woman in her right mind would never allow such a blowhard to touch her.

But when Serah had described Lightning being of such purity that even her lips were virgins, Noctis felt warmth stir within him. He coughed the awkwardness away, but it did nothing to rid himself of the strange warmth.

He did not like how pleasant it felt and tried to shake it away without drawing Serah's attention to him. Why was he so interested with the fact that Lady Lightning had never once kissed a man, nor had she even allowed or initiated intimate contact with anyone; it was almost more than he could bear, and the warmth only grew within him even more much to his dismay.

Serah also shared rather amusing stories such as when Lightning and Fang had walked into a brothel while investigating odd occurrences upon Lord Squall Leonhart's request. Serah told Noctis of how several of the brothel girls came up to Lightning and attempted to seduce her. Fang had been in hysterics, but Lightning was less than pleased.
When Noctis voiced several doubts, Serah explained that some women did mistaken Lightning for a beautiful man, but the other half did find Lightning rather handsome nonetheless despite her gender and accosted her anyway, even going so far as to offer herself to Lightning as a lady consort.

Noctis choked back his laughter at the thought of it.

"I suppose Lightning always was a handsome woman." Serah said, having fallen into a fit of giggles. She remembered clearly when Lightning had returned from her quest that King Squall had sent her on as a favor. Her sister had been irritated and Fang had a difficult time with controlling her laughter.

A warm rose bath had calmed Lightning down somewhat but Fang only brought it to the surface once more by laughing, and even sharing it with Vanille. Lightning had been seventeen at that time, and Serah fourteen.

Noctis was in disbelief, and more than a little amused. So it seems this queen made of stone did have her odd moments after all. And to be courted with by other women would have been a sight to see, and imagining what the queen's expressions were like was quite the entertainment. Serah continued to smile throughout their journey as she shared several more stories, with some she did refuse to tell him until they have found Lightning.

Perhaps this journey would not be so dull after all. And perhaps Lightning was out there somewhere, alive and well. Serah's heart soared with the thought of being able to embrace her sister again.

I know this chapter is rather short. However that is because this is meant to be a sort of introductory chapter, introducing how the journey with Serah and Noctis started off. As you can see, Noctis is not as mean to Serah but as it was stated in the chapter, it is because she reminds him of a child.

This chapter is short also because it's sort of a special "intermission" for you guys. A treat I wanted to give you for all the times you read, gave your opinion, and enjoyed Sanctuaire especially if you had been following it since it started as a simple story arc from Chronicles. Thanks to you, the Lonely Queen arc, now titled Sanctuaire has come so far as its own tale.

And there is still much more to come! Note that the title of the chapter is now Latin instead of French.

And yes, Serah has revealed to Noctis that Lightning is still a virgin. Oh my, how embarrassing. As you can see, there were many moments Serah had shared with Lightning and it was both hard times and good times but nevertheless, she cherishes them all. And of course even women would be attracted to her. Come now female readers don't deny it. If it makes you feel better, I do feel attracted to her as well sometimes!

Before I forget, I believe one of you readers asked me how damaged Noctis' psyche is that he is just that stubborn. Well my answer is: Noctis is in complete and absolute denial, he refuses to let the past go and that will be a while.

Also, I am afraid Lightning will be missing in action for a while and it will be focused on Serah and Noctis. Already it seems they are having an alliance with each other and Serah despite Noctis' occasional rudeness, is used to it. After all, her sister had gone through that phase once before as stated.

Like always ask questions if you are confused or wish to confirm something; I will answer it as best as I can!

Until then…