For those of you whose stories I read regularly, sorry I've stopped reviewing. I think I'm going to concentrate on finishing my stories, then see if I want to stay on Fandom afterwards. It's been a great time, but even magical things must come to an end. Not sure how magical I was, but still…

And as for my own reviewers. Even if your reviews were very short, they were all really confidence-boosting and let me continue with the fic. Some more constructive criticism would be nice, though! I think it's an awkward time to reply to reviews, so I'll mention everyone who's reviewed so far. Angel Taisha, BlueGirl90, The Cold Steel Pen, Deathseeker14, DragonGirl323, Ecliptic Warrior, IcedBlaze, JaimeKei, xJessiebelle, kitty-moogles, KatoriTsubasa, Kurissyma San Tybalt, -LifeSucksAss- LivesForFantasy, Morpheanne, Paine Sawyer, Paine3, Painestwin, Rita Goral, Sdreamz, theweirdperson, Tzu Con

I have to warn you, these next couple of chapters aren't particularly good. They've really been sapping at my muse, so I hope they came out vaguely decent. I checked through the rest of the story and made some improvements, too, so hopefully you new readers encountered something far more polished. This one's short, but I'll publish the next one simultaneously.

The Warriors: Calm

Even the next day, Kose was hardly getting over it. Shock, surprise, awe? I don't know what it was that had her still looking at me with disbelief and unable to talk to me. I was hardly as famous as Yuna and Rikku; it didn't really make sense. All I knew was, Baralai and Kose were willing to keep me a secret until the concert. And an unspoken part of that agreement seemed that they weren't going to talk to me. But Kose and I were sitting alone together, in the paddock, the afternoon before the concert. We were watching the sun set behind the huge wall that surrounded Citadel, the most massive wall we had ever seen. Suddenly, Kose spoke more words to me than she had since she found I was Paine.

"You like Baralai, don't you?"

Five simple words. In fact, four simple words. Four simple words, stated as simple fact more than question, started the discussion I had wanted to have for so long.

"I do." I admit, I was nervous at the conversation. But to Kose, I could confide everything. I knew that now, more than ever. A tug pulled at the corners of my lips.

"I thought so. For how long?"

"A long time."

"Mmm." Kose nodded wisely, not teasing me or giggling. She knew better than to do that when I was around.

"You like Drak, don't you?"

It was Kose's turn to smile. "Yeah…"

I punched her lightly on the shoulder. That's what friends do, right? "He's a good choice."

"Leave off, he's mine." Kose joked. The punch on the shoulder had obviously told her I was feeling open today.

I rolled my eyes, only half-joking. "Don't worry, I've got Baralai to worry about."

Kose laughed out loud. "Worry about! He obviously likes you too."

"Just because you understand men and I don't doesn't mean you have to lead me astray."

"I'm not!"

"I refuse to believe you. Though Drak definitely likes you."

"Now you're the one joking."

We teased each other for a while, finally breaking down the barriers between us. The sun slowly set, and the horses played in the meadow nearby. Every second that passed brought the party closer, but we still felt relaxed. The horses seemed calm and an occasional bird drifted lazily across the pale aqua sky. The shadows grew longer as the warm summer air made us all feel drowsy. In the end, Kose and I lay on the ground for a while and just lazed around in the glow of the setting sun.

It was probably the only rest we were going to get for some hours.