Disclaimer: No disclaimer, or I'll call the wrath of Ratsbane upon you!

A/N: So, Siyana's first boss fight, a little foray into Balthier's past, and some further complications (hence the title). FYI, the story that I created for Balthier will not be found in any FFXII Secrets book - it actually happened to someone I know. I thought it fit, here. But first - we fight!

Five Mandragoras jumped together in a cluster and came at us with their cute (but deadly) cries.

"They're all together!" Ashe cried. "Vaan – Fran – Balthier!" Each looked up as their name was called. "Quickening chain! The Concurrence might wipe them out!" They obeyed, Vaan going first with White Spiral, a level 2 Quickening he'd learned from an elder in Jahara. Fran followed on his heels with Shatterheart, an ancient technique honed in Eruyt Village, all the anger and repression of her past brought to bear on her enemies. Balthier, oddly slow for him, unloaded Fires of War, his weakest Quickening, without even his usual quip of 'I never miss'. Vaan leaped into the breach with Red Whorl, giving Balthier time to cast a (severely delayed) Tides of Fate (once again devoid of his trademark comments), just as the Mist was about to rebound. Then Fran (who had always been the most sensitive to the Mist) found another source and gained new strength, unleashing a ferocious Whip Kick where before she had been drained. Balthier latched on to the new source and gasped out Element of Treachery, his most powerful Quickening, learned in Balfonheim from Reddas, who had taught it to the young pirate in order to make a point. But then the chaining picked up speed as Fran and Vaan kept finding new strength and left Balthier behind, who stood as if in a daze, drenched in sweat. I wanted to go to him, but the drain on the Mist kept me immobilised until the final Concurrence had been cast. Faster and faster Vaan and Fran chained, joining hands at last when they could do no more and shouting out the finishing phrase: "So mote it be!" The Mist rebounded with a tremendous crash, concurring with the others to form Ark Blast, a very respectable area attack. The three had done well.

Their ranks devastated, the four remaining Mandragoras ran off to heal, and Ashe allowed the first party a break. I went instantly to Balthier, but Basch called out: "Siyana! Southeast corner!" and I went off to help them finish off the Pumpkin King there.

The battle was over – the Mandragoras lay vanquished. Their spirits rose to the sunlight streaming in through the room's open roof from their little bodies, accompanied by the pealing of a bell from Gods-knew-where. I saw Balthier's eyes following them until they were lost to sight.

"Balthier!" I ran to him, checking him to see what had happened to make him so unresponsive. He wasn't injured that I could see, and had no status ailments. I looked especially for Sap, which was hard to remove and even more difficult to detect, but there was nothing. "Are you all right?"

He swore, shaking off my comforting hand. "I'm fine. Let me be!" Hurt, I released him, and he went to join the others.

Fran came up beside me. "Worry not. In a few hours guilt will drive him to seek you out. Balthier cannot remain angry for long.

"But why is he angry? Is it something I've done?" Fran shook her head. "He is angry with no-one but himself, yet he turns his ire onto others. It has always been his way. He will come around."

With himself? I knew I would get no more answers out of Fran, so I merely responded: "I hope you're right, Fran." Passing me, without missing a beat, she quipped: "I am always right." She was serious. I followed her to catch up to the rest of the party and found myself next to Basch.

"How did you like your first major battle?" he asked me, traces of battle-wildness still in his eyes as he looked down.

I turned red with embarrassment. "I didn't do anything," I told him. "I spent most of my time worrying about everyone."

Basch took my hand. "It's good to have someone worrying about you," he said. "Sometimes that's all you need in a battle." He clapped me on the shoulder, nearly knocking me over. "Never fear, you'll get your chance next time." I couldn't decide whether this was a good thing or not. Considering the rate at which Vaan and Fran had turned out those Quickenings, I wasn't sure I could keep up.

We returned to the petitioner, who this time had his father with him. Out in the open air, everyone's spirits visibly improved. We received the prize for the hunt - 1000 gil and three Remedies - and the ever-irrepressible Vaan wanted to go all the way back to the Hunters' Camp in Phon Coast to join the Hunt Club that had refused him admittance previously (reasoning that they'd have to let him in now that he'd succeeded where the other hunters had failed), but he was very swiftly vetoed by everyone else. Balthier smacked him upside the head for being an idiot and that was that.

Balthier was much more cheerful now, and just as Fran had said, he sought me out. He took my hand, hesitating before speaking.

"Siyana… can you forgive me?" he asked, holding my eyes. "I have been, frankly speaking, a cad."

"Yes, you have," I said, kissing him lightly on the cheek to show all was forgiven. "But I wish you'd let me figure out why." An emotion flashed across his face too quickly for me to name, replaced by a grin.

"Wherefore, Sephira? What satisfaction canst thou have in that?" And he kissed me on my forehead chastely, just as the player would have done, and spent the rest of the trip shooting down Serpents for me.

Truly, an intriguing Hume.

But as we entered Sochen a second time, Balthier again because withdrawn and quiet, two terms that were not often used when describing Balthier. When spoken to, he snapped at everyone, even Fran, who alone of the group seemed able to accept his behaviour. I put it down to our proximity to Archades, and after hearing his story I couldn't blame him. I just tried to speak as softly to him as possible, and to refrain from retaliating when he whetted his tongue on me. Ashe was not so lucky – she and Balthier had a shouting match for a full ten minutes over who was going to cast Float on the party to avoid the traps, which brought Imps swarming down on us. In the end, Fran cast it.

Ashe and Balthier's constant bickering (for the incident had acted as fuel for them to bring all their other grievances of the past few months to bear on each other) was getting on my nerves, so I went to thank Fran for her good advice. She, too, was walking as far from Balthier and Ashe as possible, presumably because of her highly sensitive ears.

"Thanks, Fran," I murmured, falling into step beside her.

"Whatever for?" Her voice was amused.

"You were right, about Balthier. He apologized, right after we saw the petitioner."

"Indeed?"

I nodded. "But I think he's still in trouble. As soon as we got back here, he started acting the same way. Is it because we're getting so close to Archadia?"

"That is part of the reason, yes. In time, you may be able to discern the rest, for you will not hear it from me."

"The same thing you said back at the Phon Coast. Fran, won't you please tell me what happened?" She inclined her head, such a Balthier-esque gesture that I had to smile.

"I have been speaking with Balthier," she said, "and he has given me leave to relate the tale of his first betrayal to you."

"Did he now?" I wondered why he didn't just tell me himself, though upon reflection there could have been any number of reasons.

"It was some seven years ago. Balthier was still at the Akademy at that time, living in Archades." Since it was obvious I had overheard, Fran didn't bother to hide it. "There was an exchange student come over from Bhujerba also attending classes, whom Balthier had taken a liking to. They met and fell in love, and both were very happy. Balthier was deeply in love with the girl and intended to marry her when he was old enough – age of majority in Archadia is seventeen.

"Eventually, the time came that the student had to return to Bhujerba. She extended an open invitation to Balthier to stay at her home in the Skycity. On the occasion of his fifteenth birthday some months later, feeling stifled by the Akademy and his father, Balthier took her up on her offer. He bought a one-way ticket to Bhujerba and took flight on the promise that his love would be waiting for him at the Aerodrome. He fled the city, with the intention never to return."

I glanced from Fran's face to Balthier's shadowed outline. The liaison, I gathered, had not gone well.

My gaze shifted to Fran's eyes as the viera continued.

"He arrived in Bhujerba's Aerodrome without a gil to his name. He waited there the day long, in vain. The girl did not come. He was stranded with no-one he could trust, in a city he did not know.

"Balthier spent an uncomfortable night, and in desperation began to make inquiries concerning the fate and whereabouts of the girl, for he believed something terrible to have happened for her to regate on her promise. Gradually he began to piece together that the woman he loved had met another man, and run off with him, abandoning Balthier without a second thought. He bided his time until he encountered a nobleman known to his father, and returned to Archades, shamed, hurt, and angry. He told me that it was the last time his father truly held him, before the last remnants of his mind slipped away."

I gazed at Balthier's retreating figure. So, he had thought to make himself inaccessible, never to love, never again to be taken advantage of. It hurt me, as it no doubt did Fran, to be placed in the same category as that conniving woman, but there was no help for it. I could not convince Balthier otherwise with words alone – my actions would have to show him, day after day, that I would not leave him, nor betray him. And his father… I sensed that to be a tale for another time.

"That is why you must be careful," Fran said, her voice and eyes solemn as she followed mine. "The slightest lapse, the slightest perceived slip of trust, and the walls around his heart will go all the way back up."

As though sensing the topic of our conversation, Balthier turned directly to meet my eyes. That gaze, so dark, searched mine, and for the first time I could discern some of what was contained in it. For the first time I perceived that his eyes were not merely mysterious, but haunted. For myself, I took pains not to keep anything from my face, as I had never done before. I saw his eyelashes flicker once, confused, and then he turned away. Fran gave me a searching look, not unlike the one I had just received, and, wary of her scrutiny, I moved beyond her to walk with Penelo, whom I had not spoken to in some time.

"This… Sochen Cave Palace, they call it?" she mused, looking about. "I don't see what's so palace-y about it."

We'd reached an ancient door. Balthier opened it, turning to gauge Penelo's expression as it opened.

"These caves are just the antechambers. This is where the Palace proper begins," he said, smirking at the look of awe on the young girl's face. "Though I'll be the first to say they're not much to look at."

The room beyond had carven pillars, a tiled floor, and a multitude of colours on the walls. It had clearly once been very fine, but it had now decayed much like the desiccated corpse that lay awaiting us as we entered. Penelo practically leaped into Vaan's arms to get away from it, and the rest of the party seemed equally shaken. Balthier wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"An adventurer bound for the capital, no doubt," he said. "It would appear he didn't make it."

Moss covered the walls, and the rank scent of mildew permeated everything it touched, making me wonder if I would ever be free of its clinging presence. At the far end of the room, there was a Crystal, and I went eagerly towards it. The constant fighting to get this far had been wearisome, and some refreshment was in order. I stretched out my hand to touch it…

"Siyana!" Balthier's voice was tight and clipped. No-one could say my name quite like he did. My hand froze, and I turned to look at him, confused. "Don't touch that!" he commanded, coming up and placing his hand on my arm, drawing me behind him. He aimed a shot at the Crystal and fired.

Immediately Water spells slammed into us, driving me back, away from Balthier. Normally, when Crystals were hit by accident, a paling around them prevented damage. "What is that thing?" I cried, above the sounds of battle.

"Crystalbug," Balthier grunted, re-loading his gun. He grimaced as he fired again. "Damned buggers. They imitate Crystals and lie in wait for unwary travelers to fall into the trap."

I belatedly took out my pole and got in a few good hits before being pushed back by Water. Looking around, I could see that the others were faring little better. I dashed the tears from my eyes as I readied myself for another go. Those things hurt!

"This is no good!" Balthier said grumpily, looking out at the disarray that was our party. "Would someone please cast Silence?" he called in annoyance.

Fran made a rude gesture in his direction that I will not reproduce here, frustration making her irritable.

"It will not work – it resists all my spells," she replied. An idea came to me, and I shook my head to clear it.

"Fran! Perhaps together…" The viera nodded curtly, willing to try anything at this point, never mind that tandem-casting rarely worked even between two even of the same species. We joined hands, and I felt the raw, animal power emanating from Fran's limbs, as if to remind me further that she was not hume.

"On the count of three, then," I said, ignoring the chaos around me as I focussed on trying to make this work. Fran indicated her agreement and I began the countdown.

"Three…two…one…now!" We both began chanting.

What I noticed immediately was that though I thought myself a pretty quick spell-caster, there was a dramatic tone to my words that was absent from hers. I suppose that, for Humes, there is always a "showy" quality to magick, born of the desire to look impressive. Without realizing it, every time I cast, I declaimed like a player.

For Fran, magick was just a tool, and no more impressive than a hammer or a broom. She spoke the words much quicker than I, with almost no inflection in her voice at all. I was hard put to keep up – if we fell out of sync even slightly, the spell would fail.

In the beginning, it was extremely difficult, but as I got caught up in the magick, it became easier, and I grew increasingly thrilled by the feel of the power filling me, both mine and the foreign, exotic one of Fran's, and the final word and hand motion was carried out flawlessly. A faint purple sheen appeared around the Crystalbug.

In the sudden silence in the absence of Water, the party took a moment to catch its collective breath – the Crystalbug, being unable to move, posed no threat now.

I stood, panting, throat raw from the unnatural levels of power it had emitted, exhausted but deliciously and exhilaratingly alive. Fran turned her calm eyes to my upturned face, her demeanour still incredibly unchanged despite the ordeal she'd been through, and gave me a rare smile.

"Well done, Siyana," she said, putting her hand on my shoulder, and her praise was worth more than a thousand other acclamations.

Basch moved in and struck the finishing blows as Balthier came over to us, squeezing his soaked sleeves.

"Excellent job, you two," he said, and I swelled at his regard, even as I found myself drawn to the powerful lines of Basch and his axe. The killing blow was administered, the purple glow faded, and the Crystalbug was just a Crystal, and our hard-earned rest was won.

Fran and I, as the instrumental players in that victory, were awarded, by unanimous decision, first rights at the Crystal. I touched its multi-faceted coolness and felt vigour sweep through my bruised, tired limbs. Basch stepped up to use it next – our hands brushed, and I caught a faint tinge of red touch his ears. I thought about the promise Balthier and I had made and bit my lip, uneasy without knowing why. Surely I owed this man nothing?

Ashe examined the map and could find no better resting place than this, so she ordered our camp struck and tents pitched. We obeyed with alacrity, focussing our failing energies on this one task before strength failed us. When we'd finished, we ate a frugal meal of cold jerky (there being no fuel to start a fire) before bedding down. Ashe took the first watch, wanting time to plan our next move.

Balthier looked at me and I thought of our exchange. I shook my head, hardly able to believe the words were coming out of my mouth, feeling detached from my body.

"No, Balthier," I murmured. "I'm too tired."

He gave me an inscrutable glance, then shrugged. "As you wish. I wasn't the one who asked for it." He disappeared into his tent. I stood, for a while, feeling emptiness fill my insides, wondering if I hadn't made a mistake. It was true that I was deathly tired, and would certainly be unable to perform, but… the sensation of loss was overwhelming.

I took the empty space in Basch's tent, there being nothing for it. Basch joined me a little while later, having made sure the premises was safe for Ashe's watch (as he did every time it was her turn). He hesitated slightly at the entrance upon seeing me, just long enough for me to notice. He was in shadow, so I couldn't see if he was blushing. There was something about his silhouette that was gently appealing, though he was stiff as he entered and prepared for bed. I watched him, inexplicably fascinated, until he lay down to sleep. I, too, closed my eyes, and silence reigned in the tent. The only sound that could be heard was that of bickering from Vaan and Penelo's tent, drowning out the gentle hum of the Crystal. During dinner, Penelo had commented on the absence of the desiccated corpse near the door, prompting Vaan to inform her it was the contributor of the jerky she was eating. Penelo, it seemed, was as disgusted now as she had been then. Most likely one of the Crystalbug's Water attacks had reduced it to dust, but Vaan's gruesome analogy had made me look askance at my jerky nevertheless, especially considering that it was his turn to cook this week.

I hoped I would fall asleep soon, and escape the awkward silence and the pangs of regret that gnawed at me still, but to my surprise, Basch spoke.

"That was some good casting you did," he said. As conversation went it wasn't scintillating, but at least he was making an effort. His voice was closer than I expected.

"Thank-you." What else was there to say? Telling Basch he'd fought well was like telling a Judge he had lots of armour.

Silence.

"Has the princess decided what we're doing tomorrow?" A pointless question – Ashe had taken the watch so she could figure it out.

"No, she has not."

Silence.

Then, a jumble of noise – I'd said: "Basch, listen," at the same time that Basch had said: "Siyana…" Something about the way he'd said my name intrigued me. "Yes, Basch?"

"Ladies first. Please, continue."

Was that… teasing I heard in his voice? The line seemed like something Balthier would say, rather than the dour Basch.

"Listen, Basch, I've told you before, I'm not going to start seducing you. I'm different now – besides, I was never like that. Not all prostitutes are loose women. But none of that matters – I'm too tired." So tired, I refused Balthier what you would not even take, I thought, with a wrench of my heart.

A shift – truly, this man was such a stick. I leaned across the tiny tent and planted a kiss on his lips, contrary to my previous statement. His shocked stillness lasted only moments before I found him actually returning the kiss – and then what was intended to be a mischievous prank turned into something else altogether as Basch gathered me in his arms and lifted me across the tent with as much care and as little effort as though I were shards of crystal.

Nestled against his chest, having just experienced the strength of the arms that encircled me, I lay stunned (though not necessarily displeased) by this turn of events.

"Safe, am I?" Basch asked, with more than a touch of irony, and his voice vibrating between us made my hair stand on end. "No, I don't think either of us is safe."

Lulled swiftly into sleep, I was forced to agree, even though I had never felt safer in my life than at that moment.

A/N: Yes, I know that Crystalbugs are immune to Silence, but I like to think that it's because in the game it's absolutely impossible to have two characters cast at exactly the same time. In storyverse, of course, there are no such restrictions. And no, Basch and Siyana did NOt have sex. Also, speculations on what else is the matter with Balthier are welcomed, but will not be confirmed.