It's almost a relief to be kidnapped, for Penelo to know that she has been made a prisoner because Balthier has escaped from Nalbina, along with his comrades. Which means that Vaan isn't dead, isn't lying in some dark corner of a crumbling dungeon, with his skin drying to paper - and she stops herself from thinking any more about that. Vaan is safe.

Vaan is alive.

So Penelo can murder him.

Far easier to be furious at him than frightened for herself, for what might happen when she is no longer useful to the bangaa who have captured her. In Bhujerba, still subject to the laws of gravity at its edges, there seems one obvious possibility, so it's much better not to consider that, either. Penelo clenches her hands into tight fists, gazing around the tiny room for the unexpected escape route she's looked for a dozen times already. It's infuriating to be so helpless, not to be able to let anyone know where she is or that they're walking into a trap. Hoping only that the man they're looking for, this Balthier is used to such a welcome. Sky pirates! Of course Vaan would get himself tangled up with sky pirates, and on the very night someone had tried to kill the new Lord Consul. It was nothing short of a miracle that they'd considered him only a common thief, that he hadn't been executed on the spot.

Migelo had come home absolutely beside himself, certain that there would be swift retribution for all Rabanastre, and Penelo had been up most of the night doing her best to console him, trying to hide her own worries, that he might very well be right. She'd been the one dealing with the merchants and neighbors all night, one after another seeking news of what had happened, what was going to happen, keeping her expression calm and her tone reassuring despite the growing dread she'd felt. Finally, there had been a brief moment of quiet, to sneak away to Lowtown and make sure all was well - but Vaan's bed had been empty, and Penelo felt a cold chill sear through her then, sharp and fast as a pistol shot, and she knew then exactly what he'd done.

The handkerchief Balthier gave her is a wad in her hand, so wrinkled it won't be of much use to anyone if - when - she can return it. He'd probably kept her alive with the gesture, Penelo knows that now. Stepping in between her and the soldiers. Stopping her from doing something so incredibly stupid, when everything from Lowtown to the palace had been a blur and she was so certain she would see Vaan's body, or worse. That they would execute him then and there - the Judges can call trial at any moment, and deliver verdicts instantly - and Penelo knows she would have rather died with him there, that holding Vaan's hand and facing the end together would be better than moving forward alone.

Hasn't she given enough? When will it be enough?

Difficult to tell how much time has passed in her small cell, as she goes from frightened to oddly bored and then back to fear again, her heart thudding in off beats whenever the scrape of clawed feet go past the door. The manacles they clamp around her wrists are meant for bangaa, or much larger humes at best, and Penelo's certain she could slip them off - but not get past the padlocked door as well, let alone sneak away from an entire pack of bounty hunters when she's not even certain where they've taken her or how far she'd have to run to get away.

It had been a long time in the air once they'd snatched her off the street, and then stumbling with a sack over her head and actually fighting to keep the chains /on/, so that they didn't clank to the floor and anger her captors, those thick-taloned fingers tight enough to bruise around her arms. Penelo thinks they even noticed her struggle, but it only made them laugh. She is both bait and temporary distraction, and at one point they even bother to 'feed' her, though the overlap between bangaa tastes and those of humes is not much to speak of. The offering is a joke, amusing them briefly while her stomach growls, but enduring petty cruelties has been familiar territory for years.

It had been a surprise, of course, when they'd said Balthier was on his way to Bhujerba, and Penelo wonders what he's really coming for. Likely to deal with these bounty hunters, and naught to do with her, but Penelo still remembers his eyes in Rabanastre. The way he'd made sure to hold her gaze, and promised Vaan's return. Kind eyes, and it was so unexpected Penelo's sure she remembers it right. If she keeps out of the way of this fight, if the sky pirate survives there is no reason to think he won't just let her go, or even bring her back to Rabanastre.

Take me with you.

The thought hits her unexpectedly, and hard. Harder even than the fear for a moment, though Penelo knows it to be foolish and impossible and there's no way she'd ever ask - oh, but this is exciting, isn't it? The first thing she's done in years - or ever, really - that anyone would actually want to hear about.

The door opens, and all the bangaa pile at once into the room, what she thinks now might be a whole family of bounty hunters. No matter where she looks it's Migelo's voice, quietly dismayed at the state of their clothes or the haphazard chains and hoops piercing ears and mouths, or both at once. The spiked ornaments, the too-bright sheen of their polished skin - he has always found such things a gaudy, unnecessary display, and thinking of his fretful disapproval is the only thing keeping the fear at bay.

"Get up."

"What's going on?"

The hand closes around her arm, dragging Penelo up off the floor even as she tries to comply.

"We've got what we need. You're of little use to us now."

"W-what are you going to do?" She's not certain if she means to Balthier, or herself, or if she even wants an answer. The head of their group has already turned away, no longer interested in a captive hume with the real prize in his sights. The manacles fall from her wrists, but before Penelo can think to appreciate it she's dragged forward, moving among with the pack of them down a long, dimly lit hall, and roughly thrown along another, smaller corridor. Released, though she is still frozen in place, wondering if they plan to hunt her down, if she is to be some sport until the pirate arrives.

Their leader growls, rounding on her.

"You try my patience, girl. Run, or die. It is little difference to me."

Penelo runs.

Of course they're not stupid enough to send her anywhere that might cross paths with Balthier, but as Penelo runs she wonders if there's a way to reach them, to warn him. Did Vaan find a way to tag along, did he convince the pirate not to just cast him loose once they'd left Nalbina - either way, Penelo still owes him, although at the moment there's not much she can do about it.

The corridor is lit sparingly, and she moves as quickly as she can while watching the shadows at her feet. No sound at all, even when Penelo stops to listen there is only her own breathing echoing off the featureless stone. A wider passage opens up ahead of her, a few more lights and a track laid into the ground - a mine, then. She shivers at the thought of so much stone around her, of not having a weapon to speak of, but the few carts she finds are empty and there's not so much as a pickaxe in sight. Luckily, there seem to be no creatures prowling about - this is a well-used place, which means if she follows the tracks she will eventually find someone, or be found.

Penelo doubts very much that anyone will care about her story on its own merits - a kidnapped street girl is a novelty, just ask the bangaa - but the miners might not be so happy to learn the bounty hunters are using their workplace for a hideout. It might be enough to help Balthier, might be enough that they'll consider her useful, and then Penelo can ask them for the cost of a ride home in return for her help. Even a message to Migelo would be enough - he'd send her the money for a ticket, wherever she might be, if not find her a merchant she could just tag along with.

There's light ahead, and Penelo runs into it without once considering what it means, that the bangaa had said Balthier had left Rabanastre for Bhujerba, that she must be in the skystone mines. It makes perfect sense but it just doesn't connect, doesn't come together until she's breathing in a fresh breeze that's far colder than anything that blows through the desert. Until she's out of the mine and her legs lock up in shock at the sight, and it's all she can do to keep her feet.

Oh.

The path beneath her is not the floor of some cavern, but a bridge. An open-sided platform, suspended over the skies.

Oh.

For a long moment, nothing else comes to mind, and Penelo presses a hand hard against her chest, over her heart to keep it there. It aches, bruising itself badly trying to escape, to leap right out of her chest and sail off into the dawn.

Slowly, she takes the few steps off the cart path, climbing her way up onto the platform. A short railing, and then there's nothing beyond that but a world she only remembers in fleeting glimpses, memories so precious and so few they might as well be dreams. It stops her breath entirely, the shifting blues and greens of the sea, all silent and beautiful with the dappled light-and-dark of clouds passing overhead, Bhujerba itself leaving a great shadow on the waters below.

Wisps of those same clouds blow past and cling to her, a wet sheen sticking to her skin and Penelo trembles and keeps her hand at her chest and tries hard not to cry. It's just like she remembered. It's just like she wanted it to be.

At the horizon line, Penelo strains her eyes and thinks she might be able to see the thinnest, dark ribbon of land, out in the furthest distance. The whole world, she can stretch out her arms and her fingertips and it's the whole world right there, all her own.

Don't go home. Don't go don't go don't go.

She could stay. She could find work here. The hardest part is over, it's /getting/ to the island that's the trick - and some mad, wild part of her would even thank the bangaa for it if she could. Maybe she could find Nia and her new husband and beg for help, just enough to be pointed in the right direction. Of course she'd be illegal, of course she'd have to hide from the guard but how was that any different than in Rabanastre?

Penelo's hands find the railing and clutch it, tightly - don't go - and she takes a breath, and another and it's still an effort to pull away. Drawing herself back from the sky and out of such silly fantasies. Foolish girl, wasting time here when Vaan is in danger, when Migelo must be out of his mind with worry. It's a stroke of luck, being in Bhujerba, and that's what matters most. Now she can be certain this is no abandoned mine and they will not be pleased to hear of bounty hunters laying traps, whatever their quarry.

She keeps her thoughts on that, of how she's going to do the right thing, of the story she must tell and how to make it sound believable and not how it hurts to leave the sky behind, to duck back into the tunnel, back into the caves. Maybe they will thank her. Maybe they will let her walk around Bhujerba just for an hour, just for an afternoon, until they send her home for good.

"You! Girl! What are you doing? Stop there!"

Penelo shouldn't run, of course. It's what she's been looking for, isn't it? Someone to tell, someone to warn, and by any measure of common sense she ought to stop, to tell the story she's so carefully prepared. The problem is that the voice startles her badly, that she's spent the last two years running from anyone who sounds that angry, especially when they sound that angry in armor - and as Penelo risks a glance behind her, still not certain she ought to be running, she sees that it is a very familiar set of armor, indeed. An Archadian soldier, and once she's started running from them there's really no way to stop.

"Catch her, damn it!"

The shadows help her escape, along with her lack of armor, making her faster, making it much easier to dodge. More than once Penelo twists away from a hand that nearly has her, listening to them stumble and curse her and gasp for breath. Spells blaze up in the darkness, flashes of light and heat but she darts forward, unscathed, moving swiftly away from where they're now cursing at each other.

"Where did she-?"

"Did you get-"

"No, you got me, idiot!"

Penelo almost laughs at the clang of what has to be a soldier's glove off a soldier's helm, and in a few moments more she's near what has to be the entrance to the mines. She can see light again, and certainly there will be workers, a foreman - someone here who isn't an Archadian. Penelo will be able to catch her breath and explain what's happened and it will all be -

All a misstep, a moment of foolish optimism, the sort of thoughtless action she's always chiding Vaan for, and so of course everything comes undone. Penelo runs out into what she realizes, too late, is the full, blinding light of day, and when she hits the man she cannot see they both tumble hard to the ground. Voices shout in surprise and alarm and Penelo's trying to scramble back, to blink away the light as she hears footsteps - too many footsteps - all around her, and even before her vision clears she's sure there's no escape.

The man she'd knocked down is much older, and Penelo hopes she didn't hurt him even as she keeps looking, taking in the fine fabric of his coat and the jewel at his throat, the edge of a noble crest and oh Penelo, what have you done-

It isn't much of a surprise when armored hands drag her roughly up off the ground. Soldiers all around her, no sign of anyone else, and she can only imagine what she's fallen into.

"Marquis? Sir, are you all right?"

"Fine, fine." He waves away the much gentler hands trying to assist him, studying her as he gets to his feet. His expression is neither cruel nor kind but carefully neutral. The face of a man who has been in business for a very long time, to what Penelo soon remembers is considerable success. This is none less than the Marquis Ondore, ruler of all Bhujerba.

You're in for it now, Pen…

"A Dalmascan girl in the Lhusu mines? Quite curious, indeed."

Penelo's mind races, searching for the right thing to say, for anything to say. She's stepping back, not quite realizing that she can step back, that the soldiers holding her have let go and there's no reason for them to do that unless they're sure she's not going to get away. Unless there's something behind her to keep her where she is.

Penelo's back bumps up against metal, solid and unmoving, and she turns, and looks up and then all she wants to do is be anywhere, anywhere other than this. Better to be with the bangaa back in the caves. More merciful for the Marquis to throw her right off the edge of his beautiful city.

The Judge Magister stares down at her, though she can see nothing of his eyes behind the helmet, only darkness.

"Who are you?"

His voice rumbles at her from that abyss, and Penelo can't help the tiny sound of fear that escapes her, and of course he blocks out the sun. Nothing but power, a force that cannot be run from or fought against or reasoned with. Indomitable, and inevitable, the perfect symbol for an Empire that has crushed everything she's ever known without even taking notice. In her nightmares, when she thinks of her brothers dying on the field, when she thinks of her parents on some distant plain breathing their last, it's the Judge Magister who delivers the final blow. Penelo's never seen him before, but he's always been there.

The other soldiers stand perfectly straight, and no longer seem frightening at all. "We found her, milord Gabranth. Wandering around in the mines. No sign of Lord… of anyone else."

"What are you doing here?"

He does not raise his voice. He does not have to. Penelo tries to speak, opens her mouth and tries but nothing comes, and tries again and still nothing. Maybe if he would stop staring down at her, but he does not move and she cannot speak. The morning light hits him but does not reflect off his armor, not even on the tips of the horns that curve down toward her. He wears a blue cloak, almost the same color as a dress her mother owned, years and years ago. Penelo cannot remember what it is she is supposed to do.

"Answer the Magister's question, girl!"

"Judge Gabranth," the Marquis says smoothly, "I do believe you may have frightened her voice away. Look how pale she is. Whatever business brought her here, it seems unlikely to have anything to do with-"

"Kidnapped." Penelo says, barely a whisper. "I was… there was… the bangaa, and…"

She can't mention Balthier, she can't mention Vaan, not now, not to him - but even the few words she's spoken are the wrong ones, that much is clear. Obviously the very last thing she ought to say as Ondore's lips thin out into a grim frown and the Magister… it ought to make no difference, when she cannot see his face or his eyes but there is a weight that settles on him regardless. A subtle change in the air and she has made a terrible mistake and whatever he thought before he is /angry/ now.

Penelo remembers once when she was young, finding a mouse curled up dead near their front door, with no sign of how it had died. Father had said it must have been scared, so frightened its little heart just burst. So frightened she can taste it.

"You will tell me everything."

Ondore is the first to look up, toward the opening of the mine, but Penelo can only hear half the words he says - "well… seems… no longer be necessary" - and then the Judge Magister has stopped looming over her as well, following the Marquis' gaze. Penelo thinks, in a moment of perfect, certain panic, that it's Vaan there, that he believes he's come to rescue her, and she turns to scream, to tell him to run away - but the boy walking out of the mine isn't Vaan at all.

1. It wasn't Gabranth in Bhujerba in the game, of course. I promise the story will only drift further from canon from here.