A/N: I've been on a roll lately, as far as writing goes. I put out a oneshot with over 5,000 words in it (a personal best for me), and then I updated Yours Truly like, three times before I actually sat down to pen another chapter of this. I felt a little guilty, to be honest. Because although I didn't exactly leave a cliffhanger this time, I didn't actually get to the explaining part, sooo…

Ogro: Yuna will do plenty of explaining to Nyeha, but it won't do poor Vidina a lick of good until he figures out how to get her back…muahahaha…

sarah: It's alright, this story is designed to be confusing in and of itself. That's what makes it a mystery. ;)

Zaz9-zaa0: Nice to see you back here again! I'm really glad you decided to catch up. Maybe now someone will understand the comments I make about both of the stories in the other's author's note…Aww, thanks! I really strive to make my characters believable.

Pray for Rain:

Chapter Twenty-Four:

"Two Plus Two"

"I suppose you could say that." Nyeha said, smirking slightly. "I think 'revolution' is a bit over-dramatic, but—"

"Oh, no." Yuna said happily. "It's written in the stars—you are the one that destined to bring peace to Spira." She smiled, gesturing to Nyeha. "Come, walk with me. Time passes differently in the Farplane, so there won't be much time to explain before your friends will expect you in Guadosalam. And anyway, there's a story I need to tell you about a certain prophecy."

On their way out of the temple, Vidina was stopped.

"You were with that other guard, weren't you? The island one?" And with a twinge of annoyance, he realized that he was face to face with the guard that had stopped them outside the temple.

"Yes."

"Where is she now? She appears to have wandered off." After a moment of silence from Vidina, Livius, ever quick on his feet to lie through his teeth, replied,

"She said she had more business to attend to in the trials, but we're tourists and we need to make it to the Moonflow before sunset, so she let us out."

The guard seemed satisfied with his answer.

"Tourists?" Alanis asked, "You said we were tourists?" She asked Livius as the group proceeded in the direction of the temple door.

"Because I'm sorry I cut you off while you were saying something far more brilliant that would save our asses." He replied, a look of annoyance crossing his own face.

"What happens if he goes up there and realizes that Nyeha's not there, after all?" Cahake asked Livius, as they quickened their pace.

As Livius opened the front temple door to let the others through, he replied, "Well, hopefully we'll be far off by then."

"How do you plan to get to the Moonflow by sunset, anyway? I bet it's at least day's walk…" Scintilla asked, trailing off in thought. Vidina as well couldn't help but wonder what Livius had up his sleeve.

As the group walked out, Livius pushed his glasses up his nose, smirked and replied cleverly, "Why, by chocobo, of course."

"Are you kidding?" Vidina asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Do I look kidding?" He asked, and Vidina had to admit that in fact, he did not. Behind him, Alanis groaned.

"Well, excuse me if I'm not entirely crazy about the whole idea of riding a giant yellow bird all the way to the Moonflow…"

Vidina decided that Scintilla's reaction (in a cruel but hilarious sort of way), made the whole chocobo ordeal worth it. After all, the girl was only thirteen, so the bird was about twice as big as she was to begin with. To add to that, poor Scintilla was born and raised in Luca and had never even seen a chocobo before, let alone rode one. Upon purchasing and greeting said chocobo, she was immediately terrified. The chocobo stablehand, slightly amused as well, offered her some free Gyshal Greens to give to it as a peace offering, but then it kweh!'d at her and she nearly burst into tears. The chocobo, even considered pretty bright among its kind, seemed genuinely confused by the whole situation, but Vidina sympathized with it. After all, he decided, he would be pretty confused too.

Once Scintilla was situated (more or less, she was still trembling considerably), the others mounted their chocobos with a fair amount of ease. Cahake had to be helped up on his chocobo, but still got himself settled in a fair amount of time. His leg appeared to be healing, and Vidina commented that once they got to the Moonflow, he might try walking on it.

This was Vidina's first experience with a chocobo, as well, and he tried to tell himself that there was logic in riding on top of a giant yellow bird, as he patted the top of its feathered head and it kweh!'d happily. As he journeyed, he was beginning to discover quite a few things that didn't make a lot of sense, and he had to admit that chocobos were one of them. As the stable hand waved them off, he assured them that they would make it to the Moonflow before sunset. Vidina tried to imagine riding on a chocobo for the next five or so hours, but then he decided that he might actually get used to it, as far fetched as it seemed.

After only half an hour of riding in the usual indistinct chatter, Livius guided his chocobo over beside Vidina's and asked him,

"Why are you traveling to Bevelle?"

"I'm just traveling with Nyeha." He said nonchalantly. "We're sightseeing. At least, that's what we were planning on." He added, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Do you have any sort of connection to Bevelle? Your name sounds familiar."

It dawned on him. "My mother is an Advisor."

Livius whistled, his eyes widening slightly, and as Alanis swung her head around to look, the others in the group glanced in their direction, but only for a moment. "Wow, she's high up there. Does she live in Bevelle? Almost all the advisors do."

"No," Vidina answered, after taking a quick moment to ponder whether or not he should answer honestly. "Except for the pilgrimage, she's spent her whole life on Besaid, and she's stubborn enough that—"

"Wait." Livius said, cutting him off, "Besaid? Pilgrimage? You're Lulu's son?"

After another moment of quick thought, Vidina went ahead and decided that that was something to be proud of. "Yeah, I am."

"Damn! That's explains a lot…" Livius replied, suddenly thinking, "That's amazing! Your name's in history books!"

Now it was Vidina's turn to be surprised. "What?"

"You're Vidina! You're the son of two of the High Summoner's guardians! How can you expect not to be known by one of Spira's scholars?"

"How much do you know about me?" Vidina asked, curious now.

"Not much, besides the fact that you were born to your parents about the time that Yuna defeated Vegnagun. But the fact that you're Lulu and Wakka's son—damn—what are the chances of that?" Livius asked. "The guardians are famous, icons in Spira's history!"

"What does history say about Rikku?" Vidina asked, curious. "She was a guardian, wasn't she?" He decided to play dumb, so as not to let on that he knew more than he was supposed to.

Livius hesitated for a moment. "Not much, the historians are afraid of putting in anything that might cause speculation one way or another. Anyone sent to the island to collect information is turned away, either by the Yevonite guards or Rikku herself. She knows fluent Spiran but more often than not refuses to speak it, as if by that simple defiance she might wear down the Yevonites." He scoffed slightly, narrowing his eyes, and Vidina had to consciously retrain himself from choking the historian right then and there. He spoke of Rikku as if she were stupid, as if she had not ever been unjustly treated. For the first time since Nyeha had disappeared, he was glad that she wasn't there to hear this. If she attacked Livius because of her loyalty to her family and her exceptionally short temper, that would blow her cover completely, and that would be the end to the epic pair.

Knock!

Wakka groaned.

Knock knock!

He stood up from their kitchen table, despite Lulu's sudden face of distaste, and left his dinner to open the door. "You probably shouldn't…" She said, narrowing her fiery eyes in annoyance, but the end of her sentence was lost.

Knock knock knoc--!

As Wakka opened the door, he caught the Counselor's hand in midair, a young man with exceptionally pale skin and white wispy hair. He sniffed and his hand flew quickly behind his back to meet the other as he nodded his head and greeting. "May I speak to Lulu, former guardian of the late High Summoner's pilgrimage and member of the High Ad—"

"I know who Lulu is, okay?" He said slowly, and gestured for his wife to meet him at the doorway. She signed, put down her fork and knife with exceptional discontent. She stood up in one graceful motion and made her way over to the door, piercing the Counselor's practiced mask of determination with her own intimidating glare. He coughed.

"Are you here to inform me of another slip up in your security system?" Lulu asked, "Because if you are—"

"I'm not here to report a slip up in our security system," The Counselor began, being unusually daring, as far as Bevelle underlings go. "But rather of yours, Lulu."

Lulu first took note of the fact that whoever this guy was, he had the guts to call her by the first name as opposed to 'Advisor' or 'Madame' or something like that. She continued glare at him on the outside for that one, but silently commended him on the inside. Then she actually processed what he said. "Of my security, Counselor?"

"What I mean to say is, Lulu, that your son was reported missing by one of the villagers a few days past."

Something flashed behind her eyes, but in an instant, it was gone. She silently berated herself for forgetting that her son's absence may be an issue to the rest of the island, if it was not to her. Not everyone had the experiences or the wisdom that Lulu did.

"Have you ever had children, Counselor?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Uh, no, I can't say I have."

Lulu cleared her throat. "Well, there comes a time in every teenagers life when one must break free of their parents, do you agree?"

"Whole-heartedly."

"My son wanted to explore the rest of Spira, to experience life beyond this island, you might say. If anyone on this island has an issue with the way I raise my child, then I would appreciate it if they would bring it up with me personally in the future. Thank you for your time, and good night." True to her nature, she proceeded to shut the door, and returned to the dinner table, completely unmoved by the discovery of her slip up. As Wakka settled himself down, his face seemed to be filled with questions, so Lulu replied, "You know, Wakka, I never once lied."

He thought for a moment. "I suppose you're right, Lu."

"Of course I am. Now don't worry about Vidina. He'll be just fine."

The sunset on the Moonflow was breathtaking, even for Vidina, who had experienced many a sunset on the ocean. The water barely moved, so the sunset seemed to be reproduced in a glassy fashion, save for the water lilies that floated contentedly along. It was exceptionally beautiful, and people from around the area gathered around the banks to watch as the sun dipped below the horizon.

He looked around at his comrades to see the reddish-orange light reflected in all their eyes, and he missed Nyeha terribly. Carrying her secrets alone, it put a heavy weight on him that he could barely handle. He did a double take as he realized that Livius had his arm around Alanis' shoulders, but dismissed it immediately, he didn't care nor had the time to ponder their obviously complicated relationship. No matter what he did, he missed Nyeha terribly. They all did, it seemed. He wanted to shout that there was no way that they understood her as well as he did, or that she meant even half as much to them as she meant to him, but he berated himself for that urge and reminded himself that they were all comrades, they were all companions, and perhaps, after all, they were friends.

"Do you understand what I've told you, so far?" Yuna asked Nyeha, who had been quiet for quite some time.

"I suppose so. But it seems a little—incomplete." She concluded, examining the scars on her hand. The scars, the glass—when Yuna explained her task at hand, it all began to make sense. Now she knew that her instincts were right, the collection of the glass was vital to the plan to liberate her people.

"It should—no one has heard the full prophecy. At least, no one on our side. The leader, the height of power in Bevelle, that figure has heard the whole prophecy. That's what allows him to pull the strings like this, he knows by way of Yevon's fallen prophets what will eventually befall Spira. He's determined to make sure that he will still have the power when all of this is over, but it's your job to stop that from happening and save your people."

Nyeha picked a flower and stuck it behind her ear as she asked casually, "Do you have any idea who this source of power is, up there in Bevelle? It might help to know."

Yuna laughed. "I believe I have good idea, but I don't think you'd believe me if I told you."