Lady of Fortune

But What About Paine?

Chapter Two

Isaaru didn't like returning to Bevelle. There were too many memories, good and bad, attached to it. But that is where his unit was based out of and they'd been recalled from the Thunder Plain ruins in order to check in. It was probably for the best. Once they'd cleared the fiends for Dario, there wasn't much for them to do and the men tended to stupid things once they got bored.

But Bevelle was a hot bed of political maneuvering that Isaaru doubted that those that lived outside of Bevelle were even aware of. The noble families of Bevelle constantly tried to outwit and out maneuver each other in a political chess game for control of the city. His failed pilgrimage had given him more than his fill of political chess games and the thought of them made him ill.

He'd been a pawn and had to attack people he'd respected and admired for the sake of those political games. Never again.

It helped that his family wasn't considered a prominent family. Maroda was older than Isaaru by four years and the two looked nothing alike. Maroda's mother had died in an attack by Sin. Their father had remarried quickly, a little too quickly for the gossips in Bevelle. There were rumors of an extramarital affair. That his and Pacce's mother was his father's former mistress and now wife.

The fact there was a 12 year age gap between him and Pacce seemed almost like a weird miracle.

But due to the rather scandalous affair in society's eyes. His family wasn't considered the best or the most welcome at parties. Isaaru truly thought that the nobles believed that his father should have mourned Maroda's mother for the rest of his life instead of finding happiness with his own mother.

All in all the social stigma had bonded the brothers closer together than anything else could have done. Isaaru would gladly give his life for Maroda or Pacce and knew they'd do the same. Had almost done the same.

The consequences of what could have happened if he'd made it to the end of the pilgrimage before Yuna made him shiver. He'd been a devout Yevonite. But could he really have tortured and killed one of his brothers to make him an Aeon? He wasn't sure he could have done it. It had been nothing but a sick and twisted torturous game. Choose who you loved most that was to die all in the name of Yu Yevon. It felt all too familiar from his growing up years.

Lies. Manipulation. Shun them. Attack them. They aren't as good as you. They don't believe as you.

Secrets and lies, Bevelle was still full of secrets and lies.

Thankfully, most of them didn't have to do with Yu Yevon anymore.

So, despite the fact he didn't like returning to Bevelle, for once he didn't absolutely dread it.

It'd only been a few days since Paine had shown up at the ruins ready to do battle with a fiend and help out Dario. They'd worked well together. Shocked him to his core when her idea of gaining initiative was to have Hochi, her chocobo, charge in and cast meteor on the fiend. While the fiend was reeling, Paine had scanned it, barked out the information to him. He was able to summon the right summon this time and while the men kept it pinned, he had taken it out.

Turned out the fiend was guarding a treasure. Like most large fiends did in treasure and sphere hunter's experience.

Paine had let Dario come down and record everything he wanted about the treasure before claiming it to take back to Bevelle for research. She wanted to track down the sphere Rikku had found in the ruins and see if the two objects had anything to do with each other. She'd stayed long enough for Dario to make recordings of the writing on the walls to take back to Kessi for translation.

Meaning, she'd stayed long enough to have dinner and some light conversation.

She was such a contained person. It was difficult to read her. Isaaru knew that she also came from one of the families in Bevelle. And like most of the noble families, such as his own, she'd been tutored at home instead of going to school. But that night while talking to her, he'd felt something, a spark perhaps, the sense he'd met a kindred spirit.

He liked the woman he'd talked to next to the campfire.

And to put it bluntly, he found her down right beautiful. Red eyes were recessive and rare and hers were full of intelligence and repressed humor. The suit she wore, one of Rikku's weapon spheres no doubt, fit her like a glove. The large rolled over collar framed her long neck. The zipper of the suit had been open all the way past her breasts but didn't expose them. The piece over her stomach was covered in fish scale pieces of metal like armor. And the studded leather shoulder pieces stood out like wings with chains draped and connected in the back to help cement the illusion. There were studs on her pants and sure she wore a few more belts than necessary. Everything was in black with a few bits of red.

He truly didn't care. The black made her skin seem that much paler and prettier. Her ash blonde hair had been swept over to one side of her face and exposed one of her ears. She wore a sword earring that resembled her favorite sword dangling from a ruby stud. There was a skull stud next to it and that was connected by a chain to a barbed cross on the inside top of her ear, dangling from the barb wire chain was a smaller version of the pendant around her neck.

She looked tough, competent and still extremely female. She didn't try to look like anything but what she was, a female warrior. He liked that. He liked the honesty.

He hoped that he'd seen something in her eyes that she liked him too.

But, and there was always a but, there was one problem. He didn't know if she was single. His gossip was out of date. He'd stopped paying attention to relationships about the time he'd left Bevelle in disgust the second time. But at that point, rumor had it that Baralai and Paine were an item.

Sure, he could have asked Paine if that was still the case. So much had changed in Spira, maybe that had as well. But by the time it'd occurred to him, she'd left for Bevelle and he realized that one conversation did not make a close friendship. He'd be overstepping all bounds of propriety and politeness. There were better ways to find out if Baralai and Paine were still an item.

And they were all in Bevelle.

So before he asked the lady in question out to dinner. Dinner he could manage, coffee or tea not so much given his schedule. He wanted to be sure that the lady in question was available to accept such requests.

He had his sources.

Sources most people didn't realize he had.

And if he had to pay a visit to his parents and attend one of those atrocious soirees to get the latest gossip. He'd do it.

Paine was worth the proverbial pain.

Even Maroda had a girl now. Sure, she was 8 years his junior, but Elma was a nice young woman. Nooj and Lucil had an arrangement of sorts. No one was sure what it was but it worked for them. Nooj was a better and less obstinate man because of it. He laughed more anyways. Gippal, one of Paine's other male friends, was beyond happily married to his childhood sweetheart, Rikku, and they ruled the Al Bhed with a light hand. Happily because they had a two year old and another baby on the way.

Within the last few years, Tidus and Yuna had also gotten married in a very private ceremony of close friends and family on Besaid. Isaaru hadn't been invited and he didn't feel the least bit slighted about it. He'd attacked them after all. He'd offered his congratulations to Tidus and teased him about getting out of a big to do at Bevelle.

Tidus had in his joking manner that tended to cover up he was being deadly serious, reminded Isaaru that the last time Yuna had gotten married in a big affair at Bevelle. She'd ended up jumping off the top of the temple. Her 'husband' had been an unsent. And they'd ended up killing him again and sending him later. And no one wanted to go through that again.

They'd both ended up laughing about it.

And outside of that, Isaaru had no idea of Paine's dating pool.

He knocked on the High Priestess' door.

"Come in," the woman said.

Isaaru stuck his head inside. "Hello," he said with a smile.

Her face lit up with a smile and she got up. "Come here, trouble," she said and held her hands out to him. He had been one of her favorite students when he studied Summoning at the Temple.

Isaaru came inside and hugged her. Her hugs weren't as strong as they used to be, so he was careful not to squeeze too hard.

She insisted he sit down and they had tea, talking of normal things, his postings and temple gossip. He mentioned Paine's visit. She brought up Baralai's latest political maneuverings. They discussed the temple's transitions to places of learning and honoring the fallen Summoners.

He was very careful not to bring up Paine and Baralai together in front of her. The High Priestess was far too shrewd. But by the time the conversation was over, he had a good sense of what was going on in Bevelle both secularly and religiously. And because the High Priestess was one of the worst gossips in the city, he knew the social situation as well. For instance, Rikku and Gippal had stopped by and Rikku had visited and told the priestess she was carrying twins.

If Baralai and Paine had been in the same room together, the High Priestess would know it and say something. But, nothing about them in the same sentence had come up.

He'd left her office feeling a bit easier in his heart.

And that is the way it went as he made discreet inquiries. Mep knew nothing about Baralai and Paine. He'd just missed Paine. She was due back in a few hours.

His mother told him in confidence of course that Baralai was in exceptionally good standing with the nobles of the city. There were several mothers putting forth their daughters to make a match with him. Paine's parents weren't one of those sets. Paine had always been a bit of an outcast with the nobles anyways. Her parents had been extremely devout Yevonites. They didn't know how they'd raised a daughter who sought so strongly after the truth of things, and wore black almost exclusively.

As far as his mother knew, and his aunt (who was Maroda's mother's sister) Baralai was single and available as was Paine and they had nothing to do with each other socially. Paine never attended the noble parties and the nobles vied to get Baralai on their guest lists. He attended as many as his schedule allowed.

His captain was bored with his broken leg up on a table. He was full of Bevelle news and wanted to hear all about the action out on the field. He didn't know anything about Paine and Baralai being together even when Isaaru pressed about them being together after Vegnagun. The stock answer from his captain and the other officers present was if they had been an item, they weren't anymore.

They were safe enough to ask. Baralai had very little to do with the soldiers anymore since Nooj became General of the Spiran Defense League.

So, Isaaru was feeling quite hopeful when he tracked Paine down in the library.

She was in one of the rooms that had been sealed off with alchemy, leaning over a book.

He made a small bow to Primal behind her and then gently cleared his throat. He had a last second feeling of panic that maybe he should have gone to the tower and made an offering to Love before doing this, but it was too late. Paine turned.

And she smiled at him. "Isaaru."

"Lady Paine," Isaaru said and smiled back. "I hope I'm not interrupting."

"If you cared, you wouldn't have interrupted."

"Okay, then yes, I am interrupting." Isaaru said. "And I won't be sorry about it either if that pleases you."

She crossed her arms. "I'm listening."

He restrained the urge to shuffle his feet. "I had a lovely time talking with you the other night and I do feel as we were interrupted since you had to return here so quickly. I would like to pick up where we left off. Would you care to go out to dinner?" He flushed. "As in a date," he tacked on hopefully.

Paine blinked at him. She looked over at the book. "I could use a break," she said slowly. It seemed to decide her. "I'd like that," she added with a smile.

"Say, in an hour?" Isaaru asked.

She nodded. "I have a house near the city entrance of the library." She gave him the address.

"Then, I'll meet you there. I count the minutes." Isaaru bowed at her and quickly left.

He could feel her eyes on him all the way out the door.

Paine pushed open her closet doors and stared at all the clothes she had hanging there.

A date.

A real, honest to goodness, go out to dinner and wear something nice date.

When was the last time she'd been on one of those? Had she ever been on one of those? Dates with Baralai, had they really been dates at all. There had been that formal affair when Rikku had revealed the Essentials, but that had been more business than pleasure.

Most of the time she'd been with Baralai it had been more business than pleasure.

Paine sighed.

She started going through the clothes. At least she had a wardrobe.

It was a side effect or perk of being friends with Rikku, Paine guessed. Rikku's friends became her and Yuna's friends almost by default. Until the whole Essentials affair, Paine hadn't even been aware Rikku had friends. The three of them that had made up the Gullwings had always felt to her like they were three kindred tomboys playing around with their hair and lip gloss.

Come to find out from Rikku's friends that Rikku was the one that had been keeping them all in lip gloss, hair products, make up, perfume and birth control since they'd hit puberty. And Al Bhed girls tended to hit puberty sooner than Yevonite girls.

Rikku only seemed like a tomboy because Al Bhed work clothes tended to be so practical. So much for the tomboys together theory. It was odd that out of all them, Rikku was really the most girly of the bunch and knew the most about makeup and hair and those traditionally girly things.

Yuna had been raised by a village in Besaid, somehow the basics of being a female had gotten covered but nothing about hair styles or fashion or manicures.

Paine found herself part of a group, along with Yuna, that got together for lunch, shopping and personal grooming on a regular basis. It was during one of these lunches that she'd found out the black dress she'd found in the cabin she'd been given on the Fahrenheit had come from Leila and not Rikku. Rikku had been far too distracted by her own worries and dress. Apparently it took hours and hours to do the tiny braided hairdo she'd sported to the reveal.

Al Bhed hair was also different than Yevonite hair and didn't have to be washed as much. Which was good since in the desert, water was at a premium and washing ones hair wasn't a priority over actually drinking it and bathing the parts that needed bathing.

But Paine had been shoved into a stylist chair for a trim and been told flatly by Leila that they were doing something about her hair style. She wasn't sixteen anymore. So, while the stylist trimmed and played with her hair, what color of nail polish did Paine want to wear that wasn't black, red or silver? How Leila had known that Paine had been sporting that style since before Sin's defeat. Paine didn't know. It'd been best to give in gracefully.

At least, she hadn't been alone. Yuna had been pushed into a chair next to her and the first thing to go was the long extension that formed a tail down her back. The Al Bhed stylist had not been complimentary about it.

Leila, once out of the syrupy guise of Leblanc, turned out to be a no nonsense and practical woman with a bit of a temper. Leila gave solid advice. Paine liked her and she'd become a good friend. All of Rikku's friends were interesting people in their own rights. And they'd guided her into choosing clothes that not only would flatter her shape, hair color and skin, but represented her as a person rather than an image someone else crafted for her.

She still preferred black. It brought out her eyes and didn't make her ash blonde hair seem dirty like so many other colors did.

She'd also been brought more into the secret world of Al Bhed fashion. It turned out what the Al Bhed wore in private was nothing like what they wore when walking around in public. There was a lot of netting, sheers and fancy metal designs that made up meshes and things that might as well be bathing suits. None of Rikku's weapons spheres reflected these clothes either. When Paine had asked why, she'd gotten wide eyed looks about how those clothes weren't the least bit armor like and that they were meant more for being comfortable in the desert heat or for tempting a lover. It fit in with the fact that the Al Bhed were a laid back but passionate people.

The result had been that Paine had a closet of clothes she barely wore, a vanity table full of makeup and a bathroom filled with all manner of skin care products and feminine fripperies like massage oils and bubble bath. She had jewelry that didn't feature skulls and barbed wire. And now, at last, she had someplace to wear them and someone to wear them for, a reason for them to exist.

She almost felt giddy.

She tried to ignore her pounding heart and pulled out a dress that Leila and Rikku swore up and down would fit in at any type of restaurant. She only had an hour.

She was applying her lip gloss when Isaaru knocked on the door.

Paine took a deep breath, ran her hands down the dress and hurried to answer it.

Isaaru held out a bouquet of red irises. "For a lovely lady," he said.

Paine took them slowly. "Thank you." She didn't know what else to say.

Isaaru looked down at his feet. He wasn't wearing his uniform or his fancy summoner outfit, but a more relaxed trouser and shirt outfit in his favorite blues and aquas. Seeing Paine in a lovely black dress made him relax a little and not feel like so much of a peacock. "I thought roses may be lovely but overdone and irises are unique and special, like you. I hoped you would appreciate them more."

Paine flushed. "They're really lovely, Isaaru. I'll put them in water and we can go." She said, turning.

Isaaru's hand darted out and he plucked one from the bouquet.

Paine's brow furrowed.

He snapped off the stem and tucked it behind her ear. "There, perfect."

Paine turned away quickly. Her face heated. She quickly walked into her small kitchen, pulled out a vase, filled it with water and arranged the flowers in it. She set it in her living room so she could admire them in the few minutes she had when she relaxed at home.

Isaaru offered his arm.

Paine bit the inside of her lip as she tucked her hand into his elbow.

He surprised her by picking up the conversation exactly where they'd left off in the Thunder Plains. It relaxed her and put her on more even footing. It also made her truly feel he meant what he said, that he wanted to talk with her more.

They talked all through dinner at a restaurant that was upscale but catered more to merchants than the nobility. It wasn't about being seen together. It was about enjoying each other's company. They talked about their work and she told him amusing stories about meeting up with Pacce and his Kinderguardians.

After dinner was over, Isaaru made another suggestion. There was a festival going on at the wharf and they were to set off fireworks. He would be happy to escort her if she'd like to go.

Paine had tried to keep from being too amused at his blatant attempts to prolong the evening. She'd agreed. She liked fireworks. She didn't really want to end the evening either.

He bought them ice cream while they were walking around and ruefully confessed he was horrible at festival games. Which was fine, she was good at them. So instead of him playing to win, she played to win. That made him laugh. She'd won them a stuffed animal a piece, a black cait sith for her and he'd chosen a blue cait sith to keep hers company he claimed.

So, she'd told him the real story about Yuna's concert. With Yuna running around handing out balloons in the Gullwing's prize dress sphere. He promised not to tease Yuna. Paine assured him that Yuna had fun. Probably not as much fun as they had confronting Leblanc on stage and getting into fights with security.

By the time they got to the fireworks, the ice cream was long gone.

The fireworks popped in the sky giving off sprays of gold, green and red.

Isaaru watched her more than he watched the fireworks. Finally, he gathered up his courage. "Paine, may I?" He asked and stopped as she turned to him, confused. "May I kiss you?"

Paine's heart pounded again. It wouldn't be a proper date without a kiss, she reasoned. But that wasn't why her heart was pounding.

But she'd waited too long to answer. "Unless, you and Baralai," Isaaru said and started to step back.

He looked about to apologize.

Paine stepped forward. "No. Not Baralai and I." Paine said. "Yes, yes, to a kiss, Isaaru."

His eyes lit up. He leaned his head down and pressed his lips to hers, gently.

And there were sparks, oh, there were sparks. Her lips tingled and it went straight to her belly. Paine's hand tightened around the stupid stuffed animal in her hand. Her skin felt like electricity was being jolted against it where his hand slid around her waist and pulled her closer to him. It was sugar and ice cream flavors and the popping of fireworks and the smell of Sulphur in the air.

It was perfect.

A/N I am fully aware that I have the ages of Maroda and Isaaru backwards canonically. Honestly, their designs confused me as Maroda and Isaaru look nothing alike but Isaaru is supposed to be older? Isaaru and Pacce look similar enough to be siblings with the same parent at least! So, I switched them. 101 little nitpicky details that no one but me seems to care about!