Stress Relief?

"Let me go! Shelke needs—" Genesis was just yelling as Karru pulled the man along with her and Hana and Ruluf watched in bemusement.

"She needs you to not have a total mental breakdown so you can still be there for her when she really needs you!" Karru retorted hotly. "Now shut up and take some time to watch our blitzball tournament!"

"But Shel—what's blitzball?" Genesis cut himself off to ask in complete confusion. "Hold on, I need to go back to her!"

Karru groaned as Genesis pulled his arm from her hand, but she jumped on him as he was turning and ended up knocking him to the ground at Hana and Ruluf's feet, Karru's arms around his waist as he laid where he was in shock. Thankfully, Hana and Ruluf had come to a halt as soon as Genesis had started turning back to them, so they didn't step on him when he fell.

"Get off me, Karru!" Genesis growled after a stunned moment.

"No!" she replied, pulling herself up to sit on his lower back. "You need to relax so you won't wear yourself out. Even Eden and Aeris were okay with that. Now stop complaining. This will probably only take two hours, tops, and you can leave part-way through. And it's not like Shelke is alone, or like you were actually doing anything useful for her, anyway, drained like you were—are. Get. Some. Rest. Geez! And men say women are emotional!"

Ruluf snorted as Hana chuckled and told Karru, "They like to think they're better than they are, don't they?" She then looked down to meet Genesis' angry eyes. "I have to commend your loyalty to your sister, but Karru is right to say you should take a break while there isn't anything you can do for her. Relax and watch some blitzball, get something to eat, and go take a nap—preferably in that order. It'll do you a world of good so you'll be able to help her again. Your healing is strong, but you need to recover in order to use it—this will help you be able to do something for her again."

The red haired man opened his mouth, then closed it again as he went limp. "...Fine. Persistent little..." He heaved a small sigh and commented, "You'll have to get off me if you want me to go with you, Karru."

"Great!" the girl grinned, propelling herself up and offering a hand to help him up. More to make her feel good than because he needed the hand, Genesis took it and let her help him up. She then attached herself to his arm again to lead him in the direction of the shore.

"...Karru is rather clingy, isn't she?" Ruluf asked of Hana once the other two had gone on ahead. They had also begun walking again, though slowly, like they were just casually heading in the direction of the shore for no reason in particular.

"I don't know that 'clingy' is the right word," Hana replied, thinking back to everything she knew about the younger girl. "Her parents died when she was about four—she only barely remembers them. Sanni tried to take care of her for awhile, then dumped her with Rikku and Aunt Yuna. She and I grew up like sisters until she was ten, then Sanni decided to try taking care of her again—it worked marginally better only because Karru was mostly self-sufficient. But it also meant Karru and I didn't see each other much after that, because I was training to be a Summoner. Sanni and Karru were never very close because even though Sanni cares, she has trouble showing it the way Karru needs it, and Aunt Yuna is...very restrained. And Rikku is too confused to be much different than another—annoying—sister to Karru and me."

"And Genesis?" Ruluf asked after a pause to think about what Hana was saying.

"I think he treated her so differently from everyone else she knows that she likes him as a good friend, but I also sort of think she has a little crush on him," Hana answered in faint amusement.

"...Well, that complicates things..." Ruluf sighed faintly.

"Does it?" Hana asked curiously. "She's only just discovering—sexuality and boys and the like, and the first really different person she meets is a man who saves her life. I honestly think she'll realize he's worth a whole lot more as a friend rather than a crush, but after how they apparently met, that affection was inevitable, at least temporarily."

"Then it's a good thing he doesn't reciprocate, right?" Ruluf asked in faint amusement. "My experience with girls, especially young ones like her, or even yourself, is that they tend to latch on to their first crush if that person even vaguely responds favorably to the attention. I ended up with a stalker at one point because of that very thing, and others who didn't seem to want to let me go. Sure, I saved them, but in at least half of those instances, I bluntly told them I had only 'saved' them because it was convenient and paid them no more attention. In comparison, there are only three I've saved who have taken it for what it was—Aeris, Emma before she joined the Turks, and one other woman I haven't seen since. For all I know, the last may be dead now."

"Hmm..." Hana murmured, then looked up at him. "What kind of prospects for a partner did those women—all of them—have?"

"...Poor men and criminals," he said in a sad tone. "They didn't have much to look forward to, even if they managed to find a man who would love them, because most of them weren't likely to live more than a hand-full of years longer. Most would have been abused until they died, or gotten some sickness, or taken to drugs. Some may even have been killed just for knowing the wrong person."

"Then, wouldn't it have been reasonable to say you, the only man who saved them and didn't demand anything from them or harm them in exchange, would have been their 'best prospect'?" the sixteen-year-old asked, and Ruluf's eyes widened. "I don't think they particularly intended to become stalkers or attach themselves to you the way they did, but if they were to compare you to their other prospects—what choice would you have made if you were one of the women you saved?"

After a silence, the Turk gave a wry smile and said, "You have a surprisingly good mind, Hana. For your age, that's impressive."

She gave him a small smile. "When Aunt Yuna trained to be a Summoner, they had to learn to accept that they were going to die at the end of their journey. There was no life beyond their Pilgrimage for them. Aunt Yuna is the only Summoner in that era who both finished her Pilgrimage and lived to tell the tale, to have a life beyond that. It took her some time to realize she could do more than pray, to come to terms with the reality that she was still alive and was going to stay that way. Even though there are other Summoners to learn from now, the single best one to learn from is Aunt Yuna, because she's the only one who truly understands human emotion, suffering, and choices. Almost half of what I've learned from her about this—profession, I guess, is more about how to assess when to intervene and what's the best way to do so."

"What do you think about Yuna's history?"

"In what way?"

"Is it just a fact of life to you, or does the world she lived in upset you, or is it something you'd call 'enlightening'? Something else entirely?"

"Thirty-five hundred years of knowledge and experience is a valuable thing to have access to. Personally, I had to learn that Aunt Yuna didn't tell me things for the sake of doing so, she was telling me those things because she hoped to way-lay some of the trials I would end up going through. I had to learn to truly assess her words, then make my decision, prepared for whatever the result of my actions would be.

"But what I think about her past...it's a reminder of why Summoners don't have that same purpose anymore, why they aren't, and won't ever, be used as sacrifices again. I am so thankful I've never had to prepare myself for death to produce a few Sin-free years, basically for a pointless exercise. But it's also because Aunt Yuna had to do so that she had me prepare for death anyway."

"I beg your pardon? Isn't that worse?"

Hana had to smile in faint amusement as she looked up at the older man and gave her head a shake. "No. I wasn't prepared to be a sacrifice. I was prepared, like you were, to be aware that any time I went into battle, I may die. If I chose to save a child by throwing myself in the way of a fiend I couldn't defeat, I would have to be aware of the death I would be causing myself. Or maybe, when I began my Pilgrimage, I might meet something I wouldn't be able to fight, so my Guardians and I would all die. It can't always be avoided. But the one thing I've found is that being aware of it and accepting it might happen has freed me from errors and actions which would reduce my own skills, making death more certain. This way, I'm not looking for death, but I can fight freely and be strong until I meet it, without fearing it when it comes."

After gazing evenly at her for a long time, Ruluf asked, "What's this about a Pilgrimage and Guardians? I sort of thought 'that didn't happen anymore'."

"We still go on a Pilgrimage with six Guardians, just like Yuna and all the Summoners before her did," Hana replied, grinning. It was the first time she was showing more than minimal emotion, and she actually giggled when Ruluf stumbled and nearly fell. "Well, back then, six wasn't the most common number, actually. The difference is that we aren't expecting death at the end of the journey anymore. We go on it because it gives us a chance to see the world, to learn about it, gain experiences of our own in it. Traditionally, we now begin in Besaid and head north to New Zanarkand, which pretty much covers the world. After the Sundering, though, we may not start at Besaid or Kilika, because they've both been destroyed."

"So who are your Guardians? How are they decided?" the Turk asked curiously.

"The Summoner chooses them," Hana said with a little shrug. "Often people we know will take at least some of the places as Guardians, but strangers can, too. It wasn't traditional back in Aunt Yuna's time to have an Al Bhed in the group, but now, it's common practice, since they're very, very useful to have. I'd take Karru as one of my Guardians, but I haven't given much thought to anyone else I'd like to have as one of them. Oh, maybe Koln."

"Who?" Ruluf blinked in surprise.

"He's a jet fighter with the Aeroterra," the sixteen-year-old replied. "Apparently, he's a descendant of someone Aunt Yuna and Rikku worked with, a woman named Paine, and he inherited her fighting skills, so...Well, I met him and he's pretty aloof, but he also cares a lot about the people around him, and he has a soft side if you get to know him."

"Do you know anyone else you'd take with you besides a kid and one skilled warrior?" Ruluf asked in faint amusement.

Hana stuck her tongue out at him and replied, "I'd quite happily take four of your people, a Turk, a SOLDIER, a Wutain, and a Cetra. So there."

"Not a Moto?" Ruluf teased.

"I'd take one of them if I couldn't take one of the first three, but I still want a Cetra. I don't want to be the only effective healer for seven travelers. I have no idea how Aunt Yuna did it, honestly."

"If you take us with you, it won't matter if you have a Cetra with you because of our Materia," Ruluf answered, looking very amused.

"Materia?" she blinked in surprise.

"It means as long as we have a Restore and a Heal Materia, we can both heal injuries and undo status effects and ailments. It isn't weak healing—you've been watching us heal Shelke over and over again. Anyone from our world has access to Materia, and Restore and Heal are very common ones for combat personnel to keep handy. Many of us have Summons and automatic revives, too. Some of us have gone as far as getting Revive Materia for bad situations, even if we aren't using the auto-revive. As such, you don't need a Cetra to have plenty of help healing."

"Ooooh," Hana hummed with interest, then smiled. "I'll ask Aunt Yuna how much longer she wants me to wait, and if I can take some of your people along as Guardians. What better way to give us the chance to form bonds and get to know one another?"

Ruluf had to chuckle. "That assumes we'll have time for that. Though, if it's okay with you, I think we all—Yuna as well—would prefer you took at least one more from your own world before taking a majority of us."

"I guess we'll have to see what Aunt Yuna says," the younger woman smiled.

They reached the shore just then, and Hana watched in amusement as the older man stared in shock at the gathering for the impromptu blitzball game. Not only did it look like most of the Spirans had migrated to the shore, along with several Gaians besides Aeris, Eden, Genesis, and the red haired lady Turk who had joined Aeris earlier. Hana was used to seeing these sorts of gatherings, but picking out the players from the spectators was something new to the man with her. She could appreciate how confusing it could be, but she could also see his eyes tracking who was doing what, where, and when—she was sure he'd picked out most of the players in no time.

In addition to the players and spectators, there were areas on the shore and in the water cordoned off with ropes which had probably originated on the downed Shadowterra by the color, eight in the water which were about the size of the blitzball arena's width, and eight smaller ones on the shore. Some of the teams were already wading out into the water with blitzballs provided by the children, choosing 'arenas' to play in for the first round or just showing off some of their water-based moves like flip-kicks which took them clear out of the water before they landed right back in it.

"Could I ask who that red haired Turk with Aeris is?" Hana asked suddenly, seeing the Turk in question pelt a stray blitzball back to the arena it had emerged from.

"Cissnei, our official youngest Turk. Well, I actually think Riona is younger by a few months," Ruluf answered. "But Cissnei apparently hasn't decided to give up guard duty on Aeris, and probably won't until Tseng wakes up and tells her she doesn't have to do it anymore. Admittedly, though—Cissnei could legitimately just really want to keep Aeris safe as a friend, since they've been traveling together for months."

"She would be a skilled blitzball player," Hana smiled.

"Hey, could I go give it a try? Would they mind?" a new voice asked from just behind them, making Hana and Ruluf turn to face a SOLDIER First with black, spiky hair, bright blue eyes, and an infectious grin.

"I don't think they would, but you'd have to ask them," Hana replied with a smile. "And I think you'd need to leave your sword behind."

"Great! I'll let Aeris keep it for me, since she's my girlfriend and all," the young man grinned, slipping past them and jogging over to Aeris and Cissnei as he pulled his sword off. Rikku, who was with them at the time, apparently found something about him amusing, and he just laughed as he handed his sword to the Cetra.

"Who is he?" Hana asked in surprise.

"Zack Fair," Ruluf replied in amusement. "Or, you could call him Puppy, or Mr. Battery. Somehow, I'm not surprised he found his way here and actually wants to play. Nothing keeps him down for long."

"...Mr. Battery?"

"He has so much energy I think he'd destabilize the Farplane by setting foot in it."

Hana first blinked at the older man, who met her gaze with dancing eyes and an emotionless face. She then almost felt like her world was tilting, and was overcome by the desire to laugh, given how the joke-not-joke was equally hilarious and alarming. She also got the distinct impression that someone so happy would have no need or use for the Farplane regardless, and the thought of a mere human destabilizing it really was hilarious. So she laughed, and Ruluf grinned before leading her in Aeris, Cissnei, and Rikku's direction.

FoW

Sanni had just returned to the Aeroterra and made her way to the bridge, asking as she walked in, "How are the repairs going, guys?"

"Mostly done," Genzo replied. "I think the only things we have left are some hull repairs and a few internal stabilizers—we're better off not ending up underwater right now."

"Good, let's keep it that way," Sanni grinned. "Show me what you've got on your sensors."

A larger viewing screen near her activated, showing the results of a radar sweep—which clearly showed the very large outline of something outside their visual range, but also not far from the new island. By the distance ratio of the...whatever it was...to the island, while they were outside visual range, they were within easy sailing range, and an airship would make the trip in less than an hour. Whatever was there, it seemed to be stable, and it was too large for the sensors to register its whole size. To be honest, the only thing she knew of which was so large was a continent.

Blinking as she recalled the Turk saying their world entity would provide for them, she tipped her head to the side and asked, "Do we have any other data on this form?"

"Nothing specific, other than those green-white energy lights congregating there," Genzo told her.

"No changes in water level or water or air currents?" she frowned.

"None which are substantial. The most substantial change was with some of the air currents, but all levels have only marginally adjusted, and whatever that is seems to have placed itself to avoid the primary ocean currents," the man explained as he tossed some small snack food bits into the air and caught them in his mouth.

"Let's head over and get a look at it, then," Sanni said as she made her way to her seat and sat, gaze intent on the window looking out towards the front of the ship. "We're in no rush, so don't strain the ship."

"Got it," he agreed, and shortly after, the ship was moving in the direction of the mass. If it was what she thought it was, she'd have a great time seeing Yuna's expression when she told her they had a new continent—one which hadn't displaced anything of substance.

But that then begged the question of how they'd gotten such a land mass.

Soon after, a shoreline came into view, and more and more land became visible the closer they came to the shore. A beach drifted into the ocean, but at a certain distance from shore, there seemed to be a row of spiked rocks jutting up above the surface in a line which looked like it would surround the continent. There was space between some of the jutting rocks which would let a large ship pass through, but mostly, they seemed to form a perimeter. The shore gave way on land to rolling plains and both dense and sparse forests, but they couldn't see further to know if there were other features yet.

"Holy Hellfire..." Genzo breathed in shock.

"Start by circling the land mass, then we'll do a pass-over or two. Make sure to map the size, shape, dimensions, and features we find," Sanni ordered, gaze sharp.

They began circling the shore of the land mass, heading north by their radar indicators. The sandy beach gave way to a rougher, rockier one, then to low inclines which became more and more vertical as they progressed. The northern end of the land mass was mainly rocky and jagged with only a few flatter areas, and as they progressed down the far coast, the shore gradually reverted to sandy beaches, though those ones weren't as gentle as the ones they had first seen. Jutting rocks stopped when there was no sloping shore, and varied in distance from the shore by how steep the incline of the ocean floor was—nearer to the shore when it was very steep and further away when it was gradual.

They abruptly came to a jagged edge as they were heading south, and found that the land mass was cut in half. Following the edge of the—rather wide—gap led them to what looked like a stable, solid land-bridge linking the northern 'continent' to the southern one across the gap. It looked like the land-bridge had a lower lining of refined mythril to support it, which was rather impressive for the sheer span the bridge covered—a distance of over fifty miles—and the fact that it was apparently supporting the weight of a rather large mountain range.

"What's right below us?" Sanni asked suddenly.

"Water," Genzo snorted.

"Water currents, shipping routes, marine migration paths—any of those below us?" the woman rephrased, lips twitching in amusement.

"We've got the Kush Current (1) here—main path for rainbow fish, and one of the few stable mid-ocean currents sailors relied on to cross or explore this area of the ocean until we started relying on airships for things in this region," her First Mate filled in. He then paused and asked in surprise, "Does that mean this bridge is here to keep the main land mass from interfering with the Kush Current?"

"It looks that way, doesn't it?" Sanni agreed. Several of the bridge crew traded confused and amazed looks. "Let's head for the southern portion of the continent."

They kept going, finding rockier areas of the shore closer to the land-bridge and wide, sandy beaches all along the southern portion of the continent, with only one exception to the point furthest south. At that location was essentially a large, stable slab of rock which was so well-defined that it could easily serve as a ship dock and the base for a port. With it neatly cutting the sandy beaches in half, it was ideally positioned for both commerce and entertainment. Inland, it showed the same signs as the northern portion of the continent had, with plains and forests, though there were no visible mountains from the southern-most shore.

When they found the other half of the cut, they followed it to the land-bridge on that side, then moved south of the bridge to follow the foothills. From there, they passed over the land, finding lakes, rivers, streams—and a salt lake—along with the usual land features. There were also passes through the mountains, some which followed valleys and rivers which could be inhabited and others which simply formed a passageway between the northern and southern continents. When they made the return trip north of the mountains, which had begun seeing dark clouds and snow flurries, they found much the same.

The only real difference between the north and south was in the form of the vegetation—in the north, the plants tended to be more temperate, while in the south, they were tropical. Any existing animals would likely share those traits as well, formed to live in whichever general climate. Over-all, the northern portion of the land was larger and more extensive, while the southern portion was wider near the land-bridge and narrowed as it went south, though it didn't taper off into a point, it was a rounded shore. The space it took up was marginally less than their own continent and islands took up, and it had been placed to avoid the northern and southern currents as well, though those would pass by close to the shore, influencing it.

"Well I'll be," Sanni commented as they headed back to the small island. "Have we been able to figure out why they have salt lakes and why the water level hasn't risen?"

"We released some underwater sonar sensors," one of the other crew members said. "They've had time to report back. Have a look at this," she added, as the small screen attached to Sanni's seat showed an image.

She had to blink at it several times before sitting back and laughing at the absurdity of what Minerva had managed to do for her people. "It's on stilts! The whole fucking land mass is being suspended above the water on stilts!" She went right back to laughing after saying that, shaking her head and suddenly feeling very glad Karru had so forcefully decided to make them allies and friends. She'd have regretted everything she'd ever done in her life if she had never had the chance to see what she was seeing now.

However, despite her amusement at what Minerva had done for the Gaians, Sanni had a peculiar, niggling feeling like they, the Spirans, were losing everything—their homes, their way of life, their skills and beliefs. She was afraid of losing any more, of what they would be left with...would they even be themselves anymore after all the changes? Amusement aside, the thought was persistent in the back of her mind, and she began sub-consciously running through a list of everything that had changed and everything which was still as it had been. The latter was a very short list.

Sanni was still chuckling as they pulled back into position near the small island, but as she was rising, Genzo said, "As amazing as that is, it's also a defensive nightmare."

"True," she agreed. "But somehow, I don't think it'll be such a problem for them, especially not with those giant water-snake-dragons they seem to have several of, and whom they're on good terms with. Anyway, I'm heading back to Omega Rock to see how the little munchkin is doing and to tell them about their new home."

"See you soon," Genzo called after her as she left the bridge.

Notes:

(1) While this ocean current is completely made up, it actually has a precedent in FFX data. Between FFX-2 and FFX -Will-/3, there's a 2.5 (yes, really), which explains about some of the world, the Gods, the beliefs, and so on, from about 1000 years before, at the time of the Machina War and from probably shortly before Sin was created. Tidus' status as a beckoned and this 'Kush' aspect come from that. Kush was the name of a God of food and water, so I figured naming an ocean current which is loaded with edible fish wouldn't be unreasonable.