FIC START!
Home to a society ruled by a council of only eight women that obeyed the will of the Earth Crystal and a military full of nothing but lady soldiers, Troia was known to be a paradise for women around the world. Kain had only been to Troia once, and that was only to search for the Earth Crystal during the War seventeen years ago. He noticed that even though there was damage due to the Earthquake, it was a well kept place. Flowerbeds alongside the paths leading up to and from the castle were more ornately designed than the stone statues that dotted the Baron Keep, and were far more than the decorations that were sparcely used in Fabul. He wondered for a split second about the differences in culture between the three nations, before he called his thoughts back to the task at hand.
Following lady Tiala and White Mage Porom to the castle, he heard their boots quickly click-clack on the damp stone pathway. Soon, Tiala looked up at the tall tower before them and pointed upward.
"There!" she shouted. "The window is open!"
And at that very second, the head of a brunette popped right out of that exact window. Her face was impossible to see from this height, but Kain could see the person's hair flow along with the wind.
"Sakinah," Porom whispered to Kain. "That's her name. She can be difficult. Just unlock the door when you get up there, and we'll take over. She can really hate talking to others sometimes."
"And if she refuses to let me pass?"
"You do what you think is best."
Suddenly, that brunette's face seemed to be getting closer. How was that possible, unless...? It didn't take Kain very long to figure out what was going on. "There's no time," he said quickly, "Stand back!" His voice was stern, causing both Tiala and Porom to run back a few paces before he put his hand to the ground and jumped up in the air, fighting against gravity in a way only Dragoons could ever do.
Kain felt his long hair being whipped around again as he lifted his entire weight up along the castle wall. He extended his arms out to catch the falling woman, and even though she tried to avoid him, he eventually grabbed onto her dress to catch her anyway.
Only a minute after he jumped, and he was standing in the window space of the room at the top of the tower holding a girl he'd never seen before. He put her on her feet and headed straight for the door, but just as he thought she would, she stood in front of it and refused to let him unlock it.
"If you wish to leave," she said, her voice harsh and dry from the lack of drink, "then you will come whence you came."
"I have been told to unlock this door," Kain said, lunging for it again. "Sakinah the Skyreader, right?"
She nodded, but only slightly. She was nearly a foot shorter than he was. Her unclean robes hung off her body as if they were meant to fit someone twice her size. Looking at her face, he could tell that she'd been crying, and she probably would have kept on doing so if only she had the moisture in her body to form tears. "What do you care?" she asked.
"I care a great deal about the world I live in," Kain said. "Troia is well-known for providing the best harvests to its people and sharing the resources when other nations need the help." He decided not to take the strict approach that his father took with him when he was a child, as it did nothing but make emotional matters even worse than they were before. "Sakinah-"
"Stop. Please. Just go away." Sakinah said, falling back against the door. She leaned on it with all of her weight, sliding against it so her butt hit the floor. "Thank you for-"
Kain shook his head as he sat down right in front of her. "You give me your thanks, but still plan to throw yourself out the window? Is that the right way to repay someone who saved your life?" he asked.
"Do you want money? Take my treasure chest's fill. I have no need for it."
"Then give it to someone who does," he retorted at her. "I make money in my work, but I don't let it accumulate past what I need, either. I have no need of money, either." Kain frowned. He tried to figure out why someone with such a vital role in anything want to take her life? He never even knew a Skyreader was a thing before less than half an hour ago, and here he was, sitting in front of one, somehow landed with the job of talking her out of not wanting to throw herself out of her window. "Truthfully, milady, I once felt the way you do right now. I wanted to die for what I had done, what I had been a part of."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because after spending seventeen years in seclusion, I realized that dying was not the way to atone for my previous transgressions," Kain answered honestly, scooting a little closer to her. "Whatever it was that you have done-"
Sakinah said as she put her head in her hands, "I failed Troia and all the farmers that relied on my readings. I was wrong. I couldn't see the storm or the Earthquake coming! The Earth Crystal blessed me with these powers, and I... I can't even bear to look at the sky..."
"I know nothing of how Skyreading works," Kain said. "There is no way for me to tell you if you were right or wrong. But what has happened has happened."
"Don't they blame me for what has happened to the village?" Sakinah asked worriedly. "Every other time I was able to warn them, and the mages would protect the villagers in turn."
"Sakinah, I was called here with my men to help rebuild what the Earthquake wrought to the village," Kain started to explain. "Even if- Even if they do blame you for what happened..." He closed his eyes for a moment, remembering when even in his own traveling party Ninja Prince Edge had given him a glare of death for being a part of Golbez's schemes. Kain still felt that piercing stare at times, but right now he wanted to use it as motivation to better himself and the world. "...if you feel like you have blame in this, then you must do what you can to make it up to those you have failed."
At that moment, Kain remembered his quest to see Prince Ceodore home when his father had become brainwashed and Rosa was missing. He knew the child belonged to that of his closest friends, and that is why he did all he could to keep the young prince safe.
"I feel as if I can't help anyone. I have no other skill than Skyreading."
Kain extended his hand to her. "Come with me, then. Away from Troia, where I can show you the world that you have such an impact on." He tried to smile at her, to encourage her to accep his deal.
"...you won't... abandon me?"
"It is foolish to abandon someone as vital as you are to the world, Sakinah." Kain watched her hand tremble as she reached to put it right in his own hand. When he felt her skin against his, he nodded. "There. Now. You will unlock this door, and we are going to explain to the Epopt Council your feelings. When they give their blessing for you to travel, then you will come with me. All right?"
"...all... all right."
"Let me unlock the door, please."
"One thing first," she said. "You never told me your name."
Kain paused for a split second, wondering how he got through all of that without introducing himself. "My name is Kain Highwind, and I'm a Holy Dragoon."
"I'm Sakinah Skylar. I'm the Royal Skyreader. Kain?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you. For. Saving my life."
"You're welcome." Not letting go of her hand, he reached for the key in the door, and she moved out of the way to let it open. There were two of the eight Epopts along with others from Troia standing right there, staring right at them, waiting for something. He held her hand even during that, which gave her confidence. "Sakinah is safe," he told them. "I wish to speak to the Epopt Council as soon as possible."
