A note from the Hime no Argh herself–
Well, here we are at Chapter 9. Right now I have a headache and a sore throat from singing really loudly for the past hour or so (mostly "Simple and Clean" from Kingdom Hearts–is that a great song or what?) and I think I'm coming down with something, which is exactly what I need when I have two midterms tomorrow. ::cries:: Oh well, I'll just stick it out.
Hope all of you are in good health and somewhere warm and cozy. It's 18 degrees out today, brr!
***
Chapter 9
The Lake
Yuna and Lulu waited on the beach west of Guadosalam, watching the waves crash over the sand, as Brother checked his boat stationed in the little inlet and Rikku bought a can of fuel from the vendor a little way up-shore.
"Thanks!" Rikku said cheerfully to the vendor, hugging the heavy can close to her chest. She gotten a good deal for enough fuel to get them across to Bikanel Island and back. She handed the can to Brother as she approached him and watched as he began carefully pouring the fuel into his little machina boat.
"So what were you doing in Guadosalam?" she asked curiously in Al Bhed, perching on the rim of the dock and wetting her toes in the seawater.
"Trying to sell what I had to buy the fuel," he replied in the same language, making a face. "They wouldn't buy, of course."
"Guado," Rikku said in a tone similar to Brother's, full of scorn and distaste. Then she brightened. "Well, I guess you're lucky that we were there!"
"Mm," he said in reply, being careful not to spill any fuel in the water. When the can was empty he placed it down on the dock and looked at Rikku. "Say, what happened to Yuna, anyway? Something must have really upset her."
"Oh...she's under a lot of stress, you know?" Rikku said evasively. She and Lulu had both agreed that it would be best to keep the secret of Yuna's hallucinations, or waking dreams, as Lulu called them, between themselves.
Brother looked at her skeptically, but didn't pursue the matter any further. Instead he asked, hopping into the boat, "What do you need to get Home for?"
"To borrow the airship," Rikku replied, watching him as he powered up the engine to an agreeable hum. "Yuna wants to use it to look for someone."
"For Tidus?" Brother suggested, and Rikku blinked at him.
"How did you know?"
Brother shrugged. "Just a feeling." Seeing that Rikku stared at him openmouthed, he added, "I can't think of anyone else in her life who's missing. I thought she might be upset over him for some reason, anyway."
Rikku closed her mouth, wondering why she'd never noticed how well Brother understood Yuna.
Brother glanced up at her, pushing a few buttons on the control panel. "The boat's ready to leave. You can go get your friends."
"Okay."
Lulu was perched on a rock near the inlet. She pointed to Yuna when Rikku asked, who was further down the shore, submerged in the water to her ankles, facing the sea. Rikku looked at her uncertainly for a moment.
"She isn't...ahh...dreaming again, is she?" she asked Lulu hesitantly.
"I doubt it," Lulu replied calmly. "I've been watching her."
"Hey, Yunie!" Rikku called down the shore. She waved when Yuna glanced back. "We're ready to go!"
"Coming!" Yuna called back, wading up the shore.
The boat was obviously made for one passenger. Brother occupied the sole seat, before the control panel and the helm, and the three women squeezed in around him as best they could, sitting on the metal deck. Rikku fit herself into a tiny pocket beside the driver's seat in the bow, facing forward so that she could see where the machina was going, while Lulu and Yuna huddled in the stern. The deck below them was vibrating, ominously it seemed to Yuna, though Rikku assured her cheerily that it was just the engine powering up. Somehow this did not make her feel much better.
"Ymm nayto?" Brother asked, sharing his sister's cheerful tone. Both of them tended to be quite happy around machina.
"Nayto!" Rikku replied enthusiastically for all of them.
"Rana fa ku!" Brother pushed a lever forward and the boat shot off at such an acceleration that Rikku, Lulu, and Yuna were all thrown back onto the metal deck.
"Vunfynt!" Rikku screamed in delight, righting herself.
Yuna fought back a sudden wave of illness. "Rikku!" she yelled, fighting to be heard over the engine's roaring. "Rikku!"
Rikku glanced back. "Yes?"
"Would you ask Brother to slow down a bit, please?!" Yuna hollered, the wind carrying her voice away from Rikku.
Rikku repeated the question for Brother, then translated his answer: "He says this is as slow as it goes!"
"Wonderful," Yuna muttered, and buried her face in Lulu's shoulder. "Tell me when we get there, Lulu?"
"I'm afraid I can't help you," Lulu retorted, her voice strained. "My eyes are shut and they're not opening until this horrid contraption stops!"
* * *
From the Calm Lands, Tidus, Jecht, Auron, and Kimahri progressed to the crystalline forest of Macalania. Tidus and Auron were a bit edgy at the thought of being so close to Bevelle, the center of Yevon's false religion, but Kimahri assured them that there was nothing to worry about.
"Priests not make trouble anymore," he said in his low, rumbling voice. "Only bother Yuna sometimes."
"What?" Tidus demanded, rounding on him. "What do you mean, they bother Yuna?"
Kimahri shrugged. "Priests make new religion. Call it Yevon Order. They want Yuna to join. She have nothing to do with it."
Tidus scowled darkly. "Maybe we should pay them a visit," he said ominously. "Make sure they don't bother her again."
"Don't be ridiculous," Auron said, rolling his eyes. "We're not going to start any trouble with them. As long as they don't try to harm Yuna in any way, we have no quarrel."
"Speak for yourself," Tidus muttered, but he conceded, and they passed by the road to Bevelle.
Shortly after they decided to halt for the night in a very familiar campsite. Tidus acquired an expression of bliss as soon as he recognized their surroundings and floated about quite happily for the rest of the evening.
"What the hell's gotten into him?" Jecht demanded of Auron, watching his son chattering away with Kimahri on the other end of the campsite.
Auron smiled. "Probably lost in memories."
"Memories of what?" Jecht wanted to know, but Auron only shrugged.
"Maybe you should ask him yourself."
"Pfft. You know I don't wanna push it." Jecht stared broodingly at his son. "This ain't some happy father-son bondin' trip, y'know."
"Well, at least you aren't at each other's throats," Auron pointed out.
"Never know when that could change," Jecht shot back.
"True. Then again, you never know when things could change for the better, either." Auron clapped Jecht on the shoulder and left him to his thoughts.
Auron doubted that Jecht would actually take his advice, though he remained oddly quiet through the rest of the evening. Tidus grew quieter too as the night wore on and the four remained around the campfire, talking and laughing, or else just watching the flames. Auron noticed that Tidus kept glancing in a direction south of the campsite.
Finally he rose and edged away from their fire. "I'm, uh, I'm going to take a walk."
Auron and Kimahri exchanged a glance and a smile. Jecht stood abruptly, surprising them. Auron had to stifle a chuckle as he saw Jecht's face growing beet red under his tan.
"Can I, uh..." Jecht began in a tone not unlike his son's. "I mean, that is..." He ran a hand through his scraggly hair. "Can I come with you?" he blurted out at last.
Tidus blinked at him, clearly shocked by the offer. "You want to?" he said at last.
"I dunno. You want me to?"
"I dunno. You want me to want you-"
"Go!" Auron and Kimahri said together. Jecht and Tidus shot them identical glares, then looked at each other doubtfully again.
"Well, if you're coming then," Tidus said at length. He nodded to the others, then turned and headed south along the path. Jecht gave Auron a pointed look and trotted after his son.
Auron grinned at Kimahri. "He sure showed me."
* * *
Jecht didn't particularly care where they went. He was busy trying to figure out exactly why he was following his son, and more importantly, what he should say. Or do, for that matter. Or would it be better not to say or do anything?
Jecht shook his head at his own folly. Why did I become a father again?
He was so preoccupied with these thoughts that he didn't notice his son leading him in a very set direction. Southward down the path, then through a grove of trees–the forest seemed to have grown over some sections of the path that had been long unused.
"You sure you know where we're goin'?" Jecht demanded as he and his son fought their way through a tangle of branches.
"Positive."
"Where are we goin', anyway?" But before Tidus could reply, he pushed away a large branch covered with leaves, and their destination was revealed before them.
It was a dark lake in the middle of a moonlight clearing, reflecting hundreds of stars in the night sky. The crystalline trees, their branches crowned with jeweled leaves, caught the glow of the moon and the stars, lighting the entire clearing with a mysterious, silver sheen.
Jecht whistled. "Pretty. I never saw this place."
Tidus didn't reply. Jecht gave his son a sidelong glance and was surprised at the solemnity in his eyes as he gazed upon the shimmering lake. After just a few moments, though, Tidus glanced at him and smiled enigmatically.
"We can leave now," he said cheerily, and turned to do just that.
Jecht stared after him. "Already? Y'mean we're not even gonna take a nice dip?"
Tidus waved a hand. "The water's cold. You wouldn't like it."
"What, you know from experience?" Jecht demanded, following his son back up the bank.
"Yep."
"So what happened here?"
"Nothing."
"Nothin', huh?" Jecht shook his head. "You lie about as well as yer old man, kid."
Tidus merely smiled mysteriously.
They headed back to the campsite without talking, but Jecht was feeling oddly cheerful. He couldn't help thinking that somehow, through some unexpected miracle, the mood was lightening between him and Tidus.
Tidus was so preoccupied with whatever was running through his mind that he didn't even look up as they entered the campsite. Jecht did, and threw out an arm to stop his son.
"Jecht," Auron muttered as they came into view. He and Kimahri were surrounded by at least twenty men in familiar uniforms, and the barrel of a rifle was pressed to his temple.
Tidus and Jecht simply stared, shocked beyond words. "What...?" Tidus finally managed.
One of the men approached them, looking quite capable of using the rifle in his hands. His eyes were grave as he gazed upon the two men, namely Tidus.
"Are you the one they call Tidus of Zanarkand?" he asked seriously.
Tidus exchanged a look with Jecht. "I am," he replied to the man, chin set, blue eyes glittering dangerously.
Jecht glowered at the man, arms crossed defiantly over his chest. "What the hell d'you want with my son?"
The man's eyes flickered quickly to him, and even Jecht couldn't miss his shock. The expression was quickly masked behind a calm demeanor.
"I am to take him into custody, along with his companions," the man said quietly. "You are all under arrest, in the name of the High Priestess of Bevelle."
* * *
To be continued.
* * *
Translations
Ymm nayto? – All ready?
Nayto – Ready
Rana fa ku – Here we go
Vunfynt – Forward