Author's Notes: A big thank you to all who've reviewed. ^.^ You keep up
my will to write!
---***---
The next week brought Seymour's nineteenth birthday; he received so much attention from family and friends that he hadn't the time to play with Yuna and Ariane that he'd promised. Yuna went around sulking. In apology, Seymour got Yuna a little necklace with three little silver balls hanging from it; she insisted on wearing it the second she unwrapped it. For his birthday she had given him a little bracelet she had made herself. He wore it every day.
After that month, the weather got hot. Seymour's days were filled with trips to the beach and the cooler air of the woods. Braska set off on his pilgrimage with his friends Auron de Kadin and a newcomer, Jecht de Lilith. Jecht was a blitzer, and Usoa warned Yuna off him and his rough-cut good looks - not that she'd needed to. It was more of a motherly thing than anything else; Yuna had her heart set on Seymour, and for all of the eleven years he had on her, he felt much the same way.
School began again in the fall; Yuna, wearing very pretty earth tones, insisted on riding in the chocobo cart with Usoa and Seymour to the Palace School gates. When he'd given her a last hug and promised her he'd visit as often as he could and write when he couldn't, and pulled the last of his bags off the cart, she stood in the seat of the cart and waved, crying quietly. He watched them weave through the crowd from his dormitory. Behind him, Felix was dreamily unpacking his own bags; Felix was a tanned youth from Luca, the only son of a wealthy family who wanted him to take over the clan's hold on the blitzball concession stands. Felix would have rather been a blitzer, but his parents wouldn't permit it.
That makes two of us, Seymour thought unhappily. I want to go back to Braska's mansion.
Braska; where was he on his pilgrimage now? Seymour devoutly hoped that Braska would be the one to defeat Sin; though it would deprive his family of his exuberant boyishness, Seymour couldn't think of a better man for it.
"Hey, Seymour.what kind of trouble are we going to raise this year, eh?" Felix asked, abandoning the clothes he'd been trying to fit into the chest of drawers at the foot of his bed. Seymour turned from the window and grinned.
"Well, Felix, I was planning over the summer and here's what I've gotten."
---***---
Midwinter Festivals in Bevelle were not to be missed; so instead of staying in and working like he had the last years Seymour bundled up against the chill and left the school after scrawling a vague note on the board outside his dormitory that he was going to the Festival. The streets seemed full of laughing families and couples hand in hand; Seymour kept his head down and followed the flow of the crowd. He peeled off, however, at a mansion with a festive wreath of evergreens on the gate. Knocking on the door, he smiled down at the wobbly four-year-old than answered.
"Hullo, Ariane," he said with a smile. "Having a good Midwinter?"
She nodded, her green eyes wide and one finger in her mouth. Seymour knelt down to eye level. "Is your mother here?"
Ariane scampered off, presumably to get Usoa, and Seymour came in and shut the door. It was warm inside the foyer, and Seymour took off his gloves and hat.
Having heard his voice, Yuna came running and leapt at him, driving him back into the door while attaching firmly to his neck. "Seymour!"
Grinning, Seymour returned Yuna's enthusiastic embrace and set her back down on the floor. "How's your Midwinter?"
She bobbed up and down in an ecstasy. "Great! Daddy sent me a sphere from Kilika - that's where he is now - along with my very own staff!" She ran off up the stairs to get it and returned with a blue staff tipped with an intricate top piece. "Isn't it pretty?"
Seymour nodded. "It's beautiful, just like you."
Yuna blushed, and then lowered her staff as Usoa came in with Ariane in tow. "Mommy mommy, Seymour's here!"
"I can see that Yuna." She looked up, smiling, to Seymour. He was struck by how much older she looked; Usoa was in the middle of her third decade, a vivacious woman if ever there was one, but she loved her husband dearly. Braska's absence was taking its toll on her. "She's been after me to invite you to come with us to the Midwinter Festival. If you hadn't come on your own then we would have come and gotten you. No, Ari, you have to wear your coat."
The little girl's lower lip trembled, and as Usoa appeared at her wit's end with the little girl, Seymour picked her up, looking at her with the same serious stare she gave him. "Ariane, you want to go to the Festival right?"
She nodded. Seymour continued, "But you don't want to be sick when your daddy comes home, do you?" Ariane shook her head vehemently. With Usoa looking at him goggle-eyed, he managed to persuade Ariane to put on her gray coat and smiled at her when she finished. "Good girl, Ari."
Usoa picked her up again. "I don't know how you do it, Seymour."
Seymour didn't know either; but that thought was lost as Yuna grabbed his hand and dragged him out the door and down the street to the Festival Green. Music, smells, and sights demanded his senses' attentions all at once. Usoa gave him an exorbitant amount of gil to "go have fun with," and so Seymour and Yuna set off.
"So many things to do!" Yuna cried happily. She wasn't far off; they spent half the gil they had playing various games; Yuna won a prize for a ring- toss game, and together they guessed the number of spheres in a large jar that was almost as tall as Yuna. Ravenous, Yuna (being the one with the sharper nose) found a stand selling food from all over Spira. They paid for the food, and Seymour cleared off a section of a wall for them to sit on. Yuna, with her fuzzy blue hat and coat, and her mismatched eyes looked very cute against the pure white background. Some of Seymour's friends from the school spotted him and headed over; Felix was one of them (he'd purchased some fireworks, and displayed them to all with a look of mischievous glee), and Seymour didn't hesitate in introducing Yuna to him, Lulu, Maddock, and Leon. Despite they were all a good eleven or twelve years her elders, Yuna kept up with the conversation, but asked a couple very searching questions that Seymour said he'd answer when she was older.
They also saw Aubrey there; he was five levels below Seymour, and he made a show of greeting Yuna as befit her station - or so he said. Seymour didn't trust him, with his pale hair and pristine blue eyes. Or maybe it was the occasional hint of red that flashed in the same eyes that cast charming looks at the ladies of his level, and above. Or the little scornful sneer from a mouth that could smile so prettily at a flirting young woman - well, whatever the case, Seymour glared at him until he left. Felix came back after that, twirled Yuna around in the air and gave her a little trinket he'd won.
"So was that Aubrey?" He asked while Yuna was busy constructing a snowman. "You should stay away from him, man. He's been spreadin' all these things about you - mostly that you're a child molester."
Seymour snorted. "Aubrey's just arrogant and annoyed that the prettiest girl in Bevelle has eyes for me only."
Felix raised a blond eyebrow. "Say what you want, Seymour, but I'd be careful if I were you, ya?"
Night fell; they found Usoa and Ariane 'playing' in the snow. Ariane was tossing snow up in the air and giggling; she threw some at Seymour and giggled some more. Yuna snuggled between Seymour and her mother on the cleared flagstone. Many other groups of people were around them, laughing and chattering. Eventually the fireworks started, and even after that, late at night when Ariane had long since crawled into her mother's lap and curled up, and Yuna fallen asleep against Seymour's shoulder, the Festival Green was filled to burst with lights, laughter, and people.
---***---
Term started again a week after the Festival. Once more the Palace was filled with the pleasant murmur of students hard at work. As exiting exams were coming frightfully fast for Seymour's level, most of his classmates were to be found in the library, reading up on the History of the Temples, or reciting the duties of a summoner - generally preparing for whatever they thought that the teachers would throw at them. Maddock, the studious one of Seymour's group of friends, nearly had a nervous breakdown and had to spend a few nights in the infirmary.
It was then that the trouble with Aubrey started.
---***---
The next week brought Seymour's nineteenth birthday; he received so much attention from family and friends that he hadn't the time to play with Yuna and Ariane that he'd promised. Yuna went around sulking. In apology, Seymour got Yuna a little necklace with three little silver balls hanging from it; she insisted on wearing it the second she unwrapped it. For his birthday she had given him a little bracelet she had made herself. He wore it every day.
After that month, the weather got hot. Seymour's days were filled with trips to the beach and the cooler air of the woods. Braska set off on his pilgrimage with his friends Auron de Kadin and a newcomer, Jecht de Lilith. Jecht was a blitzer, and Usoa warned Yuna off him and his rough-cut good looks - not that she'd needed to. It was more of a motherly thing than anything else; Yuna had her heart set on Seymour, and for all of the eleven years he had on her, he felt much the same way.
School began again in the fall; Yuna, wearing very pretty earth tones, insisted on riding in the chocobo cart with Usoa and Seymour to the Palace School gates. When he'd given her a last hug and promised her he'd visit as often as he could and write when he couldn't, and pulled the last of his bags off the cart, she stood in the seat of the cart and waved, crying quietly. He watched them weave through the crowd from his dormitory. Behind him, Felix was dreamily unpacking his own bags; Felix was a tanned youth from Luca, the only son of a wealthy family who wanted him to take over the clan's hold on the blitzball concession stands. Felix would have rather been a blitzer, but his parents wouldn't permit it.
That makes two of us, Seymour thought unhappily. I want to go back to Braska's mansion.
Braska; where was he on his pilgrimage now? Seymour devoutly hoped that Braska would be the one to defeat Sin; though it would deprive his family of his exuberant boyishness, Seymour couldn't think of a better man for it.
"Hey, Seymour.what kind of trouble are we going to raise this year, eh?" Felix asked, abandoning the clothes he'd been trying to fit into the chest of drawers at the foot of his bed. Seymour turned from the window and grinned.
"Well, Felix, I was planning over the summer and here's what I've gotten."
---***---
Midwinter Festivals in Bevelle were not to be missed; so instead of staying in and working like he had the last years Seymour bundled up against the chill and left the school after scrawling a vague note on the board outside his dormitory that he was going to the Festival. The streets seemed full of laughing families and couples hand in hand; Seymour kept his head down and followed the flow of the crowd. He peeled off, however, at a mansion with a festive wreath of evergreens on the gate. Knocking on the door, he smiled down at the wobbly four-year-old than answered.
"Hullo, Ariane," he said with a smile. "Having a good Midwinter?"
She nodded, her green eyes wide and one finger in her mouth. Seymour knelt down to eye level. "Is your mother here?"
Ariane scampered off, presumably to get Usoa, and Seymour came in and shut the door. It was warm inside the foyer, and Seymour took off his gloves and hat.
Having heard his voice, Yuna came running and leapt at him, driving him back into the door while attaching firmly to his neck. "Seymour!"
Grinning, Seymour returned Yuna's enthusiastic embrace and set her back down on the floor. "How's your Midwinter?"
She bobbed up and down in an ecstasy. "Great! Daddy sent me a sphere from Kilika - that's where he is now - along with my very own staff!" She ran off up the stairs to get it and returned with a blue staff tipped with an intricate top piece. "Isn't it pretty?"
Seymour nodded. "It's beautiful, just like you."
Yuna blushed, and then lowered her staff as Usoa came in with Ariane in tow. "Mommy mommy, Seymour's here!"
"I can see that Yuna." She looked up, smiling, to Seymour. He was struck by how much older she looked; Usoa was in the middle of her third decade, a vivacious woman if ever there was one, but she loved her husband dearly. Braska's absence was taking its toll on her. "She's been after me to invite you to come with us to the Midwinter Festival. If you hadn't come on your own then we would have come and gotten you. No, Ari, you have to wear your coat."
The little girl's lower lip trembled, and as Usoa appeared at her wit's end with the little girl, Seymour picked her up, looking at her with the same serious stare she gave him. "Ariane, you want to go to the Festival right?"
She nodded. Seymour continued, "But you don't want to be sick when your daddy comes home, do you?" Ariane shook her head vehemently. With Usoa looking at him goggle-eyed, he managed to persuade Ariane to put on her gray coat and smiled at her when she finished. "Good girl, Ari."
Usoa picked her up again. "I don't know how you do it, Seymour."
Seymour didn't know either; but that thought was lost as Yuna grabbed his hand and dragged him out the door and down the street to the Festival Green. Music, smells, and sights demanded his senses' attentions all at once. Usoa gave him an exorbitant amount of gil to "go have fun with," and so Seymour and Yuna set off.
"So many things to do!" Yuna cried happily. She wasn't far off; they spent half the gil they had playing various games; Yuna won a prize for a ring- toss game, and together they guessed the number of spheres in a large jar that was almost as tall as Yuna. Ravenous, Yuna (being the one with the sharper nose) found a stand selling food from all over Spira. They paid for the food, and Seymour cleared off a section of a wall for them to sit on. Yuna, with her fuzzy blue hat and coat, and her mismatched eyes looked very cute against the pure white background. Some of Seymour's friends from the school spotted him and headed over; Felix was one of them (he'd purchased some fireworks, and displayed them to all with a look of mischievous glee), and Seymour didn't hesitate in introducing Yuna to him, Lulu, Maddock, and Leon. Despite they were all a good eleven or twelve years her elders, Yuna kept up with the conversation, but asked a couple very searching questions that Seymour said he'd answer when she was older.
They also saw Aubrey there; he was five levels below Seymour, and he made a show of greeting Yuna as befit her station - or so he said. Seymour didn't trust him, with his pale hair and pristine blue eyes. Or maybe it was the occasional hint of red that flashed in the same eyes that cast charming looks at the ladies of his level, and above. Or the little scornful sneer from a mouth that could smile so prettily at a flirting young woman - well, whatever the case, Seymour glared at him until he left. Felix came back after that, twirled Yuna around in the air and gave her a little trinket he'd won.
"So was that Aubrey?" He asked while Yuna was busy constructing a snowman. "You should stay away from him, man. He's been spreadin' all these things about you - mostly that you're a child molester."
Seymour snorted. "Aubrey's just arrogant and annoyed that the prettiest girl in Bevelle has eyes for me only."
Felix raised a blond eyebrow. "Say what you want, Seymour, but I'd be careful if I were you, ya?"
Night fell; they found Usoa and Ariane 'playing' in the snow. Ariane was tossing snow up in the air and giggling; she threw some at Seymour and giggled some more. Yuna snuggled between Seymour and her mother on the cleared flagstone. Many other groups of people were around them, laughing and chattering. Eventually the fireworks started, and even after that, late at night when Ariane had long since crawled into her mother's lap and curled up, and Yuna fallen asleep against Seymour's shoulder, the Festival Green was filled to burst with lights, laughter, and people.
---***---
Term started again a week after the Festival. Once more the Palace was filled with the pleasant murmur of students hard at work. As exiting exams were coming frightfully fast for Seymour's level, most of his classmates were to be found in the library, reading up on the History of the Temples, or reciting the duties of a summoner - generally preparing for whatever they thought that the teachers would throw at them. Maddock, the studious one of Seymour's group of friends, nearly had a nervous breakdown and had to spend a few nights in the infirmary.
It was then that the trouble with Aubrey started.