Author's note: I'm gonna put this once for the first few chapters. No
character, except Calix and Ailani, belong to me..I think that's all.I'll
add more in as I go, though. Also, Spira and all that FFX stuff belongs to
Square..blah blah blah.you get the picture. Read on, my pretties!
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Alone.
Always alone, wandering the forests of a continent so vast that no one had yet circumnavigated it. Never mind the fact that most of it was mountainous, covered in deep forest.
This is the last place I thought I'd be.
Priestess. The crescent moon was fading on her forehead, the normal mark of a priestess of Avalon. Priestess she was no longer, but Mage. Traveling the world with a horse as her only living companion, and the sword of her mother's lover, 23-year-old Ailani Guado was a far cry from home. Back home, in the village - no, city it was, now - of Besaid, she would have been working at some feminine art, embroidery or lute. But dissidence was a mighty wedge in any family, and it was not an exception in her family. Her broken family, with her spastic, ultra-feminine mother. Ailani hated her father, detested her mother, and when the old priestess had come to Besaid and scouted her for Avalon, she didn't refuse the summons. Anything to leave the hell she'd been brought into by blood. Guado-Al Bhed-Human. Her hair color - a silvery blue - and the varicose veins on her forehead told of her Guado third, while the slight trailing edge to her pupils heralded her Al Bhed ancestors. Her mother had been part Al Bhed, and her father and mother had been part human. But it was her father who had viciously raped her mother, and nine months later, was not alive to see his daughter.
Yes, Ailani thought, alone was a word she understood. Having been raised through her primary years with her godparents, Ailani had had no shortage of children her age to play with, but often it was a question of whether or not the children wanted to play with her. Most of the time she'd spent training with the local Weaponsmaster, out of boredom, and discovered her true fighting style lay with the sword. Upon hearing this, on her sixteenth birthday when her mother requested her home from Avalon and she had been presented with the sword of her mother's lover, Tidus. Caladbolg was a beautiful sword, blue gradually shading into green, silver edges and gold inlay. After she and her mother had fought for the millionth time, it seemed, she had stormed off to her room, gathered up her sword and cloak and priestess' robe, and began her trek out of the city, boarding the first boat off Besaid.
Which had taken her to the continent of Anash, far to the west of Spira. Here she had gotten her horse, a silver-steel gray stallion she had named Nenya. And now she was heading towards the Serra Mountains, tall peaks cloaked in fog. Her attire had changed; the thin robe of Avalon was unsuitable here, where most of the time it was overcast and everything had a damp feel to it. She had obtained warm riding pants and a tunic of green fabric, and the black cloak she wore to keep out the chill fastened with a clasp in the shape of a dolphin. Caladbolg was firm in the sheath that she kept it in when she was riding; normally it was slung sheathless at her hip. Ailani was presently headed towards a good-sized tavern/inn, to warm up and perhaps stay a night or two and rest.
Handing Nenya's reins over to the stablehand that appeared to assist her, she slipped Caladbolg out of its sheath and held it to the clamp at her hip, shook it briefly to see if it would hold, then pushed open the door with one gloved hand and entered the tavern.
It was packed, as she'd expected; this was a particularly penetrating fog, and many people were inside. Seeking a room where the constant noise wouldn't bombard her ears, Ailani ducked into and out of rooms until she found one that was almost empty. Moving through the chairs, she took one near the fire and pulled the cowl of her hood down, leaning forward to absorb more warmth into her body. Goddess, but it was cold out there! Leaning back, she let the heat soak into her body, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.
It wasn't until the man sat down and shifted the cushions that Ailani looked at anyone else in the room. Eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance, she met the young elf's forest-green eyes and said, "I don't believe I invited you to sit with me."
The elf smiled a little; his eyes were sad, she noticed, and the smile he gave was only halfhearted. But what did she care? "I only wanted to see who the cloaked woman was, and to warm myself at the fire," he replied.
Ailani, noting his overeager approach, turned back to the flames and said, "You should know that I find male rebound behavior rather embarrassing, and not flattering at all."
The elf sighed. "I knew that," he said forlornly. "I've spent the last weeks running from a place called Icewind Dale, and from an old love of mine." Curious, Ailani did not feel any hesitation in asking further. "Why?" The elf stared into the flames. "I met her a long while ago.she was so sad, so timid, so tiny.I fell in love with her immediately. She was a beautiful young thing."
Ailani, tired of this, waved her hand at him and leaned back towards the fire. "I don't need to hear of your old romance. Leave me alone."
Apparently, this only made the elf more interested. Ailani's temper steadily rose as he continued to try to win her over; finally, at the end of her patience, she stood, whipped out Caladbolg, and said loudly enough for the whole establishment to hear, "Don't you bother me again, damnit!" and left the tavern, tearing through the stables and picking up Nenya, and galloped out of the area in a blaze of anger.
________________________________________________________________________
Alone.
Always alone, wandering the forests of a continent so vast that no one had yet circumnavigated it. Never mind the fact that most of it was mountainous, covered in deep forest.
This is the last place I thought I'd be.
Priestess. The crescent moon was fading on her forehead, the normal mark of a priestess of Avalon. Priestess she was no longer, but Mage. Traveling the world with a horse as her only living companion, and the sword of her mother's lover, 23-year-old Ailani Guado was a far cry from home. Back home, in the village - no, city it was, now - of Besaid, she would have been working at some feminine art, embroidery or lute. But dissidence was a mighty wedge in any family, and it was not an exception in her family. Her broken family, with her spastic, ultra-feminine mother. Ailani hated her father, detested her mother, and when the old priestess had come to Besaid and scouted her for Avalon, she didn't refuse the summons. Anything to leave the hell she'd been brought into by blood. Guado-Al Bhed-Human. Her hair color - a silvery blue - and the varicose veins on her forehead told of her Guado third, while the slight trailing edge to her pupils heralded her Al Bhed ancestors. Her mother had been part Al Bhed, and her father and mother had been part human. But it was her father who had viciously raped her mother, and nine months later, was not alive to see his daughter.
Yes, Ailani thought, alone was a word she understood. Having been raised through her primary years with her godparents, Ailani had had no shortage of children her age to play with, but often it was a question of whether or not the children wanted to play with her. Most of the time she'd spent training with the local Weaponsmaster, out of boredom, and discovered her true fighting style lay with the sword. Upon hearing this, on her sixteenth birthday when her mother requested her home from Avalon and she had been presented with the sword of her mother's lover, Tidus. Caladbolg was a beautiful sword, blue gradually shading into green, silver edges and gold inlay. After she and her mother had fought for the millionth time, it seemed, she had stormed off to her room, gathered up her sword and cloak and priestess' robe, and began her trek out of the city, boarding the first boat off Besaid.
Which had taken her to the continent of Anash, far to the west of Spira. Here she had gotten her horse, a silver-steel gray stallion she had named Nenya. And now she was heading towards the Serra Mountains, tall peaks cloaked in fog. Her attire had changed; the thin robe of Avalon was unsuitable here, where most of the time it was overcast and everything had a damp feel to it. She had obtained warm riding pants and a tunic of green fabric, and the black cloak she wore to keep out the chill fastened with a clasp in the shape of a dolphin. Caladbolg was firm in the sheath that she kept it in when she was riding; normally it was slung sheathless at her hip. Ailani was presently headed towards a good-sized tavern/inn, to warm up and perhaps stay a night or two and rest.
Handing Nenya's reins over to the stablehand that appeared to assist her, she slipped Caladbolg out of its sheath and held it to the clamp at her hip, shook it briefly to see if it would hold, then pushed open the door with one gloved hand and entered the tavern.
It was packed, as she'd expected; this was a particularly penetrating fog, and many people were inside. Seeking a room where the constant noise wouldn't bombard her ears, Ailani ducked into and out of rooms until she found one that was almost empty. Moving through the chairs, she took one near the fire and pulled the cowl of her hood down, leaning forward to absorb more warmth into her body. Goddess, but it was cold out there! Leaning back, she let the heat soak into her body, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.
It wasn't until the man sat down and shifted the cushions that Ailani looked at anyone else in the room. Eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance, she met the young elf's forest-green eyes and said, "I don't believe I invited you to sit with me."
The elf smiled a little; his eyes were sad, she noticed, and the smile he gave was only halfhearted. But what did she care? "I only wanted to see who the cloaked woman was, and to warm myself at the fire," he replied.
Ailani, noting his overeager approach, turned back to the flames and said, "You should know that I find male rebound behavior rather embarrassing, and not flattering at all."
The elf sighed. "I knew that," he said forlornly. "I've spent the last weeks running from a place called Icewind Dale, and from an old love of mine." Curious, Ailani did not feel any hesitation in asking further. "Why?" The elf stared into the flames. "I met her a long while ago.she was so sad, so timid, so tiny.I fell in love with her immediately. She was a beautiful young thing."
Ailani, tired of this, waved her hand at him and leaned back towards the fire. "I don't need to hear of your old romance. Leave me alone."
Apparently, this only made the elf more interested. Ailani's temper steadily rose as he continued to try to win her over; finally, at the end of her patience, she stood, whipped out Caladbolg, and said loudly enough for the whole establishment to hear, "Don't you bother me again, damnit!" and left the tavern, tearing through the stables and picking up Nenya, and galloped out of the area in a blaze of anger.