Author's Notes: I reloaded chapter 1, because of all the inconsistencies
between it and the other chapters..just thought it a kind gesture
Seymour blinked. "My..daughter? I.."
Yuna squeezed his hand affectionately. "Yes, love, you have a daughter. As I said, her name is Ailani, and she..takes after you." Yuna sighed. "I don't know where she got her personality, though..she's devilish at best. I had hoped marrying her to Lord Aubrey would calm her down - "
Seymour's eyes snapped open. "You married my daughter to Lord Aubrey Braeden?"
"Yes, he being one of the younger and yet more influential Lords, I thought - "
He grabbed her shoulders, looking intensely into her eyes. "Yuna..Lord Aubrey.." slowly he released her shoulders, his eyes distant and pensive. "No..you wouldn't know.."
Yuna, naturally, became more than a little annoyed that she didn't know the thing that he knew. "If you would kindly tell me about the man that our daughter is wed to!"
Seymour leaned in close. "He is a demon, one of the worst of the demon princes. He seeks only to get a son or sons out of Ailani and then he will either force her to turn to his order and turn her into a demi-demon, or he will kill her."
"Lord Aubrey would never do such a thing! He is a respected Lord - "
"Yuna," Seymour said gently, "You said the same thing about I when I was corrupting the whole of Yevon from the inside out."
Yuna quieted. Seymour turned to the hills and the now-bright sky. "All in the past..but this is the present, my dear. Yuna, we have to go to Ailani..I fear Aubrey has hurt her in some way, and though I never met my own seed, I surely will do all I can to protect her," he said, and swallowed. "Yuna, I just..I want to redeem my mistakes in the past. I want my daughter to be safe."
Yuna embraced him around his ribs, which was as high up as she could reach, and Seymour in turn placed his hands on her back, hugging her tightly as they slowly rose off the balcony. Yuna raised her head and gasped. "Seymour, what - "
"Shh," Seymour said, concentrating. "It is one of the last of the magics that the Planet gave me; specific spells for specific tasks. This is the last one that I understand the use of.." he trailed off, muttering.
They rocketed away over the ocean, headed towards a land that they had never seen.
A leaf fluttered down on her face, tickling her nose into sneezing. Had it not been for that, Ailani de Braska Guado, Priestess of Avalon, would have kept on sleeping until the afternoon.
But, as it was, she sneezed again and opened one blue eye, lazily surveying what she could see through that one, and then closed it and opened the other. Her front was very cold; where were her robes? But her back was warm, and she was covered with a warm thing, so she snuggled back against it and closed her eyes.
And opened them again as she realized that the warm thing behind and on top of her was a person. A man.
Twisting around, Ailani saw a healthy crop of hair, black as a raven's wing, and falling over the elf's face. He was still asleep, but waking; the muscles in his arms, honed from archery and swordsmanship, tightened, then relaxed, and Calix Gwydion woke up.
Ailani wanted rather badly to hit him soundly across the face for what it was rather apparent they had done, but knew that at Midsummer she, being sensitive to the flow of magic, would get volatile and be possessed by the Goddess. She also knew, and this was really what restrained her hand, that the elves kept Beltane as faithfully as any priestess. So there was nothing for her to be angry at, unless she was angry with her own person. It wasn't Calix's fault.
Calix, for his part, looked up at her with sleepy forest-green eyes that glittered in the mottled light of the grove they were in, and smiled. The hard walls around Ailani's heart, put there by years of loneliness and teasing, lowered and she smiled back, sincerely. "Good morning, Calix."
"Good morning, Ailani."
He sat up, and took her hand, rubbing his thumb over the four fingers, feeling the calluses. "Summer is here."
"Indeed." With that, the walls raised again and Ailani batted away his hand and sat up, rubbing her blue-pattered forehead. "Where is my robe?"
Calix made a sweeping gesture with his arm. "Somewhere 'round here. I don't know."
Ailani stood and shivered in the morning chill. Seeing her robes over a low branch, she half-ran over and slipped them on, the dark cloth enveloping her warmly, finding the sickle knife and wrapping that around her waist. Finding her footwear, too, Ailani slipped her feet into them and then took the trail down from the glade.
From the branches, a certain Al Bhed watched. Her light hair was bound up away from her face, and her muscles tensed as the blue-haired priestess walked under her branch. As Ailani was kinswoman to her, Rikku felt she had to watch out for the child her own cousin had given to Lulu and Wakka, to be raised biased against her father. Rikku had heard a six-year-old Ailani spouting hatred against the man whom her mother loved. She knew the lies that Ailani had been told as a little child; her mother had been raped and so she had been begotten by a halfbreed with nefarious intentions; lies, all of it. Rikku hadn't expected any more from Seymour, his past being what it was. She had, after all, walked in on them in Macalania.
***Flashback***
Rikku rose from bed, quite bored and still uneasy with the Thunder Plains so close. She would have liked to be on Bikanel, at Home.far, far away from the flashing terror of the expanse that was the road to Macalania Temple. But no, Yuna had to come and give her assent to marrying Maester Seymour - and Rikku had felt a little insulted about that, too. Anything was preferable to Yuna continuing her pilgrimage, but Rikku didn't trust Seymour farther than she could throw him, and with her slight weight, it wasn't far. Rikku was also annoyed that certain people in the group seemed to think that she was romantically interested in Sir Auron.
Why should I like someone who has no more mind to me than to a chocobo? Rikku wondered. People can be so fickle.
Now out on the night-chiled icy plains, Rikku started jogging to keep warm. She brought out what the Al Bhed were called a "flashlight" and pointed it around, her sharp eyes catching the movements of fiends and dispatching them before they reached her. Reaching her destination of Macalania Temple, Rikku opened the door and went inside, thankful no overpious monk was there to impede her.
Inside the great hall of the Temple, it was almost perfectly silent, except for the faint sound of the Hymn of the Fayth emanating from the chambers within. Rikku nodded briefly to the sleepy acolyte who was sitting outside the entrance to the Cloister of Trials, then proceeded towards one of the side rooms, hoping to get something resembling normal sleep before she had to get back - which she could do, if she wished.
And all desire to sleep fled from her as she saw the two figures standing near the heater in the room to which she had just opened the door.
Yuna turned around, most likely to yell at whoever had come in, and instead caught her breath in her throat and started gagging. The man who was standing next to her, not quite fully dressed, turned and patted Yuna on the back a couple times. Then he, too, noticed Rikku.
"What exactly are you doing here?" Seymour demanded. Rikku paid him no heed; her eyes were fixed on the summoner next to him who was sheepishly putting on the rest of her clothes
"I could ask the same of her. What are you doing here, Yunie?" Rikku asked in a softer tone of voice, stepping forward. "I thought you were back at the Agency."
Yuna blushed a little and said, fiddling with the beads on her belt, "No, I was.praying.at the.um."
Rikku raised an eyebrow. Seymour looked between them, stumped. Had this been any normal acolyte, he would have simply threatened them with the wrath of Yevon, but this was his beloved's kinswoman.could he truly bring any harm to her, real or imagined?
Yuna looked up at her cousin, across the wavering hot air of the heater. "Cousin.if you could.keep this secret."
Rikku nodded, and smiled. "Of course, Yunie."
***End flashback***
Rikku looked down on Yuna's daughter, gotten by Seymour, and with ideas about her father so wild they bordered on incredulity. She had begged Yuna to let Ailani be raised at the new Al Bhed Home, so that she might be accepted and love herself as she was; but Yuna had instead given the little fair blue-haired baby girl to Lulu and Wakka to raise.
Now it was time to undo the damage.
Seymour blinked. "My..daughter? I.."
Yuna squeezed his hand affectionately. "Yes, love, you have a daughter. As I said, her name is Ailani, and she..takes after you." Yuna sighed. "I don't know where she got her personality, though..she's devilish at best. I had hoped marrying her to Lord Aubrey would calm her down - "
Seymour's eyes snapped open. "You married my daughter to Lord Aubrey Braeden?"
"Yes, he being one of the younger and yet more influential Lords, I thought - "
He grabbed her shoulders, looking intensely into her eyes. "Yuna..Lord Aubrey.." slowly he released her shoulders, his eyes distant and pensive. "No..you wouldn't know.."
Yuna, naturally, became more than a little annoyed that she didn't know the thing that he knew. "If you would kindly tell me about the man that our daughter is wed to!"
Seymour leaned in close. "He is a demon, one of the worst of the demon princes. He seeks only to get a son or sons out of Ailani and then he will either force her to turn to his order and turn her into a demi-demon, or he will kill her."
"Lord Aubrey would never do such a thing! He is a respected Lord - "
"Yuna," Seymour said gently, "You said the same thing about I when I was corrupting the whole of Yevon from the inside out."
Yuna quieted. Seymour turned to the hills and the now-bright sky. "All in the past..but this is the present, my dear. Yuna, we have to go to Ailani..I fear Aubrey has hurt her in some way, and though I never met my own seed, I surely will do all I can to protect her," he said, and swallowed. "Yuna, I just..I want to redeem my mistakes in the past. I want my daughter to be safe."
Yuna embraced him around his ribs, which was as high up as she could reach, and Seymour in turn placed his hands on her back, hugging her tightly as they slowly rose off the balcony. Yuna raised her head and gasped. "Seymour, what - "
"Shh," Seymour said, concentrating. "It is one of the last of the magics that the Planet gave me; specific spells for specific tasks. This is the last one that I understand the use of.." he trailed off, muttering.
They rocketed away over the ocean, headed towards a land that they had never seen.
A leaf fluttered down on her face, tickling her nose into sneezing. Had it not been for that, Ailani de Braska Guado, Priestess of Avalon, would have kept on sleeping until the afternoon.
But, as it was, she sneezed again and opened one blue eye, lazily surveying what she could see through that one, and then closed it and opened the other. Her front was very cold; where were her robes? But her back was warm, and she was covered with a warm thing, so she snuggled back against it and closed her eyes.
And opened them again as she realized that the warm thing behind and on top of her was a person. A man.
Twisting around, Ailani saw a healthy crop of hair, black as a raven's wing, and falling over the elf's face. He was still asleep, but waking; the muscles in his arms, honed from archery and swordsmanship, tightened, then relaxed, and Calix Gwydion woke up.
Ailani wanted rather badly to hit him soundly across the face for what it was rather apparent they had done, but knew that at Midsummer she, being sensitive to the flow of magic, would get volatile and be possessed by the Goddess. She also knew, and this was really what restrained her hand, that the elves kept Beltane as faithfully as any priestess. So there was nothing for her to be angry at, unless she was angry with her own person. It wasn't Calix's fault.
Calix, for his part, looked up at her with sleepy forest-green eyes that glittered in the mottled light of the grove they were in, and smiled. The hard walls around Ailani's heart, put there by years of loneliness and teasing, lowered and she smiled back, sincerely. "Good morning, Calix."
"Good morning, Ailani."
He sat up, and took her hand, rubbing his thumb over the four fingers, feeling the calluses. "Summer is here."
"Indeed." With that, the walls raised again and Ailani batted away his hand and sat up, rubbing her blue-pattered forehead. "Where is my robe?"
Calix made a sweeping gesture with his arm. "Somewhere 'round here. I don't know."
Ailani stood and shivered in the morning chill. Seeing her robes over a low branch, she half-ran over and slipped them on, the dark cloth enveloping her warmly, finding the sickle knife and wrapping that around her waist. Finding her footwear, too, Ailani slipped her feet into them and then took the trail down from the glade.
From the branches, a certain Al Bhed watched. Her light hair was bound up away from her face, and her muscles tensed as the blue-haired priestess walked under her branch. As Ailani was kinswoman to her, Rikku felt she had to watch out for the child her own cousin had given to Lulu and Wakka, to be raised biased against her father. Rikku had heard a six-year-old Ailani spouting hatred against the man whom her mother loved. She knew the lies that Ailani had been told as a little child; her mother had been raped and so she had been begotten by a halfbreed with nefarious intentions; lies, all of it. Rikku hadn't expected any more from Seymour, his past being what it was. She had, after all, walked in on them in Macalania.
***Flashback***
Rikku rose from bed, quite bored and still uneasy with the Thunder Plains so close. She would have liked to be on Bikanel, at Home.far, far away from the flashing terror of the expanse that was the road to Macalania Temple. But no, Yuna had to come and give her assent to marrying Maester Seymour - and Rikku had felt a little insulted about that, too. Anything was preferable to Yuna continuing her pilgrimage, but Rikku didn't trust Seymour farther than she could throw him, and with her slight weight, it wasn't far. Rikku was also annoyed that certain people in the group seemed to think that she was romantically interested in Sir Auron.
Why should I like someone who has no more mind to me than to a chocobo? Rikku wondered. People can be so fickle.
Now out on the night-chiled icy plains, Rikku started jogging to keep warm. She brought out what the Al Bhed were called a "flashlight" and pointed it around, her sharp eyes catching the movements of fiends and dispatching them before they reached her. Reaching her destination of Macalania Temple, Rikku opened the door and went inside, thankful no overpious monk was there to impede her.
Inside the great hall of the Temple, it was almost perfectly silent, except for the faint sound of the Hymn of the Fayth emanating from the chambers within. Rikku nodded briefly to the sleepy acolyte who was sitting outside the entrance to the Cloister of Trials, then proceeded towards one of the side rooms, hoping to get something resembling normal sleep before she had to get back - which she could do, if she wished.
And all desire to sleep fled from her as she saw the two figures standing near the heater in the room to which she had just opened the door.
Yuna turned around, most likely to yell at whoever had come in, and instead caught her breath in her throat and started gagging. The man who was standing next to her, not quite fully dressed, turned and patted Yuna on the back a couple times. Then he, too, noticed Rikku.
"What exactly are you doing here?" Seymour demanded. Rikku paid him no heed; her eyes were fixed on the summoner next to him who was sheepishly putting on the rest of her clothes
"I could ask the same of her. What are you doing here, Yunie?" Rikku asked in a softer tone of voice, stepping forward. "I thought you were back at the Agency."
Yuna blushed a little and said, fiddling with the beads on her belt, "No, I was.praying.at the.um."
Rikku raised an eyebrow. Seymour looked between them, stumped. Had this been any normal acolyte, he would have simply threatened them with the wrath of Yevon, but this was his beloved's kinswoman.could he truly bring any harm to her, real or imagined?
Yuna looked up at her cousin, across the wavering hot air of the heater. "Cousin.if you could.keep this secret."
Rikku nodded, and smiled. "Of course, Yunie."
***End flashback***
Rikku looked down on Yuna's daughter, gotten by Seymour, and with ideas about her father so wild they bordered on incredulity. She had begged Yuna to let Ailani be raised at the new Al Bhed Home, so that she might be accepted and love herself as she was; but Yuna had instead given the little fair blue-haired baby girl to Lulu and Wakka to raise.
Now it was time to undo the damage.