Battles we've Fought
By: Degone-Gin
Chapter 5:
Tidus wearily walked back to the camp, a clinking bag that was overfull resting on his shoulder. He was exhausted and sore. Sighing, he settled his burden on the ground near Lulu and dropped to the ground, feet as near the fire as he could stand.
"What is this?" asked the icy voice of the dark mage.
"Stuff." Tidus shrugged, "Potions, elixirs, hi-potions… you know, stuff."
Lulu nodded to the blonde and started to sort out the mixed bag of goodies. She grunted with satisfaction as the items totaled over a hundred. She looked down at the tired jock and with a bit of respect in her voice asked, "Where did you get all this? Racing the Chocobo?"
Tidus sufficed with a nod. He could feel his eyes drooping shut; it had been a busy day for him. With a shake he tried to banish the sleep from his head and looked around. Wakka was watching for fiends on a small hill near the fire, back to the light so as to keep a small bit of night vision. Kimahri was across the gap, sitting with Auron, who had apparently built a small fire for himself. Rikku was slowly turning a spit with some sort of animal on it, ladling it with some sauce. Yuna was curled up, lying on her side, watching the dancing fire.
"Did I miss something, again?" asked the blitz ball champ.
Lulu, being the only one really paying Tidus any attention answered, "No. We're all just getting used to the thought of being serious tomorrow."
"So you've decided to start out on pilgrimage tomorrow morning?" Tidus asked, turning to Yuna's resting form.
The young summoner nodded. She looked up at the boy with sad eyes. Almost as sad as that night at the pool in Macalania forest.
"What is it?" Tidus inquired softly, stroking Yuna's hair lightly.
"I was only thinking." Yuna responded, also speaking quietly
The smile was back on his face as he continued to question his lady summoner, "About?"
Yuna sighed and sat up, her glance stole to the two silhouetted warriors on the other side of the bridge. She turned her gaze to the young man across the fire and smiled. "It is nothing, Tidus. Please, just let it drop?" She fingered her blue bead ornament in her brown hair with an idle hand.
"Sure. Conversation's about the only thing I can drop." He returned her smile and took a second to look at Kimahri and Auron. "Wonder what the two of them are up two?"
Lulu walked back to the fire from her sorting spot. She was slapping her hands together, as if cleaning them. "I don't know, but I can tell you that your exploits today have saved us all a lot of pain and gil. Want the totals?" She allowed a gleam to appear in her crimson eyes, the closest Yuna had seen to a smile in a long time.
Nodding the young summoner stated, "Oh yes! What has Tidus done for us?"
Lulu settled to the ground in a place that was equidistant from the jock and the girl in white. She produced a small scrap of parchment and read the totals. "Well, 40 potions, 25 Hi-potions, 20 phoenix down, and 15 elixirs. Quite the little haul."
Tidus' grin grew as the list was read; by the end he had nothing but shining blue eyes and a gigantic smirk on his tanned face. "All for my lady summoner!" he gestured with his fist pumping salute.
"My thanks, guardian." Yuna spoke past her own small smile.
Tidus stretched and looked back at the second fire, "So do you think we outta wait for them to get back?"
Yuna watched the silhouettes and noticed that one was moving as if it was drinking, Sir Auron looked to be on the road to a solid drunk. "I don't think it will be likely that we'll see them anytime soon. Let's set up as if they won't make it. Lulu, Tidus, Wakka, I leave the argument over who gets what watch to you." She stood and made her way to her bedroll.
Tidus looked at Lulu and Wakka, he held up three fingers and pointed to himself. Lulu nodded and waved two fingers. Wakka shrugged and turned his back to the fire, blinking to get his night vision back. The main camp settled into comfortable sleep with their summoner, night birds calling in the distance.
"Kimahri think you had enough." Stated the blue Ronso as Auron began to sway like a reed in the wind. With a quick gesture he snagged the tokkuri out of the intoxicated acting guardian.
"I'm not the least bit done, Kimahri. As you can tell, I'm fine." Auron motioned to his clay sake jug. "It's not polite to interrupt a man when he's trying so desperately to get stinking drunk."
The feline warrior sighed. With a slow blinking of his yellow cat eyes he stared at Auron. "You can't afford to let go right now, friend. In the morning Yuna's going to need you. All of you." He set the tokkuri to his left side, behind him.
Auron rubbed his face in frustration, combing his fingers through his graying hair. "I don't need a nursemaid, Kimahri."
"I think you do." The Ronso leaned closer to the man, he wrinkled his nose, did the warrior-monk have to BATHE in sake? "What has you so upset?"
"I'd rather not think about it."
Kimahri rested a paw on the clay jug, shaking it a little to make its liquid contents be heard. He continued to stare at Auron, his lion's face impassive.
"What? If I spill my guts to you, you'll give me back my sake?" Auron glared at his long time companion. "I'm not twelve. I don't play games like that." He crossed his arms and settled back against the rock he had chosen to be his backrest. Inside his head, he could hear the soft voices of Braska and Jecht, reciting the words that tore the young Auron's heart and spilled his life's blood on the ground.
Kimahri's voice overrode the silent dialogue, "Then just tell me what has gotten you so withdrawn."
"Braska wanted to see his daughter. It seems I don't have much choice in the matter when it comes to any summoner I have watched over. I cannot refuse them." He shuddered as he remembered the cold touch and the total lack of control. "Not even when they seek to possess my very body."
Kimahri's ears laid back; with a grimace he patted the scarlet robed man on the shoulder. "It's tough when the dead cannot let go of the living. Doubly so for you I think."
Auron snorted, he noted he was light headed, and very, very tired. He sighed, "Wonderful, not even allowed the nice parts of getting drunk." He yawned. "Just the tired part." With a grunt he threw his arms behind his head and completely relaxed against the hard stone.
Kimahri watched the man's antics with faint amusement. If it wasn't for the fact that his companion was a very tormented lost soul, doomed to wander the land of the living yet have no real connection to it. "Did she take it well?" he asked with a quite growl.
"As well as any young girl would take getting stared at by a lecherous old man. Jecht could not stop laughing." Auron chuckled to himself. "Luckily, her father only had a second or two, otherwise she might have really lost it. As it is, I think she's a bit scared of me now, not that I'd blame her."
The Ronso nodded. Absently he picked his large teeth with a claw as he thought. "So you can communicate with High Summoner Braska and his other guardian, Jecht. Am I correct?"
Auron nodded and felt his split face stretch into a deep yawn. He could feel his eyelid start to close on it's own.
"How?" Kimahri grunted.
"To long to explain." Slurred the inebriated man. "Lemme sleep." Auron's eye closed with the finality of the sleep deprived.
Kimahri growled softly to himself and tenderly picked up the large warrior- monk. "How long has it been since you slept, my friend?" He asked the nearly unconscious bundle.
Softly, the crimson garbed man whispered, "When did you find me?"
Kimahri shook his head and carefully kicked out the small fire. The blue warrior stooped down to grab the tokkuri and he settled his charge in his arms. With a mind on the unsteady bridge he walked back to camp.
Wakka was board. No fiend in it's right mind would get close to the temple. He stood up and walked a bit away, he began to shadow box to bleed off his excess energy. He was about to K.O. his imaginary opponent when he caught a glimpse of a large blue man-beast walking from the bridge. Wakka stopped and moved over to see what was up. He gasped and reached for his stash of potions when the captain realized Kimahri was carrying Sir Auron.
Kimahri shook his head. "Auron drink. Auron sleeps now." He stated in his broken talk.
"He's not hurt?" Asked Wakka in a whisper. "Didn't relapse from that heathen magic stuff, ya?"
The Ronso shook his head again. With tender care Kimahri placed the now completely asleep Auron on the red cotton bedroll that he commonly used. The blue furred warrior placed the clay sake jar next to Auron's head and turned to take up watch.
"I got first watch, Lulu's second and Tidus pulled third." Wakka rubbed the back of his head and stretched, "Been quiet as a temple mouse out here."
"Good."
"Ya, that's right. It is good, but boooooring." Wakka took up sparing with his shadow nearby the small hillock. Kimahri seemed most comfortable perched upon the slightly higher ground.
"Quiet." Kimahri placed a furred finger against his muzzle, his yellow cat eyes glowing in the near total darkness.
"Yah, Okay." Wakka settled down next to Kimahri, the Ronso let the blitzer sleep for most of the night before taking a moment to settle him into his brightly patterned Besaid woven bedroll. As was the case most nights, either the blue warrior or the excommunicated warrior-monk protected the group throughout the night.
The Sun greeted the lone watcher on the small hillock. Birds had been singing its praises for over an hour before the blushing star rose above the horizon. Kimahri stood with the first rays and greeted the spirit of the day. Yevon may be the official religion of the Ronso, but Kimahri held to the old ways, before Kelk Ronso's work to convert the warrior tribe to the religion of the humans. He quietly made peace with the single eye of the day warrior; he growled out his prayer that he would die with honor and the flesh of his enemies in his teeth. With his morning ritual completed, he turned to wake up the camp.
First on the Ronso's agenda was to get the fire started again, he placed large logs over the glowing red charcoals of the previous nights flame and with a pinch of tinder got a roaring blaze going. Soon he had a pot of water over the red and yellow dancing flames, hot tea a welcome morning drink. Kimahri then turned to wake up Tidus, as it was his turn to cook breakfast. As he moved around the fire he noted that Auron had not moved a muscle all night, still curled up as he was placed on the bedroll. The blue warrior decided to make sure the warrior-monk got more time a rest; this was almost too deep a sleep to be healthy.
After waking up the young blitzballer he settled back on his hill, knowing that the rest would wake when the smell of cooking, or in Tidus' case, burning food wafted by their collective snouts. He watched the single yellow warrior ascend across his heavenly territory, his enemy flanked him: an army of white and gray cloud warriors. It looked as though the approaching clouds would snuff the fire of the Day Lord, and soon the tears of his mate would wash over the group. He grumbled, starting a journey without the light of the Day Lord was not a good omen. He shrugged; he was far from being stopped by an old superstition.
The Blue warrior's sensitive ears began to note the sounds of the party getting up. He could also smell the breakfast paste the young warrior was making. It didn't smell too bad, and with some honey, Kimahri was sure it would be edible. He stood on his hillock, right hand casually grasping his Heat Lance; he nodded once more to the lone, one-eyed warrior star and turned to see if he was right about the gruel.
Auron laid on his bedroll, he was awake, had been since the first morning bird had started to sing. He waited for the symptoms of too much rice wine in the system to kick in. It wasn't fair in his opinion; he could not get any satisfaction from drinking. Just the after effects. With a stretch and a yawn he rolled out of his red cotton bed and sat up. He felt more than heard the activity around him, Kimahri had been a tough too late with the warning about mass consumption, but Auron was not upset. He had needed the oblivion the sake had graced him, forcing his mind to completely relax and pass the dream-reality of the Farplane. He did feel as if a flock of Chocobo had used his mouth for a nesting site and to spare his companions the odiferous consequences of his all night drinking spree, he headed post haste to the nearby temple. With in he found a small bath and made use of it.
As Auron walked back out of the now deserted temple he looked up at the sky, his face and left arm ached, a storm was surly on the horizon. He shook his head and sighed, not relishing the thought of beginning the pilgrimage in a downpour. As he walked back to the campsite, a bowl of hot, steaming, lumpy porridge was placed in his hand, along with a ceramic mug of some sort of tea. Lulu smiled as she placed the food in the warrior's hands.
"Tidus' special recipe for oatmeal porridge and some of my 'after' tea. One would hope that this will help you out this morning." She patted his right arm and moved back to the fire.
All the others were working their way through the food and talking about the upcoming walk. Auron looked at Kimahri and noticed the Ronso had the pot of honey out, with a grimace he walked over to the stoic warrior. He scooped out a small bit of honey with his spoon and stirred it into the oatmeal concoction. Surprisingly, it was not all that bad, and filling. The tea helped as well, warming his headache away and calming his upset stomach. All in all, it was shaping out to be not too bad a morning.
Yuna watched the older guardian with a blank expression, schooled so as to give away nothing. She waited until everyone was settled and then cleared her throat. "As we are all aware, it is time to start our journey once again. Sir Auron?"
"Yes, my lady summoner." Auron was surprised his voice didn't waver, it was strange, was he actually feeling something over the incident yesterday?
"Are you prepared to take up full duties as my guardian? Are you fully healed?" She asked formally.
"Yes. And Yes, my lady." Auron bowed to his summoner, though not as connected with Yuna as he had been with Braska, he still felt a twinge of honor when she referred to him as 'Guardian'.
"Then we depart. Rikku, please remember this place so that we may return when we have gathered up all the Aeons. I wish to challenge Summoner Belgemine this one last time. Please prepare to break camp. Thank you." She bowed to her group of guardians, a small smile on her face.
Off nearby, inside the temple, in a room far above the ground with a single window, a face looked down upon the young summoner and her party. It was sad, a lone tear falling from a liquid brown eye, and watched with almost desperate attention. No one ever looked up, she sighed, the NEVER look up. She watched as the party cleaned up its campsite and moved to the bridge. Behind her, two others waited in desperate longing. The oldest and the one watching turned to her younger sisters and whispered.
"Soon, she will gather us too, my sisters. Very soon we will be free of this dark prison."
Well, it took a bit of work but here you go… hope you enjoy! Thanks for the reviews!
By: Degone-Gin
Chapter 5:
Tidus wearily walked back to the camp, a clinking bag that was overfull resting on his shoulder. He was exhausted and sore. Sighing, he settled his burden on the ground near Lulu and dropped to the ground, feet as near the fire as he could stand.
"What is this?" asked the icy voice of the dark mage.
"Stuff." Tidus shrugged, "Potions, elixirs, hi-potions… you know, stuff."
Lulu nodded to the blonde and started to sort out the mixed bag of goodies. She grunted with satisfaction as the items totaled over a hundred. She looked down at the tired jock and with a bit of respect in her voice asked, "Where did you get all this? Racing the Chocobo?"
Tidus sufficed with a nod. He could feel his eyes drooping shut; it had been a busy day for him. With a shake he tried to banish the sleep from his head and looked around. Wakka was watching for fiends on a small hill near the fire, back to the light so as to keep a small bit of night vision. Kimahri was across the gap, sitting with Auron, who had apparently built a small fire for himself. Rikku was slowly turning a spit with some sort of animal on it, ladling it with some sauce. Yuna was curled up, lying on her side, watching the dancing fire.
"Did I miss something, again?" asked the blitz ball champ.
Lulu, being the only one really paying Tidus any attention answered, "No. We're all just getting used to the thought of being serious tomorrow."
"So you've decided to start out on pilgrimage tomorrow morning?" Tidus asked, turning to Yuna's resting form.
The young summoner nodded. She looked up at the boy with sad eyes. Almost as sad as that night at the pool in Macalania forest.
"What is it?" Tidus inquired softly, stroking Yuna's hair lightly.
"I was only thinking." Yuna responded, also speaking quietly
The smile was back on his face as he continued to question his lady summoner, "About?"
Yuna sighed and sat up, her glance stole to the two silhouetted warriors on the other side of the bridge. She turned her gaze to the young man across the fire and smiled. "It is nothing, Tidus. Please, just let it drop?" She fingered her blue bead ornament in her brown hair with an idle hand.
"Sure. Conversation's about the only thing I can drop." He returned her smile and took a second to look at Kimahri and Auron. "Wonder what the two of them are up two?"
Lulu walked back to the fire from her sorting spot. She was slapping her hands together, as if cleaning them. "I don't know, but I can tell you that your exploits today have saved us all a lot of pain and gil. Want the totals?" She allowed a gleam to appear in her crimson eyes, the closest Yuna had seen to a smile in a long time.
Nodding the young summoner stated, "Oh yes! What has Tidus done for us?"
Lulu settled to the ground in a place that was equidistant from the jock and the girl in white. She produced a small scrap of parchment and read the totals. "Well, 40 potions, 25 Hi-potions, 20 phoenix down, and 15 elixirs. Quite the little haul."
Tidus' grin grew as the list was read; by the end he had nothing but shining blue eyes and a gigantic smirk on his tanned face. "All for my lady summoner!" he gestured with his fist pumping salute.
"My thanks, guardian." Yuna spoke past her own small smile.
Tidus stretched and looked back at the second fire, "So do you think we outta wait for them to get back?"
Yuna watched the silhouettes and noticed that one was moving as if it was drinking, Sir Auron looked to be on the road to a solid drunk. "I don't think it will be likely that we'll see them anytime soon. Let's set up as if they won't make it. Lulu, Tidus, Wakka, I leave the argument over who gets what watch to you." She stood and made her way to her bedroll.
Tidus looked at Lulu and Wakka, he held up three fingers and pointed to himself. Lulu nodded and waved two fingers. Wakka shrugged and turned his back to the fire, blinking to get his night vision back. The main camp settled into comfortable sleep with their summoner, night birds calling in the distance.
"Kimahri think you had enough." Stated the blue Ronso as Auron began to sway like a reed in the wind. With a quick gesture he snagged the tokkuri out of the intoxicated acting guardian.
"I'm not the least bit done, Kimahri. As you can tell, I'm fine." Auron motioned to his clay sake jug. "It's not polite to interrupt a man when he's trying so desperately to get stinking drunk."
The feline warrior sighed. With a slow blinking of his yellow cat eyes he stared at Auron. "You can't afford to let go right now, friend. In the morning Yuna's going to need you. All of you." He set the tokkuri to his left side, behind him.
Auron rubbed his face in frustration, combing his fingers through his graying hair. "I don't need a nursemaid, Kimahri."
"I think you do." The Ronso leaned closer to the man, he wrinkled his nose, did the warrior-monk have to BATHE in sake? "What has you so upset?"
"I'd rather not think about it."
Kimahri rested a paw on the clay jug, shaking it a little to make its liquid contents be heard. He continued to stare at Auron, his lion's face impassive.
"What? If I spill my guts to you, you'll give me back my sake?" Auron glared at his long time companion. "I'm not twelve. I don't play games like that." He crossed his arms and settled back against the rock he had chosen to be his backrest. Inside his head, he could hear the soft voices of Braska and Jecht, reciting the words that tore the young Auron's heart and spilled his life's blood on the ground.
Kimahri's voice overrode the silent dialogue, "Then just tell me what has gotten you so withdrawn."
"Braska wanted to see his daughter. It seems I don't have much choice in the matter when it comes to any summoner I have watched over. I cannot refuse them." He shuddered as he remembered the cold touch and the total lack of control. "Not even when they seek to possess my very body."
Kimahri's ears laid back; with a grimace he patted the scarlet robed man on the shoulder. "It's tough when the dead cannot let go of the living. Doubly so for you I think."
Auron snorted, he noted he was light headed, and very, very tired. He sighed, "Wonderful, not even allowed the nice parts of getting drunk." He yawned. "Just the tired part." With a grunt he threw his arms behind his head and completely relaxed against the hard stone.
Kimahri watched the man's antics with faint amusement. If it wasn't for the fact that his companion was a very tormented lost soul, doomed to wander the land of the living yet have no real connection to it. "Did she take it well?" he asked with a quite growl.
"As well as any young girl would take getting stared at by a lecherous old man. Jecht could not stop laughing." Auron chuckled to himself. "Luckily, her father only had a second or two, otherwise she might have really lost it. As it is, I think she's a bit scared of me now, not that I'd blame her."
The Ronso nodded. Absently he picked his large teeth with a claw as he thought. "So you can communicate with High Summoner Braska and his other guardian, Jecht. Am I correct?"
Auron nodded and felt his split face stretch into a deep yawn. He could feel his eyelid start to close on it's own.
"How?" Kimahri grunted.
"To long to explain." Slurred the inebriated man. "Lemme sleep." Auron's eye closed with the finality of the sleep deprived.
Kimahri growled softly to himself and tenderly picked up the large warrior- monk. "How long has it been since you slept, my friend?" He asked the nearly unconscious bundle.
Softly, the crimson garbed man whispered, "When did you find me?"
Kimahri shook his head and carefully kicked out the small fire. The blue warrior stooped down to grab the tokkuri and he settled his charge in his arms. With a mind on the unsteady bridge he walked back to camp.
Wakka was board. No fiend in it's right mind would get close to the temple. He stood up and walked a bit away, he began to shadow box to bleed off his excess energy. He was about to K.O. his imaginary opponent when he caught a glimpse of a large blue man-beast walking from the bridge. Wakka stopped and moved over to see what was up. He gasped and reached for his stash of potions when the captain realized Kimahri was carrying Sir Auron.
Kimahri shook his head. "Auron drink. Auron sleeps now." He stated in his broken talk.
"He's not hurt?" Asked Wakka in a whisper. "Didn't relapse from that heathen magic stuff, ya?"
The Ronso shook his head again. With tender care Kimahri placed the now completely asleep Auron on the red cotton bedroll that he commonly used. The blue furred warrior placed the clay sake jar next to Auron's head and turned to take up watch.
"I got first watch, Lulu's second and Tidus pulled third." Wakka rubbed the back of his head and stretched, "Been quiet as a temple mouse out here."
"Good."
"Ya, that's right. It is good, but boooooring." Wakka took up sparing with his shadow nearby the small hillock. Kimahri seemed most comfortable perched upon the slightly higher ground.
"Quiet." Kimahri placed a furred finger against his muzzle, his yellow cat eyes glowing in the near total darkness.
"Yah, Okay." Wakka settled down next to Kimahri, the Ronso let the blitzer sleep for most of the night before taking a moment to settle him into his brightly patterned Besaid woven bedroll. As was the case most nights, either the blue warrior or the excommunicated warrior-monk protected the group throughout the night.
The Sun greeted the lone watcher on the small hillock. Birds had been singing its praises for over an hour before the blushing star rose above the horizon. Kimahri stood with the first rays and greeted the spirit of the day. Yevon may be the official religion of the Ronso, but Kimahri held to the old ways, before Kelk Ronso's work to convert the warrior tribe to the religion of the humans. He quietly made peace with the single eye of the day warrior; he growled out his prayer that he would die with honor and the flesh of his enemies in his teeth. With his morning ritual completed, he turned to wake up the camp.
First on the Ronso's agenda was to get the fire started again, he placed large logs over the glowing red charcoals of the previous nights flame and with a pinch of tinder got a roaring blaze going. Soon he had a pot of water over the red and yellow dancing flames, hot tea a welcome morning drink. Kimahri then turned to wake up Tidus, as it was his turn to cook breakfast. As he moved around the fire he noted that Auron had not moved a muscle all night, still curled up as he was placed on the bedroll. The blue warrior decided to make sure the warrior-monk got more time a rest; this was almost too deep a sleep to be healthy.
After waking up the young blitzballer he settled back on his hill, knowing that the rest would wake when the smell of cooking, or in Tidus' case, burning food wafted by their collective snouts. He watched the single yellow warrior ascend across his heavenly territory, his enemy flanked him: an army of white and gray cloud warriors. It looked as though the approaching clouds would snuff the fire of the Day Lord, and soon the tears of his mate would wash over the group. He grumbled, starting a journey without the light of the Day Lord was not a good omen. He shrugged; he was far from being stopped by an old superstition.
The Blue warrior's sensitive ears began to note the sounds of the party getting up. He could also smell the breakfast paste the young warrior was making. It didn't smell too bad, and with some honey, Kimahri was sure it would be edible. He stood on his hillock, right hand casually grasping his Heat Lance; he nodded once more to the lone, one-eyed warrior star and turned to see if he was right about the gruel.
Auron laid on his bedroll, he was awake, had been since the first morning bird had started to sing. He waited for the symptoms of too much rice wine in the system to kick in. It wasn't fair in his opinion; he could not get any satisfaction from drinking. Just the after effects. With a stretch and a yawn he rolled out of his red cotton bed and sat up. He felt more than heard the activity around him, Kimahri had been a tough too late with the warning about mass consumption, but Auron was not upset. He had needed the oblivion the sake had graced him, forcing his mind to completely relax and pass the dream-reality of the Farplane. He did feel as if a flock of Chocobo had used his mouth for a nesting site and to spare his companions the odiferous consequences of his all night drinking spree, he headed post haste to the nearby temple. With in he found a small bath and made use of it.
As Auron walked back out of the now deserted temple he looked up at the sky, his face and left arm ached, a storm was surly on the horizon. He shook his head and sighed, not relishing the thought of beginning the pilgrimage in a downpour. As he walked back to the campsite, a bowl of hot, steaming, lumpy porridge was placed in his hand, along with a ceramic mug of some sort of tea. Lulu smiled as she placed the food in the warrior's hands.
"Tidus' special recipe for oatmeal porridge and some of my 'after' tea. One would hope that this will help you out this morning." She patted his right arm and moved back to the fire.
All the others were working their way through the food and talking about the upcoming walk. Auron looked at Kimahri and noticed the Ronso had the pot of honey out, with a grimace he walked over to the stoic warrior. He scooped out a small bit of honey with his spoon and stirred it into the oatmeal concoction. Surprisingly, it was not all that bad, and filling. The tea helped as well, warming his headache away and calming his upset stomach. All in all, it was shaping out to be not too bad a morning.
Yuna watched the older guardian with a blank expression, schooled so as to give away nothing. She waited until everyone was settled and then cleared her throat. "As we are all aware, it is time to start our journey once again. Sir Auron?"
"Yes, my lady summoner." Auron was surprised his voice didn't waver, it was strange, was he actually feeling something over the incident yesterday?
"Are you prepared to take up full duties as my guardian? Are you fully healed?" She asked formally.
"Yes. And Yes, my lady." Auron bowed to his summoner, though not as connected with Yuna as he had been with Braska, he still felt a twinge of honor when she referred to him as 'Guardian'.
"Then we depart. Rikku, please remember this place so that we may return when we have gathered up all the Aeons. I wish to challenge Summoner Belgemine this one last time. Please prepare to break camp. Thank you." She bowed to her group of guardians, a small smile on her face.
Off nearby, inside the temple, in a room far above the ground with a single window, a face looked down upon the young summoner and her party. It was sad, a lone tear falling from a liquid brown eye, and watched with almost desperate attention. No one ever looked up, she sighed, the NEVER look up. She watched as the party cleaned up its campsite and moved to the bridge. Behind her, two others waited in desperate longing. The oldest and the one watching turned to her younger sisters and whispered.
"Soon, she will gather us too, my sisters. Very soon we will be free of this dark prison."
Well, it took a bit of work but here you go… hope you enjoy! Thanks for the reviews!