*means thought*

- -

~~~Forever~~~

Our lips met, even as our arms wrapped around one another.  True love, true bliss, true happiness, this was right, this was meant to be.  It was set down in the heavens.  A soft cough reminded us of the presence of others, and I slowly detached my lips from Auron's soft, silky, supple ones.  Mmm, I dare say I'm obsessed.  Yes, obsessed, and loving every minute, every second of it, every minute I spend with him, with him, I am complete; he fills the gap which my Aeons have left.

"What goes on here?  You dare give up the hand of the Maester's daughter for random intercourse with a heathen?" A priest yelled, "You have no right to flaunt yourself so shamelessly when you have already been engaged."

"Yes," Auron said coolly, "I am engaged, this is my fiancée, Lady Zaliestia; she is the younger sister of Lord Braska.  I was searching for a tactful way to inform the Maester, but I suppose this will work.  Shall we, love?"

I glance over at Braska, to see his reaction, he is nodding and smiling.

"Sir," the man turns from Auron to Braska, "Is this true, is this... heathen... your sister?"

"My sister, whom you will address as My Lady, or Lady Zaliestia, is not a heathen, she has been staying with the Al Bhed for a few years for her protection, it is of utmost importance to me that her safety is ensured, and I will go to any length to ensure it, even send her with the 'heathens' as you so, charmingly, put it.  Also, around me, the Al Bhed will NOT be referred to as heathens, seeing as I would wish no disrespect on my wife and her kin.  Is this understood?"

- -

It is nothing more than a dream, it has to be, but it... it is too good to be a dream, please let it be real.  I brushed my hair and put on a new pair of clothes, a long red skirt, and a cream style top, like the one my niece would wear many years from now, then I had a dark red, black, and silver swirl obi tied around it.

I skipped merrily through the halls, laughing and singing as I went, at last I was free; I was free of the desert, free of the weight of the world, free of everything.  A pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist, effectively stopping my carefree skipping, the man's nose nuzzled into my freshly brushed hair, knocking it askew, and I raised a hand, feeling the faint stubble of a beard growing on his handsome cheeks.  "E muja oui," I whispered to him, knowing instinctively whose arms encircled my waist.

"I know," he whispered, his breath tickling the top of my head, "how could I not?"

We stood there for a long while, his chin resting on the top of my head, his arms protectively encircling my waist, and we swayed with the wind, for we had somehow found ourselves on the balcony.  One instant, we stood inside the musty old palace, and the next, we were out in the fresh air, looking out towards the woods of Macalania, the woods where I spent a share of my childhood wandering.

The Maester walked out of the building, his silly robes flapping in the wind.  "It is true!"

I turned slowly to face the man, "I am Lady Zaliestia, and I can't say that I've met you, I'm afraid my duties kept me from the temples when I was but a child, and for the past few years I have been living with my soon to be kin.  They protected me from the horrors of the world, those horrors of humanity which murdered my own dear mother."

The Maester's eyes widened, "Lady Zaliestia, I grieve for your loss.  But surely you have heard of the young sir's betrothal."

"The father of my child has been betrothed to me for over a year, ever since my brother didst learn of the folly that had happened, only now have we been reunited long enough to allow us to begin the plans of our harmonious matrimony.  So yes, I dare say I have heard of his betrothal, or I should say," I smiled up at Auron, love shining in my eyes, "our betrothal."

"Forgive me Child of Yevon, but although I know that I recognize the name in which you bear, it seems to have slipped my memory, forgive an old man, will you?"

"Of course I will, Maester, but I am afraid I am no Child of Yevon, I have come to believe that the teachings of Yevon are fallacies, they may be logical fallacies, but they are still fallacies."

"Child, you blaspheme.  Sir Auron, I appoint it your task to bring this misguided child back into the light."

Auron bows slightly, "I shall do my best to bring the light of the truth to her so that it may shine forth from her already gleaming eyes."

"With you instructing her though, she may not be a hopeless case, even though her instructor may be."

"Have you never thought that perhaps I do not wish to be 'brought into the light'?  Do you not even ask of me my reasons for disregarding the teachings of Yevon?  No, you do not; you shamelessly seek to convert me, not caring about my feelings of the matter.  I believe not in Yevon, my faith lies within the Fayth themselves.  Not even within them, for they too are mortals, they are humans.  I believe in the Aeons whose company has kept me alive, I believe in the Aeons who have saved my life more times than I can count, whose homeland is my own.  That is what I believe in.  I believe in what I can see, what I can touch.  And I fear for them, my Aeons—my beloveds, for it will certainly fall into my hands to save them from a fate which looms ever so perilously ahead.  They trust me with this task, and yet I know not all of them.  That is why I disregard Yevon, because your pathetic God is what will destroy the Aeons; he will rend every one of them into small pieces, destroy their souls, already he has started taking them. He has taken my dear friend and it is up to me to save him, yet I cannot for I know not what I am up against.  I must become what I cannot in order to save him.  I must become the impossible, but how am I to do so?  Please, tell me.  But you do not know, for you are blinded by the 'light' of your God Yevon.  Leave me, foolish man, Maester of Yevon.  I wish not to speak with you any more."

Auron stares at me in disbelief, "forgive her, Maester, she..."

"Do not make apologies for me, love.  I meant what I said."

"Child, you are a summoner?"

"No, and I shall never be one.  Summoners call forth the Aeons for their own personal greed.  They do not seek to know them, to make friends with them.  They call them from their homes and families to aid them in whatever task they are doing.  I ask them to come, so I might befriend them, I ask but I do not order."

"You have such blatant disrespect for everything in this world."

"Not everything, have you not looked out and seen the sun rise up into the desert sky, where you see a lone figure of a man packing up a tent so he might continue on his trek?  Have you not watched a thunderstorm make its way across the ocean?  Have you not watched the trees blowing to and fro beneath the weight of the wind?  Have you not smiled as you see the chocobos romping playfully amongst each other?  Have you not seen the snow drift in lazy circles down from the sky and melt as it gently lands on a hot spring hidden off in the depths of a frozen mountain?  And have you not watched the sky darken first into a red and then finally into a dark violet before drifting off into black as night falls on the land?" I shake my head, smiling slightly, "If you have seen those things and can still say that I have disrespect for everything in this world, then sir, you are much misguided."

"But what of mankind?  Do you have respect for them? It is obvious that you do not respect Yevon."

"Mankind, what of mankind... we live, we breathe, we die... and with us we take others, we destroy all that is pure in this world.  And then we blame ourselves and we blame others, but we still do nothing to fix what we have done."

"Maester!  Maester!" a man yells form the distance, "we need you, it's an emergency!"

- -

Yet another chapter finished... I apologize for the long wait... but they're getting shorter... the waits that is! It's only been what, a month?

-Arcander-