Believe

Chapter Five- On to Kilika

Author's Notes- Someone asked me how Yuna could be 'merely' a grandmother if it's been over two hundred years since Yuna defeated Sin. Let me clear this up- yes, I'm aware that unless she lived a VERY long and fertile life (cough, cough) she couldn't be a 'mere' grandmother to Rynna. She's more than a 'great grandmother', too. It's just that Rynna likes to use shortcuts sometimes and just calls Yuna her grandmother. Sometimes it can be confusing going, "My great, great, great, great… wait, how many greats is that…?" So yeah. ^_^ I think I refer to Yuna as Rynna's 'ultimate grandmother' at one point. That's as specific as I am gonna get.

To someone else, who mentioned how to find out what gender the Aeons are… (Blinks) (Grins sheepishly) Oops. Well, at least I won't mess up on the later aeons, right? Thanks!

And now, a personal note… (Begins to rant) Ninety-eight percent! NINETY-EIGHT @#$^-ING PERCENT! GRR! DIE! (Beats on FFX-2) I WANNA SEE MORE, DAMN IT! MORE, I SAY! (Sighs) Oh well… at least I won, ne? ^_^

Back to the story before I scare you all off… enjoy!

~*~

"Looks like we made it," Alex observed.

Brand's ears twitched slightly at his companion speaking. Then he nodded. "Yes. And safely."

"Yeah." The blonde looked around at the docks, bemused at what he saw. "Hasn't changed much since I last was here."

Kilika Port had slowly grown until it became the largest harbor in Spira. Though Luca still had the most enticing entertainment of the time period, this formerly quiet village was considered the best place for business, especially when it involved a lot of shipping cargo about. People of all races and ages bustled about the town, each with their own levels of urgency or self-importance evident in their expressions. Merchants, too, had set up permanent shops in the heart of town, selling their lowest quality goods at the highest prices possible.

Brand's ears lay back against his head. "Busy."

"Never been to Kilika before?" Alex looked at him sympathetically. "No problem. I know a good inn near the docks so we can keep an eye on them for when Rynna and the others decide to show up."

At this, the Ronso nodded. "Guardians look stupid without their summoner," he said.

Alex grinned. "Got that right."

With that, the two climbed out of the small fishing boat and onto the beach, in one of the few spots where people could land for free. A merchant on a larger ship who had been vying for the spot cursed heartily at them, shaking his fist. Alex smiled and waved, making the merchant's face turn an interesting shade of red before he turned, sputtering, to his men and told them to find another spot.

The two made their way into the town. Alex pushed roughly through the crowd, cutting his way through with a practiced ease. His Ronso companion, standing at roughly seven feet, was intimidating enough for most people to open a path for him, and he followed Alex with his nose and ears at attention.

After about five minutes of wading through the multitudes of people, Alex suddenly cursed and pulled the Ronso to one side. Well, he tried to pull him; Brand merely followed to humor the human. "What?" Brand questioned.

"There are some people here I'd really rather not run into again," Alex explained.

Brand blinked. "Who?"

"One of those groups-"

"The Clerics of Braska," a voice smoothly interjected.

Alex inwardly moaned, and the Ronso turned curiously to see whom it was that had his companion so eager to leave this place and enter the inn.

A man in his forties stood with a small group of younger people, mostly humans. He was dressed in silken white robes with a hood, and violet embroidering on the hems. His followers wore white robes as well, though theirs seemed to be made of coarser materials, and didn't have any embroidery to speak of.

The man gave Brand a polite, yet cool, glance before returning his gaze to Alex. "We were hoping you and your friends would join us at our next meeting, but you seemed to have run off," he said.

"We had… urgent business, Master Theon," Alex muttered.

"Indeed…? And travelling with a… Ronso… is your idea of urgent business?"

Alex frowned. "I don't like that tone, friend. If you want to know, I had to prepare for the ceremony of Lady Yuna's pilgrimage."

"Oh? You are participating in this ceremony?"

Alex and Brand nodded.

"Then where, pray tell, is our lovely lady summoner? I have not seen her grace the docks with her presence as of yet."

"We…. We…" Alex floundered for a moment before saying, "We came ahead because of a storm. The other guardians are with her, and they will show up soon." I hope, he mentally added.

"Ah." The man nodded. "I look forward to meeting with this young woman. I hear she is a direct descendant of our great High Summoner." He paused, as though readying to say more, before growling and clamping one hand to his side. "Guard your purses!"

Brand blinked in confusion as Alex looked around and followed Theon's example. Then his ears flattened against his skull at the sound of a machine approaching. He looked around, and saw a two-hover screech to a halt not five feet away from him.

Two-hovers were simply what their name implied- they greatly resembled the large, clunky machina of old, only they were small enough to ride on a road without taking up all the space. Two people could ride on it at once, though if a third person was particularly small, three could most likely ride on it as well. The rider in front would steer, as the one in back would determine the machine's speed by way of pushing his or her feet upon pedals.

As it was, two young women were on the two-hover. They seemed harmless enough at first glance- the only threat being to young, impressionable men, as the two were rather scantily clad. At a closer look, however, Brand noted that each carried two daggers- one hidden in a sleeve, and one in a sheath by their hip.

"Like what you see?" the one in front asked Brand, smirking.

The Ronso merely blinked, before looking to see what his companion made of this turn of events. Alex had a pained expression on his face, while Theon appeared nonplussed about the girls' arrival.

"Swipers," he said shortly.

"Geezer," the one in back replied, attempting to match his deep, scornful tone. Then she laughed. "I see you're trying to win new converts to your… ah… group."

"I see you're prostituting yourselves, as can be expected from the Swipers," Theon retorted.

"That's Guild of Acquirees," the girl in front corrected. "It's not that hard to remember, Theon- even for a Geezer like you."

Theon's eyes narrowed. "Mind your tongue in front of your elders."

"Yeah, you sure are old, aren't you?" she replied. She turned to Alex and winked. "Hey, if you want a really good time, come by the Guild's office here in Kilika. Fun does a body good, y'know."

"I'll remember that." Alex continued to look highly strained at all of this, and he acted upon his feelings by grabbing Brand's arm. "Whew, man am I bushed. Let's find that inn, Brand. NOW." He proceeded to drag Brand away.

The girls pouted after them, then one waved at Theon. "Later, Geezer." She smirked, and the two took off on their hover.

Theon humphed, and turned to leave as well. Then his eyes widened, and he began to run after the two-hover. "Thieves! My Gil! THIEVES!"

Alex, meanwhile, was desperately dragging Brand away, muttering, "Crazy damned groups…"

Brand merely blinked once more.

~*~ Elsewhere ~*~

"Question."

"Yeah?"

"How are four of us going to fit into one little boat meant for three people tops?"

Rynna blinked at that, looking at Tidus sheepishly. "Gee, I didn't think of that," she said thoughtfully. "Guess you'll have to swim."

"What?! Hey, I might be a star blitzer, but I am NOT going to swim all the way to Kilika!"

"I was kidding! Jeez." She turned to Darian. "What do you think?"

The redhead looked over the boat for a moment, then back at the group. "Well… according to Tidus, we're a lot farther north than we should be… But if we stay on track and don't get hit by any fiends, then we should make it to Kilika by nightfall."

"So…?"

"So, I think we'll have to get rid of some of our stuff to accommodate our new passenger."

Amie coughed lightly. "Perhaps… I could caste Haste again, to aid us?"

"Good idea, Ames," Rynna said. The other girl blushed slightly and smiled. "Okay, then let's think about stuff we need."

"Water pills," Darian said.

"Duh."

"You said to think about it."

"I meant obvious stuff."

"Um, guys?" Tidus asked. "Can we move on?" He paused then. "Well, I don't have anything besides myself and my clothes, and I'm sure as heck not going to strip," he said with a laugh.

Rynna gave him an odd look. "Please, don't. I don't need to row into Kilika with my grandfather nude."

He gave her a pained expression. "Just call me Tidus, will you? This whole grandfather thing… seriously, I didn't have a clue…"

"Yeah, yeah. As do we all." Rynna waved a hand. "Anyway, we'll probably also need our clothes, and the weapons are a must."

"We could drop half of the food we have," Darian offered. "It's enough for about a week right now- if we use some of it for bait for fiends here, they'll be more interested in eating the food than killing us."

"Not bad, Dar." Rynna nodded. "That'll take off a couple pounds…"

In the end, the group discarded most of their healing goods (as Amie had White Magic), half of the food, two blankets, and one empty pack. It didn't seem like much, but suddenly their little boat seemed a lot emptier.

"Okay, let's get going!" Rynna announced. "Who's rowing first?"

"How about Tidus and myself?" Darian suggested. "We can each take one paddle/oar/thing and row at the same time. We'll go faster that way."

Tidus shrugged. "Sure, whatever."

"Let's get in the boat now," Rynna said. "It's really time to be moving on."

"Right," the rest of the group agreed.

"To Kilika," Tidus murmured, passing a hand over his eyes absently. "I wonder what it's like now…"

Rynna smiled at him. "In a few hours, the gods willing, you'll find out!" she said. Then she cast a wry glance at Darian. "Assuming we don't get lost again."

"Hey, I heard that!"

With that, the group climbed- er, squeezed- into the boat, and set off for the Port, hoping for more answers instead of more questions.

~*~