"Ojuugoya nu utiki, ("I pray to the 15th-night moon
Kafu sa negau, That I might be happy
Ooki na hego nu kokage nu shita de, In the shade of a large palm tree
Kanasharu umuikage iti iti ma din, Memories in which my beloved's face
Natikashasa ukabu umuide yo, Always comes to me so longingly
Odayaka na kazi ni nusiti, Set adrift on the gentle wind
Tikiyu nu akagari ni miyuru kui nu hana, The flower of love that grows
in moonlight
Shiyukazi ni tadayou shiranami tu shami nu ne, Wandering on a salt wind,
the sound of
foamy waves and the shamisen
Kimubukaku nagari yuzura yo irodoru, Flowing deeply into my heart
Ten nu buribushi nu kyu ra sa, and painting the night sky,
The beauty of the constellations
Ojuugoya nu utiki, I pray to the 15th-night moon
Kafu sa negau, That I might be happy
Ooki na hego nu kokage nu shita de, In the shade of a large palm tree
Kanasharu umuikage iti iti ma din, Memories in which my beloved's face
Natikashasa ukabu umuide yo, Always comes to me so longingly
Odayaka na kazi ni nusiti, Set adrift on the gentle wind
Yo irodoru And the night sky
Yo irodoru" And the night sky")
What little breeze there was caught easily on the large sails of the S.S. Liki,
blended with the power of the ship's steam-driven water-wheels and pushed the
boat onwards across the calm sea. Travel by boat had become more popular after
Sin's destruction. A riskless journey, save of course for any natural storms.
Of which there still were none. Despite the boom in the seafaring trade, the
Liki was still just small ship, with hardly any passengers at all.
Lulu walked up the wooden steps and onto the deck, where her gaze found Rikku,
leaning over the back of the ship and making dry-retching sounds.
"You could have warned us you get sea-sick." stated Lulu, casually,
placing a hand on the sickly Al Bhed girl's shoulder.
"Hey, do I make fun of you when you're in the desert complaining about
the heat?" Rikku countered weakly. "Oh well. Least my cheeks finally
match my eyes, huh?" she chuckled, then groaned again.
"This never seemed to happen on the airship" Lulu recalled.
"Because the airship flies on the air." Rikku explained, sighing.
"And air is air. It's nothing. But the sea, ooooh, the sea's going
everywhere. It's going up, it's going down, going up again, going around, and
just when you think it's gonna go up again, it goes down Much like my
breakfast."
Lulu patted her shoulder once more as she leaned over the side again. "Sure
you'll be okay?"
Rikku gave her a weak but confident thumbs-up, and Lulu began to walk away,
hearing Rikku swearing in Al Bhed. "Dah zitkac uv Ramm..."
Lulu had searched the lower deck for Yuna, but couldn't find her. After searching
both the main and lower decks, she found her on the observation deck, leaning
over the rope rails and enjoying the sea breeze in her face. Lulu stepped up
beside her and stood there, also enjoying the breeze, but keeping her hair still
tightly tied so it didn't blow away from her face.
"The wind it's nice." she said.
Yuna nodded, and chuckled quietly to herself. Lulu glanced at her but said nothing.
Lulu knew a private joke when she heard one.
"The last time I was here, I spent all my time at the bow of the
ship" said Yuna, explaining without having Lulu ask. "I was
so enthusiastic about my pilgrimage So I wanted to see where I was going.
Then Sin came"
Lulu nodded. Yuna continued. "The second night, I stayed at the back of
the ship I wanted to think about what I was leaving behind."
"And now?" Lulu asked.
Yuna smiled. "Now I don't want to think about either anymore. I want
to just be with the people I love."
Lulu nodded and turned around, leaning against the ropes. "The last time
I was up here, Wakka and I stayed up all night talking about all the people
we knew. We talked about you, and about our parents"
"Oh, that's right" Yuna remembered. "You and Wakka lost
them long before I ever came to Besaid. You never talked about them before"
"Wakka doesn't remember his." Lulu explained. "Chappu and I were
born shortly before they were killed. So he had to be a father and a brother
to Chappu. I can remember my mother, a little, and the things she taught me"
Yuna's eyes lowered slowly, sadly. "I remember a few of the things
my mother told me, too"
"My mother she was very beautiful. And very sad. I never met my father,
but I remember she told me about him. We never met. The sad truth is, he never
even knew about me"
"Have you ever tried to find him?" Yuna asked.
Lulu looked away. "He died" she said. "A long time ago."
"I'm sorry"
Lulu looked back, and smiled. "It's okay." she said. "You can't
miss what you never knew. How about you? Why not tell me your story? You
know, when I think about it, you never really ever talked about when you lived
in Bevelle in detail, and yet you seem to know so much"
"Oh" said Yuna, evasively. "It's a long story, really,
and not very interesting."
Lulu smiled. "Indulge a friend." she asked. "I'm curious. Besides,
it's a long trip, I'm not going anywhere."
Yuna returned the smile, then sighed. "Over ten years ago" she
began. "We lived in Bevelle. My father he was an apprentice Summoner.
He would pray in the temples almost daily, despite the fact that he was an outcast
for marrying an Al Bhed"
"Why did Braska do that, anyway?" Lulu asked.
Yuna allowed herself a nostalgic, sad smile. "Why does anyone do anything?"
she said. "For love."
"I'm sorry." Lulu apologised. "Continue."
"Well, we lived in Bevelle. My father spent most of his time at the temple,
but he still had time for my mother and I I remember one day, when I was
five"
Yuna skipped down the street, her short legs moving twice as fast as her
mother's. Her mother, Sudran, would have held her hand or carried her, but her
hands were full of groceries. She looked up at her mother, who looked back down
at her and smiled.
"Sushi and rice, again as usual." said her mother. For an Al Bhed,
she spoke very good Zanark. It was Braska who had taught her, and her brother
Cid, and they had both picked the language up very well. They had tried to pass
it on to other Al Bhed, but they had rejected it, still deeply suspicious of
the Yevonites. When she had gone to live in Bevelle with Cid, Sudran had promised
she'd one day teach her child the Al Bhed language. In return, Cid would try
to teach his own children Zanark.
"Do the Al Bhed not eat much fish, mom?" Yuna asked.
"Not much fish in the desert, payidevim." Sudran replied, using a
kind Al Bhed word for Yuna. It was little droplets of the language like that
that helped her to learn. "In the desert, we make our own food."
"Meat?" Yuna asked. Her mother nodded. "Yevon says it's
wrong to eat meat"
Sudran looked down at her daughter. She stopped and put the groceries on the
ground and kneeled down in front of her daughter, for a little explanation of
life. "I know." she said. "So I respect your father's faith,
even if I don't share it. And he respects my way of life in return. Before you
were born, he even let me show him machina. There are many different ways of
life in the world, Yuna. You may not always agree with or understand people
who are different to you, but you should always respect that difference. Because
in the end, they're complementary. Just as no life is more or less important
than any other, the same holds true for any way of life. Do you understand?"
Yuna nodded. "Good." said Sudran. "Now, let's get home. We'll
see if we can have dinner ready by the time your father gets back."
Yuna smiled and kissed her mother, and together they walked through the streets
back to the small house where they lived. It was a small, little out of the
way place. Ordinarily, a Summoner or apprentice was allowed to live and sleep
in the temple, but Al Bhed weren't allowed in, so they lived in a small little
house, lost deep in the urban maze of the city.
As they rounded the corner, Sudran and her daughter stopped. Yuna blinked, too
young to understand what was before her. She couldn't read yet, but she was
learning. But she couldn't read the kanji that someone had maliciously painted
on the front of the house in big white strokes.
"What does it mean, mom?" Yuna asked, looking away from the letters
to her mother's face. Sudran was upset, but for her daughter's sake didn't show
it. "It doesn't mean anything, sweeting." she said. "It doesn't
mean anything."
They went inside. When Braska came home, he spent the evening washing the kanji
off. She didn't know then, but as she grew, Yuna learned what those words meant.
They said "Al Bhed go home!"
They said "Heathen Al Bhed scum!"
They said "God hates filthy damn Al Bhed Eishtars!"
"I know what it's like to be treated differently." said Lulu.
"I was much too young then to understand it." explained Yuna.
"But it hurt my mother I could tell."
"We'll be arriving in Kilika soon." said Lulu, pointing towards the
island looming towards them. "I wonder how they're doing, if they've rebuilt
yet."
"I'd never witnessed Sin's wrath first-hand, when I lived in Bevelle."
said Yuna.
"In a thousand years, Sin never attacked the city." said Lulu, cynically.
"The only explanation from Yevon was that the city was the spiritual heart
for the teachings of Yevon, and therefore the most pure. But that was just another
lie. No doubt Yu Yevon or Yunalesca wouldn't allow the root if their church
to be destroyed by their own creation."
Yuna shook her head sadly. "Too many people believing in the church, instead
of what it should stand for It corrupts everything in the end"
Eishtar. It was a word that's origin had become lost in the passage of time.
It came from a lost language, bastardised in the accepted tongues of Yevon as
an insult to anyone of Al Bhed blood. It had originally been a word for "green",
but became a derogatory based on the colour of the Al Bhed race's eyes. Now
it was a horrible, repulsive slang, used by the kind of people who would spell
"Negro" wrong and with an extra "g". It has hurtful, to
reduce someone down to just their race, and not even to use their race's proper
title, but to use an ugly and insulting word to do it too.
Yuna had heard that word several times in her life. When they were walking down
the road, the shout would just come from a voice who's speaker preferred the
anonymity of the crowd. And it upset her mother, but she didn't show it.
Sometimes, Sudran missed her tribe. Missed being among other Al Bhed. She was
a very strong woman, one of the very few Al Bhed brave enough not to wear a
mask or goggles in a futile attempt to disguise their race. She loved her husband,
and loved her daughter. But she missed her own family. And she suffered almost
daily, for being a heathen in the first city of Yevon.
Yuna knew this, so it was no surprise to her when she came home one day to find
her parents talking about Sudran going back to Home for visit. Sudran had received
a letter from her brother, inviting her to return home, which she wanted to
do.
"I haven't seen Aniki since he was an infant." Sudran explained. "Cid
says he's tried to teach his son Zanark, but he's having trouble learning. And
what about Rikku? Three years old, she is. I have a niece who I've never even
seen. And it's been so long since I've even seen my own brother, and Yuna's
never met her cousins"
Braska sighed, showing his wife his worry. "These are dangerous times for
travel. Sin's prey is our hearts, and it's hunting grounds is in the moments
of opportunity it waits for to take our loved ones from us. It's safer to wait
for the next Calm."
"And when will that happen?" Sudran asked. "Another few years?
Another few decades? Not until Yuna's all grown up and she doesn't know what
it's like to have a large family? And there's no guarantee that Sin won't just
come and attack here anyway, or even Home."
"I don't want Yuna to go, and I don't want you to go either. Sin or no
Sin, it's still a dangerous journey, especially for a child"
Sudran hugged him. "Please, Braska." she implored. "I have to
see my family again. I have to be with the Al Bhed again, even if just for a
little while. You're my husband and I love you, but you don't know what it's
like for me, living in a city where all day you're a nothing, just another heathen
Eishtar."
Braska flinched at the word, then sighed. "I do know what it's like."
he said. "Every day, I'm in that temple. And in that temple, no matter
how hard I work or what I do, I'm never an apprentice Summoner, or a husband
or a father. I'm just that man who married an Al Bhed."
Sudran sighed wearily. Braska continued. "But I love my wife, and I love
my daughter. They can call me what they want but they can't change how I feel
about you."
She smiled at him. "Okay." she said. "Yuna should stay here,
I agree with you. And I know you have your duties here. I'll be alright. And
I'll be back soon, I promise."
Braska nodded, and hugged her again.
That night, Yuna's mother came into her daughter's bedroom and said goodnight
for the last time. She wished her sweet dreams and said she'd bring her back
something nice from Home. They sat up a while, talking. Sudran told her all
about Home, and the Al Bhed. She told Yuna about Sin, Rikku, and Cid. And that
if she ever needed help, to seek Cid out. In her innocence, Yuna wondered why,
believing as all children did that both her parents would be there for her forever.
Her mother kissed her goodnight, and Yuna never saw her again.
A week later, a man came to the door. He had been a member of the crew on the
passenger ship that Sudran had been travelling on, and one of the few survivors.
It had been a clear day, sailing to Kilika's port. They were on open, calm seas,
and Sin had come in out of nowhere. The ship exploded into splinters under it's
terrifying power, scattering debris, and people, everywhere. Sudran was one
of the many who had died instantly, and felt no pain. What little survivors
there were somehow made it to Kilika, and the Summoner in the temple was able
to perform a Sending.
All this was told to Braska, who in turn had to tell his daughter why her mother
would never be coming home again.
When they landed in Kilika, it was an impressive sight. Rikku was the first
of the trio off the boat, and stood on the pier in satisfaction.
"Aaaahhhhhh!" she sighed, relieved. "Check it out! Ain't it awesome?"
"It's certainly impressive." said Yuna, walking down the gangplank
to the pier, with Lulu behind her.
"It shows what you can do, if you put your mind to it." Lulu agreed.
"The repairs are going at such a rapid pace, it wasn't nearly this rebuilt
the last time we were here."
Rikku turned and faced the rebuilt town of Kilika. She hadn't been there to
witness it's destruction, so she didn't really have a frame of reference for
how the repairs were going. That being said, it was an impressive little town.
What had once been splintered wreckage was now a stilted hamlet on the sea,
complete with streets, avenues and houses. Look at it for long enough, and you
could almost forget how effortlessly Sin had almost wiped it out completely.
"Um, no, not that." said Rikku, and then tapped her foot on the pier.
"Look! A floor that doesn't move!"
"Don't get comfortable." Lulu advised. "The ferry is just letting
on and taking off passengers. We'll be leaving again soon."
"I'll go stock up on sickbags." Rikku panned.
" really are a lot of people, here." Yuna noticed
aloud. "There didn't seem to be this many, the last time we were here."
"Maybe they've had new people coming to stay?" Rikku suggested.
"Maybe." said Lulu. "But it's the same here as it is in Besaid,
then it means nobody's going to the temple here anymore, either."
"And why would they?" Yuna asked. "Sin, what they all prayed
for, is gone, and Yevon's deserted them. Now almost nobody has any faith
left anymore"
Lulu nodded. "Let's go for a walk." she suggested.
Time passed. Braska did his best to raise Yuna as a single father, though
he wasn't able to educate her on her Al Bhed heritage as much as he was able
to do so for her Yevonite side. Braska also spent more and more time in the
temple, vowing that he would do whatever it takes to become a Summoner and defeat
Sin, and that this time it really would be forever.
As a consequence, Yuna found her childhood begin to get lonely. She found it
hard to make friends, since a lot of the other children's parents had warned
their children to stay away from "the Al Bhed mongrel". There was
still her father, he wasn't around much, but made up for it whenever he was.
Yuna grew, and as she turned seven, Braska's pilgrimage became more and more
imminent. Especially on the day when she heard he'd been appointed a Guardian
by the temple. Even at that age, Yuna knew what having a Guardian meant. Her
father's pilgrimage was inevitable.
"Why do you need a Guardian?" Yuna asked abruptly one day when they
were sitting on the steps in front of their house, on a hot summer day. Her
father looked at her, then away again. "They help the Summoner to defeat
Sin." was all he said.
"Can't you do it alone?" Yuna asked. Braska grinned at her naiveté.
"No, I can't." he said. "Nobody's that strong. But if I become
a Summoner, maybe I will be strong enough to do it, and the Guardian will protect
me on journey there."
"Journey to where?" Yuna asked. Braska glanced at her once more, and
then pointed north. Over beyond the city walls, past the vast miles of Macalania
Forest and the Calm Lands lay the frozen menacing Mount Gagazet, shrouded in
clouds, snow and ice. Yuna had heard that's where Ronso came from, though she'd
never actually met one, she wondered what they were like.
"Zanarkand." he announced. "Past Gagazet lies the city of lost
dreams. The cradle of civilisation. It's corruption by machina and evil led
to the birth of Sin. Ironically, it's also there where your I will find the
implement of Sin's destruction, the Final Aeon."
Yuna thought long and hard about this. A lost city! And only on the other side
of the mountain, too. But the journey must be a dangerous one, or else more
people would go there and the lost city wouldn't be so lost. That must be why
Summoners like her father needed Guardians.
"Who is he?" Yuna asked. "Your Guardian?"
"A Samurai named Auron." Braska replied. "I know him well. He
was once a Warrior Monk of Yevon, and was even once in line to become second
in command of the Warrior Monks. But he chose another path. He is young, but
strong. I have faith in him."
Yuna listened, and idly wondered if she would ever meet Auron. Still being just
a child, all the talk of lost cities, Summoners and Guardians exited her. "Do
you think I could be a Guardian when I grow up?" she asked him.
Braska looked at her sadly "Hopefully by the time you're grown up, Yuna,
we won't need Summoners or Guardians anymore. With luck, I will see to that."
He got up and went back inside.
"It wasn't until a long time later that I realised" said Yuna.
"He was sad, because he was talking about my life, that he would
never get to see."
They were walking around the Kilika woods, just talking and waiting for when
the boat would resume it's voyage to Luca. Rikku had pointed out that the fiend
population was down in Kilika too, and that it wouldn't be long until the trees
started to suffer the drought too.
"That must have been the first time you ever heard about Zanarkand."
said Lulu.
"You're right." confirmed Yuna. "And it captivated me even then"
Yuna wasn't really as interested in becoming a Summoner as she was hearing
more about Zanarkand. It captivated her interest, and she tried to learn more
about it, wanted to learn as much as she could. She asked a Guardian once, when
she was praying at the temple, but she had been unable to tell Yuna anything
new. That Guardian had only ever been on one pilgrimage before, and that had
failed when her Summoner had given up in Djose.
All Yuna knew was that Yevon said it was a holy place. When Bevelle was still
only new, Zanarkand was an old city. The city had been fabulous with machina
once, but it was through the use of this machina that Sin came, destroyed the
city and scattered the hyuman race all over Spira. And that was all, only Yevon's
Garden Of Eden myth and nothing else. They didn't say why only Summoners and
their Guardians could go there, or what lay there now. That was all she could
find out, and all she was likely to ever know.
Then one day, when her father began his pilgrimage, for the first but not the
last time in her life, she met a man who came from Zanarkand.
"People say it's nothing but ruins now" said Yuna, confused.
Jecht laughed. "People think they know a lot more than they really
do. Who are you gonna believe, some priest, or a guy who's really from there,
huh?"
"So it's not a ruin?" Yuna asked, feeling elated.
"Course not!" exclaimed Jecht. "I was there only last week. though,
according to that Auron guy, and just about everyone else here, my last week
was a thousand years ago. I guess you can't all be lying, but it's just a big
headache to think about. Man, I need a drink."
They were standing on the Highbridge in Bevelle. It was just before dawn, and
the city was still sleeping. Braska was here, conversing with a priest from
the temple. His Guardian, Auron, wasn't here. He was elsewhere, stocking up
on last-minute provisions for the journey. There was someone else, though
Jecht was from Zanarkand, or at least believed he was. He'd told his story countless
times. He got up one morning, and went out to sea in the boat for some training.
The next thing he knew, this giant sea creature was coming towards him. At first,
he thought it was a whale, but no whale grew that big. Terrified (though he
never told anyone that's what he felt at the time) Jecht tried to get away,
but there was no avoiding the massive beast. He was swallowed by the gigantic
fiend, like some strange Jonah. But rather than die, something extraordinary
happened to him. He felt awash in light, and many bizarre sensations. He was
heavier than he ever felt in his life, and despite feeling drowsy, more aware
than ever before. And then for a long time, nothing.
He awoke alone in the Sea off the coast of Bevelle, and almost drowned, before
finally succeeding in making it to shore. He found himself lost, a stranger
in a strange land. The people here knew about the monster he had encountered,
Sin. They attributed his rants about coming from Zanarkand to Sin's toxin. Depressed,
lost and bewildered, he eventually found some degree of familiarity in a local
bar, where he proceeded to get drunk. When he couldn't pay, a drunken brawl
had ensued, the guards were called, and Jecht was hauled into prison.
He would have remained there, only by random chance, a newly appointed Summoner
by the name of Braska heard about him. Braska was about to start a pilgrimage
across Spira towards Zanarkand, and, against his Guardian, Auron's objections,
wanted Jecht to join them. Jecht agreed, and Braska paid his bail.
Braska had introduced Jecht to his daughter, and the two of them hit it off
immediately. Yuna, who wanted to know everything about Zanarkand never stopped
with the questions. Jecht was happy to oblige. "You know, I've got a son
your age at home." he said. "I think you two'd like each other"
he stopped then, feeling suddenly guilty. It wasn't right that he should have
a much better relationship with someone else's child, and he still couldn't
talk to his own. He promised himself, however, that when he returned to Zanarkand,
he would try.
"And what's there, in Zanarkand?" Yuna asked. "I keep asking
people, but they never say what's there, exactly"
Jecht thought about it for a second, fondly recalling home. "Well, buildings,
like any city. Though not like here. Here they're still kind small. Even that
big tower in the middle over there has got nothing on the buildings in Zanarkand."
he said, pointing to the Palace of St. Bevelle, the Heart of Yevon, where after
the passing of a decade Yuna would be forced to marry a force of evil, and then
rescued by Jecht's own son.
"Ah, how could I forget?" Jecht slapped his forehead. "The Blitzball
Stadium!"
"There's a Blitzball stadium in the lost city?" Yuna marvelled. "Is
it like the one in Luca?"
Jecht shrugged. "Hell if I know. I don't even know where Luca is. But I'll
tell you this, there's no stadium anywhere that's as good as Zanarkand Stadium.
It's simply massive, and the roof even opens for a nice clear night like tonight,
or it can close on a rainy one so the crowd can still enjoy the game. And it's
always lit up, even at night! Great blitzball tournaments are held there, and
the stands are always full!"
Yuna stared in wonder. If the Zanarkand in her mind was even a fraction like
the real one, it still must be an incredible sight. "Wow, the people of
Zanarkand must really love Blitzball"
"Of course they love it, they come to see ME play, I'm the best!"
yelled Jecht, grinning.
"The best?" Yuna was in awe.
"Yep! Check this out!" Jecht announced, then started looking around.
"Uh ah." He found what he was looking for, a children's ball,
left over from when children played here the evening before. It wasn't exactly
a professional blitzball. It lacked the dimples that aided it's dexterity, but
it was good enough. Jecht picked the ball up, looked at Yuna, who watched in
anticipation, and grinned once more.
Jecht kicked the ball, and it hurtled down the Highbridge that led back towards
the palace. It slammed into the wall and bounced, heading back the way it came.
Jecht punched it hard the second it returned, and it rocketed back down to the
palace again. Jecht then vaulted, leaping high into the air and spinning like
an Olympic gymnast. The ball bounced off the wall a second time, and returned,
it's trajectory taking it high into the air, towards the spinning Jecht. As
the ball approached, Jecht opened out his leg and kicked the ball, booting it
high into the air. He dropped back to the ground and the ball sailed high over
the roofs of the houses.
Jecht turned back to Yuna, who stared in amazement, before applauding. "What
was that?" she asked.
"The Sublimely Magnificent Jecht Shot Mark III." he announced, proudly.
"Very difficult shot to do, but when you pull it off, it's a guaranteed
goal. And nobody else can do it but me."
"It's going to take more than fancy blitzball crowd-pleasers to complete
this journey." said the temple priest. "Be on your guard, and protect
Summoner Braska."
"Yeah, yeah, I got the lecture already." said Jecht. He turned away,
looking for Auron, as if he was anxious about his return.
Yuna was staring at Jecht, when Braska gently placed a hand on her shoulder.
She turned around and saw him kneeling down in front of her. "Yuna."
he said. "It's time to go. You have to go home now, and I have to go defeat
Sin."
"When will you be coming back?" Yuna asked.
"You'll see me again." Braska replied, a man not used to letting his
emotions show. "I promise."
Even at that young age, Yuna had learned to smile when she was feeling sad.
"The priest will take you home." Braska continued. "The temple
will look after you, make sure you'll be alright, and taken care of. I've always
wanted the best for you. Do what you must do, the way you want to do it. Doors
will always open themselves to those who do. Listen close, Yuna. Your future
is yours to make. Live the way you want to. I'll be proud of you, whatever you
do in life. Whatever happens, Yuna, your father loves you."
Yuna didn't know what to say. She hugged her father goodbye, and then the priest
took her hand, and led her back home. She never saw Braska wipe his eyes, and
Jecht ask if he was okay. After that, Auron returned and the pilgrimage began.
Auron had found what Jecht asked him to get. "Some kind of recording device"
he'd specified, and Auron had brought him a video sphere. Jecht quickly learned
the controls, switched it on and recorded the beginning of Braska's journey.
They reboarded the ship at sunset, and once again set off for Luca. Rikku was
again ill, so Lulu suggested she go below decks to the centre of the ship, where
she would feel less movement.
Yuna and Lulu in the meantime, went back up to the observation deck, and Yuna
continued her story.
"He really must have been dedicated to his quest, to leave a child alone,
like that." said Lulu to herself, and noticed Yuna looking at her. "Braska,
I mean."
Yuna looked away, towards the red sun sinking below the waves. "It wasn't
his pilgrimage he was dedicated to" she said. "He wanted me
to live a long, full life. I couldn't do that, with Sin in the world. I think
I think he thought that he couldn't do a good job raising me on his own
but that he could see to it that I life a full, long life"
Yuna spent so much time alone after that. She had to spend her time between
the temple and her home. She became good at living by herself, which was sad
for someone so young. She was never in any trouble, as nuns from the temple
would always take care of her.
Every day, she'd go up to Highbridge, where Braska had left. Of course, he never
did return, but she went there anyway. It was a strange way of trying to feel
close to him, or hope for his return.
Mama's in the kitchen, baby and all
Everything is everything
Everything is everything
But you're missing
When you're a child, everything is so much bigger. Even time. Half hours
feel like hours. Days are so much longer for a child. A month may as well be
a year. Childhood itself is an epoch, taking longer to pass than the rest of
our lives, it sometimes feels.
Yuna's days were like this. Endless time, empty and lonely days repeated over
and over. There times when she was even unable to tell the days apart. She was
surprised on a few occasions, to find a weekend had passed which felt like an
entire week.
Papers on the doorstep, but you're not there
Everything is everything
Everything is everything
But you're missing
This cycle of lonely days repeated constantly. And she heard nothing from her father. She asked at the temple, and they said they had heard no word. But that in itself was a good sign, meaning that her father's pilgrimage was continuing uninterrupted. Yuna was told to be proud of her father, to pray that he should complete his journey and bring the Calm soon.
Your house is waiting, your house is waiting
For you to walk in, for you to walk in
But you're missing, you're missing
You're missing when I shut out the lights
You're missing, when I close my eyes
You're missing, when I see the sun rise
You're missing
Yuna prayed for Braska, but sometimes she would feel a shameful and selfish wish that her father would quit his pilgrimage, and that she would be sitting out on the Highbridge and see him one day returning. After all, it wasn't without precedent that Summoners quit their journey. But then Yuna remembered that it would be greedy and selfish of her, that if her father quit, Sin would continue it's rampage, and more people would die. So instead she did as the temple bade, and prayed for Braska to defeat Sin.
Will you be in our arms tonight?
She was praying that her father would never return, which the opposite of what she wanted more than anything else.
Too much room in my bed, too many phone calls
How's everything, everything?
Everything, everything
You're missing, you're missing
So many days passed. Weeks, months. Who knew? Not Yuna. She just lived through
the same lonely days, one after another. Spending her time between the temple
and her house. The temple weren't her family, and the house was like a cavern,
dwarfing her. Big, silent, and empty. This was where her family had once been
whole. Now they were gone.
Three months passed to day since Braska began his pilgrimage, and Yuna was sitting
at the table by herself, when she heard a colossal roar. The ground shook underfoot,
and the furniture and windows rattled. She rushed outside, as did so many other
people in Bevelle, and looked northeast past the city walls to the Calm Lands.
There, she knew, as so many others did, her father was battling Sin. The beast
roared again, and suddenly there came a blinding flash.
I got dust on my shoes, nothing but teardrops
A shockwave thundered through Macalania Forest and rattled the city, and the flash died down. A colossal cheer went up, and people celebrated. Sin was dead. Yuna smiled. Her father had done it. Braska had defeated Sin.
"I remember that day, too." said Lulu. "Yevon sent word to
all the temples in Spira. The head of the temple came rushing out and told us
that the Calm had come. The whole village cheered and celebrated. Some of us
asked about the Summoner and Guardians who had accomplished this."
"That must have been the first you heard of my father." Yuna suggested.
"I just wish my mother had lived to see the Calm." said Lulu.
Many hours later, Bevelle was still celebrating. There were street parties
on every corner. Those who knew Yuna was Braska's daughter congratulated her.
They told her she should be happy. Her father had just brought joy to everyone
in Spira. He was a true hero.
And then she caught herself, and realized that he would never be coming back.
Her father was dead. And now she was truly alone.
She couldn't sleep that night. That house too empty, it would be empty forever.
The sounds of festivity were almost muted by the walls. Empty rooms. A house
that had once been for a family, now for just an orphan.
She got up and left the partying and the celebrations behind. She went up the
Highbridge, which was deserted. Below her, the city was still rejoicing. She
couldn't join in. It was selfish, but she couldn't be happy that Spira was saved.
Her parents were gone forever.
Yuna looked across to the northeast, and saw the Calm Lands, and the fields
where he father had fought Sin. Where her father had died, and left her all
alone. She tried to stop herself, but couldn't help it. She began to cry, releasing
all the loneliness she'd kept inside her, and the grief she'd felt for losing
her parents. Everyone had been telling her to be happy, but how can you be happy
when you're all alone, and orphaned. So she sat there, weeping and knowing she
couldn't stop.
That was when she heard heavy footsteps, and a shadow fell over her. She looked
up, and through her tears she saw a monster towering over her. A colossal blue-furred
fiend, it's body peppered with wounds that looked recent. It's face was leonine,
save for one broken horn jutting out of it's forehead. It looked at her with
fierce ashen-yellow eyes. She heard a low growl in the back of it's throat,
and then it began to speak.
"I am looking for the daughter of Braska." said the monster. Yuna
cried, scared. It frowned at her, then knelt down before her, examining her.
"Why you cry?" it asked. "Can Kimahri help?"
Yuna dried her tears. "What's a Kimahri?" she asked, quietly.
"Kimahri is Ronso." it replied. "Kimahri travel long from Sacred
Mount Gagazet, looking for the daughter of Braska."
"A Ronso" gasped Yuna, and stared at him. Kimahri shuffled,
unused to dealing with children. "I" she began. "I am Yuna,
Braska's daughter."
Kimahri nodded. "Kimahri was asked to take you as far from Bevelle as possible."
he said.
"Asked?" said Yuna. "By who?"
Kimahri looked back toward Gagazet, the home he had lost, and where he had received
a new destiny. "The wish of a man facing death."
Then there could be no doubt about it. Her father was definitely dead. She would
never see him again. Yuna began to cry again, silent this time. Quiet tears
streamed down her cheeks.
Surprisingly, Kimahri just held her quietly. All he did was sigh to himself.
In this time where everyone else in Spira was celebrating, these two had found
each other, the only ones to have lost their families, and left with nowhere
to go in life.
The fifteen-year-old Ronso helped her to pack. Yuna left the empty house
forever, and together they journeyed the roads of Spira towards Besaid. On this
journey, Yuna actually learned to smile and mean it again. Occasionally, they
were met by fiends, and Yuna was awed by what an incredible fighter Kimahri
was. For someone so strong, she wondered how he had sustained so many recent
wounds, and why his horn was broken.
They made an unusual partnership. A Ronso teenager and a Hyuman child. Kimahri
was the one who did all the walking, with Yuna on his shoulders. They travelled
through Macalania, and Kimahri was not bothered about taking the long way around
the Thunder plains. They reached the Moonflow, and crossed it on Shoopuff.
There was a scary moment when Yuna fell into the water, and Kimahri leaped in
to save her. She thanked him, and laughed at how funny he looked with his fur
all dripping wet. Yuna jumped in again deliberately after that. He fished her
out for the last time, and stared at her, wondering why she was giggling at
him. Then he grinned, stood up and she stopped. He shook himself clean, water
flying off his fur and showering her. She laughed and protested at the same
time. Kimahri noticed it was the first time she'd laughed since her father died.
Eventually, they arrived at Besaid Island. As someone who'd lived her whole
life in the city, Yuna was amazed. It was so pure and beautiful. An idyllic
paradise. As Kimahri led her to the village, he noticed people stared in amazement
at seeing a Ronso so far from Gagazet. But aside from that, they were very welcoming,
especially of Yuna, who instantly became enamoured by the island.
In the village, she saw children her own age. Well, older than her, but younger
than Kimahri. Two boys playing blitzball, and a girl long midnight-black hair
who was watching them. Kimahri noticed it too. Children her own age. Yuna would
really like it here.
They went to the temple first, where Kimahri planned to leave Yuna in their
care.
"Of course, it is unusual to see a Ronso so far from Gagazet." said
the head of the temple. "But indeed, God's doors are open to all his flock,
and every child of Yevon is welcome."
"Yuna is without parents." said Kimahri, indicating her behind him.
She was quiet, staring at the temple, noticing how different it was to the one
in Bevelle. "It was her father's wish that Yuna live here in Besaid Village."
The priest nodded, glanced at the girl, then back at Kimahri. "Of course,
the temple doesn't usually cater to orphans, but perhaps the nuns shall-"
"Yuna's father is Braska." Kimahri announced, tactfully. The priest
stopped. Several of the other parishioners looked up from their prayers.
"The High Summoner?" the priest gasped. "Of course! If
that is his wish, then Yevon will of course grant it. She will be well looked
after in the temple. She'll be given warm food, a warm bed and a full education.
Besaid Temple will be proud to honour Lord Braska, and his kin."
Kimahri turned and looked down at Yuna, who stared back at him. "Yuna will
be safe here." he told her. "Kimahri has kept his promise."
"" Yuna began. "What are you going to do
now?"
In all honesty, Kimahri himself didn't know where his path led from here. He
had kept his promise to the dying Samurai, Auron. That had been a chance meeting,
and in his empty life it had taken him this far. Whatever lay beyond, he couldn't
see...
The boat for Luca would be leaving soon, he remembered. "Kimahri will"
he said. "Kimahri must go." His massive feet thumped loud footsteps
on the stone floor as he walked towards the exit.
"No" Yuna whispered. "No!"
She ran after him, grabbing a hold of him in an attempt to stop him from leaving
her. The Ronso paused, and stared down at her, clutching his foot. "Everyone
leaves me." she explained, her eyes ringed with the promise of tears. "Everyone
I know goes away in the end." she pleaded, sadly. "Don't go
Don't go"
Kimahri sighed, looking at her, then at the exit, then back to Yuna again. He
had nowhere to go, and she needed him. No, not just that. They were the only
thing close to family each other had left. He locked eyes with her a little
longer.
"For Yuna." he said. "Kimahri will stay."
Joy washed away her sadness, and her grasp became a hug. And from that day,
until the defeat of Sin, he stayed, always protecting her and always by her
side. He became more than just her Guardian. He became her friend.
"You know the rest." said Yuna. "I stayed in a room at the temple,
unpacking, and then went outside to see the village. I met you just after that.
I remember you wore your hair over your face, even back then."
"Yes, I remember." said Lulu. "Chappu and Wakka were playing
Blitzball, and Chappu suggested a game of Boys against Girls."
"They beat us so badly." said Yuna smiling.
"I never played another game of Blitzball." said Lulu, smiling and
nostalgic.
"You loved him even then, didn't you?" Yuna asked.
Lulu nodded. "Different times." she explained. "We now live in
an age without Sin. But back then, you couldn't take anything precious for granted.
You had to get a lifetime's worth of love, in whatever amount of days you had."
"Yes." said Yuna. "I know."
They fell quiet then, no sound but the seagulls and the wind in the sails. It
was a pleasant night on beautiful calm seas. Lulu pointed to a glow on the horizon.
"Look." she said. "You can see the lights of Luca. We'll have
reached it by morning."
"I don't feel like sleeping." said Yuna. "I'm not tired.
And besides It's a beautiful night."
"You're right." said Lulu. "We should be thankful that we're
here to appreciate it"
It would be there where we would see old faces, and our journey would take a surprising turn. The glow of Luca was deceptive warmth, promising happier times over the horizon. Nothing could be further from the truth. Since it was in Luca where we first learned about the sinister darkness from the past, and witnessed what it would unleash upon the world"
"Utikisama (The Moon)" written and composed by Nobuo Uematsu. Performed
by Rikki. Copyright Squaresoft and Square Enix.
"You're Missing" written, composed and performed by Bruce Springsteen
and the E Street Band. Copyright Bruce Springsteen.