I want to thank LadyMercy, Xmaster, Delphine Pryde, and Insane Child for their reviews. Okay, I won't bother you any further, so let's get started, shall we?
Chapter 19: Guardian
It had been several days since King Ralph passed away, and now the new Tonberry King, Bob, awaited the final preparations for his coronation in mournful silence. "Ria?" he called, his voice heavy with sadness.
"What is it Bob?" she answered, walking over to the little fiend.
"How could you stand losing your family?" he asked, the tracks of tears still evident on his little green face. "It hurts so badly!"
"And it always will," she replied, holding him close, "The pain will lessen over time, but it doesn't ever completely go away."
"Oh, Ria, I miss him so much!"
She stepped back from him and put her hand on his shoulder. "I know what you mean. Not a day goes by that I don't think about how much I miss my family. If you and Auron hadn't been there for me, I don't know what I would have done. Bob, I know it hurts, but you're not alone. Auron, Rikku, and I are here for you, and so is Marlene…and I'm pretty sure that Pac-Man is, too."
"Wait, who is Pac-Man?"
"That's my nickname for Wakka," she replied with a wicked grin.
…
Later, the entire Tonberry Nation, along with their four human heroes, assembled in the Throne Room. Bob, followed by Marlene and Joe, climbed up onto the dais, and the milling crowd fell into silence. Joe, the captain of the Tonberry Guard, turned to the new Tonberry King and bowed deeply, saying, "Your Majesty, I served under your father for fifty years as the chief of his guards. Now, my troops and I wish to pledge our loyalty to you."
He and all the Tonberries in the first few rows raised their knives in salute. "All hail King Bob!" the little soldiers shouted in unison.
Marlene stepped forward, carrying a gold lantern in her hands. "This," she announced, holding it up for all to see, "This is the King's Lamp. Along with the Gold Crown, this lamp represents the office of the Tonberry King."
The female Tonberry turned to Bob. "Your father's flame is gone now," she said, a single tear falling down her cheek. "Yours must be the light that guides our people in this time of darkness."
The new King held his silver lamp close to the gold one, and the little flame, seemingly of its own accord, transported itself into its new home. The ceremony completed, Bob turned to face his cheering people. "Everyone, I thank you all for wanting me to be your King, but I cannot stay here for long. My people, all of Spira is in grave danger."
The Tonberries gasped and started muttering amongst themselves. "What is he doing?" Rikku whispered, her eyes wide with shock.
"What he thinks is right," was Auron's only response.
Bob waited a moment, and then raised his hand for silence. "The same evil that has threatened our caves, the one who freed Varuna, is doing the same to all the peoples of Spira…" he looked at Ria. "…And to another world that has done nothing to merit attacking. This evil is caused by none other than Seymour Guado!"
"How is that possible?" one older Tonberry cried. "The humans sent him to the Farplane when Sin was defeated!"
"I don't know how he's returned, but I intend to go out and stop him, you have my word on that," he replied.
"But who will lead us while you're gone?" shouted another.
"I'm so glad you asked," Bob said, reaching inside the sleeve of his robe. The little fiend pulled out a delicate looking gold tiara, and turned to Marlene. "This crown once belonged to my mother," he stated. "Marlene is my betrothed, and I give this to her. She will rule in my place until I return."
"Bob are you out of your mind?" she hissed as he placed the tiara on her head.
"Probably, but you know how to run the kingdom better than I do, anyway, so it's not really a big deal," he told her.
Everyone turned to Marlene and bowed respectfully. "Boy, this is really crazy, ya?" Wakka thought aloud.
…
"So, when are you supposed to be leaving, Your Majesty?" Ria asked with a grin as they ate dinner.
Bob winced. "Don't do that! You guys can still call me by my regular name."
"But Your Majesty, we wouldn't DREAM of offending the king," Rikku giggled.
"Very funny. Anyway, I was planning on leaving with all of you," he replied.
"Hey Bob, give my compliments to the chef, ya?" Wakka said, eating one of the odd-looking, but delicious, Tonberry dishes. "What is this, anyway?"
Ria gave him a slight smile. "One of the chefs told me that it's braised Epaaj liver, Pac-Man."
Wakka set down his fork, pushed his plate away, and in a small voice, said, "I think I'm full now."
"She was just kidding, Wakka," Bob told him. "Actually, it's stuffed Thorn caps."
The blitzball captain gave Ria a baleful stare, and she politely asked, "Is something wrong, Pac-Man?"
He didn't say anything, and Rikku gave the two of them a curious look. "Why do you keep calling him Pac-Man, Ria?"
"There's this game on Earth that goes by that name, and the little character you play with constantly yells 'Wakkawakkawakka' as he moves," the sorceress explained. "You don't mind, do you, Pac-Man? The sound IS your name, after all."
Wakka got up and stormed off. "Wow, he looked really angry, are you sure you didn't go overboard?" the thief asked, staring after him.
"Probably, but he and his 'ya's were starting to get on my nerves. I'll apologize to him later." She took a bite of her dinner. "Besides, it's not my fault that he didn't know that Epaaj don't have livers."
Auron had sat in silence during the whole exchange, lost in thought. Finally, he asked, "Ria, how did you do it?"
"Do what?"
"When you fought with Varuna, most of his spells had no effect on you, and I want to know how that was possible."
"Yeah, how did you do that Ria?" Bob wanted to know.
The sorceress held out the Tetra Bangle for everyone's inspection. "Lulu gave this to me right before we left Bevelle. She said that she had worn it on Yuna's pilgrimage and that she wanted me to have it," she told them. "Actually, I had no idea whether the thing was going to work or not, but I'm glad it did."
"Ria, you're absolutely nuts, you know that don't you?" Rikku said, her voice full of awe.
"Yeah, so they tell me. Anyway, when are we supposed to be leaving?"
"Tomorrow," Auron replied.
…
Ria explored the once-hidden tunnels of the Tonberry Nation, amazed at how the little fiends had kept their civilization secret from the rest of the world for so long. The sorceress wandered, lost in thought, until she bumped into someone. "Hey, watch where you're going!" she shouted, not recognizing who it was at first.
"You bumped into me!" It was Wakka.
"Oh, it's you…" she said flatly.
"Hey, you don't have to say it like that!" he replied. "What is your problem, anyway? I haven't done anything to you, but you've been real rude to me ever since we met."
"I'm sorry Wakka, really I am, but I just don't like you," she told him. "I'm sorry I was rude, and I'm sorry that it has to be that way, but that's how it is."
The big man gaped at her for a moment, and then said, "So, you don't want me to help you guys fight Seymour?"
"Wakka," she sighed, "I'm not your boss; you can come to Zanarkand with us if you want, but just don't expect everything to be all sweetness and light between us."
He nodded. "I understand. Anyway, have you seen Rikku?"
"She's playing with some of the little Tonberries out by the old fayth chamber. Maybe you should go teach them how to play blitzball?"
He laughed aloud at that. "Yeah, maybe there'll be a Tonberry team at the next tournament."
Wakka left, and Ria resumed her explorations. She took a couple of left turns and found a large steam-filled corridor. "What is this place?" she wondered aloud.
"These are the hot springs," a lone Tonberry told her. "We set walls up around each spring in case somebody wanted to use one as a trysting room."
"So you can have some privacy, huh?" she was surprised. "Too bad Bob's never heard of that concept," she muttered.
"Oh, His Majesty's only thirty, so he hasn't quite learned to be tactful," the Tonberry apologized.
Ria did a double take. "Did you say thirty?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you don't know: we Tonberries age at half the rate of you humans, so really His Majesty is about the same age as your Al Bhed friend."
"Oh…" she weakly replied.
"Maybe you should inform him that you would like some privacy. I'm sure he'd understand you then," he chuckled. "Well, the springs get hotter the further down you go, and there are privacy markers on the doors, if you need them. See you later."
Ria thanked the helpful fiend and walked on. The Tonberry watched her go, and whispered, "Your Majesty, you can come out now."
Bob came out of his hiding place behind a stalagmite, and asked, "Fred, did it work?"
"Yeah, she'll find that grim-looking friend of hers and hopefully something will happen," Fred giggled.
"I hope so. I've been trying to get them together, but they're so damn stubborn!"
"Maybe it's because you keep interrupting them, Your Majesty."
Bob gave him a hard look. "Are you making fun of me, Fred?"
"Of course not, Your Majesty," he replied with an absolutely straight face.
Ria checked several doors as she walked, but all of them had a marker that read, "occupied". Finally, the sorceress came upon one of the middle rooms that had no marker, and she walked in. She had pulled her boots off and had started on her shirt, but stopped when she realized that she was not alone. Through the steam, Ria saw Auron soaking in the pool, with his back to her. He stretched, shoulder muscles rippling, got to his feet, and turned around.
"Ria, what are you doing here?" he asked, completely oblivious to the fact that he was nude.
"I thought that this one was empty," she stammered, her face turning red. "I guess I was wrong."
He smiled at her. "Well, why don't you stay a while?"
Resolutely keeping her eyes on his face, she sighed, "Why not? It's not like I have anything I need to be doing right now."
"Here, I'll even turn my back while you get in" he offered, turning away.
"You're enjoying this!" she accused.
"I find it funny how you blush like a maiden in these situations."
"Maybe that's because I AM a maiden, you ninny!" she snapped, sinking herself up to her neck in the hot water.
Auron turned around in surprise. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize…"
"It's all right; there's no way you could have known, anyway. Besides, I think we've been set up."
"By whom?"
She grinned. "I'll give you three guesses, but you're only going to need one."
"Bob…It was Bob, wasn't it?" he groaned.
"Exactly."
"I think that I'll strangle him before all of this is over," the swordsman muttered.
"I'll probably help you," she replied, giving him a sidelong glance. "You know Auron; you have to be the only man I know who can pull off having long hair like that without it looking like a mullet."
"Gee, thanks a lot," he replied.
"You're welcome." Ria smiled sweetly, reached over, and tugged his now-loose ponytail. "I've wanted to do that for a while now."
Auron caught her hand and pulled her close. "Oh, really?" he asked, "And what else have you wanted to do?"
She kissed him and replied, "Well, here we are, alone, so I'm pretty sure we can figure something out."
…
The next day, the five of them prepared to leave the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth, but Marlene stopped them. "Wait," she cried, running to catch up with them.
"Marlene, what is it?" Bob asked. "We have to go now."
"I know, I know, but I just wanted to wish you all good luck."
She hugged him tightly, and whispered, "You'd better come back, Bob. If you die, I swear I'll kill you."
"I will," he promised, returning her embrace.
They climbed through the steep tunnel that led to the slopes of Mt. Gagazet. The entire mountain was covered with snow and ice, but the summit was obscured by a black cloud that practically reeked of evil. "This place has gotten kind of spooky, ya?" Wakka said.
"Where have all the Ronso gone?" Rikku wondered, shivering in the icy wind.
Ria pointed at the evil-looking cloud. "I think that they've run away from that."
Suddenly, a roar rang out through the frosty air, and a large beast dropped from the sky. It was nearly seven feet tall, and covered in dark blue fur. It had a white mane tied up in a topknot, and a long, tufted tail. Its face was leonine and its gold eyes were fiercely intelligent. The sorceress pulled the Starblade into a defensive stance, and watched the intruder carefully. "Kimahri!" Rikku cried, happily latching onto the strange looking intruder.
"What is that?" Ria said, eyeing Kimahri suspiciously.
"This is Kimahri Ronso," the thief explained. "Kimahri, this is Ria. She's not from Spira, so she's never seen a Ronso before."
The Ronso blinked and said to Ria, "Kimahri is glad to meet you."
The sorceress put away her weapon and replied, "I'm happy to meet you, too."
He looked at the others and smiled a frightful, fang-filled smile. "Kimahri is glad to see all his friends again."
"Hey, we're all happy, ya?" Wakka said, "But where are all the other Ronso?"
"We were forced to leave this sacred mountain. The darkness that surrounds the peak has gotten worse," Kimahri sadly replied.
"Has anyone tried to go to Zanarkand?" Auron asked.
The Ronso nodded. "Many have gone; human and Ronso both, but none have ever returned. The Guardian saw to that."
"What guardian? Who is he?" the swordsman demanded.
"Kimahri does not know. Travelers go up Gagazet, but only one ever came back. That one told us that there was a Guardian blocking the path, and that they have killed everyone that comes close."
"What happened to the survivor?" Bob quietly asked.
"He died. His body was badly burned. Kimahri is surprised he made it back. After that, the Ronso decided to leave. There are not that many of us left, thanks to Seymour Guado."
"It always comes back to Seymour, doesn't it?" Ria sighed.
"What is this? Seymour has not come back, has he?" the Ronso demanded.
They told Kimahri all that they knew, and when the tale was finished, the Ronso's face was troubled. "This is not right. Seymour was sent to the Farplane, and he should not have returned," he growled.
"We know, and we're going to Zanarkand to put a stop to whatever he's up to," Rikku told him. "Do you want to come with us?"
He shook his head. "Kimahri must stay and defend what's left of our home."
"Don't worry, we'll take care of Seymour and his stupid Guardian!" the thief said, striking an absurdly heroic pose.
"Yeah!" Bob cheered, waving his knife in the air. "We're going to make them pay for everything."
Well, that's all for chapter 19. I hope that everyone enjoyed it. For all the Wakka fans out there: DO NOT FLAME ME! You can't honestly expect Ria to like everyone she meets, and hey, she did apologize to him for her rudeness.