Chapter Four: A Disturbing Interlude
The New Yevon priests had gathered in a quiet area of Bevelle. The private garden stretched before them under the moonlight.
"We have to deal with this problem fast. Our Praetor becomes more consumed with this Seymel and is beginning to waver his commitment to New Yevon," one priest began forcefully. The other priests nodded in agreement. One stepped forward and pointed to an area of ground.
"A Yevon guard told me that he had kissed the Al Bhed filth right there in front of them on Bevelle ground!" he said with an air of incredulity, shaking his head and looked to the others reactions. Yes, they did seem pretty disturbed by the news.
"This is an outrage," a priest said silkily and unsheathed a short blade. The priests began to get nervous.
"Do you think it's necessary?" a slightly unsettled priest worriedly asked.
The priest with the dagger inspected the blade and focused his gaze on each edgy priest in turn.
"I believe that this Seymel is a terrible hindrance to our Praetor. I believe that the only way to separate them is to leave one on the Farplane," he said pointedly.
The priests shifted uneasily and the oldest one nodded.
"I think it has to be done, but who will do it?" the old priest asked softly.
"I will," the dagger carrying priest replied immediately, "I am Kelos. I'll dress as a thug and attack her during her journeying. She travels a lot, I hear – it should be easy."
The priests reluctantly nodded and began to dissipate into the night. Kelos and the old priest remained behind, eyeing each other furtively.
"It went to plan," the old man said finally when he'd been sure none of the other priests remained. Kelos nodded slowly.
"Yes, better than I thought. Those priests are more flexible to...outside ideas than I would have been led to believe," his voice was soft and deadly – he had no trace of compassion on his face.
"Good luck, Kelos. I hope you know that Seymel is no easy target. Remember, if you're found out, you could spark a fatal war between New Yevon and the Youth League that none of us have seen before," the old man finished and left without a sound.
"I haven't failed yet," Kelos muttered to himself before sinking into the shadows.
The cold cutting breeze made a few branches creak forebodingly and the clouds blanketed the moon, as if to protect it from what it just witnessed.
Seymel woke up with a gasp, clutching her chest and breathing heavily. She'd had a nightmare – moonlit water and sharp things, Shoopuf's and falling down into darkness. She hated it when she had nightmares, she felt like she'd been drained of energy and never made sense to her. Baralai had woken up to her struggle for breath and saw her sitting up clutching the covers with a vice grip in one hand, her chest in the other, her smooth back shivering.
He sat up next to her and touched her arm. "What is it?" he asked, eyes wide. Her eyes were shut tight and her head shaking slightly, as if to clear the fresh images in her mind.
"Just a bad dream," she whispered, but she was still frozen into her position but opened her eyes, which were fully of worry.
"It was only a dream. You should rest before daylight," he said softly. She gave a small nod and allowed Baralai to delicately pull her back to bed. She went to go to sleep, but the dream kept her awake into the early hours of the morning.
It didn't feel like a dream – it had felt strangely real.