Chapter Nine: Crossing the Great Lake of Macalania
Okay, my next installment! =) And by the way, don't ask me for what will happen in the future 'cause it will spoil the surprise. But this story won't be full of suspense because all of us know the final ending too. Anyway, have fun reading the episode!
We crossed over into the wide frozen open plains of Lake Macalania. A sign board suspended between two long wooden poles marked the boundary. It was uncannily familiar, judging that I had been here in the past, perhaps as a child.
As we roamed the cold lands, a chocobo trainer grooming his pet was seen nearby. He tended to his pet bird with loving care, as such a trainer would do. As soon as the trainer saw us he came up to greet our big group of guardians.
"Hi there. Would you look at this?" he asked us, pointing to his chocobo. "They always leave me behind," he had a tone of sadness probably unable to catch up with his stronger colleagues. The big yellow bird gave a cry allowing the trainer to rush to it.
"Oh, you want me to scratch you?" he asked upon reaching his pet. It lowered its head allowing the trainer to scratch as it cried out content fully. "There. Good boy!"
"How'd you know what it wanted?" Tidus queried with the chocobo trainer. I had wanted to pose this trainer the same question, but it looked like my close friend and co-guardian had taken the initiative to do so.
"I've always been able to tell how chocobos feel," he answered. "Maybe I'd make a better chocobo breeder than chocobo knight, huh?" the trainer turned to Tidus. "Hey, what job do you see me doing?"
"Chocobo breeder," Tidus replied to the trainer.
"Yeah! I think so too!" he exclaimed, pleased with the obvious compliment. "Hmm...you know, I might give it a try." We proceeded to leave as we continued our journey to the Temple of Macalania. Not long after, we saw a familiar figure come up to Yunie and me.
"Lady Yuna, we've been expecting you," Seymour's servant welcomed us. "We were surprised you decided to come so soon. Pleasantly surprised, of course," Tromell gave a cordial remark and continued. "Lord Seymour sends his apologies for having left without notice."
"It's quite all right," Yunie smiled back. "I have one question, if I may, sir."
"My lady?"
"I want to keep journeying, even if I marry," she stated her terms for marriage. "Do you think Maester Seymour would let me?"
"But of course, my lady," he replied back enthusiastically. "Lord Seymour wishes nothing else, I'm sure." Yunie turned back to us and nodded, signaling her temporary departure.
"Goodbye," she bade us farewell before walking up to the Guado.
"Well...we must follow Guado tradition," he turned to us. "I'll have to ask you to wait here a little longer. I'll send someone to escort you." Yunie turned back to us as Tromell began to move away.
"I..." my cousin stammered.
"We're all with you," the quiescent red guardian assured her, making me wonder if he was ever that cold to everyone. "Do as you will."
"Thank you," she answered. As Yunie turned to look back at us, I could see Auron murmuring some words to Tidus.
"Sorry," he spoke quietly to Tidus, an unexpected answer too for such a cold guardian. I giggled silently, unable to believe that Auron had actually said sorry.
"Hmm?"
"That was your line," came the red guardian's short answer. Perhaps Auron was not always that frigid and antisocial after all. He was probably just like us, but socializing with us in a unique way. Shaking off these strange thoughts and deductions, something familiar caught my eye -- Machina! If machina was here, surely my fellow Al Bhed people were here too. Without hesitation I ran over to check what was happening, especially when Yunie and Tromell were near the scene.
"Oh, no!" I gasped at what would happen.
"Al Bhed!" I heard Wakka's alarmed cry as he saw the machina. They had encircled Yunie and Tromell with their speeders. At that instance I notice an agile man in red who had jumped off the path to save his summoner. Auron's sense of guardianship had certainly impressed me. He drew out his giant sword, pointing it at the Al Bhed.
"Stand back," he advised Yunie and the rest of us who had followed him down.
"Thank you!" Tromell expressed his gratitude for us before escorting Yunie. "Lady Yuna!" I heard his exclamation as I notice Yuna was rejoining us. I smiled at her knowing that we were going to fight the enemy together, who had surrounded us.
"Rikku!" I heard a familiar voice call out my name. I turned to see Brother standing from a hill on one side of the area. "Tuh'd ehdanvana un oui kad drec!" he warned me as a giant cannon came up from behind. I gasped to see that father had entrusted him with one of our most powerful weapons. "Ouin bnaleuic magic yht aeons yna caymat!" Brother gave a sinister laugh which made me more worried about attempting to protect Yunie.
"Oh, no!" I moaned as I tried to think of a way.
"Translation?" I heard a curious Tidus.
"He's gonna use an anti-magic field on us!" I exclaimed, telling the group of impending dangers.
"Kad dras!" Brother gave an order which halted the conversation and made us engage in battle with the new cannon that had been only made recently.
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The cannon collapsed in failure as we gave it a final blow. It was devastating to see how this useful weapon had been made to waste, and father would ground Brother when he returns.
"My lady!" Tromell gave a cry, and nearing Yunie. She gave a nod and proceeded to follow the Guado to the temple of Macalania. I turned to see if Brother was still there -- he still was.
"E femm damm Vydran!" he retorted back angrily knowing that I had destroyed the machina.
"E ys dra guardian uv Yuna, oui caa?" I tried to explain myself to him, though he was still stubborn in hearing me. "Yuna ec cyva! Fa femm kiynt ran! Cra ec cyva!"
"Oui tu drec ymuha, cecdan!" he sneered before running away into the snow. I gave a giggle, knowing that my actions would shock father.
"I told him I was a guardian," I turned back to explain my sudden burst of laughter. "Well, I guess I had to, really."
"How come you speak Al Bhed?" Wakka asked the question that hit the raw nerve. It was now or never that I disclose the truth about my identity. "Why?" He was getting impatient, looking at Tidus and Lulu while the blitzball player fumbled with his speech.
"Because I'm Al Bhed," I answered knowing that bad effects would follow. "And that...was my brother."
"You knew?" Wakka turned to them, and receiving nods as answers. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"We knew you'd be upset."
"This is great," Wakka was getting angry of been kept from the truth. "I can't believe that I've been traveling with an Al Bhed! A heathen!"
"You're wrong!" I tried to argue back and change his now-bad impression of me. "We have nothing against Yevon."
"But you Al Bhed use the forbidden machine!" he answered back. "You know what that means? Sin was born because people used machine!"
"You got proof?" I argued back once more. "Show me proof!"
"It's in Yevon teachings! Not that you'd know!"
"That's not good enough!" I argued at his shallow answer. "Yevon says this, Yevon says that. Can't you think for yourself?"
"Well, then you tell me!" Wakka was turning unreasonable by the minute. "Where did Sin come from, huh?"
"I...I don't know!" Wakka gave a humph at my reply.
"You bad mouth Yevon, and that's all you can come up with?"
"But..." I tried to support my stand. "That doesn't mean you should do whatever they say without thinking! Nothing will ever change that way!"
"Nothing has to change!"
"You want Sin to keep coming back?" I gave him a rhetorical question. "There might be a way to stop it, you know!"
"Sin will be gone once we atone for our past mistakes!"
"When? How?" I asked him for the teachings of Yevon.
"If we keep faith in Yevon's teachings it will gone one day!"
"Why do I even bother?" I rolled my eyes knowing that our argument knew no limits.
"Rikku!" I heard another voice, a fresh change, which came from the oldest guardian. "Will this work?" Auron pointed at the speeders left by the Al Bhed earlier on. I ran over to fix it.
"We're not using that, are we?" I heard Wakka talking from behind. He was really too unreasonable for calling me a heathen. "Wait...Sir Auron isn't Al Bhed too, is he?" Correction; he was getting paranoid too.
"Come on, Wakka..." I heard Tidus' response to give the blitzball captain a reality check.
"What?"
"I mean, getting angry just 'cause you found out Rikku's an Al Bhed..." I continued to hear the conversation as I tried to repair the slightly damaged speeder. "You guys got along fine till now, don't you?"
"That's different. I mean...."
"Well...I don't claim to know that much about Spira..." Tidus continued. "And I probably know even less about the Al Bhed, but...I know Rikku's a good person." My face lit up at his compliment; Tidus was really one who saw everyone as equal. "She's just Rikku!" I heard his final words.
"Lu?"
"Just think of this as an opportunity to learn more about the Al Bhed," Lulu's voice sounded. She's was more mature than the others and I felt that she was creative in giving that idea. I smiled as I continued to give a final touch to the machina. Once again I felt that Auron was somehow watching me from above again, making me lose my smile.
"Ha!" Wakka gave a humph.
"Let him go," I heard Auron's booming and imperative voice. "Give him time to think." I stood up to face the rest, feeling guilty for causing this turmoil.
"I'm sorry."
"You've done nothing wrong to apologise for," Lulu comforted me, which made me feel more respectful for her.
"All right! Let's ride!" Tidus gave some words of confidence to us as he walked near the repaired machinas.
"You sure you know how to drive that?" I asked him and praying that he would not damage it attempting to operate the speeder. Before Tidus could do anything, I saw Kimahri jump onto one and speeding off into the snow, a rather surprising sight too for a traditional Yevon-abiding Ronso to operate a 'forbidden machina'.
"Better than Kimahri does!" Tidus hopped on one, with Lulu as the pillion rider, speeding away into the snowy terrain.
"Where Wakka go?" I asked the last person remaining, the man in red.
"He decided to walk," came the cold reply.
"But...." I wondered how could Wakka travel such a distance to the temple. "...It's rather far from here."
"There are means to travel quickly," Auron responded to my concerning question. "Besides this machina." He touched the throttle with his black gloved hand.
"Okay...well," I pointed to the seat of the speeder. The crimson guardian gave a nod and sat on the driver's seat. Seeing that there were no other speeders in the distance, except for a broken one, I looked at how Auron was going to start the speeder running. The sight was indeed funny; he was looking a little confused, compared to his usual calm character, and trying to see which button to press while hesitating too.
"Are you sure you know how to operate this machina" I asked rhetorically. Auron stood up and looked at me with his piercing eye.
"You drive."
Is this okay? Sorry for the long wait; too much work to do these days. =P Anyway, some episodes won't have much Aurikku content, so be prepared when you're disappointed with some non-Aurikku content in certain chapters. That's all for now, see ya'!