Yuna stood on the Kilika Dock, her hair and Gunner skirt waving in the fresh morning air. Baralai stiffly walked down the docking ramp, followed by a man carrying Yuna's suitcase. He bowed quickly to the Praetor and hauled the bags to the dock where the SS Winno would shortly depart to take Yuna back to Besaid. The High Summoner and the Praetor had stayed in their separate rooms for what was basically the entirety of the journey and had religiously avoided each other when isolation wasn't an option. The Praetor nervously walked over to Yuna and bowed. She inclined her head in response.
"Yuna, I didn't mean what I said in that way." He looked her in the eyes, with a mute kind of pleading. "I'm sorry. I would never try to take advantage of you."
"I know. I don't know why I reacted like that." She admitted, flushing a pretty pink colour.
The Praetor offered no response. Instead, he reached out and stroked her cheek with a trembling finger. Her eyes widened and she blushed deeper. She tentatively reached up and held his hand against her face for a few moments, before gently stepping away. She looked at the boat sadly and then back at Baralai, who nodded once and lowered his hand.
"I understand..." He stood tall and strong once again, but his eyes held an obvious injury.
Yuna felt her eyes grow hot and fill up with tears.
"I guess..." She inhaled shakily "I guess I'm not as free as I imagined."
She bowed awkwardly and turned to board the Winno.
"Yuna…"
The brunette spun around and the tears finally fell past her delicate eyelashes.
After a moment's hesitation, Baralai moved forward and wiped away her tears.
"Take care."
The next time Yuna looked back towards the docks, her ship was well on its way.

Baralai paced around the main hall of his ship. It had been around six hours since he had said goodbye to Yuna in Kilika. He sighed. He was on his way back to Bevelle and she was nearly in Besaid. Soon they would practically be on different sides of the world from each other. After almost an entire year he had finally understood the feelings that Shuyin's possession had left in him. They had flared up again as soon as he had seen Yuna in the Blitzball Stadium, just as he'd expected, and had continued to burn over the journey. What was he meant to do now?

His train of thought was interrupted by a strange noise coming from the guest rooms. Puzzled, he walked into the hallway and opened the door to the room Yuna had stayed in. Everything was neat and the bed was made. There was nothing obviously wrong. He dropped to his knees and looked under the bed. Nothing! He scrambled to his feet, his headband falling off and ran into the bathroom.

It's coming from the laundry basket?!

Quickly dumping the sheets and towels on the floor he rummaged through them and snatched up a sphere. It was a sky blue colour and was circled by a gold band covered in buttons, but the noise had stopped. Confused, he turned the band around until he saw a small screen, nestled between some arrow shaped buttons. Recognition slowly dawned on him. A CommSphere!

It was smaller and more designed for personal use then the one that had been installed in the Bevelle town centre and, more recently, his office. He read the flashing writing on the screen, somewhat surprised.

1 Missed Call: Gippal.

"Gippal?"
He tentatively pressed the down arrow key on the left of the Comm Sphere. It scrolled through a list of names and places. He pressed the up arrow so it stopped on Gippal's name. A moment later, a green light began to flash. A screen popped up and Baralai silently congratulated himself as the Al Bhed's face appeared.
"Hey, Yuna Babe, are you... Baralai?"
Gippal dropped the sphere in surprise, catching it with lightning reflexes.
"Gippal."
Baralai smiled sadly at his friend.
Gippal's holographic face was obviously perplexed.
"How did... Where's Yuna? She's still with you?"
Baralai shook his head.
"No, she has appeared to have forgotten this device accidentally. She caught another ship in Killika this morning. She should be arriving in Besaid soon..."
"Oh, good. Yo, Baralai? What's wrong man?" Gippal asked, concerned, as he adjusted his eye patch.
Baralai laughed softly and stared at the screen, his eyes flat.
"Take good care of her Gippal. I'll keep this safe until it's able to be returned... We had a meeting scheduled in a week anyway..."
He reached forward and turned off the sphere...

Yuna walked down the dirt road, which led to Besaid Village, dragging her suitcase behind her. She was exhausted and the dust had settled into her hair, clothes and into the tears that had continually fallen since she had watched Baralai's ship leave. It was evening and all the lights in Lulu and Wakka's place were definitely out. Since there was no point in visiting then, she wiped away the tears, placed her hand on the warmth of the Mana sphere and felt it beam her up to Celsius.

She appeared in the Bridge, feeling somewhat dazed.
"Yunie!" Rikku squealed, jumping out of her capsule and running to hug her cousin.
"Hi Rikku..." Everything around her was so familiar here.
Rikku stepped back and examined her cousin.

"You look bushed, Yunie! Go take a bath!" She commanded, taking the suitcase and shoving Yuna towards the cabin, before she could refuse. In the bathroom, Rikku busied herself with bubble bath and candles while Yuna sat on the edge of the bath, faintly amused by the whole process.
Rikku walked in a circle, tapping her cheek with a finger before squatting down in front of Yuna.
"So Yunie…" She said with a conspiratorial wink, "How was he?"
Yuna was confused. She frowned slowly.
"He? Baralai? What do you mean 'how was he?'"
Rikku groaned and then grinned mysteriously.
"You know..." Rikku lowered her voice "In bed!"
Yuna gasped, her hands flying to cover her mouth.
"Rikku! It's not like that!"
The slender Al Bhed girl groaned again.
"Geez, Yunie! You were practically alone with him; in the middle of nowhere on this pretty fab looking ship and all you have to say is 'It's not like that!'? Yunie! He's crazy about you! Yunie? What's wrong?" Rikku jumped up and sat next to the brunette, turning off the water.

Yuna wiped frantically at the tears that began to stream down her face again.
"Yunie?"
She figured that her shit factor limit had well and truly been pushed for that day.
"Rikku, please! I need some alone time, ok?"
Her cousin nodded slowly and high tailed it out of the room.

Yuna wasn't really feeling any better the next day. She got up late, around noon, and ambled on into the bridge only to be bombarded by suggestions. Well, since everyone was going easy on Yuna they were suggestions. Unfortunately this stage only lasted for around fifteen minutes. Later that day, Yuna found herself in the sweltering heat of Bikanel desert, clearing rocks and miscellaneous debris from the site designated for Tobli's dance party. As she searched and moved, she had a lot of time to think. Paine had always gotten angry with her for doing things that weren't directly related to Sphere Hunting. This wasn't exactly Sphere Hunting but she didn't seem to have a problem with it. In fact Paine hadn't had a problem with it for awhile. Yuna was reminded of a conversation she had once with Tidus, about machina and Yevon.

'My whole life I've followed the teachings and never questioned it. Now that you ask me if it's wrong or not I don't know...'

The brunette wiped away the sweat from her forehead. She'd probably never noticed that the Gullwings had begun doing 'odd jobs' instead of Sphere hunting because no one, until Baralai, had questioned what she did as a Sphere hunter.

When she had run away from Besaid to become a Gullwing, the rush of freedom was amazing. The world suddenly seemed so fresh and new, so exciting and all hers for the taking. Now that she thought about it, it wasn't all that different to being a Summoner. Maybe the end result of Sphere hunting was different to the goal of her Summoner's pilgrimage, but the two journeys were very similar. It was the same enslavement, whether it was the millions of people wanting the calm, Brother or even Rikku. She picked up a rock and threw it as hard as she could towards the rock pile. It was several metres off the target, a single stone alone in a patch of sand. She looked around and saw groups of people. Rikku and Paine. Buddy and Brother. Shinra and Benzo. Yuna looked down at her hands. She suddenly felt very much like the rock. It was thrown wherever someone wanted and it was so terribly alone.

A few hours later, back on the ship, Yuna lounged lazily on her bed. Everyone else was partying on deck but she was far too tired. Paine had attempted to invite her, but it seemed that the mood she was in wasn't inspiring the efforts of anyone else. Eventually Gippal climbed the stairs into the dark room and sat on Rikku's bed, facing Yuna.
"Ok Yuna, what's up?"
Yuna stared at the ceiling and went to speak. Gippal laughed, but not unkindly.
"Don't say 'It's not important either!" He added.
Yuna nodded abruptly and suddenly began to sob. The Al Bhed man eased himself up and over onto to her bed, patting her shoulder in a comforting manner.
"It was so strange, Gippal. We barely knew each other, but we got talking over dinner and there was this strange connection. We were having a great time and he kissed me, and invited me back to Bevelle." Gippal nodded thoughtfully and Yuna continued. "I really wanted to go, but I yelled at him instead and said some nasty things..." She sniffed and wiped at her nose. "We made up of course, but I implied that I couldn't go with him because of this. Because of the Gullwings and Sphere hunting. It was my excuse, anyway."

Gippal gave her a hug.
"That's not all, is it Yuna?" He asked her, his single eye serious.
She shook her head.
"I-I never wanted to feel like I do about anyone, except Tidus. I think it's my way of holding on to him and making sure he doesn't die. I've fought feeling for other people for so long, and I'm tired of fighting. I can't help but think that maybe things could work with Baralai. It scares me that the thought has even crossed my mind... Oh Shiva, It scares me..."
Yuna shoulders began to shake with the intensity of her sobs. Gippal wrapped his arms around her, extremely thankful that Rikku knew where he was and that she wasn't the jealous type. She sniffed again; her voice punctuated every few syllables by a gasp and rush of tears.
"I don't know how long I can keep playing pretend, Gippal. I love Tidus, and a small part of me will forever, but I can't keep doing this to myself..." She paused, her eyes widening in realisation. "I-I don't want to be a sphere hunter any more!!!" She cried and buried her face in his shoulder.
Gippal patted her back and spoke quietly.
"You want to go to Bevelle."
Yuna looked up at him, her face stained with tears. She blushed rosily and then nodded.
Gippal stood up and stretched. He thought for a moment, a devious grin appearing on his lips..
"You should do something for Yuna.." he said, as he hastily scribbled a note, which he put on Rikku's pillow. "Follow me..."

It wasn't too hard for Yuna and Gippal to run over to the makeshift hangar without being seen. Yuna fell awkwardly into the passenger seat of the strange little machina and put on her seatbelt. She swallowed nervously and looked around.
"What is this thing Gippal?"
Gippal laughed mischievously.
"It's kind of like the Celcius, Yuna Baby. It's just a heck of a lot smaller. We're going to Bevelle!"