On silent summer evenings, a certain sunlight in her eyes

I walk through the pavement of life again

I've got a warm feeling

I can't escape

It could last forever

into our own world

where everyone sleeps

and silence is deeper than water

I love her like no other

Baralai woke up bright and early the next morning feeling a lot more energised. He had a quick shower and pulled on his heavy robes once again. In just a few hours they would be in Bevelle, In Spira's jewel, and all would finally be decided.

Baralai stood in the doorway of the kitchen, looking on in amusement as Gippal made his breakfast: a very strong smelling coffee, a rather large slab of omelette, a good shovel of bacon, A Grilled tomato, a sausage and three hash browns. He put his plate on the bench and pulled up a chair.

"Morning."

Baralai poured himself a glass of orange juice and sat next to his friend.

"You too."

No more was said for a little while. Gippal somehow shovelled in that monstrous amount of food in less than a minute and started on his seconds with a brilliant repeat performance. Baralai took a sip of his drink, feeling slightly sick.

"You'll get fat if you keep eating like that, you know." He commented, sounding brighter then he actually felt.

Gippal finished the second plate and drained the cup of coffee. He then proceeded to lean back in his chair quite casually and burped loudly.

"Excuse me." He said, petting his stomach. "I won't get fat, I work it all off." Gippal smirked. "Besides, it's not MY fault you have good cooks here." He stretched for a few seconds and propped his ankle up on the knee of his opposite leg, peering at Baralai in a critical way.

"I think you're the one that needs the food, my friend. Don't they feed you in Bevelle?"

Baralai ran his hands through his hair and laughed a quiet laugh, shaking his head.

"Gippal, the cooks on the boat are some of the people that work in St. Bevelle."

Gippal even managed to look ashamed.

Baralai smirked a little and then sighed. It was now a familiar sound.

"Are Rikku and Paine awake? We should probably get them food before the boat docks..."

Gippal nodded and grabbed a few extra plates.

Rikku evidently hadn't moved from Yuna's bed all night. Her arms and head were snuggled up against Yuna's side, the comb lying on the sheets, forgotten. Paine was sprawled on a couch in the corner, staring at the ceiling. Gippal gently shook Rikku awake, putting the tray down, taking a seat and pulling her into his arms.

"I brought you something to eat, love." He said softly, rubbing her back.

Baralai stood there feeling very awkward, until Paine came up to him. She took the tray he had prepared for her and left the room. The Praetor shook his head, feeling a little dazed, before taking a seat on the other side of the bed from the young Al-Bhed couple. He looked into Yuna's face and tried to remember all the promises he'd made to her and himself. At the time he hadn't realised how hard it would be to fulfil them. He would keep on trying though. He had to. Baralai took Yuna's hand and softly traced the lines in her palm. She looked so peaceful lying there.

"We'll get you better soon, I promise."

Oh I, I never can tell

just how much I need to recite

I never can tell, just how hard it is to write down

But I'll pray every day for a glimpse of your fortunate smile

And I'll pray every day for a glimpse of your fortunate smile

In Bevelle, Baralai retreated to his apartment immediately after Yuna had been admitted into the hospital. He just didn't know what else to do. Although things had definitely mended with Gippal, his situation with Paine was now rather awkward. Besides all of that, Baralai just felt like he was an intruder of some sort in their little family. It wasn't the nicest feeling he'd ever experienced at all.

In his study Baralai felt strangely comforted. He was amongst good company of the old books and scrolls that lined the dusty shelves. He pulled a stack of favourites from the shelves and sneezed. He'd definitely been neglecting his studies for awhile for the dust to get that bad. Dragging the books into the lounge room he paused to look at the view. His apartment, apart from The Heart of St Bevelle, was the highest point in the city and he had a magnificent view. It helped a lot that his outward facing windows were mostly floor to ceiling. Tinted of course. He sat down on the comfortable lounge to read and by the time he was pulled out of his trancelike state by the doorbell, the day had flown past. He'd begun at 9.30 am and it was 5.30 PM. As he stumbled to the door, his stomach grumbled. Maybe this was why he was so thin.

Behind the door was Gippal. Baralai greeted him warmly and Gippal strolled in casually, looking around in appreciation. He whistled.

"Nice place you have here, B. You've done well." He said, staring out the window.

Baralai scrambled around, blushing a little, trying to clear all the texts so it was tidy.

"I'm lucky my parents lived here, I suppose." He said breathlessly, emerging from the study.

"I could use a drink. Would you like one?" Baralai offered politely, wiping his brow.

Gippal sat down on the lounge and stuck his feet up on the coffee table. He could really use a 'drink'.

"Sure, Hit me with a bourbon and cola, B."

Baralai grinned sheepishly.

"Uh..."

Gippal snorted.

"Lightweight... Ok, coffee then."

Baralai spread his hands, going red. Gippal's jaw dropped.

"You've GOT to be joking!"

The Praetor went to the fridge and pulled out a jug of apple juice and grabbed a couple of glasses. Gippal sat forward in his seat and dropped his feet off the table.

"Cocoa?" He begged desperately.

"Fresh out."

Defeated, Gippal flopped back into the chair and put his feet back up.

"Fine. I'll have some damn apple juice."

Baralai smirked and pulled a six pack of beer, imported from Bikanel Desert, and threw a bottle to Gippal.

"I bought these for you for the meeting we have scheduled, but since you're here early..."

Gippal grinned that typical, charmers grin and used the edge of the table to hit off the lid of the beer.

"Ever the practical Praetor."

A few minutes later, when they'd drunk a bit and exchanged some small talk, Gippal put down his drink.

"Come have dinner with us tonight, B?" He asked, cracking his knuckles. Baralai looked at him thoughtfully.

"You'll get Arthritis if you keep that up." He paused. "Yuna's in hospital and you're all going out to dinner?" he questioned, feeling a little edgy.

Gippal nodded, starting to feel guilty about the whole idea.

"Well Yeah... Her pupils are responding to light and a Machina that measures brainwaves says she's started dreaming. She'll be awake any day now, I bet!" He said enthusiastically, ignoring the pang in his stomach. Baralai shook his head.

"Well things aren't very good with Paine and I at the moment. I imagine this isn't the best time to aggravate the situation, but if I were you I'd want to be there when Yuna wakes up."

Gippal definitely felt awful now.

"I do... More than anything, but we're just trying to have fun and pretend we're all ok for awhile, you know?"

"I know." There was that word again.

It was around seven when Baralai tired of being reclusive and staying in his apartment. He didn't know what to do with his time though. He definitely didn't feel like going to dinner and pretending to be ok. He didn't think he could handle sitting there with Yuna, lying there so silently, either. He needed to get his anger out physically. In his room he reached under the bed for his sparring rod. Instead of his hand closing around the object, it smashed into something solid. Wincing, he pulled out a heavy looking trunk. It was huge. He wiped away the dust, sneezing again as he read the label.

"Baralai's Childhood Memories."

He felt strange as he remembered the times in his life he'd had parents around to support him. Now he remembered why he'd put the damn chest under the bed in the first place. Still, he opened the lid of the trunk. The first object was a scrapbook of his finger paintings and glitter clogged collages from primary school. Then there was a leather bound book with a golden crest upon the cover that contained his all of his reports and certificates since he'd begun his schooling. He flicked through it, with a fair amount of pride at the fact that all of his marks were Excellent or Higher. There were a couple of children's books, a wooden duck with wheels that could be pulled by a string and a couple of model Chocobos. There was a huge velvet book. It was filled with photos and letters from his parents. He hadn't read them yet. He wasn't sure when he was going to either. Baralai picked up a small, bundle of cloth that had been on top of everything else and unravelled it.

It was a small stuffed Moogle, with an antenna that looked ready to drop off. Baralai's jaw dropped. It couldn't be! Holding it tightly in his hands, he thought back to the day Sin had been defeated by Braska and paused. The little girl he had talked to had lost her father that morning... Brown hair, mix matched eyes, a big beaded earring. It had to be! There was too much supporting evidence for it to be anyone else... Changing into more commonplace clothes, he tucked the Moogle into his jacket and walked out.

Baralai wasn't too sure what to think as he walked through the streets. This was so strange just seemed to tie all of his feelings and suspicions up. Maybe it was rash, but it definitely felt right now. Baralai scolded himself for being soft and thinking all romantically before he even knew that he was in a situation that required romantic thinking. Then again it did make him feel all warm inside, like a toasted marshmallow, which he liked. He decided he'd think whatever he wanted... Within respectable limits of course. Baralai grinned. He had an idea.

A timeless place, I hope to reside

A beautiful life, is here for a time

I never felt like this

I would call upon the heavens

for your innocent words

Your beautiful ways, your heavenly presence

When he walked into the hospital room, his heart hopped nervously even though Yuna was still obviously way out to the world. Baralai sat on the edge of the bed.

"I thought I'd come and see how you were. Since the others went out to have dinner I figured you might like some company." He smiled softly. "Well, that's not all I wanted to talk about... Today I was thinking about a few years ago when I was eight or so. Sin had just been defeated and my parents took me around the city so we could celebrate. I really wanted to see the fireworks, so we went up to a park that overlooked the city, so we'd have a good view. I was only there for a few minutes when I noticed this pretty girl crying. That made me sad and I wanted her to be happy so much that I went and bought her ice cream and stole a flower. It seemed to make her happy. Well, we sat there for awhile and ended up watching the fireworks together. I liked her so much and I was so proud I'd managed to make her happy. I had to go home then, but we arranged to meet the next day, but she never came. I was really sad because I wanted to see her again. She'd left her Moogle on the bench and I wanted to give that back too."

He moved her arm gently and tucked the Moogle under it and smiled very gently.

"I'm sorry it took me so long."

Oh I, I never can tell

Just how much I need to recite

I never can tell, just how hard it is to write down

But I'll pray every day for a glimpse of your fortunate smile

And I'll pray every day for a glimpse of your fortunate smile

Baralai grabbed something he'd left in the hallway.

"I got you some flowers too." He told her, putting them in a vase by the bed. He chuckled a little embarrassedly. "I stole them from the same planter box too..."

He sat back down on the bed and sighed.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I wish you would wake up so we could go get ice cream or something like that..." Baralai touched Yuna's face softly and stood up. "But I don't know, Yuna. Maybe I've already wasted my share of miracles."

And now and then, we'll go down to the park

You never know what you might find there after dark

'Cause heaven, is right there in your eyes, your eyes, your eyes

But I'll pray every day for a glimpse of your fortunate smile

And I'll pray every day for a glimpse of your fortunate smile

Heaven is right there in your eyes.

Fortunate Smile ©2003 T.Noonan