Meetings and Partings

As we approached the exit from the temple complex to the city, I paused and turned around. I took it all in -- the temple itself, the courtyards, the outbuildings, the barracks that had been my home off and on over the years. The faces of men I had known here, my former brothers in the Order, passed before me. One in particular settled in my mind and refused to leave.

Lord Braska stood beside me. "Ready?" he asked.

"Actually," I said, "I was thinking about finding Kinoc. Would it be all right, my lord, if I joined you later?"

"Of course," he said. "Jecht and I will be at the house. Will you be home for dinner?"

"I imagine so. I may miss a few things about St. Bevelle, but the mess hall is not one of them."

He chuckled. "See you later then." He exited, Jecht close behind him, and I approached the nearest man standing guard. He was fairly young; I had seen him around the temple but did not know him by name.

"I'm looking for Commander Kinoc," I said. "Is he here?"

"Yes sir," he replied. "I believe he's in the armory."

"Thank you," I said with a bow, and went to the building he had indicated.

It was a short walk. I arrived and opened the door without knocking. Kinoc was indeed there, talking with the captain of the guard, Julien, commander of Bevelle Garrison. They looked up when they saw me enter, wearing twin expressions of surprise. But soon my old friend's face relaxed into a smile. "Auron!"

"Hello, Kinoc. Commander Julien."

The latter bowed, a tad stiffly. "I hear you are making the pilgrimage to Zanarkand," he said.

I nodded. "Guarding Lord Braska, yes."

Julien covered up the flash of skepticism on his pale face very nicely, but not so well that I didn't see it. "Good luck, then, Sir Auron, Yevon be with you." It was not a particularly heartfelt wish, but then Julien and I had never been allies; he'd resented my youth and influence with Brac and had never bothered to make a secret of that fact. He exchanged a look with Kinoc, then got up and left, brushing past me as he passed through the door.

Kinoc and I faced each other, his bearing slightly tense. Ws he nervous, worried that I was jealous of his new position? "So," he said quietly.

The last seven years weighed heavily on me, and I could think of nothing to say. How could I put into words how much this man and his friendship had meant to me? I decided it was an impossible task, so I settled for simple and straightforward. "Thanks for everything, Kinoc."

He relaxed, then nodded. "I know I don't need to tell you this, but guard Lord Braska well."

"Indeed I will." Now the awkward part. "And you'll be busy as well. I hear they made you second-in-command." I forced my tone to be cheery and light. To my surprise, it didn't take too much effort. Perhaps I really was happy for him.

His shoulders slumped with a sigh, which was not a reaction I had anticipated. I had expected him to be proud of the accomplishment; instead, he looked almost guilty. "That was your promotion, and everyone knows it. You were always the better man, all the way to the end."

I shook my head. "You make it sound as if I were heading off to die or something. I will see you again."

Kinoc looked up. "I hope so."

Silence fell for another moment. "Well, then..."

"Going already?" he asked.

I nodded. "We leave tomorrow, and we need to finish making preparations."

He hesitated for a second. "Tell me all about Zanarkand? When you return?"

I smiled at him. "Farewell."

I had gotten halfway through the door when I thought of one more thing and turned back. "Kinoc?"

He took a few steps in my direction. "Yes?"

I dipped my head slightly. "Be good to Lorayn. She's a nice girl, and I'm sure she's nervous about marrying a man she barely knows."

His eyes lit up at the thought of his future wife, and I was glad to see it. Maybe she would have a husband who could love her after all. "We are coming to know one another," he said. "You needn't be concerned on that account."

"Good. When is the wedding?"

"We'll begin planning as soon as the Calm comes. So hurry up and get on that, will you?"

I couldn't help but chuckle. "Anything for a friend."

Kinoc closed the gap between us and gave me a fierce hug. "Yevon be with you, Auron."

"With you as well," I said. And then I was ready to leave.

The Al Bhed Psyches scored four more goals in the second half and held Luca to only one. It was a convincing win, and even Maura had to admit that the controversial call had no bearing on the final outcome. As soon as the final horn blew, Kenna jumped up with a shriek of joy and ran off to find the victory party. Maura left as well, heading for the locker room to console her former teammates. Liss remained in her seat, waiting with Sam and his father for the stadium to clear out. She looked over the crowd, mostly subdued except for the Al Bhed in attendance. Then she saw someone waving at her from several rows over: Paine. Liss stood up and returned the greeting.

Her cousin fought her way through and soon stood before them. "Hello Liss, Sam."

"Captain Paine," said Sam, standing with a salute. "Have you met my father Jan? He coaches the Kilika Beasts."

"I have not," she said, reaching out to shake his hand. "I'm the officer in charge of training new recruits to the Defense Force. Your son is quite promising as a potential mage; you should be proud of him."

"You didn't tell me that!" Jan turned to Sam and smiled at him. The boy blushed slightly and dipped his head. Jan returned his gaze to Paine as he dropped his hand. "I'm glad to hear it, Captain, and it's great to meet you."

Paine nodded, then looked at Liss. "What are you up to next?"

Liss glanced quickly at Jan, fighting a bout of nervousness. "Jan has invited me to meet his brother, who served in the warrior monks with my father. I was thinking of going, but if you have other plans for me..."

"No, no." Paine waved her off. "Baralai and I are having some Defense Force brass over this evening, and I have to help him get everything ready. You should go. Enjoy yourself today, but be ready for tomorrow -- it's machina training, and you'll finally get a chance to play with some live ammo." She raised her arm to her chest as she left, and Sam and Liss both saluted in return. Liss watched as Paine ran into a blond man at the bottom of the stairway. They exchanged salutes and started to chat.

Then Sam noticed the pair. "Uncle Kal! Up here!" he shouted with a wave.

The man turned, as did Paine. Then they looked at one another, laughed, and headed up the steps together.

"Sam, I didn't know that Commander Kal was your uncle," said Paine as she returned to them.

"Well, ma'am, you aren't the only one who didn't want to be judged by family connections." Sam grinned. "No one asked, so I never said anything."

Paine looked pleased. "Fair enough. Anyway, I really should be going. See you all later. Commander, are you still coming for dinner?" He nodded, and she left amid a flurry of salutes and goodbyes.

Sam hugged his uncle hello, then presented him. "Uncle Kal, meet my friend Liss."

"Hi," said the newcomer. Liss saluted him, as he was obviously her superior officer. As she did so, she looked at him more closely. Like his brother and nephew, he was quite tall and very lean, but his physique was more hardened, that of a warrior rather than a blitzer. He might have been as old as 40, but he still exuded a boyish charm that was marred only by a faded scar on his left cheek.

"Nice to meet you, sir," she said.

"At ease, cadet," Kal replied with a friendly smile. "No one is on duty today." He reached out for a handshake; Liss dropped the salute and accepted the outstretched hand. He had a strong grip and a callused ridge along the top of the palm. Then he turned to his brother for another hug. "Good to see ya, bro," he said, his voice broadening to betray a slight island accent.

"You too," said Jan. "How much of the tourney did you catch?"

"Got here just in time to see your center throw that terrible interception," his brother replied, grinning. "I hope you handed his ass to him."

"Eh, not really. It can wait for the next team meeting." Jan turned to the cadets by his side. "You kids hungry?"

"Sure am!" said Sam. "Liss?"

She nodded. "Breakfast was a while ago."

"I know just the place," Jan said. "C'mon, looks like the crowd has thinned out enough for us to get out of here."

When I arrived home, Jecht was nowhere in sight and Braska was making dinner. All our provisions for the journey were ready, although we would probably need to pick up a few more supplies in the morning to account for our increased number.

I settled into a chair at the counter. "What's the plan for tomorrow, my lord?"

Braska looked up from the pot he stirred. "We should probably leave early, before dawn. I want to get to Macalania Temple before dark, and we need to drop Yuna at the temple before we leave." I saw his face twist with sorrow as he said it, but this course of action had been decided months before. Braska had no family or other close friends in the city. As the daughter of a summoner, no matter how ill-respected, Yuna would be well cared for among the temple orphans. It was really the only option.

"Do we need more provisions to accommodate Jecht?"

"Already taken care of. We stopped by the markets on the way home. He also needed a sword, among other things."

"Like shoes, perhaps?" I asked dryly.

Braska laughed. "No, he refused. Armor as well. Said he can't stand them. I imagine he'll think better of it when we get to Lake Macalania; fortunately, there's a shop there. He's a peculiar fellow."

"You can say that again." I looked around the house, but there was still no sign of him. "Where is he, anyway?"

"In the backyard, playing with Yuna. He's showing her blitzball. Actually, she's quite taken with him."

I snorted and looked away.

"Hey." Braska let go of the spoon and laid a hand on mine. I could feel him looking at me. "Thank you for going along with this. I know you're not crazy about having him on the journey."

"That would be an understatement, my lord," I muttered, my eyes firmly fixed on the kitchen counter. "You are the summoner, and it is your decision. But I would feel better if I just understood why."

"I don't know that I can rightly explain," he said slowly. "Well, I can, but I'm not sure whether I should." He thought for a moment. "All right, I will tell you. But promise that you won't say anything about this, especially not to Jecht."

"I will keep any secret you ask me to keep, my lord."

Braska looked around and then lowered his voice. "Bahamut asked me to bring him."

I leaned back in my chair. "The aeon? Truly?"

He nodded. "The fayth appeared to me while I was meeting with Lady Nyaki. I don't know the reason, precisely, but he was quite insistent: Jecht belongs with our party. It is the only time he has spoken to me directly, outside our first meeting in his Chamber, and I feel compelled to obey."

"Understandably so, my lord." I made a small seated bow. "I will question Jecht's presence no more."

An awkward silence fell as Braska returned to his cooking. Finally I broke it with another question. "Did you explain the purpose of our journey and our roles in it?"

He frowned slightly. "Most of it. He is truly ignorant of our ways and of Yevon; either he's truly from Zanarkand or another far-off land, or he has lost his memory. I explained about Sin, what a summoner is -- he was rather impressed by the aeon -- and what is expected of him as a guardian. But..." here he trailed off and looked out the window.

I understood. "You didn't tell him about the Final Summoning."

He breathed deeply and shrugged. "I wanted to. But I couldn't bring myself to say it. I've never had to explain it to anyone before -- we've all grown up just knowing, learning it at our mothers' knees, even nonbelievers like the Al Bhed. How do you tell a man that he is to guard you with his life in order to give you the opportunity to die?"

"He will have to know eventually, my lord."

"I realize that," Braska said with a sigh. "But please let me be the one to tell him. I promise not to leave it too long. Anyway, dinner's ready. Could you fetch Jecht and Yuna?"

"Of course, my lord." I stood and walked into the yard. Jecht sat on the ground, a blitzball resting on one side, a bottle on the other. Yuna was curled in his lap, listening with rapt attention as he spoke.

"An' the stadium is filled with people," he was saying, "all yelling and screaming. Then the roof opens up, and the spotlights shine all the way into the sky, loud music playin', and they introduce us players. Then the sphere fills up with water, startin' from the inside and going out to the edges, and we all jump in. I'm captain of the Abes, the best damn team in Zanarkand..."

"Dinnertime," I said, interrupting before the tale could get any taller.

Yuna stood up. "Thank you, Sir Auron." She turned to Jecht as he raised himself from the grass as well, bottle in hand. "Thank you for the story, Sir Jecht, and for showing me blitzball!" She hugged his leg, then ran into the house.

"Sweet kid," said Jecht, watching her go, a slightly wistful expression on his face.

"What do you know about children?" My tone was unnecessarily harsh, but I couldn't help myself. Something about this man just seemed to demand rudeness from me.

He drew himself up a little, then took a swig of his drink. "Hey, I have a son myself, ya know, 'bout Yuna's age. He's a damn crybaby, but I love him all the same. So don't you tell me I can't handle no kid." He stalked past me into the house. I looked at the sky with a small groan, praying yet again for patience, and followed.

Braska went into the temple with Yuna and came out alone. Immediately, I left the low wall near the entrance where Jecht and I had been waiting and went to him. "How did it go, my lord?"

His face was pale, but his eyes were dry. "She was very brave. I will miss her, but she knows that I'm doing this for her, for all of Spira's children." He looked at me with a melancholy expression. "Take care of her when I'm gone?"

I gave his arm a squeeze. "You have my word." Then we walked over toward Jecht, who was standing a little way down the Highbridge and carrying... a sphere recorder?

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Well, you said it was gonna be a long trip," he replied. "We'll be seein' a lot of neat things, right? So I thought I'd record it all with this. To show to my wife and kid when I get home, y'know."

It was possibly the most ridiculous idea I'd ever heard. "This is no pleasure cruise!" I snapped, then turned to Braska for support. But he looked almost amused at the thought.

Jecht swung the recorder around, taking images of the scene around us. It was deserted but for the two guards standing watch at the door. "Hey Braska," he said. "Ain't this supposed to be a grand occasion? Where're the cheering fans? The crying women?"

Braska spread his arms wide. "This is it. Too many goodbyes, and people think twice about leaving."

"Huh." Jecht shrugged. "If you say so. It better be a lot more colorful when we come back. A parade for Braska, vanquisher of Sin!"

Braska laughed, but I couldn't. If Braska succeeded, there would be parades in his honor, true. Jecht and I might even get to see them, if we were very lucky. But the High Summoner himself never would, and it was a sobering thought.

"We should go," Braska said. "Day will break soon."

Jecht turned off the recorder and placed it his bag. "Whatever you say. Let's get outta this place."

I took one last glance at the temple, and decided that, for the first time, I agreed with him. It was time to leave Bevelle behind me, once and for all.