Chapter 4

Rest! We need Rest!

Finally after leaving the Farplane Yuna resurfaced in Bevelle, aided by a mysterious whistling silhouette that build a bridge out of the Farplane just for Yuna.

After telling Buddy, Brother, Shinra and the rest of the Gullwing girls about what she witnessed in the Farplane Yuna thought about jumping into the fray to rescue Spira from Vegnagun but she and her friends were simply dead tired after battling 4 very powerful Aeons and hundreds of fiends. They all seriously needed some quiet time to replenish their energies. Paine immediately vetoed Besaid. "rest is what we all need" she said, "and someone who shall remain nameless will not rest there" she added looking at a red faced Rikku.

But where to rest ? puzzled the Gullwings started checking their alternatives in Spira: The cities were out - Kilika, Luca and Bevelle were too full of restless Yevonites and Youth leaguers at each other's throats to be good for R&R. Guadosalam had Leblanc obsessing about her missing Noojie - Woodjie.

That left the smaller villages, forts and temples, but where ? Besaid was fine but Rikku would not rest there, quite the opposite. At the Moonflow Tobli was still trying to get Yuna to sing at his shows for free. Bikanel and Djose had Al Bhed, Nhadala armed with a huge list of machina parts for the girls to dig, and the Thunder plains had it's pain in the neck towers who needed to be calibrated again. Mushroom Road had the Youth League headquarters, now preparing a "counter attack" to their imagined attack from Bevelle's Yevonites. Galgazet was full of anxious Ronso pestering Kimahri for advice.

They could try camping on the wild areas of Spira. Where though ? The empty Macalania Woods was out, with it's extremely hard to kill Gel fiends it would be no rest. Same for Zanarkand which Yuna couldn't bear to visit after Cid had brought hundreds of tourists into the place of her most cherished memories of Tidus. The Calm Lands was the only place left, but it had some dangerous Gel fiends too, plus lots of Yevonites and Youth leaguers arguing…

That's when Shinra, the Gullwings resident tech wizard came up with the idea of having the girls rest at the Celsius itself, using the commsphere's Shinra had installed all over Spira to keep in touch with their friends if needed be. And it was just in time as all over Spira the people were stressing about Baralai, Nooj and Gippal missing since last month. Yuna could not tell the people where their 3 missing leaders were without causing widespread panic. But using Shinra's commsphere the girls could rest and do some hand holding at the same time, without having to get into battle or talk too much about what Yuna saw in the Farplane.

Using the commsphere Rikku learned that her beloved "Bee" had been recalled to Mushroom Road, to aid Commander Lucille, who had her hands full with Meivn Nooj missing. As usual Beclem was butting heads with Wakka and scolding the Aurochs, calling them slackers and Wakka a wimp. Rikku wanted to go there and beat some sense into Beclem but Paine was adamant that they all should rest and threatened to tell Brother about his sister's new fling. " Never mind!" fumed Rikku grumpily.

Tensions rising in Spira

The tension and aggression between the two warring factions of New Yevon and the Youth League started escalating rapidly with both leaders missing. To make matters worse, Gippal, the cool headed leader of the Al Bhed was also missing and so was Tobli the entertainer. Kilika was in the brink of war with the Yevonites under siege in the temple surrounded by the nervous Youth League warriors. Donna their resident summoner was usually able to calm things down but she was having problems of her own this time. Things were only slightly better at the other Spira villages. The girls started fearing the worst. With tempers running high, any little incident could spark a planet wide fight between Yevonites and Youth Leaguers. Even cool headed business tycoon Rin was on the edge, after being plagued by a slew of strange incidents involving his hovers and the machina he used to protect Mi'hen Highroad.

Yuna, Rikku and Paine wanted to do something and Brother deferred to Yuna's wishes as usual, blustering "let's kick some Vegnangun's arse" with bravado. But this time Yuna and her team were just too tired to fight the colossus, a machina / fiend almost as large as Sin, controlled by a very powerful hate filled unsent spirit like Shuyin. So what could they do to help calm Spira ?

"It's not like we can get everyone to sing campfire songs" mused Paine aloud

"That's it!" shouted Yuna and Rikku together

"That's what ?" asked Brother

"Yuna can throw a concert. That ought to help people calm down" said Rikku

"That's perfect!" said Brother, already having visions of a scantly clad Yuna singing and dancing in front of him and immediately getting kicked by Rikku who saw his leering eyes and read his intentions easily

The girls decided to look for Tobli, the entertainment king as he called himself, to help them with the concert and found him on the edge of Guadosalam being chased by some creditors. Tobli quickly got his hypello team to work promoting the free concert all over Spira and setting up the stage at the Thunder Plains. Two days later everything was ready and the fans started pouring into the plains. Unfortunately that attracted some very large fiends which decided that Yuna's fans would make a good snack. So even though the girls were still tired they had to kick some dragon's booty to make the Thunder Plains safe for their audience.

Lenne's Song

At the concert Lenne's spirit came loose from Yuna's dancer dressphere and overwhelmed her and Shinra's large stage spheres. All of a sudden concert goers were presented with a virtual replica of Zanarkand from 1,000 years ago and of Lenne's last moments on it: Her desperate escape from Bevelle with her lover Shuyin, the lovers being cornered against the colossus Vegnagun and the Yevonite guard mercilessly executing the couple. This all to the tune of a heartfelt song from Lenne describing the foolishness of war and the beauty of love, and the regret she had of never being able to tell Shuyin how much she loved him, until it was too late. There was not a dry eye left in the Thunder Plains and on the people watching the concert all across Spira via commsphere. And that's when the permanently overcast skies of the plains parted to let a ray of sunlight bathe Yuna / Lenne while the summoner and the spirit sang of their hope for peace and love in Spira.

1000 Words

I know that you're hiding things

Using gentle words to shelter me

Your words were like a dream

But dreams could never fool me

Not that easily

I acted so distant then

Didn't say goodbye before you left

But I was listening

You fight your battles far from me

Far too easily

"Save your tears, 'cause I'll come back"

I could hear that you whispered as you walked through that door

And still I swore

To hide the pain, when I turn back the pages

Shouting might have been the answer

What if I cried my eyes out and begged you not to part?

But now I'm not afraid to say what's in my heart

'Cause a thousand words

Call out through the ages

They'll fly to you

Even though I can't see

I know they're reaching you, suspended on silver wings

Oh, a thousand words

A thousand embraces

Will cradle you

Making all of your weary days seem far away

They'll hold you forever

Oh, a thousand words (A thousand words)

Have never been spoken (Oh, yeah)

They'll fly to you

They'll carry you home (Carry you home) and back into my arms

Suspended on silver wings (On silver wings)

And a thousand words (Oh)

Call out through the ages (Call through the ages)

They'll cradle you (Oh, yeah)

Turning all of the lonely years to only days (Only days)

They'll hold you forever

Oh, a thousand words

Yuna woke up from her trance merge with Lenne on their cabin on the Celsius, being attended by a very worried Rikku and Paine. Nevertheless, she felt perfectly fine. Now Yuna finally understood why Shuyin was so angry and hate filled and what was missing for him, what would make his spirit rest: Lenne's last words of love. Rikku and Paine told her the good news: All Spira had been moved by her song and the Yevonites and Leaguers had started peace talks right after the concert.