Cloister Four
The first thing Beclem realised when he returned to consciousness was that the splitting headache and various wounds he had received the night before had completely disappeared. The second was that he was in a luxurious room he had never seen before, in a bed that was strangely comfortable.
Fragments of the night before came back to him; the real mixed in with the imagined, and Beclem found he couldn't tell them apart any more than he could the night before.
"Chappu," he murmured, as a blurred face came back to him.
"I'm sorry," a voice that wasn't his own answered. "I don't know who Chappu is, but I am afraid that I am not him."
Beclem looked up to find he was not alone in the room. A tall and, he had to admit, beautiful man stood in the opposite corner of the room. He smiled at Beclem and walked over to kneel at the side of the bed.
"How are you feeling?" he asked Beclem.
"Better than I did before," he said as he reached a hand to his head to find Chappu's helmet was missing.
"Where's my helmet?" he snapped.
"I apologise. I must have left it at the beach."
Beclem didn't reply.
"Look; you're lucky to have survived at all," Beclem's saviour continued, "helmet or no helmet."
"Are you looking for me to say thanks?" Beclem sneered.
"It wouldn't hurt! You are the only one to have survived from all of the passengers and crew that were on board that boat. If I had not shown up when I did, then you probably would be dead as well!"
"Fine," Beclem answered. "What's your name?"
"Isaaru."
"You're Summoner Isaaru? No wonder I already dislike you."
"Excuse me!" Isaaru cried in outrage.
"I'm sorry, my Lord," Beclem replied; more than a trace of sarcasm leaking into his words. "And you have my thanks. My name is Beclem. I'm here as a representative of the Youth League."
"You are the Youth League's representative?" Isaaru asked, a look of worry growing on his face. "Well then, I guess it is appropriate that I brought you to this room then. We had put it aside for the Youth League's visitor, but when your ship was destroyed I figured it would be all right to put the only survivor in here. Who would have guessed that you would be one and the same person?"
"You don't look a thing like Maroda," Beclem observed, giving Isaaru the distinct impression that Beclem hadn't been listening to a word he had said.
"I take after my mother. My two brothers take after our father," Isaaru explained. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you know Maroda. The two of you are both part of the Youth League after all."
Once again Beclem gave no indication that he had been listening, except a snort of derision. At that moment the door opened and Dorian entered without announcing his presence. Isaaru turned towards him and the two began talking about something that Beclem couldn't quite catch.
"What? Now?" Isaaru asked in a voice that was louder than the rest of the conversation had been. "All right. I'll be there in a moment."
He turned around and faced Beclem once more.
"Feel free to show yourself around the city today, but be careful not to overdo yourself. Some of your wounds are not fully healed yet," he told Beclem.
With that Isaaru followed Dorian out the door, leaving Beclem alone in the room, staring up at the ceiling and wondering.
"So that was Lord Isaaru?" he asked himself. "I already don't like him. How am I going to survive living in the same building as him?"
It was easy enough to find his way to the beach and find Chappu's helmet amongst the wreckage. Some of the people of Bevelle had begun to clean up the ship's wreckage, but there were still scraps of wood and metal scattered over the white sand.
Finding his way back to the Palace proved to be a little more difficult. Beclem wondered if all the time he had spent in smaller colonies like Besaid had weakened his sense of direction in cities.
Before long he had found himself in the heart of the city. It should have been easy, Beclem thought as he made another wrong turn. The Palace was on top of the tallest hill in the area, so all he had to do, if logic was to be believed, was keep going uphill. However, this tactic had already resulted in several dead ends and no Palace.
He was just about to give in and ask someone for directions when a cheery voice rang out through the streets behind him.
"Beclem!" it called, and soon Beclem found himself enveloped in an enthusiastic bear hug. "I heard about the ship exploding and thought you were dead!"
Beclem's captor put him down for long enough for the ex-Crusader to establish his identity. He was a couple of years younger than Beclem, and had dark skin, eyes and hair.
"Maroda," Beclem acknowledged him.
"It's going to be good to have another member of the Youth League here," Maroda commented. "Maybe you can help me talk some sense into these backwards Yevonites, huh?"
"Maybe," Beclem answered noncommittally.
"So, has anyone shown you around the city yet?"
"No, actually…" Beclem wondered if he should ask Maroda to show him the way back to the Palace, but decided instead to wait for Maroda's offer. It was better not to be seen asking for help.
"Come on. I'll show you then," Maroda said, as Beclem had hoped he would.
Bevelle was a city full of dead ends, secret short cuts and entrances into buildings, and of opulence. Even the least important of buildings were covered in colour and decoration.
"I guess Isaaru's been too busy leading the city to show you around," Maroda commented, when less than an hour later, they found themselves back at the entrance to the Palace.
"This lower level is pretty much just for the public," Maroda explained. "You take the lift straight up to get to the main room of parliament and Isaaru's office. You'll be invited in there eventually I think. Down leads to the Chamber of the Fayth, although I don't know why you'd be going down there. All the priests' rooms are on the left. Isaaru's room is on the right, at the very end of the same corridor you're on. I've got my own place now, so I'm not living here any more. Our younger brother Pacce lives with me."
Beclem only nodded to show his understanding.
The two began walking aimlessly; Maroda pointing out whatever caught his interest at the time, only half of which seemed at all relevant to Beclem, until they found themselves in a small alcove off to one side of the main entrance.
At first glance it seemed like any other room in the Palace, until one realised that it was completely void of any furniture or useful artefacts apart from a large glowing blue glyph on the floor at one end of the room.
"What's this place?" Beclem asked as a strange feeling began to gnaw away at his gut.
"They're calling it Via Infinito," Maroda answered.
"It will be investigated to the best of our abilities," Isaaru assured the council for what had to be the tenth time. "Lady Yuna is already attending to it."
"But what if you or the Lady die?" one of the council members asked.
"Then our deaths will serve as a warning for other not to follow us," Isaaru answered.
"What if the people of Bevelle find out that something like that is hidden beneath the city?" someone asked. "This could cause more problems than Vegnagun."
"It could definitely cause problems," Isaaru agreed.
"The people need to know of something this large!" a priestess objected.
"Lord Isaaru has already agreed that the people are not to know!" Dorian agreed, interrupting Isaaru's current train of thought.
He hadn't exactly agreed to it, Isaaru thought. Since when had Dorian spoken for him; putting words in his mouth?
"We will not tell the people of Bevelle as yet," Isaaru said, interrupting Dorian's argument as to why Yevon should keep yet another secret. "There is no need to alert everyone as yet. If anything important or potentially dangerous is discovered, then we shall inform the public when appropriate."
No-one could disagree with this, and the room fell silent.
"Is there anything else which needs to be discussed today?"
"My Lord?" a woman put in, just as Isaaru was rising to stand and dismiss the meeting. "I heard the ship that the Youth League ambassador was travelling on was destroyed."
"That is true," Isaaru said, sitting back down. "The Youth League representative was lucky enough to have survived the disaster. A clean-up of the wreckage is currently under way, and the representative, a man by the name of Beclem whom I'm sure you will all come to know well, was injured but has been healed and is on his way to making a full recovery."
"But what could have caused something like that to happen?" the woman that had originally inquired about the ship asked. "I heard that the ship exploded."
"I'm hoping Beclem will be able to shed some light on that matter," Isaaru answered. "Now, does anyone else have anything that needs to be discussed? No? All right. This meeting is now over. We shall meet again in one week."
With that the officials of New Yevon filed out of the room and one by one made their way to various parts of the Palace and the greater city beyond.
Isaaru hung back for a moment, knowing it would be a while before everyone would be able to be transported from the upper to lower levels. No-one attempted conversation with him or any of their fellow priests and priestesses, leaving Isaaru to his own thoughts.
After he had waited for a few more moments he found that his thoughts turned to Beclem. He wasn't sure what to make of the man as yet, but he had a feeling that he and the Youth League ambassador were destined to disagree with one another. He eventually moved from his seat, and set off towards Via Infinito, ready to blow off some steam.
He did not expect to find Beclem and Maroda in the entrance.
"Maroda. Beclem," Isaaru greeted them, unable to keep the surprise from his voice. He nodded politely at Beclem. "I see you recovered your mask from the beach.'
Beclem nodded, showing absolutely no emotion through his mouth. It was unnerving, thought Isaaru and for a moment he wished that the helmet had stayed lost. It was impossible to read Beclem when he wore it, and Isaaru liked to know what the person he was talking to was thinking, or at least have some idea how they felt about the conversation.
"What are the two of you doing here?" Isaaru asked, trying not to show his suspicion.
"I was just showing Beclem around," Maroda said cheerily, all too aware of what Isaaru was worried about. Yevon's secrets were dark and dangerous, and some things should not be told to people who were, until recently, Yevon's greatest enemy.
"I suppose that saves me the trouble of doing it then," Isaaru commented, but Beclem wasn't paying him any attention. The Youth League representative was completely focussed on the glyph on the other side of the room.
"Let me guess," he said, not taking his eyes off the glyph. "That transports you somewhere?"
"Yes," Isaaru answered. "It leads to some of the chambers which were created by our forbears. We're keeping them off limits for now."
"Why?" Beclem asked.
"We fear that they might be dangerous."
Beclem looked mildly intrigued by this. Perhaps he was about to ask something else, but at that moment Isaaru let out a shriek which was completely unexpected and which seemed horribly out of character for the ex-Summoner. His eyes flew wide open as he stared at a spot on the floor beside Beclem.
"What in Yevon's name is that thing doing in here?" he said. "I thought I had escaped those things for ever."
Beclem followed Isaaru's gaze to find a small monkey sitting beside his feet, looking completely harmless. It looked up and appeared to regard Beclem with its beady black eyes for a moment, before lifting its paws to its face to rub at its nose.
So the current leader of Bevelle and New Yevon was afraid of squatter monkeys? Beclem found his image of the ex-Summoner change slightly.
Maroda was trying extremely hard not to chuckle at his older brother, but was failing miserably. One of his hands tried to stifle the laughter that was emerging from his mouth, earning him a rather annoyed look from Isaaru.
The ex-Summoner sighed in exasperation and stormed out of the room, leaving Beclem and Maroda by themselves once again. Beclem watched him leave, his thoughts not at all on Isaaru's reaction to the monkey, but on the way the ex-Summoner acted about Via Infinito. There was something he wasn't being told. Beclem was sure of it.
Maroda's laughter gradually faded away.
"I didn't think it was that funny," Beclem commented as Maroda wiped the last tears of laughter from his eyes.
"Yes it was," Maroda answered. "He sounded like a girl when he shrieked like that!"
"So how does an ex-Summoner become afraid of something as harmless as monkeys?" Beclem thought aloud.
"He's not afraid of them as such," Maroda said. "He was working as a tour guide in Zanarkand before he came here. The monkeys ended up breeding at too fast a rate, and started stealing things from the tourists. Isaaru and his business partner ended up having to shut down because of it." Maroda let out a sigh, and looked in the direction his brother had walked off in. "I better go apologise to him," he said, "otherwise he's going to be annoyed with me for the rest of the day. See ya Beclem!"
An ex-Summoner that hated monkeys and had become a tour guide in Zanarkand after the Eternal Calm had come? If Isaaru was willing to guide tourists through what had to, for him, be one of the most emotionally charged places in Spira, then he was either not nearly as sentimental as the other Summoners that Beclem had heard about, or he was a far more unique and complex character than Beclem had first thought.
Beclem's eyes strayed back to the monkey at his side. A grin formed on his face as he wondered what Isaaru's reaction to a little tormenting might be.
And here he was thinking that this new position would be boring.