Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Final Fantasy x-2.

Chapter Three

Was ever woman in this humor won?

Rikku was easing out of the kitchen door, freedom in sight, when she heard her Pop's roar.

"Rikku!"

Her hand tightened on the doorframe, and one foot snaked past the step.

"Rikku, Ev oui dyga uha suna cdab, E'mm tnufh oui eh dra uycec yht pino oui ehdu cyhtd!" (Rikku, if you take one more step, I'll drown you in the Oasis and bury you into the sands!)

"Yes, Pops?" Rikku said at last, turning to face her father. "Ted oui fecr cusadrehk?" (Did you wish something?)

"Ted oui fecr cusadrehk?" (Did you wish something?) Cid mimicked her, and strode forward. "Come with me, Rikku."

"Really, Pops, I—

"Shut your trap, Rikku!" He grasped her arm and pulled her through the door.

Cid released his daughter's arm and looked down at her in disgust. "What the hell do you think you're doing, you stupid girl?" He looked at her eyes through the disgusting spectacles, and shuddered.

She thrust her chin up and said: "I do not wish to marry this Gippal, Pops. I will not marry him. I am merely making sure that he won't give me another one of his arrogant looks."

"Arrogant? Gippal? Why, the boy's fine, just fine. If he's a bit stiff, I can't say that I blame him. Like you, Rikku, it was not his choice to come up here and take himself a wife. He's behaving quite appropriately. What's more, you stupid twit, the boy's father is gravely ill. How would you feel warm and friendly and bursting with good spirits?"

Oh Spira. I didn't know about Gippal's Pops. Well, I very sorry, but it had nothing to do with me.

She raised her chin, and the spectacles slid down her nose. "Pops, I don't want to marry. I don't want to leave you or Bikanel Island just yet. If I have to leave, then it will only be for exploring Spira. Please, Pops."

That brought him up short, but just for a moment. "Just what makes you believe that he'd give you a second look in any case? Talk about conceit, Rikku! You're no better then Rielle."

"I know." Said Rikku. "But I don't wanna take the chance."

Cid was silent for a moment. Rikku, uncomfortable with his silence, much preferring his rages, waved her hand about her. "Would you want to leave this, Pops?"

"Rikku, I want you to appear as yourself at the dinner table."

"No." said Rikku.

Cid, who had rarely heard any form of negative from his favorite daughter in all her twenty years, merely stared at her. He said finally: "Do you have any idea how awful you look? How unattractive and boring?"

"Of course, I practiced in front of the mirror, before I removed it from my bedroom." She tilted up her face. "The bedroom you so kindly gave to him."

"I can't exactly see the man camped amongst pink frills, for Spira's sake, or breathing in Sister's oil paints."

That was true enough. But now I have to sleep amongst Rielle's pink frills.

"Where did you get those damned spectacles?"

"From a truck in one of the attics. I thought they were a fine touch."

"I'm going to thrash you, Rikku."

"If you do, I'll look even more awful."

The both of them knew it was an empty threat. Cid didn't know what to do. Damn her for being so much like him! "You refuse to obey me, Rikku?"

"Please, Pops." Rikku said, rising and grasping his hands in hers. "Please don't make me. Besides, he won't want me anyway. Did you not see how he was staring at Rielle? She's young and flexible, and gentlemen want that. And she's as pretty as Sister, and so cheerful. You said that Gippal preferred energetic ladies. I'd make him miserable, you know. Even Sister would please him more then I would. She could be quite a benefit—she could paint portraits of all his friends. Think about the poor dude, Pops."

Cid was thinking about the poor dude. He was fond of all his other daughters, but they weren't Rikku. They wouldn't make Gippal somewhat happy, and is he weren't happy, how could they be? Unlike Rikku, Cid knew of Gippal's character, at least from Chandos's undoubtedly unfair point of view. He decided to think this out. Perhaps he could speak to Gippal, tell him of the fraud, tell him what a fine girl Rikku was, encourage him to be…

He frowned.

He could just see the look on the young man's face were he to tell him that his middle daughter couldn't stand the thought of being his wife and had made herself purposely ugly to avoid it, he cursed fluently. Rikku could see the pulse pounding wildly in his throat,

"At least change out of that rag you call clothing you're wearing." He said, his voice rough. "And get rid of those wretched spectacles."

"Very well, Pop's"

"And you won't be rude."

"Alrighty."

That stopped him cold. Rikku was never so obedient. Cid sighed; then winced at the sight of her hair. Her beautiful hair looked like a hag's crop. Even if he forced her to appear as she should, he knew well enough that she'd manage to make herself exceptionable. He wouldn't put it past her to spit in Gippal's face if provoked.

No, she'd insult him down to his boots, ad so cleverly that he'd in all likelihood look like a gape-mouthed Nidhogg. And no one would be able to accuse her of being exactly rude. It was too much.

"I will see you later, Rikku." He said, and left her. He then decided that he would study Gippal's behavior very closely, then decide if he was worthy of Rikku. If he was, then he would act.

Rikku stared after her Pops, so relieved that she wanted to shout. She already had selected what to wear for dinner. Her blouse was a pale yellow color which made her look so sallow as to appear ill with the plague. "I'm sorry Pops." Rikku said, smiling a little. "But you don't really want me to leave. Who'd fix all the machina here? Who'd help you dig up machina parts in the sands? Who'd trade jests with you? Who'd listen to all you stories?"

Why couldn't life be simple again? Gippal would select either Rielle or Sister; there would be peace again at Bikanel Island.

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She could look worse.

Cid settled himself into his high-backed chair at the head of the long dining table. Still, she didn't hold a candle to Rielle or Sister, both of whom looked as delicious as treats from a confectioner's shop.

Gippal, even to Rikku's skeptical eye, was immensely handsome in his black evening clothes. She heard Rielle suck in her breath at the sight of him, and Sister sat forward, thinking, in all likelihood, that it was evening clothes that she wanted to paint him.

Gippal was polite; he seated himself on Cid's right, and regarded his dinner, silently served by Tottle.

"It's our family dish, out only on special occasions." Cid said brightly as Tottle served a goodly amount into Gippal's bowl.

"It looks delicious." Said Gippal, uncertainly eyeing some unknown dark things in the light stock.

"It is not as tasty as what you might eat back in Djose." Rielle said. "Perhaps you can tell us some of the foods you enjoy there?"

Oh Rielle! From what Pops says of normal Sprian cooking, it is unimaginative and boring! Rikku toyed with her food, not looking up, her lips a thin, flat line.

"I doubt it." Said Gippal somewhat obliquely.

"No doubt about that." Said Rikku under her breath.

"What did you say Rikku?" asked Cid, tickled that his daughter had finally opened her mouth.

Rikku didn't move a muscle, but continued to study her bowl. "Nothing." She said in an emotionless voice.

Gippal spared a glance at the girl. At least her nose was naked of the spectacles, but her hair looked a bird's nest beneath the ghastly cap. He wondered if she could see her food. And that top she was wearing, a disgusting color, made her look so unnaturally thin it hurt to look at her.

He knew that he should be studying the girls. He had set a time limit on his deliberations, and he had to get on with it. Beginning in the morning, he'd meet with each daughter individually.

Oh hell, I might as well get started now.

He asked Rielle a question, something about her interests, and she regaled him with her family talents.

Gippal, all polite attention, then turned to Sister, and she too seemed all too ready to say anything that would please him. "I'd like to see some of your paintings." He said, and she agreed willingly.

I can't completely ignore her.

Gippal turned his eyes to Rikku and said politely: "What do you enjoy doing, Rikku?"

Rikku quivered a bit in anger. The arrogantly, conceited Chimera was pitting sister against sister. "Nothing." She said, not looking at him.

She heard her father say quickly: "Rikku dances beautifully."

"Almost as well as a performing Qactuar." She muttered, earning a glare from Cid, who had heard her.

"I'd like to see you perform, maybe after dinner?" Gippal said, wondering how he would hide his bored yawns.

"An excellent idea." Said Cid, sending Rikku a dagger's glance. "We will continue on to the drawing room with the ladies, now."

Sister brought out several of her paintings.

They were quite good, and Gippal found he could praise her without deception. There was a charming version of Rielle that must have been done recently. There was another portrait of a beautiful young woman with golden hair and bright green eyes. The girl was laughing, her lap filled with colorful flowers. It was quite a stunning painting and an equally stunning girl.

Gippal stared at the picture, hearing a sharp intake of breath from Rikku and Cid. He turned to face Sister and asked, pointing at the portrait. "May I ask who this painting is of?"

Sister smiled what looked like an amused smile. "This is merely a picture of a young girl I know. Unfortunately, she has recently changed her appearance and I cannot recognise her anymore."

"A pity." Gippal would very much like to meet this beautiful young woman. There was no portrait of Rikku, he suddenly realized, but added to himself that likely the oils would go off if used to paint her.

Rikku could only stare at her own picture and wanted so desperately to rip it to shreds this very moment.

Sister! You half-wit! Surely you have enough wit to not show my true identity to Gippal!

"Dance for us now, Rikku." Cid said, his voice so stern that Gippal stared at him. He watched Rikku walk to the centre of the room, her head lowered. She hunched her shoulders forward. In the next moment, he had stiffened. Rikku had started singing as well as dancing a very stiff and clumsy dance. Her voice was as wooden as the floor and when it reached several high notes, he fancied that any glasses present would shatter. She missed many steps to her dance, and stumbled a few too many times.

Cid glared at his daughter.

When Rikku finished, Gippal dutifully applauded. There was no applause from either Cid or his daughters. He heard Rielle giggle. Sister was looking at her sister in the oddest way. No one requested an encore.

Gippal rose, and said in an expressionless voice. "Thank you, Rikku. Sir." He continued to Cid. "I thank you for a delightful evening, and a superb dinner. I am rather exhausted from my long journey. I bid all of you good night."

Escape. He mopped his brow as he strode up the stairs and down the drafty corridor toward his bedroom.

Grunyon was waiting for him, his round face alight with curiosity.

"An enjoyable evening, sir?"

"Yevon, it was awful." Said Gippal, and walked to the narrow windows. He pulled back the brocade drapery and stared out. What bit of moon there was didn't lighten the black landscape.

"Two of them, I noted, are really lovely, and they speak without an Al Bhed accent."

"Oh yes, indeed they do. They would likely fit quite well into Spira's society," Gippal paused the moment the words were out of his mouth. He stared thoughtfully at Grunyon, but said no more.

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Rikku pretended sleep, but it didn't work. Rielle switched on a torch and shone it near Rikku's bed.

"Come on, Rikku. I know you're awake. Ah, here's Sister."

Rikku gave up and pulled herself to a sitting position as Sister quietly closed the bedchamber door behind her.

"Father's furious with you, Rikku." Said Sister.

Rikku didn't immediately respond, and Rielle said thoughtfully. "I don't understand you. Gippal is very handsome—even with those pitiful spectacles you can see that."

"Yes." She said finally. "He is, but that has nothing to do with anything, Rielle."

Sister sat forward, drawing her dressing gown closer about her. "I know you were shocked when Father told us about the debt of honor and all that. But I thought you'd be sensible about it."

"I am being sensible." Rikku said.

Rielle continued in mid-thought. "And he's rich and well-mannered and handsome, everything a girl could want in a husband."

"No." she said finally. "I didn't want to marry him. There simply has to be something more, something…" Her voice dropped off, for she didn't know what that something more was, she simply knew it had to exist, somewhere.

"You're being a stupid romantic." Sister said. "Spira, I am the only one who loves poetry, but I realize that marriage has nothing to do with those high-flown, lovely feelings."

"Pops loved our mother." Said Rikku quietly.

"Rikku, that had nothing to do with us! Now, I don't mind that you appear like an Aerouge because it will make Gippal's decision easier. He now has to choose only between Sister and me."

"If you'd stop giggling long enough, Rielle." Rikku said. "You'd see that he's also cold and arrogant."

"He doesn't like being here, that's all." Said Rielle, shrugging. "But once married, things would be different. Besides, what choice do we have? None, I tell you. You heard dad telling us that whichever of us Gippal picks, he won't argue and neither will we. There's the ten thousand Gil from Gippal's dad that will come to dad after the marriage."

"That's low." Said Rikku

"Well." said Rielle. "I for one don't wish to talk you out of your wonderful disguise. I want to marry a rich man. I want to be somebody. What else can a woman look forward to anyway?"

"It's not fair. We should be able to do anything we want."

Sister shook her head. "I fill my time with my paintings and my poetry. Rielle enjoys flirting and her fashion. You, Rikku, you fill your time with machina, and swimming, and wandering around with the servants to find more machina parts in the sands. But it's not enough. A woman has to marry, or she becomes less and less every year. She becomes an object of pity, an embarrassment to her family. I agree with you, Rikku, it isn't exactly fair, but there is nothing else."

Rikku looked closely at each of her sisters. "You, Sister, you'd marry Gippal gladly if he chose you?"

"Yes, yes. I'd even bear the…child. But I must sleep, so I will see you, Rikku and Rielle in the morning." Sister slipped off the bed and out the bedroom.

"Well," said Rielle, not bothering to stifle her yawn. "I for one don't want bags under my eyes. Let's go to sleep, Rikku. And I'll thank you not to frail about during the night."

And like the woman-child she was, Rielle was breathing evenly within five minutes of turning her bedside lamp off. Rikku lay awake staring into the darkness. Something more, she thought. There must be something more.

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Cid pointed toward the southern end of the Oasis. "A sight I never tire of." He said to Gippal. "All the small islands—quite uninhabited, you know. Rikku and I have always enjoyed visiting the western or southern expanses.

"Rikku?"

"Yes." Said Cid. "Rikku." He eyed Gippal and saw that the younger man looked quite surprised. Then he nodded, and Cid realized he was thinking that a homely little thing like Rikku would like that sort of thing. He said no more.

"I bathed in the Oasis before I arrived. It was cold, but most stimulating."

It was on the tip of Cid's tongue to say that Rikku loved to swim in the Oasis, but he didn't say it. Yevon, what to say to him? What gentleman wanted a hoyden for a wife, and that would certainly add to the impression he'd already given Gippal. How to describe his daughter? Warm and loving and honorable, and looks like a Sand Worm. "Damn." said Cid.

"Pardon?" said Gippal.

"Nothing, my boy. Rielle and Sister are going to take you visiting this afternoon, right?" He started to return back to Home.

"Yep." Said Gippal. He'd spoken briefly to Cid before they'd entered the castle. He'd meet briefly with Sister, alone. It was only fair that he meet the eldest daughter first.

When the pair returned home and some thirty minutes later, Gippal was pacing the drawing room waiting for Sister to appear. A damned interview, he thought. It was humiliating for him and for the ladies. But a wife was a huge responsibility, a lifelong responsibility. That brought another shudder. Something deep within him rebelled, but just as quickly, he saw his father's pale face, heard that deep, hacking cough. He heard the door open and turned, placing a smile on his lips.

"Sister." He said, bowing slightly.

"Lord Gippal." said Sister.

He took her proffered hand in his large ones. She is lovely, he thought. He cleared his throat. "I realize that this situation is a bit difficult for both of us."

"I understand, Gippal. More so for you, of course."

"I doubt that, Sister."

Sister's hands fluttered a bit, and she forced down her nervousness. "Have you been to the Macalania Woods, Gippal?" she asked abruptly. Sister personally loved the Macalania Woods. She'd only visited the Woods once and had fallen in love with the place. It was beautiful. Beautiful to look at, even more beautiful to paint.

"Yes." Gippal said. He saw that she was leaning forward, her eyes wide with interest. Damned shiny trees! Who cared? "They are quite lovely and it is a very peaceful area." He said weakly, then proceeded to listen to Sister explain everything about their origins and current condition. At least it passed the next fifteen minutes; he nearly collapsed with dread when she asked his opinion of Eda, the famous sculptor and poet.

"He has become an overnight sensation," said Gippal of Eda. "The ladies are most enthusiastic about his poetry, I hear."

"As am I." Sister assured him. "I'd like to paint him, indeed Gippal. I'd like to paint all your family and your friends."

"It'd perhaps be a bit difficult."

"Why? Shouldn't we live in Djose? Shouldn't we meet everyone?"

He suddenly pictured himself introducing Sister. "This is my wife; she'd like to paint you, after Eda of course. You are not family, but you are a friend, or at least an acquaintance. She'll talk endlessly about the Macalania woods while you sit there not moving a muscle."

"I am not sure." He said finally. He sent a sneaky look toward the clock on the mantel. The thirty minutes were blessedly up. One down.

"Well, sir?" Grunyon asked some minutes later in Gippal's bedroom.

Gippal sighed. He wanted to say that she'd suit him about as we'll as a six-fingered glove, but he knew he wasn't being fair. Then again, life had finished being fair.

"She is lovely and gifted. And excessively malleable, I'd say."

"Hoo boy..." Said Grunyon.

"She told me all about the Macalania Woods."

"Spira, no!"

"Hell and damnation." Said Gippal. "Pour me a glass of something strong, Grunyon. I am due to see Rielle in ten minutes."

Gippal was thinking after five minutes in Rielle's fluttering company.

She was so young and so anxious to please, and she chattered endlessly.

"Do you like poetry Rielle?" he asked, clutching at one of Sister's straws.

"Yevon, no!" Rielle exclaimed, her voice so appallingly serious that he was hard press not to smile. "Well, of course, Dad forced all of us to read foot works, sermons, and such things."

"Rikku also?" he asked, wondering how she could manage to read with her bad eyesight.

Rielle gave him a very attractive grin and a pretty shrug. "Oh, Rikku does what she pleases."

And you don't please her, Gippal, but I won't tell you that!

"I see." Said Gippal.

Rielle beamed at him, and gave him one of her practiced smile.

Gippal arched a blonde brow. The little minx was trying her feminine tricks. He wanted to laugh at her budding efforts, but of course he wasn't completely lost to good breeding. He thought suddenly that within a year, with practice, Rielle could flirt with the best of them. It was a chilling thought.

He slid a look at the clock on the mantel and saw that the time was up. Two down.

After a quiet lunch with Rielle, Sister and Cid, Gippal dutifully arrayed himself in the togs Grunyon set out for him. Thirty minutes later, after Rielle had found her missing earring, he found himself sitting between the two sisters in a hovercraft.

Rikku, seated upon a hill that gave a full view of Home, watched them leave. She grinned, rose, and shook out the sand on her clothes. She kissed her fingers to her lips at the retreating hover. She had a lot to do before they returned.

"Rikku!"

It was her Pops, of course, and he was livid. She felt a strange sort of calm wash over her, and turned to face him.

"Yes, Pops?"

"Don't you 'Yes, Pops' me, Rikku! I have suffered more then a parent should have to, and this is the end of it, Rikku!" He strode toward her.

Rikku stood her ground. "Then beat me, Pops." She said, "For I shall not change. I won't leave Bikanel Island or Home and that is that. Do whatever you want."

"Damn you, Rikku, he even applauded your miserable performance last night!"

"Yes, he did. What did you expect? That he'd start laughing, howling, cover his ears with his stupid hands?"

Cid was silent a long moment, and Rikku didn't like that, not one bit. Cid said finally: "Very well, Rikku."

He turned on his heel and strode back Home, leaving footprints in the sand.

What was he up to?

TO BE CONTINUED…