A Generation of Aeons
Chapter Seven
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X or X-2
Last Time:
"Well, Mr. Maechen," Garren started, "could you tell us what you can of her?"
"I'd be glad to, although, it is a rather lengthy tale."
Everyone but Garren resumed their seat on the ground, Maechen joined them as well, while out of curiosity, the Knight of Bevelle asked a question of the historian. "If you don't mind, why did Takoire leave the Zanarkand blitzball team, officially."
"Ah ha! I was hoping one of you would ask! Ironically, it ties with that young woman, you see, Takoire became…."
Takoire gave Lenne a few days for consideration of her new proposition. At first, Lenne was just as skeptical as her new Zanarkand friend, but the more time she had to think about the idea, the more it strengthened her conviction. But while Lenne debated with herself, Takoire gave her daily tours of Zanarkand; a different section each day, and by the time a week had passed, Lenne could not only find her way around Zanarkand as if she was born there, but she and Takoire each considered the other a good friend.
Although as long as it took for Lenne to adjust to the mere idea of Zanarkand, it took Takoire that much longer to finally believe that Lenne was from a time when Zanarkand had been destroyed, while Bevelle remained completely intact. Finally though, the blitzball captain accepted her story and listened to her tales from her time: stories of her mother and father's journey while he confirmed or denied Lenne's legends of Zanarkand.
By this time, Lenne and Takoire sat together at a small restaurant where they had eaten a few times, and the employees were happy not to release Takoire's whereabouts. They had just ordered when Takoire spoke. "So you're one hundred percent sure this is what you want? You want to become a summoner?"
Lenne nodded seriously. "Yeah, I can't think of any other reason the fayth would send me here. Not even a full hour had gone by after the natural aeons appeared when I came here, to Zanarkand."
"Well," Takoire leaned back in his chair, "you've got two choices. One, enroll into summoner's training, if you pass the entrance exam that is, but the training can take years. Second, you could just go to Besaid and give it a shot, but if you fail the test, you'll never get another chance. So, you're chances are better if you have the training, but it'll take a minimum of seven years. You'll be what, twenty-four by the time you're done? And that's if you really push yourself."
The young woman shook her head. "Spira, my Spira, doesn't have that much time. I think the only option I have is just to try it now."
Takoire held up his hands. "Don't take this the wrong way, but the chances that you'll pass, are slim to none. Not that I don't believe in you, considering you were just thrown into a place that's completely alien, was supposed to have been destroyed a thousand years from where you're from, and then fought off a huge fiend that the authorities still can't figure out."
"Don't worry," Lenne responded with a soft kind of smile, "I know where you're coming from. I know the chance of me becoming a summoner like this probably won't work, but it's just a chance I'll have to take."
"But there's something that just keeps nagging at me. What if coming here doesn't involve you becoming a summoner? What if it's entirely different?"
Lenne shrugged good-naturedly. "Then that's one down, an infinite amount of possibilities left."
Takoire gave a small chuckle. "You still haven't told me why we're basing everything off a dream you had."
"It's the only clue we have. If you have any other suggestion, please, enlighten me."
"Well, lemme think," Takoire put on a pose of serious contemplation, "you could be sent by a local news station whose run out of stories to run on me so they came up with a wacky story to see how I would react and used some gullible intern to do it." Lenne put on a shocked face. "Then again, ignorance is bliss."
"Do you ever lighten up on the sarcasm?"
With a grin, Takoire shook his head. "No, not really."
Lenne laughed again, "You know, every time I hear one of your sarcastic remarks, I can't help but laugh. Has anyone ever told you that you have a huge ego?"
"Not to my face, but the great thing about my ego is, it's self-inflatable."
"W-What?" Lenne asked before bursting out laughing and Takoire joining. "You know, I have to say that you are the strangest guy I've ever met. But you're the one who's made me laugh the most."
He shrugged after calming back down, "Ech, I don't get the opportunity to be funny that much. When you're famous, it's like, people are listening to every word you say, but they're not really hearing you out. Am I making sense?"
Lenne nodded solemnly at his words. "Don't worry about it. I know exactly what you mean. My parents happen to be two people who are going to be remembered in the history of Spira for who knows how long. I was just lucky enough to grow up with people that understood what I was going through: my parents' friends, their son, Vidina, he's two years older than me and we're not related at all, but he's like my brother. Who knows, if he was anyone else, he'd probably think I was going to save Spira some day or something."
"Maybe you will," Takoire suggested.
"What? Stop joking around."
"I'm not," Lenne looked into the blitzball player's grayish colored eyes, resembling a turbulent storm, "you came to Zanarkand for a purpose, I'm sure of it. The moment your time is in trouble, you come to a time where it isn't even called a problem, but it's harnessed into something that benefits all sides."
"For some reason, Takoire, you keep surprising me."
Takoire's almost too cheerful smile returned. "How so?"
"Well, first of all, you're this hot shot blitzball player who likes to keep to himself and never has company, has a pretty good sense of humor, but at times shows a glimmer of deep thought. I gotta say, you're the most complex guy I've ever met."
The young man put on a goofy sly pose. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
Lenne responded with a sly pose and a grin of her own. "Hm… sometimes good, sometimes bad. I suppose, it all depends on the situation. It's just kind of weird, I've never met anyone I've made friends with so fast, except Vidina, but like I said, he's like a brother I never had."
"Ah," he pointed a finger at Lenne, "but how do you know that I'm your friend? Have I actually said, Lenne, you're my friend, maybe a great friend. I dunno. My memory could just be bad."
She returned with a remark of her own and pointed a finger back at him. "That… is bad."
In the city that never slept, the sun was soon going to come into view. With Takoire's help, Lenne had gained passage on an airship headed for Besaid. She stood nearby a gate leading to an airship as Takoire stood next to her, listening as she spoke.
"You know, Takoire, I can't say how much I appreciate you doing all this for me."
He shrugged. "I don't have anything better to do until the next blitzball game and that's not for the next few days. It's in Besaid anyway, so I'll be there early, no big deal."
"What-"
"Look," Takoire pointed, "they're boarding. Time to get going don't you think?"
"Yeah," Lenne's face turned slightly sad, "well, like I said, I'm really, really grateful. Without you, I'd never have gotten this far."
Takoire's good mood never changed, he just crossed his arms and continued to smile. "Yeah, I know."
Lenne's sadness quickly changed to an anger. "I'm trying to say good-bye if you haven't noticed!"
"Oh, don't worry, I noticed." Takoire began to walk through the gate of the airship, showing his ticket. "You coming? Or am I going to Besaid on my own?"
Lenne slightly cocked her head in confusion. "Huh?" she said as she finally caught up to him.
In a jovial manner, Takoire put a hand on Lenne's hair and ruffled it. "You know, Lenne, you amuse me. What did you plan to do once you got there? Stumble around the city until you found Suzaku's Sanctuary?"
Sheepishly, Lenne shrugged. "I was planning to make it up as I went along."
"Ah, but you're talking to someone who has experience in traveling most of Spira. Although, if there's someone you'd prefer as a traveling companion other than me, please, name them now." He looked at her with a smug face. "Oh, that's right… you don't know anyone else, do you? Well, guess you don't have much choice then."
"But-but-"
"B-b-but what?" Takoire retorted, mocking her.
"What about the Abes? You're captain, aren't you?" The two walked onto the airship and headed towards the lift and continued their conversation as they entered the lift as the doors closed.
"Shuyin and the boys can handle it. I've been needing a vacation anyway."
The lift's doors opened and Takoire stepped out, but Lenne didn't move. "Shuyin?"
Takoire turned with his usual smile. "Why? You know him?"
Lenne shook it off and followed Takoire out onto the deck. "No, it just sounds really familiar to me. Like I've heard it in passing."
"Considering that you've never been to this Zanarkand, I doubt that you've met him. Unless of course you've been hiding some frequent flyer miles from me."
"I guess…" she really wasn't listening, "why are we up here anyway?"
"What?" Takoire pointed out towards the ocean as the water began to turn orange, "You don't like to watch the sunrise?"
"You have got to be kidding me." Takoire and Lenne stepped off the airship into the city of Besaid. Large buildings rose from the beach's cliffs, on them were carvings into the metal with other metals of a different color in the form of seashells, suns, oceans, and things found in nature. Lenne went up to the nearest building and ran her fingers over an orange and red sun. "This is beautiful."
Takoire looked over her shoulder. "The chokin? Yeah, it is. Besaid's famous for it."
"What's chokin?" she asked.
"They don't have chokin in the Besaid you come from?"
Lenne shook her head. "No, Besaid's famous for our tapestry, we make them all by hand, but you still haven't told me what chokin is."
"What am I? A tour guide?" Takoire asked jokingly before Lenne pushed him softly. "All right, I'm not an expert on it myself, but I think what they do is make a carving in the metal, smooth it out, and then pour in another metal. If you think they're nice now, you should see them when it's sunrise or sunset."
"Why?"
"All of them are designed to catch the sun. It's like everything's made up of a million different colors."
"I think I'd like to see that."
"We can, if you want."
The pair continued their walk, Lenne letting Takoire guide her, being in a place so familiar yet so alien at the same time. Lenne twiddled with a strand of her hair, a habit that revealed itself every so often when she became nervous about something. "So, Takoire, when do I try this summoner's test?"
"Sunrise. The moment the sun hits the sanctuary Suzaku becomes visible to anyone wishing to take the test."
Lenne smiled and laughed. "There's that deep-thinking blitzball captain again."
"You know, you try to be a nice guy..." Takoire said sarcastically as he stopped by a building nearby.
"Hey! I was just joking!" Lenne yelled, following him into the building.
"Uh, huh." Takoire continued to a marble desk nearby. "Two rooms please."
"Seriously, I'm sorry if I offended you."
A somewhat aged man behind the counter gave a nod towards the blitzball player, with a smile. "Takoire, good to see you again. I know the second championship game is in Besaid, but aren't you a few days early?"
"I need to take care of a few things in town before the actual game. The rest of the team's catching up with me tomorrow or so."
The man gave a nod and shuffled under the desk. "You know, Takoire, you're a nice guy and all, but when it comes to the championship game, I gotta root for the Aurochs, ya?"
"No worries, Ged." The man called Ged pulled out a black plate, offering it to Lenne behind Takoire who stared at it puzzled. "Sorry about that, Lenne, put your thumb onto the plate. It's how you get into your room."
Ged gave Lenne a strange look as he took the gray plate back. "Yes, well, Takoire, you have rooms 117-118, and if you don't mind," he said as Lenne walked away, "what's up with her?"
"Thanks a lot, Ged. Um… Lenne... That's an interesting question." Takoire watched her as she walked into a hallway. "But you have no idea."
Author's Notes:
Final Revision