"Tell me, lieutenant, that you have some good news for me," Lord Seymour said in a dangerously polite tone. He stood in the middle of Mistress Lulu's now empty and ransacked home, curling his lip with disgust at her rustic furnishings. The stammering young officer now appeared calm and confident.
"My lord, it appears that the Lady Yuna and her companion Tidus are moving west towards Bevelle," he said, for once leaving out his nervous blunders.
'Just as I thought,' Seymour thought to himself, picking up a chalice made of gold. He admired it in the light for a moment, chuckling with satisfaction at his own foresight. Of course Yuna would be foolish enough to think she had the power to put a stop to Sin. Of course she would take it upon herself to go to Bevelle and fight it.
"Good work, lieutenant. Tell the men to take the day off. You've all been working so hard," he said indulgently, patting the young officer's cheek as though her were a child. The lieutenant sighed with relief.
"Yes sir," he said, bowing low.
"Lord Seymour!" a loud voice called from outside. Seymour frowned and walked outside to meet the call, squinting in the afternoon sunlight. He did not like the agitated tone of that voice.
One of his young captains came hurrying towards him, panting and sweating with exertion.
"My lord," he gasped, coming to a halt with a quick salute. "We just found General Yamat and his unit."
"Well it's about time. Where is the idiot? I sent him out hours ago!" Seymour said with an exasperated sigh. The captain hesitated for a second.
"He's dead, my lord. The whole unit is dead. We found them in a clearing by a waterfall," he said, bracing himself for the Guado's rage.
"What?" Seymour exploded, grabbing the captain by the front of his crimson jacket. "How could all of them be dead?"
"I-I'm sure I don't know, lord!" the captain whimpered, squeezing his eyes shut fearfully.
"Find Tremath!" he snarled, delivering a sharp kick to the young captain's side. "Send him to me at once!"
The shaking captain scrambled away as fast as he could, clutching his side where Seymour's boot had hit him. Tentatively the lieutenant came to stand next to the heavily breathing Guado.
"Tremath, my lord? A-are you sure we can t-trust him? His reputation is-"
"Lieutenant," Seymour snapped, cutting him off, "if I want to take down a target the right way, I'm going to need the best assassin. Tremath may have questionable tendencies, but he is the best bounty hunter in the land. If the price is right he will do what I say."
"You mean to . . . to kill the Lady Yuna, Lord Seymour?"
"No, you imbecile," Seymour sighed, rubbing his temples. "Lady Yuna is to be left unspoiled. It's that son of a bitch guarding her I want taken care of."
The young man gulped and nodded, backing away with a smart salute.
A few minutes later, while Seymour had time to stew in his own rage, a dark cloaked figure suddenly materialized at his side from the trees close by. The Guado did his best not to jump with surprise as he turned to greet him.
"Good afternoon, Tremath," he said coolly. Two bright eyes stared back unblinking. The figure nodded once, his actions slow and methodical like the spreading of blood through water. "I have a job for you."
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Only love and defeat evil.
It was his mother's voice . . . calm and soft, like the ebbing of an ocean tide. It washed over Tidus warmly, bathing him in a pale glow. If only he could see her face! He could only catch a few traces of her features, but she was always hidden from him. What did those words have to do with him? What kind of message was she trying to deliver through his dreams?
Last night after a brief rest, Tidus and Yuna had abandoned the rocky pool clearing and rode for quite some time in silence, concentrating on getting as far away from that area as possible. No doubt the bodies left from the attack had been discovered by now. They had stopped in a small glade with a creek running through it shortly before dawn for dinner and another rest. Tidus had fallen asleep beneath a tree, his head resting on Kyrida's saddle.
"TIDUS!"
Yuna's terrified voice cut through Tidus' slumber. His cobalt eyes flew open and for one second he lay frozen at what he saw.
There was cloaked figure leaning over him, and Tidus caught the silver flash of a dagger hovering above his chest. Two ghastly pale eyes glared down at him with a malicious glint. Flash of teeth bared in a cruel smirk from the black depths of the cloak hood.
The warrior instincts kicked in just in the nick of time. As the cloaked assassin drove the blade down, Tidus rolled to the side, still somewhat disoriented from sleep, and grabbed one of Yuna's twin daggers from the ground. Where was his sword?
"Yuna, run!" he yelled, leaping to his feet and thrusting forward with his weapon. He was not used to being startled so easily, and he felt momentarily weak with shock. Yuna was standing waist deep in the nearby creek, naked from bathing. Her expression was a mask of fear as she stood rooted to the spot, watching the fight unfold. Kyrida the black mare was tossing her head in alarm, tied to a tree branch across the glade.
A sickening thought came to Tidus as he ducked another blow from his attacker. If the assassin were to kill him, nobody would be left to protect Yuna. The notion fuelled his anger, and with a guttural roar he charged forward. His opponent jumped to the side and took a swing at Tidus' side. He nicked the skin, but only just. Tidus heard a soft chuckle come from the cloaked figure, and it chilled him to the bone. He caught a glimpse of two pale eyes peering at him with sadistic glee. The man moved swiftly and nimbly, but always with an undisturbed grace. He was like a black wraith made of fog and shadow.
"Go, Yuna!" Tidus cried again, seeing that she had not moved. His voice startled her out of her numbed state. She hurried out of the water and quickly threw on her short brown dress. Then, with a grim expression she grabbed her other dagger and began advancing on the assassin.
The cloaked attacker glanced quickly over his shoulder at the swiftly approaching woman. He knew she was inexperienced from Seymour's description of her, but he was still unprepared to take on two armed people. His skills were primarily stealth, not melee. He was also tired from tracking the two of them all night. He had made the mistake of underestimating his target, and now he had to worry about dodging the Lady Yuna's attack. The Yevonite Warrior Tidus was giving him enough trouble as it was. Besides, he was given strict orders not to touch Yuna.
Yuna shoved her dagger at the assassin and nearly managed to drive it into his shoulder, but he quickly dodged and parried the blow. His insipid eyes slid over her, and he smiled grimly under his disguise. She was certainly a beautiful specimen, and possessed an almost foolish amount of courage.
"Lord Seymour sends his regards, my lady," he said in his softly chilling voice. Yuna growled in outrage and stabbed wildly at him. Laughing, he leapt out of her reach and narrowly avoided a hit from Tidus.
Tremath began backing up towards the forest. It was too risky to take on both of them at once, when only one of them was the real target. He would follow them and wait until dark. No doubt one of them would be keeping watch, but he had ways of keeping people unaware of his presence.
"I will spare your miserable life if you get out of here now," Tidus snarled, narrowing his eyes.
The assassin sheathed his dagger and bowed extravagantly to his prey. Then he raised a gloved hand and pointed at Tidus, before making a cutting motion with it across his throat. The message was unmistakable.
And then the cloaked killer was gone, fading into the trees like a ghost.
The second he was gone, Yuna dropped her dagger and hurried to Tidus.
"Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" she asked breathlessly, her eyes roving his body to check for wounds.
"He nicked me in the side, but it's nothing serious," Tidus said, allowing her inspect his shallow wound. She nodded once and bit her lip. It was then that Tidus realized how pale she looked, how frightened she was. He could see that her hands were shaking slightly.
"Seymour sent that man," she said gravely. "I-I was bathing in the creek, but when I turned around to come back ashore and wake you up, I saw him standing over you with a dagger, and . . . Oh, Tidus, if he had killed you-"
"Shhh," Tidus interrupted, gently touching the side of her face, smiling kindly. "Don't say it, okay?"
She nodded and touched the back of his hand with her own, smiling back thinly. Her hair was still wet from bathing, and she smelled wonderfully clean.
"You saved my life," he told her, his eyes peering into her seriously. "This isn't the first time you've looked after me."
"It's the least I can do for my brave guardian," Yuna replied, her grin broadening.
"I'm going to take a quick bath and then we should get going. I don't want to stick around for that assassin to find us again," Tidus told her. She nodded and went to retrieve a biscuit from one of the haversacks, careful to keep her back turned.
Tidus waded into the creek, naked, gasping slightly at the icy water. Yuna had kindly allowed him to use her specially formulated shampoo, and he lathered it into his golden locks thoroughly. It smelled like wild flowers and fruit . . .
He bathed hastily, scrubbing his skin and hair clean in the pristine water, occasionally glancing over his shoulder to watch Yuna. She politely refrained from watching him in turn, keeping her attention focused on grooming Kyrida and feeding the mare an apple.
When Tidus emerged from the water, she waited for him to dress, and turned around to smile at him as he shook the drops from his hair.
"How close are we to Bevelle?" Tidus asked her as he saddled Kyrida. Yuna tied the haversacks to the saddle and allowed him to lift her up onto the horse's back. He climbed up behind her and clucked his tongue, signalling Kyrida to move forward.
"Still quite a way," Yuna said with a sigh as they set off down the narrow trail. "It will be a while before we get there."
"Where are we headed next?"
"First we must cross the Moonflow River, and after that the Calm Lands. We continue on from there through the Rammvena Desert, and then the Gagazette Mountain Range," Yuna replied, speaking from memory. "Bevelle is about a two day journey from the mountains after that."
"Rammvena Desert? That sounds like an Al Bhed word," he mused out loud.
"It is. It means 'Hellfire'. I don't suppose that's a very reassuring name for a desert," Yuna replied with a small laugh. "But I am told there are a few small oasis' there. Perhaps we can take shelter with some of the Al Bhed clans while we pass through."
"You mean . . . stay with the Al Bhed?" Tidus asked, startled. Yuna turned around in the saddle to look up at him.
"Of course. They are very hospitable people. It's part of their custom to provide shelter for travellers passing through their territory," she said matter-of-factly.
"Yes, but . . ." he faltered, frowning in thought. He was not sure how to voice his own thoughts. Yuna raised an eyebrow.
"I know what you're thinking," she sighed. "The Al Bhed-"
"-Are not our enemies, yes, I know," Tidus cut in, sighing to himself. "But . . . it's going to be hard for me to appreciate their use of forbidden machina."
"It is not our place to judge their ways," Yuna said simply, turning back to face the front. Tidus raised his eyebrows at the back of her head, puzzled by her coldness. He guessed that perhaps he had touched upon a sensitive subject for her. Still, he could not understand why she was being so defensive of the Al Bhed.
"What do you believe in, Yuna? You've known about this whole conspiracy for weeks. Has it changed your faith at all?"
Yuna was silent for a moment, but when she spoke, her voice was very small.
"I . . . I never really believed anything. I suppose the only things that really mattered to me already existed. I had my father, food and shelter, and I lived in a peaceful place. I never knew my mother, so she was no great loss to me. But when my father left, I . . . I could never bring myself to believe in anything. I don't trust gods and spirits anymore, Tidus. I learned to . . . put faith in myself first, and those around me," she said softly. "It's not easy sometimes. There are times when I wish I could believe in some kind of god to explain the things I don't understand, but . . . I just can't. There is nothing out there that can give me peace."
Tidus' heart went out to her. He could not comprehend how hard it must have been for her as a child, never believing in something greater, never knowing the comfort of faith.
"What about you? I can't imagine this whole thing has been very easy for you to accept," she questioned, glancing at him over her shoulder.
He shrugged and shook his head. "I've never really believed in Yevon, at least not in the conventional sense. The way the temples portray him, is . . . not exactly what my heart tells me. I only joined the Yevonite Warriors because I thought it would prove the answers I needed. I do believe in Yevon, but I've managed to find my own path to him."
They rode in peace for a while, each mulling over their own thoughts.
"Yuna?"
"Yes?"
"How did your mother die?"
She sighed softly.
"She . . . was sick. She died a long time ago, when I was little more than an infant. Most of the time she didn't have the strength or energy to take care of me. I was told that . . . she died very peacefully. She held me in her arms when she passed on in her bed," she said in a distant voice.
Tidus was not sure whether or not he should say something in response. Instead, he just nodded, though Yuna could not see it behind her.
"But, my father was always there for me," she said in a brighter tone. "He and I were always together, up until he left for his pilgrimage. I remember the day before he was to leave . . . he filled my room with lilacs while I was sleeping, and he woke me up by holding one of the flowers under my nose. We spent the whole day together on the beach then, gathering shells and stones to make necklaces for the orphans in the temple."
"It sounds wonderful," Tidus told her gently, smiling at the image of it in his mind.
Braska must have been a truly great man, if he could raise such a great daughter. For a moment Tidus contemplated saying that to Yuna, but it was then he noticed her shoulders were shaking with silent tears. Slowly, tentatively, he wrapped his arms around her waist and embraced her gently. Her hands came to rest over his gratefully, and not another word was said.
In the forest nearby, two pale eyes watched closely from the trees, peering from the depths of a black cloak hood.