Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XIV © Square Enix. I gain no material profit from this fanfiction.
WARNING: ! POST-ENDWALKER SPOILER !
a scholarly visit
by revabhipraya
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Y'shtola's ears caught the sound of footsteps coming from the entrance of Master Matoya's cave, the home for her former teacher which now became a place that she visited frequently. She raised her eyebrows; curious, but also confused. Who would come to visit? Matoya certainly hated inviting people to her home―there was a reason why she lived in a cave surrounded by beasts. Y'shtola herself had yet to contact anybody recently. The only people who knew about her whereabouts were the Scions. Could it be…?
A second later, the owner of the footsteps finally showed his figure. A tall Elezen man with dark skin and gray hair showed up with a smile on his face. His body was covered with black cloth, and Y'shtola could recognize a star globe behind his back. Naturally, Y'shtola formed a smile and said, "Urianger. What a pleasant surprise."
"Lady Y'shtola," greeted Urianger while bowing to the woman, showing great respect. He proceeded to face the older woman next to Y'shtola and once again bowed. "Master Matoya."
"Hmm … such a gentleman." Matoya nodded her head in approval, showing that she quite liked this figure that she just met. The old woman moved her gaze towards Y'shtola and asked, "Your friend, Shtola?"
"Some say," answered Y'shtola with ease. She stared back at her teacher and rhetorically asked, "Master Matoya, don't you have another important matter to attend to rather than watching us having a conversation?"
"Kindly asking me to leave, aren't you?"
Y'shtola chuckled softly. "Of course not. We will talk outside."
"Do as you wish."
The Miqo'te woman signaled Urianger by giving him a single nod. Both of them walked together towards the cave entrance. It did not take long for them to finally be able to look at the sunshine and colorful plants and creatures once more. The outside world was more alive compared to Matoya's cave which only contained books centuries-old and magical brooms.
"So that is Master Matoya." Urianger started speaking. "She doth look great."
"One of the best during her time," replied Y'shtola, looking proud to mention her master as an exceptional person. "Speaking of, is something the matter, Urianger? Weren't you supposed to be with Thancred?"
"Aye, I was." The Elezen man looked quite surprised and confused, but Y'shtola could not figure out why. "There was aught about Meteion that thou hast to acknowledge."
Y'shtola raised both of her eyebrows, intrigued by the subject. "Pray continue."
"Before that…." Urianger rubbed the back of his neck, looking doubtful. A second later, however, his hand slowly moved to open a satchel that he brought with him. He took a few stalks of fresh red flowers and gave them to Y'shtola. "Mine path doth cross with this beautiful flower. It did seem fitting and polite to give this to thee, so…."
Y'sthola formed a smile while receiving the flowers. Of course, judging from the aetherial flow in those flowers, it was obvious that the flowers only grew in Thavnair. The woman knew that. It was impossible for the man to "cross-path" with the flowers. Taking a detour to Thavnair to travel from Sharlayan to Dravania? That did not sit right. He must have visited Thavnair first to pick these flowers. "Thank you."
Urianger only nodded slowly.
"You were saying?"
"Oh, aye." Urianger put his hand back in his satchel to grab another item. This time, it was a piece of old parchment. He handed it to Y'shtola while saying, "This writing was tucked away beneath some old books in Old Sharlayan."
"I see." Y'shtola took the parchment and read its content as fast as possible. Several sentences on that parchment managed to surprise the lady, judging from her eyes which got wider now and then. Once she was done, she directed her gaze towards Urianger. "The Forum … did research about Dynamis."
"Aye, 'twas aught that we should have expected." Urianger lifted his hand and put it in front of his temple, trying to show that he was thinking hard. "However, mine feelings did sense aught amiss. Be it high or low, I hath searched everywhere. Naught could be found but one piece of parchment with a burn mark on its edge. It did seem that the Forum burned the rest of the parchment. Mayhaps this research was stopped, but why?"
Y'shtola did not immediately respond. She read the writings again and again, but alas, she failed to find any name on that parchment. "Probably the Forum thought that this research was too dangerous, as usual? Science and knowledge might be the main foundation of the Forum, but there are a lot of risks that they were willing to take."
"What thinkest thou was the danger?"
Not to the woman's surprise, Y'shtola did not manage to answer that question. There were a lot of possibilities as to why the Dynamis―energy created from emotions―research was stopped. Firstly, of course, because Dynamis was unstable energy. Even people living these days were still unable to outsmart its absurdities. Secondly, Dynamis is unpredictable energy. It has no form, just like Aether. Thirdly, the risks are too high because Dynamis must be affected by the emotions of the researchers. It could be a disaster if a researcher was not in a good condition while researching this Dynamis.
Seeing that Y'shtola decided to remain silent, Urianger opened his mouth again. "Several guesses mine doth have. Mayhaps thou hast opinions to share."
Y'shtola nodded in response.
"As thou hast read, this research speaketh not only of Dynamis but of Entelechies as well. 'Twas the time mine thought that something was amiss." Urianger paused. "These terms, Dynamis and Entelechies, were obtained after the Warrior of Light's journey to Elpis, to the past. 'Twas not something that we shared with other people. Only the Scions and―"
"The Ascians." Y'shtola widened her eyes. "The Forum members were working with the Ascians."
"Aye." Urianger nodded, but he seemed doubtful. "Mayhaps these Forum members worked with the Ascians in secret, but they were found out, and the entire results of the research were burned. This parchment might be the only document that survived."
Everything made sense now. Both Y'shtola and Urianger who were raised in an educated Sharlayan environment knew exactly how much the Forum members hated intervention from outsiders. Every activity done by the Forum was meant to be private until being announced to the people. Judging from this behavior, it was reasonable if they refused to accept the fact that a few of their members worked together with the Ascians.
However, that was before the Warrior of Light traveled to the past to see Elpis. Now, it was possible for this research to actually done without interventions from any outsider. Considering that both Y'shtola and Urianger were Archons, they should not be considered outsiders.
"Urianger," called Y'shtola with a sly smile on her face, "are you still interested in doing research as an Archon?"
Naturally, Urianger got confused with the sudden question that seemed to be out of their former conversation topic. However, without any doubt, the man answered, "Certainly."
"Let us continue this research," said Y'shtola while giving the parchment back to the Elezen man. "This time, let us do this without involving the Ascians directly."
Urianger formed a smile. It looked like starting from that day, both of them would be busy.
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FIN
Hello!
This is my first attempt on writing FFXIV fanfiction in English. I have written quite a lot of FFXIV fanfictions in Indonesian, but I ... kinda refused to write one in English because of the way Urianger speaks. I mean, come on, my intention in writing fanfictions is to make Urianger/Y'shtola content, and IF I CAN'T WRITE HOW ONE TALKS, THEN WHAT FOR? T-T
But anyway, this is ... my first try after pushing myself to the limit (Old English oh why) aaaand pushing myself to be confident with my writing. I did ask a friend to read before publishing the story, and I also ran the writing through grammarly. Yep, I was that nervous and scared, but okay, here goes nothing.
Also, this fanfiction is a translation of another FFXIV fanfiction of mine: sebuah kunjungan ilmiah.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a great day!
