I know it's been a while, and it will probably continue to be a while. I've gotten reviews asking me to update but I don't always have the time to write. I'm a university student with a difficult major so when I have the time to write, I will.
This chapter is dedicated to the last guest reviewer who really kicked me into gear.
Vaan and R were grinning smugly at each other as they met up with the rest of their party at the Sandsea two days after landing in Rabanastre. They had spent their time hunting. With R's advice on Licenses and magick, taking down Thextera had been easy. When he'd returned to the Sandsea to tell the petitioner of his success, he'd spotted two other doable marks on the Notice Board. So he headed into the Estersand after the Flowering Cactoid, and then to the Garamsythe Waterway – his old stomping grounds – to hunt the Wraith. So here he was, 1500 gil richer, plus ten potions, a teleport stone, an ether, a Headguard, Gauntlets, some remedies, a tuft of phoenix down, a couple antidotes, and his new Mage Masher. As an added bonus, he was given access to buyer's prices at Gatsly's stall in the bazaar after taking down Thextera for him. Well, he wasn't 1500 gil richer per se, since some of the necessities had to be bought, but he was still in the green even after all his purchases.
"Well, look who finally decided to show up!" Penelo bounced out of her seat and toward her childhood friend, then examined him with both hands behind her back.
R couldn't help but notice that the action made her breasts quite apparent if Vaan were to express interest. A glance at the teen proved that he was in the process of rolling his eyes and not at all interested in Penelo's flirting. The ghost felt a spreading warmth in his chest at the thief's disinterest. After their kiss, they'd been ill at ease for some time afterward. They had not yet talked about it, in fact. He'd have to corner Vaan soon and convince him to talk. And alert him to Penelo's attraction toward him.
Vaan groaned. "You all stayed here, of course I'm last. Besides, while all of you were lazing about and shopping, I was being productive."
Ashe peered at him suspiciously with an arched brow. "I saw you in the bazaar yesterday. Thievery is not a productive hobby."
"I wasn't stealing!" And how dare she call it a hobby! His fast hands were the only way he could get food once Reks enlisted. His new military salary had paid for the rent of their new place aboveground, but that's all it had covered. And then after he died, and Vaan was tossed out on the streets, his skills as a pickpocket kept him alive. No street rat would come after a kid who was fast enough to pickpocket and then outrun Imperials. Then when he was older, refusing to share his stolen sundries gave him some leverage and let him protect the younger kids and support them. Stealing was not a hobby, it was the reason he was still alive. He shook his head but snarled at the woman all the same, "For your information, Princess, I was hunting. I took down three marks in the last two days. What did you do?" With that, he turned and stormed out of the tavern and toward the Aerodome.
R stayed behind for a moment to see what everyone else would do.
Ashe, dumbfounded, was looking to everybody to reassure her.
Petite little Penelo was a ball of fury. "When you faked your death, life in Rabanastre took a turn for the worse. It's thanks to Vaan's 'thievery'" she used air quotes "that a lot of these children you see running around are still alive. Nobody had enough money to spare some for a begging child, and almost nobody had the guts to steal from the Imperials. Of those, Vaan was the only one who shared with the kids and protected them. He's proud that he's good at stealing because it kept him alive. He's even prouder that he doesn't have to anymore now that he's taught Kytes and his friends how to do it. Before you judge those of us who aren't from the upper city, how about you go take a look at how Lowtown has changed, if you were even there before all this to see the difference." She pointedly turned her back on the woman, and then she too was gone.
When she turned her eyes to her loyal knight, his face was averted. "While her words were harsh, I must agree with Penelo, your Highness. I have been to Lowtown and it is vastly different than it was before the war." He bowed his head and retreated a step, but stayed at her side.
Fran just stalked out the door with nary a glance and Balthier followed his partner. "I advise you mind your manners."
By the time he left to follow Vaan, R was roaring with laughter.
Vaan and Penelo watched in awe as the Strahl's cloaking devise activated after they'd all disembarked in the Westersand. R was appreciative of the function but he'd seen such things before.
Ashe was not so appreciative. "This come in handy often?" She asked bitingly.
"It's tough being popular." Balthier shrugged like it couldn't be helped. "Wouldn't want any admirers dropping in while we're away." Ashe scoffed but he ignored her and continued to speak. "Well now, that's as far as she goes. We'll be in Jagd from here onwards."
Ashe turned and recited something, as if from an old, fond memory. "Across the sandsea, to the Valley of the Dead. And to King Raithwall's tomb below."
Noticing Vaan's puzzled expression, R explained as a hot desert wind blew through the canyon. "It's a bedtime story told to all the royal family's children in Dalmasca."
How did he know that? R knew all these "little known facts" like it was everyday living. He put it out of his mind. Vaan nodded at the explanation and his gaze turned back to the Strahl. They'd stopped here when they still had so far to travel. Not everyone in the party would find it as easy as he would in the desert heat.
Penelo asked, "Why are we stopping? Surely we're not there yet?"
Vaan shook his head. "So, when you're in Jagd, skystones don't work at all. That's why we gotta hoof it the rest of the way, ya see?"
The young woman swung her arms to dislodge some sand that had blown onto her. "Happy you get to teach me something for a change?"
Vaan shrugged. "Well, if you want to be a sky pirate, you have to know your – Hey! What do you mean, "for a change"?"
R laughed when Balthier spoke over the bickering teens. "At least we thought to bring entertainment."
"Vaan!" R called. "Come touch the transport crystal before we head west."
In a few seconds, the argument between Vaan and Penelo had ended and the young thief made his way toward the ghost and touched the crystal. The party headed west toward Raithwall's tomb with Vaan leading. Not for the first time, R observed how Vaan flourished in the desert. He didn't flounder or struggle to walk on the sand. He didn't seem bothered by the heat or the hot wind or the blowing sand. His eyes were torn from the thief by the rippling dunes stretching in front of them.
"Whoa." Vaan whispered as he approached the edge of the sandsea. He knelt and scooped up a handful just for it to flow through his fingers and over the side of his tilted palm. He stood and just looked at the wonder of nature for a moment.
"Vaan!"
Hesitantly, Vaan headed away from the edge, where the rest of the group had stopped on a hill.
As Penelo watched Vaan approach she asked the soldier who stood beside her, "So where, exactly is Raithwall's tomb?"
"Far to the west," Basch replied. "We must first cross the Ogir-Yensa, and beyond that the Nam-Yensa, before we reach the tomb. An expanse of desert larger still than all of Dalmasca. We must pace ourselves. If you grow tired, we stop and take rest."
Penelo glanced at him with a raised brow. "You don't have to worry about me. I'm tougher than I look."
"You are at that." Basch laughed.
It didn't take long once they started moving to run into some less than friendly creatures. They weren't hard to kill but there were a lot of them.
"What are these things?" Vaan asked R as he danced around the creature with his dagger. "They look kind of like the Rogue Tomato, just smaller and less mean looking."
R laughed. "They're Alraunes. They're similar to tomatoes but not as dangerous."
R followed quietly as the group fought their way across the abandoned Rozarrian oilrigs. He listened as Basch told Vaan about the oilrigs and Rozarria. He felt the ache of grief in his chest as Basch mentioned Nabradia's fall. So much so, that he was almost taken by surprise when Vossler arrived. He shivered when his own death was mentioned and floated closer to Balthier and Fran. They were less likely to be talking about fallen kingdoms and dead princes. Though when he heard them mention the Urutan-Yensa…
He quickly floated toward Vaan where the thief was just staring out at the sandsea. "Return to the others Vaan, and keep your daggers out. The Urutan-Yensa are coming."
Vaan did as he was urged but still glanced around to see if anyone was paying him any attention before he whispered, "What are the Urutan-Yensa?"
R heard a shriek and just pointed out at the sandsea.
The rest of the group had heard the shriek and they all turned to look. What looked like an armoured fish leaped from the sand only to disappear into it again a moment later; a Yensa. Following it were dozens of Yensa but they did not disappear. These creatures had robed figures riding them through the sand.
Everyone started running on the oilrigs, passing an unmoving Ashe. Balthier was in the lead. "Looks like we've attracted the wrong sort of attention. Let's quit this place while we still can. Move!"
"Vossler!" Ashe called to the passing soldier. "Have you found the means to restore Dalmasca?" She asked as he slowed to a stop and turned to face her.
"First we must claim the Dawn Shard. It all begins with that."
With Vossler now part of the group, they ventured further into the sandsea. They briefly ventured onto the sand to reach the next oilrig and were immediately attacked by Urutan-Yensa. R dared not talk to Vaan. The Urutan-Yensa were too deadly a foe for him to be distracted. It was only more difficult on the other platforms, with the Urutan-Yensa on the platforms themselves. When they crossed into the Nam-Yensa, they found a Moogle, who told them about an Urutan-Yensa asking for help defeating a giant tortoise.
The tortoise wasn't hard to find. There were a half dozen Urutan-Yensa attacking it. Vaan gulped. The thing was huge. "Hey R, any ideas?" he murmured.
"Not really." The ghost replied. "I've heard about Emeralditans but I've never seen one. They don't have the weakness to wind that the Urutan-Yensa and the Yensa have but they do absorb ice. They're not really weak to anything as far as I know. Your best bet is probably casting Protect on yourselves and maybe try to cast Slow on it?" The ghost sighed. That was his best guess but he'd never fought one, he could only go off of his past experiences with other titanoises and his knowledge of the environment.
His advice must not have been too bad since they defeated the Emeralditan with no casualties. They returned to the Moogle to let him know that the tortoise was defeated and he passes on that the Urutan-Yensa that had asked for help had just headed back into the Ogir-Yensa. By the time they had finished talking it was far past nightfall and they were all exhausted by a long day in the desert sun. They unanimously agreed to search for the Urutan after getting some sleep.
R couldn't even talk with Vaan, since the thief was sharing a tent with Basch.
The next morning they ventured back into the Ogir-Yensa after the Urutan. Climbing to the top of one of the oilrigs to look for him, they saw the Moogle confront him and then the Urutan Yensa scurried back into the Nam-Yensa. They followed when the Moogle informed them that the Urutan-Yensa had the reward.
They all walked in on a gathering of the Urutan-Yensa. Just in time to see the Queen of the Urutan execute the Urutan that had sought outside help to kill the Emeralditan. The Moogle who came with them was appalled, as was Penelo. Ashe was incensed that a Queen would execute one of her subjects over such a minor infraction. Balthier and Fran didn't seem bothered.
Vaan was unsettled but he had R at his side to keep him calm. He'd seen such things in Lowtown; kids hauled off to the dungeons for stealing enough bread to feed themselves for a night. It was different to see monarchs kill one of their own right in front of him though. The Urutan-Yensa were obviously a vicious race of ravagers so extreme punishment was to be expected.
They all stepped aside as the Urutan-Yensa scurried passed them into the Ogir-Yensa.
R was floating over where the Urutan had been executed. "Hey, Vaan! There are some berries on the ground over here. I think these might have been the reward we were promised."
The Moogle sadly supported R's guess when Vaan ventured close enough to him. With a slight bow of his head and a quick prayer to Odin, Vaan picked the rare berries.
R was right beside him. He hadn't known Vaan was religious. He told Vaan as much. Vaan muttered and answer under his breath.
"I'm not. I just used to pray to Odin when Reks was alive. If I had a really bad day or I didn't manage to steal enough food or gil for all of us, I'd pray and I just felt closer to him. I haven't done it in a while." He looked at the berries sadly. "It just felt right to pray for the Urutan though."
R understood. He had prayed to Odin himself. So had Basch. Reks probably had too. All soldiers did at some point. It only made sense that Vaan would pray to him when he felt the need, with a soldier brother. It also made sense to offer up a prayer to Odin for the fallen warrior. R sent up his own short prayer. "I'm sure the berries will come in useful somehow if he thought they were a good reward for helping with the Emeralditan." Vaan just nodded.
The group continued west. They faced a Bagoly, the Urutan-Yensa's natural enemy, a pair of Yensa, and numerous Urutan-Yensa. When night fell, they killed anything within sight with ill intentions and set up camp on a large wooded bridge. Fran and Ashe had the first guard rotation. As soon as Vaan settled in he was asleep.
The ghost fondly smiled at the thief. He'd been casting all day. Mostly Cure and Slow. The rest of the group hadn't even noticed. R had explained to Vaan the importance of practicing. The more you cast one spell and familiarized yourself with it, the better you became at it and you'd know exactly how much magick you needed. No excess magick would be wasted. In essence, a mage gained control as they practiced. Additionally, their reserves grew the more they were used. As their reserves grew, they could cast more powerful spells that required more magick, or cast the less powerful spells more often. Right now, Vaan wasn't much better than a beginner. White magick was in his blood and he had talent and potential in spades; and his natural reserves were considerable in their own right. Still, practice was key.
Vaan had taken the lecture to heart. He'd been casting whenever he could without anyone noticing. No wonder he was so tired.
The next day, they pushed themselves all the way to Raithwall's tomb. Or so they thought.
A man got their attention right before they entered the Valley of the Dead. Apparently there was a fearsome bird living in front of Raithwall's Tomb and it didn't like being disturbed. They thanked the man for his warning and decided what they were going to do.
Balthier and Fran looked exhausted, and Vossler didn't look much better. The non-Dalmasca natives weren't handling the desert very well. It was clear they weren't used to the extreme dry heat. Vossler simply refused to remove his plate armor so he was sweating and tired but wished to keep pushing forward. Ashe demanded they continue. Basch tiredly supported her. Penelo seemed fatigued from a day of travelling but wanted to continue to the Tomb. Vaan was mentally strained from casting but physically he was fine. Although R advised against it, Vaan voted to continue.
So continue they did.
As they neared the stairs Vaan and R, at the back of the little procession, saw it. A ball of fire appeared in the sky to the right of the Tomb. "What's that?"
They found out in a couple seconds that it was a huge golden bird that seemed bathed in a divine golden glow. They all dove for cover when it dove at them.
"I think it's a Garuda."
Vaan glanced at the ghost.
"Yeah? What do you know about them?"
"Not a lot. I've seen them before. My family had the journal of a man who studied creatures and according to that, it's a holy creature."
"So it probably absorbs Holy." Vaan saw R nod and thought for a second. "I might have a plan."
Before Vaan could say anything, Basch and Vossler ran at the bird, swords swinging but it easily evaded them both and managed to scrape Basch with its talons.
"Hey!" Vaan yelled at the two idiots. "Get back here, I might have a plan."
The two men hurried back under cover. The pillars were all fairly large and they could easily fit three people behind one. Vaan, Penelo, Balthier, Fran, and R were behind one pillar. Ashe, Basch, and Vossler were behind another.
Vossler huffed. "Why should we listen to you? I have more fighting experience."
Vaan had no patience for posturing. The Garuda was dangerous. "Fighting men, yes. How many of you have fought anything like this? A huge, bloodthirsty animal?" He waited but nobody said anything. "Alright, just me. I've been on a few hunts for giant creatures. We need a plan." He thought for a second. "I think the bird is a Garuda."
"A Garuda-Egi," Balthier interrupted. "Garuda have bright gold wings. Garuda-Egi have wings that are far less dazzling."
"Okay, a Garuda-Egi. Garuda are supposed to be holy creatures so they might absorb Holy and be weak against Dark. That particular Garuda is extremely fast and we aren't going to be able to get in close to take it down."
"You want us to fight from afar." Fran was already leaning around the pillar with an arrow notched in her bow. She let it fly. A shriek suggested she'd hit.
"Exactly." Vaan's grin was sharp. "Balthier and Fran, you're going to stay out of it's range if you can and get in as many hits as possible." Fran's two quivers were pretty full and he knew Balthier always had a ton of bullets on him. "Can anyone cast Dark?"
"I can!" Penelo smiled.
"So can I." Ashe seconded.
"Okay. You two are going to cast Dark on it as much as you can." He turned to face the two soldiers. "Can either of you cast any elemental magick? Maybe Blind? Know any tecknicks? "
"I know Blind and some low level elemental magick." Basch offered.
"I know Shades of Black." Vossler grudgingly spoke up.
"Great. Basch, try and blind it if you can, then cast as much…" He glanced at the Garuda appraisingly. "Let's say thunder, fire, and water magick as possible. If you run out of MP, take an ether or defend Ashe and Penelo. They aren't as experienced as Balthier and Fran. Vossler, you do the same when you're finished with Shades of Black."
R was impressed. That was a pretty well thought out plan.
"What about you? What will you be doing to help? I only see a dagger in your hands, or will you be casting too?" Vossler sneered. Ashe too, seemed to wonder what he could possibly do to help.
"I'll be back here, making sure nobody dies and throwing out an explosion or two as a distraction."
Some of them seemed a little skeptical but they followed Vaan's plan.
Everybody jumped when the first fiery explosion rocked the air, well away from where it could hurt anyone.
That night, they camped outside Raithwall's Tomb. It was safe with the Garuda gone, and they wanted to rest after pushing themselves hard that day travelling and then in battle.
Vaan hadn't cast as much magick that day so he was awake and away from the others to talk to R.
R sat with his back to the exterior wall of the Tomb beside Vaan. Everyone else was down on the sand with a magick fire burning. "Congratulations on winning the battle today. That was a good plan you came up with."
Vaan sighed, tense and a little tired. "Thanks. I'm just glad it worked."
They both sat quietly for a little while.
"We have to talk about this, Vaan."
The thief closed his eyes and rested his head back against the building. "I know." He let his thoughts drift for a moment. "Why did you kiss me?"
"Because I wanted to. Was it unpleasant?"
Was that how it was going to be? A question for a question? "Well I can't really feel you, R. It was just cold." Vaan was sure they were both remembering the time they'd been able to touch with the Goddess's Magicite. "Why did you want to kiss me?"
The ghost sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Because – Vaan, could you look at me please?"
The thief sat up and gave his ghostly companion his full attention.
"Vaan, I have fun with you. You make me laugh, and you're beautiful. Why wouldn't I want to kiss you?" He shook his head. "Did you know Penelo keeps flirting with you?"
Vaan choked on a laugh. "Of course I know that, don't change the topic." He looked the ghost in the eye, searching for deception. "You kissed me because you like me and you're attracted to me?" He snorted. "Pull the other one."
"Vaan." The ghost reached down and let his fingers play along Vaan's lower thigh. Vaan shivered at the pleasant chill. "Do you remember when I hugged you after we returned from Nalbina?" He waited for the nod. "I thought about kissing you then. I liked the feeling of your body against mine. I wish I could feel it again." He smiled. "Do you remember when I turned away from you when you were undressing for the bath in Bhujerba?"
"Yes."
"It wasn't because of my delicate sensibilities," He chuckled at Vaan's blush. "It was torturous. My mind was filled with passion but my body was unable to show it. I wanted nothing more in that moment than to touch you but I couldn't. I wanted that Magicite then and I want it now. If you get your hands on the Dawn Shard after it is found, I fully intend to find out whether it has the same effect on me." He let his hand rest a little higher on Vaan's thigh and leaned forward to brush his ghostly lips against the younger man's once, twice before pulling away the barest distance. "Unless you're opposed."
Vaan smiled softly and leaned forward to brush his lips against R's in reassurance. "I'm not opposed."
He watched a fire light in R's eyes as the ghost leaned into the closest imitation of a kiss as they could manage. He enjoyed the spectral lips brushing his and the phantom touches along his waist and ribs sending pleased shivers through him.
Vaan dared not pull away from the barely-there brushes of cool ethereal lips even though he still had a couple of questions.
He was almost afraid to ask.
He was dreading the answers.