It was only a little while before Tidus began to feel restless and uneasy of leaving Yuna at the hot springs in the snowy Gagazet mountains. Despite Rikku's promising hopes of saving her cousin, Tidus came to the doubtful conclusion that they were going in circles with the idea. The subject of saving Yuna from her predicted end was always the first priority on his list, but saving his summoner and protecting her went hand in hand. He also kept in mind what happened a couple nights ago at the Calm Lands, when Yuna finally broke down in front of him, making him realize how much pressure was placed on her. He understood the need for her to relax and have her own time, but there was no way he could risk it this far into everything. It seemed as they all got closer to Zanarkand, the world was becoming a more dangerous place and somewhere in that chaos, Yuna was always a target.

Tidus sat on the cold stone floor of the Gagazet cave, plopped right in front of the fire. It seemed his restlessness and insecurity about Yuna being alone met no end. He stood up and began pacing back and forth in front of the fire with his hands above his head, thinking harder on the matter.

"What has gotten into him?" Asked Lulu, fascinated and worried about Tidus' sudden change of attitude lately.

"Maybe he's got a point," Wakka began, looking at the figure across the fire, pacing to and fro. "As we get closer to Sin, we need to protect Yuna a bit more each step of the way, ya? We can't afford to let something happen to her this far into it."

He tossed a blitzball between hands and rested his eyes on its motion. Lulu still had her eyes on Tidus, thinking of Wakka's most recent remark.

"I've been thinking about that all day and regrettably, I agree with you," she said after a moment. "You know, it might be a good idea if--"

"I'm going to the springs," said Tidus aloud, breaking the hushed voices of his two fellow guardians.

Wakka suddenly stood up and looked at him across the fire.

"You're not going alone. We gotta stick together," he declared, smiling as if he understood everything Tidus had been thinking of, and that no explanation was needed.

"Lulu, tell everyone we'll be back as soon as we can," said Tidus rather seriously, his mood still uneasy and restless.

He had no time to explain his sudden sense of urgency and he certainly had no time to wait around for the other guardians to return from their hunting. Time was of the essence and somewhere deep inside him, he knew it was never a good idea to let Yuna stay alone at the hot springs in the first place. Every time he began to think of how wrong it was of Kimahri to leave her like that, he swallowed the lump in his throat and sought to take action instead.

"Are you sure everything is alright?" Asked Lulu, concern rising in her tone.

"Something just doesn't feel right. But I think Wakka and I will be fine. Just make sure you tell everyone where we are," responded Tidus as he walked out of the cave entrance, Wakka following beside him.

"I will," said Lulu quietly, hoping for a safe return.

The onset of the afternoon had bought a decrease in temperature in the mountains, but the environment in the hot springs remained misty and warm. It had only been half an hour since Seymour collapsed, which meant that Yuna had been at the hot springs for about an hour.

She lay him near the edge of the water, and used the robe that once covered him as a cushion for his head to rest on. She watched him as he slept soundly, still somewhat unconscious. The string of thick cloth that was used to wrap around his torso had now stopped the bleeding. Using what knowledge she learned of healing wounds, she concluded that with proper rest, he would recover healthy in no time.

While her eyes lingered across the figure on the ground, she could not stop herself from thinking of all the worst possible scenarios in this seeming situation. As much as she tried not to amplify its significance, the fact that Seymour Guado was in the vicinity of Summoner Yuna was enough to cause a catastrophe of sorts. To add onto that, the incident of her running out the way she did only made her more embarrassed to be around him. Topping it all was how sympathetic she suddenly felt for Seymour. She remembered his apology right before he collapsed, and thought about how sincere he was. She wanted to come to the conclusion that the maester might have been harmless, but she still found herself skeptical about it.

After a long trail of thoughts, she stood up and made her way to the opposite side of the springs. As she slowly began to undo a portion of the cloth that wrapped itself around her, she looked across at the silhouette that lay on the ground, still deep in slumber. After making sure Seymour was indeed asleep, she quickly bent over the steamy water to rinse the stained portion of the cloth, scrubbing it clean of blood and dirt. She stood up afterward, wrapping the thick Ronso fabric around herself again, and made her way back to the stone bench beside the sleeping maester.

It was a while before he opened his eyes at the pale sky, still dazed and recovering. She looked at him, curious to see what he would do, all the while keeping an eye on his wound. He struggled to sit himself up but suddenly gasped once he realized what had happened. He almost hit the ground before Yuna ran over to him and quickly wrapped her arms around his waist, holding him steady. He looked up, surprised to see her face, and let out a faint smile.

She directed him to move back and lean on the slab of marble located right behind him, so that he could sit up and she could check the state of his recovery. He looked at her as she placed a warm hand over one side of his exposed torso, examining the state of the wound.

"I don't think your wound is healed yet. You still need rest," she said after a moment. She looked up at him and smiled, not sure of what else to say. Her hand still rested peacefully on his torso until she noticed and removed it. She retreated back to the seat of stone she sat on earlier and looked at Seymour, readying herself for whatever it was he wanted to say.

"I... remembered what happened," Seymour said breathlessly.

She looked at him, concerned for his short breath, but curious about the cause of his wound in the first place.

"It was... a guard. From Bevelle. I'm... sure of it," he said, still struggling in between breaths. He looked up at her.

She said nothing, but thought of everything. What was a Bevelle guard doing in Gagazet? Moreover, what was a Bevelle guard doing attacking a maester of Yevon, his own superior? She would have thrown these questions out, but she guessed that Seymour was not completely innocent in the matter and did not want to cause any strife. Besides, it was risky for his health at this point to let him talk and lose so much breath.

She almost uttered a response when she heard heavy footsteps dash through the entrance and into the springs. Her heart stopped as she looked at Seymour and froze.

"YUNA!"

Tidus ran into the springs and stopped dead in his tracks, eyes flashing from Seymour to Yuna in utter confusion. Wakka caught up from behind and gaped in shock as his eyes scanned the scene and saw what was there.

It also did not help that Seymour was half naked, while Yuna sat across from him and wore nothing but a cloth around herself. The situation was nothing like its deceitful, physical facade, and Yuna knew how much explaining she would have to do for it later on. For now, though, there was an immediate need of explanation if she wanted to save a nasty fight from ensuing.

"What the hell's going on?" Tidus directed at Seymour, anger rising in his tone. Seymour looked at him, unable to properly carry enough strength to speak.

"N-No, it's not what you think," said Yuna eagerly, walking over to Tidus and attempting to maintain eye contact. He immediately locked his attention on Yuna now, his anger suddenly dissolving into genuine concern and fear as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you alright? Did he do anything to you?"

"Nothing happened," she said calmly. "He was badly hurt so I healed his wound and--"

"Yuna, you know better than to tell Kimahri to leave," Wakka said in a low tone of voice, which meant he was worried. "What if something happened to you? Gagazet's got rough weather and you shouldn't be out alone like that, ya? You're always entitled to your own time, but these are dangerous places and--"

"I think she gets the point, Wakka," said Tidus, attempting to hide a faint smile as he still looked at her, his anger ebbing away by the second. He then gave in and smiled at Yuna like he always used to do whenever he had a joke up his sleeve or shared a funny secret with her about something.

She knew Tidus would understand. He always did, so long as he knew she was safe. She sighed, actually relieved to see her guardians and then turned to Wakka, still smiling.

"I'm sorry, Wakka. I won't do something like that again. It was stupid," she said easily.

Then she turned around and averted her eyes back to Seymour, who was on the ground and still had to rest in order to recover. Tidus and Wakka steered their attention in his direction, not entirely sure of what to say to someone they never trusted in the first place.

"He still needs to rest. He hasn't had enough time to heal," she said with concern.

"Something tells me Kimahri won't be too happy about this," said Wakka. "So I think you'd better try contacting Bevelle to take him back."

Tidus looked long and hard at Seymour, noticing how badly wounded he was and thinking about the situation altogether.

"We can help get you outta here, but you better not have something up your sleeve," said Tidus suspiciously after a moment of thought.

Yuna ran over to Seymour and kneeled down to speak to him.

"Maybe he can go back home, to Guadosalam," she said as she looked at Seymour and took into consideration what he told her about the Bevelle guard. "Tromell can send someone to come and pick you up, right?"

It was only a moment after Seymour nodded and smiled at Yuna that he began to lose sight of his surroundings and drifted off into unconsciousness. Tidus, Wakka, and Yuna made arrangements to have Seymour back at Guadosalam before nightfall and made sure that he would go no further than the hot springs. It was in the best interests of everyone that this incident be kept as quiet as possible. Besides, a Guado had no place in the Gagazet mountains of the Ronso while strife was still fresh between the two races.

Author's Note: For those of you who read this fic recently, you'll notice that I completely replaced this chapter. The reason for that is because I just didn't feel as if the old version of the chapter was consistent with everything else that's going on in the story. I was moving too fast. So I wrote up a new one and I'm feeling good about how it turned out. I know I can definitely continue onward from here.

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