The First Grimoire: Final Fantasy Tactics A2
Chapter 6: "Reconciliation"
"I said I wouldn't allow you to lay a hand on those women, Dirk."
Jumping down from his hiding place in the trees, Dolroth hitched his bow to his back and roughly grabbed onto the thief's arm. With his other hand, he yanked out the arrow that he shot into Dirk's hand, knocking his dagger onto the ground in the process.
"D–Dolroth!" He yelled out, his hand spasming in pain, "What are you doing?!"
Dolroth gave him no reply, and simply wrenched Dirk's arms away from the viera, allowing her to run away from her captor. Without letting go of his arm, the hunter sharply yanked it downwards, slamming Dirk onto the ground.
"You're that hunter from before..." Luso coughed as he pulled himself up from the ground. His face was bruised and his head was aching, but he was relatively fine. Dolroth looked back and flashed Luso a quick thumbs up.
"You're not too bad," Dolroth said, complimenting him, "I've never seen Dirk lose his temper this badly before."
"Aren't you his teammate?" Luso said, rubbing his head to try and stop the aching, "Why are you helping me out?"
"I have a personal philosophy." Dolroth said as he placed his knees on the thief, pinning him down. "One, never harm a woman. Two, never let anyone else harm women. Dirk here stressed number two of my philosophy for too long, and I'm not going to stand for it any longer. Now can you toss me that rope you have there?"
Dolroth gestured towards the rope that Luso had wrapped around his shoulder. Luso took it off and handed it over to him, which he used to tie up the thief on the ground tightly, and then he socked the back of Dirk's head sharply, knocking him out without a sound.
"There we go, he shouldn't be able to to move now." Stepping off, Dolroth dusted his hands and reached inside his side pocket. From inside, he withdrew a small corked bottle containing what appears to be water and tossed it over to Luso. "Here, you drink this. It'll help those wounds you have."
"What is it?" He held the bottle up against the sun, examining the translucent liquid.
"A potion, naturally." The hunter wore a confused expression, "You're telling me you've never seen one before?"
"Nope." Luso shrugged, he could feel his ignorance about this world resurfacing up once again.
"You're an odd one." Dolroth shrugged along with him. He walked over and uncorked the bottle in Luso's hands. A strange smell began to emanate from inside the bottle, a combination of both sweet and bitter scents. "A potion is a commonplace philtre that can help you recover from your wounds in a pinch. Quite a useful drink, if I say so myself."
"Really? That's pretty amazing!" Luso eyed the bottle with wide eyes, surprised that it would have such amazing qualities; it looked exactly like water, after all.
"Yep, it's a magickal thing. So why don't you drink it already?"
"Oh right. Bottoms up!" He lifted the bottle up to his mouth and drank deeply. Instantly, he coughed and sputtered. "Gah! This thing tastes horrible!"
"Of course." Dolroth stated rather humorously. "You wouldn't expect such a miraculous invention to be completely perfect, would you?"
"Gack...I guess medicines just aren't supposed to taste good..." Luso coughed and gave the bottle back to him. While doing so, he noticed that the wound on his arm was nearly gone. The only traces left was a few bloodstains and a small white line that was slowly disappearing. He reached up and felt his face. His bruises were appearing to recede back into his skin and the cut on his forehead had completely disappeared.
"Ms. Midori!" Luso and Dolroth both turned around, three of the other green mages were all running towards them.
"Oh thank Njrg!" The viera–Midori–embraced her friends. Together, they all began to cry tears of relief. "You're all safe!"
"Ms, Midori, you're harmed!" One of them produced a handkerchief and began to wipe the blood off her face. The other two vieras pulled out bandages and bottles of potions, which Midori tried to refuse, to no avail. Dolroth and Luso both began to laugh at this scene. One of the girls broke away from the huddle and pointed at the laughing hunter.
"Hey! Aren't you one of them?" She said, pointing to the thief on the ground, "I remember you. You were the one that tied up Ms. Midori!"
"Eh...um..." Dolroth quickly stood up, oddly flushed in the face. He held his hands out as if he was trying to push something away. The three vieras advanced on him, murder was written all over their faces.
"Quick! Get him!" The three rabbit–eared women pounced. Knocking Dolroth to the ground and trying to pummel him into submission. Oddly, Dolroth had a rather silly smile on his face as this was going on.
"This is heaven!"
"I see you've managed to...capture that wolf."
"Aye, took us a while. But we managed to corner the beast."
"It'll be dinner tonight, I can't wait!"
"Only you would be so crass as to eat a live wolf."
Cid instantly stood between Edyal and Lynd, averting potential danger. He took the unconscious wolf off Lynd's shoulder and set it beside the tied up moogle on the ground. The moogle's eyes widened at the sight of his defeated pet.
"H–how did you manage to knock out my specially trained wolf – kupo?" He stammered nervously. Cid scratched his head and pointed over to Lynd.
"Lynd did most of it." Cid pushed Lynd and Edyal away, both still glaring daggers at each other. "He remembered the wolf had a dislocated jaw, and purposely let it try and bite him."
"D–dislocated jaw?!" The moogle craned it's small neck over to try and examine the wolf's jaw. Indeed, the jaw was off–center, giving it a strange asymmetrical look to it. "How – kupo?!"
Cid raised up his large fist, "You weren't watching? Pity. I thought you would've cared more for your precious pet. At least you were intelligent enough not to coat it's mouth with poison."
"Kuu..." Ereio fell silent. He hung his head, he was beaten and humiliated. Placing his fist back down, Cid looked up at the highroad. It's been a while since he and Lynd went into the forest to hunt the wolf, he was starting to becoming increasingly worried about Luso.
"Worried?" Edyal noticed the expression on Cid's face, "Do not worry, I believe that Luso is not such a weak boy. You of all people should know that."
"Haa...You've read my mind." Cid scratched the back of his head again, "I'm just thinking about how he is doing up there."
"You sound like a concerned father." Edyal laughed, "If you are that worried, why not just go up and check? We have everything under control down here, after all."
"Right, I'll do that then." He glanced up at the highroad again, picturing inside his head the scene that probably happened. A sudden image of a badly beaten Luso flashed across his imagination. Involuntarily, he gave a little shudder at the scene.
"Actually, Melanee." he turned back around to face the white mage behind him. "Why don't you come with me as well?"
"Forget getting me a potion. You need one more than I do." Luso said, surveying the aftermath of the beating that Dolroth received. After beating the hunter to a pulp, the three green mages had congregated in a corner and had begun to chant a strange prayer or incantation. Luso plunked down a bottle of potion that Midori left for him. As a sign of apology.
"It was worth it." The hunter said, pulling himself off the ground. His face was covered in bruises and his floppy yellow cap was slightly torn. His shirt and part of his collar was completely in tatters, giving him a haggard appearance. Despite that, his face was displaying an expression of rapture, a strange contrast to his, otherwise damaged look.
"How is being beat up by three angry women worth it in any way?" Luso replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Simple. You don't need a make up a reason to touch a woman." He said shamelessly. Checking the damage on his clothes, he decided that it wasn't too serious and stood up and dusted himself off. He took the potion and gulped it down. "Well, and I can also call this punishment for all I've done while sticking with this coward."
Taking a quick glance at the tied up thief, Luso briefly wondered if Dolroth was always discontent with him...or if it was because that women were involved this time. Inwardly, he bet on the latter. Luso shook his head, it wasn't his problem and he didn't want to bother with it.
"So what will you do now?" Luso asked.
"What do you mean?" The hunter grabbed Dirk on the ground by his ropes and hoisted him up over his shoulder. "I'm taking this guy back to Wood Village. He...we have a lot of apologizing to do."
He gave a small smile and reached inside his pocket. He took out a small chain necklace and let the sunlight glint off the shiny surface of the necklace.
"What's that?" Luso asked, looking at the small carrot–shaped necklace. Dolroth lowered it and held it out for Luso to see.
"It's a necklace that belonged to a girl that we had robbed." He said, his smile weakening, "I could never forgive myself for letting Dirk do such a thing."
"You don't have to beat yourself up for it. You did save that girl over there from Dirk this time, didn't you?" Luso reasoned, trying to cheer him up.
"Heh." Dolroth grinned, "I guess you're right."
He looked up at the sky. The previously burning sun was beginning to descend behind the dense forest canopies, spreading a blazing glow that tinted the sky and the stones on the highroad a brilliant orange. Day was ending, and night was approaching.
"Looks like the day's nearly over." Putting the necklace away, Dolroth turned around and began to walk towards the steps leading back down to Wood Village, "See you someday, Luso."
"Wait, wait! Why don't you join our clan?" Luso said, quickly putting his hand on the hunter's shoulder, stopping him. "I don't know much about my clan, but Cid told me that anyone could join if they wanted to."
"Haha, thanks for the offer." Dolroth said, turning his head around to look at the boy, "But no thanks. I've got my hands full right now. Besides, I might even be tossed in jail for what I've done while I was with these guys."
"But..."
"Maybe someday, Luso, maybe." He gave a small laugh and began to descend the steps...only to bump into a man who was walking up at the same time.
"Oof!" He lost his balance and dropped Dirk, who, amazingly, was still unconscious.
"Well now, who's this?" A deep voice said from above the hunter. Dolroth reacted quickly and grabbed his bow, already fitting an arrow on it. In response, the man swiftly swung his sword and severed the bowstring in half, rendering his weapon useless.
"Damn!" Dolroth cursed. He tossed aside his bow and attempted to tackle the man down the steps. But it was futile. The man was sturdy as an oak, and simply allowed Dolroth to bounce off his powerful chest and back onto his bottom.
"Dolroth!" Luso leaned over the top of the steps, looking down at them, "Are you okay?"
"Gah, who the hell is this?" He said, glaring up at the man. Luso walked down and extended a hand to help him up. Dolroth took it and assumed a defensive position as soon as he was back on his feet.
"Luso, friend of yours?" Cid asked, trying to prevent himself from chuckling at the guarding hunter. He resheathed his sword and stepped around the hunter. Behind him, Melanee breathlessly climbed up the stairs in his wake.
"You could say that." Luso leaned down and helped Melanee up the stairs. She mouthed a silent thanks and sat down on the steps, panting. Dolroth gave a grunt and covered his face with his hat. He picked up Dirk's comatose body and began to walk down the steps again.
"Hang on," Cid called down after him, "That's our mark you're carting off there, pal."
"Don't worry, I'll be sure to place your name down for you." Dolroth replied hastily, not stopping his descent. He appeared as if he didn't want to stay and talk, but he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He glanced down and placed his hand in his pocket. Taking out the necklace from earlier, he turned around and walked toward to the white mage sitting on the ground.
"Here, this is yours." He held out the necklace in front of her. Melanee's eyes widened at the sight of her stolen necklace and she quickly opened her hands to receive it.
"Yes! This is mine!" She said, holding it up against the setting sun, admiring the red carrot–like decoration that hung from it. "Did you get it back for me? Thank you so much!"
"It's no problem. Really." Dolroth said, still covering his face. Once again, he turned around and began to march down the steps, giving a hasty goodbye wave to Luso. Melanee was waving goodbye to his retreating back while Luso gave a small bemused smile and waved as well. Cid only scratched his head in confusion as he tried to make head or tails of the situation.
Giving up, Cid patted Luso on the shoulder and caught his attention. Cid flashed him a wide smile, "So, how was your second fight here in Ivalice?"
"It definitely could've gone much better," Stepping onto the highroad and picking up his fallen hat, Luso dusted it off and replaced it on his head. He took out his sword and inspected the blade. With a despondent sigh, he showed it to Cid. "Do you think there's any way to fix this?"
He took the sword from Luso's hands and scrutinized the rust that had practically eaten the blade from inside out. He took his hand and scratched the rust with his nail, peeling off several layers of the damaged metal.
"I wouldn't worry too much about it, Luso." He handed the sword back to him. "I know a couple of decent blacksmiths in Camoa who can fix that sword up to perfection. I'll take you to them once we reach town, okay?"
"All right!" Luso exclaimed happily, "How long will it take to reach...um...Camoa?"
Cid laughed and patted him on the head. He pointed out towards the horizon, above the leafy treetops of the forest. Squinting his eyes in the glare of the setting sun, Luso could see a long, winding road that stretched past the exit of the wood and into the grassy hills beyond.
"You see that road? That's the fastest path to Camoa." Cid said, "Aye, once we descend this highroad, we'll be on the fast track to the town, a day at most. If we hadn't used this road, it probably would've taken us around two or more days if we were to navigate the forest instead."
"I still haven't thanked you enough, Mr. Cid." Said Melanee, who stood up from her seat and joined their conversation. Her necklace was now hanging around her neck, the red jewel – like carrot was dangling outside her white robe, giving off a dull pink glow as it reflected the sun's rays.
She bowed low, letting her long ears droop over her head. Her white hair cascaded out of her hood and threatened to brush the ground. Cid only gave a smile and gently lifted her up from her bow.
"It's fine." He said, "You've already helped me enough earlier. If you hadn't removed that poison from my body, who knows what would've happened?"
"But...that was just..." She stammered, trying to justify her actions earlier as nothing special. Cid only closed his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Aye, it might be nothing special to you, but it's special to the people you cure." He said sagely, "We're a clan, and it's always something special to help each other. Whether if it is fighting, defending or healing. Everything done together as a clan is special."
"You sound like some sort of old mentor, like those in TV dramas or something like that." Luso remarked. Both Melanee and Cid shot him confused looks. Luso shrugged and quickly waved the issue aside. Looking around, Luso noticed the absence of two people in their party.
"Hey Cid?" He asked, "Where's Edyal and Lynd?"
"Oh, I left them down there to watch over the wolf and the animist that was controlling it." Cid walked over to the edge of the highroad and surveyed the area below. "It appears as though they are talking to that hunter friend of yours. Lynd in particular seems to be pretty upset."
Luso scrambled over to see what was going on. He could make out a few figures moving around down below him. That big figure–he assumed to be Lynd–seemed to be in an argument with a human–shaped figure, Dolroth.
"What are they doing?" Melanee queried, also curious about what was going on. "It sounds like they're arguing about something..."
"Your senses are sharper than mine are." Cid commented, watching Melanee try and discern the shapes, "Can you hear anything with those ears of yours?"
She perked her long, rabbit–like ears, trying to eavesdrop into their conversation. Luso glanced over at her skeptically. They were nearly three times the height at where Lynd and company are, can she really be able to hear anything from here?
"Aye, Luso. You've never heard about the senses of a viera?" Noticing Luso's expression, Cid began to speak, "Vieras are blessed with the gift of heightened senses. Moreso than a bangaa or a revgaji like me. A distance like this might be daunting to us, but to a viera; It might as well be the same as you standing next to her and talking."
"That's pretty amazing." Luso said, slightly awed. Melanee's face blushed slightly and her ears drooped down. Coughing, she covered her red face with her hood and restraightened her ears.
"Um...they seem to be talking about...dinner and delicacies..." She reported, "That hunter is trying to convince Mr. Lynd to let go of the wolf, saying that it isn't...a delicacy or something...and Ms. Edyal just said that Lynd is an idiot for trying to eat someone's pet...and now Lynd is yelling...really loudly."
Cid sighed and scratched the back of his head.
"I guess I better go round them up then. Wait for me, Luso, Melanee." Grudgingly, he marched down to settle yet another bangaa vs nu mou war. Luso and Melanee both sat down on the steps, following his instructions. Feeling slightly uncomfortable with all the dried blood on his body, Luso began to roughly scrape it off with his clothes.
"Oh, don't do that. You'll hurt yourself." Melanee reached inside her robe pocket and withdrew a canteen of water and a small cloth, "Here, let me do it."
She dampened the cloth and began to use it to wipe off the gunk and grime off his face and arms. Wringing out the now–dirty cloth, Melanee washed it off with the rest of the water and returned it to her pocket.
"There, all better."
"Thanks Melanee, I appreciate it." She smiled and went back to fiddling with her necklace. Luso wiped off a little bit of blood that avoided her scouring. Feeling slightly exhausted, he lied back on the ground and looked up at the sky.
It's been two days already, huh? He thought, I really don't know what's going to happen now. What is auntie thinking right now? Is she worried that I've been gone for two days?...heh. I would like to see her expression if she saw me like this right now.
Smiling despite himself, Luso lifted his arm and stared at the small, faint white line that marked where his wound once was. He thought back to all the fights he's been in for the last two days. From fighting a gigantic chicken to dueling with a cruel thief.
I've been taking this pretty easily, haven't I? He mused to himself, I never expected anything like this to happen, all from scribbling in that book. What was it anyway? Edyal said something about magick books and the like...but why was one lying around inside the school library?
Maybe I'm thinking too much...my head hurts. Luso sat up and took off his hat. He took his hands and wildly ran them through his hair, messing it up. Sighing contentedly, Luso lied back down and used his hat as a pillow. The slow, rhythmic chanting that the rescued green mages were speaking was beginning to make Luso drowsy. He closed his eyes and began to breathe calmly.
Cid might take a while to get everyone ready to go. Maybe I can get a few minutes of sleep before he comes...back...
Melanee looked up from her necklace. She glanced towards Luso, wanting to say something. But she closed her mouth. He looked peaceful, sleeping on the ground like that. Almost as if he had always belonged there.
A/N: This chapter took me a while, don't know why, and don't want to know why. In any case, they're finally out of Targ and heading to Camoa. On to more adventures! Go forth, Clan...that still has no name!
Character Notes:Every few chapters, I'll release a small dossier on one character. You may request which character you wish to see in the next dossier.
Name: Luso
Age: 15-16 (Just turned)
Job: Bare/None
Notable Skills: Surprisingly good reflexes and equally surprising decent strength, but nothing really much to be considered notable.
Posessions: A cheap ring-binder notebook and pen.
Equipment:
-Short Sword (Wrecked)
-Nothing
-Leather Clothes
-Cloth Hat
-Battle Boots