The First Grimoire: Final Fantasy Tactics A2

Chapter 7: "Chocobo Corral"

Hidden far, far away, in an area secretly tucked away from the bright light of sunlight. A monastery where darkness reigns, pervading every corner, niche, and cranny. A long hall, stretched across inside the church, with unlit torches lining the stone walls, as if it was being mocked by the darkness. A feeling of stagnation hung in the air, thickness, breathlessness. A choking atmosphere.

A loud noise rent the silent air. The sound of creaking wood echoed off the walls, traveling down the hallway like a rebounding pinball. The sound of footsteps joined the din, creating small tapping sounds as it moved through the hallway.

In the darkness, the silhouette of a man could be seen. Framed by the moonlight outside, his face was masked by multiple strands of thick, black material, giving him the appearance of one who was melting into the darkness itself. His clothes were made of the same material of his mask, although with multiple holsters and pockets were sewn into the material. Each of the pockets were adorned with various kinds of weaponry, from simple blades to long, cruel–looking needles. In his arms, he carried a large package that was wrapped in an exorbitant amount of fabric, and bound with a large belt. In this cold atmosphere, it shivered slightly.

The unlit torches flared up with a brilliant blue flame as the man walked past them. Surrounding the hall in a blue light, the cracked tiled floor and worn walls became evident. This was a place that was abandoned, and presumably for a long time as well. Undeterred, the man kept walking, allowing more of the torches to light up his path.

At the end of the hall was an ornately designed double–door. Contrasting with the dilapidated stonework around it, the door appeared to be brand new. Swirling carvings covered the surface of the wood. The man placed his spare hand against the carvings. Instantly, a bright cobalt glow filled the grooves like water filling a river. In an instant, the glow dissipated as fast as it appeared. The door creaked open by it's own accord, allowing the man to enter.

"I have returned." He stepped into the room. It was a large, cavernous room. Not unlike the kind you would find in a chapel. The blue torches from the hallway continued onto the dilapidated walls of the room. The ceiling was missing, allowing moonlight to stream down from the night sky and bathe the room with light. Rows and rows of broken chairs, tables, and other assorted furniture were strewn all over the floor. One chair was standing up in the middle of the room, facing the entrance.

"I hope you have good news to tell." A voice emanated from the chair. Slowly, the faint outline of a human became visible. The man bowed low and tossed his package in front of him. It made a faint sound as it hit the ground.

"I have not one, but two pieces of information to report." The man said, lifting his head. The visage woman now clearly sat on the chair. As if complimenting the blue glow from the torches around them, her hair was a brilliant cobalt. Her face could be called an unearthly beauty, but that was it. She was a beauty, yet her expression showed no warmth.

The woman flicked her quill into the air and it vanished in a small puff of smoke. A large, hardcover tome was lying open on her lap. Picking up her book in one arm, she stood up and faced the masked man. Nodding her head, she bid him to continue.

"One, the man that was suspected of being a mole have been caught this morn." He punctuated his words by kicking the bundle on the ground. The woman turned her head slightly, glancing at the quivering mass, her face showed no emotion. "Second. Our eyes have confirmed the...existence of a certain traitor."

"Oh?" she said, her face registering an expression of interest, "What becomes of our little friend?"

"The man has been in hiding. Biding his time as his wounds were healing."

"But for what reason would our friend think of revealing himself? Surely, he would know that our eyes exist everywhere in Jylland."

The man closed his eyes, thinking, "He was careless. He apparently believes that traveling with companions will protect him from being targeted."

"A clan. The fool has formed a clan, has he?" The woman tossed her head up and laughed. The sound of the cruel laugh echoed through the large room. "Prolonging the inevitable, how amusing."

She turned around and faced the back wall. A massive stone mural, weathered and damaged by the passing of time, adorned the entire surface of the wall. The carving depicted a myriad of scenes, a brutal war, the execution of a man, and a enormous hand clawing out of the void itself. Needless to say, it was a very disturbing piece of art.

"No matter. Our friend's desperate attempts to cling to his worthless life is of no importance to our goal." She stated, an eerie smile creeping onto her face. "But..."

The blue haired woman turned back around and slowly walked towards the bundle on the ground. Standing over the cloth bundle, she held out her hand. A flash of purple emitted from her palm. In the space between her palm and the air, a long, jeweled sword had materialized from out of nothing. Moonlight reflected off the beautiful sword, scattering thin rays of light all around the two people.

"...we cannot let anyone that knows about us..."

Slowly, she tilted the sword downwards until the sharp point of the blade was directed towards the tied up bundle on the ground.

"...exist."

"...wake up..."

Just five more minutes... Luso grumbled and pulled the blanket over his head. It was the summer, and he was determined to sleep in every day. Who needs to wake up early? School's out, and there's no need to be yelled at every morning to get up and get dressed!

So just leave me alone...

"It's morning, time to get up." The voice said sharply. Luso ignored it and wormed deeper into the blanket. "Luso, wake up."

Let me sleep, I'm tired. What time is it anyway?

"You gave me no choice, Luso." The voice sighed.

You're giving me no choice either, I want to sleep not wake u-

"OUCH!" He jolted up from his bed instantly, his blanket flying off the bed and fluttering onto the ground. He rubbed his head, a large angry bump was beginning to rise from underneath his hair. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he tried to cope with the pain.

"Good to see you're up." Cid said, rubbing his knuckles, "Get dressed, we've got business today."

"Eh? Cid?" Luso said, bewildered by what was going on. He took a look around at where he was sleeping at. It was a small, quaint little room, not unlike the kind you would find in a garden cottage. His clothes were hanging off the wall, apparently washed. As the bloodstains from yesterday were nowhere in sight. "What's going on? What happened?"

"Aye, I thought you might be a little confused." Cid said, taking Luso's clothes off the wall where it was hanging from, "You fell asleep while on the highroad yesterday, exhausted."

"O–oh." He could vaguely remember that. His muscles were slightly aching from the strenuous fight he had with that thief on the highroad. He glanced around the unfamiliar room again, and looked down at the soft bed where he was sleeping on, "But where are we?"

"Ohoho, that would be my bed you're sleeping in, sonny." The door to the room opened, and an old, wizened–looking bangaa sidled inside and stood next to the bed. The bangaa took his finger and flicked Luso's forehead, "You better be grateful, sonny. I had to sleep in the corral yesterday 'cause of you taking my sleeping quarters."

"Oh, uh...thanks?" Luso replied, still confused at the events unfolding in front of him. Cid chuckled and tossed Luso's clothes onto the bed.

"This is Sasasha, a local chocobo breeder and owner of this corral." He explained, pointing out the window. "We made a pit stop here after we crossed the highroad. Sasasha was kind enough to give us shelter after night fell."

"Oho, there's no way I can refuse the people who drove those dreadful thieves away from the highroad." He cackled, waving his arms around madly, "Bad for business! Nobody from the village was coming and renting my chocobos! And when I tried to go up the highroad to find the reason why nobody from Wood is passin' through, those brigands sicced a wolf on me! Good thing ol' Boko was there to protect me, yessiree. Good ol' Boko, never had a more loyal chocobo in my 70 years of breeding, you know. It definitely must be the feed I've been giving..."

"Anyways," Cid interrupted, cutting across the old bangaa's seemingly unending speech, "Everyone else is already awake. For the rest of the way to Camoa, we'll be riding chocobos. So get dressed."

"That's fine," Luso replied, pulling on his boots, "But can I ask a question?"

"What is it?"

"What's a chocobo?"

Melanee strolled across the grassy field with her hood down. She was enjoying the bright sunny sky and the breezy morning wind. In the distance, she could see several chocobos lazing around the small lake. She walked over and sat down next to one of the large yellow birds.

"Hello there, how are you doing today?" She said, delicately brushing the bird's feathers with her hands. The chocobo cooed and lifted one of it's wings. The viera giggled and began to scratch the bird's soft down feathers, eliciting a happy chirp from the chocobo.

"You are good with animals, aren't you?" Melanee turned around and saw Edyal walking across the grass toward her. Taking a seat next to the viera, Edyal took out a thick, reddish vegetable and placed it in front of the chocobo. Instantly, the bird began to peck at it hungrily.

"Ms. Edyal, good morning." Melanee said, bowing her head slightly.

"And a good morning to you too." Edyal replied, using her staff to nudge the viera's chin up. "The weather's quite kind to us today. Don't you think?"

Melanee nodded and plucked a blade of grass from the ground. She lifted it up high into the air. The balmy wind, as if following her commands, blew across the field and caught the little piece of grass and carried it away.

The chocobo had finished eating his meal. A sudden glint of red caught the large bird's eye. It stretched it's head over to Melanee, where it began to lightly peck at her necklace.

"Oh?" Edyal said, watching Melanee try and push the bird's beak away. "I have not seen that necklace on you before. It's quite a pretty thing, I must say."

"Y–yes!" Melanee said, facing Edyal and showing a very happy expression, "This was given to me by my older sister before she left. It's really important to me!"

She glanced downwards, her happy face fading slightly, "I–I was so depressed when I had it stolen from me by those thieves. I thought I would never get it back." She fidgeted with the little red crystal.

"But you got it back in the end, didn't you?"

"Yes! And I can't thank you all enough for helping me..." Melanee's happy expression returned, "And that hunter too. He was the one who returned it to me yesterday, I must remember to thank him again if we meet again."

Edyal recalled the hunter who had argued with Lynd the day before. The hunter had freely admitted to helping the thief and the animist in controlling the highroad, and was repentant in his actions. The only favor he had asked of them was to not tell the viera–Melanee–that he had a part in stealing from her. Edyal decided to honor his wish.

"I suppose. He was a pretty...decent person."

Melanee clapped her hands together and smiled, "I believe he is, Ms. Edyal."

"No more of this mister or missus business Melanee," Edyal replied, tapping the viera on the head lightly with her staff "We are a clan, there is no need for formalities between clan members."

"I'm sorry," She replied, rubbing the spot between her two ears, "It's a habit I've picked up from working with Dr. Ocktor."

"I understand." Edyal nodded, "But you are with us now. Our clan, and your new family. So you can just refer to me as Edyal, okay?"

"Okay, mis...Edyal." Melanee gave a small smile and hugged the nu mou, who embraced her back. As they separated, three more chocobos had appeared. Each looking at the nu mou hungrily. Edyal stood up and reached inside her robes and took out more of the vegetables.

"I've got more here, don't crowd." She said, placing the thick, rootlike vegetables in front of each bird. The chocobos pounced on the food and began to devour each of the vegetables. Edyal patted the one closest to her and commented, "My, you are all quite hungry. That Sasasha should have been feeding you by now, hm?"

"I think he was going to talk to Mr...um, Cid earlier." Melanee said, "Something about renting chocobos."

"Right, Cid is going to rent chocobos for us." She stared up at the road stretching into the fields beyond, "I would not fancy walking all the way to Camoa, personally."

"It's more fun to ride chocobos, isn't it?" Melanee said, looking at the large birds with anticipation showing on her face.

"Aye, and riding chocobos would halve the time needed to reach the town as well. Chocobos are well–renowned for their speed."

Three more people had joined in their midst. Cid pointed at the chocobo sitting next to Melanee, and said to Luso, "Now, that is a chocobo. Flightless birds, great strength, and faster than anything short of an airship."

"Wow!" Luso said as he cautiously inched near the bird, "They're huge!"

"Don't worry, sonny." Sasasha cackled at his hesitation, "They're all well trained! I wouldn't allow my chocobos to peck any potential customers! Now, if you're a thief on the other hand..."

"Ah, Cid." Edyal said, standing up. "I see you have woken the boy up. Are we departing now?"

"Aye, once we find Lynd." Cid replied, scanning the perimeter for any sign of their bangaa companion, "Where could he be?"

"Um... I last saw him walking around the edge of the forest." Melanee recounted, "He was mumbling something about finding provisions..."

"I see." Cid groaned and hid his face behind his hand. "I'll go fetch him then. There's no need to hunt when we're this close to Camoa."

He walked over to the edge of the river and leapt over it with one strong bound. He turned backwards and hollered, "Luso, why don't you help Sasasha harness the chocobos? Give you a little musclework to wake you up."

"A–okay!" Luso threw a quick salute, "You can count on me!"

"You sound quite energetic, aren't ya sonny?" Sasasha strode over to the back wall of his cabin and opened the door to a storage shed. "I like that. Good ol' young'un energy is never a bad thing to have around, gimme a hand with these, will'ya?"

With a strength unfitting of his old age, Sasasha hoisted out five huge leather saddles from inside the shed. Mouthing a single word–catch!–the old bangaa hurled all of the saddles towards the unsuspecting boy.

"Wha-?!" Luso's yell was quickly muffled by a mass of leather. The weight of the flying saddles knocked him off his feet and onto the ground.

"Luso!" Melanee quickly rushed over to pull off the heavy saddles off him. Edyal silently chuckled to herself as she walked over to help as well.

"Aagh...I'm sorry auntie...please forgive meee..." Luso said, his thoughts greatly disoriented by the impact. He groped around, trying to find some kind of handhold to pull himself up, but only succeeded in making himself look like some sort of flipped over turtle with a shell made of leather.

"Ach, I thought you'd be sturdier than that sonny!" Sasasha said, plucking one of the heavy saddles off the boy. Melanee struggled to pull one of them off, but only managed to budge it slightly. Sasasha clicked his tongue and pushed it off effortlessly. "Leave the heavy work to me pretty lassie, 'lest you hurt yourself strainin' like that."

Melanee obliged and stood back, watching the old bangaa remove the saddles with ease. Luso, freed from his leather prison, stood up and wobbled around dazedly. The chocobos standing around viewed the staggering boy with interest.

Luso shook his head to reorient himself. Once his vision stopped spinning, he approached the pile of leather saddles and spat on both of his palms. Rubbing his saliva together, he wrapped his hands around one of them and lifted with all his might.

"Yeeeargh! This is heavy!" He said, barely lifting it an inch off the ground. He gritted his teeth and tried to focus most of his strength into his arms, but it only resulted in him lifting the saddle higher by a centimeter.

"Luso, don't strain yourself!" Melanee shouted, "You'll hurt yourself if you overwork your muscles!"

"H–ha!" Luso replied, making a tough smile, "I c–can handle this, no s–sweat!"

As if proving his point, he swung his arms around and hefted the saddle up higher. A chocobo had prodded over next to Luso, curious.

"There!" Luso shouted. He took the saddle and lifted it up all the way to level with the chocobo's back. With a grunt of exertion, Luso dropped the heavy saddle on the chocobo. It squawked at the sudden weight and kicked Luso in response. "Oof!"

"Oh yeah, I should'a warned you." Sasasha said. He grabbed the kicking bird and hastily shoved a vegetable down it's throat. Placated, the bird settled down and allowed Sasasha to reposition the saddle on it's back. "The chocobos don' like it when you just drop the saddles on 'em. It spooks 'em, you see."

"C–could've warned m–me earlier..." Luso coughed and painfully sat up from the ground. A large purple bruise had formed on his chest. Feeling an acute sense of deja vu, Luso mentally made a note to be more careful around large poultry. Edyal sighed and helped him up to his feet.

"You are a magnet for injuries, Luso." She commented, tapping his bruise and making him wince slightly, "It would be in my and Cid's best interest if you would be a little bit more cautious."

"R–right..I'm sorry." Luso said, scratching his head sheepishly. The nu mou shook her head and sighed again.

"Melanee, will you please fix him up?" She said, facing the viera. "You may use my staff for now."

"Okay." Melanee accepted the wooden staff and faced the boy. "Hold still Luso, this will only take a minute."

"Ach, just leave the rest to me then sonny." Sasasha said while attaching several belts on the chocobo. "You might have the energy, but you jus' don't have the strength."

"But..."

"Be patient." He cut across Luso's words, "Yer still young. Give it time and yer strength will grow, sonny."

He fastened the last buckle and patted the chocobo on the back. Following on that, he picked up another saddle and headed towards the next chocobo.

'My strength will grow' huh? Luso thought as he watched the old bangaa fasten a saddle on another chocobo. I should ask Cid, maybe he can train me again. Getting stronger doesn't sound like a ad idea at this point.

Nodding to himself, he mentally resolved to ask Cid for more lessons when he returns. In the meantime, Melanee completed her incantation and swung Edyal's staff in a wide arc. A white glow trailing from the tip, the staff conjured up two small white orbs that swirled up into the air in a helix formation. Luso stared at the two dancing lights, mesmerized by it's spiraling motion.

"Cure!" Like a conductor in an orchestra, Melanee whipped the staff forwards at the boy. Instantly, the two orbs halted their ascent. After a moment's pause, the glowing orbs flew straight at Luso, going straight into his chest.

Instinctively, he flinched. But what he felt wasn't pain, but instead, a warm feeling spread out from his chest and filled his body. Looking down, he saw that his bruise had vanished.

"Whoa!" He patted his chest. There was no pain to be felt, it was all gone. He pushed himself up from the ground with surprising energy and checked himself over. Enthusiastically, he began to jog in place with his newfound strength, knocking his hat off in the process. "This is great! I've never felt this good before! It's like a potion, except better!"

"You sound like you've never had a Cure spell casted on you before Luso." Melanee giggled at the boy's antics. Luso picked up his hat and began to twirl it on his index finger.

"A Cure spell? I've never had one of those before, well... until now anyway." He tried to flick his hat off his finger and onto his head. He missed and it fell onto the ground again. Sheepishly, he bent down to pick it up.

"Are you serious?" Melanee asked, bewildered, "I've never met someone who hasn't even heard of a Cure spell before."

"I'm serious." Luso said, dusting off his hat, "I've never seen anything like that before."

Melanee edged toward Edyal for an explanation. The nu mou just shrugged and patted Melanee on the shoulder.

"Luso is...special, in a way." She said, "To put it simply. He does not know much about Magick, or most of Ivalice for that matter."

"How can that be?" Melanee said, watching the boy try and lift another one of the saddles until he was relieved by Sasasha again. "Isn't it strange for someone as old as Luso to have not even heard of simple White Magick?"

"I agree with you." Edyal nodded, "But as I have said before. He is a special circumstance. I suggest you do not dwell upon his oddness for too long."

"Hn..." The viera simply tilted her head in bewilderment. She continued to watch Luso and Sasasha affix the saddles on the chocobos until a sudden voice had called from the other side of the river.

"Hooy! I found him!" Cid came out of the forest, a despondent Lynd in tow. In his hands appeared to be a small furry object. With a tug, he pulled Lynd and both of them walked towards the river.

"What's wrong with Lynd, Cid?" Melanee asked, watching the unresponsive bangaa get dragged through the river. Cid pointed at the small furry lump in his arms.

"I caught him trying to hunt this dreamhare." Cid explained, propping up the small lump to let Melanee get a better view of it. It was a small, almost spherical rabbit creature. A large pom–pom dominated most of it's backside, giving it the look of a particularly adorable bunny attached to a ball of cotton candy.

"Dreamhare meat is known for being delicious in Loar!" Lynd argued, trying to reach for the rabbit in Cid's arms. He simply lifted it higher up and out of his reach.

"Aye, it might be." Cid said, pushing Lynd's prying arms away, "However, we are not going to eat any sort of animals in the wild when we are nearly to a town!"

"Then it'll be provisions that we can keep on our next travel!"

"No means no, Lynd! Now quit trying to catch animals and go help the rancher saddle up the chocobos!"

Grumbling, Lynd glanced at the furry rabbit one more time and walked over to Sasasha and Luso. Cid sighed in relief and put the rabbit down. Instantly, it perked up and shook it's fluffy tail wildly. Giving a small, but shrill cry, it jumped up unbelievably high and smacked Cid over the head with it's furry tail.

"Agh!" Cid reeled from the sudden attack. As he tried to stabilize himself, the rabbit quickly bounced away and cleared the river with a single bound. It turned backwards and cried again before disappearing into the forest.

"Looks like that dreamhare is thankful for your help." Edyal commented sardonically. Cid rubbed his head, it hurt a lot more than he expected.

"Aye, I'm sure it's very grateful for my assistance." Cid smiled wryly at his misfortune. He turned around and faced Edyal. "Are the chocobos ready for riding yet?"

Edyal simply pointed towards the three working people behind her. Five chocobos were saddled up and ready to go. Sasasha took several reins and placed them into the beaks of the birds. He used the reins to pull the five chocobos over to the group.

"They're all saddled and reined Cid," Sasasha said, "You'll be ridin' them to Camoa, right?"

"That is so, how much is it then?" Cid replied, pulling out his gil pouch. Sasasha waved it away, instead handing him the reins to the birds instead.

"I can't take yer gil," He said, "You saved my business by getting rid of them thieves on the highroad! This ride's on the house."

"Thank you for your generosity, Sasasha." Sasasha grinned and handed Cid the reins. The revgaji separated the reins and handed them to Edyal and Melanee. Luso and Lynd were already riding their chocobos.

"Aye, then." Cid patted his chocobo on the saddle, "Let's ride to Camoa."

A/N: Between constant bouts of writer's block and headaches and LOSING THE DOCUMENT FILE REPEATEDLY. I can now definitely say that this was the most annoying chapter to write. Pity.