Author's Notes:
As requested by DementoFantasy, a series of drabbles about how Fran and Balthier met.
7. Sky Pirate
After his third frantic flight from Archadian sky patrols, Balthier decided it would be wise to acquire a navigator. So when he reached Balfonheim, he found the nearest print shop and asked the corpulent old man behind the desk to draft a help-wanted notice.
"This sky pirate business?" the man asked.
Balthier schooled his expression into a look of scornful disbelief. "What do you take me for? I'm an entrepreneur."
"Oh?" The man raised an eyebrow. "Is that why you landed a stolen military prototype in a city famous for its sky pirates?"
A pause.
"Fine, I'm a sky pirate."
8. Fool
If there was one flaw Fran could not abide among humes, it was foolishness.
She peered at the scrap of parchment in her hands, one ear twitching in annoyance. What a fool, to post a notice that he was searching for a navigator, then write down where he could be found. The first headhunter to see the notice would skewer him, if an ambitious thief did not get to him first.
Fran sighed. As if she lacked for trouble. She would simply have to correct his foolishness. Even if it took months to disabuse him of his more self-destructive impulses.
9. Partners
Even in Balfonheim, viera were a rare enough sight that Balthier was rather surprised when one arrived at his room an hour after he'd posted his help-wanted notice.
"You do not require a navigator," she informed him. "You require a partner."
"Oh? I don't believe—"
"You are a fool," she said. "I will navigate. You will pilot the ship. I will ensure you do nothing to alert the headhunters to our whereabouts. Understood?"
He opened his mouth. Closed it. He liked women who took charge, but . . .
"We leave in an hour," she said. "Make yourself ready."