Chapter 19

I am really sorry!

I do not own the characters or locations of Tales of Symphonia.

Anna's mother had always told her that the most attractive trait of a woman was decency. "Men fall in love with well-behaved women, Anna. Beauty alone is not enough!" her mother had said. She used to say that a decent woman should be well-mannered, educated, religious, humble, patient, polite and lots of other things Anna had already forgotten. So her mother had basically devoted all her time and effort to teach her all those traits and rules a respectable woman should follow.

And Anna had really tried. Had listened to these endless lectures and had learned them by heart. She had done her best to behave and to act like the person her mother had wanted her to be.

But Anna had very soon found out that she just wasn't that kind of woman.

She had her own opinions and never failed to voice them even if it would be better to simply shut up. Anna didn't like waiting and was as easily bored as a toddler. And she babbled all day long, because she just couldn't bear the sound of silence. She was light-hearted, carefree and if she wanted to quite flirty.

So it had only been a matter of time until Anna had started to get in trouble with her mother.

She could very well remember her mother's face when she had caught her snogging the neighbor's son. That had caused quite a fuss. Said fuss being a solid hour of screaming and yelling about how Anna could even think about kissing a boy before marriage. Her mother had kept going on and on about how her behavior was going to give her a reputation as an easy girl in Luin and how that would ruin her chances of ever getting married. Then she had told her to never ever see that boy again, which him being the neighbour's son was strictly speaking impossible, and had grounded her for two whole months.

Unfortunately for her mother that didn't prevent Anna from doing that again. The prospect of doing something forbidden and the threat of being caught simply gave the whole thing a certain thrill. So Anna had met her boyfriends at night or at secret places and had used her job at the library as a cover. And luckily her mother had never caught her again.

Therefore she supposed it was Karma that now she had to listen to a seriously long and very familiar speech about premarital sex and indecency in one of the Goddess's Houses.

"During my long time as a priest in the service of our Goddess Martel I have never before witnessed such…a repulsive and blasphemous behavior!" the man and the head of this House of Salvation barked glaring at her. He was waving his arms around to emphasize just how angry he was, but honestly it just looked ridiculous in his wide robe.

"Witnessed? Were you standing at the door or what?" Anna replied before she could stop herself. That obviously hit a nerve, because his face turned to an ever darker shade of red. She could have slapped herself.

"Not only that you pretend to be brother and sister and soil a holy place with your voluptuous sins but now you dare to talk back?!" At this point Anna honestly wondered if a human head could explode. His face was crimson red and veins had started to show on his forehead and his temples. It surely couldn't be as much of a deal as he made it sound like. Sure, a House of Salvation wasn't the best place to sleep with someone, but apart from the priest no one had been there, so it wasn't like anyone would find out about it as long as they would shut up.

Still the priest had sort of a point so the young woman tried to prevent further trouble and possibly a heart attack.

"I'm sorry. I know that this is holy ground and we have been disrespectful to the hospitality you have granted us. And I'm especially sorry for not being at least engaged with him. But you know…" Anna tried to find the right words "the whole sibling thing…You kind of assumed it and didn't ask if we were really related. So that's not…Well, technically that's really not our fault."

The Priest seemed to try very hard not to explode when he asked "Would you then explain to me why your…your companion didn't correct me when I made said assumption?"

"Ähm…well…you see…He kind of thought it wasn't necessary to correct you…" she answered scratching the back of her head.

"Who in their right mind thinks it's not necessary to correct false assumptions?" he asked incredulous.

"That's what I said!" but before she could say anything else the Priest snapped "I do not care! You are going to pack up all your belongings and leave this place at once! I don't want to see either of you here ever again!"

"Even if we were married?"

"I said EVER!" the man yelled and furiously pointed with his arms upstairs.

"Alright. Alright" Anna said and tried to sound apologetic "We will leave. As soon as possible." She then turned around and quickly walked up the stairs taking two steps at a time. Who could have known that priests could be this furious?

After Anna had closed the door she shot her companion, who looked as if the deafening yelling of the priest didn't concern him in the slightest, a glare and said "For the record this is entirely your fault!"

"To my knowledge it takes two people to commit the offence on which account we are being thrown out" he answered matter-of-factly, while already packing their stuff.

"Oh really? Then explain to me why if it takes two people then don't have both people to listen to the lecture?" she asked with a risen eyebrow "You should have had your ears yelled off too, you know."

"I did hear him crystal clear" he replied, which was better than the "Hmpf" the woman had expected, but still not the answer she would have liked to hear.

"That's not the same and you know it" she shoved one of her dried dresses in her bag "Besides you picked this place. It wasn't my idea."

The Seraph picked up his sword scabbard and strapped it to his belt. It was different now looking at him. Firstly she finally knew how to open this Cruxis clothing and seriously, she had absolutely no idea what kind of lunatic had come up with this design. The amount of buckles she had opened was ridiculous. And most importantly Anna knew now what was under those clothes and that was…well very nice to know to say the least.

"I would have been open for any suggestion of where else to go" Kratos said.

"Really? Well, I'll be sure to remember that for the next time" the woman replied and rolled her eyes "But before that you're going downstairs and have your fair share of lecturing, because, like you said, it takes two."

"I suppose this isn't a suggestion."

"You know me too well."

Curiosity had gotten Anna into a lot of trouble. Seriously life-threatening trouble. But hell would have to freeze over, before she wouldn't eavesdrop on Kratos, a four thousand year old Seraph, being yelled at by a Priest of Martel.

And fortunately she had managed to sneak out before the priest had noticed her or Kratos. So she was currently overhearing the preaching from the safety of the other side of the front door.

"This is a House of the Goddess! A sanctuary for all of her believers! This is holy ground and what do you do? You give in to the pleasure of the flesh! Ashamed you should be! Ashamed!" the priest shouted.

Anna had to give this man some credit for actually yelling at Kratos. After all he was quite intimidating. The people at the Temple hadn't even tried to be subtle about avoiding him and even Anna had at the Ranch been quite careful around him. And rightly so. The Seraph hid a power so great that even normal humans could feel it. So the priest was braver than most people. Or dumber. She couldn't decide.

"And now get out of my sight! If I never see you again, it will be too soon!" the priest yelled. Now Anna could hear steps coming closer and quickly moved as far away from the door as possible. The priest came stomping out and passed her heading to the gardens next to the building. He was mumbling about sins and indecency and his head had roughly the same shade of red as a tomato.

"So…" the woman said once her companion came out of the building "How was it?"

The man seemed to think about it for a moment and answered "As to be expected from a priest." That was not at all the answer Anna had wanted and she had the feeling that he knew that.

"That's not what I meant." He sighed, obviously realizing that she wouldn't let this go until she got a proper answer.

"It was not the first time someone yelled at me and it won't be the last."

"Yeah, right. Who else yells at…" she paused and made a silent 'o' sound. "I do. I yell at you. I forgot about that" Anna said slightly flustered.

"Your lecturing is different" he answered calmly. The woman looked at him confused. Shouting was shouting, wasn't it?

"How can my yelling be different?"

"You show affection through it. Most of your yelling is because you are worried about Noishe or me. You are not really angry at us, but at the possibility of us getting into danger, Anna" the Seraph explained and she could feel the fondness behind his words. He was right, though. Her most violent outbursts happened when he got himself into the most horrible danger(because of her). She hated worrying about him and well, yelling was her way of dealing with the fear of losing him. Not the best way but then again Anna had never claimed that it was.

But the fact that he understood that about her surprised her immensely.

"If…If you know that, then why do you get yourself into trouble so often? If you were more careful, I wouldn't have to yell so often."

He pondered over that for a while and then answered "Perhaps it is nice to be reminded that someone actually cares if I live or die."

It was a good thing that mouths could be used for talking and kissing, because that had left Anna absolutely speechless.

Author's note: Since these events take place about twenty years before the game I thought that these old fashioned traditions and values would be appropriate for Sylvarant. The church of Martel has a huge influence on the people and I believe that Sylvarant is quite conservative in some aspects. And I like the thought that one of the major problems those two encounter is not something with Cruxis or Desians but that it's improper for a man and a woman to travel together without being married. It's unlike the other obstacles they will face (very soon I might add).

And I'm really sorry.