CHAPTER TWO
The next morning, when Ashe awoke, she couldn't understand why she wasn't able to move. Or why she was sleeping so close to the wall.
She then became very aware of the warm, heavy limb draped across her middle and it all flooded back to her.
Gods, how could she have been so foolish! How was she ever going to explain this? Even more disconcerting was how agreeable Balthier's arm around her waist actually felt. Their feet had become entangled and his other arm was circled above her head, her own hands treacherously close to both of his. Had she been holding his hands as they slept? She didn't want to think about it.
She glanced out of the small window. It was only just dawn, maybe she could get him out her room without being spotted. With a little effort, she shunted onto her back.
She studied Balthier as he continued to sleep peacefully, overlooking his features in a way she would never experience outside of this situation. 'He really is quite pretty.' She mused and found herself wanting to reach out and trace the curve of his sideburns with her finger. She shook her head of all such thoughts by trying to focus on how exactly he was able to sleep in those earrings of his.
Looking at him now, she almost wished she could let him sleep but she had no choice. She had to get him up.
"Balthier." She whispered, as loud as she would dare. "Balthier."
He shifted a little and his eyes flicked at her call. After a moment they opened slightly and he saw her, though it took a full minute before he was truly conscious. He frowned at her, confused.
"Princess?" He was still groggy. Ashe sighed. This could be difficult.
"Balthier, dear, you have to get up." She told him gently. He closed his eyes again and snuggled in closer.
"'S still early." He moaned. Ashe rolled her eyes at his petulance and went to lift his arm away from her. As she tried though, he seemed to make it heavier, dropping it back whenever she removed it. She glared at him and he couldn't hide his small smile. Now he was doing this on purpose.
"Balthier." She warned. The smile just became more pronounced.
"But it's just so comfy here." He murmured, burying deeper into the bed. Ashe exhaled in annoyance. He maybe comfy but she needed to move. Ignoring him, she lifted her arms above her head and arched her back, reaching out into a much-needed stretch. Balthier watched her through half-lidded eyes.
"Don't do that." He said thickly. Now it was Ashe's turn to smile.
"Don't do what?" She asked casually and continued to stretch. Balthier just scowled at her and begrudgingly removed his arm and started to rub the sleep from his eyes. Ashe instantly missed the weight from her middle but, of course, she would never admit this. Instead she turned on her side to face him fully.
"Balthier, you need to leave." She told him simply. At this close distance she could see that there were flecks of gold in his bright, brown eyes as he looked straight back at her.
"Why?" He defied. "Why can't you leave and I'll stay here in this warm, cosy bed." Ashe almost growled in frustration.
"Because, firstly, that would involve me having to climb over you, which I am not doing!" She stressed as the smirk appeared. "And secondly, this is my room! Now get up!" She poked him in the stomach in an effort to get him moving and it did the trick as he finally started to get up.
"Gods! Alright, I'm going! Blimey, Ashe, you can be an unpleasant bedfellow."
"Only when I'm sharing with pirates." Ashe spread out into the bed fully as Balthier sat on the edge.
"Something you do often is it?" He teased and raised his arms above his head and circled them down into his own stretch. Ashe was distracted by the movement of his body through his shirt and didn't hear him. He looked back at her with a grin.
"I'll take your silence as a yes." He winked at her. "Don't get too comfy now, Princess. I'll have no qualms about sending Vaan to come rouse you if you oversleep."
Ashe had already closed her eyes again but she still frowned at him. "Just go, Balthier."
Sighing, Balthier stood and retrieved his vest and shoes. He turned to look at the Princess, who had already begun to drift off back to sleep. 'She really is quite pretty.' He thought. 'When she's not being a grouch, that is.' He left the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
Balthier had just shut Ashe's door and made to put on his vest when he heard the door to his right open. His head jerked up and to his alarm, Basch stepped out into the hall. The Knight stopped dead, evidently surprised to see Balthier standing there and then, from where he had clearly come from.
"Balthier." He acknowledged the Pirate warily, trying desperately not to jump to any conclusions. Balthier decided to play it cool.
"Ah, good morning Basch. I trust you slept well?" He replied cheerfully. Basch just looked between him and the room he had just exited.
"I was under the impression that this was Her Majesty's room." He said, gesturing Ashe's door. Balthier had expected this and thankfully, through his years of piracy, he had come to master two of its most valuable lessons; think fast and lie well.
"Yes it is." He replied. Basch's eyes turned dangerous. "Or rather, it was." Balthier continued. "She asked to swap rooms with me during the night. Though she still has all my belongings in with her which is not ideal as I am longing for a fresh shirt." He even complained. Basch, unsurprisingly, did not seem completely convinced.
"The Princess asked to swap rooms with you in the night." He repeated as he studied Balthier. "Why? And why with you in particular?" Balthier shrugged.
"Chose a door at random I guess." He said, impassively. "As for her reasons, she said she was unable to sleep as someone in one of the neighbouring rooms was snoring so loudly she could hear it through the walls and it was keeping her awake." He grinned at the Captain. "It wasn't you, was it?" He dared to mock.
Basch was still not satisfied, however. "Snoring?" He echoed and Balthier nodded. "So Her Majesty should be in your room then." He said, moving up the hall.
"That's right." Balthier agreed but felt a flush of panic as he had spotted a fatal flaw in his story. For his lie to be convincing, Balthier would have had to be located in one of the two farthest rooms in order to be far away enough from his fictitious snorer. Thankfully, Basch, like Balthier, seemed to have no further knowledge of who slept where. Instead, Basch rounded on him.
"Give me one good reason as to why I should believe you." He growled. Balthier did not back down though.
"Basch, just what are you accusing me of?" He asked, a little angry. Basch went to respond when the door to their left opened. Balthier couldn't believe his luck when he saw Penelo standing in the doorway.
Penelo, though it wasn't the case every night, had quickly developed a reputation amongst the group as the noisiest snorer in all of Ivalice. They tented with her at their own risk. Vaan joked that she could actually make the bed shake when she got going. 'The Gods must love me.' Balthier beamed.
"Hey. Why is everyone up so early? We aren't leaving yet, are we?" She was still half-asleep, obviously woken by their voices, her hair undone. Upon seeing her, Basch stepped down.
"My apologies, Balthier. I should not distrust you so." He said humbly.
"Quite alright, Captain. Forgotten already." Balthier said, fighting the grin that was threatening to spread over his face and loosing as he wrapped an arm around Penelo, kissing her on the forehead.
"Come along you, you wonderful, noisy little ground shaker you, let's go see what we can do about breakfast."
When Ashe finally did emerge from her room a while later, she couldn't contain her gasp as she nearly walked into Vaan.
"Oh, Ashe! Great, you're up. Balthier just sent me to come get you."
"Did he now?" A wry smile flitted to her mouth as she recalled the Pirate's earlier threat. 'Not empty after all then.' She thought. Vaan continued.
"Yeah. I gotta say though I'm glad you're up. I didn't really fancy waking you." He said with a jesting grimace. Ashe's smile was now a genuine one.
"It would be playing with fire." She agreed. Ashe had never really been a morning person and by now everyone knew it.
"Did you sleep well?" She stilled at the question, glancing away from Vaan and willed the colour away from her cheeks as she remembered just how she slept.
"Actually, yes I did." She answered honestly. "After a time. It's very peaceful here."
"Yeah, me too." Vaan carried on. "I think I'd be happy to fall asleep to the sound of the ocean forever." He stared out at the water, lost to his thoughts. Ashe watched him and smiled at his innocence. She really did like Vaan.
He snapped back to her with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Anyway, you've gotta come with me." He said. He walked behind her and took her shoulders, steering her out of the hut. "We've got a surprise for you."
Ashe allowed Vaan to march her down to where the others had gathered. They were sitting on upturned crates, surrounding a small fire. As she approached them, the most wondrous smells of cooking food found her nose, and she was so absorbed in them she almost missed Balthier's mocking announcement.
"Ah, there she is! Finally, she graces us with her presence. Vaan almost couldn't wait for you."
"Does that mean we can start now?" The young man asked eagerly looking to Fran for affirmation. She gave him a small nod and an even smaller smile as he pounced on their breakfast. Balthier, though kept his eyes on Ashe.
"Sleep well, Princess?" He asked innocently enough but he gave her a knowing smile. Ashe threw scowl at him but it was only half-hearted and he knew it. Penelo, who was sitting next to him though, looked guilty at his words.
"I'm sorry if I kept you up, Ashe." She said to the Princess. Ashe was perplexed but gave her a reassuring smile all the same before turning her attention to the scene in front of her.
"What is all this is?" She asked, amazed, taking a seat next to Vaan. He turned to her, beaming.
"Breakfast." He exclaimed simply and returned to his food as Fran handed her a plate and fork. It was filled with sausages, eggs, and freshly fried bread.
"But where did it all come from?" She was still astounded but so overjoyed at the sight of the food. It had been so long since they had such a good meal to start their day. Penelo smiled at her widely.
"We did it." She admitted proudly, gesturing to herself, Balthier and Basch.
"While you were sleeping." Basch took up. "We traded with the Hunters, much of the loot we had gathered for the food and use of the stove."
"It was Balthier's idea." Penelo finished. Balthier had not looked away from Ashe's face during this, taking pleasure in seeing the happiness in her expressions.
"I felt we deserved a good start to the day." He said, looking at Ashe intently. She shied away from his gaze, concentrating on her food but couldn't stop her smile or blush coming to her face. He continued in his more usual fashion. "And it lightened our packs somewhat, trading all those feathers and bones and nonsense for all of this. Well, except for the sausages. They were something special so we traded them for young Penelo's virtue. Personally I'm amazed we got so many!"
Penelo gasped at this blatant teasing as Vaan laughed hard. Ashe looked up at him, shocked and Fran and Basch checked him warily but they all knew he was not being malicious as he was grinning at the young girl like an older brother would. Penelo, too, was laughing as she punched him in the arm in retaliation.
"Ow! Princess, did you see that? She looses her innocence and she turns into a violent thug!" He exclaimed in fake indignation and jostled her back. Ashe just shook her head but decided to play along with them both.
"You gave away Penelo's virtue? Honestly Balthier, that was our best source of currency! What are we going to trade now when we next want a decent meal?" She challenged him. A wicked glint flashed in his eyes and he opened his mouth to say something, no doubt inappropriate, when he was cut of by Basch.
"Vaan." The Knight said simply, not even looking up from his plate. Vaan stopped sniggering at this and turned to him.
"Hang on, wait. You're going to trade my virtue?" He asked, uncertainly. Again, Basch spoke plainly, without looking up.
"No, not your virtue, just you."
There was a moment's stunned silence, punctured by Balthier's howl of laughter, followed by everyone else. Vaan didn't know how to react and just sat there, bewildered.
When Balthier regained his composure he address the Captain.
"Ah, Captain. I've said this before but you, Sir, are a secret comedy genius." Once again, Basch was stoic in in response but Ashe could tell he was having fun as he replied to the Pirate.
"It's never been a secret, Balthier." He said. "You've just been too busy trying to be centre of attention, you never noticed the competition." Everybody laughed at this, Fran especially in her own manner, and a small grin had finally started to grace Basch's face. Balthier gaped back at the Captain and acted the wronged man.
"Right! That's it!" The Pirate cried out. "I take back every nice thing I've ever said about you."
"Well, that shouldn't take too long." Basch fired back. "No, wait. That's the good things I've said about you."
They both stared each other down but Balthier broke first, lapsing into a wide grin and fits of laughter. Basch, wearing his own, equally wide smile, shook his head at the Pirate, muttering "Useless" at his lack of discipline and the others joined in. Ashe couldn't stop her own enjoyment at the exchange. It was truly amazing, she thought to herself, what the power of a good night's sleep and a full breakfast could do to revive one's spirits. She caught Balthier's laughing eyes and her thoughts turned treacherous. 'A good night's sleep in the arms of a Sky Pirate.' That sobered her and she quickly returned to her food.
After a while Vaan piped up.
"So, how much farther is it until we get to Archades?" He asked. Fran and Balthier exchanged a glance, suddenly serious.
"Well, depending on the fiends, we should be clear of the Coast by the early evening at the most." Balthier began to answer.
"We then make our way across the Tchita Uplands before we reach the Sochen Cave Palace." The Viera followed. "It is not harsh terrain but it is a distance. Perhaps three days in total from where we sit."
"We enter the city from there. It's the most discreet way." Balthier finished. "And we need to make haste through the Palace. It's not a friendly place at the best of times, we do not want to be caught there overnight if unavoidable. Fiends always get worse after dark." He said the last part more to himself but Vaan caught it and looked back at him puzzled.
"But it's a cave? Meaning it's underground?" Balthier glared at him exasperated but Vaan was not done. "Surely it's dark in there all the time?"
The look on Balthier's face as he processed Vaan's logic was priceless and Ashe and Penelo both snorted with laughter. Balthier frowned at the Princess for her participation as Fran kindly explained to Vaan.
"I believe Balthier means we do not wish to rest there if unnecessary." She told him.
"Yes, and we do not want to waste more time then we have to getting there." Said Basch. "Come now, all of you, eat up. We have a long road ahead of us."