CHAPTER SEVEN

To say Balthier Bunansa was meticulous about his appearance was putting it mildly. He had always loved his luxuries, as one would expect growing up within the gentry of Archadian society, and while he had been no stranger to hardship after his initial flee from the city, he had always done his best look presentable. Dashing even, if possible. After all, appearances went a long way.

So when he stepped out of The Strahl after spending the day working in her engine room, a double-take at his current state would not be unforgivable.

He and his 'merry band of warriors' (as he had taken to calling them in his mind) had returned to the Port at Balfonheim after their venture to the Ancient City of Giruvegan, and to Reddas who had been following his own leads on the nethicite. Putting their information together they had determined the party's next destination was to be the Ridorana Cataract where the Sun-Cryst was located. The Cataract was in Jagd however, and only with the use of a particular type of skystone that Reddas had acquired, could an airship be modified to fly into the area.

And so Balthier had been reunited with his beloved airship and, Gods, did it feel good to have her back after all their trekking over Ivalice. To fly again felt like becoming whole once more. It also meant he could spend as much time as he needed away from the others, installing the skystone, as well as giving his girl a tune up. He had rejected Reddas' offer of having some his mechanics do the work for him, partly because the only other people Balthier trusted to touch his baby was Fran and Nono, the ship's Moogle mechanic, and partly because he needed a distraction. Since leaving Balfonheim last a lot of information and realisations had come to light, all of it troubling in one way or another.

Eventually, after a hard days work, Balthier exited The Strahl to survey his ship, looking most un-Balthier like. Instead of his usual, pristine attire, he was wearing an old white shirt that was almost grey due to how stained it was and a pair of old, loose trousers. A far cry from his usual, figure-hugging, leather pair. He was absolutely covered in grime and grease. It was on his clothes, in his hair, and on his face. He had managed to get most of it off his hands but only because he had been using his shirt as a cloth. Working on The Strahl was one of the few times Balthier didn't mind getting dirty. It made him feel as if he had achieved something.

He stood back from the ship, hands on hips, carrying an immense feeling of pride. It had been a good day and he needed it. He was about to head back onboard to clean up when he spotted it, out of the corner of eye. Up on the walkways running around the aerodrome. A flash of pink. He grinned to himself and turned towards the stairs to lead him up to the walkways.

This was certainly one way to make a good day even better.

Ashe hadn't been looking for Balthier so she didn't see him when he stepped out of The Strahl or when he came up to where she was standing. She was just finding some peace in watching the airships pass through the Aerodrome. When she was a little girl and she went to visit her Uncle Halim in Bhujerba she would spend hours watching the ships fly in and out of the sky city's ports. She got lost in imagining who and what they were carrying, and it was where she had found her feet had brought her as she wandered through Balfonheim. She had managed to get into the hangers by telling the attendant in charge that she was on the crew of The Strahl. 'Not a complete lie.' She told herself as she was let through. It was actually where she was now, leaning on the railings of the walkway, over-looking the Sky Pirate's craft. What she did not expect was for one of those Sky Pirate's to sneak up on her from behind, scaring the life out of her.

"You know, Princess, considering you spent two years in hiding, you will never be fully discrete while you insist on wearing a skirt of such a ludicrous colour." Balthier said, smirking as Ashe yelped and spun to face him, hand to her chest. "You can spot it a mile off."

Ashe caught her breath and hit Balthier in the arm for frightening her as he came and lent on the rail beside her. He grinned apologetically and mouthed the word 'sorry' at her. Ashe just glared at him.

"You can only spot it a mile off, Pirate, because you're always on the look out for it." She fired back, still sore from the scare he gave her. Balthier let out a laugh but secretly panicked. She had said it sarcastically but didn't realise just how true her words were. Ashe looked him over, wholly taking in his appearance, her annoyance beginning to fade.

"That's a new look for you." She said with a raised eyebrow. He struck a pose.

"It's a tad more ostentatious then I'm used to." He said, flicking his head in manner reminiscent of Al-Cid Margrace and earning a giggle from Ashe. "What do you think? Think I can pull it off?" Ashe scrutinised him, hand on chin.

"It needs some accessories. A belt or something."

"Oh, well your 'skirt' will do nicely then. Hand it over." He reached for it and she batted his hand away, laughing properly. She had realised that, even though her task was growing more dire, she was laughing so much more easily these days, especially in the Sky Pirate's company.

They stood together in an agreeable silence before Balthier spoke.

"So, come to check up on me or just come to look at my girl?" He asked, referring to The Strahl. Ashe smiled inwardly at that. Balthier would never see The Strahl as just an airship. It was his everything. 'No, she." Ashe corrected herself. 'She was his everything.' Ashe wondered if he could ever love anything more than he loved that ship.

"She is beautiful." She found herself saying. "I thought she was from when I first saw her. But it wasn't until we flew with her to the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea, spent time with her, that I began to truly appreciate her and, possibly even fall for her." She turned to look at him. "I will miss her when this is all over."

Balthier had been watching her as she had said all of this and found himself applying her words about his ship to the Princess herself. She was looking into his eyes with such sincerity he nearly couldn't find his breath.

"It's not over yet." He murmured and the corner of Ashe's lips twitched upwards.

Balthier cleared his throat to break the tension. "I dare say, Princess, it sounds like you're in love with my ship." He said reverting back to his normal teasing self. Ashe's lips formed a real smile at that. Balthier continued. "You're not thinking about stealing her again are you? Because if you are, I'm afraid you and I are going to have a falling out." He gave her a wink.

"I maintain that, had I not been interrupted, I could have gotten The Strahl out of Bhujerba and flown her to the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea in a more than capable fashion." Ashe protested. That made Balthier laugh.

"Oh yes, Princess, I'm sure you could." He agreed in a very patronising manner. Ashe gave him a half-hearted glare. "Tell me though, exactly how were you going to land her?"

That was something Ashe hadn't thought of. She bit her lips as she pondered the solution. Balthier felt extremely smug about besting her. Until he heard her answer that is.

"She has parachutes, doesn't she?"

Balthier's jaw dropped. She wasn't suggesting what he thought she was, was she? He stood straight upright and faced her, suddenly serious.

"Princess, are you implying you were going to let my ship crash?" Ashe had never been serious but even so she couldn't help but look a little chastised.

"No, not crash exactly." She explained. "Just come to a natural halt and if gravity happened to be involved then so be it." She justified, desperately trying not to giggle at his grievance. Balthier didn't know whether to laugh at her explanation or be furious with her. Instead, he opted to sulk.

"Crash my ship. I traipse all the way 'round bloody Ivalice for you and you wanted to crash my ship! Princesses!" He fumed. Ashe did her best to look solemn (though it was a struggle) and she leant against his arm.

"I'm sorry, Balthier." She offered an apology. Balthier shrugged her off his arm and grumbled something inaudible but he wasn't really mad and they both knew it.

"Maybe you could teach me how to fly her so that this need never be an issue again." Ashe suggested.

"Are you kidding?!" Balthier shot up. "You're not getting anywhere near the controls, or The Strahl again for that matter. Find your own way to the Pharos, Ashelia B'Nargin: Airship Crasher!" Ashe was starting to get a little irritated with the Pirate.

"Believe or not, Balthier, I do actually know a thing or two about airships." She insisted. When Balthier made a noise of disbelief, she pointed up through the open roof at a passenger ship that was coming into land.

"There," She said. "That is an A-347 Braynar Cruiser, the standard model for passenger airships as used by the East Ivalice Company for the last four years. It's chief designer was an Elgrid Braynar. It's glossair rings are approximately eight times the size of The Strahl's and Braynar added a new type of propulsion stabiliser to allow the A-347 to get the maximum speed out of it's size without sacrificing passenger comfort whilst cutting down on turbulence." She finished proudly.

Balthier just stared at her dumbfounded. He could honestly say he had never been more turned on in his entire life and was using every ounce of self-control that he had not to step over and kiss her senseless. Ashe just continued to look triumphant that she had rendered the normally quick-witted Sky Pirate speechless. After a minute or two, Balthier managed to bring himself together enough to say;

"Ashe, do me a favour; just say 'propulsion stabilisers' again."

Ashe eyed him, bemused by his request but repeated the phrase. Balthier closed his eyes in bliss and clung on to railing, letting his knees give way for dramatic effect.

"Oh my Gods, Ashe, that just might the sexiest thing I have ever heard!" He groaned, though he was grinning and he opened his eyes enough to see her reaction. Ashe was startled at this turn of events but still couldn't stop the smile that had started to form on her face.

"Balthier!" She exclaimed, and began to back away in embarrassment but Balthier had already grabbed her arm.

"Say 'heat resistant carbon plating'." He begged her. "No, say 'cylindrical exhaust funnels'. No, just say 'hydraulics'!" Ashe, despite her increasingly red face, found herself falling into hysterics at his pleas. Balthier was on his knees, clutching at her hand, playing for sincerity but failing miserably.

"Will you get up!" She insisted. He did so, giving her a roguish smile but not letting go of her hand. "You are such an embarrassment!" She shook her head in despair.

"But isn't that why you like me?" He asked, taking her other hand, feeding his fingers through hers and stepping closer to her. Ashe didn't even seem to notice these movements, so comfortable she had gotten with his presence by now, and just rolled her eyes at him. "Where did you learn all that?" Balthier continued. The Princess simply shrugged.

"You'll be astounded at the sort of things my father had meetings on. He allowed me to read some of the non-essential reports, some of it stuck." She absent-mindedly picked a piece of fluff off his shirt.

"You're amazing." He said. She beamed, looking up to see his face and she suddenly stilled. He had that look in his eyes, the one she'd seen very briefly during their embrace in the Feywood. The one that made her heart race and her breath stop. That both called to her and screamed 'run!' at the same time. She knew what she wanted but the question was, which would she do?

Resting her hand near his neck, she found herself very slowly reaching up. Balthier's head began to tilt to meet hers. Everything slowed.

"Balthier?" They both pulled back quickly at hearing Fran's call from the hanger below, their face's full of regret. Balthier cursed under his breath.

"Up here, Fran." He shouted down. He let go of the Princess and smiled at her sadly. "I'd better…"

"Of course." She said quickly. Balthier took a deep sigh and made for the stairs. Ashe ran her hand over her face and then noticed her hand was covered in grease. Horrified, she looked herself over. There was grease on her arms from where she had leant on Balthier and from where he had touched her. It was on both her hands and no doubt on her face now. Dismayed, she turned to Balthier who had stopped upon hearing her shocked gasp.

"Balthier, look at me! There's grease everywhere!" She cried out. Balthier had to laugh.

"Well, not everywhere, Princess." He said with a wicked grin. She stared daggers at him.

"How am I supposed to explain this?" She demanded. When he offered nothing more helpful than a shrug, she stormed past him, fuming, on her way out of the hanger.

Yes, grease was definitely a kind of dirt Balthier didn't mind. After all, it made him feel as if he had achieved something.