By midday the Guadosalam mansion seemed like the most crowded and busy place in Spira. A flood of Guado servants were running around in what seemed like a state of panic, looking for things and packing bags for the long journey to Bevelle. The guards from Bevelle had arrived earlier than expected with chocobos. Seymour, Yuna and those who were going to Bevelle with them had to leave earlier than planned.
Symble reluctantly agreed to attend the wedding. She stood by the door of the dinning room, watching the chaos around her. Many Guado were running around packing luggage, storing food, moving things around and some were even pretending to be busy just to be part of the action.
Symble stood in the middle of all the chaos, looking for Yuna. She was hoping to get a chance to confront her about her spying. Symble didn't have anything to hide. She just didn't like Yuna knowing things that she wouldn't tell if Yuna were to ask.
Symble had been standing in the same spot for twenty minutes. The noise seemed to increase but there was still no sign of Yuna. Tromell came from the crowd and gently grabbed Symble by the arm. He led her outside and to her surprise she saw Seymour, Yuna, the summoners and guards all packed up and ready to leave. Even Belgamini, who seemed to have vanished for months, was there.
"Are you ready to go?" Isaaru asked with a friendly smile.
"Yes, I'm ready to go but," Symble paused, "If you are all ready to go then what's with all the commotion back inside?"
Yuna put her hand on her chest and said: "My necklace is missing."
Symble rolled her eyes. She didn't care that everyone was looking at her.
"That still doesn't explain why everyone is running around like crazy." Symble said.
"They need to find her necklace now so that we can leave right away. We have to get across the Thunder Plains before the weather gets worse." Isaaru said.
"This is ridiculous." Symble mumbled almost inaudibly although Yuna heard her. "So what happens now?"
"You are going to have to be patient." Seymour said. He spoke to her as if she was a child.
"I might make someone a patient in these next few days." Symble mumbled. No one heard her.
*o*o*o*
Half an hour later they were crossing the short pathway between Guadosalam and the Thunder Plains with Yuna's necklace around her neck. They were greeted by the plain's usual conditions: dark grey clouds, permanent rain and frequent lightning strikes.
The group stayed close together although they were split among themselves. Tromell and the guards walked around the summoners. Seymour and Yuna walked in front, discussing the wedding. Dona and walked behind them with Belgamini who was telling her about a recent Sin attack while in the Moonflow, of all places. There was a rumour going around Guadosalam that Belgamini tried to take on Sin on her own that day. Some Guado even said they saw her get killed.
Symble walked with Isaaru, way behind everyone. She was the only one shivering. She folded her arms and tensed up her body. Isaaru asked her if she was cold and she didn't reply. Before waiting for any permission, he put an arm around her and a long sleeve covered her. She blushed as she looked up at him and smiled.
Symble began to feel more at ease. She was miserable when they first entered the Thunder Plains and chose to walk at the back so that she could keep an eye on everyone, except for Isaaru who had become her friend. Symble watched Seymour because she didn't trust Yuna who was walking beside him. She watched Dona because she didn't know her well enough and she kept an even closer watch on Belgamini because of the rumours of her being an unsent.
Symble had told Isaaru what she thought about everyone. He wasn't surprised because he already figured out what she thought of each of the people in front of them. Isaaru asked her a question that really got her thinking.
"What do you plan on doing when we get to the Inn?" Isaaru asked. Symble sighed.
"To be honest, I really don't know." Symble said. "I doubt Seymour would let us stay in an Al Bhed Inn."
Symble had a bit of sadness on her face. She always seemed a little upset when they talked about anything that involved the Al Bhed. It made Isaaru more curious about her. He looked into her blue eyes that had an unusual spiral.
"Where are you from?" Isaaru mumbled.
"Did you say something?" Symble asked. She obviously didn't hear him.
"You have very interesting eyes." Isaaru said.
"Uhm thanks." Symble said with a lot of curiosity in her voice. No one ever said anything about her eyes.
The group reached the Inn by evening, as planned, even though it was hard to tell what time it was because the Thunder Plains are always dark. They made their way there by avoiding large fiends even though Seymour thought it was unnecessary.
"We will set up tents here." Tromell said as he pointed to a tower close to the Inn.
"We will do no such thing." Seymour said. The summoners looked at him with surprised faces as he pushed the doors of the Inn open and entered. Yuna looked at the others, shrugged and followed Seymour.
The Al Bhed woman at the reception desk got a fright when she saw the Maester. Rin, the owner of the Inn, came out of his office.
"Ah! Maester Seymour and his party. Welcome! We've been expecting you." Rin said. "Follow me."
"Yeavon forbid!" Tromell exclaimed. Seymour stopped and looked at him.
"Is there a problem?" Seymour asked calmly. "If you do not want to be here then feel free to set up a tent outside."
Everyone but Tromell followed Rin as he showed them their rooms. By the time everyone was either in a room or talking to travellers in the hallway, Tromell had decided to stay in the Inn.
*o*o*o*
When the crowd in the hallway had dispersed, Seymour went to talk to Tromell privately. Symble watched the two men vanish into the distance as she looked through the slightly open door of her room. As soon as the hallway was empty, she sneaked out of her room and went to pay Yuna a visit.
Yuna was looking out the window when Symble got to the room. The door was open so there was no point in sneaking in.
"May I come in?" Symble asked as she stood at the door. Yuna nodded and closed the window curtains.
"There is something I'd like to ask you." Symble said as she shut the door behind her. "Why were you spying on me?"
"I wasn't spying on you. I went to talk to you but I changed my mind when I saw you crying in Isaaru's arms-"
"How much of our conversation did you hear?" Symble asked as she walked towards Yuna.
"I could only see you crying." Yuna replied.
"Never mind." Symble said, visibly annoyed. "I'm here now so you can talk about whatever you want to."
"I just wanted to make peace between all of us." Yuna said in her most soft voice.
"You want to make peace? For who? Yourself? All you've done is come between us." Symble said, struggling to not raise her voice at Yuna.
"I know you don't like me or trust me and you are only going to the wedding to keep an eye on me but it was not my intention to-"
"Oh, please! He may not be able to see it yet but I can! You're bad news so don't try to blame things on me!"
"I'm not blaming anyone!" Yuna complained. "I just wish that you could at least try to get along-"
"It's hard to get along with someone who spies on you and tries to justify their actions!" Symble yelled. "I wonder what drove your ex away from you. Whatever it is that you did, it better not happen with Seymour!"
The little argument had turned into a shouting match. They eventually went outside into the rain and stood far apart. They wanted to fight.
"I heard you had a black mage as a guardian. Let's see if you've learnt any black magic." Symble said as she cast Firega. Yuna countered it with Blizzarga and almost felt the heat of Symble's spell. Yuna's black magic was slower than Symble's because she almost never used it.
"That was just a warm up. Don't tell me you're already worn out!" Symble yelled as she cast Thunderga. Yuna stumbled back a little but cast Waterga just in time.
"Perfect!" Symble said fiendishly as Yuna's water spell made the rain around her worse. Symble started to cast Thunderja. It took longer to cast than a normal spell.
"I'm putting an end to this!" Symble said. Yuna didn't have a spell to counter Symble's spell. She was a white mage, not a black mage.
Yuna wasn't sure what to do. She swung her staff as she thought of a way to counter Symble.
"I hope this works." Yuna whispered.