Disclaimer: None of the characters of Final Fantasy 12 belong to me. All copyright Square Enix and whoever made the games (My memory sucks, sorry.)
Sigill, however, belongs to me! Yay! Enjoy the third chapter of Saendal.

Sigill woke up the following morning, her back slightly hurting from the hard floor she had slept on. Her hips hurt a bit as well, since the hammer was still there. She had a bruise from where it had hit her last night when she'd fallen back at lift-off. At least the blankets had kept her warm – the nights in Giza Plains were terribly cold. She combed through her long, red hair with her fingers and let out a sigh. She opened the door to the corridor which lead to the cockpit and main room and sleepily walked around. The light from the sun shone on the white walls, blinding her as she tried to find the door to the cockpit. From there she could get to the board walk and get out of there.
She grabbed a brass handle and walked into the room.

"Good morning to you too, Sigill, was it?" Sigill was met by a half-naked Balthier. "Your timing is impeccable. Care to mend my vest, now?" He handed her the vest that had been damaged back in Rabanastre, as if nothing had happened the night before.

Sigill stood there, speechless. She could not utter a single word. All thoughts of escape and anger from yesterday ceased to exist; a faint blush spread across her cheeks as she gazed upon Balthier's naked torso. His toned abs and tanned skin was enchanting to look at. Worst thing was; he seemed to be well aware of it.

She was stunned by the amazing golden color his hair had. Every streak seemed perfectly placed and as if shaped by the gods themselves. The room smelled sweet of his cologne; fresh, but cocky in some way. She had never seen such a handsome man before.

"Take a picture, it lasts longer." Balthier snorted, drying his hair with a towel in the meantime.

It entranced her so deeply; she forgot that she had barged in on Balthier's privacy.

"Care to close the door?" Balthier proceeded to dry his back with the towel as he stared at her with an annoyed look on his face.

"Oh, sorry!" Sigill snapped out of her daydreaming, quickly shutting the door behind her as she walked out. As soon as she had closed the door, she stopped and turned to it. "You mend your vest yourself! I won't do a thing for a pirate-scum like you!" She snapped, feeling quite satisfied with herself.

How could she have forgotten such an important thing? Why had all thoughts just vanished as soon as she saw him?
She was still red as a tomato. What if the others would see her like this? He surely wasn't the only one on the ship – she knew that.

She continued to question herself and other things while quickly scurrying through the ship and down the open board walk, hiding her face as she did. These questions were pushed aside by a constant thinking of Balthier's naked upper body – she couldn't get the picture out of her mind. It drove her crazy not being able to come to an understanding of this strange feeling. She had never seen another hume with his body-shape before. Well, at least not half-naked. It was incomprehensible for her.

Once outside she sat down on a log that had been conveniently placed there for the watch's comfort. She sighed deeply and leaned back her head, closing her eyes. Her eyes started watering as the sun glanced at her pale face with its warm beams and bright light.

Balthier scoffed at the young girl who had yelled at him from outside as he threw the towel aside and put on his white shirt as well as the vest. He'd have to wear it until she fixed it – or until he decided to get a new one.

'Such a cocky brat' He thought.

She seemed to change her behavior a lot. At first she'd be all happy-go lucky – next she'd be furious, yelling at people. Balthier wondered if all young women behaved like this nowadays. He didn't even take into consideration that she was a daughter of a blacksmith. They tended to have some rough edges.

"An uncut diamond, that girl." Fran walked in on him.

Balthier smiled at his viera partner with that smug attitude of his.

"She sure is." Balthier picked up his beloved gun and put it in the leather holster on his hip. "What's on your mind, dear Fran?"

"I came over to relieve you of your thoughts before heading out for watch. Your actions yesterday weren't the same as they usually are. I also do not believe we need one more hume in our group. I am merely worried about your decision – if you've come to a conclusion, that is." She put a hand on her perfectly curved hip.

"Oh don't you worry. I have yet to make a decision, yes – but I will consider everything and analyze her every move and her complete personality before I get my say in this. The leading man cannot be as straight-forward as the children, right?" Fran cracked a laugh at him. He sure was interesting, making such a big deal of this. It was just another hume girl, after all. She knew he'd had encounters with a lot of them - everyone the same as the blacksmith one. "Now if you excuse me – I believe I have two youngsters to scold."

As Balthier walked out of the room Fran glanced at him one last time, this time with worry in her eyes.

"Balthier, my friend – do not act in a way which you will regret later. You can't end up like this again, I don't want you to." But Balthier didn't hear her. Her compassionate words were heard by her and her only.

"Are you alright, young lady?" The dark voice belonged to Basch, who had been sitting beside her all the time. Sigill had not seen him; she had covered her face after all.

Startled, she fell backwards and landed on the warm sand. Basch helped her up, chuckling a little as he did.

"Startled you, did I? Forgive me, young lady." He gently lifted up her hand and placed a soft kiss on it. "What's troubling you? A pretty little lady like yourself shouldn't be crying." He looked up at her with worry, gently wiping away the tears which stroke her rosy-red cheeks.

He had a gentle smile, gentle eyes and a very gentle voice. Although his body was rough, he had a very soft and gentle touch. Sigill gazed into his beautiful eyes, forgetting everything around her. He too could conjure that warm feeling within her – although a bit different than what she had experienced with Balthier earlier. Seconds later she realized Basch actually thought she had been crying, when it was the sun hurting her light-sensitive eyes.

"Oh I wasn't crying. My eyes are merely sensitive to bright light." Sigill gave the older man a heartwarming smile.

"So you weren't crying, but tell me this; why is your face all red then? Do you blame the sun there as well?" Basch chuckled.

Sigill's eyes widened as she tried to come up with a good excuse for her now rosy blush.

"No… Uh.. I…" She sighed, looking down at her feet, fumbling with her thumbs. "I… Might have accidentally seen a male hume – half naked." Sigill really couldn't come up with anything, so she decided to tell the truth. Well – at least half of it. Basch needn't know about her little 'meeting' with the Captain.

"Caught Vaan red-handed, did you?" Basch laughed, resting his head in his palms. "That boy needs to know how to lock a door, don't you think?"

"Yeah…" Sigill laughed nervously as she decided to play along, pretending it was Vaan whom she had walked in upon. She believed nobody here would like her wandering around and peeking on the captain. "I'm Sigill by the way. Pleasure to meet you-"

"Basch von Rosenburg, at your service. Pleasure to meet you too, Sigill." Basch rose up from the log, stretching his back and legs. "You go get to know the others – it'll be better for you to become familiar with the crew. Ashe and Balthier would be a good start. They pretty much decide things around here. Don't ask me why, but they are. It'd be good to get to know them. You might need to know how to act around them." He turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "You are staying, right? At least until the captain says otherwise? I know you've been through a lot recently-"

"I'm afraid I can't stay. There's nobody at home who can take care of the shop otherwise. My father's injured and now that I'm not there, they can only sell as much as they've got stocked up right now. They can't make any more until I come home or my father gets better…" Sigill knew she had to get back. A part of her wanted to stay; sadly it didn't weigh out enough. "I will take my leave now. It was nice meeting you, Basch. I hope we meet some other time during better circumstances."

"Oh… Well if that's what you want to do I have no right to stop you. Now run along – before Balthier notices. He doesn't take too kindly on a hostage running away, yet alone without telling him. He will be furious, you know. He wanted to have a conversation with everyone about this, although now I think it needn't be necessary since you're leaving." Basch walked up to her and gave her a warm hug. "Will you be okay? Do you know your way back?"

Sigill nodded. She had been to the Giza plains before, scavenging for materials.

"I have my trusty hammer and a dagger. I always bring them in case I'd run into trouble. Hammer's better than the dagger though, but I'll be okay." She smiled, moved by his kindness. She bet the others wouldn't have done nor said the things he just had. "Thank you Basch."

Those were her last words before heading out. She waved good-bye to the man as she ran. It would be a long way home.

Third chapter of Saendal is complete. I would be extremely happy if you felt like reviewing what you just read so I can get some kind of feedback :3 Until next chapter!