Blessings of Eos
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: Don't own.
Aerith smiled at the shopkeeper-Roger-as She entered the store, Prompto attempting to become one with Her leg. There was a chocobo rental kiosk at the Cape Caem lighthouse, meaning they were able to reach the Taelpar Rest Area fairly quickly, without the necessity of another teleport.
Even though it took a good fifteen minutes of coaxing for Prompto to join Her on the chocobo. Ultimately it took the roadside vendor who set up shop at the lighthouse handing him up to Her that got him on the chocobo. Once he realized he could see more of the surroundings by riding the chocobo, Prompto calmed down.
Aerith conceded that the chocobo attempting to groom him did not help.
The light of day drew her attention to things She hadn't noticed in the dark, as they walked from the haven to the lighthouse. A barcode on his right wrist, a string of numbers ending with 'PA' etched underneath. Plus a dog tag, the same numbers engraved on it, with Prompto's blood type and what was probably his birthdate-manufacture date M.E.736 10 25-hanging around his neck. The tag was easy enough to hide, tucked under his shirt. The barcode She ultimately tied a handkerchief over. He didn't object to Her doing this, just fiddling with it as they rode along.
Prompto's birthday put him only a few months younger than the King, and they would be in the same school year. She could see the pair of them as teenagers, Prompto pulling the King into a selfie.
Virtually every shopkeeper and restaurant owner in Eos for hundreds of years knew Her. Any suspicions they had regarding what She was, they kept quiet.
"Long time since you came this way, Miss Aerith. Picked up a stray I see."
"Something like that. Do you have any children's clothing?" She sized up Prompto. "Maybe boys size 4 or 5?"
"My boy just outgrew that size. Got a couple of shirts and pants in back, plus shoes. The missus insisted on keepin' most of it, says it's so we don't have to get more clothes for the next one."
Reaching to Her wallet, Aerith asked, "How much do you want for them?"
Roger waved Her off. "I still owe ya for helping my boy when he was real sick two years, so consider it even."
Shaking Her head, Aerith put the wallet away…while subtly sending gil into his back pocket, with a note reading 'For the next baby!' signed with a smiley face. She knew he wouldn't find it until he undressed at bedtime, long after they had moved on.
While the shopkeeper ducked in back to get the clothing, She turned Her attention to Prompto. "Too much?" She asked him.
He shook his head. "No…but can we touch anything? I don't wanna mess anything up."
"Kid, this is a store. 'Messed up' is the story of the day. You'll be fine as long as you don't touch anything on my side of the counter." Roger told him as he returned, handing Her a bag with the clothes inside.
At Her nod, Prompto edged away, quickly taken in by the novelty of being in a store. The base had vending machines, true, but it was a different experience being able to touch things.
Watching Prompto explore the limited wares, Roger asked Her under his breath, "Bad life?"
"Yes. I'm taking him to Insomnia."
"Not Lestallum?"
"No. Insomnia is where he needs to be." Looking at Roger out of the corner of Her eye, She said, "You may see him again one day, with three others."
Well used to Her enigmatic statements, and knowing they often came true, Roger said nothing.
Prompto's stomach suddenly growled, causing him to blush. Giggling, Aerith told him, "Let's go over to the Crow's Nest and get some food. You can change over there too."
"Okay." He shyly waved to Roger as they walked out, receiving a wave in return.
Nodding to the man behind the diner's counter as She led Prompto over to the restroom, She handed him the bag. "Do you need any help?" She checked.
He shook his head. "I'll be right outside if you do." She told him, leaning against the wall of the restroom next to the door.
It wasn't long before She had company. She had been aware of his presence for most of the morning.
"Greetings, my Lady." He said to Her, sweeping off his hat as he sketched a bow.
"Ardyn." She returned, as he leaned on the wall next to Her.
"May I ask why you felt the need to take one of mine? He was slated to join the officers within the month."
That explained the other path, the one She turned Her Gaze from. "You are aware the Crystal has Chosen." She said in lieu of an answer.
"But of course." There was a trace of bitterness in his voice. "Its favorite son has been reborn after all."
"This is me stacking the deck." She responded. "I know you've long since stopped caring, but…with him at the side of the King, the prophecy has the greatest chance of success."
Ardyn said nothing.
"I can hardly have missed how maintaining the Wall has left the royal line struggling to produce even one heir each generation, and the branches that have lasted to the present day are too far removed for the Crystal to consider. Things will be moving forward within the next twenty years. There will be no other chances." She told him.
Straightening, Aerith turned to look at him fully, his form doubled as Her Sight showed Her the man he had once been (and presented himself as) and the being he had become. "I would wish you luck in your endeavors, but as they lay in opposition to Mine…"
"Likewise." He began to walk away, but stopped to turn back to Her. "Are you sure?" He asked. "About the path?"
"Yes." She watched him leave, not needing eyes to trace his path out of the rest area until he vanished, teleporting back to Niflheim.
"…Is he gone?" Aerith turned to the restroom door, where Prompto peeped out through the crack in the door.
"Yep, I scared him off."
He gave Her an incredulous look, telling Her with all seriousness, "You're too pretty to be scary."
"He's got you there, Miss Aerith." The diner cook, Micah, agreed.
She pouted. "I can be scary if I try." But agreement was not forthcoming.
The two of them wound up splitting a platter of fried chicken tenders with fries. She hadn't been sure how Prompto would handle food vastly different from what he had encountered before, but he ate a third of the platter. "I've never had chicken and potatoes that good before." He told Her. "At least, they said it was chicken and potatoes; it didn't really have a taste."
The children had to be reasonably healthy in order to tolerate the gradual infection. All the necessary nutrition was present, if in a rather bland and basic preparation. Ironically they were healthier than the majority of children in Niflheim, being about the only children with access to immunizations. It brought up memories of a different time, of another child growing up in a laboratory. Properly nourished and immunized against disease, but with little other comforts.
The only difference was that Child had a mother beside Her.
Micah, at least, let Aerith pay for the meal without much fuss. The money wouldn't go into the daily profits, however, but to his daughter's education. She lived with her aunt in Lestallum, apprenticed at the power plant.
Thankfully, Prompto had less qualms about getting on the chocobo a second time. She had debated staying at the motel, ultimately deciding to head to the Fallaughns Haven. Daemons were still repelled by Her nature, and the chocobo was fast enough to outpace any that might appear.
Only a few minutes had passed since leaving the Taelpar Rest Area when Prompto spoke. "No one had any bar codes on their wrists back there."
"No, most people don't have bar codes." Aerith responded.
"That's why you covered it? Because it would stand out?" He asked.
She nodded. "Is there any way to make it go away?" He pressed. "Wouldn't be weird if I always had a handkerchief on my wrist?"
"Well, I'm wearing bracelets, and there's plenty of people with bracelets or gloves or wrist bands on their arms for various reasons." She told him. "I didn't think of it back at the rest area, but we should be able to get a wrist band or bracelet at the next rest area we reach for you to wear instead the handkerchief."
They lapsed into silence with that decided. About an hour from the haven Prompto asked. "What is M-O-T-E-L?" Spelling out the word 'motel'.
"Motel." Aerith said, pronouncing the word carefully, Prompto echoing the word back to Her. "When people are away from their homes, and they are too far away to make it back within a period of time, they can stay at a motel."
"So it's like the unit housing or the dormitories?" He asked.
"Kind of. Instead of a bunch of cots or beds in a room stacked up, there is usually only a couple beds, with chairs and a table."
"So does everyone have to share the bed?"
"Well, in a motel, everyone who stops there gets their own room. So if we were staying in a motel room, I'd ask for a room with two beds." She explained.
"Once, I came across two of the guards in one of the dormitories. One was on top of the other on one bunk, and it looked like they were trying to bite each other's faces off." Prompto said. "They were really mad, but the woman gave me something she called 'chocolate' so I wouldn't say anything. What were they doing?" He looked up at Her, full of innocent expectation.
She was not prepared to explain the facts of life to a five year old. "Well…" She scrambled to find a way to answer his question without having to explain sex. "…sometimes, when two people really, really like each other, they want to share a bed."
"So since we don't really, really like each other, we would need two beds?"
"Uhh…" She was saved from answering as the chocobo let out a startled "Kweh!"
There was a tonberry about ten feet ahead of them, slowly walking closer.
Aerith met Prompto's eyes, putting a finger to Her mouth. He nodded, eyes wide. Clicking Her tongue, the chocobo turned its head back towards Her, its beak close enough to slip it a green. It was a green that rightfully didn't exist, but anything goes when one has to deal with tonberries.
She felt the shiver of magic as the green took effect. Had the tonberry noticed them, it would appear that they had simply disappeared. If it hadn't, then it wouldn't notice them now.
She edged the chocobo around the tonberry, spurring it into a sprint once clear. She didn't stop until the haven came into view, the sanctuary effect canceling that of the green's once the chocobo crossed the invisible threshold.
She, Prompto, and the chocobo slumped into each other, breathing a sigh of relief. "I hate tonberries." She declared.
It didn't matter that She had the power of the Planet at Her call, or that damage inflicted on Her and Hers would be negated. Tonberries were flat out creepy, and generally more trouble than they were worth.
"Why did it have a knife?" He asked Her, sliding off the chocobo as they reached the haven plateau.
"If it gets close enough, it stabs you." She answered, pulling out the tent stored on the chocobo. It wasn't raining currently, but rain would arrive before dawn.
His eyes grew at Her answer. "It's gone, right? Right?"
"Yes, it's gone. Well, we're long gone from where it was." The tent was easy to set up, being small, but the two of them would be able to sleep without being on top of each other.
"Good." Prompto declared. His eyes were drawn to the trail of smoke rising from the fire circle. "How is there smoke but no fire?"
Tent and sleeping bags sorted, Aerith knelt next to the fire circle to start an actual fire. "It's part of the magic of the havens. Smoke rises up so people can find their way to safety. Even without a map or directions, if you look for a smoke trail, you will always find a haven."
He sat down next to Her, the chocobo settling down behind them, providing a convenient back rest. "Hungry?" She asked him, setting out regular greens for the chocobo.
He shook his head. Leaning his head back, he took in the brilliance of the night sky. "What are those up there?"
She tilted Her head back as well, taking in the scene. "Those are stars, like the sun, but much, much farther away."
"How far away?"
"Light is the fastest thing that exists, and the next closest star after Ours is four light years away. Meaning that if someone could travel at the speed of light, it would still take four years to get there."
"What about the big silver circle?" Prompto hadn't noticed the chocobo starting to groom his hair. Again.
"That's the moon. It reflects the light of the sun, bringing a little light to night. It changes shape each night that passes, until it goes dark. After that, its shape changes each night again, until its back to a full circle."
"But how does it know when to change shape?"
"It rotates-spins-like the Planet does. The moon rotates around the Planet at the same speed it spins around itself, so the shape We see changes in time with its rotation." Aerith elaborated.
She started to point out constellations, like the Bear ("I don't see a bear") and the Hunter ("I just see the ones you say is his belt").
It wasn't long before yawns overcame his questions. Putting out the fire and smothering the embers, She turned to him and said, "Time for bed, Prompto."
He started a little at Her words. "Huh? But there's no beds here."
Smiling, She said, "Whenever you get ready to go to sleep, you say you're going to bed. Bed can be anywhere you slept, even without a real bed." She directed him to the tent. "We're sleeping in the tent." Pulling Her boots off, She led the way in.
"What are these?" Prompto asked, poking at the sleeping bags.
"Sleeping bags." Aerith showed off the zipper along the one side. "You pull down the zipper, get in, pull the top part on top of you, and zip it back up to keep warm."
"Does the chocobo need a sleeping bag?" He really seemed to have warmed up to the chocobo since they encountered the tonberry.
"Nope, the chocobo has feathers that keep it warm."
"So it will be okay outside the tent?" Right then, the chocobo 'kweh'ed, in a similar pitch She had heard them use with their chicks. That seemed to be answer enough for Prompto.
Settling down Herself, Aerith kissed his forehead and said, "Good night Prompto."
"Good night miss Aerith."
"You can just call me Aerith, you know." But he had already fallen asleep.
Note: Every time I encountered a tonberry in Final Fantasy VII, I summoned Knights of the Round as soon as I could. ANYTHING goes with tonberries.