Disclaimer: How long can they possibly hold out?? sigh …. still theirs.

A Legend's Journey

Chapter 18

Raine loved visiting the various tents in the enormous square. There seemed to be an endless array of things to interest her inquisitive mind.

Her favorite was the Al Bhed tent which occupied a very large space in the center of the square. Those resourceful, mechanically-inclined and gifted people had found that some areas of the forbidden zones now tolerated life and they were doing extensive salvage work there, bringing their findings to the town squares throughout Spira. Many of the items were dug out of the desert-like sand that covered most of those areas and the items were preserved like new.

Raine was irresistibly drawn to the tent and Auron found the visits fascinating. He was gaining a greater understanding of her world by hearing her describe the objects and their uses. Her world was very complex!

The Al Bhed delighted in her visits as she was the only person who knew what the articles really were. She would usually pick up an object, hold it in her hand a moment, silently looking at it. Jaho, who operated the Al Bhed tent here, would wait and she would eventually identify it for him, tell him how it was used, as much as she knew about it. Cell phones, a credit card, telephones, a microwave oven, an iron, a tire, a leash, a baseball, a camera, a hair dryer, a toaster oven, a television set – many, many objects from her time and era. Auron silently observed.

The information she gave was carefully recorded in Jaho's notebook. Soon the airships were bringing their salvage cargo straight to this town for her inspection and identification.

Many of the articles were things that could be very useful to the people of Spira, making their lives easier. Some pieces revealed strong clues to the technology used to create them; these would be carefully studied. Some of it yielded answers to questions of the how, what and where. All of it was important. And all of it depended greatly on Raine's ability to identify and describe each piece.

She was usually quiet after visiting that tent. These objects were things that had been in her daily life in her world. It was a reminder of the home that no longer existed. She rarely said anything, just a silence and a withdrawing into herself for a time. Auron would just hold her quietly and give her the time to deal with the emotions that these visits sometimes evoked.

And he made it a point to be with her on the visits to this tent if he knew her intention of going there beforehand. Always her Guardian but now his actions were born of love, not just duty.

She loved watching the huge Al Bhed airship fly over the town before settling just beyond the town walls, anchoring in an empty field, as it made its periodic visits to their town. A joyous expression on her face as she watched it, "It's nothing like the airplanes I knew. It's so beautiful! How do they make it fly??" Auron loved watching her discoveries in her new world, having his own eyes opened to the wonders she saw in it. He had never given it any thought: how did they make it fly?

As word of Lady Raine D'Auron spread, the scholars and elders of the land also wanted to talk with her, ask her questions that only she could answer. Auron found himself being approached by emissaries of these learned men, seeking his permission to make appointments with his wife for those who sent them.

Auron considered long and carefully before approaching Raine about the requests. It was a special situation. She was unique in all this world, but it would be her decision and he would support her totally in whatever she decided.

But he was also aware that the quiet life they were in the process of establishing for themselves, that they both craved, was coming to an end. He knew that the learned men of this world, as esteemed and honorable as they were, would never run out of questions to ask. Again he was being asked to sacrifice part of himself, themselves, to help others. He sighed. Would it never end?!

She listened as he told her of the requests and sat quietly for a long time. Auron waited in silence as he watched her give it thorough thought.

At last her blue eyes sought his. "Auron, I hate to give up some of the time in our lives to it, but I think I must. My world is lost in history. If I can bridge this time with that one, I think I have to do it. The Al Bhed are bringing so much of it back..." Her voice drifted off as her eyes wandered to the window and back through many centuries to what had been her life.

Long moments passed.

A deep breath and the chin came up. "If you agree, yes, tell them I will help as much as I can. I don't know what arrangements need to be made, but I will leave that for them to sort out. They can ask their questions."

Auron understood her thoughts, her sense of duty and responsibility, her sense of rightness, the knowledge that the world which only she knew would be remembered and the information she could give would help this present world. Important lessons could be learned if they would but give it due attention.

Raine was quiet and thoughtful. "I'm not quite sure what they expect of me. I'm – I was - just an ordinary person there. I really had little except my books and music. But I will answer their questions as best I can. They can have one week."

Auron relayed her answer to the emissaries. He sensed a major new chapter opening in their lives and wasn't sure if he liked it.

Duty. Always duty and self-sacrifice.

She had mentioned music several times, but Auron had never inquired further into it. Music was not something often found in Spira outside a few temples here and there. Life had been tenuous and difficult in the extreme for many hundreds of years after the frightful war waged with unspeakable weapons of destruction.

All efforts were directed towards sustaining life in this tiny, surviving corner of the planet – shelter, clothing and food. With only whatever was at hand did those hardy survivors scrape together enough to keep bodies and souls together.

World-wide resources were gone. Communication was nonexistent – TV, radio, Internet, phones. Electrical service was a thing of the past. There was no monetary system, no legal system, no law enforcement, no commerce, no transportation, no travel except very short distances on foot. Nothing except themselves and their desire to live. They had to truly start over in every aspect.

It was an incredibly hard journey, but some of those stalwart people and their descendants had survived. Other races came into being. They made their peace with each other and the spark of life on planet Earth survived. In time, even some fairly large cities came into existence. They had brought order to their society, established their standards and minted their coins.

Sin made its regular rampages, taking a heavy toll, until it was defeated several years ago.

All this left little time, energy or resources for activities like creating musical instruments, even if the raw materials for their creation could be found and manufactured.

It took many centuries for them to make this much progress. Music would be somewhere in their future as they continued their progress. Hopefully.

He had heard her singing as she worked at some task and greatly enjoyed the quality and rich tones of her voice. She seemed unaware of his listening and he wanted to keep it that way. He took great pleasure in watching her wonderful naturalness while she was occupied with something. She was singing just because the song in her needed to come out, not for any other reason. And he loved listening to songs never heard in this present world. Many times, he found this melody or that drifting through his mind and it made the corner of his mouth twitch upward.

Auron realized that Kimahri had been right at the very beginning: he truly was taking another journey, one that he never anticipated from many different aspects. He had thought that his marriage to Raine and their quiet life together was journey enough; it was all he wanted. He had no idea that the gods had other plans for them.

He looked at Raine and realized that he was indeed still The Guardian. Guardian not to just to the woman he so deeply loved, but also to someone vitally important to the world, in many ways even more equal in importance than a Summoner had been. He was very quiet and thoughtful as he watched her.

Where was this path leading them?

A few days later, Raine was gathering the week's laundry into a bundle, readying it for Hop Sing's collection. She had to laugh at herself. She had almost been angry when she learned that the premier laundry service in town was owned and operated by an Oriental man and his family.

Her first reaction was 'How many millions of years have to pass before these people can get out of the laundry business??'

But as she met the man and came to know him, she was assured that he and his family were quite happy with their profession. Knowledge passed down through countless generations benefited his family greatly. They had an enormous business, not only in this town, but in several others as well.

Their reputation was that nobody but nobody could get laundry as clean and fresh as Hop Sing's people. The articles were always returned on time, beautifully finished, soft and fresh. Hop Sing was a very respected business man and person in the community and enjoyed a very comfortable life as the result of his integrity, his knowledge and his business.

And she like the small sparkle in his eye as he passed some gem of wisdom in their conversations.

Finishing the bundle, her eye caught sight of the Al Bhed airship as it positioned itself above the anchorage just beyond the town walls.

As she watched through the window as the ship was being maneuvered into place, a powerful body came up behind her and muscled arms found their way around her waist. Soft warm breath in her hair said, "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"

She melted back against a hard chest, her hands gently caressing the strong arms that held her.

She smiled. "There is a song that asks almost that same question." And she began to softly sing it to him in her sweet alto voice. "Have I told you lately that I love you...."

When she finished, his low voice said, "I like your songs."

She turned to face him, as his hands made slowly roamed her back. "I wish you could hear all the music I still hear in my memory. The full rich orchestrations of many instruments blending, complimenting. I would love to have those rich melodies swirl around us as we slowly dance on the roof under the stars..."

"Dance?" A dark eyebrow jumped upward.

"Yes, and don't tell me you aren't capable! I know better! You would like it." she laughed softly, remembering the image of him and his blade on the roof.

Positioning his hands, she said, "It's done like this." And began to move with him to the song she hummed. After only a moment, his natural grace in movement caught the rhythm of the melody as they danced slowly together.

Her soft movement against him, the sound of the song touching something in him, began to have a definite effect on him. Pressed against him as they gently moved to her song, she became aware of his reaction and looked into the dark eyes that were looking down at her.

"See. I told you you'd like it." Smiling blue eyes adored him.

"I must learn to listen to my wife more often." That rich, soft, deep voice....

Lips softly meet as the dance lesson was forgotten, as small hands and large ones begin to caress the bodies they touched.

Then the bells at the outer door rang.

A deep, highly exasperated growl. "I swear I'm going to destroy those bells once and for all!"

A flushed, upturned face smiled into his as her hand reached up to touch his soft hair. "And I will help you!" she laughed softly.

The insistent bells rang again.

"I'll get it," Auron growled as he turned toward the door.

Raine took a deep breath as she smoothed her clothing and ran a quick hand through her hair.

The outer door opened just as Jaho was about to turn away. He hesitated a brief second as he saw thunderous sparks in the dark eyes looking at him.

"Oh, good day, Sir Auron! I - I hope I'm not interrupting -" but the expression on the face glaring at him said that his visit was somehow very badly timed. One did not cause The Guardian displeasure, even inadvertently!

A slight flush appeared on the Al Bhed's face. "An airship arrived a short time ago and I wanted to ask Lady Raine if she would visit the tent. Some articles have already been unloaded."

About that time, Raine appeared beside her husband in the doorway. "Good day, Lady Raine."

He noted the glow on her face and the slight pink in her cheeks. 'Jaho, you have messed up!' he thought to himself.

Gathering his wits, Jaho bowed slightly and continued, "When it is convenient for you, will you visit the tent? A new shipment has just arrived and there are several most interesting articles there."

Raine shot a glance at her husband's face and answered, "Of course, Jaho. I'll be there shortly."

Jaho bowed again and hurried back to his tent. He couldn't help but feel he had narrowly escaped with his life!

The outer door closed.

Light bubbling laughter escaped Raine's throat. "Auron, you are terrifying when you look like that! It's a wonder poor Jaho didn't faint on the spot!"

Auron looked into the laughing, happy face of his wife and his expression was anything but terrifying. That patented deep growl rumbled up from somewhere in his middle as he grabbed her in his arms, her feet lifted from the ground as he just held her, making little noises in his throat.

With a sigh, he set her on her feet. With a spark flickering in his eyes, he said, "I wanted to dance some more. I'm sure there are more steps I need to learn."

Her arms around his middle, laughing eyes sparkled at him. "Oh, believe me, my love! You have no need of a teacher in anything that matters!"

"If you're going to Jaho's, you really need to release me. Now! Or the Al Bhed mission will just have to wait."

Her head tipped as far back as it would go, she closed her eyes as she took a very deep breath, then let out a very long sigh. Loosening her arms and stepping back, blue eyes looked into his with a promise.

Face slightly flushed, "I need to put myself in order..." as she disappeared toward the bedroom.

'Auron, you'd better do the same!' he muttered to himself as he prepared to go into public. His private side, open and loving, stayed within these walls with Raine or in secluded moments outside.

His public demeanor remained the same, or so it appeared. He wanted it that way. People expected a certain behavior from him and they got it. It made them feel comfortable and secure with the stability of the familiar and it gave him freedom to keep everyone else at bay. He was content with that.

In a few minutes, Raine appeared, dressed in a pair of the dark slacks Harlan had made, one of his beautiful tops and black slippers. Auron knew that she wasn't entirely comfortable wearing the tops without that restrictive upper undergarment she first wore, but his eyes were very pleased. Especially with his height, the view from above was often spectacular! A small smile tugged at his lips.

"What?"

The smile grew. "I'll never tell, my beautiful wife! I will never tell!"

They exited the compound and walked toward the Al Bhed tent.

Jaho looked up as they entered, a little surprised to see them so soon. A tentative smile at the imposing man escorting Lady Raine, a genuine warm smile for the Lady herself.

"Thank you so much for coming, Lady Raine. Some interesting things here!" And he began to bring out one article after the other. Most she knew, a few she didn't.

Then, as they waited for him to bring the next batch out to her, her eye fell on a metal contraption leaning against the tent wall in the shadows.

"Oh, a bicycle!" she exclaimed as she began digging it out from its place. Jaho appeared and lifted it out to the center for her.

"A bicycle!" she said again, a happy smile on her face. "You ride it," she explained.

She bent to check the tires. Auron's eyes were happy with the view she innocently presented. She was explaining to Jaho about tire pressure – and he actually found an ancient old pump amongst the pile of artifacts. She was amazed that the rubber material of the tires would even hold air after such a long, long time, but the dry sand had protected it well.

Tires inflated, a bit of oil on the chain and sprocket and Raine walked the bike out into the public walkways. People were fascinated to see her with this very odd device and turned to see what she did with it, Auron included.

Finding a clear pathway, Raine put one foot on a pedal, pushed off and rode a huge circuit around the square, an enormous smile on her face. Her hair blowing behind her, her face radiant , her laughter bubbling, it was pure fun! Raine realized that she hadn't enjoyed a bike ride since she was a young child.

Everyone wanted to try it. One after the other, Raine instructed and citizens tried their luck with it – with often hilarious, screamingly funny results. Tents and crates were crashed into, spills were taken, but they never gave up. Raine laughed until her stomach hurt. She never remembered having this much fun in her entire life!

The sight of Nan, frizz of once-red hair blowing, bright eyes wide, mouth open wider, wobbling through the square on the bicycle, squealing with total delight, people diving out of her way, had her gasping for air!

After pumping up the old tires many times and after everyone had had a turn trying the wonderful 'bike', she was leaning against the wall of the villa, hand holding her aching stomach, eyes wet from laughing so hard, hair blowing in the breeze.

Auron felt as if he was going to pass out from a sheer overload of love. Hundreds of people laughing until they cried, having more fun than they'd probably ever had in their lives.

Her eyes sought him in the crowd and found him where he was most comfortable, back in the shadows, unobserved but fully observing. She wanted so badly to go to him and throw her arms around him, but she knew that would cause him discomfort. She fully understood his wanting to keep their private lives private and respected it, so she settled for a small brief wave and smile sent in his direction.

Anyone looking at him would see the intimidating, fierce, stoic Guardian silently watching, totally in control, no emotion showing. Raine knew better and the message in the grin she now sent told him so. His answering smile was hidden behind his tall collar. It didn't matter; she knew it was there.

As people began to unwind from the excitement, laughter and fun of the day, they took notice that the sun was slipping low in the western sky. As Jaho came to take the old bike back to his tent, Raine said, "What a wonderful afternoon it has been, Jaho! Thank you so much for allowing us to play with the bike. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard!"

Jaho's face still wore the traces of his own hard laughter. His eyes sparkled, "Lady Raine, this has truly been one special day! I don't think I will ever forget the sight of some of our esteemed citizens trying to control that bicycle!"

A little more serious, he continued, "We are so in your debt, m'lady. Thank you for doing this for us. At a time that is convenient, will you come tomorrow? There is much left to see."

"Jaho, I'm just glad I can help a little. People here have been so kind to me since I arrived. Their kindness has helped me tremendously in making a life in what was a completely alien world to me. I feel that it is I who are indebted to them. And, yes, of course, I'll come tomorrow."

Seeing a tall figure sedately making his way across the square toward her, she smiled and said, "I think now it is time for me to retire to the kitchen. I'm sure my husband is hungry."

Jaho turned to catch the momentarily unguarded expression on the big man's face as his eyes were locked onto his wife and, judging by that expression, Jaho questioned if her husband's hunger was just for food.

A small smile, Jaho bowed to them both and turned towards his tent.

What an afternoon!

Auron opened the outer door and ushered his wife into the quiet compound. She turned to him, her face still flushed from the happy activity in the square, eyes sparkling, she said, "Will you please shut that door?" And with that she jumped into his arms, their private time returned to them.

After their meal they sat at the table across from each other, holding hands and enjoying conversing as they finished their coffee.

"That was one of the most fun afternoons I think I've ever had," she laughed. "I will never forget it! Did you see Nan? And Nahon! I would never have thought that he would have tried! I guess it was just irresistible." Eyes sparkled.

Auron sat watching her, eyes just slightly narrowed, drinking in every tiny detail of her. How had he ever been chosen by the gods to have this woman as his wife?

They straightened the kitchen together, then went up to the roof garden. It was so quiet and peaceful. A soft breeze carried the sweet scent of the flowers.

The sparkle of brilliant stars was showing in the darkening sky above them.

Auron looked at the sky a moment, then he stood tall before her holding out his hand. "Would you like to dance?"