A/N - Hello there to you, both loyal readers and new readers, and even possibly occasional readers! I want to thank everyone for sticking with this sporadically updated story of mine. I very much appreciate reading your reviews and lovely messages:) I've decided to finish up A Viera and a Hume with the next chapter (and hopefully it won't take too long to post) as my last for this story. Next I hope to try out a couple of other fandoms, but I may come back to other Bal/Fran stories in the future. In the meantime, please enjoy and thank-you all! Fralthier forever 3

Reputation

"So, uh...Balthier, what I'm trying to ask you is, well..." Vaan begins nervously.

The sky pirate in question has thus far managed to subvert some, if not all of Vaan's incessant hinting towards a certain topic, but it seems to Balthier that the boy has finally grown a spine and decided to speak his mind.

"Hmm, I take it this is a subject of some importance?" he asks. The boy nods somewhat vigorously. "Very well then, squeeze your eyes shut and be out with it."

The scene: A tavern, a little more on the worn side of careworn, with creaking floorboards and uneven bar stools. The leading man has gone incognito in order to exchange news with some associates who have not yet arrived. He is currently a finger along the counter, wrinkling his nose at the grime and dirt that comes clear.

Suddenly, something new is added to the scene, something completely unscripted and bedecked in a too-short vest.

Vaan gives a happy little grin when he finds who he's looking for. "Balthier! There you are! Nono said you were at the local tavern, so I thought you'd be at the Sandsea, so I went there and Tomash said you hadn't been in for awhile. I ended up asking the whole bar if they'd seen you and then I had to buy a drink for this guy who said his name was Maba'Gann. Turns out he was looking for you too!"

Balthier half-rises from his seat. "Vaan...you weren't, er, followed, were you?"

Vaan blinks. "No! No way! This guy was definitely suspicious. Once I realised I pretended to give up and went to Lowtown for a while."

The sky pirate is relieved, partly for his own safety but also because despite his less than informed clothing choices, his unofficial apprentice is actually learning.

And now we return to the opening lines of this little play, in which Vaan is having difficulty asking a certain question.

"I need you to teach me a spell!" Vaan blurts out.

Balthier raises an eyebrow. "Oh? Why not ask Fran? She is far more adept in the magick arts than I." Whereas he is more adept at the thieving, pickpocketing arts.

"Uh, it has to be a, uh..." The boy follows his earlier suggestion, squeezes his eyes shut and blurts out, "Love spell!"

For a moment, Balthier is taken aback. This does not happen often. "Why?"

"It's Larsa! It's that kid Larsa! All he has to do is bat an eyelash and Penelo...well, Penelo-"

Balthier stops him with a lazy wave of a hand. "So. You wish to force her away from this...Larsa by means of a spell? Not a wise move."

"You know who Larsa is..." says Vaan, embarrassment causing a peevish tone to creep into his voice.

The sky pirate shrugs. He is admirably attempting to hide his impatience. "I know the young Solidor well, however I wished to appear nonchalant. Since you have called me on it I have no choice but to do the same to you. Answer my question."

"Well, yeah."

"And why is it, exactly, that you have come to me for such a thing?"

"Because," Vaan begins, red-faced, "You've got a reputation as a ladies man, so I thought-"

Balthier emits a long-suffering sigh. "You thought that perhaps I had ensnared these ladies by means of magick? Vaan, that is disgraceful! It is clear you have learned nothing from me in the way of gentlemanly conduct." A sigh. "We shall discuss this later, when I have recovered somewhat from this insult to my character," he adds for good measure.

In the corner of his mind, Balthier knows he is being a little harsh on Vaan, but this is mostly because the lad has managed to chase away those his contacts and possibly set a poorly-disguised bounty hunter on his trail. Bangaas are nothing if not as thick as bricks.

The next occurrences are somewhat blurry. Stools clatter to the ground, and there is certainly quite a lot of shouting. His body reacts instantly to the sound of gunshots in the tavern, crouching low behind the bar and dragging Vaan with him. Under cover of the chaos and confusion, he pulls the boy to face him.

"Now Vaan, tell me again. Was there any chance you may have been followed?" he asks, teetering between annoyance and exasperation.

Vaan gives him a look which indicates that he is feeling a little less confident about the whole situation. Even so, he has the audacity not to look even the slightest bit shamefaced.

The lisping growl of Ba'Gamnan fills the room. "The one who callss himsself Balthier. Give yoursself up."

The last thing Balthier wants to do is give away his position. He nudges Vaan. "Tell him I refuse," he whispers.

"Uh, he says no."

The bangaa bounty hunter chuckles. It is a horrible, gurgling sound that no one should be subjected to. "Well then. I ssee I have no choice to do away with your lady friend here..."

"You've got Fran?" exclaims Balthier, doing away with his emissary.

"She never told me her name, but Fran iss as good as any," says, or rather, lisps Ba'Gamnan.

Balthier's thoughts race. If Fran has been captured, then the Strahl could also very well be compromised. There is something strange about this though, because Fran would never allow herself to be captured. No, she would fight back with arrows and claws and deadly magicks.

He inclines his head towards Vaan. "Look over the side and check, there's a good lad."

Vaan lets out a disbelieving sound. "I'll get my head blown off!"

"Hmm. I'm still inclined to go along with it."

"I won't do it!" says Vaan.

Ba'Gamnan growls impatiently. "Ssomeone diess ssoon!"

Balthier gets to his feet, holding up his arms. But something isn't right with this scene. One of the characters is all wrong.

"Hold up there you! She isn't Fran. What exactly are you trying to pull here?" Not that he is surprised, but there was no harm in...being sure.

Ba'Gamnan grins nastily. "She said she'd been with you. A binding relationship in hume culture, I am told."

The sky pirate blinks once, twice. He clears his throat awkwardly. "Sweetheart, we've never met."

The woman is clearly frightened. Her eyes blink rapidly and her mouth hangs open in slack-jawed terror. "Y-you...s-spoke to m-me...once. Said g-good m-morning. I...told m-my friends that...that w-we..." She broke off, paralysed with fear.

"Nevermind, my dear. No need to worry," says Balthier. He pats Vaan's on the shoulder. "I believe this is a very important lesson for my young protégé here. Perhaps if you stopped pulling on young Penelo's pigtails and started treating her like the lady she is, she wouldn't spend so much time mooning after that Solidor boy."

"What? But how does this even relate to-"

"You've interrupted me once again. An annoying habit, that." Balthier fixes Vaan with a stern glare. He is rather impressed with his ability to summon up that level of seriousness, especially at a time such as this.

"The point I admirably attempt to make, whilst being held at gunpoint, is that both yourself and our bangaa friend here are united in the shared foolishness that comes from failing to recognise that the only woman I align myself with these days is Fran," Balthier explains.

"You mean, thiss hume female here?" rasps the bounty hunter, dangling the unfortunate girl by the arm.

"No. The viera behind you."

Ba'Gamnan whirls around, knocking over a chair with his tail.

"Oh."