23 Spirit of Luca
We had arrived at Luca. I stood alone on the upper deck; away from the clamor of blitzball players and returning Lucans, leaning on the railing of the ship shouting about the tournament. I noticed that Tidus was not with them, he was at the bow of the ship, holding on to a rope. He was leaning out as far as he could, as close as possible to the city we approached.
Dozens of hot air balloons rose in the air, banners and flags were everywhere. Thousands of people milled about the city. Announcements could be heard from a loudspeaker, giving constant updates on the amateur game that was in progress, and also about the arriving Blitz teams.
"Ah, over there! The ships carrying the players are arriving now! This would be dock number 2. All the way from Kilika, it's the Kilika Beasts! High Summoner Ohalland used to play for them - a big name to live up to. Their hometown was recently attacked by Sin. Isn't that right, Jimma?"
"Yes, Bobba. They're going to be pulling out all the stops to try and bring back the cup this year."
All blitz game announcers in Luca are the same. Cold; Heartless. They're overly happy. In the last seventy-seven years, Luca hasn't been attacked by sin; It's people had grown distant from the world around them. Fear was still there, as Sin was constantly drawn to it by the large number of people living there, but the Crusaders had lost hundreds of lives protecting the city.
The flippant way in which the announcers blatantly spoke about the death that had come to Kilika made me sick, furious even. But I hid my feelings, knowing that anger does not become a summoner.
Then Bobba said, "Exciting, isn't it, folks?" As if the attack was just something to make more fun drama. I wanted to scream and cry and shout that people died, and they're dismissing it as nothing, but I didn't want to ruin the mood of happy anticipation. No need to make things worse than they already are. I reminded myself that Blitz games are for forgetting about Sin, not mourning. As Wakka and the Aurochs exited the ship, the announcer continued.
"Our next team off the ramp is...Well, well, well! If it isn't the Besaid Aurochs! They're a living, breathing, statistical impossibility! I've never seen a team this bad! That's right! In twenty-three years they've never made it past the first round! Only a few die-hard fans are in the audience today."
I could see the Auroch team visibly droop as laughter made its rounds through the spectators, as children pointed and their mothers tried to get them to stop. My eyes fell on Tidus as he followed the team, I could see that he was angered by all that was transpiring, his eyes darting around at the people gathered round. He crossed his arms and looked up at the sky in annoyance. The mocking continued.
"Best of luck to them, and a safe trip back to Besaid." With that, they moved excitedly on to the next team. "And here they are, folks! Our very own Luca Goers! They've got power! They've got speed! They've got teamwork! They're and all-around first-class team!" The crowd cheered for the Goers while other announcer chimed in, "Without a doubt, they are the favorite this year, Bobba. And after the way they dominated last year, it'd take a miracle for them to lose today." "You can say that again, Jimma.
Look at the crowd folks, look at the crowd! Looks like all of Luca has turned out to cheer the Goers on! They know, I know, and you know, folks! The Luca Goers are number 1!"
Tidus was clearly very agitated by all this, and it didn't get any better when the Goers took notice of the Aurochs. "Ya hear that?" The leader asked in a proud sort of way. "The Luca Goers always win!" The Aurochs barely made eye contact with the Goers, but I could see that Tidus was holding back a snide reply. When the Goers saw that they were being ignored, another added, "So, what's your goal this time? You gonna, "do your best" again?" They laughed. "It's too bad your best isn't good enough! Why even bother showing up?"
Finally, Tidus had enough. "Hey! I'm star player of the Zanarkand Abes, you may not of heard of me, but we're gonna take you down!" Disbelieving amusement showed on their faces, chuckles rippled through the group. Tidus then grabbed a megaphone from a nearby spectator who was cheering at the top of her lungs for the Goers. He jumped up onto a pile of crates as the Goers started to walk away. "Stop right there, Goers! You guys are smiling' now, but not for long! Cause this year, us Aurochs are takin' the cup!"
More laughter followed He jumped down and tossed the megaphone back to the woman who failed to catch it. She bent down and picked it up, glaring at Tidus. Wakka was a bit flabbergasted. "What in Yevon's name were you doin'?!" Tidus just smirked, his eyes turning my way. When he saw that I was looking straight at him, he quickly looked away, though.
The announcers began talking again. "Oh! Folks, look here! Grand Maester Mika's arrived at dock three!" They kept talking but I couldn't decipher what they were saying over the sound of the crowd moving all in one direction. I didn't know were dock three was, but I could assume that if we just followed the others we'd find it.
"Maester Mika! Let's go see him!" I called to my guardians. We all jogged along with the crowds, reaching dock three after several minutes. There was a clamor, but eventually we made it to the front, but the ramp hadn't lowered yet, and there was no sign of Maester Mika. Tidus leaned towards me. "Who's Maester Mika? What's a Maester?"
I smiled, anticipation dancing in my chest. I had never seen the Grand Maester before. He rarely came to the games, he was a rather elusive, yet very famous man. "There are three Maesters and one grand Maester. Three of the Maesters are leaders of parts of Spira, while Grand Maester Mika is leader of all Spira. This year's tournament is in honor of his fiftieth year as Maester. That's why he came."
Tidus seemed a bit piqued by this. "Fifty years? Shouldn't he be uh, retired by now?" He acted like he was joking, but I could see some seriousness behind his words. "Hey!" Wakka chimed in. "Mind your mouth now!" Wakka was about to add more, but trumpets sounded and several warrior monks walked off the ship in a procession, followed by a tall blue haired Guado.
I could hear people in the crowd murmuring about him. He turned back to the ship, lowered himself to one knee and did the formal prayer gesture. They way he did it seemed almost too showy, almost prideful, though he was on his knee. I dismissed my inkling, knowing that I must be wrong. I and the crowd followed suit, bowing to a well dressed elderly man who I could only assume was the Grand Maester.
The Grand Maester the spoke while the Guado remained kneeling. "People of Spira, I thank you for your generous welcome." He addressed the Guado and then the people again. "Rise, Maester Seymour." The Guado stood, and turned to us. The grand Maester spoke again. "I present to you...the son of Maester Jyscal Guado, who departed for the Farplane a fortnight past. As some of you already know, he has been officially ordained a Maester of Yevon." The Maester Seymour bowed, and I still sensed a hint of pride in his actions. "I am Seymour Guado. I am honored to receive the title of Maester. In life, my father Jyscal worked to foster friendship between man and Guado. I vow to carry on his legacy, and to fulfill my duties as Maester to the best of my abilities." His eyes fell upon me. He lingered too long for comfort, eventually shifting his gaze to my eyes. I held eye contact in an attempt to be respectful, but I wanted to hide behind someone instead.
Out of the corner of my eye, by Tidus' tense, obviously agitated body language, the way that glanced between the two of us, I could tell that he saw that something was up. I could feel my cheeks warming with embarrassment, but soon the Maester turned and followed the grand Maester Mika away. I self consciously brushed my hair away from my face and turned to my guardians as the crowd dispersed.
Wakka called to his Aurochs. "All right, we gotta get a last bit of practice before the match tomorrow!" He looked at me, realizing that he was still my guardian, and I was his first responsibility. I took a couple seconds to find my voice and get my thoughts in order. "We'll meet back here thirty minutes before sunset." I said.
"Then we can find an inn to stay at for the night." "Alright, then!" Wakka motioned to his Aurochs, and the group left, heading in the direction of the stadium; presumably to find their locker room. Tidus gave me a second long look with a hint of concern in it, and then followed the Aurochs. I was left with Lulu and Kimahri.
Lulu asked Kimahri something while I was looking around at the celebrating city. She approached me and laid a hand my shoulder. I turned to her and she handed me a red pouch which Kimahri had been carrying on his belt. "Here are some gil that the villagers of Besaid gave to help us along your pilgrimage. They knew that you wouldn't take it, so they told me not to give it to you until we needed it."
I covered my mouth drawing in a quiet breath. I had a small sum which I had spent my entire apprenticeship hoarding away whenever I could. I had tucked it into my obi, and I had hoped that it would be enough. I opened the pouch and saw that it contained several hundred gil. I knew that now what we had would be enough to get us through the pilgrimage.
I was relieved, but also sorry that the Besedians were now without this money. I took one of the coins out, admiring the way it shined in the sun. I smiled at Lulu and then we went to a nearby food shop. All the blitz players would receive free food, but everyone else had to bay for it. We bought a loaf of sweetbread and a chocobo leg to share between the three of us.
Lulu was displeased by the difficulty in eating it gracefully, but it was worth the trouble. I hadn't tasted anything so good in weeks. We walked around the city and enjoyed the sights, trying to enjoy a last bit of freedom before going off again to continue the pilgrimage.
I knew that Lulu and Kimahri didn't enjoy it at all, but I at least tried. After a couple hours, we sat down to rest by a water fountain with a statue of high summoner Ohalland at its center. After sitting quietly in thought for maybe fifteen minutes, I heard a young woman, perhaps in her mid-twenties say excitedly to her friend, "Lecia! Joce said he heard that sir Auron was in the café near the blitz stadium!"
The two giggled and ran off. A light sparkled in my eyes, "Come on!" I nearly shouted at Lulu and Kimahri. I took off running, but soon stopped and asked a passerby if he knew where the Auroch's locker room was. He scoffed and said, "Of course they'll be in room ZERO!"
He practically danced off in glee. I knew he was probably right, however mean it was, so I headed to the stadium, hoping it would be easy to find the locker rooms. I wanted to take Tidus with me, in case sir Auron really was there, and he knew where to find sir Jecht. Something I had wondered for years was why neither of them ever showed their faces again until now. As I ran, I was hoping that I soon would have those questions answered.
It turned out that finding the locker rooms was pretty straightforward, and the Aurochs were in room zero. I rushed in, exclaiming, "Tidus! There you are!" I swallowed, trying to catch my breath. "Someone said they saw sir Auron in a café!" I didn't realize that I had never mentioned that my father had another guardian, but the name seemed to mean something to Tidus.
His eyes widened in shock, the most shock I'd seen him in since I'd met him. "Au-Auron?!" "Yes! Sir Auron! Let's go find him!" I motioned for him to come out with me. I turned around once he was out, and realized that we had accidentally lost Lulu in the crowd. I was in too much of a hurry to wait for her to arrive, and I knew that we would meet up by the dock in a couple hours anyway.
So Tidus, Kimahri and I went off to find Sir Auron. A couple Al Bhed blitzers were standing near the locker room, and Tidus stopped and said something about thanking another Al Bhed girl for feeding him. Then he stammered, and seemed a bit embarrassed when he realized that they couldn't understand him.
They spoke amongst themselves as Tidus walked off, his cheeks lightly tinged with pink, looking at me as if to see if I had seen the exchange. The three of us jogged to the center of the blitz area and then stopped to look around. There were people everywhere, and I was concerned that we might get separated like we had with Lulu.
A sphere-camera crew stepped in front of us as someone pointed me out as the daughter of High Summoner Braska, and also a summoner myself. They started asking questions and extending microphones. I felt bad for being rude, but I really wanted to see Sir Auron. "I'm sorry." I bowed. "Please let me through." I had to ask several times, but I finally got my point across.
As we continue jogging, weaving our way through the crowd, Tidus looked at me in a curious fashion. "You're really famous." I wasn't sure what to say to this, so I was quiet for a moment. "Yes. summoners are almost always famous…"
I wasn't able to carry on much of a conversation while running, but Tidus wasn't breathing hard at all. I figured it was all his blitz experience. As the crowd grew even thicker, I checked behind me to make sure Kimahri was still following. He looked like he was having a little more trouble getting through the throng of people, but still managing to keep up.
I said to Tidus, "I hope we don't get separated. He grinned and stuffed his fingers in his mouth, releasing a high-pitched, very loud whistle, getting the attention of just about everyone around us. People stared as they walked by, but Tidus ignored them. "In Zanarkand, we whistle to cheer on blitz players. You try it too! Put your fingers in you mouth, likes this."
We had stopped at this point, standing still in the moving crowd. I tried to mimic the way he did it. But I couldn't get it right, I blew but no sound resulted. I laughed at my failure and said, "It's not working!" He smiled. "That's okay, just practice! You'll get it. Use that if we get separated. Then, I'll come running, okay? But until you can do it, let's stick together ." I nodded. "Okay. Let's go!" The three of us took off again.
After running at a good pace for several minutes, we reached the town square. I could see the door of the pub, so I figured we could stop to catch our breaths. If Auron left the pub, I'd see him. Tidus was not winded at all, but it took me a minute to be able to breath normally. "This is a pretty big town!" Tidus said, looking around the square.
"Yes, Luca is the second largest city in Spira." I said. "I though every town was little…you know, like Besaid and Kilika." His statement was more of a question. "Towns don't usually get bigger that that…Because…when a lot of people start to gather…" I didn't want to finish my sentence, so Tidus finished it for me. "Sin…? What about Luca? Is it safe here?" "No." I replied. "It's no different, but the stadium is here. The Crusaders fight to protect it with all their strength." Tidus looked quite baffled. "They fight to protect the stadium?"
I smiled a sad sort of smile. "Blitzball's really the only entertainment that we have. Spira's a little short on fun these days." It took a couple seconds for him to take this in. "Whoa…talk about pressure!" There was a short silence, before I decided to try again to learn more of Zanarkand. "Is Zanarkand anything like this?" He looked around. "Well, there are a lot more people, lots of music…and the buildings are bigger and taller, and all cramped together."
Him saying that there were more people reminded me of the death that caused the Spiran population to be constantly dwindling. I decided to change the subject. I said, "Let's go find Sir Auron!" We went into the pub, and I first spoke to the bartender. He said that he didn't know of a Sir Auron who had come in. Tidus and Kimahri had started to look around in the pub for him, and I was about to join them, but two men grabbed me.
One covered my mouth, and the other dragged me out of the pub. I tried to scream, but no one noticed because of all the excitement over the amateur blitz game that was currently underway. The forced my to swallow the contents of a tiny flask. Everything went blurry. They released me and said something, and I could feel myself following them. I couldn't focus on anything, and I couldn't control myself. My vision turned black, I stopped feeling; I couldn't do anything.
TidusxYuna Always
