Vignette 7 - The Pride of Humble Origins
The Dorter side of the Siedge Weald, (twenty miles from Dorter), evening
"How will we contact this man your brother planted, without raising suspicion?" Argath asked as they sat around discussing today's fight and tomorrow's arrival at their destination.
"We really haven't thought this part through, have we?" Ramza said, after looking steadily at the other blond boy with dismay for a few moments.
"No, and neither did Zalbaag; he should have thought about the fact that espionage wasn't exactly our forte and warned us we'd need to come up with a plan before leaving Eagrose." Delita said.
He couldn't believe they were only a little over half a day from Dorter and only now they were considering this. He'd been an idiot! So had the rest of them, of course, but his unofficial role was always the strategist, the planner, while Ramza was the leader and the on-the-spot tactician. Still, it was never too hard to come up with a plan as long as they didn't over-complicate it.
"There's an obvious way – the details we got from Zalbaag's adjutant say that this Frederick is a tall dark man and he's pretending to have been a low-born soldier. I can still sound and act like the farm boy, when it suits, so I could go to his lodgings and pretend to be his young cousin, or something, and ask to speak with him.
"I look like a sprig of minor nobility or gentry, though - in these clothes, I'm obviously an Akademician. If we can get me some second hand peasant's garb, on the other hand, it might work, especially as it sounds like my build and colouring are right."
Argath muttered something about serfs. Ramza thought it had been something about Delita not needing to pretend to be one, which certainly made the plan easier.
"Unlike in Limberry and Zeltennia, serfdom was abolished in the rest of Ivalice before any of us were born, Argath. And besides that, Delita's family, just like my mother's, have been freemen for generations, anyway. They weren't villeins, even before serfdom was abolished."
"A proud and noble heritage, I'm sure." Argath's words were threaded with contempt. Ramza's voice continued to be calm, though he narrowed his eyes contemptuously at the other youth.
"Far from noble, but proud enough, I can assure you. The Heirals and the Lugrias have been tenant farmers on the Beoulve lands as long as anyone can remember. They are, and always have been, hard-working, honest people. Where is the room for shame in being the descendant of good, industrious, honest folk?" Argath shook his head in apparent disbelief. Before anyone else could interject, Ramza spoke again in a casual tone.
"Delita, time for you and I to go for a short walk, I think." This was not the first instance where Ramza had, less than subtly, "pulled" Delita away from Argath's vicinity and it had always been for a similar reason. The boy was either a true bigot, or for some reason he had taken a dislike to Delita and had worked out a very effective way to bait him.
"You keep acting as if I'm about to explode at him, Ramza, whenever he does or says anything like this." Delita said, after about half a minute and they were probably out of hearing range of the others.
"You aren't the only one he angers, you know, and besides, weren't you ready to explode? You looked it." Ramza looked at his friend, concerned.
"No; he's not worth the effort." Delita's voice was every bit as contemptuous as Argath's had been earlier.
"I hope you mean that. You're usually very calm and rational, but when something bothers you, you bottle it up until eventually all hell breaks loose. If that's what is going to happen here, at the very least, keep it in until after we've completed the task Zalbaag set for us." Ramza said.
"Yes sir!" Delita gave a mock-salute.
"Don't be like that, or I really will make it an order as your Cadet-Captain. I'd really rather just keep it as the request of a friend." Ramza said mildly.
"Okay, okay. I won't black either of Argath's eyes or bloody his nose until after we find out what's happened to Zalbaag's spy. I won't promise more. Good enough?"
Ramza just sighed and nodded resignedly.
"You're naïve, if you think that simple words will change opinions like Argath's, you know." Delita went on.
"Maybe," Ramza said, "but how else do you work towards changing someone's opinions?"
Delita barked a laugh.
"Touché, smart-arse, but I just think it will take something more radical to change that lad's prejudices." He said.
"You have a point, but since I don't want a full-blown argument with him, the best I can do is offer my own views to counter his. Come on, if you aren't going to explode at him, and I'm not either, we may as well go back. We still have to work out the details of our plan."
Hildegard spoke as they re-entered the clearing.
"Ramza, if it's just clothes that we need for Delita to do this, it's no problem; I can sort something out once we get to Dorter."
Author's Note:
No, I still can't write Argath as a half-decent person who's just got one major failing – that he's a hell of a snob - instead, he's just a complete arse.
I always wondered what happened to their original mission – they were sent to find Zalbaag's spy, yet once they leave Eagrose we never hear of the man again.
Of course, at this point, in reality, you have to go wandering about for about 3-4 weeks of game time just to level up enough to survive the next brutal fight. Dorter seems to be the point where the game laughs at you, makes rude gestures and says "...and you thought this game was easy!" Our little crew are going to bypass that aimless wandering, though - there's a spy to find and a Marquis to rescue.