Vignette 17 – The Watcher, Waiting

Western Mandalia Plains, about four hours' walk from Eagrose, early evening

"Look up there." Delita said, pointing to the only hill for several miles. "I swear there's someone on choco-back watching us. A woman, I think."

It was about an hour before dusk, and there was the most magnificent sunset behind that hill. If Delita really had seen a woman riding, it could only have been in silhouette. Ramza couldn't see anyone and said so.

"No, she watched us, just for a few moments, then rode off." Delita said.

Ramza didn't say that he thought that Delita must be seeing things, though he did think that. Why would some woman on a chocobo be watching a bunch of knights apprentice?

It was about another quarter of an hour before Ramza got his answer. They saw a chocobo running towards them at full-tilt, a young woman on its back. Shading his eyes against the low sun and squinting, he made out the figure of his sister. What was she doing here? Oh gods, had something happened? Once she was close enough for him to make out her features he could be in no doubt that something was, indeed, very wrong.

He picked up his pace to a near-run and, after a moment, Delita caught him up and they dashed towards Alma.

"Alma, what's the matter? What are you doing here?" Her brother asked her.

"What's happened, Alma? Where's Tietra? Why isn't she with you?" Delita asked at the same time.

Ramza began to help her down off the chocobo but as Delita asked why Tietra wasn't with her, she froze and stared at him with wide eyes for about half a second, then burst into tears. Things were always bad when Alma cried; she prided herself on not being "some silly girlie", as she put it, who cried at the drop of a hat.

Ramza put his arms around her and patted her back, consolingly, as she cried into his shoulder, but Delita hadn't failed to notice that it was his questions and not Ramza's that had prompted the tears. He came up behind her and patted her on the shoulder, as well, but tried to get answers at the same time.

"Alma, please stop crying. This has to do with Tietra, hasn't it? Please, tell me what's happened to her."

Argath and the girls caught up with them as Alma took a couple of deep breaths and began to speak, giving a rather rambling narrative, which was occasionally interrupted by small sobs and deep shuddering breaths.

"The Brigade... Corpse Brigade came to the Mansion. After you left, Dycedarg reassigned most of our guards to the Castle itself, they were short-handed... said he feared an attack there. That's not where they attacked, though. They came to our house, yesterday, just after Tietra and I got home from school. We were doing our homework; two men just walked into the library and grabbed us.

"We both screamed for help, but Tietra's so small, the one who had her just picked her up and carried her out. I struggled, so the man had to drag me. I kept shouting and shouting and just before we got to their chocos, Zal came and saved me... killed the man. The one who had Tietra had already ridden away, though..." Her voice broke again, and she began to sob in earnest and Ramza once more tried to soothe her.

As he listened, Delita's now-pale face took on a pinched look. As Alma finished her story, his normally dark-brown eyes looked orange-red as the unshed tears in them reflected the sunset, that he was staring, unseeing, towards. Juliana made as if to go to him, but suddenly Alma wrenched herself away from her brother and flung herself at Delita. As she wrapped her arms tight around him she could be heard to say brokenly, several times, "I'm so sorry, Delita, so very very sorry."

Delita had hugged her to him, in an automatic response, but when his voice came it was strange and barely more than a whisper. He looked at Ramza, over Alma's head, as he spoke.

"It's all right Alma. We'll get her back, won't we, Ramza? We have to get her back!"

Ramza, a tear now running down one of his own cheeks, just bit his lip and nodded rapidly.

Alma had buried her face against his chest, still crying, but Delita put gentle fingers under her chin and tilted her face up to look at him.

"Alma, come on, I need you to stop crying and think. Does anyone know where they've taken her?" He asked in a gentle, yet urgent, voice.

"No... I don't know." She quavered. "That's why I came. Dycedarg was attacked and badly injured." She looked over at her brother. "Don't worry, the medics say he'll be fine, he just needs a few days bed-rest, but he and Zal won't tell me anything. I don't know if they think I'd try to ride off on my own and rescue her by myself." She made an indistinct noise that could have been either a strangled laugh or a sob.

Turning her face back to look up at Delita, she said:

"I thought if I could get you to hurry home... I thought, if you asked – you're her actual brother, they'd surely tell you whatever they know."

Another thought had finally penetrated Ramza's worry for Tietra. His brain had finally processed what she'd said about riding off on her own... He took his sister by the shoulder, pulled her away from Delita and turned her to face him.

"So only yesterday members of the Corpse Brigade were at our home, they broke in and, by the sound of it, tried to kill our Lord brother. They kidnapped Tietra, damned near kidnapped you and today you thought you'd come out for a nice ride, alone, when some of them may be still roaming the local countryside. Are you as stupid as that makes you seem?" His voice, as well as his anger, rose as he spoke.

Even if the increase in volume hadn't made it obvious just how infuriated he was becoming, using even a very mild swear-word, like "damned", with women present, was a sure indication that Ramza was near the end of his tether.

Alma's bottom lip began to tremble again. Ramza noticed it and his face seemed to harden all the more.

"Don't you dare threaten more tears to try to get out of this, Alma Beoulve, that won't work on me right now, I'm far too angry with you!"

With her emotions as fragile as they were, that, of course, simply made Alma start to cry again. Delita stepped forward and put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him, still weeping gently.

"Don't Ramza, you're the one making her cry. She's only been a bit thoughtless because she's so worried..."

"A bit thoughtless? She's been a lot foolish and reckless!" He took a deep breath - it only calmed him a little. He spoke to Alma again, much more quietly, though it was through clenched teeth this time.

"Did you at least let someone know where you were going?"

"I left a note." She said in a small voice, not meeting his eyes.

"A note – Zal and Dycedarg are going to go berserk! Once we have Tietra back and Dycedarg is well enough, I am going to have a long talk with him about getting you the strictest, most dragon-like duenna anyone has ever heard of! One who won't let you out of her sight – not that I think any poor woman would have a hope in hell of stopping you from running amok!

"Now, you get back on that choco..." He trailed off, having turned towards the beast she had ridden. "You brought Vesta... of all the irresponsible..." He trailed off. "Why not Nemea? Nemea's yours, for the gods' sake!"

Vesta was Tietra's chocobo. Tietra was a couple of inches shorter and more slightly built than Alma, and hence her chocobo was rather smaller than Alma's. Vesta was also still a fairly young, skittish bird and she was speedy but had terrible stamina. There was no chance that she could run all the way back to Eagrose that night and, unless the bird ran, it would be hours after dark before Alma got there.

"Nemea has a bruised hock, and it's not like I could just take one of Zal or Dycedarg's chocobos, without their permission." Her voice trembled a little but she didn't begin to cry again, as she said. "It wasn't as if Tietra could use Vesta, so I asked the stable lad to saddle her, of course." Alma said. After a few moments, she began to look slightly mutinous, now that she had finally stopped weeping and was beginning to feel indignation about Ramza's treatment of her.

Ramza's temper was starting to cool, anyway. He put a hand to his head and stared off into the distance for a few moments, looking pained. His voice was low and while it was strained and still held something like a tinge of anger, that anger no longer seemed to be directed at his sister.

"Tietra... dear gods!... Alma, don't you understand that if they took you as well... I can't stand the thought that one of you... if something were to happen to both of you..." He sighed. "I'm sorry I shouted, but you should have stayed safe at home."

"I know, I realise that now. I'm sorry, I just didn't think... I needed to see the two of you. Zal's tried to be reassuring, but it's not the same." Ramza sighed again, then nodded, giving her a small smile that didn't quite touch his eyes - worry getting in the way of warmth. He understood Alma only too well. Had Tietra been taken when he were the only other one of the four of them at home, probably one of the first things he'd have done, was seek out Alma and Delita.

"Oh why did Nemea have to go lame just now?" He asked no-one in particular. "She's sturdy, I could have sent you straight back. You'd have got home after dark, but Delita or I could had ridden her with you – that should have kept you safe and whichever of us it was could have found out any details our brothers won't tell you, tonight!

"Lets walk again." He said. "There's less that an hour until full dark, but we're on the edge of the woods and there's no moon tonight, so we'll have to stop soon, but even a few minutes of walking this evening is a few closer to Eagrose in the morning. Will you ride, Alma, or do you want me to lead Vesta?"

Alma went to her mount and took the reins, saying she'd lead her. He let her, moving to her side to walk with her. Delita came and silently walked on the other side of the chocobo, staring at the ground as he walked and looking as if his mind was very far away.

As they continued, Ramza tried to find out if there was anything else his sister hadn't told them. However, it appeared that her, seemingly slightly incoherent, retelling had actually been pretty accurate - she could add nothing of real import.

A couple of hours later Juliana was trying very hard not to feel jealous. It was clear that Alma was both distraught about Tietra and worried about Delita, so she was seeking to comfort, and to be comforted by, the only person who felt Tietra's abduction even more deeply than she did. But, damn it, the girl had been glued to Delita's side ever since they had made camp – almost literally!

She knew - she'd always known - that Ramza, Delita and their sisters were extremely close. Unusually for the Akademy, each of the two boys wrote to their sister at least twice a week. Delita had once told her that they took it in turns to write to their own sister every other day because a letter to one of the girls was the same as a letter to both. She wrote to her own family two or three times a month. That was fairly typical of the other Akademicians in their year. Certainly, once they they had completed first year, it became uncommon to write much more than weekly.

She knew, from the look that Ophellia was giving her, that her glowering face had not gone unnoticed. Ophellia nodded pointedly to the far side of the camp from Delita and his newly acquired shadow. Juliana got up and followed her friend into the night.

"You need to stop it, Juli." Ophellia said very seriously. "You've sat for the last hour with a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp! His sister's been taken by people who could be doing anything to her. He's clinging to someone familiar who is as good as another sister to him. So please don't make any comments like the one you did in the Siedge Wield a couple of weeks back, or I may have to do a Hildy on you."

Juliana put a hand to her nose and looked a little indignant, but then she began to grin delightedly at her friend, remembering the incident the previous day. Her smile soon dropped as she glanced back at Delita, who was still sitting staring glassily into the fire, an arm loosely around a tired Alma. Alma's head was resting in the crook of his shoulder, her eyes shut.

"I know I'm being a terrible bitch, it's just... he's been... odd with me for a couple of days now, Ophellia - blowing hot and cold. I... I don't think I'd be feeling this jealous if I was more sure of him." She looked back at them, annoyance showing again. "Shouldn't Ramza be bothered by the pair of them being like that; he is her brother!" She burst out, then bit her lip and looked at the ground, when Ophellia gave her a flat stare.

"If Delita starts kissing or..." Ophellia shrugged, "I don't know... groping her, then you, and possibly Ramza, may have something to worry about – having his arm around her like that, in these circumstances, is nothing to get so distressed about, I'm certain!" Juliana only nodded and headed back to the fire-side.

Twenty minutes later, she was glad, nevertheless, when Ramza declared that they should all probably get an early night, as he wanted them ready to march as soon as the sun breached the horizon. As Alma was to sleep in the girls' tent, which effectively removed Delita's new favourite thing to cuddle from his grasp, Juliana was more than happy to acquiesce to Ramza's order.

Author's Note:

Well this is kind of the beginning of the end, I suppose, the main parts of the story of Chapter 1 of the game are almost all in place now. By the end of the next one, Argath will be gone, and that'll probably be the last time we see Alma for a great long while too. (Maybe not all that long – though I'm not going to elaborate on that here.)

Edit/Addition: It was pointed out to me, in a review by darrelodin, that it was surprising that Argath didn't say anything, in reaction to Delita and Alma. That didn't surprise me, because I never intended to have Argath say anything here as I always had plans to deal with his reaction at the beginning of the next vignette (he's saving it up, in order to be extra unpleasant). What did surprise me was that I had totally forgotten to include the couple of "odd looks" that Argath was supposed to have directed at Delita and Alma during the course of this. Once I knew what I wanted to do with this vignette, I fully intended to put them in, then I got caught up in telling the story and forgot. Just after I got that review, I actually went back and tried to work out where I could just casually add Argath giving these looks, but I couldn't find a place to add them that didn't just scream "artificial addition!" Therefore, they didn't happen. So, imagine them happening wherever you like, and go straight on to the next vignette where Argath gives Ramza his (belated) reaction to this!