Uwielbinie Village, 686 (o. V.)

Several months had passed since the re-election of President Fördern at the head of the Republic. 'Democracy is the greatest gift that has been granted to our nation', he had said in his swearing-in speech. Quickly after taking back his position, taking into account the now huge popular demands for Green Progress's ideology, he put in place a series of measures to facilitate the task for land workers. Greta Pfirsich quickly reacted, saying that he was stealing the ideas that almost made her win the election, for mere public image reasons. But that was pure politics, and I did not venture further into these matters.

After this difficult period, I managed to have a rest by not having to travel everyday to the capital. So I stayed at home in Uwielbinie, helping my mother with the farm, and reading the latest law books. Dalmasca and Nabradia laws were interesting too. Different from ours, but still interesting.

But at the beginning, the topic that most caught my attention was my friend's health. Cirla Drimer had been allowed to leave the hospital rapidly, but he had to hide his injury from his parents and basically from everyone. It was my mother who went to visit them, stating she just wanted to know how the medical checks went, and thanking the parents for allowing their children to share their law lessons with me. She told me he looked fine, so that reassured me a bit.

My relationship with Basch got quieter. He had been allowed to go to a new fencing club that opened in the village, and he was too happy spending his phenomenal energy there everyday instead of criticizing my manners or interests. He even invited me to join the club once or twice, but there was nothing to be done: I was way happier with books than sword in hand. According to Basch's own sayings, he was making quick progress, and was regularly selected to participate in national competitions. His trainings consisted in real fights – which frightened me, although they had protections – with one-handed swords and a shield, two-handed swords, or sometimes even other things like spears and ranged weapons, through monthly activities or meetings with other regional clubs. He appeared more confident every time he came back from one of these trainings, to the point that his personality changed. He was no more the village boy who spent his days looking for a silly thing to do or annoying someone. As a result, my mother was receiving fewer complaints from the neighbors, so she was surprised and relieved at the same time. But deep inside, she feared that Basch would take the same path as our father, and face the same fate, especially since he was young and still stubborn – people never completely change, do they. However, I tried to look at the positive side and I encouraged my brother to do what he loved more. And for some reason, it made me sincerely happy. In turn, Basch had also been very enthusiastic when Mom had showed us a job offer for a legal apprentice on the newspaper. He kept telling me I was the one and I had the guts to do it and what not. I chose to listen to him, went to the little company that was hiring, did the interview saying all I learnt from my little experience… and I got the job. Basch called me 'the brains of the family' and was convinced I would bring a ton of gil home someday. In the meantime, the job I was doing didn't pay much, but that was enough to make all the family happy.

At some point, months after Basch, I found the courage to go to Naria's farm. It was mostly to help her with the work, like the good old times. The first time I returned, she was busy writing something. Out of curiosity, I asked her what it was.

'If it isn't our legal apprentice!' she said with a big smile. 'I've been told of your new position by the boys in the village. How come you didn't come visit me earlier? I can't believe your job takes all of your time. Are you angry at me? Did I do something wrong during the campaign? Oh, I know; you've been sad all along because we lost. But don't worry Noah, Greta herself has overcome this, and she's more than ready to play her part anyway'.

I tried to stop her never-ending tirade, but as always, it was useless. However, she suddenly stopped talking by herself. She raised her forefinger and opened her mouth, looking away, as if she just remembered something important.

'But you asked me something! Yes… what I am writing…'

She sat down at her little desk in the garden and considered her paper.

'This, Noah, is the farm's accounting. I'm trying to organize things better here. Look at this table: this column is the products, this one the number of sales, and this one the unit price, so here we have the total gil we earned for each product, and then we can work the big total out and decide what to do with this money! Is the table correct?'

I came closer and looked over her shoulder. The table had been properly done, and the figures were marked with a beautiful handwriting. I quickly made the calculations in my head and answered:

'It's all correct. You made huge progress since last time, Naria.'

She blushed and scratched the top of her head, rolling up her eyes. She was so cute when she acted like this!

We kept on seeing each other, more and more often, and in various places: near my home, at the central place of the village, or in her farm. My favorite place of all was a portion of her big garden, with a view on the forest. It was so peaceful and sitting there made all my sorrows vanish away.

One day, after finishing work early, I came to see her with a bouquet of flowers. It was not the first time I was doing this gesture, but I felt like each time it surprised her more.

'Oh, Noah! You shouldn't have! What beautiful roses! I love its composition! Thank you so much!'

And I won a kiss on my left cheek. Life was not so bad.

She went indoors to place them in a vase and came back with a big smile.

'Why not sit in the garden next to the forest? I know you love this place', she suggested with a wink.

I followed her, smiling in turn.

She took my hand and… stopped halfway.

'I forgot something. I have to oversee Yango's doings!'

'Yango?'

By dint of spending time in the farm, I had begun to learn every worker's name, but this one was unknown to me. Or was it another of her chocobos?

'He's new here. He's in charge of taking care of Book today – an easy task, of course', she explained.

We began walking backwards to the farm.

'You know what?' she said in a cheerful tone. 'Now I don't only have one Book. I have many books, and I can read them! Back then, I didn't even know this could happen someday. I'm sure Mom would be proud of me. Oh, there he is! Yango!'

She was looking on her left and I turned my head towards the same direction. And there, into the chocobos pen, feeding Book with Gysahl greens was standing… a bangaa.

'Oh Ma'am Nareszcie! I been lookin afta Book but he ain't no fond of food today, I dunno why; I swear I haven't…'

'Have no fear, Yango', she said in a strange authoritarian tone, 'I haven't come here to scold you. You say he didn't eat much today? Let's see…'

She took the animal's head between her fingers and held it up in a professional way.

'He has been ill lately. You haven't forgotten what I told you this morning, have you?'

'No Ma'am!'

'Has the veterinary come today?'

'Yes Ma'am! He looked at all the animals then said he'd come back tomorrow!'

'Fine. Continue to feed Book with Gysahl greens, he must accept them sooner or later.'

'Yes Ma'am!'

I greeted him before we went away, then asked Naria:

'Why don't you ask him to call you by your name? This is ridiculous.'

She waited until we got far to answer with an evil laugh:

'Because it's funny!'

I sighed.

'It's his first day', she added. 'Let him struggle a little bit!'

We climbed up a wooden little hut, and sat over the thatch roof. The sun was beating down on us and we were wearing light clothes. Naria, in particular, had a yellow tank top dress with white flowers. Her blond hair was flowing down her shoulders, and the dress let appear her slender legs. Between us and the horizon, the wide forest stood fierce. A quiet breeze was shaking the pure air.

'Has Basch come to visit lately?' I asked, not certain I actually wanted the answer.

'Of course. Why, he was just here yesterday. Are you jealous?'

'N… No! Not at all!' I said, a bit upset. 'I was just wondering… what you were doing when you're together.'

'Umm… let me remember what we did yesterday…' she said, looking at the sky. 'A chocobo race in the morning, then an eating contest at lunch, and during all the afternoon he showed me his moves with an imaginary sword. Oh, he's certainly proud of himself! He was commenting every one of them, I couldn't even understand a bit. He told me he had a real sword now, were you aware?'

I was. The club had given Basch an actual weapon as a token of gratitude for his continuous presence and support for their activities. It was a Mythril Blade, a very rare beautiful sword that was commonplace in Dalmasca. But Basch told us he wasn't going to use it except 'when the time comes'. It was well hidden in the house – not that I'd dare to touch it anyway.

'Aye', I answered.

'He also told me he began to take on hunting quests with a team from the club, so he can sell loots from monsters and earn money on his side.'

I clapped hands:

'So there's where he got all his recent money from!'

Naria laughed.

'Yes. He told me he wanted to buy me a big gift, but he didn't tell me what it was. Basch has his secrets, even for me!'

'Heh. That's just words without consequences. He's certainly good at nonsense boasting.'

'Don't be rude again!' she said angrily. 'I thought you were good friends again.'

I sighed.

'He went to Waldgott all week long', she continued, 'he signs up on hunts in the tavern with his team and here they are chasing monsters in the forest. The reward may be good, but doesn't this scare you?'

'It sure does! It… I think it's useful to learn to wield a weapon, but I can't imagine myself doing it on a regular basis. It can hurt someone, or worse…'

I didn't want to sound like a coward.

'However, I think that it's good that Basch kinda found his path. He's happy the way he is.'

Naria smiled. She was always glad to hear a positive opinion on Basch from me and vice versa. I promised myself to say more of them in the future. After all, Basch was my brother; something told me one day I would forgive him everything. Life was not worth focusing on bad behaviors and mistakes.

'Do you remember our trip to Nabradia?' I said.

'How could I forget? It was the most beautiful of my life! Nabradia, the lovely kingdom with a king and a queen, and their lovely baby! Hrina told us about them.'

'Well, they just had a second baby. They named him Rasler.' I informed her.

'Awww! That is so cute! How did you know?'

'From the newspaper.'

'I wish these people peace and prosperity. They so much deserve it!'

To be honest, I didn't have more ideas for a conversation. I slid my hand through my hair in embarrassment.

'Haaa…' she suddenly said. 'I want to get married.'

It was not the first time she put that topic on the table but it surprised me nonetheless.

'Naria', I said. 'We're only fifteen years old.'

'How did you guess I was thinking of you?' she said, her cheeks turning red.

I opened my mouth then closed it, made random gestures and remained speechless.

'I've often thought of you as my husband', she added, looking below. 'We get along so well with each other, don't you think so?'

As a reply, I pulled her towards me and put my arms around her. Once again, it was not the first time I was doing so but I felt like the opportunity was fair enough.

'You're always so dreamy, Naria', I said.

'But tell me', she insisted, putting her head on my shoulder, 'have you ever thought we would make a nice couple, you and I?'

'I have', I simply answered, my eyes lost in the forest.

She had a little laugh.

'Yeah, we certainly would. But there is a problem…'

'Which one? You mean our age? We have plenty of time ahead to focus on this.'

'No…'

She pulled herself out of my arms and faced me with a miserable expression:

'It's… I feel the same towards Basch…'

Him again! Why did he have to sneak into all of our conversations, and even our wedding plans?

'I'm sorry…' she added. 'It's certainly not what you would have preferred to hear… But I can't help it!'

I shrugged.

'According to the Family Code, polygamous marriages are forbidden in Landis since 434.'

'This is not what I wanted to say… You know, since the beginning of our friendship, I really learnt to appreciate you for who you are: an intelligent and hard-working boy; I admired everything you had undertaken: from the law lessons with the Drimers to your incredible performance at the election, not to forget your help with the harvest and our dance at the feast. But on the other hand, I also discovered you had a twin brother, Basch, and that changed everything; it's like the beauty I was seeing had doubled, but in a different way. Basch is hot-headed and provocative, while you are good-tempered and shy. Basch is, however, a brave boy, who follows his heart and is true to himself, and last but not least he's open to everything and has many ideas to have fun. I… I love each of you in a proper and considerate way. And, as I told you, I want to get married.'

'Then what? You can't marry Basch and me at the same time! And even if that was possible, we would both refuse this upside-down situation, no doubt!' I said angrily.

Naria's romantic words didn't really deserve this harsh reply, but I couldn't stand that they were directed to my brother in addition to myself. That just didn't make sense!

'I know!' she exclaimed. 'But listen, for these thoughts are not easily spoken…'

I crossed my arms and obeyed. She lowered her look and seemed to search for words.

'I can't choose!'