Cloud's abrupt departure earlier that morning had left Aerith in a weird mood that still hadn't entirely faded. On one hand, she was happy he'd managed to make it back home, while on the other, she was sad they hadn't gotten a chance to properly say farewell. Maybe it was a bit silly how close she felt to him after they'd only spent a day together, but he was the first person her own age she'd been able to hang out with and actually have fun. He didn't care that she wasn't normal—hadn't judged her for being different. It had meant a great deal to her, and she hadn't been able to thank him for it. The thought she might never get the chance to made her chest tighten.
Because of that, she'd spent the next few minutes after his disappearance trying to see if she could go after him. Following in his exact footsteps—including an apology to the lilies—hadn't worked. Neither had closing her eyes and wishing to be allowed to cross. For the briefest moment after opening her eyes, Aerith had thought she'd caught a glimpse of sand out of the corner of her eye, but by the time she turned to get a better look, it turned out to just be a patch of sunlight that had snuck through the branches overhead. Giving up with a sigh of frustration, she'd dropped down to sit at the base of a tree which was where her mother found her.
"Oh? Given you're here all alone and with that sad look on your face, I imagine Cloud somehow managed to find his way back home already?" She joined Aerith on the ground, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
Nodding softly, Aerith blinked back tears. "Yup. He poofed just as abruptly as he appeared."
"Poofed, huh?" Her mother giggled softly but also squeezed her tightly in a half hug. "Who knows, maybe he'll drop by for another visit sometime, right?"
It wasn't hard at all to hear the lie in her mother's words—both of them knew there was no way Cloud would be back. Even so, Aerith wanted to believe. "Yeah. I guess."
"Come on," Ifalna said, getting back to her feet and pulling Aerith up with her. "I've got the perfect thing to distract you."
Not entirely sure she wanted to be distracted, Aerith followed after her mother, immediately noticing that the direction they were heading in wouldn't return them to the village. "What is it? Where are we going?"
"A surprise," her mom replied, shooting her a smile over her shoulder. "It'll be good for you."
Aerith stumbled slightly. She'd heard that before, said in the exact same tone, and while she appreciated her mother trying to look out for her and push her outside of her comfort zone, it wasn't something she particularly wanted. To be fair, she did have good memories from the majority of the past occasions. Maybe this time would be the same.
Her optimism shriveled as they reached a clearing and most of the surprise was revealed—all of the village children were grouped up in the middle, chatting and laughing together. Freezing in place, Aerith wanted nothing more than to dart back into the safety of the forest. Her eyes were drawn to the girl in the center—the one the other children were all orbiting around, eager to get her attention—and the last person she wanted to see: Seoda.
"We came up with the idea to have all the kids help make decorations for the summer festival together this year. I know you've been the one to decorate our house on your own for the last two years, but your father and I decided to handle it this time around so that you could have fun with everyone else instead."
Aerith had forgotten that the summer solstice was so close, along with the yearly festival the village held to celebrate it. "But . . . but I have plenty of fun with the house already! And you and Dad are so busy already, I really don't mind doing it again this year! I even came up with some new ideas to try this time. I think that . . ." she trailed off as her mother firmly shook her head.
Ifalna ruffled her hair, smiling down at her. "I appreciate you wanting to look out for us, but your father and I both agreed that we could make time so you wouldn't have to. Now, let's go say hello, shall we?"
Defeated, Aerith nodded and followed after her, doing her best to stay hidden and out of view behind her skirts. It only took a few seconds for everyone in the clearing to notice them—the few parents waving as the children all rushed over together.
"Hello, Elder," Seoda said in greeting, dipping her head in a show of respect that Aerith knew was completely faked. "Are you going to be joining us today? I've heard your flower wreaths are some of the most beautiful. I'd love to learn how you make them."
"That's quite nice of you to say, Seoda, but I'm afraid I have other matters I need to attend to today. Anything you've seen on our house recently hasn't been mine though, it's been Aerith's," her mother said, stepping to the side.
Aerith expected to see a flash of hatred, or at least a grimace of some kind, but Seoda's expression remained surprisingly neutral. Instead, she smiled after a second. "Aerith? Really? Well, I'm looking forward to seeing what she makes today then."
"You're not staying?" Aerith asked, alarmed by what her mother had just said. The only reason Seoda was being so polite was because she was here, if she left then . . .
"I wish I could, but I can't, dear. Some of the other parents will be around if you need help with something and I'll do my best to stop by later if it's possible, okay? You're going to have a great time."
"Yeah, we'll make sure of it!" Seoda chimed in.
Aerith knew there was no way out of this situation, not without telling her mom about the bullying which certainly wasn't an option. Besides, even if her mother wasn't around, the fact there would be other adults present likely meant Seoda would leave her alone. Hopefully.
Giving her mom a smile and a wave as she left, Aerith walked over to where the decoration supplies had been spread out. She did her best to pretend Seoda wasn't there, and, thankfully, the other girl seemed content to ignore her as well. The supplies were nothing fancy—a large pile of thin, flexible branches as well as several dozen varieties of flowers—but they were more than enough to give her several ideas.
To start with, she grabbed a handful of branches to use as a frame, followed by a mixture of orange and yellow lilies and marigolds. Selecting an area of the clearing that was far away from where Seoda had set up—but not so far as to look strange to the adults—Aerith settled down and began.
With practiced fingers, she quickly assembled a circular frame about twice the size of her head before filling in the center with more branches that she'd be able to attach the flowers to. With her canvas complete, Aerith began with the yellow flowers, weaving them into a large blob in the center that slowly began to take form. Once she finished with the body, she switched over to orange to make the beak and feet and before too long, her chocobo was mostly complete.
There was still plenty of space to be filled in around it, so she made a quick trip back to the supplies to gather a bunch of clematis. The purple flowers would make for the perfect background she felt, plus their green leaves would work nicely to add some vine accents throughout. Returning to her spot, Aerith lost herself in her work, the chatter of the other children fading away as she added flower after flower.
"Wow," a soft voice whispered next to Aerith, pulling her back to reality and nearly causing her to jump out of her skin. "It's a chocobo! That's so cool!"
Taking a deep breath to help calm herself down, Aerith glanced over to find a young boy with brown hair and blue eyes she only vaguely recognized sitting next to her. "Thanks, it's nothing very special though."
"I've never seen anyone make something like that. Seoda says we shouldn't talk to you, but I don't really understand why."
Aerith blinked, struggling to follow the abrupt shift in topic. "You probably shouldn't," she said with a sad smile. "Otherwise they might start to treat you like they do with me and we wouldn't want that, now would we?"
"Oh." The boy frowned. "I still don't get it, but okay, I guess. What you made is super cool."
"Thanks, I'm happy you like it."
He got up and walked back over to the main group, leaving Aerith to examine the end result of her creation. It had turned out better than she'd hoped, especially with how the background really helped to highlight the chocobo. She hadn't been able to stop thinking about the birds since yesterday morning, even though she'd never actually seen one in person. Apparently, they were much more common in the capital, one of the many reasons she wanted to visit one day.
"Alright everyone," one of the adults called out. "Time to take a break for lunch, we've got sandwiches prepared for you!"
There was a general clamor as the younger children tossed down whatever they were working on and leapt to their feet, rushing over to where the food was while screaming and yelling. The older children followed after them—more calmly for the most part—with Aerith hanging back to bring up the rear. By the time she reached the front of the line almost all of the food was gone.
"Sorry, dear. Not a whole lot left to choose from."
Aerith gave the woman a smile. "That's okay, I'm not very picky and it all looks delicious."
Grabbing one of the sandwiches without really looking at what it contained, she took the last apple to go with it and placed it on top of a water cup so she could carry everything. Now she just had to decide where to eat. Considering how calm things had been . . . maybe, just maybe, it would be okay if she joined everyone else.
Making her way across the clearing to where the other kids were eating in the shade of the trees, Aerith froze as she drew close enough to hear what they were talking about—one word, in particular, standing out above all the rest.
". . . just wish the Half wasn't here."
"I know, right? At least she knows her place and isn't trying to join us," Seoda replied. "As if she could make anything nice."
"I thought her decoration was super pretty," one of the girls said, catching Aerith by surprise. There was a long moment of silence before she spoke up again in a hurry. "Not as nice as yours, of course, Seoda."
"Obviously. Don't even begin to compare me to some Half, please."
Of course. She'd been a complete idiot to think joining them was an option. Kicking herself for her stupidity, Aerith changed direction before she got close enough to draw attention and went to sit at the base of an oak far away from everyone else.
She ate her sandwich slowly, hardly even tasting it although it seemed to be a vegetarian one. Was this how things were going to be for the rest of her life? Scorned and hated because she wasn't a true Cetra? She wasn't sure how half-bloods were treated in other villages, or even how common they were in the first place. After all, it was exceptionally uncommon for a Human to cross the Barrier, and presumably even rarer for them to fall in love and start a family with a Cetra.
Her parents were definitely an exception, and while she'd never heard any of the other adults ever say anything bad about them, that didn't mean it never happened. It had always seemed like too sensitive of a topic to bring up with them, in addition to it being too close of a subject to her own bullying. Besides, considering the village had chosen her mother to represent them as the Elder, it seemed hard to believe they thought poorly of her.
One of the other adults clapped her hands, drawing Aerith's attention and causing the chatter amongst the other children to fizzle out. "Alright, let's wrap it up and get back to making decorations!"
Sighing, Aerith finished off the last bites of her apple and tossed the core deeper into the forest. Maybe a wild chocobo would get a tasty snack, although more likely it would just end up as plant food. Since she'd completed her first flower picture, she made her way back over to where the supplies were, noticing that if they planned to make much more this afternoon then they were running low.
The woman who'd called them over seemed to think so as well. "We're getting a bit low on branches and it wouldn't hurt to get some more flowers while we're at it. Aerith, Seoda, you two are the oldest, would you be okay collecting some on your own or would you like one of us to come with you?"
"Oh, we'll be fine on our own," Seoda said quickly before Aerith had a chance to respond. "Right, Aerith?"
There was no other option than to agree. "Yup, we can handle it." Alone. In the woods with Seoda. What was the worst that could happen?
"Thanks, that's great. Try to be back in under thirty minutes, and don't wander too far off!"
Aerith waited for the other girl to take the lead before following after her, keeping her distance. She expected Seoda to at least say something as soon as they were out of earshot, but as they slowly made their way through the trees the other girl remained silent. That was perfectly fine with Aerith, silence was far preferable to mockery.
Unfortunately, it didn't last for long.
"I noticed your new pet isn't around. Probably a good thing that you drove him off, otherwise you might have become even more Human."
Deciding it was best to just completely ignore her, Aerith didn't respond as she bent down to gather some fallen branches that looked like they would work well. She didn't expect it would get the other girl to stop, but there was always a chance.
"Why did you even come today? You know everyone else would be happier without you around, right? Maybe you should just cross the Barrier and go live with the Humans. While you're at it, take your parents with you."
Aerith gritted her teeth as she continued to collect more branches. At least Seoda was doing her part and picking flowers, now if only she was capable of doing it without running her mouth. Maybe it was due to a lack of any reaction or because she couldn't come up with any other ways to get under Aerith's skin, but for whatever reason, Seoda seemed to lose interest as the minutes passed by. Listening to the leaves fluttering in the breeze and the birds calling to each other was a vast improvement, allowing Aerith to pretend she was alone for the most part.
"How does it feel, knowing you'll never be able to use magic on your own?"
It was as if Seoda had walked over and slapped her across the face. Aerith forced herself to look up and meet the other girl's stare. "Just. Leave. Me. Alone!" she screamed.
Seoda's eyes widened momentarily before shifting into a glare. "How dare—"
She was cut off as a torrential blast of shockingly chill air rushed through the forest around them, rattling the branches of the trees and sending a swirl of leaves to dance in a spiraling flurry around them. Aerith shivered, goosebumps springing up across her arms. It was extremely unusual to get such a powerful gust of wind from off of the nearby mountains this time of year.
"Whatever, you're not worth it. I'm going back," Seoda muttered, turning to leave. "Make sure to bring back the branches, I've got the flowers."
Aerith wasn't the least bit surprised she hadn't offered to help carry any of the larger branches back. In fact, she'd made sure while she was gathering to not get more than she'd be able to carry on her own so Seoda's parting jab carried almost no weight. Especially considering what she'd said.
The words burned inside her head, repeating over and over, mixing together with her own internal voice from every time she'd asked herself the exact same question. Before they could overwhelm her, Aerith locked them up and returned them to their cage, clearing her mind.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed since they'd first set out, but it didn't make much sense to continue to work alone so Aerith backtracked her way to the clearing where everyone else was. She arrived just in time to hear the adult who'd sent them off saying her name.
". . . where's Aerith? Why would you leave her behind to carry all the branches by herself?"
"I tried," Seoda said. "She said she didn't want my help and that I should leave her alone."
"Ah, there she is!" The woman bustled over to Aerith, a stern look on her face. "Child, there's nothing wrong with asking for help, you can't do everything on your own."
It was a struggle not to roll her eyes in response. "You're right, I'm sorry. I just thought I could handle it by myself . . ." Dropping her eyes to the ground she trailed off.
"There, there, don't worry about it. We all learn from our mistakes. Thank you both for helping out, I'm sorry we had to ask you in the first place but know that we really appreciate it. Anyway, enough of that, back to making decorations, and make sure to have fun with it!"
Grabbing several branches from the ones she'd brought back, Aerith moved over to the flowers, resigning herself to spending the rest of the afternoon the same way the morning had gone.
The sky was a soft orange by the time Aerith made it back home. The afternoon hadn't been as bad as she'd expected and she'd even managed to complete not one, but two more of her floral pictures—one of a moogle and the other of a cactuar. She was quite pleased with how they'd turned out, and while no one else had said anything, she'd caught a few of the other kids staring when they thought she wasn't looking.
Stopping in front of their front door, Aerith took a deep breath before forcing a smile onto her face. "I'm home!" she called out, pushing it open and stepping inside. The mouth-watering scent of her mother's cooking filled her nose immediately, banishing all of her negative thoughts from earlier in the day
"Welcome back, dear. Did you have a good day?" her mother called out from the kitchen.
"Yup!" It was a blatant lie, but she didn't want to make her mom worry. "The pictures I made are up in the center courtyard, you'll see them the next time you're there."
Her dad stepped into the room from his study, a smile on his face. "I'm looking forward to seeing what you created this year. Want to help me get the table ready for dinner?"
Nodding, Aerith moved to the silverware drawer and grabbed a set for each of them. Just as she finished placing them around the table, her mother emerged from the kitchen carrying a steaming bowl of pesto pasta with sliced asparagus mixed in. It was one of Aerith's favorite meals, and she eagerly dropped into her seat, dying to dig in.
"I thought you might enjoy this," her mom said, an amused smile on her face as she took her seat across from Aerith. "Just make sure to leave some for the two of us."
"Mooom, of course I'm going to," she replied, her cheeks flushing as she looked at the heaping pile already on her plate.
"Your mother is only teasing you," her dad said with a chuckle. "There's plenty for all of us, and most of it is for you anyway."
Aerith's first bite was heaven. The creamy, basil taste of the pesto mixed wonderfully with the fresh asparagus and combined together with the pasta to make the perfect mouthful. Everything her mom cooked tasted amazing, but this dish in particular always held a special place in her heart.
"Thanks so much for—"
Her mother's fork clattered off the table and onto the floor as she screamed out of nowhere, her hands clutching the sides of her head. Aerith froze in shock, the horrible sound causing her heart to suddenly race in terror.
"Ifalna? What's wrong?" Her father was out of his chair and at her mom's side almost instantly, his hand resting on her shoulder—his voice thick with concern.
The tension written plainly over her mother's body slowly drained as she took several deep breaths, one of her hands dropping down to grab Gast's. "I'm fine," she said, her voice quivering slightly. "I just got caught off guard, the Planet has been getting much . . . louder, lately."
Aerith frowned. She knew that extremely powerful mages were able to commune with the Planet in a sense, but she'd never heard of it being painful. Why would Gaia want to hurt her mother?
"I'm sorry to ruin dinner, but I think I'm going to go lie down for a bit."
"Of course, don't apologize. Aerith and I will be fine, get some rest."
Smiling weakly, her mother got to her feet and slowly disappeared upstairs.
"What's wrong with mom?" Aerith asked as soon as she was out of sight, her appetite gone.
Her dad let out a long sigh as he settled back into his chair. "Nothing is wrong with her, technically. It would be more accurate to say that something is wrong with the Planet, although what that means . . ." He shrugged, his brow furrowed. "No one seems to know what's going on, and this kind of thing is beyond my understanding. It's extraordinarily frustrating."
"So she's going to be okay?"
"Of course." Her dad smiled, but it seemed slightly forced. "Your mother is incredibly strong. Now, what do you say we get back to dinner while it's still nice and hot?"
Aerith ate, but she was too worried to be able to focus on the food anymore. It wasn't that she didn't believe her dad—her mom was the strongest person she knew—but rather that she'd never seen her mother so shaken before. And it scared her. She also couldn't help but notice how her father continued to glance upward in the direction of the bedroom, clearly concerned despite his earlier confidence.
"I think I'm gonna call it a night too," she announced once she finished clearing her plate off. "Today was really long."
"Ah, alright then, sounds like a plan. Go ahead and leave your dishes, I'll take care of cleaning up."
"You sure?" She felt slightly guilty, even though she appreciated the offer.
"Don't worry about it. Sleep well, dear."
"Thanks, Dad, you too." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek as she passed by him on the way to the stairs before heading up to her room.
A quick trip to the bathroom later and Aerith was slipping under the sheets of her bed. It was still a bit earlier than she normally went to sleep, but that was easily solved with a good book. As she was reaching over to grab the one she was in the middle of—an adventure story of a mage traveling the world—a gentle knock on her door caused her to pause in surprise.
"Shouldn't you be resting?" she asked as her mom slipped into the room.
Her mother laughed softly. "I'm fine, I really am, sorry for worrying you. I wanted to have a little chat before you fell asleep, though." Walking over she sat at the foot of the bed.
"Oh? About what?"
"Do you want to talk about whatever is going on between you and Seoda?" her mother asked, giving her a knowing look.
Aerith swallowed, her heart rate suddenly picking up. "W—What are you talking about?"
One of Ifalna's eyebrows arched slightly. "Before I left this morning you were looking at her like how a mouse watches a cat."
Internally cursing at herself, Aerith scrambled to come up with an explanation. Maybe it was stupid of her to try and deal with this on her own, but telling her parents felt like giving up. "Really? It's nothing that big, Seoda can just get really competitive when it comes to decorations. It makes me a bit uncomfortable." She thought it was a pretty good lie, tinged with just the right amount of truth to sell it.
"Hmmm, is that so? Did anything happen today? Maybe I should have a conversation with her parents . . ."
"No, no, everything was fine!" Aerith said in a rush. "We hardly interacted at all and she didn't say anything mean about what I made."
Her mother looked at her thoughtfully. "Alright then, but let me know if it ever does become a bigger issue, okay? We're all one big family at the end of the day, there's no reason for everyone not to get along."
The concept of her and Seoda getting along was so foreign it almost made Aerith laugh out loud. She was at least open to it, although she knew the other girl would never be. No, the best they could hope for was interacting as little as possible until Aerith was old enough to leave the village permanently.
Leaning forward, her mom gently poked Aerith's nose. "Well, in that case, you should be getting to sleep like a good girl, or else the Weapons are going to come for you."
"Mom, I'm not a little kid anymore!" She hesitated for a moment, wondering. "Are . . . the Weapons actually real?"
There was a brief pause before her mother eventually answered. "They are, although no one has ever seen them. Hopefully it stays that way. They're the ultimate guardians of the Planet, ready to defend it from any major threats."
A dozen more questions bubbled up inside her, each more intriguing than the last. "What could possibly threaten the Planet?"
"That's a good question, one scholars have been asking for a long time. A popular theory is that one of the primary reasons for the Treaty was the fear that if the war had continued then the Weapons might have ended up getting involved."
"And if they've never been seen before, how do you know they're real?"
The corner of her mom's mouth curved up. "A lot of people think they aren't, for that very reason. The ancient texts are extremely clear, however: the Weapons are real."
"How about—"
"Enough, enough," her mother said, laughing. "We'll be here all night with how curious you are. We can talk about it more in the morning. For now, we both need to get some sleep."
Grumbling, Aerith grudgingly nodded. She would have been fine staying up later, but she was still worried about her mom.
"Sleep well, little flower," her mother murmured, leaning forward to press a kiss to Aerith's forehead before getting up and walking to the door.
"You're sure you're okay?"
"I am, dear. Thank you for worrying. Sleep well."
"You too, mom."
As Aerith lay there, trying to fall asleep and failing, she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened at dinner, despite how interesting learning about the Weapons had been. She knew she had to be imagining it, but she could have sworn that in the split-second right before her mother had screamed, another voice she'd never heard before had also cried out. It hadn't been her father though, and there was no one else in the house so it must have just been her imagination. Curling up on her side, Aerith scrunched her eyes shut and tried her best to forget about it as she began counting chocobos.
We've made it beyond all the initial worldbuilding, and now the plot is going to start taking off. Aerith attempts to chase after Cloud, which... is a bit risky but she doesn't manage to make it. Ifalna pushes her to play with the other village children, of course knowing that Aerith spends a lot of time on her own, saying that it will be good for her, and from Seoda's interaction with Ifalna we can see how unfortunately clever she is.
Things at least start out smoothly, and Aerith has chocobos on the brain for some reason that I'm sure has nothing to do with a certain someone's hair. I imagine it's probably pretty apparent, but these flower pictures are very much inspired by the ones at the orphanage in Remake. There are also some brief interactions with other kids that show how Seoda really is the source of the bullying, and that most of the others don't inherently have anything against Aerith. Of course, things can't all be smooth sailing as Aerith and Seoda get sent off into the woods to gather supplies. At first, Aerith is able to ignore the bullying until Seoda hits her where it hurts the most, and finally gets the reaction she's looking for. Aerith snaps back and... things get a bit strange before they end up heading back.
Once home, we have a perfectly normal dinner scene until the Planet has to rudely interrupt with one of those screams we learned about from Lucrecia. The fact that Ifalna can hear them too indicates that she is also an incredibly powerful mage. Finally, we end with another mother-daughter bedtime chat where Ifalna seems to be realizing that something is going on with Seoda. It's also revealed that the Weapons are used to scare young Cetra into behaving, hehe, and just some lore on them in general. Lastly, Aerith really must have had a rough day because she thinks she's hearing things...
I hope everyone is still enjoying the story!
Next Chapter: Competition