Chapter 7: The Moonflow
"It's smaller than before."
Auron stood on the shore of the north bank, looking out over the river. The width of the Moonflow hadn't changed, of course, but there certainly weren't as many moonlilies growing out of the water as there had been in the past. As a result, there were also less pyreflies drifting about than before.
"But still impressive!" Rikku nudged his arm. They stood side by side, listening to the quiet hum of the pyreflies that flitted between the blooming flowers. "If we get any closer to the docks, though, we won't be able to hear the pyreflies anymore."
"Why's that?" Auron turned to face her.
"It's way too crowded. Since Yevon doesn't sponsor the shoopuf service anymore, crossing became this sort of free-for-all. The Machine Faction finally got permission to build machina transports, but it's a big project. It's all still under construction."
He looked back over the water. "Docks? And ferries? What about the moonlilies?"
"People want to see the Farplane and Luca more than they want to see the flowers these days." She crouched down and reached out to brush one of the fragile plants rising from the water. It bent under her touch, sending up a few pyreflies that drifted around her fingers. Pursing her lips, she began to hum the Hymn. A few more glided out of the surrounding lilies, crowding around her hand. Soon, they were descending from the sky, coming up out of the water, and even floating through the forest behind them to dance over her outstretched arm.
"You're calling them."
Finishing the Hymn, she opened her hand and the pyreflies scattered, more densely concentrated than before. "I wanted to see it looking a little more like it did in the past," she admitted. "It was an experiment."
His hands dropped onto her shoulders, giving them a squeeze. "A dangerous experiment if someone else saw you doing that."
"I know." She looked into his face; he was still staring out over the tranquil waters, watching the pyreflies waft through the air. "But it was worth it, wasn't it?"
"A pretty nostalgia. But that's all it is," he observed. Even now, the pyreflies were slowly beginning to dissipate. "You can't go back to the way things were."
Standing, Rikku dusted off her skirt. "There you go again. Can't you at least try to have a little fun today?" They retreated away from the secluded outcrop on the bank of the river, pushing through a small bit of forest that would rejoin them with the main road.
Auron adjusted the band over his eye. "It's just nerves," he admitted. "This will be our first real test in public, won't it?"
"Yeah." She groaned as she pulled a large scarf she'd bought in Guadosalam over her head and donned her goggles. It wasn't much of a disguise, but hopefully people would be too busy concentrating on securing their own passage to pay attention to yet another pair of travelers in the crowd. "We'll have to cross over to the south bank so I can use the CommSphere there. I need to know what the damage is after our great escape out of Guadosalam."
"We left towards the exit to the Thunder Planes. Doubling back should have thrown most of those reporters off the scent," Auron reassured her.
"We'll see. Information travels a lot faster nowadays than it used to, ever since Shinra set up the Comm system." Taking him by the arm, she grinned. "You ready to face the world, Aaron?"
"No," he grumbled, but let her lead him towards the crossing station.
The harbor was busier than ever before. What had once been a glorified billboard with a lonely wooden bench was now a bustling transport gate. The dirt road was significantly widened and paved over to make room for the wheeled carriages. Machina could bus people down the road to Guadosalam much more quickly than a journey by foot. It was still early in the day, at least, so there weren't any significant lines snaking around the depots, but it was already obvious that the place would soon be filled with travelers.
"This… is a change," Auron said, his head swiveling to take in the bustle of activity all around.
"Yeah, well, ever since the transports started up, visiting the Farplane has become a family event. Babies, grannies, pets… almost anyone can reach Guadosalam without problems now. The real bottleneck is the river." She pointed towards it as they moved in.
The ancient shoopuf station was mostly unchanged, though there were significantly more hypellos flitting about, loading and unloading passengers and cargo onto the large, patient shoopuf waiting by the lift. Further down, however, more of the bank had been flattened to make room for some colorful wooden docks. A few rowing rafts were tied at the edge, manned mostly by Guados in wetsuits, offering the shoopuf some competition. And beyond even those, there were jumbled piles of machina and a swarm of Al Bhed sorting through them. A few were hard at work on a large, half-built metal pier, while most of the others were assembling what looked to be a ferry.
"They aren't done yet, but…" Rikku sighed, looking at the shoopuf station. "I can already tell they're gonna put the other guys out of business." She took another, closer look at the size of the boat being built. "I'm also not so sure that the hypellos living in the river are gonna be happy about that ferry." Thinking about the colony who'd welcomed her and Jecht into their community so long ago, she bit her lip. With a start, she realized that it was very likely that none of the Al Bhed even knew of the hypello city below the river's surface, and how much the increased traffic might disrupt them. A sudden vision of Jecht rising out of the Moonflow in his full Final Aeon glory to smash the completed ferry to pieces rose unbidden in her mind. Uhh… I better talk to Gippal about this!
"You've been making faces at that construction site for the past minute," Auron observed. "What's on your mind?"
She tore her gaze away from the workers and met his eye. "I could've stopped this. Brokered some kind of understanding between all the competing factions here. But I chose to stay out of it instead. I pretended all the stuff going on outside of Besaid wasn't my problem. I shouldn't have avoided Gippal for so long." She sighed. "I was too scared of his feelings to face my own responsibilities. This is as much my fault as it is his."
Auron kept his silence, his expression tightening.
"What?"
"I…" He trailed off.
"No, really, what?" She noted how he couldn't meet her eyes. Leaning in, she wriggled herself into a position where he couldn't avoid seeing her. "What's on your mind, hmm?"
He glared at her, conflicted. Finally he sighed, capitulating to her prodding. "Despite all of this, I'm glad you didn't work with him." His mouth thinned and he forced the next words out with a pained look. "Gippal's a good man."
So he was jealous. Of the person he'd all but thrown her at, even. She couldn't stop the smirk that bubbled up; he caught sight of her face and rolled his eye.
"Don't say it," he warned her, though she couldn't help herself from gloating just a little.
Throwing her arms around his waist, Rikku giggled. "There are lots of good men and women all over the place. You know I don't have to fall in love with every single one of them, right?"
Auron cleared his throat and looked away, embarrassed.
"Besides, I already nabbed one anyways. You're good enough for me!" She reached under his armor to tickle his sides.
Laughing despite himself, he pushed her hands aside. "You do realize you're starting to sound as bad as Jecht with those puns." He looked down at her, amused. "And what's this? Just 'good enough?'"
The words were innocent, but he delivered them in that deep, rich baritone that could melt butter and made her knees go weak. She could tell by the look in his eye that he knew exactly what he was doing – this was his revenge for her teasing. "More than enough," she amended. "Now stop playing unfair with your vocal cords!"
"Hnnnnnnn," he drawled, drawing out the syllable into a low rumble with a smirk.
"When will it be my turn?" They jerked apart as a high, reedy voice interrupted their flirting.
Looking over her shoulder, Rikku spotted a young girl – she couldn't have been more than sixteen – watching Auron while holding her brightly blushing cheeks. Sitting on the bench next to her, a much older woman who was knitting was also appraising them with a shrewd stare.
"Honey, consider yourself lucky if you ever get a turn," the older woman replied to her companion. Despite the bored tone, her eyes were also trained on Auron and her cheeks were ruddy.
"Right… there are other people here," Rikku whispered to Auron in a sotto voice.
He cleared his throat a few times, trying to regain his composure. At least, she thought with a hint of amusement, their disguises were working. No one was screaming, pointing, or asking either of them about the 'Legendary Guardian' or the 'Al Bhed Princess.' Still, Auron unwittingly drew attention to himself. Though he might have looked to be in his late twenties, he carried himself with the poise and confidence of his actual forty-six years of experience. Even with half of his face covered, he was garnering appreciative stares from people wandering through the harbor. He was a large and handsome man in his prime, and she had shortened the coat's sleeves a little too much, leaving a generous amount of his well-defined arms exposed to the public.
"Yeah," the teenaged girl said, ogling Auron. "I wonder if he's a Guardian."
Auron abruptly turned away from the women, looking down at her with a hint of panic.
"Oh! No no, it's okay," she whispered, waving him down. "They're talking about Paine's company. In fact, we can go with that. I'll call up Paine and let her know she assigned you to me for security."
"And you're sure your friend will go along with this deception?" he asked.
"Paine's alright! Don't worry, she'll have our back. Now let's get some tickets before it's too late." Grabbing his arm, she led him towards the platform for the shoopuf.
There was already a crowd of people milling about, shopping for souvenirs and worrying about their schedules. Hypellos were everywhere, selling merchandise of all things. Snacks, fans, toys, even shirts embroidered with images of the shoopuf. There was a particularly large assortment of paraphernalia for the newly-formed Hypello bliztball team.
She caught Auron staring at one of the displays. "The Land Lubbers?" he asked her, confused.
"Yeah. I think they were trying to say they really loved being a part of the community on land, not just in the water. But you know, with their problems pronouncing basic Spiran, it came out like that…" She shrugged. "Well, people thought it was cute, so it caught on and stuck. Speaking of which!"
Stopping by one of the stalls, she found a particularly brightly-colored children's blitzball decorated with a goggle-eyed cartoon shoopuf. It was waving a Land Lubber team flag with its trunk.
"You can't be serious," Auron said as she passed some gil over to the dancing hypello behind the counter.
"I think Jecht's gonna love it," she protested, hugging the ball. "Now let's get some tickets!"
She hadn't been exaggerating when she'd told Auron how crowded it would get; they were stuck in the crush of people trying to reach the south bank.
"It must be tournament season in Luca," Rikku groaned as a particularly large Ronso behind them crushed Auron into her back. He managed to grab onto her before she could accidently shove the Bevellian waiting in front of her and grunted in agreement.
Hypellos weren't particularly speedy workers by nature, and the shoopuf had a limited passenger capacity. By the time they were at the forefront of the queue, the charm of the port had worn off into a humid, irritable impatience shared by all of the travelers waiting for their turn.
"Why is it so busy?" Auron complained.
"Because even though there's a lot more travelers, there's still only one shoopuf," she answered, letting out an audible sigh of relief as she stepped onto the lift. The hypello let the two Ronso behind them on, then closed off the gate. The platform shuddered and they lifted into the air. A refreshing breeze blew past them, taking away the heat and smell of the crowds below as they approached the palanquin mounted on the shoopuf's back. "It's kinda nostalgic, don't you think?"
"I preferred things the way they were before," Auron huffed, though some of the tension had eased off of his face.
When everyone had chosen a seat, the driver let out a trilling whistle. The shoopuf lumbered towards the river, and they entered with a splash. Comfortable silence descended as everyone relaxed, tensions easing the further they moved from the overcrowded harbor. A cool breeze blew, whisking away the summer heat. Gradually, chatter arose between the other passengers.
Rikku was content to remain quiet, simply drinking in the scenery and enjoying Auron's presence at her side. When the shoopuf reached the deepest part of the Moonflow, she sat up and leaned over the edge to watch the ruined city passing by. Sunlight played across the water. The sparkles that blinded her eyes reminded her of the silvery shine of the hypellos as they whirled in dizzying circles beneath the surface.
"A good memory?" Auron asked her with a knowing smile.
"Yeah… this is where J- where we first met the hypellos." She bit her tongue before she could say Jecht's name in front of the others. There was a rustle, and Rikku saw the hypello driving the shoopuf leaning over, stretching to get a better look at them.
"Anyway!" She shifted uncomfortably and pulled away from the edge to ease herself out of the driver's scrutiny. The yellow eyeball disappeared from sight and she exhaled in relief, sagging against the rails. "This is so nice."
The Ronso sitting next to her was staring. After a moment, she turned to her companion, her tail twitching, and tilted her chin at Rikku. "That one. Pollendina."
Rikku froze as the other passengers turned and stared at her. The one from Bevelle scooted away, a look of distaste on his face. The two Lucan teenagers were whispering between themselves; one of them pulled out a recording sphere and casually tried to pretend that he wasn't filming her, while his companion buried his hands into his face in mortification. "Oh, here we go," she grumbled, noting how Auron was glaring daggers at the man who'd sidled away.
"Have you got a problem?" he asked the other man lowly.
"What? No, none at all," the passenger coughed. "You… you're not with the Restoration, are you?"
"No! I'm just on vacation!" Rikku protested, throwing up her hands. "Really!"
The man relaxed marginally, but still didn't return to his seat.
Satisfied, Auron's head tilted towards the Lucans. "I've heard it's difficult to record with a broken sphere," he said loudly to Rikku. "And even harder with broken fingers."
The Lucan boy blanched and quickly shut off the sphere, shoving it into his pack before pointedly directing his attention out to the water on the opposite side of the shoopuf. "Sorry," his companion called out, sounding terrified.
The two Ronso who'd identified her watched the show play out impassively, unintimidated. Then the male peered at her. "You with Machine Faction then?"
"Umm… well, yeah, I guess, sorta," she hedged, edging closer to Auron.
"Hnn. Machina bad," he replied, crossing his arms and sniffing. The female Ronso next to him stomped on his foot, and he let out a yelp.
"Ignore friend. Rikku should enjoy vacation," she offered. "I am Vokja. Rude one is Goran. You go to watch tournament in Luca?"
Warming to the woman immediately, Rikku pushed up her goggles and smiled. "Yeah, we thought it might be fun to check it out. I'm rooting for the Aurochs," she said out of a sense of home team loyalty rather than belief in their abilities, which had been flagging ever since Wakka and Tidus quit playing.
"Not the Psyches?" the Bevellian man sniffed in disbelief. The glare he earned from Auron caused him to hunch his shoulders and pipe down.
"Ronso Fangs will take cup," Vokja declared solemnly.
"Well, you know, I don't really care who wins, as long as we all have fun," Rikku admitted with a grin.
Sudden, hostile silence blanketed the palanquin as now everyone was staring again.
Right. I'm stuck on a boat full of blitzball tourists. Backtracking, she went for the neutral option. "But if I was the betting type, I'd say the Land Lubbers are gonna be the champs this year!"
"Schmart girl!" the driver called down from his seat.
"Blitzball fans." The note of derision was clear in Auron's voice as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the cushions. Another stilted silence descended. He'd spoken the quiet part in her head out loud, and was now directing challenging looks towards the other passengers. The difference was that between his stature and his carelessly aggressive posturing, no one felt up to picking a fight with him.
"Anyway, we're all really just here to enjoy ourselves. So let's do that, heh heh! The fun won't have itself, right?" She turned back to face the water, burying her burning cheeks in her palms and wincing internally. "I told you we should've just flown there," she whispered to Auron, who shrugged back at her, still watching the other passengers like a hawk.
"I'm the one who wanted to see this, and walk this path again with my own feet." He broke away from his surveillance of the others to give her an apologetic look. "I hadn't realized how bad it was for you."
"That makes two of us," she murmured. "Brother kinda tried to warn me, but well… I guess we both just had to see it for ourselves, right?"
"Umm…" The cowed Lucan boy spoke up again. "C-can we talk now? Please?"
Auron turned back to him and opened his mouth.
"Be nice!" she hissed. "They're just kids!"
"Be our guests." He'd clearly amended whatever he'd been about to say to them, though the tone of his voice still conveyed that he'd be monitoring the subject matter.
Conversation was subdued after that, and Rikku let out a huff of relief when they finally reached the shore and disembarked. When the lift touched the ground, Auron pulled her back and lingered until the other passengers dispersed.
"I hope that wasn't too uncomfortable for you," he said uneasily.
"It was totally awkward. But not really because of you. Thanks for sticking up for me." Tiptoeing, she planted a small kiss on his cheek.
"Mish Rikku?" The hypello driver swayed before them, his bulbous eyes inspecting Auron's face. "You were both companions of Shir Jecht?"
Auron's eye widened. "No, actually, my name is—"
"Ahh, yesh! Shir Auron!" the hypello crooned, pleased with himself.
Rikku glanced around, shushing the driver. "Shh! Don't say that so loudly!" she whispered. "How'd you know?"
The hypello blinked at them, his head bobbing from side to side. "We pash down the stories. Ze shoopuf is free for friends of Shir Jecht," he added, fishing into his pocket for some coin.
Her hands shot out and caught the hypello's wrists before he could pull out any money. "Oh, don't worry! That's okay! Consider it a donation from us to keep the shoopuf running! That's what Sir Jecht would have wanted."
"Thank yoo! Tell Shir Jecht that he ish always welcome here!" He stayed behind, continuing to wave at them as they left until he disappeared from their sight.
"You'll have to tell me more about what Jecht is doing. Why does he want us to find him a dog?" Auron kept a watchful eye on the crowd as he spoke. Thankfully, most people seemed intent on making their way to Luca as quickly as possible, competing for seats on the carriages that would take them to Djose.
"I'll tell you later," Rikku promised. "First, we need to get to the CommSphere."
Getting there was easier said than done; Shinra installed the sphere near the edge of a bank that had since transformed into another carriage terminal. Thankfully, the sphere was well-preserved and now enclosed in its own glass-walled cabin, secluded away from the noisy machina transports. She entered the booth and Auron squeezed in behind her, curious to see the new technology.
"So how does this work?" he asked, leaning over her shoulder to study the sphere.
"You'll see." Tapping her fingers rapidly against the controls, she entered the code for the Guardian base in Luca. After a moment, it connected.
"Yo," a lavender-haired man wearing a Guardian uniform and chewing on a toothpick answered after a moment. "Guardians, Scherwiz speaking. What can I do you for?"
"Uh, is Paine around?" she asked.
"You wanna speak to the boss? Who are you, anyway?" He leaned in, squinting at her.
"An old friend?"
The toothpick swiveled around the man's mouth before his green eyes widened. "Oh, shit. You're Rikku Pollendina, ain't you? Hang tight, I'll go get her," he muttered, springing out of his seat. Static filled the air, and after a few moments, Paine settled in behind the comm, sporting her signature leather and no-nonsense grey coif.
"Rikku?" Her red eyes narrowed and flicked upwards, appraising Auron. "Who's the guy?"
"This is Aaron," she said, gesturing at Auron. "Aaron, this is Paine. She's one of my best friends. Say hello!"
"Hello," Auron repeated, sizing Paine up just as methodically. "Katana?" he asked after a moment.
A hint of a smug smile flickered over Paine's face. "Zweihander, actually."
He grunted with respect.
"Ok, you two sword weirdos can stop bonding already," Rikku cut in, scowling. "See, I'm calling you about him. I kinda need your help—"
"I figured," Paine cut her off. "You and Aaron have been splashed all over the papers lately. You're lucky the tournament's starting soon. Sports fans have short attention spans."
"Eh heh heh," Rikku laughed nervously. "I was hoping that if anybody called you to ask if you knew him, you could tell them that he's one of your Guardians."
Auron twitched at the term but said nothing, watching Paine carefully.
"You mean like reporters? Or Gippal?" Paine glared at her. "Because they already did."
"What'd you tell them?" Rikku squeaked, sweat breaking out over her forehead.
"That he's one of my Guardians," she answered, smirking. "I know you too well." Then she leaned in. "Who is this guy, Rikku? Can I trust him?"
Smiling, Rikku reached out and slid her hand over the one that was resting on her shoulder. Paine's eyes tracked her fingers as she interlaced them through his. "You can. He's an old friend," she said softly.
Auron's hand tightened around hers.
Paine let out a low sigh. "Fine. You owe me, though. Once all this Pollendina bullshit dies down, we're going out for drinks and you're going to tell me everything about him." She ran her eyes over Auron one more time, and the vicious smirk returned. "Everything."
Auron's eyebrow lifted. "Should I be scared?"
"Probably," Rikku giggled. "You're a lifesaver, Paine. Thank you so much!"
"Whatever," she said. "Call Gippal when you get a chance. He wanted to talk to you. He's still with Brother on the Celsius."
"You got it, boss!" Rikku saluted. "I'll be in touch, okay?"
"You better," Paine snapped, ending the connection.
Rikku leaned back and huffed in relief. "That went better than I expected it to."
Leaning over, Auron stroked his fingers through her hair. "I like her. She seems reliable."
"You didn't give her any advice when we were fighting Vegnagun, though," she pointed out.
Chuckling, Auron withdrew his hand. "She didn't need it." He paused, looking at the sphere. "Are you going to contact Gippal?"
Rikku blew out a raspberry. "Yeah. He's not gonna be happy with us. Well… let's get it over with."
She tapped in the code for the Celsius and waited for the connection to establish. There was the buzz of static, and then a woman's face flickered into view.
"Gullwings, at your service!" she chirped. Then she blinked. "Oh wow! Is that you, Rikku?"
Rikku did a double-take. She barely recognized the Lucan smiling back at her. The woman was gorgeous; long brown hair was pulled into a thick braid that looped over one shoulder, and her dark eyes slanted pleasantly with her broad smile. She was wearing a pair of scuffed overalls over a tiny tube top, and one of the straps had fallen off of a shoulder to reveal a vast expanse of smooth, caramel skin.
"Calli?" Rikku choked out. "Holy cow! When did you turn into such a babe?!"
The girl on the other end of the sphere grid turned bright red. "Ah, thanks, big sis! I gave myself a makeover after doing Brother! Umm… can I call you that, actually?"
Rikku grinned and pressed her face into the sphere. "I dunno, can you? Did you get Brother to finally cave?"
The red blush faded from Calli's cheeks, and the girl turned her head away. "Heh, well, about that… he's still kind of holding the torch for Yuna, and you know how he is—"
"PUT HIM ON RIGHT NOW!" Rikku screeched, causing Auron to wince and lean back.
"O-okay, hang on," Calli stuttered, looking over her shoulder and speaking to someone. After a moment, Brother came into view. He pushed Calli out of the way, shoving his face just as closely into the sphere camera.
"RIKKU! YOU HAVE BEEN A BAD GIRL! VERY BAD!" he screamed at her.
"Shut it! What the hell are you doing? Do you have beans in your eyes or something?! Stop stalking Yunie already and look at the hottie standing right next to you!"
Brother scowled at her, leaning back from the frame. "No! No deflection! It is all over the papers here! You spent the night with a man in Guadosalam! Who is he?"
Auron cleared his throat uncomfortably, and Brother's gaze shot up towards him. Then his face was back in the screen, spittle flying.
"YOU! YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!"
Unable to help herself, Rikku let out a snort of laughter.
"You think this is funny?" Brother yelled at her. "Nobody messes with my little sister! Tell him to stay right there! I am going to come over and give him a beating!"
"I can hear you," Auron said dryly.
"Good! You get busy and make your last will while you wait for me!"
There was a yelp, and then Brother's face was forcibly yanked backwards.
"Rikku," Gippal smiled as he maneuvered Brother, still fuming, away from the CommSphere. "How're you doing, babe?"
"Not your babe," Rikku shot back. "And not done yelling at Brother yet! Don't you dare seduce Calli, by the way. She's a good girl!"
Gippal leaned his chin on a palm, his eye focusing on Auron behind her. "Unlike you, I hear. Had yourself some fun in Guadosalam?"
Brother's strangled cry carried clearly over the comm.
"Uh, well. About that… we were just trying to get away from the reporters, you know?"
"Sure. And you did so well in Macalania, too. It was like you just vanished into thin air," Gippal said archly. "I guess you must've been a little more distracted in Guadosalam." His eye was trained on her now, and his poker face was on.
"Well," she said nervously. "About that. I wanted to introduce you guys to my friend. This is Aaron. He's gonna be traveling with me for a while, so I thought I'd tell you about him first."
"Good try, but you missed the tabloids by about three days." He looked over Auron. "Nice to meet you, Aaron. Paine told me all about you." His half-smile was mocking. "Looks like our girl has a thing for pirate-eyed Guardians."
"Hmph. I didn't hear she was your girl," Auron replied coolly.
Gippal spread his hands wide. "Rikku's everybody's girl of the moment." He turned his focus back to her. "Now that Spira knows you're back in action, you're a hot topic. Can't be helped."
"Look, I know I messed up. I wasn't expecting reporters in Guadosalam, okay? I thought people would be a little more respectful near the Farplane!"
"You two spent the night at Leblanc's love hotel and you're talking about respect?" Gippal started laughing, and she scowled at him.
"Stop being a jackass," Auron bit out, glaring at him through the comm. "Or do you have anything helpful to say to her?"
Gippal was now staring at Auron with a thoughtful look. He tore his gaze away to nod at Rikku. "Actually, I do. Good that you called, Rikku. I want you to stay close to Aaron for now. When we got to Bevelle, we heard that Berrik wasn't in Djose anymore. He's on the move."
Brother's face pushed back into the comm, much to Gippal's annoyance. "We ran a scan. The Fahrenheit is still docked at Djose Temple. No one knows where he went."
Gippal shoved Brother back out of the screen and leaned in. "I can tell you, if he went up north he was making himself real scarce. No sign of that jerk anywhere near here."
Feeling a slight chill, Rikku nodded. "Thanks for the heads up." Then she paused. "You're not gonna ask me anything about Aaron?"
There was another off-camera squawk, but Gippal ignored it. "Naw." His smirk returned. "Got a feeling I can trust that one." He looked away from her for a moment, then sighed. "Listen, Rikku. Tell us if you need help. With anything, okay? I mean it. We're here for you this time."
Touched, she smiled at him. "Thanks. Aren't you up to your ears in your own problems right now though? Are you and Brother gonna be okay?"
"Stop worryin' about us," Gippal drawled. "I got everything under control. You just concentrate on not disappearing again."
"Yessir," Rikku said dutifully. "And Gippal?"
"Yeah?"
She pointed her finger at the comm, scowling. "Tell Calli she's too good for my idiot of a brother."
"I HEARD THAT!"
Gippal raised a calculating eyebrow and cupped a hand over his mouth. "You sure you don't want me to flirt with her?" he whispered into the comm with a look of mischief.
She smirked back. "Maybe just a little. He's a sphere hunter, he's supposed to be able to spot treasure. Try to peel his eyes open, will you?"
Dipping his head in a slight bow, Gippal's grin widened. "Happy to oblige. See you later, Rikku. Aaron. Celsius out."
There was a moment of silence in the small chamber, and then Rikku turned and looked up at Auron. "Okay, so what was that all about?"
"Hmm?" he asked, pulling open the booth door.
She followed him out as he strolled away. "You and Gippal! Something's up. There's no way he'd let me off so easy otherwise. He's as bad as Brother, just not as obnoxious about it." She took the lead from Auron and pulled him away from the main road, mindful of the other travelers making their way towards Luca. Once they were far enough off of the beaten path to be surrounded by forest rather than people, she stopped and faced him.
"He may have recognized me," Auron said casually, leaning against one of the larger tree trunks.
"Wait, what? Seriously?!"
"Yes. But he didn't seem inclined to act on his suspicions. I told you, he's a good man. He's worried for your safety."
She stopped her nervous sway and frowned. "You think Berrik's really gonna be a problem?"
"I hope not," Auron sighed. "I wanted to be done with Spiran politics this time around, but if both of your friends are this worried…"
"Gippal thinks he wants to kidnap me," she blurted. "Since he already tried to nab Brother once."
Auron froze, then reached out and grabbed her by the arm. "And you didn't think to tell me this until now?"
Scratching her cheek, Rikku laughed nervously. "Well, I'm pretty sure he wanted the Celsius more than my brother…"
Releasing her, Auron growled. "I changed my mind. Let's use your powers to travel directly to Kilika…" He glanced upwards; it was still early in the afternoon and the sun was high in the sky. "As soon as night falls." Pushing off of the tree, he turned towards the forest. "We're going off-road."
Sighing, Rikku followed him into the underbrush. They picked their way carefully through the tall grass and thick ferns to avoid leaving an obvious trail. It wasn't particularly difficult work, but conversation faded into a concentrated silence that didn't lift until they found a small copse with a clearing underneath the trees just large enough to make camp until nightfall.
"This looks as good a place as any," Auron declared, seating himself against one of the moss-covered stones jutting from the ground.
"Well, we have a few hours to kill," she agreed, settling beside Auron and pulling off her boots. She wiggled her toes, digging them into the thick, fragrant moss that covered the ground. "Whatcha wanna do?"
He sighed, thumping his head back against the rock. "Why don't you tell me what Jecht's been up to? I haven't seen him since he left the Farplane. Now out of the blue he sent you to find me and procure him an aeon puppy?"
"It's Jecht."
Auron narrowed his eye. "This is stretching things even by his standards. Elaborate."
"Well, first of all, you're not the only one. He kinda went missing on all of us these past few years," she replied. "Didn't even visit Tidus once since he's been back."
That brought a grunt of surprise out of Auron. "Why not?"
"Why do you think? He got caught up trying to save the world again." She launched into her story, telling him everything she'd found out about Jecht's quest to regrow Macalania Forest and bring the animal spirits back.
"He bit off more than he could chew again," Auron groaned. Then he let out a tired laugh. "How is it that someone who never really was a human in the first place consistently manages to out-do the rest of us?"
"You know Tidus is just like him," she replied. "He even willingly gave up blitzing to be with Yunie. I think it's just in their nature. Like they were summoned as the best versions of what the rest of us could be." She paused, leaning her head back to stare at Auron. "But you know, you're not so bad yourself."
He chuckled dryly. "I'm not nearly as human as you seem to think. This body is just a facsimile of the real thing. One day it will fail, and then my true nature will be exposed to all."
"You could be like Maechen," she said, annoyed at his descent into morbid pessimism. "It's not a foregone conclusion that you're going to go mad and turn into a fiend."
He wrapped his arms around her and shook his head. "You are the one in constant denial. I can't see any other way. What I covet is the life in Besaid that we'll never be able to have. An ordinary, human life. No more fighting. No more politics. No more parleying with the supernatural or the undead."
"I think we lost that chance before it even started," Rikku said, thinking of her own tumble into the Farplane. "When I got sent into the past, I would have died then and there without Braska to catch my soul. But still… I don't think that means we should avoid Besaid completely. You're just as much of a dad to Yunie and Tidus as Braska and Jecht were. Don't you think it's time you let them see you again?"
"Let them watch me become a fiend before their very eyes as I lament the family I will never have?" Auron shook his head. "It's too much right now. We should focus on helping Jecht first. As idiotic as his mission may be."
Something about the tired derision in his voice made her twitch. "Hey. It only sounds dumb because we don't understand the way his mind works. If we did… we'd have tried to save Macalania Forest too, don't you think?" She nestled against him, humming. "The spirits are coming back, you know. And they've chosen him, just like the hypellos did. Maybe he sees something the rest of us don't."
Auron blew out a heavy sigh over her head. "You're right. I'm being unfair." He laughed. "Besides. This foolish task brought us together again. I hadn't realized I was lonely until you reminded me." He rested his chin against the top of her head. "Fine. I can stop grappling with the nature of my existence long enough to bring back this creature Jecht so desperately wants. So you can search for your answers about our future later, Rikku. For now, let's just live in the moment."
Her heart beat loudly in her chest. It was the closest he'd come to expressing optimism since they'd reunited. He was finally beginning to consider the possibility of being happy, even if it was just a small crack in his heavy armor of melancholy.
"Yeah," she agreed. After all, she was a thief. A crack was all she needed to open any door.