Chapter 56 – Recalling the Days Gone By
"Thanks for coming to the theater. I hope you enjoy your show!" Yuna declared to the elderly couple.
Waving back at her with tickets in his hand, a lanky old man took his wife's hand and ambled with her into the theater. Yuna watched their slow pace, thinking it cute for the two near centenarians to be still going out on a date. It helped that Marlinda offered a senior discount for morning viewings.
Once the couple was out of sight, her thoughts drifted to blitzball. Tomorrow marked the beginning of the tournament. From friendly chatter and banter on the streets of Luca, Yuna ascertained the Ronso Fangs were favored to win it all this year, closely followed by the hometown Luca Goers. The return of the Aurochs for this year's tournament had everyone in a tizzy.
Unfolding the newest letter to arrive from Baralai, Yuna took the gap in customers to begin reading it. Much to her disappointment, he wouldn't arrive in Luca until tomorrow. Duties with the Youth League unfortunately would hamper his departure.
A clang erupted from the door, startling Yuna out of her moment with herself. Stepping out from behind the reception desk, Yuna could barely make out a gigantic box trying to force its way inside the lobby. She stuffed the letter away in her pocket. Rushing over to the door, she held it open further.
Marlinda popped her head to the side. "Oh, thank you! Glad you have a free hand, Yuna."
"Of course. Wow, what's in this big box you're carrying?" Yuna asked while helping guide Marlinda through the doorway.
Bumbling forward inside the lobby a few steps, Marlinda plopped the box down with a crashing thud. She blew out a burst of air and wiped her hands a couple of times. Then she looked over at Yuna with a feral grin.
"I've been waiting months for this to come in!" she declared.
"Waiting for what?"
Marlinda leaned down to open the box. "Books! Probably the most important release in I don't know how many years. I was able to snag some advanced copies."
Looking into the box, Yuna saw stacks of hardcover books. She examined the one Marlinda handed to her. The cover read "Beyond the Summoner: The Woman Who Saved Spira Twice." Yuna gasped, covering her mouth with her hand when she realized Paine authored this book. For a moment, a whirlwind of old feelings spun up inside her. In the end, Paine had written a book on the Gullwing's adventures, just as she said she would two years ago.
Letting out a tiny sigh of relief, Yuna felt herself release some guilt she had held within her for the last two years. Quickly flipping through the pages, the sizeable bulk of its contents shocked Yuna. Maechen wrote a rather lengthy forward, which gave her a chuckle.
Standing proudly with her hands firmly on her hips, Marlinda grinned from ear to ear. "These are fresh off the press and ready to be sold!"
"Where are we going to sell them at the theater?" Yuna questioned, glancing around the lobby.
"We're not," answered Marlinda. "You're going to sell these in front of the stadium today."
Yuna stared at her boss blankly. "Huh?"
"Today is the opening ceremony before the tournament. The stadium area is going to be filled with people. I can guarantee a bunch of them will be interested in this book."
"Oh, I didn't realize this was so anticipated," meekly stated Yuna.
Marlinda pointed at her with another copy of the book in hand. "You bet it is! I can't wait to read it myself. A tell-all tale about the High Summoner and her sphere hunting adventures—who wouldn't want it?"
Yuna grimaced at the notion of the book being a tell-all recounting her time with the Gullwings. Even with their distance since Iutycyr Tower, she hoped Paine used some discretion in what she wrote in the book. Paine knew some of Yuna's darkest secrets and bleakest moments.
"Tell you what, I'll let you borrow my copy when I'm done with mine," said Marlinda. "Then you'll see how engrossing Yuna's life really is."
Yuna bit her bottom lip. "Oh, thank you. Um, I am, uh, totally excited."
Marlinda flashed her a thumbs up. "Great! Now let me find a cart so you can roll these books over to the stadium."
"I have something I need to ask you," said Yuna.
"Oh, what's that?"
Yuna looked at the ground. "May I have tomorrow off? I have someone to meet at the games."
Flashing her toothy grin, Marlinda jabbed Yuna in the side. "Got a date? How adorable! Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. I doubt anyone will be here tomorrow. I can manage the theater myself."
Yuna's face beamed with delight. "Oh, thank you!"
"Hey, you've earned it," replied Marlinda with a wink. "Just don't do anything I wouldn't."
With a sudden pep in her step, Yuna helped Marlinda load the books onto a shabby wooden handcart. Examining the somewhat deflated left wheel, Yuna wrinkled her nose. Shrugging her shoulders, she lifted the handles of the cart and slowly trudged her way out of the theater. The muscles in her shoulders burned after only a few minutes.
She nearly backed over a group of kids kicking a blitzball in the street. The hot sun beat down on her, causing sweat to drip from her forehead. Not a cloud floated in the sky. While she normally would enjoy such beautiful weather, today she loathed it.
She had to push through the mass of people gathered before the entrance to the stadium. What had been a murmuring crescendoed to a boisterous roar. Throngs of people jockeyed to get closer to the stadium's entry doors. Maneuvering herself to about the middle of the sea of people, Yuna dropped the cart in place and rubbed her hands together.
Picking up a book on top of the stack in the cart, she wondered how she should go about trying to garner a sale. Marlinda suggested she start at fifty gil and feel out how amenable people would be to that price, but Yuna shouldn't go lower than forty gil. Taking a deep breath, Yuna tightened her grip and hoped for the best.
Holding the book over her head, she yelled, "Fresh off the press! This is the biography of the Gullwing's sphere hunting adventures!"
She felt her muscles tense as soon as she finished her sales pitch. Peering around to see if anyone even noticed her, she couldn't help but grimace at her poor performance. To her surprise, a trio of teenage girls strolled up to the cart, snooping around at the pile of books stored inside.
"Hey, isn't that the sphere hunter group Leblanc runs?" one of the girls asked her friends.
Yuna felt her soul slump out of her body. With the palm of her hand firmly pressed against her face, she wanted to shout at the teenagers but reeled back her disdain.
"No, no, that's the Leblanc Syndicate. They're way cooler!" another of the teenage girls answered.
Griping her hands into fists, Yuna growled, "Hey, Leblanc is not—"
"I know the Gullwings," interjected the third girl. "Summoner Yuna led them."
"That's correct!" Yuna exclaimed, stepping closer to the girls.
"Who?" asked the second girl.
The third teenager rolled her eyes. "She was the one who defeated Sin! I bet she's doing all kinds of amazing things nowadays."
Looking down at her feet, Yuna let out a dejected sigh. Never in her life had she felt so deflated. While she should've felt relieved to be entirely incognito, it hurt to know that people knew of her, but not know that she was the Yuna they all spoke so highly about.
"I'm sure she's off on some crazy adventure somewhere," murmured Yuna with a frown.
All three of the teenagers looked up at her and nodded in unison. One of the girls ran her finger against the embossed silhouette figure of Yuna performing a sending surrounded by tiny hibiscus flowers. Her eyes lit up in approval.
"I think it would be awesome to read how she adventured all across Spira and found lost spheres," said the first girl.
The third girl grinned. "Oh, and she blew up an ancient weapon in the Farplane! I think it was called like Diamond Weapon or something."
"Um, Vegnagun. It was called Vegnagun," corrected Yuna.
The girl shrugged. "How much for the book, lady?"
"How much? Oh, fifty gil?"
The girl crinkled her nose. "That seems awfully high. Talk about taking advantage of a famous name."
Yuna asked, "Well, how about forty?"
The girl shuffled around in her pocket, pulling out a small clump of coins. "I have thirty-five. Is that enough?"
Feeling a knot tie itself together in her stomach, Yuna reluctantly agreed and took the teenager's gil in exchange for the book. Although she worried that Marlinda might get upset with her for selling the book underpriced, just making a sale gave Yuna some relief.
Much to her amazement, the teenagers talking up Yuna and her past adventures attracted the attention of other nearby people. Like the expert she was, she attracted the attention and gil of numerous patrons with her inside information and unknown tidbits about herself.
Much to her disappointment, not a single customer recognized her. Though happy to hear that people from all around Spira still praised and adored her, she didn't realize how quickly Spira forgot about what she looked like. Through her conversations with customers, she discovered the most prominent figures in Spira were Baralai, Gippal, and Nooj. Their combined leadership gave them celebrity status.
Accepting her place to live in normalcy, Yuna sold book after book to people passing her by. As the afternoon passed, nearly all of the books in her cart had been sold. Glancing around, plenty of potential targets remained. With her back turned to the crowds while reorganizing the cart, she didn't hear the growing volume of the people.
"I expected to see the Gullwings' story for sale at some point," said a grim voice to her. "Just not from you."
Yuna began to turn around. "If you'd like to learn more, I'm happy to—it's you!"
Standing before her, a familiar face flashed her a smile. Adjusting his glasses, Nooj leaned on his silvery cane. He glanced over at the stack of books in the cart before returning his attention to Yuna.
"It's been a long time. This might be the last place I'd expect to run into you."
Yuna unconsciously hugged the book she had been holding in her hands. "Oh, yes, I suppose it is. But I'm so glad to see you again, Nooj."
"Likewise. I'd ask how you've been, but it seems you've been . . . busy."
Yuna laughed nervously. "Yeah, I have been. I moved to Luca just a little bit ago."
Nooj's eyebrow raised. "You left Besaid? I'm glad to hear it."
"It took me some time, but I was ready to start a new chapter in my life," Yuna responded.
"And that new chapter is selling books about the Gullwings?" he questioned while pointing to the stack of books with his cane. "Did Paine put you up to this?"
Yuna's eyes shot down to the ground. "No, no she didn't. To be honest, we haven't spoken in a long time."
"I see. That's a shame."
"Do you know how she's been?" asked Yuna.
Nooj thought to himself for a moment. "I talked to her last about a month or two ago now. She told me she had something she wanted to finish. Now I see what that something was."
She held out the book toward Nooj. "She had been planning to write this for some time."
"Why haven't you two stayed in touch?" he questioned, his eyes narrowing on Yuna. "Did you two have a falling out?"
Yuna shook her head. "No, it isn't anything like that. Paine and I . . . she had things she wanted to do. She wanted to travel Spira more. I just wasn't ready to go on any more adventures. I guess we grew apart because of that."
Nooj looked up to the sky. "Everyone has needed to figure out what path they want to take moving forward. The world has changed much over the past two years. While I've seen it bring many people together, I've also seen it push many people apart."
"I've begun to see that already," said Yuna while wrapping her arms around herself. "I've realized my problem is I haven't changed at all."
"Sometimes, having a constant would be a good thing for Spira," he responded with a smirk.
"Spira doesn't need me anymore. I just want to see if I have a place in it."
"A place? What if not then?"
Yuna shrugged. "I'll return to Besaid and live as a recluse I suppose.
At her answer, he frowned. "You've saved the world twice. You don't owe Spira anything. Live life in whatever manner makes you happy."
"Thank you for the kind words," she said, flashing Nooj a pearly smile. "Spira has the New Spiran League now to guide it. You've done wonders."
Nooj emitted a hushed chuckle. "It's not just me. Baralai and Gippal deserve just as much credit. And I've picked up on the fact that Baralai has become quite fond of you."
Cupping her hands together, Yuna averted her eyes from Nooj. She felt her face turn flush. Feeling entirely embarrassed, she couldn't believe someone else knew of their mutual interest in each other.
"Yes, we've been writing back and forth frequently this past year," she said. "I'll finally get to see him tomorrow."
"Will you be at the games with Baralai?" Nooj asked.
Yuna shook her head. "Yes!"
Smirking again, Nooj shifted his glasses around. "Well, I look forward to seeing you again. I apologize, but I must go now. It seems I must give a speech during the opening ceremony."
"Good luck!" she exclaimed.
The tapping of his cane against the ground announced his departure. Giving Yuna a nod, Nooj turned around and traipsed his way through the crowd. Glancing around, most of the crowds of people had filtered into the stadium. She attracted the attention of a handful more buyers. By the time the sky showed a cascade of orange and pink, only one book remained in her cart.
She returned to the theater, parking the cart in the back. Glancing down at the bottom of the cart, she stared at the cover again. The irony of a lonely book about her past left alone in the cart didn't escape her. Letting out a long sigh, she picked up the book and carried it inside. In the process of shutting the theater down for the night, Marlinda counted a stack of coins on top of the counter. She looked up when the door opened.
"Hey, how did it go today?" she questioned.
Yuna held up the book in her hand. "This is all that's left."
A bright smile grew on Marlinda's face. "That's fantastic! Better than I had hoped. How'd you manage to sell so many?"
"Oh, well, I guess I could offer up enough interesting morsels to reel them in," she joked while handing Marlinda the jingling purse full of gil. "And it helped that I was surrounded by a sea of people."
Marlinda set the coin purse behind her on the counter. "Whatever you did, it worked! You got the kind of talent the High Summoner has."
Looking away from Marlinda, Yuna hugged the book against herself. Selling a cart full of books seems a pitiful comparison to destroying a world-dominating plague or banishing an existential threat in the Farplane. Even though she desired to have the hero dynamic stripped out of her life going forward, realizing what she had devolved into still stung.
"Do you need any help closing up?" she offered.
"No, I'm almost done. Rest up and enjoy your hot date tomorrow."
"Thanks, I'll try." She giggled while walking up to Marlinda. "Oh, here's the last book left."
Pushing the book back toward Yuna, she shook her head. "You know what, keep it. You've earned it. Tell me what you think after you've read it all."
"Thank you so much! I will," replied Yuna with a big smile.
With book in hand, she exited the theater and returned to her nook of an apartment. Her muscles ached from the long day of pulling the cart and standing by the stadium hawking books. She filled a tea kettle with water and placed it atop a flame. In her bedroom, she opened the door to the tiny balcony, setting her book down on an old wrought-iron chair she had bought for herself.
A cool breeze ran across her face. The sun had all but set, leaving a cloak of midnight blue in its wake. She watched over the street below her, dotted with brightly lit streetlamps shining the way for a multitude of visitors and citizens alike. A perfect scene to enjoy with tea and a blanket.
Once properly steaming, Yuna poured herself a cup of hibiscus tea and wrapped her lap with a woolly blue and green blanket she had found hiding underneath her bed when she first moved in. For a moment, she stared down at the book. A jolt of anxiety rushed through her for fear of what Paine disclosed on the pages inside.
Taking a deep breath, she opened the book to the first chapter. The title words "take flight" greeted her, boldly written across the top of the first page. Much to her surprise, Paine wrote in the first person, outlining her initial meeting with Rikku, who convinced Paine to join the Gullwings. Admitting that the reason she gave to Rikku and the other Gullwings, telling them she joined just to ride on an airship, covered the truth. She had felt lost in the time since she recorded for the Crimson Squad and she parted ways with Baralai, Gippal, and Nooj.
She tolerated Rikku's energetic and overly enthusiastic personality enough to enjoy the newfound sense of comradery she had been yearning for. The addition of Yuna into the mix angered Paine in the beginning. Yuna had no idea that Paine felt threatened by her entry into the team.
Between the lore of her triumphant pilgrimage to slay Sin, and Rikku's incessant praise for her cousin, Paine scribed across the pages, she had developed a bias against Yuna even before meeting her. Paine expected to be hit over the head with a tremendous ego, or an overly pretentious personality at the least.
Yuna smiled at her friend's next passage. The thoughtful, reserved, and polite former summoner deconstructed Paine's preconceived notions in short order. She both felt guilty for assuming the worst with Yuna's introduction and genuine excitement at the grounding she brought to the group.
Finishing the first chapter, Yuna rested the book in her lap. It would be nice to talk to Paine about her book someday, Yuna thought. She never knew about those early feelings Paine had toward her. Paine and vulnerability were not two things that went together, but she enjoyed her friend unburying her deepest emotions to the world. To her relief, Paine had not revealed the darker parts of Yuna's past—not yet at least.
Taking another look out into the street, she noticed only a few people still milling about. She yawned and scratched her head. Closing her heavy eyes, a stream of happiness drifted through her fading consciousness until she fell asleep.