A/n- So, you may or may not know if you follow my socials that I play Final Fantasy 14 and I play as both Rutger and Lilina using model swap mods. Well this is an extension of that, an AU where Rutger is the Warrior of Light and Lilina and Roy are there adventuring with him. This story basically sets up the verse and how they got to the Source and how the Elibe lore is connected. And just because it's not too explicitly stated Rutger is mainly a Samurai and Lilina is mainly a Black Mage, but they do dabble in other jobs. Enjoy!
The Commission Files- File #a1814 The Tales of Rutger, the Warrior of Light #1
Characters: FF14!Rutger, FF14!Lilina, Wuk Lamat, Alphinaud
Based on: a commission by mimiblargh on Bluesky
"Just a few more touches and I should be done with it." Alphinaud told his friends who were relaxing on the beach with him outside Xbalyav T've, the bar owned by Br'uk Evu in Tuliyollal. He was sketching out and coloring a picture that would be the basis of a painting that would be hung somewhere in celebration of saving Tuliyollal from the invasion of Zoraal Ja and Sphene.
"Take your time, we're still enjoying ourselves out here, right you two?" Lilina, a blue haired Miqo'te woman, asked Rutger and Wuk Lamat who were chowing down on some tacos.
"I don't see any reason to leave, these tacos are very well made." Rutger, a very tall Elezen man with a scar under his left eye, replied with a nod. If you didn't know any better you would think that these two had lived on the Source all their lives, but as fate would have it they were about to have to explain why that wasn't the case.
"I'm so glad you all could stay here a bit longer." Wuk Lamat added with a smile. "I'm sure I Koana have things all settled in with being the Dawnservants, but it's always nice to spend time with friends where you don't have to worry about all that."
"I couldn't have put it better myself." Lilina noted as she laid back in her chair slightly. But soon after she did that Alphinaud chimed in that he had finished the sketch he was working on.
"I think I did a pretty good job with it, all things considered." He commented as the others walked over to inspect it. "But as always feel free to let me know if there is anything I can do to change it for the better before I send it off to the real artisans."
"Knowing you it probably looks like a painting already." Rutger joked supportively as they all huddled around the easel he had been working on.
"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said Alphinaud could have been an artist." Wuk Lamat beamed as she saw just how wonderful the sketch looked. "The only think I'm wondering about is why you made Rutger look slightly annoyed like that, we all know he's not really like that."
"I asked him to draw me like that." Rutger noted. "As strange as it may sound, making myself look slightly standoffish really helps determine who really wants to be helpful and friendly and who just wants to get something out of me. If they can get past the slightly cold exterior I put out then I know they really mean what they say for the most part. It's something I learned from my father as well, acting one way while being another is a good way to see through people's misdirections."
"That and you still have a few trust issues as well." Lilina added.
"Well, no so much any more, but I guess that's still a bit true." Rutger agreed.
"Either way I love how we both look Alphinaud, you really got my sparkling personality down quite well." Lilina continued on, teasing slightly. "I just wish Roy had come with us so he could be in the picture as well, you could have had him standing on my shoulders and that would have looked really cute."
"I've heard Rutger mention this Roy person a few times, but I've never heard anything past that." Wuk Lamat wondered. "Is he a good friend of yours?"
"Oh, he's one of our best friends!" Lilina replied happily. "He's a Lalalfell and he's very brave and courageous along with being thoughtful as well."
"He's one of the best paladins you'll ever meet." Rutger added genuinely. "He's even better at the job than I am, though it is a secondary job for me." He added, his main job being a samurai.
"Seems like he would have been very helpful if he came with you two here." Wuk Lamat commented. "Did something happen to him?"
"No, he just told us he'd rather hold down the fort in Eorzea and make sure nothing else happened there while we made our way here to Tural." Lilina noted.
"He may be a good fighter, but he doesn't really like doing it." Rutger added. "He's more of a diplomat than anything, been that way even since the war."
"War? You mean the one with Garlemald?" Wuk Lamat asked.
"No, the one from our homeland." Rutger answered, getting a confused look from Wuk Lamat. He didn't understand what the confusion was about until Lilina realized something and spoke up.
"Rutger, did you not tell her about where we come from?" Lilina asked like it was something she had expected him to do.
"I thought I did." Rutger replied as he thought back to the moment he first met Wuk Lamat. "Or wait, maybe it was Koana who I talked to about that."
"I don't remember discussing anything like that to be honest." Wuk Lamat noted. "But if it's something you'd rather not talk about it's fine with me."
"No, no, it's nothing like that." Rutger assured her. "I guess we've been away from home so long that I just started assuming I've told everyone what our situation is. Basically Lilina, Roy, and I are like Krile, we're not from the Source like most people on the star are."
"We're actually from what people would call the Eighth, and we lived on a big continent named Elibe." Lilina added.
"How did you end up on the Source then?" Wuk Lamat wondered.
"Ah, well, it's kind of my fault." Lilina answered slightly embarrassed. "You see I was a mage of very high repute on our world as well, along with being the ruler of a decently sized nation, so I was trying to create a spell that could teleport supplies and resources long distances in short amounts of time to help my economy. We already had the ability to teleport one person a fair distance away and eventually I had gotten it to where I could teleport multiple people that same distance. But one day when I was with Rutger and Roy testing out trying to make the distance longer using a magic Rutger's father knew to open portals to other places an accident happened."
"Before we could tell what was going on we were teleported into the void between shards and eventually we landed on the Source, though not all together." Rutger added. "That's actually how I got my scar. I landed outside Ul'dah and saw some bandits harassing a young woman and her child. Thinking nothing of it I took the sword I had on me at the time and tried to stop them. That's when I learned that people here on the Source are much more powerful than back home. I won the fight based of my skill and experience in fighting in a war, but the bandits got a good strike on my face that I couldn't guard. Thankfully I met the twins soon after and made my way to the Gladiator's Guild where I met up with Roy."
"And as luck would have it I found the Thaumaturge's Guild in Ul'dah shortly after and we all reunited." Lilina continued. "Everything after that is pretty much how the stories paint it all the way from defeating Garlemald to right now."
"Well except for the fact that we didn't travel together until we got the warding scales from Thavnair." Rutger cut in. "As much as they wanted to Lilina and Roy didn't have Hydaelyn's Blessing, only I did. So I told them they couldn't travel with me until we found a way to stop tempering, and thankfully we did eventually so we can adventure together, kind of like we did during the war in our homeland."
"The three of them have been massive helps everywhere they go, some people even call them the Trio of Light." Alphinaud commented. "A very apt name I would say."
"Huh, I would have never have guessed all of that happened to you all, you both seem very naturally adjusted to the Source." Wuk Lamat commented, glad that her friends were happy to be so open with her. "But, don't you get homesick after being away for so long? And what about your people Lilina, don't you want to get back to them?"
"We do get homesick from time to time and I would like nothing more than to get back to my people to assure them everything is alright." Lilina noted. "But we've just started making breakthroughs in inter-shard travel. I've been doing my best to research with Y'shtola about how we could start testing ideas since she wants to get back to the First as well, but things have been moving pretty slowly."
"But with the artifact we picked up after defeating Sphene it's looking like we might have a breakthrough sooner or later." Rutger added. "Though we don't want to leave the Source in a bind, so we'd want a way to travel back and forth, easily not just send us home and be done with it."
"I'm sure we'll find a way to make everything work out, we always do." Alphinaud stated confidently. "Besides, I and everyone else wouldn't want to lose such great friends so easily like that."
"I think your sister would find a way to travel to the Eighth just to bonk us on the head with her sword if we took a one way trip back." Rutger joked, getting everyone to laugh at how true that statement was. "But as much as I too would like to go back home, the Source and everyone in it also feels like home to me, so I wouldn't want to leave it forever either."
"Same, I've met some amazing people here and it would be a shame to never see them again." Lilina agreed.
"Well as long as you're here in the Source you're welcome in Tuliyollal!" Wuk Lamat replied with a smile. "Maybe someday you'll get the chance to invite me to where you live, that would be a fun experience I think."
"We'd love to show you were we come from." Lilina agreed. "But since that might take a while maybe we could tell you a bit about it right now?"
"Of course! I'd love to hear any stories you have from your homeland, I'm sure you've had many adventures there as well." Wuk Lamat beamed with a big smile.
"Wonderful!" Lilina smiled as well. "Well my homeland is actually a little similar to Garlemald, but in a good way. We have an economy based on our military but instead of going around invading people we use our strength to defend the weak and helpless, like a shield."
"And my homeland is very similar to the Azim Steppe." Rutger added. "Rolling plains as far as the eyes can see and nomadic people living off the land and enjoying the almost magical feeling of the wind blowing through the grass."
"You might want to sit back down, they can go on like this for hours." Alphinaud said to Wuk Lamat with a knowing smile. And he was right, the four spent the entire rest of the evening listing to Rutger and Lilina tell stories about Elibe and the adventures they had there, the friends they made along the way, and the future they want to shape when they get back. Smiles and laughs were had all around, but even then they all knew one thing, the adventure was never over and they would always have new stories to tell, new battles to face, and new lifetime friends to spend time with when they could.