Love Her and Despair (11)

[auronlu]

Title: Love Her and Despair
Chapter 11: "Right of Way"
Final Fantasy X
Characters: Isaaru, Maroda, Auron, Pacce, Elma
Rating: G
Word Count: 1500
Summary: Conversations on the road to Djose.
Navigation: Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
Map of Pilgrimage - Links to All Chapters

The Story So Far: Thirteen years after Yuna falls defeating Sin, Auron joins Isaaru and his brothers on a new pilgrimage. In addition to mucking with weather patterns and inspiring a heretical Cult, Sin has started targeting temples and the Fayth. The Crusaders and Isaaru race to protect Djose temple before he runs out of aeons.

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"Please have it," the youth said, holding up a battered leather pouch to Maroda. "My mother carried it on pilgrimage. There's a half-dozen remedies and other needful things. She...didn't get a chance to use them."

The boy looked about Rikku's age, thought Auron, watching the familiar exchange with fatalistic detachment. He knew the pattern, he recognized the cycle, he knew every tiresome beat of this movement in futility, but somehow when the faces were new and young he could entertain a fleeting hope that it might play out differently. That had been his downfall the last time, after all.

"Well..." Maroda shot a glance at Auron, as if the legendary guardian's fame were somehow to blame for these road obstructions. At least there had been no fiends so far.

"Just take it," Auron muttered. "It's quicker."

No, he corrected himself sharply. Not Rikku's age. She should be almost thirty now, practically old enough to be the boy's mother. It was a minor slip, but troubling. Auron's grasp of time had been growing fuzzy lately, a warning sign that he might not have much time left.

"We shall honor your mother's memory," Isaaru said warmly, "and use your gift to help us save Spira. You have our thanks."

"Get back to the village now, kiddo," Elma said. "My knights have been pulled off patrol to escort Lord Isaaru, so there may be fiends about." In fact, most of the Mi'ihen Highroad patrols had been sent ahead hours ago to prepare. The four mounted Crusaders accompanying the summoner's party were hardly sufficient to cover so much territory.

"Yes, ma'am...thank you, my lord!" The youth bowed low in Yevon's prayer, then turned and jogged towards the cluster of homesteads that had sprouted on the bluffs around the Al Bhed trading post. Faces peeped through windows or over fences, watching the cavalcade go by.

Maroda passed the pouch to Isaaru as they moved off. "Fourteen-year-old potions," he said in a low voice. "Don't get them mixed up with the rest."

The summoner smiled as he slipped it into a saddlebag. "Thank Yevon he turned them over to us before someone tried to use them."

"We can drop them off at the hazardous items dump below Mushroom Ridge," Elma said. "Come on, let's put some leagues behind us. Ya!" At her urging, the chocobos put their heads down and pressed forward at a lope.

Chocobos. Auron had never enjoyed jogging along on a giant bird whose neck stood in the way of a good swing, but speed was vital. They had already wasted half a day in Luca.

Swift couriers had been sent ahead with Lucil's orders, but Isaaru had stayed through the tournament to present a semblance of normality and curtail the wild rumors already brewing around his abdication and Sin's latest attacks. The Bevelle Bells' victory parade had turned into a citywide farewell celebration for Summoner Isaaru, since their achievement was hailed as a good omen for the grand maester's pilgrimage. There had been balloons, showers of flower petals (but no rainbows), special pre-Calm sales from street vendors, and live music provided by the Macalania artists' colony. Sphere cameras flashed like miniature fireworks among the throngs of people lining the roads, eager to record pictures of the next High Summoner and his soon-to-be-legendary guardians. The city PA system had broadcast coverage of the parade interwoven with hastily-thrown-together retrospectives and expletive-laden interviews from sailors recounting Sin's defeat at Kilika. Auron's fight with a dragon in the stadium thirteen years ago had been shown at least a dozen times.

There had been no "fireworks and wailing women," but Jecht would have been delighted. On the whole, Auron sided with Lord Braska when it came to a discreet departure.

Unfortunately, fans were not found only in Luca. Pacce was bubbling over again, thanks to Elma's loose tongue. "Hey, Sir Auron, is that where you killed the Chocobo Eater?"

Auron gave a noncommittal grunt.

"That's how it's done," Elma said cheerfully. "Local Al Bhed had been having problems with it for weeks, but all it took was a few swords and Sir Wakka beaning it with a blitzball! So much for machina!"

Not to mention a black mage capable of roasting a chocobo in ten seconds, Auron thought grimly. Apparently, sports icons and disgraced warrior monks made better celebrities than an aloof young woman, however striking.

Riding made speech difficult, so they ceded conversation to the wind for a while. At their next check, walking the birds across a bridge, Isaaru spoke up again. "Commander. I understand your reluctance, but I wish you'd reconsider the use of machina. Normally I should never presume to second-guess the general's wisdom on military matters, but I am worried that personal feelings are impeding her judgment. Her desire to atone for the mistakes of Operation Mi'ihen is causing her to make another."

"Sir," Elma said, "if Maester Lucil allowed personal feelings to sway her judgment, she'd never put me in charge of such a dangerous operation. For that matter, she'd not have authorized it in the first place. It kills her every time she has to send the Crusaders into battle while she sits on her ass."

Behind them, Pacce made a choking noise.

Elma grinned. "You're authorized to laugh, kiddo. There's no warrior monks around to give a damn—" she paused at and waved an arm vaguely at Auron. "At least, I don't think there are."

Auron snorted. "No."

"I respect that Lucil has always put personal…considerations aside, but that's not the same thing," Isaaru said. "It's her feelings towards machina that blinker her. We are pitting the Crusaders directly against Sin, something we had hoped never to do again. As the general said, we must use everything in our power to minimize casualties."

Elma shook her head, holding the reins of his chocobo for him to remount. "I know you're trying to save lives, sir, but you should know better. Machina fall under 'matters of conscience,' remember?"

Isaaru slumped into his saddle. "Yes. I'm sorry, Elma."

"Hey, no problem." Elma turned back to her own chocobo and swung herself up. "Look, we have safeguards in place that we didn't last time. And we're not going to engage Sin more than we have to. This is a defensive operation, not an attack."

"This is true."

"'Matters of conscience'?" Auron said as they set off again.

"Questions for which the teachings are inadequate," said Isaaru. "In practice, issues on which the Four Maesters disagree. A necessary reform, we felt, to correct Yevon's mistakes. For such questions, no one, not even a maester, may impose his judgment on another. On matters of conscience, each Crusader lodge sets the rule, and any soldier who believes differently may ask for transfer to another lodge."

"Most Crusaders don't permit use of machina," Elma said. "Except for that renegade there." She grinned at Maroda.

Maroda tapped the spear strapped beside him. "Does this look like a grenade launcher to you?"

"Don't play coy, Captain. I know how you train troops to deal with basilisks."

Maroda chuckled. "That's because my men don't use big flapping chocobos to run away."

"As you were," Elma said, noticing that one of her knights had checked his bird and was twisting in the saddle to glare at Maroda. "Yo, Maroda, wanna come hunting with me tonight and back up that big talk? Let's see what happens when we meet a few dual-horns."

"Elma, Maroda, please," Isaaru said. "Sparring must wait for a later date. How much farther until Mi'ihen Lodge?"

"We'll be there by sunset, sir, if we keep making good time," said Elma. "Oh! By the way, you guys haven't seen the Memorial Gardens yet, right?"

"No, we haven't," Isaaru said.

"You're in for a treat, then."

"Does Sin really make the flowers grow?" Pacce said.

"Hard to say, kiddo. The weather's been crazy these last few years, but that doesn't explain how we started getting roses growing in sand that's half salt." Elma laughed. "One thing I know for sure, if Sin's behind it, it's not doing it to give the off-duties someplace to sneak off and get laid."

You never know, Auron thought, his quiet "hmph" masked by Pacce's nervous laughter. Nevertheless, he suspected other powers besides Venus at work.

Look for me in my garden, Auron.

He was sourly amused at himself for the impulse to kick the damn bird and urge it to run faster.

---

Next Chapter: Memorial Gardens

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Author's Notes

Concerning Pacce's age: By the time I discovered that the Ultimania Guide said he was ten in FFX, I'd written him for several chapters as a puppyish 19-year-old. (In fact, I'd wanted him to be the same age as Tidus and Gatta, but I didn't want Yuna's Calm to be shorter than her father's, and then it took a few years for the Cult of Sin and Memorial Gardens to grow.)

Rather than rewrite Pacce, I've opted to ignore Ultimania and stick with my original concept: about to turn 20, innocent for his age. Possibly his brothers continued to dote on him and shelter his innocence as they did in-game. Also, unlike most FFX characters, he's grown up during Yuna's Calm, when Sin wasn't seen for a decade.

Comments

[muggy-mountain.livejournal.com]

I love how many questions this chapter raises. You're carving out something of a mystery for us. Mysteries, of course, hook me like nothing else. Needless to say, I was quite happy to see this up this morning. :D

Again, your world-building is deft and grounding without being bogged down in overmuch detail. Auron's observation on his grasp of time both raises a question and settles one, with a dash of (I'm guessing) foreshadow. The timing of the 14 year old potions make me wonder who this summoner was and if we met her in the games.

Of course, the end is absolutely tantalizing and I wish your muses godspeed in the next chapter...!

I think this one may replace Resurrection 3 as my favorite of your multi-chapters. :)

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

Hopefully my worldbuilding won't seem too boggy with it carrying over into one more chapter. I seem incapable of skipping over part of a journey. But at least I try to provide interesting scenery along the way!

[cumuluscastle.livejournal.com]

Auron's cynical response to the young person offering his mother's supplies is typical. I like the way Isaaru's response is so graceful on the contrary. Clearly he has learned the Summoner's skill of diplomacy.

I really enjoy the detail about Auron's memory slipping. I also like the idea of potions going bad.

I like Auron's observations about Lulu being forgotten. I like that he seems resentful of the fact she wasn't credited with the death of the Chocobo Eater.

I love how Elma 'authorizes' Pacce to laugh. I like the way you've aged her, still blunt, but much less apologetic for her bluntness.

I like the "Matters of Conscience." You've written it very well as a cumbersome rule that a bulky religious organization would implement. At the same time, it is also quite a happy attempt at fixing some of the problems that existed.

The garden is interesting and sets up intriguing possibilities.

Shouldn't this Garden have a lower case 'g?': Look for me in my Garden, Auron.

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

Whoops! Yes, no SeeDs!

LULU≠ Edea. O.o

[mintywolf]

(This chapter has no title? Not a big deal, but the rest of them do.)

Apparently nobody in Spira remembers Lulu, haha. (That's actually a good recurring detail because it seems like most of the fandom doesn't pay much attention to her, either.) It's probably how she'd prefer it; her outward appearance is very memorable but her mannerisms don't attract attention to herself. (Unlike, say, Waffles.) She wants Yuna to be remembered, but doesn't care if she herself is.

[auronlu]

This was originally part of the previous chapter, but someone complained about it being too long. I really should fuse them again. (I think this was vaguely titled "moving on" or something bland when I posted it on FFnet).

And yes, it's odd, but despite being very striking-looking, people tend to forget her.