CHAPTER 10:

RECONCILIATION

They contacted Brother, who promised to pick them up at Lake Macalania after their business was done at the temple itself. Cold comfort to Seymour, especially as Lake Macalania and the adjacent temple was one of the coldest places in Spira, barring Mount Gagazet. While he preferred the cool to the heat of Bikanel, at least Home was air-conditioned. But not refrigerated.

Tromell had turned up to escort them to Macalania, to Seymour's irritation, though the old retainer, he had to admit, was one of the few Guado who treated him and his mother with any kind of kindness. Old and traditional the green-haired Guado had been, but he had also been kind to the young Seymour, and to Anima. Tromell, at least, deserved some consideration.

Rikku nearly got barred from entering, but Tromell waved them through, and pointed out the Writ of Transit. As they entered the temple, Tromell asked, "Seymour…while I understand that you are acting as Lady Yuna's Guardian, may I speak to you alone? Lady Yuna has adequate Guardians to see her through the Cloister of Trials."

Rikku came over. "Hey, whatever you say to him, you can say to me. He's my big brother."

"Guado manage Guado affairs," Tromell said, albeit not unkindly. "Your people are also insular about their own affairs, are they not?"

"Not by choice," Rikku said. "I mean, given our use of machina."

"Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of Rikku, Tromell," Seymour said. Having vented most of his anger on Jyscal, or at least that he had built up while in Guadosalam, he was at least prepared to be civil with Tromell.

After a moment, Tromell nodded reluctantly. "Very well. This might ease the minds of those who are uneasy about allowing an Al Bhed into the Cloister of Trials…"

While Yuna and the others disappeared into the depths of the temple, Tromell led Seymour and Rikku into a private room. "Your father has already departed from this temple, Seymour, for Bevelle," Tromell said. "Given your reaction to him attempting to reclaim you, he considered that most prudent."

"The first prudent decision he ever made regarding me," Seymour remarked archly as he sat down. "Tromell, do not ever expect me to forgive him. I feel that his decision to exile us hastened the end of my mother, exacerbated her illness. To forgive him now is for me to forget years of pain, to dismiss his betrayal of his so-called love, and his own flesh and blood. Even if he did not want me at Guadosalam, why send me somewhere so far away, and so isolated? Bevelle may have been friendlier than Guadosalam. Or Besaid. From what I understand, it is a truly lovely place, and Yuna's Guardian Kimahri was treated well, despite being a Ronso, and an outcast of his tribe for that matter. No, he sent us to a temple on a windswept rock in the middle of nowhere with nobody but a few servants as company. I sometimes wonder whether the illness that claimed my mother's life was actually a broken heart at what her love did to her."

"…And your people?"

"The Guado are not my people, Tromell. While I do not truly hate them, I am simply unable to think of them as my people anymore. I share their blood, but that is all."

"…Do you hate me, Seymour?"

"…When you approached me, yes, I did. Because I did not want to see Jyscal, or talk to him."

"But not because you blame me for your exile?"

"Tromell, you were one of the few people who actually tried to care for me, Guado or not. You are one of the only ones I do not blame."

Tromell smiled, tears running from his eyes. "Then that is all I wished to know, Seymour. While it saddens me no end that you and your father may never be reconciled, I am glad, even for selfish reasons, that you do not blame me. I can at least go to the Farplane when my time has come with one less regret." Wiping his face on his long sleeve, he then turned his attention to Rikku. "It also does my heart glad to know that the Al Bhed, heathens though they are, have been accepting of him. I am truly and sincerely grateful, Rikku, and I would ask you to pass along such thanks to Cid."

Rikku nodded. "Thanks, Tromell. Seymour…he's been a boon to us. We've had no Summoner, as you probably know…but leaving aside a Summoner stopping Sin…we have nobody to do our Sendings. Seymour is almost a hero to us, because he Sends our dead. And he's a good big brother too, you know."

"Our loss, then, is the Al Bhed's gain," Tromell said. "If Seymour is happy amongst you, then I accept that. He deserved a happy life after what happened. And I cannot begrudge the Al Bhed some relief from Fiends. We were often plagued by the same problem, even if we Guado can manipulate Pyreflies. I would not wish stronger Fiends even on heathens. And, of course, I am probably one of the few people who remember Lady Yuna's parentage. Lord Braska showed as much courage marrying his wife as he did when he faced Sin. Marrying a heathen does not necessarily negate one's faith, no matter what Bevelle thought. And the Al Bhed are still people, filled with the good and the bad, like any other people."

"I'm surprised, Tromell," Rikku said. "I thought no Guado liked us."

"Few do," Tromell admitted. "In a way, it was Seymour's exile, along with his mother, and Lord Braska's life, that helped me think this way, though it may be considered heresy by Bevelle. I may be old, but I am not blind or senile. When I see your people, when I heard of what happened at Operation Mi'ihen, while I despaired at your people and the Crusaders using machina and dying for their folly, I thought the sentiment to be absolutely genuine. Misguided though it was, the Al Bhed's desire to see Sin vanquished for all of Spira was sincere." Tromell then looked somewhat pensive, fidgeting somewhat with his long fingers.

"What troubles you, Tromell?" Seymour asked. He found his gentle tone towards the older Guado coming back, that same respectful tone he used to give Tromell when he was younger.

"Many things do. Your father…is a changed man of late. Our people are blinded by his reputation of being a great man, but as his majordomo, I see things that trouble me. Your father flies into these rages at the slightest provocation. I have heard him speak contemptuously towards many others. At first, I thought it the Omega's Bane, but…I fear something worse."

"Worse?" Rikku asked.

"Though I do not know what. Take care, Seymour. Your father holds the ear of Grand Maester Mika, and his words to you back home aside, I am not wholly convinced he is finished interfering with Lady Yuna's Pilgrimage. The same applies to you, Rikku. The Al Bhed, as you know, are rarely suffered in the temples of Yevon, and certainly not in Bevelle. Keep that Writ of Transit with you at all times. And I beg of you, be careful. There are undercurrents present of late that I do not like."

"We will be careful. I thank you for your warning and hospitality both, Tromell," Seymour said quietly.

Tromell nodded, and as they stood, he gave the Yevon benediction. Seymour, for Tromell's sake more than his own, matched it.

They had to wait a while for Yuna to finish getting Shiva. As they waited, Seymour found himself lulled to sleep by the cool air of the temple, and the gentle tune of the Hymn of the Fayth. He had to admit, he missed that song at least. And the one camp they had after leaving Guadosalam had made Seymour's sleep uneasy.

He recognised the place he was in all too well. Yunalesca's inner sanctum, deep within the Zanarkand Dome. A strange chamber like the ruins of an antechamber, floating in a star-riddled void. He'd seen it far too often in his nightmares, and resigned himself to one.

And there she was. Yunalesca. A statuesque, eerily beautiful woman dressed in little more than a thong bikini. Long silvery hair framed an aristocratically beautiful face from which a pair of golden eyes peered at him. Beautiful…but utterly lethal, and complicit in the Final Aeon, and with it, perhaps continuing the misery of Spira.

Usually, the nightmares began with Seymour screaming at her, raving about his mother's demise, and attacking Yunalesca in righteous anger, only for her to backhand him into a broken wall. That was where the memories ended, and the nightmare proper truly began (and a couple of wet dreams in his teenage years: for a dead woman, Yunalesca was disturbingly desirable). But instead, she was just peering at him, curiously.

"So…the Guado halfling is returning. I know you can see me, Seymour Guado. I know you can hear me. I know that you hate me, along with so many others, with an ardour that burns worse than a Flare spell. But I wonder who you hate more. Myself, or the one who sired you?"

Seymour couldn't reply, as Yunalesca turned away. "Your father seeks one thing. Something that you and I can agree that he cannot have. He seeks something I cannot countenance him having. He seeks to…"

"Seymour!"

The hissed admonishment from Rikku, along with her shaking him, brought Seymour rather roughly out of his dream. He blinked, to find that Yuna had finished, and had emerged from the Cloister of Trials, looking somewhat haggard, though she looked concerned for Seymour. "My apologies," Seymour said as he got up from the bench he had fallen asleep on. "My sleep was troubled last night."

Yuna smiled, albeit somewhat tiredly. "I can't find it in my heart to blame you, Seymour. How was your talk with Tromell?"

"It went well enough," Seymour said. "And I presume you now have Shiva at your disposal?"

Yuna nodded. "Let's go. We will speak more outside."

As they made their way from Macalania Temple, Rikku spoke on a radio, before nodding. "Okay, guys. Brother will pick us up near the Rin Travel Agency. Just fair warning, you guys, they will be using machina. They'll take us to a boat near the shore, and then from there to Bikanel Island. After Yunie's prayed to the Fayth there, we'll head back here, and then from Macalania to Bevelle, okay?"

Wakka scowled at the thought of using machina, but a look from Lulu had him stifling his protests. As they continued to walk, Auron asked Seymour, "What did Tromell want?"

"He wished to make amends. I decided that he at least should be given that much. My quarrel is mostly with Jyscal, not with Tromell. He did say Jyscal has been acting…irregularly of late. He also warned us that he is unconvinced that Jyscal is finished interfering with the Pilgrimage." After a moment's hesitation, he decided to use Al Bhed. Only Tidus, Auron, Rikku and Paine knew it of those present. "And I had a strange dream while waiting for Yuna. In it, Yunalesca seemed to speak to me, as if in warning against Jyscal. She claimed that he was seeking something she cannot countenance him obtaining."

"Hey, whaddya talking about?" Wakka asked suspiciously.

"A nightmare," Paine said. "And hopefully not a portent."

Auron, meanwhile, frowned. "That is disturbing. If Yunalesca was indeed speaking with you, and it wasn't your mind playing tricks…then why would she warn us about Jyscal?" he asked in Al Bhed.

"And how can she be communicating with you, for that matter?" Rikku added.

"These are questions I would like answered as well, though to Sir Auron's, I would wager that, if it isn't a trick of my mind, or of Yunalesca's, she must feel threatened by Jyscal as well. I don't know how or why she would feel threatened by him, though."

Auron harrumphed, before remarking, "I wonder…"

Whatever Auron was thinking about, he didn't discuss any further. Instead, they made their way to the Travel Agency on Lake Macalania, where Brother and the others were waiting. It was this stage of the journey that would be one of the more dangerous ones, especially with someone like Wakka with them. But once they finished at Home, Seymour knew that an even more dangerous stage would begin: heading into the nest of vipers known to Spira at large as Bevelle…

CHAPTER 10 ANNOTATIONS:

And here you have it. I wanted to have Seymour reconcile with Tromell, who is most definitely a good guy in this story (unlike in the game, where he acts, albeit understandably, in a rather nasty manner towards Yuna and company). Also, the whole dream link with Yunalesca will be explained later. I had considered that for Cycle of Sin, but decided against it. I wanted to have an opportunity to actually develop Yunalesca as a character. I had done so for Ultimecia for my Final Fantasy VIII fics and for Jenova in my Final Fantasy VII fics. Yunalesca will still be an antagonist for this story, but she will be helping Yuna and Seymour against Jyscal. As to why Jyscal is a greater threat, well, you'll have to wait and see…

No numbered annotations this time.