When I Met You…

            —Yuna

            I remember the first time I held you in my arms.  You were so tiny, so beautiful, so… perfect.  It didn't matter that you had literally exhausted me after several hours of excruciating pain from the labor of having you.  You were still my baby girl; my angel.  Holding you, I believed, was like holding the most delicate piece of heaven.

            There was that soft tuft of glistening blond hair that would never grow past your shoulders—and all because you were stubborn and didn't want "girly" hair.  No, you had to a tomboy… strong and tough, just like your father.  I wish he could have been there to see you, his exquisite baby girl.

            And then there were your eyes, sparkling blue and shining green like mine.  Those were the only features you would hold that made you mine.  In a way, I was pleased, though I think it would have been better for you to have carried the cerulean blue orbs of your father.  No—on second thought, your eyes were flawless:  twinkling with laughter but billowing with stormy dark clouds when furious… like mine.

            You were the first person who ever belonged wholly to me; the first person to ever love me with everything you had—and all because I was your mother, and nothing else.  Yes, I knew I was loved by many, but not like the way you loved me.  You loved me because I was your everything—and you were mine.

            I recall the first time I held you in my own room, rocking you back and forth and humming softly as I brushed an invisible speck away from one rosy cheek.  I walked out onto the balcony, cradling you and gazing out at the dark blue that was the sea.  I remember looking slightly to the left, eyes falling instantly on the Zanarkand Dome, where I somehow knew you would come to shine as a star Blitzball player—and you did, in my eyes.  No doubt about that, don't you think?  Maybe I'm biased…

            Oh… I could never, ever forget your first sunrise.  It was the next morning and all I wanted was to show you the second-best gift Tidus had ever given me—you were the first—and that was the Zanarkand sunrise.

            I bundled you up and practically flew outside to the beach.  I waded in the water up to my knees and shook you awake.  You didn't cry or complain but merely watched as the sun began to give life to a seemingly dead city—it was, after all, 4 or 5 in the morning—and witnessed and reveled in its magic.

            You laughed, the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard in my 18 years of life.  I laughed along with you, hugging and kissing until you waved your tiny little fists in protest.  Oh, how I loved you.

            To me, you were more precious than life itself.  You always would be.

            Tida, my daughter…

            I love you, always.

                        Disclaimer:  All belongs to Squaresoft.  Tida, however, is mine.