A lone teenaged boy stood in enveloping darkness, his only companion the ebony staff by his side. He inhaled the still air around him, reveling in the solitude and the absence of visual or aural noise. This was the Void.
     It was only here that he could reach out from the limits of his physical being, only here could he use the power of the Void to weave the very fabric of destiny to his liking. As he opened his eyes he could see the silver threads that made up the pattern of the future, tangled in many places by the actions of the mages who came here before. He had appointed it his duty to untangle the threads and re-weave them to a more beautiful pattern, one in which strife and war in the physical world would not devastate his tapestry or the world's future that it represented.
     He reached out with bone-thin ivory fingers to caress the strong, brilliant silver threads that were his mother and her friends, tracing the strands from when they began, to when they met... to where one merged briefly with that of his mother's before parting for a while and joining another strong strand. A duller strand later joined that of his mother's, and then from that union came his own dull thread, which wove with his mother's and father's briefly before parting from them and weaving back in time to where he became his mother's cabin-boy long before she would ever conceive him. He traced the trail of his own thread as it met with that of his mother's, and as he was raised under her supervision his thread steadily became brighter in the pattern of destiny. He traced it up the path of his mother's until her strand came across three others, and his own strand had to part until the tarnished thread that wove through the tapestry for five hundred years ended abruptly, and his strand again rejoined hers.
     His yellow-amber eyes widened in surprise, and then horror as he noticed the subtle shift in the great tapestry of destiny. The brilliant silver strand with a light reddish sheen that represented his mother was cut abruptly, not long after he kidnapped his younger self and sent him into the past. It was not tarnished at the end, leaving out the option of suicide, nor was it frayed, which left out death by natural causes.
     Someone would assassinate the Queen of Tycoon.

FFV: Toki no Hourousha
(The Wanderer of Time)
Chapter One: Book of Days

     Butz poked at the deathly pale young man who lay upon the springy, sun-warmed grass of the valleys near Tycoon. The youth's yellow-amber eyes were wide and his pupils mere pinpricks in the haunted sea of gold, staring at something that the traveller could not see. An icy finger of dread traced down the traveller's back at the expression in the face of his former lover's son.
     He had reason to fear this youth, anyone in his right mind would. The boy was born prematurely, yet in his tenacious will to live he sucked on the energy of others until he was able to grow on his own. By the time he was old enough to walk, his mother sent him to Ghido to be schooled in how to tame his powers... But in his fourth year a young man stole the child-mage away; into the past, he explained to the Queen, where the child was most needed. Holding the child close, none could doubt that the youth was as he claimed to be. When he was raised as an orphan on a pirate ship his name had been Red Halisyn, yet he was born Ridha Lucian ibn Highwind, son of Queen Sarisa Scherwiz-Highwind of Tycoon and Captain Benjiro Inomoto of the Karnac-based pirate ship Lilith. The physical features in both the child and the youth were the very same, right down to every pale freckle. Butz would have thought Faris would go into one of her famous rages or try anything to keep the child in her present, but to the surprise of all she believed her former cabin boy and let him take his younger self into the past. The traveller was never told why, nor had any word come out from either parents or son, and still it remained a mystery along with the rest of Faris's past to himself, Lenna, and Krile. The very idea that anyone had enough power to go into the past frightened him, but what frightened him most was Ridha's nonchalant answer to the question of how he gained so much power.
     Study, practice... and the Void.
     It was then he realized the basis of Ghido's wariness around the boy. Ridha could easily become the next ExDeath.
     "No," Ridha's weak, light tenor wavered from pale lips. "ExDeath made the fatal error of assuming the Void would do as he commanded. It is as much a force of nature as anything else mankind cannot harness, and any attempts to tame it will cause it to revolt. The Void must be dealt with by gentle manipulations and prodding."
     Ridha's pupils returned to normal as his shallow breathing deepened, and he looked into the eyes of the traveling adventurer. "I am too loyal to Mother to think of hurting her by becoming as her enemies once were. But right now I do not have time to try and convince you that there is nothing to fear."
     He then rose unsteadily to his feet, using the ebony staff with its silver filigreed inlays as additional support, and brushing off grass from his deceptively harmless-looking white mage's robe. "And that is because I must return home as fast as I can."

     "Stupid fools! All of them!"
     Princess Lenna winced as she watched her sister's saber tear through the practice dummy that she regularly took her aggression out on. Normally there would be a gathering of servant girls watching the tall tomboy queen of Tycoon in awe, but now they were absent, most likely fearing her wrath.
     It had been yet another infuriating meeting of the Assembly of Nations concerning the revolution rising in Karnac. While the other nations sat twiddling their thumbs, Tycoon had sent relief troops and food to assist Queen Yllesia against her uprising people. When Lenna pressed on the matter after the meeting was over, several assembly members had hinted that Sarisa's past relations with Yllesia Magus Karnac were clouding her judgements, or that the revolution was bound to die out anyway and they should not interfere. And of course some of the much-less amiable members, including King Iskan of Walse and Mayor Amit Senwe of Crescent went so far as to make snide comments concerning Sarisa's foolhardiness and whether or not it would be a better idea to put Lenna on the throne instead. Both of them held the greatest grudges against the Tycoon queen hailing back from her days as a pirate, and Lenna made sure to keep an eye out on them.
     As much as the Assembly would have preferred that Lenna be crowned instead of Sarisa, she declined the status, for Sarisa had a far greater understanding of how to govern either pirate confederacy or country (though she had made many complaints in the privacy of her room about how her band of ruffians were far more intelligent and better behaved than most of the nobles in court), far better organizational skills, and more experience in dealing will people from all walks of life. Yet despite that Lenna was more diplomatic and remained calm in the most heated discussions, and she had higher tolerance for those who tried her sister's short-fused patience. Together they ruled well, she thought, and Tycoon was thriving. Why anyone would think Sarisa should be dethroned and Lenna set in her place was beyond her. But, alas, such was the way of cutthroat politics... and in that too Sarisa was a better choice for queen.
     Sarisa sheathed her saber as a couple of servants rushed to replace the ruined straw and burlap dummy. Purple strands that escaped the black velvet ribbon of her tied-back hair framed her face and gave her a roughly bedraggled look; which, combined with her current attire of a green velvet vest over white silk billow-sleeved shirt and darker green corduroy knickers made her look more like a pretty-boy Karnac dandy just after a session with some poor maiden than the queen she was. Which, of course, the younger servant girls seemed to adore.
     Lenna walked over to her sister's side and watched as the tattered dummy was taken away for disposal. "You know, big sister, you didn't have to rip the thing to shreds."
     "Better that than Iskan Walse, wouldn't you say? At least a dummy wouldn't be missed," Faris snapped, yanking out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off her brow.
     "So, you overheard, then?"
     Faris gave the two adolescent servant girls who had just replaced the dummy a winning smile, to which they both blushed slightly, and motioned a dismissal. They gave quick curtsies and ran off to attend to whatever tasks their supervisors had for them, and the moment they were gone, Faris's smile turned into a bitter frown.
     "I needed to make sure there were none to overhear us, Lenna, and an empty courtyard is all the privacy we can have at the moment." She returned the handkerchief to a pocket in the vest and surveyed the courtyard for anyone else who may overhear. "Who knew little business affairs from the past would come back to haunt me, eh?"
     Lenna blinked, unsure of what her sister meant. "Sister?"
     "Lenna, long before I met you and Butz and Galuf, just when I became captain, I needed a way to assure that people wouldn't doubt that I was a man, but I was uncertain as to how to go about that. At about the same time, Yllesia was looking for a way to get her father off her back about marriage, for her husband had died a week before and in his impatience, the king of Karnac promised Yllesia the crown if she would find another man, and soon. Her late husband had been an abusive, drunkard jerk, and the last thing she wanted was another arranged marriage. We met in a pub in the town of Karnac, got along very well, and then she made the offer. She would pay me a decent amount of money every time I would appear in public as her consort. It was perfect, really. My crew would no longer become suspicious about my lack of female companionship, and Ylles' father would stop pressuring her for marriage. But, dammit, if this is what it leads to, then I'd rather go back and not do it again. Really, I expected the whole thing to have died long ago."
     "Well, sister dear, everyone loves a good scandal. I wish I knew all this sooner."
     "What could you have done?"
     "Not much," Lenna murmured. "But you rarely talk of your past. Like why Ridha was needed long before he was born."
     Faris sighed, then turned to look up at the cumulus clouds high above the castle. "That was a time in my life I'd rather not talk about. I'll just say that Red was the only one who could save my life then. He was the only one who would, everyone else left me for dead, including Benji..."
     Lenna looked into her sister's distant eyes, into ancient suppressed anger that lurked within dark green depths, and shivered slightly. Whatever it was that Ridha had saved her from must not have been very pleasant. The silence between them became increasingly uncomfortable, until at last the younger of the two coughed.
     "Shall we go inside, sister? You must be very thirsty after all that exercise."
     The queen sighed and tugged the ribbon of black velvet that held her long purple hair back, and let the mane fall loose down her shoulders and around her sun-darkened face. "Perhaps later... I have to check up on the dragon knight trainees. Would you mind terribly if I asked you to take up today's meeting of frivolous overdressed chocobos?"
     "You mean court attendance with the nobles? Of course not. And with the state you're in right now, it's best I go in your place anyway. I'd rather see you knock the legs out from under helpless recruits than making dire threats to someone stupid enough to make demands on you. At least recruits learn." Faris chuckled slightly at this, relieving the tension between them.
     "Good luck, sister dear, have fun."
     Lenna smiled dryly. "You'll have more fun than I, I'm sure. See you at supper, big sister."
     Faris brushed a few stray pink strands from her sister's face, her smile softening somewhat as she held the younger woman's pale face between her sun-darkened hands. The two contrasted strongly against each other; one was tall, masculine in nature, with dark features brought about by years in the sun, and experienced in the world; the other was small and feminine, her paleness due to her sheltered life. Yet together they ruled as well as any king who came before, and balanced out what the other lacked.
     The elder leaned forward a bit to lightly kiss her sister's forehead, muttering a silent thanks before turning towards the barracks. As the two parted, Lenna sighed before picking up her skirts and making her way to attend to the gaggle of richly-dressed nobles who were no doubt waiting for her presence in the throne-room.

     Butz muttered a profanity under his breath as Ridha, the boy-mage he was asked to watch over on his way to the Library of the Ancients, decided instead to head to the Tycoon harbor. He made no attempt to explain the urgency of his change of mind, but merely nudged his chocobo in the direction of the harbor and Butz had no choice but to follow. In his urgency Ridha nearly lost control of his chocobo several times and Butz had to reach out to catch the reins and jolt it back.
     It had taken them two hours by hard gallop, but they finally made it to the Tycoon harbor. Several ships had just entered port: one carrack, a couple of schooners, a tiny little pinnace, and one enormous monster of a galleon that dwarfed the pinnace stationed beside it. Once the two chocobos were stabled briefly, Ridha pressed his way past the crowds of sailors on shore leave to meet with the captain of the galleon while Butz stayed behind to attended to an aged Boco and one of his brood.
     The captain of the ship stood on the halfdeck while bellowing orders to the skeleton crew in a strong, pleasant baritone. He wasn't a very tall man, only a centimeter taller than Butz was, nor very muscular as one would expect of someone in his occupation, but one would be foolish to pick a fight with him. His shaggy reddish-brown hair was pulled back and tied in a rather sloppy ribbon, yet uncut bangs took to partially concealing his eyes; and that combined with his rather androgynous looks gave him a boyish, inexperienced attractiveness that Ridha's mother had found irresistible.
     Benjiro turned from his task of overlooking the final preparations when he heard the creak of soft boots upon the boards of the ship. His sun-darkened face lit up as he took his son in a strong bearhug that almost threatened to dislodge the youth's fragile bones. It was in that position they stayed for several seconds, until at last Benjiro held the lighter version of himself at arm's length.
     "What brings you all the way here, Red," he asked, his voice, while merry, betrayed a hint of concern. He brushed his own dark hair out of his eyes and watched, amused, as his son mirrored the action unconsciously. Were it not for the youth's unnatural powers, his weak constitution, and the looks he inherited from his mother, he would have been a paler copy of his father. Which, considering the extent of Ridha's abilities, many were glad of. "You rarely come to see me off the ship anymore. Believe it or not, the crew misses you ...and your mother, but I think by now any of them would give their arm to see her set foot on the ship in that hot little dress she wore for the coronation."
     Ridha sighed and looked into his father's honey-gold eyes, nothing but seriousness in his own pale face. "Father, it's a matter of utmost importance, and I need to take you to see Mother."
     Faris's former first mate frowned slightly at the expression in his son's face. "Well, I've been at sea too long, of course I'm going to see Fari anyway. You're not going to explain anything to me now, are you?"
     "Of course not. Only when we get back to the castle. Are you done here?"
     "As much as can be expected," Benjiro said. "If we're departing immediately, I have a ...um ...present for Fari I have to fetch. Give me a minute?"
     The youth nodded, smiling slightly for the first time since he came across the pattern that would lead to the assassination of his mother. With his father there as support it would be easier to break the news to Faris, and Benji would watch her closely to be sure that no such plot would ever be carried out. His devotion was that none other but a lovesick fool would have, and indeed, he had many times risked his life for her, long before he knew she was a woman, and long before she was ever captain. It was almost cute, really, and he often imagined his father with a puppy-like demeanor when he was around his lover.
     He waited as his father rushed to his cabin to pick up a sizeable bundle, and then issue a few orders to his second-in-command, nearly tripping over a stray rope in his rush. Ridha was quickly grabbed by the arm and pulled down the gangplank, the force of the pull tossing back the hood that covered his thick, nape-length copper-red hair. He uttered a quick Float spell on himself to keep from losing his footing, and let out a sigh of relief as it allowed him to keep up with his father.

     Butz hummed to himself as he fed fresh greens to the two chocobos he traveled with. Bavol, the younger of the two chocobos by a generation, was born in captivity and took to his greens obediently while Butz tend to the travel dust. Boco, however, had been born and raised in the wild until he was lost from his flock and taken in by his current master. And after all these years he still took considerably enjoyment out of picking on Butz.
     The adventurer held out a handful of greens to his old comrade, looking away briefly when Bavol started scrabbling away the straw that lined the dirt floors. And Boco took that moment to peck hard at the palm that held the greens.
     Annoyed, Butz returned the favor, letting a light fist fall upon the space between the clear blue eyes of his old chocobo.
     "A man and his choc, ain't that cute," a clear baritone quipped from the stable's entrance, causing Butz to turn from his attention to the chocobos. "Hey there, Butzy, how's the trail been to you?"
     "You know I hate it when you call me that, Inomoto. Where's that mage of yours?"
     Benjiro blinked, an expression of surprise on his face. "I've no idea what you're talking about. Can we go back to the castle now? I'm a tired ol' pirate, and rather look forward to good food, a warm bed, and a beautif-"
     Butz's glare stopped the pirate in his tracks, and he steered away from that particular unpleasantness.
     "Ah... sorry, sorry, silly of me to talk like I'm used to around you. Shall we go now? Red insists he won't tell me anything that's going on until we're safely in the castle, and I'm rather impatient."
     "Well, dammit, where IS h-"
     "I'm right here, Uncle Butz." Butz spun, stunned, as Ridha's voice rose from behind him. The mage hovered in the air above Boco, sitting cross-legged with his staff lying across his lap, and giggling in response to the traveller's reaction.
     After regaining his composure, Butz swept the hair from his face in a nervous gesture. "Show-off," he muttered under his breath.
     He proceeded to resaddle the chocobos, merely giving the pirate captain a half-thankful grunt as he went over to help with the tack and saddles. He had never really been very fond of Faris's former first mate, and even less so when she developed feelings for the man which he largely suspected had been there all along; hidden, like her femininity and any innocence she possessed, beneath her self-protective masks. Benjiro was comfortable and nonchalant with anyone and most anything, and tended to be popular with everyone who crossed his path. All in all the kind of person Butz never would get along with.
     It was not long after that the trio departed, and the moment they left the harbor, civil conversation started up as the chocobos raced to the castle. As civil as could be expected, anyway.
     "You know what, Inomoto? You're annoying."
     Benjiro chuckled slightly, unwilling to let the traveller needle him without retribution. "Well, quite a few people think so, but I have yet to be maimed for it. However, it's no real wonder why you can't stay in one place for long, you're very unpleasant to be with."
     "Jerk."
     "Ninnyhead," he responded, almost reveling in the immaturity of the moment.
     "You're a seadog, can't you come up with better insults?"
     "Sure can, chocoboffer! I just choose not to."
     "Choco-WHAT?!?! Hey, now that was just uncalled for!"
     Ridha, who had been watching all along, grumbled and dismounted from the chocobo he was sharing with his father, using the Float spell he had yet to dispel from himself and manipulating the patterns of air currents to fly ahead of the two bickering men.
     "Father, Butz," he shouted in exasperation to the two who were now behind him. "I am ashamed to know you both!"
     With that, he led the rest of the way to Tycoon Castle.

~end chapter one~

Please send all comments to Ajora Fravashi