FFV: Toki no Hourousha (The Wanderer of Time)
Chapter 2: Marble Halls

     It was nightfall by the time the small party approached the gates of Tycoon Castle. The guards weren't expecting anyone to come tonight, and the mage used that to his advantage to weave a cloak of non-existence around them. There would be no interrogations to hamper them, not until well after the chocobos would be stabled and he could give his warning.
     Once the chocobos were settled in for the night (Boco was a frequent enough visitor to the stables that he had his own stall, affectionately personalized by young stablehands familiar with the chocobo's presence), the trio made their way to the royal chambers. Tycoon was wealthy, and came out of the war with ExDeath better than most of the other countries; and it showed in the marble halls and fine draperies, in the uniforms and general happiness of the servants, and in the splendor passed through the Highwind legacy.
     Tycoon was founded on the ruins of another country by what was once the last of a long family of dragon knights. His given name was lost in time, but he was a Highwind. He had been a traitor to his country long ago, and when that country fell, he returned to redeem himself and attempt to bring it back to its former glory. And since then Tycoon stood strong until it almost fell again in a war between brothers, one of whom was forgotten in the passage of time. But no scholar forgot Enuo, who was then known as Ahriman, and how he had thrown his father's castle into the Void in a fit of rage.
     Of the ancient portraits of the rulers who came before, all of which lined the corridors leading to the royal quarters, it was Ahriman whose portrait was thrown out and burned. In his place there was nothing to remember him by, nothing but the ghosts of tales left behind. Neither Butz or Benjiro cared for the portraits on the walls; but Ridha, who would be the latest in the long line of rulers, paused to gaze upon the blank area that would have held Ahriman's portrait, and the one that came before him, Zurvan. There was something oddly familiar about the red-haired King Zurvan, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He stared into the ancient painting until his father returned to pull him along by the sleeve of his robe.
     Butz stopped at Lenna's room to wake her, and Benjiro and Ridha continued on to Faris's.
     Benjiro gave his son a wicked grin and he cracked open the door to his lover's apartment, his voice barely above a whisper. "Say, Red, do you think you can keep up that non-existence spell up until I'm practically on her?"
     Ridha blinked as the implications sank in, then blushed profusely. "Father, can you please do that afterwards?"
     "Well, yes," Benjiro chuckled, winking, as he sneaked past the common room to the bedroom door. "but I want to surprise her, not try and make another heir. For now."
     "Well, she is not expecting you anyway, so it would still work, at least until she senses you or you touch her. Do not take too long, alright?"
     Benjiro sneaked in, as skilled as any master thief in his proceedings. The only light was the silver beams of the moon and stars flooding through the windows. Faris took well to the fruits of her status without being over-indulgent, for while she added her own personal touch to the apartment, it still held all the rich furniture left by her parents along with the small horde of items that caught her interest when she was a pirate. He approached the large bed, focused on the sleeping woman under the silk violet sheets.
     Despite his best efforts, he could not keep his breath steady as he approached his one true love. He had always thought she was beautiful, but never more so than when she was asleep... or at the peak of passion. The pirate really didn't feel like waking her, preferring instead to curl up beside her and sleep. But whatever it was his son needed to tell him, he wouldn't say until he had both of them present. He bent down to her radiant face and touched his lips to hers, and stayed in that position well after she responded.
     They parted after what had seemed like quite a while, staring affectionately into each other's eyes. He lightly traced the line of her jaw as he explained why he woke her.
     "Fari, love, Red insists on our presence...won't say anything about why we're needed and why it can't wait until morning."
     The queen grumbled under her breath and brushed the overhanging locks of hair from her weary face. "The boy's better have a good excuse. What ARE you two fools doing back from your little excursions?"
     Benjiro sat on the edge of the bed, stroking his lover's hair after she untangled herself from the sheets only to lie in another position with her head resting in his lap. He sighed as he tried his best to get her out of bed with a minimum amount of damage; Faris was a light sleeper, true, but incredibly ill-tempered when roused from her usual sleep pattern. Less so now than when she was carrying Red in her womb, but still...
     "Well, I have a little engine built on the ship, so that's why I'm back sooner than usual. As for our dear magelord, apparently he's forfeited the trip back to the Library to tell us whatever it is he's come across. He has none of my twisted sense of humor, sadly, so it can't be a prank. So come, love, the sooner this is over the sooner you can go back to bed."
     Faris grumbled and rose to her feet, pulling a green and violet satin robe over her body. With her lover behind her, she strode out of her bedroom and into the soft flood of light given by whale-oil lamps in the living room. Butz and Lenna shared the couch in front of a low table used mostly for card games and chess on lazy days, leaving an armchair, stool, and a couple of floor-pillows free. Ridha hovered at one end of the table close to Butz, an eerie and rather frightening sight to those unfamiliar with the boy and his powers. He looked up from the black kidskin of his gloved hands and smiled a greeting to his mother.
     "Red, don't you ever stop showing off? It scares the servants," Faris said acidly, but her eyes held none of the edge her voice carried. The former pirate was gruff, but she did care more for those close to her than she was willing to admit. She especially cared more for her only child than she let on as well, for his was a conception that should not have been possible. She was rendered infertile long ago, a year before she became a pirate captain, in an event she never wanted to remember yet it hounded her dreams every now and then. Even when the pregnancy was proven to be viable, there was a very real risk that the childbirth would be fatal for both mother and son. Yet both survived, be it by the will of higher powers of the support of friends.
     "Illusions, they are lies to Heaven and the High Ones," Lenna whispered her incantation softly, the hot energy of magic swirling between her fingertips. "Dispel magic!"
     Ridha, crown prince of Tycoon and lord of mages, fell with an unceremonious thud on the carpet as his Float spell was dissipated. He blushed slightly as Lenna and Butz giggled at his predicament, and with the help of his father got up and coughed embarrassedly into a gloved fist.
     "If we are quite done making light of the situation, shall I begin?"
     The three Light Warriors and the pirate captain watched him somberly and nodded.
     "If you will excuse me for a moment, I must contact Krile so she too will know of this," Ridha said as he pulled the hood of his robe over thick copper-red hair.
     The magelord sat on the stool, situating a small brass whale-oil lamp of Jacolean origin in the center of the table. He removed the gloves that hid small deformities on his hands, then cupping them around the flame of the lamp. The flame wavered violently, then billowed out into a small bubble of pure fire. It glowed a soft gold, then shifted to a green hue as the image of the Queen of Bal appeared within. Of all the Light Warriors, only Krile Baldesion had the psychic sensitivity enough to form and stabilize a psychic link that made such communication like what Ridha was doing now much easier. It was she that noticed something unique about the boy when he was still in the womb, and she kept up telepathic communication with him from when they first met to the present, and over any distance. He had a similar but stronger bond with his mother, but it was much less refined ...she did not have the mindset or sensitivity for anything more than empathy.
     Once the link was settled, Ridha began.
     "Earlier today, while I was meditating, I happened upon a disruption in the pattern of time. As you all know, I draw upon the power of the Void to see and touch the great tapestry of destiny. If I can push just the right events and just the right people in just the right direction, I can change the patterns of time and destiny. It is a very taxing employment, and no thanks will ever come of it.
     "It was during the latest visit to the Tapestry that I discovered something very, very wrong... Something that should not come to be. I have told you all before how the lives of people are represented as single threads, and events as those threads through which souls will weave between. As the Light Warriors, each of you have unique threads colored by the crystal that chose you: white for Wind, blue for Water, red for Fire, and green for Earth. It was when I traced your threads that I noticed the wrongness in the tapestry. A big event will occur, after which one of the threads will be cut abruptly. There will be an assassination plot, and it will be successful. And Mother, I am sorry, for it is you that is marked for assassination..."
     Faris sank back into the armchair, stunned, and her lover clutched her arm in an iron grip with a similar expression on his face. To some grim amusement, the magelord noticed that the same expression was on Butz, Lenna, and Krile as well. When the group gathered their wits at last, it was Benjiro who spoke up first.
     "Please forgive me, for I am an idiot, did you just say some bastard's gonna kill my lover?"
     Krile gave the pirate captain an icy glare for his comment before speaking up. "Ridha, honey, are you sure of this? Maybe if certain precautions are taken, it won't happen-"
     "Have you any idea when this will happen," Lenna cut in, still surprised that anyone would plot against her sister, at least to that extent.
     "I cannot correctly estimate the passage of time, or who or what would be involved, but it will happen, and I can only guess it will be within this year. All I can suggest is to keep a careful eye out. I will do my best at the Tapestry, but it's very difficult to weave blind. So Mother, if you don't mind, I will not be going back to the Library of the Ancients until the threat is over."
     Faris massaged her temples, her hair covering her expression. She tried her best to neutralize her voice, but it wavered with the hint of fear regardless of her attempts. "I know better to force your hand, Red. Very well, I'll have a messenger sent to pick up any books you need and tell Ghido you won't be in for awhile..."
     "How do we know it isn't you that will pull it off, mage?" Butz queried suddenly, a hint of suspicion in his eyes. The magelord blinked in surprise at the accusation before quickly covering up his sense of betrayal. He knew he was distrusted, but never that much.
     "I am saddened that you would think me so inhuman as to murder my own mother, Klauser. She is the dearest person in the world to me, and to lose her would be to lose the will to stay in this limited world. Besides, I have no purpose to kill her, for I have everything I ever wanted and ever will want. And before you think otherwise, remember that I do not lie, for the truth is sufficiently deceptive for my purposes."
     Krile gave a sigh and interrupted before Butz could think of a comeback. "Well, since there's not much we can do about this now, and since this is a much more secure form of communication, I have something to bring up, if no one minds." Krile then smiled cheerily. "It involves politics, boys, so you'll not be interested. Shall I continue?"
     Faris cocked an eyebrow at this and beckoned the Queen of Bal to continue. Krile's expression turned more serious as she prepared to speak.
     "Faris, you know that I, as Bal's queen, cannot actively support you in the Assembly, for it looks too suspiciously like favoritism, especially since we're both Light Warriors. That and my country is still recovering from ExDeath's attack years ago... he did decimate most of our troops and supplies, and we cannot afford to do anything about the Karnac problem. However, animals make for wonderful spies..."
     Lenna smiled. "I had almost forgotten your gift of talking to animals, dear Krile-"
     "And I never considered it could be used in such a manner," Faris interceded, the slow, steady grin of a predator creeping across her face. "Absolutely brilliant, Krile! What have you learned?"
     Krile positively beamed at the compliments. She had always been shy and nervous around everyone she met, for she was expected to be the constantly cheery but quiet member of the team. That she had anything worth contributing to her friends boosted her self-esteem a little higher than it was used to being.
     "Well, dogs and sheep are not particularly intelligent creatures, but I can pick up psychic imprints of occurrences they witness and draw conclusions from that. I've been using ravens mostly, though, for they have a greater travel range, and are very intelligent and reliable. Anyhow, from what I've been able to gather from the ravens, the revolutionaries plan to storm the castle that's still being rebuilt, and possibly execute the royal family."
     Faris muttered several choice profanities that would make most sailors blanche, her head bowed to once again conceal any expression. "...Bloody hell, it's one great thing after another. Is there a time set? A date when they plan to strike?"
     "Yep! When the full black moon Namtar is at its zenith, that's all I can get from Hugin and Munin ...those are the ravens I rely on the most. Which is about a month from now, too short a time for anything but an airship to get there to prevent it, assuming you plan to do anything about it from Tycoon."
     "We'll think of something," Lenna said, looking in concern at the mage who had kept quiet for most of the exchange. The strain of keeping up this kind of conference with half a world between them was beginning to show in his clammy, ghost-white skin. "Ridha's beginning to wear out."
     Krile's image from within the bubble of fire nodded and smiled softly at the magelord. "Good day... er... night everyone, and thanks for bringing this to our attention, Ridha, as well as being a good sport for keeping the link up longer." With that, she smiled reassuringly at her old comrades in arms as the bubble of fire retreated into the small flame it was shaped from. The magelord sighed and placed his hands loosely in his lap.
     "Once again, Mother, I am truly sorry I have to be the one to discover the plot against you..."
     "At least you told me, Red, and it can be adverted. Okay everyone, now that the show's over, let's go to bed."
     Lenna and Butz rose from the couch simultaneously, knowing better than to offer their condolences, and left the apartment to leave the small family alone.
     Ridha looked down into his hands and the abnormalities in them. Four small, hard patches of keratin in vague shapes of crystals grew upon the backs and palms of his hands, each etched with an arcane symbol suggested by Krile. People had suggested that they be cut off when he was still a suckling, but his mother had insisted otherwise. He didn't really care for them, but they were a part of him, and he did rather like gloves.
     "Mother," the mage inquired timidly, his eyes on his father who knelt at Faris's side. The pirate and his former commander returned his gaze. "Mother, may I talk to you privately? It will not take long, I promise."
     Benjiro sighed and rose to his feet, brushing his hair from his eyes. "Well, I smell like a chocobo... eh, less so than Butz, anyway... so I better hop in a bath before you mother starts thinking of banning me from her bed. I'll be back in a bit." And don't let her out of your sight, son, he said to himself, hoping the mage would pick up on the thought. A slight, nearly unnoticeable nod from the magelord confirmed his suspicions; and he waved, smiling with false cheerfulness at mother and son as he went to scrub the smell of chocobos and the sea from his body.
     Once the pirate captain was out of earshot, Faris sighed and gazed up at her son. Anger at the idea that anyone would try to kill her danced like hot flames in her eyes, with fear long forgotten.
     "Yes, Red, what is it?"
     The magelord shifted uncomfortably in his stool. "Mother, I thought Butz and Aunt Lenna trusted me, but they don't. Why? I thought I had proven myself benevolent...I have said over and over that I do not want to hurt people with my powers, but..."
     A sigh came from the queen, and her anger dissipated as she watched her son. He, like herself, held up a facade to hide his emotions and to fend from getting hurt, but he too was more vulnerable underneath than he let on. She rose from her chair and joined her son at the table.
     "People fear those who have a lot of power, and despite what they want themselves to believe, that seed of fear will always remain in them. It surfaces as distrust in most, but rarely it can be fatal. I've had to deal with something a lot similar when I was still a pirate ... hell, I still do." Faris sighed and leaned back into the couch, using the table as a makeshift ottoman. "You remember, don't you, when I became captain?"
     The magelord closed his eyes as the images came back
     He was a little boy then, a white mage protégé at the age of five, who could only faintly remember his parents. Since he was found by a cooper named Hisoka, he remained on the ship as cabin-boy and assistant to the physician. One day, when the ship was anchored for repairs at what should have been an uncharted island, a young boy of about fifteen came forth, his friend close behind, and challenged the captain to a duel. Red, as he was then known, came out from belowdecks to observe the commotion the crewmen were making and recognized the challenger as the prisoner of war the captain had beaten and raped not too long ago, but it was the young cabinboy who healed her as much as he was able, and freed her. The captain was furious, and almost had the boy beaten to death were it not for the intervention of his foster-father.
     "You killed my foster-dad," the young pirate, Faris was the name she was given, hissed at the captain as they circled defensively on the full-deck of the ship, waiting for the other to stage an attack. "You killed nearly everyone I grew up with, and had the survivors hunted down like dogs. You had the Alwilda burned..."
     Her voice then dropped low enough so that only the captain could hear. "...and you raped me!"
     The captain laughed mockingly. "Ya shoulda thought of all that before ya got into the piracy business, little child! Ya realize that if I win, yer goin' right back into those chains, don'cha?"
     "...Yes..."
     The captain lunged forth, all his might behind his bare cutlass. Faris quickly ducked out of the way and pulled out a hidden dagger, swiping at the captain's unprotected midsection. The blade penetrated cloth and skin, leaving a trail of blood in its wake, and, turning, the captain clutched at his wound. He swore loudly and parried a thrust made by Faris' sabre.
     The duel went on for some time, not only taking up the entire deck, but the mainmast yard as well. The two pranced in a deadly dance above the audience, parrying or dodging swipes, and often in danger of losing their balance. At long last the challenger pierced his belly, and with an upward motion disemboweled him. When her dagger met with bone she shoved him off the far end of the mainyard, and he fell into the sea, only to be caught up in the jaws of a great sea dragon waiting below.
     She climbed down, now the victor, and wiped her blades clean on her own shirt. The crew just stared at her, stunned at the prospect that one as thin and light as the young pirate had bested their burly captain. And, as she took a mental inventory of the crew, her gender-ambiguous voice rose over the nervous bustling of the now-captainless crew.
     "I am Faris Scherwiz, heir of Raandal Scherwiz of the demolished pirate ship Alwilda. As of Nuin 15th, 1084 Anno Separaro, I take Ullean Dancan's title as Pirate King and make the offer to all of you to join my crew. I am a fair leader, as the Alwilda crew can attest, though I do punish any action frowned upon by the Ship Articles, and am firm in my ways. Any of you has the freedom to go or sign on with me." She turned and looked up at the great seadragon who peeked up from under the water, gnawing rather disgustedly on the corpse of the former captain, with an almost predatory expression on her pretty face. "Mind you, I can only control my friend so much when he's hungry."
     Red blanched at the sight of the dragon and stepped up nervously. "I ...I will join, if you will have me, mister Scherwiz."
     Faris's face grew somewhat softer as she recognized the little boy who saved her. And, one by one the former enemy stepped up to sign on under her leadership.
     It hadn't been anywhere near as gentle a transition as Red expected it to be. There had been mutinies sprouting up when Syldra wasn't around for Faris to use as a threat, but quickly quashed with the support of the remains of the Alwilda crew, more often than not a posse lead by Benjiro. Many chafed under the purple-haired youth's iron rule, especially in regards of the drastic punishment of rape or harassment of shore-bound people, but over the course of years they came to accept her rule, and some even got to like her a little. But, of course, there was always the predominant fear that someone would screw up and she'd find reason for punishment, and often that got in the way of attempts at friendly relations between captain and most of the crew.
     "Yes Mother, I remember very well ...I also remember how much a fit some of the men threw when they realized they were signing a contract that bound them to do everything you said, especially concerning rape."
     Faris sighed and closed her eyes. "Yeah, that was fun. Ullean promoted it, I punished it with a death sentence via whatever sick idea Benji could come up with. I love your father dearly, but he has a colorful imagination, and integrates it into any punishment I could give in reprisal of a violation of the Articles. He still does that, doesn't he?"
     "Last I looked, yes..." Red then joined his mother at the couch, curling up beside her and resting his head on her lap. "Not as much as you would expect, though... taken a liking to sending people off to Sariyah Island lately, which is not often since the crew is scared of him."
     "Sariyah?"
     "Ah, sorry, that was the old Lonkan name for it. More commonly known as Cursed Island... you know, the one where at every turn there is a parasite waiting to lay their eggs under your skin so their maggots can eat through your flesh, or the fish waiting to swim up orifices and latch on with their hooks."
     The former pirate wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I've been there once...the place frowns upon human visitation. Nearly had to cut my own arm off because a poisonfly took a particular liking to my skin and injected enough venom to kill me if Benji didn't have the antidote with him. So he has nature do his dirty work for him now, eh?"
     Ridha sighed and closed his eyes as he felt his mother run her fingers through his hair.
     "You know, Mother, you are the only one who trusts me, the only one who does not fear me... the only one who loves me, and the only one who has been there for me when I needed you."
     Faris's eyes opened in slight surprise. "Red, I always thought I was never doing a good enough job with you... I was always so busy, or drunk, or making up the time I lost when I foolishly kept Benji at a distance even though we were both interested in each other since we were kids. I have all the domestic and maternal capabilities of a salty old career-sailor, and the sensitivity of a block of wood. But I know you really mean that... and thanks."
     A slight chuckle emerged as the boy looked up to meet her eyes. "I could not ask for anyone else for your role in my life, and that is why I am doing everything in my power to protect you from assassins. Forgive me, for I am too loyal for my own good," he said, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Though Father is not much better in that respect."
     She grinned and tousled his hair. "And you're both silly fools for being that way. Not that it isn't flattering, of course, but either of you putting your lives on the line for mine makes me feel horribly guilty, and I hate that!"
     "Hate what?" Benjiro's voice rose mock-plaintively from the door that lead to the private bathroom. He wore nothing more than a towel around his lean waist and a hurt expression on his face. "Not me, I hope ..."
     Faris looked up and stuck her tongue out at her lover. "Of course not, silly. Just that you act like a puppy or a hatch-bonded dragon."
     "You insult me, Fari," he said, pouting. "I prefer the term 'golden retriever', thank you."
     "Same difference, puppy-boy. Either join us or go to bed."
     Ridha pulled himself from the couch, using his ever-present staff for support, and picked up his gloves. "I should go to my room now. Goodnight Mother and Father, rest well, and I shall see you... hmm... probably late afternoon. Shall I cancel all morning activities, Mother?"
     "If you would be so kind, Red. Good night to you too."
     The magelord gave a flourished bow and with a flurry of red flame disappeared into thin air only to reappear again in his own room in the castle.
     Faris smiled slightly at her son's lightshow and proceeded in putting out all the lamps, inhaling the nutty scent of whale-oil as the wicks extinguished.
     "He's showing signs of an Oedipus complex again, isn't he," Benjiro asked, a faintly worried expression on his face.
     "Now, now, not everyone's as dirty-minded as you, Benji. And if he was, he'll get over it. He's only about sixteen or so ...ergh, give or take a year, this time-travel crap still confuses me. Now, are we off to bed or would you prefer sleeping out here tonight?"
     Benjiro grinned and followed his former captain as she wandered into the bedroom. "Right behind you, love!"

~end chapter two~

 

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