Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“No matter how dark the night, morning always comes.”

It was the last thing Penelo’s mother ever said to her, a small token of comfort to ease her frightened daughter on a night that could have very well been her last. 

Besaid was a small island to the south of Spira, and it would have been completely insignificant were it not for the temple of Yevon that sat in the centre of its only village. Known for its pristine white sands and emerald jungles, it was like a little piece of paradise. For a long time, it was thought to be one of the safest places in Spira, so isolated and empty that few people had any reason to visit it in the first place, let alone attack it. But that all changed four years ago when Sin came.

Penelo couldn’t remember what Sin looked like - the children of the village were whisked into the temple for their safety as soon as it appeared on their shores. All she’d seen of Sin was the shadow it cast over Besaid, plunging the once peaceful island into bitter, hopeless darkness. She’d never known true fear until it paralysed her in place as she cowered in the temple, while her parents did all they could to protect the village from the oncoming danger. In her young mind, she’d thought her parents were invincible, that they’d survive Sin’s attack because they couldn’t just leave her on her own like that. But they weren’t invincible. No one was.

The survivors of that night erected a memorial to the fallen on the hill overlooking the village, a stone pillar carved with images of the Fayth housed in Besaid’s temple. Penelo’s parents weren’t the only ones who had fallen victim to Sin that night, and their corpses were only two of the hundreds staining the white sands red. The memorial was meant to honour the lost, but when Penelo saw it looming over the village every day, it only served to remind her that even a place as isolated as Besaid wasn’t safe.

Sometimes, though the memorial disturbed her, she’d sit beside it and contemplate that night. She did so now, sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of it and tracing the elaborate carvings with her gaze. After her parents died, all she’d been able to think about was how much she missed them, and how lost she felt without them. But now, years after the fact, she could only wonder - why?

Why had Sin come to Besaid? Why had Sin come to Spira at all? According to the Yevon scripture, Sin was their punishment for the mistakes of their ancestors, and they promised that following their teachings would prevent Spirans from making those mistakes again. But people had been following the teachings for centuries, and still, Sin came. So Penelo had to wonder - how bad could the mistakes of the past have been if they were still being made to atone for them?  

The futility of it all was enough to make Penelo want to abandon Yevon altogether, for the rigid faith of her parents hadn’t saved them from Sin in the end. If the time came, would it save her? And yet she couldn’t bring herself to renounce Yevon because it was all she had. All she could do was cling to the teachings and hope that maybe, just maybe, her belief would help Sin go away in the end. She wasn’t strong enough to do anything else.

Or perhaps she was just too cowardly to let it all go.

A soft sigh escaped her lips, and Penelo reached out to brush her fingers over the swirling designs carved into the pillar. She rested her hand against the flat stone beak of Valefor, the Fayth of Besaid - her mother had always been so dedicated to her. Penelo had followed in her footsteps, picking up her mother’s devotion where she left off in the hopes of keeping her memory alive, but was it really enough? Would anything she did ever be enough?

The crunch of footsteps in the dirt drew her from her thoughts.

“Hey, Pen. I was wondering where you’d got to.” Vaan sat down beside her, perching on one of the stones that lay scattered around the memorial. “Whatcha up to?”

Vaan was another orphan of Sin, his family killed in the same attack that had taken Penelo’s parents. They’d been close friends since they were small, and were made closer still when Sin left them with no one to depend on but each other. That had changed when their current caretaker, Reddas, arrived in the village and agreed to take them in, offering them a stability they hadn’t known in years. But she was still confident in describing Vaan as her best friend even though they weren’t as reliant on each other as they once were.

“Just thinking,” Penelo replied, removing her hand from the pillar and resting it in her lap.

“Right.” Vaan leaned back, leaning on his hands so he wouldn’t topple off the stone altogether. “You’re always thinking.”

Penelo shrugged, and she started picking at the few tufts of grass that sprung out from the dirt. “There’s a lot to think about.”

Vaan cast his glance towards the memorial - it hadn’t escaped Penelo’s notice that he’d failed to perform the prayer of Yevon upon his arrival, a customary sign of respect for Sin’s victims. Before long, he turned his gaze back up to the bright blue sky. “All that thinking isn’t gonna bring them back, y’know.”

“How do you know that’s what I’m thinking about?”

“Why else would you be up here?” Vaan asked, and he made a good point. Knowing how hard Vaan had worked to put the past behind him, she was always embarrassed to admit to him how badly she’d failed to follow in his footsteps. “They died four years ago. It’s time to move on, don’t you think?”

“It’s not as easy as that.”

“Well, if you’re not gonna try, why don’t you do something useful with all that thinking?” Vaan asked. “That’s what I did.”

“Oh yeah?” Penelo shuffled around so she could face him, her face furrowing into a frown. “What’d you do?”

Vaan nodded, his eyes sparkling with newfound excitement. “Well, I thought about how badly Sin has hurt us, and I figured out that I wanna be a sphere hunter. There’s gotta be tonnes of ancient spheres out there - one of them’s bound to have information about beating Sin inside it. Then we can use it, Sin will stop coming back, and no one will have to die like our parents did.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“I don’t think so - I think Yevon makes it sound hard. C’mon, Pen, Sin has to have come from somewhere. Some old geezer back in the day has to have recorded a sphere when it first showed up, and maybe that’s where the answer is.” 

Penelo sighed - though she admired Vaan’s optimism, she felt it sorely misplaced where Sin was concerned. “But we already know how to beat Sin. That’s what the summoners are for.”

“Yeah, but the summoners can’t keep Sin down forever. How long was High Summoner Raminas’s Calm, two years? Maybe less? And now Sin’s back. There’s gotta be a more permanent way to do it.”

“And you’re gonna be the one who’ll figure that out?”

Vaan flashed her a grin. “Yeah. I was talking about it with Reddas, and he reckons a sphere like that has gotta be out there too - he found tonnes of spheres from hundreds of years ago when he was a sphere hunter.” His eyes grew brighter. “Hey, you and I could go find it together!”

Penelo had to laugh at that. “Me? A sphere hunter? Vaan, I think you’ve got me confused with someone else.”

“I’m serious!” Vaan said, hopping off the stone in his excitement. “Just think about it - Vaan and Penelo, legendary sphere hunters. We’d be so famous!”

“Right, because that’s why everyone sets out to beat Sin - to get famous.”

“Summoners get famous,” Vaan retorted, and Penelo rolled her eyes.

“Sure, but that’s not why they go on their pilgrimages. They go on their pilgrimages to beat Sin and bring peace to the world - it’s all completely selfless.”

“Come on, surely at least one summoner has gone in for fame and fortune,” Vaan argued. “Not every Yevonite is a complete saint. Anyway - what do you say, Pen? Wanna be my sphere hunting partner? Get out of this dump and see the world?”

“Besaid’s not a dump.”

“It’s starting to feel like one.” Vaan began to pace, casting his gaze down to the little village they called home, nestled snugly in the emerald green jungle. “No one comes here except for summoners visiting the temple, and even then we’re just a quick stop on their pilgrimage before they head off to somewhere more exciting - we don’t get anything out of it.”

“It’s an honour to have them visit us.”

“But what does honour matter once the summoner’s gone and forgotten about us?” Vaan started to speed up his pacing, his excitement starting to get the better of him. “There’s so much more to the world than this tiny island, Pen. Even if you don’t want to be a sphere hunter, you can’t seriously want to stay cooped up here for the rest of your life?”

Penelo took a moment to think - leaving Besaid had crossed her mind, of course, but she’d never given it more than a passing consideration. She was attached to her island life, spending her days collecting fruit for the village, helping Old Dalan look after the temple, teaching the village children how to dance. But Vaan posed a pertinent question - was that all she wanted to do with her life? Doing the same thing over and over again, day in and day out, with no variety in sight? The more she thought about wasting her existence like that, the more it frightened her - but then again, leaving Besaid frightened her just as much. There was a reason Sin’s attack on Besaid four years ago had come as such a shock - Sin was drawn to populated areas. Leaving Besaid would mean leaving the safety of isolation, and she doubted she’d be able to cope with witnessing another of Sin’s attacks - she may even lose her life to one.

But if she were to help Vaan find this hypothetical miracle weapon against Sin, it would be worth it. The idea of avenging her parents and saving Spira was an appealing one - was her fear really enough to stop her from living a life she could be proud of?

“I don’t know,” she finally replied. “Even if I did want to leave Besaid, Reddas would never allow it. How many times has he told you to wait until the next Calm before you go chasing spheres?”

“Reddas doesn’t get it - I want to leave Besaid so I can bring on the next Calm. I’m serious about that ancient sphere thing, Pen.”

“You don’t even know if it exists.”

“I’d rather risk my life trying to find out than waste it wondering ‘what if’.”

Deep down, Penelo wanted to believe him. “Right...”

“Well, what would you rather do?”

“I… I don’t know. I just don’t want you getting caught up in some fairy tale about spheres, only for Sin to show up and, well… y’know.”

“Kill me?”

Penelo nodded. “You know Sin targets the mainland. And wouldn’t it be better to risk your life like that if you knew exactly what you were doing? You don’t even know if this sphere exists, and even if you did, who knows where it could be? If I left Besaid…” Penelo took a moment to think, and Vaan watched her expectantly. “I’d want to know for sure that whatever I was leaving for would be worthwhile.”

“Like what, going on a pilgrimage?” Vaan suggested, and Penelo nodded.

“Something like that - although there’s no way I’d be good enough to become a summoner.”

Vaan swiped his index finger over his top lip. “I dunno - you’re real smart, Pen, and you know way more about all that Yevon stuff than I do. I reckon you’d make a great summoner - and I could be your guardian!”

“It takes more than knowing the teachings to be a summoner, but… Thanks.” She offered him a smile, and Vaan gave her a bigger one in kind. He then reached out and gently knocked her on the shoulder.

“You and me, we’re meant for more. We’ll leave Besaid one day, and when we do, we’re gonna make a difference. Just you wait.”

***

That evening, the villagers of Besaid had dinner together, just as they always did. 

Penelo sat on the steps of the temple as she ate, the nearby torchlight casting a low orange glow across her skin. Vaan’s suggestion that they leave Besaid had weighed heavily on her mind all day, but she knew for certain that if she were to leave, these evening get-togethers would be the thing she’d miss the most about her home. The villagers of Besaid were so few in number that they saw no point in isolating themselves in their tents and huts come mealtime, and so dinner was always an event. Everyone contributed something to the meal, and everyone would enjoy it together. It was the sort of thing Penelo imagined you just couldn’t get in the larger cities on the mainland.

As she swallowed the last bite of her fish, Penelo watched the joyous scene taking place at the centre of the village. Vaan was teaching some of the younger kids how to fight, but it was clear he was going easy on them and letting them win every spar. Penelo had to laugh as Filo and Kytes, two of the older children, managed to tackle him down, with Vaan letting out an exaggerated cry of defeat as he fell to the ground. It wasn’t long before they began to pelt him with the lightweight sticks they used for sparring, but Penelo knew not to worry - they were too light to do him any real harm.

Sheltered under a nearby palm tree stood Reddas and Old Dalan, both of them grinning away at the antics of the young. Reddas was a retired guardian turned sphere hunter who’d come to Besaid to live out the rest of his days in peace, and he’d informally adopted Vaan and Penelo as one of his own when he saw they had no family to speak of. Of course, the village had taken care of the pair in the years following the deaths of their parents, but Reddas had given them a stability that they were both beyond grateful for. Old Dalan, as his name suggested, was the oldest man in Besaid, as well as the primary caretaker of the village’s temple of Yevon. Penelo had learned almost everything she knew about the teachings from him, and she looked up to the old monk as someone akin to a grandfather. But then again, so did everyone else in Besaid.

When Old Dalan abandoned Reddas and started shuffling his way over to her, Penelo rose to her feet - she wasn’t about to let someone as frail as he was sit on the ground. She greeted him with a smile as he approached. “Hey, Old Dalan.”

“Good evening, Penelo - and it is a good one, isn’t it?”

Penelo nodded. “It’s lovely. Did you enjoy your meal?”

“Oh, always, always. Our cooks never go astray, of that we can be certain.” His voice was just as warm as the balmy air around them, and his brown eyes twinkled in the torchlight. “I suspect they may have to share their talents in the coming days, hm?”

“What do you mean?” Penelo asked - as wise as he was, Dalan did like to speak in riddles from time to time.

“I have received word from Bevelle that an apprentice summoner has begun their pilgrimage. They will require our hospitality.”

Penelo’s heart skipped a beat - Besaid hadn’t welcomed a new summoner since High Summoner Raminas visited two years ago. She knew it was only a matter of time before they started seeing them again, but that didn’t make it any less exciting. 

“Really?” Penelo asked, and Dalan nodded. “That’s great! I gotta admit, I was getting kinda worried - Sin’s been back for months. I thought a summoner would’ve come to us by now.”

“These things take their time,” Dalan replied. “Much effort goes into the training of an apprentice summoner, and such effort is lax during the Calm. It takes more than a mere few months for an apprentice summoner to become strong enough to undertake their journey - although, I am told that our visitor has been training his entire life.”

Raising her eyebrows, Penelo blew out a soft sigh of awe. Pretty much every summoner she’d seen pass through Besaid had been over the age of fifty, with a few exceptions. She vaguely remembered the teenage summoner who’d accompanied Reddas on his very first trip to Besaid, years before he settled down and took in her and Vaan. All she could recall about the young summoner were the colourful rings that decorated his fingers - she was too young to pay attention to much else. But, predominantly, summoners tended to be a little more on the elderly side, so if this apprentice summoner had been training for his whole life, he had to be pretty powerful.

“So you mean he was preparing for his pilgrimage even during the Calm?”

Dalan nodded, slow and steady. “A good apprentice summoner must never let their guard down, though most do. One never knows when Sin will return, and we are lucky to have someone so prepared after such a brief Calm.”

“I guess you’re right. If everyone was loafing around these past two years, we might have had to wait longer.”

“Precisely.” The two sat in silence for a while, Penelo’s mind abuzz with possibilities of what the apprentice summoner might be like, while Dalan turned his gaze to the centre of the village. Vaan, Kytes, Filo, and the other kids were still going at it, with Vaan now chasing the younger kids around pretending to be a sahagin. Eventually, Dalan spoke again. “Penelo, you have been a great help to me over the years, and your devotion to caring for our temple is admirable.”

“Oh, uh, thank you,” she replied, a little unsure of where this was going.

“I was thinking - perhaps you would like to assist me in caring for our guest when he arrives? He will come with guardians, of that I am certain, but communing with Valefor is no easy feat. We must offer whatever support we can, and I trust you to treat such an honoured guest with the respect and kindness that a man of his station deserves. What do you say?”

Penelo didn’t need to think twice - all she wanted to do was to help Spira however she could, even if all she could do was help start a summoner’s pilgrimage off on the right foot. “Of course! I’d be honoured.”

“Very good. I was hoping you would.” The wrinkles around his eyes grew deeper as he smiled. Just as Penelo offered him one in kind, the pair were distracted by the crash of a table falling on its side - Vaan’s games, it seems, had got a bit too rambunctious. The children had chased him straight into the table that had once held the dinner spread, and he’d knocked it onto its side and was currently lying face down in the dirt and sand. As Migelo, the mayor of Besaid, gave him a thorough scolding, Old Dalan could only laugh. “I did consider asking Vaan for his assistance, but I believe I have made the correct choice in asking you, don’t you think?”

Penelo chuckled, masking it with her hand. “Maybe. But Vaan’s just as kind as he is crazy.”

“He is indeed. But I suspect a summoner may prefer… gentler company. Vaan, for all his kindness, has lost sight of his faith. He may cause offense were his tongue to slip.”

“You think he’s that bad?”

“Bad, perhaps, is the wrong word for it. He is… disillusioned.”

“He wants Sin gone just as badly as the rest of us,” Penelo said, feeling the need to stick up for her best friend. “Just because he doesn’t believe in all of the teachings anymore doesn’t mean he’s stopped believing altogether. He wouldn’t be rude to a summoner.”

Dalan shook his head. “I prefer not to give him that option. As I have been told, Apprentice Summoner Larsa is very devout in his faith, and I imagine he would not take kindly to any talk of blasphemy. Valefor is difficult to commune with already - were Vaan to upset him with his opposition to Yevon, it may make the process harder than it needs to be.”   

Penelo frowned, casting her gaze to the ground. “I don’t think Vaan could say anything that bad.” A moment of silence passed between them, Penelo pondering on Vaan’s supposed failings. It was true that Vaan had lost his faith in Yevon after Sin’s attack on Besaid, but Dalan wasn’t giving him credit where credit was due. Vaan was no fool, and Penelo was certain he’d know better than to speak out against the church to someone who was only using the teachings for Spira’s gain. In some ways, Dalan’s lack of trust in Vaan soured Penelo’s excitement at being asked to welcome the apprentice summoner - it was as if Dalan hadn’t considered that Penelo may have also questioned her faith.

Yes, she devoted herself to caring for the temple, but it wasn’t out of any affection for Yevon. She cared for the temple because her mother did, and that was that. She doubted Yevon for the same reason Vaan had abandoned it - if Yevon was supposed to save them from Sin, then why had Sin been able to kill her parents? Though she truly valued the summoners, she followed the teachings simply because she saw no other option for herself. Dalan, however, had mistaken that for true belief. 

The air between them had grown uncomfortable, but Penelo wasn’t interested in arguing with Dalan anymore. She told herself to be grateful that he’d given her the opportunity to assist the apprentice summoner, and so she changed the subject accordingly. “What did you say the apprentice summoner’s name was? Larsa?”

“Yes, Larsa. I know little about him beyond his name and his devotion - the message I received from Bevelle was brief,” Dalan explained.

“I guess we’ll find out more about him when he arrives.”

“That we will. And, with any luck, he will walk among us soon.”

Chapter Text

“Pen? Hey, Pen, wake up!”

Slowly, Penelo cracked her eyes open. A sense of dizzy disorientation stole over her - she was certain she wasn’t supposed to be awake right now, and her body and mind begged her to simply shut her eyes and go back to sleep again. But that wasn’t an option, for Vaan sat crouched beside her bed, shaking her shoulder and calling to her in a harsh whisper. And when Vaan wanted something, he wasn’t one to stop until he got it. 

“Penelo? Get up, I’m serious.” In her dazed state, she couldn’t possibly figure out what had got Vaan so excited - he didn’t sound stressed or upset, so she figured it wasn’t that important… “Penelo!”

He really wasn’t giving her any other choice. Penelo gave a low groan, batting Vaan’s hand away with a limp slap. “Wha…?”

“There’s a summoner outside! He just turned up out of nowhere!” 

“Oh… That’s nice…” With a small yawn, Penelo rolled onto her other side and settled her head back against her pillow. Then it hit her. Summoner. Outside. Now. Her eyes snapped open, and she bolted upright so quickly that a small bevvy of stars started to dance on the edge of her vision. “Wait - say that again?”

“There’s a summoner outside,” Vaan repeated, his voice raised with disbelieving excitement. I didn’t think he was a summoner, but Reddas reckons he is, and-”

“How long has he been here?” Penelo asked, scrambling out of her bedroll and rushing to the dresser so she could change into something more respectable than the singlet and shorts she slept in. This had to be the summoner Old Dalan had asked her to look after - if he’d been here all morning and she hadn’t been there to greet him when she was supposed to, she’d be mortified. 

Vaan eased himself down to sit on the floor, watching as Penelo dressed clumsily in her haste. “You don’t need to freak out - he only just got here. Old Dalan’s talking to him now.”

“I’m supposed to be there with him!” Penelo cried, tripping over herself as she shoved one leg through the short pants of her green and orange romper. “He asked me to help him look after the summoner! Yevon’s mercy…”

“Don’t worry about it, seriously. It’s like, not even seven o’clock. No ones gonna blame you for sleeping in.”

“I blame me,” she grumbled in reply, swiftly fixing her blonde hair in braids once she’d finished dressing. “Could you pass me my sandals?”

Vaan obliged, throwing them so that they clattered to the floor in front of her rather than landing in her outstretched hands. She was far too distracted by the quickened beating of her heart and the sweat beading on her brow to scold him for his clumsiness, opting to simply shove her feet into her sandals and adjust them on her way out. Fleeing from the room, she threw aside the curtain that separated her room from the living area of the hut she shared with Vaan and Reddas. She didn’t even notice that her caretaker was standing in the common area as she rushed out into the village, and she couldn’t stop to admire the pale purple glow of dawn over Besaid as she sprinted to the village centre.

Just as Old Dalan came into view, Penelo skidded to a halt, hovering behind one of the huts surrounding the village centre so she could compose herself. Certain she wasn’t visible from where Dalan stood speaking to the summoner and his party, Penelo took a moment to get a good look at the newcomers before she approached. 

She was expecting Apprentice Summoner Larsa to be some grand, stately old man, swathed in complex layers of brightly coloured robes and his face obscured by a long white beard. He’d wield a staff weathered with age yet made strong by its usage, and his voice would be low and wizened just like Dalan’s. But the summoner who stood before Dalan was no more than a child, his round face clear and youthful, and his stature almost comically small. Yet he held himself just as Penelo had expected that older figure of her imagination would - posture stiff and straight, holding Dalan’s gaze with steady eyes, his lips set in a thin, serious line. 

Penelo couldn’t help but stare. With his two adult guardians flanking either side, both dressed in the armour of a warrior monk, he looked so small it almost broke her heart. For someone so young to have such a responsibility placed on their shoulders - it wasn’t right.

“So whaddya reckon? Think he can beat Sin?” Penelo started at the whisper of Vaan’s voice at her shoulder, too dismayed at the sight of Larsa to notice that he’d followed her. The cruelty of a child summoner seemed lost on him - he was eyeing Larsa up like he was a spectacle to be gawked at, his blue-grey eyes lit up with curiosity. 

“I… I don’t know.” Penelo glanced at Vaan for a brief moment before turning her attention back to Larsa. He was speaking to Dalan now, and though he was too far away for Penelo to understand what he was saying, the morning was quiet enough for her to recognise the clear, practiced tones of a Bevelle accent. “He seems kinda young, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah - how old do you reckon he is, ten?” Vaan suggested, swiping his finger across his top lip. “That’s kinda crazy if he is.”

“Crazy’s one word for it.”

“Anyway, aren’t you supposed to go say hi to him? That’s why you were in such a rush, right?” Vaan asked, and Penelo gave a short nod.

After quickly smoothing down her hair, Penelo started towards the party at the front of the village. As she approached, she caught the attention of Larsa’s guardians. The one to his right, an older woman with greying brown hair, angled her furrowed gaze towards her in suspicious curiosity. The other, a younger man with short blonde hair, remained motionless, and the quick dart of his hazel eyes in her direction was Penelo’s only indication that he’d seen her at all. It was only when Penelo arrived at Dalan’s side that he saw fit to introduce her, and she bowed low in a greeting prayer as he did so.

“Ah, I would like you to meet Penelo. She is a great help to me and, in time, I trust she will be of similar assistance to you.”

Larsa lifted his gaze to meet her own, and he studied her with measured curiosity before he spoke. “Tis a pleasure to meet you, Penelo. My name is Larsa, and these are my guardians - Drace and Gabranth.”

“It’s, uh, a pleasure to meet you too,” Penelo replied, trying her best to smile even though the whole interaction made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Speaking to a summoner was nerve-wracking enough, but her discomfort with Larsa’s age only made the whole thing feel worse. Nevertheless, she maintained her plastered smile. “Welcome to Besaid - I’m sorry hardly anyone’s awake to greet you.”

“It’s no trouble - we arrived far earlier than we anticipated, and we’d hate for anyone to lose sleep on our account,” Larsa replied, his voice not yet broken. “But Father Dalan has made us feel very welcome indeed, and we thank you for your hospitality.”

“Now now, my boy, there is no need for such formalities,” Dalan chided, shaking his head as he did so. “Few people call me ‘Father’ nowadays, and I prefer it that way.”

Larsa bowed his head, ever serious. “My sincerest apologies.”

“Nor is there any need for apologies - you have done no wrong. Now, shall we go to the temple? I trust you will require a decent meal before you begin today’s trials.”

The boy looked to his guardians as if for permission. The woman, Drace, gave a steady nod, allowing Larsa to turn back to Dalan with a small smile. “That would be wonderful, thank you.”

Dalan stood back and gestured in the direction of the temple, allowing Larsa and his guardians to pass by first. Penelo shivered at Gabranth’s cold, hazel gaze - he was looking at her as though she was dangerous, like she posed a threat to his young charge. Penelo supposed he was only doing his duty, but that didn’t make it any less uncomfortable. Once the summoner’s party had made it some distance toward the temple, Dalan gestured for him and Penelo to follow suit. As they walked, Penelo couldn’t hold back her concerns.

“You didn’t tell me he was so young,” she said in a hushed whisper, her eyes trained on the trio ahead lest they should hear her.

“I did not tell you because I did not know,” Dalan replied, his voice equally low. “But the teachings do not restrict one’s ability to become a summoner by age. It is a mere coincidence that all our past high summoners have been further along in years.”

“Don’t you think it’s a little unfair?” Penelo asked. “I mean, Kytes is around the same age - can you imagine a kid like him having the fate of the whole world on his shoulders? It’d be way too much for him.”

Dalan shook his head. “But they are not the same. Our Kytes would certainly crumble under the pressure, but as I told you yesterday, Larsa has been preparing for this his entire life. He will not break.”

“His whole life…” Penelo repeated in a mutter. “He’s hardly had a life to begin with.”

“It is not our place to judge. We must simply be grateful for his sacrifice, for he makes it for all of us.”

Penelo pursed her lips - she wanted to fight back, to tell Dalan that it wasn’t fair, but they arrived at the temple before she had the chance. They passed through the entrance archway and into the lowly lit temple hall, their footsteps echoing in the quiet. Though the temple lacked the ostentation of other temples in wealthier parts of Spira, it was a true representation of the humble form of faith practiced by natives of Besaid. A series of tapestries hung on the rounded walls, each one embroidered with Yevon script and simplistic depictions of Valefor. A tall stone staircase led upwards into the cloister of trials, and the staircase was flanked on either side by doorways into Dalan’s quarters on the right, and a communal area on the left. Against the walls of the temple stood statues of Spira’s four previous high summoners, each one progressively wearing with age. High Summoner Raminas’s statue remained as defined as the day it was carved, while High Summoner Raithwall’s grew smoother with every passing year.

In the centre of the hall stood Larsa, craning his neck to gaze upon his predecessors, and a twist of discomfort knotted in Penelo’s stomach. One day, Larsa might join those statues, a child among elders. Every high summoner who’d defeated Sin had been killed in the process - Penelo understood it to be a level of skill, that only a truly great summoner would survive their final battle. Though she’d barely spoken to him, her hope that Larsa might live to see his effigy was so strong it almost surprised her.

Why did she care so much about a boy she barely knew? She’d never see him again once he’d communed with Valefor, and yet she felt an overwhelming need to keep him safe.

“I hope our temple is to your liking, Apprentice Summoner,” said Dalan as he entered. “Although I am afraid we lack the luxuries you may be used to in Bevelle.”

“I think it’s beautiful.” Larsa spoke quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. He then turned to Dalan with a small smile. “But if I am to dispose of your formal title, I insist you do the same with mine.”

Penelo couldn’t ignore the silent exchange that took place between Gabranth and Drace as Larsa spoke. Gabranth sent a wary glance in Drace’s direction, his lids lowered and his brow furrowed, and Drace responded with a short, almost undetectable nod. What it meant, she couldn’t tell - perhaps their responsibility to Larsa was so strong that they had to assess even the smallest of interactions. But in the low light of the temple, with their stern faces hidden in shadows, their watchful eyes seemed more sinister than sensitive. How could Larsa think with them constantly breathing down his neck?

“Very well,” Dalan said, drawing Penelo’s attention back to the conversation at hand. “Now, shall we dine in my quarters?”

“We cannot rest for long.” Gabranth’s voice came low and rough, a perfect fit for his intimidating frame. “The sooner Larsa speaks with Valefor, the better.”

Dalan tilted his head, eyeing Gabranth with a dubious gaze. “Surely a small delay will not harm the progress of the pilgrimage? You cannot expect your charge to walk the length of Spira without respite.”

Gabranth’s stern gaze flared, and he seemed ready to battle Dalan on the subject when Drace stepped out of the shadows, moving towards Larsa and resting her hand on his shoulder. “Dalan is right, Gabranth. It would hardly suit our young lord to speak to Valefor on an empty stomach, and I doubt you would enjoy navigating the temple’s trials while distracted by hunger.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Larsa added, and the summoner and his guardian shared a smile that helped to settle Penelo’s nerves. Dalan gave them one in kind, and he guided the party through the curtains that covered the archway separating the temple hall from his quarters. 

Some of Penelo’s earliest memories were of learning the teachings of Yevon in Dalan’s quarters. There was another common area for the villagers to congregate in, but it lacked the serenity of Dalan’s quarters, which were far better suited for undertaking scholarly pursuits. Granted, it did look more like a study than a bedroom - the bedroll at the far end of the room was the only indicator anyone slept there. Rows upon rows of bookshelves lined the walls, each one crammed with ancient texts, transcribed scriptures, and commentaries on the teachings. A low table sat in the centre of the room, surrounded by an array of colourful cushions to sit on. A small selection of fresh fruit, toast, jams, and a pot of rich black coffee sat in the centre of the table, freshly laid out as if Dalan had anticipated the company. Dalan had decorated the place with colourful tapestries depicting scenes from Spira’s history, and a collection of candles of all different sizes and colours lit the room to warm cosy perfection.

“Take a seat, please,” Dalan said, gesturing to the seating area. His guests did so, and Penelo found herself seated between Dalan and Larsa - or, between comfort and unfamiliarity.

Nerves bubbling in her stomach, Penelo found the thought of eating any of the spread in front of her an unpleasant one. She didn’t know why she was so nervous - perhaps it was the presence of a summoner or the fact that Gabranth always seemed to be watching her even when his gaze was elsewhere. Regardless of the reason for her nerves, she let them paralyse her, and she sat completely still as those around her began to eat what was offered to them.

Dalan and Drace wasted no time striking up a conversation - Drace was particularly interested in the coffee, and Dalan was more than happy to inform her that the beans were grown and roasted in Besaid. Seemingly inspired by the conversation, Larsa poured himself a small cup of it and lifted it to his lips - and Penelo had to stifle a laugh at the way his face twisted into a scowl of childish displeasure as the bitter liquid hit his tongue. The humour of the situation was enough to loosen her nerves, and so she spoke.

“It’s a little strong, isn’t it?” she asked, and Larsa nodded. Penelo reached for a nearby tray of diced mangoes and placed it in front of him. “Here, you might like this better.”

“Thank you.”

As Larsa slowly chewed on a piece of mango, Penelo helped herself to a few pieces as well. “I’ve never liked coffee that much either if it makes you feel better.”

“It does, a little,” he replied, and a small blush dusted his cheeks - whether it was from the heat of the coffee or the embarrassment of reacting so poorly to it, Penelo couldn’t be sure. “Drace loves it, so I thought it would taste… Nicer.”

“It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure. Though apparently, it’s better if you add milk to it. But we don’t really do that here.”

“I see.” They sat in silence for a while, giving Penelo enough time to contemplate the oddity of speaking to a pre-pubescent apprentice summoner about the best way to take coffee at seven in the morning. When Larsa spoke next, he brought with him a change of subject. “Are you a nun, Penelo? Dalan tells me you assist him here.”

Penelo shook her head. “Oh, no. I just help out, that’s all. Nuns have to be way more devoted to Yevon than I am.”

“You’re not strongly devoted, then?”

“No. Not strongly, anyway.”

“But you still follow the teachings?” Larsa asked. “You must if you work at the temple.”

Not particularly wanting to weigh down Larsa’s morning with her less than glowing thoughts about Yevon, Penelo simply nodded. “Of course I do - everyone follows the teachings in one way or another. Well, except for the Al-Bhed, but they’re different.”

Larsa gave a low hum at that, his lips thinning out into the same frown he’d worn when Penelo first saw him. “I don’t think they’re so different.”

That was odd - usually, devoted Yevonites would jump at the chance to speak slander of the Al-Bhed, a race of Spirans who were notorious for ignoring the teachings in favour of their own ideas and values. But here was Larsa - who, according to Dalan, was so devoted to Yevon that even an off-hand comment from Vaan was supposed to upset him - saying something nice about the Al-Bhed. As someone who’d never quite agreed with the persecution of the Al-Bhed herself, Penelo couldn’t help but feel there was more to Larsa than the sheltered pawn of Yevon she’d originally feared him to be.

Perhaps he was better prepared to save Spira than she’d given him credit for - in more ways than one.

Before she could quiz him further on the subject, Dalan turned his gaze in Larsa’s direction. “I must say, I am impressed with you, Larsa.”

“You are?”

“I am. I appreciate the efforts of every summoner, of course, but to take on a pilgrimage at such an age… It is an impressive sacrifice, and one I imagine not every child would be prepared to make.”

At this, Drace interjected. “Larsa’s age does not define him, Father. I do not believe devotion to Yevon and the well-being of all Spirans should be limited by youth.”

“Of course. But several children in our village would not be… Forgive me, but they would not be so selfless,” Dalan said, a rough chuckle in his voice. “Age may not define you, Larsa, but you are a credit to your fellow children.”

Larsa offered a smile at this, but it failed to reach his eyes, and the smile itself was tight and practiced. Penelo cast her gaze down to her plate - perhaps she wasn’t the only one uncomfortable with Larsa’s age.

The meal did not last for long after that. Almost as soon as Larsa had finished his plate, Gabranth rose to his feet - even though his steaming cup of coffee sat half full in front of him. “We must go. Larsa?”

The summoner in question gave a small nod. “Yes… Thank you for the meal, Dalan.”

“I am glad you enjoyed it.” Slowly, Dalan rose on shaky, aged legs and started shuffling back out into the hall. The party followed suit, with Gabranth walking ahead and overtaking Dalan with a stride that spoke more of rudeness than of confidence. But then, Penelo supposed, Gabranth didn’t seem like the type who liked to take things slowly.

Penelo hung back at the end of the group, watching from the shadows as they proceeded towards the tall staircase that led up to the cloister of trials. In all her days spent serving the temple, she’d never once set foot in the cloister - access to it was reserved for summoners and their guardians. Not even Dalan was allowed to enter, despite his authority. Perhaps to block out the thoughts of what unknown dangers might await the young summoner inside, Penelo could only focus on how dusty it must be in there.

Gabranth was the first to step up to the cloister’s entrance. Once he’d reached the landing, he turned back to face his charge. “Are you ready?”

“I am.” Larsa said it without hesitation, his lips set in a frown of steely determination. Lifting the hem of his robes, Larsa followed Gabranth up the stairs, and Drace went after him as the door to the trials opened up, the grind of stone against stone echoing against the rounded temple walls. 

Penelo could only see darkness behind the door, and nerves once again began to twist in her stomach. It wasn’t like she was going into the cloister herself, but as Gabranth vanished into that shadowy darkness, the whole thing started to unnerve her. There was so much mystery surrounding the practices of summoners, and what exactly happened between them and the Fayth remained a secret known only to them. Perhaps if she knew what lay in store for Larsa, she’d feel better about him following Gabranth into that nebulous darkness.

So, just before Larsa took his first step into the cloister, Penelo called out to him: “Good luck!”

He turned to look down at her, his grim determination replaced with mild surprise. But then their eyes met, and he smiled, nodded his thanks, and vanished into the cloister with Drace at his side. As the heavy stone door ground shut, Penelo and Dalan stood silent in the now-empty hall, the low crackle of the torches the only sound breaking through the silence.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Penelo asked after a while, her gaze still fixed on the cloister door.

“We will know soon enough,” Dalan replied, but his voice was low - perhaps all that warmth and hospitality was just a cover-up for the fact that he felt just as nervous as Penelo did. “The first communion with Valefor takes some time. We may not see them again until tomorrow.”

Penelo frowned. “So we just have to wait?”

“We must. For now, that is all we can do.”      

Chapter Text

Hours passed without a sign of Larsa or his guardians. Penelo knew she shouldn’t expect to see them again today, Dalan having explained to her that the first communion was a slow and draining task for even the most well-prepared summoner, but she couldn’t help but worry. It didn’t help that she and Dalan had to stay at the temple until Larsa emerged as part of their duty to him - with nothing else to distract her, Penelo’s thoughts had nowhere else to go. The only respite came when the children arrived at the temple for their daily lesson in Yevon’s teachings, but even then it was a weak one. Everyone on the island knew that a summoner was in their midst, and it was all the children wanted to talk about.

Hearing Dalan spend two hours educating the children about a summoner’s pilgrimage - the immense effort it took to commune with and summon the aeons, how every summoner who had taken on Sin had died along with it - it was almost too much for Penelo to handle. So, when Vaan and Reddas arrived in the late afternoon with some refreshments, Penelo couldn’t be more thankful.

“We figured you’d be here for a while,” Vaan explained as he handed Penelo a wrap filled with rice and barbecued meat. “Thought you might need this to keep your strength up.”

“You’ve got no idea,” Penelo replied, taking a seat on the temple floor and biting into her wrap. It was delicious - the rice was fluffy, the wrap was still warm, and the meat was perfectly spiced. “I’ve been eating mangoes and drinking coffee pretty much all day.”

Vaan grinned. “No wonder you’re so edgy.”

“I am not edgy!”

“You so are - you were pacing all over the place when we arrived, wasn’t she, Reddas?”

Penelo glanced up at Reddas, the older man leaning against the temple wall, his tanned, muscular arms folded over his broad chest. His lips, framed by long white sideburns, curled into a smile. “You did seem a little testy.”

Blowing out a sigh, Penelo took another bite of her wrap. “Well, I bet if you were in my position, you’d be testy too.”

Vaan shrugged, and he took a cross-legged seat beside Penelo. “I dunno - I reckon I could handle babysitting a summoner pretty well.”

“But that’s the thing - a summoner shouldn’t be young enough to need babysitting!” Penelo complained, gesturing wildly with her free hand. “I mean, nobody seems to notice how messed up that is!”

“He’s got guardians to look after him though, right?” Vaan asked, and Penelo nodded.

“Yeah, but that’s not the point-”

“Did you find out how old he is?”

“No, but-”

“He’d be twelve, I should say.” Penelo and Vaan turned their gazes towards Reddas, whose contribution to the conversation was a rather unexpected one.

Vaan frowned, tipping his head. “How’d you know that?”

“I remember him from Bevelle,” Reddas explained. “He was just a boy when I left, and that must be six years ago now. So he would be twelve years old.”

“Twelve…” Penelo murmured. “Well, he’s older than I thought, but still…”

“The summoner I guarded was far from long in the tooth himself, you know,” Reddas said, his voice laced with reassurance. “If memory serves, he was only sixteen. Younger than the pair of you.”

“But it’s only the old geezers who are strong enough to actually beat Sin, right?” Vaan asked, glancing around at the statues that surrounded them, all four of them bearing faces carved deep with wrinkles. “So they’re the only ones that should bother going on a pilgrimage.”

“Don’t say that,” Penelo snapped, bristling at the suggestion that Larsa’s sacrifice was in vain. “Dalan told me earlier that age doesn’t define a summoner’s success.”

Again, Vaan looked up at the statues of the high summoners that surrounded them. “Well, I don’t see Reddas’s summoner up there.”

Penelo’s heart skipped a beat - perhaps Dalan was right about not letting Vaan help welcome Larsa since he’d just spoken about the death of Reddas’s summoner so flippantly. That boy that Reddas guarded - he’d given up his life in a failed battle against Sin, and yet Vaan dared to talk about it as if it meant nothing. She knew Vaan had lost his faith in Yevon and the summoners, but to be so cruel… Suddenly her wrap didn’t seem so appealing anymore.

And yet, Reddas was smiling. “No, you certainly don’t.”

Before the topic could be explored any further, the door to Dalan’s study swung open, and the man himself came shuffling out. His eyes lit up at the sight of Reddas, but when he laid them on Vaan, the light died. “Ah, I did not realise we had visitors.”

“We’re just here to bring Penelo some food - want some?” Vaan asked, holding up his small bag of provisions.

Dalan held his hand up. “No thank you, my boy. I’m afraid today’s events have left me with a rather stagnant appetite.”

“You nervous about the summoner?” Vaan asked, helping himself to a piece of fruit from his bag. “I thought you’d seen tonnes of summoners pass through here.”

“I have indeed - but not all are successful. Those who succeed in communing with Valefor’s Fayth are exhausted by it, but failing to connect with her is more draining still. She is a discerning creature, and she will know if she likes a summoner sooner than if she dislikes them.”

Penelo frowned. “But it’s still gonna take all day?”

“If she were to reject Larsa, it may be two days before we see him again.”

“Geez…” Vaan linked his hands against the back of his head, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling. “So I guess it’s bad news if he’s a no-show tomorrow morning?”

Dalan nodded. “I am afraid so. We must pray for his success, and hope that-”

Before Dalan could finish, the scrape of stone against stone echoed throughout the hall, stopping his words in their tracks. All eyes flew upwards to the cloister doors as they opened, and Penelo’s breath stuck fast in her throat at the sight of Gabranth stepping solemnly out of the darkness, Larsa limp, pale, and unconscious in his arms.

“So soon…” Dalan muttered, but Penelo paid him no mind - she hurried to meet Gabranth at the bottom of the stairs, heart hammering in her chest.

“Is he okay? What happened?” she asked, her words nearly incomprehensible in her haste.

Instead of answering her, however, Gabranth turned to Dalan. Dalan’s brown eyes widened, and he took a step forward, shaky even with his cane to support him. “Well? Did Valefor accept him?”

From where she stood, stock still behind Gabranth, the slightest flicker of a smile appeared on Drace’s face. Though Gabranth bore no such expression, he nodded. “She did. He has become a summoner.”

Behind Penelo, Vaan whooped and cheered, and a bright grin broadened on Dalan’s face. But though she knew she ought to be happy, all Penelo could see was the paperwhite pallor of Larsa’s cheeks, and how his dark hair clung to his forehead with sweat. Until she knew he was alright, Penelo would not celebrate, so she asked again - “Is he okay?”

“He will be, with rest,” Drace answered, stepping forward to stand beside her fellow guardian. She glanced down at Larsa for a moment, her eyes softening with concern, before looking back at Penelo. “Is there somewhere quiet he can sleep?”

“Of course. Dalan, can he rest in your study?” Penelo asked, and Dalan nodded. As soon as the affirmative was given, Gabranth started towards the study, his grip on the sleeping summoner tightening as he moved. 

“Thank you, Penelo,” Drace said, bowing her head a little.

“It’s no trouble - he looks really worn out.”

“He is. We may need to rely on your hospitality for some time yet,” Drace said, and then she turned her head to watch as Gabranth vanished through the door of Dalan’s study. “I should be with him.”

“Of course - don’t let me stop you.” Penelo stepped aside, letting Drace walk past and join her party in Dalan’s study. As she walked, Drace’s eyes fell on Reddas, and for a brief moment, her face fell slack as if she’d seen a ghost. Reddas held her gaze with his own, the serious set of his lips a stark contrast to the turbulence that danced behind his eyes. But the exchange ended as soon as it began, with Drace shaking her head and hurrying after Gabranth while Reddas let his gaze fall to the floor. Penelo frowned - had they known each other in Bevelle?

The silence left in Drace’s wake was broken by Vaan’s long, low whistle. “Well, that was kinda unexpected.”

“Unexpected indeed,” Dalan murmured, absentmindedly stroking his long beard with his thin, stiff hand. “Never in my life have I seen a summoner spend such a short time in Valefor’s company.”

“But what does it mean?” Penelo asked, crossing the room to stand beside Vaan. “I mean, Gabranth said his communion with Valefor was successful. What does it matter that he didn’t take that long?”

“That, I cannot say,” Dalan replied. “Perhaps it is a testament to his worth as a summoner?”

“Or maybe Valefor just got bored,” Vaan suggested, but his attempt to lighten the mood fell on deaf ears. 

Dalan tutted and shook his head. “I must think about this further… Penelo, you have done well today. Rest for a moment, and I shall send for you should I need your assistance again.”

Penelo had to admit, after the stress of waiting around in the temple all day, the opportunity to spend a few hours in the fresh air was a welcome one. Though she’d rather stay until she knew that Larsa was going to be alright, she knew that the worst thing they could do was crowd him when he wasn’t well. So, she thanked Dalan for letting her go and left the temple with Vaan and Reddas at her side.

***

It was late when Penelo returned to the temple. Her evening had been pleasant enough - unwinding with a good meal and a game of blitzball on the beach did wonders for the nerves - but she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that she was needed elsewhere. She hadn’t seen Dalan, Drace, or Gabranth since she’d left the temple that afternoon, and their silence was less than reassuring. So, while the rest of the Besaid islanders enjoyed their evening on the beachfront, Penelo trudged her way back to the temple on her own.

It was as she approached the steps leading up to the temple that Penelo saw movement by the door - Dalan’s unmistakably hunched figure standing small next to the imposingly strong silhouettes of Drace and Gabranth. Penelo frowned - why weren’t they with Larsa?

“Ah, Penelo, it is good to see you,” Dalan said as she approached, raising his wiry thin arm to beckon her over. “I am trying to convince Drace and Gabranth to rest, but they are not taking my advice so seriously.”

Gabranth folded his arms across his chest, his armoured gauntlets clinking against his chest plate. “Our duty is to protect Larsa. If we were to leave his side, we would fail in that duty.”

“Of course - but a fatigued guardian is less useful than an absent one. Suppose your charge is placed in peril, and you are too weary to notice until it’s too late, hm?”

“It is not your place to question our competence.”

Dalan raised his hands in surrender. “I question no such thing.” He then turned to Drace, smiling softly at her. “Surely you must see the necessity for rest, no?”

“I do, but Larsa is not well. We will only rest once his well-being is a certainty,” she explained, her measured calm a stark contrast to Gabranth’s confrontational aggravation. 

Penelo spoke before she knew what she was saying. “If you two wanna rest up and get something to eat, I could look after him.”

Gabranth’s reaction was near immediate. “We are not leaving him alone with some silly village girl. How are we to trust her when we barely know her?”

“Gabranth,” Drace snapped, her voice sharp and dripping with authority. “Do you really think Penelo means to harm him? What could she possibly do that could put Larsa in danger, feed him a rotten mango? Use your judgment, Gabranth.”

Dark clouds formed on Gabranth’s face, but he made no effort to reply. Penelo, her cheeks and ears burning with embarrassment, cast her gaze to the ground.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have offered.”

“You needn’t apologise, my girl,” Dalan replied, his voice soft as he rested a gnarled hand on her shoulder. “I believe it is a good idea. You needn’t worry, Gabranth. Penelo is a girl worthy of your trust - I can think of no one better than her to care for your charge this evening.”

“If you trust her, Dalan, then I will share in that trust,” Drace replied. She turned to Penelo, her stern frown giving way to a softened expression of appreciation. “He is still in Dalan’s study. Bring him something to eat, but do not wake him if he is sleeping.”

Penelo nodded, trying her best to ignore the cut of Gabranth’s glare in favour of focusing on Drace. “Okay, I won’t wake him. And if anything happens, I’ll come and get you.”

Drace nodded and, with yet more convincing, she managed to persuade Gabranth to follow her to the beach so they could get some dinner and relax a while. Dalan did the same, although not before helping Penelo put together a small plate of fruit for Larsa lest he wakes and needs refreshment. But after that, Penelo found herself alone in the temple, clinging to the small plate with a trembling hand as she made her way into Dalan’s study.

Truth be told, she hadn’t put much thought into offering to sit with Larsa. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but Gabranth’s distrust of her sabotaged her trust in herself - what if something did happen to Larsa while he was in her care? What if she wasn’t the right person to look after him? It was these thoughts that raged in her mind as she entered the study, and her eyes immediately fell on the bedroll on the far end of the room.

Larsa lay quiet there, just as pale and still as he was when he’d left the cloister, with his hand curled up on the pillow near his brow as he slept. The outer layers of his robes sat folded on one of the chairs, and his staff leaned against one of the bookcases, the small charm that hung from the base of it swaying in the light breeze that blew through the windows. As quietly as she could, Penelo set the plate down on the table, loathing to wake the sleeping summoner lest she should inadvertently incite Gabranth’s wrath. 

With nothing much else to do, Penelo crossed the room to inspect Larsa’s staff. It was an ornate object, the long wooden handle set with thin rings of gold and capped with a small, pale blue gemstone. Sitting atop the gemstone was the staff’s head - a large, circular gold ring with what looked like three gold leaves set in its middle. The orange torchlight shone through the gaps in it, casting a shadow in the shape of a flower across the room. Convinced that Larsa would be asleep for a while yet, Penelo gingerly reached out and took the charm in her hands - it was fairly small, connected to the staff with a braid of deep blue thread, and consisted of a blue gemstone carved into the shape of two snakes coiling around each other. It was cool to the touch, and Penelo couldn’t help but wonder what it represented.

She decided she’d ask Larsa when he woke up, but when she turned to look back down at him, it seemed she wouldn’t have to wait long for that possibility. Larsa was stirring, a small sigh escaping his lips as he cracked his dark eyes open. Penelo stood frozen in place as he slowly sat up, the sheets of the bedroll slipping off of his small frame as he raised his hand to rub at his eyes. At that moment, he looked more tired than anyone Penelo had ever seen, and she suspected it was for that exact reason that he took so long to realise she was there.

When he did, his eyes widened, and for a while the pair of them simply stood there staring at each other, neither of them sure which one should talk first. Eventually, Penelo made the first move: “I, uh… I got you some watermelon.”

Larsa blinked, staring at Penelo a moment longer before lowering his gaze to the plate on the table. He swallowed. “Oh, thank you...”

“You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to,” Penelo blurted out. “If you’re not feeling well still, I can take it away-”

“It’s alright,” he said, his voice still thick with sleep. He furrowed his brow and brought his hand to his head. “Um… I don’t remember…”

“You’re in Dalan’s room,” Penelo explained. “You’ve been asleep all afternoon.”

“Have I…?” Larsa asked, his mind elsewhere. Penelo frowned - was he supposed to be this dazed? She supposed it made sense, since communing with Valefor was so hard and he’d done it so quickly, but she shifted to stand on the balls of her feet in case she needed to run and get help.

“Are you okay?” she asked, leaning forward a little to get a better look at him. “Do you want me to get Drace? Or Gabranth? Or both?”

Larsa shook his head as if to clear it. “No, no, it’s alright. I’m just a little tired… It’s, um, it’s Penelo, isn’t it?”

Penelo nodded. “That’s me. And your name’s Larsa, in case you forgot - what with your head being all foggy.”

The comment had its intended effect - Larsa gave a small laugh, raising his hand to stifle his smile. “Thank you - I’ll be sure to remember that in future. Um, might I have some of that watermelon you mentioned?”

“Oh, sure!” Penelo grabbed the plate off the table and hurried over to him, bending down into a crouch and handing it to him. “Here - I’m glad you’re feeling up to it. How are you feeling, by the way?”

Larsa took a cube of watermelon from the plate and popped it into his mouth, chewing as he thought. “Mostly, I feel worn out. And I can’t… I can’t remember much of what happened after I entered the chamber of the Fayth.”

“Is there anything you can remember?”

His brow furrowed. “I… I heard Valefor’s voice, but I can’t remember a thing she said. And it felt… warm, like something was wrapping me up in its arms, and then...” He blinked slowly. “And then I woke up here.”

“Well, you must have left the chamber at some point. Otherwise, you’d still be in there,” Penelo said. “I mean, Drace and Gabranth could’ve gone in and got you out, but they don’t seem like the type to break the rules.”

“No, they were outside, I remember that much,” Larsa said. “Only… Penelo, did either of them tell you if I’d succeeded?”

Penelo nodded. “Gabranth seemed to think you did. That’s what he told us, anyway.”

Larsa simply sat there, his expression unmoving, his hand hovering over his plate. Then he gave a low sigh of relief, bowing his head and shutting his eyes. “So it was all worth it.”

“All what was worth it?” Penelo asked, tipping her head. Her legs were growing stiff from crouching for so long, so she lowered herself onto her bum so she could sit more comfortably beside him. “Your training?”

“I have been preparing for this moment for my entire life,” he said, though he sounded a million miles away. “Every waking hour of my life, I’ve spent it training myself to speak with Valefor. But I’ve always been so frightened that it wouldn’t work…”

“But it did, so you don’t need to be scared of that anymore, right?” Penelo asked. 

Larsa nodded, and then he smiled at her - a real, bright, genuine smile. “I am a summoner. After all this time.”

“You should be proud of yourself,” Penelo said. Though deep down, the thought of a summoner’s responsibility being placed on someone Larsa’s age still made her feel sick to her stomach, she couldn’t bring herself to say so to his face. Everything in his expression spoke of pure happiness, his joy at finally becoming a summoner breaking through his daze like sunshine through the clouds. She wasn’t about to ruin that. “Do you want me to get your guardians? They’ll be happy to know you’re awake.”

“No. I assume you are here instead of them because they are resting, and I do not want to deprive them of that,” Larsa said, his formal cadence returning now that he had recovered from his daze. “They have just as long a journey ahead of them as I do. I think they tend to forget that.”

“Gabranth was pretty difficult to get rid of,” Penelo said. “You must be glad to have someone so dedicated on your side.”

Larsa set his now empty plate on the floor beside him. “I am grateful for their protection. I have known they were to be my guardians since I was young, so I have always been fond of them. Father always made sure I spent time with them growing up, so I would learn to trust them when the time of my pilgrimage came.”

“You must be pretty close, then,” Penelo replied. She’d seen it that morning, when Drace and Larsa had exchanged that smile at Gabranth’s expense - they communicated so much with that one look that they didn’t need to say anything. But for Drace and Gabranth to grow so fond of this child, only to lead him to his potential death in Zanarkand... The cruelty of it seemed lost on Larsa. Penelo didn’t want to outright tell him she disagreed with his pilgrimage, but she still wanted to understand it. Maybe, if she learned why Larsa was undertaking such an ordeal, it would start to make sense. “So, this whole pilgrimage thing has kinda been around your whole life, right?”

“It has. There were moments during High Summoner Raminas’s Calm where I thought I might be able to relent on my preparations, but my father insisted I continue. With Sin back so soon, I am glad he kept me going.”

“Right… So, when did it all start? Like, how old were you when you started studying to be a summoner?”

Larsa’s gaze dropped to his hands. “I have known my destiny is to defeat Sin for as long as I can remember. When my tutors taught me to read, they taught me the scriptures of Yevon. When they taught me to walk, it was so I would be able to walk the length of Spira to Zanarkand. When I say I have been training to become a summoner for my whole life, I do not say so lightly, for it is the only life I’ve ever known.”

Penelo could picture him - a small child, no more than five or six, poring over the scriptures the way Dalan did in his old age, with the same level of devotion and understanding. She compared that image with her own childhood, which was a lazy idyll of dancing and blitzball and warm summer evenings swimming in the sea, with nothing to worry about but what she’d eat for dinner each night. She remembered hearing stories of Sin attacking cities and villages throughout Spira, and she was older than Larsa was now when Sin murdered her parents - she couldn’t imagine feeling such an intense fear while knowing that, one day, she’d have to fight Sin head-on. How it hadn’t driven Larsa mad, she couldn’t understand.

She could only frown, looking at him through a furrowed brow. “Do you ever wish it wasn’t that way? That you could’ve had a normal childhood?”

A moment of heavy silence passed between them as Larsa thought. When he gave his answer, he gave it with conviction. “I gave up my childhood so that the children of Spira might be able to enjoy theirs without fear. I think the sacrifice is worth it, don’t you?”

Penelo swallowed as Larsa looked into her eyes, the intensity of his gaze almost frightening. Rather selfishly, Penelo wanted to say no, though she knew Larsa was right. She’d give up everything if it meant she could still have her parents with her, and yet, faced with Larsa’s soft, unbroken voice speaking of his unwavering devotion to killing himself, she found herself unsure. 

So, as Larsa waited patiently for an answer, Penelo found she could not give it.

***

Going to bed that night, Penelo had expected to get no sleep at all. Her mind was all abuzz with activity, the events of her day flashing through her brain at a million miles an hour. Yet, when her head hit the pillow, her excitement swiftly gave way to exhaustion, and she woke the next morning feeling far more refreshed than she expected. 

She awoke to the sound of birdsong, and to the smell of rich black coffee drifting through the air. Sitting up, she stretched her arms upwards before letting them fall back to her sides, and, after rubbing her eyes to clear the sleep from them, she rose to her feet and padded out to the living area.

From the rays of bright light that streamed through the windows, Penelo assumed Vaan and Reddas must have let her sleep in. It was a good call on their part - she had an early start yesterday, and she’d sat up with Larsa late into the night until Drace and Gabranth returned to relieve her of her duties. Had she woken up when she usually did, just after sunrise, she doubted she’d feel as fresh as she did.

The scene she walked in on was a peaceful one. Reddas sat at the table in the centre of the room, sipping his coffee and chatting away to Vaan, who was spreading a frightening amount of jam onto a burnt slice of toast. When she appeared in the doorway, Vaan greeted her with a grin. “Morning, Pen!”

“Hey,” she replied, joining her family at the table. She shot a narrow-eyed glance at Vaan. “You’ll give yourself a cavity with all that jam, y’know.”

Vaan shrugged before taking a bite. “It’s worth it.”

Penelo rolled her eyes at him but paid him no more mind as she reached for the fruit bowl in the centre of the table. As she picked up a banana and started to peel it, Reddas turned his attention to her. “I suppose Dalan will want you back at the temple today?”

“Maybe. Things with Larsa seem pretty under control, though,” she replied. “He was feeling a lot better last night.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Though I’m afraid he still bewilders Dalan,” he said, a small laugh in his voice. “He can’t quite comprehend that anyone’s communion with Valefor would go so smoothly, let alone a boy his age.”

“Did it go smoothly, though? He kinda looked like a wreck when he left the cloister,” Vaan asked, his mouth half-full with toast.

Wrinkling his nose slightly at the poor manners of his charge, Reddas nodded. “Compared to the summoners who came before him, his performance has been quite remarkable. You’ll remember High Summoner Raminas himself took a day to emerge from the cloister, and longer still to recover.”

“That’s because he was, like, a million years old,” Vaan remarked with a grin, eliciting a sigh from Reddas. Penelo chose to ignore him.

“But it’s a good thing that Larsa’s good at what he does, right?” she asked. “I mean, he might be strong enough to beat Sin and survive.”

For a brief moment, Reddas’s gaze clouded, but then the delicate jingle of wind chimes outside caught his attention before he could say any more on the matter. Every hut in Besaid had a wind chime attached to the front gate, and their gentle song was a sign that someone was approaching the hut. Vaan twisted in his seat to peer out the window, craning his neck in a failed attempt to see who was approaching.

“I wonder who it is?” he asked, turning back to his companions.

“Might be Dalan - I’ll go.” Disposing of her banana skin in a nearby bin, Penelo wiped her hands on her pyjama shorts before hurrying out the front door. 

As soon as she saw the tall, imposing figure of Drace striding down the path to the front door, Penelo froze in her tracks. Of Larsa’s two guardians, she’d warmed the most to Drace, but she still managed to inspire a sense of intimidating awe that reminded Penelo of her own inferiority. Her face bore lines of age and experience, and her brown hair was laced with grey, but underneath her finely crafted armour and dark navy tunic was a body sculpted with wiry muscle, a pillar of strength compared to Penelo’s scrawny frame. Her boots clanked as she approached, and Penelo wondered if she ought to stand to attention and salute.

“Good morning, Penelo,” Drace said, her refined Bevelle accent clipped as she came to a stop a few feet away from her. “I trust you slept well.”

Penelo nodded, and she swallowed to relieve the dryness in her throat. “I did, thanks. How’s Larsa? And, um, how are you?”

“I am well, thank you, and Larsa is too,” Drace replied. Though she maintained the stern set of her mouth, her eyes softened ever so slightly at the mention of her charge. “I am glad you asked after him - for he is the reason I have come to see you.”

“You- you came to see me?” Penelo stammered, blinking in surprise. 

“I have. You made a good impression on him last night,” Drace started. “He tells me you were very kind to him, and he is not one to take kindness for granted.”

Shifting on her feet, Penelo ducked her head. “I was only doing what was asked of me.”

“As I recall, you offered your help without hesitation - not just to Larsa, but to Gabranth and I as well. Selflessness, even in such small quantities, is an admirable trait for a guardian.” 

“Thanks, but- Wait, did-did you say guardian?” Penelo asked, her heartbeat starting to quicken.

Drace nodded. “I did. Larsa has requested that you join him on his pilgrimage as his guardian - do you accept?

Chapter Text

Penelo’s parents had always excelled at giving advice. It seemed that, for every challenge she faced and for every decision she had to make, her mother and father would always know exactly which direction to guide her. They would never make any decisions for her, but they’d give her gentle pushes in the right direction, always making sure that every choice she made was in her best interest. Now, with the prospect of a pilgrimage placed in her lap, she needed their advice more than ever.

She hadn’t intended to return to the memorial, but her feet had guided her there regardless. In her logical mind, she knew it was ridiculous - her parents were gone, and a nicely carved stone pillar wasn’t going to help her. And yet, in her heart, she hoped that through contemplating on the stone she might be able to speak to them. Perhaps, out there on the vast Farplane, they could still hear her and guide her just as they always had.

Sitting with her back against the pillar, Penelo could only think.

Larsa wanted her to be his guardian. They’d only spoken twice, and now he wanted her to take him to Zanarkand where he may very well meet his end. When Drace had informed her of his request, her first instinct was to reject it outright - she was already perturbed by Drace and Gabranth taking on the task, so to do the very same herself would be too much. Could she live with herself if Larsa died in his battle against Sin? Could she live with herself if she was the one who led that sweet kid to his execution? She doubted it.

And yet, something inside of her had made her hesitate, had made her ask Drace for some time to think about it rather than shutting her down. Was it hope? Larsa had already proven himself to be a capable summoner - perhaps that capability was a sign of things to come. That he might become the first high summoner to beat Sin and survive was a dream that had danced in Penelo’s consciousness ever since Dalan had suggested that his talent was unorthodox. Better still, perhaps his strength would keep Sin down for longer, bringing a Calm to Spira that may last for decades - perhaps even centuries. If that were to be the outcome, then Penelo’s trepidation would swiftly give way to honour. 

Larsa, like all summoners before and after him, was Spira’s greatest hope. She thought back to her conversation with Vaan the other day, and how she’d told him that she’d only leave Besaid if she had a worthwhile reason. To keep that hope safe, to ensure that such a Calm would happen - that seemed pretty worthwhile to her.

But how likely would it be for such a power to rest in the hands of a twelve-year-old boy?

Bringing her knees to her chest, Penelo wrapped her arms around her legs and lowered her head. Squeezing her eyes shut, her heart ached for some kind of sign from her parents - the brush of her father’s hand against her shoulder or the whisper of her mother’s voice on the breeze. But all she could hear was the caw of the birds, the distant rolling of the waves on the beach, and the sound of footsteps crunching in the dirt.

Glancing upwards, Penelo offered a weak smile at Reddas as he approached. “Hey.”

“I did wonder if you’d come up here,” he said, and he took a seat on the same stone Vaan had sat on just a few days earlier. “You seek counsel from your parents?”

Penelo nodded. “Not that it’s doing me any good.”

“I doubt that. Souls on the Farplane have a stronger connection to this world than we know - it would not surprise me if they could hear you still,” Reddas said. “I suppose you want their advice on whether you should undertake the pilgrimage?”

“Yeah. I just… They always knew what to say, y’know?” Slowly, Penelo rose from the dirt and joined Reddas on the stone, perching on the edge of it. “I feel like, if they were still here, I could feel more confident about what I want to do.”

“And what do you want to do?”

Penelo turned her gaze towards her hands, which sat in her lap in a nervous heap. “I don’t know - I want to go because it’s an honour to join a summoner on their pilgrimage, but then I don’t want to because I don’t think this pilgrimage should be happening in the first place.”

“Why is that?”

“He’s a kid, Reddas. A kid shouldn’t be expected to beat Sin. It’s not fair.”

Reddas gave a slow nod, and a low hum escaped his lips. A moment of silence passed between them before he turned his gaze to the memorial. “I understand your trepidation, and I must admit I share in it. Larsa may have already proven himself to be powerful, but at his age, that power can only go so far. But he has volunteered to defeat Sin at a time when few others will. If our only hope of salvation lies in the hands of a child, then that is simply the way it has to be.”  

She knew Reddas was right - at the end of the day, Sin was an evil that needed to be defeated no matter the cost. It didn’t matter whether the summoner who did so was a child or an elder, so long as they succeeded. Nevertheless, it still pained her. “But there are so many other adult summoners out there who’ve had a chance to live a proper life before going on their pilgrimage. Why can’t we let Larsa do the same before he goes to Zanarkand? You said you knew him in Bevelle - why are they making him do this?”

“I don’t believe anyone’s ‘making’ him do anything. But as to why he’s chosen to take this path, I cannot say.”

A fire of indignation sparked in her belly, and Penelo shot to her feet before rapidly beginning to pace, kicking up dust behind her. “I don’t think he even had a choice in the first place. Has anyone asked whether he actually wants to do this? Or is he just going along with it because it’s all he knows? Do you think he even knows what he’s doing?”

“I think he knows exactly what he’s doing,” Reddas remarked, maintaining the calm that was slipping through Penelo’s fingers. “And, though it may seem cruel to you, Larsa’s limited upbringing will aid him in the end. His single-minded dedication is what will make him a great summoner.”   

“So what, he’s just supposed to be some brainwashed puppet who’ll do whatever Yevon tells him to?” Penelo asked, her voice growing louder as the fire within grew hotter. “He’s better than that! Do you know what he said to me yesterday? That the Al-Bhed aren’t so different from us. When did you ever hear a brain-dead Yevonite say that? He’s a smart kid who can see past all of Yevon’s stupid prejudices and think for himself, but no one’s letting him!”

Reddas remained passive, but the tiniest of smiles tugged at the corner of his lips. “So, will you go with him on his pilgrimage?”

“Yes! And by the time we get to Zanarkand, we’ll have figured out how to beat Sin so that he can survive and live the life he actually wants!”

As Penelo stood there, breathing hard from her outburst, Reddas’s small smile bloomed wider. “And there you have your answer.”

*** 

As Penelo walked to the temple, she did so with confidence that she hadn’t felt in a long time. For the first time since her parents died, she knew exactly what she was going to do with her life - she was going to save Spira from Sin, but she was going to save Larsa as well. Her conversation with Reddas had made everything so much clearer. Before, her mind was a muddle of anger and conflict and complacency, but now she knew exactly how she felt. Larsa needed to defeat Sin, but he needed to live a life of his own too. He needed to survive his battle with Sin - and Penelo was going to help him do that. 

She only needed to figure out how.

At the base of the temple steps stood Drace, and she perked up when she saw Penelo’s strident approach. “Have you made your decision?”

“I have - but can I talk to Larsa first?”

“Of course. He is still in Dalan’s study.” 

Penelo nodded her thanks, but as she hurried up the steps, Drace called her name. Halting at the top, she turned to glance back at her. “Yeah?”

“You may find that Gabranth will not be so pleased that you are joining us. Bear that in mind when you speak to him.”

Somehow, she figured that would be the case. After reassuring Drace she’d be careful, she carried on through to the temple. Making a beeline to the study, Penelo found Gabranth and Larsa seated around the table in the centre of the room, Larsa sitting with his back to her. In a rare moment of vulnerability, a small smile was dancing on Gabranth’s lips as he spoke to the young summoner, but he dropped it as soon as his eyes fell on Penelo. To see what had interrupted Gabranth’s conversation, Larsa turned his head, and he hopped to his feet as soon as he saw Penelo standing in the doorway.

“Penelo! I was not expecting to see you so soon - Drace told me she informed you of my request, but you must feel no pressure to make a-”

“I’ve made my decision.” Penelo’s voice was firm, carrying the heavy weight of her choice. “But I want to talk to you about it first - I’ve got a couple of questions.”

Larsa gave a short nod, and when he spoke it was with a light frenzy of excitement. “Of course. Anything you need.”

“Great. Can we talk in private?” Penelo’s gaze shifted past Larsa and landed on Gabranth, whose eyes narrowed at the suggestion.

“I am wary of letting Larsa hear anything that cannot be shared with his guardians.”

Penelo swallowed - she knew for certain that she couldn’t say what she wanted to say in front of Gabranth. He’d think her ideas about altering the outcome of the pilgrimage would be no less than blasphemy, and he’d hardly let Larsa travel around Spira with a heathen. So she changed her tune, deciding she’d wait until she got a moment alone with Larsa to tell him of her real intentions.

“I was just wondering why you want me to come, that’s all,” she asked. It was a question she was planning on asking regardless of whether Gabranth was there or not. In hindsight, she was glad she had such a harmless question up her sleeve. “I mean, it’s not as if we’ve talked all that much. And I am just a silly village girl, after all.”

Gabranth visibly bristled at his earlier description of Penelo being used against him, but the reference sailed right over Larsa’s head. He took a moment to formulate his answer, the orange torchlight dancing in his grey eyes as he thought.

“I enjoy your company - is that not reason enough?”

Penelo started - she’d been wracking her brains trying to figure out why Larsa wanted her to be his guardian, but the possibility that he simply liked her had never crossed her mind. To her, it wasn’t reason enough. But then again, even though Larsa spoke and behaved like his elders, he was still a child, and children acted on impulse.

She rubbed the back of her neck. “I guess so. I just thought it took more than that to be a guardian, that’s all.”

“It does,” Gabranth said, his tone curt. 

“Nevertheless, I would still like you to join us,” Larsa reiterated, sending Gabranth a scolding glare before fixing his gaze back up at Penelo. “You must feel no pressure to accept, of course. I understand that it is a large responsibility, and I would hate to impose.”

“You’re not imposing - I’m honoured that you asked me,” Penelo said, wanting to set him at ease. “It’s just a little unexpected.”

A small blush stained Larsa’s cheeks. “You are correct that we have little more than friendship between us - and I hope I may call it that. Please, forgive me for asking too much-”

“You don’t need to be sorry,” Penelo was quick to reassure him. “I want to be your guardian. I really do.”

“You do?” Larsa asked, his lips parting in surprise. 

Penelo nodded. “I wouldn’t say I wanted to if I didn’t, right?”

As Larsa broke out beaming, Gabranth’s expression darkened, his gaze dropping to his hands where they rested on the table. Drace was right - he wasn’t happy at all. But, Penelo supposed, Gabranth would just have to put up with it. It was Larsa’s pilgrimage, after all, and if Penelo being there would make it more enjoyable for him, then what did Gabranth’s opinion matter? 

“I am glad to hear that, very glad indeed,” Larsa said, and his smile was infectious. “My greatest wish for my pilgrimage is to walk it with friends.”

It didn’t feel strange for Larsa to refer to them as friends. Though she didn’t know him very well, she still felt a connection with him, like he was a kindred spirit. Perhaps she’d warmed to him because, through his sympathy for the Al-Bhed, he’d displayed a subtle defiance of Yevon that so mirrored Penelo’s own thoughts. Perhaps it was the visceral wave of sympathy that had rolled over her when she first met him and learned he was a child summoner. Or perhaps it was as simple as Larsa’s reason for inviting her to be his guardian - she enjoyed his company.

“Well, I have always wanted to see more of Spira,” Penelo said, once again coating her reasoning with pleasantries. 

“This is no pleasure trip,” Gabranth snapped, and all eyes fell on him as he rose from the table. He stepped closer to Penelo, and she had to crane her neck to look into his eyes. “The road to Zanarkand is paved with dangers, and Drace and I have been training to undertake this journey for as long as Larsa has, if not longer. We can fight any fiend thrown in our path - can you?”

Penelo swallowed - her battle experience extended to simple spars with Vaan and the odd bout of training against the fiends that roamed the more deserted parts of the island. But she wasn’t about to let Gabranth know that. “I can handle myself.”

“Prove it.”

“Gabranth,” Larsa cut in, stern and sharp. “I appreciate your concern, but I must ask you to stop. I will not have my guardians bickering aimlessly with each other before my pilgrimage has even begun. Penelo, would you come with me?”

Without waiting for an answer, Larsa took hold of Penelo’s wrist and marched out of the room. Penelo stumbled along behind him, and even when the curtains over the doorway fell shut, she could still feel Gabranth’s gaze burning a hole into the back of her skull. Together, they left the temple and stepped out into the sun, and Larsa let go of her hand once they’d reached the top of the steps. 

Penelo glanced back the way they came. “He hates me, doesn’t he?”

“He doesn’t know you well enough to hate you, but I am sorry.”

“He… He kind of has a point, though. I’m okay with a dagger, but I don’t think I could fight the way he and Drace do.”

With a small sigh, Larsa sat down on the top step and rested his chin in his hands, the voluminous sleeves of his robes slipping down his pale wrists. “I don’t think Gabranth quite understands why I requested you join us.”

“To be honest, I don’t think I understand either. Did you really only ask me because we get along?” Penelo asked, and she took a seat beside him. 

“There is more to being a guardian than keeping a summoner physically safe,” he began, speaking as though he were reading from a textbook. “Guarding a summoner’s mental health is just as important - a summoner must protect Spira from sorrow, and they cannot do so if they fall prey to it themselves. And I thought, were I to have a friend at my side… It would make everything easier.”

Penelo tipped her head to get a better look at him. “Aren’t Drace and Gabranth your friends?”

“They are, but… I feel I cannot relax around them. Though I know they are only doing their duty, their constant vigilance only reminds me that with every step we take, I grow closer and closer to fighting Sin. And I…” But Larsa couldn’t finish, his voice catching in his throat. For the first time since they’d met, the sheen of his maturity began to fade, and he looked every bit the sad and scared little boy that Penelo had suspected him to be.

“That scares you?”

Larsa nodded, and he hung his head, eyelids lowering in an expression of shame. “You must think that incredibly selfish of me.”

“Not at all,” she was quick to reassure him. “If you were selfish, you wouldn’t even consider becoming a summoner. And trust me, if I was in your position, I’d be terrified too.” 

“You would?”

“I think you’d have to be crazy not to be,” Penelo said. “So, if you’re ever feeling scared and just wanna forget it all for a bit, you can talk to me about whatever you want for as long as you want. I might not be able to fight fiends that well, but I can do that at least.”

Larsa didn’t respond at first, and for a moment Penelo worried that she’d said the wrong thing. But when he finally looked up at her, the tiniest of smiles had blossomed on his face. “Thank you.”

***

Besaid was beautiful in the evening, the setting sun silhouetting the lush palm trees against the dusky pink sky. As the islanders gathered for their evening meal, the sound of chatter and excitable laughter wafted through the balmy air, a scene of peace in an otherwise sinister world.

Penelo watched from afar as Larsa spoke with some of the village children, nibbling on a plate of fried fish and she did so. She should have been paying attention to the conversation taking place around her - she, Vaan, Dalan, and Gabranth were sitting together while they ate - but with the oncoming pilgrimage in mind, she couldn’t help but focus all her attention on the boy who’s safety had now been entrusted to her.

He was a contradiction - though he was the same age as most of the children, the way he spoke and presented himself made him seem so much older than he was. And yet, when surrounded by the elders who knew exactly what lay in store for him, he seemed so pitifully youthful. She could only imagine what the likes of Kytes and Filo thought of him as he spoke to them with his practised Bevellian ways; he must have seemed so mature to them, the perfect candidate to save them from Sin. With a small sigh, Penelo leaned back in her chair - Spira’s inconsistencies could be so frustrating sometimes.

“So you’re really leaving?” Vaan drew Penelo from her thoughts, his usually cheerful tones dulled with disappointment. She hadn’t had a chance to tell him she was going on the pilgrimage in person - he must have heard it through the grapevine. It wasn’t surprising - Besaid was so small that gossip spread like wildfire - but it did pain her that Vaan hadn’t heard the news straight from her. She’d do what she could to remedy that now.

Setting her plate down on a nearby side table, she shifted in her seat to face him. “Yeah. I’m not sure when, but soon, I guess.”

“You could've told me that. I had to hear it from Filo.”

That girl and her mouth… How Filo had come to know of Penelo’s impending departure, she had no idea. “I’m sorry about that. I wanted to tell you myself, but today’s been… Well, it’s been kinda crazy.”

“Right.” He didn’t sound convinced, and a sharp ache throbbed in Penelo’s heart. She knew how much Vaan wanted to leave Besaid, to get out and see the world. She’d been the hesitant one, and yet the opportunity had fallen into her lap instead of Vaan’s. It wasn’t fair, and she knew that.

“I wish you could come with us,” Penelo said. “Travelling through Spira won’t be as fun without you.”

Vaan scuffed his shoe in the dirt. “You’ll have Larsa, though.”

“Larsa’s not- Wait, are you jealous?”

Even in the warm evening light, the red blush that stained Vaan’s cheeks and ears was unmistakable. “No.”

“Oh, come on. Two days of friendship with Larsa isn’t enough to replace seventeen years of it with you. There’s nothing to be jealous of - and I’m serious when I said I want you to come with us.” She darted her gaze towards Gabranth, who was pretending to listen to what Dalan was saying while watching over Larsa with his ever keen eye. “I just don’t think I could make that happen.”

“So you’re gonna go journeying all over Spira having the time of your life, while I’m stuck here just because Reddas doesn’t want me going places that Sin might attack? Right, that’s really fair.”

Penelo grimaced - she wanted to smack Vaan around the ears and tell him that no, she wouldn’t be having the time of her life leading Larsa to his execution, but she didn’t want to argue with him during her last days in Besaid. “You don’t have to do what Reddas says, y’know. I didn’t have to get his permission to leave.”

“That’s because you got invited.”

Vaan wasn’t going to budge on his petulance. Maybe that was just what he needed, a bit of time to pout before he started thinking clearly. Nevertheless, Penelo wanted to make him feel better - she hated the idea of leaving Vaan behind in the middle of an argument. “Look, I’ll go talk to him, okay? Just gimme a second.”

Penelo glanced around the village centre, searching for Reddas only to find that he wasn’t among the crowds. Neither was Drace, for that matter - Gabranth had told her that she’d gone to the harbour to check when the next boat was leaving, but she thought she’d be back by now. It was then that Penelo remembered that brief exchange she’d seen between Drace and Reddas, when they’d stared at each other like old friends who hadn’t seen each other in years and thought that they never would. If there was history between them, and neither of them were in the village, then perhaps they were off somewhere together, catching up on old memories. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Penelo turned to Dalan.

“Hey, Dalan, have you seen Reddas?” she asked. She needed to talk to him about Vaan, regardless of anything he was getting up to with Drace.

Dalan nodded. “I believe he went to the harbour. He will be back soon, I imagine.”

Of course he had. After giving her thanks to Dalan, Penelo rose from her seat and hurried out of the village through the jungle path that led to the harbour. To someone unfamiliar with the path, the thick vines, crumbling ruins, and loose sand that characterised Besaid’s landscape would have been treacherous in the low light, but Penelo had been walking this path since she was a little girl. She could’ve made it to the harbour with her eyes closed if she wanted to.  

It seemed, however, that she wouldn’t have to walk as far as she thought. About halfway along the track, she could hear an unmistakable voice drifting through the trees - Reddas. A few steps ahead, she spotted Reddas and Drace hidden within one of the ancient machina ruins that littered the jungle, their tone sharp and unmistakably argumentative. Not wanting to interrupt - and hoping to learn a little more about her father figure and her future travelling companion - Penelo slipped behind the thick trunk of a nearby tree and listened in.

“If the church were to know you’re here…” Drace muttered, her steady voice laced with an odd mixture of anger and concern. “And to think you’ve made such a friendship with that old priest - what if he were to report back to the maesters?”

Reddas’s voice was steady - Penelo had never known him to lose his temper. “Even if he did, he would only refer to me by my alias. I’ve been living here for years, Drace. If anything were to go wrong, it would’ve happened by now.”

“How can you be sure of that?” she snapped. “You play a dangerous game, Zecht.”

Penelo frowned - alias? Zecht? Was Reddas not his real name?

“If I’m playing a game, I’ve been playing it well,” Reddas said, his voice as soft as it always was when he wished to reassure someone. She’d heard that voice many times over the years. “Believe me, I know the danger I placed myself in, and I would not have done so if I thought I couldn’t handle it.”

“And what of Ffamran?”

Reddas faltered at that, and Penelo leaned in a little closer to listen. “What of him?”

“He was no more than a boy. Did he know what he was doing when he abandoned his pilgrimage?”

“He knew it was heretical just as I did,” Reddas explained. “And I only parted from his company when I was sure he could handle himself.”

Silence stole over the conversation, and Penelo peered around the tree trunk so she could see what was happening. Drace had shifted, her walk stilted and tense, and a dark expression of concern furrowed her brow and set her lips in a thin line. Reddas remained cool, but there was a dull seriousness in his eyes. Eventually, he spoke again.

“I hope you see the irony in dismissing Ffamran as a mere boy when your charge is far younger than he was. Ffamran may have quit his pilgrimage out of disillusion, but I was glad to end it - it is a cruel thing to make a child fight Sin when he has no hope of victory. If Ffamran could not defeat Sin at sixteen, I doubt Larsa could do so at twelve, no matter how successful his communion with Valefor was.”

“Do you really think I want to be doing this?” Drace snapped, and Penelo’s breath caught in her throat at the choke of tears in Drace’s voice. “Do you really think I want to take Larsa to Zanarkand? I have grown to love that boy like he is a son of my own, and I cannot believe you would think it doesn’t grieve me to know that I am aiding him in a suicide mission!”

“So why do you do it?” Reddas implored, stepping forward and looking Drace straight in the eye. “It is not too late - tell Gramis his communion with Valefor failed and end it all without repercussions. My greatest regret is that I led Ffamran on for so long that we must now live like criminals - do not let the same fate befall Larsa.”

Drace took a moment to respond, and when she did, her voice was low with misery. “I cannot make him deviate from his path. To do so would be to break his heart.”

The crunch of Drace’s footsteps in the dirt sent Penelo further behind the tree, pressing herself against the trunk so Drace wouldn’t see her as she passed by back to the village. By the time Drace had vanished from view, Reddas let out a tired sigh before following after her, and soon Penelo found herself alone.

She needed a moment to process all she’d heard, to fully understand all the earth-shattering things she’d learned about Reddas in such a short space of time. Only that wasn’t his name, was it? If Drace’s word was anything to go by, his name was Zecht, and he was an outlaw of Yevon. It was common knowledge that abandonment of a pilgrimage was one of the greatest sins a Yevonite could commit - to make such a promise of hope to all Spirans only to break it was an act of pure cruelty. Summoners and guardians who abandoned their pilgrimage were immediately branded criminals, and it seemed Reddas was one such guardian. How he’d hidden it so well, Penelo had no idea - before now, she never would have expected any of this. She’d assumed that Reddas’s summoner had failed in defeating Sin and that he’d become a sphere hunter afterwards to distract from his grief, but never this.

Had she learned of Reddas’s past before today, she would’ve felt sick. To know that the man she loved and looked up to had been so cowardly as to let his summoner give up on his pilgrimage would’ve been like a punch to the gut - how selfish could he be to forsake his duty to Yevon? To all of Spira? But now that she knew and cared for a summoner, it didn’t seem so awful to her. Reddas had simply wanted to save Ffamran from a futile death - was that really so bad? She was planning on doing the same thing with Larsa, after all.    

But suddenly her idea of altering the outcome of his pilgrimage didn’t seem like such a good idea - what if doing so got them labelled as criminals as well? She hadn’t even figured out how she was going to save Larsa’s life, but what if the only way was through heresy? It didn’t matter whether she thought changing the pilgrimage was justified - Yevon’s authority was ultimate, for all the good it had done for them. Perhaps her agreeing to go on the pilgrimage was a mistake, but she couldn’t turn back now. Nausea bubbled up in her stomach, and she could only wonder what in Yevon’s name she’d got herself into.

The weight of her woes like a rock in her stomach, Penelo made her way back to the village, and she could only hope she didn’t look as sick as she felt. She took her time walking back - she didn’t want Drace and Reddas to figure out that she’d overheard them. But when she returned, she found that the villagers were all gathered around the edge of the village square, the dinner things having been pushed to the side as well. In the centre of the village stood Larsa, his knuckles white as he gripped his staff and his eyes shut in an expression of concentration.

A frown of confusion on her lip, Penelo slipped in near the back of the crowd, and she found herself standing next to Migelo. She tapped him on the shoulder - “What’s going on?”

“He’s going to summon Valefor,” Migelo explained, his always scratchy voice tinged with excitement.

Penelo nodded - it was a tradition for summoners to call on Valefor before the villagers of Besaid, a final test to prove their abilities. Communing with the Fayth was all well and good, but there was no point in communing with them if you weren’t strong enough to summon them. Fixing her gaze back on Larsa, Penelo bit her lip - she almost hoped he would fail, simply so he could abandon his pilgrimage without fear of criminalisation and lead the normal life he ought to. She grimaced at the thought - was that selfish of her?

A hush fell over the crowd as Larsa slowly raised his staff above him, his chest slowly rising and falling with every steady breath. After what felt like an age, he opened his eyes, and he took one step back and flung his arms out - one in front and one behind. It was almost dark now, but that only made the glowing glyph that flashed on the ground below him all the brighter. A gasp ran through the crowd as four glowing orbs of light burst out from the glyph, swirling around Larsa and leaving trails of stunning light in their wake. For a brief moment, they lit up Larsa’s face, and he looked just about as awestruck as the villagers around him.

The orbs twirled further and further up into the sky, looping around each other until they met in the middle. When the orbs collided, Penelo threw her hand up in front of her eyes to shield them as a blindingly bright flash lit up the sky. Like the ripples of a stone dropped in a lake, several thin circles of light burst out from the centre of the flash, and then the sound of huge, beating wings filled the night air. Removing her hand from her eyes, Penelo couldn’t help but gasp at the sight of Valefor herself soaring through the air.

She was a bird-like creature, but her wings looked more akin to a dragon - leathery and tipped with deep purple talons. Feathers of a similar dark purple hue decorated her tale and legs, while a thick bunch of red feathers adorned her neck, tapering off into a white feathered ponytail. Valefor was magnificent as she flew through the sky, and she let out a call like birdsong before arcing in the air and landing right in front of Larsa, skidding a little before arriving next to him. He stumbled back with the force of her landing, and he would have fallen to the ground were it not for Valefor reaching out and catching him in her wing.

The silence was palpable as Larsa made eye contact with his first aeon. Slowly, he lifted himself off of Valefor’s wing and stepped hesitantly towards her, reaching a shaking hand out towards her beak. Penelo watched with bated breath as Valefor leaned forward to inspect Larsa’s hand, her keen, beady eyes watching him with interest. Eventually, she lowered her head in obedience, and Larsa gently ran his hand through the red feathers around her neck. Valefor cooed under his touch, and Larsa’s expression of nervous tension melted away into a relieved smile as Valefor accepted him as her master.

A ripple of delight ran through the crowd - children cheering, adults clapping, elders muttering their praises. Penelo glanced towards where her friends stood on the other side of the crowd. Dalan looked pleased as ever, while Vaan’s face was slack with awe as he took in Valefor’s majesty. Beside them stood Reddas, and he watched the summoner and his aeon with an unreadable expression - Penelo could only wonder what was running through his mind after his conversation with Drace. Drace herself wore an outward expression of pride, but Penelo could see the anguish in her eyes plain as day.

“Do you really think I want to take Larsa to Zanarkand? I have grown to love that boy like he is a son of my own, and I cannot believe you would think it doesn’t grieve me to know that I am aiding him in a suicide mission!”

Penelo couldn’t imagine how awful this must be for Drace. She had only known Larsa for a few days and she already cared for him, but Drace had known him for so much longer. To stand there, watching as the boy she loved like a son took his first steps towards an early death with a smile on his face - it only served to remind Penelo of the cruelty of this whole situation. Larsa wasn’t the only one who would suffer for this, but those who cared about him would too. In losing Larsa, Drace would lose a part of herself and, she imagined, so too would Gabranth, who’d known Larsa just as long and cared about him just as much.

But when Penelo turned to look at Gabranth, she saw no such anguish behind his eyes.

Chapter Text

It was early in the morning when they left Besaid, Gabranth preferring to leave before the village awoke to prevent any unnecessary hold ups. Penelo couldn’t help but feel a little put out by that - every single villager was near and dear to her heart, and it pained her to leave them without saying goodbye. But it seemed that Gabranth’s word was law, and so it was that law she obeyed, albeit reluctantly. At the very least, she was able to say goodbye to the people who truly mattered.

Well, most of the people who truly mattered. Reddas had heard Vaan leave their hut in the wee hours of the morning, presumably for an early morning training session against the fiends that roamed the jungle. It wasn’t unusual for him - such training sessions were common, and sometimes Penelo would join him on them. And yet Penelo couldn’t ignore the ache in her chest caused by Vaan’s absence; unless he came home soon, she wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to him. Considering his jealousy of her ability to leave Besaid, she wouldn’t be surprised if he’d done this on purpose. If his actions were intended to hurt her, then he’d succeeded.

It cast a dull cloud over what was already a difficult morning. As she stood at the village entrance, luggage by her feet and her new travelling companions close by, the sting of homesickness was already burning in her chest even though they hadn’t set foot outside the village yet. 

“You are making us all very proud, Penelo,” Dalan reassured her, taking her hands in his own gnarled ones. Reddas stood behind him, regarding Penelo with warm concern. “I would wish you luck - but I doubt you’d need it, hm?”

Penelo chuckled at that, weak and watery as it was. “I think I’m gonna need all the luck I can get.”

“Nonsense.” Reddas dismissed her with a wave of his hand. “I think you’ll surprise yourself with how capable you are.”

“I hope so,” she replied, though she was a little unsure of how Reddas and Dalan had come to the conclusion that she was capable enough to be a good guardian. Her life in Besaid was all she knew - how was she supposed to adjust to the life of a guardian? Leaving home for the first time was hard enough, but the added responsibility of protecting Larsa made it all the more difficult. Nevertheless, she did appreciate their faith in her, and she didn’t want it to be misplaced. “I’ll do my best, anyway.”

“And your best will be good enough, of that I have no doubt.” A smile crinkled Dalan’s wrinkled features, and pride shone bright in his eyes.

From behind her, the ever stern voice of Gabranth called out: “Finish your goodbyes - we ought to be leaving.”

Penelo turned to him, her brows furrowed at her eyes wide. “But I haven’t said goodbye to Vaan yet.”

“We don't have the time for that. We must move quickly if we are to catch our boat without calling attention to ourselves.”

“Surely we can wait for a moment longer?” Larsa piped up. “The boat will not be leaving for an hour yet.”

Penelo shot him a smile of gratitude, which he met with a small one of his own. Gabranth, however, was not convinced by even the pleading of his charge. “If we leave any later, we will be hounded by well-wishers, and that will only slow us down.”

“Being hounded by well-wishers does not seem like such a trial to me,” Larsa replied. “And I would prefer it if Penelo had the chance to say goodbye to her friend.”

“He’ll be here any second, I’m sure of it,” Penelo insisted - though she wasn’t entirely sure if she believed her own claim. Vaan was undeniably mad at her, and it was like him to take drastic actions to express the fervour of his emotions. He knew that Penelo would want to say goodbye to him, so he’d deprive her of that to get back at her for living out what he’d been dreaming of for his entire life. He wouldn’t place any thought into the regret he might feel at missing the last chance he’d get to see her, focusing only on the brief satisfaction of petty revenge. 

But Penelo wanted to wait for him. The thought of not seeing him for months and knowing that they’d left on an argument pained her more than words could express. Though she knew he probably wouldn’t return to the village until she was safely out to sea, she still wanted to give him a chance.

Gabranth, however, was not so generous. Had Drace been there, she probably would’ve persuaded him to let Penelo wait for Vaan, but she wasn’t - she’d gone ahead to make sure the boat was ready for them. So it was Gabranth’s orders they had to follow. “I will hear no more of it - we are leaving.”

With a small sigh, Penelo turned to Reddas and Dalan. “Well, I guess this is goodbye for good.”

“Not for good,” Dalan reassured her. “You will return to us a far wiser and stronger young woman, and we will be proud of you when you do.”

She offered him a smile, but then she turned to Reddas, and her feelings grew all the more muddled. Here was her caretaker, a man who’d gone against the teachings and abandoned a pilgrimage for the sake of moral good, sending off his ward to follow the exact path he’d strayed from. She had to wonder why he’d encouraged her to go, and she desperately wished she could ask him. But with Gabranth pressuring her to move, the question died on her tongue, and she could only wrap his arms around him and pull him into one last hug.

“I’m gonna miss you,” she said, her voice muffled against his shoulder.

“We’ll all miss you, Penelo.” He pulled away then, but he kept his board hands resting on her shoulders. “But we will be supporting you too. It is not an easy journey, but should you ever feel weak, remember that you will always have us to keep you strong.”

A tear slipped down her cheek then, and then another. “Thank you.”

“But if I were you, I wouldn’t fear weakness. I know why you chose to undertake this journey, and I have every confidence that you will succeed.” With those words, Penelo suddenly understood exactly why Reddas had encouraged her to follow Larsa on his pilgrimage - he wanted her to succeed where he had failed, to find a way to save both Spira and the summoner from death at the hands of Sin. She thought of the consequences Reddas had to suffer because of his failure - his criminalisation, the fear he must have felt when fleeing the church, the pain of leaving his old life behind and starting all over again. With that in mind, her desire to save Larsa became more than just a wish of her own - it was a wish she shared with Reddas, and she’d make it come true for both of them.

“I won’t let you down,” she said, her voice a little firmer than before, and she wiped her tears away with the back of her hand.

Reddas gave a small nod - he knew what she meant. His expression turned to one of gaiety as if to disguise their silent pact of potential heresy, and he clapped her shoulders with his hands before letting go of her. “Now, I suspect Gabranth might lose his head if you don’t hurry.”

“Right.” Penelo leaned down to pick up her luggage, and she turned in the direction of Gabranth and Larsa. Gabranth’s face was still lined with impatience, while Larsa simply smiled and waved.

“Are you ready to go?” he called, and Penelo nodded.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” 

And, with that, Penelo took her first step on a journey that would change her life forever.

***

The S.S Liki was a small ship, devoted entirely to travelling from Besaid to Kilika and back again. It was mostly used as a cargo ship, transporting goods between the two islands, but today it was ferrying far more precious cargo.

Penelo leaned against the railing that lined the deck, watching Besaid grow smaller as the boat sailed further and further away. It was a beautiful day - the sun was high in the cloudless sky, and the deck was lively with the laughter and chatter of the sailors. She wanted to enjoy it, but her home sickness was already sitting like a rock in her stomach, and she couldn’t shake the sense of bitterness and disappointment that had plagued her the moment she realised Vaan wasn’t going to say goodbye to her. 

But she supposed that didn’t matter now - she had far bigger things to worry about. Turning away from Besaid, her gaze fell to her travelling companions, who were gathered near the entrance of the ship’s cabins. Larsa was perched on a nearby crate, presumably filled with exported goods, chatting happily away to Drace while Gabranth stood stoic and silent beside her. The three of them looked like they fitted so well together, all of them having grown up in the same culture and society, speaking and carrying themselves in such a refined, mature fashion. Penelo, a rough and tumble island girl, couldn’t be more different from them, and yet now she was going to cross the whole of Spira at their side. It would be easy to feel out of place, but Penelo knew that dwelling on their differences would only make the pilgrimage more painful than it already was. She could think of only one way to close the cultural gap between them - she’d have to get to know them.

Taking a deep breath, Penelo pushed herself away from the rails and made her way towards the trio. She’d never held a conversation with all three of them before, save for that first meal they’d shared together, but she didn’t count that. Drace was the first to notice her approach, and she nodded in greeting when she did.

“I was wondering if you were going to join us, Penelo,” she said, having to raise her voice a little over the crash of the waves against the hull of the ship. “I had half a mind to bring you over here myself.”

Penelo rubbed the back of her neck. “Sorry. Guess I was just feeling a little shy.”

“There is no need to be,” Larsa was quick to reassure her. “If we are to travel together for so long, I do not think we can afford to be reserved with each other.”

“Quite right,” Drace agreed with a firm nod. She then turned to Gabranth, a small grin flickering on her lips. “I hope you heard that, Gabranth.”

“The girl is here for Larsa’s benefit, not mine. We are to remain associates, nothing more.”

Penelo would’ve been hurt by Gabranth’s words if they weren’t so predictable. He’d have to get used to her sooner or later, because it was a long way from Besaid to Zanarkand - could he really go that whole time giving her the cold shoulder?

Larsa tutted, always quick to jump to Penelo’s defence. “Pay him no mind - he does not mean it.”

“I don’t mind,” Penelo said with a shrug, but then a grin lit up her face. “Hey, I bet you ten gil I can make Gabranth say something nice to me by the time we get to Zanarkand.”

Drace laughed at that, and it was the first time Penelo had ever heard it - a little rough with age, but surprisingly warm. “‘Tis a valiant aim, but I am certain you will end up ten gil short no matter how much you charm him.”

“I don’t know - I reckon I’m pretty charming. But you’d know all about that, right Larsa?”

Larsa’s grey eyes widened at that, and a faint pink blush spread across his cheeks. “I- I have no idea what you speak of.”

When Penelo agreed to go on this pilgrimage, she hadn’t expected there to be much in the way of laughter. And yet there she was, not even half an hour away from Besaid, and she and Drace were giggling like mad. Her laughter grew even brighter when she realised that the same blush that danced across Larsa’s cheeks was also staining Gabranth’s, and his usual strong glare was now cast to the ground in embarrassment. Penelo grinned - maybe he did have a soul after all.

“Well, if we are ever in need of a charm offensive, we shall turn to you,” Drace said, her voice bright.

“Happy to be of service,” Penelo replied, and she swept into a low, mocking bow. 

As the laughter died away, Larsa sought to liberate himself from his humiliation, and he turned to look up at her. “Penelo, I was wondering about visiting the chocobos that power the boat, would you care to join me?”

The offer was a little unexpected. But then, just as she’d come to expect terseness from Gabranth, Penelo had come to expect spontaneity from Larsa. “Sure, if it’s okay with you guys.”

“Go, have fun,” Drace said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “We will not arrive in Kilika for some time yet, so you ought to occupy yourselves.”

Figuring Gabranth would refuse no matter what, Penelo took Drace’s permission as final. Once Larsa had hopped off the crate he was sitting on, the pair of them slipped inside the ship and made their way downstairs, where the cabins and engines lay in wait. The interior of the ship betrayed its usual use as a cargo ferry - the wooden walls and floors were marked with scrapes and dents, and there was very little in the way of decoration. As the engine room was at the very end of the hall, past all the cabins, Penelo and Larsa found they had quite a while to walk.

As they made their way down the corridor, Larsa spoke. “I meant to tell you how sorry I am that you couldn’t say goodbye to your friend.”

In the levity of the moment, Penelo had forgotten about Vaan. She almost wished Larsa hadn’t brought him up, because the thought of him killed whatever happiness had started to warm up inside her. In response, she merely gave a shrug. “It’s not your fault. Vaan was just being an idiot.”

“Still, I am sure I could have worked harder to persuade Gabranth to let us wait. But he really is quite immoveable when he knows what he wants.”

“Yeah, I can tell. But do you wanna know something?” Penelo asked, and Larsa nodded, a small flicker of curiosity lighting up his eyes. “I think, even if we did wait, he wouldn’t have shown up.”

Larsa’s curious expression turned into one of concern. “Why?”

“We… We kind of had a fight last night, about the fact that I get to leave Besaid and he doesn’t. I think he didn’t show up to say goodbye because he wanted to get back at me.”

“Really?” Larsa asked, his frown deepening. “Forgive me, but that does not seem like something a true friend would do.”

“He’s always been impulsive,” Penelo explained, though she wasn’t sure why she was trying to defend him when he’d hurt her so much. “I guess he just didn’t think.”

“I see.”

He didn’t sound happy at all, like he was just as upset about it all as she was. A small smile softened her face - he really was sweet. “You don’t need to worry about it, y’know. You’ve got way bigger things to deal with than my little fight with Vaan.”

“I know. But I dislike that he has upset you.”

“I’ll get over it. Besides, I can always record a sphere for him and send it back to Besaid - it won’t be the same, but it’ll be better than nothing.” As Penelo reassured Larsa, she quickly realised she was also reassuring herself - because Vaan really had upset her, and she’d give anything to yell at him about how much he’d hurt her. But it was too late now, and she couldn’t do anything about it. Like Larsa, she had bigger things to worry about.

As Penelo and Larsa got closer to the engine room, the corridor started to grow warmer and warmer. It certainly wasn’t as warm as it would be if the ship ran on a machina engine instead of a chocobo powered one, but it was enough to be uncomfortable. Having grown used to the balmy temperatures of Besaid, Penelo didn’t mind it so much, but when she looked down at Larsa in his heavy robes, she could immediately tell he was feeling the heat.

“Hey, do you wanna go change real quick?” she suggested, stopping in her tracks. “It’s not gonna be any fun seeing the chocobos if you’re roasting alive.”

Larsa adjusted the collar of his robes. “You may be right. Come along, I won’t be long.”

Turning on their heels, the pair made their way back the way they came. They came to a stop outside of the cabin Larsa was sharing with Gabranth, but just as Larsa reached out to push the door open, Penelo grabbed his wrist to stop him. If she wasn’t mistaken, she could hear someone inside, and with Gabranth still out on the deck…

“What is it?” Larsa asked, looking up at her and knitting his brows in confusion.

“I think someone’s in there,” she said in a hushed whisper, and she pressed her ear against the door.

Now she was sure of it - there was an intruder in Larsa’s cabin. She could hear their footsteps, thudding fast against the wooden floor, then the unmistakable sound of a closet door opening and shutting, and then silence. Penelo frowned; whoever it was had heard them outside and gone to hide, but she wasn’t about to let them get away with it. She knew it would be the smarter thing to fetch Gabranth or Drace, but in the moment, she was overtaken by a need to prove herself to be the best guardian she could be and sort it out herself.

“You stay back,” she ordered, giving Larsa a gentle nudge back into the hall. “I’ll deal with it.”

“Are you sure? They might be dangerous.” He was swift to ignore Penelo’s orders, and soon he was back at her side. 

“Yeah, and that’s why you’re gonna stay outside, okay?” Penelo said. When it was clear Larsa wasn’t going to budge, she gave a small sigh. “Think about it this way - if anything happens to you, Gabranth will probably kill me, and then we’ll both be worse off.”

That did the trick. “I think you may be right about that.”

Satisfied that Larsa was going to stay put, Penelo tentatively pushed the door open, the squeaking hinges revealing a distinct lack of maintenance. She took cautious steps into the room, which she would’ve assumed was empty if she didn’t know any better. There were no obvious signs of an intruder, but Penelo knew what she heard, and she was quick to grab hold of a nearby lamp so she could use it as a weapon. Her advance towards the closet was slow, not wanting to alert the intruder to her presence. Behind her, Larsa poked his head around the door, watching with intent.

When she arrived outside the closet, Penelo took a deep breath. All she had to do was throw open the door and smack whoever it was over the head with the lamp. It was easy. She could do it. She didn’t need to be so nervous. And yet her heart was beating fast - what if they struck first? Or what if this was all just a figment of her imagination and she’d got all heated up for nothing? 

She shook her head - now wasn’t the time for doubts. So, without any more thought, she reached out and yanked the closet door open, raising the lamp over her head and-

Penelo froze, the lamp held aloft above her head. Standing before her, pressing himself against the back of the closet, was an all too familiar face. 

“Vaan?”

***

 The captain of the S.S. Liki was a man named Tomaj, a native of Besaid who now spent every waking hour sailing back and forth across the ocean. Penelo knew him fairly well, just as she knew all the Besaid islanders fairly well, and she’d always known him to be an easy going sort of person. But as she and Larsa stood in his quarters, watching as he dressed Vaan down like he’d committed the worst crime in the calendar, that relaxed nature was all but forgotten.

“I knew you were an idiot, but not this much of an idiot,” Tomaj muttered. “This is going to cost me hours of paperwork, y’know. And I can’t afford to waste that time.”

“So don’t do it,” Vaan replied, cocky despite the circumstances. “Just pretend you didn’t find me or something.”

Tomaj raised his eyebrow. “Do you seriously think I could get away with that? If you’ve left Besaid and not told anyone, they’ll start asking questions, and they’ll figure out you stowed away on my ship pretty damn fast. And if I don’t report you for trespassing and let you get away with this, my integrity as a captain will get called into question and then we’ll all be in deep shit.”

Beside her, Larsa flinched at Tomaj’s language. Vaan rested his hands behind his head, and Penelo only realised why when she saw they were shaking. Perhaps his cocky confidence was just a facade - she couldn’t help but feel bad for him. “I left a sphere for Reddas, so he knows where I am. You won’t get in trouble, promise.”

“Yeah? And who are you to keep that promise, the Grand Maester? Who in Yevon’s name do you think you’re fooling?”

Vaan shrugged. “I just wanna go to Luca, that’s it. There’s a sphere hunting guild there.”

“And you couldn’t have just boarded my ship like a normal person?” Tomaj asked, clearly not buying a single word of it.

“Reddas wouldn’t let me go,” Vaan explained. “He doesn’t want me getting in danger because of Sin, but I can’t stay in Besaid forever.”

Tomaj folded his arms across his chest. “So Reddas won’t let you go, but Penelo’s free to leave as she pleases? You aren’t fooling anyone, Vaan.”

“Penelo’s different! She got invited to leave!” 

Now that her name had been brought into it, Penelo took that as her queue to pitch in. “I was gonna ask Reddas if you could leave, remember?”

“Yeah, and then you didn’t.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, there was a lot going on last night,” Penelo retorted, and she gestured towards Larsa. “I’m sorry I forgot to ask Reddas a question you could’ve easily asked yourself when there was a literal aeon getting summoned on our doorstep!”

Larsa rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, kid,” Tomaj said, waving a dismissive hand. With a heavy sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Listen, Vaan, I don’t want you to get in trouble, alright? But you’ve kinda given me no choice.”

“Come on, Tomaj-”

“If you were here on some kind of official capacity, you could get to Kilika and catch the Winno to Luca no problem. But you’re not, so we-”

“Actually, he is here on official capacity,” Larsa piped up, and all eyes fell on him. He stepped forward towards Vaan, an expression of perfect innocence lighting up his face. “Vaan, would you like to be my guardian?”

Vaan’s jaw fell slack. “Huh?”

“Would you like to be my guardian? I think it would be in your best interest to accept.”

“Okay, uh, sure.” He flashed Penelo a look of wide eyed confusion, and she simply shrugged. It seemed Larsa was picking up guardians everywhere he went, but somehow Penelo suspected that this offer had more to it than met the eye.

Larsa smiled up at Vaan, and then he turned to Tomaj. “I hope I have saved you some trouble, captain.”

Tomaj regarded him with a look of suspicion. “Have you?”

“Vaan is travelling with me. You need not report him as a stowaway - as far as you’re concerned, I asked him and Penelo to join me on my pilgrimage while I was staying in Besaid. Surely that will be an easy enough story to report to your superiors?”

“Maybe, but if Vaan’s already told Reddas he’s going to Luca then that story isn’t gonna fly, kid.”

“We will record a sphere explaining the situation and send it back to Besaid. I trust Reddas and Dalan will be able to handle things from there,” Larsa explained, handling the situation with remarkable calm and capability. “Will that suffice?”

Tomaj took a moment to think, sweeping the three of them with a discerning gaze. Eventually, he spoke, his voice coloured with a tired sigh. “Fine. But you’d better get that sphere recorded pronto, alright?”

Larsa nodded, a self-satisfied grin brightening his face. “You have my word. Vaan, Penelo, shall we?”

Without another word, Larsa turned on his heel and strolled out of the room, leaving the three islanders in stunned silence behind him. As soon as she gathered her senses, Penelo grabbed hold of Vaan’s wrist and dragged him out after her - she didn’t like the idea of being stuck in Tomaj’s quarters for any longer than she needed to be. They found Larsa lingering near the stairs leading up to the deck, waiting patiently.

When the three of them met up together, Vaan let out a deep sigh of relief. “That was close.”

“Honestly, Vaan, you’re such an idiot,” Penelo scolded, slapping him on the shoulder a little too hard to be playful. “What did you think was gonna happen? You were gonna hide in Gabranth and Larsa’s cabin and not get caught?”

“How was I supposed to know it was theirs?” Vaan protested. “And I was just about to go and hide in the engine room anyway.”

“Right, because you definitely weren’t gonna get caught in one of the busiest parts of the boat. You should count yourself lucky that Larsa bailed you out.”

“Yeah, thanks for that,” Vaan said, “I owe you one.” 

Larsa shrugged. “It didn’t seem fair for you to be prosecuted for such a small misdemeanour.”

Vaan narrowed his eyes. “Did you really just say that?”

“Say what?”

“What kinda twelve year old talks like that?”

Penelo’s eyes widened. “Vaan!”

But Larsa only laughed, clear like a bell. “You’re quite right - I am far from the most orthodox of my age group.”

“Pen, he did it again.”

With a sigh of frustrated disbelief, Penelo rolled her eyes. “It’s actually not that weird, y’know.”

“I’m not saying it’s weird!” Vaan threw his hands up in mock surrender. “But listen, Larsa, you don’t, uh, actually want me to be your guardian, do you?”

Larsa shrugged. “Only if you would like to be. If you still wish to join a sphere hunting guild in Luca as you planned, then you must feel free to do so. I only made the offer to get you out of trouble.”

“Alright. Well, I might just stick to going to Luca, if that’s okay?” Vaan asked, and Penelo couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. Although she was annoyed at him for his recklessness, the prospect of Vaan joining them on their journey through Spira was an exciting one, and she figured he’d be more than happy to help her figure out a way to stop Sin and save Larsa. But if he was going to leave them in Luca, she’d have to go it alone, and that frightened her.

Larsa, however, was unperturbed by his decision. “Of course. But we will be passing through Luca on the way to Djose Temple regardless, so you are more than welcome to travel with us until then.”

Penelo frowned. “Shouldn’t you be asking Drace and Gabranth about this?”

“Why? If Vaan isn’t going to be my guardian, then it needn’t concern them,” Larsa explained, and Penelo couldn’t help but be impressed by his confidence. It seemed, in all areas other than his pilgrimage, Larsa wasn’t too concerned about following the rules. It was a little unexpected for someone who was supposed to be such a seriously devout Yevonite, but Penelo rather liked that about him. 

“Sounds good,” Vaan said with a grin. “So, uh, now what?”