Summoners journey (Malin, and Driven to Drift)

[malin]

"What were you expecting?"

Auron's voice was rather stern as The ship pulled up to Luca. Braska had honestly seemed rather disappointed when he had seen their dock bare to the public. There were no real admirers, no one had gone out to wish them well on their journy's and Auron had just made 50gill on their bet. Though Braska was a friend there had been little doubt in the former monks mind as to what would happen when they arrived at the shore of Luca. Auron Stretched lightly. As much as boats were necessary in spira he was honestly happy to be back on land.

Braska shook his head as the two friends disembarked from the boat walking down the slowly bobbing ramp, and onto the much more solid ground that Luca had to offer them. He actually seemed a little bewildered that there hadn't been anyone to come and see them. Braska had earned a lot of infamy, first by marrying an Al Bhed, and having his child when he was still a summoner apprentice in Besaid, and then by choosing a dishonored monk as his first guardian. It was all part of his plan to save the world in the most ironic way he could think of, his own little joke against spira's religion and a chance to make the people around them open up their eyes a little. He wanted his name to be both celebrated, and a little hated, it was why he did his song and dance, and why he raced to become high summoner. That and the ever rising tragidy that was Sin.

"I thought someone at least would want to see us. We have been a rather popular topic." Braska said lightly turning to Auron who seemed ever the pessimist about their journey together. Dispite the length of Spira, and how isolated the islands of Besiad and Kilika were there were already gathering stories about Braska as a summoner, that and the fact that Braska was a bit of an egotist who had to try and find the stories of himself had left Auron, and him to think that there was a wealth of information about them out in the world. They had already gotten two Aeons; Valefore and Ifrit, and so far their journey had been rather smooth with only a hundred or so minor fiends, and no real run in with Sin.

Auron on the other hand shook his head. "Were a walking oxymoron, and we are popular because people don't know if you want to destroy the world or save it. Face it braska no one wants to hear our side of the story, and besides, the real news in Luca is the blitzball season, and we didn't get on the same boat as the Kilika Beasts. We missed that boat remember?"

Braska took a long dreading sigh as he slowly shook his head. "Your gonna be like this the entire way aren't you?"

 

[driven to drift]

And so was the time of year when this tale begins: the Luca Blitzball Tournament of Champions. A fresh faction of summoners had already set out on their journey to defeat Sin and bring about the Calm, and the crowds were abuzz with all sorts of gossip and stories of these new summoners and their guardians. Who would accomplish the wondrous feat of defeating the horrid, monstrous creature that was Sin? Who would succeed in bringing about the Calm and for how long would that Calm last? There was not one creature present who had not let those questions pass through their lips or maws that day and the day was not yet half-way over. Of course, there were a select few who deemed the summoners foolish and idiotic for making the dangerous trek to Zanarkand when the end brought about nothing but more sorrow. There was a particular culture, however, that typically didn’t care about that aspect of it and did gossip more than most people would.

The minstrels of Spira were a people of unusual tradition. As a group that made their living with the tales they weaved through song and dance, they were very open and outgoing when surrounded by the general public while still secretive amongst themselves. After all, the rarer and more fantastic the song, the more money made…so why, in Yevon’s name, would they spread their secrets to each other? It was that logic that could also explain, at least in part, the reasons for their solitary travel. There was a hierarchy amongst these peoples who were by far the most diverse group on Spira. The elder minstrels were able to call shots within the community that could make or break certain individuals. They were also considered the greatest and wisest, aware of the talent each of their people possessed as the group, though diverse, was small enough to do so. They also, however, provided insight and advice to those younger, up-and-coming talents in hopes of giving them their chance to shine. They held firm that the greatest songs were written from the minstrel’s own life experiences, and although the tales of Summoners and their Guardians often sold well, they were common. And once a minstrel found his or her own song to sing, they were golden. However, sometimes finding that song was a tad more difficult than one would think…

Such was the dilemma of one of few said people on that sunny, mid-morning in Luca.

Ilaria was among the younger ranks of these people – at the tender age of twenty-two, she was well-known throughout the Elders of the minstrel community as a woman of great talent, but no inspiration. All of the Elders spoke of her quite fondly despite it all and were very aware that she was a threat to the other minstrels of her generation. However, the vast majority of her peers considered her to be a joke. Coming from a family of Bevellian Yevonites, she had a modest childhood that resulted in her parents being sorely irate at her sudden lifestyle decision at fifteen. They had high hopes for her to continue to spread their Yevonite preachings and minstrels were certainly not high on the social ladder of strict Yevonites seeing as most of them openly voiced their distaste to most of Yevon’s teachings. When she suddenly ran off without a word, they were incredibly perturbed and made the decision quite quickly to disown her entirely. With her somewhat questionable background, the younger minstrels felt she would never produce something worthy of an audience’s attention. Of course, being the stubborn and rather brash young woman that she was, she was desperate to prove them entirely wrong.

Needless to say, it was not the blitzball that brought Ilaria to Luca, nor was it the typical gossip of the masses regarding those in higher positions. Not at all; she had traversed to the blitzball tournament in hopes of finding some information regarding a particular summoner whom she hoped would be of some assistance to her. Her summoner and guardian duo of choice happened to be a pair most people overlooked completely for the same reason they possessed so much of her interest: they were an odd team. The summoner Braska and his guardian, Auron, were a highly unusual case. The guardian was a dishonored warrior monk while his summoner an expelled Yevonite priest who had married an Al Bhed woman. She had only heard rumors, but anticipated retrieving information from the sources, themselves. The young woman had formulated the somewhat ill-conceived plan of becoming a guardian to the summoner. After all, if the greatest and most popular songs came from the lives of summoners and guardians, what better way to find inspiration than to become a Guardian yourself? She was no helpless fool, of course – as a solitary traveling minstrel subject to fiend and Sin Spawn attack, she definitely had the means to defend herself and others.

Now all she had to do was find them.

The minstrel was seated comfortably upon a bar stool in one of the variety of crowded bars found in Luca. Subtle? Well, that was what she was aiming for at that point. Had she been in higher spirits and interested in performing, she would have been anything but. The end of the ponytail of her layered auburn hair slid past her shoulder blades as she tilted her head in thought and brushed her bangs just out of the peripheral vision of her left eye. Ilaria had been on a mission since her arrival in Luca, asking any being she could for information regarding the Summoner Braska and his guardian and their arrival time and place. There was absolutely no need to question whether or not they would be arriving: no summoner in their right mind would miss this event unless they were simply too far off to make it in time.

Luckily for Ilaria, three rather rambunctious people stumbled into the bar having attempted to enter through the door at the same time. As she sipped at a glass of cool water, she propped her chin in the palm of her right hand and habitually brushed the strands of her bangs back behind her ear as she did so. Despite her nonchalant appearance, her ears were piqued in their direction as they loudly discussed those who had arrived at the docks. A small smile tweaked the corners of her lips upward and a mischievous light flickered through her blue eyes when she heard the words she had awaited all morning: "Braska and his guardian just got in at Dock Three! Man, I still can’t believe those guys’re even trying!" She waited for a few more moments to listen for any other vital information before casually rising from her seat with a sweet smile towards the bar tender. She adjusted the belt holding her khaki shorts and matching daggers low on her hips and swiftly strolled out into the open, the heel of her boots making no noticeable noise upon the solid ground as she maneuvered through the crowd while the dock she was aiming for came into sight.

Her feet carried her to a slow halt as she stood at the very start of the dock before she consciously rolled her shoulders back and her hands slipped casually into the pockets of her cropped black leather jacket in line with her revealed belly button below her white tank top. She hadn't quite thought out how she would approach the two men, particularly when she realized just how intimidating and perhaps surly the guardian seemed. Then again, as if imposing forces had ever stopped her before...

A bright grin lit up her expression as she finally continued her approach towards the men. "Lord Braska!" she called, raising one hand in a wave, the unattended part of her jacket flapping lightly in the breeze. "How great it is to finally see you both here! I hope your trip was pleasant," she continued, her tone as friendly and welcoming as her smile. It wasn't as if she were lying, after all. She let her feet shuffle to a halt with several steps still between them and she let both of her hands fold behind her back, still smiling.

 

[malin]

Braska and Auron stopped as they heard running. Taking a long look at the girl who ran up to greet them the two friends passed a rather confused look to one another. It was a small exchange but Auron clearly felt the proud vindication of Braska. A small but simple look that said everything, but mostly screamed 'I'll take my fifty back plus interest'. Auron on the other hand simply replied with a quiet simmering glare towards his summoner and friend. It was going to be all day with him thanks to this.

"Our trip was uneventful thank you for your concern, but please too whom do we owe this pleasure of a greeting?"

Braska asked as he quickly stepped forward, and gave the praying greeting of Yevon. He didn't realize the two of them had any real fans, after all their greeting had been far less then warm when it came to most places, and the two of them had silently expected that Luca would be pretty well the same thing. This however changed a lot of things, not just because they now had a fan or admirer, but simply because they got the warmest greeting they would have gotten so far.

Auron on the other hand made a quick step forward his hand leaning dangeriously close to the Katana he kept when he saw that her hands were both behind her back, but also close to a set of daggers. Suddenly to him the girl looked less like a happy fan, more like a possible thief or assassin. Auron didn't call her on it, he waited seeing if she would actually make a move against a summoner, and while it was true that Braska wasn't exactly anyone's favorite summoner, he had never heard of any member of spira ever attacking a summoner without a damn good reason. They were supposed to be symbols of hope to all of spira, and while Braska was an odd one, he was still a summoner.

"The better question is what brings her to us."

Auron couldn't put a finger on it, but he could swear up and down the street that this girl had some kind of objective in her head. No one else had come to see them into the docks, but there was more to it then that, the docks were quiet, and yet their was sound all over luca thanks to the spheres that they used to transmit the blitzball games. There was a game in session, and that meant everyone and anyone was basically in town right now unless they had a reason to not be. Ergo her reason had to be something worth hearing.

What brought a young woman, to greet two old men when there was an exciting game of blitzball on in every bar around them? To Auron it seemed incredibly fishy. And he lightly adjusted his sunglasses his height and age, as well as well weapon all trying to seem even more intimidating then he already was. He glared down at her, but Braska on the other hand stepped in trying to being as warm as he could by comparison.

"You will have to forgive him. Auron can be a little harsh at times when he doesn't need to be."

Braska said silencing Auron with another glance as he smiled towards the girl. "You seem to know who we are, but who may I ask are you?" Braska asked interested in a little more then her identity, but at the same time would be happy with just a name. It was Auron who wanted much more then just her name. Auron was slowly creating theories as to how she was some kind of assassin, he didn't know how to justify how crazy that sounded in his own head, but he was certainly working on it.

 

[driven to drift]

Ilaria caught the glance between the two men, although could not have deciphered the clear communication between the two friends. She did not dwell on the uncertainty, though, as the faintly confused crease of her brow smoothed over. When Braska's words were directed towards her, any manner of hesitation evaporated. The prayer greeting was not returned - instead, she offered a simple bow at the waist. The greeting did nothing but bring up unpleasant memories of her childhood. And while she did not particularly have faith in Yevon, she did have faith in summoners.

Before she could speak her own formal introduction, she was abruptly silenced by the simple step forward of the ever-menacing guardian at Braska's side. Her blue eyes flickered to him, calm and appraising. Intimidating was certainly a word that could not be used lightly to describe him, that was very certain. The long, red jacket did nothing to diminish his height and physical strength, not to mention the sheer size of the katana he carried was enough to make most men run to the hills for cover. He was, undoubtedly, able to see to his duties with deadly precision...someone lacking the sense of sight would be able to decipher that from his aura, alone.

Her head tilted just slightly to the side, gaze leveled on his sunglasses as she assessed her own situation, instead. Perhaps she had let her postural habits get the better of her without considering their perspective. Realizing one of her mistakes, her smile was twinged with a hint of an apology as she slowly brought her hands forward, palms to the sky in a shrug. Approaching a summoner who was not exactly on the best of terms with most of the populace with her hands behind her back was perhaps not her brightest move. She shifted her gaze back towards Braska as she spoke.

"No, no: no forgiveness necessary. It is Sir Auron's job to protect you, Lord Braska, and he is simply doing a fine job of it!" she offered a wink in the guardian's direction before focusing on Braska once more. Intimidating though he was, the minstrel was not the type of person to let the sheer force of someone's presence dissuade her from whatever it was she was after. It had its benefits...and also it's negatives. She had been known to pick a fight or two that was a tad out of her league...

"At any rate," she brushed the topic away with a wave of her hand before rolling her shoulders back, flashing a dazzling smile and bending at the waist to give a low, sweeping bow. "I am the minstrel Ilaria, Lord Braska, and Sir Auron would be correct in his assumption that it isn't only friendly greetings that brings me to you today!" She righted herself and very properly clicked her heels together and rolled her shoulders back.

Minstrels were not fools, although much of the talk regarding them seemed to make it seem so. Certainly they could be a bit ostentatious, but that did not make them weak or incapable of judging people, situations and when and where to reign it in. Occupation and lifestyle did not dictate intelligence, and while she had introduced herself perhaps a bit childishly, the request she was about to make required that they believe her capable of more than that. And so was the reason she squared her shoulders, lifted her chin, let her smile fall and made perfectly certain to not lose eye contact: determination could be a powerful presentation all in itself.

"Lord Braska, I wish to lend my services to you as a guardian." She let the sentence hang in the air a moment before continuing. "I can assure you my daggers are not just for show and I can be a useful ally to you and Sir Auron, both...if you would have me."

 

[malin]

Braska and Auron looked at each other shocked for a moment at the sudden introduction and offer of help. Braska walked forward looking at the girl. She was much younger then them, but at the same time what she wanted was a little off to both of them. Braska raised an eye brow, wondering what her motives were to simply offer joining them. His hole plan was about making a team that was going to save the world with irony. The group no one would expect too save the world, after all who better to serve Yevon then a summoner who often spoke out against the teachings.

Two questions then came to mind when considering a new member. Who could braska not only trust, and what kind of crimes have they committed in the past? Looking at the girl she had the first part down. Being a minstrel was not a position anyone in the Yevon traditions held with respect. So she would certainly fit into the second part of those requirements but would she be trust worthy with his life? It was a question he kept pondering for a moment, but it was Auron who would speak up first.

"Why?" Auron stated not nearly as cold as he was a moment earlier, now he was rather intrigued by the girl. "Why would a minstrel want to sign up as a guardian? Don't you tend to sing songs about summoners rather then join them on something as dangerous as a pilgrimage?" He had no doubt that the girl was ready and willing to donate her knives to the cause, but at the same time he was curious to it. Did she just want the rights to the song? Did she think that she could turn Braska's pilgramage into financial gain.

"Your wasting your time." He said more coldly this time. "If your in it for the song, and the money that it will bring, then shouldn't you be after a more favored summoner? No one wants a song that ends in failure."

Braska stepped in now acting as the good cop, especially when Auron put his words so unpleasant. "Auron please, the girl just wants to help. It's only us on this journey. We could use more bright eyed people like her, and what do you mean end in failure? I have no doubt about our success in bringing the calm." He said happily both to reassure her, and give a small slap across Auron's face. Shaking his head lightly.

"We would welcome your assistance I am sure that even Auron can see that there is strength to be had in more then two people trying to accomplish this task." He spoke for the both of them, as he sized up the minstrel. He could see more then enough from where he stood, that she would be a valuable asset and her job certainly fit into the massive irony of his group. The trust part would be shown over time, and he was certain she had the skill necessary to prove her worth after a while, she would just need an opportunity to present it's self.

 

[driven to drift]

If she was entirely honest, Ilaria had braced herself for an expected immediate rejection and had prepared herself likewise. She was quietly surprised that Braska had, instead, chosen to study her and was clearly considering at least...something. She knew her approach was a long shot, but for as long as she had considered it, she had no other options. If Braska declined, then she was completely uncertain of her next approach. Her position amongst the minstrels certainly wasn't good enough for her to return with nothing...

Auron's questions drew her attention to him once more, eyes leveled on him and quickly flashed indigence as his tone turned hard. Her brow furrowed and eyes narrowed into a glare if only for a split second. She was used to people casting immediate judgement upon her because of her chosen lifestyle. She should have better-prepared herself for the suspicion, but as she stood, she forced herself to bite back the scathing reply waiting on the tip of her tongue. Her temper could be sharp and abrupt although she was a generally pleasant person at heart. Certain things set her over the edge very quickly, though. He did not know her background or her situation, and while a part of her wanted to shout it at him, she was not about to explain it unnecessarily. She didn't need to start whatever would become of the three of them off on extra poor footing.

Luckily, Braska's interjection shocked her enough to ensure her silence. Her brows lifted and lips parted slightly until being sealed shut once more with conscious effort. His words were turned over in her head multiple times, sifted through and then repeated as though she had misunderstood. When she was very certain she hadn't, any sign of her previous frustration evaporated into an excited and dazzling smile and her eyes reflected similar emotions in the bright sunlight.

"Really?" she shook her head as if to disregard the unnecessary question. "Thank you, Lord Braska!" she generally wasn't one for formalities, but it just seemed too appropriate in the situation. "I promise you I will dedicate myself to your cause and ensure that you succeed in any way that I can. You won't regret this." The relief that had bloomed in her chest was enough to let her posture relax just slightly and her formality etch away slightly.