Writings of an Owlmoose

Summary: A chance meeting between two of Spira’s greatest warriors — Nooj the Undying and Sir Auron, the legendary guardian — will change the course of history.

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Death Shall Have No Dominion

Chapter Seventeen

The company was starting the long, slow process of fording the Moonflow. Auron watched from a slight distance, atop a low hill, as soldiers, chocobos, and wagons splashed through the shallow but swift-flowing waters. Engrossed as he was in the spectacle, it took him a moment to notice when he was no longer alone. “Paine,” he said, greeting his niece with an incline of his head.

“Hello.” Paine gazed out over the river. “How long do you think this will take?”

“Likely awhile,” he answered. “An army moves slowly over any kind of terrain, but water can be treacherous, even when it’s this shallow. Best to take it slowly — we don’t want to lose any people or mounts.”

“Mm.” The two stood in silence for a time. Auron soon came to realize that Paine was working up her courage to ask him something, but he said nothing, allowing her to take her time. A good ten minutes had passed before she broke the ice. “How was your talk with Nooj the other day?” she asked.

Auron took another moment to consider his answer. “Productive,” he finally said. “I am satisfied that he is still more than fit to command.”

“Good, I’m glad.” She paused again. “Nooj told me that you know how things are with him and me. That we’re– close.”

He glanced at the girl with a raised eyebrow. “‘Close’?”

“Okay, more than close. That we’re lovers.” Pink spots appeared high on her cheeks, but she did not avert her eyes. “Does that bother you?”

“There is no reason it should. As I told Nooj, I trust you to make your own decisions on such matters.”

“Right.” She cleared her throat, then took a quick sip of water from her flask. “It’s only, I don’t want you to think that I’m with him just because he’s the captain. I mean, the commander. I’m not, you know, trying to sleep my way to the top or anything.”

Auron allowed the barest chuckle to escape his lips. “No need to worry,” he assured her. “I would never have thought such a thing of you. But you do realize that there are others in the army who might make that assumption. I am sure that Nooj knows not to show favoritism toward you, and that you know not to ask for it. Follow those guidelines and be discreet otherwise, and likely no one will complain.”

“I’m being careful,” Paine promised. She laughed ruefully. “Although maybe not careful enough, if you figured it out on your own.”

“Hmph!” Auron smiled, and she grinned back as the army tromped by, stomping water droplets from boots and shaking their legs dry.

-X-

Aquelev and Nooj had crossed the ford with no difficulties. After some reflection, the Commander of the Crusaders had decided to lead the body of troops across in order to set an example to those who might be inclined toward hesitation. Aquelev had, without making an issue of it, stayed close to his leader in quiet support. He considered it his duty to be there in case he was needed. Now the two men made their way to the higher ground near the river where they could see that Auron and Paine had already taken a position from which to observe the procedure.

“I see you made it, sir. Did any of your group have any problems?” Nooj saluted the guardian.

“No. Kal got his monks in line and they’re crossing with the Crusaders and the recruits. The others of my group are all over here and drying out.” Auron smiled his approval. “And, as you see, my niece is safely on this side.” He rested his hand on Paine’s shoulder in an affectionate gesture.

“Yessir. I’m glad the pilgrims are across. Is the Lady Yuna well?”

“She’s fine. Kimahri carried her over and she didn’t even get her sleeves wet. Now that you remind me, I think I’ll go make sure she has a good place to view the rest of the crossing. It’s quite a spectacle and I’m sure she’ll enjoy it. Just watching chocobos pick their way over the stones is a sight not to be missed.” Auron turned and with a friendly wave strolled down the slope toward the little group of guardians not far away.

Nooj looked at Paine and raised an eyebrow. “Is your uncle pleased with the progress so far?”

“So far as I can tell, he’s very pleased — with everything.” She smiled meaningfully at him.

“Oh. Everything?”

Paine burst into a radiant grin. “Everything.”

She was facing over his shoulder and toward the ford. Suddenly her expression changed from shared intimacy to horror, and her eyes widened as she gasped, “Nooj! Look! What’s happening?”

Aquelev was the first to identify the danger. “It’s Sinspawn. They’re after the army!”

Nooj did not hesitate. Drawing his dagger, he started down the path toward the ford where he could see a flurry of confusion. A trio of soldiers just entering the water disappeared in a splash and a arrow-shaped contingent of fiends took aim at the mass of Crusaders on the opposite shore. More and more of the monsters boiled up as if the ground itself was breeding terror.

Paine, who had seen Yuna and her guardians also take note of the enemy and the summoner raise her staff, caught his arm. “Wait, Nooj! Yuna is going to summon an aeon. Stay out of her way and watch.”

As if on cue, the stentorian voice of Wakka echoed over the scene. “Out of the water! Now! On to dry land. Out of the water!”

The force under attack, accustomed to obeying orders, reacted at once and scrambled onto whichever shore they were nearer. Then there was Ixion! The glowing and lethal unicorn was there, as he had been at Djose — except here, he was intent on doing that which he had been called to do.

The blue light of electricity dimmed the yellow sun light and the smell of ozone filled the air. A great crackling sound deafened the on-lookers. The point of the arrow was blunted as great masses of Sinspawn either shriveled into ashes or simply vanished leaving no residue. The remainder milled around before resuming the onslaught, only to fall in their turn. The mighty aeon spun about, herding the creatures with his horn until he had them in position for destruction. Another blast and only a few scattered spawn were left to be joyfully and vengefully cut down by the soldiers. Yuna, with a wave of her staff and a proud smile, dismissed her powerful weapon and leaned back against Kimahri who tenderly held her erect.

Nooj was still trying to escape Paine’s grip when it was over. He stood, unwilling to accept what he had seen but also unable to dismiss the evidence of his eyes. He unhooked his spectacles from his ears and wiped them on his sleeve before putting them back on.

“Now. Do you believe?” Paine’s voice seemed to come from far away yet the words were too loud.

“They’re gone. That … thing, it killed them all at once.” He mumbled to no one in particular. “They’re all gone.”

“I tried to tell you.” She put a comforting arm around his waist. “It’s hard to believe until you see it happen.” When he did not answer, she continued, “I had a hard time with it at first and I was even brought up in the temples. It really happened.” She looked back at Aquelev with a questioning glance only find the Al Bhed as transfixed as her captain.

“It did happen. Or I have completely lost my sanity. No. It happened. It could not happen but it did.” Nooj faced her with a lost look in his eyes.

“It happened. You are sane.” She reassured him. “I know it’s hard to accept but it’s real. Just believe that and don’t bother about the how and why. It’s a fact like the spells the mages use. And like the medicines the alchemists make. It’s part of our life here and is not a part of what the Maesters have done. It’s the gift of the fayth to the summoners. Just accept that. You don’t have to believe any of the crap they’ve heaped around it. Yuna is on our side and the aeons have gone to her. This doesn’t really change anything for you.” She spoke earnestly directly to his spirit. “Nothing is different because the aeons are real.”

He took her arm in a grip so tight as to be painful. “You’re sure? This is not a part of the Maesters’ games? I saw it and have to know it is real or I am lost already.”

“It’s real. Just accept that one truth and don’t worry about anything else right now.” She stoically withstood the grasp of his hand. “It’s all right, captain.”

The use of that title jolted him from his state. He became aware he was hurting her and hastily released her arm. “I’m sorry, Paine. I didn’t mean to do that. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Are you?” She turned to Aquelev. “And you?”

The Al Bhed grinned a shaky grin. “I heard what you told him and I’m going to take your advice and just take one baby step at a time. Yeah, that thing was real all right and it went through those Sinspawn like shit through a goo–” He stopped himself and put his hand over his mouth. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that in front of a lady.”

Paine laughed in relief. “I’m no lady; I’m a Warrior.”

Nooj was neither smiling nor laughing. “I have no options left. I was wrong. This is more than an illusion. I was mistaken. … I will take your advice as well. It’s going to take some time and some effort to connect this in my mind. But I have no choice other than to believe. I am a rational man and I’m finding in order to stay rational I have to accept the irrational. Ixion! In this world which I also inhabit. It’s going to take some getting used to.” He stared out at where the aeon had been with the expression of a recently awakened sleeper.

“Look at your troops,” said Paine. “They haven’t lost their courage or their discipline. They’re coming on across. To you. To their Commander!”

-X-

The rest of the army crossed the Moonflow without incident and, after a brief pause to collect the troops and send the handful of soldiers lost to the Sinspawn before Yuna and Ixion had swept the river clean, they moved on.

During the sending, Nooj had called together his new council. With the aid of maps and Lucil, who had once spent several months patrolling the region with the Chocobo Knights, they mapped out their course. Two more days, at her best guess, and they would be through the forests that surrounded Guadosalam and on the Thunder Plains.

The mass of Crusaders, warrior monks, and pilgrims spread across the land as they marched forth. Nooj took a place near the front, as was his habit, and various people trudged along beside him — Auron for a brief time, sometimes Aquelev or Squab or Lucil, though most often he found Paine at his side. But his mind was not on his companions, or the march, or even on what lay ahead. His thoughts kept turning backwards instead, to his memories of Yuna. The vision of the aeon kept morphing into the image of the slender figure illumined by both the campfire and her own nascent happiness. If Ixion was real… no, he would not think about that immediately. He would focus on the Summoner, not the Summoned.

He could see Yuna across the way, walking with confidence and grace, a small smile on her lips, and he saw, superimposed on the slight figure in the midday sun, how she had looked in the firelight of the evening before. Nooj could not dismiss the image of her serene countenance nor block from his memory the sound of her voice calmly changing her life’s course. She had, with no apparent struggle, set aside her years of training and reset the directional signals she had followed since childhood. They, the Summoner and the Deathseeker, had been early set on similar roads. Hers had been smoothed as much as possible by those around her who were dedicated to her purpose. She had been supported by the faith of her followers until this moment when everything had changed for all of them.

Nooj wondered if the habit of obedience long inculcated into her actions had made the transition from the certainty of death to the possibility of life easier for her. It was a mystery to him.

His own mind was in turmoil. Too much had changed too quickly. Too many of the foundations of his philosophy had been damaged and were teetering. As an introspective man who did not seek the approval of others to gauge his values, he painstakingly examined what he could still rely upon. At the end, there was always Death. He had come to realize how much that certainty had supported him during the worst times of his life. He did not have to live. There was that escape tunnel in the prison of his days. He could always offer what remained of his body for the good of the masses which thronged the planet. There was some use left in him. But the comfort was bitter and no longer wreathed him in the glory of the past.

-X-

Yuna, unaware that she was the object of intense thought from one of her fellow journeyers, settled into the steady pace of the long distance walker and let her mind drift back to the night before when she had first really, truly realized that she need not necessarily die at the end of her quest. She had understood for so long the path her life was meant to follow that she had stopped thinking about it and turned her mind to perfecting the skills she would need to fulfill her role as Summoner.

Therefore, it came as a shock to even entertain the idea of living another year or more, of living a normal life-span. She had ruthlessly excised from her expectations the thoughts of taking a mate and bearing children. Her satisfaction had resided in the belief that she was doing her duty in service to her world and its people. The souls she sent into the beauty of the Farplane were her offspring, her legacy in the truest sense of the words, and she was content that it should be so. Now, she looked across the stream of marchers at the compact figure of the blond once-stranger and permitted herself to dream.

Like a child gingerly touching the scab of a healing wound, she probed that part of her where she had cut away the hopes of a life such as other women might live. Around her rose the visions of peace, of grandchildren gathered at her side, of the man she could now let herself love growing old along with her. With a sudden private laugh and a little jolt, she reminded herself that was a long way off yet. She had still to lend her powers to the twin battles ahead: the one against the evils of Yevon and the final one which would bring the Eternal Calm. A sense of omnipotence settled upon her spirit. It would be done; she could, no, would do it. Then she would pluck the glorious flower of life.

Tidus did not understand the radiant smile Yuna cast on him but returned it with delight. and resumed his trek with a more buoyant step.

-X-

As he surveyed the campsite, Aquelev screwed up his courage. He was not a timid man. He had the temerity to go right up to almost anyone and start a conversation on nearly any topic. However, he did feel a slight hesitancy as he approached the lanky figure of the warrior monk, Kal, that evening, after the Moonflow had been crossed and the army had made camp for the night some hours later.

He had been waiting for an opportunity to catch the older man alone and apparently at loose ends. Aquelev shared many characteristics with the small domesticated cats many Spirans chose as house companions. He was insatiably curious and could not rest until he had winkled out the stories behind so many of the behaviors he observed during each day. Ever since he had witnessed the joyful reunion of both Sir Auron and Paine with the defender of Djose, he had been curious to learn what lay behind the friendships. These Spirans continued to be a mystery to him, one he was determined to solve.

The monk was lazily checking the arrows spread at his feet, making sure the points were securely attached and not off center.

“Er… Hello, my name is Aquelev. You are Sir Kal, aren’t you?” The Al Bhed was horrified to hear his voice shooting up into a near soprano range. “Excuse me, gork in my throat.”

Startled by the newcomer, Kal looked up from his work. “Just Kal,” he said. “Commander Kal, if you’re looking for a title. I’m no guardian.” He picked up the next arrow.

Why were these Yevonites so picky about their honorifics? It seemed that he couldn’t even say hello without giving offense. “Sorry, I don’t seem to be able to get the titles right. I’m Al Bhed and we’re not used to all the formal ways of addressing people. … I’m glad you’ve joined us – although I’m probably not the one who should be saying it since I’m fairly new myself.” He cleared his throat again and smiled feebly.

Kal just stared at him with a watchful air. After a few minutes, he responded, “Thanks. So you’re Al Bhed, are you?”

“Yessir. I was with Nooj when he fought Sin and when I found him again at Operation Mi’ihen, I decided to follow him again. Like you and Sir Auron?” The question was very tentative.

“Not exactly.” Kal raised a lazy eyebrow. “Do you even know who Sir Auron is?”

Aquelev was baffled by the question. “Of course. Guardian to High Summoner Braska and one of Spira’s greatest heroes. We Al Bhed may not agree with Yevon and the pilgrimages, but we aren’t ignorant of their successes.”

“Hm.” Kal settled back on his heels as he toyed with the arrow. “Well. Are you one of those who is devoted to Nooj? He seems to command quite a lot of respect given that he can’t have served for all that long.” The long fingers of the warrior monk tested the projectile. Satisfied with the condition of its point, he turned his attention to the flight, trimming errant feathers with a small knife.

“Yes, he’s a great leader. He cleaned up the whole length of the Highroad before he was hurt. He even killed three bandits who caught him without his sword using just a knife no bigger than that one you’re using.” Aquelev realized he was babbling but could not seem to stop himself. Did some of these monks take a vow of silence? “He had only nine in his party and he just got rid of all the criminals and …”

Kal lowered his head to hide his amusement. He’d had little contact with Al Bhed during his years spent in the confines of temples. When he thought about the race at all, he felt little more than an uneasy curiosity. Lately, his discomfort had grown as the machina promoted by the Al Bhed had begun to make inroads into some Spiran establishments. Still, this particular fellow seemed harmless enough, if a little scattered. “So you’re willing to place your life in the hands of a Spiran? And a young one at that?”

Aquelev tried to answer calmly and rationally. “You see, I’ve done it before. Nooj has saved my life before. He sacrificed himself to save me.” He furrowed his brow in his effort to convey the totality with which he trusted his chosen leader.

“Then I guess you have good reason to follow him, Aquelev – that’s the name, right?” Kal finally cracked a bit of a grin. “Maybe it’s more like following Auron than I thought.”

Aquelev leaned forward with interest. “Sir Auron saved your life?”

“Oh, sure.” Kal shrugged. “Many times over. And vice versa. That’s how it goes when you serve together as long as we did.” He gathered up his arrows and dropped them in his quiver, then stood. “It’s been interesting talking to you, but I’ve got some things to attend to. Catch you later.”

It had been amusing, and even a little enlightening, but Kal was not in the mood to chat any longer. He needed to see to the warrior monks who had joined him in the ranks of Auron and then to find a companion for the evening meal. Scanning the crowd, he noticed Paine, standing alone a little distance from the ranks, and he resolved to join her — they were long past due for some catching up.

-X-

Once again, Paine found herself chatting at a campfire over dinner, but tonight the company was very different — Kal had dropped down by her side and was entertaining her with stories of battles and politics from the six years he had served as commander at Djose Temple.

“So you were happy at Djose?” she asked him as he paused to serve himself another bowl of soup from the pot that bubbled over the fire.

“I was,” he said. “I never quite fell in with comrades I liked so well as your uncle and your father, though. Maybe because I came in as a superior officer; they never had a chance to get to know me as just one of the men.”

“That is possible.” Auron approached the fire and settled down on the opposite side. Nooj, who was right behind him, took a seat next to Paine, who had perched on a convenient boulder in hopes that this opportunity might present itself. “Who replaced you at Kilika?”

“Fellow named Morlan,” Kal told him. “Younger guy, I don’t think you knew him. He was all right, although he wouldn’t have been my first choice. But he didn’t last long — died under mysterious circumstances. I got the impression that it was a duel or something like that, since the priests seemed to want the whole thing hushed up.” He turned to Paine. “Do you know what happened?”

Paine raised her head, meeting Kal’s eyes with a flat stare. “Yes,” she said. “I know exactly what happened.” She lowered her voice. “I killed him.”

Nooj started and swiveled his head toward her; Kal stared open-mouthed; Auron settled back on his heels as surprise spread across his face. For a long moment, no one spoke, only the popping and cracking of the fire filling the space among them.

Kal was the first to recover, after a fashion. “But how– why– fayth, Paine, you couldn’t have been more than twelve!”

“Eleven,” she corrected him in a whisper. “I was eleven.”

“Eleven,” Auron repeated with a shake of his head. “So that is why you left the temple at such a young age.”

“Yes.” She was still barely audible.

“Can you tell us?” Kal asked gently.

Paine lifted her eyes to the evening sky, where the first stars were just beginning to fade in. Then she glanced to Nooj. He looked down at her, confidence in his eyes. “You are strong,” they seemed to say. “You can do this.” She surreptitiously laid her hand on his gloved one, taking comfort from his presence and his faith in her.

“After you left, and Morlan took charge, I kept hanging out with the warrior monks, because Daemilla still hated me.” She looked quickly at Nooj and Auron. “She was the matron in charge of the temple orphans,” she explained, “and she looked down on me because I wasn’t ‘ladylike’ — always giving me trouble for being dirty or sweaty or bruised. It was just easier to stay away from her and the other girls as much as I could.”

Auron leaned forward, single eye widening. “They made Daemilla responsible for the children?”

Kal twitched with mild disgust. “Yeah.”

The elder guardian drew a hand over his face. “Paine. I am sorry. It’s my fault that Daemilla mistreated you.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Kal interrupted his friend. “How is it your fault that she was obsessed with you?”

Auron raised his chin. “Can you truly say that I bear no responsibility?” The two men held eyes for a moment, until Kal grunted, then looked away as Auron returned his attention to Paine. “A few months before I left on the pilgrimage with Braska, I was offered a place in Bevelle. I would have been second in command there, answering only to the Captain of the Guard. But there was a catch — I would have to marry the daughter of the High Priest of Kilika. Daemilla. They told me it was to solidify political alliances, but I knew better. She must have arranged it. I never learned how, but I was certain that she had. So I turned down the promotion, and she took it as an insult.”

“Which she richly deserved,” Kal interjected.

“Perhaps,” Auron said with a shrug. “But I could have refused her more tactfully. Regardless, I’m afraid it’s likely that she nursed a grudge on me and took it out on you.”

“It’s not your fault.” But still, Paine tightened the fingers that rested on Nooj’s. “Even if it were, I couldn’t blame you. You could never have married that awful woman. No matter what the consequences.”

Auron barked out a laugh, mouth twisting wryly. “You are right about that. Of course, there were consequences. They didn’t kick me out, exactly, but it was not long after that I was ordered to guard Braska. Since it’s always an honor to be named a guardian, it would have been bad form to refuse, but assignment to a disgraced summoner excommunicated from the priesthood for marrying an Al Bhed was not exactly a reward.”

“So that’s why you left,” Paine said thoughtfully.

He nodded. “It was not by my choice. I promise you that.” He sat back again with a quiet sigh. “But enough of this. You were telling your story.”

“Right.” Paine had secretly been glad of the delay, but she couldn’t refuse this direct invitation to continue. “So I spent most of my time with the warrior monks, and for awhile it was fine — I was still their mascot, their kid sister. But then I started getting older and Morlan, he… noticed.”

The pause and the expression on her face told the men all they needed to know, and Kal leapt to his feet, horrified. “In Yevon’s name! Paine, you– he didn’t!”

“No,” she assured him quickly. “No, he didn’t. Not for lack of trying, though. It was mostly rudeness at first, crude jokes and comments, and many of the other younger men joined in with him. I started avoiding them, but between the monks and Daemilla and her pets there weren’t many places to escape. One afternoon I was hiding out in the armory, practicing with the sword. Morlan and his buddies caught me there and–” She swallowed hard and inched even closer to Nooj, who had still said nothing, though she could feel him vibrating with protective fury. “When he tried to touch me, I grabbed the sword and I waved it in his face. I swear, I was only trying to scare him, to get away, but I misjudged and I– I got him in the throat. And he died.” She tightened her grip on Nooj’s hand yet again, and only then did it register that it was the machina hand she held, that she was feeling steel under her fingers rather than flesh. “The others were so shocked that they didn’t try to stop me when I ran. Somehow I got out of there with the sword and the clothes on my back, ran into town without being caught, and stowed away on the Winno. When it left for Luca that evening, I was still on board. I went to the city and never looked back.”

“How did you live there?” Auron asked. His voice was oddly strained, as though he were fighting some complex emotion.

She tipped her head. “I found other children with no place to go. Small packs of them roam the streets of Luca and Bevelle, orphans too young for the military who leave the temples for one reason or another. It wasn’t an easy life, but I preferred it to Yevon. When I was fourteen, a friend who had gotten out by joining the Crusaders convinced me to get a job recording at the blitzball stadium. I lied about my age and experience, and I’m sure the boss there knew it, but he needed people badly enough that he took a chance on me. Then after a couple years of that he assigned me to the Crimson Squad recording team and, well, you know the rest.”

Auron stood and walked over to the boulder where Paine perched, Nooj by her side. Slowly and deliberately, he reached out with both arms, pulling the left out of his coat, and laid one hand on each shoulder. “I wish I could tell you just how sorry I am that I was not there for you. But you became a strong young woman on your own, and that makes me glad beyond words. Johar would be proud of you.”

Paine felt her throat thickening, and she cleared it. “Thank you,” she answered.

He looked at her for a moment longer, his single brown eye heavy with brooding. Then he dropped a gentle kiss on her forehead and was gone.

Kal was still standing as well, although his stance had relaxed somewhat. “I should’ve taken you to Djose,” he muttered. “The matron there is a good woman, kind and fair.”

“Don’t you blame yourself either,” Paine told him. “You couldn’t have known about Morlan.”

“I knew about Daemilla.” He frowned, and paced around the fire. “I’m sorry. But thank you for sharing your story with me. I swear, I’ll never let you down again.” With that, he disappeared as well, following Auron into the darkness, leaving Paine alone with Nooj.

She looked up at him as he stared into the dying fire. “You’ve been quiet,” she commented.

He turned his head, firelight catching his dark eyes as they roamed over her face. “I always knew you were strong,” he said. “Now I know why.”

She trailed her fingers up the prosthetic arm, her hand coming to rest atop his shoulder. He reached over with his natural hand and patted her gently, then stroked her jaw line with a light touch. “It’s late. Come, I found a camp for us in a stand of trees to the west.”

Without another word, the pair stood and went on their way, leaving the fire to burn itself out overnight.

—

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