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Chapter One: Once Again

He smiled at her, a smile that she knew. A calm, placid… boring smile that always seemed to be present upon his face. His long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail behind his head, and he wore his usual blue and teal colored robes. He was a nice man, and she didn’t really want to cause him pain, but there was no depth to him, no dark places, no secrets, no special things about him for only her to know. He seemed so hollow, and she knew that she couldn‘t pretend to love a hollow person. That was why she was here, in this small café in Bevelle, with him. They had broken up before, and she knew that it has been a sign that she just didn’t feel anything special for him, but every time her father would coax her into giving it one more shot, saying that all it needed was time, and love would be sure to grow. Every time she waited… and it didn’t grow. Plants needed water to grow, and she needed someone with substance for her to love them. This time was going to be the last time, she couldn’t continue in this relationship just to keep her father happy. It wasn’t fair to him, and it most definitely wasn’t fair to her.

“… so I thought that we could go together, I’m sure it would make your fath….”

Oh! she thought, He was talking this whole time, I must not have been listening. I have to do this now, before I let the right time slip away.

“Isaaru,” she said abruptly, “I have something that I have to talk to you about.”

He looked at her for a moment with a strange expression on his face, probably from being interrupted in the middle of what he was saying but he quickly changed it to one of interest.

“Yes my sweet?” he said the smile resuming on his face.

She inwardly cringed at the pet name, it always just seemed wrong when anyone called her something other than her name, Yuna.

“Well… you see… it’s just that… Well I think we should… I mean…” she tried to gather her thoughts together, for some reason she was having trouble getting them out in a cordial fashion, so she just ended up blurting out. “We need to break up.”

Isaaru lifted an eyebrow in interest at her comment, “What, again?” he asked politely, although she could her the strain of irritation behind his voice, maybe she would be irritated with someone if they had broken up with her 4 times before too, but she had never experienced it so she didn’t know. He sighed, and put his hand to his forehead, “Yuna, I thought we resolved all the issues the last time you decided that we needed to break up?”

“Well, we had but then I found one more that is actually a large deciding factor.”

“Oh really? What would that be?”

She gulped in her breath, knowing that she had to hit him with this information. “I don’t think that we should be together because, I don’t have any feelings for you romantically in any way, shape or form, and I know that they aren‘t going to grow there because I have been waiting our whole relationship for them to grow.”

“Maybe you should discuss this with your father,” he said looking exasperated and confused, “before making any… rash decisions.”

“I can’t have my father running my life, we inhabit the same building but he knows nothing about the me on the inside, how is he supposed to find my soul mate for me if he doesn’t even know me!” Yuna said, realizing that her voice was getting a little loud and quickly lowered it conscious of the people around, “I am going to talk to him, but I am going to tell him that I think he should leave my romantic life up to me. I can‘t just be expected to love whoever he tells me to, Isaaru you have to understand.”

He stared at her for a few moments blankly. She couldn’t read his expression so she didn’t know what was going on inside his head. When he finally spoke he rose to a standing position.

“I’m sorry Milady Yuna for any emotional distress, or lack-there-of that our former relationship has caused you.” He gave her a sharp bow and walked out of the entrance of the café they were sitting in.

“Isaaru, I didn’t want to make you ang….” she trailed off as he left through the front door and she wondered about how she was going to explain this to her father. She sighed and rose from her seat to go, leaving some extra gil on the table for the friendly hypello who had brought them their drinks.

“One down, one to go.” she said exiting by the same door which Issaru did.

It was late in the afternoon and the temperature was starting to go down but very slowly. Like everything in Bevelle, things happened slowly and without much occurrence. The streets had people on them but they were by no means full. She looked around until she spotted what she was looking for. A tall Ronso with a broken horn was making his way to her. His name was Kimahri and he was her personal bodyguard assigned to her by her father. In reality he was more like a babysitter to keep track of where she went, and with whom but, she knew Kimahri really did care about her, he was a good companion and she was glad to have him there.

“Yuna ready to go home?” he asked her in his gruff voice.

“Yes, I’m ready but, do you think we could walk Kimahri, I don’t feel like riding the lift to the Palace.”

Kimahri’s only response was a nod and they started to walk in the direction of the Palace where she lived. Her father Braska was Lord of the City of Bevelle. It was more like a president than a king but, the people here loved honorary titles, so they called him Lord Braska everywhere he went. They called her Lady Yuna because she was his daughter and treated her with the utmost respect. She couldn’t complain for being mistreated here in Bevelle, but somehow, something seemed to be missing from her existence. She had always hoped that time would eventually cover over it and she could lead a happy full life, but as the years went by the empty feelings only got worse.

She walked through the halls of Bevelle Palace, making her way to her dressing rooms, she had decided that tomorrow would be a good day to talk to her father as it was already evening now, it would give her time to think and re-organize her thoughts about what she was going to say. Now that the matter with Issaru himself was out of the way, no matter how it had gone, she was relieved to only have one thing to worry about…

She opened the door to her room to see a woman dressed in a black dress with very long dark hair setting out a pale green dress onto her Yuna‘s bed. Upon hearing the door open the woman said, without turning, “How was your lunch with Isaaru?”

Yuna sighed at the question and walked up to her bed and laid down on the side that wasn’t covered in an expensive dress, she closed her eyes and said, “I broke up with him… again.”

The woman raised her eyebrow, “That makes five times now doesn’t it.”

“Yes it does, and I know what your going to say Lulu. If I really wanted to be out of the relationship I should have done this and stuck with it a long time ago. The truth of the matter is your absolutely right, I should have. But my father, I want him to be happy, and the only thing he wants me to do is find some boring, hollow young man ready to inherit a fortune from his father! I can’t live my life being told what to do always! I can’t!”

“Hey,” said Lulu, “I’m not arguing with you Yuna. But be aware that your decisions will impact your father and… well… he is not going to be happy about this. He worked hard on trying to get Issaru and yourself together. Make sure you know what your going to say to him tonight.”

At this Yuna’s eyes snapped open, “Tonight? What?”

“He informed me that he wished to meet with you, to discuss some things because he has been busy with city affairs these last two weeks. I am just assuming that Issaru is going to be one of those things that is going to come up.”

“Oh no…” Yuna said quietly, placing her hand over her eyes. She had no idea how the news was going to come out but she knew she couldn’t lie to her father about what had happened. Somehow he would find out, probably by Isaaru’s angry father.

“Will you help me get ready Lulu?”

There was one thing that she had to admit. Bevelle at night, when all the remnants of day had slipped away, was beautiful. The lights that emanated from the city gave the surrounding white buildings of the Palace and the upper city a sort of luminescent glow. She was standing on the balcony in her room that overhung the gardens behind the palace walls. It was the best spot in the whole of Bevelle to look at it, and see it the way that she did. Yuna stood there silently taking it all in, waiting for her cue to go down and meet her father. The thought made her stomach turn. She knew what she was going to say to him but still, the thought of having to relay the news was not a pleasant one.

She could tell that it was going to be some kind of a fancy dinner because Lulu had went out and got this dress for it. The dress had small spaghetti straps and ran the full length of her body. It was made of a pale green shiny material, which Lulu said matched her right eye. Her left eye was blue like her fathers. Just by looking at her anyone could know of her mixed heritage of Yevonite and Al-Bhed. Her mother, Ceara, had died 12 years ago when Yuna was only 5 so she didn’t remember much about her, just occasional emotions or images. She was proud to have something that resembled her mother since she mostly took after her father. They had the same brown hair, and their faces had many similarities, her green eye was something that tied her to her mother and it made her glad. She wore her shoulder-length hair up in a ponytail on the top of her head. It was rare that she wore it down.

“Yuna,” she heard Lulu say after entering her room via the main chamber doors, “It’s time.”

Yuna sighed and took one last look at the city and the gardens before turning around and walking out the doors to go meet her father.

She made her way down the long turning hallway that stretched from her quarters to the main dining area of Bevelle Palace. Sometimes because of all the twists and turns, the place felt more like a maze to her than a home. As she reached the doors, she paused for a moment, hearing voices from within…

“..but my lord, my sources are hardly ever wrong. They are planning an attack. It’s only a matter of when.”

“We’ve been at war for twelve years, and no one has fired a shot or attacked in the past seven! It would be preposterous for Zanarkand to make such a move now. That fool they call a leader wouldn’t have the courage.”

“All the same my lord, we should at least make sure, if such an eventuality happens we nee to be prepared. Perhaps if we sent and emissary to Guadosalam? Their leader the young Lord Seymour would surely come to our aid if we need it.”

“I will consider what you say. Maybe updating out defenses wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Inform Bevelle Guard and my Brother-in-Law of these plans, and carry on.”

“As you wish my lord.”

Yuna had been so intent at listening to the half-conversation that she barely noticed the door opening. Out of it waddled a short, bald man, with beady little eyes who wore a long orange and yellow robe.

“Ahh,” he said, almost running into her, “My apologies Lady Yuna. You are looking lovely tonight, I believe your father is waiting for you.”

Yuna gave a short curtsey, “Thank you Maester Kinoc.” she said as he bowed to her and then went his own way down the hallway. She wasn’t overly fond of the man, he always seemed like he was scheming something. However, she was always polite to him, for it “would not be proper for the daughter of Lord Braska..” to be rude to one of his advisors. Setting her thoughts of Kinoc aside she put her mind to the task that remained. She held the door knob in her hand and took a deep breath before turning it and entering the room. “Here goes nothing…” she muttered under her breath.

Description
Chapter One: Once Again

He smiled at her, a smile that she knew. A calm, placid… boring smile that always seemed to be present upon his face. His long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail behind his head, and he wore his usual blue and teal colored robes. He was a nice man, and she didn’t really want to cause him pain, but there was no depth to him, no dark places, no secrets, no special things about him for only her to know. He seemed so hollow, and she knew that she couldn‘t pretend to love a hollow person. That was why she was here, in this small café in Bevelle, with him. They had broken up before, and she knew that it has been a sign that she just didn’t feel anything special for him, but every time her father would coax her into giving it one more shot, saying that all it needed was time, and love would be sure to grow. Every time she waited… and it didn’t grow. Plants needed water to grow, and she needed someone with substance for her to love them. This time was going to be the last time, she couldn’t continue in this relationship just to keep her father happy. It wasn’t fair to him, and it most definitely wasn’t fair to her.

“… so I thought that we could go together, I’m sure it would make your fath….”

Oh! she thought, He was talking this whole time, I must not have been listening. I have to do this now, before I let the right time slip away.

“Isaaru,” she said abruptly, “I have something that I have to talk to you about.”

He looked at her for a moment with a strange expression on his face, probably from being interrupted in the middle of what he was saying but he quickly changed it to one of interest.

“Yes my sweet?” he said the smile resuming on his face.

She inwardly cringed at the pet name, it always just seemed wrong when anyone called her something other than her name, Yuna.

“Well… you see… it’s just that… Well I think we should… I mean…” she tried to gather her thoughts together, for some reason she was having trouble getting them out in a cordial fashion, so she just ended up blurting out. “We need to break up.”

Isaaru lifted an eyebrow in interest at her comment, “What, again?” he asked politely, although she could her the strain of irritation behind his voice, maybe she would be irritated with someone if they had broken up with her 4 times before too, but she had never experienced it so she didn’t know. He sighed, and put his hand to his forehead, “Yuna, I thought we resolved all the issues the last time you decided that we needed to break up?”

“Well, we had but then I found one more that is actually a large deciding factor.”

“Oh really? What would that be?”

She gulped in her breath, knowing that she had to hit him with this information. “I don’t think that we should be together because, I don’t have any feelings for you romantically in any way, shape or form, and I know that they aren‘t going to grow there because I have been waiting our whole relationship for them to grow.”

“Maybe you should discuss this with your father,” he said looking exasperated and confused, “before making any… rash decisions.”

“I can’t have my father running my life, we inhabit the same building but he knows nothing about the me on the inside, how is he supposed to find my soul mate for me if he doesn’t even know me!” Yuna said, realizing that her voice was getting a little loud and quickly lowered it conscious of the people around, “I am going to talk to him, but I am going to tell him that I think he should leave my romantic life up to me. I can‘t just be expected to love whoever he tells me to, Isaaru you have to understand.”

He stared at her for a few moments blankly. She couldn’t read his expression so she didn’t know what was going on inside his head. When he finally spoke he rose to a standing position.

“I’m sorry Milady Yuna for any emotional distress, or lack-there-of that our former relationship has caused you.” He gave her a sharp bow and walked out of the entrance of the café they were sitting in.

“Isaaru, I didn’t want to make you ang….” she trailed off as he left through the front door and she wondered about how she was going to explain this to her father. She sighed and rose from her seat to go, leaving some extra gil on the table for the friendly hypello who had brought them their drinks.

“One down, one to go.” she said exiting by the same door which Issaru did.

It was late in the afternoon and the temperature was starting to go down but very slowly. Like everything in Bevelle, things happened slowly and without much occurrence. The streets had people on them but they were by no means full. She looked around until she spotted what she was looking for. A tall Ronso with a broken horn was making his way to her. His name was Kimahri and he was her personal bodyguard assigned to her by her father. In reality he was more like a babysitter to keep track of where she went, and with whom but, she knew Kimahri really did care about her, he was a good companion and she was glad to have him there.

“Yuna ready to go home?” he asked her in his gruff voice.

“Yes, I’m ready but, do you think we could walk Kimahri, I don’t feel like riding the lift to the Palace.”

Kimahri’s only response was a nod and they started to walk in the direction of the Palace where she lived. Her father Braska was Lord of the City of Bevelle. It was more like a president than a king but, the people here loved honorary titles, so they called him Lord Braska everywhere he went. They called her Lady Yuna because she was his daughter and treated her with the utmost respect. She couldn’t complain for being mistreated here in Bevelle, but somehow, something seemed to be missing from her existence. She had always hoped that time would eventually cover over it and she could lead a happy full life, but as the years went by the empty feelings only got worse.

She walked through the halls of Bevelle Palace, making her way to her dressing rooms, she had decided that tomorrow would be a good day to talk to her father as it was already evening now, it would give her time to think and re-organize her thoughts about what she was going to say. Now that the matter with Issaru himself was out of the way, no matter how it had gone, she was relieved to only have one thing to worry about…

She opened the door to her room to see a woman dressed in a black dress with very long dark hair setting out a pale green dress onto her Yuna‘s bed. Upon hearing the door open the woman said, without turning, “How was your lunch with Isaaru?”

Yuna sighed at the question and walked up to her bed and laid down on the side that wasn’t covered in an expensive dress, she closed her eyes and said, “I broke up with him… again.”

The woman raised her eyebrow, “That makes five times now doesn’t it.”

“Yes it does, and I know what your going to say Lulu. If I really wanted to be out of the relationship I should have done this and stuck with it a long time ago. The truth of the matter is your absolutely right, I should have. But my father, I want him to be happy, and the only thing he wants me to do is find some boring, hollow young man ready to inherit a fortune from his father! I can’t live my life being told what to do always! I can’t!”

“Hey,” said Lulu, “I’m not arguing with you Yuna. But be aware that your decisions will impact your father and… well… he is not going to be happy about this. He worked hard on trying to get Issaru and yourself together. Make sure you know what your going to say to him tonight.”

At this Yuna’s eyes snapped open, “Tonight? What?”

“He informed me that he wished to meet with you, to discuss some things because he has been busy with city affairs these last two weeks. I am just assuming that Issaru is going to be one of those things that is going to come up.”

“Oh no…” Yuna said quietly, placing her hand over her eyes. She had no idea how the news was going to come out but she knew she couldn’t lie to her father about what had happened. Somehow he would find out, probably by Isaaru’s angry father.

“Will you help me get ready Lulu?”

There was one thing that she had to admit. Bevelle at night, when all the remnants of day had slipped away, was beautiful. The lights that emanated from the city gave the surrounding white buildings of the Palace and the upper city a sort of luminescent glow. She was standing on the balcony in her room that overhung the gardens behind the palace walls. It was the best spot in the whole of Bevelle to look at it, and see it the way that she did. Yuna stood there silently taking it all in, waiting for her cue to go down and meet her father. The thought made her stomach turn. She knew what she was going to say to him but still, the thought of having to relay the news was not a pleasant one.

She could tell that it was going to be some kind of a fancy dinner because Lulu had went out and got this dress for it. The dress had small spaghetti straps and ran the full length of her body. It was made of a pale green shiny material, which Lulu said matched her right eye. Her left eye was blue like her fathers. Just by looking at her anyone could know of her mixed heritage of Yevonite and Al-Bhed. Her mother, Ceara, had died 12 years ago when Yuna was only 5 so she didn’t remember much about her, just occasional emotions or images. She was proud to have something that resembled her mother since she mostly took after her father. They had the same brown hair, and their faces had many similarities, her green eye was something that tied her to her mother and it made her glad. She wore her shoulder-length hair up in a ponytail on the top of her head. It was rare that she wore it down.

“Yuna,” she heard Lulu say after entering her room via the main chamber doors, “It’s time.”

Yuna sighed and took one last look at the city and the gardens before turning around and walking out the doors to go meet her father.

She made her way down the long turning hallway that stretched from her quarters to the main dining area of Bevelle Palace. Sometimes because of all the twists and turns, the place felt more like a maze to her than a home. As she reached the doors, she paused for a moment, hearing voices from within…

“..but my lord, my sources are hardly ever wrong. They are planning an attack. It’s only a matter of when.”

“We’ve been at war for twelve years, and no one has fired a shot or attacked in the past seven! It would be preposterous for Zanarkand to make such a move now. That fool they call a leader wouldn’t have the courage.”

“All the same my lord, we should at least make sure, if such an eventuality happens we nee to be prepared. Perhaps if we sent and emissary to Guadosalam? Their leader the young Lord Seymour would surely come to our aid if we need it.”

“I will consider what you say. Maybe updating out defenses wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Inform Bevelle Guard and my Brother-in-Law of these plans, and carry on.”

“As you wish my lord.”

Yuna had been so intent at listening to the half-conversation that she barely noticed the door opening. Out of it waddled a short, bald man, with beady little eyes who wore a long orange and yellow robe.

“Ahh,” he said, almost running into her, “My apologies Lady Yuna. You are looking lovely tonight, I believe your father is waiting for you.”

Yuna gave a short curtsey, “Thank you Maester Kinoc.” she said as he bowed to her and then went his own way down the hallway. She wasn’t overly fond of the man, he always seemed like he was scheming something. However, she was always polite to him, for it “would not be proper for the daughter of Lord Braska..” to be rude to one of his advisors. Setting her thoughts of Kinoc aside she put her mind to the task that remained. She held the door knob in her hand and took a deep breath before turning it and entering the room. “Here goes nothing…” she muttered under her breath.