Chapter Text
Ul'dah was a place that had its fair share of both positives and negatives. On one hand, as a centre of commerce, its many commercial streets were always bustling with activity. In particular, the area surrounding Sapphire Avenue, which saw merchants offering wares from both the breadth of Aldenard and beyond, was a significant mercantile district.
On the other hand, being in the middle of the desert, it was hot. It was a few bells past midday, where the air was really starting to heat up, and I was fairly miserable. I preferred being out in the city at night, when the cool desert breeze blew pleasantly through the streets, but my weapon was long overdue for maintenance, and the shop I frequented did not open then.
Once I had finished my errand, I made my way to Sapphire Avenue to idle away some time. After purchasing a much-needed drink—chilled tea mixed with honey and lemon—from a food stall that I often bought from, I glanced around for somewhere to sit. The avenue wasn't terribly busy, possibly because it was so hot today. It didn't take me long to find an open seat, though someone else was occupying the other half of the bench.
"Hello, do you mind if I sit?" I greeted the woman, a xaela. She turned to me, eyes wide as if I had startled her, but then softened her expression.
"Go ahead," she replied. I unclasped my sheathed sword from my belt with one hand, prising the whole scabbard off and setting it down beside me so I could sit comfortably. I crossed my legs and took a sip of my drink.
I glanced over at the xaela woman. Her skin was a light, tan colour; rather darker than mine, but nowhere near as dark or red as a typical Hellsguard. Her hair, a pale brown that seemed streaked with strands of a dark ocher-like colour, was short and cut just above her shoulders, and it had a surprising amount of volume. Rather than being straight, the bounciness of her curls made her head look quite fluffy. Occasionally, she would reach up to brush her bangs out of her face, but they were short enough to be in no danger of covering her eyes. Unlike most of the xaela that I knew, her horns were flattened and angled dorsally, towards the back of her head—similar to Cirina. She was wearing a simple white dress made of what appeared to be cotton. It was sleeveless, but had thick shoulder straps, and the hem extended to her shins. A simple pair of black flats adorned her feet, and she was clutching a dark, leatherbound case—the kind typically used for storing instruments—while a brown handbag sat at her side.
I cleared my throat. "So, pleasant day, huh?"
She huffed softly. "You could say that." She glanced over at me. "What brings you here today?"
I tapped my sword's hilt and replied, "Sharpening this, and probably a couple other errands too. You?"
"A merchant owning a sword? Is Aldenard really that dangerous?"
I snickered. "Oh, nothing like that. I might not be dressed for it right now, but I basically work as a mercenary."
"Oh, my apologies," she bowed her head slightly. "Well, as for me, I am… people watching, you could say. As you can probably guess, I am not from here, so I thought it would be nice to sit down somewhere and take in the sights for a time," she sighed. "Though, it seems like there aren't many people around right now. Back in Kugane, the Kogane Dori is always much busier."
"Ah, you're from Kugane? It's a beautiful place."
"You have been there?"
"Mhm. It's probably been somewhere around ten moons since I first visited," I elaborated. "What brought you all the way across the sea to Ul'dah?"
She blushed slightly and brushed her hair out of her face. "Well… My family sent me here."
She had a bit of an elegant air around her. I couldn't quite place it, but it seemed almost high-class, and as I observed her body language, that conclusion only seemed to get clearer.
"Not family trouble, I hope," I ventured, taking another sip of my tea before corking the bottle and setting it aside. I shifted to one side in order to face her, and to my surprise she did the same a few seconds later.
"Oh, nothing like that. They just wanted me to come here."
It was pretty clear that wasn't the full story, but I let the point go and continued on.
"Right. So—"
"Sorry, do you mind if I ask what it is that you are drinking? I could just barely catch the aroma, and it smells intriguing," she hurriedly cut in.
I smiled and picked up the bottle. "This? It's chilled tea. Cold drinks are always really nice when it gets hot like today, but they even say that this specific blend is helpful in preventing heat exhaustion," I described to her. "I can't really say myself whether it actually works, but it tastes good anyways, so I usually make sure to buy some when I'm in the area."
I reached into the satchel hanging at my hip and pulled out a small paper bundle wrapped with twine. The words "Thanalan wildflower" were stencilled on the face of the package.
"Here, open this, but be careful of the wind," I said, offering the bundle to the woman. "You can smell it and tell me what you think, if you'd like."
She accepted the package, undid the twine, and gently prised up one corner of the paper, revealing the block of dried tea leaves and flower buds within. She brought it up to her face and inhaled slowly.
"Hmm. It smells quite different from what we have back home, but the leaves look the same," She observed. "And these small flowers… I've never seen them before, but I can only assume that they are a large part of what gives this blend its unique aroma."
"Mhm. You know a lot about this, huh?"
The corners of her mouth rose into a slight smile and replied, "My father is a merchant who sometimes deals in the tea trade. I guess some of it has rubbed off on me."
I clapped my hands together softly. "Tell you what, why don't you keep that? I can easily buy another package."
She glanced up at me, wide-eyed. "Are you sure?"
"Of course! I doubt you would've otherwise heard of the tea here, out of all the things Ul'dah is famous for. I'm glad to share a small part of showing a local specialty to someone," I justified. "One word of advice, though—the tea tastes a lot better cold. After brewing it, if you mix in some honey and then cool it down with an ice crystal, it ends up being pretty close to what they sell in these," I suggested, lifting up my bottle.
"Thank you! I'll be sure to enjoy it when I have the time," she beamed at me, then folded up the package once more, secured it with the twine, and placed it inside her handbag. Her eyes narrowed and she glanced up at the clock in the middle of the avenue before hurriedly rising and stepping in front of me, bags in hand. I straightened up and looked up at her quizzically, pressing my hands down into my lap.
"Um, I've just noticed the time… I have to go. Thank you, Miss…"
I hurried to my feet in response. "Tessa Elminus," I supplied with a soft smile.
"Right, thank you for the gift, Miss Elminus," she finished while bowing.
"No problem," I replied. When she brought her head up, I bowed in return. "It was nice talking to you."
"Ah, my name is Chiharu Ueda."
"I'll be sure to remember that, Miss Ueda. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay here. Maybe we'll run into each other again, and you can tell me your thoughts on that tea," I suggested.
"Of course!" She smiled back, widely. "I guess I should be going, then. See you around!"
She turned and hurried down the avenue. I waved at her when she glanced back and she smiled at me one more in response before disappearing around the corner.
"Cute…" I mumbled to myself, turning back to the bench to pick up my sword and the bottle of tea.
———
I scrunched up my eyebrows and glared at the lalafell across the counter. "Momodi, when you put it that way, it makes me sound like some kind of creep."
The proprietress only snickered in response as she refilled my glass, which I promptly took a long draught from.
"I'm just… Curious…" I muttered into my glass as I drained the rest. Moments later, I set it back on the counter with a groan. "Oh, woah, that was a lot. I think I'm gonna need to lie down later…"
Momodi snickered again and responded, "Better you do that than go chasin' after every cute girl you meet, Tessa."
"I know, but…"
"No buts! You'll be thankin' me tomorrow when you realise how crazy your plan was."
I groaned again and banged my head lightly on the counter. "Why can't there just be more girls like me!? This isn't fair…"
Momodi made an effort to console me as she slid a plate of food onto the counter. "There, there. You'll find the one for you someday."
"But I want to find her today," I grumbled as I pulled the plate towards me.
"With that attitude, you won't be findin' nothin'. Just give it up for now, friend."
"Oh, fine…"
———
After I finished my meal, Momodi somehow managed to drag my drunk self back to my room, where I promptly—and very inelegantly—passed out on my bed. When I awoke, the sky outside my window had darkened to nearly pitch black. I stumbled out of my room, bleary and in need of a glass of ice-cold water to bring me back to my senses. I made my way back to the tavern and noted the time—a bit past the first bell of the day. The place was still fairly packed, but even more bafflingly, Momodi was still there. She had been behind the bar when I checked in at the fifth bell the previous morning, so that meant she had been awake for at least twenty bells now.
"How in the hells are you still here? Do you even sleep?" I asked as I pulled myself up onto a chair at the counter.
"Don't ask questions that you don't want to hear the answers to, Tessa," came the reply. "What'll it be? Need a cure for a hangover?"
"Ice water, please," I began, gently massaging my temples, "and not to the face this time. I'm not feeling that particular treatment today."
"Comin' right up!"
After clearing up my hangover as best as I could, I sat for a while and chatted idly with Momodi before heading back to my room, resolved to get some proper rest. However, as I clicked the door shut, my eyes fell upon my guitar case, which laid on the floor at the foot of the bed. It was just as well that I had brought my guitar with me for this trip, because the urge to play suddenly came over me. Nothing was more maddening to me than being unable to let out my creative energy, so I swiftly hauled myself back out of my room, guitar case in hand. I stepped out of the Quicksand and set the case down in front of the railing just outside the doors, stretched, warmed up my fingers, and glanced up at the clear night sky before letting out a contented sigh.
I kneeled before the case and flipped it onto its bottom before popping it open. Pulling out the guitar and sitting down with my back to the railing, the instrument case that Chiharu had been carrying flashed through my mind. Was she a musician as well, or was she just holding onto it for someone else?
I brought the body of the instrument down onto my lap and began to tune it, fiddling with the tuning keys as I gently plucked the strings. When I had finished with the last string, I inhaled sharply, imbuing my dominant hand with aether, and gently strummed a chord, which nonetheless resonated powerfully through the air in the otherwise silent street.
I closed my eyes and started with a slow ballad. As my fingers danced over the strings and fretboard, I felt the stress of the day begin to melt out of my body. This was how it had always been, just me and my music. When I was playing, I had nothing else to worry about, and I could just relax, and be. No Scion obligations, no obtuse politicians or people trying to kill me, just a girl and her guitar. Or piano. Whatever I was feeling at the time, really. With those thoughts, I started to while away the early morning hours.
Recently, I had begun to practice changing the way I applied aether to the instrument. Aether was needed for the guitar to produce sound at a reasonable volume, so it kind of made sense that such an effect would arise as a consequence of manipulating how the aether was applied. Nevertheless, using aether in such a way was still very new to me, as the idea was only conceived recently by the minds at the Ironworks, who fashioned the unique instrument that now lay in my hands. I was a quick learner, and jumped at the opportunity to try out something so novel, but I still had a long way to go.
Manipulating the aether that powered the guitar affected its entire sound profile, and it made every note sound more gritty, and have much more power behind it. As I played out a particularly energetic section in yet another song, I recalled my recent drills on rapidly switching between the clean and rough sound profiles. Maybe I could—
"Oh, wow!" A familiar voice cut through my music and broke my chain of thought, and my eyes flicked open to behold the unexpected presence. My hands froze mid-chord as I realised exactly who was standing in front of me.
"I followed the most wonderful music here. To think it was you, how exciting!"
It was a cool spring night in Ul'dah when the woman named Chiharu Ueda officially entered my life. The sky was clear, and the glittering blanket of stars above swaddled the land beneath with their gentle light. That night, I began to believe in fate.