Chapter Text
After the stress of Yusetta’s traveling companions rushing her to the nearest town with an infirmary and the pain of childbirth, the new mother was understandably pretty worn out. That, along with the fact that her child simply would not stop crying was beginning to give her a headache.
The owner of the inn, one Mister Roiphoix, had offered her a place to stay in the town. But of course, only on the condition that she allow a Hearer to determine if the Elementals deem her worthy to remain in the woods.
She of course was perfectly fine with this, and promptly set out on her knees to check this new home of hers. And when she crawled into the moonlight with her new son, she got quite a surprise.
The moment the moonlight graced their faces, her noisy newborn finally stopped crying.
He seemed sleepy now, probably from crying non-stop through the latter half of a day. Was it the moon that had brought him peace?
The moon…she would name him for it. Perhaps if she did, he could carry its peace with him.
-
It was certainly a bit of a struggle but she had gotten herself across town to the house she was allowed to have. And it was very clear to her that the reason she could have it was because you could hardly call it a house.
Quite dilapidated it was, there were holes in the roof and much of the wood of the walls and the deck in front of the house was rotten. It was a tad small, but so was she and she could make this work just fine. As an orphan she never had much right to complain, the only thing she had to worry about was it perhaps being a bit cold for them. She could weave them blankets though, stave off the cold that way. This place would be just fine for her, she was sure of that.
She tried to enter into the house proper, but the moment the roof interrupted the moonlight her child began to wail once again. So she decided for now it was best that they stay outside, and brought the both of them to a sitting position on the shabby porch.
She started to worry as it began to rain, so she kept him bundled up and close to her chest to try and protect him from it. He didn’t seem to at all mind the rain, she almost wondered if he was making it rain. But that would likely be foolish, surely it was the spirits of this land that influenced the weather.
The same spirits that would decide if she and her dear child could stay in this land. The fact that they needed to grab a special person to determine that told her you likely needed some special ability to communicate with them, but there was no reason she couldn’t try. So she moved her baby into the crook of her elbow, and with her other hand placed over her heart…she began to pray.
“Spirits of this land, please allow me to stay here below the green leaves, and the moon that makes my son so calm.”
“Are you sure you wanna stay here, ma’am? Seems awful cold, and why ain’t you inside?”
It was the men that had brought her here, the kind smugglers that listened to her plea to help her leave Ul’dah when all else ignored her. She knew their names quite well, the burly Hyur that spoke to her was the leader, Erwald. Xelha’ir, the Keeper of the Moon that played the voice of reason had brought her a little food, and she took it as she said peacefully, “He seems to only be calm under the moon, so we better stay out here. Besides, it’s just as cold out here as it is in there.”
“You really sure you’re lookin’ to stay?” asked Sibert, the funniest (and arguably the stupidest) of them as he crouched down to her level. He reached out to try and keep the rain off her, and she casually swiped his hands away as she said, “I’m very sure.”
She reached out to touch the rain, to feel the coolness in her hand as she noted happily, “It’s incredible to feel cold rain. We get rain in Ul’dah but it’s always warm, I’ve never felt cold rain. This place is a breath of fresh air from the heat of the desert, and I’d like to stay in it.”
“Well if that be what you want, s’ppose we ought to let you.” Erwald relented with a sigh, and he motioned to the others as he said, “We’ll help you out much as we can, see if we can smuggle odds an’ ends to make this place more livable for you.”
“I’d appreciate that, thank you.” Yusetta responded with her brightest smile, and the boys blushed a little before Sibert said, “Try not to stay up too late, yeah? Got a kid to worry ‘bout.”
She nodded, and they left her to finish her food and stay cuddled up with the new light in her life. Perhaps others would curse the product of nonconsensual impregnation, and she wouldn’t judge them for doing so. If they didn’t want to keep their baby then that was their choice, and she knew many very much didn’t want a reminder of a horrible memory. But holding this baby in her arms and looking at his peaceful face, she knew he couldn’t be blamed for the crimes of his father. And the more she looked at him, the more she could see that he looked much more like her than the snake that shattered her ankles forever. This was her baby, not his, and she would love him with everything she had.
He was sleeping now, she was sure of it. And she was growing sleepy too, it had been such a taxing day…
-
The only reason she woke up the next morning at the time she did was because the Hearer prodded her awake. She woke to the bright sun shining through the foliage and the view of a very polite dark-haired Elezen woman who asked her, “What are you doing outside on the porch?”
So many had asked her that and she was tempted to laugh as she answered it once again. “My son feels better under moonlight, he was practically unconsolable without it.”
“What is his name?” She asked as she leaned over to look at the baby boy, and by now she had come up with a name. So she replied cheerfully, “Moonito.”
“Moonito…” The Hearer seemed to ponder the name as she carefully examined him, and Yusetta was very glad to hear her say, “Well he appears to be welcome here. May I examine you?”
Yusetta nodded, though truthfully she was a little worried for herself. Unlike him she wasn’t born here, and she put a hand over her heart as she silently repeated her prayer.
“You’re strong of faith.” The Elezen noted thoughtfully, and Yusetta replied calmly, “Yes, I am. I thought if I wish to stay here I may at least acknowledge them and ask. I may not speak to them like you do, but I hope they recognize that I tried.”
“Well perhaps they heard you, for you are welcomed as well.” The Hearer responded with a smile, and Yusetta felt a measure of joy that she had not felt for a while. She could stay!
“Could you tell them ‘thanks’ for me?”
That seemed to shock the Hearer, clearly it was an unusual ask. She stumbled a bit over her words as she said, “W-well I suppose I could um, try?”
“Thank you,” Yusetta said with half a bow, and the Hearer gave her a bow as well before leaving.
“Well, since you are welcome here you may keep the house.” said Roiphoix and Yusetta suddenly realized that he had been there as well. She didn’t jump in surprise or anything, just a little gasp before her Ul’dahn instincts kicked in and she said, “Not for free though, right?”
Roiphoix nodded, and he seemed almost amused as he said, “Correct, I see you are not a fool. All I need you to do is work for me.”
“That’s perfectly fine with me. Though I should hope it would not be manual labor?” Her head tilted a little towards the feet she could hardly use as her ankles were far too fragile to even lift her, nevermind boxes and such. He seemed to recognize that well enough, so he asked her, “What skills do you have, then?”
“Well, I consider myself to be a talented enough weaver,” she replied humbly, and Roiphoix seemed to deem that good enough as he said, “Then you may mend and clean the bedsheets from the infirmary and inn. I’ll see about having someone bring them to you and moving them back to the inn at certain times of day.”
That was fine with Yusetta so she nodded, and Roiphoix turned and left. She only had a moment of silence before Moonito decided to make himself known and began to cry again, but given the time of day she had a feeling it probably wasn’t just from lack of moonlight. He was probably hungry, so she prepared to feed him as she quietly told him, for both him and her, “We’ll be alright my itty bitty Ito. I’ll teach you about joy, and you won’t have to cry all the time.”