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Chapter Text

Literacy

Rydia learned a lot during her time in the Feymarch.  She had amazing teachers, and was able to develop a lot of skills.

Reading was not one of them.

Rydia never thought it would be a problem - truth be told, she didn’t really think about being able to read and write at all.  The “books” in the Feymarch were magic - there was no need to read them, all you needed to do was hold them.  The knowledge stored inside them would flow into you, no need to read anything.

Though, one could argue that all books functioned the same way.  But the medium through which the knowledge travelled was different.  Point being, Rydia was not very good at reading.

She learned from her mother, as well as some basic writing skills.  But she was seven then.  Her literacy wasn’t great, and after some thirteen years in the Feymarch, without reading or writing at all, she had forgotten pretty much everything she had learned.  This usually didn’t really bother her, though.

Being asked to buy ten hi-potions from the shop was one of the few times that Rydia was bothered by not knowing how to read.

“Excuse me, miss, do you need any help?” the clerk asked for perhaps the fifth time.  Rydia had been standing in the potion aisle for quite a long time.  A lot of brews were easy to identify by color.  Ethers were blue, antidotes were green, remedies were gold, and potions were red.  The problem was that hi-potions and normal potions were the exact same shade of red .  They had labels, but that was the only distinguishing factor between the two.

“No, I’m okay,” Rydia lied.  The clerk raised an eyebrow, but didn’t argue.  Rydia knew logically she should just ask for help.  She should just ask which were the hi-potions.  Then grab ten of them, pay, and run away embarrassed. But she couldn’t bring herself to admit that she, a grown woman, couldn’t read.

But she wasn’t sure how much longer before the clerk finally lost patience and demanded she admit what was taking her so long.  Not to mention Cecil and Rosa would start worrying about her and come looking for her.  Edge and Kain had both taken serious damage in a recent fight, requiring both Cecil and Rosa’s attention.  Which bought Rydia some time - Edge in particular was going to take a lot of time and energy to heal - but eventually one of them would be free enough to start wondering what happened to her.

As stupid as it was, Rydia really, really didn’t want to admit to either Cecil or Rosa that she couldn’t remember how to read.  She knew how to read as a child, albeit not well, and only a few weeks had passed for them.  Part of Rydia was afraid that they’d be disappointed that she had lost more than just the ability to cast white magic - something she had already been nervous to admit.  And, on top of that, Cecil and Rosa still acted like they saw her as the scared little girl she was.  Cecil always seemed to be just a little too eager to jump in front of a monster, shielding her from it.  Rosa always seemed to make sure that she was the first one to get covered in her Protect and Shell, despite Cecil and Kain being the ones on the front line.

Admitting to either of them that she couldn’t read would just further reinforce that idea.  Further cement in their minds that she was still just a helpless little girl, and that all that had changed was that her body looked older.

So, Rydia’s options were to either guess at which potion was the hi-potion, or continue wasting her time until someone came looking for her, guaranteeing embarrassment and humiliation.  Rydia grabbed ten potions at random.

She ignored the clerk’s muttered “Finally” as she approached, paid, and shoved the potions in her bag.  Rydia could only hope that she grabbed the right potions.

—--

“Were they short on hi-potions, Rydia?” Rosa asked with a frown on her face.  As it turned out, Rydia had grabbed four hi-potions and six normal potions.  In her haste to get out of there, she must have forgotten to check the labels to see if the names were at least the same.  

Though, her mistake did give her an excuse.  A convenient lie to save her further embarrassment.  “Yes,” Rydia replied.  “The shop was really busy, tons of patrons, and they bought up most of the hi-potions.  I grabbed what was left, and a few normal potions.”

As much as it pained Rydia to lie, Rosa seemed to buy it without question.  “That’s unfortunate,” the White Mage replied.  “Maybe tomorrow they’ll be back in stock.”

Rydia sighed internally.  She glanced over at Cecil, who was staring at her, an inscrutable look on his face.

Rydia felt her heart race a bit under his scrutiny.  She resisted the urge to squirm under his gaze, desperately hoping he wouldn’t press her.  She had a hard enough time lying as it was, but something about the way the Paladin was studying her made her feel like a child caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to do.  Not unlike the time she let slip a curse word after tripping over a rock in the antlion’s den (she hasn’t uttered a curse word since).

Just as Rydia felt like she was about to break down and confess everything, Cecil turned his gaze towards Edge and said “Well, it’s not ideal, but we should have enough to get Edge and Kain patched up.  We can check again tomorrow.”

Rydia felt like she could collapse from relief.  “Maybe if Edge is feeling better he can go,” Rydia said.  “He’s really fast, so he should be able to get there and back without delaying our travels too much.”  And he definitely won’t try to make any small talk with the clerk about shortages, like Rosa would, she thought to herself.

“Good idea,” Cecil said.  “He’s pretty weak now, but I think Rosa and my healing magic should have him right as rain after he gets some rest.”

Rydia smiled, expressed relief that everyone would be back in fighting shape soon, and dismissed herself to rest.  She resolved then and there that she was going to teach herself to read.  She knew how before, how hard could it be to remember?

—--------

Extremely hard.  Re-learning to read, by herself, in secret, was extremely hard.  Just staring at pages and hoping the words suddenly made sense didn’t work.  At all.  And while she was able to learn the words for the various supplies after a few days of practice, it didn’t really help her with unfamiliar words she didn’t have a reference for.  She couldn’t figure out which letter in “ether” corresponded to what sound.  Same with “potion.”  She vaguely remembered that each letter had a different sound, but also that sometimes letters came together to make entirely different sounds, and she had no frame of reference for what sounds were caused by a single letter, and which were a combination.

She could at least go to the shop and recognize the names of the supplies she had studied, so that was something.  She managed to pick up the words “Inn” and “Shop” as well from the signs outside the buildings.

When Cecil asked her to go out and buy rations in Tomra, handing her a list of what she’d need to get, she started panicking.  The rations shop didn’t have any labels on any of their items.  It was pretty obvious to most adventurers and soldiers what the different food items were.  She wasn’t going to be able to just match the word on the list with the word on the label.  And she definitely wasn’t about to admit to Cecil that her reading skills were atrocious at best.

Rydia had no choice but to go.  Edge was scouting out the best path to the Sealed Cave, Cecil had been injured on the way to the dwarven town, Rosa was tending to Cecil, and Kain had gone to see if the party could upgrade any weapons or armor.  Rydia was the only one who could run the errand.

Ironic that one of the few times Rydia managed to avoid getting too badly hurt in battle she wound up suffering some other way.

Rydia was staring at the various rations, knowing full well that she was in a lot of trouble.  She could guess at a few of the items - Edge always liked eating salted fish and crackers with whatever fruits they could get their hands on, Cecil was a fan of beef and pork jerky, Rosa always liked dried peaches and apples - but there were a lot of unknowns on that list Cecil gave her, and he had quantities next to each item.  Even if she could guess at what all Cecil wanted, she had way of knowing how much of what she needed to get.

She was truly screwed this time.

As Rydia was panicking, staring at the different dried meats, wondering how on the Blue Planet she was going to explain her inevitable failure to Rosa and Cecil, she heard a deep voice speak up behind her, causing her to jump out of skin.

“Having trouble?”

Rydia spun around and found herself looking directly into the mask of the party’s Dragoon.  “K-Kain!” Rydia stuttered.  “What are you doing here?”

Kain’s face was almost entirely covered in the shadows of his helm, making his expression completely unreadable.

“I saw your hair from the window,” Kain replied, voice entirely devoid of emotion.  Rydia did squirm a bit this time.  Unlike with Cecil, she had never really gotten comfortable around Kain.  Unlike Cecil, Kain didn’t kill his own men to protect her.  Unlike Cecil, Kain didn’t leap in front of her every time a monster even looked in her direction when she was a child.  Unlike Cecil, Kain didn’t ruffle her hair after she cast fire for the first time and told her how brave she was and how proud he was.

What Kain did was tell Cecil to grab her and subdue her by any means necessary after he played a key role in killing her mother and destroying her home.  What Kain did was betray them to Golbez and tried to kill Cecil.

Rydia still was wary around Kain, and she felt like she had good reason to be.  Cecil and Rosa trusted him, but Rydia had a hard time with it.

Kain was still staring at her.  Rydia started and remembered that he had asked her a question.  “Er, I’m fine,” Rydia lied.  “Just…grabbing rations.”

“She’s been in here for 45 minutes!” the dwarf clerk shouted.

Rydia shot a quick glare in the clerk’s general direction before turning back to face Kain.  While she couldn’t see any part of his face, she could almost sense the Dragoon raising an eyebrow at her.

“I-I’m fine!” Rydia protested.  “Really!  I just need to grab ten…”  As she glanced down at her list, she realized that she had just dug her own grave.  She had no idea what she needed ten of.

After a few moments of silence, Kain said “Ten what?”

“Ten…well, here!  You can see for yourself!”  Rydia thrust the list into Kain’s hands, hoping that maybe, just maybe he would read it for her and spare her having to admit that she couldn’t read it.

Unfortunately, those hopes were quickly dashed to pieces.  “I see,” Kain said.  He handed Rydia the list back.  “You best hurry and grab them, otherwise Cecil and Rosa will start to worry.”

Kain, however, showed no signs of leaving just yet.  He seemed intent on watching her grab everything.  After a few seconds of her fumbling around, Kain spoke up and said “You don’t know how to read, do you?”

“I can read!” Rydia snapped.  Under the unreadable gaze of the Dragoon’s helm, she wilted.  “Just…not well…” she finished lamely.

Kain wordlessly held out his hand.  Rydia handed him the list Cecil had given her, hung her head in defeat, and watched out of the corner of her eye as Kain grabbed everything in just a couple short minutes.  He silently gestured to her, indicating that he was finished and wanted her to leave with him.  Rydia complied, refusing to look at him out of fear that the burning in her face would worsen.  She was already convinced that her face alone could light a campfire.

—-----

Rydia was too embarrassed to tell Cecil or Rosa why getting rations took her so long.  Nor could she come up with a good excuse for why she came back with Kain.

Mercifully, Kain was able to brush aside any questions they had, and spare Rydia from having to confess anything.  She quickly left to head to her room at the inn, hoping that a good night’s sleep would help calm her nerves.

Mercilessly, though, Kain quickly knocked on her door.  After letting himself in (which Rydia would have ordinarily protested, but was still too flustered to do more than just watch), Kain asked “Why haven’t you told us you can’t read?”

“I…” Rydia halted.  Was she really about to have this conversation with Kain of all people?  Sure, he was preferable to Edge, but still.  It was Kain .  The dark, brooding, intimidating soldier who rarely spoke to anyone.

But if she didn’t talk, then he might tell Cecil and Rosa.  And then she’d have them doting on her like she was still a little kid, and she really didn’t want that.

“I just…was embarrassed.  I’m still embarrassed,” Rydia confessed.

Kain said nothing, and his expression was still unreadable, hidden in the shadows of his helm.

“Cecil and Rosa still sometimes treat me like the little girl I was before going to the Feymarch,” Rydia continued.  “But…it’s been thirteen years since I was her.  For me, at least.  And I want them to understand that.  But…”

“You don’t think they will come to understand that if they realize you can’t read,” Kain finished.  Rydia nodded lamely.

Kain didn’t say anything for a moment before pulling out a book.  Rydia glanced at the Dragoon, confusion etched onto her face.

“I’ll teach you how to read,” Kain said.  “And not say a word to Cecil or Rosa.”

Rydia was speechless.  Kain?  Teaching her to read?  In secret?  She’d be spending time alone…with Kain?

Kain seemed to sense her hesitation, and quickly said “You need to learn.  It’s either me, or Cecil and Rosa find out.  After all, do you really think Edge would keep this to himself?”

Rydia immediately sat down next to Kain and gestured for him to continue.  She noticed through his helm a faint smirk cross his lips, before he opened the book and started showing her the different letters and explaining how they came together.

—----

Kain was a shockingly good and patient teacher, despite Rydia being a somewhat impatient student.  She would get frustrated and complain whenever some combination was confusing to her, or whenever one of the rules Kain explained was broken.  But every time, Kain would calmly tell her that she was doing fine, that she was progressing very quickly and that she was developing a difficult skill that took most people years to learn.

After only a few days of practice and study with Kain, Rydia found herself able to handle shopping on her own.  She wasn’t a fast reader, and she couldn’t just glance down at whatever lists Cecil gave her, or just glance at the item’s label and immediately know the word, but she could read them all just fine.

Her respect and trust for Kain also grew, even more rapidly than he claimed her reading skills did.  Despite his gruff exterior, he was surprisingly kind when she messed up.

About a week after Kain’s first lesson, Cecil asked Rydia if she could send a letter to King Giott, letting him know that they were finally ready to head to the Sealed Cave.  They had needed time to train and scout out the area, as well as keep an eye on Golbez and his forces to make sure they timed entering the cave when his forces were away and not watching.

Kain quietly muttered to Rydia “I’ll proofread the letter before we send it if you want.”

Rydia felt a lot of relief, knowing that someone would look it over before she sent it.

After writing the letter, she handed it to Kain, who stared at it, his expression as unreadable as always, for several minutes.

He handed the letter back to her before saying “I’ll write the letter instead, and plan on teaching you penmanship, too.”

Chapter Text

Eidolons didn’t really eat.  When Rydia first arrived in the Feymarch, she was terrified and hid away from everyone.  Leviathan and Asura chose to let her hide, knowing that she couldn’t leave and that they could find her if trouble arose.  They decided to let her come to them.

Which was a good idea in theory, but a stubborn, pigheaded, terrified child isn’t going to come out when she should.

Rydia hid for a few days, until eventually the hunger got so severe that she crawled out, too hungry and weak to do much of anything.  Queen Asura was the first to find her, and immediately rushed to her side to heal her.

The Queen had panicked when it didn’t work, wondering what she should do, how she could help the poor, sick child.  Rydia had managed to croak out two words: “Food, water.”

The Eidolons had figured out how to get food, but it was always very simple (and frankly disgusting).  And the Eidolons never once brought utensils or plates.  So, Rydia quickly learned that she would have to just eat everything they gave her with her hands.  They didn’t even give her cups to drink from - she had to lap water from an enchanted bowl like an animal.

And she did that for thirteen years.

When King Giott offered to give them a private feast out of gratitude for defending their home, Rydia was ecstatic.  Finally, real food.

King Giott led the group into a small dining room.  Inside was a large table with five seats around it.  The table had more varieties of food than Rydia could ever remember seeing.  It smelled a tad burnt, sure, but underneath the burning smell were scents so amazing that Rydia felt her mouth start to water.

“Your Majesty, this is all so generous.  Is it really okay for us to have all of this, all to ourselves?” Rosa asked.

Rosa, I love you, you were like a big sister to me way back when I was little, but I swear, if you ruin this for me I WILL FREEZE YOUR HAIR TO YOUR BED TONIGHT.

The dwarven king just laughed and said “Of course it is!  You are heroes to our realm!”

“But…we failed to stop Golbez,” Cecil added, looking down.

SHUT UP, CECIL.

“Aye, true, but you tried your best, and thanks to you lot defeating Golbez and chasing him off, you managed to save a lot of lives,” King Giott said.  “That alone is worth celebrating.”

YEAH, CECIL.  LET ME CELEBRATE OUR VICTORY WITH THIS FOOD THAT ISN’T CARDBOARD.

Cecil looked like he was about to further protest, when Yang put his hand on the Paladin’s shoulder and said “The king speaks sense.  Besides, our returned ally looks like she’s about to dive directly into the feast and consume it all herself.”  Yang shot Rydia an amused glance, causing Rydia to blush.  Cecil’s glance and subsequent smirk caused the blush to deepen.

“Very well,” Cecil said.  “Thank you for your generous kindness, your majesty.”

King Giott laughed and left the party to enjoy their food.

Rydia, both wanting to escape embarrassment and desperate to eat, bolted to the table, ignored Yang saying “Like I said”, and started loading her plate (plates!  After so long, she could finally eat off of a plate again!) with everything she could reasonably fit on it.

A few minutes after she started eating she noticed the others staring at her.  Rosa was horrified, Cecil had a look of morbid fascination on his face, Yang had his eyebrows so high up that they resembled hair, and Kain was…smirking?

“What?” Rydia asked through all the food in her mouth, suddenly very self-conscious.

Rosa nearly fainted, while Cecil just quickly said “Nothing!” as his eyes grew to the size of the plate she had loaded.  Yang gestured for her to continue, while Kain just sat down and started eating.

Rydia was still feeling self-conscious, but the aroma of food that wasn’t a flavorless brick of…whatever the heck the Eidolons fed her tempted her back into eating.  The food definitely tasted burnt, but only slightly, and honestly, burnt food was better than what the Eidolons fed her.  Whatever they had fed her tasted like sand.

Not to say that everything at the table was to Rydia’s taste.  There were a fair few items that Rydia didn’t care for, and a couple that she found gross.  But the vast majority of it was so much better than what she ate in the Feymarch that before too long she stopped thinking about the weird looks her friends (and Kain) had given her, and she resumed her ravenous consumption of everything she liked.

—-----

A few hours later had Rydia hunched over a (thankfully clean and empty) chamber pot, sweating, and throwing up most of what she had eaten.  After emptying her stomach for the fifth time, Rosa, who kindly came with her and held her hair back, rubbed her back and said “Rydia, you shouldn’t eat so much!”  Something about her tone bothered Rydia, though she couldn’t quite figure out why.

“I didn’t know some of it was poisoned!” Rydia protested weakly, voice weak from fatigue and exhaustion.

“Rydia, sweety, none of it was poisoned,” Rosa replied, failing to mask the amusement from her voice.  “You just ate too much.”

“Eating too much poisons you?” Rydia asked.  Her stomach had finally settled a bit, though it still hurt.  She at least felt like she was safe to lay down for a bit without making a mess on the floor.

“No, you just can’t eat more than your stomach can hold,” Rosa explained, tone still bothering Rydia.  “If you keep eating after you feel too full you get sick.  Like you are right now.  Did you really not know that?”

Rydia started to shake her head, but it made her dizzy, so she just said “No, the food the Eidolons gave me was so bad that I never ate more than I absolutely had to to keep my strength up.”

Understanding dawned on Rosa’s face.  “Well, their food must have been truly awful if you acted like that for the overcooked dwarven food.”

Two thoughts entered Rydia’s mind: what did Rosa mean by “acted like that ” and was Rosa implying that surface food was even better?

She chose to focus on the former thought - not like they were going back to the surface anytime soon.  “Acted like what?” she asked weakly, still miserable and exhausted.

“Like a starved animal.”

Rydia shot up, immediately regretted it as her head began to spin and her stomach churned, then laid back down, moaning softly.  “I was just eating!” she protested weakly.

Rosa paused for a moment, before saying “The Eidolons never taught you manners or etiquette, did they?”

Manners?  She had good enough manners!  Sure, she had moments when she was a bit too snarky and rude when she was younger, but she was usually plenty polite and respectful!

“Etiquette,” on the other hand, wasn’t a word she was familiar with.

“I don’t know about ‘etiquette,’” Rydia said, the word feeling weird on her lips, “but I have manners!  I’m polite!  …Aren’t I?”

Rosa smiled kindly and said “Yes, you are.  I should have been more specific.  ‘Etiquette’ and ‘manners’ like I said are ways of behaving around other people to help them not be uncomfortable or disgusted.”

Rydia thought for a moment.  “I was disgusting?”

“A little.”

Rydia closed her eyes.  That would explain the looks, and Rydia felt her face heating up.

“I can teach you some etiquette tomorrow morning at breakfast,” Rosa said.  Rydia groaned at the thought of eating more food.  “If you feel up for breakfast, that is.”

Rydia moaned again.  “I never want to eat again.”

—-----

The next morning Rydia woke up hungry.  Really hungry.  Likely due to having emptied her stomach several times the previous night.

But she still remembered the previous night vividly, and was determined to make sure she didn’t repeat the same mistake as last night.

She got up, somewhat cautiously, and stretched.  She heard Rosa quietly ask “How are you feeling?”

Rosa was gentle enough that she didn’t startle Rydia, but the green haired summoner had to admit she hadn’t realized Rosa was in the room with her.

“Better,” Rydia replied.  “And hungry.”

Rosa smiled and said “I’d be surprised if you weren’t.  Let’s go get breakfast - I need to show you how to properly use utensils.”

Rosa grabbed Rydia’s hand and led her down the stairs.  Rydia realized then, as the other girl led her down the stairs, why the tone Rosa had used with her bothered her last night.  She’s still treating me like I’m a little kid!

The realization irritated Rydia, though she decided not to speak up.  Not now, at least.  Not while she was hungry.

King Giott hadn’t laid out a feast like he had the night before, but he did lay out a few items for breakfast for the party.  A few things looked like they had been partially eaten already.

“The boys already ate,” Rosa explained.  “I was about to grab something when you woke up, myself.  I explained to them that you weren’t feeling well last night, and we all agreed to let you sleep in a bit longer than the rest of us.”

Great, she had held everyone up.  Not exactly showing that she was a grown adult all that well.

Rosa grabbed a plate and grabbed a few bits of fruit and a large, blackened bread looking thing, nose scrunched up.

Rydia followed suit, deciding that if she wanted more she could get more, after making sure she was still hungry and could eat more without getting sick again.

Rosa started the etiquette lesson simply, explaining that she’d start with utensils.  Rydia resisted the temptation to roll her eyes - utensils were trivially simple, and she wasn’t that uncultured.

After a few minutes of listening to Rosa’s explanation, Rydia had to confess that utensils were not nearly as simple as she thought.  Apparently she needed to hold the fork exactly right, and make tiny little cuts into the food, and had to maintain some level of poise (whatever that meant), and couldn’t just use the utensils as vessels to get the food into her mouth in a way that felt natural and effective.

In addition, there were apparently proper and improper ways to sit, and the proper way was extremely specific and couldn’t be off by even an inch.  Not to mention all the napkin folding nonsense.

After what felt like an eternity of being fussed over and positioned, Rydia saw Cecil walk in.  He set a hand on Rosa’s shoulder and asked “How are you two doing?”

Rosa spoke before Rydia had a chance.  “Quite well.  Rydia is starting to get the hang of proper etiquette, though she still has a long way to go.”

Rydia shot Cecil with the most “PLEASE HELP ME” look she could muster.  Luckily, the Paladin seemed to pick up on it.  “Why don’t you show me what you’ve learned, Rydia?”

Rydia internally sighed - that wasn’t the kind of help she wanted.  Still, she held her fork the way Rosa showed her, and started eating.

Rosa tried to speak up, but Cecil squeezed her shoulder.  “I think she’s doing perfectly fine,” he said.  “We’re not trying to turn her into a Baronese noble, after all.”

Rosa looked like she wanted to protest, but Cecil held her gaze.  After a moment, she looked down and conceded.

Rydia wanted to jump with joy - FINALLY.  These etiquette lessons were miserable.  Though, perhaps next time they face Golbez they can simply make Rosa teach him etiquette.  Rydia was confident he’d surrender in seconds.

—-------

In the weeks that followed Rydia managed to show enough etiquette to keep Rosa off her back.  Cecil told her that she fell somewhere between commoner and castle servant - not quite enough etiquette to be acceptable around Baron nobles, but more than enough for commoners.  Rydia was perfectly content with that - she wasn’t a noble or servant, after all.

Rydia had long since thought she was done being scrutinized by Rosa.  And Rosa hadn’t brought anything up about her etiquette since.  Up until the group was infiltrating the Tower of Babil.

Edge, the ninja prince that they had just recently rescued, had a few really, really interesting techniques.  He called them ninjutsu, and they were very similar to black magic, but different.  Different enough that Rydia was fascinated by these techniques, though the ninja prince refused to share any secrets with her.

Still, she watched him very closely whenever he used his ninjutsu, hoping that maybe just observing and being close enough to feel the magic - whatever type it was - would help her understand better.

One of his techniques was a smokescreen technique, where he’d conjure up a ton of smoke and use the smoke to maneuver himself into an advantageous position.  At one point he was preparing to use the smoke technique, and Rydia really wanted to get a closer look.  She managed to reposition herself to be a bit closer to Edge before he finished - the position also gave her a better shot at the monsters they were fighting, so it was a good decision regardless.

As soon as Edge released the technique and conjured the smoke, Rydia felt it tickle her nose rather fiercely.  She sneezed, shook her head, and focused on the enemies instead.  Apparently she was a bit sensitive to the smoke, so she’d probably have to observe that particular ninjutsu from a distance.

Once the fight had ended, Rosa turned sharply towards Rydia and said “What was that ?”

“What was what?”  Rydia hadn’t thought she did poorly - she was able to defeat three of the monsters before they even got a single attack in!

“You didn’t cover your mouth when you sneezed!”

She didn’t…cover her mouth?  How?  With what?  Why?

“I didn’t…what?”

Rosa threw up her hands in exasperation.  “You need to cover your mouth when you sneeze, Rydia!”

“Uh…why?”

Rosa looked like she was about to burst a vein.  “To prevent the spread of germs!  To make sure no one gets sick!”

This didn’t really help clarify anything.  “But…I’m not sick…”

“That doesn’t matter!  You need to practice so that if you do get sick you don’t spread it!”

Rydia desperately glanced around at the rest of their group.  Kain was looking away broodingly, though she noticed the faintest of smirks on his lips, so maybe he wasn’t brooding as much as she thought.  Cecil just nodded, and Edge didn’t seem to be at all interested in the conversation between the two girls.

“Okay, I’m sorry!” Rydia said.  “I didn’t know!”

“Cut her some slack, Rosa,” Cecil said.  Rosa’s glare softened, becoming almost apologetic.  Cecil turned towards Rydia.  “A couple of years back there was a bit of a plague in Baron, and Rosa basically had to live in the infirmary, tending to the sick.  She gets a little heated when it comes to diseases.”

“Sorry, Rydia,” Rosa said.

“Less talking, more killing Rubicante!” Edge snapped.

Rydia rolled her eyes.

—-----

The group managed to fight their way to a safe room.  Edge had tried to convince the party to move on, threatening to leave them behind if they didn’t, but eventually he was talked down and convinced to rest.  They set up a sort of camp, Cecil insisting that they had time to rest for the night.

Rydia had mostly gotten over her fear of fire, but she still preferred to sleep a little further from it than normal.  Edge, understandably, wanted to be as far from the flames as possible.  “It’s plenty warm in here as it is,” Edge grumbled.  “Don’t see why we need a damn fire.”

Given their shared aversion to being too near the fire, Rydia and Edge wound up relatively close to each other.  Rydia had opted for an early night and was trying to sleep while the Baronians discussed strategy.

Keyword: trying.  A certain ninja prince wouldn’t stop fidgeting, and it was distracting her.  Eventually, she got annoyed enough to snap.  “Would you stop fidgeting?!  Some of us are trying to sleep!”

Edge, in response, used his smoke ninjutsu, making Rydia sneeze.

“Would you stop sneezing?  Some of us are trying to sleep!” Edge mocked.

“Ugh, you’re such a child!”

Rydia turned away from the immature brat of a prince to see Rosa approaching them, a very wicked grin on her face.  Rydia felt a spike of fear in her heart, and judging from Edge’s sudden silence, she suspected he was feeling the same.

“I’m sorry, Rosa!  I forgot about the mouth thing, I promise I’ll do better!” Rydia said, guessing at what had drawn the white mage towards her.

“Oh, it’s alright, you just need to practice,” Rosa said, wicked grin never faltering from her face.

“P-practice?”

Rosa slowly nodded.  “And I’m sure our esteemed prince here would be more than happy to help you practice.”

Rydia was too afraid to look away from Rosa, but she could hear Edge start sputtering “N-now wait just a minute!”

Rosa turned her gaze to be looking over and behind Rydia.  Probably at Edge, she figured.  “You’d be more than happy to help, ” Rosa all but demanded.  Something about the venom laced in Rosa’s voice seemed to persuade even the hotheaded, arrogant prince to shut up for once and listen.

Oh no, Rydia thought to herself.

—-----

“Very good, Rydia!” Rosa said.  “You finally got it!”

Rydia sniffled.  Her nose burned, her eyes were watery, and her throat was starting to get a bit sore.  “Does that mean we can finish?” she asked.

Rosa shook her head.  “Not quite.  A few more times - we need to make sure it’s a habit.”

Rydia groaned.  She wasn’t the only one.  Edge was sweating, and Rydia could see the strain on him.

“Again, Edge,” Rosa said.

Edge glared at Rydia and said “This is your fault.”

“This is your fault!” Rydia snapped.

“Edge…” came Rosa’s dangerous voice.

Edge sighed and put his head down.  “Yes, ma’am.”

Chapter Text

Baron castle was significantly more deserted than it normally was.  At least, that’s what Kain, Cecil, and Rosa were saying.  And while Rydia didn’t know how busy it was before, she could at least note that it certainly was a lot less busy than the dwarven castle had been.  And, from what she can remember of it, less busy than Fabul castle had been.

Due to the general emptiness of the castle, the group tended to prefer to spend most of the day in Baron itself, rather than the castle.  Cid’s men were hard at work installing that claw thing, and that meant that the group had a few days to themselves.  Which were largely spent mourning Yang and Cid.  Rydia barely met Cid, and as a result was probably the least shaken by his death.  He had apparently helped raise the others, though.  And Rydia wasn’t super close to Yang, truth be told, though she did vividly remember hearing him yell her name and seeing him leap fearlessly into the ocean to try to save her from Leviathan.

But she’d be lying if she said she was super close to the monk.  But she was still really sad he died, and she was really sad Cid died, too.

But she had to be strong for the others - they lost a father-figure and a close friend and ally.  She just witnessed the death of a total stranger and a man she respected and looked up to, but didn’t know that well.  She could handle her own sorrow.

The three Baronians all had very different coping mechanisms.  Kain’s was the most predictable - he disappeared and didn’t speak to anyone.  Cecil said that he trusted Kain, that Kain would be fine and he’d come back when they needed him.  Rosa said he had a hard time processing his emotions and just needed some space.

Rosa herself handled things by staying as busy as possible.  She spent the day running around the town, doing whatever errands she could, sometimes working in various villagers’ gardens, other times running deliveries, and sometimes tending to the sick and injured.  She was darting around like a dragonfly.

Cecil’s method was the most worrisome.  He usually spent his time at the bar, nursing a small drink and staring blankly at the counter, not actually drinking his drink until the end of the night, where he downed it all at once then left.

Rydia was worried about him.  The first day she let him do his thing, and just checked in on him a few times.  The second day she checked in on him every hour or so.  By day three she was worried enough that she followed him in.

Cecil glanced at her as she sat down next to him, but didn’t speak up.  The bartender approached them, eyed Rydia, then asked Cecil “The usual?”

Cecil just nodded, then the bartender turned to Rydia to ask “And what’ll you be having?”

Rydia had to admit, she was curious what these alcoholic drinks were like.  She knew they were extremely popular, so they must be good, right?

Before Rydia could ask about the drink selection, though, Cecil spoke up and said “Water for her.”

Rydia glared at Cecil as the bartender left.  He just simply said “You’re too young.”

Rydia bristled, and under normal circumstances she’d snap at him, tell him that no, she was not too young, she was about the same age he was now!  But she fought back the urge to fight, and kept quiet.  Cecil was mourning, and Rydia wasn’t about to add a fight to his plate.

Not yet, at least.

The bartender came back shortly afterwards, handing Rydia her glass of water and Cecil his drink.  Cecil nodded a wordless thanks before proceeding to stare into the depths of the amber liquid.

Rydia took a sip of her water and resigned herself to a rather boring day.  But she could endure some boredom if it meant making sure Cecil was okay.  He had always watched over her when she was little, and now she wanted to offer him the same kindness.  He was always so strong for her, now she could try to be strong for him.

Even if being strong in this particular instance was really dull.

After a couple of hours Rydia heard her stomach growl.  She glanced at Cecil, who didn’t seem to hear her stomach.  She was glad then that she had been given a share of the gil.

Rydia waved the bartender down, earning herself a glance and narrowed eyes from Cecil.  She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and snap at him - she wasn’t even trying to get alcohol, anyway.  She asked the bartender what food they had, then ordered something to eat.  After the bartender left to take care of her order, she glanced at Cecil, who had gone back to staring into his drink, though he at least seemed a bit more relaxed.  That was something.

Once the food came, Rydia tried to offer some to Cecil, who just shook his head, saying “Not hungry.”  Rydia fought the urge to sigh and tried her best not to look too dejected.

Rydia ate (the food on the surface was so much better than what the dwarves had!) in silence, not wanting to pressure Cecil into talking.  She was there to support him and keep him company.

It didn’t take her too long to finish eating, which left Rydia to continue sitting in silence with Cecil.  A few more hours passed, and Rydia was feeling a bit restless.  Cecil still had barely moved.

Rydia felt a tap on her shoulder.  She turned around and saw a man, brown eyes looking right at her.  He seemed a bit unkempt, but otherwise nothing weird stood out to her about him.  “You’re quite the pretty thing, ain’t ya?”

That was a…weird question.  Cecil seemed to think so, too, given by how he seemed to tense up a bit.  “I suppose?” Rydia replied, frowning slightly.

“What say you ditch the ol’ wet blanket here and come join me for a bit?” the man asked.

Rydia’s frown deepened a bit.  What was a “wet blanket”?  “I’m sitting with my friend,” she replied.  “I don’t want to just leave him by himself.”

The man got a weird looking grin hearing that.  “Ay, but you an’ me could have a much, much better time.  Together.”  At that the man gave her a wink, which only served to deepen Rydia’s confusion.  Sure, Cecil wasn’t great company at the moment, but he was her friend, and she didn’t want to just leave him.  She wanted to make sure he was alright.

“Come on,” the man droned on.  “We can leave here and have some real fun.”

What was “real” fun?  Chocobo riding was fun, was that what the man meant?  Or did he know some other game?  “What did you have in mind?” she asked.

The man’s grin grew, and looked even weirder.  “Oh, I think you can guess,” he said, chuckling a bit.

Cecil seemed to be getting more and more tense.  Was he worried she was going to leave him to go have whatever this “fun” was?  She’d have to make sure he knew that he was invited.  In fact, she wouldn’t run off to go play whatever game this man had in mind without him.  Maybe it’d even be good for him, cheer him up a bit.

Though she’d rather get an idea as to what, exactly, this man thought would be so much fun.  “Chocobo riding is really fun,” Rydia said, guessing at the first thing that came to her mind.

The man’s weird chuckle came back.  He put his hand on her shoulder and said “Oh, you’re playing cute.  I like it.”

Suddenly, faster than Rydia could see, the man was howling in pain, the arm that had been on her shoulder being held in a very tight grip by Cecil, who had seemingly teleported behind the man.  “She’s not interested,” he practically hissed.

The man twisted his arm out of the Paladin’s fierce grip, clutching at it as if it were broken.  Maybe it was broken.  He sputtered out a quick “I-I’m sorry!  S-she didn’t say no!” before running away.

Rydia just cocked her head during the entire exchange.  Was Cecil really that worried that she’d go have fun without him?

She didn’t have to wonder for too long.  Cecil turned to her and said, voice still heated “Rydia, you know it’s okay to tell lechers like that to back off, right?”

“Lecher” wasn’t a word Rydia recognized, though she wasn’t sure if this was the time to ask.  “Sure,” she said.  “But I wanted to at least hear him out first.”

Cecil’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets.  “Hear him out?  He was trying to bed you!”

Rydia glanced out the window - she hadn’t thought it had gotten so late.  It was still light outside, and besides, sleeping wasn’t exactly fun.  It was nice, Rydia loved sleeping, but “fun” was the wrong word.  Not to mention just a weird thing for a man to do to a stranger.  Did people in Baron need help getting ready for bed?  Or was it some kind of cultural thing?

“Are you sure?  Is that a common thing in Baron?  Having strangers help you get ready for bed before night falls?  Seems like a bit of a weird tradition.”

At first Cecil’s look of exasperation made Rydia think she was about to get scolded, but after a moment of looking at her his expression changed, first to one of shock, then understanding, and finally one of horror.  All while Rydia watched, growing more and more confused by the minute.

Finally, Cecil spoke up.  “You’ve…never had ‘The Talk,’ have you?”

“The Talk”?  Rydia had had lots of talks.  Many of them with Cecil himself.  “What talk?” Rydia asked.

Cecil’s cheeks turned pink and his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.  “Oh, no,” he muttered to himself.  Then, to Rydia, “Come on, we need to get back to the castle.  I need to explain a few things to you.”

—--------

Cecil was pacing back and forth, muttering to himself.  He had pulled Rydia into something he called a “greeting hall.”  There was no one around, which was what Cecil wanted.  Rydia had no idea what this “talk” he wanted to have was, but it seemed really serious, if it made Cecil this anxious.

“So, er, um, how, uh, how much do you know about where children come from?” Cecil asked, refusing to make eye contact.

Rydia had absolutely no idea where this was going, nor what it had to do with what happened at the bar, but she decided to just go along with whatever Cecil was doing.  Besides, it seemed like whatever he was doing, uncomfortable as it made him, at least helped distract him from his grief.

“I know that it involved a man and a woman, but that’s about all my mother ever told me, and no one in the Feymarch told me,” Rydia replied.

Cecil swallowed before taking a deep breath.  “Okay, so, uh, we’ll need to talk about the birds and the bees first.”

Birds?  Bees?  What did they have to do with children?  Just go along with it, Rydia, she thought to herself.  Eventually Cecil would get around to the point.  Hopefully.

Cecil launched into some weird rant about how bees gather pollen and spread it to other flowers, and somehow that has something to do with a bird laying an egg?

Eventually Rydia was so confused that she had to interrupt Cecil.  “I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.  Bees and birds don’t have children together.  They just don’t.  Even I know that!”

Cecil’s face turned a deeper shade of red, which was impressive.  “I-that’s not…” Cecil’s mumbling was interrupted by a knocking on the door.

Rydia and Cecil both turned to see Rosa enter the room.  “Oh, there you two are!  I’ve been looking for…Cecil, why is your face so red?”  Rosa gasped before continuing “You’re not hurt, are you?”

Cecil just shook his head and mumbled some nonsense.  Which meant that it was up to Rydia to try to explain what was going on.  “Cecil said he needs to give me some kind of talk,” Rydia explained.  “But he’s been ranting about birds and bees and how they create children?”

After Rydia gave her explanation, Cecil slammed a hand onto his face.  Which probably meant that Rydia didn’t get the point of what he was saying at all.

Rosa, however, had a look on her face that was a cross between amused and confused.  “Cecil, is this really the best time for this?” she asked.

“I…some creep at the bar was hitting on her,” Cecil said.  Rosa’s face flashed with anger before settling on concern.

“Oh,” she said.

Rydia could tell there was something serious that the two Baronians knew that she didn’t.  “Cecil mentioned that the man was trying to ‘bed me,’” she added, trying to be helpful.  “Though I honestly have no idea what going to sleep has to do with birds and bees.  Or children.”

Rosa looked over at Cecil.  She looked like she was trying not to laugh.  “Cecil,” she said, barely managing to keep the laughter out of her voice.  “Do you want me to take over?”

Cecil hung his head in defeat before nodding slowly.  Cecil just started slowly walking out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Rydia turned to face Rosa, who had a look not too unlike the one she had when she was teaching Rydia etiquette.  Suddenly, Rydia was afraid.  This didn’t seem like it was going to be a fun time.

—-------

Cecil had walked out of the room, filled with utter humiliation.  His only sense of relief was that at least Kain was somewhere else, and couldn’t witness this horribly awkward failure.  All he could do was sit down, back to the wall, next to the door to the greeting hall.

Cecil remained there, desperately trying to process his embarrassment, for quite a while.  He couldn’t say how much time had passed, but eventually he heard the door to the greeting hall open.  He glanced up, and saw Rydia, face beet-red with a horrified expression on it, walk out, head down the hall, lean against the wall, then slowly slide down the wall, staring down at her hands.

Rosa followed soon after, looking extremely pleased with herself.  “Cecil,” she started.  “One of these days we’re really going to need to work on your teaching skills.  It really wasn’t that bad, right, Rydia?”

Rydia only let out a quiet whimper in response.

Chapter Text

The group finally managed to stumble into a safe room.  They had infiltrated the Tower of Babil, and almost immediately got attacked by security monsters.  It had been a long, gruelling fight to get to the nearest safe room, and everyone was exhausted.  King Giott had told them that they needed to be quick, but that Golbez would be busy for long enough that they shouldn’t rush.  Cecil, bearing this in mind, decided that they should make camp in the safe room, rest, and come up with a more informed plan for getting through the Tower.

No one argued with him.  It seemed that everyone was exhausted and needed a break.  Golbez had some real tough security monsters.

Soon there was a fire and rations going around.  They had some rations from the dwarves, but Rosa insisted on eating the surface rations first, claiming that they couldn’t risk the moral drop from the dwarven food.  Rydia thought the dwarven food was great.  A little burnt, sure, but leagues better than the cardboard she had to eat in the Feymarch.

Cecil and Yang, though, very eagerly agreed with Rosa.  Even Kain seemed to have some disdain for the dwarven food.  Though Rydia didn’t really care.  She’d get to try surface food sooner than she thought!

The surface rations wound up being dried meat and vegetables with some spice powders for a stew, along with a few chunks of bread.  Before too long everyone had a bowl of stew and a chunk of bread.

As simple as the food may have been, Rydia had to admit that it was much better than the dwarven food.  Though, the gap in quality between surface food and dwarven food was much lower than the gap between dwarven food and Feymarch food.  If the party ever found their way to the Feymarch, Rydia was going to make absolutely certain that they brought their own provisions.

Everyone went off in their own little corners of the room after eating.  Kain was literally in a corner, staring at the ground, probably brooding.  As usual.  Rydia still had no idea why the traitor Dragoon was with them, but Cecil and Rosa trusted him, so she’d try to trust him, too.  As painfully difficult as it was.

On the opposite side of the room Cecil and Rosa were sitting together, white healing magic flowing from Cecil’s hands to heal a nasty cut Rosa had gotten.

Wait, Cecil was healing?  When did he learn that?

Rydia needed answers.  Or, well, maybe needed was a strong word, but she really wanted to know when he learned that.  It could be useful in a fight, knowing that if Rosa was busy she could also call Cecil for healing.  Especially since she couldn’t use white magic herself, anymore.

Rydia walked up to Cecil and Rosa.  Rosa looked up at Rydia and smiled.  “Hi, Rydia, do you need healing, too?”

Rydia shook her head.  “I’m okay, thanks, though.  I actually wanted to ask Cecil where he learned white magic?”

Cecil, finished with healing Rosa, turned to look at her.  “I learned it after the spirit at Mt. Ordeals cleansed me of my dark past, and turned me into a Paladin.”

Spirit on Mt. Ordeals?  Oh, right, she vaguely remembered Cecil explaining that to her after the fight with Golbez.  She, admittedly, wasn’t paying super close attention, having been really tired from the fight and rather distracted by the promise of real food.

“When was that, again?” Rydia asked.

“A few weeks ago, I think,” Cecil replied.  Upon seeing Rydia’s blank stare he added “About three, maybe four days after Leviathan attacked our ship.”

Rydia thought for a moment, trying to get a rough idea of how old she would’ve been by then, assuming time progressed linearly in the Feymarch.

“That would probably be about the same time I lost my white magic…did you steal my white magic?”

Cecil opened and closed his mouth a few times, before saying “I…I don’t think so?”

Rydia stomped her foot.  “You did, didn’t you?  Cecil!  How could you?”  Rydia folded her arms and stuck her nose in the air.  “I want it back!”

Cecil gaped at her for a moment, before turning to Rosa, who seemed equally concerned.  Cecil started stammering, and began turning pink.

That was when Rydia lost it.

She couldn’t fight back the smile anymore.  “Just kidding!” she sang.  “That’s not how magic works, don’t worry!”  Rydia couldn’t help but laugh at the look of relief on Cecil’s face.  Rosa also giggled a bit.

“I almost forgot how mischievous you could be,” Cecil said with a grin.  “Though I must admit, I prefer this one to you hiding behind a boulder while I was asleep, leaving me panicked and terrified that something had taken you.”

“Hey now!  I was only seven then!” Rydia protested, though she couldn’t help the smile on her face.  “I thought it’d be funny to jump out and scare you.  I didn’t think about what me missing would look like to you.”

Rydia kept chatting with Cecil and Rosa for a few more minutes before Rosa excused herself to lay down and try to recover her magic.  Cecil joined her, and Rydia waved before heading off to her section of the room, in the back, between where Yang had set up and where Cecil and Rosa were.

Rydia laid out her sleeping bag, then decided to sit and watch the dying embers of the flame - from a distance, of course.  She was still wary of fire, though she was a lot more accepting of it now.  She’d had plenty of time to come to terms with fire.  It wasn’t inherently evil - it was simply a force of nature, consuming whatever it could, with no regard or awareness of its impact on others.

Oddly enough, the exact opposite of Ifrit, the Eidolon of fire.

Ifrit was always so deliberate, so careful, and trying so, so hard not to hurt or damage anything around him.  So very unlike the element he embodied.  Perhaps the destructive nature of fire was why Ifrit was so careful and deliberate.

A quick movement pulled Rydia from her thoughts.  She glanced over towards the movement, in Yang’s area.  The monk was sitting in meditation, chewing on something, sweating profusely.

Immediately Rydia bolted over to his side.  “Yang!  Are you okay?”

Yang opened his eyes and looked at Rydia.  “I am fine, this is merely a part of my training.”

“What is?”

Yang gestured for Rydia to sit, so she took a place near him.  “You see these bags?” Yang gestured towards five bags in front of him.  Each bag had a bunch of what looked to be nuts.

Rydia nodded.  “These,” Yang said, “are Fabulian fire nuts.  The nuts are dusted with a spice powder that causes the mouth to experience a sensation not unlike burning.  Each bag has a different blend of spice mixed in with them, each blend more intense than the last.”

Rydia was baffled.  “Why would you make food that hurts you?”

Yang laughed.  “This food isn’t meant for sustenance, it’s for training!”  At Rydia’s very confused look, Yang explained “Being able to handle the burning sensation is a sign of toughness, mental and physical fortitude, and perseverance.  We monks start with the least severe, then work our way up to the worst.  So far, I’ve managed to get to where I can tolerate the fourth level, though I must admit it pains me greatly.  Most others can’t even handle the third.”

Rydia fought the urge to roll her eyes.  There was no way that these nuts were that bad.  And how could spice possibly cause burning?  Spice added flavor, not pain.  Perhaps some magic could cause some kind of pain on food, but these were very much not magical in nature.”

“I see you doubt my claim,” Yang said.  “Perhaps you’d like to try one, to see that I speak truth?”

Yang grabbed one of the bags, one he indicated being the weakest.  At first, Rydia was a bit offended that he offered her the weakest ones, but decided not to protest.  She’d just eat this, prove it wasn’t bad at all, then move on to the next ones.  In fact, she could probably handle the fifth bag just fine, because non-magical food can’t cause pain.

As Rydia reached her hand out, she heard Cecil call out “Be careful, Rydia!  Those nuts are really spicy!”

At that, Rydia did roll her eyes.  They were food , how bad could they be?  She grabbed a nut, popped it in her mouth, and started to chew.

The sensation that filled her mouth could only be described as burning.  Much like Yang said.  It felt like a fire had been lit in her mouth, and Rydia could feel the heat cause sweat to begin pouring from her face.  She tried her best to keep going, but the pain was too severe, the heat was too intense, and she had no choice but to spit it out.

But removing the source did nothing to alleviate the pain.  Rydia started panting, and began waving her hands towards her mouth, hoping that some cool air would cool the inferno that raged in her mouth.

The heat only grew more and more intense as time progressed, and Rydia found that there were tears as well as sweat pouring down her face.  “Here, take this!”  Yang held out a piece of bread to her.

Rydia was in too much pain to question it, and immediately shoved the bread in her mouth.  It helped a little, but the pain was still there.  Rydia was sorely tempted to cast Blizzard on her mouth, just to try to help cool it down.  Not that she could chant the necessary incantation in her current state.

After what felt like an eternity of pain, the heat eventually began to cool, and Rydia could finally speak again.

“That was awful!” she exclaimed.  “I’ve taken fire spells that burned less than that!”

Yang chuckled.  “As I said.  We use these to train our minds and bodies to withstand hardship.”

“There has got to be a better way to learn to withstand hardship than torturing yourself!” Rydia protested.  “That was just pure pain!”

Yang chuckled.  “You get used to them with time and practice,” he said.  “And many find the flavor of the first level to be quite enjoyable.”

Rydia grit her teeth.  “Pain isn’t flavor,” she practically hissed.  She was being a bit harsh, she knew, but the burning left her in a really bad mood.  “In fact, the pain hides any flavor that could be there.”

Before Yang could reply, Kain appeared from nowhere.  Rydia nearly leapt out of her skin at his sudden appearance.  How did that man move so quietly?

Kain gestured towards the bags and asked “May I?”

Yang, similarly stunned at the Dragoon’s sudden appearance, fumbled a bit, before agreeing and reaching for the first level bag.

Kain, however, immediately reached into the fifth and final bag, grabbed a big handful, and popped all of them into his mouth at once.

Yang had no time to protest or stop him, and Rydia could only watch in horror as Kain subjected himself to what surely must be unimaginable torment.  She braced herself, prepared to cast Blizzard if needed.

However, Kain merely chewed, swallowed, then said “Not bad, a little too mild for my tastes, though.”

As the Dragoon walked back to his section of the room, all Yang and Rydia could do was stare after him, both mouths gaping open in pure shock.

Chapter Text

Weapon Maintenance

Rydia couldn’t sleep.  They were going to drill to the surface the next morning, and Cecil had told everyone to retire for the night early, but try as she might, Rydia just couldn’t fall asleep.  Were they really going to go through to the surface with a giant drill?  Wouldn’t someone have discovered the underworld long before they did if the gap was so thin it could be drilled through?  Titan breaking the earth apart when she was seven should have revealed the underworld if it were thin enough to be drilled through.

Rydia was a bit skeptical about how it was going to work.  And very concerned about what they’d do if it didn’t work.  Would that damage the Falcon?  Or, worse, crush them under falling boulders?  Nothing about this idea seemed smart to Rydia, but Cecil and Rosa trusted Cid with their lives, and said that, if he said it would work, then it would work.

Their assurance didn’t help soothe Rydia’s fears enough that she could sleep, though.  So Rydia stood out on the ramparts of the castle, breathing in the…fresh?...air and staring at the glow of the lava fields.

She was interrupted from her musings by a rather aggressive slap on the shoulder, sending her staggering forward a bit.

“Whoops, sorry there!” Cid boomed.  “Forgot how frail you are.”

Rydia shot a glare at the engineer..  “I am not frail!”

Cid just let out a booming laugh.  “‘Course not!  Just meant compared to Cecil.”  Cid got quiet and looked down.  “And Kain.”

Rydia softened her glare.  She was still reeling from Kain’s betrayal, too, and Cid helped raise him.  He was probably having a rough time of it all.  And besides, being more frail than Cecil was something Rydia could tolerate.  She was convinced that man could get hit by a falling airship and just shrug it off, so being more frail than Cecil was far from an insult.

“Cecil’s pretty durable,” Rydia said, hoping to distract Cid from his sudden melancholy.  She wasn’t really sure what all she could do, but she wanted to at least try and help keep spirits up.

Cid laughed.  “Sure is!  Though, back when he was a Dark Knight, Kain was always the more durable one.  Stronger, too.  That Paladin transformation did a number on helping beef Cecil up, that’s for sure!”

Rydia cocked her head.  She was seven when she last knew Cecil as a Dark Knight, so her memory wasn’t exactly clear or accurate, but she remembered Cecil back then still being pretty tough.  He’d leap in front of monster attacks meant for her constantly, and he usually seemed just fine afterwards.  Kain was even tougher than that?  Of course, Cid seemed to be implying that Cecil had gotten tougher than Kain since becoming a Paladin, so maybe Rydia was getting her memories confused with present Cecil.

Cid looked down.  “Yeah, back when they were kids Kain was always stronger, faster, and more durable.  The two would fight sometimes, and Kain always won.  Then Rosa would step in, yell at Kain for being a bully, and heal Cecil up.  Sometimes I think, if not for Rosa, those two boys would have killed each other.  She’d always step in, tell them they’re being stupid, and get them to shut up and make up.”  At that, Cid let out a sigh.  “Eventually I think the two fought so much that they got bored, and decided to join forces instead.  Boy, were they a force to be reckoned with then!  The two of them, together, could take on anyone.  Sometimes they’d even go and try to spar with the trained soldiers, even won sometimes, too!  Wee little tykes, beating trained soldiers!”

Cid got a bit of a wistful look on his face, before turning back to Rydia.  “Sorry, I’m talking your ears off.”

Rydia shook her head.  “No, I don’t mind!  I never knew Cecil or Kain when they were young.  It’s fun hearing about how they grew up.”  She couldn’t help but wonder if she would have been friends with her back then, too, had they grown all up together.

“Well, there will be plenty of time for stories later!  After you lot stop Golbez.  Don’t let ol’ Cid keep you awake.”

Rydia paused for a moment.  “I…I can’t sleep, to be honest.”

Cid glanced at her.  “You, either, eh?”

“Didn’t you collapse and pass out after finishing the drill installation?”

“Yup, and now I can’t get back to sleep.”  Cid turned to stare over the ramparts, towards the lava lakes.  “Can’t help but worry about Kain.  I’m sure he’ll get his head out of his ass and break free of Golbez’s spell eventually, I’m just worried ‘bout what’ll happen to him afterwards.”

Rydia glanced over at Cid.  He looked really sad.  Rydia thought for a moment.  She wanted to try to help out, somehow, though she was well aware that there was nothing she could do about Kain.  At least, not for a while.  Maybe, if they encountered him again, she could try to knock some sense in him.  Maybe there was some way her magic, or perhaps one of her Eidolons, could break the spell on him.  Maybe, just maybe, he’d remember the time he spent teaching her to read, bickering with Edge, planning with Cecil, and wrapping wounds with Rosa.  Maybe those memories would be enough to snap him out of whatever control he was under.

Or maybe they’d at least be enough to make him hesitate, giving them a chance to take down Golbez and break the spell that had Kain chained.

Not that any of that mattered right then.  They had to get to the surface first, then get to Mysidia.  But before any of that, Rydia wanted to try to cheer Cid up.  She remembered something Cecil had mentioned, and had an idea.

“Hey, Cid?”

Cid just let out a hum in response.

“Cecil mentioned that you taught him how to maintain and care for his weapons, but he says you’re still way better at it than he is.  Would you be willing to take a look at my whip?”

Cid turned to fully face her, a smile so wide it almost scared Rydia.  “Why, I’d love to!  Never did have a chance to work on a whip, this should be a blast!”  Rydia started getting really concerned that he didn’t mean that figuratively.

—------

Cid very nearly fainted when he saw Rydia’s whip.  “I taught Cecil better than this!”

“Oh, Cecil hasn’t been maintaining it,” Rydia said.  “I, uh, didn’t really know that weapons needed maintenance until very recently…”

Cid turned to glare at her.  “ You did this?”

Rydia winced.  “Is it that bad?”

“The leather’s worn, scratched, the ends are frayed and soft, and the handle looks like it’s been smoothed down so much that it’d be slicker than ice!”  Cid waved his hand towards the whip in question.  “We’re in for a long night, kiddo.”

Rydia hadn’t thought her whip was that bad, really.  She only offered because she wanted to try to help keep Cid’s mind off of Kain, help cheer him up a bit.  She figured he’d just take a look at it, maybe polish…something, and it’ll all be good.  Apparently, he’d be working on this until way late in the…wait…

“We?”

Cid just nodded.  “You need to learn to take care of your weapons.  I can’t come with you all, so I need to make sure you can take good care of it.”

Rydia rubbed the back of her head.  “Is it really that big a deal?”

Cid’s eyes practically flew out of his eye sockets at that.  “If you don’t take good care of your weapons, they won’t function as well as they should!  They could even break on you mid-battle!  You wouldn’t want your whip to tear in half just before it hits Golbez, would you?”

That could happen?  Rydia’s eyes widened at the thought of being about to strike the final blow, only for her whip to tear, and Golbez to start laughing before blasting her with whatever evil magic he conjured.

“Got it, let’s get started.”

Cid grinned.

—----------

Whip maintenance consisted of taking the entire whip apart, rubbing some stuff on each strip (Cid called it “conditioner”), and, after letting them all sit, putting it all back together.  Where there were some major scratches and tears Cid used different leather pieces and glued them to the strips.  Cid told Rydia that normally she’d just need to clean it and rub the conditioner stuff on it at the end of the day, without needing to take it apart, which was a huge relief to Rydia.

She honestly had no idea why they needed to do everything they did, but she did have to admit that her whip looked and felt way better.

Though apparently Cid decided he wasn’t done with her just yet.  He insisted on giving everyone’s weapons a check-up, and ran off to grab them from their rooms.  While everyone else was asleep.  Rydia hoped that the old engineer knew how to be quiet.

Given the lack of shouting when Cid returned with everyone’s weapons, she assumed that he did.  Almost made her wonder if he did that a lot.

Though Rydia didn’t have long to wonder, given that Cid almost immediately sat her down and started showing her how to care for and maintain everyone’s weapons.  Rydia wasn’t really sure why she needed to know how to sharpen and hone Cecil’s sword, or how to treat Rosa’s bow, but Cid seemed really into teaching her, so she listened and did her best.

It was long, tiring work, and by the end of it, Rydia was starting to feel fatigued.  She was fairly confident she could fall asleep now, and was ready to head to bed.

But Cid had one final thing he wanted to teach her, and Rydia knew that the man would soon be confined to the dwarven infirmary, so she decided she could sacrifice a little more sleep, for his sake.  Besides, it was fairly interesting, all this maintenance stuff she never got to learn before.

“We can take some of these magic items and merge ‘em with weapons!  Take a Zeus’ Wrath and slap it on one of Edge’s swords, and suddenly it’ll do lightning damage for a few hours!”

Rydia cocked her head.  “Does that sacrifice the item?”

Cid shrugged.  “Yeah, but who uses those things, anyway?”

Rydia was about to protest, but then she thought about it for a moment, and realized that she’d never seen anyone use them in battle before.  She might have once, as a little girl, after she ran out of magic, but that was it.

Rydia gestured for Cid to continue.  He showed her how he managed to take the elemental items and infuse them into the different weapons.  It seemed simple enough to Rydia, so she tried it with her whip.

“You’re a natural!” Cid exclaimed.

Even as tired as she was, Rydia couldn’t help but feel a faint glow of pride at hearing that.

Cid patted her on the back with a heavy hand, causing Rydia to stagger again.  “I best let you get some sleep.  Big day tomorrow.”  Rydia nodded and started making her way back to her room.  “And Rydia…thanks.”

She turned and gave Cid a small but sincere smile.  “Anytime, Cid.”

—-----------

There were way, way too many dark grenades.  Probably a solid twenty, maybe even a full two dozen.  And the party was exhausted.  Rydia had gotten lucky and discovered that lightning spells cause them to explode immediately, which was dangerous, but extremely useful.  Unfortunately, these things kept coming, and soon Rydia was exhausted.  She had enough for maybe one more spell, then she’d be out for a bit.

One spell wasn’t going to be enough for this many monsters.

Edge wasn’t faring any better, having run out of magic long ago, Cecil had tanked a few explosions already, trying to keep Rydia and Edge on their feet, and Rosa was busy keeping Cecil standing.  They were outnumbered, and at their wits’ ends.

If only we had a Zeus’ Wrath or something, then I could try that thing Cid showed me! Rydia thought to herself.  Then she had an idea.  They didn’t have any of the items, but maybe she could use a lightning spell in place of a magical item.  Cid couldn’t use magic, so he had to rely on the items, but maybe Rydia didn’t need them.

It was a bit of a risk, but if it worked then her whip should have enough energy to trigger all the grenades, something her final spell definitely wouldn’t do.

Rydia rolled to the left, dodging out of the way of a rampaging dark grenade.  She’d only have one shot at this, so she called out to Cecil to try to keep them busy.

Rydia began chanting, conjuring her lightning and applying the technique Cid showed her, hoping it’d work.

After a moment, she felt the spell flow into her whip, emitting a similar energy the magic items did when Cid used them.  She hoped it worked.

She rose up, swung her whip at one of the dark grenades, one grouped with six others.  To her great joy, little sparks of electricity jumped from the end of her whip, into the grenade.  It definitely wasn’t as much as her spell would’ve been, but it was enough to immediately trigger the grenade, which in turn destroyed the six around it.  That was seven down.

“Whoa!” Edge shouted out.  “The hell was that?”

“I’ll explain later!”  Rydia really hoped he’d forget so she didn’t have to.  “For right now, focus on killing these things!”

Luckily, with Rydia’s electric whip, the group was able to wipe out the grenades.  Panting and drained, Cecil decided they needed to set up camp and rest.

After camp had been set up, Edge, unfortunately, remembered.  “So, how’d you get your whip electrified?”

“I’d actually like to know, too,” Cecil added.

Rydia sighed.  “Cid saw my whip, nearly fainted, then showed me how to take care of all our weapons.  He also showed me how he uses those magic items to power them up, so I just did that.”

Edge gave her a funny look.  “Where’d you get an electric item?”

“I used my magic instead.”

Cecil whistled.  “That’s brilliant, Rydia.”

Despite her exhaustion, Rydia felt her heart swell from the praise.  Cecil didn’t usually offer much more praise than “Good job, everyone.”

“Come to think of it,” Rosa added, “your whip looks amazing, and it really has seemed like it’s been performing really well since we left the Underworld.”

Rydia beamed at the praise.  “I’ve just been doing what Cid taught me!”

“Do you…do you think that, maybe, you’d be willing to look at my bow?  It just hasn’t been the same without Cid maintaining it.”

“Perhaps my sword, too?” Cecil asked.

Before Rydia had a chance to even answer, she found herself with a pile of weapons in front of her.  She sighed, resigning herself to being on weapon duty for the night.

Edge’s katanas clattered to the ground in front of her.  She looked up, only to be met with a shrug.  “I could do it, of course, probably better than anyone.  But, since you’re already working on them, figured ‘What’s a couple more?’  I’ll keep watch instead.”

Rydia groaned.  “Okay, fine, but this is not becoming a regular thing!”

—----------

They had finally fought their way back to the crystal palace.  There was a bit of mistrust in the group, despite Kain’s claims that he was fully back under his own control.  Cecil and Rosa trusted him immediately, of course, but Rydia and Edge were (in Rydia’s opinion, understandably) wary, and this hindered progress.

But Kain had proven himself trustworthy enough.  He even leapt in front of several attacks intended for Rydia when Cecil was too busy to notice.  And every time, he sustained serious injuries that Rosa needed to heal immediately.  Injuries that likely would have immediately knocked Rydia out, at best.

After all that, everyone was immensely relieved to see the safety of the crystal palace.  As soon as they got inside, Rydia sat down, leaned against the wall, and closed her eyes to rest.

Before too long, she heard a loud clattering in front of her.  She opened one eye, and saw two katanas, Cecil’s Excalibur, and Rosa’s bow in front of her.  She glanced up and glared at Cecil.

He, in turn, just shrugged.  “You’re the best, aside from Cid, at weapon maintenance.  By far.  We’re going to need our weapons to be the absolute best they can be for the battles ahead of us.”

Rydia groaned, but had to concede to Cecil’s point.  She pulled Excalibur to her, and got to work.

After a few minutes, she heard another clang, only to see a lance on the floor in front of her.  She shot Kain a glare, who only gave her a smirk in response.

Rydia, still not really trusting Kain (nor having fully forgiven him for his betrayal), glared at him, hoping that she could convey her refusal to touch his weapon in her glare.

The Dragoon held her glare, and maintained eye contact so perfectly that eventually Rydia relented.

“Fine!  But I’m not making yours catch fire like Cecil’s, got it?”