On and Further On [Final Fantasy IV, Edge/Rydia, PG]
This is the story I wrote for this year's yuletide, reposted here for archival purposes. Sorry for any spamming that happens today, btw.
Fandom: Final Fantasy IV
Title: On and Further On
Recipient: Ilyat, in yuletide 2006
Pairing: Edge/Rydia
Rating: PG
Notes: Title from "Thomas the Rhymer," a traditional Scottish ballad.
The bards sing of a girl who ran with monsters. In some tales, she is part-monster herself, with wild green hair and sylvan clothing, but in most she is just a girl.
***
When the work on Damcyan castle was completed, there was a huge celebration. The light from the ballroom's crystal chandeliers reflected off the gems adorning all of Edward's female guests, a shimmering display of opulence.
Walking into this room nearly blinded Rydia, who had not ventured into the sunlight for over a year. She leaned against a wall by the doorway, closing her eyes and focusing on breathing. As she had prepared for this evening, she had thought of it as a get-together with old friends. She hadn't really considered the 200 strangers who would also be in attendance, with their bustle and chattering and their clashing perfumes and brightly colored clothing.
"Rydia?" a familiar voice asked, hesitantly.
She opened her eyes to see the mischievous smile she recognized as belonging to Edge. He hadn't changed his hairstyle or his cocky stance since she had last seen him. It was only then that it really sunk in - less than a year had passed since Cecil and Rosa's wedding outside of the Land of Summons.
"You look..." Edge began.
"Different? Older?"
"I was going to say 'spectacular,'" he answered, his hand ruffling the hair on the back of his head. "But those are both also true. I mean, I knew that time passed more quickly where you live, but I really wasn't expecting this."
Rydia frowned - maybe coming here had been a bad idea.
"Does it...hurt?" he asked, hesitant. He was rolling a small shuriken across his knuckles nervously.
"Does...what hurt?" She had been so out of touch with people, she didn't even seem to understand what he was saying.
"Aging so fast. Every time I try and think about growing old so quickly, I don't know, it just seems like it would hurt."
Finally she got it. The question almost made her laugh, but the sincere concern in his eyes caused her to bite her cheeks instead. It was just like him to make her want to laugh, even at the most inappropriate times.
"I don't age faster, silly," she said. "I've just lived a full, I don't know, ten years or so since you saw me last." Her answer seemed a huge relief to him. He palmed the shuriken and it disappeared back into the personal arsenal she was sure the palace guards knew nothing about.
"But, hey, you look spectacular. I mean it. And we're probably close to the same age now, right?"
She shrugged. It had been so long since she'd thought about how humans looked as they aged, it was hard for her to say. They weren't like summons, who might grow extra horns or a third eye as they grew older. "I suppose. There's really no simple conversion between the two time flows." It was growing hot in the room.
"Oh come on, you couldn't be older than, what, twenty-five, twenty-six?" He smiled that cocksure smile again. She wished a servant would pass with something cool to drink, but she'd purposely hidden herself in a corner with a group of potted plants and a gargoyle statue which reminded her of home.
"I really don't know. Why is this so important to you anyway?"
"Oh, it'll just eliminate any grumbling about robbing the cradle or your immaturity or whatever."
"What are you talking about, Edge?"
He smirked and put his hand on her shoulder. "When we get married, of course. I'll tell you, after a year as king, I've learned that my people love to gossip. I can't pick my nose without overhearing the laundrywomen talking about it later.
"Not that I pick my nose. Or spend much time with laundrywomen, for that matter. Why are you looking at me like that?"
Rydia could feel a pain building behind her eyes. First the lights and the strangers and now this. The room was starting to feel very loud and very warm and very small, and she had forgotten how to talk to Edge. It took a firm hand on the part of others to smooth out his ego, and she wasn't sure that she felt up to the task.
She opened her eyes, which made her realize they had been clenched shut. She was looking into Edge's face again, but it had lost that self-assuredness. His eyes looked almost scared.
Rydia tried to explain. "Edge, I can't..."
He cut in. "I got it. And I'm sorry. I was just so excited to see you, I jumped the gun. I just figured that you would be ready to come back to people again and you know, me, but..."
"Maybe someday," Rydia said, and was rewarded with a small smile.
"Do you want to dance?" he asked, offering his hand.
"Could we go for a walk instead? I wasn't quite ready for all these people in one room, I don't think."
"A moonlit stroll with my favorite summoner? I'd have to be dead to turn that down. And then we'll have to track down the rest of the gang. I heard Kain was even going to show up to this thing, but I'll bet you he's lurking around in a library or drawing room somewhere."
Rydia took his hand and they wandered into the evening together.
***
The girl who ran with monsters was chosen by the monsters to be their hero. She was a very young girl when she was chosen and, though her courage was great, the monsters required a true champion for the ballads.
Thus, they removed her from the story and molded her for their own so that she might return to the narrative at the peak of her beauty and strength.
What was not anticipated - by neither monster nor bard - was that she would choose the land of the monsters as her home. Cruel men had destroyed her people, making her the last of her kind. She had no human home to return to.
Storytellers like characters who are the last of their kind - it lends a desperate importance to the character's existence. Storytellers don't know what to make of a character who withdraws from the narrative and sets to creating future heroes. But that is what the girl who ran with monsters did.
While she was just a human girl, and later a woman, she slowly became more than half-monster herself (proving all of the bards to be partially right). Her hair grew long and she failed to trim her fingernails and her bathing became less frequent. Her time in the surface world seemed to become a half-forgotten dream, and all the while she honed more of her kind, populating pockets of the world of men above.
***
Holding Yang's firstborn child in her arms was an odd experience for Rydia. He was very warm and kind of squishy and he smelled like soured milk. This was quite unlike newly hatched summons, which generally either had a clean, sandy vaguely reptilian smell or a funky stench that clung to them for life. She handed him back to his father, momentarily afraid she would drop him or otherwise break him.
"Are you going to have children?" Yang asked her. "It's one of the greatest things in life, I swear."
Rydia smiled to see her old friend beaming like this. "The young summoners are my children, as are the summons. I don't think I could possibly be mother to anyone else." She paused, thought about it some more. "In fact, I'm not sure I understand the whole 'pregnancy' concept. Did you protect your son's eggs with a cocoon of mucus like the leviathan, or implant it in the living flesh of a prey item like the bahamut?"
"I...well, that is to say...you see, when two people..." That's when she laughed, and Yang's consternation turned to sheepishness.
"I was just joking with you. Lady Shiva has already taught me all about the birds and the bees," Rydia said. "Oh, that reminds me, you haven't yet met my 'son.'"
"Son?" a voice boomed behind her. It echoed off of the lacquered wood pillars and the statues of phoenix and dragon. "You had kids? Who's the father? I'll kill him!"
She rolled her eyes at Edge's tirade as she turned around. "I know that it's a bit much to ask from the ruling leader of a country, but maybe you could have the decorum to fully listen to a conversation before issuing death threats? It's a suggestion." Edge looked the same as he ever had, except that his clothing was getting a little poofier and...were those sparkles? Surely looking sparkly wasn't very professional for a ninja.
"And what have I misinterpreted, Rydia? Did he hatch out of an egg too? I'll bet he's covered in scales or warts or whatever his father looks like."
"If you're implying that I took one of the summons as a lover, you are sadly mistaken," she said. "And if I had, I would have brought him up to meet you all. I have nothing to hide."
"Then why don't you introduce me to this son of yours?"
"Gladly," she smiled. "Here he comes now."
Edge turned around and they both took in the young blue-haired man walking into the entrance hall. He smiled broadly at them. "Did I miss something?" he asked.
Rydia caught Edge clenching his teeth in the corner of her eye, presumably imagining the kind of man who could have fathered a boy so beautiful.
"As a matter of fact, Rydia was just explaining to us how you two were related," Edge asked in a confrontational voice.
"She's the mother of all summoners, and I was one of the first chosen," he answered. "Why couldn't you explain that to him, Mistress Rydia?"
"Because I thought it would be funnier if he heard it from you, Samuel."
Yang laughed from his seat by the family shrine, and this disturbed the baby resting in his arms. "Oh, I think I need to get Li to his mother now. Why don't you come with me, young man?" he addressed the summoner. "You can tell me all about your proposal." With one hand he deftly picked up a small mythril rattle from the altar and began shaking it at Li.
Samuel was visibly flustered by this, shooting desperate glances at Rydia.
"Don't worry," Yang cut in. "I won't make a final decision until Rydia gets to say her piece. I just want to meet the man I would be allowing to set up shop in my borders. Rydia, Edge, come by my drawing room when you've caught up with one another."
Rydia smacked Edge across the shoulder as soon as the others had left the room. "Do you see? Your rudeness chased them out. And I really need Yang to be in a good mood, too."
"Me? Rude? I'm not the one making jokes at someone else's expense! Why are you trying to sweeten up Yang, anyway?"
"I want him to allot a small amount of land to a summoners' settlement in Fabul. I brought Samuel to the naming ceremony so we could discuss it with Yang - Samuel would be the head of the proposed village."
Edge pondered this new information. "I thought all summoners were chicks, anyway."
Rydia sighed. "Most summoners are female, yes, but some boys are called. Purity of heart is the major determining factor, there, not sex."
"You sure it's not just funky hair color? That guy didn't look that pure to me."
"The hair color is a byproduct of our summoning magic, smartass. I wouldn't expect you to recognize purity of heart, anyway. You have little experience with it, I'm sure." They stared at each other, the smoke of Yang's incense sticks swirling in the air between them. She had thought the small shrine, with its dim lighting and mystical carved names a perfect, intimate spot to meet. She had not counted on the ability of a ninja to appear where he was least wanted.
"So, just to be clear, you don't have a boyfriend or a husband or anything?"
"No, Edge, nothing of the sort."
Edge smiled his biggest smile. "I knew it! You've thought more about my proposal, haven't you? That still stands, if you're worried."
"I've certainly thought about it, but I have too much work with the summons to throw it away and become queen of a foreign country. I have to tend to my own."
"Rydia! Listen to yourself! Those monsters are not your people, because they aren't people. And they were doing just fine before you showed up."
This had taken an ugly turn, and Rydia wasn't about to stand for it. "Edge Geraldine, I will not marry you. And right now, it has nothing to do with my duty or your duty, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm 15 years older than you, and it has nothing to do with uprooting my life to live in a place that I doubt would ever feel like home. I will not marry you, because you're an insensitive ass, and that's all the reason I need."
She stormed out of the entrance hall, past Edge and his stunned face. Probably too self-absorbed to even understand what just happened, she reflected.
***
Bards tell few stories about those who grow old. It is much more convenient if the hero fades into obscurity with the knowledge that he will have vague adventures in the future outside the storyteller's sight. Crowds do not want to hear about the vanquisher of harpies dying when a loose board falls on his head, victim to his own laziness. The worst fate yet, from a narrative standpoint, is to fade away quietly in one's sleep.
The girl who ran with monsters grew old, but the bards don't speak of that. Her hair faded to paler shades of green, her bones shrank beneath her skin, and the elements began to refuse her command. (Her monsters never abandoned her so.)
She grew smaller and grew tired, and accepted that her adventures would draw to a close. But then she received a visitor.
***
Rydia leaned back against the cushion of her chair. She would just take a little rest, and then she'd get some work done. There were reports of trouble in one of the newer summoner villages, something about hierarchy.
Young upstarts trying to throw their weight around, most likely. But she would need to deal with it. After a nap.
She was just settling in when there was a knock on the door. There had been two more knocks by the time she got her creaking bones to a standing position and opened the door.
There was a small, pale child on the other side - Hinzelmann. His pointed teeth gleamed at her as he relayed his news hurriedly.
"Mistress Rydia, there's a man here - a human! King Leviathan has him locked up, says he's a 'nosy adventurer'! The man wants to see you!"
"Calm down, Hinzelmann," Rydia told him. "If the King has him under lock and key I'm sure he isn't going anywhere. Now let me get my wrap and we'll get this all sorted out."
Rydia stepped out of her home and followed the boy to the castle. She refused to let on to the child, but she was just as eager as he was to discover what was going on. To her knowledge she was the only human to have ever entered the Land of Summons, with the obvious exception of the friends she had brought with her those years ago.
When she met with the King, he didn't seem nearly as angry as the boy had made him sound. In fact, she could have sworn there was a sparkle in his eye when he silently led her to the room containing his prisoner.
The door opened to reveal a pale-haired man in flamboyant layers of gauze and silk. They contrasted starkly with the plain wooden floor and walls of the summons' jail cell. She had been right, he was adding some sparkles.
"Edge, have I ever told you that those outfits make you look like a harem maiden?"
"I seem to recall you saying that once, but I chalked it up to cultural ignorance. It's pretty strange to have my clothes criticized by someone who doesn't seem to have washed her dress in...forever."
She looked down. She seemed to remember these clothes being more green and less brown at some point. Rydia laughed. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting visitors. What the hell are you doing here, anyway?"
"Hey, you could be more grateful! I went through a lot to get here. The cave is not easy to find, and there are a lot of traps up there, and then when I finally got here, I was practically assaulted by a dragon and a bear thing, and I think there was a troll! I've been on a quest to see you, and all you can say is 'what the hell are you doing here'?"
As he talked, she noticed a shadowy face appear over his shoulder. It was a wraith attempting to eavesdrop on their conversation. She shooed it away surreptitiously. "You could have sent a message," she told him, trying to cover up the presence of the intruder.
"I wasn't aware you got the post here," Edge replied.
"Rosa sends magical communications to me frequently. It would have been easy enough to ask her, and you wouldn't have had to put yourself out so."
"No way. Rosa makes me nervous."
Rydia laughed at that. "Sweet little Rosa makes you nervous?"
"Oh yeah," he nodded emphatically. "Whenever I mention you, she looks all knowing. Very superior. Anyway, I wanted to see you in person. I was worried about you. You didn't come to Kain's funeral, and I thought something might have happened."
"Nothing happened, I just couldn't. I couldn't see Kain like that, so young. Gone. Do you remember how everyone thought wars were over after we defeated Zemus?"
Edge nodded his head. "We were naive, no question. And Kain going like that, fighting in another country's war, it felt so pointless. It was hard for everyone. I still wish you had come."
Rydia rubbed at arthritic fingers while she tried to phrase her response. "Don't you understand? I'm just not a part of that world anymore. I'm old and half-wild, Edge. I don't remember how to style my hair and my knees are too old to curtsy. I have no place in royal society, and I won't be going questing again. I'm embarrassed to see everyone!"
"Are you even embarrassed to see me?" Edge asked with knotted eyebrows. She heard the groaning of a board outside as one of the heavier summons leaned in for a better listen. She sighed. There was never any privacy in this place, and what she was about to say was hard.
"I'm especially embarrassed to see you. I remember how you used to see me."
"How did I used to see you?"
"You would look at me as though I were...beautiful."
He reached out his fingers to gently tilt her chin upwards. "Look me in the eye, Rydia. How do I see you now?"
"Like I'm..."
"Beautiful," Edge finished, "and don't you dare say anything different. You were always a horrible liar."
Rydia's lips turned into a small smile.
"I've thought you were beautiful from the first moment I laid eyes on you, and that opinion has never changed, no matter how many small rejections you've thrown my way. And I'm here to tell you that enough is enough. I'm willing to wait my whole life for you, but I think your goddamn stubbornness is going to rob me of the chance. I want you to come back to Eblan with me, and I want you to marry me."
"That's a very pretty speech, Edge, and I can tell you've been practicing that all through your harrowing journey, but I really don't think that's going to work."
"And why not?"
"You need a queen who can produce an heir. Those years are long gone for me."
Edge shook a finger triumphantly. "Is that all you've got? I was prepared for this one. I can appoint an heir. I have someone all picked out - a young boy with a keen mind for ninjutsu - we can raise him to be the perfect king. After me, of course. Maybe he can even marry a summoner--we can make it a tradition!"
"I have a hard time believing your chancellor approves of this plan." The excited squeaking outside told her that even if Edge's court might go into a tizzy, the summons at least thought she would make a good ninja queen.
"Aw, Gramps will get over it," he waved away. "But, please Rydia, come back with me. You've done good work here, I can tell. The summoner villages are thriving by all accounts. I'm sorry I was so awful about all this the last time we talked. I was being selfish."
Rydia nodded. No argument there.
"And I know you love this place. But I also know that you love me, even when you might pretend otherwise. Please come back with me."
And Rydia relented, as she had known she would from the moment she saw his back framed in the doorway. She stepped closer to Edge, and he tenderly kissed her wrinkled brow, and then their lips met. Maybe she did have one adventure left in her after all.
Fandom: Final Fantasy IV
Title: On and Further On
Recipient: Ilyat, in yuletide 2006
Pairing: Edge/Rydia
Rating: PG
Notes: Title from "Thomas the Rhymer," a traditional Scottish ballad.
The bards sing of a girl who ran with monsters. In some tales, she is part-monster herself, with wild green hair and sylvan clothing, but in most she is just a girl.
***
When the work on Damcyan castle was completed, there was a huge celebration. The light from the ballroom's crystal chandeliers reflected off the gems adorning all of Edward's female guests, a shimmering display of opulence.
Walking into this room nearly blinded Rydia, who had not ventured into the sunlight for over a year. She leaned against a wall by the doorway, closing her eyes and focusing on breathing. As she had prepared for this evening, she had thought of it as a get-together with old friends. She hadn't really considered the 200 strangers who would also be in attendance, with their bustle and chattering and their clashing perfumes and brightly colored clothing.
"Rydia?" a familiar voice asked, hesitantly.
She opened her eyes to see the mischievous smile she recognized as belonging to Edge. He hadn't changed his hairstyle or his cocky stance since she had last seen him. It was only then that it really sunk in - less than a year had passed since Cecil and Rosa's wedding outside of the Land of Summons.
"You look..." Edge began.
"Different? Older?"
"I was going to say 'spectacular,'" he answered, his hand ruffling the hair on the back of his head. "But those are both also true. I mean, I knew that time passed more quickly where you live, but I really wasn't expecting this."
Rydia frowned - maybe coming here had been a bad idea.
"Does it...hurt?" he asked, hesitant. He was rolling a small shuriken across his knuckles nervously.
"Does...what hurt?" She had been so out of touch with people, she didn't even seem to understand what he was saying.
"Aging so fast. Every time I try and think about growing old so quickly, I don't know, it just seems like it would hurt."
Finally she got it. The question almost made her laugh, but the sincere concern in his eyes caused her to bite her cheeks instead. It was just like him to make her want to laugh, even at the most inappropriate times.
"I don't age faster, silly," she said. "I've just lived a full, I don't know, ten years or so since you saw me last." Her answer seemed a huge relief to him. He palmed the shuriken and it disappeared back into the personal arsenal she was sure the palace guards knew nothing about.
"But, hey, you look spectacular. I mean it. And we're probably close to the same age now, right?"
She shrugged. It had been so long since she'd thought about how humans looked as they aged, it was hard for her to say. They weren't like summons, who might grow extra horns or a third eye as they grew older. "I suppose. There's really no simple conversion between the two time flows." It was growing hot in the room.
"Oh come on, you couldn't be older than, what, twenty-five, twenty-six?" He smiled that cocksure smile again. She wished a servant would pass with something cool to drink, but she'd purposely hidden herself in a corner with a group of potted plants and a gargoyle statue which reminded her of home.
"I really don't know. Why is this so important to you anyway?"
"Oh, it'll just eliminate any grumbling about robbing the cradle or your immaturity or whatever."
"What are you talking about, Edge?"
He smirked and put his hand on her shoulder. "When we get married, of course. I'll tell you, after a year as king, I've learned that my people love to gossip. I can't pick my nose without overhearing the laundrywomen talking about it later.
"Not that I pick my nose. Or spend much time with laundrywomen, for that matter. Why are you looking at me like that?"
Rydia could feel a pain building behind her eyes. First the lights and the strangers and now this. The room was starting to feel very loud and very warm and very small, and she had forgotten how to talk to Edge. It took a firm hand on the part of others to smooth out his ego, and she wasn't sure that she felt up to the task.
She opened her eyes, which made her realize they had been clenched shut. She was looking into Edge's face again, but it had lost that self-assuredness. His eyes looked almost scared.
Rydia tried to explain. "Edge, I can't..."
He cut in. "I got it. And I'm sorry. I was just so excited to see you, I jumped the gun. I just figured that you would be ready to come back to people again and you know, me, but..."
"Maybe someday," Rydia said, and was rewarded with a small smile.
"Do you want to dance?" he asked, offering his hand.
"Could we go for a walk instead? I wasn't quite ready for all these people in one room, I don't think."
"A moonlit stroll with my favorite summoner? I'd have to be dead to turn that down. And then we'll have to track down the rest of the gang. I heard Kain was even going to show up to this thing, but I'll bet you he's lurking around in a library or drawing room somewhere."
Rydia took his hand and they wandered into the evening together.
***
The girl who ran with monsters was chosen by the monsters to be their hero. She was a very young girl when she was chosen and, though her courage was great, the monsters required a true champion for the ballads.
Thus, they removed her from the story and molded her for their own so that she might return to the narrative at the peak of her beauty and strength.
What was not anticipated - by neither monster nor bard - was that she would choose the land of the monsters as her home. Cruel men had destroyed her people, making her the last of her kind. She had no human home to return to.
Storytellers like characters who are the last of their kind - it lends a desperate importance to the character's existence. Storytellers don't know what to make of a character who withdraws from the narrative and sets to creating future heroes. But that is what the girl who ran with monsters did.
While she was just a human girl, and later a woman, she slowly became more than half-monster herself (proving all of the bards to be partially right). Her hair grew long and she failed to trim her fingernails and her bathing became less frequent. Her time in the surface world seemed to become a half-forgotten dream, and all the while she honed more of her kind, populating pockets of the world of men above.
***
Holding Yang's firstborn child in her arms was an odd experience for Rydia. He was very warm and kind of squishy and he smelled like soured milk. This was quite unlike newly hatched summons, which generally either had a clean, sandy vaguely reptilian smell or a funky stench that clung to them for life. She handed him back to his father, momentarily afraid she would drop him or otherwise break him.
"Are you going to have children?" Yang asked her. "It's one of the greatest things in life, I swear."
Rydia smiled to see her old friend beaming like this. "The young summoners are my children, as are the summons. I don't think I could possibly be mother to anyone else." She paused, thought about it some more. "In fact, I'm not sure I understand the whole 'pregnancy' concept. Did you protect your son's eggs with a cocoon of mucus like the leviathan, or implant it in the living flesh of a prey item like the bahamut?"
"I...well, that is to say...you see, when two people..." That's when she laughed, and Yang's consternation turned to sheepishness.
"I was just joking with you. Lady Shiva has already taught me all about the birds and the bees," Rydia said. "Oh, that reminds me, you haven't yet met my 'son.'"
"Son?" a voice boomed behind her. It echoed off of the lacquered wood pillars and the statues of phoenix and dragon. "You had kids? Who's the father? I'll kill him!"
She rolled her eyes at Edge's tirade as she turned around. "I know that it's a bit much to ask from the ruling leader of a country, but maybe you could have the decorum to fully listen to a conversation before issuing death threats? It's a suggestion." Edge looked the same as he ever had, except that his clothing was getting a little poofier and...were those sparkles? Surely looking sparkly wasn't very professional for a ninja.
"And what have I misinterpreted, Rydia? Did he hatch out of an egg too? I'll bet he's covered in scales or warts or whatever his father looks like."
"If you're implying that I took one of the summons as a lover, you are sadly mistaken," she said. "And if I had, I would have brought him up to meet you all. I have nothing to hide."
"Then why don't you introduce me to this son of yours?"
"Gladly," she smiled. "Here he comes now."
Edge turned around and they both took in the young blue-haired man walking into the entrance hall. He smiled broadly at them. "Did I miss something?" he asked.
Rydia caught Edge clenching his teeth in the corner of her eye, presumably imagining the kind of man who could have fathered a boy so beautiful.
"As a matter of fact, Rydia was just explaining to us how you two were related," Edge asked in a confrontational voice.
"She's the mother of all summoners, and I was one of the first chosen," he answered. "Why couldn't you explain that to him, Mistress Rydia?"
"Because I thought it would be funnier if he heard it from you, Samuel."
Yang laughed from his seat by the family shrine, and this disturbed the baby resting in his arms. "Oh, I think I need to get Li to his mother now. Why don't you come with me, young man?" he addressed the summoner. "You can tell me all about your proposal." With one hand he deftly picked up a small mythril rattle from the altar and began shaking it at Li.
Samuel was visibly flustered by this, shooting desperate glances at Rydia.
"Don't worry," Yang cut in. "I won't make a final decision until Rydia gets to say her piece. I just want to meet the man I would be allowing to set up shop in my borders. Rydia, Edge, come by my drawing room when you've caught up with one another."
Rydia smacked Edge across the shoulder as soon as the others had left the room. "Do you see? Your rudeness chased them out. And I really need Yang to be in a good mood, too."
"Me? Rude? I'm not the one making jokes at someone else's expense! Why are you trying to sweeten up Yang, anyway?"
"I want him to allot a small amount of land to a summoners' settlement in Fabul. I brought Samuel to the naming ceremony so we could discuss it with Yang - Samuel would be the head of the proposed village."
Edge pondered this new information. "I thought all summoners were chicks, anyway."
Rydia sighed. "Most summoners are female, yes, but some boys are called. Purity of heart is the major determining factor, there, not sex."
"You sure it's not just funky hair color? That guy didn't look that pure to me."
"The hair color is a byproduct of our summoning magic, smartass. I wouldn't expect you to recognize purity of heart, anyway. You have little experience with it, I'm sure." They stared at each other, the smoke of Yang's incense sticks swirling in the air between them. She had thought the small shrine, with its dim lighting and mystical carved names a perfect, intimate spot to meet. She had not counted on the ability of a ninja to appear where he was least wanted.
"So, just to be clear, you don't have a boyfriend or a husband or anything?"
"No, Edge, nothing of the sort."
Edge smiled his biggest smile. "I knew it! You've thought more about my proposal, haven't you? That still stands, if you're worried."
"I've certainly thought about it, but I have too much work with the summons to throw it away and become queen of a foreign country. I have to tend to my own."
"Rydia! Listen to yourself! Those monsters are not your people, because they aren't people. And they were doing just fine before you showed up."
This had taken an ugly turn, and Rydia wasn't about to stand for it. "Edge Geraldine, I will not marry you. And right now, it has nothing to do with my duty or your duty, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm 15 years older than you, and it has nothing to do with uprooting my life to live in a place that I doubt would ever feel like home. I will not marry you, because you're an insensitive ass, and that's all the reason I need."
She stormed out of the entrance hall, past Edge and his stunned face. Probably too self-absorbed to even understand what just happened, she reflected.
***
Bards tell few stories about those who grow old. It is much more convenient if the hero fades into obscurity with the knowledge that he will have vague adventures in the future outside the storyteller's sight. Crowds do not want to hear about the vanquisher of harpies dying when a loose board falls on his head, victim to his own laziness. The worst fate yet, from a narrative standpoint, is to fade away quietly in one's sleep.
The girl who ran with monsters grew old, but the bards don't speak of that. Her hair faded to paler shades of green, her bones shrank beneath her skin, and the elements began to refuse her command. (Her monsters never abandoned her so.)
She grew smaller and grew tired, and accepted that her adventures would draw to a close. But then she received a visitor.
***
Rydia leaned back against the cushion of her chair. She would just take a little rest, and then she'd get some work done. There were reports of trouble in one of the newer summoner villages, something about hierarchy.
Young upstarts trying to throw their weight around, most likely. But she would need to deal with it. After a nap.
She was just settling in when there was a knock on the door. There had been two more knocks by the time she got her creaking bones to a standing position and opened the door.
There was a small, pale child on the other side - Hinzelmann. His pointed teeth gleamed at her as he relayed his news hurriedly.
"Mistress Rydia, there's a man here - a human! King Leviathan has him locked up, says he's a 'nosy adventurer'! The man wants to see you!"
"Calm down, Hinzelmann," Rydia told him. "If the King has him under lock and key I'm sure he isn't going anywhere. Now let me get my wrap and we'll get this all sorted out."
Rydia stepped out of her home and followed the boy to the castle. She refused to let on to the child, but she was just as eager as he was to discover what was going on. To her knowledge she was the only human to have ever entered the Land of Summons, with the obvious exception of the friends she had brought with her those years ago.
When she met with the King, he didn't seem nearly as angry as the boy had made him sound. In fact, she could have sworn there was a sparkle in his eye when he silently led her to the room containing his prisoner.
The door opened to reveal a pale-haired man in flamboyant layers of gauze and silk. They contrasted starkly with the plain wooden floor and walls of the summons' jail cell. She had been right, he was adding some sparkles.
"Edge, have I ever told you that those outfits make you look like a harem maiden?"
"I seem to recall you saying that once, but I chalked it up to cultural ignorance. It's pretty strange to have my clothes criticized by someone who doesn't seem to have washed her dress in...forever."
She looked down. She seemed to remember these clothes being more green and less brown at some point. Rydia laughed. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting visitors. What the hell are you doing here, anyway?"
"Hey, you could be more grateful! I went through a lot to get here. The cave is not easy to find, and there are a lot of traps up there, and then when I finally got here, I was practically assaulted by a dragon and a bear thing, and I think there was a troll! I've been on a quest to see you, and all you can say is 'what the hell are you doing here'?"
As he talked, she noticed a shadowy face appear over his shoulder. It was a wraith attempting to eavesdrop on their conversation. She shooed it away surreptitiously. "You could have sent a message," she told him, trying to cover up the presence of the intruder.
"I wasn't aware you got the post here," Edge replied.
"Rosa sends magical communications to me frequently. It would have been easy enough to ask her, and you wouldn't have had to put yourself out so."
"No way. Rosa makes me nervous."
Rydia laughed at that. "Sweet little Rosa makes you nervous?"
"Oh yeah," he nodded emphatically. "Whenever I mention you, she looks all knowing. Very superior. Anyway, I wanted to see you in person. I was worried about you. You didn't come to Kain's funeral, and I thought something might have happened."
"Nothing happened, I just couldn't. I couldn't see Kain like that, so young. Gone. Do you remember how everyone thought wars were over after we defeated Zemus?"
Edge nodded his head. "We were naive, no question. And Kain going like that, fighting in another country's war, it felt so pointless. It was hard for everyone. I still wish you had come."
Rydia rubbed at arthritic fingers while she tried to phrase her response. "Don't you understand? I'm just not a part of that world anymore. I'm old and half-wild, Edge. I don't remember how to style my hair and my knees are too old to curtsy. I have no place in royal society, and I won't be going questing again. I'm embarrassed to see everyone!"
"Are you even embarrassed to see me?" Edge asked with knotted eyebrows. She heard the groaning of a board outside as one of the heavier summons leaned in for a better listen. She sighed. There was never any privacy in this place, and what she was about to say was hard.
"I'm especially embarrassed to see you. I remember how you used to see me."
"How did I used to see you?"
"You would look at me as though I were...beautiful."
He reached out his fingers to gently tilt her chin upwards. "Look me in the eye, Rydia. How do I see you now?"
"Like I'm..."
"Beautiful," Edge finished, "and don't you dare say anything different. You were always a horrible liar."
Rydia's lips turned into a small smile.
"I've thought you were beautiful from the first moment I laid eyes on you, and that opinion has never changed, no matter how many small rejections you've thrown my way. And I'm here to tell you that enough is enough. I'm willing to wait my whole life for you, but I think your goddamn stubbornness is going to rob me of the chance. I want you to come back to Eblan with me, and I want you to marry me."
"That's a very pretty speech, Edge, and I can tell you've been practicing that all through your harrowing journey, but I really don't think that's going to work."
"And why not?"
"You need a queen who can produce an heir. Those years are long gone for me."
Edge shook a finger triumphantly. "Is that all you've got? I was prepared for this one. I can appoint an heir. I have someone all picked out - a young boy with a keen mind for ninjutsu - we can raise him to be the perfect king. After me, of course. Maybe he can even marry a summoner--we can make it a tradition!"
"I have a hard time believing your chancellor approves of this plan." The excited squeaking outside told her that even if Edge's court might go into a tizzy, the summons at least thought she would make a good ninja queen.
"Aw, Gramps will get over it," he waved away. "But, please Rydia, come back with me. You've done good work here, I can tell. The summoner villages are thriving by all accounts. I'm sorry I was so awful about all this the last time we talked. I was being selfish."
Rydia nodded. No argument there.
"And I know you love this place. But I also know that you love me, even when you might pretend otherwise. Please come back with me."
And Rydia relented, as she had known she would from the moment she saw his back framed in the doorway. She stepped closer to Edge, and he tenderly kissed her wrinkled brow, and then their lips met. Maybe she did have one adventure left in her after all.