A Children’s Fairytale (chapter 21 of 49, 8698 words)
While Braska spends the day resting, Auron consults the temple archive and hones his skills against the local fiends. Jecht encounters Besaid’s blitzball team, gives them some advice, and learns about an intriguing folk tale.
Read here on praze.net or here on archiveofourown.org, or read the whole fic so far as a PDF or an EPUB.
I’ve read fics where Jecht is amazed by Spira’s lack of showers, but I decided to try making that a bit more nuanced here.
It clearly won’t ever occur to Braska that as everyone on Besaid is very religious, it might not be the best place for someone of his ideological leanings to send his daughter to grow up. As I’ve said many times before, he’s much less logic-driven than Auron is.
It’s a good thing Auron doesn’t know Braska briefly mistakes him for his wife.
I can’t remember whether it’s a headcanon or semi-official lore that Besaid is big on textile production; if the former, I probably got it from the fact that some of the huts we see in the game have a lot of colourful fabrics hanging up inside. If they have a couple of factories, that would provide gainful employment for much of the island’s population and allow them to trade with the rest of Spira.
but then looked back at Auron and said, “You don’t … you don’t need to sit there watching me.”
“Would you rather I stood?” said Auron.
Auron has mostly learnt how to interact in a normal way over the course of his life, but I’ll permit him the occasional overly literal interpretation of a sentence, as a treat.
Braska has already said “goodness knows” a few times, although I don’t know what deity he’s supposed to be euphemistically referring to in this context.
The memory of Braska saying he needed Auron is probably going to be quite prominent in Auron’s mind for … well, the rest of his life technically, I guess.
We’re back into “everyone fancies Auron” territory. The young women of Besaid have to take all the chances they can get (they’ll have another one in the next chapter).
As mandated, I’m booing at the Yunalesca mention.
I’m sure the Crusaders think Auron is very overprotective of Braska, although they’re probably just impressed by how attentive a guardian he is. It’s the blessing of Yevon, ya.
“Aren’t you going to ask after Lord Braska?” said Auron tightly.
Jecht shrugged. “Figured you’d tell me, even if I didn’t.”
This exchange was directly inspired by a conversation I have had several times with my mother. Oddly, although Auron and my mum surely have nothing at all in common, this is one of two respects in which I have taken inspiration from her behaviour in constructing his character; the other is his reluctance to spend money.
“Shit,” said Jecht; then he added, almost inaudibly, “I’m sorry, dude.”
Auron looked up, and their eyes met; he gave a little nod of gratitude.
Yeah, they’re not friends at all! Not one bit!
Auron is surprised Jecht cares enough about his companions to have remembered Braska’s request; meanwhile, Jecht has been hoping Auron wouldn’t find out he mentioned it to the synod, as it kind of shows he doesn’t really believe Auron is going to find a way to save Braska.
“There’s no point making empty promises,” Auron insisted.
I mean, yeah, this is exactly the kind of thing a guy who literally (mumble mumble) to keep his promises to his friends would say.
The nature of Jecht’s “thoroughly satisfying morning” may be obvious from the fact he was out all night, but it’ll be elucidated in chapter 36.
Jecht has of course already seen the Aurochs on the sphere screen at the Thunder Plains travel agency … quite possibly he was too drunk at the time to have remembered it.
I guess Jecht is very invested in getting future blitzball stars to realise their potential for some reason, given that he’s so concerned about Wakka and Chappu’s talent going to waste and simultaneously determined to get Tidus up to standard.
My suggestion that there are two ethnic groups on Besaid is based entirely on the fact that some of the islanders talk like this, ya, while others show no hint of that dialect at all and even seem to dislike it (as implied when Yuna tries to mimic Wakka’s speech pattern and Lulu says “don’t talk like that”).
Local Man Learns Empathy From Poorly Performing Sports Team.
The idea that becoming a Crusader is a way for the young men of Besaid to better themselves, and that they look down on blitzball because of it, is mostly just fuel for the “Wakka and Chappu angst” fire. Chappu telling his older brother it’s time to grow up and join the Crusaders, put their childhood blitz dreams aside, forget about that training session they had with Sir Jecht all those years ago … Wakka giving him the fancy blue sword as a peace offering, and then Chappu leaving it behind and using a machina weapon instead … and then dying … damn, Wakka is not going to be having a good time. Everyone gets to suffer, not just my three lads!
Botta’s various scars and wound dressings that we see in the game seem a bit of an anomaly when everyone else uses potions etc. to heal themselves, so the “white magic allergy” concept is my way of explaining that. It’s a miracle he makes it to at least eighteen without dying, actually, given how things are in Spira.
People in Bevelle think scars are disgraceful, as Auron’s thoughts told us in chapter 1, but that particular belief clearly hasn’t reached the children of Besaid.
Shoutout to the non-binaries!!!
Perhaps the thirteen-year losing streak they had told him about was a little closer to coming to an end.
Er, sorry Wakka …
I don’t think Chappu’s age is ever canonically stated, but I find it hard to believe that Lulu, Besaid’s Most Mature And Sophisticated Lady, would ever date a man younger than her.
“If he’s even better than you, he must be the best guardian there ever was,” said Wakka solemnly.
He has clearly taken this to heart ten years later. Everyone in future Spira is such an Auron simp (can’t blame them tbh).
The story that Wakka and Chappu tell Jecht is something that has no basis in canon, but it’s important to the fic for three reasons: 1. explaining Jecht’s canonical line “if you’re stuck in Spira, like me”; 2. introducing the “this is your story” motif; 3. exploring Jecht’s beliefs about fate and giving some context to his eventual decision to play a part in the Final Summoning.
He wondered fleetingly whether Braska might have chosen a different path if he had been able to benefit from medication.
Auron doing all his visits to the temple archives and obscure libraries when what he really needs to find is … citalopram.
Auron stirred, opening one eye and then the other
A luxury he soon will not have.