The Man I Once Knew (chapter 30 of 49, 9294 words)
Jecht's insistence on doing a good deed lands Auron in trouble, but Braska is on hand to help. After making a detour, Jecht and Auron come across some information that turns things sour again for the latter.
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Braska keeping secrets from Auron is fine, right? Nothing bad ever happens when these guys keep things from each other, right? Right??
His “bandaging his own knees” experience is supposed to have some symbolic significance, I think … he's still weak and fragile, but he thinks he doesn't need Auron to look after him anymore. Something like that, although it's entirely untrue and he obviously still needs Auron a lot.
Yet again, Braska is only now learning about how his aeons work despite this seeming to come naturally to Yuna.
The fact that the lads canonically fight the chocobo eater is proof that certain more significant fiends do seem to come back over a long period of time. This presumably justifies the inclusion of the ochu in Kilika Woods (and a couple of other “boss fight fiends” in later chapters).
The boyos react to hearing about the fiend in the exact ways we might expect: Braska is worried about people getting hurt; Jecht wants to fight it as a way of proving how great he is (and because he feels some vague moral compulsion to help people); Auron doesn't like the fact that they lack certain information about the fiend that would allow him to work out the best attack strategy, and also doesn't want to get behind schedule, for neurological reasons I guess.
Auron doesn't want to appear too reluctant to fight it, though, because he doesn't want it to seem like he couldn't defeat it easily.
Auron seems increasingly open to doing as Jecht tells him.
Braska tells Auron that he's suffered a “femoral fracture”, but people who aren't trained in healing probably don't know what that means in Spira. I like the idea that white mages might use all this scientific terminology but don't actually know the principles of real medicine at all, because they just treat everything with magic.
The obvious question: why don't the aeons ask Braska to summon them while fighting the chocobo eater? The somewhat cryptic answer: they're testing him out in the same way he's trying them out. It's in their interest to know how willing he is to listen to them.
It's unusual of Braska to think of helping Auron, but after Auron's serious injury he realises he'll need it. It's more typical of him to end up benefiting from Auron's help while trying to help him, which is what happens here.
The other half of the sphere fell off the cliff with everyone, although they didn't notice at the time because there were more urgent matters to attend to. That's why it can be found at the end of the lower path in the game! I assume its location implies the boys fell off the cliff in their version of the chocobo eater fight.
While considering Tidus' reaction to the sphere, Jecht's attitude seems to have gone from “we fought the fiend for the glory” to “we fought the fiend because we wanted to be nice and help people”.
The moral quandary of using chocobos on the pilgrimage doesn't seem to be an issue ten years later, so either customs have changed or Auron's there like “the teachings don't mean shit, saddle up buckaroos”.
Jecht is a natural at chocobo riding, as he is at almost everything he tries.
The Crusader is meant to be Elma's mother for no other reason than that Elma is one of my favourite characters (I guess because she simps for Lucil in the same way Auron does for Braska???) but she would be a bit too young to be included in the story for any sensible reason. It's funny that she thinks Jecht is the most competent one … that definitely wouldn't have been the case if she'd met them at the start of the pilgrimage.
I've decided that when a person in Spira has two names, the first one is a hereditary noble title, given that the characters who have them (Wen Kinoc, Yu Yevon, Yo Mika) all seem to be part of the ruling class. There will be a bit more about these in a couple of chapters' time.
The rehabilitation plan seems to have worked, given that Wakka doesn't know Yuna is half Al Bhed.
When Auron and Kinoc say goodbye before the pilgrimage, they seem pretty cordial with each other, but when Auron returns to Spira ten years later, he's very distrustful of Kinoc. This could partly be because he's learnt the truth about Sin and Yevon, but I don't think that entirely explains the fact that he seems to have a personal animosity towards Kinoc in particular, as suggested by the fact that when Kinoc asks Auron what sort of person would execute a dear friend, Auron replies “you would”. So the most likely explanation for this, in my mind, is that Auron must have discovered something while on pilgrimage that changes his opinion of Kinoc quite drastically. This scene is the result! And more trauma for Auron, I'm sorry (but not really).
The this Auron refers to when he says “I hate this” … it's the fact that nobody in Bevelle respects him anymore, I think.
Auron is someone who naturally doesn't cry much – obviously different from Braska, and also from Jecht, as much as Jecht would deny it.
Returning to the subject of spheres ending up in weird places, Auron's foray into bowling explains why we find the sphere of him and Kinoc on the Mushroom Rock Road. It probably moves a bit over the course of the decade, but not that much.
Braska obviously is an Al Bhed lover, but the phrase tends to be used with derogatory intent.
Even spending time with Jecht wasn't so bad, he reflected
At last!!
The term “unsent” does seem a bit odd: the first unsent we meet in the game is Jyscal, but Lulu says “I would think that he was sent once, but he stayed on Spira.” So I guess it's just a massive misnomer.
I've written before at great length about the nature of unsents and the idea that they can lose their humanity (as we see in the game in Jyscal and Ginnem, and Yunalesca in a different way).
Auron repeats the “being dead has its advantages” line ten years later. The difference between his and Jecht's attitudes towards becoming unsent is a bit of the old dramatic irony, clearly.