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[called_lioness]

She slept late--well, that's half true. She woke when Caspian did, because he tripped over Lavender getting out of bed and knocked half the nightstand over.

It involved a minor fire (his pants), a slight burn to the fingers (hers), and entirely too much excitement before tea was had (for either), in Lucy's opinion. And no chocolate at all, thank you. Which isn't something that she's going to stop thinking about in the next few days, Lucy thinks, and is vaguely irritated by this.

But she's the blessing of not needing to rise so early as he, so she'd taken the chance to go back to bed, after fires were put out and burns tended to.

And she's not precisely grumpy, but Lucy finds she could use some peaceful moments after a morning starting like that, and so she's found herself a mug of tea and gone out to walk by the lake. Corella will likely be taken for a ride, later, but for the moment it's nice to stretch her legs.

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[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"No," she says quickly, apologetically. "We just come from different worlds. Three worlds."

She picks the phrase that intrigued her the most: "A hundred years of winter?"

[called_lioness]

"The White Witch," and Lucy does not often spit names like they're something distasteful from her mouth, but for some there must be exceptions, "she cursed Narnia. For a hundred years. Always snow and ice and winter, and never holidays or warmth or spring. That was how I found it, when I was a little girl."

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"Oh," Yuna says. (She seems to be saying that a lot in this conversation.)

She decides not to tell Lucy about Macalania, ever.

"And Aslan ended that?"

[called_lioness]

"He did. There were prophecies," Lucy says, and it's a little slower again as she thinks out how to say something that she doesn't think belongs in words. "And magic and things of that nature. But--but he died. He let her kill him, for love's sake, and it was enough that he came back to life the next day. And then he killed her. And she didn't," and it's a bit grim, "come back."

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

It's the opposite of the High Summoners and Sin, then.

(And maybe--if it was the right time--maybe--no.)

"That's wonderful. And Narnia became the beautiful land you've told me about?"

[called_lioness]

"For a long time, yes. Oh, Yuna, I wish I could show you it," she says suddenly, earnestly, because she thinks Yuna would like Narnia.

But she thinks almost anyone would, if they saw it.

"We were there fifteen years. And I think it was one of the happiest times of my life, really. It was--there was always so much to do, but it was simple, in a way. I knew what was expected of me and I think sometimes I even managed it." She adds, after a moment, "And I ramble again. But--but I meant to ask. Sin isn't--when you say 'Sin', you mean a--a monster of some sort?"

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

She hesitates, because it isn't pretty. Not a bit.

"Yes. An enormous monster, the size of a village."


"Sin is a punishment, for what our ancestors did. Their vanity, and their pride. Any time there are too many people in one place, or too much machina, Sin will come. Sometimes it just comes anyway."

"It's been that way for a thousand years."

[called_lioness]

"Oh, Yuna."

And she doesn't know what to follow that with except, "I'm sorry."

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

It's all right," she says, meaninglessly, because it isn't.

And then: "I'm going to kill it."

Because she has to get used to saying it. To believing it.

[called_lioness]

"It doesn't sound like it's all right," Lucy says back after a moment's pause, and then blinks at Yuna's second statement.

"How? With the--the faith you spoke of the other day?"

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

She nods quickly, decisively. "With the Final Aeon. That's the reason for my pilgrimage--to train my abilities until I can handle summoning an aeon strong enough to defeat Sin."

[called_lioness]

"I hope you manage it." She means it, though she looks a little troubled.

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"I have to," she says; quickly, almost shortly. It's hard to tell what she's feeling when she's like this. Her voice is very quiet and very level, her expression frozen and solemn.



There's a pause, and then the words seem to almost escape against her will. "It's not as crazy as it must sound, you know."

[called_lioness]

"I didn't say it sounded crazy," she points out softly.

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry," she says, in the same affectless voice, looking away.

[called_lioness]

Lucy frowns, a little, and looks at what she can see of Yuna.

"Why?"

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

...that usually works.

"--for assuming--" that you didn't believe in me assumes that Lucy does, in fact, believe in her, which is still unclear. "--for assuming that I knew what you thought."

"There's another summoner," she says, "named Dona. She's on our boat. And she's--not very pleasant. I'm sure she's a good person--" Yuna says quickly, although she's not sure at all. "She wants to bring the Calm, too. But I don't think we'll ever be friends."

[called_lioness]

Lucy doesn't know enough to believe or not yet.

But it's easier for Lucy to believe than to doubt, and she does believe Yuna means what she says.

"Is that a problem?" she asks, after a moment, tilting her head. "If you're not friends, I mean?"

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"Not really," she says hesitantly. "It wouldn't be good if people knew two summoners were... at odds. People look to us for hope. If we're at each other's throats--"

"But we don't have to be friends. It's just that she's older than me. And she doesn't think I can do it. She treats me like a child." She shakes her head. "I'm being oversensitive, I know. It's just hard being on the same boat."

"I shouldn't have taken it out on you. So I'm sorry."

[called_lioness]

"If you're at each other's throats," Lucy says, after a moment, "they can see that you're human. And even though you are, you need them to see--or maybe they need to be able to see--your office. As if it makes you something other in more ways than it really does. And they can hope in summoners, but not in humans?"

Lucy laughs, after a moment, and shakes her head. "Yuna--I've had worse taken out on me than that. You didn't really do anything. And you're on a pilgrimage to save your world, and now there's a woman on the boat with you who doesn't really sound like she's such a good person at all, summoner or not. I think you're allowed to snap."

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"There's nothing ordinary people can do to defeat Sin," she says, simply. "There are things anyone can do. We can all work together to rebuild, to heal the sick, to chase the fiends away from the villages, to raise the orphans and care for the aged. But the shadow of Sin hangs over everything, and without the hope that Sin will be defeated, there's nothing."

She looks Lucy square in the face, and she does look like a little girl... except for the eyes. "If I have to choose between being human, or being their hope... I've already made my choice." She smiles tentatively. "So, no, I'm not really allowed to snap. At least, not outside of here."

And she hasn't been doing a very good job of that lately, she reproves herself.

[called_lioness]

"Then snap with me, if you need to, when you're here," she says simply, and she looks so young that Lucy's heart breaks a little for her.

And her eyes make her look so much older that Lucy sympathizes, without understanding.

"I shan't be offended."

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

Yuna looks away again, shy but clearly at least a little pleased. She doesn't answer--she doesn't really know how. Instead, she says:

"Can I show you something?" Hopeful.

[called_lioness]

"Of course." It's immediate, as she smiles.

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

She flashes Lucy a smile, then closes her eyes, drawing a deep breath and trying to clear her mind.

Several quick steps take her into a clear area, and then the dance begins.

The physical motions have become second nature by now, in just a few short days; it's the mental effort that's tricky right now.

She's tired, tired already, and she's seen a lot. Feels like she's carrying the weight of the world. Feels like she wants to shrug it all off--

(I shan't mind)

--and fly.

Light spills out around her feet, spreading in circles in the grass and leaping up into the air. She lets out the breath and watches the sky. "This," she says, dreamily, "is Valefor."

There's a flash, a star in the afternoon sky, and a speck detaches, dropping towards them.