Garbage Day

(This interaction takes place about 6 months into the group's stay in Ozma, approximately 1/2 of an Eorzean day after Mhach part 1.)

She had watched the awkward interactions for months - the one-sided longing glances, the breaths being held, the way she held onto her every word.

And, for as long as Ariabelle had been watching this unfold, she had been pestering her sister to say something. Well, not just something, but to finally tell poor Kahle that the feelings were one-sided. Kahle deserved to know that...and to know that part of the reason was because Kit and Kahle were actually cousins.

I've given her enough time. If Kit hasn't broken the news to Kahle by now, I'm going to drag her there and make her do it.

Carefully placing Eli down in his crib for a nap, Ari approached her sister. Everyone else was outside either doing chores or adventuring. Kit had agreed to stay with Ari and Eli for the day, as a way to bond with her nephew and her sister.

"So, Kit. I've been meaning to ask you. Have you talked to Kahle yet?"

Silence. Complete and utter silence.

"Because if you haven't, I'm going to tell her tonight when she comes back from sparring."

Kitariel lay entirely motionless.  Her legs are crossed, and her eyes are closed.  Her hands are held out evenly in front of her, and Eclipse is balanced across both hands, laying perpendicular against her straight back.  She takes in even breaths, remembering the exercises that she had learned under Alex, and refined under Pumpkin.

Her mind washes back through the annals of history...

The two of them lay across the petals of a massive, iridescent violet fungal flower, hand in hand.  While many canyons in Eorzea and the like are earthy brown and clay colors, this one was almost technicolor, covered in massive, verdant plants; the likes of which Kitariel had never seen before.



They looked like Elezen, sort of.  Their ears were pointed, and their features elegant, but something was... different, about them.  Perhaps it was the lack of a control against which to compare them to, but their proportions almost seemed to be more akin to those of a hyur, not an elezen, yet they looked far more like elezen than any half-breed she had ever seen.

The man laughs.  The woman, her bring pink eyes glistening in the sunset, shoots a chiding, but kind, look at the man laying at her side.  With a movement of her head, she moves her flowing white hair, gently tossed by the breeze, away from the obstruction as she speaks to her companion.



"Zecharie," she says, rolling her eyes, "I hardly believe thou art being appropriate, given the circumstances."

Eclipse, Kitariel thinks.  That's Eclipse's voice.  But... gentler.

The man leans up on one arm with a mischievous smile, looking down at... Eclipse.



"Oh come now, Ghislaine [Zheez-LEN].  If thy countenance remaineth twisted in such a vile manner, I daresay it may stay that way. And what a malfeasance that would be, pilfering Hydaelyn of the smile of her most beautiful child."

This time, Eclipse - Ghislaine - stifles a laugh, and a tinge of red grows upon her cheeks.

"Lo!" Zecharie says, dramatically throwing his hand upon his forehead.  "Even now, a foul curse transmogrifies mine own beloved into a sweet apple!  And what a delectable one, at that."  He pulls his goggles off of his head, showing his amber eyes.  He gives his companion a look.  "I must keep my wits about me, lest I be driven to devour her whole." He says, lowering his voice and pouncing on Ghislaine, barraging her with a flurry of tickles and kisses.  She curls up into a ball reflexively and laughs, making a token attempt to fight him off.

After a few moments, laughter interrupts them, and they look at each other - the distance between them dramatically smaller than before.  When they speak, their voices are now lower than before, and yet, Kitariel has no trouble hearing them.

"Vide shan't be pleased if he discovers that we have squandered time on dalliance instead of preparing for the fight that is to come," Ghislaine whispers.  Her eyes gaze up at him, almost as if she is unable - or perhaps, unwilling - to blink.

Zecharie scoffs quietly.  "Thy brother can prepare to fight the Paragons as much as he wishes.  I, for one, know that one night shan't deprive us of the tools with which to contest the servants of Darkness.  We are the Warriors of Light, after all.  Chosen of the Mothercrystal herself.  We hath nothing to fear if we stand together against whatever dark designs Grandark and his ilk hath devised.

"So, we will stand with him on the morn.  But tonight," he continues, inching closer to Ghislaine,  "well, tonight, I stand with you."  

"Zecharie..." Ghislaine says, her eyes fluttering and her breath airy.  The distance between the two disappears, and they embrace, locked within a passionate kiss.  She-

"So, Kit.

Kit's eyes snap open, her heart beating a little bit too fast, and her cheeks a little bit too flushed.  She can't help but feel like she had just... intruded on an exceptionally private moment.

A moment... belonging to my sword.  Eclipse... or, should I say... Ghislaine?

She knows that the blade, too, had seen the vision.  Her silence was... 

"I've been meaning to ask you. Have you talked to Kahle yet?"

"Oh.  Uhh, about the whole 'cousins' thing?  No, I haven't.  I've been, uhh," she pauses.  She looks down at the sword, and then looks back up at Ariabelle.  Why am I feeling so embarrassed?!  Gods, you were just sitting here, Kit!

"...Been a little busy."  Her cheeks flush again.