summoners-path:
█░ HIGH SUMMONER ( 大召喚士 )
It took him a moment, Chuami’s own shifting, to realize that they had stopped. He should have known, of course. The lack of wind in his face was only one of many clues. His fierce focus on keeping his food down, his breathing measured and his grip tight around her, however, had kept his busy, so busy that it was only after she seemed to peel herself from him that he followed, half-falling off the hover behind her.
He kept up well, considering he walked in a bit of a daze, nausea still gripping him like an old friend waving hello from across the ruin. This wasn’t a ruin, though, he knew. This was their home. The Al Bhed were ever clever; they wasted nothing. He admired them for that.
Few paid attention to him and that was fine. Once his focus moved from himself, it settled pointedly on her, his guide, Chuami.
If there had ever been a chance at her being Auron’s daughter, it showed itself now. She stood poised, so certain, leading him on in a way that almost felt too familiar as he stumbled slowly behind. She coaxed him forward with a strange sort of encouragement and he found he huffed a laugh as he came to her side, his head lowering as he fidgeted with his clothes.
“ Will they be alright? ”
The first thing that came to mind might have sounded odd, coming from him. But, he was concerned. Sand storms, so far as he remembered, were not to be trifled with. He doubted that had changed in twelve or so years. He doubted it ever would.
It took him a moment, but he realized that she hadn’t told him this to garner his concern. His head shook and a winded sort of laugh left him.
“ Of course. ”, he said, sounding strangely relieved. “ That’ll be just fine. ”
He meant it, too. A hand reached up and found her shoulder. The gesture, on her, was gentle. But, it’s nature was the same, a reminder of a time now long, long ago. He grinned.
“ So long as they don’t make me eat. I… I think I’ll pass on that for a few hours more. ”
“Huh? Oh...! Yeah, of course.” she grinned. “The reason I can tell you they won’t be back tonight is there’re shelters out there. They’ll stay in one of those. It’s pretty common, but still annoying...”
The question had taken her by surprise, but now that she thought about it, she wasn’t sure why. Casting a glance at the hover over her shoulder, she bit her lip, hiding a laugh, and her hand laid itself over his.
“Don’t worry,” she said, “We’ll sort ourselves out tonight.”
Then she was digging her bags out of the pile that still remained by the hover and gesturing for him to follow. Past that large, squat building to their right, past the tangled mess of partly rusted metal behind it that might have been some kind of generator. Past a few houses on their left that faced them, showing odd signs of life, like desert plants in pots by the doors, out of place pieces of decoration that seemed almost comical given their condition. She stopped at the last house in that row and moved a worn out “mat” with the toe of her boot. A key sat under it, and she swiped it up and unlocked the door that might have fallen in with a strong enough breeze anyway.
She paused just inside the door. Then her hesitation passed and she moved inside, dropping her things on the floor. Inside, the air was at least slightly cooler, and it was dark compared to the blinding sunlight outside. On the left of the room they stood in was a questionable looking stove and a few cupboards and center-left, a table with four chairs around it. There wasn’t space for much else; but there was another chair, bigger and clearly more well-used than the others, in the right corner by the door.
Chuami moved past all this, past a tiny bathroom that seemed to have been added as an afterthought and cut awkwardly into what might have been a much bigger living space before. Beyond it were three bedrooms that might once have been two. “Huumm... I’ll put you in my old room. You’ve lived too good a life to deserve Sasha’s. I’ll take it.”
The third option, the bigger one on the right hand side, went completely ignored as she pointed to her left. None of the three of them showed much sign of ever having been inhabited; though Chuami’s still had a few pictures stuck to the walls, so faded that their subjects could barely be made out.
“This is it, I’m afraid. Ahh...”
She fidgeted, suddenly awkward again. “I don’t mind so much that we’re here longer, I can get a few things done, but... you can stay here if you want. I’ll clean up some, but if you want to nap or something...”
