Seymour was in the main room of the temple, next to the statue of her father; the man who’d found him half-starved in Zanarkand. He’d never spoken about her father, about how he managed to convince him to speak enough to learn his name, to eat again, to sleep again.
Seymour wasn’t praying though. He was sitting there, on the floor, meditating. He was concentrating on the calm, soothing feeling of leaving the world behind and losing one’s self to nothingness. He wanted to forget.
And she knew it.
She didn’t want him to forget. Not her. Not tonight. Ever.
"Seymour…" she whispered, entering the temple.
He opened his eyes and turned to her. He did not greet her, and she felt disappointed because of it.
He was trying to forget her.
"Why?" she asked.
"Man, what happened to all the nice people?" Tidus asked, stepping off the boat. In Kilika he’d learned two things: only a few had seen Seymour at the temple, and not all summoners—or blitzball teams—were all that nice. Now, as they were arriving in Luca, the announcers were giving favorable introductions to everyone—except them. "They all get eaten by Sin or something? —Yuna, that was a joke, I didn’t mean it."
"Well, we’re off to a great start," Lulu said. "Would someone get Wakka away from here, I think the Luca Goers are looking for a fight and that’s the last thing we need."
"I’d like give them a piece of my mind," Tidus said.
"And we all know how well that’s going to go," Lulu retorted. "Get out of here before one of the team starts throwing rocks, like last time."
"Where exactly is there to go around here… I mean, that people don’t hate you before they see you?"
"Hey, where’s Yuna?" Wakka asked. "Don’t tell me you chased her off with that dumb comment of yours."
"I told her it was a joke," Tidus said.
"There she is," Lulu said. "I see her at the other end of the dock, she’s waving at us. I see you didn’t notice Kimahri wandered off, too. Come on."
"He’s a cat, he wanders off anyway," Tidus said, following her.
"You’re incorrigible," Lulu said, then sighed.
"Well, he does," Tidus said.
"Didn’t you hear the announcement?" Yuna asked, now that they’d caught up with her.
"They were talking over it," Lulu said.
"Hey, if that’s the intro we’re gonna get, why listen to the whole thing?" Wakka asked.
"This is the biggest game of the year, and the Maesters are arriving at the other dock. Come on, before the crowd’s too big." Yuna ran off, and Lulu and Kimahri followed.
"What’s—" Tidus tried to ask Wakka.
"Important people, and I don’t wanna miss ‘em either," Wakka said, and ran off. "Lu! Hey! Save me a spot!"
Tidus arrived in the middle of someone giving a speech he didn’t care to hear about.
"What’s going on?" Tidus asked, jumping up and down, trying to see over numerous heads of the people in the crowd.
"I’m trying to listen," Wakka complained to him.
"I don’t even know why it’s so important," Tidus said.
"That’s Maester Jyscal," Yuna said. "He was Seymour’s father." There was a sentence she had left out and Tidus knew what it was: ‘I have to speak with him.’ She seemed so eager to meet him, she might’ve broken through the crowd at that very moment, were it not such a disrespect.
"So what’s a Maester, exactly?"
"They’re the leaders of Spira; they follow Yevon’s teachings and they’re the highest in the church. Jyscal’s special. He’s also the ruler of Gudosalam."
"So Seymour’s rich?" Tidus asked.
"Actually… he… he didn’t know his father."
"Birthdays must’ve sucked then."
Yuna didn’t answer and Tidus slapped himself on the forehead. ‘I said something dumb again’ he thought.