"Okay…" Rikku said, panting and on one knee. She fished a potion out of her pocket and opened it. "Someone tell me what that was."
"Who cares?" Paine said. "It’s dead."
Rikku chugged the bottle before replying.
Yuna was busy reviving Wakka.
"What? You’re not worried its cousin’ll show up?"
"Do you see any more?" Paine said, spreading her arms. Save for the clouds and an occasional bird flying closer to the ground than the Celsius, the sky was indeed empty. "Never seen one before, not another in sight. I’d say problem solved."
"And I’d say problem started!" Rikku said.
"And I say we solve one problem at a time, ya?" Wakka butted in, standing up.
"I say it’s the same problem," Yuna said. "I’d say we wandered into someone else’s nightmare."
No one said anything. Yuna took that as a sign of agreement. They all seemed to be wondering what to do, what not to do, and what else could happen.
"Get back in the plane!" Someone yelled. "We need to descend!"
"First good idea I heard in a while," Wakka said.
…………………………………………………………………………………….
Guadosalam was quieter than usual. No one was out. The streets were empty. Carts and outdoor shops had been abandoned. The city was unusually warm.
That was all they could tell from the outside.
The guards were not talkative, but they were determined. "You’re not allowed inside."
"We were wondering—" Yuna started.
"We are wondering many things as well," one guard said.
"We just wanna talk, ya?" Wakka said.
"There is nothing to talk about. No humans are allowed inside."
"Why?" Rikku asked.
The guard sneered and moved his spear. Kimahri went for his own when the other guard stopped him. "We cannot harm them!" his partner reminded him.
"They mock us! They still mock us after everything!"
"Enough. Killing them will stop everything Seymour has negotiated for so far."
"It is true!" Yuna said.
"I told you!" Paine yelled.
"What?" Wakka said, wondering what he’d missed.
Kimahri growled.
"Down," Rikku said to the ronso.
"I say we attack," Paine said. "I say we attack now and demand to know what’s going on!"
"Paine, no!" Yuna yelled.
"You humans are lucky!" the guard yelled. "After all you have done you still wish for war? Should I tell our lord that the leaders from Bevelle and Macalania lied to us? That you do wish to fight?"
"You are just acting like children!" Rikku yelled.
"You act worse!" the guard yelled.
"Stop it or he’ll have our head!" his partner yelled.
"I’ll have your head!" Paine yelled.
"Paine, I said stop it!"
"Ronso take head first!" Kimahri growled.
The guards called for help. Paine went for her sword. Yuna and Rikku grabbed her arm and tried to hold it down. Kimahri hissed. The guards readied their weapons.
A blitzball hit Paine in the head as a piercing whistle that made everyone cringe sounded. "Knock it off!" Wakka yelled. "Ain’t there a way to talk this thing out?"
"Kimahri no like talk."
"They don’t want to talk," Paine said.
"She is right," a new guard said, his belligerent companion had been dismissed. "We do not wish to talk to humans; they have done enough."
"That includes al behds?" Rikku asked. "What about him? Tell the ronso, he’s not human."
The guards put their weapons away but did not move, all five of them. They began whispering to each other. One of them left, only to be replaced by two others.
"So, we got an appointment or what?" Wakka asked.
"We are considering the al behd and the ronso. Until we have further orders, none of you may enter, and without express personal permission, no humans at all."
"How can you act so damn calm?" Paine asked. "We met sinspawn down the road! People are dying and we’re being attacked by things we don’t know what they are!"
"That, lady, is your own fault. Your pugnacious behavior has been reported along with your request. The company you travel with has also been brought before our lord. He is very busy and he would have to be insane to take time out just to see you."
"Yay! We’re getting in!" Rikku said, jumping up and down.
"Company?" Wakka asked, looking at Kimahri.
"Yuna. The woman who fled the marriage she agreed to and killed our present lord many times. Aside from what we might take personally, we are not inclined towards her hobby."
"Hobby?" Yuna asked.
"Considering the plight your kind has brought upon yourself, I would rather kill you now and face Lord Seymour’s punishment than allow someone known for defying and destroying most things and places held holy by another."
"We mean no harm to the Guado," Yuna said.
From the guard’s expression he obviously thought she might try her luck at selling him Mount Gagazet. "And we mean no harm to the humans. Why can you not take refuge in a gift we give you rather than setting your armies against you?"
"Hey, kiddos, knock it off," Wakka said. "If we just go a few feet away and mind our own business you’ll tell us how things went, ya?"
"A much more agreeable plan," the guard said.
"Ah, I’m sounding like Lu. Ain’t good," Wakka said to himself before trying to shoo everyone away, one by one.