Nothing really improved in the Celsius. Wakka went back to his window and started to think about Vidina and spiders again. The al behd wanted to go home and didn’t like sitting within a literal stone’s throw from the Guado. Paine was bored—that one was the worst.

It was two days later that they got their answer, and not pleasantly. Guado guards were banging on the door in the afternoon.

Everyone rushed to answer the door—mostly to stop the annoying banging and keep Paine from answering it.

"Ya?" Wakka asked. Yuna and Rikku stood behind him. The al behd kept Kimahri and Paine out of sight.

"We are here to escort Yuna."

Yuna started forward, surprised they had addressed her by name, when Wakka held out his hand and stopped her.

"What’s the catch?" he asked.

"Catch?" one guard asked.

"You took two whole days; there’s a catch, ya?"

"It took two whole days for the people to agree. Yuna’s situation is a very strange and compounded one."

"Hey, how do we know this isn’t a dirty trick?" Rikku asked.

"The death of the representative of the humans would perpetuate war. We are hoping her presence will dampen any current hopes or fears of one. She comes with us and stays in the city, allowing humans access to the farplane. No other humans will be allowed in the city, however."

"So we don’t even get to see her?" Wakka asked.

"The other half of her bargain was that you bring us the one responsible. After the holy ground is healed, there will be a wedding. After the wedding—if it goes flawlessly—you will be able to visit her. She will not be able to leave the city without Lord Seymour’s approval until the union. After that, we may send for your black mage."

"Lu?" Wakka asked. "What’d she do?"

"She is an ally of Yuna. We may need her services later."

"Whatever, Yuna’s gonna be fine then, right? No dying for stupid plans or anything, ya? No pawn of anything, right?"

"The only way she will be used as a pawn is to keep Lord Seymour under control if he tries anything."

"Yeah, well, she’s good at that," Wakka said.

"Yunie," Rikku said, hugging Yuna. "Promise you’ll write. And… and I’ll send your things, okay? But, isn’t there some other way?"

"They’ve already talked it over and there’s no one else on the island willing to do this," Yuna said.

"There are many things that Lady Yuna needs to do. Lord Seymour would like to talk to her and he is very busy."

"Tell Paine not to kill anyone," Yuna said and followed the guards.

"We’ll get to the bottom of this just to see you, ya?" Wakka said, waving.

"Tell Kimahri I know what I’m doing!" Yuna yelled, waving one last time.

………………………………………………………………………………..

Apparently whatever had happened over the last two days in the Guado city had been no picnic for Seymour.

He stood on the other side of the border, with the angriest expression Yuna had ever seen on his face. He looked as if he was about to burst one of the blue veins on his face.

"Don’t worry. He can’t do anything to you," one guard said.

Just after she followed the guards over the border, Seymour spun around and started walking off, obviously disgusted with Yuna and what she’d done.

She wanted to say ‘Well, same to you!’ but that’d be about as smart as kicking him in the shin. Now that she was in the city and gave humans some solace from eternal pain, she wanted to leave.

Guado came out of their houses to fearfully and skeptically watch her. They gave her wide berth, not wanting to touch her. She heard a strange noise, only to realize after a few minutes that it was Seymour’s teeth.

Halfway through the city, Seymour sighed and stopped.

"What’s going on?"

"I have been on my feet for six hours straight," Seymour said, not looking at her. "I’m taking my shoes off."

"Umm… Is there something I wasn’t told?" Yuna asked, staring at a crowd of women who were pointing and laughing at her and making mocking gestures.

"Considering the guards, probably. They are under orders to give minimal information," Seymour said, loosening most of the laces on his boots.

"Why?"

"It prevents skirmishes if they aren’t the ones with information. This way people have to be nice and send representatives instead of assassins and berserkers," he said, starting on his other shoe. "They did exclude information when talking to you, but nothing potentially fatal."

"How not potentially fatal?" she asked.

"It took two days because there was nearly a riot. Three times. Insults were thrown, as well as fruit… at both of us," he said, taking the last boot off and then continuing to walk, not really caring if she followed or not. "At first, they thought you were sending yourself in as an assassin. Later they agreed to go along with your plans because you also offered to catch whoever was behind such desecration, but they wanted something more than that. They do not like the ignorance the humans have for Guado and their traditions."

"So this means…?"

"So this means that you shall learn them and follow them. Starting with your clothes, I can see."

Yuna was about to ask what was wrong with her clothes but decided not to voice her protest. It was obvious her gunner outfit did not fit in with Guado fashion.

"Someone else will help you with it, I have things to attend to," he said and walked away. At that moment Yuna realized they had reached the palace.

"Someone else?" Yuna asked.

"That would be us," one of the guards said. "Follow us."

Yuna was beginning to think the Guado had some of their own prejudices against humans as the guards curtly walked off, not stopping for her or checking to see if she followed. Somehow it was encouraging that it wasn’t just Seymour doing this, and somehow it wasn’t encouraging at all that the entire population disapproved of her.

……………………………………………………………………………….

"Well?" a guard asked, poking his head in the doorway, earning a scream form Yuna.

"Get out of here, you perverts!" she yelled, holding the skirt down and the top closed.

"If you need a different outfit, you could be more polite," the guard scoffed. "Apparently you do not fit the clothes Lord Seymour’s mother wore."

"Can I please have a female help me with this?" Yuna asked.

"If you must," the guard said.

"You humans are so uptight," the second said, and they both left, leaving the door open.

Yuna angrily slammed the door closed and contemplated buying her own clothes from somewhere in the city. Still angry, she slammed the closet closed. Then she stood in the middle of the room wondering what she was going to do and how she was going to survive if she couldn’t get dressed without causing an abnormal amount of commotion.

"What seems to be the problem?" someone asked.

Yuna spun around, forgetting that her hands weren’t on her clothes anymore, and saw a middle-aged Guado woman standing in the doorway holding several gowns and the two guards on either side of the doorway just as her dress fell completely off.

Yuna went bright red all over. "Eep," was all she could muster.

The Guado guards reacted the same way they would if they were watching a plate of crackers--something that made Yuna feel angrier about. Yet, if she got mad for people not caring about her being nude, she’d be ruining what was already going very badly.

The female Guado chuckled and closed the door on the guards. "Doors are meant to keep the heat in, sweetie," she said. "And no one bothers to lock them unless they have their mouth full of someone else.

"Well, it looks like Juuno was right, not all you humans are built the same, I’ll say that."

"Who?"

"Seymour’s mother, sweetie."

"My name’s Yuna," Yuna said, not wanting anyone to address her as ‘sweetie.’

"Mine’s Anzi. You certainly don’t have her figure. This was her first dress from here, you know. Here, let’s see what we have. No, she wore that when she was six months pregnant, not that one…"

The outfits she had Yuna try on were beyond any hope of a quick alteration. Most of them were built for Lulu, and in some cases Kimahri.
Anzi twice had to leave and find another pile only to have them fit just as disastrously.

"Okay, I have three more," Anzi said, returning again. "I don’t see why you insisted on the door being closed and holding your skirt down. It goes lower than those panties of yours."

Yuna wanted to protest that they were not panties, but decided this whole fiasco was enough trouble on its own and that she was too tired anyway. She didn’t understand it; she changed clothes more often and fought monsters at the same time. Why was this so tiring? She was glad the Guado outfits turned out to be elaborate dresses and not several layers.

"Now hold that there while I refasten the pin …" Anzi said to Yuna, and began messing with the dress top. "You look a little young to be marrying, but that’s just me. I’m no human."

"I’m nineteen."

"No wonder they don’t fit then. Now don’t move. There, now that should be decent."

Decent was defined in the loosest of terms, but Yuna wore things even more revealing most of the time, so she decided not to protest.

"There, now. You look so much better. I like your hair, very Guado."

"Uh… Thanks." ‘I think,’ she added mentally

"I don’t know what it is humans do with your nails," Anzi said tsk-ing at Yuna’s hands. "What color are they supposed to be?

"Well, we’ll paint them tomorrow, it’s time for dinner. No, don’t pick up your dress."

"Okay," Yuna said, and walked out the door.

"You’re welcome by the way," Anzi shouted down the stairs when Yuna got to the bottom.

Yuna turned to apologize, but by then Anzi was gone.

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