The sun had completely set by time we made it back to the gorge. The lack of campfires suggested that the troops had not returned yet, another burden for Lucil to carry. As we moved closer to the camp we were able to see a small, singular fire near the front of the camp with one solitary figure standing in front of it. The moon was almost full and the gorge surreally lit, the silver light reflecting off the Crusader's silver helmet and the long metal spear he was leaning against. Which was odd, I'd never seen a spearman in the Crusaders before. Pulling my mount up short, I turned to look questioningly at Lucil. Her face was indistinct in the moon glow but I could have sworn her eyes were glittering dangerously at the sight of the stranger. She didn't even look at me but urged her mount forward again, forcing me to follow suit without a word and leaving me wondering just what exactly was going on.
The man by the fire didn't turn as he approached and neither did Lucil call out to him. Somehow I got the feeling that the two of them either knew, or were expecting each other. Maybe this was some kind of test of wills. ... If that was the case, we'd be here all night. Even after we had dismounted and put the war birds away, fed them and put away our own gear; silence still reigned. When Lucil moved to stand silently behind the stranger I realized something was going to have to give. It wouldn't be either of them and I was starting to go a tad stir crazy, so I cleared my throated loudly but only managed to earn myself a glare from Lucil.
"Excuse me." I spoke up, breaking the silence at least.
The man by the fire turned slight, a sardonic smile on his face. "Not the patient kind is she, Lucil?" He asked the captain, ignoring me completely.
"She can be." Lucil replied neutrally.
"Then again," The man shifted his spear so that he could lean against it once more. "unless you've changed much in the past five years we might have been here all night if not for her."
"You've changed." Lucil calmly shot back calmly, though her tone was tinged with a bitterness I'd never heard before.
"Having your summoner die can do that to a person." The man answered nonchalantly.
There was a long pause and only the Chocobo's soft cried broke the silence.
"Aren't you going to introduce me?" He enquired at last, free hand gesturing in my direction without breaking eye contact with the captain.
Lucil grudgingly looked away but turned her gaze to the moon and not to me. "This man is Syven." A pause and soft sigh. "We grew up together."
"Not exactly a happy reunion..." I mused aloud.
"No." Was Lucil's terse reply. "We were... competitors."
I frowned and rested my hands on my hips. "Competing for what?"
It was Syven and not Lucil who answered me. "A young woman's attention." I blinked in surprise. Of course it made sense but it still caught me off guard. "Sayah was a young summoner."
"Summoner...?" It took me a moment to connect the dots. I glanced up at Syven in surprise. "She chose you over Captain Lucil." I tilted my head to the side, remember his previous comment. "But... she didn't finish her pilgrimage, did she?"
Syven shook his head gravely. "She died on the slopes of Mt.Gagazet. I stayed there for a time, to learn the Ronso way of fighting. I wanted to be better able to protect my next summoner."
I shifted uneasily. "There was no other summoner, was there?"
My guess was correct, as indicated by a single grave nod of his helmeted head. "How ironic, that in the end our paths would be the same." He laughed then but without amusement.
"I carry no grudge." Lucil announced suddenly, starting Syven and I both.
He leaned forward on his spear and adopted another derisive smile. "So, stone cold Luci-Lu finally decided to forgive her childhood buddy for letting her girl die. I'm moved to tears, Lu. I really am." His tone was so sarcastic that
