FFX -- Kimahri Ronso -- Birthday and Life
Oct. 21st, 2006 12:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dagas_isaTitle: A Child's Fate
Fandom:Final Fantasy X
Characters:Kelk, Kimahri, Ronso Tribe
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1142
Summary:As elder, Kelk must decide the life of a orphaned pup.
The comfort, Kelk thought, as he looked at the one he judged, was that he could never know what happened today, on his third day of life.
The unknown baby should not have been born. Frail mother, frail father, not good people for creating strong life for the tribe. The father had died of exposure, not in battle. The mother had lived long enough to birth her son and give him his first milk. And now Kelk stood to judge whether the son would follow their trail into death.
Khishana, wise woman and Kelk's own mate, stepped forward first. "Pup born for reason. If pup means to die, pup will die even if Kelk allow him life. If pup means to live and Kelk kills him, mountain will not forgive Ronso." Kelk heard the underlying tone to her words. Khishana would talk about Gagazet, but he heard the threat to him as well. Yet, as tempting as it might be, he could not base his decision on his mate's desire alone.
Zurl stepped forward as the leader of the warriors and the highest ranked Ronso on the other side. "Pup come from weak stock, will not be warrior. If not warrior, will be useless. Gagazet has no need for useless Ronso." Zurl also made a valid point. If the child had been female, there would have been no debate one way or another, no need for this trial. But the child had been male, and now suddenly a political battle had to be fought. No coincidence, that the leader of the opposition happened to be his biggest rival for title of elder.
"Kelk will consider this." He would. Every personal political implication weighed in his mind, but ultimately it must be the right of Gagazet to decide whether the tribe should accept this new member. "Kelk will climb Gagazet and introduce this pup. Gagazet will decide."
Murmurs spread through the tribe. Respected people must have advice, and the elder must have wisdom, but only at the peak of the mountain could the elder see the truth and decide. And yet, was the child worth it? He heard it. Did some infant who would not survive this tough winter merit the attention of Gagazet? No. Had there been no political implications Kelk would have chosen one way or another. Yet, he needed to be apolitical, and thus he would have to make the long trek up Gagazet.
"Forgive Kelk." He said silently.
Kelk took the child, wrapped in a Ronso robe and pressed against the elder's chest, and began the climb.
***
The peak was his privilege as elder, though the depths of the snow and cold made the journey feel like a walk through the gauntlet and the pup crying against his chest couldn't even be muffled by the snow. Kelk's thick fur served as a pathetic shield from the cold, he could only imagine how an infant's downy coat let in the wind. If he were lucky, the mountain would decide before even reaching the top.
The cries began to fade as the mountain rose above the clouds. The snow here never fell, never melted. It simply stayed as it was unchanging since the first Ronsos guarded the sacred mountains. Kelk passed the wall of mysteries and the pup became completely silent. Probably sleeping in some form now, so he couldn't see the mist and fog that shrouded the wall, the stone remains of the Old Ones, the people who used to live on Gagazet before the Ronso. They sang in chorus, as they always did. Kelk recognized the song as the Hymn of the Fayth, the song of the Yevonite missionaries and the summoners. The elder had always found it discordant, yet the pup seemed to find it a lullaby.
"Child strange," he murmured, looking down at the sleeping infant. "Strange."
Kelk carried on, through the cave that had tested his resolve to become elder and served as a practice ground for the Ronso Blitzball trainees. Fortunately, the stone stairs only broke when testing an elder so at least he didn't have to face the trial while swimming with an infant.
The peak was as frigid as he remembered with the wind cutting through the thin skin of his ears, but he could hear Gagazet, smell Gagazet, see Gagazet as it was meant to be perceived. Emptiness in all directions, the depth of night descending and the moon so close that Kelk instinctively reached out his hand to grab it. On the south side, home to everyone in Spira, up north the sacred ground that no one but summoners and their guardians could traverse. And the wind, constant motion around his central point, was the breath and voice of the mountain himself. Kelk asked the mountain, "This pup, what do we do?"
Then he closed his eyes and waited for an answer.
He didn't see or hear an answer as much as he smelled it on the wind. The iron tang of blood, resin from the far south. Fresh rain and snow from places further away, the earthy smell of the Guado lands, and the otherworldly smell of the city beyond. He smelled salt water from the ocean and alien beings and the old ones on the wall. He smelled Ronso in his life, but humans as well from all tribes, and Guado, a troubling smell. He smelled destruction, creation, and hardship, everything this child would struggle through. And then Kelk smelled himself, perfumed and groomed, years into the future judging this one again, their lives intertwined. When he had absorbed all that, the mountain whispered to him, "Kelk decides."
The child had remained silent through this, yet alert, with his eyes taking in every detail of the peak, and the smells from all over the world coming through his nose. He knew his destiny as well as anyone, but with time he would forget as all pups did. The mountain said the life was his choice, but Kelk knew what he needed to do.
***
Except for Khishana, mate of Kelk and wise woman of the tribe, everyone had resumed their own business in spite of the child. Nothing important, they all knew, Kelk only climbed so he could claim that he had made his decision fairly without concern to ease or politics. He presented the pup to her, still alive and hungry for milk.
Though she never spoke, Kelk knew her question. What had he learned from the mountain? He could not say, not without shaping the pup's path. "Pup's name is Kimahri," Kelk said, "New mother shall nurse him with her litter. He will grow strong."
"Kelk saw?" Khishana said, accepting Kimahri into her arms, "Kelk choose name Kimahri. The persistent one."
"Kelk saw. He will need his name."
Kimahri cried, caring more for his sustenance than his destiny.
Title: Judgment Revisted
Fandom: Final Fantasy X
Characters:Kimahri, Kelk
Rating: PG
Word Count: 787
Summary: Ronso take care of Ronso problems.
The time had come.
The years he had spent as Maester of Yevon had sapped him of Gagazet's wisdom. Too many time he had to look to Yevon to the answers of guidance, but now he stood not just as a Maester of Yevon judging heretics but as a Ronso elder judging a Ronso lawbreaker.
The verdict for the other six, Summoner Yuna, the Legendary Guardian, the Blitzer, the Black Mage, the Al Bhed, and the Boy, came from deliberation from the Maesters of Yevon, but insistence on Ronso justice for Ronso offenders, Kelk alone could decide what to do with Kimahri.
So long ago, he had stood on the peak of Gagazet and let the mountain tell him what his heart knew. Now neither smell nor voice guided him to the right choice. Only the law of Yevon guided him now, and the god remained silent in his heart, this was not a matter of the church, technically.
Kimahri had brought Yuna here, as one of her guardians, the first one, as the temple of St. Bevelle had buzzed for days about the High Summoner Braska's daughter walking off with a hornless Ronso. Kimahri had followed Summoner Yuna through everything, following all orders as a warrior should. If he were condemned with Yuna, he would fight to get her out of the Via Purifico.
Justice bothered him. Human law would condemn Kimahri for his actions, his participation in traitorous acts. Ronso law would release Kimahri under the state of following the orders of his commander, Summoner Yuna. Human law condemned for the acts themselves, and yet Kelk wondered if the other judges handed down the death sentence justly. Ronso law believed there was more justice to be served.
Kimahri stood alone in his cell, staring blankly toward the Via Purifico. A good warrior, despite his physical short comings, he gave the appearance of not caring about his fate. Yet, he did care, and Kelk had to figure out the mind of a fellow Ronso living among humans. And then, he must decide whether to give that Ronso his desire.
Once upon a time, as a Hornless, Kimahri had chosen to leave the mountain and live among humans compared to living his life as a servant or dying at the site of his defeat. Biran had spoken of Kimahri's refusal to surrender, yet Yenke reported of Kimahri choosing to leave Gagazet with an injured man as a shield. Life or honor. A hornless needed to learn there is no path that leads both. Search for that path, and the Ronso will end up nowhere.
More than anything, Summoner Yuna was his key to life and honor, and she had to die for leading this insurrection. The rest of her guardians must die under human justice. If Kimahri lived, he would be as every living hornless, alone and with no honor. If he died, he would die on his mission as a guardian, full of honor.
Alone, Kimahri could be no threat. He would die soon enough, perhaps become a fiend, but he could not expose the underbelly of Yevon. Together, if they happened to escape the Via Purifico, he would become the guardian of a dangerous fugitive. Kimahri and Summoner Yuna could perhaps defeat Sin. Perhaps. They could also turn the church of Yevon inside out and disrupt the delicate stability that kept Spira together. Perhaps the world needs to change.
He stepped towards the cage, hanging over the water, and looked up at the prisoner. "What says Kimahri Ronso?"
"Kimahri goes with Yuna. Kimahri is Yuna's guardian."
"Does Kimahri guard a liar?"
"Kimahri does not."
Kelk wished he could be so certain of something. He wished Yevon's justice did not contradict with his Ronso's knowledge of right and wrong. Spira deserved more than selfishness, so he must do what is best for the Ronso and Spira.
"Who swims?"
Kimahri thought, waited, measuring how much trust Kelk deserved as the Ronso Elder and Maester of Yevon. Kelk could see doubt fighting against years of ingrained training to trust a superior implicitly. Long ago Gagazet had said that Kelk would be the judge of Kimahri again, but right now Kelk felt as if he were the one being weighed.
"The boy and the blitzer swim. And the Al Bhed. The rest do not touch water to swim." Kimahri bowed his head and looked back out at the Via Purifico.
"Kelk will give his recommendations to the other Maesters. Kimahri will join Yuna."
"Kimahri thanks elder."
The room fell silent as Kelk prepared to hand his answer to the other maesters. This would be his last, and most important, act as a maester. Gagazet needed him. He needed Gagazet.
Fandom:Final Fantasy X
Characters:Kelk, Kimahri, Ronso Tribe
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1142
Summary:As elder, Kelk must decide the life of a orphaned pup.
The comfort, Kelk thought, as he looked at the one he judged, was that he could never know what happened today, on his third day of life.
The unknown baby should not have been born. Frail mother, frail father, not good people for creating strong life for the tribe. The father had died of exposure, not in battle. The mother had lived long enough to birth her son and give him his first milk. And now Kelk stood to judge whether the son would follow their trail into death.
Khishana, wise woman and Kelk's own mate, stepped forward first. "Pup born for reason. If pup means to die, pup will die even if Kelk allow him life. If pup means to live and Kelk kills him, mountain will not forgive Ronso." Kelk heard the underlying tone to her words. Khishana would talk about Gagazet, but he heard the threat to him as well. Yet, as tempting as it might be, he could not base his decision on his mate's desire alone.
Zurl stepped forward as the leader of the warriors and the highest ranked Ronso on the other side. "Pup come from weak stock, will not be warrior. If not warrior, will be useless. Gagazet has no need for useless Ronso." Zurl also made a valid point. If the child had been female, there would have been no debate one way or another, no need for this trial. But the child had been male, and now suddenly a political battle had to be fought. No coincidence, that the leader of the opposition happened to be his biggest rival for title of elder.
"Kelk will consider this." He would. Every personal political implication weighed in his mind, but ultimately it must be the right of Gagazet to decide whether the tribe should accept this new member. "Kelk will climb Gagazet and introduce this pup. Gagazet will decide."
Murmurs spread through the tribe. Respected people must have advice, and the elder must have wisdom, but only at the peak of the mountain could the elder see the truth and decide. And yet, was the child worth it? He heard it. Did some infant who would not survive this tough winter merit the attention of Gagazet? No. Had there been no political implications Kelk would have chosen one way or another. Yet, he needed to be apolitical, and thus he would have to make the long trek up Gagazet.
"Forgive Kelk." He said silently.
Kelk took the child, wrapped in a Ronso robe and pressed against the elder's chest, and began the climb.
***
The peak was his privilege as elder, though the depths of the snow and cold made the journey feel like a walk through the gauntlet and the pup crying against his chest couldn't even be muffled by the snow. Kelk's thick fur served as a pathetic shield from the cold, he could only imagine how an infant's downy coat let in the wind. If he were lucky, the mountain would decide before even reaching the top.
The cries began to fade as the mountain rose above the clouds. The snow here never fell, never melted. It simply stayed as it was unchanging since the first Ronsos guarded the sacred mountains. Kelk passed the wall of mysteries and the pup became completely silent. Probably sleeping in some form now, so he couldn't see the mist and fog that shrouded the wall, the stone remains of the Old Ones, the people who used to live on Gagazet before the Ronso. They sang in chorus, as they always did. Kelk recognized the song as the Hymn of the Fayth, the song of the Yevonite missionaries and the summoners. The elder had always found it discordant, yet the pup seemed to find it a lullaby.
"Child strange," he murmured, looking down at the sleeping infant. "Strange."
Kelk carried on, through the cave that had tested his resolve to become elder and served as a practice ground for the Ronso Blitzball trainees. Fortunately, the stone stairs only broke when testing an elder so at least he didn't have to face the trial while swimming with an infant.
The peak was as frigid as he remembered with the wind cutting through the thin skin of his ears, but he could hear Gagazet, smell Gagazet, see Gagazet as it was meant to be perceived. Emptiness in all directions, the depth of night descending and the moon so close that Kelk instinctively reached out his hand to grab it. On the south side, home to everyone in Spira, up north the sacred ground that no one but summoners and their guardians could traverse. And the wind, constant motion around his central point, was the breath and voice of the mountain himself. Kelk asked the mountain, "This pup, what do we do?"
Then he closed his eyes and waited for an answer.
He didn't see or hear an answer as much as he smelled it on the wind. The iron tang of blood, resin from the far south. Fresh rain and snow from places further away, the earthy smell of the Guado lands, and the otherworldly smell of the city beyond. He smelled salt water from the ocean and alien beings and the old ones on the wall. He smelled Ronso in his life, but humans as well from all tribes, and Guado, a troubling smell. He smelled destruction, creation, and hardship, everything this child would struggle through. And then Kelk smelled himself, perfumed and groomed, years into the future judging this one again, their lives intertwined. When he had absorbed all that, the mountain whispered to him, "Kelk decides."
The child had remained silent through this, yet alert, with his eyes taking in every detail of the peak, and the smells from all over the world coming through his nose. He knew his destiny as well as anyone, but with time he would forget as all pups did. The mountain said the life was his choice, but Kelk knew what he needed to do.
***
Except for Khishana, mate of Kelk and wise woman of the tribe, everyone had resumed their own business in spite of the child. Nothing important, they all knew, Kelk only climbed so he could claim that he had made his decision fairly without concern to ease or politics. He presented the pup to her, still alive and hungry for milk.
Though she never spoke, Kelk knew her question. What had he learned from the mountain? He could not say, not without shaping the pup's path. "Pup's name is Kimahri," Kelk said, "New mother shall nurse him with her litter. He will grow strong."
"Kelk saw?" Khishana said, accepting Kimahri into her arms, "Kelk choose name Kimahri. The persistent one."
"Kelk saw. He will need his name."
Kimahri cried, caring more for his sustenance than his destiny.
Title: Judgment Revisted
Fandom: Final Fantasy X
Characters:Kimahri, Kelk
Rating: PG
Word Count: 787
Summary: Ronso take care of Ronso problems.
The time had come.
The years he had spent as Maester of Yevon had sapped him of Gagazet's wisdom. Too many time he had to look to Yevon to the answers of guidance, but now he stood not just as a Maester of Yevon judging heretics but as a Ronso elder judging a Ronso lawbreaker.
The verdict for the other six, Summoner Yuna, the Legendary Guardian, the Blitzer, the Black Mage, the Al Bhed, and the Boy, came from deliberation from the Maesters of Yevon, but insistence on Ronso justice for Ronso offenders, Kelk alone could decide what to do with Kimahri.
So long ago, he had stood on the peak of Gagazet and let the mountain tell him what his heart knew. Now neither smell nor voice guided him to the right choice. Only the law of Yevon guided him now, and the god remained silent in his heart, this was not a matter of the church, technically.
Kimahri had brought Yuna here, as one of her guardians, the first one, as the temple of St. Bevelle had buzzed for days about the High Summoner Braska's daughter walking off with a hornless Ronso. Kimahri had followed Summoner Yuna through everything, following all orders as a warrior should. If he were condemned with Yuna, he would fight to get her out of the Via Purifico.
Justice bothered him. Human law would condemn Kimahri for his actions, his participation in traitorous acts. Ronso law would release Kimahri under the state of following the orders of his commander, Summoner Yuna. Human law condemned for the acts themselves, and yet Kelk wondered if the other judges handed down the death sentence justly. Ronso law believed there was more justice to be served.
Kimahri stood alone in his cell, staring blankly toward the Via Purifico. A good warrior, despite his physical short comings, he gave the appearance of not caring about his fate. Yet, he did care, and Kelk had to figure out the mind of a fellow Ronso living among humans. And then, he must decide whether to give that Ronso his desire.
Once upon a time, as a Hornless, Kimahri had chosen to leave the mountain and live among humans compared to living his life as a servant or dying at the site of his defeat. Biran had spoken of Kimahri's refusal to surrender, yet Yenke reported of Kimahri choosing to leave Gagazet with an injured man as a shield. Life or honor. A hornless needed to learn there is no path that leads both. Search for that path, and the Ronso will end up nowhere.
More than anything, Summoner Yuna was his key to life and honor, and she had to die for leading this insurrection. The rest of her guardians must die under human justice. If Kimahri lived, he would be as every living hornless, alone and with no honor. If he died, he would die on his mission as a guardian, full of honor.
Alone, Kimahri could be no threat. He would die soon enough, perhaps become a fiend, but he could not expose the underbelly of Yevon. Together, if they happened to escape the Via Purifico, he would become the guardian of a dangerous fugitive. Kimahri and Summoner Yuna could perhaps defeat Sin. Perhaps. They could also turn the church of Yevon inside out and disrupt the delicate stability that kept Spira together. Perhaps the world needs to change.
He stepped towards the cage, hanging over the water, and looked up at the prisoner. "What says Kimahri Ronso?"
"Kimahri goes with Yuna. Kimahri is Yuna's guardian."
"Does Kimahri guard a liar?"
"Kimahri does not."
Kelk wished he could be so certain of something. He wished Yevon's justice did not contradict with his Ronso's knowledge of right and wrong. Spira deserved more than selfishness, so he must do what is best for the Ronso and Spira.
"Who swims?"
Kimahri thought, waited, measuring how much trust Kelk deserved as the Ronso Elder and Maester of Yevon. Kelk could see doubt fighting against years of ingrained training to trust a superior implicitly. Long ago Gagazet had said that Kelk would be the judge of Kimahri again, but right now Kelk felt as if he were the one being weighed.
"The boy and the blitzer swim. And the Al Bhed. The rest do not touch water to swim." Kimahri bowed his head and looked back out at the Via Purifico.
"Kelk will give his recommendations to the other Maesters. Kimahri will join Yuna."
"Kimahri thanks elder."
The room fell silent as Kelk prepared to hand his answer to the other maesters. This would be his last, and most important, act as a maester. Gagazet needed him. He needed Gagazet.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 05:35 pm (UTC)I love the way the pup knows who he is, on the mountain, although later he will forget. I love the stern difficulties Elder Kelk must face, the Ronso way of jostling for position like wolf-pack hierarchy. I love the meaning of Kimahri's name.
For some reason I was not sure, when I first started the second piece, of the setting: I must not have been paying close enough attention, but I thought it was the confrontation at the gates of Gagazet. However, once I sorted that out, everything as usual works so well. I like that Kelk has been having some difficulty, stranded away from the wisdom of Gagazet, somewhat muffled by the church. In a way he, like Kimahri, is exiled from his people's ways.
His pragmatic considerations are wise: the prophecy he felt upon the mountain does not sway his judgment, only present considerations. But your explanation of why Yevon was kind enough to put the swimmers in the water and those who don't swim in the dungeon solves a rather artificial bit of the game! Bravo.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 08:27 pm (UTC)I
Date: 2006-10-21 07:25 pm (UTC)One nit - is the baby held against the Elder's chest or carried on his back? You seem to indicate both locations.
I am now off to read the second story. ;)
Re: I
Date: 2006-10-21 08:19 pm (UTC)I
Date: 2006-10-21 07:33 pm (UTC)Re: I
Date: 2006-10-21 08:35 pm (UTC)And I'm never sure how to write the Ronso, considering they're so different from humans. It's a nice little challenge.
Thank you. =D
no subject
Date: 2006-10-21 09:55 pm (UTC)I like how you've intertwined Kelk's story with Kimahri's, from the circumstances you invented for his birth to his judgment in Bevelle. Giving them a shared destiny is really appropriate, I think, since Kimahri ends up the next Elder. I also really love how you contrast Yevon and Ronso justice, a nice tension there.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-22 01:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-22 06:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-22 01:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 04:52 am (UTC)I'm also taking you off my friend list for this one, nothing personal-I won't be posting any more locked entries on yuna-flowering, and if my parents have guessed my password or something they'll be able to see this, too...
no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 08:36 am (UTC)-Yuna_flowering