Path of a Summoner

Wren stood beside her new traveling partner in the Luca marketplace, a wary look around the stalls. It wasn’t the much taller, shrouded companion that made her nervous, but the last minute preparations for the trip ahead of them. Making a mental checklist of what she might have forgotten at home, and what she needed to buy before the ferry arrived… Once they set sail, she would have an easier time calming down, but for now, she was spending a good deal of time mumbling to herself while she thought.

She looked up at the other, who had only told her that their name was Twill, and that they were interested in traveling. Their face was hidden by a scarf up to their eyes, which was the same color and material as the two-toned cloak that covered their head and shoulders, and hid their arms completely down to their hands. They were a mage, she knew that much, but they had a spear strapped to their back. Wren didn’t ask many questions about their appearance and belongings, thinking it would be rude to pry into their business. They wouldn’t hide their face if they didn’t have a reason, and she was satisfied with that.

Despite the oddity of a mage carrying a spear, and concerns about a person she’d never met and knew little about after interviewing them, she trusted her gut feeling that this person was not dangerous and had no malicious intent towards her. After all, she had hired this person as her bodyguard. After putting out an ad in the local news, they were the only applicant who had turned up to escort Wren and her sphere recording equipment across Spira to film. They had to be enough.

Twill looked towards the foods at the brightly clothed stall before them. “Nothing that will go bad quickly. Any meat or fish will have to be smoked before we leave. We can eat gysahl greens in a pinch, so be sure to keep some handy.”

“Gysahl greens? For chocobos?” she asked, glancing up at them.

Shrugging, Twill nodded. “They might be used for chocobo feed, but they’re perfectly edible. With the Mi’ihen Highroad nearby, it should be easy to find them for sale.”

“Plus, I don’t have a lot of money left, so we probably can’t afford meat,” said Wren, looking at the ground. “But if we buy some vegetables I can cook those up. I’ll give the greens a chance. But… we can do some hunting on the go, can’t we?”

“I’ll let you be in charge of skinning anything you catch,” said Twill, snorting.

“Oh, I forgot about cooking supplies,” whispered Wren, only half hearing the other. “I brought a pot from home, but I don’t think any of my little kitchen knives will be enough to stand up against a beast.”

“I have one we can use for skinning, but both of us will primarily be using magic to defend ourselves, so don’t worry about using it to kill. I was only teasing,” said Twill. “You have a fanciful idea of what traveling is like. Don’t worry so much, we’ll be alright.”

As the sun was beginning to rise higher into the sky, the boat to Kilika pulled into port, and it was nearing noon. The crowd coming from the islands was thinning out as they dispersed from the boat, and people were starting to board once more. There were fewer people coming to Luca in the blitzball off season, but it was still a sizable crowd, for one of the largest cities in Spira.

Wren wasn’t a stranger to the bustling city, nor unfamiliar people crowding around her as they herded away from the same direction, but Twill seemed to balk as they followed behind her to the docks. They were polite as other people brushed past them, but their posture was obviously stiff, cautious about contact with others.

Wren didn’t seem to notice as she walked ahead, but Twill heard a voice calling out over the crowd as they got closer to the ship’s gangplank. As Wren turned around to look, Twill pulled her aside sharply by the arm to avoid her being trampled by the number of people swarming through the streets.

The voice belonged to a very large man, not taller than Twill, but built like a tank, wide and sturdy. His hair was in long dreads, tied up, waving behind him wildly as he ran towards them, and partly covered by a bandana, the tails of which were draped over his shoulder. He was barely breaking a sweat as he stopped short of them, but he’d lost his balance as he tried to stop short, almost stumbling.

“You—“ he said, pointing at Wren. “You’re the girl who’s looking for a bodyguard, right?”

His words were slightly accented, and unconsciously peering into the man’s eyes, Wren could make out the vibrant green, and the deep swirl that ran through his eyes to the pupils, a trademark of the nomadic Al Bhed.

Only a few days earlier, Wren had put in a request on the local news saying that she was in need of someone to escort her on a long journey across Spira. It had been intimidating, waiting for strangers in a big city to approach her about the offer, and trying to decide if they had good intentions, but in the end not many people showed up. Twill was the only one who was willing to drop everything to travel with a stranger, but that was partly because they had introduced theirself to her as a wanderer theirself.

“That’s me! We’re just about to board to leave for Kilika, but if you’re interested, I could always use another hand!”

“Sure thing,” he said, nodding proudly. “I’m Merris. I mostly do mechanic work, but I know how to take care of fiends.”

Wren nodded slowly, sticking her hand out to him. “I’ve got a bit of magical skill, but Twill here is a real mage.”

He seemed to be in a hurry to leave, even despite showing up at the last possible second. She couldn’t imagine why he’d want to come along on such short notice, but they could work out the fine details on the ferry. If he decided he wasn’t interested after all, or if he turned out not to be a good fit… The trip between Luca and Kilika took about a day to complete. Wren had to assume he knew what he was doing if he'd followed her here already.

“Wren, we might be late,” warned Twill, pointing with their hand beneath their cloak at the boat. “We have to hurry.”

“Come with us! We can talk more on the ferry,” said Wren, turning away from the Al Bhed man.

Merris took a moment to react, but hurried after them as soon as he realized they were boarding the ferry.

There was a long journey ahead of her, but Wren was ecstatic to be leaving, and a little relieved. Finally, she could stop worrying about getting out into the world and get to it, already. She held the bag containing her sphere recorder close to her chest as the ship's horn sounded, indicating that the ferry would start moving soon, and watched from the deck as it did so. The water broke around the ship, and she waved at the small crowd that was seeing the travelers off, grinning brightly.

With this first step, they were finally on their way to Kilika.