Date: 1572, Sixth Astral Era
Location: Limsa Lominsa, Hawker’s Alley
The markets had been as vibrant and bustling as ever, a 17 year old Cadette making quick work of the day’s commerce alongside her mother and father. This struck the young girl as rather dull, despite the characters that would pass the family stall.
There was one exception, who for being such a curious girl always captured her attention; she was clumsy as all get out, and must’ve come to the stall for the third time that week to see to a new pair of glasses. A queer young woman indeed, but one that always caught the merchant girl’s eye.
She’d passed by today, bringing a smile as Cadette wished the day would just go by a little faster.
When the skies grew dark, her overwhelming thought became “Well finally,” though this soon shifted with a crescendo of screams and a swell of panic coming with the markets of Hawker’s Alley clearing out. What could possibly be going on, she wondered, when her father stepped away from the stall, taking a moment to see the commotion before dashing back with a stern face to the girl.
“Cadette, honey,” He braced on the counter, voice firm. “You need to get home. Now.”
“B-but pa! Why just me? Why aren’t you and ma coming?”
“Don’t worry about us, just go!”
“Pa seems worried,” she thought in a daze as she followed the sea of people away. “I hope he and ma will be okay if I do go…”
When she emerged from the shelter of the market halls, her eyes were drawn skyward by flashes of light. The red moon, Dalamud, was lower than it had been in at least a sennight, a stark accompaniment to the bolts of light tearing across the skies as though the stars themselves were falling upon the realm.
“Thal’s balls,” she cursed under her breath, hastening into a near-sprint down the lane. “I gotta get home somehow…”
In her sprint, Cadette heard a panicked, distressed cry that stopped her dead in her tracks. Eye and face darting about, she locked eyes with the girl she’d seen so many times, her face streaked with tears, desperate panic in her eyes as the swell of people pushed past her, leaving the young Xaela nigh pressed into the wall near the exit to the Octant.
“Oi, get the hells outta my way, all o’ ye,” it took little more than an instant for her to spring into action, hollering and shoving her way through the crowd, stumbling more than once when her dress would catch. “You. You’re coming with me, got it?”
No response. Extending her hand and repeating the firm insistence, she was able to get the young woman to take her hand, quickly shoving back into the crowd, her grip as iron on the Xaela’s hand.
Before she emerged into the plaza, a powerful wave struck, sweeping many across the stone rotunda. Whether some had been swept overboard, she dared not consider, taking the moment to rush with her charge for the ramp to the upper decks. Surely, they could safely get to the Stead through the Tempest Gate.
The path from the upper decks was much less of a crush, making for quick work of the hasty break for the Tempest Gate, out into Lower La Noscea. Cadette knew full well from there that there would be no small hike back to her home at Red Rooster Stead, but with determination in her eye, and having taken charge for the frightened girl by her side, she forged onward.
“T-thank you,” came a meek answer in a thick accent from… where? “My name… is Yuki. What is yours?”
“Name’s Cadette,” she huffed, stopping but a moment to catch her breath before pressing on. “Where ye from, anyway? Ain’t heard o’ anyone named Yuki before.”
“My home, it is Doma,” Yuki answered. “Men of iron, they take my home, I come here.”
Nodding silently as they made it to the Stead, Cadette brought her companion to her family’s home, making sure the door was shut tight.
Just then, when finally they were alone, she collapsed onto the sofa, the pale-skinned Xaela taking a seat beside her as silence fell over the merchant’s daughter, the panic and fatigue of the rush home bringing her into a slumber.
So they remained, hidden away from the chaos, strangers to one another, but finding solace in the presence of another spirit.
tachikake