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The two warriors faced each other, kneeling evenly. They each took up a tiny cup in both hands and raised it to their lips. A double [i]click[/i] as the porcelain touched the floor.

Yuna opened her eyes and watched the figure before her. She was not especially strange, by the standards of a Knight. Her strangeness had been exaggerated by her followers. Yuna supposed that her similarity to the other Pronobii was still too apparent to strike them as anything other than uncanny.

She still had the glow of the siphons in her joints, as red as a raven's blood. She still had a body like sculpted ice. It was hard to tell what was different about her, even, until you saw the seam between her face and her skull.

Lambda opened her eyes. Yuna didn't see this happen, of course- the High Priestess's blindfold was still firmly in place.

[color=8882be]"A successful evening, I'd think,"[/color] she said, her smile just a faint touch wry. [i]Would that it were just a little more so,[/i] thought Yuna.

She nodded. "I'm glad this all worked out as well as it did, my lady. I was afraid there'd be friction, and another failing front to consider."

Lambda waved a hand. [color=8882be]"I wouldn't pin too much on fortune. You're an honourable girl, Yuna. You do your city a favour. I'll prepare a formal statement soon enough-"[/color] Lambda's eyes fell on the pile of scrolls and letters signed in Lakshmi's name and that of her Emperor, and she wheezed. Yuna smiled with her. The dusk was bright amber. [color=8882be]"-I'll get Omicron to do it. But, suffice to say, the Pronobii of the Old Sea will gladly stand as an ally to Alefpria."[/color]

Yuna bowed her head and smiled. "Thank you, Priestess. The gods know we need them."

The mats they kneeled on were small. There were no real furnishings in this room, as yet. An altar. A map. A simple table. A sword. Recombinance. The Pronobii were still getting used to decorating above water, and with anything that wasn't ice.

Outside the waters lapped, calm and pelagic. This was the platform at the top of Mias'Thul, the Twisted Tower. A large village could fit here. Slender though it was, the platform stood perfectly even on a tower ten miles tall.

Yuna sighed. Lambda was still resting, though she flexed her shoulders every now and then. Yuna found herself watching every time.

"It's as well we've found a companion to take into the heavens," she said. "Things are... Tense in Alefpria. People are uncertain." Lambda's gaze fell on her. She didn't know how she knew that, but she did.

"The Battle of Xerxes was harsher than anyone could have expected," Yuna continued. "The people saw gods. Even the Knights had never faced deities in person, other than Lifprasil. We saw how much blood would be spilled for Lifprasil's vision..."

"And then the Godslayer." Bitter notes as Yuna spoke, unable to contain herself. These were things too close to be spoken to any but a stranger. "She was a living legend before the Battle, but we didn't know what she truly was," she explained, as Lambda watched. "Now Lifprasil is ailing from her touch. We don't know... [i]when[/i] he'll recover." Lambda nodded. She knew the pain of losing a god.

"In his absence new thoughts are starting to creep into the city." Yuna spoke on and on. "We always thought we would unite the world, but now... There are sects. They aren't spoken of, the seams don't show up in the light. But they're there. There are people who've given up on this world. So long we've been hidden under the veil of mist that they don't care for anything but Alefpria. They just want to carry it to the stars. The House of Life..."

"Others have seen outside and decided that Alefpria's not worth staying," she said. "So they wander. To Rulanah, to the Blowfly Marquisate. Shalanoir. Metera-"

[color=8882be]"Here?"[/color]

Yuna looked down into her cup.

[color=8882be]"Take your time. We're all Yän bastards here."[/color]

Yuna laughed.

"She really does have a hand in everything, doesn't she."

[color=8882be]"Tell me about it,"[/color] murmured Lambda.

"I'm just glad to have found someone kind," she said. "Someone who can fight and love. That's all our Emperor wanted, in the end. To win, and have peace, and chase stars."

And even that was Yän's little scheme, thought Lambda. But she didn't say it. She put a palm on Yuna's shoulder and she looked up.

[color=8882be]"Don't be anxious about my friendship, Yuna,"[/color] she said. [color=8882be]"I like you. I offer it gladly. If our nations draw together, then I'll count it a blessing. If our hearts draw together... That's even better."[/color]

Yuna smiled, and looked down. The sun was nearly missing. "In Amestris," she said, not meeting Lambda's gaze, "there was once a custom that, when two ambassadors cemented a union, they'd be joined in body as well as paper." A small shrug. "It's not as if my body can still do such things, but..."

Lambda smiled. [color=8882be]"I'm sorry. I don't swing that way."[/color]

"Of course. I-"

[color=8882be]"But I know a girl."[/color]