FFX-3 Chat

Chapter 5
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   Tidus had got on the Aurochs Ace. He had started to explore the boat in order to kill his ennui. He thought of the old combustion engine: in charge of transporting the team from the coast to the training area, even without wind. A powerful machine was necessary to see the job through the end.

   On the deck, near the stern, he found a hatch. It revealed the glaring engine in question. A ladder allowed him to reach it, but Tidus was averse to going down: his interest for the mechanics was obsolete.

   Near the bow, two-thirds the deck, rose a little hut. This narrow area housed the rudder wheel and a console whose buttons and sticks controlled the engine of the boat. There must be a radio, Tidus thought. He took a close look at a trident left in a corner. When he put it down, he brought down a ball, which rolled to the back of the hut, close to the partition facing the rudder. There, stairs led under the deck.

   He went down, crossed a door and went into a cabin. This cubby-hole was furnished with a double sofa, a bed and a little table. Both of the exterior walls, sofa side and bed side, had a round porthole. Close to the water line, they allowed people to enjoy the landscape. The moonlight which was filtering inside the cabin was faintly illuminating the ensemble.

   Tidus lay down onto the bed. The Ace was not in her youthful prime anymore, but this room adorned a state of conscientious. A Besaid fabric covered the walls, and decoration worthy of a hotel of the capital ornamented the ceiling. The ensemble was perplexing Tidus: the boat could transport ten people, but this cabin could only receive seven of them – if they closed up. And in order to enjoy it with a minimum of comfort, two people were the maximum.

   The young man was not a mood to penetrate the mysteries of this boat. Many others questions were taking up his mind.

‘For example...’ Tidus closed his eyes.
   
What, for example?


   The falling sensation woke him with a start. He stood up straight and retched. The boat was oscillating from top to bottom because of the swell.

   The wind has picked up.

   “Did I fall asleep?” the young man wondered aloud.

   How much time had passed? He did not know. The light was not penetrating the cabin anymore. He assumed that clouds were hiding the moon and the stars. He gazed out through a porthole: the coast was out of sight.
   
“You gotta be joking!”

   He jumped over the table and pressed his nose against the other porthole. But darkness did not reveal anything to him. The Ace had left the cove. Until proven otherwise, it was moored...

   “Oh no, it cannot be...”

   He stood up straight and banged violently his head. He swore under the influence of anger and pain. Then, he started to feel for the exit. He found it when his forehead collided hard with the door frame. With one hand on his bump, which was swelling at full speed, he grumbled, while going back up the stairs leading to the upper deck. He stopped himself suddenly when he found a shape standing at the helm. A white hood on her head, she wore a dress ornamented with red patterns at the hems, which revealed leather shoes. A slight perfume was fluttering in the wind... The smell brought to mind Besaid temple.

   “Yuna!”

   His voice broke.

   “Yuna,” he repeated.

   She turned around and lowered her hood. Then, with her fingertips, she brushed Tidus' forehead.

   “Maybe I should have taken a sphere...”

   “Do not worry, it does not hurt anymore.”

   He shook his head so strongly that the young woman burst out laughing.

   “I am sorry to keep you waiting.”

   “It was terrible. I thought...”

   She put a forefinger on the lips of her partner.

   “In my case, I have waited for two years.”

   He nodded, and she pulled away her finger.

   “Sorry,” he whispered.

   “It is okay.”

   “Yuna...”

   He took a shy step forwards, but she turned her back on him. With a hesitant hand, she activated a stick.

   “Departure of the Aurochs Ace for a private cruise!” she announced joyfully.

   With a weak rumble, the engine set off, then the vibrations spread through the whole boat.

   “Do you know the other name of this boat?” she asked.

   “How am I supposed to know?” he replied, more curtly than he wished.

   “The Aurochs called it "The Buddies". Tonight, I let them know that we embarked; just you and me.”

   She turned round, her face was radiant. But she immediately lowered her eyes, as if she was dazzled. The little cabin which was waiting for them in his mind, Tidus felt his cheeks scorching.

   “We have just left the port,” she explained. “Do you mind if we row along the coast until the other side of the island? The wind has got stronger, but we could find a place to drop anchor...”

   “As you wish, I do not care about the wind.”

   He got closer to Yuna and put his left hand on the rudder wheel, over the one of the young woman. With his right palm, he pushed the stick forward. Under their foot, the noise of the engine heightened, and the Ace gently accelerated.

   “Do you know how to steer?”

   “I was practically born on a boat!”

   Tidus remembered all the times he had spent on his father's boat. His skills were tuned enough to steer. He looked back on everything he knew about the navigation. How was it possible to forget all this knowledge? But Yuna's perfume, mixed with the smell of the sea, was preventing him from thinking.

   “Shall we go down?” he suggested.

   “Shouldn't we wait until we drop the anchor? It will be safer...”

   “Do not bother with that. Come on, let us go down.”