Yuna's eyes opened for the one hundred and fiftieth time since she had defeated Sin. She stood up, pulled on her white and green dress and left the straw hut.
Lulu and Wakka were outside, smiling softly at her. She smiled back and walked forward. She looked in the clear bowl of water on the woden table set outside her house. She bent over, seeing her reflection; one bottle green and one sapphire blue eye, and ahead of mousy broen hair. Her face, though only eighteen years old, was full of wrinkles. Frown lines and gaunt cheeks refused to leave her face, even after she had learned to smile no matter how she felt again.
She splashed her face with the liquid, crystalline drops of water sparkling on her face. Feeling refreshed, but by no means happy, she walked around the village.
She stood in the centre of the village, the raised circular platform dusty under her feet.
She spun her staff gently through the air, currents of wind lifting the folds of her dress to her ankles. Then she saw a mop of blond hair and sea blue eyes staring at was that boy who had entered the Cloister, and worse, the antechamber, breaking the precepts of Yevon which had stayed strong for a thousand years. His eyes were full of shock as the circle of summoning formed around her, laced with colourful symbols. She returned her attention to the dance.
A fire blazed in the centre of the village. She was surrounded by little boys and girls and the elderly members of the village. Then, hehad approached. He had been smiling tentatively, and that fragile smile had swiftly faded as the adults and children of Besaid expressed their universal condemnation of his actions.
"Stay away from the summoner!"
"You're a bad man!"
But she had stood up, and walked to that man who was to become her one love; the person without which the world was incomplete. The person she had taught to laugh, who became her friend, her guardian, her lover. The person she adored above all else...
And he was gone.
"Do you think I could become High Summoner?" she had asked, like a child looking for approval.
And he had nodded! That brilliant boy had nodded! Of course, the entire village had given her all the reassurance in the world, but he didn't know about the fate that awaited her. Spira's sacrifice had to constantly reassure herself in her younger days that her death was for the greater good. And that boy had nodded. She had almost hugged him, but fate called her back to the fire again.
But that was nothing compared to what she heard a few moments later.
"She's cute, ya?" Wakka's rolling voice asked.
"Yeah!" Tidus was quick to answer, sounding eager.
"Don't get no ideas."
"No promises there, big guy!"
Her heart had began to hammer against her chest at the first words. She didn't hear what the wise woman, Faith, was saying and she felt light headed, pure elation soaring through her body. But he was gone now, and so was any hint of happiness she may have once had.
She returned to the bowl, and suddenly a thought hit her.
She could drown.
Noone would notice. She hadn't been truly happy in months. What was the point of life if she could never be happy. There wasn't one.
She looked into the bowl. This time her face was wet with tears that ran down her cheeks.
"I'm coming," she whispered and lowered her head.
Suddenly a wave of nausea and light-headedness struck her.
No; she couldn't faint now! Not now, not now.
She vanished into blissful oblivion.
"Hey there," Wakka beamed as her eyes opened. His red hair and face creased with relief.
"You had us worried." Lulu stood by the doorway to her hut. "You've been out for half an hour, Yuna."
"I have?" Yuna didn't care. Soon she would be out forever.
"We'll leave you for a while," continued Lulu, and she and Wakka left the room.
Yuna sighed and stood, looking down at the floor. Suddenly she gasped, and saw her stomach bulging.
She wasn't sick! She was pregnant!
She gasped and fell back on the grassy ground of Macalania Spring. Tidus began undressing and she, in turn began unbuttoning her shirt.
She lay down again. Her eyes sparkled. And then, she smiled, truly smiled, the frown lines, the hollow cheeks, dispelled in a moment.
She would be a mother to his child. And a damn good one. Life was suddenly worth living again. And she knew she would live it to the full.